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diff --git a/38566-8.txt b/38566-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b5e1ef2 --- /dev/null +++ b/38566-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,19123 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Roman Poets of the Republic, by W. Y. Sellar + +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 www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Roman Poets of the Republic + +Author: W. Y. Sellar + +Release Date: January 13, 2012 [EBook #38566] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ROMAN POETS OF THE REPUBLIC *** + + + + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Lesley Halamek and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + THE ROMAN POETS OF THE REPUBLIC + + BY + + W. Y. SELLAR, M.A., LL.D. + + PROFESSOR OF HUMANITY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH + AND FORMERLY FELLOW OF ORIEL COLLEGE, OXFORD + + + RE-ISSUE OF THE THIRD EDITION + + + OXFORD + AT THE CLARENDON PRESS + M DCCCC V + + + HENRY FROWDE, M.A. + PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD + LONDON, EDINBURGH + NEW YORK AND TORONTO + + + [_Dedication of the Edition of 1881._] + + TO + + J. C. SHAIRP, M.A., LL.D., + + PRINCIPAL OF THE UNITED COLLEGE, ST. ANDREWS, + PROFESSOR OF POETRY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD, + + IN ACKNOWLEDGMENT + OF MUCH ACTIVE AND GENEROUS KINDNESS, + AND OF + A LONG AND STEADY FRIENDSHIP, + THIS VOLUME IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED. + + + + +PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. + + +In preparing a second edition of this volume, which has been for some +years out of print, I have, with the exception of a few pages added to +Chapter IV, retained the first five chapters substantially unchanged. +Chapters VI and VII, on Roman Comedy, are entirely new. I have +enlarged the account formerly given of Lucilius in Chapter VIII, and +modified the Review of the First Period, contained in Chapter IX. +The short introductory chapter to the Second Period is new. The four +chapters on Lucretius have been carefully revised, and, in part, +re-written. The chapter on Catullus has been re-written and enlarged, +and the views formerly expressed in it have been modified. + +In the preface to the first edition I acknowledged the assistance I +had derived from the editions of the Fragments of the early writers +by Klussman, Vahlen, Ribbeck, and Gerlach; from the Histories of Roman +Literature by Bernhardy, Bähr, and Munk, and from the chapters on +Roman Literature in Mommsen's Roman History; from a treatise on the +origin of Roman Poetry, by Corssen; from Sir G. C. Lewis's work on +'The Credibility of Early Roman History'; from the Articles on +the Roman Poets by the late Professor Ramsay, contained in Smith's +'Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'; and from +Articles by Mr. Munro in the 'Journal of Classical and Sacred +Philology.' In addition to these I have, in the present edition, to +acknowledge my indebtedness to the History of Roman Literature by W. +S. Teuffel, to Ribbeck's 'Römische Tragödie,' to Ritschl's 'Opuscula,' +to the editions of some of the Plays of Plautus by Brix and Lorenz, to +that of the Fragments of Lucilius by L. Müller, to the Thesis of M. G. +Boissier, entitled 'Quomodo Graecos Poetas Plautus Transtulerit,' to +Articles on Lucilius by Mr. Munro in the 'Journal of Philology,' and +to the edition of Lucretius, and the 'Criticisms and Elucidations of +Catullus' by the same writer, to Schwabe's 'Quaestiones Catullianae,' +to Mr. Ellis's 'Commentary on Catullus,' to R. Westphal's 'Catull's +Gedichte,' and to M. A. Couat's 'Étude sur Catulle.' I have more +especially to express my sense of obligation to Mr. Munro's writings +on Lucretius and Catullus. In so far as the chapters on these poets in +this edition may be improved, this will, in a great measure, be due to +the new knowledge of the subject I have gained from the study of his +works. + +I have retained, with some corrections, the translations of the longer +quotations, contained in the first edition, and have added a literal +prose version of some passages quoted from Plautus and Terence. +Instead of offering a prose version of the longer passages quoted from +Catullus, I have again availed myself of the kind permission formerly +given me by Sir Theodore Martin to make use of his translation. + + EDINBURGH, _Dec. 1880_. + + + + +PREFATORY NOTE TO THE THIRD EDITION. + + +In revising this work for a new edition the most important change I +have made is in the account of Terence, contained in Chapter VII. I +have to acknowledge the kind permission of Messrs. A. & C. Black to +make use of the article on Terence which I wrote for the Encyclopaedia +Britannica, in which I first expressed the modification of my views +on that author. I have added some notes to the Chapter on Catullus, +suggested by the opinions expressed in the Prolegomena to the Edition +of B. Schmidt. In the Chapter on Naevius I have availed myself of a +suggestion contained in a paper by Prof. A. F. West, 'On a Patriotic +Passage in the Miles Gloriosus of Plautus,' which appeared in the +American Journal of Philology, for my knowledge of which I am indebted +to his courtesy in sending the article to me. I have introduced +various verbal changes in different parts of the book, implying some +slight modification of the opinions originally expressed. Several of +these were suggested by critics who noticed the earlier editions of +the book, to whom I beg to express my thanks. + + W. Y. S. + + _January, 1889._ + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER I. + +GENERAL CHARACTER OF ROMAN POETRY. + + PAGE + Recent change in the estimate of Roman Poetry 1 + Want of originality 2 + As compared with Greek Poetry 2 + " " with Roman Oratory and History 3 + The most complete literary monument of Rome 5 + Partly imitative, partly original 6 + Imitative in forms 7 + " in metres 8 + Imitative element in diction 9 + " " in matter 11 + Original character, partly Roman, partly Italian 13 + National spirit 14 + Imaginative sentiment 15 + Moral feeling 16 + Italian element in Roman Poetry 17 + Love of Nature 17 + Passion of Love 19 + Personal element in Roman Poetry 20 + Four Periods of Roman Poetry 23 + Character of each 24 + Conclusion 26 + + +CHAPTER II. + +VESTIGES OF INDIGENOUS POETRY IN ROME AND ANCIENT ITALY. + + Niebuhr's theory of a Ballad-Poetry 28 + The Saturnian metre 29 + Ritual Hymns 31 + Prophetic verses 33 + Fescennine verses 34 + Saturae 36 + Gnomic verses 37 + Commemorative verses 37 + Inferences as to their character 38 + " from early state of the language 39 + No public recognition of Poetry 40 + Roman story result of tradition and reflection 41 + Inferences from the nature of Roman religion 43 + " from the character and pursuits of the people 44 + Roman Poetry of Italian rather than Roman origin 45 + + +FIRST PERIOD. + +FROM LIVIUS ANDRONICUS TO LUCILIUS. + +CHAPTER III. + +BEGINNING OF ROMAN LITERATURE. LIVIUS ANDRONICUS, +CN. NAEVIUS, 240-202 B.C. + + Contact with Greece after capture of Tarentum 47 + First period of Roman literature 49 + Forms of Poetry during this period 50 + Livius Andronicus 51 + Cn. Naevius, his life 52 + Dramas 55 + Epic poem 57 + Style 59 + Conclusion 60 + + +CHAPTER IV. + +Q. ENNIUS, 239-170 B.C., LIFE, TIMES, AND PERSONAL TRAITS. +VARIOUS WORKS. GENIUS AND INTELLECT. + + Importance of Ennius 62 + Notices of his life 63 + Influences affecting his career 64 + Italian birth-place 64 + Greek education 65 + Service in Roman army 66 + Historical importance of his age 68 + Intellectual character of his age 69 + Personal traits 71 + Description of himself in the Annals 72 + Intimacy with Scipio 74 + His enthusiastic temperament 75 + Religious spirit and convictions 77 + Miscellaneous works 79 + Saturae 81 + Dramas 83 + Annals 88 + Outline of the Poem 89 + Idea by which it is animated 92 + Artistic defects 93 + Roman character of the work 94 + Contrast with the Greek Epic 96 + Contrast in its personages 96 + Contrast in supernatural element 97 + Oratory in the Annals 98 + Description and imagery 100 + Rhythm and diction 102 + Chief literary characteristics of Ennius 106 + Energy of conception 107 + Patriotic and imaginative sentiment 110 + Moral emotion 112 + Practical understanding 113 + Estimate in ancient times 116 + Disparaging criticism of Niebuhr 118 + + +CHAPTER V + +EARLY ROMAN TRAGEDY. M. PACUVIUS, 219-129 B.C. +L. ACCIUS, 170-ABOUT 90 B.C. + + Popularity of early Roman Tragedy 120 + Partial adaptation of Athenian drama 121 + Inability to reproduce its pure Hellenic character 123 + Nearer approach to the spirit of Euripides than of Sophocles 125 + Grounds of popularity of Roman Tragedy 126 + Moral tone and oratorical spirit 129 + Causes of its decline 131 + M. Pacuvius, notices of his life 133 + Ancient testimonies 135 + His dramas 136 + Passages illustrative of his thought 137 + " " of his moral and oratorical spirit 139 + Descriptive passages 141 + Drama on a Roman subject 142 + Character 142 + L. Accius, notices of his life 143 + His various works 145 + Fragments illustrative of his oratorical spirit 147 + " " of his moral fervour 148 + " " of his sense of natural beauty 149 + Conclusion as to character of Roman Tragedy 150 + + +CHAPTER VI. + +ROMAN COMEDY. T. MACCIUS PLAUTUS, ABOUT 254 TO 184 B.C. + + Flourishing era of Roman Comedy 153 + How far any claim to originality? 154 + Disparaging judgment of later Roman critics 155 + Connection with earlier Saturae 156 + Naevius and Plautus popular poets 157 + Facts in the life of Plautus 158 + Attempt to fill up the outline from his works 160 + Familiarity with town-life 161 + Traces of maritime adventure 162 + Life of the lower and middle classes represented in his plays 163 + Love of good living 164 + Love of money 166 + Artistic indifference 166 + Knowledge of Greek 167 + Influence of the spirit of his age 167 + Dramas adaptations of outward conditions of Athenian New Comedy 169 + Manner and spirit, Roman and original 172 + Indications of originality in his language 173 + " " in his Roman allusions and national characteristics 174 + Favourite plots of his plays 178 + Pseudolus, Bacchides, Miles Gloriosus, Mostellaria 179 + Aulularia, Trinummus, Menaechmi, Rudens, Captivi, Amphitryo 182 + Mode of dealing with his characters 191 + Moral and political indifference of his plays 192 + Value as a poetic artist 195 + Power of expression by action, rhythm, diction 200 + + +CHAPTER VII. + +TERENCE AND THE COMIC POETS SUBSEQUENT TO PLAUTUS. + + Comedy between the time of Plautus and Terence 204 + Caecilius Statius 204 + Scipionic Circle 206 + Complete Hellenising of Roman Comedy 207 + Conflicting accounts of life of Terence 207 + Order in which his Plays were produced 209 + His 'prologues' as indicative of his individuality 210 + 'Dimidiatus Menander' 212 + Epicurean 'humanity' chief characteristic 213 + Sentimental motive of his pieces 214 + Minute delineations of character 215 + Diction and rhythm 217 + Influence on the style and sentiment of Horace 218 + Modern estimates of Terence 220 + Comoedia Togata, Atellanae, Mimus 220 + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +EARLY ROMAN SATIRE. C. LUCILIUS, DIED 102 B.C. + + Independent origin of Roman satire 222 + Essentially Roman in form and spirit 224 + " " in its political and censorial function 225 + Personal and miscellaneous character of early satire 227 + Critical epoch at which Lucilius appeared 229 + Question as to the date of his birth 229 + Fragments chiefly preserved by grammarians 232 + Miscellaneous character and desultory treatment of subjects 233 + Traces of subjects treated in different books 234 + Impression of the author's personality 236 + Political character of Lucilian satire 238 + Social vices satirised in it 239 + Intellectual peculiarities 243 + Literary criticism 245 + His style 246 + Grounds of his popularity 249 + + +CHAPTER IX. + +REVIEW OF THE FIRST PERIOD. + + Common aspects in the lives of poets in the second century B.C. 253 + Popular and national character of their works 256 + Political condition of the time reflected in its literature 257 + Defects of the poetic literature in form and style 259 + Other forms of literature cultivated in that age 260 + Oratory and history 260 + Familiar letters 262 + Critical and grammatical studies 263 + Summary of character of the first period 264 + + +SECOND PERIOD. + +THE CLOSE OF THE REPUBLIC. + +CHAPTER X. + +TRANSITION FROM LUCILIUS TO LUCRETIUS. + + Dearth of poetical works during the next half century 269 + Literary taste confined to the upper classes 271 + Great advance in Latin prose writing 272 + Influence of this on the style of Lucretius and Catullus 273 + Closer contact with the mind and art of Greece 273 + Effects of the political unsettlement on the contemplative life + and thought 275 + " on the life of pleasure, and the art founded on it 277 + The two representatives of the thought and art of the time 278 + + +CHAPTER XI. + +LUCRETIUS. PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS. + + Little known of him from external sources 280 + Examination of Jerome's statement 284 + Inferences as to his national and social position 287 + Relation to Memmius 288 + Impression of the author to be traced in his poem 290 + Influence produced by the action of his age 290 + Minute familiarity with Nature and country life 292 + Spirit in which he wrote his work 294 + His consciousness of power and delight in his task 295 + His polemical spirit 298 + Reverence for Epicurus 299 + Affinity to Empedocles 300 + Influence of other Greek writers 302 + " of Ennius 303 + His interests speculative, not national 304 + His Roman temperament 305 + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE PHILOSOPHY OF LUCRETIUS. + + Three aspects of the poem 307 + General scope of the argument 308 + Analysis of the poem 308 + Question as to its unfinished condition 321 + What is the value of the argument? 324 + Weakness of his science 329 + Interest of the work as an exposition of ancient physical enquiry 331 + " from its bearing on modern questions 332 + Power of scientific reasoning, observation, and expression 335 + Connecting links between his philosophy and poetry 340 + Idea of law 341 + " of change 344 + " of the infinite 347 + " of the individual 348 + " of the subtlety of Nature 349 + " of Nature as a living power 350 + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +THE RELIGIOUS ATTITUDE AND MORAL TEACHING OF LUCRETIUS. + + General character of Greek epicureanism 356 + Prevalence at Rome in the last age of the Republic 358 + New type of epicureanism in Lucretius 360 + Forms of evil against which his teaching was directed 363 + Superstition 364 + Fear of death 369 + Ambition 374 + Luxury 375 + Passion of love 376 + Limitation of his ethical views 378 + His literary power as a moralist 381 + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE LITERARY ART AND GENIUS OF LUCRETIUS. + + Artistic defects of the work 384 + " arising from the nature of the subject 385 + " from inequality in its execution 387 + Intensity of feeling pervading the argument 388 + Cumulative force in his rhythm 389 + Qualities of his style 390 + Freshness and sincerity of expression 392 + Imaginative suggestiveness and creativeness 394 + Use of analogies 395 + Pictorial power 397 + Poetical interpretation of Nature 398 + Energy of movement in his descriptions 400 + Poetic aspect of Nature influenced by his philosophy 402 + Poetical interpretation of life 403 + Modern interest of his poem 406 + + +CHAPTER XV. + +CATULLUS. + + Contrast to the poetry of Lucretius 408 + The poetry of youth 409 + Accidental preservation of the poems 410 + Principle of their arrangement 412 + Vivid personal revelation afforded by them 413 + Uncertainty as to the date of his birth 414 + Birth-place and social standing 417 + Influences of his native district 419 + Identity of Lesbia and Clodia 422 + Poems written between 61 and 57 B.C. 425 + Poems connected with his Bithynian journey 429 + Poems written between 56 and 54 B.C. 433 + Character of his poems, founded on the passion of love 436 + " " " on friendship and affection 439 + His short satirical pieces 444 + Other poems expressive of personal feeling 450 + Qualities of style in these poems 452 + " of rhythm 453 + " of form 454 + The Hymn to Diana 455 + His longer and more purely artistic pieces 456 + His Epithalamia 457 + His Attis 461 + The Peleus and Thetis 462 + The longer elegiac poems 469 + Rank of Catullus among the poets of the world 472 + + + + +THE ROMAN POETS OF THE REPUBLIC. + + +CHAPTER I. + +GENERAL CHARACTER OF ROMAN POETRY. + + +A great fluctuation of opinion has taken place, among scholars and +critics, in regard to the worth of Latin Poetry. From the revival of +learning till the end of last century, the poets of ancient Rome, and +especially those of the Augustan age, were esteemed the purest models +of literary art, and were the most familiar exponents of the life and +spirit of antiquity. Their works were the chief instruments of the +higher education. They were studied, imitated, and translated by +some of the greatest poets of modern Europe; and they supplied their +favourite texts and illustrations to moralists and humourists, from +Montaigne to the famous English essayists who flourished during the +last century. Up to a still later period, their words were habitually +used in political debate to add weight to argument and point to +invective. Perhaps no other writers, during so long a period, +exercised so powerful an influence, not on literary style and taste +only, but on the character and understanding, of educated men in the +leading nations of the modern world. + +It was natural that this excessive deference to their authority should +be impaired both by the ampler recognition of the claims of modern +poetry, and by a more intimate familiarity with Greek literature. They +have suffered, in the estimation of literary critics, from the change +in poetical taste which commenced about the beginning of the present +century, and, in that of scholars, from the superior attractions of +the great epic, dramatic, and lyrical poets of Greece. They were thus, +for some time, the objects of undue disparagement rather than of undue +admiration. The perception of the large debt which they owed to their +Greek masters, led to some forgetfulness of their original merits. +Their Roman character and Italian feeling were insufficiently +recognised under the foreign forms and metres in which these +qualities were expressed. It used to be said, with some appearance of +plausibility, that Roman poetry is not only much inferior in +interest to the poetry of Greece, but that it is a work of cultivated +imitation, not of creative art; that other forms of literature were +the true expression of the genius of the Roman people; that their +poets brought nothing new into the world; that they enriched the life +of after times with no pure vein of native feeling, nor any impressive +record of national experience. + +It is, indeed, impossible to claim for Roman poetry the unborrowed +glory or the varied inspiration of the earlier art of Greece. To the +genius of Greece alone can the words of the bard in the Odyssey be +applied, + +[Greek: + autodidaktos d' eimi, theos de moi en phresin oimas + pantoias enephysen[1].] + +Besides possessing the charm of poetical feeling and artistic form in +unequalled measure, Greek poetry is to modern readers the immediate +revelation of a new world of thought and action, in all its lights and +shadows and moving life. Like their politics, the poetry of the Greeks +sprang from many independent centres, and renewed itself in every +epoch of the national civilisation. Roman poetry, on the other hand, +has neither the same novelty nor variety of matter; nor did it, like +the epic, lyric, dramatic, and idyllic poetry of Greece, adapt itself +to the changing phases of human life in different generations and +different States. But the poets of Rome have another kind of value. +There is a charm in their language and sentiment distinct from that +which is found in any other literature of the world. Certain deep +and abiding impressions are stamped upon their works, which have +penetrated into the cultivated sentiment of modern times. If, as we +read them, the imagination is not so powerfully stimulated by the +revelation of a new world, yet, in the elevated tones of Roman poetry, +there is felt to be a permanent affinity with the strength and dignity +of man's moral nature; and, in the finer and softer tones, a power +to move the heart to sympathy with the beauty, the enjoyment, and the +natural sorrows of a bygone life. If we are no longer moved by the +eager hopes and buoyant fancies of the youthful prime of the ancient +world, we seem to gather up, with a more sober sympathy, the fruits of +its mature experience and mellowed reflexion. + +While the literature and civilisation of Greece were still unknown +to them, the Romans had produced certain rude kinds of metrical +composition; they preserved some knowledge of their history in various +kinds of chronicles or annals: they must have been trained to some +skill in oratory by the contests of public life, and by the practice +of delivering commemorative speeches at the funerals of famous men. +But they cannot be said to have produced spontaneously any works of +literary art. Their oratory, history, poetry, and philosophy owed +their first impulse to their intellectual contact with Greece. And +while the form and expression of all Roman literature were moulded +by the teaching of Greek masters and the study of Greek writings, the +debt incurred by the poetry and philosophy of Rome was greater than +that incurred by her oratory and history. The two latter assumed +a more distinct type, and adapted themselves more naturally to the +genius of the people and the circumstances of the State. They were +the work of men for the most part eminent in the State; and they +bore directly on the practical wants of the times in which they were +cultivated. Even the structure of the Latin language testifies to the +oratorical force and ardour by which it was moulded into symmetry; as +the language of Greece betrays the plastic and harmonising power of +her early poetry. There is no improbability in the supposition that, +if Greek literature had never existed, or had remained unknown to the +Romans, the political passions and necessities of the Republic would +have called forth a series of powerful orators; and that the national +instinct, which clung with such strong tenacity to the past, would, +with the advance of power and civilisation, have produced a type of +history, capable of giving adequate expression to the traditions and +continuous annals of the commonwealth. + +But their poetry, on the other hand, came to the Romans after their +habits were fully formed[2], as an ornamental addition to their +power,--[Greek: kêpion kai enkallôpisma ploytou]. Unlike the poetry +of Greece, it was not addressed to the popular ear, nor was it an +immediate emanation from the popular heart. The poets who commemorated +the greatness of Rome, or who sang of the passions and pleasures +of private life, in the ages immediately before and after the +establishment of the Empire, were, for the most part, men born in the +provinces of Italy, neither trained in the formal discipline of Rome, +nor taking any active part in practical affairs. Their tastes and +feelings are, in some ways, rather Italian than purely Roman; their +thoughts and convictions are rather of a cosmopolitan type than +moulded on the national traditions. They drew the materials of their +art as much from the stores of Greek poetry as from the life and +action of their own times. Their art is thus a composite structure, +in which old forms are combined with altered conditions; in which the +fancies of earlier times reappear in a new language, and the spirit of +Greece is seen interpenetrating the grave temperament of Rome, and the +genial nature of Italy. + +But, although oratory and history may have been more essential to the +national life of the Romans, and more adapted to their genius, their +poetry still remains their most complete literary expression. Of the +many famous orators of the Republic one only has left his speeches +to modern times. The works of the two greatest Roman historians have +reached us in a mutilated shape; and the most important periods in the +later history of the Republic are not represented in what remains of +the works of any Latin writer. Tacitus records only the sombre and +monotonous annals of the early Empire; and the extant books of Livy +contain the account of times and events from which he himself was +separated by many generations. Roman poetry, on the other hand, is the +contemporary witness of several important eras in the history of the +Republic and the Empire. It includes many authentic and characteristic +fragments from the great times of the Scipios,--the complete works of +the two poets of finest genius, who flourished in the last days of the +Republic,--the masterpieces of the brilliant Augustan era;--and, of +the works of the Empire, more than are needed to exemplify the decay +of natural feeling and of poetical inspiration under the deadening +pressure of Imperialism. And, besides illustrating different eras, the +Roman poets throw light on the most various aspects of Roman life and +character. They are the most authentic witnesses both of the national +sentiment and ideas, and of the feelings and interests of private +life. They stamp on the imagination the ideal of Roman majesty; and +they bring home to modern sympathies the charm and the pathos of the +old Italian life, and the activities and humours of society in the +great capital of pleasure and business. + +Roman poetry was the living heir, not the lifeless reproduction of +the genius of Greece. If it seems to have been a highly-trained +accomplishment rather than the irrepressible outpouring of a natural +faculty, still this accomplishment was based upon original gifts of +feeling and character, and was marked by its own peculiar features. +The creative energy of the Greeks died out with Theocritus; but their +learning and taste, surviving the decay of their political existence, +passed into the education of a kindred race, endowed, above all other +races of antiquity, with the capacity of receiving and assimilating +alien influences, and of producing, alike in action and in literature, +great results through persistent purpose and concentrated industry. +It was owing to their gifts of appreciation and their capacity for +labour, that the Roman poets, in the era of the transition from +the freedom and vigour of the Republic to the pomp and order of the +Empire, succeeded in producing works which, in point of execution, +are not much inferior to the masterpieces of Greece. It was due to the +spirit of a new race,--speaking a new language, living among different +scenes, acting their own part in the history of the world,--that the +ancient inspiration survived the extinction of Greek liberty, and +reappeared, under altered conditions, in a fresh succession of +powerful works, which owe their long existence as much to the vivid +feeling as to the artistic perfection by which they are characterised. + +From one point of view, therefore, Roman poetry may be regarded as an +imitative reproduction, from another, as a new revelation of the human +spirit. For the form, and for some part of the substance, of their +works, the Roman poets were indebted to Greece: the spirit and +character, and much also of the substance of their poetry, are native +in their origin. They betray their want of inventiveness chiefly +in the forms of composition and the metres which they employed; +occasionally also in the cast of their poetic diction, and in their +conventional treatment of foreign materials. But, in even the least +original aspects of their art, they still bear the impress of their +nationality. Although, with the exception of Satire and the poetic +Epistle, they struck out no new forms of poetic composition, yet those +adopted by them assumed something of a new type, owing to the weight +of their contents, the massive structure of the Roman language, the +fervour and gravity of the Roman temperament, the practical bent and +logical mould of the Roman understanding, the strong vitality and the +emotional susceptibility of the Italian race. + +They were not equally successful in all the forms which they attempted +to reproduce. They were especially inferior to their masters in +tragedy. They betray the inferiority of their dramatic genius also in +other fields of literature, especially in epic and idyllic poetry, and +in philosophical dialogues. They express passion and feeling either +directly from their own hearts and experience, or in great rhetorical +passages, attributed to the imaginary personages of their story--to +Ariadne or Dido, to Turnus or Mezentius. But this occasional +utterance of passion and sentiment is not united in them with a vivid +delineation of the complex characters of men; and it is only in their +comic poetry that they are quite successful in reproducing the natural +and lively interchange of speech. There is thus, as compared with +Homer and Theocritus, some want of personal interest in the epic, +descriptive, and idyllic poetry of Virgil. The natural play of +characters, acting and reacting upon one another, enlivens the +divinely-appointed action of the Aeneid, only in such exceptional +passages as the episode of Dido; nor does it add the charm of human +associations to the poet's deep and quiet pictures of rural beauty, +and to his graceful expression of pensive and tender feeling. + +The Romans, as a race, were wanting in speculative capacity; and +thus their poetry does not rise, or rises only in Lucretius, to those +imaginative heights from which the great lyrical and dramatic poets of +Greece contemplated the spectacle of human life in all its wonder and +solemnity. Yet both the epic and the lyrical poetry of Rome have +a character and perfection of their own. The Aeneid, with many +resemblances in points of detail to the poems of Homer, is yet, in +design and execution, a true national monument. The lyrical poetry of +Rome, if inferior to the choral poetry of Greece in range of thought +and in ethereal grace of expression, and, apparently, to the early +Iambic and Melic poetry of Greece in the range of the emotions to +which it appeals, is yet an instrument of varied power, capable of +investing the more serious or more transient joys and sorrows of life +with an unfading charm, and rising into fuller and more commanding +tones to express the national sentiment and moral dignity of Rome. +Didactic poetry obtained in Lucretius and Virgil ampler volume and +profounder meaning than in their Greek models, Empedocles and Hesiod. +It was by the skill of the two great Latin poets that poetic art +was made to embrace within its province the treatment of a great +philosophical argument, and of a great and ancient form of human +industry. The Satires and Epistles of Horace showed, for the first +time, how the didactic spirit could deal in poetry with the whole +conduct and familiar experience of life. The elegiac poets of the +Augustan age, while borrowing the metre of their compositions from the +early poets of Ionia and the later writers at the court of Alexandria, +have taken the substance of their poetry to a great extent from their +own lives and interests; and have treated their materials with a +fluent and varied brilliancy of style, and often with a graceful +tenderness and sincerity of feeling, unborrowed from any foreign +source. It may thus be generally affirmed that the Roman poets, +although adding little to the great discoveries or inventions +in literature, and although not equally successful in all their +adaptations of the inventions of their predecessors, have yet left +the stamp of their own genius and character on some of the great forms +which poetry has assumed. + +The metres of Roman poetry are also adaptations to the Latin language +of the metres previously employed in the epic, lyrical, dramatic and +elegiac poetry of Greece. The Italian race had, in earlier times, +struck out a native measure, called the Saturnian,--of a rapid and +irregular movement,--in which their religious emotions, their festive +and satiric raillery, and their commemorative instincts found a rude +expression. But after this measure had been rejected by Ennius, +as unsuited to the gravity of his greatest work, the Roman poets +continued to imitate the metres of their Greek predecessors. But, in +their hands, these became characterised by a slower, more stately, +and regular movement, not only differing widely from the ring of the +native Saturnian rhythm, but also, with every improvement in poetic +accomplishment, receding further and further from the freedom and +variety of the Greek measures. The comic and tragic measures, in which +alone the Roman writers observed a less strict rule than their models, +never attained among them to any high metrical excellence. The rhythm +of the Greek poets, owing in a great measure to the frequency of +vowel sounds in their language, is more flowing, more varied, and more +richly musical than that of Roman poetry. Thus, although their verse +is constructed on the same metrical laws, there is the most marked +contrast between the rapidity and buoyancy of the Iliad or +the Odyssey, and the stately and weighty march of the Aeneid. +Notwithstanding their outward conformity to the canons of a foreign +language, the most powerful and characteristic measures of Roman +poetry,--such as the Lucretian and the Virgilian hexameter, and +the Horatian alcaic,--are distinguished by a grave, orderly, and +commanding tone, symbolical of the genius and the majesty of Rome. In +such cases, as the Horatian sapphic and the Ovidian elegiac, where +the structure of the verse is too slight to produce this impressive +effect, there is still a remarkable divergence from the freedom +and manifold harmony of the early Greek poets to a more uniform and +monotonous cadence. + +The diction also of Roman poetry betrays many traces of imitation. +Some of the early Latin tragedies were literal translations from the +works of the Athenian dramatists; and fragments of the rude Roman copy +may still be compared with the polished expression of the original. +Some familiar passages of the Iliad may be traced among the rough-hewn +fragments of the Annals of Ennius. Even Lucretius, whose diction, +more than that of most poets, produces the impression of being the +immediate creation of his own mind, has described outward objects, and +clothed his thoughts, in language borrowed from Homer, Empedocles, +and Euripides. The short volume of Catullus contains translations from +Sappho and Callimachus, and frequent imitations of other Greek poets; +and, from the extant fragments of Alcaeus, Anacreon, and others of +the Greek lyric poets, it may be seen how frequently Horace availed +himself of some turn of their expression to invest his own experience +with old poetic associations. Virgil, whose great success is, in no +slight measure, due to the skill and taste with which he used the +materials of earlier Greek and native writers, has reproduced +the heroic tones of Homer in his epic, and the mellow cadences of +Theocritus in his pastoral poems; and has blended something of the +antique quaintness and oracular sanctity of Hesiod with the golden +perfection of his Georgics. + +But besides the direct debt which each Roman poet owed to the Greek +author or authors whom he imitated, it is difficult to estimate +the extent to which the taste of the later Romans was formed by the +familiar study of Greek literature. The habitual study of any foreign +language has an influence not on style only, but even on the structure +of thought and the development of emotion. The Roman poets first +learned, from the study of Greek poetry, to feel the graceful +combinations and the musical power of expression, and were thus +stimulated and trained to elicit similar effects from their native +language. It is for this gift, or power over language, that Lucretius +prays in his invocation to the creative power of Nature,-- + + Quo magis aeternum da dictis, diva, leporem; + +and those who came after him devoted still greater study to attain +perfection in the diction and rhythm of poetry. But their success was +gained with some loss of direct force and freshness in the expression +of feeling. In Virgil and in Horace words are combined in a less +natural order than in Homer and the Attic dramatists. Their language +does not strike the mind with the spontaneous force of Greek poetry, +nor does it seem equally capable of gaining and retaining the ear of a +popular audience. Catullus alone among the great Roman poets combines +in those short poems, which are the direct expression of his feeling, +perfect grace with the happiest freedom and simplicity. Yet the +studied and compact diction of Latin poetry, if wanting in fluency, +ease, and directness, lays a strong hold upon the mind, by its power +of marking with emphasis what is most essential and prominent in +the ideas and objects presented to the imagination. The thought and +sentiment of Rome have thus been engraved on her poetical literature, +in deep and enduring characters. And, notwithstanding all manifest +traces of imitation, the diction of the greatest Roman poets attests +the presence of genuine creative power. A strong vital force is +recognised in the direct and vigorous diction of Ennius and Lucretius; +and, though more latent, it is felt no less really to pervade +the stateliness and chastened splendour of Virgil, and the subtle +moderation of Horace. + +Roman poetry owes also a considerable part of its substance to Greek +thought, art, and traditions. This is the chief explanation of that +conventional character which detracts from the originality of some of +the masterpieces of Roman genius. The old religious belief of Rome and +Italy became merged in the poetical restoration of the Olympian Gods; +the story of the origin of Rome was inseparably connected with +the personages of Greek poetry; the familiar manners of a late +civilisation appear in unnatural association with the idealised +features of the heroic age. Even the expression of personal feeling, +experience, and convictions is often coloured by light reflected from +earlier representations. Hence a good deal of Latin poetry appears to +fit less closely to the facts of human life, than the best poetry of +Greece and of modern nations. This imitative and composite workmanship +is more apparent in the later than in the earlier poets. The substance +and thought of Ennius, Lucretius, and Catullus, even when they +reproduce Greek materials, appear to be more vivified by their own +feeling than the substance and thought of the Augustan poets. The +beautiful and stately forms of Greek legend, which lived a second +life in the young imagination of Catullus, were becoming trite and +conventional to Virgil:-- + + Cetera, quae vacuas tenuissent carmine mentes, + Omnia jam vulgata. + +The ideal aspect of the golden morning of the world has been seized +with a truer feeling in the Epithalamium of Peleus and Thetis than in +the episode of the 'Pastor Aristaeus' in the Georgics. Not only are +the main features in the story of the Aeneid of foreign origin, but +the treatment of the story betrays some want of vital sympathy with +the heterogeneous elements out of which it is composed. The poem is +a religious as well as a great national work; but the religious creed +which is expressed in it is a composite result of Greek mythology, of +Roman sentiment, and of ideas derived from an eclectic philosophy. The +manners represented in the poem are a medley of the Augustan and of +the Homeric age, as seen in vague proportions, through the mists +of antiquarian learning. It must, indeed, be remembered that Greek +traditions had penetrated into the life of the whole civilised world, +and that the belief in the connexion of Rome with Troy had rooted +itself in the Roman mind for two centuries before the time of Virgil. +Still, the tale of the settlement of Aeneas in Latium, as told in the +great Roman epics, bears the mark of the artificial construction of +a late and prosaic era, not of the spontaneous growth of imaginative +legend, in a lively and creative age. So, also, in another sphere of +poetry, while there are genuine touches of nature in all the odes of +Horace, yet the reproduction of Greek mythology which plays so large a +part in many of them is a result of his artistic sympathy, and has not +any vital root in his own belief or the beliefs of his age. + +Roman poetry, from this point of view, appears to be the old Greek +art reappearing under new conditions: or rather the new art of the +civilised world, after it had been leavened by Greek thought, taste, +and education. The poetry of Rome was, however, a living power, +after the creative energy of Greece had disappeared, so that, were it +nothing more, that literature would still be valuable as the fruit of +the later summer of antiquity. As in Homer, the earliest poet of the +ancient world, there is a kind of promise of the great life that +was to be; so, in the Augustan poets, there is a retrospective +contemplation of the life, the religion, and the art of the past,--a +gathering up of 'the long results of time.' But the Roman poets had +also a strong vein of original character and feeling, and many phases +of national and personal experience to reveal. They had to give a +permanent expression to the idea of Rome, and to perpetuate the charm +of the land and life of Italy. In their highest tones, they give +utterance to the patriotic spirit, the dignified and commanding +attributes, and the moral strength of the Imperial Republic. But +other elements in their art proclaim their large inheritance of the +receptive and emotional nature which, in ancient as in modern times, +has characterised the Southern nations. As the patrician and plebeian +orders were united in the imperial greatness of the commonwealth, as +the energy of Rome and of the other Italian communities was welded +together to form a mighty national life, so these apparently +antagonistic elements combined to create the majesty and beauty of +Roman poetry. Either of these elements would by itself have been +unproductive and incomplete. The pure Roman temperament was too +austere, too unsympathetic, too restrained and formal, to create and +foster a luxuriant growth of poetry: the genial nature of the south, +when dissociated from the control of manlier instincts and the +elevation of higher ideals, tended to degenerate into licentious +effeminacy, both in life and literature. The fragments of the earlier +tragic and epic poets indicate the predominance of the gravity and +the masculine strength inherent in the Roman temper, almost to the +exclusion of the other element. Roman comedy, on the other hand, +gave full play to Italian vivacity and sensuousness with only slight +restraint from the higher instincts inherited from ancient discipline. +In Lucretius, Virgil, and Horace, moral energy and dignity of +character are most happily combined with susceptibility to the +charm and the power of Nature. Catullus and the elegiac poets of the +Augustan age abandoned themselves to the passionate enjoyment of their +lives, under little restraint either from the pride or the virtue +of their forefathers. Their faults and weaknesses are of a type +apparently most opposed to the tendencies of the higher Roman +character. Yet even these may be looked upon as a kind of indirect +testimony to the ancient vigour of the race. Catullus, in his very +coarseness, betrays the grain of that strong nature, out of which the +freedom and energy of the Republic had been developed. Ovid, in +his libertinism, displays his vigorous and ardent vitality. The +indifference of Tibullus and Propertius to the graver duties and +interests of life, looks like a reaction from a standard of manliness +too high to be permanently upheld. + +Among the most truly Roman characteristics of Latin poetry, national +and patriotic sentiment is conspicuous. Among the poets of the +Republic, Naevius and Lucilius were animated by political as well +as national feeling. The chief work of Ennius was devoted to the +commemoration of the ancient traditions, the august institutions, the +advancing power, and the great character of the Roman State. In the +works of the Augustan age, the fine episodes of the Georgics, the +whole plan and many of the details of the Aeneid, show the spell +exercised over the mind of Virgil by the ancient memories and the +great destiny of his country, and bear witness to his deep love of +Italy, and his pride in her natural beauty and her strong breed of +men. Horace rises above his irony and epicureanism, to celebrate the +imperial majesty of Rome, and to bear witness to the purity of the +Sabine households, and to the virtues exhibited in the best types of +Roman character. The Fasti of Ovid, also, is a national poem, owing +its existence to the renewed interest imparted to the mythical and +early story of Rome by the establishment of the Empire. The other +elegiac poets, though they devote much less of their writings to the +subject, yet betray a graver and deeper feeling in the rare passages +in which they appeal to patriotic memories. + +The poets of the latest age of the Republic alone express little +sympathy with national or public interests. The time in which they +flourished was not favourable to the pride of patriotism or to +political enthusiasm. The contemplative genius of Lucretius separated +him from the pursuits of active life; and his philosophy taught the +lesson that to acquiesce in any government was better than to engage +in the strife of personal ambition:-- + + Ut satius multo jam sit parere quietum + Quam regere imperio res velle et regna tenere. + +Catullus, while eagerly enjoying his life, seems, in regard to the +political turmoil of his time, to 'daff the world aside, and bid it +pass': yet there is, as has been well said[3], a rough republican +flavour in his careless satire; and he retained to the last, and +boldly asserted, what was the earliest, as well as the latest, +instinct of ancient liberty--the spirit of resistance to the arbitrary +rule of any single man. + +Roman poetry is pervaded also by a peculiar vein of imaginative +emotion. There is no feeling so characteristic of the higher works of +Roman genius as the sense of majesty. This feeling is called forth by +the idea or outward manifestation of strength, stability, vastness, +and order; by whatever impresses the imagination as the symbol of +power and authority, whether in the aspect of Nature, or in the works, +actions, and institutions of man. It is in their most serious and +elevated writings, and chiefly in their epic and didactic poetry, +that the Romans show their peculiar susceptibility to this grave and +dignified emotion. Even the plain and rude diction of Ennius rises +into rugged grandeur when he is moved by the vastness or massive +strength of outward things, by 'the pomp and circumstance' of war, or +by the august forms and symbols of government. The majestic tones of +Lucretius seem to give a voice to the deep feeling of the order and +immensity of the universe which possessed him. The sustained dignity +of the Aeneid, and the splendour of some of its finest passages--such +for instance as that which brings before us the solemn and magnificent +spectacle of the fall of Troy--attest how the imagination of Virgil +was moved to sympathy with the attributes of ancient and powerful +sovereignty. + +Further, in the fervour and dignity of their moral feeling, the Roman +poets are true exponents of the genius of Rome. Their spirit is more +authoritative, and less speculative than that of Greek poetry. They +speak rather from the will and conscience than from the wisdom that +has searched and understood the ways of life. Greek poetry +strengthens the will or purifies the heart indirectly, by its truthful +representation of the tragic situations in human life; Roman poetry +appeals directly to the manlier instincts and more magnanimous +impulses of our nature. This glow of moral emotion pervades not the +poetry only, but the oratory, history, and philosophy of Rome. It has +cast a kind of religious solemnity around the fragments of the early +epic, tragic, and satiric poetry: it has given an intenser fervour +to the stern consistency and desperate fortitude of Lucretius: it has +added the element of strength to the pathos and fine humanity in the +Aeneid. It is by his moral, as well as his national enthusiasm, that +Horace reveals the Roman gravity that tempered his genial nature. The +language of Lucan, Persius, and Juvenal still breathed the same spirit +in the deadening atmosphere of the Empire. Of the greater poets +of Rome, Catullus alone shows little trace of this grave ardour of +feeling, the more usual accompaniment of the firm temper of manhood +than of the prodigal genius of youth. + +There are, however, as was said above, other feelings expressed in +Roman poetry, more akin to modern sympathies. In no other branch of +ancient literature is so much prominence given to the enjoyment +of Nature, the passion of love, and the joys, sorrows, tastes, and +pursuits of the individual. The gravity and austerity of the old Roman +life, and the predominance of public over private interest in the best +days of the Republic, tended to repress, rather than to foster, the +birth of these new modes of emotion. They are like the flower of +that more luxuriant but less stately Italian life which spread itself +abroad under the shadow of Roman institutions, and came to a rapid +maturity after her conquests had brought to Rome the accumulated +treasures of the world, and left to her more fortunate sons ample +leisure to enjoy them. + +The love of natural scenery and of country life is certainly more +prominently expressed in Roman than in Greek poetry. Homer, indeed, +among all the poets of antiquity, presents the most vivid and true +description of the outward world; and the imagination of Pindar and +the Attic dramatists appears to have been strongly, though indirectly, +affected both by the immediate aspect and by the invisible power of +Nature. Thucydides and Aristophanes testify to the enjoyment which the +Athenians found in the ease and abundance of their country life, and +to the affection with which they clung to the old religious customs +and associations connected with it. The conscious enjoyment of Nature +as a prominent motive of poetry first appears in the Alexandrian era. +The great poets of earlier times were too deeply penetrated by the +thought of the mystery and the grandeur in human life, to dwell much +on the spectacle of the outward world. Though their delicate sense of +beauty was unconsciously cherished and refined by the air which they +breathed, and the scenes by which they were surrounded, yet they do +not, like the Roman poets, yield to the passive pleasures derived from +contemplating the aspect of the natural world; nor do they express the +happiness of passing out of the tumult of the city into the peaceful +security of the country. The difference between the two nations in +social temper and customs is connected with this difference in their +aesthetic susceptibility. The spirit in which a Greek enjoyed his +leisure, was one phase of his sociability, his communicativeness, his +constant passion for hearing and telling something new,--a disposition +which made the [Greek: leschê] a favourite resort so early as the +time of Homer, and which is seen still characterising the most +typical representatives of the race in the days of St. Paul. The Roman +statesman, on the other hand, prized his _otium_ as the healthy +repose after strenuous exertion. The chief relaxation to his proud and +self-dependent temper consisted in being alone, or at ease with +his household and his intimate friends. This desire for rest and +retirement was one great element in the Roman taste for country +life;--a taste which was manifested among the foremost public men, +such as the Scipios and Laelius, long before any trace of it is +betrayed in Roman poetry. But, as the practice of spending the +unhealthy months of autumn away from Rome became general among the +wealthier classes, and as new modes of sentiment were fostered +by greater leisure and finer cultivation, a genuine love of +Nature,--taking the form either of attachment to particular places, +or of enjoyment in the life and beautiful spectacle of the outward +world,--was gradually awakened in the more refined spirits of the +Italian race. + +The poetry of the Augustan age and of that immediately preceding it +is deeply pervaded by this new sentiment. Each of the great poets +manifests the feeling in his own way. Lucretius, while contemplating +the majesty of Nature's laws, and the immensity of her range, is at +the same time powerfully moved to sympathy with her ever-varying life. +He feels the charm of simply living in fine weather, and looking +on the common aspects of the world,--such as the sea-shore, fresh +pastures and full-flowing rivers, or the new loveliness of the early +morning. He represents the punishment of the Danaides as a symbol of +the incapacity of the human spirit to enjoy the natural charm of the +recurring seasons of the year. Catullus, too, although his active +social temper did not respond to the spell which Nature exercised over +the contemplative and pensive spirits of Lucretius and Virgil, has +many fine images from the outward world in his poems. He delights in +comparing the grace and the passion of youth with the bloom of flowers +and the stateliness of trees; he associates the beauty of Sirmio with +his bright picture of the happiness of home; he feels the return of +the genial breezes of spring as enhancing his delight in leaving the +dull plains of Phrygia, and in hastening to visit the famous cities of +Asia. Virgil's early art was characterised by his friend and brother +poet in the lines,-- + + Molle atque facetum + Vergilio annuerunt gaudentes rure camenae[4]. + +The love of natural, and especially of Italian, beauty blends with all +his patriotic memories, and with the charm which he has cast around +the common operations of rustic industry. The freedom and peace of his +country life, among the Sabine hills, kept the heart of Horace fresh +and simple, in spite of all the pleasures and flatteries to which he +was exposed; and enabled him, till the end of his course, to mingle +the clear fountain of native poetry,--'ingeni benigna vena,'--with the +stiller current of his meditative wisdom. + +The passion of love was a favourite theme both of the early lyrical +poets of Greece, and of the courtly writers of Alexandria; but the +works of the former have reached us only in inconsiderable fragments; +and the latter, with the exception of Theocritus, are much inferior to +the Roman poets who made them their models. It is in Latin literature +that we are brought most near to the power of this passion in the +ancient world. Few among the poets who have recorded their own +experience of love, in any age, have expressed a feeling so true or so +intense as Catullus. He has all the ardent, self-forgetful devotion, +if he wants the chivalry and purity, of modern sentiment. He has +painted the love of others also with grateful fidelity. He has shown +the finest sense in discerning, and the finest power in delineating +the charm of youthful passion, when first awakening into life, or +first unfolding into true affection. It is by his delineation of the +agony of Dido that Virgil has imparted the chief personal interest +to the story of the Aeneid; and the love which finds a voice in his +pastoral poems is as ideal as that which has found its truest voice in +some of our great modern poets. Horace is the poet of the lighter and +gayer moods of the passion. Without ever becoming a slave to it, he +experienced enough of its pains and pleasures to enable him to paint +the fascination or the waywardness of a mistress with the equable +feeling of an epicurean, but, at the same time, with the refined +observation of a poet. The elegiac poets of the Augustan age, making +pleasure the chief pursuit of their lives, have made the more sensuous +phases of this passion the predominant motive of their poetry. Yet +the tenderness of Tibullus is as genuine as that of Virgil; there is +ardent emotion expressed by Propertius for his living mistress, and +deep feeling in the lines in which he recalls her memory after death; +the license of Ovid is, if not redeemed, at least relieved, by his +buoyant wit and his brilliant fancy. + +Roman poetry is also interesting as the revelation of personal +experience and character. The biographies of ancient authors are, +for the most part, meagre and untrustworthy; and thus it is chiefly +through the conscious or unconscious self-portraiture in their +writings that the actual men of antiquity are brought into close +contact with the modern world. Few men of any age or country are +so well known to us as Horace; and it is from his own writings, +exclusively, that this intimate knowledge has been obtained. The lines +in which he describes Lucilius are more applicable to himself than to +any extant writer of Greece or Rome,-- + + Ille velut fidis arcana sodalibus olim + Credebat libris: neque si male cesserat, unquam + Decurrens alio, neque si bene: quo fit, ut omnis + Votiva pateat veluti descripta tabella + Vita senis[5]. + +He has described himself, his tastes and pursuits, his thoughts and +convictions, with perfect frankness and candour, and without any of +the triviality or affectation of literary egotism. Catullus, although +sometimes wanting in proper reticence, and altogether devoid of that +meditative art with which Horace transmutes his own experience into +the common experience of human nature, is known also as a familiar +friend, from the force of feeling with which he realised, and the +transparent sincerity with which he recorded, all the pain and the +pleasure of his life. The elegiac poets of the Augustan age have +written, neither from so strong a heart as that of Catullus, nor with +the self-restraint and self-respect of Horace; but yet one of the +chief sources of interest in their poetry, as of that of Martial in +a later age, arises from their strong realisation of life, their +unreserved communicativeness, and the light they thus throw on one +phase of personal and social manners in ancient times. + +Nor are these indications of individual character confined to the +poets who profess to communicate their own feelings, and to record +their own fortunes. All the works of Roman poetry bear emphatically +the impress of their authors. While the finest Greek poetry seems like +an almost impersonal emanation of genius, Roman poetry is, to a much +greater extent, the impression of character. The great Roman writers +manifest that kind of self-consciousness which accompanies +resolute and successful effort; while the Greeks enjoy that happy +self-forgetfulness which attends the unimpeded exercise of a natural +gift. The epitaphs composed for themselves by Naevius, Plautus, +Ennius, and Pacuvius, and the assertion of their own originality +and of their hopes of fame which occurs in the poetry of Lucretius, +Virgil, and Horace, were dictated by a strong sense of their own +personality, and of the importance of the task on which they were +engaged. Catullus, although he is much preoccupied with, and most +frank in communicating his feelings and pursuits, has much less of the +consciousness of genius, is much more humble in his aspirations, and +more modest in his estimate of himself. In this, as in other respects, +he approaches nearer to the type of Greek art than any of his +brother-poets of Rome. + +It is a common remark that the very greatest poets are those about +whose personal characteristics least is known. It is impossible +in their case to determine how far they have expressed their real +sympathies or convictions. They rise above the prejudices of their +country and the accidents of their time, and can see the good and +evil inseparably mixed in all human action. No criticism can throw any +trustworthy light on the personal position, the pursuits and aims, the +outward and inward experience of Homer. It cannot even be determined +with certainty how much of the poetry which bears his name is the +creation of one, seemingly, inexhaustible genius; and how much is the +'divine voice' of earlier singers still 'floating around him.' Such +inquiries are ever attracting and ever baffling a high curiosity. They +leave the mind perplexed with the doubt whether it is discerning, +in the far distance, the outline of solid mountain-land, or only the +transient shapes of the clouds. Hesiod, on the other hand, a poet of +perhaps equal antiquity, but of an infinitely lower order of genius, +has left his own likeness graphically delineated on his remains. There +is much to interest a reader in the old didactic poem, 'The Works +and Days,' but it is not the interest of studying a work of art or of +creative genius. The charm of the book consists partly in its power +of calling up the ideas of a remote antiquity and of human life in its +most elemental conditions; partly in the distinct impression which +it bears of a character of an antique and primitive and yet not +unfamiliar type;--a character of deep natural piety and righteousness, +but with a quaint intermixture of other qualities;--homespun sagacity +and worldly wisdom; genuine thrift, and horror of idleness, of war, +of seafaring enterprise;--sardonic dislike of the airs and vices of +women, and a grim discontent with his own condition, and with the poor +soil which it was his lot to till[6]. It is through his want of those +gifts of genius which have made Homer immortal as a poet, and a mere +name as a man, that Hesiod has left so distinct a picture of himself +to the latest times. In like manner Roman poetry, while never rising +to the heights of purely creative and impersonal genius, from this +very defect, is a truer revelation of the poets themselves. The +Aeneid supplies ample materials for understanding the affections and +convictions of Virgil. Lucretius makes his personal presence felt +through the whole march of his argument, and supports every position +of his system not with his logic only, but with the whole force of his +nature. The fragments of Ennius and of Lucilius afford ample evidence +by which we may judge what kind of men they were. + +It thus appears that, over and above their higher and finer +excellences, the Roman poets have this additional source of interest, +that, more than any other authors in the vigorous times of antiquity, +they satisfy the modern curiosity in regard to personal character +and experience. These poets have themselves left the most trustworthy +record of their happiest hours and most real interests; of their +standard of conduct, their personal worth, and their strength of +affection; of the studies and the occupations in which they passed +their lives, and of the spirit in which they awaited the certainty of +their end. + +It remains to say a few words in regard to the historical progress of +this branch of literature. The history of Roman poetry may be divided +into four great periods:-- + +I. The age of Naevius, Ennius, Lucilius, etc., extending from about +B.C. 240 till about B.C. 100: + +II. The age of Lucretius and Catullus, whose active poetical career +belongs to the last age of the Republic, the decennium before the +outbreak of the Civil War between Caesar and Pompey: + +III. The Augustan age: + +IV. The whole period of the Empire after the time of Augustus. + +The poetry of each of these periods is distinctly marked in form, +style, and character. There is evidently a great advance in artistic +accomplishment and in poetical feeling, from the rude cyclopean +remains of the annals of Ennius to the stately proportions and +elaborate workmanship of the Aeneid. Yet this advance was attended +with some loss as well as gain. With infinitely less accomplishment +and less variety, the older writers show signs of a robuster life and +a more vigorous understanding than some at least of those who adorn +the Augustan era. They endeavoured to work in the spirit of the +great masters, who had made the most heroic passions and most serious +interests of men the subject of their art. They were men also of the +same fibre as the chief actors on the stage of public affairs, living +with them in familiar friendship, while at the same time maintaining +a close sympathy with popular feeling and the national life. Their +fragments are thus, apart from their intrinsic merits, especially +valuable as the contemporary language of that great time, and as +giving some expression to the strength, the dignity, and the freedom +which were stamped upon the old Republic. + +For more than a generation after the death of Accius and Lucilius, no +new poet of any eminence appeared at Rome. The vivid enjoyment of +life and the sense of security which usually accompany and foster +the successful cultivation of art had been rudely interrupted by +the convulsions of the State. A new birth of Roman poetry took place +during the brief lull between the storms of the first and second civil +wars. The new poets arose independently of the old literature. They +appealed not to popular favour, but to the tastes of the few and +the educated; they gave expression not to any public or national +sentiment, but to their individual thought and feeling. Their works +reflect the restless agitation of a time of revolution; but they show +also all the vigour and sincerity of republican freedom. While greatly +superior to the fragments of the older poetry in refinement of style, +and in depth and variety of poetical feeling, they want the simple +strength of moral conviction, and the interest in great practical +affairs, which characterised their predecessors. They are inferior to +the poets of the Augustan age in artistic skill; but they show +more force of thought, or more intensity of passion, a stronger and +livelier inspiration, a bolder and more independent character. + +The short interval between the death of Catullus and the appearance of +the Bucolics of Virgil marks the beginning of a new era in literature +and in history: + + Magnus ab integro saeclorum nascitur ordo. + +Catullus, dying only a few years before the extinction of popular +freedom, is, in every nerve and fibre, the poet of a republic. Virgil, +even before the final success of Augustus, proclaimed the advent of +the new Empire; and he became the sincere admirer and interpreter +of its order and magnificence. Most of the other poets of that age, +though born before the overthrow of the Republic, show the influence +of their time, not only by sympathy with or acquiescence in the new +order of things, but by a perceptible lowering in the higher energies +of life. Still, the poetry of the Augustan age, if inferior in natural +force to that of the Republic, is the culmination of all the previous +efforts of Roman art; and presents at the same time the most complete +and elaborate picture of Roman and Italian life. + +The chief interest of Roman poetry, considered as the work of men of +natural genius and cultivated taste, and as the expression of great +national ideas or of individual thought and impulse, ceases with the +end of the Augustan age. Under the continued pressure of the Empire, +true poetical inspiration and pure feeling for art were lost. One +certain test of this decay is the absence of musical power and +sweetness from the verse of the later poets. Yet some of the poets of +the Empire have their own peculiar value. Lucan and Juvenal recall in +their vigorous rhetoric the masculine tone and fervid feeling of +the old Roman character, liberalised by the progress of thought and +education. In the Satires of Persius, there is an atmosphere of purer +morality than in any earlier Roman writer, with the exception of +Cicero. There is much vigour, sense, wit, and a keen appreciation of +life, intermingled with the coarseness of Martial. Yet it is owing +rather to their rhetorical or their intellectual ability and to their +historical interest, than to their poetical genius, that these writers +are still read and admired. If good taste, culture, and devotion to +the Muses could make a man a poet in an unpoetical age, Statius would +be counted among the great poets of Rome. The artificial epics of +Silius Italicus and Valerius Flaccus may be occasionally read in the +interests of learning: but it is hardly probable that they will, or +desirable that they should, ever be permanently restored from the +neglect and oblivion into which they have long been sinking. + +This review of Roman poetry will bring before us the origin and +progressive growth of a branch of literature, moulded, indeed, on +the forms of a foreign art, but executed with native energy, and +expressive of native character. In this poetry not the genius only, +but the whole nature and sympathies of some of the more interesting +men of antiquity are displayed. It throws light on the impulses of +thought and feeling which influenced the action of different epochs +in Roman history. The great qualities of Rome are seen to mould and +animate her poetry. These qualities are found in harmonious union with +the spirit of enjoyment and the sense of exuberant life, fostered by +the genial air of Italy; and with a refinement of taste drawn from the +purest source of human culture which the world has ever enjoyed. After +all deductions have been made for their want of inventiveness, it +still remains true, that the Roman poets of the last days of the +Republic and of the Augustan age have added to the masterpieces of +literature some great works of native feeling as well as of finished +execution. + + + [Footnote 1: Hom. Od. xxii. 347.] + + [Footnote 2: Cf. Cic. Tusc. Disp. i. 2, 3. Sero igitur a + nostris poetae vel cogniti vel recepti. At contra oratorem + celeriter complexi sumus: nec cum primo eruditum, aptum tamen + ad dicendum.] + + [Footnote 3: Smith's Dict. of Greek and Roman Biography, art. + Catullus.] + + [Footnote 4: Horace, Sat. i. 10. 45.] + + [Footnote 5: 'He used from time to time to intrust all his + secret thoughts to his books, as to trusty friends; it was to + them only he turned in evil fortune or in good; and thus it + is, that the whole life of the old poet lies before our eyes, + as if it were portrayed on a votive picture.'--Sat. ii. 1. + 30.] + + [Footnote 6: The parallel which Mr. Ruskin draws (Modern + Painters, vol. iii. p. 194) between an ancient Greek and 'a + good, conscientious, but illiterate Scotch Presbyterian Border + farmer of a century or two back,' becomes intelligible if we + regard Hesiod as a normal type of the Greek mind.] + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +VESTIGES OF EARLY INDIGENOUS POETRY IN ROME AND ANCIENT ITALY. + + +The Romans themselves traced the origin of their poetry, as of all +their literary culture, to their contact with the mind of Greece. + + Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit, et artes + Intulit agresti Latio. + +The first productive literary impulse was communicated to the Roman +mind by the Greek slave, Livius Andronicus, who, in the year B.C. +240--one year after the end of the First Punic War--brought out, +before a Roman audience, a drama translated or imitated from the +Greek. From this time Roman poetry advanced along the various channels +which the creative energy of Greek genius had formed. + +But it has been maintained, in recent times, that this was but +the second birth of Roman poetry, and that a golden age of native +minstrelsy had preceded this historical development of literature. +The most distinguished supporters of this theory were Niebuhr and +Macaulay. In the preface to his _Lays of Rome_, Macaulay says that +'this early literature abounded with metrical romances, such as are +found in every country where there is much curiosity and intelligence, +but little reading and writing.' Niebuhr went so far as to assert that +the Romans in early times possessed epic poems, 'which in power and +brilliance of imagination leave everything produced by the Romans in +later times far behind them.' He held that the flourishing period of +this native poetry was the fifth century after the foundation of +the city. He supposed that the early lays were of plebeian origin, +strongly animated by plebeian sentiment, and familiarly known among +the mass of the people; that they disappeared after the ascendency of +the new literature, chiefly through the influence of Ennius; and that +his immediate predecessor, Naevius, was the last of the genuine native +minstrels. He professed to find clear traces of these ballads and +epic poems in the fine legends of early Roman history. His theory was +supported by arguments founded on the testimony of ancient writers, on +indications of the early recognition of poetry by the Roman State (as, +for instance, the worship of the Camenae), on the poetical character +of early Roman story, and on the analogy of other nations. + +Although there may be no more ground for believing in a golden age of +early Roman poetry than in a golden age of innocence and happiness, +yet the question raised by Niebuhr deserves attention, not only on +account of the celebrity which it obtained, but also as opening up +an inquiry into the nature and value of the rude germs of literature +which the Latin soil spontaneously produced. Though there is no +substantial evidence of the existence among the Romans of anything +corresponding to the modern ballad or the early epic of Greece, yet +certain kinds of metrical composition did spring up and flourish among +the Italians, previous to and independent of their knowledge of +Greek literature. It is worth while to ascertain what these kinds of +composition were, as they throw light on some natural tendencies of +the race, which ultimately obtained their adequate expression, and +helped to impart a native and original character to Latin literature. + +It was observed in the former chapter that while the metres of all the +great Roman poets were founded on the earlier metres of Greece, there +was a native Italian metre, called the Saturnian, which was employed +apparently in various kinds of composition, and was quite different in +character from the heroic and lyric measures adopted by the +cultivated poets of a later age. This metre was used not only in rude +extemporaneous effusions, but also in the long poem of Naevius, on +the First Punic War. Horace indicates his sense of the roughness and +barbarism of the metre, in the lines, + + Sic horridus ille + Defluxit numerus Saturnius, et grave virus + Munditiae pepulere[1]. + +Ennius speaks contemptuously of the verse of Naevius, as that employed +by the old prophetic bards, before any of the gifts of poetry had been +received or cultivated-- + + Quum neque musarum scopulos quisquam superarat + Nec dicti studiosus erat. + +The irregularity of the metre may be inferred from a saying of an +ancient grammarian, that, in the long epic of Naevius he could find no +single line to serve as a normal specimen of its structure. From the +few Saturnian lines remaining, it may be inferred that the verse had +an irregular trochaic movement; and it seems first to have come into +use as an accompaniment to the beating of the foot in a primitive +rustic dance. The name, connected with Saturnus, the old Land-God of +Italy, points to the rustic origin of the metre. It was known also by +the name Faunian, derived from another of the Divinities worshipped in +the rural districts of Italy. It seems first to have been employed in +ritual prayers and thanksgiving for the fruits of the earth, and in +the grotesque raillery accompanying the merriment and license of the +harvest-home. It is of the Saturnian verse that Virgil speaks in the +lines of the second Georgic-- + + Nec non Ausonii, Troja gens missa, coloni + Versibus incomptis ludunt risuque soluto[2]. + +As the long roll of the hexameter and the stately march of the alcaic +were expressive of the gravity and majesty of the Roman State, so the +ring and flow of the Saturnian verse may be regarded as indicative +of the freedom and genial enjoyment of life, characterising the old +Italian peasantry. + +The most important kinds of compositions produced in this metre, under +purely native influences, may be classed as, + +1. Hymns or ritual verses. + +2. Prophetic verses. + +3. Festive and satiric verses, uttered in dialogue or in rude mimetic +drama. + +4. Short gnomic or didactic verses. + +5. Commemorative odes sung or recited at banquets and funerals. + +1. The earliest extant specimen of the Latin language is a fragment of +the hymn of the Fratres Arvales, a priestly brotherhood, who offered, +on every 15th of May, public sacrifices for the fertility of the +fields. This fragment is variously written and interpreted, but there +can be no doubt that it is the expression of a prayer for protection +against pestilence, addressed to the Lares and the god Mars, and that +it was uttered with the accompaniment of dancing. The following is the +reading of the fragment, as given by Mommsen:-- + + Enos, Lases, juvate. + Ne veluerve, Marmar, sins incurrere in pleores. + Satur fu, fere Mars. + Limen sali. + Sta berber. + Semunis alternis advocapit conctos. + Enos, Marmar, juvato. + Triumpe, triumpe, triumpe, triumpe, triumpe[3]. + +The address to Mars 'Satur fu,' or, according to another reading, +'Satur furere,' 'be satisfied or done with raging,' probably refers +to the severity of the winter and early spring[4]. The words have +reference to the attributes of the God in the old Italian religion, +in which the powers of Nature were deified and worshipped long before +Mars was identified with the Greek Ares. The other expressions in the +prayer appear to be, either directions given to the dancers, or the +sounds uttered as the dance proceeded. + +Another short fragment has been preserved from the hymn of the Salii, +also an ancient priesthood, supposed to date from the times of +the early kings. The hymn is characterised by Horace, among other +specimens of ancient literature, as equally unintelligible to himself +and to its affected admirers[5]. + +From the extreme antiquity of these ceremonial chants it may be +inferred that metrical expression among the Romans, as among the +Greeks and other ancient nations, owed its origin to a primitive +religious worship. But while the early Greek hymns or chants in +honour of the Gods soon assumed the forms of pleasant tales of +human adventure, or tragic tales of human suffering, the Roman hymns +retained their formal and ritual character unchanged among all the +changes of creed and language. In the lines just quoted there is no +trace of creative fancy, nor any germ of devotional feeling, which +might have matured into lyrical or contemplative poetry. They sound +like the words of a rude incantation. They are the obscure memorial +of a primitive, agricultural people, living in a blind sense of +dependence on their gods, and restrained by a superstitious formalism +from all activity of thought or fancy. Such compositions cannot be +attributed to the inspiration or skill of any early poet, but seem to +have been copied from the uncouth and spontaneous shouts of a simple, +unsophisticated priesthood, engaged in a rude ceremonial dance. +If these hymns stand in any relation to Latin literature, they +may perhaps be regarded as springing from the same vein of public +sentiment, as called forth the hymn composed by Livius Andronicus +during the Second Punic War, and as rude precursors of those composed +by Catullus and Horace, and chanted by a chorus of youths and maidens +in honour of the protecting Deities of Rome. + +2. The verses of the Fauns and Vates spoken of by Ennius, with +allusion to the poem of Naevius, in the lines, + + Scripsere alii rem, + Versibu' quos olim Fauni vatesque canebant, + +were probably as far removed from poetry as the ritual chants of the +Salii and the Fratres Arvales. The Fauni were the woodland gods of +Italy, and were, besides their other functions, supposed to be endowed +with prophetic power[6]. The word _Vates_, till the Augustan age, +meant not a poet but a soothsayer. The Camenae or Casmenae (another +form of which word appears in Carmenta, the prophetic mother of +Evander) were worshipped, not as the inspirers of poetry, but as the +foretellers of future events[7]. Both Greeks and Romans sought to +obtain a knowledge of the future, either through the interpretation of +omens, or through the voice of persons supposed to be divinely endowed +with foresight. But the Greeks, even in the regard which they paid +to auguries and oracles, were influenced, for the most part, by their +lively imagination; while the Romans, from the earliest to the latest +eras of their history, in all their relations to the supernatural +world, adhered to a scrupulous and unimaginative ceremonialism. The +notices in Latin literature of the functions of these early Vates--as, +for instance, the counsel of the Etrurian seer to drain the Alban Lake +during the war with Veii, and the prophecy of Marcius uttered during +the Second Punic War, + + Amnem Trojugena Cannam Romane fuge, etc.[8], + +suggest no more idea of poetical inspiration than the occasional +notices, in Latin authors, of the oracles of the Sibylline books. The +language of prophecy naturally assumes a metrical or rhythmical form, +partly as an aid to the memory, partly, perhaps, as a means of giving +to the words uttered the effect of a more solemn intonation. In +Greece, the oracles of the Delphian priestess, and the predictions +of soothsayers, collected in books or circulating orally among the +people, were expressed in hexameter verse and in the traditional +diction of epic poetry; but they were never ranked under any form of +poetic art. The verses of the Vates, so far as any inference can be +formed as to their nature, appear to have been products and proofs +of unimaginative superstition or imposture, rather than of any +imaginative inspiration among the early inhabitants of Latium. + +3. Another class of metrical compositions, of native origin, but of a +totally opposite character, was known by the name of the 'Fescennine +verses.' These arose out of a very different class of feelings and +circumstances. Horace attributes their origin to the festive meetings +and exuberant mirth of the harvest-home among a primitive, strong, and +cheerful race of husbandmen. He points out how this rustic raillery +gradually assumed the character of fierce lampoons, and had to be +restrained by law:-- + + Fescennina per hunc inventa licentia morem + Versibus alternis opprobria rustica fudit; + 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; quin etiam lex + Poenaque lata, malo quae nollet carmine quemquam + Describi; vertere modum, formidine fustis + Ad bene dicendum delectandumque redacti[9]. + +The change in character, here described, from coarse and good-humoured +bantering to libellous scurrility, may be conjectured to have taken +place when the Fescennine freedom passed from villages and country +districts to the active social and political life within the city. +That this change had taken place in Rome at an early period, is proved +by the fact that libellous verses were forbidden by the laws of the +Twelve Tables[10]. The original Fescennine verse appears, from the +testimony of Horace, to have been in metrical dialogue. This rude +amusement, in which a coarse kind of banter was interchanged during +their festive gatherings, was in early times characteristic of the +rural populations of Greece and Sicily, as well as Italy, and was one +of the original elements out of which Greek comedy and Greek pastoral +poetry were developed. These verses had a kindred origin with that of +the Phallic Odes among the Greeks. They both appear to have sprung out +of the rudest rites and the grossest symbolism of rustic paganism. The +Fescennine raillery long retained traces of this original character. +Catullus mentions the 'procax Fescennina locutio,' among the +accompaniments of marriage festivals; and the songs of the soldiers, +in the extravagant license of the triumphal procession, betrayed +unmistakably this primitive coarseness. + +These rude and inartistic verses, which took their name either from +the town of Fescennia in Etruria or from the word fascinum[11], were +the first expression of that aggressive and censorious spirit which +ultimately animated Roman satire. But the original satura, which also +was familiar to the Romans before they became acquainted with Greek +literature, was somewhat different both from the Fescennine verses, +and from the lampoons which arose out of them. The more probable +etymology[12] of the word _satura_ connects it in origin with the +_satura lanx_, a plate filled with various kinds of fruit offered to +the gods. If this etymology be the true one, the word meant originally +a medley of various contents, like the Italian _farsa_[13], and it +evidently had not lost this meaning when first employed in regular +literature by Ennius and Lucilius. The original satura was a kind of +dramatic entertainment, accompanied with music and dancing, differing +from the Fescennine verses in being regularly composed and not +extemporaneous, and from the drama, in being without a connected +plot. The origin of this composition is traced by Livy[14] to the +representation of Etrurian dancers, who were brought to Rome during a +pestilence. The Roman youth, according to his account, being moved to +imitation of these representations, in which there was neither acting +nor speaking, added to them the accompaniment of verses of a humorous +character; and continued to represent these jocular medleys, combined +with music (_saturas impletas modis_), even after the introduction of +the regular drama. + +These scenic saturae, which, from Livy's notice, appear to have been +accompanied with good-humoured hilarity rather than with scurrilous +raillery, prepared the way for the reception of the regular drama +among the Romans, and will, to some extent, account for its early +popularity among them. The later Roman satire long retained traces of +a connexion with this primitive and indigenous satura, evinced both +by the miscellaneous character of its topics, and by its frequent +employment of dramatic dialogue. + +4. The didactic tendency which is so conspicuous in the cultivated +literature of Rome manifested itself also in the indigenous +compositions of Italy. The popular maxims and precepts preserved by +the old agricultural writers and afterwards embodied by Virgil in +his Georgics, were handed down from generation to generation in the +Saturnian rhythm. But, apparently, the first metrical composition +committed to writing was a poem of an ethical or didactic character, +written two generations before the first dramatic representation of +Livius Andronicus, by Appius Claudius Caecus, who is also the earliest +known to us in the long line of Roman orators[15]. + +5. But it was not from any of these sources that Niebuhr supposed the +poetical character of early Roman history to be derived. Nor is there +any analogy between the religious hymns, or the Fescennine verses of +Italy, and the modern ballad. But there is evidence of the existence, +at one time, of other metrical compositions of which scarcely anything +is definitely ascertained, except that they were sung at banquets, to +the accompaniment of the flute, in celebration of the praises of great +men. There is no direct evidence of the time when these compositions, +some of which were believed by Niebuhr to have attained the dimensions +of Epic poems, existed, or when they fell into disuse. Cato, as quoted +by Cicero in the Tusculan Disputations, and in the Brutus[16], is our +earliest authority on the subject. His testimony is to the effect that +many generations before his time, the guests at banquets were in the +habit of singing, in succession, the praises of great men, to the +music of the flute. Cicero, in the Brutus, expresses a wish that these +songs still existed in his own day; 'utinam exstarent illa carmina, +quae multis saeculis ante suam aetatem in epulis esse cantitata a +singulis convivis de clarorum virorum laudibus in Originibus scriptum +reliquit Cato.' Varro again is quoted, to the effect that boys used +to be present at banquets, for the purpose of singing 'ancient poems,' +celebrating the praises of their ancestors. Valerius Maximus mentions +'that the older men used at banquets to celebrate in song the +illustrious deeds of their ancestors, in order to stimulate the +youth to imitate them.' Passages are quoted also from Horace, +from Dionysius, and from Tacitus, implying a belief in the ancient +existence of these compositions. + +Besides the odes sung or recited at banquets, there were certain +funeral poems, called _Naeniae_, originally chanted by the female +relatives of the deceased, but afterwards by hired women. As the +practice of public speaking advanced, these gradually passed into a +mere form, and were superseded by funeral orations. + +The facts ascertained about these commemorative poems amount to no +more than this,--that they were sung at banquets and the funerals of +great men--that they were of such length as to admit of several being +sung in succession,--and that they fell into disuse some generations +before the age of Cato. The inferences that may fairly be drawn from +these statements are opposed to some of the conclusions of Niebuhr. +The evidence is all in favour of their having been short lyrical +pieces, and not long narrative poems. As they were sung at great +banquets and funerals, it seems probable that, like the custom of +exhibiting the ancestral images on the same occasions, they owed their +origin to the patrician pride of family, and were not likely to have +been animated by strong plebeian sentiment. If they had been preserved +at all, they were thus more likely to have been preserved by members +of the great houses living within the city walls, than by the +peasantry living among the outlying hills and country districts. If +ever there were any golden age of early Roman poetry, it had passed +away long before the time of Ennius and Cato. + +The fact, however, remains, that the Romans did possess, in early +times, some kind of native minstrelsy, in which they honoured the +memory and the exploits of their great men. And this impulse of +hero-worship became in later times an important factor in their epic +poetry. But is there any reason to suppose that these compositions +were of the nature and importance assigned to them by Niebuhr, and had +any value in respect of invention and execution? It is difficult to +believe that such a native force of feeling and imagination, pouring +itself forth in stirring ballads and continuous epic poems, could have +been frozen so near its source; or that a rich, popular poetry, not +scattered through thinly-peopled districts, but the possession of +a great commonwealth--one most tenacious of every national +memorial--could have entirely disappeared, under any foreign +influence, in the course of one or two generations. But even on the +supposition that a great national poetry might have passed from the +memory of men--as, possibly, the poems existing before the time of +Homer may have been lost or merged in the greater glories of the Iliad +and the Odyssey--this early poetry could not have perished without +leaving permanent influence on the Roman language. The growth of +poetical language necessarily accompanies the growth of poetical +feeling and inspiration. The sensuous, passionate, and musical force +by which a language is first moulded into poetry is transmitted from +one generation of poets to another. The language of Homer, by its +natural and musical flow, by its accumulated wealth of meaning, by the +use of traditional epithets and modes of expression, that penetrate +far back into the belief, the feelings, and the life of an earlier +time, implies the existence of a long line of poets who preceded him. +On the other hand, the diction of the fragments of Ennius, in its +strength and in its rudeness, is evidently, in great measure, the +creation of his own time and his own mind. He has no true discernment +of the characteristic difference between the language of prose and of +poetry. The materials of his art had not been smoothed and polished +by any long, continuous stream of national melody, but were rough-hewn +and adapted by his own energy to the rugged structure of his poem. + +While, therefore, it appears that the actual notices of the early +commemorative poems do not imply that they were the products of +imagination or poetical feeling, or that they excited much popular +enthusiasm, and were an important element in the early State, their +entire disappearance among a people so tenacious of all their gains, +and, still more, the unformed and prosaic condition of the language +and rhythm used by Naevius, Ennius, and the other early poets, lead to +the presumption, that they were not much valued by the Romans at any +time, and that they were not the creations of poetic genius and art. +This presumption is further strengthened by such indications as there +are of the recognition, or rather the non-recognition, of poets or of +the poetic character at Rome in early times. + +The worship of the Camenae was indeed an old and genuine part of the +Roman or Italian religion; but, as was said before, their original +function was to predict future events, and to communicate the +knowledge of divination; not like that of the Greek Muses, to imagine +bright stories of divine and human adventure,-- + + [Greek: lêsmosynên te kakôn ampauma te mermêraôn.] + +Even the names by which two of the Camenae were known--Postvorta and +Antevorta--suggest the prosaic and practical functions which they were +supposed to fulfil. The Romans had no native word equivalent to the +Greek word [Greek: aoidos], denoting the primary and most essential +of all poetical gifts, the power to awaken the music of language. The +word _vates_, as was seen, denoted a prophet. The title of _scriba_ +was applied to Livius Andronicus; and Naevius, who has by some been +regarded as the last of the old race of Roman bards, applies to +himself the Greek name of _poeta_,-- + + Flerent divae Camenae Naevium poetam. + +The commemorative odes appear to have been recited or sung at +banquets, not by poets or rhapsodists, but by boys or guests. There is +one notice, indeed, of a class of men who practised the profession of +minstrelsy. This passage, which is quoted by Aulus Gellius from the +writings of Cato, implies the very lowest estimation of the position +and character of the poet, and points more naturally to the composers +of the libellous verses forbidden by the laws of the Twelve Tables, +than to the authors of heroic and national lays:--'Poetry was not held +in honour; if anyone devoted himself to it, or went about to banquets, +he was called a vagabond[17].' + +It appears that, on this ground also, there is no reason for believing +in the existence of any golden age of Roman poetry before the time +of Ennius, or in the theory that the legendary tales of Roman history +were created and shaped by native minstrels. To what cause, then, can +we attribute their origin? These tales have a strong human interest, +and represent marked and original types of antique heroism. They have +the elements of true tragic pathos and moral grandeur. They could +neither have arisen nor been preserved except among a people endowed +with strong capacities of feeling and action. But the strength of +the Roman mind consisted more in retentive capacity than in creative +energy. Their art and their religion, their family and national +customs, aimed at preserving the actual memory of men and of their +actions: not like the arts, ceremonies, and customs of the Greeks, +which aimed at lifting the mind out of reality into an ideal world. As +one of the chief difficulties of the Homeric controversy arises from +our ignorance of the power of the memory during an age when poetry +and song were in the fullest life, but the use of letters was either +unknown, or extremely limited; so there is a parallel difficulty in +all attempts to explain the origin of early Roman history, from our +ignorance of the power of oral tradition in a time of long established +order, but yet unacquainted with any of the forms of literature. +The indifference of barbarous tribes to their past history can prove +little or nothing as to the tenacity of the national memory among a +people far advanced towards civilisation like the Romans after the +establishment of their Republican form of government. Nor can the +analogy of early Greek traditions be fairly applied to those of Rome, +owing to the great difference in the circumstances and the genius +of the two nations. Many real impressions of the past might fix +themselves indelibly in the grave and solid temperament of the Romans, +which would have been lost amid the inexhaustible wealth of fancy +that had been lavished upon the Greeks. The strict family life and +discipline of the Romans, the continuity of their religious colleges, +the unity of a single state as the common centre of all their +interests, the slow and steady growth of their institutions, their +strong regard for precedent, were all conditions more favourable +to the preservation of tradition than the lively social life, the +numerous centres of political organisation, and the rapid growth and +vicissitudes of the Greek Republics. + +It cannot, indeed, be disputed that although the legendary tales of +Roman history may have drawn more of their colour from life than from +imagination, yet there is no criterion by which the amount of fact +contained in them can be separated from the other elements of which +they were composed. Oral tradition among the Romans, as among other +nations, was founded on impressions originally received without +any careful sifting of evidence; and these first impressions would +naturally be modified in accordance with the feelings and opinions +of each generation, through which they were transmitted. Aetiological +myths, or the attempt to explain some institution or memorial by some +concrete fact, and the systematic reconstruction of forgotten events, +have also entered largely into the composition of Roman history. But +these admissions do not lead to the conclusion that the art or fancy +of any class of early poets was added to the unconscious operation +of popular feeling in moulding the impressive tales of early heroism, +partly out of the memory of real events and personages, partly out +of the ideal of character, latent in the national mind. It has +been remarked by Sir G. C. Lewis that many even of the Greek myths, +abounding 'in striking, pathetic, and interesting events,' existed +as prose legends, and were handed down in the common speech of the +people. In like manner, such tales as those of Lucretia and Virginia, +of Horatius and the Fabii, of Cincinnatus, Coriolanus, and Camillus, +which stand out prominently in the twilight of Roman history, may have +been preserved in _fama vulgaris_, or among the family traditions of +the great houses, till they were gathered into the poem of Ennius and +the prose narratives of the early annalists[18]. In so far as they +are shaped or coloured by imagination, they do not bear traces of the +conscious art of a poet, but rather of an unconscious conformity +to the national ideal of character. The most impressive of these +legendary stories illustrate the primitive virtues of the Roman +character, such as chastity, frugality, fortitude, and self-devotion; +or the national characteristics of patrician pride and a stern +exercise of parental authority. There is certainly no internal +evidence that any of them originated in a pure poetic impulse, or gave +birth to any work of poetic art deserving a permanent existence in +literature. + +The analogy of other nations might suggest the inference that a race +which in its maturity produced a genuine poetic literature must, +in the early stages of its history, have given some proof of poetic +inspiration. It is natural to associate the idea of poetry with youth +both in nations and individuals. Yet the evidence of their language, +of their religion, and of their customs, leads to the conclusion that +the Romans, while prematurely great in action and government, were, in +the earlier stages of their national life, little moved by any kind of +poetical imagination. The state of religious feeling or belief which +gives birth to or co-exists with primitive poetry has left no trace +of itself upon the early Roman annals. It is generally found that a +fanciful mythology, of a bright, gloomy, or grotesque character, in +accordance with the outward circumstances and latent spirit or humour +of the particular race among whom it originates, precedes and for a +time accompanies the poetry of romantic action. The creative faculty +produces strange forms and conditions of supernatural life out of its +own mysterious sympathy with Nature, before it learns to invent tales +of heroic action and of tragic calamity out of its sympathy with human +energy and passion, and its interest in marking the course of destiny, +and the vicissitudes of life. The development of the Roman religion +betrays the absence, or at least the weaker influence of that +imaginative power which shaped the great mythologies of different +races out of the primeval worship of nature. The later element +introduced into Roman religion was due not to imagination but to +reflection. The worship of Fides, Concordia, Pudicitia, and the like, +marks a great progress from the early adoration of the sun, the earth, +the vault of heaven, and the productive power of nature; but it is +a progress in understanding and moral consciousness, not in poetical +feeling nor imaginative power. It shows that Roman civilisation +advanced without this vivifying influence,--that the mind of the race +early reached the maturity of manhood, without passing through the +dreams of childhood or the buoyant fancies of youth. + +The circumstances of the Romans, in early times, were also different +from those by which the growth of a romantic poetry has usually been +accompanied. Though, like all races born to a great destiny, they had +much latent imaginative ardour of feeling, this was employed by them, +unconsciously, in elevating and purifying the ideal of the State +and the family, as actually realised in experience. Their orderly +organisation,--the early establishment of their civic forms,--the +strict discipline of family life among them,--the formal and +ceremonial character of their national religion,--and their strong +interest in practical affairs,--were not calculated either to kindle +the glow of individual genius, or to dispose the mass of the people to +listen to the charm of musical verse. The wars of the young Republic, +carried on by a well-trained militia, for the acquisition of +new territory, formed the character to solid strength and steady +discipline, but could not act upon the fancy in the same way as the +distant enterprise, the long struggles for national independence, or +the daring forays, which have thrown the light of romance around the +warlike youth of other races. The tillage of the soil, in which +the brief intervals between their wars were passed, was a tame and +monotonous pursuit compared with the maritime adventure which awoke +the energies of Greece, or with the wild and lonely, half-pastoral, +half-marauding life, out of which a true ballad poetry arose in modern +times. Some traces of a wilder life, or some faint memories of their +Sabine forefathers, may be dimly discerned in the earliest traditions +of the Roman people; but their youth was essentially practical,--great +and strong in the virtues of temperance, gravity, fortitude, reverence +for law and the majesty of the State, combined with a strong love +of liberty and sturdy resistance to wrong. These qualities are the +foundations of a powerful and orderly State, not the root or the sap +by which a great national poetry is nourished[19]. + +If the pure Roman intellect and discipline had spontaneously produced +any kind of literature, it would have been more likely to have taken +the form of history or oratory than of national song or ballad. It +was from men of the Italian provinces, and not from her own sons, that +Rome received her poetry. The men of the most genuinely Roman type and +character long resisted all literary progress. The patrons and friends +of the early poets were the more liberal members of the aristocracy, +in whom the austerity of the national character and narrowness of the +national mind had yielded to new ideas and a wider experience. The +art of Greece was communicated to 'rude Latium,' through the medium of +those kindred races who had come into earlier contact with the Greek +language and civilisation. With less native strength, but with +greater flexibility, these races were more readily moulded by foreign +influences; and, leading a life of greater ease and freedom, they were +more susceptible to all the impulses of Nature. While they were thus +more readily prepared to catch the spirit of Greek culture, they +had learned, through long years of war and subsequent dependence, +to understand and respect the imperial State in which their own +nationality had been merged. It is important to remember that the time +in which Roman literature arose was not only that of the first active +intercourse between Greeks and Romans, but also that in which a great +war, against the most powerful State outside of Italy, had awakened +the sense of an Italian nationality, of which Rome was the centre. +The great Republic derived her education and literature from the +accumulated stores of Greek thought and feeling; but these were made +available to her through the willing service of poets who, though born +in other parts of Italy, looked to Rome as the head and representative +of their common country. + + + [Footnote 1: Epist. ii. 1. 157.] + + [Footnote 2: Georg. ii. 385.] + + [Footnote 3: It is thus interpreted by the same author:--Nos, lares, + juvate. Ne malam luem, Mamers, sinas incurrere in plures. Satur esto, + fere Mars. In limen insili. Desiste verberare (limen)! Semones + alterni advocate cunctos. Nos, Mamers, juvato. Tripudia. + + 'Help us, Lares. Suffer not, Mamers, pestilence to fall on + the people. Be satisfied, fierce Mars. Leap on the threshold. + Cease beating it. Call, in turn, on all the demigods. Help us, + Mamers.'--Mommsen, Röm. Geschichte, vol. i. ch. xv.] + + [Footnote 4: Such is the interpretation of Corssen, Origines + Poesis Romanae.] + + [Footnote 5: Epist. ii. 1. 86.] + + [Footnote 6: Cf. Virg. Aen. vii. 81, 82:-- + + At rex sollicitus monstris oracula Fauni, + Fatidici genitoris, adit.] + + [Footnote 7: Cf. Schwegler, Röm. Gesch. i. 24, note 1.] + + [Footnote 8: Livy xxv. 12.] + + [Footnote 9: 'Through this fashion the Fescennine raillery + arose and poured forth rustic banter in responsive verse; the + spirit of freedom, made welcome, as the season came round, + first played its part genially; but soon the jests grew cruel, + then changed into sheer fury, and began, with impunity, to + threaten and assail honourable households. Men smarted + under the sharp edge of its cruel tooth: even those who were + unassailed felt concern for the common weal. A law was passed, + and a penalty enforced, forbidding any one to be lampooned + in scurrilous verses. Thus they changed their style, and were + brought back to a kindly and pleasant tone, under fear of a + beating.'--Epist. ii. 1. 144-55.] + + [Footnote 10: Sei quis ocentasit, casmenue condisit, quod + infamiam faxsit flacitiomque alterei, fuste feritor.] + + [Footnote 11: Teuffel quotes from Festus: Fescennini versus + qui canebantur in nuptiis, ex urbe Fescennina dicuntur allati, + sive ideo dicti quia fascinum putabantur arcere. It seems + more natural to connect the name of these verses, which + were especially characteristic of the Latin peasantry, with + fascinum (the phallic symbol) than with any particular town + of Etruria, though the name of that town may perhaps have the + same origin.] + + [Footnote 12: Mommsen's explanation, 'the masque of the + full men' ('saturi'), does not seem to meet with general + acceptance.] + + [Footnote 13: Cf. Teuffel, vi. 2.] + + [Footnote 14: vii. 2.] + + [Footnote 15: Cf. Teuffel, Wagner's Translation, p. 102.] + + [Footnote 16: Tusc. Disp. iv. 2; Brutus, 19.] + + [Footnote 17: Noct. Att. xi. 2. A similar character at one + time attached to minstrels in Scotland.] + + [Footnote 18: Some of these tales may have been originally + aetiological, but the human interest even in these was + probably drawn originally from actual incidents and personages + of the Early Republic. Some of the aetiological myths, such as + that of Attus Navius the augur, have no human interest, though + they have an historical interest in connexion with early Roman + religion or institutions.] + + [Footnote 19: Cf. Schwegler, Röm. Gesch. i. 1. 24.] + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE BEGINNING OF ROMAN LITERATURE--LIVIUS ANDRONICUS--CN. NAEVIUS, +B.C. 240-202. + + +The historical event which first brought the Romans into familiar +contact with the Greeks, was the war with Pyrrhus and with Tarentum, +the most powerful and flourishing among the famous Greek colonies +in lower Italy. In earlier times, indeed, through their occasional +communication with the Greeks of Cumae, and the other colonies in +Italy, they had obtained a vague knowledge of some of the legends of +Greek poetry. The worship of Aesculapius was introduced at Rome from +Epidaurus in B.C. 293, and the oracle of Delphi had been consulted by +the Romans in still earlier times. As the Sibylline verses appear to +have been composed in Greek, their interpreters must have been either +Greeks or men acquainted with that language[1]. The identification of +the Greek with the Roman mythology had probably commenced before Greek +literature was known to the Romans, although the works of Naevius and +Ennius must have had an influence in completing this process. Greek +civilisation had come, however, at an earlier period into close +relation with the south of Italy; and the natives of that district, +such as Ennius and Pacuvius, who first settled at Rome, were spoken of +by the Romans as 'Semi-Graeci.' But, until after the fall of Tarentum, +there appears to have been no familiar intercourse between the two +great representatives of ancient civilisation. Till the war with +Pyrrhus, the knowledge that the two nations had of one another was +slight and vague. But, immediately after that time, the affairs of +Rome began to attract the attention of Greek historians[2], and the +Romans, though very slowly, began to obtain some acquaintance with the +language and literature of Greece. + +Tarentum was taken in B.C. 272, but more than thirty years elapsed +before Livius Andronicus represented his first drama before a Roman +audience. Twenty years of this intervening period, from B.C. 261 to +B.C. 241, were occupied with the First Punic War; and it was not +till the successful close of that war, and the commencement of +the following years of peace, that this new kind of recreation and +instruction was made familiar to the Romans. + + Serus enim Graecis admovit acumina chartis; + Et post Punica bella quietus quaerere coepit, + Quid Sophocles et Thespis et Aeschylus utile ferrent[3]. + +Two circumstances, however, must in the meantime have prepared the +minds of the Romans for the reception of the new literature. Sicily +had been the chief battle-field of the contending powers. In their +intercourse with the Sicilian Greeks, the Romans had great facilities +for becoming acquainted with the Greek language, and frequent +opportunities of being present at dramatic representations. There was +a theatre in every important town of Sicily, as may be seen in the +ruins still remaining on the sites of Segesta, Syracuse, Tauromenium, +and Catana; and the enjoyment of the drama entered largely into the +life of the Sicilian, as it had into that of the Italian Greeks. Many +Greeks also had been brought to Rome as slaves after the capture of +Tarentum, and were employed in educating the young among the +higher classes. Thus many Roman citizens were prepared, by their +circumstances and education, to take interest in the legends and in +the dramatic form of literature introduced from Greece; while the +previous existence of the saturae, and other scenic exhibitions at +Rome, tended to make the new comic drama at least acceptable to the +mass of the population. + +The earliest period of Roman poetry extends from the close of the +First Punic War till the beginning of the first century B.C. During +this period of about a century and a half, in which Roman oratory, +history, and comedy, were also actively cultivated, we hear only of +five or six names as eminent in different kinds of serious poetry. The +whole labour of introducing and of keeping alive, among an unlettered +people, some taste for the graver forms of literature thus devolved +upon a few men of ardent temperament, vigorous understanding, and +great productive energy, but with little sense of art, and endowed +with faculties seemingly more adapted to the practical business of +life than to the idealising efforts of genius. They had to struggle +against the difficulties incidental to the first beginnings of art +and to the rudeness of the Latin language. They were exposed, also, to +other disadvantages, arising from the natural indifference of the mass +of the people to all works of imagination, and from the preference +of the educated class for the more finished works already existing in +Greek literature. + +Yet this long period, in which poetry, with so much difficulty and +such scanty resources, struggled into existence at Rome, is connected +with the age of Cicero by an unbroken line of literary continuity. +Naevius, the younger contemporary of Livius, and the first native +poet, was actively engaged in the composition of his poems till the +time of his death; about which period his greater successor first +appeared at Rome. For about thirty years, Ennius shone alone in epic +and tragic poetry. The poetic successor of Ennius was his nephew, +Pacuvius. He, in the later years of his life, lived in friendly +intercourse with his younger rival Accius, who, again, in his old age, +had frequently conversed with Cicero[4]. The torch, which was first +lighted by Livius Andronicus from the decaying fires of Greece, was +thus handed down by these few men, through this long period, until it +was extinguished during the stormy times which fell in the youth of +the great orator and prose writer of the Republic. + +The forms of serious poetry, prevailing during this period, were the +tragic drama, the annalistic epic, and satire. Tragedy was earliest +introduced, was received with most favour, and was cultivated by all +the poets of the period, with the exception of Lucilius and the +comic writers. The epic poetry of the age was the work of Naevius and +Ennius. It has greater claims to originality and national spirit, both +in form and substance, and it exercised a more powerful influence on +the later poetry of Rome, than either the tragedy or comedy of the +time. The invention of satire, the most purely original of the three, +is generally attributed to Lucilius; but the satiric spirit was shown +earlier in some of the dramas of Naevius; and the first modification +of the primitive satura to a literary shape was the work of Ennius, +who was followed in the same style by his nephew Pacuvius. + +No complete work of any of these poets has been preserved to modern +times. Our knowledge of the epic, tragic, and satiric poetry of this +long period is derived partly from ancient testimony, but chiefly +from the examination of numerous fragments. Most of these have been +preserved, not by critics on account of their beauty and worth, but +by grammarians on account of the obsolete words and forms of speech +contained in them,--a fact, which probably leads us to attribute to +the earlier literature a more abnormal and ruder style than that +which really belonged to it. A few of the longest and most interesting +fragments have come down in the works of the admirers of those ancient +poets, especially of Cicero and Aulus Gellius. The notion that can +be formed of the early Roman literature must thus, of necessity, be +incomplete. Yet these fragments are sufficient to produce a consistent +impression of certain prevailing characteristics of thought and +sentiment. Many of them are valuable from their own intrinsic +worth; others again from the grave associations connected with their +antiquity, and from the authentic evidence they afford of the moral +and intellectual qualities, the prevailing ideas and sympathies of the +strongest race of the ancient world, about, or shortly after, the time +when they attained the acme of their moral and political greatness. + +The two earliest authors who fill a period of forty years in the +literary history of Rome, extending from the end of the First to the +end of the Second Punic War, are Livius Andronicus and Cn. Naevius. Of +the first very little is known. The fragments of his works are scanty +and unimportant, and have been preserved by grammarians merely as +illustrative of old forms of the language. The admirers of Naevius +and Ennius, in ancient times, awarded only scanty honours to the older +dramatist. Cicero, for instance, says of his plays 'that they are +not worth reading a second time[5].' The importance which attaches +to Livius consists in his being the accidental medium through which +literary art was first introduced to the Romans. He was a Greek, and, +as is generally supposed, a native of Tarentum. He educated the sons +of his master, M. Livius Salinator, from whom he afterwards received +his freedom. The last thirty years of his life were devoted to +literature, and chiefly to the reproduction of the Greek drama in a +Latin dress. His tragedies appear all to have been founded on Greek +subjects; most of them, probably, were translations. Among the titles, +we hear of the _Aegisthus_, _Ajax_, _Equus Trojanus_, _Tereus_, +_Hermione_, etc.--all of them subjects which continued to be popular +with the later tragedians of Rome. No fragment is preserved sufficient +to give any idea of his treatment of the subjects, or of his general +mode of thought and feeling. Little can be gathered from the scanty +remains of his works, except some idea of the harshness and inelegance +of his diction. + +In addition to his dramas, he translated the Odyssey into Saturnian +verse. This work long retained its place as a school-book, and is +spoken of by Horace as forming part of his own early lessons under the +rod of Orbilius[6]. One or two lines of the translation still +remain, and exemplify its rough and prosaic diction, and the extreme +irregularity of the Saturnian metre. The lines of the Odyssey[7], + +[Greek: + ou gar egôge ti phêmi kakôteron allo thalassês + andra ge syncheuai, ei kai mala karteros eiê], + +are thus rendered:-- + + Namque nilum pejus + Macerat hemonem, quamde mare saevom, viris quoi + Sunt magnae, topper confringent importunae undae. + +He was appointed also, on one occasion, near the end of the Second +Punic War, to compose a hymn to be sung by 'virgines ter +novenae,' which is described by Livy, the historian, as rugged and +unpolished[8]. + +Livius was the schoolmaster of the Roman people rather than the father +of their literature. To accomplish what he did required no original +genius, but only the industry, knowledge, and tastes of an educated +man. In spite of the disadvantage of writing in a foreign language, +and of addressing an unlettered people, he was able to give the +direction which Roman poetry long followed, and to awaken a new +interest in the legends and heroes of his race. It was necessary that +the Romans should be educated before they could either produce or +appreciate an original poet. Livius performed a useful, if not a +brilliant service, by directing those who followed him to the study +and imitation of the great masters who combined, with an unattainable +grace and art, a masculine strength and heroism of sentiment congenial +to the better side of Roman character. + +Cn. Naevius is really the first in the line of Roman poets, and the +first writer in the Latin language whose fragments give indication of +original power. It has been supposed that he was a Campanian by +birth, on the authority of Aulus Gellius, who characterised his famous +epitaph as 'plenum superbiae Campanae.' But the phrase 'Campanian +arrogance' seems to have been used proverbially for 'gasconade'; and +as there was a plebeian _Gens Naevia_ in Rome, it is quite as +probable that he was by birth a Roman citizen. The strong political +partisanship displayed in his plays seems favourable to this +supposition, as is also the active interference of the tribunes on his +behalf. Weight must however be given to the remark of Mommsen, 'the +hypothesis that he was not a Roman citizen, but possibly a citizen of +Cales or of some other Latin town in Campania, renders the fact +that the Roman police treated him so unscrupulously the more easy of +explanation.' On the other hand it has been observed that had he been +an alien the tribunes could not have interfered on his behalf. He +served either in the Roman army or among the _Socii_ in the First +Punic War, and thus must have reached manhood before the year 241 B.C. +Cicero mentions that he lived to a good old age, and that he died +in exile about the end of the third century B.C.[9]. The date of his +birth may thus be fixed with approximate probability about the year +265 B.C. No particulars of his military service are recorded, but it +is most probable that the scene of his service was the west of Sicily, +on which the struggle was concentrated during the later years of the +war. If we connect the newly developed taste for the drama with the +intercourse of Romans with Sicilian Greeks during the war, we may +connect another important influence on Roman literature and Roman +belief which first appeared in the epic poem of Naevius with the +Phoenician settlements in the west of Sicily. The origin of the +belief in the mythical connexion of Aeneas and his Trojans with +the foundation of Rome may probably be attributed to the Sicilian +historian Timaeus; but the contact of the Romans and the Carthaginians +in the neighbourhood of Mount Eryx, may have suggested that part of +the legend which plays so large a part in the Aeneid, which brings +Aeneas from Sicily to Carthage and back again to the neighbourhood +of Mount Eryx. The actual collision of Roman and Phoenician on the +western shores of Sicily, of which Naevius may well have been a +witness, if it did not originate, gave a living interest to the +mythical origin of that antagonism in the relations of Aeneas and +Dido. + +The earliest drama of Naevius was brought out in B.C. 235, five years +after the first representation of Livius Andronicus. The number of +dramas which he is known to have composed affords proof of great +industry and activity, from that time till the time of his banishment +from Rome. He was more successful in comedy than in tragedy, and he +used the stage, as it had been used by the writers of the old Attic +comedy, as an arena of popular invective and political warfare. A keen +partisan of the commonalty, he attacked with vehemence some of the +chiefs of the great senatorian party. A line, which had passed into a +proverb in the time of Cicero, is attributed to him,-- + + Fato Metelli Romae fiunt consules; + +to which the Metelli are said to have replied in the pithy Saturnian, + + Dabunt malum Metelli Naevio poetae. + +In the year 206 B.C. Q. Caecilius Metellus was Consul, his brother M. +Metellus Praetor Urbanus, an office that held out an almost certain +prospect of the Consulship; and it has been suggested[10], with much +probability, that it was against them that this sneer was directed. +The Metelli carried out their threat, as Naevius was imprisoned, a +circumstance to which Plautus[11] alludes in one of the few passages +in which Latin comedy deviates from the conventional life of Athenian +manners to notice the actual circumstances of the time. While in +prison, he composed two plays (the _Hariolus_ and _Leon_), which +contained some retractation of his former attacks, and he was +liberated through the interference of the Tribunes of the Commons. But +he was soon after banished, and took up his residence at Utica, where +he is said by Cicero, on the authority of ancient records, to have +died, in B.C. 204[12], though the same author adds that Varro, +'diligentissimus investigator antiquitatis,' believed that he was +still alive for some time after that date[13]. It is inferred, from +a passage in Cicero[14], that his poem on the First Punic War was +composed in his old age. Probably it was written in his exile, when +removed from the sphere of his active literary efforts. As he served +in that war, some time between B.C. 261 and B.C. 241, he must have +been well advanced in years at the time of his death. + +The best known of all the fragments of Naevius, and the most +favourable specimen of his style, is his epitaph:-- + + Mortales immortales flere si foret fas, + Flerent divae Camenae Naevium poetam, + Itaque postquam est Orcino traditus thesauro, + Obliti sunt Romae loquier Latina lingua. + +It has been supposed that this epitaph was written as a dying protest +against the Hellenising influence of Ennius; but as Ennius came to +Rome for the first time about B.C. 204, it is not likely, even if the +life of Naevius was prolonged somewhat beyond that date, that the fame +and influence of his younger rival could have spread so rapidly as to +disturb the peace of the old poet in his exile. It might as fairly be +regarded as proceeding from a jealousy of the merits of Plautus, as +from hostility to the innovating tendency of Ennius. The words of +the epitaph are simply expressive of the strong self-assertion and +independence which Naevius maintained till the end of his active and +somewhat turbulent career. + +He wrote a few tragedies, of which scarcely anything is known except +the titles,--such as the _Andromache_, _Equus Trojanus_, _Hector +Proficiscens_, _Lycurgus_,--the last founded on the same subject as +the Bacchae of Euripides. The titles of nearly all these plays, as +well as of the plays of Livius, imply the prevailing interest taken +in the Homeric poems, and in all the events connected with the +Trojan War. The following passage from the Lycurgus has some value as +containing the germs of poetical diction:-- + + Vos, qui regalis corporis custodias + Agitatis, ite actutum in frundiferos locos, + Ingenio arbusta ubi nata sunt, non obsita[15]. + +He composed a number of comedies, and also some original plays, +founded on events in Roman history,--one of them called _Romulus_, or +_Alimonia Romuli et Remi_. The longest of the fragments attributed to +him is a passage from a comedy, which has been, with less probability, +attributed to Ennius. It is a description of a coquette, and shows +considerable power of close satiric observation:-- + + Quasi pila + In choro ludens datatim dat se, et communem facit: + Alii adnutat, alii adnictat, alium amat, alium tenet; + Alibi manus est occupata, alii percellit pedem; + Alii spectandum dat annulum; a labris alium invocat; + Cum alio cantat, attamen dat alii digito literas[16]. + +The chief characteristic illustrated by the scanty fragments of his +dramas is the political spirit by which they were animated. Thus +Cicero[17] refers to a passage in one of his plays (_ut est in Naevii +ludo_) where, to the question, 'Who had, within so short a time, +destroyed your great commonwealth?' the pregnant answer is given, + + Proveniebant oratores novi, stulti adolescentuli[18]. + +The nobles, whose enmity he provoked, were probably attacked by him +in his comedies. One passage is quoted by Aulus Gellius, in which a +failing of the great Scipio is exposed[19]. Other fragments are +found indicative of his freedom of speech and bold independence of +character:-- + + Quae ego in theatro hic meis probavi plausibus, + Ea nunc audere quemquam regem rumpere? + Quanto libertatem hanc hic superat servitus[20]? + +and this also[21]:-- + + Semper pluris feci potioremque ego + Libertatem habui multo quam pecuniam. + +He is placed in the canon of Volcatius Sedigitus immediately after +Plautus in the rank of comic poets. He has more of the stamp of +Lucilius than of his immediate successor Ennius. By his censorious and +aggressive vehemence, by boldness and freedom of speech, and by his +strong political feeling, Naevius in his dramas represents the spirit +of Roman satire rather than of Roman tragedy. He holds the same place +in Roman literature as the Tribune of the Commons in Roman politics. +He expressed the vigorous independence of spirit that supported the +Commons in their long struggle with the patricians, while Ennius may +be regarded as expressing the majesty and authority with which the +Roman Senate ruled the world. + +But the work on which his fame as a national and original poet chiefly +rested was his epic or historical poem on the First Punic War. The +poem was originally one continuous work, written in the Saturnian +metre; though, at a later time, it was divided into seven books. The +earlier part of the work dealt with the mythical origin of Rome and of +Carthage, the flight of Aeneas from Troy, his sojourn at the court +of Dido, and his settlement in Latium. The mythical background of the +poem afforded scope for imaginative treatment and invention. Its main +substance, however, appears to have been composed in the spirit and +tone of a contemporary chronicle. The few fragments that remain from +the longer and later portion of the work, evidently express a bare and +literal adherence to fact, without any poetical colouring or romantic +representation. + +Ennius and Virgil are both known to have borrowed much from this poem +of Naevius. There are many passages in the Aeneid in which Virgil +followed, with slight deviations, the track of the older poet. Naevius +(as quoted by Servius) introduced the wives of Aeneas and of Anchises, +leaving Troy in the night-time,-- + + Amborum + Uxores noctu Troiade exibant capitibus + Opertis, flentes abeuntes lacrimis cum multis. + +He represents Aeneas as having only one ship, built by Mercury,--a +limitation which did not suit Virgil's account of the scale on which +the war was carried on, after the landing in Italy. The account of the +storm in the first Aeneid, of Aeneas consoling his followers, of Venus +complaining to Jupiter, and of his comforting her with the promise of +the future greatness of Rome (one of the cardinal passages in Virgil's +epic), were all taken from the old Saturnian poem of Naevius. He +speaks also of Anna and Dido, as daughters of Agenor, though there is +no direct evidence that he anticipated Virgil in telling the tale +of Dido's unhappy love. He mentioned also the Italian Sibyl and the +worship of the Penates--materials which Virgil fused into his great +national and religious poem. Ennius followed Naevius in representing +Romulus as the grandson of Aeneas. The exigencies of his chronology +compelled Virgil to fill a blank space of three hundred years with the +shadowy forms of a line of Alban kings. + +Whatever may have been the origin of the belief in the connexion of +Rome with Troy, it certainly prevailed before the poem of Naevius was +composed, as at the beginning of the First Punic War the inhabitants +of Egesta opened their gates to Rome, in acknowledgment of their +common descent from Troy. But the story of the old connexion of Aeneas +and Dido, symbolising the former league and the later enmity between +Romans and Carthaginians, most probably first assumed shape in the +time of the Punic Wars. The belief, as shadowed forth in Naevius, +that the triumph of Rome had been decreed from of old by Jupiter, and +promised to the mythical ancestress of Aeneas, proves that the Romans +were possessed already with the idea of their national destiny. How +much of the tale of Aeneas and Dido is due to the imagination of +Naevius it is impossible to say; but his treatment of the mythical +part of his story,--his introduction of the storm, the complaint of +Venus, etc.,--merits the praise of happy and suggestive invention, and +of a real adaptation to his main subject. + +The mythical part of the poem was a prelude to the main subject, the +events of the First Punic War. Naevius and Ennius, like others among +the Roman poets of a later date, allowed the provinces of poetry and +of history to run into one another. They composed poetical chronicles +without any attempt to adhere to the principles and practice of the +Greek epic. The work of Naevius differed from that of Ennius in this +respect, that it treated of one particular portion of Roman history, +and did not profess to unfold the whole annals of the State. The +slight and scanty fragments that remain from the latter part of the +poem, are expressed with all the bareness, and, apparently, with +the fidelity of a chronicle. They have the merit of being direct and +vigorous, but are entirely without poetic grace and ornament. Rapid +and graphic condensation is their chief merit. There is a dash of +impetuosity in some of them, suggestive of the bold, impatient, and +energetic temperament of the poet; as for instance in the lines, + + Transit Melitam Romanus exercitus, insulam integram + Urit, populatur, vastat, rem hostium concinnat[22]. + +But the fragments of the poem are really too unimportant to afford +ground for a true estimate of its general merit. They supply some +evidence in regard to the irregularity of the metre in which it was +written. The uncertainty which prevails as to its structure may be +inferred from the fact that different conjectural readings of every +fragment are proposed by different commentators. A saying of an old +grammarian, Atilius Fortunatianus, is quoted to the effect that he +could not adduce from the whole poem of Naevius any single line, as +a normal specimen of the pure Saturnian verse. Cicero bears strong +testimony to the merits of the poem in point of style. He says in one +place, 'the Punic War delights us like a work of Myron[23].' In +the dialogue 'De Oratore,' he represents Crassus as comparing +the idiomatic purity which distinguished the conversation of his +mother-in-law, Laelia, and other ladies of rank, with the style of +Plautus and Naevius. 'Equidem quum audio socrum meam Laeliam (facilius +enim mulieres incorruptam antiquitatem conservant, quod, multorum +sermonis expertes, ea tenent semper, quae prima didicerunt); sed eam +sic audio, ut Plautum mihi aut Naevium videar audire. Sono ipso vocis +ita recto et simplici est, ut nihil ostentationis aut imitationis +afferre videatur; ex quo sic locutum ejus patrem judico, sic +majores[24].' Expressions from his plays were, from their weight and +compact brevity, quoted familiarly in the days of Cicero, such as +'sero sapiunt Phryges' and 'laudari a laudato viro,' which, like +so many other pithy Latin sayings, is still in use to express a +distinction that could not be characterised in happier or shorter +terms. It is to be remarked also that the merit, which he assumes to +himself in his epitaph, is the purity with which he wrote the Latin +language. + +Our knowledge of Naevius is thus, of necessity, very limited and +fragmentary. From the testimony of later authors it may, however, be +gathered that he was a remarkable and original man. He represented +the boldness, freedom, and energy, which formed one side of the Roman +character. Like some of our own early dramatists, he had served as +a soldier before becoming an author. He was ardent in his national +feeling; and, both in his life and in his writings, he manifested a +strong spirit of political partisanship. As an author, he showed +great productive energy, which continued unabated through a long and +vigorous lifetime. His high self-confident spirit and impetuous temper +have left their impress on the few fragments of his dramas and of his +epic poem. Probably his most important service to Roman literature +consisted in the vigour and purity with which he used the Latin +language. But the conception of his epic poem seems to imply some +share of the higher gift of poetical invention. He stands at the head +of the line of Roman poets, distinguished by that force of speech and +vehemence of temper, which appeared again in Lucilius, Catullus, and +Juvenal; distinguished also by that national spirit which moved Ennius +and, after him, Virgil, to employ their poetical faculty in raising a +monument to commemorate the power and glory of Rome. + + + [Footnote 1: Cf. Lewis, Credibility of Early Roman History, + vol. i. chap. ii. 14.] + + [Footnote 2: Cf. Lewis, Credibility of Early Roman History, + vol. i. chap. ii. 14, 15.] + + [Footnote 3: Horace, Epist. ii. 1. 161-3.] + + [Footnote 4: Cic. Brutus, ch. 28.] + + [Footnote 5: Brutus, 18.] + + [Footnote 6: Epist. ii. 1. 71.] + + [Footnote 7: viii. 138.] + + [Footnote 8: xxvii. 17.] + + [Footnote 9: Brutus 15.] + + [Footnote 10: By Prof. A. F. West of Princeton College, U.S. + 'On a patriotic passage of the Miles Gloriosus of Plautus.'] + + [Footnote 11: Plautus, Miles Gloriosus, ii. 2. 27.] + + [Footnote 12: Brutus, 15.] + + [Footnote 13: Mommsen remarks that he could not have retired + to Utica till after it fell into the possession of the + Romans.] + + [Footnote 14: De Senectute, 14.] + + [Footnote 15: 'Ye who keep watch over the person of the king, + hasten straightway to the leafy places, where the copsewood is + of nature's growth, not planted by man.'] + + [Footnote 16: 'Like one playing at ball in a ring, she tosses + about from one to another, and is at home with all. To one she + nods, to another winks; she makes love to one, clasps another. + Her hand is busy here, her foot there. To one she gives a ring + to look at, to another blows a kiss; with one she sings, with + another corresponds by signs.'] + + [Footnote 17: The reading of the passage here adopted is that + given by Munk.] + + [Footnote 18: De Senectute, 6.] + + [Footnote 19: + + Etiam qui res magnas manu saepe gessit gloriose, + Cujus facta viva nunc vigent, qui apud gentes solus praestat, + Eum suus pater cum pallio ab amica abduxit uno.] + + [Footnote 20: 'What I in the theatre here have made good by + the applause given to me, to think that any of these great + people should now dare to interfere with! How much better + thing is the slavery _here_' (_i.e._ represented in this + play), 'than the liberty we actually enjoy?'] + + [Footnote 21: 'I have always held liberty to be of more value + and a better thing than money.' The reading is that given by + Munk.] + + [Footnote 22: Mommsen remarks that, in the fragments of this + poem, the action is generally represented in the _present + tense_.] + + [Footnote 23: Brutus, 19.] + + [Footnote 24: 'I, for my part, as I listen to my + mother-in-law, Laelia (for women more easily preserve the pure + idiom of antiquity, because, from their limited intercourse + with the world, they retain always their earlier impressions), + in listening, I say to her, I fancy that I am listening to + Plautus or Naevius. The very tones of her voice are so natural + and simple, that she seems absolutely free from affectation or + imitation; from this I gather that her father spoke, and + her ancestors all spoke, in the very same way.'--Cicero, De + Oratore iii. 12.] + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +ENNIUS. + + +The impulse given to Latin literature by Naevius was mainly in two +directions, that of comedy and of a rude epic poetry, drawing its +subjects from Roman traditions and contemporary history. In comedy the +work begun by him was carried on with great vigour and success by his +younger contemporary Plautus; and, in a strictly chronological history +of Roman literature, his plays would have to be examined next in +order. But it will be more convenient to defer the consideration of +Roman comedy, as a whole, till a later chapter, and for the present to +direct attention to the results produced by the immediate successor of +Naevius in epic poetry, Q. Ennius. + +The fragments of Ennius will repay a more minute examination than +those of any author belonging to the first period of Roman literature. +They are of more intrinsic value, and they throw more light on the +spirit of the age in which they were written. It was to him, not to +Naevius or to Plautus, that the Romans looked as the father of their +literature. He did more than any other man to make the Roman language +a vehicle of elevated feeling, by forcing it to conform to the +metrical conditions of Greek poetry; and he was the first fully +to elicit the deeper veins of sentiment latent in the national +imagination. The versatility of his powers, his large acquaintance +with Greek literature, his sympathy with the practical interests of +his time, the serious purpose and the intellectual vigour with which +he carried out his work, enabled him to be in letters, what Scipio was +in action, the most vital representative of his epoch. It has +happened too that the fragments from his writings and the testimonies +concerning him are more expressive and characteristic than in the +case of any other among the early writers. There are none of his +contemporaries, playing their part in war or politics, and not many +among the writers of later times, of whom we can form so distinct an +image. + + +I. LIFE, TIMES, AND PERSONAL TRAITS. + +I. He was born at Rudiae, a town of Calabria, in B.C. 239, the year +after the first representation of a drama on the Roman stage. He first +entered Rome in B.C. 204, in the train of Cato, who, when acting as +quaestor in Sardinia, found the poet in that island serving, with the +rank of centurion, in the Roman army. In the poem of Silius Italicus, +he is fancifully represented as distinguishing himself in personal +combat like one of the heroes of the Iliad. After this time he +resided at Rome, 'living,' according to the statement of Jerome, +'very plainly, on the Aventine' (the Plebeian quarter of the city), +'attended only by a single maid-servant[1],' and supporting himself by +teaching Greek and by his writings. He accompanied M. Fulvius Nobilior +in his Aetolian campaign. Through the influence of his son, he +obtained the honour of Roman citizenship, probably at the time when +the colony of Pisaurum was planted in B.C. 184. This distinction +Ennius has himself recorded in a line of the Annals which indicates +the high value which the Roman allies attached to this privilege:-- + + Nos sumu' Romani qui fuvimus ante Rudini. + +He lived on terms of intimacy with influential members of the noblest +families in Rome, and became the familiar friend of the great Scipio. +When he died at the age of seventy, his bust was believed to be placed +in the tomb of the Scipios, between those of the conqueror of Hannibal +and of the conqueror of Antiochus. He died in the year B.C. 169. The +most famous of his works were his Tragedies and the Annals, a long +historical poem written in eighteen books. But, in addition to these, +he composed several miscellaneous works, of which only very scanty +fragments have been preserved. + +Among the circumstances which prepared him to be the principal creator +of the national literature, his birthplace and origin, the kind of +education available to him in his early years, and the experience +which awaited him when first entering on life, had a strong +determining influence. His birthplace, Rudiae, is called by Strabo +'a Greek city'; but it was not a Greek colony, like Tarentum and the +other cities of Magna Graecia, but an old Italian town, (the epithet +_vetustae_ is applied to it by Silius) which had been partially +Hellenised, but still retained its native traditions and the use of +the Oscan language. Ennius is thus spoken of as 'Semi-Graecus.' He +laid claim to be descended from the old Messapian kings, a claim which +Virgil is supposed to acknowledge in the introduction of Messapus +leading his followers in the gathering of the Italian races, + + Ibant aequati numero regemque canebant. + +This claim to royal descent indicates that the poet was a member +of the better class of families in his native district; and the +consciousness of old lineage, which prompted the claim, probably +strengthened the high self-confidence by which he was animated, and +helped to determine the strong aristocratic bias of his sympathies. +He bore witness to his nationality in the saying quoted by Gellius[2] +that 'in the possession of the Greek, Oscan, and Latin speech, he +possessed three hearts.' Of these three languages the Oscan, as the +one of least value to acquire for the purposes of literature or of +social intercourse, was most likely to have been his inherited tongue. +Rudiae, from its Italian nationality, from its neighbourhood to the +cities of Magna Graecia, and from its relation of dependence on Rome, +must have been in the time of the boyhood of Ennius a meeting-place, +not only of three different languages,--that of common life, that +of culture and education, that of military service--but of the three +different spirits or tendencies which were operative in the creation +of the new literature. To his home among the hills overlooking the +Grecian seas[3]--referred to in the expression of Ovid,-- + + Calabris in montibus ortus-- + +and in the phrase of Silius,-- + + Hispida tellus + Miserunt Calabri; Rudiae genuere vetustae, + +the poet owed the 'Italian heart,' the virtue of a race still +uncorrupted and unsophisticated, the buoyant energy and freshness +of feeling which enabled him to apprehend all the novelty and the +greatness of the momentous age through which he lived. The South of +Italy afforded, at this time, means of education, which were denied to +Rome or Latium; and the peace enjoyed by his native district for the +first twenty years of his life granted to Ennius leisure to avail +himself of these means, which he could not have enjoyed had he been +born a few years later. In the short account of his life in Jerome's +continuation of the Eusebian Chronicle, it is stated that he was born +at Tarentum. Though this is clearly an error, it seems probable that +the poet may have spent the years of his education there. Though +Tarentum, since its capture by the Romans, had lost its political +importance, it still continued to be a centre of Greek culture and of +social pleasure. Dramatic representations had been especially popular +among a people who had drifted far away 'ex Spartana dura illa et +horrida disciplina[4]' of their ancestors. From the knowledge of the +Attic tragedians displayed by Ennius in his later career it is likely +that he had witnessed representations of their works on a Greek stage, +before he began, in middle life, to direct his own genius to dramatic +composition. The knowledge and admiration of Homer which stimulated +him to the composition of his greatest work, might have been acquired +in any centre of Greek culture. But the intellectual interests +indicated in some of his miscellaneous writings have a kind of local +character, distinguishing them alike from the older philosophies of +Athens and from the more recent science of Alexandria. His acceptance +of the doctrine of the transmigration of souls and the physical +fancies expressed in some of the fragments of the Epicharmus probably +came to him from the teaching of the Neo-Pythagoreans, who were +widely spread among the Greeks of Southern Italy. The rationalistic +speculations of Euhemerus, which appear in strange union with the +'somnia Pythagorea' of the Annals, were of Sicilian origin. The +gastronomic treatise, which Ennius afterwards translated into Latin, +was the work of Archestratus of Gela. The class of persons for whom +such a work would originally be written was likely to be found among +the luxurious livers of Sicily and Magna Graecia. Thus while the +serious poetry of Ennius was inspired by the older and nobler works +of Greek genius, the influence of a more vulgar and prosaic class +of teachers, transmitted by him to Roman thought and literature, was +probably derived from the place of his early education. + +His Italian spirit, and the Greek culture acquired by him in early +youth, were two of the conditions out of which the new literature was +destined to arise. The third condition was his steadfast and ardent +Roman patriotism. Born more than a generation after his native +district had ceased to be at war with Rome, he grew up to manhood +during the years of peace between the first and second Carthaginian +wars, when the supremacy of Rome was loyally accepted. Between early +manhood and middle life he was a witness of and an actor in the +protracted and long doubtful struggle between the two great Imperial +States, on the issue of which hung the future destinies of the +world:-- + + Omnia cum belli trepido concussa tumultu + Horrida contremuere sub altis aetheris oris; + In dubioque fuere utrorum ad regna cadendum + Omnibus humanis esset terraque marique[5]. + +Though during that struggle the loyalty of some of the Italian +communities was shaken, yet the aristocratic party in every city, and +the Greek States generally, were true to the Roman alliance[6]. +Thus his political sympathies, as well as his Greek education, would +incline Ennius to identify himself with the cause of Rome, and his +ardent imagination apprehended the grandeur and majesty with which she +played her part in the contest. It was in the Second Punic War that +the ideal of what was greatest in the character and institutions of +Rome was most fully realised. Her good fortune supplied from among +the contingent furnished to the war by her Messapian allies a man of +a nature so sympathetic with her own and an imagination so vivid as to +gain for the ideal thus created a permanent realisation. + +Of the share which Ennius had in the war we know only that he served +in Sardinia with the rank of centurion. That he had become a man of +some note in that capacity is suggested by the fact that he attracted +the attention of the Roman quaestor Cato, and accompanied him to Rome. +A certain dramatic interest attaches to this first meeting of the +typical representative of Roman manners and traditions and great enemy +of foreign innovations, with the man by whom, more than by any one +else, the mind of Rome was enlarged and liberalised, and many of her +most cherished convictions were most seriously undermined. This actual +service in a great war left its impress on the work done by Ennius. +Fragments both of his tragedies and his Annals prove how thoroughly +he understood and appreciated the best qualities of the soldierly +character. This fellowship in hardship and danger fitted him to become +the national poet of a race of soldiers. He has drawn from his own +observation an image of the fortitude and discipline of the Roman +armies, and of the patriotic devotion and resolution of the men +by whom these armies were led. There is a strong realism in the +expression of martial sentiment in Ennius, marking him out as a man +familiar with the life of the camp and the battle-field, and quite +distinct from the idealising enthusiasm of Livy and Virgil[7]. + +Ennius entered on his career as a writer at a time when the long +strain of a great struggle was giving place to the confidence and +security of a great triumph. He lived for thirty-five years longer, +witnessing the rapid advance of Roman conquest in Greece and Asia, +and over the barbarous tribes of the West. He died one year before +the crowning victory of Pydna. During all his later life his sanguine +spirit and patriotic enthusiasm were buoyed up by the success of the +Roman and Italian arms abroad; while his political sympathies were in +thorough accord with the dominant influences in the government of the +State. At no other period of Roman history was the ascendency of the +Senate and of the great houses more undisputed, or, on the whole, more +wisely and ably exercised. In the lists of those who successively fill +the great curule magistracies, we find almost exclusively the names of +members of the old patrician or of the more recent plebeian nobility. +At no other period does the tribunician opposition to the senatorian +direction of affairs and to the authority of the magistrate appear +weaker or more intermittent. It was not till a generation after the +death of Ennius that the moral corruption and political and social +disorganisation--the ultimate results of the great military successes +gained under the absolute ascendency of the Senate,--became fully +manifest. It is difficult to say how far the aristocratic and +antipopular bias of all Roman literature may have been determined by +the political conditions of the time in which that literature received +the most powerful impulse, and by the personal relations and peculiar +stamp of character of the man by whom that impulse was given. + +Along with the military and political activity of the time, during +which Ennius lived in Rome, the stirring of a new intellectual life +was apparent. Even during the war dramatic representations continued +to take place, and the most active part of the career of Naevius, and +a considerable part of that of Plautus, belong to the years during +which Hannibal was still in Italy. After the cessation of the war, we +note in the pages of Livy that much greater prominence is given to +the celebration of public games, of which at this time dramatic +representations formed the chief part. The regular holidays for which +the Aediles provided these entertainments became more numerous; and +the art of the dramatist was employed to enhance the pomp of the +spectacle on the occasion of a great triumph, or of the funeral of an +illustrious man. The death of Livius Andronicus and the banishment of +Naevius, which must have happened about the time that Ennius arrived +at Rome, had deprived the Roman stage of the only writers of any +name, who had attempted to introduce upon it the works of the Greek +tragedians. Ennius had, indeed, rather to create than to revive the +taste for tragedy. The prologue to the Amphitryo[8] shows how much +more congenial the reproduction of the ordinary life of the Greeks +was to the uneducated audiences of Rome than the higher effort to +familiarise them with the personages and adventures of the heroic age. +The great era of Roman comedy was coincident with the literary career +of Ennius. It was then that the best extant plays of Plautus were +produced, and that Caecilius Statius, whom ancient critics ranked as +his superior, flourished. The quality attributed to the latter in the +line of Horace, + + Vincere Caecilius gravitate, Terentius arte, + +indicates a closer affinity with the spirit of Ennius, than the moral +and political indifference of the older dramatist. The aim of Ennius +was to raise literature from being a mere popular recreation, and to +bring it into accord with the higher mood of the nation; to use it as +a medium both of elevation and enlightenment. In carrying out this +aim he appealed to the temper and to the newly awakened interests of +members of the aristocratic class, who were coming into close contact +with educated Greeks, and were beginning to appreciate the treasures +of art and literature now opened up to them. The career of Q. Fabius +Pictor, the first historian of Rome, and the first who made a name +for himself in painting, who lived at this time, attests this twofold +attraction. The friendly relations which Roman generals, such as T. +Quintius Flamininus, established with the famous Greek cities, in +which they appeared as liberators rather than conquerors, were the +result of intellectual enthusiasm as much as of a definite policy. +With the wars of Pyrrhus and the capture of Tarentum, the first stage +of the process described in the lines of Horace began[9]: the end of +the Second Punic War was the second stage in the process. It is to +this period, rather than to the progress of the war, that the words of +the Grammarian, Porcius Licinus, most truly apply, + + Poenico bello secundo Musa pinnato gradu + Intulit se bellicosam in Romuli gentem feram. + +The more frequent and closer contact with the mind of Greece not only +refined the taste and enlarged the intelligence of those capable of +feeling its influence, but produced at the same time a change in +men's deepest convictions. Though the definite tenets of Stoicism +and Epicureanism did not acquire ascendency till a later time, the +dissolving force of Greek speculative thought and Greek views of life +forced its way into Rome through various channels,--especially through +the adaptations of the tragedies of Euripides and of the comedy +of Menander. All these tendencies of the time acted on Ennius, +stimulating his mental activity in various directions. His natural +temperament and his acquired culture brought him into harmony with +the spirit of his age without raising him too much above it. A poet +of more delicacy of taste and perfection of execution would have been +unintelligible to his contemporaries. A more systematic thinker would +have been out of harmony with the conditions of life by which he was +surrounded. Breadth, vigour, a spirit clinging to what was most vital +in the old state of things, and yet readily adapting itself to what +was new, were the qualities needed to establish a literature true +to the genius of Rome in the second century B.C., and containing the +promise of the more perfect accomplishment of a later age. And these +qualities belonged to Ennius by natural gifts and the experience and +culture of his earlier years. + +There is no reason to believe that he had obtained any eminence in +literature before he settled in middle age at Rome. His genius was +of that robust order which grows richer and livelier with advancing +years. The Annals was the work of his old age,--the ripe fruit of +a strong and energetic manhood, prolonged to the last in hopeful +activity. Cicero speaks of 'the cheerfulness with which he bore the +two evils of old age and poverty[10].' Wherever the poet speaks of +himself, his words reveal a sanguine and contented spirit; as, in that +fine simile, where he compares himself, at the close of his active and +successful career, to a brave horse which has often won the prize at +the Olympian games, and in old age obtains his well-deserved repose:-- + + Sicut fortis equus, spatio qui saepe supremo + Vicit Olimpia, nunc senio confectu' quiescit. + +In none of his fragments is there any trace of that melancholy +after-thought which pervades the poetry of his greatest successors, +Lucretius and Virgil. From the humorous exaggeration of Horace, + + Ennius ipse pater nunquam, nisi potus, ad arma + Prosiluit dicenda; + +and from the poet's own confession, + + Nunquam poetor, nisi si podager, + +it may be inferred that he belonged to the class of poets of a lusty +and social nature, of which Dryden is a type in modern times, who +enjoyed the pleasures of wine and good fellowship. The well-known +anecdote, told by Cicero, of the interchange of visits between Scipio +Nasica and Ennius[11], though not a brilliant specimen of Roman wit, +is interesting from the light which it throws on the easy terms of +intimacy in which the poet lived with the members of the most eminent +Roman families. Such testimonies and traits of personal character make +us think of Ennius as a man of genial and social temper, as well as of +'an intense and glowing mind.' + +It was probably through his position as a teacher of Greek that Ennius +first became known to the leading men of Rome. If this position was at +first one of dependence, similar to that in which in earlier times the +client stood to his patron, it soon changed into one of mutual esteem +and admiration. We can best understand the relation in which he stood +to men eminent in the state and in the camp, from a passage from the +seventh book of the Annals quoted by Aulus Gellius. In that passage +the poet is stated, on the authority of L. Aelius Stilo[12] (an early +grammarian, a friend of Lucilius, and one of Cicero's teachers), +to have drawn his own portrait, under an imaginary description of +a confidential friend of the Roman general, Servilius Geminus. The +portrait has the air of being drawn from the life, with a rapid and +forcible hand, and with a minuteness of detail significant of close +personal observation:-- + + Haece locutu' vocat quocum bene saepe libenter + Mensam sermonesque suos rerumque suarum + Congeriem partit, magnam cum lassu' diei + Partem fuisset de summis rebu' regendis + Consilio, indu foro lato sanctoque senatu: + Cui res audacter magnas parvasque jocumque + Eloqueretur, cuncta simul malaque et bona dictu + Evomeret, si qui vellet, tutoque locaret. + Quocum multa volup ac gaudia clamque palamque! + Ingenium cui nulla malum sententia suadet + Ut faceret facinus levis aut malu', doctu', fidelis, + Suavis homo, facundu', suo contentu', beatus, + Scitu', secunda loquens in tempore, commodu', verbum + Paucum, multa tenens antiqua sepulta, vetustas + Quem fecit mores veteresque novosque tenentem, + Multorum veterum leges divumque hominumque; + Prudenter qui dicta loquive tacereve possit. + Hunc inter pugnas Servilius sic compellat[13]. + +There are many touches in this picture, which suggest the kind of +intimacy in which Ennius may have lived with Fulvius Nobilior when +accompanying him in his Aetolian campaign, or his bearing when taking +part in the light or serious talk of the Scipios. The learning and +power of speech, the knowledge of antiquity and of the manners of the +day, attributed to this friend of Servilius, were gifts which we may +attribute to the poet both on ancient testimony and on the evidence +afforded by the fragments of his writings. The good sense, tact, and +knowledge of the world, the cheerfulness in life and conversation, the +honour and integrity of character represented in the same passage, are +among the personal qualities which, in all ages, form a bond of union +between men eminent in great practical affairs and men eminent in +literature. Such were the qualities which, according to his own +account, recommended Horace to the intimate friendship of Maecenas. +Many expressive fragments from the lost poetry of Ennius give +assurance that he was a man in whom learning and the ardent +temperament of genius were happily united with the worth and sense +described in this nameless portrait. + +By his personal merit he broke through the strongest barriers ever +raised by national and family pride, and made the name of poet, +instead of a reproach, a name of honour with the ruling class at Rome. +The favourable impression which he produced on the 'primitive virtue' +of Cato, by whom he was first brought to Rome, was more probably due +to his force of character and social qualities than to his genius and +literary accomplishment,--qualities seemingly little valued by his +earliest patron, who, in one of his speeches, reproached Fulvius +Nobilior with allowing himself to be accompanied by a poet in his +campaign. But the strongest proof of the worth and the wisdom of +Ennius is his intimate friendship with the greatest Roman of the +age, and the conqueror of the greatest soldier of antiquity. It +is honourable to the friendship of generous natures, that the poet +neither sought nor gained wealth from this intimacy, but continued to +live plainly and contentedly on the Aventine. Yet after death it was +believed that the two friends were not divided; and the bust of the +provincial poet found a place among the remains of that time-honoured +family, the record of whose grandeur has been preserved, even to +the present day, in the august simplicity of their monumental +inscriptions. + +The elder Africanus may have been attracted to Ennius not only by his +passion for Greek culture, but by a certain community of nature. The +mystical enthusiasm, the high self-confidence, the direct simplicity +combined with majesty of character, impressed on the language of the +poet were equally impressed on the action and bearing of the soldier. +The feeling which Ennius in his turn entertained for Scipio was one +of enthusiastic admiration. While paying due honour to the merits and +services of other famous men, even of such as Cato and Fabius, who +were most opposed to his idol, of Scipio he said that Homer alone +could worthily have uttered his praises[14]. + +In addition to the part which he assigned to him in the Ninth Book +of the Annals, he devoted a separate poem to commemorate his +achievements. He has left also two short inscriptions, written in +elegiac verse, in which he proclaims in words of burning enthusiasm +the momentous services and transcendent superiority of the 'great +world's victor's victor'-- + + Hic est ille situs cui nemo civi' neque hostis + Quivit pro factis reddere opis pretium[15]; + +and this also, + + A sole exoriente supra Maeoti' paludes + Nemo est qui factis me aequiperare queat. + Si fas endo plagas caelestium ascendere cuiquam est, + Mi soli caeli maxima porta patet[16]. + +With many marked differences, which distinguish a man of active, +social, and national sympathies from a student of Nature and a thinker +on human life, there is a certain affinity of character and genius +between Ennius and Lucretius. Enthusiastic admiration of personal +greatness is one prominent feature in which they resemble one another. +But while Lucretius is the ardent admirer of contemplative and +imaginative greatness, it is greatness in action and character which +moves the admiration of Ennius. They resemble each other also in their +strong consciousness of genius and their high estimate of its function +and value. Cicero mentions that Ennius applied the epithet _sanctus_ +to poets. Lucretius applies the same epithet to the old philosophic +poets, as in the lines of strong affection and reverence which he +dedicates to Empedocles, + + Nil tamen hoc habuisse viro praeclarius in se, + Nec _sanctum_ magis, et mirum carumque videtur[17]. + +The inscription which Ennius composed for his own bust directly +expresses his sense of the greatness of his work, and his confident +assurance of fame, and of the lasting sympathy of his countrymen-- + + Aspicite, O cives, senis Enni imagini' formam, + Hic vestrum panxit maxima facta patrum. + Nemo me lacrimis decoret nec funera fletu + Faxit. Cur? Volito vivu' per ora virum[18]. + +Two lines from one of his satires-- + + Enni poeta salve qui mortalibus + Versus propinas flammeos medullitus[19], + +indicate in still stronger terms his burning consciousness of power. + +Some of the greatest of modern poets, such as Dante, Milton, and +Wordsworth, have manifested a feeling similar to that expressed by +Ennius and Lucretius. Although appearing in strange contrast with the +self-suppression of the highest creative art (as seen in Homer, in +Sophocles, and in Shakspeare), this proud self-confidence, 'disdainful +of help or hindrance,' is the usual accompaniment of an intense nature +and of a genius exercised with some serious moral, religious, or +political purpose. The least pleasing side of the feeling, even in +men of generous nature, is the scorn,--not of envy, but of imperfect +sympathy,--which they are apt to entertain towards rival genius or +antagonistic convictions. Something of this spirit appears in the +disparaging allusion of Ennius to his predecessor Naevius:-- + + Scripsere alii rem + Versibu', quos olim Fauni vatesque canebant, + Quum neque Musarum scopulos quisquam superarat + Nec dicti studiosus erat[20]. + +The contempt here expressed for the metre employed by the older poet +seems to be the counterpart of his own exultation in being the first +to introduce what he called 'the long verses' into Latin literature. + +Another point in which there is some affinity between Ennius and +Lucretius is their religious temper and convictions. There is indeed +no trace in Ennius of the rigid intellectual consistency of Lucretius, +nor in Lucretius any sympathy with those mystic speculations which +Ennius derived from the lore attributed to Pythagoras. But in both +deep feelings of awe and reverence are combined with a scornful +disbelief of the superstition of their time. They both apply the +principles of Euhemerism to resolve the bright creations of the old +mythology into their original elements. Ennius, like Lucretius, seems +to deny the providence of the gods. He makes one of the personages of +his dramas give expression to the thought which perplexed the minds +of Thucydides and Tacitus--the thought, namely, of the apparent +disconnexion between prosperity and goodness, as affording proof of +the divine indifference to human well-being-- + + Ego deum genus esse semper dixi et dicam caelitum, + Sed eos non curare opinor, quid agat humanum genus; + Nam si curent, bene bonis sit, male malis, quod nunc abest[21]: + +and he exposed, with caustic sense, the false pretences of augurs, +prophets, and astrologers. His translation of the Sacred Chronicle of +Euhemerus exercised a permanent influence on the religious convictions +of his countrymen. But while led to these conclusions by the spirit +of his age, and by the study of the later speculations of Greece, he +believed in the soul's independence of the body, and of its continued +existence, under other conditions, after death. He declared that the +spirit of Homer, after many changes,--at one time having animated a +peacock[22], again, having been incarnate in the sage of Crotona,--had +finally passed into his own body: and he told how the shade--which he +regards as distinct from the soul or spirit--of his great prototype +had appeared to him from the invisible world,-- + + Quo neque permaneant animae neque corpora nostra + Sed quaedam simulacra modis pallentia miris, + +and explained to him the whole plan of nature. These dreams of the +imagination may not have been without effect in enabling Ennius to +escape from the gloom which 'eclipsed the brightness of the world' to +Lucretius. The light in which the world appeared to the older poet was +that of common sense strangely blended with imaginative mysticism. +He thus seems to stand midway between the spiritual aspirations of +Empedocles and the negation of Lucretius. Born in the vigorous prime +of Italian civilisation he came into the inheritance of the bold +fancies of the earlier Greeks and of the dull rationalism of their +later speculation. His ideas on what transcends experience appear thus +to have been without the unity arising from an unreflecting acceptance +of tradition, or from the basis of philosophical consistency. + + +II. HIS WORKS.--(1) MISCELLANEOUS WORKS. + +II. (1) In laying the foundations of Roman literature, Ennius +displayed not only the fervent sympathies and active faculty of +genius, but also great energy and industry, and a many-sided learning. +The composition of his tragedies and of the Annals, while making most +demand on his original gifts, implied also a diligent study of +Homer and of the Greek tragedians, and a large acquaintance with the +traditions and antiquities of Rome. But besides the works on which +his highest poetical faculty was employed, other writings, of a +philosophical, didactic, and miscellaneous character, gave evidence of +the versatility of his powers and interests. It does not appear that +he was the author of any prose writing. His version of the Sacred +Chronicle of Euhemerus was more probably a poetical adaptation than +a literal prose translation of that work. The work of Euhemerus was +conceived in that spirit of vulgar rationalism, which is condemned by +Plato in the Phaedrus. He explained away the fables of mythology, +by representing them as a supernatural account of historical events. +Several extracts of the work quoted by Lactantius, as from the +translation of Ennius, look as if they had been reduced from a form +originally metrical into the prose of a later era[23]. There is thus +no evidence, direct or indirect, to prove that Ennius had any share in +forming the style of Latin prose. But if verse was the sole instrument +which he used, this was certainly not due to the poetical character +of all the topics which he treated, but, more likely, to the fact +that his acquired aptitude, and the state of the Latin language in +his time, made metrical writing more natural and easy than prose +composition. + +One of his works in verse was a treatise on good living, called +Hedyphagetica, founded on the gastronomic researches of Archestratus +of Gela,--a sage who is said to have devoted his life to the study of +everything that contributed to the pleasures of the table, and to have +recorded his varied experience and research with the grave dignity of +epic verse. A few lines from this translation or adaptation of Ennius, +giving an account of the coasts on which the best fish are to be +found, have been preserved by Apuleius. The lines are curious as +exemplifying that tone of half-serious enthusiasm, which all who +treat, either in prose or verse, of the pleasures of eating seem +naturally to adopt, as for instance the Catius of Horace in his +discourse on gastronomy[24]. The language in which the _scarus_, a +fish unhappily lost to the modern epicure, is described as 'the brain +almost of almighty Jove,' fits all the requirements of gastronomic +rapture:-- + + Quid turdum, merulam, melanurum umbramque marinam + Praeterii, atque scarum, cerebrum Jovi' paene supremi? + Nestoris ad patriam hic capitur magnusque bonusque. + +He wrote also a philosophical poem in trochaic septenarian verse, +called Epicharmus, founded on writings attributed to the old Sicilian +poet, which appear to have resolved the gods of the Greek mythology +into natural substances[25]. A few slight fragments have been +preserved from this poem. They speak of the four elements or +principles of the universe as 'water, earth, air, the sun'; of 'the +blending of heat with cold, dryness with moisture'; of 'the earth +bearing and supporting all nations and receiving them again back into +herself.' The following is the longest fragment from the poem:-- + + Istic est is Jupiter quem dico, quem Graeci vocant + Aërem: qui ventus est et nubes; imber postea + Atque ex imbre frigus: ventus post fit, aër denuo, + Haece propter Jupiter sunt ista quae dico tibi, + Quoniam mortalis atque urbes beluasque omnis juvat[26]. + +These fragments and a passage from the opening lines of the Annals, +where the shade of Homer was introduced as discoursing to Ennius +(like the shade of Anchises to Aeneas), on 'the nature of things,' are +specimens of that vague curiosity about the facts and laws of Nature, +which, in ancient times, supplied the absence of scientific knowledge. +Such physical speculations possessed a great attraction for the +Roman poets. The spirit of the Epicharmus, as well as of the Sacred +Chronicle of Euhemerus, reappears in the poem of Lucretius. Ennius was +the first among his countrymen who expressed that curiosity as to the +ultimate facts of Nature and that sense of the mysterious life of the +universe, which acted as the most powerful intellectual impulse on the +mind of Lucretius, and which fascinated the imagination of Virgil. + +Another of his miscellaneous works, probably of a moral and didactic +character, was known by the name of Protreptica. It is possible that +all of these works[27], as well as the Scipio, formed part of the +Saturae, or Miscellanies, under which title Ennius composed four, +or, according to another authority, six books. The Romans looked +upon Lucilius as the inventor of satire in the later sense of that +word[28];--he having been the first to impress upon the satura the +character of censorious criticism, which it has borne since his time. +But there was another kind of satura, of which Ennius and Pacuvius in +early times, and Varro at a somewhat later time, were regarded as the +principal authors. This was really a miscellany treating of various +subjects, in various metres, and, as employed by Varro, was written +partly in prose, partly in verse. This kind of composition, as well +as the Lucilian satire, arose out of the old indigenous satura or +dramatic medley, familiar to the Romans before the introduction of +Greek literature. When the scenic element in the original satura was +superseded by the new comedy introduced from Greece, the old name +was first applied to a miscellaneous kind of composition, in which +ordinary topics were treated in a serious but apparently desultory +way; and even as employed by Lucilius and Horace the satura retained +much of its original character. The satires of Ennius were written +in various metres, iambic, trochaic, and hexameter, and treated of +various topics of personal and public interest. The few passages which +ancient authorities quote as fragments from them are not of much value +in themselves, but when taken in connexion with the testimonies as to +their character, they are of some interest as showing that this kind +of composition was a form intermediate between the old dramatic satura +and the satire of Lucilius and Horace. It is recorded that in one +of these pieces, Ennius introduced a dialogue between Life and +Death;--thus transmitting in the use of dialogue (which appears very +frequently in Horace and Persius) some vestige of the original +scenic medley. Ennius also appears, like Lucilius and Horace, to have +communicated in his satires his own personal feelings and experience, +as in the fragment already quoted:-- + + Nunquam poetor, nisi si podager. + +Further satire, in the hands of its chief masters, aimed at practical +moral teaching, not only by precept, ridicule, and invective, and +by portraiture of individuals and of types, but also by the use of +anecdotes and fables. This last mode of inculcating homely lessons on +the conduct of life is common in Horace. It appears, however, to have +been first used by Ennius. Aulus Gellius mentions that Aesop's fable +of the field-lark and the husbandman 'is very skilfully and gracefully +told by Ennius in his satires'; and he quotes the advice appended to +the fable, 'Never to expect your friends to do for you what you can do +for yourself': + + Hoc erit tibi argumentum semper in promptu situm: + Nequid expectes amicos, quod tute agere possies[29]. + +These miscellaneous works of Ennius were the fruits of his learning +and literary industry, rather than of his genius. Such works might +have been written in prose, if the art of prose composition had been +as familiar as that of verse. It is in the fragments of his dramas, +and still more of the Annals, that his poetic power is most apparent, +and that the influence which he exercised over the Roman mind and +literature is discerned. + + +(2) DRAMAS. + +(2) Before the time of Ennius, the Roman drama, both tragic and comic, +had established itself at Rome, in close imitation of the tragedy +and the new comedy of Athens. The latter had been most successfully +cultivated by Naevius and his younger contemporary, Plautus. The +advancement of tragedy to an equal share of popular favour was due to +the severer genius of Ennius. He appears however to have tried, though +without much success, to adapt himself to the popular taste in favour +of comedy. The names of two of his comedies, viz. _Cupuncula_ and +_Pancratiastae_, have come down to us; but their fragments are too +insignificant to justify the formation of any opinion on their merits. +His admirers in ancient times nowhere advance in his favour any claim +to comic genius. Volcatius Sedigitus, an early critic, who wrote a +work _De Poetis_, and who has already been referred to as assigning +the third rank in the list of comic poets to Naevius, mentions Ennius +as tenth and last, solely 'antiquitatis causa.' Any inference that +might be drawn from the character exhibited in the other fragments of +Ennius, would accord both with the negative and positive evidence +of antiquity, as to his deficiency in comic power. He has nothing in +common with that versatile and dramatic genius, in which occasionally +the highest imagination has been united with the most abundant humour. +The real bent of his mind, as revealed in his higher poetry, is grave +and intense, like that of Lucretius or Milton. Many of the conceits, +strained effects, and play on words, found in his fragments, imply +want of humour as well as an imperfect poetic taste. Thus, in the +following fragment from one of his satires, the meaning of the passage +is more obscured than pointed by the forced iteration and play upon +the word _frustra_:-- + + Nam qui lepide postulat alterum frustrari, + Quom frustrast, frustra illum dicit frustra esse. + Nam qui se frustrari quem frustra sentit, + Qui frustratur frustrast, si ille non est frustra[30]. + +The love of alliteration and assonance, which is conspicuous also in +Plautus and in the fragments of Pacuvius and Accius, and which seems +to have been the natural accompaniment of the new formative energy +imparted to the Latin language by the earliest poets and orators, +appears in its most exaggerated form in such lines as the + + O Tite tute Tati tibi tanta tiranne tulisti, + +quoted from the Annals. Many of his fragments show indeed that he +possessed the caustic spirit of a satirist; but it was in the light +of common sense, not of humour, that he regarded the follies of the +world. + +The general character of Roman tragedy, so far as it can be +ascertained from ancient testimony and the extant fragments of the +early tragedians, will be examined in the following chapter. It is not +possible to determine what dramatic power Ennius may have displayed in +the evolution of his plots or the delineation of his characters. His +peculiar genius is more distinctly stamped on his epic than on his +dramatic fragments. Still many of the latter, in their boldness of +conception and expression, and in their strong and fervid morality, +are expressive of the original force of the poet, and of the Roman +temper of his mind. Some of them will be brought forward in +the sequel, along with passages from the Annals, as important +contributions to our estimate of the poet's genius and intellect. + +It was certainly due to Ennius that Roman tragedy was first raised to +that pitch of popular favour which it enjoyed till the age of Cicero. +While actively employed in many other fields of literature, he carried +on the composition of his tragedies till the latest period of his +life. Cicero records that the _Thyestes_ was represented at the +celebration of the Ludi Apollinares, shortly before the poet's +death[31]. The titles of about twenty-five of his tragedies are known, +and a few fragments remain from all of them. About one half of these +bear the titles of the heroes and heroines connected with the Trojan +cycle of events, such as the _Achilles_, _Achilles Aristarchi_, +_Ajax_, _Alexander_, _Andromache Aechmalotis_, _Hectoris Lutra_, +_Hecuba_, _Iphigenia_, _Phoenix_, _Telamo_. One at least of his +tragedies, the _Medea_, was literally translated from the Greek of +Euripides, whom he seems to have made his model, in preference to +the older Attic dramatists. Cicero[32] speaks of it, along with the +Antiope of Pacuvius, as being translated word for word from the Greek; +and a comparison of the fragments of the Latin with the passages in +the Medea of Euripides shows how closely Ennius followed his original. +In one place he has mistranslated his author,--the passage (Eur. Med. +215), + + +[Greek: + oida gar pollous brotôn + semnous gegôtas, tous men ommatôn apo + tous d' en thyraiois], + +being thus rendered in Latin,-- + + Multi suam rem bene gessere et publicam patria procul. + +The opening lines of the Medea of Ennius may be quoted as probably a +fair specimen of the degree of faithfulness with which the early Roman +tragedians translated from their originals. There is some nervous +force, but little either of poetical grace or musical flow in the +language:-- + + Utinam ne in nemore Pelio securibus + Caesa cecidisset abiegna ad terram trabes, + Neve inde navis inchoandae exordium + Coepisset, quae nunc nominatur nomine + Argo, quia Argivi in ea dilecti viri + Vecti petebant pellem inauratam arietis + Colchis, imperio regis Peliae, per dolum; + Nam nunquam era errans mea domo ecferret pedem + Medea, animo aegra, amore saevo saucia[33]. + +In his Hecuba, also, and probably in his Iphigenia, Ennius made free +use of the dramas founded on the same subjects by Euripides. But in +many of his dramatic fragments the sentiment expressed is clearly +that of a Roman, not of a Greek mind[34]. The subjects of many of +his dramas, such as the Achilles, the Ajax, the Hectoris Lutra, the +Telamon, the Iphigenia, afforded scope for the exhibition of the +soldierly character. Cicero[35] adduces the wounded Eurypylus as an +example of the kind of fortitude and superiority to pain produced by +the discipline of the Roman armies. The same author quotes with +great admiration scenes from the Alexander and from the Andromache +Aechmalotis, in which pathos is the predominant sentiment. He adds to +his quotations the comments 'O poema tenerum, et moratum, et molle'; +and again, 'O poetam egregium, quamquam ab his cantoribus Euphorionis +contemnitur! Sentit omnia repentina et necopinata esse graviora ... +praeclarum carmen est enim et rebus et verbis et modis lugubre[36].' +In the former of these scenes Cassandra, under the influence of +Apollo, reluctant and _ashamed_ (perhaps in this feeling the hand of a +Roman rather than of a Greek poet may be recognised), yet mastered by +prophetic fury, bursts forth in these wild, agitated tones:-- + + Adest, adest fax obvoluta sanguine atque incendio: + Multos annos latuit: cives ferte opem et restinguite. + Iamque mari magno classis cita + Texitur: exitium examen rapit. + Advenit, et fera velivolantibus + Navibus complevit manus litora[37]. + +We see in this passage how the passionate character of the situation +is enhanced by the mysterious power attributed to Cassandra. A similar +excitement of feeling, produced by supernatural terror, appears in a +fragment of the Alcmaeon, quoted also by Cicero, and of another the +motive is the awe associated with the dim and pale realms of +the dead[38]. In these and similar passages we note the power of +expressing the varying moods of passion by varied effects of metre. +Horace characterises his ordinary verse in the line, + + In scaenam missos cum magno pondere versus; + +and this slow and weighty movement seems to have been the general +character of his metre in the calmer parts of his dramas. But in a +large number of the fragments of the dialogue, where there is any +excitement of feeling or intensity of thought, we find him using +the more rapid trochaic septenarian, with quick transitions to the +anapaestic dimeter, or tetrameter, as the passion passes beyond the +control of the speaker. + +In two of his dramas, the Sabinae and Ambracia, he made use of +materials supplied by the early legendary history of Rome, and by +a great contemporary event. The first of these, like the Romulus of +Naevius, belonged to the class of 'fabulae Praetextatae,' and was +founded on the intervention of the Sabine women in the war between +Romulus and Tatius. The second, representing the capture of the town +of Ambracia, in the Aetolian war, may, like the Clastidium of the +older poet (written in celebration of the victory of Marcellus over +the Gauls), have had more of the character of a military pageant +and, in all probability, was composed for representation at the games +celebrated on the triumphal return of M. Fulvius Nobilior from that +war. + + +(3) THE ANNALS. + +(3) But the poem which was the chief result of his life, and made an +epoch in Latin literature, was the Annals. On the composition of this +work he rested his hopes of popular and permanent fame-- + + Hic vestrum panxit maxima facta patrum: + +and again, apparently at the opening of the poem, he wrote,-- + + Latos per populos terrasque poemata nostra + Clara cluebunt. + +At its conclusion, he claimed for his old age the repose due to a +brave and triumphant career. He composed the eighteenth book, the +last, in his sixty-seventh year, three years before his death[39]. +The great length to which the poem extended, and the vast amount of +materials which it embraced, imply a long and steady concentration of +his powers on the task. It was one requiring much learning as well +as original conception. The fragments of the poem afford proofs of a +familiarity with Homer, and of acquaintance with the Cyclic poets[40]. +It is impossible to say how much of the early Roman history, as it +has come down to modern times, is due to the diligence of Ennius in +collecting, and to his genius in giving life to the traditions and +ancient records of Rome. He was certainly the earliest writer who +gathered them up, and united them in a continuous narrative. The work +accomplished by him required not only the antiquarian lore of a man + + Multa tenens, antiqua, sepulta, + +and the power of imagination to give a new shape to the past, but an +intimate knowledge of the great events and the great men of his own +time, and a strong sympathy with the best spirit of his age. + +The poem was written in eighteen books. Of these books about six +hundred lines have been preserved in fragments, varying from about +twenty lines to half a line in length. From the minuteness with which +comparatively unimportant matters are described, it is inferred that +the separate books extended to a much greater length than those either +of the Iliad or of the Aeneid. Of the first book there remain about +120 lines, including the dream of Ilia in seventeen lines, and the +auspices of Romulus in twenty lines. In it were narrated the mythical +events from the time + + Quum veter occubuit Príamus sub marte Pelasgo, + +to the death and deification of Romulus; + + Romulus in caelo cum dis genitalibus aevum + Degit. + +There is no allusion in these fragments to the Carthaginian adventures +of Aeneas, which Naevius had introduced into his poem on the First +Punic War. Aeneas seems at once to have been brought to Hesperia, a +land, + + Quam prisci casci populi tenuere Latini. + +Ilia is represented as the daughter of Aeneas. The birth and infancy +of Romulus and Remus appear to have been described at great length. In +commenting on Virgil's lines at Aeneid viii. 630-- + + Fecerat et viridi fetam Mavortis in antro + Procubuisse lupam: geminos huic ubera circum + Ludere pendentes pueros, et lambere matrem + Impavidos; illam tereti cervice reflexam + Mulcere alternos, et corpora fingere lingua,-- + +Servius says 'Sane totus hic locus Ennianus est.' The second and +third books contained the history of the remaining Roman kings. Virgil +imitated the description given in these books of the destruction of +Alba (the story of which is told by Livy also with much poetic power, +perhaps reproduced from the pages of Ennius), in his account of the +capture of Troy, at Aeneid ii. 486-- + + At domus interior gemitu miseroque tumultu, etc. + +One short fragment of the third book contains a picturesque notice of +the founding of Ostia-- + + Ostia munita est; idem loca navibu' pulchris + Munda facit; nautisque mari quaesentibu' vitam. + +This line also + + Postquam lumina sis oculis bonus Ancu' reliquit + +is familiar from its reappearance in one of the most impressive +passages of Lucretius. + +The fourth and fifth books contained the history of the State from the +establishment of the Republic till just before the beginning of the +war with Pyrrhus. One short fragment is taken from the night attack of +the Gauls upon the Capitol. The sixth book was devoted to the war with +Pyrrhus; the seventh, eighth, and ninth, to the First and Second +Punic Wars. In the fragments of the sixth are found a few lines of the +speeches of Pyrrhus, and of Appius Claudius Caecus. In the account of +the First Punic War, the disparaging allusion to Naevius occurs-- + + Scripsêre alii rem, etc. + +It is mentioned by Cicero that Ennius borrowed much from the work of +Naevius; and also that he passed over (_reliquisse_) the First Punic +War, as it had been treated by his predecessor. Several fragments +however must certainly refer to this war; but it is probable that that +part of the subject was treated more cursorily than either the war +with Pyrrhus, or the later wars. The passage in which the poet is +supposed to have painted his own character, under the form of a friend +of Servilius Geminus, occurred in the seventh book. Two well-known +passages have been preserved from the ninth book--viz. that +characterising the 'sweet-speaking' orator, M. Cornelius Cethegus-- + + Flos delibatus populi suadaeque medulla, + +and the lines in honour of Q. Fabius Maximus, + + Unus homo nobis cunctando restituit rem, etc. + +The tenth and eleventh books, beginning with a new invocation to the +muse-- + + Insece Musa manu Romanorum induperator + Quod quisque in bello gessit cum rege Philippo, + +treated of the Macedonian war, and of the deeds of T. Quintius +Flamininus. In the later books, Ennius told the history of the war +with Antiochus, of the Aetolian War carried on by his friend, M. +Fulvius Nobilior, of the exploits of L. Caecilius Denter and his +brother (of whom scarcely anything is known except that the sixteenth +book of the Annals was written in consequence of the poet's especial +admiration for them), and lastly, of the Istrian War, which took place +within a few years of the author's death. + +Neither in general design nor in detail could the Annals be regarded +as a pure epic poem. Like the Aeneid, which connects the mythical +story of Aeneas with the glories of the Julian line and the great +destiny of Rome, the poem of Ennius treated of fabulous tradition, +of historical fact, and of great contemporary events; but it did not, +like the Aeneid, unite these varied materials in the representation of +the fortunes of one individual hero. The action of the poem, +instead of being limited to a few days or months, extended over +many generations. Nor could the poem terminate with any critical +catastrophe, as its object was to unfold the continuous, still +advancing progress of the State. From the name it might be inferred +that the Annals must have been more like a metrical chronicle than +like an epic poem; yet, as being inspired and pervaded by a grand and +vital idea, the work was elevated above the level of matter of fact +into the region of poetry. The idea of a high destiny, unfolding +itself under the old kingly dynasty and the long line of +consuls,--through the successive wars with the Italian races, with +Pyrrhus and the Carthaginians,--rapidly advancing, though not fully +accomplished in the age when the poem was written,--gave unity of plan +and consistency of form to its rude and colossal structure. The word +Annales, as applied to Roman story, suggests something more than the +mere record of events in regular annual sequence. It involves also +the idea of unbroken continuity. In the Roman Republic, the unity +and vital action of the State were maintained and manifested by the +delegation of the functions of government on magistrates appointed +from year to year, just as the life of a monarchical state is +maintained and manifested in its line of kings. In the spirit +animating the work,--in the conception of a past history, stretching +back in unbroken grandeur until it is lost in fable, but yet vitally +linked to the interests of the present time,--the Annals of Ennius may +be compared with the dramas in which Shakspeare has represented the +national life of England--in all its greatness and vicissitudes--with +the glory and splendour as well as the dark and tragic colours with +which that story is inwoven. + +The poem, although laying no claim to the perfection of epic form, had +thus something of the genuine epic inspiration. While treating both +of a mythical past and of real historical events, it was pervaded by a +living and popular idea,--faith in the destiny of Rome. It was through +the power and presence of that same idea in his own age, that +Virgil was able to impart a vital and enduring meaning to a fabulous +tradition, and to create, out of the imaginary fortunes of a Trojan +hero, a poem most truly representative of his age and country. It is +the absence of any such living idea which renders the artificial +epics of refined and civilised eras,--such poems, for instance, as the +_Thebais_ of Statius, or the _Argonautics_ of Valerius Flaccus,--in +general so flat and unprofitable. Regarded, on the other hand, as +a historical poem, the Annals was written under more favourable +conditions than the _Pharsalia_ of Lucan, or the _Punic Wars_ of +Silius Italicus--in being the work of an age to which the past +had come down as popular tradition, not as recorded history. The +imagination of the poet employs itself more happily and legitimately +in filling up or modifying a story that has been shaped by the fancies +and feelings of successive generations, than in venturing to recast +the facts that stand out prominently in the actual march of human +affairs. By treating of contemporary events, the poem must have +receded still further from the pure type of epic poetry; yet the later +fragments of the work, while written with something of the minute +and literal fidelity of a chronicle, may yet lay claim to poetic +inspiration. They prove that the author was no unconcerned spectator +and reporter of the events going on around him, but that his +imagination was fired and his sympathies keenly interested by +whatever, in speech or action, was worthy to live in the memory of the +world. + +There must have been many drawbacks to the popularity of the poem in +a more critical time, when strong enthusiasm and forcible conception +fail to interest, unless they are combined with the harmonious +execution of a work of art. Even from the extant fragments the +rude proportions and the unwieldy mass of the original work may be +inferred. It is still possible to note the bare, annalistic style +of many passages which sink below the level of dignified prose, the +barbarisms of taste shown by a fondness for alliterative lines +and plays upon words, the more common faults of careless haste and +redundance of expression, and of a rugged and irregular cadence. There +must have been some peculiar excellences or adaptation to the Roman +taste, through which, in spite of these defects, the popularity of +the poem was sustained far into the times of the Empire. This +late popularity may have been due in part to antiquarian zeal or +affectation, but some degree of it, as well as the favour of the +age in which the poem was written, must have been founded on more +substantial grounds. Apart from other literary interest, this poem +first drew forth and established, for the contemplation of after +times, the ideal latent in the national mind. The patriotic tones of +Virgil have the same kind of ring as these in the older poet-- + + Audire est operae pretium procedere recte + Qui rem Romanam Latiumque augescere vultis, + +and this other line which Cicero compared to the utterance of an +oracle-- + + Moribus antiquis stat res Romana virisque. + +While in his other works Ennius was the teacher of an alien culture to +his countrymen, in his Annals he represented them. He set before them +an image of what was most real in themselves;--an image combining +the strength and commanding features of his own time, with the proud +memories and traditional traits of the past. As it is by sympathy with +what is most vital and of deepest meaning in actual experience that a +great poet forms his ideal of what transcends experience, so it is by +a vivid apprehension of the present that he is able to re-animate the +past. Dante and Milton gained their vision of other worlds through +their intense feeling of the spiritual meaning of this life; and, in +another sphere of art, Scott was enabled to immortalise the romance +and humour of past ages, partly through the chivalrous and adventurous +spirit which he inherited from them, partly through the strong +interest and enjoyment with which he entered into the actual life and +pursuits of his contemporaries. It is in ages of transition, such as +were the ages of Sophocles, of Shakspeare, and of Scott, in which the +traditions of the past seem to blend with and colour the activity and +enjoyment of a new time of great issues, that representative works of +genius are produced. Living in such an era, deeply moved by all +the memories, the hopes, and the impulses which acted upon his +contemporaries, living his own life happily and vigorously in the +chief centre of the world's activity, Ennius was enabled to gather the +life of centuries into one representation, and to tell the story +of Rome, if without the accomplished art, yet with something of +the native force and spirit of early Greece; to fix in language +the patriotic traditions which had hitherto been kept alive by the +statues, monuments, and commemorative ceremonies of earlier times; to +uphold the standard of national character with a fervent enthusiasm; +and to address the understanding of his contemporaries with a +practical wisdom like their own, and a large knowledge both of 'books +and men':-- + + Vetustas + Quem fecit mores veteresque novosque tenentem. + +The manifest defects, as well as the peculiar power of the poem, show +how widely it departed from the standard of the Greek epic which it +professed to imitate. Its vast dimensions and solid structure are +proofs of that capacity of long labour and concentrated interest +on one great object, which was the secret of Roman success in other +spheres of action. So large a mass of materials held in union only by +a pervading national enthusiasm would have been utterly repugnant +to Greek taste, intolerant above all things of monotony, and most +exacting in its demands of artistic unity and completeness. The +fragments of the poem give no idea of careful finish; they produce +the impression of massiveness and energy, strength and uniformity of +structure, unaccompanied by beauty, grace, or symmetry. The creation +of an untutored age may be recognised in the rudeness of design,--of +a Roman mind in the national spirit, the colossal proportions, and the +strong workmanship of the poem. + +The originality of the Roman epic will be still more apparent if we +compare the fragments of the Annals, in some points of detail, with +the complete works of the poet, whom Ennius regarded as his prototype. +There was, in the first place, a marked difference between Homer +and the Roman poet in their modes of representing human life and +character. The personages of the Iliad and of the Odyssey are living +and forcible types of individual character. In Achilles, in Hector, +and in Odysseus,--in Helen, Andromache, and Nausicaa, we recognise +embodiments the most real, yet the most transcendent, of the grandeur, +the heroism, the courage, and strong affection of manhood, and of the +grace, the gentleness, and the sweet vivacity of woman. The work of +Ennius, on the other hand, instead of presenting varied types of human +nature, appears to have unfolded a long gallery of national portraits. +The fragments of the poem still afford glimpses of the 'good Ancus'; +'of the man of the great heart, the wise Aelius Sextus'; 'of the sweet +speaking orator,' Cethegus, 'the marrow of persuasion.' The stamp of +magnanimous fortitude is impressed on the fragmentary words of Appius +Claudius Caecus; and sagacity and resolution are depicted in the lines +which have handed down the fame of Fabius Maximus. This idea of the +poem, as unfolding the heroes of Roman story in regular series, may be +gathered also from the language of Cicero: 'Cato, the ancestor of our +present Cato, is extolled by him to the skies; the honour of the +Roman people is thereby enhanced: finally all those Maximi, +Fulvii, Marcelli, are celebrated with a glory in which we all +participate[41].' This portraiture of the kings and heroes of the +early time, of the orators, soldiers, and statesmen of the Republic, +could not have exhibited the variety, the energy, the passion, and all +the complex human attributes of Homer's personages. The men who stand +prominently out in the annals of Rome were of a more uniform type. +They were men of one common aim,--the advancement of Rome; animated +with one sentiment,--devotion to the State. All that was purely +personal in them seems merged in the traditional pictures which +express only the fortitude, dignity, and sagacity of the Republic. + +Ennius also followed Homer in introducing the element of supernatural +agency into his poem. The action of the Annals, as well as of the +Iliad, was made partially dependent on a divine interference with +human affairs, though exercised less directly, and, as it were, from +a greater distance. Yet how great is the difference between the +life-like representation of the eager, capricious, and passionate +deities of Homer's Olympus and that outline which may still be traced +in Ennius, and which is seen filled up in Virgil and Horace, of the +gods assembled, like a grave council of state, to deliberate on the +destiny of Rome. In one fragment, containing the familiar line,-- + + Unus erit quem tu tolles in caerula caeli + Templa,-- + +they are introduced as debating, 'tectis bipatentibus,' on the +admission of Romulus into heaven. Again, in the account of the Second +Punic War, Jupiter is introduced as promising to the Romans the +destruction of Carthage; and Juno abandons her resentment against the +descendants of the Trojans,-- + + Romanis coepit Juno placata favere. + +It may be remarked, as a strong proof of the hold which their +mythology had on the minds of the ancients, that men so sincere as +Ennius and Lucretius, while openly expressing opposition to that +system of religious belief, cannot separate themselves from its +influence and associations in their poetry. But it is not to be +supposed that Ennius, in the passages just referred to, was merely +using an artificial machinery to which he attached no meaning. In this +representation of the councils of the gods, he embodies that faith +in the Roman destiny, which was at the root of the most serious +convictions of the Romans, in the most sceptical as well as the most +believing ages of their history. This, too, is the real belief, which +gives meaning to the supernatural agency in the Aeneid. Aeneas is +an instrument in the hands of Fate; Jupiter merely foreknows and +pronounces its decrees; the parts assigned to Juno and Venus, in +thwarting and advancing these decrees, seem to be an artistic +addition to this original conception, suggested perhaps as much by the +experience of female influence and intrigue in the poet's own age as +by the memories of the Iliad. + +Homer makes his personages known to us in speech as well as in action. +Among epic poets he alone possessed the finest dramatic genius. But +over and above the natural dialogue or soliloquy, in which every +feeling of his various personages is revealed, he has invested his +heroes with the charm of fluent and powerful oratory, in the council +of chiefs and before the assembled people. The words of his speakers +pour on, as he says of the words of Odysseus,-- + + [Greek: niphadessin eoikota cheimeriêsi], + +in the rapid vehemence of passion or the subtle fluency of persuasion. +The fragments of Ennius, on the other hand, scarcely afford sufficient +ground for attributing to him a genuine dramatic faculty. But, as the +citizen of a republic in which action was first matured in council, +and living in the age when public speech first became a recognised +power in the State, it was incumbent on him to embody in 'his abstract +and chronicle of the time' the speech of the orator no less than the +achievement of the soldier. In his estimate of character this power of +speech is honoured as the fitting accompaniment of the wisdom of +the statesman. In the following lines, for instance, he laments the +substitution of military for civil preponderance in public affairs. + + Pellitur e medio sapientia, vi geritur res: + Spernitur orator bonus, horridu' miles amatur: + Haut doctis dictis certantes, sed maledictis + Miscent inter sese inimicitiam agitantes; + Non ex jure manu consertum, sed magi' ferro + Rem repetunt, regnumque petunt, vadunt solida vi[42]. + +Many lines of the Annals are evidently fragments of speeches. The most +remarkable of these passages is one from a speech of Pyrrhus, and +is characterised by Cicero as expressing 'sentiments truly regal +and worthy of the race of the Aeacidae[43].' This fragment, although +evincing nothing of the fluency, the passion, or the argumentative +subtlety of debate, yet suggests the power of a great orator by its +grave authoritative appeal to the moral dignity of man:-- + + Nec mi aurum posco, nec mi pretium dederitis: + Non cauponantes bellum, sed belligerantes, + Ferro non auro vitam cernamus utrique. + Vosne velit an me regnare era quidve ferat Fors, + Virtute experiamur. Et hoc simul accipe dictum: + Quorum virtutei belli fortuna pepercit, + Eorundem libertati me parcere certum est. + Dono ducite, doque volentibu' cum magnis dis[44]. + +Of the same severe and lofty tone is that appeal of Appius Claudius, +blind and in extreme old age, to the Senate, when wavering in its +resolution, and inclined to make peace with Pyrrhus:-- + + Quo vobis mentes rectae quae stare solebant + Antehac, dementes sese flexere viai[45]? + +As Milton, in his representation of the great debate in Pandemonium, +idealised and glorified the stately and serious speech of his own +time, so Ennius, in his graphic delineation of the age in which he +lived, gave expression to that high magnanimous mood in accordance +with which the acts of Roman statesmen were assailed or vindicated, +and the policy of the State was shaped before Senate and people-- + + indu foro lato sanctoque senatu. + +The great poets of human action and passion are for the most part to +be ranked among the great poets of the outward world. If they do not +seem to have penetrated with so much personal sympathy into the inner +secret of the life of Nature, as the great contemplative poets of +ancient and modern times, yet they show, in different ways, that their +sense and imagination were powerfully affected both by her outward +beauty and by her manifold energy. Homer, not so much by direct +description of the scenes in which the action of his poems is laid, as +by many indirect touches, by vivid imagery and picturesque epithets, +reveals the openness of his mind to every impression from the outward +world, and the fresh delight with which his imagination reproduced the +impressions immediately received from the 'world of eye and ear.' If +he has left any personal characteristic stamped upon his poetry, it is +the trace of adventure and keen enjoyment in the open air, among the +most stirring sights and sounds and forces of Nature. The imagery of +Virgil is of a more peaceful cast. It seems rather to be 'the harvest +of a quiet eye,' gathered in the conscious contemplation of rural +beauty, and stored up for after use along with the products of his +study and meditation. The fragments of Ennius, on the other hand, +afford few indications either of active toil and unconscious enjoyment +among the solitudes of Nature, or of the luxurious and pensive +susceptibility to beauty by which the poetry of Virgil is pervaded. +He was the poet, not of the woods and rivers, but, essentially, of the +city and the camp. No sentiment could appear less appropriate to him +than that of Virgil's modest prayer,-- + + Flumina amem silvasque inglorius. + +Yet both in his illustrative imagery and in his narrative, he +occasionally reproduces with lively force, if not with much poetical +ornament, some aspects of the outward world, as well as many real +scenes from the world of action. + +His imagery is sometimes borrowed from that of Homer; as, for +instance, the following simile, which is also imitated by Virgil:-- + + Et tum sic ut equus, qui de praesepibu' fartus, + Vincla suis magnis animis abrupit, et inde + Fert sese campi per caerula laetaque prata + Celso pectore, saepe jubam quassat simul altam, + Spiritus ex anima calida spumas agit albas[46]. + +Other illustrations are taken from circumstances likely to have +been familiar to the men of his own time, but without any apparent +intention of adding poetical beauty to the object he is representing. +Thus the silent expectation with which the assembled people watch the +rival auspices of Romulus and Remus is brought before the mind by an +illustration suggested by, and suggestive of, the passionate eagerness +with which the public games were witnessed by the Romans of his own +age:-- + + Expectant vel uti consul cum mittere signum + Volt, omnes avidi spectant ad carceris oras, + Quam mox emittat pictis e faucibu' currus[47]. + +There may be noticed also, in fragments of the narrative, occasional +expressions and descriptive touches implying some sense of what is +sublime or picturesque in the familiar aspects of the outward world. +The sky, with its starry host, is poetically presented in that +expression, which has been adopted by Virgil, 'stellis ingentibus +aptum'; and in the following line, + + Vertitur interea caelum cum ingentibu' signis. + +In the description of the auspices of Romulus, the scene is +enlivened by this vivid flash, 'simul aureus exoritur Sol,' following +instantaneously upon the appearance of the first bird of omen. A +lively sense of natural scenery is implied in these lines from the +dream of Ilia-- + + Nam me visus homo pulcher per amoena salicta + Et ripas raptare locosque novos; + +in this description of a river, afterwards imitated both by Lucretius +and Virgil-- + + Quod per amoenam urbem leni fluit agmine flumen; + +and in these lines which recall a familiar passage in the Aeneid:-- + + Jupiter hic risit tempestatesque serenae + Riserunt omnes risu Jovis omnipotentis.[48] + +The rhythm and the diction of these fragments suggest another point +of contrast between the father of Greek and the father of Roman +literature. For the old Saturnian verse of the Fauns and Bards, which +had been employed by Livius Andronicus and Naevius, Ennius substituted +the heroic hexameter, which he moulded to the use of Roman poetry, +with little art and grace, but with much energy and weight. As he +imitated the metre of Homer, he has in several places (as in a simile +already quoted, and again in describing the conduct of a brave tribune +in the Istrian war), attempted to reproduce his language. Nothing, +however, can show more clearly the vast original difference between +the genius of Greece and of Rome than the contrast presented between +the rhythm and style of their earliest epic poets. In regard for law +and civil order, in military and political organisation, in practical +power of understanding, and in the command which that power gave them +over the world, the Romans of the second century B.C. had made a great +and permanent advance beyond the Greeks of the time of Homer. But the +Greeks, when they first become known to us, appear in possession of +a gift to which all later generations have been unable to attain. The +genius of poetry has never, since the time of Homer, appeared in union +with a faculty of expression so true and spontaneous, so faultless in +purity, so inexhaustible in resources. It is difficult to imagine a +greater contrast than that between the varied and harmonious power +of the earliest Greek epic, and the rugged rhythm and diction of +the Annals. Yet the very rudeness of that work is significant of +the energy of a man who had to accomplish a gigantic task by his own +unaided efforts. His ear had not been passively trained by the musical +echoes transmitted by earlier minstrels; nor did he inherit the +fluency and richness of expression which a long line of poets hands on +to their successors. While professing to imitate the structure of the +Homeric verse, he was unable to seize its finer cadences. Nor had +he learned the stricter conditions under which that metre could be +adapted to the powerful and weighty movement of the Latin language. +If he did much to establish Latin prosody on principles deviating +considerably from those observed by the contemporary comic poets, +yet many points which were regulated unalterably for Virgil were +left quite unsettled by Ennius. There are found occasionally in these +fragments lines without any _caesura_ before the fifth foot, as the +following, in one of the longest and least imperfect of his remains-- + + Corde capessere: semita nulla pedem stabilibat. + +and this in a passage in which the sound seems intended to imitate the +sense-- + + Poste recumbite vestraque pectora pellite tonsis. + +And though such marked violations of harmony are rare, yet there is a +large proportion of lines in which the laws for the caesura observed +by later poets are violated. Again, while the final 's' is in most +cases not sounded before a word beginning with a consonant (a usage +which finally disappears only in the Augustan poets) the final 'm,' on +the other hand, is sometimes left without elision before a vowel, as +in the following line-- + + Miscent inter sese inimicitiam agitantes. + +The quantity of syllables and the inflexions of words were so far +unsettled, that such lines as the following are read, + + Partem fuisset de summis rebu' regendis; + +and this, + + Noenum rumores ponebat ante salutem; + +and + + Volturus in spinis miserum mandebat homonem. + +Among the ruder characteristics of his diction, his use of prosaic and +technical terms is especially to be noticed. The following lines, for +instance, read more like the bare statement of a chronicle, or of a +legal document, than an extract from a poetical narrative:-- + + Cives Romani tunc facti sunt Campani; + +and this + + Appius indixit Karthaginiensibu' bellum; + +and these lines enumerating the various priesthoods established by +Numa,-- + + Volturnalem Palatualem Furrinalem + Floralemque Falacrem et Pomonalem fecit + Hic idem. + +Yet, in spite of these imperfections, both his rhythm and language +produce the impression of power and originality. With all the +roughness and irregularity of his measure, and notwithstanding the +inharmonious structure of continuous passages, his lines often have a +weighty and impressive effect, like that produced by some of the great +passages in Lucretius and Virgil. It is said of the rhetorician Aelian +that he excessively admired in Ennius both 'the greatness of his +mind and the grandeur of his metre[49].' Something of this sonorous +grandeur may be recognised in a fragment descriptive of the havoc made +by woodcutters in a great forest,--a passage in which the language of +Ennius again appears as a connecting link between that of Homer and of +Virgil:-- + + Incedunt arbusta per alta, securibu' caedunt, + Percellunt magnas quercus, exciditur ilex, + Fraxinu' frangitur, atque abies consternitur alta. + Pinus proceras pervortunt: omne sonabat + Arbustum fremitu siluai frondosai[50]. + +In the longest consecutive passages,--the dream of Ilia, the auspices +of Romulus, and that from book seventh, already quoted as illustrative +of the poet's character,--there is, notwithstanding the roughness of +the lines, something also of Homeric rapidity;--a quality which the +Latin hexameter never afterwards attained in elevated poetry. + +The diction also of the Annals is generally fresh and forcible, +sometimes vividly imaginative. But perhaps the most admirable quality +of its style is a grave simplicity and sincerity of tone. Especially +is this the case in passages expressing appreciation of strength and +grandeur of character, as in those fragments from the speeches of +Pyrrhus and of Appius Claudius Caecus, already quoted, and in the +famous lines commemorative of the resolute character and momentous +services of Fabius Maximus:-- + + Unus homo nobis cunctando restituit rem: + Noenum rumores ponebat ante salutem: + Ergo plusque magisque viri nunc gloria claret[51]. + +These lines leave on the mind the same impression of antique +majesty, as is produced by the unadorned record of character and work +accomplished inscribed on the tombs of the Scipios. + +This truly Roman quality of style, depending on a strong imaginative +sense of reality, is one of the great elements of power in the +language of Lucretius. + + +III. CHIEF CHARACTERISTICS OF HIS GENIUS AND INTELLECT. + +III.--From a review of the extant fragments both of the Tragedies and +the Annals of Ennius, it appears that his prominent place in Roman +literature, and influence over his countrymen, were due much more to +a great productiveness and activity, and to an original force of mind +and character, than to any artistic skill displayed in the conception +or execution of his works. A consideration of the spirit and purpose +of his greatest works has led to the conclusion that they were, in a +considerable measure, inspired by the genius of Rome, and were thus +rather the starting-point of a new literature than the mechanical +reproduction of the literature of the Greeks. It remains to consider +what inference may be formed from these fragments as to the character +of his genius, of his imaginative sentiment and moral sympathies, and +of his intellectual power. + +The force of many single expressions in these fragments, and the power +with which various incidents, situations, and characters, are brought +before the mind indicate an active imagination. A sense of energy and +life-like movement is the prevailing impression produced by a study +of the language and the longer passages in these remains. Many single +lines and expressions that have been gathered accidentally, as mere +isolated phrases, disjoined from the context in which they originally +occurred, bear traces of the ardour with which they were cast into +shape. In longer passages, the whole heart, sense, and understanding +of the writer seem to be thrown into his narrative. He has not the +eye of a poetic artist who observes, as it were, from a distance, +and fixes as in a picture, some phase of passionate feeling or some +beautiful aspect of repose. He suggests rather the idea of a man of +practical energy, who has been present and taken part in the action +described, who enters with living interest into every detail, and +watches it at the same time with a sagacious discernment and a strong +enthusiasm. His power as a narrative poet is the power of forcibly +reproducing the outward movement and the inward meaning of an action, +and of identifying himself with the hearts and minds of the actors on +the scene. Several passages, wanting altogether in poetical beauty, +yet arrest the attention by this energy and realism of conception; +as, for example, this short and rugged fragment, descriptive of +a commander in the crisis of a battle (probably that of +Cynoscephalae),-- + + Aspectabat virtutem legioni' suai, + Expectans, si mussaret, quae denique pausa + Pugnandi fieret, aut duri fini' laboris[52]. + +Even in the abrupt dislocation from their context these lines leave on +the mind an impression of the calm vigilance of a general, and of his +confidence, not unmixed with anxiety, in 'the long-enduring hearts' of +his men. The same truth and energy of conception, with more poetical +accompaniment, may be recognised in the longer passages, from Book +vii. and Book i., already quoted or referred to. + +But the imaginative power which gives poetical meaning to familiar +objects and ideas is revealed by the force of many single expressions +and by the delineation of more passionate situations. Such expressions +as the following, most of which reappear with an antique lustre in the +gold of Virgil's diction, are indicative of this higher power:-- + + Musae quae pedibus magnum pulsatis Olympum. + + Transnavit cita per teneras caliginis auras. + + Postquam discordia taetra + + Belli ferratos postes portasque refregit. + + Quem super ingens + + Porta tonat caeli. + + Spiritus austri imbricitor. Naves velivolae, etc. etc. + +These and similar phrases, some of which have already been quoted, +imply poetical creativeness. They tend to justify the estimate of the +genius of Ennius, indicated in the language of high admiration applied +to him by Lucretius,-- + + Ennius ut noster cecinit, qui primus amoeno + Detulit ex Helicone perenni fronde coronam, + Per gentes Italas hominum quae clara clueret[53]; + +and in the signs of the careful study of the Annals which may be +traced in the elaborate workmanship of the Aeneid. + +The longest specimen of narrative vivified by poetical feeling, from +the hand of Ennius, is the passage in which the vestal Ilia relates to +her sister the dream that portended her great and strange destiny:-- + + Excita cum tremulis anus attulit artubu' lumen, + Talia commemorat lacrimans, exterrita somno. + Eurudica prognata, pater quam noster amavit, + Vires vitaque corpu' meum nunc deserit omne. + Nam me visus homo pulcher per amoena salicta + Et ripas raptare locosque novos; ita sola + Postilla, germana soror, errare videbar + Tardaque vestigare et quaerere te neque posse + Corde capessere: semita nulla pedem stabilibat. + Exin compellare pater me voce videtur + His verbis: 'O gnata, tibi sunt ante ferendae + Aerumnae, post ex fluvio fortuna resistet.' + Haec ecfatu' pater, germana, repente recessit + Nec sese dedit in conspectum, corde cupitus, + Quanquam multa manus ad caeli caerula templa + Tendebam lacrimans et blanda voce vocabam: + Vix aegro cum corde meo me somnu' reliquit[54]. + +Though these lines are rough and inharmonious as compared with the +rhythm of Catullus or Virgil, yet they flow more smoothly and rapidly +than any of the other fragments preserved from Ennius. The impression +of gentleness and tender affection produced by the speech of Ilia, +implies some dramatic skill in the conception of character. And there +is real imaginative power shown in the sense of hurry and surprise, of +vague awe and helplessness conveyed in the lines-- + + Nam me visus homo pulcher per amoena salicta, etc. + +From this passage Virgil has borrowed one of the finest touches in his +delineation of the passion of Dido, the sense of horror and desolation +haunting the Carthaginian queen in her dreams-- + + Agit ipse furentem + In somnis ferus Aeneas: semperque relinqui + Sola sibi, semper longam incomitata videtur + Ire viam, et Tyrios deserta quaerere terra. + +Another of the most impressive passages in the early books of the +Aeneid--the dream in which Hector appears to Aeneas[55]--was evidently +suggested by the description which Ennius gave of the appearance of +the shade of Homer to himself. Some of his dramatic fragments, +also, as for instance the scene between Hecuba and Cassandra already +referred to, show a real power of conceiving and representing +passionate situations. + +Among the modes of imaginative sentiment by which the poetry of +Ennius is pervaded, those kindled by patriotic enthusiasm are most +conspicuous. In the manifestation of his enthusiasm, he shows an +affinity to Virgil in ancient, and to Scott in modern times. He +resembles them in their mingled feelings of veneration and affection +which they entertain towards the national heroes of old times, and +the great natural features of their country, associated with historic +memories and legendary renown. Such feelings are shown by Ennius in +the lines of tender regret and true hero-worship, which express the +sorrow of Senate and people at the death of Romulus-- + + Pectora ... tenet desiderium, simul inter + Sese sic memorant, O Romule, Romule die + Qualem te patriae custodem di genuerunt! + O pater, O genitor, O sanguen dis oriundum! + Tu produxisti nos intra luminis oras[56]. + +They appear also in the language applied by him to the sacred river +of Rome, which had preserved the founder of the city from his untimely +fate, and which was thus inseparably identified with the national +destiny-- + + Teque pater Tiberine tuo cum flumine sancto. + +and also in this fragment-- + + Postquam consistit fluvius qui est omnibu' princeps + Qui sub caeruleo. + +The enumeration of the great warlike races in the line + + Marsa manus, Peligna cohors, Vestina virum vis, + +may recall the pride and enthusiasm which are kindled in the heart +of Virgil by the names of the various tribes of Italy, and of +places renowned for their fame in story, or their picturesque +environment[57]. This fond use of proper names recalling old +associations or the charm of natural scenery is also among the most +familiar characteristics of the poetry of Scott. + +It was seen in the introductory chapter that the Roman mind was +peculiarly susceptible of that kind of feeling, which perhaps may best +be described as the sense of majesty. This vein of poetical emotion is +also conspicuous in the fragments of Ennius. His language shows a deep +sense of greatness and order, both in the material world and in human +affairs. Thus his style appears animated not only by vital force, but +by an impressive solemnity, befitting the grave and dignified emotion +which responds to such ideas. This susceptibility of his genius +appears in such expressions as these-- + + Magnum pulsatis Olympum. Indu mari magno. + + Litora lata sonant. + + Latos per populos terrasque. + + Magnae gentes opulentae. + + Quis potis ingentis oras evolvere belli? + + Vertitur interea caelum cum ingentibu' signis; + +and again in the following-- + + Indu foro lato sanctoque senatu. + + Augusto augurio postquam incluta condita Roma est. + + Omnibu' cura viris uter esset induperator, + +and in the epithet which Cicero quotes as applied to cities-- + + Urbes magnas atque _imperiosas_. + +His imagination appears also to have been impressed by that sense of +outward pomp and magnificence which exercised a strong spell on the +Roman mind in all ages, and obtained its most complete and permanent +realisation in the architecture of the Empire. A short passage from +one of his tragedies, the Andromache, may be quoted as illustrative of +this influence, even in the writings of Ennius, though naturally it +is much more apparent in the style of those poets who witnessed the +grandeur of Rome in her later era:-- + + O pater, O patria, O Priami domus, + Saeptum altisono cardine templum! + Vidi ego te, astante ope barbarica, + Tectis caelatis, lacuatis, + Auro ebore instructum regifice![58] + +While his peculiar poetical feeling is present chiefly in the +fragments of the Annals, the moral elements of his poetry may be +gathered both from his epic and dramatic remains. Strength and dignity +of character are the qualities with which his own nature was most +in sympathy. Yet in delineating the agitation of Ilia, the shame +of Cassandra, and the sorrow of Andromache, he reveals also much +tenderness of feeling,--the not unusual accompaniment of the manly +genius of Rome. A similar tenderness is found in union with the grave +tones of Pacuvius and Accius, and in still greater measure with +the fortitude of Lucretius and the majesty of Virgil. The masculine +qualities which most stir his enthusiasm are the Roman virtues of +resolution (constantia), sincerity, magnanimity, capacity for affairs. +Thus a latent glow of feeling may be discerned in the lines which +record the brave resolution of the Roman people during the first +hardships of the war with Pyrrhus-- + + Ast animo superant atque aspera prima + Volnera belli dispernunt[59]; + +and in this strong and scornful triumph over natural sorrow, from the +Telamon:-- + + Ego cum genui tum morituros scivi, et ei rei sustuli: + Praeterea ad Trojam cum misi ob defendendam Graeciam, + Scibam me in mortiferum bellum, non in epulas mittere[60]. + +The generosity and courage of a magnanimous nature are stamped upon +the kingly speech which he puts into the mouth of Pyrrhus. A frank +sincerity of character reveals itself in such passages as the +following:-- + + Eo ego ingenio natus sum, + Aeque inimicitiam atque amicitiam in frontem promptam gero[61]. + +There is no subtlety nor rhetorical point in the expression of his +serious convictions. The very style of the tragedies, which, as Cicero +says[62], 'does not depart from the natural order of the words,' is a +symbol of frankness and straightforwardness. + +He shows also, in his delineations of character, high appreciation of +practical wisdom, and of its most powerful instrument in a free State, +the persuasive power of oratory. This appreciation is expressed in +the lines so much admired by Cicero and Aulus Gellius[63], though +ridiculed by the purism of Seneca:-- + + Is dictus 'st ollis popularibus olim + Qui tum vivebant homines, atque aevum agitabant, + Flos delibatus populi suadaeque medulla[64]. + +He seems to admire the sterling qualities of character and intellect +rather than the brilliant manifestations of impulse and genius. He +celebrates the heroism of brave endurance rather than of chivalrous +daring[65]: the fortitude that, in the long run, wins success, and +saves the State[66], rather than the impetuous valour which achieves +a barren glory; the sincerity and simplicity which are stronger +than art, yet that know when to speak and when to be silent[67]; the +sagacity which enables men to understand their circumstances, and to +turn them to the best account[68]. + +Many of his fragments, again, show traces of that just and vigorous +understanding of human life, and that shrewdness of observation, which +constitute a great satirist. The didactic tone of satire appears, for +instance, in the following lines-- + + Otioso in otio animus nescit quid velit; + Hic itidem est: enim neque domi nunc nos neque militiae sumus, + Imus huc, illuc hinc, cum illuc ventum est, ire illinc lubet; + Incerte errat animus: praeter propter vitam vivitur[69],-- + +a fragment which might be compared with certain passages in the +Epistles of Horace, which give expression to the _ennui_ experienced +as a result of the inaction and luxurious living of the Augustan age. +But a closer parallel will be found in a passage where Lucretius has +assumed something of the caustic tone of Roman satire-- + + Exit saepe foras magnis ex aedibus ille + Esse domi quem pertaesum 'st subitoque revertit, + Quippe domi nihilo melius qui sentiat esse, etc.[70] + +While Ennius, like Lucretius, gives little indication of humour, yet +the folly and superstition of his times provoke him into tones of +contemptuous irony, especially where he has to expose the arts of +false prophets and fortune-tellers. The men of the manliest temper and +the strongest understanding in ancient times were most intolerant of +this mischievous form of imposture and credulity. Thus Thucydides, +in general so reserved in his expression of personal feeling, treats, +with a manifest irony, all supernatural pretences to foresee +or control the future. The tone in which Ennius writes of such +professions reminds us of Milton's grim contempt for + + Eremites and friars + White, black, and grey, with all their trumpery. + +Thus, in a fragment of Book xi. of the Annals, the fears excited +by the prophets and diviners at the commencement of the war with +Antiochus are encountered with the pertinent question-- + + Satin' vates verant aetate in agenda? + +Thus too the pretensions and the ignorance of astrologers are exposed +in a line of one of the dramas-- + + Quod est ante pedes nemo spectat: caeli scrutantur plagas. + +And the following passage may be quoted as applicable to charlatans of +every kind, in every age and country-- + + Sed superstitiosi vates, impudentesque arioli, + Aut inertes aut insani, aut quibus egestas imperat, + Qui sibi semitam non sapiunt, alteri monstrant viam, + Quibus divitias pollicentur, ab eis drachmam ipsi petunt[71]. + +There are passages of the same spirit to be found among the fragments +of Pacuvius and Accius. + +There is not much indication of speculative thought in any of these +fragments. The blunt sentiment which Ennius puts into the mouth of +Neoptolemus probably expressed his own mental attitude towards the +schools of philosophy-- + + Philosophari est mihi necesse, at paucis: nam omnino haut placet. + +His observations on life are neither of an imaginative, of a deeply +reflective, nor of a purely satiric character. Unlike the thoughts of +the Greek dramatists, they make no attempt to solve the painful riddle +of the world; they want the universality and systematic basis of +philosophical truths; they are expressed neither with the pointed +wit nor with the ironical humour of satire. They are the maxims of +a strong common sense and the dictates of a grave rectitude of will. +They are practical, not speculative. They have their origin in a sense +of duty rather than of consequences. They are in conformity with the +ideal realised in the best types of Roman character; and they bear +witness to the sterling worth combined with the ardent enthusiasm, and +the practical sense united to the strong imagination of the poet. + +Such appear to be the chief attributes of genius and imaginative +sentiment, and the chief moral and intellectual features indicated in +the fragments of Ennius. It is not indeed possible, from the tenor of +single passages, to judge of the composition of a whole drama or of +a continuous book of the Annals. No single scene or speech can afford +sufficient grounds for inferring the amount of creative power with +which his characters were conceived and sustained in all their complex +relations. Yet enough has appeared in these fragments, which, from +the accidental mode of their preservation, must be regarded as the +ordinary samples and not chosen specimens of his style, to confirm +the ancient belief in his pre-eminence and to determine the prevailing +characteristics of his genius. There is ample evidence of the great +popularity which he enjoyed among his countrymen, and of the high +estimate which many of the best Roman writers formed of his power. It +is recorded that great crowds ('magna frequentia') attended the public +reading of the Annals. Virgil was said to have introduced many lines +into the Aeneid, with the view of pleasing a public devoted to Ennius +('populus Ennianus'). The title of Ennianista was assumed by a public +reader of the Annals in the time of Hadrian, when there was a strong +revival of admiration for the older literature of Rome[72]. Cicero +often speaks of the poet as 'noster Ennius,' and quotes him with all +the signs of hearty admiration and affection. The numerous references +in his works to the Annals and the Tragedies imply also a thorough +familiarity with these poems on the part of the readers for whom his +philosophical and rhetorical treatises were written. The criticism of +Quintilian, 'Ennium sicut sacros vetustate lucos adoremus, in quibus +grandia et antiqua robora jam non tantam habent speciem quantam +religionem[73],' expresses a sentiment of traditional reverence as +well as of personal appreciation. Aulus Gellius, a writer of the time +of Hadrian, often quotes and comments upon him with hearty and genial +sympathy. The greatest among the Roman poets also, directly and +indirectly, acknowledge their admiration. The strong testimony of +Lucretius is alone sufficient to establish the fame of Ennius as a man +of remarkable force and genius. The spirit of the Annals still lives +in the antique charm and national feeling which make the epic poem +of Virgil the truest representation of Roman sentiment which has come +down to modern times. By Ovid he is characterised as-- + + Ennius, ingenio maximus, arte rudis. + +Horace, although more reluctant and grudging in his admiration, yet +allows the 'Calabrian Muse' to be the best preserver of the fame of +the great Scipio. Even the disparaging lines-- + + Ennius et sapiens et fortis et alter Homerus, + Ut critici dicunt, leviter curare videtur + Quo promissa cadant et somnia Pythagorea[74], + +are a strong testimony in favour of the esteem in which the vigour and +sagacity of Ennius were held by those who had all his works in their +hands. As one of the founders of Roman literature, it was impossible +that he could have rivalled the careful and finished style of the +Augustan poets; but, by his rude and energetic labours, he laid the +strong groundwork on which later poets built their fame. + +He has been exposed to more serious detraction in modern times, as +the corrupter of the pure stream of early Roman poetry. It is alleged +against him by Niebuhr, that through jealousy he suppressed the ballad +and epic poetry of the early bards. The answer to this charge has +already been given. There is no evidence to prove that any such poems +were in existence in the time of Ennius. By other modern scholars +he is disadvantageously compared with Naevius, who is held up to +admiration as the last of the genuine Roman minstrels. Naevius appears +indeed to have been a remarkable and original man, yet his very scanty +fragments do not afford sufficient evidence to justify the reversal of +the verdict of antiquity on the relative greatness and importance of +the two poets. The old Roman party, in opposition to whom Ennius +and his friends are supposed to have introduced the new taste and +suppressed the old, never showed any zeal in favour of poetry of any +kind. Cato, their only literary representative, wrote prose treatises +on antiquities and agriculture, and in one of his speeches reproached +Fulvius Nobilior for the consideration which he showed to Ennius. The +evidence of these epic and dramatic fragments which have just been +considered, is all in favour of the high verdict of antiquity on the +importance and pre-eminence of the author of the Annals. Whatever in +the later poets is most truly Roman in sentiment and morality appears +to be conceived in the spirit of Ennius. + + + [Footnote 1: Parco admodum sumptu contentus et unius ancillae + ministerio.] + + [Footnote 2: xvii. 17.] + + [Footnote 3: The line-- + + Ad patrios montes et ad incunabula nostra, + + which is quoted by Cicero in a letter to Atticus, and which + Vahlen attributed to Ennius, is now generally assigned to + Cicero himself.] + + [Footnote 4: Livy xxxviii. 17.] + + [Footnote 5: 'When the Carthaginians were coming from all + sides to the conflict, and all things, beneath high heaven, + confounded by the hurry and tumult of war, shook with alarm: + and men were in doubt to which of the two the empire of the + whole world, by land and sea, should fall.'--Lucret. iii. + 834-7.] + + [Footnote 6: Mommsen, book iii. ch. 5.] + + [Footnote 7: The author of Caesar's Spanish War quotes + Ennius in his account of the critical moment in the Battle + of Munda:--'Hic, ut ait Ennius, "pes pede premitur, armis + teruntur arma."'--Bell. Hisp. xxxi.] + + [Footnote 8: Amphit. 52-3-- + + Quid contraxistis frontem, quia tragoediam + Dixi futuram hanc?] + + [Footnote 9: Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit, etc.] + + [Footnote 10: De Senectute, 5.] + + [Footnote 11: De Oratore, ii. 68.] + + [Footnote 12: 'L. Aelium Stilonem dicere solitum ferunt Q. + Ennium de semet ipso haec scripsisse, picturamque istam morum + et ingenii ipsius Q. Ennii factam esse.'--Gell. xii. 4.] + + [Footnote 13: 'He finished: and summons to him one with whom + often, and right gladly, he shared his table, his talk, and + the whole weight of his business, when weary with debate, + throughout the day, on high affairs of state, within the wide + Forum and the august Senate,--one to whom he could frankly + speak out serious matters, trifles, and jest; to whom he could + pour forth and safely confide, if he wanted to confide in any + one, all that he cared to utter, good or bad; with whom, + in private and in public, he had much entertainment and + enjoyment,--a man of that nature which no thought ever prompts + to baseness through levity or malice: a learned, honest, + pleasant man, eloquent, contented, and cheerful, of much tact, + speaking well in season; courteous and of few words; with much + old buried lore; whom length of years had made versed in old + and recent ways; in the laws of many ancients, divine and + human; one who knew when to speak and when to be silent. Him, + during the battle, Servilius thus addresses.'] + + [Footnote 14: [Greek: Skipiôna gar adôn kai epi mega ton andra + exarai boulomenos phêsi monon an Homêron epaxious epainous + eipein Skipiônos.]--Aelian, as quoted by Suidas, vol. i. p. + 1258. Ed. Gaisford. Cf. Vahlen.] + + [Footnote 15: 'Here is he laid, to whom no one, either + countryman or enemy, has been able to pay a due meed for his + services.'] + + [Footnote 16: 'From the utmost east, beyond the Maeotian + marsh, there is no one who in actions can vie with me. If it + is lawful for any one to ascend to the realms of the gods, to + me alone the vast gate of heaven is opened!'] + + [Footnote 17: 'Yet nothing more glorious than this man doth it + (the island of Sicily) seem to have contained, nor aught more + holy, nor more wonderful and beloved.'] + + [Footnote 18: 'Behold, my countrymen, the bust of the old man, + Ennius. He penned the record of your fathers' mighty deeds. + Let no one pay to me the meed of tears, nor weep at my + funeral. And why? because I still live, as I speed to and fro, + through the mouths of men.'] + + [Footnote 19: 'Hail, poet Ennius, who pledgest to mortals thy + fiery verse from thy inmost marrow.'] + + [Footnote 20: 'Others have treated the subject in the verses, + which in days of old the Fauns and bards used to sing, before + any one had climbed the cliffs of the Muses, or gave any care + to style.'] + + [Footnote 21: 'I have always said and will say that the gods + of heaven exist, but I think that they heed not the conduct of + mankind; for, if they did, it would be well with the good and + ill with the bad; and it is not so now.'] + + [Footnote 22: + + Cor jubet hoc Enni, postquam destertuit esse + Maeonides, Quintus pavone ex Pythagoreo. + + Persius, vi. 10 (ed. Jahn).] + + [Footnote 23: Vahlen.] + + [Footnote 24: Horace, Sat. ii. 4.] + + [Footnote 25: 'The poetical philosophy, which the later + Pythagoreans had extracted from the writings of the old + Sicilian comedian, Epicharmus of Megara, or rather had, at + least for the most part, circulated under cover of his name, + regarded the Greek gods as natural substances, Zeus as + the atmosphere, the soul as a particle of Sun-dust, and so + forth.'--Mommsen's Hist. of Rome, Book iii. ch. 15. (Dickson's + Translation.)] + + [Footnote 26: 'This is that Jupiter which I speak of, + which the Greeks call the air; it is first wind and clouds; + afterwards rain, and after rain, cold; next it becomes wind, + then air again. All those things which I mention to you are + Jupiter, because it is he who supports mortals and cities and + all animals.'] + + [Footnote 27: Mommsen.] + + [Footnote 28: 'Inventore minor.'--Horace.] + + [Footnote 29: Another passage, ascribed to Ennius, descriptive + of the greed of a parasite, occupies the ground common to + Roman comedy and to Roman satire:-- + + Quippe sine cura laetus lautus cum advenis + Insertis malis, expedito bracchio + Alacer, celsus, lupino expectans impetu, + Mox cum alterius obligurias bona, + Quid censes domino esse animi? pro divum fidem! + Ille tristis cibum dum servat, tu ridens voras.] + + [Footnote 30: The meaning of the passage amounts to no more + than this, that the man who tries to 'sell' another, and + fails, is himself 'sold.'] + + [Footnote 31: Brutus, 20.] + + [Footnote 32: De Fin. i. 2.] + + [Footnote 33: Cf. Eur. Med. 1-8:-- + + [Greek: + Eith' ôphel' Argous mê diaptasthai skaphos + Kolchôn es aian kyaneas Symplêgadas, + mêd' en napaisi Pêliou pesein pote + tmêtheisa peukê, mêd' eretmôsai cheras + andrôn aristeôn, hoi to panchryson deros + Pelia metêlthon; ou gar an despoin' emê + Mêdeia pyrgous gês epleus' Iôlkias + erôti thymon ekplageis' Iasonos.]] + + [Footnote 34: Several of these fragments will be examined + later.] + + [Footnote 35: Tusc. Disp. ii. 16.] + + [Footnote 36: 'How tender, how true to character, how + affecting!'--De Div. i. 31. 'What a great poet, though he is + despised by those admirers of Euphorion. He understands that + sudden and unlooked-for calamities are more grievous. A noble + poem,--pathetic in its matter, language, and music.'--Tusc. + Disp. iii. 19.] + + [Footnote 37: 'Here it is; here, the torch, wrapped in fire + and blood. Many years it hath lain hid; help, citizens, and + extinguish it. For now, on the great sea, a swift fleet is + gathering. It hurries along a host of calamities. They come: a + fierce host lines the shores with sail-winged ships.' Exitium + = exitiorum; cf. Cic. Orator. 46, Itaque idem poeta, qui + inusitatius contraxerat 'Patris mei meum factum pudet' pro + 'meorum factorum' et 'Texitur: exitium examen rapit' pro + 'exitiorum.'] + + [Footnote 38: Acad. ii. 28.] + + [Footnote 39: Gellius, xvii. 21.] + + [Footnote 40: He speaks of Eurydice as the wife of Aeneas. + This statement he is supposed to have derived from the + _Cypria_.] + + [Footnote 41: Cicero, Arch. 9.] + + [Footnote 42: 'Wisdom is banished from amongst us, violence + rules the day: the good orator is despised, the rough soldier + loved; striving, not with words of learning, but with words of + hate, they get embroiled in feuds, and stir up enmity one with + another. They challenge not their adversaries to contend by + forms of law, but claim their rights by the sword, and aim at + sovereign power, and make their way by sheer force.'] + + [Footnote 43: Cic. De Off. i. 12.] + + [Footnote 44: 'Neither do I ask gold for myself, nor offer ye + to me a ransom. Let us wage the war, not like hucksters, but + like soldiers--with the sword, not with gold, putting our + lives to the issue. Whether our mistress Fortune wills that + you or I should reign, or what her purpose be, let us prove by + valour. And hearken too to this saying,--The brave men, whom + the fortune of battle spares, their liberty I have resolved to + spare. Take my offer, as I grant it, under favour of the great + gods.'] + + [Footnote 45: 'Whither have your minds, which heretofore were + wont to stand firm, madly swerved from the straight course?'] + + [Footnote 46: A comparison with the original passage (Iliad + vi. 506) will show that Ennius, while reproducing much, though + not all, of the force and life of Homer's image, has added + also some touches of his own:-- + + [Greek: + hôs d' hote tis statos hippos, akostêsas epi phatnê, + desmon aporrhêxas theiê pedioio kroainôn, + eiôthôs louesthai eurrheios potamoio, + kydioôn; hypsou de karê echei, amphi de chaitai + ômois aïssontai; ho d' aglaïêphi pepoithôs, + rhimpha he gouna pherei meta t' êthea kai nomon hippôn.] + + Cf. Virgil, Aen. xi. 492:-- + + Qualis ubi abruptis fugit praesepia vinclis + Tandem liber equus, campoque potitus aperto + Aut ille in pastus armentaque tendit equarum, + Aut adsuetus aquae perfundi flumine noto + Emicat, arrectisque fremit cervicibus alte + Luxurians, luduntque jubae per colla, per armos.] + + [Footnote 47: 'They watch, as when the consul is going to give + the signal, all look eagerly to the barrier, to see how soon + he may start the chariots from the painted entrance.'] + + [Footnote 48: + + Olli subridens hominum sator atque deorum + Voltu, quo caelum tempestatesque serenat.--Aen. i. 254.] + + [Footnote 49: [Greek: Ennios Rhômaios poiêtês; hon Ailianos + epainein axion phêsi.... dêlon de hôs etethêpei tou poiêtou + tên megalonoian kai tôn metrôn to megaleion kai axiagaston.] + Suidas, vol i. p. 1258, ed. Gaisford.] + + [Footnote 50: Cf. Iliad xxiii. 114-120; and also Virgil, Aen. + vi. 179:-- + + Itur in antiquam silvam, stabula alta ferarum, + Procumbunt piceae, sonat icta securibus ilex, + Fraxineaeque trabes cuneis et fissile robur + Scinditur, advolvunt ingentis montibus ornos.] + + [Footnote 51: 'One man, by biding his time, restored the + commonwealth. He cared not for what men said of him, as + compared with our safety: therefore now his fame waxeth + brighter day by day.'] + + [Footnote 52: 'He watched the courage of his army, to see if + any murmur should arise for some pause to the long battle, + some rest from their weary toil.'] + + [Footnote 53: 'As sang our Ennius, the first who brought down + from beautiful Helicon a chaplet of unfading leaf, the fame + of which should be bruited loud through the nations of Italian + men.'] + + [Footnote 54: 'When the old dame had risen, and with trembling + limbs had brought the light, thus she (Ilia), roused in + terror from her sleep, with tears tells her tale: "Daughter of + Eurydice, whom our father loved, my strength and life now fail + me through all my frame. For methought that a goodly man was + bearing me off through the pleasant willow-groves, by the + river-banks, and places strange to me. Thereafter, O my + sister, I seemed to be wandering all alone, and with slow + steps to track my way, to be seeking thee, and to be unable + to find thee near; no footpath steadied my step. Afterwards + methought I heard my father address me in these + words--'Daughter, trouble must first be borne by thee; + afterwards thy fortune shall rise up again from the river.' + With these words, O sister, he suddenly departed, nor gave + himself to my sight, though my heart yearned to him, though I + kept eagerly stretching my hands to the blue vault of heaven, + weeping, and calling on him with loving tones. With pain and + weary heart at last sleep left me."'] + + [Footnote 55: Aen. ii. 270.] + + [Footnote 56: 'Regret and sorrow fill their hearts, while + thus they say to one another, O Romulus, God-like Romulus, how + great a guardian of our country did the gods create in thee! O + father, author of our being, O blood sprung from the gods! + it is thou that hast brought us forth within the realms of + light.'] + + [Footnote 57: E.g. passages such as the following:-- + + Quique altum Praeneste viri, quique arva Gabinae + Junonis gelidumque Anienem et roscida rivis + Hernica saxa colunt, quos dives Anagnia pascit, + Quos, Amasene pater.--Aen. vii. 682-5.] + + [Footnote 58: 'O father! O fatherland! O house of Priam, + palace, closing on high-sounding hinge, I have seen thee, + guarded by a barbaric host, with carved and deep-fretted roof, + with ivory and gold royally adorned.'] + + [Footnote 59: 'But they rise superior in spirit, and spurn the + first sharp wounds of war.'] + + [Footnote 60: 'When I begat them, I knew that they must die, + and to that end I bred them. Besides, when I sent them to Troy + to fight for Greece, I was well aware that I was sending them, + not to a feast, but to a deadly war.'] + + [Footnote 61: 'Such is my nature. Enmity and friendship + equally I bear stamped on my forehead.'] + + [Footnote 62: 'Ennio delector, ait quispiam, quod non discedit + a communi ordine verborum.'--Orator, 11.] + + [Footnote 63: Cicero, Brutus, 15; Aulus Gellius, xii. 2.] + + [Footnote 64: 'He was called by those, his fellow-countrymen, + who flourished then and enjoyed their day, the chosen flower + of the people, and the marrow of persuasion.'] + + [Footnote 65: Compare his account of the Tribune in the + Istrian war:-- + + 'Undique conveniunt velut imber, tela tribuno,' etc.] + + [Footnote 66: Cf. 'Unus homo nobis cunctando restituit rem,' + etc.] + + [Footnote 67: Cf. + + 'Ita sapere opino esse optimum, ut pro viribus + Tacere ac fabulare tute noveris;' + + also + + 'Ea libertas est quae pectus purum et firmum gestitat.'] + + [Footnote 68: 'Egregie cordatus homo catus Aeliu' Sextus.'] + + [Footnote 69: 'In idleness the mind knows not what it wants. + This is now our case. We are neither now at home nor + abroad. We go hither, back again to the place from which we + came,--when we have reached it we desire to leave it again. + Our mind is all astray--existence goes on outside of real + life.'] + + [Footnote 70: iii. 1059-67.] + + [Footnote 71: 'But your superstitious prophets and impudent + fortune-tellers, idle fellows, or madmen, or the victims of + want, who cannot discern the path for themselves, yet point + the way out to others, and ask a drachma from the very persons + to whom they promise a fortune.'] + + [Footnote 72: 'And there it is announced to Julianus that + a certain public reader, an accomplished man, with a very + well-trained and musical voice, read the Annals of Ennius + publicly in the theatre. Let us go, says he, to hear this + "Ennianista," whoever he is,--for by that name he chose to be + called.'--Aulus Gellius, xviii. 5. + + The following line of Martial (v. 10. 7) implies also his + popularity under the Empire-- + + 'Ennius est lectus, salvo tibi, Roma, Marone.'] + + [Footnote 73: 'Let us venerate Ennius like the groves, sacred + from their antiquity, in which the great and ancient + oak-trees are invested not so much with beauty as with sacred + associations.'--Inst. Or. x. i. 88.] + + [Footnote 74: 'Ennius, the wise and strong, and the second + Homer, as his critics will have it, seems to care little for + the issue of all his promises and Pythagorean dreams.'--Epist. + II. i. 50-2.] + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +EARLY ROMAN TRAGEDY--M. PACUVIUS, B.C. 219-129; L. ACCIUS, B.C. +170--ABOUT B.C. 90. + + +The powerful impulse given to Roman tragedy by Ennius was sustained +till about the beginning of the first century B.C., first by his +nephew M. Pacuvius and after him by L. Accius. The popularity of the +drama during this period may be estimated from the fact that, of the +early writers of poetry, Lucilius alone contributed nothing to the +Roman stage. The plays of the three tragedians who have just been +mentioned were not only performed during the lifetime of their +authors, but, as appears from many notices of them in Cicero, they +held their place on the stage with much popular applause, and were +read and admired as literary works till the last days of the Republic. +This popularity implies either some adaptation of Roman tragedy to the +time in which it was produced, or some special capacity for awakening +new interests and ideas in a people hitherto unacquainted with +literature. Yet, on the other hand, the want of permanence, and the +want of any power of development in the Roman drama, would indicate +that it was less adapted to the genius of the nation than either +the epic or the satiric poetry of this era. If the dramatic art of +Pacuvius and Accius had been as true an expression of the national +mind as either the epic poem of Ennius or the satire of Lucilius, +it might have been expected that it would have flourished in greater +perfection in the eras of finer literary accomplishment. The efforts +of Naevius and Ennius were crowned with the fulfilment of Virgil, and +the spirit and manner of Lucilius still live in the satires of Horace +and Juvenal; but Roman tragedy, notwithstanding the attempt to give +it a new and higher artistic development in the Augustan age, dwindled +away till it became a mere literary exercise of educated men, and +remains only in the artificial and rhetorical compositions attributed +to the philosopher Seneca. + +From the fact that early Roman tragedy left no literary heir, it is +more difficult to discern its original features and character +than those of the epic or satiric poetry of the period. A further +difficulty arises out of the very nature of dramatic fragments. +Isolated passages in a drama afford scanty grounds for judging of the +conduct of the action, or the force and consistency with which the +leading characters are conceived. There is, moreover, very slight +direct evidence bearing on the dramatic genius of the early tragic +poets. Roman critics seem to have paid little attention to, or +had little perception of this kind of excellence. They quote with +admiration the fervid sentiment and morality--'the rugged maxims hewn +from life'--expressed on the Roman stage; but they have not preserved +the memory of any great typical character, or of any dramatic plot +creatively conceived or powerfully sustained. + +The Roman drama was confessedly a reproduction or adaptation of the +drama of Athens. The titles of the great majority of Roman tragedies +indicate that they were translated or copied from Greek originals, or +were at least founded on the legends of Greek poetry and mythology. +The _Medea_ of Ennius and the _Antiope_ of Pacuvius are known, on the +authority of Cicero, to have been directly translated from Euripides. +Other dramas were more or less close adaptations from his works, or +from those of the other Attic tragedians. All of the Roman tragic +poets indeed produced one or more plays founded on Roman history or +legend: but, with the exception of the Brutus of Accius, none of these +seem to have been permanently popular. This failure to establish a +national drama seems to imply a want of dramatic invention in the +conduct of a plot and the exhibition of character on the part of the +poets. As their own history was of supreme interest to the Romans at +all times, it is difficult on any other supposition to explain the +failure of the 'fabula praetextata' in gaining the public ear. There +is, however, distinct evidence that in their adaptations from the +Greek the Roman poets in some cases departed considerably from their +originals. Something of a Roman stamp was perhaps unconsciously +impressed on the Greek personages who were represented. Many of the +extant fragments seem to breathe the spirit of Rome more than of +Athens. They are expressed not with the subtlety and reflective genius +of Greece, but in the plain and straightforward tones of the Roman +Republic. The long-continued popularity of Roman tragedy implies also +that it was something more than an inartistic copy of the masterpieces +of Athenian genius. Mere imitations of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and +Euripides might possibly have obtained some favour with a few men +of literary education, but could never have been listened to with +applause, for more than a century and a half, by miscellaneous +audiences. + +The following questions suggest themselves as of most interest in +connexion with the general character of early Roman tragedy:--How far +may it have reproduced not the materials and form only, but the spirit +and ideas of the Greek drama? What was its bearing on the actual +circumstances of Roman life, and what were the grounds of the favour +with which it was received? What cause can be assigned for the +cessation of this favour with the fall of the Republic? + +The materials or substance of Roman tragedy were almost entirely +Greek. The stories and characters represented were, save in the few +exceptional cases referred to above, directly derived from the Greek +tragedians or from Homer and the cyclic poets. In point of form also +and some of the metres employed, Roman tragedy endeavoured to imitate +the models on which it was founded, with probably as little perception +of the requirements of dramatic art as of refinement in expression and +harmony in rhythm. But while generally conforming to their models, +the early Roman poets departed in some important respects from their +practice. Thus they banished the Chorus from the orchestra, assigning +to it merely a subsidiary part in the dialogue. Although some simple +lyrical metre, accompanied with music, continued to be employed in the +more rapid and impassioned parts of the dialogue, there was no scope, +on the Roman stage, for the great lyrical poetry of the Greek drama, +and for the nobler functions of the chorus. On the other hand, there +seems to have been more opportunity both for action and for oratorical +declamation. The acting of a Roman play must have been more like that +on a modern stage than the stately movement and the statuesque repose +of the Greek theatre. Again, in imitating the iambic and trochaic +metres of the Greek drama, the Roman poets were quite indifferent to +the laws by which their finer harmony is produced. Any of the feet +admissible in an iambic line might occupy any place in the line, with +the exception of the last. There is thus little metrical harmony in +the fragments of Roman tragedy; but, on the other hand, it may be +remarked that the order of the words in these fragments appears more +natural and direct than in the more elaborate metres of the later +Roman poets. + +But it was as impossible for the Roman drama to reproduce the inner +spirit of the noblest type of Greek tragedy as to rival its artistic +excellence. Greek tragedy, in its mature glory, was not only a purely +Greek creation, but was the artistic expression of a remarkable phase +through which the human mind has once passed;--a phase in which the +vivid fancies and emotions of a primitive age met and combined with +the thought, the art, the social and political life of the greatest +era of ancient civilisation. The Athenian dramatists, like the great +dramatists of other times, imparted a new and living interest to +ancient legends; but this was but one part, perhaps not the most +important part, of their functions. They represented before the people +the destiny and sufferings of national heroes and demigods, sanctified +by long association in the feelings of many generations, still +honoured by a vital worship, and appealed to as a present help in +danger. Thus a highly idealised and profoundly religious character was +imparted to the tragic representation of human passion and destiny on +the Athenian stage. This view of life, represented and contemplated +with solemnity of feeling in the age of Pericles, would have been +altogether unmeaning to a Roman of the age of Ennius. Such a one would +understand the natural heroism of a strong will, but not the new force +and elevation imparted to the will by reliance on the hidden powers +and laws overruling human affairs. He might be moved to sympathy +with the sufferers or actors on the scene; but he would be altogether +insensible to the higher consolation which overcomes the natural +sorrow for the mere earthly catastrophe in a great dramatic action. +The inward strength and dignity of a Roman senator might enable him +to appreciate the magnanimity and kingly nature of Oedipus; but the +deeper interest of the great dramas founded on the fortunes of the +Theban king, especially the interest arising from his trust in final +righteousness, his sense of communion with higher powers, from +the thought of his elevation out of the lowest earthly state into +perpetual sanctity and honour, was widely remote from the tangible +objects of a Roman's desire, and the direct motives of his conduct. +Or perhaps a Roman would have a fellow-feeling with the proud and +soldierly bearing of Ajax; but he would be blind to the inward lesson +of self-knowledge and self-mastery, which Sophocles represents as +forced upon the spirit of the Greek hero through the stern visitation +of Athene. Equally remote from the ordinary experience and emotions +of a Roman would be the feeling of awe, gloom, and mystery, diffused +through the great thoughts and imaginations of Aeschylus. Both in +Aeschylus and in Sophocles the light and the gloom cast over the +human story are not of this world. But in the fragments of the Roman +tragedians, though there is often found the expression of magnanimous +and independent sentiment, and of a very dignified and manly morality, +there is little trace of any sense of the relation of the individual +to a Divine power; and there are some indications not only of a scorn +for common superstition, but also of disbelief in the foundations +of personal religion. The thought of the insecurity of life, of the +vicissitudes of human affairs, and of the impotence of man to control +his fate, which forced the Greek poets and historians of the fifth +century B.C. into deeper speculations on the question of Divine +Providence, was utterly alien to the natural temperament of Rome, and +to the confidence inspired by uniform success during the long period +succeeding the Second Punic War. + +The contemplative and religious thought of Greek tragedy was thus +as remote from the practical spirit of the Romans as the political +license and the personal humours of the old Athenian comedy were from +the earnestness of public life and the dignity of government in the +great aristocratic Republic. And thus it happened that, as the comic +poets of Rome reproduced the new comedy of Athens, which portrayed the +passions of private not of political life, and the manners rather of a +cosmopolitan than of a purely Greek civilisation, so the tragic poets +found the art of Euripides and of his less illustrious successors more +easy to imitate than that of Aeschylus and Sophocles. The interest of +tragedy, as treated by Euripides, turns upon the catastrophes produced +by human passion: the religious meaning has, in a great measure, +passed out of it; the characters have dwindled from their heroic +stature to the proportions of ordinary life; his thought is the result +of the analysis of motives, and the study of familiar experience. He +has more affinity with the ordinary thoughts and moods of men than +either of the older poets. The older and the later Greek writers have +a nearer relation to the spirit of other eras of the world's history +than those who represent Athenian civilisation in its maturity. It +requires a longer familiarity with the mind and heart of antiquity +to realise and enjoy the full meaning of Sophocles, Thucydides, or +Aristophanes, than of Homer, Euripides, or Theocritus. Homer is indeed +one of the truest, if not the truest, representative of the genius +of Greece,--the representative also of the ancient world in the same +sense as Shakspeare is of the modern world,--but he is, at the same +time, directly intelligible and interesting to all countries and +times from his being the most natural and powerful exponent of the +elementary feelings and forces of human nature. The later poets, on +the other hand, such as Euripides and the writers of the new comedy, +were not indeed more truly human, but were less distinctively Greek +than their immediate predecessors. They had advanced beyond them +in the analytic knowledge of human nature; but, with the decay of +religious belief and political feeling, they had lost much of the +genius and sentiment by which the old Athenian life was characterised. +Both their gain and their loss bring them more into harmony with +later modes of thought and feeling. Thus it happened that, while the +influence of Aeschylus and Sophocles, of Thucydides and Aristophanes, +is scarcely perceptible in Roman literature, Homer and the early +lyrical poets who flourished before Greek civilisation exhibited +its most special type, and Euripides who, though a contemporary of +Sophocles and Aristophanes, yet belonged in spirit and tone to a +younger generation, the writers of the new comedy, and the Alexandrine +poets who flourished when the purely Greek ideas and character were +being merged in a cosmopolitan civilisation, exercised a direct +influence on Roman taste and opinion in every age of their literature. +The early tragic poets of Rome could not rival or imitate the dramatic +art, the pathetic power, the clear and fluent style, the active and +subtle analysis of Euripides; but they could approach nearer to him +than to any of his predecessors, by treating the myths and personages +of the heroic time apart from the sacred associations and ideal +majesty of earlier art, and as a vehicle for inculcating the lessons +and the experience of familiar life. + +The primary attraction, by means of which the tragic drama established +itself at Rome, must have been the power of scenic representations to +convey a story, and to produce novel impressions on a people to whom +reading was quite unfamiliar. In Homer, the cyclic poets, and the +Attic dramatists, there existed for the Romans of the second century +B.C. a new world of incident and human interest quite different +from the grave story of their own annals. This new world, which was +becoming gradually familiar to their eyes through the works of plastic +and pictorial art, was made more living and intelligible to them in +the representations of their tragic poets. It cannot be supposed that +these poets attempted to reproduce the antique Hellenic character of +the legends on which they founded their dramas. In this early stage +of literary culture, the harmonious cadences of rhythm, the fine +and delicate shades of expression, the main requirements of dramatic +art,--such as the skilful construction of a plot, the consistent +keeping of a character, the evolution of a tragic catastrophe through +the meeting of passion and outward accident,--would have been lost +upon the unexacting audiences who thronged the temporary theatres on +occasional holidays. The fragments of the lost dramas indicate that +the matter was presented in a straightforward style, little differing +in sound and meaning from the tone of serious conversation. Although +little can be known or conjectured as to the general conduct of the +action in a Roman drama, yet there are indications that in some +cases a series of adventures, instead of one complete action, were +represented[1]. But while failing, or not attempting to reproduce the +Greek spirit and art of their originals, the Roman poets seem to have +animated the outlines of their foreign story and of their legendary +characters with something of the spirit of their own time and country. +They imparted to their dramas a didactic purpose and rhetorical +character which directly appealed to Roman tastes. The fragments +quoted from their works, the testimonies of later Roman writers, and +the natural inference to be drawn from the moral and intellectual +characteristics of the people, all point to the conclusion that the +long-sustained popularity of tragedy rested mainly on the satisfaction +which it afforded to the ethical sympathies, and to the oratorical +tastes of the audience. + +The evidence for this popularity is chiefly to be found in Cicero; and +it is mainly, though not solely, to the popularity which the tragic +drama enjoyed in his own age that he testifies. The loss of the +earlier writings renders it impossible to adduce contemporary evidence +of the immediate success of this form of literature. But the activity +with which tragedy was cultivated for about a century, and the favour +with which Ennius, Pacuvius, and Accius, were regarded by the leading +men in the State, suggest the inference that the popularity of the +drama in the age of Cicero, after the writers themselves had passed +away, and when more exciting spectacles occupied public attention, was +only a continuation of the general favour which these poets enjoyed in +their lifetime. Cicero in many places mentions the great applause with +which the expression of feeling in different dramas was received, +and speaks of the great crowds ('maximus consessus' or 'magna +frequentia'), including women and children, attending the +representation. Varro states that, in his time, 'the heads of families +had gradually gathered within the walls of the city, having quitted +their ploughs and pruning-hooks, and that they liked to use their +hands in the theatres and circus better than on their crops and +vineyards[2].' The large fortunes amassed and the high consideration +enjoyed by the actors Aesopus and Roscius afford further evidence of +the favour with which the representation of tragedy and comedy was +received in the age of Cicero. + +According to his testimony, these lively demonstrations of popular +approbation were chiefly called out by the moral significance or the +political meaning attached to the words, and by the oratorical fervour +and passion with which the actor enforced them. Thus Laelius is +represented, in the treatise _De Amicitia_, as testifying to the +applause with which the mutual devotion of Pylades and Orestes, as +represented in a play of Pacuvius, was received by the audience[3]: +'What shouts of applause were heard lately through the whole body of +the house, on the representation of a new play of my familiar friend, +M. Pacuvius, when, the king being ignorant which of the two was +Orestes, Pylades maintained that it was he, while Orestes persisted, +as was indeed the case, that he was the man! They stood up and +applauded at this imaginary situation.' Again, in his speech in +defence of Sestius[4], the same author says, 'amid a great variety of +opinions uttered, there never was any passage in which anything said +by the poet might seem to bear on our time, which either escaped the +notice of the people, or to which the actor did not give point.' In +a letter to Atticus (ii. 19) he states that the actor Diphilus had +applied to Pompey the phrase 'Miseria nostra tu es magnus,' and that +he was compelled to repeat it a thousand times amid the shouts of +the whole theatre. He mentions further, in the speech in defence of +Sestius[5] that the actor Aesopus had applied to Cicero himself a +passage from a play of Accius (the Eurysaces), in which the Greeks are +reproached for allowing one who had done them great public service +to be driven into exile; and that the same actor, in the Brutus, had +referred to him by name in the words, 'Tullius qui libertatem civibus +stabiliverat'; he adds that these words 'were _encored_ over and over +again,' 'millies revocatum est.' These and similar passages testify +primarily to the intense political excitement of the time at which +they were written, but also to the meaning which was looked for by the +audience in the words addressed to them on the stage, and which was +enforced by the emphasis given to them by the actor. + +Besides these and other passages in Cicero, the fragments themselves +of Roman tragedy testify to its moral and didactic tone, and its +occasional appeal to national and political feeling. + +In so far as it served any political end we may infer from the +personal relations of the poets, from the approving testimony of +Cicero, and from the personages and the nature of the situations +represented, that, unlike the older comedy of Naevius and Plautus, +it was in sympathy with the spirit of the dominant aristocracy. The +'boni' or 'optimates' regarded themselves as the true guardians of law +and liberty, and it would be to their partisans that the resistance +to, and denunciations of tyrannical rule, expressed in such plays as +the Atreus, the Tereus, and the Brutus of Accius, must have been most +acceptable. Members of the aristocracy, eminent in public life and +accomplished as orators, became themselves authors of tragedies. Of +these two are mentioned by Cicero, C. Julius Caesar, a contemporary +and friend of the orator Crassus, and C. Titius, a Roman Eques, also +distinguished as an orator[6]. These instances, and the comments +Cicero makes upon them, indicate the close affinity of Roman tragedy +to the training and accomplishments which fitted men for public life +at Rome. + +Passages already referred to, and others which will be brought forward +later, imply also that the audience were easily moved by the dramatic +art and the elocution of the actor. We hear of the pains which the +best actors took to perfect themselves in their art, and of the +success which they attained in it. Cicero specifies among the +accomplishments of an orator, the 'voice of a tragedian, the gestures +and bearing of a consummate actor.' The stage may be said to have been +to the Romans partly a school of practical life, partly a school of +oratory. Spirited declamation, the expression, by voice and gesture, +of vehement passion, of moral and political feeling, and of practical +wisdom, would gratify the same tastes that were fostered by the +discussions and harangues of the Forum[7]. + +The testimony of later writers points to the conclusion that the early +Roman tragedy, like Roman oratory, was characterised both by great +moral weight and dignity, and also by fervid and impassioned feeling. +The latter quality is suggested by the line of Horace, + + Nam spirat tragicum satis et feliciter audet; + +and also by the epithets 'altus' and 'animosus' applied by him and +Ovid to the poet Accius. Quintilian describes the ancient tragedies +as superior to those of his own time in the management of their +plots ('oeconomia'), and adds that 'manliness and solemnity of style' +('virilitas et sanctitas')[8], were to be studied in them. He states +also that Accius and Pacuvius were distinguished by 'the earnestness +of their thought, the weight of their language, the commanding bearing +of their personages[9].' The fragments of all the tragic poets bear +further evidence to the union of these qualities in their thought and +style. + +These considerations may afford some explanation of the fact, that the +early Roman tragedy, although having less claim to originality, +and less capacity of development than any other branch of Roman +literature, yet exercised a more immediate and more general influence +than either the epic, lyrical, or satiric poetry of the Republic. For +more than a century new tragedies were written and represented at +the various public games, and afforded the sole kind of serious +intellectual stimulus and education to the mass of the people. During +the lifetime of the old dramatists, there was no regular theatre, +but merely structures of wood raised for each occasion. A magnificent +stone theatre was at last built by Pompey from the spoils of the +Mithridatic War; but this, instead of giving a new impulse to +dramatic art, was fatal to its existence. The attraction of a +gorgeous spectacle superseded that afforded by the works of the older +dramatists; and dancers like Bathyllus soon obtained the place in +popular favour which had been enjoyed by the 'grave Aesopus and the +accomplished Roscius.' The composition of tragedy passed from the +hands of popular poets, and became a kind of literary and rhetorical +exercise of accomplished men. We hear that Quintus Cicero composed +four tragedies in sixteen days, and in the Augustan age Virgil and +Horace eulogise the dramatic talent of their friend and patron Asinius +Pollio. The 'Ars Poetica' implies that the composition of tragedy +was the most fashionable form of literary pursuit among the young +aspirants to poetic honour at that time, and the Thyestes of Varius +and the Medea of Ovid enjoyed a great literary reputation. These +were, however, futile attempts to impart artificial life to a withered +branch. Though praised by literary critics, they obtained no general +favour. Of all forms of poetry the drama is most dependent on popular +sympathy and intelligence. With the loss of contact with public +feeling the Roman drama lost its vital power. One cause of the +change in public taste was the passion for more frivolous and coarser +excitement, such as was afforded by the mimes and by gladiatorial +combats and shows of wild beasts to a soldiery brutalised by constant +wars, and to the civic masses degraded by idleness and by intermixture +from all quarters of the world. Other causes may have acted on the +poets themselves, such as the exhaustion of the mine of ancient +stories fit for dramatic purposes, and the truer sense, acquired +through culture, of the bent of Roman genius. But another cause was +the loss of mutual sympathy between the poet and the people, arising +from the decay and final extinction of political life. In ancient, +as occasionally also in modern times, the contests and interests of +politics were the means of affording the highest intellectual stimulus +of which they were capable to the large classes on whom literary +influences act only indirectly. So long as the old republican sense of +citizenship remained, there was a bond of common feelings, ideas, and +sympathies between the body of the people and some of the foremost +and most highly educated men in Rome. There was an immediate sympathy +between the political orator and his audiences within the Senate or +in the public assemblies; there was a sympathy, more remote, but still +active, between the poet of the Republic, who had the strong feelings +of a Roman citizen, and the great body of his countrymen. With the +overthrow of free government, this bond of union between the educated +and the uneducated classes was destroyed. The former became more +refined and fastidious, but lost something in breadth and genuine +strength by the want of any popular contact. The latter became more +debased, coarser, and more servile. Poetic works were more and more +addressed to a small circle of men of rank and education, sharing the +same opinions, tastes, and pleasures. They thus became more finished +as works of art, but had less direct bearing on the passions and great +public interests of their time. + +The origin and the earliest stage of the Roman drama have been +examined in a previous chapter. For about a century after the close of +the Second Punic War new tragedies continued to be represented at Rome +with little interruption, first by Ennius, afterwards by his nephew +Pacuvius and by Accius. They devoted themselves more exclusively than +any of their predecessors to the composition of tragedy. While the +fame of Ennius chiefly rested on his epic poem[10], Pacuvius and +Accius are classed together as representatives of the tragic poetry of +the Republic. Though in point of age there was a difference of fifty +years between them, yet Cicero mentions, on the authority of Accius +himself, that they had brought out plays under the same Aediles, when +the one was eighty years of age and the other thirty. + +M. Pacuvius, nephew, by the mother's side, of Ennius, was born +at Brundusium, in the south of Italy, about 219 B.C., and died at +Tarentum about 129 B.C., at the age of ninety. He obtained some +distinction as a painter[11], and he is supposed to have written his +tragedies late in life. Jerome records of him, 'picturam exercuit et +fabulas vendidit.' Cicero represents Laelius as speaking of him as a +friend, 'amici et hospitis mei.' A pleasing anecdote is told by Aulus +Gellius[12] of his intercourse with his younger rival, L. Accius. +'When Pacuvius, at a great age, and suffering from disease of long +standing, had retired from Rome to Tarentum, Accius, at that time +a considerably younger man, on his journey to Asia, arrived at that +town, and stayed with Pacuvius. And being kindly entertained, and +constrained to stay for several days, he read to him, at his request, +his tragedy of Atreus. Then, as the story goes, Pacuvius said, that +what he had written appeared to him sonorous and elevated but somewhat +harsh and crude. "It is just as you say," replied Accius; "and in +truth I am not sorry for it, for I hope that I shall write better +in future. For, as they say, the same law holds good in genius as in +fruit. Fruits which are originally harsh and sour afterwards become +mellow and pleasant; but those which have a soft and withered look, +and are very juicy at first, become soon rotten without ever becoming +ripe. It appears, accordingly, that there should be left something +in genius also for the mellowing influence of years and time."' This +anecdote, while giving a pleasing impression of the friendly relation +subsisting between the older and younger poets, seems to add +some corroboration to the opinion that the Romans valued more the +oratorical style than the dramatic art of their tragedies. It affords +support also to the testimony of Horace and Quintilian in regard to +the distinction which the admirers of the old poetry drew between the +excellence of Pacuvius and Accius:-- + + Ambigitur quoties uter utro sit prior, aufert + Pacuvius docti famam senis, Accius alti. + +Aulus Gellius quotes the epitaph of Pacuvius, written by himself to +be inscribed on his tombstone, with a tribute of admiration to 'its +modesty, simplicity, and fine serious spirit'--'Epigramma Pacuvii +verecundissimum et purissimum dignumque ejus elegantissima gravitate.' + + Adolescens, tametsi properas, te hoc saxum rogat, + Ut se aspicias, deinde quod scriptum est, legas, + Hic sunt poetae Pacuvi Marci sita + Ossa. Hoc volebam nescius ne esses. Vale[13]. + +With its quiet and modest simplicity of tone this inscription is still +significant of that dignified self-consciousness which characterised +all the early Roman poets, though the feeling may have been displayed +with more prominence by Naevius and Plautus, by Ennius, Accius, and +Lucilius, than by Pacuvius. + +Among the testimonies to his literary qualities the best known is that +of Horace, quoted above. Cicero, in speaking of the age of Laelius as +that of the purest Latinity, does not allow this merit to Pacuvius and +to the comic poet Caecilius. He says of them, 'male locutos esse[14].' +Pacuvius seems to have attempted to introduce new forms of words, such +as 'temeritudo,' 'geminitudo,' 'vanitudo,' 'concorditas,' 'unose'; and +also to have carried to a greater length than any of the older +poets the tendency to form such poetical compounds as 'tardigradus,' +'flexanimus,' 'flexidicus,' 'cornifrontis'--a tendency which the Latin +language continued more and more to repudiate in the hands of its most +perfect masters. One line is quoted in which the tendency probably +reached the extremest limits it ever did in any Latin author,-- + + Nerei repandirostrum incurvicervicum pecus. + +We find also such inflexions as 'tetinerim,' for 'tenuerim,' 'pegi' +for 'pepigi,' 'cluentur' for 'cluent.' These peculiarities are +ridiculed in the fragments of Lucilius, and also in a passage of +Persius. Another author[15] contrasts the _sententiae_ of Ennius with +the _periodi_ of Pacuvius,--a distinction probably connected with the +progress of oratory in the interval between the poets. Persius applies +the term 'verrucosa' (an epithet not inapplicable to his own style) to +the Antiope of Pacuvius, which, on the other hand, was much admired by +Cicero[16]. Lucilius refers to this harshness of style in the line, + + Verum tristis contorto aliquo ex Pacuviano exordio. + +Pacuvius is known to have been the author of about twelve tragedies, +founded on Greek subjects; and of one, _Paulus_, founded on Roman +history. Among these, the _Antiope_ was perhaps the most famous and +most admired. It was, like the Medea of Ennius, a translation from +Euripides. The principal characters in it were the brothers Zethus and +Amphion, the one devoted to hunting, the other to music. Their dispute +as to the respective advantages of music and philosophy is referred to +by Cicero and Horace, and by other authors. The Zethus of Pacuvius is +described by Cicero[17] as one who made war on all philosophy; and +the author of the treatise addressed to Herennius describes their +controversy as beginning about music, and ending about philosophy and +the use of virtue. Two dramas, the _Dulorestes_ and the _Chryses_, the +latter being a continuation of the first, represented the adventures +of Orestes in his wanderings with his friend Pylades, after the murder +of his mother. The former play, in which Orestes was represented as on +the point of being sacrificed by his sister Iphigenia, contained the +passage already referred to, in which Pylades and Orestes contend as +to which should suffer for the other. The Chryses was founded on their +subsequent adventures, and the title of the play was apparently taken +from the old Homeric priest of Apollo, Chryses, who bore a prominent +part in it. Another of the plays of Pacuvius, the _Niptra_, was +founded on, though not translated from, one of Sophocles[18]; and the +title seems to have been suggested by the story of the recognition of +Ulysses by his nurse, Eurycleia, told at Odyssey xix. 386, etc. +The subjects of his other dramas may be inferred from their +titles:--_Armorum Judicium_, _Atalanta_, _Hermione_, _Ilione_, _Io_, +_Medus_ (son of Medea), _Pentheus_, _Periboea_, _Teucer_. + +The fragments of Pacuvius amount to about four hundred lines. Many of +these are single lines, preserved by grammarians in illustration of +old forms and usages of words, and thus are of little value in the +way of illustrating his poetical or dramatic power. Several of them, +however, are interesting, from the light which they throw on his mode +of thought, his moral spirit, and his artistic faculty. + +A remarkable passage is quoted from the Chryses, showing the growth of +that interest in physical philosophy, which was first expressed in +the Epicharmus of Ennius, and which continued to have a powerful +attraction for many of the Roman poets:-- + + Hoc vide, circum supraque quod complexu continet + Terram + Solisque exortu capessit candorem, occasu nigret, + Id quod nostri caelum memorant, Graii perhibent aethera: + Quidquid est hoc, omnia animat, format, alit, auget, creat, + Sepelit recipitque in sese omnia, omniumque idem est pater, + Indidemque eadem quae oriuntur, de integro aeque eodem incidunt[19]. + +The following fragment illustrates the dawning interest in ethical +speculation, which became much more active in the age of Cicero, under +the influence of Greek studies:-- + + Fortunam insanam esse et caecam et brutam perhibent philosophi + Saxoque instare in globoso praedicant volubili: + Insanam autem esse aiunt, quia atrox, incerta, instabilisque sit: + Caecam ob eam rem esse iterant, quia nil cernat quo sese adplicet: + Brutam quia dignum atque indignum nequeat internoscere. + Sunt autem alii philosophi, qui contra fortunam negant + Esse ullam, sed temeritate res regi omnis autumant. + Id magis veri simile esse usus reapse experiundo edocet: + Velut Orestes modo fuit rex, factu'st mendicus modo[20]. + +These lines again from the Chryses show that Pacuvius, like Ennius, +exposed and ridiculed the superstition of his time-- + + Nam isti qui linguam avium intelligunt + Plusque ex alieno jecore sapiunt quam ex suo, + Magis audiendum quam auscultandum censeo[21]; + +and this is to the same effect-- + + Nam si qui, quae eventura sunt, provideant, aequiparent Jovi. + +This tendency to physical and ethical speculation may be the reason +for which Horace applies to Pacuvius the epithet 'doctus.' + +The fragments of Pacuvius show not only the cast of understanding, but +also the grave and dignified tone of morality, which was found to be +one of the most Roman characteristics of Ennius. They indicate also a +similar humanity of feeling. The moral nobleness of the situation, in +which Pylades and Orestes contend which should sacrifice himself for +the other, has already been noticed: 'stantes plaudebant in re ficta.' +Again, in the Tusculan Disputations (ii. 21), Cicero commends Pacuvius +for deviating from Sophocles, who had represented Ulysses, in the +Niptra, as utterly overcome by the power of his wound; while, +in Pacuvius, those who are supporting him, 'personae gravitatem +intuentes,' address this reproof to him, 'leviter gementi':-- + + Tu quoque Ulysses, quanquam graviter + Cernimus ictum, nimis paene animo es + Molli, qui consuetu's in armis + Aevom agere[22]! + +The strong tones of Roman fortitude are heard in this grave rebuke; +and the lines in which Ulysses, at the point of death, reproves the +lamentations of those around him, have the unstudied directness +that may be supposed to have characterised the serious speech of the +time:-- + + Conqueri fortunam adversam, non lamentari decet: + Id viri est officium, fletus muliebri ingenio additus[23]. + +The following maxim is quoted by Aulus Gellius with the remark 'that a +Macedonian philosopher, a friend of his, an excellent man, thought it +deserving of being written in front of every temple':-- + + Ego odi homines ignava opera et philosopha sententia. + +There are other fragments the significance of which is political +rather than ethical, as for instance the following:-- + + Omnes qui tam quam nos severo serviunt + Imperio callent dominum imperia metuere. + +A passage from his writings was sung at games in honour of Caesar, in +order to rouse a feeling of indignation against the conspirators. The +prominent words of the passage were,-- + + Men' servasse ut essent qui me perderent?[24] + +Other passages again appear to be fragments of spirited dialogue, +and well adapted to show the art and the elocution of the actor. +Cicero[25] quotes from the Teucer of Pacuvius the reproach of +Telamon, couched in much the same terms as those which Teucer himself +anticipates in the Ajax of Sophocles:-- + + Segregare abs te ausu's aut sine illo Salamina ingredi, + Neque paternum aspectum es veritus, quom aetate exacta indigem + Liberum lacerasti orbasti extinxti, neque fratris necis + Neque ejus gnati parvi, qui tibi in tutelam est traditus--[26]? + +In commenting on these lines, Cicero speaks of the passion displayed +by the actor ('so that even out of his mask the eyes of the actor +appeared to me to burn'), and of the sudden change to pathos in his +voice as he proceeded. He adds the further comment, 'Do we suppose +that Pacuvius, in writing this passage, was in a calm and passionless +mood?'--one of many proofs that the 'gravity' of the old tragedians +was that of strong and ardent, not of phlegmatic natures, and that +their strength was tempered by a pathos and humanity of feeling which +were gradually gaining ascendency over the old Roman austerity. The +language in such passages has not only the straightforward directness +which is the general characteristic of the early literature, but a +force and impetuosity added to its gravity, recalling the style of +some fragments of the older orators[27]. + +The fragments of Accius afford the first hint of that enjoyment of +natural beauty which enters largely into the poetry of a later age; +but one or two fragments of Pacuvius, like several passages in Ennius, +show the power of observing and describing the sublime and terrible +aspects of Nature. The description of the storm which overtook the +Greek army after sailing from Troy is perhaps the best specimen in +this style:-- + + Profectione laeti piscium lasciviam + Intuentur, nec tuendi capere satietas potest. + Interea prope jam occidente sole inhorrescit mare, + Tenebrae conduplicantur, noctisque et nimbum occaecat nigror, + Flamma inter nubes coruscat, caelum tonitru contremit, + Grando mista imbri largifico subita praecipitans cadit, + Undique omnes venti erumpunt, saevi existunt turbines, + Fervit aestu pelagus[28]. + +There are also, in the same style, these rough and graphic lines, +exemplifying the impetuous force which the older Roman poets impart to +their descriptions by the figure of speech called 'asyndeton,'-- + + Armamentum stridor, flictus navium, + Strepitus fremitus clamor tonitruum et rudentum sibilus[29]. + +Virgil must have had this passage in his mind when he wrote the line-- + + Insequitur clamorque virum, stridorque rudentum. + +The effect of alliteration and assonance may be illustrated by a +passage from the 'Niptra,' in which Eurycleia addresses the disguised +Ulysses:-- + + Cedo tamen pedem tuum lymphis flavis flavum ut pulverem + Manibus isdem quibus Ulixi saepe permulsi abluam, + Lassitudinemque minuam manuum mollitudine[30]. + +Pacuvius composed one drama on a Roman subject, the title of which was +'Paulus.' Although the name does not indicate whether the principal +character of the drama was the Aemilius Paulus who fell at Cannae, +whom Horace commemorates as one of the national heroes in the words-- + + Animaeque magnae + Prodigum Paulum, superante Poeno, + +or his more fortunate son who conquered the Macedonians at Pydna, +yet it would seem much more probable that the poet should celebrate +a great triumph of his own time, achieved by one in whom, from his +connexion with Scipio, the nephew of Ennius would feel a special +interest, than that he should recall a great calamity of a past +generation, neither near enough to excite immediate attention, nor +sufficiently remote to justify an imaginative treatment. The Fabulae +Praetextatae, of which this was one, were, as Niebuhr[31] has pointed +out, historical plays rather than tragedies. Such a drama would not +naturally or necessarily require a tragic catastrophe, but would +represent the traditions of the earlier annals, or the great events of +current history, in accordance with the dictates of national feeling. +No important fragment of this drama has been preserved, but the fact +of its having been written by Pacuvius is interesting, as affording +a parallel to the celebration of the victory of Marcellus in the +Clastidium of Naevius, and of the success of M. Fulvius Nobilior in +the Ambracia of Ennius. + +Neither the fragments nor the ancient notices of Pacuvius produce on +a modern reader so distinct an impression of his peculiar genius +and character as may be formed of Naevius, Ennius, and Lucilius. +His remains are chiefly important as throwing light on the general +features of the Roman tragic drama; and few critics would attempt to +determine from internal evidence alone whether any particular passage +came from the lost works of Pacuvius or of Accius. The main points +that are known in his life are his provincial origin, and his +relationship to Ennius; the fact of his supporting himself, first by +painting, afterwards by the payment he received from the Aediles for +his plays; his friendship with Laelius, the centre of the literary +circle in Rome during the latter part of the second century B.C.; +his intimacy with his younger rival Accius; the facts also that, like +Sophocles, he preserved his poetical power unabated till a great age, +and that, like Shakspeare, he retired to spend his last years in his +native district. The language of his epitaph is suggestive of a kindly +and modest temper, and of the calm and serious spirit of age; while +that of many of his dramatic fragments bears evidence of his moral +strength and worth, and to the manly fervour as well as the gentle +humanity of his temperament. + +L. Accius (or Attius) was born in the year 170 B.C., of parentage +similar to that of Horace--'parentibus libertinis.' He was a native +of the Roman colony of Pisaurum in Umbria, founded in 184 B.C.; and an +estate in that district was known in after times by the name 'fundus +Accianus.' Like Pacuvius, he lived to a great age, though the exact +date of his death is uncertain. Cicero, who was born B.C. 106, +speaks of the oratorical and literary accomplishment of D. Junius +Brutus--Consul, along with P. Scipio Nasica, B.C. 138, and one of +the most famous soldiers and chiefs of the senatorian party in that +age--on the authority of what he had himself often heard from the +poet: 'ut ex familiari ejus L. Accio poeta sum audire solitus[32].' +The meeting of the old tragic poet and of the great orator is +remarkable, as a link connecting the two epochs in literature, which +stand so widely apart in the spirit and style by which they are +respectively characterised. Cicero again, in the speech in defence of +Archias, mentions the intimacy subsisting between D. Brutus and the +poet[33]. The expressions 'familiari ejus' and 'amicissimi sui,' +like that of 'hospitis et amici mei,' applied by Laelius, in Cicero's +dialogue, to Pacuvius, indicate that the relation between the poets +(men of humble or provincial origin) and eminent statesmen and +soldiers, was in that age one of familiar intimacy rather than of +patronage and dependence. + +Although Cicero's notice of his own acquaintance with Accius, which is +not likely to have existed before the former assumed the toga virilis, +is a proof of the great age which the poet attained, it is not certain +how long he continued the practice of his art. Seneca, in quoting from +the Atreus of this poet the well-known tyrant's maxim, 'oderint dum +metuant'--a maxim, according to Suetonius, constantly in the mouth of +Caligula,--adds the remark that 'any one could see that it was written +in the days of Sulla.' But Aulus Gellius, on the other hand, states +that the Atreus was the play which had been read by the poet in his +youth to Pacuvius at Tarentum. The termination of the literary career +of Accius must have been soon after the beginning of the first century +B.C., so that nearly half a century elapses between the last of the +works of the older poets and the appearance of the great poem of +Lucretius. The journey of Accius to Asia shows the beginning of +that taste for foreign travel which became prevalent among the most +educated men in a generation later, and grew more and more easy with +the advance of Roman conquest, and more attractive from the increased +cultivation of Greek literature. Accius is the first of the Roman +poets who seems to have possessed a country residence; and some taste +for country life and the beauties of Nature first betrays itself +in one or two of his fragments. He possessed apparently all the +self-esteem and high spirit of the earlier poets. Pliny mentions that +though a very little man, he placed a colossal statue of himself in a +temple of the Muses[34]. + +Another story is told by Valerius Maximus, that on the entrance of C. +Julius Caesar (the author of a few tragedies, and a member of one of +the great patrician houses), into the place of meeting of the 'Poets' +Guild' on the Aventine, he refused to rise up as a mark of deference, +thus asserting his own superiority in literature in opposition to the +unquestionable claims of rank on the part of his younger rival. + +He was much the most productive among the early tragic poets. The +titles of his dramas are variously reckoned from about 37 to about 50 +in number. Like Ennius, he seems to have made great use of the Trojan +cycle of events; and, in his representation of character and action, +to have appealed largely to the martial sympathies of the Romans. Two +of his dramas, the Brutus, treating of the downfall of the Tarquinian +dynasty, and the Aeneadae, or Decius, founded on the story of the +second Decius, who devoted himself at the battle of Sentinum, belonged +to the class of Fabulae Praetextatae. He followed the example of +Ennius in composing a national epic, called Annales, in three books. +He was the author also of what seem to have been works on grammar and +literary criticism and history, written in trochaic and other metres, +and known by the names Didascalica and Pragmatica, and Parerga. The +subjects of these last works, as well as those of some of the satires +of Lucilius, and of the poems of Porcius Licinus and Volcatius +Sedigitus, written in trochaic and septenarian verse, show the +attention which was given about this time by Roman authors to the +principles of composition. The literary and grammatical studies of the +time of Accius must have prepared the way for the rapid development of +style which characterised the first half of the first century B.C. +In some of the fragments of Accius distinctions in the meaning of +words--e.g. of 'pertinacia' and 'pervicacia'--are prominently brought +out. We note also in his remains, as in those of Pacuvius, a great +access of formative energy in the language, especially in abstract +words in _-tas_ and _-tudo_, many of which afterwards dropped out of +use. The antagonism manifested by Lucilius to Accius seems in a +great measure to have arisen from his claims to a kind of literary +dictatorship in questions of criticism and style. + +The literary qualities most conspicuous in the fragments of Accius, +and attributed to him by ancient writers, are of the same kind as +those which the dramatic fragments of Ennius and Pacuvius exhibit. +Cicero testifies to his oratorical force, to his serious spirit, and +to the didactic purpose of his writings. His most important remains +illustrate these attributes of his style, along with the shrewd sense +and vigorous understanding of the older writers, and afford some +traces of a new vein of poetical emotion, which is scarcely observable +in earlier fragments. Horace applies the epithet 'altus,' Ovid that +of 'animosus' to Accius. Cicero characterises him as 'gravis et +ingeniosus poeta,' and attests the didactic purpose of a particular +passage in the words, 'the earnest and inspired poet wrote thus with +the view of stimulating, not those princes who no longer existed, but +us and our children to energy and honourable ambition[35].' The style +of a passage from the Atreus is described by the same author in the +dialogue '_De Oratore_,' as 'nervous, impetuous, pressing on with a +certain impassioned gravity of feeling[36].' Oratorical fervour and +dignity seem thus to have been the most distinctive characteristic of +his style. Virgil, whose genius made as free use of the diction and +sentiment of native as of Greek poets, has cast the ruder language of +the old poet into a new mould in some of the greatest speeches of the +Aeneid, and seems to have drawn from the same source something of the +high spirit and lofty pathos with which he has animated the personages +of his story. The famous address, for instance-- + + Disce puer virtutem ex me verumque laborem, + Fortunam ex aliis, + +though originally found in the Ajax of Sophocles, was yet familiar to +Virgil in the line of Accius-- + + Virtuti sis par, dispar fortunis patris. + +The address of Latinus to Turnus-- + + O praestans animi juvenis, quantum ipse feroci + Virtute exsuperas, tanto me impensius aequum est + Consulere atque omnis metuentem expendere casus, + +is quoted by Macrobius as an echo of these lines of the old tragic +poet-- + + Quanto magis te istius modi esse intelligo, + Tanto, Antigona, magis me par est tibi consulere ac parcere. + +The same author quotes two other passages, in which the sentiment and +something of the language of Accius are reproduced in the speeches +of the Aeneid. The lofty and fervid oratory which is one of the most +Roman characteristics of that great national poem, and is quite unlike +the debates, the outbursts of passion, and the natural interchange of +speech in Homer, recalls the manner of the early tragic poets rather +than the style of the oratorical fragments in the Annals of Ennius. +The following lines may give some idea of the passionate energy which +may be recognised in many other fragments of Accius:-- + + Tereus indomito more atque animo barbaro + Conspexit in eam amore vecors flammeo, + Depositus: facinus pessimum ex dementia + Confingit[37]. + +He gives expression also to great strength of will and to that +most powerful kind of pathos which arises out of the commingling of +compassion for suffering with the admiration for heroism, as in these +fragments of the Astyanax and the Telephus,-- + + Abducite intro; nam mihi miseritudine + Commovit animum excelsa aspecti dignitas[38]; + +and-- + + Nam huius demum miseret, cuius nobilitas miserias + Nobilitat[39]. + +He shows a further power of directly seizing the real meaning of human +life, and setting aside false appearances and beliefs. The following +may be quoted as exhibiting something of his moral strength, humanity, +and direct force of understanding:-- + + Scin' ut quem cuique tribuit fortuna ordinem, + Nunquam ulla humilitas ingenium infirmat bonum[40]. + + Erat istuc virile, ferre advorsam fortunam facul[41]. + + Nam si a me regnum fortuna atque opes + Eripere quivit, at virtutem non quit[42]. + + Nullum est ingenium tantum, neque cor tam ferum, + Quod non labascat lingua, mitiscat malo[43]. + +The following, again, like similar passages already quoted from Ennius +and Pacuvius, is expressive of contempt for that form of superstition +which had most practical hold over the minds of the Roman people:-- + + Nil credo auguribus, qui auris verbis divitant + Alienas, suas ut auro locupletent domos[44]. + +Again, the view of common sense in regard to dreams is expressed by +the interpreter to whom Tarquinius applies when alarmed by a strange +vision-- + + Rex, quae in vita usurpant homines, cogitant, curant, vident, + Quaeque agunt vigilantes agitantque, ea si cui in somno accidunt + Minus mirum est[45]. + +Besides the characteristics already exemplified, one or two +passages may be appealed to, as implying the more special gifts of a +poet--force of imagination, and some sense of natural beauty. There is +considerable descriptive power in the following lines, for instance, +in which a shepherd, who had never before seen a ship, announces the +first appearance of the Argo-- + + Tanta moles labitur + Fremebunda ex alto, ingenti sonitu et spiritu: + Prae se undas volvit, vortices vi suscitat: + Ruit prolapsa, pelagus respergit, reflat[46]. + +There is an imaginative apprehension of the active forces of nature in +this fragment-- + + Sub axe posita ad stellas septem, unde horrifer + Aquilonis stridor gelidas molitur nives[47]. + +There is a fresh breath of the early morning in the lines from the +Oenomaus-- + + Forte ante Auroram, radiorum ardentum indicem, + Cum e somno in segetem agrestis cornutos cient, + Ut rorulentas terras ferro rufidas + Proscindant, glebasque arvo ex molli exsuscitent[48]. + +This is perhaps the first instance in Latin poetry of a descriptive +passage which gives any hint of the pleasure derived from +contemplating the common aspects of Nature. Several other short +fragments betray the existence of this new vein of poetic sensibility, +as, for instance, the following:-- + + Saxum id facit angustitatem, et sub eo saxo exuberans + Scatebra fluviae radit ripam[49]. + +The early expression of this kind of emotion seems to have been +accompanied with some degree of affectation, or unnatural straining +after effect, as in this fragment:-- + + Hac ubi curvo litore latratu + Unda sub undis labunda sonit. + +The following lines, quoted by Cicero (Tusc. Disp. i. 28) without +naming the author, are probably from Accius:-- + + Caelum nitescere, arbores frondescere, + Vites laetificae pampinis pubescere, + Rami bacarum ubertate incurviscere, + Segetes largiri fruges, florere omnia, + Fontes scatere, herbis prata convestirier. + +We note also many instances of plays on words, alliteration, and +asyndeton, reminding us of similar modes of conveying emphasis in +Plautus, as in the following:-- + + Pari dyspari, si impar esses tibi, ego nunc non essem miser. + Pro se quisque cum corona clarum cohonestat caput. + Egredere, exi, ecfer te, elimina urbe. + +It remains to sum up the most important results as to the early +tragic drama of Rome, which have been obtained from a consideration of +ancient testimony and of the fossil remains of this lost literature, +as we find them collected and arranged from the works of ancient +critics and grammarians. The Roman tragedies seem to have borne much +the same relation to the works of the Attic tragedians as Roman +comedy to the new comedy of Athens. The expression of Quintilian, 'in +comoedia maxime claudicamus[50],' following immediately on the praise +which he bestows on Pacuvius and Accius, implies that in his opinion +the earlier writers had been more successful in tragedy than in +comedy. But a comparison between the fragments of the tragedians and +the extant works of Plautus and Terence, proves that, in style at +least, Roman comedy was much the most successful; and this superiority +is no doubt one main cause of its partial preservation. The style of +Roman tragedy appears to have been direct and vigorous, serious, often +animated with oratorical passion, but singularly devoid of harmony, +subtlety, poetical refinement and inspiration. There is no testimony +in favour of any great dramatic conceptions or impersonations. The +poets appear to have aimed at expressing some particular passion +oratorically, as Virgil has done so powerfully in his representation +of Mezentius and Turnus, but not to have created any of those great +types of human character such as the world owes to Homer, Sophocles, +and Shakspeare. The popularity and the power of Roman tragedy, +during the century preceding the downfall of the Republic, are to be +attributed chiefly to its didactic and oratorical force, to the Roman +bearing of the persons represented, to the ethical and occasionally +the political cast of the sentiments expressed by them, and to the +plain and vigorous style in which they are enunciated. The works of +the tragic poets aided the development of the Roman language. They +communicated new ideas and experience, and fostered among the mass of +the Roman people the only taste for serious literature of which they +were capable. They may have exercised a beneficial influence also on +the thoughts and lives of men. They kept the national ideal of duty, +the 'manners of the olden time,' the 'fas et antiqua castitudo' (to +use an expression of Accius), before the minds of the people: +they inculcated by precept and by representations great lessons of +fortitude and energy: they taught the maxims of common sense, and +touched the minds of their audiences with a humanity of feeling +naturally alien to them. No teaching on the stage could permanently +preserve the old Roman virtue, simplicity, and loyalty to the +Republic, against the corrupting and disorganising effects of constant +wars and conquests, and of the gross forms of luxury, that suited the +temperament of Rome: but, among the various influences acting on the +mind of the people, none probably was of more unmixed good than that +of the tragic drama of Ennius, Pacuvius, and Accius. + + + [Footnote 1: E.g. the _Dulorestes_ of Pacuvius.] + + [Footnote 2: De Re Rustica, Lib. ii. Praef. Quoted also by + Columella, Praef. 15.] + + [Footnote 3: De Amicitia, 7.] + + [Footnote 4: Cic. Pro P. Sestio, 65.] + + [Footnote 5: Chap. 57.] + + [Footnote 6: Cicero, Brutus, 48, 45; De Orat. iii. 8. 30: + 'Quid noster hic Caesar nonne novam quandam rationem attulit + orationis et dicendi genus induxit prope singulare? Quis + unquam res praeter hunc tragicas paene comice, tristes + remisse, severas hilare, forenses scaenica prope venustate + tractavit atque ita, ut neque iocus magnitudine rerum + excluderetur nec gravitas facetiis minueretur.'] + + [Footnote 7: Cf. Cic. De Orat. iii. 7: 'Atque id primum in + poetis cerni licet quibus est proxima cognatio cum oratoribus + quam sint inter sese Ennius, Pacuvius, Acciusque dissimiles.'] + + [Footnote 8: 'Sanctitas certe, et, ut sic dicam, virilitas, ab + iis petenda est, quando nos in omnia deliciarum vitia dicendi + quoque ratione defluximus.'--Quintil. Inst. Or. i. 8. 9.] + + [Footnote 9: Inst. Or. x. i. 97.] + + [Footnote 10: Cf. Cic. Opt. Gen. Orat.: 'Itaque licet dicere + et Ennium summum epicum poetam si cui ita videtur, et Pacuvium + tragicum, et Caecilium fortasse comicum.'] + + [Footnote 11: Pliny, Hist. Nat. xxxv. 7.] + + [Footnote 12: xiii. 2.] + + [Footnote 13: 'Young man, though thou art in haste, this + stone entreats thee to regard it, and then read what is + written:--Here are laid the bones of the poet Marcus Pacuvius. + This I desired to be not unknown to thee. Farewell.'] + + [Footnote 14: Brutus, 74.] + + [Footnote 15: The writer of the treatise on Rhetoric addressed + to C. Herennius.] + + [Footnote 16: 'Quis enim tam inimicus paene nomini Romano est, + qui Ennii Medeam aut Antiopam Pacuvii spernat aut rejiciat, + quod se eisdem Euripidis fabulis delectari dicat?'--Cic. De + Fin. i. 2.] + + [Footnote 17: De Oratore, ii. 37.] + + [Footnote 18: Cic. Tusc. Disp. ii. 21.] + + [Footnote 19: 'Behold this, which around and above + encompasseth the earth, and puts on brightness at the rising + of the sun, becomes dark at his setting; that which our people + call Heaven, and the Greeks Aether. Whatever this is, it is + to all things the source of life, form, nourishment, growth, + existence; it is the grave and receptacle of all things, and + the parent, too, of all things: all things which arise from + it equally lapse into it again.' Compare with this passage + Lucretius, ii. 991-- + + 'Denique caelesti sumus omnes semine oriundi,' etc. + + Both may be traced to a fragment of the Chrysippus of + Euripides, quoted by Ribbeck, Röm. Trag. p. 257; and also by + Munro, Lucret. p. 455, third edition.] + + [Footnote 20: 'Philosophers say that Fortune is mad, blind, + and senseless, and represent her as set on a round rolling + stone. They say that she is mad, because she is harsh, fickle, + untrustworthy; blind, for this reason, that she can see + nothing to which to attach herself; senseless, because she + cannot distinguish between the worthy and unworthy. Other + philosophers again deny the existence of Fortune, but hold + that all things are ruled by chance. That this is more + probable, common experience proves, as Orestes was but the + other day a king, and is now a beggar.'] + + [Footnote 21: 'For those men who understand the language of + birds, and have more wisdom from examining the liver of other + beings than from their own (i.e. understanding), I think + should be heard rather than listened to.'] + + [Footnote 22: 'Thou, too, Ulysses, although we see thee sore + wounded, art yet almost too much cast down; thou, who hast + been used to pass thy life in arms!'] + + [Footnote 23: 'To complain of adverse fortune is well, but + not to lament over it. The one is the act of a man; it is a + woman's part to weep.'] + + [Footnote 24: Sueton. Caes. 84.] + + [Footnote 25: De Orat. ii. 46.] + + [Footnote 26: 'Didst thou venture to let him part from thee, + or to enter Salamis without him; and didst thou not fear to + see thy father's face, when in his old age, bereft of his + children, thou hast torn him with anguish, robbed, crushed + him; nor didst thou feel for thy brother's death, and his + child, who was trusted to thy protection--?'] + + [Footnote 27: Compare especially the fragments of the speeches + of C. Gracchus.] + + [Footnote 28: 'Glad at their starting, they watch the play + of the fish, and are never weary of watching them. Meanwhile, + nearly at sunset, the sea grows rough, darkness gathers, the + blackness of night and of the storm-clouds hides the world, + the lightning flashes between the clouds, the heaven is shaken + with the thunder, hail mixed with torrents of rain dashes + down in sudden showers; from all quarters all the winds burst + forth, the wild whirlwinds arise, the sea boils with the + surging waters.'--Quoted partly from Cic. De Div. i. 14; + partly from De Orat. iii. 39.] + + [Footnote 29: 'The groaning of the ships' tackling, the + dashing together of the ships, the uproar, the crash, the + rattle of the thunder, and the whistling of the ropes.'] + + [Footnote 30: 'Give me your foot, that with the brown waters + I may wash away the brown dust with those hands with which + I have often rubbed gently the feet of Ulysses, and with my + hands' softness soothe your weariness.'] + + [Footnote 31: 'It represented the deeds of Roman kings and + generals: hence it is evident that at least it wanted the + unity of time of the Greek tragedy; that it was a history like + Shakspeare's.'--Niebuhr's Roman History, vol. i. note 1150.] + + [Footnote 32: Brutus, 28.] + + [Footnote 33: 'Decimus quidem Brutus, summus ille vir et + imperator, Accii, amicissimi sui, carminibus templorum ac + monumentorum aditus exornavit suorum.'--Chap. 11.] + + [Footnote 34: Hist. Nat. xxxiv. 10: 'Notatum ab auctoribus, et + L. Accium poetam in Camenarum aede maxima forma statuam sibi + posuisse, cum brevis admodum fuisset.'] + + [Footnote 35: Pro Plancio, 24.] + + [Footnote 36: De Orat. iii. 58.] + + [Footnote 37: 'Tereus, in his wild mood and savage spirit, + gazed upon her, maddened with burning passion, quite + desperate; in his madness, he resolves a cursed deed.'] + + [Footnote 38: 'Withdraw him within: for the lofty dignity of + his aspect has moved my mind to compassion.'] + + [Footnote 39: 'That man indeed we pity whose nobleness gives + distinction to his misery.'] + + [Footnote 40: 'Dost thou not know, that whatever rank fortune + has assigned to a man, no meanness of station ever weakens a + fine nature?'] + + [Footnote 41: 'This was the part of a man, to bear adversity + easily.'] + + [Footnote 42: 'Though fortune could strip me of kingdom and + wealth, it cannot strip me of my virtue.'] + + [Footnote 43: 'No nature is so strong, no breast so savage, + which is not shaken by words, does not melt at misfortune.'] + + [Footnote 44: 'I trust not those augurs, who enrich the ears + of others with their words, that they may enrich their own + houses with gold.' There is of course a pun on the _auris_ and + _auro_.] + + [Footnote 45: 'O king, what men usually do in life, what they + think about, care about, see,--their pursuits and occupations, + when awake,--if these occur to any one in sleep, it is not + wonderful.'] + + [Footnote 46: 'So huge a mass is approaching--sounding from + the deep with a mighty rushing noise; it rolls the waves + before it, forces through the eddies, plunges forward, throws + up and dashes back the sea.'--Quoted in Cic. De Nat. Deor. ii. + 35.] + + [Footnote 47: 'Lying beneath the pole by the seven stars, + whence the blustering roar of the north-wind drives before it + the chill snows.'] + + [Footnote 48: 'By chance before the dawn, harbinger of burning + rays, when the husbandmen bring forth the oxen from their rest + into the fields, that they may break the red, dew-sprinkled + soil with the plough, and turn up the clods from the soft + soil.'] + + [Footnote 49: 'That rock makes the passage narrow, and from + beneath that rock a spring gushing out sweeps past the river's + bank.'] + + [Footnote 50: Inst. Or. x. i. 99.] + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +ROMAN COMEDY. PLAUTUS. ABOUT 254 TO 184 B.C. + + +The era in which Roman epic and tragic poetry arose was also the +flourishing era of Roman comedy. A later generation looked back on +the age of Ennius and Plautus as an age of great poets, who had passed +away:-- + + Ea tempestate flos poetarum fuit + Qui nunc abierunt hinc in communem locum[1]. + +And among these poets the writers of comedy were both most numerous +and apparently the most popular in their own time[2]. Besides the +names of Naevius, Plautus, Caecilius, and Terence, we know the names +of other comic poets of less fame[3], and from allusions in the extant +plays of Plautus[4] and in the prologues of Terence we infer that +there were other competitors for public favour whose names were +unknown to a later generation. In the Ciceronian age the works of +these forgotten playwrights were for the most part attributed to +Plautus, probably with the view of gaining some temporary popularity +for them. In the time of Gellius no fewer than 130 plays passed under +his name; among these, twenty-one were regarded as undoubtedly his, +nineteen more as probably genuine, and the rest as spurious. They were +however all of the class of _palliatae_; and as the _fabulae togatae_ +seem, after the time of Terence, to have been composed in much greater +number than those founded on Greek originals, most of them must have +belonged to the first half of the second century B.C. Plays of a later +date would have clearly shown by their diction that they were not the +work of Plautus. + +Although this form of literature has little in common with the higher +Roman mood, and exercised comparatively slight influence on the style +and sentiment of later Roman poetry[5], yet no review of the creative +literature of the Republican period would be complete without some +attempt to estimate the value of the comedy of Plautus and Terence. +The difficulty of doing so adequately arises from an opposite cause +to that which makes our judgment on the art and genius of the Roman +tragic poets so incomplete. In the latter case we know what was the +character of their Greek models; but we can only conjecture from a +number of unconnected fragments, how far the copy deviated in tone +and spirit from the original. On the other hand, while we have between +twenty and thirty specimens of Latin comedy, we have no finished work +of Greek art in the same style, with which to compare them. It makes +a great difference in our opinion, not only of the genius of the +Roman poets, but of the productive force of the Roman mind, whether +we regard Plautus and Terence as facile translators, or as writers of +creative originality who filled up the outlines which they took from +the new comedy of Athens with matter drawn from their own observation +and invention. It makes a great difference in the literary interest of +these works, whether we regard them as blurred copies of pictures +from later Greek life, or, like so much else in Roman literature, as +compositions which, while Greek in form, are yet in no slight degree +Roman or Italian in substance, character, life, and sentiment. How far +can we answer these questions, either by general considerations, or +by a special attention to the actual products of Latin comedy which we +possess? + +We have seen that there was a certain aptitude in the graver Roman +spirit for tragedy:-- + + Nam spirat tragicum satis et feliciter audet. + +The rhetorical character of Roman education and the rhetorical +tendencies of the Roman mind secured favour for this kind of +composition till the age of Quintilian. His dictum 'in comoedia maxime +claudicamus,' on the other hand, implies that the educated taste of +Romans under the Empire did not find much that was congenial in the +works of Plautus, Caecilius, or Terence. The tone of Horace is more +contemptuous towards Plautus than towards Ennius and the tragic poets. +While tragedy continued to be cultivated by eminent writers in the +Augustan age and early Empire, few original comedies seem to have been +written after the beginning of the first century B.C.[6] The higher +efforts of the comic muse were almost, if not entirely, superseded by +the Mimus. These considerations show that comedy was not congenial to +the educated or the uneducated taste of Romans in the last years of +the Republic, and in the early Empire. But, on the other hand, the +popularity enjoyed by the old comedy between the time of Naevius and +of Terence, and even down to the earlier half of the Ciceronian age, +when some of the great parts in Plautus continued to be performed +by the 'accomplished Roscius,' and the admiration expressed for its +authors by grammarians and critics, from Aelius Stilo down to Varro +and Cicero, show its adaptation to an earlier and not less vigorous, +if less refined stage of intellectual development; while the actual +survival of many Roman comedies can only be accounted for by a more +real adaptation to human nature, both in style and substance, than +was attained by Roman tragedy in its straining after a higher ideal of +sentiment and expression. + +The task undertaken by Naevius and Plautus was indeed a much easier +one than that accomplished by the early writers of tragedy. They were +not called upon to create a new taste, or to gratify a taste recently +acquired in Sicily and the towns of Magna Graecia. They had only to +give ampler and more defined form, fuller and more coherent substance, +to a kind of entertainment which was indigenous in Italy. The +improvised 'Saturae'--'dramatic medleys or farces with musical +accompaniment'--had been represented on Roman holidays for more than +a century before the first performance of a regular play by Livius +Andronicus. And these 'Saturae' had been themselves developed partly +out of the older Fescennine dialogues--the rustic raillery of the +vintage and the harvest-home,--partly out of mimetic dances imported +from Etruria. Another kind of dramatic entertainment, the 'Oscum +ludicrum,' which was developed into the literary form of the 'fabulae +Atellanae,' with its standing characters of Maccus, Pappus, Bucco, +and Dossennus, had been transferred to the city from the provinces of +southern Italy, and ultimately became so popular as to be performed, +not by professional actors, but by the free-born youth of Rome. The +extant comedies of Plautus show considerable traces of both of these +kinds of entertainment, both in the large place assigned to the +'Cantica,' which were accompanied by music and gesticulation[7], and +in the farcical exaggeration of some of his characters, which provoked +the criticism of Horace,-- + + Quantus sit Dossennus edacibus in parasitis. + +The mass of Roman citizens, both rural and urban, was thus prepared +by their festive traditions and habits to welcome the introduction of +comedy, just as they were prepared by their political traditions and +aptitudes to welcome the appearance of a popular orator. + +Naevius and Plautus might thus be poets of the people more truly than +any later Roman poet could be. The career of Naevius, and the public +and personal elements which he introduced into his plays, afford +evidence of his desire to use his position as a popular poet for +political ends. His imprisonment and subsequent banishment equally +attest the determination of the governing class to allow no criticism +on public men or affairs, nor anything derogatory to the majesty of +the State and the dignified forms of Roman life, to be heard on the +stage. Plautus, though prevented either by his own temperament or the +vigilance of state-censorship from directly acting on the political +sympathies of the commons, maintained the thoroughly popular character +of Roman comedy, and poured a strongly national spirit into the forms +which he adopted from Greece. Between the death of Plautus and that of +Terence there was no cessation in the productiveness of Roman comedy; +but the little that is known of Caecilius, and the evidence afforded +by the plays of Terence, show that Roman comedy had now begun to +appeal to a different class of sympathies. The ascendency of Ennius in +Roman literature immensely widened the gulf which always separates an +educated from an uneducated class. One of the great sources of +interest in Plautus is that he flourished before this separation +became marked, while the upper classes were yet comparatively rude and +simple in their requirements, and the mass of the people were yet +hearty and vigorous in their enjoyments. The popularity of his plays +revived again after the death of Terence, and maintained itself till +nearly the end of the Republic, a proof that his genius was not only +in harmony with his own age, but satisfied a permanent vein of +sentiment in his countrymen, so long as they retained anything of +their native vigour and republican spirit. The fact that Roman comedy +was not congenial to the educated taste of the early Empire is no +proof of its want of originality. It was in harmony with an earlier +stage in the development of the Roman people. Had that been all, it +might have been completely lost, or preserved only in fragments like +those of the Satire of Lucilius. But as being the heir of an older +popular kind of composition it enjoyed the advantage, possessed by +none of the more artificial forms of poetry introduced at this period, +of a fresh, copious, popular, and idiomatic diction. The comic poets +of Rome alone inherited, like the epic poets of Greece, a vehicle of +expression formed by the improvised utterance of several generations. +The greater fluency of style and the greater ease of rhythmical +movement, thus enjoyed by the early comedy, is the most obvious +explanation of its permanent hold on the world. But the mere merits of +language would scarcely have secured permanence to these compositions +apart from the cosmopolitan human interest derived from the Greek +originals on which they were founded, and from the strong vitality +which the earlier Roman poet drew from the great time into which he +was born, and the refined art for which the younger poet was partly +indebted to the circle of high-born, aspiring, and accomplished youths +into which he was admitted. + +Our chief authorities for the life of Plautus are a short statement +of Jerome, one or two slight notices in Cicero, and a somewhat longer +passage in Aulus Gellius (iii. 3. 14). As he died at an advanced age, +in the year 184 B.C.[8] (during the censorship of Cato), he must have +been born about the middle of the third century B.C. He was thus a +younger contemporary of Naevius, and somewhat older than Ennius. His +birthplace was Sarsina in Umbria. That this district must have been +thoroughly Latinised in the time of Plautus, is attested by the +idiomatic force and purity of his style[9]. He probably came early to +Rome, and was at first engaged 'in operis artificum scenicorum,'--in +some kind of employment connected with the stage. He saved money in +this service, and lost it all in foreign trade,--what he himself calls +'marituma negotia'[10]. Returning to Rome in absolute poverty, he was +reduced to work as a hired servant in a mill; and while thus employed +he first began to write comedies. The names of two of these early +works, _Saturio_ and _Addictus_, have been preserved by Gellius. +From this time till his death he seems to have been a most rapid and +productive writer. We have no means of determining at what date he +began to write. A passage quoted from Cicero has been thought to imply +that he was writing for the stage during the life-time of P. and Cn. +Scipio, i.e. before 212 B.C. But the earliest allusion to contemporary +events that we find in any of his extant plays, is that in the Miles +Gloriosus, to the imprisonment of Naevius, probably in 206-5 B.C.[11] +We have no certainty that any of the extant plays were written before +that date, although the mention of Hiero in the Menaechmi, and the use +of some more than usually archaic inflexions in that play, have been +supposed to indicate an earlier date for it. Of the other plays, +the Cistellaria and Stichus were written within a year or two of the +Second Punic War[12]. The larger number of the extant comedies belong +to the last ten years of the poet's life. His plays do not seem to +have been published as literary works during his life-time, but to +have been left in possession of the acting companies, by whom passages +may have been interpolated and others omitted, before they were +finally reduced into a literary shape. Most of the prologues to his +plays belong to a later time, probably that of the generation after +his death[13]. Of the twenty-one plays which Varro accepted, on the +ground of their intrinsic merits, as certainly genuine, we possess +twenty, and fragments of the remaining one, the _Vidularia_. The names +of some other genuine plays, such as the _Saturio_, _Addictus_, and +_Commorientes_, are also known to us. + +How far are we able to fill up this meagre outline by personal +indications of the poet left on his works? In the case of any +dramatist this is always difficult; and Plautus is not in form only, +but in spirit, essentially dramatic. Nothing marks the difference +between the popular and the aristocratic tendencies of Roman thought +and literature more than the entire absence of any didactic tendency +in his plays. He does not think of making his hearers better by his +representations, nor does he believe that it is possible to do so[14]. +He identifies himself as heartily for the time being with his rogues +of both sexes as with his rarer specimens of honest men and virtuous +women. He seldom indulges in reflexions on life. When he does so it is +by the mouth of a slave, who winds up the unfamiliar process in some +such way as Pseudolus, 'sed iam satis est philosophatum[15],' or in +the lyrical self-reproaches of some prodigal, whose good resolutions +vanish on the reappearance of his mistress. Among the innumerable +terms of reproach which one slave addresses to another, none is +expressive of more withering contempt than the term 'philosophe[16].' +But even if we could trace any predominant sympathies in Plautus, or +any special vein of reflexion which might seem to throw light on his +own experience, some doubt would always remain as to whether he was +not in these passages reproducing his original. The loss of many +of his prologues deprives us of the kind of knowledge of his +circumstances and position which Terence affords us in his prologues. +Even the 'asides' to the spectators, which often occur in Plautus, may +in many cases be due to the comedians of a later time. + +Yet perhaps it is not impossible to enlarge our notion of his personal +circumstances and characteristics by tracing some hints of them in his +extant works. + +We find one reference to his birthplace, in the form of a bad pun +altogether devoid of any trace of sentiment or affection[17]. +He mentions other districts or towns in Italy in the tone of +half-humorous, half-contemptuous indifference, which a Londoner +of last, or a Parisian of the present century, might adopt to the +provinces[18]. More than one allusion indicates that the citizens of +Praeneste were especially regarded as butts by the wits of Rome[19]. +The contempt of the town for the country also appears unmistakeably in +the dialogue between Grumio and Tranio in the 'Mostellaria[20],' and +in the boorish manners of the country lover in the 'Truculentus.' In +the eyes of a town-bred wit the chief use of the country is to supply +elm-rods for the punishment of pert or refractory slaves. A large +number of his illustrations are taken from the handicrafts of +the city, but very few are indicative of familiarity with rustic +occupations. There is no breath of the poetry of rural nature in +Plautus. If he betrays any poetical sensibility to natural influences +at all, it is to be found in passages in which the aspects of the sea, +in calm or storm, are recalled. Mommsen speaks of 'a most remarkable +analogy in many external points between Plautus and Shakespeare[21]. +'Yet there is contrast rather than analogy in the impression left upon +their respective works by the associations of their early homes. + +On the other hand we find, in many of his plays, traces of intimate +familiarity with the adventures of a mercantile life. It is most +probable that some of the passages in which these appear would have +been found in his originals had they been preserved to us. Yet the +emotions of thankfulness for a safe return to harbour, or of curiosity +and pleasure in landing at a strange town[22], are expressed so +frequently and with such liveliness as to seem like the reminiscence +of personal experience. We get, somehow, the impression of one who had +travelled widely, had 'seen the cities of many men and learned +their minds,' had marked with humorous observation many varieties +of character, had taken note, but without any special aesthetic +sensibility, of the works of art which were scattered throughout the +Hellenic cities, had shared in the pleasures which these cities held +out freely to their visitors, and had encountered the dangers of the +sea not without some sense of their sublimity and picturesqueness[23]. +The God most frequently appealed to in prayer or thanksgiving is +Neptune[24]. The colloquial use of Greek phrases in many of his +plays seems to imply a familiar habit of employing them, in active +intercourse with Greeks on his maritime adventures. The day-dream +of Gripus, after finding his treasure, might almost be taken as a +humorous comment on the various motives of curiosity and mercantile +enterprise by which he himself was prompted to become engaged in +maritime speculation:-- + + Navibus magnis mercaturam faciam: aput reges rex perhibebor. + Post animi causa mihi navem faciam atque imitabor Stratonicum, + Oppida circumvectitabor, ubi nobilitas mea erit clara, + Oppidum magnum conmoenibo: ei ego urbi Gripo indam nomen[25]. + +He shows much greater familiarity with the life of the lower and +middle classes than with that of those above them in station. He is +not always happy in his embodiment of the character of a gentleman. +Nothing, for instance, can be meaner than the conduct of the second +Menaechmus, who is intended to interest us, in his relations to +Erotion. And this failure is equally conspicuous in another of his +favourite characters, Periplecomenus, the 'lepidus senex' of the +Gloriosus. His indecorous geniality is scarcely compatible with the +respectability, not to say the dignity, of age. We recognise in his +characters and illustrations a vigorous and many-sided contact with +life, but no influence derived from association with members of the +governing class. In this respect he stood in marked contrast to +Ennius and Terence, and probably to Caecilius. The two latter, being +freedmen, were naturally brought into closer association with, and +dependence on, their social superiors. Plautus writes in the spirit +of an 'ingenuus,' in good-humoured sympathy with the mass of the +citizens, and with no feeling of bitterness towards the aristocracy, +or indeed to any human being whatsoever. He is at home with all kinds +of men, except the highest in rank. He takes a good-natured ironical +delight in his slaves, courtesans, parasites, and sycophants. He is +not shocked by anything they can do or say. He feels the enjoyment of +a man of strong animal spirits in laughing at and with them. Even +the 'leno,' the least estimable character in the repertory of ancient +comedy, he treats rather as a butt than as an object of detestation. +He does not by a single phrase show any sign of having been soured or +depressed by the misfortunes and vicissitudes of his life. We feel, +in his dialogues, the presence of irrepressible animal spirits, and a +sense of boundless resource and lively intelligence in his characters, +especially in his slaves. From no scrape does it seem hopeless for +them to find some means of extrication. Like them, he himself has the +buoyancy of one, 'fortunae immersabilis undis.' + +From the zest with which he writes of them, we might infer that he had +a keen personal enjoyment in eating and drinking, and in the coarser +forms of conviviality. His favourite dishes,-- + + Pernam callum glandium sumen, etc.[26] + +find no place in the more fastidious gastronomy of our own times, +but they were capable of giving great satisfaction to the larger and +robuster appetites of the ancient Italians,--of a people who had +been, till the sudden influx of luxury in his own time, described as +'barbarous porridge-eaters[27].' Horace has criticised the extravagant +gusto with which he makes his parasites dilate on their peculiar +pleasures[28]; and the important part which the preparation for the +'prandium' or the 'cena' plays in several of his dramas is perhaps +significant of the attention which he himself bestowed on them in +the days of his prosperity. The early revels of Philolaches and +Callidamates in the Mostellaria, the manner in which Pseudolus +celebrates his triumph over Ballio[29], and Sagarinus and Stichus the +return of their masters from abroad[30], the tastes which the poet +attributes to the old women in his pieces, as to Staphyla in the +Aulularia,--show that the Romans had not learned, in his time, the +more cultivated enjoyment of wine, which they brought to perfection +in the days of Horace. The experience to which Plautus bears witness, +like that attributed to his contemporaries in the lines + + Ennius ipse pater numquam nisi potus ad arma + Prosiluit dicenda, + +and + + Narratur et prisci Catonis + Saepe mero caluisse virtus, + +is indicative rather of the convivial 'abandon' of men of vigorous +constitutions, than of the more deliberate and fastidious epicureanism +of the poets of a later age. + +Another criticism of Horace upon Plautus-- + + Gestit enim nummum in loculos demittere-- + +may very probably be true, and is by no means to his discredit. The +same charge has been brought against some of the most facile and +productive creators in modern times, such as Scott, Dickens, and +Balzac, and, to a certain extent, even Shakspeare. To the poets +of Nature, or of the higher thought and emotions of men, the pure +enjoyment of their art may afford sufficient happiness. In so far as +they are true to their higher genius, they are, or ought to be, more +independent than any other class of men of the pleasures which money +can give. But artists whose power consists in vividly realising and +representing the various activities, passions, and enjoyments of life, +may feel, in their own experience, some of the craving and of the +satisfaction which they are called on to describe. Nor is it unnatural +that they should take any legitimate means of securing for themselves +some share in the objects of desire, which are the moving forces of +their imaginary world. In the large place which the details of good +living fill in his plays, Plautus exaggerates a tendency which is +discernible in the more decorous fictions of Scott and Dickens. In the +important part which he assigns to money in many of his dramas, in +his business-like mention of specific sums, in the frequency of +his illustrations from the practice of keeping accounts, he shows a +resemblance to Balzac. The experience of his life must have impressed +upon him the value of money. The fact that he saved enough in his +early employment in connexion with the stage to embark on mercantile +speculations is a proof of early thrift and prudence and of a wish to +raise himself in the world. In all this he was merely exhibiting +one of the most common characteristics of the middle class among his +countrymen. + +Horace adds the further criticism, that so long as he could make money +he was indifferent to the artistic merits of his pieces,-- + + Securus cadat an recto stet fabula talo;-- + +and this criticism is to a great extent true. His object was to give +the largest amount of immediate amusement[31]. He was not a careful +artist like Terence, studying either finish of style, perfect +consistency in the development of his characters, or the working +out of his plots to a harmonious conclusion. It was owing to the +irrepressible vitality and strong human nature which he could not help +imparting to his careless execution, that his plays have survived many +more elaborate compositions. Yet he shows a rude kind of consciousness +of his art in such passages as that in which he makes Pseudolus +compare himself to the poet who creates out of nothing-- + + Set quasi poeta, tabulas quom cepit sibi, + Quaerit quod nusquamst gentium, reperit tamen[32]; + +and he speaks of the pleasure which he took in his play +'Epidicus[33].' Cicero also testifies to the joy which he derived +from two of the works of his old age, the Pseudolus and the +Truculentus[34]. But his delight was that of a vigorous creator, not +of a painstaking artist. + +Many allusions in his plays attest his acquaintance with works of +art, with the stories of Greek mythology or the subjects of Greek +tragedies, and with the names, at least, of Greek philosophers. His +extraordinary productiveness in adapting works from the new comedy +shows that he had a complete command of the Greek language. He not +only uses Greek phrases, but has endeavoured to enrich the native +vocabulary with a considerable number of Greek words in a Latin +form[35]. Yet the knowledge he betrays is that which a man of +versatile intelligence, lively curiosity, and retentive memory, would +pick up in his varied intercourse with his contemporaries, without any +special study of books, except such as were needed for his immediate +purpose. The more recondite learning of Ennius was probably as strange +to him as that of Ben Jonson was to Shakspeare. + +The great movement of his age acted on the mind of Plautus in a manner +different from that in which it affected Ennius. To the younger poet +the triumphant close of the Second Punic War brought the sense of a +mighty future awaiting the Roman Republic. He appealed to the higher +national aspirations stirring the hearts of the governing class. +Plautus felt the strong rebound of spirits from a long-continued state +of tension, from a time of anxiety and self-sacrifice, in a less noble +manner. He appealed to the craving which the mass of the citizens felt +for a more unrestrained enjoyment of the pleasures of life. In the +spirit which moved him we seem to recognise the same kind of impulse +which prompted the repeal of the Oppian law, and which led to the +great increase of public amusements of every kind. The newly-acquired +peace and ease awoke in him a sense of the immense capacities of the +individual for enjoyment. In a passage of one of his later plays +he seems to claim this indulgence as the natural concomitant of +victory:-- + + Postremo in magno populo, in multis hominibus, + Re placida atque otiosa, victis hostibus, + Amare oportet omnes, qui quod dent habent[36]. + +With this new sense of freedom and of fullness of life, the old +restraints of religion and of the morality bound up with it were +relaxed. The commons began to exercise less and less influence in the +state. Their political indifference finds an echo in the slighting +allusions which Plautus makes to the duties of public life[37]. The +increased contact with the mind and life of the Greeks powerfully +stimulated intellectual curiosity, but at the same time was a great +solvent of faith, manners, and morals. The frequent use of the words +_congraecari_, _pergraecari_, etc., in Plautus, shows that while the +highest Roman minds were learning new lessons of wisdom and humanity +from the great Greek writers of the past, the ordinary Roman was +learning lessons of idleness and dissoluteness from the living Greeks +of the time. The armies which returned from the Macedonian wars, and +still more from that with Antiochus, brought with them new fashions +and new appliances of luxury. Plautus shows a large indulgence, not +unmixed with a vein of saturnine humour, for these new ways on which +both young and old were eagerly entering. We see in him the unchecked +exuberance of animal life, but no sign of the recklessness or the +satiety of exhausted passions. Though there is more decorum, more +refined sentiment, in the life of pleasure as presented by Terence, +there is more often in Plautus an expression of a struggle between the +new temptations and the old Roman ideas of thrift, active duty, and +self-restraint. The conscience, though easily lulled to sleep, is +still capable of feeling the sting of the thought contained in the +Lucretian line-- + + Desidiose agere aetatem lustrisque perire. + +Turning now to the particular plays we find that they all belong to +the class of _palliatae_. They are adaptations or combinations from +the works of Menander, Diphilus, Philemon, and other writers of the +new comedy. The action represented is generally supposed to take place +in Athens, sometimes in other Greek towns, in Epidamnus, Ephesus, +Cyrene, etc. The plays of Plautus, unlike those of Terence and most +of those of Caecilius, have generally Latin titles, but nearly all his +personages have Greek names. One or two of his parasites (Peniculus, +Saturio, Curculio) are exceptions to this rule: but the absence of all +_gentile_ designations among his richer personages would alone prove +that he had no intention of presenting to his audience the outward +conditions of Roman or Italian life. The social circumstances implied +in all his plays are those of well-to-do citizens engaged in foreign +commerce, or retired from business after having made their fortunes. +The only differences in station among his personages are those of +rich and poor, free and slave. There is no recognition of those great +distinctions of birth, privilege, and political status, which were so +pervading a characteristic of Roman life. Old men are indeed spoken +of as 'senati columen'; and it is made a ground of reproach to a young +man that he is not already a candidate for public office, or making +a name for himself by defending cases in the law-courts. But such +passages are probably to be classed among the frequent Roman allusions +to be found in Plautus, which had no equivalent in his original. The +new comedy of Menander was based on the philosophy of Epicurus, which +taught the lesson of abstention from all public duties[38]. The life +of the young men is almost entirely a life of pleasure, varied +perhaps by some participation in their fathers' foreign business, or +occasional service in the army. But the dislike of a military life +among the 'easy livers' of Athens in the beginning of the third +century B.C. is shown as much by the indifference of these young men +to their honour as soldiers[39], as by the ridicule which is heaped +upon the 'Captain Bobadils' who served as mercenaries in the military +monarchies of the successors of Alexander. Even a slave regards +enlisting as a soldier as the last refuge of a ruined man. The other +characters are of Greek origin, though some of them became naturalised +in Rome. The ordinary Roman client on the one hand--such as the +Volteius Mena of Horace,--and the scurra of Roman satire on the other +(Volanerius or Maenius), had a certain likeness to the Greek parasite; +though the position of the first was more respectable[40], and the +last was a more formidable element in society than a Gelasimus or +an Artotrogus. The 'fallax servus' of comedy, though a wonderful +conception of a humorous imagination, is a character hardly compatible +with any social conditions; but it is undoubtedly an exaggeration +of Greek mendacity and intelligence, the very antithesis of Italian +rusticity. The commanding part they play in the affairs of their +masters seems like a grotesque anticipation of the part played under +the empire by Greek freedmen,-- + + Viscera magnarum domuum dominique futuri. + +The 'meretrix blanda' of Menander was probably more refined, but not +essentially different from the 'libertina' of Rome. Among the rare +glimpses into social life which Livy affords behind the stately but +somewhat monotonous pageant of consuls and imperators, armies in the +field, senators in council, and political assemblies of the people, +none is more interesting than that given in the inquiries into the +horrors of the Bacchanalia at Rome[41]. The relations between P. +Aebutius and the freedwoman Hispala Fecenia bring to mind those +existing between the Philematiums, the Phileniums, or Planesiums of +comedy and their lovers. The 'leno insidiosus' and the 'improba lena' +are probably much the same in all times and countries; but there is +a vigorous brutality and inhuman hardness about Ballio and Cleaereta +which seem more true to Roman than to Greek life. The kind of life +which comedy represents must have had great attractions for a race +of vigorous organisation like the Romans, after continued success and +prosperity had broken down the old restraints on conduct and desire, +and the accumulated wealth of the world had become the prize of their +energy. Yet their inherited instincts for industry and frugality must +have made it difficult for them to realise gracefully the hollow life +of light-hearted enjoyment which came easily to a Greek in the third +century B.C. The average Roman learned to exaggerate the profligacy +without acquiring the refinement of his teachers. + +It might perhaps have been expected that a writer of such prodigal +invention and so popular and national a fibre as Plautus would +have chosen rather to set before his countrymen a humorous image of +themselves, than to transport them in imagination to Athens and to +exhibit to them those well-used conventional types of Greek life and +manners. But, in the first place, the mere fact that it was more easy +for him to adapt than to create would have been a sufficient motive +to so careless and unconscious an artist. Again, the state-censorship +exercised by the magistrates who exhibited the games would naturally +deter a poet, who did not wish to encounter the fate of Naevius, +from any direct dealing with the delicate subject of Roman social and +family life. The later writers of the _fabulae togatae_ seem for the +most part to have reproduced the life and personages of the provincial +towns in Italy. The position not only of the magistrate but even +of the citizen at Rome was invested with a kind of dignity and even +sanctity, which it would have been dangerous to violate in a public +spectacle. Further, the very novelty and unfamiliarity of the ways of +Greek life would be more stimulating to the rude imagination of that +age than a reproduction of the everyday life of Rome. It requires +a more cultivated fancy to recognise incidents, situations and +characters suited for art in actual experience, than to appreciate the +conventional types of older dramatists. It is a noticeable fact that +Shakspeare places the scene of only one of his comedies in England, +and that he too introduces the English names and characteristics of +Bottom, Snug, Peter Quince, etc., as Plautus does those of Saturio +or Curculio into an imaginary representation of Athenian life. But +whatever were his motives for doing so, Plautus professes to introduce +his hearers to a representation of Greek manners and morals. His +frequent use of the word _barbarus_ in reference to Italian or Roman +ways, his use of Latinised Greek words and actual Greek phrases, the +Greek names of his personages, the dress in which they appeared, +the invariable reference to Greek money, perhaps the actual scene +presented to the eye, the frequent mention of ships unexpectedly +arriving in harbour, the names of the foreign towns visited, etc., +would all tend to remind the audience that they were listening to an +action and witnessing a spectacle of Greek life. + +But while the outward conditions of his dramas are professedly taken +from Greek originals, much of the manner and spirit of his personages +is certainly Roman. The language in which they express themselves in +the first place is thoroughly their own. This is shown by the large +number of his puns and plays on words. These by their spontaneity, +sometimes by their grotesqueness, sometimes by a Latin play on a +Greek word--such as Archidemides[42] or Epidamnus,--show their +native origin. No writer, again, abounds so much in alliterations, +assonances, asyndeta[43], which are characteristic of all early Roman +poetry down even to Lucretius, and which have no parallel in the +more refined and natural diction of the Greek dramatists. Further, +we constantly meet with Roman formulae[44], Roman proverbs[45], +expressions of courtesy[46], and the like. The very fluency, +copiousness, and verve of his language are impossible to a translator, +at least in the early stages of a literature. Nothing can be more +spontaneous and natural than the dialogue in Plautus. There is, on +the other hand, considerable appearance of effort in the reflective +passages of the 'cantica'; and this is exactly what we should expect +in a Roman writer of originality. Reflexion on life was altogether +strange to a Roman in the age of Plautus; to a Greek it was easy and +hackneyed. In the prolixity and slow beating out of the thought in +some of the 'cantica' we note the beginning of a process unfamiliar to +the Roman mind, for which the forms of the Latin language were not +yet adapted. The facility of expressing reflexion appears much more +developed in Terence. If Plautus were reproducing a Greek original in +such passages as Mostell. 85-145, Trinummus 186-273, the thought and +the illustration would have lost much in freshness and _naïveté_ but +they would have been expressed with much more point and conciseness. + +But it is not only in his language and manner that Plautus shows his +independence of his originals. The poems taken from Greek life are in +a large measure filled up with matter taken from the life around him. +The Greek personages of his play, without apparently any sense of +artistic incongruity, speak as Romans would do of the places familiar +to Romans--town in Italy[47], streets, markets, gates, in Rome[48]; of +Roman magistrates and other officials, Quaestors, Aediles, Praetors, +Tresviri, Publicani; they allude to the public business of the senate, +comitia, and law-courts,--to colonies[49], praefecturae, and the +provincia of a magistrate,--to public games in honour of the dead,--to +the distinctive dress worn by matrons,--to the forms of bargaining and +purchasing, of summoning an antagonist into court, of pleading a +case at law,--to the times of vacation from business[50],--to +the emancipation of slaves,--peculiar to the Romans. The special +characteristics of Roman religion appear in the number of abstract +deities referred to, such as Salus, Opportunitas, Libentia, etc. A +new divinity is invented in the interests of lovers, under the name of +Suavisuaviatio[51]. Other better-known objects of Roman worship, +such as Jupiter Capitolinus, Laverna, the Lar Familiaris, are +also introduced. We find also references to recent events in Roman +history--such as the subjugation of the Boii[52], the treatment +inflicted on the Campanians after the Second Punic War, the +importation of Syrian slaves after the war with Antiochus[53], the +introduction of foreign luxuries at the same time[54], the extreme +frequency with which triumphs were granted in the first twenty years +of the second century B.C.[55] Allusion is made to particular Roman +laws, such as the lex alearia[56], probably passed about this time +to resist the progress of Greek demoralisation. The state of feeling +aroused, on both sides, by the repeal of the Oppian law, and the +state of society which led to the original enactment of that law, are +reflected in many passages of the plays of Plautus. A remark of one of +the better class of matrons-- + + Non matronarum officium est, sed meretricium, + Viris alienis, mi vir, subblandirier[57]-- + +may serve as a comment on the arguments with which Cato opposed +the repeal of the law: 'Qui hic mos est in publicum procurrendi, +et obsidendi vias, et viros alienos appellandi?... An blandiores +in publico quam in privato, et alienis quam vestris estis[58]?' The +imperiousness of a 'dotata uxor,' and the spirit of rebellion thereby +aroused in the mind of her husband, are themes treated with grim +humour in many of the dramas. The stale jokes against the happiness of +married life were as applicable to Greek as to Roman life; and Greek +husbands may have stood in as much dread of their wives' extravagance +in dress, and in as great awe of their surveillance, as were +experienced by the elderly husbands of Latin comedy. But the fact that +similar criticisms appear in the satirical and oratorical fragments +of the second century B.C. indicates that such jokes, whether or +not originally due to the Greek writer, came equally home to a Roman +audience. + +Again, the great fertility of Plautus and his many-sided contact +with life are apparent in the number and variety of his metaphors and +illustrations from, and other references to, many varieties of human +occupation. These have, for the most part, both a national and a +popular origin. The number of those taken from military operations, +and from legal and business transactions, is a clear indication that +they were of fresh Roman coinage. There is no character which a slave, +who has to conduct some intrigue to a successful issue, is so fond of +assuming as that of the general of an army. In one passage one of his +confederates addresses him as 'Imperator.' He takes the auspices, he +brings his engines to bear on the citadel of the enemy, he brings +up his supports, he lays his ambush and avoids that laid for him, +he leads his army round by some unknown pass, cuts off the enemy's +communications, keeps open his own, invests and takes the hostile +position, and divides the booty among his allies. The following +passage for instance is freshly coloured with all the recent +experience of the Hannibalian war:-- + + Viden hostis tibi adesse, tuoque tergo obsidium? Consule, + Arripe opem auxiliumque ad hanc rem, propere hoc non placide decet. + Anteveni aliqua aut aliquo saltu circumduce exercitum, + Coge in obsidium perduellis, nostris praesidium para. + Interclude conmeatum inimicis, tibi moeni viam, + Qua cibatus conmeatusque ad te et legionis tuas + Tuto possit pervenire. Hanc rem age: res subitariast[59]. + +The illustrations from the practice of keeping accounts, from banking +and business operations, and the references to law forms, such as +the mode of pleading a case by sponsio[60], would come home to the +experience and habits which were fostered more in Rome than in any +other ancient community[61]. Though the Romans never were a mercantile +community, like the Carthaginians or the Greek States in their later +days, yet from the earliest times they understood the uses of the +accumulation and skilful application of capital. Another large class +of metaphors, generally expressive of some form of roguery, and taken +from the trade of various artisans--such as the smith, carpenter, +butcher, weaver, etc.[62]--speaks to the popular as well as the +national characteristics of his dramas. If these metaphorical phrases +had been mere translations, they would, as thus applied, have had no +meaning to a Roman audience. They must have been more or less of slang +phrases, formed by and for the people, and suggested by an intimate +familiarity with many varieties of trickery and swindling on the one +hand, and with the skill and trade of various classes of artisans on +the other. + +The exuberant use of terms of endearment and of abuse in Plautus +may be also mentioned as an original and Roman characteristic of his +genius. His lovers' phrases[63], though used by him with a saturnine +humour, remind us of the passionate use of similar phrases in +Catullus. The slave or cook of Greek comedy may probably have indulged +freely in the vituperation of his fellows; but there is an idiomatic +heartiness in the interchange of curses and verbal sword-thrusts among +the slaves, panders, and cooks of Plautus, which seems congenial +to the race who enjoyed the spectacles of the amphitheatre. The +inexhaustible fund of merriment supplied by references to or practical +exemplifications of the various modes of punishing and torturing +slaves, tells of a people not especially cruel, but practically +callous either to the infliction or the suffering of pain. The Greek +nature was, when roused to passion, capable of fiercer and more +cowardly cruelty than the Roman, but was too sensitively organised to +enjoy the spectacle or the imagination of inflictions which form the +subject of the stalest jokes in Plautus. The spirit of the new comedy +as it existed in Greece, was not, on the whole, calculated to elevate, +but it certainly was capable of humanising the Roman character. + +We are less able to speak of his originality in the selection of +incidents and dramatic situations, in the general management of his +plots, and his conception of characters. Though more varied than +Terence in the subjects which he chooses for dramatic treatment, yet +there is great sameness, both of incident, development, and character, +in many of them. His favourite subject is a scheme by which a slave, +in the interests of his young master, and his mistress, cheats a +father, a mercenary captain, or a 'leno,' who are treated, though in +different degrees, as enemies of the human race and legitimate +objects of spoliation. Some of the best of his plays--the Pseudolus, +Bacchides, the Mostellaria, and the Miles Gloriosus--turn entirely +upon incidents of this kind--'frustrationes in comoediis' as they are +called. There is nothing on which the chief agent in such plots prides +himself so much as on his success 'in shearing,' 'planing away,' +or 'wiping the nose' of, his antagonist in the game: there is no +indignity about which the sense of honour is so sensitive as that of +having had 'words palmed off upon one,' and having thus been made an +object of ridicule. The invariable enlisting of sympathy in favour +of the cheat and against the dupe is a trait more illustrative of the +countrymen of Ulysses than of Fabricius; but the 'Tusci turba impia +vici' at Rome had, no doubt, their own native aptitude for cheating +and lying. + +The 'Pseudolus' is perhaps the best and the most typical specimen of +a play the interest of which turns on this kind of intrigue. In it the +plot is skilfully worked out, the characters are conceived with the +greatest liveliness, and admirably sustained and contrasted, and the +incidents and motives on which the personages act are never strained +beyond the limits of probability. A more fastidious age might +have objected to the celebration by Pseudolus of his triumph, as +a grotesque excrescence: but it serves to bring out the sensual +geniality underlying the audacity and roguery of his character, in +contrast to the sensual brutality underlying the audacity and villainy +of Ballio. When we consider the vigorous life and even the art with +which the whole piece is worked out, we understand why Plautus, with +good reason, took, in his old age, especial pleasure in this play. +There is not much to offend a robust morality in the piece; for though +the result accomplished cannot be called the triumph of virtue +over vice, it is at least the triumph of a more amiable over a more +detestable form of depravity. + +In the 'Bacchides' the slave Chrysalus plays a part similar to that of +Pseudolus, with perhaps more subtlety but less vigour and liveliness. +The mode in which both the 'pater attentus' and the 'senex lepidus' of +the piece (Nicobulus and Philoxenus) succumb to the blandishments of +the two sisters, and in the end become the rivals of their sons, is +still less edifying than the winding up of the Pseudolus: but the +_dénouement_ is brought about not unskilfully or extravagantly. It is +difficult to say whether Plautus, like the author of Gil Blas, felt a +moral indifference to the characters he brought on the stage, so long +as he could make them amusing; or whether, like Balzac, but with more +humour and less cynicism, he had a peculiar delight in following human +corruption into its last retreats. The moral with which the piece +winds up-- + + Hi senes nisi fuissent nihili iam inde ab adulescentia, + Non hodie hoc tantum flagitium facerent canis capitibus, + +implies that he recognised the difference between right and wrong, or +at least between good and bad taste in such matters, but that he did +not, perhaps, attach much importance to it. The 'Asinaria,' which also +turns on a scheme by which a slave defrauds his mistress in behalf of +his young master, winds up with a scene in which a father is enjoying +himself as the rival of his complaisant son, till he is summoned +away by the apparition of his wife, and the wrathful and scornful +reiteration of 'Surge, amator, i domum.' The moral expressed there by +the 'Caterva' implies less sympathy with outraged virtue than with the +disappointed delinquent-- + + Hic senex siquid clam uxorem suo animo fecit volup' + Neque novom neque mirum fecit nec secus quam alii solent. + +There are two or three other plays in which a father appears as the +rival of his son. None of the characters in Plautus, not even +Ballio, or Labrax, or Cleaereta,--the worst of his 'lenones' and +'lenae,'--excite more unmitigated disgust than Stalino in the +'Casina.' + +The 'Miles Gloriosus' and the 'Mostellaria' are much less +objectionable in point of morality, or at least good taste, than +either the 'Bacchides' or the 'Asinaria.' They are among the most +popular of the plays of Plautus. There is a great variety of humorous +situations in the 'Miles': and, although the principal character +transcends all natural limits in his self-glorification, his stupid +insensibility, and his pusillanimity, the intrigue is carried out with +the greatest vivacity by Palaestrio and his army of accomplices; and +the humour with which the fidelity and veracity of the slave Sceledrus +are played upon almost merges into pathos in the despairing tenacity +with which he cannot bring himself to disbelieve the evidence of his +eyes-- + + Noli minitari: scio crucem futuram mihi sepulchrum: + Ibi mei sunt maiores siti, pater, avos, proavos, abavos. + Non possunt tuis minaciis hisce oculi mi ecfodiri[63]. + +Tranio in the 'Mostellaria' is, in readiness of resource and resolute +mendacity, a not unworthy member of the fraternity to which Pseudolus, +Chrysalus, and Palaestrio belong. He is, besides, something of a fop +and a fine gentleman, and all his relations with his young and old +master, with Simo and the Banker, are conducted with perfect urbanity. +Yet the 'Mostellaria' is certainly one of those plays to which the +criticism of Horace-- + + Securus cadat an recto stet fabula talo,-- + +is peculiarly applicable. No less suitable 'Deus ex machina' than +the crapulous Callidamates can well be imagined for the purpose of +reconciling a justly incensed father and master of a household to the +profligate extravagance of his son, and the audacious mystification of +his slave. + +Several other plays turn upon similar 'frustrationes.' Two of the +best of these are the 'Curculio' and the 'Epidicus.' Though there are +lively and humorous scenes in nearly all his plays, and the language +is generally sparkling and vigorous, yet the sameness of situation +and character, and the unrelieved tone of light-hearted merriment and +mendacity with which this class of play is pervaded soon pall upon the +taste. A few, the 'Cistellaria' and the 'Poenulus,' for instance, turn +upon the incident of a free-born child being stolen in infancy, and +recognised by her parents before she has fatally committed herself +to the occupation for which she has been destined. But these are not +among the best executed of the Plautine plays. In the 'Stichus' we +enjoy the unwonted satisfaction of making acquaintance with two wives +who really care for their husbands: and the parasite Gelasimus in that +play is as amusing as the characters of the same kind in the Captivi, +Curculio, Menaechmi, Persa, etc. But the absence of incident, coherent +plot, and adequate _dénouement_, must prevent this play from being +ranked among the more important compositions of Plautus. A few however +still remain to be noticed as among the most serious or the most +imaginative efforts of his genius. The 'Aulularia,' 'Trinummus,' +'Menaechmi,' 'Rudens,' 'Captivi,' and 'Amphitryo,' are much more +varied in their interest than most of those already mentioned, and +each of them has its own characteristic excellence. + +The interest of the 'Aulularia' turns entirely on the character of +Euclio. Whether or not this embodiment of the miser owes much to the +original creation of Plautus, it is certainly realised by him with the +greatest truth and vivacity. The whole conception is thoroughly +human and original; and though nothing can be more complete than +the hypochondriacal possession which his one idea has over his +imagination, the character is not presented in an odious or despicable +light. In this respect it differs from the frequent presentment of +the miserly character in Roman satire, and in most modern works of +fiction. Perhaps, except Silas Marner and Père Goriot, there is no +other case of a miser being conceived with any human-hearted sympathy. +His exaggerated sense of the value of the smallest sum of money is +like a hallucination, arising out of the unexpected discovery of a +great treasure after a life of poverty has made pinching and sparing a +second nature to him. But this hallucination has left him shrewdness, +honesty, pluck, a certain dignity, shown in his relation to Megadorus, +and abundance of a grim humour; and it seems to have cleared away, +in the _dénouement_ of the piece, under the influence of fatherly +affection[65]. There are none of the baser or more brutal characters +of the Plautine comedies introduced into this play. Eunomia is a rare +specimen of a virtuous woman; Megadorus of a worthy and kindly old +man, with a didactic tendency which makes him a little wearisome; the +'young lover' shows an honourable loyalty in the reparation of his +fault. Though none of these subsidiary characters are conceived with +anything like the force and vivacity of Euclio, yet after reading the +humours of ancient life, as exhibited in the 'Asinaria,' 'Casina,' and +'Truculentus,' we feel a sense of relief in finding ourselves in such +respectable company. The genius with which the chief character of the +play is conceived and executed is sufficiently attested by the fact +that it served as a model to the greatest of purely comic dramatists +of modern times. + +The 'Trinummus,' if less amusing than most of the other plays of +Plautus, is one of the most unexceptionable in moral tendency; and one +at least of the personages in it, Philto, in his union of shrewd sense +and old-fashioned severity with a sarcastic humour and real humanity +of nature is quite a new type, distinguishable from the hard fathers, +the disreputably genial old men, and the mere worthy citizens, who are +among the stock characters of the Plautine comedy. There is no play +in which the struggle between the stricter morals of an older time +and the new temptations is more clearly exhibited: and though vice is +finally condoned, or at least visited only with the mild penalty of +an unsolicited marriage, the sympathies of the audience are entirely +enlisted on the side of virtue. Lesbonicus is a prodigal of the type +of Charles Surface, whose folly and extravagance are redeemed by good +feeling and a latent sense of honour: and if it is not easy to acquit +Lysiteles of a too conscious virtue, one must remember how difficult +it always is for a comic dramatist to make the character of a +thoroughly respectable young man lively and entertaining. But the +whole piece, from the prologue, which indicates the way which all +prodigals go, to the end,--the good sense, worth of character, and +friendly confidence exhibited in the relations of Megaronides and +Callicles,--the honourable love of Lysiteles for the dowerless sister +of his friend,--the pious humanity and humility of such sentiments as +these in the mouth of Philto-- + + Di divites sunt, deos decent opulentiae + Et factiones: verum nos homunculi + Scintillula animae, quam quom extemplo emisimus, + Aequo mendicus atque ille opulentissimus + Censetur censu ad Acheruntem mortuos[66],-- + +the denunciation by Megaronides of the 'School for Scandal,' which +seems to have flourished in Athens as similar institutions do in our +modern cities,--enable us to believe that the citizen life of the +Greek communities, after the loss of their independence, may not have +been so utterly hollow and disreputable as some of the representations +of ancient comedy would lead us to suppose. + +There is much greater originality of plot, incident, and character, +though, at the same time, a much less unexceptionable moral tendency +in the 'Menaechmi,' the model after which Shakspeare's 'Comedy of +Errors' was composed. The plot turns upon the likeness of twins, who +have been separated from each other from childhood: and granting this +original supposition,--one perfectly conformable to experience,--the +many lively and humorous situations arising out of their +undistinguishable resemblance to one another, are natural and +lifelike. We feel, in the incidents which Plautus brings before us, +none of that sense of unreality which the complication of the two +Dromios adds to the 'Comedy of Errors.' The play is enlivened also by +the element of personal adventure, arising out of the experiences +of the second Menaechmus in his search for his brother over all the +coasts of the Mediterranean. The two brothers (whether or not this +was intended by the poet) are like in character, as well as in outward +appearance; and they are both, in their hardness and knowledge of the +world, in the unscrupulousness with which they gratify their love +of pleasure, and the superiority which they maintain over their +dependents, entirely distinct from the weak and vacillating 'amantes +ephebi' of most of the other plays. The character of the 'parasite' is +not very different from that in some of the other plays, except that +in his vindictiveness for the loss of his _déjeuner_, and his love of +mischief-making, he comes nearer to the type of the 'scurra' than +of the faithful client of the house, who is best represented by the +Ergasilus of the 'Captivi.' But in the fashionable physician who is +called in by the wife and father-in-law of the first Menaechmus, to +examine into and prescribe for his condition, we are introduced to a +new type of character which certainly seems to be drawn from the life. +After reading the scene in which this personage is introduced, one +might be inclined to fancy that, notwithstanding the advance of +medical science, certain characteristics of manner and procedure had +become long ago stereotyped in the profession. + +These three plays show Plautus at his best in regard to the +delineation of character, to moral tendency, to the conduct of a story +by means of humorous incidents and situations. The three which still +remain to be considered assert his claim to some share of poetic +feeling and genius, and to at least some sympathy with the more +elevated motives and sentiments which dignify human life. The 'Rudens' +is inferior to several of the other plays in purely dramatic interest; +but it has all the charm and freshness of a sea-idyll. The outward +picture imprinted on the imagination is that of a bright morning after +a storm, of which the effects are still apparent in the unroofing of +the villa of Daemones, in the wild commotion of the sea[67], in the +desolation of the two shipwrecked women wandering about among the +lonely rocks where they have been cast ashore, in the touching +complaint of the poor fishermen deprived by the storm of their chance +of earning their daily bread. The action, which consists in the rescue +of innocence from villainy, and in the recognition of a lost daughter +by her father, entirely enlists both the moral and the humane +sympathies. There is imaginative as well as humorous originality in +the soliloquies of Gripus, and in his altercation with Trachalio; and +a sense of sardonic satisfaction is experienced in contemplating the +plight of Labrax (a weaker and meaner ruffian than Ballio) and his +confederate chattering with cold and bewailing the loss of their +illgotten gains. But the peculiar charm of the play, as compared with +any of those which have been already noticed, is the sentiment of +natural piety--not unlike that expressed in the 'rustica Phidyle,' of +Horace[68]--by which the drama is pervaded. This key-note is struck in +the prologue uttered by Arcturus, whose function it is to shine in the +sky during the night, and during the day to wander over the earth, and +report to Jove on the good and evil deeds of men:-- + + Quist imperator divom atque hominum Iuppiter, + Is nos per gentis hic alium alia disparat, + Hominum qui facta, mores, pietatem et fidem + Noscamus, ut quemque adiuvet opulentia[69]. + +The affinity of piety to mercy is exhibited in the part played by the +priestess of Venus-- + + Manus mihi date, exurgite a pedibus ambae, + Misericordior nulla mest feminarum[70]; + +and the natural trust of innocence and good faith in divine protection +is exemplified by the confidence with which the shipwrecked women take +refuge at the altar of Venus:-- + + Tibi auscultamus et, Venus alma, ambae te opsecramus + Aram amplexantes hanc tuam lacrumantes, genibus nixae, + In custodelam nos tuam ut recipias et tutere, etc.[71] + +Even the moral sentiment expressed is of a finer quality than the +maxims of rough good sense and probity which we find, for instance, in +the Trinummus. When Gripus tells his master that he is poor owing to +his scrupulous piety-- + + Isto tu's pauper, quom nimis sancte piu's-- + +the answer is in a higher strain than that familiar to ancient +comedy:-- + + O Gripe Gripe, in aetate hominum plurimae + Fiunt transennae, [illi] ubi decipiuntur dolis. + Atque edepol in eas plerumque esca inponitur, + Quam siquis avidus poscit escam avariter, + Decipitur in transenna avaritia sua. + Ille qui consulte, docte atque astute cavet, + Diutine uti ei bene licet partum bene. + Mi istaec videtur praeda praedatum irier, + Maiore ut cum dote abeat hinc quam advenerit. + Egone ut quod ad me adlatum esse alienum sciam + Celem? minume istuc faciet noster Daemones. + Semper cavere hoc sapientes aequissumum'st, + Ne conscii sint ipsi maleficii suis. + Ego nisi quom lusim nil morer ullum lucrum[72]. + +The 'Captivi' was pronounced by the greatest critic of last century to +be the best constructed drama in existence. Though probably few will +now be found to assign to it so high a place, yet, if not the best, it +certainly is among the very best plays of Plautus, in respect both +of plot and the dramatic irony of its situations. But it possesses a +still higher claim to our admiration in the presentment of at least +one character of true nobleness. And the originality of the conception +is all the greater from the fact that this heroism is embodied in the +person of one who has been brought up from childhood as a slave. There +are not many of the plays of Plautus calculated to raise our ideas +of human nature; but the loyal affection of Tyndarus for his young +master, his self-sacrifice, the buoyancy, courage, and ready resource +with which he first meets his dangers, and the manly fortitude with +which he accepts his doom-- + + Dum ne ob malefacta, peream: parvi id aestimo. + Si ego hic peribo, ast ille, ut dixit, non redit, + At erit mi hoc factum mortuo memorabile, + Me meum erum captum ex servitute atque hostibus + Reducem fecisse liberum in patriam ad patrem, + Meumque potius me caput periculo + Hic praeoptavisse quam is periret ponere[73]-- + +enable us to feel that some of the glory of the older and nobler +Greek tragedy still lingered in the Athens of Menander, and has been +reproduced by Plautus with imaginative sympathy. Yet perhaps even to +this play the criticism of Horace, + + Quam non adstricto percurrat pulpita socco, + +in part applies. The old slave-tricks of mendacity and unseasonable +joking, which are a legitimate source of amusement in the 'Pseudolus' +and similar plays, jar on our feelings as inconsistent with the simple +dignity of the character of Tyndarus and the heroic part which he has +to play. + +There are none of the plays of Plautus which it is so difficult to +criticise from a modern point of view as the 'Amphitruo.' On the +one hand the humour of the scenes between Mercury and Sosia is not +surpassed in any of the other comedies. There is no passage in any +other play in which such power of imagination is exhibited, as that in +which Bromia tells the tale of the birth of Alcmena's twins-- + + Ita erae meae hodie contigit: nam ubi partuis deos sibi invocat, + Strepitus, crepitus, sonitus, tonitrus: subito ut propere, + ut valide tonuit. + Ubi quisque institerat, concidit crepitu: ibi nescio quis maxuma + Voce exclamat: 'Alcumena, adest auxilium, ne time: + Et tibi et tuis propitius caeli cultor advenit. + Exurgite' inquit 'qui terrore meo occidistis prae metu.' + Ut iacui, exurgo: ardere censui aedis: ita tum confulgebant[74]. + +Nor is there, perhaps, anywhere in ancient literature a nobler +realisation of the virtue of womanhood than in the indignant +vindication of herself by Alcmena,-- + + Non ego illam mihi dotem esse duco, quae dos dicitur, + Set pudicitiam et pudorem et sedatum cupidinem, + Deum metum et parentum amorem et cognatum concordiam, + Tibi morigera atque ut munifica sim bonis, prosim probis[75]. + +On the other hand, it is difficult to understand how the part played +by Jupiter, and the comments of Mercury upon that part, should not +have shocked the religious and moral sense even of the Athenians of +the age of Epicurus and of the Romans in the age when they were first +made familiar with the Sacred Chronicle of Euhemerus. Perhaps the +Romans made a distinction between the Jupiter of Greek mythology and +their own Jupiter Optimus Maximus, and may have thought that what was +derogatory to the first did not apply to the second. Or, perhaps, some +clue to the origin of the Greek play may be found in a phrase of the +Rudens, + + Non ventus fuit, verum Alcumena Euripidi[76]. + +Was the Greek writer partly parodying, in accordance with the +tradition of the old comedy, partly reproducing a tragedy of +Euripides? and was the representation first accepted as a recognised +burlesque of a familiar piece? In any case its production both at +Athens and Rome must be regarded partly as a symptom, partly as a +cause, of the rapid dissolution of religious beliefs among both Greeks +and Romans. + +As in the case of other productive writers there is no absolute +agreement as to which are the best of the Plautine plays. Without +assigning precedence to any one over the other, a preference may be +indicated for these five, as combining the most varied elements of +interest with the best execution--_Aulularia_, _Captivi_, _Menaechmi_, +_Pseudolus_, _Rudens_; and for these, as second to the former in +interest owing to some inferiority in comic power, artistic execution, +or natural _vraisemblance_, or owing to some element in them which +offends the taste or moral sentiment--_Trinummus_, _Mostellaria_, +_Miles Gloriosus_, _Bacchides_, _Amphitruo_. These ten plays alone, +without taking the others into account, show both in their incidents, +scenes, and characters, how much wider Plautus' range of observation +was than that of Terence. Even within the narrow limits of the +characters most familiar to ancient comedy--the 'amans ephebus,' the +'meretrix blanda,' the 'fallax servus,' the 'bragging captain,' the +'parasite,' the 'leno,' the 'old men'--good, kindly, severe, genial, +sensual and disreputable,--we find great individual differences. More +than Terence, Plautus maintains a dramatic and ironical superiority +over his characters. This is especially shown in his treatment of his +young lovers and the objects of their despairing affection. The former +exhibit various shades of weakness, from the mere ineffectual struggle +between the grain of conscience left them and the attractions of +pleasure, to the sentimental impulse to end their woes by suicide. The +latter show varying degrees of attraction, from a grace and vivacity +that reminds German critics of the Mariana and the Philina in 'Wilhelm +Meister,' to the hardness and astuteness of the heroines of the +'Truculentus' and the 'Miles Gloriosus.' Plautus cannot be said to +care much about any of them except as objects of amusement and of the +study of human nature. Nor, on the other hand, has he any hatred of +his worst characters. He has the true dramatist's sympathy with the +vigorous conception of Ballio--the same kind of sympathy which made +that part a favourite one of the actor Roscius. His characters are +interesting and amusing in themselves; they are never used as the mere +mouthpieces of the writer's reflexion, wit, or sentiment. It is, of +course, impossible to determine definitely how far he was an original +creator, how far a merely vigorous imitator. But he is so perfectly at +home with his characters, he makes them speak and act so naturally, he +is so careless about those minutiae of artistic treatment of which a +mere translator would be scrupulously regardful, that it seems most +probable that the life with which he animates his conventional type +is derived from his own exuberant vitality and his many-sided contact +with humanity. + +In what relation do the plays of Plautus stand to the more serious +interests of life? Is he to be ranked among philosophic humourists +who had felt deeply the speculative perplexities of this world, whose +imagination vividly realised the incongruity between the outward mask +that men wear and the reality behind it, and the wide divergence of +the actual aims of society from the purified ideal towards which +it tends? Is there in him any vein of ironical comment or satirical +rebuke? any latent sympathy with any of the objects which move the +serious passions of moral and social reformers? Or is he merely +a great humourist, revelling in the mirth, the absurdities, the +ridiculous phases of character, which show themselves on the surface +of life? It must be admitted that it is difficult to find in him any +traces of the speculative questioning, of the repressed or baffled +enthusiasm, of the rebellion against the common round of the world +which tempers or inspires some of the greatest humourists of ancient +and modern times. His indifference to the problems of speculative +philosophy is expressed in such phrases as the + + Salva res est: philosophatur quoque iam, non mendax modo'st + +of Tyndarus in the Captivi[77], and in the + + Sed iam satis est philosophatum + +of Pseudolus[78]. Yet to Tyndarus he attributes a sense of religious +trust befitting both his character and situation-- + + Est profecto deus, qui quae nos gerimus auditque et videt, etc.[79], + +while Pseudolus easily finds an opposite doctrine to suit his ready, +self-reliant, and unscrupulous nature-- + + Centum doctum hominum consilia sola haec devincit dea, + Fortuna, etc.[80] + +Probably the truth is that living in an age of active enjoyment +and energy, he troubled himself very little about the 'problem of +existence'; but that he had thought enough and doubted enough to +enable him to animate his more elevated characters with sentiments of +natural piety, and to conceive of the ordinary round of pleasure +and intrigue as quite able to dispense with them. There is rather an +indifference to religious influences or beliefs, than such expressions +of scepticism or antagonism to existing superstitions as we find in +the tragic poets. The political indifference of his plays has been +already noticed. Yet the sentiments attributed to some of his +best characters, such as Philto in the Trinummus, Megadorus in the +Aulularia[81], imply that he recognised in the growing ascendency of +wealth an element of estrangement between the different classes of +the community. His frequent reference to the extravagance and +imperiousness of the 'dotatae uxores' seems to imply further his +conviction that the curse of money was a dissolving force, not only of +the social and political but also of the family life of Rome. + +The first aspect of many of his plays certainly produces the +impression of their demoralising tendency. But it is perhaps necessary +to be on our guard against judging this tendency too severely from a +merely modern point of view. These plays were addressed to the people +in their holiday mood, and a certain amount of license was claimed +for such a mood (as we may see by the Fescennine songs in marriage +ceremonies and in triumphal processions), which perhaps was not +intended to have more relation to the ordinary life of work and +serious business than the lies and tricks of slaves in comedy to their +ordinary relations with their masters. + +Public festivity in ancient times, which was originally an outlet of +religious emotion, became ultimately a rebound from the severer duties +and routine of daily life. There are frequent reminders in Plautus +that this life of pleasure and intrigue was not altogether worthy or +satisfactory. There are no false hues of sentiment thrown around it, +as there are in Terence, and still more in the poets of a later age. +Nor must we expect in an ancient poet any sense of moral degradation +attaching to a life of pleasure. So far as that life is condemned it +is on the ground of sloth, weakness, and incompatibility with more +serious aims. The maxims which Palinurus addresses to Phaedromus in +the Curculio would probably not have shocked an ancient moralist:-- + + Nemo hinc prohibet nec vetat + Quin quod palamst venale, si argentumst, emas. + Nemo ire quemquam puplica prohibet via, + Dum ne per fundum saeptum faciat semitam: + Dum ted apstineas nupta vidua virgine + Iuventute et pueris liberis, ama quod lubet[82]. + +Something of the same kind is implied in the warning addressed by his +father to the young Horace. Any breach of the sanctities of family +life is invariably reprobated. On the rare occasions where such +breaches occur,--as in the Aulularia--they are repaired by marriage. +Any one aspiring to play the part of a Lothario--as in the Miles +Gloriosus--is made an object both of punishment and ridicule. In this +respect the comedy of Plautus contrasts favourably with our own comic +drama of the Restoration. There are no scenes in these plays intended +or calculated to stimulate the passions; and although there are coarse +expressions and allusions in almost all of them, yet the coarseness +of Plautus is not to be compared with that of Lucilius, Catullus, +Martial, or Juvenal. It is rather in the absence of any virtuous +ideal, than in positive incitements to vice, that the Plautine comedy +might be called immoral. Although family honour is treated as secure +from violation, there is no pure feeling about family life. Sons +are afraid of their fathers, run into debt without their knowledge, +deceive them in every possible way, occasionally express a wish +that their death might enable them to treat their mistresses more +generously. Husbands fear their wives and speak on all occasions +bitterly against them. Plautus was evidently more familiar with the +ways of the 'libertinae' than of Roman matrons of the better sort; and +thus while we see little of the latter, what we hear of them is not +to their advantage. The only obligation which young men seem to +acknowledge is that of honour and friendly service to one another. So +too slaves, while they hold it as their first duty to lie and swindle +in behalf of their young masters, feel the duty of absolute devotion +and sacrifice of themselves to their interests. Plautus shows scarcely +any of the Roman feeling of dignity or seriousness, or any regard +for patriotism or public duty. There is everywhere abundance of good +humour and good sense, but, except in the Captivi and Rudens, we find +scarcely any pathos or elevated feeling. The ideal of character which +satisfies most of his personages might almost be expressed in the +words of Stalagmus in the Captivi-- + + Fui ego bellus, lepidus,--bonus vir nunquam neque frugi bonae + Neque ero unquam[83]. + +But the life of careless freedom and strong animal spirits which +Plautus shaped with prodigal power into humorous scenes and +representations for the holiday amusements of the mass of his +fellow-citizens, does not admit of being tried by any moral or social +standard of usefulness. It would be equally unprofitable to search for +any consistent vein of irony in him, or any deep intuition into the +paradoxes of life. He is to be judged and valued on the grounds put +forward in the epitaph, which was in ancient times attributed to +himself,-- + + Postquam est mortem aptus Plautus, comoedia luget, + Scaena est deserta, dein risus, ludu' iocusque + Et numeri innumeri simul omnes conlacrumarunt. + +And this leads us to the last question concerning him--What is his +value as a poetic artist? The very fact that his imagination plays so +habitually on the surface of life, that he has, as compared with the +greatest humourists of modern times, so little poetry, elevation, or +depth, prevents his being ranked in the very highest class of humorous +creators. In the absence of serious meaning or feeling from his +writings he reminds us of Le Sage or Smollett rather than of Cervantes +or Molière. Nor does he compensate for these defects by careful +artistic treatment. The criticisms of Horace on this subject are +perfectly true. If the line-- + + Plautus ad exemplar Siculi properare Epicharmi + +refers to the rapidity with which he hurries on to the _dénouement_ +of his plot, it must be admitted that in some cases this quality +degenerates into haste and impatience[84]. But, on the other hand, the +careless ease and prodigal productiveness of his genius entitle him +to take certainly a high rank in the second class of humourists. If +he shows little of the idealising or contemplative faculty of poetic +genius, he has at least the facile power and spontaneous exuberance +which distinguish the great creators of human character. + +The power of high and true dramatic invention which he occasionally +puts forth, and the stray gleams of beauty which light up the coarser +and commoner texture of his fancies, suggest the inference that it +was owing more to the demands of his audiences than to the original +limitation of his own powers, that he did not raise both himself +and his countrymen to the enjoyment of nobler productions. A people +accustomed to the buffoonery of the indigenous mimic dances required +strong and broad effects. Their popular poet, in conforming to the +conditions of Greek art, could not altogether forget the Dossennus +native to Italy. + +But the largest endowment of Plautus, the truest note of his +creativeness, is his power of expression by means of action, rhythm, +and language. The phrase 'properare' may more probably be explained by +the extreme vivacity and rapidity of gesture, dialogue, declamation, +and recitative, by which his scenes were characterised, than be taken +as an equivalent to 'ad eventum festinare.' Their liveliness and +mobility of temperament made the Italians admirable mimics: and +the favour which the plays of Plautus continued to enjoy with the +companies of players, may be in part accounted for by the scope they +afforded to the talent of the actor. How far he was expected to +bring out the meaning of the poet may be gathered from the lively +description given by Periplecomenus of the outward manifestations +which accompanied the inward machinations of Palaestrio,-- + + Illuc sis vide + Quem ad modum astitit severo fronte curans, cogitans. + Pectus digitis pultat: cor credo evocaturust foras. + Ecce avortit: nisam laevo in femine habet laevam manum. + Dextera digitis rationem conputat: fervit femur + Dexterum, ita vehementer icit: quod agat, aegre suppetit. + Concrepuit digitis: laborat, crebro conmutat status. + Eccere autem capite nutat; non placet quod repperit. + Quidquid est, incoctum non expromet, bene coctum dabit. + Ecce autem aedificat: columnam mento suffigit suo. + Apage, non placet profecto mihi illaec aedificatio: + Nam os columnatum poetae esse indaudivi barbaro, + Quoi bini custodes semper totis horis occubant. + Euge, euscheme hercle astitit et dulice et comoedice[85]. + +Many other scenes must have lent themselves to this representation of +feeling by lively gesture, accompanied sometimes by some kind of +mimic dance: of this kind, for instance, is the vigorous recitative +of Ballio on his first appearance on the stage, the scene in which +Ergasilus tells Hegio of the return of his son, the appearance +of Pseudolus when well drunken after celebrating his triumph over +Ballio,-- + + Quid hoc? sicine hoc fit? pedes, statin an non? + An id voltis ut me hinc jacentem aliqui tollat? etc.[86] + +His temptation was to exaggerate in this, as in other elements of +the dramatist's art; and this is what is probably meant by the word +_percurrat_ in the criticism of Horace, which has been already +quoted. But this tendency to exaggerate is merely the defect of his +superabundant share of the vigorous Italian qualities. + +It is characteristic of the liveliness of Plautus' temperament, +that the lyrical and recitative parts of his plays occupy a place +altogether out of proportion to that occupied by the unimpassioned +monologue or dialogue expressed in senarian iambics. The 'Cantica,' or +purely lyrical monologues, are much more frequent and much longer in +his comedies than in those of Terence. They were sung to a musical +accompaniment, and were composed chiefly in bacchiac, anapaestic, or +cretic metres, rapidly interchanging with trochaic lines. The bacchiac +metre is employed in passages expressive of some sedate or laboured +thought, as, for instance, the opening part of the 'Canticum' of +Lysiteles in the Trinummus,-- + + Multas res simitu in meo corde vorso, + Multum in cogitando dolorem indipiscor. + Egomet me coquo et macero et defatigo. + +The anapaestic metre was less suited to Latin, and is rarely met with +either in the comic poets, or in the fragments of the tragedians. On +the other hand, cretic and trochaic metres, from their affinity to +the old Saturnian, came most easily to the early dramatists, and are +largely employed by Plautus to express lively emotion. As an instance +of the first we may take the following song of a lover, addressed to +the bolts which barred his mistress's door,-- + + Pessuli, heus pessuli, vos saluto lubens, + Vos amo vos volo vos peto atque obsecro, + Gerite amanti mihi morem amoenissumi: + Fite caussa mea ludii barbari, + Sussulite, obsecro, et mittite istanc foras, + Quae mihi misero amanti exbibit sanguinem. + Hoc vide ut dormiunt pessuli pessumi + Nec mea gratia conmovent se ocius[87]. + +These early efforts of the Italian lyrical muse do not approach the +smoothness and ease of the Glyconics and Phalaecians of Catullus, nor +the dignity of the Alcaics and Asclepiadeans of Horace: but they do, +in a rude kind of way, show facility and native power in finding a +rhythmical vehicle for the emotion or sentiment of the moment. In +the longer passages in which they occur, these metres are generally +combined with some form of trochaic verse, which again is often +exchanged for septenarian or octonarian iambics. Of the rapid +transitions with which Plautus passes from one metre to another in the +expression of strong excitement of feeling, we have a striking example +in the long recitative of Ballio[88], in which trochaics, septenarian, +octonarian, and dimeter, are continually varied by the introduction +now of one, now of several, octonarian or septenarian iambics. He thus +claims much greater freedom than Terence in the combination of his +metres. He exercises also greater license, in substituting two short +for one long syllable (in his cretics and trochaics), and in deviating +from the laws of position and hiatus accepted by later poets. It is +impossible for a modern reader to reproduce the rhythmical flow of +passages which must have depended a good deal for their effect on the +musical accompaniment, and on the pronunciation of the actor. Yet even +though it requires some effort to recognise the legitimate beat of the +rhythm 'digito et aure,' it is equally impossible not to recognise the +vigour and vehemence of movement of such passages as these-- + + Haec, quom ego a foro revortar, facite ut offendam parata, + Vorsa sparsa tersa strata lauta structaque omnia ut sint. + Nam mi hodiest natalis dies: cum decet omnis vos concelebrare. + Magnifice volo me viros summos accipere, ut rem mi esse reantur[89]. + +Terence has a more artistic mastery than Plautus of the ordinary metre +of comic dialogue: but the latter has the more original poetic gift of +adapting and varying his 'numeri innumeri' to the animated moods and +lively fancies of his characters. + +But the gift for which Plautus is pre-eminent above all the earlier, +and in which he is not surpassed by any of the later poets, is the +exuberant vigour and spontaneous flow of his diction. No Roman poet +shows more rapidity of conception, or greater variety of illustration: +and words and phrases are never wanting to body forth and convey with +immediate force and freshness the intuitive discernment of his common +sense, the quick play of his wit, the riotous exaggerations of his +fancy, his vivid observation of facts and of the outward peculiarities +of men, his inexhaustible resources of genial vituperation and +execration, or bantering endearment. The mannerisms of his style, +already mentioned as indicative of the originality with which he +deviates from his Greek models, are not laboured efforts, but the +spontaneous products of a rich and comparatively neglected soil. His +burlesque invention of proper names, even in its wildest exaggeration, +as in the high-sounding title assumed by Sagaristio in the Persa-- + + + Vaniloquidorus, Virginisvendonides, + Nugipalamloquides, Argentumexterebronides, + Tedigniloquides, Nummosexpalponides, + Quodsemelarripides, Nunquampostreddonides-- + +is a Rabelaisian ebullition, stimulated by the novel contact with +the Greek language, of the formative energy which he displays more +legitimately in the creation of new Latin words and phrases. In the +freedom with which he uses, without vulgarising, popular modes of +speech, in the idiomatic verve of his Latin, employed in an age when +inflexions still retained their original virtue, and had not been +limited by the labours of grammarians to a fixed standard, he has +no equal among Latin writers. It is one of the great charms of the +Letters to Atticus, and of the shorter poems of Catullus, that they +give us back the flavour of this homely native idiom. Where there +is difficulty in interpreting Plautus, this arises either from the +uncertainty of the reading, or from the wealth of his vocabulary. He +saw clearly and realised strongly what he meant to say, and his words +and phrases appeared in rapid, close, and orderly movement to his +summons. He describes his personages,--Pseudolus for instance, + + Rufus quidam, ventriosus, crassis suris, subniger, + Magno capite, acutis oculis, ore rubicundo, admodum + Magnis pedibus[90]; + +Ballio, + + Cum hirquina barba; + +Plesidippus, in the Rudens, + + Adulescentem strenua facie, rubicundum, fortem; + +Harpax, in the same play, + + Recalvom ac silonem senem, statutum, ventriosum + Tortis superciliis, contracta fronte, etc.-- + +in such a way as to show how real they were to his imagination in +their outward semblance as well as in the inward springs of their +actions. Or he brings before us some peculiarity in the dress or +manner of his personages by some graphic touch, as that of the +disguised sycophant of the Trinummus,-- + + Pol hic quidem fungino generest: capite se totum tegit. + Illurica facies videtur hominis: eo ornatu advenit; + +and later-- + + Mira sunt + Ni illic homost aut dormitator aut sector zonarius. + Loca contemplat, circumspectat sese, atque aedis noscitat[91]. + +He tells an imaginary story or adventure, such as that which Chrysalus +invents of the pursuit of his vessel by a piratical craft-- + + Ubi portu eximus, homines remigio sequi, + Neque aves neque venti citius, etc.[92], + +or the account which Curculio gives of his encounter with the +soldier[93], tersely, rapidly, and vividly, as if he were recalling +some scene within his own recent experience. He imitates the style +of tragedy--as in the imaginary speech of the Ghost in the +Mostellaria--in such a manner as to show that he might have rivalled +Ennius in the art of tragic rhythm and expression, if his genius had +allowed him to pass beyond the province which was peculiarly his +own. His plays abound in pithy sayings which have anticipated popular +proverbs, or the happy hits of popular poets in modern times, such +as the 'nudo detrahere vestimenta,' in the Asinaria, and the +'virtute formae id evenit te ut deceat quidquid habeas[94],' in the +Mostellaria. He writes letters with the forms of courtesy, and with +the ease and simplicity characteristic of the best epistles of a later +age. His resources of language are never wanting for any call which he +may make upon them. In a few descriptive passages he shows a command +of the language of forcible poetic imagination. But he does not often +betray a sense of beauty in action, character, or Nature: and thus +if his style altogether wants the peculiar charm of the later Latin +poets, and the tenderness and urbanity of Terence, the explanation of +this defect is perhaps to be sought rather in the limited play which +he allowed to his finer sensibilities, than in any inability to avail +himself of the full capabilities of his native language. + +Whether the deficiency in the sense of beauty should deny to him the +name of a great poet, is to be answered only when agreement has been +attained as to the definition of a poet. He was certainly a true and +prodigally creative genius. He is also thoroughly representative of +his race--not of the gravity and dignity superinduced on the natural +Italian temperament by the strict discipline of Roman life, and by +the sense of superiority which arises among the governing men of an +imperial state--but of the strong and healthy vitality which enabled +the Italian to play his part in history, and of the quick observation +and ready resource, the lively emotional and social temperament, the +keen enjoyment of life, which are the accompaniment of that original +endowment. + + + [Footnote 1: Prologue to Casina, 18, 19.] + + [Footnote 2: Prologue to Amphitryo, 52.] + + [Footnote 3: Licinius and Atilius are placed before Terence in + the Canon of Volcatius Sedigitus.] + + [Footnote 4: E.g. Pseudolus, 1081:-- + + 'Nugas theatri: verba quae in comoediis + Solent lenoni dici, quae pueri sciunt.' + + Cf. also Captivi, 778.] + + [Footnote 5: The influence of Plautus may be traced in the + style of Catullus, and perhaps in the sentiment of the passage + in Lucretius, iv. 1121, etc.; and that of Terence also in + Catullus, and in the Satires, Epistles, and some of the Odes + of Horace.] + + [Footnote 6: Fundanius, the friend of Horace, appears to have + made an attempt to produce an artistic revival of the old + comedy in the Augustan age, as Pollio, Varius, Ovid and others + did of the old tragic drama, but with no permanent success.] + + [Footnote 7: E.g. the dance of Pseudolus. Pseud. 1246, etc.] + + [Footnote 8: Cic. Brut. 15. 60; De Senec. 14. 50.] + + [Footnote 9: Cf. Cicero's testimony to the purity of the style + of Naevius and Plautus with his criticism on the style of + Caecilius and Pacuvius. Terence was the only foreigner who + attained perfect idiomatic purity of speech, but he must have + been brought to Rome when quite a child.] + + [Footnote 10: 'Puplicisne adfinis fuit an maritumis + negotiis?'--Trinum. 331.] + + [Footnote 11: See the paper by Professor H. F. West, reprinted + from the American Journal of Philology, referred to supra page + 54.] + + [Footnote 12: Cf. the line at the end of the Prologue to the + Cistellaria (Act. i. Sc. 3)-- + + 'Ut vobis victi Poeni poenas sufferant.' + + The 'Didascalia' to the Stichus is one of the few preserved. + From it we learn that the play was acted P. Sulpicio, C. + Aurelio, Cos., i.e. 200 B.C.] + + [Footnote 13: This is shown in some cases by reference to + seats in the theatre, which were not introduced till 155 B.C. + In the Prologue to the Casina it is said that only the older + men present could remember the first production of that play + in the life-time of the poet. The Prologues to the Aulularia, + Trinummus, and Rudens, are probably genuine, and also the + speech of _Auxilium_ in the Cistellaria.] + + [Footnote 14: Cf. Rudens, 1249:-- + + Spectavi ego pridem comicos ad istum modum + Sapienter dicta dicere atque is plaudier, + Quom illos sapientis mores monstrabant poplo. + Set quom inde suam quisque ibant divorsi domum + Nullus erat illo pacto ut illi iusserant.] + + [Footnote 15: Pseud. 687.] + + [Footnote 16: E.g. Rudens, 986.] + + [Footnote 17: Quid? Sarsinatis ecquast, si Umbram non + habes.--Mostel. 757.] + + [Footnote 18: Post Ephesi sum natus, noenum in Apulis, noenum + Aminulae.--Mil. Glor. 653. + + Quid tu per barbaricas urbes iuras? _Erg._ Quia enim item + asperae Sunt ut tuum victum autumabas esse.--Captiv. 884-5.] + + [Footnote 19: Capt. 879; Trinum. 609; Truc. iii. 2. 23; Bacch. + 24.] + + [Footnote 20: + + Quid tibi, malum, hic ante aedis clamitatiost? + An ruri censes te esse? apscede ab aedibus.--Most. 6. 7.] + + [Footnote 21: Vol. ii, p. 440; Eng. Trans.] + + [Footnote 22: Cf. Trinum. 820, etc.; Menaechmi, 228, etc.; + Stichus, 402, etc.] + + [Footnote 23: + + Ita iam quasi canes, haud secus circumstabant navem turbine venti, + Imbres, fluctus, atque procellae infensae (fremere) frangere malum, + Ruere antennas, scindere vela, ni pax propitia foret praesto.-- + + Trinum. 835-7.] + + [Footnote 24: E.g. Rudens, 906; Trinum. 820.] + + [Footnote 25: 'I shall trade in big ships: at the courts + of princes I shall be styled a prince. Afterwards for my + amusement I shall build a ship and imitate Stratonicus; I + shall visit towns in my voyages: when I shall have become + famous, I'll build a big town, and call it Gripus.'--Rudens, + 931-5.] + + [Footnote 26: Pseud. 166.] + + [Footnote 27: + + Non enim haec pultifagus opufex opera fecit barbarus.-- + + Mostel. 815.] + + [Footnote 28: + + Quantus sit Dossennus edacibus in parasitis.] + + [Footnote 29: Pseud. 1229, etc.] + + [Footnote 30: Stichus, 682, etc.] + + [Footnote 31: Cf. Pseud. 720:-- + + Horum causa haec agitur spectatorum fabula, + Hi sciunt qui hic adfuerunt; vobis post narravero.] + + [Footnote 32: Pseud. 401-2.] + + [Footnote 33: Bacchid. 214.] + + [Footnote 34: De Senec. 14.] + + [Footnote 35: E.g. graphicus, doulice, euscheme, morus, logos, + techinae, prothyme, basilicus, etc., etc.] + + [Footnote 36: Truculentus, 55-57. Weise condemns the passage + as spurious. But whether written by Plautus or not it is + in the spirit of the Plautine comedy. In a passage of the + Poenulus (Act iii. 1. 21) another reference is made to the + sense of security enjoyed since their victory:-- + + Praesertim in re populi placida, atque interfectis hostibus, + Non decet tumultuari.] + + [Footnote 37: Cp. the remark of the parasite in the Persa, 75, + 76:-- + + Set sumne ego stultus, qui rem curo publicam, + Ubi sint magistratus, quos curare oporteat? + + and that of the parasite in the Captivi, 'that only those + who were unable to procure invitations to luncheon should be + expected to attend public meetings and elections'; and such + jokes as 'Plebiscitum non est scitius.'] + + [Footnote 38: The Comedy of Terence, which represents that of + Menander, is completely non-political.] + + [Footnote 39: Cf. Epidicus, 30, etc., and Captivi, 262.] + + [Footnote 40: The advocati in the Poenulus, who are evidently + clients, show a certain spirit of independence. Cf. Act iii. + 6. 13:-- + + Et tu vale. + Iniuriam illic insignite postulat: + Nostro sibi servire nos censet cibo. + Verum ita sunt omnes isti nostri divites: + Si quid bene facias, levior pluma est gratia; + Si quid peccatum est, plumbeas iras gerunt.] + + [Footnote 41: Livy, xxxix. 9, etc.] + + [Footnote 42: + + Quom mi ipsum nomen eius Archidemides + Clamaret dempturum esse si quid crederem.--Bacchid. 285. + Propterea huic urbi nomen Epidamno inditumst + Quia nemo ferme sine damno huc devortitur.--Menaech. 264. + + Cf. also the play on Chrysalus and Crucisalus; and the + following may serve as a specimen of his perpetual puns:-- + + Non enim es in senticeto, eo non sentis.--Captivi, 857.] + + [Footnote 43: Alliterations and assonances:--Vi veneris + vinctus. Cottabi crebri crepent. Laetus, lubens, laudes ago. + Collus collari caret. + + Atque mores hominum moros et morosos efficit, etc., etc. + + Asyndeta:-- + + Laudem, lucrum, ludum, iocum, festivitatem, ferias. + Vorsa, sparsa, tersa, strata, lauta, structaque omnia ut sint, + etc., etc. + + These are not occasional, but constantly recurring + characteristics of his style. The thought and matter + they express must, in a great measure, be due to his own + invention.] + + [Footnote 44: Roman formulae:--Quae res bene vortat. Conceptis + verbis. Quod bonum, felix, faustum, fortunatumque sit. Ut + gesserit rempublicam ductu, imperio, auspicio suo, etc., etc.] + + [Footnote 45: Proverbs:--Sarta tecta. Sine sacris haereditas. + Inter saxum et sacra. Vae victis. Ad incitas redactust, etc., + etc.] + + [Footnote 46: Expressions of courtesy:--Tam gratiast. Benigne. + Num quid vis? etc.] + + [Footnote 47: E.g. Pistoria, Placentia, Praeneste, Sutrium, + Sarsina, etc.] + + [Footnote 48: E.g. Vicus Tuscus, Velabrum, Macellum, Porta + Trigemina, Porta Metia; and compare the long passage in the + Curculio (462), which directly refers to Rome.] + + [Footnote 49: + + Quid ego cesso Pseudolum + Facere ut det nomen ad Molas coloniam.--Pseud. 1082.] + + [Footnote 50: Mancupio dare, stipulatio, antestatio, sponsio, + ubi res prolatae sunt.] + + [Footnote 51: Bacchid. 120.] + + [Footnote 52: Captivi, 888.] + + [Footnote 53: Trinummus, 545-6.] + + [Footnote 54: Non omnes possunt olere unguenta + exotica.--Mostell. 42.] + + [Footnote 55: Cf. Bacch. 1072;-- + + Set, spectatores, vos nunc ne miremini + Quod non triumpho: pervolgatumst, nil moror. + Verum tamen accipientur mulso milites.] + + [Footnote 56: Mil. Glor. 164, 6. Cf. Hor. Od. iii. 24. 58: Seu + malis vetita legibus alea.] + + [Footnote 57: Casina, iii. 3. 22.] + + [Footnote 58: Livy, xxiv. 2.] + + [Footnote 59: 'Do you see that the enemy is close upon you, + and that your back will soon be invested? Quick! seize some + help and succour: it must be done speedily, not quietly. Get + before them somehow; lead round your forces by some pass or + other. Invest the enemy; bring relief to our own troops; cut + off the enemy's supplies; make a road for yourself, by which + provisions or supplies may reach yourself or your legions + safely: give your whole heart to the business--it is a sudden + emergency.'--Mil. Glor. 219-225. + + This is the 'patriotic passage' which Mr. West discusses in + the paper previously referred to. He holds that 'The passage, + keeping steadily within the limits so rigidly imposed by Roman + Stage-censorship, is written from the stand-point of sympathy + with the _plebs_ in favour of Scipio's assuming command + against Hannibal, and reflects very brightly and completely + those features of the Second Punic War which were prominent + and recent in 205 B.C.' + + The end of many of the prologues also shows that they were + addressed to a people constantly engaged in war.] + + [Footnote 60: Menaech. 590.] + + [Footnote 61: Cf. such expressions and lines as:--Salva sumes + indidem (Mil. Glor. 234); locare argentum; fenerato. + + Mihi quod credideris, sumes ubi posiueris.--Trinum. 145. + + Nequaquam argenti ratio comparet tamen.--Ib. 418. + + Bene igitur ratio accepti atque expensi inter nos + convenit.--Mostel. 292.] + + [Footnote 62: For a list of these cp. the edition of the + Mostellaria by the late Professor Ramsay.] + + [Footnote 63: E.g. Mellitus, ocelle, mea anima, medullitus + amare.] + + [Footnote 64: 'Don't threaten me; I know that the cross will + be my tomb: there lie my ancestors, father, grandfather, + great-grandfather, great-great-grandfather: but your threats + can't dig these eyes out of my head.'--Mil. Glor. 372-5.] + + [Footnote 65: The conclusion of the Aulularia is lost, but + the play seems to have ended with the old man's consigning his + treasure into the hands of his son-in-law and daughter.] + + [Footnote 66: 'The Gods only are rich: great wealth and high + connexions are for the Gods; but we, poor creatures, are but + a tiny spark of life, and so soon as that is gone, the beggar + and the richest man, when dead, are rated alike by the shores + of Acheron.'--Trin. 490-4.] + + [Footnote 67: + + Non vidisse undas me maiores censeo.--Rudens, 167. + + Atque ut nunc valide fluctuat mare, nulla nobis spes est. + --Ib. 303.] + + [Footnote 68: Cf. + + Atque hoc scelesti [illi] in animum inducunt suum + Iovem se placare posse donis, hostiis: + Et operam et sumptum perdunt; id eo fit quia + Nihil ei accemptumst a periuris supplici, etc.--22-5.] + + [Footnote 69: 9-12.] + + [Footnote 70: 280, 1.] + + [Footnote 71: 694, etc.] + + [Footnote 72: 'O Gripus, Gripus! in the life of man are laid + many snares, by which they are trapped; and for the most part + a bait is laid on them, and whoso in his greed greedily craves + for it, by reason of his greed he is caught in the trap. But + whoso warily, wisely, craftily takes heed, to him it is given + long to enjoy what has been well earned. That prize of yours, + I fancy, will be so made prize of, as to bring a larger dower + in going from us than when it came to us. To fancy that I + should be capable of keeping secret possession of what I know + to be another's property! Far will that be from our friend + Daemones. It is the absolute duty of a wise man to be on his + guard against ever being privy to any wrong done by his own + people. I never would care for any gain, except when I am in + the game.'--Rudens, 1235-48.] + + [Footnote 73: 'Provided it be not for wrong done, let me + perish, I care not. If I shall perish here, while he returns + not, as he promised, yet even after death this will be a + memorable act, that I restored my master from captivity and + his enemies to his father and his home, and chose rather + to emperil my own life here than that he should + perish.'--Captivi, 682-8.] + + [Footnote 74: 'So it befell my mistress this day: for when + she calls the powers of travail to her aid, lo! there ensues + a rumbling, rattling noise, loud uproar and a peal of + thunder--all of a sudden how fast, how mightily it thundered! + At the crash each one fell on the spot where he stood. Then + some one, I know not who, exclaims in a loud voice, "Alcmena, + be not afraid; help is at hand: the dweller in the skies + draweth nigh with kindly intent to thee and thine. Arise ye + who from the dread inspired by me have fallen down in alarm." + As I lay, I rose up: methought the house was all on fire, so + brightly did it shine.'--Amphitruo, 1060-67.] + + [Footnote 75: 'I call not that which is named my dower, my + true dower, but chastity and modesty, and passion subdued, + fear of the Gods, affection to my parents, amity with my + kinsmen, a will to yield to thee, to be bountiful to the good, + of service to the worthy.'--Amphitruo, 839-42.] + + [Footnote 76: 86.] + + [Footnote 77: Captivi, 280.] + + [Footnote 78: Pseud. 666.] + + [Footnote 79: Captivi, 310.] + + [Footnote 80: Pseud. 677.] + + [Footnote 81: Cf. Aul. iii. 5. 4-8:-- + + Nam, meo quidem animo, si idem faciant ceteri, + Opulentiores pauperiorum filias + Ut indotatas ducant uxores domum, + Et multo fiat civitas concordior, + Et invidia nos minore utamur, quam utimur.] + + [Footnote 82: Curculio, 33-8.] + + [Footnote 83: 'I was a fine gentleman, a nice fellow--a good + or respectable man I never was nor will be.'--Capt. 956-7.] + + [Footnote 84: Cp. the winding up of the Mostellaria, Casina, + Cistellaria.] + + [Footnote 85: 'Look there, if you please, how he has taken up + his post, with serious brow pondering, meditating; now he taps + his breast with his fingers. I fancy he is going to summon + his heart outside: look, he turns away; now his left hand is + leaning on his left thigh; with his right hand he is making + a calculation on his fingers; his right thigh burns, such a + violent blow he has struck it; his scheme does not come easily + to him:--he cracks his fingers: he is at a loss; he often + changes his position: look, there he nods his head: he does + not like this new idea. Whatever it is, he will not bring it + out till it is ready: he'll serve it up well done. Look again, + he is busy building: he props up his chin with a pillar. Away + with it! I don't like that kind of building: for I have heard + that a foreign poet has his face thus pillared, beside whom + two sentinels are every hour on watch. Bravo! by Hercules, + now he is in a fine attitude, like a slave, or a man in a + play.--Mil. Glor. 201-14.] + + [Footnote 86: Pseud. 1246.] + + [Footnote 87: 'Hear me, ye bolts, ye bolts, gladly I greet + you, I love you, I am fond of you; I beg you, I beseech you, + most amiably now comply with the desire of me a lover. For my + sake become like foreign dancers; spring up, I beseech you, + and send her forth, who now is drinking up the life-blood of + me her lover. Mark how these vilest bolts are still asleep, + and do not stir one whit on my account.'--Curculio, 147-154.] + + [Footnote 88: Pseud. 132-238.] + + [Footnote 89: 'See that when I return from the Forum, I find + everything ready, the floor swept, sprinkled, polished, the + couches covered; the plate all clean and arranged: for this + is my birthday: this you must all join in keeping: I want to + entertain some great people sumptuously, that they may think I + am well to do.'--Pseud. 159-62.] + + [Footnote 90: 'A red-haired fellow, pot-bellied, with thick + legs, darkish, with a big head, keen eyes, a red face, and + enormous feet.'] + + [Footnote 91: 'By Pollux he is of the mushroom sort: he hides + himself with his head: he looks like an Illyrian: he is got up + like one;'-- + + 'I should be surprised if he be not either some dreaming + fellow (?al. house-breaker) or a cutpurse: he takes a good + look of the ground, gazes about him, takes note of the + house.'--Trinum. 850-862.] + + [Footnote 92: Bacchid. 289.] + + [Footnote 93: Curculio, 337, etc.] + + [Footnote 94: Cp. the proverbial 'taking the breeches off a + Highlander,' and the lines in one of Burns' earliest songs-- + + 'And then there's something in her gait + Gars ony dress look weel.'] + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +TERENCE AND THE COMIC POETS SUBSEQUENT TO PLAUTUS. + + +The names of five or six comic dramatists are known, who fill +the space of eighteen years between the death of Plautus and the +representation of the earliest play of Terence, the 'Andria.' From +one of these, Aquilius, some verses are quoted, which Varro did not +hesitate to attribute to Plautus, and which Gellius characterises as +'Plautinissimi.' They are the words of a parasite, complaining of the +invention of sun-dials as inconveniently retarding the dinner +hour. Among these writers the most famous was Caecilius Statius, an +Insubrian Gaul, first a slave, and afterwards a freedman of a member +of the Caecilian house. He is said to have lived on terms of great +intimacy with Ennius. His poetic career very nearly coincides with +that of the epic and tragic poet, and he only survived him by one +year. Some Roman critics ranked him above even Plautus as a comic +poet. The line of Horace-- + + Vincere Caecilius gravitate, Terentius arte-- + +probably indicates the ground of their preference. He is said also +to have been careful in the construction of his plots[1]. Cicero, who +often quotes from him, speaks of him as having written a bad style[2]. +He is also mentioned among those poets who 'powerfully moved the +feelings.' + +He composed about forty plays. Most of them had Greek titles, and a +considerable number of these are identical with the titles of comedies +by Menander. Two of the longest of his fragments express with more +bitterness and less humour the feelings which husbands in Plautus +entertain towards their wives. In one of these passages he has adapted +his Greek original to the coarser Roman taste with even less +fastidiousness than Plautus generally shows[3]. Another passage, from +the Synephebi, is more in the spirit of Terence than of Plautus. It is +one in which a young lover complains that the 'good nature' (commoditas) of +his father made it impossible to cheat him with an easy conscience. +Occasionally we find specimens of those short maxims which probably +led the Augustan critics to attribute to him the character of +_gravitas_, such as the + + Serit arbores quae alteri saeclo prosint, + +quoted by Cicero in the Tusculan Questions, and this line-- + + Saepe est etiam sub palliolo sordido sapientia. + +He seems to have had nothing of the creative originality of Plautus, +nor ever to have enjoyed the same general popularity. He prepared the +way for Terence by a more careful conformity to his Greek models than +his predecessor had shown, and, apparently, by introducing a more +serious and sentimental vein into his representations of life. + +With Terence Roman literature enters on a new stage of its +development. When he appeared, a younger generation had grown up, who +not only inherited the enthusiasm for Greek art and letters of the +older generation,--of men of the stamp of the elder Scipio, Aemilius +Paulus, T. Quintius Flamininus,--but who had been carefully +educated from their boyhood in Greek accomplishments. The leading +representative of this younger generation, Scipio Aemilianus, was +about the same age as Terence, and admitted him to his intimacy; thus +showing in his early youth the same enlightened and tolerant spirit +and the same cultivated aspiration which made him choose Panaetius and +Polybius as the associates of his manhood, and induced him to live in +relations of frank unreserve with Lucilius during the latter years +of his life. Among the members of the Scipionic circle, Laelius and +Furius Philo were also closely associated with Terence; and he is said +to have enjoyed the favour of older men of distinction and culture, +Sulpicius Gallus, Q. Fabius Labeo, and M. Popillius, men of consular +rank and of literary and poetic accomplishment[4]. In the interval +between Plautus and Terence, the great gap which was never again to be +bridged over had been made between the mass of the people and a small +educated class. While the former became less capable of intellectual +pleasure, and were beginning to prefer the exhibitions of boxers, +rope-dancers, and gladiators[5], to the comedies which had delighted +their fathers, the latter became more exacting than the men of a +former generation, in their demands for correctness and elegance. They +had acquired through education the fastidiousness of men of culture, +a quality not easily gained and retained without some sacrifice +of native force and popular sympathies. Recognising the immense +superiority of the Greek originals in literature to the rude Roman +copies, they believed that the best way to create a national Latin +literature was to deviate as little as possible, in spirit, form, and +substance, from the works of Greek genius. But though cosmopolitan, +or rather purely Greek, in their literary tastes, they were thoroughly +patriotic in devotion to their country's interests. They cherished +their native language as the great instrument of social and political +life; and they recognised the influence which a cultivated literature +might have in rendering that instrument finer and more flexible than +natural use had made it. By concentrating attention on form and style, +without aiming at originality of invention, Latin literature might +become a truer medium of Greek culture, and might, at the same time, +impart a finer edge and temper to the rude ore of Latin speech. + +The task which awaited Terence was the complete Hellenising of Roman +comedy, and the creation of a style which might combine something of +Attic flexibility and delicacy with the idiomatic purity of the +Latin spoken in the best Roman houses. By birth a Phoenician, by +intellectual education a Greek, by the associations of his daily +life a foreigner living in Rome, he was more in sympathy with the +cosmopolitan mode of thought and feeling which Greek culture was +diffusing over the civilised world, than with the traditions of Roman +austerity or the homely humours of Italian life. As a dependent and +associate of men belonging to the most select society of Rome, he had +neither that contact with the many sides of life, nor that familiarity +with the animated modes of popular speech, which helped to fashion +the style of Plautus: but by assimilating the literary grace of the +Athenian comedy and the familiar manner of a high-bred, friendly, +and intelligent society, he gave to Latin, what the Greek language in +ancient and the French in modern times have had pre-eminently, a style +which gives dignity and urbanity to conversation, and freedom and +simplicity to literary expression. If the oratorical tastes and +training of the Romans make the absence of these last qualities +perceptible in much both of their prose and verse, we feel the charm +of their presence in the Letters of Cicero, the lighter poems of +Catullus, the Epistles of Horace, the Epigrams of Martial: and it was +owing to the social and intellectual position of Terence that this +secret of combining consummate literary grace with conversational ease +and spontaneity was discovered. + +Our knowledge of the life of Terence is derived chiefly from a +fragment of the lost work of Suetonius, _De viris illustribus_, +preserved in the commentary of Donatus. Confirmation of some of the +statements contained in the life is obtained from later writers and +speakers, and also from the prologues to the different plays, which +throw light on the literary and personal relations of the poet. These +prologues were among the original sources of Suetonius: but he +quotes or refers to the works of various grammarians and +antiquarians--Porcius Licinus, Volcatius Sedigitus, Santra, Nepos, +Fenestella, Q. Cosconius--as his authorities. The first two lived +within a generation or two after the death of Terence, and the first +of them shows a distinct animus against him and his patrons. But +notwithstanding the abundance of authorities, there is uncertainty as +to both the date of his birth and the place and manner of his death. +The doubt as to the former arises from the discrepancy of the MSS. His +last play, the Adelphoe, was exhibited in 160 B.C. Shortly after its +production he went to Greece, being then, according to the best MSS., +in his twenty-fifth ('nondum quintum atque vicesimum egressus[6] +annum'), according to inferior MSS., in his thirty-fifth year. This +uncertainty is increased by a discrepancy between the authorities +quoted by Suetonius. Cornelius Nepos is quoted for the statement that +he was about the same age as Scipio (born 185 B.C.) and Laelius, while +Fenestella, an antiquarian of the later Augustan period, represented +him as older. As the authority of the MSS. coincides with that of the +older record, the year 185 B.C. may be taken as the most probable date +of his birth. In the case of an author drawing originally from life, +it might seem improbable that he should have written six comedies, so +true in their apprehension and delineation of various phases of human +nature, between the ages of nineteen and twenty-five. But the case of +an imitative artist reproducing impressions derived from literature +is different; and the circumstances of Terence's Phoenician origin and +early life may well have developed in him a precocity of talent. His +acknowledged intimacy with Scipio and Laelius, and the general belief +that they assisted him in the composition of his plays, agree better +with the statement that he was about their own age than that he was +ten years older. The lines at the end of the prologue to the Heauton +Timorumenos-- + + Exemplum statuite in me ut _adulescentuli_ + Vobis placere studeant potius quam sibi, + +indicate that he was a very young man when they were written. Thus +Terence may, more even than Catullus or Lucan, be ranked among 'the +inheritors of unfulfilled renown.' + +He is said to have been born at Carthage, brought to Rome as a slave, +and carefully educated in the house of M. Terentius Lucanus, by whom +he was soon emancipated. A difficulty was felt in ancient times as to +how he originally became a slave, as there was no war between Rome and +Carthage between the Second and Third Punic Wars, and no commercial +relations with Rome and Italy till after the destruction of Carthage. +But there was no doubt as to his Phoenician origin. It has been +suggested that his Carthaginian origin perhaps explains the interest +which the family of the Scipios first took in him. He was of slender +figure and dark complexion. He is said to have owed the favour of +his great friends as much to his personal gifts and graces as to his +literary distinction. In one of his prologues he declares it to be his +ambition, while not offending the many, to please the 'boni.' + +His earliest play was the 'Andria,' exhibited in 166 B.C., when he +could only have been about the age of nineteen. A pretty, but probably +apocryphal, story is told of his having read the play, before its +exhibition, to Caecilius--who however is said to have died in +168 B.C., the year after the death of Ennius--and of the generous +admiration manifested by Caecilius. The story probably owes its origin +to the same impulse which gave birth to that of the visit of Accius on +his journey to Asia to the veteran Pacuvius. The next play exhibited +by Terence was the 'Hecyra,' first produced in 165, but withdrawn in +consequence of the bad reception which it met with, and afterwards +reproduced in 160. The 'Heauton Timorumenos' appeared in 163, the +'Eunuchus' and 'Phormio' in 161, and the 'Adelphoe' in 160, at the +funeral games of L. Aemilius Paulus. + +After bringing out these plays Terence sailed for Greece, whether, as +it is said, to escape from the suspicion of publishing the works of +others as his own, or, as is more probable, from the desire to obtain +a more intimate knowledge of that Greek life which had hitherto been +known to him only in literature, and which it was his professed aim +to reproduce in his comedies. From the voyage to Greece Terence never +returned. According to one account he was lost at sea, according to +another he died at Stymphalus in Arcadia, and according to a third +at Leucadia, from grief at the loss by shipwreck of his baggage, +containing a number of new plays which he had translated from +Menander. The old grammarian quoted by Suetonius states that he was +ruined in fortune through his intimacy with his noble friends. Another +account spoke of him as having left behind him property consisting of +gardens, to the extent of twenty acres, close to the Appian Way. It +is further stated that his daughter was so well provided for that she +married a Roman knight. + +As his art is purely dramatic and also imitative, for any further +knowledge of his character and circumstances we have to rely on +his prologues in which he speaks in his own person. They give the +impression of a man of frank and ingenuous nature, with a high idea +of his art, very sensitive to criticism, and proud, though not +ostentatiously so, of the favour he enjoyed with the best men of his +time. The tone of all his prologues is apologetic. In this respect, as +well as in his relation to his patrons, he reminds us of the tone of +some of the Satires of Horace. But there is a robuster force both of +defence and of offence in the son of the Venusian freedman than in +the young Phoenician freedman. In nearly all his prologues he defends +himself against the malevolence and detraction of an old poet, +'malevolus vetus poeta,' whose name is said to have been Luscius +Lavinius, or Lanuvinus. The chief charge which his detractor brings +against him is that of _contaminatio_, the combining in one play of +scenes out of different Greek plays. Terence justifies his practice +by that of the older poets, Naevius, Plautus, Ennius, whose careless +freedom he follows in preference to the dull pedantry of his +detractor[7]. He recriminates on his adversary as one who, by his +literal adherence to his original, had turned good Greek plays into +bad Latin ones. He justifies himself from the charge of plagiarising +from Plautus and Naevius[8]. In another passage he contrasts his own +quiet treatment of his subjects with the sensational extravagance of +other play-wrights[9]. He meets the charge of receiving assistance +in the composition of his plays by claiming, as a great honour, the +favour which he enjoyed with those who deservedly were the favourites +of the Roman people[10]. + +He was not a popular poet, in the sense in which Plautus was popular; +he made no claim to original invention, or even original treatment +of his materials: he was however not a mere translator but rather +an adapter from the Greek; and his aim was to give a true picture of +Greek life and manners in the purest Latin style. He stands in much +the same relation to Menander and other writers of the new comedy[11], +as that in which a fine engraver stands to a great painter. He speaks +with the enthusiasm not of a creative genius, but of an imitative +artist, inspired by a strong admiration of his models. And this view +of his aim is confirmed by the result which he attained. He has +none of the purely Roman characteristics of Plautus, in sentiment, +allusion, or style[12]; none of his extravagance, and none of his +creative exuberance of fancy. The law which Terence always imposes +on himself is the 'ne quid nimis.' He aims at correctness and +consistency, and rejects nearly every expression or allusion which +might remind his hearers that they were in Rome and not in Athens. +His plots are tamer and less varied in their interest than those of +Plautus, but they are worked out much more carefully and artistically. +He takes great pains in the opening scenes to make the situation in +which the play begins clear, and he allows the action to proceed to +the _dénouement_ through the medium of the natural play of character +and motive. As a painter of life it is not by striking effects, but +by his truth in detail, and his power of delineating the finer +distinctions in varying specimens of the same type, that he gains +the admiration of the reader. There are no strongly-drawn or vividly +conceived personages in his plays, but they all act and speak in the +most natural manner. Though he has left no trace in any of his plays +of one drawing directly from the life, there is no more truthful, +natural, and delicate delineator of human nature, in its ordinary +and more level moods, within the whole range of classical literature. +Characters, circumstances, motives, etc., are all in keeping with a +cosmopolitan type of citizen or family life, courteous and humane, +taking the world easily, and outwardly decorous in its pleasures, but +without serious interests, or high aspirations. + +Terence is, accordingly, in substance and form, a 'dimidiatus +Menander,'--a Roman only in his language. The aim of his art was to be +as purely Athenian as it was possible for one writing in Latin to +be. While his great gift to Roman literature is that he first made +it artistic, that he imparted to rude Latium the sense of elegance, +consistency, and moderation, his gift to the world is that, through +him, it possesses a living image of Greek society in the third century +B.C. presented in the purest Latin idiom. The life of Athens after +the loss of her religious belief, her great political activity, and +speculative and artistic energy,--or, rather, one of the phases +of that life, as it was shaped by Menander for dramatic +purposes--supplies the material of all his plays. It is the embodiment +of the lighter side of the philosophy of Epicurus, without the +elevation of the speculative and scientific curiosity which gave +serious interest even to that form of the philosophic life. There is +a charm of friendliness, urbanity, social enjoyment, superficial +kindness of heart, in the picture presented: and it was a necessary +stage in the culture of the best Romans that they should learn +to appreciate this charm, and assimilate its influence in their +intercourse with one another. The Greek comedy of Menander was a +lesson to the Romans in manners, in tolerance, in kindly indulgence +to equals and inferiors, and in the cultivation of pleasant relations +with one another. The often quoted line,-- + + Homo sum; humani nihil a me alienum puto, + +might be taken as its motto. The idea of 'human nature,' in its +weakness and in its sympathy with weakness, may be said to be the +new element introduced into Roman life by the comedy of Terence. The +qualities of 'humanitas, clementia, facilitas,'--general amiability +and good nature,--are the virtues which it exemplifies. The indulgence +of the old to the follies or pleasures of the young is often +contrasted with the stricter view of the obligations of life, +entertained by an earlier generation, and always in favour of the +former. The plea of the passionate modern poet-- + + 'To step aside is human.'-- + +is often urged, but without any feeling that this divergence needs +an apology. The hollowness of the social conditions on which this +superficial agreeability and humanity rested is revealed by passages +in these plays which prove that the habitual comfort of a moderately +wealthy class was maintained by the practice of infanticide: and a +virtuous wife is represented as begging the forgiveness of her husband +for having given her child away instead of ordering it to be put to +death[13]. In its outward amenity, as well as its inward hollowness, +the social and family life depicted in the comedies of Terence was the +very antithesis of the old Roman austere and formal discipline. How +far this new view of life contributed to the subsequent deterioration +of Roman character, it is difficult to say. The writings of Cicero and +Horace show that the receptive Italian intellect was able to extract +the elements of courtesy, tolerance, and social amiability out of such +a delineation without any loss of native manliness and strength of +affection. And thus perhaps, apart from their literary charm, the +permanent gain to the world from the comedies of Terence and the +philosophy which they embody, has been greater than the immediate loss +to the weaker members of the Roman youth who may have been misled by +the view of life presented in them. + +Love, generally in the form of pathetic sentiment rather than of +irregular passion, is the motive of all the pieces. There is generally +a double love-story; one, an attachment, which, if not virtuous in the +beginning, has become so afterwards, and which ends in marriage and +the discovery that the lady is the daughter of a citizen, who has +been exposed or carried away in her infancy; the other, an ordinary +intrigue, like those which form the subject of most of the comedies +of Plautus. In his treatment of love, Terence may be said to be the +precursor of Catullus, Propertius, and Tibullus. He has the serious +sense of its pains and pleasures which they display, though he wants +the passionate intensity of the two first of these. The greatest +attraction of his love passages arises from his tenderness of feeling. +In this he is like Tibullus. Although the origin of the sentiment, in +most of his plays, is nothing deeper than desire, inspired by outward +charms and enhanced by compassion, yet we recognise in him, or in the +model which he followed, much more than in Plautus, a belief in +and appreciation of constancy and fidelity. In his treatment of his +'amantes ephebi' he shows sympathy with, rather than the humorous +superiority to, their weaknesses which we find in Plautus. But though +there is more grossness in the older poet, yet there is occasionally +more real indelicacy in Terence; as in the subject of the 'Eunuchus' +and in the acceptance by Phaedria, at the end of that play, of +the suggestion of Gnatho, which, in its union of mercenary with +sentimental motives, is almost more repugnant to natural feeling than +the conclusion of the 'Asinaria' and 'Bacchides.' + +The characters in Terence, although more consistent and more true to +ordinary life, are more faintly drawn than those of Plautus. None of +them stand out in our memory with the distinctness and individuality +of Euclio, Pseudolus, Ballio, or Tyndarus. The want of definite +personality which they had to the poet himself is implied in the +frequent recurrence of the same names in his different pieces. They +are products of analysis and reflexion, not of bold invention and +creative sympathy. They are embodiments of the good sense which keeps +a conventional society together, or of the tamer impulses by which the +surface of that society is temporarily ruffled. The predominant tone +in their intercourse with one another is one of urbanity. We find none +of the rollicking vituperation and execration in which Plautus revels. +Delicate irony and pointed epigram take the place of broad humour. +The encounter of wits between slaves and fathers is conducted with +the weapons of polished repartee and mutual deference to one another. +Davus, Parmeno, Syrus, Geta, speak in the terse and epigrammatic +language of gentlemen and men of the world. + +While the 'Andria' has more pathetic situations, and the 'Adelphoe' +is on the whole more true to human nature, the 'Eunuchus' presents the +greatest number of interesting personages. The Thais of that play is +the most favourable delineation of the Athenian 'Hetaera' in ancient +literature. She has grace and dignity, a consciousness of her charms +combined with a proud humility, and not only kindliness of nature, but +real goodness of heart. The natural dignity of her nature, tempered by +the sense of her position, appears in her rebuke to Chaerea,-- + + Non te dignum, Chaerea, + Fecisti: nam si ego digna hac contumelia + Sum maxume, at tu indignus qui faceres tamen[14]; + +and her kindness is equally manifest in her ready admission of his +excuse, + + Non adeo inhumano ingenio sum, Chaerea, + Neque ita imperita, ut quid amor valeat, nesciam[15]. + +Gnatho is a new and more subtly conceived type of the parasite, and +in Thraso the 'Miles Gloriosus' does not transcend the limits of +credibility. Parmeno and Phaedria are natural embodiments of the +confidential slave and the weak lover. Their relations to one another +are brought out with more delicate irony and finer psychological +analysis, though with less vigour than those of Pseudolus and +Calidorus, or of Ludus and Pistoclerus in the Pseudolus and Bacchides +of Plautus. The Davus, Geta, and Syrus of the other plays are tamer +and less humorous than the slaves of Plautus; but they play their part +with wit and liveliness, and the _rôle_ which they have to perform +is not felt to be incompatible with the ordinary conditions of life. +Aeschinus, in the Adelphoe, shows a higher spirit and more energy of +character than most of the other lovers in Plautus or Terence. The +contrast between the genial, indulgent, selfish man of the world, +and the harder type of character produced by exclusive devotion to +business, is well brought out in the Micio and Demea of the Adelphoe, +and in the Chremes and Menedemus of the Heauton Timorumenos. The +two brothers in the 'Phormio,' Demipho and Chremes, are also happily +characterised and distinguished from one another; and Phormio is +himself a type of the parasite, as distinct from Gnatho, as he is +from the Gelasimus or Curculio of Plautus. The character-painting +in Terence is altogether free from the tendency to exaggeration +and caricature which is the besetting fault of some of the greatest +humourists. Yet with all his truth of detail, his careful avoidance of +the extreme forms of villainy, roguery, and inhuman hardness, it may +be doubted whether the life represented by Terence is not on the +whole more purely conventional than that represented by Plautus. His +personages seem to move about in a kind of 'Fools' paradise' without +the knowledge of good or evil. All the sentimental virtues seem to +flourish spontaneously, even in the hearts of his courtesans: and +though he holds up a true ideal of fidelity in love and loyalty in +friendship, yet the chief practical lesson that seems to be suggested +is the necessity of overcoming the restraints imposed by prudence and +conscience on the indulgence of natural inclination. + +If we consider the form, substance, and spirit of these six plays, we +find that their merit consists in the art with which the situation is +unfolded and the plot developed, the consistency and moderation with +which a conventional view of life and various types of character are +set before us, and in the large part played in them by the tender and +sympathetic emotions. But their great attraction, both to ancient and +modern readers, has been their charm of style. The diction of Terence, +while it wants the creativeness and exuberance of Plautus, is free +from the mannerisms which accompanied these large endowments of the +older poet. The superiority of his style over that of Lucilius, who +wrote a generation after him, is almost immeasurable. The fine Attic +flavour is more perceptible in his Latin, than in the Greek of his +contemporaries. He does not attempt to emulate the 'numeri innumeri' +of Plautus, but limits himself almost entirely to those metres which +suit the natural flow of placid or more animated conversation, viz. +the iambic (senarian or septenarian) and the trochaic septenarian. +The effect of his metre is to introduce measure, propriety, grace, +and point into ordinary speech without impairing its ease and +spontaneousness. The natural vivacity and urbanity of his style is +equally apparent in dialogue, or in rapid and picturesque narrative +of incidents and pathetic situations[16]. He is full of happy +often-quoted sayings, such as + + Hinc illae lacrimae. Amantium irae amoris integratiost. + Quot homines, tot sententiae. + Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto. + Tacent: satis laudant. + Nosse omnia haec salus est adulescentulis. + Cantilenam eandem canis--laterem lavem,--etc. etc. + +Many of these--such as 'ne quid nimis,' 'ad restim res redit mihi,' +'auribus teneo lupum,' etc.--are obviously translations from Greek +proverbial sayings; and in all his use of language we may trace the +influence of a close observation and sympathetic enjoyment of Greek +subtlety, reserve, delicate allusiveness, curious felicity in union +with direct simplicity. These qualities of style, reproduced in the +purest Latin idiom, had a great influence on the familiar style of +Horace. Expressions in his Satires and Epistles, and even in his Odes, +show how closely he studied the language of Terence[17]. It is from +a scene in Terence that Horace takes his example of the weakness of +passion[18]; and the mode in which he tells how his father trained +him to correct his own faults by observing other men must have +been suggested by the conversation between Demea and Syrus in the +Adelphoe[19]:-- + + _De._ Denique + Inspicere tamquam in speculum in vitas omnium + Iubeo atque ex aliis sumere exemplum sibi. + 'Hoc facito.' _Sy._ Recte sane. _De._ 'Hoc fugito.' _Sy._ Callide. + _De._ 'Hoc laudist.' _Sy._ 'Istaec res est.' _De._ 'Hoc vitio + datur.'[20] + +Again, the remonstrance of Micio to Demea, + + Si esses homo, + Sineres nunc facere, dum per aetatem licet, + +expresses the philosophy of many of his love poems and his drinking +songs. The Epicurean sentiment and reflexion borrowed from Menander +were congenial to one side of Horace's nature, as the manly +independence and serious spirit of Lucilius were to another: and in +his own style he has incorporated the conversational urbanity of the +one writer no less than the intellectual vigour of the other. But +Horace was much richer and more varied in the subjects of his art, as +he was larger and more penetrating in his knowledge of the world, and +more manly and serious in his view of life, than the comic poet who +died so early in his career. + +But not Horace only, but some of the best judges and greatest masters +of style both in ancient and modern times have been among his chief +admirers. Cicero frequently reproduces his expressions, applies +passages in his plays to his own circumstances, and refers to his +personages as typical representatives of character[21]. Julius Caesar +characterises him as 'puri sermonis amator.' Quintilian applies to his +writing the epithet 'elegantissimus,' and in that connexion refers to +the belief that his plays were the work of Scipio Africanus. Cicero, +on the other hand, speaks of the belief that they were the work of +Laelius, 'cuius fabellae propter elegantiam sermonis putabantur a C. +Laelio scribi[22].' The imputation in the poet's own time, which he +does not altogether disclaim, appears to have been that both friends +assisted him in his task. + +His works were studied and learned by heart by the great Latin writers +of the Renaissance, such as Erasmus and Melanchthon: and Casaubon, in +his anxiety that his son should write a pure style, inculcates on him +the constant study of Terence. Montaigne applies to him the phrase of +Horace,-- + + Liquidus puroque simillimus amni. + +He speaks of 'his fine expression, elegancy, and quaintness,' and +adds, 'he does so possess the soul with his graces that we forget +those of his fable[23].' It is among the French, the great masters +of the prose of refined conversation, that his merits have been most +appreciated in modern times. Sainte-Beuve, in his 'Nouveaux Lundis,' +devotes to him two papers of delicate and admiring criticism. He +quotes Fénelon and Addison, 'deux esprits polis et doux, de la +même famille littéraire,' as expressing their admiration for the +illimitable beauty and naturalness of one of his scenes. Fénelon is +said to have preferred him even to Molière. Sainte-Beuve calls Terence +the bond of union between Roman urbanity and the Atticism of the +Greeks, and adds that it was in the seventeenth century, when French +literature was most truly Attic, that he was most appreciated. M. +Joubert is quoted[24] as applying to him the words 'Le miel Attique +est sur ses lèvres; on croirait aisément qu'il naquit sur le mont +Hymette.' + +After the death of Terence the only writer of _palliatae_ of any name +was Sextus Turpilius, who died about the end of the second century +B.C. No new element seems to have been contributed by him to the +Roman Stage. After the decline of the Comoedia palliata, the Comoedia +togata, which professed to represent the Roman and Italian life of the +middle classes, first obtained popular favour. The principal writers +of this branch of comedy were T. Quintius Atta and L. Afranius. The +latter was regarded as the Roman Menander:-- + + Dicitur Afrani toga convenisse Menandro. + +The admiration which he expressed for Terence, whom he regarded as +the foremost of all the Roman comic poets, is in keeping with this +criticism. From the testimony of Quintilian[25] we may infer that the +change of scene from Athens to Rome and the provincial towns of Italy +did not improve the morality of the Roman stage. A further decline +both in intellectual interest and in moral tendency appeared in the +resuscitation in a literary form of the Fabulae Atellanae, the +chief writers of which were L. Pomponius and Novius. A still further +degradation was witnessed in the later days of the Republic and under +the Empire in the rise of the 'Mimus,' as a recognised branch of +dramatic literature. If the influence of the comic stage, when its +chief representatives were Plautus and Terence, is to be regarded as +only of a mixed character, it is difficult to associate any idea +of intellectual pleasure with the gross buffooneries of the Atellan +farce, when it had passed from the spontaneous hilarity of primitive +times into the conditions of an artistic performance, and still +less with the 'mimi,' which were intended to gratify the lowest +propensities of the spectators. The rapid degeneracy of the mass of +the people from the characteristic virtues of the older Republic +is testified as much by the popularity of such spectacles as by the +passionate delight excited by the gladiatorial combats. + + + [Footnote 1: 'In argumento Caecilius poscit palmam,' quoted + from Varro.] + + [Footnote 2: Ep. ad Attic. vii. 3; Brutus, 74.] + + [Footnote 3: Cf. Mommsen, vol. ii. p. 435, English Translation.] + + [Footnote 4: 'Consulari utroque ac poeta.' Life of Terence, by + Suetonius.] + + [Footnote 5: Cf. Prologue to the Hecyra.] + + [Footnote 6: Ritschl reads 'ingressus,' which would make him a + year younger.] + + [Footnote 7: Prol. Andria, l. 20.] + + [Footnote 8: Eunuchus, Prologue, l. 22, etc.] + + [Footnote 9: Prol. to Phormio, l. 5, etc.] + + [Footnote 10: Prol. Adelph. 15-21.] + + [Footnote 11: The Phormio is taken from Apollodorus.] + + [Footnote 12: We have one or two Latin puns. Such as the play + of words in _amentium_ and _amantium_, _verba_ and _verbera_; + one or two cases of alliteration and asyndeton, e.g.-- + + Hic est victus, vetus, veternosus senex,-- + + and + + Profundat, perdat, pereat, etc.; + + but such mannerisms, which abound in Plautus, are extremely + rare in the younger poet.] + + [Footnote 13: In the Heauton Timorumenos.] + + [Footnote 14: 'This act was not worthy of you, Chaerea: for + even if it is quite fitting that I should receive such an + insult, all the same it was not fitting that it should come + from you.'] + + [Footnote 15: 'I am not so wanting in natural feeling or so + unschooled in its ways as not to know what love is capable + of.'] + + [Footnote 16: E.g. Andria, 115-136; 282-298; Heauton + Timorumenos, 273-301.] + + [Footnote 17: The original of such expressions as--Appone + lucro; Dulce est desipere in loco; Rimosa quae deponuntur + in aure; Qua parte debacchentur ignes; Cena dubia; Paucorum + hominum et mentis bene sanae; Quam sapere et ringi; Quid non + ebrietas designat?--and others, are to be found in Terence.] + + [Footnote 18: Eunuch. A. i. 1; cf. Hor. Sat. ii. 3, 260, + etc.] + + [Footnote 19: 414, etc.] + + [Footnote 20: 'Then I bid him look into the lives of men + as into a mirror, and to form for himself an example from + others.' 'Do this.' _Sy._ 'Quite right.' _De._ 'Avoid this.' + _Sy._ 'Cleverly said.' _De._ 'This is honourable.' _Sy._ 'That + is it.' _De._ 'This is discreditable.'] + + [Footnote 21: Cf. Ep. ad Fam. i. 9. 19; Phil. ii. 15.] + + [Footnote 22: Ep. ad Att. vii. 3. 10.] + + [Footnote 23: Essays of Montaigne, Cotton's Translation, ch. + lxvii.] + + [Footnote 24: By E. Negrette, in his Histoire de la + Littérature Latine.] + + [Footnote 25: Quint. x. 1, 100.] + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +EARLY ROMAN SATIRE--C. LUCILIUS, DIED 102 B.C. + + +Poetical satire, as a branch of cultivated literature, arose out of +the social and political circumstances, and the moral and literary +conditions of Roman life in the last half of the second century B.C. +The tone by which that form of poetry has been characterised, in +ancient and modern times, is derived from the genius and temper of a +remarkable man, belonging to that era, and from the spirit in which he +regarded the world. C. Lucilius invented satire, by first imparting +a definite purpose to an inartistic kind of metrical composition, in +which miscellaneous topics had been treated in accordance with the +occasional mood or interests of the writer. Although the satire of +Lucilius was rude and unfinished, and evidently retained much of the +vague general character belonging to the satura of Ennius, yet he was +undoubtedly the first Roman writer who used his materials with the aim +and in the manner which poetical satire has permanently assumed. +The indigenous satura existing at Rome before the rise of regular +literature had been merged partly in the Latin comedy of Naevius, +Plautus, Caecilius, etc., partly in the metrical miscellanies of +Ennius and Pacuvius, which, though not written for the stage, retained +the name of the old scenic medley. The new satire differed from Latin +comedy in form and style, and in the personal and national aims which +it set before itself. The satire of Lucilius, and even that of Horace, +retained many features in common with the desultory medley which +Ennius had formed out of the older satura. But the latter was the +parent of no permanent form of literary art. The miscellanies of +Varro, the most famous work produced on this model, were composed +partly in prose and partly in verse, and were never ranked by the +Romans among their poetical works. The former, on the other hand, was +the parent of the satire of Horace, of Persius, and of Juvenal, and, +through that, of the poetical satire of modern times. The spirit +of censorious criticism, in which Lucilius treated the politics and +morals, the social manners and the literary taste of his age, has +become the essential characteristic of that form of literature which +derived its name from the old Italian satura. + +Of all the forms of Roman poetry, satire was least indebted to +the works of the Greeks. Quintilian claims it altogether for his +countrymen--'satira tota nostra est.' Horace characterises it as +'Graecis intacti carminis.' While the names by which they are known +at once betray the Greek invention of the other great forms of poetic +art, the name of satire alone indicates a Roman origin. It is true +that Lucilius, like every educated man of his time, was acquainted +with the Greek language and literature. It is true also that the +critical spirit in Greece had found vent for itself in the works +of the early iambic writers, Archilochus, Simonides of Amorgos, and +Hipponax, of the great authors of the old political comedy of Athens, +and apparently in later writings such as the satiric discourses of +Bion of Borysthenes, mentioned in Horace's line-- + + Ille Bioneis sermonibus et sale nigro. + +But Roman satire sprang up and flourished independently of any of +those kinds of composition. In national spirit and moral purpose +it was unlike the personal lampoons of the Greek satirists. It was +perhaps not less personal, but was more ethical; it professed at least +to be animated not by private enmity but by public spirit. It embraced +also a much greater variety of topics. Horace finds a closer parallel +to the satire of Lucilius in the old Athenian comedy. These two kinds +of literature have this in common, that they are the expression of +public, not of personal feeling. But though Lucilius probably, like +Horace after him, studied the old comic poets 'Eupolis, Cratinus and +Aristophanes,' to catch something of their spirit and manner in his +satire, Roman satire was not an imitation of Greek comedy. Where Roman +literature professes to be an imitation of Greek, it is the form and +the metre much more than the spirit and matter that are reproduced. +Greek comedy and Roman satire were the independent results of freedom +of speech and criticism in different ages and countries. Their +difference in form arose out of fundamental differences in the +character as well as in the genius of the two nations. Although Roman +speakers and writers exercised a license of speech and of personal +criticism equal to that which prevailed in the Athenian democracy, and +beyond what the spirit of personal honour tolerates in modern times, +yet the exposure of public men to ridicule on the stage was utterly +repugnant to the instincts of an aristocratic republic in which one +of the great bonds of union was respect for outward authority[1]. The +tendency of the Roman mind to reduce all things to rule and to express +itself in abstract comments on life, rather than to represent human +nature in living forms, also favoured the assumption by Lucilius of a +mode of literature addressing itself to the understanding of readers, +and not to the curiosity of spectators. + +The spirit by which satire is animated was native to Italy. The germ +out of which it was developed was the _Fescennina licentia_, or, as +it is called by Dionysius, the [Greek: kertomos kai satyrikê paidia], +peculiar to the Italian people. But in assuming a regular literary +form, this native raillery was tempered by the serious spirit and +vigorous understanding of Rome, and liberalised by the tastes +and ideas derived from a Greek education. The age in which satire +arose,--the age of the Gracchi,--was one of social discontent, of +political excitement, of intellectual activity, of moral and religious +unsettlement: and all these conditions exercised a powerful influence +on its character. As addressed not to the imagination but to the +practical understanding, it was in a peculiar manner the literary +product of a people 'rebus natus agendis.' It combined the practical +philosophy of the 'abnormis sapiens,' expressing itself in proverbial +sayings, anecdotes, and homely illustrations; the keen perceptions, +the criticism, and vivacity of a circle, educated, well-bred, and +versed in affairs; the serious purpose of a moral censor; and the +knowledge of life, which results from the mixed study of men and +books. Their circumstances, temper, and pursuits, united these various +elements, in different proportions, first in Lucilius, and after him +in Horace. By writing what interested themselves, in accordance with +their own natural bent, they satisfied the practical and social tastes +of their countrymen. While the higher poetical imagination was a rare +and exceptional gift among Roman authors, and was appreciated only by +a limited class of readers, there was in Roman satire a true popular +ring and a close adaptation to the national character, understanding, +and circumstances. Martial writes in his day-- + + Nescis heu, nescis dominae fastidia Romae: + Crede mihi nimium Martia turba sapit: + Maiores nusquam rhonchi; iuvenesque senesque + Et pueri nasum rhinocerotis habent[2].--i. 4. 2-6. + +As the most genuine product of actual Roman life, satire was, if not +so luxuriant, a more vigorous plant than any other species of Roman +poetry. It is seen growing up in hardy vigour under the free air +of the Republic, attaining to mature perfection amid the rich +intellectual life of the Augustan age, and still fresh and vital in +the general intellectual languor and corruption of the Empire. + +The Roman character of satire is attested also by the fact that other +Roman poets and authors, besides those who professed to follow in the +footsteps of Lucilius, have exhibited the satiric spirit. The caustic +sense of Ennius, the generous scorn of Lucretius, the license of +Catullus, attest their affinity, in some elements of character, to the +Roman satirists. There may be remarked also in the best modern works +of poetical satire,--such as the Absalom and Achitophel, the Prologue +to Pope's Satires, the Vanity of Human Wishes,--a conscious or +unconscious echo of that vigorous sense and nervous speech, which +accompanied the great practical energy of the Romans. + +Satire was not only national in its intellectual and moral +characteristics, but it played a part in public life at Rome. Even +under the Empire, when free speech and comment on the government were +no longer possible, the Roman satirists claimed to perform an office +similar in spirit to that which the Republic in its best days had +devolved on its most honourable magistracy. But the satire of the +Republic, besides performing this magisterial office, played an active +part in the politics of the day. It combined the freedom of a tribune +with the severity of a censor. It held up to public criticism the +delinquencies of leading politicians, and of the mass of the people in +their elective divisions,-- + + Primores populi arripuit populumque tributim. + +Nor was it confined to aggressive criticism: it was used also as an +instrument of political partisanship, to paint the virtues of Scipio +as well as the vices of his antagonists. It thus performed something +of the same kind of public office as the political pamphlet of an +earlier time, and the newspaper of the present day. + +It endeavoured also, by acting on individual character, to effect +objects which the Roman State strove to accomplish by direct +legislation. The various sumptuary laws of that age, and the +enactments made to repress the study of Greek rhetoric and philosophy, +emanated from the same spirit which led Lucilius to denounce the +increase of luxury and the affectation of Greek manners among his +contemporaries. The strong Roman appetites and the novelty of new +studies prevailed alike over the artificial restraints of legislative +enactments, and over the contemptuous and the earnest teaching of +satire. But the influence of satire could reach further than that of +censors or sumptuary laws. While it could brand notorious offenders it +was able also to unmask hypocritical pretences-- + + Detrahere et pellem, nitidus qua quisque per ora + Cederet, introrsum turpis. + +It could stimulate to virtue as well as denounce flagrant offences. +It wielded something of the power of the preacher to produce an +inward change in the characters of men. By its close contact with real +experience and its close adherence to the national standard of virtue, +it might educate men for the duties of citizens more effectually than +the teaching of Greek rhetoric or philosophy. + +But while satire in its earlier manifestation, from one side, is to be +regarded as the directest expression of Roman public life, it was, +at the same time, the truest exponent of the character, pursuits, +and interests of the individual writer. The old definition of it by +a Latin grammarian, 'Carmen maledicum et ad carpenda hominum vitia +compositum,' is quite inapplicable to those familiar writings of +Horace, in which he gives a pleasant account of his habits and mode of +life in town and country, or that in which he humorously narrates +his various adventures on his journey to Brundisium. The writings of +Horace and Lucilius bore a more varied and miscellaneous character +than that of the satire of the Empire or of modern times. Horace +expresses his opinions and feelings in the form sometimes of a +dialogue, sometimes of a familiar epistle, sometimes of a discourse +put into the mouth of another, sometimes of a moral disquisition. He +makes abundant use of fables, anecdotes, personal portraiture, real +and imaginary, autobiography, and self-analysis. The fragments of +Lucilius, and the notices about him in ancient authors, prove that in +these respects Horace followed in his footsteps. The testimony of the +lines-- + + Ille velut fidis arcana sodalibus olim, etc., + +implies that Lucilius used his satire as a natural vehicle for +expressing everything that interested him, in his own life and in the +circumstances of his time. In regard to the miscellaneous nature +of the topics treated by him, and the frankness of his personal +revelations, his truest modern parallel is Montaigne,--the father of +the prose essay, which has performed the function of the older Roman +satire more completely than even the poetical satire of modern times. + +Among the poets of the Republic, whose works have reached us only +in fragments, Lucilius is only second in importance to Ennius. Roman +Satire owes as much in form, substance, and spirit to him as the Roman +epic does to the older poet. While Ennius represents the highest +mood of Rome, and first gave expression to that imperial idea which +ultimately realised itself in history, Lucilius is the exponent of her +ordinary moods, manifested in the streets and the forum, and of those +internal dissensions and destructive forces by which her political +life was agitated and ultimately overthrown. His personal +characteristics and literary position can be inferred with nearly +as much certainty as those of Ennius. The most important external +evidence from which we form our idea of him is that of Horace and +Cicero. But the numerous fragments of his writings bear a strong +impress of his personality. From the confirmation which they give to +other testimonies, we may endeavour to recover some of the lines and +colours of that 'votiva tabula' which the contemporaries of Horace +found in his books, and to realise the nature of the work performed by +him and of the influence which he exercised over his countrymen. + +The time at which he appeared was one of the most critical epochs +in Roman history, the end of one great era,--that of the undisputed +ascendency of the Senate,--the beginning of the century of revolution +which ended with the Battle of Actium. The mind of the nation began +then to turn from the monotonous spectacle of military conquest and +to busy itself with the conditions of internal well-being. A spirit +of discontent with these, similar to that which called forth the +legislation of the Gracchi, opened up a new path for Latin literature. +It began then to concern itself, not with the national idea of +conquest and empire, but with the actual condition of men. It sought +for its material, not in the representation which had been fashioned +by Greek dramatic art out of the heroic legends of early Greece or the +citizen life of her later days, but out of the every day life of +the Roman streets, law-courts, public assemblies, dinner-tables, and +literary coteries, and out of the baser details of actual experience +by which the magnificent ideal of Roman greatness was largely +qualified. Though there is considerable difficulty in accepting the +dates usually assigned for the birth and death of Lucilius, there is +no reason to doubt that his active literary career began about the +time of the tribunates of Tib. Gracchus, and continued till nearly +the end of the first century B.C. This period is so important and +interesting that such glimpses of light as are afforded by the +fragments of the contemporary satirist are highly to be prized. + +The dates of his birth and death, according to Jerome, were 148 B.C. +and 102 B.C. We are told, on the same authority, that he died +at Naples and received the honour of a public funeral. The chief +difficulty in accepting these dates arises from the statement of +Velleius that Lucilius served as an 'eques' under Scipio in the +Numantine War[3], and from the fact, attested by Horace and other +authorities, of his great intimacy with both Scipio and Laelius[4]. +Horace also mentions that he celebrated in his writings the justice +and valour of Scipio,-- + + Attamen et iustum poteras et scribere fortem + Scipiadem ut sapiens Lucilius--; + +and the parallel there suggested between the relation of Lucilius to +the great soldier and statesman of his age, and of Horace to Augustus, +would be inappropriate unless the praises there spoken of had been +bestowed on Scipio in his lifetime. Fragments from one book of +the Satires appear to be parts of a letter written by Lucilius to +congratulate his friend on the capture of Numantia[5]. One line of +Book xxvi,-- + + Percrepa pugnam Popilli, facta Corneli cane, + +contrasts the defeat of M. Popillius Laenas in 138 B.C. with the +subsequent successes of Scipio. In another fragment Lucilius charges +Scipio with affectation for pronouncing the word 'pertaesum' as if +it were 'pertisum[6].' He is also mentioned as one of those whose +criticism Lucilius dreaded[7]. These and other passages must have been +written in the lifetime of Scipio--i.e. before 129 B.C. Thus, if +the date assigned for the birth of Lucilius is correct, he must have +served in the Numantine War at the age of fourteen or fifteen, he +must have been admitted into the most intimate familiarity with the +greatest man of the age, and must have composed some books of his +Satires, and thus introduced a new form of literature, before the age +of nineteen. L. Müller in his edition of the Fragments adduces other +considerations for rejecting the dates given by Jerome, such as the +allusions to the career of Lupus (whom he supposes to be the same as +the Censor of 147 B.C.) and to the war with Viriathus. He holds also +that the words of Horace-- + + Quo fit ut omnis + Votiva pateat veluti descripta tabella + Vita _senis_-- + +lose their point, unless _senis_ is to be understood in its usual +sense. He supposes that the mistake of Jerome arose from a similarity +in the names of the Consuls of 148 B.C. and 180 B.C., and would +therefore throw the date of the poet's birth more than thirty years +further back than that commonly received. + +Whatever strength there may be in the other objections urged against +accepting the date 148 B.C. as that of the birth of Lucilius, it +is difficult to believe that Lucilius should have taken part in the +Numantine War, and been admitted to apparently equal intimacy with +Scipio before he had attained the age of fifteen. It is still more +difficult to suppose that the earliest book or books of his Satires, +composed before the death of Scipio, should be the work of a boy under +nineteen years of age. But with these admissions it is not necessary +to throw back the date of the poet's birth so far as is done by +Müller. A more probable explanation of the error in the date was +suggested by Mr. Munro in the Journal of Philology. He supposes that +Jerome in copying the words of Suetonius referring to the death and +funeral of Lucilius substituted the 'anno aetatis xlvi. for lxiv. or +lxvi., and then adapted the year of birth to the annus Abrahae which +would correspond to this false reading.' Mr. Munro adds, 'Everything +would now run smooth. Lucilius when he went with Scipio to Spain would +be in the prime of manhood, thirty-two or thirty-four years of age. +Soon after that time he would be writing and publishing his earliest +Books, xxvi.-xxix., and then xxx. Some of these at all events would +be published before the death of Scipio, when the poet would +be thirty-seven or thirty-nine[8].' It may be added against the +supposition that Lucilius was born in the year 180 B.C., that, in that +case, we should have expected to have found in his numerous fragments +allusions to events even earlier than the Censorship of P. Cornelius +Lupus or the wars with Viriathus. Moreover the notices of his relation +to Scipio and Laelius, as in the 'discincti ludere' of Horace, and in +the story told by the Scholiast on that passage, of Laelius coming on +them, when the poet was chasing Scipio round the table with a napkin, +seem to indicate the familiar footing of a much younger to older men. + +His birth-place was Suessa Aurunca in Campania. Juvenal calls him +'Auruncae magnus alumnus.' He belonged to the equestrian order, a fact +indicated in the passage in which Horace speaks of himself as 'infra +Lucili censum.' The Scholiast on that passage mentions that he was on +the mother's side grand-uncle to Pompey--a relationship confirmed by a +passage in Velleius, who mentions that the mother of Pompey was named +Lucilia. + +His satires were written in thirty Books. The remaining fragments +amount to about 1100 lines. Most of these are single lines, preserved +by grammarians as illustrative of the use of words. The amount and +variety of these, if they had no other value, would at least be +suggestive of the industry with which grammatical and philological +research into their own language was carried on by Roman writers. +Some fragments are found in ancient commentaries on the Satires and +Epistles of Horace. The longer passages are quoted by Cicero, Gellius, +Lactantius, and others. The Books from i. to xx. were written in +hexameters; Book xxii., apparently, in elegiacs, a metre which had +hitherto been employed only in short epigrams. Of the intervening +Books between xxii. and xxvi. there remains only one line[9]. +Books xxvi. and xxix., from which a large number of lines have been +preserved, were written in trochaics and iambics. The last Book (xxx.) +was written in hexameters. From the fact that the trochaic and iambic +metres had been chiefly employed by the older writers of saturae, it +seems probable that Lucilius made his first attempts in these metres, +that he afterwards adopted the hexameter, and that in one or two of +his latest books he attempted to write continuously in elegiacs. The +allusions in Book xxvi. to the Spanish wars and to the 'exploits of +Cornelius,' and the statement of his reasons for coming forward as an +author, render it not improbable that this Book was the earliest +in order of composition. It was in this Book that he appeared most +conspicuously as the censor and critic of the older writers, a +position not unlikely to have been assumed, at the very outset of his +career, by one who claimed to initiate a change in Roman literature. + +The first impression produced by reading these fragments, as they have +been arranged by Müller or Lachmann, is one of extreme desultoriness +and discursiveness of treatment. The words applied by Horace to +Lucilius,-- + + Garrulus atque piger scribendi ferre laborem, + +characterise not his style only but his whole mode of composition. +Subjects most widely removed from one another seem to have been +introduced into the same book. We have no means of determining whether +the separate books consisted of one or several miscellaneous pieces. +He seems to start off on some new chase on the slightest suggestion, +verbal or otherwise, as in the opening of Book v.-- + + Quo me habeam pacto, tametsi non quaeri', docebo, + Quando in eo numero mansti, quo in maxima nunc est + Pars hominum, + Ut periise velis quem visere nolueris, cum + Debueris. Hoc nolueris et debueris te + Si minu' delectat, quod [Greek: technion] Isocratium est, + [Greek: Lêrôdes]que simul totum ac [Greek: symmeirakiôdes], + Non operam perdo[10]. + +We cannot accordingly expect to trace in them anything of the unity of +purpose, the formal discourse and illustration of a set topic, which +characterise the Satires of Persius and Juvenal, nor yet, of the +apparently artless, but carefully meditated ease with which Horace, +in his Satires, reproduces the manner of cultivated conversation. +Lucilius adopts many modes of bringing himself into relations with +his reader. Sometimes he speaks of himself by name, and appears to be +communing with himself on his own fortunes or feelings. Sometimes he +carries on a controversy in the form of dialogue; at other times he +addresses the reader directly; or again, he puts a discourse in the +mouth of another, as that on the luxury of the table in the mouth of +Laelius. He makes frequent use of the epistolary form--a form which +in prose and verse became one of the happiest products of Roman +literature. He employs fables, quotations, and parodies, to illustrate +his subject. He gives a narrative of his travels, and describes scenes +and incidents at which he was present, such as a fight between two +gladiators, a rustic feast, and a storm which he encountered in his +voyage to Sicily. In other places he plays the part of a moralist, +and discourses to a friend on the nature of virtue. More frequently he +takes on himself the special office of a censor, and assails the vices +of the day by direct denunciation and living examples. In other places +he appears as a literary critic and a dictator on questions of grammar +and orthography. + +In Book i., dedicated to Aelius Stilo the grammarian, a council of +the gods was introduced, debating how the Roman State was still to be +preserved; and some of the most notorious men of the time were exposed +by name to public reprobation. Book iii. contained an account of +the author's journey from Rome to the Sicilian Strait, and has been +imitated by Horace in his journey to Brundisium. From the line-- + + Mantica cantheri costas gravitate premebat[11]-- + +it appears that some part of the journey was made on horseback, but +other lines[12] show that the latter part was made by water, and that +a severe storm was encountered on the voyage. In Book iv., imitated by +Horace (Sat. ii. 2), and by Persius in his third satire, was included +the discourse of Laelius against gluttony. In this book mention was +made of the sturgeon which gained notoriety for Gallonius[13]. Book v. +contained a letter to a friend of the poet, who had neglected to visit +him when ill. Book ix. was composed of a dissertation on questions of +grammar, orthography, and criticism. Book xi. treated of the wars in +Spain and Transalpine Gaul, and contained criticisms and anecdotes of +various public men. Book xvi. was named 'Collyra,' in honour of the +poet's mistress. In other books the castigation of particular vices +formed a prominent topic, and some of the latest (probably the +earliest in the order of composition), were largely filled with +personal explanations and with criticisms of the older poets. But the +desultory, discursive, self-communing character seems to have been +common to all of them; and it would be contrary to our evidence +to speak of any single book as composed on a definite plan, or as +treating of a special topic. + +The fragments however, when read collectively, bring out the main +sources of interest which the Romans found in the writings of +Lucilius; first, the interest of a self-portraiture and close personal +relation established with the reader[14]: second, the interest of a +censorious criticism on politics, morals, and literature[15]. + +Among the personal indications of the author we note the great freedom +and independence of his life and character. In his mode of expressing +this freedom and independence he reminds us of Horace, who seems to +have imitated him in his view of life as well as in his writings. +Thus, Lucilius declares his indifference to public employment, and +his unwillingness to change his own position for the business of the +Publicani of Asia, just as Horace declares that he would not exchange +his leisure for all the wealth of Arabia[16]. Like Horace, he speaks +of the joy of escaping from the storms of life into a quiet haven +of repose[17], or inculcates contentment with one's own lot[18] +and immunity from envy[19], and the superiority of plain living to +luxury[20]. Like Horace, while holding to his independence of life, he +put a high value on friendship, and strove to fulfil its duties[21]. +Like him, while condemning excess and weakness, he did not conform +to any austerer standard of morals than that of the world around him. +Like Horace, too, in his later years, he seems to have been +something of a valetudinarian[22], and to have had much of the +self-consciousness which accompanies that condition. On the whole +the impression we get of him is that of an independent, self-reliant +character,--of a man living in strong contact with reality, taking all +the rubs of life cheerfully[23],--enjoying society, travelling[24], +the exercise of his art[25],--a warm friend and partisan, and a bold +and uncompromising enemy,--not professing any austerity of life, +but knowing and following the course which gave his own nature most +satisfaction[26], while, at the same time, upholding a high standard +of public duty and personal honour[27]. + +This establishment of a personal relation with his readers was one of +the most original elements in the Lucilian satire. He was the first +of Roman, and one of the first among all, writers, who took the public +into his confidence, and gained their ear, without exposing himself to +contempt, by making a frank and unreserved display of his inmost and +most personal thoughts and feelings. Had his works reached us entire, +we should probably have found the same kind of attraction in them, +from the sense of familiar intimacy with a man of interesting +character and intelligence, which we find in the Epistles of Cicero +and the Satires and Epistles of Horace. + +His independent social position, and the character of the times in +which he lived, enabled him to perform the office of a political +satirist with more freedom than any other Roman writer. He belonged to +the middle party between the extreme partisans of the aristocracy and +of the democracy, the party of Scipio and Laelius, and that to which +Cicero, in a later age, naturally inclined. He directed his satire +against the corruption, incapacity, and arrogance[28] of the nobles by +whom the wars abroad and affairs at home were mismanaged. His service +under Scipio, and his admiration of his generalship, made him keenly +sensitive to the disgrace incurred by the Roman arms under 'the +limping Hostilius and Manius[29],' and in the war against Viriathus. +Among those assailed by him on political grounds, L. Hostilius +Tubulus, notorious for openly receiving bribes while presiding at a +trial for murder, and C. Papirius Carbo, the friend of Tib. Gracchus +and the suspected murderer of Scipio, were conspicuous. The more +reputable names of Q. Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus and Mucius +Scaevola are also mentioned among the objects of his satire[30]. +Personal motives--and especially his devotion to Scipio[31]--may +have stimulated these animosities; but there were instances enough of +incapacity in war, profligacy and extortion in the government of +the provinces, corruption and favouritism in the administration of +justice, of venality and ignorance in the electoral bodies, to justify +the bold exposure by Lucilius of 'the leading men of the State and +of the mass of the people in their tribes.' The personality of his +attacks probably made him many enemies; and thus we hear that he was +assailed by name on the stage, and was unable to obtain redress, while +a writer who had taken a similar liberty with the tragic poet Accius +was condemned. But the honour of a public funeral awarded to him at +his death would indicate that the final verdict of his contemporaries +was that in assuming the censorial function of attaching marks of +infamy against the names of eminent men he was actuated, in the main, +by worthy motives, and had done good service to the State. + +The chief social vices which Lucilius attacks are those which reappear +in the pages of the later satirists. They are the two extremes to +which the Roman temperament was most prone, rapacity and meanness +in gaining money, vulgar ostentation and coarse sensuality in using +it[32]. These were opposite results of a sudden influx of wealth among +a people trained through many generations to habits of thrift +and self-restraint, and, through this accumulated vital force, +unaccompanied, as it was, with much capacity for refined enjoyment, +animated by a strong craving for the coarser enjoyments of life. The +intensity and concentrativeness of the Roman temperament also tended +to produce those one-sided types of character, which are the favourite +objects of satiric portraiture. The parasites and spendthrifts, the +misers and money-makers of Horace's Satires and Epistles, Maenius +and Avidienus for instance, are among the most strongly marked of his +personal sketches. Lucilius witnessed the same tendencies in his time +and exposed them with greater freedom. The names which are typical of +certain characters in Horace, such as Nomentanus, Pantolabus (probably +a nickname) Maenius and Gallonius, had first been taken by Lucilius +from the streets and dinner-tables of Rome. This indifference to the +claims of personal feeling, in which Lucilius emulates the license of +the old Greek comedy, although sanctioned by the approval of Horace +in a poet of an earlier age, would probably have been forbidden by the +greater urbanity and decorum of the Augustan age. + +The excesses of his contemporaries in the way of good living, against +which numerous sumptuary laws (the Lex Fannia and Lex Licinia for +instance), enacted in that age, vainly contended, were largely +satirised by Lucilius. Such passages as these-- + + O Publi, O gurges Galloni, es homo miser, inquit, + Cenasti in vita numquam bene, quom omnia in ista + Consumis squilla atque acipensere quum decumano. + Hoc fit item in cena, dabis ostrea millibu' nummum + Empta. + Occidunt, Lupe, saperdae te et iura siluri. + Vivite lurcones, comedones, vivite ventres. + Illum sumina ducebant atque altilium lanx + Hunc pontes Tiberinu' duo inter captu' catillo. + Purpureo tersit tunc latas gausape mensas, etc.[33] + +show the proportions already assumed by a form of sensuality the +beginnings of which may be traced in Plautus and in the publication of +the Hedyphagetica of Ennius, but of which the final culmination is to +be sought in the ideal of life realised under the Empire, by Apicius, +Vitellius, Elagabalus, and many men of less note. + +The other extreme of unceasing activity in getting, and sordid +meanness in hoarding money, and the discontent produced among all +classes by the restless passion to grow rich, which fills so large a +place in the Satires and Epistles of Horace, appears also frequently +in the fragments of Lucilius; as, for instance, in the following:-- + + Milia dum centum frumenti tolli medimnum, + Vini mille cadum.-- + Denique uti stulto nihil est satis, omnia cum sint.-- + Rugosi passique senes eadem omnia quaerunt.-- + Mordicus petere aurum e flamma expediat, e caeno cibum.-- + Aquam te in animo habere intercutem[34]. + +The following description of a miser seems to have suggested the +beginning of one of Catullus' lampoons[35]:-- + + Cui neque iumentumst nec servos nec comes ullus, + Bulgam et quidquid habet nummum secum habet ipse, + Cum bulga cenat, dormit, lavit; omnis in unast + Spes homini bulga. Bulga haec devincta lacertost[36]. + +In other passages he inculcates the lessons of good sense and +moderation in the use of money, or urges, in the person of an +objector, that a man is regarded in proportion to the estimate of his +means. In his enumeration of the various constituents of virtue, one +on which he dwells with emphasis, is the right estimation of the value +of money. In all his thoughts and expressions on this subject it is +easy to see how closely Horace follows on his traces. + +The extravagance, airs, and vices of women, are another theme of +his satire. But he deals with these topics rather in the spirit of +raillery adopted by Plautus, than in that of Juvenal. In one fragment +he compares, in terms neither delicate nor complimentary, the +pretensions to beauty of the Roman ladies of his time with those of +the Homeric heroines. In another he contrasts the care which they take +in adorning themselves when expecting the visits of strangers with +their indifference as to their appearance when alone with their +husbands,-- + + Cum tecum'st, quidvis satis est: visuri alieni + Sint homines, spiras, pallam, redimicula promit[37]. + +Another fragment-- + + Homines ipsi hanc sibi molestiam ultro atque aerumnam offerunt, + Ducunt uxores, producunt quibus haec faciant liberos,-- + +indicates the same repugnance to marriage, which is expressed in a +fragment of contemporary oratory, quoted by A. Gellius: 'If, Quirites, +we could get on at all without wives, we should all keep clear of +that nuisance; but since, in the way of nature, life cannot go on +comfortably with them, nor at all without them, we ought rather +to provide for the continued well-being of the world than for our +temporary comfort.' The dislike to incur the responsibilities of +family life, which appears so conspicuously among the cultivated +classes in the later times of the Republic, was probably, if we are to +judge from the testimony and examples of Lucilius and Horace, as much +the result of the license allowed to men, as of the extravagant habits +or jealous imperiousness of women. + +The intellectual, as well as the moral and social peculiarities of +the age were noted by Lucilius. One fragment is directed against the +terrors of superstition, and shows that Lucilius, like all the older +poets, was endowed with that strong secular sense which enabled the +educated Romans, notwithstanding the forms and ceremonies of religion +encompassing every private and public act, to escape, in all their +ordinary relations, from supernatural influences. This passage affords +a fair specimen of the continuous style of the author:-- + + Terriculas Lamias, Fauni quas Pompiliique + Instituere Numae, tremit has, hic omnia ponit; + Ut pueri infantes credunt signa omnia ahena + Vivere, et esse homines; et sic isti omnia ficta + Vera putant, credunt signis cor inesse in ahenis; + Pergula pictorum, veri nihil, omnia ficta[38]. + +His attitude to philosophy, like his attitude to superstitious +terrors, was not unlike that of Horace. We find mention in his +fragments of the 'Socratici charti,' of the 'eidola atque atomus +Epicuri' of the four [Greek: stoicheia] of Empedocles, of the 'mutatus +Polemon,' spoken of in Horace (Sat. ii. 3, 253), of Aristippus, and +of Carneades; but his own wisdom was that of the world and not of the +schools. In these lines,-- + + Paenula, si quaeris, canteriu', servu', segestre, + Utilior mihi, quam sapiens; + +and-- + + Nondum etiam, qui haec omnia habebit, + Formosus, dives, liber, rex solu' feretur, + +we find an anticipation of the tones in which Horace satirised the +professors of Stoicism in his own time. The affectation of Greek +manners and tastes is ridiculed in the person of Titus Albutius, in a +passage which Cicero describes as written 'with much grace and pungent +wit'[39]:-- + + Graecum te, Albuci, quam Romanum atque Sabinum, + Municipem Ponti, Tritanni, Centurionum, + Praeclarorum hominum ac primorum signiferumque, + Maluisti dici. Graece ergo praetor Athenis, + Id quod maluisti, te, cum ad me accedi', saluto: + Chaere, inquam, Tite. Lictores turma omni' cohorsque + Chaere, Tite. Hinc hostis mi, Albucius, hinc inimicus[40]. + +We learn from Cicero's account of the orators antecedent to, and +contemporary with himself, that this denationalising fastidiousness +was a not uncommon result of the new studies. The practice of Lucilius +of mixing Greek words and phrases with his Latin style might, at first +sight, expose him to a similar criticism. But this mannerism of style, +which is condemned by the good sense of Horace, is merely superficial, +and does not impair the vigorous nationality of the sentiment +expressed by the Roman satirist. Like the similar practice in the +Letters of Cicero, it was probably in accordance with the familiar +conversational style of men powerfully attracted by the interest and +novelty of the new learning, but yet strong enough in their national +self-esteem to adhere to Roman standards in all the greater matters +of action and sentiment. Lucilius seems however to recognise a +deeper mischief than that of mere literary affectation in the general +insincerity of character produced by the rhetorical and sophistical +arts fostered by the new studies, and finding their sphere of action +in the Roman law-courts. + +The satire of Lucilius, besides its political, moral, and social +function, assumed the part of a literary critic and censor. The +testimony of Horace on this point,-- + + Nil comis tragici mutat Lucilius Acci? + Non ridet versus Enni gravitate minores, + Cum de se loquitur non ut maiore reprensis? + +confirmed by that of Gellius[41], is amply borne out by extant +fragments. These criticisms formed a large part of the twenty-sixth +book, which Müller supposes to have been the earliest of the +compositions of Lucilius. Several lines preserved from that book are +either quotations or parodies from the old tragedies[42]. We observe +in these and other quotations the peculiarities of style, noticed in +the two tragic poets, such as their tendencies to alliteration and +the use of asyndeta, the strained word-formations of Pacuvius, and the +occasional inflation of Accius[43]. We trace the influence of these +criticisms in the sneer of Persius,-- + + Est nunc Briseis quem venosus liber Acci, + Sunt quos Pacuviusque et verrucosa moretur + Antiopa, aerummis cor luctificabile fulta. + +The antagonism displayed by Lucilius to the more ambitious style +of the tragic and epic poets was perhaps as much due to his +own deficiency in poetical imagination, as to his keen critical +discernment, the 'stili nasus' or 'emunctae nares' attributed to him +by Pliny and Horace. + +The criticism of Lucilius was not only aggressive, but also directly +didactic. In the ninth book he discussed, at considerable length, +disputed questions of orthography; and a passage is quoted from the +same book, in which a distinction is drawn out between 'poëma' and +'poësis.' Under the first he ranks-- + + Epigrammation, vel + Distichum, epistula item quaevis non magna; + +under the second, whole poems, such as the Iliad, or the Annals of +Ennius. The only interest attaching to these fragments is that, like +the didactic works of Accius, they testify to the crude critical +effort that accompanied the creative activity of the earlier Roman +poets. + +As specimens of his continuous style the two following passages may +be given. The first exemplifies the serious moral spirit with which +ancient satire was animated; the second vividly represents and rebukes +one of the most prevalent pursuits of the age-- + + Virtus, Albine, est pretium persolvere verum, + Queis in versamur, queis vivimu' rebu', potesse: + Virtus est hominis, 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 pretium persolvere posse: + Virtus id dare quod re ipsa debetur honori: + Hostem esse atque inimicum hominum morumque malorum, + Contra defensorem hominum morumque bonorum, + Hos magnifacere, his bene velle, his vivere amicum; + Commoda praeterea patriae sibi prima putare, + Deinde parentum, tertia jam postremaque nostra[44]. + +If there is no great originality of thought nor rhetorical grace +of expression in this passage, it proves that Lucilius judged of +questions of right and wrong from his own point of view. To him, as +to Ennius, common sense and a just estimate of life were large +ingredients in virtue. To be a good hater as well as a staunch friend, +and to choose one's friends and enemies according to their characters, +is another quality of his virtuous man. With him, as with the best +Romans of every age, love of country, family, and friends, were the +primary motives to right action. The next passage, written in language +equally plain and forcible, gives a graphic picture of the growing +taste for forensic oratory-- + + Nunc vero a mane ad noctem, festo atque profesto, + Toto itidem pariterque die, populusque patresque + Iactare 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[45]. + +These passages are probably not unfavourable specimens of the author's +continuous style. At its best that style appears to be sincere, +serious, rapid, and full of vital force, but careless, redundant, +and devoid of all rhetorical point and subtle suggestiveness. Even to +these passages the censure of Horace applies,-- + + At dixi fluere hunc lutulentum. + +If we regard these passages as on the ordinary level of his style we +cannot hesitate to recognise his immense inferiority to Terence +in elegance and finish[46], and to Plautus in rich and humorous +exuberance of expression. There is scarcely a trace of imaginative +power, or of susceptibility to the grandeur and pathos of human life, +or to the beauty and sublimity of Nature in the thousand lines of his +remains. We find a few vivid touches, as in this half-line-- + + Terra abit in nimbos imbresque, + +but we fail to recognise not only the 'disjecti membra poetae,' but +even the elements of the rhetorician, or of the ironical humourist-- + + Parcentis viribus atque + Extenuantis eas consulto. + +Thus it is difficult to understand what Cicero means when he speaks +of the 'Romani veteres atque urbani sales' as being 'salsiores' than +those of the true masters of Attic wit, such as were Aristophanes, +Plato, and Menander. + +But these passages are simple, direct, and clear, compared with many +of the single lines or longer passages, already quoted in illustration +of the substance of his satire. These leave an impression not only of +a total want of the 'limae labor,' but of an abnormal harshness and +difficulty, beyond what we find in the fragments of Pacuvius, Accius, +or Ennius. The fragments of his trochaics and iambics are much +simpler, 'much less depart from the natural order of the words,' than +those of his hexameters: a fact which reminds us of the great +advance made by Horace in adapting the heroic measure to the familiar +experience of life. Lucilius is moreover a great offender against not +only the graces but the decencies of language. Lines are found in his +fragments as coarse as the coarsest in Catullus or Juvenal: nor could +he urge the extenuating plea of having forgotten the respect due to +his readers from the necessity of relieving his wounded feelings or of +vindicating morality. + +Yet it is undoubted that, notwithstanding the most glaring faults and +defects in form and style, he was one of the most popular among the +Roman poets. The testimony of Cicero, Persius, Juvenal, Quintilian, +Tacitus, and Gellius, confirms on this point the more ample testimony +of Horace. If, as Mr. Munro thinks, Horace may have expressed, in +deference to the prevailing taste of his time, a less qualified +admiration for him than he really felt, this only shows how strong a +hold his writings had over the reading public in the Augustan age. But +Horace shows by no means the same deference to the admirers of Plautus +and Ennius. To Lucilius he pays also the sincerer tribute of +frequent imitation. He made him his model, in regard both to form +and substance, in his satires; and even in his epistles he still +acknowledges the guidance of his earliest master. In reading both the +Satires and Epistles we are continually coming upon the vestiges of +Lucilius, in some turn of expression, some personal or illustrative +allusion. Similar vestiges are found, imbedded in the harsh and jagged +diction of Persius, and though not to the same extent, in the polished +rhetoric of Juvenal. Nor was his literary influence confined to Roman +satirists. Lucretius, Catullus, and even Virgil, have not disdained to +adopt his thoughts or imitate his manner[47]. + +But if we cannot altogether account for, we may yet partially +understand the admiration which his countrymen felt for Lucilius. In +every great literature, while there are some works which appeal to +the imagination of the whole world, there are others which seem to hit +some particular mood of the nation to which their author belongs, +and are all the more valued from the prominence they give to this +idiosyncracy. Every nation which has had a literature seems to have +valued itself on some peculiar humour or vein of observation and +feeling, which it regards as specially allotted to itself, over and +above its common inheritance of the sense of the ludicrous, which it +shares with other races. Those writers who have this last in unusual +measure become the favourite humourists of the world. But their own +countrymen often prefer those endowed with the narrower domestic type; +and of this type Lucilius seems to have been a true representative. +The 'antiqua et vernacula festivitas,' attributed to him, seems to +have been more combative and aggressive than genial and sympathetic. +The 'Italum acetum' was employed by the Romans as a weapon of +controversy with the view of damaging an adversary and making +either himself or the cause he represented appear ridiculous and +contemptible. The dictum of a modern humourist, that to laugh at a +man properly you must first love him, would have seemed to an ancient +Roman a contradiction in terms. When Horace writes-- + + Ridiculum acri + Fortius et melius magnas plerumque secat res, + +he means that men are more likely to be made better by the fear of +contempt than of moral reprobation. + +But Lucilius had much more than this power of personal raillery, +exercised with the force supplied and under the restraints imposed by +an energetic social and political life. He is spoken of not only +as 'comis et urbanus,' but also as 'doctus' and 'sapiens.' Even his +fragments indicate that he was a man of large knowledge of 'books and +men.' Horace testifies to the use which he made of the old comic poets +of Athens:-- + + Hinc omnis pendet Lucilius, hosce secutus. + +His fragments show familiarity with Homer, with the works of the +Greek physical and ethical philosophers, with the systems of the +rhetoricians, and some acquaintance with the writings of Plato, +Archilochus, Euripides, and Aesop. His habit of building up his Latin +lines with the help of Greek phrases illustrates the first powerful +influence of the new learning before the Roman mind was able +thoroughly to assimilate it, but when it was in the highest degree +stimulated and fascinated by it. The mind of Lucilius was susceptible +to the novelty of the new thoughts and new impressions, but like that +of his contemporaries was insensible to the grace and symmetry of +Greek art. Terence is the only writer in the ante-Ciceronian period +who had the sense of artistic form. But all this foreign learning was, +in the mind of Lucilius, subsidiary to the freshest observation and +most discerning criticism of his own age. He was a spectator of life +more than an actor in it, but he yet had been present at one of the +most important military events of the time, and he had lived in the +closest intimacy with the greatest soldier and most prudent statesman +of his age. His satire had thus none of the limitation and unreality +which attaches to the work of a student and recluse, such as Persius +was. To the writings of Lucilius more perhaps than to those of any +other Roman would the words of Martial apply-- + + Hominem pagina nostra sapit. + +It is his strong realistic tendency both in expression and thought +that seems to explain his antagonism to the older poets who treated +of Greek heroes and heroines in language widely removed from that +employed either in the forum or in the social meetings of educated +men. The popularity of Lucilius among the Romans may thus be explained +on much the same grounds as that of Archilochus among the Greeks. He +first introduced the literature of the understanding as distinct from +that either of the graver emotions or of humorous and sentimental +representation. And, while writing with the breadth of view and wealth +of illustration derived from learning, he did not, like the poets of +later times, write for an exclusive circle of critical readers, +but rather, as he himself said, 'for Tarentines, Consentini, and +Sicilians[48].' There was nothing about him of the fastidiousness and +shyness of a too refined culture. Every line almost of his fragments +attests his possession of that quality which, more than any other, +secures a wide, if not always a lasting, popularity, great vitality +and its natural accompaniment, boldness and confidence of spirit. +While he saw clearly, felt keenly, and judged wisely the political +and social action of his time, he reproduced it vividly in his pages. +Whatever other quality his style may want, it is always alive. And +the life with which it is animated is thoroughly healthy. There is a +singular sincerity in the ring of his words, the earnest of a mind, +absolutely free from cant and pretence, not lashing itself into fierce +indignation as a stimulant to rhetorical effect, nor forcing itself to +conform to any impracticable scheme of life, but glowing with a hearty +scorn for baseness, and never shrinking from its exposure in whatever +rank and under whatever disguise he detected it[49], and ever +courageously 'upholding the cause of virtue and of those who were on +the side of virtue'-- + + Scilicet uni aequus virtuti atque eius amicis. + +It was by the rectitude and manliness of his character, as much as by +his learning, his quick and true discernment, his keen raillery +and vivid portraiture, that he became the favourite of his time and +country, and, alone among Roman writers, succeeded in introducing a +new form of literature into the world. + + + [Footnote 1: Bernhardy quotes the following words from Cicero, + de Rep. iv. ap. Augustin. C. D. ii. 9:-- + + Etsi eiusmodi cives (scil. Cleonem, Cleophontem, Hyperbolum) + a censore melius est, quam a poeta notari ... iudiciis enim + magistratuum, disceptationibus legitimis propositam vitam, non + poetarum ingeniis habere debemus; nec probrum audire nisi ea + lege ut respondere liceat et iudicio defendere.] + + [Footnote 2: 'You know not, ah you know not the airs of + Imperial Rome: believe me the people of Mars is too critical: + nowhere are there greater sneers; young men and old and even + boys have the nose of a rhinoceros.'] + + [Footnote 3: Vell. Paterc. ii. 9. The service of Lucilius in + Spain seems to be confirmed by a line in one of his Satires:-- + + Publiu' Pavu' mihi [ ] quaestor Hibera + In terra fuit, lucifugus, nebulo, id genu' sane.] + + [Footnote 4: Hor. Sat. ii. I. 71-5.] + + [Footnote 5: Cf. L. Müller's edition of the Fragments.] + + [Footnote 6: + + Quo facetior videare et scire plus quam caeteri + Pertisum hominem, non pertaesum dices. + + The comment of Festus shows that these words were addressed by + Lucilius to Scipio.] + + [Footnote 7: Cic. de Fin. i. 3.] + + [Footnote 8: Journal of Philology, vol. viii. 16.] + + [Footnote 9: + + Iucundasque puer qui lamberat ore placentas. + + One of many lines imitated and almost reproduced by Horace.] + + [Footnote 10: 'I will tell you how I am, though you don't ask + me, since you are of the fashion of most men now, and would + rather that the man whom you did not choose to visit, when + you ought, had died. If you don't like this "nolueris" + and "debueris," because it is the trick of Isocrates, and + altogether nonsensical and puerile, I don't waste my time on + the matter.' This passage illustrates two characteristics of + Lucilius--his habit of mixing Greek with Latin words, and the + attention he bestowed on technical rules of style.] + + [Footnote 11: Imitated by Horace in the lines:-- + + Nunc mihi curto + Ire licet mulo, vel, si libet, usque Tarentum, + Mantica cui lumbos onere ulceret, atque eques armos.] + + [Footnote 12: + + Promontorium remis superamu' Minervae.-- + Hinc media remis Palinurum pervenio nox.-- + Tertius hic mali superat decumanis fluctibus--carchesia summa.] + + [Footnote 13: Hor. Sat. ii. 2. 46:-- + + Haud ita pridem + Galloni praeconis erat acipensere mensa + Infamis.] + + [Footnote 14: + + Quo fit ut omnis + Votiva pateat veluti descripta tabella + Vita senis.] + + [Footnote 15: + + Secuit Lucilius urbem-- + Primores populi arripuit populumque tributim-- + Non ridet versus Enni gravitate minores--?] + + [Footnote 16: + + Mihi quidem non persuadetur publiceis mutem meos. + Publicanu' vero ut Asiae fiam scriptuarius + Pro Lucilio, id ego nolo, et uno hoc non muto omnia. + + Cf. Hor. Ep. i. 7. 36:-- + + Nec + Otia divitiis Arabum liberrima muto.] + + [Footnote 17: + + Quodque te in tranquillum ex saevis transfers tempestatibus.] + + [Footnote 18: + + Nam si quod satis est homini, id satis esse potisset, + Hoc sat erat; nam cum hoc non est, qui credimu' porro + Divitias ullas animum mi explere potisse.] + + [Footnote 19: + + Nulli me invidere: non strabonem fieri saepius + Deliciis me istorum.] + + [Footnote 20: + + O lapathe, ut iactare nec es sati cognitu' qui sis-- + Quod sumptum atque epulas victu praeponis honesto.] + + [Footnote 21: + + Munifici comesque amicis nostris videamur viri-- + Sic amici quaerunt animum, rem parasiti ac ditias. + + Among the friends of Lucilius, besides Scipio and Laelius, + were Aelius Stilo, Albinus, and Granius, whom Cicero quotes + for his wit.] + + [Footnote 22: + + Querquera consequitur capitisque dolores + Infesti mihi.-- + Si tam corpu' loco validum ac regione maneret. + Scriptoris quam vera manet sententia cordi.] + + [Footnote 23: + + Verum haec ludus ibi susque omnia deque fuerunt, + Susque et deque fuere, inquam, omnia ludu' iocusque.] + + [Footnote 24: + + Et saepe quod ante + Optasti, freta Messanae, Regina videbis + Moenia.] + + [Footnote 25: + + Quantum haurire animus Musarum ec fontibu' gestit.] + + [Footnote 26: + + Cum sciam nil esse in vita proprium mortali datum + Iam qua tempestate vivo chresin ad me recipio. + + Cf. Vitaque mancipio nulli datur, omnibus usu.] + + [Footnote 27: Cf. Virtus, Albine, etc. Infra, p. 240.] + + [Footnote 28: + + Peccare impune rati sunt + Posse et nobilitate procul propellere iniquos.] + + [Footnote 29: + + Hostiliu' contra + Pestem permitiemque catax quam et Maniu' nobis.] + + [Footnote 30: Cf. Cic. De Or. 1. 16: Sed ut solebat C. + Lucilius saepe dicere, homo tibi (i.e. Scaevolae) subiratus, + mihi propter eam causam minus quam volebat familiaris, sed + tamen et doctus et perurbanus. + + Hor. Sat. ii. 1. 67:-- + + Aut laeso doluere Metello + Famosisque Lupo cooperto versibus? + + Pers. i. 115:-- + + Secuit Lucilius urbem, + Te Lupe, te Muci, et genuinum fregit in illis.] + + [Footnote 31: Fuit autem inter P. Africanum et Q. Metellum + sine acerbitate dissensio.] + + [Footnote 32: Cf. Diversisque duobus vitiis, avaritia et + luxuria civitatem laborare.--Livy, xxxiv. 4.] + + [Footnote 33: 'O Publius Gallonius, thou whirlpool of excess; + thou art a miserable man, says he; never in thy life hast thou + supped well, since thou spendest all thy substance in that + lobster of thine and that monstrous sturgeon.' + + 'This too is the case at dinner, you will give oysters, bought + at a thousand sesterces.' + + 'Sardines and fish-sauce are your death, O Lupus.' + + 'Long live, ye gluttons, gourmands, belly-gods.' + + 'One was attracted by sow-teats and a dish of fatted fowls; + another by a gourmandising pike caught between the two + bridges.' + + 'Then he wiped the ample table with a purple cloth.' + + The two last passages are reproduced by Horace in the lines:-- + + Unde datum sentis, lupus hic Tiberinus, an alto + Captus hiet, pontesne inter iactatus, an amnis + Ostia sub Tusci?--Sat. ii. 2. 31. + + And + + Gausape purpureo mensam pertersit.--Ib. ii. 8. 11.] + + [Footnote 34: Cf. + + Crescit indulgens sibi dirus hydrops, etc.] + + [Footnote 35: + + Furei cui neque servus est neque arca, etc.] + + [Footnote 36: 'Who has neither beast, nor slave, nor + attendant; he carries about him his purse and all his money; + with his purse he sleeps, dines, bathes--his whole hopes + centre in his purse; this purse is fastened to his arm.'] + + [Footnote 37: Cp. the speech of Cato (Livy, xxxiv. 4) in + support of the Oppian law: 'An blandiores in publico quam in + privato, et alienis quam vestris estis?'] + + [Footnote 38: 'These bugbears and goblins from the days of + the Fauni and Numa Pompilius fill him with terror; he believes + anything of them. As children suppose that statues of brass + are real and living men, so they fancy all these delusions to + be real: they believe that there is understanding in brazen + images: mere painter's blocks, no reality, all a delusion.' + Cf. Horace, Ep. ii. 2. 208:-- + + Somnia, terrores magicos, miracula, sagas, + Nocturnos lemures portentaque Thessala rides?] + + [Footnote 39: De Fin. i. 3.] + + [Footnote 40: 'You preferred, Albucius, to be called a Greek, + rather than a Roman or Sabine, a fellow-countryman of the + Centurions, Pontius, Tritannius, excellent, first-rate men, + and our standard-bearers. Accordingly, I, as praetor of + Athens, when you approach me, greet you, as you wished to be + greeted. "Chaere," I say, Titus; my lictors, escort, staff, + address you with "Chaere." Hence you are to me a public and + private enemy.'] + + [Footnote 41: Et Pacuvius, et Pacuvio iam sene Accius, + clariorque tunc in poematis corum obtrectandis Lucilius fuit.] + + [Footnote 42: E.g. + + Ego enim contemnificus fieri et fastidire Agamemnona.-- + Di monerint meliora, amentiam averruncassint tuam.-- + Hic cruciatur fame, + Frigore, inluvie, inperfundie, inbalnite, incuria.-- + Nunc ignobilitas his mirum, taetrum, ac monstrificabile-- + Dividant, differant, dissipent, distrahant.] + + [Footnote 43: In the same spirit is the following line:-- + + Verum tristis contorto aliquo ex Pacuviano exordio. + + And this from another book of Satires:-- + + Ransuro tragicus qui carmina perdit Oreste. + + Among the phrases of Ennius at which Lucilius carped was one + which Virgil did not disdain to adopt. The passage of the old + poet,-- + + Hastis longis campus splendet et horret,-- + + parodied by the Satirist in the form 'horret et alget,' was + justified by being reproduced in the Virgilian phrase, + + Tum late ferreus hastis + Horret ager.] + + [Footnote 44: 'Virtue, Albinus, consists in being able to give + their true worth to the things on which we are engaged, among + which we live. The virtue of a man is to understand the real + meaning of each thing: to understand what is right, useful, + honourable for him; what things are good, what bad, what is + unprofitable, base, dishonourable; to know the due limit and + measure in making money; to give its proper worth to wealth; + to assign what is really due to office; to be a foe and enemy + of bad men and bad principles; to stand by good men and good + principles; to extol the good, to wish them well, to be their + friend through life. Lastly, it is true worth to look on our + country's weal as the chief good; next to that, the weal of + our parents; third and last, our own weal.'] + + [Footnote 45: 'But now from morning till night, on holiday and + work-day, the whole day alike, common people and senators + are bustling about within the Forum, never quitting it--all + devoting themselves to the same practice and trick of wary + word-fencing, fighting craftily, vying with each other in + politeness, assuming airs of virtue, plotting against each + other as if all were enemies.'] + + [Footnote 46: Cp. Mr. Monro's criticism in the Journal of + Philology.] + + [Footnote 47: Passages of Lucilius apparently imitated by + Lucretius:-- + + (1) Quantum haurire animus Musarum ec fontibu' gestit. + + (2) Cum sciam nil esse in vita proprium mortali datum + Iam qua tempestate vivo, chresin ad me recipio. + + (3) Ut pueri infantes credunt signa omnia ahena + Vivere et esse homines, sic istic omnia ficta + Vera putant. + + Virgil's 'rex ipse Phanaeus' is said by Servius to be imitated + from the [Greek: Chios te dynastês] of Lucilius. Other + imitations are pointed out in Macrobius and in Servius. An + apparent imitation by Catullus has been already noticed.] + + [Footnote 48: Cic. De Fin. i. 3.] + + [Footnote 49: + + Detrahere et pellem nitidus qua quisque per ora + cederet, introrsum turpis.] + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +REVIEW OF THE FIRST PERIOD. + + +The poetic literature reviewed in the last five chapters is the +product of the second century B.C. The latest writers of any +importance belonging to the earlier period of the poetry of the +Republic were Lucilius and Afranius. Half a century from the death of +Lucilius elapsed before the appearance of the poems of Lucretius and +Catullus, which come next to be considered. But before passing on to +this more familiar ground, a few pages may be devoted to a retrospect +of some general characteristics marking the earlier period, and to a +consideration of the social and intellectual conditions under which +literature first established itself at Rome. + +With striking individual varieties of character, the poets whose works +have been considered present something of a common aspect, distinct +from that of the literary men of later times. They were placed in +different circumstances, and lived in a different manner from either +the poets who adorned the last days of the Republic or those who +flourished in the Augustan age. The spirit animating their works was +the result of the forces acting on the national life, and the form +and style in which they were composed were determined by the stage of +culture which the national mind had reached, and the stage of growth +through which the Latin language was passing under the stimulus of +that culture. + +Like nearly all the literary men of later times, these poets were +of provincial or foreign birth and origin. They were thus born under +circumstances more favourable to, or at least less likely to repress, +the expansion of individual genius, than the public life and private +discipline of Rome. Their minds were thus more open to the reception +of new influences; and their position as aliens, by cutting them +off from an active public career, served to turn their energies +to literature. Their provincial birth and Greek education did not, +however, check their Roman sympathies, or prevent them from stamping +on their writings the impress of a Roman character. + +While, like many of the later poets, they came originally as strangers +to Rome, unlike them, they seem to have in later years resided +habitually within the city. The taste for country life prevailing in +the days of Cicero and of Horace was not developed to any great extent +in the times of Ennius or Lucilius. The great Scipio, indeed, retired +to spend the last years of his life at Liternum; and Cicero mentions +the boyish delight of Laelius and the younger Africanus in escaping +from the public business and the crowded streets of Rome to the +pleasant sea-shore of Caieta[1]. Accius seems to have possessed +a country farm, and Lucilius showed something of a wandering +disposition, and possessed the means to gratify it. But most of +these writers were men of moderate means; nor had it then become +the practice of the patrons of literature to bestow farms or +country-houses on their friends. By their circumstances, as well +as the general taste of their time, they were thus brought almost +exclusively into contact with the life and business of the city; and +their works were consequently more distinguished by their strong +sense and understanding than by the passionate or contemplative +susceptibility which characterises the great eras of Latin literature. + +It is remarkable that nearly all the early poets lived to a great +age, and maintained their intellectual vigour unabated to their latest +years; while of their successors none reached the natural term of +human life, and some among them, like many great modern poets, were +cut off prematurely before their promise was fulfilled. The finer +sensibility and more passionate agitation of the poetic temperament +appear, in some cases, to exhaust prematurely the springs of life; +while, in natures more happily balanced, or formed by more favourable +circumstances, the gifts of genius are accompanied by stronger powers +of life, and thus maintain the freshness of youth unimpaired till +the last. The length of time during which Naevius, Plautus, Ennius, +Pacuvius, Accius, and probably Lucilius, exercised their art suggests +the inference, either that they were men of firmer fibre than their +successors, or that they were braced to a more enduring strength by +the action of their age. As the work of men writing in the fulness +of their years, the serious poetry of the time appealed to the mature +sympathies of manhood; and even the comic poetry of Plautus deals with +the follies of youth in a genial spirit of indulgence, tempered by the +sense of their absurdity, such as might naturally be entertained by +one who had outlived them. + +But perhaps the most important condition determining the original +scope of Roman poetry was the predominance in that era of public over +personal interests. Like Virgil and Horace, most of the early poets +were men born in comparatively a humble station; yet by their force +of intellect and character they became the familiar friends of the +foremost men in the State. But while the poets of the Augustan age +owed the charm of their existence to the patronage of the great, the +earlier poets depended for their success mainly on popular favour. The +intimacy subsisting between the leaders of action and of literature +during the second century B.C. arose from the mutual attraction of +greatness in different spheres. The chief men in the Republic obtained +their position by their services to the State, and thus the personal +attachment subsisting between them and men of letters was a bond +connecting the latter with the public interest. The early poetry of +the Republic is not the expression of an educated minority keeping +aloof from public life. If it is animated by a strong aristocratic +spirit, the reason is that the aristocratic spirit was predominant in +the public life of Rome during that century. + +In this era, more than in any later age, the poetry of Rome, like +that of Greece in its greatest eras, addressed itself to popular and +national, not to individual tastes. The crowds that witnessed and +applauded the representations of tragedy as well as comedy, afford +a sufficient proof that the reproduction of Greek subjects and +personages could be appreciated without the accomplishment of a Greek +education. The popularity of the poem of Ennius is attested by his own +language, as well as by the evidence of later writers. The honour of +a public funeral awarded to Lucilius, implies the general appreciation +with which his contemporaries enjoyed the verve, sense, and moral +strength which secured for his satire the favour of a more refined and +critical age. + +This general popularity is an argument in favour of the original +spirit animating this early literature. It implies the power of +embodying some sentiment or idea of national or public interest. Thus +Roman tragedy appears to have been received with favour, chiefly +in consequence of the grave Roman tone of its maxims, and the Roman +bearing of its personages. The epic poetry of the age did not, like +the Odyssey, relate a story of personal adventure, but unfolded the +annals of the State in continuous order, and appealed to the pride +which men felt, as Romans, in their history and destiny. The satire of +Lucilius was not intended merely to afford amusement by ridiculing +the follies of social life, but played a part in public affairs by +political partisanship and antagonism, and maintained the traditional +standard of manners and opinions against the inroads of foreign +influences. Latin comedy, indeed, was a more purely cosmopolitan +product. The plays of Terence especially would affect those who +listened to them simply as men and not as Roman citizens. But the +comedy of Plautus abounded in the humour congenial to the Italian +race, and owed much of its popularity to the strong Roman colouring +spread over the Greek outlines of his representations. + +The national character of this poetry is attested also by the spirit +and character which pervades it. Among all the authors who have been +reviewed, Ennius alone possessed in a large measure that peculiar vein +of imaginative feeling which is the most impressive element in the +great poets of a later age. The susceptibility of his mind to the +sentiment that moulded the institutions and inspired the policy of the +Imperial Republic, entitles him to rank as the truest representative +of the genius of his country, notwithstanding his apparent inferiority +to Plautus in creative originality. The glow of moral passion, which +is another great characteristic of Latin literature, as it was of the +best types of the Latin race, reveals itself in the remains of all +the serious writers of the age. The struggle between the old Roman +self-respect and the new modes of temptation, is exemplified in the +antagonistic influence exercised by the tragic, epic, and satiric +poetry on the one hand, and the comedy of Plautus and Terence on the +other. The more general popularity of comedy was a symptom of the +facility with which the severer standard of life yielded to the new +attractions. The graver writers, equally with the writers of comedy, +shared in the sceptical spirit, or the religious indifference, which +was one of the dissolving forces of social and political life during +this age. The strong common sense which characterised all the writers +of the time, could not fail to bring them into collision with the +irrational formalism of the national religion; while the distaste for +speculative philosophy which Ennius and Plautus equally express, and +the strong hold which they all have on the immediate interests +of life, explain the absence of any, except the most superficial, +reflections on the more mysterious influences which in the belief of +the great Greek poets moulded human destiny. + +The political condition of Rome in the second century B.C. is +reflected in the changes through which her literature passed. For +nearly two-thirds of that century, Roman history seems to go through a +stage of political quiescence, as compared at least with the vigorous +life and stormy passions of its earlier and later phases. But under +the surface a great change was taking place, both in the government +and the social condition of the people, the effects of which made +themselves sufficiently manifest during the last century of the +existence of the Republic. The outbreak of the long gathering forces +of discontent and disorder is as distinctly marked in Roman history, +as the outbreak of the revolutionary forces in modern Europe. The year +133 B.C., the date of the first tribunate of Tiberius Gracchus, has +the same kind of significance as the year 1789 A.D. Nor is it a mere +coincidence that about the same time a great change takes place in the +spirit of Roman literature. The comedies of Plautus, written in +the first years of the century, while they reflect the political +indifference of the mass of the people, are yet indicative of their +general spirit of contentment, and their hearty enjoyment of life. +The epic of Ennius, written a little later, proclaims the undisputed +ascendency of an aristocracy, still moulded by its best traditions, +and claiming to lead a united people. The remains of Roman tragedy +breathe the high spirit of the governing class, and attest the severer +virtue still animating its best representatives. The comedies of +Terence seem addressed to the taste of a younger generation of greater +refinement, but of a laxer moral fibre than their fathers, and of a +class becoming separated by more elaborate culture from ordinary Roman +citizens. Expressions in his prologues[2], however, show that +there was as yet no division between classes arising from political +discontent. But in the satire of Lucilius we read the protest of the +better Roman spirit against the lawless arrogance of the nobles, their +incapacity in war, their corrupt administration of justice, their +iniquitous government of the provinces; against the ostentatious +luxury of the rich; the avarice of the middle classes; the venality +of the mob, and the profligacy of their leaders; and against the +insincerity and animosities fostered among the educated classes by the +contests of the forum and the law-courts. + +In passing from the substance and spirit of this early literature to +its form and style, we can see by the rudeness of the more original +ventures which the Roman spirit made, how slowly it was educated by +imitative effort to high literary accomplishment. The only writer who +aimed at perfection of form was Terence, and his success was due to +his close adherence to his originals. But as some compensation for +their artistic defects, these early writers display much greater +productiveness than their literary successors. They were like +the settlers in a new country, who are spared the pains of exact +cultivation owing to the absence of previous occupation of the soil, +and the large extent of ground thus open to their industry. The +contrast between the standard aimed at, and the results attained +by the sincerest literary force in two different eras of Roman +literature, is brought home to the mind by contrasting the rude +fragments of the lost works of Ennius, embodying the results of a +long, hearty, active, and useful life, with the small volume which +still preserves the flower of a few passionate years, as fresh as when +the young poet sent it forth:-- + + Arido modo pumice expolitum. + +The style of the early poets was marked by haste, harshness, and +redundance, occasionally by verbal conceits and similar errors of +taste. That of the writers of comedy, on the other hand, is easy, +natural, and elegant. The Latin language seems thus to have adapted +itself to the needs of ordinary social life more readily than to the +expression of elevated feeling. Though many phrases in the fragments +which have been reviewed are boldly and vigorously conceived, few +passages are written with continuous ease and smoothness, and the +language constantly halts, as if inadequate to the meaning which +labours under it. The style has, in general, the merits of directness +and sincerity, often of freshness and vigour, but wants altogether +the depth and richness of colour, as well as the finish and moderation +which we expect in the literature of a people to whom poetry and art +are naturally congenial, and associated with many old memories and +feelings. Their merits of style, such as the simple force with which +they go directly to the heart of a matter, and the grave earnestness +of their tone, are qualities characteristic rather of oratory than of +poetry. But this colouring of their style is very different from the +artificial rhetoric of the literature of the Empire. The oratorical +style of the early poets was the natural result of a sympathy with the +most practical intellectual instrument of their age. The rhetoric +of the Empire was the expression of an artificial life, in which +literature was cultivated to beguile the tedium of compulsory +inaction, and the highest form of public speaking had sunk from its +proud office as the organ of political freedom into a mere exercise of +pedants and schoolboys[3]. + +The same impulse in this age which gave birth to the forms of serious +poetry, stimulated also the growth of oratory and history. While these +different modes of mental accomplishment all acted and reacted on one +another, oratory appears to have exercised the most influence on the +others. Roman literature is altogether more pervaded by oratorical +feeling than that of any other nation, ancient or modern. From +the natural deficiency of the Romans in the higher dramatic and +speculative genius, the rhetorical element entered largely into +their poetry, their history, and their ethical discussions. Cicero +identifies the faculties of the orator with those of the historian and +the philosopher. His treatise _De Claris Oratoribus_ bears witness to +the energy with which this art was cultivated for more than a century +before his own time; and the remains of Ennius and Lucilius confirm +this testimony. It was from the impassioned and dignified speech of +the forum and senate-house that the Roman language first acquired its +capacity of expressing great emotions. All the serious poetry of the +age bears traces of this influence. Roman tragedy shows its affinity +to oratory in its grave and didactic tone. This affinity is further +implied in the political meaning which the audience attached to the +sentiments expressed, and which the actor enforced by his voice and +manner. It is also attested by the fact that in the time of Cicero, +famous actors were employed in teaching the external graces of public +speaking. The theatre was a school of elocution as much as a place of +dramatic entertainment. Cicero specifies among the qualifications of +a speaker, 'Vox tragoedorum, gestus paene summorum actorum.' Although +the epic poetry of the time mainly appealed to a different class of +sympathies, yet the fragments of speeches in Ennius indicate that +kind of rhetorical power which moves an audience by the weight and +authority of the speaker. Roman satire could wield other weapons +of oratory, such as the fierce invective, the lashing ridicule, +the vehement indignation which have often proved the most powerful +instruments of debate in modern as well as ancient times. + +Historical composition also took its rise at Rome at this period. +Although the earliest Roman annalists composed their works in the +Greek language, it was not from the desire of imitating the historic +art of Greece that this art was first cultivated at Rome. The origin +of Roman history may be referred rather to the same impulse which gave +birth to the epic poems of Naevius and Ennius. The early annalists +were men of action and eminent station, who desired to record the +important events in which they themselves had taken part, and to fix +them for ever in the annals of their country. History originated at +Rome in the impulse to keep alive the record of national life, not, +as among the Greeks, in the spell which human story and the wonder of +distant lands exercised over the imagination. Its office was not to +teach lessons of political wisdom, but to commemorate the services of +great men, and to satisfy a Roman's pride in the past, and his trust +in the future of his country. The word _annales_ suggests a different +idea of history from that entertained and exemplified by Herodotus and +Thucydides. The purpose of building up the record of unbroken national +life was present to, though probably not realised by, the earliest +annalists who preserved the line of magistrates, and kept account of +the religious observances in the State: in the time of the expansion +of Roman power, this purpose directed the attention of men of action +to the composition of prose annals, and stimulated the productive +genius of Naevius and Ennius: and when, in the Augustan age, the +national destiny seemed to be fulfilled, the same purpose inspired the +great epic of Virgil, and the 'colossal masterwork of Livy.' + +Another form of literature, in which Rome became pre-eminent, first +began in this era,--the writing of familiar letters. It was natural +that a correspondence should be maintained among intimate friends +and members of an active social circle, separated for years from one +another by military service, or employment in the provinces; and the +new taste for literature would induce the writers to give form and +finish to these compositions, so that they might be interesting not +only to the persons addressed, but to all the members of the same +circle. The earliest compositions of this kind of which we read, +are the familiar letters in verse ('Epistolas versiculis facetis ad +familiares missas' Cicero calls them) written to his friends by the +brother of Mummius, during the siege of Corinth[4]. That these had +some literary value may be inferred from the fact that they survived +down to the age of Cicero, and are spoken of in the letters to +Atticus, as having often been quoted to him by a member of the family +of Mummii. One of the earliest satires of Lucilius appears to have +been a letter written to Scipio after the capture of Numantia; and +several of his other satires were written in an epistolary form. How +happily the later Romans employed this form in prose and verse is +sufficiently proved by the letters of Cicero and Pliny, and the +metrical Epistles of Horace. + +This era also saw the beginning of the critical and grammatical +studies which flourished through every period of Roman literature, and +continued long after the cessation of all productive originality. This +critical effort was a necessary condition of the cultivation of art by +the Romans. The perfection of form attained by the great Roman poets +of a later time was no exercise of a natural gift, but the result +of many previous efforts and failures, and of much reflection on the +conditions which had been, with no apparent effort, fulfilled by +their Greek masters. Neither did their language acquire the symmetry, +precision, and harmony, which make it so effective a vehicle in prose +and verse, except as the result of assiduous labour. The natural +tendency of the spoken language was to rapid decomposition. This was +first arrested by Ennius, who cast the literary language of Rome +into forms which became permanent after his time. Among his poetic +successors in this era Accius and Lucilius made critical and +grammatical studies the subjects of some of their works. Lucilius was +a contemporary and friend of the most famous of the early grammarians, +Aelius Stilo, the critic to whom is attributed the saying that 'if +the muses were to speak in Latin, they would speak in the language +of Plautus.' Critical works in trochaic verse were written by Porcius +Licinus, and Volcatius Sedigitus, who appear to have been the chief +authorities from whom later writers derived their information as to +the lives of the early poets. It is characteristic of the want of +spontaneousness in Latin literature, as compared with the fresh and +varied impulses which the Greek genius obeyed in every stage of +its literary development, that reflection on the principles of +composition, efforts to form the language into a more certain and +uniform vehicle, and comment on living writers, were carried on +concurrently with the creative efforts of the more original minds. + +The existing works of the two great writers of Roman comedy have an +acknowledged value of their own, but even the fragments of this early +literature, originally scattered through the works of many later +authors, and collected together and arranged by the industry of modern +scholars, are found to possess a peculiar interest. They recall +the features of the remarkable men by whom the foundations of Roman +literature were laid, and the Latin language was first shaped into +a powerful and symmetric organ. They present the Roman mind in its +earliest contact with the genius of Greece; and they are almost the +sole contemporary witnesses of national character and public feeling +in the most vigorous and interesting age of the Republic. They throw +also much light on the national sources of inspiration in the later +Roman literature. The early poets are seen to be men living the life +of citizens in a Republic, appealing rather to popular taste than to +the sympathies of a refined and limited society; men of mature years +and understanding, animated by a serious purpose and with a strong +interest in the affairs of their time; rude and negligent but direct +and vigorous in speech,--more remarkable for energy, industry, and +common sense, than for the finer gifts and susceptibility of genius. +Their poetry springing from their sympathy with national and political +life, and from the impulses of the will and the manlier energies, +was less rich, varied, and refined than that which flows out of the +religious spirit of man, out of his passions and affections, or of +his imaginative sense of the life and grandeur of Nature. But in these +respects the early poetry was essentially Roman in spirit, in harmony +with the strength and sagacity, the sobriety and grave dignity of +Rome. + +The accomplished art of the last age of the Republic and of the +Augustan age owed much of its national and moral flourishment to the +vigorous life of this early literature. The earnest enthusiasm of +Ennius was inherited by Lucretius,--his patriotic tones were repeated +by Virgil. The lofty oratory of the Aeneid sometimes sounds like an +echo of the grave and ardent style of early tragedy. The strong sense +and knowledge of the world, the frank communicativeness and lively +portraiture of Lucilius reappeared in the familiar writings of Horace, +while his fierce vehemence and bold invective were reproduced by the +vigorous satirist of the Empire. + + + [Footnote 1: De Orat. ii. 6.] + + [Footnote 2: Adelphi, 18-21:-- + + Quom illis placet, + Qui vobis univorsis et populo placent, + Quorum opera in bello, in otio, in negotio + Suo quisque tempore usust sine superbia.] + + [Footnote 3: Cf. Juv. x. 167:-- + + Ut pueris placeas et declamatio fias.] + + [Footnote 4: Referred to by Mommsen.] + + + + +SECOND PERIOD. + +THE CLOSE OF THE REPUBLIC. + + * * * * * + +LUCRETIUS AND CATULLUS. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +TRANSITION FROM LUCILIUS TO LUCRETIUS AND CATULLUS. + + +An interval of nearly half a century elapsed between the death of +Lucilius and the appearance of the poem of Lucretius. During this +period no poetical works of any value were produced at Rome. The only +successors of the older tragedians, C. Julius Caesar (Consul B.C. 88) +and C. Titius, never obtained a success on the stage approaching to +that still accorded to the older dramas. No rival appeared to dispute +the popularity enjoyed by Plautus, Caecilius, and Terence, as authors +of the Comoedia Palliata; but the literary activity of Afranius and +of T. Quintius Atta, the most eminent among the authors of the Fabulae +togatae, extended into the early years of the first century B.C. It +was during this period also that the Fabula Atellana was raised by L. +Pomponius of Bononia and Novius into the rank of regular literature. +The tendency to depart more and more from the Greek type of comedy, +and to revert to the scenic entertainment native to Italy, is seen in +the attempt of Laberius, in the last years of the Republic, to raise +the Mimus into the sphere of recognised literary art. The Annalistic +epic of Hostius on the Istrian war, and the Annales of Furius, of +Antium, a friend of the elder Catulus, perpetuated the traditional +influence of Ennius, during the interval between Lucilius and +Lucretius. The first attempts to introduce the erotic poetry of +Alexandria, in the form of epigrams and short lyrical poems, +also belong to this period. The writers of this new kind of +poetry,--Valerius Aedituus, Q. Lutatius Catulus (the Colleague of +Marius in his consulship of the year 102 B.C.), and Laevius, the +author of Erotopaegnia, have significance only as indicating the +direction which Roman poetry followed in the succeeding generation. +Cicero in his youth cultivated verse-making, both as a translator +of the poem of Aratus, and as the author of an original poem on +his townsman Marius. His hexameters show considerable advance in +rhythmical smoothness and exactness beyond the previous condition of +that metre, as exemplified in the fragments of Ennius and Lucilius: +and his translation of Aratus marks a stage in the history of Latin +poetry as affording a native model, which Lucretius did not altogether +disregard in the structure of his verse and diction[1]. But Cicero +is not to be ranked among the poets of Rome. He merely practised +verse-making as part of his general literary training. He retained +the accomplishment till his latest years, and shows his facility by +translating passages from the Greek tragedians in his philosophical +works. That he had no true poetical faculty is shown by the apparent +indifference with which he regarded the works of the two great poets +of his time. This indifference is the more marked from his generous +recognition of the oratorical promise and accomplishment of the men +of a younger generation. The tragedies of Q. Cicero were mere literary +exercises and made no impression on his generation. Though several of +the multifarious works of Varro were written in verse, yet the whole +cast of his mind was thoroughly prosaic. His tastes and abilities were +those of an antiquarian scholar, not of a man of poetic genius and +accomplishment. + +The period of nearly half a century, from 102 till about 60 B.C., +must thus be regarded as altogether barren in genuine poetical result. +During this long interval there appeared no successor to carry on the +work of developing the poetical side of a national literature, begun +by Plautus, Ennius, and Lucilius. The only metrical compositions +of this time were either inferior reproductions of the old forms or +immature anticipations of the products of a later age. The political +disturbance of the times between the tribunate of Tib. Gracchus and +the first consulship of Crassus and Pompey (B.C. 70) was unfavourable +to the cultivation of that poetry which is expressive of national +feeling: and the Roman genius for art was as yet too immature to +produce the poetry of individual reflection or personal passion. The +state of feeling throughout Italy, before and immediately subsequent +to the Social War, alienated from Rome the sympathetic genius of the +kindred races from whom her most illustrious authors were drawn in +later times. It was in the years of comparative peace, between the +horrors of the first civil war and the alarm preceding the outbreak of +the second, that a new poet grew apparently unnoticed to maturity, and +the silence was at last broken after the long repression of Italian +genius by a voice at once stronger in native vitality and richer in +acquired culture than any which had preceded it. + +But there is one thing significant in the literary character of this +period, otherwise so barren in works of taste and imagination. Those +by whom the art of verse was practised are no longer 'Semi-Graeci' or +humble provincials, but Romans of political or social distinction. +The chief authors in the interval between the first and second era +of Roman poetry are either members of the aristocracy or men of old +family belonging to the equestrian order. And this connexion between +literature and social rank continues till the close of the Republic. +The poets of the Ciceronian age,--Hortensius, Memmius, Lucretius, +Catullus, Calvus, Cinna, &c.--either themselves belonged to the +governing class, or were men of leisure and independent means, living +as equals with the members of that class. This circumstance explains +much of the difference in tone between the literature of that age and +both the earlier and later literature. The separation in taste and +sympathy between the higher classes and the mass of the people which +had begun in the days of Terence, grew wider and wider with the +growth of culture and with the increasing bitterness of political +dissensions. It was only among the rich and educated that poetry +could now expect to find an audience; and the poetry written for them +appealed, for the most part, to the convictions, tastes, pleasures, +and animosities which they shared as members of a class, not, like the +best Augustan poetry, to the higher sympathies which they might share +as the depositaries of great national traditions. But if this poetry +was too exclusively addressed to a class--a class too, though refined +by culture, yet living for the most part the life of fashion and +pleasure--it had the merit of being the sincere expression of men +writing to please themselves and their equals. It was not called upon +to make any sacrifice of individual conviction or public sentiment to +satisfy popular taste or the requirements of an Imperial master. + +But though barren in poetry this interval was far from being barren +in other intellectual results. This was the era of the great Roman +orators, the successors of Laelius, Carbo, the Gracchi, etc., and the +immediate predecessors and contemporaries of Cicero. It was through +the care with which public speaking was cultivated that Latin +prose was formed into that clear, exact, dignified, and commanding +instrument, which served through so many centuries as the universal +organ of history, law, philosophy, learning, and religion,--of public +discussion and private correspondence. While Latin poetry is, both in +spirit and manner, quite as much Italian as Roman, Latin prose bears +the stamp of the political genius of Rome. It was the deliberate +expression of the mind of men practised in affairs, exercised in the +deliberations of the Senate, the harangues of the public assemblies, +the pleadings of the courts,--of men accustomed to determine and +explain questions of law and to draw up edicts binding on all subjects +of the State,--trained, moreover, to a sense of literary form by the +study of Greek rhetoric, and naturally guided to clearness and +dignity of expression by the orderly understanding, the strong hold on +reality, and the authoritative bearing which were their birthright as +Romans. The effort which obtained its crowning success in the prose +style of Cicero left its mark on other forms of literature. History +continued to be written by members of the great governing families to +serve both as a record of events and a weapon of party warfare. +The large and varied correspondence of Cicero shows how general the +accomplishment of style had become among educated men. And if this +result was, in the main, due to the fervour of mind and temper +elicited by the contests of public life, the systematic teaching of +grammarians and rhetoricians acted as a corrective of the natural +exuberance or carelessness of the rhetorical faculty. + +Perfection of style attained in one of the two great branches of a +national literature cannot fail to react on the other. It was +the peculiarity of Latin literature that this perfection or high +accomplishment was reached in prose sooner than in poetry. The +contemporaries of Cicero and Caesar, whose genius impelled them to +awaken into new life the long silent Muses of Italy, were conscious +that the great effort demanded of them was to raise Latin verse to a +similar perfection of form, diction, and musical cadence. What Cicero +did for Latin prose, in revealing the fertility of its resources, +in giving to it more ample volume, and eliciting its capabilities of +sonorous rhythmical movement, Lucretius aspires to do for Latin verse. +Although Catullus in forming his more elaborate style worked carefully +after the manner of his Greek models, yet we may attribute something +of the terseness, the idiomatic verve, the studied simplicity of +expression in his lighter pieces to the literary taste which he shared +with the younger race of orators, who claimed to have substituted +Attic elegance for Asiatic exuberance of ornament. + +During all this interval, in which native poetry was neglected, the +art and thought of Greece were penetrating more deeply into Italy. +Cicero, in his defence of Archias, attests the eagerness with which +Greek studies were cultivated during the early years of the century; +'Erat Italia tunc plena Graecarum artium ac disciplinarum, studiaque +haec et in Latio vehementius tum colebantur quam nunc iisdem in +oppidis, et hic Romae propter tranquillitatem reipublicae non +neglegebantur.' With the reviving tranquillity of the Republic these +studies also revived. Learned Greeks continued to flock to Rome and +to attach themselves to members of the great houses,--the Luculli, +the Metelli, Pompey, etc.; and it became more and more the custom for +young men of birth and wealth to travel or spend some years of study +among the famous cities of Greece and Asia. This new and closer +contact of the Greek with the Roman mind came about, not as the +earlier one through dramatic representations, but, in a great measure, +through the medium of books, which began now to be accumulated at Rome +both in public and private libraries. Probably no other cause produces +so great a change in national character and intellect as the awakening +of the taste and the creating of facilities for reading. By the +diffusion of books, as well as by the instruction of living teachers, +the Romans of this generation came under the influence of a new class +of writers, whose spirit was more in harmony with the modern world +than the old epic and dramatic poets, viz. the exponents of the +different philosophic systems and the learned poets of Alexandria. +These new influences helped to denationalise Roman thought and +literature, to make the individual more conscious of himself, and +to stimulate the passions and pleasures of private life. While the +endeavour to regulate life in accordance with a system of philosophy +tended to isolate men from their fellows, the study of the Alexandrine +poets, the cultivation of art for its own sake, the exclusive +admiration of a particular manner of writing fostered the spirit +of literary coteries as distinct from the spirit of a national +literature. But making allowance for all these drawbacks, it is to the +Alexandrine culture that the education of the Roman sense of literary +beauty is primarily due. Along with this culture, indeed, the taste +for other forms of art, which was rapidly developed and largely fed +in the last age of the Republic, powerfully cooperated. Lucretius +specifies among the 'deliciae vitae' + + Carmina, picturas, et daedala signa[2]; + +and, in more than one place, he writes, with sympathetic admiration, +of the charm of instrumental music, + + Musaea mele per chordas organici quae + Mobilibus digitis expergefacta figurant[3]. + +The delicate appreciation of the paintings, statues, gems, vases, +etc., either brought to Rome as the spoils of conquest, or seen in +their original home by educated Romans, travelling for pleasure or +employed in the public service, was not without effect in +calling forth the ideal of literary form, realised in some of the +master-pieces of Catullus. We may suppose too that the cultivation of +music had some share in eliciting the lyrical movement in Latin verse +from the fact mentioned by Horace, that the songs of Catullus and +Calvus were ever in the mouths of the fashionable professors of that +art in a later age. If the life of the generation which witnessed +the overthrow of the Republic was one of alarm and vicissitude, of +political unsettlement and moral unrestraint, it was, at the same +time, very rich in its capabilities of sensuous and intellectual +enjoyment. The appetite for pleasure was still too fresh to produce +that deadening of energy and of feeling, which is most fatal to +literary creativeness. The passionate life led by Catullus and his +friends may have shortened the days of some of them, and tended to +limit the range and to lower the aims of their genius, but it did not +dull their vivid sense of beauty, chill their enjoyment of their +art, or impair the mastery over its technical details, for which they +strove. + +As the bent given to philosophical and literary studies developed +the inner life and personal tastes of the individual, the political +disorganisation of the age tended to stimulate new modes of thought +and life, which had not, in any former generation, been congenial +to the Roman mind. While the work of political destruction was being +carried on along with the most strenuous gratification of their +passions by one set among the leading men at Rome--such as Catiline +and his associates, and, somewhat later, Clodius, Curio, Caelius, +Antony, etc.--among men of more sensitive and refined natures +the pleasures of the contemplative life began to exercise a novel +fascination. The comparative seclusion in which men like Lucullus and +Hortensius lived in their later years may, perhaps, be accounted for +by other reasons than the mere love of ease and pleasure. It was a +symptom of that despair of the Republic which is so often expressed +in Cicero's letters, and of the consequent diversion of thought from +practical affairs to the questions and interests which concern the +individual. In the same way the unsettlement and afterwards the loss +of political life at Athens gave a great impulse both to the various +philosophical sects on the one hand, and to the literature of the new +comedy, which deals exclusively with private life, on the other. In +Rome this alienation from politics naturally allied itself, among +members of the aristocracy, with the acceptance of the Epicurean +philosophy. The slow dissolution of religious belief which had been +going on since the first contact of the Roman mind with that of +Greece, awoke in Rome, as it had done in Greece, a deeper interest in +the ultimate questions of the existence and nature of the gods and of +the origin and destiny of the human soul. We see how the contemplation +of these questions consoled Cicero when no longer able to exercise +his energy and vivid intelligence on public affairs. He discusses them +with candour and seriousness of spirit and with a strong leaning to +the more hopeful side of the controversy, but scarcely from the point +of view which regards their settlement as of supreme importance to +human well-being. But they are raised from much greater depths of +feeling and inward experience by Lucretius, to whom the life of +political warfare and personal ambition was utterly repugnant, and who +had dedicated himself, with all the intensity of his passionate and +poetical temperament, to the discovery and the teaching of the true +meaning of life. The happiest results of his recluse and contemplative +life were the revelation of a new delight open to the human spirit +through sympathy with the spirit of Nature, and the deepening +beyond anything which had yet found expression in literature of +the fellow-feeling which unites man not only to humanity but to +all sentient existence. The taste, so congenial to the Italian, +for country life found in him its first and most powerful poetical +interpreter: while the humanity of sentiment, first instilled through +the teaching of comedy, and fostered by later literary and ethical +study, was enforced with a greatness of heart and imagination which +has seldom been equalled in ancient or modern times. + +The dissolution of traditional beliefs and of the old loyalty to +the State produced very different results on the art and life of the +younger poets of that generation. The pursuit of pleasure, and the +cultivation, purely for its own sake, of art which drew its chief +materials from the life of pleasure, became the chief end and aim +of their existence. In so far as they turned their thoughts from +the passionate pleasures of their own lives and the contemplation of +passionate incidents and situations in art, it was to give expression +to the personal animosities which they entertained to the leaders of +the revolutionary movement. Nor did this animosity spring so much +from public spirit as from a repugnance of taste towards the coarser +partisans of the popular cause, and from the instinctive sense that +the privileges enjoyed by their own caste were not likely to survive +any great convulsion of the State. The intensity of their personal +feelings of love and hatred, and the limitation of their range of +view to the things which gave the most vivid and immediate pleasure +to themselves and to others like them, were the sources of both their +strength and weakness. + +Of the poetry which arose out of these conditions of life and culture, +two representatives only are known to us in their works, Lucretius and +Catullus. From the testimony of their contemporaries we know them +to have been recognised as the greatest of the poets of that age. +Lucretius in his own province held an unquestioned pre-eminence. Yet +that other minds were occupied with the topics which he alone treated +with a masterly hand is proved by the existence of a work, of a +somewhat earlier date, by one Egnatius, bearing the title 'De Rerum +Natura,' and also by Cicero's notice, in connexion with his mention of +Lucretius, of the 'Empedoclea' of Sallustius. Varro also is mentioned +by ancient writers, in connexion with Empedocles and Lucretius, as +the author of a metrical work 'De Rerum Natura[4].' More satisfactory +evidence is afforded by the discussions in the 'De Natura Deorum,' the +'Tusculan Questions,' and the 'De Finibus,' of the interest taken by +educated men in the class of questions which Lucretius professed to +answer. Yet neither the antecedent nor the later attention devoted +to these subjects explains the powerful attraction which they had for +Lucretius. In him, more than in any other Roman, we recognise a fresh +and deep source of poetic thought and feeling appearing in the world. +The culture of his age may have suggested or rendered possible the +channel which his genius followed, but cannot account for the power +and intensity with which it poured itself into that channel. He +cannot be said either to sum up the art and thought contemporary with +himself, or, like Virgil, to complete that of preceding times. The +work done by him, and the influence exercised by him on the poetry of +Rome and on the world, are to be explained only by his original and +individual force. + +Catullus, on the other hand, was the most successful among a band +of rival poets with most of whom he lived in intimacy. Among the men +older than himself, Hortensius, the orator, and Memmius were known as +writers of amatory poetry. His name as a lyric poet is most usually +coupled with that of his friend Calvus; and a well-known passage of +Tacitus[5] brings together his lampoons and those of Bibaculus as +being 'referta contumeliis Caesarum.' Among others to whom he was +bound by the ties of friendship and common tastes were C. Helvius +Cinna, author of an Alexandrine epic, called Zmyrna, and Caecilius, +author of a poem on Cybele. Ticidas and Anser, mentioned by Ovid among +his own precursors in amatory poetry, also belong to this generation. +Among the swarms of poetasters-- + + Saecli incommoda, pessimi poetae,-- + +a countryman of his own, Volusius[6], the author of a long Annalistic +epic, is held up by Catullus to especial obloquy. + +While so much of the literature of that age has perished, we are +fortunate in possessing the works of the greatest authors in prose and +verse. The poems of Lucretius and Catullus enable us, better perhaps +than any other extant Latin works, to appreciate the most opposite +capacities and tendencies of the Roman genius. In their force and +individuality, they are alike valuable as the last poetic voices of +the Republic, and as, perhaps, the most free and sincere voices of +Rome. The first is one of the truest representatives of the national +strength, majesty, seriousness of spirit, massive constructive energy; +the second is the most typical example of the strong vitality +and passionate ardour of the Italian temperament and of its vivid +susceptibility to the varied beauties of Greek art. + + + [Footnote 1: Mr. Munro, in his Introduction to Part II of his + Commentary on Lucretius, illustrates this relation of the work + of the poet to this youthful production of Cicero.] + + [Footnote 2: v. 1451.] + + [Footnote 3: ii. 412; cf. also ii. 505-6:-- + + Et cycnea mele Phoebeaque daedala chordis + Carmina consimili ratione oppressa silerent. + + These lines point to the union of music and lyrical poetry.] + + [Footnote 4: Cp. the passages quoted from Quintilian, + Lactantius, etc. by W.S. Teuffel, Wagner's Translation, p. + 239.] + + [Footnote 5: Annals, iv. 34.] + + [Footnote 6: Tanusius Geminus, who has generally been identified + with Volusius from the passage in Seneca, Ep. 93. 11, + 'Annales Tanusii scis quam ponderosi sint et quid vocentur,' + is supposed, on the evidence of Suetonius, to have been the author + of a prose history, which he, Plutarch, and Strabo used as an + authority for the times. Seneca certainly must have identified them. + He may have written both in prose and verse, or perhaps the Annals + in verse may have been the historical authority appealed to. + There is, however, this further difficulty in identifying them, + that there is no apparent reason why Catullus should in his case + have deviated from his invariable practice of speaking of the + objects of his satire by their own names. Cf. Schmidt, Catullus, + Prolegomena, p. xlvi.] + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +LUCRETIUS.--PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS. + + +It is in keeping with the isolated and independent position which +Lucretius occupies in literature, that so little is known of his life. +The two kinds of information available for literary biography,--that +afforded by the author himself, and that derived from contemporaries, +or from later writers who had access to contemporary testimony,--almost +entirely fail us in his case. The form of poetry adopted by him +prevented his speaking of himself and telling his own history, as +Catullus, Horace, Ovid, etc., have done in their lyrical, elegiac, and +familiar writings. His work appears to have been first published after +his death: nor is there any reason to believe that he attracted the +attention of the world in his lifetime. To judge from the silence of +his contemporaries, and from the attitude of mind indicated in his +poem, the words 'moriens natusque fefellit' might almost be written as +his epitaph. Had he been prominent in the social or literary circles +of Rome during the years in which he was engaged on the composition of +his poem, some traces of him must have been found in the correspondence +of Cicero or in the poems of Catullus, which bring the personal life +of those years so close to modern readers. It is thus impossible to +ascertain on what original authority the sole traditional account of +him preserved in the Chronicle of Jerome was based. That account, like +similar notices of other Roman writers, came to Jerome in all +probability from the lost work of Suetonius, 'de viris illustribus.' +But as to the channels through which it passed to Suetonius, we have +no information. + +The well-known statement of Jerome is to this effect,--'The poet +Lucretius was born in the year 94 B.C. He became mad from the +administration of a love-philtre, and after composing, in his lucid +intervals, several books which were afterwards corrected by Cicero, he +died by his own hand in his forty-fourth year.' The date of his death +would thus be 50 B.C. But this date is contradicted by the statement +of Donatus in his life of Virgil, that Lucretius died (he says nothing +of his supposed suicide) on the day on which Virgil assumed the 'toga +virilis,' viz. October 15, 55 B.C. And this date derives confirmation +from the fact that the first notice of the poem appears in a letter +of Cicero to his brother, written in the beginning of 54 B.C. As the +condition in which the poem has reached us confirms the statement that +it was left by the author in an unfinished state, it must have been +given to the world by some other hand after the poet's death; and, as +Mr. Munro observes, we should expect to find that it first attracted +notice some three or four months after that event. We must accordingly +conclude that here, as in many other cases, Jerome has been careless +in his dates, and that Lucretius was either born some years before 94 +B.C., or that he died before his forty-fourth year. His most recent +Editors, accordingly, assign his birth to the end of the year 99 B.C. +or the beginning of 98 B.C. He would thus be some seven or eight +years younger than Cicero, three or four years younger than Julius +Caesar[1], about the same age as Memmius to whom the poem is +dedicated, and from about twelve to fifteen years older than Catullus +and the younger poets of that generation[2]. + +But is this story of the poet's liability to fits of derangement, of +the cause assigned for these, of his suicide, and of the correction of +his poem by Cicero, to be accepted as a meagre and, perhaps, distorted +account of certain facts in his history transmitted through some +trustworthy channels, or is it to be rejected as an idle fiction which +may have assumed shape before the time of Suetonius, and been accepted +by him on no other evidence than that of a vague tradition? Though no +certain answer can be given to this question, yet some reasons may be +assigned for according a hesitating acceptance to the main outlines of +the story, or at least for not rejecting it as a transparent fiction. + +It may indeed be urged that if this strange and tragical history had +been known to the Augustan poets, who, in greater or less degree, +acknowledge the spell exercised upon them by the genius of Lucretius, +some sympathetic allusion to it would probably have been found in +their writings, such as that in Ovid to the early death of Catullus +and Calvus. It would seem remarkable that in the only personal +reference which Virgil, who had studied his poem profoundly, seems to +make to his predecessor, he characterises him merely as 'fortunate in +his triumph over supernatural terrors.' But, not to press an argument +based on the silence of those who lived near the poet's time, and who, +from their recognition of his genius might have been expected to +be interested in his fate, the sensational character of the story +justifies some suspicion of its authenticity. The mysterious efficacy +attributed to a love-philtre is more in accordance with vulgar +credulity than with experience. The supposition that the poem, or +any considerable portion of it, was written in the lucid intervals of +derangement seems hardly consistent with the evidence of the supreme +control of reason through all its processes of thought. The impression +both of impiety and melancholy which the poem was likely to produce +on ordinary minds, especially after the religious reaction of the +Augustan age, might easily have suggested this tale of madness and +suicide as a natural consequence of, or fitting retribution for, such +absolute separation from the common hopes and fears of mankind[3]. + +Yet indications in the poem itself have been pointed out which might +incline us to accept the story rather as a meagre tradition of some +tragic circumstances in the poet's history, than as the idle invention +of an uncritical age. The unrelieved intensity of thought and +feeling, by which more almost than any other work of literature it is +characterised, seems indicative of an overstrain of power, which +may well have caused the loss or eclipse of what to the poet was the +sustaining light and joy of his life[4]. Under such a calamity +it would have been quite in accordance with the principles of his +philosophy to seek refuge in self-destruction, and to imitate an +example which he notes in the case of another speculative thinker, on +becoming conscious of failing intellectual power[5]. But this general +sense of overstrained tension of thought and feeling is, as was first +pointed out by his English Editor, much intensified by references in +the poem (as at i. 32; iv. 33, etc.), to the horror produced on +the mind by apparitions seen in dreams and waking visions[6]. 'The +emphatic repetition,' says Mr. Munro, 'of these horrid visions seen +in sickness might seem to confirm what is related of the poet being +subject to fits of delirium or disordering sickness of some sort.' He +further shows by quotation from Suetonius' 'Life of Caligula,' that +such mental conditions were attributed to the administration of +a love-philtre. The coincidence in these recorded cases may imply +nothing more than the credulity of Suetonius, or of the authorities +whom he followed: but it is conceivable that Lucretius may have +himself attributed what was either a disorder of his own constitution, +or the result of a prolonged overstrain of mind, to the effects of +some powerful drug taken by him in ignorance[7]. + +Thus, while the statement of Jerome admits neither of verification nor +refutation, it may be admitted that there are indications in the poem +of a great tension of mind, of an extreme vividness of sensibility, of +an indifference to life, and, in the later books, of some failure +in the power of organising his materials, which incline us rather to +accept the story as a meagre and distorted record of tragical events +in the poet's life, than as a literary myth which took shape out of +the feelings excited by the poem in a later age. Yet this qualified +acquiescence in the tradition does not involve the belief that +any considerable portion of the poem was written 'per intervalla +insaniae,' or that the disorder from which the poet suffered was +actually the effect of a love-philtre. + +The statement involved in the words 'quos Cicero emendavit,' has also +been the subject of much criticism. No one can read the poem without +recognising the truth of the conclusion established by Lachmann, and +accepted by the most competent Editors of the poem since his time, +that the work must have been left by the author in an unfinished state +and given to the world by some friend or some person to whom the task +of editing it had been entrusted. But there is some difficulty in +accepting the statement that this editor was Cicero. His silence on +the subject of his editorial labours, when contrasted with the frank +communicativeness of his Epistles in regard to anything which for the +time interested him, and the slight esteem with which he regarded the +philosophy which is embodied in the poem, justify some hesitation in +accepting the authority of Jerome on this point also. He only once +mentions the poem in a letter to his brother Quintus[8], and in +passages of his philosophical works in which he seems to allude to it +he expresses himself slightingly and somewhat contemptuously[9]. In +the disparaging references to the Latin writers on Greek philosophy +before the appearance of his own Tusculan Questions and Academics, he +makes no exception in favour of Lucretius. The words in his letter +to his brother Quintus are these, 'Lucretii poemata, ut scribis, ita +sunt, multis luminibus ingenii, multae tamen artis: sed cum veneris, +virum te putabo, si Sallustii Empedoclea legeris, hominem non putabo.' +Professor Tyrrell in his 'Correspondence of Cicero,' remarks on this +passage (vol. II. page 106): 'The criticism of Quintus, with which +Cicero expresses his accord, was that Lucretius had not only much of +the _genius_ of Ennius and Attius, but also much of the _art_ of the +poets of the new school, among them even Catullus, who are fashioning +themselves on the model of the Alexandrine poets, especially +Callimachus and Euphorion of Chalcis. This new school Cicero refers +to as the [Greek: neôteroi] (Att. VII. 2. 1) and as _hi cantores +Euphorionis_ (Tusc. III. 45). Their _ars_ seemed to Cicero almost +incompatible with the _ingenium_ of the old school. This criticism on +Lucretius is not only quite just from Cicero's point of view, but it +is most pointed. Yet the editors from Victorius to Klotz will not let +Cicero say what he thought. They insert a _non_ either before _multis_ +or before _multae_, and thus deny him either _ingenium_ or _ars_. The +point of the judgment is that Lucretius shows the genius of the old +school and (what might seem to be incompatible with it) the art of +the new[10].' Thus if his notice of the poem is slight, it is not +deficient in appreciation. Mr. Munro succeeds in explaining Cicero's +silence on the subject in his other correspondence. It is in his +Letters to his oldest and most intimate correspondent, the Epicurean +Atticus, that we should expect to find notices of his editorial +labours. It was a task on which Atticus might have given most valuable +help from his large employment of educated slaves in the copying of +manuscripts. Cicero's silence on the subject in the Letters to Atticus +is fully explained by the fact that they were both in Rome during +the greater part of the time between the death of Lucretius and the +publication of his poem. Again, Cicero's strong opposition to the +Epicurean doctrines was not incompatible with the closest +friendship with many who professed them; and this opposition was not +conspicuously declared till some years after this time. Lucretius +would have sympathised with Cicero's political attitude, as he appears +to commend Memmius for adopting a similar attitude in his Praetorship, +and he must have known that Cicero was the man of widest literary +culture then living. There is thus no great difficulty in supposing +that the work of even so uncompromising a partisan as Lucretius should +have been placed, either by his own request or by the wish of his +friends, in the hands of one who was not attracted to it either by +strong poetical or philosophical sympathy. The energetic kindliness +of Cicero's nature, and his active interest in literature, would have +prompted him not to decline the service if he were asked to render it. +Thus, although on this point too our judgment may well be suspended, +we may think with pleasure of the good-will and kindly offices of the +most humane and energetic among Roman writers, as exercised in behalf +of Lucretius after his untimely death. + +This is all the direct external evidence available for the personal +history of Lucretius. It is remarkable, when compared with the +information given in his other notices, that the record of Jerome does +not even mention the poet's birth-place. This may be explained on the +supposition either that the authorities followed by Jerome knew very +little about him, or that, if he were born at Rome, there would not be +the same motive for giving prominence to the place of his birth, as +in the case of poets and men of letters who brought honour to the less +famous districts of Italy. While Lucretius applies the word _patria_ +to the Roman State ('patriai tempore iniquo'), and the adjective +_patrius_ to the Latin language, these words are used by other Roman +poets,--Ennius and Virgil for instance,--in reference to their own +provincial homes. The Gentile name Lucretius was one eminently Roman, +nor is there ground for believing that, like the equally ancient and +noble name borne by the other great poet of the age, it had become +common in other parts of Italy. The name suggests the inference that +Lucretius was descended from one of the most ancient patrician houses +of Rome, but one, as is pointed out by Mr. Munro, more famous in the +legendary than in the later annals of the Republic. Some members +of the same house are mentioned in the letters of Cicero among the +partisans of Pompey: and possibly the Lucretius Ofella, who was one of +the victims of Sulla's tyranny, may have been connected with the poet. +As the position indicated by the whole tone of the poem is that of a +man living in easy circumstances, and of one, who, though repelled +by it, was yet familiar with the life of pleasure and luxury, he must +have belonged either to a senatorian family, or to one of the richer +equestrian families, the members of which, if not engaged in financial +and commercial affairs, often lived the life of country gentlemen +on their estates and employed their leisure in the cultivation of +literature. The tone of the dedication to Memmius, a member of a noble +plebeian house, and of the occasional addresses to him in the body of +the poem, is not that of a client to a patron, but of an equal to an +equal:-- + + Sed tua me virtus tamen et sperata voluptas + Suavis amicitiae--. + +While Lucretius pays the tribute of admiration to the literary +accomplishment of his friend, and to the active part which he played +in politics, he yet addresses him with the authority of a master. In +a society constituted as that of Rome was in the last age of the +Republic this tone could only be assumed to a member of the +governing class by a social equal. Memmius combined the pursuits of +a politician, a man of letters, and a man of pleasure; and in none of +these capacities does he seem to have been worthy of the affection and +admiration of Lucretius. But as he filled the office of Praetor in the +year 58 B.C.[11] it may be inferred that he and the poet were about +the same age, and thus the original bond between them may probably +have been that of early education and literary sympathies. That +Memmius retained a taste for poetry amid the pursuits and pleasures of +his profligate career is shown by the fact that he was the author of a +volume of amatory poems, and also by his taking with him, in the +year 57 B.C., the poets Helvius Cinna and Catullus, on his staff +to Bithynia. The keen discernment of the younger poet, sharpened by +personal animosity, formed a truer estimate of his chief, than that +expressed by the philosophic enthusiast. But at the time in which the +words-- + + Nec Memmi clara propago + Talibus in rebus communi deesse saluti-- + +were written, even Cicero regarded him as one of the bulwarks of the +senatorian cause against Clodius and his influential supporters. And +neither the scandal of his private nor of his public life prevented +his being in later years among the orator's correspondents. + +This relation to Memmius is the only additional fact which an +examination of the poem brings into light. Nothing is learned from +it of the poet's parentage, his education, his favourite places of +residence, of his career, of his good or evil fortune. There were +eminent Epicurean teachers at Athens and Rome (Patro, Phaedrus, +Philodemus, etc.) during his youth and manhood, but it is useless to +ask what influence of teachers or personal experience induced him +to become so passionate a devotee of the doctrines of Epicurus. +Yet though no direct reference to his circumstances is found in his +writings, we may yet mark indirect traces of the impression produced +upon him by the age in which his youth and manhood were passed; we +seem to catch some glimpses of his habitual pursuits and tastes, to +gain some real insight into his being, to apprehend the attitude in +which he stood to the great teachers of the past, and to know the +man by knowing the objects in life which most deeply interested him. +Nothing, we may well believe, was further from his wish or intention +than to leave behind him any record of himself. No Roman poet has +so entirely sunk himself and the remembrance of his own fortunes +in absorption in his subject. But his strong personal force and +individuality have penetrated deeply into all his representation, his +reasoning, and his exhortation. From the beginning to the end of the +poem we feel that we are listening to a living voice speaking to us +with the direct impressiveness of personal experience and conviction. +No writer ever used words more clearly or more sincerely: no one shows +a greater scorn for the rhetorical artifices which disguise the lack +of meaning or insinuate a false conclusion by fine-sounding phrases:-- + + Quae belle tangere possunt + Auris et lepido quae sunt fucata sonore[12]. + +The union of an original and independent personality with the utmost +sincerity of thought and speech is a characteristic in which Lucretius +resembles Thucydides. It is this which gives to the works of both, +notwithstanding their studied self-suppression, the vivid interest of +a direct personal revelation. + +The tone of many passages in the poem clearly indicates that +Lucretius, though taking no personal part in the active politics of +his age, was profoundly moved by the effects which they produced on +human happiness and character. Thus the lines at iii. 70-74-- + + Sanguine civili rem conflant, etc.-- + +recall the thought and spectacle of crime and bloodshed vividly +presented to him in the impressible years of his youth[12]. Other +passages are an immediate reflexion of the disturbance and alarm of +the times in which the poem was written. Thus the opening lines of +the second book, which contrast the security of the contemplative +life with the strife of political and military ambition, seem to +be suggested by the action of what is sometimes called the first +triumvirate. The lines-- + + Si non forte tuas legiones per loca campi, etc.-- + +have been noted[14] as a probable allusion to the position actually +taken up by Julius Caesar outside of Rome in the opening months of the +year 58 B.C. Some earlier lines of the same passage-- + + Certare ingenio, contendere nobilitate, + Noctes atque dies niti praestante labore + Ad summas emergere opes rerumque potiri,-- + +have a resemblance to words directly applied by Cicero to Caesar[15], +and are certainly more applicable to him than to any other of the +poet's contemporaries. The political reflexions in the poem, as for +instance that at v. 1123, seem, in almost all cases, to be forced from +him by the memory of the first civil war, or the vague dread of that +which was impending. It is not from any effeminate recoil from danger, +but rather from horror of the turbulence, disorder, and crimes against +the sanctities of human life, involved in the strife of ambition, that +Lucretius preaches the lessons of political quietism. And while his +humanity of feeling makes him shrink from the prospect of evil days, +like those which he well remembered, again awaiting his country, his +capacity for pure and simple pleasures makes him equally shrink from +the spectacle of prodigal luxury which Rome then presented in a degree +never before witnessed in the world. + +Thus the first general impression of Lucretius which we form from his +poem is that of one who, from a strong distaste to the life of +action and social pleasure, deliberately chose the life of +contemplation,--the 'fallentis semita vitae.' Some illustrations of +his argument--as, for instance, a description of the state of mental +tension produced by witnessing public games and spectacles for many +days in succession[16], of the reflexion of the colours cast on the +stage by the awnings of the theatre[17], of the works of art adorning +the houses of the great[18], etc.--imply that he had not always been +a stranger to the enjoyments of city life, and that they attracted +him by a certain fascination of pomp and novelty. His pictures of +the follies of the 'jeunesse dorée' (at iv. 1121, etc.), and of sated +luxury (at iii. 1060, etc.), show that he had been a witness of the +conditions of life out of which they were engendered. At iv. 784, +in speaking of the power of the mind to call up images, he specifies +'conventus hominum, pompam, convivia, pugnas.' But such illustrations +are rare when compared with those which speak of a life passed in the +open air, and of intimate familiarity with many aspects of Nature. The +vivid minuteness with which outward things are described, as well as +the occasional use of such words as _vidi_[19], show that though a few +of the sights observed by him may have been drawn from the physics +of Epicurus[20], the great mass of them had either been originally +observed by himself or at least had been verified in his own +experience. He was endowed not only with the poet's susceptibility +to the beauty and movement of the outward world, but also with the +observing faculty and curiosity of a naturalist: and by both impulses +he was more attracted to the solitudes of Nature than to the haunts of +men. Many bright illustrations of his argument tell of hours spent by +the sea shore. Thus he notes minutely the effect of the exhalations +from the salt water in wearing away rocks and walls (i. 336; iv. 220), +of the invisible influence of the sea-air in producing moisture in +clothes (i. 305; vi. 472), or a salt taste in the mouth (iv. 222), of +the varied forms of shells paving the shore (ii. 374), of the sudden +change of colour when the winds raise the white crest of the waves +(ii. 765), of the appearance of sky and water produced by a black +storm-cloud passing over the sea (vi. 256). Other passages show his +familiarity with inland scenes,--with the violent rush of rivers in +flood (i. 280, etc.), or their stately flow through fresh meadows (ii. +362), or their ceaseless unperceived action in eating away their banks +(v. 256);--or again, with all the processes of husbandry, the growth +of plants and trees, the ways of flocks and herds in their pastures, +and the sounds and sights of the pathless woods. While he anticipates +Virgil in his Italian love of peaceful landscape, he shows some +foretaste of the modern passion for the mountains,--as (at ii. 331) +where he speaks of 'some spot among the lofty hills,' commanding a +distant view of a wide expanse of plain, and (at iv. 575) where he +recalls the memory of wanderings among mountain solitudes-- + + Palantis comites cum montis inter opacos + Quaerimus et magna dispersos voce ciemus,-- + +and (at vi. 469) where he notices the more powerful action of the wind +on the movements of the clouds at high altitudes-- + + Nam loca declarat sursum ventosa patere + Res ipsa et sensus, montis cum ascendimus altos. + +Even some of the metaphorical phrases in which he figures forth the +pursuit of truth seem to be taken from mountain adventure[21]. The +mention of companionship in some of these wanderings, and in other +scenes in which the charm of Nature is represented as enhancing the +enjoyment of a simple meal-- + + Propter aquae rivum sub ramis arboris altae,-- + +enables us to think of him as, although isolated in his thoughts from +other men, yet not separated from them in the daily intercourse of +life by any unsocial austerity. Such separation would have been quite +opposed both to the teaching and the example of his master. Some +remembrance of active adventure is suggested by illustrations of his +philosophy drawn from the experience of a sea-voyage (iv. 387, etc., +432), of riding through a rapid stream (iv. 420), of watching the +action of dogs tracking their game through woods and over mountains +(i. 404), or renewing the memories of the chase in their dreams (v. +991, etc.). The lines (at ii. 40, etc., and 323, etc.) show that his +imagination had been moved by witnessing the evolutions of armies, +not indeed in actual warfare, but in the pomp and pageantry of martial +spectacles,--'belli simulacra cientes.' These and many other indirect +indications afford some glimpses of his habitual manner of life and of +the pursuits that gave him most lively pleasure: but they do not give +us any special knowledge of the particular districts of Italy in which +he lived, or of the scenes in foreign lands which he may have visited. +The poem tells us nothing immediately of the trials or passions of his +life, though of both he seems to bear the scars. But as passages in +which he reveals the deep secrets of human passion and suffering prove +him to have been a man of strong, ardent, and vividly susceptible +temperament, so the numerous illustrations drawn from the repertory of +his personal observation tell of an eye trained to take delight in the +outward face of Nature as well as of a mind unwearied in its search +into her hidden laws. One great charm of his work is that it breathes +of the open air more than of the library. If, in dealing with the +problems of human life, his strain-- + + 'Is fraught too deep with pain,' + +yet to him too might be applied the lines written of one who, though +not comparable to him in intellectual and imaginative power, yet, in +his spiritual isolation from the world, seems almost like his modern +counterpart-- + + 'And thou hast pleasures too to share + With those who come to thee, + Balms floating on thy mountain air + And healing sights to see[22].' + +But we may trust with even more confidence to the indications of his +inner than of his outward life. The spirit and purpose which impelled +Lucretius to expound his philosophy can be understood without any +collateral knowledge of his history. The dominant impulse of his +being is the ardent desire to emancipate human life from the fears and +passions by which it is marred and degraded. He has more of the zeal +of a religious reformer than any other ancient thinker, except one who +in all his ways of life was most unlike him, the Athenian Socrates. +The speculative enthusiasm which bears him along through his argument +is altogether subsidiary to the furtherance of his practical purpose. +Even the poetical power to which the work owes its immortality was +valued chiefly as a pleasing means of instilling the unpalatable +medicine of his philosophy[23] into the minds and hearts of unwilling +hearers. It is the constant presence of this practical purpose, and +the profound sense which he has of the actual misery and degradation +of human life, and of the peace and dignity which are attainable +by man, that impart to his words the peculiar tone of impassioned +earnestness to which there is no parallel in ancient literature. + +Among his personal characteristics none is more prominent than his +consciousness both of the greatness of the work on which he was +engaged, and of his own power to cope with it. The passage in which +his high self-confidence is most powerfully proclaimed (i. 920, etc.) +has been imitated both by Virgil and Milton. The sense of novelty, +adventure, and high aspiration expressed in the lines-- + + Avia Pieridum peragro loca nullius ante + Trita solo-- + +moved Virgil less powerfully in speaking of his humbler theme-- + + Sed me Parnassi deserta per ardua dulcis + Raptat amor; + +and inspired the English poet in his great invocation:-- + + 'I thence + Invoke thy aid to my adventurous song, + That with no middle flight intends to soar + Above the Aonian mount, while it pursues + Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme. + +The sense of difficulty and the joy of overcoming it meet us with +a keen bracing effect in many passages of the poem. He speaks +disdainfully of those enquirers who fall into error by shrinking from +the more adventurous paths that lead to truth-- + + Ardua dum metuunt amittunt vera viai. + +Without disowning the passion for fame,--'laudis spes magna,' so +powerful an incentive to the Roman temperament,--he is more inspired +and supported in his arduous task by 'the sweet love of the Muses.' +The delight in the exercise of his art and the joyful energy sustained +through the long processes of gathering and arranging his materials +appear in such passages as iii. 419-20:-- + + Conquisita diu dulcique reperta labore + Digna tua pergam disponere carmina cura: + +and again at ii. 730-- + + Nunc age dicta meo dulci quaesita labore + Percipe. + +The thoroughness and devotion of a student tell their own tale in such +expressions as the 'studio disposta fideli,' and the 'noctes vigilare +serenas' in the dedication to Memmius, and in the more enthusiastic +acknowledgment of the source from which he drew his philosophy at iii. +29, etc.-- + + Tuisque ex, inclute, chartis, + Floriferis ut apes in saltibus omnia libant, + Omnia nos itidem depascimur aurea dicta. + +The absorbing interest with which he carried on the work of enquiry +and of composition appears in illustrations of his argument drawn from +his own pursuits; as where (ii. 979) in arguing that, if the atoms +have the properties of sense, those of which man is compounded must +have the intellectual attributes of man, he says,-- + + Multaque de rerum mixtura dicere callent + Et sibi proporro quae sint primordia quaerunt[24]; + +and, again (at iv. 969), in explaining how men in their dreams seem to +carry on the pursuits to which they are most devoted, how lawyers seem +to plead their causes, generals to fight their battles over again, +sailors to contend with the elements, he adds these lines:-- + + Nos agere hoc autem et naturam quaerere rerum + Semper et inventam patriis exponere chartis[25]. + +His frequent use of the sacrificial phrase 'Hoc age,' affords evidence +of the religious earnestness with which he had devoted himself to his +task. + +The feeling animating him through all his great adventure,--through +the wastest flats as well as the most commanding heights over which it +leads him,--is something different from the delight of a poet in his +art, of a scholar in his books, of a philosopher in his thought, of +a naturalist in his observation. All of these modes of feeling are +combined with the passion of his whole moral and intellectual being, +aroused by the contemplation of the greatest of all themes--'maiestas +cognita rerum'--and concentrated on the greatest of practical +ends, the emancipation and elevation of human life. The life of +contemplation which he alone among the Romans deliberately chose and +realised he carried out with Roman energy and fortitude. It was with +him no life of indolent musing, but one of thought and study, varied +and braced by original observation. It was a life, also, of strenuous +literary effort employed in giving clearness to obscure materials, +and in eliciting poetical charm from a language to which the musical +cadences of verse had been hitherto almost unknown. Above all, it was +the life of one who, while feeling the spell of Nature more profoundly +than any poet who had gone before him, did not in that new rapture +forget + + 'The human heart by which we live.' + +His high intellectual confidence, based on his firm trust in his +master, shows itself in a spirit of intolerance towards the school +which was the chief antagonist of Epicureanism at Rome. His argument +is a vigorous protest against philosophical error and scepticism, +as well as against popular ignorance and superstition. His polemical +attitude is seen in the frequent use of such expressions as 'vinco,' +'dede manus,' etc., addressed to an imaginary opponent. Discussion of +topics, not apparently necessary to his main argument, is raised with +the object of carrying the war into the enemy's camp. Such frequently +recurring expressions as 'ut quidam fingunt,' 'perdelirum esse +videtur,' etc., are invariably aimed at the Stoics[26]. Of other early +philosophers, even when dissenting from their opinions, he speaks +in terms of admiration and reverence: but Heraclitus, whose physical +explanation of the universe was adopted by the Stoics, is described in +terms of disparagement, levelled as much against his later followers +as against himself, as-- + + Clarus ob obscuram linguam magis inter inanis + Quamde gravis inter Graios qui vera requirunt. + +The traditional opposition between Democritus and Heraclitus lived +after them. Adherence to the doctrine of 'atoms and the void,' and +to that of 'the pure fiery element,' became the symbol of a radical +divergence in the whole view of human life. + +While there is frequent allusion to the Stoics in the poem, there is +no direct mention either of them or of their chief teachers, Zeno, +Chrysippus, or Cleanthes. Neither do the greater names of Socrates, +Plato, or Aristotle appear in it, though one or two passages clearly +imply some familiarity with the writings of Plato[27]. But among the +moral teachers of antiquity he acknowledges Epicurus only. The whole +enthusiasm of his temperament breaks out in admiration of him. He +alone is the true interpreter of Nature and conqueror of superstition +(i. 75); the reformer 'who has made pure the human heart' (vi. 24); +the 'guide out of the storms and darkness of life into calm and light' +(iii. 1; v. 11, 12); the 'sun who at his rising extinguished all the +lesser stars' (iii. 1044). He is to be ranked even as a God on account +of his great services to man, in teaching him the mastery over his +fears and passions:-- + + Deus ille fuit, deus, inclute Memmi[28]. + +He speaks of his master throughout not only with the affection of +a disciple, but with an emotion akin to religious ecstasy[29]. His +admiration for him springs from a deeper source of spiritual sentiment +than that of Ennius for Scipio, or of Virgil for Augustus. Though +Epicurus inspired much affection in his lifetime, and though +other great writers after Lucretius,--such as Seneca, Juvenal, and +Lucian,--vindicate his name from the dishonour which the perversion of +his doctrines brought upon it, yet even the most favourable criticism +of his life and teaching must find it difficult to sympathise with +the idolatry of Lucretius. Yet his error, if it be one, springs from a +generous source. He attributes his own imaginative interest in Nature +to a philosopher who examined the phenomena of the outward world +merely to find a basis for the destruction of all religious belief. +He saturates with his own deep human feeling a moral system which +professes to secure human happiness by emptying life of its most +sacred associations, most passionate longings, and profoundest +affections. + +There was a truer affinity of nature between Lucretius and another +philosopher whom he names with the warmest feelings of love and +veneration--Empedocles of Agrigentum--the most famous of the early +physiological poets of Greece. He flourished during the fifth century +B.C., and was the author of a didactic poem on Nature, of which some +fragments still remain, sufficient to indicate the nature of the work +and the character of the man. These fragments prove that Lucretius had +carefully studied the older poem, and adopted it as his model in using +a poetical form and diction to expound his philosophical system. He +declares, indeed, his opposition to the doctrine of Empedocles, which +traced the origin of all things to four original elements; but he +adopted into his own system many both of his expressions and of his +philosophical ideas. The line in which the Roman poet enunciates his +first principle,-- + + Nullam rem e nilo gigni divinitus unquam, + +was obviously taken from the lines of the old poem [Greek: peri +physeôs]-- + +[Greek: + ek tou gar mê eontos amêchanon esti genesthai + to t' eon exollysthai anênyston kai aprêkton.] + +Speaking of Sicily as a rich and wonderful land, Lucretius pays his +tribute of love and admiration to his illustrious predecessor in these +lines,-- + + Nil tamen hoc habuisse viro praeclarius in se + Nec sanctum magis et mirum carumque videtur. + Carmina quin etiam divini pectoris eius + Vociferantur et exponunt praeclara reperta, + Ut vix humana videatur stirpe creatus[30]. + +There is a close agreement between the two poetical philosophers in +their imaginative mode of conceiving Nature. They both represented the +principle of beauty and life in the universe under the symbol of the +Goddess of Love--'[Greek: Kypri basileia]'; 'alma Venus, genetrix.' +They both explain the unceasing process of decay and renovation in the +world by an image drawn from the most impressive spectacle of human +life--a mighty battle, waged through all time between opposing forces. +The burden and the mystery of life seem to weigh heavily on both, and +to mould their very language to a deep, monotonous solemnity of tone. +But along with this affinity of temperament there is also a marked +difference in their modes of thought and feeling. The view of Nature +in the philosophy of Empedocles appears to be just emerging out of the +anthropomorphic fancies of an earlier time: the first rays of knowledge +are seen trying to pierce through the clouds of the dawn of enquiry: +the dreams and sorrows of religious mysticism accompany the awakened +energies of the reason. His mournful tone is the voice of the +intellectual spirit lamenting its former home, and baffled in its eager +desire to comprehend 'the whole.' Lucretius, on the other hand, saw the +outward world as it looks in the light of day, neither glorified by the +mystic colours of religion, nor concealed by the shadows of mythology. +He was moved neither by the passionate longing of the soul, nor by the +'divine despair' of the intellect: but he felt profoundly the sorrows +of the heart, and was weighed down by the ever-present consciousness +of the misery and wretchedness in the world. The complaint of the first +is one which has been uttered from time to time by some solitary +thinker in modern as in ancient days:-- + +[Greek: + pauron de zôês abiou meros athrêsantes + hôkymoroi, kapnoio dikên arthentes apeptan, + auto monon peisthentes, hotô prosekursen hekastos, + pantos' elaunomenoi; to d' oulon epeuchetai heurein + autôs. out' epiderkta tad' andrasin out' epakousta + oute noô perilêpta[31].] + +The other gives a real and expressive utterance to that 'thought of +inexhaustible melancholy,' which has weighed on every human heart:-- + + Miscetur funere vagor + Quem pueri tollunt visentis luminis oras: + Nec nox ulla diem neque noctem aurora secutast + Quae non audierit mixtos vagitibus aegris + Ploratus mortis comites et funeris atri[32]. + +Besides Epicurus and Empedocles Lucretius mentions Democritus and +Anaxagoras, and speaks even of those whom he confutes as 'making +many happy discoveries by divine inspiration,' and as 'uttering their +responses from the shrine of their own hearts with more holiness +and truth than the Pythia from the tripod and laurel of Apollo.' +The reverence which other men felt in presence of the ceremonies of +religion he feels in presence of the majesty of Nature; and to the +interpreters of her meaning he ascribes the holiness claimed by the +ministers of religion. Thus, to a doctrine of Democritus he applies +the words 'sancta viri sententia.' The divinest faculty in man is +that by which truth is discovered. The highest office of poetry is +to clothe the discoveries of thought with the charm of graceful +expression and musical verse[33]. + +Of other Greek authors, Homer and Euripides are those of whom we find +most traces in the poem. To the first he awards a high pre-eminence +above all other poets,-- + + Adde repertores doctrinarum atque leporum, + Adde Heliconiadum comites; quorum unus Homerus + Sceptra potitus eadem aliis sopitu' quietest[34]. + +The passages in which Lucretius imitates him show how clearly +he recognised his exact vision of outward things, and his true +appreciation of the moral strength and dignity of man. The frequent +imitations of Euripides[35] show that while he felt the spell of +his pathos, he was also attracted by the poetic mould into which the +tragic poet has cast the physical speculations of Anaxagoras. Allusion +is made in tones of indifference or disparagement to other poets of +Greece, as having, in common with the painters of former times, given +shape and substance to the superstitious fancies of mankind. It is +characteristic of his powerful and independent genius, that, unlike +the younger poets of his generation, he adheres to the older +writers of the great days of Greece, and acknowledges no debt to +the Alexandrine School. Although amply furnished with the knowledge +necessary for the performance of his task, he is a poet of original +genius much more than of learning and culture: and he is thus more +drawn to those who acted on him by a kindred power, than to those +who might have served him as models of poetic form or repertories of +poetic illustration. The strength of his understanding attracted him +to some of the great prose-writers of Greece, by whom that quality +is most conspicuously displayed; notably to Thucydides, whom he has +closely followed in his account of the 'Plague at Athens,' and, as has +been shown by Mr. Munro, to Hippocrates. The kind of attraction which +the last of these has for him confirms the criticism of Goethe, that +Lucretius shows the observing faculty of a physician, as well as of a +poet. + +The diction and rhythm of the poem, as well as the more direct tribute +of personal acknowledgment[36], prove that he was an admiring student +of his own countryman Ennius, to whom in some qualities of his +temperament and genius he bore a certain resemblance. Many lines, +phrases, and archaic words in Lucretius, such as-- + + Per gentis Italas hominum quae clara clueret,-- + Lumina sis oculis etiam bonus Ancu' reliquit,-- + inde super terras fluit agmine dulci,-- + + multa munita virum vi; caerula caeli Templa; Acherusia templa; luminis + oras; famul infimus; induperator; Graius homo, etc.-- + +have a clear ring of the old poet. The few allusions to Roman history +in the poem, as, for instance, the line-- + + Scipiadas, belli fulmen, Carthaginis horror,-- + +the specification at iii. 833 of the second Punic War as a momentous +crisis in human affairs,--the description at v. 1226 of a great naval +disaster, such as happened in the first Punic War--the introduction +there of elephants into the picture of the pomp and circumstance of +war,--suggest the inference that, just as events and personages of the +earlier history of England live in the imaginations of many English +readers from their representation in the historical plays of +Shakspeare, so the past history of his country lived for Lucretius in +the representation of Ennius. But of the national pride by which +the older poet was animated, the work of Lucretius bears only scanty +traces. The feeling which moved him to identify the puissant energy +pervading the universe with 'the mother of the Aeneadae,' and the +motive of his prayer for peace addressed to that Power,-- + + Nam neque nos agere hoc patriai tempore iniquo,-- + +seem indeed to spring from sources of patriotic affection, perhaps all +the deeper because not too loudly proclaimed. But in the body of the +poem his illustrations are taken as frequently from Greek as from +Roman story, from the strangeness of foreign lands as from the beauty +of Italian scenes. The Georgics of Virgil, in the whole conception of +Nature as a living power, and in many special features, owe much to +the imaginative thought of Lucretius; but nothing can be more unlike +the spirit of the older poet than the episodes in which Virgil pours +forth all his Roman feeling and his love of Italy. The height from +which Lucretius contemplates all human history, as 'a procession of +the nations handing on the torch of life from one to another,' is wide +apart from that from which Virgil beholds all the nations of the world +doing homage to the majesty of Rome. The poem of Lucretius breathes +the spirit of a man, apparently indifferent to the ordinary sources of +pleasure and of pride among his countrymen. Living in an era, the most +momentous in its action on the future history of the world, he was +only repelled by its turbulent activity. The contemplation of the +infinite and eternal mass and order of Nature made the issues of +that age and the imperial greatness of his country appear to him as +transient as the events of the old Trojan and Theban wars. To him, as +to the modern poet, whose imagination most nearly resembles his, the +thought of more enduring things had + + 'Power to make + Our noisy years seem moments in the being + Of the eternal silence.' + +But while by his silence on the subject of national glory and his +ardent speculative enthusiasm Lucretius seems to be more of a Greek +than of a Roman, yet no Roman writer possessed in larger measure the +moral temper of the great Republic. He is a truer type of the strong +character and commanding genius of his country than Virgil or Horace. +He has the Roman conquering energy, the Roman reverence for the +majesty of law, the Roman gift for introducing order into a confused +world, the Roman power of impressing his authority on the minds +of men. In his fortitude, his superiority to human weakness, his +seriousness of spirit, his dignity of bearing, he seems to embody the +great Roman qualities 'constantia' and 'gravitas.' If in the force and +sincerity of his own nature he reminds us of the earliest Roman writer +of genius, in these last qualities, the acquired and inherited virtues +of his race, he reminds us of the last representative writer, whose +tone is worthy of the 'Senatus populusque Romanus.' But Lucretius is +much more than a type of the strong Roman qualities. He combines a +poetic freshness of feeling, a love of simple living, an independence +of the world, with a tenderness and breadth of sympathy, and a power +of sounding into the depths of human sorrow, such as only a very few +among the ancients--Homer, Sophocles, Virgil,--and not many among the +poets or thinkers of the modern world have displayed. In no quality +does he rise further above the standard of his age than in his +absolute sincerity and his unswerving devotion to truth[37]. He +combines in himself some of the rarest elements in the Greek and the +Roman temperament,--the Greek ardour of speculation, the Roman's firm +hold on reality. A poet of the age of Julius Caesar, he is animated +by the spirit of an early Greek enquirer. He unites the speculative +passion of the dawn of ancient science with the minute observation of +its meridian; and he applies the imaginative conceptions formed in the +first application of abstract thought to the universe to interpret the +living beauty of the world. + + [Footnote 1: According to Mommsen's opinion that Julius Caesar + was born in 102 B.C.] + + [Footnote 2: Woltier in Phil. Jahrb. cxxix, referred to in + Schmidt's Catullus, attempts to show by an examination of the + dates assigned for the birth of Lucretius, that he was born in + 97 B.C. and died in 53 B.C. But the most definite statement + we have is that he died on the day in which Virgil assumed + the _toga virilis_, and that was in the second consulship of + Pompey and Crassus, i.e. 55 B.C. Besides both tradition and + internal evidence lead to the conclusion that his poem was not + given to the world till after his death, and it certainly had + been read by both the Ciceros early in 54 B.C. F. Marx in the + Rheinisches Museum, 'de aetate Lucretii,' holds that he was + born in 97 B.C., and died in his 42nd year, B.C. 55. He makes + a more important contribution to the controversy in the remark + 'acceptissima vero Enniana Lucretii poesis fuisse putanda est + Ciceroni.' Whether Lucretius died in his 44th or 42nd year + cannot be of much consequence to anybody; and, in the + general uncertainty of Jerome's dates, it seems impossible to + determine it one way or other.] + + [Footnote 3: Professor Wallace in his interesting account + of 'Epicureanism' writes, in reference to the way in which + Epicurus himself was regarded in a later age, 'And the + maladies of Epicurus are treated as an anticipatory judgment + of Heaven upon him for his alleged impieties.'--Epicureanism, + p. 46.] + + [Footnote 4: This consideration is urged by De Quincey in one + of his essays.] + + [Footnote 5: iii. 1039, etc.] + + [Footnote 6: iv. 33-38:-- + + Atque eadem nobis vigilantibus obvia mentes + Terrificant atque in somnis, cum saepe figuras + Contuimur miras simulacraque luce carentum, + Quae nos horrifice languentis saepe sopore + Excierunt, ne forte animas Acherunte reamur + Effugere aut umbras inter vivos volitare.] + + [Footnote 7: An article in the Fortnightly Review of + September, 1878, on 'Hallucination of the Senses,' suggests + a possible explanation of the mental condition of Lucretius, + during the composition of some part of his work. The writer + speaks of the power of calling these hallucinations up as + being quite consistent with perfect sanity of mind, but as + sometimes inducing madness. He goes on, 'Or, if the person + does not go out of his mind, he may be so distressed by the + persistence of the apparition which he has created, as to fall + into melancholy and despair, and even to commit suicide.'] + + [Footnote 8: The theory of Lachmann and others that Q. Cicero + was the editor may possibly be true. He dabbled in poetry + himself, and he was more nearly of the same age as Lucretius, + and thus perhaps more likely to have been a friend of his. + The fact that Cicero's remark is in answer to one of his might + suggest the opinion that the poem had been read by him before + it became known to the older brother, and perhaps been sent + by him to Cicero. But if Q. Cicero was the editor, Jerome must + here also have copied his authorities carelessly. In the + time of Jerome the familiar name of Cicero must have been + understood as applying to the great orator and philosophic + writer, not to his comparatively obscure brother. The only + certain inference which can be drawn from this mention of the + poem is that it had been read, shortly after its appearance, + in the beginning of the year 54 B.C., by both brothers. Yet + the consideration of the whole case does not lead to the + rejection of the statement that M. Cicero was the editor as + incredible, or even as highly improbable. If it was he, he + must have performed his task very perfunctorily. Possibly, as + Mr. Munro suggests, all that he may have been asked to do was + to introduce the work to the public by the use of his name. + The actual revision and arrangement of the poem may have been + made by one of the 'librarii' of Atticus.] + + [Footnote 9: E.g. Tusc. Disp. i. 21, especially the + sentence--'Quae quidem cogitans soleo saepe admirari non + nullorum insolentiam philosophorum qui naturae cognitionem + admirantur, eiusque inventori et principi gratias exultantes + agunt eumque venerantur ut deum.'] + + [Footnote 10: The use of _tamen_ in the sense of 'all the + same' is not uncommon in the colloquial language of Terence, + which the language of Cicero's familiar letters closely + resembles.] + + [Footnote 11: At that time he would be about forty-one years + of age--the same age as Lucretius, if, as is most probable, he + was born in 99 B.C.] + + [Footnote 12: i. 643-4; cf. [Greek: oute hôs logographoi + xunethesan epi to prosagôgoteron tê akroasei ê + alêthesteron].--Thuc. i. 21.] + + [Footnote 13: The lines (v. 999)-- + + At non multa virum sub signis milia ducta + Una dies dabat exitio, etc.-- + + might well be a reminiscence of the great massacre at the + Colline gate.] + + [Footnote 14: Cp. Munro, Note II, p. 413. Third Edition.] + + [Footnote 15: 'Si jam violentior aliqua in re C. Caesar + fuisset, si eum magnitudo contentionis, studium gloriae, + praestans animus, excellens nobilitas aliquo impulisset.'--In + Vatinium 6.] + + [Footnote 16: iv. 973, etc.] + + [Footnote 17: iv. 75, etc.] + + [Footnote 18: ii. 24, etc.] + + [Footnote 19: In places where he is not drawing from his own + observation, he uses such expressions as _memorant_; + e.g. iii. 642.] + + [Footnote 20: E.g. iv. 353, etc.] + + [Footnote 21: E.g. + + Ardua dum metuunt amittunt vera viai, + + and + + Avia Pieridum peragro loca.] + + [Footnote 22: Obermann, by M. Arnold.] + + [Footnote 23: i. 935-50.] + + [Footnote 24: 'And can discourse much on the combination + of things, and enquire moreover, what are their own first + elements.'] + + [Footnote 25: 'While I seem ever to be plying this task + earnestly, to be enquiring into Nature, and explaining my + discoveries in writings in my native tongue.' This is one of + those passages which seem to indicate an unhealthy overstrain + which may have been the precursor of the final disturbance of + 'his power to shape.'] + + [Footnote 26: Cp. Munro's notes on the passages where these + expressions occur.] + + [Footnote 27: E.g. ii. 77, etc. Augescunt aliae gentes, etc., + suggested by a passage in the Laws:--[Greek: gennôntas te kai + ektrephontas paidas, kathaper lampada ton bion paradidontas + allois ex allôn]--and the lines which recur several times, + etc. 'Nam veluti pueri trepidant,' which Mr. Munro aptly + compares with the words in the Phaedo (77), [Greek: isôs eni + tis kai en hêmin pais, hostis ta toiauta phobeitai.]] + + [Footnote 28: v. 8.] + + [Footnote 29: Cf. + + His ibi me rebus quaedam divina voluptas + Percipit adque horror.] + + [Footnote 30: 'But nought greater than this man does it seem + to have possessed, nor aught more holy, more wonderful, or + more beloved. Yea, too, strains of divine genius proclaim + aloud and make known his great discoveries, so that he seems + scarcely to be of mortal race.'--i. 729-33.] + + [Footnote 31: 'When they have gazed for a few years of a life + that is indeed no life, speedily fulfilling their doom, they + vanish away like a smoke, convinced of that only which each + hath met in his own experience, as they were buffeted about to + and fro. Vainly doth each boast to have discovered the whole. + The eye cannot behold it, nor the ear hear it, nor the mind of + man comprehend it.'] + + [Footnote 32: 'With death there is ever blending the wail + of infants newly born into the light. And no night hath ever + followed day, no morning dawned on night, but hath heard the + mingled sounds of feeble infant wailings and of lamentations + that follow the dead and black funeral train.'--ii. 576-80.] + + [Footnote 33: i. 943-50.] + + [Footnote 34: iii. 1036-38.] + + [Footnote 35: Cf. notes ii. of Mr. Munro's edition.] + + [Footnote 36: i. 117, etc.] + + [Footnote 37: Mr. Froude, in his 'Julius Caesar,' says, 'The + age was saturated with cant.' Perhaps, to that condition of + the age we, in part, owe one of the sincerest protests + against cant, and unreality of every kind, ever written. + Both speculatively and practically Cicero appears at a great + disadvantage when compared with Lucretius in these respects.] + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE PHILOSOPHY OF LUCRETIUS. + + +The peculiarity of the poem of Lucretius, that which makes it unique +in literature, is the fact that it is a long sustained argument +in verse. The prosaic title of the poem, 'De rerum natura,'--a +translation of the Greek [Greek: peri physeôs],--indicates that the +method of exposition was adopted, not primarily with the view of +affecting the imagination, but with that of communicating truth in +a reasoned system. In the lines, in which the poet most confidently +asserts his genius, he professes to fulfil the three distinct offices +of a philosophical teacher, a moral reformer, and a poet,-- + + Primum quod magnis doceo de rebus et artis + Religionum animum nodis exsolvere pergo, + Deinde quod obscura de re tam lucida pango + Carmina, musaeo contingens cuncta lepore[1]. + +We have, accordingly, to examine the poem in three different +aspects:-- + +I. as the exposition of a system of speculative philosophy. + +II. as an attempt to emancipate and reform human life. + +III. as a work of poetical art and genius. + +But these three aspects, though they may be considered separately, are +not really independent of one another. The speculative ideas on which +the system of philosophy is ultimately based impart confidence and +elevation to the moral teaching, and new meaning and imaginative +grandeur to the interpretation of Nature and of human life, on +which the permanent value of the poem depends. Thus, although the +philosophical argument, which forms as it were the skeleton of the +work, is in many places barren and uninteresting, yet it is necessary +to master it before we can form a true estimate of the personality +of the poet, of the main passion and labour of his life, of the full +meaning of his thought, and the full compass of his poetic genius. +Moreover, the study of the argument is interesting on its own account. +In no other work are the strength and the weakness of ancient physical +philosophy so apparent. If the poem of Lucretius adds nothing to the +knowledge of scientific facts, it throws a powerful light on one phase +of the ancient mind. It is a witness of the eager imagination and of +the searching thought of that early time, which endeavoured, by the +force of individual thinkers and the intuitions of genius, to solve a +problem which is perhaps beyond the reach of the human faculties, +and to explain, at a single glance, secrets of Nature which have +only slowly been revealed to the patient labours and combined +investigations of many generations of enquirers. + + +I.--EXAMINATION OF THE ARGUMENT. + +I. The philosophical system expounded in the poem is the atomic theory +of Democritus[2], in the form in which it was accepted by Epicurus, +and made the basis of his moral and religious doctrines. Lucretius +lays no claim to original discovery as a philosopher: he professes +only to explain, in his native language, 'Graiorum obscura reperta.' +His originality consists, not in any expansion or modification of the +Epicurean doctrine, but in the new life which he has imparted to its +exposition, and in the poetical power with which he has applied it to +reveal the secret of the life of Nature and of man's true position +in the world. After enunciating the first principles of the atomic +philosophy, he discusses in the last four books of the poem some +special applications of that doctrine, which formed part of the +physical system of Epicurus. But the extent to which he carries these +discussions is limited by the practical purpose which he has in view. +The impelling motive of all his labour is the impulse to purify +human life, and, especially, to emancipate it from the terrors of +superstition. The source of these terrors is traced to the general +ignorance of certain facts in Nature,--ignorance, namely, of the +constitution and condition of our souls and bodies, of the means +by which the world came into existence and is still maintained, and +lastly, of the causes of many natural phenomena, which are attributed +to the direct agency of the gods. With the view of establishing +knowledge in the room of ignorance on these questions, it is +necessary, in the first place, to give a full account of the original +principles of being: and to this enquiry the two first books of the +poem are devoted. Had his purpose been merely speculative, the subject +of the fifth book,--viz. the origin of the world, of life, and of +human society,--would naturally have been treated immediately after +the exposition of these first principles. But the order of treatment +is determined by the immediate object of attacking the chief +stronghold of superstition: and, accordingly, the third and fourth +books contain an examination of the nature of the soul, a proof of +its non-existence after death, and an explanation of the origin of the +belief in a future state. In the fifth and sixth books an attempt +is made to show that the creation and preservation of the world, the +origin and progress of human society, and the phenomena of thunder, +tempests, volcanoes, and the like, are the results of natural laws, +without Divine intervention. Although he sometimes carries his +argument into greater detail than is necessary for his purpose, and +addresses himself to the reform of other evils to which the human +heart is liable, yet his whole treatment of his subject is determined +by the thought of the irreconcilable opposition between the truths of +Nature and the falsehood of the ancient religions. The key-note to the +argument is contained in the lines, which recur as a kind of prelude +to the successive stages on which it enters, in the first, second, +third, and sixth books:-- + + Hunc igitur terrorem animi tenebrasque necessest + Non radii solis neque lucida tela diei + Discutiant, sed naturae species ratioque[3]. + +The action of the poem might be described as the gradual defeat of the +ancient dominion of superstition by the new knowledge of Nature. This +meaning seems to be symbolised in its magnificent introduction, where +the genial, all-pervading Power--the source of order, beauty, and +delight in the world and in the heart of man,--and the grim phantom of +superstition-- + + Horribili super aspectu mortalibus instans,-- + +the cause of ignorance, degradation, and misery,--are vividly +personified and presented in close contrast with one another. The +thought, thus symbolised, pervades the poem. The processes of Nature +are explained not chiefly for the purpose of satisfying the love of +knowledge (although this end is incidentally attained), but as the +means of establishing light in the room of darkness, peace in the room +of terror, faith in the laws and the facts of the universe in the room +of a base dependence on capricious and tyrannical Powers. + +What then was this philosophy which supplied to Lucretius an answer +to the perplexities of existence? The object contemplated by all the +early systems of ontology was the discovery of the original substance +or substances out of which all existing things were created, and which +alone remained permanent amid the changing aspects of the visible +world. Various systems, of a semi-physical, semi-metaphysical +character, were founded on the answers given by the earliest enquirers +to this question. In the first book of the poem several of these +theories are discussed. Lucretius, following Epicurus, adopts the +answer given by Democritus to this question, that the original +substances were the 'atoms and the void'--[Greek: atoma kai +kenon]. After the invocation and the address to Memmius, and the +representation of the universal tyranny exercised by superstition +until its power was overcome by Epicurus, and after a summary of the +various topics to be treated in order to banish this influence from +the world, he lays down this principle as the starting-point of his +argument,--that no existing thing is formed out of nothing by divine +agency-- + + Nullam rem e nilo gigni divinitus unquam. + +The apprehension of this principle--a principle common to all the +ontological systems of antiquity--is the first step in the enquiry, +as to what are the original substances out of which all creation +comes into being and is maintained. The proof of this principle is +the manifest order and causation recognisable in the world. If things +could arise out of nothing, all existence would be confused and +capricious. The regularity of Nature subsists-- + + Materies quia rebus reddita certast + Gignundis e qua constat quid possit oriri. + +The complement of this first principle is the proposition that nothing +is annihilated, but all existences are resolved into their ultimate +elements. As the first is a necessary inference from the existence of +universal order, the second is proved by the perpetuity of creation +and the observed transformation of things into one another. + +The original substances out of which all things are produced, and into +which they are ultimately resolved, are found to be certain +primordial particles of matter or atoms, which are called by various +names--'materies,' 'genitalia corpora,' 'semina rerum,' 'corpora +prima.' Some of these names, it may be observed, are expressive not +only of their primordial character, but also of a germinative or +productive power. The objection that these atoms are invisible to our +senses is met by showing that there are many invisible forces acting +in Nature, the effects of which prove that they must be bodies,-- + + Corporibus caecis igitur natura gerit res. + +In addition to bodily substance there must also be vacuum or space; +otherwise there could be no motion in the universe, and without motion +nothing could come into being. The existence of matter is proved by +our senses, of vacuum by the necessity of there being space for matter +to move in, and also by the varying density of bodies. But besides +body and vacuum there is no other absolute substance-- + + Ergo praeter inane et corpora tertia per se + Nulla potest rerum in numero natura relinqui[4]. + +All material bodies are either elemental substances or compounded +out of a union of these substances. The elemental substances are +indestructible and indivisible. This is proved by the necessities of +thought (i. 498, etc.) and of Nature. If there were no ultimate limit +to the divisibility of these substances, if there were not something +immutable underlying all phenomena, there could be no law or order +in the world. The existence and ultimate constitution of the atoms is +thus enunciated-- + + Sunt igitur solida primordia simplicitate + Quae minimis stipata cohaerent partibus arte, + Non ex illarum conventu conciliata, + Sed magis aeterna pollentia simplicitate, + Unde neque avelli quicquam neque deminui iam + Concedit natura reservans semina rebus[5]. + +At this stage in the argument, from line 635 to 920 of Book I, the +first principles of other philosophies, and particularly of the +systems of Heraclitus, Empedocles, and Anaxagoras, are discussed at +considerable length, and shown to be inconsistent with the actual +appearance of things and with the principles already established. + +The argument starts anew at line 920, and it is shown that the +atoms must be infinite in number, and space infinite in extent;--the +contrary supposition being both inconceivable and incompatible with +the origin, preservation, and renewal of all existing things. It is +shown also that the existing order of things has not come into being +through design, but by infinite experiments through infinite time. +The doctrine that all things tend to a centre is denied, and the book +concludes with the imaginative presentation of the thought that, if +matter were not infinite, the whole visible fabric of the world would +perish in a moment, 'and leave not a rack behind.' + +The second book opens with an impressive passage, in which the +security and charm of the contemplative life is contrasted with the +restless anxieties and alarms of the life of worldly ambition. The +argument then proceeds to explain the process by which these atoms, +primordial, indestructible, and infinite in number, combine together +in infinite space, so as to carry on the birth, growth, and decay of +all things. While the sum of things always remains the same, there +is constant change in all phenomena. This is explicable only on the +supposition of the original elements being in eternal motion. The +atoms are borne through space, either by their own weight, or by +contact with one another, with a rapidity of motion far beyond that +of any visible bodies. All motion is naturally in a downward direction +and in parallel lines, but to account for the contact of the atoms +with one another it must be supposed that in their movements they make +a slight declension from the straight line at uncertain intervals. +This liability to declension is the sole thing to break the chain of +necessity--'quod fati foedera rumpat.' It is through this liability in +the primal elements that volition in living beings becomes possible. + +As the sum of matter in the universe is constant, so the motions of +the atoms always have been and always will be the same[6]. All things +are in ceaseless motion, although they may present to our senses the +appearance of perfect rest. + +It is necessary further to assume the existence of other properties +in the atoms, in order to account for the variety in Nature, and the +individuality of existing things. They have original differences in +form; some are smooth, others round, others rough, others hooked, &c. +These varieties in form are not infinite, but limited in number. + +As the diversity in the world depends on the diversity of these forms, +the order and regularity of Nature imply that there is a limit to +these varieties. But while they are limited, the individuals of each +kind are infinite, otherwise the primordial atoms would be finite in +number, and there could be no cohesion among atoms of the same kind, +in the vast and chaotic sea of matter-- + + Unde ubi qua vi et quo pacto congressa coibunt + Materiae tanto in pelago turbaque aliena[7]? + +The motions which tend to the support and the destruction of created +things are balanced by one another: there must be an equilibrium in +these opposing forces-- + + Sic aequo geritur certamine principiorum + Ex infinito contractum tempore bellum[8]. + +Death and birth succeed one another, as now the vitalising, now the +destructive forces gain the upper hand. + +Further, the great diversity in Nature is to be accounted for by +diversity, not only in the original forms of matter, but also in their +modes of combination. No existing thing is composed solely of one kind +of atoms. The greater the variety of forces and powers which anything +displays, the greater is the variety of the elements out of which it +was originally composed. Of all visible objects the earth contains the +greatest number of elements; therefore it has justly obtained the +name of the universal mother. There is however a limit to the modes +in which atoms can combine with one another: each nature appropriates +elements suitable to its being and rejects those unsuitable. All +existing things differ from one another in consequence of the +difference in their elements and in their modes of combination. The +different modes of combination give rise to many of the secondary +properties of matter, which are not in the original elements. Colour, +for instance, is not one of the original properties of atoms: for +all colour is changeable, and all change implies the death of what +previously existed. Moreover, colour depends on light, and the atoms +never come forth into the light. The atoms are also devoid of heat and +cold, of sound, taste, and smell. All these properties must be kept +distinct from the original elements-- + + Immortalia si volumus subiungere rebus + Fundamenta quibus nitatur summa salutis; + Ne tibi res redeant ad nilum funditus omnes[9]. + +Further, although they are the origin of all living and sentient +things, the atoms themselves are devoid of sense and life, otherwise +they would be liable to death. All living things are merely results +of the constant changes in the primordial elements contained in the +heavens and the earth. Hence the heaven is addressed as the father, +the earth as the mother, of all things that have life. + +Finally, from the infinity of space and matter, it may be inferred +that there are infinite other worlds and systems beside our own. Many +elements were added from the infinite universe to our system before it +reached maturity: and many indications prove that the period of growth +is now past, and that we are living in the old age of the world. + +The sum of the first two books, in which the principles of the atomic +philosophy are methodically unfolded and illustrated, is, accordingly, +to this effect:--that all things have their origin in, and are +sustained by, the various combinations and motions of solid elemental +atoms, infinite in number, various in form, but not infinite in the +variety of their forms,--not perceptible to our senses, and themselves +devoid of sense, of colour, and of all the secondary properties of +matter. These atoms, by virtue of their ultimate conditions, +are capable only of certain combinations with one another. These +combinations have been brought about by perpetual motion, through +infinite space and through all eternity. As the order of things now +existing has come into being, so it must one day perish. Only the +atoms will permanently remain, moving unceasingly through space, and +forming new combinations with one another. + +These first principles being established, the way is made clear for +the true explanation, according to natural laws, of those phenomena +which give rise to and maintain the terrors of superstition. + +The third book treats of the nature of the mind, and of the vital +principle. As it is by the fear of death, and of eternal torment after +death, that human life is most disturbed, it is necessary to explain +the nature of the soul, and to show that it perishes in death along +with the body. + +The mind and the vital principle are parts of the man as much as +the hands, feet, or any other members. The mind is the directing +principle, seated in the centre of the breast. The vital principle is +diffused over the whole body, obedient to and in close sympathy with +the mind. The power which the mind has in moving the body proves its +own corporeal nature, as motion cannot take place without touch, nor +touch without the presence of a bodily substance. + +The soul (including both the mind and vital principle) is, therefore, +material, formed of the finest or minutest atoms, as is proved by +the extreme rapidity of its movement, and by the fact that there is +nothing lost in appearance or weight immediately after death:-- + + Quod simul atque hominem leti secura quies est + Indepta atque animi natura animaeque recessit, + Nil ibi libatum de toto corpore cernas + Ad speciem, nil ad pondus: mors omnia praestat + Vitalem praeter sensum calidumque vaporem[10]. + +Four distinct elements enter into the composition of the soul--heat, +wind, calm air, and a finer essence 'quasi anima animai.' The variety +of disposition in men and animals depends on the proportion in which +these elements are mixed. + +The soul is the guardian of the body, inseparably united with it, as +the odour is with frankincense; nor can the soul be disconnected from +the body without its own destruction. This intimate union of soul and +body is proved by many facts. They are born, they grow, and they decay +together. The mind is liable to disease, like the body. Its affections +are often dependent on bodily conditions. The difficulties of +imagining the state of the soul as existing independently of the +body are next urged; and the book concludes with a long passage of +sustained elevation of feeling, in which the folly and the weakness of +fearing death are passionately insisted upon. + +The fourth book, which treats of the images which all objects cast off +from themselves, and, in connexion with that subject, of the senses +generally, and of the passion of love, is intimately connected with +the preceding book. If there is no life after death, what is the +origin of the universal belief in the existence of the souls of +the departed? Images cast off from the surface of bodies, and borne +incessantly through space without force or feeling, appearing to +the living sometimes in sleep and sometimes in waking visions, have +suggested the belief in the ghosts of the dead, and in many of the +portents of ancient mythology. The rapid formation and motion of these +images and their great number are explained by various analogies. Some +apparent deceptions of the senses are next mentioned and explained. +These deceptions are shown to be not in the senses, but in our minds +not rightly interpreting their intimations. There is no error in the +action of the senses. They are our 'prima fides'--the foundation of +all knowledge and of all conduct-- + + Non modo enim ratio ruat omnis, vita quoque ipsa + Concidat extemplo, nisi credere sensibus ausis[11]. + +Images that are too fine to act on the senses sometimes directly +affect the soul itself. Discordant images unite together in the air, +and present the appearance of Centaurs, Scyllas, and the like. In +sleep, images of the dead-- + + Morte obita quorum tellus amplectitur ossa[12],-- + +appear, and give rise to the belief in the existence of ghosts. +The mind sees in dreams the objects in which it is most interested, +because, although all kinds of images are present, it can discern only +those of which it is expectant. + +Several other questions are discussed in connexion with the doctrine +of the 'simulacra.' The final cause of the senses and the appetites is +denied, and, by implication, the argument from design founded on the +belief in final causes. The use of everything is discovered through +experience. We do not receive the sense of sight in order that we may +see, but having got the sense of sight, we use it-- + + Nil ideo quoniam natumst in corpore ut uti + Possemus, sed quod natumst id procreat usum[13]. + +There follows an account of sleep, and of the condition of the mind +during that state; and the book concludes with a physical account of +the passion of love, which is dependent on the action of the simulacra +on the mind. Love is shown also to arise from natural causes, and +not to be engendered by divine influence. The fatal consequences +of yielding to the passion are then enforced with much poetical and +satiric power. + +The object of the fifth book is to explain the formation of our +system--of earth, sea, sky, sun, and moon,--the origin of life upon +the earth, and the advance of human nature from a savage state to the +arts and usages of civilisation. The purpose of these discussions is +to show that all our system was produced and is maintained by natural +agency, that it is neither itself divine nor created by divine power, +and that, as it has come into existence, so it must one day perish. + +As the parts of our system,--earth, water, air, and heat,--are +perishable, and constantly passing through processes of decay and +renovation, the system must have had a beginning, and will have +an end. There must at last be an end of the long war between the +contending elements. + +The world came into existence as the result not of design, but +of every variety of combination in the elemental atoms throughout +infinite time. Originally all were confused together. Gradually those +that had mutual affinities combined and separated themselves from the +rest. The earthy particles sank to the centre. The elemental particles +of the empyrean (aether ignifer) formed the 'moenia mundi.' The sun +and moon were formed out of the particles that were neither heavy +enough to combine with the earth, nor light enough to ascend to the +highest heaven. Finally, the liquid particles separated from the +earth and formed the sea. Highest above all is the empyrean, entirely +separated from the storms of the lower air, and moving round with its +stars by its own impetus. The earth is at rest in the centre of our +system, supported by the air, as our body is by the vital principle. +The movements of the stars and of the sun and moon through the heavens +are next explained; then the origin of vegetable and animal life on +the earth, and the beginning and progress of human society. + +First plants and trees, afterwards men and animals, were produced from +the earth in the early and vigorous prime of the world. Many of the +animals originally produced afterwards became extinct. Those only +were capable of continuation which had either some faculty of +self-preservation against others, or were useful to man, and so +shared his protection. The existence of monsters such as Scylla, the +Centaurs, the Chimaera, is shown to be impossible according to the +natural laws of production. + +The earliest condition of man was one of savage vigour and power of +endurance, but liable to danger and destruction from many causes. +The first humanising influence is traced to domestic union and the +affection inspired by children-- + + Et Venus inminuit viris puerique parentum + Blanditiis facile ingenium fregere superbum[14]. + +The origin of language is next explained, then that of civil society, +of religion, and of the arts,--the general conclusion being that all +progress is the result of natural experience, not of divine guidance. + +The last source of superstition is our ignorance of the causes of +natural phenomena-- + + Praesertim rebus in illis + Quae supera caput aetheriis cernuntur in oris[15]. + +Hence the sixth book is devoted to the explanation of thunderstorms, +tempests, volcanoes, earthquakes, and the like,--phenomena which are +generally attributed to the direct agency of the gods. The whole work +terminates with an account of the Plague at Athens, closely following +that given by Thucydides. + +The first question which arises after a review of the whole argument +is that suggested by the statement of Jerome, and brought into +prominence since the publication of Lachmann's edition of Lucretius, +viz. whether there is good reason for believing that the poem was left +by the author in an unfinished state. In answering this question, it +is to be observed, on the one hand, that there is no incompleteness +in the fulfilment of the original plan of the work, unless from one +or two hints[16] we conclude that the poet intended giving a fuller +account of the blessed state of the Gods than that given at iii. +17-24. He announces at i. 54, etc., and again at i. 127, etc., the +design of the poem as embracing the first principles of natural +philosophy, and the application of these principles to certain special +subjects, viz. the nature of soul and body, the origin of the belief +in ghosts, the natural causes of creation, and the meaning of certain +celestial phenomena. + +The practical purpose of the poem--the overthrow of +superstition--limits the argument to these subjects of discussion. +They are severally mentioned where the argument is resumed in Books +iii, iv, v, and vi, as those matters which require a clear explanation +from the poet. All the topics enunciated in the opening statement +are discussed with the utmost fulness. The great strongholds of +superstition are attacked and overthrown in regular succession. In the +introduction to the sixth book, the lines (91-95) + + Tu mihi supremae praescribta ad candida calcis, etc. + +clearly show that the poet considered himself approaching the end of +his task. + +But, on the other hand, an examination of the poem in detail leads to +the conclusion that it did not receive its author's final touch. The +continuity of the argument is occasionally broken in all the books +except the first. In the fourth, fifth, and sixth, especially, these +breaks are very frequent, and there are more frequent instances in +them of repetition and careless workmanship. They extend also to a +greater length than the earlier books, which would naturally be the +case if they had not received the author's final revision. The poem +throughout gives the impression of great fulness of matter-- + + Usque adeo largos haustus e fontibu' magnis + Lingua meo suavis diti de pectore fundet;-- + +and in the composition of these later books, new suggestions seem to +have been constantly occurring to the poet as new materials were added +to his stores of knowledge: and the first draft of his argument has +not been recast so as to incorporate and harmonise them with it. The +passages containing these new materials appear to have been fitted +into the place which they now occupy in the work, not always very +judiciously, either by Cicero or some other editor. + +It was also part of the author's design to enunciate his deepest +thoughts on the Gods, on Nature, and on human life in more highly +finished digressions from the main argument. Such passages are, in +general, introduced at the beginning and the end of the different +books. They seem to bring out the more catholic interest which +underlies the special subject of the poem. Some of these passages are +highly finished, and were evidently fixed by the poet in the +places which he designed them to occupy. Such are, especially, +the introductions to the first, second, and third books, and the +concluding passages of the second and third. But the repetition of a +passage of the first book as the introduction to the fourth, the +long break in the continuity of the introduction to the fifth, the +unfinished style of that to the sixth, and the abrupt and episodical +conclusion to the whole poem (when contrasted with its elaborately +artistic introduction), show that the same cause which marred the +symmetry of his argument deprived it of the finished execution of a +work of art. Yet these books--especially the fifth--are as rich in +poetical feeling and substance as the earlier ones. The eye and hand +of the master are as powerful as in the first enthusiasm with which +he dedicated himself to his task, but they are less certain in their +action. Whether his powers became intermittent owing to the attacks +of illness, or whether his habit was to work roughly in the first +instance and to perfect his work by subsequent revision, which in +the case of his latest labours was prevented by death, must remain +uncertain. It is a noticeable result of the vastness of the tasks +which Roman genius set before itself, that two such works as the +didactic poem of Lucretius and the Aeneid of Virgil were left +unfinished by their authors, and given to the world in a more or less +imperfect condition by other hands. + +The poem, though incomplete in regard to the arrangement of its +materials and artistic finish, presents a full and clear view of the +philosophy accepted and expounded by Lucretius. What, then, is the +intellectual interest and value of the work, considered as a great +argument, in which the plan of Nature is explained, and the position +of man in relation to that plan is determined? Is it true, as an +illustrious modern critic[17] has said, that 'the greatest didactic +poem in any language was written in defence of the silliest and +meanest of all systems of natural and moral philosophy'? Is this work +a mere maze of ingeniously woven error, enriched with a few brilliant +colours which have not yet faded with the lapse of time? or is it a +great monument of the ancient mind, marking indeed its limitations, +but at the same time perpetuating the memory of its native strength +and energy? Has all the meaning of this controversy between science in +its infancy and the pagan mythology in its decrepitude passed away, +as from the vantage-ground of nineteen centuries the blindness and +the ignorance of both combatants are apparent? Or, may we not rather +discern that amid all the confusion of this dim [Greek: nyktomachia] +a great cause was at issue; that truths the most vital to human +wellbeing were involved on both sides; and that some positions were +then gained which are not now abandoned? + +In estimating the strength and the weakness of the system expounded +by Lucretius, it is necessary to distinguish between the exposition +of the principles of the atomic philosophy, contained in the first +two books, and the explanation of natural phenomena contained in +the remaining books. The first, notwithstanding some arbitrary and +unverifiable assumptions, represents a real and important stage in +the progress of enquiry; the second, although containing many striking +observations and immediate inferences from the facts and processes of +Nature, is, from the point of view of modern science, to be regarded +mainly, as a curious page in the records of human error. Whatever +may be said of the Epicurean additions to the system, it seems to +be admitted that the original hypothesis of Democritus has been more +pregnant in results, and has more affinity with the most advanced +physical speculations of modern times, than the doctrines of all the +other philosophers of antiquity. But even amid the mass of unwarranted +assumptions and erroneous explanations contained in the later books, +the topics discussed--such as the relation of the mind to the body, +the mode by which sensible impressions are conveyed to the mind, the +processes by which our globe assumed its present form, the origin of +life, the evolution of humanity from its lowest to its higher stages +of development, the origin of spiritual beliefs, of the humaner +sentiments, of language, etc.--possess the interest of being kindred +to those on which speculative activity is most employed in the present +day. If the study of Lucretius forces upon our minds the arbitrary +assumptions, the inadequate method, and the false conclusions of +ancient science, it enables us to appreciate the disinterested +greatness of its aims, and the enlightened curiosity which sought to +solve the vastest problems. + +It might be said, generally, that the argument of Lucretius was an +attempt to give a philosophical description of Nature before the +advent of physical science. But, as a means of throwing light on the +inadequacy of such speculations, it may be well to consider in detail +some of those points where the argument most obviously fails in +premises, method, and results. + +The ancient as well as the modern enquirer into the truth of things +was confronted with the question of the origin of all our knowledge. +Is knowledge obtained originally through the exercise of the reason or +the senses, or through their combined and inseparable action? To +this question Lucretius distinctly answers, that the senses are the +foundation of all our knowledge.[18] They are our 'prima fides': the +basis not only of all sound inference, but of all human conduct. The +very conception of the meaning of true and false is derived from the +senses:-- + + Invenies primis ab sensibus esse creatam + Notitiam veri neque sensus posse refelli[19]. + +But besides the direct action of outward things on the senses, he +admits the power of certain images to make themselves immediately +present to the mind (iv. 722-822), and also a certain immediate +apprehension or intuition of the mind (iniectus animi) into +things beyond the cognisance of sense[20]. Thus there is no +actual inconsistency with his principles in claiming the power of +understanding the properties and configuration of the atoms, which are +represented as lying below the reach of our senses-- + + Omnis enim longe nostris ab sensibus infra + Primorum natura iacet. + +But of the mode of operation of this 'intuition of the mind' there is +no criterion. The doctrine of the properties, shapes, motions, etc. +of the atoms is a creation of the imagination, suggested by certain +analogies from sensible things, but incapable of being verified by the +senses, which he regards as the only sure foundations of knowledge. + +But even on the supposition that the existence and properties of the +atoms had been satisfactorily established, no adequate explanation +is offered of their relation to the facts of existence. The same +difficulty is encountered at the outset of this as of all other +ancient systems of ontology, viz. how to pass from the eternal and +immutable forms of the atoms to the variety and transitory nature of +sensible objects. This is the very difficulty which Lucretius himself +urges against the system of Heraclitus,-- + + Nam cur tam variae res possint esse requiro, + Ex uno si sunt igni puroque creatae. + +The order of Nature now subsisting is declared to be the result of the +manifold combination of the atoms through infinite time and space, but +the intermediate stages by which this process was effected are assumed +rather than investigated. We seem to pass 'per saltum' from the chaos +of lifeless elements to the perfect order and manifold life of our +system. This wide chasm seems as little capable of being bridged +by the help of the atoms of Democritus, as by the watery element +of Thales or the fiery element of Heraclitus. But in Lucretius this +difficulty is partially concealed, by a poetical element in his +conception, really inconsistent with the mechanical materialism on +which his philosophy professes to be based.--It is to be observed +that while the Greek word [Greek: atoma] implies merely the notion +of individual existences, the words used by Lucretius, 'semina,' +'genitalia corpora,' really indicate a creative capacity in these +existences. In conceiving their power of carrying on and sustaining +the order of Nature, his imagination is thus aided by the analogy of +the growth of plants and living beings. A secret faculty in the atoms, +distinct from their other properties, is assumed. Thus he says-- + + At primordia gignundis in rebus oportet + Naturam clandestinam caecamque adhibere[21]. + +In his statement of the doctrine of the _Clinamen_, or slight +declension in the motion of the atoms, so as 'to break the chain of +fate,' he attributes to them a power analogous to volition in living +beings. This doctrine is suggested by the necessity of explaining +contingency in Nature and freedom in the movements of sentient beings. +We are, as in all attempts to account for creation, forced back on +the thought of an ultimate unexplained power in virtue of which things +have been created and are maintained in being. + +The Lucretian hypothesis of the atoms, even if it were accepted as the +most reasonable explanation of the original constitution of matter, +is, by itself, altogether inadequate as a key to the secret of Nature. +It cannot be shown either how these atoms succeeded in arranging +themselves in order, or how from their negative properties all +positive life has been produced. The explanation of physical phenomena +given in the four last books, as to the nature of our bodies and +souls,--as to the action of outward things on the senses,--the origin +and existence of the sun and moon, the earth and the living beings +upon it, etc., although professedly deduced from the principles +established in the first two books, are really reached independently. +They are either immediate inferences from the obvious intimations of +sense, or they are the suggestions of analogy. + +The weakness as well as the strength of ancient science lay in its +perception of analogies. The mind of Lucretius was both under the +influence of earlier analogical conceptions, and also shows great +boldness and originality in the logical and poetical apprehension +of 'those same footsteps of Nature, treading on diverse subjects or +matters.' But, in common with the earlier enquirers of Greece, +he trusts too implicitly to their guidance through all his daring +adventure. He seems to believe that the hidden properties of things +are as open to discovery through this 'lux sublustris' of the +imagination, as through the 'lucida tela' of the reason. + +To take one prominent instance of this influence, it is remarkable +how, in his explanation of our mundane system, he is both consciously +and unconsciously guided by the analogy of the human body. Even +Lucretius, living in the very meridian of ancient science, cannot in +imagination absolutely emancipate himself from the associations of +mythology. He is indeed conscious of the inconsistency of attributing +life and sense to the earth: yet not only does he speak poetically of +Earth being the creative mother, Aether the fructifying father of +all things, but his whole conception of the creation of the world +is derived from a supposed likeness between the properties of our +terrestrial and celestial systems, and those of living beings. Thus we +read-- + + Undique quandoquidem per caulas aetheris omnis + Et quasi per magni circum spiracula mundi + Exitus introitusque elementis redditus extat[22]. + +Of the growth of plants and herbage it is said-- + + Ut pluma atque pili primum saetaeque creantur + Quadripedum membris et corpore pennipotentum, + Sic nova tum tellus herbas virgultaque primum + Sustulit, inde loci mortalia saecla creavit[23]. + +From v. 535 to 563 the power of the air in supporting the earth 'in +media mundi regione' is compared with the power which the delicate +vital principle has in supporting the human body. Again, the gathering +together of the waters of the sea is thus represented-- + + Tam magis expressus salsus de corpore sudor + Augebat mare manando camposque natantis[24]. + +And finally, though it would be easy to multiply such quotations, the +striking account, at the end of the second book, of the growth and the +decay of our world is drawn directly from the obvious appearances of +the growth and decay of the human body; e.g.-- + + Quoniam nec venae perpetiuntur + Quod satis est neque quantum opus est natura ministrat[25]. + +As a necessary result of a system of natural philosophy based on +assumptions, largely illustrated indeed, but not corroborated by +the observation of phenomena, with no verification of experiment or +ascertainment of special laws, there is throughout the poem the utmost +hardihood of assertion and inference on many points, on which modern +science clearly proves this system to have been as much in error as +it was possible to be. It is strange to note how inadequate an idea +Lucretius had of the vastness and complexity of the problem which +he professed to solve. He has no real conception of the progressive +advance of knowledge, and of the necessity of patiently building on +humble foundations. The striking lines-- + + Namque alid ex alio clarescet nec tibi caeca + Nox iter eripiet quin ultima naturai + Pervideas: ita res accendent lumina rebus[26], + +look rather like an unconscious prophecy of the future progress of +science than an account of the process of enquiry exhibited in the +book. + +A few out of many erroneous assertions about physical facts, in regard +to some of which the opinions of Lucretius are behind the science even +of his own time, may be noticed. Thus, at i. 1025, the existence of +the Antipodes is denied. Again, in Book iii. the mind is stated to be +a material substance, seated in the centre of the breast, composed of +very minute particles, the relative proportions of which determine the +characters both of men and animals. Lucretius shows a close and subtle +observation of facts that establish the interdependence of mind and +body, but no suspicion of that interdependence being connected with +the functions of the brain and nervous system. His whole account of +the _mundus_, of the earth at rest in the centre, and of the rolling +vault of heaven, with its sun and moon and stars--'trembling fires +in the vault'--all no larger than they appear to our eyes, is given +without any notion of the inadequacy of his data to bear out his +conclusions. The science which satisfied Epicurus was on +astronomical and meteorological questions behind that attained by +the mathematicians of Alexandria: and thus some of the conclusions +enunciated by Virgil in the Georgics are nearer the truth than those +accepted by Lucretius. While enlarging on the variety and subtlety in +the combinations of his imaginary atoms, he has no adequate idea of +the variety and subtlety in the real forces of Nature. His observation +of the outward and visible appearances of things is accurate and +vivid: there is often great ingenuity as well as a true apprehension +of logical conditions in his processes of reasoning both from ideas +and from phenomena: yet most of his conclusions as to the facts of +Nature, which are not immediately perceptible to the senses, are mere +fanciful explanations, indicating, indeed, a lively curiosity, but no +real understanding of the true conditions of the enquiry. The root +of his error lies in his not feeling how little can be known of the +processes and facts of Nature by ordinary observation, without +the resources of experiment and of scientific method built upon +experiment. + +The weak points of this philosophy, the mistaken aim and incomplete +method of enquiry, the real ignorance of facts disguised under an +appearance of systematic treatment, the unproductiveness of the +results for any practical accession to man's power over Nature, are +quite obvious to any modern reader, who, without any special study of +physical science, cannot help being familiar with information which is +now universally diffused, but which was beyond the reach of the most +ardent enquirers and original thinkers of antiquity. But the amount +of information possessed by different ages, or by different men, is no +criterion of their relative intellectual power. The mental force of +a strong and adventurous thinker may be recognised struggling even +through these mists of error. The weakness of the system, interpreted +by Lucretius, is the necessary weakness of the childhood of knowledge. +But along with the weakness and the ignorance there are also the keen +feeling, the clear eye, and the buoyant fancies of early years,--the +germs and the promise of a strong maturity. + +The full light in which ancient poetry, history, and mental philosophy +can still be read, makes us apt to forget that a great part even of +the intellectual life of antiquity has left scarcely any record of +itself. Of one aspect of this intellectual life Lucretius is the +most complete exponent. The genius of Plato and Aristotle has been +estimated, perhaps, as justly in modern as in ancient times. But the +great intellectual life of such men as Democritus, Empedocles, +or Anaxagoras, escapes our notice in the more familiar studies +of classical literature. The work of Lucretius reminds us of the +intensity of thought and feeling, the clearness and minuteness of +observation, with which the earliest enquiries into Nature were +carried on. In some respects the general ignorance of the times +enhances our sense of the greatness of individual philosophers. Each +new attempt to understand the world was an original act of creative +power. The intellectual strength and enthusiasm displayed by the +poet himself may be regarded as some measure of the strength of the +masters, who filled his mind with affection and astonishment. + +The history of the physical science of the ancients cannot, indeed, be +regarded as so interesting or important as that of their metaphysical +philosophy. And this is so, not only on account of the comparative +scantiness of their real acquisitions in the one as compared with the +ideas and method which they have contributed to the other, and with +the masterpieces which they have added to its literature; but still +more on this account, that in physical knowledge new discovery +supplants the place of previous error or ignorance, and can be +understood without reference to what has been supplanted; whereas the +power and meaning of philosophical ideas is unintelligible, apart from +the knowledge of their origin and development. The history of physical +science in ancient times affords satisfaction to a natural curiosity, +but is not an indispensable branch of scientific study. The history of +ancient mental philosophy, on the other hand,--the source not only +of most of our metaphysical ideas and terms, but of many of the +most familiar thoughts and words in daily use,--is the basis of all +speculative study. Yet among the various kinds of interest which this +poem has for different classes of modern readers this is not to be +forgotten, that it enables a student of science to estimate the +actual discoveries, and, still more, the prognostications of discovery +attained by the irregular methods of early enquiry. The school of +philosophy to which Lucretius belonged was distinguished above other +schools for the attention which it gave to the facts of Nature. +Though he himself makes no claim to original discovery, he yet shows +a philosophical grasp of the whole system which he adopted, and +a rigorous study of its details. He does not, like Virgil, merely +reproduce some general results of ancient physics, to enhance the +poetical conception of Nature: as he is not satisfied with those +general results about human life and the origin of man, which amused +a meditative poet and practical epicurean like Horace. He was a real +student both of the plan of Nature and of man's relation to it. Out +of the stores of his abundant information the modern reader may best +learn not only the errors but also the happy guesses and pregnant +suggestions of ancient science. + +To the general reader there is another aspect, in which it is +interesting to compare these germs of physical knowledge with some +tendencies of scientific enquiry in modern times. The questions, +vitally affecting the position of man in the world, which are +discussed or raised by Lucretius in the course of his argument, are +parallel to certain questions which have risen into prominence in +connexion with the increasing study of Nature. Most conspicuous +among these is the relation of physical enquiry to religious belief. +Expressions such as this, + + Impia te rationis inire elementa viamque + Indugredi sceleris, + +show that scientific enquiry had to encounter the same prejudice in +ancient as in modern times. The insufficiency and audacity of human +reason were reprobated by the antagonists of Lucretius as they +often are in the present day. Ancient religion denounced those who +investigated the origin of sun, earth, and sky, as + + Immortalia mortali sermone notantes[27]. + +The views of Lucretius as to the natural origin of life, and the +progressive advance of man from the rudest condition by the exercise +of his senses and accumulated experience,--his denial of final causes +universally, and specially in the human faculties,--his resolution +of our knowledge into the intimations of sense,--his materialism +and consequent denial of immortality,--and his utilitarianism in +morals,--all present striking parallels to the opinions of one of +the great schools of modern thought. At v. 875 there is a passage +concerning the preservation and destruction of species, originally +suggested by Empedocles,--which shows that the idea of the struggle +for existence and of the survival of those species best fitted for the +conditions of that struggle was familiar to ancient thinkers. It is +there observed that those species alone have escaped destruction which +possess some natural weapon of defence, or which are useful to man. +Of others that could neither live by themselves nor were maintained by +human protection, it is said-- + + Scilicet haec aliis praedae lucroque iacebant + Indupedita suis fatalibus omnia vinclis, + Donec ad interitum genus id natura redegit[28]. + +The attempt to trace the origin of all supernatural belief to the +impressions made by dreams, the explanation given of the first +manifestation of the humaner sentiments, of the beginning of language, +and of the whole condition of 'primitive man,' are in conformity with +the teaching of the most popular exponent of the doctrine of evolution +in the present day. + +But altogether apart from the truth and falsehood, the right and +wrong tendencies of his system of philosophy, our feeling of personal +interest in the poet is strengthened by noting the power of reasoning, +observation, and expression put forth by him through the whole course +of his argument. The pervading characteristic of Lucretius is +the 'vivida vis animi.' The freshness of feeling and vividness of +apprehension denoted by the words, + + Mente vigenti + Avia Pieridum peragro loca, + +are as remarkable in the processes of his intellect as of his +imagination. + +The passionate intensity of his nature has left its impress on the +enunciation of his physical as well as of his moral doctrines. He has +a thoroughly logical grasp of his subject as a whole. He shows +the capacity of unfolding it and marshalling all his arguments in +symmetrical order, and of arranging in due subordination vast +masses of details. Vigour in acquiring and tenacity in retaining the +knowledge of facts are combined with a high organising faculty. He +has also, beyond any other Roman writer, a power of analysing and +comprehending abstract ideas, such as that of the infinite, of space +and time, of causation and the like, and of keeping the consequences +involved in these ideas present to his mind through long-sustained +processes of reasoning. He alone among his countrymen possessed, +if not the faculty of original speculation, the genuine philosophic +impulse, and the powers of mind demanded for abstruse and systematic +thinking. + +This vigour of understanding is displayed in many processes of +deductive reasoning, in the power of seizing some general principle +underlying diverse phenomena, in the use of analogies by which he +illustrates the argument and advances from known to unknown causes and +from things within the cognisance of our senses to those beyond their +range, and in the clearness and variety of his observation. + +His system cannot be called either purely inductive or purely +deductive, though it is more of the former than of the latter. He +argues with great force both from a large and varied mass of facts to +general laws and from general principles to facts involved in them. +The best examples of his power of following abstract ideas into their +consequences may be found in the first two books, where he establishes +the existence of vacuum, the infinity of space and of the atoms, the +limitations of the form of the atoms and the like. The reasoning at i. +298-328 where the existence of invisible bodies is established +affords a good instance of his power of recognising a common principle +involved in a great number and variety of phenomena. + +The vigour with which he reasons from known to unknown facts and +causes may be judged most fairly by his arguments on the progress of +society, where he is more on an equality with modern speculation. He +discards, altogether, as might be expected, the fancies concerning +a heroic or a golden age, and assumes as his data the facts of human +nature as observed in his own day. The grounds from which he starts, +his method of reasoning, and the nature of his conclusions remind a +reader of the positive tendencies of Thucydides, as they are displayed +in the introduction to his history. The importance of personal +qualities, such as beauty, strength, and power of mind, in the +earliest stage of civil society, the influence of accumulated wealth +at a later period, the causes of the establishment and overthrow of +tyrannies and of the rise of commonwealths in their room, are all set +forth with a degree of strong sense and historical sagacity, such +as no other Roman writer has shown in similar investigations. The +inferiority even of Tacitus in his occasional digressions into the +philosophy of history is very marked. On such topics, where the data +were accessible to the natural faculties of observation and inference, +and where conclusions were sought which, without aiming at definite +certainty, should yet be true in the main, the reader of Lucretius has +no sense of that wasted ingenuity which he often feels in following +the investigations into some of the primary conditions of the atoms, +the component elements of the soul, the process by which the world was +formed, or the causes of electric or volcanic phenomena. + +Lucretius makes a copious, and often a very happy use, of analogies, +both in the illustration of his philosophy, and in passages of the +highest poetical power. Some of the most striking of the former +kind have already been noticed as sources of error, or at least of +disguising ignorance, in his reasoning, viz. those founded on the +supposed parallel between the world and the human body; others again +are employed with force and ingenuity in support of various positions +in his argument. Among these may be mentioned his comparison of +the effect of various combinations of the same letters in forming +different words, with that of the various combinations of similar +atoms in forming different objects in nature. So too the ceaseless +motion of the atoms is brought visibly before the imagination by +the analogy of the motes dancing in the sunbeam. There is something +striking in the comparison of the human body immediately after death +to wine 'cum Bacchi flos evanuit,' and again, in that of the relation +of body and soul to the relation of frankincense and its odour-- + + E thuris glaebis evellere odorem + Haud facile est quin intereat natura quoque eius[29]. + +But this faculty of his understanding is in general so united with the +imaginative feeling through which he discerns the vital identity of +the most diverse manifestations of some common principle, that it can +best be illustrated in connexion with the poetical, as distinct from +the logical, merits of the work. + +So also it is difficult to separate his faculty of clear, exact, and +vivid observation from his poetical perception of the life and beauty +of Nature. His powers of observation were, however, stimulated and +directed by scientific as well as poetic interest in phenomena. From +the wide scope of his philosophy he was led to examine the greatest +variety of facts, physical as well as moral. His sense of the +immensity of the universe led him to contemplate the largest and +widest operations of Nature,--such as the movements of the heavenly +bodies, the recurrence of the seasons, the forces of great storms, +volcanoes, etc.; while, again, the theory of the invisible atoms drew +his attention to the minutest processes of Nature, in so far as they +can be perceived or inferred without the appliances of modern science. +Thus, for instance, in a long passage beginning-- + + Denique fluctifrago suspensae in litore vestes[30] + +he shows by an accumulation of instances that there are many invisible +bodies, the existence of which is inferred from visible effects. In +other places he draws attention to the class of facts which have +been the basis of the modern science of geology,--such as the mark +of rivers slowly wearing away their banks,--of walls on the sea-shore +mouldering from the long-continued effects of the exhalations from the +sea,--of the fall of great rocks from the mountains under the wear and +tear of ages. + +Again, the argument is frequently illustrated by observation of the +habits of various animals. In these passages Lucretius shows the +curiosity of a naturalist, as well as the sympathetic feeling and +insight of a poet. How graphic, for instance, is his description of +dogs following up the scent of their game-- + + Errant saepe canes itaque et vestigia quaerunt[31]. + +How happily their characteristics are struck off in the line-- + + At levisomna canum fido cum pectore corda[32]. + +The various cries and habits of birds are often observed and +described, as-- + + Et validis cycni torrentibus ex Heliconis + Cum liquidam tollunt lugubri voce querellam[33]; + +and again-- + + Parvus ut est cycni melior canor ille gruum quam + Clamor in aetheriis dispersus nubibus austri[34]. + +The description of sea-birds, + + Mergique marinis + Fluctibus in salso victum vitamque petentes[35], + +recalls the vivid and natural life of those that haunted the isle of +Calypso-- + +[Greek: + tanyglôssoi te korônai + einaliai têsin te thalassia erga memêlen[36].] + +His lively personal observation and active interest in the casual +objects presented to his eyes in the course of his walks are seen in +such passages as-- + + Cum lubrica serpens + Exuit in spinis vestem; nam saepe videmus + Illorum spoliis vepres volitantibus auctas[37]. + +There is also much truth and liveliness of observation in his notices +of psychological and physiological facts; as in those passages where +he establishes the connexion between mind and body, and in his account +of the senses. With what a graphic touch does he paint the outward +effects of death[38], the decay of the faculties with age, and the +madness that overtakes the mind-- + + Adde furorem animi proprium atque oblivia rerum, + Adde quod in nigras lethargi mergitur undas[39]; + +the bodily waste, produced by long-continuous speaking-- + + Perpetuus sermo nigrai noctis ad umbram + Aurorae perductus ab exoriente nitore[40]; + +the reflex action of the senses, produced by the nervous strain of +witnessing games and spectacles for many days in succession; the +insensibility to the pain of the severest wounds in the excitement +of battle! In his account of the plague of Athens, in which he enters +into much greater detail than Thucydides, he displays the minute +observation of a physician, as well as the profound thought of a +moralist. + +The 'vivida vis' of his understanding is apparent also in the +clearness and consecutiveness of his philosophical style. His +complaint of 'the poverty of his native tongue' is directed against +the capacities of the Latin language for scientific, not for poetical +expression-- + + Nunc et Anaxagorae scrutemur Homoeomerian + Quam Grai memorant nec nostra dicere lingua + Concedit nobis patrii sermonis egestas[41]. + +That language, which gives admirable expression to the dictates of +common sense and to the dignified emotions which inspire the conduct +of great affairs, is ill adapted both for the expression of abstract +ideas and for maintaining a long process of connected argument. +Lucretius has occasionally to meet the first difficulty by the +adoption of Graecisms, and the second by some sacrifice of artistic +elegance. Thus he uses _omne_ for [Greek: to pan] (II. 1108), _esse_, +again, for [Greek: to einai], and the like. Something of a formal and +technical character appears in the links by which his argument is kept +together, as in the constantly recurring use of certain connecting +particles, such as the 'etenim,' 'quippe ubi,' 'quod genus,' 'amplius +hoc,' 'huc accedit,' and the like. Virgil has retained some of the +most striking of these connecting formulae, such as 'contemplator +item,' 'nonne vides,' etc.; but, as was natural in a poem setting +forth precepts and not proofs, he uses them much more sparingly and +with more careful selection. As used by Lucretius, they add to our +sense of the vividness of the book, of the constant personal address +of the author, and of his ardent polemical tone. They also keep the +framework of the argument more compact and distinct: but they bring +into greater prominence the artistic mistake of conducting an abstract +discussion in verse. The very merits of the work considered as an +argument,--its clearness, fullness, and consecutiveness,--detract from +the pleasure which a work of art naturally produces. But the style +cannot be too highly praised for its logical coherence and lucid +illustration. The meaning of Lucretius can never be mistaken from any +ambiguity in his language. There are difficulties arising from the +uncertainty of the text, difficulties also from our unfamiliarity with +his method and principles, or with the objects he describes, but +none from confusion in his ideas or his reasoning, or from a vague or +unreal use of words. + + +II.--THE SPECULATIVE IDEAS IN LUCRETIUS. + +But it is in his grasp of speculative ideas, and in his application of +them to interpret the living world, that the greatness of Lucretius as +an imaginative thinker is most apparent. The substantial truth of +all the ancient philosophies lay in the ideas which they attempted +to express and embody, not in the symbols by which these ideas +were successively represented. Lucretius has a place among the few +adventurous thinkers of antiquity who attained to high eminences +of contemplation, which were hidden from the mass of their +contemporaries, and which, in the breadth of view afforded by them, +are not far below the higher levels of our modern conceptions of +Nature and human life. And there came to him, as to the earlier race +of thinkers, that which comes so rarely to modern enquiry, the fresh +and poetical sense of surprise and keen curiosity, as at the first +discovery of a new country, or the first unfolding of some illimitable +prospect. + +(1) In the philosophy of Lucretius the world is conceived as +absolutely under the government of law. The starting-point of his +system-- + + Nullam rem e nilo gigni divinitus unquam, + +is an inference from the recognition of this condition. There is no +need to prove its truth: it is openly revealed in all the processes of +Nature. This fact of universal order is indeed supposed to result +from the eternal and immutable properties of the atoms and from the +original limitation in their varieties: but the idea of law is prior +to, and the condition of, all the principles enunciated in the first +two books, in regard to the nature and properties of matter. In no +ancient writer do we find the certainty and universality of law more +emphatically and unmistakably expressed than in Lucretius. This is +the final appeal in all controversy. The superiority of Epicurus +is proclaimed on the ground of his having discovered the fixed and +certain limitations of all existence-- + + Unde refert nobis victor quid possit oriri, + Quid nequeat, finita potestas denique cuique + Quanam sit ratione atque alte terminus haerens[42]. + +Following on his steps the poet himself professes to teach-- + + Quo quaeque creata + Foedere sint, in eo quam sit durare necessum, + Nec validas valeant aevi rescindere leges[43]. + +In another place he says-- + + Et quid quaeque queant per foedera naturai + Quid porro nequeant, sancitum quandoquidem extat[44]. + +All knowledge and speculative confidence are declared to rest on this +truth-- + + Certum ac dispositumst ubi quicquit crescat et insit[45]. + +Superstition, the great enemy of truth, is said to be the result of +ignorance of 'what may be and what may not be.' This is the thought +which underlies and gives cogency to the whole argument. The subject +of the poem is 'maiestas cognita rerum,'--the revelation of the +majesty and order of the universe. The doctrine proclaimed by +Lucretius was, that creation was no result of a capricious or +benevolent exercise of power, but of certain processes extending +through infinite time, by means of which the atoms have at length been +able to combine and work together in accordance with their ultimate +conditions. The conception of these ultimate conditions and of their +relations to one another involves some more vital agency than that +of blind chance or an iron fatalism[46]. The 'foedera naturai' +are opposed to the 'foedera fati.' The idea of law in Nature, as +understood by Lucretius, is not, necessarily, inconsistent with +that of a creative will determining the original conditions of the +elemental substances. Though the ultimate principles of Lucretius are +incompatible with a belief in the popular religions of antiquity, +his mode of conceiving the operation of law in the universe is not +irreconcileable with the conceptions of modern Theism. + +The idea of law not only supports the whole fabric of his physical +philosophy, but moulds his convictions on human life and imparts to +his poetry that contemplative elevation by which it is pervaded. It +is from this ground that he makes his most powerful assault on the +strongholds of superstition. Nature is thus declared to be free from +the arbitrary and capricious agency of the gods:-- + + Libera continuo dominis privata superbis[47]. + +Man also is under the same law, and is made free by his knowledge and +acceptance of this condition. A sense of security is thus gained for +human life; a sense of elevation above its weakness and passions, and +the courage to bear its inevitable evils[48]. This absolute reliance +on law does not act upon his mind with the depressing influence of +fatalism. Although the fortunes of life and the phases of individual +character are said to be the results of the infinite combinations +of blind atoms, yet man is made free by knowledge and the use of +his reason. Notwithstanding the original constitution of his nature, +arising out of influences over which there is no control, he still has +it in his power to live a life worthy of the gods:-- + + Illud in his rebus videor firmare potesse, + Usque adeo naturarum vestigia linqui + Parvola, quae nequeat ratio depellere nobis + Ut nil inpediat dignam dis degere vitam[49]. + +From these high places of his philosophy,--'the "templa serena" +well-bulwarked by the learning of the wise'[50] he derives not only a +sense of certainty in thought and security in life, but also his wide +contemplative view, and his profound feeling of the majesty of the +universe. The idea of universal law enables him to apprehend in +all the processes of Nature a presence which awakens reverence and +enforces obedience. This idea imparts unity of tone to the whole poem, +informs its language, and seems to mould the very rhythm of its verse. + +(2) But a closer view brings another aspect of the world into light; +viz. the interdependence of all things on one another. There is not +only fixed order, but there is also infinite mobility in Nature. The +sum of all things remains unchanged, though all individual existences +decay and perish. So too the sum of force remains the same[51]. There +is no rest anywhere; all things are continually changing and passing +into one another; decay and renovation form the very life and being +of all things. Nothing is ever lost. 'Nature repairs one thing from +another, and allows of no birth except through the death of something +else':-- + + Haud igitur penitus pereunt quaecumque videntur, + Quando alid ex alio reficit natura nec ullam + Rem gigni patitur nisi morte adiuta aliena[52]? + +As the 'ever-during peace' at the heart of all things is supposed to +result from the eternal and immutable properties of the atoms, this +'endless agitation' arises out of their unceasing motion through +infinite space. There are two kinds of motion,--the one tending to the +renewal,--the other, to the destruction of things as they now exist. +The maintenance of our whole system depends on the equilibrium of +these opposing forces-- + + Sic aequo geritur certamine principiorum + Ex infinito contractum tempore bellum[53]. + +There is thus seen to be not only absolute order, but also infinite +change in the processes of Nature. Decay and renovation, death +and life, support the existing creation in unceasing harmony. The +imagination represents this process under the impressive symbol of +an endless battle, in which now one side now the other gains some +position, but neither, as yet, can become master of the field-- + + Nunc hinc nunc illic superant vitalia rerum, + Et superantur item[54]. + +This symbol is the poetical form of the old philosophical distinction +of [Greek: auxêsis] and [Greek: phthora]. It is another form of +the [Greek: eris] and [Greek: philia] which to the imagination of +Empedocles appeared to pervade the universe. The idea of a constant +battle imparts to the infinite and all-pervading movement of Nature +the interest and the life of human passion on the grandest and widest +sphere of action. The greatness of the thought makes each particular +object in Nature pregnant with a deeper meaning, associates trivial +and ordinary phenomena with a sense of imaginative wonder, and throws +an august solemnity around the familiar aspects of human life. The +passage in which this principle is most powerfully announced at ii. +575, etc., swells into deeper and grander tones, as the real human +pathos involved in this strife of elements is made manifest. This +struggle of life and decay is no mere war of abstractions: it is +the daily and hourly process of existence. Birth and death are the +fulfilment of this law. 'The old order changeth, yielding place to +new'-- + + Cedit enim rerum novitate extrusa vetustas[55]. + +'New nations wax strong, while the old are waning away; the +generations of living things are changed within a brief space, and, +like the runners in a race, pass on the torch of life'-- + + Augescunt aliae gentes, aliae minuuntur, + Inque brevi spatio mutantur saecla animantum + Et quasi cursores vitai lampada tradunt[56]. + +Man also must resign himself to the universal law, and accept his life +not as a thing to be possessed for ever, but only to be used for a +time-- + + Sic alid ex alio numquam desistet oriri + Vitaque mancipio nulli datur, omnibus usu[57]. + +Under this law of universal decay and restoration, we see the rains of +heaven lost in the earth, but passing into new life in the fruits from +which all living things are supported-- + + Hinc alitur porro nostrum genus atque ferarum, + Hinc laetas urbes pueris florere videmus, + Frondiferasque novis avibus canere undique silvas[58]. + +Or we see the waters of a river lost in the sea and returning through +the earth to their original source, and again flowing in a fresh +stream along the channel first formed for them-- + + Inde super terras fluit agmine dulci + Qua via secta semel liquido pede detulit undas[59]. + +Under the same law the earth is seen to be the parent of all things +and their tomb (v. 259); the sea, which loses its substance through +evaporation and the subsidence of its waters, is found to be ever +renewed by its native sources and the abundant tribute of rivers (v. +267; i. 231; vi. 608); the air is ever giving away and receiving back +its substance; the sun ('liquidi fons luminis'), moon, and stars, +are ever losing and ever renewing their light. The day on which the +'long-sustained mass and fabric of the world' will pass away, leaving +only void space and the viewless atoms, is destined to come suddenly +through the termination of this long balanced warfare:-- + + Denique tantopere inter se cum maxima mundi + Pugnent membra, pio nequaquam concita bello, + Nonne vides aliquam longi certaminis ollis + Posse dari finem? vel cum sol et vapor omnis + Omnibus epotis umoribus exsuperarint; + Quod facere intendunt, neque adhuc conata patrantur[60]. + +(3) It is to be observed, also, how vividly Lucretius realises and +how steadfastly he keeps before his mind the ideas of the eternity +and infinity of the primordial atoms and of space. These conceptions +support him in his antagonism to the popular religion, and deepen the +feeling with which he contemplates human life and Nature. Our world +of earth, sea, and sky is only one among infinite other systems. It +stands to the universe in much the same proportion as any single man +to the whole earth-- + + Et videas caelum summai totius unum + Quam sit parvula pars et quam multesima constet + Nec tota pars, homo terrai quota totius unus[61]. + +It was the glory of Epicurus that he first passed beyond the empyrean +that bounds our world-- + + Atque omne immensum peragravit mente animoque[62]. + +The immensity of the universe is incompatible with the constant agency +and interference of the gods,-- + + Quis regere immensi summam, quis habere profundi + Indu manu validas potis est moderanter habenas[63]. + +This negative idea is, at least, a step in advance towards a higher +conception of the attributes of Deity. The infinity and complexity of +the universe protest against the limited and divided powers, as the +natural feelings of human nature protest against the moral qualities +attributed to the gods of the Pagan mythology. + +The power of these conceptions is also seen in the poet's deep sense +of the littleness of human life. Such pathetic expressions of the +shortness and triviality of each man's mortal span, as that,-- + + Degitur hoc aevi quodcumquest[64], + +are called forth by the ever-present thought of the Infinite and the +Eternal. But this thought, if associated with a feeling of the pathos +of human life does not lead Lucretius into cynicism or despair. +It rather elevates him and fortifies him to suppress all personal +complaint in the presence of ideas so stupendous. His imagination +expands in contemplating the objects either of thought or of sight, +which produce the impression of immensity,--such as the vast expanse +of earth, sea and sky,--or of great duration,--such as the 'aeterni +sidera mundi' or the 'validas aevi vires.' Thus, as much of the +majesty of his poetry may be connected with his contemplative sense +of law, much of its pervading life with his sense of the mobility of +Nature, so the sublimity of many passages may be resolved into the +influence of the ideas of immensity, both of time and space, on his +imagination. + +(4) Another aspect of things vividly realised by Lucretius is that of +their individuality. It was in the atomic philosophy, that the thought +of 'the individual' first rose into prominence. The meaning of +the word 'atom' is simply 'individual.' The sense of each separate +existence is not merged in the conception of law, of change, or of the +immensity of the universe. The atoms are not only infinite in +number, they are also varied in kind and powerful in solid +singleness,--'solida pollentia simplicitate.' From their variety and +individuality the variety and individuality in Nature emerge. No two +classes and no two single objects are exactly alike. Between any +two of the birds that gladden the sea-shore, the river banks, or the +woods, there is some difference in outward appearance-- + + Invenies tamen inter se differre figuris[65]. + +Each individual of a flock is different from every other, and by this +difference only can the mother recognise her offspring. This sense of +individuality intensifies the pathos of many passages in the poem. +By regarding each being as having an existence of its own, the poet +enters with sympathy into the feelings of all sentient existence,--of +dumb animals as well as of human creatures. The freshness and +distinctness of all his pictures from Nature are the result of an eye +trained by his philosophy to see each thing not only as part of the +universal life, but as existing in and for itself. + +(5) The thought, also, of the infinite subtlety of combination in the +elements and forces of the world acts powerfully on his imagination. +The individuality of things depends on the fact that no two are +composed of exactly the same elements, combined in the same way. The +infinity of the elements, the immensity of the spaces in which they +meet, and the infinite possibilities in their modes of combination +result in the endless variety of beauty and wonder which the world +presents to the eye. The epithet 'daedala,' by which this subtlety +is expressed is applied not only to Nature, but to the earth as the +sphere in which the elements are most largely mixed, and the +creative forces most powerfully active. The varied loveliness of +the world,--the 'varii lepores,' by which the eye is gratified and +relieved,--are the result of the variety in the elements and the +infinite subtlety in their modes of combination. Their invisibility +and inscrutable action enhance the imaginative sense of the power and +beauty resulting from these causes. + +(6) The abstract properties of the atoms, discussed in the first two +books, so far from being arbitrary assumptions, without any relation +to actual existence, are thus found to be the conditions which explain +the order, life, immensity, individuality, and subtlety manifested in +the universe. These conceptions, which bridge the chasm between the +particles of lifeless matter and the living world, unite in the +more general conception of Nature. What then is involved in this +conception--the dominant conception of the poem in its philosophical +as well as its imaginative aspects? Something more than the subsidiary +conceptions mentioned above. There is, in the first place, all that +is involved in the unity of an organic whole. But to this whole the +imagination of the poet seems, in some passages, to attach attributes +scarcely reconcileable with the mechanical principles of his +philosophy. In emancipating himself from the religious traditions of +antiquity, Lucretius did not altogether escape from the power of an +idea, so deeply rooted in the thought of past ages, as to seem to +be an integral element of human consciousness. It is against the +limitations which the ancient mythology imposed on the idea of Divine +agency, rather than against the idea itself, as it is understood in +modern times, that his philosophy protests. To Nature his imagination +attributes not only life, but creative and regulative power. There +would be more truth in calling this conception pantheistic than +atheistic. But the sense of will, freedom, individual life, is so +strong in Lucretius, that we think of the 'natura daedala rerum' +rather as a personal power, with attributes in some respects analogous +to those of man, than as a being in whose existence all other life is +merged. Though this figurative attribution of personal qualities to +great natural forces cannot be pressed as evidence of philosophical +belief, yet as it shows, on the one hand, an unconscious survival of +the state of mind which gave birth to mythology, so it seems to be +the unconscious awakening of a spiritual conception of a creative and +sustaining power in the universe. + +This new and more vital conception which supersedes the old +mythological modes of thought is not altogether independent of them. +Lucretius still interprets the world by analogies and illustrations +which attach personal attributes to different phases and forces of +Nature. Thus he speaks of Aether as the fructifying father, of Earth +as the great mother of all living things. But the survival of the +mythological conception of the universe, blended indeed with other +modes of imaginative thought, appears most conspicuously in the famous +invocation to the poem,-- + + Aeneadum genetrix, hominum divomque voluptas, + Alma Venus. + +The mysterious power there addressed is identified with the Alma +Venus of Italian worship,--the abstract conception of the life-giving +impulse, the operations of which are most visible in the new birth +of the early spring,--and with the Aphrodite of Greek art and +poetry,--the concrete and passionate conception of the beauty and +charm which most fascinate the senses. But if nothing more was meant +in the opening lines of the poem than a fanciful appeal to one of the +Deities of the popular belief, it might with justice be said that some +of the finest poetry in Lucretius directly contradicted his sincerest +convictions. But the language in which she is addressed clearly +proves that the 'Alma Venus' of the invocation is not an independent +capricious power, separate from the orderly action of Nature. She is +emphatically addressed as a Power, present through all the world,-- + + Caeli subter labentia signa + Quae mare navigerum quae terras frugiferentis + Concelebras. + +She is not only omnipresent, but all-creative,-- + + Per te quoniam genus omne animantum + Concipitur,-- + +and all-regulative-- + + Quae quoniam rerum naturam sola gubernas, etc. + +Thus under the name, and with some of the attributes of the Goddess of +Mythology, the genial force of Nature,--'Natura Naturans' as distinct +from the 'rerum summa,' or 'Natura Naturata,'--is apprehended as a +living, all-pervading energy, the cause of all life, joy, beauty, and +order in the world, the cause too of all grace and accomplishment in +man. To this mysterious Power, from which all joy and loveliness are +silently emanating, the poet, (remembering at the same time that the +friend to whom he dedicates his poem claims especially to be under +the protection of that Goddess with whom she is identified), prays for +inspiration,-- + + Quo magis aeternum da dictis, diva, leporem[66]. + +Here, as in earlier invocations of the Muse, there is a recognition +of the truth that the feeling, the imagery, and the words of the poet +come to him in a way which he does not understand,-- + + [Greek: hêmeis de kleos oion akouomen, oude ti idmen,]-- + +and by the gift of a Power which he cannot command. Like Goethe, +Lucretius seems to feel that his thoughts and feelings pass into form +and musical expression under the influence of the same vital movement +which in early spring fills the world with new life and beauty. +But still true to his philosophy, and remembering the Empedoclean +thought[67], which recurs with impressive solemnity in his argument, +that this life-giving energy is inseparably united with a destructive +energy, and seeing at the same time before his imagination the figures +and colouring of some great masterpiece of Greek art, he embodies his +conception in a passionately wrought picture of the loves of Aphrodite +and Ares, and concludes with a prayer that the gracious Power whom +he invokes would prevail on the fierce God of War to grant a time of +peace to his country. + +If to regard this passage as merely an artistic ornament of the poem +would be unjust to the sincerity of Lucretius as a thinker, to regard +it merely as a piece of elaborate symbolism would be still more +unjust to his genius as a poet. It is a truth both of thought and of +imaginative feeling that there is a pervading and puissant energy in +the world, manifesting itself most powerfully in animate and inanimate +creation, when the deadness of winter gives place to the genial warmth +of spring,-- + + Tibi rident aequora ponti + Placatumque nitet diffuso lumine caelum;-- + +manifesting itself also in the human spirit in the form of genius, +calling into life new feelings and fancies of the poet, and shaping +them into forms of imperishable beauty. Whether consistently or +inconsistently with the ultimate tenets of his philosophy, the poet, +in this invocation, seems to recognise, behind these manifestations of +unconscious energy, the presence of a conscious Being with which his +own spirit can hold communion, and from which it draws inspiration. +With similar inconsistency or consistency a modern physicist speaks +of 'the impression of joy given in the unfolding of leaf and the +spreading of plant as irresistibly suggesting the thought of a great +Being conscious of this joy.' + +But this puissant and joy-giving energy, personified in the 'Alma +Venus genetrix,' is only one of the aspects which the 'Natura daedala +rerum' of Lucretius presents to man. She seems to stand to him +rather in the position of a task-mistress than of a beneficent +Being, ministering to his wants. The Gods receive all things from her +bounty,-- + + Omnia suppeditat porro Natura,[68]-- + +and the lower animals who 'wage no foolish strife with her' have their +wants also abundantly satisfied:-- + + Quando omnibus omnia large + Tellus ipsa parit Naturaque daedala rerum[69]. + +But to man she is the cause of evil as well as of good; of shipwrecks, +earthquakes, pestilence, and untimely death, as well as of all beauty +and delight. Sometimes he seems to hear her speaking to him in the +tones of stern reproof,-- + + Denique si vocem rerum Natura repente, etc.[70] + +Again he sees her rising up before him like the old Nemesis of Greek +religion, and trampling with secret irony on the pride and pomp of +human affairs,-- + + Usque adeo res humanas vis abdita quaedam + Opterit et pulchros fascis saevasque secures + Proculcare ac ludibrio sibi habere videtur[71]. + +It is this large conception of Nature which seems to bring the +abstract doctrines of Lucretius into harmony with his poetical +feelings and his human sensibilities. The poetry of the living +world is thus breathed into the dry bones of the Atomic system of +Democritus. The unity which the mind strains to grasp in contemplating +the universe is thus made compatible with the perception of individual +life in everything. The pathos and dignity of human life are enhanced +by the recognition of our dependence on this great Power above and +around us. The contemplation of this Power affects the imagination +with a sense of awe, wonder, and majesty. But with this contemplative +emotion a still deeper feeling seems to mingle. Throughout the poem +there is heard a deep undertone of solemnity as from one awakening +to the apprehension of a great invisible Power,--'a concealed +omnipotence,'--in the world. As the imagination of Lucretius is +immeasurably more poetical, so is his spirit immeasurably more +reverential than that of Epicurus. If by the analysis of his +understanding he seems to take all mystery and sanctity out of the +universe, he restores them again by the synthesis of his imagination. +If his work seems in some places to 'teach a truth he could not +learn,' this is to be explained partly by the fact that he sometimes +leaves the beaten road of Epicureanism for the higher and less defined +tracts,--'avia loca,'--along which the mystic enthusiasm of Empedocles +had borne him. But partly it may be explained by the fact that the +poetic imagination, which was in him the predominant faculty, asserts +its right to be heard after the logical understanding has said its +last word. The imagination which recognises infinite life and order +in the world unconsciously assumes the existence of a creative and +governing Power, behind the visible framework of things. Even the germ +of such a thought was more elevating than the popular idolatry +and superstition. The recognition of the majesty of Nature enables +Lucretius to contemplate life with a sense both of solemnity and +security, while it imparts a more elevated feeling to his enjoyment +of the beauty of the world. The belief which he taught and by which he +lived is neither atheistic nor pantheistic; it is not definite enough +to be theistic. It was like the twilight between the beliefs that were +passing away, and that which rose on the world after his time,-- + + [Greek: êmos d' out' ar pô êôs, eti d' amphilykê nyx]. + + + [Footnote 1: 'First, by reason of the greatness of my + argument, and because I set the mind free from the close-drawn + bonds of superstition; and next because, on so dark a theme, I + compose such lucid verse, touching every point with the grace + of poesy.'--i. 931-34.] + + [Footnote 2: Of Leucippus, with whose name the theory is also + associated, very little is known.] + + [Footnote 3: 'This terror of the soul, therefore, and this + darkness must be dispelled, not by the rays of the sun or the + bright shafts of day, but by the outward aspect and harmonious + plan of nature.'--i. 146-48.] + + [Footnote 4: i. 445-56.] + + [Footnote 5: 'The original atoms are, therefore, of solid + singleness, composed of the smallest particles in close and + compact union, not kept together by any meeting of these + particles, but rather powerful by their eternal singleness, + from which nature allows no loss by violence or decay, storing + them as the seeds of all things.'--i. 609-14.] + + [Footnote 6: ii. 297-302.] + + [Footnote 7: ii. 549.] + + [Footnote 8: ii. 575-76.] + + [Footnote 9: 'If we are to suppose the existence of an eternal + substance, at the basis of all things, on which the safety of + the whole universe rests, lest you find creation resolved into + nonentity.'--ii. 862-64.] + + [Footnote 10: 'So soon as the deep rest of death hath fallen + upon a man, and the mind and the life have departed from him, + there is no loss in his whole frame to be perceived, either in + appearance or in weight. Death still presents everything that + was before, except the vital sense and the warm heat.'--iii. + 211-15.] + + [Footnote 11: 'For, not only would all reason come to nought, + even life itself would immediately be overthrown, unless you + dare to trust the senses.'--iv. 507-8.] + + [Footnote 12: i. 135.] + + [Footnote 13: 'Since nothing in our body has been produced + in order that we might be able to put it to use, but what has + been produced creates its own use.'--iv. 834-35.] + + [Footnote 14: 'And love impaired their strength, and children, + by their coaxing ways, easily broke down the proud temper of + their fathers.'--v. 1017-18.] + + [Footnote 15: vi. 60-1.] + + [Footnote 16: E.g. i. 54; v. 154.] + + [Footnote 17: Macaulay.] + + [Footnote 18: E.g. i. 694.] + + [Footnote 19: iv. 478-79.] + + [Footnote 20: + + In quae corpora si nullus tibi forte videtur + Posse animi iniectus fieri, procul avius erras.--ii. 739-40.] + + [Footnote 21: 'But it is necessary that the atoms, in the + act of creation, should exercise some secret, invisible + faculty.'--i. 778-79.] + + [Footnote 22: 'Since on all sides, through all the pores + of aether, and, as it were, all round through the + breathing-places of the mighty world, a free exit and entrance + is given to the atoms.'--vi. 492-94.] + + [Footnote 23: 'As feathers, and hair, and bristles are first + formed on the limbs of beasts and the bodies of birds, so the + young earth then first bore herbs and plants, afterwards gave + birth to the generations of living things.'--v. 788-91.] + + [Footnote 24: 'So more and more, the sweat oozing from the + salt body, increased the sea and the moving watery plains by + its flow.'--v. 487-88.] + + [Footnote 25: 'Since neither its veins can support adequate + nourishment, nor does Nature supply what is needful.'--ii. + 1141-42.] + + [Footnote 26: 'For one thing will grow clear after another: + nor shall the darkness of night make thee lose thy way, before + thou seest, to the full, the furthest secrets of Nature: so + shall all things throw light one on the other.'--i. 1115-17.] + + [Footnote 27: 'Dishonouring immortal things by mortal + words.'--v. 121.] + + [Footnote 28: 'They, doubtless, became the prey and the gain + of others, unable to break through the bonds of fate by + which they were confined, until Nature caused that species to + disappear.'--v. 875-77. + + Professor Wallace (Epicureanism, p. 114) in commenting on this + passage adds, 'Of course in this there is no implication of + the peculiarly Darwinian doctrine of descent, or development + of kind from kind, with structure modified and complicated to + meet changing circumstances.'] + + [Footnote 29: iii. 327-28.] + + [Footnote 30: i. 305.] + + [Footnote 31: iv. 705.] + + [Footnote 32: 'Dogs, lightly sleeping, with faithful + heart.'--v. 864.] + + [Footnote 33: 'When from the strong torrents of Helicon the + swans raise their liquid wailing with doleful voice.'--iv. + 547-48.] + + [Footnote 34: 'As the low note of the swan is sweeter than the + cry of the cranes, far-scattered among the south-wind's skiey + clouds.'--iv. 181-82.] + + [Footnote 35: 'And gulls among the sea-waves, seeking their + food and pastime in the brine.'--v. 1079-80.] + + [Footnote 36: Od. v. 66.] + + [Footnote 37: 'And likewise, when the lithe serpent casts its + skin among the thorns; for often we notice the briers, with + their light airy spoils hanging to them.'--iv. 60-2.] + + [Footnote 38: iii. 213-15.] + + [Footnote 39: 'Consider, too, the special madness of the mind, + and forgetfulness of things; consider its sinking into the + black waves of lethargy.'--iii. 828-29.] + + [Footnote 40: 'Unbroken speech prolonged from the first light + of dawn till the shadows of the dark night.'--iv. 537-38.] + + [Footnote 41: 'Now, too, let us examine the "Homoeomeria" of + Anaxagoras, as the Greeks call it, though the poverty of + our native speech does not admit of its being named in our + language.'--i. 830-33.] + + [Footnote 42: 'Whence returning victorious he brings back to + us tidings of what may and what may not come into existence: + on what principle, in fine, the power of each thing is + determined and the deeply-fixed limit of its being.'--i. + 75-77.] + + [Footnote 43: 'According to what condition all things have + been created, what necessity there is that they abide by it, + and how they may not annul the mighty laws of the ages.'--v. + 56-58.] + + [Footnote 44: 'Since it is absolutely decreed, what each thing + can and what it cannot do by the conditions of nature.'--i. + 586.] + + [Footnote 45: 'It is fixed and ordered where each thing may + grow and exist.'--iii. 787.] + + [Footnote 46: ii. 254.] + + [Footnote 47: ii. 1091.] + + [Footnote 48: vi. 32.] + + [Footnote 49: 'This, in these circumstances, I think I can + establish, that such faint traces of our native elements are + left beyond the powers of our reason to dispel, that nothing + prevents us from leading a life worthy of the gods.'--iii. + 319-22.] + + [Footnote 50: ii. 8.] + + [Footnote 51: ii. 297-99.] + + [Footnote 52: i. 262-64.] + + [Footnote 53: ii. 573-74.] + + [Footnote 54: ii. 575-76.] + + [Footnote 55: iii. 964.] + + [Footnote 56: ii. 77-79.] + + [Footnote 57: 'So one thing shall never cease being born from + another, and life is given to no man as a possession, to all + for use.'--iii. 970-71.] + + [Footnote 58: 'Hence, moreover, the race of man and the beasts + of the forest are fed; hence we see cities glad with the + flower of their children, and the leafy woods on all sides + loud with the song of young birds.'--i. 254-56.] + + [Footnote 59: v. 271-72.] + + [Footnote 60: 'Finally, since the vast members of the world, + engaged in no holy warfare, so mightily contend with one + another, see'st thou not that some end may be assigned to + their long conflict, either when the sun and every mode of + heat, having drunk up all the moisture, shall have gained + the day, which they are ever tending to do but do not yet + accomplish?' etc.--v. 380-85.] + + [Footnote 61: 'And that you may see how very small a part one + firmament is of the whole sum of things, how small a fraction + it is, not even so much in proportion as a single man is to + the whole earth.'--vi. 650-52.] + + [Footnote 62: 'And traversed the whole boundless region of + space, in mind and spirit.'--i. 74.] + + [Footnote 63: 'Who can order the infinite mass? who can hold + with a guiding hand the mighty reins of immensity?'--ii. + 1095-96.] + + [Footnote 64: ii. 16.] + + [Footnote 65: ii. 348.] + + [Footnote 66: i. 28.] + + [Footnote 67: Lucretius, in other places where he introduces + pictures or stories from the ancient mythology, as at ii. + 600, etc., iii. 978, etc., iv. 584, etc., treats them as + symbolising some facts of Nature or human life. Occasionally, + as at v. 14, etc., he deals with them in the spirit of + Euhemerism. He never uses them, as Virgil, Horace, and Ovid + do, merely as materials for artistic representation.] + + [Footnote 68: iii. 23.] + + [Footnote 69: v. 233-4.] + + [Footnote 70: ii. 931, etc.] + + [Footnote 71: v. 1233-5.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +THE RELIGIOUS ATTITUDE AND MORAL TEACHING OF LUCRETIUS. + + +Lucretius does not enforce his moral teaching on the systematic plan +on which his physical philosophy is discussed. His view of human +life is sometimes presented as it arises in the regular course of the +argument, at other times in highly finished digressions, interspersed +throughout the work with the view apparently of breaking its severe +monotony. These passages might be compared to the lyrical odes in a +Greek drama. They afford relief to the strained attention, and suggest +the close and permanent human interest involved in what is apparently +special, abstract, and remote. There is no necessary connexion between +the atomic theory of philosophy, and that view of the end and objects +of life which Lucretius derived from Epicurus. Although the moral +attitude of Epicurus was, in some respects, anticipated by Democritus, +Epicureanism really started from independent sources, viz. from the +later development of the ethical teaching of Socrates, and from the +personal circumstances and disposition of Epicurus. By the ordinary +Epicurean his philosophy was valued chiefly as affording a basis +for the denial of the doctrines of Divine Providence and of the +immortality of the soul. But there is a wide difference between +ordinary Epicureanism and that solemn view of human life which was +revealed to the world in the poem of Lucretius. The power which his +speculative philosophy exercised over his mind was one cause of this +difference. Although there is no necessary connexion between his +philosophical convictions and his ethical doctrines, yet the elevation +of feeling which he has imparted to the least elevated of all the +moral systems of antiquity may be in part accounted for by the +influence of ideas derived from the philosophy of Democritus. + +Epicureanism, in its original form, was the expression of a character +as unlike as possible to that of Lucretius. It arose in a state of +society and under circumstances widely different from the social and +political condition of the last phase of the Roman Republic. It was a +doctrine suited to the easy social life which succeeded to the great +political career, the energetic ambition, and the creative genius +which ennobled the great age of Athenian liberty. It was essentially +the philosophy of the [Greek: rheia zôontes], who found in refined and +regulated pleasure, in friendliness and sociability, a compensation +for the loss of political existence, and of the sacred associations +and ideal glories of their ancestral religion. Human life, stripped +of its solemn meaning and high practical interest, was supposed to +be understood and realised, and brought under the control of a +comfortable and intelligible philosophy. Pleasure was the obvious +end of existence; the highest aim of knowledge was to ascertain the +conditions under which most enjoyment could be secured; the triumph of +the will was to conform to these conditions. All violent emotion, +all care and anxiety, whatever impaired the capacity of enjoyment +or fostered artificial desire, was to be controlled or resisted, as +inimical to the tranquillity of the soul. The philosophers of the +garden taught and acted on the practical truth, that pleasure depended +on the mind more than on external things; that a simple life tended +more to happiness than luxury[1]; that excess of every kind was +followed by reaction. They inculcated political quiescence as well as +the abnegation of personal ambition. As death was 'the end of all,' +life was to be temperately enjoyed while it lasted, and resigned when +necessary, with cheerful composure. + +Such a philosophy would scarcely be thought capable of having given +birth to any form of serious and elevated poetry. Its natural fruit +was the refined, cheerful, and witty new comedy of Athens. Yet the +genius of Lucretius and of Horace expressed these doctrines in tones +of dignity and beauty, which have been denied to more ennobling +truths. The philosophy of pleasure thus makes its appeal to the +poetical susceptibility, as well as to the ordinary temperament of +men. It might have been thought also that no philosophy would have +been less attractive to the dignity of the nobler type, or to the +coarser texture of the common type of Roman character. Yet among the +Romans of the last age of the Republic, Epicureanism was a formidable +rival to the more congenial system of Stoicism, and was professed by +men of pure character and intellectual tastes as well as by men like +the Piso Caesoninus, of whom both Cicero and Catullus have left so +unflattering a portrait. These two systems, although antagonistic +in their view and aim, yet had this common adaptation to the Roman +character, that they held out a definite plan of life, and laid down +precepts by which that life might be attained. The strength of will +and singleness of aim, characteristic of the Romans, their love of +rule and impatience of speculative suspense, inclined and enabled +them to embrace the teaching of those schools whose tenets were most +definite and most readily applicable to human conduct. To a Greek +philosopher the interest of conforming his life to any system arose in +a great measure from the freedom and exercise thereby afforded to +his intellect. Thus Epicurus, in denying the power of luxury to give +happiness, says,--'These are not the things which form the life of +pleasure,'--'[Greek: alla nêphôn logismos kai tas aitias exereunôn +pasês haireseôs kai phygês, kai tas doxas exelaunôn, aph' hôn pleistos +tas psychas katalambanei thorybos][2].' To a Roman, on the other hand, +such a scheme of life was recommended by the new power which was thus +imparted to the will. Greek philosophy has sometimes been reproached +as the cause of the corruption of Roman character and the decay of +Roman religion. But it would be more true to say that, to the higher +natures at least, philosophy supplied the place of the ancient +principles of duty, which had long since decayed with the decay of +patriotism and religion. The idea of regulating life by an ideal +standard afforded a broader aim and a more humane and liberal sphere +of action to that self-control and constancy of will, out of which, +in combination with absolute devotion to the State, the ancient Roman +virtue had been formed. But still it is true that the principles of +Epicureanism were difficult to reconcile with some of the conditions, +both good and bad, of Roman character. While fostering the humaner +feelings and more social tastes, and so softening the primitive +rudeness and austerity, these doctrines tended to discourage national +and political spirit, by withdrawing the energies of the will from +outward activity to the regulation of the inner life. The attitude +both of Stoicism and Epicureanism was one of resistance on the part +of the will to outward influences;--the one system striving to attain +entire independence of circumstances, the other to regulate life in +accordance with them, so as to secure the utmost positive enjoyment, +and the utmost exemption from pain. The political passions of the +last age of the Republic inclined men of thought and leisure to that +philosophy which seemed best fitted to meet and satisfy-- + + 'The longing for confirmed tranquillity + Inward and outward.' + +But while Epicureanism was a natural refuge from the passions of a +revolutionary era, Stoicism was a fortress of inward strength to the +few who, at the fall of the Republic, resisted the manifest tendency +of things, and, in a later age, to those who strove to maintain the +dignity of Roman citizens under the degradation of the early Empire. + +But the profession of Epicureanism, in the last age of the Republic, +was not confined to men like Atticus and Lucretius who stood aloof +from public life. The existence of Cassius, who acted and suffered +for the same cause as the Stoic Cato, shows that political apathy, +although theoretically required by this philosophy, was not essential +to a Roman Epicurean. Lucretius, though animated by an ardent spirit +of proselytism, does not desire that Memmius should forget his duties +as a citizen and statesman. The denial of the Divine interference in +human affairs and of the doctrine of a future state was the essential +bond of agreement among the adherents of Epicureanism. The religious +unsettlement of the age assumed in them a positive form. They were the +Sadducees of Rome, who escaped from the perplexity as well as from +the most elevating influences of life, by moulding their feelings +and conduct on the firm conviction, that while man was master of his +happiness in this world, he had nothing either to hope or fear after +death. + +It seems a strange result of the moral confusion of that time to find +the enthusiasm of Lucretius springing from this denial of what from +the days of Plato have been regarded as the highest hopes of mankind. +No writer of antiquity was more profoundly impressed by the serious +import and mystery of life. Yet he appears as the unhesitating +advocate of all the tenets of this philosophy, and denies the +foundations of religious belief with a zeal more like religious +earnestness than the spirit of any other writer of antiquity. Without +conscious deviation from the teaching of his master, he reproduces +the calm unimpassioned doctrines of Epicurus, in a new type,--earnest, +austere, and ennobled; enforcing them not for the sake of ease or for +the love of pleasure, but in the cause of truth and human dignity. +Pleasure is indeed recognised by him as the universal law or condition +of existence--'dux vitae dia voluptas,'--the great instrument of +Nature through which all life is created and maintained. But the real +object of his teaching is to obtain not active pleasure, but peace and +a 'pure heart.' 'For life,' he says, 'may go on without corn or wine, +but not without a pure heart-- + + At bene non poterat sine puro pectore vivi. + +All that Nature craves is that the body should be free from actual +pain, and that the mind, undisturbed by fear and anxiety, should be +open to the influence of natural enjoyment--' + + Nonne videre + Nil aliud sibi naturam latrare, nisi ut, cui + Corpore seiunctus dolor absit, mente fruatur + Iucundo sensu cura semotu' metuque[3]? + +Although in different places he indicates a genuine appreciation of +the charms of art,--in the form of music, paintings, statues, +etc.,--yet he expresses or implies an independence of all the +adventitious stimulants to enjoyment. The only needful pleasure is +that which Nature herself bestows on a mind free from care, passion, +violent emotion, restless discontent, and slothful apathy. + +Although no new principle or maxim of conduct appears in his teaching, +the view of human life presented by Lucretius was really something new +in the world. A strong and deep flood of serious thought and +feeling was for the first time poured into the shallow channel of +Epicureanism. The spirit in which Lucretius contemplated the world +was different from that of any other man of antiquity; especially +different from that of his master in philosophy. To the one human +life was a pleasant sojourn, which should be temperately enjoyed and +gracefully terminated at the appointed time: to the other it was the +more sombre and tragic side of the august spectacle which all Nature +presents to the contemplative mind. Moderation in enjoyment was the +practical lesson of the one: fortitude and renunciation were the +demands which the other made of all who would live worthily. + +This difference in the spirit, rather than the letter, of their +philosophy is to be attributed in some degree to this, that Lucretius +was a Roman of the antique type of Ennius, born with the passionate +heart of a poet, and inheriting the resolute endurance of the great +patrician families. Partly too, as was said before, the effect of the +speculative philosophy which he embraced was to deepen and strengthen +that mood of imaginative contemplation, which he shares, not with any +of his countrymen, but with a few great thinkers of the world. It +is his philosophical enthusiasm which distinguishes the teaching of +Lucretius from the meditative and practical wisdom which has made +Horace the favourite Epicurean teacher and companion of modern times. +Partly too, as was said in a former chapter, this new aspect of +Epicureanism in Lucretius may be attributed to the reaction of his +nature from the confusion of the times in which he lived. + +It is not indeed possible to learn whether the passions of his age +first drove him to Epicureanism, or whether the doctrines of that +philosophy, adopted on speculative grounds, may not rather have led +him to regard his age in the spirit of contemplative isolation, which +he has described in the well-known passage-- + + Suave, mari magno turbantibus aequora ventis, etc. + +His philosophy may have been forced on him by personal experience, or +the intimations of experience may have assumed their form and colour +from the nature of his philosophy. But the memories of his youth and +the experience of things witnessed in his manhood did undoubtedly +colour all his thoughts and feelings on human life. Some of the +forms of evil against which he contends had never been so prominently +displayed before. Yet all these considerations afford only a partial +explanation of the character of his practical philosophy. There were +other Roman Epicureans, contemporary with him and later, and none are +known to have been in any way like him. Although his nature was made +of the strong Roman fibre; although his mind had been deeply imbued +with the spirit of Greek philosophy; although his view of life +was necessarily coloured by the action of his times; yet all these +considerations go but a little way to explain his attitude of mind +and the work which he accomplished in the world. Over all these +considerations this predominates, that he was a man of great original +and individual force, and one who in power and sincerity of thought +and feeling rose higher than any other above the level of his age and +country. + +The moral teaching of the poem was rather an active protest against +various forms of evil than the proclamation of a positive good. The +happiness which the philosophic life promised is described in vague +outline, like the delineation given of the calm and passionless +existence of the Gods. Epicureanism appears here in antagonism to +the prejudice and ignorance, the weakness and the passions of human +nature, rather than in its hold of any positive good. Hence it is that +the tones of Lucretius might in many places be mistaken for those of +a Stoic rather than an Epicurean. In their resistance to the common +forms of evil these systems were at one. Perhaps, too, in the positive +good at which he aimed, the spirit of Lucretius was more that of +a Stoic than he imagined. His sense of human dignity was much more +powerful than his regard for human enjoyment. Yet his philosophy +enabled him, along with the strength of Stoicism, to cherish humaner +sympathies. While his earnest temper, his scorn of weakness, his +superiority to pleasure were in harmony with the militant rather than +the quiescent attitude of each of these philosophies, his humanity and +tenderness of feeling and the enjoyment which he derived from Nature +and art were more in harmony with the better side of Epicureanism than +with the formal teaching of the Porch. + +The evils of life, for the cure of which Lucretius considers his +philosophy available, appeared to him to spring not out of man's +relation to Nature, but out of the weakness of his reason and the +corruption of his heart. The great service of Epicurus consisted not +only in revealing the laws of Nature, but in laying his finger on the +secret cause of man's unhappiness. Observing the insufficiency of all +external goods to bestow peace and contentment, he saw that the evil +lay in the vessel into which these blessings were poured:-- + + Intellegit ibi vitium vas efficere ipsum + Omniaque illius vitio corrumpier intus, + Quae conlata foris et commoda cumque venirent; + Partim quod fluxum pertusumque esse videbat, + Ut nulla posset ratione explerier umquam; + Partim quod taetro quasi conspurcare sapore + Omnia cernebat, quaecumque receperat, intus[4]. + +The evils which vitiate our happiness are the cowardice which dares +not accept the blessings of life, the weakness which repines at what +is inevitable, the restless desires which cannot enjoy the present and +crave for what is beyond their reach, the apathy and insensibility to +natural enjoyment, which are the necessary consequence of luxurious +indulgence. Thus the aim of his moral teaching was to purify the +heart from superstition, from the fear of death, from the passions of +ambition and of love, from all artificial pleasures and desires. + +The greatest of these evils and the mainspring of all human misery +is superstition. It is this which surrounds life with the gloom of +death-- + + Omnia suffundens mortis nigrore[5]. + +Against the arbitrary and cruel power, supposed to be exercised by the +Gods, Lucretius proclaimed internecine war. The fear of this power is +denounced, not as a restraint on natural inclination, but as a base +and intolerable burden, degrading life, confounding all genuine +feeling, corrupting our ideas of what is holiest and most divine. The +pathetic story of the sacrifice of Iphigenia is told to enforce the +antagonism between the exactions of religious belief and the most +sacred human affections. Every line of the poem is indirectly a +protest against the religious errors of antiquity. At occasional +intervals this protest is directly uttered, sometimes with indignant +irony, at other times with the profoundest pathos. The first feeling +breaks forth in the passage at vi. 380, etc., where he argues against +the fancies which attribute thunder to the capricious anger of the +Gods. 'Why is it,' he asks, 'that the bolts pass over the guilty and +often strike the innocent? Why are they idly spent on desert places? +Is this done by the Gods merely in the way of practice and exercise +for their arms? Why is it that Jupiter never hurls his bolts in a +clear sky? Does he descend into the clouds in order that his aim may +be surer? Why does he cast his bolts into the sea? What charge has he +against the waves and the waste of waters? + + Quid undas + Arguit et liquidam molem camposque natantis[6]? + +Why is it that he often destroys and disfigures his own temples and +images?' + +Elsewhere, however, he is moved by a feeling deeper than scorn,--a +feeling of true reverence, springing from a high ideal of the attitude +which it became man to maintain in presence of a superior nature. +There is no passage in the poem in which he speaks more from the +depths of his heart than in the lines-- + + O genus infelix humanum, talia divis + Cum tribuit facta atque iras adiunxit acerbas! + Quantos tum gemitus ipsi sibi, quantaque nobis + Volnera, quas lacrimas peperere minoribu' nostris! + Nec pietas ullast velatum saepe videri + Vertier ad lapidem atque omnis accedere ad aras + Nec procumbere humi prostratum et pandere palmas + Ante deum delubra nec aras sanguine multo + Spargere quadrupedum nec votis nectere vota, + Sed mage pacata posse omnia mente tueri[7]. + +The terrors of the popular mythology are denounced as a violation +of the majesty of the Gods, as well as the cause of infinite evil +to ourselves,--not indeed because any thought or act of ours has +the power to rouse the Divine anger, but from the effect that these +feelings have on our own minds. 'No longer can we approach the +temples of the Gods with a quiet heart, nor receive into our minds the +intimations of the Divine nature in peace'-- + + Nec delubra deum placido cum pectore adibis, + Nec de corpore quae sancto simulacra feruntur + In mentes hominum divinae nuntia formae + Suscipere haec animi tranquilla pace valebis[8]. + +This passage and others in the poem imply that Lucretius both +believed in the existence of Gods, and conceived of them as revealing +themselves through direct impressions to the mind of man, and filling +it with solemn awe and peace. But the account which he gives of their +eternal existence is vague and poetical, and might almost be regarded +as a symbolical expression of what seemed to him most holy and divine +in man. The highest aim of man is to 'lead a life worthy of the Gods': +the essential attribute of the divine life is 'peace.' The Gods are +said to consist of the finest and purest essence, to be exempt from +death, decay, and wasting passions, to be supplied with all things +by the liberal bounty of Nature, and to dwell for ever in untroubled +serenity above the darkness and the storms of our world. Their abode +in the spaces betwixt different worlds--(the 'intermundia' as they are +called by Cicero),--is described in words almost literally translated +from the description of the Heaven of the Odyssey-- + + Apparet divum numen sedesque quietae + Quas neque concutiunt venti nec nubila nimbis + Aspergunt neque nix acri concreta pruina + Cana cadens violat semperque innubilus aether + Integit, et large diffuso lumine rident[9]. + +They reveal themselves to man in dreams and waking visions by +images of ampler size and more august aspect than that of our mortal +condition. Fear and ignorance have assigned to these unchanging forms +the functions of creating and governing the world, and out of this +fear have arisen all over the earth temples and altars, along with +the festivals and the solemn rites of superstition. But the Gods are +neither the arbitrary tyrants nor the beneficent guardians of the +world. Why should they have done anything for the benefit of man? +How can he add to or detract from their eternal happiness? Shall +we suppose them weary of their existence, and infected with a human +passion for change?-- + + At, credo, in tenebris vita ac maerore iacebat, + Donec diluxit rerum genitalis origo. + +Whence could they have obtained the idea of creation, whence gathered +the secret powers of matter-- + + Si non ipsa dedit specimen natura creandi? + +Against the old argument from final causes he opposes that drawn +from the imperfections of the world, such as the waste of Nature's +resources on vast tracts of mountain and forest, on desolate marshes, +rocks, and seas,--the enmity to man of other occupants of the +earth,--the malign influences of climate and the seasons,--the +feebleness of infancy,--the devastations of disease,--the untimeliness +of early death[10]. + +While his belief in the Gods is thus expressed in vague outline and +poetical symbolism, yet it is clear that as he recognised a secret, +orderly, and omnipotent power in Nature, so also he recognised the +ideal of a purer and serener life than that of earthly existence. +These two elements in all true religion, a reverential acknowledgment +of a universal power and order, and a sense of a diviner life with +which man may have communion, were part of the being of Lucretius. His +denial of supernatural beliefs extended not only to all the fables +and false conceptions of ancient mythology, but to the doctrine of a +Divine Providence recompensing men, here or hereafter, according to +their actions. The intensity of his nature led him to identify all +religion with the cruel or childish fables of the popular faith. The +certainty with which he grasped the truth of the laws and order of +Nature was incompatible with the only conception he could form of a +Divine action on the world. His deep sense of human rights and deep +sympathy with human feeling rebelled against a belief in Powers +exercising a capricious tyranny over the world, and exacting human +sacrifice as a propitiation of their offended majesty. His reverence +for truth and his sense of the power and mystery of Nature led him to +scorn the virtue attributed to an idolatrous and formal worship. This +attitude of religious isolation, not more from his own time than from +the subsequent course of thought, in a man of unusual sincerity +and earnestness of feeling, is certainly among the most impressive +phenomena of ancient literature. The spirit in which he denies the +beliefs of the world is far from resembling the triumph of a cold +philosophy over the religious associations of mankind. He is moved +even to a kind of poetical sympathy with some of the ceremonies +and symbols of Paganism. A sense of religious awe,--a sympathetic +recognition of the power of religious emotion over the hearts of +men,--is expressed, for instance, in the lines which describe the +procession of Cybele through the great cities and nations of the +world. While guarding himself against the pollution of a base +idolatry, he yet acknowledges not only the power of religious +associations to entwine themselves with human affections, but the +intrinsic power of the truths symbolised in that worship; viz. the +truth of the majesty of Nature, and of the duties arising from the +elemental affections to parents and country. In regard to all his +religious impressions his intensity of feeling and imagination seems +to place him on a solitary height, nearly as far apart from the +followers of his own school as from their adversaries[11]. + +The same strength of heart and mind characterises that passage of +sustained and impassioned feeling, in which Lucretius encounters the +thought of eternal death. The vast spiritual difference between the +Roman poet and the Greek philosopher is apparent when we contrast the +cold, unsympathetic language of the epistle to Menoeceus with the +fervent and profoundly human tones of the third book of the poem of +Lucretius. Epicurus escapes from the fear of death through a placid +indifference of feeling, an easy contentment with the comforts of +this life, a sense of relief in getting rid of 'the longing for +immortality' ([Greek: ton tês athanasias pothon]). Lucretius, while +realising the full pathos and solemnity of the thought of death, +preaches submission to the inexorable decree of Nature with a stern +consistency and a proud fortitude combating the suggestions of human +weakness. + +The whole of the third book is devoted to this part of his subject, +and the argument of the fourth is to a great extent supplementary +to that of the third book. The physical doctrine enunciated and +illustrated in the first half of the third book is the materiality of +the soul and its indissoluble connexion with the body. The practical +consequence of this doctrine, viz. that death is nothing to us, is +there enforced in a long passage[12] of sustained power and solemnity +of feeling. First, we are made to realise the entire unconsciousness +in death throughout all eternity. 'As it was before we were born, so +shall it be hereafter. As we felt no trouble in the past at the clash +of conflict between Roman and Carthaginian, when all the world shook +with alarm, so nothing can touch us or move us then-- + + Non si terra mari miscebitur et mare caelo[13]. + +It is but the trick of our fancy which suggests the thought of any +kind of suffering after all consciousness has ceased-- + + Nec radicitus e vita se tollit et eicit + Sed facit esse sui quiddam super inscius ipse[14]. + +Men feel that the sadness of death lies in the separation from wife, +and children, and home; in the extinction which a single day has +brought to all the blessings and the gains of a lifetime. But they +forget that along with these blessings is extinguished all desire and +longing for them. So, too, men "spice their fair banquets with the +dust of death." They say, "our joy is but for a season; it will soon +be past, nor ever again be recalled,"--as if forsooth any want or any +desire can haunt that sleep from which there is no awaking-- + + Nec quisquam expergitus exstat, + Frigida quem semel est vitai pausa secuta[15]. + +Nature herself might utter this reproof to all weak complaining: "Thou +fool, if thy life hath given thee joy, and all its blessings have not +been poured into a leaky vessel, why dost thou not leave the feast +like a satisfied guest, and take thy rest contentedly? But if all has +hitherto been to thee vanity and vexation of spirit, why seek to add +to thy trouble? I can devise or frame no new pleasure for thee. "There +is no new thing under the sun"--"eadem sunt omnia semper."' To the +weak complaint of age, Nature would speak with sterner voice: 'Away +hence with thy tears and thy complainings. It is because, unable to +enjoy the present, thou art ever weakly longing for what is absent, +that death has come on thee unsatisfied.' 'This would be, indeed, a +just charge and reproof. For the old order is ever yielding place to +new; and life is given to no man in possession, to all men for use. +The time before we were born is a mirror to us of what the future +shall be. Is there any gloom or horror there? Is there not a deeper +rest than any sleep?' + +'The terrors of the unseen world are but the hell which fools make +for themselves out of their passions[16]. The torments of Tantalus, +of Tityus, of Sisyphus, and the Danaides, are but symbols of the +blind cowardice and superstition, of the craving passions, of the +ever-foiled and ever-renewed ambition, of the thankless discontent +with the natural joy and beauty of the world, which curse and degrade +our mortal existence. The stories of Cerberus and the Furies, and of +the tortures of the damned are creations of a guilty conscience, +or the projections into futurity of the experiences of earthly +punishment.' + +Other consolations are suggested by the thoughts of those who have +gone before us. Echoing the stern irony of Achilles-- + +[Greek: + alla, philos, thane kai su; tiê olophyreai houtôs? + katthane kai Patroklos, hoper seo pollon ameinôn][17]-- + +he reminds us that better and greater men than we have died,--kings +and soldiers, poets and philosophers, the mightiest equally with the +humblest. In the spirit, and partly too in the words of Ennius, he +enforces the thought that 'Scipio, the thunderbolt of war, the terror +of Carthage, gave his bones to the earth as if he were the meanest +slave.' 'Why, then, should one whose life is half a sleep, who is the +prey of weak fears and restless discontent, complain that he too is +subject to the common law? What is this wretched love of life, which +makes us tremble at every danger? Death cannot be avoided; no new +pleasure can be forged out by longer living. This evil of our lot is +not inflicted by Nature, but by our own craving hearts, which cannot +enjoy, and are yet ever thirsting for longer life[18].' + +The power of the whole of this passage depends partly on the vividness +of feeling and conception with which the thought is realised, partly +on the august and solemn associations with which it is surrounded. +Such graphic touches as these-- + + Frigida quem semel est vitai pausa secuta[19];-- + + Cum summo gelidi cubat aequore saxi[20];-- + + Urgerive superne obtritum pondere terrae[21],-- + +and again, the life, truth, and tenderness of the picture presented in +the lines-- + + Iam iam non domus accipiet te laeta, neque uxor + Optima nec dulces occurrent oscula nati + Praeripere et tacita pectus dulcedine tangent[22], + +bring home to the mind, in startling distinctness, the old familiar +contrast between the 'cold obstruction' of the grave and 'the warm +precincts of the cheerful day.' But the horror and pain of the thought +of death are lost in a feeling of august resignation to the universal +law. Though the fact is made present to our minds in its sternest +reality, yet it is encompassed with the pomp and majesty of great +associations. It suggests the thought of the most momentous crisis in +history-- + + Ad confligendum venientibus undique Poenis[23], + +of the regal state of kings and mighty potentates-- + + Inde alii multi reges rerumque potentes + Occiderunt, magnis qui gentibus imperitarunt[24], + +of the simpler and more impressive grandeur of the great men of old, +such as the 'good Ancus,' the mighty Scipio, Homer, 'peerless among +poets,' the sage Democritus, Epicurus, 'the sun among all the lesser +luminaries.' Lastly, we are reminded of the universal law of Nature, +that the death of the old is the condition of the life of the new-- + + Sic alid ex alio nunquam desistet oriri[25]. + +Even if the spirit of the poet cannot be said to rise buoyantly above +the depressing and paralysing influence of this conviction, yet he +draws a higher lesson from it than the maxim of 'Eat and drink, for +to-morrow we die.' He understands the epicurean precept of 'carpe +diem' in a sense more befitting to human dignity. The lesson which +he teaches is the need of conquering all weakness, sloth, and +irresolution in life. This life is all that we have through eternity; +let it not be wasted in unsatisfied desires, insensibility to present +and regrets for absent good, or restless disquiet for the future; let +us understand ourselves and our position here, bear and enjoy whatever +is allotted to us during our few years of existence. We are masters +of ourselves and of our fortunes, so far at least as to rise clearly +above the degradation of ignorance and misery. + +The practical use of the study of Nature, according to Lucretius, +is, first, to inspire confidence in the room of an ignorant and +superstitious fear of supernatural power; and, secondly, to show +what man really needs, and so to clear the heart from all artificial +desires and passions. All that is wanted for happiness in this world +is a mind free from error, and a heart neither incapable of natural +enjoyment (fluxum pertusumque) nor vitiated by false appetite[26]. Of +the errors to which man is liable superstition and the fear of death +are the most deeply seated. Of the artificial desires and passions, +on the other hand, the most destructive are the love of power and of +riches, and the sensual appetite for pleasure. In the opening lines +of the second book the strife of ambition, the rivalries of rank and +intellect in the warfare of politics are contrasted with the serene +life of philosophy, as darkness, error, and danger with light, +certainty, and peace-- + + Sed nil dulcius est, bene quam munita tenere + Edita doctrina sapientum templa serena, + Despicere unde queas alios passimque videre + Errare atque viam palantis quaerere vitae, + Certare ingenio, contendere nobilitate, + Noctes atque dies niti praestante labore + Ad summas emergere opes rerumque potiri[27]. + +Yet to be the master of armies and of navies, or to be clothed in +gold and purple, gives not that exemption from the real terrors and +anxieties of life which the power of reason only can bestow-- + + Quod si ridicula haec ludibriaque esse videmus, + Re veraque metus hominum curaeque sequaces + Nec metuunt sonitus armorum nec fera tela, + Audacterque inter reges rerumque potentis + Versantur neque fulgorem reverentur ab auro + Nec clarum vestis splendorem purpureai, + Quid dubitas quin omni' sit haec rationi' potestas? + Omnis cum in tenebris praesertim vita laboret[28]. + +The desire of power and station leads to the shame and misery of +baffled hopes, of which the toil of Sisyphus is the type, and also +to the guilt which deluges the world in blood, and violates the +most sacred ties of Nature[29]. While failure in the struggle is +degradation, success is often only the prelude to the most sudden +downfall. Weary with bloodshed, and with forcing their way up the +hostile and narrow road of ambition[30], men reach the summit of their +hopes only to be hurled down by envy as by a thunderbolt[31]. They are +slaves to ambition, merely because they cannot distinguish the true +from the false, because they cannot judge of things as they really +are, apart from the estimate which the world puts upon them-- + + Quandoquidem sapiunt alieno ex ore petuntque + Res ex auditis potius quam sensibus ipsis.[32] + +The love of riches and of luxurious living, which had begun to corrupt +the Roman character in the age of Lucilius, had increased to gigantic +dimensions in the last age of the Republic. By no aspect of his age +was Lucretius more repelled than by this. No doctrine is enforced in +the poem with more sincerity of conviction than that of the happiness +and dignity of plain and natural living, the vanity of all the +appliances of wealth, and their inability to give real enjoyment +either to body or mind. In a well-known passage at the beginning of +the second book he adapts an ideal description from Homer's account +of the palace of Alcinous to the costly magnificence and splendour +of Roman banquets, with which he contrasts the pleasure of gratifying +simple tastes, in fine weather, among the beauties of Nature-- + + Praesertim cum tempestas adridet et anni + Tempora conspergunt viridantis floribus herbas[33]. + +With fervid sincerity he announces the truth that 'to the man who +would govern his life by reason plain living and a contented spirit +are great riches'-- + + Quod siquis vera vitam ratione gubernet, + Divitiae grandes homini sunt vivere parce + Aequo animo[34]. + +Moderation, independence, and self-control are the virtues which +Horace derives from his philosophy. He knew how to enjoy both the +luxury of the city and the simple fare of the country. Lucretius is +more alive to the dangers of pampering the body and enervating the +mind. He is more active in his resistance to the common forms of +indulgence: he shows more truly simple tastes, stronger capacity of +natural enjoyment. He is vividly sensible of the apathy and _ennui_ +produced by the luxury and inaction of his age. Others among the Roman +poets, with more or less sincerity and consistency, appear to long for +a return to more natural ways, and paint their ideals of the purity +and simplicity of country life. But no writer of antiquity is less +of an idealist than Lucretius: there is no writer, ancient or modern, +whose words are more truthful and unvarnished. There is no romance or +self-deception in what he longs for. There may be some anticipation of +the spirit of Rousseau in Virgil, and still more in Tibullus, but none +whatever in Lucretius. The privations and rude misery of savage life +are painted in as sombre colours as the satiety and discontent of his +own age. It would be difficult to name any writer, ancient or modern, +by whom the lesson of 'plain living and high thinking' was more +worthily inculcated. + +The passion of love, which, in its more violent phases, was seen to +be a prominent motive in the comedy of Plautus, became a very powerful +influence in actual life during the last years of the Republic and the +early years of the Empire. Extreme license in the pursuit of pleasure +was common among men and women of the highest rank: but, over and +above this, the poetry of Catullus and of the elegiac poets of the +Augustan age shows that in the case of young men of fashion and +literary accomplishment (and these were often combined) intrigue and +temporary _liaisons_ had become the absorbing interest and occupation +of life. With these claims of passion and sentiment, apparently so +alien to the ancient strength and dignity of the Roman character, +Lucretius felt no sympathy. No writer has shown a profounder reverence +for human affection. In his eyes the crowning guilt of superstition +is the cruel violation of natural ties exacted by it: the chief +bitterness of death is the thought of eternal separation from wife and +children: the first civilising influence acting on the world is traced +to the power of the blandishments of children over the savage pride of +strength. The pathos of the famous passage, at Book ii. 350, attests +his sympathy with the sorrow caused by the disruption of natural ties, +even in the lower animals. Other casual expressions, as in that line +of profound feeling-- + + Aeternumque daret matri sub pectore volnus[35];-- + +or such pictures, as that at iii. 469, of friends and relatives +surrounding the bed of one who has sunk into a deep lethargy-- + + Ad vitam qui revocantes + Circumstant lacrimis rorantes ora genasque[36],-- + +show how strong and real was his regard for the great elemental +affections of human nature. But, on the other hand, he is austerely +indifferent to the follies and the idealising fancies of lovers. With +satirical and not fastidious realism he strips passion of all +romance, and exhibits it as a bondage fatal alike to character and +independence, to peace of mind and to self-respect. But it is the +weakness, not the immorality of licentious passion which he condemns. +And it would be altogether an anachronism to attribute to a writer of +that age sentiments on this subject in harmony either with the austere +virtue of the primitive Romans, or with the moral standard of modern +times. It is not the indulgence of inclination, but its excess and +perversion, by which the happiness and dignity of life are placed in +another's power, which he condemns. + +In order to perceive the limitation of the view of the evils of human +life and of their remedy presented by Lucretius, it is not necessary +to contrast it with the higher aspects of moral and religious thought +in modern times. It is clear that owing to some idiosyncrasy, the +result perhaps of some accident of his early years, and fostered by +seclusion in later years from the common ways of life, he greatly +exaggerates the influence of the terrors of the ancient religion over +the world. There is little trace, either in the literature[37] or in +the sepulchral inscriptions of the Romans, of that 'fear of Acheron'-- + + Funditus humanam qui vitam turbat ab imo + Omnia suffendens mortis nigrore neque ullam + Esse voluptatem liquidam puramque reliquit. + +The answer of Cicero to the exaggerated pretensions of Epicureanism +seems to express the common sense of his age, 'Where can you find +an old woman fatuous enough to believe what you forsooth would have +believed, if you had not studied physical science[38]?' The passionate +protest of Lucretius seems more applicable to times of religious +persecution, and to extreme forms of fanaticism in modern times, than +to the tolerant spirit and the not unkindly superstition of the Greek +and Roman world, as they are known in its literature. But if +the experience of the modern world gives a still more startling +significance to the words-- + + Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum,-- + +that experience also enables us better to understand the blindness +of Lucretius to the purifying and consoling power which even ancient +religion was capable of exercising. Though not insensible to the +poetical charm of some of the old mythological fancies, and to the +solemnising effect of impressive ceremonials, he can see only the +baser influences of fear in man's whole attitude to a supernatural +Power. His ordinary acuteness of mind seems to desert him in that +passage[39] where he resolves the passions of ambition and avarice +into the fear of death, and that again into the dread of eternal +punishment. + +The limitation of his philosophy is also apparent in his want of +sympathy with the active duties and pursuits of life. He can see +only different modes of evil in the busy interests of the world. +War, politics, commerce, appeared to him a mere struggle of personal +passion with a view to personal aggrandisement. A life of peace, not +of energetic action, was his ideal. In eternal peace he placed the +supreme happiness of the Gods: a state of peaceful contemplation-- + + Sed mage pacata posse omnia mente tueri-- + +he regards as the only true religion for man: the 'mute and +uncomplaining' peace of the grave reconciles him to the thought of +everlasting death. The inadequacy of his philosophy may thus be traced +partly to his vivid impressibility of imagination, which made him +too exclusively sensible of the awe produced on man's spirit by the +mystery of the universe, partly to his defective sympathy with the +active interests and duties of life. Partly, too, the bent of his mind +towards material observation and enquiry had some share in determining +his convictions. In dwelling on the outward appearances of decay and +death, he seems to have shut his eyes to those inward conditions +of the human spirit which to Plato, Cicero, and Virgil appeared +the witnesses of immortality. The inability to form the definite +conception of a God without human limitations, as well as his strong +sense of the imperfection of the world, forced upon him the absolute +denial of any Divine providence over human affairs. + +Yet a modern reader, without accepting the conclusions of his +philosophy, may sympathise with much of his spirit. In his firm faith +in the laws which govern the universe, he will recognise a great +position established, as essential to the progress of religious as +of scientific thought. He will see, in the earnest intensity of his +feeling and the sincerity of his expression, a spirit akin to the +purer kinds of religious fervour in modern times. In no other writer, +ancient or modern, will he find a profounder sense of human dignity, +of the supreme claims of affection, of the superiority of a natural +to a conventional life. From the direct exhortation and the indirect +teaching of Lucretius, he may learn such lessons as these,--that it is +man's first business to know and obey the laws of his being,--that the +sphere of his happiest activity is to be found in contemplation rather +than in action,--that his well-being consists in valuing rightly the +real blessings of life rather than in following the illusions of fancy +or of custom,--in reverencing the sanctity of family life,--and in +cherishing a kindly sympathy with all living things. If there was +nothing especially new in the views which he enunciated, the power +of realising the common conditions of life, the passionate effort not +only to rise himself above human weakness, but to redeem the whole +race of man from the curse of ignorance, and the force of imaginative +sympathy with which he executed this part of his task were, perhaps, +something altogether new in the world. + +The same 'vivida vis' with which he observes natural phenomena +characterises his insight into human character and passion. He +penetrates below the surface of life with the searching insight of a +great satirist, and sees more clearly into the hearts of men, and has +a more subtle perception of the secret springs of their unhappiness, +than any of his countrymen. The aim of his satire is not to make men +seem objects of ridicule or scorn, but to restore them to the +dignity which they had forfeited through weakness and ignorance. The +observation of Horace is wider and more varied, but it ranges much +more over the surface of life. He has neither the same sense of the +mystery of our being, nor the same sympathy with the common conditions +of mankind. + +The power of truthful moral painting which Lucretius exercises is seen +in that passage in which he reveals the secret of the 'amari aliquit,' +'amid the very flowers of love,'-- + + Aut cum conscius ipse animus se forte remordet + Desidiose agere aetatem lustrisque perire, + Aut quod in ambiguo verbum iaculata reliquit + Quod cupido adfixum cordi vivescit ut ignis, + Aut nimium iactare oculos aliumve tueri + Quod putat in voltuque videt vestigia risus[40]: + +and in that in which he describes the satiety and restlessness which +is the avenging nemesis of an opulent and luxurious society,-- + + Exit saepe foras magnis ex aedibus ille, + Esse domi quem pertaesumst, subitoque revertit, + Quippe foris nilo melius qui sentiat esse. + Currit agens mannos ad villam praecipitanter, + Auxilium tectis quasi ferre ardentibus instans; + Oscitat extemplo, tetigit cum limina villae, + Aut abit in somnum gravis atque oblivia quaerit, + Aut etiam properans urbem petit atque revisit[41]. + +There is always poetry and pathos in the satire of Lucretius. There +is no trace in him of the malice or the love of detraction which +is seldom wholly absent from satiric writing. The futility of human +effort is the burden of his complaint[42]: and this (as has been +pointed out by M. Martha) is the explanation of the pathetic +recurrence of the word 'nequicquam' in so many passages of his poem. +His scorn and indignation are shown only in exposing the impostures +which men mistake for truths. There is thus infinite compassion for +the common lot of man blended with the irony of the passage in which +he represents the aged husbandman complaining of the general decay +of piety as the cause of the failure of the earth to respond to his +labours. His direct and realistic power of expression enhances his +power as a moral painter and teacher. Though the writings of Horace +supply many more quotations applicable to various situations in life, +and expressed in equally apposite language, yet such lines as these +in the older poet seem to come from the heart of one ever 'sounding a +deeper and more perilous way' over the sea of human life, than suited +the more worldly wisdom of Horace,-- + + Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum[43].-- + Cur non ut plenus vitae conviva recedis[44]?-- + Vitaque mancipio nulli datur omnibus usu[45].-- + Surgit amari aliquit quod in ipsis floribus augat[46].-- + Nam verae voces tum demum pectore ab imo + Eiciuntur et eripitur persona, manet res[47].-- + Divitiae grandes homini sunt vivere parce + Aequo animo[48]. + +Many other lines and expressions of similar force will occur to every +reader familiar with Lucretius. As his ordinary style brings the +outward aspects of the world vividly before the mind, so the language +in which his moral teaching is enforced, or the result of his moral +observation is expressed, stamps powerfully on the mind important and +permanent truths of human nature. His thoughts are uttered sometimes +with the impressive dignity of Roman oratory, sometimes with the +nervous energy, not without flashes of the vigorous wit, of Roman +satire. There are occasionally to be heard also higher and deeper +tones than those familiar to classical poetry. His burning zeal and +indignation against idolatry, and the scorn with which he exposes the +impotence of false gods-- + + Cur etiam loca sola petunt frustraque laborant? + An tum bracchia consuescunt firmantque lacertos[49]?-- + +show some affinity of spirit to the prophets of another race and an +earlier time. The 'grandeur of desolation' uttered in the reproof of +Nature,-- + + Nam tibi praeterea quod machiner inveniamque, + Quod placeat, nil est: eadem sunt omnia semper[50],-- + +recalls the old words of the Preacher--'The thing that hath been, it +is that which shall be; and that which is done, is that which shall be +done: and there is no new thing under the sun.' + + + [Footnote 1: Cf. Juv. xiv. 319:-- + + Quantum Epicure tibi parvis suffecit in hortis.] + + [Footnote 2: 'But the sober exercise of reason, investigating + the causes why we choose or avoid anything, and banishing + those opinions which cause the greatest trouble in the soul.'] + + [Footnote 3: ii. 16-19.] + + [Footnote 4: 'Thereupon he perceived that the vessel itself + caused the evil, and that all external gains and blessings + whatsoever were vitiated within through its fault, partly + because he saw that it was so unsound and leaky that it could + never be filled in any way, partly because he discerned that + it tainted inwardly everything which it had received as it + were with a nauseous flavour.'--vi. 17-23.] + + [Footnote 5: iii. 39.] + + [Footnote 6: vi. 404-5.] + + [Footnote 7: 'O miserable race of man when they imputed to + the Gods such acts as these, and ascribed to them also angry + passions. What sorrow did they then prepare for themselves, + what deep wounds for us, what tears for our descendants. For + there is no holiness in being often seen, turning round with + head veiled, in presence of a stone, and in drawing nigh to + every altar; nor in lying prostrate in the dust, and uplifting + the hands before the temples of the Gods; nor in sprinkling + altars with the blood of beasts, and in ever fastening up + new votive offerings, but rather in being able to look at all + things with a mind at peace.'--v. 1194-1203.] + + [Footnote 8: vi. 75-78.] + + [Footnote 9: 'The holy presence of the Gods is revealed, and + their peaceful dwelling-places, which neither the winds beat + upon, nor the clouds bedew with rain; nor does snow, gathered + in flakes by keen frost, and falling white, invade them; ever + the cloudless ether enfolds them, and they are radiant with + far-spread light.'--iii. 18-22.] + + [Footnote 10: v. 145-225.] + + [Footnote 11: The feelings with which Lucretius contemplates + the solemn procession of Cybele may be illustrated by the + following passage, quoted by Mr. Morley in his Life of + Diderot, vol. ii. p. 65: 'Absurd rigorists do not know the + effect of external ceremonies on the people: they can never + have seen the enthusiasm of the multitude at the procession of + the Fête Dieu, an enthusiasm that sometimes even gains me. I + have never seen that long file of priests in their vestments, + those young acolytes clad in their white robes, with broad + blue sashes engirdling their waists, and casting flowers on + the ground before the Holy Sacrament, the crowd, as it goes + before and follows after them, hushed in religious silence, + and so many with their faces bent reverently to the ground: I + have never heard the grave and pathetic chant, as it is led + by the priests and fervently responded to by an infinity of + voices of men, of women, of girls, of little children, without + my inmost heart being stirred, and tears coming into my eyes. + There is in it something, I know not what, that is grand, + solemn, sombre, and mournful.'] + + [Footnote 12: From 830 till the end.] + + [Footnote 13: iii. 842.] + + [Footnote 14: iii. 877-8.] + + [Footnote 15: iii. 929-30.] + + [Footnote 16: Hic Acherusia fit stultorum denique vita.] + + [Footnote 17: Iliad xxi. 106-7.] + + [Footnote 18: iii. 830-1094.] + + [Footnote 19: iii. 930.] + + [Footnote 20: iii. 892.] + + [Footnote 21: iii. 893.] + + [Footnote 22: 'Soon shall thy home receive thee no more with + glad welcome, nor thy true wife, nor thy dear children run + to snatch the first kiss, touching thy heart with silent + gladness.'--iii. 894-96.] + + [Footnote 23: iii. 833.] + + [Footnote 24: iii. 1027-8.] + + [Footnote 25: iii. 970.] + + [Footnote 26: Compare the metaphorical expressions at vi. + 20-4.] + + [Footnote 27: 'But there is no greater joy than to hold high + aloft the tranquil abodes, well bulwarked by the learning of + the wise, whence thou mayest look down on other men, and see + them wandering every way, and lost in error, seeking the road + of life; mayest mark the strife of genius, the rivalries of + rank, the struggle night and day with surpassing effort to + reach the highest place, and be master of the State.'--ii. + 48-54.] + + [Footnote 28: 'But if we see that all this is but folly and + a mockery, and, in real truth, the fears of men and their + dogging cares dread not the clash of arms nor the fierce + weapons of warfare, and boldly mix with kings and potentates, + nor fear the splendour of gold or the bright glare of purple + robes, canst thou doubt that it is the force of reason on + which all this depends, especially since all our life is in + darkness and tribulation?'--ii. 48-55.] + + [Footnote 29: iii. 70.] + + [Footnote 30: v. 1131.] + + [Footnote 31: v. 1125.] + + [Footnote 32: 'Since they take their wisdom from the lips of + others, and pursue their object in accordance rather with what + they hear than with what they really feel.'--v. 1133-4.] + + [Footnote 33: ii. 33.] + + [Footnote 34: v. 1117-19.] + + [Footnote 35: ii. 638.] + + [Footnote 36: iii. 468-9.] + + [Footnote 37: A passage in the Captivi of Plautus (995-7), + shows that these terrors did appeal to the imagination in + ancient times, and thus might powerfully affect the happiness + of persons of specially impressible natures, although they do + not seem to have often interfered with the actual enjoyment of + life,-- + + Vidi ego multa saepe picta quae Acherunti fierent + Cruciamenta: verum enimvero nulla adaequest Acheruns + Atque ubi ego fui in lapicidinis. + + Professor Wallace in his 'Epicureanism' (p. 109) writes, + 'Whatever may have been the case in earlier ages of Greece, + there is no doubt that in the age of Epicurus, the doctrine of + a judgment to come, and of a hell where sinners were punished + for their crimes, made a large part of the vulgar creed.... + Orphic and other religious sects had enhanced the terrors of + the world below,' etc. Cicero, however, is a better witness + than Lucretius of the actual state of opinion among his + educated contemporaries. The exaggerated sense entertained by + Lucretius of the influence of such terrors among the class + for whom his poem was written is a confirmation of his having + acted on the maxim [Greek: lathe biôsas].'] + + [Footnote 38: Tusc. Disp. i. 21.] + + [Footnote 39: iii. 59, etc.] + + [Footnote 40: 'Either when his mind is stung with the + consciousness that he is wasting his life in sloth, and + ruining himself in wantonness; or because from the shafts of + her wit she has left in him some word of double meaning, which + seizes on his passionate heart and burns there like a fire; or + because he fancies that she casts about her eyes too much + or gazes at another, and marks the traces of a smile on her + countenance.'--iv. 1135-40.] + + [Footnote 41: 'Oft-times, weary of home, the lord of some + spacious mansion issues forth abroad, and suddenly returns, + feeling that it is no better with him abroad. Driving his + horses, he speeds in hot haste to his country house, as if his + house were on fire and he was hurrying to bring assistance. + Straightway he begins to yawn, so soon as he has reached + his threshold, or sinks heavily into sleep and seeks + forgetfulness, or even with all haste returns to the + city.'--iii. 1060-67.] + + [Footnote 42: E.g. v. 1430-34:-- + + Ergo hominum genus incassum frustraque laborat + Semper et in curis consumit inanibus aevom, + Nimirum quia non cognovit quae sit habendi + Finis et omnino quoad crescat vera voluptas.] + + [Footnote 43: i. 101.] + + [Footnote 44: iii. 938.] + + [Footnote 45: iii. 971.] + + [Footnote 46: iv. 1134.] + + [Footnote 47: iii. 57-8.] + + [Footnote 48: v. 1116.] + + [Footnote 49: vi. 396-7.] + + [Footnote 50: iii. 944-5.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE LITERARY ART AND GENIUS OF LUCRETIUS. + + +It remains to consider the poem of Lucretius as a work of literary +art and genius. Much indeed of what may be said on the subject of his +genius has necessarily been anticipated in the chapters devoted to +the consideration of his personal characteristics, his speculative +philosophy, and his moral teaching. The 'multa lumina ingenii' are +most conspicuous in those passages of his poem which best illustrate +the range and distinctness of his observation, the grandeur and truth +of his philosophical conceptions, the passionate sympathy with which +he strove to elevate and purify human life. But, at the same time, the +most manifest defects of the poem, considered as a work of art, spring +from the same source as its greatness considered as a work of genius, +viz. the diversity and conflicting aims of the faculties employed on +its production. Although, perhaps, from a Roman point of view, the +practical purpose which reduces the mass of miscellaneous details to +unity, and the success with which he encounters the difficulties both +of matter and language, might entitle the poem to be regarded as a +work 'multae artis,' yet, when tested by the canons either of Greek +or of modern taste, it fails in the most essential conditions of +art,--the choice of subject and the form of construction. The title of +the poem is indeed taken from a Greek model, the poem of Empedocles, +'[Greek: peri physeôs]': and the form of a personal address to +Memmius, in which Lucretius has embodied his teaching, was suggested +by the personal address of the older poet to the 'son of Anchytus.' +But although Aristotle acknowledges the poetical genius of Empedocles +by applying to him the epithet [Greek: Homêrikos], he denies to +his composition the title of a poem. The work of Empedocles and the +kindred works of Xenophanes and Parmenides are inspired not by the +passion of art but by the enthusiasm of discovery. They are to be +regarded rather as philosophical rhapsodies than as purely didactic +poems, like either the 'Works and Days' of Hesiod or the writings of +the Alexandrine School. They were written in hexameter verse partly +because that was the most familiar vehicle of expression in the first +half of the fifth century B.C., and partly because it was the vehicle +most suited to the imaginative conceptions of Nature which arose out +of the old mythologies. But in the time of Lucretius a prose vehicle +was more suited than any form of verse for the communication of +knowledge in a systematic form. The conception of Nature was no +longer mystical or purely imaginative as it had been in the age of +Empedocles. Thus the task which Lucretius had to perform was both +vaster and more complex than that of the early [Greek: physiologoi]. +He had to combine in one whole the prosaic results of later scientific +observation and analysis with the imaginative fancies of the dawn of +ancient enquiry. He professes to make both conducive to the practical +purpose of emancipating and elevating human life; but a great part of +his argument is as remote from all human interest as it is from the +ascertained truths of science. + +All life and Nature were to his spirit full of imaginative wonder, +but they were believed also to be susceptible of a rationalistic +explanation. And the greater part of the work is devoted to give this +explanation. This large infusion of a prosaic content necessarily +detracts from the artistic excellence and the sustained interest of +the poem. Lucretius speaks of the difficulty which he had to encounter +in gaining the ear of his countrymen, in the lines,-- + + Quoniam haec ratio plerumque videtur + Tristior esse quibus non est tractata, retroque + Volgus abhorret ab hac[1]. + +And the unattractiveness of much of his theme is not diminished +when the real discoveries of science have shown how illusory are his +processes of investigation, and how false are many of his conclusions. +He has made his poetry ancillary to his science, instead of +compelling, as Virgil, Dante, and Milton have done, a subject, +susceptible of purely artistic treatment, to assimilate the stores of +his knowledge. His theme--'maiestas cognita rerum,'--is too vast and +complex to be brought within the compass and proportions of a single +work of art. The processes of minute observation and reasoning +employed in establishing his conclusions are alien from the movement +of the imagination. The connecting links of the argument are +suggestive of the labour of the workman, not of the finished +perfection of the work. And while some of the ideas of science may be +so applied to the interpretation of the outward world, as to act on +the imaginative emotions with greater power than any mere description +of the forms and colours of external things, yet the pleasure with +which processes of investigation are pursued is quite distinct from +the pleasure derived from poetic intuition into the secret life of +Nature and man. If it be the condition of a great poem to produce the +purest and noblest pleasure by its whole conception and execution, the +poem of Lucretius fails to satisfy this condition. It is in spite of +its design and proportions,--in spite of the fact that long parts of +the work neither interest the feelings nor satisfy the reason, that +the poem still speaks with impressive power to the modern world. + +And while the whole conception of the work, as regards both matter +and method of treatment, necessarily involves a large interfusion of +prosaic materials with the finer product of his genius, it must be +added that there is considerable inequality of execution even in its +more inspired passages. A few consecutive passages show indeed the +finest sense of harmony, and are finished in a style not much inferior +to that of Virgil. Such, for instance, are the opening lines:-- + + Aeneadum genetrix, hominum divomque voluptas, etc.;-- + +and again the lines in the introduction to Book iii.:-- + + Apparet divum numen sedesque quietae, etc. + +But long passages seem rather to revert to the roughness of Ennius +than to approach the smooth and varied cadences of Virgil. Though the +imaginative effect of single expressions is generally more forcible +than in any Latin poet, yet the composition of long paragraphs is +apt to overflow into prosaic detail, or to display the qualities of +logical consecutiveness or close adherence to fact rather than those +of skilled accomplishment and conformity with the principles of +beauty. In common with the older race of Roman poets he exhibits that +straining after verbal effects by means of alliteration, assonances, +asyndeta, etc., which marks the ruder stages of literary development. +The Latin language, although beginning to feel the quickening of a new +life, had not yet been formed into its more exquisite modulations, nor +learned the power of suggesting delicate shades of meaning and the new +strength derivable from the reserved use of its resources. All these +causes,--the vast and miscellaneous range, and the abstruse character +of his subject, the dryness and futility of much of the argument, the +frequent subordination of poetry to science, the inadequacy of the +Latin language as a vehicle of thought and its imperfect development +as an organ of poetry,--prevented the poem from ever obtaining great +popularity in ancient times, and have denied to it in modern times +anything like the large influence which has been enjoyed in different +ages and countries by Virgil, Horace, and Ovid. Even the more ardent +admirers of the poem are tempted to pass from one to another of the +higher ranges and more commanding summits, which swell gradually +or rise abruptly out of the general level over which he leads them, +rather than to follow him through all the windings of his argument. + +Yet it is only after the poem has been mastered in its details that +we realise its full effect on the imagination. It is only then that we +understand the complete greatness of the man, as a thinker, a teacher, +and a poet. The most familiar beauties reveal a deeper meaning when +they are seen to be not mere resting places in the toilsome march of +his argument, but rather commanding positions, successively reached, +from which the widest contemplative views of the realms of Nature and +human life are laid open to us. As we follow closely in his footsteps, +through all his processes of observation, analysis, and reasoning, we +feel, that he too, like the older Greeks, is borne along by a strong +enthusiasm,--the philosophical [Greek: erôs] of Plato,--different +from, but akin to, the impulses of poetry. That marvellous intensity +of feeling in conjunction with the operations of the intellect, +which the Greeks regarded as a kind of divine possession, and which +Lucretius, by the use of such phrases as 'divinitus invenientes', +ascribes to the earliest enquirers, animates all his interpretation of +the facts and laws of Nature. The speculative passion imparts life to +the argumentative processes which are addressed to the understanding, +while it adds a fresher glory or more impressive solemnity to those +aspects of the subject by which the imagination is most powerfully +moved. + +Again, although his rhythm, even at its best, falls far short of +the intricate harmony and variety of Virgil, and, in its more level +passages, scarcely aims at pleasing the ear at all, yet there is a +kind of grandeur and dignity even in its monotony, varied, as that is, +by deeper and more majestic tones whenever his spirit is stirred by +impulses of awe, wonder, and delight. There is always a sense of life +and onward movement in the flow of his verse. Often there is a kind +of cumulative force revealing a more powerful emotion of heart and +imagination as his thoughts and images press on one another in close +and ordered sequence. Thus, for instance, the effect of the lines +describing the religious impressions produced on the early inhabitants +of the world by the grand and awful aspects of Nature, depends, not +on any harmonious variation of sounds, but on the swelling and +culminating power with which the whole passage breaks on the ear,-- + + In caeloque deum sedes et templa locarunt, + Per caelum volvi quia nox et luna videtur, + Luna dies et nox et noctis signa severa + Noctivagaeque faces caeli flammaeque volantes, + Nubila sol imbres nix venti fulmina grando + Et rapidi fremitus et murmura magna minarum[2]. + +In many passages it may be noticed how much is added to the rhythmical +effect by the force or weight of the concluding line, as at iii. +870-893, by the rugged grandeur of the line,-- + + Urgerive superne obtritum pondere terrae,-- + +at ii. 569-580, by the sad and solemn movement of the close, + + Ploratus mortis comites et funeris atri,-- + +and at i. 101, by the line of cardinal significance, which ends a +passage of most finished power and beauty,-- + + Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum. + +The music of Lucretius is altogether his own. As he was the first +among his countrymen who contemplated in a reverential spirit the +majesty of Nature and the more solemn meaning of life, so he was the +first to call out the full rhythmical majesty and deep organ-tones of +the Latin language, to embody in sound the spiritual emotions stirred +by that contemplation. + +The poetical style of Lucretius is, like his rhythm, a true and +powerful symbol of his genius. Though his diction is much less studied +than that of Virgil, yet his large use of alliterations, assonances, +asyndeta[3], etc., shows that he consciously aimed at producing +certain effects by recognised rhetorical means. The attraction which +the artifices of rhetoric had for his mind is as noticeable in his +style as a similar attraction is in the speeches of Thucydides. But +neither Lucretius nor Thucydides can be called the slave of rhetorical +forms. In both writers recourse is had to them for the legitimate +purpose of emphasising thought, not for that of disguising its +insufficiency. The use of such phrases, for instance, as 'sed casta +inceste,' 'immortalia mortali sermone notantes,' 'mors immortalis,' +etc., is no mere play of words, but rather the tersest phrase in which +an impressive antithesis of thought can be presented. The mannerisms +of his style, if they show that he was not altogether emancipated from +archaic rudeness, afford evidence also of the prolific fertility of +his genius. The amplitude and unchecked volume of his diction flow out +of the mental conditions, described in the lines,-- + + Usque adeo largos haustus e fontibu' magnis + Lingua meo suavis diti de pectore fundet. + +And he had not only the 'suavis lingua diti de pectore'; he had also +the 'daedala lingua,'--the formative energy which shapes words into +new forms and combinations. The frequent [Greek: hapax legomena] +in his poem and his abundant use of compound words, such as +_fluctifragus_, _montivagus_, _altitonans_, etc., most of which fell +into disuse in the Augustan age, were products of the same creative +force which enabled Plautus and Ennius to add largely to the resources +of the Latin tongue. In him, more than in any Latin poet before or +after him, we meet with phrases too full of imaginative life to be +in perfect keeping with the more sober tones and tamer spirit of +the national literature. Thus his language never became trite and +hackneyed, and, as we read him, no medium of after-associations is +interposed between his mind and our own. + +But it is not in individual phrases, however fresh and powerful, but +in continuous passages, that the power of his style is best seen. The +processes of his mind are characterised by continuity, consistency, +and a kind of gathering intensity of movement. The periods of Virgil +delight us by their intricate harmony; those of Lucretius impress us +by their continuous and hurrying impetus. The long drawn out charm +of the one is indicative of the deep love which induced him to linger +over every detail of his subject: the force and grandeur of the other +are the outward signs of the inward wonder and enthusiasm by which his +spirit was borne rapidly along. Virgil's movement displays the majesty +of grace and serenity; that of Lucretius the majesty of power, and +largeness of mind. + +Thus although the poetical style of Lucretius shows the traces of +labour and premeditation, and of occasional imitation both of foreign +and native models, it is more than that of any other Latin poet, the +immediate creation of his own genius. The 'ingenuei fontis,' by which +his imagination was so abundantly fed, found many spontaneous outlets, +and were not checked in their speed or stained in their purity by the +artificial channels in which he sometimes forced them to flow. If the +loving labour, so prodigally bestowed upon the task of finding words +and rhythm[4] adequate to his great theme, explains some peculiarities +of his diction, the qualities which have made the work immortal are +due to his noble singleness of heart and sincerity of nature, and +to the openness and sensibility with which his imagination received +impressions, the penetrative force with which it saw into the heart of +things, and the creative energy with which it shaped what it received +and discerned into vivid pictures and symbols. + +He has, in the first place, the freshness of feeling, the living sense +of the wonder of the world, which is a great charm in the older poets +of all great literatures,--in Homer, Dante, Chaucer;--and this sense +he communicates by words used in their simplest and directest meaning. +The life which animates and gladdens the familiar face of earth, +sea, and sky,--of river, wood, field, and hill-side,--is vividly and +immediately reproduced in such lines as these:-- + + Caeli subter labentia signa + Quae mare navigerum quae terras frugiferentis + Concelebras[5]. + + Denique per maria ac montis fluviosque rapacis + Frondiferasque domos avium camposque virentis[6]. + + Frondiferasque novis avibus canere undique silvas[7]. + + Nam saepe in colli tondentes pabula laeta + Lanigerae reptant pecudes quo quamque vocantes + Invitant herbae gemmantes rore recenti[8]. + + Nec tenerae salices atque herbae rore vigentis + Fluminaque illa queunt summis labentia ripis[9]. + +So, too, he makes us realise, with a quickening and expanding emotion, +which seems to bring us nearer to the core of Nature, the majesty of +the sea breaking on a great expanse of shore,--the solemn stillness of +midnight,--the invisible agency by which the clouds form the pageantry +of the sky,--the active noiseless energy by which rivers wear away +their banks,--by the use of words that seem exactly equivalent to the +thing which they describe,-- + + Quam fluitans circum magnis anfractibus aequor + Ionium glaucis aspargit virus ab undis[10]. + + Severa silentia noctis + Undique cum constent[11]. + + Ut nubes facile interdum concrescere in alto + Cernimus et mundi speciem violare serenam + Aera mulcentes motu[12]. + + Pars etiam glebarum ad diluviem revocatur + Imbribus et ripas radentia flumina rodunt[13]. + +The changing face of Nature is to his spirit so full of power and +wonder, that it needs no poetical adornment, but is left to tell +its own tale in the plainest language. If words are a true index of +feeling, it would be difficult to name any poet by whom the living +presence and full being of Nature were more immediately apprehended, +nor has any one caught with more fidelity the intimations of her +hidden life, as they betray themselves in her outward features and +motions. + +With similar fidelity and directness of language he communicates to +his reader the spell of awe and wonder by which his own spirit is +possessed in presence of the impressive facts of human life. No +subtlety of reflexion nor grandeur of illustrative imagery could +enhance the effect of the thought of the dead produced by the austere +plainness of the words,-- + + Morte obita quorum tellus amplectitur ossa, + +and, + + Ossa dedit terrae proinde ac famul infimus esset. + +By no pomp of description could a deeper sense of religious solemnity +be created than by the lines describing the silent influence of the +procession of Cybele on the minds of her devotees,-- + + Ergo cum primum magnas invecta per urbis + Munificat tacita mortalis muta salute[14]. + +The undying pain of a great sorrow,--the paralysis of all human effort +in the face of new and terrible agencies of death,--the blessedness +and pathos of the purest human affections,--the ecstatic delight +derived from the revelation of great truths--imprint themselves +permanently on the imagination through the august simplicity of the +phrases, + + Aeternumque daret matri sub pectore volnus[15],-- + + tacito mussabat medicina timore[16],-- + + tacita pectus dulcedine tangent[17]-- + + His ibi me rebus quaedam divina voluptas + Percipit adque horror[18].-- + +His language has the further power of producing a vague sense of +sublimity, where the cause of the feeling is too vast or undefined +to be distinctly conceived or visibly presented to the mind. The very +sound of his words seems sometimes to be a kind of echo of the voices +by which Nature produces a strange awe upon the imagination. Such, for +instance, are these lines and phrases-- + + Altitonans Volturnus et auster fulmine pollens[19]. + + Nec fulmina nec minitanti + Murmure compressit caelum[20]. + + Murmura magna minarum[21], etc. + +The sublimity of vagueness and vastness is present in the language of +these lines-- + + Impendent atrae formidinis ora superne[22]. + + Sustentata ruet moles et machina mundi[23]. + + Aut cecidisse urbis magno vexamine mundi[24]. + + Non si terra mari miscebitur et mare caelo[25]. + +While no other ancient poet brings before the mind more forcibly and +immediately the living presence of the outward world and the solemn +meaning of familiar things, there is none whose language seems to +respond so sensitively to the vague suggestions of an invisible and +awful Power omnipresent in the universe. + +The creative power of imagination which gives new life to words and +thoughts is also present in many vivid and picturesque expressions, +either scattered through the main argument, or shining in brilliant +combinations in the more elaborate parts of the work. By this more +imaginative use of language, the poet can illustrate his ideas by +subtle analogies, or embody them in visible symbols, or endow the +objects he describes with the personal attributes of will and energy. +Thus, for instance, the penetrating subtlety of the mind in exploring +the secrets of Nature becomes a visible force in the curious felicity +of the expression (i. 408), 'caecasque latebras insinuare omnis.' +The freedom and boundless range of the imagination is suggested with +picturesque effect in the familiar expression-- + + Avia Pieridum peragro loca nullius ante + Trita solo[26]; + +while the calm serenity of the contemplative mind is symbolised in +such figurative expressions as 'sapientum templa serena'; 'humanum in +pectus templaque mentis'; and the stormy tumult of the passions and +the perilous errors of life become vividly present to the imagination +by means of the analogies pictured in the lines-- + + Volvere curarum tristis in pectore fluctus[27], + +and + + Errare atque viam palantis quaerere vitae[28]. + +What life and energy again are imparted to external things and +abstract conceptions by such expressions as these:--'flammai flore +coorto'; 'avido complexu quem tenet aether'; 'caeli tegit impetus +ingens'; 'circum tremere aethera signis'; 'semina quae magnum +iaculando contulit omne'; 'vagos imbris tempestatesque volantes'; +'concussaeque cadunt urbes dubiaeque minantur'; 'simulacraque fessa +fatisci'; 'sol lumine conserit arva'; 'lucida tela diei'; 'placidi +pellacia ponti'; 'vivant labentes aetheris ignes'; 'leti sub dentibus +ipsis'; 'leti praeclusa est ianua caelo,' etc. + +A similar power of imagination is shown in his more elaborate use of +analogies, in his symbolical representation of ideas, and in his power +of painting scenes from Nature and from human life. Few great poets +have been more sparing in the use of mere poetical ornament. The +grandest imagery which he strikes out, and the finest pictures which +he paints are immediately suggested by his subject. The earnestness +of his speculative and practical purpose restrains all exuberance of +fancy. Thus his imaginative analogies are more often latent in +single expressions than drawn out at length. But the few which he has +elaborated, 'stand out with the solidity of the finest sculpture[29],' +to embody some deep or powerful thought for all time. They are +suggested not by outward resemblance, but by an identity which the +imagination discerns in the innermost meaning of the objects compared +with one another. The strong emotion attending on the presence of some +great thought calls up before the inward eye some scene or action, +which, if actually witnessed, would produce a similar effect upon the +mind. Thus the thought of the chaotic confusion which the universe +would present, on the supposition that the original atoms were +limited in number, calls up the image of the most impressive and awful +devastation, wrought by Nature upon the works of man. + + Sed quasi naufragiis magnis multisque coortis + Disiectare solet magnum mare transtra guberna + Antemnas proram malos tonsasque natantis, + Per terrarum omnis oras fluitantia aplustra + Ut videantur et indicium mortalibus edant, + Infidi maris insidias virisque dolumque + Ut vitare velint, neve ullo tempore credant, + Subdola cum ridet placidi pellacia ponti, + Sic tibi si finita semel primordia quaedam + Constitues, aevom debebunt sparsa per omnem + Disiectare aestus diversi materiari, + Numquam in concilium ut possint compulsa coire + Nec remorari in concilio nec crescere adaucta[30]. + +It is through the penetrating intuition of his imagination into the +deepest meaning of the two phenomena, and his sensibility to the +pathos and the strangeness involved in each of them, that he sees the +birth of every child into the world under the well-known image of +the shipwrecked sailor--'saevis proiectus ab undis.' Other analogies, +suggested rather than elaborately drawn out, express an inward or +spiritual, not an outward or bodily resemblance. Or rather the thing +illustrated is a thought or a mental act, the illustration a scene or +action, visible to the eye, suggestive of the same power in Nature, +and calculated to rouse the same emotions in the mind. Thus he +compares the life transmitted in succession through the nations of the +world to the torch passed on by the runners in the torch-race; or he +illustrates his calm contemplation of the struggles of life from the +heights of his Epicurean philosophy, by the vision of the dangers of +the sea, as seen from some commanding position on the land. + +Although few of his descriptions from Nature are capable of being +transferred to canvas, yet he shows in his treatment of mythological +subjects, and in his personification of great natural phenomena, that +purely pictorial faculty, in virtue of which Catullus and Ovid have +inspired the imagination and directed the hand of some of the great +painters of modern times. Such, for instance, is the representation of +the sacrifice of Iphigenia, suggested indeed, in some of its features, +by an earlier poet, but executed with original power. Such too are the +pictures of Venus and Mars in the invocation to the poem, and that of +Pan-- + + Pinea semiferi capitis velamina quassans[31]. + +By this power of vision he presents that superstition against which +all the weight of his argument is directed, not as an abstraction, but +as a real palpably existing Power of evil-- + + Quae caput a caeli regionibus ostendebat + Horribili super aspectu mortalibus instans[32]. + +So, too, in his vivid account of the orderly procession of the +seasons, he invests the freshness and the beauty of spring with the +charm of personal and human attributes in the lines-- + + It ver et Venus, et veris praenuntius ante + Pennatus graditur zephyrus, vestigia propter + Flora quibus mater praespargens ante viai + Cuncta coloribus egregiis et odoribus opplet[33]. + +But it is in describing actual scenes and actual aspects of human life +that Lucretius chiefly employs his power of poetical conception and +expression. He looks upon the world with an eye which discerns beneath +the outward appearances of things the presence of Nature in her +attributes both of majesty and of genial all-penetrating life,--as at +once the 'Magna mater' and the 'alma mater' of all living things[34]. +She appears to his imagination not as an abstraction, or a vast +aggregate of forces and laws, but as a living Power, whose processes +are on an infinitely grander scale, but are yet analogous to the +active and moral energies of man. He shows the same sympathy with +this life of Nature, the same vivid sense of wonder and delight in +her familiar aspects, the same imaginative perception of her secret +agency, which led the early Greek mind to people the world with the +living forms of the old mythology, and which have been felt anew +by the great poets of the present century. All natural life is thus +endowed with a poetical interest, as being a new manifestation of the +creative energy, which is the fountain of all beauty and delight in +the world. + +The minutest phenomena and the most gigantic forces, the changes of +decay and renovation in all outward things, the growth of plants +and trees, the habits of beasts rioting in a wild liberty over the +mountains,-- + + Quod in magnis bacchatur montibu' passim[35],-- + +or tended by the care and ministering to the wants of man; the life +and enjoyment of the birds that gladden the early morning with their +song by woods and river-banks, or that seek their food and pastime +among the sea-waves;--these, and numberless other phenomena, are all +contemplated and described by an eye quickened by the poetical sense +of manifold and inexhaustible energy in the world. + +It is not so much the beauty of form and colour, as the appearance +of force and life which he reproduces. He has not, like Catullus, +the pure delight of an artist in painting outward scenes. He does +not express, like Virgil, the charm of old associations attaching +to famous places. It is the association of great laws, not of great +memories, which moves him in contemplating the outward world. Neither +has he invested any particular place with the attraction which Horace +has given to his Sabine home, and Catullus to Sirmio. But no ancient +or modern poet has expressed more happily the natural enjoyment of +beholding the changing life and familiar face of the world. No other +writer makes us feel with more reality the quickening of the spirit, +produced by the sunrise or the advent of spring, by living in fine +weather or looking on fair and peaceful landscapes. The freshness of +the feeling with which outward scenes inspire him is one of the great +charms of the poem, especially as a relief to the pervading gravity of +his thought. More than any poet, except Wordsworth, he seems to derive +a pure and healthy joy from the common sights and sounds of animate +and inanimate Nature. No distempered fancies or regrets, no vague +longings for some unattainable rapture, coloured the natural aspect +which the world presented to his eyes and mind. + +In the descriptions of Lucretius, as in those of Homer, there is +always some active movement and change represented as passing before +the eye. What power and energy there are, for instance, in that of a +river-flood,--(like one of equal force and truth in Burns's 'Brigs of +Ayr,')-- + + Nec validi possunt pontes venientis aquai + Vim subitam tolerare: ita magno turbidus imbri + Molibus incurrit validis cum viribus amnis[36]. + +How naturally is the pure and sparkling life of brooks and springs +brought before the mind in the passage at v. 269[37], already +quoted,--and again, in these lines-- + + Denique nota vagi silvestria templa tenebant + Nympharum, quibus e scibant umori' fluenta + Lubrica proluvie larga lavere umida saxa, + Umida saxa, super viridi stillantia musco, + Et partim plano scatere atque erumpere campo[38]. + +In this representation of the sea-shore-- + + Concharumque genus parili ratione videmus + Pingere telluris gremium, qua mollibus undis + Litoris incurvi bibulam pavit aequor harenam[39],-- + +there is the same suggestion of quiet ceaseless movement, as in a line +of the Odyssey representing the same phase of Nature-- + + [Greek: laïngas poti cherson apoplynespe thalassa.] + +There is the same sense of active life in all his pictures of the +early morning; as, for instance,-- + + Primum aurora novo cum spargit lumine terras + Et variae volucres nemora avia pervolitantes + Aera per tenerum liquidis loca vocibus opplent, + Quam subito soleat sol ortus tempore tali + Convestire sua perfundens omnia luce, + Omnibus in promptu manifestumque esse videmus[40]. + +And again,-- + + Aurea cum primum gemmantis rore per herbas + Matutina rubent radiati lumina solis + Exhalantque lacus nebulam fluviique perennes, + Ipsaque ut interdum tellus fumare videtur; + Omnia quae sursum cum conciliantur, in alto + Corpore concreto subtexunt nubila caelum[41]. + +Two other passages (at iv. 136 and vi. 190), in which the movements +and shifting pageantry of the clouds are described, may be compared +with a more elaborate passage in the Excursion, in which Wordsworth +has represented a similar spectacle[42] wrought by 'earthly Nature,'-- + + 'Upon the dark materials of the storm.' + +Nowhere does he present pictures of pure repose. The philosophical +idea of ceaseless motion and change animates to his eye every aspect +of the world. Every separate description in the poem possesses the +charm of freshness and faithfulness, and of relevance to the great +ideas of his philosophy. His living enjoyment in the outward world, +and his sympathy with all existence, both fed and were fed by his +trust in speculative ideas. The poetical descriptions which adorn +and illustrate his argument are like the sublime and beautiful scenes +which refresh and reward the adventurous discoverer of distant lands. + +Some passages, illustrative of philosophical principles, blend the +movements of animal and human life with descriptions of natural +scenery. The lines at ii. 352-366, describing the cow searching +for her calf, which has been sacrificed at the altar, combine many +characteristics of the poetical style of Lucretius. There is the +literal--almost too minute faithfulness of reproduction--as in the +line-- + + Noscit humi pedibus vestigia pressa bisulcis[43];-- + +the active life of the whole representation, too full of movement for +a picture, yet flashing the objects on the inward eye with graphic +pictorial power; the ever fresh charm of some familiar scene, called +up by the lines already referred to,-- + + Nec tenerae salices atque herbae rore vigentes + Fluminaque illa queunt summis labentia ripis; + +the pathos and respect for every mode of natural feeling denoted in +such expressions as 'desiderio perfixa iuvenci'; and, lastly, the +power of investing the most common things with the majesty of the laws +which they express and illustrate. This passage is adduced as a proof +and illustration of the varieties in form of the primordial atoms. In +a passage, immediately preceding, the perpetual motion of the atoms, +going on beneath an appearance of absolute rest, is illustrated by two +pictures, one taken from the jubilant life of the animal creation-- + + Nam saepe in colli tondentes pabula laeta[44], etc.; + +the other taken from the pomp of human affairs, and the gay pageantry +of armies-- + + Praeterea magnae legiones cum loca cursu + Camporum complent belli simulacra cientes, + Fulgor ibi ad caelum se tollit totaque circum + Aere renidescit tellus supterque virum vi + Excitur pedibus sonitus clamoreque montes + Icti reiectant voces ad sidera mundi + Et circumvolitant equites mediosque repente + Tramittunt valido quatientes impete campos[45]. + +The truth and fulness of life in this passage are immediately +perceived, but the element of sublimity is added by the thought in the +two lines with which the passage concludes, which reduces the whole of +this moving and sounding pageant to stillness and silence-- + + Et tamen est quidam locus altis montibus unde + Stare videntur et in campis consistere fulgor[46]. + +As Lucretius was the first poet who revealed the majesty and wonder of +the Natural world, so he restored the sense of awe and mystery, felt +by the earlier Greek poets, to the contemplation of human life. In +dealing with the problem of human destiny, he has sounded deeper than +any of the other ancient poets of Italy: but others have sympathised +with a greater variety of the moods of life, and have allowed its +lights and shadows to play more easily over their poetry. The thought +both of the dignity and the littleness of our mortal state is ever +present to the mind of Lucretius. His imagination is involuntarily +moved by the pomp and grandeur of affairs, while his strong sense of +reality keeps ever before him the conviction of the vanity of +outward state, the weariness of luxurious living, and the miseries +of ambition. Thus his imaginative recognition of the pomp and +circumstance of war brings out by the force of contrast his deeper +conviction of the littleness and impotence of man in the presence of +the great forces of Nature-- + + Summa etiam cum vis violenti per mare venti + Induperatorem classis super aequora verrit + Cum validis pariter legionibus atque elephantis, + Non divom pacem votis adit ac prece quaesit + Ventorum pavidus paces animasque secundas, etc.[47] + +If his reason acknowledges only inward strength as the attribute of +human dignity, yet his imagination feels the outward spell that swayed +the Roman genius, through the symbols of power and authority, through +great spectacles, and in impressive ceremonials. + +But it is with more heart-felt sympathy, and with not less imaginative +emotion, that he recognises the deep wonder and the infinite pathos of +human life. There is perhaps no passage in any poet which reveals more +truthfully that union of feelings in meditating on the strangeness and +sadness of our mortal destiny than the well-known passage describing +the birth of every infant into the world-- + + Tum porro puer, ut saevis proiectus ab undis + Navita, nudus humi iacet, infans, indigus omni + Vitali auxilio, cum primum in luminis oras + Nixibus ex alvo matris natura profudit, + Vagituque locum lugubri complet, ut aecumst + Cui tantum in vita restet transire malorum[48]. + +With what truth and _naiveté_ is the complaint of the husbandman over +his ineffectual labour and scanty returns echoed!-- + + Iamque caput quassans grandis suspirat arator + Crebrius incassum manuum cecidisse labores, + Et cum tempora temporibus praesentia confert + Praeteritis, laudat fortunas saepe parentis + Et crepat, anticum genus ut pietate repletum + Perfacile angustis tolerarit finibus aevom, + Cum minor esset agri multo modus ante viritim[49]. + +His feeling is profoundly solemn, as well as infinitely tender. Above +all the tumult of life, he hears incessantly the funeral dirge over +some one departed, and the infant wail of a newcomer into the troubles +of the world, + + mixtos vagitibus aegris + Ploratus mortis comites et funeris atri[50]. + +His tone can, indeed, be stern and indignant, as well as tender and +melancholy: it is never morbid or effeminate. His tenderness is that +of a thoroughly masculine nature. Some signs of the same mood may be +discovered in the fragments of Ennius; but the feeling of Lucretius +springs from a more sympathetic heart and a more contemplative +imagination. + +His imagination, which depicts so forcibly the intimations of +experience, is able to hear him beyond the known and familiar regions +of life. As it enables him to pass-- + + extra flammantia moenia mundi-- + +and to behold the dawn of creation, and even the blank desolation +which will follow on the overthrow of our system, so it has enabled +him to realise with vivid feeling the primeval condition of man +upon the world. Yet even in these daring enterprises of his fancy he +adheres strictly to the conclusions of his philosophical system, and +shows that sincerity and truthful adherence to fact are as inseparable +from the operations of his creative faculty as of his understanding +and moral nature. + +His excellences are so different from those of Virgil that the +question need not be entertained, whether the rank of the greatest of +Roman poets is or is not to be awarded to him. If each nation must be +considered the best judge of its own poets, it will be admitted that +Lucretius would have found few Roman voices to support his claim to +the first or even the second place. The strongest support which he +could have received would have been Virgil's willing acknowledgment of +the powerful spell which the genius of his predecessor had exercised +over him. Both the artistic defects and the profound feeling and +imaginative originality of his work were calculated to alienate both +popular favour and critical opinion in the Rome of the Empire. The +poem has a much deeper significance for modern than it had for ancient +times. Lucretius stands alone as the great contemplative poet of +antiquity. He has proclaimed with more power than any other the +majesty of Nature's laws, and has interpreted with a truer and deeper +insight the meaning of her manifold life. Few, if any among his +countrymen, felt so strongly the mystery of man's being, or have +indicated so passionate a sympathy with the real sorrows of life, and +so ardent a desire to raise man to his proper dignity, and to support +him in bearing his inevitable burden. If he has, in large measure, +the antique simplicity and grandeur of character, he has much also +in common with the spirit and genius of modern times. He contemplates +human life with a profound feeling, like that of Pascal, and with a +speculative elevation like that of Spinoza. The loftier tones of his +poetry and the sustained effort of mind which bears him through his +long argument remind us of Milton. His sympathy with Nature, at once +fresh and large, is more in harmony with the feeling of the great +poets of the present century than with the general sentiment of +ancient poetry. In the union of poetical feeling with scientific +passion he has anticipated the most elevated mode of the study of +Nature, of which the world has as yet seen only a few great examples. +His powers of observation, thought, feeling, and imagination, are +characterised by a remarkable vitality and sincerity. His strong +intellectual and poetical faculty is united with some of the rarest +moral qualities,--fortitude, seriousness of spirit, love of truth, +manly tenderness of heart. And if it seems that his great powers of +heart, understanding, and genius led him to accept and to teach a +philosophy, paralysing to the highest human hope and energy, it is to +be remembered that he lived at a time when the truest minds may well +have despaired of the Divine government of the world, and must have +honestly felt that it was well to be rid, at any cost, of the burden +of Pagan superstition. + + + [Footnote 1: i. 943-45.] + + [Footnote 2: 'And they placed the dwelling-places and mansions + of the gods in the heavens, because it is through the heavens + that the night and the moon are seen to sweep--the moon, the + day, and night, and the stern constellations of night, the + torches of heaven wandering through the night, and flying + meteors, the clouds, the sun, the rains, the snow, the winds, + lightning, hail, the rapid rattle, the threatening peals and + murmurs of the thunder.'--v. 1188-93.] + + [Footnote 3: Cf. Munro, Introduction, ii. pp. 311, etc.] + + [Footnote 4: Cf. + + Quaerentem dictis quibus et quo carmine demum + Clara tuae possim praepandere lumina menti + Res quibus occultas penitus convisere possis. + + + i. 143-5.] + + [Footnote 5: i. 2-4.] + + [Footnote 6: i. 17-18.] + + [Footnote 7: i. 256.] + + [Footnote 8: ii. 317-19.] + + [Footnote 9: ii. 362-63.] + + [Footnote 10: i. 718-19.] + + [Footnote 11: iv. 460-61.] + + [Footnote 12: iv. 136-38.] + + [Footnote 13: v. 255-56.] + + [Footnote 14: ii. 624-25.] + + [Footnote 15: ii. 639.] + + [Footnote 16: vi. 1179.] + + [Footnote 17: iii. 896.] + + [Footnote 18: iii. 28-30.] + + [Footnote 19: v. 745.] + + [Footnote 20: i. 68-9.] + + [Footnote 21: v. 1193.] + + [Footnote 22: vi. 254.] + + [Footnote 23: v. 96.] + + [Footnote 24: v. 340.] + + [Footnote 25: iii. 842.] + + [Footnote 26: i. 926-27.] + + [Footnote 27: vi. 34.] + + [Footnote 28: ii. 10.] + + [Footnote 29: Prévost Paradol, _Nouveaux Essais de Politique + et de Littérature_.] + + [Footnote 30: 'But as when there have been at the same time + many and mighty shipwrecks, the mighty sea is wont to drive in + all directions the rowers' benches, rudders, sailyards, prows, + masts, and floating oars, so that along all the coasts of land + there may be seen the tossing flag-posts of ships, to warn + mortals that they shun the wiles, and force, and craft of the + faithless sea, nor ever trust the treacherous alluring smile + of the calm ocean; so if once you will suppose any finite + number of elements, you will find that the many surging forces + of matter must disperse and drive them apart through all time, + so that they never can meet and gather into union, nor stay in + union and wax in increase.'--ii. 552-64.] + + [Footnote 31: iv. 587.] + + [Footnote 32: i. 64-5.] + + [Footnote 33: 'Then comes forth the Spring and Venus, and the + harbinger of Spring steps on before them, the winged Zephyr; + and near their footsteps, Mother Flora, scattering her + treasures before her, fills all the way with glorious colours + and fragrance.'--v. 737-40.] + + [Footnote 34: Cp. 'Keats has, above all, a sense of what is + pleasurable and open in the life of Nature; for him she is + the _Alma Parens_: his expression has, therefore, more than + Guérin's, something genial, outward, and sensuous. Guérin has + above all a sense of what there is adorable and secret in + the life of Nature; for him she is the _Magna Parens_; his + expression has, therefore, more than Keats', something mystic, + inward, and profound.' _Essays in Criticism_, by M. Arnold, p. + 130. _Third Edition._] + + [Footnote 35: v. 842.] + + [Footnote 36: 'Nor can the strong bridges endure the sudden + force of the rushing water: in such wise, swollen by heavy + rain, the stream with mighty force dashes upon the piers.'--i. + 285-87.] + + [Footnote 37: 'Percolatur enim virus,' etc.] + + [Footnote 38: 'Finally, in their wandering they made their + dwelling in the familiar woodland grottoes of the nymphs, + from which they marked the rills of water laving the dripping + rocks, made slippery with their abundant flow,--dripping + rocks, with drops oozing out above the green moss,--and + gushing forth and forcing their way over the level plain.'--v. + 944-52.] + + [Footnote 39: 'And in like manner we see shells paint the lap + of the earth, where with its soft waves the sea beats on the + porous sand of the winding shore.'--ii. 374-76.] + + [Footnote 40: 'When the dawn first sheds its new light over + the earth, and birds of every kind, flying over the pathless + woods through the delicate air, fill all the land with their + clear notes, the suddenness with which the risen sun then + clothes and steeps the world in his light, is clear and + evident to all men.'--ii. 144-49.] + + [Footnote 41: 'Just as when first the morning beams of the + bright sun glow all golden through the grass gemmed with dew, + and a mist arises from meres and flowing streams; and as even + the earth itself is sometimes seen to steam; then all these + vapours gather together above, and taking shape, as clouds on + high, weave a canopy beneath the sky.'--v. 460-66.] + + [Footnote 42: Excursion, Book ii:-- + + 'The appearance, instantaneously disclosed,' etc.] + + [Footnote 43: ii. 356.] + + [Footnote 44: ii. 317.] + + [Footnote 45: 'Besides when mighty legions fill the plains + with their rapid movement, raising the pageantry of warfare, + the splendour rises up to heaven, and all the land around is + bright with the glitter of brass, and beneath from the + mighty host of men the sound of their tramp arises, and the + mountains, struck by their shouting, re-echo their voices + to the stars of heaven, and the horsemen hurry to and fro on + either flank, and suddenly charge across the plains, shaking + them with their impetuous onset.'--ii. 323-30.] + + [Footnote 46: 'And yet there is some place in the lofty + mountains whence they appear to be all still, and to rest as a + bright gleam upon the plains.'--ii. 331-32.] + + [Footnote 47: 'When, too, the utmost force of a violent gale + is sweeping the admiral of some fleet over the seas, along + with his mighty legions and elephants, does he not court the + protection of the Gods with vows, and in his terror pray for a + calm to the storm, and for favouring gales?'--v. 1226-30.] + + [Footnote 48: 'Moreover, the babe, like a sailor cast ashore + by the cruel waves, lies naked on the ground, speechless, + in need of every aid to life, when first nature has cast him + forth by great throes from his mother's womb; and he fills the + air with his piteous wail, as befits one whose doom it is to + pass through so much misery in life.'--v. 222-27.] + + [Footnote 49: 'And now, shaking his head, the aged peasant + laments, with a sigh, that the toil of his hands has often + come to naught; and, as he compares the present with the past + time, he extols the fortune of his father, and harps on this + theme, how the good old race, full of piety, bore the burden + of their life very easily within narrow bounds, when the + portion of land for each man was far less than now.'--ii. + 1164-70.] + + [Footnote 50: ii. 569-70.] + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +CATULLUS. + + +Lucretius and Catullus were regarded by their contemporaries as +the greatest poets of the last age of the Republic[1]. They alone +represent the poetry of that time to the modern world. Although +born into the same social rank, and acted upon by the dissolving +influences, the intellectual stimulus, and the political agitation +of the same time, no poets could be named of a more distinct type of +genius and character. The first has left behind him only the record +of his impersonal contemplation. His life was passed more in communion +with Nature than in contact with the world: his experiences of +happiness or sorrow entered into his art solely as affording materials +for his abstract thought. The second has stamped upon his pages the +lasting impression of the deepest joy and pain of his life, as well +as of the lightest cares and fancies that occupied the passing hour. +Intensely social in his temper and tastes, he lived habitually the +life of the great city and the provincial town, observing and sharing +in all their pleasures, distractions, and animosities, and only +escaping, from time to time, for a brief interval to his country +houses on the Lago di Garda and in the neighbourhood of Tivoli. He +seems to have had no other aim in life than that of passionately +enjoying his youth in the pleasures of love, in friendly intercourse +with men of his own rank and age, in the practice of his art, and +the study of the older poets, by whom that art was nourished. All his +poems, with the exception of three or four works of creative fancy +and one or two translations, have for their subject some personal +incident, feeling, or character. Nearly all have some immediate +relation to himself, and give expression to his love or hatred, his +admiration or scorn, his happiness or misery. There is nearly as +little in them of reflexion on human life as of meditative communion +with Nature; but, as individual men and women excited in him intense +affection or passion, so certain beautiful places and beautiful +objects in Nature charmed his fancy and sank into his heart. He shows +himself, spiritually and intellectually, the child of his age in +his ardent vitality, in the license of his life and satire, in the +fierceness of his antipathies; and also in his eager reception of the +spirit of Greek art, his delight in the poets of Greece and the +tales of the Greek mythology, in his striving after form and grace in +composition, and in the enthusiasm with which he anticipates the joy +of travelling among 'the famous cities of Asia.' In all our thoughts +of him he is present to our imagination as the 'young Catullus'-- + + hedera iuvenalia vinctus + Tempora. + +More than any great ancient, and than any great modern poet, with the +exception, perhaps, of Keats, he affords the measure of what youth +can do, and what it fails to do, in poetry. Although the exact age at +which he died is disputed, yet the evidence of his poems shows that +he did not outlive the boyish heart. In character he was even younger +than in actual age. Nearly all his work was done between the years 61 +and 54 B.C.; and most of it, apparently, with little effort. Born with +the keenest capacities of pleasure and of pain, he never learned to +regulate them: nor were they, seemingly, united with such enduring +vital power as to carry him past the perilous stage of his career, so +as to enable him with maturer power and more concentrated industry to +employ his genius and accomplishment on works of larger scope, more +capable of withstanding the shocks and chances of time, than the small +volume which, by a fortunate accident, has preserved the flower and +bloom of his life, and the record of all the 'sweet and bitter' which +he experienced at the hands of that Power-- + + Quae dulcem curis miscet amaritiem. + +The ultimate preservation of his poems depended on a single copy, +which, after being lost to the world for four centuries, was +re-discovered in Verona, the poet's birthplace, during the fourteenth +century. As that copy was again lost, the text has to be determined +from the conflicting testimony of later copies, only two of which are +considered by the latest critics to be of independent value. There is +thus much more uncertainty, and much greater latitude for conjecture, +as to the actual words of Catullus, than in the case of almost any +other Roman poet. As lines not found in this volume are attributed to +him by ancient authors, and as he appears to allude to the composition +of love poems in his first youth[2] which must have been written +before the earliest of the Lesbia-poems, it may be inferred that we do +not possess all that he wrote. It has been generally assumed that the +dedicatory lines to Cornelius Nepos, with which the volume opens, were +prefixed by the poet to the collected edition of his poems which we +now possess; but Mr. Ellis, following Bruner, has shown that that +poem may more probably have been prefixed to a smaller and earlier +collection. The lines-- + + Namque tu solebas + Meas esse aliquid putare nugas, etc.-- + +imply that earlier poems of Catullus were well known for some time +before the writing of this dedication; and allusions in more than one +of the poems[3] prove that the poems of an earlier date must have +been in circulation before those in which these allusions occur were +written. In the time of Martial, a small volume, probably chiefly +consisting of the Lesbia-poems, was known as the 'Passer Catulli[4].' +It may be inferred that, as he wrote his poems from his earliest youth +till his death, he gave them to the world at various stages of his +career. He may have combined in these libelli some of the elegiac +epigrams with his iambics and phalaecians, just as Martial, who +regarded him as his master, did afterwards. Even some of the longer +poems, such as the Janua or the Epithalamia, may have formed part of +these collections. The attention which he attracted from men eminent +in social rank and literature,--such as Hortensius, Manlius Torquatus, +Memmius, etc.,--shows that his genius was soon recognised: and his +eager craving for sympathy and appreciation would naturally prompt +him to bring his various writings immediately before the eyes of his +contemporaries. It seems likely, therefore, that this final collection +from several shorter collections already in circulation was made some +time after the poet's death[5]; that some poems were omitted which +were not thought worthy of preservation, and, possibly, that some may +have then been added which had not previously been given to the world. +It would be difficult to believe that poems expressive of the most +passionate love and the bitterest scorn of the same person could have +appeared for the first time in the same collection. + +This collection consists of about 116 poems[6], written in various +metres, and varying in length from epigrams of only two lines to an +'epyllion' which extends to 408 lines. The poems numbered from i to +lx, are short lyrical or satiric pieces, written in the phalaecian, +glyconic, or iambic metres, and devoted almost entirely to subjects of +personal interest. The middle of the volume is occupied by the longer +poems--numbered lxi to lxviii^b--of a more purely artistic and +mostly an impersonal character, written in the glyconic, galliambic, +hexameter, and elegiac metres. The latter part of the volume is +entirely occupied by epigrammatic or other short pieces in elegiac +metre, varying in length from two to twenty-six lines. Many of the +epigrams refer to the persons who are the subject of the short +lyric and iambic pieces. There is no attempt to arrange the poems in +anything like chronological order. Thus, among the first twelve poems, +ii, iii, v, vii, ix, xii, are probably to be assigned to the years 61 +and 60 B.C., while iv, x, xi, certainly belong to the last three years +of the poet's life. It is difficult to imagine on what principle +the juxtaposition of certain poems was determined. Probably, in some +cases, it may have been on the mere mechanical one of filling up the +pages symmetrically by poems of suitable length. Sometimes we find +poems of the same character, or referring to the same person, grouped +together, and yet varied by the insertion of one or two pieces related +to the larger group by contrast rather than similarity of tone. +Thus the passionate exaltation of the earlier Lesbia-poems is first +relieved by a poem (iv) written in another metre, and appealing to a +much calmer class of feelings, and next varied by one (vi) written +in the same metre, and suggested by a friend's amour, which in its +meanness and obscurity serves as a foil to the glory and brightness of +the good fortune enjoyed by the poet. Yet this clue does not carry us +far in determining the principle, if indeed there was any principle, +on which either the short lyrical poems or the elegiac epigrams were +arranged. These various poems were written under the influence of +every mood to which he was liable; and, like other passionate lyrical +poets, he was susceptible of the most opposite moods. The most trivial +incident might give rise to them equally with the greatest joy or the +greatest sorrow of his life. As he felt a strong need to express, and +had a happy facility in expressing his purest and brightest feelings, +so he felt no shame in indulging, and knew no restraint in expressing, +his coarsest propensities and bitterest resentments: and he evidently +regarded his worst moods no less than his best as legitimate +material for his art. Thus pieces more coarse than almost anything in +literature are interspersed among others of the sunniest brightness +and purity. The feelings with which we linger over the exquisite +beauty of the 'Sirmio,' and are stirred by the noble inspiration of +the 'Hymn to Diana,' receive a rude shock from the two intervening +poems, characterised by a want of reticence and reserve not often +paralleled in the literature or the speech of civilised nations. In +a poet of modern times a similar collocation might be supposed +indicative of a cynical bitterness of spirit--of a mind mocking its +own purest impulses. But Catullus is too genuine and sincere a man, +too natural in his enjoyments, and too healthy in all his moods, to be +taken as an example of this distempered type of genius. It seems more +likely, as is conjectured by recent commentators[7], that the present +collection was made (perhaps at Verona) in a comparatively late +age, when the knowledge of the circumstances of Catullus and the +intelligent appreciation of his poems was lost. + +These poems, whether good or bad, serious or trivial, are all written +with such transparent sincerity that they bring the poet before us +almost as if he were our contemporary. They make him known to us +in many different moods,--in joy and grief, in the ecstasy and +the despair of love, in the frank outpouring of affection and the +enjoyment of social intercourse, in the bitterness of his scorn and +animosity, in the license of his coarser indulgences. They enable us +to start with him on his travels; to enjoy with him the beauty of his +home on the Italian lakes; to pass with him from the life of letters +and idle pleasure and the brilliant intellectual society of Rome to +the more homely but not more virtuous ways and the more commonplace +people of his native province; to join with him in ridiculing some +affectation of an acquaintance, or to feel the contagion of his +admiration for genius or wit in man, grace in woman, or beauty in +Nature. In the glimpses of him which we get in the familiar round of +his daily life, we seem to catch the very turn of his conversation[8], +to hear his laugh at some absurd incident[9], to see his face brighten +as he welcomes a friend from a distant land[10], to mark the quick +ebullition of anger at some slight or rudeness[11], or to be witnesses +of his passionate tears as something recalls to him the memory of +his lost happiness, or makes him feel his present desolation[12]. His +impressible nature realises with extraordinary vividness of pleasure +and pain experiences which by most people are scarcely noticed. To be +rightly appreciated, his poems must be read with immediate reference +to the circumstances and situations which gave rise to them. We must +take them up with our feelings attuned to the mood in which they were +written. Hence, before attempting to criticise them, we must try, by +the help of internal and any available external evidence, to determine +the successive stages of his personal and literary career, and so +to get some idea of the social relations and the state of feeling of +which they were the expression. + +There is some uncertainty as to the exact date of his birth and death. +The statement of Jerome is that he was born at Verona in the year 87 +B.C., and that he died at Rome, at the age of thirty, in the year 57 +B.C. But this last date is contradicted by allusions in the poems to +events and circumstances, such as the expeditions of Caesar across +the Rhine and into Britain, the second Consulship of Pompey, the +preparations for the Eastern expedition of Crassus, which belong to a +later date. The latest incident which Catullus mentions is the +speech of his friend Calvus, delivered in August 54 B.C. against +Vatinius[13]. A line in the poem, immediately preceding that +containing the allusion to the speech of Calvus,-- + + Per consulatum perierat Vatinius,-- + +was, till the appearance of Schwabe's 'Quaestiones Catullianae,' +accepted as a proof that Catullus had actually witnessed the +Consulship of Vatinius in 47 B.C. But it has been satisfactorily shown +that that line refers to the boasts in which Vatinius used to indulge +after the conference at Luca, or after his own election to the +Praetorship, and not to their actual fulfilment at a later time. There +is thus no evidence that Catullus survived the year 54 B.C.; and some +expressions in some of his later poems, as, for instance,-- + + Malest Cornifici tuo Catullo,-- + +and-- + + Quid est Catulle? quid moraris emori? + +are thought to indicate the anticipation of approaching death. But if +54 B.C. is to be accepted as the year of his death, one of Jerome's +two other statements, viz. that he was born in the year 87 B.C. and +that he died at the age of thirty, must be wrong. Most critics and +commentators hold that the first date is right, and that the +mistake lies in the words 'xxx. aetatis anno.' Mr. Munro, with more +probability, believes the error to lie in the 87 B.C., and that +Jerome, 'as so often happens with him, has blundered somewhat in +transferring to his complicated era the Consulships by which Suetonius +would have dated.' He argues further, that the phrase 'iuvenalia +tempora,' in the passage quoted above from Ovid and written by him at +the age of twenty-five, is more applicable to one who died at the age +of thirty than of thirty-three. A further argument for believing that +the 'xxx. aetatis anno' is right, and the date 87 B.C. consequently +wrong, is that the age at which a person died was more easily +ascertained than the date at which he was born, owing to the common +practice of recording the former in sepulchral inscriptions. It is +easy to see how a mistake might have occurred in substituting the +first of the four successive Consulships of Cinna (87 B.C.) for the +last in 84 B.C.; but it is not so obvious how the substitution of xxx. +for xxxiii. could have taken place. The only ground for assuming that +the date of 87 B.C. is more likely to be right, is that thereby the +disparity of age between Catullus and his mistress Clodia, who must +have been born in 95 or 94 B.C., is somewhat lessened. But when we +remember that she was actually twelve years older than M. Caelius +Rufus, who succeeded Catullus as her lover, and that Cicero in his +defence of Caelius speaks of her as supporting from her own means the +extravagance of her youthful ('adulescentis') lovers[14], there is no +more difficulty in supposing that she was ten than that she was seven +years older than Catullus. Moreover, the brotherly friendship in which +Catullus lived with Calvus, and his earlier intimate relations with +Caelius and Gellius, who were all born in or about the year 82 B.C., +seem to indicate that he was nearer to them in age than he would +have been if born in 87 B.C. Between the age of twenty and thirty +a difference of five years is not frequent among very intimate +associates, who live together on a footing of perfect freedom. Again, +the expression of the feelings both of love and friendship in the +earlier poems of Catullus--written about the year 61 or 60 B.C.--seems +more like that of a youth of twenty-three or four, than of twenty-six +or seven, especially when we remember that, by his own confession, he +had entered at a precociously early age on his career both of pleasure +and of poetry. The date 84 B.C. accordingly seems to fit the recorded +facts of his life and the peculiar character of his poetry better than +that of 87 B.C.; and there seems to be more opening for a mistake in +assigning the particular date of the poet's birth and death, than in +recording the number of years which he lived[15]. + +It seems, therefore, most probable that he was born in the year 84 +B.C., and that he died at the age of thirty, either late in 54 B.C. +or early in 53 B.C. The much less important, but still more disputed +question as to his 'praenomen,' appears now to be conclusively +settled, in accordance with the evidence of Jerome and Apuleius, in +favour of Gaius, and against Quintus. In the large number of places +in which he speaks of himself, he invariably calls himself 'Catullus'; +and in the best MSS. his book is called 'Catulli Veronensis liber.' +His Gentile name Valerius is confirmed by Suetonius in his life of +Julius Caesar; and the evidence of inscriptions shows that that name +was not uncommon in the district near Verona. How it happened that +this Roman patrician name had spread into Cisalpine Gaul we do not +know; but that the family of Catullus was one of high consideration in +his native district, and maintained relations with the great families +of Rome, is indicated by the intimate footing on which Julius Caesar +lived with his father, and also by the fact that the poet was received +as a friend into the best houses of Rome,--such as that of Hortensius, +Manlius Torquatus, Metellus Celer,--shortly after his arrival there. +It is quite possible that the last of these, who was Proconsul in +Cisalpine Gaul in 62 B.C., and to whom Cicero writes when governor of +that province, may have lived on the same footing as Julius Caesar +did with Catullus' father at Verona, and that, in that way, Catullus +obtained his first introduction to his wife Clodia, the Lesbia of the +poems. Although some humorous complaints of money difficulties--the +natural consequences of his fashionable pleasures--occur in his +poems[16], yet from the fact of his possessing, in his father's +lifetime, a country house on lake Benacus and a farm on the borders of +the Sabine and the Tiburtine territories, and of his having bought and +manned a yacht in which he made the voyage from Bithynia to the mouth +of the Po, it may be inferred that he belonged to a wealthy senatorian +or equestrian family. One or two expressions, such as 'se atque suos +omnes,' and again, 'te cum tota gente, Catulle, tua[17],' seem to +speak of a large connexion of kinsmen: but we only know of one other +member of his own family, his brother, whose early death in the Troad +is mentioned with very genuine feeling in several of his poems. The +statement of Jerome that he was born at Verona is confirmed by Ovid +and Martial, and by the poet himself. He speaks of the 'Transpadani' +as his own people ('ut meos quoque attingam'); he addresses Brixia +(the modern Brescia), as-- + + Veronae mater amata meae; + +he speaks of one of his fellow-townsmen, as-- + + Quendam municipem meum. + +Besides spending his early youth there, we find him, on three +different occasions, retiring thither from Rome, and making a +considerable stay there; first, at the time of his brother's death, +apparently at the very height of his _liaison_ with Clodia; next, +immediately after his return from Bithynia; and again in the winter of +55-54 B.C., when it is probable that his interview and reconciliation +with Julius Caesar took place. We find him inviting his friend, the +poet Caecilius, to come and visit him from the newly established +colony of Como. He had his friends and confidants among the youth of +Verona, and he records his intrigues both with the married women and +courtesans of the place[18]. He took a lively interest in the humorous +scandals of the Province, and he has made them the subjects of several +of his poems,--e.g. xvii and lxvii. Although his life was too full +of social excitement and human interests to make him dwell much on +natural beauty, yet the pure feeling expressed in the Sirmio-- + + Salve, o venusta Sirmio, atque ero gaude; + Gaudete vosque o vividae[19] lacus undae-- + +shows that he derived keen enjoyment from the familiar loveliness +of that 'ocellus' of 'all isles and capes': and in the illustrative +imagery of his more artistic poems we seem to find traces of the +impression made unconsciously on his imagination by the mountain +scenery of Northern Italy[20]. + +His native district afforded scope for the culture, which was the +serious charm of his life, as well as for the pleasures which formed +a large part of it. It was in the youth of Catullus that the power of +Greek studies was first felt by the impressionable race, half-Italian, +half-Celtic, of Cisalpine Gaul, which still remained outside of Italy, +and is called by him 'Provincia.' Among the men of letters belonging +to the last age of the Republic,--Cato, the grammarian and poet, the +great teacher of the poets of the new generation[21], described in +lines quoted by Suetonius as + + Latina Siren + Qui solus legit ac facit poetas,-- + +Cornelius Nepos, the friend who early recognised the genius of +Catullus and to whom one of his 'libelli' was dedicated in the lines +now prefixed to the collection,--Quintilius Varus, probably the Varus +of poems x and xxii, and the friend whose death Horace laments in an +Ode to Virgil, and whose candour as a critic he commends in the Ars +Poetica,--Furius Bibaculus, Cornificius, and Caecilius, most of whom +were among the intimate friends of Catullus, came from, or resided in, +the North of Italy[22]. In the poem already mentioned he speaks of the +mistress of Caecilius as being-- + + Sapphica puella + Musa doctior,-- + +an indication that, not only in Rome but even in the northern +province, the finest literary taste and culture was shared by +women. Catullus shows in the earlier stage of his poetic career his +familiarity both with the 'Muse of Sappho,' and with the more laboured +art of Callimachus. His special literary butt, 'Volusius,' whose +poems are ridiculed under the title of 'Annales Volusi,' was also his +'Conterraneus,' being a native of the ancient 'Padua,' a town at +the mouth of the Po[23]. The strength of the impulse first given to +literary study in this age is marked also by the eminent names from +the North of Italy, which belong to the next generation, those of +Virgil, Cornelius Gallus, Aemilius Macer, Livy, etc. There is no +proof that Catullus left his native district in order to complete his +education, though it is not improbable that he may have done so and +come under the instruction of the 'Latina Siren,' with whom he was +later on terms of familiar intimacy (lvi); nor have we any sure sign +of his presence at Rome before the year 61 B.C.[24] He tells us that +he began his career both as an amatory poet and as a man of pleasure +in his earliest youth,-- + + Tempore quo primum vestis mihi tradita pura'st, + Iucundum cum aetas florida ver ageret, + Multa satis lusi: non est dea nescia nostri, + Quae dulcem curis miscet amaritiem[25]. + +One or two of the poems which we still possess may have been written +before Catullus settled in Rome, and before his genius was fully +awakened by his passion for Lesbia: but the great majority belong to a +later date; and if he did write many love poems before leaving Verona, +'in the pleasant spring-time of his life,' nearly all, if not all, +of them were omitted from the final collection. Even the 'Aufilena +poems,' which are based on an intrigue carried on at Verona, are +shown, by the lines in c:-- + + Cui faveam potius? Caeli, tibi, nam tua nobis + Per facta exhibita'st unica amicitia, + Cum vesana meas torreret flamma medullas, + +to be subsequent to the _liaison_ with Clodia. This last line can only +refer to the one all-absorbing passion of the poet's life. His own +relations to Aufilena, in whose affections he seems to have tried to +supplant his friend Quintius, were subsequent to the composition of +that poem. It is possible, as Westphal suggests, that the Veronese +bride, 'viridissimo nupta flore puella' of the 17th poem, in whom +Catullus evidently took a lively interest, may have been this +Aufilena, at an earlier stage of her career. + +The event which first revealed the full power of his genius, and which +brought the greatest happiness and the greatest misery into his life, +was his passion for 'Lesbia.' After the elaborate discussions of the +question by Schwabe, Munro, Ellis and others, it can no longer be +doubted that the lady addressed under that name was the notorious +Clodia; the [Greek: boôpis] who appears so prominently in the second +book of Cicero's Letters to Atticus, and the 'Medea Palatina' whose +crimes, fascination, and profligacy stand out so distinctly in the +defence of Caelius. We learn first from Ovid that 'Lesbia' was a +feigned name; and the application of that name is easily intelligible +from the admiration which Catullus felt, and which his mistress +probably shared, for the 'Lesbian poetess,' whose passionate words he +addressed to his mistress when he was first dazzled by her exceeding +charm and beauty. Apuleius tells us further that the real name of +'Lesbia' was Clodia; and the truth of his statement is confirmed +by his mention in the same place of other Roman ladies, who +were celebrated by their poet-lovers,--Ticidas, Tibullus, and +Propertius,--under disguised names. The statement made there that the +real name of the Cynthia of Propertius was Hostia, is confirmed by the +line in one of his elegies, + + Splendidaque a docto fama refulget avo[26]. + +The fact that this Clodia was the sister of P. Clodius Pulcher is also +indicated in the 79th poem of Catullus, + + Lesbius est pulcher: quidni? quem Lesbia malit + Quam te cum tota gente, Catulle, tua. + +The play on the word _pulcher_ might be illustrated by many parallel +allusions in Cicero's Letters to Atticus. The gratitude expressed by +Catullus to Allius[27], a man of rank and position, for having made +arrangements to enable him to meet his mistress in secret, clearly +shows that she could not have belonged to the class of _libertinae_, +in whose case no such precautions could have been necessary: and the +language of Catullus in the first period of his _liaison_-- + + Ille mi par esse deo videtur; + +and again, + + Quo mea se molli candida diva pedem + Intulit, + +is like the rapture of a lover acknowledging the gracious +condescension of a superior, as well as the delight of passion +returned. Of the two kinds of lovers, those who 'allow themselves to +be loved' and are flattered by this tribute to their superiority, and +those who are carried out of themselves by their idealising admiration +of the object of their love, Catullus, in his earlier and happier +time, unquestionably belonged to the latter. Such a feeling, on the +part of a young provincial poet, although primarily inspired by charms +of person and manner, would naturally be enhanced by the thought +that the lady whom he loved belonged to one of the oldest and highest +patrician houses, and was the wife of one of the greatest nobles of +Rome, who was either actual Consul, or Consul designate, at the time +when she first returned the poet's passion. The subsequent course of +their _liaison_ affords further corroboration of her identity with the +famous Clodia. The rival against whom the poet's anger is most fierce +and bitter, is addressed by him as Rufus[28],--the cognomen of M. +Caelius, who became the lover of Clodia in the latter part of the year +59, and was defended by Cicero in a prosecution instigated by her +in the early part of 56 B.C. The speech of Cicero amply confirms the +charges of Catullus as to the multiplicity of her later lovers. As, +therefore, there seems no reason to doubt, and the strongest reason +to accept the statement of Apuleius that the real name of Lesbia was +Clodia; as the Lesbia of Catullus was, like her, evidently a lady of +rank and of great accomplishment[29]; as there was no other Clodia +of the family of Clodius Pulcher at Rome, except the wife of Metellus +Celer, to whom the statements made in the poems of Catullus could +apply; and as these statements closely agree with all that Cicero says +of her,--there is no reasonable ground for doubting their identity. If +it is urged, on the other side, that a lady of the rank and station of +Clodia cannot have sunk so low, as some of the later poems of Catullus +imply, it may be said that all that Catullus in his jealous wrath +imputed to her need not have been true, and also that other Roman +ladies of as high rank and position, both in the last age of the +Republic and in the early Empire, did sink as low[30]. + +That the intrigue was carried on and had even reached its second +stage--that of the 'amantium irae'--in the life-time of Metellus, +appears from the 83rd poem, + + Lesbia mi praesente viro mala plurima dicit, etc. + +Metellus was governor of the Province of Gallia Cisalpina in 62 +B.C., and he must have returned to Rome early in 61 to stand for the +Consulship. Catullus may have become known to Clodia in his absence, +and the earliest poem addressed to her, the translation from Sappho, +which is expressive of passionate and even distant admiration rather +than of secure possession, may belong to the time of her husband's +absence. But in the 68th poem, which recalls most vividly the early +days of their love, when they met in secret at the house provided +by Allius, the lines, in which the poet excuses her faithlessness to +himself-- + + Sed furtiva dedit mira munuscula nocte, + Ipsius ex ipso dempta viri gremio[31]-- + +clearly imply that these meetings occurred after the return of +Metellus to Rome. The earlier love poems to Lesbia--those on her pet +sparrow, the 'Vivamus, mea Lesbia, atque amemus,' and the 'Quaeris +quot mihi basiationes,'--in all of which the feeling expressed is +one at once of passionate admiration and of perfect security,--belong +probably to the year 60, or to the latter part of the year 61 B.C. To +this period may, in all probability, be assigned some of the poet's +brightest and happiest efforts,--the Epithalamium in honour of the +marriage of Manlius and Vinia Aurunculeia[32], and the poems ix, xii, +xiii, commemorative of his friendship with Veranius and Fabullus. The +words in the last of these-- + + Nam unguentum dabo, quod meae puellae + Donarunt Veneres Cupidinesque-- + +seem to admit of no other explanation than that they were written +in the heyday of his passion. The lines in the poem, welcoming +Veranius,-- + + Visam te incolumem audiamque Hiberum + Narrantem loca, facta, nationes-- + +seem to speak of some adventures encountered in Spain: and from the +fact that three years later the two friends, who are always coupled +together as inseparable by Catullus, went together on the staff of +Calpurnius Piso, the father-in-law of Caesar, to his Province of +Macedonia, it seems a not unwarranted conjecture[33] that they were +similarly engaged at this earlier time, and had gone to Spain in +the train of Julius Caesar, and had returned with him to Rome in the +middle of the year 60 B.C.[34] The twelfth poem, which is interesting +as a testimony to the honour and good taste of Asinius Pollio, then +a boy of sixteen, was written somewhat earlier, while Veranius and +Fabullus were still in Spain. + +The first hint of any rift in the loves of Catullus and Clodia +is contained in the 68th poem, written in the form of a letter to +Manlius[35]-- + + Quare, quod scribis Veronae turpe Catullo, etc. + +Catullus had retired to Verona on hearing of the death of his +brother, and he was for a time so overwhelmed with grief as to become +indifferent both to poetry and love. He is as sincere and unreserved +in the expression of his grief as of his former happiness, and as +completely absorbed by it. He writes to Hortensius, enclosing, in +fulfilment of an old promise, a translation of the 'Coma Berenices' of +Callimachus, but at the same time expressing his loss of all interest +in poetry owing to his recent affliction,-- + + Etsi me adsiduo confectum cura dolore + Sevocat a doctis, Ortale, virginibus, etc. + +In his letter to Manlius, in which he excuses himself on the same +ground for not sending any poetry of his own, and for not complying +with his request to send him some volumes of Greek poetry, on the +ground that his collection of books was at Rome, he notices, with a +feeling almost of hopeless indifference, a hint conveyed to him by +Manlius, of his mistress' faithlessness[36]. In the poem written +somewhat later to Allius,-- + + Non possum reticere deae qua me Allius in re, etc.-- + +in which his grief is still fresh but more subdued, and in which the +full tide of his old passion, as well as his old delight in his art, +returns to him, he speaks lightly of her occasional infidelities,-- + + Quae tamen etsi uno non est contenta Catullo + Rara verecundae furta feremus erae. + +If he can no longer be her only lover, he still hopes to be the most +favoured. But he soon finds even this privilege denied to him. His +love-poetry henceforth assumes a different sound. For a time, indeed, +his reproaches are uttered in a tone of sadness not unmixed with +tenderness. Afterwards, even though his passion from time to time +revives with its old vehemence, and he again becomes the slave of +Lesbia's caprice, his tone becomes angry, hard, and scornful. Finally, +the evidence of her shameless life and innumerable infidelities with +Caelius, Gellius, Egnatius, and 'three hundred others,' enables him +utterly to renounce her. The earlier of the poems, both of anger and +reconciliation, may probably have been written in the life-time of +Metellus, i.e. in 60 or in the beginning of 59 B.C. But later in that +year Metellus died, suspected of being poisoned by his wife, who, on +the ground of that suspicion, was named by Caelius Rufus, after his +passion had merged in a hatred equal to that of Catullus, by the +terrible _oxymoron_ of 'Clytemnestra quadrantaria.' Her widowhood +gained for her absolute license in the indulgence of her propensities, +and the first use she made of her liberty was to receive Caelius Rufus +into her house on the Palatine. What her ultimate fate was we do not +know, but the language of Cicero, Caelius, and Catullus show that she +could inspire as deadly hatred as passionate admiration, and that +the 'Juno-like' charm of her beauty, the grace and fascination of her +presence, the intellectual accomplishment which made poets and orators +for a time her slaves, did not save her from sinking into the lowest +degradation. + +The poems representing the second and third stage--that in which +passion and scorn strive with one another--of the relations to +'Lesbia,' and containing the savage attacks on his rivals, belong to +the years 59 and 58 B.C.: nor do there appear to be any other poems of +importance referable to this latter date. One or two poems, in which +his final renunciation is made with much scornful emphasis, belong to +a later date after his return from Bithynia. He went there early in +the year 57 B.C., on the staff of the Propraetor Memmius, and remained +till the spring of the following year. The immediate motive for this +step may have been his wish to escape from his fatal entanglement, but +the chances of bettering his fortunes, the congenial society of his +friend the poet Helvius Cinna and other members of the staff, and the +attraction of visiting the famous seats of the old Greek civilization, +were also powerful inducements to a man who combined a strong social +and pleasure-loving nature with the enthusiasm of a poet and a +scholar. His severance from his recent associations and from the +animosities they engendered was favourable to his happiness and his +poetry. He did not indeed improve his fortunes, owing, as he says, to +the poverty of the province and the meanness of his chief. He detested +Memmius, and has recorded his detestation in the hearty terms of abuse +of which he was a master; and he expresses his joy in quitting, in the +following spring, the dull monotony of the Phrygian plains and the hot +climate of Nicaea. But he had great enjoyment in his association with +his comrades on the Praetor's staff-- + + O dulces comitum valete coetus.-- + +He was attracted to one of them, Helvius Cinna, by warm admiration for +his poetic accomplishment, as well as by friendship[37]; and the time +spent by them together was probably lightened by the practice of their +art, and the study of the Alexandrine poets. Although the fame of +Cinna did not become so great as that of Catullus or Calvus, he seems +to have been regarded by the poets of that school in the light of a +master[38]; and it is probably owing to the example of his Zmyrna, so +highly lauded in the 95th poem of Catullus, that Catullus composed +his Epithalamium of Peleus and Thetis, Calvus composed his Io, and +Cornificius his Glaucus. A still more remarkable poem of Catullus, the +Attis, the subject of which, so remote not only from Roman but even +Greek life, is identified with the Phrygian highlands and the seats +of the worship of Cybele, probably owes its inspiration as well as +its local colouring to the poet's sojourn in this district. It is not +unlikely that it was during the leisure of the time spent in Bithynia +that these poems were commenced, as it was during his retirement to +Verona after his brother's death that his longer Elegiac poems were +written. The mention of the 'Catagraphi Thyni' in a later poem is +suggestive of the interest which he took in the novel aspects of +Eastern life opened up to him in the province. But it is in the poems +which are written in the year 56 B.C., that we chiefly note the happy +effect of the poet's absence from Rome, and of his emancipation from +his passion. Some of these poems,--more especially xlvi, ci, xxxi, and +iv,--are among the happiest and purest products of his genius. They +bring him before us eagerly preparing to start on his journey 'among +the famous cities of Asia,'--making his pious pilgrimage to his +brother's tomb in the Troad,--greeting his beloved Sirmio and the +bright waters of the Lago di Garda on his first return home, and +recalling sometime later to his guests by the shores of the lake the +memories of the places visited, and of the gallant bearing of his +pinnace, 'through so many wild seas,' on his homeward voyage. Some +of the poems written from Verona--those referring to his intrigue +or perhaps his disappointment with Aufilena, and the invitation to +Caecilius (xxxv), were probably composed about this time, before his +return to Rome. The 'Aufilena' poems belong certainly to a time +later than his passion for Lesbia; and during a still later visit to +Verona--probably that during which he met and was reconciled to Julius +Caesar--Catullus is found engaged in love-affairs in which Mamurra +was his rival. As the invitation to Caecilius was written after the +foundation of Como (B.C. 59), it could not have been sent by Catullus +during his earlier sojourns at Verona: and 'the ideas' which he wished +to interchange with the poet who was then engaged in writing a poem +on Cybele--'Dindymi domina,'--to which Catullus pointedly refers, may +well have been those suggested by his Eastern sojourn, and embodied +in the Attis. But soon afterwards we find him back in Rome, and the +lively and most natural comedy, dramatically put before us in x-- + + Varus me meus ad suos amores + Visum duxerat e foro otiosum-- + +bears the freshest impress of his recent Bithynian experiences. Poems +xxviii and xlviii, inspired by his hatred of Memmius and his sympathy +with the treatment, like to that which he had himself experienced, +which his friends Veranius and Fabullus had met with at the hands of +their chief Piso, probably belong to a later time, after the return of +Piso from his province in 55 B.C. Some critics have found the motive +of the famous lines addressed to Cicero-- + + Disertissime Romuli nepotum + Quot sunt quotque fuere, Marce Tulli-- + +in the speech delivered in the early part of 56 B.C., in defence of +Caelius, of which, from the prominence given in it to the vices of +Clodia, Catullus must have heard soon after his return to Rome. But +the words of the poem hardly justify this inference. Catullus was not +interested in the vindication of Caelius, who had proved false to +him as a friend, and supplanted him as a rival. And he was himself so +perfect a master of vituperation that he did not need to thank Cicero +for his having done that office for him in regard to Clodia. Yet +the reference to Cicero's eloquence, and to his supremacy in the law +courts--, + + Tanto pessimus omnium poeta + Quanta tu optimus omnium patronus-- + +seems to point to some exercise of Cicero's special talent as an +advocate, for which Catullus was grateful. The great orator and the +great poet, who speaks so modestly of himself in the contrast he draws +between them, may have been brought together in many ways. They had +common friends and acquaintances--Hortensius, Manlius Torquatus, +Sestius, Licinius Calvus, Memmius, etc.; and they heartily hated +the same persons, Clodia, Vatinius, Piso, and others. The intimate +associates of Catullus shared the political views and sympathies which +the orator had professed at least up to the year 55 B.C. Cicero, too, +was naturally attracted to young men of promise and genius,--if they +did not belong too prominently to the 'grex Catilinae';--and, like Dr. +Johnson in his relations to Beauclerk and Boswell, he may have valued +their society more for their intellectual vivacity than their moral +virtues[39]. + +The poems written in the last two years of the poet's life do not +indicate any emancipation from the coarser passions and the fierce +animosities of the period immediately preceding the Bithynian journey. +To this later time may be assigned the famous lampoons on Julius +Caesar and Mamurra, the poems referring to some of his Veronese +amours, those addressed to Juventius, and the reckless, +half-bantering, half-savage assaults on 'Furius and Aurelius,' who +were both the butts of his wit and the sharers of his least reputable +pleasures. They seem to have been needy men, though of some social +standing[40], probably of the class of 'Scurrae,' who preyed on his +purse and made loud professions of devotion to him, while they abused +his confidence and his character behind his back. Some of the poems of +his last years, however, are indicative of a more genial frame of mind +and of happier relations with the world. It was at this time that he +enjoyed the intimate friendship of Licinius Calvus[41], to whom he was +united by similarity of taste and of genius, as well as by sympathy in +their personal and political dislikes. Four poems--one certainly among +the very last written by Catullus--are inspired by this friendship, +and all clearly prove that at least this source of happiness was +unalloyed by any taint of bitterness. Two other poems, the final +repudiation of Lesbia, and the bright picture of the loves of Acme and +Septimius, which, by their allusions to the invasion of Britain and +to the excitement preceding the Parthian expedition of Crassus and the +Egyptian expedition of Gabinius, show unmistakeably that they belong +to the last year of his life, afford conclusive evidence that neither +the exhausting passions, the rancorous feuds, nor the deeper sorrows +of his life had in any way impaired the vigour of his imagination or +his sense of beauty. Perhaps the latest verses addressed by Catullus +to any of his friends are those lines of tender complaint to +Cornificius, in which he begs of him some little word of consolation-- + + Maestius lacrimis Simonideis. + +The lines-- + + Malest, me hercule, et est laboriose, + Et magis magis in dies et horas-- + +might well have been drawn from him by the rapid advance of his fatal +illness, and the phrase 'lacrimis Simonideis' is suggestive of +the anticipation of death rather than of the misery of unfortunate +love[42]. + +The length as well as the diction, rhythm, and structure of the 64th +poem-- + + Peliaco quondam prognatae, etc.-- + +shows that it was a work of much greater labour and thought than any +of those which sprang spontaneously out of the passion or sentiment +of the moment. Probably in the composition of this, which he must +have regarded as the most serious and ambitious effort of his Muse, +Catullus may have acted on the principle which he commends so warmly +in his lines on the Zmyrna of Cinna-- + + Zmyrna mei Cinnae nonam post denique messem + Quam coepta'st nonamque edita post hiemem,-- + +and have kept it by him for years, elaborating the unfamiliar poetic +diction in which it is expressed, and enlarging its original plan +by the insertion of the long Ariadne episode. It is the only poem +of Catullus which produces the impression of the slow and reflective +processes of art as distinct from the rapidly shaping power of +immediate inspiration. From this circumstance alone we should regard +it as a work on which his maturest faculty was employed. But it has +been shown[43] that throughout the poem, and more especially in the +episode of Ariadne, there are clear indications that Catullus had read +and imitated the poem of Lucretius, which appeared about the end of 55 +or the beginning of 54 B.C. We may therefore conclude that in the year +54 B.C.--the last of his life--Catullus was still engaged either in +the original composition of his longest poem, or in giving to it the +finishing touches. The concluding lines of the poem-- + + Sed postquam tellus scelere est imbuta nefando, etc.-- + +which are written in a more serious spirit, and with a graver judgment +on human life than anything else he has left, perhaps indicate the +path which his maturer genius might have struck out for itself, if +he had ever risen from the careless freedom of early youth to the +reflective habits and steady labour of riper years. + +But although longer life might have brought to Catullus a still +higher rank among the poets of the world, the chief charm of the poems +actually written by him arises from the strength and depth of his +personal feelings, and the force, freshness, and grace with which +he has expressed them. Other Roman poets have produced works of more +elaborate composition, and have shown themselves greater interpreters +of Nature and of human life: none have expressed so directly and +truthfully the great elemental affections, or have uttered with such +vital sincerity the happiness or the pain of the passing hour. +He presents his own simple experience and emotions, uncoloured by +idealising fancy or reflexion, and the world accepts this as among +the truest of all records of human feeling. The 'spirat adhuc amor' is +especially true of all the poems inspired by his love for Lesbia. It +is by the union of the utmost fire of passion with a heart capable of +the utmost constancy of feeling that he transcends all other poets of +love. We pass with him through every stage of his passion, from the +first rapture of admiration and the first happiness of possession to +the biting words or scorn in which he announces to Lesbia his final +renunciation of her. We witness the whole 'pageant of his bleeding +heart,' from the fresh pain of the wound on first fully realising +her unworthiness, through the various stages of superficial +reconcilement,--the 'amoris integratio' following on the 'amantium +irae[44],'--on to the state of torture described by him in the words +'Odi et amo[45],' till at last he obtains his emancipation by the +growth of a savage rancour and loathing in the place of the passionate +love which had tried so long to sustain itself 'like a wild flower +at the edge of the meadow[46].' Among the many poems, written through +nearly the whole of his poetical career, and called forth by this, the +most vital experience of his life, those of most charm and power are +the two on the 'Sparrow of Lesbia' (ii and iii) written in tones of +playful tenderness, not without some touch of the luxury of melancholy +which accompanies and enhances passion;--the two, v and vii, + + Vivamus, mea Lesbia, atque amemus, + +and + + Quaeris, quot mihi basiationes, etc.,-- + +written in the very height of his short-lived happiness, in the +wildest tumult and most reckless abandonment of passion, when the +immediate joy is felt as the only thing of any moment in life; the 8th +poem-- + + Miser, Catulle, desinas ineptire-- + +in which he recalls the bright days of the past-- + + Fulsere quondam candidi tibi soles,-- + +and steels his heart against useless regret:--and another poem written +in a different metre, in the same mood, and apparently after the +wounds, which had been partially healed, had broken out afresh,-- + + Si qua recordanti benefacta priora voluptas, etc.[47]; + +in which he prays for a deliverance from his passion as from a foul +disease, or a kind of madness;--and lastly, the final renunciation +(xi),-- + + Furi et Aureli comites Catullo,-- + +in which scornful irony is combined with an imaginative power and +creative force of expression which he has only equalled or surpassed +in one or two other of his greatest works,--such as the 'Attis' and +the Epithalamium of Manlius. Other tales of love told by poets have +been more beautiful in their course, or more pathetic in their issue; +none have been told with more truthful realism, or more desperate +intensity of feeling. + +The fame of Catullus, as alone among ancient poets of love rivalling +the traditional glory of Sappho, does not rest only on those poems +which record the varying vicissitudes of his own experience. His +longer and more artistic poems are all concerned with some phase of +this passion, either in its more beautiful and pathetic aspects, or +in its perversion and corruption. Thus he not only selects from Greek +legends the story of the desertion of Ariadne, of the brief union of +Protesilaus and Laodamia, of the glory and blessedness of Peleus +and Thetis, but he makes the tragic deed of Attis, instigated by the +fanatical hatred of love,--'Veneris nimio odio,'--the subject of his +art. Others of his poems are inspired by sympathy with the happiness +of his friends in the enjoyment of their love, and with their sorrow +when that love is interrupted by death. The most charming of all his +longer poems is the Epithalamium which celebrates the union of Manlius +with his bride. No truer picture of the passionate devotion of lovers +has ever been painted than that presented in the few playful and +tender but burning lines of the 'Acme and Septimius.' His own +experience did not teach him the lessons of cynicism. At the close as +at the beginning of his career, he finds in the union of passion with +truth and constancy the most real source of happiness. The elegiac +lines in which he comforts his friend Calvus for the loss of Quintilia +bear witness to the strength and delicacy of his friendship, and, +along with others of his poems, make us feel that the life of pleasure +in that age was not only brightened by genius and culture, but also +elevated by pure affection and sympathy,-- + + Si quicquam mutis gratum acceptumque sepulchris + Accidere a nostro Calve dolore potest, + Quo desiderio veteres renovamus amores + Atque olim missas flemus amicitias + Certe non tanto mors immatura dolori est + Quintiliae, quantum gaudet amore tuo[48]. + +The most attractive feature in the character of Catullus is the warmth +of his affection. No ancient poet has left so pleasant a record of +the genial intercourse of friends, or has given such proof of his own +dependence on human attachment and of his readiness to meet all the +claims which others have on such attachment. In his gayest hours and +his greatest sorrow, amid his pleasures and his studies, he shows his +thoughtful consideration for others, his grateful recollection of past +kindness, and his own extreme need of sympathy. Perhaps he expects too +much from friendship, and, in addressing his comrades, is too ready +to assume that whatever gives momentary pleasure or pain to 'their own +Catullus' must be of equal importance to them. No poet makes such use +of terms of endearment and affectionate diminutives in writing both to +and of his friends, and of himself in his relation to them. But if he +expected much from the sympathy of his associates, he possessed in no +ordinary measure the capacity of feeling with and of heartily loving +and admiring them. He often expresses honest and delicate appreciation +of the works, or of the wit, taste, and genius of his friends. The +dedication of his volume to Cornelius Nepos, the lines addressed to +Cicero, the invitation to Caecilius-- + + Poetae tenero, meo sodali + Velim Caecilio papyre dicas,-- + +the poem in which he recalls to Licinius Calvus a day passed together +in witty talk and the interchange of verses over their wine, the +contrast which he draws between the doom of speedy oblivion which he +pronounces on the 'Annals of Volusius,' and the immortality which he +confidently anticipates for the 'Zmyrna' of Cinna,--all show that, +though fastidious in his judgments, he was without a single touch of +literary jealousy, and that he felt a generous pride in the fame and +accomplishments of men of established reputation as well as of his own +younger compeers. Nor was his affection limited by literary sympathy. +Of none of his associates does he write more heartily than of Veranius +and Fabullus, young men, apparently enjoying their youth, and trying +to better their fortunes by serving on the staff of some Praetor or +Proconsul in his province. The language of affection could not be +uttered with more cordiality, simplicity, and grace than in the poem +of ten or eleven lines welcoming Veranius on his return from Spain,-- + + Venistine domum ad tuos Penates + Fratresque unanimos anumque matrem? + Venisti. O mihi nuntii beati. + +There is not a word in the poem wasted; not one that does not come +straight and strong from the heart. The 'Invitation to Fabullus' is in +a lighter strain, and is written with the freedom and humour which he +could use to add a charm to his friendly intercourse[49], and a sting +to his less congenial relations. Yet through the playful banter of +this poem his delicate and kindly nature betrays itself in the words +'venuste noster,' and in those lines of true feeling,-- + + Sed contra accipies meros amores + Seu quid suavius elegantiusve. + +His affection for both comes out incidentally in his remonstrance with +Marrucinus Asinius[50] for having filched after dinner, 'in ioco atque +vino,' one of his napkins, which he valued as memorials of the friends +who had sent them to him, and which he endows with some share of the +love he felt for them,-- + + Haec amem necessest + Ut Veraniolum meum et Fabullum. + +The lampoons on Piso and his favourites, Porcius and Socration, show +that those who wronged his friends could rouse in him as generous +indignation as those who wronged himself. + +Other poems express the pain and disappointment of a very sensitive +nature, which expects more active and disinterested sympathy from +others than ordinary men care either to give or to receive. Of this +sort are his complaint to Cornificius[51],-- + + Malest, Cornifici, tuo Catullo-- + +and the affectionate reproach which he addresses to Alphenus (xxx):-- + + Certe tute iubebas animam tradere, inique, me + Inducens in amorem, quasi tuta omnia mi forent. + Inde nunc retrahis te ac tua dicta omnia factaque + Ventos irrita ferre ac nebulas aerias sinis. + +These, and other poems, show that Catullus was quick to feel any +coldness or neglect on the part of his friends, and exceedingly +dependent for his happiness on their sympathy. But the tone of these +poems is quite different from the resentment which he feels and +expresses against those from whom he had experienced malice or +treachery. It does great injustice to his noblest qualities, to think +of him as one who wantonly attacked or lightly turned against his +friends. No instance of such levity of feeling can be adduced from his +writings. It has been conclusively shown[52] that in the third line of +the 95th poem there can be no reference to Hortensius, who, under +the name of Hortalus, is addressed by Catullus in his 65th poem +with courteous consideration: and if 'Furius and Aurelius' are to be +regarded, on the strength of the opening lines of the 11th poem, as +having ever ranked among his devoted friends, then the poem, instead +of being a magnificent outburst of scornful irony, becomes a mere +specimen of bathos. Nothing, on the other hand, can be more in keeping +with the feeling of contemptuous tolerance which Catullus expresses +in his other poems relating to them, than the pointed contrast between +their hollow professions of enthusiasm and the degrading office which +he assigns to them,-- + + Pauca nuntiate meae puellae + Non bona dicta. + +Catullus could pass from friendship or love to a state of permanent +enmity and hatred, when he believed that those in whom he had trusted +had acted falsely and heartlessly towards him: and then he did not +spare them. But the duties of loyal friendship and affection are to +him a kind of religion. Perfidy and falsehood are regarded by him not +only as the worst offences against honour in man, but as sins against +the Gods. He lays claim to a good conscience and to the character of +piety, on the ground that he had neither failed in acts of kindness +nor violated his word or his oath in any of his human dealings:-- + + Si qua recordanti benefacta priora voluptas + Est homini, cum se cogitat esse pium, + Nec sanctam violasse fidem, nec foedere in ullo + Divum ad fallendos numine abusum homines, etc.[53] + +That he possessed no ordinary share of 'piety,' in the Roman sense +of the word, appears from the poems which express his grief for his +brother's death. He died in the Troad; and we have seen how, some +years after the event, Catullus turned aside from his pleasant voyage +among the Isles of Greece and coasts of Asia, to visit his tomb and to +offer upon it the customary funeral gifts. His words in reference to +this great sorrow, in all the poems in which he speaks of it, are +full of deep and simple human feeling. He does not venture to comfort +himself with the hope which he suggests to Calvus, in the lines on +the death of Quintilia, of a conscious existence after death; but +he resolves that his love shall still endure even after the eternal +separation from its object. Yet while yielding to the first shock +of this affliction, so as to become for the time indifferent to the +passion which had swayed his life, and to the delight which he had +taken in the works of ancient poets and the exercise of his art, he +does not allow himself to forget what was due to living friends. It is +characteristic of his frank affectionate nature, that, while dead to +his old interests in life and literature, he finds his chief comfort +in unburthening his heart to his friends and in writing to them words +of delicate consideration. He cannot bear that, even in a trifling +matter, Hortalus should find him forgetful of a promise: and he longs +to lighten the sorrow of his friend Manlius, who had written to him +in some sudden affliction,--probably the loss of the bride in whose +honour Catullus had, a short time previously, composed his great +Nuptial Ode. Though all other feelings were dead, and neither love +could distract nor poetry heal his grief, his heart was alive to the +memory of former kindness[54], to the natural craving for sympathy, +and to the duty of thinking of others. + +Another, and less admirable, side of the nature of Catullus is +reflected in his short satirical poems. These have nothing in common +with the ethical and reflective satire of Lucilius and Horace: and +although the objects of some of them are the most prominent personages +in the State, yet their motive cannot, in any case, be called purely +political. They are like the lampoons of Archilochus and the early +Greek Iambic writers, purely personal in their object. They are either +the virulent expression of his antipathies, jealousies, and rancours, +or they are inspired by his lively sense of the ridiculous and by his +extreme fastidiousness of taste. The most famous, most incisive, and +least justifiable of these lampoons are the attacks on Julius Caesar, +especially that contained in the 29th poem,-- + + Quis hoc potest videre, quis potest pati, + Nisi impudicus et vorax et alco, etc.-- + +and in the less vigorous but much more offensive 57th poem. + +Catullus in these poems expresses the animosity which the 'boni' +generally entertained towards the chiefs of the popular party: and his +intimacy at this time with Calvus, who was a member of the Senatorian +party, and who lampooned Caesar and Pompey in the same spirit, may +have given some political edge to his Satire. He was moved also by a +feeling of disgust towards the habits and manners of some of Caesar's +instruments and creatures,--such as Vatinius, Libo, Mamurra, etc. But +the chief motive both of the 29th and the 57th,--the two poems which +Suetonius regarded as attaching an 'everlasting stigma' to the name of +Caesar--is the jealousy of Mamurra,--the object also of many separate +satires,--who, through the favour of the Proconsul and the fortune +which he thereby acquired, was a successful rival of Catullus in his +provincial love affairs. The indignation of Cicero was roused against +the riches of Mamurra on political grounds[55]: that of Catullus on +the ground that they gave their possessor an unfair advantage in the +race of pleasure:-- + + Et ille nunc superbus et superfluens + Perambulabit omnium cubilia, etc. + +Suetonius tells the story, confirmed by the lines in a later poem of +Catullus-- + + Irascere iterum meis iambis + Inmerentibus, unice imperator,-- + +that Caesar, while staying at his father's house at Verona, accepted +the poet's apology for his libellous verses, and admitted him the +same day to his dinner-table. Had he attached the meaning to the +imputations contained in them, which Suetonius did two hundred +years afterwards, even his magnanimous clemency could not well have +tolerated them. But, as Cicero tells us in his defence of Caelius, +such charges were in those days regarded as a mere 'façon de parler,' +which if made coarsely were regarded as 'rudeness' ('petulantia'), +if done wittily, as 'polite banter' ('urbanitas'). Caesar must +have looked upon the imputations of the 57th poem as a mere angry +ebullition of boyish petulance: and he showed the same disregard for +imputations made by Calvus, which, though as unfounded, were not so +absolutely incredible and unmeaning. His clemency to Catullus met with +a return similar to that which it met with at a later time from other +recipients of his generosity. Catullus, though the 'truest friend,' +was certainly not the 'noblest foe.' The coarseness of his attack may +be partly palliated by the manners of the age: but the spirit in which +he returns to the attack in the 54th poem leaves a more serious +stain on his character. He was too completely in the wrong to be able +frankly to forgive Caesar for his gracious and magnanimous treatment. + +Many of his personal satires are directed against the licentiousness +of the men and women with whom he quarrelled. Notwithstanding the +evidence of his own frequent confessions, he lays a claim to purity +of life in the phrase, 'si vitam puriter egi[56],' and in his strange +apology for the freedom of his verses,-- + + Nam castum esse decet pium poetam + Ipsum, versiculos nihil necesse est[57]. + +He is absolutely unrestrained both in regard to the imputations which +he makes, and to the choice of the language in which he conveys them; +and in these imputations he spares neither rank nor sex. It is one of +the strangest paradoxes to find a poet like Catullus, endowed with the +purest sense of beauty, and yet capable of turning all his vigorous +force of expression to the vilest uses. He is coarser in his language +than any of the older poets, and than any of those of the Augustan +age. In the time of the former the traditional severity of the old +Roman life,--'tetrica ac tristis disciplina Sabinorum,'--had not +altogether lost its influence. In the Augustan age, if there was as +much immorality as in the age preceding it, there was more outward +decorum. The licentiousness of that age expresses itself in tones of +refinement; it associates itself with sentimentalism in literature; it +was reduced to system and carried out as the serious business of life. +The coarseness of Catullus is symptomatic rather of more recklessness +than of greater corruption in society. Impurity is less destructive to +human nature when it vents itself in bantering or virulent abuse, than +when it clings to the imagination, associates itself with the sense +of beauty, and expresses itself in the language of passion. Though, in +his nobler poetry, Catullus is ardent and impassioned, he is much more +free from this taint than Ovid or Propertius. The errors of his life +did not deaden his sensibility, harden his heart, or corrupt his +imagination. It is only in his careless moods, when he looks on +life in the spirit of a humorist, or in moods of bitterness when his +antipathies are roused, or in fits of savage indignation against some +violation of natural feeling or some prosperous villainy, that he +disregards the restraints imposed by the better instincts of men on +the use of language. + +Many of his Satires, however, are written in a more genial vein, and +are not much disfigured by coarseness or indelicacy of expression. As +he especially valued good taste and courtesy, wit, and liveliness of +mind in his associates, so he is intolerant of all mean and sordid +ways of living, of all stupidity, affectation, and pedantry. The +pieces in which these characteristics are exposed are marked by +keen observation, a lively sense of absurdity, and sometimes by +a boisterous spirit of fun. They are expressed with vigour and +directness; but they want the subtle irony which pervades the Satires, +Epistles, and Odes of Horace. Among the best of his lighter satires is +the poem numbered xvii:-- + + O Colonia, quae cupis ponte ludere magno,-- + +which has some touches of graceful poetry as well as of humorous +extravagance. It is directed against the dulness and stolid +indifference of one of his fellow-townsmen, who, being married to a +young and beautiful girl,-- + + Quoi cum sit viridissimo nupta flore puella + (Et puella tenellulo delicatior haedo, + Asservanda nigerrimis diligentius uvis),-- + +was utterly careless of her, and insensible to the perils to which she +was exposed. To rouse him from his sloth and stupor, Catullus asks to +have him thrown head over heels-- + + Munus hoc mihi maximi da, Colonia, risus-- + +from a rickety old bridge into the deepest and dirtiest part of the +quagmire over which it was built. In another piece Catullus laughs at +the affectation of one of his rivals, Egnatius,--a black-bearded fop +from the Celtiberian wilds,--who had a trick of perpetually smiling +in order to show the whiteness of his teeth;--a trick which did not +desert him at a criminal trial, during the most pathetic part of the +speech for the defence, or when he stood beside a weeping mother at +the funeral pyre of her only son. In another of his elegiac pieces he +gives expression to the relief felt on the departure for the East of +a bore who afflicted the ears of the polite world by a superfluous use +of his aspirates-- + + Chommoda dicebat, si quando commoda vellet + Dicere, et insidias Arrius hinsidias, etc.[58] + +Just as the ears of men had recovered from this infliction-- + + Subito affertur nuntius horribilis, + Ionios fluctus, postquam illuc Arrius isset, + Iam non Ionios esse, sed Hionios. + +Like fastidious and irritable poets of other times (Horace, Pope, +Byron, etc.), Catullus waged internecine war against pedants, literary +pretenders, and poetasters. He remonstrates in a vein of humorous +exaggeration with his friend Licinius Calvus, for palming off on him +as a gift on the Saturnalia (corresponding to our Christmas presents) +a collection of the works of these 'miscreants' ('impiorum'), +originally sent to him by some pedantic grammarian, in acknowledgment +of his services as an advocate-- + + Dii magni, horribilem ac sacrum libellum. + +In the 36th poem he represents Lesbia as offering a holocaust to Venus +of the work of 'the worst of all poets,' 'The Annals of Volusius,' +in quittance of a vow on her reconcilement with Catullus. In another +(xxii), addressed to Varus, probably the fastidious critic whom Horace +quotes in the 'Ars Poetica[59],' he exposes the absurdity of one of +their friends, who, though in other respects a man of sense, wit, and +agreeable manners, entertained the delusion that he was a poet, and +was never so happy as when he had surrounded himself with the +newest and finest literary materials, and was plying his uncongenial +occupation. In another he records the nemesis, in the form of a severe +cough, which overtook him for allowing himself to be seduced by the +hopes of a good dinner to read (or perhaps listen to the reading of) a +speech of Cicero's friend and client Sestius,-- + + Plenam veneni et pestilentiae. + +About one half of the shorter poems, and more than half of the +epigrams, are to be classed among his personal lampoons or light +satiric pieces. Many of these show Catullus to us on that side of his +character, which it is least pleasant or profitable to dwell on. He +could not indeed write anything which did not bear the stamp of +the vital force and sincerity of his nature: but even his vigour of +expression does not compensate for the survival in literature of the +feelings and relations which are most ignoble in actual life. Yet some +of these satiric pieces have an interest which amply justifies their +preservation. The greatest of all his lampoons, the 29th, has an +historical as well as a literary value. Tacitus, as well as Suetonius, +refers to it. It is not only a masterpiece of terse invective, but, +like the 11th, it is a powerful specimen of imaginative irony. The +momentous events of a most momentous era--the Eastern conquests of +Pompey, the first Spanish campaign of Caesar, the subjugation of Gaul, +the invasion of Britain, the revolutionary measures of 'father-in-law +and son-in-law,'--are all made to look as if they had had no other +object or result than that of pampering the appetites of a worthless +favourite. Other lampoons, such as those against Memmius and Piso, +have also an historical interest. They testify to the republican +freedom of speech, the open expression of which was soon to be +silenced for ever. They enable us to understand how strong a social +and political weapon the power of epigram was in ancient Rome,--a +power which continued to be exercised, though no longer with +republican freedom, under the Empire. The pen of the poet was employed +in the warfare of parties as fiercely as the tongue of the orator; +and although Catullus did not spare partisans of the Senate, such +as Memmius, yet all his associations and tastes combined to turn his +hostility chiefly against the popular leaders and their tools. The +more genial satiric pieces, again, are chiefly interesting as throwing +light on the social and literary life of Rome and the provincial towns +of Italy. They give us an idea of the lighter talk, the criticism, +and merriment of the younger men in the world of letters and fashion +during the last age of the Republic. If they are not master-pieces of +humour, they are full of gaiety, animal spirits, shrewd observation, +and not very unkindly comment on men and manners. + +Besides the poems which show Catullus in various relations of love, +affection, animosity, and humorous criticism, there are still a few of +the shorter pieces which have a personal interest. He had the purest +capacity of enjoying simple pleasures; and some of his most delightful +poems are vivid records of happy experiences procured to him by +this youthful freshness of feeling. Three of these are especially +beautiful,--the dedication of his yacht to Castor and Pollux,--the +lines written immediately before quitting Bithynia,-- + + Iam ver egelidos refert tepores,-- + +and the famous lines on Sirmio. They all belong to the same period of +his life, and all show how happy and serene his spirit became, when it +was untroubled by the passions and rancours of city life. The lines on +his yacht-- + + Phaselus ille quem videtis, hospites,-- + +express with much vivacity the feelings of affectionate pride which a +strong and kindly nature lavishes not only on living friends, but on +inanimate objects, associated with the memory of past happiness and +adventure. His fancy endows it with a kind of life from the earliest +time when, under the form of a clump of trees, it 'rustled its leaves' +on Cytorus, till it obtained its rest in a peaceful age on the fair +waters of Benacus. The 46th poem is inspired by the new sense of life +which comes to early youth with the first approach of spring, and by +the eager flutter of anticipation-- + + Iam mens praetrepidans avet vagari, + Iam laeti studio pedes vigescunt-- + +with which a cultivated mind forecasts the pleasure of travelling +among famous and beautiful scenes. But perhaps the most perfect of his +smaller pieces is that in which the love of home and of Nature, the +sense of rest and security after toil and danger, the glee of a boy +and the strong happiness of a man unite to form the charm of the lines +on Sirmio, of which it is as impossible to analyse the secret as it is +to reproduce in another tongue the language in which it is expressed. + +Catullus is one of the great poets of the world, not so much through +gifts of imagination--though with these he was well endowed--as +through his singleness of nature, his vivid impressibility, and his +keen perception. He received the gifts of the passing hour so happily, +that, to produce pure and lasting poetry, it was enough for him to +utter in natural words something of the fulness of his heart. His +interests, though limited in range, were all genuine and human. His +poems inspired by personal feeling seem to come from him without any +effort. He says, on every occasion, exactly what he wanted to say, +in clear, forcible, direct language. There are, indeed, even in his +simplest poems, a few strokes of imaginative expression, as, for +instance,-- + + Aut quam sidera multa, cum tacet nox, + Furtivos hominum vident amores[60],-- + +and this, written with the feeling and with the application which +Burns makes of the same image,-- + + Velut prati + Ultimi flos, praetereunte postquam + Tactus aratro est[61];-- + +and these two touches of tenderness and beauty, which appear in a poem +otherwise characterised by a tone of careless drollery,-- + + Nec sapit pueri instar + Bimuli, tremula patris dormientis in ulna,-- + +and-- + + Et puella tenellulo delicatior haedo, + Adservanda nigerrimis diligentius uvis[62]. + +But the great charm of the style in these shorter poems is its simple +directness, and its popular idiomatic ring. It largely employs, +especially in the poems which express his coarser feelings, common, +often archaic and provincial words, forms, and idioms. There is +nothing, apparently, studied about it, no ornament or involution, no +otiose epithets, no subtle allusiveness. Yet in the poems expressive +of his finer feelings it shows the happiest selection, not only of +the most appropriate, but of the most exquisite words. To no style, in +prose or verse, in any language, could the words 'simplex munditiis' +be with more propriety applied. It has all the ease of refined and +vigorous conversation, combined with the grace of consummate art. +Though this perfection of expression could not have been attained +without study and labour, yet it bears no trace of them. + +In these smaller poems he shows himself as great a master of metre as +of language. The more sustained power which he has over the flow +of his verse, is best exemplified by the skylark ring of his great +Nuptial Ode, by the hurrying agitation of the Attis, and the stately +calm of the Peleus and Thetis, giving place to a more impassioned +movement in the 'Ariadne' episode. But in his shorter poems, also, he +shows the true gift of the [Greek: aoidos]--the power of using musical +language as a symbol of the changing impulses of feeling. Thus the +delicate playfulness and tenderness of his phalaecians,--the lingering +long-drawn-out sweetness, and the calm subdued sadness of the scazon, +as exemplified in the 'Sirmio,' and the + + Miser Catulle desinas ineptire,-- + +the 'bright speed' of the pure iambic, so happily answering to the +subject of the 'phaselus,' and its bold impetus as it is employed in +the attack on Julius Caesar--the irregular but sonorous grandeur of +his Sapphic[63],--the majesty which in the Hymn to Diana blends with +the buoyant movement of the glyconic,--all attest that the words and +melody of the poems were born together with the feeling and meaning +animating them. Although his elegiac poems are not written with the +smoothness and fluency which was attained by the Augustan poets, +yet those among them which record his graver and sadder moods have +a plaintive force and natural pathos, which their roughness seems to +enhance. If his epigrammatic pieces, written in that metre, want the +polish and point to which his brilliant disciple attained under the +Empire, we may believe that Catullus experienced the difficulty which +Lucilius found, and which Horace at last successfully overcame, of +adapting a metre originally framed for the expression of serious +feeling to the commoner interests and experiences of life. + +The language of Catullus in these shorter poems is his own, or, where +not his own, is drawn from such wells of Latin undefiled as Plautus +and Terence. His metres are happy applications of those invented or +largely used by the earlier lyric poets of Greece,--Sappho, Anacreon, +Archilochus,--and the later Phalaecus. For the form of some of his +longer poems he has taken, and not with the happiest result, the +Alexandrine poets for his models. But in these shorter poems, so +far as he has had any models, he has tried to emulate the perfection +attained in the older and purer era of Greek inspiration. But it is +not through imitation that he has attained a perfection of form like +to theirs. It is owing to the singleness and strength of his feeling +and impression, that these poems are so exquisite in their unity +and simplicity. Catullus does not care to present the gem of his own +thought in an alien setting, as Horace, in his earlier Odes at least, +has often done. It is one of the surest notes of his lyrical genius +that, while more modest in his general self-estimate than any of the +great Roman poets, he trusts more implicitly than any of them to his +own judgment and inspiration to find the most fitting and telling +medium for the communication of his thought. Thus he presents only +what is essential, unencumbered with any associations from older +poetry. The form is indeed so perfect that we scarcely think of it. We +feel only that nothing mars or interrupts the revelation of the poet's +heart and soul. We apprehend, as perhaps we never apprehended before, +some one single feeling of great potency and great human influence in +a poem of some ten or twenty lines, every word of which adds something +to the whole impression. Thus for instance, in the poems-- + + Vivamus, mea Lesbia, atque amemus,-- + + Acmen Septimius suos amores,-- + + Verani, omnibus e meis amicis,-- + + Iam ver egelidos refert tepores,-- + + Paene insularum Sirmio insularumque,-- + + Miser Catulle, desinas ineptire,-- + +we apprehend through a perfectly pure medium, and by a single +intuition, the highest pitch of the passionate love of man and woman, +the perfect beauty and joy of self-forgetful friendship, the eager +enthusiasm for travel and adventure, the deep delight of returning to +a beautiful and well-loved home, the 'sorrow's crown of sorrows' in +'remembering happier things.' We may see, too, in a totally different +sphere of experience, how Catullus instinctively seizes the moment +of supreme intensity of emotion, and utters what is vitally +characteristic of it. He is not, in any sense, one of the Anacreontic +singers of the pleasures of wine, of whom Horace is the typical +example in ancient times. Neither was he one, who, like Burns, +habitually forgot, in the excitement of good fellowship, the perils +of Bacchanalian merriment. Yet even the drinking songs of the Scottish +poet scarcely realise with more vivacity the moment of mad elevation +when a revel is at its height, than Catullus has done in the song of +seven short lines-- + + Minister vetuli puer Falerni + Inger mi calices amariores, etc. + +The 'Hymn to Diana' occupies an intermediate place between the poems +founded on personal feelings and the longer and more purely artistic +pieces. Like the first it seems unconsciously, or at least without +leaving any trace of conscious purpose, to have conformed to the +conditions of the purest art. It is, like them, a perfect whole, one +of those, to quote Mr. Munro, '"cunningest patterns" of excellence, +such as Latium never saw before or after, Alcaeus, Sappho, and the +rest then and only then having met their match[64]'. It resembles some +of the longer poems in being a creation of sympathetic imagination, +not an immediate expression of personal feeling. It must have been +written for some public occasion; and the selection of Catullus to +compose it would imply that he was recognised as the greatest lyrical +poet in his lifetime, and that it was written after his reputation was +established. It is a poem not only of pure artistic excellence, but of +imaginative conception, like that exemplified in the 'Attis' and the +'Epithalamium of Peleus and Thetis.' The 'Diana' of Catullus is not a +vague abstraction or conventional figure, as the Gods and Goddesses in +the Odes of Horace are apt to be. The mythology of Greece received +a new life from his imagination. In this poem he shows too, what he +hardly indicates elsewhere[65], that he could identify himself in +sympathy with the national feeling and religion of Rome. The Goddess +addressed is a living Power, blending in her countenance the human and +picturesque aspects of the Greek Artemis with the more spiritual +and beneficent attributes of the Roman Diana. Yet no confusion or +incongruity arises from the union into one concrete representation of +these originally diverse elements. She lives to the imagination as a +Power who, in the fresh morning of the world, had roamed in freedom +over the mountains, the woods, the secret dells, and the river-banks +of earth[66],--and now from a far away sphere watched over women in +travail, increased the store of the husbandman, and was the especial +guardian of the descendants of Romulus. + +This poem affords a natural transition to the longer and more purely +artistic pieces in the centre of the volume. Yet with some even of +these a personal element is interfused. The hymn in honour of the +nuptials of Manlius, is, like the short poem on the loves of Acme and +Septimius, inspired by the poet's sympathy with the happiness of a +friend. The 68th poem attempts to weave into one texture his own love +of Lesbia, and the romance of Laodamia and Protesilaus. But in general +these poems bring before us a new side of the art of Catullus. In +one way indeed they add to our knowledge of his personal tastes. The +larger place given in them to ornament and illustration lets us know +what objects in Nature afforded him most delight. His life was +too full of human interest to allow him to devote his art to the +celebration of Nature: yet he could not have been the poet he was if +he had not been susceptible to her influence. And this susceptibility, +indicated in occasional touches in the shorter poems, finds greater +scope in the poems of impersonal art which still remain to be +considered. + +Among the more purely artistic pieces none is more beautiful than the +Nuptial Ode in celebration of the marriage of his friend Manlius, +a member of the great house of the Torquati, and one of the most +accomplished men of his time, with Vinia Aurunculeia. In this poem +Catullus pours forth the fulness of his heart + + 'In profuse strains of unpremeditated art.' + +It is marked by the excellence of his shorter pieces and by poetical +beauty of another order. Resembling his shorter poems in being called +forth by an event within his own experience, it breathes the same +spirit of affection and of sympathy with beauty and passion. It is +written with the same gaiety of heart, blending indeed with a graver +sense of happiness. The feeling of the hour does not merely +express itself in graceful language: it awakens the active power of +imagination, clothes itself in radiant imagery, and rises into the +completeness and sustained melody of the highest lyrical art. The +tone of the whole poem is one of joy, changing from the rapture of +expectation in the opening lines to the more tranquil happiness of the +close. The passion is ardent, but, on the whole, free from grossness +or effeminate sentiment. Even where, in accordance with the Roman +marriage customs, he abandons himself for a few stanzas to the spirit +of raillery and banter-- + + Ne diu taceat procax + Fescennina locutio[67]-- + +he remembers the respect due to the innocence of the bride. Thoughts +of her are associated with the purest objects in Nature,--with ivy +clinging round a tree, or branches of myrtle,-- + + Quos Hamadryades deae + Ludicrum sibi roscido + Nutriunt humore,-- + +or with a hyacinth growing in some rich man's garden. Like the eager +lover of beauty among our own poets, he sees in other flowers-- + + Alba parthenice velut + Luteumve papaver-- + +the symbol of maidens-- + + 'Whom youth makes so fair and passion so pale.' + +The grace of trees and the bloom of flowers were prized by him among +the fairest things in Nature. The charm in woman which most moves +his imagination is virgin innocence unfolding into love, or passion +ennobled by truth and constancy of affection. So too, in the +Epithalamium of Peleus and Thetis, he compares Ariadne in her +maidenhood to the myrtle trees growing on the banks of Eurotas, and to +the bloom of vernal flowers:-- + + Quales Eurotae progignunt flumina myrtos + Aurave distinctos educit verna colores[68]. + +In this Ode he expresses not merely, as in the Acme and Septimius, his +sympathy with the joy of the hour. He recognises in marriage a greater +good than in the love for a mistress. He associates it with thoughts +of the power and security of the household, of the pure happiness of +parental love, of the continuance of a time-honoured name, and of the +birth of new defenders of the State. + +The charm of the poem does not arise from its tone of feeling and its +clear ringing melody alone. The bright spirit of the day awakens the +inward eye which creates pictures and images of beauty in harmony +with itself. The poet sees Hymenaeus coming from the distant rocks +of Helicon, robed in saffron, and wreathed with fragrant amaracus, +in radiant power and glory, chanting the song with his ringing voice, +beating the ground with his foot, shaking the pine-torch in his hand. +As the doors of the house are opened, and the bride is expected by +the singers outside, by one vivid flash of imagination he reveals all +their eager excitement-- + + Viden ut faces + Splendidas quatiunt comas? + +The two pictures, further on in the poem, of a peaceful old age +prolonged to the utmost limit of human life-- + + Usque dum tremulum movens + Cana tempus anilitas + Omnia omnibus annuit,-- + +and of infancy, awakening into consciousness and affection,-- + + Torquatus volo parvulus + Matris e gremio suae + Porrigens teneras manus, + Dulce rideat ad patrem + Semihiante labello; + + Sit suo similis patri + Manlio et facile insciis + Noscitetur ab omnibus, + Et pudicitiam suae + Matris indicet ore[69]; + +are drawn with the truest and most delicate hand. + +The whole conception and execution of this poem, as also of the Attis +and of the Epithalamium of Peleus and Thetis, leave no doubt that +Catullus was richly endowed with the vision and the faculty of +genius, as well as with impassioned feeling and the gift of musical +expression. + +The poem which immediately follows is also an Epithalamium, intended +to be sung by young men and maidens, in alternate parts. It is written +in hexameter verse, and in rhythm, thought, and feeling resembles some +of the golden fragments from the Epithalamia of Sappho. The whole poem +sounds like a song in a rich idyll. Its charm consists in its calm +and mellow tone, in the dramatic truth with which the feelings +and thoughts natural to the young men and maidens are alternately +expressed, and especially in the beauty of its two famous similes. +In the first of these a flower is again the symbol of the bloom and +innocence of maidenhood, growing up apart and safe from all rude +contact. The idea in the concluding lines of the simile-- + + Idem cum tenui carptus defloruit ungui, + Nulli illum pueri, nullae optavere puellae,-- + +may probably have been suggested by a passage in Sappho, of which +these two lines remain, + +[Greek: + hoian tan hyakinthon en ôresi poimenes andres + possi katasteiboisi, chamai de te porphyron anthos.] + +In the second simile, which is supposed to be spoken by the young men, +the vine growing upon a bare field, scarcely rising above the ground, +unheeded and untended, is compared to the maid who + + 'Grows, lives, and dies in single blessedness;' + +while the same vine, when wedded to the elm, is regarded as the symbol +of the usefulness, dignity, and happiness which await the bride. + +The absence of all personal allusion in this poem, and its resemblance +in tone and rhythm to some fragments of the Lesbian poetess, might +suggest the idea that it was translated, or at least imitated, from +the Greek. But, on the other hand, from its harmony with the kind +of subject and imagery in which Catullus most delights, and from the +close observation of Italian Nature, shown in such lines as this-- + + Iam iam contingit summum radice flagellum,-- + +it seems more probable that it was an adaptation of the style of his +great model to some occasion within his own experience, than that it +was a mere exercise in translation, like his 'Coma Berenices.' + +The 'Attis' is the most original of all his poems. As a work of pure +imagination, it is the most remarkable poetical creation in the Latin +language. In this poem Catullus throws himself, with marvellous power, +into a character and situation utterly alien to common experience, and +pours an intense flood of human feeling and passion into a legend of +strange Oriental fanaticism. The effect of the piece is, in a great +measure, produced by the startling vividness of its language and +imagery, and by the impetuous rush of its metre. Though the poem may +have been partly founded on Greek materials, yet Catullus has treated +the subject in a thoroughly original manner. It is difficult to +believe that any translation could produce that impression of genuine +creative power, which is forced upon every reader of the Attis. +There is nothing at all like the spirit of this poem in extant Greek +literature. No other writer has presented so life-like an image of the +frantic exultation and fierce self-sacrificing spirit of an inhuman +fanaticism; and of the horror and sense of desolation which the +natural man, more especially a Greek or Roman, would feel in the +midst of the wild and strange scenes described in the poem, when first +awaking to the consciousness of his voluntary bondage, and of the +forfeiture of his country and parents, and the free social life +of former days. A few touches in the poem--as, for instance, the +expressions, 'niveis manibus,' 'roseis labellis,' and 'Ego gymnasii +fui flos,'--all introduced incidentally,--force upon the mind the +contrast between the tender youth and beauty of Attis and the fierce +power of the passion that possesses him. The false excitement and +noisy tumult of the evening deepen the sense of the terrible reality +and blank despair of the morning. + +The effect of the whole drama of human passion and agony is +intensified by the vividness of all its pictorial environment;--by the +vision of the wild surging seas, through which the swift ship and its +mad crew were borne, and of the gloom and horror of the woods that hid +the sounding rites of the goddess, and the tall columns of her temple. +With what a powerful and rapid touch he paints the aspect of sky, +earth, and sea in the early morning-- + + Sed ubi oris aurei Sol radiantibus oculis + Lustravit aethera album, sola dura, mare ferum, + Pepulitque noctis umbras vegetis sonipedibus. + +Everything is seen in those sharply-defined forms, which imprint +themselves on the brain in moments of intense excitement or agony. + +These three poems are composed with the unity and simplicity of the +purest art. Like the shorter poems they have taken shape under the +influence of one powerful motive; and the feeling with which they were +conceived is sustained at its height through the whole composition. It +is more difficult to find any single motive which combines into unity +the original nucleus of the Epithalamium of Peleus and Thetis with +the long episode of the desertion of Ariadne, which interrupts the +continuity of the 64th poem. The form of art to which it belongs is +the 'Epyllion' or heroic idyll, of which several specimens are found +among the poems of Theocritus. This form was due to the invention of +the Alexandrians; and Catullus in the selection of his subject and in +his manner of treating it takes up the position of an imitator. But +there is no reason to suppose that he is reproducing, still less +translating, any particular work of these poets, or that his +contemporaries--Cinna, Calvus, and Cornificius,--merely reproduced +some Alexandrine original in their Zmyrna, Io, and Glaucus. A +comparison of the imagery of this poem with that of the earlier +Epithalamia, and a consideration of the passionate beauty with which +the subject of love and marriage is treated, favour the conclusion +that the style and substance of the poem are the workmanship of +Catullus. It may be doubted whether any Alexandrine poet, except +perhaps Apollonius, whom Catullus in this poem[70] often imitates, but +does not translate, had sufficient imagination to produce the original +which Catullus is supposed to have copied. But the plan of the +poem may have been suggested by some Alexandrine model. The more +complicated structure of the 68th poem is fashioned after a particular +style of Greek art: and on entering upon a new and larger adventure, +Catullus may have trusted to the guidance of those whom he regarded +as his masters. The Alexandrians studied pictorial representation of +outward scenes and of passionate situations, and works of tapestry +on which such representations were wrought were common among their +'deliciae vitae[71].' Thus, the mode in which the story of Ariadne is +told is one likely to have occurred to an Alexandrine poet. It would +be also in keeping with the over-subtlety of a class of poets who +owed more to learning than to inspiration, to combine apparently +incongruous parts into one whole by some obscure link of connexion. +Thus Catullus may have intended, in imitation of Callimachus or some +other Alexandrian, to paint two pictures of the love of an immortal +for a mortal,--the love of Thetis for Peleus, and of Bacchus for +Ariadne,--and to heighten the effect of each by the contrast presented +in the pendent picture. The original good fortune and the unbroken +happiness of Peleus are more vividly realised by the contrast +presented to the imagination in the betrayal and passionate agitation +of Ariadne. The thought of the crowds of mortals and immortals who +come together to celebrate the marriage of the Thessalian prince +brings into greater relief the utter loneliness of Ariadne, when first +discovered by 'Bacchus and his crew.' Or the original unifying motive +of both pictures might be sought in the concluding lines, written in +a graver tone than anything else in Catullus; and it might be supposed +that he intended by the two pictures of divine favour granted to +mortals (in one of which retribution is exacted for what he regards as +the greatest sin in actual life--a violation of good faith) to enforce +the lesson that it is owing to the sins of the latter time that +the Gods have withdrawn their gracious presence from the earth. The +thought contained in the lines + + Sed postquam tellus scelerest imbuta nefando, etc., + +is pure and noble, and purely and nobly expressed. These lines reveal +a genuine and unexpected vein of reverence in the nature of Catullus. +The sins which he specifies as alienating the Gods from men are those +most rife in his own time, with which he has dealt in a more realistic +fashion in his satiric epigrams. All this may, perhaps, be said. But +on the other hand, Catullus is the least didactic of poets. He is also +the least abstract and reflective. We cannot suppose (in the case of +such a writer) all the concrete passionate life of the poem taking +shape in his imagination in order to embody any idea however noble. +The idea was the afterthought, not the creative germ. Nor can we think +that the conception of the whole poem existed in his mind before, +or independently of, the separate conception of its parts. He was +attracted to both subjects by the charm which the Greek mythology and +the bright spectacle of the heroic age had for his imagination, by +their harmony with the feelings and passions with which he had most +sympathy in real life, and by the scope which they afforded to his +peculiar power as a pictorial artist. The device of the tapestry, by +which the tale of Ariadne is told, was especially favourable to the +exercise of this gift. He looked back upon an ideal vision of the +golden morning of the world, when men were so stately and noble, +and women so fair and true, that even the blessed Gods and Goddesses +deigned to visit them, and to unite with them in marriage. The +original motive of the two poems appears to be purely imaginative. +If there was any intention to give artificial unity to the poem, +by pointing the contrast between a love calm and happy from the +beginning, and one at first passionate and afterwards betrayed, or +between the holiness and nobleness of an ideal past, and the sin +and baseness of the actual present, that intention was probably +not present to the mind of the poet when he first contemplated his +subject, but came to him in the course of its development. + +It may be said, therefore, that if any principle of unity is aimed +at in the poem, it is one so artificial as rather to detract from the +artistic merit of the composition. There is a similar want of unity +in the 'Pastor Aristaeus' of Virgil, which was also composed in the +manner of the Alexandrine Epyllion. The Alexandrians seem to have +aimed rather at a combination of diverse effects than at a composition +'simplex et unum.' They cared much for the elaboration of details, +little for the consistency of the whole. And the same tendency appears +in their imitators. Neither can the poem be called a successful +specimen of narrative. There is scarcely any story to tell in +connexion with the marriage of Peleus. It is a succession of pictures, +not a tale of passion or adventure. The romance of Theseus and Ariadne +is told much less distinctly and simply than the myth of Orpheus +and Eurydice in Virgil. There is dramatic power in the soliloquy of +Ariadne, as in that of Attis, but the dramatic faculty in Catullus +is rather a phase of his special lyrical gift, which enables him to +identify himself with some single passionate situation, than the +power of giving life to various types of character. The imaginative +excellence of the poem is idyllic rather than epic or dramatic. There +is a wonderful harmony of tone in his whole conception of the heroic +age. He does not attempt to reproduce the picturesque life represented +by Homer, nor the majestic passions imagined by the Attic tragedians, +but he has his own vision of the stately and beautiful figures +belonging to an ideal foretime,-- + + O nimis optato saeclorum tempore nati + Heroes, saluete, deum genus. + +There is a sense of the freshness and brightness of the early morning +in his conception of the time when the first ship, manned by the +flower of Greek warriors, 'broke the silence of the seas' + + (Illa rudem cursu prima imbuit Amphitriten), + +and when the Gods and Goddesses of Olympus, the mysterious Powers +over-ruling mortal destiny, and the other beings, half-human, +half-divine, whom Greek imagination so lavishly created, appeared in +their bodily presence to do honour to the union of a mortal with an +immortal. The poem abounds in pictures, or suggestions of pictures, +taken from the world of divine and human life, and of outward Nature. +Such are those of the Nereids gazing on the Argo-- + + Emersere feri candenti e gurgite vultus + Aequoreae monstrum Nereides admirantes,-- + +of Ariadne watching with pale and anxious face the perilous encounter +of Theseus with the Minotaur-- + + Quam tum saepe magis fulgore expalluit auri,-- + +and again, looking on the distant fleet-- + + Saxea ut effigies bacchantis,-- + +of the advent of Bacchus-- + + Cum thiaso Satyrorum et Nysigenis Silenis,-- + +a passage which has inspired one of the masterpieces of modern +art,--of Prometheus-- + + Extenuata gerens veteris vestigia poenae-- + +of the aged Parcae-- + + infirmo quatientes corpora motu-- + +spinning the thread of human destiny, as with clear-ringing voice they +poured forth their truthful prophecy. So too the eye of an artist +is shown in the description of the scenes in which the action takes +place, and in the illustrative imagery with which the subject is +adorned,--as in the pictures from mountain and sea scenery at lines +240 and 269; and in that image of a waste expanse of sea called up in +the lines-- + + Idomeneosne petam montes? a gurgite lato + Discernens ponti truculentum ubi dividit aequor? + +A genuine love of Nature, which his more personal poems only faintly +suggest, appears in the lines describing the gifts which Chiron +brought with him from the plains and vast mountain chains and +river-banks of Thessaly-- + + Nam quoscumque ferunt campi, quos Thessala magnis + Montibus ora creat, quos propter fluminis undas + Aura parit flores tepidi fecunda Favoni, + Hos indistinctis plexos tulit ipse corollis, + Quo permulsa domus iucundo risit odore[72]; + +and in the enumeration of the various trees which Peneus, quitting +Tempe,-- + + Tempe quae silvae cingunt super inpendentes,-- + +planted before the vestibule of the palace. + +The diction and rhythm of the poem are characterised by excellences +of a quite different sort from those of his other pieces. Both produce +the impression of very careful study and labour. In no previous +work of Latin genius was so much use made of an artificial poetical +diction. Though this diction has not the _naïveté_ or charm of his +simpler pieces, yet it is very effective in its own way. It reveals +new and unsuspected wealth in the ore of the Latin language. The old +rhetorical artifices of alliteration, assonance, etc. are used more +sparingly than in Lucretius, yet they do appear, as in the lines-- + + Peliaco quondam prognatae vertice pinus,-- + + Aut tereti tenues tinnitus aere ciebant,-- + + Putridaque infirmis variabant pectora palmis.--etc., etc. + +As in the Attis we find such word-formations as _sonipedibus_, +_silvicultrix_, _nemorivagus_, so in this poem we have _fluentisono_, +_raucisonos_, _clarisona_, _flexamino_, etc. We recognise his old +partiality for diminutives, as in the + + Frigidulos udo singultus ore cientem, + +and + + Languidulosque paret tecum coniungere somnos. + +But there are many peculiarities of style which are scarcely, if +at all, observable in his other poems. New artifices, such as those +familiar to the Greek idyll, of the recurring chime of the same or +similar words, are frequent, as in the lines-- + + Vos ego saepe meo vos carmine compellabo;-- + + Cui Iupiter ipse + Ipse suos divom genitor concessit amores;-- + + Sicine me patriis avectam, perfide, ab oris, + Perfide, deserto liquisti in litore Theseu? + Sicine discedens neglecto numine divom;-- + + Nulla fugae ratio, nulla spes; omnia muta + Omnia sunt deserta, ostentant omnia mortem, etc. + +The phrases are to a much greater extent cast in a Greek mould[73]. +The words follow one another in a less natural order. Ornamental +epithets, metaphorical phrases, and the substitution of abstract for +concrete words, occur much more frequently. Latin poetry creates for +itself an artificial diction by assimilating, to a much greater extent +than in any earlier work of genius, the long-accumulated wealth of +Greek poetry. This was a gain to its resources, opening up and giving +expression to a new range of emotions, but a gain against which must +be set off a considerable loss of freshness and _naïveté_. + +The rhythm also is elaborately constructed after a Greek model,--the +model, not of Homer, but of the later poets who wrote in his metre. +It is much more carefully and correctly finished than the rhythm +of Lucretius. Each separate line has a smoother cadence. The whole +movement is more regular, more calm, and more stately. But with all +the occasional roughness of Lucretius there is much more life and +force in his general movement. It is much more capable of presenting +a continuous thought or action to the mind. The lines of Catullus seem +intended to be dwelt on separately, and each to bring out some point +of detail. There is generally a pause in the sense at the end of +each line, and thus the lines, when read continuously, produce an +impression of monotony[74], which is increased by the frequent use +of spondaic lines. The uniformity of his pauses, and the sameness of +structure in a large number of his hexameters, enable us to appreciate +the great improvement in rhythmical art which appeared some ten years +later in the Bucolics of Virgil. Yet if Catullus does not, in this his +most elaborate work, equal the natural force of language and rhythm +displayed in his simpler pieces, the poem, as a whole, has a noble and +stately movement, in unison with the noble and stately pictures of an +ideal fore-time which it brings before the imagination. + +The four longer elegiac pieces which follow add little to +our impression of the art of Catullus. In the 'Epistle to +Manlius'--perhaps owing to the trouble by which his mind was darkened +at the time of its composition--he does not use the elegiac metre, +as a vehicle of his personal feelings, with much force or clearness. +There is much more than in his phalaecians and iambics the appearance +of effort, and there is much greater uncertainty as to his meaning. +The 67th poem keeps alive with some vivacity a scandalous story of +his native province which might well have been allowed to sink into +oblivion. In the 'Coma Berenices,' and the poem addressed to Allius, +he again writes under the influence of his Alexandrian masters. He +seems to have regarded the 'Carmina Battiadae' with the admiration +which youthful genius, not yet sure of its own powers, entertains for +culture and established reputation,--the kind of admiration which led +Burns to imagine that his own early inspiration might be of less value +to the world than 'Shenstone's art.' Like Burns, too, Catullus is +least happy when he gives up his own language, which he wields easily +and powerfully, and the forms of art which came naturally to him, in +deference to the standard of poetic taste recognised in his day. +His selection of the 'Coma Berenices' as a task in translation, +illustrates the attraction which the union of beauty and passion with +truth and constancy of affection had for his imagination. The poem +to Allius is the most artificially constructed of all his pieces. He +endeavours to unite in it three distinct threads of interest,--that +of his passion for Lesbia, that of the romance of Laodamia and +Protesilaus, and that of his brother's death in the Troad. Although +this triple combination is accomplished with much mechanical +ingenuity[75], yet the effect of the poem as a whole is disappointing, +and its motive,--gratitude for a service which no honourable man, +according to our modern ideas of honour, would have rendered,--does +not make amends for the want of simplicity in its structure. Yet as +written in the heyday of his passion for Lesbia, and largely inspired +by that passion, it has, along with an Alexandrian superfluity of +ornament and illustration, many beauties of expression and feeling. +The passionate devotion of Laodamia for Protesilaus is conceived with +sympathetic power,-- + + Quo tibi tum casu pulcherrima Laudamia, + Ereptum est vita dulcius atque anima + Coniugium[76]. + +There is an exquisite picture of his own stolen meetings with his +'candida diva'; and depth and sincerity of affection are purely and +simply expressed in the last two lines-- + + Et longe ante omnes mihi quae me carior ipse'st, + Lux mea qua viva vivere dulce mihi'st. + +In this poem too, although the application of the image is an +incongruous adaptation of an old Homeric simile, we meet with a +descriptive passage which, more perhaps than any other in his poems, +shows that Catullus was a true lover and close observer of Nature,-- + + Qualis in aerii perlucens vertice montis + Rivos muscoso prosilit e lapide + Qui cum de prona praeceps est valle volutus + Per medium sensim transit iter populi, + Dulce viatori lasso in sudore levamen, + Cum gravis exustos aestus hiulcat agros[77]. + +The perfection attained by Catullus in his best lyrical poetry, and +the power displayed in his longer pieces, are so high and genuine that +we are hardly surprised at the enthusiasm of those who have ranked +him, in respect both of art and genius, foremost among Roman poets. If +the pure essence of poetry could be separated from the whole spiritual +and intellectual being of the poet, much might be said in favour +of that estimate. Others, who think that the work accomplished by +Lucretius, Virgil, and Horace is, both in quantity and quality, of +more lasting value to the world, cannot forget that had they died at +the same early age as Catullus, their names would have been unknown, +or perhaps remembered as those of Cinna and Cornificius are now. From +the exquisite skill with which Catullus has treated light and playful +themes, he has been sometimes compared to modern poets who have no +other claim to recognition than a similar facility. But if he is to be +compared with any, it is not with the minor poets, ancient or modern, +but with the greater, that he is to be ranked. The two eminent English +scholars who have made a special study of this poet, and have done +more than almost any others in recent times to elucidate his meaning +and gain for him his just recognition, look upon him as the equal of +Sappho and Alcaeus. Among modern poets he has been compared to one, +most unlike him in all the outward conditions of his life, and in +many of the conditions of his art,--the poet Burns[78]. In general +intellectual power, in the breadth of his human sympathies, the modern +poet is much the greater. He is, in all ways, the larger man. But in +some endowments of heart and genius the ancient poet is far from being +the inferior. He was more fortunate in his nearness to the greatest +source of poetic culture, and in the use of a medium of expression, +not of a local and limited influence, but one which brings him into +immediate relation with educated men of all ages and countries. But +in the passionate ardour of their temperament, and the robustness, +too closely allied with coarseness, of their fibre; in their +susceptibility to beautiful and tender emotions, and the mobility of +nature with which they yielded to impulses the most opposite to these; +in their large capacity of love and scorn, of pleasure and pain; in +their genuine sincerity and firm hold on real life; in the keenness +of their satire, and their shrewd observation of the world around +them;--in their simple and direct force of feeling and expression; +in the freshness of their love for the fairer objects in Nature +with which they were most familiar,--they have much in common. The +resemblance of the concluding lines of the 'Final renunciation of +Lesbia' to the sentiment of the 'Daisy' has been already noticed. The +scornful advice, conveyed in the words 'pete nobiles amicos,' finds +many an echo in the tones of the modern poet. The art of both is so +inseparably associated with their lives, that our admiration of it can +hardly help being enhanced or qualified by personal sympathy with, +or dislike of their characters. In the case of Catullus it must be +allowed that if a careless pursuit of pleasure, an apparent absence +of all high aims in life, the too frequent indulgence in the coarsest +language and the vilest imputations, could alienate our affections +from a great poet, his art would be judged at a disadvantage. But his +own frank revelations, from which we learn his faults, must equally +be taken as the unintended evidence of his nobler and more generous +nature. If his passions led him too far astray, he himself, so far as +now appears, alone suffered from them. There is no trace in him of the +selfish calculation, or the baser falsehood, which renders 'the life +of pleasure,' as led by many men, detestable. There was in his case no +'hardening of all within' as its effect. The small volume bequeathed +by him to the world is in itself a sufficient result of his few years. +If he is in a great degree unreflective, if he does not consciously +realise what are the ends of life, yet he does not look on life in a +spirit of cynicism or frivolity. Whatever vein of reflection appears +in him is not devoid of reverence and seriousness. His too frequent +coarseness is to be explained by the manners of his age and race; +and the imputations which he makes on his enemies were, in all +probability, never meant to be taken seriously. Although unfortunate +in his love, he has shown a capacity of ardent, self-forgetful, and +constant devotion, that deserved a better object. He could care for +another more than for his own life and happiness. And he had, in a +degree rarely equalled, a virtue which devoted lovers often want, the +truest, kindliest, most considerate and appreciative affection for +many friends. His very dependence on their sympathy in all his joy +and sorrow is a claim on the sympathy of the world. If to love warmly, +constantly, and unselfishly be the best title to the love of others, +few poets, in any age or country, deserve a kindlier place in the +hearts of men than 'the young Catullus.' + + + [Footnote 1: Cf. 'L. Iulium Calidum, quem post Lucretii + Catullique mortem multo elegantissimum poetam nostram tulisse + aetatem vere videor posse contendere.'--Corn. Nep. Vit. Att. + 12.] + + [Footnote 2: 'Multa satis lusi.'--lxviii^a. 17. The + context shows that the 'lusi,'--like Horace's 'lusit + Anacreon,'--refers to the composition of amatory poetry + founded on his own experience. It was for this kind of poetry + that Manlius had applied to him, and he pleads his grief as an + excuse for his inability to write any at that time, although + he had written much in his earliest youth.] + + [Footnote 3: E.g. xvi. 12; liv. 6.] + + [Footnote 4: Martial iv. 14,-- + + Sic forsan tener ausus est Catullus + Magno mittere passerem Maroni. + + Ibid. xi. 6. 16,-- + + Donabo tibi passerem Catulli.] + + [Footnote 5: B. Schmidt conjectures that the collection as + we now have it was made after books were generally written in + parchment. His whole collected poems would thus be more easily + enclosed in a single volume, than when written on the old + papyrus rolls.] + + [Footnote 6: Three poems formerly attributed to + Catullus,--those between xvii and xxi,--are now omitted from + all editions. On the other hand, one poem, lxviii, must, in + all probability, be divided into two, and possibly some lines + now attached to others are parts of separate poems.] + + [Footnote 7: Cf. B. Schmidt, quoting Bruner, Prolegomena, p. + xcviii.] + + [Footnote 8: x. 6.] + + [Footnote 9: xvii. 7; liii. 1; lvi. 1.] + + [Footnote 10: ix.] + + [Footnote 11: xxv, xl, xlii, etc.] + + [Footnote 12: Cf. viii, xxxviii, lxv, etc.] + + [Footnote 13: liii.] + + [Footnote 14: Cf. 'quae etiam aleret adulescentis et + parsimoniam patrum suis sumptibus sustentaret.' Cic. Pro M. + Caelio, 16, 38. Gellius, another of her lovers, was probably + about the same age, or a year or two younger than Caelius. Cf. + Schwabe, p. 112, etc.] + + [Footnote 15: B. Schmidt supposes that he did not die till 52 + B.C., and that he must have been born in 82 B.C. The reasons + he assigns for this belief are not convincing. He thinks that + it was unlikely that Catullus should have been reconciled to + Julius Caesar in the winter of 55-54 B.C., so soon after the + offence was committed, which must have been after the first + invasion of Britain by Julius Caesar in the summer and autumn + of 55. He shows that the reconciliation could not have + taken place in the winter of 54-3, as Caesar was absent in + Transalpine Gaul. He supposes therefore that it must have + taken place in the winter of 53-2. He thinks it probable that + Catullus' reconciliation must have taken place about the same + time or subsequently to that of Calvus, who was likely to have + influenced Catullus' political action, and that Calvus could + not have desired to be reconciled till after the autumn of + 54, when he prosecuted Vatinius. It seems quite arbitrary to + suppose that a considerable time must have elapsed between the + offence and the apology of Catullus. If Catullus was in Verona + in the winter of 55-4, and in his father's house, and Julius + Caesar was then, as was his habit, living on intimate terms + with and enjoying the hospitality of the father of Catullus, + that of itself affords an explanation of their meeting and + reconciliation. If Catullus required to be induced by any + one to make an apology, it is more likely that his father's + influence moved him to do so than the example and influence of + Calvus.] + + [Footnote 16: Cf. x, xiii, xxvi, xli, ciii.] + + [Footnote 17: lviii. 3; lxxix. 2.] + + [Footnote 18: Cf. cx, xli.] + + [Footnote 19: Reading suggested by Munro.] + + [Footnote 20: E.g. lxiv. 240-41:-- + + Ceu pulsae ventorum flamine nubes, + Aerium nivei montis liquere cacumen. + + And this most characteristic feature of Alpine + scenery,--lxviii^b. 17, etc.:-- + + Qualis in aerii perlucens vertice montis + Rivos muscoso prosilit e lapide, etc.] + + [Footnote 21: For his influence on the art of the [Greek: + neôteroi] cf. Schmidt, Prolegomena, p. lxii.] + + [Footnote 22: Schmidt believes that Cinna was a native of + Brescia; Prol. lxiii; but he does not there give his reason + for his belief.] + + [Footnote 23: Cf. xcv. 7: + + At Volusi Annales Paduam morientur ad ipsam.] + + [Footnote 24: The epigram on Cominius (cviii) was probably + written at Rome, as he was not of sufficient importance + to have made an impression on the people of Verona. The + accusation of C. Cornelius, which excited odium against him, + was made in 65 B.C. But it does not follow that the poem + was written by Catullus at that time. He may have become + acquainted with him later, and avenged some private pique by + reference to the unpopularity formerly excited by him. There + is no direct reference to the trial of Cornelius in the poem, + which appears among others referring to a much later date.] + + [Footnote 25: lxviii. 15-18.] + + [Footnote 26: In the 'docto avo' we have an allusion to the + author of the 'Istrian War.'] + + [Footnote 27: lxviii^b.] + + [Footnote 28: The _Caelius_ addressed in some of the poems is + not M. Caelius Rufus, but a Veronese friend and confidant of + Catullus-- + + 'Flos Veronensum ... iuvenum.' + + Caesar, Bell. Civ. i. 2, mentions M. Caelius Rufus simply as + M. Rufus, Cicero in his epistles addresses him as 'mi Rufe.'] + + [Footnote 29: Among other indications the vow of + Lesbia (xxxvi) throws light on her literary taste and + accomplishment.] + + [Footnote 30: On the whole question compare Mr. Munro's + Criticisms and Elucidations, etc., pp. 194-202. + + It has been argued on the other side that public opinion + would not have tolerated the publicity given to an adulterous + intrigue, especially one with a Roman matron so high in rank + as the wife of Metellus Celer. But the state of public opinion + in the last years of the Republic is not to be gauged either + by that of an earlier time, or by that existing during the + stricter censorship of the Augustan _régime_. Catullus himself + (cxiii) testifies to what is known from other sources, the + extreme laxity with which the marriage tie was regarded in the + interval between 'the first and second consulships of Pompey.' + Perhaps, however, if Metellus Celer had survived Catullus, + the Lesbia-poems might never have been publicly given to the + world. After his death Clodia by her manner of life forfeited + all claim to the immunities of a Roman matron.] + + [Footnote 31: lxviii^b. 105-6.] + + [Footnote 32: The poem lxviii-- + + Quod mihi fortuna casuque oppressus acerbo-- + + was addressed to Manlius just after Catullus had heard of his + brother's death, i.e. probably late in the year 60, or early + in the year 59 B.C. Manlius was himself suffering then from + a great and sudden sorrow. The expressions in lines 1, 5, 6, + 'casu acerbo,' 'sancta Venus,' 'desertum in lecto caelibe,' + make it at least highly probable that this sorrow was the + premature death of his young bride. If this generally accepted + opinion is true, the Epithalamium must have been written some + time before 59 B.C.] + + [Footnote 33: That of Westphal.] + + [Footnote 34: Schmidt supposes that poems ix, xii, xiii belong + to a later date, 56 B.C., when he thinks that Veranius and + Fabullus were with some otherwise unknown Piso in the Province + of Hispania Citerior, and that the poems xxviii, + + Pisonis comites, cohors inanis, + + and xlvii, + + Porci et Socration, duae sinistrae + Pisones, etc., + + belong to the same period. + + But not to speak of the fact that the character imputed + to Piso, in the phrase 'duae sinistrae,' and in the words + 'vappa,' 'verpa,' 'verpus,' applied to him, are in exact + accordance with that ascribed to him in the virulent invective + of Cicero (In L. Calpurnium Pisonem Oratio), it is difficult + to see how the words in xxviii, + + Satisne cum isto + Vappa frigoraque et famem tulistis? + + could apply to either the climate or the condition of Hispania + Citerior at that time. But they closely coincide with the + words of Cicero applied to the government by Piso of his + province of Macedonia (17-40), 'An exercitus nostri interitus + ferro, _fame_, _frigore_, pestilentia?' On the other hand, the + words in ix, + + Visam te incolumem audiamque Hiberum + Narrantem loca, facta, nationes, + + would be applicable to the adventures and dangers of Julius + Caesar in further Spain in 61 B.C. There is no difficulty + in supposing that the two young friends went together on two + different occasions on the staff of two different provincial + governors. The tone of the two different sets of poems is + so different, the one set so bright and happy, the other so + savage and bitter, that it is almost inconceivable that they + belong to the same time and the same circumstances.] + + [Footnote 35: Schmidt supposes that the person to whom this + letter is written is the same as the Allius of lxviii^b; that + the lines beginning + + Non possum reticere + + are a continuation of what used to be thought a separate poem, + + Quod mihi fortuna, etc., + + that Manlius was the praenomen of Allius, and that he is + addressed in the first part of the poem by the praenomen, + in the latter by the gentile name. But the letter to Manlius + clearly indicates the recent loss of his bride, or some + distress connected with his marriage (lines 1, 5, 6), whereas + at the end of the letter to Allius he says, 'Sitis felices et + tu simul et tua vita;' lxviii. 155.] + + [Footnote 36: There is some uncertainty both as to the reading + and interpretation of the lines (lxviii. 15-19). The most + generally accepted view is that Manlius had written to let + Catullus know that several fashionable rivals were supplanting + him in his absence. Mr. Munro supposes that the letter was + written from Baiae, and that the _hic_ is so to be explained. + Another view of the passage is that Manlius had, without any + reference to Clodia, merely rallied Catullus on leading a dull + and lonely life at Verona, a place quite unsuitable for the + pleasures of a man of fashion.] + + [Footnote 37: Cf. poems x. 30, etc., and xcv.] + + [Footnote 38: Cf. Munro's Criticisms and Elucidations of + Catullus, p. 214.] + + [Footnote 39: An entirely different interpretation has + recently been given to this poem (Schmidt, Prolegomena, xxxix, + etc.). It is supposed not to be complimentary, but bitterly + sarcastic. It is said that Catullus could not, except in + irony, have described himself as + + 'pessimus omnium poeta;' + + and if those words applied to himself as a poet are irony, + so must the words applied in strong contrast to Cicero as an + advocate (tanto--quanto) be equally ironical. In that case the + _omnium_ in the last line must not be taken in connexion with + optimus, but with patronus. Cicero's readiness to be 'omnium + patronus' is sarcastically commented on with immediate + reference to his defence of Vatinius, which startled some of + his best friends among the constitutional party. The formal + address 'Marce Tulli' is also ironical. (If that is so, + probably also the 'Romuli nepotum' is used in mock heroic + irony, like the 'Remi nepotum' in lviii.) What then is + the favour for which Catullus writes these ironically + complimentary thanks? Schmidt supposes that Cicero had + expressed either publicly or privately a very poor opinion + of Catullus' poems, and that Catullus revenges himself by + professing to agree with him, to be most grateful for the + criticism (gratias tibi maximas Catullus agit), and to repay + it by heaping ironical coals on his head. + + It is just possible that the poem might have been so + understood in the set to which Catullus belonged, if we were + certain that it was written at the time when Cicero defended + Vatinius. But the general public could hardly have understood + it so, and it is not surprising that it never occurred to any + one to understand it in that sense till within the last year + or two. It is not in keeping with Catullus' straightforward, + outspoken vituperation, nor with the manners of the time (as + shown in Cicero's speeches), to write an epigram which would + leave the object of it in doubt whether it was written in + earnest or derision. No doubt Catullus did not seriously think + himself 'the worst of living poets,' worse for instance than + Volusius. But there is an irony of modest self-depreciation, + as that of Virgil when he applies to himself the words + 'argutos inter strepere anser olores,' as well as of insulting + banter. The change in the construction of the 'omnium' in + the two consecutive lines would be at least startling. That + Catullus, a young man, not intimate with Cicero, should + address him as Marce Tulli is not perhaps more remarkable than + that a young poet of the present day should in writing to a + man of great eminence, twenty years his senior, address him as + Mr. ----. Cicero writes banteringly and good-naturedly to one + of his correspondents, Volumnius, probably a much younger + man (Fam. vii. 32): 'Quod sine praenomine familiariter, ut + debebas, ad me epistolam misisti, primum addubitavi, num a + Volumnio senatore esset, quorum mihi est magnus usus.' + There is no reason for supposing that Cicero ever passed any + criticism favourable or unfavourable on Catullus, though in + his letters he twice uses his phrases; and if he did, it was + not in Catullus' way to retaliate without making it perfectly + clear what he was retaliating for. Cicero was constantly in + the way of doing kindnesses to all sorts of people, in the + law-courts or by recommending them to some of his influential + friends. He especially says that he had always done what he + could to foster the genius of poets. He was attracted to young + men like Catullus (he was not of the 'grex Catilinae'); and of + his friend Calvus he writes with genuine appreciation. It is + more natural as well as more pleasant to think of these two + men of genius, in so far as they came in contact, having + agreeable relations with one another, than to believe that + the poet wrote these apparently straightforward, kindly + appreciative lines in revenge for some real or fancied + disparagement of his verses.] + + [Footnote 40: Cf. xxiv. 7:-- + + Qui? non est homo bellus? inquies. Est.] + + [Footnote 41: Two of the four poems connected with Calvus + allude to his antagonism to Vatinius, which went on actively + between the years 56 and 54 B.C. In none of them is there any + allusion to Lesbia, who was never out of Catullus, thoughts or + his verse till after his Bithynian journey.] + + [Footnote 42: Horace contrasts the 'dirge of Simonides' + ('Ceae retractes munera neniae') with the lighter poetry + of love.] + + [Footnote 43: Cf. Munro's Lucretius, p. 468, third edition.] + + [Footnote 44: lxxii. 5-8:-- + + Nunc te cognovi: quare etsi impensius uror, + Multo mi tamen es vilior et levior. + Qui potis est? inquis. Quia amantem iniuria talis + Cogit amare magis, set bene velle minus.] + + [Footnote 45: lxxxv. 1.] + + [Footnote 46: xi. 23.] + + [Footnote 47: lxxvi.] + + [Footnote 48: + + 'Calvus, if those now silent in the tomb + Can feel the touch of pleasure in our tears + For those we loved, who perished in their bloom, + And the departed friends of former years: + Oh then, full surely thy Quintilia's woe, + For the untimely fate that bade ye part, + Will fade before the bliss she feels to know + How very dear she is unto thy heart.'--Martin.] + + [Footnote 49: Compare also his humorous notice of the + compliment which he heard in the crowd paid to the speech of + Calvus against Vatinius-- + + Dii magni, salaputium disertum.] + + [Footnote 50: xii.] + + [Footnote 51: xxxviii.] + + [Footnote 52: Mr. Munro, in his Elucidations (pp. 209, + etc.), shows that the whole point of the poem consists in the + contrast drawn between the 'Zmyrna' of Cinna and the 'Annals + of Volusius.' Baehrens admits the reading 'Hortensius' into + the text, but adds in a note on the word, _vox corrupta est_.] + + [Footnote 53: lxxvi. 1-4.] + + [Footnote 54: Cf. lxiii. 12:-- + + Neu me odisse putes hospitis officium.] + + [Footnote 55: Att. vii. 7. 6: 'Placet igitur etiam me expulsum + et agrum Campanum perisse et adoptatum patricium a plebeio, + Gaditanum a Mytilenaeo, et Labieni divitiae et Mamurrae + placent et Balbi horti et Tusculanum.'] + + [Footnote 56: lxxvi. 19.] + + [Footnote 57: xvi. 5-6.] + + [Footnote 58: lxxxiv. Cicero also was afflicted by a bore of + the same name, who stayed away from Rome in order 'that he + might pass whole days discussing philosophy with Cicero at + Formiae.' The Arrius of this poem is supposed to be Q. Arrius, + Praetor in 73 B.C., whom Cicero speaks of as having been in + the habit of acting as a kind of Junior Counsel along with + Crassus ('qui fuit M. Crassi quasi secundarum'), and having, + though a man of the lowest origin and without either culture + or natural ability, got into a considerable practice. The + words 'Hoc misso in Syriam' are supposed to imply that he was + sent as a legatus to join Crassus in his Syrian province. The + poem would thus be written about the end of 55 B.C. Schmidt.] + + [Footnote 59: Hor. A. P. 437-38:-- + + Quintilio si quid recitares, Corrige, sodes, + Hoc aiebat et hoc. + + Schmidt supposes him to be the Alphenus Varus, the Jurist, to + whom the 30th poem, written in a tone of tender reproach, is + addressed. Catullus does not seem to address the same person + by different names, unless Manius and Allius are the same. + Thus M. Caelius Rufus is addressed as Rufus, the Caelius + addressed in other poems being a native of Verona. As both + Alphenus Varus and Quintilius Varus were natives of Cremona, + Catullus was likely to have known both.] + + [Footnote 60: vii. 7-8.] + + [Footnote 61: xi. 22-24.] + + [Footnote 62: xvii. 12-15 and 15-16.] + + [Footnote 63: E.g. + + Litus ut longe resonante Eoa + Tunditur unda.] + + [Footnote 64: 'Criticisms and Elucidations,' etc. p. 73.] + + [Footnote 65: The pride of Roman nationality is, perhaps, + unconsciously betrayed in such phrases as 'Romuli nepotum,' in + the lines addressed to Cicero.] + + [Footnote 66: xxxiv. 7-12:-- + + Quam mater prope Deliam + Deposivit olivam, + Montium domina ut fores + Silvarumque virentium + Saltuumque reconditorum + Amniumque sonantum.] + + [Footnote 67: lxi. 122-46.] + + [Footnote 68: lxiv. 89-90.] + + [Footnote 69: + + 'Soon my eyes shall see, mayhap, + Young Torquatus on the lap + Of his mother, as he stands + Stretching out his tiny hands, + And his little lips the while + Half open on his father's smile. + + 'And oh! may he in all be like + Manlius his sire, and strike + Strangers when the boy they meet + As his father's counterfeit, + And his face the index be + Of his mother's chastity.'--Martin.] + + [Footnote 70: Cf. Mr. Ellis's notes on the poem.] + + [Footnote 71: Cf. Plaut. Pseud. 147:-- + + Neque Alexandrina beluata conchyliata tapetia. + + Mr. Ellis, in his Commentary on Catullus, p. 226, mentions + that both the marriage of Peleus and Thetis, and the legend + of Ariadne, were common subjects of ancient art. He points out + also that the idea of the quilt on which the Ariadne story was + represented was borrowed from Apollonius, i. 730-66.] + + [Footnote 72: + + 'Whate'er of loveliest decks the plain, whate'er + The giant mountains of Thessalia bear, + Whate'er beneath the west's warm breezes blow, + Where crystal streams by flowery margents flow, + These in festoons or coronals inwrought + Of undistinguishable blooms he brought, + Whose blending odours crept from room to room, + Till all the house was gladdened with perfume.'--Martin.] + + [Footnote 73: E.g. 'Argivae robora pubis'--'decus + innuptarum'--'funera nec funera,' etc., etc. Mr. Ellis's + commentary largely illustrates the influence exercised by the + phraseology of the Greek poets,--especially Homer, Euripides, + Apollonius--on the poetical diction of Catullus in this poem.] + + [Footnote 74: This monotony, as is pointed out by Mr. Ellis, + is, in a great degree, the result of the coincidence of the + accent and rhythmical ictus in the last three feet of the + line.] + + [Footnote 75: Westphal, pp. 73-83, has given an elaborate + explanation of the principle on which the various parts of the + poem are arranged and connected with one another.] + + [Footnote 76: The lines immediately following these are in the + worst style of learned Alexandrinism.] + + [Footnote 77: + + 'As some clear stream, from mossy stone that leaps, + Far up among the hills, and, wimpling down + By wood and vale, its onward current keeps + To lonely hamlet and to stirring town, + Cheering the wayworn traveller as it flows + When all the fields with drought are parched and bare.' + --Martin.] + + [Footnote 78: This parallel was first pointed out by the writer of + an excellent article on Catullus in the North British Review, + referred to by Mr. Munro in his 'Criticisms and Elucidations,' + p. 234.] + + +THE END. + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + + +Sundry damaged or missing punctuation has been repaired. + +Page 28: 'Neibuhr' corrected to 'Niebuhr' (2nd entry) +"Niebuhr went so far as to assert that the Romans ..." + +Page 53: Æneas and Aeneas both occurred on this page. Both spellings +are correct, but as there is only the single instance of Æneas, with +the æ ligature, and around 30 instances of Aeneas, wihout the ligature, +Æneas has been amended to Aeneas. The Æ/æ ligature has not otherwise +been used in this book. + +page 148: 'advorsam' is correct; alternative spelling for 'adversam'. + +page 157: 'adoped' corrected to 'adopted' +"... into the forms which he adopted from Greece." + +page 447: 'dulness' is correct; Oxford Dictionary gives it as an +alternative spelling. + +page 468: 'Luaguidnlosque' corrrected to 'Languidulosque' +"Languidulosque paret tecum coniungere somnos." + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Roman Poets of the Republic, by W. Y. 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