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diff --git a/35750.txt b/35750.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..21c6b3a --- /dev/null +++ b/35750.txt @@ -0,0 +1,16501 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of History of Roman Literature from its +Earliest Period to the Augustan Age. Volume I by John Dunlop + + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no +restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under +the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or +online at http://www.gutenberg.org/license + + + +Title: History of Roman Literature from its Earliest Period to the Augustan + Age. Volume I + +Author: John Dunlop + +Release Date: April 1, 2011 [Ebook #35750] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF ROMAN LITERATURE FROM ITS EARLIEST PERIOD TO THE AUGUSTAN AGE. VOLUME I*** + + + + + + *HISTORY* + + OF + + *ROMAN LITERATURE,* + + FROM + + *ITS EARLIEST PERIOD* + TO + + THE AUGUSTAN AGE. + + + IN TWO VOLUMES. + + BY + John Dunlop, + AUTHOR OF THE HISTORY OF FICTION. + +FROM THE LAST LONDON EDITION. + +VOL. I. + +PUBLISHED BY +E. LITTELL, CHESTNUT STREET, PHILADELPHIA. +G. & C. CARVILL, BROADWAY, NEW YORK. +1827 + + + + + + _James Kay, Jun. Printer,_ + _S. E. Corner of Race & Sixth Streets,_ + _Philadelphia._ + + + + + + CONTENTS. + + +Preface + Etruria + Livius Andronicus + Cneius Naevius + Ennius + Plautus + Caecilius + Afranius + Luscius Lavinius + Trabea + Terence + Pacuvius + Attius + Satire + Lucilius + Titus Lucretius Carus + Caius Valerius Catullus + Valerius AEdituus + Laberius + Publius Syrus +Index +Transcriber's note + + + + + + PREFACE. + + +There are few subjects on which a greater number of laborious volumes have +been compiled, than the History and Antiquities of ROME. Everything +connected with its foreign policy and civil constitution, or even with the +domestic manners of its citizens, has been profoundly and accurately +investigated. The mysterious origin of Rome, veiled in the wonders of +mythological fable--the stupendous increase of its power, rendered yet more +gigantic by the mists of antiquity--its undaunted heroes, who seem to us +like the genii of some greater world--its wide dominion, extended over the +whole civilized globe--and, finally, its portentous fall, which forms, as +it were, the separation between ancient and modern times, have rendered +its civil and military history a subject of prevailing interest to all +enlightened nations. But, while its warlike exploits, and the principles +of its political institutions, have been repeatedly and laboriously +investigated, less attention, perhaps, has been paid to the history of its +literature, than to that of any other country, possessed of equal +pretensions to learning and refinement; and, in the English language at +least, no connected view of its Rise, its Progress, and Decline, has been +as yet presented to us. When the battles of Rome have been accurately +described, and all her political intrigues minutely developed--when so much +inquiry and thought have been bestowed, not only on the wars, conquests, +and civil institutions of the Romans, but on their most trivial customs, +it is wonderful that so little has been done to exhibit the intellectual +exertions of the fancy and the reason, of their most refined and exalted +spirits. + +It cannot, indeed, be denied, that the civil history of Rome, and her +military operations, present our species in a lofty aspect of power, +magnanimity, and courage--that they exhibit the widest range and utmost +extent of the human powers in enterprize and resources--and that statesmen +or philosophers may derive from them topics to illustrate almost every +political speculation. Yet, however vast and instructive may be the page +which unfolds the eventful history of the foreign hostilities and internal +commotions of the Roman people, it can hardly be more interesting than the +analogies between their literary attainments and the other circumstances +of their condition;--the peculiarities of their literature, its peculiar +origination, and the peculiar effects which it produced. The literature of +a people may indeed, in one sense, be regarded as the most attractive +feature of its history. It is at once the effect of leisure and +refinement, and the means of increasing and perpetuating the civilization +from which it springs. Literature, as a late writer has powerfully and +eloquently demonstrated, possesses an extensive moral agency, and a close +connection with glory, liberty, and happiness(1); and hence the _history_ +of literature becomes associated with all that concerns the fame, the +freedom, and the felicity of nations. "There is no part of history," says +Dr Johnson, "so generally useful, as that which relates the progress of +the human mind--the gradual improvement of reason--the successive advances +of science--the vicissitudes of learning and ignorance, which are the light +and darkness of thinking beings--the extinction and resuscitation of arts, +and the revolutions of the intellectual world. If accounts of battles and +invasions are peculiarly the business of princes, the useful or elegant +arts are not to be neglected(2)." If, then, in the literary history of +Rome, we do not meet with those dazzling events, and stupendous results, +which, from their lustre and magnitude, still seem, as it were, placed at +the summit of human affairs, we shall find in it more intelligence and +order, in consequence of its progress being less dependent on passion and +interest. The trophies, too, of the most absolute power, and the most +unlimited empire, seem destined, as if by a moral necessity, to pass away: +But the dominion which the writers of Rome exercise over the human mind, +will last as long as the world, or at least as long as its civilization-- + + "Alas, for Tully's voice, and Virgil's lay, + And Livy's pictured page!--But these shall be + Her resurrection; all beside--decay(3)." + +There are chiefly two points of view, in which literary history may be +regarded as of high utility and importance. The _first_ is the +consideration of the powerful effect of literature on the manners and +habits of the people among whom it flourishes. It is noble, indeed, in +itself, and its productions are glorious, without any relative +considerations. An ingenious literary performance has its intrinsic +merits, and would delight an enthusiastic scholar, or contemplative +philosopher, in perfect solitude, even though he himself were the only +reader, and the work the production of a Being of a different order from +himself. But what renders literature chiefly interesting, is the influence +which it exercises on the dignity and happiness of human nature, by +improving the character, and enlarging the capacity, of our species. A +stream, however grand or beautiful in itself, derives its chief interest +from a consideration of its influence on the landscape it adorns; and, in +this point of view, literature has been well likened to "a noble lake or +majestic river, which imposes on the imagination by every impression of +dignity and sublimity. But it is the moisture that insensibly arises from +them, which, gradually mingling with the soil, nourishes all the +luxuriance of vegetation, and fructifies and adorns the surface of the +earth(4)." + +Literature, however, has not in all ages denoted, with equal accuracy, the +condition of mankind, or been equally efficacious in impelling their +progress, and contributing to their improvement. In the ancient empires of +the East, where monarchies were despotic, and priests the only scholars, +learning was regarded by those who were possessed of it rather as a means +of confirming an ascendancy over the vulgar, than of improving their +condition; and they were more desirous to perpetuate the subjection, than +contribute to the melioration of mankind. Accordingly, almost every trace +of this confined and perverted learning has vanished from the world. In +the freer states of antiquity, as the republics of Greece and Rome, +letters found various outlets, by which their improving influence was +imparted, more or less extensively, to the bulk of the citizens. Dramatic +representations were among the most favourite amusements, and oratorical +displays excited among all classes the most lively interest. Such public +exhibitions established points of contact, from which light was elicited. +The mind of the multitude was enriched by the contemplation of superior +intellect, and mankind were, to a certain extent, united by the reception +of similar impressions, and the excitement of similar emotions. + +Still, however, the history of any part of ancient literature is, in +respect of its influence on the condition of states, far less important +than that of modern nations. From the high price and scarcity of books, a +restriction was imposed on the diffusion of knowledge. "A bulwark existed +between the body of mankind and the reflecting few. They were distinct +nations inhabiting the same country; and the opinions of the one, speaking +comparatively with modern times, had little influence on the other(5)." +The learned, in those days, wrote only or chiefly for the learned and the +great. They neither expected nor cultivated the approbation of the mass of +mankind. An extensive and noisy celebrity was interdicted. It was only +with the more estimable part of his species that the author was united by +that sympathy which we term the Love of Fame. He was the head, not of a +numerous, but of a select community. By nothing short of the highest +excellence could he hope for the approbation of judges so skilful, or +expect an immortality so difficult to be preserved. While this may, +perhaps, have contributed to the polish and perfection of literary works, +it is obvious that the general influence of letters must have been less +humanizing, and must have had less tendency to unite and assimilate +mankind. Even philosophers, whose peculiar business was the instruction of +their species, had no mode of disseminating or perpetuating their +opinions, except by the formation of sects and schools, which created for +the masters, pupils who were the followers of his creed, and the +depositaries of his claims to immortality. + +It is the invention of the art of printing which has at length secured the +widest diffusion, and an unlimited endurance, to learning and +civilization. As a stone thrown into the sea agitates (it has been said) +more or less every drop in the expanse of ocean, so every thought that is +now cast into the fluctuating but ceaseless tide of letters, will more or +less affect the human mind, and influence the human condition, throughout +all the habitable globe, and "to the last syllable of time." + +It is this, and not the height to which individual genius has soared, that +forms the grand distinction between ancient and modern literature. The +triumph of modern literature consists not in the point of elevation to +which it has attained, but in the extent of its conquests--the extent to +which it has refined and quickened the mass of mankind. It would be +difficult to adjust the intellectual precedence of Newton and +Archimedes--of Bacon and Aristotle--of Shakspeare and Homer--of Thucydides +and Hume: But it may be declared with certainty, that the people of modern +nations, in consequence of literature being more widely diffused, have +become more civilized and enlightened. The Indus and Oronoko, rolling amid +woods and deserts their waste of waters, may seem superior to the Thames +in the view of the mere admirer of the grandeur and magnificence of +nature; but how inferior are they in the eye of the philosopher and +historian! + +With regard to the Romans, in particular, they are allowed to have been a +civilized nation, powerfully constituted, and wisely governed, previous to +the existence of any author in the Latin language. Their character was +formed before their literature was created: their moral and patriotic +dignity, indeed, had reached its highest perfection, in the age in which +their literature commenced--the age of Laelius and Africanus. Except in the +province of the drama, it always continued a patrician attribute; and +though intellectual improvement could not have facilitated the inroads of +vice and guilty ambition, it certainly proved inadequate to stem the tide +of moral corruption, to mitigate the sanguinary animosities of faction, or +to retard the establishment of despotism. + +Literary history is, _secondly_, of importance, as being the index of the +character and condition of a people--as holding up a mirror, which reflects +the manners and customs of remote or ancient nations. The less influence, +however, which literature exercises, the less valuable will be its picture +of life and manners. It must also be admitted, that from a separate cause, +the early periods, at least, of Roman literature, possess not in this +point of view any peculiar attractions. When literature is indigenous, as +it was in Greece, where authors were guided by no antecedent system, and +their compositions were shaped on no other model than the objects +themselves which they were occupied in delineating, or the living passions +they portrayed, an accurate estimate of the general state of manners and +feeling may be drawn from works written at various epochs of the national +history. But, at Rome, the pursuit of literature was neither a native nor +predominant taste among the people. The Roman territory was always a +foreign soil for letters, which were not the produce of national genius, +but were naturalized by the assiduous culture of a few individuals reared +in the schools of Greece. Indeed, the early Roman authors, particularly +the dramatic, who, of all others, best illustrate the prevalent ideas and +sentiments of a nation, were mere translators from the Greek. Hence, those +delineations, which at first view might appear to be characteristic +national sketches, are in fact the draught of foreign manners, and the +mirror of customs which no Roman adopted, or of sentiments in which, +perhaps, no Roman participated. + +Since, then, the literature of Rome exercised but a limited influence on +the conduct of its citizens, and as it reciprocally reflects but a partial +light on their manners and institutions, its history must, in a great +measure, consist of biographical sketches of _authors_--of critical +accounts of their _works_--and an examination of the _influence_ which +these works have exercised on modern literature. The _authors_ of Rome +were, in their characters, and the events of their lives, more interesting +than the writers of any ancient or modern land. The authors who flourished +during the existence of the Roman Republic, were Cato the Censor, Cicero, +and Caesar; men who (independently of their literary claims to celebrity) +were unrivalled in their own age and country, and have scarcely been +surpassed in any other. I need not here anticipate those observations +which the _works_ of the Roman authors will suggest in the following +pages. Though formed on a model which has been shaped by the Greeks, we +shall perceive through that spirit of imitation which marks all their +literary productions, a tone of practical utility, derived from the +familiar acquaintance which their writers exercised with the business and +affairs of life; and also that air of nationality, which was acquired from +the greatness and unity of the Roman republic, and could not be expected +in literary works, produced where there was a subdivision of states in the +same country, as in Greece, modern Italy, Germany, and Britain. We shall +remark a characteristic authority of expression, a gravity, +circumspection, solidity of understanding, and dignity of sentiment, +produced partly by the moral firmness that distinguished the character of +the Romans, their austerity of manners, and tranquillity of temper, but +chiefly by their national pride, and the exalted name of Roman citizen, +which their authors bore. And, finally, we shall recognise that love of +rural retirement which originated in the mode of life of the ancient +Italians, and was augmented by the pleasing contrast which the undisturbed +repose and simple enjoyments of rural existence presented to the bustle of +an immense and agitated capital. In the last point of view that has been +alluded to--the _influence_ which these works have exercised on modern +letters--it cannot be denied that the literary history of Rome is +peculiarly interesting. If the Greeks gave the first impulse to +literature, the Romans engraved the traces of its progress deeper on the +world. "The earliest writers," as has been justly remarked, "took +possession of the most striking objects for description, and the most +probable occurrences for fiction, and left nothing to those that followed, +but transcriptions of the same events, and new combinations of the same +images(6)." The great author from whom these reflections are quoted, had +at one time actually "projected a work, to show how small a quantity of +invention there is in the world, and that the same images and incidents, +with little variation, have served all the authors who have ever +written(7)." Had he prosecuted his intention, he would have found the +notion he entertained fully confirmed by the history both of dramatic and +romantic fiction; he would have perceived the incapacity of the most +active and fertile imagination greatly to diversify the common characters +and incidents of life, which, on a superficial view, one might suppose to +be susceptible of infinite combinations; he would have found, that while +Plautus and Terence servilely copied from the Greek dramatists, even +Ariosto scarcely diverged in his comedies from the paths of Plautus. + + * * * * * * * + +But whatever may be the advantages or imperfections of a literary subject +in its own nature, it is evident that it can never be treated with effect +or utility, unless sufficient materials exist for compilation. +Unfortunately, there was no historian of Roman literature among the Romans +themselves. Many particulars, however, with regard to it, as also +judgments on productions which are now lost, may be collected from the +writings of Cicero; and many curious remarks, as well as amusing +anecdotes, may be gathered from the works of the latter Classics; as +Pliny's _Natural History_, the _Institutes_ of Quintilian, the _Attic +Nights_ of Aulus Gellius, and the _Saturnalia_ of Macrobius. + +Among modern authors who have written on the subject of Roman literature, +the first place is unquestionably due to Tiraboschi, who, though a cold +and uninteresting critic, is distinguished by soundness of judgment and +labour of research. The first and second volumes of his great work, _Della +Letteratura Italiana_, are occupied with the subject of Roman literature; +and though not executed with the same ability as the portion of his +literary history relating to modern Italy, they may safely be relied on +for correctness of facts and references. + +The recent French work of Schoell, entitled, _Histoire __Abregee__ de la +Litterature Romaine_, is extremely succinct and unsatisfactory on the +early periods of Roman literature. Though consisting of four volumes, the +author, at the middle of the first volume of the book, has advanced as far +as Virgil. It is more complete in the succeeding periods, and, like his +_Histoire de la Litterature Grecque_, is rather a history of the decline, +than of the progress and perfection of literature. + +A number of German works, (chiefly, however, bibliographical,) have lately +appeared on the subject of Roman literature. I regret, that from +possessing but a recent and limited acquaintance with the language, I have +not been able to draw so extensively as might have been wished from these +sources of information. + + * * * * * * * + +The composition of the present volumes was not suggested by any of the +works which I have mentioned on the subject of Roman literature; but by +the perusal of an elegant, though somewhat superficial production, on "The +Civil and Constitutional History of Rome, from its Foundation to the Age +of Augustus(8)." It occurred to me that a History of Roman _Literature_, +during the same period, might prove not uninteresting. There are three +great ages in the literary history of Rome--that which precedes the aera of +Augustus--the epoch which is stamped with the name of that emperor--and the +interval which commenced immediately after his death, and may be +considered as extending to the destruction of Rome. Of these periods, the +first and second run into each other with respect to dates, but the +difference in their spirit and taste may be easily distinguished. Although +Cicero died during the triumvirate of Octavius, his genius breathes only +the spirit of the Republic; and though Virgil and Horace were born during +the subsistence of the commonwealth, their writings bear the character of +monarchical influence. + +The ensuing volumes include only the first of these successive periods. +Whether I shall hereafter proceed to investigate the history of the +others, will depend on the reception which the present effort may obtain, +and on other circumstances which I am equally unable to anticipate. + + * * * * * * * + +MEANWHILE, I have made considerable alterations, and, I trust, +improvements, in the present edition. These, however, are so much +interwoven with the body of the work, that they cannot be specified--except +some additional Translations from the Fragments of the older Latin poets--a +Dissertation on the _Tachygraphy_, or short-hand writing of the Romans, +introduced at the commencement of the Appendix--and a Critical Account of +Cicero's Dialogue _De Republica_, which, though discovered, had not issued +from the press when the former edition was published. + + + + + + + *HISTORY* + + + OF + + + *ROMAN LITERATURE, &C.* + + + "Parva quoque, ut ferme principia omnia, et ea ipsa peregrina + res fuit." + LIVY, lib. vii. c. 2. + + + + + + *HISTORY* + + + OF + + + *ROMAN LITERATURE, &c.* + + +In tracing the Literary History of a people, it is important not only to +ascertain whence their first rudiments of knowledge were derived, but even +to fix the origin of those tribes, whose cultivation, being superior to +their own, acted as an incentive to literary exertion. The privilege, +however, assumed by national vanity, _miscendi humana divinis_, has +enveloped the antiquities of almost every country in darkness and mystery: +But there is no race whose early history is involved in greater obscurity +and contradiction than the first inhabitants of those Italian states, +which finally formed component parts of the Roman republic. The origin of +the five Saturnian, and twelve Etruscan cities, is lost in the mist of +ages; and we may as well hope to obtain credible information concerning +the monuments of Egypt or India, as to investigate their inscrutable +antiquities. At the period when light is first thrown, by authentic +documents, on the condition of Italy, we find it occupied by various +tribes, which had reached different degrees of civilization, which spoke +different dialects, and disputed with each other the property of the lands +whence they drew their subsistence. All before that time is founded on +poetical embellishment, the speculations of theorists, or national vanity +arrogating to itself a Trojan, a Grecian, or even a divine original. + +The happy situation of Italy, imbosomed in a sea, which washed not only +the coast of all the south of Europe, but likewise the shores of Africa +and Asia, afforded facilities for communication and commerce with almost +every part of the ancient world. It is probable, that a country gifted +like this peninsula, with a fertile soil, incomparable climate, and +unusual charms of scenery, attracted the attention of its neighbours, and +sometimes allured them from less favoured settlements. "Il semble," says a +recent French writer, "que les Dieux aient lance l'Italie au milieu du +vaste ocean comme un Phare immense qui appelle les navigateurs des pays +les plus eloignes"(9). The customs, and even names, which were prevalent +in Egypt, Phoenicia, and Greece, were thus introduced into Italy, and +formed materials from which the framers of systems have constructed +theories concerning its first colonization by the Egyptians, the Pelasgi, +or whatever nation they chose. There is scarcely, however, an ancient +history or document entitled to credit, and recording the arrival of a +colony in Italy, which does not also mention that the new-comers found +prior tribes, with whom they waged war, or intermixed. + +The ample lakes and lofty mountains, by which Italy is intersected, +naturally divided its inhabitants into separate and independent nations. +Of these by far the most celebrated were the Etruscans. The origin of this +remarkable people, called Tyrrhenians by the Greeks, and Thusci, or +Etrusci, by the Latins, has been a subject of endless controversy among +antiquarians; and, indeed, had perplexed the ancients no less than it has +puzzled the moderns. Herodotus, the earliest authentic historian whose +works are now extant, represents them as a colony of Lydians, who were +themselves a tribe of the vagrant Pelasgi. In the reign of Atys, son of +Menes, the Lydian nation being driven to extremity by famine, the king +divided it into two portions, one of which was destined to remain in Asia, +and the other to emigrate under the conduct of his son Tyrrhenus. The +inhabitants who composed the latter division leaving their country, +repaired to Smyrna, where they built vessels, and removed in search of new +abodes. After touching on various shores, they penetrated into the heart +of Italy, and at length settled in Umbria. There they constructed +dwellings, and called themselves Tyrrhenians, from the name of their +leader(10). Some of the circumstances which Herodotus relates as having +occurred previous to the emigration of the Lydian colony appear fabulous, +as the invention of games, in order to appease the sensation of hunger, +and the fasting every alternate day for a space of eighteen years; and it +would, perhaps, be too much to assert, that before the Lydians, no other +tribe had ever set foot in Umbria or Etruria. But the account of the +departure of the colony is itself plausible, and its truth appears to be +corroborated, if not confirmed, by certain resemblances in the language, +religion, and pastimes of the Lydians, and of the ancient Etruscans(11). +The manners, too, and customs of the Lydians, did not differ essentially +from those of the Greeks; and the princes of Lydia, like the sovereigns of +Persia, being accustomed to employ Phoenician or Egyptian sailors, the +colony of Lydians, which settled in Italy, might thus contain a mixture of +such people, and present those appearances which have led some +antiquarians to consider the Etruscans as Phoenicians or Egyptians, while +others have regarded them as Greeks. The writers of antiquity, though +varying in particulars, have followed, in general, the tradition delivered +by Herodotus concerning the descent of the Etruscans. Cicero, Strabo(12), +Velleius Paterculus(13), Seneca, Pliny, Plutarch(14), and Servius, all +affirm that they came from Lydia; and to these may be added Catullus, who +calls the lake Benacus _Lydiae lacus undae_, obviously because he considered +the ancient Etruscans, within whose extended territory it lay, as of +Lydian origin. It is evident, too, that the Etruscans themselves believed +that they had sprung from the Lydians, and that they inculcated this +belief on others. Tacitus informs us, that, in the reign of Tiberius, a +contest concerning their respective antiquity arose among eleven cities of +Asia, which were heard by their deputies in presence of the Emperor. The +Sardians rested their claims on an alleged affinity to the Etruscans, and, +in support of their pretensions, produced an ancient decree, in which that +people declared themselves descended from the followers of Tyrrhenus, who +had left their native country of Lydia, and founded new settlements in +Italy(15). + +Hellanicus of Lesbos, a Greek historian, nearly contemporary with +Herodotus, and quoted by Dionysius of Halicarnassus, asserted that the +Etruscans were a tribe of Pelasgi, not from Lydia, but from Greece, who +being driven out of their country by the Hellenes, sailed to the mouth of +the Po, and leaving their ships in that river, built the inland town of +Cortona, whence advancing, they peopled the whole territory afterwards +called Tyrrhenia(16). + +Dionysius of Halicarnassus holds the account of those authors, who +maintain that the Etruscans were descended from the Lydians, to be utterly +fabulous, principally on the ground that Xantus, the chief historian of +Lydia, says nothing of any colony having emigrated thence to Italy; and he +is of opinion, that those also are mistaken, who, like Hellanicus of +Lesbos, believed the Etruscans and Pelasgi to be the same people. He +conceives them to have been Aborigines, or natives of the country, as they +radically agreed with no other nation, either in their language or manner +of life. He admits, however, that a tribe of Pelasgi passed from Thessaly +to the mouth of the Po many ages previous to the Trojan war, and directing +their course to the south, occupied a considerable portion of the heart of +Italy. Soon after their arrival, they assisted the aboriginal Etruscans in +their wars with the Siculi, whom they forced to seek refuge in Sicily, the +seat of the ancient Sicani. Subsequent to this alliance, they were again +dispersed in consequence of disease and famine; but a few still remained +behind, and being incorporated with the original inhabitants, bestowed on +them whatever in language or customs appeared to be common to the +Etruscans, with other nations of Pelasgic descent(17). + +Several eminent writers among the moderns have partly coincided with +Dionysius. Dempster seems to think that there was an indigenous population +in Etruria, but that it was increased both by the Lydian emigration and by +colonies of Pelasgi from Greece(18). Bochart is nearly of the same +opinion; only he farther admits of a direct intercourse between the +Etruscans and Phoenicians, whence the former may have received many +Oriental fables and customs. He denies, however, that there was any +resemblance in the languages of these two people; and the Etruscan arts he +believes to have been chiefly derived from Greece(19). The opinion of +Bochart on these latter points is so much the more entitled to weight, as +his prepossessions would have led him to maintain an opposite system could +it have been plausibly supported. Gibbon also declares in favour of +Dionysius; and, as to the relation of Herodotus, he says, "L'opinion +d'Herodote, qui les fait venir de la Lydie, ne peut convenir qu'aux +poetes"(20). Several recent Italian writers likewise have maintained, +that, previous to the arrival of any Lydian or Pelasgic colony, there +existed what they term an indigenous population, by which they do not +merely signify a population whose origin cannot be traced, since they hint +pretty broadly, that Etruria had its Adam and Eve as much as Eden(21). + +Gorius derives every thing Etruscan from Egypt or Phoenicia. These +countries he considers as the original seats of the Pelasgi, who, being +driven out of them, settled in Achaia, Thrace, Arcadia, and Lydia, and +from these regions gradually, and at different times, passed into +Italy(22). + +A similar system has been adopted by Lord Monboddo.--From a resemblance in +their letters and language to those of the Greeks, he believes the +Etruscans to have been a very ancient colony of the roaming Pelasgi who +left Arcadia in quest of new settlements. These Pelasgi, however, he +maintains, were not themselves indigenous in Arcadia, as they issued +originally from Egypt, where there was a district and a city of the name +of Arcadia(23). + +Mazzochi follows the oriental theory, but does not venture to determine +from what eastern region the Etruscans emigrated. He merely affirms, that +they spread from the east, under which term he includes regions very +remote from each other--Assyria, Armenia, Canaan, and Egypt(24). He also +thinks that they came directly from the east, without having previously +passed through Lydia or Arcadia: For, if they had, the monuments of these +latter countries would exhibit (which they do not) still stronger remains +of oriental antiquity than those of the Etruscans. This descent Mazzochi +attempts to confirm by the most fanciful derivations of words and proper +names of the Etruscan nation from the eastern languages, especially from +the Hebrew and Syriac. Thus one of the most extensive plains in Italy, and +the spot where, in all probability, the oriental colony first landed, is +near the aestuary of the Po. This plain they naturally called Paddan, one +of the names of the level Mesopotamia, and the appellation of the district +soon came to be transferred to the river Padus or Po, by which it was +bounded. It occurred to the author, however, that the Eridanus was the +more ancient name of the Po; but this only furnishes him with a new +argument. Eraz, it seems, signifies in Hebrew, a cedar, or any sort of +resinous tree, and the orientals, finding a number of trees of this nature +on the banks of the Po, and Z being a convertible letter with D, they +could not fail to call the river, near which they grew in such abundance, +the Eridanus(25). + +Bonarota has deduced the origin of the Etruscans from Egypt--a theory which +has chiefly been grounded on the resemblance of the remains of their arts +with the monuments of the ancient Egyptians(26). + +Maffei brings them directly from Canaan, and supposes them to have been +the race expelled from that region by the Moabites, or children of Lot. +The river Arnon, (whence Arno,) flowed not far from that part of Canaan, +where Lot and Abram first sojourned; one of its districts was called +Etroth, (whence Etruria); and on the banks of the Arnon stood the city Ar, +a syllable which is a frequent compound in Etruscan appellatives. The +Etruscans erected their places of worship on hills or high places--they +formed corporeal images of their divine beings like the idolatrous race +from whom they sprung--but above all, their divinations and profession of +augury, identified them with those original inhabitants of Canaan, of whom +it is said, "that they hearkened unto observers of times and unto +diviners"(27). + +By far the most voluminous, but at the same time one of the most fanciful +writers concerning the Etruscans, is Guarnacci, who maintains, that they +came directly from the east, and were stragglers who had been dispersed by +Noah's flood, or, at the very latest, by the confusion at Babel. The Umbri +and Aborigines, according to him, were the same people, under a different +denomination, as the Etruscans: They gradually spread themselves over all +Italy, and some tribes of them, called, from their wandering habits, +Pelasgi, at length emigrated to Greece and Lydia; so that, whatever +similarity has been traced in the language, religion, manners, or arts, of +the Greeks and Etruscans, is the consequence of the Etruscan colonization +of Greece, and not, as is generally supposed, of Italy having been peopled +by Pelasgic colonies from Arcadia or Peloponnesus(28). + +In general, the oriental system has been maintained in opposition to all +other theories, chiefly on the ground that the Etruscans, like many +eastern nations, wrote from right to left, and that, like the Hebrews, +they often marked down only the consonants, leaving the reader to supply +the auxiliary vowels. + +The oriental theory, in all its modifications, has been strenuously +opposed by a number of learned Italian, French, and German antiquaries, +who have contended for the northern and Celtic origin of the Etruscans, +and have ridiculed the opinions of their predecessors as if they +themselves were about to promulgate a more rational system. Bardetti, +while he admits a colonization of Italy from foreign quarters, prior even +to the Trojan war, maintains, that it was inhabited by a primitive +population long before the landing of the Lydians or Pelasgi: That +previous to the arrival of the latter tribe at the mouth of the Po, which +happened 300 years before the siege of Troy, there had been no navigation +to Italy from Egypt, or any other country: That, therefore, this primitive +population must have come by land, and could have been no other than bands +of Celts who were the immediate posterity of Japheth, and who, having +originally settled in Gaul, descended to Italy from the Alps by Rhetium, +Tirol, and Trent. Their first seats were the regions along the banks of +the Po; the earliest tribes of their population were called Ligurians and +Umbrians, and from them sprung the Etrurians, and all the other ancient +nations of Italy(29). + +A system nearly similar has been followed by Pelloutier(30), Freret(31), +and Funccius(32), and has been adopted, with some modifications, by +Adelung, and also by Heyne(33), who, however, admits that other tribes +besides the Gallic race, may have contributed to the population of +Etruria(34). + +This theory, whether deducing the Etruscans from the Celts of Gaul or from +the Teutonic tribes of Germany, is too often supported by remote and +fanciful etymologies; and, so far as depends on authority, it chiefly +rests on an ambiguous passage of the ancient historian Boccus, (quoted by +Solinus,) where it is said, _Gallorum veterum propaginem Umbros esse_, and +taken in connection with this, the assertion of Pliny, _Umbrorum gens +antiquissima Italiae existimatur_(35). + + + + + + ETRURIA. + + +The most learned and correct writer on the subject of the Etruscans is +Lanzi. In his elaborate work(36), (in which he has followed out and +improved on a system first started by Ulivieri,) he does not pretend to +investigate the origin of this celebrated race, though he seems to think +that they were Lydians, augmented from time to time by tribes of the +Pelasgi. But he has tried to prove that whatever may have been their +descent, the religion, learning, language, and arts of the Etruscans must +be referred to a Greek origin, and he refutes Gori and Caylus, who, +deceived by a few imperfect analogies, ascribed them to the Egyptians. The +period of Etruscan perfection in the arts, and formation of those vases +and urns which we still admire, was posterior, he maintains, to the +subjugation of Etruria by the Romans, and at a time when an intercourse +with Greece had rendered the Etruscans familiar with models of Grecian +perfection. As to the language, he does not indeed deny that all languages +came originally from the east, and that many Greek words sprung from +Hebrew roots; but there are in the Etruscan tongue, he asserts, such clear +traces of Hellenism, particularly in the names of gods and heroes, that it +is impossible to ascribe its origin to any other source. In particular, he +attempts to show from the inscriptions on the Eugubian tables, that the +Etruscan language was the AEolic Greek, since it has neither the +monosyllables characteristic of northern tongues, nor the affixes and +suffixes peculiar to oriental dialects(37). + +From whatever nation originally sprung, the Etruscans at an early period +attained an enviable height of prosperity and power. Etruria Proper, or +the most ancient Etruria, reached from the Arno to the Tiber, being nearly +bounded all along by these rivers, from their sources to their junction +with the Tyrrhenian sea. Soon, however, the Etruscans passed those narrow +limits;--to the north, they spread their conquests over the Ligurians, who +inhabited the region beyond the Arno, and to this territory the conquerors +gave the name of New Etruria. To the south, they crossed the Tiber, made +allies or tributaries of the Latins, and introduced among them many of +their usages and rites. Having thus opened a way through Latium, they +drove the Osci from the fertile plains of Campania, and founded the city +of Capua, about fifty years before the building of Rome. Colonies, too, +were sent out by them to spots beyond their immediate sway, till at length +the Italian name was nearly sunk in that of the Etruscans. Their minds, +however, were not wholly bent on conquest and political aggrandizement; +their attention was also directed to useful institutions, and to the +cultivation of the fine arts. The twelve confederated cities of Etruria +were embellished with numberless monuments of architecture; wholesome laws +were enacted, commerce was extended along all the shores of the +Mediterranean: and, in short, by their means the general progress of +civilization in Italy was prodigiously accelerated. The glory and +prosperity of the Etruscans were at their height before Rome yet possessed +a name. But their government, like that of all other republics, contained +the seeds of decay. Each state had the choice of remaining as a +commonwealth, or electing a king; but the Kings, or Lucumons, as they were +usually called, were only the priests and presidents of the different +cities of the confederation. There was no monarch of the whole realm; and +it is the series of these Lucumons that has swelled the confused list of +kings presented by Etruscan antiquaries. Each state had also the privilege +of separately declaring war or concluding peace; and each appears, on all +occasions, to have been more anxious for its own safety, than for the +general interests of the union. Hence, rivalships and dissensions +prevailed in the general assemblies of the twelve states. A confederate +government, thus united by a link of political connection, almost as +feeble as the Amphictyonic council of Greece, afforded no such compact +resistance as could oppose an adequate barrier to the _unica vis_ of the +intrepid enemies with whom the Etruscans had now to contend. At sea they +were assailed by the Syracusans and Carthaginians; the Umbrians retook +several of their ancient possessions; they were forced to yield the plains +which lie between the Alps and Apennines to the valour of the Gauls; and +the Samnites expelled them from the yet more desirable and delicious +regions of Campania. + +While the Etruscans were thus again confined almost within the territory +which still bears their name, and extends from the Tiber northward to the +Apennines, a yet more formidable foe than any they had hitherto +encountered appeared on the political theatre of Italy. It was Latium, +which had the singular fortune to see one of its towns rise to the supreme +dominion of Italy, and finally of the world. This city, which Dionysius of +Halicarnassus represents as a respectable colony, fitted out from Alba +under the escort of Romulus, and thence supplied with money, provisions, +and arms; but which was more probably composed of outlaws from the Equi, +Marsi, Volsci, and other Latian tribes, had gradually acquired strength, +while the power of the Etruscans had decayed. Enervated by opulence and +luxury(38), they were led to despise the rough unpolished manners of the +Romans; but during centuries of almost incessant warfare, they were daily +taught to dread their military skill and prowess. The fall of Veii was a +tremendous warning, and they now sought to preserve their independence +rather by stratagem than force of arms. At length, in an evil hour, they +availed themselves of the difficulties of their enemy; and, while the +rival republic was pressed on the south by the Samnites, they leagued with +those northern hordes which descended from the Alps to the anticipated +conquest of Rome. Before they had fully united with the Gauls, the Consul +Dolabella annihilated, near the Lake Vadimona, the military population of +Etruria, and the feeble remains of the nation received the imperious +conditions of peace, dictated by the victors, which left them nothing but +the shadow of a great name,--the glory of attending the Roman march to the +conquest of the world, and the vestiges of arts destined to attract the +curiosity and research of the latest posterity. + +The vicinity of the Etruscans to Rome, from which their territories were +separated only by the Tiber,--the alliance of their leader, Coelius, with +Romulus, and the habitation assigned them on the Coelian Mount,--the +accession to the Roman sovereignty of the elder Tarquin, who was descended +from a Greek family which had fixed its residence in Etruria,--the +settlement of a number of Etruscan prisoners, four years after the +expulsion of the kings, in a street called the _Vicus Tuscus_, in the very +heart of the city;--and, finally, the intercourse produced by the long +period of warfare and political intrigue which subsisted between the +rising republic and their more polished neighbours before they were +incorporated into one state, would be sufficient to account for the Roman +reception of the customs and superstitions of Etruria, as also for the +interchange of literary materials. It does not seem that the hostility of +rival nations prevents the reciprocal adoption of manners and literature. +The romantic gallantry and learning of the Arabs in the south of Spain +soon passed the limits of their splendid empire; and long before the +conquest of Wales the Cambrian fables and traditions concerning Arthur and +his host of heroes were domesticated in the court of England. Accordingly, +we find that the Romans were indebted to the Etruscans for the form of the +robes which invested their magistrates, the pomp that attended their +triumphs, and even the music that animated their legions. The purple vest, +the sceptre surmounted by an eagle, the curule chair, the fasces and +lictors, were the ensigns and accompaniments of supreme authority among +the Etruscans; while the triumphs and ovations, the combats of gladiators +and Circensian games, were common to them and the Romans. + +The simple and rustic divinities of Etruria and Latium were likewise the +objects of Roman idolatry, long before the introduction of that more +imposing and elegant mythology which had been embellished by the +conceptions of Homer and the hand of Phidias. Saturn, the reformer of +civil life, though afterwards confounded with the Kronos of the Greeks, +was not of Greek origin. Janus, the _Deorum Deus_ of the Salian verses, to +whom the Romans offered their first sacrifices, and addressed their first +prayers, and whom system-framers have identified with Noah(39), the Indian +Ganesa(40), the Egyptian Oannes(41), and the Ion of the Scandinavians(42), +or have represented as a symbolic type of all things in nature, was truly +an Italian God:-- + + "Nam tibi par nullum Graecia numen habet(43)." + +Faunus and Picus, Bona Dea and Marica, were Etruscan or Latian divinities +of the Saturnian family. Italy was also filled with many local deities, in +consequence of those wonderful natural phaenomena which it so abundantly +exhibited, and which its early inhabitants ascribed to invisible powers. A +sulphuric lake was the residence of the Nymph Albunea, and the medicinal +founts of Abano were the acknowledged abodes of a beneficent +genius.--"Nullus lucus sine fonte, nullus fons non sacer, propter +attributos illis deos, qui fontibus praeesse dicuntur(44)." All nature was +thus linked by a continued chain of consecrated existence, from the God of +Thunder to the simple Faun. The Vacunia and Feronia of the Sabines were +naturalized by Numa, and the Vejove of Etruria presided in Rome at the +general council of the twelve greater gods, long before a knowledge of the +Grecian Mars or Jupiter. In all their mythology we may remark the grave +and austere character of the ancient Italians(45). Their deities resembled +not the obscene and vicious gods of Greece. They presided over +agriculture, the rights of property, conjugal fidelity, truth and justice; +and in like manner in early Rome, + + "Cana Fides et Vesta; Remo cum fratre Quirinus + Jura dabant." ---- + +Dionysius of Halicarnassus particularly points out the difference between +the religion of the Greeks and the Romans. The latter, he informs us, "did +not admit into their creed those impious stories told by the Greeks of the +castration of their gods, or of destroying their own children, of their +wars, wounds, bonds, and slavery, and such like things as are not only +altogether unworthy of the divine nature, but disgrace even the human. +They had no wailing and lamentations for the sufferings of their gods, nor +like the Greeks, any Bacchic orgies, or vigils of men and women together +in the temples. And if at any time they admitted such foreign pollutions, +as they did with regard to the rites of Cybele and the Idaean goddess, the +ceremonies were performed under the grave inspection of Roman magistrates; +nor even now does any Roman disguise himself to act the mummeries +performed by the priests of Cybele(46)". Dionysius, who refers every thing +to Greece, thinks that the early Roman was just the Greek religion +purified by Romulus, to whom, in fact, his country was more indebted than +to Numa for its sacred institutions. In reality, however, this superior +purity of rites and worship was not occasioned by any such lustration of +the Greek fables, but from their being founded on Italian, and not on +Grecian superstitions. + +But although the Etruscan mythology may have been more pure, and its rites +more useful, than those of Greece, its fables were not so ingenious and +alluring. Ora, the goddess of health and youth, was less elegant than +Hebe; and even the genius of Virgil, who has chosen the Italian _Myths_ +for the machinery of the AEneid, could hardly bestow grace or dignity on +the prodigy of the swarm of bees that hung in clusters from the Laurentian +Laurel--on the story of the robber Cacus vomiting flames, the ships +metamorphosed into nymphs, the sow which farrowed thirty white pigs, and +thereby announced that the town of Alba would be built in thirty years, +the puerile fiction of the infancy of Camilla, or the hideous harpy which +hovered round the head of Turnus, and portended his death. Accordingly, +when the Romans were allured by the arts of Greece, the rude and simple +traditions of Italian mythology yielded to the enticing and voluptuous +fictions of a more polished people(47). The tolerant spirit of Polytheism +did not restrict the number of gods, and the ministers of superstition +seemed always ready to reconcile the most discordant systems. Hence the +poet interwove the national traditions with the Greek fables, and +concentrated in one the attributes of different divinities. Thus, the +Greek Kronos was identified with Saturn; the rustic deities, Sylvanus and +Faunus, peculiar to Latium, being confounded with Pan, the Satyrs, and +Silenus, were associated with the train of Bacchus; Portumnus was +converted into Palemon--a deity whom the Greeks had received from Phoenicia; +Bona Dea was transformed to Hecate, and Libitina to Proserpine; and the +Camesnae, or Camenae, of the family of Janus, who prophesied in Saturnian +verse on the summit of Mount Janiculum, were metamorphosed into Muses(48). +Hercules, Jupiter, and Venus, gods of power and pleasure, occupied, with +their splendid temples, the place of the peaceful and pastoral deities of +Numa. Still, however, the national religion was in some measure retained, +and Apollo and Bacchus, in particular, continued to be decorated with the +characteristic emblems of Etruria. + +The Etruscans do not seem to have believed, like the Greeks, that they +were possessed of those interpretations of passing events or revelations +of futurity which were obtained by immediate inspiration, whether +delivered from the hill of Dodona, or the Delphian shrine. Their +divination was supposed to be the result of experience and observation; +and though not destitute of divine direction or concurrence, depended +chiefly on human contrivance. Among them peculiar families, like the tribe +of Levi, the Peruvian Incas, and the descendants of Thor and Odin, were +depositaries of the secrets and ceremonies of religion. Their prognostics +were taken from the flight of birds(49), the entrails of animals, and +observations on thunder. In the early ages of Rome, a band of Patrician +youths was sent to Etruria, to be initiated in the mysteries of its +religious rites(50). The constant practice of consulting the gods on all +enterprizes, public or private,--the belief, that prodigies manifested the +will of heaven, and that the deities could be appeased, and their +vengeance averted by expiations or sacrifices, were common to the Tuscan +and Roman creeds. In short, the fervent spirit of Etrurian superstition +passed undiminished to the Romans, who owed to its influence much of their +valour, temperance, and patriotism. To this, Cicero in a great degree +ascribes their political supremacy. The Romans, says he, were not superior +in numbers to the Spaniards, in strength or courage to the Gauls, in +address to the Carthaginians, in tactics to the Macedonians; but we +surpass all nations in that prime wisdom by which we have learned that all +things are governed and directed by the immortal gods. + +To the same singular people from whom they derived their customs and +superstitions, the Romans were much indebted for their majestic language. +As their writers in a great measure owe their immortality to the lofty +tones and commanding accents of the Latin tongue, it would be improper +entirely to neglect its origin in entering on the literary history of +Rome. + +The supporters of the various systems with regard to the first peopling of +Etruria, of course discover the elements of the Etruscan language in that +of the different nations by whom they believe it to have been colonized. +Lord Monboddo, for example, deduces both the Latin and Etruscan from the +old Pelasgic; which language, he asserts, was first brought into Italy by +a colony of Arcadians, seventeen generations before the Trojan war. He +considers the Latin as the most ancient dialect of the Greek; and he +remarks, that as it came off from the original stock earlier than the +Doric, or AEolic, or any other Greek dialect now known, it has more of the +roughness of the primitive Hebrew, from which he believes the Pelasgic to +be derived(51). Lanzi also thinks that both the Latin and Etruscan flowed +from the Greek, and that the resemblance between the Etruscan and Latin +was not occasioned by the derivation of the latter from the former, but +was the necessary consequence of both having sprung from a common source. + +It certainly is not easy to discover the primary elements of the Latin or +any other language; but its immediate origin may easily be traced. The +inscriptions on the most ancient monuments which have been discovered, +from the Alps to Calabria, shew that, from the time of the Etruscan +supremacy, there was an universal language in Italy, varied, indeed, by +dialects, but announcing a common origin in the inflections of words and +the forms of characters. The language of the Etruscans had been so widely +spread by their conquests, that it might almost be regarded as the general +tongue of Italy, and the Latian, Oscan, and Sabine idioms, were in a great +measure the same with the Etruscan. From these the early Latin language +was chiefly formed; and what little Greek existed in its original +composition came through these languages from the Pelasgic colonies, which +in the remotest periods had intermixed with the Etruscans, and with the +inhabitants of ancient Latium. "It is a great mistake," says Horne Tooke, +"into which the Latin etymologists have fallen, to suppose that all the +Latin must be found in the Greek, for the fact is otherwise. The bulk and +foundation of the Latin language is Greek; but great part of the Latin is +the language of our northern ancestors grafted on the Greek; and to our +northern languages the etymologist must go for that part of the Latin +which the Greek will not furnish(52)." This author is correct, in +affirming that all the Latin cannot be found in the Greek; but he is far +in error if he mean to maintain that any part of the Latin came directly +from the language of the Celts, or that their uncouth jargon was grafted +on the Greek. The northern tongues, however, whether Celtic or Sclavonic, +may have contributed to form those dialects of Italy which composed the +original elements of the imperial language, and were exhibited in great +variety of combinations for five centuries with little admixture of the +Greek. The eminent grammarian is still farther mistaken in declaring that +the foundation of the Latin language is Greek. That much of the Augustan +Latin is derived from the Greek, is true. Gataker, who strenuously +contends for the Greek origin of the whole Latin language, has, as a +specimen, attempted to shew, that every word in the first five lines of +Virgil's Eclogues is drawn from the Greek(53); and though part of his +etymologies are fanciful, yet in a very considerable portion of them he +has been completely successful. But the case is totally different with the +ancient remnants of the Latin language previous to the capture of +Tarentum. In the song of the _Fratres Arvales_, the oldest specimen of the +language extant, there seem to be only two words which have any analogy to +the Greek--_sal_ from {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH DASIA AND OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} and _sta_ from {~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH DASIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}. That there was little +Greek incorporated with the Latin during the first ages of the Republic, +is evident from the circumstance, that the Latin inscriptions of a former +period were unintelligible to the historian Polybius, and the most learned +Romans of his age. Now, as he himself was a Greek, and as the most learned +Romans, by his time, had become good Greek scholars, any Grecisms in the +ancient inscriptions would have been perfectly intelligible. It is +evident, therefore, that the difficulty arose from the words of the old +Italian dialects occurring instead of the new Greek terms, suddenly +introduced after the capture of Tarentum, and to which the Romans having +by that time become habituated, could not understand the language of a +preceding generation. Besides, when Rome was originally filled with Latian +bands--when the Etruscans and Oscans were immediately beyond the walls of +Rome,--when, as early as the time of Romulus, the Sabines were admitted +within them,--when all the women then in Rome were Sabines, (from which it +may be presumed that much of the conversation was carried on in the Sabine +dialect,) and, above all, when the Romans, for many centuries, had little +intercourse with any other people than the Italian nations, it is not to +be supposed that they would borrow their colloquial language from the +Celts, on the other side of the Alps, or the Greeks, from whom they were +separated by the Adriatic Gulf, and who, as yet, had established only +remote, insignificant, and scattered colonies, in Italy. Varro, too, has +shewn the affinity between the Sabine and the Latin languages(54). That +the Oscan resembled the old Latin, is proved from its being constantly +employed in the most popular dramatic representations at Rome, and from +the circumstance that almost every word of its few relics which remain, is +the root of some equivalent Latin term. Thus Akeru produced acerra--Anter, +inter--Phaisnam, fanum--Tesaur, Thesaurus--Famel, famulus--Multa, +mulcta--Solum, (totus,) solus--Facul, Facultas--Cael, coelum--Embratur, +imperator.(55) The copious admixture of Greek only took place after the +taking of Tarentum, when the poets of Magna Graecia settled at Rome, and +were imitated by native writers, + + "---- Cum lingua Catonis _et Enni_ + Sermonem patrium ditaverit, et nova rerum + Nomina protulerit." + +So far, then, from the Latin language being composed of Celtic grafted on +the Greek, it appears to me to have been formed from the Greek, grafted on +those various dialects of the Etruscan tongue, which prevailed in Italy at +the period of the building of Rome. + +It would have been singular, when the Romans derived so much from their +Etruscan neighbours, if they had not also acquired a portion of those arts +which were the chief boast of Etruria. Among the Etruscans, the arts +certainly had not the imposing character they assumed in Egypt, or the +elegance they exhibited in Greece(56); but in their vases, tombs, and +altars, which have recently been brought to light, we possess abundant +proofs of their taste and ingenuity. In these--domestic occupations, +marriages, spectacles, masquerades, contests in the Circus, equestrian +exercises, the chase, triumphs, mysteries, funeral rites, Lares, Lamiae, +Lemures, and deities of every description,--in short, all ancient Etruria +passes in review before the eye, which, in many instances, must admire the +boldness of the attitudes, the elegance of the draperies, and justness of +the proportions. The art of modelling, or sculpture, appears to have been +that in which the Etruscans chiefly excelled. The statues of the first +kings erected at Rome, in the reign of the elder Tarquin, were of their +workmanship, as well as that of Horatius Cocles, and the equestrian statue +of Clelia. The Jupiter of the Capitol was also Tuscan; and the +four-wheeled chariot placed in his temple, received its last polish from +Etruscan hands, under the first Roman consuls. + +In the course of the 5th century of Rome, not fewer than 2000 Etruscan +statues, which were probably little figures in bronze, were carried to +that city from Volsinium, (now Bolsena,) which the Romans were accused of +having besieged, in order to plunder it of these treasures. Architecture +was unknown in Rome until the Tarquins came from Etruria: hence the works +of the kings, some of which still remain, were built in the Etruscan +style, with large and regular, but uncemented blocks(57). The most ancient +and stupendous architectural monuments of Rome, were executed by Etruscan +artists. Theirs were the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, the Circus, and +Cloaca Maxima, which showed such a wonderful anticipation of the future +magnitude of Rome(58), and which Livy pronounces equal to anything which +had been produced by modern magnificence. Painting, too, was introduced at +Rome from the Etruscans, about the middle of the fifth century, by one of +the Fabian family, who had long resided in Etruria, and who himself +painted in _fresco_, after his return, the interior of the Temple of +Salus, and transmitted the sirname of _Pictor_ to his descendants. + +The excellence to which the Etruscans had attained in sculpture and +architecture, forms a presumption of their proficiency in those sciences +which are essential to eminence in the arts. As not a vestige of their +writings remains, it is impossible to judge of the merits of their +literary compositions. I suspect, however, that, like the ancient +Egyptians, they had made much less progress in literature than in arts or +science. What books they had, were extant, and well known, at Rome; yet +Cicero and other Latin writers, who have the Greek authors perpetually in +their mouths, scarcely ever allude to any works of the Etruscans, except +treatises on augury or divination; and the only titles of the books, +recorded by Roman writers, are the Libri Fatales, Libri Haruspicinae, Sacra +Acherontia, Fulgurales et Rituales Libri. It is said, indeed, that the +Etruscans cultivated a certain species of poetry, sung or declaimed during +the pomp of sacrifices, or celebration of marriages(59). Such verses were +first employed in Fescennia, a city of Etruria, whence the ancient nuptial +hymns of the Romans were called Fescennine. It is evident, however, that +these Etruscan songs, or hymns, were of the very rudest description, and +probably never were reduced into writing. They were a kind of +_impromptus_, composed of scurrilous jests, originally recited by the +Italian peasants at those feasts of Ceres, which celebrated the conclusion +of their harvests; and they resembled the verses described in the +well-known lines of Horace-- + + "Agricolae prisci, fortes, parvoque beati, + Condita post frumenta, levantes tempore festo + Corpus, et ipsum animum spe finis dura ferentem, + Cum sociis operum pueris, et conjuge fida, + Tellurem porco, Sylvanum lacte piabant, + Floribus et vino Genium, memorem brevis aevi; + Fescennina per hunc inventa licentia morem + Versibus alternis opprobria rustica fudit(60)." + +It appears, also, that some of the ancient rustic oracles and prophecies +of the Etruscans, were delivered in a rugged sort of verse called +Saturnian--a measure which was adopted from them by the earliest Latin +poets-- + + "Scripsere alii rem + Versibus quos olim Fauni vatesque canebant(61)." + +Censorinus informs us, on the authority of Varro, that this ancient people +was not without its chroniclers and historians--_In Tuscis Historiis quae +octavo eorum saeculo scripta sunt_(62). But this eighth century of the +Etruscans, according to the chronology followed by Lanzi, would be as late +as the sixth century of Rome(63); and, besides, it is evident from the +context of Censorinus, that these pretended _histories_ were, in fact, +mere registers of the foundations of cities, and the births and deaths of +individuals. Varro also mentions Etruscan tragedies composed by +Volumnius(64). No date to his productions, however, is specified, and +Lanzi is of opinion, that he did not write in Etruria till after the +dramatic art had made considerable progress at Rome; and it certainly may +at least be doubted, if, previous to that period, the Etruscan stage had +ever reached higher than extemporary recitations, or pantomimic +entertainments of music and dancing. + +But whatever the literature of the Etruscans may have been, it certainly +had no influence on the progress of learning among the Romans. Neither the +intercourse of the two nations, nor the capture of Veii, though followed +by the final subjugation of the Etruscans, was attended with any literary +improvement on the part of their unpolished neighbours. In fact, few +nations have been more completely illiterate than the Romans were, during +five centuries, from the commencement of their history; and of all the +nations which have figured in the annals of mankind, none certainly +attained the same height of power and grandeur, and civil wisdom, with +equal ignorance of literature or the fine arts. For the pretended +acquaintance of the elder Brutus with the Pythagorean philosophy, it would +be difficult, I suspect, to find any better authority than the romance of +Clelia; and the learned academy, which some writers(65) have found in +Numa's College of Pontiffs, must be classed, I fear, with Vockerodt's +literary societies, which existed before the flood(66). + +It is not difficult to account for this ignorance of the Romans during the +first ages of their history. Rome was not, as has been asserted by +Dionysius, a regular colony sent out from a well-regulated state, but was +formed from a mixture of all kinds of people unacquainted with social +life. It consisted of Romulus' own troop, and a confluence of banditti +inured to lawless acts, and subsisting by rapine, who were called from +their fastnesses by the proclamation of a bold, cunning, and hardy +adventurer(67). This desperate band would not be much softened or +humanized by their union with the tribe of Sabines, who, in the time of +Romulus, became incorporated with the state, if we may judge of Sabine +civilization from the story of Tarpeia. Numa did much for the domestic +melioration of his people: He subdivided them into classes, impressed +their minds with reverence for religion, and encouraged agriculture; but +there was no germ of literature which he could foster. For more than three +centuries after his death, the persevering hostilities of neighbouring +states, and the furious irruptions of the Gauls, scarcely allowed a moment +of repose or tranquillity. The safety of Rome depended on its military +preparations, and every citizen necessarily became a soldier. Learning and +arts may flourish amid the wars and commotions of a mighty empire, because +every individual is not essentially or actively involved in the struggle; +but in a petty state, surrounded by foes, all are in some shape or other +personally engaged in the conflict, and the result, perhaps, is viewed +with intenser interest. The enemies of Rome were repeatedly at her gates, +and once within her walls; and while the city thus resounded with martial +alarms, literary leisure could neither be enjoyed nor accounted among the +ingredients-- + + "Vitam quae faciunt beatiorem." + +The exercise of arms, which commenced in order to preserve the new-founded +city from destruction, was continued for the sake of conquest and +dominion; so that the whole pride of the Romans was still placed in valour +and military success. At the first formation of their theatre, they were +propitiated by the address, _Belli duellatores optimi_(68). Whatever time +could be snatched from warlike occupations, was devoted to agriculture. +Each individual had two acres allotted to him, which he was obliged to +till for the maintenance of his family. While thus labouring for +subsistence, he had little leisure to cultivate literature or the arts, +and could find no inclination for such pursuits. Indeed, he was not +allowed the choice of his occupations. The law of Romulus which consigned +as ignominious all sedentary employments to foreigners or slaves, leaving +only in choice to citizens and freemen the arts of agriculture and arms, +long continued in undiminished respect and observance. Romulus, says +Dionysius, ordered the same persons to exercise the employments both of +husbandmen and soldiers. He taught them the duty of soldiers in time of +war, and accustomed them in time of peace to cultivate the land(69). + +During this period the Romans had nothing which can properly be termed, or +which would now be considered as poetry--the shape in which literature +usually first expands amongst a rude people. The verses which have come +down to us under the character of Sibylline oracles, are not genuine. +There probably at one time existed a few rude lines uttered by pretended +prophetesses, and which were doubtless a political instrument, usefully +employed in a state subject to popular commotions. The book delivered to +Tarquin, and which was supposed to contain those ancient oracles, perished +amid the conflagration in the Capitol, during the civil wars of Marius and +Sylla. Even those collected in Greece, and the municipal states of Italy, +in order to supply their place, and which were deposited in the temple of +Apollo, on Mount Palatine, were burned by Stilicho in the reign of the +Emperor Honorius. There is still extant, however, the hymn sung by the +_Fratres Arvales_, a college of priests instituted by Romulus, for the +purpose of walking in procession through the fields in the commencement of +spring, and imploring from the gods a blessing on agriculture. Of a +similar description were the rude Saturnian verses prescribed by Numa, and +which were chaunted by the Salian priests, who carried through the streets +those sacred shields, so long accounted the Palladium of Rome. + +About the end of the fourth century from the building of the city, when it +was for the first time afflicted with a plague, the Senate having +exhausted without effect their own superstitious ceremonies, and run over +the whole round of supplications, decreed that _histrions_ or players +should be summoned from Etruria, in order to appease the wrath of the gods +by scenic representations. These chiefly exhibited rude dances and +gesticulations, performed to the sound of the flute(70). There was no +dialogue or song, but the pantomime did not consist merely of unmeaning +gestures: It had a certain scope, and represented a connected plot or +story(71); but what kind of action or story was represented, is utterly +unknown. This whimsical sort of expiation seems to have attracted the +fancy of the Roman youths, who imitated the Etruscan actors; but they +improved on the entertainment, by rallying each other in extemporary and +jocular lines. The Fescennine verses, originally employed in Etruria at +the harvest-homes of the peasants, were about the same period applied by +the Romans to marriage ceremonies and public diversions. + +There were also songs of triumph in a rude measure, which were sung by the +soldiers at the ovations of their leaders. As early as the time of +Romulus, when that chief returned triumphant to Rome after his victory +over the Ceninenses and Antemnates, his soldiers followed him in military +array, singing hymns in honour of their gods, and extemporary verses in +praise of their commander(72). Of this description, too, were the Paeans, +with which the victorious troops accompanied the chariot of Cincinnatus, +after he subdued the Equi(73), and with which they celebrated a spirited +enterprize of Cossus, a tribune of the soldiers(74). Sometimes these +laudatory songs were seasoned with coarse jokes and camp jests, like those +introduced at the triumph of C. Claudius, and of M. Livius(75). + +The triumphal hymns were not altogether confined to the ceremony performed +on the streets of Rome. Cicero informs us, on the authority of Cato's +_Origines_, that at feasts and entertainments, it was usual for the guests +to celebrate the praises of their native heroes to the sound of the +flute(76). Valerius Maximus says, that the verses were sung by the older +guests, in order to excite the youth to emulation(77); and Varro, that +they were chaunted by ingenuous youths(78). The difference, however, +between the two authors, is easily reconciled. The former speaks of the +original composition of these ballads(79), while Varro, though the passage +is imperfect, seems to refer to a later period, when they were brought out +anew for the entertainment of the guests. Valerius talks of them as poems +or ballads of considerable extent. It was many generations, however, +before the age of Cato, that this practice existed; and by the time of +Cicero, these national and heroic productions, if they ever had been +reduced to writing, were no longer extant(80). This is all that can be +collected concerning these legends, from the ancient Roman writers, who +had evidently very imperfect notions and information on the subject. +Niebuhr, however, and M. Schlegel, seem as well acquainted with their +contents as we are with Chevy Chase, and talk as if these precious relics +were lying on their shelves, or as if they had been personally present at +the festivals where they were recited. They expressed, it seems, feelings +purely patriotic--they contained no inconsiderable admixture of the +marvellous--but even the propensity for what was incredible was exclusively +national in its character--and the Roman fablers indulged themselves in the +creation of no wonders, which did not redound in some measure to the +honour of their ancestors. They were founded on the oldest traditions +concerning the kings and heroes of the infant city, and the establishment +of the republican form of government. "The fabulous birth of Romulus," +says Schlegel, "the rape of the Sabine women, the most poetical combat of +the Horatii and Curiatii, the pride of Tarquin, the misfortunes and death +of Lucretia, and the establishment of liberty by the elder Brutus--the +wonderful war with Porsenna, and steadfastness of Scaevola, the banishment +of Coriolanus, the war which he kindled against his country, the +subsequent struggle of his feelings, and the final triumph of his +patriotism at the all-powerful intercession of his mother;--these and the +like circumstances, if they be examined from the proper point of view, +cannot fail to be considered as relics and fragments of the ancient heroic +traditions and heroic poems of the Romans(81)." Niebuhr, not contented +with insulated ballads, has imagined the existence of a grand and complete +Epopee, commencing with the accession of Tarquinius Priscus, and ending +with the battle of Regillus(82). This is a great deal more information +than Cicero or Varro could have afforded us on the subject. + +However numerous or extensive these ballads may have been, they soon sunk +into oblivion; and in consequence of the overpowering influence of Greek +authors and manners, they never formed the groundwork of a polished system +of national poetry. The manifold witcheries of the Odyssey, and the +harmony of the noble Hexameter, made so entire a conquest of the fancy and +ears of the Romans, as to leave no room for an imitation, or even an +affectionate preservation, of the ancient poems of their country, and led +them, as we shall soon see, exclusively to adopt in their stead, the +thoughts, the recollections, and the poetry of the Greeks. Cicero, in his +_Tusculan Disputations_, mentions a poem by Appius Claudius Caecus, who +flourished in the fifth century of Rome(83); but he does not say what was +the nature or subject of this production, except that it was Pythagorean; +and this is the solitary authentic notice transmitted to us of the +existence of any thing which can be supposed to have been a regular or +continued poem, during the first five centuries that elapsed from the +building of the city. + +Since, then, we can discover, during this period, nothing but those feeble +dawings of dramatic, satiric, and heroic poetry, which never brightened to +a perfect day, the only history of Roman literature which can be given +during the long interval, consists in the progress and improvement of the +Latin language. In the course of these five centuries, it was extremely +variable, from two causes.--1st, Although their policy in this respect +afterwards changed, one of the great principles of aggrandizement among +the Romans in their early ages, was incorporating aliens, and admitting +them to the rights of citizens. Hence, there was a constant influx to Rome +of stranger tribes; and the dissonance within its walls was probably +greater than had yet been any where heard since the memorable confusion at +Babel.--2d, The Latin was merely a spoken language, or at least had not +received stability by literary composition--writing at that time being +confined, (in consequence of the want of materials for it,) to treaties, +or short columnar inscriptions. So remarkable was the fluctuation produced +by these causes, even during a very short period, that Polybius, speaking +of a treaty concluded between the Carthaginians and Romans in the 245th +Year of the City, during the Consulship of Publius Valerius and Marcus +Horatius, declares, that the language used in it was so different from the +Latin spoken in his time, that the most learned Romans could not explain +its text(84). + +Of this changeable tongue, the earliest specimen extant, and which is +supposed to be as ancient as the time of Romulus, is the hymn chaunted by +the _Fratres Arvales_, the college of priests above-mentioned, who were +called _Fratres_, from the first members of the institution being the sons +of Acca Laurentia, the nurse of Romulus. This song was inscribed, during +the time of the Emperor Heliogabalus(85), on a stone, which was discovered +on opening the foundations of the Sacristy at St Peter's, in the year +1778. It is in the following words:-- + + "Enos Lases juvate, + Neve luerve Marmar sinis incurrer in pleoris. + Satur fufere Mars: limen sali sta berber: + Semones alternei advocapit cunctos. + Enos Marmor juvate, + Triumpe! triumpe!" + +These words have been thus interpreted by Herman: "Nos Lares juvate, neve +luem Mamuri sinis incurrere in plures. Satur fueris Mars: limen (_i. e._ +postremum) sali sta vervex: Semones alterni jam duo capit cunctos. Nos +Mamuri juvato--Triumphe! Triumphe"(86)! There are just sixteen letters used +in the above inscription; and it appears from it, that at this early +period the letter _s_ was frequently used instead of _r_--that the final +_e_ was struck out, or rather, had not yet been added--the rich diphthong +_ei_ was employed instead of _i_, and the simple letter _p_, in words +where _f_ or _ph_ came afterwards to be substituted. + +Of the _Carmen Saliare_, sung by the Salian priests, appointed under Numa, +for the protection of the _Ancilia_, or Sacred Shields, there remain only +a few words, which have been cited by Varro, who remarks in them, what has +already been noticed with regard to the Hymn of the _Fratres Arvales_, +that the letter _s_ often occurs in words where his contemporaries placed +_r_--as Melios, for melior--Plusima, for plurima--Asena, for arena--Janitos, +for janitor(87). The _Carmen Saliare_, however, can scarcely be taken as a +fair specimen of the state of the Roman language at the time it was +composed. Among the nations adjacent to Rome, there were Salian priests, +who had their hymns and solemn forms of invocation(88), which are said to +have been, in part at least, adopted by Numa(89). So that his _Carmen +Saliare_ probably approaches nearer to the Tuscan and Oscan dialects, than +the Latin language did, even at that early period of the monarchy. + +The fragments of a few laws, attributed to Numa, have been preserved by +ancient jurisconsults and grammarians, and restored by Festus, with much +pains, to their proper orthography, which had not been sufficiently +attended to by those who first cited passages from this _Regiam +Majestatem_ of the Romans. One of these laws, as restored by him, is in +the following terms:--"Sei cuips hemonem lobsum dolo sciens mortei duit +pariceidad estod. sei im imprudens se dolo malod occisit pro capited +oceisei et nateis eiius endo concioned arietem subicitod," which law may +be thus interpreted: "Si quis hominem liberum dolo sciens morti dederit +parricida esto: Si cum imprudens, sine dolo malo, occiderit, pro capite +occisi et natis ejus in concionem arietem subjicito." A law, ascribed to +Servius Tullius, has been thus given by Festus:--"Sei parentem puer +verberit ast oloe plorasit, puer diveis parentum sacer esto--sei nurus +sacra diveis parentum esto,"--which means, "Si parentem puer verberet, at +ille ploraverit, puer divis parentum sacer esto; si nurus, sacra divis +parentum esto"(90). + +From the date of these _Leges Regiae_, no specimen of the Latin language is +now extant, till we come down to the Twelve Tables, enacted in the +commencement of the fourth century of Rome. These celebrated institutions +have descended to us in mutilated fragments, and their orthography has +probably been in some respects modernised: yet they bear stronger marks of +antiquity than the above-recited law of Servius Tullius, or even than +those of Numa. The Latin writers themselves by whom they are quoted did +not very well understand them, owing to the change which had taken place +in the language. Accordingly, Cicero, and the early grammarians who cite +them, have attempted rather to give the meaning than the precise words of +the Decemvirs. Terrasson has endeavoured to bring them back to the old +Oscan language, in which he supposes them to have been originally written; +but his emendations are in a great measure conjectural, and his attempt is +one of more promise than fulfilment. On the whole, they have been so much +corrupted by modernising them, and by subsequent attempts to restore them +to the ancient readings, that they cannot be implicitly relied on as +specimens of the Roman language during the period in which they were +promulgated. The laws themselves are very concise, and free from that +tautology, which seems the characteristic of the enactments of nations +farther advanced in refinement. The first law is, "S' in jus vocat queat," +which is extremely elliptical in its expression, and means, "Si quis +aliquem in jus vocet, vocatus eat." In some respects the language of the +_Leges Regiae_, and twelve tables, possesses a richness of sound, which we +do not find in more modern Latin, particularly in the use of the diphthong +_ai_ for _ae_, as vitai for vitae, and of the diphthong _ei_ for _i_, as sei +for si. Horace might perhaps be well entitled to ridicule the person, + + "Sic fautor veterum, ut tabulas peccare vetantes, + Quae bisquinque viri sanxerunt, foedera regum + Vel Gabiis, vel cum rigidis aequata Sabinis, + Pontificum libros, annosa volumina vatum, + Dictitet Albano Musas in monte loquutas:" + +Yet he would have done well to have considered, if, amid the manifold +improvements of the Augustan poets, they had judged right in rejecting +those rich and sonorous diphthongs of the _tabulae peccare vetantes_, which +still sound with such strength and majesty in the lines of Lucretius. + +There is scarcely a vestige of the Latin language remaining during the two +centuries which succeeded the enactment of the twelve tables. At the end +of that long period, and during the first Punic war, a celebrated +inscription, which is still extant, recorded the naval victory obtained by +the Consul Duillius, in 492, over the Carthaginians. The column on which +it was engraved, and which became so famous by the title of the _Columna +Rostrata_, was, as Livy(91) informs us, struck down by lightning during +the interval between the second and third Punic wars. It remained buried +among the ruins of Rome, till, at length, in 1565, its base, which +contained the inscription, was dug up in the vicinity of the Capitol. So +much, however, was it defaced, that many of the letters were illegible. +These have been restored in the following manner by the conjectures of the +learned: + +"C. D(92). exemet leciones maximosque magistratus _no_vem castreis +exfociunt. Macel_lam_ _pu_cnandod cepet enque eodem macis_tratu_ rem +navebos marid consol primos _ceset_ clasesque navales primos ornavit +cumque eis navebos claseis poenicas om_nes_ sumas copias Cartaciniensis +praeesente _d_ictatored olorum in altod marid puc_nandod_ _vicit_ +trigintaque na_veis_ _cepet_ cum socieis septe_m_ triremosque naveis XX +captum numei DCC. captom aes navaled praedad poplom(93)." + +In modern Latin the above inscription would run thus.--"Caius Duillius +exemit: legiones, maximusque magistratus novem castris effugiunt. Macellam +pugnando cepit; inque eodem magistratu, rem navibus mari Consul primus +gessit, classesque navales primus ornavit; cumque iis navibus classes +Punicas omnes summas copias Carthaginienses, praesente dictatore illorum, +in alto mari pugnando vicit: Trigintaque naves cepit cum sociis septem, +triremosque naves decem. Captum nummi, captum aes navali praeda, populo +donavit." + +There are also extant two inscriptions, which were engraved on the +tombstones of Lucius Scipio Barbatus and his son Lucius Scipio, of which +the former was somewhat prior, and the latter a year subsequent to the +date of the Duillian inscription. The epitaph on Barbatus was discovered +in 1780, in the vault of the Scipian family, between the Via Appia and Via +Latina. Mr Hobhouse informs us that it is inscribed on a handsome but +plain sarcophagus, and he adds, "that the eloquent simple inscription +becomes the virtues and fellow-countrymen of the deceased, and instructs +us more than a chapter of Livy in the style and language of the Republican +Romans"(94):-- + +"Cornelius Lucius Scipio Barbatus Gnaivod patre prognatus fortis vir +sapiensque quoius forma virtutei parisuma fuit. Consol Censor Aidilis quei +fuit apud vos Taurasia Cisauna Samnio cepit subicit omne Loucana +opsidesque abdoucit." + +The above may be converted into modern Latin, as follows: + +"C. L. Scipio Barbatus, Cneio patre prognatus, fortis vir sapiensque, +cujus forma virtuti par fuit. Consul, Censor, AEdilis qui fuit apud vos, +Taurasiam, Cisaunam, Samnio cepit; subjecit omnem Lucaniam obsidesque +abducit." The other Scipian epitaph had been discovered long before the +above, on a slab which was found lying near the Porta Capena, having been +detached from the family vault. Though a good many years later as to the +date of its composition, the epitaph on the son bears marks of higher +antiquity than that on the father:-- + +"Honc oino ploirume consentiunt duonoro optumo fuise viro Lucium Scipione. +Filios Barbati Consol Censor AEdilis hec fuit. Hec cepit Corsica Aleriaque +urbe: dedit tempestatibus aide mereto;" which means, "Hunc unum plurimi +consentiunt Romae bonorum optimum fuisse virum Lucium Scipionem. Filius +Barbati, Consul, Censor, AEdilis his fuit. Hic cepit Corsicam Aleriamque +urbem: dedit tempestatibus aedem merito". + +The celebrated Eugubian tables were so called from having been found at +Eugubium (Gubbio) a city in ancient Umbria, near the foot of the +Apennines, where they were dug up in 1444. When first discovered, they +were believed to be in the Egyptian language; but it was afterwards +observed that five of the seven tables were in the Etruscan character and +language, or rather in the Umbrian dialect of that tongue, and the other +two in Roman letters, though in a rustic jargon, between Latin and +Etruscan, with such mixture of each, as might be expected from an +increased intercourse of the nations, and the subjugation of the one by +the other.(95) The two tables in the Latin character were written towards +the close of the sixth century of Rome, and those in the Etruscan letters +a short while previous. So little, however, was the Etruscan language +fixed or understood, even in the middle of last century, when the Etruscan +rage was at its height in Italy, that Bonarota believed that those tables +contained treaties of the ancient Italian nations--Gori, an Oscan poem, and +Maffei, legal enactments, till Passerius at length discovered that they +consisted solely of ordinances for the performance of sacred rites and +religious ceremonies.(96) + +On comparing the fragments of the _Leges Regiae_ with the Duillian and +Scipian inscriptions, it does not appear that the Roman language, however +greatly it may have varied, had either improved or approached much nearer +to modern Latin in the fifth century than in the time of the kings. Short +and mutilated as these laws and inscriptions are, they still enable us to +draw many important conclusions with regard to the general state of the +language during the existence of the monarchy, and the first ages of the +republic. It has already been mentioned that the diphthong _ai_ was +employed where _ae_ came to be afterwards substituted, as aide for aede; +_ei_ instead of _i_, as castreis for castris; and _oi_ in place of _oe_, as +coilum for coelum. The vowel _e_ is often introduced instead of _o_, as +hemo for homo, while, on the other hand, _o_ is sometimes used instead of +_e_, as vostrum for vestrum; and Scipio Africanus is said to have been the +first who always wrote the _e_ in such words(97). _U_ is frequently +changed into _o_, as honc for hunc, sometimes into _ou_, as abdoucit for +abducit, and sometimes to _oi_, as oino for uno. On the whole, it appears +that the vowels were in a great measure used indiscriminately, and often, +especially in inscriptions, they were altogether omitted, as bne for bene, +though sometimes, again, an _e_ final was added, as face for fac, dice for +dic. As to the consonants,--_b_ at the beginning of a word was _du_, as +duonorum for bonorum, and it was _p_ at the middle or end, as opsides for +obsides. The letter _g_ certainly does not appear in those earliest +specimens of the Latin language--the hymn of the _Fratres Arvales_, and +_Leges Regiae_, where _c_ is used in its place. Plutarch says, that this +letter was utterly unknown at Rome during the space of five centuries, and +was first introduced by the grammarian Spurius Carvillius in the year +540(98). It occurs, however, in the epitaph of Scipio Barbatus, which was +written at least half a century before that date; and, what is remarkable, +it is there placed in a word where _c_ was previously and subsequently +employed, Gnaivo being written for Cnaeo. The Letter _r_ was not, as has +been asserted, unknown to the ancient Romans, but it was chiefly used in +the beginning and end of words--_s_ being employed instead of it in the +middle, as lases for lares. Frequently the letters _m_ and _s_ were +omitted at the end of words, especially, for the sake of euphony, when the +following word began with a consonant--thus we have Aleria cepit, for +Aleriam cepit. The ancient Romans were equally careful to avoid a hiatus +of vowels, and hence they wrote sin in place of si in. Double consonants +were never seen till the time of Ennius(99); and we accordingly find in +the old inscriptions sumas for summas: _er_ was added to the infinitive +passive, as darier for dari, and _d_ was subjoined to words ending with a +vowel, as in altod, marid, pucnandod. It likewise appears that the Romans +were for a long period unacquainted with the use of aspirates, and were +destitute of the _phi_ and _chi_ sounds of the Greek alphabet. Hence they +wrote triumpe for triumphe, and pulcer for pulcher(100). We also meet with +a good many words, particularly substantives, which afterwards became +altogether obsolete, and some are applied in a sense different from that +in which they were subsequently used. Finally, a difference in the +conjugation of the same verb, and a want of inflection in nouns, +particularly proper names of countries or cities, where the nominative +frequently occurs instead of the accusative, show the unsettled state of +the language at that early period(101). + +It is unnecessary to prosecute farther the history of Roman inscriptions, +since, immediately after the erection of the Duillian column in 494, Latin +became a written literary language; and although the diphthongs _ai_ and +_ei_ were retained for more than a century longer, most of the other +archaisms were totally rejected, and the language was so enriched by a +more copious admixture of the Greek, that, while always inferior to that +tongue, in ease, precision, perspicuity, and copiousness, it came at +length to rival it in dignity of enunciation, and in that lofty accent +which harmonized so well with the elevated character of the people by whom +it was uttered. + +This sudden improvement in language, as well as the equally sudden +revolution in taste and literature by which it was accompanied, must be +entirely and exclusively attributed to the conquest of Magna Graecia, and +the intercourse opened to the Romans with the Greek colonies of Sicily. +Their minds were, no doubt, in some measure prepared, during the five +centuries which had followed the foundation of the city, for receiving the +seeds of learning. The very existence of social life for so long a period +must have in some degree reclaimed them from their native barbarism. Freed +from hourly alarms excited by the attacks of foes whose territories +reached almost to the gates of the city, it was now possible for them to +enjoy those pleasures which can only be relished in tranquillity; but +their genius, I believe, would have remained unproductive and cold for +half a millennium longer, had it not been kindled by contact with a more +polished and animated nation, whose compositions could not be read without +enthusiasm, or imitated without advantage. + +However uncertain may be the story concerning the arrival of OEnotrus in +the south of Italy, the passage of the Pelasgi from Epirus to the Po, +seventeen generations before the Trojan war, or the settlement of the +Arcadian Evander in Latium, there can be no doubt, that, about the +commencement of the Roman aera, the dissensions of the reigning families of +Greece, the commotions which pervaded its realms, the suggestions of +oracles, the uncertain tenure of landed property, the restless spirit of +adventure, and seasons of famine, all co-operated in producing an +emigration of numerous tribes, chiefly Dorians and Achaeans of +Peloponnesus, who founded colonies on the coasts of Asia, the AEgean +islands, and Italy. In this latter country, (which seems in all ages to +have been the resort and refuse of a redundant or unfortunate population,) +the Greek strangers first settled in a southern district, then known by +the ancient name of Iapygia, and since denominated Calabria. Serenity of +climate, joined to the vigour of laws, simplicity of manners, and the +energy peculiar to every rising community, soon procured these colonies an +enviable increase of prosperity and power. They gradually drove the native +inhabitants to the interior of the country, and formed a political state, +which assumed the magnificent name of Magna Graecia--an appellation which +was by degrees applied to the whole coast which bounds the bay of +Tarentum. On that shore, about half a century after the foundation of +Rome, arose the flourishing and philosophic town of Crotona, and the +voluptuous city of Sybaris. These were the consolidated possessions of the +Grecian colonies; but they had also scattered seats all along the western +coast of the territory which now forms the kingdom of Naples. + +As in most other states, corruption of manners was the consequence of +prosperity and the cause of decay. Towards the close of the third century +of Rome, Pythagoras had in some measure succeeded in reforming the morals +of Crotona, while the rival state of Sybaris, like the Moorish Grenada, +hastened to destruction, amid carousals and civil dissensions; and though +once capable, as is said, (but probably with some exaggeration,) of +bringing three hundred thousand soldiers into the field(102), it sunk, +after a short struggle, under the power of Crotona. The other independent +states were successively agitated by the violence of popular revolution, +and crushed by the severity of despotism. As in the mother country, they +had constant dissensions among themselves. This rivalship induced them to +call in the assistance of the Sicilians--a measure which prepared the way +for their subjection to the vigorous but detestable sway of the elder +Dionysius, and of Agathocles. Tarentum, founded about the same time with +Sybaris and Crotona, was the most powerful city of the Grecian colonies +toward the conclusion of their political existence, and the last +formidable rival to the Romans in Italy. Like the neighbouring states, it +was chiefly ruined by the succour of foreign allies. Unsuccessfully +defended by Alexander Molossus, oppressed by the Syracusan tyrants, and +despoiled by Cleomenes of Sparta, neither the genius of Pyrrhus, nor the +power of Carthage, could preserve it from the necessity of final +submission to the Romans. + +In all their varieties of fortune, the Grecian colonies had maintained the +manners and institutions of the mother country, which no people ever +entirely relinquish with the soil they have left. A close political +connection also subsisted between them; and, about the year 300 of Rome, +the Athenians sent to the assistance of Sybaris a powerful expedition, +which, on the decay of that city, founded the town of Thurium in the +immediate vicinity. This constant intercourse cherished and preserved the +literary spirit of the colonies of Magna Graecia. Herodotus, the father of +history, and Lysias, whose orations are the purest models of the simple +Attic eloquence, were, in early youth, among the original founders of the +colony of Thurium(103), and the latter held a share in its government till +an advanced period of life. The Eleatic school of philosophy was founded +in Magna Graecia; and the impulse which the wisdom of Pythagoras had given +to the mind, promoted also the studies of literature. Plato visited +Tarentum during the consulship of Lucius Camillus and Appius +Claudius(104), which was in the 406th year of Rome, and Zeuxis was invited +from Greece to paint at Crotona the magnificent temple of Juno, which had +been erected in that city(105). History and poetry were cultivated with a +success which did not dishonour the Grecian name. Lycus of Rhegium was the +civil, and Glaucus of the same city was the literary historian of Magna +Graecia. Orpheus of Crotona was the author of a poem on the expedition of +the Argonauts, attributed to an elder Orpheus. The lyric productions of +Ibicus of Rhegium rivalled those of Anacreon and Alcaeus. Two hundred and +fifty-five comedies, written by Alexis of Thurium, the titles of which +have been collected by Meursius, and a few fragments of them by Stephens, +are said to have been composed in the happiest vein of the middle comedy +of the Greeks, which possessed much of the comic force of Aristophanes and +Cratinus, without their malignity. In his Meropis and Ancylio, this +dramatist is supposed to have carped at Plato; and his comedy founded on +the life of Pythagoras, was probably in a similar vein of satire. +Stephano, the son of Alexis, and who, according to Suidas, was the uncle +of Menander, became chiefly celebrated for his tragedies; but his comedies +were also distinguished by happy pictures of life, and uncommon harmony of +versification. + +War, which had so long retarded the progress of literature at Rome, at +length became the cause of its culture. The Romans were now involved in a +contest with the civilized colonies of Magna Graecia. Accordingly, when +they garrisoned Thurium, in order to defend it against the Samnites, and +when in 482 they obtained complete possession of Magna Graecia, by the +capture of Tarentum, which presented the last resistance to their arms, +they could not fail to catch a portion of Grecian taste and spirit, or at +least to admire the beautiful creations of Grecian fancy. Many of the +conquerors remained in Magna Graecia, while, on the other hand, all the +inhabitants of its cities, who were most distinguished for literary +attainments, fixed their residence at Rome. + +The first Carthaginian war, which broke out in 489, so far from retarding +the literary influence of these strangers, accelerated the steps of +improvement. Unlike the former contests of the Romans, which were either +with neighbouring states, or with barbarous nations who came to attack +them in their own territories, it was not attended with that immediate +danger which is utterly inconsistent with literary leisure. In its +prosecution, too, the Romans for the first time carried their arms beyond +Italy. Literature, indeed, was not one of those novelties in which the +western part of Africa was fruitful, but, with the exception of Greece +itself, there was no country where it flourished more luxuriantly than in +Sicily; and that island, as is well known, was the principal scene of the +first great struggle between Rome and Carthage. None of the Grecian +colonies shone with such splendour as Syracuse, a city founded by the +Dorians of Corinth, in the 19th year of Rome. This capital had attained +the summit both of political and literary renown long before the first +Carthaginian war. AEschylus passed the concluding years of his life in +Sicily, and wrote, it is said, his tragedy of _The Persians_, to gratify +the curiosity of Hiero I. King of Syracuse, who was desirous to see a +representation of the celebrated war which the Greeks had waged against +Xerxes. Epicharmus, retained in the same elegant court, was the first who +rejected, on the stage, the ancient mummeries of the satires, and composed +dramas on that regular elaborate plan, which was reckoned worthy of +imitation by Plautus-- + + "Dicitur ------------------------ + Plautus ad exemplar Siculi properare Epicharmi(106)." + +Dionysius, the tyrant, was also a patron of learning, and was himself a +competitor in the fields of literature. Philistus, the historian, was the +friend of the elder, and Plato of the younger Dionysius. Aristippus and +AEschines passed some time in the court of these tyrants. Theocritus, and +other poets of the Alexandrian constellation, resided in Sicily before +they partook in Egypt of the splendid patronage of the Ptolemies. The +Syracusans, who put to death so many of their Athenian prisoners in cold +blood, and with frightful tortures, spared those of them who could recite +the verses of Euripides. Scenic representations were peculiarly popular in +Sicily: Its towns were crowded with theatres, and its dramatists were +loaded with honours. The theatrical exhibitions which the Roman invaders +of Sicily must have witnessed, and the respect there paid to distinguished +poets, would naturally awaken literary emulation. During a contest of +nearly twenty-four years between Rome and Carthage, Hiero II., King of +Syracuse, was the zealous and strenuous ally of the Romans. At the +conclusion of peace between these rival nations, in the year 512, part of +Sicily was ceded to the Romans, and the intercourse which consequently +arose with the inhabitants of this newly-acquired territory, laid the +foundation of those studies, which were afterwards brought to perfection +by the progress of time, and by direct communication with Greece +itself(107). + +Accordingly, it is in the end of the fifth, and beginning of the sixth +century, from the building of Rome, that we find among its inhabitants the +earliest vestiges of literature. Poetry, as with most other nations, was +the first of the liberal arts which was cultivated among the Romans; and +dramatic poetry, founded on the school of Greece, appears to have been +that which was earliest preferred. We have seen, indeed, that previous to +this period, and in the year 392, when the city was afflicted with a +plague, the Senate decreed that players should be summoned from Etruria to +appease the wrath of the gods by scenic representations, and that the +Roman youth imitated these expiatory performances, by rallying each other +in extemporary verses. This by some has been considered as a dawning of +the drama, since the characters probably bore a resemblance to the +Arlequin and Scaramouch of the Italian farces. But + + + + + + LIVIUS ANDRONICUS, + + +A native of Magna Graecia, was the first who attempted to establish at Rome +a regular theatre, or to connect a dramatic fable, free from the +mummeries, the _ballet_, and the melodrama of the ancient satires(108). +Tiraboschi asserts, that when his country was finally subdued by the +Romans, in 482, Livius was made captive and brought to Rome(109). It is +generally believed that he there became the slave, and afterwards the +freedman of Livius Salinator, from whom he derived one of his names: these +facts, however, do not seem to rest on any authority more ancient than the +Eusebian Chronicle(110). The precise period of his death is uncertain; but +in Cicero's Dialogue _De Senectute_, Cato is introduced saying, that he +had seen old Livius while he was himself a youth(111). Now Cato was born +in 519, and since the period of youth among the Romans was considered as +commencing at fifteen, it may be presumed that the existence of Livius was +at least protracted till the year 534 of the city. It has been frequently +said, that he lived till the year 546(112), because Livy(113) mentions +that a hymn composed by this ancient poet was publicly sung in that year, +to avert the disasters threatened by an alarming prodigy; but the +historian does not declare that it was written for the occasion, or even +recently before. + +The earliest play of Livius was represented in 513 or 514, about a year +after the termination of the first Punic war. Osannus, a modern German +author, has written a learned and chronological dissertation on the +question, in which of these years the first Roman play was performed(114); +but it is extremely difficult for us to come to any satisfactory +conclusion on a subject which, even in the time of Cicero, was one of +doubt and controversy(115). Like Thespis, and other dramatists in the +commencement of the theatrical art, Livius was an actor, and for a +considerable time the sole performer in his own pieces. Afterwards, +however, his voice failing, in consequence of the audience insisting on a +repetition of favourite passages, he introduced a boy who relieved him, by +declaiming in concert with the flute, while he himself executed the +corresponding gesticulations in the monologues, and in the parts where +high exertion was required, employing his own voice only in the +conversational and less elevated scenes(116). It was observed that his +action grew more lively and animated, because he exerted his whole +strength in gesticulating, while another had the care and trouble of +pronouncing. "Hence," continues Livy, "the practice arose of reciting +those passages which required much modulation of the voice, to the gesture +and action of the comedian. Thenceforth the custom so far prevailed, that +the comedians never pronounced anything except the verses of the +dialogues(117):" And this system, which one should think must have +completely destroyed the theatric illusion, continued, under certain +modifications, to subsist on the Roman stage during the most refined +periods of taste and literature. + +The popularity of Livius increasing from these performances, as well as +from a propitiatory hymn he had composed, and which had been followed by +great public success, a building was assigned to him on the Aventine hill. +This edifice was partly converted into a theatre, and was also inhabited +by a troop of players, for whom Livius wrote his pieces, and frequently +acted along with them(118). + +It has been disputed whether the first drama represented by Livius +Andronicus at Rome was a tragedy or comedy(119). However this may be, it +appears from the names which have been preserved of his plays, that he +wrote both tragedies and comedies. These titles, which have been collected +by Fabricius and other writers, are, _Achilles_, _Adonis_, _AEgisthus_, +_Ajax_, _Andromeda_, _Antiopa_, _Centauri_, _Equus Trojanus_, _Helena_, +_Hermione_, _Ino_, _Lydius_, _Protesilaodamia_, _Serenus_, _Tereus_, +_Teucer_, _Virgo_(120). Such names also evince that most of his dramas +were translated or imitated from the works of his countrymen of Magna +Graecia, or from the great tragedians of Greece. Thus, AEschylus wrote a +tragedy on the subject of AEgisthus: There is still an Ajax of Sophocles +extant, and he is known to have written an Andromeda: Stobaeus mentions the +Antiopa of Euripides: Four Greek dramatists, Sophocles, Euripides, +Anaxandrides, and Philaeterus, composed tragedies on the subject of Tereus; +and Epicharmus, as well as others, chose for their comedies the story of +the Syrens. + +Little, however, except the titles, remains to us, from the dramas of +Livius. The longest passage we possess in connection, extends only to four +lines. It forms part of a hymn to Diana, recited by the chorus, in the +tragedy of _Ino_, and contains an animated exhortation to a person about +to proceed to the chase:-- + + "Et jam purpureo suras include cothurno, + Baltheus et revocet volucres in pectore sinus; + Pressaque jam gravida crepitent tibi terga pharetra: + Dirige odorisequos ad caeca cubilia canes(121)." + +This passage testifies the vast improvement effected by Livius on the +Latin Tongue; and indeed the polish of the language and metrical +correctness of these hexameter lines, have of late led to a suspicion that +they are not the production of a period so ancient as the age of +Livius(122), or at least that they have been modernised by some later +hand. With this earliest offspring of the Latin muse, it may be curious to +compare a production from her last age of decrepitude. Nemesianus, in his +_Cynegeticon_, has closely imitated this passage while exhorting Diana to +prepare for the chase: + + "Sume habitus, arcumque manu; pictamque pharetram + Suspende ex humeris; sint aurea tela, sagittae; + Candida puniceis aptentur crura cothurnis: + Sit chlamys aurato multum subtemine lusa, + Corrugesque sinus gemmatis baltheus artet + Nexibus ----" + +As the above-quoted verses in the chorus of the _Ino_ are the only passage +among the fragments of Livius, from which a connected meaning can be +elicited, we must take our opinion of his poetical merits from those who +judged of them while his writings were yet wholly extant. Cicero has +pronounced an unfavourable decision, declaring that they scarcely deserved +a second perusal(123). They long, however, continued popular in Rome, and +were read by the youths in schools even during the Augustan age of poetry. +It is evident, indeed, that during that golden period of Roman literature, +there prevailed a taste corresponding to our black-letter rage, which led +to an inordinate admiration of the works of Livius, and to the bitter +complaints of Horace, that they should be extolled as perfect, or held up +by old pedants to the imitation of youth in an age when so much better +models existed: + + "Non equidem insector, delendaque carmina Livi + Esse reor, memini quae plagosum mihi parvo + Orbilium dictare; sed emendata videri, + Pulchraque, et exactis minimum distantia, miror: + Inter quae verbum emicuit si forte decorum, et + Si versus paulo concinnior unus et alter; + Injuste totum ducit venditque poema(124)." + +But although Livius may have been too much read in the schools, and too +much admired in an age, which could boast of models so greatly superior to +his writings, he is at least entitled to praise, as the inventor among the +Romans of a species of poetry which was afterwards carried by them to much +higher perfection. By translating the Odyssey, too, into Latin verse, he +adopted the means which, of all others, was most likely to foster and +improve the infant literature of his country--as he thus presented it with +an image of the most pure and perfect taste, and at the same time with +those wild and romantic adventures, which are best suited to attract the +sympathy and interest of a half-civilized nation. This happy influence +could not be prevented even by the use of the rugged Saturnian verse, +which led Cicero to compare the translation of Livius to the ancient +statues, which might be attributed to Daedalus(125). + +The Latin Odyssey commenced-- + + "Virum mihi, Camena, insece versutum." + +There have also been three lines preserved by Festus, which are translated +from the 8th Book, expressing the effects produced on the mind by a +sea-storm-- + + ---- "Namque nilum pejus + Macerat hemonem quamde mare saevom: vires quoi + Sunt magnae, topper confringent importunae undae(126)." + +From the aera in which the dramatic productions of Livius appeared, +theatrical representations formed the object of a peculiar art. The more +regular drama, founded on that of Magna Graecia, or Sicily, being divided +into tragedy and comedy, became, in a great measure, the province of +professional players or authors, while the Roman youths of distinction +continued to amuse themselves with the _Fabulae Atellanae_, and _Exodia_, a +species of satirical medley, derived from the ancient Etruscans, or from +the Osci, the nature and progress of which I shall hereafter have occasion +more particularly to examine. + + + + + + CNEIUS NAEVIUS, + + +A native of Campania, was the first imitator of the regular dramatic works +which had been produced by Livius Andronicus. He served in the first Punic +war, and his earliest plays were represented at Rome in the year 519(127). +The names of his tragedies, from which as few fragments remain as from +those of Livius, are still preserved:--_Alcestis_, (from which there is yet +extant a description of old age in rugged and barbarous verse)--_Danae_, +_Dulorestes_, _Hesiona_, _Hector_, _Iphigenia_, _Lycurgus_, _Phoenissae_, +_Protesilaus_, and _Telephus_. All these were translated, or closely +imitated from the works of Euripides, Anaxandrides, and other Greek +dramatists. Cicero commends a passage in the _Hector_, one of the +above-mentioned tragedies(128), where the hero of the piece, delighted +with the praises which he had received from his father Priam, exclaims-- + + "---- Laetus sum + Laudari me abs te, pater, laudato viro(129)." + +Naevius, however, was accounted a better comic than tragic poet. Cicero has +given us some specimens of his jests, with which that celebrated wit and +orator appears to have been greatly amused; but they consist rather in +unexpected turns of expression, or a play of words, than in genuine +humour. One of these, recorded in the second Book _De Oratore_, has found +its way into our jest-books; and though one of the best in Cicero, it is +one of the worst of Joe Miller. It is the saying of a knavish servant, +"that nothing was shut up from him in his master's house".--"Solum esse, +cui domi nihil sit nec obsignatum, nec occlusum: Quod idem," adds Cicero, +"in bono servo dici solet, sed hoc iisdem etiam verbis." + +Unfortunately for Naevius, he did not always confine himself in his +comedies to such inoffensive jests. The dramas of Magna Graecia and Sicily, +especially those of Epicharmus, were the prototypes of the older Greek +comedy; and accordingly the most ancient Latin plays, particularly those +of Naevius, which were formed on the same school, though there be no +evidence that they ridiculed political events, partook of the personal +satire and invective which pervaded the productions of Aristophanes. If, +as is related, the comedies of Naevius were directed against the vices and +corporal defects of the Consuls and Senators of Rome, he must have been +the most original of the Latin comic poets, and infinitely more so than +Plautus or Terence; since although he may have parodied or copied the +dramatic fables of the ancient Greek or Sicilian comedies, the spirit and +colouring of the particular scenes must have been his own. The elder +Scipio was one of the chief objects of his satiric representations, and +the poetic severity with which Aristophanes persecuted Socrates or +Euripides, was hardly more indecent and misdirected than the sarcasms of +Naevius against the greatest captain, the most accomplished scholar, and +the most virtuous citizen of his age. Some lines are still extant, in +which he lampooned Scipio on account of a youthful amour, in which he had +been detected by his father-- + + "Etiam qui res magnas manu saepe gessit gloriose, + Cujus facta viva nunc vigent, qui apud gentes solus + Praestat, eum suus pater, cum pallio uno, ab amica abduxit." + +The conqueror of Hannibal treated these libels with the same indifference +with which Caesar afterwards regarded the lines of Catullus. Naevius, +however, did not long escape with impunity. Rome was a very different sort +of republic from Athens: It was rather an aristocracy than a democracy, +and its patricians were not always disposed to tolerate the taunts and +insults which the chiefs of the Greek democracy were obliged to endure. +Naevius had said in one of his verses, that the patrician family of the +Metelli had frequently obtained the Consulship before the age permitted by +law, and he insinuated that they had been promoted to this dignity, not in +consequence of their virtues, but the cruelty of the Roman fate: + + "Fato Metelli Romae fiunt Consules." + +With the assistance of the other patricians, the Metelli retorted his +sarcasms in a Saturnian stanza, not unlike the measure of some of our old +ballads, in which they threatened to play the devil with their witty +persecutor-- + + "Et Naevio Poetae, + Cum saepe laederentur, + Dabunt malum Metelli, + Dabunt malum Metelli, + Dabunt malum Metelli." + +The Metelli, however, did not confine their vengeance to this ingenious +and spirited satire, in the composition of which, it may be presumed that +the whole Roman Senate was engaged. On account of the unceasing abuse and +reproaches which he had uttered against them, and other chief men of the +city, he was thrown into prison, where he wrote his comedies, the +_Hariolus_ and _Leontes_. These plays being in some measure intended as a +recantation of his former invectives, he was liberated by the tribunes of +the people.(130) He soon, however, relapsed into his former courses, and +continued to persecute the nobility in his dramas and satires with such +implacable dislike, that he was at length driven from Rome by their +influence, and having retired to Utica(131), he died there, in the year +550, according to Cicero(132); but Varro fixes his death somewhat later. +Before leaving Rome, he had composed the following epitaph on himself, +which Gellius remarks is full of Campanian arrogance; though the import of +it, he adds, might be allowed to be true, had it been written by +another(133); + + "Mortales immortales flere si foret fas, + Flerent divae Camoenae Naevium poetam; + Itaque postquam est Orcino traditus thesauro, + Oblitei sunt Romae loquier Latina lingua(134)." + +Besides his comedies and the above epitaph, Naevius was also author of the +Cyprian Iliad, a translation from a Greek poem, called the _Cyprian Epic_. +Aristotle, in the 23d chapter of his Poetics, mentions the original work, +({~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~},) which, he says, had furnished many subjects for the drama. +Some writers, particularly Pindar, have attributed this Greek poem to +Homer; and there was long an idle story current, that he had given it as a +portion to his daughter Arsephone. Herodotus, in his second Book, +concludes, after some critical discussion, that it was not written by +Homer, but that it was doubtless the work of a contemporary poet, or one +who lived shortly after him. Heyne thinks it most probable, that it was by +a poet called Stasinus, a native of the island of Cyprus, and that it +received its name from the country of its author(135). Whoever may have +written this Cyprian Epic, it contained twelve books, and was probably a +work of amorous and romantic fiction. It commenced with the nuptials of +Thetis and Peleus--it related the contention of the three goddesses on +Mount Ida--the fables concerning Palamedes--the story of the daughters of +Anius--and the love adventures of the Phrygian fair during the early period +of the siege of Troy--and it terminated with the council of the gods, at +which it was resolved that Achilles should be withdrawn from the war, by +sowing dissension between him and Atrides(136). + +A metrical chronicle, which chiefly related the events of the first Punic +war, was another, and probably the last work of Naevius, since Cicero says, +that in writing it he filled up the leisure of his latter days with +wonderful complacency and satisfaction(137). It was originally undivided; +but, after his death, was separated into seven books(138).--Although the +first Punic war was the principal subject, as appears from its +announcement, + + "Qui terraei Latiaei hemones tuserunt + Vires fraudesque Poinicas fabor;" + +yet it also afforded a rapid sketch of the preceding incidents of Roman +history. It commenced with the flight of AEneas from Carthage, in a ship +built by Mercury(139); and the early wars of the Romans were detailed in +the first and second books. To judge by the fragments which remain, the +whole work appears to have been full of mythological machinery. Macrobius +informs us, that some lines of this production described the Romans tost +by a tempest, and represented Venus complaining of the hardships which +they suffered to Jupiter, who consoles her by a prospect of their future +glory--a passage which probably suggested those verses in the first book of +the AEneid, where Venus, in like manner, complains to Jupiter of the danger +experienced by her son in a storm, and the god consoles her by assurances +of his ultimate prosperity(140). Cicero mentions, that Ennius, too, though +he classes Naevius among the fauns and rustic bards, had borrowed, or, if +he refused to acknowledge his obligations, had pilfered, many ornaments +from his predecessor(141). In the same passage, Cicero, while he admits +that Ennius was the more elegant and correct writer, bears testimony to +the merit of the older bard, and declares, that the Punic war of this +antiquated poet afforded him a pleasure as exquisite as the finest statue +that was ever formed by Myron. To judge, however, from the lines which +remain, though in general too much broken to enable us even to divine +their meaning, the style of Naevius in this work was more rugged and remote +from modern Latin than that of his own plays and satires, or the dramas of +Livius Andronicus. + +The whole, too, is written in the rough, unmodulated, Saturnian verse--a +sort of irregular iambics, said to have been originally employed by Faunus +and the prophets, who delivered their oracles in this measure. To such +rude and unpolished verses Ennius alludes in a fragment of his Annals, +while explaining his reasons for not treating of the first Punic war-- + + ---- "Scripsere alii rem + Versibus, quos olim Fauni, vatesque canebant; + Cum neque Musarum scopulos quisquam superarat, + Nec dicti studiosus erat." + +As this was the most ancient species of measure employed in Roman poetry, +as it was universally used before the melody of Greek verse was poured on +the Roman ear, and as, from ancient practice, the same strain continued to +be repeated till the age of Ennius, by whom the heroic measure was +introduced, it would not be suitable to omit some notice of its origin and +structure in an account of Roman literature and poetry. + +Several writers have supposed that the Saturnian measure was borrowed by +the Romans from the Greeks(142), having been used by Euripides, and +particularly by Archilochus; but others have believed that it was an +invention of the ancient Italians(143). It was first employed in the +Carmen Saliare, songs of triumph, supplications to the gods, or monumental +inscriptions, and was afterwards, as we have seen, adopted in the works of +Livius Andronicus and Naevius. In consequence of the fragments which remain +of the Saturnian verses being so short and corrupted, it is extremely +difficult to fix their regular measure, or reduce them to one standard of +versification. Herman seems to consider a Saturnian line as having +regularly consisted of two iambuses, an amphibrachys, and three trochaes-- + + {~BREVE~} _ | {~BREVE~} _ | {~BREVE~} _ {~BREVE~} | _ {~BREVE~} | _ {~BREVE~} | _ {~BREVE~} + +A dactyl, however, was occasionally admitted into the place of the first +or second trochae, and a spondee was not unfrequently introduced +indiscriminately. It also appears that a Saturnian line was sometimes +divided into two--the first line consisting of the two iambuses and +amphibrachys, and the second of the trochaes, whence the Saturnian verse +has been sometimes called iambic, and at others trochaic. + +The Hexameter verse, which had been invented by the Greeks, was first +introduced into Latium, or at least, was first employed in a work of any +extent, by + + + + + + ENNIUS, + + + ---- "Qui primus amoeno + Detulit ex Helicone perenni fronde coronam, + Per gentes Italas hominum quae clara clueret." + +This poet, who has generally received the glorious appellation of the +Father of Roman Song, was a native of Rudiae, a town in Calabria, and lived +from the year of Rome 515 to 585(144). In his early youth he went to +Sardinia; and, if Silius Italicus may be believed, he served in the +Calabrian levies, which, in the year 538, followed Titus Manlius to the +war which he waged in that island against the favourers of the +Carthaginian cause(145). After the termination of the campaign, he +continued to live for twelve years in Sardinia(146). He was at length +brought to Rome by Cato, the Censor, who, in 550, visited Sardinia, on +returning as quaestor from Africa(147). At Rome he fixed his residence on +the Aventine hill, where he lived in a very frugal manner, having only a +single servant maid as an attendant(148). He instructed, however, the +Patrician youth in Greek, and acquired the friendship of many of the most +illustrious men in the state. Being distinguished (like AEschylus, the +great father of Grecian tragedy) in arms as well as letters, he followed +M. Fulvius Nobilior during his expedition to AEtolia in 564(149); and in +569 he obtained the freedom of the city, through the favour of Quintus +Fulvius Nobilior, the son of his former patron, Marcus(150). He was also +protected by the elder Scipio Africanus, whom he is said to have +accompanied in all his campaigns: + + "Haerebat doctus lateri, castrisque solebat + Omnibus in medias Ennius ire tubas(151)." + +It is difficult, however, to see in what expeditions he could have +attended this renowned general. His Spanish and African wars were +concluded before Ennius was brought from Sardinia to Rome; and the +campaign against Antiochus was commenced and terminated while he was +serving under Fulvius Nobilior in AEtolia(152). In his old age he obtained +the friendship of Scipio Nasica; and the degree of intimacy subsisting +between them has been characterised by the well-known anecdote of their +successively feigning to be from home(153). He is said to have been +intemperate in drinking(154), which brought on the disease called _Morbus +Articularis_, a disorder resembling the gout, of which he died at the age +of seventy, just after he had exhibited his tragedy of Thyestes: + + "Ennius ipse pater dum pocula siccat iniqua, + Hoc vitio tales fertur meruisse dolores(155)." + +The evils, however, of old age and indigence were supported by him, as we +learn from Cicero, with such patience, and even cheerfulness, that one +would almost have imagined he derived satisfaction from circumstances +which are usually regarded, as being, of all others, the most dispiriting +and oppressive(156). The honours due to his character and talents were, as +is frequently the case, reserved till after his death, when a bust of him +was placed in the family tomb of the Scipios(157), who, till the time of +Sylla, continued the practice of burying, instead of burning, their dead. +In the days of Livy, the bust still remained near that sepulchre, beyond +the _Porta Capena_, along with the statues of Africanus and Scipio +Asiaticus.(158) The tomb was discovered in 1780, on a farm situated +between the Via Appia and Via Latina. The slabs, which have been since +removed to the Vatican, bear several inscriptions, commemorating different +persons of the Scipian family. Neither statues, nor any other memorial, +then existed of Africanus himself, or of Asiaticus(159); but a laurelled +bust of Pepperino stone, which was found in this tomb, and which now +stands on the Sarcophagus of Scipio Barbatus in the Vatican, is supposed +to be that of Ennius(160). There is also still extant an epitaph on this +poet, reported to have been written by himself(161), strongly +characteristic of that overweening conceit and that high estimation of his +own talents, which are said to have formed the chief blemish of his +character:-- + + "Aspicite, O cives, senis Enni imaginis formam; + Hic vestrum panxit maxuma facta patrum. + Nemo me lacrumis decoret, nec funera fletu + Faxit--cur? volito vivus per ora virum(162)." + +The lines formerly quoted(163), which were written by Naevius for his +tomb-stone, express as high a sense of his own poetical merits as the +above verses; but there is in them something plaintive and melancholy, +quite different from the triumphant exultation in the epitaph of Ennius. + +To judge by the fragments of his works which remain, Ennius greatly +surpassed his predecessors, not only in poetical genius, but in the art of +versification. By his time, indeed, the best models of Greek composition +had begun to be studied at Rome. Ennius particularly professed to have +imitated Homer, and tried to persuade his countrymen that the soul and +genius of that great poet had revived in him, through the medium of a +peacock, according to the process of Pythagorean transmigration. It is to +this fantastic genealogy that Persius has alluded in his 6th satire:-- + + "Cor jubet hoc Enni, postquam destertuit esse + Maeonides Quintus, pavone ex Pythagoreo." + +From the following lines of Lucretius it would appear, that Ennius +somewhere in his works had feigned that the shade of Homer appeared to +him, and explained to him the nature and laws of the universe:-- + + "Etsi praeterea tamen esse Acherusia Templa + Ennius aeternis exponit versibus edens; + Quo neque permanent animae, neque corpora nostra, + Sed quaedam simulacra modis pallentia miris: + Unde, sibi exortam, semper florentis Homeri + Commemorat speciem, lacrumas effundere salsas + Coepisse, et rerum naturam expandere dictis." + +Accordingly, we find in the fragments of Ennius many imitations of the +Iliad and Odyssey. It is, however, the Greek tragic writers whom Ennius +has chiefly imitated; and indeed it appears from the fragments which +remain, that all his plays were rather translations from the dramas of +Sophocles and Euripides, on the same subjects which he has chosen, than +original tragedies. They are founded on the old topics of Priam and Paris, +Hector and Hecuba; and truly Ennius, as well as most other Latin +tragedians, seems to have anticipated Horace's maxim-- + + "Rectus Iliacum carmen deducis in actus, + Quamsi proferres ignota indictaque primus." + +But although it be quite clear that all the plays of Ennius were +translated, or closely imitated, from the Greek, there is occasionally +some difficulty in fixing on the drama which was followed, and also in +ascertaining whether there be any original passage whatever in the Latin +imitation. This difficulty arises from the practice adopted by the Greek +dramatists, of new modelling their tragedies. Euripides, in particular, +sometimes altered his plays after their first representation, in order to +accommodate them to the circumstances of the times, and to obviate the +sarcastic criticisms of Aristophanes, who had frequently exposed whole +scenes to ridicule. With such views, considerable changes were made on +_Iphigenia in Aulis_, the _Hippolytus_, and _Medea_. Euripides is the +author from whom Ennius has chiefly borrowed the fables of his tragedies; +and when Sophocles and Euripides have treated the same subject, the latter +poet has been uniformly preferred. Not one of the dramas of Ennius has +been imitated from AEschylus. The reason of this is sufficiently obvious: +The plays of AEschylus have little involution of plot, and are rather what +we should now term dramatic sketches, than tragedies. The plots of +Sophocles are more complex than those of AEschylus; but the tragedies of +Euripides are the most involved of all. Now, it may be presumed, that a +tragedy crowded with action, and filled with the bustle of a complicated +fable, was best adapted to the taste of the Romans, because we _know_ that +this was their taste in comedy. Plautus combined two Greek comedies to +form one Latin; and the representation of the Hecyra of Terence, the only +Latin play formed on the simple Greek model, was repeatedly abandoned by +the people before it was concluded, for the sake of amusements of more +tumult and excitement. + +Of _Achilles_, which, in alphabetical order, is the first of the plays of +Ennius, there are just extant seven lines, which have been preserved by +Nonius and Festus; and from such remains it is impossible to know what +part of the life or actions of the Grecian hero Ennius had selected as the +subject of his plot. There were many Greek tragedies on the story of +Achilles, of which, one by Aristarchus of Tegea, was the most celebrated, +and is supposed to have been that from which Ennius copied. + +_Ajax_. Sophocles was author of two tragedies founded on the events of the +life of Ajax;--_Ajax Flagellifer_, and _Ajax Locrensis_. The first turns on +the phrensy with which the Grecian hero was seized, on being refused the +arms of Achilles, and it may be conjectured, from a single fragment, +apparently at the very close of the tragedy by Ennius, and which describes +the attendants raising the body of Ajax, streaming with blood, that this +was the piece translated by the Roman poet. + +_Alcmaeon_. This play, of which the fable closely resembles the story of +Orestes, has by some been attributed to the Latin poet Quintus Catulus. +The transports of Alcmaeon had been frequently exhibited on the Greek +stage(164). The drama of Ennius was taken from a tragedy of Euripides, +which is now lost, but its subject is well known from the Thebaid of +Statius. The soothsayer Amphiaraus, foreseeing that he would perish at the +siege of Thebes, concealed himself from the crimps of those days; but his +wife, Eryphile, who alone knew the place of his retreat, being bribed by +the gift of a mantle and necklace, revealed the secret to one of the +"Seven before Thebes," who compelled him to share in the expedition. +Before death, the prophet enjoined his son, Alcmaeon, to avenge him on his +faithless wife. The youth, in compliance with this pious command, slew his +mother, and was afterwards tormented by the Furies, who would only be +appeased by a gift of the whole _paraphernalia_ of Eryphile, which were +accordingly hung up in their temple. As soon as their persecution ceased, +he married the fair Calirrhoe, daughter of Achelous, and precipitately +judging that the consecrated necklace would be better bestowed on his +beautiful bride than on the beldame by whom he had so long been haunted, +he contrived, on false pretences, to purloin it from the place where it +was deposited; but the Furies were not to be so choused out of their +perquisites, and in consequence of his rash preference, Alcmaeon was +compelled to suffer a renewed phrensy, and to undergo a fresh course of +expiatory ceremonies(165). + +_Alexander_ (_Paris_). The plot of this play hinges on the destruction of +Troy. The passages which remain are a heavenly admonition to Priam on the +crimes of his son, a lamentation for the death of Hector, and a prediction +of Cassandra concerning the wooden horse. Planck, in his recent edition of +the _Medea_ of Ennius, while he does not deny that our poet may have +written a tragedy with the title of _Alexander_, is of opinion that the +fragments quoted as from this play in the editions of Ennius belong +properly to his _Alexandra_ (_Cassandra_), to which subject they are +perfectly applicable. This German critic has also collected a good many +fragments belonging to the _Cassandra_, which had been omitted in Columna +and Merula's editions of Ennius. The longest of these passages, delivered +by Cassandra in the style of a prophecy, seems to refer to events previous +to the Trojan war--the judgment of Paris, and arrival of Helen from Sparta. + +_Andromache_. It is uncertain from what Greek writer this tragedy has been +translated. It seems to be founded on the lamentable story of Andromache, +who fell, with other Trojan captives, to the share of Neoptolemus, and saw +her only son, Astyanax, torn from her embraces, to be precipitated from +the summit of a tower, in compliance with the injunctions of an oracle. +Among the fragments of this play, we possess one of the longest passages +extant of the works of Ennius, containing a pathetic lamentation of +Andromache for the fall and conflagration of Troy, with a comparison +between its smoking ruins and former splendour. This passage Cicero +styles, "Praeclarum Carmen!"--"Est enim," he adds, "et rebus, et verbis, et +modis lugubre(166)." + + ---- "Quid petam + Praesidi aut exsequar? quo nunc aut exilio aut fuga freta sim? + Arce et urbe orba sum; quo accidam? quo applicem? + Cui nec arae patriae domi stant; fractae et disjectae jacent, + Fana flamma deflagrata; tosti alti stant parietes. + O Pater, O Patria, O Priami domus; + Septum altisono cardine templum: + Vidi ego te, adstante ope barbarica, + Tectis caelatis, laqueatis, + Auro, ebore instructum regifice. + Haec omnia vidi inflammari, + Priamo vi vitam evitari, + Jovis aram sanguine turpari(167)." + +_Andromache Molottus_ is translated from the _Andromache_ of Euripides, +and is so called from Molottus, the son of Neoptolemus and Andromache. + +_Andromeda_. Livius Andronicus had formerly written a Latin play on the +well-known story of Perseus and Andromeda, which was translated from +Sophocles. The play of Ennius, however, on the same subject, was a version +of a tragedy of Euripides, now chiefly known from the ridicule cast on it +in the fifth act of Aristophanes' _Feasts of Ceres_. That Ennius' drama +was translated from Euripides, is sufficiently manifest, from a comparison +of its fragments with the passages of the Greek Andromeda, preserved by +Stobaeus. + +_Athamas_. There is only one short fragment of this play now extant. + +_Cresphontes_. Merope, believing that her son Cresphontes had been slain +by a person who was brought before her, discovers, when about to avenge on +him the death of her child, that she whom she had mistaken for the +murderer is Cresphontes himself. + +_Dulorestes_. Of this play there is only one line remaining, and of course +it is almost impossible to ascertain from what Greek original it was +borrowed. Even this single verse has by several critics been supposed to +be falsely attributed to Ennius, and to belong, in fact, to the Dulorestes +of Pacuvius(168). + +_Erectheus_. There is just enough of this play extant to have satisfied +Columna, one of the editors of Ennius, that it was taken from a tragedy of +the same name by Euripides. As told by Hyginus, the fable concerning +Erectheus, King of Attica, was, that he had four daughters, who all +pledged themselves not to survive the death of any one of their number. +Eumolpus, son of Neptune, being slain at the siege of Athens, his father +required that one of the daughters of Erectheus should be sacrificed to +him in compensation. This having been accomplished, her sisters slew +themselves as a matter of course, and Erectheus was soon afterwards struck +by Jupiter with thunder, at the solicitation of Neptune. The longest +passage preserved from this tragedy is the speech of Colophonia, when +about to be sacrificed to Neptune by her father. + +_Eumenides_. This play, translated from AEschylus, exhibited the phrensy of +Orestes, and his final absolution from the vengeance of the Furies. + +_Hectoris Lytris vel Lustra_, so called from {~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}, _solvo_, turned on the +redemption from Achilles by Priam, of the body of Hector. It appears, +however, from the fragments, that the combat of Hector, and the brutal +treatment of his corpse by Achilles, had been represented or related in +the early scenes of the piece. + +_Hecuba_. This is a free translation from the Greek _Hecuba_, perhaps the +most tragic of all the dramas of Euripides. From the work of Ennius, there +is still extant a speech by the shade of Polydorus, announcing in great +form his arrival from Acheron. This soliloquy, which is a good deal +expanded from the original Greek, always produced a great sensation in the +Roman theatre, and is styled by Cicero, _Grande Carmen_(169).-- + + "Adsum, atque advenio Acherunte, vix via alta, atque ardua, + Per speluncas saxeis structas aspereis pendentibus + Maxumeis; ubi rigida constat et crassa caligo inferum; + Unde animae excitantur obscura umbra, aperto ostio + Alti Acheruntis, falso sanguine imagines mortuorum(170)." + +A speech of Hecuba, on seeing the dead body of Polydorus, and in which she +reproaches the Greeks as having no punishment for the murder of a parent +or a guest, seems to have been added by Ennius himself, at least it is not +in the Greek original of Euripides. On the whole, indeed, the _Hecuba_ of +Ennius appears, so far as we can judge from the fragments, to be the least +servile of his imitations. In Columna's edition of Ennius, an opportunity +is afforded by corresponding quotations from the Greek _Hecuba_, of +comparing the manner in which the Latin poet has varied, amplified, or +compressed the thoughts of his original. In Euripides, Hecuba, while +persuading Ulysses to intercede for Polixena, says-- + + "{~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH VARIA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}' {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER XI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH TONOS~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}, {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH TONOS~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA WITH YPOGEGRAMMENI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~}, {~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH VARIA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH TONOS~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} + {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH TONOS~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}. {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH TONOS~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH PSILI AND OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}' {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER XI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH TONOS~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}, + {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~} '{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH TONOS~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH VARIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~}, {~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH PSILI~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH VARIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH TONOS~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}." + +Ennius imitates this as follows: + + "Haec tu, etsi perverse dices, facile Achivos flexeris; + Namque opulenti cum loquuntur pariter atque ignobiles, + Eadem dicta, eademque oratio aequa non aeque valent." + +This has been copied by Plautus, and from him by Moliere in his +_Amphitrion_-- + + "Tous les discours sont des sottises + Partant d'un homme sans eclat; + Ce seroient paroles exquisses, + Si c'etoit un grand qui parlat." + +The last link in this chain of imitation, is Pope's well-known lines-- + + "What woful stuff this madrigal would be, + In some starved hackney sonnetteer or me! + But let a lord once own the happy lines, + How the wit brightens, how the style refines!" + +_Iliona sive Polydorus_.--Priam, during the siege of Troy, had entrusted +his son Polydorus to the care of Polymnestor, King of Thrace, who was +married to Iliona, daughter of Priam, and slew his guest, in order to +possess himself of the treasure which had been sent along with him. The +only passage of the play which remains, is one in which the shade of +Polydorus calls on Hecuba to arise and bury her murdered son. + +_Iphigenia_.--Ennius, as already mentioned, appears invariably to have +translated from Euripides, in preference to Sophocles, when the same +subject had been treated by both these poets. Sophocles had written a +tragedy on the topic of the well-known _Iphigenia in Aulis_ of Euripides; +but it is the latter piece which has been adopted by the Roman poet. + +Boeckius has shown, in a learned dissertation, that Euripides wrote two +_Iphigenias in Aulis_(171). From the first, which has perished, +Aristophanes parodied the verses introduced in his _Frogs_; and it was on +this work that Ennius formed his Latin _Iphigenia_. The _Iphigenia_ now +extant, and published in the editions of Euripides, is a _recension_ of +the original drama, which was undertaken on account of the ridicule thrown +on it by Aristophanes, and was not acted till after the death of its +author. Boeckius, indeed, thinks, that it was written by the younger +Euripides, the nephew of the more celebrated dramatist; hence some of the +lines of Ennius, which, on comparison with the _Iphigenia_ now extant, +appear to us original, were probably translated from the first written +_Iphigenia_. Such, perhaps, are the jingling verses concerning the +disadvantages of idleness, which are supposed, not very naturally, to be +sung while weather-bound in Aulis, by the Greek soldiers, who form the +chorus of this tragedy instead of the women of Chalcis in the play of +Euripides:-- + + "Otio qui nescit uti, plus negoti habet, + Quam quum est negotium in negotio; + Nam cui quod agat institutum est, in illo negotio + Id agit; studet ibi, mentem atque animum delectat suum. + Otioso in otio animus nescit quid sibi velit. + Hoc idem est; neque domi nunc nos, nec militiae sumus: + Imus huc, hinc illuc; quum illuc ventum est, ire illinc lubet. + Incerte errat animus--(172)." + +_Medea_.--This play is imitated from the _Medea_ of Euripides. Since the +time of Paulus Manutius(173), an idea has prevailed that Ennius was the +author of two plays on the subject of Medea--one entitled _Medea_, and the +other _Medea Exsul_, both imitated from Greek originals of Euripides. This +opinion was formed in consequence of there being several passages of the +_Medea_ of Ennius, to which corresponding passages cannot be found in the +_Medea_ of Euripides, now extant; and it was confirmed by the grammarians +sometimes quoting the play by the title _Medea_, and at others by that of +_Medea Exsul_. Planck, however, in his recent edition of the fragments of +the Latin tragedy, conjectures that there was only one play, and that this +play was entitled by Ennius the _Medea Exsul_, which name was appropriate +to the subject; but that when quoted by the critics and old grammarians, +it was sometimes cited, as was natural, by its full title, at others +simply _Medea_. The lines in the Latin play, to which parallel passages +cannot be found in Euripides, he believes to be of Ennius' own invention. +Osannus thinks, that neither the opinion of Manutius, nor of Planck, is +quite accurate. He believes that Euripides wrote a _Medea_, which he +afterwards revised and altered, in order to obviate the satiric criticisms +of Aristophanes. The Greek _Medea_, which we now have, he supposes to be +compounded of the original copy and the recension,--the ancient grammarians +having interpolated the manuscripts. Ennius, he maintains, employed the +original tragedy; and hence in the Latin play, we now find translations of +lines which were omitted both in the recension and in the compound +tragedy, which is at present extant(174). + +The _Medea_ of Ennius was a popular drama at Rome, and was considered one +of the best productions of its author. Cicero asks, if there be any one +such a foe to the Roman name, as to reject or despise the _Medea_ of +Ennius. From the romantic interest of the subject, Medea was the heroine +of not less than four epic poems; and no fable, of Greek antiquity, was +more frequently dramatized by the Latin poets. Attius, Varro, Ovid, and +Seneca, successively imitated the tragedy of Ennius, and improved on their +model. + +_Phoenix_.--There were two persons of this name in mythological story. One +the son of Agenor, and brother of Cadmus, who gave name to Phoenicia; the +other the preceptor of Achilles, who accompanied that hero to the Trojan +war. The only reason for supposing that the tragedy of Ennius related to +this latter person is, that a play founded on some part of his life was +written by Euripides, from whom the Roman poet has borrowed so much. + +_Telamon_.--This play, of which no Greek original is known, seems to have +been devoted to a representation of the misfortunes of Telamon, +particularly the concluding period of his life, in which he heard of the +death of his eldest son Ajax, and the exile of his second son Teucer. To +judge from the fragments which remain, it must have been by far the finest +drama of Ennius. He thus happily versifies the celebrated sentiment of +Anaxagoras, and puts it into the mouth of Telamon, when he hears of the +death of his son-- + + "Ego quom genui, tum moriturum scivi, et ei rei sustuli; + Praeterea ad Trojam quom misi ad defendendam Graeciam, + Scibam me in mortiferum bellum, non in epulas mittere(175)." + +Ennius being an inhabitant of _Magna Graecia_, probably held the Tuscan +soothsayers and diviners in great contempt. There is a long passage cited +by the grammarians as from this tragedy, (but which, I think, must rather +have belonged to his satires,) directed against that learned body, and +calculated to give them considerable offence-- + + "Non habeo denique nauci Marsum augurem, + Non vicanos haruspices, non de circo astrologos, + Non Isiacos conjectores, non interpretes somnium: + Non enim sunt ii, aut scientia, aut arte divinei; + Sed superstitiosi vates, impudentesque hariolei, + Aut inertes, aut insanei, aut quibus egestas imperat: + Qui sibi semitam non sapiunt, alteri monstrant viam; + Quibus divitias pollicentur ab iis drachmam ipsei petunt: + De his divitiis sibi deducant drachmam; reddant caetera(176)." + +There is a good deal of wit and archness in the two concluding lines, and +the whole breathes a spirit of free-thinking, such as one might expect +from the translator of Euhemerus. In another passage, indeed, but which, I +presume, was attributed to an impious character, or one writhing under the +stroke of recent calamity, it is roundly declared that the gods take no +concern in human affairs, for if they did, the good would prosper, and the +wicked suffer, whereas it is quite the contrary: + + "Ego Deum genus esse semper dixi, et dicam coelitum; + Sed eos non curare opinor, quid agat humanum genus; + Nam si curent, bene bonis sit, male malis; quod nunc abest(177)." + +_Telephus_ is probably taken from a lost play of Euripides, ridiculed by +Aristophanes in his _Acharnenses_, from a scene of which it would seem +that Telephus had appeared on the stage in tattered garments. The passages +of the Latin play which remain, exhibit Telephus as an exile from his +kingdom, wandering about in ragged habiliments. The lines of Horace, in +his Art of Poetry, (a work which is devoted to the subject of the Roman +drama,) are probably in allusion to this tragedy: + + "Telephus et Peleus, cum pauper et exsul, uterque + Projicit ampullas et sesquipedalia verba." + +_Thyestes_.--The loose and familiar numbers in which the tragedy of +Telephus was written, were by no means suitable to the atrocious subject +of the Supper of Thyestes. Ennius accordingly has been censured by Cicero, +in a passage of his _Orator_, for employing them in this drama.--"Similia +sunt quaedam apud nostros; velut illa in Thyeste, + + 'Quemnam te esse dicam! qui tarda in senectute,' + +Et quae sequuntur: quae, nisi cum tibicen accesserit, orationi sunt solutae +simillima." There can therefore be little doubt that the passage in +Horace's Art of Poetry, in which a tragedy on the subject of Thyestes is +blamed as flat and prosaic, and hardly rising above the level of ordinary +conversation in comedy, alluded to the work of Ennius-- + + "Indignatur item privatis, ac prope socco + Dignis carminibus, narrari coena Thyestae." + +Yet this spiritless tragedy, was very popular in Rome, and continued to be +frequently represented, till Varius treated the same subject in a manner, +as we are informed by Quintilian, equal to the Greeks(178). + +It thus appears that Ennius has little claim to originality or invention +as a tragic author. Perhaps it may seem remarkable, that a poet of his +powerful genius did not rather write new plays, than copy servilely from +the Greeks. But nothing is ever invented where borrowing will as well +serve the purpose. Rome had few artists, in consequence of the facility +with which the finest specimens of the arts were procured by plundering +the towns of Sicily and Greece. Now, at the period in which Ennius +flourished, the productions of Grecian literature were almost as new to +the Romans as the most perfectly original compositions. Thus, the dramatic +works of Ennius were possessed of equal novelty for his audience as if +wholly his own; while a great deal of trouble was saved to himself. The +example, however, was unfortunate, as it communicated to Roman literature +a character of servility, and of imitation, or rather of translation, from +the Greek, which so completely pervaded it, that succeeding poets were +most faultless when they copied most closely, and at length, when they +abandoned the guides whom they had so long followed, they fell into +declamation and bombast. Probably, had the compositions of Ennius been +original, they would have been less perfect, than by being thus imitated, +or nearly translated, from the masterpieces of Greece. But the literature +of his country might ultimately have attained a higher eminence. The +imitative productions of Ennius may be likened to those trees which are +transplanted when far advanced in growth. Much at first appears to have +been gained; but it is certain, that he who sets the seedling is more +useful than the transplanter, and that, while the trees removed from their +native soil lose their original beauty and luxuriance without increase in +magnitude, the seedling swells in its parent earth to immensity of +size--fresh, blooming, and verdant in youth, vigorous in maturity, and +venerable in old age. + +Nor, although Ennius was the first writer who introduced satiric +composition into Rome, are his pretensions, in this respect, to +originality, very distinguished. He adapted the ancient satires of the +Tuscan and Oscan stage to the closet, by refining their grossness, +softening their asperity, and introducing railleries borrowed from the +Greek poets, with whom he was familiar. His satires thus appear to have +been a species of _centos_ made up from passages of various poems, which, +by slight alterations, were humorously or satirically applied, and chiefly +to the delineation of character: "Carmen," says Diomedes the grammarian, +"quod ex variis poematibus constabat satira vocabatur, quale scripserunt +Pacuvius et Ennius." The fragments which remain of these satires are too +short and broken to allow us even to divine their subject. That entitled +_Asotus_ vel _Sotadicus_, is the representation of a luxurious, dissolute +man, and was so termed from Sotades, a voluptuous Cretan poet. Quintilian +also mentions, that one of his satires contained a Dialogue between Life +and Death, contending with each other, a mode of composition suggested +perhaps by the celebrated allegory of Prodicus. We are farther informed by +Aulus Gellius, that he introduced into another satire, with great skill +and beauty, AEsop's fable of the Larks(179), now well known through the +imitation of Fontaine(180). The lark having built her nest among some +early corn, feared that it might be reaped before her young ones were fit +to take wing. She therefore desired them to report to her whatever +conversation they might hear in the fields during her absence. They first +informed her, that the husbandman had come to the spot, and desired his +son to summon their neighbours and friends to assist in cutting the crop +the next morning. The lark, on hearing this, declares, that there is no +occasion to be in any haste in removing. On the following day, it is again +reported, that the husbandman had desired that his relations should be +requested to assist him; and the lark is still of opinion that there is no +necessity to hurry away. At length, however, the young larks relate, that +the husbandman had announced that he would execute the work himself. On +hearing this, the old lark said it was now time to be gone. She +accordingly removed her younglings, and the corn was immediately cut down +by the master. From this tale Ennius deduces as the moral, + + "Hoc erit tibi argumentum semper in promptu situm; + Ne quid expectes amicos, quod tute agere possis." + +It is certainly much to be regretted that we possess so scanty fragments +of these satires, which would have been curious as the first attempts at a +species of composition which was carried to such perfection by succeeding +Latin poets, and which has been regarded as almost peculiar to the Romans. + +The great work, however, of Ennius, and of which we have still +considerable remains, was his Annals, or metrical chronicles, devoted to +the celebration of Roman exploits, from the earliest periods to the +conclusion of the Istrian war. These Annals were written by our poet in +his old age; at least, Aulus Gellius informs us, on the authority of +Varro, that the twelfth book was finished by him in his sixty-seventh +year(181). + +It may perhaps appear strange, that, when the fabulous exploits, the +superstitions, the characters and the manners, of the heroic ages, were so +admirably adapted for poetical imagery, and had been so successfully +employed in Greece, the chief work of the Father of Roman Song should have +been a sort of versified newspaper, like the _Henriade_ of Voltaire, or +the _Araucana_ of Alonco de Ercilla: For in other countries poetry has +been earliest devoted to the decoration of those marvels in which the +_amantes mira Camoenae_ chiefly rejoice. In most lands, however, the origin +of poetry was coeval with the rise of the nation, and every thing seems +wondrous to an ignorant and timid race. The Greeks, in their first +poetical age, peopled every grove and lake with fauns and naiads, or +personified the primeval powers of nature. They sung the fables concerning +their gods, and the exploits of heroes, in those ancient verses which have +been combined in the Theogony attributed to Hesiod, and those immortal +rhapsodies which have formed the basis of the Homeric poems. The +marvellous vision of Dante was the earliest effort of the Italian muse; +and some of the first specimens of verse in France and England were wild +adventures in love or arms, interspersed with stories of demons and +enchanters. But in Rome, though the first effort of the language was in +poetry, five hundred years had elapsed from the foundation of the city +before this effort was made. At that period, the Romans were a rude but +rational race. The locks of Curius were perhaps uncombed; but though the +Republic had as yet produced no character of literary elegance, she had +given birth to Cincinnatus, and Fabricius, and Camillus. Her citizens had +neither been rendered timid nor indolent by their superstitions, but were +actively employed in agriculture or in arms. They were a less +contemplative and imaginative race than the Greeks. Their spirit was +indeed sufficiently warlike; but that peculiar spirit of adventure, (which +characterised the early ages of Greece, and the middle ages of modern +Europe,) had, if it ever existed, long ago ceased in Rome. By this time, +the Roman armies were too well disciplined, and the system of warfare too +regular, to admit a description of the picturesque combats of the Greek +and Trojan charioteers. Poetry was thus too late in its birth to take a +natural flight. In such circumstances, the bard, however rich or lofty +might be his conceptions, would not listen to his own taste or +inspiration, but select the theme which was likely to prove most popular; +and the Romans, being a national and ambitious people, would be more +gratified by the jejune relation of their own exploits, than by the +_speciosa miracula_ of the most sublime or romantic invention. + +The Annals of Ennius were partly founded on those ancient traditions and +old heroic ballads, which Cicero, on the authority of Cato's _Origines_, +mentions as having been sung at feasts by the guests, many centuries +before the age of Cato, in praise of the heroes of Rome(182). Niebuhr has +attempted to show, that all the memorable events of Roman history had been +versified in ballads, or metrical chronicles, in the Saturnian measure, +before the time of Ennius; who, according to him, merely expressed in the +Greek hexameter, what his predecessors had delivered in a ruder strain, +and then maliciously depreciated these ancient compositions, in order that +he himself might be considered as the founder of Roman poetry(183). The +devotion of the Decii, and death of the Fabian family,--the stories of +Scaevola, Cocles, and Coriolanus,--Niebuhr believes to have been the +subjects of romantic ballads. Even Fabius Pictor, according to this +author, followed one of these old legends in his narrative concerning Mars +and the Wolf, and his whole history of Romulus. Livy, too, in his account +of the death of Lucretia, has actually transcribed from one of these +productions; since what Sextus says, on entering the chamber of Lucretia, +is nearly in the Saturnian measure:-- + + "Tace, Lucretia, inquit, Sextus Tarquinius sum, + Ferrum in manu est, moriere si emiseris vocem(184)." + +But the chief work, according to Niebuhr, from which Ennius borrowed, was +a romantic epopee, or chronicle, made up from these heroic ballads about +the end of the fourth century of Rome, commencing with the accession of +Tarquinius Priscus, and ending with the battle of Regillus. The arrival, +says Niebuhr, of that monarch under the name of Lucumo--his exploits and +victories--his death--then the history of Servius Tullius--the outrageous +pride of Tullia--the murder of the lawful monarch--the fall of the last +Tarquin, preceded by a supernatural warning--Lucretia--Brutus and the truly +Homeric battle of Regillus--compose an epic, which, in poetical incident, +and splendour of fancy, surpasses everything produced in the latter ages +of Rome(185). The battle of Regillus, in particular, as described by the +annalists, bears evident marks of its poetical origin. It was not a battle +between two hosts, but a struggle of heroes. As in the fights painted in +the Iliad, the champions meet in single combat, and turn by individual +exertions the tide of victory. The dictator Posthumius wounds King +Tarquin, whom he had encountered at the first onset. The Roman knight +Albutius engages with the Latin chief Mamilius, but is wounded by him, and +forced to quit the field. Mamilius then nearly breaks the Roman line, but +is slain by the Consul Herminius, which decides the fate of the day. After +the battle of Regillus, all the events are not so completely poetical; but +in the siege of Veii we have a representation of the ten years war of +Troy. The secret introduction of the troops by Camillus into the middle of +the city resembles the story of the wooden horse, and the Etruscan statue +of Juno corresponds to the Trojan Palladium(186). + +Any period of history may be thus exhibited in the form of an epic cycle; +and, though there can be little doubt of the existence of ancient +Saturnian ballads at Rome, I do not think that Niebuhr has adduced +sufficient proof or authority for his magnificent epopee, commencing with +the accession of Tarquin, and ending with the battle of Regillus. With +regard to the accusation against Ennius, of depreciating the ancient +materials which he had employed, it is founded on the contempt which he +expresses for the verses of the Fauns and the Prophets. His obligations, +if he owed any, he has certainly nowhere acknowledged, at least in the +fragments which remain; and he rather betrays an anxiety, at the +commencement of his poem, to carry away the attention of the reader from +the Saturnian muses, and direct it to the Grecian poets,--to Pindus, and +the nymphs of Helicon. + +He begins his Annals with an invocation to the nine Muses, and the account +of a vision in which Homer had appeared to him, and related the story of +the metamorphosis already mentioned:-- + + "Visus Homerus adesse poeta: + Hei mihi qualis erat, quantum mutatus ab illo! + . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . + Septingenti sunt, paulo plus vel minus, anni + Quom memini fieri me pavom." + +Ennius afterwards invokes a great number of the Gods, and then proceeds to +the history of the Alban kings. The dream of the Vestal Virgin Ilia, which +announced her pregnancy by Mars, and the foundation of Rome, is related in +verses of considerable beauty and smoothness, by Ilia to her sister +Eurydice.-- + + "Talia commemorat lacrumans, exterrita somno; + 'Euridica prognata, pater quam noster amavit, + Vivens vita meum corpus nunc deserit omne. + Nam me visus homo polcer per amoena salicta + Et ripas raptare, locosque novos: ita sola + Post illa, germana soror, errare videbar; + Tardaque vestigare, et quaerere, neque posse + Corde capessere: semita nulla pedem stabilibat. + Exin compellare pater me voce videtur + Heis verbis--O gnata, tibi sunt antegerendae + AErumnae; post ex fluvio fortuna resistet. + Haec pater ecfatus, germana, repente recessit; + Nec sese dedit in conspectum corde cupitus: + Quamquam multa manus ad coeli caerula Templa + Tendebam lacrumans, et blanda voce vocabam. + Vix aegro tum corde meo me somnus reliquit(187).'" + +In these lines there is considerable elegance and pathos; and the contest +which immediately succeeds between Romulus and Remus for the sovereignty +of Rome, is as remarkable for dignity and animation: + + "Curanteis magna cum cura, concupienteis + Regnei, dant operam simul auspicio, augurioque: + Hinc Remus auspicio se devovet, atque secundam + Solus avem servat: at Romolus polcer in alto + Quaerit Aventino, servans genus altivolantum. + Omnis cura vireis, uter esset Endoperator. + Exspectant, veluti consol, quom mittere signum + Volt, omneis avidei spectant ad carceris oras, + Qua mox emittat picteis ex faucibus currus. + Sic exspectabat populus, atque ore timebat + Rebus, utrei magnei victoria sit data regnei. + Interea Sol albus recessit in infera noctis: + Exin Candida se radiis dedit icta foras lux: + Et simol ex alto longe polcerrima praepes + Laeva volavit avis: simol aureus exoritur sol. + Cedunt ter quatuor de caelo corpora sancta + Avium, praepetibus sese, polcreisque loceis dant. + Conspicit inde sibei data Romolus esse priora, + Auspicio regni stabilita scamna, solumque(188)." + +The reigns of the kings, and the contests of the republic with the +neighbouring states previous to the Punic war, occupy the metrical annals +to the end of the sixth book(189), which concludes with the following +noble answer of Pyrrhus to the Roman ambassadors, who came to ransom the +prisoners taken from them by that prince in battle:-- + + "Nec mi aurum posco, nec mi pretium dederitis; + Nec cauponantes bellum, sed belligerantes; + Ferro, non auro, vitam cernamus utrique, + Vosne velit, an me regnare Hera; quidve ferat sors + Virtute experiamur; et hoc simol accipe dictum: + Quorum virtutei belli fortuna pepercit, + Horumdem me libertatei parcere certum est: + Dono ducite, doque volentibus cum magneis Dis(190)." + +Cicero, in his _Brutus_, says, that Ennius did not treat of the first +Punic war, as Naevius had previously written on that subject(191); to which +prior work Ennius thus alludes:-- + + "Scripsere alii rem, + Versibus, quos olim Faunei, vatesque canebant." + +P. Merula, however, who edited the fragments of Ennius, is of opinion, +that this passage of Cicero can only mean that he had not entered into +much detail of its events, as he finds several lines in the seventh book, +which, he thinks, evidently apply to the first Carthaginian war, +particularly the description of naval preparations, and the building of +the first fleet with which the Carthaginians were attacked by the Romans. +In some of the editions of Ennius, the character of the friend and +military adviser of Servilius, generally supposed to be intended as a +portrait of the poet himself(192), is ranged under the seventh book:-- + + "Hocce locutus vocat, quicum bene saepe libenter + Mensam, sermonesque suos, rerumque suarum + Comiter impertit; magna quum lapsa dies jam + Parte fuisset de parvis summisque gerendis, + Consilio, induforo lato, sanctoque senatu; + Cui res audacter magnas, parvasque, jocumque + Eloqueret, quae tincta maleis, et quae bona dictu + Evomeret, si quid vellet, tutoque locaret. + Quocum multa volup ac gaudia clamque palamque. + Ingenium cui nulla malum sententia suadet, + Ut faceret facinus; lenis tamen, haud malus; idem + Doctus, fidelis, suavis homo, facundus, suoque + Contentus, scitus, atque beatus, secunda loquens in + Tempore commodus, et verborum vir paucorum. + Multa tenens antiqua sepulta, et saepe vetustas + Quae facit, et mores veteresque novosque tenentem + Multorum veterum leges, divumque hominumque + Prudentem, qui multa loquive, tacereve possit. + Hunc inter pugnas compellat Servilius sic(193)." + +The eighth and ninth books of these Annals, which are much mutilated, +detailed the events of the second Carthaginian war in Italy and Africa. +This was by much the most interesting part of the copious subject which +Ennius had chosen, and a portion of it on which he would probably exert +all the force of his genius, in order the more to honour his friend and +patron Scipio Africanus. The same topic was selected by Silius Italicus, +and by Petrarch for his Latin poem _Africa_, which obtained him a +coronation in the Capitol. "Ennius," says the illustrious Italian, "has +sung fully of Scipio; but, in the opinion of Valerius Maximus, his style +is harsh and vulgar, and there is yet no elegant poem which has for its +subject the glorious exploits of the conqueror of Hannibal." None of the +poets who have chosen this topic, have done full justice to the most +arduous struggle in which two powerful nations had ever engaged, and which +presented the most splendid display of military genius on the one hand, +and heroic virtue on the other, that had yet been exhibited to the world. +Livy's historical account of the second Punic war possesses more real +poetry than any poem on the subject whatever. + +The tenth, eleventh, and twelfth books of the Annals of Ennius, contained +the war with Philip of Macedon. In the commencement of the thirteenth, +Hannibal excites Antiochus to a war against the Romans. In the fourteenth +book, the Consul Scipio, in the prosecution of this contest, arrives at +Ilium, which he thus apostrophizes: + + "O patria! O divum domus Ilium, et incluta bello + Pergama!" + +Several Latin writers extol the elegant lines of Ennius immediately +following, in which the Roman soldiers, alluding to its magnificent +revival in Rome, exclaim with enthusiasm, that Ilium could not be +destroyed; + + "Quai neque Dardaneeis campeis potuere perire, + Nec quom capta capei, nec quom combusta cremari(194);" + +a passage which has been closely imitated in the seventh book of Virgil: + + "Num Sigeis occumbere campis, + Num capti potuere capi: num incensa cremavit + Troja viros?" + +The fifteenth book related the expedition of Fulvius Nobilior to AEtolia, +which Ennius himself is said to have accompanied. In the two following +books he prosecuted the Istrian war; which concludes with the following +animated description of a single hero withstanding the attack of an armed +host:-- + + "Undique conveniunt, velut imber, tela Tribuno. + Configunt parmam, tinnit hastilibus umbo, + AEratae sonitant galeae: sed nec pote quisquam + Undique nitendo corpus discerpere ferro. + Semper abundanteis hastas frangitque, quatitque; + Totum sudor habet corpus, moltumque laborat; + Nec respirandi fit copia praepete ferro. + Istrei tela manu jacientes sollicitabant. + Occumbunt moltei leto, ferroque lapique, + Aut intra moeros, aut extra praecipi casu(195)." + +The concluding, or eighteenth, book seems to have been in a great measure +personal to the poet himself. It explains his motive for writing:-- + + ---- "Omnes mortales sese laudarier optant;" ---- + +and he seemingly compares himself to a Courser, who rests after his +triumphs in the Olympic games:-- + + "Sic ut fortis Equus, spatio qui saepe supremo + Vicit Olumpiaco, nunc senio confectus quiescit(196)." + +Connected with his Annals, there was a poem of Ennius devoted to the +celebration of the exploits of Scipio, in which occurs a much-admired +description of the calm of Evening, where the flow of the versification is +finely modulated to the still and solemn imagery:-- + + "Mundus coeli vastus constitit silentio, + Et Neptunus saevus undeis aspereis pausam dedit: + Sol equeis iter repressit unguleis volantibus, + Constitere amneis perenneis--arbores vento vacant(197)." + +With this first attempt at descriptive poetry in the Latin language, it +may be interesting to compare a passage produced in the extreme old age of +Roman literature, which also paints, by nearly the same images, the +profound repose of Nature:-- + + ---- "Tacet omne pecus, volucresque feraeque, + Et simulant fessos curvata cacumina somnos; + Nec trucibus fluviis idem sonus; occidit horror + AEquoris, et terris maria acclinata quiescunt." + +Horace, in one of his odes, strongly expresses the glory and honour which +the Calabrian muse of Ennius had conferred on Scipio by this poem, devoted +to his praise: + + "Non incendia Carthaginis impiae, + Ejus qui domita nomen ab Africa + Lucratus rediit, clarius indicant + Laudes quam Calabrae Pierides(198)." + +The historical poems of Ennius appear to have been written without the +introduction of much machinery or decorative fiction; and whether founded +on ancient ballads, according to one opinion(199), or framed conformably +to historical truth, according to another(200), they were obviously +deficient in those embellishments of imagination which form the +distinction between a poem and a metrical chronicle. In the subject which +he had chosen, Ennius wanted the poetic advantages of distance in place or +of time. It perhaps matters little whether the ground-work of a heroic +poem be historical or entirely fictitious, if free scope be given for the +excursions of fancy. But, in order that it may sport with advantage, the +event must be remote in time or in place; and if this rule be observed, +such subjects as those chosen by Camoens or Tasso admit of as much +colouring and embellishment as the _Faery Queen_. It is in this that Lucan +and Voltaire have erred; and neither the soaring genius of the one, nor +brilliancy of the other, could raise their themes, splendid as they were, +from the dust, or steep the mind in those reveries in which we indulge on +subjects where there is no visible or known bound to credulity and +imaginings. Still the Annals of Ennius, as a national work, were highly +gratifying to a proud ambitious people, and, in consequence, continued +long popular at Rome. They were highly relished in the age of Horace and +Virgil; and, as far down as the time of Marcus Aurelius, they were recited +in theatres and other public places for the amusement of the people(201). +The Romans, indeed, were so formed on his style, that Seneca called them +_populus Ennianus_--an Ennian race,--and said, that both Cicero and Virgil +were obliged, contrary to their own judgment, to employ antiquated terms, +in compliance with the reigning prejudice(202). From his example, too, +added to the national character, the historical epic became in future +times the great poetical resource of the Romans, who versified almost +every important event in their history. Besides the _Pharsalia_ of Lucan, +and _Punica_ of Silius Italicus, which still survive, there were many +works of this description which are now lost. Varro Atacinus chose as his +subject Caesar's war with the Sequani--Varius, the deeds of Augustus and +Agrippa--Valgius Rufus, the battle of Actium--Albinovanus, the exploits of +Germanicus--Cicero, those of Marius, and the events of his own consulship. + +We have already seen Ennius's imitation of the Greeks in his tragedies and +satires; and even in the above-mentioned historical poems, though devoted +to the celebration of Roman heroes and subjects exclusively national, he +has borrowed copiously from the Greek poets, and has often made his Roman +consuls fight over again the Homeric battles. Thus the description of the +combat of Ajax, in the 16th Book of the Iliad, beginning {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}' {~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}' +{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}, has suggested a passage, above quoted, from the fragments of the +Istrian war; and the picture of a steed breaking from his stall, and +ranging the pastures, is imitated from a similar description, in the 6th +Book of the Iliad-- + + "Et tunc sicut Equus, qui de praesepibus actus, + Vincla sua magneis animeis abrumpit, et inde + Fert sese campi per coerula, laetaque prata; + Celso pectore, saepe jubam quassat simul altam: + Spiritus ex anima calida spumas agit albas(203)." + +Homer's lines are the following:-- + + "{~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER OMEGA WITH DASIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}' {~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH DASIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH DASIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~}, {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER PHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA WITH YPOGEGRAMMENI~} + {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER XI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}, + {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER EPSILON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}, + {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}. {~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH DASIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PSI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER CHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}, {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER CHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~} + {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER OMEGA WITH DASIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}. {~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH DASIA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}' {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~}, + {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH DASIA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER PHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}' {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}(204)." + +In order to afford an opportunity of judging of Ennius's talents for +imitation, I have subjoined from the two poets, who carried that art to +the greatest perfection, corresponding passages, which are both evidently +founded on the same Greek original-- + + "Qualis, ubi abruptis fugit praesepia vinclis, + Tandem liber, Equus, campoque potitus aperto; + Aut ille in pastus armentaque tendit equarum, + Aut, assuetus aquae perfundi flumine noto, + Emicat, arrectisque fremit cervicibus alte + Luxurians; luduntque jubae per colla, per armos(205)." + +The other parallel passage is in Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered-- + + "Come Destrier, che dalle reggie stalle, + Ove al uso dell' arme si riserba, + Fugge, e libero alfin, per largo calle + Va tra gli armenti, o al fiume usato, o all' erba; + Scherzan sul collo i crini, e sulle spalle: + Si scuote la cervice alta e superba: + Suonano i pie nel corso, e par ch'avvampi, + Di sonori nitriti empiendo i campi(206)." + +To these parallel passages may be added a very similar, though perhaps not +a borrowed description, from the earliest production of the most original +of all poets, in which the horse of Adonis breaks loose during the +dalliance of Venus with his master:-- + + "The strong-necked steed, being tied unto a tree, + Breaketh his rein, and to her straight goes he. + Imperiously he leaps, he neighs, he bounds, + And now his woven girts he breaks asunder, + The bearing earth with his hard hoof he wounds, + Whose hollow womb resounds like heaven's thunder. + His ears up-prick'd, his braided hanging mane, + Upon his compass'd crest, now stands an end; + His nostrils drink the air, and forth again, + As from a furnace, vapours doth he send. + His eye which glisters scornfully, like fire, + Shows his hot courage and his high desire(207)." + +The poem of Ennius, entitled _Phagetica_, is curious,--as one would hardly +suppose, that in this early age, luxury had made such progress, that the +culinary art should have been systematically or poetically treated. All +that we know, however, of the manner in which it was prepared or served +up, is from the _Apologia_ of Apuleius. It was, which its name imports, a +didactic poem on eatables, particularly fish, as Apuleius testifies.--"Q. +Ennii _edes_ phagetica, quae versibus scripsit, innumerabilia piscium +genera enumerat, quae scilicet curiose cognorat." It is well known, that +previous to the time of Ennius, this subject had been discussed both in +prose and verse by various Greek authors(208), and was particularly +detailed in the poem of Archestratus the Epicurean-- + + "---- The bard + Who sang of poultry, venison, and lard, + Poet and cook ----" + +It appears from the following passage of Apuleius, that the work of Ennius +was a digest of all the previous books on this subject,--"Alios etiam +multis versibus decoravit, et ubi gentium quisque eorum inveniatur, +ostendit qualiter assus, aut jussulentus optime sapiat; nec tamen ab +eruditis reprehenditur." The eleven lines which remain, and which have +been preserved by Apuleius, mention the places where different sorts of +fish are found in greatest perfection and abundance-- + + "Brundusii Sargus bonus est; hunc, magnus erit si, + Sume: Apriclum piscem scite, primum esse Tarenti; + Surrentei fac emas Glaucum," &c. + +Another poem of Ennius, entitled _Epicharmus_, was so called because it +was translated from the Greek work of Epicharmus, the Pythagorean, on the +Nature of Things, in the same manner as Plato gave the name of _Timaeus_ to +the book which he translated from Timaeus the Locrian. This was the same +Epicharmus who invented Greek comedy, and resided in the court of Hiero of +Syracuse. The fragments of this work of Ennius are so broken and +corrupted, that it is impossible to follow the plan of his poem, or to +discover the system of philosophy which it inculcated. It appears, +however, to have contained many speculations concerning the elements of +which the world was primarily composed, and which, according to him, were +water, earth, air, and fire(209); as also with regard to the preservative +powers of nature. Jupiter seems merely to have been considered by him as +the air, the clouds, and the storm: + + "Isteic is est Jupiter, quem dico, Graeci vocant + Aera; quique ventus est, et nubes, imber postea, + Atque ex imbre frigus; ventus post fit, aer denuo: + Istaec propter Jupiter sunt ista, quae dico tibei, + Qui mortales urbeis, atque belluas omneis juvat(210)." + +This system, which had been previously adopted by the Etruscans, and had +been promulgated in some of the Orphic hymns, nearly corresponds with that +announced by Cato, in Lucan's _Pharsalia_-- + + "Jupiter est quodcunque vides, quocunque moveris;" + +and is not far different from the Spinozism, in Pope's Essay on Man-- + + "Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze, + Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees; + Lives through all life, extends through all extent, + Spreads undivided, operates unspent." + +Ennius, however, whose compositions thus appear to have been formed +entirely on Greek originals, has not more availed himself of these +writings than Virgil has profited by the works of Ennius. The prince of +Latin Poets has often imitated long passages, and sometimes copied whole +lines, from the Father of Roman Song. This has been shown, in a close +comparison, by Macrobius, in his _Saturnalia_(211). + + ENNIUS, Book 1. + "Qui coelum versat stellis fulgentibus aptum." + VIRGIL, Book 6. + "Axem humero torquet stellis ardentibus aptum." + ENNIUS, 1. + "Est locus Hesperiam quam mortales perhibebant." + VIRGIL, 1. + "Est locus Hesperiam Graii cognomine dicunt." + ENNIUS, 12. + "Unus homo nobis cunctando restituit rem; + Non ponebat enim rumores ante salutem. + Ergo postque magisque viri nunc gloria claret(212)." + VIRGIL, 6. + "Unus qui nobis cunctando restituis rem." + ENNIUS, 5. + "Quod per amoenam urbem leni fluit agmine flumen." + VIRGIL, 2. + "Inter opima virum leni fluit agmine Tybris." + ENNIUS, 1. + "Hei mihi qualis erat quantum mutatus ab illo." + VIRGIL, 2. + "Hei mihi qualis erat! quantum mutatus ab illo." + ENNIUS. + ---- "Postquam discordia tetra + Belli ferratos postes portasque refregit(213)." + VIRGIL, 7. + "Impulit ipsa manu portas, et cardine verso + Belli ferratos rupit Saturnia postes." + +In the longer passages, Virgil has not merely selected the happiest +thoughts and expressions of his predecessor, but in borrowing a great deal +from Ennius, he has added much of his own. He has thrown on common images +new lights of fancy; he has struck out the finest ideas from ordinary +sentiments, and expunged all puerile conceits and absurdities. + +Lucretius and Ovid have also frequently availed themselves of the works of +Ennius. His description of felling the trees of a forest, in order to fit +out a fleet against the Carthaginians, in the seventh book, has been +imitated by Statius in the tenth book of the _Thebaid_. The passage in his +sixth satire, in which he has painted the happy situation of a parasite, +compared with that of the master of a feast, is copied in Terence's +Phormio(214). The following beautiful lines have been imitated by +innumerable poets, both ancient and modern: + + "Jupiter hic risit, tempestatesque serenae + Riserunt omnes risu Jovis omnipotentis(215)." + +Near the commencement of his _Annals_, Ennius says, + + "Audire est operae pretium, procedere recte + Qui rem Romanam Latiumque augescere vultis;" + +which solemn passage has been parodied by Horace, in the second satire of +the first book: + + "Audire est operae pretium, procedere recte + Qui moechis non vultis, ut omni parte laborent." + +Thus it appears that Ennius occasionally produced verses of considerable +harmony and beauty, and that his conceptions were frequently expressed +with energy and spirit. It must be recollected, however, that the lines +imitated by Virgil, and the other passages which have been here extracted +from the works of Ennius, are very favourable specimens of his taste and +genius. Sometimes poems, which have themselves been lost, and of which +only fragments are preserved, in the citations of contemporary or +succeeding authors, are now believed to have been finer productions than +they perhaps actually were. It is the best passages which are quoted, and +imitated, and are thus upborne on the tide of ages, while the grosser +parts have sunk and perished in the flood. We are in this manner led to +form an undue estimate of the excellence of the whole, in the same manner +as we doubtless conceive an exaggerated idea of the ancient magnificence +of Persepolis or Palmyra, where, while the humble dwellings have mouldered +into dust, the temples and pyramids remain, and all that meets the eye is +towering and majestic. A few, however, even of the verses of Ennius which +have been preserved, are very harsh, and defective in their mechanical +construction; others are exceedingly prosaic, as, + + "Egregie cordatus homo Catus AElius Sextus;" + +and not a few are deformed with the most absurd conceits, not so much in +the idea, as in a jingle of words and extravagant alliteration. The +ambiguity of the celebrated verse, + + "Aio te AEacida Romanos vincere posse," + +may be excused as oracular, but what can be said for such lines as, + + "Haud doctis dictis certantes sed maledictis. + O Tite tute Tate tibi tanta tyranne tulisti. + Stultus est qui cupida cupiens cupienter cupit." + +This species of conceit was rejected by the good taste of subsequent Latin +poets, even in the most degraded periods of literature; and I know no +parallel to it, except in some passages of Sidney's Arcadia. Nothing can +be a greater mistake, than to suppose that false taste and jingle are +peculiar to the latter ages of poetry, and that the early bards of a +country are free from _concetti_. + +On the whole, the works of Ennius are rather pleasing and interesting, as +the early blossoms of that poetry which afterwards opened to such +perfection, than estimable from their own intrinsic beauty. To many +critics the latter part of Ovid's observation, + + "Ennius ingenio maximus--arte rudis," + +has appeared better founded than the first. Scaliger, however, has termed +him, "Poeta antiquus magnifico ingenio: Utinam hunc haberemus integrum, et +amisissemus Lucanum, Statium, Silium Italicum, _et tous ces garcons +la_(216)." Quintilian has happily enough compared the writings of Ennius +to those sacred groves hallowed by their antiquity, and which we do not so +much admire for their beauty, as revere with religious awe and dread(217). +Hence, if we cannot allow Ennius to be crowned with the poetical laurel, +we may at least grant the privilege conceded to him by Propertius-- + + "Ennius hirsuta cingat sua tempora quercu." + +Politian, in his _Nutricia_, has recapitulated the events of the life of +Ennius, and has given perhaps the most faithful summary of his character, +both as a man and a poet-- + + "Bella horrenda tonat Romanorumque triumphos, + Inque vicem nexos per carmina degerit annos: + Arte rudis, sed mente potens, parcissimus oris, + Pauper opum, fidens animi, morumque probatus, + Contentusque suo, nec bello ignarus et armis." + +But whatever may have been the merits of the works of Ennius, of which we +are now but incompetent judges, they were at least sufficiently various. +Epic, dramatic, satiric, and didactic poetry, were all successively +attempted by him; and we also learn that he exercised himself in lighter +sorts of verse, as the epigram and acrostic(218). For this novelty and +exuberance it is not difficult to account. The fountains of Greek +literature, as yet untasted in Latium, were to him inexhaustible sources. +He stood in very different circumstances from those Greek bards who had to +rely solely on their own genius, or from his successors in Latin poetry, +who wrote after the best productions of Greece had become familiar to the +Romans. He was placed in a situation in which he could enjoy all the +popularity and applause due to originality, without undergoing the labour +of invention, and might rapidly run with success through every mode of the +lyre, without possessing incredible diversity of genius. + +The above criticisms apply to the poetical productions of Ennius; but the +most curious point connected with his literary history is his prose +translation of the celebrated work of Euhemerus, entitled, {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER IOTA WITH DASIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~} {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}. +Euhemerus is generally supposed to have been an inhabitant of Messene, a +city of Peloponnesus. Being sent, as he represented, on a voyage of +discovery by Cassander, King of Macedon, he came to an island called +Panchaia, in the capital of which, Panara, he found a temple of the +Tryphilian Jupiter, where stood a column inscribed with a register of the +births and deaths of many of the gods. Among these, he specified Uranus, +his sons Pan and Saturn, and his daughters Rhea and Ceres; as also +Jupiter, Juno, and Neptune, who were the offspring of Saturn. Accordingly, +the design of Euhemerus was to show, by investigating their actions, and +recording the places of their births and burials, that the mythological +deities were mere mortal men, raised to the rank of gods on account of the +benefits which they had conferred on mankind,--a system which, according to +Meiners and Warburton, formed the grand secret revealed at the initiation +into the Eleusinian mysteries(219). The translation by Ennius, as well as +the original work, is lost; but many particulars concerning Euhemerus, and +the object of his history, are mentioned in a fragment of Diodorus +Siculus, preserved by Eusebius. Some passages have also been saved by St. +Augustine; and long quotations, have been made by Lactantius, in his +treatise _De Falsa Religione_. These, so far as they extend, may be +regarded as the truest and purest sources of mythological history, though +not much followed in our modern _Pantheons_. + +Plutarch, who was associated to the priesthood, and all who were +interested in the support of the vulgar creed, maintained, that the whole +work of Euhemerus, with his voyage to Panchaia, was an impudent fiction; +and, in particular, it was urged, that no one except Euhemerus had ever +seen or heard of the land of Panchaia(220): that the Panchaia Tellus had +indeed been described in a flowery and poetical style, both by Diodorus +Siculus and Virgil-- + + "Totaque thuriferis Panchaia pinguis arenis(221)." + +but not in such a manner as to determine its geographical position. + +The truth, however, of the relation contained in the work of Euhemerus, +has been vindicated by modern writers; who have attempted to prove that +Panchaia was an island of the Red Sea, which Euhemerus had actually +visited in the course of his voyage(222). But whether Euhemerus merely +recorded what he had seen, or whether the whole book was a device and +contrivance of his own, it seems highly probable that the translation of +Ennius gave rise to the belief of many Roman philosophers, who maintained, +or insinuated, their conviction of the mortality of the gods, and whose +writings have been so frequently appealed to by Farmer, in his able +disquisition on the prevalence of the Worship of Human Spirits. + +It is clear, that notwithstanding their observance of prodigies and +religious ceremonies, there prevailed a considerable spirit of +free-thinking among the Romans in the age of Ennius. This is apparent, not +merely from his translation of Euhemerus, and definition of the nature of +Jupiter, in his _Epicharmus_, but from various passages in dramas adapted +for public representation, which deride the superstitions of augurs and +soothsayers, as well as the false ideas entertained of the worshipped +divinities. Polybius, too, who flourished shortly after Ennius, speaks of +the fear of the gods, and the inventions of augury, merely as an excellent +political engine, at the same time that he reprehends the rashness and +absurdity of those who were endeavouring to extirpate such useful +opinions(223). + +The dramatic career which had been commenced by Livius Andronicus and +Ennius, was most successfully prosecuted by + + + + + + PLAUTUS, + + +who availed himself, still more even than his predecessors, of the works +of the Greeks. The Old Greek comedy was excessively satirical, and +sometimes obscene. Its subjects, as is well known, were not entirely +fictitious, but in a great measure real; and neither the highest station, +nor the brightest talents, were any security against the unrestrained +invectives of the comic muse in her earliest sallies. Cratinus, Eupolis, +and Aristophanes, were permitted to introduce on the stage the +philosophers, generals, and magistrates of the state with their true +countenances, and as it were in _propria persona_; a license which seems, +in some measure, to have been regarded as the badge of popular freedom. It +is only from the plays of Aristophanes that we can judge of the spirit of +the ancient comedy. Its genius was so wild and strange, that it scarcely +admits of definition: and can hardly be otherwise described, than as +containing a great deal of allegorical satire on the political measures +and manners of the Athenians, and parodies on their tragic poets. + +When in Athens the people began to lose their political influence, and +when the management of their affairs was vested in fewer hands than +formerly, the oligarchical government restrained this excessive license; +but while the poets were prohibited from naming the individuals whose +actions they exposed, still they represented real characters so justly, +though under fictitious appellations, that there could be no mistake with +regard to the persons intended. This species of drama, which comprehends +some of the later pieces of Aristophanes,--for example, his Plutus,--and is +named the Middle comedy, was soon discovered to be as offensive and +dangerous as the old. The dramatists being thus at length forced to invent +their subjects and characters, comedy became a general yet lively +imitation of the common actions of life. All personal allusion was +dropped, and the Chorus, which had been the great vehicle of censure and +satire, was removed. The new comedy was thus so different in its features +from the middle or the old, that Schlegel has been induced to think, that +it was formed on the model of the latest tragedians, rather than on the +ancient comedy(224). In the productions of Agathon, and even in some +dramas of Euripides, tragedy had descended from its primeval height, and +represented the distresses of domestic life, though still the domestic +life of kings and heroes. Though Euripides was justly styled by Aristotle +the most tragic of all poets, his style possessed neither the energy and +sublimity of AEschylus, nor the gravity and stateliness of Sophocles, and +it was frequently not much elevated above the language of ordinary +conversation. His plots, too, like the _Rudens_ of Plautus, often hinge on +the fear of women, lest they be torn from the shrines or altars to which +they had fled for protection; and what may be regarded as a confirmation +of this opinion is, that Euripides, who had been so severely satirized by +Aristophanes, was extravagantly extolled by Philemon, in his own age the +most popular writer of the new comedy. + +While possessing, perhaps, both less art and fire than the old satirical +drama, produced in times of greater public freedom, the new comedy is +generally reputed to have been superior in delicacy, regularity, and +decorum. But although it represented the characters and manners of real +life, yet in these characters and manners--to judge at least from the +fragments which remain, and from the Latin imitations--there does not +appear to have been much variety. There is always an old father, a lover, +and a courtezan; as if formed on each other, like the Platonic and +licentious lover in the Spanish romances of chivalry. "Their plots," says +Dryden, "were commonly a little girl, stolen or wandering from her +parents, brought back unknown to the city,--there got with child by some +one, who, by the help of his servant, cheats his father,--and when her time +comes to cry Juno Lucina, one or other sees a little box or cabinet which +was carried away with her, and so discovers her to her friends;--if some +god do not prevent it, by coming down in a machine, and taking the thanks +of it to himself. By the plot you may guess much of the characters of the +persons; an old father, who would willingly before he dies see his son +well married; a debauched son, kind in his nature to his mistress, but +miserably in want of money; and a servant, or slave, who has so much art +as to strike in with him, and help to dupe his father; a braggadocio +captain; a parasite; a lady of pleasure. As for the poor honest maid, on +whom the story is built, and who ought to be one of the principal actors +in the play, she is commonly mute in it. She has the breeding of the old +Elizabeth way: which was, for maids to be seen and not to be heard." +Sometimes, however, her breeding appears in being heard and not seen; and +Donatus remarks, that invocations of Juno behind the scenes were the only +way in which the _severity_ of the _Comoedia palliata_ allowed young +gentlewomen to be introduced. Were we to characterize the ancient drama by +appellations of modern invention, it might be said, that the ancient +comedy was what we call a comedy of character, and the modern a comedy of +intrigue. + +Naevius, while inventing plots of his own, had tried to introduce on the +Roman stage the style of the _old_ Greek comedy; but his dramas did not +succeed, and the fate of their author deterred others from following his +dangerous career. The government of Athens, which occupies a chief part in +the old comedy, was the most popular of all administrations; and hence not +only oratory but comedy claimed the right of ridiculing and exposing it. +The first state in Greece became the subject of merriment. In one play, +the whole body of the people was represented under the allegorical +personage of an old doting driveller; and the pleasantry was not only +tolerated but enjoyed by the members of the state itself. Cleon and +Lamachus could not have repressed the satire of Aristophanes, as the +Metelli checked the invectives of Naevius. Under pretence of patriotic +zeal, the Greek comic writers spared no part of the public +conduct,--councils, revenues, popular assemblies, judicial proceedings, or +warlike enterprizes. Such exposure was a restraint on the ambition of +individuals,--a matter of importance to a people jealous of its liberties. +All this, however, was quite foreign to the more serious taste, and more +aristocratic government, of the Romans, to their estimation of heroes and +statesmen, to their respect for their legitimate chiefs, and for the +dignity even of a Roman citizen. The profound reverence and proud +affection which they entertained for all that exalted the honour of their +country, and their extreme sensibility to its slightest disgrace, must +have interdicted any exhibition, in which its glory was humbled, or its +misfortunes held up to mockery. They would not have laughed so heartily at +the disasters of a Carthaginian, as the Athenians did at those of a +Peloponnesian or Sicilian war. The disposition which led them to return +thanks to Varro, after the battle of Cannae, that he had not despaired of +the republic, was very different from the temper which excited such +contumelious laughter at the promoters of the Spartan war, and the +advisers of the fatal expedition to Syracuse(225). When the Roman people +were seriously offended, the Tarpeian rock, and not the stage, was the +spot selected for their vengeance. + +Accordingly, Plautus found it most prudent to imitate the style of the new +comedy, which had been brought to perfection, about half a century before +his birth, by Menander. All his comedies, however, are not strictly formed +on this model, as a few partake of the nature of the middle comedy: not +that, like Naevius, he satirized the senators or consuls; but I have little +doubt that many of his _dramatis personae_, such as the miser and braggart +captain, were originally caricatures of citizens of Athens. In borrowing +from the Greek, he did not, like modern writers of comedy who wish to +conceal their plagiarisms, vary the names of his characters, the scene of +action, and other external circumstances, while the substance of the drama +remained the same; on the contrary, he preserved every circumstance which +could tend to give his dramatic pieces a Greek air:-- + + "Atque hoc poetae faciunt in comoediis; + Omnes res gestas esse Athenis autumant, + Quo illud vobis Graecum videatur magis." + +Plautus was the son of a freedman, and was born at Sarsina, a town in +Umbria, about the year 525. He was called Plautus from his splay feet, a +defect common among the Umbrians. Having turned his attention to the +stage, he soon realized a considerable fortune by the popularity of his +dramas; but by risking it in trade, or spending it, according others, on +the splendid dresses which he wore as an actor, and theatrical amusements +being little resorted to, on account of the famine then prevailing at +Rome, he was quickly reduced to such necessity as forced him to labour at +a hand-mill for his daily support(226) an employment which at Rome, was +the ordinary punishment of a worthless slave. Many of his plays were +written in these unfavourable circumstances, and of course have not +obtained all the perfection which might otherwise have resulted from his +knowledge of life, and his long practice in the dramatic art. + +Of the performances of Plautus, the first, in that alphabetical order in +which, for want of a better, they are usually arranged, is, + +_Amphitryon_.--Personal resemblances are a most fertile subject of comic +incidents, and almost all nations have had their Amphitryon. The Athenians +in particular gladly availed themselves of this subject, as it afforded an +opportunity of throwing ridicule on the dull Boeotians. It is not certain, +however, from what Greek author the play of Plautus was taken. Being +announced as a tragi-comedy, some critics(227) have conjectured that it +was most probably imitated from an Amphitryon mentioned by Athenaeus,(228) +which was the work of Rhinton, a poet of Tarentum, who wrote +mock-tragedies and tragi-comedies styled _Rhintonica_ or _Hilarotragoediae_. +M. Schlegel, however, alleges that it was borrowed from a play of +Epicharmus the Sicilian. The subjects indeed of the ancient Greek comedy, +particularly in the hands of Epicharmus, its inventor, were frequently +derived from mythology. Even in its maturity, these topics were not +renounced, as appears from the titles of several lost pieces of +Aristophanes and his contemporaries. Such fabulous traditions continued +sometimes to occupy the scenes of the middle comedy, and it was not till +the new was introduced that the sphere of the comic drama was confined to +the representation of private and domestic life. Euripides also is said to +have written a play entitled _Alcmena_, on the story of Amphitryon, but +how far Plautus may have been indebted to him for his plot cannot be now +ascertained. It is probable enough, however, that some of the serious +parts may have been copied from the _Alcmena_ of Euripides. The +catastrophe of Plautus's _Amphitryon_ is brought about by a storm; and we +learn from the _Rudens_, another play of Plautus, that a tempest was +introduced by the Greek tragedian-- + + "Non ventus fuit, verum Alcmena Euripidis." + +The Latin play is introduced by a prologue which is spoken by the God +Mercury, and was explanatory to the audience of the circumstances +preceding the opening of the piece, and the situation of the principal +characters. The term _prologue_ has been very arbitrarily used. In one +sense it merely signified the induction to the dramatic action, which +informed the spectator of what was necessary to be known for duly +understanding it. Aristotle calls that part of a tragedy the prologue, +which precedes the first song of the chorus.(229) In the Greek tragedies, +the prologue was often a long introductory and narrative monologue. +Sophocles, however, so _dialogued_ this part of the drama, that it has no +appearance of a contrivance to instruct, but seems a natural conversation +of the _dramatis personae_. Euripides, on the other hand, fell more into +the style of the formal narrative prologue, since, before entering on the +action or dialogue, one of the persons destined to bear a part in the +drama frequently explained to the audience, in a continued discourse, what +things seemed essential for understanding the piece. Sometimes, however, +in the Greek tragedies, the speaker of this species of prologue is not a +person of the drama. In general, these artificial prologues of explanatory +narration are addressed directly to the spectators, and hence approach +nearly to the prologue, in our acceptation of the term. The poets of the +ancient comedy, as we see from Aristophanes, usually adopted, like +Sophocles, the mode of explaining preliminary circumstances in the course +of the action, whence it has been considered that the old Greek comedies +have no prologue; and they certainly have none in the strict modern sense, +though the method of Euripides has been employed to a certain degree in +the _Wasps_ and _Birds_, in the former of which Xanthias, interrupting the +dialogue with Sosias, turns abruptly to the spectators, and unfolds the +argument of the fable. The poets of the middle and new comedy, while +departing from Aristophanes in many things, followed him in the form of +the prologue; and, as they improved in refinement, interwove still closer +the requisite exposition of the fable with its action. The Romans thus +found among the Greeks, prologues in a continued narrative, and prologues +where the exposition was mixed with the action. From these models they +formed a new species, peculiar to themselves, which is entirely separated +from the action of the drama, and which generally contains an explanation +of circumstances and characters, with such gentle recommendation of the +piece as suited the purpose of the author. We shall find that the Latin +prologues, dressed up in the form of narrative, sometimes preceded the +dramatic induction of the action, and at other times, as in the _Miles +Gloriosus_, followed it. The prologue of the _Mostellaria_ is on the plan +adopted by Aristophanes, and that of the _Cistellaria_ is conformable to +the practice of our own theatre. To other plays, such as the _Epidicus_ +and _Bacchides_, there were originally no prologues, but they were +prefixed after the death of the author, in order to explain the reasons +for bringing them forward anew. It thus appears that in his prologues +Plautus approached nearer to Euripides than to those comic writers whom in +his argument and all other respects he chiefly followed. The prologues of +Terence, again, seldom announce the subject. In the manner of the Greeks, +his induction is laid in the first scene of the play, and the prologues +seem chiefly intended to acknowledge the Greek original of his drama, and +to explain matters personal to himself. They rather resemble the choruses +of Aristophanes, which in the _Wasps_ and other plays directly address the +audience in favour of the poet, and complain of the unjust reception which +his dramas occasionally experienced. + +In the prologue to the _Amphitryon_, Plautus calls his play a +tragi-comedy(230); probably not so much that there is any thing tragical +in the subject, (although the character of Alcmena is a serious one,) as, +because it is of that mixed kind in which the highest as well as lowest +characters are introduced. The plot is chiefly founded on the well-known +mythological incident of Jupiter assuming the figure of Amphitryon, +general of the Thebans, during his absence with the army, and by that +means imposing on his wife Alcmena. The play opens while Jupiter is +supposed to be with the object of his passion. Sosia, the servant of +Amphitryon, who had been sent on before by his master, from the port to +announce his victory and approach, is introduced on the stage, proceeding +towards the palace of Amphitryon. While expressing his astonishment at the +length of the night, he is met, in front of his master's house, by +Mercury, who had assumed his form, and who, partly by blows and threats, +and partly by leading him to doubt of his own identity, succeeds in +driving him back. This gives Jupiter time to prosecute his amour, and he +departs at dawn. The improbable story related by Sosia is not believed by +his master, who himself now advances towards his house, from which Alcmena +comes forth, lamenting the departure of her supposed husband; but seeing +Amphitryon, she expresses her surprise at his speedy return. The jealousy +of Amphitryon is thus excited, and he quits the stage, in order to bring +evidence that he had never till that time quitted his army. Jupiter then +returns, and Amphitryon is afterwards refused access to his own house by +Mercury, who pretends that he does not know him. At length Jupiter and +Amphitryon are confronted. They are successively questioned as to the +events of the late war by the pilot of the ship in which Amphitryon had +returned. As Jupiter also stands this test of identity, the real +Amphitryon is wrought up to such a pitch of rage and despair, that he +resolves to wreak vengeance on his whole family, and is provoked even to +utter blasphemies, by setting the gods at defiance. He is supposed +immediately after this to have been struck down by lightning, as, in the +next scene, Bromia, the attendant of Alcmena, rushes out from the house, +alarmed at the tempest, and finds Amphitryon lying prostrate on the earth. +When he has recovered, she announces to him that during the storm Alcmena +had given birth to twins:-- + + "_Amph._ Ain' tu Geminos? _Brom._ Geminos. _Amph._ Dii me servent." + +Jupiter then, _in propria persona_, reveals the whole mystery, and +Amphitryon appears to be much flattered by the honour which had been paid +him. + +In this play the jealousy and perplexity of Amphitryon are well portrayed, +and the whole character of Alcmena is beautifully drawn. She is +represented as an affectionate wife, full of innocence and simplicity, and +her distress at the suspicions of the real Amphitryon is highly +interesting. The English translator of Plautus has remarked the great +similarity of manners between her and Desdemona, while placed in similar +circumstances. Both express indignation at being suspected, but love for +their husbands makes them easily reconciled. The reader, however, feels +that Amphitryon and Alcmena remain in an awkward situation at the +conclusion of the piece. It must also be confessed, that the Roman +dramatist has assigned a strange part to Jupiter Optimus Maximus, at whose +festivals this play is said to have been usually performed; but, as +Voltaire has remarked, "Il n'y a que ceux qui ne savent point combien les +hommes agissent peu consequemment, qui puissent etre surpris, qu'on se +moqua publiquement au theatre des memes dieux qu'on adorait dans les +temples." + +Mistakes are a most fruitful subject of comic incident, and never could +there be such mistakes as those which arise from two persons being +undistinguishable: but then, in order to give an appearance of +verisimilitude on the stage, it was almost necessary that the play should +be represented with masks, which could alone exhibit the perfect +resemblance of the two Amphitryons and the two Sosias; and even with this +advantage, such errors, in order to possess dramatic plausibility, must +have been founded on some mythological tradition. The subject, therefore, +is but an indifferent one for the modern stage. Accordingly, Ludovico +Dolce, who first imitated this comedy in his play entitled _Marito_, has +grossly erred in transporting the scene from Thebes to Padua, and +assigning the parts of Jupiter and Amphitryon to Messer Muzio and +Fabrizio, two Italian citizens, who were so similar in appearance, that +the wife of one of them, though a sensible and virtuous woman, is deceived +night and day, during her husband's absence, by the resemblance, and the +deception is aided by the still more marvellous likeness of their +domestics. In place of Jupiter appearing in the clouds, and justifying +Alcmena, the Italian has introduced a monk, called Fra Girolamo, who is +bribed to persuade the foolish husband that a spirit (Folletto) had one +night transported him to Padua, during sleep, which satisfactorily +accounts to him for the situation in which he finds his wife on his return +home. + +These absurdities have been in a great measure avoided in the imitation by +Rotrou, who may be regarded as the father of the French drama, having +first exploded the bad taste which pervades the pieces of Hardy. His +comedy entitled _Les Deux Sosies_, is completely framed on the Amphitryon +of Plautus, only the prologue is spoken by the inveterate Juno, who +declaims against her rivals, and enumerates the labours which she has in +store for the son of Alcmena. + +But by far the most celebrated imitation of Plautus is the _Amphitrion_ of +Moliere, who has managed with much delicacy a subject in itself not the +most decorous. He has in general followed the steps of the Roman +dramatist, but where he has departed from them, he has improved on the +original. Instead of the dull and inconsistent prologue delivered by +Mercury, which explains the subject of the piece, he has introduced a +scene between Mercury and Night, (probably suggested by the Dialogues of +Lucian between Mercury and the Sun on the same occasion,) in which Mercury +announces the state of matters while requesting Night to prolong her stay +on earth for the sake of Jupiter. At the commencement of the piece, +Plautus has made Sosia repeat to himself a very minute, though picturesque +account of the victory of the Thebans, as preparatory to a proper +description of it to Alcmena. This Moliere has formed into a sort of +dialogued soliloquy between Sosia and his Lantern, which rehearses the +answers anticipated from Alcmena, till the discourse is at length +interrupted by the arrival of Mercury, when the speaker has lost himself +among the manoeuvres of the troops. In the Latin _Amphitryon_, Mercury +threatens Sosia, and he replies to his rodomontade by puns and quibbles, +which have been omitted by the French poet, who makes the spectators laugh +by the excessive and ridiculous terror of Sosia, and not by pleasantries +inconsistent with his feelings and situation. Moliere has copied from +Plautus the manner in which Sosia is gradually led to doubt of his own +identity: his consequent confusion of ideas has been closely imitated, as +also the ensuing scenes of the quarrel and reconciliation between Jupiter +and Alcmena. He has added the part of Cleanthes, the wife of Sosia, +suggested to him by a line put into the mouth of Sosia by Plautus-- + + "Quid me expectatum non rere amicae meae venturum." + +It was certainly ingenious to make the adventures of the slave a parody on +those of his master, and this new character produces an agreeable scene +between her and Mercury, who is little pleased with the caresses of this +antiquated charmer. On the other hand, the French dramatist has omitted +the examination of the double Amphitryons, and nearly introduces them in +the presence of two Thebans: Amphitryon brings his friends to avenge him, +by assaulting Jupiter, when that god appears in the clouds and announces +the future birth of Hercules. Through the whole comedy, Moliere has given +a different colour to the behaviour of Jupiter, from that thrown over it +by Plautus. In the Latin play he assumes quite the character of the +husband; but with Moliere he is more of a lover and gallant, and pays +Alcmena so many amorous compliments, that she exclaims, + + "Amphitrion, en verite, + Vous vous moquez de tenir ce langage!" + +Moliere evidently felt that Alcmena and Amphitryon were placed in an +awkward situation, in spite of the assurances of Jupiter-- + + "Alcmene est toute a toi, quelque soin qu'on employe; + Et ce doit a tes feux etre un objet bien doux, + De voir, que pour lui plaire, il n'est point d'autre voie, + Que de paraitre son epoux. + _Sosie_. Le seigneur Jupiter sait dorer sa pilule." + +In these, and several other lines, Moliere has availed himself of the old +French play of Rotrou. The lively expression of Sosia, + + "Le veritable Amphitryon est l'Amphitryon ou l'on dine," + +which has passed into a sort of proverb, has been suggested by a similar +phrase of Rotrou's Sosia-- + + "Point point d'Amphitryon ou l'on ne dine point;" + +and the lines, + + "J'etais venu, je vous jure, + Avant que je fusse arrive," + +are nearly copied from Rotrou's + + "J'etais chez-nous avant mon arrive;" + +and Sosia's boast, in the older French play, + + "Il m'est conforme en tout--il est grand, il est fort," + +has probably suggested to Moliere the lines, + + "Des pieds, jusqu' a la tete il est comme moi fait, + Beau, l'air noble, bienpris, les manieres charmantes." + +The _Amphitrion_ of Moliere was published in 1668, so that Dryden, in his +imitation of Plautus's _Amphitryon_, which first appeared in 1690, had an +opportunity of also availing himself of the French piece. But, even with +this assistance, he has done Plautus less justice than his predecessor. He +has sometimes borrowed the scenes and incidents of Moliere; but has too +frequently given us ribaldry in the low characters, and bombast in the +higher, instead of the admirable grace and liveliness of the French +dramatist. His comedy commences earlier than either the French or Latin +play. Phoebus makes his appearance at the opening of the piece. The first +arrival of Jupiter in the shape of Amphitryon is then represented, +apparently in order to introduce Phaedra, the attendant of Alcmena, +exacting a promise from her mistress, before she knew, who had arrived, +that they should that night be bed-fellows as usual since Amphitryon's +absence. To this Phaedra, Dryden has assigned an amour with Mercury, to the +great jealousy of Sosia's wife, Bromia; and has mixed up the whole play +with pastoral dialogues and _rondeaus_, to which, as he informs us in his +dedication, "the numerous choir of fair ladies gave so just an applause." +The scenes of a higher description are those which have been best managed. +The latest editor, indeed, of the works of Dryden, thinks that in these +parts he has surpassed both the French and Roman dramatist. "The sensation +to be expressed," he remarks, "is not that of sentimental affection, which +the good father of Olympus was not capable of feeling; but love of that +grosser and subordinate kind, which prompted Jupiter in his intrigues, has +been expressed by none of the ancient poets in more beautiful verse, than +that in which Dryden has clothed it, in the scenes between Jupiter and +Alcmena." Milbourne, who afterwards so violently attacked the English +poet, highly compliments him on the success of this effort of his dramatic +muse-- + + "Not Phoebus could with gentler words pursue + His flying Daphne; not the morning dew + Falls softer, than the words of amorous Jove, + When melting, dying, for Alcmena's love." + +The character, however, of Alcmena is, I think, less interesting in the +English than in the Latin play. She is painted by Plautus as delighted +with the glory of her husband. In the second scene of the second act, +after a beautiful complaint on account of his absence, she consoles +herself with the thoughts of his military renown, and concludes with an +eulogy on valour, which would doubtless be highly popular in a Roman +theatre during the early ages of the Republic-- + + ---- "Virtus praemium est optimum, + Virtus omnibus rebus anteit profecto. + Libertas, salus, vita, res, parenteis, + Patria, et prognati tutantur, servantur: + Virtus omnia in se habet; omnia adsunt bona, quem pen'est virtus." + +Dryden's Alcmena is represented as quite different in her sentiments: She +exclaims, on parting with Jupiter, + + "Curse on this honour, and this public fame! + Would you had less of both, and more of love!" + +Lady M. W. Montague gives a curious account, in one of her letters, of a +German play on the subject of Amphitryon, which she saw acted at +Vienna.--"As that subject had been already handled by a Latin, French, and +English poet, I was curious to see what an Austrian author could make of +it. I understand enough of that language to comprehend the greatest part +of it; and, besides, I took with me a lady that had the goodness to +explain to me every word. I thought the house very low and dark; but the +comedy admirably recompensed that defect. I never laughed so much in my +life. It began with Jupiter falling in love out of a peep-hole in the +clouds, and ended with the birth of Hercules. But what was most pleasant +was, the use Jupiter made of his metamorphosis; for you no sooner saw him +under the figure of Amphitryon, but, instead of flying to Alcmena with the +raptures Dryden puts into his mouth, he sends for Amphitryon's tailor, and +cheats him of a laced coat, and his banker of a bag of money--a Jew of a +diamond ring, and bespeaks a great supper in his name; and the greatest +part of the comedy turns upon poor Amphitryon's being tormented by these +people for their debts. Mercury uses Sosia in the same manner; but I could +not easily pardon the liberty the poet had taken of larding his play with +not only indecent expressions, but such gross words as I do not think our +mob would suffer from a mountebank." + +In nothing can the manners of different ages and countries be more +distinctly traced, than in the way in which the same subject is treated on +the stage. In Plautus, may be remarked the military enthusiasm and early +rudeness of the Romans--in the _Marito_ of L. Dolce, the intrigues of the +Italians, and the constant interposition of priests and confessors in +domestic affairs--in Dryden, the libertinism of the reign of Charles the +Second--and in Moliere, the politeness and refinement of the court of +Louis. + +_Asinaria_, is translated from the Greek of Demophilus, a writer of the +Middle comedy. The subject is the trick put on an ass-driver by two +roguish slaves, in order to get hold of the money which he brought in +payment of some asses he had purchased from their master, that they might +employ it in supplying the extravagance of their master's son. The old +man, however, is not the dupe in this play: On the contrary, he is a +confederate in the plot, which was chiefly devised against his wife, who, +having brought her husband a great portion, imperiously governed his house +and family. By this means the youth is restored to the possession of a +mercenary mistress, from whom he had been excluded by a more wealthy +rival. The father stipulates, as a reward for the part which he had acted +in this stratagem, that he also should have a share in the favours of his +son's mistress; and the play concludes with this old wretch being detected +by his wife, carousing at a nocturnal banquet, a wreath of flowers on his +head, with his son and the courtezan. It would appear, from the concluding +address to the spectators, that neither the moral sense of the author, nor +of his audience, was very strong or correct, as the bystanders on the +stage, so far from condemning these abandoned characters, declare that the +most guilty of the three had done nothing new or surprising, or more than +what was customary: + + "_Grex._ Hic senex, si quid, clam uxorem, suo animo fecit volup, + Neque novum, neque mirum fecit, nec secus quam alii solent: + Nec quisqua'st tam in genio duro; nec tam firmo pectore, + Quin ubi quicquam occasionis sit, sibi faciat bene." + +Lucilius, while remarking in one of his fragments, that the Chremes of +Terence had preserved a just medium in morals by his obliging demeanour +towards his son, had ample grounds for observing, that the Demaenetus of +Plautus had run into an extreme-- + + "Chremes in medium, in summum ire Ademaenetus(231)." + +However exceptionable in point of morals, this play possesses much comic +vivacity and interest of character. The courtezan and the slaves are +sketched with spirit and freedom, and the rapacious disposition of the +female dealer in slave-girls, is well developed. + +It is curious that this immoral comedy should have been so frequently +acted in the Italian convents. In particular, a translation in _terza +rima_ was represented in the monastery of St Stefano at Venice, in +1514(232). It was not of a nature to be often imitated by modern writers, +but Moliere, who has borrowed so many of the plots of other plays of +Plautus, has extracted from this drama several situations and ideas. +Cleaereta, in the third scene of the first Act of the _Asinaria_, gives, as +her advice, to a gallant-- + + "Neque ille scit quid det, quid damni faciat: illi rei studet; + Vult placere sese amicae, vult mihi, vult pedissequae, + Vult famulis, vult etiam ancillis; et quoque catulo meo + Sublanditur novus amator." + +In like manner, in the _Femmes Savantes_, Henriette, while counselling +Clitandre to be complaisant, says-- + + "Un amant fait sa cour ou s'attache son coeur, + Il veut de tout le monde y gagner la faveur; + Et pour n'avoir personne a sa flamme contraire, + Jusqu'au chien du logis il s'efforce de plaire." + +_Aulularia_.--It is not known from what Greek author this play has been +taken; but there can be no doubt that it had its archetype in the Greek +drama. The festivals of Ceres and Bacchus, which in their origin were +innocent institutions, intended to celebrate the blessings of harvest and +vintage, having degenerated by means of priestcraft, became schools of +superstition and debauchery. From the adventures and intrigues which +occurred at the celebration of religious mysteries, the comic poets of +Greece frequently drew the incidents of their dramas(233), which often +turned on damsels having been rendered, on such occasions, the mothers of +children, without knowing who were the fathers. In like manner, the +intrigue of the _Aulularia_ has its commencement in the daughter of Euclio +being violated during the celebration of the mysteries of Ceres, without +being aware from whom she had received the injury. The _Aulularia_, +however, is principally occupied with the display of the character of a +Miser. No vice has been so often pelted with the good sentences of +moralists, or so often ridiculed on the stage, as avarice; and of all the +characters that have been there represented, that of the miser in the +_Aulularia_ of Plautus, is perhaps the most entertaining and best +supported. Comic dramas have been divided into those of intrigue and +character, and the _Aulularia_ is chiefly of the latter description. It is +so termed from _Aula_, or _Olla_, the diminutive of which is _Aulula_, +signifying the little earthen pot that contained a treasure which had been +concealed by his grandfather, but had been discovered by Euclio the miser, +who is the principal character of the play. The prologue is spoken by the +_Lar Familiaris_ of the house; and as the play has its origin in the +discovery of a treasure deposited under a hearth, the introduction of this +imaginary Being, if we duly consider the superstitions of the Romans, was +happy and appropriate. The account given by the _Lar_ of the successive +generations of misers, is also well imagined, as it convinces us that +Euclio was a genuine miser, and of the true breed. The household god had +disclosed the long-concealed treasure, as a reward for the piety of +Euclio's daughter, who presented him with offerings of frankincense and of +wine, which, however, it is not very probable the miser's daughter could +have procured, especially before the discovery of the treasure. The story +of the precious deposit, of which the spectators could not possibly have +been informed without this supernatural interposition, being thus related, +we are introduced at once to the knowledge of the principal character, +who, having found the treasure, employs himself in guarding it, and lives +in continual apprehension, lest it should be discovered that he possesses +it. Accordingly, he is brought on the stage driving off his servant, that +she may not spy him while visiting this hoard, and afterwards giving +directions of the strictest economy. He then leaves home on an errand very +happily imagined--an attendance at a public distribution of money to the +poor. Megadorus now proposes to marry his daughter, and Euclio comically +enough supposes that he has discovered something concerning his newly +acquired wealth; but on his offering to take her without a portion, he is +tranquillized, and agrees to the match. Knowing the disposition of his +intended father-in-law, Megadorus sends provisions to his house, and also +cooks, to prepare a marriage-feast, but the miser turns them out, and +keeps what they had brought. At length his alarm for discovery rises to +such a height, that he hides his treasure in a grove, consecrated to +Sylvanus, which lay beyond the walls of the city. While thus employed, he +is observed by the slave of Lyconides, the young man who had violated the +miser's daughter. Euclio coming to recreate himself with the sight of his +gold, finds that it is gone. Returning home in despair, he is met by +Lyconides, who, hearing of the projected nuptials between his uncle and +the miser's daughter, now apologizes for his conduct; but the miser +applies all that he says concerning his daughter to his lost treasure. +This play is unfortunately mutilated, and ends with the slave of Lyconides +confessing to his master that he has found the miser's hoard, and offering +to give it up as the price of his freedom. It may be presumed, however, +that, in the original, Lyconides got possession of the treasure, and by +its restoration to Euclio, so far conciliated his favour, that he obtained +his daughter in marriage. This conclusion, accordingly, has been adopted +by those who have attempted to finish the comedy in the spirit of the +Latin dramatist. It is completed on this plan by Thornton, the English +translator of Plautus, and by Antonius Codrus Urceus, a professor in the +University of Bologna, who died in the year 1500. Urceus has also made the +miser suddenly change his nature, and liberally present his new son-in-law +with the restored treasure. + +The restless inquietude of Euclio, in concealing his gold in many +different places--his terror on seeing the preparations for the feast, lest +the wine brought in was meant to intoxicate him, that he might be robbed +with greater facility--his dilemma at being obliged to miss the +distribution to the poor--are all admirable traits of extreme and habitual +avarice. Even his recollection of the expense of a rope, when, in despair +at the loss of his treasure, he resolves to hang himself, though a little +overdone, is sufficiently characteristic. But while the part of a +confirmed miser has been comically and strikingly represented in these +touches, it is stretched in others beyond all bounds of probability. When +Euclio entreats his female servant to spare the cobwebs--when it is said, +that he complains of being pillaged if the smoke issue from his house--and +that he preserves the parings of his nails--we feel this to be a species of +hoarding which no miser could think of or enjoy(234). + +One of the earliest imitations of the _Aulularia_ was, _La Sporta_, a +prose Italian comedy, printed at Florence in 1543, under the name of +Giovam-Battista Gelli, but attributed by some to Machiavel. It is said, +that the great Florentine historian left this piece, in an imperfect +state, in the hands of his friend Bernardino di Giordano of Florence, in +whose house his comedies were sometimes represented, whence it passed into +the possession of Gelli, a writer of considerable humour, who prepared it +for the press; and, according to a practice not unfrequent in Italy at +different periods, published it as his own production(235). The play is +called _Sporta_, from the basket in which the treasure was contained. The +plot and incidents in Plautus have been closely followed, in so far as was +consistent with modern Italian manners; and where they varied, the +circumstances, as well as names, have been adapted by the author to the +customs and ideas of his country. Euclio is called Ghirorgoro, and +Megadorus, Lapo; the former being set up as a satire on avarice, the +latter as a pattern of proper economy. + +The principal plot of _The case is altered_, a comedy attributed to Ben +Jonson, has been taken, as shall be afterwards shown from the _Captivi_ of +Plautus; but the character of Jaques is more closely formed on that of +Euclio, than any miser on the modern stage. Jaques having purloined the +treasure of a French Lord Chamont, whose steward he had been, and having +also stolen his infant daughter, fled with them to Italy. The girl, when +she grew up, being very beautiful, had many suitors; whence her reputed +father suspects it is discovered that he possesses hidden wealth, in the +same manner as Euclio does in the scene with Megadorus. We have a +representation of his excessive anxiety lest he lose this treasure--his +concealment of it--and his examination of Juniper, the cobbler, whom he +suspects to have stolen it; which corresponds to Euclio's examination of +Strobilus. Most other modern dramatists have made their miser in love; but +in the breast of Jaques all passions are absorbed in avarice, which is +exhibited to us not so much in ridiculous instances of minute domestic +economy, as in absolute adoration of his gold: + + "I'll take no leave, sweet prince, great emperor! + But see thee every minute, king of kings!" + +It is thus he feasts his senses with his treasure: and the very ground in +which it is hidden is accounted hallowed: + + "This is the palace, where the god of gold + Shines like the sun of sparkling majesty!" + +But the most celebrated imitation of the _Aulularia_ is Moliere's _Avare_, +one of the best and most wonderful imitations ever produced. Almost +nothing is of the French dramatist's own invention. Scenes have been +selected by him from a number of different plays, in various languages, +which have no relation to each other; but every thing is so well +connected, that the whole appears to have been invented for this single +comedy. Though chiefly indebted to Plautus, he has not so closely followed +his original as in the _Amphitryon_. One difference, which materially +affects the plots of the two plays and characters of the misers, is, that +Euclio was poor till he unexpectedly found the treasure. He was not known +to be rich, and lived in constant dread of his wealth being discovered. +When any thing was said about riches, he applied it to himself; and when +well received or caressed by any one, he supposed that he was ensnared. +Harpagon, on the other hand, had amassed a fortune, and was generally +known to possess it, which gives an additional zest to the humour, as we +thus enter into the merriment of his family and neighbours; whereas the +penury of Euclio could scarcely have appeared unreasonable to the +bystanders, who were not in the secret of the acquired treasure. Moliere +has also made his miser in love, or at least resolved to marry, and amuses +us with his anxiety, in believing himself under the necessity of giving a +feast to his intended bride; which is still better than Euclio's +consternation at the supper projected by his intended son-in-law. Euclio +is constantly changing the place where he conceals his casket; Harpagon +allows it to remain, but is chiefly occupied with its security. The idea, +however, of so much incident turning on a casket, is not so happily +imagined in the French as in the Latin comedy; since, in the latter, it +was the whole treasure of which the miser was possessed, and there was at +that time no mode of lending it out safely and to advantage. Harpagon +gives a collation, but orders the fragments to be sent back to those who +had provided it; Euclio retains the provisions, which had been procured at +another's expense. From the restraint imposed by modern manners, and the +circumstance of Harpagon being known to be rich, Moliere has been forced +to omit the amusing dilemmas in which Euclio is placed with regard to his +attendance on the distributions to the poor. In recompense, he has +wonderfully improved the scene about the dowry, as also that in which the +miser applies what is said concerning his daughter to his lost treasure; +and, on the whole, he has displayed the passion of avarice in more of the +incidents and relations of domestic life than the Latin poet. Plautus had +remained satisfied with exhibiting a miser, who deprived himself of all +the comforts of life, to watch night and day over an unproductive +treasure; but Moliere went deeper into the mind. He knew that avarice is +accompanied with selfishness, and hardness of heart, and falsehood, and +mistrust, and usury; and accordingly, all these vices and evil passions +are amalgamated with the character of the French miser. + +The _Aulularia_ being a play of character, I have been led to compare the +most celebrated imitations of it rather in the exhibition of the miserly +character than in the incidents of the piece. Many of the latter which +occur in the _Avare_, have not been borrowed from Plautus, yet are not of +Moliere's invention. Thus he has added from the _Pedant Joue_ of Cyrano +Bergerac that part of the plot which consists in the love of the miser and +his son for the same woman, as also that which relates to Valere, a young +gentleman in love with the miser's daughter, who had got into his service +in disguise, and who, when the miser lost his money, which his son's +servant had stolen, was accused by another servant of having purloined it. +Moliere's notion of the miser's prodigal son borrowing money from a +usurer, and the usurer afterwards proving to be his father, is from _La +Belle Plaideuse_, a comedy of Bois-Robert. In an Italian piece, _Le Case +Svaligiate_, prior to the time of Moliere, and in the harlequin taste, +Scapin persuades Pantaloon that the young beauty with whom he is +captivated returns his love, that she sets a particular value on old age, +and dislikes youthful admirers, whence Pantaloon is induced to give his +purse to the flatterer. Frosine attacks the vanity of Harpagon in the same +manner, but he, though not unmoved by the flattery, retains his money. +Moliere has availed himself of a number of other Italian dramas of the +same description for scattered remarks and situations. The name of +Harpagon has been suggested to him by the continuation of Codrus Urceus, +where Strobilus says that the masters of the present day are so +avaricious, that they may be called Harpies or Harpagons: + + "Tenaces nimium dominos nostra aetas + Tulit, quos Harpagones vocare soleo." + +I do not know where Moliere received the hint of the _denouement_ of his +piece. The conclusion of the _Aulularia_, as already mentioned, is not +extant, but it could not have been so improbable and inartificial as the +discovery of Valere and Marianne for the children of Thomas D'Alburci, +who, under the name of Anselme, had courted the miser's daughter. + +Shadwell, Fielding, and Goldoni, enjoyed the advantage of studying +Moliere's Harpagon for their delineations of Goldingham, Lovegold, and +Ottavio. In the miser of Shadwell there is much indecency indeed of his +own invention, and some disgusting representations of city vulgarity and +vice; but still he is hardly entitled to the praise of so much originality +as he claims in his impudent preface.--"The foundation of this play," says +he, "I took from one of Moliere's, called L'Avare, but that having too few +persons, and too little action for an English theatre, I added to both so +much, that I may call more than half of this play my own; and I think I +may say, without vanity, that Moliere's part of it has not suffered in my +hands. Nor did I ever know a French comedy made use of by the worst of our +poets that was not bettered by them. It is not barrenness of art or +invention makes us borrow from the French, but laziness; and _this_ was +the occasion of my making use of _L'Avare_." + +Fielding's _Miser_, the only one of his comedies which does him credit, is +a much more agreeable play than Shadwell's. The earlier scenes are a close +imitation of Moliere, but the concluding ones are somewhat different, and +the _denouement_ is perhaps improved. Mariana is in a great measure a new +character, and those of the servants are rendered more prominent and +important than in the French original. + +The miser Ottavio, in Goldoni's _Vero Amico_, is entirely copied from +Plautus and Moliere. In the Italian play, however, the character is in a +great measure episodical, and the principal plot, which gives its title to +the piece, and corresponds with that of Diderot's _Fils Naturel_, has been +invented by the Italian dramatist. + +On the whole, Moliere has succeeded best in rendering the passion of +avarice hateful: Plautus and Goldoni have only made it ridiculous. The +profound and poetical avarice of Jaques possesses something plaintive in +its tone, which almost excites our sympathy, and never our laughter; he is +represented as a worshipper of gold, somewhat as an old Persian might be +of the sun, and he does not raise our contempt by the absurdities of +domestic economy. But Harpagon is thoroughly detestable, and is in fact +detested by his neighbours, domestics, and children. All these dramatists +are accused of having exhibited rather an allegorical representation of +avarice, than the living likeness of a human Being influenced by that +odious propensity. "Plautus," says Hurd, "and also Moliere, offended in +this, that for the picture of the avaricious man they presented us with a +fantastic unpleasing draught of the passion of avarice--I call it a +fantastic draught, because it hath no archetype in nature, and it is +farther an unpleasing one; from being the delineation of a simple passion, +unmixed, it wants + + 'The lights and shades, whose well accorded strife + Gives all the strength and colour of our life.'" + +This may in general be true, as there are certainly few unmingled +passions; but I suspect that avarice so completely engrosses the soul, +that a simple and unmixed delineation of it is not remote from nature. +"The Euclio of Plautus," says King, in his _Anecdotes_, "the Avare of +Moliere, and Miser of Shadwell, have been all exceeded by persons who have +existed within my own knowledge(236)." + +_Bacchides_:--is so called from two sisters of the name of Bacchis, who are +the courtezans in this play. In a prologue, which is supposed to be spoken +by Silenus, mounted on an ass, it is said to be taken from a Greek comedy +by Philemon. This information, however, cannot be implicitly relied on, as +the prologue was not written in the time of Plautus, and is evidently an +addition of a comparatively recent date. Some indeed have supposed that it +was prefixed by Petrarch; but at all events the following lines could not +have been anterior to the conquest of Greece by the Romans:-- + + "Samos quae terra sit, nota est omnibus: + Nam maria, terras, monteis, atque insulas + Vostrae legiones reddidere pervias." + +The leading incident in this play--a master's folly and inadvertence +counteracting the deep-laid scheme of a slave to forward his interest, has +been employed by many modern dramatists for the groundwork of their plots; +as we find from the _Inavertito_ of Nicolo Barbieri, sirnamed Beltramo, +the _Amant Indiscret_ of Quinault, Moliere's _Etourdi_, and Dryden's _Sir +Martin Mar-all_. + +The third scene of the third act of this comedy, where the father of +Pistoclerus speaks with so much indulgence of the follies of youth, has +been imitated in Moliere's _Fourberies de Scapin_, and the fifth scene of +the fourth act has suggested one in _Le Marriage Interrompu_(237), by +Cailhava. If it could be supposed that Dante had read Plautus, the +commencement of Lydus' soliloquy before the door of Bacchis, might be +plausibly conjectured to have suggested that thrilling inscription over +the gate of hell, in the third Canto of the _Inferno_-- + + "Pandite, atque aperite propere januam hanc Orci, obsecro! + Nam equidem haud aliter esse duco; quippe cui nemo advenit, + Nisi quem spes reliquere omnes ---- + + Per me si va nella citta dolente: + Per me si va nell eterno dolore: + Per me si va tra la perduta gente. + * * * * * * + Lasciate ogni speranza, voi, che entrate." + +_Captivi_.--The subject and plot of the _Captivi_ are of a different +description from those of Plautus' other comedies. No female characters +are introduced; and, as it is said in the epilogue, or concluding address +to the spectators, + + ---- "Ad pudicos mores facta haec fabula est: + Neque in hac subagitationes sunt, ullave amatio, + Nec pueri suppositio, nec argenti circumductio; + Neque ubi amans adolescens scortum liberet, clam suum patrem." + +Though no females are introduced in it, the _Captivi_ is the most tender +and amiable of Plautus' plays, and may be regarded as of a higher +description than his other comedies, since it hinges on paternal affection +and the fidelity of friendship. Many of the situations are highly +touching, and exhibit actions of generous magnanimity, free from any +mixture of burlesque. It has indeed been considered by some critics as the +origin of that class of dramas, which, under the title of _Comedies +Larmoyantes_, was at one time so much admired and so fashionable in +France(238), and in which wit and humour, the genuine offspring of Thalia, +are superseded by domestic sentiment and pathos. + +Hegio, an AEtolian gentleman, had two sons, one of whom, when only four +years old, was carried off by a slave, and sold by him in Elis. A war +having subsequently broken out between the Elians and AEtolians, Hegio's +other son was taken captive by the Elians. The father, with a view of +afterwards ransoming his son, by an exchange, purchased an Elian prisoner, +called Philocrates, along with his servant Tyndarus; and the play opens +with the master, Philocrates, personating his slave, while the slave, +Tyndarus, assumes the character of his master. By this means Tyndarus +remains a prisoner under his master's name, while Hegio is persuaded to +send the true Philocrates, under the name of Tyndarus, to Elis, in order +to effect the exchange of his son. The deception, however, is discovered +by Hegio before the return of Philocrates; and the father, fearing that he +had thus lost all hope of ransoming his child, condemns Tyndarus to labour +in the mines. In these circumstances, Philocrates returns from Elis with +Hegio's son, and also brings along with him the fugitive slave, who had +stolen his other son in infancy. It is then discovered that Tyndarus is +this child, who, having been sold to the father of Philocrates, was +appointed by him to wait on his son, and had been gradually admitted to +his young master's confidence and friendship. + +There has been a great dispute among critics and commentators, whether the +dramatic unities have been strictly observed in this comedy. M. De Coste, +in the preface to his French translation of the _Captivi_, maintains, that +the unities of place, and time, and action, have been closely attended to. +Lessing, who translated the play into German, adopted the opinion of De +Coste with regard to the observance of the unities, and he has farther +pronounced it the most perfect comedy that, in his time, had yet been +represented on the stage(239). A German critic, whose letter addressed to +Lessing is published in that author's works(240), has keenly opposed these +opinions, discussing at considerable length the question of the unities of +action, time, and place, as also pointing out many supposed +inconsistencies and improbabilities in the conduct of the drama. He +objects, in point of verisimilitude, to the long and numerous _aparts_--the +soliloquies of the parasite, which begin the first three acts,--the +frequent mention of the market-places and streets of Rome, while the scene +is laid in a town of Greece,--and the sudden as well as unaccountable +appearance of Stalagmus, the fugitive slave, at the end of the drama. The +most serious objection, however, is that which relates to the violation of +the dramatic unity of time. The scene is laid in Calydon, the capital of +AEtolia; and, at the end of the second act, Philocrates proceeds from that +city to Elis, transacts there a variety of affairs, and returns before the +play is concluded. Between these two places the distance is fifty miles; +and in going from one to the other it was necessary to cross the bay of +Corinth. It is therefore impossible (contends this critic,) that De Coste +can be accurate in maintaining that the duration of the drama is only +seven or eight hours. Allowing the poet, however, the greatest poetical +license, and giving for his play the extended period of twenty-four hours, +it is scarcely possible that the previous parts of the drama could have +been gone through, and the long voyage accomplished, in this space of +time. But it farther appears, that Plautus himself did not wish to claim +this indulgence, and intended to crowd the journey and all the preceding +dramatic incidents into twelve hours at most. He evidently means that the +action should be understood as commencing with the morning: Hegio says, in +the second scene of the first act, + + "Ego ibo ad fratrem, ad alios captivos meos, + Visum ne nocte hac quippiam turbaverint;" + +and it is evident that the action terminates with the evening meal, the +preparations for which conclude the fourth act. To all this Lessing +replied, that there was no reason to suppose that the scene was laid in +Calydon, or that the journey was made to the town of Elis, and that it +might easily have been accomplished within the time prescribed by the +dramatic rule of unities, if nearer points of the AEtolian and Elian +territories be taken than their capitals. + +Some of the characters in the _Captivi_ are very beautifully drawn. Hegio +is an excellent representation of a respectable rich old citizen: He is +naturally a humane good-humoured man, but his disposition is warped by +excess of paternal tenderness. There is not in any of the comedies of +Plautus, a more agreeable and interesting character than Tyndarus: and no +delineation can be more pleasing than that of his faithful attachment to +Philocrates, by whom he was in return implicitly trusted, and considered +rather in the light of a friend than a slave. In this play, as in most +others of Plautus, the parasite is a character somewhat of an episodical +description: He goes about prowling for a supper, and is associated to the +main subject of the piece only by the delight which he feels at the +prospect of a feast, to honour the return of Hegio's son. The parasites of +Plautus are almost as deserving a dissertation as Shakspeare's clowns. +Parasite, as is well known, was a name originally applied in Greece to +persons devoted to the service of the gods, and who were appointed for the +purpose of keeping the consecrated provisions of the temples. Diodorus of +Sinope, as quoted by Athenaeus(241), after speaking of the dignity of the +sacred parasites of Hercules, (who was himself a noted _gourmand_,) +mentions that the rich, in emulation of this demi-god, chose as followers +persons called parasites, who were not selected for their virtues or +talents, but were remarkable for extravagant flattery to their superiors, +and insolence to those inferiors who approached the persons of their +patrons. This was the character which came to be represented on the stage. +We learn from Athenaeus(242), that a parasite was introduced in one of his +plays by Epicharmus, the founder of the Greek comedy. The parasite of this +ancient dramatist lay at the feet of the rich, eat the offals from their +tables, and drank the dregs of their cups. He speaks of himself as of a +person ever ready to dine abroad when invited, and when any one is to be +married, to go to his house without an invitation--to pay for his good +cheer by exciting the merriment of the company, and to retire as soon as +he had eat and drunk sufficiently, without caring whether or not he was +lighted out by the slaves(243). In the most ancient comedies, however, +this character was not denominated parasite, and was first so called in +the plays of Araros, the son of Aristophanes, and one of the earliest +authors of the middle comedy. Antiphanes, a dramatist of the same class, +has given a very full description of the vocation of a parasite. The part, +however, did not become extremely common till the introduction of the new +comedy, when Diphilus, whose works were frequently imitated on the Roman +stage, particularly distinguished himself by his delineation of the +parasitical character(244). In the Greek theatre, the part was usually +represented by young men, dressed in a black or brown garb, and wearing +masks expressive of malignant gaiety. They carried a goblet suspended +round their waists, probably lest the slaves of their patrons should fill +to them in too small cups; and also a vial of oil to be used at the bath, +which was a necessary preparation before sitting down to table, for which +the parasite required to be always ready at a moment's warning(245). + +It was thus, too, that the character was represented on the Roman stage; +and it would farther appear, that the parasites, in the days of Plautus, +carried with them a sort of Joe Miller, as a manual of wit, with which +they occasionally refreshed their vivacity. Thus the parasite, in the +_Stichus_, says, + + "Ibo intro ad libros, et discam de dictis melioribus;" + +and again-- + + "Libros inspexi, tam confido, quam potest, + Me meum obtenturum ridiculis meis." + +The parasite naturally became a leading character of the Roman stage. In +spite of the pride and boasted national independence of its citizens, the +whole system of manners at Rome was parasitical. The connection between +patron and client, which was originally the cordial intercourse of +reciprocal services, soon became that of haughty superiority on the one +side, and sordid adulation on the other. Every client was in fact the +parasite of some patrician, whose litter he often followed like a slave, +conforming to all his caprices, and submitting to all his insults, for the +privilege of being placed at the lowest seat of the patron's table, and +there repaying this indelicate hospitality by the most servile flattery. +On the stage, the principal use of the parasite was to bring out the other +characters from the canvass. Without Gnatho, the Thraso of Terence would +have possessed less confidence; and without his flatterer, Pyrgopolinices +would never have recollected breaking an elephant's thigh by a blow of his +fist. + +The parasite, in the _Captivi_, may be considered as a fair enough +representative of his brethren in the other plays of Plautus. He submits +patiently to all manner of ignominious treatment(246)--his spirits rise and +sink according as his prospects of a feast become bright or clouded--he +speaks a great deal in soliloquies, in which he talks much of the jests by +which he attempted to recommend himself as a guest at the feasts of the +Great, but we are not favoured with any of these jests. In such +soliloquies, too, he rather expresses what would justly be thought of him +by others, than what even a parasite was likely to say of himself. + +The parasite is not a character which has been very frequently represented +on the modern stage. It is not one into which an Italian audience, who are +indifferent to good cheer, would heartily enter. Accordingly, the parasite +is not a common character in the native drama of Italy, and is chiefly +exhibited in the old comedies of Ariosto and Aretine, which are directly +imitated from the plays of Plautus or Terence; but even in them this +character does not precisely coincide with the older and more genuine +school of parasites. Ligurio, who is called the parasite in the +_Mandragora_ of Machiavel, rather corresponds to the intriguing slave than +to the parasite of the Roman drama; or at least he resembles the more +modern parasites, who, like the Phormio of Terence, ingratiated themselves +with their patrons by serviceable roguery, rather than by flattery. +Ipocrito, who, in Aretine's comedy of that name, is also styled the +parasite, is a sort of Tartuffe, with charitable and religious maxims +constantly in his mouth. He does not insinuate himself into the confidence +of his patrons by a gaping admiration of their foolish sayings, but by +extolling their virtues, and smoothing over their vices; and so far from +being treated with any sort of contumely, he is held in high +consideration, and interposes in all domestic arrangements. + +It is still more difficult to find a true parasite on the English stage. +Sir John Falstaff, though something of a parasite, is as original as he is +inimitable. Lazarillo, the hungry courtier in Beaumont and Fletcher's +_Woman Hater_, and Justice Greedy, in Massinger's _New Way to Pay Old +Debts_, to whom Sir Giles Overreach gives the command of the kitchen, and +absolute authority there, in respect of the entertainment, are rather +epicures in constant quest of delicacies, than hungry parasites, who +submit to any indignity for the sake of a meal. Lazarillo's whole intrigue +consists of schemes for being invited to dine where there was an umbrana's +head, and we are told that + + ---- "He hath a courtly kind of hunger, + And doth hunt more for novelty than plenty;" + +and Justice Greedy's delight is placed in rich canary, a larded pheasant, +or a red deer baked in puff paste. Mosca, in Ben Jonson's _Volpone_, who +grasps at presents made to him by the legacy-hunters of his patron, and +who at length attempts to defraud the patron himself, is a parasite of +infinitely greater artifice and villainy than any of those in Plautus; and +in the opinion of the late editor of Jonson, outweighs the aggregate merit +of all Plautus's parasites. Colax, who, in the _Muses' Looking-Glass_ of +Randolph, chimes in with the sentiments of each character, approving, by +an immense variety of subtle arguments, every extreme of vice and folly, +appears to flatter all those allegorical representations of the passions +exhibited in this drama, rather from courtesy than want. He tells us, +indeed, that + + "'Tis gold gives Flattery all her eloquence;" + +but this part of his character is not brought prominently forward, nor is +he represented as a glutton or epicure. Perhaps the character which comes +nearest to the parasite of the _Captivi_ is in a play not very generally +known, the _Canterbury Guests_, by Ravenscroft. + +But although it might be difficult to find a precise copy in modern times +of the parasite of the _Captivi_, its principal plot has been repeatedly +imitated, particularly in an old English drama, _The Case is altered_, +supposed to have been written by Ben Jonson, and published in some +editions of his works. Count Ferneze, a nobleman of Vicenza, and who +corresponds to Hegio, lost a son called Camillo, when Vicenza was taken by +the French. His other son, Paulo, is afterwards made prisoner by the same +enemies. Chamont, the French general, and Camillo Ferneze, who, under the +name of Gaspar, had entered into the French service, are taken prisoners +by the Italians; and while in captivity they agree to change names, and +apparent situations. Camillo, who passes for Chamont, is carefully +retained in confinement at Vicenza, while that general is despatched by +the Count Ferneze to procure the ransom of his son Paulo. The Count having +subsequently detected the imposture, Camillo is put in fetters and ordered +for execution. Chamont, however, returns with Paulo, whom he had now +redeemed, and the Count afterwards discovers, by means of a tablet hanging +round his neck, that the youth Camillo, whom he was treating with such +severity, was the son whom he had lost during the sack of Vicenza. + +The _Captivi_ is also the foundation of _Les Captifs_, a comedy of Rotrou, +where a father, afflicted by the captivity of a son, purchases all the +slaves exposed to sale in AEtolia, in the hope of recovering his child. The +interest and vivacity of the play, which is one of the best of its author, +are supported by the pleasantries of a parasite, and a variety of +ingenious incidents. Ginguene has mentioned, in the _Histoire Litteraire +d'Italie_, that the _Captivi_ must also have suggested the _Suppositi_, a +comedy by the author of the _Orlando Furioso_. Ariosto, however, has made +the incidents of the _Captivi_ subservient to a love intrigue, and not to +the deliverance of a prisoner. Whilst Erostrato, a young gentleman, acts +the part of a domestic in the house of his mistress's father, his servant, +Dulippo, personates his master, and studies in his place at the university +of Ferrara. At the conclusion of the piece, Dulippo is discovered to be +the son of an old and rich doctor of laws, who was the rival in love of +Erostrato. There is a parasite in this play as in the _Captivi_, but the +character of the doctor is new, and the scenes chiefly consist of the +schemes which are laid by the master and servant to disappoint his views +as to the lady of whom Erostrato is enamoured. + +_Casina_. This play is so called from the name of a female slave, on whom, +though she does not once appear on the stage, the whole plot of the drama +hinges. It is said in the prologue to have been translated from Diphilus, +a Greek writer of the new comedy, by whom it was called {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}, the +Lot Drawers. Diphilus was a contemporary of Menander; he was distinguished +by his comic wit and humour and occasionally by the moral sententious +character of his dramas, of which he is said to have written a hundred, +and from which larger fragments have been preserved than from any Greek +plays belonging to the new comedy. Notwithstanding what is said in the +Delphine Plautus, it is evident from its terms, that the prologue could +not have been prefixed by the dramatist himself, but must have been +written a good many years after his death, on occasion of a revival of the +_Casina_. It would appear from it that the plays of Plautus had rather +gone out of fashion immediately after his death; but the public at length, +tired with the new comedies, began to call for the reproduction of those +of Plautus-- + + "Nam, nunc novae quae prodeunt comoediae, + Multo sunt nequiores, quam nummi novi, + Nos postquam rumores populi intelleximus, + Studiose expetere vos Plautinas fabulas, + Antiquam ejus edimus comoediam." + +From the same prologue it would seem that this play, when first +represented, had surpassed in popularity all the dramatic productions of +the time-- + + "Haec quum primum acta est, vicit omnes fabulas." + +It cannot, indeed, be denied, that, in the _Casina_, the unities of time +and place are rigidly observed, and, in point of humour, it is generally +accounted inferior to none of Plautus's dramas. The nature, however, of +the subject, will admit only of a very slight sketch. The female slave, +who gives name to the comedy, is beloved by her master, Stalino, and by +his son, Euthynicus,--the former of whom employs Olympio, his bailiff in +the country, and the latter his armour-bearer, Chalinus, to marry Casina, +each being in hopes, by this contrivance, to obtain possession of the +object of his affections. Cleostrata, Stalino's wife, suspecting her +husband's designs, supports the interests of her son, and, after much +dispute, it is settled, that the claims of the bailiff and armour-bearer +should be decided by lot. Fortune having declared in favour of the former, +Stalino obtains the loan of a neighbour's house for the occasion, and it +is arranged, that its mistress should be invited for one evening by +Cleostrata; but the jealous lady counteracts this plan by declining the +honour of the visit. At length all concur in making a dupe of the old man. +Chalinus is dressed up in wedding garments to personate Casina, and the +play concludes with the mortification of Stalino, at finding he had been +imposed on by a counterfeit bride. + +The plan here adopted by Stalino for securing possession of Casina, is +nearly the same with that pursued by the Count Almaviva, in Beaumarchais' +prose comedy, _Le Marriage de Figaro_; where the Count, with similar +intentions, plans a marriage between Suzanne and his valet-de-chambre, +Figaro, but has his best-laid schemes invariably frustrated. The +concluding part of the _Casina_ has probably, also, suggested the whole of +the _Marescalco_, a comedy of the celebrated Aretine, which turns on the +projected nuptials of the character who gives name to the piece, and whose +supposed bride is discovered, during the performance of the marriage +ceremony, to be a page of the Duke of Mantua, dressed up in wedding +garments, in a frolic of the Duke's courtiers, in order to impose on the +Marescalco. Those scenes in the _Ragazzo_ of Lodovico Dolce, where a +similar deception is practised and where Giacchetto, the disguised youth, +minutely details the event of the trick of which he was made the chief +instrument, have also been evidently drawn from the same productive +origin.(247) + +The closest imitation, however, of the _Casina_, is Machiavel's comedy +_Clitia_. Many of its scenes, indeed, have been literally translated from +the Latin, and the incidents are altered in very few particulars. The +Stalino of Plautus is called Nicomaco, and his wife Sofronia: their son is +named Cleandro, and the dependents employed to court Clitia for behoof of +their masters, Eustachio and Pirro. The chief difference is, that the +young lover, who is supposed to be absent in the _Casina_, is introduced +on the stage by the Italian author, and the object of his affections is a +young lady, brought up and educated by his parents, and originally +intrusted to their care by one of their friends, which makes the proposal +of her marrying either of the servants offered to her choice more absurd +than in the Latin original. The bridal garments, too, are not assumed by +one of the rival servants, but by a third character, introduced and +employed for the purpose. This comedy of Machiavel, his _Mandragola_, and +the renowned tale of Belfegor, were the productions with which that +profound politician and historian, who established a school of political +philosophy in the Italian seat of the Muses--who applied a fine analysis to +the Roman history, and a subtler than Aristotle to the theory of +government--attempted, as he himself has so beautifully expressed it, + + "Fare il suo tristo tempo piu soave; + Perche altrove non have, + Dove voltare il viso, + Che gli e stato interciso + Mostrar con altre imprese altra virtute." + +_Cistellaria_, (the Casket.)--The prologue to this play is spoken by the +god _Auxilium_, at the end of the first act. It explains the subject of +the piece--compliments the Romans on their power and military glory--and +concludes with exhorting them to overcome the Carthaginians, and punish +them as they deserve. Hence it is probable, that this play was written +during the second Punic war, which terminated in the year 552; and as +Plautus was born in the year 525, it may be plausibly conjectured, that +the _Cistellaria_ was one of his earliest productions. This also appears +from its greater rudeness when compared with his other plays, and from the +shortness and simplicity of the plot. But though the argument is trite and +sterile, it is enlivened by a good deal of comic humour, particularly in +the delineation of some of the subordinate characters. Like many others of +Plautus's plays, it turns on the accidental recognition of a lost child by +her parents, in consequence of the discovery of a casket, containing some +toys, which had been left with her when exposed, and by means of which she +is identified and acknowledged. + +In ancient times these recognitions, so frequently exhibited on the stage, +were not improbable. The customs of exposing children, and of reducing +prisoners of war to slavery--the little connection or intercourse between +different countries, from the want of inns or roads--and the consequent +difficulty of tracing a lost individual--rendered such incidents, to us +apparently so marvellous, of not unusual occurrence in real life. In +Greece, particularly, divided as it was into a number of small states, and +surrounded by a sea infested with pirates, who carried on a commerce in +slaves, free-born children were frequently carried off, and sold in +distant countries. By the laws of Athens, marriage with a foreigner was +null; or, at least, the progeny of such nuptials were considered as +illegitimate, and not entitled to the privileges of Athenian citizens. +Hence, the recognition of the supposed stranger was of the utmost +importance to herself and lover. In real life, this recognition may have +been sometimes actually aided by ornaments and trinkets. Parents +frequently tied jewels and rings to the children whom they exposed, in +order that such as found them might be encouraged to nourish and educate +them, and that they themselves might afterwards be enabled to discover +them, if Providence took care for their safety(248). Plots, accordingly, +which hinged on such circumstances, were invented even by the writers of +the old Greek comedy. One of the later pieces of Aristophanes, now lost, +entitled _Cocalus_, is said to have presented a recognition; and nearly +the same sort of intrigue was afterwards employed by Menander, and, from +his example, by Plautus and Terence. From imitation of the Greek and Latin +comedies, similar incidents became common both in dramatic and romantic +fiction. The pastoral romance of Longus hinges on a recognition of this +species; and those elegant productions, in which the Italians have +introduced the characters and occupations of rural life into the drama, +are frequently founded on the exposure of children, who, after being +brought up as shepherds by reputed fathers, are recognised by their real +parents, from ornaments or tokens fastened to their persons when abandoned +in infancy or childhood. + +The _Cistellaria_ has been more directly imitated in _Gli Incantesimi_ of +Giovam-Maria Cecchi, a Florentine dramatist of the sixteenth century. That +part, however, of the plot which gives name to the piece, has been +invented by the Italian author himself. + +_Curculio_.--The subject of this play, turns on a recognition similar to +that which occurs in the _Cistellaria_. It derives its title from the name +of a parasite, who performs the part usually assigned by Plautus to an +intriguing slave; and he is called Curculio, from a species of worm which +eats through corn. + +It is worthy of observation, that in the fourth act of this play, the +Choragus, who was master of the Chorus, and stage-manager, or leader of +the band, is introduced, expressing his fear lest he should be deprived of +the clothes he had lent to Curculio, and addressing to the spectators a +number of satirical remarks on Roman manners. + +Vossius has noticed the inadvertency or ignorance of Plautus in this +drama, where, though the scene is laid in Epidaurus, he sends the parasite +to Caria, and brings him back in four days. This part of the comedy he +therefore thinks has been invented by Plautus himself, since a Greek poet, +to whom the geography of these districts must have been better known, +would not have carried the parasite to so great a distance in so short a +period. + +_Epidicus_.--This play is so called from the name of a slave who sustains a +principal character in the comedy, and on whose rogueries most of the +incidents depend. Its most serious part consists in the discovery of a +damsel, who proves to be sister to a young man by whom she has been +purchased as a slave. The play has no prologue; but, at the beginning, a +character is introduced, which the ancients called _persona +protatica_,--that is, a person who enters only once, and at the +commencement of the piece, for the sake of unfolding the argument, and +does not appear again in any part of the drama. Such are Sosia, in the +_Andria_ of Terence, and Davus, in his _Phormio_. This is accounted rather +an inartificial mode of informing the audience of the circumstances +previous to the opening of the piece. It is generally too evident, that +the narrative is made merely for the sake of the spectators; as there +seldom appears a sufficient reason for one of the parties being so +communicative to the other. Such explanations should come round, as it +were, by accident, or be drawn involuntarily from the characters +themselves in the course of the action. + +The _Epidicus_ is said to have been a principal favourite of the author +himself; and, indeed, one of the characters in his _Bacchides_ exclaims, + + "Etiam Epidicum, quam ego fabulam aeque ac me ipsum amo." + +But, though popular in the ancient theatre, the _Epidicus_ does not appear +to be one of the plays of Plautus which has been most frequently imitated +on the modern stage. There was, however, a very early Italian imitation of +it in the _Emilia_, a comedy of Luigi da Groto, better known by the +appellation of Cieco D'Adria, one of the earliest romantic poets of his +country. The trick, too, of Epidicus, in persuading his master to buy a +slave with whom his son was in love, has suggested the first device fallen +on by Mascarelle, the valet in Moliere's _Etourdi_, in order to place the +female slave Celie at the disposal of her lover, by inducing his master to +purchase her. + +_Menaechmi_--hinges on something of the same species of humour as the +_Amphitryon_--a doubt and confusion with regard to the identity of +individuals. According to the Delphin Plautus, it was taken from a lost +play of Menander, entitled {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}; but other commentators have thought, +that it was more probably derived from Epicharmus, or some other Sicilian +dramatist. + +In this play, a merchant of Syracuse had two sons, possessing so strong a +personal resemblance to each other, that they could not be distinguished +even by their parents. One of these children, called Menaechmus, was lost +by his father in a crowd on the streets of Syracuse, and, being found by a +Greek merchant, was carried by him to Epidamnum, (Dyracchium,) and adopted +as his son. Meanwhile the brother, (whose name, in consequence of this +loss, had been changed to Menaechmus,) having grown up, had set out from +Syracuse in quest of his relative. After a long search he arrived at +Epidamnum, where his brother had by this time married, and had also +succeeded to the merchant's fortune. The amusement of the piece hinges on +the citizens of Epidamnum mistaking the Syracusan stranger for his +brother, and the family of the Epidamnian brother falling into a +corresponding error. In this comedy we have also the everlasting parasite; +and the first act opens with a preparation for an entertainment, which +Menaechmus of Epidamnum had ordered for his mistress Erotium, and to which +the parasite was invited. The Syracusan happening to pass, is asked to +come in by his brother's mistress, and partakes with her of the feast. He +also receives from her, in order to bear it to the embroiderer's, a robe +which his brother had carried off from his wife, with the view of +presenting it to this mistress. Afterwards he is attacked by his brother's +jealous wife, and her father; and, as his answers to their reproaches +convince them that he is deranged, they send straightway for a physician. +The Syracusan escapes; but they soon afterwards lay hold of the +Epidamnian, in order to carry him to the physician's house, when the +servant of the Syracusan, who mistakes him for his master, rescues him +from their hands. The Epidamnian then goes to his mistress with the view +of persuading her to return the robe to his wife. At length the whole is +unravelled by the two Menaechmi meeting; when the servant of the Syracusan, +surprised at their resemblance, discovers, after a few questions to each, +that Menaechmus of Epidamnum is the twin-brother of whom his master had +been so long in search, and who now agrees to return with them to +Syracuse. + +The great number of those Latin plays, where the merriment consists in +mistakes arising from personal resemblances, must be attributed to the use +of masks, which gave probability to such dramas; and yet, if the +resemblance was too perfect, the humour, I think, must have lost its +effect, as the spectators would not readily perceive the error that was +committed. + +No play has been so repeatedly imitated as the Menaechmi on the modern +stage, particularly the Italian, where masks were also frequently +employed. The most celebrated Italian imitation of the _Menaechmi_ is _Lo +Ipocrito_ of Aretine, where the twin-brothers, Liseo and Brizio, had the +same singular degree of resemblance as the Menaechmi. Brizio had been +carried off a prisoner in early youth during the sack of Milan, and +returns to that city, after a long absence, in the first act of the play, +in quest of his relations. Liseo's servants, and his parasite, Lo +Ipocrito, all mistake Brizio for their patron, and his wife takes him to +share an entertainment prepared at her husband's house, and also intrusts +him with the charge of some ornaments belonging to her daughter; while, on +the other hand, Brizio's servant mistakes Liseo for his master. The +interest of the play arises from the same sort of confusion as that which +occurs in the _Menaechmi_; and from the continual astonishment of those who +are deceived by the resemblance, at finding an individual deny a +conversation which they were persuaded he had held a few minutes before. +The play is otherwise excessively involved, in consequence of the +introduction of the amours and nuptials of the five daughters of Liseo. +The plot of the Latin comedy has also been followed in _Le Moglie_ of +Cecchi, and in the _Lucidi_ of Agnuolo Firenzuola; but the incidents have +been, in a great measure, adapted by these dramatists to the manners of +their native country. Trissino, in his _Simillimi_, has made little change +on his original, except adding a chorus of sailors; as, indeed, he has +himself acknowledged, in his dedication to the cardinal, Alessandro +Farnese. In _Gli due Gemelli_, which was long a favourite piece on the +Italian stage, Carlini acted both brothers; the scenes being so contrived +that they were never brought on the stage together--in the same manner as +in our farce of _Three and the Deuce_, where the idea of giving different +characters and manners to the three brothers, with a perfect personal +resemblance, by creating still greater astonishment in their friends and +acquaintances, seems an agreeable addition. + +The _Menaechmi_ was translated into English towards the end of the +sixteenth century, by William Warner, the author of _Albion's England_. +This version, which was first printed in 1595, and is entitled, "Menaechmi, +a pleasaunt and fine conceited comedy, taken out of the most excellent +wittie poet Plautus, chosen purposely, as least harmefull, yet most +delightful," was unquestionably the origin of Shakspeare's _Comedy of +Errors_. The resemblance of the two Antipholis', and the other +circumstances which give rise to the intrigue, are nearly the same as in +Plautus. Some of the mistakes, too, which occur on the arrival of +Antipholis of Syracuse at Ephesus, have been suggested by the Latin play. +Thus, the Syracusan, on coming to Ephesus, dines with his brother's wife. +This lady had under repair, at the goldsmith's, a valuable chain, which +her husband resolves to present to his mistress, but the goldsmith gives +it to the Syracusan. At length the Ephesian is believed insane by his +friends, who bring Doctor Pinch, a conjurer, to exorcise him. Shakspeare +has added the characters of the twin Dromios, the servants of the +Antipholis's, who have the same singular resemblance to each other as +their masters, which has produced such intricacy of plot that it is hardly +possible to unravel the incidents. + +The _Comedy of Errors_ is accounted one of the earliest, and is certainly +one of the least happy efforts of Shakspeare's genius. I cannot agree with +M. Schlegel, in thinking it better than the Menaechmi of Plautus, or even +than the best modern imitation of that comedy--_Les Menechmes, ou Les +Jumeaux_, of the French poet Regnard, which is, at least, a more lively +and agreeable imitation. All the scenes, however, have been accommodated +to French manners; and the plot differs considerably from that of Plautus, +being partly formed on an old French play of the same title, by Rotrou, +which appeared as early as 1636. One chief distinction is, that the +Chevalier Menechme knows of the arrival of his brother from the country, +and knows that he had come to Paris in order to receive an inheritance +bequeathed to him by his uncle, as also to marry a young lady of whom the +Chevalier was enamoured. The Chevalier avails himself of the resemblance +to prosecute his love-suit with the lady, and to receive the legacy from +the hands of an attorney, while his brother is in the meantime harassed by +women to whom the Chevalier had formerly paid addresses, and is arrested +for his debts. It was natural enough, as in Plautus, that an infant, +stolen and carried to a remote country, should have transmitted no account +of himself to his family, and should have been believed by them to be +dead; but this can with difficulty be supposed of Regnard's Chevalier, who +had not left his paternal home in Brittany till the usual age for entering +on military service, and had ever since resided chiefly at Paris. The +Chevalier finds, from letters delivered to him by mistake, that his +brother had come to town to receive payment of a legacy recently +bequeathed to him: But, unless it was left to any one who bore the name of +Menechme, it is not easy to see how the attorney charged with the payment, +should have allowed himself to be duped by the Chevalier. Nor is it likely +that, suspicious as the elder Menechme is represented, he should trust so +much to his brother's valet, or allow himself to be terrified in the +public street and open day into payment of a hundred louis d'or. It is +equally improbable that Araminte should give up the Chevalier to her +niece, or that the elder Menechme should marry the old maid merely to get +back half the sum of which his brother had defrauded him. That all the +adventures, besides, should terminate to the advantage of the Chevalier, +has too much an air of contrivance, and takes away that hazard which ought +to animate pieces of this description, and which excites the interest in +Plautus, where the incidents prove fortunate or unfavourable +indiscriminately to the two brothers. + +In Plautus, the robe which Menaechmus of Epidamnum carries off from his +wife, suffices for almost the whole intrigue. It alone brings into play +the falsehood and avarice of the courtezan, the inclination of both the +Menaechmi for pleasure, the gluttony of the parasite, and rage of the +jealous wife: But in the French _Menechmes_,--trunks, letters, a portrait, +promises of marriage, and presents, are heaped on each other, to produce +accumulated mistakes. Regnard has also introduced an agreeable variety, by +discriminating the characters of the brothers, between whom Plautus and +Shakspeare have scarcely drawn a shade of difference. The Chevalier is a +polished gentleman--very ingenious; but, I think, not very honest: His +brother is blunt, testy, and impatient, and not very wise. The difference, +indeed, in their language and manners, is so very marked, that it seems +hardly possible, whatever might be the personal resemblance, that the +Chevalier's mistress could have been deceived. These peculiarities of +disposition, however, render the mistakes, and the country brother's +impatience under them, doubly entertaining-- + + "Faudra-t-il que toujours je sois dans l'embarras + De voir une furie attachee a mes pas?" + +And when assailed by Araminte, the old maid to whom his brother had +promised marriage-- + + "Esprit, demon, lutin, ombre, femme, ou furie, + Qui que tu sois, enfin laisse moi, je te prie." + +When his brother is at last discovered, and indubitably recognized, he +exclaims, + + "Mon frere en verite--Je m'en rejouis fort, + Mais j'avais cependant compte sur votre mort." + +Boursault's comedy, _Les Menteurs qui ne mentent point_, though somewhat +different in its fable from the Latin _Menaechmi_, is founded on precisely +the same species of humour--the exact resemblance of the two Nicandres +occasioning ludicrous mistakes and misunderstandings among their valets +and mistresses. + +The most recent French imitation of the play of Plautus is the _Menechmes +Grecs_, by Cailhava, in which the plot is still more like the Latin comedy +than the _Menechmes_ of Regnard; but the characters are new. This piece +has been extremely popular on the modern French stage.--"Le public," says +Chenier, "s'est empresse de rendre justice a la peinture piquante de moeurs +de la Grece, a la verite des situations, au naturel du dialogue, au merite +rare d'une gaite franche, qui ne degenere pas en bouffonnerie(249)." + +_Miles Gloriosus_, (the Braggart Captain.) This was a character of the new +Greek comedy, introduced and brought to perfection by Philemon and +Menander. These dramatists wrote during the reigns of the immediate +successors of Alexander the Great. At that period, his generals who had +established sovereignties in Syria and Egypt, were in the practice of +recruiting their armies by levying mercenaries in Greece. The soldiers who +had thus served in the wars of the Seleucidae and Ptolemies, were in the +habit, when they returned home to Greece after their campaigns, of +astonishing their friends with fabulous relations of their exploits in +distant countries. Having been engaged in wars with which Athens had no +immediate concern or interest, these partizans met with little respect or +sympathy from their countrymen, and their lies and bravadoes having made +them detested in Athenian society(250), they became the prototypes of that +dramatic character of which the constant attributes were the most absurd +vanity, stupidity, profusion, and cowardice. This overcharged character, +along with that of the slave and parasite, were transferred into the +dramas of Plautus, the faithful mirrors of the new Greek comedy. The first +act of the _Miles Gloriosus_ has little to do with the plot: It only +serves to acquaint us with the character of the Captain Pyrgopolinices; +and it is for this purpose alone that Plautus has introduced the parasite, +who does not return to the stage after the first scene. The boasts of this +captain are quite extravagant, but they are not so gross as the flatteries +of the parasite: indeed it is not to be conceived that any one could +swallow such compliments as that he had broken an elephant's thigh with +his fist, and slaughtered seven thousand men in one day, or that he should +not have perceived the sarcasms of the parasite intermixed with his +fulsome flattery. Previous, however, to the invention of gunpowder, more +could be performed in war by the personal prowess of individuals, than can +be now accomplished; and hence the character of the braggart captain may +not have appeared quite so exaggerated to the ancients as it seems to us. +One man of peculiar strength and intrepidity often carried dismay into the +hostile squadrons, as Goliah defied all the armies of Israel, and, with a +big look, and a few arrogant words, struck so great a terror, that the +host fled before him. + +Most European nations being imbued with military habits and manners for +many centuries after their first rise, the part of a boasting coward was +one of the broadest, and most obviously humorous characters, that could be +presented to the spectators. Accordingly, the braggart Captain, though he +has at length disappeared, was one of the most notorious personages on the +early Italian, French, and English stage. + +Tinca, the braggart Captain in _La Talanta_, a comedy by Aretine, is a +close copy of Thraso, the soldier in Terence, the play being taken from +the _Eunuchus_, where Thraso is a chief character. But Spampana, the +principal figure in the _Farsa Satira Morale_, a dramatic piece of the +fifteenth century, by Venturino of Pesaro, was the original and genuine +Capitano Glorioso, a character well known, and long distinguished in the +Italian drama. He was generally equipped with a mantle and long rapier; +and his personal qualities nearly resembled those of the Count di Culagna, +the hero of Tassoni's mock heroic poem _La Secchia Rapita_:-- + + "Quest' era un Cavalier bravo e galante, + Ch'era fuor de perigli un Sacripante. + Ma ne perigli un pezzo di polmone: + Spesso ammazzato avea qualche gigante, + E si scopriva poi, ch'era un cappone." + +This military poltroon long kept possession of the Italian stage, under +the appellations of Capitan Spavento and Spezzafer, till about the middle +of the sixteenth century, when he yielded his place to the Capitano +Spagnuolo, whose business was to utter Spanish rodomontades, to kick out +the native Italian Captain in compliment to the Spaniards, and then +quietly accept of a drubbing from Harlequin. When the Spaniards had +entirely lost their influence in Italy, the Capitan Spagnuolo retreated +from the stage, and was succeeded by that eternal poltroon, Scaramuccio, a +character which was invented by Tiberio Fiurilli, the companion of the +boyhood of Louis XIV(251). + +In imitation of the Italian captain, the early French dramatists +introduced a personage, who patiently received blows while talking of +dethroning emperors and distributing crowns. The part was first exhibited +in _Le Brave_, by Baif, acted in 1567; but there is no character which +comes so near to the Miles Gloriosus of Plautus, as that of Chasteaufort +in Cyrano Bergerac's _Pedant Joue_. In general, the French captains have +more rodomontade and solemnity, with less buffoonery, than their Italian +prototypes. The captain Matamore, in Corneille's _Illusion Comique_, +actually addresses the following lines to his valet:-- + + "II est vrai que je reve, et ne saurois resoudre, + Lequel des deux je dois le premier mettre en poudre, + Du grand Sophi de Perse, ou bien du grand Mogol." + +And again-- + + "Le seul bruit de mon nom renverse les murailles, + Defait les escadrons, et gagne les batailles; + D'un seul commandement que je fais aux trois Parques, + Je depeuple l'etat des plus heureux monarques." + +Corneille's Matamore also resembles the Miles Gloriosus, in his +self-complacency on the subject of personal beauty, and his belief that +every woman is in love with him. Pyrgopolinices declares-- + + "Miserum esse pulchrum hominem nimis." + +And in like manner, Matamore-- + + "Ciel qui sais comme quoi j'en suis persecute. + Un peu plus de repos avec moins de beaute. + Fais qu'un si long mepris enfin la desabuse." + +Scarron, who was nearly contemporary with Corneille, painted this +character in Don Gaspard de Padille, the _Fanfaron_, as he is called, of +the comedy _Jodelet Duelliste_. Gaspard, however, is not a very important +or prominent character of the piece. Jodelet himself, the valet of Don +Felix, seems intended as a burlesque or caricature of all the braggarts +who had preceded him. Having received a blow, he is ever vowing vengeance +against the author of the injury in his absence, but on his appearance, +suddenly becomes tame and submissive. + +The braggart captains of the old English theatre have much greater merit +than the utterers of these nonsensical rhapsodies of the French stage. +Falstaff has been often considered as a combination of the characters of +the parasite and Miles Gloriosus; but he has infinitely more wit than +either; and the liberty of fiction in which he indulges, is perhaps +scarcely more than is necessary for its display. His cheerfulness and +humour are of the most characteristic and captivating sort, and instead of +suffering that contumely with which the parasite and Miles Gloriosus are +loaded, laughter and approbation attend his greatest excesses. His +boasting speeches are chiefly humorous; jest and merriment account for +most of them, and palliate them all. It is only subsequent to the robbery +that he discovers the traits of a Miles Gloriosus. Most of the ancient +braggarts bluster and boast of distant wars, beyond the reach of knowledge +or evidence--of exploits performed in Persia and Armenia--of storms and +stratagems--of falling pell-mell on a whole army, and putting thousands to +the sword, till, by some open and apparent fact, they are brought to shame +as cowards and liars; but Falstaff's boasts refer to recent occurrences, +and he always preserves himself from degradation by the address with which +he defies detection, and extricates himself from every difficulty. His +character, however, in the _Merry Wives of Windsor_, has some affinity to +the captains of the Roman stage, from his being constantly played on in +consequence of his persuasion that women are in love with him. The +swaggering Pistol in _King Henry IV._, is chiefly characterized by his +inflated language, and is, as Doll calls him, merely "a fustian rascal." +Bessus, in Beaumont and Fletcher's _King and No King_, is said by Theobald +to be a copy of Falstaff; but he has little or none of his humour. Bessus +was an abusive wretch, and so much contemned, that no one called his words +in question; but, afterwards, while flying in battle, having accidentally +rushed on the enemy, he acquired a reputation for valour; and being now +challenged to combat by those whom he had formerly traduced, his great aim +is to avoid fighting, and yet to preserve, by boasting, his new character +for courage. However fine the scene between Bessus and Arbaces, at the +conclusion of the third act, the darker and more infamous shades of +character there portrayed ought not to have been delineated, as our +contemptuous laughter is converted, during the rest of the play, or, on a +second perusal, into detestation and horror. Bobadil, in Ben Jonson's +_Every Man in his Humour_, has generally been regarded as a copy of the +Miles Gloriosus; but the late editor of Jonson thinks him a creation _sui +generis_, and perfectly original. "The soldiers of the Roman stage," he +continues, "have not many traits in common with Bobadil. Pyrgopolinices, +and other captains with hard names, are usually wealthy--all of them keep +mistresses, and some of them parasites--but Bobadil is poor. They are +profligate and luxurious--but Bobadil is stained with no inordinate vice, +and is so frugal, that a bunch of radishes, and a pipe to close the +orifice of his stomach, satisfy all his wants. Add to this, that the +vanity of the ancient soldier is accompanied with such deplorable +stupidity, that all temptation to mirth is taken away, whereas Bobadil is +really amusing. His gravity, which is of the most inflexible nature, +contrasts admirably with the situations into which he is thrown; and +though beaten, baffled, and disgraced, he never so far forgets himself as +to aid in his own discomfiture. He has no soliloquies, like Bessus and +Parolles, to betray his real character, and expose himself to unnecessary +contempt: nor does he break through the decorum of the scene in a single +instance. He is also an admirer of poetry, and seems to have a pretty +taste for criticism, though his reading does not appear very extensive; +and his decisions are usually made with somewhat too much promptitude. In +a word, Bobadil has many distinguishing traits, and, till a preceding +braggart shall be discovered, with something more than big words and +beating, to characterize him, it may not be amiss to allow Jonson the +credit of having depended on his own resources." The character of the +braggart captain was continued in the Bernardo of Shadwell's _Amorous +Bigot_, and Nol Bluff, in Congreve's _Old Bachelor_. These are persons who +apparently would destroy every thing with fire and sword; but their +mischief is only in their words, and they "will not swagger with a Barbary +hen, if her feathers turn back with any show of resistance." The +braggarts, indeed, of modern dramatists, have been universally represented +as cowardly, from Spampana down to Captain Flash. But cowardice is not a +striking attribute of the Miles Gloriosus of Plautus, at least it is not +made the principal source of ridicule as with the moderns. We have +instead, a vain conceit of his person, and his conviction that every woman +is in love with him. + +This feature in the character of the Miles Gloriosus, produces a principal +part in the intrigue of this amusing drama, which properly commences at +the second act, and is said, in a prologue there introduced, to have been +taken from the Greek play {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ZETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}. While residing at Athens, the captain +had purchased from her mother a young girl, (whose lover was at that time +absent on an embassy,) and had brought her with him to his house at +Ephesus. The lover's slave entered into the captain's service, and, seeing +the girl in his possession, wrote to his former master, who, on learning +the fate of his mistress, repaired to Ephesus. There he went to reside +with Periplectomenes, a merry old bachelor, who had been a friend of his +father, and now agreed to assist him in recovering the object of his +affections. The house of Periplectomenes being immediately adjacent to +that of the captain, the ingenious slave dug an opening between them; and +the keeper, who had been intrusted by the captain with charge of the +damsel, was thus easily persuaded by her rapid, and to him unaccountable, +transition from one building to the other, that it was a twin sister, +possessing an extraordinary resemblance to her, who had arrived at the +house of Periplectomenes. Afterwards, by a new contrivance, a courtezan is +employed to pretend that she is the wife of Periplectomenes, and to +persuade the captain that she is in love with him. To facilitate this +amour, he allows the girl, whom he had purchased at Athens, to depart with +her twin sister and her lover, who had assumed the character of the master +of the vessel in which she sailed. The captain afterwards goes to the +house of Periplectomenes to a supposed assignation, where he is seized and +beat, but does not discover how completely he had been duped, till the +Athenian girl had got clear off with her lover. + +This play must, in the representation, have been one of the most amusing +of its author's productions. The scenes are full of action and bustle, +while the secret communication between the two houses occasions many +lively incidents, and forms an excellent _jeu de theatre_. + +With regard to the characters, the one which gives title to the play is, +as already mentioned, quite extravagant; and no modern reader can enjoy +the rodomontade of the Miles Gloriosus, or his credulity in listening with +satisfaction to such monstrous tales of his military renown and amorous +success. Flattery for potential qualities may be swallowed to any extent, +and a vain man may wish that others should be persuaded that he had +performed actions of which he is incapable; but no man can himself hearken +with pleasure to falsehoods which he knows to be such, and which in the +recital are not intended to impose upon others. Pleusides, the lover in +this drama, is totally insipid and uninteresting, and we are not impressed +with a very favourable opinion of his mistress from the account which is +given of her near the beginning of the play:-- + + "Os habet, linguam, perfidiam, malitiam, atque audaciam, + Confidentiam, confirmitatem, fraudolentiam: + Qui arguet se, eum contra vincat jurejurando suo. + Domi habet animum falsiloquum, falsificum, falsijurium." + +The principal character, the one which is best supported, and which is +indeed sustained with considerable humour, is that of Periplectomenes, who +is an agreeable old man, distinguished by his frankness, jovial +disposition, and abhorrence of matrimony. There is one part of his +conduct, however, which I wish had been omitted, as it savours too much of +cunning, and reminds us too strongly of Ben Jonson's Volpone. Talking of +his friends and relations, he says-- + + ---- "Me ad se, ad prandium, ad coenam vocant. + Ille miserrimum se retur, minimum qui misit mihi. + Illi inter se certant donis; ego haec mecum mussito: + Bona mea inhiant: certatim dona mittunt et munera." + +I have often thought that the character of Durazzo, in Massinger's +_Guardian_, was formed on that of Periplectomenes. Like him, Durazzo is a +jovial old bachelor, who aids his nephew Caldoro in his amour with +Calista. When the lover in Plautus apologizes to his friend for having +engaged him in an enterprize so unsuitable to his years, he replies-- + + "Quid ais tu? itane tibi ego videor oppido Acheronticus, + Tam capularis; tamne tibi diu vita vivere? + Nam equidem haud sum annos natus praeter quinquaginta et quatuor, + Clare oculis video, pernix sum manibus, sum pedes mobilis." + +In like manner Durazzo exclaims-- + + "My age! do not use + That word again; if you do, I shall grow young, + And swinge you soundly. I would have you know, + Though I write fifty odd, I do not carry + An almanack in my bones to predeclare + What weather we shall have; nor do I kneel + In adoration at the spring, and fall + Before my doctor." ---- + +Periplectomenes boasts of his convivial talents, as also of his amorous +disposition, and his excellence at various exercises-- + + "Et ego amoris aliquantum habeo, humorisque meo etiam in corpore: + Nequedum exarui ex amoenis rebus et voluptariis. + * * * * + Tum ad saltandum non Cinaedus magis usquam saltat quam ego." + +This may be compared with the boast of Durazzo-- + + "Bring me to a fence school, + And crack a blade or two for exercise; + Ride a barbed horse, or take a leap after me, + Following my hounds or hawks, and, (by your leave,) + At a gamesome mistress, you shall confess + I'm in the May of my abilities." + +It may be perhaps considered as a confirmation of the above conjecture +concerning Massinger's imitation of Plautus, that the cook in the +_Guardian_ is called Cario, which is also the name of the cook of +Periplectomenes. + +There is, however, a coincidence connected with this drama of Plautus, +which is much more curious and striking than its resemblance to the +_Guardian_ of Massinger. The plot of the _Miles Gloriosus_ is nearly the +same with the story of the _Two Dreams_ related in the _Seven Wise +Masters_, a work originally written by an Indian philosopher, long before +the Christian aera, and which, having been translated into Greek under the +title of _Syntipas_, became current during the dark ages through all the +countries of Europe, by the different names of _Dolopatos_, _Erastus_, and +_Seven Wise Masters_,--the frame remaining substantially the same, but the +stories being frequently adapted to the manners of different nations. In +this popular story-book the tale of the Two Dreams concerns a knight, and +a lady who was constantly confined by a jealous husband, in a tower almost +inaccessible. Having become mutually enamoured, in consequence of seeing +each other in dreams, the knight repaired to the residence of the husband, +by whom he was hospitably received, and was at length allowed to build a +habitation on his possessions, at no great distance from the castle in +which his wife was inclosed. When the building was completed, the knight +secretly dug a communication under ground, between his new dwelling and +the tower, by which means he enjoyed frequent and uninterrupted interviews +with the object of his passion. At length the husband was invited to an +entertainment prepared at the knight's residence, at which his wife was +present, and presided in the character of the knight's mistress. During +the banquet the husband could not help suspecting that she was his wife, +and in consequence he repaired, after the feast was over, to the tower, +where he found her sitting composedly in her usual dress. This, and his +confidence in the security of the tower, the keys of which he constantly +kept in his pocket, dispelled his suspicions, and convinced him that the +Beauty who had done the honours of the knight's table, had merely a +striking resemblance to his own lovely consort. Being thus gradually +accustomed to meet her at such entertainments, he at last complied with +his friend's request, and kindly assisted at the ceremony of the knight's +marriage with his leman. After their union, he complacently attended them +to the harbour, and handed the lady to the vessel which the knight had +prepared for the elopement. This story also coincides with Le Chevalier a +la Trappe, one of the Fabliaux of the Norman Trouveurs(252), with a tale +in the fourth part of the Italian _Novellino_ of Massuccio Salernitano, +and with the adventures of the _Vieux Calender_, in Gueulette's _Contes +Tartares_. + +_Mercator_--is one of the plays for which Plautus was indebted to Philemon, +the contemporary and the successful rival of Menander, over whom he +usually triumphed by the theatrical suffrages, while contending for the +prize of comedy. The Roman critics unanimously concur in representing +these popular decisions as unjust and partial. But Quintilian, while he +condemns the perverted judgment of those who preferred Philemon to +Menander, acknowledges that he must be universally admitted to have +merited the next place to his great rival.--"Qui ut pravis sui temporis +judiciis Menandro saepe praelatus est, ita consensu tamen omnium meruit +credi secundus(253)." + +An interesting account of Philemon is given in the _Observer_, by +Cumberland, who has also collected the strange and inconsistent stories +concerning the manner of his death. He is represented to us as having been +a man of amiable character, and cheerful disposition, seldom agitated by +those furious passions which distracted the mind of Menander. He lived to +the extraordinary age of a hundred and one, during which long period he +wrote ninety comedies. Of these, the critics and grammarians have +preserved some fragments, which are generally of a tender and sentimental, +sometimes even of a plaintive cast. Apuleius, however, informs us, that +Philemon was distinguished for the happiest strokes of wit and humour, for +the ingenious disposition of his plots, for his striking and well managed +discoveries, and the admirable adaptation of his characters to their +situations in life(254). To judge by the Latin Mercator, imitated or +translated from the {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} of Philemon, it is impossible not to consider +him as inferior to those other Greek dramatists from whom Plautus borrowed +his _Amphitryon_, _Aulularia_, _Casina_, and _Miles Gloriosus_; yet it +must be recollected, that those are the best comedies which suffer most by +a transfusion into another language. The English Hypocrites and Misers +would indeed be feeble records of the genius of Moliere. Of one point, +however, we may clearly judge, even through the mist of translation. +Notwithstanding what is said by Apuleius concerning the purity of +Philemon's dramas, in none of the plays of Plautus is greater moral +turpitude represented. A son is sent abroad by his father, with the view +of reclaiming him from the dissolute course of life which he had followed. +The youth, however, is so little amended by his travels, that he brings a +mistress home in the ship with him. The father, seeing the girl, falls in +love with her. His son, in order to conceal his passion, proposes to sell +its object, but engages one of his acquaintances to purchase her for him. +By some mismanagement, she is bought by a friend whom the father had +employed for this purpose, and is carried, as had been previously +arranged, to the purchaser's house. The friend's wife, however, being +jealous of this inmate, her husband is obliged to explain matters for her +satisfaction, and the old debauchee, in consequence, incurs, before the +conclusion of the comedy, merited shame and reproach. + +An old libertine may be a very fit subject for satire and ridicule, but in +this play there is certainly too much latitude allowed to the debaucheries +of youth. The whole moral of the drama is contained in three lines near +the conclusion:-- + + "Neu quisquam posthac prohibeto adolescentem filium + Quin amet, et scortum ducat; quod bono fiat modo: + Si quis prohibuerit, plus perdet clam, quam si praehibuerit palam." + +Nothing can be more ridiculous than the delays and trifling of the persons +in this piece, under circumstances which must naturally have excited their +utmost impatience. Examples of this occur in the scene which occupies +nearly the whole of the first act, between Charinus and his slave +Acanthio, and the equally tedious dialogue in the fifth act between +Eutychus and Charinus. + +The _Mercator_ of Plautus is the origin of _La Stiava_, an Italian comedy +by Cecchi; and in the second scene of the second act, there are two lines +which have a remarkable resemblance to the conclusion of the celebrated +speech of Jaques, "All the world's a stage," in _As you Like it_. + + "Senex cum extemplo est jam nec sentit, nec sapit. + Aiunt solere eum rursum repuerascere." + +_Mostellaria_,--which the English translator of Plautus has rendered the +Apparition,--represents a young Athenian, naturally of a virtuous +disposition, who, during the absence of his father on a trading voyage, is +led into every sort of vice and extravagance, partly by his inordinate +love for a courtezan, and partly by the evil counsels of one of his +slaves, called Tranio. During an entertainment, which the youth is one day +giving in his father's mansion, he is suddenly alarmed by the accounts +which Tranio brings, of the unexpected return of the old man, whom he had +just seen landing near the harbour. At the same time, however, the slave +undertakes to prevent his entering the house. In prosecution of this +design he there locks up his young master and his guests, and, on the +approach of the old gentleman, gravely informs him that the house was now +shut up, in consequence of being haunted by the apparition of an +unfortunate man, long since murdered in it by the person from whom it had +been last purchased. Tranio has scarcely prevailed on the father to leave +the door of the dwelling, when they unluckily meet a money-lender, who had +come to crave payment of a large debt from the profligate son; but the +ingenious slave persuades the father, that the money had been borrowed to +pay for a house which was a great bargain, and which his son had bought in +place of that which was haunted. A new dilemma, however, arises, from the +old gentleman's asking to see the house: Tranio artfully obtains leave +from the owner, who being obliged to go to the Forum, nothing is said on +this occasion with regard to the sale. He examines the house a second time +along with the owner, but Tranio had previously begged him, as from +motives of delicacy, to say nothing concerning his purchase; and the whole +passes as a visit, to what is called a Show-house. The old man highly +approves of the bargain; but at length the whole deception is discovered, +by his accidentally meeting an attendant of one of his son's companions, +who is just going into the haunted house to conduct his master home from +that scene of festivity. He has thus occasion to exercise all his patience +and clemency in forgiveness of the son by whom he has been almost ruined, +and of the slave by whom he had been so completely duped. + +In this play, the character of the young man might have been rendered +interesting, had it been better brought out; but it is a mere sketch. He +is a grave and serious character, hurried into extravagance by bad +example, evil counsel, and one fatal passion. A long soliloquy, in which +he compares human life to a house, reminds us, in its tone of feeling and +sentiment, of "All the world's a stage." The father seems a great deal too +foolish and credulous, and the slave must have relied much on his +weakness, when he ventured on such desperate expedients, and such palpable +lies. Slaves, it will already have been remarked, are principal characters +in many of the dramas of Plautus; and a curious subject of inquiry is +presented in their insolence, effrontery, triumphant roguery, and habitual +familiarity with their masters at one moment, while at the next they are +threatened with the lash or crucifixion. In Athens, however, where the +prototype of this character was found, the slave was treated by his master +with much more indulgence than the Spartan Helot, or any other slaves in +Greece. The masters themselves, who were introduced on the ancient stage, +were not in the first ranks of society; and the vices which required the +assistance of their slaves reduced them to an equality. Besides, an +Athenian or Roman master could hardly be displeased with the familiarity +of those who were under such complete subjection; and the striking +contrast of their manners and situation would render their sallies as +poignant as the spirited remarks of Roxalana in the seraglio of the +Sultan. The character, too, gave scope for those jests and scurrilities, +which seem to have been indispensable ingredients in a Roman comedy, but +which would be unsuitable in the mouths of more dignified persons. They +were, in fact, the buffoons of the piece, who avowed without scruple their +sensual inclinations and want of conscience; for not only their impudence, +but their frauds and deceptions, seem to have been highly relished by the +spectators. It is evident that both the Greeks and Romans took peculiar +pleasure in seeing a witty slave cheat a covetous master, and that the +ingenuity of the fraud was always thought sufficient atonement for its +knavery. Perhaps this unfortunate class of men derived so few advantages +from society, that they were considered as entitled, at least on the +stage, to break through its ties. The character of a saucy and impudent +slave had been already portrayed in the old Greek comedy. In the _Plutus_ +of Aristophanes, Carion, the slave of Chremylus, is the most prominent +character, and is distinguished by freedom of remark and witty impudence. +To these attributes there was added, in the new comedy, a spirit of +roguery and intrigue: and in this form the character was almost +universally adopted by the Latin dramatists. The slaves of Plautus +correspond to the valets--the Crispins, and Merlins of the French theatre, +whose race commenced with Merlin, in Scarron's _Marquis Ridicule_. They +were also introduced in Moliere's earliest pieces, but not in his best; +and were in a great measure dropped by his successors, as, in fact, they +had ceased to be the spring of any important event or intrigue in the +world. Indeed, I agree with M. Schlegel, in doubting if they could ever +have been introduced as happily on the modern as the ancient stage. A +wretch who was born in servitude, who was abandoned for life to the +capricious will of a master, and was thus degraded below the dignity of +man, might excite laughter instead of indignation, though he did not +conform to the strictest precepts of honesty. He was placed in a state of +warfare with his oppressor, and cunning became his natural arms. + +The French dramatist who has employed the character of the intriguing +valet to most advantage, is Regnard; to whom, among many other agreeable +pieces, we are indebted for a delightful imitation of the _Mostellaria_ of +Plautus, entitled, _Le Retour Imprevu, comedie en prose, et en une acte_. + +In this play, the incidents of the _Mostellaria_ have been in general +adopted, though they have been somewhat transposed. We have the imposture +of Merlin, who corresponds with Plautus's Tranio, as to the haunted house, +and his subterfuge when the usurer comes to claim the money which he had +lent. In place, however, of asking to see the new house, the father +proposes to deposit some merchandise in it. Merlin then persuades him, +that the lady to whom it formerly belonged, and who had not yet quitted +it, was unfortunately deprived of reason, and, having been in consequence +interdicted by her relations from the use of her property, the house had +been exposed to sale. At the same time, the artful valet finds an +opportunity of informing the real owner, that the old man had gone mad in +consequence of having lost all his merchandise at sea. Accordingly, when +they meet, neither of them pays the smallest attention to what each +considers the raving of the other. Instead of a courtezan, Regnard has +introduced a young lady, with whom Clitandre is in love; but he has given +her the manners rather of a courtezan, than a young lady. There is one +incident mentioned in the _Mostellaria_ which is omitted in the _Retour +Imprevu_, and of which even Plautus has not much availed himself, though +it might have been enlarged on, and improved to advantage: the old man +mentions, that he had met the person from whom he had bought the haunted +house, and that he had taxed him with the murder of his guest, whose +apparition still walked, but that he had stoutly denied the charge. + +The _Fantasmi_ of Ercole Bentivoglio, an Italian comedy of the sixteenth +century, is formed on the same original as the _Retour Imprevu_. The +_Mostellaria_ has likewise suggested the plot of an old tragi-comedy by +Heywood, printed in 1633, and entitled _The English Traveller_. Fielding's +_Intriguing Chambermaid_ is also derived from the _Mostellaria_, but +through the medium of Regnard's comedy. Indeed, it may be considered as +almost a translation from the French; except that the author has most +absurdly assigned the part of the Latin Tranio, and French Merlin, to a +chambermaid, whom he calls Mrs Lettice, and has added a great number of +songs and _double entendres_. + +It has been said, that the last act of Ben Johnson's _Alchemist_, where +Face, in order to conceal the iniquities committed in his master's house +during his absence, tries to persuade him, that it was shut up on account +of being visited by an apparition, has been suggested by the +_Mostellaria_(255); but, as there is no resemblance between the two plays +in other incidents, we cannot be assured that the _Mostellaria_ was at all +in the view of the great English dramatist. + +_Persa_.--In this play, which belongs to the lowest order of comedy, the +characters are two slaves, a foot-boy of one of these slaves, a parasite, +a pander, and a courtezan, with her waiting-maid. The manners represented +are such as might be expected from this respectable group. The incidents +are few and slight, hinging almost entirely on a deceit practised against +the pander, who is persuaded to give a large sum for a free woman, whom +the slaves had dressed up as an Arabian captive, and whom he was obliged +to relinquish after having paid the money. The fable is chiefly defective +from the trick of the slaves being intended to serve their own purposes. +But such devices are interesting only when undertaken for the advantage of +higher characters; a comedy otherwise must degenerate into farce. + +_Poenulus_, (the Carthaginian,) is one of the longest, and, I think, on the +whole, the dullest of Plautus' performances. It turns on the discovery of +a lost child, who had been stolen from her Carthaginian parents in +infancy, and had been carried to Greece. In none of those numerous plays +which turn on the recognition of lost children, has Plautus ever exhibited +an affecting interview, or even hit on an expression of natural +tenderness. The characters are either not brought on the stage at the +conclusion, and we are merely told by some slave or parasite that the +discovery had taken place: or, as in the instance of Hanno and his +daughter in the present drama, the parties most interested teaze and +torment each other with absurd questions, instead of giving way to any +species of emotion. It is a high example, however, of the noble and +generous spirit of the Romans, that Hanno, the Carthaginian introduced in +this play, which was represented in the course of the Punic wars, is more +amiable than almost any other character in Plautus. It is evident, from +his quibbles and obscene jests, that the Latin dramatist adapted his plays +to the taste of the vulgar; and if the picture of a villainous or +contemptible Carthaginian could have pleased the Roman public, as the Jew +of Malta gratified the prejudices of an English mob, Plautus would not +have hesitated to accommodate himself to such feelings, and his Hanno +would doubtless have appeared in those hateful colours in which the Jews, +or in that ridiculous light in which the French, have usually been +exhibited on the British stage. + +The employment of different dialects, or idioms, which has been so great a +resource of the modern comic muse, particularly on the Italian stage, had +been early resorted to in Greece. Aristophanes, in one of his comedies, +introduced the jargon of a woman of Lacedaemon, where the Doric dialect was +spoken in its rudest form. Plautus, in a scene of the _Poenulus_, has made +his Carthaginian speak in his native language; and as the Carthaginian +tongue was but little known in Greece, it may be presumed that this scene +was invented by Plautus himself. + +Those remains of the Punic language which have been preserved, (though +probably a good deal corrupted,) are regarded as curious vestiges of +philological antiquity, and have afforded ample employment for the +critics, who have laboured to illustrate and restore them to the right +readings. Commentators have found in them traces of all the ancient +tongues, according to their own fancy, or some favourite system they had +adopted. Joseph Scaliger considered them as little removed from the purity +of original Hebrew(256); and Pareus, in his edition of Plautus, printed +them in Hebrew characters, as did Bochart, in his _Phaleg et Canaan_(257). +Others, from the resemblance of single letters, or syllables, have found +in different words the Chinese, Ethiopian, Persian, or Coptic +dialects(258). Plautus, it is well known, had considerable knowledge of +languages. Besides writing his own with the greatest purity, he was well +acquainted with Greek, Persian, and Punic. The editor of the Delphin +Plautus has a notable conjecture on this point: He supposes that in the +mill in which Plautus laboured, (as if it had been a large mill on the +modern construction,) there was a Carthaginian, a Greek, and a Persian +slave, from whom alternately he acquired a knowledge of these tongues in +the hours of relaxation from work! + +_Pseudolus_--is one of those plays of Plautus which hinge on the +contrivance of a slave in behalf of his young master, who is represented +at the commencement of the play, as in despair at not having money +sufficient to redeem his mistress, just then sold by Ballio, a +slave-dealer, to a Macedonian captain for twenty _minae_. Fifteen of these +had been paid, and the girl was to be delivered up to him as soon as he +sent the remaining five, along with an impression of a seal-ring, which +the captain had left behind as a pledge. Pseudolus, the slave, having +encountered the captain's messenger, on his way to deliver a letter +containing the token and the balance of the stipulated price, personates +the pander's servant, and is in consequence intrusted with the letter. +While the messenger is refreshing himself at a tavern, Pseudolus persuades +one of his fellow-slaves to assume the character of the captain's +emissary, and to present the credentials (which Pseudolus places in his +possession) to the pander, who immediately acknowledges their +authenticity, and, without hesitation, delivers up the girl in return. +When the real messenger afterwards arrives, the slave-merchant treats him +as an impostor hired by Pseudolus. + +Next to the slave, the principal character in this comedy is that of the +pander, which is sketched with the strong pencil of a master, and is an +admirable representation of that last stage of human depravity and +wretchedness, in which even appearances cease to be preserved with the +world, and there exists no longer any feeling or anxiety concerning the +opinion of others. Calidorus, the lover of the girl, upbraids him for his +breach of faith-- + + "Juravistine te illam nulli venditurum nisi mihi? + _Ballio._ Fateor. _Cal._ Nempe conceptis verbis. _Bal._ Etiam consultis + quoque. + _Cal._ Perjuravisti, sceleste. _Bal._ At argentum intro condidi: + Ego scelestus nunc argentum promere possum domo." + +M. Dacier, however, is of a different opinion with regard to the merit of +this character. He thinks that the _Pseudolus_, though mentioned by Cato +in Cicero's Dialogue _De Senectute_, as a finished piece which greatly +delighted its author(259), and though called, by one of his commentators, +_Ocellus Fabularum Plauti_(260) was chiefly in Horace's view when he +spoke, in his _Epistles_, of Plautus' want of success in the characters of +a young passionate lover, a parsimonious father, and a cunning pimp,-- + + ---- "Aspice, Plautus + Quo pacto partes tutetur amantis ephebi, + Ut patris attenti, lenonis ut insidiosi." + +These three characters all occur in this comedy; and Dacier maintains that +they are very poorly supported by the poet.--Calidorus is a young lover, +but his character (says the critic,) is so cold and lifeless, that he +hardly deserves the name. His father, Simo, corresponds as little to the +part of the _Patris attenti_; for he encourages the slave to deceive +himself, and promises him a recompense if he succeed in over-reaching the +slave-merchant, and placing in the hands of his son the girl on whom he +doated. Ballio, the slave-dealer, so far from sustaining the character +_lenonis insidiosi_, who should deceive every one, very foolishly becomes +the dupe of a lying valet(261). + +The scene between Calidorus and the pander, from which some lines are +extracted above, and that by which it is preceded, where Ballio gives +directions to his slaves, seem to have suggested two scenes in Sir Richard +Steele's comedy of the _Funeral_. The play has been more closely imitated +by Baptista Porta, the celebrated author of the Magia Naturalis in _La +Trappolaria_, one of the numerous plays with the composition of which he +amused his leisure, after the mysteries and chimeras of his chief work had +excited the suspicion of the court of Rome, and he was in consequence +prohibited from holding those assemblies of learned men, who repaired to +his house with their newly discovered secrets in medicine and other arts. +His play, which was first printed at Bergamo in 1596, is much more +complicated in its incidents than the Latin original. Trappola, the +Pseudolus of the piece, feigns himself, as in Plautus, to be the pander's +slave, and persuades a parasite to act the part of the pander himself: By +this stratagem, the parasite receives from the captain's servant the +stipulated money and tokens, but delivers to him in return his ugly wife +Gabrina, as the Beauty he was to receive; and there follows a comical +scene, produced by the consequent amazement and disappointment of the +captain. The parasite then personates the captain's servant, and, by means +of the credentials of which he had possessed himself, obtains the damsel +Filesia, whom he carries to her lover. With this plot, chiefly taken from +Plautus, another series of incidents, invented by the Italian dramatist, +is closely connected. The father of the young lover, Arsenio, had left his +wife in Spain; and also another son, who had married there, and exactly +resembled his brother in personal appearance. Arsenio being ordered by his +father to sail from Naples, where the scene is laid, for Spain, in order +to convey home his relatives in that country, and being in despair at the +prospect of this separation from his mistress, the father is persuaded, by +a device of the cheat Trappola, that he had not proceeded on the voyage, +as his brother had already arrived. Availing himself of his resemblance, +Arsenio personates his Spanish brother, and brings his mistress as his +wife to his father's house, where she remains protected, in spite of the +claims of the captain and pander, till the whole artifice is discovered by +the actual arrival of the old lady from Spain. Arsenio's mistress being +then strictly questioned, proves to be a near connection of the family, +who had been carried off in childhood by corsairs, and she is now, with +the consent of all, united to her lover. + +There is also a close imitation of the incidents of the _Pseudolus_ in +Moliere's _Etourdi_, which turns on the stratagems of a valet to place a +girl in possession of his master Lelie. His first device, as already +mentioned, was suggested by the Epidicus(262); but this having failed, he +afterwards contrives to get into the service of his master's rival, +Leander, who, having purchased the girl from the proprietor, had agreed to +send a ring as a token, at sight of which she was to be delivered up. The +valet receives the ring for this very purpose, carries it to the owner, +and by such means is just on the point of obtaining possession of the +girl, when his stratagem, as usual, is defeated by the _etourderie_ of his +master. This notion of the valet's best-laid plans being always +counteracted, was probably suggested by the _Bacchides_ of Plautus, where +Mnesilochus repeatedly frustrates the well-contrived schemes of his slave +Chrysalus; though, perhaps through the medium of the _Inavertito_ of the +Italian dramatist, Nicolo Barbieri, printed in 1629, or Quinault's _Amant +Indiscret_, which was acted four years before Moliere's _Etourdi_, and is +founded on the same plan with that drama. In the particular incidents the +_Etourdi_ is compounded of the tricks of Plautus' slaves; but Moliere has +shown little judgment in thus heaping them on each other in one piece. +Such events might occur once, but not six or seven times, to the same +person. In fact, the valet is more of an _Etourdi_ than his master, as he +never forewarns him of his plans; and we feel as we advance, that the play +could not be carried on without a previous concert among the characters to +connive at impossibilities, and to act in defiance of all common sense or +discretion. + +_Rudens_.--This play, which is taken from a Greek comedy of Diphilus, has +been called _Rudens_ by Plautus, from the rope or cable whereby a +fisherman drags to shore a casket which chiefly contributes to the +solution of the fable. In the prologue, which is spoken by Arcturus, we +are informed of the circumstances which preceded the opening of the drama, +and the situation in which the characters were placed at its commencement. +Plautus has been frequently blamed by the critics for the fulness of his +preliminary expositions, as tending to destroy the surprise and interest +of the succeeding scenes. But I think he has been unjustly censured, even +with regard to those prologues, where, as in that of the _Poenulus_, he has +anticipated the incidents, and revealed the issue of the plot. The +comedies of Plautus were intended entirely for exhibition on the public +stage, and not for perusal in the closet. The great mass of the Roman +people in his age was somewhat rude: They had not been long accustomed to +dramatic representations, and would have found it difficult to follow an +intricate plot without a previous exposition. This, indeed, was not +necessary in tragedies. The stories of Agamemnon and OEdipus, with other +mythical subjects, so frequently dramatized by Ennius and Livius +Andronicus, were sufficiently known; and, as Dryden has remarked, "the +people, as soon as they heard the name of OEdipus, knew as well as the poet +that he had killed his father by mistake, and committed incest with his +mother; that they were now to hear of a great plague, an oracle, and the +ghost of Laius(263)." It was quite different, however, in those new +inventions which formed the subjects of comedies, and in which the +incidents would have been lost or misunderstood without some introductory +explanation. The attention necessary to unravel a plot prevents us from +remarking the beauties of sentiment or poetry, and draws off our attention +from humour or character, the chief objects of legitimate comedy. We often +read a new play, or one with which we are not acquainted, before going to +see it acted. Surprise, which is everything in romance, is the least part +of the drama. Our horror at the midnight murders of Macbeth, and our +laughter at the falsehoods and facetiousness of Falstaff, are not +diminished, but increased, by knowing the issue of the crimes of the one, +and the genial festivity of the other. In fact, the sympathy and pleasure +so often derived from our knowledge outweighs the gratification of +surprise. The Athenians were well aware that Jocasta, in the celebrated +drama of Sophocles, was the mother of OEdipus; but the knowledge of this +fact, so far from abating the concern of the spectators, as Dryden +supposes(264), must have greatly contributed to increase the horror and +interest excited by the representation of that amazing tragedy. The +celebrated scene of _Iphigenia in Tauris_, between Electra and Orestes, +the masterpiece of poetic art and tragic pathos, would lose half its +effect if we were not aware that Orestes was the brother of Electra, and +if this were reserved as a discovery to surprise the spectators. Indeed, +so convinced of all this were the Greek dramatists, that, in many of their +plays, as the _Hecuba_ and _Hippolytus_ of Euripides, the issue of the +drama is announced at its commencement. + +But, be this as it may, the prologue itself, which is prefixed to the +_Rudens_, is eminently beautiful. Arcturus descends as a star from heaven, +and opens the piece, somewhat in the manner of the Angel who usually +delivers the prologue in the ancient Italian mysteries--of the Mercury who +frequently recites it in the early secular dramas, and the Attendant +Spirit in the Masque of Comus, who, by way of prologue, declares his +office, and the mission which called him to earth. In a manner more +consistent with oriental than with either Greek or Roman mythology, +Arcturus represents himself as mingling with mankind during day, in order +to observe their actions, and as presenting a record of their good and +evil deeds to Jupiter, whom the wicked in vain attempt to appease by +sacrifice-- + + "Atque hoc scelesti in animum inducunt suum, + Jovem se placare posse donis, hostiis: + Et operam et sumptum perdunt." ---- + +Arcturus having thus satisfactorily accounted for his knowledge of the +incidents of the drama, proceeds to unfold the situation of the principal +characters. Daemones, before whose house in Cyrene the scene is laid, had +formerly resided at Athens, where his infant daughter had been kidnapped, +and had been afterwards purchased by a slave merchant, who brought her to +Cyrene. A Greek youth, then living in that town, had become enamoured of +her, and having agreed to purchase her, the merchant had consented to meet +him and fulfil the bargain at an adjacent temple. But being afterwards +persuaded that he could procure a higher price for her in Sicily, the +slave-dealer secretly hired a vessel, and set sail, carrying the girl +along with him. The ship had scarcely got out to sea when it was overtaken +by a dreadful tempest over which Arcturus is figured as presiding. The +play opens during the storm, in a manner eminently beautiful and +romantic--an excellence which none of the other plays of Plautus possess. +Daemones and his servant are represented as viewing the tempest from land, +and pointing out to each other the dangers and various vicissitudes of a +boat, in which were seated two damsels who had escaped from the ship, and +were trying to gain the shore, which, after many perils, they at length +reached. The decorations of this scene are said to have been splendid, and +disposed in a very picturesque manner. Madame Dacier conjectures, "that at +the farther end of the stage was a prospect of the sea, intersected by +many rocks and cliffs, which projected considerably forward on the stage. +On one side the city of Cyrene was represented as at a distance; on the +other, the temple of Venus, with a court before it, in the centre of which +stood an altar. Adjacent to the temple, and on the same side, was the +house of Daemones, with some scattered cottages in the back ground." +Pleusidippus, the lover, comes forward to the temple during the storm, and +then goes off in search of Labrax, the slave-merchant, who had likewise +escaped from the shipwreck. The damsels, whose situation is highly +interesting, having now got on shore, appear among the cliffs, and after +having deplored their misfortunes, they are received into the temple by +the priestess of Venus, who reminds them, however, that they should have +come clothed in white garments and bringing victims! Here they are +discovered by the slave of Pleusidippus, who goes to inform his master. +Labrax then approaches to the vicinity of the temple of Venus, and having +discovered that the damsels who had saved themselves from the wreck were +secreted there, he rushes in to claim and seize them. Thus far the play is +lively and well conducted, but the subsequent scenes are too long +protracted. They are full of trifling, and are more loaded than those of +any other comedy of Plautus, with quaint conceits, the quibbling +witticisms, and the scurrilities of slaves. The scene in which Labrax +attempts to seize the damsels at the altar, and Daemones protects them, is +insufferably tedious, but terminates at length with the pander being +dragged to prison. After this, the fisherman of Daemones is introduced, +congratulating himself on having found a wallet which had been lost from +the pander's ship, and contained his money, as well as some effects +belonging to the damsels. The ridiculous schemes which he proposes, and +the future grandeur he anticipates in consequence of his good fortune, is +an excellent satire on the fantastic projects of those who are elevated +with a sudden success. Having been observed, however, by the servant of +Pleusidippus, who suspected that this wallet contained articles by which +Palaestra might discover her parents, a long contest for its possession +ensues between them, which might be amusing in the representation, but is +excessively tiresome in perusal. This may be also remarked of the scene +where their dispute is referred to the arbitration of Daemones, who +apparently is chosen umpire for no other reason than because this was +necessary to unravel the plot. Daemones discovers, from the contents of the +wallet, that Palaestra is his daughter. The principal interest being thus +exhausted, the remaining scenes become more and more tedious. We feel no +great sympathy with the disappointment of the fisherman, and take little +amusement in the bargain which he drives with the pander for the +restoration of the gold, or his stipulation with his master for a reward, +on account of the important service he had been instrumental in rendering +him. + +This play has been imitated by Ludovico Dolce, in his comedy _Il +Ruffiano_, which was published in 1560, and which, the author says in his +prologue, was "_vestita di habito antico, e ridrizzato alla forma +moderna_." The _Ruffiano_ is not a mere translation from the Latin: the +language and names are altered, and the scenes frequently transposed. +There is likewise introduced the additional character of the old man +Lucretio, father to the lover; also his lying valet Tagliacozzo, and his +jealous wife Simona. Lucretio comes from Venice to the town where the +scene of the play is laid, to recover a son who had left home in quest of +a girl in the possession of Secco the Ruffiano. The first act is occupied +with the details of Lucretio's family misfortunes, and it is only in the +commencement of the second act that the shipwreck and escape of the +damsels are introduced, so that the play opens in a way by no means so +interesting and picturesque as the _Rudens_ of Plautus. The women having +taken refuge in a church, Lucretio offers them shelter in his own house, +which exposes them to the rage of his jealous wife Simona. By the +assistance, however, of one of these girls, he discovers his lost son, who +was her lover; and the recognition of the damsel herself as daughter of +Isidoro, who corresponds to the Daemones of Plautus, is then brought about +in the same manner as in the Latin original, and gives rise to the same +tedious and selfish disputes among the inferior characters. Madame +Riccoboni has also employed the _Rudens_ in her comedy _Le Naufrage_. + +_Stichus_--is so called from a slave, who is a principal character in the +comedy. The subject is the continued determination of two ladies to +persist in their constancy to their husbands, who, from their long +absence, without having been heard of, were generally supposed to be dead. +In this resolution they remain firm, in spite of the urgency of their +fathers to make them enter into second marriages, till at length their +conjugal fidelity is rewarded by the safe arrival of their consorts. It +would appear that Plautus had not found this subject sufficient to form a +complete play; he has accordingly filled up the comic part of the drama +with the carousal of Stichus and his fellow slaves, and the stratagems of +the parasite Gelasimus, in order to be invited to the entertainments which +the husbands prepared in honour of their return. + +_Trinummus_--is taken from the _Thesaurus_ of Philemon; but Plautus has +changed the original title into Trinummus--a jocular name given to himself +by one of the characters hired to carry on a deception, for which he had +received three pieces of money, as his reward. The prologue is spoken by +two allegorical personages, Luxury, and her daughter Want, the latter of +whom had been commissioned by her mother to take up her residence in the +house of the prodigal youth Lesbonicus. The play is then opened by a +Protatick person, as he is called, who comes to chide his friend Callicles +for behaviour which appeared to him in some points incomprehensible; in +consequence of which the person accused explains his conduct at once to +the spectators and his angry monitor. It seems Charmides, an Athenian, +being obliged to leave his own country on business of importance, +intrusted the guardianship of his son and daughter to his friend +Callicles. He had also confided to him the management of his affairs, +particularly the care of a treasure which was secreted in a concealed part +of his dwelling. Lesbonicus, the son of Charmides, being a dissolute +youth, had put up the family mansion to sale, and his guardian, in order +that the treasure entrusted to him might not pass into other hands, had +purchased the house at a low price. Meanwhile a young man, called +Lysiteles, had fallen in love with the daughter of Charmides, and obtained +the consent of her brother to his marriage. Her guardian was desirous to +give her a portion from the treasure, but does not wish to reveal the +secret to her extravagant brother. The person calling himself Trinummus is +therefore hired to pretend that he had come as a messenger from the +father--to present a forged letter to the son and to feign that he had +brought home money for the daughter's portion. While Trinummus is making +towards the house, to commence performance of his part, Charmides arrives +unexpectedly from abroad, and seeing this Counterfeit approaching his +house, immediately accosts him. A highly comic scene ensues, in which the +hireling talks of his intimacy with Charmides, and also of being entrusted +with his letters and money; and when Charmides at length discovers +himself, he treats him as an impostor. The entrance of Charmides into his +house is the simple solution of this plot, of which the _nodus_ is neither +very difficult nor ingenious. This meagre subject is filled up with an +amicable contest between Lesbonicus and his sister's lover, concerning her +portion,--the latter generously offering to take her without dowry, and the +former refusing to give her away on such ignominious terms. + +The English translators of Plautus have remarked, that the art of the +dramatist in the conduct of this comedy is much to be admired:--"The +opening of it," they observe, "is highly interesting; the incidents +naturally arise from each other, and the whole concludes happily with the +reformation of Lesbonicus, and the marriage of Lysiteles. It abounds with +excellent moral reflections, and the same may be said of it with equal +justice as of the _Captives_:-- + + 'Ad pudicos mores facta est haec fabula.' " + +On the other hand, none of Plautus' plays is more loaded with +improbabilities of that description into which he most readily falls. Thus +Stasimus, the slave of Lesbonicus, in order to save a farm which his +master proposed giving as a portion to his sister, persuades the lover's +father that a descent to Acheron opened from its surface,--that the cattle +which fed on it fell sick,--and that the owners themselves, after a short +period, invariably died or hanged themselves. In order to introduce the +scene between Charmides and the Counterfeit, the former, though just +returned from a sea voyage and a long absence, waits in the street, on the +appearance of a stranger, merely from curiosity to know his business; and +in the following scene the slave Stasimus, after expressing the utmost +terror for the lash on account of his tarrying so long, still loiters to +propound a series of moral maxims, inconsistent with his character and +situation. + +The plot of the _Dowry_ of Giovam-maria Cecchi is precisely the same with +that of the _Trinummus_; but that dramatist possessed a wonderful art of +giving an air of originality to his closest imitations, by the happy +adaptation of ancient subjects to Italian manners. The _Tresor Cache_ of +Destouches is almost translated from the _Trinummus_, only he has brought +forward on the stage Hortense, the Prodigal's sister, and has added the +character of Julie, the daughter of the absent father's friend, of whom +the Prodigal himself is enamoured. In this comedy the character of the two +youths are meant to be contrasted, and are more strongly brought out in +the imitation, from both of them being in love. A German play, entitled +_Schatz_, by the celebrated dramatist Lessing, is also borrowed from this +Latin original. The scene, too, in _Trinummus_, between Charmides and the +counterfeit messenger, has given rise to one in the _Suppositi_ of +Ariosto, and through that medium to another in Shakspeare's _Taming of the +Shrew_, where, when it is found necessary for the success of Lucentio's +stratagem at Padua, that some one should personate his father, the +_pedant_ is employed for this purpose. Meanwhile, the father himself +unexpectedly arrives at Padua, and a comical scene in consequence passes +between them. + +_Truculentus_--is so called from a morose and clownish servant, who, having +accompanied his master from the country to Rome, inveighs against the +depraved morals of that city, and especially against Phronesium, the +courtezan by whom his master had been enticed. His churlish disposition, +however, is only exhibited in a single scene. On the sole other occasion +on which he is introduced, he is represented as having become quite mild +and affable. For this change no reason is assigned, but it is doubtless +meant to be understood that he had meanwhile been soothed and wheedled by +the arts of some courtezan. The characters, however, of the Truculentus +and his rustic master, have little to do with the main plot of the drama, +which is chiefly occupied with the fate of the lovers, whom Phronesium +enticed to their ruin. When she had consumed the wealth of the infatuated +Dinarchus, she lays her snares for Stratophanes, the Babylonian captain, +to whom she pretends to have borne a son, in order that she may prey on +him with more facility. This drama is accordingly occupied with her +feigned pregnancy, her counterfeited solicitude, and her search for a +supposititious child, to which she persuades her dupe that she had given +birth, but which afterwards proves to be the child of her former lover +Dinarchus, by a young lady to whom he had been betrothed. + +In the first act of this play an account is given of the mysteries of a +courtezan's occupation, which, with a passage near the commencement of the +_Mostellaria_, and a few fragments of Alexis, a writer of the middle +comedy, gives us some insight into the practices by which they entrapped +and seduced, their lovers, by whom they appear to have been maintained in +prodigious state and splendour. In a play of Terence, one of the +characters, talking of the train of a courtezan, says, + + "Ducitur familia tota, + Vestispicae, unctor, auri custos, flabelliferae, sandaligerulae, + Cantrices, cistellatrices, nuncii, renuncii(265)." + +The Greek courtezan possessed attainments, which the more virtuous of her +sex were neither expected nor permitted to acquire. On her the education +which was denied to a spotless woman, was carefully bestowed. To sing, to +dance, to play on the lyre and the lute, were accomplishments in which the +courtezan was, from her earliest years, completely instructed. The habits +of private life afforded ample opportunity for the display of such +acquirements, as the charm of convivial meetings among the Greeks was +thought imperfect, unless the enjoyments were brightened by a display of +the talents which belonged exclusively to the Wanton. But though these +refinements alone were sufficient to excite the highest admiration of the +Greek youth, unaccustomed as they were to female society, and often +procured a splendid establishment for the accomplished courtezan, some of +that class embraced a much wider range of education; and having added to +their attainments in the fine arts, a knowledge of philosophy and the +powers of eloquence, they became, thus trained and educated, the +companions of orators, statesmen, and poets. The arrival of Aspasia at +Athens is said to have produced a change in the manners of that city, and +to have formed a new and remarkable epoch in the history of society. The +class to which she belonged was of more political importance in Athens +than in any other state of Greece; and though I scarcely believe that the +Peloponnesian war had its origin in the wrongs of Aspasia, the Athenian +courtezans, with their various interests, were often alluded to in grave +political harangues, and they were considered as part of the establishment +of the state. Above all, the comic poets were devoted to their charms, +were conversant with their manners, and often experienced their rapacity +and infidelity; for, being unable to support them in their habits of +expense, an opulent old man, or dissolute youth, was in consequence +frequently preferred. The passion of Menander for Glycerium is well known, +and Diphilus, from whom Plautus borrowed his _Rudens_, consorted with +Gnathena, celebrated as one of the most lively and luxurious of Athenian +Charmers(266). Accordingly, many of the plays of the new comedy derive +their names from celebrated courtezans; but it does not appear, from the +fragments which remain, that they were generally represented in a +favourable light, or in their meridian splendour of beauty and +accomplishments(267). In the Latin plays, the courtezans are not drawn so +highly gifted in point of talents, or even beauty, as might be expected; +but it was necessary to paint them as elegant, fascinating, and expensive, +in order to account for the infatuation and ruin of their lovers. The +Greeks and Romans were alike strangers to the polite gallantry of Modern +Europe, and to the enthusiastic love which chivalry is said to have +inspired in the middle ages. Thus their hearts and senses were left +unprotected, to become the prey of such women as the Phronesium of the +_Truculentus_, who is a picture of the most rapacious and debauched of her +class, and whose vices are neither repented of, nor receive punishment, at +the conclusion of the drama. Dinarchus may be regarded as a representation +of the most profligate of the Greek or Roman youth, yet he is not held up +to any particular censure; and, in the end, he is neither reformed nor +adequately punished. The portion, indeed, of the lady whom he had +violated, and at last agrees to espouse, is threatened by her father to be +diminished, but this seems merely said in a momentary fit of resentment. + +This play, with all its imperfections, is said to have been a great +favourite of the author(268); and was a very popular comedy at Rome. It +has descended to us rather in a mutilated state, which may, perhaps, have +deprived us of some fine sentences or witticisms, which the ancients had +admired; for, as a French translator of Plautus has remarked, their +approbation could scarcely have been founded on the interest of the +subject, the disposition of the incidents, or the moral which is +inculcated. + +The character of Lolpoop, the servant of Belfond Senior, in Shadwell's +_Squire of Alsatia_, has been evidently formed on that of the Truculentus, +in this comedy. His part, however, as in the original, is chiefly +episodical; and the principal plot, as shall be afterwards shown, has been +founded on the _Adelphi_ of Terence. + +The above-mentioned plays are the twenty dramas of Plautus, which are +still extant. But, besides these, a number of comedies, now lost, have +been attributed to him. Aulus Gellius(269) mentions, that there were about +a hundred and thirty plays, which, in his age, passed under the name of +Plautus; and of these, nearly forty titles, with a few scattered +fragments, still remain. From the time of Varro to that of Aulus Gellius, +it seems to have been a subject of considerable discussion what plays were +genuine; and it appears, that the best informed critics had come to the +conclusion, that a great proportion of those comedies, which vulgarly +passed for the productions of Plautus, were spurious. Such a vast number +were probably ascribed to him, from his being the head and founder of a +great dramatic school; so that those pieces, which he had perhaps merely +retouched, came to be wholly attributed to his pen. As in the schools of +painting, so in the dramatic art, a celebrated master may have disciples +who adopt his principles. He may give the plan which they fill up, or +complete what they have imperfectly executed. Many paintings passed under +the name of Raphael, of which Julio Romano, and others, were the chief +artists. "There is no doubt," says Aulus Gellius, "but that those plays, +which seem not to have been written by Plautus, but are ascribed to him, +were by certain ancient poets, and afterwards retouched and polished by +him(270)." Even those comedies which were written in the same taste with +his, came to be termed _Fabulae Plautinae_, in the same way as we still +speak of AEsopian fable, and Homeric verse. "Plautus quidem," says +Macrobius, "ea re clarus fuit, ut post mortem ejus, comoediae, quae incertae +ferebantur, Plautinae tamen esse, de jocorum copia, agnoscerentur(271)." It +is thus evident, that a sufficient number of jests stamped a dramatic +piece as the production of Plautus in the opinion of the multitude. But +Gellius farther mentions, that there was a certain writer of comedies, +whose name was Plautius, and whose plays having the inscription "Plauti," +were considered as by Plautus, and were named Plautinae from Plautus, +though in fact they ought to have been called Plautianae from Plautius. All +this sufficiently accounts for the vast number of plays ascribed to +Plautus, and which the most learned and intelligent critics have greatly +restricted. They have differed, however, very widely, as to the number +which they have admitted to be genuine. Some, says Servius, maintain, that +Plautus wrote twenty-one comedies, others forty, others a hundred(272). +Gellius informs us, that Lucius AElius, a most learned man, was of opinion +that not more than twenty-five were of his composition(273). Varro wrote a +work, entitled _Quaestiones Plautinae_, a considerable portion of which was +devoted to a discussion concerning the authenticity of the plays commonly +assigned to Plautus, and the result of his investigation was, that +twenty-one were unquestionably to be admitted as genuine. These were +subsequently termed Varronian, in consequence of having been separated by +Varro from the remainder, as no way doubtful, and universally allowed to +be by Plautus. The twenty-one Varronian plays are the twenty still extant, +and the _Vidularia_. This comedy appears to have been originally subjoined +to the Palatine MS. of the still existing plays of Plautus, but to have +been torn off, since, at the conclusion of the _Truculentus_, we find the +words "Vidularia incipit(274):" And Mai has recently published some +fragments of it, which he found in an Ambrosian MS. Such, it would appear, +had been the high authority of Varro, that only those plays, which had +received his indubitable sanction, were transcribed in the MSS. as the +genuine works of Plautus; yet it would seem that Varro himself had, on +some occasion, assented to the authenticity of several others, induced by +their style of humour corresponding to that of Plautus. He had somewhere +mentioned, that the _Saturio_ (the Glutton,) and the _Addictus_, (the +Adjudged,) were written by Plautus during the period in which he laboured +as a slave at the hand-mill. He was also of opinion, that the _Boeotia_ was +by Plautus; and Aulus Gellius concurs with him in this(275), citing +certain verses delivered by a hungry parasite, which, he says, are +perfectly Plautinian, and must satisfy every person to whom Plautus is +familiar, of the authenticity of that drama. From this very passage, +Osannus derives an argument unfavourable to the authenticity of the play. +The parasite exclaims against the person who first distinguished hours, +and set up the sun-dials, of which the town was so full. Now, Osannus +maintains, that there were no sun-dials at Rome in the time of Plautus, +and that the day was not then distributed into hours, but into much larger +portions of time(276). The _Nervolaria_ was one of the disputed plays in +the time of Au. Gellius; and also the _Fretum_, which Gellius thinks the +most genuine of all(277). Varro, in the first Book of his _Quaestiones +Plautinae_ gives the following words of Attius, which, I presume, are +quoted from his work on poetry and poets, entitled _Didascalica_. "For +neither were the _Gemini_, the _Leones_, the _Condalium_, the _Anus +Plauti_, the _Bis Compressa_, the _Boeotia_, or the _Commorientes_, by +Plautus, but by M. Aquilius." It appears, however, from the prologue to +the _Adelphi_ of Terence, that the _Commorientes_ was written by Plautus, +having been taken by him from a Greek comedy of Diphilus(278). In +opposition to the above passage of Attius, and to his own opinion +expressed in the _Quaestiones Plautinae_, Varro, in his treatise on the +Latin Language, frequently cites, as the works of Plautus, the plays +enumerated by Attius, and various others; but this was probably in +deference to common opinion, or in agreement with ordinary language, and +was not intended to contradict what he had elsewhere delivered, or to +stamp with the character of authenticity productions, which he had more +deliberately pronounced to be spurious(279). + +From the review which has now been given of the comedies of Plautus, +something may have been gathered of their general scope and tenor. In each +plot there is sufficient action, movement, and spirit. The incidents never +flag, but rapidly accelerate the catastrophe. Yet, if we regard his plays +in the mass, there is a considerable, and perhaps too great, uniformity in +their fables. They hinge, for the most part, on the love of some dissolute +youth for a courtezan, his employment of a slave to defraud a father of a +sum sufficient to supply his expensive pleasures, and the final discovery +that his mistress is a free-born citizen. The charge against Plautus of +uniformity in his characters, as well as in his fables, has been echoed +without much consideration. The portraits of Plautus, it must be +remembered, were drawn or copied at a time when the division of labour and +progress of refinement had not yet given existence to those various +descriptions of professions and artists--the doctor, author, attorney--in +short, all those characters, whose habits, singularities, and whims, have +supplied the modern Thalia with such diversified materials, and whose +contrasts give to each other such relief, that no caricature is required +in any individual representation. The characters of Alcmena, Euclio, and +Periplectomenes, are sufficiently novel, and are not repeated in any of +the other dramas; but there is ample range and variety even in those which +he has most frequently employed--the avaricious old man--the debauched young +fellow--the knavish slave--the braggart captain--the rapacious courtezan--the +obsequious parasite--and the shameless pander. On most of these parts some +observations have been made, while mentioning the different comedies in +which they are introduced. The severe father and thoughtless youth, are +those in which he has best succeeded, or at least they are those with +which we are best pleased. The captain always appears to us exaggerated, +and the change which has taken place in society and manners prevents us, +perhaps, from entering fully into the characters of the slave, the +parasite, and pander; but in the fathers and sons, he has shown his +knowledge of our common nature, and delineated them with the truest and +liveliest touches. In the former, the struggles of avarice and severity, +with paternal affection, are finely wrought up and blended. Even when +otherwise respectable characters, they are always represented as disliking +their wives, which was not inconsistent with the manners of a Grecian +state, in which marriage was merely regarded as a duty; and was a feature +naturally enough exhibited on the theatre of a nation, one of whose most +illustrious characters declared in the Senate, as a received maxim, that +Romans married, not for the sake of domestic happiness, but to rear up +soldiers for the republic. + +The Latin style of Plautus excels in briskness of dialogue, as well as +purity of expression, and has been highly extolled by the learned Roman +grammarians, particularly by Varro, who declares, that if the Muses were +to speak Latin they would employ his diction(280); but as M. Schlegel has +remarked, it is necessary to distinguish between the opinion of +philologers, and that of critics and poets. Plautus wrote at a period when +his country as yet possessed no written or literary language. Every phrase +was drawn from the living source of conversation. This early simplicity +seemed pleasing and artless to those Romans, who lived in an age of +excessive refinement and cultivation; but this apparent merit was rather +accidental than the effect of poetic art. Making, however, some allowance +for this, there can be no doubt that Plautus wonderfully improved and +refined the Latin language from the rude form in which it had been moulded +by Ennius. That he should have effected such an alteration is not a little +remarkable. Plautus was nearly contemporary with the Father of Roman +song--according to most accounts he was born a slave--he was condemned, +during part of his life, to the drudgery of the lowest manual labour--and, +so far as we learn, he was not distinguished by the patronage of the +Great, or admitted into Patrician society. Ennius, on the other hand, if +he did not pass his life in affluence, spent it in the exercise of an +honourable profession, and was the chosen familiar friend of Cato, Scipio +Africanus, Fulvius Nobilior, and Laelius, the most learned as well as +polished citizens of the Roman republic, whose conversation in their +unrestrained intercourse must have bestowed on him advantages which +Plautus never enjoyed. But perhaps the circumstance of his Greek original, +which contributed so much to his learning and refinement, and qualified +him for such exalted society, may have been unfavourable to that native +purity of Latin diction, which the Umbrian slave imbibed from the unmixed +fountains of conversation and nature. + +The chief excellence of Plautus is generally reputed to consist in the wit +and comic force of his dialogue; and, accordingly, the lines in Horace's +_Art of Poetry_, in which he derides the ancient Romans for having +foolishly admired the "_Plautinos sales_," has been the subject of much +reprehension among critics(281). That the wit of Plautus often degenerates +into buffoonery, scurrility, and quibbles,--sometimes even into +obscenity,--and that, in his constant attempts at merriment, he too often +tries to excite laughter by exaggerated expressions, as well as by +extravagant actions, cannot, indeed, be denied. This, I think, was partly +owing to the immensity of the Roman theatres, and to the masks and +trumpets of the actors, which must have rendered caricature and grotesque +inventions essential to the production of that due effect, which, with +such scenic apparatus, could not be created, unless by overstepping the +modesty of nature. It must be always be recollected, that the plays of +Plautus were written solely to be represented, and not to be read. Even in +modern times, and subsequently to the invention of printing, the greatest +dramatists--Shakspeare, for example--cared little about the publication of +their plays; and in every age or country, in which dramatic poetry has +flourished, it has been intended for public representation, and has been +adapted to the taste of a promiscuous audience. It is the most social of +all sorts of composition; and he who aims at popularity or success in it, +must leave the solitudes of inspiration for the bustle of the world. + +The contemplative poet may find his delight, and his reward, in the mere +effort of imagination, but the poet of the drama must seek them in the +applause of the multitude. He must stoop to men--be the mover of human +hearts--and triumph by the living and hourly passions of our nature. Now, +in the days of Plautus, the smiles of the polite critic were not enough +for a Latin comedian, because in those days there were few polite critics +at Rome; he required the shouts and laughter of the multitude, who could +be fully gratified only by the broadest grins of comedy. Accordingly, many +of the jests of Plautus are such as might be expected from a writer +anxious to accommodate himself to the taste of the times, and naturally +catching the spirit of ribaldry which prevailed. + +During the age of Plautus, and indeed long after it, the general character +of Roman wit consisted rather in a rude and not very liberal satire, than +a just and temperate ridicule, restrained within the bounds of decency and +good manners. A favourite topic, for example, of ancient raillery, was +corporal defects;--a decisive proof of coarseness of humour, especially as +it was recommended by rule, and enforced by the authority of the greatest +masters, as one of the most legitimate sources of ridicule.--"Est +deformitatis et corporis vitiorum satis bella materies ad jocandum," says +Cicero, in his treatise _De Oratore_(282). The innumerable jests there +recorded as having produced the happiest effects at the bar, are the most +miserable puns and quibbles, coarse practical jokes, or personal +reflections. The cause of this defect in elegance of wit and raillery, has +been attributed by Hurd to the free and popular constitution of Rome. +This, by placing all its citizens, at least during certain periods, on a +level, and diffusing a general spirit of independence, took off those +restraints of civility which are imposed by the dread of displeasing, and +which can alone curb the licentiousness of ridicule. The only court to be +paid was from the orators to the people, in the continual and immediate +applications to them which were rendered necessary by the form of +government. On such occasions, the popular assemblies had to be +entertained with those gross banters, which were likely to prove most +acceptable to them. Design growing into habit, the orators, and after them +the nation, accustomed themselves to coarse ridicule at all times, till +the humour passed from the rostrum, or forum, to the theatre, where the +amusement and laughter of the people being the direct and immediate aim, +it was heightened to still farther extravagance. This taste, says Hurd, +was also fostered and promoted at Rome by the festal license which +prevailed in the seasons of the Bacchanalia and Saturnalia(283). +Quintilian thinks, that, with some regulation, those days of periodical +license might have aided the cultivation of a correct spirit of raillery; +but, as it was, they tended to vitiate and corrupt it. The Roman muse, +too, had been nurtured amid satiric and rustic exhibitions, the +remembrance of which was still cherished, and a recollection of them kept +alive, by the popular _Exodia_ and _Fabulae Atellanae_. + +Such being the taste of the audience whom he had to please, and who +crowded to the theatre not to acquire purity of taste, but to relax their +minds with merriment and jest, it became the great object of Plautus to +make his audience laugh; and for this he sacrificed every other +consideration. "Nec quicquam," says Scaliger, "veritus est, modo auditorem +excitaret risu." With this view, he must have felt that he was more likely +to succeed by emulating the broader mirth of the old or middle comedy, +than by the delicate railleries and exquisite painting of Menander. +Accordingly, though he generally borrowed his plots from the writers of +the new comedy, his wit and humour have more the relish of the old, and +they have been classed by Cicero as of the same description with the +drollery which enlivened its scenes(284). The audience, for whom the plays +of Plautus were written, could understand or enjoy only a representation +of the manners and witticisms to which they were accustomed. To the +fastidious critics of the court of Augustus, an admirer of Plautus might +have replied in the words of Antiphanes, a Greek dramatist of the middle +comedy, who being commanded to read one of his plays to Alexander the +Great, and finding that the production was not relished by the royal +critic, thus addressed him: "I cannot wonder that you disapprove of my +comedy, for he who could be entertained by it must have been present at +the scenes it represents. _He must be acquainted with the public humours +of our vulgar ordinaries_--have been familiar with the impure manners of +our courtezans--a party in the breaking up of many a brothel--and a +sufferer, as well as actor, in those unseemly riots. Of all these things +you are not informed; and the fault lies more in my presumption in +intruding them on your hearing, than in any want of fidelity with which I +have portrayed them(285)." + +Indeed, this practice of consulting the tastes of the people, if it be a +fault, is one which is common to all comic writers. Aristophanes, who was +gifted with far higher powers than Plautus, and who was no less an elegant +poet than a keen satirist, as is evinced by the lyric parts of his +_Frogs_, often prostituted his talents to the lowest gratifications of the +multitude. Shakspeare regarded the drama as entirely a thing for the +people, and treated it as such throughout. He took the popular comedy as +he found it; and whatever enlargements or improvements he introduced on +the stage, were still calculated and contrived according to the spirit of +his predecessors, and the taste of a London audience. When, in Charles's +days, a ribald taste became universal in England, "unhappy Dryden" bowed +down his genius to the times. Even in the refined age of Louis XIV., it +was said of the first comic genius of his country, that he would have +attained the perfection of his art, + + "_Si moins ami du peuple_ en ses doctes peintures, + Il n'eut point fait souvent grimacer ses figures, + Quitte, pour le bouffon, l'agreable et le fin, + Et, sans honte, a Terence allie Tabarin." + BOILEAU. + +Lopez de Vega, in his _Arte de hacer Comedias_, written, in 1609, at the +request of a poetical academy, and containing a code of laws for the +modern drama, admits, that when he was about to write a comedy, he laid +aside all dramatic precepts, and wrote solely for the vulgar, who had to +pay for their amusement: + + "Quando he de escribir una comedia, + Encierro los preceptos con seis llaves; + Saco a Terencio y Plauto de mi studio + Para que no den voces, porque suele + Dar gritos la verdad en libios mudos; + Y escribo por el arte que inventaron + Los que el vulgar aplauso pretendieron, + Porque como los paga el vulgo, es justo + Hablarle in necio para darle gusto." + +His indulgent conformity, however, to the unpolished taste of his age, +ought not to be admitted as an excuse for the obscenities which Plautus +has introduced. But though it must be confessed, that he is liable to some +censure in this particular, he is not nearly so culpable as has been +generally imagined. The commentators, indeed, have been often remarkably +industrious in finding out allusions, which do not consist very clearly +with the plain and obvious meaning of the context. The editor of the +Delphin Plautus has not rejected above five pages from the twenty plays on +this account; and many passages even in those could hardly offend the most +scrupulous reader. Some of the comedies, indeed, as the _Captivi_ and +_Trinummus_, are free from any moral objection; and, with the exception of +the _Casina_, none of them are so indelicate as many plays of Massinger +and Ford, in the time of James I., or Etheridge and Shadwell, during the +reigns of Charles II. and his successor. + +It being the great aim of Plautus to excite the merriment of the rabble, +he, of course, was little anxious about the strict preservation of the +dramatic unities; and it was a more important object with him to bring a +striking scene into view, than to preserve the unity of place. In the +_Aulularia_, part of the action is laid in the miser's dwelling, and part +in the various places where he goes to conceal his treasure: in the +_Mostellaria_ and _Truculentus_, the scene changes from the street to +apartments in different houses. + +But, notwithstanding these and other irregularities, Plautus so enchanted +the people by the drollery of his wit, and the buffoonery of his scenes, +that he continued the reigning favourite of the stage long after the more +correct plays of Caecilius, Afranius, and even Terence, were first +represented. + + + + + + CAECILIUS, + + +who was originally a slave, acquired this name with his freedom, having +been at first called by the servile appellation of Statius(286). He was a +native of Milan, and flourished towards the end of the sixth century of +Rome, having survived Ennius, whose intimate friend he was, about one +year, which places his death in 586. We learn from the prologue to the +_Hecyra_ of Terence, spoken in the person of Ambivius, the principal +actor, or rather manager of the theatre, that, when he first brought out +the plays of Caecilius, some were hissed off the stage, and others hardly +stood their ground; but knowing the fluctuating fortunes of dramatic +exhibitions, he had again attempted to bring them forward. His +perseverance having obtained for them a full and unprejudiced hearing, +they failed not to please; and this success excited the author to new +efforts in the poetic art, which he had nearly abandoned in a fit of +despondency. The comedies of Caecilius, which amounted to thirty, are all +lost, so that our opinion of their merits can be formed only from the +criticisms of those Latin authors who wrote before they had perished. +Cicero blames the improprieties of his style and language(287). From +Horace's Epistle to Augustus, we may collect what was the popular +sentiment concerning Caecilius-- + + "Vincere Caecilius gravitate--Terentius arte." + +It is not easy to see how a comic author could be more grave than Terence; +and the quality applied to a writer of this cast appears of rather +difficult interpretation. But the opinion which had been long before given +by Varro affords a sort of commentary on Horace's expression--"In +argumentis," says he, "Caecilius palmam poscit; in ethesi Terentius." By +_gravitas_, therefore, as applied to Caecilius, we may properly enough +understand the grave and affecting plots of his comedies; which is farther +confirmed by what Varro elsewhere observes of him--"_Pathe_ Trabea, +Attilius, et Caecilius facile moverunt." Velleius Paterculus joins him with +Terence and Afranius, whom he reckons the most excellent comic writers of +Rome--"Dulcesque Latini leporis facetiae per Caecilium, Terentiumque, et +Afranium, sub pari aetate, nituerunt(288)." + +A great many of the plays of Caecilius were taken from Menander; and Aulus +Gellius informs us that they seemed agreeable and pleasing enough, till, +being compared with their Greek models, they appeared quite tame and +disgusting, and the wit of the original, which they were unable to +imitate, totally vanished(289). He accordingly contrasts a scene in the +_Plocius_ (or Necklace,) of Caecilius, with the corresponding scene in +Menander, and pronounces them to be as different in brightness and value +as the arms of Diomed and Glaucus. The scenes compared are those where an +old husband complains that his wife, who was rich and ugly, had obliged +him to sell a handsome female slave, of whom she was jealous. This chapter +of Aulus Gellius is very curious, as it gives us a more perfect notion +than we obtain from any other writer, of the mode in which the Latin comic +poets copied the Greeks. To judge from this single comparison, it appears +that though the Roman dramatists imitated the incidents, and caught the +ideas of their great masters, their productions were not entirely +translations or slavish versions: A different turn is frequently given to +a thought--the sentiments are often differently expressed, and sometimes +much is curtailed, or altogether omitted. + + + + + + AFRANIUS, + + +though he chose Roman subjects, whence his comedies were called _Togatae_, +was an imitator of the manner of Menander-- + + "Dicitur Afrani toga convenisse Menandro." + +Indeed he himself admits, in his _Compitales_, that he derived many even +of his plots from Menander and other Greek writers-- + + "Fateor, sumpsi non a Menandro modo, + Sed ut quisque habuit, quod conveniret mihi; + Quod me non posse melius facere credidi." + +Cicero(290) calls Afranius an ingenious and eloquent writer. Ausonius, in +one of his epigrams, talks "_facundi Afrani_." He is also praised by +Quintilian, who censures him, however, for the flagitious amours which he +represented on the stage(291), on account of which, perhaps, his writings +were condemned to the flames by Pope Gregory I. The titles of forty-six of +his plays have been collected by Fabricius, and a few fragments have been +edited by Stephens. One of these, in the play entitled _Sella_, where it +is said that wisdom is the child of experience and memory, has been +commended by Aulus Gellius, and is plausibly conjectured(292) to have been +introduced in a prologue spoken in the person of Wisdom herself-- + + "Usus me genuit, mater peperit Memoria: + Sophiam vocant me Graii; vos Sapientiam." + +The following lines from the _Vopiscum_ have also been frequently quoted: + + "Si possent homines delinimentis capi, + Omnes haberent nunc amatores anus. + AEtas, et corpus tenerum, et morigeratio, + Haec sunt venena formosarum mulierum(293)." + + + + + + LUSCIUS LAVINIUS, + + +also a follower of Menander, was the contemporary and enemy of Terence, +who, in his prologues, has satirized his injudicious translations from the +Greek-- + + "Qui bene, vertendo et eas describendo male, + Ex Graecis bonis, Latinas fecit non bonas(294)." + +In particular, we learn from the prologue to the _Phormio_, that he was +fond of bringing on the stage frantic youths, committing all those +excesses of folly and distraction which are supposed to be produced by +violent love. Donatus has afforded us an account of the plot of his +_Phasma_, which was taken from Menander. A lady, who, before marriage, had +a daughter, the fruit of a secret amour with a person now living in a +house adjacent to her husband's, made an opening in the wall of her own +dwelling, in order to communicate with that in which her former paramour +and daughter resided. That this entrance might appear a consecrated spot +to her husband's family, she decked it with garlands, and shaded it with +branches of trees. To this passage she daily repaired as if to pay her +devotions, but in fact, to procure interviews with her illegitimate +daughter. Her husband also had, by a former wife, a son, who dwelt in his +father's house, and who, having one day accidentally peeped through the +aperture, beheld the girl; and, as she was possessed of almost +supernatural beauty, he was struck with awe, as at the sight of a Spirit +or divinity, whence the play received the name of _Phasma_. The young man, +discovering at length that she is a mortal, conceives for her a violent +passion, and is finally united to her, with the consent of his father, and +to the great satisfaction of the mother. There is another play of +Menander, which has also been closely imitated by Luscius Lavinius. +Plautus, we have seen, borrowed his _Trinummus_ from the _Thesaurus_ of +Philemon. But Menander also wrote a _Thesaurus_, which has been copied by +Lavinius. An old man, by his last will, had commanded, that, ten years +after his death, his son should carry libations to the monument under +which he was to be interred. The youth, having squandered his fortune, +sold the ground on which this monument stood to an old miser. At the end +of ten years, the prodigal sent a servant to the tomb with due offerings, +according to the injunctions of his deceased father. The servant applied +to the new proprietor to assist him in opening the monument, in which they +discovered a hoard of gold. The miserly owner of the soil seized the +treasure, and retained it on pretence of having deposited it there for +safety during a period of public commotion. It is claimed, however, by the +young man, who goes to law with him; and the plot of the comedy chiefly +consists in the progress of the suit(295)--the dramatic management of which +has been ridiculed by Terence, in the prologue to the _Eunuchus_, since, +contrary to the custom and rules of all courts of justice, the author had +introduced the defendant pleading his title to the treasure before the +plaintiff had explained his pretensions, and entered on the grounds of his +demand. Part of the old Scotch ballad, The Heir of Linne, has a curious +resemblance to the plot of this play of Luscius Lavinius. + +Turpilius, Trabea, and Attilius, were the names of comic writers who lived +towards the end of the sixth and beginning of the seventh century, from +the building of Rome. Of these, and other contemporary dramatists, it +would now be difficult to say more than that their works have perished, +and to repeat a few scattered incidental criticisms delivered by Varro or +Cicero. To them probably may be attributed the _Baccharia_, _Caecus_, +_Cornicularia_, _Parasitus_, and innumerable other comedies, of which the +names have been preserved by grammarians. Of such works, once the +favourites of the Roman stage, few memorials survive, and these only to be +found separate and imperfect in the quotations of scholiasts. Sometimes +from a single play numerous passages have been preserved; but they are so +detached, that they neither give us any insight into the fable to which +they appertain, nor enable us to pronounce on the excellence of the +dramatic characters. In general, they comprise so small a portion of +uninterrupted dialogue, that we can scarcely form a judgment even of the +style and manner of the poet, or of the beauty of his versification. All +that is now valuable in these fragments is a few brief moral maxims, and +some examples of that _vis comica_, which consists in an ingenious and +forcible turn of expression in the original language. + +It is not difficult to account for the vast number of dramatic productions +which we thus see were brought forward at Rome in the early ages of the +Republic. There are two ways in which literature may be supported,--By the +patronage of distinguished individuals, as it was in the time of Maecenas +and the age of Lorenzo de Medici; or, By the encouragement of a great +literary public, as it is now rewarded in modern Europe. But, in Rome, +literature as yet had not obtained the protection of an emperor or a +favourite minister; and previous to the invention of printing, which alone +could give extensive circulation to his productions, a poet could hardly +gain a livelihood by any means, except by supplying popular entertainments +for the stage. These were always liberally paid for by the AEdiles, or +other directors of the public amusements. To this species of composition, +accordingly, the poet directed his almost undivided attention; and a +prodigious facility was afforded to his exertions by the inexhaustible +dramatic stores which he found prepared for him in Greece. + + + + + + TRABEA. + + +The plays of Quintus Trabea, supposed to belong chiefly to the class +called _Togatae_, are frequently cited by the grammarians, and are +mentioned with approbation by Cicero. He in particular commends the lines +where this poet so agreeably describes the credulity and overweening +satisfaction of a lover-- + + "Tanta laetitia auctus sum ut mihi non constem: + Nunc demum mihi animus ardet. + Lena, delinita argento, nutum observabit meum-- + Quid velim quid studeam: adveniens digito impellam januam: + Fores patebunt--de improviso Chrysis, ubi me aspexit, + Alacris obviam mihi veniet, complexum exoptans meum; + Mihi se dedet.--Fortunam ipsam anteibo fortunis meis(296)." + +The name of Trabea was made use of in a well known deception practised on +Joseph Scaliger by Muretus. Scaliger piqued himself on his faculty of +distinguishing the characteristic styles of ancient writers. In order to +entrap him, Muretus showed him some verses, pretending that he had +received them from Germany, where they had been transcribed from an +ancient MS. attributed to Q. Trabea-- + + "Here, si querelis, ejulatu, fletibus, + Medicina fieret miseriis mortalium, + Auro parandae lachrymae contra forent: + Nunc haec ad minuenda mala non magis valent + Quam Naenia praeficae ad excitandos mortuos: + Res turbidae consilium, non fletum, expetunt(297)." + +Scaliger was so completely deceived, that he afterwards cited these +verses, as lines from the play of _Harpace_, by Q. Trabea, in the first +edition of his Commentary on Varro's Dialogues _De Re Rustica_, in order +to illustrate some obscure expression of his author--"Quis enim," says he, +"tam aversus a Musis, tamque humanitatis expers, qui horum publicatione +offendatur." Muretus, not content with this malicious trick, afterwards +sent him some other verses, to which he affixed the name of Attius, +expressing, but more diffusely, the same idea. Scaliger, in his next +edition of Varro, published them, along with the former lines, as +fragments from the _OEnomaus_, a tragedy by Attius, and a plagiarism from +Trabea--observing, at the end of his note, "Fortasse de hoc nimis." Muretus +said nothing for two years; but, at the end of that period, he published a +volume of his own Latin poems, and, along with them, under the title +_Afficta Trabeae_, both sets of verses which he had thus palmed on Scaliger +for undoubted remnants of antiquity. The whole history of the imposture +was fully disclosed in a note: Both poems, it was acknowledged, were +versions of a fragment, attributed by some to Menander, and by others to +Philemon, beginning,--{~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA WITH DASIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}, {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}.{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}.{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}. They have been also +translated into Latin by Naugerius(298). + +The progress of time, the ravages of war, and the intervention of a period +of barbarism, which have deprived us of so many dramatic works of the +Romans, have fortunately spared six plays of + + + + + + TERENCE, + + +which are perhaps the most valuable remains that have descended to us +among the works of antiquity. This celebrated dramatist, the delight and +ornament of the Roman stage, was born at Carthage, about the 560th year of +Rome. In what manner he came or was brought thither is uncertain. He was, +in early youth, the freedman of one Terentius Lucanus in that city, whose +name has been perpetuated only by the glory of his slave. After he had +obtained his freedom, he became the friend of Laelius, and of the younger +Scipio Africanus(299). His _Andria_ was not acted till the year 587--two +years, according to the Eusebian Chronicle, after the death of Caecilius; +which unfortunately throws some doubt on the agreeable anecdote recorded +by Donatus, of his introduction, in a wretched garb, into the house of +Caecilius, in order to read his comedy to that poet, by whom, as a mean +person, he was seated on a low stool, till he astonished him with the +matchless grace and elegance of the _Andria_, when he was placed on the +couch, and invited to partake the supper of the veteran dramatist. Several +writers have conjectured, it might be to another than to Caecilius that +Terence read his comedy(300); or, as the _Andria_ is not indisputably his +first comedy, that it might be one of the others which he read to +Caecilius(301). Supposing the Eusebian Chronicle to be accurate in the date +which it fixes for the death of Caecilius, it is just possible, that +Terence may have written and read to him his _Andria_ two years previous +to its representation. After he had given six comedies to the stage, +Terence left Rome for Greece, whence he never returned. The manner of his +death, however, is altogether uncertain. According to one report, he +perished at sea, while on his voyage from Greece to Italy, bringing with +him an hundred and eight comedies, which he had translated from Menander: +according to other accounts, he died in Arcadia for grief at the loss of +those comedies, which he had sent before him by sea to Rome. In whatever +way it was occasioned, his death happened when he was at the early age of +thirty-four, and in the year 594 from the building of the city. + +_Andria_,--acted in 587, is the first in point of time, and is usually +accounted the first in merit, of the productions of Terence. Like most of +his other comedies, it has a double plot. It is compounded of the +_Andrian_ and _Perinthian_ of Menander; but it does not appear, that +Terence took his principal plot from one of those Greek plays, and the +under-plot from the other. He employed both to form his chief fable; and +added the characters, on which the under plot is founded, from his own +invention, or from some third play now unknown to us. + +At the commencement of the play, Simo, the father of Pamphilus, informs +Sosia of his son's love for Glycerium. In consequence of a report of this +attachment spreading abroad, Chremes refuses his daughter, who had +previously been promised to Pamphilus in marriage: Simo, however, still +pretends to make preparations for the nuptials, in order more accurately +to ascertain the state of his son's affections. Charinus, the lover of +Chremes' daughter, is in despair at the prospect of this union; but he is +comforted by the assurances of Pamphilus, that he would do every thing in +his power to retard it. By this time, Davus, the slave of Pamphilus, +discovers, that it is not intended his master's marriage should in reality +proceed; and, perceiving it is a pretext, he advises Pamphilus to declare +that he is ready to obey his father's commands. Glycerium, meanwhile, +gives birth to a child; but Simo believes, that her reported delivery was +a stratagem of Davus, to deter Chremes from acceding to his daughter's +marriage with Pamphilus. Simo, however, at length prevails on him to give +his consent. Pamphilus is thus placed in a most perplexing dilemma with +all parties. His mistress, Glycerium, and her attendants, believe him to +be false; while Charinus thinks that he had deceived him; and, as he had +given his consent to the marriage, he can form no excuse to his father or +Chremes for not concluding it. Hence his rage against Davus, and new +stratagems on the part of the slave to prevent the nuptials. He contrives +that Chremes should overhear a conversation between him and Mysis, +Glycerium's attendant, concerning the child which her mistress bore to +Pamphilus, and Chremes in consequence instantly breaks off from his +engagement. In this situation, Crito arrives to claim heirship to Chrysis, +the reputed sister of Glycerium. He discloses, that Glycerium having been +shipwrecked in infancy, had been preserved by his kinsman, the father of +Chrysis; and, from his detail, it is discovered, that she is the daughter +of Chremes. There is thus no farther obstacle to her marriage with +Pamphilus; and the other daughter of Chremes is of course united to +Charinus. + +The long narrative with which the _Andria_, like several other plays of +Terence, commences, and which is a component part of the drama itself, is +beautiful in point of style, and does not fail to excite our interest +concerning the characters. We perceive the compassion and even admiration +of Simo for Glycerium, and we feel that, if convinced of her respectable +birth and character, he would have preferred her to all others, even to +the daughter of Chremes. Glycerium, indeed, does not appear on the stage; +but her actual appearance could scarcely have added to the interest which +her hapless situation inspires. Simo is the model of an excellent father. +He is not so easily duped by his slaves as most of the old men in Plautus; +and his temper does not degenerate, like that of many other characters in +the plays of Terence, either into excessive harshness, or criminal +indulgence. His observations are strikingly just, and are the natural +language of age and experience. Chremes, the other old man, does not +divide our interest with Simo; yet we see just enough of his good +disposition, to make us sympathize with his happiness in the discovery of +a daughter. Pamphilus is rendered interesting by his tenderness for +Glycerium, and respect for his father. Davus supports the character of a +shrewd, cunning, penetrating slave; he is wholly devoted to the interests +of Pamphilus, but is often comically deterred from executing his +stratagems by dread of the lash of his old master. The part of Crito, too, +is happily imagined: His apprehension lest he be suspected of seeking an +inheritance to which he has no just title, and his awkward feelings on +coming to claim the wealth of a kinswoman of suspicious character, are +artfully unfolded. Even the gossip and absurd flattery of the midwife, +Lesbia, is excellent. The poet has also shewn considerable address in +portraying the character of Chrysis, who was supposed to be the sister of +Glycerium, but had died previous to the commencement of the action. In the +first scene, he represents her as having for a long while virtuously +struggled with adverse fortune, and having finally been precipitated into +vice rather by pressure of poverty than depravity of will; and afterwards, +in the pathetic account which Pamphilus gives of his last conference with +her, we insensibly receive a pleasing impression of her character, and +forget her errors for the sake of her amiable qualities. All this was +necessary, in order to prevent our forming a disadvantageous idea of +Glycerium, who had resided with Chrysis, but was afterwards to become the +wife of Pamphilus, and to be acknowledged as the daughter of Chremes. + +This play has been imitated in the _Andrienne_ of Baron, the celebrated +French actor. The Latin names are preserved in the _dramatis personae_, and +the first, second, and fifth acts, have been nearly translated from +Terence. In the fourth, however, instead of the marriage being interrupted +by Davus's stratagem, Glycerium, hearing a report of the falsehood of her +lover, rushes on the stage, throws herself at the feet of Chremes, and +prevails on him to break off the intended match between his daughter and +Pamphilus. But, though the incidents are nearly the same, the dialogue is +ill written, and is very remote from the graceful ease and simplicity of +Terence. + +Steele's _Conscious Lovers_ is the best imitation of the _Andria_. The +English play, it will be remembered, commences in a similar manner with +the Latin comedy, by Sir John Bevil relating to an old servant, that he +had discovered the love of his son for Indiana, an unknown and stranger +girl, by his behaviour at a masquerade. The report of this attachment +nearly breaks off an intended marriage between young Bevil and Lucinda, +Sealand's daughter. Young Bevil relieves the mind of Myrtle, the lover of +Lucinda, by assuring him that he is utterly averse to the match. Still, +however, he pretends to his father, that he is ready to comply with his +wishes; and, meanwhile, writes to Lucinda, requesting that she would +refuse the offer of his hand. Myrtle, hearing of this correspondence +having taken place, without knowing its import, is so fired with jealousy +that he sends Bevil a challenge. Sealand, being still pressed by Sir John +to bestow his daughter in marriage, waits on Indiana, in order to discover +the precise nature of her relations with Bevil. She details to him her +story; and, on his alluding to the probability of the projected nuptials +being soon concluded, she tears off, in a transport of passion, a +bracelet, by which Sealand discovers, that she is a daughter whom he had +lost, and who, while proceeding to join him in the East Indies, had been +carried into a French harbour, where she first met with young Bevil. + +An English translator of Terence remarks, "That Steele has unfolded his +plot with more art than his predecessor, but is greatly his inferior in +delineation of character. Simo is the most finished character in the Latin +piece, but Sir John Bevil, who corresponds to him, is quite insignificant. +Young Bevil is the most laboured character in the _Conscious Lovers_, but +he is inferior to Pamphilus. His deceit is better managed by Terence than +Steele. Bevil's supposed consent to marry is followed by no consequence; +and his honest dissimulation, as he calls it, is less reconcilable to the +philosophic turn of his character, than to the natural sensibility of +Pamphilus. Besides, the conduct of the latter is palliated, by being +driven to it by the artful instigations of Davus, who executes the lower +part of the stratagems, whereas Bevil is left entirely to his own +resources." Bevil, indeed, in spite of his refinement and formality, his +admiration of the moral writers, and, "the charming vision of Mirza +consulted in a morning," is a good deal of a _Plato-Scapin_. Indiana, who +corresponds to Glycerium, is introduced with more effect than the ladies +in the French plays imitated from Terence. Her tearing off her ornaments, +however, in a fit of despair, at the conclusion, is too violent. It is +inconsistent with the rest of her character; and we feel that she would +not have done so, had not the author found that the bracelet was necessary +for her recognition as the daughter of Sealand. The under plot is perhaps +better managed in the English than in the Latin play. Myrtle sustains a +part more essential to the principal fable than Charinus; and his +character is better discriminated from that of Bevil than those of the two +lovers in the _Andria_. The part of Cimberton, the other lover of Lucinda, +favoured by Mrs Sealand, is of Steele's own contrivance; and of course, +also, the stratagem devised by Bevil, in which Myrtle and Tom pretend to +be lawyers, and Myrtle afterwards personates Sir Geoffry Cimberton, the +uncle of his rival. + +The _Andria_ has also suggested those scenes of Moore's _Foundling_, which +relate to the love of young Belmont, and the recognition of Fidelia as the +daughter of Sir Charles Raymond. + +_Eunuchus_.--Though, in modern times, the _Andria_ has been the most +admired play of Terence, in Rome the _Eunuchus_ was by much the most +popular of all his performances, and he received for it 8000 sesterces, +the greatest reward which poet had ever yet obtained(302). In the +_Andria_, indeed, there is much grace and delicacy, and some tenderness; +but the _Eunuchus_ is so full of vivacity and fire, as almost to redeem +its author from the well-known censure of Caesar, that there was no _vis +comica_ in his dramas. + +The chief part of the _Eunuchus_ is taken from a play of the same title by +Menander; but the characters of the parasite and captain have been +transferred into it from another play of Menander, called _Kolax_. There +was an old play, too, by Naevius, founded on the _Kolax_; but Terence, in +his prologue, denies having been indebted to this performance. + +The scenes of the _Eunuchus_ are so arranged, that the main plot is +introduced by that which is secondary, and which at first has the +appearance of being the principal one. Phaedria is brought on the stage +venting his indignation at being excluded from the house of the courtezan +Thais, for the sake of Thraso, who is the sole braggart captain exhibited +in the plays of our author. Thais, however, succeeds in persuading Phaedria +that she would admit Thraso only for two days, in order to obtain from him +the gift of a damsel who had originally belonged to the mother of Thais, +but after her death had been sold to the captain. Phaedria, vying in gifts +with Thraso, presents his mistress with an Ethiopian eunuch. The younger +brother of Phaedria, who is called Chaerea, having accidentally seen the +maid presented to Thais by Thraso, falls in love with her, and, by a +stratagem of his father's slave Parmeno, he is introduced as the eunuch to +the house of Thais, where he does not in all respects consistently support +the character he had assumed. After Chaerea had gone off, his adventure was +discovered; and Pythias, the waiting maid of Thais, in revenge for +Parmeno's fraud, tells him that Chaerea, having been detected, was about to +be made precisely what he had pretended to be. Parmeno, believing this +report, informs the father of Chaerea, who instantly rushes into the house +of Thais, (to which, by this time, his son had ventured to return,) and +being there relieved from his sudden apprehension, he consents the more +readily to the marriage of Chaerea with the girl whom he had deluded, and +who is now discovered to be an Athenian citizen, and the sister of +Chremes. In this paroxysm of good humour, he also agrees that Phaedria +should retain Thais as his mistress. Thraso and his parasite, Gnatho, +having been foiled in an attack on the house of Thais, enter into terms, +and, at the persuasion of Gnatho, Thraso is admitted into the society of +Phaedria, and is allowed to share with him the favours of Thais. + +There are thus, strictly speaking, three plots in the _Eunu__chus_, but +they are blended with inimitable art. The quarrel and reconciliation of +Thais and Phaedria promote the marriage of Chaerea with Pamphila, the girl +presented by Thraso to Thais. This gift again produces the dispute between +Phaedria and Thais, and gives room for the imposture of Chaerea. It is +unfortunate that the regard in which the ancient dramatists held the unity +of place, interposed between the spectators and the representation of what +would have been highly comical--the father discovering his son in the +eunuch's habit in the house of Thais, the account of which has been thrown +into narrative. At the conclusion Thraso is permitted, with consent of +Phaedria, to share the good graces of Thais; but, as has been remarked by +La Harpe(303) and Colman(304), and as indeed must be felt by every one who +reads the play, this termination is scarcely consistent with the manners +of gentlemen, and it implies the utmost meanness in Phaedria to admit him +into his society, or to allow him a share in the favours of his mistress, +merely that he may defray part of the expense of her establishment. + +The drama, however, is full of vivacity and intrigue. Through the whole +piece the author amuses us with his pleasantries, and in no scene +discovers that his fund of entertainment is exhausted. Most of the +characters, too, are happily sketched. Under Thais, Menander is supposed +to have given a representation of his own mistress Glycerium. On the +general nature of the parts of the parasite and braggart captain, +something has been said while treating of the dramas of Plautus; but +Terence has greatly refined and improved on these favourite characters of +his predecessor. Gnatho is master of a much more delicate and artful mode +of adulation than former flatterers, and supports his consequence with his +patron, at the same time that he laughs at him and lives on him. He +boasts, in the second scene of the second act, that he is the founder of a +new class of parasites, who ingratiated themselves with men of fortune and +shallow understandings, solely by humouring their fancies and admiring +what they said, instead of earning a livelihood by submitting to blows, +the ridicule of the company, and all manner of indignities, like the +antiquated race of parasites whom Plautus describes as beaten, kicked, and +abused at pleasure:-- + + "Et hic quidem, hercle, nisi qui colaphos perpeti + Potis parasitus, frangique aulas in caput, + Vel ire extra portam trigeminam ad saccum libet." + +The new parasite, of whom Gnatho may be considered as the representative, +had been delineated in the characters of Theophrastus, and has more +resemblance to Shakspeare's Osrick, or to the class of parasites described +by Juvenal as infesting the families of the Great in the latter ages of +Rome(305). Thraso, the braggart captain, in the _Eunuchus_, is ridiculous +enough to supply the audience with mirth, without indulging in the +extravagant bluster of Pyrgopolinices. A scene in the fourth act gives the +most lively representation of the conceit and ridiculous vanity of this +soldier, who, calling together a few slaves, pretends to marshal and draw +them up as if they formed a numerous army, and assumes all the airs of a +general. This part is so contrived, that nothing could have more happily +tended to make him appear ridiculous though he says nothing extravagant, +or beyond what might naturally be expected from the mouth of a coxcomb. +One new feature in Thraso's character is his fondness for repeating his +jests, and passion for being admired as a wit no less than a warrior. +There is, perhaps, nowhere to be found a truer picture of the fond and +froward passion of love, than that which is given us in the character of +Phaedria. Horace and Persius, when they purposely set themselves to expose +and exaggerate its follies, could imagine nothing beyond it. The former, +indeed, in the third satire of his second book, where he has given a +picture of the irresolution of lovers, has copied part of the dialogue +introduced near the commencement of the _Eunuchus_. + +The love, however, both of Phaedria and Chaerea is more that of temperament +than sentiment: Of consequence, the _Eunuchus_ is inferior to the _Andria_ +in delicacy and tenderness; but there are not wanting passages which excel +in these higher qualities. Addison has remarked(306), that Phaedria's +request to his mistress, on leaving her for a few days, is inimitably +beautiful and natural-- + + "Egone quid velim? + Cum Milite isto praesens, absens ut sies; + Dies noctesque me ames: me desideres: + Me somnies: me expectes: de me cogites: + Me speres: me te oblectes: mecum tota sis: + Meus fac sis postremo animus, quando ego sum tuus." + +This demand was rather exorbitant, and Thais had some reason to reply--_Me +miseram!_ + +There is an Italian imitation of the _Eunuchus_ in _La Talanta_, a comedy +by Aretine, in which the courtezan who gives the name to the play +corresponds with Thais, and her lover Orfinio to Phaedria,--the +characteristic dispositions of both the originals being closely followed +in the copy. A youth, from his disguise supposed to be a girl, is +presented to La Talanta by Tinca, the Thraso of the piece, who, being +exasperated at the treatment he had received from the courtezan, +meditates, like Thraso, a military attack on her dwelling-house; and, +though easily repulsed, he is permitted at the conclusion, in respect of +his wealth and bounty, to continue to share with Orfinio the favours of La +Talanta. + +There is more _lubricity_ in the _Eunuchus_ of Terence, than in any of his +other performances; and hence, perhaps, it has been selected by Fontaine +as the most suitable drama for his imitation. His _Eunuque_, as he very +justly remarks in his advertisement prefixed, "n'est qu'une mediocre copie +d'un excellent original." Fontaine, instead of adapting the incidents to +Parisian manners, like Moliere and Regnard, in their delightful imitations +of Plautus, has retained the ancient names, and scene of action. The +earlier part is a mere translation from the Latin, except that the +character of Thais is softened down from a courtezan to a coquette. The +next deviation from the original is the omission of the recital by Chaerea, +of the success of his audacious enterprize--instead of which, Fontaine has +introduced his Chaerea professing honourable and respectful love to +Pamphile. In the unravelling of the dramatic plot, the French author has +departed widely from Terence. There is nothing of the alarm concerning +Chaerea given by Thais' maid to Parmeno, and by him communicated to the +father: The old man merely solicits Parmeno to prevail on his sons to +marry:-- + + "Il se veut desormais tenir clos et couvert, + Caresser, les pieds chauds, quelque Bru qui lui plaise, + Conter son jeune temps, et banqueter a son aise." + +This wish is doubly accomplished, by the discovery that Pamphile is of +reputable birth, and by Phaedria's reconciliation with Thais. While making +such changes on the conclusion, and accommodating it in some measure to +the feelings of the age, I am surprised that the French author retained +that part of the compact with Thraso, by which he is to remain in the +society of Phaedria merely to be fleeced and ridiculed. + +The _Eunuchus_ is also the origin of _Le Muet_ by Bruyes and Palaprat, who +laboured in conjunction, like our Beaumont and Fletcher, and who have made +such alterations on the Latin drama as they thought advisable in their age +and country. In this play, which was first acted in 1691, a young man, who +feigns to be dumb, is introduced as a page in a house where his mistress +resided. But although an Ethiopian eunuch, which was an article of state +among the ancients, may have attracted the fancy of Thais, it is not +probable that the French countess should have been so desirous to receive +a present of a dumb page. Those scenes in which the credulous father is +made to believe that his son had lost the power of speech, from the +effects of love and sorcery, and is persuaded, by a valet disguised as a +doctor, that the only remedy for his dumbness is an immediate union with +the object of his passion, are improbable and overcharged. The character +of the parasite is omitted, and instead of Thraso we have a rough blunt +sea captain, who had protected Zayde when lost by her parents. + +The only English imitation of the _Eunuchus_ is _Bellamira, or the +Mistress_, an unsuccessful comedy by Sir Charles Sedley, first printed in +1687. In this play the scene lies in London, but there is otherwise hardly +any variation in the incidents; and there is no novelty introduced, except +Bellamira and Merryman's plot of robbing Dangerfield, the braggart captain +of the piece, an incident evidently borrowed from Shakspeare's Henry IV. + +_Heautontimorumenos_. The chief plot of this play, which I think on the +whole the least happy effort of Terence's imitation, and which, of all his +plays, is the most foreign from our manners, is taken, like the +last-mentioned drama, from Menander. It derives its Greek appellation from +the voluntary punishment inflicted on himself by a father, who, having +driven his son into banishment by excess of severity, avenges him, by +retiring to the country, where he partakes only of the hardest fare, and +labours the ground with his own hands. The deep parental distress, +however, of Menedemus, with which the play opens, forms but an +inconsiderable part of it, as the son, Clinia, returns in the second act, +and other incidents of a comic cast are then interwoven with the drama. +The plan of Clitopho's mistress being brought to the house both of +Menedemus and his neighbour Chremes, in the character of Clinia's +mistress, has given rise to some amusing situations: but the devices +adopted by the slave Syrus, to deceive and cheat the two old men, are too +intricate, and much less ingenious than those of a similar description in +most other Latin plays. One of his artifices, however, in order to melt +the heart of Chremes, by persuading him that Clitopho thinks he is not his +son, has been much applauded; particularly the preparation for this +stratagem, where, wisely concluding that one would best contribute to the +imposition who was himself deceived, he, in the first place, makes +Clitopho believe that he is not the son of his reputed father. + +Terence himself, in his prologue, has called this play _double_, probably +in allusion to the two plots which it contains. Julius Scaliger absurdly +supposes that it was so termed because one half of the play was +represented in the evening, and the other half on the following +morning(307). It has been more plausibly conjectured, that the original +plot of the Greek play was simple, consisting merely of the character of +the Self-tormentor Menedemus, the love of his son Clinia for Antiphila, +and the discovery of the real condition of his mistress; but that Terence +had added to this single fable, either from his own invention, or from +some other Greek play, the passion of Clitopho for Bacchis, and the +devices of the slave in order to extract money from old Chremes(308). +These two fables are connected by the poet with much art, and form a +double intrigue, instead of the simple argument of the Greek original. + +Diderot has objected strongly to the principal subject which gives name to +this play, and to the character of the self-tormenting father. Tragedy, he +says, represents individual characters, like those of Regulus, Orestes, +and Cato; but the chief characters in comedy should represent a class or +species, and if they only resemble individuals, the comic drama would +revert to what it was in its infancy.--"Mais on peut dire," continues he, +"que ce pere la n'est pas dans la nature. Une grande ville fourniroit a +peine dans un siecle l'example d'une affliction aussi bizarre." It is +observed in the _Spectator_(309), on the other hand, that though there is +not in the whole drama one passage that could raise a laugh, it is from +beginning to end the most perfect picture of human life that ever was +exhibited. + +There has been a great contest, particularly among the French critics, +whether the unities of time and place be preserved in +_Heautontimorumenos_. In the year 1640, Menage had a conversational +dispute, on this subject, with the Abbe D'Aubignac, with whom he at that +period lived on terms of the most intimate friendship. The latter, who +contended for the strictest interpretation of the unities, first put his +arguments in writing, but without his name, in his "Discours sur la +troisieme comedie de Terence; contre ceux qui pensent qu'elle n'est pas +dans les regles anciennes du poeme dramatique." Menage answered him in his +"Reponse au discours," &c.; and, in 1650, he published both in his +_Miscellanea_, without leave of the author of the _Discours_. This, and +some disrespectful expressions employed in the _Reponse_, gave mortal +offence to the Abbe, who, in 1655, wrote a reply to the answer, entitled +"Terence Justifie, &c. contre les Erreurs de Maistre Gilles Menage, Avocat +en Parlement." This designation of _Maistre_, proved intolerable to the +feelings of Menage. Hearing that the tract was full of injurious +expressions, he declared publicly and solemnly, that he never would read +it; but being afterwards urged to peruse it by some good-natured friends, +he consulted the casuists of the Sorbonne, and the College of Jesuits, on +the point of conscience; and having at last read it with their approval, +he wrote a full reply, which was not published till after the death of his +opponent. + +In these various tracts, it was maintained by the Abbe, that unity of time +was most strictly preserved in the _Heautontimorumenos_, as a less period +than twelve hours was supposed to pass during the representation, the +longest space to which, by the rules of the drama, it could be +legitimately prolonged. Of course he adduces arguments and citations, +tending to restrict, as far as possible, the period of the dramatic +action. In the third scene of the second act, it is said _vesperascit_, +and in the first scene of the third act, _Luciscit hoc jam_. Now the Abbe, +giving to the term _vesperascit_ the signification, "It is already night," +was of opinion, that the action commenced as late as seven or eight in the +evening, when Menedemus returned to Athens from his farm; that the scene +of the drama is supposed to pass during the Pithoegia, or festivals of +Bacchus, held in April, at which season not more than nine hours +intervened between twilight and dawn; that the festival continued the +whole night, and that none of the characters went to bed, so that the +continuity of action was no more broken than the unity of time. Menage, on +the other hand, contended that at least fifteen hours must be granted to +the dramatic action, but that this extension implied no violation of the +dramatic unities, which, according to the precepts of Aristotle, would not +have been broken, even if twenty-four hours had been allotted. He +successfully shews, however, that fifteen hours, at least, must be +allowed. According to him, the play opens early in the evening, while +Menedemus is yet labouring in his field. The festivals were in February; +and he proves, from a minute examination, that the incidents which follow +after it is declared that _luciscit_, must have occupied fully three +hours. Some of the characters, he thinks, retired to rest, but no void was +thereby left in the action, as the two lovers, Bacchis, and the slaves, +sat up arranging their amorous stratagems. Madame Dacier adopted the +opinion of Aubignac, which she fortified by reference to a wood engraving +in a very ancient MS. in the Royal Library, which represents Menedemus as +having quitted his work in the fields, and as bearing away his implements +of husbandry. + +The poet being perhaps aware that the action of this comedy was +exceptionable, and that the dramatic unities were not preserved in the +most rigid sense of the term, has apparently exerted himself to compensate +for these deficiencies by the introduction of many beautiful moral maxims: +and by that purity of style, which distinguishes all his productions, but +which shines, perhaps, most brightly in the _Heautontimorumenos_. + +That part of the plot of this comedy, where Clitopho's mistress is +introduced as Clinia's mistress, into the house of both the old men, has +given rise to Chapman's comedy, _All Fooles_, which was first printed in +1605, 4to., and was a favourite production in its day. In this play, by +the contrivance of Rynaldo, the younger son of Marc Antonio, a lady called +Gratiana, privately married to his elder brother Fortunio, is introduced, +and allowed to remain for some time at the house of their father, by +persuading him that she is the wife of Valerio, the son of one of his +neighbours, who had married her against his parent's inclination, and that +it would be an act of kindness to give her shelter, till a reconciliation +could be effected. By this means Fortunio enjoys the society of his bride, +and Valerio, her pretended husband, has, at the same time, an admirable +opportunity of continuing his courtship of Bellonora, the daughter of Marc +Antonio. + +_Adelphi_.--The principal subject of this drama is usually supposed to have +been taken from Menander's _Adelphoi_; but it appears that Alexis, the +uncle of Menander, also wrote a comedy, entitled _Adelphoi_; so that +perhaps the elegant Latin copy may have been as much indebted to the +uncle's as to the nephew's performance, for the delicacy of its characters +and the charms of its dialogue. We are informed, however, in the prologue, +that the part of the drama in which the music girl is carried off from the +pander, has been taken from the _Synapothnescontes_ of Diphilus. That +comedy, though the version is now lost, had been translated by Plautus, +under the title of _Commorientes_. He had left out the incidents, however, +concerning the music girl, and Terence availed himself of this omission to +interweave them with the principal plot of his delightful drama--"Minus +existimans laudis proprias scribere quam Graecas transferre." + +The title, which is supposed to be imperfect, is derived from two +brothers, on whose contrasted characters the chief subject and amusement +of the piece depend. Demea, the elder, who lived in the country, had past +his days in thrift and labour, and was remarkable for his severe penurious +disposition. Micio, the younger brother, was, on the contrary, +distinguished by his indulgent and generous temper. Being a bachelor, he +had adopted AEschinus, his brother's eldest son, whom he brought up without +laying much restraint on his conduct. Ctesipho, the other son of Demea, +was educated with great strictness by his father, who boasted of the +regular and moral behaviour of this child, which, as he thought, was so +strongly contrasted with the excesses of him who had been reared under the +charge of his brother. AEschinus at length carries off a music girl from +the slave-merchant, in whose possession she was. Hence fresh indignation +on the part of Demea, and new self-congratulation on the system of +education he had pursued with Ctesipho: Hence, too, the deepest distress +on the part of an unfortunate girl, to whom AEschinus had promised +marriage; and also of her relations, at this proof of his alienated +affections. At last, however, it is discovered that AEschinus had run off +with the music girl, for the sake, and at the instigation, of his brother +Ctesipho. The play accordingly concludes with the union of AEschinus and +the girl to whom he was betrothed, and the total change of disposition on +the part of Demea, who now becomes so complete a convert to the system of +Micio, that he allows his son to retain the music girl as his mistress. + +The plot of the _Adelphi_ may thus be perhaps considered as double; but +the interest which AEschinus takes in Ctesipho's amour, combines their +loves so naturally, that they can hardly be considered as distinct or +separate; and the details by which the plot is carried on, are managed +with such infinite skill, that the intrigue of at least four acts of the +_Adelphi_ is more artfully conducted than that of any other piece of +Terence. At the commencement of the play, Micio summons his servant +Storax, whom he had sent to find out AEschinus; but as the servant does not +appear, Micio concludes that the youth had not yet returned from the place +where he had supped on the preceding evening, and is in consequence +overwhelmed with all the tender anxiety of a father concerning an absent +son. This alarm gives us some insight into the character of the young man, +and explains the interest Micio takes in his welfare, without shewing too +plainly the art and design of the author. His uneasiness, by naturally +leading him to reflect on the situation of the family, and the doubtful +part he had himself acted, brings in less awkwardly than usual one of +those long soliloquies, in which the domestic affairs of the speaker are +explained by him for the sake of the audience. Demea is then introduced, +having just learned, on his arrival in the city, that AEschinus had carried +off the music girl. His character and predominant feelings are finely +marked in the account which he gives of this outrage, dwelling on every +minute particular, and exaggerating the offences of AEschinus. This +passage, too, acquires additional zest and relish, on a second perusal of +the play, when it is known that the son so much commended is chiefly in +fault. The grief of the mother of the girl, who was betrothed to AEschinus, +and the honest indignation of her faithful old servant Geta, are highly +interesting. The interview of Micio with his adopted son, after he had +discovered the circumstances of this connection, is eminently beautiful. +His delicate reproof for the young man's want of confidence, in not +communicating to him the state of his heart--the touches of good humour, +mildness, and affection, which may be traced in every line of Micio's part +of the dialogue, as well as the natural bursts of passion, and ingenuous +shame, in AEschinus, are perhaps more characteristic of the tender and +elegant genius of Terence, than any other scene in his dramas. But the +triumph of comic art, is the gradation of Demea's anger and distresses--his +perfect conviction of the sobriety of his son, who, he is persuaded by +Syrus, had shewn the utmost indignation at the conduct of AEschinus, and +had gone to the country in disgust, when in fact he was at that moment +seated at a feast--then his perplexity on not finding him at the farm, and +his learning that AEschinus, having violated a free citizen, was about to +be married to her, though she had no portion. Even his meeting Syrus +intoxicated augments his rage, at the general libertinism and extravagance +of the family. At length the climax of events is finally completed, by +discovering that the music girl had been carried off for the sake of his +favourite son, and by finding him at a carousal with his brother's +dissolute family. + +With this incident the fable naturally concludes, and it is perhaps to be +regretted that Terence had not also ended the drama with the third scene +of the fifth act, where Demea breaks in upon the entertainment. The +conversion of Demea, indeed, with which the remaining scenes are occupied, +grows out of the preceding events. He had met, during the course of the +play, with many mortifications--his anger, complaints, and advice, had been +all neglected and slighted--he had seen his brother loved and followed, and +found himself shunned; but such a change in long-confirmed habits could +hardly have been effected in so short a period, or by a single lesson, +however striking and important. His complaisance, too, is awkward, and his +generosity is evidently about to run into profusion. + +But if all this be an impropriety, what shall we say of the gross +absurdity of Micio, a bachelor of sixty-five, marrying an old woman, the +mother of AEschinus' bride, (and whom he had never seen but once,) merely +out of complaisance to his friends, who seemed to have no motive in making +the request, except that she was quite solitary, had nobody to care for +her, and was long past child-bearing-- + + ---- "Parere jam diu haec per annos non potest: + Nec, qui eam respiciat, quisquam est; sola est." + +Micio had all along been represented as possessed of so much judgment, +good sense, and knowledge of the world, that this last piece of +extravagance destroys the interest we had previously felt in the +character. Donatus, who has given us some curious information in his +excellent commentary on Terence, with regard to the manner in which he had +altered his comedies from the original Greek, says, that in the play of +Menander, the old Bachelor has no reluctance at entering into a state of +matrimony.--"Apud Menandrum, Senex de nuptiis non gravatur." The English +translator of Terence thinks, that the Latin poet, by making Micio at +first express a repugnance to the proposed match, has improved on his +model; but it appears to me, that this only makes his unbounded +complaisance more improbable and ridiculous. Indeed the incongruity and +inconsistence of the concluding scenes of the _Adelphi_, have been +considered so great, that a late German translator of Terence has supposed +that they did not form a component part of the regular comedy, but were in +fact the _Exodium_, a sort of afterpiece, in which the characters of the +preceding play were usually represented in grotesque situations, and with +overcharged colours(310). + +So much for the plot of the _Adelphi_, and the incidents by which the +conclusion is brought about. With regard to the characters of the piece, +AEschinus is an excellent delineation of the elegant ease and indifference +of a fine gentleman. In one scene, however, he is represented as a lover, +full of tenderness, and keenly alive to all the anxieties, fears, and +emotions of the passion by which he is affected. In the parts of Demea and +Micio, the author has violated the precept of Horace with regard to a +dramatic character: + + ---- "Servetur ad imum + Qualis ab incepto processerit, et sibi constet." + +During four acts, however, the churlishness of Demea is well contrasted +with the mildness of Micio, whose fondness and partiality for his adopted +son are extremely pleasing. "One great theatrical resource," says Gibbon, +"is the opposition and contrast of characters which thus display each +other. The severity of Demea, and easiness of Micio, throw mutual light; +and we could not be so well acquainted with the misanthropy of Alceste, +were it not for the fashionable complaisant character of Philinte(311)." +Accordingly, in the modern drama, we often find, that if one of the lovers +be a gay companion, the other is grave and serious; like Frankly and +Bellamy, in the _Suspicious Husband_, or Absolute and Faulkland in the +_Rivals_. Yet in the _Adelphi_, the contrast, perhaps, is too direct, and +too constantly obtruded on the attention of the audience. It has the +appearance of what is called antithesis in writing, and, in the conduct of +the drama, has the same effect as that figure in composition. Diderot, in +his _Essay on Dramatic Poetry_, also objects to these two contrasted +characters, that, being drawn with equal force, the moral intention of the +drama is rendered equivocal; and that we have something of the same +feeling which every one has experienced while reading the _Misanthrope_ of +Moliere, in which we can never tell whether Alceste or Philinte is most in +the right, or, more properly speaking, farthest in the wrong.--"On diroit," +continues he, "au commencement du cinquieme acte des _Adelphes_, que +l'auteur, embarasse du contraste qu'il avoit etabli, a ete contraint +d'abandonner son but et de renverser l'interet de sa piece. Mais qu'est il +arrive: c'est qu'on ne scait plus a qui s'interesser; et qu'apres avoit +ete pour Micion contre Demea, on finit sans savoir pour qui l'on est. On +desireroit presque un troisieme pere qui tint le milieu entre ces deux +personnages, et qui en fit connoitre le vice." + +It is not unlikely, however, that this sort of uncertainty was just the +intention of Terence, or rather of Menander. It was probably their design +to show the disadvantages resulting from each mode of education pursued, +and hence, by an easy inference, to point out the golden mean which ought +to be preserved by fathers; for, if Demea be unreasonably severe, the +indulgence of Micio is excessive, and his connivance at the disorders of +Ctesipho, which he even assisted him to support, is as reprehensible, as +the extraordinary sentiment which he utters at the commencement of the +comedy:-- + + "Non est flagitium, mihi crede, adolescentulum + Scortari, neque potare; non est: neque fores effringere." + +This, though the breaking doors was an ordinary piece of gallantry, is, it +must be confessed, rather loose morality. But some of the sentiments in +the drama are equally remarkable for their propriety, and the knowledge +they discover of the feelings and circumstances of mankind; as, + + "Omnes, quibus res sunt minus secundae, magis sunt, nescio quomodo, + Suspiciosi: ad contumeliam omnia accipiunt magis; + Propter suam impotentiam se semper credunt negligi." + +And afterwards,-- + + "Ita vita 'st hominum, quasi, quum ludas tesseris; + Si illud, quod maxime opus est jactu, non cadit, + Illud, quod cecidit forte, id arte ut corrigas. + * * * * * + Nunquam ita quisquam bene subducta ratione ad vitam fuit, + Quin res, aetas, usus, semper aliquid adportet novi, + Aliquid moneat, ut illa, quae te scire credas, nescias; + Et quae tibi putaris prima, in experiundo repudies." + +A play possessing so many excellencies as the _Adelphi_, could scarcely +fail to be frequently imitated by modern dramatists. It has generally been +said, that Moliere borrowed from the _Adelphi_ his comedy _L'Ecole des +Maris_, where the brothers Sganarelle and Ariste, persons of very opposite +dispositions, bring up two young ladies intrusted to their care on +different systems; the one allowing a proper liberty--the other, who wished +to marry his ward, employing a constant restraint, which, however, did not +prevent her from contriving to elope with a favoured lover. The chief +resemblance consists in the characters of the two guardians--in some of the +discussions, which they hold together on their opposite systems of +management--and some observations in soliloquy on each other's folly. Thus, +for example, Demea, the severe brother in Terence, exclaims: + + ---- "O Jupiter, + Hanccine vitam! hoscine mores! hanc dementiam! + Uxor sine dote veniet: intus Psaltria est: + Domus sumptuosa: adolescens luxu perditus: + Senex delirans. Ipsa, si cupiat, Salus, + Servare prorsus non potest hanc familiam(312)." + +In like manner, Sganarelle, the corresponding character in Moliere:-- + + "Quelle belle famille! un vieillard insense! + Une fille maitresse et coquette supreme! + Des valets impudents! Non, la Sagesse meme + N'en viendroit pas a bout, perdroit sens et raison, + A vouloir corriger une telle maison(313)." + +Indeed, were it not for the minute resemblance of particular passages, I +would think it as likely, that Moliere had been indebted for the leading +idea of his comedy to the second tale of the eighth night of Straparola, +an Italian novelist of the sixteenth century, from whom he unquestionably +borrowed the plot of his admirable comedy, _L'Ecole des Femmes_. The +principal amusement, however, in the _Ecole des Maris_, which consists of +Isabelle complaining to her guardian, Sganarelle, of her lover, Valere, +has been suggested by the third novel, in the third day of Boccaccio's +_Decameron_. + +A much closer imitation of the _Adelphi_ than the _Ecole des Maris_ of +Moliere may be found in the _Ecole des Peres_, by Baron, author of the +_Andrienne_. The genius of this celebrated actor seems to have been +constrained by copying from Terence, which has deprived his drama of all +air of originality, while, at the same time, his alterations are such as +to render it but an imperfect image of the _Adelphi_. It were, therefore, +to be wished, that he had adhered more closely to the Roman poet, or, like +Moliere, deviated from him still farther. His exhibition of Clarice and +Pamphile, the mistresses of the two young men, on the stage, has no better +effect than the introduction of Glycerium in his _Andrienne_. The +characters of Telamon and Alcee are so altered, as to preserve neither the +strength nor delicacy of those of Micio and Demea; while the change of +disposition, which the severe father undergoes in the fifth act, has been +neither rejected nor retained: He accedes to the proposals for his +children's happiness, but his complaisance is evidently forced and +sarcastic; and he ultimately, in a fit of bad humour, breaks off all +connection with his family: + + "J'abandonne les Brus, les Enfans, et le Frere; + Je ne saurois deja les souffrir sans horreur, + Et je les donne tous au diable de bon coeur." + +Diderot had evidently his eye on the characters of Micio and Demea in +drawing those of M. d'Orbesson and Le Commandeur, in his _Comedie +Larmoyante_, entitled _Le Pere de Famille_. The scenes between the Pere de +Famille and his son, St Albin, who had long secretly visited Sophie, an +unknown girl in indigent circumstances, seem formed on the beautiful +dialogue, already mentioned, which passes between Micio and his adopted +child. + +The _Adelphi_ is also the origin of Shadwell's comedy, the _Squire of +Alsatia_. Spence, in his _Anecdotes_(314), says, on the authority of +Dennis the critic, that the story on which the _Squire of Alsatia_ was +built, was a true fact. That the whole plot is founded on fact, I think +very improbable, as it coincides most closely with that of the _Adelphi_. +Sir William and Sir Edward Belfond are the two brothers, while Belfond +senior and junior correspond to AEschinus and Ctesipho. The chief +alteration, and that to which Dennis probably alluded, is the importance +of the part assigned to Belfond senior; who, having come to London, is +beset and cozened by all sorts of bankrupts and cheats, inhabitants of +Alsatia, (Whitefriars,) and by their stratagems is nearly inveigled into a +marriage with Mrs Termagant, a woman of infamous character, and furious +temper. The part of Belfond junior is much less agreeable than that of +AEschinus. His treatment of Lucia evinces, in the conclusion, a +hard-hearted infidelity, which we are little disposed to pardon, +especially as we feel no interest in his new mistress, Isabella. On the +whole, though the plots be nearly the same, the tone of feeling and +sentiment are very different, and the English comedy is as remote from the +Latin original, as the grossest vulgarity can be from the most simple and +courtly elegance. The _Squire of Alsatia_, however, took exceedingly at +first as an occasional play. It discovered the cant terms, that were +before not generally known, except to cheats themselves; and was a good +deal instrumental towards causing the great nest of villains in the +metropolis to be regulated by public authority(315). + +In Cumberland's _Choleric Man_, the chief characters, though he seems to +deny it in his dedicatory epistle to Detraction, have also been traced +after those of the _Adelphi_. The love intrigues, indeed, are different; +but the parts of the half-brothers, Manlove and Nightshade, (the +choleric-man,) are evidently formed on those of Micio and Demea; while the +contrasted education, yet similar conduct, of the two sons of Nightshade, +one of whom had been adopted by Manlove, and the father's rage on +detecting his favourite son in an amorous intrigue, have been obviously +suggested by the behaviour of AEschinus and Ctesipho. + +The philanthropic speeches of Micio have been a constant resource both to +the French dramatists and our own, and it would be endless to specify the +various imitations of his sentiments. Those of Kno'well, in Ben Jonson's +_Every Man in his Humour_, have a particular resemblance to them. His +speech, beginning-- + + "There is a way of winning more by love(316)," + +is evidently formed on the celebrated passage in Terence,-- + + "Pudore et liberalitate liberos," &c. + +_Hecyra_--Several of Terence's plays can hardly be accounted comedies, if +by that term be understood, dramas which excite laughter. They are in what +the French call the _genre serieux_, and are perhaps the origin of the +_comedie larmoyante_. The events of human life, for the most part, are +neither deeply distressing nor ridiculous; and, in a dramatic +representation of such incidents, the action must advance by +embarrassments and perplexities, which, though below tragic pathos, are +not calculated to excite merriment. Diderot, who seems to have been a +great student of the works of Terence, thinks the _Hecyra_, or +Mother-in-law, should be classed among the serious dramas. It exhibits no +buffoonery, or tricks of slaves, or ridiculous parasite, or extravagant +braggart captain; but contains a beautiful and delightful picture of +private life, and those distresses which ruffle "the smooth current of +domestic joy." It was taken from a play of Apollodorus; but, as Donatus +informs us, was abridged from the Greek comedy,--many things having been +represented in the original, which, in the imitation, are only related. In +the _Hecyra_, a young man, called Pamphilus, had long refused to marry, on +account of his attachment to the courtezan Bacchis. He is at length, +however, constrained by his father to choose a wife, whose gentleness and +modest behaviour soon wean his affections from his mistress. Pamphilus +being obliged to leave home for some time, his wife, on pretence of a +quarrel with her mother-in-law, quits his father's house; and Pamphilus, +on his return home, finds, that she had given birth to a child, of which +he supposed that he could not have been the father. His wife's mother begs +him to conceal her disgrace, which he promises; and affecting +extraordinary filial piety, assigns as his reason for not bringing her +home, the capricious behaviour of which she had been guilty towards his +mother. That lady, in consequence, offers to retire to the country. +Pamphilus is thus reduced to the utmost perplexity; and all plausible +excuses for not receiving his wife having failed, his father suspects that +he had renewed his intercourse with Bacchis. He, accordingly, sends for +that courtezan, who denies the present existence of any correspondence +with his son; and, being eager to clear the character as well as to secure +the happiness of her former lover, she offers to confirm her testimony +before the family of the wife of Pamphilus. During the interview which she +in consequence obtains, that lady's mother perceives on her hand a ring +which had once belonged to her daughter, and which Bacchis now +acknowledges to have received from Pamphilus, as one which he had taken +from a girl whom he had violated, but had never seen. It is thus +discovered by Pamphilus, that the lady to whom he had offered this injury +before marriage was his own wife, and that he himself was father of the +child to whom she had just given birth. + +The fable of this play is more simple than that of Terence's other +performances, in all of which he had recourse to the expedient of double +plots. This, perhaps, was partly the reason of its want of success on its +first and second representations. When first brought forward, in the year +589, it was interrupted by the spectators leaving the theatre, attracted +by the superior interest of a boxing-match, and rope-dancers. A combat of +gladiators had the like unfortunate effect when it was attempted to be +again exhibited, in 594. The celebrated actor, L. Ambivius, encouraged by +the success which he had experienced in reviving the condemned plays of +Caecilius, ventured to produce it a third time on the stage(317), when it +received a patient hearing, and was frequently repeated. Still, however, +most of the old critics and commentators speak of it as greatly inferior +to the other plays of Terence. Bishop Hurd, on the contrary, in his notes +on Horace, maintains, that it is the only one of his comedies which is +written in the true ancient Grecian style; and that, for the genuine +beauty of dramatic design, as well as the nice coherence of the fable, it +must appear to every reader of true taste, the most masterly and exquisite +of the whole collection. Some scenes are doubtless very finely wrought +up,--as that between Pamphilus and his mother, after he first suspects the +disgrace of his wife, and that in which it is revealed to him by his +wife's mother. The passage in the second scene of the first act, +containing the picture of an amiable wife, who has succeeded in effacing +from the heart of her husband the love of a dissolute courtezan, has been +highly admired. But, notwithstanding these partial beauties, and the +much-applauded simplicity of the plot, there is, I think, great want of +skilful management in the conduct of the fable; and if the outline be +beautiful, it certainly is not so well filled up as might have been +expected from the taste of the author. In the commencement, he introduces +the superfluous part of Philotis, (who has no concern in the plot, and +never appears afterwards,) merely to listen to the narrative of the +circumstances and situation of those who are principal persons in the +drama. It is likewise somewhat singular, that Pamphilus, when told by the +mother of the injury done to his wife, should not have remembered his own +adventure, and thus been led to suspect the real circumstances. This +communication, too, ought, as it probably did in the Greek original, to +have formed a scene between Pamphilus and his wife's mother; but, instead +of this, Pamphilus is introduced relating to himself the whole discourse +which had just passed between them. At length, the issue of the fable is +disclosed by another long soliloquy from the courtezan. Indeed, all the +plays of Terence abound in soliloquies very inartificially introduced; and +there is none of them in which he has so much erred in this way as in the +_Hecyra_. The wife of Pamphilus, too, the character calculated to give +most interest, does not appear at all on the stage; and the whole play is +consumed in contests between the mother-in-law and the two fathers. The +characters of these old men,--the fathers of Pamphilus and his wife,--so far +from being contrasted, as in the _Adelphi_, have scarcely a shade of +difference. Both are covetous and passionate; very ready to vent their bad +humour on their wives and children, and very ready to exculpate them when +blamed by others. The uncommon and delicate situation in which Pamphilus +is placed, exhibits him in an interesting and favourable point of view. He +wishes to conceal what had occurred, yet is scarcely able to dissemble. +Parmeno, the slave of Pamphilus, a lazy inquisitive character, is +humorously kept, through the whole course of the play, in continual +employment, and total ignorance. Sostrata's mild character, and the +excellent behaviour of Bacchis, show, that in this play, Terence had +attempted an innovation, by introducing a good mother-in-law, and an +honest courtezan, whose object was to acquire a reputation of not +resembling those of her profession. It appears from the Letters of +Alciphron and from Athenaeus, that there actually was a Greek courtezan of +the name of Bacchis, distinguished from others of her class, in the time +of Menander, by disinterestedness, and comparative modesty of demeanour. +This circumstance, added to the fact of Menander having written a play, +entitled _Glycerium_, (which was the name of his mistress,) leads us to +believe that the Greek comedies sometimes represented, not merely the +general character of the courtezan, but individuals of that profession; +and that probably the Bacchis of Apollodorus, and his imitator Terence, +may have been the courtezan of this name, who rejected the splendid offers +of the Persian Satrap, to remain the faithful mistress of the poor +Meneclides(318). + +_Phormio_--like the last mentioned play, was taken from the Greek of +Apollodorus, who called it _Epidicazomenos_. Terence named it _Phormio_, +from a parasite whose contrivances form the groundwork of the comedy, and +who connects its double plot. In this play two brothers had gone abroad, +each leaving a son at home, one of whom was called Antipho, and the other +Phaedria, under care of their servant Geta. Antipho having fallen in love +with a woman apparently of mean condition, in order that he might marry +her, yet at the same time possess a plausible excuse to his father for his +conduct, persuades Phormio to assume the character of her patron. Phormio +accordingly brings a suit against Antipho, as her nearest of kin, and he, +having made no defence, is ordained in this capacity, according to an +Athenian law, to marry the supposed orphan. About the same time, Phaedria, +the other youth, had become enamoured of a music girl; but he had no money +with which to redeem her from the slave merchant. The old men, on their +return home, are much disconcerted by the news of Antipho's marriage, as +it had been arranged between them that he should espouse his cousin. +Phormio, at the suggestion of Geta, avails himself of this distress, in +order to procure money for redeeming Phaedria's music girl. He consents to +take Antipho's wife home to himself, provided he gets a portion with her, +which being procured, is immediately laid out in the purchase of Phaedria's +mistress. After these plots are accomplished, it is discovered that +Antipho's wife is the daughter of his uncle, by a woman at Lemnos, with +whom he had an amour before marriage, and that she had come to Athens +during his absence in search of her father. This is found out at the end +of the third act, but the play is injudiciously protracted, after the +principal interest is exhausted, with the endeavours of the old men to +recover the portion which had been given to Phormio, and the dread of +Chremes lest the story of his intrigue at Lemnos should come to the +knowledge of his wife. The play accordingly languishes after the +discovery, notwithstanding all the author's attempts to support the +interest of the piece by the force of pleasantry and humour. + +The double plot of this play has been said to be united, by both hingeing +on the part of the parasite. But this is not a sufficient union either in +tragedy or comedy. I cannot, therefore, agree with Colman, "that the +construction of the fable is extremely artful," or that "it contains a +vivacity of intrigue perhaps even superior to that of the Eunuch, +_particularly in the catastrophe_. The diction," he continues, with more +truth, "is pure and elegant, and the first act as chastely written as that +of the _Self-Tormentor_ itself. The character of Phormio is finely +separated from that of Gnatho, and is better drawn than the part of any +parasite in Plautus. Nausistrata is a lively sketch of a shrewish wife, as +well as Chremes an excellent draught of a hen-pecked husband, and more in +the style of the modern drama than perhaps any character in ancient +comedy, except the miser of Plautus. There are also some particular scenes +and passages deserving of all commendation, as the description of natural +and simple beauty in the person of Fannia, and that in which Geta and +Phaedria try to inspire some courage into Antipho, overwhelmed by the +sudden arrival of his father(319)." + +It is curious that this play, which Donatus says is founded on passions +almost too high for comedy, should have given rise to the most farcical of +all Moliere's productions, _Les Fourberies de Scapin_. a celebrated, +though at first, an unsuccessful play, where, contrary to his usual +practice, he has burlesqued rather than added dignity to the incidents of +the original from which he borrowed. The plot, indeed, is but a frame to +introduce the various tricks of Scapin, who, after all, is a much less +agreeable cheat than Phormio: His deceptions are too palpable, and the old +men are incredible fools. As in Terence, there are two fathers, Argante +and Geronte, and during the absence of the former, his son Octave falls in +love with and marries a girl, whom he had accidentally seen bewailing the +death of her mother. At the same time, Leandre, the son of Geronte, +becomes enamoured of an Egyptian, and Scapin, the valet of Octave, is +employed to excuse to the father the conduct of his son, and to fleece him +of as much money as might be necessary to purchase her. The first of these +objects could not well be attained by Terence's contrivance of the +law-suit; and it is therefore pretended that he had been forced into the +marriage by the lady's brother, who was a bully, (Spadassin,) and to whom +the father agrees to give a large sum of money, that he might consent to +the marriage being dissolved. It is then discovered that the girl whom +Octave had married is the daughter of Geronte, and the Egyptian is found +out, by the usual expedient of a bracelet, to be the long lost child of +Argante. Many of the most amusing scenes and incidents are also copied +from Terence, as Scapin instructing Octave to regulate his countenance and +behaviour on the approach of his father--his enumeration to the father of +all the different articles for which the brother of his son's wife will +require money, and the accumulating rage of Argante at each new _item_. +Some scenes, however, have been added, as that where Leandre, thinking +Scapin had betrayed him, and desiring him to confess, obtains a catalogue +of all the _Fourberies_ he had committed since he entered his service, +which is taken from an Italian piece entitled _Pantalone, Padre di +Famiglia_. He has also introduced from the _Pedant Joue_ of Cyrano +Bergerac, the device of Scapin for extorting money from Geronte, which +consists in pretending that his son, having accidentally gone on board a +Turkish galley, had been detained, and would be inevitably carried captive +to Algiers, unless instantly ransomed. In this scene, which is the best of +the play, the struggle between habitual avarice and parental tenderness, +and the constant exclamation, "_Que diable alloit il faire dans cette +galere du Turc_," are extremely amusing. Boileau has reproached Moliere +for having + + "Sans honte a Terence allie Tabarin," + +in allusion to the scene where Scapin persuades Geronte that the brother, +accompanied by a set of bullies, is in search of him, and stuffs him, for +concealment, into a sack, which he afterwards beats with a stick. This is +compounded of two scenes in the French farces, the _Piphagne_ and the +_Francisquine_ of Tabarin, and, like the originals from which it is +derived, is quite farcical and extravagant:-- + + "Dans ce sac ridicule ou Scapin s'enveloppe, + Je ne reconnois plus l'auteur du Misanthrope(320)." + +The chief improvement which Moliere has made on Terence is the reservation +of the discovery to the end; but the double discovery is improbable. The +introduction of Hyacinthe and Zerbinette on the stage, is just as +unsuccessful as the attempt of Baron to present us, in his _Andrienne_, +with a lady corresponding to Glycerium. Moliere's Hyacinthe is quite +insipid and uninteresting, while Zerbinette retains too much of the +Egyptian, and is too much delighted with the cheats of Scapin, to become +the wife of an honest man. + +From the above sketches some idea may have been formed of Terence's plots, +most of which were taken from the Greek stage, on which he knew they had +already pleased. He has given proofs, however, of his taste and judgment, +in the additions and alterations made on those borrowed subjects; and I +doubt not, had he lived an age later, when all the arts were in full glory +at Rome, and the empire at its height of power and splendour, he would +have found domestic subjects sufficient to supply his scene with interest +and variety, and would no longer have accounted it a greater merit--"Graecas +transferre quam proprias scribere." + +Terence was a more rigid observer than his Roman predecessors of the +unities of time and place. Whatever difference of opinion may be +entertained with regard to the preservation of these unities in tragedy, +since great results are often slowly prepared, and in various quarters, +there can be no doubt that they are appropriate in comedy, which, moving +in a domestic circle, and having no occasion to wander, like the tragic or +epic muse, through distant regions, should bring its intrigue to a rapid +conclusion. Terence, however, would have done better not to have adhered +so strictly to unity of place, and to have allowed the scene to change at +least from the street or portico in front of a house, to the interior of +the dwelling. From his apparently regarding even this slight change as +inadmissible, the most sprightly and interesting parts of the action are +often either absurdly represented as passing on the street, though of a +nature which must have been transacted within doors, or are altogether +excluded. A striking example of the latter occurs in the _Eunuchus_, where +the discovery of Chaerea by his father in the eunuch's garb has been +related, instead of being represented. Plautus, who was of bolder genius, +varies the place of action, when the variation suits his great purpose of +merriment and jest. + +But though Terence has perhaps too rigidly observed the unities of time +and place, in none of his dramas, with a single exception, has that of +plot been adhered to. The simplicity and exact unity of fable in the Greek +comedies would have been insipid to a people not thoroughly instructed in +the genuine beauties of the drama. Such plays were of too thin contexture +to satisfy the somewhat gross and lumpish taste of a Roman audience. The +Latin poets, therefore, bethought themselves of combining two stories into +one, and this junction, which we call the double plot, by affording the +opportunity of more incidents, and a greater variety of action, best +contributed to the gratification of those whom they had to please. But of +all the Latin comedians, Terence appears to have practised this art the +most assiduously. Plautus has very frequently single plots, which he was +enabled to support by the force of drollery. Terence, whose genius lay +another way, or whose taste was abhorrent from all sort of buffoonery, had +recourse to the other expedient of double plots; and this, I suppose, is +what gained him the popular reputation of being the most artful writer for +the stage. The _Hecyra_ is the only one of his comedies of the true +ancient cast, and we know how unsuccessful it was in the +representation(321). In managing a double plot, the great difficulty is, +whether also to divide the interest. One thing, however, is clear, that +the part which is episodical, and has least interest, should be unravelled +first; for if the principal interest be exhausted, the subsidiary intrigue +drags on heavily. The _Andrian_, _Self Tormentor_, and _Phormio_, are all +faulty in this respect. On the whole, however, the plots of Terence are, +in most respects, judiciously laid: The incidents are selected with taste, +connected with inimitable art, and painted with exquisite grace and +beauty. + +Next to the management of the plot, the characters and manners represented +are the most important points in a comedy; and in these Terence was +considered by the ancients as surpassing all their comic poets.--"In +argumentis," says Varro, "Caecilius palmam poscit, in ethesi Terentius." In +this department of his art he shows that comprehensive knowledge of the +humours and inclinations of mankind, which enabled him to delineate +characters as well as manners, with a genuine and apparently unstudied +simplicity. All the inferior passions which form the range of comedy are +so nicely observed, and accurately expressed, that we nowhere find a truer +or more lively representation of human nature. He seems to have formed in +his mind such a perfect idea both of his high and low characters, that +they never for a moment forget their age or situation, whether they are to +speak in the easy indifferent tone of polished society, or with the +natural expression of passion. Nor do his paintings of character consist +merely of a single happy stroke unexpectedly introduced: His delineations +are always in the right place, and so harmonize with the whole, that every +word is just what the person might be supposed to say under the +circumstances in which he is placed:-- + + "Contemplez de quel air un pere dans Terence, + Vient d'un fils amoureux gourmander l'imprudence; + De quel air cet amant ecoute ses lecons, + Et court chez sa maitresse oublier ces chansons: + Ce n'est pas un portrait, un image semblable; + C'est un amant, un fils, un pere veritable(322)." + +The characters, too, of Terence are never overstrained by ridicule, which, +if too much affected, produces creatures of the fancy, which for a while +may be more diverting than portraits drawn from nature, but can never be +so permanently pleasing. This constitutes the great difference between +Plautus and Terence, as also between the new and old comedy of the Greeks. +The old comedy presented scenes of uninterrupted gaiety and raillery and +ridicule, and nothing was spared which could become the object of sarcasm. +The dramatic school which succeeded it attracted applause by beauty of +situation and moral sentiment. In like manner, Terence makes us almost +serious by the interest and affection which he excites for his characters. +In the _Andria_ we are touched with all Pamphilus' concern, we feel all +his reflections to be just, and pity his perplexity. The characters of +Terence, indeed, are of the same description with those of Plautus; but +his slaves and parasites and captains are not so farcical, nor his panders +and courtezans so coarse, as those of his predecessor. The slave-dealers +in the _Adelphi_ and _Phormio_ are rather merchants greedy of gain than +shameless agents of vice, and are not very different from Madame La +Ressource, in Regnard's elegant comedy, _Le Joueur_. His courtezans, +instead of being invariably wicked and rapacious, are often represented as +good and beneficent. It was a courtezan who received the dying mother of +the Andrian, and, while expiring herself, affectionately intrusted the +orphan to the generous protection of Pamphilus. It is a courtezan who, in +the _Eunuchus_, discovers the family of the young Pamphila, and, in the +_Hecyra_, brings about the understanding essential to the happiness of +all. From their mode of life, and not interposing much beyond their +domestic circle, the manners of modest women were not generally painted +with any great taste by the ancients; but Terence may perhaps be +considered as an exception. Nausistrata is an excellent picture of a +matron not of the highest rank or dignity, as is also Sostrata in the +_Hecyra_. + +The style of wit and humour must of course correspond with that of the +characters and manners. Accordingly, the plays of Terence are not much +calculated to excite ludicrous emotions, and have been regarded as +deficient in comic force. His muse is of the most perfect and elegant +proportions, but she fails in animation, and spirit. It was for this want +of the _vis comica_ that Terence was upbraided by Julius Caesar, in lines +which, in other respects, bear a just tribute of applause to this elegant +dramatist:-- + + "Tu quoque tu in summis, O dimidiate Menander, + Poneris, et merito, puri sermonis amator: + Lenibus atque utinam scriptis adjuncta foret vis + Comica, ut aequato virtus polleret honore + Cum Graecis, neque in hac despectus parte jaceres. + Unum hoc maceror, et doleo tibi deesse, Terenti." + +From the prologue to the _Phormio_ we learn that a clamour had also been +raised by his contemporaries against Terence, because his dialogue was +insipid, and wanted that comic heightening which the taste of the age +required:-- + + "Quas fecit fabulas, + Tenui esse oratione et scriptura levi." + +The plays of Terence, it must be admitted, are not calculated to excite +immoderate laughter, but his pleasantries are brightened by all the charms +of chaste and happy expression--thus resembling in some measure the humour +with which we are so much delighted in the page of Addison, and which +pleases the more in proportion as it is studied and contemplated. There +are some parts of the _Eunuchus_ which I think cannot be considered as +altogether deficient in the _vis comica_, as also Demea's climax of +disasters in the _Adelphi_, and a scene in the _Andria_, founded on the +misconceptions of Mysis. + +The beauties of style and language, I suppose, must be considered as but +secondary excellences in the drama. Were they primary merits, Terence +would deserve to be placed at the head of all comic poets who have written +for the stage, on account of the consummate elegance and purity of his +diction. It is a singular circumstance, and without example in the +literary history of any other country, that the language should have +received its highest perfection, in point of elegance and grace, combined +with the most perfect simplicity, from the pen of a foreigner and a slave. +But it so happened, that the countryman of Hannibal, and the freedman of +Terentius Lucanus, gave to the Roman tongue all those beauties, in a +degree which the courtiers of the Augustan age itself did not surpass. Nor +can this excellence be altogether accounted for by his intimacy with +Scipio and Laelius, in whose families the Latin language was spoken with +hereditary purity, since it could only have been the merit of his dramas +which first attracted their regard; and indeed, from an anecdote above +related, of what occurred while reading his _Andria_ to a dramatic censor, +it is evident that this play must have been written ere he enjoyed the +sunshine of patrician patronage. For this _Ineffabilis amoenitas_, as it is +called by Heinsius, he was equally admired by his own contemporaries and +by the writers in the golden period of Roman literature. He is called by +Caesar _puri sermonis amator_, and Cicero characterizes him as-- + + "Quicquid come loquens, ac omnia dulcia dicens." + +Even in the last age of Latin poetry, and when his pure simplicity was so +different from the style affected by the writers of the day, he continued +to be regarded as the model of correct composition. Ausonius, in his +beautiful poem addressed to his grandson, hails him on account of his +style, as the ornament of Latium-- + + "Tu quoque qui Latium lecto sermone, Terenti, + Comis, et adstricto percurris pulpita socco, + Ad nova vix memorem diverbia coge senectam(323)." + +Among all the Latin writers, indeed, from Ennius to Ausonius, we meet with +nothing so simple, so full of grace and delicacy--in fine, nothing that can +be compared to the comedies of Terence for elegance of dialogue--presenting +a constant flow of easy, genteel, unaffected discourse, which never +subsides into vulgarity or grossness, and never rises higher than the +ordinary level of polite conversation. Of this, indeed, he was so careful, +that when he employed any sentence which he had found in the tragic poets, +he stripped it of that air of grandeur and majesty, which rendered it +unsuitable for common life, and comedy. In reading the dialogue of Simo in +the _Andria_, and of Micio in the _Adelphi_, we almost think we are +listening to the conversation of Scipio Africanus, and the _mitis +sapientia Laeli_. The narratives, in particular, possess a beautiful and +picturesque simplicity. Cicero, in his treatise _De Oratore_, has bestowed +prodigious applause on that with which the _Andria_ commences. "The +picture," he observes, "of the manners of Pamphilus--the death and funeral +of Chrysis--and the grief of her supposed sister, are all represented in +the most delightful colours."--Diderot, speaking of the style of Terence, +says, "C'est une onde pure et transparente, qui coule toujours egalement, +et qui ne prend de vitesse, que ce qu'elle en recoit de la pente et du +terrein. Point d'esprit, nul etalage de sentiment, aucune sentence qui ait +l'air epigrammatique, jamais de ces definitions qui ne seroient placees +que dans Nicole ou la Rochefoucauld." + +As to what may be strictly called the poetical style of Terence, it has +been generally allowed that he has used very great liberties in his +versification(324). Politian divided his plays (which in the MSS. resemble +prose) into lines, but a separation was afterwards more correctly made by +Erasmus. Priscian says, that Terence used more licenses than any other +writer. Bentley, after Priscian, admitted every variety of Iambic and +Trochaic measure; and such was the apparent number of irregular +quantities, and mixture of different species of verse, that Westerhovius +declares, that in order to reduce the lines to their original accuracy, it +would be necessary to evoke Laelius and Scipio from the shades. Mr Hawkins, +in his late Inquiry into the Nature of Greek and Latin poetry, has +attempted to show that the whole doctrine of poetical licenses is contrary +to reason and common sense; that no such deviation from the laws of +prosody could ever have been introduced by Terence; and that where his +verses apparently require licenses, they are either corrupt and +ill-regulated, or may be reduced to the proper standard, on the system of +admitting that all equivalent feet may come in room of the fundamental +feet or measures. On these principles, by changing the situation of the +quantities, by allowing that one long syllable may stand for two short, or +_vice versa_, there will not be occasion for a single poetical license, +which is in fact nothing less than a breach of the rules of prosody. + +After having considered the plays of Plautus and of Terence, one is +naturally led to institute a comparison between these two celebrated +dramatists. People, in general, are very apt to judge of the talents of +poets by the absolute merits of their works, without at all taking into +view the relative circumstances of their age and situation, or the +progress of improvement during the period in which they lived. No one +recollects that Tasso's _Rinaldo_ was composed in ten months, and at the +age of seventeen; and, in like manner, we are apt to forget the difference +between writing comedies while labouring at a mill, and basking in the +Alban villa of Scipio or Laelius. The improvement, too, of the times, +brought the works of Terence to perfection and maturity, as much as his +own genius. It is evident, that he was chiefly desirous to recommend +himself to the approbation of a select few, who were possessed of true wit +and judgment, and the dread of whose censure ever kept him within the +bounds of correct taste; while the sole object of Plautus, on the other +hand, was to excite the merriment of an audience of little refinement. If, +then, we merely consider the intrinsic merit of their productions, without +reference to the circumstances or situation of the authors, still Plautus +will be accounted superior in that vivacity of action, and variety of +incident, which raise curiosity, and hurry on the mind to the conclusion. +We delight, on the contrary, to linger on every scene, almost on every +sentence, of Terence. Sometimes there are chasms in Plautus's fables, and +the incidents do not properly adhere--in Terence, all the links of the +action depend on each other. Plautus has more variety in his exhibition of +characters and manners, but his pictures are often overcharged, while +those of Terence are never more highly coloured than becomes the modesty +of nature. Plautus's sentences have a peculiar smartness, which conveys +the thought with clearness, and strikes the imagination strongly, so that +the mind is excited to attention, and retains the idea with pleasure; but +they are often forced and affected, and of a description little used in +the commerce of the world; whereas every word in Terence has direct +relation to the business of life, and the feelings of mankind. The +language of Plautus is more rich and luxuriant than that of Terence, but +is far from being so equal, uniform, and chaste. It is often stained with +vulgarity, and sometimes swells beyond the limits of comic dialogue, while +that of Terence is _puro simillimus amni_. The verses of Plautus are, as +he himself calls them, _numeri innumeri_; and Hermann declares, that, at +least as now printed, _omni vitiorum genere abundant_(325). Terence +attends more to elegance and delicacy in the expression of passion--Plautus +to comic expression. In fact, the great object of Plautus seems to have +been to excite laughter among the audience, and in this object he +completely succeeded; but for its attainment he has sacrificed many graces +and beauties of the drama. There are two sorts of humour--one consisting in +words and action, the other in matter. Now, Terence abounds chiefly in the +last species, Plautus in the first; and the pleasantries of the older +dramatist, which were so often flat, low, or extravagant, finally drew +down the censure of Horace, while his successor was extolled by that +poetical critic as the most consummate master of dramatic art. "In short," +says Crusius, "Plautus is more gay, Terence more chaste--the first has more +genius and fire, the latter more manners and solidity. Plautus excels in +low comedy and ridicule, Terence in drawing just characters, and +maintaining them to the last. The plots of both are artful, but Terence's +are more apt to languish, whilst Plautus's spirit maintains the action +with vigour. His invention was greatest; Terence's, art and management. +Plautus gives the stronger, Terence a more elegant delight. Plautus +appears the better comedian of the two, as Terence the finer poet. The +former has more compass and variety, the latter more regularity and truth, +in his characters. Plautus shone most on the stage; Terence pleases best +in the closet. Men of refined taste would prefer Terence; Plautus diverted +both patrician and plebeian(326)." + +Some intimations of particular plays, both of Plautus and Terence, have +already been pointed out; but independently of more obvious plagiarisms, +these dramatists were the models of all comic writers in the different +nations of Europe, at the first revival of the drama. Their works were the +prototypes of the regular Italian comedy, as it appeared in the plays of +Ariosto, Aretine, Ludovico Dolce, and Battista Porta. In these, the +captain and parasite are almost constantly introduced, with addition of +the _pedante_, who is usually the pedagogue of the young _innamorato_. +Such erudite plays were the only printed dramas (though the _Commedie +dell' Arte_ were acted for the amusement of the vulgar,) till the +beginning of the 17th century, when Flaminio Scala first _published_ his +_Commedie dell' Arte_. The old Latin plays were also the models of the +earliest dramas in Spain, previous to the introduction of the comedy of +intrigue, which was invented by Lopez de Rueda, and perfected by Calderon. +We find the first traces of the Spanish drama in a close imitation of the +_Amphitryon_, in 1515, by Villalobos, the physician of Charles V., which +was immediately succeeded by a version of Terence, by Pedro de Abril, and +translations of the Portuguese comedies of Vasconcellos(327), which were +themselves written in the manner of Plautus. There is likewise a good deal +of the spirit of Plautus and Terence in the old English comedy, +particularly in the characters. A panegyrist on Randolph's _Jealous +Lovers_, which was published in 1632, says, "that it should be conserved +in some great library, that if through chance or injury of time, Plautus +and Terence should be lost, their united merit might be recognized. For, +in this play, thou hast drawn the pander, the gull, the jealous lover, the +doating father, the shark, and the crust wife." + +The consideration of the servile manner in which the dramatists, as well +as novelists, of one country, have copied from their predecessors in +another, may be adduced in some degree as a proof of the old philosophical +aphorism, _Nihil est in intellectu quod non prius fuerit in sensu_; and +also of the incapacity of the most active and fertile imagination, greatly +to diversify the common characters and incidents of life. One would +suppose, previous to examination, that the varieties, both of character +and situation, would be boundless; but on review, we find a Plautus +copying from the Greek comic writers, and, in turn, even an Ariosto +scarcely diverging from the track of Plautus. When we see the same +characters only in new dresses, performing the same actions, and repeating +the same jests, we are tempted to exclaim, that everything is weary, +stale, flat, and unprofitable, and are taught a lesson of melancholy, even +from the Mask of Mirth. + +While Plautus, Caecilius, Afranius, and Terence, raised the comic drama to +high perfection and celebrity, Pacuvius and Attius attempted, with +considerable success, the noblest subjects of the Greek tragedies. + + + + + + PACUVIUS, + + +who was the nephew of Ennius(328), by a sister of that poet, was born at +Brundusium, in the year 534. At Rome he became intimately acquainted with +Laelius, who, in Cicero's treatise _De Amicitia_, calls Pacuvius his host +and friend: He also enjoyed, like Terence, the intimacy of Scipio +Africanus; but he did not profit so much as the comic writer by his +acquaintance with these illustrious Romans for the improvement of his +style. There is an idle story, that Pacuvius had three wives, all of whom +successively hanged themselves on the same tree; and that lamenting this +to Attius, who was married, he begged for a slip of it to plant in his own +garden(329); an anecdote which has been very seriously confuted by Annibal +di Leo, in his learned Memoir on Pacuvius. This poet also employed himself +in painting: he was one of the first of the Romans who attained any degree +of eminence in that elegant art, and particularly distinguished himself by +the picture which he executed for the temple of Hercules, in the _Forum +Boarium_(330). He published his last piece at the age of eighty(331); +after which, being oppressed with old age, and afflicted with perpetual +bodily illness, he retired, for the enjoyment of its soft air and mild +winters, to Tarentum(332), where he died, having nearly completed his +ninetieth year(333). An elegant epitaph, supposed to have been written by +himself, is quoted, with much commendation, by Aulus Gellius, who calls it +_verecundissimum et purissimum_(334). It appears to have been inscribed on +a tombstone which stood by the side of a public road, according to a +custom of the Romans, who placed their monuments near highways, that the +spot where their remains were deposited might attract observation, and the +departed spirit receive the valediction of passing travellers: + + "Adolescens, tametsi properas, hoc te saxum rogat, + Uti ad se aspicias; deinde, quod scriptum est, legas. + Hic sunt poetae Marcei Pacuviei sita + Ossa. Hoc volebam nescius ne esses--Vale(335)." + +Though a few fragments of the tragedies of Pacuvius remain, our opinion of +his dramatic merits can be formed only at second hand, from the +observations of those critics who wrote while his works were yet extant. +Cicero, though he blames his style, and characterizes him as a poet _male +loquutus_(336), places him on the same level for tragedy as Ennius for +epic poetry, or Caecilius for comedy; and he mentions, in his treatise _De +Oratore_, that his verses were by many considered as highly laboured and +adorned.--"Omnes apud hunc ornati elaboratique sunt versus." It was in this +laboured polish of versification, and skill in the dramatic conduct of the +scene, that the excellence of Pacuvius chiefly consisted; for so the lines +of Horace have been usually interpreted, where, speaking of the public +opinion entertained concerning the different dramatic writers of Rome, he +says,-- + + "Ambigitur quoties uter utro sit prior: aufert + Pacuvius docti famam senis, Attius alti." + +And the same meaning must be affixed to the passage in Quintilian,--"Virium +tamen Attio plus tribuitur; Pacuvium videri doctiorem, qui esse docti +adfectant, volunt(337)." Most other Latin critics, though on the whole +they seem to prefer Attius, allow Pacuvius to be the more correct writer. + +The names are still preserved of about 20 tragedies of +Pacuvius--_Anchises_, _Antiope_, _Armorum Judicium_, _Atalanta_, _Chryses_, +_Dulorestes_, _Hermione_, _Iliona_, _Medus_, _Medea_, _Niptra_, _Orestes +et Pylades_, _Paulus_, _Periboea_, _Tantalus_, _Teucer_, _Thyestes_. Of +these the _Antiope_ was one of the most distinguished. It was regarded by +Cicero as a great national tragedy, and an honour to the Roman name.--"Quis +enim," says he, "tam inimicus pene nomini Romano est, qui Ennii Medeam, +aut Antiopam Pacuvii, spernat, aut rejiciat?" Persius, however, ridicules +a passage in this tragedy, where Antiope talks of propping her melancholy +heart with misfortunes, by which she means, (I suppose,) that she +fortunately had so many griefs all around her heart, that it was well +bolstered up, and would not break or bend so easily as it must have done, +had it been supported by fewer distresses-- + + "Sunt quos Pacuviusque et verrucosa moretur + Antiope, aerumnis cor luctificabile fulta." + +The _Armorum Judicium_ was translated from AEschylus. With regard to the +_Dulorestes_, (Orestes Servus,) there has been a good deal of discussion +and difficulty. Naevius, Ennius, and Attius, are all said to have written +tragedies which bore the title of _Dulorestes_; but a late German writer +has attempted, at great length, to show that this is a misconception; and +that all the fragments, which have been classed with the remains of these +three dramatic poets, belong to the _Dulorestes_ of Pacuvius, who was in +truth the only Latin poet who wrote a tragedy with this appellation. What +the tenor or subject of the play, however, may have been, he admits is +difficult to determine, as the different passages, still extant, refer to +very different periods of the life of Orestes; which, I think, is rather +adverse to his idea, that all these fragments were written by the same +person, and belonged to the same tragedy, unless, indeed, Pacuvius had +utterly set at defiance the observance of the celebrated unities of the +ancient drama. On the whole, however, he agrees with Thomas Stanley, in +his remarks on the _Choephorae_ of AEschylus, that the subject of the +_Choephorae_, which is the vengeance taken by Orestes on the murderers of +his father, is also that of the _Dulorestes_ of Pacuvius(338). Some of the +fragments refer to this as an object not yet accomplished:-- + + "Utinam nunc maturescam ingenio, ut meum patrem + Ulcisci queam." ---- + +The _Hermione_ turned on the murder of Pyrrhus by Orestes at the +instigation of Hermione. Cicero, in his Treatise _De Amicitia_, mentions, +in the person of Laelius, the repeated acclamations which had recently +echoed through the theatre at the representation of the _new play_ of his +friend Pacuvius, in that scene where Pylades and Orestes are introduced +before the king, who, being ignorant which of them is Orestes, whom he had +predetermined should be put to death, each insists, in order to save the +life of his friend, that he himself is the real person in question. Delrio +alleges that the _new play_ here alluded to by Cicero was the _Hermione_; +but that play, as well as the _Dulorestes_, related to much earlier events +than the friendly contest between Pylades and Orestes, which took place at +the court of Thoas, King of Tauris, and was the concluding scene in the +dramatic life of Orestes, being long subsequent to the murder of his +mother, his trial in presence of the Argives, or absolution at Athens +before the Areopagus. Accordingly, Tiraboschi states positively that this +_new play_ of Pacuvius, which obtained so much applause, was his _Pylades +et Orestes_(339). + +In the _Iliona_, the scene where the shade of Polydorus, who had been +assassinated by the King of Thrace, appears to his sister Iliona, was long +the favourite of a Roman audience, who seem to have indulged in the same +partiality for such spectacles as we still entertain for the goblins in +_Hamlet_ and _Macbeth_. + +All the plays above mentioned were imitated or translated by Pacuvius from +the Greek. His _Paulus_, however, was of his own invention, and was the +first Latin tragedy formed on a Roman subject. Unfortunately there are +only five lines of it extant, and these do not enable us to ascertain, +which Roman of the name of Paulus gave title to the tragedy. It was +probably either Paulus AEmilius, who fell at Cannae, or his son, whose story +was a memorable instance of the instability of human happiness, as he lost +both his children at the moment when he triumphed for his victory over +Perseus of Macedon. + +From no one play of Pacuvius are there more than fifty lines preserved, +and these are generally very much detached. The longest passages which we +have in continuation are a fragment concerning Fortune, in the +_Hermione_--the exclamations of Ulysses, while writhing under the agony of +a recent wound, in the _Niptra_, and the following fine description of a +sea-storm introduced in the _Dulorestes_:-- + + "Interea, prope jam occidente sole, inhorrescit mare; + Tenebrae conduplicantur, noctisque et nimbum occaecat nigror; + Flamma inter nubes coruscat, coelum tonitru contremit, + Grando, mista imbri largifluo, subita turbine praecipitans cadit; + Undique omnes venti erumpunt, saevi existunt turbines, + Fervet aestu Pelagus." ---- + +Such lines, however, as these, it must be confessed, are more appropriate +in epic, or descriptive poetry, than in tragedy. + +It does not appear that the tragedies of Pacuvius had much success or +popularity in his own age. He was obliged to have recourse for his +subjects to foreign mythology and unknown history. Iphigenia and Orestes +were always more or less strangers to a Roman audience, and the whole +drama in which these and similar personages figured, never attained in +Rome to a healthy and perfect existence. Comedy, on the other hand, +addressed itself to the feelings of all. There were prodigal sons, +avaricious fathers, and rapacious courtezans, in Rome as well as in +Greece(340). But it requires a certain cultivation of mind and tenderness +of heart to enjoy the representation of a regular tragedy. The plebeians +thronged to the theatre for the sake of merriment, and the patricians were +still too much occupied with the projects of their own ambition, to weep +over the woes of Antigone or Electra. + +Pacuvius, accordingly, had fewer imitators than Plautus. Indeed, for a +long period he had none of much note, except + + + + + + ATTIUS, + + +or Accius, as he is sometimes, but improperly, called, who brought forward +his first play when thirty years old, in the same season in which +Pacuvius, having reached the age of eighty, gave his last to the +public(341). Now, as Pacuvius would be eighty in 614, Attius, according to +this calculation, must have been born in 584. It has been questioned, +however, if he was born so early, since Valerius Maximus relates a story +of his refusing to rise from his place on the entrance of Julius Caesar +into the College of Poets, because in that place they did not contest the +prize of birth, but of learning(342),--which disrespect, if he came into +the world in 584, he could not have survived to offer to the dictator, +Julius Caesar, who was not born till 654. This collector of anecdotes, +however, may probably allude either to some other poet of the name of +Attius, or to some other individual of the Julian family, than the Julius +Caesar who subverted the liberties of his country. At all events it is +evident, that Attius lived to extreme old age. If born in 584, he must +have been 63 years old at the birth of Cicero, who came into the world in +647. Now, Cicero mentions not only having seen him, but having heard from +his own mouth opinions concerning the eloquence of his friend D. Brutus, +and other speakers of his time(343). Supposing this conversation took +place even when Cicero was so young as seventeen, Attius must have lived +at least to the age of eighty. + +It is certain, that Attius had begun to write tragedies before the death +of Pacuvius. Aulus Gellius relates, as a well-known anecdote, that Attius, +while on his way to Asia, was detained, for some time at Tarentum, whither +Pacuvius had retired, and was invited to pass a few days with the veteran +poet. During his stay he read to his host the tragedy of _Atreus_, which +was one of his earliest productions. Pacuvius declared his verses to be +high sounding and lofty, but he remarked that they were a little harsh, +and wanted mellowness. Attius acknowledged the truth of the observation, +which he said gave him much satisfaction; for that genius resembled +apples, which when produced hard and sour, grow mellow in maturity, while +those which are unseasonably soft do not become ripe, but rotten(344). His +expectations, however, were scarcely fulfilled, and the produce of his +more advanced years was nearly as harsh as what he had borne in youth. He +seems, nevertheless, to have entertained at all times a good opinion of +his own poetical talents: for, though a person of diminutive size, he got +a huge statue of himself placed in a conspicuous niche in the Temple of +the Muses(345). Nor does his vanity appear to have exceeded the high +esteem in which he was held by his countrymen. Such was the respect paid +to him, that a player was severely punished for mentioning his name on the +stage(346). Decius Brutus, who was consul in 615, and was distinguished +for his victories in Spain, received him into the same degree of intimacy +to which Ennius had been admitted by the elder, and Terence by the +younger, Scipio Africanus: and such was his estimation of the verses of +this tragedian, that he inscribed them over the entrance to a temple +adorned by him with the spoils of enemies whom he had conquered(347). From +the high opinion generally entertained of the force and eloquence of his +tragedies, Attius was asked why he did not plead causes in the Forum; to +which he replied, that he made the characters in his tragedies speak what +he chose, but that, in the Forum, his adversaries might say things he did +not like, and which he could not answer(348). + +Horace, in the same line where he celebrates the dramatic skill of +Pacuvius, alludes to the loftiness of Attius,-- + + ---- "Aufert + Pacuvius docti famam senis--Attius alti;" + +by which is probably meant sublimity both of sentiment and expression. A +somewhat similar quality is intended to be expressed in the epithet +applied to him by Ovid:-- + + "Ennius arte carens, animosique Attius oris, + Casurum nullo tempore nomen habent." + +It would appear from Ovid likewise, that he generally chose atrocious +subjects for the arguments of his tragedies:-- + + "Nec liber indicium est animi, sed honesta voluptas, + Plurima mulcendis auribus apta ferens: + Attius esset atrox, conviva Terentius esset, + Essent pugnaces qui fera bella canunt(349)." + +By advice of Pacuvius, Attius adopted such subjects as had already been +brought forward on the Athenian stage; and we accordingly find that he has +dramatized the well-known stories of Andromache, Philoctetes, Antigone, +&c. There are larger fragments extant from these tragedies than from the +dramatic works of Ennius or Pacuvius. One of the longest and finest +passages is that in the _Medea_, where a shepherd discovering, from the +top of a mountain, the vessel which conveyed the Argonauts on their +expedition, thus expresses his wonder and admiration at an object he had +never before seen:-- + + ---- "Tanta moles labitur + Fremebunda ex alto, ingenti sonitu et spiritu + Prae se undas volvit, vortices vi suscitat, + Ruit prolapsa, pelagus respergit, reflat: + Ita num interruptum credas nimbum volvier, + Num quod sublime ventis expulsum rapi + Saxum, aut procellis, vel globosos turbines + Existere ictos, undis concursantibus? + Num quas terrestres pontus strages conciet; + Aut forte Triton fuscina evertens specus, + Subter radices penitus undanti in freto + Molem ex profundo saxeam ad coelum vomit?" + +With this early specimen of Latin verse, it may be agreeable to compare a +corresponding passage in one of our most ancient English poets. A +shepherd, in Spenser's _Epilogue to the Shepherd's Calendar_, thus +describes his astonishment at the sight of a ship:-- + + "For as we stood there waiting on the strand, + Behold a huge great vessel to us came, + Dancing upon the waters back to land, + As if it scorn'd the danger of the same. + + Yet was it but a wooden frame, and frail, + Glued together with some subtle matter: + Yet had it arms, and wings, and head, and tail, + And life, to move itself upon the water. + + Strange thing! how bold and swift the monster was! + That neither cared for wind, nor hail, nor rain, + Nor swelling waves, but thorough them did pass + So proudly, that she made them roar again." + +Among the shorter fragments of Attius we meet with many scattered +sentiments, which have been borrowed by subsequent poets and moral +writers. The expression, "oderint dum metuant," occurs in the _Atreus_. +Thus, too, in the _Armorum Judicium_,-- + + "Nam trophaeum ferre me a forti pulchrum est viro; + Si autem et vincar, vinci a tali, nullum est probrum." + +A line in the same play-- + + "Virtuti sis par--dispar fortunis patris," + +has suggested to Virgil the affecting address-- + + "Disce, puer, virtutem ex me, verumque laborem; + Fortunam ex aliis: ----" + +This play, which turns on the contest of Ajax and Ulysses for the arms of +Achilles, has also supplied a great deal to Ovid. The tragic poet makes +Ajax say-- + + "Quid est cur componere ausis mihi te, aut me tibi." + +In like manner, Ajax, in his speech in Ovid-- + + ---- "Agimus, pro Jupiter, inquit, + Ante rates causam, et mecum confertur Ulysses!" + +There are two lines in the _Philoctetes_, which present a fine image of +discomfort and desolation-- + + "Contempla hanc sedem, in qua ego novem hiemes, saxo stratus, pertuli, + Ubi horrifer aquilonis stridor gelidas molitur nives(350)." + +Most of the plays of Attius, as we have seen, were taken from the Greek +tragedians. Two of them, however, the _Brutus_ and the _Decius_, hinged on +Roman subjects, and were both probably written in compliment to the family +of his patron, Decius Brutus. The subject of the former was the expulsion +of the Tarquins: but the only passage of it extant, is the dream of +Tarquin, and its interpretation, which have been preserved by Cicero in +his work _De Divinatione_. Tarquin's dream was, that he had been +overthrown by a ram which a shepherd had presented to him, and that while +lying wounded on his back, he had looked up to the sky, and observed that +the sun, having changed his course, was journeying from west to east. The +first part of this dream being interpreted, was a warning, that he would +be expelled from his kingdom by one whom he accounted as stupid as a +sheep; and the solar phenomenon portended a popular change in the +government. The interpreter adds, that such strange dreams could not have +occurred without the purpose of some special manifestation, but that no +attention need be paid to those which merely present to us the daily +transactions of life-- + + "Nam quae in vita usurpant homines, cogitant, curant, vident, + Quaeque agunt vigilantes, agitantque, ea si cui in somno accidunt. + Minus mirum est ----" + +In his tragedies, indeed, Attius rather shows a contempt for dreams, and +prodigies, and the science of augury-- + + "Nihil credo auguribus qui aures verbis divitant + Alienas, suas ut auro locupletent domos." + +The argument of Attius' other drama, founded on a Roman subject, and +belonging to the class called _Praetextatae_, was the patriotic +self-devotion of Publius Decius, who, when his army could no longer +sustain the onset of the foe, threw himself into the thickest of the +combat, and was despatched by the darts of the enemy. There were at least +two of the family of Decii, a father and son, who had successively devoted +themselves in this manner--the former in a contest with the Latins, the +latter in a war with the Gauls, leagued to the Etruscans, in the year of +Rome 457. No doubt, however, can exist, that it was the son who was the +subject of the tragedy of _Attius_--in the first place, because he twice +talks of following the example of his father-- + + "---- Patrio + Exemplo dicabo me, atque animam devotabo hostibus." + +And again-- + + "Quibus rem summam et patriam nostram quondam adauctavit pater." + +And, in the next place, he refers, in two different passages, to the +opposing host of the Gauls-- + + ---- "Gallei, voce canora ac fremitu, + Peragrant minitabiliter ---- + * * * * * + Vim Gallicam obduc contra in acie." ---- + +Horace, as is well known, bestowed some commendation on those dramatists +who had chosen events of domestic history as subjects for their tragedies-- + + "Nec minimum meruere decus, vestigia Graeca + Ausi deserere, et celebrare domestica facta(351)." + +Dramas taken from our own annals, excite a public interest, and afford the +best, as well as easiest opportunity of attracting the mind, by frequent +reference to our manners, prejudices, or customs. It may, at first view, +seem strange, that the Romans, who were a national people, and whose epics +were generally founded on events in their own history, should, when they +did make such frequent attempts at the composition of tragedy, have so +seldom selected their arguments from the ancient annals or traditions of +their country. These traditions were, perhaps, not very fertile in +pathetic or mournful incident, but they afforded subjects rich, beyond all +others, in tragic energy and elevation; and even in the range of female +character, in which the ancient drama was most defective, Lucretia and +Virginia were victims as interesting as Iphigenia or Alcestis. The tragic +writers of modern times have borrowed from these very sources many +subjects of a highly poetical nature, and admirably calculated for scenic +representation. The furious combat of the Horatii and Curiatii, the stern +patriotic firmness of Brutus, the internal conflicts of Coriolanus, the +tragic fate of Virginia, and the magnanimous self-devotion of Regulus, +have been dramatized with success, in the different languages of modern +Europe. But those names, which to us sound so lofty, may, to the natives, +have been too familiar for the dignity essential to tragedy. In Rome, +besides the risk of offending great families, the Roman subjects were of +too recent a date to have acquired that venerable cast, which the tragic +muse demands, and time alone can bestow. They were not at sufficient +distance to have dropped all those mean and disparaging circumstances, +which unavoidably adhere to recent events, and in some measure sink the +noblest modern transactions to the level of ordinary life. This seems to +have been strongly felt by Sophocles and Euripides, who preferred the +incidents connected with the sieges of Troy and of Thebes, rendered +gigantic only by the mists of antiquity, to the real and almost living +glories of Marathon or Thermopylae. But the Romans had no families +corresponding to the race of Atreus or OEdipus--they had no princess endowed +with the beauty of Helen--no monarch invested with the dignity of +Agamemnon--they had, in short, no epic cycle on which to form tragedies, +like the Greeks, whose minds had been conciliated by Homer in favour of +Ajax and Ulysses(352). "The most interesting subjects of tragedies," says +Adam Smith(353), "are the misfortunes of virtuous and magnanimous kings +and princes;" but the Roman kings were a detested race, for whose rank and +qualities there was no admiration, and for whose misfortunes there could +be no sympathy. Accordingly, after some few and not very successful +attempts to dramatize national incidents, the Latin tragic writers +relapsed into their former practice, as appears from the titles of all the +tragedies which were brought out from the time of Attius to that of +Seneca. + +Hence it follows, that those remarks, which have been repeated to satiety +with regard to the subjects of the Greek theatre, are likewise applicable +to those of the Roman stage. There would be the same dignified misfortune +displayed in nobler and imposing attitudes--the same observance of the +unities--the same dramatic phrensy, remorse, and love, proceeding from the +vengeance of the gods, and exhibited in the fate of Ajax, Orestes, and +Phaedra--the same struggle against that predominant destiny, which was +exalted even above the gods of Olympus, and by which the ill-fated race of +Atreus was agitated and pursued. The Latin, like the Greek tragedies, must +have excited something of the same feeling as the Laocoon or Niobe in +sculpture; and, indeed, the moral of a large proportion of them seems to +be comprised in the chorus of Seneca's _OEdipus_-- + + "Fatis agimur--cedite fatis: + Non solicitae possunt curae + Mutare rati stamina fusi." + +M. Schlegel is of opinion, that had the Romans quitted the practice of +Greek translation, and composed original tragedies, these would have been +of a different cast and species from the Greek productions, and would have +been chiefly expressive of profound religious sentiments.--"La tragedie +Grecque avoit montre l'homme libre, combattant contre la destinee; la +tragedie Romaine eut presente a nos regards l'homme soumis a la Divinite, +et subjugue jusques dans ses penchans les plus intimes, par cette +puissance infinie qui sanctifie les ames, qui les enchaine de ses liens, +et qui brille de toutes parts, a travers le voile de l'univers(354)." His +reasons for supposing that this difference would have existed, are founded +on the difference in the mythological systems of the two +nations.--"L'ancienne croyance des Romains et les usages qui s'y +rapportoient, renfermoient un sens moral, serieux, philosophique, +divinatoire et symbolique, qui n'existoit pas dans la religion des Grecs." +There can be no doubt, that the Romans were in public life, during the +early periods or their history, a devotedly religious people. Nothing of +moment was undertaken without being assured that the gods approved, and +would favour the enterprise. The utmost order was observed in every step +of religious performance. We see a consul leaving his army, on suspicion +of some irregularity, to hold new auspices--an army inspired with sacred +confidence and ardour, after appeasing the wrath of the gods, by expiatory +lustrations--and a conqueror dedicating at his triumph the temple vowed in +the moment of danger. But notwithstanding all this, it so happens, that a +spirit of free-thinking is one of the most striking characteristics of the +oldest class of Latin poets, particularly the tragedians, and in the +fragments of those very plays which were founded on Roman subjects, there +is everywhere expressed a bitter contempt for augury, and for the _sens +divinatoire et symbolique_, which they evidently considered as quackery: +and the dramatists do not seem to have much scrupled to declare that it +was so, or the people to testify approbation of such sentiments. Even the +almost impious lines of Ennius, that the gods take no concern in the +affairs of mortals, were received, as we learn from Cicero, with vast +applause.--"Noster Ennius, qui magno plausu loquitur, assentiente +populo--Ego Deum genus(355)," &c. It is probable, however, that a tragedy +purely Roman would have been written in a different spirit from a Greek +drama, because the manners of the two people had little resemblance, and +because the Roman passion for freedom, detestation of tyranny, and +feelings of patriotism, had strong shades of distinction from those of +Greece. The self-devotion of the Decii and Curtius, was of a fiercer +description than that of Leonidas. It was the headlong contempt, rather +than the resolute sacrifice, of existence. + +It was probably, too, from a slavish imitation of the Greek dramatists, +that the Latin tragedies acquired what is considered one of their chief +faults--the introduction of aphorisms and moral sentences, which were not +confined to the chorus, the proper receptacle for them, (it being the +peculiar office and character of the chorus to moralize,) but were spread +over the whole drama in such a manner, that the characters appeared to be +_vivendi preceptores_ rather than _rei actores_. Quintilian characterizes +Attius and Pacuvius as chiefly remarkable for this practice.--"Tragoediae +scriptores Attius et Pacuvius, clarissimi gravitate sententiarum." A +question on this point is started by Hurd,--That since the Greek tragedians +moralized so much, how shall we defend Sophocles, and particularly +Euripides, if we condemn Attius and Seneca? Brumoy's solution is, that the +moral and political aphorisms of the Greek stage generally contained some +apt and interesting allusion to the state of public affairs, easily caught +by a quick intelligent audience, and not a dry affected moral without +farther meaning, like most of the Latin maxims. In the age, too, of the +Greek tragedians, there was a prevailing fondness for moral wisdom; and +schools of philosophy were resorted to for recreation as well as for +instruction. Moral aphorisms, therefore, were not inconsistent with the +ordinary flow of conversation in those times, and would be relished by +such as indulged in philosophical conferences, whereas such speculations +were not introduced till late in Rome, and were never very generally in +vogue. + +On the whole, it may be admitted that the bold and animated genius of Rome +was well suited to tragedy, and that in force of colouring and tragic +elevation the Latin poets presented not a feeble image of their great +originals; but unfortunately their judgment was uninformed, and they were +too easily satisfied with their own productions. Strength and fire were +all at which they aimed, and with this praise they remained contented. +They were careless with regard to the regularity or harmony of +versification. The discipline of correction, the curious polishing of art, +which had given such lustre to the Greek tragedies, they could not bestow, +or held the emendation requisite for dramatic perfection as disgraceful to +the high spirit and energy of Roman genius(356): + + "Turpem putat inscriptis metuitque lituram(357)." + +To originality or invention in their subjects, they hardly ever presumed +to aspire, and were satisfied with gathering what they found already +produced by another soil in full and ripened maturity. + +It may perhaps appear strange that the Romans possessed so little original +talents for tragedy, and indeed for the drama in general; but the genius +of neighbouring nations, who had equal success in other sorts of poetry, +has often been very different in this department of literature. The +Spaniards could boast of Lopez de Vega, Cervantes, and Calderon, at a time +when the Portuguese had no drama, and were contented with the exhibitions +of strolling players from Castile. Scotland had scarcely produced a single +play of merit in the brightest age of the dramatic glory of England--the +age of Shakspeare, Massinger, and Jonson. While France was delighted with +the productions of Racine, Corneille, and Moliere, the modern Italians, as +if their ancestors' poverty of dramatic genius still adhered to them, +though so rich and abundant in every other department of literature, +scarcely possessed a tolerable play of their own invention, and till the +time of Goldoni were amused only with the most slavish imitations of the +Latin comedies, the buffooneries of harlequin, or tragedies of accumulated +and unmitigated horrors, which excite neither the interest of terror nor +of pity. + +For all this it may not be easy completely to account; but various causes +may be assigned for the want of originality in Roman tragedy, and indeed +in the whole Roman drama. The nation was deficient in that milder humanity +of which there are so many beautiful instances in Grecian history. From +the austere patriotism of Brutus sacrificing every personal feeling to the +love of country,--from the frugality of Cincinnatus, and parsimony of the +Censor, it fell with frightful rapidity into a state of luxury and +corruption without example. Even during the short period which might be +called the age of refinement, it wanted a poetical public. To judge by the +early part of their history, one would suppose that the Romans were not +deficient in that species of sensibility which fits for due sympathy in +theatrical incidents. Most of their great revolutions were occasioned by +events acting strongly and suddenly on their feelings. The hard fate of +Lucretia, Virginia, and the youth Publilius, freed them from the tyranny +of their kings, decemvirs, and patrician creditors. On the whole, however, +they were an austere, stately, and formal people; their whole mode of life +tended to harden the heart and feelings, and there was a rigid uniformity +in their early manners, ill adapted to the free workings of the passions. +External indications of tenderness were repressed as unbecoming of men +whose souls were fixed on the attainment of the most lofty objects. Pity +was never to be felt by a Roman, but when it came in the shape of clemency +towards a vanquished foe, and tears were never to dim the eyes of those +whose chief pride consisted in acting with energy and enduring with +firmness. This self-command, which their principles required of them,--this +control of every manifestation of suffering in themselves, and contempt +for the expression of it in others, tended to exclude tragedy almost +entirely from the range of their literature. + +Any softer emotions, too, which the Roman people may have once +experienced--any sentiments capable of being awakened to tragic pathos, +became gradually blunted by the manner in which they were exercised. They +had, by degrees, been accustomed to take a barbarous delight in the most +wanton displays of human violence, and brutal cruelty. Lions and elephants +tore each other in pieces before their eyes; and they beheld, with +emotions only of delight, crowds of hireling gladiators wasting their +energy, valour, and life, on the guilty _arena_ of a Circus. Gladiatorial +combats were first exhibited by Decius and Marcus Brutus, at the funeral +of their father, about the commencement of the Punic wars. The number of +such entertainments increased with the luxury of the times; and those who +courted popular favour found no readier way to gain it than by +magnificence and novelty in this species of expense. Caesar exhibited three +hundred pairs of gladiators; Pompey presented to the multitude six hundred +lions, to be torn in pieces in the Circus, besides harnessed bears and +dancing elephants; and some other candidate for popular favour, introduced +the yet more refined barbarity of combats between men and wild animals. +These were the darling amusements of all, and chief occupations of many +Romans; and those who could take pleasure in such spectacles, must have +lost all that tenderness of inward feeling, and all that exquisite +sympathy for suffering, without which none can perceive the force and +beauty of a tragic drama. The extension, too, of the military power, and +the increasing wealth and splendour of the Roman republic, accustomed its +citizens to triumphal and gaudy processions. This led to a taste for what, +in modern times, has been called _Spectacle_; and, instead of melting with +tenderness at the woes of Andromache, the people demanded on the stage +such exhibitions as presented them with an image of their favourite +pastimes:-- + + "Quatuor aut plures aulaea premuntur in horas, + Dum fugiunt equitum turmae, peditumque catervae: + Mox trahitur manibus regum fortuna retortis; + Esseda festinant, pilenta, petorrita, naves: + Captivum portatur ebur, captiva Corinthus(358)." + +This sort of show was not confined to the afterpiece or entertainment, but +was introduced in the finest tragedies, which were represented with such +pomp and ostentation as to destroy all the grace of the performance. A +thousand mules pranced about the stage in the tragedy of _Clytemnestra_; +and whole regiments, accoutred in foreign armour, were marshalled in that +of the _Trojan Horse_(359). This taste, so fatal to the genuine excellence +of tragedy or comedy, was fostered and encouraged by the AEdiles, who had +the charge of the public Shows, and, among others, of the exhibitions at +the theatre. The aedileship was considered as one of the steps to the +higher honours of the state; and those who held it could not resort to +surer means of conciliating the favour of their fellow-citizens, or +purchasing their future suffrages, than by sparing no expense in the +pageantry of theatrical amusements. + +The language, also, of the Romans, however excellent in other respects, +was at least in comparison with Greek, but ill suited to the expression of +earnest and vivid emotion. It required an artful and elaborate collocation +of words, and its construction is more forced and artificial than that of +most other tongues. Hence passion always seemed to speak the language with +effort; the idiom would not yield to the rapid transitions and imperfect +phrases of impassioned dialogue. + +Little attention, besides, was paid to critical learning, and the +cultivation of correct composition. The Latin muse had been nurtured amid +the festivities of rural superstition; and the impure mixture of +licentious jollity had so corrupted her nature, that it long partook of +her rustic origin. Even so late as the time of Horace, the tragic drama +continued to be unsuccessful, in consequence of the illiberal education of +the Roman youth; who, while the Greeks were taught to open all the mind to +glory, were so cramped in their genius by the love of gain, and by the +early infusion of sordid principles, that they were unable to project a +great design, or conduct it to perfection. The consequence was, that the +"_aerugo et cura peculi_" had so completely infected the Roman dramatists, +that lucre was the sole object of their pains. Hence, provided they could +catch popular applause, and secure a high price from the magistrates who +superintended theatrical exhibitions, they felt indifferent to every +nobler view, and more worthy purpose:-- + + "Gestit enim nummum in loculos demittere; post hoc + Securus, cadat, an recto stet fabula tale(360)." + +But, above all, the low estimation in which the art of poetry was held, +must be regarded as a cause of its little progress during the periods of +the republic: "Sero igitur," says Cicero, "a nostris, poetae vel cogniti +vel recepti. Quo minus igitur honoris erat poetis, eo minora studia +fuerunt(361)." The earliest poets of Rome had not the encouragement of +that court favour which was extended to Chaucer in England, to Marot and +Ronsard in France, and to Dante by the petty princes of Italy. From Livius +Andronicus to Terence, poetry was cultivated only by foreigners and +freedmen. Scipio and Laelius, indeed, are said to have written some scenes +in the plays of Terence; but they did not choose that anything of this +sort should pass under their names. The stern republicans seem to have +considered poetry as an art which captives and slaves might cultivate, for +the amusement of their conquerors, or masters, but which it would be +unsuitable for a grave and lofty patrician to practice. I suspect, the +Romans regarded a poet as a tumbler or rope-dancer, with whose feats we +are entertained, but whom we would not wish to imitate. + +The drama in Rome did not establish itself systematically, and by degrees, +as it did in Greece. Plautus wrote for the stage during the time of Livius +Andronicus, and Terence was nearly contemporary with Pacuvius and Attius; +so that everything serious and comic, good and bad, came at once, and if +it was Grecian, found a welcome reception among the Romans. On this +account every species of dramatic amusement was indiscriminately adopted +at the theatre, and that which was most absurd was often most admired. The +Greek drama acquired a splendid degree of perfection by a close imitation +of nature; but the Romans never attained such perfection, because, however +exquisite their models, they did not copy directly from nature, but from +its representative and image. + +Had the Romans, indeed, possessed a literature of their own, when they +first grew familiar with the works of the Greek poets, their native +productions would no doubt have been improved by the study and imitation +of the masterpieces of these more accomplished foreigners; yet they would +still have preserved something of a national character. But, +unfortunately, when the Romans first became acquainted with the writings +of the Greeks, they had not even sown the seeds of learning, so that they +remained satisfied with the full-ripened produce imported from abroad. +Several critics have indeed remarked in all the compositions of the +Romans, and particularly in their tragedies, a peculiar severity and +loftiness of thought; but they were all formed so entirely on a Greek +model, that their early poetry must be regarded rather as the production +of art than genius, and as a spark struck by contact and attrition, rather +than a flame spontaneously kindled at the altar of the Muses. + +In addition to all this, the Latin poet had no encouragement to invent. He +was not required to look abroad into nature, or strike out a path for +himself. So far from this being demanded, Greek subjects were evidently +preferred by the public-- + + "Omnes res gestas Athenis esse autumant, + Quo vobis illud Graecum videatur magis(362)." + +All the works, then, which have been hitherto mentioned, and which, with +exception of the _Annals_ of Ennius, are entirely dramatic, belong +strictly to what may be called the Greek school of composition, and are +unquestionably the least original class of productions in the Latin, or +perhaps any other language. But however little the early dramatists of +Rome may have to boast of originality or invention, they are amply +entitled to claim an unborrowed praise for the genuine purity of their +native style and language. + +The style and language of the dramatic writers of the period, on which we +are now engaged, seem to have been much relished by a numerous class of +readers, from the age of Augustus to that of the Antonines, and to have +been equally abhorred by the poets of that time. We have already seen +Horace's indignation against those who admired the _Carmen Saliare_, or +the poems of Livius, and which appears the bolder and more surprising, as +Augustus himself was not altogether exempt from this predilection(363); +and we have also seen the satire of Persius against his age, for being +still delighted with the fustian tragedies of Attius and the rugged style +of Pacuvius-- + + "Est nunc Brisei quem venosus liber Atti, + Sunt quos Pacuviusque et verrucosa moretur + Antiope aerumnis cor luctificabile fulta." + +In like manner Martial, in his Epigrams, mimicking the obsolete phrases of +the ancient dramatists-- + + "Attonitusque legis _terraei frugiferaei_, + Attius et quicquid Pacuviusque vomunt." + +Such sentiments, however, as is evident from Horace's Epistle to Augustus, +proceeded in a great measure from the modern poets being provoked at an +admiration, which they thought did not originate in a real sense of the +merit of these old writers, but in an envious wish to depreciate, by +odious comparison, the productions of the day-- + + "Jam Saliare Numae carmen qui laudat, et illud + Quod mecum ignorat, solus vult scire videri; + Ingentis non ille favet, plauditque sepultis, + Nostra sed impugnat--nos, nostraque lividus odit." + +But although a great proportion of the public may, with malicious designs, +have heaped extravagant commendations on the style of the ancient +tragedians, there can be no doubt that it is full of vigour and richness; +and if inferior to the exquisite refinement of the Augustan age, it was +certainly much to be preferred to the obscurity of Persius, or the +conceits of Martial. "A very imperfect notion," says Wakefield, in one of +his letters to Fox, "is entertained in general of the copiousness of the +Latin language, by those who confine themselves to what are styled the +Augustan writers. The old comedians and tragedians, with Ennius and +Lucilius, were the great repositories of learned and vigorous expression. +I have ever regarded the loss of the old Roman poets, particularly Ennius +and Lucilius, from the light they would have thrown on the formations of +the Latin language, and its derivation from the AEolian Greek, as the +severest calamity ever sustained by philological learning(364)." +Sometimes, indeed, their words are uncouth, particularly their compound +terms and epithets, in the formation of which they are not nearly so happy +as the Greeks. Livius Andronicus uses _Odorisequos canes_--Pacuvius employs +_Repandirostrum_ and _Incurvicervicum_. Such terms always appear +incongruous and disjointed, and not knit together so happily as _Cyclops_, +and other similar words of the Greeks. + +The different classes into which the regular drama of this period may be +reduced, is a subject involved in great contradiction and uncertainty, and +has been much agitated in consequence of Horace's celebrated line-- + + "Vel qui _Praetextas_ vel qui docuere _Togatas_(365)." + +On the whole, it seems pretty evident, that the _regular_ drama was +divided into tragedy and comedy. A tragedy on a Greek subject, and in +which Greek manners were preserved, as the Hecuba, Dulorestes, &c. was +simply styled _Tragoedia_, or sometimes _Tragoedia Palliata_. Those +tragedies again, in which Roman characters were introduced, as the Decius +and Brutus of Attius, were called _Praetextatae_, because the Praetexta was +the habit worn by Roman kings and consuls. The comedy which adopted Greek +subjects and characters, like those of Terence, was termed _Comoedia_, or +_Comoedia Palliata_; and that which was clothed in Roman habits and +customs, was called _Togata_(366). Afranius was the most celebrated writer +of this last class of dramas, which were probably Greek pieces +accommodated to Roman manners, since Afranius lived at a period when Roman +literature was almost entirely imitative. It is difficult, no doubt, to +see how an Athenian comedy could be bent to local usages foreign to its +spirit and genius; but the Latin writers were not probably very nice about +the adjustment; and the _Comoedia Togata_ is so slightly mentioned by +ancient writers, that we can hardly suppose that it comprehended a great +class of national compositions. The _Tabernaria_ was a comedy of a lower +order than the _Comoedia Togata_: It represented such manners as were +likely to be met with among the dregs of the Plebeians; and was so called +from Taberna, as its scene was usually laid in shops or taverns. These, I +think, are the usual divisions of the regular Roman drama; but critics and +commentators have sometimes applied the term _Togata_ to all plays, +whether tragedies or comedies, in which Roman characters were represented, +and _Palliata_ to every drama of Greek origin. + +There was, however, a species of irregular dramas, for which the Romans +were not indebted to the Greeks, and which was peculiar to themselves, +called _Fabulae Atellanae_. These entertainments were so denominated from +Atella, a considerable town of the Oscans, now St Arpino, lying about two +miles south from Aversa, between Capua and Naples,--the place now named +Atella being at a little distance. + +When Livius Andronicus had succeeded in establishing at Rome a regular +theatre, which was formed on the Greek model, and was supported by +professional writers, and professional actors, the free Roman youth, who +were still willing, amid their foreign refinements, occasionally to revive +the recollection of the old popular pastimes of their Italian ancestry, +continued to amuse themselves with the satiric pieces introduced by the +_Histrions_ of Etruria, and with the Atellane Fables which Oscan +performers had first made known at Rome(367). The actors of the regular +drama were not permitted to appear in such representations; and the Roman +youths, to whom the privilege was reserved, were not, as other actors, +removed from their tribe, or rendered incapable of military service(368); +nor could they be called on like them to unmask in presence of the +spectators(369). It has been conjectured, that the popularity of these +spectacles, and the privileges reserved to those who appeared in them, +were granted in consequence of their pleasantries being so tempered by the +ancient Italian gravity, that there was no admixture of obscenity or +indecorum, and hence no stain of dishonour was supposed to be inflicted on +the performers(370). + +The Atellane Fables consisted of detached scenes following each other, +without much dramatic connection, but replete with jocularity and +buffoonery. They were written in the Oscan dialect, in the same way as the +Venetian or Neapolitan jargons are frequently employed in the Italian +comedies; and they differed from the Greek satiric drama in this, that the +characters of the latter were Satyrs, while those of the Atellane fables +were Oscan(371). One of these was called Maccus, a grotesque and fantastic +personage, with an immense head, long nose, and hump back, who +corresponded in some measure to the clown or fool of modern pantomime, and +whose appellation of Maccus has been interpreted by Lipsius as _Bardus_, +_fatuus_, _stolidus_(372). In its rude but genuine form this species of +entertainment was in great vogue and constant use at Rome. It does not +appear that the Atellane fables were originally written out, or that the +actors had certain parts prescribed to them. The general subject was +probably agreed on, but the performers themselves filled up the scenes +from their own art or invention(373). As the Roman language improved, and +the provincial tongues of ancient Italy became less known, the Oscan +dialect was gradually abandoned. Quintus Novius, who lived in the +beginning of the seventh century of Rome, and whom Macrobius mentions as +one of the most approved writers of Atellane Fables, was the author who +chiefly contributed to this innovation. He is cited as the author of the +_Virgo Praegnans_, _Dotata_, _Gallinaria_, _Gemini_, and various others. + +At length, in the time of Sylla, Lucius Pomponius produced Atellane +Fables, which were written without any intermixture of the Oscan dialect, +being entirely in the Latin language; and he at the same time refined +their ancient buffoonery so much, by giving them a more rational cast, +that he is called by Velleius Paterculus the inventor of this species of +drama, and is characterized by that author as "sensibus celebrem, verbis +rudem(374)." Pomponius was remarkable for his accurate observation of +manners, and his genius has been highly extolled by Cicero and Seneca. The +names of sixty-three of his pieces have been cited by grammarians, and +from all these fragments are still extant. From some of them, however, not +more than a line has been preserved, and from none of them more than a +dozen. It would appear that the Oscan character of Maccus was still +retained in many fables of Pomponius, as there is one entitled _Maccus_, +and others _Macci Gemini_, _Maccus Miles_, _Maccus Sequestris_, in the +same manner as we say Harlequin footman, &c. Pappo, or Pappus, seems also +to have been a character introduced along with Maccus, and, I should +think, corresponded to the Pantaloon of modern pantomime. Among the names +of the Atellanes of Pomponius we find _Pappus Agricola_, and among those +of Novius, _Pappus Praeteritus_. This character, however, appears rather to +have been of Greek than of Oscan origin; and was probably derived from +{~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~}, the Silenus or old man of the Greek dramatic satire. + +The improvements of Pomponius were so well received at Rome, that he was +imitated by Mummius, and by Sylla himself, who, we are told by Athenaeus, +wrote several Atellane Fables in his native language(375). In this new +form introduced by Pomponius the Atellane dramas continued to enjoy great +popularity in Rome, till they were in some measure superseded by the Mimes +of Laberius and Publius Syrus. + +Along with the Atellane Fables, the Roman youth were in the practice of +acting short pieces called _Exodia_, which were interludes, or +after-pieces, of a yet more loose, detached, and farcical description, +than the Atellanes, being a continuation of the ancient performances +originally introduced by the Histrions of Etruria(376). In these Exodia +the actors usually wore the same masks and habits as in the Atellanes and +tragedies(377), and represented the same characters in a ludicrous point +of view:-- + + "Urbicus Exodio risum movet Atellanae + Gestibus Autonoes. Hunc diligit AElia pauper(378)." + +Joseph Scaliger, in his Commentary on Manilius, gives his opinion, that +the _Exodia_ were performed at the end of the principal piece, like our +farces, and were so called as being the issue of the entertainment, which +is also asserted by a scholiast on Juvenal(379). But the elder Scaliger +and Salmasius thought that the _exodium_ was a sort of interlude, and had +not necessarily any connection with the principal representation. The +_Exodia_ continued to be performed with much license in the times of +Tiberius and Nero; and when the serious spirit of freedom had vanished +from the empire, they often contained jocular but direct allusions to the +crimes of the portentous monsters by whom it was scourged and afflicted. + +It has been much disputed among modern critics, whether the + + + + + + SATIRE + + +of the Romans was derived from the Greeks, or was of their own invention. +The former opinion has been maintained by the elder Scaliger(380), +Heinsius(381), Vulpius(382), and, among the most recent German critics, by +Blankenburg(383), Conz, and Flogel(384); the latter theory, which seems to +have been that of the Romans themselves, particularly of Horace and +Quintilian(385), has been supported by Diomedes(386), Joseph Scaliger, +Casaubon(387), Spanheim(388), Rigaltius(389), Dacier(390), and Dryden, and +by Koenig(391), and Manso, among the Germans. Those who suppose that +satire descended directly from the Greeks to the Romans, derive the word +from _Satyrus_, the well-known mythological compound of a man and goat. +Casaubon, on the other hand, and most of those who have followed him, +deduce it from the adjective _Satura_, a Sabine word, originally +signifying a medley, and, afterwards,--full or abundant. To this word the +substantive _Lanx_ was understood, which meant the platter or charger +whereon the first fruits of the earth were offered to Bacchus at his +festivals,-- + + "Ergo rite suum Baccho dicemus honorem + Carminibus patriis, lancesque et liba feremus(392)." + +The term _Satura_ thus came to be applied to a species of composition, +originally written in various sorts of verse, and comprehending a +_farrago_ of all subjects,-- + + "Quicquid agunt homines, votum, timor, ira, voluptas, + Gaudia, discursus(393)," &c. + +In the same way, laws were called _Leges Saturae_, when they consisted of +several heads and titles: and Verrius Flaccus calls a dish, which I +suppose was a sort of _olla podrida_--Satura:--"Satura cibi genus ex variis +rebus conditum." Dacier, however, though he agrees with Casaubon as to the +Latin origin of satire, derives the term from Saturn; as he believes that +it was at festivals in honour of that ancient god of Italy that those +rustic impromptus, which gave rise to satire, were first recited. + +Flogel, in his German _History of Comic Literature_, attempts to show, at +considerable length, that Casaubon has attributed too much to the +derivation of the word satire; since, though the term may be of Latin +origin, it does not follow that the thing was unknown to the Greeks,--and +that he also relies too much on the argument, that the satiric plays of +the Greeks were quite different from the satire of the Romans, which may +be true; while, at the same time, there are other sorts of Greek +compositions, as the lyric satires of Archilochus and the _Silli_, which +have a much nearer resemblance to the Latin didactic satire than any +satirical drama. + +In fact, the whole question seems to depend on what constitutes a +sufficient alteration or variety from former compositions, to give a claim +to invention. Now it certainly cannot be pretended, so far as we know, +that _any_ satiric productions of the Greeks had much resemblance to those +of the Romans. The Greek satires, which are improperly so termed, were +divided into what were called tragic and comic. The former were dramatic +compositions, which had their commencement, like the regular tragedy, in +rustic festivals to the honour of Bacchus; and in which, characters +representing Satyrs, the supposed companions of that god, were introduced, +imitating the coarse songs and fantastic dances of rural deities. In their +rude origin, it is probable that only one actor, equipped as a Satyr, +danced or sung. Soon, however, a chorus appeared, consisting of the +bearded and beardless Satyrs, Silenus, and Pappo Silenus; and Histrions, +representing heroic characters, were afterwards introduced. The satiric +drama began to flourish when the regular tragedy had become too refined to +admit of a chorus, or accompaniment of Satyrs, but while these were still +remembered with a sort of fondness, which rendered it natural to recur to +the most ancient shape of the drama. In this state of the progress of the +Greek stage, the satire was performed separately from the tragedy; and out +of respect to the original form of tragedy, was often exhibited as a +continuation or parody of the tragic _trilogy_, or three serious +plays,--thus completing what was called the _tetralogia_. The scene of +these satires was laid in the country, amid woods, caves, and mountains, +or other such places as Satyrs were supposed to inhabit; and the subjects +chosen were those in which Satyrs might naturally be feigned to have had a +share or interest. High mythological stories and fabulous heroes were +introduced, as appears from the names preserved by Casaubon, who mentions +the _Hercules_ of Astydamas, the _Alcmaeon_ and _Vulcan_ of Achaeus,--each of +which is denominated {~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~}. These heroic characters, however, were +generally parodied, and rendered fantastic, by the gross railleries of +Silenus and the Fauns. The _Cyclops_ of Euripides, which turns on the +story of Ulysses in the cave of Polyphemus, is the only example entirely +extant of this species of composition. Some fragments, however, remain of +the _Lytiersa_ of Sositheus, an author who flourished about the 130th +Olympiad, which was subsequent to the introduction of the new Greek +comedy. Lytiersa, who gives name to this dramatic satire, lived in +Phrygia. He used to receive many guests, who flocked to his residence from +all quarters. After entertaining them at sumptuous banquets, he compelled +them to go out with him to his fields, to reap his crop or cut his hay; +and when they had performed this labour, he mowed off their heads, with a +scythe. The style of entertainment, it seems, did not prevent his house +from being a place of fashionable resort. Hercules, however, put an end to +this mode of wishing a good afternoon, by strangling the hospitable +landlord, and throwing his body into the Maeander. It is evident, from the +subject of this play, and of the _Cyclops_, that the tragic satires were a +sort of fee-fa-fum performance, like our after-pieces founded on the +stories of _Blue Beard_ and _Jack the Giant Killer_. They were generally +short and simple in their plan: They contained no satire or ridicule +against the fellow-citizens of the author, or any private individuals +whatever; but there was a good deal of jeering by the characters at each +other, and much buffoonery, revelling, and indecency, among the satiric +persons of the chorus. + +The Comic Satire began later than the Tragic, subsisted for some time +along with it, and finally survived it. In Greece it was chiefly popular +after the time of Alexander, and it also flourished in the court of the +Egyptian Ptolemies. It was quite different from the Tragic Satire; the +action being laid in cities, or at least not always amid rustic scenes. +Private individuals were often satirized in it, and not unfrequently the +tyrants or rulers of the state. When a mythic story was adopted, the +affairs of domestic life were conjoined with the action, and it never was +of the same enormous or bloody nature as the fables employed in the tragic +satire, but such subjects were usually chosen as that of Amphitryon, +Apollo feeding the flocks of Admetus, &c. Satyrs were not essential +characters, and when they were introduced, private individuals were +generally intended to be ridiculed, under the form of these rustic +divinities. Gluttony, to judge from some fragments preserved by Athenaeus, +was one of the chief topics of banter and merriment. Timocles, who lived +about the 114th Olympiad, was the chief author of comic satires. +Lycophron, better known by his _Cassandra_, also wrote one called +_Menedemus_, in which the founder of the Eretric school of philosophy was +exposed to ridicule, under the character of Silenus, and his pupils under +the masks of Satyrs. + +Besides their dramatic satires, the Greeks had another species of poem +called _Silli_, which were patched up like the _Cento Nuptialis_ of +Ausonius from the verses of serious writers, and by such means turned to a +different sense from what their original author intended. Thus, in the +_Silli_ attributed to Timon, a sceptic philosopher and disciple of Pyrrho, +who lived in the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus, the lines are copied from +Homer and the tragic poets, but they are satirically applied to certain +customs and systems of philosophy, which it was his object to ridicule. +Some specimens of the _Silli_ may be found in Diogenes Laertius; but the +longest now extant is a passage preserved in Dio Chrysostom, exposing the +mad attachment of the inhabitants of Alexandria to chariot races. To these +_Silli_ may be added the lyric or iambic satires directed against +individuals, like those of Archilochus against Lycambes. + +The Roman didactic satire had no great resemblance to any of these sorts +of Greek satire. It referred, as every one knows, to the daily occurrences +of life,--to the ordinary follies and vices of mankind. With the Greek +tragic satire it had scarce any analogy whatever; for it was not in +dialogue, and contained no allusion to the mythological Satyrs who formed +the chorus of the Greek dramas. To the comic satire it had more affinity; +and those writers who have maintained the Greek origin of Roman satire +have done little justice to their argument by not attending to the +distinction between these two sorts of dramatic satire, and treating the +whole question as if it depended on the resemblance to the tragic satire. +In the comic satire, as we have seen, Satyrs were not always nor +necessarily introduced. The subject was taken from ordinary life; and +domestic vice or absurdity was stigmatized and ridiculed, as it was in the +Roman satire, particularly during its earliest ages. Still, however, there +was no incident or plot evolved in a Roman satire; nor was it written in +dialogue, except occasionally, for the sake of more lively sarcasm on life +and manners. + +But though the Roman satire took a different direction, it had something +of the same origin as the satiric drama of the Greeks. As the Grecian +holidays were celebrated with oblations to Bacchus and Ceres, to whose +bounty they owed their wine and corn, in like manner the ancient Italians +propitiated their agricultural or rustic deities with appropriate +offerings, + + "Tellurem porco--Sylvanum lacte piabant(394);" + +but as they knew nothing of the Silenus, or Satyrs of the Greeks, a chorus +of peasants, fantastically disguised in masks cut out from the barks of +trees, danced or sung to a certain kind of verse, which they called +Saturnian:-- + + "Nec non Ausonii, Troja gens missa, coloni + Versibus incomtis ludunt, risuque soluto; + Oraque corticibus sumunt horrenda cavatis: + Et te, Bacche, vocant per carmina laeta, tibique + Oscilla ex alta suspendunt mollia pinu(395)." + +These festivals had usually the double purpose of worship and recreation; +and accordingly the verses often digressed from the praises of Bacchus to +mutual taunts and railleries, like those in Virgil's third eclogue, on the +various defects and vices of the speakers. + +Such rude lines, originally sung or recited in the Tuscan and Latian +villages, at nuptials or religious festivals, were first introduced at +Rome by _Histrions_, who, as already mentioned, were summoned from +Etruria, in order to allay the pestilence which was depopulating the city. +These Histrions being mounted on a stage, like our mountebanks, performed +a sort of _ballet_, by dancing and gesticulating to the sound of musical +instruments. The Roman youth thus learned to imitate their gestures and +music, which they accompanied with railing verses delivered in extemporary +dialogue. + +The jeering, however, which had been at first confined to inoffensive +raillery, at length exceeded the bounds of moderation, and the peace of +private families was invaded by the unrestrained license of personal +invective:-- + + "Libertasque recurrentes accepta per annos + Lusit amabiliter, donec jam saevus apertam + In rabiem coepit verti jocus; et per honestas + Ire domos impune minax; doluere cruento + Dente lacessiti; fuit intactis quoque cura + Conditione super communi(396)." ---- + +This exposure of private individuals, which alarmed even those who had +been spared, was restrained by a salutary law of the Decemvirs.--"Si quis +occentassit malum carmen, sive condidisit, quod infamiam faxit flagitiumve +alteri, fuste ferito." + +Ennius, perceiving how much the Romans had been delighted with the rude +satires poured forth in extemporary dialogue, thought it might be worth +his pains to compose satires not to be recited but read. He preserved in +them, however, the groundwork of the ancient pleasantry, and the venom of +the ancient raillery, on individuals, as well as on general vices. His +satires related to various subjects, and were written in different sorts +of verses--hexameters being mingled with iambic and trochaic lines, as +fancy dictated. + +The satires of Ennius, which have already been more particularly +mentioned, were imitated by Pacuvius, and from his time the word _satire_ +came to be applied at Rome only to poems containing either a playful or +indignant censure on manners. This sort of composition was chiefly +indebted for its improvement to + + + + + + LUCILIUS, + + +A Roman knight, who was born in the year 605, at Suessa, a town in the +Auruncian territory. He was descended of a good family, and was the +maternal granduncle of Pompey the Great. In early youth he served at the +siege of Numantia, in the same camp with Marius and Jugurtha, under the +younger Scipio Africanus(397), whose friendship and protection he had the +good fortune to acquire. On his return to Rome from his Spanish campaign, +he dwelt in a house which had been built at the public expense, and had +been inhabited by Seleucus Philopater, Prince of Syria, whilst he resided +in his youth as an hostage at Rome(398). Lucilius continued to live on +terms of the closest intimacy with the brave Scipio and wise Laelius, + + "Quin ubi se a vulgo et scena in secreta remorant + Virtus Scipiadae et mitis sapientia Laeli, + Nugari cum illo et discincti ludere, donec + Decoqueretur olus, soliti(399)." ---- + +These powerful protectors enabled him to satirize the vicious without +restraint or fear of punishment. In his writings he drew a genuine picture +of himself, acknowledged his faults, made a frank confession of his +inclinations, gave an account of his adventures, and, in short, exhibited +a true and spirited representation of his whole life. Fresh from business +or pleasure, he seized his pen while his fancy was yet warm, and his +passions still awake,--while elated with success or depressed by +disappointment. All these feelings, and the incidents which occasioned +them, he faithfully related, and made his remarks on them with the utmost +freedom:-- + + "Ille velut fidis arcana sodalibus olim + Credebat libris; neque si male gesserat, usquam + Decurrens alio, neque si bene: quo fit ut omnis + Votiva pateat veluti descripta tabella + Vita senis(400)." ---- + +Unfortunately, however, the writings of Lucilius are so mutilated, that +few particulars of his life and manners can be gleaned from them. Little +farther is known concerning him, than that he died at Naples, but at what +age has been much disputed. Eusebius and most other writers have fixed it +at 45, which, as he was born in 605, would be in the 651st year of the +city. But M. Dacier and Bayle(401) assert that he must have been much +older, at the time of his death, as he speaks in his satires of the +Licinian law against exorbitant expenditure at entertainments, which was +not promulgated till 657, or 658. + +Satire, more than any other species of poetry, is the offspring of the +time in which it has its birth, and which furnishes it with the aliment +whereon it feeds. The period at which Lucilius appeared was favourable to +satiric composition. There was a struggle existing between the old and new +manners, and the freedom of speaking and writing, though restrained, had +not yet been totally checked by law. Lucilius lived amidst a people on +whom luxury and corruption were advancing with fearful rapidity, but among +whom some virtuous citizens were still anxious to stem the tide which +threatened to overwhelm their countrymen. The satires of Lucilius were +adapted to please these staunch "_laudatores temporis acti_," who stood up +for ancient manners and discipline. The freedom with which he attacked the +vices of his contemporaries, without sparing individuals,--the strength of +colouring with which his pictures were charged,--the weight and asperity of +the reproaches with which he loaded those who had exposed themselves to +his ridicule or indignation,--had nothing revolting in an age when no +consideration compelled to those forbearances necessary under different +forms of society or government(402). By the time, too, in which Lucilius +began to write, the Romans, though yet far from the polish of the Augustan +age, had become familiar with the delicate and cutting irony of the Greek +comedies of which the more ancient Roman satirists had no conception. +Lucilius chiefly applied himself to the imitation of these dramatic +productions, and caught, it is said, much of their fire and spirit: + + "Eupolis, atque Cratinus, Aristophanesque, poeetae, + Atque alii, quorum comoedia prisca virorum est, + Si quis erat dignus describi, quod malus, aut fur, + Quod moechus foret, aut sicarius, aut alioqui + Famosus, multa cum libertate notabant. + Hinc omnis pendet Lucilius, hosce secutus, + Mutatis tantum pedibus numerisque(403)." ---- + +The Roman language, likewise, had grown more refined in the age of +Lucilius, and was thus more capable of receiving the Grecian beauties of +style. Nor did Lucilius, like his predecessors, mix iambic with trochaic +verses. Twenty books of his satires, from the commencement, were in +hexameter verse, and the rest, with exception of the thirtieth, in iambics +or trochaics. His object, too, seems to have been bolder and more +extensive than that of his precursors, and was not so much to excite +laughter or ridicule, as to correct and chastise vice. Lucilius thus +bestowed on satiric composition such additional grace and regularity, that +he is declared by Horace to have been the first among the Romans who wrote +satire in verse:-- + + "Primus in hunc operis componere carmina morem." + +But although Lucilius may have greatly improved this sort of writing, it +does not follow that his satires are to be considered as altogether of a +different species from those of Ennius--a light in which they have been +regarded by Casaubon and Ruperti; "for," as Dryden has remarked, "it would +thence follow, that the satires of Horace are wholly different from those +of Lucilius, because Horace has no less surpassed Lucilius in the elegance +of his writing, than Lucilius surpassed Ennius in the turn and ornament of +his." + +The satires of Lucilius extended to not fewer than thirty books; but +whether they were so divided by the poet himself, or by some grammarian +who lived shortly after him, seems uncertain: He was a voluminous author, +and has been satirized by Horace for his hurried copiousness and +facility:-- + + "Nam fuit hoc vitiosus: In hora saepe ducentos, + Ut magnum, versus dictabat, stans pede in uno: + Garrulus, atque piger scribendi ferre laborem; + Scribendi recte: nam ut multum, nil moror(404)." + +Of the thirty books there are only fragments extant; but these are so +numerous, that though they do not capacitate us to catch the full spirit +of the poet, we perceive something of his manner. His merits, too, have +been so much canvassed by ancient writers, who judged of them while his +works were yet entire, that their discussions in some measure enable us to +appreciate his poetical claims. It would appear that he had great vivacity +and humour, uncommon command of language, intimate knowledge of life and +manners, and considerable acquaintance with the Grecian masters. Virtue +appeared in his draughts in native dignity, and he exhibited his +distinguished friends, Scipio and Laelius, in the most amiable light. At +the same time it was impossible to portray anything more powerful than the +sketches of his vicious characters. His rogue, glutton, and courtezan, are +drawn in strong, not to say coarse colours. He had, however, much of the +old Roman humour, that celebrated but undefined _urbanitas_, which indeed +he possessed in so eminent a degree, that Pliny says it began with +Lucilius in composition(405), while Cicero declares that he carried it to +the highest perfection(406), and that it almost expired with him(407). But +the chief characteristic of Lucilius was his vehement and cutting satire. +Macrobius calls him "Acer et violentus poeta(408);" and the well-known +lines of Juvenal, who relates how he made the guilty tremble by his pen, +as much as if he had pursued them sword in hand, have fixed his character +as a determined and inexorable persecutor of vice. His Latin is admitted +on all hands to have been sufficiently pure(409); but his versification +was rugged and prosaic. Horace, while he allows that he was more polished +that his predecessors, calls his muse "pedestris," talks repeatedly of the +looseness of his measure, "Incomposito pede currere versus," and compares +his whole poetry to a muddy and troubled stream:-- + + "Cum flueret lutulentus erat quod tollere velles." + +Quintilian does not entirely coincide with this opinion of Horace; for, +while blaming those who considered him as the greatest of poets, which +some persons still did in the age of Domitian, he says, "Ego quantum ab +illis, tantum ab Horatio dissentio, qui Lucilium fluere lutulentum, et +esse aliquid quod tollere possis, putat(410)." The author of the books +_Rhetoricorum_, addressed to Herennius, and which were at one time +attributed to Cicero, mentions, as a singular awkwardness in the +construction of his lines, the disjunction of words, which, according to +proper and natural arrangement, ought to have been placed together, as-- + + "Has res ad te scriptas _Luci_ misimus _AEli_." + +Nay, what is still worse, it would appear from Ausonius, that he had +sometimes barbarously separated the syllables of a word-- + + "Villa _Lucani_--mox potieris _aco_. + Rescisso discas componere nomine versum; + Lucili vatis sic imitator eris(411)." + +As to the learning of Lucilius, the opinions of antiquity were different; +and even those of the same author appear somewhat contradictory on this +point. Quintilian says, that there is "Eruditio in eo mira." Cicero, in +his treatise _De Finibus_, calls his learning _mediocris_; though, +afterwards, in the person of Crassus, in his treatise _De Oratore_, he +twice terms him _Doctus_(412). Dacier suspects that Quintilian was led to +consider Lucilius as learned, from the pedantic intermixture of Greek +words in his compositions--a practice which seems to have excited the +applause of his contemporaries, and also of his numerous admirers in the +Augustan age, for which they have been severely ridiculed by Horace, who +always warmly opposed himself to the excessive partiality entertained for +Lucilius during that golden period of literature-- + + "At magnum fecit, quod verbis Graeca Latinis + Miscuit:--O seri studiorum!" + +It is not unlikely that there may have been something of political spleen +in the admiration expressed for Lucilius during the age of Augustus, and +something of courtly complaisance in the attempts of Horace to counteract +it. Augustus had extended the law of the 12 tables respecting libels; and +the people, who found themselves thus abridged of the liberty of +satirizing the Great by name, might not improbably seek to avenge +themselves by an overstrained attachment to the works of a poet, who, +living as they would insinuate, in better times, practised, without fear, +what he enjoyed without restraint(413). + +Some motive of this sort doubtless weighed with the Romans in the age of +Augustus, since much of the satire of Lucilius must have been +unintelligible, or at least uninteresting to them. Great part of his +compositions appears to have been rather a series of libels than +legitimate satire, being occupied with virulent attacks on contemporary +citizens of Rome-- + + ---- "Secuit Lucilius urbem, + Te Mute, te Lupe, et genuinum fregit in illos(414)." + +Douza, who has collected and edited all that remains of the satires of +Lucilius, mentions the names of not fewer than sixteen individuals, who +are attacked by name in the course even of these fragments, among whom are +Quintus Opimius, the conqueror of Liguria, Caecilius Metellus, whose +victories acquired him the sirname of Macedonianus, and Cornelius Lupus, +at that time _Princeps Senatus_. Lucilius was equally severe on +contemporary and preceding authors; Ennius, Pacuvius, and Attius, having +been alternately satirized by him(415). In all this he indulged with +impunity(416); but he did not escape so well from a player, whom he had +ventured to censure, and who took his revenge by exposing Lucilius on the +stage. The poet prosecuted the actor, and the cause was carried on with +much warmth on both sides before the Praetor, who finally acquitted the +player(417). + +The confidence of Lucilius in his powerful patrons, Scipio and Laelius, +inspired this freedom; and it appears, in fact, to have so completely +relieved him from all fear or restraint, that he boldly exclaims-- + + ---- "Cujus non audeo dicere nomen? + Quid refert dictis ignoscat Mutius, an non?" + +It is chiefly to such support that the unbridled license of the old Roman +satirists may be ascribed-- + + ---- "Unde illa priorum + Scribendi quodcunque animo flagrante liberet + Simplicitas(418)." ---- + +The harsh and uncultivated spirit of the ancient Romans also naturally led +to this species of severe and personal castigation; and it was not to be +expected that in that age they should have drawn their pictures with the +delicacy and generality which Horace has given to Offellus. + +Lucilius, however, did not confine himself to invectives on vicious +mortals. In the first book of his satires, he appears to have declared war +on the false gods of Olympus, whose plurality he denied, and ridiculed the +simplicity of the people, who bestowed on an infinity of gods the +venerable name of father, which should be reserved for one. Near the +commencement of this book he represents an assembly of the gods +deliberating on human affairs: + + "Consilium summis hominum de rebus habebant." + +And, in particular, discussing what punishment ought to be inflicted on +Rutilius Lupus, a considerable man in the Roman state, but noted for his +wickedness and impiety, and so powerful that it is declared-- + + "Si conjuret, populus vix totus satis est." + +Jupiter expresses his regret that he had not been present at a former +council of the gods, called to deliberate on this topic-- + + "Vellem concilio vestrum, quod dicitis, olim, + Caelicolae; vellem, inquam, adfuissem priore + Concilio." ---- + +Jupiter having concluded, the subject is taken up by another of the gods, +who, as Lactantius informs us, was Neptune(419); but being puzzled with +its intricacy, this divinity declares it could not be explained, were +Carneades himself (the most clear and eloquent of philosophers) to be sent +up to them from Orcus: + + "Nec si Carneadem ipsum ad nos Orcus remittat." + +The only result of the solemn deliberations of this assembly is a decree, +that each god should receive from mortals the title of father-- + + "Ut nemo sit nostrum, quin pater optumus divum; + Ut Neptunus pater, Liber, Saturnu' pater, Mars, + Janu' Quirinu' pater, nomen dicatur ad unum." + +The third book contains an account of the inconveniences and amusements of +a journey, performed by Lucilius, along the rich coast of Campania, to +Capua and Naples, and thence all the way to Rhegium and the Straits of +Messina. He appears particularly to have described a combat of gladiators, +and the manifold distresses he experienced from the badness of the roads-- + + "Praeterea omne iter hoc est labosum atque lutosum." + +Horace, in the fifth satire of his first book, has, in imitation of +Lucilius, comically described a journey from Rome to Brundusium, and like +him has introduced a gladiatorial combat. The fourth satire of Lucilius +stigmatizes the luxury and vices of the rich, and has been imitated by +Persius in his third book. Aulus Gellius informs us, that in part of his +fifth satire he exposed, with great wit and power of ridicule, those +literary affectations of using such words in one sentence as terminate +with a similar jingle, or consist of an equal number of syllables. He has +shown how childish such affectations are, in that passage wherein he +complains to a friend that he had neglected to visit him while sick. In +the ninth satire he ridicules the blunders in orthography, committed by +the transcribers of MSS., and gives rules for greater accuracy. Of the +tenth book little remains; but it is said to have been the perusal of it +which first inflamed Persius with the rage of writing satires. The +eleventh seems to have consisted chiefly of personal invectives against +Quintus Opimius, Lucius Cotta, and others of his contemporaries, whose +vices, or rivalship with his patron Scipio, exposed them to his enmity and +vengeance. The sixteenth was entitled _Collyra_, having been chiefly +devoted to the celebration of the praises of Collyra, the poet's +mistress(420). Of many of the other books, as the 12th, 13th, 18th, 21st, +and four following, so small fragments remain, that it is impossible to +conjecture the subject; for although we may see the scope of insulated +lines, their matter may have been some incidental illustration, and not +the principal subject of the satire. Even in those books, of which there +are a greater number of fragments extant, they are so disjoined that it is +as difficult to put them legibly together as the scattered leaves of the +Sibyl; and the labour of Douza, who has been the most successful in +arranging the broken lines, so as to make a connected sense, is by many +considered as but a conjectural and philological sport. Those few +passages, however, which are in any degree entire, show great force of +satire; as for example, the following account of the life led by the +Romans:-- + + "Nunc vero a mane ad noctem, festo atque profesto, + Totus item pariterque dies, populusque patresque + Jactare indu foro se omnes, decedere nusquam, + Uni se atque eidem studio omnes dedere et arti; + Verba dare ut caute possint, pugnare dolose, + Blanditia certare, bonum simulare virum se, + Insidias facere, ut si hostes sint omnibus omnes." + +The verses in which our poet bitterly ridicules the superstition of those +who adored idols, and mistook them for true gods, are written in something +of the same spirit-- + + "Terricolas Lamias, Fauni quas, Pompiliique + Instituere Numae, tremit has, his omnia ponit: + Ut pueri infantes credunt signa omnia ahena + Vivere, et esse homines; et sic isti omnia ficta + Vera putant: credunt signis cor inesse ahenis-- + Pergula pictorum, veri nihil, omnia ficta(421)." + +On this passage Lactantius remarks, that such superstitious fools are much +more absurd than the children to whom the satirist compares them, as the +latter only mistake statues for men, the former for gods. There are two +lines in the 26th book, which every nation should remember in the hour of +disaster-- + + "Ut populus Romanus victus vi, et superatus praeliis + Saepe est multis; bello vero nunquam, in quo sunt omnia(422)." + +But the most celebrated and longest passage we now have from Lucilius, is +his definition of _Virtus_-- + + "Virtus, Albine, est, pretium persolvere verum, + Queis in versamur, queis vivimus rebus, potesse: + Virtus est homini, scire id quod quaeque habeat res; + Virtus, scire homini rectum, utile, quid sit honestum, + Quae bona, quae mala item, quid inutile, turpe, inhonestum; + Virtus, quaerendae rei finem scire modumque: + Virtus, divitiis precium persolvere posse: + Virtus, id dare quod re ipsa debetur honori; + Hostem esse atque inimicum hominum morumque malorum, + Contra, defensorem hominum morumque bonorum, + Magnificare hos, his bene velle, his vivere amicum: + Commoda praeterea patriae sibi prima putare, + Deinde parentum, tertia jam postremaque nostra(423)." + +Lactantius has cavilled at the different heads of this definition(424), +and perhaps some of them are more applicable to what we call wisdom, than +to our term virtue, which, as is well known, does not precisely correspond +to the Latin _Virtus_. + +If we possessed a larger portion of the writings of Lucilius, I have no +doubt it would be found that subsequent Latin poets, particularly the +satirists, have not only copied various passages, but adopted the plan and +subjects of many of his satires. It has already been mentioned, that +Horace's journey to Brundusium is imitated from that of Lucilius to Capua. +His severity recommended him to Persius and Juvenal, who both mention him +with respect. Persius, indeed, professes to follow him, but Juvenal seems +a closer imitator of his manner. The jingle in the two following lines, +from an uncertain book of Lucilius-- + + "Ut me scire volo mihi conscius sum, ne + Damnum faciam. Scire hoc se nescit, nisi alios id scire scierit," + +seems to have suggested Persius' line-- + + "Scire tuum nihil, nisi te scire hoc sciat alter." + +The verses, "Cujus non audeo dicere nomen," &c. quoted above, are copied +by Juvenal in his first satire, but with evident allusion to the works of +his predecessor. A line in the first book-- + + "Quis leget haec? min' tu istud ais? nemo, Hercule, nemo," + +has been imitated by Persius in the very commencement of his satires-- + + "O curas hominum! O quantum est in rebus inane! + Quis leget haec? min' tu istud ais? nemo, Hercule, nemo." + +Virgil's phrase, so often quoted, "Non omnia possumus omnes," is in the +fifth book of Lucilius-- + + "Major erat natu; non omnia possumus omnes." + +Were the whole works of Lucilius extant, many more such imitations might +be discovered and pointed out. It is not on this account, however, that +their loss is chiefly to be deplored. Had they remained entire, they would +have been highly serviceable to philological learning. They would have +informed us also of many incidents of Roman history, and would have +presented us with the most complete draught of ancient Roman manners, and +genuine Roman originals, which were painted from life, and at length +became the model of the inimitable satires of imperial Rome. + +Besides satirizing the wicked, under which category he probably classed +all his enemies, Lucilius also employed his pen in praise of the brave and +virtuous. He wrote, as we learn from Horace, a panegyric on Scipio +Africanus, but whether the elder or younger is not certain:-- + + "Attamen et justum poteras et scribere fortem + Scipiadam, ut sapiens Lucilius(425)." + +Lucilius was also author of a comedy entitled _Nummularia_, of which only +one line remains; but we are informed by Porphyrion, the scholiast on +Horace, that the plot turned on Pythias, a female slave, tricking her +master, Simo, out of a sum of money, with which to portion his daughter. + +Lucilius was followed in his satiric career by Saevius Nicanor, the +grammarian, who was the freedman of one Marcius, as we learn from the only +line of his poetry which is extant, and which has been preserved by +Suetonius, or whoever was the author of the work _De Illustribus +Grammaticis_:-- + + "Saevius Nicanor Marci libertus negabit." + +Publius Terentius Varro, sirnamed Atacinus, from the place of his birth, +also attempted the Lucilian satire, but with no great success as we learn +from Horace:-- + + "Hoc erat, experto frustra Varrone Atacino." + +He was more fortunate, it is said, in his geographical poems, and in that +_De Bello Sequanico_(426). + +We may range among the satires of this period, the _Dirae_ of the +grammarian, Valerius Cato, who, being despoiled of his patrimony, +especially his favourite villa at Tusculum, during the civil wars of +Marius and Sylla, in order to make way for the soldiery, avenged himself, +by writing poetical imprecations on his lost property. This poem is +sometimes inscribed _Dirae in Battarum_, which is inaccurate, as it gives +an idea that Battarus is the name of the person who had got possession of +the villa, and on whom the imprecations were uttered. There is not, +however, a word of execration against any of those who had obtained his +lands, except in so far as he curses the lands themselves, praying that +they may become barren--that they may be inundated with rain--blasted with +pestiferous breezes, and, in short, laid waste by every species of +agricultural calamity. Joseph Scaliger thinks that Battarus was a river, +and Nic. Heinsius that it was a hill. It seems evident enough from the +poem itself, that Battarus was some well known satiric or invective bard, +whom the author invokes, in order to excite himself to reiterated +imprecations(427):-- + + "Rursus et hoc iterum repetamus, Battare, carmen." + +The concluding part of the _Dirae_, as edited by Wernsdorff(428), is a +lamentation for the loss of a mistress, called Lydia, of whom the +unfortunate poet had likewise been deprived. This, however, has been +regarded by others as a separate poem from the _Dirae_. Cato was also +author of a poem called _Diana_, and a prose work entitled _Indignatio_, +in which he related the history of his misfortunes. He lived to an +advanced age, but was oppressed by extreme poverty, and afflicted with a +painful disease, as seems to be implied in the lines of his friend Furius +Bibaculus, preserved in the treatise _De Illustribus Grammaticis_:-- + + "Quem tres calculi, et selibra farris, + Racemi duo, tegula sub una, + Ad summam prope nutriunt senectam(429)." + +The stream of Roman poetry appears to have suffered a temporary stagnation +during the period that elapsed from the destruction of Carthage, which +fell in 607, till the death of Sylla, in 674. Lucilius, with whose +writings we have been engaged, was the only poet who flourished in this +long interval. The satirical compositions which he introduced were not +very generally nor successfully imitated. The race of dramatists had +become almost extinct, and even the fondness for regular comedy and +tragedy had greatly diminished. This was a pause, (though for a shorter +period,) like that which was made in modern Italy, from the death of +Petrarch till the rise of its bright constellation of poets, at the end of +the 15th century. But the taste for literature which had been excited, and +the luminous events which occurred, prevented either nation from being +again enveloped in darkness. The ancient Romans could not be electrified +by the fall of Carthage as their descendants were by the capture of +Constantinople. But even the total subjugation of Greece, and extended +dominion in Asia, were slower, at least in their influence on the efforts +of poetry, than might have been anticipated from what was experienced +immediately after the conquest of Magna Graecia. Any retrograde movement, +however, was prevented by the more close and frequent intercourse which +was opened with Greece. There, Athens and Rhodes were the chief allies of +the Roman republic. These states had renounced their freedom, for the +security which flattery and subservience obtained for them; but while they +ceased to be considerable in power, they still continued pre eminent in +learning. A number of military officers and civil functionaries, whom +their respective employments carried to Greece--a number of citizens, whom +commercial speculations attracted to its towns, became acquainted with and +cherished Grecian literature. That contempt which the ancient and severe +republicans had affected for its charms, gave place to the warmest +enthusiasm. The Roman youth were instructed by Greeks, or by Romans who +had studied in Greece. A literary tour in that country was regarded as +forming an essential part in the education of a young patrician. Rhodes, +Mitylene, and Athens, were chiefly resorted to, as the purest fountains +from which the inspiring draughts of literature could be imbibed. This +constant intercourse led to a knowledge of the philosophy and finest +classical productions of Greece. It was thus that Lucretius was enabled to +embody in Roman verse the whole Epicurean system, and Catullus to imitate +or translate the lighter amatory and epigrammatic compositions of the +Greeks. Both these poets flourished during the period on which we are now +entering, and which extended from the death of Sylla to the accession of +Augustus. The former of them, + + + + + + TITUS LUCRETIUS CARUS, + + +was the most remarkable of the Roman writers, as he united the precision +of the philosopher to the fire and fancy of the poet; and, while he seems +to have had no perfect model among the Greeks, has left a production +unrivalled, (perhaps not to be rivalled,) by any of the same kind in later +ages. + +Of the life of Lucretius very little is known: He lived at a period +abounding with great political actors, and full of portentous events--a +period when every bosom was agitated with terror or hope, and when it must +have been the chief study of a prudent man, especially if a votary of +philosophy and the Muses, to hide himself as much as possible amid the +shades. The year of his birth is uncertain. According to the chronicle of +Eusebius, he was born in 658, being thus nine years younger than Cicero, +and two or three younger than Caesar. To judge from his style, he might be +supposed older than either: but this, as appears from the example of +Sallust, is no certain test, as his archaisms may have arisen from the +imitation of ancient writers; and we know that he was a fond admirer of +Ennius. + +A taste for Greek philosophy had been excited at Rome for a considerable +time before this era, and Lucretius was sent, with other young Romans of +rank, to study at Athens. The different schools of philosophy in that city +seem, about this period, to have been frequented according as they +received a temporary fashion from the comparative abilities of the +professors who presided in them. Cicero, for example, who had attended the +Epicurean school at Athens, and became himself an Academic, intrusted his +son to the care of Cratippus, a peripatetic philosopher. After the death +of its great founder, the school of Epicurus had for some time declined in +Greece: but at the period when Lucretius was sent to Athens, it had again +revived under the patronage of L. Memmius, whose son was a fellow-student +of Lucretius; as were also Cicero, his brother Quintus, Cassius, and +Pomponius Atticus. At the time when frequented by these illustrious +youths, the Gardens of Epicurus were superintended by Zeno and Phaedrus, +both of whom, but particularly the latter, have been honoured with the +panegyric of Cicero. "We formerly, when we were boys," says he, in a +letter to Caius Memmius, "knew him as a profound philosopher, and we still +recollect him as a kind and worthy man, ever solicitous for our +improvement(430)." + +One of the dearest, perhaps the dearest friend of Lucretius, was this +Memmius, who had been his school-fellow, and whom, it is supposed, he +accompanied to Bithynia, when appointed to the government of that +province(431). The poem _De Rerum Natura_, if not undertaken at the +request of Memmius, was doubtless much encouraged by him; and Lucretius, +in a dedication expressed in terms of manly and elegant courtesy, very +different from the servile adulation of some of his great successors, +tells him, that the much desired pleasure of his friendship, was what +enabled him to endure any toil or vigils-- + + "Sed tua me virtus tamen, et sperata voluptas + Suavis amicitiae, quemvis ecferre laborem + Suadet, et inducit nocteis vigilare serenas." + +The life of the poet was short, but happily was sufficiently prolonged to +enable him to complete his poem, though, perhaps, not to give some +portions of it their last polish. According to Eusebius, he died in the +44th year of his age, by his own hands, in a paroxysm of insanity, +produced by a philtre, which Lucilia, his wife or mistress, had given him, +with no design of depriving him of life or reason, but to renew or +increase his passion. Others suppose that his mental alienation proceeded +from melancholy, on account of the calamities of his country, and the +exile of Memmius,--circumstances which were calculated deeply to affect his +mind(432). There seems no reason to doubt the melancholy fact, that he +perished by his own hand. + +The poem of Lucretius, _De Rerum Natura_, which he composed during the +lucid intervals of his malady, is, as the name imports, philosophic and +didactic, in the strictest acceptation of these terms. Poetry, I think, +may chiefly be considered as occupied in three ways.--1. As describing the +passions of men, with the circumstances which give birth to them.--2. As +painting images or scenery.--3. As communicating truth. Of these classes of +poetry, the most interesting is the first, in which we follow the hero +placed at short intervals in different situations, calculated to excite +various sympathies in our heart, while our imagination is at the same time +amused or astonished by the singularity of the incidents which such +situations produce. Those poems, therefore, are the most attractive, in +which, as in the _Odyssey_ and _Orlando_, knights or warriors plough +unknown seas, and wander in strange lands--where, at every new horizon +which opens, we look for countries inhabited by giants, or monsters, or +wizards of supernatural powers--where, whether sailing on the deep, or +anchoring on the shore, the hero dreads-- + + "Lest Gorgons, rising from infernal lakes, + With horrors armed, and curls of hissing snakes, + Should fix him, stiffened at the monstrous sight, + A stony image in eternal night." + +These are the themes of surest and most powerful effect: It is by these +that we are most truely moved; and it is the choice of such subjects, if +ably conducted, which chiefly stamps the poet-- + + "Humanae Dominum mentis, cordisque Tyrannum." + +So strongly, indeed, and so universally, has this been felt, that in the +second species of poetry, the _Descriptive_, our sympathy must be +occasionally awakened by the actions or passions of human beings; and, to +ensure success, the poet must describe the effects of the appearance of +nature on our sensations. "In the poem of the _Shipwreck_," says Lord +Byron, "is it the storm or the ship which most interests?--Both much, +undoubtedly; but without the vessel, what should we care for the +tempest(433)?" Virgil had early felt, that without Lycoris, the _gelidi +fontes_ and _mollia prata_ would seem less refreshing and less smooth--he +had found that the grass and the groves withered at the departure, but +revived at the return of Phyllis. The most soothing and picturesque of the +incidents of a woodland landscape,--the blue smoke curling upwards from a +cottage concealed by the trees, derives half its softening charm, by +reminding us-- + + "That in the same did wonne some living wight." + +Of all the three species above enumerated, _Philosophical_ poetry, which +occupies the mind with minute portions of external nature, is the least +attractive. Mankind will always prefer books which move to those which +instruct--_ennui_ being more burdensome than ignorance. In philosophic +poetry, our imagination cannot be gratified by the desert isles, the +boundless floods, or entangled forests, with all the marvels they conceal, +which rise in such rapid and rich succession in the fascinating narrative +of the sea tost Ulysses(434); nor can we there have our curiosity roused, +and our emotions excited, by such lines as those with which Ariosto +awakens the attention of his readers-- + + "Non furo iti duo miglia, che sonare + Odon la selva, che gli cinge intorno, + Con tal rumor et strepito che pare + Che tremi la foresta d'ogni intorno." + +Besides, as has been observed by Montesquieu, reason is sufficiently +chained, though we fetter her not with rhyme; and, on the other hand, +poetry loses much of its freedom and lightness, if clogged with the bonds +of reason. The great object of poetry (according to a trite remark,) is to +afford pleasure; but philosophic poetry affords less pleasure than epic, +descriptive, or dramatic. The versifier of philosophic subjects is in +danger of producing a work neither interesting enough for the admirers of +sentiment and imagination, nor sufficiently profound for philosophers. He +will sometimes soar into regions where many of his readers are unable to +follow him, and, at other times, he will lose the suffrage of a few, by +interweaving fictions amid the severe and simple truth. + +It is the business of the philosopher to analyze the objects of nature. He +must pay least attention to those which chiefly affect the sense and +imagination, while he minutely considers others, which, though less +striking, are more useful for classification, and the chief purposes he +has in view. The poet, on the other hand, avoiding dry and abstract +definitions, rather combines than analyzes, and dwells more on the +sensible phaenomena of nature, than her mysterious and scientific workings. +Thus, what the botanist considers is the number of _stamina_, and their +situation in a flower, while the Muse describes only its colours, and the +influence of its odours-- + + "She loves the rose, by rivers loves to dream, + Nor heeds why blooms the rose, why flows the stream-- + She loves its colours, though she may not know, + Why sun-born Iris paints the showery bow." + +But though philosophic poetry be, of all others, the most unfavourable for +the exertion of poetical genius, its degree of beauty and interest will, +in a great measure, depend on what parts of his subject the poet selects, +and on the extent and number of digressions of which it admits. It is +evident, that the philosophic poet should pass over as lightly as may be, +all dry and recondite doctrines, and enlarge on the topics most +susceptible of poetical ornament. "Le Tableau de la Nature Physique," says +Voltaire, "est lui seule d'une richesse, d'une variete, d'une etendue a +occuper des siecles d'etude; mais tous les details ne sont pas favorable a +la poesie. On n' exige pas du poete les meditations du physicien et les +calculs de l'astronomie: c'est a l'observateur a determiner l'attraction +et les mouvemens des corps celestes; c'est au poete a peindre leur +balancement, leur harmonie, et leurs immuables revolutions. L'un +distinguera les classes nombreuses d'etres organises qui peuplent les +elemens divers; l'autre decririra d'un trait hardi, lumineux et rapide +cette echelle immense et continue, ou les limites des regnes se +confondent. Que le confident de la nature develope le prodige de la greffe +des arbres--c'est assez pour Virgile de l'exprimer en deux beaux vers-- + + "Exiit ad coelum ramis felicibus arbos, + Miraturque novas frondes et non sua poma(435)." + +With regard, again, to digressions, Racine, (le Fils) in speaking of +didactic poetry, says there are two sorts of episodes which may be +introduced into it, and which he terms episodes of narrative and of style, +(_De Recit et de Style_,) meaning by the former the recital of the +adventures of individuals, and by the latter, general reflections +suggested by the subject(436). Without some embellishment of this +description, most philosophic poems will correspond to Quintilian's +account of the poem of Aratus on astronomy, "Nulla varietas, nullus +affectus, nulla persona, nulla cujusquam, est oratio(437)." From what has +already been said concerning the extreme interest excited by the +introduction of sentient beings, with all their perils around, and all +their passions within them, it follows, that where the subject admits, +episodes of the first class will best serve the purposes of poetry, and if +the poet choose such dry and abstruse topics as cosmogony, or the +generation of the world, he ought to follow the example of Silenus(438), +by embellishing his subject with tales of Hylas, and Philomela, and +Scylla, and the gardens of the Hesperides--the themes which induce us to +listen to the lay of the poet-- + + "Cogere donec oves stabulis, numerumque referre, + Jussit, et invito processit Vesper Olympo." + +It is, however, with the second class of episodes--with declamations +against luxury and vice--reflections on the beauty of virtue--and the +delights of rural retirement, that Lucretius hath chiefly gemmed his +verses. + +The poem of Lucretius contains a full exposition of the theological, +physical, and moral system of Epicurus. It has been remarked by an able +writer, "that all the religious systems of the ancient Pagan world were +naturally perishable, from the quantity of false opinions, and vicious +habits, and ceremonies that were attached to them." He observes even of +the barbarous Anglo Saxons, that, "as the nation advanced in its active +intellect, it began to be dissatisfied with its mythology. Many +indications exist of this spreading alienation, which prepared the +northern mind for the reception of the nobler truths of +Christianity(439)." A secret incredulity of this sort seems to have been +long nourished in Greece, and appears to have been imported into Rome with +its philosophy and literature. The more pure and simple religion of early +Rome was quickly corrupted, and the multitude of ideal and heterogeneous +beings which superstition introduced into the Roman worship led to its +total rejection(440). This infidelity is very obvious in the writings of +Ennius, who translated Euhemerus' work on the Deification of Human +Spirits, while Plautus dramatized the vices of the father of the gods and +tutelary deity of Rome. The doctrine of materialism was introduced at Rome +during the age of Scipio and Laelius(441); and perhaps no stronger proof of +its rapid progress and prevalence can be given, than that Caesar, though a +priest, and ultimately Pontifex Maximus, boldly proclaimed in the senate, +that death is the end of all things, and that beyond it there is neither +hope nor joy. This state of the public mind was calculated to give a +fashion to the system of Epicurus(442). According to this distinguished +philosopher, the chief good of man is pleasure, of which the elements +consist, in having a body free from pain, and a mind tranquil and exempt +from perturbation. Of this tranquility there are, according to Epicurus, +as expounded by Lucretius, two chief enemies, superstition, or slavish +fear of the gods, and the dread of death(443). In order to oppose these +two foes to happiness, he endeavours, in the first place, to shew that the +world was formed by a fortuitous concourse of atoms, and that the gods, +who, according to the popular theology, were constantly interposing, take +no concern whatever in human affairs. We do injustice to Epicurus when we +estimate his tenets by the refined and exalted ideas of a philosophy +purified by faith, without considering the superstitious and polluted +notions prevalent in his time. "The idea of Epicurus," (as is observed by +Dr Drake,) "that it is the nature of gods to enjoy an immortality in the +bosom of perpetual peace, infinitely remote from all relation to this +globe, free from care, from sorrow, and from pain, supremely happy in +themselves, and neither rejoicing in the pleasures, nor concerned for the +evils of humanity--though perfectly void of any rational foundation, yet +possesses much moral charm when compared with the popular religions of +Greece and Rome. The felicity of their deities consisted in the vilest +debauchery; nor was there a crime, however deep its dye, that had not been +committed and gloried in by some one of their numerous objects of +worship(444)." Never, also, could the doctrine, that the gods take no +concern in human affairs, appear more plausible than in the age of +Lucretius, when the destiny of man seemed to be the sport of the caprice +of such a monster as Sylla. + +With respect to the other great leading tenet of Lucretius and his +master--the mortality of the soul, still greater injustice is done to the +philosopher and poet. It is affirmed, and justly, by a great Apostle, that +life and immortality have been brought to light by the gospel; and yet an +author who lived before this dawn is reviled because he asserts, that the +natural arguments for the immortality of the soul, afforded by the +analogies of nature, or principle of moral retribution, are weak and +inconclusive! In fact, however, it is not by the truth of the system or +general philosophical views in a poem, (for which no one consults it,) +that its value is to be estimated; since a poetical work may be highly +moral on account of its details, even when its systematic scope is +erroneous or apparently dangerous. Notwithstanding passages which seem to +echo Spinosism, and almost to justify crime(445), the _Essay on Man_ is +rightly considered as the most moral production of our most moral poet. In +like manner, where shall we find exhortations more eloquent than those of +Lucretius, against ambition and cruelty, and luxury and lust,--against all +the dishonest pleasures of the body, and all the turbulent passions of the +mind. + +In versifying the philosophical system of Epicurus, Lucretius appears to +have taken Empedocles as his model. All the old Grecian bards of whom we +have any account prior to Homer, as Orpheus, Linus, and Musaeus, are said +to have written poems on the driest and most difficult philosophical +questions, particularly the generation of the world. The ancients +evidently considered philosophical poetry as of the highest kind, and its +themes are invariably placed in the mouths of their divinest +songsters(446). Whether Lucretius may have been indebted to any such +ancient poems, still extant in his age, or to the subsequent productions +of Palaephatus the Athenian, Antiochus, or Eratosthenes, who, as Suidas +informs us, wrote poems on the structure of the world, it is impossible +now to determine; but he seems to have considerably availed himself of the +work of Empedocles. The poem of that sumptuous, accomplished, and arrogant +philosopher, entitled {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER PHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~}, and inscribed to his pupil Pausanias, +was chiefly illustrative of the Pythagorean philosophy, in which he had +been initiated. Aristotle speaks on the subject of the merits of +Empedocles in a manner which does not seem to be perfectly +consistent(447); but we know that his poem was sufficiently celebrated to +be publicly recited at the Olympic games, along with the works of Homer. +Only a few fragments of his writings remain; from which, perhaps, it would +be as unfair to judge him, as to estimate Lucretius by extracts from the +physical portions of his poem. Those who have collected the detached +fragments of his production(448), think that it had been divided into +three books; the first treating of the elements and universe,--the second +of animals and man,--the third of the soul, as also of the nature and +worship of the gods. His philosophical system was different from that of +Lucretius; but he had discussed almost all the subjects on which the Roman +bard afterwards expatiated. In particular, Lucretius appears to have +derived from his predecessor his notion of the original generation of man +from the teeming earth,--the production, at the beginning of the world, of +a variety of defective monsters, which were not allowed to multiply their +kinds,--the distribution of animals according to the prevalence of one or +other of the four elements over the rest in their composition,--the +vicissitudes of matter between life and inanimate substance,--and the +leading doctrine, "mortem nihil ad nos pertinere," because absolute +insensibility is the consequence of dissolution(449). + +If Lucretius has in any degree benefited by the works of Empedocles, he +has in return been most lavish and eloquent in his commendations. One of +the most delightful features in the character of the Latin poet is, the +glow of admiration with which he writes of his illustrious predecessors. +His eulogy of the Sicilian philosopher, which he has so happily combined +with that of the country which gave him birth, affords a beautiful example +of his manner of infusing into everything a poetic sweetness, _Musaeo +contingens cuncta lepore_,-- + + "Quorum Agragantinus cum primis Empedocles est: + Insula quem Triquetris terrarum gessit in oris: + Quam fluitans circum magnis anfractibus, aequor + Ionium glaucis aspergit virus ab undis, + Angustoque fretu rapidum, mare dividit undis + AEoliae terrarum oras a finibus ejus: + Hic est vasta Charybdis, et hic AEtnaea minantur + Murmura, flammarum rursum se conligere iras, + Faucibus eruptos iterum ut vis evomat igneis, + Ad coelumque ferat flammaei fulgura rursum. + Quae, quum magna modis multis miranda videtur + Gentibus humanis regio, visundaque fertur, + Rebus opima bonis, multa munita virum vi; + Nil tamen hoc habuisse viro praeclarius in se, + Nec sanctum magis, et mirum, carumque, videtur. + Carmina quin etiam divini pectoris ejus + Vociferantur, et exponunt praeclara reperta; + Ut vix humana videatur stirpe creatus."--Lib. I. 717. + +It was formerly mentioned, that Ennius had translated into Latin verse the +Greek poem of Epicharmus, which, from the fragments preserved, appears to +have contained many speculations with regard to the productive elements of +which the world is composed, as also concerning the preservative powers of +nature. To the works of Ennius our poet seems to have been indebted, +partly as a model for enriching the still scanty Latin language with new +terms, and partly as a treasury or storehouse of words already provided. +Him, too, he celebrates with the most ardent and unfeigned enthusiasm:-- + + "Ennius ut noster cecinit, qui primus amaeno + Detulit ex Helicone perenni fronde coronam, + Per genteis Italas hominum quae clara clueret. + Et si praeterea tamen esse Acherusia templa + Ennius aeternis exponit versibus edens; + Quo neque permanent animae, neque corpora nostra; + Sed quaedam simulacra modis pallentia miris; + Unde, sibi exortam, semper florentis Homeri + Commemorat speciem, lacrumas et fundere salsas + Coepisse, et RERUM NATURAM expandere dictis."--I. 122. + +These writers, Empedocles and Ennius, were probably Lucretius' chief +guides; and though the most original of the Latin poets, many of his +finest passages may be traced to the Greeks. The beautiful lamentation,-- + + "Nam jam non domus accipiet te laeta, neque uxor + Optuma, nec dulceis occurrent oscula nati + Praeripere, et tacita pectus dulcedine tangunt," ---- + +is said to be translated from a dirge chaunted at Athenian funerals; and +the passage where he represents the feigned tortures of hell as but the +workings of a guilty and unquiet spirit, is versified from an oration of +AEschines against Timarchus. + +In the first and second books, Lucretius chiefly expounds the cosmogony, +or physical part of his system--a system which had been originally founded +by Leucippus, a philosopher of the Eleatic sect, and, from his time, had +been successively improved by Democritus and Epicurus. He establishes in +these books his two great principles,--that nothing can be made from +nothing, and that nothing can ever be annihilated or return to nothing; +and, that there is in the universe a void or space, in which atoms +interact. These atoms he believes to be the original component parts of +all matter, as well as of animal life; and the arrangement of such +corpuscles occasions, according to him, the whole difference in +substances. + +It cannot be denied, that in these two books particularly, (but the +observation is in some degree applicable to the whole poem,) there are +many barren tracts--many physiological, meteorological, and geological +details--which are at once too incorrect for the philosophical, and too dry +and abstract for the poetical reader. It is wonderful, however, how +Lucretius contrives, by the beauty of his images, to give a picturesque +colouring and illustration to the most unpromising topics. Near the +beginning of his poem, for example, in attempting to prove a very abstract +proposition, he says,-- + + "Praeterea, quur vere rosam, frumenta calore, + Viteis auctumno fondi suadente videmus." + +Thus, by the introduction of the rose and vines, bestowing a fragrance and +freshness, and covering, as it were, with verdure, the thorns and briars +of abstract discussion. In like manner, when contending that nothing +utterly perishes, but merely assumes another form, what a lovely rural +landscape does he present to the imagination! + + ---- "Pereunt imbres, ubi eos pater AEther + In gremium matris Terraei praecipitavit: + At nitidae surgunt fruges, ramique virescunt + Arboribus; crescunt ipsae, foetuque gravantur. + Hinc alitur porro nostrum genus atque ferarum; + Hinc laetas urbeis puerum florere videmus, + Frondiferasque novis avibus canere undique sylvas; + Hinc, fessae pecudes, pingues per pabula laeta, + Corpora deponunt, et candens lacteus humor + Uberibus manat distentis; hinc nova proles + Artubus infirmis teneras lasciva per herbas + Ludit, lacte mero menteis percussa novellas." + +"Whoever," says Warton, "imagines, with Tully, that Lucretius had not a +great genius(450), is desired to cast his eye on two pictures he has given +us at the beginning of his poem,--the first, of Venus with her lover Mars, +beautiful to the last degree, and more glowing than any picture painted by +Titian; the second, of that terrible and gigantic figure the Demon of +Superstition, worthy the energetic pencil of Michael Angelo. I am sure +there is no piece by the hand of Guido, or the Carracci, that exceeds the +following group of allegorical personages: + + "It Ver, et Venus; et, veris praenuncius, ante + Pennatus graditur Zephyrus, vestigia propter, + Flora quibus Mater, praespargens ante viaei, + Cuncta coloribus egregiis et odoribus opplet." + +In spite, however, of the powers of Lucretius, it was impossible, from the +very nature of his subject, but that some portions would prove altogether +unsusceptible of poetical embellishment. Yet it may be doubted, whether +these intractable passages, by the charm of contrast, do not add, like +deserts to Oases in their bosom, an additional deliciousness in proportion +to their own sterility. The lovely group above-mentioned by Warton, are +clothed with additional beauty and enchantment, from starting, as it were, +like Armida and her Nymphs, from the mossy rind of a rugged tree. The +philosophical analysis, too, employed by Lucretius, impresses the mind +with the conviction, that the poet is a profound thinker, and adds great +force to his moral reflections. Above all, his fearlessness, if I may say +so, produces this powerful effect. Dryden, in a well-known passage, where +he has most happily characterized the general manner of Lucretius, +observes, "If I am not mistaken, the distinguishing character of +Lucretius--I mean, of his soul and genius--is a certain kind of noble pride, +and positive assertion of his own opinions. He is everywhere confident of +his own reason, and assuming an absolute command, not only over his vulgar +readers, but even his patron, Memmius.... This is that particular +dictatorship which is exercised by Lucretius; who, though often in the +wrong, yet seems to deal _bona fide_ with his reader, and tells him +nothing but what he thinks.... He seems to disdain all manner of replies; +and is so confident of his cause, that he is before-hand with his +antagonists, urging for them whatever he imagined they could say, and +leaving them, as he supposes, without an objection for the future. All +this, too, with so much scorn and indignation, as if he were assured of +the triumph, and need only enter into the lists." Hence while, in other +writers, the eulogy of virtue seems in some sort to partake of the nature +of a sermon--to be a conventional language, and words of course--we listen +to Lucretius as to one who will fearlessly speak out; who had shut his +ears to the murmurs of Acheron: and who, if he eulogizes Virtue, extols +her because her charms are real. How exquisite, for example, and, at the +same time, how powerful and convincing, his delineation of the utter +worthlessness of vanity and pomp, contrasted with the pure and perfect +delights of simple nature! + + "Si non aurea sunt juvenum simulacra per aedes, + Lampadas igniferas manibus retinentia dextris, + Lumina nocturnis epulis ut suppeditentur, + Nec domus argento fulget auroque renidet, + Nec citharae reboant laqueata aurataque tecta; + Quum tamen inter se, prostrati in gramine molli, + Propter aquae rivum, sub ramis arboris altae, + Non magnis opibus jucunde corpora curant: + Praesertim, quum tempestas arridet, et anni + Tempora conspargunt viridantes floribus herbas: + Nec calidae citius decedunt corpore febres, + Textilibus si in picturis, ostroque rubenti, + Jaceris, quam si plebeia in veste cubandum est."--II. 24. + +The word _Praesertim_, in this beautiful passage, affords an illustration +of what has been remarked above, that the kind of philosophical analysis +employed by Lucretius gives great force to his moral reflections. He +seems, as it were, to be weighing his words; and, which is the only solid +foundation of just confidence, to be cautious of asserting anything which +experience would not fully confirm. One thing very remarkable in this +great poet is, the admirable clearness and closeness of his reasoning. He +repeatedly values himself not a little on the circumstance, that, with an +intractable subject, and a language not yet accommodated to philosophical +discussions, and scanty in terms of physical as well as metaphysical +science, he was able to give so much clearness to his argument(451); which +object it is generally admitted he has accomplished, with little or no +sacrifice of pure Latinity(452). As a proof at once of the perspicuity and +closeness of his reasoning, and the fertility of his mind in inventing +arguments, there might be given his long discussion, in the third book, on +the materiality of the human soul, and its incapability of surviving the +ruin of the corporeal frame. Never were the arguments for materialism +marshalled with such skill--never were the diseases of the mind, and the +decay of memory and understanding, so pathetically urged, so eloquently +expressed. The following quotation contains a specimen of the lucid and +logical reasoning of this philosophic poet; and the two first verses, +perhaps, after all that has been written, comprehend the whole that is +metaphysically or physiologically known upon the subject: + + "Praeterea, gigni pariter cum corpore, et una + Crescere sentimus, pariterque senescere, mentem. + Nam, velut infirmo pueri, teneroque, vagantur + Corpore, sic animi sequitur sententia tenuis; + Inde, ubi robustis adolevit viribus aetas, + Consilium quoque majus, et auctior est animi vis. + Post, ubi jam validis quassatum est viribus aevi + Corpus, et obtusis ceciderunt viribus artus, + Claudicat ingenium, delirat linguaque mensque; + Omnia deficiunt, atque uno tempore desunt: + Ergo, dissolvi quoque convenit omnem animaei + Naturam, ceu fumus in altas aeris auras; + Quandoquidem gigni pariter, pariterque videmus + Crescere; et, ut docui, simul, aevo fessa, fatisci."--III. 446. + +Lucretius having, by many arguments, endeavoured to establish the +mortality of the soul, proceeds to exhort against a dread of death. The +fear of that "last tremendous blow," appears to have harassed, and +sometimes overwhelmed, the minds of the Romans(453). To them, life +presented a scene of high duties and honourable labours; and they +contemplated, in a long futurity, the distant completion of their serious +and lofty aims. They were not yet habituated to regard life as a banquet +or recreation, from which they were cheerfully to rise, in due time, sated +with the feast prepared for them; nor had they been accustomed to +associate death with those softening ideas of indolence and slumber, with +which it was the design of Lucretius to connect it. He accordingly +represents it as a privation of all sense,--as undisturbed by tumult or +terror, by grief or pain,--as a tranquil sleep, and an everlasting repose. +How sublime is the following passage, in which, to illustrate his +argument, that the long night of the grave can be no more painful than the +eternity before our birth, he introduces the war with Carthage; and what a +picture does it convey of the energy and might of the combatants! + + "Nil igitur Mors est, ad nos neque pertinet hilum, + Quandoquidem natura animi mortalis habetur. + Et, velut ante acto nil tempore sensimus aegri, + Ad confligundum venientibus undique Poenis; + Omnia quum, belli trepido concussa tumultu, + Horrida contremuere sub altis aetheris auris: + In dubioque fuere, utrorum ad regna cadundum + Omnibus humanis esset, terraque, marique. + Sic, ubi non erimus, quum corporis atque animaei + Discidium fuerit, quibus e sumus uniter apti; + Scilicet haud nobis quidquam, qui non erimus tum, + Accidere omnino poterit, sensumque movere: + Non si terra mari miscebitur, et mare coelo."--III, 842. + +From this admirable passage till the close of the third book there is an +union of philosophy, of majesty, and pathos, which hardly ever has been +equalled. The incapacity of the highest power and wisdom, as exhibited in +so many instances, to exempt from the common lot of man, the farewell +which we must bid to the sweetest domestic enjoyments, and the magnificent +_prosopopoeia_ of Nature to her children, rebuking their regrets, and the +injustice of their complaints, are altogether exceedingly solemn, and +affecting, and sublime. + +The two leading tenets of Epicurus concerning the formation of the world +and the mortality of the soul, are established by Lucretius in the first +three books. A great proportion of the fourth book may be considered as +episodical. Having explained the nature of primordial atoms, and of the +soul, which is formed from the finest of them, he announces, that there +are certain images (_rerum simulacra_,) or effluvia, which are constantly +thrown off from the surface of whatever exists. On this hypothesis he +accounts for all our external senses; and he applies it also to the theory +of dreams, in which whatever images have amused the senses during day most +readily recur. Mankind being prone to love, of all the phantoms which rush +on our imagination during night, none return so frequently as the forms of +the fair. This leads Lucretius to enlarge on the mischievous effects of +illicit love; and nothing can be finer than the various moral +considerations which he enforces, to warn us against the snares of guilty +passion. It must, however, be confessed, that his description of what he +seems to consider as the physical evils and imperfect fruition of sensual +love, forms the most glowing picture ever presented of its delights. But +he has atoned for his violation of decorum, by a few beautiful lines on +connubial happiness at the conclusion of the book: + + "Nam facit ipsa suis interdum femina factis, + Morigerisque modis et mundo corpore culta, + Ut facile assuescat secum vir degere vitam. + Quod super est, consuetudo concinnat amorem; + Nam, leviter quamvis, quod crebro tunditur ictu, + Vincitur id longo spatio tamen, atque labascit: + Nonne vides, etiam guttas, in saxa cadenteis, + Humoris longo in spacio pertundere saxa?"--IV. 1273. + +The principal subject of the fifth book--a composition unrivalled in energy +and richness of language, in full and genuine sublimity--is the origin and +laws of the visible world, with those of its inhabitants. The poet +presents us with a grand picture of Chaos, and the most magnificent +account of the creation that ever flowed from human pen. In his +representation of primeval life and manners, he exhibits the discomfort of +this early stage of society by a single passage of most wild and powerful +imagery,--in which he describes a savage, in the early ages of the world, +when men were yet contending with beasts for possession of the earth, +flying through the woods, with loud shrieks, in a stormy night, from the +pursuit of some ravenous animal, which had invaded the cavern where he +sought a temporary shelter and repose: + + ---- "Saecla ferarum + Infestam miseris faciebant saepe quietem; + Ejecteique domo, fugiebant saxea tecta + Setigeri suis adventu, validique leonis; + Atque intempesta cedebant nocte, paventes, + Hospitibus saevis instrata cubilia fronde."--V. 980. + +One is naturally led to compare the whole of Lucretius' description of +primeval society, and the origin of man, with Ovid's _Four Ages of the +World_, which commence his _Metamorphoses_, and which, philosophically +considered, certainly exhibit the most wonderful of all metamorphoses. In +his sketch of the Golden Age, he has selected the favourable circumstances +alluded to by Lucretius--exemption from war and sea voyages, and +spontaneous production of fruits by the earth. There is also a beautiful +view of early life and manners in one of the elegies of Tibullus(454); and +Thomson, in his picture of what he calls the "prime of days," has combined +the descriptions of Ovid and the elegiac bard. Most of the poets, however, +who have painted the Golden Age, and Ovid in particular, have represented +mankind as growing more vicious and unhappy with advance of +time--Lucretius, more philosophically, as constantly improving. He has +fixed on connubial love as the first great softener of the human breast; +and neither Thomson nor Milton has described with more tenderness, truth, +and purity, the joys of domestic union. He follows the progressive +improvement of mankind occasioned by their subjection to the bonds of +civil society and government; and the book concludes with an account of +the origin of the fine arts, particularly music, in the course of which +many impressive descriptions occur, and many delicious scenes are +unfolded: + + "At liquidas avium voces imitarier ore + Ante fuit multo, quam laevia carmina cantu + Concelebrare homines possent, aureisque juvare. + Et zephyri, cava per calamorum, sibila primum + Agrestes docuere cavas inflare cicutas. + Inde minutatim dulces didicere querelas + Tibia quas fundit, digitis pulsata canentum, + Avia per nemora ac sylvas saltusque reperta, + Per loca pastorum deserta, atque otia dia."--V. 1378. + +In consequence of their ignorance and superstitions, the Roman people were +rendered perpetual slaves of the most idle and unfounded terrors. In order +to counteract these popular prejudices, and to heal the constant +disquietudes that accompanied them, Lucretius proceeds, in the sixth book, +to account for a variety of extraordinary phaenomena both in the heavens +and on the earth, which, at first view, seemed to deviate from the usual +laws of nature:-- + + "Sunt tempestates et fulmina clara canenda." + +Having discussed the various theories formed to account for electricity, +water-spouts, hurricanes, the rainbow, and volcanoes, he lastly considers +the origin of pestilential and endemic disorders. This introduces the +celebrated account of the plague, which ravaged Athens during the +Peloponnesian war, with which Lucretius concludes this book, and his +magnificent poem. "In this narrative," says a late translator of +Lucretius, "the true genius of poetry is perhaps more powerfully and +triumphantly exhibited than in any other poem that was ever written. +Lucretius has ventured upon one of the most uncouth and repressing +subjects to the muses that can possibly be brought forward--the history and +symptoms of a disease, and this disease accompanied with circumstances +naturally the most nauseating and indelicate. It was a subject altogether +new to numerical composition; and he had to strive with all the pedantry +of technical terms, and all the abstruseness of a science in which he does +not appear to have been professionally initiated. He strove, however, and +he conquered. In language the most captivating and nervous, and with ideas +the most precise and appropriate, he has given us the entire history of +this tremendous pestilence. There is not, perhaps, a symptom omitted, yet +there is not a verse with which the most scrupulous can be offended. The +description of the symptoms, and also the various circumstances of horror +and distress attending this dreadful scourge, have been derived from +Thucydides, who furnished the facts with great accuracy, having been +himself a spectator and a sufferer under this calamity. His narrative is +esteemed an elaborate and complete performance; and to the faithful yet +elegant detail of the Greek historian, the Roman bard has added all that +was necessary to convert the description into poetry." + +In the whole history of Roman taste and criticism, nothing appears to us +so extraordinary as the slight mention that is made of Lucretius by +succeeding Latin authors; and, when mentioned, the coldness with which he +is spoken of by all Roman critics and poets, with the exception of Ovid. +Perhaps the spirit of free-thinking which pervaded his writings, rendered +it unsuitable or unsafe to extol even his poetical talents. There was a +time, when, in this country, it was thought scarcely decorous or becoming +to express high admiration of the genius of Rousseau or Voltaire. + +The doctrines of Lucretius, particularly that which impugns the +superintending care of Providence, were first formally opposed by the +Stoic Manilius in his Astronomic poem. In modern times, his whole +philosophical system has been refuted in the long and elaborate poem of +the Cardinal Polignac, entitled, _Anti-Lucretius, sive de Deo et Natura_. +This enormous work, though incomplete, consists of nine books, of about +1300 lines each, and the whole is addressed to Quintius, an atheist, who +corresponds to the Lorenzo of the _Night Thoughts_. Descartes is the +Epicurus of the poem, and the subject of many heavy panegyrics. In the +philosophical part of his subject, the Cardinal has sometimes refuted, at +too great length, propositions which are manifestly absurd--at others, he +has impugned demonstrated truths--and the moral system of Lucretius he +throughout has grossly misunderstood. But he has rendered ample justice to +his poetical merit; and, in giving a compendium of the subject of his +great antagonist's poem, he has caught some share of the poetical spirit +with which his predecessor was inspired:-- + + "Hic agitare velit Cytheriam inglorius artem: + Hic myrtum floresque legat, quos tinxit Adonis + Sanguine, dilectus Veneri puer; aut Heliconem, + Et colles Baccho, partim, Phoeboque sacratos + Incolat. Hic, placidi latebris in mollibus antri, + Silenum recubantem, et amico nectare venas + Inflatum stupeat titubanti voce canentem; + Et juvenum caecos ignes, et vulnera dicat, + Et vacuae, pulsis terroribus, otia vitae, + Foecundosque greges, et amaeni gaudia ruris: + Haec et plura canens, avide bibat ore diserto + Pegaseos latices; et nomen grande Poetae, + Non Sapientis, amet. Lauro insignire poetam + Quis dubitet? Primus viridanteis ipse coronas + Imponam capiti, et meritas pro carmine laudes + Ante alios dicam." ----(455) + +Entertaining this just admiration of his opponent, the Cardinal has been +studious, while refuting his principles, to imitate as closely as possible +the poetic style of Lucretius; and, accordingly, we find many noble and +beautiful passages interspersed amid the dry discussions of the +_Anti-Lucretius_. In the first book, there is an elegant comparison, +something like that by Wolsey in _Henry VIII._, of a man who had wantoned +in the sunshine of prosperity, and was unprepared for the storms of +adversity, to the tender buds of the fruit-tree blighted by the +north-wind. The whole poem, indeed, is full of many beautiful and +appropriate similes. I have not room to transcribe them, but may refer the +reader to those in the first book, of a sick man turning to every side for +rest, to a traveller following an _ignis fatuus_; in the second, motes +dancing in the sun-beam to the atoms of Epicurus floating in the immensity +of space; in the third, the whole philosophy of Epicurus to the infinite +variety of splendid but fallacious appearances produced by the shifting of +scenery in our theatres, (line 90,) and the identity of matter amid the +various shapes it assumes, to the transformations of _Proteus_. The fourth +book commences with a beautiful image of a traveller on a steep, looking +back on his journey; immediately followed by a fine picture of the +unhallowed triumph of Epicurus, and Religion weeping during the festival +of youths to his honour. In the same book, there is a noble description of +the river Anio, (line 1459,) and a comparison of the rising of sap in +trees during spring to a fountain playing and falling back on itself +(780-845). We have in the fifth book a beautiful argument, that the soul +is not to be thought material, because affected by the body, illustrated +by musical instruments (745). In the sixth book there occurs a charming +description of the sensitive plant; and, finally, of a bird singing to his +mate, to solace her while brooding over her young:-- + + "Haud secus in sylvis, ac frondes inter opacas, + Ingenitum carmen modulatur musicus ales," &c. + +Almost all modern didactic poems, whether treating of theology or physics, +are composed in obvious imitation of the style and manner of Lucretius. +The poem of Aonius Palearius, _De Animi Immortalitate_, though written in +contradiction to the system of Lucretius, concerning the mortality of the +soul, is almost a _cento_ made up from lines or half lines of the Roman +bard; and the same may be said of that extensive class of Latin poems, in +which the French Jesuits of the seventeenth century have illustrated the +various phaenomena of nature(456). + +Others have attempted to explain the philosophy of Newton in Latin verse; +but the Newtonian system is better calculated to be demonstrated than +sung-- + + "Ornari res ipsa negat--contenta doceri." + +It is a philosophy founded on the most sublime calculations; and it is in +other lines and numbers than those of poetry, that the book of nature must +now be written. If we attempt to express arithmetical or algebraical +figures in verse, circumlocution is always required; more frequently they +cannot be expressed at all; and if they could, the lines would have no +advantage over prose: nay, would have considerable disadvantage, from +obscurity and prolixity. All this is fully confirmed by an examination of +the writings of those who have attempted to embellish the sublime system +of Newton with the charms of poetry. If we look, for example, into the +poem of Boscovich on Eclipses, or still more, into the work of Benedict +Stay, we shall see, notwithstanding the advantage they possessed of +writing in a language so flexible as the Latin, and so capable of +inversion, + + "The shifts and turns, + The expedients and inventions multiform, + To which the mind resorts in search of terms(457)." + +The latter of these writers employs 36 lines in expressing the law of +Kepler, "that the squares of the periodical times of the revolutions of +the planets, are as the cubes of their mean distances from the sun." These +lines, too, which are considered by Stay himself, and by Boscovich, his +annotator, as the triumph of the philosophic muse, are so obscure as to +need a long commentary. Indeed, the poems of both these eminent men +consist of a string of enigmas, whereas the principal and almost only +ornament of philosophy is perspicuity. After all, only what are called the +round numbers can be expressed in verse, and this is necessarily done in a +manner so obscure and perplexed as ever to need a prose explanation. + +With Lucretius and his subject it was totally the reverse. From the +incorrectness of his philosophical views, or rather those of his age, much +of his labour has been employed, so to speak, in embodying straws in +amber. Yet, with all its defects, this ancient philosophy, if it deserve +the name, had the advantage, that its indefinite nature rendered it highly +susceptible of an embellishment, which can never be bestowed on a more +precise and accurate system. Hence, perhaps, it may be safely foretold, +that the philosophical poem of Lucretius will remain unrivalled; and also, +that the prediction of Ovid concerning it will be verified-- + + "Carmina sublimis, tunc sunt peritura Lucreti + Exitio terras cum dabit una dies." + +The refutations and imitations of Lucretius, contained in modern didactic +poems, have led me away from what may be considered as my proper subject, +and I therefore return to those poets who were coeval with that author, +with whose works we have been so long occupied. Of these the most +distinguished was + + + + + + CAIUS VALERIUS CATULLUS, + + +who was nearly contemporary with Lucretius, having come into the world a +few years after him, and having survived him but a short period. + +In every part of our survey of Latin Literature, we have had occasion to +remark the imitative spirit of Roman poetry, and the constant analogy and +resemblance of all the productions of the Latian muse to some Greek +original. None of his poetical predecessors was more versed in Greek +literature than Catullus; and his extensive knowledge of its beauties +procured for him the appellation of _Doctus_(458). He translated many of +the shorter and more delicate pieces of the Greeks; an attempt which +hitherto had been thought impossible, though the broad humour of their +comedies, the vehement pathos of their tragedies, and the romantic +interest of the Odyssey, had stood the transformation. His stay in +Bithynia, though little advantageous to his fortune, rendered him better +acquainted than he might otherwise have been with the productions of +Greece, and he was therefore, in a great degree, indebted to this +expedition (on which he always appears to have looked back with +mortification and disappointment) for those felicitous turns of +expression, that grace, simplicity, and purity, which are the +characteristics of his poems, and of which hitherto Greece alone had +afforded models. Indeed, in all his verses, whether elegiac or heroic, we +perceive his imitation of the Greeks, and it must be admitted that he has +drawn from them his choicest stores. His Hellenisms are frequent--his +images, similes, metaphors, and addresses to himself, are all Greek; and +even in the versification of his odes we see visible traces of their +origin. Nevertheless, he was the founder of a new school of _Latin_ +poetry; and as he was the first who used such variety of measures, and +perhaps himself invented some(459), he was amply entitled to call the +poetical volume which he presented to Cornelius Nepos, _Lepidum Novum +Libellum_. The beautiful expressions, too, and idioms of the Greek +language, which he has so carefully selected, are woven with such art into +the texture of his composition, and so aptly figure the impassioned ideas +of his amorous muse, that they have all the fresh and untarnished hues of +originality. + +This elegant poet was born of respectable parents, in the territory of +Verona, but whether at the town so called, or on the peninsula of Sirmio, +which projects into the Lake Benacus, has been a subject of much +controversy. The former opinion has been maintained by Maffei and +Bayle(460), and the latter by Gyraldus(461), Schoell(462), Fuhrmann(463), +and most modern writers. + +The precise period, as well as place, of the birth of Catullus, is a topic +of debate and uncertainty. According to the Eusebian Chronicle, he was +born in 666, but, according to other authorities, in 667(464) or 668. In +consequence of an invitation from Manlius Torquatus, one of the noblest +patricians of the state, he proceeded in early youth to Rome, where he +appears to have kept but indifferent company, at least in point of moral +character. He impaired his fortune so much by extravagance, that he had no +one, as he complains, + + "Fractum qui veteris pedem grabati + In collo sibi collocare possit." + +This, however, must partly have been written in jest, as his finances were +always sufficient to allow him to keep up a delicious villa, on the +peninsula of Sirmio, and an expensive residence at Tibur. With a view of +improving his pecuniary circumstances, he adopted the usual Roman mode of +re-establishing a diminished fortune, and accompanied Caius Memmius, the +celebrated patron of Lucretius, to Bithynia, when he was appointed Praetor +of that province. His situation, however, was but little meliorated by +this expedition, and, in the course of it, he lost a beloved brother, who +was along with him, and whose death he has lamented in verses never +surpassed in delicacy or pathos. He came back to Rome with a shattered +constitution, and a lacerated heart. From the period of his return to +Italy till his decease, his time appears to have been chiefly occupied +with the prosecution of licentious amours, in the capital or among the +solitudes of Sirmio. The Eusebian Chronicle places his death in 696, and +some writers fix it in 705. It is evident, however, that he must have +survived at least till 708, as Cicero, in his Letters, talks of his verses +against Caesar and Mamurra as newly written, and first seen by Caesar in +that year(465). The distracted and unhappy state of his country, and his +disgust at the treatment which he had received from Memmius, were perhaps +sufficient excuse for shunning political employments(466); but when we +consider his taste and genius, we cannot help regretting that he was +merely an idler, and a debauchee. He loved Clodia, (supposed to have been +the sister of the infamous Clodius,) a beautiful but shameless woman, whom +he has celebrated under the name of Lesbia(467), as comparing her to the +Lesbian Sappho, her prototype in total abandonment to guilty love. He also +numbered among his mistresses, Hypsithilla and Aufilena, ladies of Verona. +Among his friends, he ranked not only most men of pleasure and fashion in +Rome, but many of her eminent literary and political characters, as +Cornelius Nepos, Cicero, and Asinius Pollio. His enmities seem to have +been as numerous as his loves or friendships, and competition in poetry, +or rivalship in gallantry, appears always to have been a sufficient cause +for his dislike; and where an antipathy was once conceived, he was unable +to put any restraint on the expression of his hostile feelings. His poems +are chiefly employed in the indulgence and commemoration of these various +passions. They are now given to us without any order or attempt at +arrangement: They were distributed, indeed, by Petrus Crinitus, into three +classes, lyric, elegiac, and epigrammatic,--a division which has been +adopted in a few of the earlier editions; but there is no such separation +in the best MSS., nor is it probable that they were originally thus +classed by the author, as he calls his book _Libellum Singularem_; and +they cannot now be conveniently reduced under these heads, since several +poems, as the nuptials of Peleus and Thetis, are written in hexameter +measure. To others, which may be termed occasional poems expressing to his +friends a simple idea, or relating the occurrences of the day, in iambic +or phalangian verse, it would be difficult to assign any place in a +systematic arrangement. Under what class, for instance, could we bring the +poem giving a detail of his visit to the house of the courtezan, and the +conversation which passed there concerning Bithynia? The order, therefore, +in which the poems have been arbitrarily placed by the latest editors and +commentators, however immethodical, is the only one which can be followed, +in giving an account of the miscellaneous productions of Catullus. + +1. Is a modest and not inelegant dedication, by the poet, of the whole +volume, to Cornelius Nepos, whom he compliments on having written a +general history, in three books, an undertaking which had not previously +been attempted by any Roman-- + + ---- "Ausus es unus Italorum + Omne aevum tribus explicare chartis." + +2. _Ad Passerem Lesbiae_. This address of Catullus to the favourite sparrow +of his mistress, Lesbia, is well known, and, has been always celebrated as +a model of grace and elegance. Politian(468), Turnebus, and others, have +discovered in this little poem an allegorical signification, which idea +has been founded on a line in an epigram of Martial, _Ad Romam et +Dindymum_-- + + "Quae si tot fuerint, quot ille dixit, + _Donabo tibi passerem Catulli_(469)." + +That by the _passer Catulli_, however, Martial meant nothing more than an +agreeable little epigram, in the style of Catullus, which he would address +to Dindymus as his reward, is evident from another epigram, where it is +obviously used in this sense-- + + "Sic forsan tener ausus est Catullus + Magno mittere passerem Maroni(470)." + +and also from that in which he compares a favourite whelp of Publius to +the sparrow of Lesbia(471). That a real and _feathered_ sparrow was in the +view of Catullus, is also evinced by the following ode, in which he +laments the death of this favourite of his mistress. The erroneous notion +taken up by Politian, has been happily enough ridiculed by Sannazzarius, +in an epigram entitled _Ad Pulicianum_-- + + "At nescio quis Pulicianus," &c. + +and Muretus expresses his astonishment, that the most grave and learned +Benedictus Lampridius should have made this happy interpretation by +Politian the theme of his _constant_ conversation, "Hanc Politiani +sententiam in _omni_ sermone approbare solitum fuisse(472)." Why Lesbia +preferred a sparrow to other birds, I know not, unless it was for those +qualities which induced the widow of the Emperor Sigismond to esteem it +more than the turtle-dove(473), and which so much excited the envy of the +learned Scioppius, at Ingolstadt. + +3. _Luctus in morte Passeris_. A lamentation for the death of the same +sparrow-- + + "Qui nunc it per iter tenebricosum, + Illuc unde negant redire quemquam: + At vobis male sit, malae tenebrae + Orci, quae omnia bella devoratis." + +The idea in this last line was probably taken from Bion's celebrated +_Idyllium_--the lamentation of Venus for the death of Adonis, where there +is a similar complaint of the unrelenting Orcus-- + + "{~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO WITH DASIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}." + +This poem on the death of Lesbia's sparrow has suggested many similar +productions. Ovid's elegy, _In Mortem Psittaci_(474), where he extols and +laments the favourite parrot of his mistress, Corinna, is a production of +the same description; but it has not so much delicacy, lightness, and +felicity of expression. It differs from it too, by directing the attention +chiefly to the parrot, whereas Catullus fixes it more on the lady, who had +been deprived of her favourite. Statius also has a poem on the death of a +parrot, entitled _Psittacus Melioris_(475); and Lotichius, a celebrated +Latin poet, who flourished in Germany about the middle of the 16th +century, has, in his elegies, a similar production on the death of a +dolphin(476). Naugerius, _In Obitum Borgetti Catuli_, nearly copies the +poem of Catullus-- + + "Nunc raptus rapido maloque fato, + Ad manes abiit tenebricosas," &c. + +It has been imitated closely, and with application to a sparrow, by +Corrozet, Durant, and Monnoye, French poets of the 16th century--by Gacon +and Richer, in the beginning, and R. de Juvigny, in the end, of the 18th +century. In all these imitations, the idea of a departure to regions of +darkness, whence no one returns, is faithfully preserved. Most of them are +written with much grace and elegance; and this, indeed, is a sort of +poetry in which the French remarkably excel. + +4. _Dedicatio Phaseli_. This is the consecration to Castor and Pollux, of +the vessel which brought the poet safe from Bithynia to the shores of +Italy. By a figure, daring even in verse, he represents the ship as +extolling its high services, and claiming its well-earned dedication to +Castor and Pollux, gods propitious to mariners. From this poem we may +trace the progress of Catullus's voyage: It would appear that he had +embarked from Pontus, and having coasted Thrace, sailed through the +Archipelago, and then into the Adriatic, whence the vessel had been +brought probably up the course of the Po, and one of its branches, to the +vicinity of Sirmio. + +There have been nearly as many parodies of this poem, as imitations of +that last mentioned. The collector of the _Catalecta Virgilii_, has +attributed to Virgil a satire on Ventidius, (under the name of Sabinus,) +who, from a muleteer, became consul, in the reign of Augustus, and which +is parodied from Catullus-- + + "Sabinus ille quem videtis hospites," &c. + +Another parody is a Latin poem, entitled _Lycoris_, by Adrien Valois, +published at the end of the _Valesiana_, where a courtezan, retired from +the world, is introduced, boasting of the various intrigues of her former +life. Nicol Heinelius published not less than fifty parodies of this poem, +in a small book entitled "Phaselus Catulli, et ad eundem Parodiarum a +diversis auctoribus scriptarum decades quinque; ex Bibliotheca Nic. +Heinelii, Jurisconsulti, Lips. 1642." Scaliger has also translated the +_Phaselus_ of Catullus into Greek iambics. + +5. _Ad Lesbiam_-- + + "Vivamus, mea Lesbia, atque amemus, + Rumoresque senum severiorum + Omnes unius aestimemus assis. + Soles occidere et redire possunt: + Nobis, cum semel occidit brevis lux, + Nox est perpetua una dormienda. + Da mihi basia mille, deinde centum." + +This sentiment, representing either the pleasure of conviviality, or +delights of love, (and much more so as when here united,) in contrast with +the gloom of death, possesses something exquisitely tender and affecting. +The picture of joy, with Death in the distance, inspires a feeling of +pensive morality, adding a charm to the gayest scenes of life, as the +transientness of the rose enhances our sense of its beauty and fragrance; +and as the cloud, which throws a shade over the horizon, sometimes softens +and mellows the prospect. This opposition of images succeeds even in +painting; and the Arcadian landscape of Poussin, representing the rural +festivity of swains, would lose much of its charm if it wanted the +monument and inscription. An example had been set of such contrasted ideas +in many epigrams of the Greeks, and also in the Odes of Anacreon, who +constantly excites himself and fellow-passengers to unrestrained enjoyment +at every stage, by recalling to remembrance the irresistible speed with +which they are hurried to the conclusion of their journey-- + + "{~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER OMICRON WITH DASIA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}' {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~}, {~GREEK SMALL LETTER CHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} + {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER UPSILON WITH DASIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER CHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA WITH YPOGEGRAMMENI~}, + {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}. + {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER CHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH PERISPOMENI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~} + {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER BETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER CHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~}. + {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER OMICRON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~} + {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~}, {~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}." + Od. IV. + +"The ungodly," says the _Wisdom of Solomon_, "reason with themselves, but +not aright. Our life is short--our time is a very shadow that passeth +away--and, after our end, there is no returning. Come on, therefore, let us +enjoy the good things that are present, and let us speedily use the +creatures like as in youth. Let us fill ourselves with costly wine and +ointments, and let no flower of the spring pass by us; let us crown +ourselves with rose-buds, before they be withered. Let none of us go +without his part of our voluptuousness; let us leave tokens of our +joyfulness in every place: For this is our portion, and our lot in +this(477)." + +Among the Latin poets no specimen, perhaps, exists so perfect of this +voluptuous yet pensive morality or immorality, as the _Vivamus, mea +Lesbia_, of Catullus. It is a theme, too, in which he has been frequently +followed, if not imitated, by succeeding poets--by Horace, in particular, +who, amid all the delights of love and wine, seldom allows himself to +forget the closing scene of existence. Many of them too, like Catullus, +have employed the argument of the certainty and speediness of death for +the promotion of love and pleasure-- + + "Interea, dum fata sinunt, jungamus amores; + Jam veniet tenebris Mors adoperta caput(478)." + +And, in like manner, Propertius-- + + "Dum nos fata sinunt, oculos satiemus amore; + Nox tibi longa venit nec reditura dies." + +There is not much of this in the amatory or convivial poetry of the +moderns. Waller has some traces of it; but a modern prose writer hath most +beautifully, and with greater boldness than any of his predecessors, +represented not merely the thoughts, but the actual image of mortality and +decay, as exciting to a more full and rapid grasp at tangible enjoyments. +Anastasius, while journeying amid the tombs of Scutari, breathing the damp +deadly effluvia, and treading on a swelling soil, ready to burst with its +festering contents, asks himself,--"Shall I, creature of clay like those +here buried--I, who travel through life as I do on this road, with the +remains of past generations strewed around me--I, who, whether my journey +last a few hours, more or less, must still, like those here deposited, in +a short time rejoin the silent tenants of a cluster of tombs--be stretched +out by the side of some already sleeping corpse--and be left to rest, for +the remainder of time, with all my hopes and fears, all my faculties and +prospects, consigned to a cold couch of clammy earth--Shall I leave the +rose to blush along my path unheeded--the purple grape to wither unculled +over my head * * *? Far from my thoughts be such folly! Whatever tempts, +let me take--whatever bears the name of enjoyment henceforth, let me, while +I can, make my own(479)."--The French writers, like Chaulieu and Gresset, +who paint themselves as finding in philosophy and the Muses sufficient +compensation for the dissatisfaction attending worldly pleasures, +frequently urge the shortness of life, not as an argument for indulging in +wantonness or wine, but for enjoying, to the utmost, the innocent delights +of rural tranquillity-- + + "Fontenay, lieu delicieux, + Ou je vis d'abord la lumiere, + Bientot au bout de ma carriere + Chez toi je joindrai mes ayeux. + + "Muses, qui dans ce lieu champetre + Avec soin me fites nourrir-- + Beaux arbres qui m'avez vu naitre + Bientot vous me verrez mourir: + + "Cependant du frais de votre ombre + Il faut sagement profiter, + Sans regret pret a vous quitter + Pour ce Manoir terrible et sombre."--_Chaulieu._ + +The united sentiment of enjoying the delights of love, and beauties of +nature, as suggested by the shortness of the period allotted for their +possession, has been happily expressed by Mallet, in his celebrated song +to the Scotch tune, _The Birks of Invermay_: + + "Let us, Amanda, timely wise, + Like _them_ improve the hour that flies; + For soon the winter of the year, + And Age, life's winter, will appear. + At this thy living bloom must fade, + As that will strip the verdant shade: + Our taste of pleasure then is o'er-- + The feathered songsters love no more: + And when they droop, and we decay, + Adieu, the shades of Invermay!" + +It will not fail, however, to be remarked, that in the ode of Catullus, +which has recalled these verses to our recollection, there is a double +contrast, from comparing the long, dark, and everlasting sleep--the {~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}, +{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}, {~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH DASIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}, with the quick and constant succession of suns, +by which we are daily enlightened-- + + "Soles occidere et redire possunt: + Nobis, cum semel occidit brevis lux, + Nox est perpetua una dormienda." + +Poets, in all ages, have been fond of contrasting the destined course of +human life with the reparation of the sun and moon, and with the revival +of nature, produced by the succession of seasons. The image drawn from the +sun, and here employed by Catullus, is one of the most natural and +frequent. It has been beautifully attempted by several modern Latin poets. +Thus by Lotichius-- + + "Ergo ubi permensus coelum sol occidit, idem + Purpureo vestit lumine rursus humum: + Nos ubi decidimus, defuncti munere vitae, + Urget perpetua lumina nocte sopor." + +And still more successfully by Jortin-- + + "Hei mihi lege rata sol occidit atque resurgit. + * * * * + Nos domini rerum--nos magna et pulchra minati, + Cum breve ver vitae robustaque transiit aetas, + Deficimus; neque nos ordo revolubilis auras + Reddit in aetherias, tumuli nec claustra resolvit." + +Other modern Latin poets have chosen this ode as a sort of theme or text, +which they have dilated into long poems. Of these, perhaps the most +agreeable is a youthful production of Muretus-- + + "Ludamus, mea Margari, et jocemur," &c. + +The most ancient French imitator is the old poet Baif, in a sort of +Madrigal. He was followed by Ronsard, Bellay, Pellisson, La Monnoye, and +Dorat. The best imitation, I think, is that by Simon, which I shall give +at full length, once for all as a fair specimen of the French mode of +imitating the lighter poems of Catullus-- + + "Vivens, O ma Julie! + Jurons d'aimer toujours: + Le printemps de la vie + Est fait pour les amours. + Si l'austere vieillesse + Condamne nos desirs, + Laissons lui sa sagesse, + Et gardons nos plaisirs. + + "L'Astre dont la lumiere + Nous dispense les jours, + Au bout de sa carriere + Recommence son cours. + Quand le temps, dans sa rage, + A fletti les appas, + Les roses du bel age + Ne refleurissent pas. + + "D'une pudeur farouche + Fuis les deguisemens; + Viens donner a ma bouche + Cent baisers ravissans-- + Mille autres--Pose encore + Sur mes levres de feu + Tes levres que j'adore-- + Mourons a ce doux jeu. + + "De nos baisers sans nombre + Le feu rapide et doux + S'echappe comme l'ombre, + Et passe loin de nous: + Mais le sentiment tendre + D'un heureux souvenir, + Dans mon coeur vient reprendre, + La place du plaisir." + +7. _Ad Lesbiam_. His mistress had asked Catullus how many kisses would +satisfy him, and he answers that they must be as numerous as the sands of +the sea-- + + "Aut quam sidera multa, cum tacet nox, + Furtivos hominum vident amores." + +These two lines seem to have been in the view of Ariosto, in the 14th +canto of the _Orlando_-- + + "E per quanti occhi il ciel le furtive opre + Degli amatori, a mezza notte, scopre." + +Martial likewise imitates, and refers to this and to the 5th poem of +Catullus, in the 34th epigram of the 6th book-- + + "Basia da nobis, Diadumene, pressa: quot? inquis-- + Oceani fluctus me numerare jubes; + Et maris AEgaei sparsas per littora conchas, + Et quae Cecropio monte vagantur apes. + Nolo quot arguto dedit exorata Catullo + Lesbia: pauca cupit, qui numerare potest." + +The verses of Catullus have been also imitated in Latin by Sannazzarius, +by Joannes Secundus, of course, in his _Basia_, and by almost all the +ancient amatory poets of France. + +8. _Ad Seipsum_. This is quite in the Greek taste: About a third of the +Odes of Anacreon are addressed {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}. Catullus here playfully, yet +feelingly, remonstrates with himself, for still pursuing his inconstant +Lesbia, by whom he had been forsaken. + +9. _Ad Verannium_. This is one of the most pleasing of the shorter poems. +Catullus congratulates his friend Verannius on his return from Spain, and +expresses his joy in terms more touching and natural than anything in the +12th Satire of Juvenal, or the 36th Ode of the 1st Book of Horace, which +were both written on similar occasions. + +10. _De Varri Scorto_. Catullus gives an account of a visit which he paid +at the house of a courtezan, along with his friend Varrus, and relates, in +a lively manner, the conversation which he had with the lady on the +subject of the acquisitions made by him in Bithynia, from which he had +lately returned. There seems here a hit to have been intended against +Caesar, of whose conduct in that country some scandalous anecdotes were +afloat. The epigram, however, appears chiefly directed against those +cross-examiners, who are not to be put off with indefinite answers, and in +whose company one must be constantly on guard. In fact, the lady detects +Catullus making an unfounded boast of his Bithynian acquisitions, and he +accordingly exclaims, + + "Sed tu insulsa male, et molesta vivis, + Per quam non licet esse negligentem." + +11. _Ad Furium et Aurelium_. This ode commences in a higher tone of poetry +than any of the preceding. Catullus addresses his friends, Furius and +Aurelius, who, he is confident, would be ready to accompany him to the +most remote and barbarous quarters of the globe-- + + "Furi et Aureli, comites Catulli, + Sive in extremos penetrabit Indos, + Littus ut longe resonante Eoa + Tunditur unda." + +This verse was no doubt in the view of Horace, in the sixth Ode of the +second Book, where he addresses his friend Septimius, and adopts the +elegant and melodious Sapphic stanza employed by Catullus-- + + "Septimi, Gades aditure mecum, et + Cantabrum indoctum juga ferre nostra, et + Barbaras Syrtes, ubi Maura semper + AEstuat unda." + +Horace, however, has closed his ode with a few lines, perhaps the most +beautiful and tender in the whole circle of Latin poetry, and which strike +us the more, as pathos is not that poet's peculiar excellence-- + + "Ille te mecum locus et beati," &c. + +Catullus, on the other hand, after preserving an elevated strain of poetry +for four stanzas, concludes with requesting his friends to deliver a +ridiculous message to his mistress, who + + "Nec meum respectet, ut ante, amorem, + Qui illius culpa cecidit; velut prati + Ultimi flos, praetereunte postquam + Tactus aratro est." + +This last most beautiful image has been imitated by various poets. Virgil +has not disdained to transfer it to his AEneid-- + + "Purpureus veluti cum flos succisus aratro + Languescit moriens(480)." + +Fracastoro has employed the same metaphor with hardly less elegance in his +consolatory epistle to Turri, on the loss of his child-- + + ---- "Jacet ille velut succisus aratro + Flos tener, et frustra non audit tanta gementem;" + +and Ariosto has introduced it in the eighteenth canto of the Orlando-- + + "Come purpureo fior languendo muore + Che 'l vomere al passar tagliato lassa." + +13. _Ad Fabullum_. Our poet invites Fabullus to supper, on condition that +he will bring his provisions along with him-- + + ---- "Nam tui Catulli + Plenus sacculus est aranearum." + +On his own part, he promises only a hearty welcome, and the most exquisite +ointments. In the poetry of social kindness and friendship, Catullus is +eminently happy; and we regret to find that this tone, which has so much +prevailed in the preceding odes, subsequently changes into bitter and +gross invective. + +The thirteen following poems are chiefly occupied with vehement and +indelicate abuse of those friends of the poet, Furius and Aurelius, who +were men of some quality and distinction, but had wasted their fortunes by +extravagance and debauchery. In a former ode, we have seen him confident +that they would readily accompany him to the wildest or remotest quarters +of the globe: But he had subsequently quarrelled with them, partly because +they had stigmatized his verses as soft and effeminate; and, in revenge +for this affront, he upbraids them with their poverty and vices. Of these +thirteen poems, the last, addressed to Furius, is a striking picture of +the sheltered situation of a villa. In the common editions, the +description refers to the villa of Catullus himself, but Muretus thinks, +it was rather meant to be applied to that of Furius: + + "Furi, villula vostra non ad Austri," &c. + +27. _Ad Pocillatorem puerum_. This address, in which Catullus calls on his +cupbearer to pour out for him copious and unmixed libations of Falernian, +is quite in the spirit of Anacreon: it breathes all his easy and joyous +gaiety, and the enthusiasm inspired by the grape. + +28. _Ad Verannium et Fabullum_-- + + "Pisonis comites cohors inanis," &c. + +Catullus condoles with these friends on account of the little advantage +they had reaped from accompanying the Praetor Piso to his +province--comparing their situation to the similar circumstances in which +he had himself been placed with Memmius in Bithynia. + +There is a parody on this piece of Catullus by the celebrated Huet, Bishop +of Avranches-- + + "Bocharti comites cohors inanis." &c. + +In his youth, Huet had accompanied Bochart to Sweden, on the invitation of +Queen Christina, and appears to have been as little gratified by his +northern expedition, as Catullus by his voyage to Bithynia. + +29. _In Caesarem_. Julius Caesar, while yet but the general of the Roman +republic, had been accustomed, during his stay in the north of Italy, to +lodge at the house of the father of Catullus in Verona. Notwithstanding +the intimacy which in consequence subsisted between Caesar and his father, +Catullus lampooned the former on more than one occasion. In the present +epigram, he pours on him an unmeasured abuse, chiefly for having bestowed +the plunder of Britain and Gaul on his favourite, the infamous Mamurra, +who appropriated the public money, and the spoils of whole nations, to +support his boundless extravagance. There is a story which has become very +common on the authority of Suetonius, that Caesar invited Catullus to +supper on the day on which he first read some satirical verses of the poet +against himself and Mamurra, and that he continued to lodge with his +father as before(481). It appears that on one occasion, when some +scurrilous verses by Catullus were shown to him, he supped with Cicero at +his villa near Puteoli. On the 19th, he staid at the house of Philippus +till one in the afternoon, but saw nobody; he then walked on the shore +across to Cicero's villa--bathed after two o'clock, and heard the verses on +Mamurra read, at which he never changed countenance(482). Now, this was in +the year 708, after the civil war had been ended, by the defeat and death +of the younger Pompey in Spain. It is most likely that this 29th epigram +was the one which was read to him at Cicero's villa; and the 57th epigram, +also directed against Caesar and Mamurra, is probably that concerning which +the above anecdote is related by Suetonius. Though it stands last of the +two in the works of Catullus, it was evidently written before the 29th. He +talks in it of Caesar and Mamurra, as of persons who were still on a +footing of equality--in the other, he speaks of their dividing the spoils +of the provinces, Gaul, Britain, Pontus, and Spain. The coolness and +indifference which Caesar showed with regard to the first epigram written +against him, and the forgiveness he extended to its author, encouraged +Cicero, who was a gossip and newsmonger, or those who attended him, to +read to him another of the same description while bathing at the Puteolan +Villa. + +31. _Ad Sirmionem Peninsulam_. This heart-soothing invocation, which is +perhaps the most pleasing of all the productions of Catullus, is addressed +to the peninsula of Sirmio, in the territory of Verona, on which the +principal and favourite villa of our poet was situated. Sirmio was a +peninsular promontory, of about two miles circumference, projecting into +the Benacus, now the Lago di Garda--a lake celebrated by Virgil as one of +the noblest ornaments of Italy, and the praises of which have been loudly +re-echoed by the modern Latin poets of that country, particularly by +Fracastoro, who dwelt in its vicinity, and who, while lamenting the +untimely death of his poetical friend, Marc Antonio del Torri, beautifully +represents the shade of Catullus, as still nightly wandering amidst these +favourite scenes-- + + "Te ripae flevere Athesis; te voce vocare + Auditae per noctem umbrae, manesque Catulli, + Et patrios mulcere nova dulcedine lucos(483)." + +Vestiges of the magnificent house supposed to have belonged to Catullus, +are yet shown on this peninsula. Its ruins, which lie near the borders of +the lake, still give the idea of an extensive palace. There are even now, +as we are informed by travellers(484), sufficient remains of mason-work, +pilasters, vaults, walls, and subterraneous passages, to assist the +imagination in representing to itself what the building was when entire, +at least in point of extent and situation. The length of the whole +construction, from north to south, is about 700 feet, and the breadth +upwards of 300. The ground on which it stood does not appear to have been +level, and the fall to the west was supplied by rows of vaults, placed on +each other, the top of which formed a terrace. On the east, the structure +had been raised on those steep and solid rocks which lined the shore; on +the front, which was to the north, and commanded a magnificent view of the +lake, an immense portico seems to have projected from the building: under +the ruins, there are a number of subterraneous vaults, one of which ran +through the middle of the edifice, and along its whole length(485). + +The peninsula on which the villa of Catullus was situated, is not +surpassed in beauty or fertility by any spot in Italy. "Sirmione," says +Eustace(486), "appears as an island, so low and so narrow is the bank that +unites it to the mainland. The promontory spreads behind the town, and +rises into a hill entirely covered with olives. Catullus," he continues, +"undoubtedly inhabited this spot, and certainly he could not have chosen a +more delightful retreat. In the centre of a magnificent lake, surrounded +with scenery of the greatest variety and majesty, secluded from the world, +yet beholding from his garden the villas of his Veronese friends, he might +have enjoyed alternately the pleasures of retirement, and society; and +daily, without the sacrifice of his connexions, which Horace seemed +inclined to make in a moment of despondency, he might have contemplated +the grandeur and agitation of the ocean, without its terrors and +immensity. Besides, the soil is fertile, and its surface varied; sometimes +shelving in a gentle declivity, at other times breaking in craggy +magnificence, and thus furnishing every requisite for delightful walks and +luxurious baths; while the views vary at every step, presenting rich +coasts or barren mountains, sometimes confined to the cultivated scenes of +the neighbouring shore, and at other times bewildered and lost in the +windings of the lake, or in the recesses of the Alps. In short, more +convenience and more beauty are seldom united(487)." No wonder, then, that +Catullus, jaded and disappointed by his expedition to Bithynia, should, on +his return, have exclaimed with transport, that the spot was not to be +matched in the wide range of the world of waters; or that he should have +unloaded his mind of its cares, in language so perfect, yet simple, that +it could only have flowed from a real and exquisite feeling. No poem in +the Latin language expresses tender feelings more tenderly, and home +feelings more naturally, than the Invocation to Sirmio, in which the +verses soothe and refresh us somewhat in the manner we suppose Catullus +himself to have been, by the trees that shaded the promontory, and by the +waters of the lake below-- + + "Quam te libenter, quamque laetus inviso! + Vix me ipse credens Thyniam, atque Bithynos + Liquisse campos, et videre te in tuto. + O quid solutis est beatius curis? + Cum mens onus reponit, ac peregrino + Labore fessi venimus larem ad nostrum, + Desideratoque acquiescimus lecto. + Hoc est, quod unum est pro laboribus tantis. + Salve, O venusta Sirmio, atque hero gaude." + +These lines show that the most refined and tender feelings were as +familiar to the bosom of Catullus as the grossest. Nothing can be more +delicate than his description of the emotions of one, who, after many +wanderings and vicissitudes of fortune, returns to his home, and to the +scenes beloved in youth or infancy: Nothing can be more beautiful than his +invocation to the peninsula--his fond request that the delightful +promontory, and the waters by which it was surrounded, should join in +welcoming him home; and, above all, his heartfelt expression of delight at +the prospect of again reclining on his accustomed couch. + +It appears to me, however, that the beauty and the pathos of the poem is +in some degree injured by the last verse,-- + + "Ridete quicquid est domi cachinnorum," + +which introduces the idea of obstreperous mirth, instead of that tone of +tenderness which pervades the preceding lines of the ode. One would almost +suppose, as probably has happened in some other cases, that a verse had +been subjoined to this which properly belonged to a different ode, where +mirth, and not tenderness, prevailed. + +The modern Latin poets of Italy frequently apostrophize their favourite +villas, in imitation of the address to Sirmio. Flaminius, in a poem, _Ad +Agellum suum_, has described his attachment to his farm and home, and the +first lines of it rival the tender and pleasing invocation of Catullus. +Some of the subsequent lines are written in close imitation of the Roman +poet-- + + ---- "Jam libebit in cubiculo + Molles inire somnulos. + Gaudete, fontes rivulique limpidi." + +As also the whole of his address to the same villa, commencing-- + + "Umbrae frigidulae, arborum susurri." + +One of the most pleasing features in the works of the modern Latin poets +of Italy, is the descriptions of their villas, their regret at leaving +them, or their invitations to friends to come and witness their happiness. +Hence Fracastoro's villa, in the vicinity of Verona, Ambra, and +_Pulcherrima Mergellina_, are now almost esteemed classic spots, like +Tusculum or Tibur. + +The invocation to the peninsula of Sirmio was evidently written soon after +the return of Catullus from Bithynia; and his next poem worth noticing is +a similar address to his villa near Tibur. The thought, however, in this +poem, is very forced and poor. Catullus having been invited by his friend +Sextius, according to a common custom at Rome, to be one of a party +assembled at his house for the purpose of hearing an oration composed by +their host, had contracted such a cold from its frigidity, that he was +obliged to leave Rome, and retire to this seat, in order to recover from +its effects. For his speedy restoration to health, he now gives thanks to +his salubrious villa. This residence was situated on the confines of the +ancient Latian and Sabine territories, and the villas there, as we learn +from this ode, were sometimes called Tiburtine, from the town of Tibur, +and sometimes Sabine, from the district where they lay; but the former +appellation, it seems, was greatly preferred by Catullus. As long as the +odes of Horace survive, the + + "Domus Albuneae resonantis, + Et praeceps Anio, et Tiburni lucus, et uda + Mobilibus pomaria rivis," + +will be remembered as forming one of the most delightful retreats in +Italy, and one which was so agreeable to its poet, that he wished that of +all others it might be the shelter and refuge of his old age. From the +present aspect of Tivoli, the charm of the villas at the ancient Tibur may +be still appreciated. "We ascended," says Eustace, "the high hill on which +Tivoli stands, passing through groves of olives, till we reached the +summit. This town, the Tibur of the ancients, stands in a delightful +situation, sheltered by Monte Catillo, and a semicircular range of Sabine +mountains, and commanding, on the other side, an extensive view over the +Campagna, bounded by the sea, Rome, Mount Soracte, and the pyramidal hills +of Monticelli and Monte Rotondo, the ancient Eretum. But the pride and +ornament of Tivoli are still, as anciently, the falls and the windings of +the Anio, now Teverone. This river having meandered from its source +through the vales of Sabina, glides gently through Tivoli, till, coming to +the brink of a rock, it precipitates itself in one mass down the steep, +and then boiling for an instant in its narrow channel, rushes headlong +through a chasm in the rock into the caverns below.* * * To enjoy the +scenery to advantage, the traveller must cross the bridge, and follow the +road which runs at the foot of the classic Monte Catillo, and winds along +the banks of the Anio. As he advances he will have on his left the steep +banks covered with trees, shrubs, and gardens, and on his right the bold +but varying swells of the hills shaded with groves of olives. These sunny +declivities were anciently interspersed with splendid villas, the +favourite abodes of the most luxurious and refined Romans. They are now +replaced by two solitary convents, but their site, often conjectural or +traditionary, is sometimes marked by scanty vestiges of ruins, and now and +then by the more probable resemblance of a name(488)." Eustace does not +particularly mention the farm or villa of Catullus. In the travels, +however, which pass under the name of M. Blainville, written in the +beginning of last century, we are informed, that a monastery of the +religious order of Mount Olivet was then established on the spot where +formerly stood the Tiburtine villa of Catullus(489). M. de Castellan fixes +on the same spot, on account of its situation between the Sabine and +Tiburtine territory. "D'ailleurs," continues he, "il n'est pas d'endroit +plus retire, mieux garanti des vents, que cet angle rentrant de la vallee, +entoure de tous cotes par de hautes montagnes; ce qui est encore un des +caracteres du local choisi par notre poete, qui pretendoit y etre a l'abri +de tout autre vent que de celui qui l'expose a la vengeance de sa +maitresse(490)." It would appear from Forsyth's Travels, that a spot is +still fixed on as the site of the residence of Catullus. "The villa of +Catullus," he says, "is easily ascertained by his own minute description +of the place, by excavated marbles, and by the popular name of Truglia." +This spot, which is close to the church of St Angelo in Piavola, is on the +opposite side of the Anio from Tibur, about a mile north from that town, +and on the north side of Monte Catillo, or what might be called the back +of that hill, in reference to the situation of Tibur. The Anio divides the +ancient Latian from the Sabine territory, and the villa of Catullus was on +the Sabine side of the river, but was called Tiburtine from the vicinity +of Tibur(491). + +The Romans, and particularly the Roman poets, as if the rustic spirit of +their Italian ancestry was not altogether banished by the buildings of +Rome, appear to have had a genuine and exquisite relish for the delights +of the country. This feeling was not inspired by fondness for +field-sports, since, although habituated to violent exercises, the chase +never was a favourite amusement among the Romans, and they preferred +seeing wild animals baited in the amphitheatre, to hunting them down in +their native forests. The country then was not relished as we are apt to +enjoy it, for the sake of exercise or rural pastimes, but solely for its +amenity and repose, and the mental tranquillity which it diffused. With +them it seems to have been truely, + + "The relish for the calm delight + Of verdant vales and fountains bright; + Trees that nod on sloping hills, + And caves that echo tinkling rills.". + +Love of the country among the Romans thus became conjoined with the idea +of a life of pastoral tranquillity and retirement,--a life of friendship, +liberty, and repose,--free from labour and care, and all turbulent +passions. Scenes of this kind delight and interest us supremely, whether +they be painted as what is desired or what is enjoyed. We feel how natural +it is for a mind with a certain disposition to relaxation and indolence, +when fatigued with the bustle of life, to long for security and quiet, and +for those sequestered scenes in which they can be most exquisitely +enjoyed. There is much less of this in the writings of the Greeks, who +were originally a sea-faring and piratical, and not, like the Italians, a +pastoral people. It is thus that, even in their highest state of +refinement, the manners and feelings of nations bear some affinity to +their original rudeness, though that rudeness itself has been +imperceptibly converted into a source of elegance and ornament. + +34. _Seculare carmen ad Dianam_. This is the first strictly lyric +production of Catullus which occurs, and there are only three other poems +of a similar class. In Greece, the public games afforded a noble occasion +for the display of lyric poetry, and the sensibility of the Greeks fitted +them to follow its highest flights. But it was not so among the Romans. +They had no solemn festivals of assembled states: Their active and +ambitious life deadened them to the emotions which lyric poetry should +excite; and the gods, whose praises form the noblest themes of the AEolian +lyre, were with them rather the creatures of state policy, than of feeling +or imagination. + +45. _De Acme et Septimio_. Here our poet details the mutual blandishments +and amorous expressions of Acme and Septimius, with the approbation +bestowed on them by Cupid. This amatory effusion has been freely +translated by Cowley:-- + + "Whilst on Septimius' panting breast. + Meaning nothing less than rest," &c. + +49. _Ad M. Tullium_. In this poem, which is addressed to Cicero as the +most eloquent of the Romans, Catullus modestly returns the orator thanks +for some service he had rendered him. + +51. _Ad Lesbiam_. This is the translation of the celebrated ode of Sappho, +which has been preserved to us by Longinus, {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER PHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~}, &c. The +fourth stanza of the original Greek has not been translated, but in its +place a verse is inserted in all the editions of Catullus, containing a +moral reflection, which one would hardly have expected from this dissolute +poet: + + "Otium, Catulle, tibi molestum est: + Otio exultas, nimiumque gestis; + Otium reges prius et beatas + Perdidit urbes." + +This stanza is so foreign from the spirit of high excitation in which the +preceding part of the ode is written, that Maffei suspected it had +belonged to some other poem of Catullus; and Handius, in his +_Observationes Criticae_, conjectures that the fourth stanza, which +Catullus translated from the original Greek, having been lost, and a chasm +being thus left, some idle librarian or scholiast of the middle ages had +interpolated these four lines of misplaced morality, that no gap might +appear in his manuscript(492). It is not impossible, however, that this +verse may have been intended to express the answer of the poet's mistress. + +Many amatory poets have tried to imitate this celebrated ode; but most of +them have failed of success. Boileau has also attempted this far-famed +fragment; but although he has produced an elegant enough poem, he has not +expressed the vehement passion of the Greek original so happily as +Catullus. How different are the rapidity and emotion of the following +stanza, + + "Lingua sed torpet, tenuis sub artus + Flamma dimanat, sonitu suopte + Tintinant aures--gemina teguntur + Lumina nocte," + +from the languor of the corresponding lines of the French poet! + + "Une nuage confus se repand sur ma vue, + Je n'entend plus, je tombe en de douces langueurs, + Et passe, sans haleine, interdite, perdue; + Un frisson me saisit--je tremble, je me meurs." + +These lines give us little idea of that furious passion of which Longinus +says the Greek ode expresses all the symptoms. Racine has been much more +happy than Boileau in his imitation of Sappho. Phaedra, in the celebrated +French tragedy which bears the name of that victim of love, thus paints +the effects of the passion with which she was struck at her first view of +Hippolytus:-- + + "Athenes me montra mon superbe ennemi: + Je le vis, je rougis, je palis a sa vue-- + Un trouble s'eleva dans mon ame eperdue, + Mes yeux ne voyoient plus, je ne pouvois parler; + Je sentis tout mon coeur et transir et bruler(493)." + +On this passage Voltaire remarks, "Peut on mieux imiter Sappho? Ces vers, +quoique imites, coulent de source; chaque mot trouble les ames sensibles, +et les penetre; ce n'est point une amplification: c'est le chef d'oeuvre de +la nature et de l'art(494)." A translation by De Lille, which has a very +close resemblance to that of Boileau, is inserted in the delightful +chapter of the _Voyage du Jeune Anacharsis_, which treats of Lesbos and +Sappho. Philips, it is well known, attempted a version of the lyric +stanzas of Sappho, which was first printed with vast commendation in the +229th Number of the Spectator, where Addison has also remarked, "that +several of our countrymen, and Dryden in particular, seem very often to +have copied after this ode of Sappho, in their dramatic writings, and in +their poems upon love." + +58. _Ad Coelium de Lesbia_. In this ode, addressed to one of her former +admirers, Catullus gives an account, both tender and pathetic, of the +debaucheries and degraded condition of Lesbia, to his passion for whom, he +had attributed such powerful effects in the above imitation of Sappho. + +61. _In Nuptias Juliae et Manlii_. We come now to the three celebrated +epithalamiums of Catullus. The first is in honour of the nuptials of Julia +and Manlius, who is generally supposed to have been Aulus Manlius +Torquatus, an intimate friend of the poet, and a descendant of one of the +most noble patrician families in Rome. This poem has been entitled an +Epithalamium in most of the ancient editions, but Muretus contends that +this is an improper appellation, and that it should be inscribed _Carmen +Nuptiale_. "An epithalamium," he says, "was supposed to be sung by the +virgins when the bride had retired to the nuptial chamber, whereas in this +poem an earlier part of the ceremony is celebrated and described." This +earlier part, indeed, occupies the greater portion of the poem, but +towards the conclusion the bride is represented as placed in the chamber +of her husband, which may justify its ordinary title: + + "Jam licet venias, Marite; + Uxor in thalamo est tibi," &c. + +In this bridal song the poet first addresses Hymen; and as the bride was +now about to proceed from her paternal mansion to the house of her +husband, invokes his aid in raising the nuptial hymn. He then describes +the bride:-- + + "Floridis velut enitens + Myrtus Asia ramulis; + Quos Hamadryades Deae + Ludicrum sibi roscido + Nutriunt humore." + +A similar image is frequent with other poets, and has been adopted by +Pontanus(495) and Naugerius(496). + +The praises of Hymen follow next:-- + + "Nil potest sine te Venus, + Fama quod bona comprobet, + Commodi capere: at potest + Te volente. Quis huic Deo + Compararier ausit? + + Nulla quit sine te domus + Liberos dare, nec parens + Stirpe jungier: at potest + Te volente. Quis huic Deo + Compararier ausit?" + +Claudian, in his epithalamium on the nuptials of Palladius and Celerina, +and the German poet Lotichius, extol Hymen in terms similar to those +employed in the first of the above stanzas: and the advantages he confers, +alluded to in the second, have been beautifully touched on by Milton, as +also by Pope, in his chorus of youths and virgins, forming part of the +Duke of Buckingham's intended tragedy--_Brutus_: + + "But Hymen's kinder flames unite, + And burn for ever one, + Chaste as cold Cynthia's virgin light, + Productive as the sun. + + "O source of every social tye, + United wish and mutual joy, + What various joys on one attend! + As son, as father, brother, husband, friend." + +Catullus now proceeds to describe the ceremonies with which the bride was +conveyed to the house of her husband, and was there received. He feigns +that he beholds the nuptial pomp and retinue approaching, and encourages +the bride to come forth, by an elegant compliment to her beauty; as also, +by reminding her of the fair fame and character of her intended husband. +As she approaches, he intimates the freedom of the ancient Fescennine +verses, which were first sung at marriage festivals. + +The bride being at length conducted to her new habitation, the poet +addresses the bridegroom, and shuts up the married pair: But before +concluding, in reference to Torquatus, one of the husband's names, he +alludes, with exquisite delicacy and tenderness, to the most-wished-for +consequence of this happy union:-- + + "Torquatus, volo, parvulus + Matris e gremio suae + Porrigens teneras manus, + Dulce rideat ad patrem, + Semihiante labello." + +The above verse has been thus imitated in an Epithalamium on the marriage +of Lord Spencer, by Sir William Jones, who pronounces it a picture worthy +the pencil of Domenichino: + + "And soon to be completely blest, + Soon may a young Torquatus rise, + Who, hanging on his mother's breast, + To his known sire shall turn his eyes, + Outstretch his infant arms a while, + Half ope his little lips and smile." + +And thus by Leonard, in his pastoral romance of _Alexis_, where, however, +he has omitted the _semihiante labello_, the finest feature in the +picture:-- + + "Quel tableau! quand un jeune enfant, + Penche sur le sein de sa mere, + Avec un sourire innocent + Etendra ses mains vers son pere." + +This nuptial hymn has been the model of many epithalamiums, particularly +that of Jason and Creusa, sung by the chorus in Seneca's _Medea_, and of +Honorius and Maria, in Claudian. The modern Latin poets, particularly +Justus Lipsius, have exercised themselves a great deal in this style of +composition; and most of them with evident imitation of the work of +Catullus. It has also been highly applauded by the commentators; and more +than one critic has declared that it must have been written by the hands +of Venus and the Graces--"Veneris et Gratiarum manibus scriptum esse." I +wish, however, they had excepted from their unqualified panegyrics the +coarse imitation of the Fescennine poems, which leaves on our minds a +stronger impression of the prevalence and extent of Roman vices, than any +other passage in the Latin classics. Martial, and Catullus himself +elsewhere, have branded their enemies; and Juvenal, in bursts of satiric +indignation, has reproached his countrymen with the most shocking crimes. +But here, in a complimentary poem to a patron and intimate friend, these +are jocularly alluded to as the venial indulgences of his earliest youth. + +62. _Carmen Nuptiale_. Some parts of this epithalamium have been taken +from Theocritus, particularly from his eighteenth Idyl, where the +Lacedaemonian maids, companions of Helen, sing before the bridal-chamber of +Menelaus(497). This second nuptial hymn of Catullus may be regarded as a +continuation of the above poem, being also in honour of the marriage of +Manlius and Julia. The stanzas of the former were supposed to be sung or +recited in the person of the poet, who only exhorted the chorus of youths +and virgins to commence the nuptial strain. But here these bands contend, +in alternate verses; the maids descanting on the beauty and advantages of +a single life, and the lads on those of marriage. + +The young men, companions of the bridegroom, are supposed to have left him +at the rising of the evening star of love:-- + + ---- "Vesper Olympo + Expectata diu vix tandem lumina tollit. + * * * * * + Hespere, qui coelo lucet jucundior ignis?" + +These lines appear to have been imitated by Spenser in his Epithalamium-- + + "Ah! when will this long weary day have done! + Long though it be, at last I see it gloom, + And the bright evening star, with golden crest, + Appear out of the east; + Fair child of beauty, glorious lamp of love, + How cheerfully thou lookest from above!" + +The maids who had accompanied the bride to her husband's house, approached +the youths who had just left the bridegroom, and they commence a very +elegant contention concerning the merits of the star, which the chorus of +virgins is pleased to characterize as a cruel planet. They are silenced, +however, by the youths hinting that they are not such enemies to Hesper as +they pretend to be. Then the maids, draw a beautiful, and, with Catullus, +a favourite comparison between an unblemished virgin, and a delicate +flower in a garden: + + "Ut flos in septis secretus nascitur hortis, + Ignotus pecori, nullo convulsus aratro, + Quem mulcent aurae, firmat sol, educat imber; + Multi illum pueri, multae optavere puellae. + Idem cum tenui carptus defloruit ungui, + Nulli illum pueri, nullae optavere puellae. + Sic virgo dum intacta manet, tum cara suis; sed + Cum castum amisit, polluto corpore, florem, + Nec pueris jucunda manet, nec cara puellis." + +To the sentiment delineated by this image, the youths reply by one +scarcely less beautiful, emblematical of the happiness of the married +state; and as this was a theme in which the maidens were probably not +unwilling to be overcome, they unite in the last stanza with the chorus of +young men, in recommending to the bride to act the part of a submissive +spouse. + +Few passages in Latin poetry have been more frequently imitated, and none +more deservedly, than the above-quoted verses of Catullus, who certainly +excels almost all other writers, in the beauty and propriety of his +similes. The greatest poets have not disdained to transplant this +exquisite flower of song. Perhaps the most successful imitation is one by +the Prince of the romantic bards of Italy, in the first canto of his +_Orlando_, and which it may be amusing to compare with the original: + + "La Verginella e simile alla rosa, + Che in bel giardin su la nativa spina, + Mentre sola, e sicura si riposa, + Ne gregge, ne pastor se le avvicina; + L'aura soave, e l'alba rugiadosa, + L'acqua, la terra al suo favor s'inchina: + Giovini vaghi, e donne innamorate, + Amano averne e seni, e tempie ornate. + + Ma non si tosto dal materno stelo + Rimossa viene, e dal suo ceppo verde; + Che quanto avea dagli uomini, e dal cielo, + Favor, grazia, e bellezza tutto perde. + La vergine, che il fior, di che piu zelo, + Che de begli occhi, e della vita, aver de, + Lascia altrui corre, il pregio, ch'avea dinanti, + Perde nel cor de tutti gli altri amanti." + +The reader may perhaps like to see how this theme has been managed by an +old _French_ poet nearly contemporary with Ariosto: + + "La jeune vierge est semblable a la rose, + Au beau jardin, sur l'epine native, + Tandis que sure et seulette repose, + Sans que troupeau ni berger y arrive; + L'air doux l'echauffe, et l'Aurore l'arrose, + La terre, l'eau par sa faveur l'avive; + Mais jeunes gens et dames amoureuses, + De la cueillir ont les mains envieuses; + La terre et l'air, qui la soulaient nourrir, + La quittent lors et la laissent fletrir(498)." + +It is evident that Ariosto has suggested several things to the French +poet, as he has also done to the imitators in our own language, in which +the simile has been frequently attempted, but not with much success. Ben +Jonson has translated it miserably, substituting doggerel verse for the +sweet flow of the Latin poetry, and verbal antithesis and conceit for that +beautiful simplicity of idea which forms the chief charm of the original: + + "Look how a flower that close in closes grows, + Hid from rude cattle, bruised by no plows," &c. + +One of the best of the numerous English imitations is that in the _Lay of +Iolante_, introduced in Bland's _Four Slaves of Cythera_: + + "A tender maid is like a flow'ret sweet, + Within the covert of a garden born; + Nor flock nor hind disturb the calm retreat, + But on the parent stalk it blooms untorn, + Refresh'd by vernal rains and gentle heat, + The balm of evening, and the dews of morn: + Youths and enamoured maidens vie to wear + This flower--their bosoms grace, or twined around their hair. + + "No sooner gathered from the vernal bough, + Where fresh and blooming to the sight it grew. + Than all who marked its opening beauty blow, + Forsake the tainted sweet, and faded hue. + And she who yields, forgetful of her vow, + To one but newly loved, another's due, + Shall live, though high for heavenly beauty prized, + By youths unhonoured, and by maids despised." + +One of the lines in the passage of Catullus, + + "Multi illum pueri--multae optavere puellae," + +and its converse, + + "Nulli illum pueri--nullae optavere puellae," + +have been copied by Ovid in his _Metamorphoses_(499), and applied to +Narcissus, + + "Multi illum pueri, multae cupiere puellae. + Sed fuit in tenera tam dura superbia forma, + Nulli illum juvenes, nullae tetigere puellae." + +The origin of the line, + + "Nec pueris jucunda manet, nec cara puellis," + +may be traced to a fragment of the Greek poet Mimnermus: + + "{~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}' {~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER CHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}, {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER XI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}." + +63. _De Ati_.--The story of Atis is one of the most mysterious of the +mythological emblems. The fable was explained by Porphyry; and the Emperor +Julian afterwards invented and published an allegory of this mystic tale. +According to them, the voluntary emasculation of Atis was typical of the +revolution of the sun between the tropics, or the separation of the human +soul from vice and error. In the literal acceptation in which it is +presented by Catullus, the fable seems an unpromising and rather a +peculiar subject for poetry: indeed, there is no example of a similar +event being celebrated in verse, except the various poems on the fate of +Abelard. It is likewise the only specimen we have in Latin of the +Galliambic measure; so called, because sung by Galli, the effeminate +votaries of Cybele. The Romans, being a more sober and severe people than +the Greeks, gave less encouragement than they to the celebration of the +rites of Bacchus, and have poured forth but few dithyrambic lines. The +genius of their language and of their usual style of poetry, as well as +their own practical and imitative character, were unfavourable to the +composition of such bold, figurative, and discursive strains. They have +left no verses which can be strictly called dithyrambic, except, perhaps, +the nineteenth ode of the second book of Horace, and a chorus in the +_OEdipus_ of Seneca. If not perfectly dithyrambic, the numbers of the +_Atis_ of Catullus are, however, strongly expressive of distraction and +enthusiasm. The violent bursts of passion are admirably aided by the +irresistible torrent of words, and by the cadence of a measure powerfully +denoting mental agony and remorse. In this production, now unexampled in +every sense of the word, Catullus is no longer the light agreeable poet, +who counted the kisses of his mistress, and called on the Cupids to lament +her sparrow. His ideas are full of fire, and his language of wildness: He +pours forth his thoughts with an energy, rapidity, and enthusiasm, so +different from his usual tone, and, indeed, from that of all Latin poets, +that this production has been supposed to be a translation from some +ancient Greek dithyrambic, of which it breathes all the passion and poetic +phrensy. The employment of long compound epithets, which constantly recur +in the _Atis_,-- + + "Ubi cerva sylvicultrix, ubi aper nemorivagus," ---- + +is also a strong mark of imitation of the Greek dithyrambics; it being +supposed, that such sonorous and new-invented words were most befitting +intoxication or religious enthusiasm(500). Anacreon, in his thirteenth +ode, alludes to the lamentations and transports of Atis, as to a +well-known poetical tradition: + + "{~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER OMICRON WITH DASIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER BETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER BETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} + {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA WITH DASIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} + {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER EPSILON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER BETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}, + {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH TONOS~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}." + +Atis, it appears from the poem of Catullus, was a beautiful youth, +probably of Greece, who, forsaking his home and parents, sailed with a few +companions to Phrygia, and, having landed, hurried to the grove +consecrated to the great goddess Cybele,-- + + "Adiitque opaca sylvis redimita loca Deae," + +There, struck with superstitious phrensy, he qualified himself for the +service of that divinity; and, snatching the musical instruments used in +her worship, he exhorted his companions, who had followed his example, to +ascend to the temple of Cybele. At this part of the poem, we follow the +new votary of the Phrygian goddess through all his wild traversing of +woods and mountains, till at length, having reached the temple, Atis and +his companions drop asleep, exhausted by fatigue and mental distraction. +Being tranquillized in some measure by a night's repose, Atis becomes +sensible of the misery of his situation; and, struck with horror at his +rash deed, he returns to the sea-shore. There he casts his eyes, bathed in +tears, over the ocean homeward; and comparing his former happiness with +his present wretched condition, he pours forth a complaint unrivalled in +energy and pathos. Gibbon talks of the different emotions produced by the +transition of Atis from the wildest enthusiasm to sober pathetic complaint +for his irretrievable loss(501); but, in fact, his complaint is not +soberly pathetic--to which the Galliambic measure would be little suited: +it is, on the contrary, the most impassioned expression of mental agony +and bitter regret in the wide compass of Roman literature: + + "Abero foro, palaestra, stadio et gymnasiis? + Miser, ah miser! querendum est etiam atque etiam, anime: + Ego puber, ego adolescens, ego ephebus, ego puer; + Ego gymnasii fui flos, ego eram decus olei; + Mihi januae frequentes, mihi limina tepida, + Mihi floridis corollis redimita domus erat, + Linquendum ubi esset, orto mihi Sole, cubiculum. + Egone Deum ministra et Cybeles famula ferar? + Ego Maenas, ego mei pars, ego vir sterilis ero? + Ego viridis algida Idae nive amicta loca colam? + Ego vitam agam sub altis Phrygiae columinibus, + Ubi cerva sylvicultrix, ubi aper nemorivagus? + Jam jam dolet quod egi, jam jamque poenitet." + +One is vexed, that the conclusion of this splendid production should be so +puerile. Cybele, dreading the defection and escape of her newly acquired +votary, lets loose a lion, which drives him back to her groves,-- + + "Ubi semper omne vitae spatium famula fuit." + +Muretus attempted a Latin Galliambic Address to Bacchus in imitation of +the measure employed in the _Atis_ of Catullus, and he has strenuously +tried to make his poem resemble its model by an affected use of uncouth +compound epithets. Pigna, an Italian poet, has adopted similar numbers in +a Latin poem, on the metamorphosis of the water nymph, Pitys, who was +changed into a fir-tree, for having fled from the embraces of Boreas. In +many of the lines he has closely followed Catullus; but it seems scarcely +possible that any modern poet could excite in his mind the enthusiasm +essential for the production of such works. Catullus probably believed as +little in Atis and Cybele as Muretus, but he lived among men who did; and +though his opinions might not be influenced, his imagination was tinged +with the colours of the age. + +_Atis_ is the name of one of the tragic operas of Quinault, which, I +believe, was the most popular of his pieces except _Armide_; but it has +little reference to the classic story of the votary of Cybele. The French +Atis is a vehement and powerful lover, who elopes with the nymph Sangaride +on the wings of the Zephyrs, which had been placed by Cybele, who was +herself enamoured of the youth, at the disposal of Atis. It seems a poor +production in itself, (how different from the operas of Metastasio!) but +it was embellished by splendid scenery, and the music of Lulli, adapted to +the chorus of Phrygians, and Zephyrs, and Dreams, and Streams, and +Corybantes. + +64. _Epithalamium Pelei et Thetidis_.--This is the longest and most +elaborate of the productions of Catullus. It displays much accurate +description, as well as pathetic and impassioned incident. Catullus was a +Greek scholar, and all his commentators seem determined that his best +poems should be considered as of Greek invention. I do not believe, +however, that the whole of this epithalamium was taken from any one poet +of Greece, as the _Coma Berenices_ was from Callimachus; but the author +undoubtedly borrowed a great deal from various writers of that country. +Hesiod wrote an Epithalamium, {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER EPSILON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~} {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}(502), some fragments of +which have been cited by Tzetzes, in his _prolegomena_ to Lycophron's +_Cassandra_; and judging from these, it appears to have suggested several +lines of the epithalamium of Catullus. The adornment, however, and +propriety of its language, and the usual practice of Catullus in other +productions, render it probable, that he has chiefly selected his beauties +from the Alexandrian poets. Valckenar, in his edition of Theocritus, +(1779,) has shown, that the Idyls of Theocritus, particularly the +_Adoniazusi_, have been of much service to our Latin poet; and a late +German commentator has pointed out more than twenty passages, in which he +has not merely imitated, but actually translated, Apollonius Rhodius(503). + +The proper subject of this epithalamium is the festivals held in Thessaly +in honour of the nuptials of Peleus and Thetis; but it is chiefly occupied +with a long episode, containing the story of Ariadne. It commences with +the sailing of the ship Argo on the celebrated expedition to which that +vessel has given name. The Nereids were so much struck with the unusual +spectacle, that they all emerged from the deep; and Thetis, one of their +number, fell in love with Peleus, who had accompanied the expedition, and +who was instantly seized with a reciprocal passion. Little is said as to +the manner in which the courtship was conducted, and the poet hastens to +the preparations for the nuptials. On this joyful occasion, all the +inhabitants of Thessaly flock to its capital, Pharsalia. Every thing in +the royal palace is on a magnificent scale; but the poet chiefly describes +the _stragula_, or coverlet, of the nuptial couch, on which was depicted +the concluding part of the story of Theseus and Ariadne. Ariadne is +represented as standing on the beach, where she had been abandoned, while +asleep, by Theseus, and gazing in fixed despair at the departing sail of +her false lover. Never was there a finer picture drawn of complete mental +desolation. She was incapable of exhibiting violent signs of grief: She +neither beats her bosom, nor bursts into tears; but the diadem which had +compressed her locks--the light mantle which had floated around her +form--the veil which had covered her bosom--all neglected, and fallen at her +feet, were the sport of the waves which dashed the strand, while she +herself, regardless and stupified with horror at her frightful situation, +stood like the motionless statue of a Bacchante,-- + + "Saxea ut effigies Bacchantis prospicit Evoe; + Non flavo retinens subtilem vertice mitram, + Non contecta levi velatum pectus amictu, + Non tereti strophio luctantes vincta papillas; + Omnia quae toto delapsa e corpore passim + Ipsius ante pedes fluctus salis alludebant." + +The above passage is thus imitated by the author of the elegant poem +_Ciris_, which has been attributed to Virgil, and is not unworthy of his +genius: + + "Infelix virgo tota bacchatur in urbe: + Non styrace Idaeo fragrantes picta capillos, + Cognita non teneris pedibus Sicyonia servans, + Non niveo retinens baccata monilia collo."--v. 167. + +Catullus, leaving Ariadne in the attitude above described, recapitulates +the incidents, by which she had been placed in this agonizing situation. +He relates, in some excellent lines, the magnanimous enterprize of +Theseus--his voyage, and arrival in Crete: He gives us a picture of the +youthful innocence of Ariadne, reared in the bosom of her mother, like a +myrtle springing up on the solitary banks of the Euphrates, or a flower +whose blossom is brought forth by the breath of spring. The combat of +Theseus with the Minotaur is but shortly and coldly described. It is +obvious that the poet merely intended to raise our idea of the valour of +Theseus, so far as to bestow interest and dignity on the passion of +Ariadne, and to excuse her for sacrificing to its gratification all +feelings of domestic duty and affection. Having yielded and accompanied +her lover, she was deserted by him, in that forlorn situation, her deep +sense of which had changed her to the likeness of a Bacchante sculptured +in stone. Her first feelings of horror and astonishment had deprived her +of the power of utterance; but she at length bursts into exclamations +against the perfidy of men, and their breach of vows, which + + ---- "Cuncta aerii discerpunt irrita venti. + Jam jam nulla viro juranti femina credat, + Nulla viri speret sermones esse fideles: + Qui, dum aliquid cupiens animus praegestit apisci, + Nil metuunt jurare, nihil promittere parcunt. + Sed simul ac cupidae mentis satiata libido est, + Dicta nihil metuere, nihil perjuria curant." + +This passage has been obviously imitated by Ariosto, in his _Orlando_-- + + "Donne, alcuna di voi mai piu non sia + Che a parole d'amante abbia a dar fede. + L'amante per aver quel che desia, + Senza curar che Dio tutto ode e vede, + Avviluppa promesse, e giuramenti, + Che tutti spargon poi per l'aria i venti." + +After indulging in such general reflections, Ariadne complains of the +cruelty and ingratitude of Theseus in particular, whom she thus +apostrophizes-- + + "Quaenam te genuit sola sub rupe leaena? + Quod mare conceptum spumantibus exspuit undis? + Quae Syrtis, quae Scylla, vorax quae vasta Charybdis?" + +These lines seem to have been suggested by the address of Patroclus to +Achilles, near the commencement of the sixteenth book of the Iliad-- + + "---- {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER OMICRON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH DASIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~} {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~}, + {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER OMICRON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~} {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}. {~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~} {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}, + {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}' {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER BETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}, {~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH DASIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~}." + +Catullus, having put the expression of this idea in the mouth of a +princess abandoned by her lover, it became a sort of _Formula_ for +deserted heroines among subsequent poets. Thus Ovid, in the eighth book of +his _Metamorphoses_-- + + "Non genitrix Europa tibi est, sed inhospita Syrtis, + Armeniae tigres, austroque agitata Charybdis;" + +and thus Virgil makes Dido address AEneas-- + + "Nec tibi Diva parens, generis nec Dardanus auctor, + Perfide, sed duris genuit te cautibus horrens + Caucasus, Hyrcanaeque admorunt ubera tigres." + +Tasso, who was a great imitator of the Latin poets, attributes, from the +lips of Armida, a similar genealogy to Rinaldo-- + + "Ne te Sofia produsse, e non sei nato + Dell' Azzio sangue tu. Te l'onda insana + Del mar produsse, e 'l Caucaso gelato, + E le mamme allattar de tigre Ircana." + +Boileau had happily enough parodied those rodomontades in the earlier +editions of the _Lutrin_; but the passage has been omitted in all those +subsequent to that of 1683-- + + "Non, ton pere a Paris ne fut point boulanger, + Et tu n'es point du sang de Gervais, l'horloger; + Ta mere ne fut point la maitresse d'une coche: + Caucase dans ses flancs te forma d'une roche, + Une tigresse affreuse en quelque antre ecarte, + Te fit sucer son lait avec sa cruaute." + +I do not think the circumstances in which Armida pours forth her +reproaches are judiciously selected. The Ariadne of Catullus vents her +complaints when her betrayer is beyond reach of hearing, and Dido, though +in his presence, before he had taken his departure: But Armida runs after, +and overtakes Rinaldo, in which there is something degrading. She +expresses, however, more tenderness and amorous devotedness amid her +revilings, than any of her predecessors-- + + "Struggi la fede nostra; anch'io t'affretto; + Che dico nostra? Ah non piu mia: fedele + Sono a te solo, idolo mio crudele!" + +When she has ended her complaints of the cruelty and ingratitude of +Theseus, Ariadne expresses a very natural wish, that the ship Argo had +never reached her native shores-- + + "Jupiter Omnipotens, utinam ne tempore primo + Gnosia Cecropiae tetigissent littora puppes." + +Thus, apparently, imitated by Virgil-- + + "Felix, heu nimium felix! si littora tantum + Nunquam Dardaniae tetigissent nostra carinae." + +But both these passages, it is probable, were originally drawn from the +beginning of the Medea of Euripides-- + + "{~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER EPSILON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}' {~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}' {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} + {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER CHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~}." + +Catullus proceeds with a much closer imitation of Euripides-- + + "Nunc quo me referam? quali spe perdita nitar? + An patris auxilium sperem, quemne ipsa reliqui?" + +which is almost translated from the Medea-- + + "{~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}; {~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} + {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER OMICRON WITH DASIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}." + +The grief and repentance of Ariadne are at length followed by a sense of +personal danger and hardship; and her pathetic soliloquy terminates with +execrations on the author of her misfortunes, to which-- + + "Annuit invicto coelestum numine rector; + Quo tunc et tellus, atque horrida contremuerunt + AEquora, concussitque micantia sidera mundus," + +an image probably derived from the celebrated description in the Iliad--{~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER ETA WITH PSILI~} +{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}, &c. This promise of Jupiter was speedily accomplished, in +the well-known and miserable fate of AEgeus, the father of Theseus. + +We are naturally led to compare with Catullus, the efforts of his own +countrymen, particularly those of Ovid and Virgil, in portraying the +agonies of deserted nymphs and princesses. Both these poets have borrowed +largely from their predecessor. Ovid has treated the subject of Ariadne +not less than four times. In the epistle of Ariadne to Theseus, he has +painted, like Catullus, her disordered person--her sense of desertion, and +remembrance of the benefits she had conferred on Theseus: But the epistle +is a cold production, chiefly because her grief is not immediately +presented before us; and she merely tells that she had wept, and sighed, +and raved. The minute detail, too, into which she enters, is inconsistent +with her vehement passion. She recollects too well each heap of sand which +retarded her steps, and the thorns on the summit of the mountain. +Returning from her wanderings, she addresses her couch, of which she asks +advice, till she becomes overpowered by apprehension for the wild beasts +and marine monsters, of which she presents her false lover with a faithful +catalogue. The simple ideas of Catullus are frequently converted into +conceits, and his natural bursts of passion, into quibbles and artificial +points. In the eighth book of the _Metamorphoses_, the melancholy part of +Ariadne's story is only recalled, in order to introduce the transformation +of her crown into a star. In the third book of the _Fasti_, she deplores +the double desertion of Theseus and Bacchus. It is in the first book of +the _Art of Love_, that Ovid approaches nearest to Catullus, particularly +in the sudden contrast between the solitude and melancholy of Ariadne, and +the revelry of the Bacchanalians. Some of Virgil's imitations of Catullus +have been already pointed out: But part of the complaint of Dido is +addressed to her betrayer, and contains a bitterness of sarcasm, and +eloquence of reproof, which neither Catullus nor Ovid could reach. + +The desertion of Olimpia by Bireno, related in the tenth canto of the +_Orlando Furioso_, has, in its incidents at least, a strong resemblance to +the poem of Catullus. Bireno, Duke of Zealand, while on a voyage from +Holland to his own country, touches on Frisia; and, being smit with love +for Olimpia, daughter of the king, carries her off with him; but, in the +farther progress of the voyage, he lands on a desert island, and, while +Olimpia is asleep, he leaves her, and sets sail in the darkness of night. +Olimpia awakes, and, finding herself alone, hurries to the beach, and then +ascends a rock, whence she descries, by light of the moon, the departing +sail of her lover. Here, and afterwards while in her tent, she pours forth +her plaints against the treachery of Bireno. In the details of this story, +Ariosto has chiefly copied from Ovid; but he has also availed himself of +several passages in Catullus. As Ariosto, in his story of Olimpia, +principally chose Ovid for his model, so Tasso, in that of Armida, seems +chiefly to have kept his eye on Virgil and Catullus. But Armida is not +like Ariadne, an injured and innocent maid, nor a stately queen, like +Dido; but a voluptuous and artful magician, + + ---- "Che nella doglia amara + Gia tutte non obblia l'arte e le frodi." + +It has been mentioned, that the desertion of Ariadne was represented on +one compartment of the coverlet of the nuptial couch of Peleus--on another +division of it the story of Bacchus and Ariadne was exhibited. The +introduction of Bacchus and his train closes the episode with an animated +picture, and forms a pleasing contrast to the melancholy scenes that +precede it. At the same time, the poet, delicately breaking off without +even hinting at the fair one's ready acceptance of her new lover, leaves +the pity we feel for her abandonment unweakened on the mind. + +65. _Ad Ortalum_. This is the first of the elegies of Catullus, and indeed +the earliest of any length or celebrity which had hitherto appeared in the +Latin language. Elegies were originally written by the Greeks in alternate +hexameter and pentameter lines, "versibus impariter junctis." This +measure, which was at first appropriated to deplore misfortunes, +particularly the loss of friends, was soon employed to complain of +unsuccessful love, and, by a very easy transition, to describe the +delights of gratified passion: + + ---- "Querimonia primum, + Post etiam inclusa est voti sententia compos." + +Matters were in this state in the age of Mimnermus, who was contemporary +with Solon, and was the most celebrated elegiac poet of the Greeks. Hence, +from his time every poem in that measure, whatever was the subject, came +to be denominated elegy. The mixed species of verse, however, was always +considered essential, so that the complaint of Bion on the death of +Adonis, or that of Moschus on the loss of Bion, is hardly accounted such, +being written in a different sort of measure. In the strict acceptation of +the term, scarcely any Greek elegy has descended to us entire, except +perhaps a few lines by Callimachus on the death of Heraclitus. + +This elegy of Catullus may be considered as a sort of introduction to that +which follows it. Hortalus, to whom it is addressed, had requested him to +translate from Callimachus the poem _De Coma Berenices_. He apologizes for +the delay which had taken place in complying with the wishes of his +friend, on account of the grief he had experienced from the premature +death of his brother, for whom he bursts forth into this pathetic +lamentation:-- + + "Nunquam ego te, vita frater amabilior, + Aspiciam posthac; at certe semper amabo, + Semper moesta tua carmina morte canam; + Qualia sub densis ramorum concinit umbris + Daulias, absumpti fata gemens Ityli." + +This simile is taken from the 19th book of the Odyssey-- + + "{~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER OMEGA WITH DASIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}' {~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH DASIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~} {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}, {~GREEK SMALL LETTER CHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}, + {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}, {~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH TONOS~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}, + {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ZETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} + {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}' {~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~} {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER PHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}," + +and it appears in turn to have been the foundation of Virgil's celebrated +comparison:-- + + "Qualis populea moerens Philomela sub umbra + Amissos queritur foetus," &c. + +This simile has been beautifully varied and adorned by Moschus(504) and +Quintus Calaber(505), among the Greeks; and among the modern Italians by +Petrarch, in his exquisite sonnet on the death of Laura:-- + + "Qual Rossignuol che si soave piagne," &c. + +and by Naugerius, in his ode _Ad Auroram_, + + "Nunc ab umbroso simul esculeto, + Daulias late queritur: querelas + Consonum circa nemus, et jocosa reddit imago." + +66. _De Coma Berenices_, is the poem alluded to in the former elegy: it is +translated from a production of Callimachus, of which only two distichs +remain, one preserved by Theon, a scholiast, on Aratus, and the other in +the _Scholia_ on Apollonius Rhodius(506). + +Callimachus was esteemed by all antiquity as the finest elegiac poet of +Greece, or at least as next in merit to Mimnermus. He belonged to the +poetic school which flourished at Alexandria from the time of Ptolemy +Philadelphus to that of Ptolemy Physcon, and which still sheds a lustre +over the dynasty of the Lagides, in spite of the crimes and personal +deformities with which their names have been sarcastically associated. + +After the partition of the Greek empire among the successors of Alexander, +the city to which he had given name became the capital of the literary +world; and arts and learning long continued to be protected even by the +most degenerate of the Ptolemies. But the school which subsisted at +Alexandria was of a very different taste and description from that which +had flourished at Athens in the age of Pericles. In Egypt the Greeks +became a more learned, and perhaps a more philosophical people, than they +had been in the days of their ancient glory at home; but they were no +longer a nation, and with their freedom their whole strength of feeling, +and peculiar tone of mind, were lost. Servitude and royal munificence, +with the consequent spirit of flattery which crept in, and even the +enormous library of Alexandria, were injurious to the elastic and native +spring of poetic fancy. The Egyptian court was crowded with men of +erudition, instead of such men of genius as had thronged the theatre and +_Agora_ of Athens. The courtly _literati_, the academicians, and the +librarians of Alexandria, were distinguished as critics, grammarians, +geographers, or geometricians. With them poetry became a matter of study, +not of original genius or invention, and consequently never reached its +highest flights. Though not without amenity and grace, they wanted that +boldness, sublimity, and poetic enthusiasm by which the bards of the Greek +republics were inspired. When, like Apollonius Rhodius, they attempted +poetry of the highest class, they rose not above an elegant mediocrity; or +when they attained perfection, as in the instance of Theocritus, it was in +the inferior and more delicate branches of the art. Accordingly, these +erudite and ornate poets chiefly selected as the subjects of their muse +didactic topics of astronomy and physics, or obscure traditions derived +from ancient fable. Lycophron immersed himself in such a sea of fabulous +learning, that he became nearly unintelligible, and all of them were +marked with the blemishes of affectation and obscurity, into which learned +poets are most apt to fall. Among the pleiad of Alexandrian poets, none +had so many of the faults and beauties of the school to which he belonged +as Callimachus. He was conspicuous for his profound knowledge of the +ancient traditions of Greece, for his poetic art and elegant +versification, but he was also noted for deficiency of invention and +original genius:-- + + "Battiades semper toto cantabitur orbe, + Quamvis ingenio non valet, arte valet(507)." + +The poem of Catullus has some faults, which may be fairly attributed to +his pedantic model--a certain obscurity in point of diction, and that +ostentatious display of erudition, which characterized the works of the +Alexandrian poets. The Greek original, however, being lost, except two +distichs, it is impossible to institute an accurate comparison; but the +Latin appears to be considerably more diffuse than the Greek. One distich, +which is still extant in the _Scholia_ on Apollonius, has been expanded by +Catullus into three lines; and the following preserved by Theon has been +dilated into four:-- + + "{~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER ETA WITH DASIA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~} {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}' {~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER BETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PSI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA WITH PERISPOMENI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER BETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} + {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER BETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER CHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}, {~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH DASIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~} {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~}(508)" + + "Idem me ille Conon coelesti lumine vidit + E Bereniceo vertice caesariem, + Fulgentem clare; quam multis illa Deorum, + Laevia protendens brachia, pollicita est." + +Here the three words {~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER BETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER BETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER CHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} have been extended into "E +Bereniceo vertice caesariem fulgentem," and the single word {~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~} has +formed a whole Latin line, + + "Laevia protendens brachia, pollicita est(509)." + +The Latin poem, like its Greek original, is in elegiac verse, and is +supposed to be spoken by the constellation called _Coma Berenices_. It +relates how Berenice, the queen and sister of Ptolemy, (Euergetes,) vowed +the consecration of her locks to the immortals, provided her husband was +restored to her, safe and successful, from a military expedition on which +he had proceeded against the Assyrians. The king having returned according +to her wish, and her shorn locks having disappeared, it is supposed by one +of those fictions which poetry alone can admit, that Zephyrus, the son of +Aurora, and brother of Memnon, had carried them up to heaven, and thrown +them into the lap of Venus, by whom they were set in the sky, and were +soon afterwards discovered among the constellations by Conon, a court +astronomer. In order to relish this poem, or to enter into its spirit, we +must read it imbued as it were with the belief and manners of the ancient +Egyptians. The locks of Berenice might be allowed to speak and desire, +because they had been converted into stars, which, by an ancient +philosophic system, were supposed to be possessed of animation and +intelligence. Similar honours had been conferred on the crown of Ariadne +and the ship of Isis, and the belief in such transformations was at least +of that popular or traditionary nature which fitted them for the purposes +of poetry. The race, too, of the Egyptian Ptolemies, traced their lineage +to Jupiter, which would doubtless facilitate the reception of the locks of +Berenice among the heavenly orbs. Adulation, however, it must be +confessed, could not be carried higher; the beautiful locks of Berenice, +though metamorphosed into stars, are represented as regretting their +former happy situation, and prefer adorning the brow of Berenice, to +blazing by night in the front of heaven, under the steps of immortals, or +reposing by day in the bosom of Tethys:-- + + "Non his tam laetor rebus, quam me abfore semper, + Abfore me a dominae vertice discrucior." + +But though the poem of Callimachus may have been seriously written, and +gravely read by the court of Ptolemy, the lines of Catullus often approach +to something like pleasantry or _persiflage_: + + "Invita, O Regina, tuo de vertice cessi ... + Sed qui se ferro postulet esse parem? + Ille quoque eversus mons est, quem maximum in oris + Progenies Phthiae clara supervehitur; + Quum Medi properare novum mare, quumque juventus + Per medium classi barbara navit Athon. + Quid facient crines, quum ferro talia cedant?" + +These lines seem intended is a sort of mock-heroic, and remind us strongly +of the _Rape of the Lock_: + + "Steel could the labours of the gods destroy, + And strike to dust the imperial towers of Troy; + Steel could the works of mortal pride confound, + And hew triumphal arches to the ground. + What wonder, then, fair nymph! thy hairs should feel + The conquering force of unresisted steel?" + +The _Coma Earini_ of Statius(510), is a poem of the same description as +the _Coma Berenices_. It is written in a style of sufficiently elegant +versification; but what in Callimachus is a courtly, though perhaps rather +extravagant compliment, is in Statius a servile and disgusting adulation +of the loathsome monster, whose vices he so disgracefully flattered. +Antonio Sebastiani, a Latin poet of modern Italy, has imitated Catullus, +by celebrating the locks of a princess of San-Severino. The beauty and +virtues of his heroine had excited the admiration of earth, and the love +of the gods, but with these the jealousy of the goddesses. By their +influence, a malady evoked from Styx threatens the life of the princess, +and occasions the loss of her hair. The gods, indignant at this base +conspiracy, commission Iris to convey the fallen locks to the sky, and to +restore to the princess, along with health, her former freshness and +beauty. + +68. _Ad Manlium_. The principal subject of this elegy, is the story of +Laodamia: The best parts, however, are those lines in which the poet +laments his brother, which are truly elegiac-- + + "Tu, mea, tu moriens, fregisti commoda, frater; + Tecum una tota est nostra sepulta domus; + Omnia tecum una perierunt gaudia nostra, + Quae tuus in vita dulcis alebat amor: + Quojus ego interitu tota de mente fugavi + Haec studia, atque omnes delicias animi." + +Catullus seems to have entertained a sincere affection for his brother, +and to have deeply deplored his loss; hence he generally writes well when +touching on this tender topic. Indeed, the only remaining elegy of +Catullus worth mentioning, is that entitled _Inferiae ad Fratris Tumulum_, +which is another beautiful and affectionate tribute to the memory of this +beloved youth. Vulpius had said, in a commentary on Catullus, that his +brother died while accompanying him in his expedition with Memmius to +Bithynia. This, however, is denied by Ginguene, who quotes two lines from +the _Inferiae_-- + + "Multas per gentes, et multa per aequora vectus, + Adveni has miseras, frater, ad inferias," + +in order to show that the poet was at a distance at the time of his +brother's death, and celebration of his funeral rites. It is possible, +however, that these lines may refer to some subsequent pilgrimage to his +tomb, or, what is most probable, his brother may have died at Troy, while +Catullus was in Bithynia. + +None of the remaining poems of Catullus, though written in elegiac verse, +are at all of the description to which we now give the name of elegy. They +are usually termed epigrams, and contain the most violent invectives on +living characters, for the vices in which they indulged, and satire the +most unrestrained on their personal deformities; but few of them are +epigrams in the modern acceptation of the word. An epigram, as is well +known, was originally what we now call a device or inscription, and the +term remained, though the thing itself was changed(511). A Greek anthology +consisting of poems which expressed a simple idea--a sentiment, regret, or +wish, without point or double meaning, had been compiled by Meleager +before the time of Catullus; and hence he had an opportunity of imitating +the style of the Greek epigrams, and occasionally borrowing their +expressions, though generally with application to some of his enemies at +Rome, whom he wished to hold up to the derision or hatred of his +countrymen. Most of these poems were called forth by real occurrences, and +express, without disguise, his genuine feelings at the time: His contempt, +dislike, and resentment, all burst out in poetry. So little is known +concerning the circumstances of his life, or the history of his enmities +or friendships, that some of the lighter productions of Catullus are +nearly unintelligible, while others appear flat and obscure; and in none +can we fully relish the felicity of expression or allusion. + +These epigrams of Catullus are chiefly curious and valuable, when +considered as occasional or extemporary productions, which paint the +manners, as well as echo the tone of thought and feeling, which at the +time prevailed in fashionable society at Rome. What chiefly obtrudes +itself on our attention, is the gross personal invective, and indecency of +these compositions, so foreign from anything that would be tolerated in +modern times. The art of rendering others satisfied with themselves, and +consequently with us--the practice of dissembling our feelings, at first to +please, and then by habit,--the custom, if not of flattering our foes, at +least of meeting those we dislike, without reviling them, were talents +unknown in the ancient republic of Rome. The freedom of the times was +accompanied by a frankness and sincerity of language, which we would +consider as rude. Even the best friends attacked each other in the Senate, +and before the various tribunals of justice, in the harshest and most +unmeasured terms of abuse. Philip of Macedon, in an amicable interview +with the Roman general Flaminius, who was accounted the most polite man of +his day, apologized for not having returned an immediate answer to some +proposition which had been made to him, on the ground that none of those +friends, with whom he was in the habit of consulting, were at hand when he +received it; to which Flaminius replied, that the reason he had no friends +near him was, that he had assassinated them all. Matters were little +better in the days of Catullus. At the time he flourished, everything was +made subservient to political advancement; and what _we_ should consider +as the most inexpiable offences, were forgotten, or at least forgiven, as +soon as the interests of ambition required. Accordingly, no person seems +to have blamed the bitter invectives of Catullus; and none of his +contemporaries were surprised or shocked at the unbridled freedom with +which he reviled his enemies. He was merely considered as availing himself +of a privilege, which every one was entitled to exercise. In his days, +ridicule and raillery were oftener directed by malice than by wit: But the +Romans thought no terms unseemly, which expressed the utmost bitterness of +private or political animosity, and an excess of malevolence was received +as sufficient compensation for deficiency in liveliness or humour. As +little were the Romans offended by the obscene images and expressions +which Catullus so frequently employed. Such had not yet been proscribed in +the conversation of the best company. "Among the ancients," says Porson, +in his review of Brunck's _Aristophanes_(512), "plain speaking was the +fashion; nor was that ceremonious delicacy introduced, which has taught +men to abuse each other with the utmost politeness, and express the most +indecent ideas in the most modest language. The ancients had little of +this: They were accustomed to call a spade, a spade--to give everything its +proper name. There is another sort of indecency which is infinitely more +dangerous, which corrupts the heart without offending the ear." Hence the +Muse of light poetry thought not of having recourse to the circumlocutions +or suggestions of modern times. Nor did Catullus suffer in his reputation, +either as an author or man of fashion, from the impurities by which his +poems were poisoned. All this would have been less remarkable in the first +age of Roman literature, as indelicacy of expression is characteristic of +the early poetry of almost every nation. The French epigrams of Regnier, +and his contemporaries Motin and Berthelot, are nearly as gross as those +of Catullus; but at the close of the Roman republic, literature was far +advanced; and if it be true, that as a nation grows corrupted its language +becomes pure, the words and expressions of the Romans, in these last days +of liberty, should have been sufficiently chaste. The obscenities of +Catullus, however, it must be admitted, are oftener the sport of satire, +than the ebullitions of a voluptuous imagination. His sarcastic account of +the debaucheries of Lesbia, is more impure than the pictures of his +enjoyment of her love. + +No subject connected with the works of Catullus is more curious than the +different sentiments, which, as we have seen, he expresses with regard to +this woman. His conflict of mind breathes into his poetry every variety of +passion. We behold him now transported with love, now reviling and +despising her as sunk in the lowest abyss of shame, and yet, with this +full knowledge of her abandoned character, her blandishments preserve +undiminished sway over his affections. "At one time," says a late +translator of Catullus, "we find him upbraiding Lesbia bitterly with her +licentiousness, then bidding her farewell for ever; then beseeching from +the gods resolution to cast her off; then weakly confessing utter +impotence of mind, and submission to hopeless slavery; then, in the +epistle to Manlius, persuading himself, by reason and example, into a +contented acquiescence in her falsehoods, and yet at last accepting with +eagerness, and relying with hope, on her proffered vow of constancy. +Nothing can be more genuine than the rapture with which he depicts his +happiness in her hours of affection; nor than the gloomy despair with +which he is overwhelmed, when he believes himself resolved to quit her for +ever." And all this, he wrote and circulated concerning a Roman lady, +belonging, it is believed, to one of the first and most powerful families +of the state! + +Lesbia, as formerly mentioned, is universally allowed to be Clodia, the +sister of the turbulent Clodius; but there has been a great deal of +discussion and dispute, with regard to the identity of the other +individuals against whom the epigrams are directed. Justus Lipsius(513) +has written a dissertation with regard to Vettius and Cominius. The former +he supposes to be the person mentioned in Cicero's Letters to Atticus, and +by Suetonius, as having been suborned by Caesar, to allow himself to be +seized with a weapon on his person, and to confess that he had been +employed by the Chiefs of the Senate to assassinate Pompey--a device +contrived by Caesar, in order to set Pompey and the Senate at variance. +Cominius was an accuser by profession, and impeached C. Cornelius, whom +Cicero defended(514). Lipsius believes Alphenus to be Pompey, and thinks +that the epigram, directed against him, is supposed to be written in the +person of Cicero. He is of opinion that the poet durst not venture to +mention Pompey's name, and therefore designed him by an assumed one; but +the epigrams on Julius Caesar prove that Catullus was neither so scrupulous +nor timid. The greatest number, however, and the most cutting of the +epigrams, are aimed at Gellius, his successful rival in the affections of +Lesbia-- + + ---- "Quem Lesbia malit, + Quam te cum tota gente, Catulle, tua." + +There were two persons of this name at Rome in the time of Catullus--an +uncle and nephew. The first was a notorious profligate, who had wasted his +patrimony, and afterwards headed mobs in the Forum for hire(515). The +nephew was equally dissolute. After the death of Caesar, he conspired to +assassinate Cassius in the midst of his army, and, having been pardoned, +deserted to Antony. One of the various crimes of which he was suspected, +identifies him as the Gellius branded by our poet, and whose vices were so +great-- + + ---- "Quantum non ultima Tethys, + Non genitor nympharum abluit Oceanus." + +This idea, by the way, of crimes of such crimson dye that they cannot be +washed out by the wide world of waters, seems to have been originally +derived from some verses of the chorus in the Choephorae of AEschylus-- + + ---- "{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH DASIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~} + {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER BETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER CHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~} + {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER PHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}." + +The great successor of AEschylus expressed the same idea, in different +language, in the _OEdipus Tyrannus_-- + + "{~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER OMICRON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}' {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~} {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER PHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} + {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PSI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}, {~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH DASIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~} + {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}." + +Seneca, imitating Catullus, in his _Hercules Furens_, says-- + + ---- "Arctoum licet + Maeotis in me gelida transfundat mare, + Et tota Thetis per meas currat manus, + Haerebit altum facinus." ---- + +There is a remarkable resemblance betwixt this idea and a well-known +passage in _Macbeth_: + + "Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood + Clean from my hand?" ---- + +Much dispute has existed with regard to the comparative merit of the +epigrammatic productions of Catullus, and those of Martial, who sharpened +the Latin epigram, and endeavoured to surprise, by terminating an ordinary +thought with some word or expression, which formed a _point_. Of the three +great triumvirs of Latin literature, Joseph Scaliger, Lipsius, and +Muretus, the last considers Catullus as far superior to his successor, as +the wit of a gentleman to that of a scoffer and buffoon, while the two +former award the palm to Martial. Their respective merits are very well +summed up by Vavassor.--"Catullum quidem, puro ac simplici candore, et +nativa quadam, minimeque adscita, excellere venustate formae, quae accedat +quam proxime ad Graecos. Martialem acumine, quod proprium Latinorum, et +peculiare tunc fieri coepit, valere; adeoque Catullum toto corpore +epigrammatis esse conspicuum, Martialem clausula praecipue, atque ultimo +fine, in quo relinquat, cum delectatione, aculeum spectari(516)." + +There can, I think, be no doubt, that, as an epigrammatist, Martial is +infinitely superior to Catullus; but it is not on his epigrams that the +fame of Catullus rests: He owes his reputation to about a dozen pieces, in +which every word, like a note of music, thrills on the heart-strings. It +is this felicitous selection of the most appropriate and melodious +expressions, which seem to flow from the heart without study or +premeditation, which has rendered him the most _graceful_ of poets:-- + + ---- "Ce naif agrement, + Ce ton de coeur, ce neglige charmant, + Qui le rendit le poete _des Graces_(517)." + +Few poets, besides, have shown more freshness in their conceptions--more +truth and nature in their delineations of amatory passion--more heartfelt +tenderness in grief--and none, certainly, ever possessed a more happy art +of embellishing trivial incidents, by the manner in which he treated them. +Indeed, the most exquisite of his productions, in point of grace and +delicacy, are those which were called forth by the most trifling +occasions; while, at the same time, his Epithalamium of Peleus and Thetis +proves, that he was by no means deficient in that warmth of imagination, +energy of thought, and sublimity of conception, which form the attributes +of perfection in those bards who tread the higher paths of Parnassus. +Catullus is a great favourite with all the early critics and commentators +of the 16th century. The elder Scaliger alone has pronounced on him a +harsh and unmerited sentence: "Catullo," says he, "docti nomen quare sit +ab antiquis attributum, neque apud alios comperi, neque dum in mentem +venit mihi. Nihil enim non vulgare est in ejus libris: ejus autem syllabae +cum durae sint, tum ipse non raro durus; aliquando vero adeo mollis, ut +fluat, neque consistat. Multa impudica, quorum pudet--multa languida, +quorum miseret--multa coacta, quorum piget(518)." In conclusion, the reader +may, perhaps, like to hear the opinion of the pure and saintly Fenelon, +concerning this obscene pagan.--"Catulle, qu'on ne peut nommer sans avoir +horreur de ses obscenitez, est au comble de la perfection pour une +simplicite passionnee-- + + 'Odi et amo: quare id faciam fortasse requiris. + Nescio; sed fieri sentio, et excrucior.' + +Combien Ovide et Martial, avec leurs traits ingenieux et faconnez, sont +ils au dessous de ces paroles negligees, ou le coeur saisi parle seul dans +un espece de desespoir." + +The different sorts of poetry which Catullus, though not their inventor, +first introduced at Rome, were cultivated and brought to high perfection +by his countrymen. Horace followed, and excelled him in Lyric +compositions. The elegiac measure was adopted with success by Ovid, +Tibullus, and Propertius, and applied by them to the expression of amatory +sentiments, which, if they did not reach the refinement, or pure +devotedness of the middle ages(519), were less gross than those of +Catullus. + +In his epigrammatic compositions, Catullus was imitated by several of his +own contemporaries, most of whom also ranked in the number of his friends. +Their works, however, have almost entirely perished. Quintus Lutatius +Catulus, who is praised as an orator and historian by Cicero(520), has +left two epigrams--one, _Ad Theotimum_, translated from Callimachus, the +name Theotimus being merely substituted for that of Cephissus--and the +other, _Ad Roscium Puerum_, addressed to the celebrated actor in his +youth, and quoted by Cicero in his treatise, _De Natura Deorum_(521)-- + + "Constiteram, exorientem Auroram forte salutans; + Cum subito a laeva Roscius exoritur. + Pace mihi liceat, Coelestes, dicere vestra; + Mortalis visus pulchrior esse deo(522)." + +This epigram formed a theme and subject of poetical contest among the +French _beaux esprits_ of the 17th century, who vied with each other in +sonnets and madrigals, entitled _La Belle Matineuse_, written in imitation +of the above verses. One will suffice as a specimen-- + + LA BELLE MATINEUSE. + + "Le silence regnait sur la terre et sur l'onde, + L'air devenait serein, et l'Olympe vermeil, + Et l'amoureux Zephyr affranchi du sommeil + Ressuscitait les fleurs d'une haleine feconde. + L'Aurore deployait l'or de sa tresse blonde, + Et semait de rubis le chemin du soleil. + Enfin ce Dieu venait au plus grand appareil, + Qu'il fut jamais venus pour eclairer le monde. + Quand la jeune Philis au visage riant, + Sortant de son palais, plus clair que l'Orient, + Fit voir une lumiere et plus vive et plus belle. + Sacre flambeau de jour, n'en soyez point jaloux; + Vous parutes alors aussi peu devant elle, + Que les feux de la nuit avoient fait devant vous." + +From a vast collection of Italian sonnets on the same subject, I select +one by Annibal Caro, the celebrated translator of Virgil-- + + "Eran l'aer tranquillo, e l'onde chiare, + Sospirava Favonio, e fuggia Clori, + L'alma Ciprigna innanzi ai primi albori + Ridendo empia d'amor la terra e 'l mare. + + "La rugiadosa Aurora in ciel piu rare + Facea le stelle; e di piu bei colori + Sparse le nubi, e i monti; uscia gia fuori + Febo, qual piu lucente in Delfo appare. + + "Quando altra Aurora un piu vezzoso ostello + Aperse, e lampeggio sereno, e puro + Il Sol, che sol m'abbaglia, e mi disface. + + "Volsimi, e 'n contro a lei mi parve oscuro, + (Santi lumi del ciel, con vostra pace) + L'Oriente, che dianzi era si bello." + +Licinius Calvus was equally distinguished as an orator and a poet. In the +former capacity he is mentioned with distinction by Cicero; but it was +probably his poetical talents that procured for him the friendship of +Catullus, who has addressed to him two Odes, in which he is commemorated +as a most delightful companion, from whose society he could scarcely +refrain. Calvus was violently enamoured of a girl called Quintilia, whose +early death he lamented in a number of verses, none of which have +descended to us. There only remain, an epigram against Pompey, satirizing +his practice of scratching his head with one finger, and a fragment of +another against Julius Caesar(523). The sarcasm it contains would not have +been pardonable in the present age; but the dictator, hearing that Calvus +had repented of his petulance, and was desirous of a reconciliation, +addressed a letter to him, with assurances of unaltered friendship(524). +The fragments of his epigrams which remain, do not enable us to judge for +ourselves of his poetical merits. He is classed by Ovid among the +licentious writers(525); but he is generally mentioned along with +Catullus, which shows that he was not considered as greatly inferior to +his friend-- + + "Nil praeter Calvum et doctus cantare Catullum." + +Pliny, in one of his letters, talking of his friend Pompeius Saturnius, +mentions, that he had composed several poetical pieces in the manner of +Calvus and Catullus(526); and Augurinus, as quoted by Pliny in another of +his epistles, says, + + "Canto carmina versibus minutis + His olim quibus et meus Catullus, + Et Calvus ----"(527) + + + + + + VALERIUS AEDITUUS, + + +Of Valerius AEdituus, another writer of epigrams and amorous verses in the +time of Catullus, little is known; but the following lines by him, to a +slave carrying a torch before him to the house of his mistress, have been +quoted by Aulus Gellius-- + + "Quid faculam praefers, Phileros, qua nil opu' nobis? + Ibimus, hoc lucet pectore flamma satis. + Istam nam potis est vis saeva extinguere venti, + Aut imber coelo candidus praecipitans: + At contra, hunc ignem Veneris, nisi si Venus ipsa, + Nulla 'st quae possit vis alia opprimere(528)." + +Aulus Gellius has also preserved the following verses of Porcius Licinius-- + + "Custodes ovium, teneraeque propaginis agnum, + Quaeris ignem?--Ite huc: quaeritis? ignis homo est. + Si digito attigero, incendam silvam simul omnem, + Omne pecus: flamma 'st omnia quae video(529)." + +During the period in which the works of Lucretius and Catullus brought the +Latin language to such perfection, the drama, which we have seen so highly +elevated in the days of the Scipios, had sunk into a state of comparative +degradation. National circumstances and manners had never been favourable +to the progress of the dramatic art at Rome; but, subsequently to the +conquest of Carthage, the increasing size and magnificence of the Roman +theatres, some of which held not less than 60,000 people, required +splendid spectacles, or extravagant buffoonery, to fill the eye, and catch +the attention of a crowded, and often tumultuous assembly. + +Accordingly, in the long period from the termination of the Punic wars +till the Augustan age, there scarcely appeared a single successor to +Plautus or Pacuvius. That the pieces of the ancient tragic or comic +writers still continued to be occasionally represented, is evident from +the immense wealth amassed, in the time of Cicero, by AEsopus and Roscius, +who never, so far as we know, condescended to appear, except in the +regular drama; but a new tragedy or comedy was rarely brought out. This +deficiency in the fund of entertainment and novelty, in the province of +the legitimate drama, was supplied by the MIMES, which now became +fashionable in Rome. + +Though resembling them in name, the Latin Mimes differed essentially from +the Greek {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}, from which they derived their appellation. The Greek +Mimes, of which Sophron of Syracuse was the chief writer, represented a +single adventure taken from ordinary life, and exhibited characters +without any gross caricature or buffoonery. The fifteenth Idyl of +Theocritus is said to be written in the manner of the Greek Mimes(530); +and, to judge from it, they were not so much actions as conversations with +regard to some action which was supposed to be going on at the time, and +is pointed out, as it were, by the one interlocutor to the other, or an +imitation of the action, whence their name has been derived. They +resembled detached or unconnected scenes of a comedy, and required no more +gesticulation or mimetic art, than is employed in all dramatic +representations. On the other hand, mimetic gestures of every species, +except dancing, were essential to the Roman Mimes, as also the exhibition +of grotesque characters, which had often no prototypes in real life. The +Mimes of the Romans, again, differed from their pantomime in this, that, +in the former, most of the gestures were accompanied by recitation, +whereas the pantomimic entertainments, carried to such perfection by +Pylades and Bathyllus, were _ballets_, often of a serious, and never of a +ludicrous or grotesque description, in which everything was expressed by +dumb show, and in which dancing constituted so considerable a part of the +amusement, that the performers danced a poem, a chorus, or whole drama, +(_Canticum saltabant_.) + +It is much more difficult to distinguish the Mimes from the _Fabulae +Atellanae_, than from the Pantomimes or Greek _Mimi_; and indeed they have +been frequently confounded(531). It appears, however, that the characters +represented in the Atellane dramas were chiefly provincial, while those +introduced in the Mimes were the lowest class of citizens at Rome. Antic +gestures, too, were more employed in the Mimes than the Atellane fables, +and they were more obscene and ludicrous: "Toti," says Vossius, "erant +ridiculi." The Atellanes, though full of mirth, were always tempered with +something of the ancient Italian severity, and consisted of a more liberal +and polite kind of humour than the Mimes. In this respect Cicero places +the Mimes and Atellane fables in contrast, in a letter to Papyrius Paetus, +where he says, that the broad jests in which his correspondent had +indulged, immediately after having quoted the tragedy of OEnomaus, reminds +him of the modern method of introducing, at the end of such graver +dramatic pieces, the buffoonery of the Mimes, instead of the more delicate +humour of the old Atellane farces(532). + +These Mimes, (which, with the Atellane fables, and regular tragedy and +comedy, form the four great branches of the Roman drama,) were represented +by actors, who sometimes wore masks, but more frequently had their faces +stained like our clowns or mountebanks. There was always one principal +actor, on whom the jests and ridicule chiefly hinged. The second, or +inferior parts, were entirely subservient to that of the first performer: +They were merely introduced to set him off to advantage, to imitate his +actions, and take up his words-- + + "Sic iterat voces, et verba cadentia tollit; + Ut puerum saevo credas dictata magistro + Reddere, vel partes mimum tractare secundas." + +Some writers have supposed, that a Mime was a sort of _monodrame_, and +that the _partes secundae_, here alluded to by Horace, meant the part of +the actor who gesticulated(533), while the other declaimed, or that of the +declaimer(534). It is quite evident, however, from the context of the +lines, that Horace refers to the inferior characters of the Mime(535). I +doubt not that the chief performer assumed more than one character in the +course of the piece(536), in the manner in which the Admirable Crichton is +recorded to have performed at the court of Mantua(537); but there were +also subordinate parts in the Mime--a fool or a parasite, who assisted in +carrying on the jests or tricks of his principal:--"C. Volumnius," says +Festus, "qui ad tibicinem saltarit, secundarum partium fuerit, qui, fere +omnibus Mimis, parasitus inducatur(538);" and to the same purpose +Petronius Arbiter,-- + + "Grex agit in scena Mimum--Pater ille vocatur, + Filius hic, nomen Divitis ille tenet(539)." + +The performance of a Mime commenced with the appearance of the chief +actor, who explained its subject in a sort of prologue, in order that the +spectators might fully understand what was but imperfectly represented by +words or gestures. This prolocutor, also, was generally the author of a +sketch of the piece; but the actors were not confined to the mere outline +which he had furnished. In one view, the province of the mimetic actor was +of a higher description than that of the regular comedian. He was obliged +to trust not so much to memory as invention, and to clothe in +extemporaneous effusions of his own, those rude sketches of dramatic +scenes, which were all that were presented to him by his author. The +performers of Mimes, however, too often gave full scope, not merely to +natural unpremeditated gaiety, but abandoned themselves to every sort of +extravagant and indecorous action. The part written out was in iambic +verse, but the extemporary dialogue which filled up the scene was in +prose, or in the rudest species of versification. Through the course of +the exhibition, the want of refinement or dramatic interest was supplied +by the excellence of the mimetic part, and the amusing imitation of the +peculiarities or personal habits of various classes of society. The +performers were seldom anxious to give a reasonable conclusion to their +extravagant intrigue. Sometimes, when they could not extricate themselves +from the embarrassment into which they had thrown each other, they +simultaneously rushed off the stage, and the performance terminated(540). + +The characters exhibited were parts taken from the dregs of the +populace--courtezans, thieves, and drunkards. The Sannio, or Zany, seems to +have been common to the Mimes and Atellane dramas. He excited laughter by +lolling out his tongue, and making asses' ears on his head with his +fingers. There was also the Panniculus, who appeared in a party-coloured +dress, with his head shaved, feigning stupidity or folly, and allowing +blows to be inflicted on himself without cause or moderation. That women +performed characters in these dramas, and were often the favourite +mistresses of the great, is evident from a passage in the Satires of +Horace, who mentions a female Mime, called Origo, on whom a wealthy Roman +had lavished his paternal inheritance(541). Cornelius Gallus wrote four +books of _Elegies_ in praise of a Mime called Cytheris, who, as Aurelius +Victor informs us, was also beloved by Antony and Brutus--"Cytheridam +Mimam, cum Antonio et Gallo, amavit Brutus." It appears from a passage in +Valerius Maximus, that these Mimae were often required to strip themselves +of their clothes in presence of the spectators(542). + +As might be expected from the characters introduced, the Mimes were +appropriated to a representation of the lowest follies and debaucheries of +the vulgar. "Argumenta," says Valerius Maximus, "majore ex parte, +stuprorum continent actus." That they were in a great measure occupied +with the tricks played by wives on their husbands, (somewhat, probably, in +the style of those related by the Italian novelists,) we learn from Ovid; +who, after complaining in his _Tristia_ of having been undeservedly +condemned for the freedom of his verses, asks-- + + "Quid si scripsissem Mimos obscoena jocantes? + Qui semper juncti crimen amoris habent; + In quibus assidue cultus procedit adulter, + Verbaque dat stulto callida nupta viro(543)." + +We learn from another passage of Ovid that these were by much the most +popular subjects,-- + + "Cumque fefellit amans aliqua novitate maritum, + Plauditur, et magno palma favore datur." + +The same poet elsewhere calls the Mimes, "Imitantes turpia Mimos;" and +Diomedes defines them to be "Sermonis cujuslibet, motusque, sine +reverentia, vel factorum turpium cum lascivia imitatio, ita ut ridiculum +faciant." + +These Mimes were originally represented as a sort of afterpiece, or +interlude to the regular dramas, and were intended to fill up the blank +which had been left by omission of the Chorus. But they subsequently came +to form a separate and fashionable public amusement, which in a great +measure superseded all other dramatic entertainments. Sylla (in whom the +gloomy temper of the tyrant was brightened by the talents of a mimic and a +wit) was so fond of Mimes, that he gave the actors of them many acres of +the public land(544); and we shall soon see the high importance which +Julius Caesar attached to this sort of spectacle. It appears, at first +view, curious, that the Romans--the most grave, solid, and dignified nation +on earth, the _gens togata_, and the _domini rerum_--should have been so +partial to the exhibition of licentious buffoonery on the stage. But, +perhaps, when people have a mind to divert themselves, they choose what is +most different from their ordinary temper and habits, as being most likely +to amuse them. "Strangely," says Isaac Bey, while relating his adventures +in _France_, "was my poor Turkish brain puzzled, on discovering the +favourite pastime of a nation reckoned the merriest in the world. It +consisted in a thing called tragedies, whose only purpose is to make you +cry your eyes out. Should the performance raise a single smile, the author +is undone(545)." + +The popularity and frequent repetition of the Mimes came gradually to +purify their grossness; and the writers of them, at length, were not +contented merely with the fame of amusing the Roman populace by ribaldry. +They carried their pretensions higher; and, while they sometimes availed +themselves of the licentious freedom to which this species of drama gave +unlimited indulgence, they interspersed the most striking truths and +beautiful moral maxims in these ludicrous and indecent farces. This +appears from the Mimes of DECIMUS LABERIUS and PUBLIUS SYRUS, who both +flourished during the dictatorship of Julius Caesar. + + + + + + LABERIUS. + + +In earlier periods, as has been already mentioned, the writer was also the +chief representer of the Mime. Laberius, however, was not originally an +actor, but a Roman knight of respectable family and character, who +occasionally amused himself with the composition of these farcical +productions. He was at length requested by Julius Caesar to appear on the +stage after he had reached the age of sixty, and act the Mimes, which he +had sketched or written(546). Aware that the entreaties of a perpetual +dictator are nearly equivalent to commands, he reluctantly complied; but +in the prologue to the first piece which he acted, he complained bitterly +to the audience of the degradation to which he had been subjected-- + + "Ego, bis trecenis annis actis, sine nota, + Eques Romanus lare egressus meo, + Domum revertar Mimus. Nimirum hoc die + Uno plus vixi mihi, quam vivendum fuit. + Fortuna, immoderata in bono aeque atque in malo, + Si tibi erat libitum, literarum laudibus + Floris cacumen nostrae famae frangere, + Cur cum vigebam membris prae viridantibus, + Satisfacere populo, et tali cum poteram viro, + Non flexibilem me concurvasti ut caperes? + Nunc me quo dejicis? quid ad scenam affero, + Decorem formae, an dignitatem corporis? + Animi virtutem, an vocis jucundae sonum? + Ut hedera serpens vires arboreas necat; + Ita me vetustas amplexu annorum enecat(547)." + +The whole prologue, consisting of twenty-nine lines, which have been +preserved by Macrobius, is written in a fine vein of poetry, and with all +the high spirit of a Roman citizen. It breathes in every verse the most +bitter and indignant feelings of wounded pride, and highly exalts our +opinion of the man, who, yielding to an irresistible power, preserved his +dignity while performing a part which he despised. It is difficult to +conceive how, in this frame of mind, he could assume the jocund and +unrestrained gaiety of a Mime, or how the Roman people could relish so +painful a spectacle. He is said, however, to have represented the feigned +character with inimitable grace and spirit. But in the course of his +performance he could not refrain from expressing strong sentiments of +freedom and detestation of tyranny. In one of the scenes he personated a +Syrian slave; and, while escaping from the lash of his master, he +exclaimed, + + "Porro, Quirites, libertatem perdidimus;" + +and shortly after, he added, + + "Necesse est multos timeat, quem multi timent," + +on which the whole audience turned their eyes to Caesar, who was present in +the theatre(548). + +It was not merely to entertain the people, who would have been as well +amused with the representation of any other actor; nor to wound the +private feelings of Laberius, that Caesar forced him on the stage. His sole +object was to degrade the Roman knighthood, to subdue their spirit of +independence and honour, and to strike the people with a sense of his +unlimited sway. This policy formed part of the same system which +afterwards led him to persuade a senator to combat among the ranks of +gladiators. The practice introduced by Caesar became frequent during the +reigns of his successors; and in the time of Domitian, the Fabii and +Mamerci acted as _planipedes_, the lowest class of buffoons, who, +barefooted and smeared with soot, capered about the stage in the intervals +of the play for the amusement of the rabble! + +Though Laberius complied with the wishes of Caesar, in exhibiting himself +on the stage, and acquitted himself with ability as a mimetic actor, it +would appear that the Dictator had been hurt and offended by the freedoms +which he used in the course of the representation, and either on this or +some subsequent occasion bestowed the dramatic crown on a Syrian slave, in +preference to the Roman knight. Laberius submitted with good grace to this +fresh humiliation; he pretended to regard it merely as the ordinary chance +of theatric competition, as he expressed to the audience in the following +lines:-- + + "Non possunt primi esse omnes omni in tempore. + Summum ad gradum cum claritatis veneris, + Consistes aegre: et citius quam ascendas, decides. + Cecidi ego--cadet qui sequitur(549)." ---- + +Laberius did not long survive this double mortification: he retired from +Rome, and died at Puteoli about ten months after the assassination of +Caesar(550). + +The titles and a few fragments of forty-three of the Mimes of Laberius are +still extant; but, excepting the prologue, these remains are too +inconsiderable and detached to enable us to judge of their subject or +merits. It would appear that he occasionally dramatized the passing +follies or absurd occurrences of the day: for Cicero, writing to the +lawyer Trebonius, who expected to accompany Caesar from Gaul to Britain, +tells him he had best return to Rome quickly, as a longer pursuit to no +purpose would be so ridiculous a circumstance, that it would hardly escape +the drollery of that arch fellow Laberius; and what a burlesque character, +he continues, would a British lawyer furnish out for the Roman stage(551)! +The only passage of sufficient length in connection to give us any idea of +his manner, is a whimsical application of a story concerning the manner in +which Democritus put out his eyes-- + + "Democritus Abderites, physicus philosophus, + Clypeum constituit contra exortum Hyperionis; + Oculos effodere ut posset splendore aereo. + Ita, radiis solis aciem effodit luminis, + Malis bene esse ne videret civibus. + Sic ego, fulgentis splendore pecuniae, + Volo elucificare exitum aetatis meae, + Ne in re bona esse videam nequam filium(552)." + +According to Aulus Gellius, Laberius has taken too much license in +inventing words; and that author also gives various examples of his use of +obsolete expressions, or such as were employed only by the lowest dregs of +the people(553). Horace seems to have considered an admiration of the +Mimes of Laberius as the consummation of critical folly(554). I am far, +however, from considering Horace as an infallible judge of true poetical +excellence. He evidently attached more importance to correctness and +terseness of style, than to originality of genius or fertility of +invention. I am convinced he would not have admired Shakspeare: He would +have considered Addison and Pope as much finer poets, and would have +included Falstaff, and Autolycus, and Sir Toby Belch, the clowns and the +boasters of our great dramatist, in the same censure which he bestows on +the _Plautinos sales_ and the Mimes of Laberius. Probably, too, the +freedom of the prologue, and other passages of his dramas, contributed to +draw down the disapprobation of this Augustan critic, as it already had +placed the dramatic wreath on the brow of + + + + + + PUBLIUS SYRUS. + + +The celebrated Mime, called Publius Syrus, was brought from Asia to Italy +in early youth, in the same vessel with his countryman and kinsman, +Manlius Antiochus, the professor of astrology, and Staberius Eros, the +grammarian, who all, by some desert in learning, rose above their original +fortune. He received a good education and liberty from his master, in +reward for his witticisms and facetious disposition. He first represented +his Mimes in the provincial towns of Italy, whence, his fame having spread +to Rome, he was summoned to the capital, to assist in those public +spectacles which Caesar afforded his countrymen, in exchange for their +freedom(555). On one occasion, he challenged all persons of his own +profession to contend with him on the stage; and in this competition he +successively overcame every one of his rivals. By his success in the +representation of these popular entertainments, he amassed considerable +wealth, and lived with such luxury, that he never gave a great supper +without having sow's udder at table--a dish which was prohibited by the +censors, as being too great a luxury even for the table of +patricians(556). + +Nothing farther is known of his history, except that he was still +continuing to perform his Mimes with applause at the period of the death +of Laberius. + +We have not the names of any of the Mimes of Publius; nor do we precisely +know their nature or subject,--all that is preserved from them being a +number of detached sentiments or maxims, to the number of 800 or 900, +seldom exceeding a single line, but containing reflections of unrivalled +force, truth, and beauty, on all the various relations, situations, and +feelings of human life--friendship, love, fortune, pride, adversity, +avarice, generosity. Both the writers and actors of Mimes were probably +careful to have their memory stored with common-places and precepts of +morality, in order to introduce them appropriately in their extemporaneous +performances. The maxims of Publius were interspersed through his dramas, +but being the only portion of these productions now remaining, they have +just the appearance of thoughts or sentiments, like those of +Rochefoucauld. His Mimes must either have been very numerous, or very +thickly loaded with these moral aphorisms. It is also surprising that they +seem raised far above the ordinary tone even of regular comedy, and appear +for the greater part to be almost stoical maxims. Seneca has remarked that +many of his eloquent verses are fitter for the buskin than the +slipper(557). How such exalted precepts should have been grafted on the +lowest farce, and how passages, which would hardly be appropriate in the +most serious sentimental comedy, were adapted to the actions or manners of +gross and drunken buffoons, is a difficulty which could only be solved had +we fortunately received entire a larger portion of these productions, +which seem to have been peculiar to Roman genius. + +The sentiments of Publius Syrus now appear trite. They have become +familiar to mankind, and have been re-echoed by poets and moralists from +age to age. All of them are most felicitously expressed, and few of them +seem erroneous, while at the same time they are perfectly free from the +selfish or worldly-minded wisdom of Rochefoucauld, or Lord Burleigh. + + "Amicos res opimae pavant, adversae probant. + Miserrima fortuna est quae inimico caret. + Ingratus unus miseris omnibus nocet. + Timidas vocat se cautum, parcum sordidus. + Etiam oblivisci quid scis interdum prodest. + In nullum avarus bonus, in se pessimus. + Cuivis dolori remedium est patientia. + Honestus rumor alterum est patrimonium. + Tam deest avaro quod habet quam quod non habet. + O vita misero longa--felici brevis!" + +This last sentiment has been beautifully, but somewhat diffusely expressed +by Metastasio: + + "Perche tarda e mai la morte + Quando e termine al martir? + A chi vive in lieta sorte + E sollecito il morir."--_Artaserse_. + +The same idea is thus expressed by La Bruyere: "La vie est courte pour +ceux qui sont dans les joyes du monde: Elle ne paroit longue qu'a ceux qui +languissent dans l'affliction. Job se plaint de vivre long temps, et +Salomon craint de mourir trop jeune." La Bruyere, indeed, has interspersed +a vast number of the maxims of the Roman Mime in his writings,--expanding, +modifying, or accommodating them to the manners of his age and country, as +best suited his purpose. One of them only, he quotes to reprehend: + + "Ita amicum habeas, posse ut fieri inimicum putes." + +This sentiment, which Publius had borrowed from the Greeks, and which is +supposed to have been originally one of the sayings of Bias, has been +censured by Cicero, in his beautiful treatise _De Amicitia_, as the bane +of friendship. It would be endless to quote the lines of the different +Latin poets, particularly Horace and Juvenal, which are nearly copied from +the maxims of Publius Syrus. Seneca, too, has availed himself of many of +his reflections, and, at the same time, does full justice to the author +from whom he has borrowed. Publius, says he, is superior in genius both to +tragic and comic writers: Whenever he gives up the follies of the Mimes, +and that language which is directed to the crowd, he writes many things +not only above that species of composition, but worthy of the tragic +buskin(558). + +Cneius Matius, also a celebrated writer of Mimes, was contemporary with +Laberius and Publius Syrus. Some writers have confounded him with Caius +Matius, who was a correspondent of Cicero, and an intimate friend of +Julius Caesar. Ziegler, though he distinguishes him from Cicero's +correspondent, says, that he was the same person as the friend of +Caesar(559). + +Aulus Gellius calls Matius a very learned man, (_homo eruditus et impense +doctus_,) and frequently quotes him for obsolete terms and forms of +expression(560). Like other writers of Mimes, he indulged himself a good +deal in this sort of phraseology, but his diction was considered as +agreeable and highly poetical(561). + +The Mimes of Matius were called Mimiambi, because chiefly written in +iambics; but not more than a dozen lines have descended to us. The +following verses have been praised for elegance and a happy choice of +expressions-- + + "Quapropter edulcare convenit vitam, + Curasque acerbas sensibus gubernare; + Sinuque amicam recipere frigidam caldo + Columbatimque labra conserens labris(562)." + +The age of Laberius, P. Syrus, and Matius, was the most brilliant epoch in +the history of the actors of Mimes. After that period, they relapsed into +a race of impudent buffoons; and, in the reign of Augustus, were classed, +by Horace, with mountebanks and mendicants(563). Pantomimic actors, who +did not employ their voice, but represented everything by gesticulation +and dancing, became, under Augustus, the idols of the multitude, the +minions of the great, and the favourites of the fair. The _Mimi_ were then +but little patronized on the stage, but were still admitted into convivial +parties, and even the court of the Emperors, to entertain the guests(564), +like the Histrions, Jongleurs, or privileged fools, of the middle ages; +and they were also employed at funerals, to mimic the manners of the +deceased. Thus, the Archimimus, who represented the character of the +avaricious Vespasian, at the splendid celebration of his obsequies, +inquired what would be the cost of all this posthumous parade; and on +being told that it would amount to ten millions of sesterces, he replied, +that if they would give him a hundred thousand, they might throw his body +into the river(565). The audacity, however, of the Mimes was carried still +farther, as they satirized and insulted the most ferocious Emperors during +their lives, and in their own presence. An actor, in one of these pieces +which was performed during the reign of Nero, while repeating the words +"_Vale pater, vale mater_," signified by his gestures the two modes of +drowning and poisoning, in which that sanguinary fiend had attempted to +destroy both his parents(566). The _Mimi_ currently bestowed on Commodus +the most opprobrious appellation(567). One of their number, who performed +before the enormous Maximin, reminded the audience, that he who was too +strong for an individual, might be massacred by a multitude, and that thus +the elephant, lion, and tiger, are slain. The tyrant perceived the +sensation excited in the Theatre, but the suggestion was veiled in a +language unknown to that barbarous and gigantic Thracian(568). + +The Mimes may be traced beyond the age of Constantine, as we find the +fathers of the church reprehending the immorality and licentiousness of +such exhibitions(569). Tradition is never so faithful as in the +preservation of popular pastimes; and accordingly, many of those which had +amused the Romans survived their dominion. The annual celebration of +Carnival prolonged the remembrance of them during the dark ages. Hence, +the Mimes, and the Atellane fables formerly mentioned, became the origin +of the Italian pantomimic parts introduced in the _Commedie dell' arte_, +in which a subject was assigned, and the scenes were enumerated; but in +which the dialogue was left to the extemporary invention of the actors, +who represented buffoon characters in masks, and spoke the dialect of +different districts. "As to Italy," says Warburton, in an account given by +him of the Rise and Progress of the Modern Stage, "the first rudiments of +its theatre, with regard to the matter, were profane subjects, and with +regard to the form, a corruption of ancient Mimes and Atellanes."--Zanni is +one of the names of the Harlequin in the Italian comedies; and Sannio, as +we learn from ancient writers, was a ridiculous personage, who performed +in these Latin farces, with his head shaved(570), his face bedaubed with +soot(571), and clothed in party-coloured garments--a dress universally worn +by the ancient Italian peasantry during the existence of the Roman +Republic(572). The lowest species of mimic actors were called +_planipedes_, because they performed without sock or buskin, and generally +barefooted, whence Harlequin's flat unsho'd feet. A passage of Cicero, in +which he speaks of the Sannio, seems almost intended to describe the +perpetual and flexible motion of the limbs, the ludicrous gestures, and +mimetic countenance of Harlequin. "Quid enim" says he, "potest tam +ridiculum quam Sannio esse? qui ore, vultu, imitandis motibus, voce, +denique corpore ridetur ipso(573)." Among the Italians, indeed, this +character soon degenerated into a booby and glutton, who became the butt +of his more sharp-sighted companions. In France, Harlequin was converted +into a wit,--sometimes even a moralist; and with us he has been transformed +into an expert magician, who astonishes by sudden changes of the scene: +But none of these was his original, or native character, which, as we have +seen, corresponded to the Sannio of the Mimes and Atellane fables. In the +year 1727, a bronze figure of high antiquity, and of which Quadrio gives +an engraving(574), was found at Rome; and it appears from it, that the +modern Pollicinella of Naples is a lineal descendant of the _Mimus Albus_ +of the Atellanes(575). Ficoroni, who, in his work _Larve Sceniche_, +compares his immense collection of Roman masks with the modern Italian +characters, was possessed of an onyx, which represented a Mime with a long +nose and pointed cap, carrying a bag of money in one hand, and two brass +balls in the other, which he sounded, as is supposed, like castanets when +he danced. These appendages correspond to the attributes which +distinguished the Italian dancer of Catana, known by the name of +Giangorgolo. Another onyx exhibits a figure resembling that of Pantalone. +It is also evident from the Antiques collected by Ficoroni, that the Roman +_Mimi_ were fond of representing caricatures of foreign nations, as we +find among these ancient figures the attires of the oriental nations, and +the garb of old Gaul--a species of exhibition in which the _Commedia dell' +arte_ also particularly delighted. + +These _Commedie dell' arte_ were brought to the highest pitch of comic and +grotesque perfection by Ruzzante, an Italian dramatist, who both wrote and +performed a number of them about the middle of the sixteenth century, and +who, in addition to Zany and Pollicinella, peopled the stage with a new +and enlivening crowd of mimetic characters. There appears to be something +so congenial to the Italian taste in these exhibitions, that they long +maintained their ground against the regular dramas, produced by the +numerous successors of Trissino and Bibbiena, and kept supreme possession +of the Italian stage, till at length Goldoni, by introducing beauties +which were incongruous with the ancient masks, gradually refined the taste +of his audience, made them ashamed of their former favourites, and then, +in some of his pieces, ventured to exclude from the stage the whole +grotesque and gesticulating family of Harlequin. + + ------- + +Having said so much (and, I fear, too much) of the Mimes, and other +departments of the Roman drama, it would not be suitable to conclude +without some notice, I. of the mechanical construction of the theatre +where the dramatic entertainments were produced; and, II. of the actors' +declamation, as also of the masks and other attributes of the characters +which were chiefly represented. + +I. Such was the severity of the ancient republican law, that it permitted +no places of amusement, except the circus, where games were specially +privileged from having been instituted by Romulus, and exhibited in honour +of the gods. Satiric and dramatic representations, however, as we have +seen, gradually became popular; and, at length, so increased in number and +importance, that a _Theatre_ was required for their performance. + +The subject of the construction of the Roman theatre is attended with +difficulty and confusion. While there are still considerable remains of +amphitheatres, scarcely any ruins or vestiges of theatres exist. The +writings of the ancients throw little light on the topic; and there is +much contradiction, or at least apparent inconsistency, in what has been +written, in consequence of the alterations which took place in the +construction of theatres in the progress of time. + +Those stages, which were erected in the earliest periods of the Roman +republic, for the exhibitions of dancers and histrions, were probably set +up according to the Etruscan mode, in places covered with boughs of trees, +(Nemorosa palatia,) in tents or booths, or, at best, in temporary and +moveable buildings--perhaps not much superior in dignity or accommodation +to the cart of Thespis. + +But, though the Etruscan histrions probably constructed the stage on which +they were to perform, according to the fashion of their own country, the +Greek was the model of the regular Roman theatre, as much as the pieces of +Euripides and Menander were the prototypes of the Latin tragedies and +comedies. The remains of a playhouse believed to be Etruscan, were +discovered at Adria about the middle of the seventeenth century. But there +was a wider difference between it and the Roman theatre, than between the +Roman and the Greek. The Greeks had a large orchestra, and a very limited +stage--the Romans, a confined orchestra, and extensive stage; while in the +Adrian theatre, the orchestra was larger even than in the Greek(576). + +The first regular theatre at Rome was that constructed for Livius +Andronicus on the Aventine Hill. This building, however, was but +temporary, and probably existed no longer than the distinguished dramatist +and actor for whose accommodation it was erected. In the year 575, M. +AEmilius Lepidus got a theatre constructed adjacent to the temple of +Apollo(577); but it also was one of those occasional buildings, which were +removed after the series of dramatic exhibitions for which they had been +intended were concluded. A short while before the commencement of the +third Punic war, a playhouse, which the censors were fitting up with seats +for the convenience of the spectators, was thrown down by a decree of the +senate, as prejudicial to public morals; and the people continued for some +time longer to view the representations standing, as formerly(578). At +length, M. AEmilius Scaurus built a theatre capable of containing 80,000 +spectators, and provided with every possible accommodation for the public. +It was also adorned with amazing magnificence, and at almost incredible +expense. Its stage had three lofts or stories, rising above each other, +and supported by 360 marble columns. The lowest floor was of marble--the +second was incrusted with glass; and the third was formed of gilded boards +or planks. The pillars were thirty-eight feet in height: and between them +were placed bronze statues and images, to the number of not fewer than +3000. There was besides an immense superfluity of rich hangings of cloth +of gold; and painted tablets, the most exquisite that could be procured, +were disposed all around the _pulpitum_ and scenes(579). + +Curio, being unable to rival such profuse and costly decoration, +distinguished himself by a new invention, which he introduced at the +funeral entertainments given by him in honour of his father's memory. He +constructed two large edifices of wood adjacent to each other, and +suspended on hinges so contrived that the buildings could be united at +their centre or separated, in such a manner as to form a theatre or +amphitheatre, according to the nature of the exhibition. In both these +fabrics he made stage plays be acted in the early part of the day--the +semicircles being placed back to back, so that the declamation, music, and +applauses, in the one, did not reach the other; and then, having wheeled +them round in the afternoon, so that, by completing the circle, they +formed an amphitheatre, he exhibited combats of gladiators(580). All these +changes were performed without displacing the spectators, who seem to have +fearlessly trusted themselves to the strength of the machinery, and skill +of the artist. + +The theatres of Scaurus and Curio, though they far surpassed in extent and +sumptuous decoration all the permanent theatres of modern times: yet, +being built of wood, and being only destined for a certain number of +representations during certain games or festivals, were demolished when +these were concluded. The whole furnishings and costly materials of the +theatre of Scaurus were immediately removed to his private villa, where +they were burned, it is said, by his servants, in a transport of +indignation at the extravagant profusion of their master(581). + +Pompey was the first person who erected a permanent theatre of stone. +After the termination of the Mithridatic war, he made a coasting voyage +along the shores and islands of Greece. In the whole of his progress he +showed the attention of a liberal and cultivated mind to monuments of art. +The theatre of Mitylene particularly pleased him, both in its outward +form, and interior construction. He carried away with him a model of this +building, that he might erect at Rome a theatre similar to it(582), but on +a larger scale. The edifice which he built on the plan of this theatre, +after his return to Rome, was situated in the field of Flora, near the +temple of Venus Victrix, and held just one half of the number of +spectators which the playhouse of Scaurus contained(583). It was completed +during Pompey's second consulship, in the year 698. On the day on which it +was opened, AEsopus, the great tragic actor, appeared for the last time in +one of his favourite characters, but his strength and voice failed him, +and he was unable to finish the part. + +The construction of this theatre was speedily followed by the erection of +others. But all the Roman theatres which were built towards the close of +the republic, and commencement of the empire, were formed, in most +respects, on the model of the Greek theatre, both in their external plan +and interior arrangement. They were oblong semicircular buildings, forming +the half of an amphitheatre; and were thus rounded at one end, and +terminated on the other by a long straight line. The interior was divided +into three parts--1. The place for the spectators; 2. The orchestra; and, +3. The stage(584). + +1. The universal passion of the Roman people for all sorts of exhibitions, +rendered the places from which they were to view them a matter of +competition and importance. Originally there were no seats in the +theatres, and the senators stood promiscuously with the people; yet, such +in those days was the reverence felt by the plebeians for their dignified +superiors, that, notwithstanding their rage for spectacles, they never +pushed before a senator(585). It was in the year 559, during the +consulship of the elder Scipio Africanus with Sempronius Longus, that the +former carried a law, by which separate places were assigned to the +senators(586). This regulation was renewed from time to time, as +circumstances of political confusion removed the line of distinction which +had been drawn. Scipio lost much of his popularity by this aristocratic +innovation, and is said to have severely repented of the share he had +taken in it(587). By the law of Scipio, part of the orchestra, (which, in +the Greek theatre, was occupied by the chorus,) was appropriated to the +senators. The knights and plebeians, however, continued to sit +promiscuously for more than 100 years longer; but at length, in 685, a +regulation of the tribune, Roscius Otho, allotted to the knights, +tribunes, and persons of a certain _census_, fourteen rows of circular +benches immediately behind the orchestra. This was a still more unpopular +measure than that introduced by the edict of Africanus. Otho, during the +consulship of Cicero, having entered the theatre, was hissed by the +multitude, while Roscius was acting one of his principal parts; but Cicero +presently called them out to the temple of Bellona, where he delivered a +harangue, which appeased their fury and reconciled them to the +tribune(588). Henceforth the senators held undisputed possession of the +orchestra; and the knights, with the better classes, retained the fourteen +rows of seats immediately surrounding it. + +The seats for the senators, arranged in the orchestra, were straight +benches, placed at equal distances from each other, and were not +fixed(589). The other benches, which were assigned to the knights and +people, were semicircularly disposed around the circumference of the +theatre, and spread from the orchestra to the rounded end of the building +The extremities of the seats joined the orchestra, and they were carried +one above another, sloping, till they reached the remotest part, and +ascended almost to the ceiling. Thus the benches which were lowest and +most contiguous to the orchestra, described a smaller circumference than +those which spread more towards the outer walls of the theatre(590). Over +the higher tier of seats a portico was constructed, the roof of which +ranged with the loftiest part of the scene, in order that the voice +expanding equally, might be carried to the uppermost seats, and thence to +the top of the building(591). The benches, which were gently raised above +each other, were separated into three sets or tiers: each tier, at least +in most theatres, consisting of seven benches. According to some writers, +the separation of these tiers was a passage, or gallery, which went quite +round them for facility of communication; according to others, it was a +belt, or precinction, which was twice the height, and twice the breadth of +the seats(592). It would appear, however, from a passage in Vitruvius, +that both a raised belt, and a gallery or corridore, surrounded each tier +of seats(593). One of the precinctions formed the division between the +places of the knights and those of the people(594). In a different and +angular direction, the tiers and ranges of seats were separated by stairs, +making so many lines in the circumference of the seats, and leading from +the orchestra to the doors of the theatre. The benches were cut by the +stairs into the form of wedges. The steps of the stairs were always a +little lower than the seats; but the number of stairs varied in different +theatres. Pompey's theatre had fifteen, that of Marcellus only seven(595). +As luxury increased at Rome, these stairs were bedewed with streams of +fragrant water, for the purposes of coolness and refreshment. At the top +of each flight of steps were doors called _vomitoria_, which gave egress +from the theatre, and communicated directly with the external +stair-cases(596). + +In the ancient temporary Roman theatres, the body of the building, or +place where the spectators sat, was open at top to receive the light. But +Quintus Catulus, during the entertainments exhibited at his dedication of +the Capitol, introduced the luxury of canvass, which was drawn partially +or completely over the theatre at pleasure(597). This curtain was at first +of simple unornamented wool, and was merely used as a screen from the sun, +or a protection from rain; but, in process of time, silken hangings of +glossy texture and splendid hues waved from the roof, flinging their +gorgeous tints on the _proscenium_ and spectators:-- + + "Et vulgo faciunt id lutea russaque vela, + Et ferrugina, quum, magnis intenta theatris, + Per malos vulgata trabesque, trementia fluctant. + Namque ibi consessum caveai subter, et omnem + Scenalem speciem, patrum, matrumque, deorumque, + Inficiunt, coguntque suo fluitare colore(598)." + +2. _The Orchestra_ was a considerable space in the centre of the theatre, +part of which was allotted for the seats of the senators. The remainder +was occupied by those who played upon musical instruments, whose office it +was, in the performance both of tragedies and comedies, to give to the +actors and audience the tone of feeling which the dramatic parts demanded. +In tragedies, the music invariably accompanied the Chorus. It was not, +however, confined to the Chorus; but appears to have been also in the +monologues, and perhaps in some of the most impassioned parts of the +dialogue; for Cicero tells of Roscius, that he said, when he grew older, +he would make the music play slower, that he might the more easily keep up +with it(599). I do not, however, believe, that comedy was a musical +performance throughout: Mr Hawkins, after quoting a number of authorities +to this purpose, concludes, "that comedy had no music but between the +acts, except, perhaps, occasionally in the case of marriages and +sacrifices, if any such were represented on the stage(600)." + +Every play had its own musical prelude, which distinguished it from +others, and from which many of the audience at once knew what piece was +about to be performed(601). The chief musical instruments employed in the +theatre were the _tibiae_, or flutes, with which the comedies of Terence +are believed to have been represented. The _Andria_ is said to have been +acted, "Tibiis paribus, dextris et sinistris;"--the _Eunuch_, "Tibiis +duabus dextris;"--the _Heautontimorumenos_, on its first appearance, +"Tibiis imparibus;" on its second, "Duabus dextris;"--the _Adelphi_, +"Tibiis sarranis;"--the _Hecyra_, "Tibiis paribus,"--and the _Phormio_, +"Tibiis imparibus." It thus appears, that the theatrical flutes were +classed as "dextrae et sinistrae," and also as "pares et impares," and that +there were likewise "Tibiae Serranae," or "Sarranae," to which, it is +believed, the Phrygiae were opposed. There has been much dispute, however, +as to what constituted the distinction between these different sets of +pipes. Scaliger thinks, that the "Tibiae dextrae et sinistrae" were formed by +cutting the reed into two parts: that portion which was next to the root +making the left, and that next to the top the right flute.--whence the +notes of the former were more grave, and those of the latter more +acute(602). Mad. Dacier, however, is of opinion, that flutes were +denominated right and left from the valves, in playing, being stopped with +the right or left hand. There is still more difficulty with regard to the +"Tibiae pares et impares." Some persons conjecture, that the Tibiae pares +were a set of two or more pipes of the same pitch in the musical scale, +and Impares such as did not agree in pitch(603). The opinion, that flutes +were called Pares when they had an even, and Impares when an odd number of +valves, is not inconsistent with this notion; nor with that adopted by +Dempster(604), that the difference depended on their being equal or +unequal distances between the valves. It may be also reconciled with the +idea of Salmasius, that when the same set of flutes were employed, as two +right or two left, a play was said to be acted Tibiis paribus; and, when +one or more right with one or more left were used, it was announced as +performed Tibiis imparibus. This idea, however, of Salmasius, is +inconsistent with what is said as to the _Andria_ being acted with equal +flutes right and left; unless, indeed, we suppose, with Mad. Dacier, that +this is to be understood of different representations, and that the flutes +were of the same description at each performance, but were sometimes a set +of right, and at other times a set of left flutes. + +As to the Tibiae Serranae, some have supposed that they were so called from +Serra, since they produced the sharp grating sound occasioned by a +saw(605); some, that they were denominated Sarranae from Sarra, a city in +Phoenicia, where such flutes are believed to have been invented(606); and +others, that they derived their name from Sero to lock; because in these +flutes, there were valves or stops which opened and shut alternately(607). +It is only farther known, that the Tibiae Serranae belonged to the class +called Pares, and the Phrygiae, to which they were opposed, to that styled +Impares. + +All flutes, of whatever denomination, were extremely simple in the +commencement of the dramatic art at Rome. Their form was plain, and they +had but few notes. In progress of time, however, they became more complex, +and louder in their tones(608). + +Several chorded instruments were also used in the orchestra, as the lyre +and harp, and in later times an hydraulic organ was introduced. This +instrument, which is described in the _Organon_ of Pub. Optatianus, +emitted a sound which was produced from air created by the concussion of +water. Cornelius Severus, in his poem of _AEtna_, alludes to it, under the +name of _Cortina_-- + + "Carmineque irriguo magni Cortina Theatri + Imparibus numerosa modis canit arte regentis, + Quae tenuem impellens animam subremigat undam(609)." + +3. _The Stage_. The front area of the stage was a little elevated above +that part of the orchestra where the musicians were placed, and was called +the _Proscenium_. On the proscenium a wooden platform, termed the +_pulpitum_, was raised to the height of five feet(610). This the actors +ascended to perform their characters; and here all the dramatic +representations of the Romans were exhibited(611), except the Mimes, which +were acted on the lower floor of the proscenium. Certain architectural +proportions were assigned to all these different parts of the theatre. + +The whole space or area behind the pulpitum was called the _Scena_, +because the scenery appropriate to the piece was there exhibited. "The +three varieties of scenes," says Vitruvius, "are termed tragic, comic, and +satyric, each of which has a style of decoration peculiar to itself. In +the tragic scene columns are represented, with statues, and other +embellishments suitable to palaces and public buildings. The comic scene +represents the houses of individuals, with their balconies and windows +arranged in imitation of private dwellings. The satyric is adorned with +groves, dens, and mountains, and other rural objects." The rigid adherence +of the ancients to the unity of place, rendered unnecessary that frequent +shifting of scenes which is required in our dramas. When the side scenes +were changed, the frames, or painted planks, were turned by machinery, and +the scene was then called _versatilis_, or revolving: When it was +withdrawn altogether, and another brought forward, it was called +_ductilis_, or, sliding. There were also trapdoors in the floor of this +part of the theatre, by which ghosts and the Furies ascended when their +presence was required; and machines were disposed above the scene, as also +at its sides, by which gods and other superior beings were suddenly +brought upon the stage. + +At the bottom of the scene, or end most remote from the spectators, there +was a curtain of painted canvass, which was first used after the tapestry +of Attalus had been brought to Rome(612). It was dropped when the play +began, remained down during the performance, and was drawn up when the +representation concluded. This was certainly the case during the existence +of the republic; but I imagine that an alteration took place in the time +of the emperors, and that the curtain, being brought more forward on the +scene, was then, as with us, raised at the commencement, and dropped at +the end of the piece:-- + + "Mox ubi ridendas inclusit pagina partes, + Vera redit facies, dissimulata perit(613)." + +At each side of the _scena_ there were doors called _Hospitalia_, by which +the actors entered and made their exits. + +That part of the theatre which comprehended the stage and scene was +originally covered with branches of trees, which served both for shelter +and ornament. It was afterwards shut in with planks, which were painted +for the first time in the year 654. About the same period the scene was +enriched with gold and silver hangings, and the proscenium was decorated +with columns, statues, and altars to the god in whose honour, or at whose +festival, the stage plays were represented. + + + +II. In turning our attention to the _actors_ who appeared on the +_pulpitum_ of the Roman stage, the point which first attracts our notice +is that supposed separation of the dramatic labour, by which one performer +gesticulated while the other declaimed. This division, however, did not +take place at all in comedy, or in the ordinary dialogue (_Diverbia_) of +tragedy; as is evinced by various passages in the Latin authors, which +show that AEsopus, the chief tragic actor, and Roscius, the celebrated +comedian, both gesticulated and declaimed. Cicero informs us, that AEsopus +was hissed if he was in the least degree hoarse(614); and he also mentions +one remarkable occasion, on which, having returned to the stage after he +had long retired from it, his voice suddenly failed him just as he +commenced an adjuration in the part he represented(615). This evinces that +AEsopus declaimed; and the same author affords us proof that he +gesticulated: For, in the treatise _De Divinatione_, he introduces his +brother Quintus, declaring, that he had himself witnessed in AEsopus such +animation of countenance, and vehemence of gesture, that he seemed carried +beside himself by some irresistible power(616). Roscius, indeed, is +chiefly talked of for the gracefulness of his gestures(617), but there are +also passages which refer to the modulation of his voice(618). It may +perhaps, however, be said, that the above citations only prove that the +same actor gesticulated in some characters, and declaimed in others; it +seems, however, much more probable that AEsopus went through the whole +dramatic part, than that he appeared in some plays merely as a +gesticulating, and in others as a declaiming, performer. + +There was thus no division in the ordinary dialogue, or _diverbium_, as it +was called, and it was employed only in the monologues, and those parts of +high excitement and pathos, which were declaimed somewhat in the tone of +_recitativo_ in an Italian opera, and were called _Cantica_, from being +accompanied either by the flutes or by instrumental music. That one actor +should have recited, and another performed the corresponding gestures in +the scenes of a tragedy, and that, too, in parts of the highest +excitement, and in which theatric illusion should have been rendered most +complete, certainly appears the most incongruous and inexplicable +circumstance in the history of the Roman Drama. This division did not +exist on the Greek stage, but it commenced at Rome as early as the time of +Livius Andronicus, who, being _encored_, as we call it, in his monologues, +introduced a slave, who declaimed to the sound of the flute, while he +himself executed the corresponding gesticulations(619). To us nothing can +seem at first view more ridiculous, and more injurious to theatric +illusion, than one person going through a dumb show or pantomime, while +another, who must have appeared a supernumerary on the pulpitum, recited, +with his arms across, the corresponding verses, in tones of the utmost +vehemence and pathos(620). It must, however, be recollected, that the +Roman theatres were larger and worse lighted than ours; that the mask +prevented even the nearest spectators from perceiving the least motion of +the lips, and they thus heard only the words without knowing whether they +proceeded from him who recited or gestured; and, finally, that these +actors were so well trained, that they agreed precisely in their +respective parts. We are informed by Cicero, that a comedian who made a +movement out of time was as much hissed as one who mistook the +pronunciation of a word or quantity of a syllable in a verse(621). Seneca +says, that it is surprising to see the attitudes of eminent comedians on +the stage overtake and keep pace with speech, notwithstanding the velocity +of the tongue(622). + +So much importance was attached to the art of dramatic gesticulation, that +it was taught in the schools; and there were instituted motions as well as +natural. These artificial gestures, however, of arbitrary signification, +were chiefly employed in pantomime, where speech not being admitted, more +action was required to make the piece intelligible: And it appears from +Quintilian, that comedians who acted with due decorum, never, or but very +rarely, made use of instituted signs in their gesticulation(623). The +movements suited to theatrical declamation were subdivided into three +different sorts. The first, called _Emmelia_, was adapted to tragic +declamation; the second, _Cordax_, was fitted to comedies; and the third, +_Sicinnis_, was proper to satiric pieces, as the Mimes and _Exodia_(624). + +The recitation was also accounted of high importance, so that the player +who articulated took prodigious pains to improve his voice, and an almost +whimsical care to preserve it(625). Nearly a third part of Dubos' once +celebrated work on Poetry and Painting, is occupied with the theatric +declamation of the Roman actors. The art of framing the declamation of +dramatic pieces was, he informs us, the object of a particular study, and +indeed profession, at Rome. It was composed and signified in notes, placed +over each verse of the play, to direct the tones and inflection of voice +which were to be observed in recitation. There were a certain number of +accents in the Latin language, and the composer of a declamation marked +each syllable requiring to be accented, the grave or the acute accent +which properly belonged to it, while on the remaining syllables, he noted, +by means of conventional marks, a tone conformable to the tenor of the +discourse. The declamation was thus not a musical song, but a recitation +subject to the direction of a noted melody. Tragic declamation was graver +and more harmonious than comic, but even the comic was more musical and +varied than the pronunciation used in ordinary conversation(626). This +system, it might be supposed, would have deprived the actors of much +natural fire and enthusiasm, from the constraint to which they were thus +subjected; but the whole dramatic system of the ancients was more +artificial than ours, and something determinate and previously arranged, +as to quantities and pauses, was perhaps essential to enable the +gesticulating actor to move in proper concert with the reciter. The whole +system, however, of noted declamation, is denied by Duclos and Racine, who +think it impossible that accentuated tones of passion could be devised or +employed(627). + +Both the actor who declaimed, and he who gesticulated, wore _masks_; and, +before concluding the subject of the Roman theatre, it may not be improper +to say a few words concerning this singular dramatic contrivance, as also +concerning the attire of the performers. + +From the opportunity which they so readily afforded, of personally +satirizing individuals, by representing a caricatured resemblance of their +features, masks were first used in the old Greek comedy, which assumed the +liberty of characterizing living citizens of Athens. It is most probable, +however, that the hint of dramatic masks was given to the Romans by the +Etruscans(628). That they were employed by the histrions of that latter +nation, can admit of no doubt. The actors represented on the Etruscan +vases are all masked, and have caps on their heads(629). We also know, +that in some of the satirical exhibitions of the ancient Italians, they +wore masks made of wood: + + "Nec non Ausonii, Troja gens missa, coloni + Versibus incomptis ludunt, risuque soluto + Oraque corticibus sumunt horrenda cavatis(630)." + +Originally, and in the time of L. Andronicus, the actors on the Roman +stage used only caps or beavers(631), and their faces were daubed and +disguised with the lees of wine, as at the commencement of the dramatic +art in Greece. The increased size, however, of the theatres, and +consequent distance of the spectators from the stage, at length compelled +the Roman players to borrow from art the expression of those passions +which could no longer be distinguished on the living countenance of the +actor. + +Most of the Roman masks covered not merely the face, but the greater part +of the head(632), so that the beard and hair were delineated, as well as +the features. This indeed is implied in one of the fables of Phaedrus, +where a fox, after having examined a tragic mask, which he found lying in +his way, exclaims, "What a vast shape without brains(633)!"--An observation +obviously absurd, if applied to a mere vizard for the face, which was not +made, and could not have been expected, to contain any brains. Addison, in +his _Travels in Italy_, mentions, that, in that country, he had seen +statues of actors, with the _larva_ or mask. One of these was not merely a +vizard for the face; it had false hair, and came over the whole head like +an helmet. He also mentions, however, that he has seen figures of Thalia, +sometimes with an entire head-piece in her hand, and a friz running round +the edges of the face; but at others, with a mask merely for the +countenance, like the modern vizards of a masquerade. + +The masks of the regular theatre were made of chalk, or pipe-clay, or +terra cotta. A few were of metal, but these were chiefly the masks of the +Mimes. The chalk or clay masks were so transparent and artfully prepared, +that the play of the muscles could be seen through them; and it appears +that an opening was frequently left for the eyes, since Cicero informs us +expressly, that in parts of high pathos or indignation, the actor's eyes +were often observed to sparkle under the vizard(634). From a vast +collection of Roman masks engraved in the work of Ficoroni, _De Larvis +Scenicis_, it appears that most of them represented features considerably +distorted, and enlarged beyond the natural proportions. A wide and gaping +mouth is one of their chief characteristics. The mask being in a great +measure contrived to prevent the dispersion of the voice, the mouth was so +formed, and was so incrusted with metal, as to have somewhat the effect of +a speaking-trumpet--hence the Romans gave the name of _persona_ to masks, +because they rendered the articulation of those who wore them more +distinct and sonorous(635). There are, however, a few figures in the work +of Ficoroni, carrying in their hands masks which are not unnaturally +distorted, and which have, in several instances, a resemblance to the +actor who holds them. M. Boindin, on the authority of a passage in +Lucian's _Dialogue on Dancing_, thinks that these less hideous masks were +employed by dancers, or pantomimic actors, who, as they did not speak, had +no occasion for the distended mouth(636). + +Roscius, who had some defect in his eyes, is said to have been the first +actor who used the Greek mask(637): but it was not invariably worn even by +him, as appears from a passage of Cicero.--"All," says that author, +"depends upon the face, and all the power of the face is centred in the +eyes. Of this our old men are the best judges, for they were not lavish of +their applause even to Roscius in a mask(638)." + +The different characters who chiefly appeared on the Roman stage--the +father, the lover, the parasite, the pander, and the courtezan, were +distinguished by their appropriate masks. A particular physiognomy was +considered as so essential to each character, that it was thought, that +without a proper mask, a complete knowledge of the personage could not be +communicated. "In tragedies," says Quintilian, "Niobe appears with a +sorrowful countenance--and Medea announces her character by the fierce +expression of her physiognomy--stern courage is painted on the mask of +Hercules, while that of Ajax proclaims his transport and phrensy. In +comedies, the masks of slaves, pimps, and parasites--peasants, soldiers, +old women, courtezans, and female slaves, have each their particular +character(639)." Julius Pollux, in his _Onomasticon_, has given a minute +description of the mask appropriate to every dramatic character(640). His +work, however, was written in the reign of the Emperor Commodus, and his +observations are chiefly formed on the practice of the Greek theatre, so +that there may have been some difference between the various masks he +describes, and those of the Roman stage, towards the end of the republic. +The matron, virgin, and courtezan, he informs us, were particularly +distinguished from each other by the manner in which their hair was +arranged and braided. The mask of the parasite had brown and curled hair: +That of the braggart captain had black hair, and a swarthy +complexion(641); and it farther appears from the engravings of masks in +Ficoroni, that he had a distended or inflated countenance. The masks, +likewise, distinguished the severe from the indulgent father--the Micio +from the Demea--and the sober youth from the debauched rake(642). If, in +the course of the comedy, the father was to be sometimes pleased, but +sometimes incensed, one of the brows of his vizard was knit, and the other +smooth; and the actor was always careful, during the course of the +representation, to turn to the spectators, along with the change of +passion, the profile which expressed the feeling predominant at the +time(643). Julius Pollux has also described the dresses suited to each +character: The youth was clad in purple, the parasite in black, slaves in +white, the pander in party-coloured garments, and the courtezan in flowing +yellow robes(644). + +It would introduce too long discussion, were I to enter on the +much-agitated question concerning the advantages and disadvantages of +masks in theatric representations. The latter are almost too apparent to +be enlarged on or recapitulated. It is obvious to remark, that though +masks might do very well for a Satyr and Cyclops, who have no resemblance +to human features, they are totally unsuitable for a flatterer, a miser, +or the like characters, which abound in our own species, in whom the +expression of countenance is more agreeable even than the action, and +forms a considerable part of the histrionic art. Could we suppose that a +vizard represented ever so naturally the general humour of a character, it +can never be assimilated with the variety of passions incident to each +person, in the whole course of a play. The grimace may be proper on some +occasions, but it is too fixed and steady to agree with all. In +consequence, however, of the great size of the ancient theatres, there was +not so much lost by the concealment of the living countenance, as we are +apt at first to suppose. It was impossible that those alterations of +visage, which are hidden by a mask, could have been distinctly perceived +by one-tenth of the 40,000 spectators of a Roman play. The feelings +portrayed in the ancient drama were neither so tender nor versatile as +those in modern plays, and the actors did not require the same flexibility +of features--there were fewer flashes of joy in sorrow, fewer gleams of +benignity in hatred. Hercules, the Satyrs, the Cyclops, and other +characters of superhuman strength or deformity, were more frequently +introduced on the ancient than the modern stage, and, by aid of the mask, +were more easily invested with their appropriate force or ugliness. By +means, too, of these masks, the dramatists introduced foreign nations on +the stage with their own peculiar physiognomy, and among others, the _Rufi +persona Batavi_. Their use, besides, prevented the frequenters of the +theatre from seeing an actor, far advanced in years, play the part of a +young lover, since the vizard, under which the performer appeared, was +always, to that extent at least, agreeable to the character he assumed. In +addition to all this, by concealing the mouth it prevented the spectators +from observing whence the sound issued, and thus palliated the absurdity +of one actor declaiming, and the other beating time, as it were by +gestures. Finally, as the tragic actor was elevated by his _cothurnus_, or +buskin, above the ordinary stature of man, it became necessary, in order +to preserve the due proportions of the human form, that his countenance +also should be enlarged to corresponding dimensions. + + ----------------------------- + +I shall here close the first Volume of the HISTORY OF ROMAN LITERATURE, in +which I have treated of the Origin of the Romans--the Progress of their +Language, and the different Poets by whom their Literature was +illustrated, till the era of Augustus. At that period Virgil beautifully +acknowledges the superiority of the Greeks in statuary, oratory, and +science; but he might, with equal justice, (and the avowal would have come +from him with peculiar propriety,) have confessed that the Muses loved +better to haunt Pindus and Parnassus, than Soracte or the Alban Hill. From +the days of Ennius downwards, the literature and poetry of the Romans was, +with exception, perhaps, of satire, and some dramatic entertainments of a +satiric description, wholly Greek--consisting merely of imitations, and, in +some instances, almost of translations from that language. We may compare +it to a tree transplanted in full growth to an inferior soil or climate, +and which, though still venerable or beautiful, loses much of its verdure +and freshness, sends forth no new shoots, is preserved alive with +difficulty, and, if for a short time neglected, shrivels and decays. + + + END OF VOLUME I. + + +_James Kay, Jun. Printer,_ +_S. E. Corner of Race & Sixth Streets_ +_Philadelphia._ + + + + + + + INDEX + + + Afranius, his Comedies, vol. i. p. 170. + Agriculture, advantages of Italy for, ii. 6-11. + Antias, Q. Valerius, Latin Annalist, ii. 74. + Antipater, Caelius, Latin Annalist, ii. 72. + Antonius, Marcus, character of his eloquence, ii. 117. + His death, 119. + Arcesilaus founds the New Academy, ii. 208. + Asellio, Sempronius, Latin Annalist, ii. 73. + Atellane Fables, i. 229. + Attius, his Tragedies, i. 214. + + Brutus, his Historical Epitomes, ii. 107. + + Caecilius, his Comedies, i. 168. + Caecina, his history, ii. 108. + Caesar compared with Xenophon, ii. 94. + His Commentaries, 95-101. + His Ephemeris, whether the same work with his Commentaries, + 101. + His Anticatones, 102. + His Analogia, 103. + Calvus, Licinius, his Epigrams, i. 322. + His orations, ii. 131. + Carmen Saliare, i. 43. + Carneades teaches the Greek philosophy at Rome, ii. 211. + Cato, the Censor, his work on Agriculture, ii. 12-16. + His Orations, 16. + His work De Originibus, 18. + On Medicine, 20-21. + Catullus, i. 271-320. + Cethegus, Marcus, an orator, ii. 110. + Cicero, his Orations, ii. 152. + Compared with Demosthenes, 192. + His works on Rhetoric, 193. + De Oratore, 195. + Brutus, 198. + The Orator, 199. + Topica, 200. + Rhetorica ad Herennium, inquiry concerning the author of, 202. + His philosophical works--De Legibus, 223. + De Finibus, 229. + Academica, 232. + Tusculanae Disputationes, 236. + De Natura Deorum, 243. + De Officiis, 257. + De Senectute, 259. + De Republica, 263. + His Epistles, 278. + Columna Rostrata, inscription on the, i. 46. + Cotta, his style of oratory, ii. 122. + Crassus, Lucius, character of his eloquence, ii. 120. + His death, ibid. + Compared with Antony, 121. + + Decemviral Laws, ii. 134. + Dialogue, remarks on this species of composition, ii. 194. + + Eloquence, Roman, commencement of, ii. 109. + Ennius, his tragedies, i. 67. + Annals, 78. + Translation of Euhemerus, 94. + Etruscans, their origin, i. 20. + Their conquests, 26. + Religion, 29. + Arts, 35. + Eugubian Tables, i. 47. + + Fabius Pictor, Latin Annalist, ii. 67-71. + Fratres Arvales, hymn of the, i. 43. + + Galba, Sergius, an orator, ii. 110. + Gracchi, oratory of the, ii. 113. + + Hirtius, his continuation of Caesar's Commentaries, ii. 105. + History, Roman, uncertainty of, ii. 57-67. + Hortensius, his luxury and magnificence, ii. 124. + His villas at Tusculum, Bauli, and Laurentum, 124, 125. + Character of his eloquence, 127. + His descendants, 130, Note. + + Jurisconsults, Roman, account of, ii. 138. + + Laberius, i. 328. + Laelius, his oratory compared with that of Scipio, ii. 111. + Latin Language, its origin, i. 32. + Its changes, 48. + Laws, Roman, ii. 133-138. + Leges Regiae, ii. 133. + Livius Andronicus, i. 54-58. + Lucceius, his History of the Social War, ii. 107. + Lucilius, i. 238-248. + Lucretius, i. 250-271. + Lucullus, his patronage of learning, ii. 51. + Luscius Lavinius, i. 171. + + Magna Graecia, its settlements, i. 50. + Mimes, their origin and subjects, i. 324. + + Naevius, i. 58-62. + + Pacuvius, i. 209. + Plautus, i. 96-168. + Philosophy, Greek, introduction of, at Rome, ii. 209. + Plebiscita, account of the, ii. 136. + Praetor, account of the office of, ii. 141. + Publius Syrus, i. 332. + + Quadrigarius, Claudius, Latin Annalist, ii. 73. + + Sallust, his character, ii. 82. + His Gardens, ibid. + His conspiracy of Catiline, and Jugurthine war, 84-88. + His Roman History, 92. + Satire, Roman, origin of, i. 232. + Senatusconsultum, what, ii. 137. + Sisenna, Roman Annalist, ii. 75. + Sulpicius, his worthless character, ii. 121. + His style of oratory, 122. + Sylla, his library, ii. 50. + His Memoirs of his Life, 77. + His character, 78. + + Terence, i. 175-206. + Compared with Plautus, 206. + Theatre, Roman, its construction, i. 337-353. + Tyrannio, his library, ii. 52. + Trabea, i. 173. + + Varro, his farms and villas, ii. 25. + His work on Agriculture, 28-34. + De Lingua Latina, 34. + Other works of Varro, 40. + + + + + + FOOTNOTES + + + 1 Mad. de Stael, _De la Litterature_, Tom. I. + +_ 2 Rasselas_. + +_ 3 Childe Harolde_, c. IV. + +_ 4 Vindiciae Gallicae_. + +_ 5 Vindiciae Gallicae_. + +_ 6 Rasselas_. + + 7 Boswell's _Life of Johnson_, Vol. IV. + +_ 8 Civil and Constitutional History of Rome, from its Foundation to + the Age of Augustus_, by Henry Bankes, Esq. M. P. ed. London, 1818, + 2 vol. 8vo. + +_ 9 Voyage de Polyclete_, Lettre 2. 3 Tom. Paris, 1820. + +_ 10 Herod. Clio._ c. 94. + +_ 11 Herculanensia_, Dissert. V. Lond. 1810. + +_ 12 Geograph._ Lib. V. c. 2. + +_ 13 Histor. Roman._ Lib. I. c. 1. + +_ 14 Quaestiones Romanae_. + +_ 15 Annal._ Lib. IV. c. 55. + +_ 16 Antiquitates Romanae_. Lib. I. p. 22. Ed. Sylburg, 1586. + +_ 17 Antiquitates Romanae_. Lib. I. p. 22, &c. + +_ 18 De Etruria Regali_. Lib. I. Ed. Florent. 1723. 2 tom. fol. + +_ 19 Geographia Sacra_, De Coloniis Phoenicum. Lib. I. tom. I. p. 582, + &c. _Oper._ Lugd. Bat. 1712. + +_ 20 Miscellaneous Works_, Vol. IV. p. 184. Ed. 8vo. 1814. + + 21 Micali, _L'Italia avanti il Dominio dei Romani_. Ed. Firenz. 1810. + Bossi, _Istoria d'Italia_. Ed. 1819. + +_ 22 Museum Etruscum_. + +_ 23 Origin and Progress of Language_, vol. V. book i. c. 3. See also + Swinton, _De Lingua Etruriae Vernacula_. + + 24 At the end of his Dissertation he alludes to a future work, in which + he is to settle the particular district and time of the Etruscan + emigration; but I do not know whether or not he ever accomplished + this undertaking. + + 25 "Confesso ingenuamente," says the author, "che questa Etimologia + della voce Eridano mi e sempre piaciuta assai."--_Dissertaz. sopra + l'Origine de Terreni, nell Saggi di Dissert. dell Acad. Etrusca_. + Tom. III. p. 1. + +_ 26 Supplem. ad Monument. Etrusc. Dempst._ c. 47. See also Riccobaldi + del Bava, _Dissertaz. sopra L'Origine dell' Etrusca Nazione_. + + 27 Deutoronomy, c. 18, v. 14. _Ragionament. degl' Itali primitivi. in + Istoria Diplomatica_. Ed. Mantua, 1727. + +_ 28 Origini Italiche_. 3 Tom. folio. Lucca, 1767-72. + +_ 29 De Primi Abitatori dell Italia_. Ed. Modena, 1769. 3 Tom. 4to. + +_ 30 Histoire des Celtes_. Paris, 1770. + +_ 31 Recherches sur l'Origine des Differens Peuples d'Italie_, in + _l'Hist. de l'Acad. des Inscriptions_. Tom. XVIII. + +_ 32 De Origine Latinae Linguae_. Ed. 1720. + + 33 Heyne, _Opuscula Academica_, Tom. V. See also Court de Gebelin, + _Monde Primitif_. + + 34 Non enim Etruscorum stirpem ab una gente nec ab una turba deductam; + sed temporum successu plurium populorum propagines in eum populum, + qui tandem Etruscum nomen terris his allevit confluxisse arbitror. + _Nov. Comment. Soc. Reg. Gotting._ Tom. III. + +_ 35 Nat. Hist._ Lib. III. c. 14. Ed. Hardouin. + + 36 Visconti, who has since become so celebrated by his _Iconographie + Grecque et Romaine_, says in the _Approvazione_ of the work of + Lanzi, which he had perused in his official capacity,--"Il saggio di + lingua Etrusca, che ho letto per commissione del Rmo. P. M. del S. + P. A., mi e sembrato assolutamente il miglior libro che sia stato + sinora scritto su questo difficile e vasto argomento." This opinion, + so early formed, has been confirmed by that of all writers who have + subsequently touched on the subject. + +_ 37 Saggio di Lingua Etrusca_. Rom. 1789. 3 Tom. 8vo. + + 38 Diodorus Siculus--Athenaeus. + + 39 Guarnacci, _Origini Italiche_. + + 40 Sir William Jones, _On the Gods of Italy and India_. + +_ 41 Herculanensia_, Dissert. V. + +_ 42 Hermes Scythicus_, p. 90. + + 43 Ovid. _Fast._ I. 90. + + 44 Servius, ad AEneid. VII. 84. + + 45 L'Olympe de Numa fut plus majestueux, + Mercure moins fripon, Mars moins voluptueux; + Jupiter brula moins d'une flamme adultere, + Venus meme recut une culte plus severe. + _De Lille._ _Imagination_. Ch. vi. + +_ 46 Antiquitat. Roman._ Lib. II. c. 19. + + 47 Beaufort is of opinion that the gradual introduction of the Greek + mythology at Rome commenced as early as the reign of Tarquinius + Priscus. _La Republique Romaine. Discours Preliminaire_. Ed. 1766. 2 + Tom. 4to. + + 48 Heyne, Excurs. V. lib. vii. ad AEneid. + + 49 Bentley, however, is of opinion that the College of Augurs, whose + divination was made from observations of birds, was of Roman + institution, being founded by Numa, and that the skill and province + of the Haruspices of Etruria reached to three things, _exta, + fulgura, et ostenta_, entrails of cattle, thunders, and monstrous + births, but did not include auguries from the flight of birds. "It + often happened," he adds, "that this pack of Etruscan soothsayers + gave their answers quite cross to what the Roman augurs had given, + so that the two disciplines clashed."--(_Remarks on a late Discourse + of Freethinking_, p. 241, Lond. 1737.) + + 50 Valerius Maximus, Lib. I. c. i. Ed. 1533. Cicero, _De Divinatione_, + Lib. I. c. 41. Ed. Schuetz. + +_ 51 Origin, &c. of Language_. Part I. book iii. c. 11. + +_ 52 Diversions of Purley_. Part II. c. iv. Wakefield and Horne Tooke + had undertaken in conjunction a division and separation of the Latin + language into two parts, placing together, in one division, all that + could be clearly shewn to be Greek, and in the other, all that could + be clearly shewn to be of northern extraction, including, I presume, + both Teutonic and Celtic originals. This design, we are informed, + was frustrated "by the persecution of that virtuous and harmless + good man, Mr Gilbert Wakefield."--_Divers. Purley_, II. 4. See also + on the origin of the Latin Language, Ginguene, _Hist. Litteraire + d'Italie_, Tom. I. + +_ 53 De Novi Instrumenti Stylo_, c. 1. London, 1648. + +_ 54 De Lingua Latina_, lib. IV. c. 10. + + 55 Remondini, _Dissertaz. sopra una iscrizione Osca_, p. 49. ed. 1760, + Genoa. Some writers have even asserted, that the Twelve tables were + originally written in the Oscan dialect. Terrasson, _Hist. de la + Jurisprudence Romaine_. Baron de Theis, _Voyage de Polyclete_, let. + 15. + + 56 It would be foreign to the object of this work to enter into the + inquiry, whether the Etruscan arts were the result of indigenous + taste and cultivation, or were derived from the Greeks. The latter + proposition has been maintained by Winckelman and Lanzi--the former + by Tiraboschi and Pignotti. (_Storia di Toscana_, T. 1. Ed. Pisa, + 1815.) + + 57 Forsyth's _Remarks on Italy_, p. 141. + + 58 "La grandeur de Rome," says Montesquieu, "parut bientot dans ses + edifices publics. Les ouvrages qui ont donne, et qui donnent encore + aujourd'hui la plus haute idee de sa puissance ont ete faits sous + les Rois. On commencoit deja a batir la Ville eternelle." _Grandeur + et Decadence des Romains_, c. 1. + + 59 Dempster, _Etruria Regalis_, Lib. III. c. 80. + + 60 Horat. _Epist._ Lib. II. Ep. 1. + + 61 Ennius, _Annal._ + +_ 62 De Die Natali_, c. 5. + +_ 63 Saggio di Ling. Etrusc._ Tom. II. p. 567. + +_ 64 De Ling. Lat._ Lib. IV. c. 9. + + 65 Orgival, _Considerat. sur l'Origine et Progres des Belles Lettres + chez les Romains_. + +_ 66 Comment. de Erudit. Societat._ + + 67 Romulus ut saxo locum circumdedit alto, + Cuilibet huc, inquit, confuge tutus erit. + + 68 Plautus, _Captivi Prol._ + +_ 69 Antiquitat. Roman._ Lib. II. + + 70 Livy. Lib. VII. c. 2. Sine carmine ullo, sine imitandorum carminum + actu, ludiones ex Etruria acciti, ad tibicinis modos saltantes, haud + indecoros motus more Tusco dabant. + + 71 Flogel, _Geschichte der Komisch. Litteratur_. Tom. IV. p. 82. + + 72 Dionys. Halic. Lib. II. c. 34. + + 73 Livy, Lib. III. c. 29. Epulantesque, cum carmine triumphali et + solennibus jocis, commissantium modo, currum secuti sunt. + + 74 Ibid. Lib. IV. c. 20. In eum milites carmina incondita, aequantes eum + Romulo, canere. + + 75 Ibid. Lib. XXVIII. c. 9. + +_ 76 Tusc. Disput._ Lib. I. c. 2. and lib. IV. c. 2. _Brutus_, c. 19. + + 77 Lib. II. c. 1. + +_ 78 De Vita Populi Romani_, ap. Nonium, c. ii. sub voce, Assa. + + 79 Majores natu in conviviis ad tibias egregia superiorum opera, + carmine comprehensa, pangebant. + + 80 Cicero, _Brutus_, c. 19. The passage rather seems to imply that they + had been in writing, "Utinam _extarent illa carmina_, quae multis + saeculis ante suam aetatem in epulis esse cantata a singulis convivis + de clarorum virorum laudibus, in Originibus scriptum reliquit Cato"! + +_ 81 Lectures on Literature_, Lect. III. + +_ 82 Romische Geschichte_. Berlin, 1811. 2 Tom. 8vo. + + 83 Lib. IV. c. 2. + + 84 Lib. III. c. 22. + + 85 Bossi, _Storia de Italia_, Tom. VI. p. 375. + +_ 86 Elementa Doctrinae Metricae_, Lib. III. c. 9. Lanzi, (_Saggio di + Ling. Etrusc._) Schoell, (_Hist. Abregee de la Litterature Romaine_, + Tom. I. p. 42. introduct.) and Eustace (_Classical Tour in Italy_, + Vol. III. p. 416.) give a somewhat different interpretation. + Pleores, they render flores, and not plures, in which they seem + right--Satur, fufere Mars, (you shall be full, O Mars!) they make + Ator, or ador fieri, Mars, (Let there be food, O Mars!) which is + evidently erroneous. The following will give some general notion of + the import of the verses:-- + + Ye Lares, aid us! Mars, thou God of Might! + From murrain shield the flocks--the flowers from blight. + For thee, O Mars! a feast shall be prepared; + Salt, and a wether chosen from the herd: + Invite, by turn, each Demigod of Spring-- + Great Mars, assist us! Triumph! Triumph sing! + + 87 Varro, _De Ling. Lat._ Lib. VI. c. 1 and 3. + + 88 Servius _ad AEneid._ Lib. VIII. + + 89 Cannegieter, _Dissert. Philol. Jurid. ad legem Numae_. + + 90 Funccius, _De Pueritia Latin. Ling._ c. III. § 6 and 8. + + 91 Lib. XLII. c. 20 + + 92 The letters which have been supplied are here printed in Italics. + + 93 Ciacconius, however, is of opinion that this is not precisely what + was inscribed on the base of the column in the time of Duillius, for + that the inscription, having been greatly effaced, was repaired, or + rather engraved anew, after the time of Julius Caesar. _In Colum. + Rost. Explic._ + +_ 94 Illustrations of Childe Harold_, p. 169. + + 95 This sort of rustic Latin has by some writers been supposed to be + the origin of the modern Italian. + + 96 Omnino ad jura pontificalia pertinere videntur. _In Dempsteri libros + Paralipomena_. Ed. Luca, 1767. It was on these Eugubian tables that, + in modern times, the alphabet of the Etruscan language was first + found. At the earliest attempt it was very imperfect and + contradictory; Maffei maintaining that these tables were in Hebrew, + and Gori that they were in Greek characters; but at length in 1732, + M. Bourguet, a Frenchman, by comparing the tables in the Roman with + those in the Etruscan character, found that the former was a + compendium of the latter, and that many words in the one + corresponded with words in the other. Having got this key, he was + enabled, by comparing word with word, and letter with letter, to + form an alphabet, which, though not perfect, was much more complete + than any previously produced, and was found to be the same with that + of the Pelasgi, and not very different from the alphabet + communicated to the Greeks by Cadmus. _Dissertaz. dell Academia + Etrusca_. T. I. p. 1. 1742. + + 97 Quintilian, _Institut._ Lib. I. c. 7. + +_ 98 Quaestiones Romanae_. + + 99 Festus, voce _Solitaurilia_. + + 100 For a fuller detail of these variations see Funccius _de Pueritia + Ling. Lat._ c. 5. Id. _de Adolescentia Ling. Lat._ c. 7. and + Terrasson, _Hist. de la Jurisprudence Romaine_. Part I. par. 8. + + 101 For a fuller detail of these variations see Funccius _de Pueritia + Ling. Lat._ c. 5. Id. _de Adolescentia Ling. Lat._ c. 7. and + Terrasson, _Hist. de la Jurisprudence Romaine_. Part I. par. 8. + + 102 This numeration, which rests on the authority of Diodorus Siculus, + (Lib. XII.) and Strabo, (Lib. VI.) has been a subject of + considerable discussion and controversy in modern times. (See + Wallace on the numbers of Mankind, Hume's Essay on Populousness of + Ancient Nations, and Gibbon's Miscellaneous Works, vol. III. p. + 178.) In all MSS. of ancient authors, the numbers are corrupt and + uncertain. + + 103 Plutarch, _De Exilio_. Id. _Vit. decem. Orator._ Strabo, _Geog._ + Lib. XIV. + + 104 Cicero, _Cato Major, seu de Senectute_, c. 12. + +_ 105 Rhetoricorum_, Lib. II. c. 1. + + 106 Horat. _Epist._ Lib. II. ep. 1. v. 58. + + 107 See Micali, _Italia avant. il Domin. dei Romani_. Raoul-Rochette, + _Hist. de l'Etablissement des Colonies Grecques_. Heyne, _Opusc. + Academ._ Nogarolae, _Epist. de Italis qui Graece scripserunt_. ap. + Fabricius, _Supplem. ad Vossium De Histor. Lat._ + + 108 Ausus est primus argumento fabulam serere. Livy, Lib. VII. c. 2. + + 109 Tiraboschi, _Stor. __dell.__ Letteratura Italiana_. Parte III. Lib. + II. c. 1. + + 110 Hieronym. in _Euseb. Chron._ p. 37. In Scaliger, _Thesaurus + Temporum_, ed. Amstel. 1658. + + 111 Vidi etiam senem Livium, qui usque ad adolescentiam meam processit + aetate. _De Senectute_, c. 14. + + 112 Signorelli, _Storia de Teatri_, Tom. II. + + 113 Lib. XXVII. c. 37. + +_ 114 Analecta Critica poesis Romanorum Scaenicae Reliquias lllustrantia_, + c. 3. ed. Berlin, 1816. + + 115 Est enim inter scriptores de numero annorum controversia. Cicero, + _Brutus_, c. 18. Cicero, however, fixes on the year 514, following, + as he says, the account of his friend Atticus. + + 116 Livy, Lib. VII. c. 2. Quum saepius revocatus vocem obtudisset, venia + petita, puerum ad canendum ante tibicinem quum statuisset, canticum + egisse, aliquanto magis vigente motu, quia nihil vocis usus + impediebat. + + 117 Inde ad manum cantari histrionibus coeptum, diverbiaque tantum + ipsorum voci relicta.--_Ibid._ + + 118 Festus, voce _Scribas_. + + 119 Osannus, _Analecta Critica_, c. 3. + +_ 120 Bibliotheca Latina_, Tom. III. Lib. IV. c. 1. + + 121 "Let the red buskin now your limbs invest, + And the loose robe be belted to your breast; + The rattling quiver let your shoulders bear-- + Throw off the hounds which scent the secret lair." + + 122 Jos. Scaliger, _Lectionibus Ausonianis_, where the lines are + attributed to Laevius. ap. Sagitarius, _de Vita L. Andronici_, c. 8. + Osannus, _Analecta Critica_, c. 2. p. 36. Some verses in the _Carmen + de Arte Metrica_ of Terentianus Maurus, are the chief authority for + these hexameters being by Livius:-- + + "Livius ille vetus Grajo cognomine, suae + Inserit Inonis versu, puto, tale docimen, + Praemisso heroo subjungit namque {~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}, + Hymno quando Chorus festo canit ore Triviae-- + 'Et jam purpureo,' " &c. + + 123 Livianae fabulae non satis dignae quae iterum legantur. _Brutus_, c. 18. + +_ 124 Epist._ Lib. II. Ep. 1. v. 69. + +_ 125 Brutus_, c. 18. + + 126 ---- "Nought worse can be + For wearing out a man than the rough sea; + Even though his force be great, and heart be brave, + All will be broken by the vexing wave." + + 127 Au. Gellius, Lib. XVII. c. 21. Ed. Lugd. Bat. 1666. + +_ 128 Tuscul. Disput._ Lib. IV. c. 31. + + 129 "---- My spirits, sire, are raised, + Thus to be praised by one the world has praised." + + 130 Au. Gellius. Lib. III. c. 3. Vossius. _De Historicis Latinis_, Lib. + I. c. 2. + + 131 Hieronym. _Chronicum Eusebianum_, p. 37, ut supra. + + 132 Cicero, _Brutus_, c. 15. + + 133 Au. Gellius, Lib. I. c. 24. + + 134 "If blest immortals mortals might bemoan, + Each heavenly Muse would Naevius' loss deplore: + Soon as his spirit to the shades had flown, + In Rome the Roman tongue was heard no more." + + 135 Heyne, _Excurs._ 1. ad Lib. II. _AEneid._ + + 136 Id. ad AEneid. The Cyprian Iliad had long been almost universally + ascribed to Naevius, and lines were quoted from it as his by all the + old grammarians. Several modern German critics, however, think that + it was the work of Laevius, a poet who lived some time after Naevius, + since the lines preserved from the Cyprian Iliad are hexameters,--a + measure not elsewhere used by Naevius, nor introduced into Italy, + according to their supposition, before the time of Ennius. Osannus, + _Analecta Critica_, p. 36. Herman, _Elementa Doctrinae Metricae_, p. + 210. Ed. Glasg. 1817. + +_ 137 De Senectute_. c. 14. + + 138 Suetonius, _De Illust. Grammat._ + + 139 Servius, _Ad AEneid._ Lib. 1. + +_ 140 Saturnalia_, Lib. VI. c. 2. Ed. Lugduni, 1560. I am anxious to take + this opportunity of remarking, that the books and chapters of the + _Saturnalia_ of Macrobius are differently divided in different + editions. The same observation applies to many of the books most + frequently referred to in the course of this work, as Pliny's + Natural History, Aulus Gellius, and Cicero. This difference in the + division of chapters, I fear, has led to a suspicion with regard to + the accuracy of a few of my references, which, however, have been + uniformly verified on some edition or other, though I cannot pretend + that I have always had access to the best. + +_ 141 Brutus_, c. 19. + + 142 Fortunatianus. Edit. Putsch. p. 2679. Bentley, _Dissert. on + Phalaris_, p. 162. Hawkins, _Inquiry into the Nature of Latin + Poetry_, p. 452. Ed. Lond. 1817. + + 143 Merula, Ed. Ennii Fragm. p. 88. Herman, _Elementa Doct. Met._ p. + 395. + + 144 Cicero, _Brutus_, c. 18. Id. _De Senect._ c. 5. + + 145 Sil. Ital. Lib. XII. + + 146 Aurelius Victor says he taught Cato Greek in Sardinia, (In praetura + Sardiniam subegit, ubi ab Ennio Graecis literis institutus;) but this + is inconsistent with what is related by Cicero, that Cato did not + acquire Greek till old age. (_De Senectute_, c. 8.) + + 147 Cornelius Nepos, _In Vita Catonis_. + + 148 Hieron. _Chron. Euseb._ p. 37. + + 149 Cicero, _Pro Archia_, c. 10. _Tusc. Disput._ Lib. I. c. 2. + + 150 Cicero, _Brutus_, c. 20. + + 151 Claudian, _de Laud. Stilichonis_, Lib. III. Praef. + + 152 Mueller thinks it was in Sardinia he served under Africanus. + _Einleitung zu Kentniss Lateinischen Schriftsteller_, Tom. I. p. + 378. Ed. Dresden, 1747-51. + + 153 Cicero, _De Orat._ Lib. II. c. 68. + + 154 Horat. _Epist._ Lib. I. Ep. 19. v. 7. + + 155 Ser. Sammonicus, _de Medicina_, c. 37. + + 156 Annos septuaginta natus, ita ferebat duo, quae maxima putantur onera, + paupertatem et senectutem, ut iis paene delectari videretur. _De + Senectute_, c. 5. + + 157 Cicero, _pro Archia_, c. 9. Valerius Maximus, Lib. VIII. c. 15. § 1. + + 158 Lib. XXXVIII. c. 56. + + 159 Bankes, _Civil History of Rome_, Vol. I. p. 357. Hobhouse, + _Illustrations of Childe Harold_, p. 167. + +_ 160 Rome in the 19th Century_, Letter 36. + + 161 Cicero, _Tuscul. Disput._ Lib. I. c. 15. + + 162 "Romans, the form of Ennius here behold, + Who sung your fathers' matchless deeds of old. + My fate let no lament or tear deplore, + I live in fame, although I breathe no more." + + 163 See above, p. 61. + + 164 Alcmaeon olim tragicorum pulpita lassavit cum furore suo. Ba. _in + Statium_. Tom. II. + + 165 Those who wish more particulars concerning the necklace may consult + Bayle, Art. _Calirhoe_. + +_ 166 Tuscul. Disput._ Lib. III. c. 19. + + 167 "Where shall I refuge seek or aid obtain? + In flight or exile can I safety gain?-- + Our city sacked--even scorched the walls of stone. + Our fanes consumed, and altars all o'erthrown. + O Father--country--Priam's ruined home; + O hallowed temple with resounding dome, + And vaulted roof with fretted gold illumed-- + All now, alas! these eyes have been consumed: + Have seen the foe shed royal Priam's blood, + And stain Jove's altar with the crimson flood." + + 168 This subject is fully discussed in Eberhardt, _Zustand der + __Schoenen__ Wissenschaften bei den __Roemern_, p. 38. Ed. Altona, + 1801. + +_ 169 Tuscul. Disput._ Lib. I. c. 16. + + 170 "I come--retraced the paths profound that lead + Through rugged caves, from mansions of the dead: + Mid these huge caverns Cold and Darkness dwell, + And Shades pass through them from the gates of Hell-- + When roused from rest, by blood of victims slain, + The Sorcerer calls them forth with rites obscene." + +_ 171 Graecae Tragoediae principum AEschyli, &c. num ea quae supersunt genuina + omnia sunt_. Ed. Heidelberg, 1808. + + 172 "Who knows not leisure to enjoy, + Toils more than those whom toils employ; + For they who toil with purposed end, + Mid all their labours pleasure blend-- + But they whose time no labours fill, + Have in their minds nor wish nor will: + 'Tis so with us, called far from home, + Nor yet to fields of battle come-- + We hither haste, then thither go, + Our minds veer round as breezes blow." + + 173 Comment. ad Cic. _Ep. ad Fam._ VII. 6. See also Scaliger, Vossius, + &c. + + 174 Osannus, _Analecta Critica_, c. 5. + + 175 "I rear'd him, subject to death's equal laws, + And when to Troy I sent him in our cause, + I knew I urged him into mortal fight, + And not to feasts or banquets of delight." + + 176 "For no Marsian augur (whom fools view with awe,) + Nor diviner nor star-gazer, care I a straw; + The Egyptian quack, an expounder of dreams, + Is neither in science nor art what he seems; + Superstitious and shameless, they prowl through our streets, + Some hungry, some crazy, but all of them cheats. + Impostors! who vaunt that to others they'll show + A path, which themselves neither travel nor know. + Since they promise us wealth, if we pay for their pains, + Let them take from that wealth, and bestow what remains." + + 177 "Yes! there are gods; but they no thought bestow + On human deeds--on mortal bliss or woe-- + Else would such ills our wretched race assail? + Would the good suffer?--would the bad prevail?" + +_ 178 Instit. Orator._ Lib. X. c. 1. + +_ 179 Noctes Atticae_, Lib. II. c. 29. + + 180 Lib. IV. Fab. 22. _L'Alouette et ses petits avec le maitre d'un + champ_. + +_ 181 Noct. Attic._ Lib. XVII. c. 21. Quibus consulibus natum esse Q. + Ennium poetam, M. Varro, in primo _de Poetis_ libro, scripsit: + eumque quum septimum et sexagesimum annum ageret duodecimum Annalem + scripsisse: idque ipsum Ennium in eodem libro dicere. + + 182 See above, p. 40. + +_ 183 Romische Geschichte_, Tom. I. p. 179. + +_ 184 Romische Geschichte_, Tom. I. p. 318. + + 185 Id. Tom. I. p. 178. + +_ 186 Romische Geschichte_, Tom. I. p. 364, &c. + + 187 "'Eurydice, my sister,' thus she spoke, + When roused from sleep she, weeping, silence broke-- + 'Thou whom my father loved! of life bereft, + Though yet alive, all sense this frame hath left. + A form endowed with more than mortal grace, + Mysterious led me, and with hurried pace, + 'Mid ever varying scenes, as wild as new, + O'er banks and meads where pliant osiers grew. + Then left to wander pathless and alone, + I vainly sought thee amid scenes unknown. + My father called, his child forlorn address'd, + And in these words prophetic thoughts express'd: + 'O Daughter, many sorrows yet abide, + Ere fortune's stream upbears thee on its tide.' + Thus spoke my father; but his form withdrew; + No longer offered to my eager view. + Though oft in vain with soothing voice I call, + And stretch my hands to heaven's cerulean hall. + Oppressed, and struggling, and with sick'ning heart. + At once the vision and my sleep depart.'" + + 188 "With ceaseless care, eager alike to reign, + Both anxious watch some favouring sign to gain, + Remus with prescient gaze observes the sky + Apart, and marks where birds propitious fly. + His godlike brother on the sacred height, + Observant traced the soaring eagle's flight: + And now the anxious tribes expect from fate + The future monarch of their infant state; + Even as the crowd await at festal games + The consul's signal, which the sports proclaims. + Their eyes directed to the painted goal, + Eager to see the rival chariots roll. + Meanwhile the radiant sun sinks down to night, + But soon he sheds again the yellow light; + And while the golden orb ascends the sky, + The fowls of heaven on wing propitious fly. + Twelve sacred birds, which gods as omens send, + With flight precipitate on earth descend. + The sign, Quirinus knew, to him alone + Presaged dominion, and the Roman throne." + + 189 The Annals were not separated by Ennius himself into books; but were + so divided, long after his death, by the grammarian Q. + Vargunteius.--(Suet. _de Illust. Gram._ c. 2.) The fragments of them + are arranged under different books in different editions. In the + passages quoted, I have followed the distribution in the edition of + Merula, Lugd. Bat. 1574. + + 190 "Nor gift I seek, nor shall ye ransom yield; + Let us not trade, but combat in the field: + Steel and not gold our being must maintain, + And prove _which_ nation Fortune wills to reign. + Whom chance of war, despite of valour, spared, + I grant them freedom, and without reward. + Conduct them then, by all the mighty Gods! + Conduct them freely to their own abodes." + + 191 Cap. 19. + + 192 Gaddius, _de Script. Latinis non Ecclesiast._ Tom. 1. p. 171. + + 193 "His friend he called--who at his table fared, + And all his counsels and his converse shared; + With whom he oft consumed the day's decline + In talk of petty schemes, or great design,-- + To him, with ease and freedom uncontrouled, + His jests and thoughts, or good or ill, were told: + Whate'er concerned his fortunes was disclosed, + And safely in that faithful breast reposed. + This chosen friend possessed a stedfast mind, + Where no base purpose could its harbour find; + Mild, courteous, learned, with knowledge blest, and sense; + A soul serene, contentment, eloquence; + Fluent in words or sparing, well he knew + All things to speak in place and season due; + His mind was amply graced with ancient lore, + Nor less enriched with modern wisdom's store: + Him, while the tide of battle onward pressed, + Servilius called, and in these words addressed." + + 194 "Sacked, but not captive,--burned, yet not consumed; + Nor on the Dardan plains to moulder doomed." + + 195 "From every side the javelins as a shower + Rush, and unerring on the Tribune pour; + Struck by the spears his helm and shield resound, + Though pierced his shield, no shaft inflicts a wound. + Their missile darts th' embattled Istrians throw, + But all are hurled in vain against their foe; + He pants, and sweats, and labours o'er the field, + The flying shafts no pause for breathing yield; + Smote by his sword or sling, th' assailants fall + Within, or headlong thrust beyond the wall." + + 196 "Even as the generous Steed, whose youthful force + Was oft victorious in th' Olympic course, + Unfit, from age, to triumph in such fields, + At length to rest his time-worn members yields." + + 197 "O'er Heaven's wide arch a solemn silence reigned, + And the fierce Ocean his wild waves restrained: + The Sun repressed his steeds' impetuous force; + The winds were hushed; the streams all stayed their course." + + 198 Lib. IV. Ode 8. + + 199 Niebuhr, _Romische Geschichte_. + + 200 Vossius, _de Historicis Latinis_, Lib. I. c. 2. + + 201 Au. Gellius, _Noct. Attic._ Lib. XVIII. c. 5. + + 202 Ibid. Lib. XII. c. 2. + + 203 "Even as the generous steed, with reins unbound, + Bursts from the stall, and scours along the ground, + With lofty chest he seeks the joyous plain, + And oft, exulting, shakes his crested mane; + The fiery spirit in his breast prevails, + And the warm heart in sprinkling foam exhales." + + 204 Iliad, Lib. VI. v. 506. + + 205 AEneid, Lib. XI. + + 206 C. ix. st. 75. + +_ 207 Venus and Adonis_, p. 13. Shakespeare's Poems, Ed. 1773. + +_ 208 Voyage d'Anacharsis_. T. II. c. 25. + + 209 Varro, _De Re Rustica_, Lib. I. c. 4. Ed. Gesner. + + 210 This is the Jupiter whom all revere, + Whom I name Jupiter, and Greeks call Air: + He also is the Wind, the Clouds, the Rain; + Cold, after Showers, then Wind and Air again: + All these are Jove, who social life maintains, + And the huge monsters of the wild sustains. + + 211 Lib. VI. c. 1. & 2. + + 212 "He first restored the state by wise delay, + Heedless of what a censuring world might say; + Hence time has hallow'd his immortal name, + And, as the years succeed, still spreads his fame." + + The line of Ennius, "Unus homo," &c. was applied, with an alteration + of the word _cunctando_ into _vigilando_, by Augustus, in a + complimentary letter to Tiberius, on his good conduct in restoring + affairs in Germany, after the unfortunate defeat of Varus. (Sueton. + _in Tiberio_. c. 21.) + + 213 It is of these two lines of Ennius that Horace says, the _disjecta + membra poetae_, that is, the poetical force and spirit, would remain, + though the arrangement of the words were changed, and the measure of + the verse destroyed; which, he admits, would not be the case with + his own satires, or those of Lucilius. + + 214 Act. II. sc. 2. + + 215 "The Olympian Father smiled; and for a while + Nature's calmed elements returned the smile." + +_ 216 Scaligerana_, p. 136. Ed. Cologne, 1695. + +_ 217 Institut. Orat._ Lib. X. c. 1. + + 218 Cicero, _De Divinatione_, Lib. II. c. 54. + +_ 219 Divine Legation of Moses_. + +_ 220 De Iside et Osiride_. + +_ 221 Georg._ Lib. II. v. 139. + +_ 222 Mem. de l'Acad. des Inscriptions_, Tom. XV. + + 223 Polyb. Lib. V. + +_ 224 Cours de Litterature Dramatique_, Tom. I. + + 225 In this feature of their character the Athenians had a considerable + resemblance to the French, during their most brilliant and courtly + era. "Comment," said a French courtier of the age of Louis XIV., on + hearing of a good joke which had been uttered on occasion of a great + national calamity;--"Comment, ne serait on charme des grands + evenemens, des bouleversemens memes qui font dire de si jolis + mots."--"On suivit," says Chamfort, "cette idee, on repassa les mots, + les chansons, faites sur tous les desastres de la France. La chanson + sur la bataille de Hochstet fut trouvee mauvaise, et quelques uns + dirent a ce sujet: Je suis fache de la perte de cette bataille; la + chanson ne vaut rien."--_Maximes, Pensees, &c._ par Chamfort, p. 190. + + 226 Au. Gellius, _Noct. Att._ Lib. III. c. 3. + + 227 Signorelli, _Storia di Teatri_. Tom. II. p. 32. + + 228 Lib. III. + +_ 229 Poet._ XII. + + 230 "Faciam ut commixta sit tragico comoedia; + Nam me perpetuo facere ut sit comoedia, + Reges quo veniant et Dii, non par arbitror. + Quid igitur? quoniam hic servus quoque parteis habet, + Faciam sit, proinde ut dixi, tragi-comoedia." + +_ 231 Sat._ Lib. XXVIII. + + 232 Walker's _Essay on the Revival of the Drama in Italy_. + + 233 Fabricius, _Biblioth. Graec._ Lib. II. c. 22. + + 234 A Latin prose comedy, entitled _Querulus seu Aulularia_, having been + found in one of the most ancient MSS. of Plautus discovered in the + Vatican, was by some erroneously attributed to that dramatist; + though, in his prologue, its author quotes Cicero, and expressly + declares, that he purposed to imitate Plautus! It was first edited + in 1564 by Peter Daniel; and is now believed to have been written in + the time of the Emperor Theodosius. In some respects it has an + affinity to the genuine _Aulularia_ of Plautus. The prologue is + spoken by the _Lar Familiaris_; and a miser, called Euclio, on going + abroad, had concealed a treasure, contained in a pot, in some part + of his house. While dying, in a foreign land, he bequeathed to a + parasite, who had there insinuated himself into his favour, one half + of his fortune, on condition that he should inform his son Querulus, + so called from his querulous disposition, of the place where his + treasure was deposited. The parasite proceeds to the miser's native + country, and attempts, though unsuccessfully, to defraud the son of + the whole inheritance. + + From a curious mistake, first pointed out by Archbishop Usher, in + his _Ecclesiastical Antiquities_, this drama was attributed to + Gildas, the British Jeremiah, as Gibbon calls him; who entitled one + of his complaints concerning the affairs of Britain, + _Querulus_.--Vossius, _de Poet. Lat._ Lib. I. c. 6. § 9. + + 235 Walker's _Essay on the Italian Drama_, p. 224. + + 236 P. 106. Ed. 1819.--I have often wondered, that while the character of + a Miser has been exhibited so frequently, and with such success, on + the stage, it should scarcely have been well delineated, so far as I + remember, in any novel of note, except, perhaps, in the person of + Mr. Briggs, in _Cecilia_. + + 237 Act II. sc. 7. + + 238 Cailhava, _L'Art de la Comedie_, Liv. II. c. 9. Ed. Paris, 1772. + +_ 239 Beytrage, zur Historie und Aufnahme des Theaters_. + +_ 240 Samtliche Schriften_, Tom. XXII. p. 316. + + 241 Lib. VI. c. 9. + + 242 Id. Lib. VI. c. 7. + + 243 The best notion of the Greek parasite is to be got in the fragments + of the Greek poets quoted by Athenaeus, and in the Letters of + Alciphron, a great number of which are supposed to be addressed by + parasites to their brethren, and relate the particulars of the + injurious treatment which they had received at the tables of the + Great. + + 244 Athenaeus, Lib. VI. c. 17. + + 245 Jul. Pollux, _Onomasticon_, Lib. IV. c. 18 + + 246 Huic denique manducanti barba vellitur; illi bibenti sedilia + subtrahuntur; hic ligno scissili, ille fragili vitro pascitur. + + 247 See Act ii. sc. 2. and Act iv. sc. 1. + + 248 Potter's _Antiquities of Greece_. Book IV. c. 14. + +_ 249 Tableau de la Litterature __Francoise_. + + 250 Alciphron, _Epist._ + + 251 Walker's _Essay on the Revival of the Drama in Italy_. + + 252 Le Grand, _Contes et Fabliaux_, Tom. III. p. 157. + + 253 Quintil. _Inst. Orat._ Lib. X, c. 1. + + 254 Reperias, apud illum, multos sales, argumenta lepide inflexa, + agnatos lucide explicatos, personas rebus competentes; joca non + infra Soccum--seria non usque ad Cothurnum. Rarae apud illum + corruptelae; et uti errores concessi amores.--Apuleius, _Florid._ p. + 553. + + 255 Mueller, _Einleitung zu Kenntniss der alten Lateinischen + Schriftsteller_, Tom. II. p. 38. + +_ 256 Epist._ 362. + +_ 257 Opera_, Vol. I. p. 721. + + 258 See on this subject three German Programmata by M. Bellermann, + published 1806, 7, 8; also Schoell, _Hist. Abregee de la Litter. + Rom._ Tom. I. p. 123.--Col. Vallancey, in his _Essay on the Antiquity + of the Irish Language_, (which attracted considerable attention on + its first publication, and has been recently reprinted,) attempted + to show the affinity between these Punic remains and the old Irish + language,--both, according to him, having been derived from the + Phoenician, which was itself a dialect of the Hebrew. + + 259 C. 14. + + 260 G. Dousa, _Centur._ Lib. III. c. 2. + +_ 261 OEuvres D'Horace, par Dacier_, Tom. IX. p. 93. Ed. 1727 + + 262 See above, p. 129. + +_ 263 Essay on Dramatic Poetry_. + +_ 264 Essay on Dramatic Poetry_. + +_ 265 Heautontim._ Act III. sc. 2. + + 266 Athenaeus, Lib. XIII. Alciphron's _Epist._ + + 267 De Pauw, _Recherches Philosophiques sur les Grecs_, Vol. I. p. 188. + + 268 Cicero, _de Senectute_, c. 14. + +_ 269 Noct. Att._ Lib. III. c. 3. + +_ 270 Noct. Att._ Lib. III. c. 3. + +_ 271 Satur._ Lib. II. c. 1. + + 272 Nam Plautum alii dicunt scripsisse Fabulas XXI. alii XL. alii C. + Serv. _Ad Virg. AEneid._ Init. + +_ 273 Noct. Att._ Lib. III. c. 3. + + 274 Fabricius, _Bib. Latina_, Lib. I. c. 1. Osannus, _Analecta Critica_, + c. 8. + +_ 275 Noct. Att._ Lib. III. c. 3. + +_ 276 Analect. Critic._ c. 8. + +_ 277 Noct. Att._ Lib. III. c. 2. + +_ 278 Sunapothneskontes_ Diphili Comoedia 'st: Eam Commorientes Plautus + fecit Fabulam. + + 279 We have the opinions of Varro concerning the plays of Plautus only + at second hand. The work in which they are delivered, is lost; but + they are minutely reported in his _Attic Nights_, by Aulus Gellius. + + 280 Ap. Quintilian, _Inst. Orat._ Lib. X. c. 1. + + 281 "Immo illi proavi," says Camerarius, (_Dissert. de Comoed. Plauti_,) + "merito, et recte, ac sapienter Plautum laudarunt et admirati + fuerunt: tuque ad Graecitatem, omnia, quasi regulam, poemata gentis + tuae exigens, immerito, et perperam, atque incogitanter culpas."--(See + also J. C. Scaliger and Lipsius, _Antiq. Lect._ Lib. II. c. 1.; + Turnebus, _Advers._ XXV. 16.; Flor. Sabinus, _Adversus Calumniatores + Plauti_, Basil, 1540.) Dan. Heinsius attempted to defend the + sentiment of Horace, in his _Dissertatio ad Horatii de Plauto et + Terentio judicium_, printed at Amsterdam, 1618, with his edition of + _Terence_; and was answered by Benedict Fioretti, in his _Apologia + pro Plauto, opposita saevo judicio Horatiano et Heinsiano_.--See, + finally, D. J. Tr. Danz, _De Virtute Comica Plauti_, in _Dissert. + Philolog._ Jenae, 1800. + + 282 Lib. II. c. 58. + + 283 Hurd's _Horace_. Gibbon's _Miscellaneous Works_, Vol. IV. + + 284 "Duplex omnino est jocandi genus; unum illiberale, petulans, + obscoenum, alterum elegans, urbanum, ingeniosum, facetum; quo genere + non modo Plautus noster, et Atticorum antiqua comoedia, sed etiam + Philosophorum Socraticorum libri sunt referti."--_De Officiis_, Lib. + I. c. 29. + + 285 Athenaeus, Lib. XIII. c. 1. + + 286 Au. Gellius, _Noct. Att._ Lib. IV. c. 20. + +_ 287 Brutus_, c. 74. Caecilium et Pacuvium male locutos videmus. + +_ 288 Histor. Roman._ Lib. I. c. 17. + +_ 289 Noct. Attic._ Lib. II. c. 23. + +_ 290 Brutus_, c. 45. L. Afranius poeta, homo perargutus; in fabulis + quidem etiam, ut scitis, disertus. + +_ 291 Instit. Orat._ Lib. X. c. 1. To this charge Ausonius also alludes, + though with little reprehension, + + "Praeter legitimi genitalia foedera coetus, + Repperit obscaenas veneres vitiosa libido; + Herculis heredi quam Lemnia suasit egestas, + Quam toga facundi scenis agitavit Afrani." + _Epigram._ 71. + + 292 Spence's _Polymetis_. + + 293 "Could men to love be lured by magic rites, + Each crone would with a lover sooth her nights: + A tender form, and youth, and gentle smiles, + Are the sweet potion which the heart beguiles." + + 294 Eunuchus, _Prolog._ + + 295 Donatus, _Comment. in Terent. Eunuch. Prolog._ + + 296 "I swell with such gladness my brain almost turns, + And my bosom with thoughts of my happiness burns. + The portress compliant--the way cleared before-- + A touch of my finger throws open the door: + Then, Chrysis--fair Chrysis, will rush to my arms, + Will court my caresses, and yield all her charms. + Such transport will seize me when this comes to pass, + I'll Fortune herself in good fortune surpass." + + 297 "O, could complaints or tears avail + To cure those ills which life assail, + Even gold would not be price too dear + At which to win a healing tear. + But, since the tears by sorrow shed + Are vain as dirge to wake the dead, + In prudent care, and not in grief, + All human ills must find relief." + +_ 298 Carmina_, 45. Ed. 1718. + + 299 Donatus, _Vit. Terent._ + + 300 Tiraboschi, _Storr. Dell. Lett. Ital._ Part III. Lib. II. c. 1. + Arnaud, _Gazette Litteraire_, 1765. + + 301 Goujet, _Bib. Franc._ Tom. IV. Sulzer relates this story of Terence + and the aedile Cerius, to whose review the _Andria_ had been + subjected.--_Theorie der Schoenen Kuenste_, Tom. IV. _Terenz_. + + 302 Donatus, _Vit. Terent._ + +_ 303 Cours de Litterature_. + + 304 Colman's _Terence_. + +_ 305 Satir._ III. + +_ 306 Spectator_, No. 170. + +_ 307 Poet._ Lib. VI. c. 3. + + 308 Signorelli, _Storia de Teatri_, Tom. II. p. 129. + + 309 No. 562. + + 310 Schmieder--Terenz. Halle, 1794. + +_ 311 Miscellaneous Works_, Vol. IV. p. 140. + +_ 312 Adelph._ Act 4. sc. 7. + +_ 313 Ecole des Maris_, Act 1. sc. 2. + + 314 Page 115. + + 315 Spence's _Anec._ p. 115. + + 316 Act 1. sc. 1. + +_ 317 Prolog. in Hecyr._ and Donati _Comment._ + + 318 Alciphron, _Epistolae_. + + 319 Act 1. sc. 2. + + 320 Boileau. + + 321 Hurd's _Horace_, Vol. II. + + 322 Boileau. + +_ 323 Protrepticon. Eidyll._ IV. v. 58. + + 324 See Blankenburg's _Zusaetze zu Sulzer's Theorie der Schoenen + Wissenschaften_. + +_ 325 Element. Doct. Met._ Lib. II. c. 14. + + 326 "Plus est," says Erasmus, "exacti judicii in una comoedia Terentiana + quam in Plautinis omnibus," (B. 28. Epist. 20.) Naugerius, in his + fourth Epistle, has instituted a comparison between Plautus and + Terence, much to the advantage of the latter, and has expressed + himself in terms of strong indignation at the well-known verses of + Volcatius Sedigitus, assigning the second place among the Latin + comic poets to Plautus, and the sixth to Terence. + +_ 327 Hist. de la Litterature Espagnole_, traduite de l'Allemand de + Bouterweck. Vol. I. p. 339. Ed. 1812. + + 328 Plinius, _Hist. Nat._ Lib. XXXV. c. 4. + + 329 This story is told of a Sicilian by Cicero, (_De Orat._ II.) + + 330 Plin. _Hist. Nat._ Lib. XXXV. c. 4. + + 331 Cicero, _Brutus_, c. 63. + +_ 332 Noct. Attic._ Lib. XIII. c. 2. + + 333 Hieron. _Chron._ p. 39. ed. ut supra. + +_ 334 Noct. Att._ Lib. I. c. 24. + + 335 "O, youth! though haste should urge thee hence away, + To read this stone thy steps one moment stay: + That here Pacuvius' bones are laid to tell + I wished, that thou might'st know it--Fare thee well." + + Dr Johnson has laid it down as the first rule in writing epitaphs, + that the name of the deceased should not be omitted; but it seems + rather too much to occupy four lines with nothing but this + information. + +_ 336 Brutus_, c. 74. + +_ 337 Inst. Orat._ Lib. X. c. 1. + + 338 Eberhardt, _Zustand der __Schoenen__ Wissenschaften, bei den Roemern_, + p. 35 &c. Ed. Altona, 1801. + +_ 339 Stor. dell. Litterat. Ital._ Part III. Lib. II. c. 1. § 20. + + 340 "Dum fallax servus, durus pater, improba lena + Vivent, dum meretrix blanda, Menandrus erit." + OVID, _Amor._ Lib. I. + + 341 Cicero, _Brutus_, c. 63. + + 342 Lib. III. c. 7. + +_ 343 Brutus_, c. 28. + +_ 344 Noct. Att._ Lib. XIII. c. 2. + + 345 Plin. _Hist. Nat._ Lib. XXXIV. c. 5. + +_ 346 Rhetoric. ad Herennium_, Lib. I. c. 14, and Lib. II. c. 13. + + 347 Cicero, _pro Archia_, c. 10. Valer. Maxim. Lib. VIII. c. 15. + + 348 Quintilian, _Inst. Orat._ Lib. V. c. 13. + + 349 Ovid, _Trist._ Lib. II. + + 350 "This dwelling of nine winters' grief behold, + Where stretch'd on rock my sad sojourn I hold. + Around the boisterous north-wind ceaseless blows. + And, while it rages, drifts the gelid snows." + +_ 351 Ars Poetica_, v. 286. + + 352 Torq. Baden, in a small tract, entitled _De Causis neglectae apud + Romanos tragoediae_, (Goetting. 1790,) almost entirely attributes the + deficiency of the Romans in tragedy to their want of a set of + heroes, who were poetically consecrated by any epic productions, + like those by which Homer had so highly elevated the Grecian chiefs. + +_ 353 Theory of Moral Sentiments_, Part VI. c. 1. + +_ 354 Cours de Litter. Dramat._ Lecon. VIII. + +_ 355 De Divinat._ Lib. II. c. 50. + + 356 Hurd's _Horace_, Vol. II. + + 357 Horat. _Epist._ Lib. II. Ep. 1. v. 67. + + 358 Horat. _Epist._ Lib. II. ep. 1. + + 359 Cicero.--_Epistolae familiares_, Lib. VII. ep. 1. Ed. Schuetz. + + 360 Horat. _Epist._ Lib. II. 1. + +_ 361 Tuscul. Disput._ Lib. I, c. 2. + + 362 Plautus--_Menaechmi_. Prolog. + + 363 Delectabatur veteri comoedia, et saepe eam exhibuit publicis + spectaculis. Suetonius, _In August._ c. 89. + +_ 364 Correspondence_, &c. p. 205. Lond. 1813. + +_ 365 Ars Poetica_, v. 288. + + 366 See Dubos, _Reflex. sur la Poesie_. Jul. Pollux, _Onomasticon_. + + 367 Livy, Lib. VII. c. 2. + + 368 Ibid. + + 369 Jul. Pollux, _Onomasticon_. Festus ap. _Vossius de Poet. Lat._ Lib. + II. c. 35, § 8. + + 370 Casaubon, _de Satyrica Poes._ Lib. II. c. 1. Signorelli, _Stor. de + Teat._ Tom. II. p. 14. This, however, is not very likely. The + deference was probably paid, because young patricians chose to act + in the Atellanes: It could not otherwise have been thought more + creditable to personate the clown or fool of a semi-barbarous race, + than to perform the parts of OEdipus and Agamemnon. + + 371 Diomed. de _Poem. Gen._ Lib. III. + +_ 372 Epist. Quaest._ Lib. XI. _Quaest._ 22. + + 373 Du Bos, _Reflex. Critiques_, Tom. I. p. 154. + + 374 Lib. II. c. 9. + + 375 Lib. VI. c. 17. + + 376 Conferta fabellis potissimum Atellanis sunt. Livy, Lib. VII. c. 2. + + 377 Sulzer, _Theorie der Schoenen __Kuenste_, Lib. I. p. 520. + + 378 Juvenal, _Sat._ VI. + + 379 Exodiarius apud veteres in fine ludorum intrabat, quod ridiculus + foret, ut, quidquid lachrymarum atque tristitiae coegissent, ex + tragicis affectibus, hujus spectaculi risus detergeret.--_Ad Juvenal. + Satir. III._ v. 175. + +_ 380 Poetices Libri_. + +_ 381 De Sat. Horat._ + +_ 382 De Sat. Latin._ + +_ 383 Ad. Sulzer._ + +_ 384 Geschichte der komischen Litteratur_. + + 385 Satira tota nostra est. + + 386 Lib. III. + +_ 387 De Satir. Poes._ + +_ 388 Dissertation sur les Cesars de Julien_. + +_ 389 De Sat. Juvenalis_. + +_ 390 Pref. sur les Sat. d'Horace_. + +_ 391 De Sat. Romana_. + + 392 Virgil, _Georg._ Lib. II. + + 393 Juvenal. _Satir._ Lib. I. We shall afterwards see reason to + conclude, that the famous _Satira Menippea_ of Varro seems not to + have been Satyra, but Satura, a hodge-podge, or medley. + + 394 Horat. _Epist._ Lib. II. ep. 1. + +_ 395 Georg._ Lib. II. v. 385. + + 396 Horat. _Epist._ Lib. II. ep. 1. + + 397 Velleius Paterc. _Histor._ Lib. II. 9. + + 398 Ascon. Pedianus in _Comment. in Orat. Ciceronis cont. L. Pisonem_. + + 399 Horat. _Sat._ Lib. II. 1. v. 71. + + 400 Ibid. v. 30. + +_ 401 Dict. Hist. Lucil. G._ + + 402 Schoell, _Hist. Abregee de la Litterat. Romaine_, Tom. I. + + 403 Horat. _Sat._ Lib. I. _Sat._ 4. v. 1. &c. + +_ 404 Satir._ Lib. I. Sat. 4. v. 9. + +_ 405 Praef. Hist. Nat._ + +_ 406 De Finibus_, Lib. I. + +_ 407 Epist. Familiares_, Lib. IX. 15. + +_ 408 Satur._ Lib. III. c. 16. + + 409 Lucilius vir apprime linguae Latinae sciens. Au. Gellius, _Noct. + Attic._ Lib. XVIII. c. 5. Horat. _Sat._ Lib. I. 10. + + ---- "Fuerit Lucilius, inquam, + Comis et urbanus; fuerit limatior idem + Quam rudis, et Graecis intacti carminis auctor:-- + Quamque poetarum seniorum turba." + +_ 410 Instit. Orat._ Lib. X. c. 1. + + 411 Auson. _in Epist._ 5. ad Theonem. + + 412 Lib. I. c. 16, and Lib. II. Caius Lucilius homo _doctus_ et + perurbanus. + + 413 Gifford's _Juvenal_, Preface, p. xlii. + + 414 Persius, _Sat._ I. + + 415 Au. Gellius, XVII. 21. + + 416 Horat. _Sat._ Lib. II. 1. + +_ 417 Rhetoric. ad Herennium_, Lib. II. c. 13. + +_ 418 Juvenal_, _Sat._ Lib. I. v. 153. + +_ 419 Divin. Instit._ Lib. V. c. 15. + + 420 Porphyrion, _In Horat._ Lib. I. Ode 20. + + 421 "They dread hobgoblins hatch'd in folly's brain, + The idle phantoms of old Numa's reign. + As infant children sculptured forms believe + To be live men--so they themselves deceive-- + To whom vain forms of superstition's dream + Of Life and truth the real figures seem. + Fools! they as well might think there stirs a heart, + Of vital power, in images of art." + + 422 "In various fights the Roman arms have failed; + Still in the war the Roman power prevailed." + + 423 "Virtue, Albinus, is--A constant will + The claims of duty ably to fulfil-- + Virtue is knowledge of the just, sincere, + The good, the ill, the useless, base, unfair. + What we should wish to gain, for what to pray, + This virtue teaches, and each vow to pay; + Honour she gives to whom it may belong, + But hates the base, and flies from what is wrong-- + A bold protector of the just and pure, + She feels for such a friendship fond and sure-- + Her country's good commands her warmest zeal. + Kindred the next, and latest private weal." + +_ 424 Div. Instit._ Lib. VI. c. 5 and 6. + + 425 Horat. _Sat._ Lib. II. 1. + + 426 Concerning Varro Atacinus, see Wernsdorff, _Poet. Lat. Minor._ Tom. + VI. p. 1385, &c. Ed. Altenburg, 1780. + + 427 Wernsdorff, _Poet. Lat. Minores_, _Praef._ Tom. III. p. LIV. &c. + + 428 Ibid. p. 1. + + 429 "On half a pound three grains of barley bread, + With two small bunches of dried grapes, he fed, + And met old age beneath a paltry shed." + +_ 430 Epist. Famil._ Lib. XIII. + + 431 Good's _Lucretius. Pref._ p. XXXVI. + + 432 "Nam neque nos agere hoc patriaei tempore iniquo + Possumus aequo animo," &c.--Lib. I. v. 42. + +_ 433 Letter on Bowles's Strictures on Pope_. + + 434 "{~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER EPSILON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}, + {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}, {~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}. + {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER CHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH PERISPOMENI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}' {~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA WITH YPOGEGRAMMENI~} + {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH PERISPOMENI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH DASIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}." + {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}. {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER KAPPA~}. + +_ 435 Encyclopedie Methodique_. + +_ 436 Reflexions sur la Poesie_. _OEuvres_, Tom. V. + +_ 437 Inst. Orat._ Lib. X. c. 1. + + 438 Virgil. _Eclog._ 6. + + 439 Turner's _History of the Anglo Saxons_, Vol. III. pp. 311, 356, ed. + London, 1820, where proofs are given. + + 440 Pliny, _Hist. Nat._ Lib. II. 7. + + 441 "Neque enim assentior iis," says Laelius, in Cicero's Dialogue, _De + Amicitia_, "qui haec nuper disserere coeperunt, cum corporibus simul + animos interire, atque omnia morte deleri." (c. 4.) + + 442 "Priscarum religionum metus," says Heyne, talking of the time of the + civil wars of Sylla, "jam adeo dispulsus erat, ut ne ipsa quidem + Loyolae cohors immissa, novas tenebras, novos terrores offundere + animis potuisset." (_Opuscula_, Tom. IV.) + + 443 Lib. II. v. 43, 44, 45-60. It is well known what a clamour was + excited against Epicurus, founded on the ambiguity of the word which + has been translated pleasure, but which would be more accurately + interpreted happiness. A similar outcry was, in later ages, raised + by one of his opponents against Malebranche, who, like Epicurus, + lived not merely temperately, but abstemiously. "Regis," (says + Fontenelle,) "attaqua Malebranche sur ce qu'il avoit avance que _le + plaisir rend heureux_. Ainsi malgre sa vie plus que philosophique et + tres chretienne il se trouva le protecteur de plaisirs. A la verite + la question devint si subtile et si metaphysique, que leurs plus + grands partizans auroient mieux aimes y renoncer pour toute leur + vie, que d'etre obliges a les soutenir comme lui." _Eloges, + Malebranche_. + +_ 444 Literary Hours_, Vol. I. p. 11. Dr Drake wrote two essays, to + announce and recommend the translation of Lucretius by his friend Mr + Good. The latter, in his notes, displays a prodigious extent of + reading in almost all languages; but neither of them is very + accurate. Dr Drake, for example, remarks, "that the _Alieuticon_ and + _Cynegeticon_ of Oppian, though conveying precepts in verse, can + with scarce any probability be considered as furnishing a model for + the philosophic genius of the Roman." (P. 3.) Oppian wrote towards + the close of the second century of the Christian aera. Mr Good also + makes Suetonius appeal for some fact to Athenaeus. (Vol. I. p. 25.) + + 445 As a specimen of rank Spinosism, we find-- + + "All are but parts of one stupendous whole, + Whose body Nature is, and God the soul;" ---- + + and for an apparent justification of crime,-- + + "If plagues and earthquakes break not Heaven's design, + Why, then, a Borgia or a Catiline. + * * * * + In spite of pride, in erring reason's spite, + One truth is clear,--Whatever is, is right." + + 446 Apollonius Rhodius, Lib. I. Virgil, _AEneid_, Lib. I. + + 447 ap. Eichstadt. Lucret. p. lxxxvii. ci. cii. ed. Lips. 1801. + + 448 The fragments of Empedocles have been chiefly preserved by + Simplicius, in a Greek commentary on Aristotle, written about the + middle of the sixth century. This commentary, with the verses of + Empedocles which it comprehended, was translated into Latin in the + thirteenth century; and at the revival of literature, the original + Simplicius having disappeared, it was as happened to various other + works retranslated from the Latin into Greek, and in this form was + printed by Aldus, in 1526. Sturz published the _Remains of + Empedocles_ from this Aldine edition, with a great literary + apparatus, at Leipsic, in 1805, but with some remodelling, to force + them into accurate verse, which they had lost in their successive + transmutations. Subsequent, however, to this attempt, Professor + Peyron discovered, in the Ambrosian library at Milan, the original + Greek of Simplicius, with the genuine verses of Empedocles, which + have been reprinted at Leipsic, in 1810, from the Italian edition. + + 449 Sturz, _Empedoclis Fragmenta_. Cicero, _De Finibus_, Lib. II. + + 450 "To those," says Warton, (_Essay on the Writings and Genius of + Pope_, Vol. II. p. 402, note), "that know the number of thoughts + that breathe, and words that burn, in this animated writer, it seems + surprising, that Tully could speak of him in so cold and tasteless a + manner." The opinion of Cicero, however, has been rendered + unfavourable, only by the interpolation of the word _non_, contrary + to the authority of all MSS. His words, in a letter to his brother + Quintus, are "Lucretii poemata ut scribis ita sunt; multis luminibus + ingenii, multae tamen artis. (Lib. II. Epist. 11.)--The poems of + Lucretius are as you write; with many beams of genius, yet also with + much art." + + 451 "Nec me animi fallit, Graiorum obscura reperta, + Difficile inlustrare Latinis versibus esse; + Multa novis verbis praesertim quum sit agendum, + Propter egestatem linguae et rerum novitatem. + * * * + Deinde, quod obscura de re tam lucida pango + Carmina, Musaeo contingens cuncta lepore." + + 452 "In Lucretio maxime puritas Latinae linguae, copiaque apparet."--P. + Victorius. _Var. Lect._ Lib. XVII. c. 16. "Lucretius Latinitatis + author optimus."--Casaubon, _Not. in Johan._ cap. 5. + + 453 "Who combats bravely, is not therefore brave; + He dreads a death-bed like a common slave." + + 454 Lib. I. El. iii. v. 37. + + 455 Lib. V. 24. + + 456 C. Nocet, _Iris_ and _Aurora Borealis_--Le Febre, _Terrae + Motus_--Souciet, _Cometae_--Malapertus, _De Ventis_. These, and many + other poems of a similar description, are published in the _Poemata + Didascalica_. 3 Tom. Paris, 1813. + + 457 Cowper. + + 458 Barthii _Adversaria_, l. 38. c. 7. Funccius, _de Virili AEtate, Ling. + Lat._ c. 3. Some critics, however, are of opinion that he was called + Doctus from the correctness and purity of his Latin style. "Latinae + puritatis custos fuit religiosissimus, unde et _docti_ cognomen + meruit." (Car. Stephen.) Mueller, a German writer, has a notable + conjecture on this subject. He says, we will come nearest the truth, + if we suppose that Ovid, while mentioning Catullus, applied to him + the epithet _doctus_ merely to fill up the measure of a line, and + that his successors took up the appellation on trust.--(_Einleit. zur + Kenntniss der Lateinisch. Schriftsteller_, T. II. p. 265.) Mr Elton + thinks that the epithet did not mean what we understand by learned, + but rather knowing and accomplished--what the old English authors + signify by cunning, as cunning in music and the + mathematics.--(_Specimens of the Classics_.) This conjecture seems to + be in some measure confirmed by Horace's application of the term + _doctus_ to the actor Roscius:-- + + "Quae gravis AEsopus, quae doctus Roscius egit." + + The recent translator of Catullus conceives that the title of + learned never belonged peculiarly to him, but was merely conferred + on him in common with all poets, as it is now bestowed on all + lawyers. + + 459 Catullus, in his miscellaneous poems, has employed not fewer than + thirteen different sorts of versification. + + 1. That which is most frequently used is the Phalaecian + hendecasyllable, consisting of a spondee, dactyl, and three + trochees. + + "Cui do | no lepi | dum no | vum li | bellum." + + This sort of measure has been adopted by Catullus in thirty-nine + poems. + + 2. Trimeter iambus, consisting of six feet, which are generally all + iambuses. + + "Ait | fuis | se na | vium | celer | rimus;" + + but a spondee sometimes forms the first, third, and fifth feet. Four + poems are in this measure--the fourth, twentieth, twenty-ninth, and + fifty-second. + + 3. Choliambus or scazon, which is the same with the last mentioned, + except that the concluding foot of the line is always a spondee. + + "Fulse | re quon | dam can | didi | tibi | soles." + + This metre is used seven times, being employed in the eighth, + twenty-second, thirty-first, thirty-seventh, thirty-ninth, + forty-fourth, and fifty-ninth poems. + + 4. Trochaic Stesichian, consisting of six feet--choreus or spondee, a + dactyl, a cretic, a choreus or spondee, a dactyl, and lastly a + choreus. + + "Alter | parva fe | rens manu | semper | munera | larga." + + This measure appears only in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and + nineteenth poems. + + 5. Iambic tetrameter catalectic, formed of seven feet and a caesura + at the close of the line. It occurs in the twenty-fifth poem. + + 6. Choriambus. This also is employed but once, being used only in + the thirtieth. It consists of five feet,--a spondee, three choriambi, + and a pyrrhichius. + + "Ventos | irrita fer | et nebulas | aerias | sinis." + + 7. A sort of Phalaecian, consisting of two spondees and three chorei. + + "Quas vul | tu vi | di ta | men se | reno." + + But it sometimes consists of a spondee and four chorei. This measure + is adopted in some lines of the fifty-fifth ode. + + 8. Glyconian, generally made up of a spondee and two dactyles. + + "Jam ser | vire Tha | lassio." + + but sometimes of a trochaeus and two dactyles. + + "Cinge | tempora | floribus." + + This sort of verse occurs, but mixed with other measures in the + thirty-fourth ode, addressed to Diana, and also in the sixtieth. + + 9. Pherecratian, consisting of three feet, a trochee, spondee, or + iambus in the first place, followed by a dactyl and spondee. + + Exer | ceto ju | ventam + Frige | rans Aga | nippe + Hymen | O Hyme | naee. + + This is used in the thirty-fourth and sixtieth, mingled with + glyconian verse. + + 10. Galliambic. This is employed only in the poem of Atys, which + indeed is the sole specimen of the galliambic measure, in the Latin + language. It consists of six feet, which are used very loosely and + indiscriminately. The first seems to be at pleasure, an anapaest, + spondee, or tribrachys; second, an iambus, tribrachys, or dactyl; + third, iambus or spondee; fourth, dactyl or spondee; fifth, a + dactyl, or various other feet; sixth, generally an anapaest, but + sometimes an iambus. + + "Super alta vectus Atys celeri rate maria." + + The remaining three species of measure employed by Catullus, are the + sapphic stanza, used in the seventh and fifty-first odes; the + hexameter lines, which we have in the epithalamium of _Peleus_ and + _Thetis_; and the pentameter lines, used alternately with the + hexameters, and thereby constituting elegiac verse, which is + employed in all the elegies of Catullus. Of these three measures, + the structure is well known.--(Vulpius, _Diatribe de Metris + Catulli_.) + +_ 460 Verona Illustrata_, Parte II. c. 1. _Dict. Hist. Art. Catullus_. + +_ 461 De Poet._ Dial. x. + + 462 Schoell, _Hist. Abreg. de la Litt. Rom._ T. I. p. 310. + +_ 463 Handbuch der Classischen Litt._ T. I. p. 187. + +_ 464 Saxii Onomasticon_, T. I. p. 148. + +_ 465 Ep. ad Att._ XIII. 52. + + 466 O blame not the bard, if he fly to the bowers, + Where Pleasure lies carelessly smiling at Fame; + He was born for much more, and in happier hours + His soul might have glowed with a holier flame. + MOORE. + + 467 Apuleius, _In Apologia_. + +_ 468 Centur. Miscell._ I. c. 6. + + 469 Lib. XI. Ep. 7. + + 470 Lib. IV. Ep. 14. + + 471 Lib. I. Ep. 110. + + 472 Muret. _in Catull. Comment._ + + 473 Bayle, _Dict. Hist._ Art. _Barbara_. + +_ 474 Amor._ Lib. II. eleg. 6. + +_ 475 Sylv._ II. 3. + + 476 Lib. II. eleg. 7. + + 477 C. II. + + 478 Tibullus, Lib. I. El. 1. + + 479 Vol. III. p. 14, 2d. ed. + + 480 Lib. IX. v. 435. + + 481 Valerium Catullum, a quo sibi versiculis de Mamurra perpetua + stigmata imposita non dissimulaverat, satisfacientem, _eadem die_ + adhibuit coenae, hospitioque patris ejus, sicut consueverat, uti + perseveravit.--Sueton. _In Caesar._ c. 73. + + 482 Cicero, _Epist. ad Attic._ XIII. 52. Inde ambulavit in littore. Post + horam viii. in balneum; tum audivit de Mamurra; vultum non mutavit; + unctus est; accubuit. + +_ 483 Syphilis_, Lib. I. + + 484 Colt Hoare's Continuat. of Eustace's Travels. + + 485 Henin, _Journal du Siege de Peschiera_. + +_ 486 Classical Tour_, Vol. I. c. 5. 8vo edition. + + 487 In the year 1797, Buonaparte, who was at that time + commander-in-chief of the army of Italy, visited in person this + spot, which, during the life of Catullus, had been his retreat and + sanctuary, even from the despotism of Caesar. While travelling from + Milan to Perseriano, to conclude the treaty of Campo Formio, he + turned off from the road, between Brescia and Peschiera, to visit + the peninsula of Sirmio. About two years afterwards, the French + officers employed at the siege of Peschiera, which is eight miles + distant from Sirmio, gave a brilliant _fete champetre_ in this + classic retirement, in honour of Catullus, as soon as their military + operations against Peschiera had been brought to a successful + conclusion. General St Michel, who had conducted them, invited all + the Polish officers who were present at the siege, and some of the + inhabitants of Sirmio--particularly the dramatic poet, Anelli. During + the repast, this bard, and the French generals, Lacombe and St + Michel, sung and recited in turn verses of their own composition; + and which flowed spontaneously, it is said by one who was present, + from the inspiration of scenes so rich in poetic remembrances. The + toasts were--_The Memory of Catullus_, the most elegant of Latin + poets--_Buonaparte_, who honours great men amid the tumult of + arms--who celebrated Virgil at Mantua, and paid homage to Catullus, + by visiting the peninsula of Sirmio--_General Miollis_, the protector + of sciences and fine arts in Italy. The festivities were here + unpleasantly interrupted by the arrival of all the uninvited + inhabitants of Sirmio, who came to complain of having been pillaged + by the detachment of French troops which had replaced the Austrian + garrison. General Chasseloup received them with his accustomed + urbanity; and, from respect to Catullus, the troops were marched + from that canton to another district, which had not yet been + plundered, and had not the good fortune to have been the residence + of a licentious poet.--(Henin, _Jour. Historique des Operat. + Militaires du Siege de Peschiera_.) + +_ 488 Classical Tour_, Vol. II. c. 7. + +_ 489 Travels through Holland, &c. but especially Italy_, Vol. II. chap. + 39. + +_ 490 Lettres sur l'Italie_, Tom. II. let. 36. Paris, 1819. + + 491 Nibby, in his _Viaggio Antiquario ne contorni di Roma_, (Ed. 1819. 2 + Tom. 8vo,) in opposition to all previous authority, has denied that + this was the site of the villa of Catullus, which he has removed to + a spot due east from Tibur, between the Acque Albule and Ponte + Lucano. His opinion, however, is rested on the 26th poem of + Catullus, of which he has totally misunderstood the meaning,-- + + "Furi, Villula nostra non ad Austri + Flatus opposita est, nec ad Favoni, + Nec saevi Boreae, aut Apeliotae; + Verum ad millia quindecim et ducentos-- + O ventum horribilem atque pestilentem." + + Nibby strangely supposes that the fourth line of the above verses + means that the villa is 15 miles 200 paces from Rome, and, + therefore, that it cannot be at St Angelo in Piavola, the distance + of which from Rome is not 15 miles 200 paces.--"Questi versi," says + he, "non solo non sono cosi decisivi per situarla precisamente a St + Angelo, piu tosto che in altri luoghi di questi contorni; ma + assolutamente la escludono, poiche la stabaliscono quindici miglia, + e duecento passi vicino a Roma."--T. I. p. 166. + + Now, in the first place, according to Muretus and the best + commentators, this ode does not at all refer to the villa of + Catullus, but of Furius, whom he addresses, since the correct + reading in the first line is not Villula _nostra_, but _Vostra_. + Allowing, however, that it should be _nostra_, it is quite + impossible to extort from the fourth line any proof that the villa + was 15 miles 200 paces from Rome. Translated _verbatim_, it is as + follows:--"Furius, our (your) villa is not exposed or liable to the + blasts of Auster or Favonius, or the sharp Boreas, or the Apeliot + wind, but to fifteen thousand and two hundred--O horrible and + pestilent wind!" Now, the question is, to _what_ 15,000,200 is the + villa exposed? (_opposita_). Every commentator whom I have + consulted, supplies sesterces, or other pieces of money; that is to + say, it was mortgaged or pledged for that sum, which would sweep it + away more effectually than any wind. Nibby's interpretation, that it + is not exposed to Auster or Boreas, &c. but is 15 miles 200 paces + distant from Rome, is not many miles, or even paces, distant from + absolute nonsense; and, moreover, quindecim millia, is not good + Latin for 15 miles. + +_ 492 Observ. Crit. in Catulli Carmina_. + + 493 Acte I. sc. 3. + +_ 494 Dict. Philos._ Art. _Amplification_. + + 495 Ad Fauniam. + +_ 496 Genethliacon pueri nobilis_. + + 497 See also Moschus, Idyl 7. + + 498 Gohorry. + + 499 Lib. III. + + 500 Aristotle, _Rhetor._ Lib. III. c. 3. + +_ 501 Decline and fall of the Rom. Emp._ c. 23. + + 502 Fabricius, _Bib. Lat._ + + 503 Mitscherlichius, _in Lect. ad Catull._ + + 504 Eidul. IV. v. 21. + + 505 Lib. XII. v. 489. + + 506 Muretus, _Comment. in Catull._ + + 507 Ovid, _Amor._ Lib. I. el. 15, v. 14. + + 508 [Transcriber's note: Note missing in original.] + + 509 Mueller, _Einleitung_, T. II. p. 261. + +_ 510 Sylvae_, Lib. III. + + 511 Facile intelligimus, mansisse vocem, mutata significatione et + potestate vocis. Vavassor, _De Epigrammate_, c. 3. + +_ 512 Tracts_, p. 13. + +_ 513 Var. Lect._ Lib. III. c. 5. + +_ 514 Brutus_, c. 78. + + 515 Cicero, _Orat. pro Sextio_, c. 51. + +_ 516 De Ludicra Dictione_. + + 517 Gresset. + +_ 518 Poetic._ Lib. VI. c. 7. + + 519 There is more tenderness and delicacy in a single love-verse of an + old Troubadour, than in all the amatory compositions of the Greeks + and Romans. What is there in Anacreon or Ovid, to compare to these + verses of Thibault, King of Navarre?-- + + "Las! Si j'avois pouvoir d'oublier, + Sa beaulte--son bien dire, + Et son tres doulx regarder, + Finirois non martyre. + + "Mais las! Comment oublier + Sa beaulte, son bien dire, + Et son tres doulx regarder! + Mieux aime mon martyre." + +_ 520 Brutus_, c. 35. + + 521 "Hic illi, (Catulo) Deo pulchrior," says Cicero, "at erat, sicut + hodie est, perversissimis oculis." Lib. I. c. 28. + + 522 "I stood, and to the Dawn my vows addressed, + When Roscius rose refulgent in the west. + Forgive, ye Powers! A mortal seemed more bright, + Than the bright god who darts the shafts of light." + + 523 Sueton. _In Jul. Caesare_, c. 49. + + 524 Ibid. c. 73. + + 525 Ovid. _Tristia_, Lib. II. + +_ 526 Epist._ Lib. I. ep. 16. + +_ 527 Epist._ Lib. IV. ep. 27. + + 528 "Why Phileros, a torch before me bear?-- + A heart on fire all other light may spare. + _That_ feeble flame can ill resist the power + Of the keen tempest and the headlong shower; + But _this_ still glows whatever storms may drench, + What Venus kindles, she alone can quench." + + 529 "Ye guardians of the tender flock, retire, + Why seek ye flames, when man himself is fire? + Whate'er I touch bursts forth in sudden blaze, + And the woods kindle with my scorching gaze." + +_ 530 Theorie_, Tom. I. _Comoedie_. + + 531 "Non ignoro," says Salmasius, in his Notes to Vopiscus' Life of + Aurelian, "quid distent Atellanae et Mimi; recentiores, tamen, + confudisse videntur." F. Vopiscus, _Vit. Aurel._ c. 42. ap. _Histor. + August. Script._ + + 532 Cicero, _Epist. Familiar._ Lib. IX. ep. 16. + + 533 Flogel, _Geschichte der komisch. Litter._ T. IV. p. 101. Mueller, + _Einleitung_. + + 534 Donatus, _Praef. in Terent._ + + 535 Hoffmanni, _Lexicon, voce Mimus_. Ziegler, _De Mimis Romanorum_, p. + 21, ed. Gotting. 1789. + + 536 Manilius, _De Astronomic._ Lib. V. v. 472. + + 537 Tytler's _Life of Crichton_, p. 45. 1st ed. + + 538 Festus in _Salva res est_. + +_ 539 Satyricon_, c. 80. See also Suetonius, _Caligula_, c. 57. + + 540 "Mimi ergo est jam exitus," says Cicero, "non Fabulae: In quo, cum + clausula non invenitur, fugit aliquis e manibus; deinde scabella + concrepant, aulaeum tollitur."--_Orat. pro Caelio_, c. 27. + +_ 541 Sat._ Lib. I. 2. v. 55. + + 542 Lib. II. c. 5. + +_ 543 Tristia_, Lib. II. v. 497. + + 544 Athenaeus, _Deipnos._ Lib. VI. + +_ 545 Anastasius_, Vol. II. p. 385. 2d ed. + + 546 Macrobius, _Saturnalia_, Lib. II. c. 7. + + 547 "For threescore years since first I saw the light, + I lived without reproach--A ROMAN KNIGHT. + As such I left my sacred home; but soon + Shall there return an actor and buffoon. + Since stretch'd beyond the point where honour ends, + One day too long my term of life extends. + Fortune, extreme alike in good and ill, + Since thus to blast my fame has been thy will; + Why didst thou not, ere spent my youthful race, + Bend me yet pliant to this dire disgrace? + While power remain'd, with yet unbroken frame, + HIM to have pleased, and earn'd the crowd's acclaim: + But now why drive me to an actor's part, + When nought remains of all the actor's art; + Nor life, nor fire, which could the scene rejoice, + Nor grace of form, nor harmony of voice? + As fades the tree round which the ivy twines, + So in the clasp of age my strength declines." + + 548 Macrobius, _Saturnalia_, Lib. II. c. 7. + + 549 "All are not always first--few have been known + To rest long on the summit of renown. + In fame we faster fall than we ascend: + I fall--who follows, thus his course must end." + +_ 550 Chron. Euseb. ad Olymp._ 184. + +_ 551 Epist. Famil._ Lib. VII. ep. 11. + + 552 "Democritus, the philosophic sage + Of Abdera, deep read in Nature's page, + Opposed a brazen shield of polish bright + To full-orbed Phoebus' mid-day shafts of light, + That the round mirror, having catched the rays, + Might blast his vision with the dazzling blaze; + Thus his extinguished eyes could ne'er behold + The wicked prosper. O that thus my gold + Might, with the lustre of its yellow light, + Dim through my closing years these orbs of sight, + Whose darkness would not see a thriftless son + Waste the fair fortune which his fathers won!" + +_ 553 Noct. Attic._ Lib. XVI. c. 7. + +_ 554 Satir._ Lib. I. 10. + + 555 Macrobius, _Saturnal._ Lib. II. c. 7. + + 556 Plin. _Hist. Nat._ Lib. VIII. c. 51. + + 557 Ep. viii. + + 558 Senec. _Epist._ + +_ 559 De Mimis Romanorum_, p. 66. + +_ 560 Noct. Attic._ Lib. XV. c. 25. Lib. X. c. 24. + + 561 Terent. Maurus, _De Metris_; Ziegler, _De Mim. Rom._ p. 66 and 67. + + 562 "Tis fit that we the means employ, + To sweeten life, and life enjoy. + Let pleasure lay your cares to rest, + And clasp the fair one to your breast, + Give and receive the melting kiss, + Like doves in hours of amorous bliss." + +_ 563 Satir._ Lib. I. 2. + + 564 Vopiscus. _Vit. Aurel._ c. 42. + + 565 Suetonius, _In Vespas._ c. 19. + + 566 Id. _In Nerone_, c. 29. + + 567 Appellatus est a Mimis quasi obstupratus.--Lampridius, _Vit. + Commodi_. c. 3. + + 568 Jul. Capitolinus, _In Maximin._ c. 9. + + 569 Tertullian, _De Spectac._ c. 17.--Lactantius. _Div. Inst._ Lib. VI. + c. 20.--Walker on the _Italian Drama_, p. 3. + + 570 Rasis capitibus. Vossius, _Institut. Poetic._ Lib. II. c. 32. § 4. + + 571 Diomed. _De Orat._ Lib. III. + + 572 Celsus, _De Re Rustica_, Lib. I. c. 8. + +_ 573 De Oratore_, Lib. II. c. 61. + +_ 574 Storia D'Ogni Poesia_, Tom. V. p. 220. + + 575 Riccoboni, _Hist. de Theatre Italien_. Tom. I. p. 21. + +_ 576 Dissert. dell Academ. Etrusc._ Tom. III. + + 577 Livy, Lib. XL. c. 51. Theatrum et proscenium ad Apollinis aedem Jovis + in Capitolio, columnasque circa poliendas albo locavit. + + 578 Livy, _Epitom._ Lib. XLVIII. Quum locatum a censoribus theatrum + exstrueretur; P. C. Nasica auctore, tanquam inutile, et nociturum + publicis moribus, ex senatusconsulto destructum est: populusque + aliquandiu stans ludos spectavit. + + 579 Plin. _Hist. Nat._ Lib. XXXVI. c. 15. + +_ 580 Ibid._ + + 581 Plin. _Hist. Nat._ Lib. XXXVI. c. 15. + + 582 Plutarch, _In Pompeio_. + + 583 Plin. _Hist. Nat._ Lib. XXXVI. c. 15. + + 584 Vitruvius, Lib. V. c. 6. + + 585 Alexander ab Alexandro, _Dies Geniales_, Lib. V. c. 16. + +_ 586 Ibid._ + + 587 Alexander ab Alexandro, _Dies Geniales_, Lib. V. c. 16. + + 588 Schuetz, _ad Fragment. Oper. Ciceronis_, Tom. XVI. + + 589 Wilkins' _Vitruvius_, Vol. II. p. 185. + +_ 590 Ibid._ Lib. V. c. 8. + +_ 591 Ibid._ Lib. V. c. 7. + + 592 Montfaucon, _L'Antiquite Devoile_, Liv. II. c. 1. + + 593 Lib. V. c. 3. + + 594 Montfaucon, Liv. II. c. 3. + + 595 Montfaucon, Liv. II. c. 1. + + 596 Ibid. and Macrobius, _Saturnalia_, Lib. VI. c. 4. + + 597 Plin. _Hist. Nat._ Lib. XIX. c. 1. + + 598 Lucretius, Lib. IV. + +_ 599 De Oratore_, Lib. I. c. 60. + + 600 Hawkins' _Inquiry into Greek and Latin Poetry_, § xiii. + + 601 Cicero, _Academica_, Lib. II. c. 7.--"Primo inflatu tibicinis, + Antiopam esse aiunt, aut Andromacham." + +_ 602 Poet._ Lib. I. c. 20.--See also Theophrastus ap. Bartholinus, _De + Tibiis Veterum_, Lib. I. c. 4, and Plin. _Hist. Nat._ Lib. XVI. c. + 36. + + 603 Hawkins' _Inquiry into Lat. Poet._ p. 184. + +_ 604 Antiquitates Romanae_. + + 605 Turnebus, _Advers._ Lib. XXVIII. c. 34. + + 606 Servius ap. Bartholin. _De Tibiis Veter._ + + 607 Hawkins' _Inquiry_, p. 187. + + 608 Horat. _Art. Poet._ v. 202. + + 609 v. 295. On the subject of the Hydraulicon, see Wernsdorff, _Poet. + Lat. Min._ Tom. II. p. 394; and Busby's _History of Music_. + + 610 Vitruvius, Lib. V. c. 6. Montfaucon, Liv. II. c. 1. + + 611 Ibid. + + 612 Stephens, _De Theatris_. + + 613 Pet. Arbiter, _Satyric._ c. 80. + + 614 AEsopum, si paullum irrauserit, explodi. _De Oratore_, Lib. I. c. 60. + + 615 Noster AEsopus, jurare quum coepisset, vox eum defecit in illo loco + "Si sciens fallo." _Epist. Famil._ Lib. VII. ep. 1. Ed. Schuetz. + + 616 Vidi in AEsopo familiari tuo, tantum ardorem vultuum atque motuum, ut + eum vis quaedam abstraxisse a sensu mentis videretur. c. 37 + + 617 Cicero, _pro Archia_, c. 8. Valer. Maxim. Lib. VIII. c. 7 + + 618 Cicero, _De Legibus_, Lib. I. c. 4. + + 619 Livy, Lib. VII. c. 2. + + 620 I at one time was inclined to think that the reciting actor was + concealed behind the pulpitum, which was elevated on the stage about + the height of a man, and hence that the spectators saw only the + gesticulating actor. If this plan was actually adopted, the + representation may have been conducted without any apparent + incongruity or violation of the scenic illusion. In Lord + Gardenstoun's "_Travelling Memorandums_," we have an account of a + play which he saw acted at Paris, where, in order to elude a + privilege, the actors who appeared on the stage did not speak one + word. "Their lips," continued his lordship, "move, and they go on + with corresponding action and attitudes. But every word of the play + is uttered with surprising propriety and character by persons behind + the scenes. The play was nearly over before this singularity was + discovered to me and others of our party. The whole was so strangely + managed, that we could have sworn the visible actors were also the + speakers." (Vol. I. p. 24.) I have not, however, been able to + discover any ancient authority, from which it can be inferred that + the representation of a Roman play was conducted in this manner by + the reciting actor being placed either behind the scenes or + pulpitum; and all authorities concur as to this strange division of + dramatic labour, at least in the monologues of tragedies. + + 621 Cicero, _Paradox._ III. c. 2. + +_ 622 Epist._ 121. + +_ 623 Inst. Orat._ Lib. XI. c. 3. + + 624 Athenaeus, Lib. I. Dubos, _Reflexions sur la Poesie_, Lib. III. c. + 14. + + 625 Cicero, _De Oratore_, Lib. I. + + 626 Quintil. _Instit. Orat._ Lib. II. c. 10. + +_ 627 Mem. de l'Acad. des Inscriptions_, T. 21. + + 628 Bonarota, _Addit. ad Dempster. Etruria Regalis_, § 36. + +_ 629 Dissert. dell' Acad. Etrusc._ T. III. + + 630 Virgil. _Georg._ Lib. II. + + 631 Berger, _Comment. de Personis_, Lib. II. sect. 9. + + 632 Au. Gellius, _Noct. Attic._ Lib. V. c. 7. + + 633 Lib. I. Fab. 7. "O quanta species, inquit," &c. + +_ 634 De Oratore_, Lib. II. c. 47. + +_ 635 Noct. Attic._ Lib. V. c. 7. + +_ 636 Mem. de l'Academ. des Inscriptions_, &c. Tom. IV. + + 637 Athenaeus, Lib. XIV. Pitiscus, Lexicon, voce _Persona_. Berger, + _Comment. De Personis_, c. II. § 9. + +_ 638 De Oratore_, Lib. III. c. 59. "Nostri illi senes personatum ne + Roscium quidem magnopere laudabant." This passage, however, is of + somewhat doubtful interpretation. It may mean that these old men, + having been accustomed to the natural countenance, did not applaud + even so great an actor as Roscius, because he was invariably masked: + or it may signify, that they did not greatly admire him when masked, + and only applauded him when he appeared in his natural aspect. As + some authorities say that Roscius _invariably_ used the mask, the + former interpretation may, perhaps, appear the most probable. + +_ 639 Institut. Orator._ Lib. XI. c. 3. + + 640 Lib. IV. c. 19. + +_ 641 Onomasticon_, Lib. IV. c. 19. See also Scaliger, _Poet._ Lib. I. c. + 14, 15, 16. + + 642 Quintil. _Instit. Orator._ Lib. XI. c. 3. + + 643 Ibid. + +_ 644 Onomasticon_, Lib. IV. c. 18. See also Stephens, _De Theatris_. + + + + + + TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE + + +The table of contents has been added in the electronic version. The index +has been repeated from the second volume. + +On page 49, the second footnote is referenced twice; on page 312, a +footnote is missing. + +The book has many inconsistencies in spelling, capitalization or +punctuation, especially in the quotations from foreign languages, where +sometimes diacritical signs are missing or wrong. They were not corrected +or modernized, except in the following places which can be regarded as +printing errors. + + page vi, "it" changed to "its" + page xiii, "Abregee" changed to "Abregee" + page 21, "antient" changed to "ancient" + page 24, "harkened" changed to "hearkened" + page 27, "agrandizement" changed to "aggrandizement" + page 28, "Estruscans" changed to "Etruscans" + page 29, "Guarnicci" changed to "Guarnacci" + page 30, "vitious" changed to "vicious" + page 32, "Schutz" changed to "Schuetz" + page 33, comma added following "Ginguene" + page 37, "licenta" changed to "licentia" + page 45, "feodera" changed to "foedera" + page 46, "the the" changed to "the" + page 46, "Gnavoid" changed to "Gnaivod" + page 47, "Estruscan" changed to "Etruscan" + page 48, "dipthong" changed to "diphthong" + page 54, period added following "dell" + page 55, italics removed from "Cicero" + page 55, "coeptum" changed to "coeptum" + page 57, "where" changed to "were" + page 60, "democrary" changed to "democracy" + page 61, "Cyrian" changed to "Cyprian" + page 64, "questor" changed to "quaestor" + page 65, "Muller" changed to "Mueller" + page 65, "furtur" changed to "fertur" + page 66, "stongly" changed to "strongly" + page 68, "translaed" changed to "translated" + page 70, "Schonen" changed to "Schoenen" and "Romern" to "Roemern" + page 71, "corse" changed to "corpse" + page 72, "Hiedelberg" changed to "Heidelberg" + page 87, "Gelius" changed to "Gellius" + page 87, "Attacinus" changed to "Atacinus" + page 88, quote added before "Even" + page 90, quote added following "Glaucum," + page 91, "." changed to "," following "Ennius" + page 96, "conprehends" changed to "comprehends" + page 101, "and and" changed to "and" + page 153, "picturesqe" changed to "picturesque" + page 154, "Lucretio." changed to "Lucretio," + page 169, quote added following "nituerunt." + page 170, "coetus" changed to "coetus" + page 180, "enuuch" changed to "eunuch" + page 190, "Schmeider" changed to "Schmieder" + page 185, single quote changed to double quote added following + "discours," + page 201, 319, 333 and 351, "appropiate" changed to "appropriate" + page 212, "Schoenem" changed to "Schoenen" + page 216, quote added following "again." + page 216, "oderunt dum metuunt" changed to "oderint dum metuant" + page 227, quote added before "Attonitusque" + page 228, double "and" removed before "epithets" + page 231, period added following "c" + page 231, "Kunste" changed to "Kuenste" + page 236, quote added following "piabant;" + page 249, "Praef." changed to "Praef." + page 257, "Cynogeticon" changed to "Cynegeticon" + page 261, "Hine" changed to "Hinc" + page 263, quote added following "cubandum est." + page 273, "16." changed to "10." + page 278, "eumdem" changed to "eundem" + page 290, "teritories" changed to "territories" + page 291, "vestages" changed to "vestiges" + page 295, "powful" changed to "powerful" + page 305, quote removed following "libido est," + page 312, "verti" changed to "vertice" + page 342, "woof" changed to "wool" + page 344, "entremely" changed to "extremely" + +Some variant spellings were not changed (e. g. 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