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-The Project Gutenberg eBook, A History of Roman Literature, by Harold
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-Title: A History of Roman Literature
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-Author: Harold North Fowler
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-
-Release Date: February 22, 2014  [eBook #44975]
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-***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A HISTORY OF ROMAN LITERATURE***
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+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44975 ***
diff --git a/44975-0.zip b/44975-0.zip
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-The Project Gutenberg eBook, A History of Roman Literature, by Harold
-North Fowler
-
-
-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: A History of Roman Literature
-
-
-Author: Harold North Fowler
-
-
-
-Release Date: February 22, 2014  [eBook #44975]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
-
-
-***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A HISTORY OF ROMAN LITERATURE***
-
-
-E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Turgut Dincer, and the Online
-Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)
-
-
-
-Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
-      file which includes the original illustrations.
-      See 44975-h.htm or 44975-h.zip:
-      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/44975/44975-h/44975-h.htm)
-      or
-      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/44975/44975-h.zip)
-
-
-Transcriber's note:
-
-      Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
-
-      Text enclosed by plus signs is in bold face (+bold+).
-
-      [)] represents the breve character (u-shaped symbol)
-      used in the description of poetic metres.
-
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: AUGUSTUS.
-
-Bust in the Museum of Fine Arts. Boston.]
-
-
-Twentieth Century Text-Books
-
-A HISTORY OF ROMAN LITERATURE
-
-by
-
-HAROLD N. FOWLER, PH. D.
-
-Professor in the College for Women of Western Reserve University
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-New York and London D. Appleton and Company
-
-Copyright, 1903
-By D. Appleton and Company
-
-Printed at the Appleton Press,
-New York, U. S. A.
-
-
-
-
-PREFACE
-
-
-This book is intended primarily for use as a text-book in schools and
-colleges. I have therefore given more dates and more details about the
-lives of authors than are in themselves important, because dates are
-convenient aids to memory, as they enable the learner to connect his
-new knowledge with historical facts he may have learned before, while
-biographical details help to endow authors with something of concrete
-personality, to which the learner can attach what he learns of their
-literary and intellectual activity.
-
-Extracts from Latin authors are given, with few exceptions, in English
-translation. I considered the advisability of giving them in Latin, but
-concluded that extracts in Latin would probably not be read by most
-young readers, and would therefore do less good than even imperfect
-translations. Moreover, the texts of the most important works are
-sure to be at hand in the schools, and books of selections, such as
-Cruttwell and Banton's _Specimens of Roman Literature_, Tyrrell's
-_Anthology of Latin Poetry_, and Gudeman's _Latin Literature of the
-Empire_, are readily accessible. I am responsible for all translations
-not accredited to some other translator. In making my translations,
-I have employed blank verse to represent Latin hexameters; but the
-selections from the _Æneid_ are given in Conington's rhymed version,
-and in some other cases I have used translations of hexameters into
-metres other than blank verse.
-
-In writing of the origin of Roman comedy, I have not mentioned the
-dramatic _satura_. Prof. George L. Hendrickson has pointed out (in the
-_American Journal of Philology_, vol. xv, pp. 1-30) that the dramatic
-_satura_ never really existed, but was invented in Roman literary
-history because Aristotle, whose account of the origin of comedy was
-closely followed by the Roman writers, found the origin of Greek comedy
-in the satyr-drama.
-
-The greater part of the book is naturally taken up with the extant
-literary works and their authors; but I have devoted some space to
-the lives and works of authors whose writings are lost. This I have
-done, not because I believe that the reader should burden his memory
-with useless details, but partly in order that this book may be of
-use as a book of reference, and partly because the mention of some of
-the lost works and their authors may impress upon the reader the fact
-that something is known of many writers whose works have survived, if
-at all, only in detached fragments. Not a few of these writers were
-important in their day, and exercised no little influence upon the
-progress of literature. Of the whole mass of Roman literary production
-only a small part--though fortunately in great measure the best
-part--now exists, and it is only by remembering how much has been
-lost that the modern reader can appreciate the continuity of Roman
-literature.
-
-The literature of the third, fourth, and fifth centuries after
-Christ is treated less fully than that of the earlier times, but its
-importance to later European civilization has been so great that a
-summary treatment of it should be included even in a book of such
-limited scope as this.
-
-The Bibliography will, I hope, be found useful. It is by no means
-exhaustive, but may serve as a guide to those who have not access to
-libraries. The purpose of the Chronological Table is not so much to
-serve as a finding-list of dates as to show at a glance what authors
-were living and working at any given time. In the Index the names
-of all Latin writers mentioned in the book are to be found, together
-with references to numerous topics and to some of the more important
-historical persons.
-
-Besides the works of the Roman authors, I have consulted the general
-works mentioned in the Bibliography and numerous other books and
-special articles. I have made most use of Teuffel's _History of Roman
-Literature_, Schanz's _Römische Litteraturgeschichte_, and Mackail's
-admirable _Latin Literature_.
-
-My thanks are due to my colleague, Prof. Samuel Ball Platner, who read
-the book in manuscript and made many valuable suggestions, and to
-Professor Perrin, who read not only the manuscript, but also the proof,
-and suggested not a few desirable changes.
-
-  HAROLD N. FOWLER.
-
-  CLEVELAND, OHIO.
-
-
-
-
-CONTENTS
-
-
-    CHAPTER                                                   PAGE
-
-        I.--INTRODUCTION--EARLY ROMAN LITERATURE--TRAGEDY        1
-
-       II.--COMEDY                                              17
-
-      III.--EARLY PROSE--THE SCIPIONIC CIRCLE--LUCILIUS         32
-
-       IV.--LUCRETIUS                                           47
-
-        V.--CATULLUS--MINOR POETS                               56
-
-       VI.--CICERO                                              65
-
-      VII.--CÆSAR--SALLUST--OTHER PROSE WRITERS                 83
-
-     VIII.--THE PATRONS OF LITERATURE--VIRGIL                   97
-
-       IX.--HORACE                                             114
-
-        X.--TIBULLUS--PROPERTIUS--THE LESSER POETS             128
-
-       XI.--OVID                                               143
-
-      XII.--LIVY--OTHER AUGUSTAN PROSE WRITERS                 156
-
-     XIII.--TIBERIUS TO VESPASIAN                              169
-
-      XIV.--THE FLAVIAN EMPERORS--THE SILVER AGE               194
-
-       XV.--NERVA AND TRAJAN                                   211
-
-      XVI.--THE EMPERORS AFTER TRAJAN--SUETONIUS--OTHER
-              WRITERS                                          226
-
-     XVII.--LITERARY INNOVATIONS                               235
-
-    XVIII.--EARLY CHRISTIAN WRITERS                            244
-
-      XIX.--PAGAN LITERATURE OF THE THIRD CENTURY              253
-
-       XX.--THE FOURTH AND FIFTH CENTURIES                     259
-
-      XXI.--CONCLUSION                                         278
-
-           APPENDIX I.--BIBLIOGRAPHY                           285
-
-           APPENDIX II.--CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE                   297
-
-           INDEX                                               303
-
-
-    LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
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-    AUGUSTUS, bust in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston,    _Frontispiece_
-
-    CICERO, bust in the Vatican Museum, Rome                         65
-
-    CÆSAR, bust in the Museum at Naples                              83
-
-    VIRGIL AND TWO MUSES, mosaic in the Bardo Museum, Tunis         113
-
-
-
-
-BOOK I
-
-_THE PERIOD OF THE REPUBLIC_
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER I
-
-INTRODUCTION--EARLY ROMAN LITERATURE--TRAGEDY
-
-    Importance of Roman literature--The Romans a practical people--The
-    Latin language--Political purpose of Roman writings--Divisions of
-    Roman literature--Elements of a native Roman literature--Appius
-    Claudius Cæcus--Imitation of Greek literature--L. Livius
-    Andronicus, about 284 to about 204 B. C.--Gnæus Nævius, about
-    270-199 B. C.--Q. Ennius, 239-169 B. C.--His Tragedies--The
-    _Annales_--M. Pacuvius, 220 to about 130 B. C.--L. Accius, 170 to
-    after 100 B. C.--The Decay of Tragedy--The Roman theatre, actors
-    and costumes.
-
-
-[Sidenote: Importance of Roman literature.] Roman literature, while
-it lacks the brilliant originality and the delicate beauty which
-characterize the works of the great Greek writers, is still one of
-the great literatures of the world, and it possesses an importance
-for us which is even greater than its intrinsic merits (great as they
-are) would naturally give it. In the first place, Roman literature has
-preserved to us, in Latin translations and adaptations, many important
-remains of Greek literature which would otherwise have been lost, and
-in the second place, the political power of the Romans, embracing
-nearly the whole known world, made the Latin language the most widely
-spread of all languages, and thus caused Latin literature to be read in
-all lands and to influence the literary development of all the peoples
-of Europe.
-
-[Sidenote: The Romans practical.] The Romans were a practical race,
-not gifted with much poetic imagination, but with great ability to
-organize their state and their army and to accomplish whatever they
-determined to do. They had come into Italy with a number of related
-tribes from the north and had settled in a place on the bank of the
-Tiber, where they were exposed to attacks from the Etruscans and other
-neighbors. They were thus forced from the beginning to fortify their
-city, and live close together within the walls. [Sidenote: Attention
-to political and military affairs.] This made the early development of
-a form of city government both natural and necessary, and turned the
-Roman mind toward political organization. At the same time, the
-attacks of external enemies forced the Romans to pay attention to the
-organization and support of an army. So, from the time of the
-foundation of their city by the Tiber, the Romans turned their
-attention primarily to politics and war. The effect upon their
-language and literature is clearly seen. [Sidenote: The Latin
-language.] Their language is akin to Greek, and like Greek is one of
-the Indo-European family of languages, to which English and the other
-most important languages of Europe belong. It started with the same
-material as Greek, but while Greek developed constantly more variety,
-more delicacy, and more flexibility, Latin is fixed and rigid, a
-language adapted to laws and commands rather than to the lighter and
-more graceful kinds of utterance. Circumstances, aided no doubt by the
-natural bent of their minds, tended to make the Romans political,
-military, and practical, rather than artistic.
-
-Roman literature, as might be expected after what has just been
-said, is often not the spontaneous outpouring of literary genius,
-but the means by which some practical ends or purposes are to be
-attained. Almost from first to last, the writings of Roman authors
-have a political purpose, and the influence of political events upon
-the literature is most marked. [Sidenote: Political purpose of
-Roman writings.] Even those kinds of Roman literature which seem at
-first sight to have the least connection with political matters have
-nevertheless a political purpose. Plays were written to enhance the
-splendor of public festivals provided by office holders who were at
-the same time office seekers and hoped to win the favor of the people
-by successful entertainments; history was written to teach the proper
-methods of action for future use or (sometimes) to add to the influence
-of living leaders of the state by calling to mind the great deeds
-of their ancestors; epic and lyric poems were composed to glorify
-important persons at Rome, or at least to prove the right of Rome to
-the foremost place among the nations by giving her a literature worthy
-to rank with that of the Greeks.
-
-[Sidenote: Divisions of Roman literature.] The development of Roman
-literature is closely connected with political events, and its three
-great divisions correspond to the divisions of Roman political history.
-The first or Republican Period extends from the beginning of Roman
-literature after the first Punic war (240 B. C.) to the battle of
-Actium in 31 B. C. The second or Augustan Period, from 31 B. C. to 14
-A. D., is the period in which the institutions of the republic were
-transformed to serve the purposes of the monarchy. The "Golden Age"
-of Roman literature comprises the last part of the Republican Period
-and the whole Augustan Period, from 81 B. C. to 14 A. D. The third or
-Imperial Period lasts from 14 A. D. to the beginning of the Middle
-Ages. The first part of this period, from 14 to 117 A. D., is called
-the "Silver Age." In the first period the Romans learn to imitate
-Greek literature and develop their language until it is capable of
-fine literary treatment, and in the latter part of this time they
-produce some of their greatest works, especially in prose. The second
-period, made illustrious by Horace and Virgil, is the time when
-Roman poetry reaches its greatest height. The third period is a time
-of decline, sometimes rapid, sometimes retarded for a while, during
-which Roman literature shows few great works and many of very slight
-literary value. Throughout the first and second periods, and even
-for the most part in the third period, Latin literature is produced
-almost entirely at Rome, is affected by changes in the city, and
-reflects the sentiments of the city population. It is therefore proper
-to speak of Roman literature, rather than Latin literature, for that
-which interests us is the literature of the city by the Tiber and of
-the civilization with which the city is identified, rather than works
-written in the Latin language.
-
-[Sidenote: Elements of native Roman literature.] The beginning of a
-real literature at Rome was made by a foreigner of Greek birth, and
-naturally took the form of an imitation of Greek works. This would
-undoubtedly have been the case, even if the first professional author
-had been a native Roman, for the Romans had for some time been in
-close touch with the Greeks of Italy, and Greek literature presented
-itself to them as a finished product, calling for their admiration
-and inciting them to imitate it. Nevertheless there were in existence
-at Rome in early times materials from which a native literature might
-have arisen if the Greek influence had not been so strong as to prevent
-their development. The early Romans sang songs at weddings and at
-harvest festivals, chanted hymns to the gods, and were familiar with
-rude popular performances which might have given rise to a native
-drama. The words of such songs and performances were of course, for the
-most part at least, rhythmical, but few if any of them were committed
-to writing until much later times. The art of writing was, however,
-known to the Romans as early as the sixth century B. C., for the Greek
-colonies on the coast of Italy must have had trade connections with the
-Romans at a very early time, and writing was thoroughly familiar to
-the Greeks by the time Rome was two centuries old.
-
-From early times the Romans kept lists of officials, records of
-prodigies, lists of the _dies fasti_, i. e., of the days on which
-it was lawful to conduct public business, and other simple records.
-The twelve tables of the laws are said to have been written in 451
-and 450 B. C., and these had some influence on Roman prose, for they
-were the first attempt at connected prose in the Latin language. No
-doubt other laws and probably also treaties were written in Latin and
-preserved at an early date. Funeral orations called for some practise
-in oratory, but probably not for careful preparation, and certainly not
-for composition in writing in the early days of Rome. [Sidenote: Appius
-Claudius Cæcus.] The first Roman speech known to have been written
-out for publication is the speech delivered in 280 B. C., by the aged
-Appius Claudius Cæcus, in which he urged the rejection of the terms of
-peace offered by Pyrrhus. This speech was known and read at Rome for
-two centuries after the death of its author. A collection of sayings
-or proverbs was also current under the name of Claudius, and he was
-actively interested in adapting more perfectly to the Latin language
-the alphabet which the Romans had received from the Greeks, and in
-fixing the spelling of Latin words.
-
-All this is, however, not so much literature as the material from which
-literature might have developed if Rome had been removed from the
-sphere of Greek influence. Since that was not the case, these first
-steps toward a national literature led to nothing, though they show
-that the Romans had some originality, and help us to understand some
-of the peculiarities of Roman literature as distinguished from its
-Greek prototype. Still Roman literature is a literature of imitation,
-and the beginning of it was made by a Greek named Andronicus, who
-was brought to Rome after the capture of Tarentum in 272 B. C. when
-he was still a boy. At Rome he was the slave of M. Livius Salinator,
-whose children he instructed in Greek and Latin. [Sidenote: L.
-Livius Andronicus.] When set free, he took the name of Lucius Livius
-Andronicus, and continued to teach. As there were no Latin books which
-he could use in teaching, he conceived the idea of translating Homer's
-Odyssey into Latin, thereby making the beginning of Latin literature.
-His translation of the Odyssey was rude and imperfect. Andronicus made
-no attempt to reproduce in Latin the hexameter verse of Homer, but
-employed the native Saturnian verse (see page 7), probably because it
-seemed to him better fitted to the Latin language than the more stately
-hexameter. After the first Punic war, at the _Ludi Romani_ in 240 B.
-C., Andronicus produced and put upon the stage Latin translations of
-a Greek tragedy and a Greek comedy. In these and his later dramas he
-retained the iambic and trochaic metres of the originals, and his
-example was followed by his successors. He also composed hymns for
-public occasions. Of his works only a few fragments are preserved,
-hardly more than enough to show that they had little real literary
-merit. But he had made a beginning, and long before his death, which
-took place about 204 B. C., his successors were advancing along the
-lines he had marked out.
-
-Gnæus Nævius, a freeborn citizen of a Latin city in Campania, was the
-first native Latin poet of importance. [Sidenote: Gnæus Nævius.] He was
-a soldier in the first Punic war, at the end of which, while still a
-young man, he came to Rome, where he devoted himself to poetry. He was
-a man of independent spirit, not hesitating to attack in his comedies
-and other verses the most powerful Romans, especially the great family
-of the Metelli. For many years he maintained his position, but at last
-the Metelli brought about his imprisonment and banishment, and he died
-in exile in 199 B. C., at about seventy years of age. His dramatic
-works were numerous, both tragedies and comedies, for the most part
-translations and adaptations from the Greek, but alongside of these he
-produced also plays based upon Roman legends. These were called _fabulæ
-prætextæ_ or _prætextatæ_, "plays of the purple stripe," because the
-characters wore Roman costumes. In one of these plays, the _Romulus_
-(or in two, if the _Lupus_ or "Wolf" is not the _Romulus_ under another
-title), he dramatized the story of Romulus and Remus, and in another,
-the _Clastidium_, the defeat (in 222 B. C.) of the Insubrians by M.
-Claudius Marcellus and Cn. Cornelius Scipio. In his later years he
-turned to epic poetry and wrote in Saturnian verse the history of the
-first Punic war, introduced by an account of the legendary history of
-Rome from the departure of Æneas for Italy after the fall of Troy. This
-poem was read and admired for many years, and parts of it were imitated
-by Virgil in the _Æneid_. Nævius also wrote other poems, called
-_Satires_, on various subjects, partly, but not entirely, in Saturnian
-metre. Of all these works only inconsiderable fragments remain. They
-show, however, that Nævius was a poet of real power, and that with him
-the Latin language was beginning to develop some fitness for literary
-use. His epitaph, preserved by Aulus Gellius, will serve not only to
-show the stiff and monotonous rhythm of the Saturnian verse, but also,
-since it was probably written by Nævius himself, to exhibit his proud
-consciousness of superiority:
-
-    _Immórtalés mortáles sí forét fas flére
-    Flerént divaé Caménae Naéviúm poétam.
-    Itáque póstquam est Órci tráditús thesaúro
-    Oblíti súnt Romái loquiér linguá Latína._
-
-    If it were right that mortals be wept for by immortals,
-    The goddess Muses would weep for Nævius the poet.
-    And so since to the treasure of Orcus he's departed,
-    The Romans have forgotten to speak the Latin language.
-
-Nævius had a right to be proud. He had made literature a real force at
-Rome, able to contend with the great men of the city; he had invented
-the drama with Roman characters, and had written the first national
-epic poem. In doing all this he had at the same time added to the
-richness and grace of the still rude Latin language. But great as were
-the merits of Nævius, he was surpassed in every way by his successor.
-
-Quintus Ennius, a poet of surprising versatility and power, was born
-at Rudiæ, in Calabria, in 239 B. C. [Sidenote: Quintus Ennius.] While
-he was serving in the Roman army in Sardinia, in 204 B. C., he met
-with M. Porcius Cato, who took him home to Rome. Here Ennius gave
-lessons in Greek and translated Greek plays for the Roman stage. He
-became acquainted with several prominent Romans, among them the elder
-Scipio Africanus, went to Ætolia as a member of the staff of M. Fulvius
-Nobilior, and obtained full Roman citizenship in 184 B. C. His death
-was brought on by the gout in 169 B. C.
-
-[Sidenote: Various works of Ennius.] The works of Ennius were many and
-various, including tragedies, comedies, a great epic poem, a metrical
-treatise on natural philosophy, a translation of the work of Euhemerus,
-in which he explained the nature of the gods and declared that they are
-merely famous men of old times,[1] a poem on food and cooking, a series
-of _Precepts_, epigrams (in which the elegiac distich was used for the
-first time in Latin), and satires. His most important works were his
-tragedies and his great epic, the _Annales_.
-
-The tragedies were, like those of Nævius, translations of the works of
-the great Greek tragedians and their less great, but equally popular,
-successors. [Sidenote: His dramatic works.] The titles and some
-fragments of twenty-two of these plays are preserved, from which it
-is evident that Ennius sometimes translated exactly and sometimes
-freely, while he allowed himself at other times to depart from his
-Greek original even to the extent of changing the plot more or less.
-For the most part, however, the invention of the plot, the delineation
-of character, and the poetic imagery of his plays were due to the
-Greek dramatists whose works he presented in Latin form. To Ennius
-himself belong the skillful use of the Latin language, the ability
-to express in a new language the thoughts rather than the words of
-the Greek poets, and also such changes as were necessary to make
-the Greek tragedies appeal more strongly to a Roman audience. It is
-impossible to tell from the fragments just what changes were made, but
-the popularity of the plays, which continued long after the death of
-Ennius, proves that the changes attained their object and pleased the
-audience. The titles of two _fabulæ prætextæ_ by Ennius are known, the
-_Sabine Women_, a dramatic presentation of the legend of the Rape of
-the Sabines, and _Ambracia_, a play celebrating the capture of Ambracia
-by M. Fulvius Nobilior. His comedies seem to have been neither numerous
-nor especially successful.
-
-[Sidenote: The Annales.] The most important work of Ennius is his great
-epic in eighteen books, the _Annales_, in which he told the legendary
-and actual history of the Romans from the arrival of Æneas in Italy to
-his own time. In this work, as in his tragedies, he may be said to have
-followed in the way pointed out by Nævius, but the _Annales_ mark an
-immense advance beyond the _Bellum Punicum_ of Nævius. The monotonous
-and unpolished Saturnian metre could not, even in the most skillful
-hands, attain the dignity or the melodious cadences appropriate to
-great epic poems. Ennius therefore gave up the native Italian metre
-and wrote his epic in hexameter verse in imitation of Homer. This was
-no easy matter, for the laws of the verse as it existed in Greek could
-not be applied without change to Latin, but Ennius modified them in
-some particulars and thus fixed the form of the Latin hexameter, at the
-same time establishing in great part the rules of Latin prosody. Only
-about six hundred lines of the _Annales_ remain, and many of these are
-detached from their context, yet from these we can see that Ennius had
-much poetic imagination, great skill in the use of words, and great
-dignity of diction. The line _At tuba terribili sonitu taratantara
-dixit_ shows at once his ability to make the sound of his words imitate
-the sound he wishes to describe (in this case that of a trumpet) and
-his liking for alliteration. This last quality is found in many Roman
-poets, but in none more frequently than Ennius.
-
-The _Annales_ continued to be read and admired even after the time of
-Virgil, though the _Æneid_ soon took rank as the greatest Roman epic.
-Some of the lines of Ennius breathe the true Roman spirit of military
-pride and civic rectitude, as
-
-     _Moribus antiquis res stat Romana virisque_,[2]
-
-  or _Quem nemo ferro potuit superare nec auro_,[3]
-
-  or _Nec cauponantes bellum sed belligerentes_.[4]
-
-Among the existing fragments are several which seem to have suggested
-to Virgil some of the passages in the _Æneid_, and there is no doubt
-that Virgil found Ennius worthy of imitation.
-
-We may learn something of the character of Ennius from a passage
-of the _Annales_ in which he is said,[5] on the authority of the
-grammarian L. Ælius Stilo, to be describing himself: "A man of such
-a nature that no thought ever prompts him to do a bad deed either
-carelessly or maliciously; a learned, faithful, pleasant man, eloquent,
-contented and happy, witty, speaking fit words in season, courteous,
-and of few words, possessing much ancient buried lore; a man whom old
-age made wise in customs old and new and in the laws of many ancients,
-both gods and men; one who knew when to speak and when to be silent."
-
-[Sidenote: Continued production of tragedies, but not of epics.]
-Ennius was the first great epic poet at Rome. After him epic poetry
-was neglected, until it was taken up again a hundred years later.
-Tragedy, however the other branch of literature in which Ennius chiefly
-excelled, was cultivated without interruption, for it had become usual
-to produce tragedies at the chief festivals of the city and on other
-public occasions, and new plays were therefore constantly in demand.
-But as gladiatorial shows grew more frequent and more magnificent,
-tragedy declined in popularity, though tragedies continued to be
-written, and even acted. The development of Roman tragedy is, however,
-contained within a few generations, the professional authors of
-tragedies about whom we have any information are few, and their works
-are lost, with the exception of such fragments as have happened to be
-quoted by later writers. It is therefore best to continue the account
-of Roman tragedy now, even at the sacrifice of strict chronological
-order.
-
-[Sidenote: Marcus Pacuvius.] The successor of Ennius as a writer of
-tragedies was his nephew, Marcus Pacuvius, who was born at Brundusium
-in 220 B. C., but spent most of his life at Rome. As an old man he
-returned to southern Italy, and died at Tarentum about 130 B. C. He was
-a painter, as well as a writer of tragedies, and it may be due to his
-activity as a painter that his plays were comparatively few. The titles
-of twelve tragedies are known, in addition to one _fabula prætexta_,
-the _Paulus_, written in honor of the victory of L. Æmilius Paulus over
-King Perseus in the battle of Pydna (168 B. C.). These plays are all
-lost, and the existing fragments (about 400 lines) are unsatisfactory.
-Cicero considered Pacuvius the greatest Roman tragic writer, and
-Horace speaks of him as "learned." Probably this epithet refers to
-his careful use of language as well as to his knowledge of the less
-popular legends of Greek mythology. The extant fragments show more
-ease and grace of style than do those of Ennius, and great richness of
-vocabulary. Some of the words used are not found elsewhere, and seem to
-have been invented by Pacuvius himself; at any rate they did not come
-into ordinary use. Of the real dramatic ability of Pacuvius we can not
-judge, but his literary skill is evident even from the poor fragments
-we have. We may therefore believe that Cicero's favorable judgment of
-him was in some measure justified.
-
-[Sidenote: Lucius Accius.] The last important writer of tragedies,
-and probably the greatest of all, was Lucius Accius, of Pisaurum, in
-Umbria. He was born in 170 B. C., and one of his first tragedies was
-produced in 140 B. C., when Pacuvius produced one of his last. Accius
-lived to a great age, but the date of his death is not known. Cicero,
-as a young man, was well acquainted with him, and used to listen to
-his stories of his own early years. The shortness of the life of Roman
-tragedy, and the rapidity with which Roman literature developed, may
-be seen by observing that Cicero, the great master of Latin prose,
-knew Accius, whose birth took place only thirty-four years after the
-death of Livius Andronicus. Of the plays of Accius somewhat more
-than 700 lines are preserved, and about fifty titles are known. The
-fragments are for the most part detached lines, but some are long
-enough to let us see that the poet had a vigorous and graceful style,
-and a vivid imagination. Like most of his predecessors, Accius wrote
-various minor poems, and was interested in the development of the
-Latin language. He proposed a number of innovations, including some
-changes in the alphabet, but these last were not adopted by others.
-Besides his tragedies translated from the Greek, he wrote at least two
-_fabulæ prætextæ_, the _Brutus_, in which he dramatized the tale of
-the expulsion of the Tarquins, and _Æneadæ_, glorifying the death of
-Publius Decius Mus at the battle of Sentinum in 295 B. C. Even in his
-regular tragedies he departed occasionally from the original Greek so
-far as to show his own power of invention, though these plays were for
-the most part mere free translations. One of the longer fragments,[6]
-in which a shepherd, who has never seen a ship before, describes the
-coming of the Argo, may give some idea of Accius's skill in description:
-
-    So great a mass glides on, roaring from the deep with vast sound
-    and breath, rolls the waves before it, and stirs up the whirlpools
-    mightily. It rushes gliding forward, scatters and blows back
-    the sea. Now you might think a broken cloud was rolling on, now
-    that a lofty rock, torn off, was being swept along by winds or
-    hurricanes, or that eddying whirlwinds were rising as the waves
-    rush together; or that the sea was stirring up some confused heaps
-    of earth, or that perhaps Triton with his trident overturning the
-    cavern down below, in the billowy tide, was raising from the deep
-    a rocky mass to heaven.
-
-With Accius, Roman tragedy reaches its height. Contemporary with him
-were C. Titius and C. Julius Cæsar Strabo (died 87 B. C.), both of whom
-were orators as well as tragic poets. [Sidenote: Decay of tragedy.]
-Of their works only slight traces remain. After this time tragedies
-were written by literary men as a pastime, or for the entertainment of
-their friends, and some of their plays were actually performed. The
-Emperor Augustus began a play entitled _Ajax_, Ovid wrote a _Medea_,
-and Varius (about 74-14 B. C.) was famous for his _Thyestes_, but none
-of these works has left more than a mere trace of its existence. The
-tragedies of Seneca (about 1-65 A. D.) were rather literary exercises
-than productions for the stage. With the growth of prose literature,
-especially of oratory, on the one hand, and the increased splendor of
-the gladiatorial shows on the other, tragedy ceased to be a living
-branch of Roman literature.
-
-[Sidenote: The Roman theatre.] Before passing on to the treatment of
-comedy, it would be well to try to picture to ourselves the Roman
-theatre and the manner of producing a play. In the early days of Livius
-Andronicus there was no permanent theatre building, and the spectators
-stood up during the performance, but, as time went on, arrangements
-for seating the audience were made, and finally, in 55 B. C., a stone
-theatre was erected. Stone theatres had long been in use in Greece,
-and in course of time they came to be built in all the large cities of
-the Roman empire. The Roman theatre differed somewhat from the Greek
-theatre, though resembling it in its general appearance. [Sidenote: The
-stage.] The Roman stage was about three or four feet high, and long
-and wide enough to give room for several actors, usually not more than
-four or five at a time, one or two musicians, a chorus of indefinite
-number, and as many supernumeraries as might be needed. These last were
-sometimes very numerous, when kings appeared with their body-guards, or
-generals led their armies or their hosts of prisoners upon the stage.
-At the back of the stage was a building, usually three stories high,
-representing a palace. In the middle was a door leading into the royal
-apartments, and two other doors, one at each side, led to the rooms
-for guests. At each end of the stage was a door, the one at the right
-leading to the forum, the other to the country or the harbor. Changes
-of scene were imperfectly made by changing parts of the decoration. In
-comedies, the background represented not a palace, but a private house
-or a street of houses.
-
-In front of the stage was the semicircular _orchestra_ or _arena_, in
-which distinguished persons had their seats. [Sidenote: The orchestra
-and the cavea.] This semicircle was flat and level. The front of the
-stage formed the diameter. From the curve of the orchestra rose the
-_cavea_, consisting of seats in semicircular rows, rising from the
-orchestra at an angle sufficient to enable those who sat in any row
-to see over those who sat in front of them. The theatre had no roof,
-but in the luxurious times of the empire, and even before the end of
-the republic, a covering of canvas or silk was stretched like a tent
-between the spectators and the sun.
-
-[Sidenote: Masks and costumes.] In the early days of the Roman drama,
-the actors did not wear masks, but before the end of the republic
-masks were introduced. These were useful in the large theatres of the
-time, as they added to the volume of the actor's voice, and since the
-expression of the actor's face could be seen by only a small proportion
-of the spectators, little was lost by hiding it with a mask. The masks
-themselves were carefully made, and were appropriate to the different
-characters. The costumes were conventional, kings wearing long robes
-and holding sceptres in their left hands, all tragic actors wearing
-boots with thick soles to raise them above the stature of the chorus,
-and all comic actors wearing low shoes without heels. The actors were,
-as a rule at least, slaves, but the profits of the profession were so
-great that a successful actor can have had but little difficulty in
-buying his freedom.
-
-[Sidenote: Dialogue and song.] In Roman tragedies, as in their Greek
-originals, the dialogue was carried on in simple metres, mostly
-trochaic and iambic, and a chorus of trained singers sang between the
-acts, but probably took little part in the action of the play. The
-songs of the chorus were composed in more elaborate metres than the
-dialogue, and were sung to the accompaniment of the flute. In Roman
-comedy there was no chorus, but parts of the play were sung as solos
-or duets. These were called _cantica_, while the dialogue parts of the
-comedy were called _diverbia_.
-
-[Sidenote: Brilliancy of dramatic performances.] Plays were performed
-at Rome on various occasions when the people were to be entertained,
-and the ædiles and other officials and public men vied with each other
-in showing their wealth and in courting popularity. We must, therefore,
-imagine, that when a play was performed in the latter part of the
-republican period the actors, chorus, and supernumeraries were dressed
-in the richest and most gorgeous costumes, and everything possible was
-done to add to the spectacular effect of the performance, while the
-audience, excited by the scene and the action, lost no opportunity of
-cheering their favorite actors, or hissing those who failed to please.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II
-
-COMEDY
-
-    Comedy imported--Plautus, about 254 to 184 B. C.--Plots of Roman
-    comedies--Extant plays of Plautus--Degree of originality in
-    Plautus--Statius Cæcilius, birth unknown, death about 165 B.
-    C.--Other comic writers--Terence, about 190 to 159 B. C.--Plays
-    of Terence--Plautus and Terence compared--Turpilius, died 103
-    B. C.--Fabula togata--Titinius, about 150 B. C. (?)--Titus
-    Quinctius Atta, died 77 B. C.--Lucius Afranius, born about 150
-    B. C.--Fescennine verses--Fabulæ Atellanæ--Pomponius and Novius,
-    about 90 B. C.--Mimes--Decimus Laberius and Publilius Syrus, about
-    50 B. C.
-
-
-[Sidenote: Comedy an imported product.] Comedy, like tragedy, was an
-imported product, not an original growth, at Rome. There had, to be
-sure, been improvised dialogues of more or less dramatic nature even
-before Livius Andronicus, but these, about which a few words will
-be said later, have nothing to do with the origin of Roman comedy,
-which is an imitation of the new Attic comedy as it existed at Athens
-after the time of Alexander the Great, being at its best from about
-320 to about 280 B. C. No plays of the new Attic comedy are preserved
-in the original Greek, but there are fragments which supplement the
-knowledge we derive from the Latin imitations. The poets of the new
-comedy, Menander, Philemon, Diphilus, and others, avoided historical
-and political subjects and drew their comedies from private life,
-finding in petty intrigues, interesting situations, and unexpected
-complications, some compensation for the general meagreness of the
-plot. This kind of play was called at Rome _fabula palliata_ because
-the actors wore the _pallium_, or Greek costume. Another kind of
-comedy, in which Roman characters and scenes were represented, though
-even in this kind of plays the plots were derived from Greek originals,
-was called _fabula togata_, because the actors wore the Roman toga. Of
-this latter kind of plays only a few fragments are preserved, and it
-seems never to have been so popular as the _fabula palliata_.
-
-Livius Andronicus, Ennius, and Pacuvius, all produced comedies at Rome,
-as did other writers of tragedies, but of these works only scanty
-fragments remain. Three writers, Plautus, Cæcilius, and Terence,
-devoted themselves exclusively to comedy, and it is from the extant
-plays of the eldest and the youngest of these, Plautus and Terence,
-that most of our knowledge of Roman comedy is derived.
-
-[Sidenote: T. Maccius Plautus.] Titus Maccius Plautus (Flatfoot) was
-born at Sarsina, a town of Umbria, about 254 B. C. He went to Rome
-while still a boy, and seems to have earned so much as a servant or
-assistant of actors, that he was able to leave the city and engage
-in trade at some other place. His business venture was a failure; he
-lost his money, and returned to Rome, where he hired himself out to a
-miller, in whose service he was when he wrote his first three plays.
-His first appearance with a play was probably about 224 B. C. Further
-details of his life are unknown. He died in 184 B. C., at the age of
-about seventy years. He was, therefore, a younger contemporary of
-Livius Andronicus and Nævius, but older than Ennius and Pacuvius.
-
-Of the plays of Plautus twenty are extant, besides extensive fragments
-of another. His total production is said to have been one hundred and
-thirty plays, though some of these were probably wrongly ascribed to
-him. The plots of his plays, as of those of Terence, are usually
-founded upon a love affair between a young man of good family and a
-girl of low position and doubtful character. [Sidenote: The plots and
-characters of Roman comedies.] The young man is aided by his servant
-or a parasite, but his father is opposed to his having anything to do
-with the girl. The girl's mother or mistress usually aids the lovers,
-but often has to be won over by money, which the young man and his
-servant have to get from his father. Sometimes the characters mentioned
-are duplicated, and we have two pairs of lovers, two irate fathers,
-two cunning slaves, etc. Other typical characters are the procurer,
-the parasite, the boastful soldier, and a few more, who help to bring
-about amusing situations, and serve as the butt of many jokes. In the
-end, the lovers are usually united, and the girl turns out to be of
-good birth, often the long-lost daughter of one of the older men in the
-play. Sometimes other plots are chosen, as in the _Amphitruo_, which
-is founded on the story that Jupiter, when he visited Alcmene, used
-to take the form of her husband Amphitryon, and the fun of the play
-is caused by the confusion between the real husband and the disguised
-god. In a few plays the plot is less decidedly a love plot, but, as a
-general rule, the Roman comedies had love stories for their foundation.
-There is, however, room for considerable variety, as may be seen by a
-brief sketch of the contents of the extant plays of Plautus.
-
-[Sidenote: The extant plays of Plautus.] The _Amphitruo_, bringing the
-"Father of gods and men" into comic confusion with a mortal, and under
-very suspicious circumstances at that, is a burlesque, full of rather
-broad fun and amusing situations, perhaps the most interesting of all
-Latin comedies. In the _Asinaria_, the _Casina_, and the _Mercator_,
-father and son are rivals for the affection of the same girl. Of these
-three, the _Casina_ is the worst in its indecency, while the other two
-lack interest. These plays, however, like all the comedies of Plautus,
-are full of animal spirits, plays on words, and clever dialogue. The
-_Aulularia_, or _Pot of Gold_, has a plot of little interest, but
-is famous for the brilliant and lifelike presentation of the chief
-character, the old miser Euclio. The _Captivi_, one of the best of the
-plays, has for its subject the friendship between a master and his
-slave. There are no female characters, and the piece is entirely free
-from the coarseness and immorality which disfigure most of the others.
-The _Trinummus_, or _Three-penny Piece_, has also friendship, not love,
-as its leading motive, though it ends with a betrothal. This play also
-is free from coarseness, and gives an attractive picture of the good
-old days when friend was true to friend. The _Curculio_ is interesting
-chiefly through the cleverness of the parasite, who succeeds in making
-the rival of his employer furnish the money needed to obtain the girl.
-The _Epidicus_, the _Mostellaria_, and the _Persa_, also owe their
-interest to the tricks and rascalities of the parasite or the valet.
-The _Cistellaria_, only part of which is preserved, contains a love
-affair, but has for its chief interest the recognition between a father
-and his long-lost daughter. The _Vidularia_, too, which exists only
-in fragments, leads up to a recognition, this time between a father
-and his son. The _Miles Gloriosus_, a play of very ordinary plot, is
-distinguished for the somewhat exaggerated and farcical portrait of the
-braggart soldier. So the _Pseudolus_ is a piece of character drawing,
-in which the perjured go-between, Ballio, is the one important figure.
-In the _Bacchides_ the plot is more intricate and interesting, and
-the execution more brilliant, but the life depicted is that of loose
-women and immoral men. The _Stichus_ has little plot, but several
-attractive scenes. Two women, whose husbands have disappeared, remain
-faithful to them, and are rewarded by having them return with great
-wealth. The _Poenulus_ is chiefly interesting on account of passages
-in the Carthaginian language, which have for centuries attracted the
-attention of linguists. In the _Truculentus_, a countryman comes to
-the city and changes his rustic manners for city polish. The scenes
-are witty and effective, but the plot is weak. In the _Menæchmi_,
-twin brothers come to the town of Epidamnum, and their likeness to
-each other causes most laughable confusion. This is the original of
-Shakespeare's _Comedy of Errors_ and many other modern plays of similar
-plot. The _Rudens_, or _Cable_, has for its subject the restoration of
-a long-lost daughter to her father and her union with her lover, but
-is distinguished from the other plays of Plautus by the evident love
-of nature and the fresh breath of the sea and open air that breathe
-through it, making it one of the most attractive of his comedies.
-
-[Sidenote: Degree of originality in Plautus.] How much of the plots of
-these plays can be attributed to Plautus himself it is hard to tell. In
-some instances nearly all the details seem to be Greek, and probably
-the plays in which this is the case are simply free translations with
-just enough changes to make them easily understood at Rome. In other
-cases, as in the _Stichus_, the play as we have it seems to be made up
-of scenes only loosely strung together, arranged apparently rather for
-a Roman audience which cared chiefly for spectacular effect and stage
-by-play than for a Greek audience accustomed to weigh and criticize
-the excellence of the plot. In some instances, too, the Latin play
-is known to be made up of scenes taken from two Greek plays and put
-together in order to produce a single piece of more action than either
-of the originals. The importance of the work of the Latin playwright
-varies therefore considerably. There are, however, numerous passages
-containing references to details of Roman life, which must be in great
-measure original with the Roman writer; there are many plays on Latin
-words which could not be introduced in a mere translation from a
-foreign language; and in other respects also the comedies show Roman
-rather than Greek qualities. We must therefore attribute to Plautus a
-considerable share of originality, and the metrical form of his plays
-is naturally due to him alone.
-
-The following passage, whatever it may owe to the Greek original,
-doubtless owes part of its unusual liveliness to Plautus:[7]
-
-    _Sceparnio._ But, O Palæmon, holy companion of Neptune, who art
-    said to be a sharer in the labors of Hercules, what's that I see?
-    [Sidenote: Two shipwrecked women.] _Dæmones._ What do you see?
-    _Scep._ I see two women folk sitting all alone in a boat. How the
-    poor things are tossed about! Ah! ha! Bully for that! The current
-    has turned the boat from the rock to the shore. No pilot could
-    have done it better. I think I never saw bigger waves. They are
-    safe, if they have escaped those billows. Now, now's the danger!
-    Oh! It has thrown one of them out. But she's in shallow water;
-    she'll swim out easily. Whew! Do you see how the water threw that
-    other one out? She's come up again; she's coming this way. She's
-    safe!
-
-A second passage[8] will give an idea of the style of some of
-the dialogue of Plautus. The speakers are a boy, Pægnium, and a
-maid-servant, Sophoclidisca:
-
-    [Sidenote: Bantering talk.] _Sophoclidisca._ Pægnium,
-    darling boy, good day. How do you do? How's your health?
-    _Pægnium._ Sophoclidisca, the gods bless me! _Soph._ How
-    about me? _Pæg._ That's as the gods choose; but if they do
-    as you deserve, they'll hate you and hurt you. _Soph._ Stop
-    your bad talk. _Pæg._ When I talk as you deserve, my talk
-    is good, not bad. _Soph._ What are you doing? _Pæg._ I'm
-    standing opposite and looking at you, a bad woman. _Soph._
-    Surely I never knew a worse boy than you. _Pæg._ What do I
-    do that's bad, or to whom do I say anything bad? _Soph._
-    To whomever you get a chance. _Pæg._ No man ever thought
-    so. _Soph._ But many know that it is so. _Pæg._ Ah! _Soph._
-    Bah! _Pæg._ You judge other people's characters by your own
-    nature. _Soph._ I confess I am as a pimp's maid should be.
-    _Pæg._ I've heard enough. _Soph._ What about you? Do you
-    confess you're as I say? _Pæg._ I'd confess if I were so.
-    _Soph._ Go off now. You're too much for me. _Pæg._ Then
-    you go off now. _Soph._ Tell me this: where are you going?
-    _Pæg._ Where are you going? _Soph._ You tell; I asked first.
-    _Pæg._ But you'll find out last. _Soph._ I'm not going far
-    from here. _Pæg._ And I'm not going far, either. _Soph._
-    Where are you going, then, scamp? _Pæg._ Unless I hear first
-    from you, you'll never know what you ask. _Soph._ I declare
-    you'll never find out to-day, unless I hear first from you.
-    _Pæg._ Is that so? _Soph._ Yes, it is. _Pæg._ You're bad.
-    _Soph._ You're a scamp. _Pæg._ I've a right to be. _Soph._
-    And I've just as good a right. _Pæg._ What's that you say?
-    Have you made up your mind not to tell where you're going,
-    you wretch? _Soph._ How about you? Have you determined to
-    conceal where you're bound for, you scoundrel? _Pæg._ Hang
-    it, you answer like with like. Go away now, since it's
-    settled so. I don't care to know. Good-by.
-
-[Sidenote: Statius Cæcilius.] Statius Cæcilius, an Insubrian by birth,
-probably came to Rome as a slave--that is, a captive--at some time not
-far from 200 B. C. Here he became a writer of comedies, was set free
-by his master, and lived in the same house with Ennius. He died about
-165 B. C. The titles of some forty plays by Cæcilius are known; but
-the extant fragments are too short to afford much information as to
-his style, his ability, or the contents of his plays. As many of the
-titles of his pieces are known also as titles of plays by Menander, it
-is clear that Cæcilius presented plays of the Greek new comedy in
-Latin form. He appears to have followed the Greek originals rather
-more closely than Plautus, and to have cultivated elegance of style
-rather than brilliant dialogue. [Sidenote: Other writers of comedies.]
-Other comic writers of the same time were Trabea, Atilius, Aquilius,
-Licinius Imbrex, and Luscius Lanuvinus, of whose works few fragments
-exist, and who are mentioned here merely to show that there were
-writers of comedies at Rome between Plautus and Terence. No one of
-them, however, seems to have possessed the originality and exuberant
-wit of Plautus, or to have attained the elegance and polish of
-Terence.
-
-[Sidenote: P. Terentius Afer.] Publius Terentius Afer, called Terence
-in English, was born at Carthage and brought to Rome as a slave. He can
-not have come as a captive to Rome, for his birth took place between
-the second and third Punic wars, at a time when the Romans were waging
-no war in Africa. He was the slave of the senator Terentius Lucanus, by
-whom he was carefully educated and soon set free. From him he derived
-his name Terentius, and he was called Afer on account of his African
-origin. He became intimate with Scipio Africanus the younger, his
-friend Lælius, and others of the most cultivated and prominent men of
-Rome. It was even said by some that the plays of Terence were really
-written by Scipio, while others thought Lælius was their author. This
-goes to prove that Terence was intimate with Scipio, Lælius, and the
-rest, and may be regarded as an indication of his age; for if he was
-much older than Scipio he would hardly have been charged with passing
-off Scipio's work as his own. If he was of the same age as Scipio he
-was born in 185 B. C., and in that case was only nineteen years old
-when the _Andria_, his first play, was produced in 166. It is therefore
-likely that he was a few years older than Scipio, and was born about
-190 B. C. After he had produced six comedies he went to Greece in 160
-B. C. to study, and died in the next year either on his way back to
-Rome or in Greece. His popularity with the most cultivated men of Rome
-testifies to his good breeding and agreeable manners. Suetonius tells
-us that he was of moderate height, slender figure, and dark complexion,
-that he had a daughter who was afterwards married to a Roman knight,
-and that he left property amounting to twenty acres. The six plays of
-Terence are all preserved to us, together with the dates of the first
-performance of each.
-
-[Sidenote: The Andria.] The _Andria_, produced at the Ludi Megalenses,
-166 B. C., is adapted from the _Andria_ of Menander, with additions
-from his _Perinthia_. A young man, Pamphilus, is in love with a girl
-from Andros, but his father, Simo, has arranged a marriage for him
-with the daughter of a neighbor, Chremes. Pamphilus's servant, Davus,
-succeeds in breaking off the match, and the girl from Andros is
-finally found to be a daughter of Chremes. Pamphilus and his beloved
-are united, and a second young man comes forward to marry the other
-daughter.
-
-The _Hecyra_ (Mother-in-law), first produced at the Ludi Megalenses,
-165 B. C., is adapted from the Greek of Apollodorus. [Sidenote: The
-Hecyra.] Pamphilus is a young man who has recently married Philumena,
-for whom he has no affection. He goes on a journey to attend to some
-property, and Philumena returns to her mother. Upon Pamphilus's return,
-a child born to Philumena in his absence is shown to be his, and he and
-Philumena are reconciled. This play was unsuccessful, and deservedly
-so, as it is the least interesting Latin comedy extant.
-
-[Sidenote: The Heauton-Timorumenos.] The _Heauton-Timorumenos_
-(Self-tormentor), after Menander's play of the same title, was produced
-at the Ludi Megalenses in 163 B. C. Menedemus has by his harshness
-driven his son Clinias, who is in love with Antiphila, to take
-service in a foreign army. He therefore torments himself on account
-of remorse, and he confides his troubles to his friend Chremes, whose
-son, Clitipho, is in love with Bacchis. When Clinias comes back from
-the wars, he and Clitipho get Chremes to receive Antiphila and Bacchis
-in his house, in the belief that Clinias is in love with Bacchis,
-and that Antiphila is her servant. Finally Antiphila is found to be
-the daughter of Chremes and is betrothed to Clinias. Clitipho gives
-up the spendthrift Bacchis. The comic personage of the play is the
-slave Syrus, who helps the young men to get the money they need. The
-character of Chremes is well drawn, but the action of the play is weak.
-
-[Sidenote: The Eunuchus.] The _Eunuchus_, produced at the Ludi
-Megalenses in 161 B. C., is adapted from the "Eunuch" of Menander,
-with additions from the "Flatterer" of the same author. The plot is
-complicated and interesting, involving a love affair between Thais
-and Phædria, who has a soldier as his rival, and a second love affair
-between Pamphila, who had been brought up as foster sister to Thais,
-and Phædria's brother, Chærea. In order to approach Pamphila, Chærea
-disguises himself as a eunuch. In the end Pamphila's brother Chremes
-appears, proclaims her free birth, and sanctions her marriage to
-Chærea. The characters are well drawn, Chærea, perhaps, the best of
-all, and the action is amusing.
-
-[Sidenote: The Phormio.] The _Phormio_, first performed at the Ludi
-Romani, in 161 B. C., is adapted from the Greek of Apollodorus. Two
-brothers, Chremes and Demipho, have gone on a journey, leaving their
-two sons, Phædria and Antipho, in charge of a slave, Geta. Antipho
-marries a poor girl named Phanium, from Lesbos, and Phædria falls in
-love with a slave girl, whose owner sells her to some one else, but
-agrees to give her to Phædria if he brings the sum of thirty minæ in
-one day. The two fathers return, and the parasite, Phormio, from whom
-the play takes its name, now has to get the money for Phædria and to
-secure the consent of Demipho to the marriage of Antipho and Phanium.
-He gets the money from Demipho by telling him that he will himself
-marry Phanium for thirty minæ, but just at the right moment Phanium is
-found to be the daughter of Chremes, and her marriage with Antipho is
-accepted by all parties. The plot is well carried out, and the two old
-men and their sons are well portrayed.
-
-[Sidenote: The Adelphoe.] The _Adelphoe_ (Brothers), after Menander's
-play of the same name, with additions from a play by Diphilus was
-first performed at the funeral games of Æmilius Paulus, in 160 B. C.
-Demea had two sons, and gave his brother, Micio, one of them, named
-Æschinus, keeping the other, Ctesipho, himself. Micio is a bachelor,
-and treats Æschinus with the greatest indulgence, whereas Demea is very
-strict toward Ctesipho, but the result is about the same. Ctesipho
-falls in love with a harpist, whom Æschinus, to please his brother,
-carries off from her master. Æschinus himself is engaged in an affair
-with the daughter of a poor widow. The girl is, however, of good Attic
-parentage, and Æschinus has promised to marry her. In the end this
-marriage takes place, Ctesipho gets his harpist and Micio is persuaded
-to marry the widow.
-
-[Sidenote: Terence and Plautus compared.] The plays of Terence are
-written in a style far more advanced, more refined, and more artistic
-than those of Plautus, but they show much less originality, wit, and
-vigor. Plautus wrote at a time when Greek culture was already known to
-the Romans, but when it was less thoroughly appreciated than later,
-and he wrote not for any one class of Romans, but for the people. The
-language of Plautus is therefore the language of every-day life as it
-was spoken by the average Roman; his wit is of the kind that appealed
-to ordinary men, and his plays have much action, that the common man
-might enjoy them. Plautus took Greek plays and made them over to suit
-the average Roman. The position of Terence was different. In his day
-a cultivated class of Romans existed, who knew Greek literature well,
-who admired and loved Greek culture, but were none the less patriotic
-Romans. These men wished to introduce all that was best in Greece into
-Rome. So far as literature was concerned, they wished to make Latin
-literature as much like Greek literature as possible, and therefore
-encouraged imitation rather than originality, purity and grace of
-language rather than vigor of thought or expression. These were the
-men among whom Terence lived, and whose taste influenced him most.
-His plays contain few indications that they are written for a Roman
-audience (except, of course, that they are written in Latin), but are
-Greek in their refinement of language, gentle humor, and polished
-excellence of detail. There is less variety of metre than in the plays
-of Plautus, as, indeed, there is less variety of any kind, for Terence
-relies for his effect, not upon variety, but upon finished elegance. He
-is the earliest Latin author who tries to equal the Greeks in stylistic
-refinement, and few of those who came after him were as successful as
-he.
-
-Many of the qualities of the style of Terence are lost in translation;
-but something of the air of ease, naturalness, and good humor that
-pervades his plays is seen in the short scene in the Phormio, in which
-Demipho asks Nausistrata, the wife of Chremes, to persuade Phanium to
-marry Phormio.[9]
-
-    _Demipho._ Come then, Nausistrata, with your usual good nature
-    make her feel kindly toward us, so that she may do of her own
-    accord what must be done. _Nausistrata._ I will. _De._ You'll be
-    aiding me now with your good offices, just as you helped me a
-    while ago with your purse. _Na._ You're quite welcome; and upon
-    my word, it's my husband's fault that I can do less than I might
-    well do. _De._ Why, how is that? _Na._ Because he takes wretched
-    care of my father's honest savings; he used regularly to get
-    two talents from those estates. How much better one man is than
-    another! _De._ Two talents, do you say? _Na._ Yes, two talents,
-    and when prices were much lower than now. _De._ Whew! _Na._ What
-    do you think of that? _De._ Oh, of course--_Na._ I wish I'd been
-    born a man, I'd soon show you--_De._ Oh, yes, I'm sure. _Na._ The
-    way--_De._ Pray do save yourself up for her, lest she may wear
-    you out; she's young, you know. _Na._ I'll do as you tell me. But
-    there's my husband coming out of your house.
-
-[Sidenote: Turpilius.] The comedies of Plautus and Terence have served
-as the originals for almost countless plays in later times, and through
-them the Greek comedy has survived until our own day. There were other
-Latin writers of comedies derived from the Greek after Terence, most
-noted of whom was Turpilius, who died in 103 B. C., but of their works,
-which were unimportant, little remains. Of the _fabula togata_, Roman
-comedy in Roman dress, little need be said. It never attained great
-popularity, and it lasted but a comparatively short time. [Sidenote:
-Fabula togata. Titinius, Atta, Afranius.] The first writer of comedies
-of this sort was Titinius. About one hundred and eighty lines of
-fragments and fifteen titles of his plays are preserved, from which
-we can learn little about the quality of his works. He seems to have
-written a little later than Terence. Titus Quinctius Atta has left to
-us the titles of eleven plays and about twenty-five lines of fragments.
-Little is known of him except the date of his death, 77 B. C. Lucius
-Afranius, the last and most important writer of this kind of comedies,
-was born probably not far from 150 B. C. Forty-two titles and more than
-four hundred lines of fragments now remain to attest his activity. The
-scenes of the plays are laid in the smaller towns of Italy, and the
-characters belong for the most part to the lower social classes. In
-these respects Afranius seems to have differed little from Titinius and
-Atta, but his plays had apparently less local color than theirs, and
-thus approached more nearly the character of the _fabula palliata_ as
-developed by Terence.
-
-Three other kinds of dramatic composition deserve brief mention, though
-little now remains of them and their literary importance was never very
-great. [Sidenote: Fescennine Verses.] The _Fescennine Verses_, named
-from the town of Fescennium in Etruria, were originally sung at rustic
-festivals and weddings and consisted of jokes and sarcasms directed by
-the country folk at each other.
-
-They never became regular stage performances, and gradually lost
-their dramatic qualities, until they were nothing more than wedding
-songs. [Sidenote: Fabulæ Atellanæ.] The _Fabulæ Atellanæ_, named
-from the Oscan town of Atella, in Campania, had some sort of plot,
-carried out with more or less dramatic unity. The characters were
-conventional--Maccus, the fool, Pappus, the old man, Bucco, the talker
-and liar, Dossenus, the clever man and boaster, and the like--and
-the whole performance was a popular burlesque comedy, somewhat like
-our Punch and Judy. This sort of performance was introduced at Rome
-after the conquest of Campania, in 211 B. C., and Roman youths of good
-family took the parts for amusement. Somewhat later, the custom arose
-of performing an Atellan piece at the end of a tragedy. The performers
-were now regular actors, and presently the _Fabulæ Atellanæ_ became a
-regular branch of literature, the chief writers of which were Lucius
-Pomponius, from Bononia, and Novius, both of whom flourished in the
-time of Sulla, about 90 B. C. Few fragments of their works remain.
-The Atellan plays continued to be performed even after the beginning
-of the empire, but the words became less and less important, and the
-performance became mere pantomime. [Sidenote: Mimes.] Another kind of
-burlesque performance was the _Mime_, which was introduced into Rome
-from the Greek cities of Italy and Sicily. It had less consistent plots
-than comedy, and was more popular in its character. Though doubtless
-introduced at Rome as early as comedy itself, it hardly appears as
-a branch of literature until about the time of Cicero, when mimes
-serve as afterpieces at tragic performances. In imperial times mimes
-were performed independently. The chief authors of mimes were Decimus
-Laberius (105-43 B. C.), a Roman knight, and Publilius Syrus, a slave
-from Antioch, both belonging to the time of Cæsar, about the middle of
-the first century B. C. No mimes are extant, nor is their loss to be
-greatly regretted, for their humor was generally coarse, their plots
-often indecent, and their literary qualities of a low order. Some of
-the fragments of the mimes of Laberius show, however, considerable
-merit, and in those of Publilius so many sensible precepts and wise
-utterances were embodied that a collection of his sayings was made,
-part of which is preserved to us.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III
-
-EARLY PROSE--THE SCIPIONIC CIRCLE--LUCILIUS
-
-    Greek influence upon Roman prose--Fabius Pictor, 216 B.
-    C.--Cincius Alimentus, 210 B. C.--Cato, 234-149 B. C.--Cato's
-    works--Orators--Jurists--Latin annalists--Scipio Africanus the
-    younger, 185-129 B. C.--The Scipionic circle--Lucilius, 180(?)-126
-    B. C.--Satire--Satires of Lucilius--Literature in the fifty
-    years before Cicero--Poetry--History--Learned works--General
-    writers--Jurists--Oratory--Rhetoric addressed to Herennius--Great
-    development of prose in this period.
-
-
-Tragedy and comedy began, reached their full development, and decayed
-in the short period of a century and a half between the first play of
-Livius Andronicus and the death of Accius. It was therefore advisable
-to give a connected account of dramatic literature at Rome for this
-entire period, and to reserve for separate treatment the beginnings of
-prose literature, which, though less rapid in its growth, had a far
-longer life and was a much truer expression of the national genius.
-
-[Sidenote: Greek influence upon Roman prose.] The rudiments of a
-strictly native prose literature, the twelve tables of the laws, the
-various lists and records, and the speeches delivered on public and
-private occasions, mark the lines along which Roman prose was destined
-to advance--history, jurisprudence, and eloquence. But Roman prose,
-like Roman poetry, came under the influence of Greek literature as
-soon as the Romans began to pay any attention to literary style. It
-was when the conquest of southern Italy brought Rome into closer
-contact than before with the cities of Magna Græcia that Livius
-Andronicus was brought to Rome, and it was in the years immediately
-after the first Punic war that he produced the first Latin plays in
-imitation of Greek originals. To about the same or a little later time
-belong the earliest Roman prose writers. Some of these men, regarding
-the Latin language as too imperfect for use in prose literature, wrote
-in Greek, recording the events of Roman history for the enlightenment
-of foreigners and of educated Romans. [Sidenote: Q. Fabius Pictor.]
-Such was Quintus Fabius Pictor, a man of much distinction at Rome, who
-was sent by the state to consult the oracle at Delphi after the battle
-of Cannæ in 216 B. C. He wrote in Greek prose a history of Rome from
-the days of Æneas to his own times, selecting the same subject chosen
-by his contemporary Ennius for his _Annales_ in Latin verse. This work
-of Fabius Pictor was very soon translated into Latin, and remained one
-of the chief sources from which later historians, such as Livy,
-derived their information. [Sidenote: L. Cincius Alimentus.] Lucius
-Cincius Alimentus, who was prætor in command of a Roman army in the
-second Punic war, wrote Roman history in Greek prose, as did also
-Publius Cornelius Scipio, the son of the elder Africanus, Aulus
-Postumius Albinus, and Gaius Acilius, about the middle of the second
-century B. C. Their works, being in Greek, had little direct influence
-on Latin literature, but show how powerful the Greek influence was
-among the cultivated men at Rome in the years following the second
-Punic war. [Sidenote: Greek influence.] This influence was not
-confined to literature, but affected dress, manners, ways of
-thinking--in short, all sides of life--especially among the
-upper classes. The Greeks of this time were no longer the hardy
-citizen-soldiers of the old days of Marathon and Thermopylæ, but were
-now distinguished for culture, refinement, and scholarship, too often
-accompanied by effeminacy, luxury, and dishonesty. Not by any means
-all the Romans were ready to profit by contact with Greek
-civilization, with its mixture of good and bad qualities, and there
-was naturally a party at Rome which opposed everything Greek, and
-wished to preserve the old Roman simplicity. The most important man of
-this party was Cato.
-
-[Sidenote: M. Porcius Cato.] Marcus Porcius Cato was born at Tusculum,
-in 234 B. C., and died in 149 B. C. Throughout his life he was active
-in public affairs. He was quæstor (204 B. C.), ædile (199 B. C.),
-consul (195 B. C.), and censor (184 B. C.), and in all his offices
-showed his honesty, efficiency, singleness of purpose, and sincere,
-though somewhat narrow-minded, patriotism. He believed that the
-influence of Greek art, literature, philosophy, and ways of life
-was bad, though in his old age he learned the Greek language, and
-studied Greek literature. In a letter to his son, he says: "I shall
-speak about those Greeks in their proper place, son Marcus, and tell
-what I discovered at Athens, and that it is good to look into their
-literature, but not to learn it thoroughly. I shall convince you that
-their race is most worthless and unteachable."[10]
-
-Cato was opposed to the prevailing tendencies in literature--the
-tendencies which were destined to prevail--but in spite of that he was
-one of the most productive literary men of his time. [Sidenote: Cato
-as an orator.] His active political life gave him many occasions for
-public speaking, in the senate or before the people, and he spoke
-often in courts of law, either in suits of his own or as an advocate
-for others. One hundred and fifty of his speeches existed in Cicero's,
-time, and some, at least, were read and admired long after Cicero.
-About eighty scattered fragments now exist, some of which belong to
-political, others to legal speeches. These show vigor and terseness
-of expression, a sort of dry humor, and straightforward freedom of
-speech, but no elegance of style.
-
-Cato's most important work was the _Origines_, in seven books, the
-first Roman history in Latin prose. [Sidenote: The Origines.] In style
-and method this work was very uneven. Sometimes events were narrated in
-brief, annalistic fashion, at other times Cato devoted much space to
-details. One book, from which the whole work derived its name, told of
-the origins and early history of the various towns of Italy. The work
-treated of Roman and Italian history from the earliest times to Cato's
-own day, and in the latter part Cato took pains to give his own actions
-at least as much prominence as was their due, even inserting in his
-narrative the speeches he had delivered on various occasions. In the
-form of letters to his son, Cato composed treatises on agriculture, the
-care of health, eloquence, and the art of war. He also wrote a series
-of rules of conduct in verse, and made a collection of wise and witty
-sayings.
-
-[Sidenote: The treatise On Agriculture.] Of all his works the only
-one extant is a treatise _On Agriculture_. Born and brought up in the
-small town of Tusculum, and full of admiration for the simple virtues
-of the early Romans, Cato saw with deep disapproval the tendency of the
-men of his own day to give up agriculture for commercial and financial
-occupations. "It would sometimes be better to seek gain by commerce,
-if it were not so dangerous; and likewise by money-lending, if it were
-so honorable. For our ancestors held this matter thus, and put it in
-the laws in this way, that a thief be punished by a double fine, a
-money-lender by a fourfold one. From this one can see how much worse
-citizen they considered a money-lender than a thief. And when they
-praised a good man, it was a good farmer, a good colonist. They thought
-that a man was most amply praised who was praised in this way. Now I
-think a merchant is energetic and diligent in seeking gain; but, as I
-said above, he is exposed to danger and ruin. But from farmers both the
-bravest men and most energetic soldiers arise, and the business they
-follow is most pious and surest, and least exposed to envy; and those
-who are occupied in that pursuit are least given to evil thoughts."[11]
-In other parts of the book Cato gives in short, simple sentences,
-practical rules to be followed by the farmer. "Be sure to do everything
-early. For this is the way with farming: if you do one thing late, you
-will do all the work late." This style of short, sharp sentences, is
-characteristic of Cato. He despises all appearance of literary polish,
-as if he wished to show that the arts of elegance cultivated by most
-other Roman writers were unnecessary and undesirable.
-
-Cato was one of the most famous orators of his time, but his
-competitors were many, among them some of the most noted men of Rome.
-[Sidenote: Other orators.] Most of these orators were men of natural
-ability, whose eloquence was trained in the school of public life
-and owed its effect in great measure to the weight of the speaker's
-dignity or the glory of his deeds. Their speeches are lost, and the
-reputation they had survives only to remind us that during and after
-the second Punic war Roman eloquence was growing in power, preparing,
-as it were, for the brilliant oratory of the Gracchi in the second half
-of the second century B. C., and the superb productions of Cicero in
-the century to follow. Among orators of Cato's time should be mentioned
-Quintus Fabius Maximus Cunctator, five times consul, censor, and
-dictator, the conqueror of Hannibal, then Quintus Cæcilius Metellus,
-consul in 206 B. C., Marcus Cornelius Cethegus (died in 196 B. C.),
-Publius Licinius Crassus (died 183 B. C.), and Scipio Africanus the
-elder (died 183 B. C.).
-
-[Sidenote: Jurists] In the field of jurisprudence there was
-considerable activity in the days of Cato. Publius Ælius (consul 201,
-died 174 B. C.) and his brother Sextus (consul 198 B. C.) published
-the most systematic work on jurisprudence. This work was called
-_Tripertita_, and was for centuries regarded with reverence as the
-beginning from which grew the great system of Roman law. Scipio Nasica
-(consul 191 B. C.), Lucius Acilius, Quintus Fabius Labeo (consul 183
-B. C.), and Cato's son (born about 192, died in 152 B. C.) were all
-distinguished jurists whose interpretation of the Twelve Tables and
-whose wisdom in regard to legal matters are mentioned with praise by
-later writers. Their writings have perished, but the results of their
-studies were incorporated in the later works on Roman law.
-
-[Sidenote: Latin annalists.] The annalists who wrote in Greek, such
-as Fabius Pictor, were followed, soon after the middle of the second
-century B. C., by several writers whose works differed from theirs
-chiefly by being written in Latin. They derived their general views and
-methods, as well as some of their facts, from earlier Greek historians,
-such as Ephorus and Timæus. The first of these Latin annalists was
-Lucius Cassius Hemina, who wrote a history of Rome to his own time.
-Somewhat more important was Lucius Calpurnius Piso Frugi, who was
-consul in 133 B. C. His annals covered the same ground as those of
-Hemina, and are said to have been written in an artless, somewhat rude
-style. A similar lack of elegance seems to have belonged to the works
-of the other annalists of this time. Evidently the Romans had not yet
-learned to write artistic prose. Yet this is the period when, under the
-guidance of Greek teachers, the Romans were paying more attention than
-ever before to grammar and rhetoric, purity of language, and nicety of
-expression.
-
-[Sidenote: Scipio.] The man about whom the best literary life of the
-city centred was Scipio Africanus the younger, who lived from 185 to
-129 B. C. He was the son of the distinguished Lucius Æmilius Paulus,
-whose victory at Pydna, in 168 B. C., had destroyed the last foreign
-power capable of making serious resistance to the Roman legions, and
-he had been adopted by the son of the elder Scipio Africanus. He was
-himself a distinguished soldier, for as a simple officer (_tribunus
-militum_) he had saved the Roman army in Africa, after which he had
-been made consul and commander of the army which brought the third
-Punic war to a close by the capture and destruction of Carthage (146
-B. C.). It might have been expected that he would take an active part
-in the government, especially as in his time the state needed the
-help of her best citizens. But Scipio seems to have felt that the
-internal troubles, which beset the state now that all external dangers
-were over, were too serious to be cured. He used his influence for
-good wherever he was able, but made no systematic attempt to correct
-the abuses of the government, which led at last to the revolutionary
-disorders of the days of the Gracchi (133-121 B. C.). Instead of
-being a party leader, he occupied a position somewhat apart from
-the aristocratic and the popular parties, lending his influence and
-his eloquence to the causes that seemed to him good, and in this
-way preserving a reputation for independence and good judgment. His
-patriotism was undoubted, and his influence as great as that of any man
-in Rome.
-
-[Sidenote: The Scipionic circle.] Scipio had been carefully educated,
-and employed his leisure in literary and intellectual pursuits. He was
-not an author himself, except in so far as he published his speeches,
-which were much admired, but he loved to be surrounded by men of
-letters, to profit by their conversation, and lend them the support of
-his social position and influence. His somewhat older friend, Gaius
-Lælius, who was consul in 140 B. C., shared his literary tastes, though
-he, too, refrained from publishing other works than speeches. From 167
-to 150 B. C. a thousand Greeks of prominent position in their native
-country were kept as hostages in Italy. Among these was the historian
-Polybius, who was assigned a residence in Rome, and who became a member
-of the circle of literary friends who surrounded Scipio and Lælius.
-The Stoic philosopher Panætius, who afterward became the head of the
-Stoic school, was another Greek belonging to the Scipionic circle. The
-influence of Panætius upon Roman philosophy was great, as was that of
-Polybius upon the writing of Roman history. But Latin writers also
-gathered about Scipio. Among them were Terence (see page 24), the most
-polished writer of comedies; Hemina and Piso, the annalists; Gaius
-Fannius, a nephew of Lælius, who was consul in 122 B. C., and achieved
-distinction as an orator, besides writing a history of Rome; Sempronius
-Asellio, whose history of his own times was continued at least to 91 B.
-C.; Lucius Furius Philus, consul in 136 B. C., orator and jurist, and
-many others. Among them all, the most original genius was the father of
-Roman satire, Gaius Lucilius.
-
-[Sidenote: Gaius Lucilius.] Lucilius was born, probably in 180 B. C.,
-at Suessa Aurunca, in Campania. He was a member of a wealthy equestrian
-family, and when he went to live at Rome he kept himself free from the
-cares of business as well as of politics, devoting himself to social
-life and to literature. He lived as a wealthy bachelor, not holding
-himself aloof from the pleasures of the capital, but not indulging in
-excesses. Most of his life was passed in the city, but in 134 B. C. he
-followed Scipio to the war in Spain, and in 126 B. C., when all who
-were not Roman citizens were obliged to leave Rome, he made a journey
-to Sicily, from which he did not return until 124 B. C. He died at
-Naples in 103 B. C.
-
-[Sidenote: Satire.] The name _satire_, (_satura_) may be derived from
-the _lanx satura_, a dish full of all sorts of fruits, and as applied
-to poems by Ennius (see p. 8), designates poems of mixed contents.
-Perhaps all the poems of Ennius, except his dramas and his great epic,
-may have been classed together as satires. At any rate, Lucilius is the
-first writer who gave to satire the definite character it has possessed
-ever since his time. He made his poems the vehicle for the expression
-of sharp and biting attacks upon persons, institutions, and customs
-of his day, for genial and humorous remarks about the failings of his
-neighbors, and for much information about himself. Ever since Lucilius,
-satire has been at once sharp and humorous, bitter and sweet. This kind
-of poetry, which takes the form of dialogue, familiar conversation, or
-letters, is not Greek, but is the invention of him who must be regarded
-as the most original of all Roman poets.
-
-[Sidenote: The Satires of Lucilius.] The _Satires_ of Lucilius were
-contained in thirty books, each book containing several satires.
-The subjects treated were of all sorts--the faults and foibles of
-individuals, the defects of works of literature, the ridiculous
-imitation of Greek manners and dress, the absurdities of Greek
-mythology, the folly of expensive dinner parties, the author's journey
-to Sicily, Latin grammar, the proper spelling of Latin words, and
-Scipio's journey to Egypt and Asia. The personality of the writer, his
-mode of life, and his views on all subjects were so clearly brought
-before his readers that the _Satires_ were a complete autobiography.
-They were written for the most part in hexameters, the metre which
-was adopted by all later Roman satirists, but some of them were in
-iambic _senarii_ and trochaic _septenarii_, others in elegiacs.[12]
-They were not written at one time, but their composition was continued
-at intervals through many years, for Lucilius was not a professional
-poet, but a man of letters who expressed himself in verse whenever he
-felt inclined. His form of expression was unconventional, resembling
-conversation (in fact he called the poems _sermones_, "conversations"),
-with free use of dialogue. Careful literary finish was not attempted,
-and Horace, whose satires are imitations of those of Lucilius, blames
-the older poet for carelessness. But the easy and natural tone of the
-poems must have more than made up for any lack of polish.
-
-[Sidenote: The extant fragments.] The extant fragments amount to
-more than eleven hundred lines, but are for the most part short and
-disconnected. In one,[13] Lucilius seems to accept with pleasure
-an invitation to dinner "with good conversation, well cooked and
-seasoned"; in another,[14] he reproves the luxury which leads to greed
-of gain: "For if that which is enough for a man could be enough, it
-would be enough. Now, since this is not so, how can we think that any
-riches can satisfy my soul?" Again,[15] he describes a miser as one who
-has no cattle nor slaves nor any attendant, but keeps his purse and all
-the money he has always with him. "He eats, sleeps, and bathes with
-his purse; the man's whole hope is in his purse alone. This purse is
-fastened to his arm." One of the longest fragments[16] is a description
-of _virtus_ (virtue):
-
-    Virtue, Albinus, is being able to pay the true price for the
-    things in and by which we live; virtue is knowing to what each
-    thing leads for a man. Virtue is knowing what is right, useful,
-    honorable for a man, what things are good, what bad likewise,
-    what is useless, base, dishonorable; virtue is knowing the limit
-    and measure in seeking anything; virtue is giving to riches their
-    true value; virtue is giving to honor what is really due to it; is
-    being an enemy and opponent of bad men and morals, on the other
-    hand a defender of good men and morals, regarding them as of much
-    importance, wishing them well, living as their friend; moreover,
-    considering the advantages of one's country first, of one's
-    relatives second, of ourselves third and last.
-
-Other fragments contain direct attacks upon individuals, but these
-which have been quoted serve to give an idea of the freedom of speech,
-good sense, and serious purpose of the first great satirist.
-
-[Sidenote: Literature in the fifty years before Cicero.] The life
-of Lucilius fell in a period of many changes. As a boy, he saw the
-Roman power established in the east, before he reached middle life
-he witnessed the destruction of Carthage, then he lived through the
-troublous years before and after the death of Tiberius Gracchus in
-133 B. C. and that of his brother Gaius in 121 B. C., and in the year
-before his death he saw the consulship in the hands of Gaius Marius. It
-was not until the long struggle between Marius and Sulla was over that
-any measure of tranquility returned to the Roman state. Then came the
-Golden Age of Roman literature. But for fifty years before the time of
-Cicero circumstances at Rome were not favorable to literary production
-of every kind. Lucilius, Accius, Afranius and a few other poets lived
-on until about the end of the second century B. C., but there was
-little new life in poetry. Gnæus Matius translated the Iliad, and
-Lævius Melissus imitated some of the lighter Greek poems. [Sidenote:
-Poetry.] The epic poem of Hostius on the Istrian war and that of Aulus
-Furius from Antium (Furius Antias) on an unknown subject have left
-hardly any traces. It is not worth while to mention in detail the
-occasional love songs and epigrams written by various authors. Aside
-from Lucilius and the dramatists already mentioned, there are no poets
-of note in this period.
-
-[Sidenote: History.] In history, the production was greater and more
-important. Fannius and Asellio were emulated by Coelius Antipater,
-whose history of the second Punic war was of some importance, and he
-was followed by Quintus Claudius Quadrigarius, who wrote a history of
-Rome in at least twenty-three books, coming down to the year 82 B. C.
-Another more voluminous but less trustworthy historian was Valerius
-Antias, who wrote annals in at least seventy-five books. His date is
-uncertain, but he seems to have lived early in the first century B.
-C. Two other historians of the latter part of this period were Lucius
-Cornelius Sisenna (119-67 B. C.), who wrote a history of his own
-times in an antiquated style, and Gaius Licinius Macer, whose annals,
-beginning with the earliest times, were probably continued until near
-the date of his death (66 B. C.). The dictator Sulla (138-78 B. C.)
-wrote memoirs, which must have possessed great historical value. Gaius
-Sempronius Tuditanus (consul in 129 B. C.) was not only an annalist,
-but also an antiquarian.[17]
-
-[Sidenote: Jurists.] Important writers on legal subjects were Publius
-Mucius Scævola (consul in 133 B. C.) and his brother Publius Licinius
-Crassus Mucianus (consul in 131 B. C.), but more important than either
-was Quintus Mucius Scævola (consul in 95 B. C.), whose systematic
-treatment of Roman law served as the foundation for all later works on
-the subject. Quintus Scævola was also distinguished as an orator.
-
-[Sidenote: Oratory.] Throughout the period from the third Punic
-war to the dictatorship of Sulla--and, in fact, until the death of
-Cicero--nearly every public man at Rome was an orator, and many of them
-published their speeches. In the times of the Gracchi, Rome contained,
-perhaps, more excellent speakers than at any other period, among whom
-none equalled in force, brilliancy and oratorical power the great,
-though unsuccessful, statesman and patriot Gaius Gracchus, (154-121
-B. C.), who far surpassed his elder brother Tiberius (163-133 B. C.)
-in eloquence, though he, too, was an orator of distinction. After the
-Gracchi the most distinguished orators were Marcus Antonius (143-87
-B. C.) and Lucius Licinius (140-91 B. C.), the first of whom excelled
-in vigor and liveliness of delivery, the second in wit, elegance and
-variety of composition. These orators were not merely men with natural
-ability to speak, but were carefully trained in accordance with the
-precepts of Greek rhetoric.
-
-Of all the works mentioned so far in this chapter, only one--Cato's
-treatise _On Agriculture_--has come down to us entire, and only the
-satires of Lucilius are known to us by numerous fragments. [Sidenote:
-These works lost.] The other works and their authors have left little
-more than their names. There is, however, one work, now usually
-ascribed to Cornificius, an author of whom nothing is known, which
-is preserved entire. [Sidenote: Rhetorica ad Herennium.] This is the
-_Rhetoric Addressed to Herennius_, which was preserved because it was
-falsely included among Cicero's works. The treatise goes over much
-the same ground as Cicero's youthful essay _On Invention_, which is
-evidently intended to be little more than a new and improved edition of
-the earlier work.
-
-The importance of the period immediately preceding the time of Cicero
-can not be judged by the extant literature, but must be estimated by
-the number of works and authors mentioned by later writers and the
-qualities assigned to them. [Sidenote: Great progress of prose.] It
-is at once evident that poetry made little progress, while prose
-writing of all kinds advanced with rapid strides. It is only natural,
-therefore, that the age of Cicero should be the most brilliant period
-of Latin prose, and that the highest general development of poetry
-should be reserved for the Augustan age. Yet, even the Augustan age
-can only equal, not surpass, the immortal poems of two of Cicero's
-contemporaries, Lucretius and Catullus.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV
-
-LUCRETIUS
-
-    The Ciceronian period--Lucretius, 99(?)-55(?) B. C.--Philosophy at
-    Rome--The poem of Lucretius--Its purpose, contents, and style.
-
-
-It was in the dictatorship of Sulla, 81 B. C., that Cicero made his
-first appearance as an orator, and almost from that time until his
-death, in 43 B. C., he was the most prominent orator and man of
-letters in Rome. [Sidenote: The age of Cicero a time of unrest.] It
-is but right that in the history of literature this period of nearly
-forty years is called the age of Cicero. In political and external
-matters this was a time of great unrest. Sulla's dictatorship, which
-seemed to put an end to strife, served only to strengthen the power
-of the senate, not to diminish its abuses; the increase of the slave
-population of Italy still continued to drive the freeborn farmers to
-Rome to swell the number of the city rabble; the slaves themselves
-broke out into open war; the provinces were discontented on account
-of the extortions of their governors; the Cilician pirates became
-so powerful that their suppression was a matter of some difficulty;
-Mithridates aroused a war in the east, and was overcome only by great
-exertion; while in Rome itself the conspiracy of Catiline and the
-struggle between Pompey and Cæsar clearly foreshadowed the end of the
-republic.
-
-[Sidenote: Wealth and culture. Progress of literature.] This period
-was at the same time one of great material prosperity at Rome. In
-spite of disturbing influences, wealth increased, interest in art and
-literature was wide-spread, and there was, alongside of much vulgar
-extravagance and display, a steady growth in culture and refinement.
-By the beginning of this period the Latin language had become a proper
-medium of expression in prose and verse, though its natural qualities
-of rigidity and precision made it always better adapted to the needs
-of the commander, orator, jurist, and historian than to the lighter
-and more varied uses of the poet. Among the poets of the time, some
-followed in the footsteps of Ennius, while others imitated the poems
-of the Alexandrian Greeks, characterized by mythological learning,
-elegance of execution, and emptiness of contents. Of this latter school
-Catullus was the only one who rose to greatness, breathing into his
-verse the fire of poetic genius, while Lucretius stands out as the one
-great and commanding figure among the poets who continued the technical
-traditions of Ennius.
-
-[Sidenote: Life of Lucretius.] Of the life of Lucretius little is
-known. Jerome, under the year 95 B. C., says: "Titus Lucretius, the
-poet, was born, who afterwards was made insane by a love potion,
-and, when he had in the intervals of his madness written several
-books, which Cicero corrected, killed himself by his own hand in
-the forty-fourth year of his age."[18] Donatus, in his _Life of
-Virgil_,[19] says that Lucretius died on the day when Virgil was
-fifteen years old, i. e., October 15, 55 B. C. This does not agree
-with the statement of Jerome. Cicero, in a letter written in February,
-54 B. C.,[20] mentions the poems of Lucretius, but says nothing about
-correcting or editing them. This is the only contemporary reference to
-Lucretius or his work. Now the great poem of Lucretius was evidently
-never entirely finished by its author, who was therefore probably dead
-when Cicero wrote this letter. The date (55 B. C.) for his death is
-thus corroborated. The date of his birth must remain uncertain, but it
-was probably not far from 99 B. C. Jerome's statement that Lucretius
-was insane and committed suicide is not in itself improbable. His work
-shows him to have been a man of passionate and intense feelings, and
-gives some ground for the belief that in the course of his life he was
-subjected to great emotional strain. Of his friends and his daily life
-we know nothing. His poem is dedicated to Memmius, who is generally
-supposed to be the Gaius Memmius who was proprætor in Bithynia in 57 B.
-C.
-
-The only work of Lucretius is a didactic poem of six books, in
-hexameter verse, _On the Nature of Things_ (_De Rerum Natura_), in
-which he expounds the doctrines of Epicurus. [Sidenote: Philosophy
-known to the Romans.] The Romans had been for many years acquainted
-with Greek philosophical teachings, especially with those of the Stoic
-and Epicurean schools. The Stoic doctrines had been taught by one of
-the most eminent philosophers of the second century B. C., Panætius,
-the friend of the younger Scipio Africanus, and were clearly congenial
-to the Roman temperament; for the Stoics taught that virtue is the
-highest good, that nothing else is worth striving for, and that the
-ordinary pleasures of life are mere interruptions of the philosopher's
-peace. The Epicurean doctrine, that pleasure is the highest good, was
-popular only with those who wished to devote themselves to selfish and
-physical enjoyment, for the higher aspects of the doctrines of Epicurus
-were not understood. As early as 161 B. C. the senate had passed a
-vote banishing philosophers and rhetoricians from Rome, and six years
-later, when three famous philosophers--Diogenes the Stoic, Critolaus
-the Peripatetic, and Carneades of the Academic school--came to Rome,
-they aroused so much interest that the senate decided to remove them
-from the city as soon as possible. Greek philosophy was, then, not a
-new thing at Rome, but the poem of Lucretius is the first systematic
-presentation of the Epicurean doctrines.
-
-The purpose of the poem is to free men from superstition and the fear
-of death by teaching the doctrines of Epicurus. [Sidenote: The reason
-for writing in verse.] This is a most serious purpose, and Lucretius
-is thoroughly in earnest. If he adopts the poetic form, it is in order
-to make his presentation of the doctrines more attractive, in the hope
-that it will thus have greater influence. This point of view, and at
-the same time the poet's sense of the difficulty of his theme and his
-power to cope with it, is clearly expressed in the following passage:
-
-    Come now, and what remaineth learn and hear
-    More clearly. Well in my own mind I know
-    The doctrine is obscure; but mighty hope
-    Of praise has struck my heart with maddening wand,
-    And with the blow implanted in my breast
-    The sweet love of the Muses, filled with which
-    I wander with fresh mind through pathless tracts
-    Of the Pierides, untrod before
-    By any mortal's foot. 'Tis sweet to go
-    To fountains new and drink; and sweet it is
-    To pluck new flow'rs and seek a garland thence
-    For my own head, whence ne'er before a crown
-    The Muses twined for any mortal's brow.
-    'Tis first because I teach of weighty things
-    And guide my course to set the spirit free
-    From superstition's closely knotted bonds;
-    And next because concerning matters dark
-    I write such lucid verses, touching all
-    With th' Muses' grace. Then, too, because it seems
-    Not without reason; but as when men try
-    In curing boys to give them bitter herbs,
-    They touch the edges round about the cups
-    With yellow liquid of the honey sweet,
-    That children's careless age may be deceived
-    As far as to the lips, and meanwhile drink
-    The juice of bitter herb, and though deceived
-    May not be harmed, but rather in such wise
-    Gain health and strength, so I now, since my theme
-    Seems gloomy for the most part unto those
-    To whom 'tis not familiar, and the crowd
-    Shrinks back from it, have wished to treat for thee
-    My theme with sweetly speaking poetry's verse
-    And touch it with the Muses' honey sweet.[21]
-
-[Sidenote: Arrangement and contents of the poem.] The arrangement
-of the poem is as follows: Book i sets forth the atomic theory,
-invented by Democritus and held by Epicurus, that the world consists
-of atoms--infinitely small particles of matter--and void, i. e., empty
-space. The theories of other Greek philosophers, such as Heraclitus,
-Empedocles, and Anaxagoras, are refuted. In Book ii it is explained
-how the atoms combine to form the various things in the world, because
-as they fall through space they depart from a straight line and come
-in contact with each other. It is also shown that the atoms, although
-infinite in number, are limited in variety. In Book iii the mind and
-the soul, or principle of life, are shown to be material and to die
-when the body dies. Religion and the fear of death, which Lucretius
-regards as a result of religion, are attacked. Since the soul dies with
-the body, there is no reason to fear death, because after death we
-shall feel no lack of anything, shall have no troubles, but shall be as
-if we had not been born, or as if we lay wrapped in dreamless sleep:
-
-    So death to us is naught, concerns us not,
-    When the soul's nature is as mortal known.[22]
-
-Book iv shows how the impressions made upon our senses are caused by
-minute images detached from the objects about us. We see, for instance,
-because minute images of the object seen strike our eyes. Dreams and
-love are also treated in this book. In Book v the origin of the earth,
-sun, moon, and stars is described, the beginning of life is explained,
-and the progress of civilization, from the time when men were savages,
-is depicted. Some passages in this book anticipate in a measure the
-modern doctrine of the survival of the fittest. Since our world was not
-created, but came into being naturally by the combinations of atoms, it
-will also come to an end at some time by the separation of the atoms.
-In Book vi various striking phenomena are treated, such as thunder,
-lightning, earthquakes, tempests, and volcanoes. The book ends with
-a description of the plague at Athens, derived from the account of
-Thucydides.
-
-[Sidenote: Ethical doctrine.] Since the main purpose of the poem
-is to free men from religion and the fear of death by showing that
-all things, including the soul, came into being and are to pass
-away without any action of the gods, ethical doctrines are not
-systematically treated. Lucretius accepts, however, the Epicurean dogma
-that pleasure is the chief good, "the guide of life,"[23] but the
-pleasure he has in mind is not the common physical pleasure, but the
-calm repose of the philosopher:
-
-    Oh wretched minds of men, oh blinded hearts!
-    Within what shades of life and dangers great
-    Is passed whate'er of age we have! Dost thou
-    Not see that nature makes demand for naught
-    Save this, that pain be absent from our frame,
-    That she, removed from care at once and fear,
-    May have her pleasure in the joys of mind?[24]
-
-Again, in the splendid praise of Epicurus, which opens the fifth book,
-he says that we may live without grain or wine,
-
-    But well one can not live without pure heart.[25]
-
-The only Greek philosophers, besides Epicurus, of whom Lucretius
-speaks in terms of praise are Democritus, from whom Epicurus borrowed
-the atomic theory, and Empedocles. Perhaps Lucretius imitates in his
-work the poem of Empedocles, which bore the same title. At any rate,
-Empedocles was a man of exalted modes of thought and dignified, poetic
-expression, qualities which would naturally awaken admiration in the
-mind of Lucretius. [Sidenote: His reading, observation, and love of
-nature.] That Lucretius was well acquainted with the great works of
-Greek literature and with the writings of Nævius, Ennius, Pacuvius,
-Lucilius, and Accius, is evident from direct references to them, or
-imitations of them. But he was not merely a student of books. His power
-of observation and his love of nature are shown in many passages, as
-where he describes the raging winds and rivers,[26] the life and motion
-of an army,[27] the striking features of the island of Sicily,[28] the
-echo in the mountains,[29] or pleasant repose under a shady tree on the
-grass by the river side.[30]
-
-[Sidenote: Two famous passages.] The poem opens with an invocation to
-Venus, which is justly famous. The first lines are:
-
-    Goddess from whom descends the race of Rome,
-      Venus, of earth and heaven supreme delight,
-    Hail, thou that all beneath the starry dome--
-      Lands rich with grain and seas with navies white--
-    Blessest and cherishest! Where thou dost come
-      Enamelled earth decks her with posies bright
-    To meet thy advent; clouds and tempests flee,
-    And joyous light smiles over land and sea.[31]
-
-Another famous passage is the beginning of Book ii, which has been
-translated into English hexameters as follows:
-
-    Sweet, when the great sea's water is stirred to its depth
-      by the storm winds,
-    Standing ashore to descry one afar off mightily struggling;
-    Not that a neighbor's sorrow to you yields dulcet enjoyment;
-    But that the sight hath a sweetness, of ills ourselves are exempt
-      from.
-    Sweet 'tis too to behold, on a broad plain mustering war-hosts
-    Arm them for some great battle, one's self unscathed by the danger;
-    Yet still happier this: To possess, impregnably guarded,
-    Those calm heights of the sages which have for an origin Wisdom;
-    Thence to survey our fellows, observe them this way and that way
-    Wander amid Life's paths, poor stragglers seeking a highway;
-    Watch mind battle with mind, and escutcheon rival escutcheon;
-    Gaze on that untold strife, which is waged 'neath the sun and the
-      starlight,
-    Up as they toil on the surface whereon rest Riches and Empire.[32]
-
-Lucretius was perfectly aware that his subject was not an easy one to
-treat in verse, but was confident of his own power. His work shows that
-his confidence was justified. Yet even he could not, in explaining the
-details of the philosophy of Epicurus, move always in the upper realms
-of poetry. [Sidenote: Style.] The result is that the poem is uneven. In
-parts it rises to heights hardly attained by any other Latin author,
-but in other parts long passages are dull and monotonous. Yet even in
-these parts the verses have a serious, dignified music, the language
-is carefully chosen, and the subject is treated with consistency,
-clearness, and vigor. In the more animated portions of his work,
-Lucretius speaks almost like an inspired prophet. His thought hurries
-his lines along with increasing impetus, until their flow seems almost
-irresistible. Strength, rapidity, and power are the most striking
-features of his style. Minor elements are frequent assonances of
-various kinds, such as alliteration, repetition, the use of two or more
-words from one root, and the like, elaborate similes, and occasionally
-the form of direct address. With all these, the style is characterized
-by an austere dignity.
-
-In his discussion of the development of the universe, and especially
-in the part dealing with living creatures, man, and the progress of
-civilization, Lucretius expresses conclusions not unlike some of those
-reached in our own day by modern science. [Sidenote: Anticipation of
-modern science.] But his processes are not scientific. He reasons,
-to be sure, from concrete facts to theories and from theories again
-to concrete facts, but the method of his reasoning is unlike that of
-modern science. Lucretius, like other philosophers of ancient times,
-having once accepted a theory which explains certain phenomena, makes
-his theory the rule by which all phenomena are to be measured and in
-accordance with which they are to be understood. It is interesting to
-note that Lucretius, following Democritus and Epicurus, anticipates
-to a certain extent the modern atomic theory, the theories of the
-evolution of species, of the survival of the fittest, and of the
-continual progress of mankind from a condition of savagery to
-civilization, but his conclusions are reached, not by the patient toil
-of modern scientific research, but by abstract theorizing, to which his
-poetic imagination gives vividness and almost convincing power.
-
-The greatness of Lucretius as a poet has always been recognized by
-critical readers; but he has never been a popular author. His subject
-is too abstruse and his style too austere and dignified to appeal to
-the taste of the masses, which probably accounts for the fact that his
-poem has come down to us through only one copy, from which all the
-existing manuscripts are derived.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V
-
-CATULLUS--MINOR POETS
-
-    Catullus, about 84-54 B. C.--His life--The book of poems--The
-    longer poems--The shorter poems--Minor poets--Gnæus
-    Matius--Lævius--Sueius--Gaius Licinius Calvus, 87-47 B. C.--Gaius
-    Helvius Cinna--Varro Atacinus, 82 to after 37 B. C.--Publius
-    Valerius Cato--Marcus Furius Bibaculus--Gaius Memmius, proprætor
-    in 57 B. C.--Ticidas--Quintus Cornificius--Cornelius Nepos--Marcus
-    Tullius Cicero--Quintus Cicero.
-
-
-The greatest lyric poet of the Ciceronian period is Gaius Valerius
-Catullus. [Sidenote: Life of Catullus.] The exact dates of his birth
-and death are uncertain. According to Jerome he was born in 87 B.
-C., and died in 57 B. C., at the age of thirty years. But in one
-poem[33] he refers to Pompey's second consulship (55 B. C.), and in two
-others[34] he mentions Cæsar's expedition to Britain (55 B. C.). It is
-therefore evident that his death can not have taken place in 57 B. C.
-But as his poems contain no references to any event later than 55 or 54
-B. C., it is reasonably certain that he died not much after the latter
-date. As he is known to have died young, his birth may be assigned to
-about 85 B. C., or perhaps a year or two later. His birthplace was
-Verona, and his family was wealthy and of good position. He went to
-Rome while still hardly more than a boy, and began to write love poems
-soon after taking the _toga virilis_, that is to say, at the age of
-seventeen. Rome was then a brilliant capital, in which Greek culture,
-with all its intellectual vivacity and all its vices, had taken firm
-root. The family connections of the young Catullus, whose father was a
-friend of Julius Cæsar, introduced him to the aristocratic society of
-the capital, and his personal qualities doubtless contributed to make
-him a prominent figure among the gay youth of the city.
-
-[Sidenote: Lesbia.] About 61 B. C. began his passionate love for the
-brilliant but dissolute woman whom he has immortalized in his poems
-under the name of Lesbia. Her real name was Clodia, and when he met
-her she was the wife of Quintus Cæcilius Metellus Celer. For a time
-she seemed at least to return the love of her young adorer, but almost
-immediately after her husband's death, which took place in 59 B. C.,
-she is reproached by Catullus for faithlessness. In the spring of 57 B.
-C., Catullus went to Bithynia as a member of the staff of the proprætor
-C. Memmius, and by this time his connection with Clodia seems to have
-been at an end. In the spring of 56 B. C., Catullus returned to Rome,
-after visiting the tomb of his brother, who had died in the Troad. From
-this time on his poems are still in part poems of love, but they lack
-the passionate fire of the lines addressed to Lesbia. Most of the poems
-belonging to the last years of his life, when they contain personal
-allusions, are inspired rather by the political events of the time than
-by love.
-
-[Sidenote: The Book of Poems.] The poems of Catullus, as they have
-been handed down to us, form a small book of 2,280 lines. They are not
-arranged chronologically, but rather according to contents and style.
-The first sixty are short poems in various lyric metres, and have to
-do with the poet's love, with his friends and enemies, and with the
-experiences of his life. These are followed by seven longer poems in
-imitation of Alexandrian originals, and the rest of the collection
-consists of short pieces, all in elegiac verse. This arrangement is
-doubtless due to some editor, not to Catullus himself, but gives the
-book a certain artistic unity which would be lacking if the poems were
-arranged in chronological order. A few quotations from Catullus which
-can not be identified with passages in the extant poems are found in
-the works of other writers, but they are so few as to indicate that
-nearly all he ever wrote is contained in the existing book.
-
-[Sidenote: The epithalamia.] In the longer poems Catullus shows himself
-a consummate master of language and versification and a skillful
-imitator of the Alexandrian poetry most popular among the younger
-literary men of his time. The first epithalamium, or wedding song,
-composed for the marriage of Manlius Torquatus and Vinia Arunculeia,
-is written in lyric metre of short lines. It is supposed to be
-sung as the bride is escorted to her new home, the first part by a
-chorus of maidens, the second by youths. Such songs were traditional
-among the Greeks as well as among the Romans, and there is little
-originality in the subject or its general treatment, but the brilliant
-versification and the charming tender passages it contains make this
-the most attractive of all the longer poems of Catullus. The second
-epithalamium, in hexameter verse, was apparently composed for no
-special occasion. A chorus of youths and a chorus of maidens sing
-responses, calling upon Hymenæus, the god of marriage, and describing
-by allusion the passage of the bride from maidenhood to wifehood.
-So the maidens compare her to a flower that has grown in a secluded
-garden, and the youths compare her to a vine that twines about an elm.
-
-The third of the longer poems, the sixty-third of the whole collection,
-is the only existing Latin poem in the difficult and complicated
-galliambic metre. It describes the madness of the youth Attis, who
-mutilates himself and gives himself up to the service of the goddess
-Cybele. The despair of Attis when he recovers from his madness and
-yearns for his country, his friends, and his past happiness, is
-depicted with admirable power, and the ecstatic worship of Cybele is
-most vividly portrayed. [Sidenote: The other long poems.] The longest
-poem of all describes in hexameter verse the marriage of Peleus with
-the sea-goddess Thetis. This is not in any sense a lyric poem, but
-an epyllion, or little epic. It contains passages of great beauty,
-but offers little opportunity for the display of the peculiarly lyric
-genius of Catullus, and is, on the whole, the least successful of his
-poems. This is followed by _The Lock of Berenice_, a translation of a
-poem of the same name by the Alexandrian Callimachus. Queen Berenice
-had cut off a lock of her hair in accordance with a vow when her
-husband returned safe from war. The lock disappeared from the temple
-in which it had been offered, and the astronomer Conon discovered it
-as a new constellation in the heavens. The lock of hair is supposed
-to speak and to yearn for its former place upon the forehead of the
-queen. In the preface to this poem, which is addressed to the orator
-Hortensius Hortalus, Catullus speaks in beautiful lines of the death of
-his brother:
-
-    Oh, is thy voice forever hushed and still?
-      Oh, brother, dearer far than life, shall I
-    Behold thee never? But in sooth I will
-      Forever love thee, as in days gone by:
-      And ever through my songs shall ring a cry
-    Sad with thy death, sad as in thickest shade
-      Of intertangled boughs the melody,
-    Which by the woful Daulian bird is made,
-    Sobbing for Itys dead her wail through all the glade.[35]
-
-The _Lock of Berenice_ is followed by a conversation with a door, which
-hints at several immoral stories. The last of the longer poems is an
-elegy on the death of the poet's brother, joined with the praises of
-his friend M'. Allius and of his beloved. This poem is remarkable for
-the number of digressions it contains, and in this, as in its general
-tone, it is an imitation of the Alexandrian style.
-
-The seven poems just described contain many beautiful passages, but
-they show us Catullus chiefly as the learned, skillful, and successful
-imitator of Alexandrian Greek models. [Sidenote: The short poems.] His
-real genius appears in the shorter poems, which deal with the feelings
-of his own heart. In these also he is an imitator, so far as his metres
-are concerned, but the feelings are his own, and he expresses them in
-words that burn. No translation can do justice to the sharp, quick
-strokes of his invectives or to the passionate outpourings of his love.
-One of his favorite metres is the "hendecasyllable" or eleven syllable
-verse, which, by its quick movement, helps to create an impression
-of great swiftness of thought and flashing outbursts of emotion. At
-the same time, the numerous diminutive suffixes employed give a light
-and graceful, almost playful, tone to the verse. Some of the lines
-directed against those whom Catullus hated or despised, are scurrilous
-and indecent; but that is the fault of the age rather than of the poet
-himself. In general the thoughts and emotions expressed range from
-passionate love to violent invective, while through many of the poems
-there runs a vein of half satirical playfulness. Some of the qualities
-of Catullus' poetry may be made clear by translations of a few of the
-short poems. The first shows at once his passionate love for Lesbia,
-and something of his half-satirical humor:
-
-    My Lesbia, let us live and love,
-    Nor let us count it worth above
-    A single farthing if the old
-    And carping greybeards choose to scold.
-    The suns that set and fade away
-    May rise again another day.
-    When once has set our little light
-    We needs must sleep one endless night.
-    A thousand kisses give me, then
-    A hundred, then a thousand, when
-    I bid you give a hundred more;
-    When many thousands o'er and o'er
-    We've kissed, we'll mix them, so that we
-    Shall lose the count, and none shall be
-    Aroused to evil envious hate
-    Through knowing that the sum's so great.[36]
-
-A well-known and especially attractive poem is the playful lament for
-the sparrow:
-
-    Let mourning fill the realms of Love;
-    Wail, men below and Powers above!
-    The joy of my beloved has fled,
-    The Sparrow of her heart is dead--
-    The Sparrow that she used to prize
-    As dearly as her own bright eyes.
-    As knows a girl her mother well,
-    So knew the pretty bird my belle,
-    And ever hopping, chirping round,
-    Far from her lap was never found.
-    Now wings it to that gloomy bourne
-    From which no travellers return.
-    Accurs'd be thou, infernal lair!
-    Devourer dark of all things fair,
-    The rarest bird to thee is gone;
-    Take thou once more my malison.
-    How swollen and red with weeping, see,
-    My fair one's eyes, and all through thee.[37]
-
-Like most educated Romans, Catullus had a great love for the country.
-His joy in returning to his country seat on the peninsula of Sirmio
-forms the subject of a charming little poem:
-
-    Gem of all isthmuses and isles that lie,
-      Fresh or salt water's children, in clear lake
-    Or ampler ocean; with what joy do I
-      Approach thee, Sirmio! Oh! am I awake,
-    Or dream that once again mine eye beholds
-    Thee, and has looked its last on Thracian wolds?
-      Sweetest of sweets to me that pastime seems,
-    When the mind drops her burden, when--the pain
-    Of travel past--our own cot we regain,
-      And nestle on the pillow of our dreams!
-    'Tis this one thought that cheers us as we roam.
-      Hail, O fair Sirmio! Joy, thy lord is here!
-      Joy too, ye waters of the Golden Mere!
-    And ring out, all ye laughter-peals of home![38]
-
-Of the lesser poets of the Ciceronian period little need be said.
-Their works are lost, but for scattered fragments, except in so far as
-a few anonymous poems are to be ascribed to this period. The writers
-of mimes, Decimus Laberius and Publilius Syrus, have already been
-mentioned (p. 30). [Sidenote: Matius, Lævius, Sueius.] Gnæus Matius,
-who appears to belong to this time, wrote mimiambics in the manner of
-Herondas and other Alexandrian poets--lively reproductions of scenes
-of ordinary life--in choliambic verse, that is, iambic trimetres, the
-last foot of which is a spondee; Lævius wrote sportive love-poems
-(_Erotopægnia_); and Sueius composed idylls, two of which, the
-_Moretum_ and the _Pulli_, are known by name, besides a book of annals.
-Matius also made a free translation of Homer's _Iliad_.
-
-More important in their own day were two friends of Catullus, Gaius
-Licinius Calvus and Gaius Helvius Cinna. [Sidenote: Calvus and Cinna.]
-Calvus, who lived from 87 to 47 B. C., was a distinguished orator and
-politician, who devoted his leisure hours to poetry. His poems included
-epithalamia, elegies, epigrams, and at least one mythological epyllion,
-entitled _Io_. Cinna appears to have come, like Catullus, from northern
-Italy, but of his life little is known beyond the fact that he was
-with Catullus on the staff of Memmius in Bithynia. His chief work was
-a poem entitled _Smyrna_, which, although it was of moderate length,
-occupied him for nine years. The subject was the unnatural love of
-the maiden Smyrna for her father and the birth of their son Adonis.
-The poem was so learned and obscure as to be almost incomprehensible,
-and was similar in this respect to the _Alexandra_ of the Alexandrian
-Lycophron. The admiration expressed by Catullus for this work shows how
-highly the younger Roman poets esteemed successful imitations of even
-the worst faults of their Alexandrian models.
-
-[Sidenote: Varro Atacinus.] A poet who continued the national
-traditions of Ennius and also imitated the Alexandrians was Publius
-Terentius Varro, called Varro Atacinus. He was born at Atax, in Gallia
-Narbonensis, in 82 B. C. He wrote a poem in hexameters on Cæsar's
-war with the Sequani, and some satires, probably in the manner of
-Lucilius, In his thirty-fifth year he is said to have turned to the
-study of the Greek poets, and it is probably about this time that he
-translated into Latin hexameters the _Argonautica_ of the Alexandrian
-epic poet Apollonius Rhodius. A geographical poem, probably entitled
-_Chorographia_, and a series of elegiac poems in the Alexandrian manner
-probably belong to the time after the year 37 B. C. The few fragments
-of his poems show that he was a poet of more than ordinary gifts.
-
-[Sidenote: Valerius Cato.] The intellectual leader of the school of
-poets who found their inspiration in the works of the Alexandrians was
-the grammarian and teacher, P. Valerius Cato, whom Eurius Bibaculus
-calls "Cato the grammarian, the Latin Siren, who alone reads and
-makes poets." Cato's influence was exerted to lead his followers to
-imitate their Greek models carefully, to perfect their Latin style,
-and probably to introduce the new metres into Latin poetry. His
-own writings were grammatical treatises, poems, and a revision and
-correction of the works of Lucilius. The poem entitled _Diræ_, which is
-contained in manuscripts of Virgil, and really consists of two distinct
-poems, _Diræ_ and _Lydia_, has been ascribed with some probability to
-Cato. In the first poem the writer curses a veteran named Lycurgus,
-who has deprived him of his property and his beloved Lydia; in the
-second he addresses a touching farewell to Lydia, who has remained in
-the country. [Sidenote: Other poets.] Other poets of this period are
-M. Furius Bibaculus, who wrote satirical verses, Gaius Memmius, the
-proprætor of Bithynia in 57 B. C., Ticidas, Quintus Cornificius, and
-Cornelius Nepos--all of whom belonged to the new school and imitated
-the Alexandrians. Nepos we shall meet again among the prose writers.
-Others also, whose chief activity was in other fields, wrote poetry
-occasionally. Among these Cicero and his brother Quintus may be
-mentioned.
-
-The names of these lesser poets are of little importance to us, but
-it is worth while to mention them to call attention to the fact that
-poetry was cultivated by many of the younger men in the Ciceronian
-period. Through their efforts the various styles and metres of the
-Greek poets, especially those of the Alexandrian period, were made
-familiar to the Romans, and thus the way was prepared for Horace,
-Virgil, and Ovid in the Augustan age.
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: CICERO.
-
-Bust in the Vatican Museum, Rome.]
-
-CHAPTER VI
-
-CICERO
-
-    Cicero, 106-43 B. C.--His importance--His life--Periods of
-    his literary activity--His works--The orations--Philosophical
-    works--Letters--His character.
-
-
-Marcus Tullius Cicero, orator, statesman and philosopher, is the great
-commanding figure of the literary period which is designated by his
-name. With him Latin prose reaches a height never before attained and
-never afterward surpassed. [Sidenote: Importance of Cicero.] The cooler
-and more critical judgment of our northern natures and later age may
-find his eloquence too exuberant, and our scholars, trained in the
-study of the Greek philosophers, may deny him the title of an original
-thinker, but no one can fail to appreciate the power of his utterance,
-the clearness of his exposition, or the lucid elegance of his diction.
-He found the Latin language the chief dialect of Italy, the speech
-of a great and mighty city; he made it the language of the world for
-centuries.
-
-To write the life of Cicero in all the known details would be to
-write the history of Rome during the entire period of his manhood.
-The historian of literature must content himself with a mere sketch.
-[Sidenote: Education and early years.] Cicero was born at Arpinum, a
-small town in the hills of eastern Latium, on the third of January,
-106 B. C. The town was also the birthplace of Marius, whose fame no
-doubt fired the imagination of the young Cicero and helped to rouse
-his ambition. His father determined to give him the best possible
-education and sent him to Rome, where he knew the two great orators,
-M. Antonius and L. Crassus, and also the aged M. Accius and the Greek
-poet Archias. Since legal knowledge was a necessary part of an orator's
-education, he studied with the jurist Q. Scævola (p. 44), and the Augur
-of the same name. He also paid attention to philosophy, studying with
-the Epicurean Phædrus, the Academic philosopher Philo, who was a pupil
-of Clitomachus, and the Stoic Diodotus. His teacher of rhetoric was
-Molo, of Rhodes, and he also received instruction from the rhetorician
-M. Antonius Gnipho and the actors Roscius and Æsopus. He acquired a
-great reputation as an advocate by several speeches, especially by
-his defense of Quinctius (81 B. C.) and Roscius of Ameria (80 B. C.);
-but his health failed, and at the same time he wished to perfect his
-education. He therefore left Rome and spent two years (79-77 B. C.) in
-Greece and Asia. At Athens he studied under the Academic Antiochus, the
-Epicurean Zeno, his old teacher Phædrus, and the instructor in oratory,
-Demetrius. In Asia he became acquainted with the florid Asian style
-of eloquence, and at Rhodes he studied again under his former teacher
-Molo, who exerted himself to chasten the exuberance of his style, which
-had been encouraged by the Asiatic orators. At Rhodes he also became
-acquainted with the famous Stoic Posidonius.
-
-[Sidenote: His political career.] In 77 B. C. he returned to Rome and
-continued his career as an orator. It was soon after his return that
-he married Terentia, a lady of noble birth, with whom he lived for
-thirty-two years. In 75 B. C. he began his official career as quæstor
-of Lilybæum in Sicily, an office which he filled with great credit.
-He was elected ædile in 69 and prætor in 66 B. C. In 63 B. C. he was
-chosen consul, with Antonius as his colleague, and truthfully claimed
-that, although he was a _novus homo_, a man who had no family influence
-or prestige to aid him, he had obtained each of the important offices
-of the state at the earliest legally admissible age. [Sidenote: The
-conspiracy of Catiline.] In his consulship the conspiracy of Catiline
-occurred, which Cicero suppressed with relentless vigor, although it
-was supposed to be favored by some of the most powerful men in Rome,
-including Crassus and Cæsar. The conspirators were not sentenced to
-death by regular legal process, but the senate decreed that the consul
-should defend the safety of the state, and Cicero gave the order for
-their execution. To this year belong the four speeches against Catiline.
-
-[Sidenote: Cicero's banishment.] In 60 B. C. the first triumvirate was
-formed. The triumvirs found the influence of Cicero unfavorable to
-their plans, and encouraged his enemy, P. Clodius Pulcher, who had been
-adopted into a plebeian family and been elected tribune of the people,
-to propose a bill that any one who had put a Roman citizen to death
-without due process of law be banished. Cicero, finding that he could
-not defend himself with success, withdrew from Rome, and his banishment
-was decreed. He remained in exile from April, 58 B. C., until August,
-57 B. C., when he was recalled and received with great honors.
-
-[Sidenote: His later years.] In 53 B. C. he was elected to fill
-the place in the college of augurs made vacant by the death of the
-younger Crassus. In 51 and 50 B. C. Cicero was again absent from Rome,
-as proconsul of Cilicia. On his return he found Cæsar and Pompey
-in open strife. Cicero had never been a party man. He was always a
-sincere patriot, full of pride in the glorious past of his country,
-and more than ready to do his duty, and now, when he could not fail
-to see that both parties were ruled by selfish ambition rather than
-by disinterested patriotism, it was hard for him to attach himself
-to either. After some hesitation, he joined the party of Pompey and
-the senate, and, in 49 B. C., followed Pompey to Epirus, but was not
-present at the battle of Pharsalus. After Pompey's defeat he waited
-at Brundusium until Cæsar allowed him to return to Rome in 47 B. C.
-Here he lived in retirement, devoting himself to literary pursuits. In
-46 B. C. he divorced his wife, Terentia, and married his young ward,
-Publilia, from whom he parted the following year. The year 45 B. C.
-was saddened by the death of his only daughter, Tullia. The death of
-Cæsar, in 44 B. C., recalled Cicero for a short time to public life,
-but he seems to have left the city in April and to have spent some
-months at his various villas. In July he decided to visit Athens, where
-his son was studying, but after he had reached Sicily he heard that
-he was needed at Rome, gave up his plan, and returned to the capital.
-Here he took a leading part in the opposition to Antony, against whom
-he delivered the fourteen orations known as the _Philippics_. When the
-triumvirs came to terms with one another, Cicero was included by Antony
-among those whose death he demanded. [Sidenote: His death.] After
-moving first to Tusculum, and then to Formiæ, he went aboard a ship at
-Caeta, but turned back to land, resolved to die in his native country.
-On his way between his villa and the sea he was overtaken by a party of
-Antony's soldiers and killed, on the seventh of December, 43 B. C. His
-head and hands were cut off and exposed upon the rostra in the Roman
-forum.
-
-[Sidenote: Periods of Cicero's literary activity.] Cicero's oratorical
-and literary activity falls naturally into four chronological
-divisions: his earlier years, to the beginning of his career as a
-political orator (81-66 B. C.); the period of his greatest power,
-lasting until just before his banishment (66-59 B. C.); from his return
-from banishment until his departure for Cilicia (57-51 B. C.); and from
-his return from Cilicia until his death (50-43 B. C.).
-
-To the first period belong several speeches delivered in different
-kinds of lawsuits, the most remarkable of which are the seven orations
-in the suit against Verres (70 B. C.) for extortion and misgovernment
-in Sicily. At the earnest request of the Sicilians, Cicero undertook
-the prosecution. [Sidenote: The first period.] The first speech, the
-_Divinatio in Cæcilium_, was delivered to determine whether Cicero or
-Q. Cæcilius Niger, who had been quæstor under Verres in Sicily, should
-conduct the prosecution. The first speech in the prosecution itself
-settled the case. Cicero had prepared all the evidence and summoned the
-witnesses, and instead of giving the defence an opportunity for delay,
-brought forward his overwhelming evidence at the beginning, after a
-mere introduction. Hortensius, Verres' advocate, gave up the defence
-after hearing the evidence, and Verres was banished. The five remaining
-orations, called the _Actio Secunda in Verrem_, were published by
-Cicero in order that the facts might be universally known, but were
-never delivered in court. They show not only that Cicero was at this
-time a consummate master of eloquence, but also that his diligence
-in the collection and preparation of his material was remarkable.
-In addition to his speeches, Cicero wrote in this period several
-translations from the Greek, which are lost, and also a handbook of
-oratory, the _De Inventione_, in two books. This work was written when
-the author was only twenty years old, and is based upon the treatise
-addressed to Herennius (p. 45). In it Cicero treats of the various
-divisions of oratory and their uses. The work is greatly inferior to
-his later rhetorical writings.
-
-[Sidenote: The second period.] The second period opens with the superb
-oration _For the Manilian Law_ or _De Imperio Gnæi Pompei_ (66 B. C.),
-in which Cicero advocates the appointment of Pompey with extraordinary
-powers to carry on the war against Mithridates. The four brilliant and
-vehement speeches _Against Catiline_ belong to the year of Cicero's
-consulship, 63 B. C. To the same year belongs the witty and able
-speech _For Muræna_, in which Cicero defends Muræna against a charge
-of bribery. The delightful speech _For the Poet Archias_ was delivered
-in 62 B. C. in support of the poet's claim to the Roman citizenship.
-Throughout this period Cicero's time and energy were so fully occupied
-with affairs of state and with the suits in which he was engaged as
-to leave him little leisure for purely literary production. In 60
-B. C., however, when the troubles that led to his banishment were
-thickening about him, he made a metrical version of the astronomical
-poems of Aratus, portions of which are preserved in his later work
-_On the Nature of the Gods_, and wrote a poem in three books _On His
-Consulship_, which is lost.
-
-[Sidenote: The third period.] The speeches of the third period were
-delivered for the most part in private cases, though one of them,
-_On the Consular Provinces_ (B. C. 56), urging that Cæsar retain his
-proconsulship of Gaul and that Gabinius and Piso be recalled from Syria
-and Macedonia, is political, while political considerations have an
-important place in several others. In the year 55 B. C. the dialogue
-_On the Orator_ (_De Oratore_) was written, in which the two great
-orators of the generation before Cicero, Lucius Crassus and Marcus
-Antonius, discuss the proper qualities of an orator. The dialogue is
-supposed to have taken place shortly before the death of Crassus (91 B.
-C.). The lesser parts are taken by some of the younger statesmen of the
-day, and in the beginning Cicero's teacher, the augur Scævola, appears.
-This is one of the most attractive of Cicero's works. The technical
-discussions are enlivened by anecdotes and conversation, and the whole
-dialogue has a grace and sprightliness not often found in Latin prose.
-The dialogue _On the State_ (_De Re Publica_), in six books, was
-published before 51 B. C. Only about one third of this is preserved in
-a fragmentary condition, and for many centuries the entire work was
-lost with the exception of the _Dream of Scipio_ (_Somnium Scipionis_),
-from the sixth book. The discussion of the state was followed by a
-dialogue _On Laws_ (_De Legibus_), which was begun apparently in 52 B.
-C., but was never finished. In this period we find Cicero turning his
-attention to technical works on rhetoric and also to philosophy.
-
-[Sidenote: The fourth period.] The last period was for the most part
-a time of quiet literary work for Cicero. Only after Cæsar's death
-did he return to public life. In 46 B. C. he thanked Cæsar, in the
-oration _For Marcellus_, for allowing Marcellus, who had been consul
-in 51 B. C., to return to Rome; later in the same year he pleaded the
-case of Quintus Ligarius in the speech _For Ligarius_, and in 45 B.
-C. he spoke in behalf of Deiotarus, tetrarch of Galicia, who had been
-accused of treachery to Cæsar (_For King Deiotarus_), but these are
-the only speeches of this period except the fourteen _Philippics_,
-directed against Antony, all of which belong to the short time between
-the second of September, 44 B. C., and the twenty-second of April, 43
-B. C. In these Cicero shows his old energy and fire, but not quite his
-earlier power. The name _Philippics_ was given to these speeches almost
-from the very first, and was in fact authorized by Cicero himself,
-who welcomed the parallel between himself, arousing and encouraging
-the Romans against Antony, and Demosthenes urging the Athenians to
-oppose Philip. But these orations were the work of a few months; by far
-the greater part of the years after 50 B. C. was occupied with other
-things. [Sidenote: Rhetorical and philosophical works.] In the three
-years 46-44 B. C. appeared the rhetorical writings _Brutus_, the
-_Orator_, the _Divisions of Oratory_, the essay _On the Best Kind of
-Orators_, and the long series of philosophical dialogues and
-treatises, the most important of which are the _De Finibus Bonorum et
-Malorum_, a discussion of the different theories respecting the
-highest good, in five books; the _Academics_, two books of which are
-preserved; the _Tusculan Disputations_, in five books, treating of the
-chief essentials for happiness; the treatise _On the Nature of the
-Gods_, in three books; and the three books _On Duties_ (_De
-Officiis_); to which should be added, on account of their beauty of
-style and sentiment, the _Cato Maior_ (_On Old Age_) and the _Lælius_
-(_On Friendship_).
-
-Cicero's extant works comprise fifty-seven orations and fragments
-of twenty more, seven rhetorical treatises, thirteen philosophical
-treatises, including those _On the State_ and _On Laws_, and about
-eight hundred and sixty letters, among which are ninety addressed to
-him by his correspondents. Among the lost works are a few historical
-writings and several translations from the Greek.
-
-[Sidenote: Cicero as an orator.] Cicero's chief ambition was to be
-a great orator, and he spared no pains to attain his end. Richly
-endowed by nature, he was not content to employ his natural gifts
-without careful cultivation. He studied the orators of earlier times,
-especially the great masters of Greek eloquence, made many translations
-from the Greek for the sake of perfecting his style, and was a diligent
-student of rhetorical theories. His conception of the proper qualities
-of the orator was high and noble. In the essay _De Oratore_, he makes
-Crassus say:
-
-    Wherefore, if one wishes to define and embrace the proper power
-    of an orator in all its extent, that man will be, in my opinion,
-    an orator worthy of this great name, who can speak wisely, in
-    an orderly and polished manner, from memory, and even with some
-    dignity of action, upon whatever subject arises that needs to be
-    set forth in speech.[39]
-
-And again:
-
-    I assert that by the moderation and wisdom of the perfect orator
-    not only his own dignity, but the welfare of very many persons and
-    of the entire commonwealth is preserved.[40]
-
-In short, the orator should be, in Cicero's opinion, not only a great
-and practised speaker, but a man of varied learning, and at the same
-time a man of the highest character. This was the ideal he set before
-himself and strove throughout his life to attain. Certainly it was no
-low ideal, nor was the man who strove to attain it a character to be
-despised.
-
-[Sidenote: Oratorical style.] Cicero's oratorical style is always
-careful and finished, but is far from that monotonous smoothness
-which study often gives to the speech of those who are not by nature
-gifted orators. In the narrative parts of his speeches he is clear,
-straightforward, and lucid; in his arguments he is logical, incisive,
-and full of force; in his appeals to the feelings of his hearers he is
-vivid, quick and powerful, sometimes, according to the demands of the
-occasion, violent or pathetic. [Sidenote: Irony.] The elaborate
-periodic structure of his sentences is varied by many short questions
-or exclamations, and the habitual dignity of his utterance is softened
-and enlivened by frequent touches of wit, humor, and irony. So in his
-defence of Quintus Ligarius, who had served in the senatorial army in
-Africa, although he knew that Cæsar, before whom the case was argued,
-was perfectly acquainted with the facts, he began his speech as
-follows:
-
-    A new charge, Gaius Cæsar, and one never heard of before this day,
-    my relative, Quintus Tubero, has brought before you: that Quintus
-    Ligarius was in Africa; and Gaius Pansa, a man of excellent
-    character, trusting, perhaps, in his friendship with you, has
-    dared to confess that it is true. Therefore I know not where to
-    turn. For I had come prepared, since you could not know it by
-    yourself, and could not have heard it from any one else, to take
-    advantage of your ignorance for the salvation of the unfortunate
-    man.[41]
-
-After this ironical introduction, which serves to make his opponents
-seem ridiculous, Cicero appeals to Cæsar's well-known clemency before
-proceeding to his argument.
-
-[Sidenote: Patriotic feeling.] In his own political life Cicero
-constantly showed his reverence for the dignity of the Roman people,
-the established forms of government, and the traditions and great deeds
-of the earlier days of Rome. The same feeling is evident in nearly
-all his orations. References to the Roman people, the majesty of the
-Roman people, the Roman empire, the dignity of the senate, the customs
-or institutions of the ancestors, are found on almost every page. The
-oration _On the Manilian Law_ is not merely a panegyric of Pompey and
-an argument for giving him new and greater powers, but at the same time
-a hymn of praise to the glory of the Roman republic and the virtues of
-the men of old:
-
-    Our ancestors often engaged in wars because our merchants or
-    ship-owners had been somewhat unjustly treated; what, pray,
-    should be your feelings when so many thousands of Roman citizens
-    have been slaughtered by one edict and at one time? Because our
-    envoys had been too haughtily addressed it pleased your fathers
-    that Corinth, the light of all Greece, be blotted out; will you
-    let that king go unpunished who has slain an ex-consul and envoy
-    of the Roman people, after subjecting him to imprisonment, and
-    scourging, and all kinds of torture? They did not endure it when
-    the liberty of Roman citizens was curtailed; will you be negligent
-    when their lives have been taken? They followed up the verbal
-    violation of the right of embassies; will you desert the cause of
-    an ambassador slain with all torments? Be on your guard, lest,
-    just as it was most honorable for them to hand down to you so
-    great and glorious an empire, so it be most disgraceful for you to
-    fail to guard and preserve what you have received.[42]
-
-Here the orator's effort is to arouse his hearers to maintain the
-dignity and glory of the republic, whose greatness is brought home
-to their minds by the references to the deeds of their ancestors.
-This passage is also a good example of the effective use of repeated
-contrasts.
-
-In the speech _For the Manilian Law_ Cicero addresses the assembled
-Roman people on a political question of immediate and great importance.
-His tone is exalted and earnest, his eloquence stirring and inspiring.
-The same qualities are found in all the political orations, and in many
-of the private speeches, delivered in cases involving the life of the
-accused or Cicero's own character. [Sidenote: Gentler and more graceful
-style.] In speeches dealing with less urgent matters the tone is more
-gentle and the effect more graceful. Quotations from the poets are
-numerous, and the rhythmical structure of the sentences is more marked
-than in the stirring and excited passages of the political harangues.
-The oration _For the Poet Archias_ is the best example of Cicero's
-less stirring and more graceful oratory. After establishing by a brief
-statement the fact that Archias had a valid claim to the citizenship,
-Cicero devotes the remainder of his speech to the praise of literary
-pursuits:
-
-    These studies nourish youth, delight old age, adorn prosperity,
-    furnish a refuge and solace in adversity, gladden us at home, are
-    no hindrance abroad, spend the nights with us, are with us in our
-    foreign travels, and at our country seats.[43]
-
-In this oration Cicero appears as the man of letters whose literary
-interest was not bounded by the career of the politician or the orator,
-and who, in spite of political successes and disappointments, was to
-achieve greater fame as an author than any other writer of Latin prose.
-
-[Sidenote: Direct address.] Few passages are more striking or
-characteristic in the orations of Cicero than those in which he
-turns to address directly either the opposing party in the case or
-his advocate. In these passages, which vary in length from a brief
-exclamation to an elaborate invective, the stinging words shoot forth
-with quick and passionate directness. One of the longer passages of
-this kind, in which additional force is lent to the words by the
-suggestion that they are uttered by the culprit's own father, is the
-following:
-
-    Here you will even dare to say, "Among the judges, that one
-    is my friend, that one a friend of my father." Is not every
-    one, the more closely he is connected with you in any way,
-    the more ashamed of you for being subject to a charge of this
-    kind? He is your father's friend. If your father himself were
-    a judge, what, in the name of the immortal gods, could you do
-    when he said to you: "You, the prætor of the Roman people in
-    a province, when you had to carry on a naval war, excused the
-    Mamertines for three years from supplying the ship which they
-    were bound by treaty to supply; for your private use a freight
-    ship of the largest size was built at public expense by those
-    same Mamertines; you exacted money from the cities under the
-    pretext of the fleet; you dismissed rowers for bribes; you,
-    when a pirate vessel had been captured by the quæstor and the
-    lieutenant, removed the leader of the pirates from the sight
-    of all; you could put under the headsman's axe men who were
-    said to be Roman citizens, who were known as such by many; you
-    dared to take pirates to your house, and to bring the pirate
-    captain to the court from your own dwelling; you, in that
-    splendid province, in the sight of our most faithful allies,
-    of most honorable Roman citizens, lay for days together on the
-    shore at festive banquets at a time when the province was in
-    fear and danger; during those days no one could find you at
-    your house, no one could see you in the forum; you brought to
-    those banquets the wives of allies and friends; among women
-    of that sort you placed your youthful son, my grandson, that
-    his father's life might offer him examples of wickedness at
-    the age which is especially unsteady and lacking in fixed
-    principles; you, the prætor, were seen in the province in a
-    tunic and purple cloak; you, for the gratification of your
-    passion and lust, took away the command of the ships from a
-    lieutenant of the Roman people and gave it to a Syracusan;
-    your soldiers in the province of Sicily were in want of food
-    and grain; owing to your luxury and avarice a fleet of the
-    Roman people was captured and burned by pirates; in your
-    prætorship pirates sailed their ships in that harbor which no
-    enemy had ever entered since the foundation of Syracuse; and
-    these disgraces of yours, so many and so great, you did not
-    care to hide by concealment on your part, nor by making men
-    forget them and keep silent about them, but you tore away to
-    death and torture even the captains of the ships, without any
-    cause, from the embraces of their parents, your own friends,
-    nor in seeing the grief and tears of those parents did any
-    memory of me soften you; to you the blood of innocent men was
-    not only a pleasure, but even a source of profit." If your
-    father should say this to you, could you ask pardon from him?
-    could you entreat him to forgive you?[44]
-
-These few examples, perhaps not the most striking to be found in the
-great body of his orations, may give some idea of the variety of
-Cicero's oratory. In his youth the Roman orators were divided into two
-parties on the question of style; the elder men, chief among whom was
-Hortensius, favored the Asian style, with its wealth of rhetorical
-adornment, while the younger men, the Atticists, as they called
-themselves, aimed at extreme simplicity, taking Lysias as their model.
-Cicero perceived that a middle course was best. His natural tendency
-was toward exuberance, but he tempered it by careful study. He does
-not avoid rhetorical adornment, but he seldom uses it to excess. Like
-Demosthenes, whom he regarded as the greatest of the Greek orators, he
-varies his style to suit the occasion, and, like him, he stands forth
-as the greatest orator of his nation.
-
-[Sidenote: Philosophical works.] In his philosophical writings Cicero's
-purpose was to be useful to his fellow citizens by making them
-acquainted with the results of Greek speculative thought. As he himself
-says:
-
-    As I sought and pondered much and long by what means I could be of
-    use to as many men as possible, that I might never cease to care
-    for the welfare of the republic, nothing greater occurred to me
-    than if I should make accessible to my fellow citizens the paths
-    of the noblest learning.[45]
-
-With this end in view he wrote his treatises, for the most part in the
-dialogue form, after the manner of Plato, in which he set forth the
-doctrines of the Greek philosophers on the most important subjects,
-such as the chief end of life, the means of attaining happiness, duty,
-the nature of the gods, and the like, laying the chief stress upon
-what he believed to be true and correct. He lays no claim to great
-originality of thought, but only to independence of judgment. In
-general, he regards himself as a disciple of the Academic school, which
-did not claim to establish absolute truth, but to show what was most
-probable. He uses, however, the works of Stoic and even of Epicurean
-philosophers, whenever they express views in accordance with his own,
-as well as when he wishes to refute their teachings. He is not entirely
-consistent in all his writings, but his high moral sense, his belief
-in the divine government of the world, and his hope of immortality
-are the foundations of his philosophy. His style in these writings
-is, as befits his subject, dignified and serene, but enlivened by the
-occasional interruptions incident to the dialogue form.
-
-[Sidenote: Importance of Cicero's philosophical works.] To the
-professional student of ancient philosophy these treatises are of great
-importance chiefly because of the information they contain concerning
-the writings and doctrines of Greek philosophers whose works have
-been lost; to the student of literature they offer admirable examples
-of learned works in popular form, with all the charm of exquisite
-literary workmanship; and their influence upon later ages was so great
-that no one who is interested in the progress of human thought can
-disregard them. St. Augustine, and many other writers of the early
-Christian Church, acknowledge their indebtedness to them; they are the
-foundation of the speculative thought of the middle ages; and it is
-in great measure due to their influence that the Latin language has
-remained, almost to our own day, the great medium for the expression
-of philosophical and scientific speculation. Cicero made "the paths of
-the noblest learning" accessible not only to his Roman fellow citizens,
-but to countless generations of men of all lands. His noble purpose was
-accomplished more grandly than he ever hoped or dreamed. Let those who
-will, accuse him of shallowness and superficiality; mankind owes him an
-immeasurable debt of gratitude.
-
-Cicero's orations have served as models for many generations of
-orators, his rhetorical treatises may be regarded as the foundation of
-nearly all later theories of style, his philosophical works exerted an
-influence which permeated the thought of centuries. [Sidenote: Cicero's
-letters.] It remains to speak of his letters. These are in some
-respects the most interesting of his writings, because they show the
-feelings of the man as he disclosed them to his intimate friends, they
-make us acquainted with the personal relations between the prominent
-Romans of the time, and shed many rays of light upon the dark pages of
-contemporary history. The first of the extant letters is dated in 68
-B. C., the last July 28, 43 B. C. The collection was made by Cicero's
-friends, and edited probably by his freedman, Tiro, and his publisher
-and most intimate friend, Atticus. They fall into four groups; sixteen
-books addressed to various persons (_Ad Familiares_), three books to
-Cicero's brother Quintus (_Ad Quintum Fratrem_), sixteen books to
-Atticus (_Ad Atticum_), and two books to Brutus (_Ad Brutum_). There
-were originally nine books of letters to Brutus, but only the eighth
-and the ninth are preserved.
-
-The letters differ greatly in importance, in length, and in interest.
-Some are mere greetings or brief introductions, while others are
-carefully composed treatises; some are expressions of Cicero's inmost
-feelings to his intimate friends, while others are business notes
-or occasional letters to men with whom he was on a less familiar
-footing; some are addressed to the great leaders of the political
-parties, others to comparatively obscure persons; some are on literary
-subjects, others on private business, and still others on matters that
-pertain to the history of the world. [Sidenote: Variety of contents.]
-The style and language vary with the contents of the letters, but are
-in general less careful than in any of Cicero's other writings. The
-language is evidently that of common speech rather than of literary
-composition. In the letters written during his exile Cicero betrays
-unmanly discouragement, and breaks out into pitiful lamentation, just
-as in many of his orations he betrays great vanity, and extols overmuch
-his own courage and patriotism in the matter of the Catilinarian
-conspiracy; but these letters are the confidential utterances of
-momentary feelings, not the deliberate expressions of the man's
-character, and we must not forget that Cicero was an Italian, a man
-of easily aroused emotions, whose vanity might overflow or whose
-grief might break forth without affecting his real earnestness or
-steadfastness. One of the briefer letters to Atticus is the following,
-written from Thurium, in April, 58 B. C., soon after Cicero's
-banishment began:
-
-    Terentia thanks you frequently and very warmly. That is a great
-    comfort to me. I am the most miserable man alive, and am being
-    worn out with the most poignant sorrow. I don't know what to write
-    to you. For if you are at Rome, it is now too late for me to reach
-    you; but if you are on the road, we shall discuss together all
-    that needs to be discussed when you have overtaken me. All I ask
-    you is to retain the same affection for me, since it was always
-    myself you loved. For I am still the same man; my enemies have
-    taken what was mine, they have not taken myself. Take care of your
-    health.[46]
-
-A letter to Marcus Terentius Varro, written in 46 B. C., among the
-troubles of the civil war, shows Cicero consoling himself with
-literature:
-
-    From a letter of yours, which Atticus read to me, I learnt what
-    you were doing and where you were; but when we were
-    likely to see you, I could gain no idea at all from the letter.
-    However, I am beginning to hope that your arrival is not far off.
-    I wish it could be any consolation to me! But the fact is, I am
-    overwhelmed by so many and such grave anxieties, that no one but
-    the most utter fool ought to expect any alleviation; yet, after
-    all, perhaps you can give me some kind of help, or I you. For
-    allow me to tell you that, since my arrival in the city, I have
-    effected a reconciliation with my old friends--I mean my books;
-    though the truth is that I had not abandoned their society because
-    I had fallen out with them, but because I was half ashamed to look
-    them in the face. For I thought, when I plunged into the maelstrom
-    of civil strife, with allies whom I had the worst possible reason
-    for trusting, that I had not shown proper respect for their
-    precepts. They pardon me; they recall me to our old intimacy, and
-    you, they say, have been wiser than I for never having left it.
-    Wherefore, since I find them reconciled, I seem bound to hope, if
-    I once see you, that I shall pass through with ease both what is
-    weighing me down now, and what is threatening. Therefore, in your
-    company, whether you choose it to be in your Tusculan or Cuman
-    villa, or, which I should like least, at Rome, so long only as
-    we are together, I will certainly contrive that both of us shall
-    think it the most agreeable place possible.[47]
-
-[Sidenote: Cicero's character.] Cicero's letters give us a more
-complete insight into his private character than could be gained from
-his other writings. He was a faithful and affectionate friend, a genial
-companion, a good husband and father, and a devoted patriot. In his
-political career he exhibited a lack of that insight which enables the
-great statesman to foresee inevitable changes, and therefore he strove
-to preserve the old system of government at a time when its usefulness
-had passed away. He could not sympathize thoroughly with Pompey and
-his party, still less with the revolutionary policy of Cæsar. The
-result was indecision and apparent fickleness, but his indecision was
-not so much that of weakness as of the inability to choose between
-what he must have regarded as two evils. When he saw his duty clearly
-before him, as in the year of his consulship, he did not flinch, and
-again, when Antony was arrayed in arms against the state, he stood
-forth boldly as the defender of the republic. He showed his courage
-and firmness also when, in 50 B. C., after Pompey's flight from Italy,
-he exposed himself to Cæsar's displeasure by refusing to come to Rome
-except as an avowed partizan of Pompey.[48] In all the relations of
-life he was honorable and conscientious, and in the field of literature
-he stands among the great men of the world.
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: CÆSAR.
-
-Bust in the museum at Naples.]
-
-CHAPTER VII
-
-CÆSAR--SALLUST--OTHER PROSE WRITERS
-
-    Cæsar, 102(?)-44 B. C.--Hirtius, ?-43 B. C.--Oppius, died after
-    44 B. C.--Continuations of Cæsar's Commentaries--Sallust,
-    86-35 B. C.--Cornelius Nepos, before 100 B. C. to after 30 B.
-    C.--Varro, 116-27 B. C.--Atticus, 109-32 B. C.--Hortensius, 114-50
-    B. C.--Calidius, died 47 B. C.--Calvus, 87-47 B. C.--Brutus,
-    78 (?)-42 B. C.--Cornificius, ?-41 B. C.--Quintus Cicero,
-    102-43, B. C.--Tiro--Nigidius Figulus, died 45 B. C.--Aurelius
-    Opilius--Antonius Gnipho--Pompilius Andronicus--Santra--Servius
-    Sulpicius Rufus.
-
-
-What has been said of Cicero applies with at least equal force to
-Cæsar--the story of his life belongs to the history of Rome rather than
-to that of literature. We must therefore content ourselves with a brief
-sketch.
-
-[Sidenote: Cæsar's early life.] Gaius Julius Cæsar was born, according
-to the common account, in 100 B. C., but the real date is probably
-two years earlier. He was of patrician birth and his family claimed
-descent from Ascanius; or Iulus, the son of Æneas. Marius, his uncle
-by marriage, made him a priest of Jupiter at the age of not more than
-fifteen. While still little more than a boy he married Cornelia, the
-daughter of Cinna, and barely escaped the proscription of Sulla when
-he refused to divorce her. The young Cæsar was thus, in spite of his
-patrician birth, identified with the popular party. In 67 B. C. he was
-quæstor in Farther Spain, in 65 B. C. he became curule ædile, in which
-office he distinguished himself by the magnificence of his public games
-and exhibitions, and in 63 B. C. he was elected pontifex maximus,
-thereby becoming for life the official head of the Roman religion.
-
-[Sidenote: His government in Spain.] In 62 B. C. he was chosen prætor,
-and the next year was sent as proprætor to Farther Spain. Up to this
-time he was known chiefly as a dissolute man and an unscrupulous
-demagogue. His extravagance had involved him in debts amounting to
-more than a million dollars. But in the government of his province
-he distinguished himself by military successes and excellent civil
-administration, besides amassing sufficient wealth to pay his debts.
-
-[Sidenote: The first triumvirate.] In 60 B. C. he returned to Rome,
-and soon formed with Pompey and Crassus the agreement known as the
-first triumvirate, by which he was assured of the consulship in 59
-B. C., and the government of Gaul for the following five years. To
-strengthen the alliance he married his young and beautiful daughter
-Julia to Pompey. In 56 B. C. he met Pompey and Crassus at Lucca, in
-the presence of a great concourse of senators and their followers, and
-an agreement was made that Cæsar should continue to hold the province
-of Gaul through 49 B. C., while Pompey and Crassus were to be consuls
-in 55 B. C., after which Syria and Spain were to be given to Crassus
-and Pompey respectively for five years. The agreement was duly carried
-out, and in 54 B. C. Crassus went to Syria, where he lost his life
-after the battle of Carrhæ, in 53 B. C. In the same year Pompey's
-wife, Julia, died. Pompey had not gone to Spain to take possession of
-his province, but remained at Rome, and soon became openly hostile
-to Cæsar. When the Gallic war was ended, the senatorial party, with
-Pompey at its head, demanded that Cæsar disband his army. [Sidenote:
-The civil war.] This he refused to do unless Pompey also gave up his
-military command. Hereupon the civil war broke out, Cæsar crossed the
-Rubicon, the boundary of his province, and Pompey fled to Greece, where
-he was defeated in 48 B. C., at Pharsalus, then to Egypt, where he was
-murdered. In 46 B. C. the senatorial party was finally defeated in the
-battle of Thapsus, in Africa, and their leader, Cato, committed suicide
-at Utica.
-
-[Sidenote: Cæsar's dictatorship and death.] Cæsar now returned to Rome,
-where he was made _imperator_ and perpetual dictator, thus uniting
-in one person all the political power of the state. Henceforth the
-forms of republican government were but a thin mask disguising a real
-monarchy. In the brief period of his power Cæsar accomplished the
-reform of the calendar, and carried through numerous important changes
-for the improvement of the government, but nothing could placate the
-hatred of those who wished to restore the rule of the senate, whatever
-its abuses had been. On the Ides of March (March 15), 44 B. C., he was
-murdered in the senate-house by a band of conspirators headed by Brutus.
-
-[Sidenote: Cæsar's writings.] Cæsar's extant writings are seven books
-of _Commentaries_ on the Gallic War, covering the years 58-52 B. C.,
-and three books of _Commentaries_ on the Civil War, covering the years
-49-48 B. C. He also wrote some poems, a book _On the Stars_, two books
-_Against Cato_, and a few grammatical or rhetorical essays, all of
-which are lost, as are also his orations, which were greatly admired.
-Collections of his letters existed in antiquity, but these also have
-been lost, and the only extant letters of Cæsar are a few which are
-preserved in the correspondence of Cicero. Cæsar doubtless intended to
-publish commentaries on the years between 52 and 49 B. C., as well as
-on his wars in Egypt and elsewhere, but did not carry out his intention.
-
-Cæsar's _Commentaries on the Gallic War_ were written apparently in
-the year 51 B. C., when he was still on good terms with Pompey. The
-energy of this pale, slender, delicate man sufficed not only to make
-him the conqueror of the warlike tribes of the north, and afterward
-of the trained armies of the republic, but also to gain him an
-eminent position among the great narrative and descriptive writers
-of the world. The _Commentaries_ were written rapidly,[49] for the
-double purpose of showing what Cæsar had done to increase the glory
-and power of Rome, and to prove to his detractors that his conquest
-of Gaul had not been an act of unprovoked aggression, but had been
-forced upon him by circumstances. The facts narrated are drawn, in all
-probability, from the official army records, supplemented from Cæsar's
-own recollections, and perhaps from his private journals. In striking
-contrast to the transparent vanity which led Cicero to extol his own
-merits on all possible occasions, Cæsar keeps his personality in the
-background, and writes of himself always in the third person, as if the
-deeds he narrates were those of another than the writer. This gives
-his narrative the appearance of great impartiality, but the careful
-reader can hardly fail to notice that Cæsar's conduct is always put
-in the most favorable light, that his victories are made as important
-as possible, and his reverses are more lightly passed over. The
-_Commentaries_ are not to be regarded as accurate history, but rather
-as a justification of Cæsar's actions, presented in historical form.
-
-[Sidenote: Cæsar's style.] Cæsar's style is clear, simple, and
-unaffected, and free from all obtrusive rhetorical adornment, but the
-narrative of his campaigns is varied and enlivened by the insertion
-of descriptions, speeches, dialogues, and all sorts of interesting
-details. He frequently takes occasion to signalize the brave deeds of
-his men. So in his account of the siege of Gergovia, he describes the
-heroic death of one of his centurions:
-
-    Marcus Petronius, a centurion of the same legion, in trying to
-    break down the gate, was overwhelmed by numbers and despaired
-    of his life. When he had already been wounded many times, he
-    said to his comrades, who had followed him: "Since I can not
-    save myself together with you, I will at least provide for
-    your safety, since through my greed for glory I have led you
-    into danger. When an opportunity is given you, do you look
-    out for yourselves." At once he rushed into the midst of the
-    enemy, and after killing two, drove the rest a little away
-    from the gate. When his comrades tried to succour him, "In
-    vain," he said, "do you try to save my life, since my blood
-    and my strength are ebbing away. So go away, while you have
-    the opportunity, and retreat to the legion." Thus fighting he
-    soon fell and saved his comrades.
-
-The history of the Gallic war was published under the unassuming title
-of _Commentarii_, or "notes"; but such is the perfection of its simple
-style that no one ever thought of rewriting it.
-
-[Sidenote: The Civil War.] The three books of _Commentaries on the
-Civil War_ show the same qualities as those _On the Gallic War_, but in
-a less admirable degree. In one external matter they differ from the
-history of the Gallic War, for in the latter each book contains the
-account of a year's campaign, while the story of the first year of the
-Civil War occupies two books. The historical interest of this work is
-at least as great as that of the books on the Gallic War, but it does
-not compete with them in literary merit, and contains some positive
-misstatements. Probably the work was written in haste and was never
-revised by its author. This supposition would account for some of its
-defects. It may have been prepared for publication by one of Cæsar's
-officers, perhaps by one of those who undertook to furnish histories of
-the campaigns which Cæsar had left unrecorded.
-
-Among those who continued Cæsar's record of his wars, the best writer
-is Aulus Hirtius. He was one of Cæsar's lieutenants in Gaul, and was
-sent by him to Rome as a trusted agent. In 49 B. C. he was with Cæsar
-in Rome. What share he had in the civil war is not known, but he
-himself says that he was not present in the Alexandrian and African
-wars. [Sidenote: Continuations of Cæsar's Commentaries.] He was prætor,
-on Cæsar's nomination, in 46 B. C., and was consul in 43 B. C., when
-he was killed in the battle of Mutina, fighting against Antony. The
-only work ascribed to him with certainty is the eighth book of the
-_Commentaries on the Gallic War_, in which he shows himself far
-inferior to Cæsar as a writer, but not without some ability. The book
-is well written, in a style evidently intended to resemble that of
-Cæsar. Whether the book on the _Alexandrian War_ was written by Hirtius
-or by Gaius Oppius is uncertain. Oppius was a man of equestrian rank, a
-supporter and agent of Cæsar at Rome. After Cæsar's death he attached
-himself to the party of Octavius, and urged Cicero to do the same. He
-appears not to have lived long after 44 B. C. The _Alexandrian War_ is
-written in a style similar to that of the eighth book of the _Gallic
-War_. The books on the _African War_ and the _Spanish War_ are by
-unknown authors. The style of the first is tasteless and turgid, while
-that of the latter is hesitating and crabbed. These books possess a
-certain literary interest, because they show the immense difference
-between Cæsar's literary ability and that of the average Roman of his
-day.
-
-Cæsar's inimitable _Commentaries_ are the records of their author's own
-deeds, written from the point of view of the chief actor in the events
-narrated. They are not the results of wide historical research, nor
-do they attempt to give the reader a broad general knowledge of the
-course of events, with all their causes and consequences. They are not,
-strictly speaking, history, but a masterly presentation of the material
-from which history is made. The earlier records of the past by Roman
-writers, such as Valerius Antias, Cornelius Sisenna, and others (see
-page 43), were mere annals, deficient alike in careful research and
-literary finish. The first real historian of Rome was Sallust.
-
-[Sidenote: Sallust.] Gaius Sallustius Crispus was born of a plebeian
-family, at Amiternum, in the Sabine country, in 86 B. C. At some
-unknown date he obtained the office of quæstor, and in 52 B. C. he
-was tribune. In the earlier part of his life he was dissolute, and
-he is said to have brought his father in sorrow to the grave. In 50
-B. C. he was expelled from the senate by the censors Appius Claudius
-and Lucius Piso. In the following year he was reappointed quæstor by
-Cæsar and thus regained his place in the senate. In 48 B. C. he was in
-command of a legion in Illyria, in the year following he was sent by
-Cæsar to suppress a mutiny among the soldiers in Campania, and in 46
-B. C. served as prætor in the African war. At the end of the year he
-was made proconsul of Numidia, where he enriched himself by plundering
-the province. He then bought a villa and gardens on the Quirinal, and
-devoted himself to historical writing until his death in 35 B. C.
-
-[Sidenote: Sallust's works.] Sallust's works are _The Conspiracy of
-Catiline_, _The Jugurthine War_, and the _Histories_. The first two are
-preserved entire, but of the _Histories_, which treated of the events
-from 78 to 67 B. C., only fragments are preserved, in addition to four
-speeches and two letters, which were inserted in the narrative, but
-were collected and published for use in rhetorical teaching. The two
-letters to Cæsar and the speech against Cicero, published under the
-name of Sallust, are spurious.
-
-[Sidenote: Character of Sallust's works.] In his writings Sallust
-appears as an opponent of the nobility and a champion of the popular
-party. He depicts in glaring colors the corruption and greed of the
-senate, and describes in glowing terms the successes and virtues of
-the popular hero Marius. At times his political bias leads him even
-to distort the truth, though the distortion is not so great as to
-deprive his works of historical value. He is not content to state the
-bare facts of history, but exerts himself to depict the sentiments
-and motives underlying the actions of the chief persons about whom
-he writes, and even of mankind in general. He prefaces his narrative
-with introductions of a philosophical nature, sometimes not strictly
-relevant to the subject in hand. His style is rhetorical and piquant,
-and he uses many archaic words, chosen in great part from Cato's
-works. He evidently imitates the style of Thucydides, and, like him,
-he introduces speeches and letters composed to suit the occasion on
-which they are supposed to have been delivered or written. These
-peculiarities give his works the interest of individuality, and have
-caused them to be much admired, and also severely criticised, in
-ancient and modern times. Some of the qualities of Sallust's writing
-may appear in translations of a few brief extracts. The opening words
-of the _Catiline_ are as follows:
-
-    All men, who desire to excel the other animals, ought to strive
-    with all their power not to pass their lives in silence, like the
-    cattle which nature has made prone and obedient to their appetite.
-    But all our power is situated in the spirit and the body; our
-    spirit is more for command, our body for obedience; the one we
-    have in common with the gods, the other with the beasts; wherefore
-    it seems to me more fitting to seek glory by the resources of
-    the mind than by physical strength, and, since the life which we
-    enjoy is itself brief, to make the memory of us as lasting as
-    possible.[50]
-
-His account of the terror at Rome when the greatness of the danger
-from the conspiracy of Catiline became known, shows his power of vivid
-description:
-
-    By these things the state was deeply moved and the face of the
-    city was changed. From the greatest gaiety and wantonness, which
-    long peace had brought forth, suddenly utter sadness came in;
-    people hurried, ran trembling about, had no confidence in any
-    place or man, neither waged war, nor were at peace; each one
-    measured the danger by his own fear.[51]
-
-The beginning of the speech of Marius to the Romans exhibits Sallust's
-rhetorical style, his liking for antitheses and for descriptive
-epithets:
-
-    I know, Quirites, that not by the same conduct do most men seek
-    power from you and use it after they have obtained it, that at
-    first they are industrious, humble, and moderate, but afterward
-    pass their lives in sloth and haughtiness. But to me the opposite
-    seems right, for by as much as the entire state is more important
-    than the consulship or the prætorship, with so much greater care
-    ought the former to be administered than these latter to be
-    sought. Nor am I ignorant how much trouble I am taking upon myself
-    at the same time with the greatest honor from you. To make ready
-    for war, and at the same time spare the treasury, to force to
-    military service those whom one does not wish to offend, to care
-    for everything at home and abroad, and to do this among envious,
-    opposing, seditious men, is harder, Quirites, than you think.
-
-Artificial though the style of Sallust is, it is interesting, lively,
-often concise and vivid. It had no little influence upon the style of
-subsequent writers, especially upon that of Tacitus, the greatest of
-Roman historians. We must remember, too, that the _Catiline_ and the
-_Jugurtha_ were of much less importance than the lost _Histories_. In
-this greater and more mature work Sallust may have avoided some of the
-faults of style that appear in the extant treatises.
-
-[Sidenote: Cornelius Nepos.] A much less interesting writer than
-Sallust is Cornelius Nepos. Like Catullus and several other authors
-of this period, he came to Rome from the north. His birthplace was
-probably Ticinum, on the river Po. Little is known of his life, which
-appears to have extended from a little before 100 B. C. to a little
-after 30 B. C. He was a friend of Catullus and of Cicero's friend
-Atticus, probably also of other literary men at Rome. His works
-were all, with the exception of some love poems, historical and
-biographical. The _Chronica_, in three books, treating of universal
-history, was probably written before 52 B. C. The _Exempla_, in five
-books, was a history of Roman manners and customs. Three other works
-were a _Life of Cato_ (the elder), a _Life of Cicero_, and a treatise
-on geography. His latest work, published apparently between 35 and 33
-B. C., was a great collection of biographies of distinguished men (_De
-Viris Illustribus_), dedicated to Atticus. An addition to the life of
-Atticus was made between 31 and 27 B. C. This work contained at least
-sixteen books, and was divided into sections of two books each, so
-that each section contained one book on Romans and one on foreigners.
-The sections treated of Kings, Generals, Statesmen, Orators, Poets,
-Philosophers, Historians, and Grammarians.
-
-[Sidenote: Qualities of the works of Nepos.] Of all the works of Nepos,
-there remain to us only the book on foreign generals, and from the book
-on Roman historians the lives of Cato the elder and of Atticus, besides
-fragments of the letters of Cornelia, mother of the Gracchi. The book
-on foreign generals contains biographies of twenty Greek generals,
-a brief sketch of kings who were also generals, and biographies of
-Hamilcar and Hannibal. Nepos draws his facts from good sources, such
-as Thucydides, Xenophon, Theopompus, Polybius, and the writings of
-Hannibal, but is careless and uncritical, and does not employ all the
-important sources of information on each subject. He makes mistakes
-in matters of history and geography, arranges his material badly,
-and gives to trivial anecdotes the space that might better have been
-devoted to more important matters. His style, though generally clear,
-is without elegance. The structure of his sentences is simple, and
-his subject-matter is interesting. For these reasons, rather than on
-account of any literary merit, his _Lives_ have been much used as a
-text-book for beginners in Latin.
-
-[Sidenote: Varro.] One of the most productive and learned writers of
-the age of Cicero was Marcus Terentius Varro, who was born in 116 B. C.
-at Reate, in the Sabine country. He studied at Rome under Lucius Ælius
-Stilo, and at Athens under Antiochus of Ascalon. In 76 B. C. he was
-in the army in Spain, in 67 B. C. he distinguished himself in the war
-against the pirates. Perhaps he continued to serve under Pompey in the
-war with Mithridates. In the civil war he was on the side of Pompey,
-and was forced to surrender to Cæsar the legion under his command. He
-was afterward in Epirus, at Corcyra, and at Dyrrhachium. After Cæsar's
-victory, Varro accepted the new government and was placed in charge of
-the public libraries. He was proscribed by Antony after Cæsar's death,
-but his life was saved through the devotion of his friends, and he
-spent his remaining years in peace, continuing his literary activity
-until the end. He died in his ninetieth year, 27 B. C.
-
-[Sidenote: Varro's works.] Varro's works were many and varied. Some
-seventy-four titles are known, and the total number of single books
-amounted to about six hundred and twenty. These included poems,
-works on grammar, history, geography, law, rhetoric, philosophy,
-mathematics, literary history and education, miscellaneous essays,
-orations, and letters. Of all these there remain one complete work,
-_On Agriculture_ (_De Re Rustica_), in three books, six (v-x) of the
-original twenty-five books of the treatise _On the Latin Language_ (_De
-Lingua Latino_), numerous short fragments of the _Menippean Satires_
-(_Saturæ Menippeæ_), and a few fragments of some of the other works.
-The collection of maxims that passes under Varro's name is probably
-spurious.
-
-[Sidenote: Varro's extant works.] The _Menippean Satires_ were written
-in prose interspersed with verses, in imitation of the works of the
-Cynic Menippus, who lived about 300 B. C., and probably belong to
-Varro's earlier years. They treat of almost all the relations of
-human life in a satirical vein. The extant verses show some ability
-in metrical composition and no little humor. It is evident, however,
-that Varro was not a great poet, and the loss of his other poems is
-little to be regretted. The three books _On Agriculture_ give, in the
-form of a dialogue, a systematic treatment of agriculture proper, of
-stock-raising, and of poultry, game, and fish. The dialogue is stiff,
-and the arrangement of the different parts of the subject artificial.
-The work is valuable for the information it contains, but its literary
-form is unattractive. The extant books of the treatise _On the Latin
-Language_ are chiefly concerned with the derivation of words and with
-inflections. Syntax was treated in books xiv-xxv. Varro's etymologies
-are often incorrect, and his ideas concerning inflections unscientific;
-but the work contains much that is of value to the student of the
-Latin language and of Roman antiquities. The style is dry and often
-dull. In fact, this is hardly a work of literature, but rather a
-technical treatise. Varro was a man of great learning and prodigious
-industry, but not a literary artist. [Sidenote: The Antiquitates and
-the Imagines.] Among his lost works the most important were probably
-the _Human and Divine Antiquities_ (_Antiquitates Rerum Divinarum
-Humanarumque_), in forty-one books, and the _Portraits_ (_Hebdomades_,
-or _Imagines_), in fifteen books. The latter work contained brief
-accounts in prose and verse of seven hundred famous Greeks and Romans,
-with their portraits. Varro's works were vast treasure-houses of
-information, but there is no reason to suppose that they possessed any
-great literary qualities.
-
-The remaining prose writers of this period may be passed over with a
-brief mention. Many of them are little more than names to us, and the
-works of all are lost. [Sidenote: Atticus.] One of the most interesting
-is Titus Pomponius Atticus (109-32 B. C.), whose biography was written
-by Cornelius Nepos. He was a wealthy man, who abstained from public
-life and devoted himself to literature by publishing the works of
-others and giving friendly aid to literary men as well as by writing.
-His friendship with Cicero has already been mentioned. His works were
-historical, the most important being the _Annals_ (_Liber Annalis_), a
-chronological sketch of Roman history from the foundation of the city
-to the year 49 B. C. His other works were biographies or genealogies,
-and descriptive verses written to accompany portraits of distinguished
-men.
-
-[Sidenote: Minor orators.] The orator Quintus Hortensius Hortalus
-(114-50 B. C.) is chiefly known through Cicero. He was the advocate
-of Verres when Cicero conducted the prosecution, he spoke against the
-Manilian Law, which Cicero supported, and in several suits he was
-engaged by the same client who secured Cicero's services. Hortensius
-was the chief representative of the florid and ornamental "Asian" style
-of oratory at Rome. Among the orators who adopted the simple Attic
-style, the most important were Marcus Calidius, who was prætor in 57
-B. C. and died in 47 B. C.; Gaius Licinius Calvus (87-47 B. C.), who
-has been mentioned above (page 62) as a poet; Marcus Junius Brutus, the
-leader of the conspirators who murdered Cæsar; and Quintus Cornificius,
-who was also a poet (see page 64).
-
-[Sidenote: Quintus Cicero.] Quintus Tullius Cicero (102-43 B. C.),
-the brother of Marcus, was also a literary man, though far inferior
-to his brother. When he was Cæsar's lieutenant in Gaul, in 54 B. C.,
-he wrote several tragedies, apparently translations from the Greek,
-and he was also the author of annals and of an epic poem on Cæsar's
-expedition to Britain. The only writings of Quintus Cicero now existing
-are three letters to Tiro and one to Marcus Cicero, besides an _Essay
-on Candidature for the Consulship_, in the form of a letter to Marcus,
-written when he was a candidate for that office in 64 B. C. This gives
-some interesting information about the methods of Roman politicians,
-but has little literary interest. The first of Marcus Cicero's _Letters
-to Quintus_ is a similar treatise on the government of a province,
-written when Quintus was beginning his third year as proprætor of Asia,
-59 B. C. [Sidenote: Tiro.] Another writer closely connected with Cicero
-was his freedman and friend Tiro, who wrote Cicero's biography, made
-editions of his speeches and letters, and collected his witticisms,
-besides writing on grammar and inventing a system of shorthand.
-
-[Sidenote: Writers on special subjects.] The grammatical, theological,
-and scientific works of Publius Nigidius Figulus, who was prætor in
-58 B. C., and died in banishment in 45 B. C., have little to do with
-literature, and are lost. Nor is it necessary to devote even a brief
-space to the grammatical and rhetorical works of Aurelius Opilius,
-Antonius Gnipho, Marcus Pompilius Andronicus, and others, whose
-teachings helped to inform some of the great writers and orators of
-the time, but whose works have not been preserved. A philologist,
-historian, and poet, whose writings were considered important, was
-Santra, who seems to have been somewhat younger than Varro, but we are
-now unable to determine wherein their importance consisted. Among the
-jurists of this period the most distinguished was Servius Sulpicius
-Rufus, two letters from whom are preserved in Cicero's correspondence
-(_Ad Familiares_, iv, 5, and iv, 12). These give a high idea of his
-style, but are the only remains of his writings. All branches of
-knowledge, so far as they existed at that time, were treated by various
-writers, but a discussion of their lost works has no place in a brief
-history of literature.
-
-The last years of the republic are made illustrious by the great names
-of Lucretius, Catullus, Cicero, and Cæsar. In the Augustan age, poetry
-attained a still greater height of perfection with Virgil and Horace,
-but the age of Cicero is the golden age of Latin prose.
-
-
-
-
-BOOK II
-
-_THE AUGUSTAN PERIOD_
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VIII
-
-THE PATRONS OF LITERATURE--VIRGIL
-
-    Effect of the Empire upon literature--Augustus, 63 B. C.-14 A.
-    D.--Agrippa, 63-12 B. C.--Pollio, 67 B. C.-5 A. D.--Messalla, 64
-    B. C.-8 A. D.--Mæcenas, 70 (?)-8 B. C.--Virgil, 70-19 B. C.--His
-    life--The Eclogues--The Georgics--The Æneid.
-
-
-[Sidenote: Effect of the Empire upon literature.] With the battle of
-Actium the Roman Republic came to an end. Julius Cæsar had, to be sure,
-gathered all the power of the state into his own hand, but he had
-held it only a short time; Octavius--after 27 B. C., Augustus--held the
-full power until his death, and left it unimpaired to his successors.
-The change from a free government, whatever its corruption and decay,
-to what was really an unlimited monarchy could not fail to have some
-influence upon literature. Henceforth the great orator might hope to
-win cases in the courts, but he could no longer change the policy of
-the nation; the historian might search the records of the past and
-describe the deeds of those who were no longer living, but if he wrote
-of the history of his own times, he must have the fear of the master
-always before his eyes; the poet could sing of love and wine and
-nature without let or hindrance, but poems of national and political
-importance could hardly be written except by those in sympathy with
-the empire. The emperor might exert his influence to put down all
-literary expression not agreeable to him without encouraging literature
-of any kind, or he might encourage certain kinds of literature and
-certain writers without treating with severity even those whose works
-displeased him, or he might at the same time encourage some and
-suppress others. Under an imperial master literary expression could not
-be so free as in the days of the republic, but the degree of restraint
-at any time depended upon the character of the emperor. It is due to
-the enlightened liberality of Augustus that the period of his rule was
-the most brilliant epoch of Roman literature.
-
-[Sidenote: Augustus.] Augustus (63 B. C.-14 A. D.) had received a
-careful education in his youth, and had a genuine and intelligent
-admiration for literature. His own literary productions comprised an
-epic poem entitled _Sicily_, some short epigrams, an unfinished tragedy
-entitled _Ajax_, orations, memoirs, and letters. Before his death he
-directed that an account of his deeds (_Index Rerum Gestarum_) should
-be engraved on bronze tablets and affixed to his tomb. He probably
-composed this account himself, and the copy of it found inscribed upon
-the wall of the temple of Augustus and Rome at Ancyra (the _Monumentum
-Ancyranum_), containing in simple and dignified language the record
-of his life, his political measures, and his military activity, shows
-the good taste of the first Roman emperor, for he who had become the
-ruler of the civilized world was not led to praise himself or speak
-in extravagant terms of any of his deeds, but composed the record of
-his wonderful life in terms of simplicity so grave and dignified as to
-inspire veneration. It was not, however, through his own compositions
-but through his influence that Augustus made his name great in the
-history of literature. He encouraged Virgil, Horace, and other poets,
-he attended the recitations of authors who wished to bring their new
-works before an enlightened public, and he surrounded himself with
-friends who delighted in aiding and honoring those whose genius could
-give glory to their patrons and add lustre to the empire.
-
-[Sidenote: Agrippa.] Among these friends of literature was Marcus
-Vipsanius Agrippa (63-12 B. C.), who caused the first map of the
-world to be set up in the porticus Polæ and was himself the author of
-geographical works. More important was Gaius Asinius Pollio (67 B. C.-5
-A. D.), who established the first public library in Rome. [Sidenote:
-Pollio.] His example was followed by Augustus, who established two
-libraries, one in the porch of Octavia, the other in the temple of the
-Palatine Apollo, under the care of the learned Varro. Pollio was a
-soldier, statesman, and orator, but also wrote tragedies and a history
-of the years 60-42 B. C., in which he criticized boldly the statements
-of Julius Cæsar, the adoptive father of Augustus. Pollio was the first
-to hold and encourage public and private recitations of new literary
-works. [Sidenote: Mesalla.] Less closely connected with the emperor
-was Marcus Valerius Messalla (64 B. C.-8 A. D.), who had originally
-been a partizan of Brutus, but had made his peace with Augustus. He
-was, like Pollio, an orator, but occupied himself also with
-antiquarian and grammatical researches, and in his earlier years made
-translations from the Greek and wrote Greek prose and verse. His house
-was a gathering place for the younger poets of the period.
-
-[Sidenote: Mæcenas.] But of all the patrons of literature under
-Augustus, the most distinguished was Gaius Mæcenas, the friend of
-Augustus, of Virgil, and of Horace. He was born about 70 B. C., and
-died in 8 B. C. A member of an ancient and noble Etruscan family, he
-had been carefully educated, and developed the most refined literary
-taste. His attractive and winning personality made him of great service
-to Octavius in his negotiations with Antony and Sextus Pompey, and
-after the power of Augustus was established Mæcenas was the close
-friend and constant adviser of the emperor. In spite of his fine
-literary taste, he was without talent as a writer, and his works, both
-prose and verse, were severely criticized by his contemporaries and by
-later readers. It is little to be regretted that his writings, like
-those of the other patrons of literature who have been mentioned, are
-lost. And yet the name of Mæcenas will always occupy an honored place
-in the history of literature, for it was he who made possible the poems
-of Virgil and Horace.
-
-[Sidenote: Virgil.] The greatest of Roman poets is Virgil. Publius
-Vergilius Maro was born of humble parents, at Andes, a village in
-the territory of Mantua, October 15, 70 B. C. His parents can not
-have been poor, for they gave him a good education, first at Cremona,
-then at Milan, and later at Rome. He was trained chiefly in rhetoric
-and philosophy, but the only teacher whose influence seems to have
-been lasting was the Epicurean philosopher Siro. For oratory Virgil
-developed no taste. After the battle of Philippi (42 B. C.) the
-triumvirs recompensed their veterans by a distribution of farm lands,
-and Virgil's farm was given to a new owner. At that time Asinius
-Pollio, who had admired Virgil's poetry and had encouraged him to
-write the _Bucolics_ or _Eclogues_, was governor of the region beyond
-the Po, and through his influence the poet was reinstated in his
-property. But in the following summer a new distribution of lands was
-made, and Pollio was no longer governor of the province. Virgil was
-dispossessed, and had to take refuge at the villa of his teacher Siro.
-Through the influence of Cornelius Gallus and Mæcenas, Augustus was led
-to recompense the poet for his loss, and from this time Virgil was in
-close relations to the imperial circle. Hereafter he lived at Rome and
-on an estate near Naples, which he received from Augustus.
-
-In 37 or 36 B. C. and the following years he wrote the _Georgics_ in
-honor of Mæcenas, and the _Æneid_, written at the request of Augustus,
-was begun in 29 B. C. When the poem was finished and the poet had
-reached his fifty-first year, he went to Athens, intending to devote
-three years to the final revision of his work, and then to give himself
-up to the study of philosophy. But at Athens he met with Augustus,
-who was on the point of returning to Rome from the East and invited
-him to join the imperial party. Virgil was already ill from exposure
-to the heat during a visit to Megara, but accepted the invitation. On
-the voyage his illness increased, and a few days after his arrival at
-Brundusium he died, September 21, 19 B. C. He was buried at Naples,
-where he had passed most of his later years.
-
-[Sidenote: Virgil's Works.] Virgil's undisputed works are three:
-the _Eclogues_, called, on account of their pastoral nature, the
-_Bucolics_; the _Georgics_; and the _Æneid_. [Sidenote: The Eclogues.]
-The _Eclogues_ are a series of ten idylls in imitation of the poems
-of the Greek poet Theocritus. The Greek word "idyll" means "little
-picture," and since all Virgil's idylls, except the fourth, and most
-of those of Theocritus, depict the life of herdsmen in the country,
-the word is generally applied to pastoral poems. Virgil's _Eclogues_
-are little pictures of pastoral life, but contain many allusions to
-the poet's own circumstances and to his friends and patrons, Pollio,
-Gallus, Varus, Mæcenas, and Augustus. Pastoral poems, written for the
-cultivated circle of an imperial court, are necessarily artificial,
-and to this rule the _Eclogues_ are no exception. Yet the charm of
-their diction, the polish of their verse, the genuine love of nature
-and appreciation of rural life which they display, have given these
-poems a well-deserved place among the most famous productions of Roman
-literature. In the _Eclogues_ Virgil is, even more than in his other
-poems, dependent on Greek originals. Not only scattered lines, but
-whole passages are almost literal translations from the idylls of
-Theocritus, and less noticeable adaptations from other poets also
-occur. Sometimes Virgil's version is less beautiful than the original
-poem from which he borrows, and some of the most admired passages are
-not his own inventions; but even in the _Eclogues_, the earliest of his
-authentic works, written when he was about thirty years of age, amid
-the distress that accompanied his ejection from his little property,
-Virgil succeeds in making from his Greek originals new and great poems
-of genuinely Roman character. From first to last Virgil is a national
-poet.
-
-The poem which stands first in the series, but which was not the
-first in order of composition, has the form of a dialogue between two
-herdsmen, Meliboeus and Tityrus. In it the poet expresses his gratitude
-to Augustus, whom he calls a god. The poem begins:
-
-      _Meliboeus._ Stretched in the shadow of the broad beech, thou
-    Rehearsest, Tityrus, on the slender pipe
-    Thy woodland music. We our fatherland
-    Are leaving, we must shun the fields we love:
-    While, Tityrus, thou, at ease amid the shade,
-    Bidd'st answering woods call Amaryllis "fair."
-
-      _Tityrus._ O Meliboeus! 'tis a god that made
-    For me this holiday: for a god I'll aye
-    Account him; many a young lamb from my fold
-    Shall stain his altar. Thanks to him, my kine
-    Range as thou seest them: thanks to him, I play
-    What songs I list upon my shepherd's pipe.[52]
-
-In the dialogue that follows, Tityrus, who represents Virgil himself,
-speaks of his visit to Rome and his meeting with Augustus:
-
-    There, Meliboeus, I beheld that youth
-    For whom each year twelve days my altars smoke.
-    Thus answered he my yet unanswered prayer,
-    "Feed still, my lads, your kine, and yoke your bulls."[53]
-
-The fourth _Eclogue_, addressed to Pollio, and written in the year of
-his consulship (40 B. C.), celebrates in prophetic and lofty language
-the birth of a child. As the child grows the world is to become
-better, until the golden age of peace and good-will among men shall
-come again. This poem was, curiously enough, long supposed to be an
-inspired prophecy of the coming of Christ. Who the child really was
-is uncertain, but there is some evidence that Gaius Asinius Gallus,
-Pollio's son, is meant. The lofty tone is struck with the very opening
-of the poem:
-
-    Muses of Sicily, a loftier song
-    Wake we! Some tire of shrubs and myrtles low.
-    Are woods our theme? Then princely be the woods.
-
-    Come are those last days that the Sibyl sang;
-    The ages' mighty march begins anew.
-    Now comes the virgin, Saturn reigns again;
-    Now from high heaven descends a wondrous race.
-    Thou on the new-born babe--who first shall end
-    That age of iron, bid a golden dawn
-    Upon the broad world--chaste Lucina, smile:
-    Now thy Apollo reigns. And Pollio, thou
-    Shalt be our Prince, when he that grander age
-    Opens, and onward roll the mighty moons:
-    Thou, trampling out what prints our crimes have left,
-    Shalt free the nations from perpetual fear.
-    While he to bliss shall waken; with the Blest
-    See the Brave mingling, and be seen of them,
-    Ruling that world o'er which his father's arm shed peace.[54]
-
-But the atmosphere of the _Eclogues_ is generally that of the country,
-and the form that of dialogue, with competitive songs by the herdsmen.
-The opening lines of the fifth _Eclogue_ may serve as an example. The
-characters are Menalcas and Mopsus:
-
-    _Men._ Mopsus, suppose now two good men have met--
-    You at flute-blowing, as at verses I--
-    We sit down here, where elm and hazel mix.
-
-      _Mop._ Menalcas, meet it is that I obey
-    Mine elder. Lead, or into shade--that shifts
-    At the wind's fancy--or (mayhap the best)
-    Into some cave. See, here's a cave, o'er which
-    A wild vine flings her flimsy foliage.
-
-      _Men._ On these hills one--Amyntas--vies with you.
-
-      _Mop._ Suppose he thought to out-sing Phoebus' self?
-
-      _Men._ Mopsus, begin. If aught you know of flames
-    That Phyllis kindles, aught of Alcon's worth,
-    Or Codrus' ill-temper, then begin;
-    Tityrus meanwhile will watch the grazing kids.
-
-      _Mop._ Ay, I will sing the song which t'other day
-    On a green beech's bark I cut; and scored
-    The music as I wrote. Hear that, and bid
-    Amyntas vie with me.
-
-      _Men._              As willow lithe
-    Yields to pale olive; as to crimson beds
-    Of roses yields the lowly lavender,
-    So, to my mind, Amyntas yields to you.[55]
-
-[Sidenote: The Georgics.] The _Eclogues_ were published not later
-than 38 B. C. In 29 B. C. the four books of the _Georgics_ were
-completed. One of the most important tasks of the new government, now
-that the civil strife was ended, was to ensure the continuance of
-tranquility by settling the veterans in the country and encouraging
-agriculture, which had been sadly neglected in Italy for many years.
-It was therefore with a practical end in view that Mæcenas suggested
-to Virgil the composition of a poem on agriculture. This was a subject
-which Virgil was especially qualified to treat with success, and the
-poem, to which he devoted seven years, is the most perfect of his
-works. It is a very free imitation of the _Works and Days_ of Hesiod,
-and contains many passages derived from Aratus and other Greek poets,
-but in its composition and its poetic beauty it is independent of
-all but Virgil's own genius. It is dedicated to Mæcenas. The first
-book treats of the tilling of the soil, the beginning of agriculture,
-the instruments needed by the farmer, the tasks appropriate to the
-different seasons, and the signs of the weather, ending with a splendid
-passage describing the portents at the time of Cæsar's death, and a
-prayer that Augustus may put an end to the wars and disorders of the
-times. This passage is closely connected with the preceding lines in
-which the signs of the weather given by the appearance of the sun are
-described. It begins:
-
-    And last, what evening brings, and when the wind
-    Bears placid clouds, and also with what thoughts
-    The wet south wind is moved, of all these things
-    The sun will give thee signs. Who dares to say
-    The sun is false? He even warns ofttimes
-    That strife unseen and treason are at hand
-    And hidden wars are swelling to break forth.
-    He even, pitying Rome for Cæsar's fall,
-    In pitchy darkness veiled his shining head;
-    The impious age feared endless night. Yet then
-    Earth also and the waters of the sea
-    And obscene dogs and evil-omened birds
-    Gave signs. How often did we see boil forth
-    From bursting furnace of the Cyclopes
-    The waves of Ætna o'er the fertile fields
-    And roll her balls of flame and molten rocks!
-    Germania heard through all the sky the sound
-    Of arms; the Alps with unused tremblings shook.
-    Then, too, by many through the silent groves
-    A mighty voice was heard, and pallid forms
-    In wondrous wise appeared in dusky night,
-    And dumb beasts spake (oh, horror!), and the streams
-    Stood still, and earth yawned open, and the sad
-    Carved ivory wept within the sacred fanes,
-    And sweat poured forth from statues wrought of bronze.
-    Eridanus, the king of rivers, rushed
-    Whirling the woods along on eddies mad,
-    And through the fields bore stables with the herds.[56]
-
-The second book treats of the culture of trees and of the vine, and
-includes a description of the properties of different kinds of soil.
-Among its beautiful passages one is the praise of Italy,[57] another
-the description of the blessings of the farmer's life, beginning--
-
-    O blessed farmers, if they only might
-    Their blessings know! For whom the bounteous earth
-    Herself, afar from strife of clashing arms,
-    Pours forth an easy livelihood.[58]
-
-The third book is devoted to the care of horses and cattle. A beautiful
-passage, near the beginning of the book, expresses the poet's love for
-his native Mantua and his homage to Augustus. The first lines of this
-passage are as follows:
-
-    I first, if life be granted, coming back,
-    Will lead the Muses from Aonian heights
-    To my own land; I first will bring to thee,
-    My Mantua, Idumæan palms, and in
-    Thy verdant mead will build a marble fane
-    Beside the water, where the mighty stream
-    Of Mincius wanders slow with winding curves
-    And clothes with tender reeds the river banks.
-    There in the midst for me shall Cæsar stand
-    And hold the temple. Then to him will I
-    As victor, clad in Tyrian purple garb,
-    Drive to the stream a hundred four-horse cars.[59]
-
-The fourth book treats of the culture of bees. It contains several
-passages of singular beauty, one of the most striking of which is the
-description of the life of the hive.[60] The poem ends with an epic
-description of the visit of Aristæus, the mythical founder of bee
-culture, to his mother, the sea-nymph Cyrene. This includes an account
-of the struggle of Aristæus with the sea-god Proteus and the death
-of Eurydice, the wife of Orpheus. A tradition exists that the poem
-originally ended with a passage in praise of Gallus; but before its
-publication Gallus had died in disgrace, and the present ending was
-substituted. In its final form the close of the _Georgics_ shows that
-Virgil was already tending to become an epic poet.
-
-[Sidenote: The Æneid.] At the request of Augustus, Virgil began, in 29
-B. C., the composition of his greatest work, the _Æneid_, in which he
-tells of the mythical origin of the Roman race and of the greatness
-and glory of the Rome that was to arise and reach its height under
-the leadership of the Julian family, which claimed direct descent
-from Æneas. As early as the sixth century B. C. the Sicilian poet
-Stesichorus had sung of the coming of Æneas to Italy. Nævius and Ennius
-had connected Æneas with the origin of Rome, and had fixed some of the
-details of the story. Upon the foundations thus prepared for him Virgil
-erected the splendid structure of his poem. In the _Eclogues_ he had
-followed, closely for the most part, in the footsteps of Theocritus;
-the _Works and Days_ of Hesiod had served as the prototype of the
-_Georgics_, though here Virgil was so far from slavish imitation that
-his work surpasses the _Works and Days_ in every respect. In the
-_Æneid_ the imitation of Homer's _Iliad_ and _Odyssey_ is constantly
-evident, and certain passages are clearly derived from Euripides,
-Sophocles, and Apollonius of Rhodes; but the _Æneid_ is by no means
-a mere imitation. In some respects it is far inferior to the Homeric
-poems. It lacks their simplicity, their rapidity of movement, and their
-fresh joyousness; it can not be compared with them in narrative power
-or brilliancy of imagery. In these qualities Homer is unapproachable.
-But as a national epic, as the expression in prophetic form of the
-national greatness and of the poet's deep-seated passion for his
-country's glory the _Æneid_ had no prototype, as it has had no
-successor. Virgil is not Homer; he is reflective, filled with the deep
-thoughts that centuries of speculation had implanted in the serious
-minds of his age; and his great poem is more than a mere narrative.
-In execution the _Æneid_ is uneven. At times it is polished to the
-highest degree, at other times it falls to a level hardly, if at all,
-above mediocrity; some passages breathe a poetic fervor unsurpassed,
-while others might almost as well be written in prose. So conscious was
-Virgil himself of the unevenness and imperfections of his work that he
-wished it to be burned after his death, and could hardly be persuaded
-to leave its fate in the hands of his friends. His death came before he
-had perfected the poem, and its most perfect parts show what he wished
-it all to be and what it might have become had his life been spared.
-Even though it lacks the master's final revision, it remains the
-greatest poem of Roman times and one of the greatest poems of all ages.
-
-[Sidenote: Imitation of Homer.] The _Æneid_ was to be for the Romans
-what the _Iliad_ and the _Odyssey_ together were for the Greeks. The
-first six books are modelled chiefly on the _Odyssey_. As the _Odyssey_
-tells of the wanderings and adventures of Odysseus before he reaches
-his home, so these books of the _Æneid_ tell of the adventures of Æneas
-on his voyage from Troy to Italy, and more than one passage shows how
-constantly the _Odyssey_ was in the poet's mind. The last six books
-tell of the struggles of Æneas and his followers against the warriors
-who opposed their settlement in Italy; and here the combats described
-in the _Iliad_ are imitated, sometimes even in details. In the final
-struggle Æneas is a second Achilles, and the brave but unfortunate
-Turnus is an Italian Hector.
-
-In the first book, after a brief introduction, the poem begins in the
-midst of the story. The fleet of Æneas is off the coast of Sicily, when
-Juno causes the wind-god, Æolus, to rouse a storm. The Trojan vessels
-are driven on the rocks, and the sea is stirred to its lowest depths.
-Then Neptune, angered that his waters are thus tossed about without
-his consent, rebukes Æolus, and puts the waves to rest:
-
-    He said, and ere his words were done,
-    Allays the surge, brings back the sun:
-    Triton and swift Cymothoë drag
-    The ships from off the pointed crag:
-    He, trident-armed, each dull weight heaves,
-    Through the vast shoals a passage cleaves,
-    Makes smooth the ruffled wave, and rides
-    Calm o'er the surface of the tides.
-    As when sedition oft has stirred
-    In some great town the vulgar herd,
-    And brands and stones already fly--
-    For rage has weapons always nigh--
-    Then should some man of worth appear
-    Whose stainless virtue all revere,
-    They hush, they hist: his clear voice rules
-    Their rebel wills, their anger cools:
-    So ocean ceased at once to rave,
-    When, calmly looking o'er the wave,
-    Girt with a range of azure sky,
-    The father bids his chariot fly.[61]
-
-The Trojans reach the African coast, where Æneas meets his mother,
-Venus, and is directed to the city of Carthage, which the Phoenician
-princess Dido has just founded. Æneas and his comrade, the faithful
-Achates, enter the city wrapped in a cloud, which makes them invisible.
-When they are revealed to Dido, she receives them kindly, and takes
-them to her palace. Æneas sends to the ships for his son Ascanius, also
-called Iulus, but Venus substitutes for him the god of love, Cupid,
-who fills Dido's heart with love for Æneas. In the second book Æneas
-begins the story of his adventures with a superb account of the fall
-of Troy, his own valiant but ineffectual struggle against the Greeks,
-and his final flight. In the third book he continues his story to
-the time of his arrival at Carthage. The fourth book is devoted to
-the love and fate of Dido. Æneas and Dido, with their followers, go
-hunting in the forest; a storm arises, and the two, separated from the
-rest, take refuge in a cave, where only the woodland nymphs witness the
-union of their loves. Dido looks forward to a joint reign over Trojans
-and Tyrians alike. But Æneas is warned by Mercury, at the command of
-Jupiter, to fulfil his destiny and sail to Italy. Dido overwhelms
-him with loving reproaches, but in vain; he remains steadfast in his
-obedience to the divine will. Then Dido determines to die. She erects
-a funeral pyre, places upon it the mementoes of her former husband,
-Sychæus, and mounts it to end her life. But before she dies she calls
-down curses upon Æneas and his race:
-
-    Eye of the world, majestic Sun,
-    Who seest whate'er on earth is done,
-    Thou, Juno, too, interpreter
-    And witness of the heart's fond stir,
-    And Hecate, tremendous power,
-    In cross-ways howled at midnight hour,
-    Avenging fiends, and gods of death
-    Who breathe in dying Dido's breath,
-    Stoop your great powers to ills that plead
-    To heaven, and my petition heed.
-    If needs must be that wretch abhorred
-      Attain the port and float to land;
-    If such the fate of heaven's high lord,
-      And so the moveless pillars stand;
-    Scourged by a savage enemy,
-      An exile from his son's embrace,
-    So let him sue for aid and see
-      His people slain before his face;
-    Nor, when to humbling peace at length
-      He stoops, be his or life or land,
-    But let him fall in manhood's strength
-      And welter tombless on the sand.
-    Such malison to heaven I pour,
-    A last libation with my gore.
-    And, Tyrians, you through time to come
-      His seed with deathless hatred chase:
-    Be that your gift to Dido's tomb.
-      No love, no league 'twixt race and race.
-    Rise from my ashes, scourge of crime,
-      Born to pursue the Dardan horde
-    To-day, to-morrow, through all time,
-      Oft as our hands can wield the sword,
-    Fight shore with shore, fight sea with sea,
-    Fight all that are or e'er shall be![62]
-
-These lines are the poetic and mythological justification for the long
-and disastrous wars between Rome and Carthage. In the fifth book the
-Trojans reach Sicily, and celebrate at Eryx funeral games in honor of
-Anchises, the father of Æneas, who had died there the year before. In
-the sixth book they reach Cumæ, in Italy. Æneas descends to Hades to
-consult with the shade of Anchises. Here he sees the fabled monsters of
-the lower regions, and the shades of many departed heroes. Then there
-pass before him the forms of those as yet unborn. This gives the poet
-an opportunity to praise the great men of Rome, among them Julius Cæsar
-and Augustus. Here he sees the form of the young Marcellus, son of
-Octavia, the sister of Augustus. When this book was written, Marcellus
-had recently died in his twentieth year. Virgil read his lines[63] on
-Marcellus to Augustus and Octavia, and the bereaved mother was so moved
-that she fainted. Virgil's description of the realm of the dead is in
-some parts unusually beautiful, and is especially interesting, because
-it stands, not only in date but also in many other respects, midway
-between the eleventh book of Homer's _Odyssey_ and Dante's _Divine
-Comedy_.
-
-[Sidenote: The last six books.] The last six books of the _Æneid_,
-recounting the struggles of the Trojans in Italy, contain many fine
-passages, but are for the most part less interesting to the modern
-reader than the earlier books. In many parts they are finished with
-most exquisite art, even showing that Virgil's technical ability
-increased as the poem drew toward its close, but many other passages
-show the lack of the final revision. To the Roman the ancient legends
-of the origin of the Roman power must have been of surpassing interest,
-but most modern readers remember, amid the successive scenes of strife,
-only the heroic Turnus, the lovely Lavinia, the warlike maidens Camilla
-and Juturna, and the brave and devoted friends, Nisus and Euryalus, who
-were slain when endeavoring to carry a message in the night through the
-hostile camp to the absent Æneas:
-
-    Blest pair! if aught my verse avail,
-    No day shall make your memory fail
-      From off the heart of time,
-    While Capitol abides in place,
-    The mansion of the Æneian race,
-    And throned upon that moveless base
-      Rome's father sits sublime.[64]
-
-The _Æneid_ closes with the death of Turnus, the chief opponent of
-the Trojans in Italy. In spite of its obvious imperfections, it is
-the greatest poem in the Latin language; and no later epic poem in
-any language equalled or even approached it in excellence until the
-appearance of Dante's _Divine Comedy_. [Sidenote: Virgil in the Middle
-Ages.] It is not to be wondered at that throughout the Middle Ages
-Virgil was regarded as the impersonation of all that was great in
-poetry; nor is it strange that the poet whose verses breathe such an
-indescribable, sweet sadness, who sings in lofty, inspired language
-of that Roman greatness which was ever present to the mediæval
-imagination, who describes the dwellings of the dead, and who was even
-believed to have foretold the coming of the Messiah, should have become
-in mediæval legends the possessor of all wisdom and all magic power.
-It is natural that Dante chose Virgil as his guide through hell and
-purgatory, and would gladly have admitted him to paradise had his
-theology allowed him to do so.
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: VIRGIL AND TWO MUSES.
-
-Mosaic in the Bardo Museum, Tunis.]
-
-CHAPTER IX
-
-HORACE
-
-    Quintus Horatius Flaccus, 65-8 B. C.--Virgil and Horaces--Life of
-    Horace--The first book of Satires--The Epodes--The second book
-    of Satires--The first three books of Odes--The first book of
-    Epistles--The literary Epistles--The Carmen Sæculare--The fourth
-    book of Odes--Conclusion.
-
-
-Throughout the Middle Ages Virgil was regarded as incomparably the
-greatest of Roman poets. In modern times his greatness has been called
-in question, and some scholars have even gone so far as to deny that
-he was a great poet at all. The difference is due, in great measure,
-to the fact that in the Middle Ages the poems of Homer, Theocritus,
-and the other Greek poets whom Virgil imitated, were unknown, and
-Virgil was regarded as the great epic and pastoral poet of antiquity.
-[Sidenote: Virgil and Horace.] That Virgil imitated the Greek poets
-is evident, but in the last chapter enough has been said to show that
-his poetry contains qualities not to be found in the works of the
-Greeks, and that although his poems are in many respects not equal to
-those of Homer, he must still be regarded as one of the greatest poets
-of the world. The increase of knowledge which has led to the undue
-depreciation of Virgil tended to make the second great poet of the
-Augustan period more highly appreciated. The odes of Horace, which are
-the best known and the most popular of his poems, are imitations of
-the poetry of the Greek lyrists, Alcæus, Sappho, Anacreon, and their
-followers, but the Greek originals are for the most part lost, so that
-Horace can not suffer by comparison with them. Moreover, modern taste
-is less pleased with epic than with lyric verse, and the delicate,
-highly finished, and charming odes of Horace appeal strongly to the
-cultivated modern reader. In his satires and epistles, too, Horace,
-whatever his indebtedness to Lucilius and others, displays undoubted
-originality. It is, therefore, natural that he is sometimes called
-the greatest of Roman poets. But Virgil wrote of greater themes; he
-was the great national poet, who sang in grand, prophetic tones of
-the greatness of Rome and her destinies, while Horace appealed to a
-narrower circle of cultured readers. Yet Horace is, in his own field,
-unsurpassed, and deserves all the admiration that has been accorded him.
-
-[Sidenote: Life of Horace.] Quintus Horatius Flaccus was born at
-Venusia, in Apulia, near the border of Lucania, December 8, 65 B. C.
-His father was a freedman, the owner of a small farm, but he determined
-to give his son the best education possible. The school at Venusia was
-unsatisfactory, and Horace's father moved with his family to Rome,
-where he gained his livelihood as a _coactor_ or collector of the money
-offered by bidders at auctions. This was a business of some importance
-at Rome, and must have been lucrative, for Horace attended the best
-schools, where he came in contact with the sons of wealthy and noble
-parents. His father exercised personal supervision over the boy's
-education, accompanying him to the school, and calling his attention to
-what went on about him, pointing out the evil effects of bad conduct,
-and giving him practical advice. In school, under a strict master,
-Orbilius, who did not spare the rod, Horace read the translation of
-the _Odyssey_ by Livius Andronicus, and also the _Iliad_, the latter,
-perhaps, in the original Greek. From Rome, he went to Athens to study
-philosophy, and was there when Brutus arrived in 44 B. C., after the
-death of Cæsar. Like many another patriotic young Roman, he joined the
-army of Brutus, in which he was given the rank of _tribunus militum_.
-He took part in the battle of Philippi and the flight that followed
-it. In the distribution of lands among the soldiers of the victorious
-armies, Horace's farm was confiscated, and the young man, whose father
-had died during his absence, returned to Rome, where he obtained,
-perhaps with the last remnants of his father's savings, a small
-position as a clerk of the quæstors.
-
-This position gave him a livelihood and some leisure for poetry.
-Poverty, he says,[65] drove him to write verses, and certainly
-his poems brought him prosperity, for they led Virgil and Varius
-to introduce him to Mæcenas in the spring of 38 B. C., and in the
-following winter Mæcenas admitted him to the circle of his familiar
-friends. Horace, with his short, rotund figure, his witty, genial
-conversation, and his poetic genius, became socially very intimate with
-Mæcenas, without, however, being his confidant in political matters.
-When Mæcenas went to Brundusium to negotiate an agreement between
-Augustus and Antony, Horace, with Virgil, Varius, Plotius, and the
-Greek rhetorician Heliodorus, was in his train.[66] In 34 or 33 B. C.
-Mæcenas gave him a country seat in the Sabine hills not far from Tibur
-(Tivoli), so large that it contained five farmhouses. Here the poet
-spent a great part of his remaining years. Mæcenas also introduced him
-to Augustus, who wished to make him his private secretary, but Horace
-refused the honor, probably because he preferred to retain his freedom.
-The emperor was not offended by the refusal, but continued to regard
-him as a friend. Honored by Augustus and his circle, Horace lived in
-comfort and peace. He died November 27, 8 B. C., and was buried near
-the tomb of Mæcenas, on the Esquiline. He made Augustus his heir.
-
-Upon his return to Rome after the battle of Philippi, Horace employed
-his leisure in writing verse. [Sidenote: The first book of Satires.] To
-this period belong the _Epodes_ and the first book of the _Satires_.
-These poems were originally not intended for publication, but were read
-to the author's friends. About 35 B. C. ten _Satires_ were collected
-and published. Horace himself calls these poems not _Satires_, but
-_Sermones_ or "Talks." He even disclaims the title of poet, though
-his "Talks" are in hexameters. The first _Satire_ is addressed to
-Mæcenas, and serves to dedicate the entire collection to the poet's
-chief patron, though its subject is the general discontent of every
-man with his own lot and the foolishness of heaping up wealth. In
-general, the _Satires_ are not, as were those of Lucilius, attacks upon
-individuals, but rather criticisms of the follies and foibles of the
-times. In the second _Satire_ the dangers to which adulterers expose
-themselves are set forth; in the third, those who carp at and criticize
-their neighbors are held up to ridicule; the fourth praises the wit,
-but criticizes sharply the style of Lucilius, the defects of which are
-attributed to the rapidity with which Lucilius wrote great quantities
-of verse. In the same _Satire_ Horace defends himself against the
-charge of malice, maintaining that his verse is far less malicious than
-private gossip, and describes the way his father took to train him in
-his youth:
-
-    But if I still seem personal and bold,
-    Perhaps you'll pardon when my story's told.
-    When my good father taught me to be good,
-    Scarecrows he took of living flesh and blood.
-    Thus, if he warned me not to spend, but spare
-    The moderate means I owe to his wise care,
-    'Twas, "See the life that son of Albius leads!
-    Observe that Barrus, vilest of ill weeds!
-    Plain beacons these for heedless youth, whose taste
-    Might lead them else a fair estate to waste":
-    If lawless love were what he bade me shun,
-    "Avoid Scatanius' slough," his words would run:
-    "Wise men," he'd add, "the reason will explain
-    Why you should follow this, from that refrain:
-    For me, if I can train you in the ways
-    Trod by the worthy folks of earlier days,
-    And, while you need direction, keep your name
-    And life unspotted, I've attained my aim:
-    When riper years have seasoned brain and limb,
-    You'll drop your corks, and like a Triton swim."[67]
-
-The fifth _Satire_ is an account of the journey to Brundusium in the
-train of Mæcenas with Virgil, Varius, and others; the sixth, again
-addressed to Mæcenas, tells us how the poet became acquainted with
-the great man, reverts to his father's attentive care, and declares
-that Horace has no reason to be ashamed of his origin or discontented
-with his lot. The seventh tells of a joke in a lawsuit between Publius
-Rupilius Rex and a banker, Persius; the eighth, of some interrupted
-magic rites before a statue of the god Priapus; and the ninth, of the
-poet's ineffectual efforts to get rid of a bore, who stuck to him until
-he was dragged off to the court by a plaintiff. In the tenth _Satire_,
-which serves as an epilogue to the collection, Horace returns to his
-criticism of Lucilius, maintaining that what he had said in the fourth
-_Satire_ was really not too severe, and at the same time he expresses
-his opinion of some of the other Roman poets and of his own ability:
-
-    No hand can match Fundanus at a piece
-    Where slave and mistress clip an old man's fleece;
-    Pollio in buskins chants the deeds of kings;
-    Varius outsoars us all on Homer's wings;
-    The Muse that loves the woodland and the farm
-    To Virgil lends her gayest, tenderest charm.
-    For me, this walk of satire, vainly tried
-    By Atacinus and some few beside,
-    Best suits my gait; yet readily I yield
-    To him who first set footstep on that field,
-    Nor meanly seek to rob him of the bay
-    That shows so comely on his locks of gray.[68]
-
-[Sidenote: The Epodes.] The _Epodes_ were written in the same period as
-the first book of _Satires_, and, like them, are on various subjects.
-About 31 B. C. Horace yielded to the persuasions of Mæcenas and
-published a collection of seventeen pieces which he had written at
-various times since 40 B. C. The first ten are in the _epodic_ metre,
-that is, an iambic trimeter followed by an iambic dimeter, as in the
-lines:
-
-    _Beatus ille, qui procul negotiis
-      Ut prisca gens mortalium,
-    Paterna rura bobus exercet suis,
-      Solutus omni fenore,_[69]
-
-the following translation of which shows approximately the rhythm of
-the original:
-
-    Oh blest is he, who far from troubles, fears and cares,
-        As did the early mortal race,
-    With oxen of his own through fields ancestral fares,
-        And knows not usury's disgrace.
-
-The shorter line is called an _epode_, or appendix, to the longer, and
-it is from this that the collection of poems gets its name. The last
-seven poems of the collection are in various metres, though most of
-these are in alternating long and short lines. Horace himself calls
-these poems _Iambics_ simply. In them he imitates the Greek poet
-Archilochus, but though several of the poems are somewhat aggressive,
-they all lack the intense and violent tone of invective attributed by
-the ancients to Archilochus, of which, however, the extant fragments of
-Archilochus show few traces. In one of his _Epistles_[70] Horace
-claims to be the first who introduced the iambics of Archilochus into
-Latin literature, but this is not strictly true, for Catullus and his
-contemporaries had written invectives in iambics. Horace did, however,
-introduce the epodic metre, and he is also the first to employ his
-iambics to castigate the follies of his time rather than individuals.
-In subject the _Epodes_ range from the praise of rural life (ii) and
-encouragement to live a life of ease and pleasure (xiii) to invectives
-against a rich upstart (iv) or a woman who deals in poisons (v, xvii),
-and a rebuke of the Romans who are eager to stir up a civil war (xvi).
-The last _Epode_ (xvii) has the form of a dialogue between the poet
-and the poisoner Canidia, but the others are the simple expressions of
-the poet's sentiments, often in the form of a letter or address to a
-friend. In this they differ from the _Satires_, which have something
-of the dialogue form, either between two persons mentioned by name or
-between the poet and some indefinite person, perhaps the reader.
-
-[Sidenote: The second book of Satires.] The second book of _Satires_,
-finished about 30 B. C., contains eight pieces, most of which are in
-the form of a dialogue between the poet and one other person. The most
-amusing is the fifth, a dialogue between Ulysses and Tiresias, in
-which Tiresias tells Ulysses how he can repair his fortunes by paying
-court to rich men and getting them to mention him in their wills. This
-_Satire_ is directed against a class of men only too numerous in Rome.
-Others treat of various subjects, such as the serious study bestowed
-upon dinners (viii, iv), certain Stoic doctrines (iii, vii), the
-criticisms of the earlier _Satires_ (i), or the joys of the farmer's
-simple life (ii). In almost every case, the thoughts and theories
-expressed are put into the mouth of some one other than the poet,
-whereas in the first book of _Satires_ the poet expressed the opinions
-himself. Horace's _Satires_ differ from those of Lucilius in being less
-bitter and less political, more carefully composed and written, and far
-more genial. The kindly, gentlemanly spirit of the man is everywhere
-visible. His "talks" are the witty, amusing conversation of a man of
-the world, often dealing with serious subjects, but always in a light
-and easy way. They are full of sententious remarks, which have been
-frequently quoted from Horace's time to our own.
-
-Catullus and his contemporaries had imitated almost exclusively
-the poems of the Alexandrians, of the Greek poets, that is to say,
-who flourished after Greece had lost her independence. [Sidenote:
-The Odes.] Horace in his _Epodes_ went farther back and imitated
-Archilochus, and in his _Odes_, without altogether neglecting the
-Alexandrians, he follows for the most part in the footsteps of Alcæus,
-Sappho, and Anacreon. Among his odes are several which are in part
-translations of extant fragments of these poets, and it is certain
-that if the poems of the early Greek lyrists were not almost entirely
-lost, we could recognize many of them in Latin version in the _Odes_
-of Horace. The _Odes_ contain also lines that remind one of similar
-passages in the poems of Euripides, Bacchylides, and other Greek
-poets, but in form as well as in contents they are for the most part
-imitations of the three great early lyrists. Most of the _Odes_ are
-divided into stanzas of four lines each, and in all such a division
-is possible, with perhaps one exception. The first three books of the
-_Odes_ were published in 23 B. C., but their composition belongs in
-part as early as 30 B. C. The first book contains thirty-eight poems,
-the second twenty, the third thirty. The first ode of Book I serves
-as a dedication to Mæcenas, and in the odes immediately following
-nearly all the metres employed in the three books are used one after
-the other. Throughout the three books variety of metre governs the
-arrangement. The second book opens with an ode addressed to Pollio, and
-at the beginning of the third book are six odes celebrating in various
-tones the Roman glory. The last ode of Book III, beginning,
-
-    _Exegi monumentum ære perennius,_
-
-    I've reared a monument than bronze more lasting,
-
-serves as an epilogue to the finished collection.
-
-The subjects of the odes are so various as to touch upon almost every
-circumstance of human life and every mood of human feeling. Friendship,
-love, the gods, patriotism, conviviality, the pleasures of country
-life, events of the day, and philosophical thoughts, all find their
-place. In tone the odes are grave and gay, lively and serene, sometimes
-fantastic, more often thoughtful or at least reasonable. More than
-once the thought that life is short and we should pluck its blossoms
-ere they fade occurs in one form or another. The workmanship of the
-odes is wonderful in its perfection. Horace is not one of those who
-believe that perfect poetry comes purely by inspiration, without
-labor. He writes no word without being sure that it is the best word
-in its place. His metres are adapted to the thought he wishes to
-express, and the perfection of the metre makes even simple or common
-thoughts beautiful. The odes are not the ardent outpourings of a
-passionate spirit, as are some of the poems of Catullus, but they are
-the carefully elaborated expressions of the thoughts and sentiments of
-a gentle, kindly, thoughtful, but gay and humorous man of the world.
-They do not stir our blood, but they arouse our admiration, satisfy our
-taste, and please us by their tone of cultured and refined sentiment.
-The variety of their contents can not be presented in selections,
-nor can all the qualities of any ode be adequately rendered in a
-translation. One of the shortest but not the least attractive odes is
-the following, addressed to his cup-bearer:
-
-    Persia's pomp, my boy, I hate;
-      No coronals of flowerets rare
-    For me on bare of linden plait,
-      Nor seek thou to discover where
-    The lush rose lingers late.
-
-    With unpretending myrtle twine,
-      Naught else! It fits your brows
-    Attending me; it graces mine
-      As I in happy ease carouse
-    Beneath the thick-leaved vine.[71]
-
-The following ode offers more variety, and is perhaps more
-representative:
-
-    One dazzling mass of solid snow,
-      Soracte stands; the bent woods fret
-      Beneath their load, and, sharpest set
-    With frost, the streams have ceased to flow.
-
-    Pile on great fagots and break up
-      The ice; let influence more benign
-      Enter with four-years-treasured wine,
-    Fetched in the ponderous Sabine cup;
-
-    Leave to the gods all else. When they
-      Have once bid rest the winds that war
-      Over the passionate seas, no more
-    Gray ash and cypress rock and sway.
-
-    Ask not what future suns shall bring;
-      Count to-day gain, whatever it chance
-      To be; nor, young man, scorn the dance,
-    Nor deem sweet Love an idle thing,
-
-    Ere Time thy April youth have changed
-      To sourness. Park and public walk
-      Attract thee now, and whispered talk
-    At twilight meetings prearranged.
-
-    Hear now the pretty laugh that tells
-      In what dim corner lurks thy love,
-      And snatch a bracelet or a glove
-    From wrist or hand that scarce rebels.[72]
-
-[Sidenote: The first book of Epistles.] After the three books of _Odes_
-were published in 23 B. C., Horace returned to his previous manner of
-composition in hexameters, but gave to the collection of twenty poems
-which he published in 20 B. C., the form of letters or _Epistles_.
-These are sometimes real letters to his friends, sometimes satires or
-"talks" in the form of letters. The subjects of these poems are as
-various as those of the _Satires_, but it is evident that the poet
-is turning more toward philosophy. He advises his friends to take
-things as they find them, without allowing themselves to be troubled
-or excited (vi), he teaches the Stoic doctrine that virtue suffices
-to make men happy (xvi), he advocates calmness and the avoidance of
-care, and urges Tibullus (iv, 13) to live as if each day were to be
-his last. But he also sings the praise of wine (v, 16 ff.) and of the
-quiet life in the country (x, xiv). In two epistles he gives practical
-advice concerning intercourse with persons of high station, and various
-practical suggestions are found scattered through the other poems. In
-a letter to Mæcenas (xix) he ridicules his imitators and mocks at his
-critics. The twentieth poem is an address to his book as he sends it
-into the world. In it he foretells the various fortunes of the book,
-and at the end he gives his age, saying that he has seen four times
-eleven Decembers in the year of the consulship of Lepidus and Lollius.
-In these letters Horace reveals his character more fully and with a
-more delicate touch than in any of his other works. The _Odes_ are the
-works by which he will always be best known, and to which he owes his
-great fame as a poet, but nowhere so fully as in the _Epistles_ does
-he disclose his kindly and genial, yet serious views of life as they
-ripened with his advancing years.
-
-In the seventh _Epistle_ of the first book Horace refuses, at least
-for the present, an invitation of Mæcenas, on the ground that his
-health is poor and that he needs the repose of the country and the
-seashore. At the same time he explains the manner in which he wishes
-his relation to his patron to be understood. He is not a parasite, and
-openly says that he must retain his freedom, and can not be at the
-beck and call even of Mæcenas. In the first _Epistle_ (lines 4 and 10)
-he refuses to write more odes, because he is no longer young and is
-turning toward philosophy. [Sidenote: The second book of Epistles.] The
-same attitude is disclosed in the second _Epistle_ of the second book
-(lines 25 and 141 ff.). The poet wished to retire and pursue the study
-of philosophy; but he had gained much experience in literary matters,
-and in three letters, written probably between 19 and 14 B. C., he
-records the results of this experience. The first letter is addressed
-to Augustus, the second to Julius Florus. These two form the second
-book of the _Epistles_. The third letter, addressed to the Pisos,
-father and two sons, was originally published with the others, but was
-[Sidenote: The Ars Poetica.] soon separated from them, and is known
-as the _Ars Poetica_. This is not a systematic treatise on poetry,
-but Horace's views, derived in part from his own experience, in part
-from his reading, are set forth in the easy style of a letter or talk.
-He insists that each poem must have a consistent fundamental idea or
-plot, that the characters of a drama must speak as befits their age and
-station, and must be drawn from life, he advises care in the choice of
-a subject, points out that nobody cares for mediocre poets, and that
-what is once published can not be recalled. Throughout the letter or
-treatise he constantly impresses upon his readers his conviction that
-good poetry is the result of hard work. Many critical and historical
-remarks are scattered through the _Ars Poetica_ as well as through the
-two other letters.
-
-In spite of his desire to give up the writing of poetry and to devote
-himself to philosophy, Horace did not finish his career as a lyric
-poet with the completion of three books of odes. In 17 B. C. it was
-decided that the Sibylline books required the celebration of the _ludi
-sæculares_, which were supposed to recur at the end of every _sæculum_,
-or period of one hundred and ten years. An important part of the
-celebration was the singing of a hymn in honor of Apollo and Diana.
-This was to be sung by a chorus of boys and girls of pure Roman birth,
-both of whose parents were living, and whose mothers had married only
-once. Horace was asked by Augustus to compose this hymn, and could not
-refuse the honor, which distinguished him as the official poet laureate
-of the Roman Empire. [Sidenote: The Carmen Sæculare.] The hymn, called
-the _Carmen Sæculare_, is a somewhat formal poem, as is fitting for the
-solemn occasion at which it was first sung, but it shows real religious
-feeling, mingled with pride and confidence in the Roman greatness. It
-is the work of a masterly artist and an inspired poet.
-
-In addition to appointing him to write the _Carmen Sæculare_, Augustus
-demanded of Horace a song, or songs, in honor of his stepsons, Tiberius
-and Drusus. [Sidenote: The fourth book of Odes.] Horace could not
-refuse, and composed odes in honor of the victories of Drusus (IV, iv)
-and Tiberius (IV, xiv), to which he added thirteen other poems, making
-a fourth book of fifteen odes, written apparently in the years 17-13 B.
-C. The fourth book of _Odes_ is in no way inferior to its predecessors
-in variety of form or perfection of workmanship, and it contains a
-larger proportion of exalted, patriotic poems. The sixth ode, addressed
-to Apollo, seems to be a prooemium to the _Carmen Sæculare_, or at any
-rate to have some connection with the _ludi sæculares_. The fifth ode,
-to Augustus, urging his return to Rome, and the fifteenth, also to
-Augustus, on the restoration of peace, celebrate the greatness of Rome
-as well as its ruler. Horace, as well as Virgil, though in a different
-way, was a poet of the Roman Empire.
-
-[Sidenote: The literary activity of Horace.] As we look back upon the
-literary activity of Horace, we find that he turned at first to satires
-in hexameters and epodes in the simple epodic metre. Then he enriched
-Roman literature by odes in imitation of the early Greek lyrists, to
-return afterward to his original style in the more refined form of
-epistles. It was only at the command of Augustus that he once more
-composed elaborate lyrics. His lyric poems are not natural outpourings
-of sentiment, but deliberate attempts to add to the beauty of Roman
-literature and thereby to the glory of the Roman Empire. And it is
-chiefly to these poems that he owes his fame. They are not equal
-in merit, but they are the most perfect productions of Roman lyric
-poetry. As such they were recognized in Horace's own lifetime, and as
-such they have been admired and loved through the succeeding ages,
-never more than in recent times. Countless scholars, poets, and men of
-letters have read them with delight, and many have been the attempts
-to render their inimitable charm in translations. But their subtle
-beauty defies the translator's art. None but Horace himself has been
-able to express his delicate feeling and poetic fancy in such perfect
-form. The _Satires_ and the _Epistles_ are full of brilliant and witty
-sayings, of critical and historical remarks; they throw much light upon
-the social and literary life of the period, and make us acquainted with
-the character of the poet; but the _Odes_ are "a monument more enduring
-than bronze," testifying to the genius, the industry, the good taste,
-and, in some cases, to the patriotic spirit of the most perfect of
-Roman lyric poets.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER X
-
-TIBULLUS--PROPERTIUS--THE LESSER POETS
-
-    Roman society--The amorous elegy--Cornelius Gallus, 70-27
-    B. C.--Gaius Valgius Rufus, consul 12 B. C.--Albius
-    Tibullus, about 54 to about 19 B. C.--Lygdamus, born 43 B.
-    C.--Sulpicia--Sextus Propertius, about 50 to about 15 B.
-    C.--Domitius Marsus, about 54 to about 4 B. C.--Albinovanus
-    Pedo--Ponticus--Macer--Grattius--Rabirius--Cornelius
-    Severus--Gaius Melissus and the Fabula Trabeata--Manilius--The
-    Priapea--Poems ascribed to Virgil and Ovid.
-
-
-[Sidenote: The condition of society.] During the last century of the
-republic Rome had grown from a powerful Italian city to be the mistress
-of the world, and this growth of power had been accompanied by many
-changes. The wealth of the governing classes had increased enormously.
-Greek art and Greek literature had become familiar in the form of
-original works and of Roman imitations, and with the increase of wealth
-and luxury the growth of immorality went hand in hand. The early
-profligacy of Cæsar and Sallust, and the love of Catullus for a married
-woman have already been mentioned. These were not isolated cases, but
-merely examples of what was only too common. In fact, the man whose
-life was pure was an exception in the latter days of the republic. Nor
-were the women of the wealthier classes better than the men. The Roman
-matron, who was betrothed at twelve and married at fourteen years of
-age, naturally found herself in many instances united to a man with
-whom she had no sympathy, and whose distasteful society she gladly
-exchanged for that of a clandestine lover. Divorces were numerous, and
-were accompanied with little disgrace. When Augustus established his
-power, he brought about many reforms in the government of the city and
-the provinces and caused laws to be passed to ensure the sanctity of
-marriage and of family life, but his success in stemming the tide of
-immorality was slight. To be sure, the life of his chosen friends and
-of the court circle in general was pure, and even perhaps puritanical;
-but the spirit of the times was so corrupt that even his own family
-did not escape. The immorality of his daughter Julia became at last so
-notorious that she was banished from Rome and ended her life in exile.
-Her daughter Julia resembled her in character and met with a similar
-fate. In the later years of Augustus banishments for moral reasons
-were numerous, but it was impossible to bring order into the life of a
-society in which immorality had ceased to be disgraceful.
-
-[Sidenote: The elegy.] It was in and for this society that the Roman
-elegists composed their poems. Elegiac verse had been employed in
-the seventh and sixth centuries B. C. by Mimnermus, Tyrtæus, Solon,
-and others, for the expression of all sorts of personal sentiments,
-as well as for political purposes; but in the Alexandrian period
-it had been appropriated almost exclusively to poems of love. This
-Alexandrian elegiac poetry had been introduced at Rome by some of the
-contemporaries of Catullus, and in the Augustan period it attained a
-remarkable development. The Roman elegists imitate the Alexandrians,
-and, like them, insert in their love poems countless mythological
-allusions and even mythological stories. The fashion demanded that
-the elegist be learned in Greek mythology. Cornelius Gallus received
-from the Greek Parthenius a compendium of mythological tales to aid
-him in selecting proper allusions to the myths. The poet's beloved is
-compared to Juno, Minerva, or Venus, Antiope or Helen; the lover gazes
-upon his mistress as Argus gazed upon Io; faithful wives are compared
-with Penelope or Alcestis, faithless lovers with Ulysses who deserted
-Calypso, and Jason who left Medea for another wife. These and similar
-allusions are mingled with figures drawn from rustic life or from war.
-The god Amor and his mother Venus play important parts in the poems.
-Amor transfixes the poet's heart with his arrows, plants his foot upon
-the poet's neck, makes him his slave. The poet sings of the beauty of
-his mistress, designating her by a fictitious name, but one which has
-the same length of syllables as the real name of the woman to whom the
-poems are addressed. The poet is usually poor, but offers his songs
-as the most valuable of offerings, and is filled with indignation if
-his mistress seems to care for wealth or jewels. No adornments are
-necessary for the beautiful woman, and love of wealth is disgraceful.
-The woes of lovers, false promises, faithlessness, the troubles of the
-lover who spends whole nights waiting at the door, the torments which
-love inflicts upon the heart, all these are repeated over and over
-again. So much of all this is conventional that it is hard to tell
-what part of the contents of these poems has any truth. Occasionally a
-line is evidently intended to give information about the writer, and
-in general it is certain that the poems were really addressed to some
-particular person, but how much of the feeling expressed is genuine,
-and how much mere affectation, it is impossible to determine. The
-details--the nights spent in wind and rain before the door, the quarrels
-or reconciliations, the voyages and returns--may or may not be founded
-upon real events in the poet's life. Whether they are to be regarded as
-historical or not depends upon their context; but it is evident that
-many details are purely imaginary.
-
-The three chief elegists are Tibullus, Propertius, and Ovid. Of
-Ovid, the youngest and most voluminous, and one of the most gifted
-among the Augustan poets, it will be better to treat in a separate
-chapter. [Sidenote: Cornelius Gallus.] Somewhat older than Tibullus and
-Propertius was Cornelius Gallus, whose elegies were greatly admired
-by his contemporaries, but of which hardly a trace remains. Gallus
-was born at Forum Julii (Fréjus), in 70 B. C. He was a schoolmate of
-Augustus, commanded some troops in the war against Antony, and held the
-town of Parætonium when Antony attacked it. He was afterwards prefect
-of Egypt, but indulged in offensive remarks about Augustus, and showed
-his pride by setting up statues of himself in various places in Egypt,
-and having his name carved upon the pyramids. When he was recalled in
-disgrace by Augustus his creditors brought suits against him, he was
-condemned to exile, and his property was confiscated. Unable to bear
-his troubles, he committed suicide at the age of 43 years. His greatest
-claim to remembrance is his friendship for Virgil, who expressed his
-gratitude to him in the sixth and tenth _Eclogues_, and, perhaps, in
-the original ending of the _Georgics_. The elegies of Gallus, in four
-books, were addressed to Lycoris, an actress of low birth and loose
-morals, whose stage name was Cytheris. In addition to his elegies,
-Gallus wrote translations from the Greek of Euphorion. [Sidenote:
-Valgius.] Another writer of elegies was Gaius Valgius Rufus, a friend
-of Horace, who was _consul suffectus_ in 12 B. C. Of his elegies on a
-boy named Mystes little remains, but they are spoken of by Horace and
-admired by the author of a panegyric on Messalla. Valgius also wrote
-some learned works, among them a treatise on medicine and a translation
-of the rhetoric of Apollodorus.
-
-[Sidenote: Tibullus.] Albius Tibullus was born near Pedum, in Latium,
-probably about 54 B. C., and was, if the "Life of Tibullus," contained
-in the best manuscripts of his works, is to be trusted, of equestrian
-rank. He inherited a large property, but lost the greater part of it,
-perhaps in the confiscations of 41 B. C. Apparently it was restored to
-him by Messalla, of whom he speaks with great affection. He followed
-Messalla to the East soon after the battle of Actium, but was detained
-by illness at Corcyra. He also accompanied Messalla in his campaign
-in Aquitania. Nothing further is known of his life, except his love
-for Delia, who appears to have been a married woman of low birth
-(_libertina_), and for Nemesis, who is apparently identical with the
-Glycera mentioned by Horace (_Od._ I, xxxiii, 2). Tibullus died about
-19 B. C. He was a friend of Horace and was admired by Ovid, but there
-is no evidence that he and Propertius knew one another.
-
-Four books of elegies are ascribed to Tibullus, but not all of these
-are really his work. Apparently the collection was made in the literary
-circle of Messalla, and poems by less noted members of the circle were
-added to those of Tibullus. [Sidenote: Elegies to Delia and Nemesis.]
-The ten elegies of the first book, addressed to Delia and to a youth
-named Marathus, are undoubtedly by Tibullus, and were published during
-his lifetime. The six elegies of Book II, addressed to Nemesis, seem
-to have been written several years later. They were left unfinished
-by Tibullus, and were published after his death. [Sidenote: Lygdamus.]
-The six elegies published as Book III are by a poet who calls himself
-Lygdamus. No poet of that name is known, and probably this is a
-pseudonym. Whoever the author of these poems was, he was a member of
-the circle of Messalla, was born in 43 B. C., and was familiar with
-the poems of Tibullus, Horace, Propertius, and Ovid. These elegies are
-addressed to Neæra, who was probably the poet's cousin, and either
-married or betrothed to him. They are greatly inferior to those of
-Tibullus. They lack variety and imagination, and in technical execution
-they want the graceful charm for which the genuine poems of Tibullus
-are distinguished. The remaining poems ascribed to Tibullus are printed
-in most editions as Book IV, though in the manuscripts they form a
-part of Book III. The first of these is a _Panegyric on Messalla_,
-written in honor of his consulship, 31 B. C. This poem, which is
-written in hexameters, shows a lack of taste and a love of rhetorical
-exaggeration entirely foreign to Tibullus. Lygdamus can not be its
-author, for he was only twelve years old at the time of Messalla's
-consulship. It was doubtless written by some member of Messalla's
-circle, and included in the collection with the poems of Tibullus on
-account of its subject. [Sidenote: Sulpicia.] The other poems of Book
-IV have for their subject the love of Messalla's niece Sulpicia for a
-young Greek named Cerinthus. The five elegies numbered viii-xii are by
-Sulpicia to Cerinthus. These are very short poems--none having more than
-eight lines--but they express genuine feeling in beautiful form, though
-without delicacy or reserve. The seventh elegy--of ten lines--seems
-rather to be by Tibullus than Sulpicia. Elegies ii-vi and xiii are
-apparently by Tibullus, and the epigram of four lines, with which the
-book closes, is of doubtful authorship.
-
-The elegies of Tibullus are less learned than those of his
-contemporaries. They contain many mythological allusions, but these
-are simply expressed and do not form too large a part of the poems.
-The sentiments expressed are not virile or powerful, but gentle and
-pensive. Tibullus loves the life of the country and hates war; he feels
-deeply the woes that oppress the lover; the thought of death weighs
-upon him; but love is ever in his heart. His poems are masterpieces of
-expression and versification, though they lack the fire of passionate
-emotion. Two brief selections[73] from the third elegy of Book I may
-give at least some idea of the quality of his sentiment:
-
-    While you, Messalla, plough th' Ægean sea,
-    O sometimes kindly deign to think of me;
-    Me, hapless me, Phæacian shores detain,
-    Unknown, unpitied, and oppressed with pain.
-    Yet spare me, Death, ah, spare me and retire;
-    No weeping mother's here to light my pyre;
-    Here is no sister, with a sister's woe,
-    Rich Syrian odors on the pile to throw;
-    But chief, my soul's soft partner is not here,
-    Her locks to loose, and sorrow o'er my bier.
-
-So the poem begins. The poet laments his enforced delay at Corcyra,
-where he is detained by illness. There follows a list of the bad omens
-that warned Tibullus not to set out from Rome, then a prayer to Isis
-for aid. A brief description of the Golden Age is introduced, and the
-poet prays that Jove may grant him life:
-
-    But, if the Sisters have pronounced my doom,
-    Inscribed be these upon my humble tomb:
-    "Lo! here inurn'd a youthful poet lies,
-    Far from his Delia and his native skies,
-    Far from the lov'd Messalla, whom to please
-    Tibullus followed over land and seas."
-
-The remainder of the poem consists of a description of the lower
-world and an appeal to Delia. No translation can render exactly the
-qualities of expression which make Tibullus one of the greatest among
-the lesser Roman poets. It is only after repeated reading of his poems
-that one learns to appreciate the lightness of touch and the technical
-perfection of this sweet singer of soft themes.
-
-[Sidenote: Propertius.] Sextus Propertius was born in Umbria, probably
-at Asisium (Assisi), about 50 B. C., for he was younger than Tibullus
-and older than Ovid, whose birth was in 43 B. C. His family was of
-some importance and must have been wealthy, for although Propertius,
-whose father was already dead, lost part of his property in the
-confiscations of 41 B. C., enough remained to support him and give him
-a good education. His mother took him to Rome, where he studied law for
-a short time, but abandoned it for the pursuit of poetry. After the
-publication of the first book of his elegies, Propertius was introduced
-to Mæcenas, to whom he afterward addressed two poems (II, i; and III,
-ix). He appears, however, to have been less intimate with him than were
-Horace and Virgil. Propertius nowhere mentions Horace, and if Horace
-refers to him at all it is without mentioning his name. He was a warm
-admirer of Virgil and a friend of Ovid. Little is known of his life,
-and it is only because his poems contain no allusions to events later
-than 16 B. C. that his death is supposed to have taken place about 15
-B. C. From two passages in the letters of the younger Pliny, in which
-a certain Passenus Paullus is said to be descended from Propertius, it
-appears that the poet married and left at least one child.
-
-[Sidenote: The poems of Propertius.] Propertius is a poet of love, who
-expresses as few poets have done the tender emotions of the heart. His
-poems are passionate and sensual, without the pensive melancholy of
-Tibullus or the frivolity of Ovid. The object of his love is Cynthia,
-whose real name was Hostia. She was a courtesan, but educated and
-refined in taste, beautiful and attractive. She it was who inspired his
-first poems, and only in the last book does she cease to be the chief
-theme of his verses. The poems are handed down to us in four books,
-the second of which is, however, made up of two incomplete books. The
-appearance of the first book made Propertius famous and introduced him
-to the circle of Mæcenas. Naturally Mæcenas wished him to sing the
-praises of Augustus and the Roman Empire, and from this time Cynthia is
-no longer the exclusive subject of his poems. In the fourth book (the
-fifth in many editions) there are four poems on Roman antiquities, in
-imitation of the [Greek: Aitia] (_Causes_) of Callimachus. Love is,
-however, throughout the subject to which Propertius naturally turns. His
-poems are full of learned mythological allusions, and the situations
-described or depicted are doubtless for the most part imaginary, yet
-the passionate nature of the poet's love is manifest through all his
-learning and his invention. Even though he did not pass through all
-the hopes and fears, the changes of love and hate, the joy and sorrow,
-the jealousy and the reconciliations which the poems depict with such
-wealth of illustration and such beauty of language, he knew as few have
-known them the varying passions of the lover's heart. For the modern
-reader his passion is too sensuous and his erudition too obtrusive; but
-the genuine feeling expressed makes his poems beautiful in spite of
-occasional coarseness and constant display of mythological learning.
-Propertius is remarkable for the sonorous richness of his lines, and in
-the technical execution of his verse he is careful and accurate. His
-earlier poems admit words of three and four syllables at the end of
-the pentameter without scruple, but in the later poems the pentameter
-usually ends with a word of two syllables, showing that Propertius was
-disposed to follow Ovid's rule in this particular. Like other Roman
-poets, Propertius is professedly an imitator of the Greeks. Those whom
-he claims to imitate especially are Callimachus and Philetas, both
-poets of the Alexandrian period.
-
-One of the shortest of his poems, free alike from coarseness and
-display of learning, is the following, on Cynthia's absence:
-
-    Why ceaselessly my fancied sloth upbraid,
-    As still at conscious Rome by love delay'd?
-    Wide as the Po from Hypanis is spread
-    The distance that divides her from my bed.
-    No more with fondling arms she folds me round,
-    Nor in my ear her dulcet whispers sound.
-    Once I was dear; nor e'er could lover burn
-    With such a tender and a true return.
-    Yes--I was envied--hath some god above
-    Crush'd me? or magic herb that severs love,
-    Gather'd on Caucasus, bewitch'd my flame?
-    Nymphs change by distance; I'm no more the same.
-    Oh, what a love has fleeted like the wind,
-    And left no vestige of its trace behind!
-    Now sad I count the ling'ring nights alone;
-    And my own ears are startled by my groan.
-    Happy! the youth who weeps, his mistress nigh;
-    Love with such tears has mingled ecstasy:
-    Blest, who, when scorned, can change his passing heat;
-    The pleasures of translated bonds are sweet.
-    I can no other love; nor hence depart;
-    For Cynthia, first and last, is mistress of my heart.[74]
-
-[Sidenote: Lesser Augustan poets.] In an age of great poets many
-lesser poets are sure to be found. Ovid, in one of his letters,[75]
-mentions twenty-three poets of the Augustan age, and his list is not
-exhaustive. Little is known of these lesser writers, and few of their
-works are preserved, even in fragments. Domitius Marsus, who lived
-from about 54 to about 4 B. C., and belonged to the circle of Mæcenas,
-wrote a series of epigrams, entitled _Cicuta_ (poisonous hemlock),
-which enjoyed considerable reputation, some elegies on Melænis, an epic
-poem on the Amazons, and a treatise _De Urbanitate_ (on refinement
-of expression). Albinovanus Pedo was also an author of epigrams and
-an epic poet. One of his epics, the _Theseis_, narrated the deeds of
-Theseus, another gave an account of a voyage to the ocean, probably
-the voyage of Germanicus, in 16 B. C. A fragment of twenty-three lines
-contains a vivid description of the stranding of some vessels in the
-night, which shows that the author was a poet of some ability. Of a
-poem on hunting (_Cynegetica_) by Grattius, five hundred and forty-one
-hexameters are preserved, which show little poetic merit. Only a few
-brief fragments remain of a poem on the Egyptian war of Augustus,
-by Rabirius. Cornelius Severus wrote a poem on Roman history (_Res
-Romanæ_), and perhaps other epics. The longest extant fragment consists
-of twenty-five lines on the death of Cicero, and shows rhetorical
-rather than poetic ability. Ovid's friends, Ponticus and Macer, and
-several others, wrote mythological epics. Iambic verses were composed
-by Bassus, and other poets gained more or less reputation for various
-kinds of poetry.
-
-Gaius Melissus, a freedman of Augustus, from Spoletum, was by
-profession a librarian. [Sidenote: The Fabula Trabeata.] He was the
-originator of the _fabula trabeata_, named from the _trabea_, the
-distinctive costume of the equestrian rank. This was a national comedy,
-differing from the _fabula togata_ of Titinius and Atta (see page
-29) in the rank of the persons represented, for the _fabula togata_
-had chosen its characters from the lower classes, while the _fabula
-trabeata_ was a comedy of high life. Its popularity was brief, and
-it disappeared, leaving hardly a trace of its existence. Melissus
-also made a collection of humorous tales (_Ineptiæ_) in one hundred
-and fifty books, and appears to have been the author of some learned
-treatises.
-
-[Sidenote: Manilius.] A poem on astronomy and astrology
-(_Astronomica_), ascribed in some of the manuscripts to an otherwise
-unknown Marcus or Gaius Manilius, is a didactic poem of unusual
-merit. As preserved it consists of five books, the last of which is
-incomplete. If, as is probable, a sixth book once existed, the whole
-work contained about five thousand lines. Even in its present condition
-it is the longest didactic Latin poem except the _De Rerum Natura_ of
-Lucretius. The poem is, as a whole, rather uninteresting, but contains
-passages of great vigor, showing independence of thought and remarkable
-power of expression. The author has an easy mastery of hexameter verse,
-in which he is superior to Lucretius; but with all his skill in
-versification, his earnestness, his learning, and his originality, he
-can not entirely overcome the prosaic nature of his subject. The poem
-is uneven, at times prosaic, sometimes rhetorical, not often, if ever,
-rising to lofty heights of poetic fancy, but serious and thoughtful.
-A large part of it is occupied with astrology, and other portions
-describe the heavenly bodies. In the introductions to the several
-books, and in digressions, theories concerning the origin of the world,
-the nature of man, and the power of fate are introduced, showing that
-the author accepts in the main the Stoic doctrines as opposed to the
-Epicurean teachings of Lucretius. So he maintains that the world is not
-the product of blind forces but of a divine will:
-
-    Who can believe that masses of such size
-    Were formed from particles without God's aid,
-    And that the world did blindly come to pass?
-    If mere Chance gave it us, let mere Chance rule.
-    But why do we perceive in stated turn
-    The constellations rise and, as it were
-    By order giv'n, run through their course prescribed,
-    Nor any hastening leave the rest behind?
-    Why do the selfsame stars adorn the nights
-    Of summer ever, and the selfsame stars
-    The winter nights? And why does every day
-    Return the world its form and leave it fixed?[76]
-
-Various mythological tales are inserted with a view to enlivening the
-poem, but the author lacks narrative skill. The most elaborate of these
-episodes, in which the story of Perseus and Andromeda is told,[77]
-shows, however, good descriptive ability and lively rhetoric. Manilius
-is not a great poet, but he treats, not without success, a subject new
-to Roman poetry, and shows himself to be a man of original power of
-mind and of serious purpose. With all its defects, the _Astronomica_
-has also great merits.
-
-Many Augustan poets are known by name whose works have perished. On
-the other hand, some poems by unknown authors are preserved. A curious
-collection of eighty short poems in elegiac and lyric metres, all
-addressed to the god Priapus, or at least written with reference to
-him, belongs for the most part to this period. [Sidenote: Priapea.]
-Statues of Priapus, the god of gardens and of fruitfulness of all
-sorts, were set up in public parks, in orchards, and other places, and
-most of the _Priapea_, as these short poems are called, are supposed to
-have been inscribed upon or affixed to such statues. Many of the poems
-are extremely indecent, but many are well written and witty.
-
-Far more interesting than the _Priapea_ are the poems falsely ascribed
-to Virgil, and contained in manuscripts of his works. Three of these
-are "epyllia," or short epics, composed, like Virgil's genuine works,
-in hexameter verse. [Sidenote: Culex.] The first, entitled _Culex_,
-"The Gnat," tells in four hundred and fourteen lines how a herdsman,
-lying asleep in the noonday heat, was on the point of being killed
-by a poisonous serpent, when a gnat stung him, and, by arousing him
-to his danger, saved his life. As he awoke, the herdsman killed the
-gnat, whose soul afterward appears to him in a dream and reproaches
-him. Finally the herdsman erects a funeral mound in honor of the gnat.
-The poem is a mock epic, intended to be humorous, but is not very
-successful. In versification it shows great similarity to the genuine
-works of Virgil, but also in some respects to those of Ovid. A poem
-entitled _Culex_ is ascribed to Virgil's youthful days by Martial and
-Statius, but the metrical qualities of the existing poem show that
-it can not have been written until a later date. Either, therefore,
-Martial and Statius were mistaken, or this is not the poem to which
-they refer.
-
-[Sidenote: Ciris.] The second piece, entitled _Ciris_, is a little
-longer than the _Culex_. This poem, evidently written by some member of
-the circle of Messalla, tells the story of Scylla, who caused the death
-of her father, Nisus, and betrayed her native town, on account of her
-love for Minos, the leader of an invading army. She was dragged through
-the water at the stern of a vessel, but the gods pitied her and changed
-her into a seabird called ciris. Her father was restored to life and
-made a sea eagle. [Sidenote: Moretum.] The third poem, the _Moretum_
-(the word denotes a sort of salad eaten by the peasants), contains
-only one hundred and twenty-four lines. It is a slight poem, idyllic
-in character, and admirably written. It describes how a poor peasant
-and his slave, a negress, make the _moretum_ in the early morning.
-[Sidenote: Copa.] This poem is said to be an imitation of a Greek
-original by Parthenius. It is possible, though not probable, that it
-is by Virgil. The fourth poem is the _Copa_ (barmaid), consisting of
-only thirty-eight lines of elegiac verse. It has to do with the
-barmaid of a wayside tavern, and is clever and interesting, but has
-none of the qualities of Virgil's poems. It belongs, however, without
-doubt, to the Augustan period. [Sidenote: Ætna] The _Diræ_, which is
-also included in the manuscripts of Virgil, belongs, as has been said
-(page 63), to an earlier time, and the _Ætna_ belongs to the
-subsequent period. This consists of six hundred and forty-six
-hexameters, describing volcanic eruptions, and attempting to account
-for them. It has little poetic merit, but shows that even an
-indifferent poet could write good hexameters. The remaining short
-poems ascribed to Virgil are of little interest or importance, though
-one of them--a comic ode in honor of an old muleteer--is an excellent
-parody of the poem of Catullus addressed to his old yacht.
-
-[Sidenote: Nux. Consolatio ad Liviam.] The elegy entitled _Nux_ (nut
-tree), and the _Consolatio ad Liviam_ (Consolation to Livia), both
-ascribed to Ovid, are imitations by writers of a slightly later time,
-and have little merit. The _Nux_ is the complaint of a tree on account
-of the bad treatment it receives from passers-by. The _Consolatio ad
-Liviam_ purports to be addressed to Livia, wife of Augustus, on the
-death of her son Drusus, in 9 B. C.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XI
-
-OVID
-
-    Ovid, 43 B. C.-18 A. D.--His life--Poems of
-    love--Fasti--Metamorphoses--Poems written after his
-    banishment--His qualities and influence.
-
-
-[Sidenote: Life of Ovid.] Publius Ovidius Naso was born at Sulmo,
-in the country of the Pæligni, in 43 B. C., on the 20th of March.
-He belonged to a wealthy equestrian family and received, along with
-his elder brother, a good education at Rome, practising rhetoric
-under Arellius Fuscus and Porcius Latro. He also studied at Athens,
-and at some time traveled with the poet Macer in Asia and Sicily.
-After assuming the _toga virilis_ he held two of the minor offices
-incidental to the beginning of the senatorial career, and was
-employed as arbitrator in private cases. But in spite of his father's
-remonstrances, he withdrew from public life and devoted himself to
-poetry. This decision was, according to his own statement, due in part
-to his delicate physique, but the chief reason was probably his love of
-poetry and pleasure, and his aversion to serious affairs. His social
-position was excellent. He was intimate with Messalla and his circle,
-and had many friends among the literary men of the capital. Virgil,
-he says, he only saw, but he was intimate with Tibullus, Propertius,
-Ponticus, and Bassus. He was married three times. His first wife, whom
-he married in his early youth, was "neither worthy nor useful,"[78] and
-he was soon separated from the second also, though he charges her with
-no fault. His third wife, of the Fabian family, remained faithful to
-him, and he to her. He had one daughter, who in turn had two children.
-His life of ease and social pleasure at Rome was brought to a sudden
-close in 8 A. D. by an imperial edict banishing him to Tomi, on the
-shore of the Pontus (Black Sea). "Two charges," he writes, "wrought
-my ruin, a poem and an error, but I must be silent about the fault
-of one of these acts. I am not important enough to renew thy wounds,
-Cæsar, since it is more than enough that thou hast suffered once. The
-other part remains, in which, as author of a vile poem, I am charged
-with being a teacher of obscene adultery."[79] The poem referred to
-can be no other than the _Ars Amatoria_; but this was published ten
-years before the poet's banishment. The real cause of his sentence must
-be sought in the charge about which he keeps silence through fear of
-wounding Augustus. Perhaps he was privy to an intrigue between Julia,
-the granddaughter of Augustus, and Decimus Silanus. Ovid remained in
-banishment at Tomi until his death in 18 A. D.
-
-[Sidenote: Ovid's Poems] Ovid's poems fall into three divisions:
-poems of love, in elegiac metre, the works of his earlier years;
-antiquarian and mythological poems (the _Fasti_, in elegiacs, and the
-_Metamorphoses_, in hexameters), written before his banishment; and
-the poems written, in elegiac verse, at Tomi. The exact chronological
-order of the love poems is hard to fix, as the first series of elegies,
-the _Amores_, appeared in two editions, at first in five books, later
-in three. The later edition is preserved. Most of these elegies were
-probably written between 22 and 15 B. C. The _Heroides_, letters from
-mythical heroines to their absent husbands or lovers, were written soon
-after the _Amores_, then followed the poem _On the Care of the Face_
-(_De Medicamine Faciei_), then the _Ars Amatoria_ (_The Art of Love_)
-and the _Remedia Amoris_ (_Cures for Love_). The last two seem to have
-been published between the beginning of 1 B. C. and the end of 1 A. D.,
-but need not have been entirely written in the space of those two years.
-
-[Sidenote: The Amores] The three books of the _Amores_ contain
-forty-nine elegies, nearly all of which are love poems. Among the
-comparatively small number on other subjects the best known and most
-interesting are the elegy on the death of Tibullus (III, ix) and the
-description of a festival of Juno (III, xiii). The love poems are in
-great part addressed to Corinna, who seems to be a mere figment of
-the poet's imagination, not, like the Lesbia of Catullus, the Delia
-of Tibullus, and the Cynthia of Propertius, a real person under a
-fictitious name. Ovid's love poems are not expressions of his own
-feelings for any individual, but the means by which he exhibits his
-astonishing facility in versification and his lively imagination. From
-beginning to end the poems show an utter lack of serious purpose. All
-the vicissitudes of a long love affair are treated with equal lightness
-and grace. Corinna is ill, she goes away, she receives a letter, to
-which she replies unfavorably, her parrot dies, and her lover laments
-it in an elegy; but nowhere does any real feeling make itself manifest.
-The poet seems to wish to give a complete series of pictures of the
-feelings and conduct of a lover under all possible circumstances, and
-his lively imagination plays lightly with all the varying phases of
-passion, but it is all play. Some of the poems are based upon Greek
-originals, many contain mythological allusions, a few are heavy with
-Alexandrian learning, some are harmlessly sportive, others extremely
-indecent, but all alike are masterly in technical execution, and empty
-of real sentiment. In these, his earliest poems, Ovid is already
-the most brilliant of Roman elegists. The easy flow of his verse is
-admirable. The rules that each distich must form a complete sentence,
-or at least express an independent thought, and that each pentameter
-must end with a word of two syllables, give great uniformity to the
-cadence of the verses, but in spite of this the variety of expression
-and the clever rhetoric employed preserve the poems from monotony. Only
-the sameness of subject and the lack of real feeling make the _Amores_
-tedious to the modern reader.
-
-[Sidenote: The Heroides.] The subject of the _Amores_ is continued in
-the _Heroides_, but in a different form. Here the elegies are supposed
-to be letters from fifteen famous women of antiquity--Penelope, Briseïs,
-Phædra, and others--to their absent lovers or husbands. The form of
-poetic love-letter was known to the Alexandrians and had been employed
-once (IV, iii) by Propertius, but was first made popular at Rome by
-Ovid, who was also, apparently, the first to write in the character
-of mythological persons. Soon after the publication of Ovid's letters
-from heroines, replies to some, at least, were written by Sabinus.[80]
-These replies are lost, but at the end of the _Heroides_ we now have
-three pairs of letters. Paris, Leander, and Acontius write respectively
-to Helen, Hero, and Cydippe, and each woman writes a reply. These six
-letters are so nearly in the style of Ovid that only careful study has
-led the best critics to the opinion that they are not his work, but
-clever imitations by some unknown contemporary. In the _Heroides_,
-as in the six letters just mentioned, the fact that the writers are
-well-known mythological persons lends an interest and a dramatic
-quality to the poems, which is wanting in the _Amores_, but the general
-character of the work remains the same.
-
-[Sidenote: On the Care of the Face.] The book _On the Care of the
-Face_ is imperfectly preserved, for it breaks off after one hundred
-lines. The introduction compares the highly developed culture of the
-Augustan period with the rough simplicity of earlier times. The maids
-and matrons of old may not have bestowed any care upon their personal
-beauty, but the Roman girls of the present must act differently, since
-even the men are no longer careless of their persons. To be sure, the
-character is more important than personal beauty, for character remains
-while beauty is fleeting. Up to this point the poem is attractive,
-but the remainder, consisting of recipes for cosmetics, with accurate
-directions concerning weights and measures of the various ingredients,
-is so uninteresting that the loss of the latter part of the poem is
-hardly to be regretted.
-
-[Sidenote: The Art of Love.] The _Art of Love_ is one of the most
-immoral poems in existence. The first book gives instruction to young
-men to aid them in finding and seducing desirable mistresses, the
-second tells them how to keep the girls' affection, and the third
-instructs girls in the art of gaining lovers. The love of which Ovid
-writes is mere sensual passion, not the union of souls, and his three
-books of systematic instruction in the arts of seduction would be
-utterly tedious were they not enlivened by some striking descriptive
-passages and myths, as well as by sententious lines of worldly wisdom.
-A remarkable passage in the first book[81] celebrates the praise of
-Roman greatness and of Augustus, in order to lead up to the mention of
-a triumphal procession; and this is mentioned, because in the crowd of
-spectators the young man may scrape acquaintance with a girl. Of the
-Roman women at the theatre, Ovid says:
-
-    _Spectatum veniunt, veniunt spectentur ut ipsæ,_
-    They come to see, and to be seen themselves,
-
-and many other lines show keen observation, knowledge of humanity, and
-no little humor; but, in spite of these beauties of detail, the poem
-is, as a whole, so uninteresting that its immorality has probably done
-little harm.
-
-[Sidenote: The Cure of Love.] The _Cure of Love_ offers various means
-for freeing oneself from the bonds of passion. Activity and travel are
-recommended; the lover who longs for freedom is advised to consider
-the faults of his mistress, and the expense she causes him; he is told
-to make her show her faults; is urged to fall in love with another,
-to avoid reminders of the beloved when she is absent, and to shun
-poetry, music, and the dance. All this is uninteresting enough; but
-this poem, like the _Ars Amatoria_, contains many fine details. The
-_Remedia Amoris_ is the last of Ovid's poems on the subject of love.
-From beginning to end his love poems show the greatest ease and fluency
-of expression, superb mastery of technique, much imagination, wit, and
-humor, but an almost absolute lack of real feeling and serious purpose.
-
-[Sidenote: The Fasti.] With the _Fasti_, or calendar of Roman
-festivals, Ovid's poetry becomes more serious. When this work was begun
-can not be determined, but it probably occupied part of the poet's
-time for several years. The description of the festival of Juno in the
-_Amores_ (III, xiii) shows an interest in religious ritual, and it may
-be that Ovid conceived the idea of writing the _Fasti_ even before the
-_Ars Amatoria_ was published. However that may be, the _Fasti_ never
-reached completion. The poem as planned was to consist of twelve books,
-one for each month of the year, and was dedicated to Augustus; but,
-when six books had been written, the work was interrupted by Ovid's
-banishment. After the death of Augustus, Ovid began a revision of the
-poem, and prefixed to it a dedication to Germanicus; but the revision
-progressed no further than the first book. As this book contains
-references to events as late as 17 A. D., the entire work as we possess
-it must have been published after Ovid's death.
-
-Poetic descriptions of festivals, with accounts of their origin, had
-been written by the Alexandrians, notably by Callimachus, and four
-elegies of Propertius (see p. 135) had introduced such subjects into
-Roman poetry. Ovid undertook to treat systematically all the Roman
-festivals, arranging them according to the days on which they occurred.
-This arrangement often causes related myths to be widely separated,
-and the same myth to be treated in several places, thus destroying
-the poetic unity of the work. The poet is also obliged by his subject
-to regard the astronomical as well as the antiquarian aspects of the
-calendar, and this double interest destroys the harmony of the poem.
-Ovid was not a careful student of astronomy, and the astronomical parts
-of his work contain some serious mistakes; but they are interesting
-on account of their clear descriptions, their variety of expression,
-and the myths connected with the stars which are introduced. The days
-that mark important events in Roman history are treated with especial
-fulness, and the poet takes every opportunity for the expression of
-patriotic sentiments, and for the praise of Augustus and the Julian
-family. The descriptions of festivals are lively and beautiful
-pictures of Roman life. Events of the poet's own times, or of the
-early, mythical period, are described with great variety, sometimes
-in elaborate detail, sometimes more briefly, but always with easy
-and attractive grace. The causes or origins of festivals and customs
-are introduced in various ways; sometimes a god appears and reveals
-them, sometimes they are narrated by a friend or contemporary of the
-poet, or again the poet tells them without adducing any authority. The
-Greek myths narrated are derived from some of the many collections of
-such material familiar to the Romans of Ovid's day; and even in the
-matter of Roman legends Ovid probably made no original researches.
-The grammarian Verrius Flaccus had compiled a prose calendar, with
-explanations of the established customs pertaining to each day, and it
-is probably from this that Ovid derived much of his antiquarian lore.
-The books from which Ovid derived his information are lost, and his
-work is now one of the chief sources from which we can gain knowledge
-of Roman ritual, belief, religious antiquities, and even topography,
-for Ovid frequently mentions the relative positions of temples and
-other buildings. To the student of Roman life the six books of the
-_Fasti_ are therefore of great importance. And their importance is
-not less to the student of Roman poetry, for they teem with beautiful
-and lively descriptions and interesting stories, and the patriotic
-sentiments eloquently expressed in several passages show that Ovid was
-something more than the careless, frivolous writer of corrupt love
-poems. In beauty of workmanship, vividness of description, and fluent
-grace of narrative, many portions of the _Fasti_ are equal to any works
-of Roman literature, not even excepting the _Metamorphoses_ of Ovid
-himself.
-
-[Sidenote: The Metamorphoses.] The fifteen books of the _Metamorphoses_
-are Ovid's greatest achievement. When he began the work we do not know,
-but, according to his own statement,[82] he had finished it at the
-time of his banishment, though he had not revised and perfected it to
-his own satisfaction. In his grief he put the manuscript in the fire
-and burned it, but several copies must have been made, so the work
-survived. The opening lines of the poem explain its purpose:
-
-    Of forms transmuted into bodies new
-    My spirit moves to tell. Ye gods (for ye
-    Did change them), lend my task your favoring breath,
-    And to my times continuous lead the song.
-
-This great collection of myths became almost immediately, and has
-remained ever since, the chief source of popular knowledge of
-mythology. Poets and artists alike have drawn their conceptions of
-the ancient gods and heroes from Ovid even more than from Homer. The
-myths selected are those in which a metamorphosis, or change of form,
-takes place. Collections of the same sort had been made by several
-Alexandrian writers; but Ovid was apparently the first to arrange these
-stories in continuous order from the beginning of the world to his own
-time. The astonishing skill with which the transition from one tale to
-the next is accomplished, the rapidity and fluency of the narrative,
-the abundance of charming descriptive passages, and the never-failing
-variety of expression, make this one of the most remarkable of poems.
-The number of stories told is so great that a list of them would be
-tedious, but a brief mention and characterization of some of the more
-important among them will serve to show the scope and variety of the
-work.
-
-[Sidenote: Contents of the Metamorphoses.] After describing the
-creation, Ovid gives an account of the four ages (of gold, silver,
-bronze, and iron) of mankind's deterioration and of the flood, from
-which only Deucalion and Pyrrha survived. The story of Phaëthon's
-attempt to drive the chariot of the Sun is told with great animation,
-though the poet's display of geographical knowledge is somewhat out
-of place. The tale of the founding of Thebes by Cadmus is a striking
-example of narrative skill. More tragical in subject, and more dramatic
-in composition, are the stories of Pentheus, torn in pieces by the
-maddened worshipers of Bacchus, led by his own mother and sisters,
-and of Athamas, who is driven mad by Juno and kills his eldest son,
-while his wife Ino casts herself, with her son Melicerta, into the
-sea. Between these two stories are several less dramatic tales, among
-them the sentimental idyll of Pyramus and Thisbe, which is burlesqued
-in Shakespeare's _Midsummer Night's Dream_. The deeds of Perseus,
-his rescue of Andromeda from the sea-monster, their wedding, with the
-quarrel that arose, and the turning into stone of Perseus's enemies by
-means of the terrible Gorgon's head, are narrated with vivid detail.
-The story of Proserpine, carried off by Pluto and sought all over the
-world by her mother Ceres, is enriched and retarded by the insertion
-of all manner of geographical, antiquarian, and mythological details.
-The tale of the pride and grief of Niobe is told with tragic pathos.
-In telling of Medea's love for Jason, Ovid imitates to some extent the
-portrayal of her mental torments given by Apollonius of Rhodes,[83]
-and at the same time displays his own liking for rhetorical argument.
-The adventures of Cephalus and Procris, Nisus and Scylla, Dædalus and
-Icarus, and others, are more simply told. The story of the Calydonian
-boar-hunt and the death of Meleager, enables Ovid to show his ability
-in description, narrative, and psychological analysis. The charming
-idyll of the pious and hospitable rustics, Philemon and Baucis, rests
-the mind of the reader after the preceding tales of violence. The deeds
-of Hercules follow, then the story of Orpheus, in which are inserted
-numerous tales, as if told by Orpheus himself. The account of the
-terrible death of Orpheus is followed by the story of Midas, who turned
-all things to gold by his touch, and whose ears were changed into those
-of an ass because he declared Pan to be a better musician than Apollo.
-The transformation of Ceyx and Alcyone into sea-gulls gives the poet
-an opportunity to tell of and praise conjugal fidelity. The combat of
-the centaurs and Lapithæ is told at some length, with too many names
-and too little unity. Many tales are told in connection with the Trojan
-war. Among these, the strife of Ajax and Ulysses for the armor of
-Achilles occupies a prominent position, and Ovid shows his rhetorical
-tendency by introducing set speeches by the two rivals in support of
-their claims. With the fall of Troy and the escape of Æneas, the poem
-begins to deal with Roman rather than Greek subjects. The earlier
-adventures of Æneas and others after the fall of Troy are, to be sure,
-still derived from Greek sources, but the stories of the combats in
-Italy and of the founding of Rome are no longer Greek. Near the end of
-the poem the Pythagorean doctrine of the transmigration of souls is set
-forth in considerable detail. Several Roman stories follow, and at last
-comes the account of Julius Cæsar's ascent to the gods, and a prophecy
-of a similar fortune for Augustus. Then the poem ends with the lines:
-
-    And now my work is done; which not Jove's wrath,
-    Nor fire, nor sword, nor all-consuming age
-    Can e'er destroy. Let when it will that day,
-    Which only o'er this body's frame has power,
-    Make ending of my life's uncertain space;
-    Yet shall the better part of me be borne
-    Above the lofty stars through countless years,
-    And ever undestroyed shall be my name.
-    Where'er the Roman power o'er conquered lands
-    Extends, shall I be read by many tongues,
-    And through all ages, if there's aught of truth
-    In prophecies of bards, my fame shall live.
-
-Certainly Ovid had written a most remarkable poem. At times the lack
-of earnestness so noticeable in his earlier works appears also in the
-_Metamorphoses_, but frequently he is carried along by his subject
-to utterances of real power and pathos. His hexameters have not the
-swelling grandeur of Virgil's, but they have a fluent rapidity and easy
-grace that no other Latin writer ever attained. Nor does any other
-Roman poet equal Ovid in the art of telling a story. He is a master of
-direct, simple narrative and of clear, vivid description, and he excels
-also in dramatic presentation and in the analysis of human thoughts
-and feelings.
-
-In the _Metamorphoses_ Ovid's power is at its height. His later poems,
-written after his banishment, show a constant deterioration in every
-respect, even in technique. The long series of laments over his exile
-is tedious and wearisome. The five books entitled _Tristia_ consist of
-elegies addressed for the most part to no one person, while the four
-books of _Letters from the Pontus_ (_Ex Ponto_) have the form of real
-letters to the poet's friends. The second book of the _Tristia_ is one
-long letter of appeal to Augustus. The short poem entitled _Ibis_ is
-an elaborate heaping up of curses and maledictions against an enemy to
-whom the fictitious name of Ibis is given, and the _Halieutica_ is a
-fragment (134 lines) of a poem on fishes. Among all these poems those
-in which Ovid refers to his own circumstances are the most interesting.
-It is from these[84] that most of our information about his life is
-derived. In some of these elegies the tone of genuine feeling, which is
-wanting in the earlier poems, is evident:
-
-    When in my mind of that night the sorrowful vision arises,
-    Which was the end of my life spent in the city of Rome,
-    When I remember the night when I parted from all that was dearest,
-    Sadly a piteous tear falls even now from my eyes.[85]
-
-So Ovid sings of his departure from Rome. His letters to his wife[86]
-and the letter to his daughter Perilla[87] are among the most
-attractive of these poems of bitter exile and grief. But even upon
-these the bitterness of the exile's lot casts its shadow. A greater
-poet, or a poet of greater character, might have soared above his grief
-and disappointment; but Ovid wearies us with his continued complaints.
-
-Several works by Ovid have been lost. The most important was probably
-his tragedy _Medea_, which was regarded as one of the greatest of Roman
-tragedies. Only two fragments of this play remain, from one of which we
-learn that Ovid represented Medea in a state of excitement bordering
-upon madness. Of a work in hexameters on the constellations, entitled
-_Phænomena_, and a series of epigrams, a few brief fragments remain.
-Not even fragments are preserved of a bridal song (Epithalamium)
-for Fabius Maximus, an elegy on the death of Messalla, a poem on
-the triumph of Tiberius (January 16, 13 A. D.), a poem on the death
-of Augustus, a medley on bad poets, made up of lines from Macer's
-_Tetrasticha_, and a poem in the Getic language in honor of the
-imperial family.
-
-Ovid's one defect as a poet is his lack of character. No other Roman
-wrote more polished verse, no other employed the Latin language more
-effectively for his purposes; but the want of moral earnestness and
-power makes Ovid, with all his genius, the least among the great
-Roman poets. His weakness is most noticeable in his earlier and later
-works, and the _Metamorphoses_ and the _Fasti_ are therefore the most
-admirable of his poems. Ovid was read throughout the Middle Ages, and
-the mythological allusions in writings of the Renaissance period and
-modern times are, for the most part, traceable to him. He was one of
-Milton's favorite authors, and several passages in _Paradise Lost_
-show his influence. Shakespeare, too, was acquainted, directly or
-indirectly, with the _Metamorphoses_, and numerous echoes of Ovid's
-poems are heard in the strains of other English poets.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XII
-
-LIVY--OTHER AUGUSTAN PROSE WRITERS
-
-    Livy, 59 B. C.-17 A. D.--His qualities as historian and
-    writer--Pompeius Trogus, about 20 B. C.--Justin, second or
-    third century after Christ--Fenestella, 52 B. C.-19 A.
-    D.--Oratory--Seneca the elder, about 55 B. C. to about 40 A.
-    D.--Verrius Flaccus, about 1 A. D.--Festus, third or fourth
-    century after Christ--Hyginus, about 64 B. C. to about 17
-    A. D.--Extant works under the name of Hyginus--Labeo and
-    Capito--Vitruvius, about 70 B. C. to after 16 B. C.
-
-
-[Sidenote: Prose inferior to poetry of this period.] The Augustan
-period is the golden age of Latin poetry. Prose reached its greatest
-height in the age of Cicero and began to deteriorate soon after his
-death. One reason for this is the great development of poetry, which
-led to the introduction of poetic words and phrases into prose; another
-is the fashionable rhetoric of the day, which aimed not at simplicity
-and clearness, nor dignity and grandeur, but at novel or striking
-expressions, artificial arrangement, and subtlety of thought. The
-influence of the rhetorical schools is seen in some of the poetry of
-Ovid and Manilius, but is much more evident in the prose of this period
-and the succeeding times.
-
-[Sidenote: Livy.] The only great prose writer of the Augustan period
-is Livy. Titus Livius was born at Patavium (Padua) in 59 B. C., and
-died in his native place in 17 A. D. Little is known of his life, but
-the tone of his writing indicates that he was not poor and belonged to
-a family of some position. He is said to have written philosophical
-works, probably popular treatises in the form of dialogues, and a
-treatise on rhetoric in the form of a letter to his son. These works
-are lost, and can never have possessed much importance in comparison
-with the great history to which Livy devoted more than forty years of
-his life. About 30 B. C. Livy moved to Rome, where he lived the greater
-part of the time until his death. Probably he visited his native Padua
-more than once, and he travelled also to other places in Italy. He was
-a republican in principle, but accepted the rule of Augustus without
-reserve. In fact, he was a personal friend of Augustus, who called
-him in jest a Pompeian, on account of his criticisms of Julius Cæsar
-and his admiration for the old republic. Livy appears in his work
-as a man of conservative tendencies, content to live under whatever
-government happened to exist, provided it was not too oppressive,
-willing to accept the state religion, with all its beliefs in signs and
-omens, while recognizing that some, at least, of the omens reported
-were inventions. His one great enthusiasm was for the greatness of
-Rome. This sentiment it was which led him to devote his life to the
-composition of a great history of Rome from the earliest times to his
-own day.
-
-[Sidenote: Livy's History.] The title of Livy's history was _Libri ab
-Urbe Condita_ (_Books from the Foundation of the City_). It consisted
-of 142 books, the first of which was written between 29 and 25 B. C.,
-while the last twenty-two were published after the death of Augustus.
-The last book ended with the death of Drusus, in 9 A. D. Whether Livy
-intended to carry his work still further is unknown. The division
-into books is Livy's own, but the division into decades, or groups of
-ten books, was made later, though it may perhaps have been suggested
-by the original publication of some of the books in groups. For the
-earlier parts of the work comparatively little material was available;
-consequently the history of the early years of Rome is less detailed
-than that of later periods. Fifteen books carry the narrative from the
-foundation of the city to the beginning of the Punic wars, a period
-of nearly five hundred years, while the war with Hannibal occupies ten
-books, and ten books are devoted to the eight years from the death of
-Marius to the death of Sulla (86-78 B. C.).
-
-Of this immense work only thirty-five books are extant: Books I-X,
-from the beginning into the third Samnite War (753-293 B. C.), and
-XXI-XLV, from the second Punic War to the Macedonian triumph of Lucius
-Æmilius Paulus (218-167 B. C.). In Books XXI-XLV numerous gaps occur.
-The contents of the remaining books are known to us through a series
-of abstracts made not directly from Livy, but from an epitome. Such an
-epitome existed as early as the time of Martial, not many years after
-Livy's death.
-
-[Sidenote: Qualities of Livy's History.] Livy derived his material from
-earlier historians, such as Fabius Pictor, Valerius Antias, Licinius
-Macer, Claudius Quadrigarius, and Polybius, following sometimes one
-and sometimes another, but seldom trying to reconcile conflicting
-statements of his authorities. When they did not agree, he usually
-accepted the statement that seemed to him most probable. He did not
-try to discover new truths by the study of original sources, such as
-inscriptions and other monuments, nor did he make careful studies of
-battlefields, routes of march, or the like. He did not, as most modern
-historians do, try to establish facts by independent research, but
-he worked over the accounts of his predecessors with the intention
-of presenting the whole of Roman history in an attractive literary
-form. In this he was so successful that his history soon became the
-one source from which all subsequent writers drew their information.
-His lack of military knowledge makes his description of battles and
-other military matters somewhat untrustworthy, and the early part of
-his work suffers from his inability to understand the gradual growth
-of Roman civilization, but such defects are more than compensated for
-by the admirable literary qualities of his history. He is, moreover,
-truthful, so far as he knows the truth, and any incorrect statements
-are due rather to insufficient knowledge than to any desire to conceal
-or pervert the truth. In his accounts of the dealings of the Romans
-with other peoples he is partial to the Romans, but that is because his
-sincere admiration for the Roman greatness leads him to believe that
-the Romans were in the right and acted rightly, and his partiality to
-the Scipios is to be accounted for in a similar way.
-
-It is evident from what has been said above that Livy is far from
-being a perfect historian; yet his history is true in the main, and is
-based upon broad knowledge and insight into the underlying principles
-of human character and human actions. He is less interested in
-accuracy of detail than in broader and more general truth and dramatic
-presentation. [Sidenote: Livy's speeches.] So in the speeches with
-which he enlivens his work, he does not pretend to repeat what the
-speakers actually said, nor even in every instance to put in their
-mouths words that express their individual characters, but rather to
-say in good rhetorical form what the circumstances seem to him to
-demand. In this he follows Thucydides, and his speeches, like those
-of Thucydides, serve not merely to give variety to the narrative, but
-also to bring vividly before us and to explain the circumstances and
-motives that led up to the actions narrated. These speeches are the
-most brilliant parts of his work. In them he shows the fruit of his
-training in the rhetorical schools and of careful study of Demosthenes
-and Cicero; but his rhetoric does not end in mere declamation. The
-speeches are not written merely to exhibit his rhetorical training, but
-to explain and enlighten.
-
-Throughout his work Livy appears as the enemy of extremes. His
-admiration for Pompey does not lead him to become hostile to the
-ruling family; he is opposed alike to royalty and to unbridled
-democracy. At the same time he treats his subject with sympathy and
-warmth of feeling, and makes the ethical side of history prominent,
-seeking to present in a strong light such actions as may serve as
-models for conduct, not merely to give a record of events.
-
-[Sidenote: Livy's style.] Livy is unrivalled as a narrator and a
-painter in words. His style is clear and straightforward, although his
-periods are often long and sometimes made complicated by the insertion
-in the sentence of numerous subordinate ideas, often expressed in the
-form of participles. As is natural for one who wrote when Roman poetry
-was at its height, he introduces poetical words which are foreign to
-the prose of Cicero and Cæsar, and some of his phrases show poetic
-coloring. But his Latin is pure, and it is difficult to see what
-Asinius Pollio meant by accusing him of "Patavinitas" or Paduanism.
-In later prose writers the striving for poetic effect becomes a
-disagreeable mannerism, but such traces of poetry as are found in Livy
-are not the result of conscious effort, but of the literary atmosphere
-of the time. His style is not everywhere of uniform excellence; for
-it is inevitable that in such a long historical work the different
-qualities of the subject and the advancing age of the writer affect the
-mode of presentation, but there is no part of the work in which the
-style is dull or without charm. It is perhaps at its best in the books
-dealing with the Punic wars.
-
-Livy's work was even in his lifetime regarded as the most perfect
-example of historical writing. The younger Pliny tells us that a
-citizen of Cadiz travelled all the way to Rome merely to see Livy, and
-when he had seen him returned at once to Cadiz, feeling that the other
-sights of Rome were of no further interest. Livy's influence upon later
-Roman writers was of the utmost importance, and his work has served
-as a model for more than one historian in more recent times. His
-enthusiasm for what is good and noble, his admiration for the great men
-of Rome, and his worship of Rome itself, give to his work something of
-the exalted character that belongs to a hymn of praise or a panegyric.
-His great history served, like Virgil's _Æneid_, to give permanent
-literary expression to the greatness of the past days of the Roman
-commonwealth.
-
-It would occupy too much space to try to give specimens of all the
-varieties of Livy's style and composition. His descriptions of battles,
-among which that of the defeat of Antiochus at Magnesia[88] deserves
-special mention, are masterpieces of painting in words, even when
-they betray his lack of military knowledge, and his summaries of the
-characters of important persons are admirable. The introduction to the
-history of the war with Hannibal, with the description of the siege of
-Saguntum, the hesitation at Rome, and the scene in the Carthaginian
-senate, is unsurpassed. [Sidenote: Speech of Hanno.] The speech of
-Hanno, who alone among the Carthaginian senators wished to preserve
-peace by relinquishing Saguntum and delivering Hannibal into the hands
-of the Romans, is one of the most remarkable of the many striking
-passages in this wonderful history:[89]
-
-    You have sent to the army, adding, as it were, fuel to the fire, a
-    youth who burns with the desire of ruling, and who sees only one
-    way to his end, if he lives girt with arms and legions, sowing
-    from wars the seed of wars. You have therefore nourished this fire
-    with which you are now burning. Your armies are now surrounding
-    Saguntum, which the treaty forbids them to approach; presently
-    the Roman legions will surround Carthage under the leadership
-    of those same gods by whom in the last war the broken treaties
-    were avenged. Do you not know the enemy, or yourselves, or the
-    fortune of the two peoples? Your good general refused to admit to
-    his camp envoys who came from allies in behalf of allies; they,
-    nevertheless, though refused admittance where even the envoys of
-    enemies are not forbidden to enter, have come to us; they demand
-    restitution in accordance with the treaty; that there may be no
-    deceit on the part of the state, they ask that the author of the
-    wrong and the accused person be delivered up. The more gently they
-    act, the more slowly they begin, the more persistently, I fear,
-    they will rage when once they have begun. Place before your eyes
-    the Ægates islands and Eryx and what you suffered by land and sea
-    for twenty-four years. And that leader was no boy, but his father
-    Hamilcar himself, a second Mars, as his partisans will have it.
-    But we had not kept our hands off from Tarentum, that is from
-    Italy, in obedience to the treaty, as now we are not keeping them
-    off from Saguntum. Therefore the gods overcame men, and in the
-    question at issue, which people had broken the treaty, the event
-    of war, like a just judge, gave the victory to that side on which
-    right stood. It is against Carthage that Hannibal is now moving
-    up his screens and towers; he is shaking the walls of Carthage
-    with his battering-ram. The ruins of Saguntum (may I prove a false
-    prophet!) will fall upon our heads, and the war begun against the
-    Saguntines must be carried on against the Romans. "Shall we then
-    give up Hannibal?" some one will say. I know that in his case my
-    influence has little weight on account of my enmity to his father;
-    but I have been glad that Hamilcar is dead, because if he were
-    living we should already be at war with the Romans, and I hate and
-    detest this youth as the fury and fire-brand of this war, as one
-    who ought not only to be given up as an expiation for the broken
-    treaty, but if no one demanded him, should be carried away to
-    the uttermost shores of sea and land, removed to such a distance
-    that his name and fame could not reach to us nor he disturb the
-    condition of our quiet state. I make this motion: That ambassadors
-    be sent at once to Rome, to give satisfaction to the senate;
-    other envoys to announce to Hannibal that he withdraw his army
-    from Saguntum, and to hand Hannibal himself over to the Romans in
-    pursuance of the treaty; I move a third embassy to restore their
-    property to the Saguntines.
-
-This speech, composed with powerful rhetoric and placed in a dramatic
-setting, serves not only to bring before our eyes the fruitless errand
-of the Roman envoys at Carthage, but to emphasize the justice of the
-Roman cause and to predict the ultimate success of the Romans, on
-whose side the gods that watch over treaties were enlisted. It is an
-example of Livy's oratorical composition, of his dramatic power, of his
-desire to show that historical events are the result of moral causes,
-and of his conviction that the Roman power was founded upon right and
-justice.
-
-Livy's great work was the first complete history of Rome composed in
-fine literary form. The time was ripe for such a work. The Roman people
-had spread its power over the whole civilized world, and the peace and
-order established by Augustus made it natural that men should wish to
-read the history of the long struggles of the republic that led up to
-the present peace of the empire. Livy's history, therefore, appealed
-directly to a large circle of readers. But in extending its power over
-the world, the Roman people had come in contact with various nations,
-and it was natural that the history of those nations should be of
-interest to the Romans. [Sidenote: Pompeius Trogus.] The task of
-writing this history was undertaken by Pompeius Trogus. By descent
-he was a Vocontian, of the province of Gallia Narbonensis, but his
-grandfather had received the Roman citizenship from Pompey, and his
-father had served under Cæsar in Gaul. Pompeius Trogus himself is
-mentioned as a writer on zoology, but his most important work was
-his universal history entitled _Historiæ Philippicæ_, in forty-four
-books. Trogus began with the history of the Oriental empires, Assyria,
-Media, and Persia, passing from the Persians to the Scythians and the
-Greeks. The greater part of his work was taken up with the account
-of the Macedonian Empire founded by Philip, and of the kingdoms that
-arose from it after the death of Alexander the Great. The history of
-each of these kingdoms is continued to its absorption in the Roman
-Empire. It is from this part of the work (Books VII-XL) that the whole
-received its title. The forty-first and forty-second books contained
-the history of the Parthians, the forty-third told of the beginnings
-of Rome and treated of affairs in Gaul, and the forty-fourth book
-contained the history of Spain, ending with the victory of Augustus
-over the Spaniards.
-
-[Sidenote: Justin's summary.] The history of Trogus is not preserved
-in its original form, but only in a brief summary made in the second
-or third century after Christ by an otherwise unknown Marcus Junianus
-Justinus. It is evident that Trogus was not an original investigator,
-and his work was probably little more than a translation of a Greek
-original, perhaps by Timagenes of Alexandria, who came to Rome in the
-time of the civil wars. Nevertheless, the work was important, as it
-was based on good authorities. It never became so popular as Livy's
-history, but it was evidently much used by later writers, and Justin's
-summary was much read in the Middle Ages. Of the style of Trogus it is
-difficult to judge, but so far as it can be appreciated in Justin's
-abridgment, it was clear and lively, with a good deal of rhetorical
-adornment. Even the abridgment is a valuable work on account of the
-importance of its contents.
-
-Several other historians of the Augustan period are known by name, but
-their works are lost and have left few traces. [Sidenote: Fenestella.]
-The most important of these writers was probably Fenestella, who lived
-from 52 B. C. to 19 A. D. He wrote _Annals_ in at least twenty-two
-books, and probably also a variety of works on antiquarian subjects.
-
-[Sidenote: Oratory.] The oratory of this period was far inferior to
-that of the age of Cicero. It was for the most part without serious
-purpose, and the productions of the orators were little more than
-school exercises to show their skill and serve as models for their
-pupils. Messalla, Pollio, and some others continued the earlier style
-of oratory in the Augustan age, but they found few imitators or
-successors. Among other early Augustan orators was Titus Labienus, who
-wrote a history as well as speeches. He was so bitterly opposed to the
-rule of Augustus that his works were burned by decree of the senate.
-Cassius Severus made in his speeches and writings such violent attacks
-upon the aristocracy that he was banished by Augustus, and his property
-was confiscated under Tiberius. He died in great poverty at Seriphus in
-32 A. D. Other orators, whose speeches were almost exclusively school
-exercises, were Marcus Porcius Latro, Gaius Albucius Silus, Quintus
-Haterius, Lucius Junius Gallio, and the two Asiatic Greeks, Arellius
-Fuscus and Lucius Cestius Pius. [Sidenote: Seneca the elder.] Little
-or nothing is known about any of these men except what is derived from
-the works of Annæus Seneca, the father of the philosopher Lucius Annæus
-Seneca and grandfather of the epic poet Lucan. Of the life of the elder
-Seneca little is known. He was born at Corduba, in Spain, probably as
-early as 55 B. C., and spent part of his life in Rome. He lived to a
-great age, for his only extant work was written as late as 37 A. D.
-This is a series of recollections of famous orators and rhetoricians,
-written at the request of the author's sons, Novatus, Seneca, and Mela.
-It originally contained ten books of _Controversiæ_ or arguments, and
-one book of _Suasoriæ_ or speeches advising some particular course of
-conduct. The most important parts of the work are the introductions,
-which contain much information on the history of oratory. The ten
-books of _Controversiæ_ treated of seventy-four subjects, the book
-of _Suasoriæ_ of seven. The beginning of the _Suasoriæ_ is now
-lost, and of the _Controversiæ_ only thirty-five are preserved.
-The subject-matter is throughout insipid and dull. Such things are
-discussed as this: "A man and his wife swore that if anything happened
-to one of them the other would die. The man went on a journey and sent
-a message to his wife that he was dead. The wife threw herself down
-from a high place. She was brought to herself again, and her father
-ordered her to leave her husband. She refused." The utterances of the
-masters of rhetoric on such matters as this are given by Seneca, whose
-prodigious memory made him able to repeat them almost, if not quite,
-in the original words. The most interesting single theme is the sixth
-_Suasoria_, in which the question is answered whether Cicero should beg
-Antony to spare his life. The answers given contain several judgments
-on Cicero, among them those of Asinius Pollio and Livy. But the folly
-and emptiness of the sort of oratorical study with which Seneca makes
-us acquainted can not fail to impress every reader. Seneca himself
-expresses his disgust. His remarkable memory enabled him to hand down
-to later ages specimens of the oratorical teaching which, even in the
-Augustan age, began to corrupt Latin style. Seneca's own style is not
-far removed from that of Cicero's time, and Seneca, though he wrote
-under Caligula, probably acquired his style in the early part of the
-Augustan period. The specimens he has preserved show, however, that the
-influential teachers of his early days had far less taste than he.
-
-[Sidenote: Verrius Flaccus.] Among the learned writers on special
-subjects one of the most important was Verrius Flaccus, of whose life
-little is known, except that he was chosen by Augustus to educate
-his grandsons Gaius and Lucius, and that he died in old age during
-the reign of Tiberius. Of his numerous works on grammatical and
-antiquarian subjects one only, _On the Meaning of Words_ (_De Verborum
-Significatu_), is partially preserved in an abridgment by Pompeius
-Festus, who seems to have lived in the third or fourth century after
-Christ. Only part of this abridgment remains, but this is important
-for the information it contains concerning Roman antiquities and
-early Latin words. A further abridgment of Festus was made in the
-eighth century by Paulus, and even this is of value, though it is a
-mere skeleton of the original work of Verrius Flaccus. [Sidenote:
-Hyginus.] Another scholar was Gaius Julius Hyginus, a freedman of
-Augustus and librarian of the Palatine library. His life extended from
-about 64 B. C. to about 17 A. D. He composed works on agriculture,
-history, geography, and antiquities, besides commentaries on Virgil and
-on Cinna's poem to Asinius Pollio. Of all these works nothing remains;
-but two works under the name of Hyginus are extant. One of these is
-a treatise on astronomy, including myths relating to the stars, the
-other a mythological handbook entitled _Fabulæ_, to which a series of
-genealogies is appended. The handbook is valuable chiefly because the
-myths told in it are taken from Greek tragedies for the most part, and
-through them we learn the plots of many lost works of Greek authors.
-These extant works are, however, not by the librarian Hyginus, but by
-a later writer, who lived probably in the second century after Christ.
-[Sidenote: Labeo and Capito.] Of the legal writings of Marcus Antistius
-Labeo and Gaius Ateius Capito nothing remains. Each was the head of
-a school of writers and teachers on legal subjects. Labeo tried to
-explain changes and growth in legal matters, as well as in grammar, by
-the principle of analogy or likeness, while Capito regarded anomaly or
-difference as more important.
-
-[Sidenote: Vitruvius.] A work of no literary excellence, but of great
-value on account of the information it contains, is the treatise _On
-Architecture_ (_De Architectura_), in ten books, by Vitruvius Pollio.
-Vitruvius was a practical architect, who built a basilica at Colonia
-Fanestris and had charge of the construction of machines of war under
-Augustus.[90] His books appear to have been written between 16 and
-13 B. C., and dedicated to Augustus. They form the only systematic
-treatise on architecture preserved to us from antiquity, and are for
-that reason of the greatest importance to architects and archæologists.
-The style is, however, inelegant and obscure, though its obscurity
-is due in part to the necessary employment of technical expressions.
-Vitruvius was evidently a man of no great literary education or
-ability, however able he may have been as an architect.
-
-The age of Augustus is marked by the highest development of Roman
-poetry. Virgil, Horace, Tibullus, Propertius and Ovid are, each in his
-own way, the greatest of the Roman poets. Only Catullus and Lucretius
-can be compared with any one of them. The only great prose writer of
-the period is Livy. His style is still pure, and is certainly very
-charming; but even Livy departs somewhat from the dignity and beauty
-of the _sermo urbanus_, the Latin of Cicero and Cæsar. The extracts
-preserved by Seneca show that the rhetorical teaching of the time was
-artificial and tasteless, and was leading the way to decline, to the
-so-called silver Latin of the imperial epoch.
-
-
-
-
-BOOK III
-
-_THE EMPIRE AFTER AUGUSTUS_
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIII
-
-TIBERIUS TO VESPASIAN
-
-    The emperors (Tiberius, 14-37 A. D.; Caligula, 37-41 A. D.;
-    Claudius, 41-54 A. D.; Nero, 54-68 A. D.)--Phædrus, about 40
-    A. D.--Germanicus, 15 B. C.-19 A. D.--Velleius Paterculus,
-    30 A. D.--Valerius Maximus, about 47 B. C. to about 30 A.
-    D.--Celsus about 35 A. D.--Votienus Montanus, died 27 A.
-    D.--Asinius Gallus, 40 B. C.-33 A. D.--Mamercus Scaurus, died
-    34 A. D.--Publius Vitellius, died 31 A. D.--Domitius Afer,
-    14 B. C.-59 A. D.--Cremutius Cordus, died 25 A. D.--Aufidius
-    Bassus--Remmius Palæmon--Julius Atticus--Julius Gracchinus--Marcus
-    Apicius--Philosophers--Lucius Annæus Seneca, about 1 A. D. to 65
-    A. D.--Persius, 34-62 A. D.--Lucan, 39-65 A. D.--Calpurnius, about
-    60 A. D.--Pomponius Secundus, about 50 A. D.--Petronius, died 66
-    A. D.--Quintus Curtius, about 50 (?) A. D.--Columella, about 40 A.
-    D.--Mela, about 40 A. D.--Other writers.
-
-
-[Sidenote: Literature after Augustus.] With the death of Augustus the
-greatest period of Roman literature comes to an end. From this time its
-history is a record of decay, not regularly progressive, to be sure,
-and not always manifested in the same way, but almost constant, and
-hardly interrupted even by the appearance of a few writers of genuine
-ability. With the establishment of peace throughout the Roman Empire,
-and with the ease and security of travel from province to province,
-men from all parts of the empire came to Rome for a time and returned
-to their homes, after, perhaps, imbibing something of the culture of
-the capital, while others took up their residence permanently in the
-imperial city. Some men of each class devoted themselves to literature.
-The elder Seneca belongs to one of these classes, the younger Seneca
-certainly to the latter. The influence of the provincials upon Roman
-literature could not fail to be great. In the hands of Spaniards
-like the Senecas, Latin could hardly remain the city speech, _sermo
-urbanus_, of the time of Cicero. The evil influence of even the best
-rhetorical teaching of the time of Augustus has already been mentioned,
-and as time went on the rhetorical teaching became constantly worse.
-Moreover, the circumstances of the empire, and especially of the city
-of Rome, were not favorable to the growth of literature. The peace that
-followed the unrest of the civil wars had led in the time of Augustus
-to great literary activity, but the continued peace in the subsequent
-years, when men's minds were no longer moved by the remembrance of
-stirring events, tended to deaden the imagination and to dry up the
-springs of literary life. In the early part of the first century after
-Christ there are few important writers either in Greek or Latin. In the
-city itself the character of the emperor had a powerful effect upon
-literature.
-
-[Sidenote: The relations of the emperors to literature.] Tiberius
-(14-37 A. D.) was a pupil of the Greek rhetorician, Theodorus of
-Gadara, and was familiar with Greek and Latin literature. He wrote
-Greek verses in the learned Alexandrian manner, a Latin poem on the
-death of Lucius Cæsar, and autobiographical memoirs in prose; but
-his own literary interest did not make him a patron of literature.
-His suspicious nature caused him to seek out and punish all real or
-imaginary allusions to himself in the works of contemporary authors,
-with the natural result that authorship became a pursuit too dangerous
-to be popular. Caligula (37-41 A. D.) had some ability as a speaker,
-and wished to be considered an orator, but his insanity led him to wish
-to destroy the works of Homer, and to remove the works and the busts
-of Virgil and Livy from the public libraries, on the ground that one
-of them was without genius or learning and the other was diffuse and
-careless. Although he did not systematically repress literature, his
-brief reign was certainly not favorable to its cultivation. Claudius
-(41-54 A. D.), who came to the throne at the age of fifty years, was
-a dull and learned pedant. He began to write a history from the death
-of Cæsar, but stopped at the end of the second book, owing to the
-objections of his mother and grandmother. He then wrote a history in
-forty-one books, probably beginning with the bestowal of the title of
-Augustus upon Octavian (27 B. C.), and continuing for forty-one years.
-He also wrote a history of the Etruscans in twenty books and a history
-of Carthage in eight books. Of all these works nothing remains. Some
-idea of his style may be derived from two inscriptions found at Lyons
-and Trent. The first is a speech delivered in the senate in 48 A. D.,
-advocating the extension to the Gallic nobility of the _ius honorum_,
-or right to hold offices, the second a decree renewing the grant of
-citizenship to the inhabitants of the regions in the Rhætian Alps
-about Trent, and regulating their affairs. In both cases the style is
-confused and entirely without elegance or merit. Claudius also wrote a
-defense of Cicero against Asinius Gallus, the son of Asinius Pollio,
-who had maintained that Pollio was the greater orator. The addition by
-Claudius of three letters to the Latin alphabet shows his interest in
-linguistic matters, but was without permanent effect. Under this ruler
-literature revived somewhat after the persecutions under Tiberius. Nero
-(54-68 A. D.), the pupil of Seneca, wrote various short poems and an
-epic, entitled _Troica_, on the Trojan War. His jealousy caused him to
-be the enemy of other poets, but he paid little attention to literary
-attacks upon himself. On the whole, literature was not repressed during
-his reign, though after the discovery of the conspiracy of Piso, in 65
-A. D., his wrath fell upon philosophers and men of letters.
-
-The literature of the times of Tiberius and Caligula is less important
-than that of the following years. [Sidenote: Phædrus.] The only poet of
-importance is Phædrus, a freedman of Augustus, who wrote fables in
-iambic verse. These are for the most part not original with Phædrus,
-but are the so-called fables of Æsop, tales of Oriental origin, which
-migrated in writing or in oral form to Europe. The Greeks thought
-them the inventions of Æsop, but modern investigations have proved
-that they belong to the migratory folk-lore of India. After the
-first book of his fables, Phædrus introduces fables and tales of his
-own among those ascribed to Æsop. The whole collection now consists
-of ninety-three fables, divided into five books; but it originally
-contained a greater number, especially in Books II and V. The fables
-are still, many of them, at least, familiar to most children. Such are
-the stories of the Wolf and the Lamb, the Frog who tried to be as big
-as an Ox, the Fox and the Crane, and many others. Phædrus tells the
-fables in well-composed verses, but sometimes overdoes his love of
-brevity so as to be obscure. He also points out the moral of his tales
-too plainly, leaving nothing to the imagination of his readers. His
-language is the simple and easy Latin of the early Augustan period,
-without the rhetorical flourishes popular in the following years. Yet
-it is evident from references in the prologue to the third book that,
-although Sejanus was powerful after the appearance of the first two
-books, the third was written after his fall, that is to say, after
-31 A. D. Probably Phædrus wrote at least as late as 40 A. D. Of his
-personal history little is known. He was born in Pieria, in Macedonia,
-but went to Italy and probably to Rome, at an early age. Something in
-the first two books of fables brought down upon the poet the wrath of
-Sejanus, but how serious its effects were is not known. The Eutychus
-to whom the third book is addressed is probably the charioteer who was
-an important personage in the last years of Caligula. Particulo and
-Philetes, whom Phædrus addresses in the epilogue and the last fable of
-the fifth book, are unknown. The _Fables_ of Phædrus have been much
-used as a text-book, because they are interesting to young readers and
-are written in simple, classical Latin.
-
-[Sidenote: Germanicus.] A poem belonging to the first years after
-the death of Augustus is the _Aratea_, by Germanicus, the son of
-Drusus (15 B. C.-19 A. D.). This is a translation and adaptation of
-the _Phænomena_ of Aratus, and shows that the author was not only a
-talented writer of hexameters, but also a well-educated astronomer.
-This poem contains 725 lines. Of a poem on the stars and constellations
-in their relation to the weather and the like, entitled _Prognostica_,
-only a few fragments remain. Besides these astronomical poems of
-Germanicus, the last book of Manilius (see p. 138) belongs to this
-period. So also do some of the poems wrongly ascribed to Virgil and
-Ovid, and for that matter, the later poems of Ovid himself.
-
-[Sidenote: Velleius Paterculus.] The only prose writers of the years
-before Claudius whose works are extant are Velleius Paterculus,
-Valerius Maximus, and Celsus. Gaius Velleius Paterculus was an officer
-who had served under Tiberius; he was _tribunus militum_ in 1 A. D.
-and prætor-elect in 14 A. D. The latest date mentioned in his _Roman
-History_ is the consulship of Vinicius, 30 A. D. The dates of his birth
-and death are unknown. The _Roman History_ consists of two books, the
-first of which is imperfectly preserved. Velleius does not confine
-himself strictly to Roman affairs, but begins his work with a brief
-sketch of the foundation of the Greek cities in Italy. The early part
-of the work is a mere summary, but more details are introduced as
-the narrative approaches the author's own times; yet it is, even in
-the latter part, by no means an exhaustive history. Throughout the
-work Velleius introduces his own opinions and is governed by his own
-prejudices; his history is therefore not especially trustworthy. His
-praise of Tiberius is so excessive that it can not be excused even
-as the enthusiasm of a veteran for his old general, and the almost
-equally exaggerated praise of Sejanus is without the shadow of excuse.
-A noteworthy peculiarity is that Velleius pays attention to the history
-of Greek and Roman literature, which would hardly be expected in so
-short a work. The style is clumsy, but shows a desire for rhetorical
-effect. The vocabulary is that of the Augustan age, but the pretentious
-rhetoric and the evident striving for variety are characteristic of
-the later time. The chief interest of Velleius is in the character
-of the persons of whom he writes, and his whole work has something
-personal about it which distinguishes it from a mere record of events.
-In the early part of the work he follows good authorities, though he
-often disagrees with Livy, perhaps on account of Livy's republican
-sympathies. In the latter part of the history he is untrustworthy,
-owing to his servile partiality for Tiberius and those connected with
-him.
-
-[Sidenote: Valerius Maximus.] The nine books of _Memorable Doings and
-Sayings_ (_Facta et Dicta Memorabilia_), by Valerius Maximus, were
-written not far from 30 A. D., and dedicated to Tiberius. Of the writer
-little is known except that he accompanied Sextus Pompeius to Asia,
-about 27 B. C. He was, then, born probably as early as 47 B. C., and
-can hardly have lived long after the completion of his books. Many of
-the anecdotes contained in his work are interesting, but the style is
-artificial, pompous, and dull. The most servile flattery is given to
-Tiberius, Julius Cæsar, and Augustus. The anecdotes cover a wide range
-of subjects--religion, ancient customs, all varieties of character,
-fortune, old age, remarkable deaths, and many more. Naturally, the
-work contains some valuable information, but this is thinly distributed
-through the nine books. The work was, however, popular in the Middle
-Ages, and is preserved in many manuscripts. A book on words, especially
-names (_De Prænominibus, etc._), contained in the manuscripts of
-Valerius Maximus, is by some unknown author and is of little value.
-
-[Sidenote: Celsus.] Aulus Cornelius Celsus wrote an encyclopedia,
-which contained treatises on agriculture, medicine, the art of war,
-oratory, jurisprudence, and philosophy. Part, at least, of this great
-work was written under Tiberius, but other parts may have been written
-later, for there is no definite indication of the date of the author's
-birth or death. Only the treatise on medicine (Books VI-XIII of the
-entire work) is preserved. This shows that Celsus was well versed in
-the medical science of his day, and that medical science had at that
-time reached a high degree of perfection. Celsus writes in a simple,
-straightforward style, without the artificial rhetoric or the poetic
-phraseology common among post-Augustan prose writers. His work was
-deservedly popular among those who wished for scientific knowledge in
-the Middle Ages, was one of the first books printed after the invention
-of the printing-press, and was used as a text-book for medical students
-until recent times. Whether the other parts of the encyclopedia were
-as good as the treatise on medicine can not now be determined. The
-treatise on agriculture is mentioned with respect by Columella, but
-Quintilian speaks slightingly of Celsus, perhaps on account of defects
-in the rhetorical parts of his work.
-
-[Sidenote: Prose writers whose works are lost.] The names of several
-orators of this period are handed down, chiefly in the reminiscences of
-the elder Seneca. The most noteworthy are, perhaps, Votienus Montanus,
-who was banished by Tiberius and died in 27 A. D.; Asinius Gallus
-(40 B. C.-33 A. D.) the son of Asinius Pollio; Mamercus Scaurus,
-who was forced by Tiberius to commit suicide in 34 A. D.; Publius
-Vitellius, who brought about the condemnation of Piso for the murder of
-Germanicus in 19 A. D., and who died in 31 A. D.; and Domitius Afer,
-from Nemausus (14 B. C.-59 A. D.), who held important offices under
-Tiberius, Caligula, and Nero. Among these orators, Domitius Afer was
-most prominent as a speaker in court, while Montanus was a teacher of
-oratory and a declaimer. Historians whose works are lost were Aulus
-Cremutius Cordus and Aufidius Bassus. The former published under
-Augustus a historical work in which he praised Brutus and spoke of
-Cassius as "the last of the Romans." For this his books were burned by
-decree of the senate in 25 A. D., and he committed suicide by starving
-himself. Bassus wrote a contemporary history in rhetorical style,
-probably embracing the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius, and possibly
-the end of the republic. Among the grammarians of this time, the most
-important was Quintus Remmius Palæmon, whose grammar (_Ars Grammatica_)
-was much used by the later writer Charisius. There were also several
-writers on special subjects, such as Cæpio and Antonius Castor, who
-wrote on botany, Julius Atticus and Julius Gracchinus, who wrote on
-vine culture, and Marcus Apicius, who wrote on cookery, though the
-extant cook-book ascribed to him is a work of the third century. These
-names show that even under Tiberius prose writing, although not so
-important as at other times, was not entirely neglected.
-
-[Sidenote: Philosophy.] Philosophy was much cultivated at Rome in this
-time, as it had been for at least a century, but the philosophical
-teachers under Tiberius and Caligula wrote for the most part, when they
-wrote at all, in Greek. Among them were the Sextii and Sotion, whose
-activity was in the later years of Augustus and the earlier years of
-Tiberius, Lucius Annæus Cornutus, and Gaius Musonius Rufus, both of
-whom were banished by Nero in 65 A. D. These men, and others of less
-note, whose doctrines were chiefly Stoic, exercised great influence
-upon Roman thought, but as their teachings were chiefly oral and their
-written works were in Greek, they must be passed over with a brief
-mention by no means commensurate with their real importance. Sotion was
-one of the teachers of the younger Seneca, the most important writer
-of the time of Nero, while Cornutus was the teacher of the satirist
-Persius, and Musonius of the powerful ethical preacher Epictetus.
-
-[Sidenote: Lucius Annæus Seneca.] Lucius Annæus Seneca, the son of the
-rhetor Seneca, whose work on the oratorical teachers of the period
-of Augustus and the subsequent years has already been mentioned, was
-born at Corduba, in Spain, about the beginning of the Christian era,
-but was educated in Rome, where he studied under Sotion, the Stoic
-Attalus, and a follower of the Sextii, Papirius Fabianus, besides
-attending schools of rhetoric. His mother, Helvia, was a lady of noble
-birth, whose sister married Vitrasius Pollio, who was for some years
-governor of Egypt. Seneca appears to have spent some time in Egypt
-with his aunt, through whose influence he obtained the quæstorship
-after his return to Rome, at some time between 42 and 37 A. D. A speech
-which he delivered in the senate nearly caused his death by arousing
-the jealousy of Caligula in 39 A. D. In 41 A. D. he was banished to
-Corsica through the influence of Messalina, on the charge of too great
-intimacy with Julia Livilla, Caligula's younger sister. Such stories
-were circulated about all the members of the imperial family, and we
-have now no means of knowing whether there was any truth in the charge
-against Seneca and Livilla. Probably the real reason for Seneca's
-banishment was his connection with the faction of Agrippina. At any
-rate, Agrippina recalled him from Corsica eight years later, after the
-execution of Messalina, obtained for him the prætorship, and made him
-tutor to her son Domitius Nero. His influence over his young pupil was
-so great that when Nero came to the throne, Seneca, with the aid of his
-friend Afranius Burrus, commander of the prætorian guards, directed the
-imperial government. He restrained the ferocity of Nero and checked
-the ambition and vengefulness of Agrippina. Owing to his influence
-the early years of Nero's reign were long remembered as a period of
-rest and peace at Rome. But Seneca obtained and held his influence in
-great measure by yielding consent to Nero's wishes, even when they were
-opposed to his better judgment or his conscience. He was probably privy
-to the murder of Claudius, by which Nero became emperor, there is no
-indication that he opposed the murder of Germanicus in 55 A. D., and he
-probably had some connection with the murder of Agrippina in 59 A. D.
-It is natural that in spite of his remarkable intellectual and social
-gifts, he was unable to maintain his moral ascendency over the emperor.
-With the death of Burrus, in 62 A. D., Seneca's power was broken. He
-recognized the fact, withdrew so far as he could from the life of the
-court, and in 64 A. D. offered to give up his great wealth. But his
-retirement did not save him from Nero's cruelty, and in 65 A. D. he was
-accused of sharing in the conspiracy of Piso and compelled to commit
-suicide.
-
-Seneca's philosophy did not forbid him to have a share of worldly
-wealth and honors. At the height of his prosperity he was immensely
-wealthy, possessing estates in Italy and abroad, and having money out
-at interest as far away as Britain. His total wealth was estimated at
-more than $15,000,000. He held all the regular offices, attaining the
-consulship in 57 A. D. Of his private life little is known. He was
-twice married, His first wife bore him at least two sons, one of whom
-died shortly before his father's banishment. His second wife, Pompeia
-Paulina, whom he married in 57 A. D., wished to commit suicide at the
-time of her husband's death, but was prevented by Nero.
-
-Seneca was an extremely voluminous writer, and though many of his works
-are lost, those that remain still exceed in bulk the extant works of
-almost any other ancient writer. [Sidenote: Seneca's tragedies.] They
-comprise tragedies, philosophical treatises, a satire on the death of
-Claudius, and a few epigrams. The exact dates of individual works can
-be established only in comparatively few instances, and no attempt will
-be made here to treat them in chronological order. Since, however, it
-is probably that the tragedies are works of his earlier years, they may
-be mentioned first. Nine of these are extant.[91] The subjects are all
-derived from Greek mythology, and had all been used as the subjects of
-tragedies by Greek dramatists. No originality of plot is therefore to
-be expected in Seneca's tragedies. Nor is there any great originality
-of treatment. Seneca imitates Euripides and some of the later Greek
-tragic poets, not simply translating their work, yet inventing few if
-any new situations, and differing from the Greek dramatists chiefly
-in his greater realism and his declamatory rhetoric. In fact, his
-tragedies are a succession of speeches, hardly interrupted by choral
-songs, which differ from the speeches of the actors chiefly in metre.
-In themselves these tragedies are feeble imitations and perversions of
-their Greek prototypes, though in them, as in his other works, Seneca
-shows great mastery of language and vigor of expression; but their real
-importance to the modern reader is due to their great influence upon
-the English dramatists of the sixteenth century and upon the whole
-course of the French classical drama. At a time when Latin was far
-more familiar than Greek these tragedies were regarded as the highest
-expression of ancient dramatic art, and were studied and imitated by
-the dramatists of the modern nations.
-
-[Sidenote: The Medea.] The best known among them is, perhaps, the
-_Medea_. In this play, as in the _Medea_ of Euripides, the part of
-the myth is treated in which Jason deserts his wife Medea to marry
-Creüsa, daughter of Creon, king of Corinth. Medea sends her two sons
-to Creüsa to give her a poisoned robe, which causes her death and that
-of her father Creon. Then Medea, in order to pain Jason, kills the two
-children. The following passage is taken from Medea's reply to her
-nurse, who urges her to flee when the news is brought that Creon and
-Creüsa have been killed by the poisoned robe she had sent:
-
-    Shall I fly? I? Were I already gone
-    I would return for this, that I might see
-    These new betrothals. Dost thou pause, my soul?
-    This joy's but the beginning of revenge.
-    Thou dost but love if thou art satisfied
-    To widow Jason. Seek new penalties;
-    Honor is gone and maiden modesty--
-    It were a light revenge pure hands could yield.
-    Strengthen thy drooping spirit, stir up wrath,
-    Drain from thy heart its all of ancient force,
-    Thy deeds till now call honor; wake, and act,
-    That they may see how light, how little worth,
-    All former crime--the prelude of revenge!
-    What was there great my novice hands could dare?
-    What was the madness of my girlhood days?
-    I am Medea now, through sorrow strong.
-    Rejoice, because through thee thy brother died;
-    Rejoice, because through thee his limbs were torn,
-    Through thee thy father lost the golden fleece;
-    Rejoice, that armed by thee his daughters slew
-    Old Pelias! Seek revenge! No novice hand
-    Thou bring'st to crime; what wilt thou do; what dart
-    Let fly against thy hated enemy?
-    I know not what my maddened spirit plots,
-    Nor yet dare I confess it to myself!
-    In folly I made haste--would that my foe
-    Had children by this other! Mine are his.
-    We'll say Creüsa bore them! 'Tis enough;
-    Through them my heart at last finds full revenge.
-    My soul must be prepared for this last crime.
-    Ye who were once my children, mine no more,
-    Ye pay the forfeit for your father's crimes.
-    Awe strikes my spirit and benumbs my hand;
-    My heart beats wildly; mother-love drives out
-    Hate of my husband; shall I shed their blood--
-    My children's blood? Demented one, rage not,
-    Be far from thee this crime! What guilt is theirs?
-    Is Jason not their father?--guilt enough!
-    And worse, Medea claims them as her sons.
-    They are not sons of mine, so let them die!
-    Nay, rather let them perish since they are!
-    But they are innocent--my brother was!
-    Fear'st thou? Do tears already mar thy cheek?
-    Do wrath and love like adverse tides impel
-    Now here, now there? As when the winds wage war,
-    And the wild waves against each other smite,
-    My heart is beaten; duty drives out fear,
-    As wrath drives duty. Anger dies in love.[92]
-
-[Sidenote: Seneca's philosophical writings.] Seneca's philosophical
-writings fall naturally into three divisions: the formal treatises on
-ethical subjects, the twenty books of _Ethical Letters_ (_Epistulæ
-Morales_), addressed to Lucilius[93], and the _Studies of Nature_
-(_Quæstiones Naturales_), in seven books. The last-mentioned work,
-addressed to Lucilius, and written between 57 and 64 A. D., is by no
-means a complete treatise on nature. Two books treat of astronomy,
-two of physical geography, and four of meteorology; for Book IV
-should properly be divided into two books, one on physical geography,
-the other on meteorology. These subjects are treated from the point
-of view of the Stoics, without any original investigation by Seneca,
-who derives his information entirely from books. The work was very
-popular in the Middle Ages, but is of no scientific value. Seneca's
-chief interest was in ethics, and he uses the phenomena of nature as
-texts for his ethical views. The formal treatises on ethics discuss
-such subjects as _Anger_ (_De Ira_, in three books), _The Shortness
-of Life_ (_De Brevitate Vitæ_), _Clemency_ (_De Clementia_). _The
-Happy Life_ (_De Vita Beata_), _Consolation_ (_De Consolatione_, three
-independent treatises addressed to different persons), and _The Giving
-and Receiving of Favors_ (_De Beneficiis_, an elaborate treatise in
-seven books). The _Letters_ treat of similar subjects in a somewhat
-less formal way. These works show that Seneca had studied with great
-diligence the works of previous writers on such subjects, especially
-those of the Stoics, though the writings of Epicureans had been by no
-means neglected. The moral teaching is, in the main, sound and wise,
-but there is little originality of thought. The style is vigorous
-and effective, though artificial and rhetorical; but these latter
-qualities were so natural to Seneca, in common with other writers of
-his day, that they do not detract from the sincerity of the sentiments
-expressed. Seneca is the most complete exponent of the Stoic philosophy
-as it developed at Rome. He is not so much a speculative thinker as a
-giver of practical advice for the conduct of life. Like most, if not
-all, the Roman Stoics, he is a preacher and teacher; and as such he is
-of the highest interest and importance. His works were much read in
-his own time and in the years immediately following, though Quintilian
-and others who wished to revive the Latin of Cicero found fault with
-their style. Their popularity continued unabated for centuries, and
-their high moral tone led to the belief that Seneca was a Christian.
-This belief was strengthened by the composition, at a comparatively
-early date, of a series of fourteen letters supposed to have been
-exchanged between Seneca and the Apostle Paul. These letters are,
-however, obviously forgeries, and possess no literary merit. Seneca's
-influence did not die with the death of the ancient civilization, but
-has continued even to our own times, and is very marked in the writings
-of Ralph Waldo Emerson.
-
-[Sidenote: The Apocolocyntosis.] In the _Apocolocyntosis_ Seneca
-appears as a political satirist. The title may be translated
-_Pumpkinification_, for the word is made from the Greek _apotheosis_,
-with the word for "pumpkin" substituted for the word meaning "god."
-This joke does not, however, appear in the pamphlet itself. The Emperor
-Claudius, who had just died, is supposed to arrive at Olympus and claim
-admittance among the gods. The gods hold a meeting, at which Augustus
-speaks against the admission of Claudius, who is finally sent off to
-Hades, where he is met by those whom he has unjustly put to death.
-This is the only extant specimen of a complete _Menippean Satire_, a
-work written in prose for the most part, but containing also metrical
-portions. For that reason it has a certain interest, but its literary
-merit is slight. Nor are Seneca's epigrams of any great importance.
-They are merely such verses as any cultivated man of letters like
-Seneca can write when the occasion offers.
-
-The age of Seneca produced no great poets, and few whose works have
-survived. [Sidenote: Persius.] The earliest of these is Aulus Persius
-Flaccus, who was born at Volaterræ, December 4, 34 A. D., and died at
-the age of twenty-eight, November 24, 62 A. D. At the age of twelve,
-Persius left his native town for Rome, where he attended various
-schools, among them that of the grammarian Remmius Palæmon. At the
-age of sixteen he attached himself to the Stoic Cornutus and became
-an enthusiastic adherent of the Stoic school. He was acquainted with
-many of the distinguished men of the time, among them Seneca and the
-epic poet Lucan. He was related to Arria, the wife of Pætus Thrasea,
-and his intimacy with Thrasea and his family doubtless strengthened
-his interest in the Stoic philosophy; for Thrasea was one of the many
-noble Romans who found in the Stoic doctrines some moral support amid
-the vice and corruption of their degenerate times. Persius belonged to
-a family of equestrian rank, and at his death left a large property.
-His library he left to Cornutus, who edited his poems, consisting of
-six _Satires_. Persius had written some notes of travel and a tragedy
-of the kind called _prætexta_, but these were not published. In the
-first satire he attacks the literary production of the time, and the
-prevailing love of notoriety. This is a real satire, in imitation of
-those of Lucilius or, rather, of Horace. In the remaining poems Persius
-discourses on subjects drawn from the doctrines of the Stoics. The
-second satire treats of prayer, the third of the contradiction between
-our conduct and what we know is right, the fourth of self-knowledge;
-in the fifth Persius gratefully praises Cornutus, who had trained
-him in Stoic philosophy, and passes on to describe true freedom,
-which delivers men from the tyranny of the passions; in the sixth
-he addresses his friend, the poet Cæsius Bassus, speaks of his own
-pleasant life in retirement at Luna, and discusses the true use of this
-world's goods.
-
-[Sidenote: Quality of the poems of Persius.] The poems of Persius
-were much admired by his contemporaries, and later generations, even
-throughout the Middle Ages, read them and wrote commentaries upon
-them. This admiration was due to the moral and ethical contents of
-the poems, though the style also no doubt pleased the perverted taste
-of the poet's own times. But neither the contents nor the style
-merits admiration. Persius was a young man of little originality, who
-expressed in his poems only what he learned from his teachers. The
-Stoic doctrines he teaches are trite, even the examples he cites being
-derived from books, not from his own experience; and the style has all
-the faults of the period. Persius had studied Horace with diligence,
-and his poems are full of Horatian words and phrases, but they have
-nothing of the grace and charm of Horace. Persius aims at striking
-expressions and novelty of form. He therefore avoids as much as
-possible all that is natural, employs unusual words in unnatural order,
-and succeeds in being obscure without being profound. Few authors have
-so undeservedly gained long-enduring reputation.
-
-[Sidenote: Lucan.] A far abler poet was Marcus Annæus Lucanus, the
-nephew of Seneca. He was born at Corduba in 39 A. D., but was taken to
-Rome when only eight months old. There he was well-educated, especially
-in rhetoric, and acquired a reputation as a declaimer in Greek and
-Latin. One of his teachers was the philosopher Cornutus, and among his
-friends was Persius, whom he admired greatly. He went to Athens to
-complete his education, and was called back to Rome by Nero, who made
-him one of his circle of friends. In 60 A. D. he wrote a poem in praise
-of Nero, which led to his political advancement. But Nero's favor was
-short-lived, either because Lucan was guilty of some impoliteness in
-public declaiming, or because Nero was jealous of his reputation as a
-poet, and forbade him to write or recite. Lucan joined the conspiracy
-of Piso, and was forced to commit suicide, April 30, 65 A. D.
-
-[Sidenote: The Pharsalia.] Lucan wrote several works, chiefly in verse,
-but the only, one extant is an epic poem in ten books, entitled _De
-Bello Civili_ (_On the Civil War_), ordinarily called _Pharsalia_,
-in which he tells the story of the civil war to the time when Cæsar
-was besieged at Alexandria. The narrative is prosaic and somewhat
-dull, but the tedium is relieved by vivid descriptions and really
-eloquent speeches. The chief historical source is Livy, though other
-writers seem to have been consulted. Some inaccuracies detract
-from the historical value of the poem. The diction is in the main
-Virgilian, though it is evident that Lucan had studied Horace and Ovid.
-Geographical and mythological lore is sometimes needlessly displayed,
-and the author's rhetorical training and ability are too evident. In
-Books I-III Lucan is still friendly to Nero, whom he flatters in Book
-I, 33-66, though throughout the entire work Cæsar, the founder of the
-empire, is the constant object of the poet's hostility. In the first
-three books Pompey is the hero, and Cato and Brutus are spoken of
-with admiration. The opposition to Cæsar does not, however in Lucan's
-case, indicate hostility to the empire and a desire to return to the
-republican form of government; in fact, Lucan's participation in the
-conspiracy of Piso, which had for its purpose the overthrow of Nero
-and the substitution of a good emperor in his place, shows that he
-accepted the imperial form of government as the only one possible. As a
-specimen of Lucan's spirit, and of the speeches which lend brilliancy
-to his pages, we may take the address of Cato to the Roman soldiers of
-Pompey's army in Egypt after Pompey's death, when the army was on the
-point of joining Cæsar:
-
-    So for no higher cause you waged your wars?
-    You, too, youths, fought for masters, and you were
-    No Roman force, but only Pompey's band?
-    Since not for royalty you're toiling now,
-    Since for yourselves, not for your leaders' gain
-    You live and die, since not for any man
-    You seek to gain the world, since now for you
-    'Tis safe to conquer, you shrink back from wars,
-    And seek a yoke to press your empty necks,
-    And know not how to live without a king!
-    Yet now you have a cause worth risk for men.
-    Your blood could be for Pompey shed in streams,
-    And do you now refuse your country's call
-    For lives and swords when liberty is nigh?
-    Of three lords Fortune now has left but one.
-    O shame! The royal palace of the Nile
-    And Parthian soldier's bow have more than you
-    Upheld the Roman laws. Go now, despise
-    The merit Ptolemy by arms has won!
-    Degenerate soldiers! Who will think that e'er
-    Your hands were red with any battle's blood?
-    He will believe you quickly turned your backs
-    In flight before him; he will think that you
-    Fled first from dire Philippi's Thracian field.
-    So go in safety! You have saved your lives,
-    In Cæsar's judgment, not subdued by arms,
-    Nor yet by siege. O base, unmanly slaves!
-    Your former master dead, go to his heir!
-    Why will you not earn more than life and more
-    Than pardon? Let great Pompey's wretched wife
-    And let Metellus' offspring o'er the waves
-    Be borne in chains; take captive Pompey's sons;
-    Let Ptolemy's deserts be less than yours!
-    My own head, too, whoever brings and gives
-    The hateful tyrant, reaps no mean reward.
-    Those men will know by my head's price that they
-    Served no mean standard when they followed mine.
-    Then come, and by great slaughter gain deserts.
-    Mere flight is a base crime.[94]
-
-Lucan is certainly the chief poet of the time of Nero. [Sidenote:
-Calpurnius.] Less important is Titus Calpurnius Siculus, the author
-of seven _Eclogues_ in imitation of Virgil and Theocritus. Formerly
-eleven eclogues were attributed to him, but it is now evident that he
-was the author of only seven, the remainder being probably the work
-of Nemesianus, who lived in the first half of the third century. The
-_Eclogues_ of Calpurnius are close imitations of those of Virgil, but
-are far inferior to their prototypes. They are attractive, but so much
-less attractive than Virgil's _Eclogues_ that they are little read. A
-poem _In Praise of Piso_ (_De Laude Pisonis_) is attributed with great
-probability to Calpurnius. The Piso whose praise is sung is without
-doubt Calpurnius Piso, the rich and influential man who headed the
-conspiracy against Nero and committed suicide in 65 A. D. This poem
-is full of imitations of Virgil, Ovid, and Horace. [Sidenote: Other
-poems.] The poem entitled _Ætna_ (see p. 141) and many of the anonymous
-poems preserved in manuscripts, some of which are not without merit,
-are to be ascribed to this period. The _prætexta_ entitled _Octavia_,
-preserved among Seneca's tragedies, undoubtedly belongs to a slightly
-later time, as Seneca and Nero appear in it. So far as its style is
-concerned, it might almost be by Seneca, though the rhetoric displayed
-is somewhat less effective than that of Seneca's tragedies. The play
-is interesting, chiefly because it is the only extant play of its
-class. Only a few unimportant fragments remain of the tragedies by the
-distinguished general, Publius Pomponius Secundus.
-
-[Sidenote: Petronius.] A work of unique interest is the novel by
-Petronius. This author is without much doubt identical with the Gaius
-Petronius, who was proconsul of Bithynia and afterwards consul, whom
-Nero admitted to his friendship and regarded as the _arbiter elegantiæ_
-or judge of good taste, but who was accused by Tigellinus in 66 A. D.,
-and committed suicide to avoid execution. The novel, known as _Satiræ_,
-originally consisted of some twenty books, and contained an account
-of the adventures of a Greek freedman, Encolpius, as told by himself.
-The adventures were strung together with no plot, except as the wrath
-of the god Priapus (a parody of the wrath of Poseidon in Homer's
-_Odyssey_) may have served as a plot to some extent. The extant parts
-are from the fifteenth and sixteenth books. The form is that of a
-Menippean Satire, prose and verse in combination, but the longer parts
-are exclusively in prose.
-
-[Sidenote: Trimalchio's banquet.] The chief of these is the _Cena
-Trimalchionis_ (_Trimalchio's Banquet_), the description of an
-elaborate entertainment given by a rich and purse-proud freedman,
-Trimalchio. The scene of the banquet is laid at Cumæ, or Puteoli. The
-house is large and full of costly things, but shows utter lack of
-taste. Trimalchio himself is a fat old fellow, who comes to the dinner
-after all the guests have been seated for some time. He informs them
-that it was inconvenient for him to come, but that he did not wish to
-disappoint them. At first he plays checkers with an attendant, but
-presently takes part in the feast and the conversation. The first
-course brought in is a wooden fowl sitting on eggs, which prove to be
-made of paste, and to contain finely seasoned birds. When a silver
-dish falls on the floor, Trimalchio orders it to be swept up with
-the rubbish. Another course consists of a great boar, out of which,
-when it is cut open by a slave in hunting costume, fly live thrushes.
-Again a roast pig is cut open, and sausages of all kinds fall out. The
-entertainment has other than gastronomical surprises, for a troupe of
-Homeric actors appear and perform scenes of the Trojan War, speaking
-in Greek. At the end of their performance a boiled calf is brought in,
-and the actor who takes the part of Ajax hacks it with his sword in
-imitation of the attack made by Ajax in his madness upon the cattle
-at Troy, and offers the astonished guests pieces of meat on his sword
-point. Acrobats also come in, and when one of them falls from a ladder
-upon Trimalchio, he is at once freed from slavery, lest it be said
-that so great a man as Trimalchio was injured by a slave. Presently
-the ceiling rolls apart, and a great hoop is let down, upon which are
-jars of perfumes as keepsakes for the guests. All these astonishing
-performances are made more amusing by the naive pride of Trimalchio,
-who prates much of his great wealth, and exhibits his ignorance by
-trying to make a show of learning. One of the guests tells a ghost
-story and another a tale of an adventure with a werewolf. Further
-excitement is caused by a fight between a fat little dog brought
-by Trimalchio's friend, the stone-cutter Habinnas, and a large dog
-belonging to Trimalchio. The slaves then take part in the banquet,
-Trimalchio has his will read, and all weep. After a bath, the company
-passes to a second dining-room. Here Trimalchio has a furious quarrel
-with his wife, who is jealous of a favorite slave boy. Trimalchio
-finally has his grave-clothes brought in, and lies down as if dead,
-ordering his horn-blowers to play funereal music. The noise is so
-great that the police, thinking something is the matter, break into
-the house, whereupon the guests escape. All this, with many more
-details of the lavish and tasteless expenditure, the pride of the
-vulgar Trimalchio, and the absurd features of the banquet, is described
-with much satirical humor. The language of the narrative is refined,
-evidently that of a highly cultivated man. Trimalchio, however, and
-some of the other characters speak the popular dialect of southern
-Italy, which contains many words strange to literary Latin. Their
-speech is not without mistakes in grammar, and is full of proverbs,
-like the speech of Sancho Panza in _Don Quixote_.
-
-Among the poems contained in the novel, the longest, entitled _De Bello
-Civili_ (_On the Civil War_), consists of two hundred and ninety-five
-hexameters, in imitation of Lucan, with touches of parody; the next
-in length is the _Troiæ Halosis_ (_Capture of Troy_), in sixty-five
-senarii, probably a parody of Nero's poem of the same title. The novel
-of Petronius is, in some places, extremely indecent, but is interesting
-on account of the specimens of popular speech it contains, and still
-more, as the only known example of the satirical novel in Latin. It is,
-moreover, full of wit and humor, and shows keen observation and much
-knowledge of human nature as well as of literature. The loss of the
-greater part of the work is greatly to be regretted.
-
-[Sidenote: Quintus Curtius.] The only extant historical work of this
-period is the _History of Alexander the Great_ (_De Gestis Alexandri
-Magni_), by Quintus Curtius Rufus, of whose personality nothing
-is known, but who seems to have written under Claudius. The work
-originally consisted of ten books, the first two of which are lost. The
-style is modelled upon that of Livy, and is clear and simple for the
-most part, though not entirely free from the affectation of elegance
-customary at the time. Some of the descriptions and speeches are
-exceptionally fine. Curtius is not a critical historian, and follows
-Greek authorities selected without much attention to their accuracy.
-Of the other historical works of this period nothing remains.
-[Sidenote: Memoirs.] The memoirs composed by various more or less
-important persons are also lost. Among them may be mentioned those of
-the Empress Agrippina and of the generals Gnæus Domitius Corbulo, who
-was _consul suffectus_ in 39 A. D., and was put to death by Nero in 86
-A. D., and Suetonius Paulinus, who was twice consul, once soon after
-42, and again in 66 A. D.
-
-[Sidenote: Columella.] Many scientific treatises were written at
-this time, as in the previous period, but two only are extant: the
-treatise _On Agriculture_ (_De Re Rustica_), by Lucius Junius Moderatus
-Columella, and the _Geography_ (_Chorographia_), by Pomponius Mela.
-Columella was born at Gades (Cadiz), and served in the army in Syria.
-He possessed land in Italy, and in his work he has the agriculture of
-Italy chiefly in mind. The work is divided into twelve books, and is
-the most complete ancient treatise on agriculture extant--more complete
-than those of Cato and Varro. It is written in a simple and dignified
-style, more like the prose of the Augustan period than the artificial
-rhetoric of most contemporary writings. In this respect Columella is
-a precursor of the classical revival under the Flavian emperors. The
-tenth book, on gardening, is written in hexameters, to serve as a fifth
-book of Virgil's _Georgics_, because Virgil had hardly touched upon
-this branch of his subject.[95] The entire work is dedicated to Publius
-Silvinus, and it was due to a suggestion from him and another friend
-that the tenth book was written in verse. Columella's verse is simple
-and classical, but is greatly inferior to that of Virgil, and less
-admirable than his prose. [Sidenote: Mela.] Mela, like Columella, was a
-Spaniard. His native place was Tingentera. His three books on geography
-were written soon after 40 A. D., and form the earliest systematic
-treatise on the subject extant. The style is far inferior to that of
-Columella, for Mela writes in the affected manner of his times. The
-work is enlivened by descriptions of peoples, places, and customs, and
-is valuable as a source of information, since it is based upon good
-authorities.
-
-[Sidenote: Various writers.] Historical explanations of five orations
-of Cicero by Quintus Asconius Pedianus (about 3-88 A. D.) are preserved
-in a fragmentary condition. They show great care and diligence, and
-are written in simple classical style. Of other works by Asconius some
-fragments are preserved in the commentary of Servius on Virgil. The
-works of the orators of this period are all lost, as are the legal
-writings of Proculus and Gaius Cassius Longinus (consul in 30 A. D.),
-who continued the schools of Labeo and Capito. [Sidenote: Probus.] The
-most important grammarian of this time was Marcus Valerius Probus, of
-Berytus, to whom Jerome assigns the date 56 A. D. He prepared and
-published editions of Terence, Lucretius, Virgil, Horace, and Persius,
-paying attention to various readings, punctuation, and the like, and
-commenting upon the text. He also wrote grammatical treatises, though
-the grammar preserved under his name is not his work. His only extant
-works are a list of abbreviations and parts of the commentaries on
-Virgil.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIV
-
-THE FLAVIAN EMPERORS--THE SILVER AGE
-
-    Vespasian, 69-79 A. D.--Titus, 79-81 A. D.--Domitian, 81-96 A.
-    D.--Valerius Flaccus, died about 90 A. D.--Silius Italicus,
-    25-101 A. D.--Statius, about 40 to about 95 A. D.--The father
-    of Statius, about 15-80 A. D.--Saleius Bassus, about 70 A.
-    D.--Curiatius Maternus, about 70 A. D.--Martial, about 40 to about
-    104 A. D.--Pliny the elder, 23-79 A. D.--Frontinus, prætor 70 A.
-    D.--Quintilian, about 35 to about 100 A. D.
-
-
-[Sidenote: The Flavian emperors.] THE death of Nero was followed by a
-year of disorder, in which Galba, Otho, and Vitellius were successively
-raised to the highest power, overthrown, and killed. But the terror
-which had brooded over Rome in the latter years of Nero's rule passed
-away with the coming of the Flavian emperors. Vespasian (69-79 A. D.)
-and Titus (79-81 A. D.) were firm but gentle rulers. Both were chiefly
-known as brave soldiers and able generals, but neither was uncultured
-or without literary interests. Vespasian wrote memoirs and Titus
-composed in 76 A. D. a poem on a comet. Their interest in literature
-and intellectual pursuits was, however, exhibited less by their own
-productions than in other ways. Vespasian was liberal to poets and
-artists; he paid attention to dramatic performances; he caused the
-three thousand bronze tablets destroyed in the burning of the capitol
-to be replaced by copies; and provided for the payment of rhetors, or
-instructors in oratory, by the state, being thus the first to establish
-a system of public education. The banishment of philosophers and
-astrologers during his reign was due to the reactionary politics of the
-philosophers, not to any opposition to philosophy on his part. Domitian
-(81-96 A. D.) was a very different character. Before his accession
-to the imperial power he exhibited a taste for poetry which led the
-writers of the day to flatter him as if he were one of the greatest
-of poets; but when he became emperor he relinquished all literary
-pursuits. No works by him are mentioned except a poem on the battle
-that took place at the capitol in 69 A. D. and a treatise on the care
-of the hair, a subject in which he was interested on account of his
-baldness. Nevertheless he restored the libraries which had been burned,
-and instituted public games in which dramatists, poets, and orators
-took part. But his jealousy and cruelty were greater than his literary
-interests. Twice, in 89 and 93 A. D., the philosophers and astrologers
-were banished from Rome, and though these acts may be excused on the
-ground of political expediency, no such excuse can be found for the
-cruelty which led him to persecute authors and put them to death on the
-flimsiest pretexts. The last years of his reign were a period of terror
-for men of letters even more than for his other subjects.
-
-Under Vespasian, the mad terror of the reign of Nero was succeeded
-by a period of calm. In literature also greater dignity and better
-taste succeeds to the exaggerated rhetoric of the preceding years.
-The writers of the Flavian period--the so-called Silver Age of Roman
-literature--revert to the manner of the great Augustan writers. Tacitus
-alone develops a style of marked originality, and Tacitus is the only
-really great writer of this period. The others, foremost among whom are
-Quintilian, Statius, and the elder Pliny, show learning and judgment,
-but not genius.
-
-[Sidenote: Valerius Flaccus] The earliest poet of the Flavian epoch is
-Gaius Valerius Flaccus, whose only known work is an epic poem entitled
-_Argonautica_, on the adventures of Jason and his comrades in quest of
-the golden fleece. A reference to the capture of Jerusalem by Titus
-shows that the earlier part of the poem was written not long after 70
-A. D., and the mention of the eruption of Vesuvius proves that it
-was not completed until after 79 A. D. The poet died shortly before
-90 A. D. Further than this nothing is known of his life. The story of
-the Argonautic expedition was told in the _Argonautica_ of the Greek
-poet Apollonius Rhodius in the third century B. C., and Valerius
-Flaccus imitates Apollonius in his general treatment of the subject,
-sometimes even translating his words; but he amplifies some scenes
-which Apollonius had treated briefly and adds some new elements to the
-tale, while on the other hand he omits much of the superfluous learning
-displayed by Apollonius and narrates briefly parts of the story which
-the Greek poet had told at greater length. In general, when Valerius
-changes the treatment of Apollonius the change is for the better. For
-instance, in the Latin poem, when Jason reaches Colchis, he finds Æetes
-hard pressed by a hostile army, and receives from him the promise of
-the golden fleece in return for his assistance in the war. When the
-enemy is defeated Æetes breaks his promise, and Jason is thus justified
-in accepting the aid of Medea and her magic arts. Nothing of all this
-is to be found in Apollonius, and the Roman poet has made a decided
-addition to the plot of the story. Valerius pays more attention to
-character painting than Apollonius, and is especially successful in
-making the characters of Æetes and Jason stand out in strong relief.
-His description of the mental struggles of Medea, torn between her
-love for Jason and her duty to her father and her country, is far more
-effective than that of Apollonius or even than Virgil's description of
-Dido's love for Æneas, which is founded upon Apollonius. In diction
-Valerius imitates Virgin, though his style is far less simple and clear
-than Virgil's, and in the treatment of many episodes of the poem he
-copies Virgil's treatment of similar themes; the work shows also the
-influence of Ovid and of Seneca's tragedies. In its present condition
-the _Argonautica_ breaks off in the eighth book, leaving the tale
-incomplete; but whether the remainder of the poem is lost or was never
-written can not be determined.
-
-[Sidenote: Silius Italicus.] Silius Italicus, whose whole name was
-Tiberius Cattius Silius Italicus, chose for the subject of his epic a
-Roman theme, the second Punic War. He was born in 25 A. D. and starved
-himself to death on account of an incurable disease in 101 A. D. He is
-said to have been an informer (_delator_) under Nero, but rose to the
-consulship in 68 A. D., and was afterwards governor of Asia under
-Vespasian. The latter part of his life was spent in honorable
-retirement in Campania. Here he devoted himself to literature and
-wrote the seventeen books of the _Punica_, in which he tells the story
-of the second Punic War to the decisive battle of Zama, in 202 B. C.
-His historical information is derived from Livy, and is therefore
-correct in all essential matters. The events of the war are described
-in chronological order. The style is an imitation of Homer and Virgil,
-and the imitation extends to more than mere style, for the traditional
-epic machinery of gods, prophecies, heroes, and the like, is employed
-as freely as if the second Punic War were as mythical as the
-adventures of Æneas. So Juno strives to give Hannibal the victory,
-while Venus aids the Romans. The sea-god Proteus foretells the course
-of the war to a Carthaginian fleet, and Hannibal, with his crested
-helmet, his sword, and his spear "fatal to thousands," rages about the
-walls of Saguntum like Achilles at the siege of Troy. In short,
-Silius, having no poetic inspiration or imagination of his own, uses
-in his account of the Punic War the methods which had been
-appropriately applied to the myths of earlier days by Homer and
-Virgil. As a result, the _Punica_, though written in good hexameters,
-is hopelessly dull and uninteresting. The so-called _Homerus Latinus_,
-or _Ilias Latina_, an epitome of the _Iliad_ in one thousand and
-seventy hexameters, is attributed to the earlier years of Silius
-Italicus. It attained considerable popularity, but is a work of little
-merit.
-
-[Sidenote: Statius.] The most eminent poet of this period was Publius
-Papinius Statius. He was born at Naples, probably about 40 A. D., but
-spent most of his life at Rome, though he returned to Naples, probably
-in 94 A. D. The last date to which reference is made in his poems is
-95 A. D. His father was of a distinguished but not wealthy family, and
-attained some distinction as a poet and teacher, first at Naples, and
-later at Rome, where Domitian was among his pupils. He had intended to
-write a poem on the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 A. D., but was prevented
-by death, which must therefore have come upon him about 80 A. D. From
-him Statius received his early education and his first impulse toward
-poetry. Statius won prizes for poetry at the _Augustalia_ at Naples,
-and at Alba, but failed to win a prize at the _Capitolia_ in Rome. This
-was probably in 94 A. D., and his retirement to Naples may have been
-due to his disappointment. He was married to a widow named Claudia, who
-had a daughter by her former husband; but Statius had no children of
-his own. Domitian regarded him with favor, gave him a supply of running
-water for his country house at Alba, and invited him to his table.
-These few details of his life are derived from his poems, chiefly from
-a poem in honor of his father's memory, which is published as the third
-in the fifth book of the _Silvæ_.
-
-[Sidenote: Works of Statius.] The chief work of Statius is the
-_Thebais_, an epic poem in twelve books, the subject of which is the
-strife between the two sons of OEdipus, Eteocles and Polynices, and the
-legendary history of Thebes to the death of Creon. This work occupied
-the poet for twelve years, probably about 80-92 A. D. His other
-extant works are the _Silvæ_, a collection of shorter poems on various
-subjects, divided into five books, and the _Achilleis_. None of the
-poems contained in the _Silvæ_ appears to have been written before
-91 or 92 A. D., and the fifth book, which has no preface and which
-contains some incomplete poems, was probably published after the poet's
-death. The _Achilleis_ was to be an account of the life of Achilles,
-embracing the story of the Trojan War, but it breaks off in the second
-book, before Achilles reaches Troy. The only lost works of Statius to
-which any reference exists are a pantomime entitled _Agave_, and an
-epic on Domitian's German war; but the latter work was probably never
-completed.
-
-[Sidenote: The Thebais.] Statius was an ardent admirer of Virgil,
-and the _Thebais_ is an elaborate imitation of the _Æneid_. Not only
-Virgil's language is imitated, but the division of the poem into twelve
-books, the general chronological sequence of events, the arrangement
-by which the scenes of combat begin with the seventh book, and the
-treatment of many individual scenes are adopted from the _Æneid_. The
-subject of the _Thebais_ had been treated by many previous poets, and
-Statius could find the story in various mythological handbooks. It is
-therefore not certain, though not improbable, that he followed the
-version given by Antimachus in his _Thebais_, written in the fifth
-century B. C. Statius is not a great epic poet. He lacks the sense of
-proportion and has little dramatic power, in spite of the fact that
-he evidently aims at dramatic effect. He excels in descriptions and
-similes, but devotes far too much space to each; his similes especially
-become wearisome. The entire poem lacks the charm of true poetic
-inspiration. It is learned and correct, but artificial, imitative,
-and tedious. One of the briefest of the powerful descriptions in the
-_Thebais_, and one which shows Statius's liking for what is horrible
-and painful, is that of OEdipus, when he hears of the death of his sons
-and comes forth to lament over their bodies:
-
-    But when their father heard the tale of crime,
-    He rushed from the deep shadows where he dwelt,
-    And on the cruel threshold brought to view
-    His half-dead form; his hoary locks unkempt
-    Were vile with ancient filth, and stiff with gore
-    The hair that veiled his Fury-driven head;
-    His mouth and cheeks were sunken deep, and clots
-    Of blood were remnants of his torn-out eyes.[96]
-
-[Sidenote: The Achilleis and the Silvæ.] The _Achilleis_ has much the
-same good and bad qualities as the _Thebais_, and is less wearisome
-only because it is less long. In the _Silvæ_ Statius shows to better
-advantage. These occasional poems were evidently written for the most
-part in haste. In fact Statius says in his preface to the first book
-that none of the poems contained in it occupied him more than two days,
-and one of these poems contains 277 lines. The poems were written
-chiefly to please some noble or wealthy patron, and the subjects
-are in many cases trivial, such as a parrot, a fine bath-house, or
-a beautiful tree belonging to the person addressed. Such works call
-for little poetic fervor, but merely for skill in writing verses, and
-that Statius possessed in remarkable measure. Nearly all the poems
-are in hexameters, only six, among them one in celebration of Lucan's
-birthday, being in other metres. There is more or less padding in the
-poems; invocations of the Muses or of gods take up considerable space,
-and mythological allusions are needlessly multiplied; but these things
-are excusable in a poet who writes to order to please a patron. Of
-all the poems of Statius the most pleasing is one of only nineteen
-lines addressed to Sleep, the "youth, most gentle of the gods." The
-wakeful poet begs Sleep to come, but does not ask him to spread all his
-wings over his eyes, but merely to touch him with his wand, or pass
-lightly over him. The _Thebais_ and the _Achilleis_ attained immediate
-popularity, and continued to be much read and admired in the Middle
-Ages; but modern times have reversed the former judgment, and such
-admiration as is still accorded to Statius is given him on account of
-the _Silvæ_.
-
-[Sidenote: Other poets.] The epics of Saleius Bassus and of Statius's
-father, both of whom wrote under Vespasian, have disappeared, as have
-the tragedies and orations of Curiatius Maternus, who lived at the same
-time. The lyric poet, Arruntius Stella, and the poetess, Sulpicia,
-wrote under Domitian, but their works also are lost, for the extant
-short poem attributed to Sulpicia is a product of a later time. The
-only Flavian poet, besides Valerius Flaccus, Silius Italicus, and
-Statius, whose works remain, is Martial.
-
-[Sidenote: Martial.] Marcus Valerius Martialis was born at Bilbilis,
-in the northeastern part of Spain, on the first of March, about 40 A.
-D. His parents, Fronto and Flacilla, gave him the usual grammatical
-and rhetorical education at Bilbilis, or some neighboring town, and
-in 64 A. D. he went to Rome, where he became a client or hanger-on of
-the family of Seneca, and some other important families. He may have
-practised law for a time, but lived chiefly from the bounty of his
-patrons. The _ius trium liberorum_ granted him by Titus, was ratified
-by Domitian. He received the title of tribune, which carried with it
-equestrian rank. He owned a small country estate near Nomemtum, perhaps
-a gift from Argentaria Polla, Lucan's widow; and at one time he had
-a house of his own at Rome and kept some slaves. Still he can never
-have been rich, for he complains constantly of poverty. In 98 A. D. he
-returned to Spain, and died in his native place not later than 104 A.
-D., for the younger Pliny, in a letter written about that date, speaks
-of his recent death.
-
-Martial's poems comprise fourteen books of epigrams, the last two
-books of which, consisting of lines intended to accompany _xenia_ and
-_apophoreta_, gifts which it was customary to present to friends at the
-_Saturnalia_, were not published as books by their author. One book of
-_Spectacula_ celebrates the theatrical performances and other shows
-in which the Romans delighted; the remaining books are _Epigrammata_,
-each book revised and published with an introduction by the author.
-The longest poem contains fifty-one lines, the shortest consists of
-one hexameter. Most of the poems are in elegiac verse, but many are in
-hendecasyllables, and a few other metres occur. Martial is the master
-of epigram. His verses are sententious and to the point, often bitter,
-not infrequently indecent, but never stilted, dull, or unnatural. In
-an age of many imitative poets, Martial was original. This does not
-mean that no traces of imitation are to be found in his poems, for his
-obligations to Catullus are evident and frankly acknowledged, while
-the influence of Virgil, Ovid, and Juvenal is plainly to be seen; but
-his pointed wit, his candor, and his sententious brevity are his own.
-He has no lofty poetic inspiration, and exhibits no greater height
-of character than what is needed to let him see and acknowledge his
-own limitations. In spite of the bitterness of many of his verses, he
-seems to have been a man of genial nature. He was a friend of Silius
-Italicus, Quintilian, the younger Pliny, and Juvenal, but does not
-mention Statius by name, though his sneers at epic poets are probably
-directed against him. The younger Pliny says of him: "He was a
-talented, acute, and spirited man, whose writings are full of wit and
-gall, and not less candor."[97]
-
-Martial is not to be ranked among great poets, but his ability to
-express well-defined thoughts in brief, sententious, pointed words, has
-made his epigrams the models for all later times. The following lines
-commemorate the death of Arria, who, when her husband Pætus was ordered
-to kill himself, showed him the way:
-
-    The poniard, with her life-blood dyed,
-        When Arria to her Pætus gave,
-    "'Twere painless, my beloved," she cried,
-        "If but my death thy life could save."[98]
-
-Another brief epigram is on some fishes, supposed to be the work of the
-great sculptor Phidias:
-
-    These fishes Phidias wrought; with life by him
-    They are endowed; add water and they swim.[99]
-
-These lines also refer to a work of art:
-
-    That lizard on the goblet makes thee start.
-    Fear not; it lives only by Mentor's art.[100]
-
-The daily life of Rome is described in the following lines:
-
-    Visits consume the first, the second hour;
-    When comes the third, hoarse pleaders show their power;
-    At four to business Rome herself betakes;
-    At six she goes to sleep, by seven she wakes;
-    By nine well breathed from exercise we rest,
-    And in the banquet hall the couch is pressed.
-    Now, when thy skill, greatest of cooks, has spread
-    The ambrosial feast, let Martial's rhymes be read,
-    With mighty hand while Cæsar holds the bowl,
-    When drafts of nectar have relaxed his soul.
-    Now trifles pass. My giddy Muse would fear
-    Jove to approach in morning mood severe.[101]
-
-[Sidenote: Pliny the elder.] Among the many learned writers of this
-period the most important is the elder Pliny. Gaius Plinius Secundus
-was born at Novum Comum, in northern Italy, in 23 A. D. At an early
-age he went to Rome, where he came under the influence of Pomponius
-Secundus, whose example may have led him to combine public service with
-diligent study and authorship. Pliny's life was passed in the service
-of the state. He was an officer in the cavalry, serving in Germany
-and perhaps also in Syria; he was a trusted counsellor and agent of
-Vespasian, and held at different times the important post of procurator
-or governor in several provinces. His nephew mentions especially his
-procuratorship in Spain. These various and important official duties
-did not, however, withdraw Pliny's mind from his studies. When he
-was carried in the litter through the streets in the evening, after
-his official duties were performed, while he was bathing, and at his
-meals, he read or was read to constantly. He believed that no book was
-so poor as not to contain something worth recording, and therefore he
-took notes of all he read. At his death he left one hundred and sixty
-rolls of manuscript notes, closely written on both sides. With all this
-reading Pliny was not a mere bookworm, but a practical man of affairs
-and an interested observer of men and things about him. His zeal for
-knowledge cost him his life; for when the great eruption of Vesuvius
-took place, in 79 A. D., Pliny, who was in command of the fleet at
-Misenum, went in a war galley to the neighborhood of the volcano to
-investigate the strange phenomenon and to aid those in peril, landed,
-and finally succumbed to the ashes and noxious gases. The description
-of this event is the most interesting of the letters of his nephew, the
-younger Pliny.
-
-[Sidenote: The Natural History.] The result of Pliny's diligence
-is seen in his great encyclopædic work, the _Natural History_, in
-thirty-seven books. In this he undertakes to describe the whole realm
-of nature in a systematic way. The first book consists of a table of
-contents with a list of the authors consulted. Then follow in order
-the general mathematical and physical description of the universe,
-geography and ethnology, anthropology, zoology, botany, and mineralogy.
-Under mineralogy the uses of metals and stones are described, and this
-leads to a valuable history of painting and sculpture. The _Natural
-History_ is written for the most part in a simple, straightforward
-style, though with occasional lapses from good taste, but it is not
-a great work of literature. Its importance lies in the information
-it contains. In the first book, Pliny mentions nearly five hundred
-authors from whom his information is derived, but as he also speaks of
-one hundred chosen ones whose works he consulted, it is evident that
-his authorities fall into two classes. Apparently he really consulted
-about one hundred, but recorded in the first book the names of other
-writers to whom his real authorities referred. Pliny is almost the only
-ancient writer who tries to give much information about the sources
-of his knowledge, but it is often difficult, if not impossible, even
-in his case to be sure from what source a particular statement is
-derived. In general, it is clear that Pliny was a careful worker, and
-his statements can, as a rule, be accepted as true. The great work
-was ready for publication in 77 A. D. and was sent to Titus with an
-interesting preface. But even after this, Pliny continued to add the
-results of further reading or observation. His death came upon him
-in the midst of his work. [Sidenote: Pliny's other works.] Pliny was
-also the author of several other works, the most important of which
-were the _History of the German Wars_, in twenty books, and a history
-_From the End of the History of Aufidius Bassus_, in thirty-one books.
-Just what period this work embraced is not certain, but the suggestion
-that each book treated of one year and that the whole was a history of
-the years 41-71 A. D. is not improbable. These works, as well as
-Pliny's lesser writings, are lost, but they served at least to supply
-material to Tacitus, who cites the _German Wars_, and to other
-historians.
-
-[Sidenote: Frontinus. Various writers.] Of the technical writings of
-this period only two now exist: the _Stratagems_ (_Strategemata_) and
-the treatise on the Roman aqueducts (_De Aquis Urbis Romæ Libri II_),
-by Sextius Julius Frontinus, a man of some distinction, who was prætor
-in 70 A. D., consul several times, and was appointed _Curator Aquarum_,
-or overseer of the water supply of Rome, in 97 A. D. His writings
-belong rather to the history of technical studies than to that of
-literature. The names of several authors of memoirs of travels, legal
-treatises, speeches, histories, and technical writings of various kinds
-are known to us, but their works are lost or only partially preserved
-as unsatisfactory fragments. The schools of grammar and rhetoric
-continued to exist, and many teachers of these subjects enjoyed
-considerable reputation. The greatest among them, and the only one
-whose work has survived to modern times, is Quintilian, the last, and
-in some respects the greatest, of the Spanish writers of Rome.
-
-[Sidenote: Quintilian.] Marcus Fabius Quintilianus was born at
-Calagurris, in Spain, about 35 A. D. He was educated at Rome under the
-most distinguished teachers of the time, and when his education was
-completed returned to his native place. But in 68 A. D., Galba, who had
-been governor in Spain before he became emperor, called Quintilian to
-Rome. Here he became a teacher of rhetoric, and received a salary from
-the imperial treasury. At the same time he was a prominent barrister,
-but published only one speech, though others were published without
-his authority from shorthand reports. He was a man of great influence,
-and was even raised to the consulship by Domitian, who had appointed
-him tutor of his grandnephews. After teaching for twenty years he
-gave up his school and devoted himself to the composition of his great
-work, the _Institutio Oratoria_. This was published about 93 A. D. An
-earlier work, _On the Reasons for the Decay of Oratory_ (_De Causis
-Corruptæ Eloquentiæ_), is lost. Quintilian's private life was not free
-from trouble. He married at an advanced age, but his wife died when
-only eighteen years old, his younger son soon after at the age of five,
-and his elder son after a brief interval at the age of nine. When
-Quintilian died is not known, but he can hardly have lived long after
-100 A. D.
-
-[Sidenote: Institutio Oratoria.] The title _Institutio Oratoria_, given
-by Quintilian to his work, designates it as a text-book of oratory. But
-it is no mere technical treatise on the art of speaking. Quintilian
-was an enthusiastic lover of his profession, and believed that oratory
-was the highest expression of human thought and human life. Like Cato,
-he demanded that the orator be not merely a good speaker, but also,
-and first of all, a good man. He must also have a general literary
-education before proceeding to the technical study of oratory.
-
-Owing to this large conception of the qualities of the orator,
-Quintilian's great work became a general and very important treatise
-on education. Its arrangement is as follows: the first book treats of
-the elements of education and contains many interesting observations
-upon family life; the fundamental principles of rhetoric are treated in
-the second book, which carries on the discussion of the purposes and
-methods of education; the next five books (III-VII) deal exhaustively
-with the matter of oratory under the main heads of _invention_ and
-_disposition_ or arrangement, and are for the most part strictly
-technical; four books (VIII-XI) treat of expression and all that is
-included in the word _style_ with a discussion of memorizing and
-delivery; and the last book (XII), now that the theory of oratory
-is expounded, reverts to the orator himself, and discusses the moral
-qualities and the continuous self-discipline which alone can make the
-orator great.
-
-The technical part of the _Institutio Oratoria_, is now, since the
-study of formal rhetoric is no longer an important part of a liberal
-education, of little interest except to those who make a special study
-of Roman style and educational theories. Yet even in these books are
-many wise utterances of permanent value, such as "the price of a laugh
-is too high when it is purchased at the expense of virtue";[102] or,
-"a joke at the expense of the wretched is inhuman";[103] or, "it is
-the spirit and the force of mind that make men eloquent."[104] Such
-remarks, admirably expressed and inserted in fitting places, make the
-more technical books of Quintilian's work even now well worth reading.
-But the chief interest for the modern reader lies in those parts of the
-work which have less to do with the special training of the orator, and
-are more general in their scope--the discussion of elementary education
-in the first book, the treatise on the larger and broader education of
-mature life in the last book, and the brief critical survey of Greek
-and Latin literature in the first chapter of the tenth book.
-
-[Sidenote: The theory of education.] The theory of education as
-presented by Quintilian is the result of serious thought. It shows a
-breadth of view, a reasonableness, and at the same time a loftiness of
-conception that give its author at once an important position among
-educational writers. The ethical or moral element in education is
-especially emphasized. Quintilian, like many others in his day, felt
-that the standard of morals, of literature, and of oratory was lower
-than in the days of the republic. But instead of mourning over the
-decay of Roman virtue and taste, Quintilian, seeing that the only cure
-lay in right education, undertook to show the way to a restoration
-of the ancient excellence. Tacitus, in his essay on oratory, mentions
-carelessness of parents and bad education as the chief reason for
-the decay of eloquence; the same ground had apparently been taken by
-Quintilian himself in his lost essay on the _Decay of Oratory_, and in
-the _Institutio Oratoria_ the attempt is made to show how deterioration
-may be stopped and the old virtue restored. That others besides
-Quintilian were seriously interested in reform there is no doubt,
-and if their efforts met with little success, it is probably in part
-because they tried to restore the excellence of a time that was past
-and were unable to regulate the active forces of the present.
-
-[Sidenote: Literary criticism.] As a literary critic Quintilian
-exhibits the same sanity that characterizes his educational theory.
-Since a knowledge of the best literature is necessary for the orator,
-Quintilian passes in review the chief Greek and Latin writers, and it
-is interesting to observe that he regards the latter as the equals
-of the Greeks. He has decided preferences, and gives to Cicero, whom
-he regards as the equal of Demosthenes, the foremost place among the
-Romans. Yet he recognizes the merits even of those authors, such as
-Seneca, whose style he least admires. In brief and admirably expressive
-words he characterizes the style of the chief writers of Greece and
-Rome, and his judgment has, in almost every case, remained the judgment
-of later ages. It is interesting also to note that the works of nearly
-all those writers whom he mentions as the best have been preserved to
-our own time, which is an additional proof that the extant works have
-been preserved for the most part not by mere chance but on account of
-their intrinsic merit. Quintilian's admiration for Cicero is evident
-in his own style. Statius had reverted to the style of Virgil, and
-Quintilian goes back to Cicero, discarding the rhetorical excrescences
-of Seneca and his school. [Sidenote: Style.] His Latin is classical
-and beautiful, sometimes equal to that of Cicero himself. He is the
-foremost representative of the classical reaction of his time. But the
-reversion to an earlier style, whether in literature or art, has never
-been permanent, and Quintilian's influence, great as it undoubtedly
-was, could not stop the course of that change and decay which was in
-the end destined to transform the Latin language and bring into being
-the Romance tongues of modern times.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XV.
-
-NERVA AND TRAJAN
-
-    Nerva, 96-98 A. D.--Trajan, 98-117 A. D.--Tacitus, about 55 to
-    about 118 A. D.--Juvenal, 55 (?) to about 135 A. D.--Pliny the
-    younger, 61 or 62 to 112 or 113 A. D.--Other writers.
-
-
-[Sidenote: Nerva and Trajan.] Under Nerva (96-98 A. D.) and Trajan
-(98-117 A. D.) freedom of speech and literary utterance, which had
-been banished under the tyranny of Domitian, were restored. Nerva and
-Trajan were educated men. Nothing remains of Nerva's poems, which led
-Martial to call him "the Tibullus of our times," and Trajan's history
-of the Dacian War is also, unfortunately, lost. Trajan's replies to
-the letters of the younger Pliny show that he could write in a clear,
-concise, and business-like manner, but exhibit no further literary
-qualities. He paid attention to the education of the young and founded
-the Ulpian library, but was not a man of marked literary tastes.
-Under Nerva and Trajan literature was allowed to take its own course
-without hindrance and also without that imperial patronage which
-sometimes stifles free utterance quite as effectually as severity or
-intimidation. Nevertheless there was little literary production of any
-importance. There were many writers, but most of them have left not
-even their names to posterity. The only authors of literary importance
-under these emperors are Tacitus, Juvenal, and the younger Pliny.
-
-[Sidenote: Tacitus.] Cornelius Tacitus[105] was born, according to
-such evidence as exists, in 55 or 56 A. D. The place of his birth is
-not recorded, and nothing certain is known of his family; but his
-education, his career, and his marriage to the daughter of Agricola all
-combine to indicate that he belonged to a family of some importance.
-His marriage took place in 78 A. D., one year after the consulship of
-Agricola. Tacitus began his official career under Vespasian, continued
-it under Titus, and reached the rank of prætor under Domitian, in 88
-A. D. Under Trajan, in 97 A. D., he was appointed _consul suffectus_,
-and about 112-116 A. D. he was proconsul of Asia. His death took place
-probably not long after 117 A. D. He had a great reputation as a
-public speaker, as is evident from the fact that in 97 or 98 A. D. he
-delivered the funeral oration over Verginius Rufus, and it was probably
-due in great measure to his eloquence that in 100 A. D. he and Pliny
-accomplished the conviction of Marius Priscus, proconsul of Africa,
-for extortion. It was not without knowledge of public affairs that
-Tacitus turned to the writing of history, nor was it without practical
-knowledge of oratory that he wrote the dialogue _De Oratoribus_.
-
-[Sidenote: Works of Tacitus. The Dialogus.] The works of Tacitus in
-the order of composition are the _Dialogue on Orators_ (_Dialogus de
-Oratoribus_), the dramatic date of which is 75 A. D., while the date of
-composition is uncertain; the _Germania_, published in 98 A. D.; the
-_Agricola_, written early in the reign of Trajan, probably in 98 A. D.;
-the _Histories_, written under Trajan, and apparently not completed
-much before 110 A. D.; and the _Annals_, published between 115 and
-117 A. D. The _Dialogue on Orators_ is an inquiry into the causes of
-the decay of oratory. In form it is an imitation of Cicero's famous
-dialogue _De Oratore_, and the style also imitates that of Cicero. In
-this respect the dialogue is so unlike the later works of Tacitus that
-his authorship has been denied by many scholars. It must, however, be
-remembered that this is his earliest work, and that the Ciceronian
-style was taught in the school of Quintilian and no doubt in other
-schools at Rome, so that an imitation of Cicero was a natural beginning
-for a young author. Moreover, there are in the dialogue traces of the
-later style of Tacitus, which is distinguished for its epigrammatic
-utterances and its frequent use of innuendo. The work may therefore be
-unhesitatingly ascribed to Tacitus. It is an interesting and attractive
-dialogue, in which the quiet life of the poet is contrasted with the
-more active career of the orator before the real subject--the reasons
-for the decay of oratory--is discussed. The conclusion is reached
-that oratory has declined partly on account of the faulty rhetorical
-education in vogue, but still more because the orator no longer has
-under the imperial government the influence and power that belonged to
-his predecessors in the days of the republic.
-
-[Sidenote: The Agricola.] The _Agricola_ (_De Vita et Moribus Iulii
-Agricolæ_) is a biography and panegyric of Gnæus Julius Agricola,
-Tacitus's father-in-law. In the introduction Tacitus gives his reasons
-for having written nothing during the reign of Domitian. The passage
-deserves to be quoted, not only as a specimen of Tacitus's style, but
-because it places in a clear light his view of the imperial government
-in the first century. Throughout the _Histories_ and the _Annals_ his
-attitude is the same, and his genius has imposed his view upon all
-later times. Under Domitian two eminent Stoics, Arulenus Rusticus and
-Herennius Priscus, had been put to death and their works publicly
-burned. Tacitus mentions this and then expresses himself as follows:
-
-    They thought forsooth that in that fire the voice of the Roman
-    people and the freedom of the senate and the conscience of the
-    human race were being consumed, especially since the teachers
-    of philosophy had been banished and every good profession
-    driven into exile, that nothing honorable might offend them.
-    We have indeed given a great proof of our patience; and
-    just as the ancient time saw the utmost limit of liberty,
-    so we have seen the utmost limit of servitude, when even
-    the intercourse of speech and hearing was taken away by the
-    inquisitions. And with our speech we should have lost even
-    our very memory, if we had been as able to forget as to keep
-    silent. Now at last our courage has returned, but although ...
-    Trajan is daily adding to the blessedness of the times, ...
-    and the state has gained confidence and strength, nevertheless
-    by the nature of human weakness remedies are slower than
-    diseases; and just as our bodies grow slowly, but are quickly
-    destroyed, so you can oppress genius and learning more quickly
-    than you can revive them. For the charm of sloth also comes
-    over us, and the inactivity we hated at first grows dear at
-    last. Throughout fifteen years, a great part of the life of
-    man, many have fallen through chance mishaps, and all the most
-    energetic ones by the cruelty of the emperor, and a few of us
-    are left, so to speak, as survivors not only of the others,
-    but even of ourselves, since there have been taken out of our
-    lives so many years, in which we who were youths have passed
-    to old age and as old men have almost reached the limit of
-    life itself without a word.[106]
-
-Agricola was not a great man either in intellect or in force of
-character. Moreover, he had lived through the reign of Domitian in
-safety by not opposing the will of the tyrant. Naturally it was hard
-to write a panegyric on such a man which should interest and please
-the public. But Tacitus, by laying the chief stress upon Agricola's
-successful administration in Britain, which is prefaced by an account
-of the country and of the previous Roman expeditions thither, made
-of his panegyric a genuine bit of history with Agricola, the most
-prominent person in it. Thus the reader's interest is kept alive and
-the writer's purpose accomplished. The work closes with an eloquent and
-beautiful apostrophe to Agricola.
-
-When he wrote the _Agricola_, Tacitus was already planning a great
-history of his own times, for which he had at least begun to accumulate
-materials. [Sidenote: The Germania.] In the _Germania_ (_De Origine
-Situ Moribus ac Populis Germaniæ_) the material collected to serve as
-introductory to the account of the wars in Germany is published as
-a separate work. The little treatise is interesting as the earliest
-extant connected account of the country and inhabitants of northern
-Europe. A few of the statements contained in it are manifestly
-incorrect, but for the most part, what Tacitus tells us agrees with
-and supplements what we know from other sources. The essay is a
-compilation from various earlier works, among which Pliny's _History
-of the German Wars_ was no doubt the most important, though Tacitus
-probably consulted the works of Cæsar, Velleius Paterculus, and others,
-besides obtaining information from some of the many Romans who had
-served in the army in Germany. There is no indication that Tacitus
-was ever in Germany himself. As a literary production the _Germania_
-is far inferior to the _Agricola_, though written at about the same
-time. In the _Agricola_ Tacitus expresses his own feelings for his
-father-in-law, whom he evidently loved and respected, while in the
-_Germania_ there is little room for feeling of any sort, and none for
-emotion. Yet, with all the difference in literary merit, the two works
-show the style of Tacitus at the same stage. There are still some
-remnants of Ciceronian smoothness, but these are evidently survivals.
-The tendency to use concise, even abbreviated phrases, to add point
-to expressions by verbal antithesis or by inversion of order, and to
-make his sentences imply more than the words actually express, is
-characteristic of Tacitus's mature style and is evident, though not yet
-fully developed, in the _Agricola_ and the _Germania_ alike.
-
-[Sidenote: The great history.] At least as early as 98 A. D. Tacitus
-planned to write a history of his own times. His original purpose was
-to begin with the accession of Galba and continue in chronological
-order. But after completing the history of the period from Galba to
-the death of Domitian (68-96 A. D.) he went back to the death of
-Augustus, and wrote the history of the time to the accession of Galba
-(14-68 A. D.). He intended to write the history of the reigns of Nerva
-and Trajan, but never did so. The part of the work first completed,
-treating of the events of the author's own lifetime, is entitled
-_Histories_ (_Historiæ_); the part written later, but treating of the
-earlier period, is usually called the _Annals_ (_Annales_), though its
-proper title is _Ab Excessu Divi Augusti_, in imitation of the title
-of Livy's history, _Ab Urbe Condita_. The two together consisted of
-thirty books, of which fourteen belong to the _Histories_ and sixteen
-to the _Annals_. Of the _Annals_, the following parts are preserved:
-Books I-IV and the beginning of Book V, from the death of Augustus
-to the year 29 A. D., Book VI, with the exception of the beginning,
-carrying on the story to the death of Tiberius, and Books XI-XVI, from
-47-66 A. D., though this long fragment is mutilated at the beginning
-and the end. The account of the reign of Caligula is lost, as is that
-of the first seven years of the reign of Claudius, and of somewhat more
-than two years at the end of the reign of Nero. Of the _Histories_ only
-the first four books and part of the fifth remain, and this important
-fragment is preserved in only one manuscript. It contains the history
-of little more than one year, the memorable year 68-69 A. D., in which
-Galba, Otho, and Vitellius, in quick succession, gained the imperial
-power and lost their lives, to be followed by Vespasian.
-
-[Sidenote: The Annals.] In the _Annals_, dealing with a period before
-his own recollection, Tacitus treats the history of Rome and the
-empire as if it were directed by the wishes, the whims, and caprices
-of a few individuals. He depicts the character of Tiberius and the
-court of Nero in vivid and lurid colors. The court intrigues, the
-judicial and private murders, the licentiousness and corruption of
-the capital are spread before us with all the power of his brilliant
-and incisive style. These things appear as the most important matters
-in the history of the time. Modern scholars have, with the aid of
-inscriptions, found that the Roman empire was, throughout this period,
-ably and peaceably administered by permanent officials, and was little
-affected by the terror that reigned in the capital. But for Tacitus,
-Rome was the empire. The provinces were in the dim distance and had
-in his eyes little historical importance. That his view of history is
-narrow and distorted is clear; yet his genius has made it for centuries
-the only accepted view of Roman history under the early emperors.
-In the _Histories_, dealing with his own times, he sees things more
-clearly. The uprising of the Batavians under Civilis and the war in
-Palestine are treated with as much detail as the sanguinary struggles
-in Rome, though here also the influence of the characters and acts of
-individuals upon the irresistible course of history is overrated. This
-view of history, which makes events depend too much upon individuals,
-joined with a pessimism which sees hidden motives behind even innocent
-or indifferent acts, is the great defect of Tacitus as an historian.
-His information is carefully collected, though, as a rule, he neglects
-all mention of his authorities. In preparing his account of the Jews
-in the fifth book of the _Histories_ he relied apparently upon hearsay
-and upon other untrustworthy sources of information, without referring
-to the Septuagint or to Josephus, but similar carelessness can not be
-proved in other parts of his work.
-
-[Sidenote: Style of Tacitus.] His style is impregnated with the words
-and phrases of the classical writers, especially of Virgil, and with
-the rhetorical teaching of the Silver Age, and yet it is thoroughly
-individual. It is concise, sharp, and cutting, but often grandly poetic
-in its eloquence; it is apparently straightforward, yet somehow often
-reveals a half-hidden meaning; it is carefully elaborated, yet it
-affects the reader with rugged earnestness. Such a style is almost
-inimitable, whether by writers of Latin or by translators. It has been
-compared to that of Carlyle, and the comparison is worth mentioning,
-though it should not be pushed too far. Few prose works contain more
-epigrammatic sentences than those of Tacitus. Examples are: "Traitors
-are hated, even by those whom they advance";[107] "None grieve more
-ostentatiously than those who are most delighted in their hearts";[108]
-"Princes are mortal, the state eternal";[109] "When the state was most
-corrupt the laws were most numerous";[110] "New men rather than new
-measures";[111] "Vices will exist as long as men";[112] "Fame does
-not always err; sometimes it chooses."[113] Endowed, as he was, with
-striking stylistic ability, writing, in fact, in a style which could
-not fail to arouse the interest and hold the attention of his readers,
-it is no wonder that Tacitus succeeded in imposing upon the world his
-views of history, which can be only partially corrected by the careful
-study and interpretation of fragmentary records.
-
-[Sidenote: Juvenal.] Juvenal can hardly be separated from Tacitus.
-Both depict the life of Rome in the same lurid light, and the picture
-presented by each agrees with that of the other. Juvenal's diatribes
-seem to illustrate the statements of Tacitus, and Tacitus shows that
-Juvenal's violence is justified by the facts. Of Juvenal's life little
-is known. His full name is given in some manuscripts as Decimus Iunius
-Iuvenalis. One _vita_ or _life_ gives the date of his birth as 55 A.
-D., which may be correct, though there is no especial reason to regard
-it as exact. He was born at Aquinum, a town of the Volscians, where
-he held the offices of _duumvir quinquennalis_ and of _flamen Divi
-Vespasiani_. He was also at one time a military tribune, serving with
-the first Dalmatian cohort, perhaps in Britain. This military service
-probably belongs to his youth, and the local offices to his later
-life. He evidently received a good education, and he appears to have
-practised oratory for some years. Martial, who mentions him several
-times, speaks of him as eloquent, not as poetic or satirical. The
-_lives_ agree in stating that he was banished, but not in regard to the
-time or place of his banishment. He came to Rome about 90 A. D., was
-still there in 101 A. D., and probably spent part of some of the later
-years in the capital. At Rome he lived in the Subura, the plebeian
-quarter, but had access to the houses of rich nobles. His satires were
-written between 100 and 127 A. D., and he died about 135 A. D.
-
-[Sidenote: The Satires.] Juvenal is the harshest and most violent of
-the four great Roman satirists. Lucilius was outspoken and sometimes
-bitter, but aimed to correct while he rebuked the follies of his time;
-Horace soon lost all bitterness and expressed good-humored raillery;
-Persius derived his themes from books and preached Stoic doctrines; but
-Juvenal attacks Roman society in fierce and biting verses, shrinking
-from no gruesome or indecent detail, showing no humor save of the
-grimmest and harshest sort, and with no hope of correcting the evils
-he depicts. He has all the variety of phrase of the accomplished
-rhetorician, and his lines have a rolling grandeur almost Virgilian. He
-shows, indeed, the influence of Virgil more than of any other previous
-writer, though traces of Homer, Herodotus, Plato, nearly all the
-Roman poets, and among Roman prose writers Cicero, Valerius Maximus,
-and Seneca are found in his satires. The violence of his satires is,
-however, not directed against his contemporaries. He seems to have in
-mind rather the Rome of Domitian than that of Trajan or Hadrian, under
-whose rule he wrote. The sixteen satires are divided into five books.
-Book I (Satires i-v) not earlier than 100 A. D., and Book II (Satire
-vi) not before 116 A. D. These are the most powerful, most violent,
-and least agreeable books. Book III (Satires vii-ix) was written about
-120, Book IV (Satires x-xii) about 125, and Book V (Satires xiii-xvi)
-in 127 A. D. In these three books there is less virulence, but also
-less power than in the first two. Old age brought with it a loss at
-once of fierceness and of strength.
-
-[Sidenote: Contents of the Satires.] In the first satire, Juvenal gives
-his reasons for writing as he does. He is tired of listening to endless
-epics, and the corruptions of the time are such that "it is difficult
-not to write satire,"[114] and "indignation makes verse."[115] The
-evils to be attacked are enumerated in a series of rapidly sketched
-pictures, and the poet declares that "all that men do, their hope,
-fear, wrath, pleasure, joys, and gaddings make up the medley of my
-book."[116] And in the following satires the faults of men, the dangers
-of the city, the court of Domitian, the pride of wealth, the crimes of
-women, the lack of honor paid to intellect, the worthlessness of noble
-birth without virtue, unnatural lust, the shortsightedness of human
-wishes, the wrong of setting children a bad example, and other striking
-features of the life of Rome are vividly presented and ruthlessly
-attacked. One of the most interesting satires is the third, in which
-the dangers of the city are described. A man who is leaving Rome for a
-small country town gives reasons for his departure:
-
-    What should I do at Rome? I can not lie;
-    I can not praise a book that's bad and beg
-    A copy of it; I am ignorant
-    Of the motions of the stars; I neither will
-    Nor can make promise of a father's death.[117]
-
-The dirty streets, the water dripping from the aqueduct, the risk
-from falling tiles or household vessels, the drunken brawls in the
-streets, the rich man escorted home by clients and slaves with flaming
-torches, the danger from robbers--these and many other details of
-the ill regulated capital are set before us. This satire is imitated
-by Johnson in his _London_, which has rightly been called one of the
-finest modern imitations of an ancient poem, and the same author's poem
-on _The Vanity of Human Wishes_ is a less accurate, though not less
-admirable, imitation of Juvenal's tenth satire. The closing passage of
-the tenth satire, in which the poet tells what are the proper objects
-of prayer, is a lofty utterance of human wisdom. The most savage of all
-the satires is, on the other hand, the sixth, in which the crimes of
-women are held up to execration.
-
-It is not easy for the modern reader to enjoy Juvenal. His satires
-are full of allusions to unknown persons and things at Rome; they
-abound also in mythological references and literary reminiscences, and
-finally the savage tone of the earlier books is disagreeable. Yet the
-power of invective, the clearness and vividness of description, the
-variety of diction, and the beauty of versification have combined to
-make Juvenal a much read author. That he is also much quoted is due to
-the epigrammatic and pointed form of many of his phrases. _Mens sana
-in corpore sano_,[118] _Rara avis_,[119] _Panem et circenses_,[120]
-_Hoc volo, sic iubeo_,[121] _Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?_[122]
-are among the most familiar Latin quotations, and many other almost
-equally familiar expressions are derived from Juvenal. Some of these
-are distinguished for their significance quite as much as for their
-form. Such are, for instance: "_And for the sake of life give up life's
-only end_"[123] and "_The greatest reverence is due a child._"[124] It
-is not without reason that Juvenal has exerted great influence on human
-thought.
-
-Tacitus and Juvenal resemble each other in their originality and vigor
-of thought and expression, their severe judgment of men and manners,
-and their pessimism. [Sidenote: Pliny the younger.] The younger Pliny
-contrasts with them in all these respects, and his letters give us an
-idea of Roman life very different from that which we derive from them.
-Gaius Plinius Cæcilius Secundus was the son of Lucius Cæcilius Cilo,
-a wealthy nobleman of Comum, but was adopted by will by his uncle,
-the elder Pliny. He therefore changed his name, which was originally
-Publius Cæcilius Secundus, and took that of his uncle, retaining his
-original family name, Cæcilius, only for legal and formal use. He was
-born in 61 or 62 A. D., for he was in his eighteenth year when the
-eruption of Vesuvius took place, August 24, 79 A. D. Cilo had died
-when Pliny was young, and the boy had become the ward of Verginius
-Rufus, which fact did not, however, diminish the paternal interest of
-his uncle, with whom he was at the time of the eruption. Pliny began
-his career as an advocate in 80 or 81 A. D. He held various offices,
-was military tribune, quæstor in 89-90 A. D., tribune of the people
-in 90-91 A. D., prætor in 93 A. D., was one of the prefects in charge
-of the war treasury and also of the general treasury, became consul
-in 100 A. D., and succeeded Sextus Julius Frontinus in the college
-of augurs in 103 or 104 A. D. He was governor of Pontus and Bithynia
-either in 111-112 or 112-113 A. D., and died before 114 A. D., either
-in his province or soon after his return to Italy. His life was passed
-chiefly in the service of the government, and for the most part at
-Rome. He was married three times, but had no children. He was an orator
-of some importance, delivering most of his speeches in inheritance
-cases, though he was employed five times in important criminal
-suits. He recited his speeches before delivering them in public, and
-after delivery he published them, sometimes with corrections. He was
-interested in poetry, and wrote poems of various kinds, but these, as
-well as his speeches, with the exception of his panegyric on Trajan,
-are lost.
-
-[Sidenote: Pliny's letters.] Pliny's extant works consist of nine books
-of letters to various persons, written between 97 and 109 A. D., a
-panegyric on the Emperor Trajan, delivered in 100 A. D. when
-Pliny was made consul, and seventy-two letters to Trajan, written
-between 98 and 106, and from September, 111, to January, 113 A. D.
-Trajan's replies to fifty-one of these letters are published which
-exhibit his firm judgment and practical common sense in striking
-contrast to Pliny's indecision and lack of independence. Pliny's
-other letters are more interesting. He describes the scenes in the
-Roman courts, the gatherings where the audience was bored by authors
-who recited their works, he gives detailed descriptions of his
-Laurentine[125] and Tuscan[126] villas, in two letters[127] to Tacitus
-he gives an account of the eruption of Vesuvius, his uncle's death,
-and his own feelings. Incidentally he throws much light upon the
-social and family life of the time. His own character is also clearly
-portrayed. What a young prig he must have been who refused his uncle's
-invitation to accompany him to see, from a nearer point of view, the
-great eruption, preferring to spend his time over his books, and who
-even continued to make extracts when awakened by the terrible quaking
-of the earth--and this at seventeen years of age! His vanity is
-beautifully exhibited in another letter to Tacitus,[128] in which he
-tells a story to his own credit, and hopes that Tacitus will insert it
-in the _Histories_, and in still another,[129] where he says to the
-most original and inimitable of all Roman writers since the Augustan
-times, "You, such is the similarity of our natures, always seemed to me
-most easy to imitate and most to be imitated. Wherefore I am the more
-pleased that, if there is any talk about literature, we are mentioned
-together, that I occur at once to those who are speaking of you." Other
-qualities appear no less clearly. Vain he was and fond of praise, but
-at the same time kind to his slaves, affectionate to his friends,
-gentle, and conscientious. He seldom speaks unkindly of any one; and
-when he utters a sharp criticism, he almost always avoids mentioning
-the name of the person criticized. The love of nature was fashionable
-at Rome, and Pliny may be only following the fashion when he writes
-of natural scenery, but it is quite as probable that he really felt
-its charms. He had a great admiration for Cicero, and it was doubtless
-owing, in part, at least, to this admiration that Pliny, like Cicero,
-published his letters. There is, however, a great difference between
-the two collections. Cicero's letters were collected and published
-by others, whereas Pliny's were from the beginning intended for
-publication and were published at various times by Pliny himself. They
-are therefore not unpremeditated utterances, but carefully prepared
-writings for the perusal of the public. Nevertheless the epistolary
-style is well preserved, though not without some pedantic elegance, and
-the letters give us the same insight into Roman life under Trajan as do
-those of Cicero into the life of the last years of the republic.
-
-[Sidenote: The Panegyric.] The _Panegyric on Trajan_ was delivered
-as the official expression of thanks on the part of Pliny and his
-colleague Cornutus Tertullus for their elevation to the consulate.
-After the speech was delivered it was revised and enlarged. It is
-therefore in its extant form neither a speech nor an historical essay,
-but a mixture of the two. After an introduction, Trajan's acts before
-his entrance into Rome are recounted, then his entrance into the city,
-and his many political, municipal, and financial measures for the good
-of the state. Trajan's personal qualities are praised in the most
-fulsome manner and those of Domitian set forth in the most hateful
-light. Then comes an account of Trajan's second and third consulships,
-his care for the provinces, and his judicial acts, with traits of his
-private life. The speech or treatise ends with the expression of thanks
-from Pliny and his colleague. The _Panegyric_ is not an attractive
-production, but it is the chief source of information concerning the
-history of the earlier years of Trajan's rule.
-
-Though not a great man nor a great writer, Pliny was a cultivated
-gentleman and a useful citizen. His letters make us acquainted with
-Roman life from a side that Tacitus and Juvenal leave practically
-untouched. They are therefore not only interesting, but, as historical
-documents of great importance. Besides Tacitus, Juvenal, and Pliny,
-there are no writers of the time of Trajan who deserve more than
-passing mention. [Sidenote: Other writers.] The names of numerous
-poets are preserved, chiefly in Pliny's letters, but their works are
-lost, and we have no reason to believe that they merited preservation.
-Orators, jurists, and grammarians continued speaking and writing, and
-some among them attained eminence, but their works are lost for the
-most part, and the technical treatises on grammar which are preserved
-possess little interest for the student of literature. The same remark
-applies to the treatises on surveying and on the fortification of camps
-by Hyginus, on geometry by Balbus, and on surveying by Siculus Flaccus.
-The literature of the period between the death of Domitian and the
-accession of Hadrian is contained in the works of Tacitus, Juvenal, and
-Pliny.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVI
-
-THE EMPERORS AFTER TRAJAN--SUETONIUS--OTHER WRITERS
-
-    Hadrian, 117-138 A. D.--Antoninus Pius, 138-161 A. D.--Marcus
-    Aurelius, 161-180 A. D.--Commodus, 180-192 A. D.--Septimius
-    Severus, 193-211 A. D.--Alexander Severus, 222-235 A. D.--Gordian
-    I, 238 A. D.--Gallienus, 260-268 A. D.--Aurelian, 270-275 A.
-    D.--Tacitus, 275 A. D.--Suetonius, about 70 or 75 to about
-    150 A. D.--Florus, time of Hadrian--Justin, time of Hadrian
-    (?)--Liciniauus, time of Antoninus Pius--Ampelius, time of
-    Antoninus Pius (?)--Salvius Julianus, time of Hadrian--Sextus
-    Pomponius, time of Antoninus Pius--Gaius, about 110-180
-    A. D.--Quintus Cervidius Scævola, time of Antoninus and
-    M. Aurelius--Papinianus, time of Commodus and Septimius
-    Severus--Terentius Scaurus, time of Hadrian--Terentianus Maurus
-    and Juba, before 200 A. D.--Aero, about 200 A. D.--Porphyrio,
-    about 200 A. D.--Festus, early in the third century.
-
-
-[Sidenote: Latin literature after Trajan.] It was not until the fourth
-century after Christ that a new capital of the Roman empire was founded
-at Constantinople; but long before that time the real centre of gravity
-of the empire was shifting toward the east. In Asia, Egypt, and Africa,
-were the great sources of wealth and the great masses of population.
-While Rome was growing from the position of a small Italian town to
-that of the ruler of the world, and even for some time after the
-establishment of the empire, the Romans had possessed a strong national
-feeling, and Roman literature, although it began with imitation of
-the works of the Greeks, had been a national literature. But with
-the second century a change, which had been in preparation since the
-days of Augustus, became apparent. Rome was no longer the centre of
-the world in all things, though still the seat of government. Men of
-distinction spent at least a great part of their time in the smaller
-towns of Italy, and the leaders of thought and creators of literature
-no longer found it necessary to take up their residence at Rome. Then
-too, the progress of Christianity brought with it a new literature
-which was not national, but Christian. These causes, with others
-less obvious, but perhaps no less potent, led to the rapid decay of
-the national literature. It is our task from this point to trace the
-progress of this decay, and at the same time to record the rise of
-Christian literature in the Latin language. Works of great literary
-importance are few in this period, and the history of literature can be
-treated in less detail than heretofore.
-
-[Sidenote: Hadrian.] The Emperor Hadrian (117-138 A. D.) was a man of
-singular versatility. He delivered and published speeches and wrote
-an autobiography, works on grammar, and even poems. He was equally
-familiar with Greek and Latin, and it is probably in part due to
-this fact that the literary revival during his rule was less Latin
-than Greek. He spent a great part of his time away from Rome, and
-wherever he went his path was marked by the erection of buildings for
-use and ornament. He lived for three years at Athens, where he added
-a new quarter to the ancient city. Greek, which had for centuries
-been familiar to the literary men of Rome, became now, more than
-ever before, the literary language of the empire. It is hardly to
-be wondered at that Latin literature has under Hadrian no greater
-representative than Suetonius.
-
-[Sidenote: The Antonines.] Hadrian's successor, Antoninus Pius
-(138-161 A. D.), was no writer, but showed his interest in literary
-and intellectual matters by granting salaries and privileges to
-philosophers and rhetors. Marcus Aurelius (161-180 A. D.) was carefully
-instructed by Greek and Roman teachers. While still a mere boy he was
-greatly interested in the Stoic philosophy; but the famous orator
-and teacher Fronto (see page 235) obtained such great influence over
-him, that for a number of years he devoted himself to rhetoric. The
-correspondence of Fronto with Marcus Aurelius shows how great was the
-affection that existed between teacher and pupil, and also how petty
-were the rhetorical teachings and investigations in which Fronto passed
-his life and to which he hoped his pupil would devote his intellect.
-Fronto was, however, doomed to disappointment, for when Marcus Aurelius
-was in his twenty-fifth year he turned again to philosophy. The
-correspondence with Fronto is conducted in Latin similar to Fronto's
-own, plentifully adorned with obsolete expressions taken from writers
-of the republican period. The _Thoughts_ of Marcus Aurelius, those
-ethical maxims and moral reflections which make the Stoic doctrines
-seem so much like Christianity, are written in Greek. That Marcus
-Aurelius regarded Greek as the proper language of culture, or at least
-of philosophy, is shown by the fact that he established the schools of
-philosophy at Athens with regularly salaried professors. Lucius Verus,
-the colleague of Marcus Aurelius until 169 A. D., was also a pupil of
-Fronto, and in his letters to his teacher shows the same faults of
-style exhibited by Marcus Aurelius. He had no influence upon Latin
-literature, and Commodus (180-192 A. D.) had no interest in literature
-of any sort.
-
-[Sidenote: Later emperors.] Pertinax had literary tastes, but his brief
-reign gave him no opportunity to influence the course of the national
-literature, while his successor Didius Julianus, who bought the empire
-from the prætorian guards, found after sixty-six days of nominal
-power that his purchase brought him ruin and death. Septimius Severus
-(193-211 A. D.), although his native tongue was probably Punic, was
-well educated in Greek and Latin and wrote an autobiography, but there
-is no indication that he exercised any marked influence upon Roman
-literature. Among the later emperors were few whose literary interests
-were strong, and still fewer who appear as authors. In the third
-century Alexander Severus (222-235 A. D.) was seriously interested in
-Greek and Latin literature and encouraged literary production by all
-the means in his power; Gordian I (238 A. D.) wrote a metrical history
-of the Antonines in thirty books, besides various other works in prose
-and verse, but these are lost, and his brief reign did not enable him
-to give imperial encouragement to literature; the poems and speeches
-of Gallienus (260-268 A. D.) and the historical writings of Aurelian
-(270-275 A. D.) were of little importance. The Emperor Tacitus (275
-A. D.) exerted himself to spread abroad the works of his ancestor
-the historian, and it may be due to him that those works are in part
-preserved. Those among the still later emperors who had literary
-interests made their influence felt rather upon Greek than Latin
-literature.
-
-[Sidenote: Suetonius.] The most important writer in the reign of
-Hadrian is Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus. He was born apparently between
-70 and 75 A. D. He was a friend of the younger Pliny, who mentions him
-in his letters. Pliny obtained for him a military tribuneship, which he
-passed on to a relative. Pliny also assisted him in the purchase of a
-small estate and encouraged him to publish some of his writings. Under
-Hadrian he held a position as secretary, from which he was dismissed in
-121 A. D. Of his later life nothing is known, but he probably devoted
-himself to his literary labors, and as his works were numerous, we may
-assume that he lived to an advanced age.
-
-Only two works of Suetonius are preserved, the first entire, but for a
-small part at the beginning, and of the second only a part, and that
-much mutilated. [Sidenote: The Lives of the Cæsars.] The _Lives of
-the Twelve Cæsars_ (_De Vita Cæsarum_), in eight books, contains the
-lives of Julius Cæsar (Book I), Augustus (Book II), Tiberius (Book
-III), Caligula (Book IV), Claudius (Book V), Nero (Book VI), Galba,
-Otho, Vitellius (Book VII), Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian (Book VIII).
-The work is dedicated to Septicius Clarus, to whom Pliny the younger
-dedicated his letters, and was published between 119 and 121 A. D., for
-Clarus is addressed as _præfectus prætorio_, an office which he held
-only during those years. The beginning is lost, for the life of Cæsar
-begins at the point when Cæsar was sixteen years old. Suetonius is a
-careful and conscientious writer and makes use of various sources of
-information, not only published histories and biographies, but also
-public documents, autograph letters of the emperors, and apparently
-oral tradition. He lacks, however, the critical insight necessary for
-a good historian and the understanding of character needed by a good
-biographer. He collected his material with impartiality, avoiding
-neither what was friendly nor what was hostile to the emperors whose
-lives he records, and arranged this material as best he could, with
-no apparent endeavor to trace the development of character, or even
-to determine in all cases the chronological sequence of events. Dates
-are seldom given, and the work as a whole presents rather the material
-for history than real history. But this material is interesting, and
-the style is simple, straightforward, and clear. Although he wrote at
-a time when affectations of style were fashionable, Suetonius had the
-good taste to keep himself free from them.
-
-[Sidenote: De Viris Illustribus.] The second work of Suetonius,
-entitled _De Viris Illustribus_ (_On Illustrious Men_), was a series
-of philosophers, grammarians, and rhetoricians. The section on orators
-began with Cicero, that on historians with Sallust. The greater part of
-the section on grammarians and rhetoricians is extant, as are the lives
-of Terence, Horace, and Lucan from the section on poets, and that of
-Pliny the elder from the section on historians. Extracts from other
-parts of the work are preserved by Jerome and in the scholia on various
-writers. Each section contained a list of the authors discussed, a
-brief account of their branch of literature, and short lives of the
-authors arranged chronologically. In this work also the style is simple
-and clear, but brevity is sought at the expense of literary excellence.
-
-[Sidenote: Other works.] Other works by Suetonius, some of which were
-much used by later writers as sources of information, were on Greek
-Games, Roman Games, the Roman Year, Critical Marks in Books, Cicero's
-_Republic_, Dress, Imprecations, and Roman Laws and Customs. Some of
-theses were doubtless included in a work entitled _Prata_, a sort of
-encyclopædia in ten books, which dealt also with philology and natural
-science. The works on Greek Games and on Imprecations were apparently
-written in Greek, the rest in Latin. Suetonius was not a great writer,
-but was a diligent compiler of interesting information. His extant
-works are valuable as sources of information rather than as literary
-productions, though their freedom from the affectations of the age
-entitles their author to some praise even from a literary point of view.
-
-[Sidenote: Florus.] To the time of Hadrian belongs a brief history of
-Rome by Annius or Annæus Florus. This is not a mere epitome of Livy,
-as it is entitled in one of the manuscripts, but rather a panegyric
-on the Roman people. Florus personifies the Roman people, speaks of
-its childhood under the rule of the kings, its youth while Rome was
-conquering Italy, its manhood from the conquest of Italy to the time
-of Augustus, and then instead of going on to tell of its old age, he
-says the emperor restored it to youth. Florus writes in a flowery,
-rhetorical style, and pays little attention to any part of history
-except wars and battles. For these reasons, and also because of its
-brevity, the work was a popular text-book in the Middle Ages. This
-Florus is probably identical with a poet who is reported to have joked
-with Hadrian, and who has left two rather attractive specimens of
-verse, one of five lines on spring, the other of twenty-six lines on
-the quality of life. A fragment of a discussion of the question whether
-Virgil was greater as a poet or as an orator is also preserved under
-the name of Florus. If this Florus is still the same person, we learn
-from the fragment that he was unsuccessful in competing for a prize
-in poetry at Rome, traveled about in many parts of the empire, and
-finally settled as a teacher in a provincial town, probably Tarraco
-(Tarragona), in the northeast part of Spain.
-
-Historical writing was at a low ebb. Suetonius is far the most
-important historian of the second century, and he is made important
-rather by the dearth of good historians than by his own merits.
-[Sidenote: Other historical writings of the second century.] Florus
-hardly deserves the name of historian. Justin's epitome of Trogus (see
-page 164) belongs, perhaps, to the time of Hadrian, and is important
-because it has preserved much of the substance of the work of Trogus,
-but is in no sense an original history. Under Antoninus Pius a history
-of Rome was written by Granius Licinianus, but the extant fragments
-show that this was little more than an epitome of Livy. The _Liber
-Memorialis_, by Lucius Ampelius, written at about the same time, is a
-little handbook of useful knowledge, containing general information
-about the earth, the stars, and the winds, followed by a brief sketch
-of the history of various nations. It is a mere compilation, possessing
-neither historical nor literary value.
-
-[Sidenote: Jurists.] The study of law was, on the other hand, pursued
-by many jurists of ability, whose works were much used by those
-who gave to Roman law its final form in the reign of Justinian.
-Under Hadrian the edicts of the prætors and other magistrates were
-collected and codified by Salvius Julianus, a distinguished jurist
-of African birth, who attained the position of _præfectus urbi_ and
-was twice consul. The _Edictum Perpetuum_, as his work is called,
-became henceforth the basis of Roman law. Julianus was also the
-author of independent juristic works. Sextus Pomponius, a younger
-contemporary of Julianus, wrote among other things a brief history of
-Roman jurisprudence, which is incorporated in the digests. Among the
-many jurists of the reign of Antoninus Pius, the most important is
-Gaius (about 110-180 A. D.), whose introduction to the study of law
-(_Institutiones_), clearly written in good and simple language, is for
-the most part preserved in the digests, and served as the foundation
-of the similar work written at the command of Justinian. The works of
-Quintus Cervidius Scævola, who lived under Antoninus Pius and Marcus
-Aurelius, were also much used by the writers of the pandects. One of
-the most distinguished jurists under Commodus and Septimius Severus was
-Papinianus, who was put to death under Caracalla (212 A. D.) because he
-was faithful to that emperor's brother Geta.
-
-[Sidenote: Grammar, literature, and philosophy.] The study of grammar
-was diligently pursued in the second century, and with it went the
-writing of commentaries on the classical authors. Under Hadrian,
-Terentius Scaurus wrote a Latin grammar, part of which is preserved
-in an abbreviated form, as well as commentaries on Plautus, Virgil,
-and Horace, fragments of which are found in the works of later
-commentators. Under the Antonines, rhetoricians and grammarians were
-numerous, and discussions of literary and grammatical questions formed
-a considerable part of polite conversation. Metrical handbooks were
-written by Terentianus Maurus and Juba, Helvius Acro wrote commentaries
-on Terence, Horace, and Persius about the end of the second century,
-and Pomponius Porphyrio, a grammarian of distinction, whose scholia on
-Horace still exist, though not in their original form, wrote probably
-at the end of the second or the beginning of the third century. Festus,
-who made an epitome of Verrius Flaccus (see page 166) probably lived
-but little after this time. Some of the rhetoricians of this period
-probably continued to teach as they had themselves been taught, but the
-most important among them developed a new school, which will form the
-subject of our next chapter. Philosophy had in the second century still
-many followers, but there was little literary production in Latin. Dio
-Chrysostom, Plutarch, Marcus Aurelius, and Sextus Empiricus wrote in
-Greek.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVII
-
-LITERARY INNOVATIONS
-
-    Fronto, about 100 to about 175 A. D.--Gellius, born about 125
-    A. D.--Apuleius, about 125 to about 200 A. D.--Innovations in
-    poetry--The _Pervigilium Veneris_.
-
-
-[Sidenote: Fronto.] AN important figure in the literature of the
-second century was Marcus Cornelius Fronto, of Cirta, in Numidia. He
-was born about 100 A. D., studied under the best teachers, and was
-distinguished as an orator and teacher even under Hadrian, though his
-greatest influence was exerted under the Antonines. He became a member
-of the senate under Hadrian, and his speech against the Christians
-may have been delivered before that body. In 143 A. D. he was consul,
-and was to have been proconsul entrusted with the government of Asia,
-but relinquished that office on account of ill health. He was the
-teacher of Marcus Antoninus and Lucius Verus, both of whom were much
-attached to him, and as was natural under such circumstances, he was
-greatly honored and became very wealthy. Of his family life we know
-only that he was married, that his daughter Gratia married Gaius
-Aufidius Victorinus, and that five daughters were removed by death.
-The date of his death is unknown, but it was probably shortly after
-175 A. D. Parts of Fronto's correspondence were discovered in 1815,
-and from his letters, we get an idea of his style and his teaching.
-The correspondence is with Marcus Aurelius, Lucius Verus, Antoninus
-Pius, and others, and several essays are included, which were probably
-sent with the letters to Fronto's correspondents. One of these essays,
-the _Principia Historiæ_ compares the Parthian campaigns of Verus and
-Trajan to the advantage of Verus. This essay was intended to serve as
-an introduction to a history of the deeds of Verus in the Parthian
-War, but the history was never written. What gives Fronto's letters
-their chief interest is his teaching in regard to oratory and style.
-He considers rhetoric the noblest possible study, and warns Marcus
-Aurelius against surrendering to the charms of philosophy, but the
-chief end of the study of rhetoric is to acquire new and striking words
-and phrases. Fronto apparently despaired of acquiring new ideas or
-new points of view, and he saw that Latin literature could not go on
-forever merely imitating the writers of the Golden Age, or even those
-of the Silver Age. He was too much of a scholar to think of drawing
-from the living spring of common every-day speech, and therefore hit
-upon the expedient of reverting to the early writers, such as Ennius,
-Plautus, Accius, Cato, Sallust, and Gracchus. His language is therefore
-full of old-fashioned expressions used without the simplicity that
-belongs to the early times. That such a writer as Fronto was highly
-respected and exerted a powerful influence upon his contemporaries is a
-sign of the depth to which Roman literature had sunk.
-
-[Sidenote: Aulus Gellius.] A much younger man than Fronto, but like
-him, a man of books and an admirer of archaic phraseology, was Aulus
-Gellius, who was born probably about 125 A. D., studied under various
-masters at Rome and at Athens, and held some judicial position at
-Rome. His extant work, entitled _Noctes Atticæ_ (_Attic Nights_),
-received its title from the fact that it contains the results of the
-writer's labors begun at Athens, when he used to read various authors
-and make extracts from them in the night. These extracts, with a
-variety of notes and comments, are arranged in twenty books, all of
-which are preserved except the eighth, of which we have only the table
-of contents, and the end of the twentieth. The subjects treated are
-language and literature, law, philosophy and natural history. Gellius
-quotes no contemporary authors, but introduces them as speakers, for
-parts of his work have the form of dialogues. There is no order in the
-arrangement of subjects, but things are put down as Gellius happened
-to find them in the works he read. No critical faculty is exhibited,
-nor has Gellius any marked literary skill. He is simply a diligent
-compiler, whose work is interesting and valuable to us merely because
-it preserves fragments of earlier works now lost and information about
-a variety of subjects.
-
-[Sidenote: Changes in Latin.] The Latin of the Golden Age was a more
-or less artificial language developed by the genius of the great
-writers from the common language of every-day life. The Latin of the
-Silver Age was a development from the literary Latin of the Golden Age,
-not directly from the popular speech. While literary Latin was thus
-passing through various phases, the popular speech was also developing
-along its own lines, and by the second century after Christ was very
-different from the literary Latin of the time as well as from any
-Latin, whether spoken or written, of the Ciceronian or earlier times.
-It had already entered upon the course of change which was in the end
-to lead to the birth of the Romance languages. Fronto, in his desire to
-infuse new life into the worn-out literary Latin of his day, went back
-to the writers before Cicero and adopted their words and phrases, at
-the same time exerting himself to arrange words in unusual order with
-the intention of giving piquancy to his expression. His precepts and
-example were followed by others, as, for instance, Gellius, and still
-more clearly, Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus as they appear in their
-letters to their teacher. But Fronto, although he had great influence
-for a time, could not turn the stream of progress backward. If literary
-Latin was to develop anything new, it must be by adopting something
-from the living speech of the people. This course was followed, in a
-measure, at least, by Apuleius.
-
-[Sidenote: Apuleius.] Apuleius (the _prænomen_ Lucius is doubtful)
-was, like Fronto, an African, though he may have been of Roman
-descent. He was born probably about 125 A. D., at Madaura, on the
-borders of Numidia and Gætulia. He was educated at Madaura, Carthage,
-and Athens, travelled extensively, and was for a time in Rome, where
-he was employed as an advocate. He married Æmilia Pudentilla, a
-wealthy widow of Oea, in Africa, and was accused by her relatives of
-having led her into the marriage by means of magic arts. His defense
-against this charge is the extant book _De Magia_ (_On Magic_), also
-called the _Apologia_. In its present form the book is a revised
-and enlarged edition of the speech in court. Apuleius was evidently
-acquitted, and he became a man of great influence and reputation. He
-prided himself on his versatility, wrote and spoke both Greek and
-Latin, and confined himself to no one branch of literature, but was
-orator, poet, scientist, philosopher, and novelist, without, however,
-displaying any great originality in any direction. He preferred to
-call himself a Platonic philosopher, but his chief activity was that
-of a travelling orator, or sophist, who went from place to place
-giving public exhibitions of his skill in composing and delivering
-interesting speeches on all sorts of subjects. He seems to have spent
-most of his life in Africa, and he held the office of priest of the
-province (_sacerdos provinciæ_) at Carthage. He was initiated into the
-mysteries of Isis and seems to have been one of those who sought in the
-mystic worship of foreign deities the satisfaction of their religious
-yearnings which the Roman state religion did not give. He seems to have
-been opposed to Christianity, though he nowhere mentions it directly.
-His great reputation and the number of works ascribed to him would seem
-to indicate that he lived to a good age, but the date of his death is
-unknown.
-
-[Sidenote: Works of Apuleius.] The extant works of Apuleius are the
-_Metamorphoses_, a novel in eleven books, the _Apologia_, a book on
-spirits especially the familiar spirit of Socrates, _De Deo Socratis_,
-two books on the doctrines of Plato, _De Dogmate Platonis_, and a
-collection of extracts from his speeches entitled _Florida_. The
-dialogue _Asclepius_, the treatise _On the World_ (_De Mundo_), and
-the treatise published as the third book on Plato's teachings, are
-not by Apuleius. Of these works the most interesting is the novel
-entitled _Metamorphoses_, in which are narrated the adventures of
-a certain Lucius of Corinth, who was changed by magic into an ass,
-and in that form passed through many vicissitudes and saw and heard
-many strange things, until he was finally restored to human form by
-the aid of the goddess Isis, to whose service he afterwards devoted
-himself. This story is derived from a Greek original which appears in
-abbreviated form among the writings falsely ascribed to Lucian, under
-the title _Lucius_ or _The Ass_. Apuleius amplified his Greek original
-by inserting nearly twenty stories that have no connection with the
-plot. These are usually introduced in an unskillful way, interrupting
-the narrative and destroying the unity of the work, but they are in
-themselves the most interesting parts of the whole novel. The longest
-and most famous among them is the charming story of Cupid and Psyche,
-beautifully rendered by William Morris in his _Earthly Paradise_.
-This mystic love tale was derived, like the other tales inserted in
-the story of Lucius, from a Greek original. It is not an invention of
-Apuleius, but he inserted it in his novel, and thus preserved it to
-later times.
-
-[Sidenote: The style of Apuleius.] The style of Apuleius is not the
-same in his different works. Everywhere, to be sure, he aims at
-striking effect by means of unusual words arranged in peculiar order,
-and of sentences curiously broken up into short rhythmical members,
-very different in effect from the dignified, sonorous periods of
-Cicero and other classical writers. But in the _Metamorphoses_ he
-adopts many expressions from the common speech of the people, whereas
-in his oratorical and philosophical works he reverts, like Fronto, to
-the early writers. Apuleius and Fronto, both Africans, are the chief
-representatives of the _elocutio novella_, the new rhetoric, which
-broke with the continuous tradition of classical Latin and tried to
-infuse new life into Latin literature. Neither Fronto nor Apuleius was
-a man of great inventive genius. Both imitated the Greek sophists of
-their time, such as Maximus of Tyre and Ælius Aristides, not only in
-the subject matter of their discourses, but to some extent in their
-style; yet the fact that they wrote and spoke in Latin and tried to
-influence the course of Latin literature gives them an importance not
-possessed by any of the later Greek sophists except Dio Chrysostom and
-Lucian. Apuleius was apparently more gifted by nature than Fronto,
-and his works show a surprising ability in the use of language, which
-makes up in a measure for the lack of originality in thought. Of his
-extant works the _Metamorphoses_ is the most important. It not only
-shows the qualities of the _elocutio novella_ more completely than any
-other work, but it gives a picture of the life of the times, with its
-superstitions, loose morals, robberies, friendships, hospitalities, and
-social amenities. Moreover, it has preserved to us many interesting
-tales, among them the story of Cupid and Psyche. Owing probably to the
-supernatural elements in the _Metamorphoses_ and to the fact that he
-had been accused of magical arts, Apuleius came soon after his death to
-be regarded as a mighty sorcerer, and as a sorcerer he was associated
-with Virgil in mediæval times.
-
-[Sidenote: Innovations in poetry.] While Fronto, Apuleius, and others
-were practising the _elocutio novella_ in prose, attempts were made to
-introduce innovations in poetry. Terentianus Maurus, who wrote in verse
-a handbook on letters, syllables, and metres toward the end of the
-second century, mentions _poetæ novelli_, and Diomedes, a grammarian
-of the latter part of the fourth century, speaks of _poetæ neoterici_,
-to whom he ascribes a variety of innovations. The names of several of
-these poets are mentioned, but too little is known of them to awaken
-any interest in their personalities. Their innovations seem to have
-consisted largely of verbal juggling, a remarkable example of which is
-seen in these lines:
-
-    _Nereides freta sic verrentes caerula tranant,
-      Flamine confidens ut Notus Icarium.
-    Icarium Notus ut confidens flamine, tranant
-      Caerula verrentes sic freta Nereides._
-
-Here lines three and four are lines one and two read backward. Other
-examples are less elaborate, but show the same spirit, the same
-foolish playing with words. From such things as this no new life
-could be infused into poetry, and most of the verses preserved to us
-from the second and even the third centuries after Christ are little
-more than feeble echoes of the distant music of Virgil. Nevertheless
-there are already indications of the new mediæval spirit, which was
-not to find its full development until the days of the minnesinger
-and the troubadours. [Sidenote: The Pervigilium Veneris.] Whether
-the _Pervigilium Veneris_ (_Night-watch of Venus_) belongs to the
-second century or the third is not certain. At any rate it is the most
-striking early example of the romantic sentiment peculiar to mediæval
-and modern times. The poem is written for the spring festival of
-Venus Genetrix, whose worship was revived and encouraged by Hadrian.
-It is therefore probable that it belongs to the second century. It
-consists of ninety-three trochaic septenarii (the rhythm of Tennyson's
-_Locksley Hall_), a verse freely used by the early Latin poets, but
-hardly to be found in the first century after Christ. At irregular
-intervals the refrain:
-
-    _Cras amet qui nunquam amavit, quique amavit cras amet_,[130]
-
-is repeated. In the beginning of the poem,
-
-    _Ver novum; ver iam canorum; vere natus est Iovis;
-    Vere concordant amores; vere nubunt alites_,[131]
-
-may well have suggested to Tennyson the lines:
-
-    In the Spring a fuller crimson comes upon the robin's breast;
-    In the Spring the wanton lapwing gets himself another crest;
-    In the Spring a livelier iris changes on the burnished dove;
-    In the Spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.
-
-At the end of the poem the lines:
-
-    _Illa cantat, nos tacemus. Quando ver venit meum?
-    Quando fiam ut chelidon et tacere desinam?
-    Perdidi Musam tacendo nec me Apollo respicit_,[132]
-
-sound like the wail of the old literature, which no spring was to
-awaken to new song. Indeed, the _Pervigilium Veneris_ is almost as
-much mediæval as classical. Its quantitative rhythm coincides with the
-natural accent of the words, it is full of assonances that suggest
-both alliteration and rhyme, its spirit is almost modern in its
-sentiment; and even in its grammatical structure, especially in the use
-of the preposition _de_, it points forward to the great changes to come.
-
-In prose and verse alike, the second century after Christ was a period
-of innovations. The new methods of Fronto and Apuleius did not hold
-their own for any great length of time, but they serve as symptoms of
-the decay of Latin speech, and may even have hastened that decay by
-turning men away from the continued imitation of the classic writers.
-The history of classical Roman literature may be said to end with
-Suetonius. But something of the old spirit survived even into the
-period of the Middle Ages and affected strongly the literature of the
-Christian church. For this reason it is well to give a brief sketch of
-early Christian literature in Latin, and of the surviving remnants of
-pagan literary activity in the third and fourth centuries.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVIII
-
-EARLY CHRISTIAN WRITERS
-
-    Minucius Felix, about 160 A. D.--Tertullian, about 160 to about
-    230 A. D.--St. Cyprian, about 200-258 A. D.--Commodianus 249 A.
-    D.--Arnobius, about 290 A. D.--Lactantius, about 300 A. D.
-
-
-[Sidenote: The beginning of Christian literature in Latin.] The
-Christians are mentioned by Tacitus, the younger Pliny, and Suetonius,
-but in such a way as to show that their religion was misunderstood
-and their growing importance little appreciated. But as time went
-on, Christianity and the Christians became more and more important.
-Various means were tried to suppress them, for their belief and their
-practises were opposed to the state religion and seemed inimical to the
-state itself. Yet the new religion continued to gain in the number and
-influence of its converts, and in the second century Christian writings
-begin to appear in Latin. The new religion had been founded in the
-eastern part of the empire, and its first literary productions were in
-Greek, a language which continued for many years to be the chief medium
-of expression for Christian thought. No sketch of the development of
-Christianity, even in the western part of the empire, could be given
-without more than a mere mention of the early Greek Christian writings;
-but the development of Christianity is a subject quite outside of the
-scope of this book, which is concerned with Christian literature only
-in so far as it was written in Latin. Nor is it possible in a book of
-this kind to do more than mention briefly the chief Christian writers
-and their works, leaving all discussion of their doctrines to the
-historians of the church.
-
-[Sidenote: Minucius Felix.] The first Christian writer of Latin is
-Marcus Minucius Felix, of whose life nothing is known except that
-he was a barrister (_causidicus_) at Rome, that he was a pagan in
-early life, and that he became a Christian. His only extant work is a
-defense of Christianity entitled _Octavius_, which was written probably
-not far from 160 A. D. The introduction tells how Minucius., with
-his two friends Octavius and Cæcilius, was walking by the seashore
-at Ostia. Cæcilius saluted a statue of Serapis which they happened
-to pass, whereupon Octavius rebuked Minucius for letting his friend
-remain in ignorance of the true religion. They continue their walk,
-but Cæcilius can not let the rebuke of Octavius pass. At last the
-three friends sit down, Cæcilius undertakes the defense of the old
-religion, Octavius that of the new, and Minucius is to be judge of
-their arguments. Cæcilius argues that it is absurd for persons of
-little education, such as are most Christians, to think that they can
-settle questions which have puzzled the wisest philosophers. The Roman
-religion should therefore be retained, especially as the power of the
-gods has often been shown. An attack upon the lives and ceremonies
-of the Christians follows, which is interesting as a proof of the
-ignorance that prevailed in pagan circles. Cæcilius then attacks the
-Christian belief in a future life, and ends with a recommendation of
-skepticism. His speech is vigorous and even vehement, showing marked
-rhetorical training. Octavius in his reply takes up the various points
-raised by Cæcilius and replies to them in order. He lays the chief
-stress upon the unity of God and the absurdities of pagan polytheism
-and philosophy. There is no argument based upon the crucifixion or
-the resurrection of Christ, no argument that is strictly Christian.
-There is no appeal to faith or to love, but only to reason, and the
-arguments are not drawn from the Bible, but from the works of pagan
-philosophers, especially Cicero's _De Natura Deorum_ and Seneca's
-writings, or from the experiences of human life. When Octavius has
-finished, Cæcilius declares that he is convinced and the friends
-separate.
-
-The _Octavius_ is different from other early writings in defense of
-Christianity, inasmuch as it bases no argument upon the Bible and
-makes no appeal to the emotions. These peculiarities are most easily
-explained by the theory that Minucius wrote his treatise as a reply to
-a speech of Fronto against Christianity, that he put the substance of
-Fronto's speech into the mouth of Cæcilius, and then, in the person
-of Octavius, refuted it point for point. In style Minucius attains at
-times an almost classic elegance and simplicity, though he shows the
-influence of the rhetorical schools of the Silver Age and is sometimes
-needlessly emphatic. He continues the tradition of the classical
-school, with no trace of the affectations or innovations of Fronto or
-Apuleius. Apart from its interest as the earliest specimen of Christian
-writing in Latin, the _Octavius_ deserves to be read as the most
-attractive Latin prose after the time of Trajan.
-
-Minucius Felix is known to us by only one short work, in which he
-displays conservative literary taste, cultivated imagination, and
-ability to conduct an argument calmly and dispassionately. [Sidenote:
-Tertullian.] Tertullian, a much more important figure than Minucius in
-the history of the church, is known by a great body of writings, in
-which the qualities he shows are almost the opposite of those we admire
-in Minucius. Yet Tertullian is an interesting and powerful figure in
-the history of literature as well as in that of the church. Quintus
-Septimius Florens Tertullianus was born at Carthage, probably about 160
-A. D., and may have died about 230 A. D. At any rate, the period of his
-chief activity was in the reigns of Septimius Severus and Caracalla. In
-early life he was a pagan, but was converted to Christianity, possibly
-through his wife, who was a Christian. He attained the position of
-presbyter in the church. In middle life he became a Montanist--that
-is, a follower of Montanus, an enthusiast of Ardaba, in Mysia, who
-declared himself the Comforter promised by Christ, claimed prophetic
-powers, declared that the end of the world was at hand, and promulgated
-a variety of strict doctrines and rules for conduct. The writings
-of Tertullian are from beginning to end controversial. Some of them
-are in defense of Christianity against the heathen, while others are
-directed against those Christian beliefs and practises which he does
-not approve. To the second class belong the writings in support of
-Montanism, for Tertullian was of such a passionate nature that an
-argument in support of any doctrine necessarily becomes an attack upon
-those who hold any other views. As the chief advocate of Montanism
-in the west, Tertullian softened some of its more obviously absurd
-doctrines, but could not modify them so far as to make them acceptable
-to the church at large. He was therefore in constant opposition to the
-church during the latter part of his life, and at a later time his
-writings came to be regarded as heretical. Nevertheless, his works were
-much read, and his _Apologeticus_ was even translated into Greek.
-
-[Sidenote: Style of Tertullian.] Tertullian exercised the greatest
-influence upon the Latin of the church, for up to his time most
-speculative Christian writing had been in Greek, and he was therefore
-obliged to invent or adapt the suitable means for the expression of
-those thoughts and ideas which were unknown to the pagan writers. He
-is justly regarded as the founder of western, as opposed to eastern
-or Greek, theology. His style is harsh, inelegant, and sometimes
-obscure, but vigorous and animated. His eloquence is that of intense
-earnestness rather than of careful training. His vocabulary is not
-strictly classic, but contains expressions taken from the popular
-speech and from Greek, as well as others which he seems to have
-formed for himself. He has been called the Cicero of the church, but
-whatever the greatness of his eloquence, it has little resemblance
-in quality to that of Cicero. Only in a few orations does Cicero
-approach the enthusiastic earnestness of Tertullian, and the polished
-beauty of Cicero's periods is utterly lacking to Tertullian's rugged
-utterance. His style has more resemblance in detail to that of his
-fellow-African Apuleius, but shows no evidence of conscious imitation.
-He uses short sentences, as a rule, and even his long sentences have
-no periodic structure; he strives for effect by means of unnatural
-expressions; he delights in antitheses, plays on words, and even
-rhymes. His Latin is hard to read, but his originality of thought and
-his passionate earnestness of purpose compensate fully for his defects
-of style. With Minucius Felix Christian writing in Italy appears as
-an attempt to express Christian thoughts, or at least to defend the
-Christian religion, with all the elegance of classical Latinity.
-Tertullian writes with vigor and enthusiasm, hampered by no classical
-traditions. The relative importance of the Italian and African schools
-may be judged in a measure by the difference in extent between the
-brief treatise of Minucius and Tertullian's voluminous writings. For
-nearly two centuries the style of Tertullian predominates, being only
-gradually assimilated to the classical norm, until St. Augustine
-fixes the Latin of the church by forming a style in which the African
-elements are subordinate.
-
-[Sidenote: Cyprian.] The beginning of this change is seen even in
-the writings of Tertullian's admirer, St. Cyprian. Thascius Cæcilius
-Cyprianus was born of pagan parents about 200 A. D. The place of his
-birth is unknown, but we are informed that he was an African. He
-received a good education and became a teacher of rhetoric. After his
-conversion he became a presbyter, and in 248 or 249 A. D. was chosen
-bishop of Carthage, not without opposition. From January 21, 250 A.
-D., until the beginning of March in the following year, he lived in
-concealment to escape the persecution of the Christians under Decius.
-His avoidance of martyrdom at this time was severely criticized, but he
-defended it on the ground that his life was necessary to the welfare
-of the church. In 257 A. D. a new persecution was instituted by the
-Emperor Valerian, and Cyprian was banished to Curubis, but afterwards
-recalled to Carthage and confined to his gardens. When ordered to
-appear before the proconsul at Utica he fled, but returned to his
-gardens when the proconsul came to Carthage. He was arrested September
-13, 258 A. D., and on the following day was tried, condemned, and
-executed. Cyprian's writings comprise thirteen treatises and eighty-one
-letters, among which are several letters manifestly by other authors.
-Some of the treatises or tracts are addressed to individuals, and
-some of the letters are to all intents and purposes tracts, so that
-the division into two classes is not easy to carry out consistently.
-His writings are partly in defense of Christianity against paganism,
-partly for the encouragement of the Christians in persecution, and
-partly on various points of church discipline. His letters are
-especially valuable for the light they throw upon church history. His
-doctrines are orthodox, and his writings were therefore not open to
-the objections urged against those of Tertullian. He was, however,
-an ardent admirer of Tertullian, and shows the constant influence of
-his teachings. His style is easier and simpler than Tertullian's,
-always clear, and often attractive. Although he lacks Tertullian's
-originality, he excels him in ability to express his thoughts so as to
-appeal to the reader.
-
-[Sidenote: Commodianus.] The earliest Christian poet is Commodianus.
-Of his life little is known, and the statement that he was born at
-Gaza, in Syria, is based upon a somewhat doubtful interpretation of
-the title of one of his poems.[133] In early life he was a pagan, but
-was converted, and became a bishop. His works consist of a long poem
-in defense of Christianity (_Carmen Apologeticum_) and a collection of
-eighty short poems called _Instructions_ (_Instructiones per Litteras
-Versuum Primas_) so composed that the initial letters of the lines
-spell the titles of the poems. The _Carmen Apologeticum_ contains
-references which fix its date in 249 A. D. The poems are remarkable for
-the earnestness of their Christian feeling and still more for their
-metrical peculiarities. The hexameters are divided into halves, and at
-the end of each half the rules for quantity are observed, while in the
-rest of the verse those rules are disregarded. The lines are not merely
-faulty hexameters, but a new and original combination of quantitative
-verse and prose. In the _Carmen Apologeticum_ the lines are arranged in
-pairs, so that each pair forms a distich. The most remarkable part of
-the _Carmen Apologeticum_ is the fantastic description of the end of
-the world with which the poem closes. The _Instructiones_ are divided
-into two books, the first warning the heathen and the Jews to lay aside
-their errors, the second containing advice for the various classes
-of Christians. In spite of the dryness of his style Commodianus is
-interesting as the earliest Christian poet, and the student of language
-finds in his poems many words and constructions taken from the common
-speech of the people.
-
-[Sidenote: Arnobius.] Much less interest attaches to the seven books
-_Adversus Nationes_ (_Against the Gentiles_) by Arnobius, who wrote
-under Diocletian (284-305 A. D.). Jerome says that Arnobius was a
-distinguished rhetor at Sicca in Africa, who opposed Christianity for a
-long time. When he became converted the bishop demanded a proof of his
-faith, whereupon he wrote a work against the heathen and was received
-into the church. Whether this report is accurate or not, a work is
-extant under the name of Arnobius, entitled _Adversus Nationes_, which
-shows by its style that the author had been trained in the practise
-of rhetoric. The first two books defend the Christians against
-the accusations of their enemies, especially the charge that the
-misfortunes of the world were due to the progress of Christianity and
-the neglect of the old gods. The five remaining books proceed to show
-the absurdities of polytheism and the foolishness of the pagan forms of
-worship. Arnobius has little knowledge of the Christian religion and
-little originality of thought. The only doctrine peculiar to him is his
-theory that the soul is not immortal by nature, but may become immortal
-through the grace of God. His style is disfigured by its excessive
-vehemence and artificial rhetoric, which shows, however, that the
-author was carefully educated. This appears also in his discussion of
-pagan philosophy and religion, and indeed the chief interest attaching
-to the books _Adversus Nationes_ is their testimony to the manner
-in which an educated pagan employed his education in the service of
-Christianity.
-
-[Sidenote: Lactantius.] Lactantius (Lucius Cæcilius Firmianus
-Lactantius) was a pupil of Arnobius, according to Jerome's statement,
-and was called by Diocletian with the grammarian Flavius to teach Latin
-rhetoric at Nicomedia, in Bithynia, a Greek city in which teachers
-of Latin found few patrons. Lactantius was therefore poor and had
-leisure for writing. When he was converted to Christianity is not
-known, but it can not have been before he reached middle life. In his
-old age he was called by the Emperor Constantine to be the tutor of
-his son Crispus. Nothing remains of writings by Lactantius before his
-conversion, but his later works, both prose and verse, are numerous.
-The most important are the seven books entitled _Institutiones Divinæ_
-(_Divine Institutions_, an exhaustive philosophical work in support of
-Christianity against paganism), after which should be mentioned the
-treatises _De Opificio Dei_ (_On the Work of God_, a discussion of
-creation and the nature of man), _De Ira Dei_ (_On the Wrath of God_,
-dealing with the current theories of Providence), a fanatical work
-on the deaths of the persecutors from Nero to Galerius (_De Mortibus
-Persecutorum_), and a curious poem _On the Phoenix_. The treatise _De
-Opificio Dei_ is Christian only in its general tendency, and contains
-no direct reference to Christianity. This is probably because it was
-written at the time of the persecution under Diocletian (303 A. D.).
-The poem _On the Phoenix_ (that fabulous bird that builds a nest,
-burns itself up, reappears among the ashes as a worm, grows to an
-egg, is hatched, and flies away to renewed life) shows many traces of
-Christianity but contains no direct reference to the new religion.
-Lactantius was well educated in the learning of the pagans, and when
-he became a Christian did not forget what he had learned before. His
-style is purer than that of his Christian predecessors, being modelled
-upon that of Cicero. For this reason the name "Christian Cicero" has
-been applied more appropriately to him than to Tertullian, though in
-power of eloquence Tertullian, with all his harshness of style, is the
-greater.
-
-The second century, which saw the birth of Christian literature in
-Latin, produced, as we have seen, several writers of real power, and as
-the third century opened, Christian literature gained, in the person of
-Lactantius, a writer who possessed at the same time elegance of style.
-With Lactantius the African school of Christian writing approaches the
-classical style of Minucius Felix, and the path is made straight for
-the writings of St. Jerome and St. Augustine. From this time on, the
-real life of Latin literature is seen in Christian rather than in pagan
-writings.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIX
-
-PAGAN LITERATURE OF THE THIRD CENTURY
-
-    Terentianus, about 200 A. D.--Quintus Serenus Sammonicus, about
-    200 A. D.--Nemesianus, 283 A. D.--Reposianus, toward 300 A.
-    D.--Vespa, late in the third century--Hosidius Geta, early in the
-    third century--Disticha Catonis--Marius Maximus, about 165-230
-    A. D.--Ælius Julius Cordus, about 250 A. D.--The _Historia
-    Augusta_--Domitius Ulpianus, killed 228 A. D.--Julius Paulus,
-    first half of third century--Cornelius Labeo--Quintus Gargilius
-    Martialis--Censorinus, 238 A. D.--Gaius Julius Solinus--Gaius
-    Julius Romanus, early third century--Marius Plotius Sacerdos,
-    latter part of third century--Aquila Romanus--Ælius Festus
-    Aphthonius, end of third century--The panegyrists: Eumenius,
-    Nazarius, Mamertinus, Drepanius.
-
-
-[Sidenote: Pagan poetry of the third century.] While Christian
-literature was developing in the third century the pagan literature
-dragged on its senile existence. There was little poetry that deserved
-the name, though skill in versification was not uncommon. Terentianus
-wrote in verse his handbook of metres about the beginning of the
-century, and not far from the same time Quintus Serenus Sammonicus
-composed a medical handbook containing sixty-three recipes in 1,107
-hexameters. He does not pretend to be a physician, but derives his
-wisdom, such as it is, from Pliny and other writers. The recipes are
-of various kinds, some recommending the use of herbs in a simple and
-sensible way, while others prescribe more or less disgusting compounds
-of animal matter, and a few are nothing more nor less than magic
-charms. So fevers are to be cured by wearing tied to one's neck a bone
-found within the enclosure of a house, and a cure for another fever
-is found in a piece of paper inscribed in the proper manner with the
-magic formula _abracadabra_, which is to be worn round the neck of
-the patient. To the credit of Sammonicus it should be said that his
-knowledge of metre is greater than his knowledge of medicine; but even
-that does not raise his handbook to the level of poetry. A writer of
-much better quality, who even deserves to be called a poet, is Marcus
-Aurelius Olympius Nemesianus, who wrote, in the year 283 A. D., a poem
-_On Hunting_ (_Cynegetica_), 325 lines of which are preserved, and who
-is also the author of four eclogues formerly attributed to Calpurnius
-(see page 188). The discussion of dogs, horses, hunting-nets, and the
-like in the _Cynegetica_ can hardly be called poetry, but the eclogues,
-though written in close imitation of Calpurnius, who was himself an
-imitator of Virgil, show some genuine poetic spirit. There is also some
-poetic beauty in the poem on the love of Mars and Venus, by Reposianus,
-written toward the end of the third century, but not so much can be
-said in praise of Vespa's metrical argument between a baker and a cook
-(_Indicium Coci et Pistoris Iudice Vulcano_) as to the relative merits
-of their callings, or of the epigrams and "echo verses" of Pentadius.
-These last consist of elegiac distichs so written that the first words
-of the hexameter are repeated or "echoed" at the end of the pentameter.
-Such verse has little relation to poetry, but shows that there was
-still an interest felt in the technique of metrical writing. That the
-study of the classic writers, especially of Virgil, was diligently
-cultivated, is shown by the existence of poems composed entirely of
-Virgilian lines and fragments of lines. A remarkable extant specimen of
-such work is the short tragedy _Medea_, probably written by Hosidius
-Geta, near the beginning of the third century. Several anonymous poems
-add little to our admiration for the poets of the third century,
-but the so-called _Disticha Catonis_ should be mentioned because
-they gained great and long-continued popularity. They are maxims of
-every-day wisdom expressed in distichs of two hexameters. Such maxims
-are: "Regard it as the first virtue to hold your tongue; he is nearest
-God who knows how to keep a wise silence"; or, "Be sure to tell many
-of another's kindness, but keep silence about the kindnesses you have
-done to others." These distichs were soon imitated, and similar maxims
-in one line--monostichs--were also written. They are hardly poetry, but
-have some interest because of their popular nature.
-
-[Sidenote: Pagan prose in the third century.] The prose of the
-third century possesses even less interest than the verse. The only
-historians worthy of the name--Dio Cassius and Herodian--wrote in Greek.
-Marius Maximus (about 165-230 A. D.) continued Suetonius's lives of
-the emperors from Nerva to Heliogabalus, and about the middle of the
-century Ælius Julius Cordus wrote lives of the more obscure emperors.
-These works are lost, but, like those of several other writers of this
-period, were used by the authors of the so-called _Historia Augusta_,
-a collection of lives of the emperors from Hadrian to Numerianus
-(117-284 A. D.). These lives were written by six authors, four of
-whom, Ælius Spartianus, Julius Capitolinus, Vulcacius Gallicanus, and
-Trebellius Pollio, wrote under Diocletian (284-305 A. D.), while the
-remaining two, Ælius Lampridius and Flavius Vopiscus, belong to the
-early part of the fourth century. They are all alike in the poverty of
-their style and their liking for petty personal details. The books on
-the _Prætorian Edict_ by Domitius Ulpianus, who was killed in 228 A.
-D., and by his younger contemporary, Julius Paulus, as well as other
-juristic works of the third century, were important contributions to
-the development of Roman law, and the attempt made by Cornelius Labeo
-in his lost work on the Roman religion to explain the pagan cult would
-probably, if it were preserved, be interesting as an attempt to defend
-the old religion against skepticism and Christianity. The extant
-parts of the work of Quintus Gargilius Martialis on agriculture,
-veterinary medicine, the use of healing herbs, and the like, show that
-the whole was a compilation from the works of Pliny the elder and
-other writers by a man who had sense and judgment; the treatise _On
-Birthdays_ (_De Die Natali_), written in a lively and easy style by a
-grammarian Censorinus in 238 A. D., is a compilation from Suetonius,
-Varro, and others, of information concerning the birth and life of a
-man, astrology, music, and some other matters; and the _Collection of
-Things Worth Remembering_ (_Collectanea Rerum Memorabilium_), by Gaius
-Julius Solinus, contains valuable information about early Roman history
-(to Augustus) and the geography of the ancient world, with especial
-attention to oddities and peculiarities, whether of the countries or
-their inhabitants; but none of these works is of independent literary
-importance. The grammatical writings of Gaius Julius Romanus, who lived
-in the first years of the third century, were much used by Charisius
-somewhat more than a century later. A grammar (_Ars Grammatica_) in
-three books by Marius Plotius Sacerdos, written in the latter part
-of the century, is extant, as is also a brief rhetorical treatise by
-Aquila Romanus. The four books _On Metres_ by Ælius Festus Aphthonius,
-written under Diocletian, are lost, but their contents are in part
-preserved by Marius Victorinus. These grammatical works are of
-importance chiefly for their references to earlier literature.
-
-None of the prose works just mentioned exhibits any creative talent
-or testifies to any new literary development. The only new literary
-phenomenon of the period is the rise of a school of oratory in Gaul,
-which produced, to be sure, nothing of great importance, but which
-shows by its very existence how far removed from Rome were now the
-centres of intellectual life, when the great Christian writers were
-Africans and the pagan orators were Gauls. The Gallic orators avoided
-the harshness and obscurity of the African school, and wrote in smooth
-Ciceronian Latin, with a plentiful flow of words and a poor supply of
-ideas. [Sidenote: The panegyrists.] A collection of twelve panegyrics
-has been preserved, the first of which is Pliny's address in honor of
-Trajan, delivered in 100 A. D., while the remaining eleven are dated
-at different times from 291 to 389 A. D. One of these was delivered in
-297 A. D. by Eumenius, a teacher of Greek descent, but Gallic birth,
-for the benefit of the schools in his native town of Augustodunum
-(Autun), and three (perhaps four) of the others are probably by the
-same author. Three of the remaining speeches are assigned to known
-authors and dates. They are by Nazarius, in honor of Constantine (321
-A. D.); by Mamertinus, in honor of Julian (362 A. D.); and by Latinus
-Drepanius Pacatus, in honor of Theodosius (389 A. D.). Two of these
-orators belong to the second half of the fourth century, but their
-speeches resemble the others in the collection, all of which are full
-of most exaggerated praise of the emperors. These speeches contain many
-references to the history of the times, but must be used with great
-care by the historian, since their purpose is to praise the emperors,
-and not even historical facts must be allowed to cast a shadow upon the
-imperial glory. The Gallic school of oratory was evidently flourishing
-in the later years of the third century and the greater part at least
-of the fourth. It was a learned school, based upon imitation of the
-ancient classics, and standing in no close relation to the living
-language of the times. The extant speeches show how thoroughly the
-study of the classics was carried on in Gaul, and at the same time how
-ready the orators were to flatter emperors who were pleased to listen
-to their obsequious praise.
-
-Now that the chief centres of Latin literature are found to be in Gaul
-and Africa, not in Rome or even Italy, the history of Roman literature
-has apparently reached its end; and yet throughout the fourth century,
-yes, even into the sixth century, the stream of old Roman tradition
-can be traced, and in the poems of Ausonius and Claudian and the _De
-Consolatione Philosophiæ_ of Boëthius classical literature still
-survives. It is hard to fix a date for the beginning of the Middle
-Ages, and even harder to assign a definite time for the end of
-classical Roman literature. The first great independent and original
-Christian writings in Latin--those of Tertullian--may be regarded as
-the beginning of mediæval literature; but classical Latinity was by
-no means yet dead. In fact, in the fourth century, after Constantine
-had recognized Christianity as a state religion on an equal footing
-with the ancient belief, there was a revival of literature. Christian
-writers wrote in the ancient Roman manner, and secular writings by
-Christians are not to be distinguished from those of the adherents of
-the old religion. The religious writings of the leaders of Christian
-thought--St. Hilary, bishop of Poitiers, St. Ambrose, bishop of Milan,
-St. Jerome and St. Augustine--belong to the history of the church
-rather than to that of Roman literature, and can be mentioned here only
-in passing, while the writings of many lesser lights of the church must
-be altogether neglected. There still remain, however, many works in
-which something of the old Roman literary spirit survives, even after
-Rome herself has ceased to be the seat of empire.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XX
-
-THE FOURTH AND FIFTH CENTURIES
-
-    Nonius, early in the fourth century--Macrobius, 410 (?) A.
-    D.--Martianus Capella, about 400 A. D.--Firmicus Maternus, 354
-    (?) A. D.--Marius Victorinus, about 350 A. D.--Ælius Donatus,
-    about 350 A. D.--Charisius, about 350 A. D.--Diomedes, about 350
-    A. D.--Priscian, about 500 A. D.--Servius, latter part of the
-    fourth century--Itineraries--_Notitia_, 354 A. D.--Peutinger
-    Tablet--Palladius, about 350 A. D.--Vegetius, about 400 A.
-    D.--Aurelius Victor, 360 A. D.--Eutropius, 365 A. D.--Festus, 369
-    A. D.--Julius Obsequens, about 360 A. D.--St. Jerome, 331-420
-    A. D.--Ammianus Marcellinus, about 330-400 A. D.--Sulpicius Severus,
-    early in the fifth century--Orosius, 417 A. D.--Gregorianus, about
-    300 A. D.--Hermogenianus, about 330 A. D.--_Codex Theodosianus_,
-    438 A. D.--The _Code_ of Justinian, 529 A. D.--The _Pandects_ and
-    _Institutes_, 533 A. D.--Symmachus, about 345-405 A. D.--Dictys
-    (L. Septimius), second half of the fourth century--Dares, fifth
-    century--Hilarius, about 315 to 367 A. D.--Ambrose, about
-    340-397 A. D.--Jerome, 331-420 A. D.--Augustine, 354-430 A.
-    D.--Optatianus, early in the fourth century--Juvencus, early in
-    the fourth century--Avienus, 370 A. D.--The _Querolus_, about
-    370 A. D.--Ausonius, about 310 to about 395 A. D.--Prudentius,
-    348 to about 410 A. D.--Claudian, 400 A. D.--Namatianus,
-    416 A. D.--Avianus, about 400 A. D.--Sedulius, about 450 A.
-    D.--Dracontius, end of the fifth century.
-
-
-The prose writings of the fourth century are, with the exception of
-theological treatises, almost all mere compilations or abbreviations of
-earlier works. [Sidenote: Nonius. Macrobius. Martianus Capella.] In the
-early years of the century Nonius Marcellus, a Peripatetic philosopher
-of Thubursicum, in Numidia, wrote for his son a work in twenty books,
-_De Compendiosa Doctrina_, in which he discusses many questions
-pertaining for the most part to early Latin literature. This work is
-modelled on the _Noctes Atticæ_ of Gellius, to which it is vastly
-inferior. It is nevertheless of value as our only authority for the
-titles of some lost works and even for extracts from them. For similar
-reasons the _Saturnalia_, in seven books, by Ambrosius Theodosius
-Macrobius, is of some importance. Macrobius, who was probably, like
-Nonius, an African, appears to be identical with the Macrobius who was
-proconsul of Africa in 410 A. D, The imaginary conversations of which
-his _Saturnalia_ consists treat of Roman literature and antiquities,
-especially of the poetry of Virgil. Like Gellius and Nonius, Macrobius
-uses the works of earlier critics and commentators, and gives many
-quotations from Greek and Roman authors. Macrobius also wrote a
-commentary on Cicero's _Dream of Scipio_, in which he quotes many
-authors, especially Greeks, but displays little or no originality.
-The encyclopædia, in nine books, written about the end of the fourth
-century by a third African, Martianus Capella, is of less value than
-the compilations of Nonius and Macrobius, though it, too, goes back to
-good authorities, such as Varro.
-
-[Sidenote: Philosophy. Grammar.] The chief seat of philosophy in the
-fourth century was Athens, and philosophical writings were almost all
-in Greek. For the most part they expounded the mystical doctrines of
-Neoplatonism.[134] The grammarian Ælius Donatus, who flourished at
-Rome about 350 A. D. and was one of the teachers of St. Jerome, wrote
-commentaries on Terence and Virgil to which he prefixed the lives of
-the two poets from the lost work of Suetonius. The work on Virgil is
-lost, and the commentary on Terence contains in its present form many
-later additions. The extant grammars (_Ars Grammatica_) of Charisius
-and Diomedes, which have preserved much of the learning of earlier
-grammarians, belong to a very slightly later time. The last and most
-complete ancient grammar was written under the Emperor Anastasius
-(491-518 A. D.) at Constantinople in the Latin language by Priscian,
-from Cæsarea, in Mauretania. This work, in eighteen books, is entitled
-_Institutiones Grammaticæ_, and contains a vast quantity of material
-from the earlier literature. Much of the grammatical terminology,
-even of the present time, is derived from Priscian. The important
-commentary on Virgil by Servius was written in the latter part of the
-fourth century, and is preserved in two forms, in one of which numerous
-additions have been made to the original work.[135]
-
-[Sidenote: History.] In 360 A. D., Aurelius Victor wrote a short
-history of the emperors (_Cæsares_) from the time of Augustus to the
-tenth consulship of Constantius and Julian, i. e., to the date of his
-writing. He makes free use of Suetonius, and his style is sometimes
-an imitation of that of Sallust. A second entirely distinct work
-attributed to the same author is a brief epitome of the history of
-the emperors to the death of Theodosius I (395 A. D.). Under Valens
-(364-378 A. D.) Eutropius wrote a _Breviarium ab Urbe Condita_, a short
-sketch of Roman history from the beginning to the year 365 A. D., which
-is distinguished for its simple, easy style and pure Latinity, but has
-no independent value as an historical work.[136]
-
-Much more important is the _Chronicle_ of St. Jerome (331-420 A. D.),
-a translation from the Greek of Eusebius with important additions.
-The _Chronicle_ begins with the first year of Abraham (2016 B. C.).
-From this point to the Trojan War, Jerome merely translates Eusebius,
-from the Trojan War to 325 A. D. he translates Eusebius and adds much
-information concerning Roman history and literature, and from 325 to
-378 A. D. the work is entirely his own. His information concerning the
-history of Roman literature is derived chiefly from Suetonius (_De
-Viris Illustribus_) and is of the utmost importance, though the dates
-given are sometimes wrong, which is not surprising when one remembers
-the carelessness in respect to dates exhibited by Suetonius in his
-extant _Lives of the Cæsars_. Jerome's _Chronicle_ was continued in
-the fifth century by Prosper of Aquitania to the year 455 A. D., and
-further additions were made after that time. The _Chronicle_ is of
-great importance to the historian, but is itself merely the dry bones
-of history. The only real history that the last centuries of Roman
-literature produced, the only serious and original historical work
-after Tacitus, is that of Ammianus Marcellinus; for the summary of
-universal history (_Chronicorum Libri II_) written by the Aquitanian
-Sulpicius Severus in the early years of the fifth century, and the more
-pretentious but no more original history of the world (_Historiarum
-Adversus Paganos Libri VII_) by Orosius of Spain, compiled soon after
-417 A. D., are even less important than the handbook of Eutropius.
-
-[Sidenote: Ammianus Marcellinus.] Ammianus Marcellinus (about 330-400
-A. D.) was a Greek of Antioch, who became a soldier in the Roman army,
-served in Asia, in Gaul, and in the Persian campaign of the Emperor
-Julian, and was at some time in Egypt, but finally settled at Rome,
-where he wrote in Latin a continuation of Tacitus from Nerva to the
-death of Valens (96-378 A. D.). The entire work consisted of thirty-one
-books, thirteen of which are lost; but the extant books (XIV-XXXI),
-treating of the time from 353 to 378 A. D., and dealing with events
-in which the author took part, are especially valuable. Ammianus is
-an honest soldier, who, to use his own expression, never knowingly
-corrupts the truth by silence or falsehood, who has no liking and not
-much understanding for court intrigues, but is intent upon giving his
-readers a fair and unbiased account of events. His Latin is hard to
-understand, partly because he writes it as a foreigner, but still more
-because he wishes to write an ornate style and embellishes his work
-with many references to the Roman classics, sometimes quoting their
-exact words, oftener changing them a little, as if to show his perfect
-familiarity with the earlier literature. The geographical digressions
-introduced are not original descriptions of what Ammianus had himself
-seen, but are taken from Greek or Latin books. Although himself a
-pagan, Ammianus shows no hostility to Christianity, but his paganism
-is not very serious. He seems to believe that not all men think alike,
-and that on the whole it is well for each to believe as he can. His
-pictures of the life of the times are admirable, and bring before us
-in a clear light the corruption and degeneration of the age. Yet he
-does not seem to feel righteous indignation nor to understand that the
-greatness of the Roman empire is rapidly passing away. His history ends
-with the disastrous defeat of the Romans by the Goths at Hadrianople
-and the death of the Emperor Valens; but so accustomed was the world
-to the power of the Roman empire that even this terrible reverse was
-not recognized as portending the end of the ancient order of things.
-For a little while Theodosius was able to maintain the integrity of
-the empire, but the end was at hand. It is not unfitting that the
-last Roman historian, himself a Greek by birth, ends his work at a
-moment when more than ever before the Greek city of Constantinople was
-becoming the refuge of what remained of the old Roman civilization.
-
-[Sidenote: Law.] The study of law, which had for centuries been among
-the most important pursuits of Roman thinkers, was not neglected in
-the last centuries of Roman life. Under Diocletian (284-305 A. D.)
-the imperial edicts were codified by Gregorianus, and in the reign of
-Constantine (323-337 A. D.) Hermogenianus continued the codification
-to his own time. In 438 A. D., under Theodosius II, the _Codex
-Theodosianus_ was compiled by a commission of jurists, and in the reign
-of Justinian a commission headed by the distinguished jurist, scholar,
-and man of affairs Tribonian, gave to Roman law its final form in three
-great works: the _Code_, published in 529 A. D., the _Pandects_ or
-_Digests_, and the _Institutes_, published in 533 A. D., which have
-served as the basis for all later jurisprudence.
-
-[Sidenote: Oratory.] Oratory found its chief field of activity in the
-Christian pulpit from the time of Constantine, but was not confined
-to the exposition of Christian doctrine. The Gallic school of oratory
-continued to flourish, and indeed Gaul was prominent in literature of
-all kinds during the fourth and fifth centuries. Among other orators
-the most important was Quintus Aurelius Symmachus, a Roman of noble
-family and honorable character, whose life extended from about 345
-to 405 A. D. His panegyrics on Valentinian I and Gratianus resemble
-the other panegyrics of the period, and the fragmentary remains of
-later speeches delivered in the senate show no greater ability. More
-interesting are his letters, in which he appears as an imitator of the
-younger Pliny, and his official reports as prefect of the city.
-
-[Sidenote: Dictys and Dares.] A curious prose version of the story
-of the Trojan War was written by Lucius Septimius, apparently in the
-second half of the fourth century. This purports to a translation of
-an ancient Greek manuscript in Phoenician letters found in the tomb
-of a certain Dictys, in Crete. The story of the discovery of the
-manuscript is undoubtedly an invention, but the Latin account may be a
-translation of a lost Greek original. The style is artificial and full
-of antiquated expressions. The author most persistently imitated is
-Sallust. A somewhat similar little work belonging to the fifth century
-pretends to be a translation by Cornelius Nepos of a Greek account of
-the Trojan War given by a Phrygian Dares, who fought among the Trojans.
-The style is dry and unattractive, but the little book was much read in
-the Middle Ages. These two works serve to give us some idea of the kind
-of literature which, alongside of the Greek novels, amused the leisure
-hours of cultivated persons.
-
-The contents of the works of the leaders of the church in the fourth
-and fifth centuries can hardly be considered in a history of Roman
-literature, but inasmuch as their writings show the continued influence
-of classical Latin, their style and choice of words should be briefly
-mentioned. [Sidenote: Hilarius.] The bitter controversy between the
-Arians and the Athanasians produced in the fourth century a great
-number of controversial writings, among which those of Hilarius (St.
-Hilary), Bishop of Poitiers, are remarkable for depth of philosophical
-thought and care in expression. Hilarius was born between 310 and
-320 A. D., and was trained in the Gallic school of eloquence. After
-his conversion to Christianity he soon became bishop of his native
-Poitiers. His opposition to Arianism, which Constantius favored, led
-to his banishment, but he was recalled after three years, in 358 A. D.
-His death took place in 367 A. D. Besides his controversial writings
-he was the author of commentaries on several books of the Old and New
-Testaments, and perhaps also of hymns. His style shows in some passages
-his early training in the school of wordy and ornate Gallic oratory,
-but is chiefly distinguished for its vigor and passion. Hilarius
-carried on the work of adapting Latin to the expression of Christian
-abstract thought, which had been begun in Africa by Tertullian.
-
-[Sidenote: Ambrosius.] Ambrosius (St. Ambrose), who lived from about
-340 to 397 A. D., was probably born in Gaul, where his father was
-prefect, but was of Roman, not Gallic blood. After a careful education
-he became a barrister, and was soon raised to the consular rank and
-made governor of the provinces of Liguria and Æmilia. Thus he came to
-Milan, where he was chosen bishop in 374 A. D. He was a man of great
-tact as well as firmness, who dared to exclude the Emperor Theodosius
-from the church, until he had shown repentance for the massacre at
-Thessalonica, and to refuse the request of the Empress Justina that one
-of the churches at Milan be set aside for the Arians, but who succeeded
-in avoiding any breach with the emperor in spite of his independence.
-It was in great part due to St. Ambrose that Italy was kept from
-adopting the Arian heresy. His writings comprise letters, dogmatic
-treatises, practical treatises on the conduct of life, commentaries on
-the Scriptures, funeral orations on Valentinian II and Theodosius, and
-hymns. He is also the probable author of a translation of Josephus into
-Latin. In his mystic, allegorical interpretations of Scripture St.
-Ambrose follows the Jewish-Stoic philosopher Philo, who lived about the
-time of Christ, and in his treatise _On Duties_ he imitates Cicero's
-work of the same title. His intimate acquaintance with other works of
-the classical period is made evident both by the general quality of his
-style, which is purer than that of most of his contemporaries, and by
-many special references. His hymns have had great influence upon church
-poetry and music.
-
-[Sidenote: Jerome (Hieronymus).] St. Jerome (Hieronymus) was born about
-331 A. D., at Stridon, a town on the borders of Dalmatia and Pannonia,
-studied at Rome under Donatus, then spent two years at Treves, was
-afterwards at Aquileia for some time, then sailed to Syria. Here he was
-ill for a time, and solaced himself by reading the classics, until he
-was warned by a dream to give up profane literature. He retreated into
-the wilderness of Chalcis, where he remained five years. In 362 A. D.
-he returned Rome, where he had great influence for many years, but in
-386 he retired to a monastery at Bethlehem. There he remained until
-his death, in 420 A. D. As a controversial writer St. Jerome had great
-influence in settling the doctrines of the Catholic church; he also
-wrote commentaries on various books of the Bible, and numerous letters
-dealing with religious questions. His translation of the Bible was a
-masterly performance, and is the basis of the Latin Vulgate, still in
-use in the Roman Catholic church. He compiled a brief work, _De Viris
-Illustribus_, in which he gave sketches of the lives of Christian
-writers, as Suetonius, in his work of the same title, had given the
-lives of the old Roman authors. The sketches given by Jerome are,
-however, much briefer than were those of Suetonius. The translation and
-continuation of the _Chronicle_ of Eusebius has already been mentioned
-(see page 262). St. Jerome is one of the ablest writers of the early
-Christian church, and certainly the most learned Christian writer of
-his time. His style is not exempt from the faults of exaggeration and
-verbal quibbling common in the writings of the age, but possesses much
-life and earnestness, and is free from the affectation of classicism,
-though it shows the effect of his prolonged study of the classics.
-
-[Sidenote: Augustine] St. Augustine (Aurelius Augustinus) was born in
-354 A. D. at Tagaste, in Africa. His father was a pagan, his mother
-a Christian, and in his early years Augustine himself accepted the
-doctrine of Manicheeism, a sort of mystical materialism, which denied
-all authority, and claimed to rest entirely upon reason. He was a
-successful teacher of rhetoric in Africa, at Rome, and at Milan,
-where he came under the influence of St. Ambrose and was converted.
-In 388 A. D. he returned to Africa, became presbyter at Hippo in 392,
-and bishop in 395 A. D. His death took place in 430 A. D. His nature
-was many sided, and composed of apparently contradictory elements.
-He was a mystic speculator, a sharp reasoner, at one time harsh and
-uncompromising, at another full of tenderness, an original thinker yet
-a believer in authority, dreamer, poet, philosopher, rhetorician, and
-quibbler in one. His writings are in part speculations on theology, in
-part ponderings on the soul, its nature and its relations to God, and
-in part controversial treatises, sermons, commentaries, and letters.
-The best known among them are the _Confessions_, in which Augustine
-gives many details of his life, and records the doubts that perplexed
-him, and the _City of God_ (_De Civitate Dei_), a work of his old
-age, in which he contrasts the city (or better, the state) of this
-world with the ideal city of God. This work was written in reply to
-the pagans, who claimed that the sack of Rome by Alaric was due to
-the neglect of the ancient worship. It consists of twenty-two books,
-in the first ten of which the "vain opinions adverse to the Christian
-religion" are refuted, while the twelve remaining are devoted to a
-presentation of Christian truth, though each division contains many
-digressions, and in each the part of the subject properly belonging
-to the other is treated as occasion demands. In many parts of this
-great work reference is made to Cicero's _De Re Publica_ and other
-philosophical writings, and Augustine's dialogue _Contra Academicos_
-is an evident imitation of Cicero's _Academics_. Yet it can not be
-said that Augustine's style is modelled upon that of Cicero. It is
-rather a style which had gradually developed among Christian writers,
-in which the periodic structure of the Ciceronian age is abandoned for
-the most part, many words unknown to strictly classical Latin have been
-introduced, partly from the popular speech and partly by new formation
-to express abstract ideas, not a few Biblical phrases are employed,
-and some slight changes in syntax are noticeable. This is the Latin of
-the church, which has remained nearly as St. Augustine left it, except
-in so far as the strictly classical element grew less in the centuries
-preceding the Renaissance. For St. Augustine the "state" of this world
-still means the Roman empire, though the eternal city had been sacked
-by the Goths, but the time seems to him not far distant when the state
-of God shall rest in the "stability of its eternal seat." So his
-language is still Latin; but his thoughts and sentiments are Christian,
-not Roman. The ancient world was still visible about him, but the life
-of the Middle Ages had begun.
-
-The fourth century produced a considerable number of poets who
-possessed no mean skill in versification, but whose works have for the
-most part disappeared. [Sidenote: Optatianus.] Optatianus (Publilius
-Optatianus Porphyrius) composed a poem in praise of Constantine in
-which he shows his ingenuity by writing lines that take the shape of
-an altar or an organ, contriving to make fifteen successive hexameters
-each one letter shorter than its predecessor, making nineteen stanzas
-of four lines each from the same twenty words, and inventing the
-most complicated and elaborate acrostics and the like. Such work is
-not poetry, but it shows skill in the manipulation of words. It is
-interesting to know that Constantine was so pleased that he recalled
-the ingenious author from banishment. [Sidenote: Juvencus.] About the
-same time Juvencus (Gaius Vettius Aquilinus Juvencus) made a version
-of the Gospel story in hexameters after the manner of Virgil. He shows
-intelligent appreciation of the dignity and beauty of his model, and
-writes skillfully and easily. This Latin poem is the prototype of the
-"Gospel Harmonies" of the Middle Ages. [Sidenote: Avienus.] Avienus
-(Rufus Festus Avienus), of Vulsinii, in Etruria, was a descendant of
-the Stoic philosopher Musonius Rufus (see page 177), and was twice
-proconsul--in Africa in 366 and in Greece in 371 A. D. He translated
-the _Phænomena_ of Aratus into Latin verse, and tried to improve upon
-the translations by Cicero and Germanicus (see pages 70 and 173),
-made a similar translation with variations from the _Periegesis_ of
-Dionysius, described the coasts of the Black Sea, the Caspian, and the
-Mediterranean in iambic trimeters, and made abridgments of Livy and
-Virgil in the same metre. These last are lost, as is a large part of
-the description of the coasts. Avienus was also the author of several
-short poems. He has no little ability as a maker of verses, and has
-the good taste to imitate Virgil, but exhibits no poetic originality.
-His language is for the most part strictly classic. [Sidenote:
-Querolus.] To about the same time as Avienus belongs also a curious
-comedy entitled _Querolus_ (_The Discontented Man_), a free imitation
-of the _Aulularia_ of Plautus, composed in a remarkable mixture of
-prose and verse.
-
-[Sidenote: Ausonius.] The only really interesting poet of the fourth
-century is, however, Ausonius, whose life extends through nearly
-the entire century. Decimus Magnus Ausonius was born at Bordigala
-(Bordeaux) about 310 A. D. He became a teacher of rhetoric and oratory,
-and was appointed tutor to Gratian, the son of the Emperor Valens.
-When Gratian became emperor he rewarded his teacher with public
-offices, and raised him in 379 A. D. to the consulate. After Gratian's
-death (383 A. D.) Ausonius retired from public life and devoted himself
-to literary pursuits at his native Bordeaux until his death, which took
-place not far from 395 A. D. Nearly all his extant writings belong to
-this period. The only considerable specimen of his prose extant is the
-oration in which he expressed his thanks to Gratian for the consulship.
-In this the style, though somewhat flowery, is not without dignity,
-and the vocabulary is pretty strictly classic. The extant poems are of
-various kinds and in various metres. They include epigrams, idylls,
-letters, a series of short poems called _Parentalia_, devoted to
-the poet's relatives, a _Commemoratio Professorum Burdigalensium_,
-describing his colleagues at Bordeaux, verses on the Roman emperors,
-on famous cities, and a variety of other subjects. Some of these show
-cleverness in the use of language, but no higher quality. Such are the
-letters written partly in Greek and partly in Latin, and the idylls so
-composed that the last word of each line is a monosyllable; but among
-the poems are some of considerable interest even though their poetic
-qualities are not of the highest. So the _Parentalia_ and the verses on
-the Bordeaux professors give the reader some insight into the life of
-an important provincial city. It is interesting, too, to observe that
-of the seventeen cities mentioned in the _List of Famous Cities_ five
-are in Gaul. To be sure, Ausonius was himself a Gaul, and may have made
-his native region unduly prominent, but other evidence, including the
-remains of ancient buildings, supports his estimate of the importance
-of the Gallic cities. His lines on Bordeaux, famous for its wine, its
-culture, its fertile soil, great rivers, copious water supply, and fine
-buildings, show his patriotism and his skill in descriptive writing.
-The latter quality is conspicuous in the most famous of his idylls,
-the one entitled _Mosella_, in which Ausonius describes the stream and
-the valley of the Moselle, which he had visited on some business not
-further specified. The vine-clad hills and grassy meadow lands, the
-roofs of villas that stand upon the banks, the broad, clear river,
-calm and placid as a lake, are all brought before our eyes with clear,
-well-chosen words and a masterly lightness of touch. At the same time
-the poet's love of nature and her beauties is as plainly manifest
-as in any poem of Wordsworth or Whittier. Unfortunately, Ausonius
-proceeds to mention all the different kinds of fish in the Moselle,
-and the remarkable productivity of the river does not add to the
-attractiveness of the poem. Yet the poem is deservedly famous for its
-beauty of expression and its enthusiastic love of nature. It is also
-remarkably modern in its tone. Satyrs and Naiads are mentioned, but
-only as a modern poet might mention them. Ausonius is a Christian, and
-for him the pagan deities of the woods are only beings which he "might
-imagine." This poem shows as clearly as the _Pervigilium Veneris_,
-though in a different way, that the spirit of the Middle Ages was awake.
-
-Ausonius was a Christian, but his poems have no specifically Christian
-contents. [Sidenote: Ausonius.] The most important specifically
-Christian poet of the fourth century is Aurelius Prudentius Clemens,
-who was born in Spain, at or near Saragossa, in 348 A. D., studied and
-practised oratory, and held important offices. His life was apparently
-passed for the most part in Spain, but at one time he held a position
-at the imperial court of Theodosius. The date of his death is probably
-about 410 A. D. Prudentius, like Ausonius, employs hexameters and
-various other classic metres, in which he departs occasionally, but
-not often, from the rules of quantitative verse. His poems, both epic
-and lyric, are religious and inspired by earnest faith and genuine
-enthusiasm. He excels in narrative and description, in wealth and
-brilliancy of language, but lacks the virtue of simplicity. His poetry
-was intended to appeal to educated readers, not to the people, and the
-cultured classes of the time were only too thoroughly accustomed to an
-artificial style. Yet, in spite of his faults of style, Prudentius is
-the most important Christian poet of the fourth century, and among the
-other poets of the time none equal him except Ausonius and Claudian.
-
-[Sidenote: Claudian.] Claudius Claudianus, the last important Roman
-poet, was, like Livius Andronicus, with whom Roman poetry began,
-a Greek by birth. He was born in Asia Minor, but lived so long at
-Alexandria that he called that centre of learning his fatherland
-(_patria_). In 395 A. D. he went to Rome, where he was attached to the
-court of Honorius, from whom he received the rank of patrician and
-the honor of a statue in the Forum of Trajan. He remained at Rome,
-or rather at Milan, until 404 A. D., but about that time returned to
-Alexandria, and married a noble woman of the place, being aided in his
-suit by Serena, niece and adopted daughter of the Emperor Theodosius
-and wife of Stilicho. Claudian's poems all appear to have been written
-from 395 to 404 A. D., and throughout this period he is the faithful
-follower and enthusiastic admirer of Stilicho, Whether Stilicho's death
-in 408 A. D. relegated Claudian to obscurity, or the poet himself
-died at about the same time as his patron, can not now be determined.
-Claudian's works comprise epic poems on the important events of his
-times, such as the Gothic war and the war against Gildo, mythological
-epics, and shorter miscellaneous poems. Among the historical epics
-are included poems in praise of Honorius and other patrons of the
-poet, as well as metrical attacks upon Rufinus and Eutropius. The only
-remains of his mythological epics are three books of a poem, on the
-_Rape of Proserpine_, and somewhat more than one hundred lines of a
-_Gigantomachia_. In these poems Claudian shows the mythological and
-antiquarian learning which had for centuries been characteristic of the
-Alexandrian school of poetry. That school was already old when it was
-imitated by Catullus and his contemporaries in the early days of Roman
-poetry, and now, when Roman literature was dying, Alexandria continued
-to train learned poets. Had Claudian not gone to Italy, he would
-doubtless have continued to write in his native Greek, and might, as a
-Greek poet, have rivalled his contemporary Nonnus. In his historical
-and miscellaneous poems also Claudian exhibits much Alexandrian
-learning, and at the same time shows an intimate acquaintance with
-the earlier Roman poets, which is somewhat surprising in one who was
-educated in the Greek-speaking provinces of the east. It is equally
-surprising that Claudian uses the Latin language with an ease and
-grace not attained by any of his contemporaries. His verse is correct,
-dignified, and harmonious, his diction pure and classical. In these
-respects, as well as in wealth of imagery, brilliancy of narrative,
-and skill in composition, he is unequalled by any Roman poet after
-Statius. His historical poems must be used with caution by historians,
-for, although facts are not invented, they are presented in a strong
-light, or left in obscurity, according to the effect they might have
-upon the reputation of the poet's friends or enemies. In the exuberance
-of his praise, Claudian equals the contemporary prose panegyrists, and
-surpasses the early Alexandrian and most of the later Roman poets.
-Among his miscellaneous poems none is so well known in modern times,
-or so modern in tone, as the brief elegy of only twenty-two lines, on
-an old man of Verona, who never left his suburb, who pressed his staff
-upon the same sand in which he had crept, counted his years by the
-changes of crops, not by consuls, and saw the trees grow old which he
-had seen as little sprouts. The advantages of a quiet, humble life have
-seldom been more charmingly set forth than in this poem.
-
-With all his learning, skill, and genuine poetic inspiration,
-Claudian is still the belated singer of a worn-out empire and a dying
-civilization. Rome was no longer the mighty and unquestioned ruler
-of the world. The poet whose chief task it was to sing the praises
-of Stilicho, and spread the glory of his victories, must needs shut
-his eyes, so far as possible, to the evident decay, but he could not
-simulate utter blindness. In the beginning of his poem on the war with
-Gildo, Claudian shows that the feebleness and old age of Rome were not
-hidden from him. He describes the personified city, the goddess Roma,
-as she approaches Olympus to beg for aid against Gildo, whose revolt,
-involving the loss of the African grain supply, threatened to expose
-the city to famine:
-
-    Her voice is weak, and slow her steps; her eyes
-    Deep sunk within; her cheeks are gone; her arms
-    Are shrivelled up with wasting leanness. On
-    Her feeble shoulders hardly can she bear
-    Her tarnished shield; she shows from loosened helm
-    Her hoary locks, and drags a rusty spear.[137]
-
-Even the poet who sang of Rome's victories could portray her in such
-terms as these. Yet the tradition of Roman greatness still survived.
-[Sidenote: Namatianus.] In the year 416, Rutilius Claudius Namatianus,
-a Gaul who had risen to the position of _præfectus urbi_ at Rome, was
-obliged to return to Gaul to attend to his property, which had been
-laid waste by the Goths. The journey was the occasion of a poem in two
-books, most of which is preserved. It is written in elegiacs, with
-much still and feeling. Many episodes and descriptions are inserted
-in the narrative, but no passage is so striking as that in which the
-traveller, passing out from the Ostian gate, addresses the imperial
-city:
-
-    Wide as the ambient ocean is thy sway,
-    And broad thy empire as the realms of day;
-    Still on thy bounds the sun's great march attends,
-    With thee his course begins, with thee it ends.
-    Thy strong advance nor Afric's burning sand,
-    Nor frozen horrors of the Pole withstand;
-    Thy valor, far as kindly Nature's bound
-    Is fixed for man, its dauntless way has found.
-    All nations own in thee their common land,
-    And e'en the guilty bless thy conquering hand;
-    One right for weak, for strong, thy laws create,
-    And bind the wide world in a world-wide State.[138]
-
-The history of Roman poetry is virtually at an end with Claudian.
-Other poets there were, but none whose works are living and breathing
-exponents of the ancient Roman life. [Sidenote: Avianus. Sedulius.
-Dracontius.] About 400 A. D. Avianus published forty-two fables of Æsop
-in elegiac verse; about the middle of the fifth century the presbyter
-Sedulius wrote several religious poems, in which he shows acquaintance
-not with Biblical literature alone, but also with the Latin classics;
-and at the end of the century the African poet Blossius Æmilius
-Dracontius wrote a didactic poem _On the Praise of God_, in three
-books, a number of short epics, chiefly mythological, and several other
-poems. Dracontius is not unskillful in his versification and his use
-of language, and his poems prove that rhetorical training was still to
-be found in Africa. Moreover, his knowledge of the Roman classics is
-as evident as his knowledge of the Bible. But neither Dracontius nor
-the other poets whose works are preserved to us from the fifth century
-could do more than help to pass on to the Middle Ages something of the
-ancient feeling for beauty of form in literature. And even that had
-ceased to be understood by the people.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXI
-
-CONCLUSION
-
-    The end of the ancient civilization--Boëthius, about 480-524 A.
-    D.--Later literature no longer Roman--Practical character of Roman
-    literature--The first period--The Augustan period--The period of
-    the empire--Our debt to the Romans.
-
-
-[Sidenote: The end of the old civilization.] Long before the end of
-the fifth century the power of Rome was broken, and the centre of what
-had been the Roman empire was at Constantinople. The western provinces
-were in the hands of barbarians, Angles and Saxons ruled in Britain,
-Franks in northern Gaul, Visigoths in southern Gaul and Spain, and
-Vandals in Africa. Italy itself had been repeatedly overrun by hardy
-warriors from the north, and Rome had twice been sacked, by the Goths
-under Alaric in 410 and by the Vandals under Genseric in 455 A. D. With
-the establishment by Theodoric, in 493 A. D., of the Gothic kingdom
-with its seat at Ravenna, the last vestige of the Roman empire of the
-West passed away. Henceforth western Europe is the scene of strife and
-disorder, through which men were to struggle onward to the new order
-of modern life. In the empire of the East much of the old civilization
-survived, and throughout the Middle Ages the ancient culture still shed
-some rays of light from Constantinople to the darkened west; but in
-western Europe there was little culture, and learning was for the most
-part shut up in the walls of monasteries.
-
-[Sidenote: Boëthius.] The last writer who seems to belong to the old
-civilization is Boëthius. Anicius Manlius Torquatus Severinus Boëthius
-was a Roman of noble birth and exalted station. He was born about
-480 A. D., and after his father's death was adopted by the patrician
-Symmachus, whose daughter he afterwards married. In 500 A. D. he
-delivered in the senate a speech in honor of Theodoric, who made
-frequent use of his learning and literary skill. He held important
-offices at Rome, received the title of patrician and in 510 A. D.
-became consul without a colleague. In 522 A. D. his two sons were made
-consuls, and the joyful father delivered an oration in praise of the
-Gothic king to whose favor they owed their elevation. But that favor
-was destined soon to pass from Boëthius. The emperor of the East,
-Justin, tried to stir up the Catholic Italians to revolt against the
-Arian Theodoric. Boëthius was suspected, arrested, and put to death
-with tortures in 524 A. D. The servile senate decreed his death without
-even the formality of a trial.
-
-[Sidenote: The Consolation of Philosophy.] Boëthius was a prolific
-writer. He translated from the Greek various philosophical and
-mathematical treatises, to some of which he added commentaries, and
-the importance of the Aristotelian logic during the Middle Ages is in
-great measure due to him; he also wrote a bucolic poem, which is lost,
-and several treatises on points of Christian doctrine; but the work by
-which he is now best known, and to which he owes his reputation as the
-last Roman author, is the treatise _On the Consolation of Philosophy_
-(_De Consolatione Philosophiæ)_, which he wrote in prison while waiting
-for his condemnation. This work consists of five books, and has the
-literary form of a _satura_--that is, the prose is interrupted and
-varied by the insertion of passages in verse. These metrical passages,
-although their rhythms and diction are excellent, do not show the
-same depth of thought as the prose portions. This is explained by the
-fact that the prose portions of the treatise are derived in great
-measure from the _Protrepticus_ of Aristotle, while the verses are more
-entirely the work of Boëthius himself. It is not likely that Boëthius
-employed the _Protrepticus_ directly, but he probably had before him
-some work in which Aristotle's teachings had been modified by the
-eclecticism of the later Platonists. Everywhere noble sentiments are
-expressed, but without the slightest indication of Christianity, or
-of any specific religion. The names of the pagan deities are used,
-but Boëthius believes in them no more than did Milton or the numerous
-writers of the eighteenth century in whose works their names occur.
-The attitude of Boëthius is throughout that of a cultivated and
-intellectual man who seeks for consolation when in trouble not in
-faith, but in reason. In the beginning of the work he laments his hard
-fate, when Philosophy appears before him in the form of a woman, and a
-dialogue ensues, in which the unimportance of what is ordinarily termed
-good or bad fortune, the nature of Providence, the divine order of the
-world, chance, free will, and similar subjects, are discussed. The
-style is the artificial, ornate style of the time, held in check by the
-logical sequence of the argument. Boëthius was a Christian, but in his
-adversity he turned to philosophy for consolation, and his philosophy
-is no more Christian than is that of Cicero. Yet his teachings, though
-not belonging to any one religion, are essentially religious. It is not
-wonderful that the _Consolation_ was much read in the Middle Ages, and
-has continued to find many readers in later times.
-
-[Sidenote: Later literature no longer Roman.] There were still, in the
-sixth century, men who, like Boëthius, could find, amid the disorders
-of the times, the leisure and the taste for study; and the only kind
-of study possible was that of the ancient literature. But Boëthius
-is the last in whom the ancient thoughts and feelings appear clad
-in literary form. Throughout the Middle Ages some of the classical
-writers, especially Virgil, were read and copied in monasteries, and
-those laymen who received a clerkly education learned Latin as the
-only language (except the more distant and difficult Greek) in which
-a literature existed; but Latin was then, as now, a language of
-the past, even though it was still used for literary purposes, and
-the ancient civilization was far less understood than now. Writings
-in Latin after Boëthius belong not to Roman literature, but to the
-literature of the church and to that of the various nations of Europe.
-
-[Sidenote: The first period of Roman literature.] The date of the
-beginning of Roman literature can be fixed almost to a year, for there
-was no Roman literature before Livius Andronicus. At that time Latin
-imitations of Greek works were introduced to add to the attractions
-of public entertainments and to make the young acquainted with the
-history of the past. As the republic grew in power, literature, still
-in imitation of the Greek, but expressing more and more completely the
-Roman character, developed in all directions, but especially in prose.
-The orators cultivated perfection in speech that they might move the
-judges, the senate, or the people; historians hoped that the records of
-the past would have a practical effect upon the deeds of the future,
-or they aimed, like Cæsar in his _Commentaries_, to further their own
-immediate ends; and Cicero adapted Greek philosophy to Roman readers
-in order that the republic might have wise and good citizens. The
-practical purpose of the lyric poetry of Catullus and his contemporary
-poets is less evident, though even lyric verse may serve political
-ends, and yet there seems to have been in the careful imitation of
-learned Alexandrian works a deliberate educational purpose. Certainly
-in all branches of literature except lyric poetry throughout the
-republican period a practical purpose, and usually a political purpose,
-is almost invariably to be found. Literature as developed by the Greeks
-seemed to the Romans to possess practical utility, and the great works
-of the republican period were created by practical men to aid in the
-attainment of their ends.
-
-[Sidenote: The Augustan period.] In the Augustan period the practical
-purpose of literature is even more evident than in the earlier years.
-In the transition from the republic to the monarchy it was desirable
-that the minds of men should not be too much occupied with politics,
-and literature was naturally encouraged by Augustus as an outlet for
-intellectual energy which might otherwise have turned to political
-matters. It was also desirable that the Julian family be connected as
-closely as possible with the beginnings of Rome, and how could that be
-done better than by such a poem as the _Æneid_? The immediate practical
-purpose of Virgil's _Georgics_ is evident. The poems of Horace, too,
-are in part openly intended to increase the popular prestige of the
-imperial house, and the mere fact that the poet was known to be the
-friend of the emperor would add as much to the glory of the one as of
-the other. The greatness of poetry in this period is due directly to
-the encouragement of Augustus, and his encouragement had a practical
-purpose. That prose, especially oratory, declined at this time is due
-to the fact that the orator was no longer the great power in the state.
-
-[Sidenote: The imperial period.] Under the empire the influence of
-literature upon politics disappeared. Oratory no longer led to the
-highest power, poetry must, under some emperors at least, be careful
-not to overstep prescribed limits, and history could not safely
-record all facts with their causes and results. Even philosophical
-speculation was not safe if it led to practical conclusions adverse to
-the government. It was precisely those branches of literature which
-might be used for political purposes that the imperial government
-could hardly fail to discourage directly or indirectly, and those
-were the branches in which the practical Romans naturally excelled.
-There were, to be sure, emperors who encouraged literature, but their
-encouragement, leading to flattery and artificial eloquence, was little
-likely to raise the quality, even though it increased the quantity, of
-literary production. With its practical importance Roman literature
-loses its vigor. Aside from Tacitus and Juvenal, hardly a single
-powerful and vigorous author appears in the imperial period until,
-with the growth of Christianity, literature again acquires practical
-importance. That literature maintained for so many years a relatively
-high degree of excellence is due to the constant influence of Greece,
-which counteracted to some extent the forces that tended to destroy
-all literary life. Thus Roman literature lingered on until after the
-breaking up of the Roman empire.
-
-Only a small part of the great bulk of Roman literature is preserved to
-us, but that part includes the greatest works of the best period. Those
-are worthy subjects of study for their beauty of form, their clearness
-of thought, their power, their vigor, and their ethical qualities. The
-productions of the imperial period are inferior in quality to those
-of the republican and the Augustan times, though their quantity is
-proportionate to the duration of the empire; but these works also are
-proper subjects of study, for they also express the character of the
-Romans.
-
-[Sidenote: Our debt to the Romans.] Three ancient peoples have
-impressed themselves strongly upon the nations of Europe and
-America--the Hebrews, the Greeks, and the Romans. To the first we owe
-the foundations of our religion, to the second the beginnings of all
-arts and sciences, to the Romans we are indebted for the adaptation of
-the arts and sciences, of philosophy, and even of religion to civilized
-life. The names of our months are Roman, and our calendar is, with
-slight necessary changes, that established by Julius Cæsar. The laws
-of continental Europe and, though to a less degree, of England and
-the United States, are based upon Roman law as finally established
-under Justinian. The so-called Gothic architecture, which arose in
-France in the Middle Ages and which is still the prevailing style of
-our churches, can be traced back step by step to Roman buildings,
-and though Roman architecture was dependent upon that of Greece, it
-was through Rome that western Europe learned to use the column, the
-arch, and the vault. The beautiful architecture of the Renaissance is
-a conscious imitation of that of Rome. The Romans, too, in the early
-centuries of the Christian church, did their full share to systematize
-Christian belief, to reconcile it with philosophy, and to establish
-a reasonable form of church government. The results of their labors
-are inherited directly by the Roman Catholic church, and indirectly
-or partially by Protestants. There is hardly a side of modern life
-which is not more or less affected by ancient Rome; while the dignity,
-the sturdy manhood, the stoical disregard of fortune, the patriotism,
-and the vigorous earnestness expressed in Roman literature have a
-powerful influence in developing what is best in modern manhood. Roman
-literature will continue to be an important object of study as long
-as men still feel their obligations to the past, or are capable of
-learning from the example and precepts of other ages.
-
-
-
-
-APPENDIX I
-
-BIBLIOGRAPHY
-
-
-[This is not intended to be an exhaustive bibliography, but is merely
-an attempt to refer the student to some of the best and most available
-sources of information. Books in foreign languages, and editions with
-notes in foreign languages, are mentioned only in exceptional cases
-and for special reasons. Further bibliographical information is to
-be found in the larger histories of Roman literature, in Engelmann's
-_Bibliotheca Scriptorum Classicorum_, the monthly lists in the
-_Classical Review_, and the _Guide to the Choice of Classical Books_,
-by J. B. Mayor, London, 1879, D. Nutt; with its New Supplement, 1896.]
-
-
-GENERAL WORKS
-
-    +C. T. Cruttwell.+ History of Roman Literature, London, 1877,
-      Griffin.
-
-    +J. W. Mackail.+ Latin Literature, London, 1895, Murray; New York,
-      Scribner's.
-
-    +G. A. Simcox.+ History of Latin Literature, London and New York,
-      1883, Longmans, 2 vols.
-
-    +G. Middleton+ and +T. R. Mills+. Handbook to Latin Authors,
-      London and New York, 1896, Macmillan.
-
-    +W. Y. Sellar.+ The Roman Poets of the Republic, Oxford, 2d ed.
-      1889; Poets of the Augustan Age (Virgil), Oxford, 1891; Horace and
-      the Elegiac Poets, Oxford, 1892.
-
-    +R. Y. Tyrrell.+ Latin Poetry, Boston, 1895, Houghton & Mifflin.
-
-    +G. F. Aly.+ Geschichte der römischen Litteratur, Berlin, 1894, R.
-      Gaertner.
-
-    +G. Bernhardy.+ Grundriss der römischen Litteratur, 5th ed. Halle,
-      1872.
-
-    +W. S. Teuffel.+ Geschichte der römischen Litteratur, 5th ed.
-      revised by L. Schwabe, Leipzig, 1890, Teubner; translated by G.
-      C. W. Warr, 2 vols., London, 1891, Bell. [Especially good for
-      bibliography.]
-
-    +M. Schanz.+ Römische Litteraturgeschichte, Munich, 2d ed.
-      1898-1901, Beck. 3 vols. (to Constantine); vol. iv (to Justinian)
-      in preparation.
-
-    +O. Ribbeck.+ Geschichte der römischen Dichtung. 3 vols.
-      Stuttgart, 1887-'92.
-
-    +C. Lamarre.+ Histoire de la Littérature latine depuis la
-      Fondation de Rome jusqu'à la Fin du Gouvernement Républicain;
-      Paris, 1901, Delagrave. 4 vols. [Vol. iv contains selections from
-      Latin literature in the original and in French translation. The
-      literature of the imperial period is to be treated in subsequent
-      volumes.]
-
-    +G. Michaut.+ Le Génie latin. Paris, 1900, Fontemoing.
-      [Interesting and suggestive.]
-
-    A useful series of books called "Ancient Classics for English
-      Readers" contains Cæsar, by _Anthony Trollope_; Catullus,
-      Tibullus, and Propertius, by _James Davies_; Cicero, by _W. L.
-      Collins_; Horace, by _Theodore Martin_; Juvenal, by _E. Walford_;
-      Livy, by _W. L. Collins_; Lucretius, by _Mallock_; Ovid, by _A.
-      Church_; Plautus and Terence, by _W. L. Collins_; Pliny, by _A.
-      Church_ and _W. J. Brodribb_; Tacitus, by _W. B. Donne_; and
-      Virgil, by _W. L. Collins_. These are not translations, but
-      essays illustrated by extracts. Published in America by the J. B.
-      Lippincott Co.
-
-
-COLLECTIONS
-
-[This list contains the titles of collections referred to below. Many
-other collections exist, the titles of which are to be found in larger
-bibliographies.]
-
-    +Poetae Latini Minores+, ed. _Baehrens_. 5 vols. Leipzig,
-      1879-'83, Teubner series.
-
-    +Fragmenta Poetarum Romanorum+, ed. _Baehrens_, Leipzig, 1886,
-      Teubner series.
-
-    +Corpus Poetarum Latinorum+, ed. _J. P. Postgate_; parts i, ii,
-      (vol. i), and iii. London, 1893-1900, Bell.
-
-    +Patrologia Latina+, ed. _Migne_, Paris. [221 vols. containing the
-      works of ecclesiastical writers of Latin from the Apostolic times
-      to those of Pope Innocent III.]
-
-    +Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum.+ [A series of
-      ecclesiastical writings, published by the Imperial Academy at
-      Vienna, begun in 1866 and not yet completed.]
-
-    +Scaenicae Romanorum Poesis Fragmenta+, ed. _O. Ribbeck_. 2 vols.
-      Leipzig, 1897-'98, Teubner series. [Vol. i, Tragicorum Romanorum
-      Fragmenta; vol. ii, Comicorum Romanorum Fragmenta.]
-
-    +Grammatici Latini+, ed. _H. Keil_, Leipzig, 1857-'80, Teubner, 7
-      vols.
-
-    +Historicorum Romanorum Relliquiae+, ed. _H. Peter_, vol. i,
-      Leipzig, 1870, Teubner.
-
-    +Historicorum Romanorum Fragmenta+, ed. _H. Peter_, Leipzig, 1883,
-      Teubner series.
-
-    +Scriptores Historiae Augustae+, ed. _H. Peter_, Leipzig. 2 vols.
-      Teubner series.
-
-    +Anthologia Latina+, ed. _F. Bücheler_ and _A. Riese_, Leipzig,
-      1870-'97. 2 vols. Teubner series.
-
-    +XII Panegyrici Latini+, ed. _Baehrens_. Leipzig, 1874, Teubner
-      series.
-
-    +Oratorum Romanorum Fragmenta+, ed. _Meyer_. Paris, 1837.
-
-
-EDITIONS AND TRANSLATIONS
-
-    ACCIUS. Text in _Fragm. Poet. Rom._, vol. i, and _Scaen. Rom.
-      Poes. Fragm._, vol. i.
-
-    ÆTNA. Text in _Corp. Poet. Lat._, part iii, and _Poet. Lat. Min._,
-      vol. ii. Text with notes and translation by _Robinson Ellis_,
-      Oxford, 1901.
-
-    AMBROSIUS (St. Ambrose). Text, _Patrologia Latina_, vols. xiv-xvii.
-
-    AMMIANUS MARCELLINUS. Text. _Gardthausen_, Leipzig. 3 vols.
-      Teubner series.
-
-    AMPELIUS. Text. _Wölfflin_ in Halm's _Florus_, Leipzig, 1854,
-      Teubner series.
-
-    ANDRONICUS. See LIVIUS.
-
-    APHTHONIUS. Text in _Grammat. Lat._, vol. vi.
-
-    APULEIUS. Text with Latin notes. _Hildebrand_, Leipzig, 1842. 2
-      vols.
-
-    Translation. _Sir George Head_, London, 1851; _anonymous_, in
-      Bohn's Library.
-
-    ARNOBIUS. Text. _Reifferscheid_, vol. iv of _Corp. Script. Eccl. Lat._
-      Also in _Patrol. Lat._, vol. v.
-
-    ATTA. Text in _Scaen. Rom. Poesis Fragm._, vol. ii.
-
-    ATTICUS. Text in _Hist. Rom. Fr._
-
-    AUGUSTINUS (St. Augustine). Text. _Patrol. Lat._, vols.
-      xxxii-xlvii; De Civitate Dei, _Dombart_, Leipzig, 1877, 2
-      vols., Teubner series; Confessiones, _Raumer_, Gütersloh, 1876,
-      Bertelsmann.
-
-    AUGUSTUS. Monumentum Ancyranum, _Mommsen_, 2d ed. Berlin, 1883,
-      Weidmann; _W. Fairley_ (with English translation), Philadelphia,
-      1898, the University of Philadelphia.
-
-      Fragments, _Weichart_, Grimma, 1845.
-
-    AURELIUS (Marcus Aurelius). See FRONTO.
-
-    AUSONIUS. Text. _Peiper_, Leipzig, 1886, Teubner series.
-
-    AVIANUS. Text. _Poet. Lat. Min._ vol. v; critical text and notes. _R.
-      Ellis_, Oxford, 1887.
-
-    AVIENUS. Crit. text. _Holder_, Innsbruck, 1887, Wagner.
-
-    BOËTHIUS. Text. _Peiper_, Leipzig, 1871, Teubner series.
-
-      Translation. H. E. James, London, 1897, Elliot Stock; _Fox_, in
-      Bohn's Library.
-
-    CÆSAR. Text. _Kübler_, Leipzig, 1893-1897, Teubner series. 3 vols.
-
-      Translation. _W. A. McDevitte_, Bohn's Library. Text and notes.
-      The Gallic War, Allen & Greenough, Boston, Ginn & Co.; The Civil
-      War, _Perrin_, New York, University Publishing Co. Many other
-      school editions exist.
-
-    CALPURNIUS. Text. _Poet. Lat. Min._, vol. iii; with NEMESIANUS, Text
-      and Latin notes, _Schenkl_, Leipzig and Prague, 1885.
-
-    CAPELLA. See MARTIANUS.
-
-    CATO. De Agricultura. Text and Latin notes, _Keil_, Leipzig, 1884-'94,
-      Teubner. [Two vols. with VARRO, Res Rusticae.]
-
-      Other works. Text and Latin notes. _Jordan_, Leipzig, 1860,
-      Teubner.
-
-    CATONIS DISTICHA. _Poet. Lat. Min._, vol. iii.
-
-    CATULLUS. Text. _Mueller_, Leipzig, 1885, Teubner series. [With
-      TIBULLUS, PROPERTIUS, the fragments of LAEVIUS, CALVUS, CINNA, and
-      others, and the PRIAPEA]; crit. text with appendices, _R. Ellis_,
-      2d ed., Oxford, 1878.
-
-      Annotated edition. _Merrill_, Boston, 1893, Ginn & Co.
-
-      Commentary. _R. Ellis_, 2d ed., Oxford, 1889.
-
-      Translation (verse). _Theodore Martin_, Edinburgh and London,
-      1875, Blackwood.
-
-    CELSUS. Text. _Daremberg_, Leipzig, 1859, Teubner series.
-
-      Translation. _J. Grieve_, London, 1756.
-
-    CENSORINUS. Text. _Hultsch_, Leipzig, 1867, Teubner series; crit.
-      text, _J. Cholodniak_, St. Petersburg, 1889.
-
-    CHARISIUS. Text in _Gram. Lat._, vol. i.
-
-    CICERO. Text. _Baiter_ and _Kayser_, Leipzig, 1860-'69, B. Tauchnitz,
-      11 vols.; _Müller_, _Klotz_, and others, Leipzig, Teubner series,
-      10 vols. [Editions of separate works and selections are numerous.]
-
-      Correspondence, arranged according to its chronological order,
-      with commentary and introductory essays. _R. Y. Tyrrell_ and _L.
-      C. Purser_, Dublin and London, 1855-1901. 7 vols [vol. i in 2d ed.]
-
-      Translation. Orations, _C. D. Yonge_, 4 vols.; On Oratory and
-      Orators, with Letters to Quintus and Brutus, _J. S. Watson_; On
-      the Nature of the Gods, Divination, Fate, Laws, a Republic, and
-      Consulship, _C. D. Yonge_ and _F. Barham_; Academics, De Finibus,
-      and Tusculan Questions, _C. D. Yonge_; Offices, or Moral Duties,
-      Cato Major, an Essay on Old Age, Lælius, an Essay on Friendship,
-      Scipio's Dream, Paradoxes, Letter to Quintus on Magistrates, _C.
-      R. Edmonds_; Letters, _E. Shuckburgh_, 4 vols. Bohn's Library.
-
-      Life. _W. Forsyth_, London, 1863, Murray; New York, Scribner's.
-
-    CINCIUS ALIMENTUS. Text in _Hist. Rom. Rell._
-
-    CIRIS. Text in _Poet. Lat. Min._, vol. ii.
-
-    CLAUDIAN. Text. _Koch_, Leipzig, 1893, Teubner series.
-
-      Translation. _Hawkins_, London, 1817, 2 vols.
-
-    COLUMELLA. Text in _Scriptores Rei Rusticae_, ed. _Schneider_,
-      Leipzig, 1794-'97; De Arboribus, text, _Lundström_, Upsala,
-      1897.
-
-      Translation. _Anonymous_, London, 1745.
-
-    COMMODIANUS. Text. _Ludwig_, Leipzig, 1877-'78, 2 vols. Teubner
-      series.
-
-    CONSOLATIO AD LIVIAM. Text in _Poet. Lat. Min._, vol. i.
-
-    CORNIFICIUS (See Cicero ad Herennium). Text. _Marx_, Leipzig,
-      1894, Teubner.
-
-    CULEX. Text in _Poet. Lat. Min._, vol. ii.
-
-    CURTIUS RUFUS, Text. _Vogel_, Leipzig, 1881, Teubner series.
-
-      Translation. _John Digby_, 3d ed. corr. by _Young_,
-        London, 1747.
-
-    CYPRIAN. Text. _Hartel_, Vienna, 1868-'71, 4 vols. in _Corp.
-      Script. Eccl. Lat._
-
-    DARES. Text. _Meister_, Leipzig, 1873, Teubner series.
-
-    DICTYS. Text. _Meister_, Leipzig, 1872, Teubner series.
-
-    DIOMEDES. Text in _Gram. Lat._
-
-    DIOSCORIDES. Text in _Gram. Lat._
-
-    DIRÆ. Text in _Poet. Lat. Min._, Vol. ii.
-
-    DONATUS. Text in _Gram. Lat._ and in the introductions to
-      early editions of Terence.
-
-    ENNIUS. Text in _Fragm. Poet. Rom._ and _Corp. Poet. Lat._,
-      vol. i.
-
-    EUTROPIUS. Text. _Rühl_, Leipzig, 1887, Teubner series.
-
-      Translation. See JUSTIN.
-
-    FENESTELLA. Text in _Hist. Rom. Fragm._
-
-    FESTUS (RUFIUS). Text. _Wagner_, Prague, 1886.
-
-    FESTUS (SEXTUS POMPEIUS). Text. _Thewrewk_, Budapest, 1889.
-
-    FIRMICUS MATERNUS. Text, _Halm_, Vienna, 1867, in _Corp.
-      Script. Eccl. Lat._, vol. ii; _Baehrens_, Leipzig, 1886,
-      Teubner series.
-
-    FLORUS. Text. _Halm_, Leipzig, 1854, Teubner series.
-
-    FRONTINUS. Strategemata. Text. _Gundermann_, Leipzig, 1888,
-      Teubner series.
-
-      Translation. _R. Scott_, London, 1811.
-
-      De Aquis Urbis Romæ. Text. _Bücheler_, Leipzig, 1858, Teubner.
-
-      Text with translation and discussion. _C. Herschel_, Boston,
-      1899, Dana, Estes & Co.
-
-    FRONTO. Text. _Naber_, Leipzig, 1867, Teubner.
-
-    GAIUS. Text with translation and notes. _Poste_, 3d ed.,
-      Oxford, 1890.
-
-    GELLIUS. Text. _Hertz_, Leipzig, 1887, Teubner series, 2 vols.
-
-      Crit. Text. _Hertz_, Leipzig, 1894, Teubner, 2 vols.
-
-      Translation. _Beloe_, London, 1795, 3 vols.
-
-    GERMANICUS. Text in _Poet. Lat. Min._, vol. i.
-
-    GRATIUS. Text in _Poet. Lat. Min._, vol. i; _Corp. Poet.
-      Lat._, part iii.
-
-    HIERONYMUS. See JEROME.
-
-    HILARIUS (St. Hilary). Text. _Patrol Lat._, vols. ix and x.
-
-    HIRTIUS. Text in complete editions of Cæsar.
-
-    HORACE. Text in _Corp. Poet. Lat._, vol. i; _Kellar_ and
-      _Häussner_, 2d ed. Prague, 1892. Annotated editions are
-      numerous.
-
-      Translation (verse). _Theodore Martin_, Edinburgh and London,
-      1881, Blackwood, 2 vols. Odes and Epodes, _Lord Lytton_,
-      Edinburgh and London, 1869, New York, 1870.
-
-    HYGINUS. Text. _M. Schmidt_, Jena, 1872.
-
-    HYGINUS GROMATICUS. Text. _Domaszewski_, Leipzig, 1887.
-
-    JEROME. Text. _Patrol. Lat._, vols. xxii-xxx. De Viris
-      Illustribus, _Herding_, Leipzig, 1879, Teubner series.
-
-    JULIUS. See CÆSAR.
-
-    JULIUS CÆSAR STRABO. Text in _Orat. Rom. Fragm._
-
-    JULIUS VICTOR. Text in Orelli's _Cicero_, vol. v, p. 195, and
-      in Halm's _Rhetores Minores_, p. 371.
-
-    JUSTIN. Text. _Jeep_, Leipzig, 1859, Teubner series;
-      _Hallberg_, Paris, 1875.
-
-      Translation. _Watson_, London, 1853, Bohn's Library, [with
-        CORNELIUS NEPOS and EUTROPIUS].
-
-    JUVENAL. Text. _Bücheler_, Berlin, 2d ed. 1886, Weidmann [with
-      PERSIUS and SULPICIA].
-
-      Annotated edition. _Pearson & Strong_, Oxford, 1892.
-
-      Translation. (Prose) _Leeper_, London, 1891, 2d ed. Macmillan [see
-      also LUCILIUS]; (verse) _Dryden_, in Dryden's works.
-
-    LACTANTIUS. Text. _Patrol Lat._, vols. vi and vii. [Some of
-      his works have appeared in _Corp. Script. Eccl. Lat._ The Poem
-      on the Phoenix is in _Poet. Lat. Min._, vol. ii.]
-
-    LAMPRIDIUS. Text in _Scriptores Historiae Augustae_.
-
-    LIVIUS ANDRONICUS. Text in _Fragm. Poet. Rom._ and _Scaen.
-      Rom. Poesis Fragm._, vols. i and ii.
-
-    LIVY. Text. _Weissenborn_, Leipzig, 1878, Teubner series, 6
-      vols.
-
-      Crit. Text. _Madvig_ and _Ussing_, Copenhagen, 4th ed. 1886 and
-      later. 4 vols.
-
-      Translation. _Spillan_, _Edmunds_, and _McDevitte_, London, Bohn's
-      Library. 4 vols.
-
-    LUCAN. Text in _Corp. Poet. Lat._, part iii; _Hosius_,
-      Leipzig, 1892. Teubner series.
-
-      Translation (verse). _N. Rowe_, London, 1807. 3 vols.
-
-    LUCILIUS. Text in _Fragm. Poet. Rom._
-
-      Translation. _Evans_, London, Bohn's Library. [JUVENAL,
-        PERSIUS, SULPICIA, and LUCILIUS.]
-
-    LUCRETIUS. Text. _Munro_, London, Bell; also in Harper's
-      Classical Texts.
-
-      Crit. Text. _Lachmann_, Berlin, 1866. 2 vols.
-
-      Text and notes. _Munro_, London, 4th ed. 1891-'93, Bell. 3
-      vols., the third of which is a prose translation.
-
-    MACROBIUS. Text. _Eyssenhardt_, Leipzig, 1868, 2d ed. Teubner
-      series.
-
-    MÆCENAS. Text in _Fragm. Poet. Rom._
-
-    MANILIUS. Text in _Corp. Poet. Lat._, part iii.
-
-      Translation. _Creech_, London, 1700. [Appended to LUCRETIUS.]
-
-    MANLIUS. See VOPISCUS.
-
-    MARCELLINUS. See AMMIANUS.
-
-    MARIUS VICTORINUS. Text in _Gram. Lat._, vol. vi, Orelli's
-      _Cicero_, vol. v, Halm's _Rhetores Minores_, and _Patrol.
-      Lat._, vol. viii.
-
-    MARTIAL. Text. _Gilbert_, Leipzig, 1886, Teubner series.
-
-      Translation (prose). Edited by _H. G. Bohn_, London, 1897.
-      [Contains also metrical translations from various sources.]
-
-    MARTIANUS CAPELLA. Text. _Eyssenhardt_, Leipzig, 1866, Teubner
-      series.
-
-    MELA. Text. _Frick_, Leipzig, 1880, Teubner series.
-
-    MINUCIUS FELIX. Text. _Baehrens_, Leipzig, 1886, Teubner
-      series.
-
-    MORETUM. Text in _Poet. Lat. Min._, vol. ii.
-
-    NÆVIUS. Text in _Fragm. Poet. Rom._, _Scaen. Rom. Poesis
-      Fragm._, vols. i and ii.
-
-    NAMATIANUS. See RUTILIUS.
-
-    NEMESIANUS. Text in _Poet. Lat. Min._, vol. iii.
-
-    NEPOS. Text. _Halm-Fleckeisen_, Leipzig, 10th ed. 1889,
-      Teubner series.
-
-      Translation. See JUSTIN.
-
-    NIGIDIUS FIGULUS. Text of fragments with Latin notes.
-      _Stroboda_, Vienna, 1889.
-
-    NONIUS MARCELLUS. Crit. text with comment. _Müller_, Leipzig,
-      1888, Teubner. 2 vols. _Onions_, Oxford, 1895.
-
-    OCTAVIUS. See AUGUSTUS.
-
-    OROSIUS. _Zangemeister_, _Corp. Script. Eccl. Lat._, vol. v,
-      and Leipzig, 1889, Teubner series.
-
-    OVID. Text in _Corp. Poet. Lat._, vol. i; _Merkel-Ewald_,
-      Leipzig, 3d ed. begun 1888, Teubner series.
-
-      Annotated editions of separate works and of selections are
-      numerous.
-
-      Translation (prose). Bohn's Library. Metrical translations by
-      Dryden and others are contained in Chalmers' _English Poets_.
-
-    PACUVIUS. Text in _Scaen. Rom. Poesis Fragm._, vol. i.
-
-    PALLADIUS. Text in _Scriptores Rei Rusticae_, ed. _Schneider_,
-      Jena, 1794-'97.
-
-    PERSIUS. Text in _Corp. Poet. Lat._, vol. i; _Bücheler_. See
-      JUVENAL; with translation and commentary, _Conington_ and
-      _Nettleship_, Oxford, 1893.
-
-      Translation (prose). See LUCILIUS and JUVENAL; (verse)
-      _Dryden_, in his complete works and Chalmers' _English Poets_.
-
-    PERVIGILIUM VENERIS. Text in _Poet. Lat. Min._, vol. iv.
-
-    PETRONIUS. Text. _Bücheler_, Berlin, 3d ed. 1895, _Weidmann_.
-      [With the satires of VARRO and SENECA.]
-
-      Translation. (Trimalchio's Dinner). _H. T. Peck_, New York,
-      1898, Harper's.
-
-    PHÆDRUS. Text in _Corp. Poet. Lat._, part iii; _Riese_,
-      Leipzig, 1885, B. Tauchnitz.
-
-      Translation. _Smart_, London, 1831. [Also appended to Riley's
-      version of Terence and Phædrus in Bohn's Library.]
-
-    PLAUTUS. Text. _Goetz_ and _Schoell_, Leipzig, 1892-'95,
-      Teubner series, 7 parts.
-
-      Critical edition. _Ritschl_ (2d ed. by _Goetz_, _Loewe_, and
-      _Schoell_), Leipzig, 1878-'93, Teubner, 20 parts.
-
-      Many annotated editions of separate plays exist.
-
-      Translation (prose). _Riley_, London, Bohn's Library; (verse)
-      _Thornton_ and _Warner_, London, 1767-'72.
-
-    PLINY THE ELDER. Text, _Jan_ and _Mayhoff_, Leipzig, 2d ed.
-      Teubner series. 6 vols.
-
-      Translation. With Notes, _Bostock_ and _Riley_, London, Bell.
-      6 vols.
-
-    PLINY THE YOUNGER. Text. _Keil_, Leipzig, 1873, Teubner series.
-
-      Translation. _Melmoth_, revised by _Bosanquet_, London, 1877,
-       Bell; _Lewis_, London, 1879, Trübner.
-
-    PLOTIUS. See SACERDOS.
-
-    POMPEIUS TROGUS. See JUSTIN.
-
-    POMPONIUS. See MELA.
-
-    POMPONIUS (LUCIUS). Text in _Fragm. Poet. Rom._
-
-    PRIAPEA. Text in _Poet. Lat. Min._, vol. i, cf. vol. ii.
-
-    PRISCIAN. Text in _Gram. Lat._, vols. ii and iii.
-
-    PROBUS (VALERIUS). Text in _Gram. Lat._, vol. iv.
-
-    PROPERTIUS. Text in _Corp. Poet. Lat._, vol. i; _Mueller_,
-      Leipzig, 1880, Teubner series. See CATULLUS.
-
-      Ed. Crit. _Postgate_, London, 1880, Bell.
-
-      Translation (prose). _Gantillon_, with metrical versions of
-      select elegies by _Nott_ and _Elton_, London, Bohn's Library.
-
-    PRUDENTIUS. Text. _Patrol. Lat._, vols. lix and lx.
-
-    PUBLILIUS SYRUS. Text. _Bickford-Smith_, Cambridge, 1885; _O.
-      Friedrich_, Berlin, 1880, Grieben [with notes].
-
-    QUINTILIAN. Text. Institutiones Oratoriae, _Meister_, Leipzig,
-      1886-'87, Freytag.
-
-      Declamationes. _Ritter_, Leipzig, 1884, Teubner series.
-
-      Translation. Institutes of Oratory, _J. S. Watson_, London,
-      Bohn's Library. 2 vols.
-
-    REPOSIANUS. Text in _Poet. Lat. Min._, vol. iv.
-
-    RUTILIUS NAMATIANUS. Text in _Poet. Lat. Min._, vol. v.
-
-    SACERDOS. Text in _Gram. Lat._, vol. vi.
-
-    SALLUST. Text. _Eussner_, Leipzig, 1888, Teubner series.
-      [School editions of the Catiline and the Jugurtha are
-      numerous.]
-
-      Translation. _Pollard_, London, 1882, Macmillan.
-
-    SAMMONICUS SERENUS. Text in _Poet. Lat. Min._, vol. iii.
-
-    SEDULIUS. Text in _Patrol. Lat._, vol. ix, and _Corp. Script.
-      Eccl. Lat._, vol. x.
-
-    SENECA (the father). Text. _Müller_, Leipzig, 1888, Freytag;
-      _Kiessling_, Leipzig, 1872, Teubner series.
-
-    SENECA (the son). Text. Philosophical works. _Haase_, Leipzig,
-      1852 sqq., Teubner series.
-
-      Tragedies, _Leo_, Berlin, 1879, Weidmann, 2 vols.
-
-      Translation. On Benefits, Minor Essays, and On Clemency.
-        _A. Stewart_, London, Bohn's Library. 2 vols. Two Tragedies
-       (Medea and Daughters of Troy), _E. I. Harris_, Boston, 1899,
-       Houghton & Mifflin.
-
-    SERVIUS. Text with Latin notes. _Thilo_ and _Hagen_,
-      1878-1902, Teubner. 4 vols.
-
-    SIDONIUS APOLLINARIS. Text in _Patrol. Lat._, vol. lviii;
-      _Lüjohann_, Berlin, 1887 (_Monum. German. Hist. Auct.
-      Antiquiss._, vol. viii).
-
-    SILIUS ITALICUS. Text. _Bauer_, Leipzig, 1890-'92, Teubner
-      series. 2 vols.
-
-      Translation (verse). _Tytler_, Calcutta, 1828. 2 vols.
-
-    SISENNA. Text in _Hist. Rom. Rell._
-
-    SOLINUS. Crit. Text. _Mommsen_, Berlin, 2d ed. 1895, Weidmann.
-
-    STATIUS. Text. _Kohlmann_, Leipzig, 1879-'84, Teubner series.
-      2 vols.
-
-      Translation (verse). Thebaid. _Lewis_, in Chalmers' _English
-      Poets_, vol. xx; _Coleridge_, in his collected poems;
-      Achilleis, _Sir Robert Howard_, in his poems.
-
-    SUEIUS. Text in _Fragm. Poet. Rom._
-
-    SUETONIUS. Text. _Roth_, Leipzig, 1875, Teubner series.
-
-      Translation. _Thomson_, revised by Forester, in Bohn's Library.
-
-    SULPICIA. See JUVENAL.
-
-    SYMMACHUS. Text. _Seeck_, Berlin, 1883 (_Monum. Germ. Hist.
-      Auct. Antiquiss._, vol. vi, 1).
-
-    TACITUS. Text. _Nipperdey_, Berlin, 1871-'76, Weidmann. 4 vols.
-
-      [Annotated editions of separate works are many.]
-
-      Translation. _Church_ and _Brodribb_, London, 1868-'77,
-      Macmillan. 3 vols.
-
-    TERENCE. Text. _Dziatzko_, Leipzig, 1884, B. Tauchnitz.
-
-      Ed. Crit. _Umpfenbach_, Leipzig, 1871, Teubner.
-
-      Annotated ed. _Wagner_, London, 1869, Bell. [Annotated
-      editions of separate plays are numerous.]
-
-      Translation (verse). _Colman_, London, 1810; (prose) _Riley_,
-      in Bohn's Library [with PHÆDRUS].
-
-    TERENTIANUS MAURUS. Text in _Gram. Lat._, vol. vi.
-
-    TERTULLIAN. Text. _Patrol. Lat._, vols. i and ii;
-      _Reifferscheid_ and _Wissowa_, _Corp. Script. Eccl. Lat._,
-      vol. xx [only vol. i of Tertullian].
-
-    TIBULLUS. Text in _Corp. Poet. Lat._, vol. i; see also
-      CATULLUS.
-
-    Translation. _Cranstoun_, Edinburgh and London, 1872,
-      Blackwood. [English verse with notes.]
-
-    TROGUS. See JUSTIN.
-
-    VARIUS. Text in _Fragm. Poet. Rom._
-
-    VARRO ATACINUS. Text in _Fragm. Poet. Rom._
-
-    VARRO (MARCUS). Text. De Lingua Latina, _Müller_, Leipzig,
-      1833; _Spengel_, Berlin, 1885. De Re Rustica, _Keil_, Leipzig,
-      1889, Teubner series [commentary, 1891]. Fragments of Varro's
-      Menippean Satires are contained in _Bücheler's_ PETRONIUS, of
-      the lost grammatical works in _Wilmanns_, De Varronis Libris
-      Grammaticis, Berlin, 1864, Weidmann, of the Antiquitates
-      in _Merckel's_ edition of OVID'S Fasti, Berlin, 1841, and
-      poetical fragments in _Fragm. Poet. Rom._
-
-    VEGETIUS RENATUS. Text. Epitoma Rei Militaris, _Lang_,
-      Leipzig, 2d ed. 1885, Teubner series.
-
-      Mulomedicina. In Schneider's _Scriptores Rei Rusticae_, Jena,
-        1794-'97.
-
-    VELLEIUS PATERCULUS. Text. _Halm_, Leipzig, 1876, Teubner
-      series.
-
-    Translation. _J. S. Watson_, Bohn's and Harper's Libraries.
-      [SALLUST, FLORUS, and VELLEIUS PATERCULUS, with notes.]
-
-    VIRGIL. Text. _Ribbeck_, Leipzig, 2d ed., Teubner series.
-
-      Crit. Text. _Ribbeck_, Leipzig, 2d ed., Teubner. 4 vols.
-
-      Annotated editions. _Conington_ and _Nettleship_, London,
-      1865-'71, Bell, 3 vols.; _Greenough_, Boston, 1895, Ginn & Co.
-      [School editions of parts of Virgil's works are numerous.]
-
-      Translation (verse). _Dryden_, in his complete works.
-
-      Æneid. _Conington_, London, 1870, Longmans; _J. D. Long_,
-      Boston, 1879, Lockwood, Brooks & Co.
-
-      Eclogues. _C. S. Calverley_, in his collected works, London,
-      1901, Bell.
-
-      Georgics. _H. W. Preston_, Boston, 1881, Osgood & Co.
-
-    VITRUVIUS. Crit. Text. _Rose_, Leipzig, 1899, Teubner series.
-      Translation. _Gwilt_, London, new ed. 1860, Weale.
-
-    VOLCACIUS SEDIGITUS. Text in _Fragm. Poet. Rom._
-
-    VOPISCUS. Text in _Script. Hist. Aug._
-
-
-
-
-APPENDIX II
-
-CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE
-
-
-[When two dates are given they designate the birth and death of the
-author or authors named in the same line. The dates given opposite the
-names of emperors, which are printed in italics, refer, however, to
-their reigns, not to their lives. When one date is given it designates
-a time when the activity of the author or authors was probably at its
-height. Interrogation points denote uncertainty.]
-
-      B. C.
-  280.                    | Appius Claudius Cæcus (orator).
-  Before 270-about 204.   | Livius Andronicus.
-  About 269-199.          | Gnæus Nævius.
-  About 254-184.          | Titus Maccius Plautus.
-  239-169.                | Quintus Ennius.
-  234-149.                | Marcus Porcius Cato.
-  About 230.              | Quintus Fabius Maximus Cunctator
-                          |   (orator).
-  220-about 130.          | Marcus Pacuvius.
-  216.                    | Quintus Fabius Pictor.
-  211.                    | Fabulæ Atellanæ introduced.
-  210.                    | Lucius Cincius Alimentus.
-  206.                    | Quintus Cæcilius Metellus (orator).
-  Before 200-about 165.   | Statius Cæcilius (comic poet).
-  198.                    | Sextus Ælius (jurist).
-  (?)-196.                | Marcus Cornelius Cethegus (orator).
-  About 192-152.          | Cato's son (jurist).
-  191.                    | Scipio Nasica (jurist).
-  About 190-159.          | Publius Terentius Afer (Terence).
-  185-129.                | Scipio Africanus the younger.
-  183.                    | Quintus Fabius Labeo (jurist).
-  (?)-183.                | Publius Licinius Crassus (orator),
-                          |   Scipio Africanus the elder.
-  About 180.              | Lucius Acilius (jurist).
-  180 (?)-126.            | Gaius Lucilius.
-  (?)-174.                | Publius Ælius (jurist).
-  170-at least 100.       | Lucius Accius.
-  163-133.                | Tiberius Gracchus (orator).
-  About 158-about 75.     | Publius Rutilius Rufus.
-  154-121.                | Gaius Gracchus (orator).
-  About 154-after 100.    | Lucius Ælius Præconinus Stilo.
-  About 152-87.           | Quintus Lutatius Catulus.
-                          |
-  About 150.              | Lucius Afranius, Titinius (comic poets),
-                          |   Publius Cornelius Scipio, Aulus
-                          |   Postumius Albinus, Gaius Acilius.
-  143-87.                 | Marcus Antonius (orator).
-  About 140.              | Lucius Cassius Hemina, Gaius Lælius.
-  140-91.                 | Lucius Licinius Crassus (orator).
-  136.                    | Lucius Furius Philus (orator and jurist).
-  133.                    | Publius Mucius Scævola, Lucius Calpurnius
-                          |   Piso Frugi.
-  131.                    | Publius Licinius Crassus Mucianus (jurist).
-  About 130.              | Gaius Titius.
-  122.                    | Gaius Fannius (orator and historian).
-  119-67.                 | Lucius Cornelius Sisenna.
-  116-27.                 | Marcus Terentius Varro.
-  114-50.                 | Hortensius (orator).
-  109-32.                 | Titus Pomponius Atticus.
-  106-43.                 | Marcus Tullius Cicero.
-  105-43.                 | Decimus Laberius.
-  (?)-103.                | Turpilius (comic poet).
-  102 (?)-44.             | Gaius Julius Cæsar.
-  102-43.                 | Quintus Cicero.
-  Latter part of the      | Gnæus Matius, Lævius Melissus, Hostius,
-    second century.       |   Aulus Furius, Coelius Antipater, Quintus
-                          |   Valerius Soranus.
-  Before 100-after 30.    | Cornelius Nepos.
-  About 99-55 (?).        | Titus Lucretius Carus.
-  (?)-at least 91.        | Sempronius Asellio (historian).
-  95.                     | Quintus Mucius Scævola (jurist).
-  About 90.               | Lucius Pomponius, Novius (writers of
-                          |   _Fabulæ Atellanæ_), Volcacius Sedigitus.
-  (?)-87                  | Gaius Julius Cæsar Strabo (tragedian).
-  87-47.                  | Gaius Licinius Calvus.
-  86-35.                  | Gaius Sallustius Crispus.
-  Early in the first      |
-    century.              | Valerius Antias, Quintus Cornificius.
-  First half of the first | Sueius, Gaius Helvius Cinna, Publius
-    century.              |   Valerius Cato, Gaius Memmius, Ticidas,
-                          |   Aurelius Opilius, Antonius Gnipho,
-                          |   Marcus Pompilius Andronicus, Santra,
-                          |   Servius Sulpicius Rufus.
-  About 84-about 54.      | Gaius Valerius Catullus.
-  (?)-at least 82.        | Quintus Claudius Quadrigarius (historian).
-  82-after 37.            | Varro Atacinus.
-  78 (?)-42.              | Marcus Junius Brutus.
-  (?)-77                  | Titus Quinctius Atta.
-  70-27.                  | Cornelius Gallus.
-  70 (?)-8.               | Gaius Mæcenas.
-  70-19.                  | Publius Vergilius Maro (Virgil).
-  About 70-after 16.      | Vitruvius Pollio.
-  67-5 A. D.              | Gaius Asinius Pollio.
-  65-8.                   | Quintus Horatius Flaccus (Horace).
-  About 64-about 17 A. D. | Gaius Julius Hyginus.
-  64-8 A. D. Marcus       | Valerius Messalla.
-  63-14 A. D.             | Gaius Octavius (Cæsar Octavianus Augustus).
-  63-12 A. D.             | Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa.
-  59-17 A. D.             | Titus Livius (Livy).
-  About 55-about 40 A. D. | Seneca (the father).
-  About 54-about 19.      | Albius Tibullus.
-  About 54-about 4.       | Domitius Marsus.
-  52-19 A. D.             | Decimus Fenestella.
-  About 50.               | Publilius Syrus (writer of mimes).
-  About 50-about 15.      | Sextus Propertius.
-  (?)-47.                 | Marcus Calidius.
-  47-about 30 A. D.       | Decimus Valerius Maximus.
-  (?)-45.                 | Nigidius Figulus.
-  (?)-after 44.           | Gaius Oppius.
-  (?)-43.                 | Aulus Hirtius.
-  (?)-after 43.           | Marcus Tullius Tiro.
-  43-(?).                 | Lygdamus.
-  43-17 A. D.             | Publius Ovidius Naso (Ovid).
-  40-33 A. D.             | Asinius Gallus.
-  About 20.               | Pompeius Trogus.
-  15-19 A. D.             | Claudius Cæsar Germanicus.
-  14-59 A. D.             | Domitius Afer.
-  12.                     | Gaius Valgius Rufus.
-  Second half of the      | Sulpicia, Albinovanus Pedo, Ponticus,
-    first century.        |   Macer, Grattius, Rabirius, Cornelius
-                          |   Severus, Gaius Melissus, the _Priapea_,
-                          |   the _Consolatio ad Liviam_, Titus Labienus,
-                          |   Marcus Porcius Latro, Gaius Albucius
-                          |   Silus, Quintus Haterius, Lucius
-                          |   Junius Gallio, Arellius Fuscus, Lucius
-                          |   Cestius Pius, Marcus Antistius Labeo,
-                          |   Gaius Ateius Capito.
-  First half of the first | Manilius, the _Ætna_, Aufidius Bassus,
-    century.              |   Quintus Remmius Palæmon, Cæpio, Antonius
-                          |   Castor, Julius Atticus, Lucius
-                          |   Gracchinus, Marcus Apicius, Lucius
-                          |   Annæus Cornutus, the Sextii, Gaius
-                          |   Musonius Rufus.
-  About 1.                | Verrius Flaccus.
-  About 1-65.             | Lucius Annæus Seneca (the son).
-  About 3-88.             | Asconius Pedianus.
-  14-37.                  | _Tiberius._
-  About 15-80.            | The father of Statius.
-  16-59.                  | Agrippina.
-  23-79.                  | Gaius Plinius Secundus (Pliny the elder).
-  (?)-25.                 | Cremutius Cordus.
-  25-101.                 | Silius Italicus.
-  (?)-27.                 | Votienus Montanus.
-  30.                     | Velleius Paterculus.
-                          |
-  (?)-31.                 | Publius Vitellius.
-  (?)-32.                 | Cassius Severus.
-  (?)-34                  | Mamercus Scaurus.
-  34-62.                  | Aulus Persius Flaccus (Persius).
-  About 35-about 100.     | Marcus Fabius Quintilianus (Quintilian).
-  About 35.               | Aulus Cornelius Celsus.
-  37-41.                  | _Caligula._
-  39-65.                  | Marcus Annæus Lucanus (Lucan).
-  About 40.               | Phædrus, Columella, Pomponius Mela.
-  About 40-about 95.      | Publius Papinius Statius.
-  About 40-about 104.     | Marcus Valerius Martialis (Martial).
-  41-54.                  | _Claudius._
-  About 45.               | Gaius Cassius Longinus, Proculus.
-  About 50.               | Pomponius Secundus, Quintus Curtius
-                          |   Rufus, Suetonius Paulinus.
-  54-68.                  | _Nero._
-  About 55-about 118.     | Cornelius Tacitus.
-  55 (?)-about 135.       | Decimus Junius Juvenalis (Juvenal).
-  56                      | Marcus Valerius Probus.
-  About 60.               | Titus Calpurnius Siculus.
-  61 or 62-112 or 113.    | Gaius Plinius Cæcilius Secundus (Pliny
-                          |   the younger).
-  (?)-66                  | Petronius Arbiter.
-  (?)-67                  | Gnæus Domitius Corbulo.
-  69-79.                  | _Vespasian._
-  About 70.               | Saleius Bassus, Curiatius Maternus,
-                          |   Sextus Julius Frontinus.
-  About 70 or 75 to about | Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus.
-    150.                  |
-  79-81.                  | _Titus._
-  81-96.                  | _Domitian._
-  (?)-about 90.           | Gaius Valerius Flaccus.
-  96-98.                  | _Nerva._
-  Time of Nerva and       | Hyginus, Balbus, Siculus Flaccus,
-    Trajan.               |   several grammarians, etc.
-  98-117.                 | _Trajan._
-  About 100-175.          | Marcus Cornelius Fronto.
-  About 110-180.          | Gaius.
-  117-138.                | _Hadrian._
-  Time of Hadrian.        | Lucius Annæus (?) Florus, Marcus Junianus
-                          |   Justinus (Justin), Salvius Julianus,
-                          | Quintus Terentius Scaurus.
-  About 125-(?).          | Aulus Gellius.
-  About 125-about 200.    | Apuleius.
-  138-161.                | _Antoninus Pius._
-  Time of Antoninus.      | Granius Licinianus, Lucius Ampelius, Sextus
-                          |   Pomponius.
-  Time of Antoninus and   | Quintus Cervidius Scævola.
-    M. Aurelius.          |
-  About 160.              | Marcus Minucius Felix.
-  About 160-about 230.    | Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus
-                          |   (Tertullian).
-  161-180.                | _Marcus Aurelius._
-  About 165-230.          | Marius Maximus.
-  180-192.                | _Commodus._
-  (?)-212.                | Æmilius Papinianus.
-  Before 200.             | Terentianus Maurus, Juba.
-  193-211.                | _Septimius Severus._
-  Second or third century.| The _Pervigilium Veneris_.
-  About 200.              | Helenius Acro, Pomponius Porphyrio,
-                          |   Quintus Sammonicus Serenus.
-  Early in the third      | Hosidius Geta, Gaius Julius Romanus,
-    century.              |   Julius Paulus.
-  Third century.          | The _Disticha Catonis_, Cornelius Labeo,
-                          |   Quintus Gargilius Martialis, Aquila Romanus,
-                          |   Gaius Julius Solinus.
-  About 200-258.          | St. Cyprian (Thascius Cæcilius Cyprianus).
-  222-235.                | _Alexander Severus._
-  (?)-228.                | Domitius Ulpianus.
-  238.                    | _Gordian I._
-  238.                    | Censorinus.
-  249.                    | Commodianus.
-  About 250.              | Ælius Julius Cordus.
-  260-268.                | _Gallienus._
-  270-275.                | _Aurelian._
-  275.                    | _Tacitus._
-  283.                    | Marcus Aurelius Olympius Nemesianus.
-  284-305.                | _Diocletian._
-  Time of Diocletian.     | Ælius Spartianus, Julius Capitolinus,
-                          |   Vulcacius Gallicanus, Trebellius Pollio.
-  About 290.              | Arnobius.
-  297.                    | Eumenius (panegyrist).
-  Latter part of the      | Vespa, Marius Plotius Sacerdos.
-    third century.        |
-  End of the third        | Ælius Festus Aphthonius.
-    century.              |
-  About 300.              | Lactantius Firmianus, Reposianus,
-                          |   Gregorianus.
-  Early part of the       | Ælius Lampridius, Flavius Vopiscus, Nonius,
-    fourth century.       |   Macrobius, Optatianus, Juvencus.
-  Fourth century.         | Itineraries, Peutinger Tablet.
-  About 310-about 395.    | Ausonius.
-  About 315-367.          | St. Hilary.
-  321.                    | Nazarius (panegyrist).
-  About 330.              | Hermogenianus.
-  330-400.                | Ammianus Marcellinus.
-  331-420.                | St. Jerome.
-  About 340-397.          | St. Ambrose.
-  About 345-405.          | Symmachus.
-  348 to about 410.       | Prudentius.
-  About 350.              | Marius Victorinus, Ælius Donatus,
-                          |   Charisius, Diomedes, Palladius.
-  354 (?).                | Firmicus Maternus.
-  354.                    | The _Notitia_.
-  354-430.                | St. Augustine.
-  About 360.              | Julius Obsequens.
-  360.                    | Aurelius Victor.
-  362.                    | Mamertinus (panegyrist).
-  365.                    | Eutropius.
-  Second half of fourth   | Dictys Cretensis (L. Septimius).
-    century.              |
-  Latter part of the      | Servius.
-    fourth century.       |
-  369.                    | Rufius Festus.
-  370.                    | (Rufius Festus) Avienus.
-  About 370.              | The _Querolus_.
-  389.                    | Drepanius (panegyrist).
-  About 400.              | Claudian (Claudius Claudianus),
-                          |   Martianus Capella, Vegetius, Avianus.
-  Early in the fifth      | Sulpicius Serenus.
-    century.              |
-  Fifth century.          | Dares.
-  416.                    | Namatianus.
-  417.                    | Orosius.
-  438.                    | _Codex Theodosianus._
-  About 450.              | Sedulius.
-  End of the fifth        | Dracontius.
-    century.              |
-  About 500.              | Priscian.
-  529.                    | _Code_ of Justinian.
-  533.                    | _Pandects_ and _Institutes_.
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[1] Even if this work and some treatises on grammar should be ascribed
-to a later Ennius, which is not proved, the works of the great poet
-were sufficiently various.
-
-[2] Ancient customs and men cause the Roman republic to prosper.
-
-[3] Whom no one with the sword could overcome nor by bribing.
-
-[4] This line occurs in a context which is worth translating. "I do
-not ask gold for myself, and do not you offer me a ransom: not waging
-the war like hucksters, but like soldiers, with the sword, not with
-gold, let us strive for our lives. Let us try by our valor whether our
-mistress Fortune wishes you or me to rule."
-
-[5] Aulus Gellius, xii, 4.
-
-[6] Quoted by Cicero, _De Deor. Nat._ II, 35, 89.
-
-[7] _Rudens_, 160-173.
-
-[8] _Persa_, 204-224.
-
-[9] _Phormio_, 784 ff. Translated by M. H. Morgan.
-
-[10] Quoted by Pliny, _N. H._ xxix, 7, 14.
-
-[11] _De Re Rustica_, i.
-
-[12] A brief description of some of the feet and metres most frequently
-used by Roman poets may be useful. These were, with the exception of
-the Saturnian verse (see p. 7), borrowed, with certain modifications,
-from the Greek. The most usual feet are the iambus ([)]--), the trochee
-(--[)]), the spondee (----), the dactyl (--[)][)]), the anapæst
-([)][)]--), and the choriambus (--[)][)]--). The dactylic hexameter
-consists of six feet, each of which is either a dactyl or a spondee,
-though the sixth is always a spondee and the fifth almost always a
-dactyl. An illustration of this is the line from Lucilius,
-
-      _Maior erat natu; non omnia possumus omnes_,
-
-the rhythm of which is retained in this translation:
-
-      He was the elder by birth; not all of us all things can compass.
-
-The iambic _senarius_ consists of six iambics, as
-
-      _Hominem inter vivos quaéritamus mórtuom._
-
-                               (Plautus, _Menæchmi_, 240.)
-
-      Among the living we do seek a man who's dead.
-
-This is a common metre in the dialogue parts of dramas. It is one
-foot longer than the line in English blank verse. The trochaic
-_septenarius_, also a common metre in the drama, consists of seven
-trochees and an additional long syllable. The English line,
-
-    Do not lift him from the bracken; leave him lying where he fell
-
-gives an idea of the rhythm.
-
-The elegiac distich consists of an hexameter followed by a so-called
-pentameter, that is, a line made up of six dactyls or spondees, with
-the omission of the last half of the third and of the sixth feet. This
-is illustrated and described by Coleridge in the lines,
-
-    In the hexameter rises the fountain's silvery column.
-    In the pentameter aye falling in melody back.
-
-In the iambic and trochaic metres other feet are often substituted for
-the iambus and the trochee, but without change of rhythm.
-
-Some of the other metres will be explained or illustrated as they occur.
-
-[13] iv, Frg. 8, Müller.
-
-[14] v, Frg. 33, Müller.
-
-[15] vi, Frg. 16, Müller.
-
-[16] libr. incert., Frg. 1, Müller.
-
-[17] Lucius Ælius Præconinus Stilo, of Lanuvium, Stoic philosopher,
-philologist and rhetorician, was the first to give regular lessons in
-Latin literature and eloquence and to apply the historical method to
-the study of the Latin language. He was born not far from 154 B. C.,
-and lived well into the first century B. C. His contemporary, Quintus
-Valerius Soranus (from Sora), also wrote on Latin literature, the study
-of which was, in his case, joined with that of Roman antiquities.
-Volcacius Sedigitus, of whose personality nothing is known, wrote a
-didactic poem on the history of Latin literature about 90 B. C. Besides
-these, numerous works on grammar, philology, antiquities, agriculture,
-and other subjects were written by various authors, whose names are in
-many cases lost, but whose works served as quarries from which Varro
-and other writers derived their treasures of learning.
-
-Many prominent Romans played some part in the progress of literature.
-So Publius Rutilius Rufus (born about 158 B. C., consul in 105, died
-about 75) studied the Stoic philosophy, published speeches, juristic
-writings, and an autobiography in Latin, and wrote a history in Greek,
-while Quintus Lutatius Catulus (born about 152 B. C., consul in 102,
-died in 87) published orations and epigrams. Among the letters written
-and published in this period none were more admired than those of
-Cornelia, mother of the Gracchi.
-
-[18] Jerome, in Eusebius' Chronicle, year 1922 of Abraham, i. e., 95 B.
-C.
-
-[19] _Vita Vergilii_, 2.
-
-[20] _Ad Quintum Fratrem_, II, xi, 4.
-
-[21] Book i, 921-947.
-
-[22] iii, 830 f.
-
-[23] Book ii, 172.
-
-[24] ii, 14 ff.
-
-[25] v, 18.
-
-[26] Book i, 271-294.
-
-[27] ii, 323-332 and ii, 40-43.
-
-[28] i, 716-725.
-
-[29] ii, 573-579.
-
-[30] ii, 29-33.
-
-[31] i, 1-9, translation by Goldwin Smith.
-
-[32] Book ii, 1-13, translated by C. S. Calverley.
-
-[33] _c._ cxiii, l. 2.
-
-[34] _cc._ xi and xxix.
-
-[35] Translated by Theodore Martin.
-
-[36] _c._ v.
-
-[37] c. iii. Translated by Goldwin Smith in _Bay-Leaves_.
-
-[38] _c._ xxxi, Translated by C. S. Calverley.
-
-[39] _De Oratore_, i, 15, 64.
-
-[40] _Ibid._, i, 8, 34.
-
-[41] _Pro Ligario_, 1.
-
-[42] _Pro Lege Manilia_, 5, 11.
-
-[43] _Pro Archia Poeta_, 7, 16.
-
-[44] _In Verrem_, ii, v, 52.
-
-[45] _De Divinatione_, ii, 1.
-
-[46] _Ep. ad Atticum_, iii, 5, Shuckburgh's translation.
-
-[47] _Ep. ad Familiares_, ix, 1, Shuckburgh's translation.
-
-[48] _Ep. ad Atticum_, ix, 18.
-
-[49] Hirtius, _De Bello Gallico_, viii, 1.
-
-[50] _Catiline_, 1.
-
-[51] _Ibid._, 31.
-
-[52] _Ecl._ i, 1-10. The selections from the _Eclogues_ are given in
-the translation by C. S. Calverley.
-
-[53] _Ibid._, 42-45.
-
-[54] _Ecl._ iv, 1-17.
-
-[55] _Ecl._ v, 1-18.
-
-[56] _Georgics_, i, 461-483.
-
-[57] _Georgics_, ii, 136 ff.
-
-[58] _Ibid._, ii, 458-460.
-
-[59] _Ibid._, iii, 9-18.
-
-[60] _Ibid._, iv, 149 ff.
-
-[61] _Æneid_, i, 142-156. The selections from the _Æneid_ are given in
-Conington's translation.
-
-[62] _Æneid_, iv, 607-629.
-
-[63] _Ibid._, vi, 868-686.
-
-[64] _Æneid_, ix, 446-449.
-
-[65] _Epist._ II, ii, 51.
-
-[66] _Sat._ I. v.
-
-[67] _Sat._ I, iv, 103-120, freely translated by Conington.
-
-[68] _Sat._ I, x, 40-49, freely translated by Conington.
-
-[69] _Epode_ ii, 1-4.
-
-[70] _Epist._ I, xix, 23.
-
-[71] _Od._ I, xxxviii, translated by Sir Theodore Martin.
-
-[72] _Od._ I, ix, Calverley's version.
-
-[73] I, iii, 1-9, 53-56, translated by James Grainger.
-
-[74] I, xii. Elton's translation.
-
-[75] _Ex Ponto_, IV, xvi.
-
-[76] Book i, 499-507. The same subject is continued through line 530.
-
-[77] Book v, 540-615.
-
-[78] _Tristia_, IV, x, 69.
-
-[79] _Tristia_, II, 107 ff.
-
-[80] Ovid, _Amores_ II, xviii, 27 ff.
-
-[81] Lines 177 ff.
-
-[82] _Tristia_, I, vii, 13 ff.
-
-[83] _Argonautica_, III, 750 ff. Virgil, _Æneid_, IV, 522 ff., imitates
-Apollonius more closely.
-
-[84] Especially _Tristia_, IV, x.
-
-[85] _Ibid._, I, iii, 1-4.
-
-[86] _Ibid._, I, vi, III, iii, IV, iii, V, ii, 1-44, xi, xiv, _Ex
-Ponto_, I, iv, III, i.
-
-[87] _Tristia_, III, vii.
-
-[88] xxxvii, 39 ff.
-
-[89] xxi, 10.
-
-[90] This is the generally accepted date, but it is possible that
-Vitruvius may have lived somewhat later.
-
-[91] Hercules Furens, Troades (or Hecuba), Phoenissæ (or Thebaïs, two
-disconnected scenes from Theban myths), Medea, Phædra (or Hippolytus),
-OEdipus, Agamemnon, Thyestes, and Hercules OEtæus. The _Fabula Prætexta_
-entitled Octavia is not by Seneca.
-
-[92] Lines 893-944. Translated by Ella Isabel Harris.
-
-[93] This Lucilius has been supposed, though without sufficient reason,
-to be the author of the _Ætna_ (see p. 141).
-
-[94] _Pharsalia_, ix, 256-283.
-
-[95]
-
-    _Verum hæc ipse equidem spatiis exclusus iniquis
-    Prætereo atque aliis post me memoranda relinquo._
-
-                        Virgil, _Georgics_, iv, 147 f.
-
-[96] _Thebais_, xi, 580-585.
-
-[97] Pliny, _Ep._ III, xxi.
-
-[98] I, xiii. These selections are translated by Goldwin Smith in _Bay
-Leaves_.
-
-[99] III, xxxv.
-
-[100] III, xli.
-
-[101] IV, viii.
-
-[102] _Inst. Orat._, vi, 3, 5.
-
-[103] _Ibid._, vi, 3, 5.
-
-[104] _Ibid._, vii, 7, 2
-
-[105] The _prænomen_ is uncertain. The best manuscript (Mediceus I)
-gives it as Publius, later manuscripts and Sidonius Apollinaris as
-Gaius.
-
-[106] _Agricola_, 2.
-
-[107] _Annals_, i, 58.
-
-[108] _Ann._, ii, 77.
-
-[109] _Ann._, iii, 6.
-
-[110] _Ann._, iii, 27.
-
-[111] _Hist._, ii, 95.
-
-[112] _Hist._, iv, 74.
-
-[113] _Agric._, 9.
-
-[114] _Sat._ i, 30.
-
-[115] _Sat._ i, 79.
-
-[116] _Sat._ i, 85 f.
-
-[117] _Sat._ iii, 41 ff.
-
-[118] _Sat._ x, 356.
-
-[119] _Sat._ vi, 165.
-
-[120] _Sat._ x, 81.
-
-[121] _Sat._ vi, 223.
-
-[122] _Sat._ vi, 347.
-
-[123] _Sat._ viii, 84.
-
-[124] _Sat._ xiv, 47.
-
-[125] _Ep._, II, xvii.
-
-[126] _Ibid._, V, vi.
-
-[127] _Ibid._, VI, xvi, xx.
-
-[128] _Ibid._, VII, xxxiii.
-
-[129] _Ep._, VII, xx.
-
-[130]
-
-    To-morrow he shall love who ne'er has loved, and he who has loved
-      to-morrow shall love.
-
-[131]
-
-    It is new spring; spring already harmonious; in spring Jove was born.
-    In the spring loves join together; in the spring the birds wed.
-
-[132]
-
-    She (the swallow) is singing, we are silent. When will my spring
-      come?
-    When shall I become like the swallow and cease to be silent?
-    I have lost the Muse by keeping silent, and Apollo cares not for me.
-
-[133] The poem is the last of the _Instructiones_. The title reads:
-_Nomen Gasei_ and the initial letters of the lines read from the last
-to the first from the words: _Commodianus mendicus Christi_. From this
-it is inferred that Commodian was _Gasæus_, i. e., from Gaza.
-
-[134] The chief Latin writer on philosophy was Firmicus Maternus, whose
-eight books, _Matheseos_ (_Of Learning_), published about 354 A. D.,
-are occupied with Neoplatonic astrology. He is to be distinguished from
-his Christian contemporary and namesake, who wrote of the _Error of the
-Pagan Religions_. Gaius Marius Victorinus, who also lived about the
-middle of the century, was an African by birth, but taught rhetoric at
-Rome. He was the author of philosophical works, chiefly translations
-and adaptations from the Greek, but is best known by his extant work on
-metres in four books, and by some other extant grammatical treatises.
-In his later life he became a Christian, and wrote commentaries on St.
-Paul's epistles, besides some controversial tracts.
-
-[135] These grammatical works have little literary value of their own,
-and owe their importance to the fact that they contain information
-which is not elsewhere preserved. The same is true of several
-handbooks of various kinds compiled in the fourth century. Such are
-the _Itineraries_, giving the distances and routes between the towns
-along the Roman roads, the _Notitia_, describing the regions of the
-city of Rome, and a historical handbook of Rome for the year 354 A.
-D. preserved most fully in a manuscript in Vienna. A few maps of this
-period also exist, the most famous of which is the _Peutinger Tablet_
-(_Tabula Peutingeriana_), now in Vienna. A handbook of _Agriculture_
-(_De Re Rustica_) by Palladius, and the _Epitome of Military Science_
-(_Epitoma Rei Militaris_) by Flavius Vegetius Renatus, who also wrote
-an extant treatise on _Veterinary Medicine_ (_Mulomedicina_), may
-properly be mentioned here, and these works possess also some slight
-literary interest.
-
-[136] In 369 A. D. Festus wrote a handbook similar to that of
-Eutropius, but of less merit. The list of prodigies that took place
-from 249 to 12 B. C., compiled by Julius Obsequens from an abridgment
-of Livy, probably belongs to about the same time. Since a large part of
-Livy's history is lost, such works as these are of some value.
-
-[137] _De Bello Gildonico_, i, 21-25.
-
-[138] _De Reditu Suo_, i, 55-66. Translated by A. J. Church.
-
-
-
-
-INDEX
-
-     [This index contains the names of all Latin authors mentioned
-     in this book, and in addition the names of some historical
-     personages. Reference is also made to a number of special topics.
-     When several references are given, the chief reference to any
-     author stands first. The titles of works are in Italics.]
-
-
-  Accius (Lucius), 12; 13; 32; 43; 53; 236.
-
-  Acilius (Gaius), 33;
-    (Lucius), 37.
-
-  Acro (Helvius), grammarian, 234.
-
-  Ælius Aristides, Greek sophist, 240.
-
-  Ælius Julius Cordus, 255.
-
-  Ælius (P.), jurist, 37;
-    (Sextus), jurist, 37.
-
-  Æsop, 172; 276.
-
-  Æsopus, actor, 66.
-
-  _Ætna_, ascribed to Virgil, 141; 181; 188.
-
-  Afranius, comic poet, 29; 43.
-
-  African school of literature, 248; 257.
-
-  Agrippa (M. Vipsanius), 99.
-
-  Agrippina, 191; 177; 178.
-
-  Albinovanus Pedo, 137.
-
-  Albucius Silus (C.), 165.
-
-  Alcæus, 114; 121.
-
-  Alexander Severus, emperor, 229.
-
-  Alexandrian literature, 48; 57; 58; 60; 62; 64; 121; 129; 136; 274; 281.
-
-  Ambrose (St.), 266 f.; 258; 268.
-
-  Ammianus Marcellinus, 263 f.
-
-  Ampelius (L.), 232.
-
-  Anacreon, 114; 121.
-
-  Anastasius, emperor, 261.
-
-  Anaxagoras, Greek philosopher, 51.
-
-  Andronicus (L. Livius), 5; 6; 12; 14; 17; 18; 32; 33; 115; 273; 281.
-
-  Andronicus (M. Pompilius). See Pompilius.
-
-  Antimachus, 199.
-
-  Antiochus, Academic philosopher, 66.
-
-  Antonines, 227; 235.
-
-  Antoninus Pius, emperor, 227; 232; 233; 235.
-
-  Antonius Castor, 176.
-
-  Antonius (M.), orator, 45; 66; 70.
-
-  Antonius (M.), triumvir, 68; 71; 82; 93; 99; 131.
-
-  Aphthonius (Ælius Festus), 256.
-
-  Apollodorus, Greek comic poet, 25; 26;
-    Greek rhetorician, 135.
-
-  Apollonius of Rhodes, 63; 107; 152; 196.
-
-  Appius Claudius Cæcus, 5.
-
-  Apuleius, 237-240; 241; 243; 246; 248.
-
-  Aquila Romanus, 256.
-
-  Aquilius, comic poet, 23.
-
-  Aratus, Greek poet on astronomy, 70; 173; 270.
-
-  Archias, poet, 66; 70; 75.
-
-  Archilochus, Greek poet, 119; 120.
-
-  Arellius Fuscus, 143; 165.
-
-  Aristotle, 279; 280.
-
-  Arnobius, 250.
-
-  Arria, wife of Pætus, 184; 203.
-
-  Arulenus Rusticus, Stoic, 213.
-
-  Asconius Pedianus (Q.), 192.
-
-  Asellio (Sempronius), 39; 43.
-
-  Atellan plays, 30.
-
-  Atilius, comic poet, 23.
-
-  Atta, 29; 138.
-
-  Attalus, Stoic, 177.
-
-  Atticus (Julius), 176.
-
-  Atticus (T. Pomponius), 94 f.; 79; 80; 91; 92.
-
-  Augustine (St.), 268 f.; 78; 248; 252; 258.
-
-  Augustus, 98; 14; 97; 99; 100; 101; 102; 103; 104; 105; 106; 107; 111;
-    116; 125; 126; 127; 129; 131; 135; 138; 142; 144; 147; 148; 149; 153;
-    154; 155; 157; 163; 165; 168; 169; 170; 171; 172; 173; 174; 176; 177;
-    183; 216; 231; 261; 282.
-
-  Aurelian, emperor, 229.
-
-  Aurelius Victor, 261.
-
-  Ausonius, 270-272; 258; 273.
-
-  Avianus, 276.
-
-  Avienus, 270.
-
-
-  Bacchylides, Greek poet, 121.
-
-  Balbus, writer on geometry, 225.
-
-  Bassus (Aufidius), historian, 176; 205.
-
-  Bassus, poet, 138; 143.
-
-  Bassus (Cæsius), poet, 184.
-
-  Bassus (Saleius), poet, 201.
-
-  Boëthius, 278-280; 258; 281.
-
-  Brutus (M. Junius), 95; 116; 176; 186.
-
-  Burrus (Afranius), 178.
-
-
-  Cæcilius (Q. ---- Metellus), 36.
-
-  Cæcilius (Statius), 23; 18.
-
-  Cæsar (C. Julius), 83-87; 47; 56; 57; 67; 68; 71; 73; 81; 82; 88; 89;
-    93; 95; 96; 97; 99; 105; 111; 116; 128; 153; 157; 160; 163; 165;
-    168; 174; 186; 215; 281; 283.
-
-  Cæsars, Twelve, _lives_ by Suetonius, 230.
-
-  Calidius (M.), 95.
-
-  Caligula, 170; 166; 172; 173; 176; 177; 216.
-
-  Callimachus, Alexandrian poet, 59; 135; 136; 149.
-
-  Calpurnius Piso Frugi (L.), 37; 39.
-
-  Calpurnius Siculus (T.), 187 f.; 254.
-
-  Calvus (Gaius Licinius), 62; 95.
-
-  Cantica, 16.
-
-  Capella (Martianus), 260.
-
-  Capito (C. Ateius), 167; 192.
-
-  Capitolinus (Julius), 255.
-
-  Caracalla, emperor, 233; 247.
-
-  Carlyle, compared with Tacitus, 217.
-
-  Carneades, Academic philosopher, 49.
-
-  Cassius Longinus (C.), jurist, 192.
-
-  Cassius Severus, 165.
-
-  Castor (Antonius), 176.
-
-  Catiline, 47; 67; 89; 90.
-
-  Cato (M. Porcius), 34-36; 8; 45; 90; 92; 192; 207; 236;
-    his son, 37.
-
-  Cato (P. Valerius), 63 f.
-
-  Cato (Uticensis), 186.
-
-  _Catonis disticha_, 254 f.
-
-  Catullus, 56-62; 46; 48; 91; 96; 120; 121; 122; 128; 129; 141; 145;
-    168; 202; 281.
-
-  Catulus (Q. Lutatius), 44.
-
-  Celsus (A. Cornelius), 175; 173.
-
-  Censorinus, 256.
-
-  Cestius Pius (L.), 165.
-
-  Cethegus (M. Cornelius), 36.
-
-  Charisius, grammarian, 261; 176.
-
-  Christian literature, 227; 243; 244-252; 258; 265-269; 270; 272 f.; 276.
-
-  Cicero (M. Tullius), 65-82; 12; 30; 36; 45; 46; 47; 48; 64; 83; 85; 86;
-    89; 91; 92; 95; 96; 138; 156; 159; 160; 164; 166; 168; 170; 171; 183;
-    192; 209; 210; 212; 213; 215; 219; 224; 230; 237; 240; 246; 248; 252;
-    257; 260; 267; 269; 270; 280; 281.
-
-  Cicero (Q.), 95 f.; 64; 79.
-
-  Cincius Alimentus, 33.
-
-  Cinna (C. Helvius), 62; 167.
-
-  _Ciris_, ascribed to Virgil, 141.
-
-  Claudian, 273-275; 258; 276.
-
-  Claudius, emperor, 171; 173; 178; 179; 183; 191; 216.
-
-  Clitomachus, philosopher, 66.
-
-  _Code_ of Justinian, 264.
-
-  Coelius Antipater, 43.
-
-  Columella, 191 f.
-
-  Comedy, 17-31; 6; 7; 8; 14; 15; 16; 32;
-    its plots and characters, 19.
-
-  Commodianus, Christian poet, 249 f.
-
-  Commodus, emperor, 228, 233.
-
-  Constantine, emperor, 251; 257; 258; 264; 270; 271.
-
-  Constantinople, 226; 261; 278.
-
-  Constantius, emperor, 261; 266.
-
-  _Copa_, ascribed to Virgil, 191.
-
-  Corbulo (Gnæus Domitius), 191.
-
-  Cordus. See Ælius Julius.
-
-  Corinna, addressed in Ovid's poems, 145.
-
-  Cornelia, mother of the Gracchi, 44; 92.
-
-  Cornelius Nepos. See Nepos.
-
-  Cornificius, 45; 64; 95.
-
-  Cornutus (L. Annæus), 177; 184; 185.
-
-  Costumes, theatrical, 15.
-
-  Crassus (L.), 66; 70; 72.
-
-  Crassus (P. Licinius), 36.
-
-  Cremutius Cordus, historian, 176.
-
-  Critolaus, Peripatetic philosopher, 49.
-
-  _Culex_, ascribed to Virgil, 140; 141.
-
-  Curtius Rufus (Q.), 191.
-
-  Cynthia, beloved of Propertius, 135; 136; 145.
-
-  Cyprian (St.), 248 f.
-
-
-  Dante, 111; 112; 113.
-
-  Dares, 265.
-
-  Decius, emperor, persecuted Christians, 249.
-
-  Delia, beloved of Tibullus, 132; 134; 145.
-
-  Demetrius, teacher of oratory, 66.
-
-  Democritus, Greek philosopher, 51; 52; 55.
-
-  Demosthenes, 71; 77; 159; 209.
-
-  Dictys, 265.
-
-  Didius Julianus, emperor, 228.
-
-  _Digests_, 264.
-
-  Dio Cassius, 255.
-
-  Dio Chrysostom, 234; 240.
-
-  Diocletian, emperor, 250; 251; 252; 255; 256; 264.
-
-  Diodotus, Stoic philosopher, 66.
-
-  Diogenes, Stoic philosopher, 49.
-
-  Diomedes, grammarian, 261; 241.
-
-  Dionysius, Greek writer, 270.
-
-  Diphilus, Greek comic poet, 17; 26.
-
-  _Diræ_, poem ascribed to Virgil, 63 f.; 141.
-
-  _Disticha Catonis_, 254 f.
-
-  Diverbia, 16.
-
-  Domitian, emperor, 195; 198; 199; 201; 207; 211; 212; 213; 214; 216;
-    219; 225.
-
-  Domitius Afer, orator, 176.
-
-  Domitius Marsus, 137.
-
-  Domitius Ulpianus, 255.
-
-  Donatus, 260; 48; 267.
-
-  Dracontius, late poet, 276.
-
-  Drepanius, panegyrist, 257.
-
-
-  Elegy, 128-137.
-
-  Elocutio novella, 240; 241.
-
-  Emerson (R. W.), 183.
-
-  Empedocles, Greek philosopher, 51; 52; 53.
-
-  Emperors, their influence upon literature, 170 f.; 194 f.; 227-229.
-
-  Ennius (Quintus), 8-10; 11; 12; 18; 33; 40; 48; 53; 107; 236.
-
-  Ephorus, Greek historian, 37.
-
-  Epictetus, ethical preacher, 177.
-
-  Epicurean doctrines, 49-55; 78; 182.
-
-  Epicurus, 49; 50; 51; 52; 54; 55.
-
-  Eumenius, panegyrist, 257.
-
-  Euphorion, 131.
-
-  Euripides, 107; 121; 179; 180.
-
-  Eusebius, 48; 262; 268.
-
-  Eutropius, 262.
-
-
-  Fabianus (Papirius), 177.
-
-  Fabius (Q. ---- Labeo), 37.
-
-  Fabius Pictor, 33; 37; 158.
-
-  Fabius Maximus Cunctator, 36.
-
-  Fabulæ Atellanæ, 30.
-
-  Fabulæ palliatæ, 18; 29.
-
-  Fabulæ prætextæ, 7; 9; 12; 13; 179; 184; 188.
-
-  Fabulæ togatæ, 18; 29; 138.
-
-  Fabulæ trabeatæ, 138.
-
-  Fannius (G.), 39; 43.
-
-  Fenestella, historian, 164.
-
-  Fescennine verses, 29.
-
-  Firmicus Maternus, 260.
-
-  Festus, wrote a handbook of history, 262.
-
-  Festus (Pompeius), 166; 167; 234.
-
-  Flavius, grammarian, 251.
-
-  Florus, 231.
-
-  Frontinus (Sextus Julius), 206.
-
-  Fronto, 235 f.; 228; 237; 238; 240; 241; 243; 246.
-
-  Fundanus, 118.
-
-  Furius. See Philus.
-
-  Furius Antias, 43.
-
-  Furius Bibaculus, 64; 63.
-
-
-  Gaius, jurist, 233.
-
-  Galba, emperor, 194; 206; 215; 216.
-
-  Galerius, 252.
-
-  Gallic oratory, 256 f.; 264 f.
-
-  Gallicanus (Vulcacius), 255.
-
-  Gallienus, emperor, 229.
-
-  Gallio (L. Junius), 165.
-
-  Gallus (Cornelius), 131; 100; 101; 107; 129.
-
-  Gallus (C. Asinius), 103; 171; 176.
-
-  Gargilius Martialis (Q.), 256.
-
-  Gellius (Aulus), 236 f.; 7; 259; 260.
-
-  Germanicus, 173; 176; 178; 270.
-
-  Geta (Hosidius), 254.
-
-  Gnipho (M. Antonius), 66; 96.
-
-  Gordian I, emperor, 229.
-
-  Gracchi, 36; 43; 44; 45.
-
-  Gracchinus (Julius), 176.
-
-  Gracchus (Gaius), 45; 43; 236.
-
-  Gracchus (Tiberius), 45; 43.
-
-  Grammar, 93; 96; 166; 176; 225; 233 f.; 256; 260 f.
-
-  Granius Licinianus, 232.
-
-  Gratian, emperor, 265; 271.
-
-  Grattius, 137.
-
-  Greek influence in Roman literature, 1; 4; 5; 17; 21; 27; 32; 37; 48;
-      128 f.; 179; 180; 226; 283;
-    in Roman manners, 33; 128 f.
-
-  Gregorianus, 264.
-
-
-  Hadrian, emperor, 219; 225; 227; 229; 231; 232; 233; 235; 241; 255.
-
-  Haterius (Q.), 165.
-
-  Heliogabalus, emperor, 255.
-
-  Hemina (L. Cassius), 37; 39.
-
-  Heraclitus, Greek philosopher, 51.
-
-  Herennius Priscus, Stoic, 213.
-
-  Herennius, treatise addressed to, 45; 69.
-
-  Hermogenianus, jurist, 264.
-
-  Herodian, 255.
-
-  Herodotus, 219.
-
-  Herondas, Greek poet, 62.
-
-  Hesiod, 107.
-
-  Hieronymus. See Jerome.
-
-  Hilary (St.), 265 f.; 258.
-
-  Hirtius (A.), 87 f.
-
-  _Historia Augusta_, 255.
-
-  History, 33; 43; 88; 163 f.; 173; 176; 191; 232; 255; 261 ff.
-
-  Homer, 6; 62; 107; 108; 109; 114; 118; 149; 171; 187; 197; 219.
-
-  Honorius, emperor, 273.
-
-  Horace, 114-127; 12; 41; 64; 96; 98; 99; 100; 139; 168; 185; 186; 188;
-    193; 219; 231; 233; 234; 282.
-
-  Hortensius Hortalus, 95; 59; 69; 77.
-
-  Hosidius Geta, 254.
-
-  Hostius, 43.
-
-  Hyginus (C. Julius), 167.
-
-  Hyginus, writer on surveying, 225.
-
-
-  _Institutes_ of Justinian, 264.
-
-  Itineraries, 261.
-
-
-  Jerome (St.), 267 f.; 48; 49; 56; 193; 231; 250; 251; 252; 258; 261;
-    262.
-
-  Johnson, Samuel, 221.
-
-  Josephus, Greek historian, 217; 267.
-
-  Juba, grammarian, 234.
-
-  Julian, emperor, 257; 261; 263.
-
-  Julianus (Salvius), jurist, 233.
-
-  Julius Obsequens, 262.
-
-  Julius Paulus, jurist, 255.
-
-  Jurists, 37; 44; 96; 167; 192; 225; 233; 255; 264.
-
-  Justin (M. Junianus Justinus), 164; 232.
-
-  Justin, emperor, 279.
-
-  Justinian, emperor, 233; 264; 283.
-
-  Juvenal, 218-222; 202; 211; 225; 283.
-
-  Juvencus, 270.
-
-
-  Labeo, see Fabius.
-
-  Labeo (M. Antistius), 167; 192.
-
-  Labeo (Cornelius), 255.
-
-  Laberius (Decimus), 30 f.; 62.
-
-  Labienus (T.), 165.
-
-  Lactantius, 251 f.
-
-  Lælius (C.), 39; 24; 38.
-
-  Lampridius (Ælius), 255.
-
-  Lævius, 62.
-
-  Latin language, 2;
-    changes in, 237.
-
-  Latro (M. Porcius), 165.
-
-  Lesbia, 57; 60; 61; 145.
-
-  Licinianus (Granius), 232.
-
-  Licinius Imbrex, comic poet, 23.
-
-  Licinius (L.), orator, 45.
-
-  Livius Andronicus. See Andronicus.
-
-  Livy (T. Livius), 156-163; 166; 168; 171; 186; 191; 197; 216; 231; 232;
-    262; 270.
-
-  Lucan (M. Annæus Lucanus), 185-187; 165; 184; 190; 201; 231.
-
-  Lucian, Greek writer, 240.
-
-  Lucilius (Gaius), 39-42; 43; 45; 115; 117; 118; 121; 219.
-
-  Lucilius, Seneca's writings addressed to, 181.
-
-  Lucretius (T.), 47-55; 46; 96; 138; 139; 168; 193.
-
-  Luscius Lanuvinus, comic poet, 23.
-
-  Lycophron, Alexandrian poet, 63.
-
-  Lygdamus, poet, 132 f.
-
-
-  Macer (Gaius Licinius), 44; 158.
-
-  Macer, epic poet, 138; 143; 155.
-
-  Macrobius, 260.
-
-  Mæcenas (Gaius), 99; 100; 101; 104; 116; 118; 119; 121; 124; 135; 137.
-
-  Mamertinus, panegyrist, 257.
-
-  Manilius, 138 f.; 156; 173.
-
-  Marcus Aurelius, emperor, 227 f.; 233; 234; 235; 236; 237.
-
-  Marius (Gaius), 43; 83; 91; 158.
-
-  Marius Maximus, 255.
-
-  Marius Victorinus, 256.
-
-  Martial, 201-203; 140; 141; 158; 211; 219.
-
-  Martialis (Q. Gargilius), 256.
-
-  Martianus Capella, 260.
-
-  Masks, theatrical, 15.
-
-  Maternus (Curiatius), 201;
-    (Firmicus), 260.
-
-  Matius (Gnæus), 43; 62.
-
-  Maximus of Tyre, 240.
-
-  Mela (Pomponius), 192; 191.
-
-  Melissus (Lævius), 43.
-
-  Memmius (Gaius), 64; 49; 57.
-
-  Menander, Greek comic poet, 17; 25; 26.
-
-  Menippean satires, 93; 183; 189.
-
-  Menippus, Greek Cynic, 93.
-
-  Messalla (M. Valerius), 99; 131; 132; 133; 134; 141; 155.
-
-  Metres, 40 f.; 6; 7; 28; 121; 122; 124; 129; 136; 140; 144; 153.
-
-  Middle Ages, 112; 243; 272; 281.
-
-  Milton, 155; 280.
-
-  Mimes, 30 f.
-
-  Mimnermus, Greek poet, 129.
-
-  Minucius Felix, 245 f.; 248; 252.
-
-  Molo, Cicero's teacher, 66.
-
-  Montanus, 247.
-
-  Montanus. See Votienus.
-
-  _Monumentum Ancyranum_, 98.
-
-  _Moretum_, ascribed to Virgil, 141.
-
-  Morris (William), the _Earthly Paradise_, 239.
-
-  Mucianus (P. Licinius Crassus), 44.
-
-  Musonius Rufus (C.), 177; 270.
-
-
-  Nævius (Gnæus), 6; 7; 8; 9; 18; 53; 107.
-
-  Namatianus (Rutilius Claudius), 275.
-
-  Nazarius, panegyrist, 257.
-
-  Nemesianus, 254; 188.
-
-  Nepos (Cornelius), 91 f.; 64; 94; 265.
-
-  Nero, emperor, 171; 176; 177; 178; 179; 185; 186; 188; 191; 194; 195;
-    197; 216; 252.
-
-  Nerva, emperor, 211; 216; 255; 263.
-
-  Nigidius Figulus (P.), 96.
-
-  Nonius, 259; 260.
-
-  Nonnus, Greek poet, 274.
-
-  _Notitia_, 261.
-
-  Novius, 30.
-
-  Numerianus, emperor, 255.
-
-
-  Obsequens (Julius), 262.
-
-  Opilius (Aurelius), 96.
-
-  Oppius (Gaius), 88.
-
-  Optatianus, 269 f.
-
-  Orators, 5; 34; 45; 95; 164 f.; 175 f.; 225; 256 f.; 264.
-
-  Orosius, 263.
-
-  Otho, emperor, 194; 216.
-
-  Ovid, 143-155; 14; 64; 130; 132; 134; 135; 136; 137; 138; 140; 142;
-      156; 168; 173; 186; 188; 197; 202;
-    poems ascribed to, 142.
-
-
-  Pacuvius, 11; 12; 18; 53.
-
-  Pætus Thrasea, 184; 203.
-
-  Palladius, 261.
-
-  Panætius, Stoic philosopher, 39; 49.
-
-  _Pandects_, 264.
-
-  Panegyrists, 257.
-
-  Papinianus, jurist, 233.
-
-  Papirius Fabianus, 177.
-
-  Parthenius, 129.
-
-  Paul (St.), alleged correspondence with Seneca, 183.
-
-  Paulus (Julius), 255.
-
-  Pentadius, 254.
-
-  Perilla, Ovid's daughter, 154.
-
-  Periods of Roman literature, 3; 281 ff.
-
-  Persius (A. ---- Flaccus), 183-185; 177; 193; 219; 234.
-
-  Pertinax, emperor, 228.
-
-  _Pervigilium Veneris_, 241-243; 272.
-
-  Petronius (C. ---- Arbiter), 188-191.
-
-  _Peutinger Tablet_, 261.
-
-  Phædrus, Epicurean, 66.
-
-  Phædrus, poet of fables, 172 f.
-
-  Philemon, Greek comic poet, 17.
-
-  Philo, Jewish-Greek philosopher, 66; 267.
-
-  Philosophy, 49; 78; 176 f.; 181 f.; 260.
-
-  Philus (L. Furius), 39.
-
-  Piso (L. Calpurnius ---- Frugi), 37; 39.
-
-  Piso (Calpurnius), conspired against Nero, 172; 178; 185; 186; 188.
-
-  Plato, 219; 239.
-
-  Plautus, 18-23; 27; 28; 29; 233; 236; 270.
-
-  Pliny the elder, 204-206; 195; 215; 222; 231; 253; 256.
-
-  Pliny the younger, 222-225; 160; 202; 204; 211; 229; 230; 244; 257; 265.
-
-  Plotius, 116;
-    Plotius Sacerdos. See Sacerdos.
-
-  Plutarch, 234.
-
-  Pollio (Gaius Asinius), 99; 100; 101; 102; 103; 118; 122; 160; 166;
-      167; 171; 176;
-    (Trebellius), 255.
-
-  Polybius, Greek historian, 39; 92; 158.
-
-  Pompeius Trogus. See Trogus.
-
-  Pompey, 47; 56; 67; 68; 69; 81; 82; 84; 93; 158; 163; 186; 187.
-
-  Pompilius Andronicus (M.), 96.
-
-  Pomponius (L.), 30.
-
-  Pomponius Secundus (P.), 188; 204.
-
-  Pomponius (Sextus), 233.
-
-  Ponticus, poet, 138; 143.
-
-  Porcius Latro, 143.
-
-  Porphyrio (Pomponius), grammarian, 234.
-
-  Posidonius, Stoic, 66.
-
-  Postumius Albinus, 33.
-
-  _Priapea_, 140.
-
-  Priscian, 261.
-
-  Probus (M. Valerius), 193.
-
-  Proculus, jurist, 192.
-
-  Propertius, 134-137; 130; 131; 132; 143; 145; 146; 149; 168.
-
-  Prose, Greek influence upon, 32;
-    progress in, 46; 156.
-
-  Prosper of Aquitania, 262.
-
-  Prudentius, Christian poet, 272 f.
-
-  Publilia, Cicero's wife, 68.
-
-  Publilius Syrus, 30 f.; 62.
-
-  Punic war;
-    first, 6; 33; 158;
-    second, 33; 36; 158;
-    third, 38; 44.
-
-  Pythagoras, doctrine, 153.
-
-
-  Quadrigarius (Q. Claudius), 43; 158.
-
-  Quintilian, 206-210; 175; 182; 195; 202; 213.
-
-  Quintus Curtius Rufus, 191.
-
-
-  Rabirius, 138.
-
-  Remmius Palæmon (Q.), 176; 184.
-
-  Renatus (Flavius Vegetius), 261.
-
-  Reposianus, 254.
-
-  Roman literature;
-    its importance, 1; 284;
-    its practical purpose, 2 f.; 211 f.;
-    its divisions, 3; 281 ff.;
-    native elements, 4;
-    its progress, 48;
-    its decay, 169; 226 f.; 283;
-    Greek influence, 1; 4; 5; 17; 21; 27; 32; 48; 128 f.; 226; 283;
-    effect of the empire, 97.
-
-  Roman society, 47 f.; 128 f.
-
-  Romance languages, 210; 237.
-
-  Romans practical, 2.
-
-  Romans, our debt to, 283.
-
-  Romanus (C. Julius), 256;
-    (Aquila), 256.
-
-  Roscius, actor, 66.
-
-  Rutilius Claudius Namatianus, 275.
-
-  Rutilius Rufus (P.), 44.
-
-
-  Sabinus, poet, 146.
-
-  Sacerdos (Marius Plotius), 256.
-
-  Sallust, 89-91; 88; 128; 230; 236; 265.
-
-  Sammonicus (Serenus), 253 f.
-
-  Santra, 96.
-
-  Sappho, 114; 121.
-
-  Satire, 39; 40; 41; 42; 93; 117 f.; 179; 183; 184; 188 f.; 219 f.
-
-  Saturnian verse, 7; 6; 9.
-
-  Scævola (P.), 44;
-    (Mucius), 44;
-    (Q. Mucius), 44; 66;
-    (the augur), 66; 70;
-    (Q. Cervidius), jurist, 233.
-
-  Scaurus (Terentius), 233.
-
-  Scipio (Cn. Cornelius), 7;
-    Africanus the elder, 36; 38;
-    Africanus the younger, 24; 38; 39; 49;
-    P. Cornelius, 33;
-    Nasica, 37.
-
-  Sedigitus (Volcacius), 44.
-
-  Sedulius, 276.
-
-  Sempronius (Gaius ---- Tuditanus), 44.
-
-  Seneca, the elder, 165 f.; 168, 170; 175; 177.
-
-  Seneca, the younger, 177-183; 14; 165; 170; 171; 184; 185; 188; 197;
-    201; 209; 210; 219.
-
-  Septimius (L.), 265.
-
-  Septimius Severus, emperor, 228; 233; 247.
-
-  _Septuagint_, 217.
-
-  Servius Sulpicius Rufus, 96.
-
-  Servius, commentary on Virgil, 261; 192.
-
-  Severus (Cornelius), poet, 138.
-
-  Sextii, philosophers, 176; 177.
-
-  Sextus Empiricus, 234.
-
-  Shakespeare, 21; 151; 155.
-
-  Siculus Flaccus, 225.
-
-  Silius Italicus, 197 f.; 202.
-
-  Sisenna (L. Cornelius), 44; 88.
-
-  Socrates, 239.
-
-  Solinus, 256.
-
-  Solon, 129.
-
-  Sophocles, 107.
-
-  Soranus (Q. Valerius), 44.
-
-  Sotion, philosopher, 176 f.
-
-  Spartianus (Ælius), 255.
-
-  Statius, 198-201; 140; 141; 195; 202; 209; 274;
-    his father, 198; 201.
-
-  Stella (Arruntius), 201.
-
-  Stesichorus, Greek poet, 107.
-
-  Stilicho, general, 273; 275.
-
-  Stilo (L. Ælius Præconinus), 44; 11; 93.
-
-  Stoic philosophy, 49; 78; 120; 124; 177; 182; 228.
-
-  Strabo (C. Julius Cæsar), 13.
-
-  Sueius, 62.
-
-  Suetonius Paulinus, 191.
-
-  Suetonius Tranquillus (C.), 229-231; 24; 227; 243; 244; 255; 256; 261;
-    262; 267.
-
-  Sulla, 44; 47; 158.
-
-  Sulpicia, poetess of elegies, 133.
-
-  Sulpicia, poetess, 201.
-
-  Sulpicius Severus, 263.
-
-  Symmachus (Q. Aurelius), 265; 279.
-
-
-  Tacitus, 211-218; 91; 195; 206; 209; 222; 223; 225 f.; 244; 262; 263;
-    283.
-
-  Tacitus, emperor, 229.
-
-  Tennyson, 242.
-
-  Terentia, Cicero's wife, 66; 68.
-
-  Terentianus Maurus, 233; 241; 253.
-
-  Terentius Scaurus, 233.
-
-  Tertullian, 246-248; 249; 252; 258; 266.
-
-  Theatre, 14-16.
-
-  Theocritus, Greek poet, 101; 107; 114; 187.
-
-  Theodoric, 278; 279.
-
-  Theodorus, emperor, 257; 266; 267; 272; 273.
-
-  Theodorus, of Gadara, 170.
-
-  Theopompus, Greek writer, 92.
-
-  Thrasea. See Pætus.
-
-  Tiberius, emperor, 170; 124; 155; 165; 166; 170; 171; 172; 173; 174;
-    175; 176; 177; 216.
-
-  Tibullus, 131-134; 124; 130; 135; 145; 146; 168; 211.
-
-  Ticidas, poet, 64.
-
-  Timæus, Greek historian, 37.
-
-  Tiro, 96; 79.
-
-  Titinius, 29; 138.
-
-  Titius, 13.
-
-  Titus, emperor, 194; 195; 201; 205.
-
-  Trabea, comic poet, 23.
-
-  Tragedy, 11; 6; 7; 8; 12; 14; 17; 32.
-
-  Trajan, emperor, 211; 212; 214; 216; 219; 223; 224; 225; 236; 246, 257.
-
-  Trebellius Pollio, 255.
-
-  Tribonian, jurist, 264.
-
-  Trimalchio, in Petronius's novel, 189; 190.
-
-  Triumvirate; first, 67; 84.
-
-  Trogus, 163 f.; 232.
-
-  Tullia, Cicero's daughter, 68.
-
-  Turpilius, comic poet, 29.
-
-  _Twelve tables_, 5; 37.
-
-  Tyrtæus, 129.
-
-
-  Ulpian, 255.
-
-
-  Valens, emperor, 262; 263; 264; 271.
-
-  Valentinian I, 265.
-
-  Valentinian II, 267.
-
-  Valerian, emperor, persecuted Christians, 249.
-
-  Valerius Antias, 43; 88; 158.
-
-  Valerius Flaccus (C.), 195-197.
-
-  Valerius Maximus, 174 f.; 173; 219.
-
-  Valgius Rufus, 131.
-
-  Varius, 14; 116; 118.
-
-  Varro Atacinus, 63; 118.
-
-  Varro (M. Terentius), 92-94; 44; 96; 99; 192; 256; 260.
-
-  Varus, 101.
-
-  Vegetius, 261.
-
-  Velleius Paterculus, 173 f.; 215.
-
-  Verrius Flaccus, grammarian, 166; 149; 167; 234.
-
-  Verus (L.), 228; 235; 236; 237.
-
-  Vespa, 254.
-
-  Vespasian, emperor, 194; 195; 197; 201; 204; 212; 216.
-
-  Victorinus (C. Marius), 256; 260.
-
-  Virgil, 100-113; 64; 96; 98; 99; 114; 115; 116; 118; 127; 131: 135;
-      140; 141; 143; 153; 161; 167; 168; 171; 173; 187; 188; 192; 193;
-      196; 197; 202; 209; 217; 219; 232; 233; 240; 241; 254; 260; 261;
-      270; 280; 282;
-    poems ascribed to, 140; 141.
-
-  Vitellius (P.), orator, 176.
-
-  Vitellius, emperor, 194; 216.
-
-  Vitruvius, 167 f.
-
-  Volcacius. See Sedigitus and Gallicanus.
-
-  Vopiscus (Flavius), 255.
-
-  Votienus Montanus, orator, 175.
-
-  Vulcacius. See Volcacius.
-
-
-  Whittier, 272.
-
-  Wordsworth, 272.
-
-
-  Xenophon, Greek writer, 92.
-
-
-  Zeno, Epicurean, 66.
-
-
-
-
-      *      *      *      *      *      *
-
-
-
-
-Transcriber's note:
-
-Inconsistent spellings have been kept, including inconsistent use of
-hyphen (e.g. "well known" and "well-known").
-
-
-
-***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A HISTORY OF ROMAN LITERATURE***
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diff --git a/44975-8.zip b/44975-8.zip
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--- a/44975-h/44975-h.htm
+++ b/44975-h/44975-h.htm
@@ -203,23 +203,10 @@ table {
     </style>
 </head>
 <body>
+<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44975 ***</div>
 <h1 class="pg">The Project Gutenberg eBook, A History of Roman Literature, by Harold
 North Fowler</h1>
-<p>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 <a
-href="http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></p>
-<p>Title: A History of Roman Literature</p>
-<p>Author: Harold North Fowler</p>
-<p>Release Date: February 22, 2014  [eBook #44975]</p>
-<p>Language: English</p>
-<p>Character set encoding: UTF-8</p>
-<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A HISTORY OF ROMAN LITERATURE***</p>
 <p>&nbsp;</p>
-<h3 class="pg">E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Turgut Dincer,<br />
-    and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br />
-    (http://www.pgdp.net)</h3>
 <p>&nbsp;</p>
 <hr class="full" />
 
@@ -13830,360 +13817,6 @@ Zeno, Epicurean, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>.</li>
 </div>
 
 <p>&nbsp;</p>
-<hr class="full" />
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-The Project Gutenberg eBook, A History of Roman Literature, by Harold
-North Fowler
-
-
-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: A History of Roman Literature
-
-
-Author: Harold North Fowler
-
-
-
-Release Date: February 22, 2014  [eBook #44975]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
-
-
-***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A HISTORY OF ROMAN LITERATURE***
-
-
-E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Turgut Dincer, and the Online
-Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)
-
-
-
-Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
-      file which includes the original illustrations.
-      See 44975-h.htm or 44975-h.zip:
-      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/44975/44975-h/44975-h.htm)
-      or
-      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/44975/44975-h.zip)
-
-
-Transcriber's note:
-
-      Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
-
-      Text enclosed by plus signs is in bold face (+bold+).
-
-      [)] represents the breve character (u-shaped symbol)
-      used in the description of poetic metres.
-
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: AUGUSTUS.
-
-Bust in the Museum of Fine Arts. Boston.]
-
-
-Twentieth Century Text-Books
-
-A HISTORY OF ROMAN LITERATURE
-
-by
-
-HAROLD N. FOWLER, PH. D.
-
-Professor in the College for Women of Western Reserve University
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-New York and London D. Appleton and Company
-
-Copyright, 1903
-By D. Appleton and Company
-
-Printed at the Appleton Press,
-New York, U. S. A.
-
-
-
-
-PREFACE
-
-
-This book is intended primarily for use as a text-book in schools and
-colleges. I have therefore given more dates and more details about the
-lives of authors than are in themselves important, because dates are
-convenient aids to memory, as they enable the learner to connect his
-new knowledge with historical facts he may have learned before, while
-biographical details help to endow authors with something of concrete
-personality, to which the learner can attach what he learns of their
-literary and intellectual activity.
-
-Extracts from Latin authors are given, with few exceptions, in English
-translation. I considered the advisability of giving them in Latin, but
-concluded that extracts in Latin would probably not be read by most
-young readers, and would therefore do less good than even imperfect
-translations. Moreover, the texts of the most important works are
-sure to be at hand in the schools, and books of selections, such as
-Cruttwell and Banton's _Specimens of Roman Literature_, Tyrrell's
-_Anthology of Latin Poetry_, and Gudeman's _Latin Literature of the
-Empire_, are readily accessible. I am responsible for all translations
-not accredited to some other translator. In making my translations,
-I have employed blank verse to represent Latin hexameters; but the
-selections from the _Aeneid_ are given in Conington's rhymed version,
-and in some other cases I have used translations of hexameters into
-metres other than blank verse.
-
-In writing of the origin of Roman comedy, I have not mentioned the
-dramatic _satura_. Prof. George L. Hendrickson has pointed out (in the
-_American Journal of Philology_, vol. xv, pp. 1-30) that the dramatic
-_satura_ never really existed, but was invented in Roman literary
-history because Aristotle, whose account of the origin of comedy was
-closely followed by the Roman writers, found the origin of Greek comedy
-in the satyr-drama.
-
-The greater part of the book is naturally taken up with the extant
-literary works and their authors; but I have devoted some space to
-the lives and works of authors whose writings are lost. This I have
-done, not because I believe that the reader should burden his memory
-with useless details, but partly in order that this book may be of
-use as a book of reference, and partly because the mention of some of
-the lost works and their authors may impress upon the reader the fact
-that something is known of many writers whose works have survived, if
-at all, only in detached fragments. Not a few of these writers were
-important in their day, and exercised no little influence upon the
-progress of literature. Of the whole mass of Roman literary production
-only a small part--though fortunately in great measure the best
-part--now exists, and it is only by remembering how much has been
-lost that the modern reader can appreciate the continuity of Roman
-literature.
-
-The literature of the third, fourth, and fifth centuries after
-Christ is treated less fully than that of the earlier times, but its
-importance to later European civilization has been so great that a
-summary treatment of it should be included even in a book of such
-limited scope as this.
-
-The Bibliography will, I hope, be found useful. It is by no means
-exhaustive, but may serve as a guide to those who have not access to
-libraries. The purpose of the Chronological Table is not so much to
-serve as a finding-list of dates as to show at a glance what authors
-were living and working at any given time. In the Index the names
-of all Latin writers mentioned in the book are to be found, together
-with references to numerous topics and to some of the more important
-historical persons.
-
-Besides the works of the Roman authors, I have consulted the general
-works mentioned in the Bibliography and numerous other books and
-special articles. I have made most use of Teuffel's _History of Roman
-Literature_, Schanz's _Roemische Litteraturgeschichte_, and Mackail's
-admirable _Latin Literature_.
-
-My thanks are due to my colleague, Prof. Samuel Ball Platner, who read
-the book in manuscript and made many valuable suggestions, and to
-Professor Perrin, who read not only the manuscript, but also the proof,
-and suggested not a few desirable changes.
-
-  HAROLD N. FOWLER.
-
-  CLEVELAND, OHIO.
-
-
-
-
-CONTENTS
-
-
-    CHAPTER                                                   PAGE
-
-        I.--INTRODUCTION--EARLY ROMAN LITERATURE--TRAGEDY        1
-
-       II.--COMEDY                                              17
-
-      III.--EARLY PROSE--THE SCIPIONIC CIRCLE--LUCILIUS         32
-
-       IV.--LUCRETIUS                                           47
-
-        V.--CATULLUS--MINOR POETS                               56
-
-       VI.--CICERO                                              65
-
-      VII.--CAESAR--SALLUST--OTHER PROSE WRITERS                83
-
-     VIII.--THE PATRONS OF LITERATURE--VIRGIL                   97
-
-       IX.--HORACE                                             114
-
-        X.--TIBULLUS--PROPERTIUS--THE LESSER POETS             128
-
-       XI.--OVID                                               143
-
-      XII.--LIVY--OTHER AUGUSTAN PROSE WRITERS                 156
-
-     XIII.--TIBERIUS TO VESPASIAN                              169
-
-      XIV.--THE FLAVIAN EMPERORS--THE SILVER AGE               194
-
-       XV.--NERVA AND TRAJAN                                   211
-
-      XVI.--THE EMPERORS AFTER TRAJAN--SUETONIUS--OTHER
-              WRITERS                                          226
-
-     XVII.--LITERARY INNOVATIONS                               235
-
-    XVIII.--EARLY CHRISTIAN WRITERS                            244
-
-      XIX.--PAGAN LITERATURE OF THE THIRD CENTURY              253
-
-       XX.--THE FOURTH AND FIFTH CENTURIES                     259
-
-      XXI.--CONCLUSION                                         278
-
-           APPENDIX I.--BIBLIOGRAPHY                           285
-
-           APPENDIX II.--CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE                   297
-
-           INDEX                                               303
-
-
-    LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
-                                                                 FACING
-                                                                  PAGE
-
-    AUGUSTUS, bust in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston,    _Frontispiece_
-
-    CICERO, bust in the Vatican Museum, Rome                         65
-
-    CAESAR, bust in the Museum at Naples                             83
-
-    VIRGIL AND TWO MUSES, mosaic in the Bardo Museum, Tunis         113
-
-
-
-
-BOOK I
-
-_THE PERIOD OF THE REPUBLIC_
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER I
-
-INTRODUCTION--EARLY ROMAN LITERATURE--TRAGEDY
-
-    Importance of Roman literature--The Romans a practical people--The
-    Latin language--Political purpose of Roman writings--Divisions of
-    Roman literature--Elements of a native Roman literature--Appius
-    Claudius Caecus--Imitation of Greek literature--L. Livius
-    Andronicus, about 284 to about 204 B. C.--Gnaeus Naevius, about
-    270-199 B. C.--Q. Ennius, 239-169 B. C.--His Tragedies--The
-    _Annales_--M. Pacuvius, 220 to about 130 B. C.--L. Accius, 170 to
-    after 100 B. C.--The Decay of Tragedy--The Roman theatre, actors
-    and costumes.
-
-
-[Sidenote: Importance of Roman literature.] Roman literature, while
-it lacks the brilliant originality and the delicate beauty which
-characterize the works of the great Greek writers, is still one of
-the great literatures of the world, and it possesses an importance
-for us which is even greater than its intrinsic merits (great as they
-are) would naturally give it. In the first place, Roman literature has
-preserved to us, in Latin translations and adaptations, many important
-remains of Greek literature which would otherwise have been lost, and
-in the second place, the political power of the Romans, embracing
-nearly the whole known world, made the Latin language the most widely
-spread of all languages, and thus caused Latin literature to be read in
-all lands and to influence the literary development of all the peoples
-of Europe.
-
-[Sidenote: The Romans practical.] The Romans were a practical race,
-not gifted with much poetic imagination, but with great ability to
-organize their state and their army and to accomplish whatever they
-determined to do. They had come into Italy with a number of related
-tribes from the north and had settled in a place on the bank of the
-Tiber, where they were exposed to attacks from the Etruscans and other
-neighbors. They were thus forced from the beginning to fortify their
-city, and live close together within the walls. [Sidenote: Attention
-to political and military affairs.] This made the early development of
-a form of city government both natural and necessary, and turned the
-Roman mind toward political organization. At the same time, the
-attacks of external enemies forced the Romans to pay attention to the
-organization and support of an army. So, from the time of the
-foundation of their city by the Tiber, the Romans turned their
-attention primarily to politics and war. The effect upon their
-language and literature is clearly seen. [Sidenote: The Latin
-language.] Their language is akin to Greek, and like Greek is one of
-the Indo-European family of languages, to which English and the other
-most important languages of Europe belong. It started with the same
-material as Greek, but while Greek developed constantly more variety,
-more delicacy, and more flexibility, Latin is fixed and rigid, a
-language adapted to laws and commands rather than to the lighter and
-more graceful kinds of utterance. Circumstances, aided no doubt by the
-natural bent of their minds, tended to make the Romans political,
-military, and practical, rather than artistic.
-
-Roman literature, as might be expected after what has just been
-said, is often not the spontaneous outpouring of literary genius,
-but the means by which some practical ends or purposes are to be
-attained. Almost from first to last, the writings of Roman authors
-have a political purpose, and the influence of political events upon
-the literature is most marked. [Sidenote: Political purpose of
-Roman writings.] Even those kinds of Roman literature which seem at
-first sight to have the least connection with political matters have
-nevertheless a political purpose. Plays were written to enhance the
-splendor of public festivals provided by office holders who were at
-the same time office seekers and hoped to win the favor of the people
-by successful entertainments; history was written to teach the proper
-methods of action for future use or (sometimes) to add to the influence
-of living leaders of the state by calling to mind the great deeds
-of their ancestors; epic and lyric poems were composed to glorify
-important persons at Rome, or at least to prove the right of Rome to
-the foremost place among the nations by giving her a literature worthy
-to rank with that of the Greeks.
-
-[Sidenote: Divisions of Roman literature.] The development of Roman
-literature is closely connected with political events, and its three
-great divisions correspond to the divisions of Roman political history.
-The first or Republican Period extends from the beginning of Roman
-literature after the first Punic war (240 B. C.) to the battle of
-Actium in 31 B. C. The second or Augustan Period, from 31 B. C. to 14
-A. D., is the period in which the institutions of the republic were
-transformed to serve the purposes of the monarchy. The "Golden Age"
-of Roman literature comprises the last part of the Republican Period
-and the whole Augustan Period, from 81 B. C. to 14 A. D. The third or
-Imperial Period lasts from 14 A. D. to the beginning of the Middle
-Ages. The first part of this period, from 14 to 117 A. D., is called
-the "Silver Age." In the first period the Romans learn to imitate
-Greek literature and develop their language until it is capable of
-fine literary treatment, and in the latter part of this time they
-produce some of their greatest works, especially in prose. The second
-period, made illustrious by Horace and Virgil, is the time when
-Roman poetry reaches its greatest height. The third period is a time
-of decline, sometimes rapid, sometimes retarded for a while, during
-which Roman literature shows few great works and many of very slight
-literary value. Throughout the first and second periods, and even
-for the most part in the third period, Latin literature is produced
-almost entirely at Rome, is affected by changes in the city, and
-reflects the sentiments of the city population. It is therefore proper
-to speak of Roman literature, rather than Latin literature, for that
-which interests us is the literature of the city by the Tiber and of
-the civilization with which the city is identified, rather than works
-written in the Latin language.
-
-[Sidenote: Elements of native Roman literature.] The beginning of a
-real literature at Rome was made by a foreigner of Greek birth, and
-naturally took the form of an imitation of Greek works. This would
-undoubtedly have been the case, even if the first professional author
-had been a native Roman, for the Romans had for some time been in
-close touch with the Greeks of Italy, and Greek literature presented
-itself to them as a finished product, calling for their admiration
-and inciting them to imitate it. Nevertheless there were in existence
-at Rome in early times materials from which a native literature might
-have arisen if the Greek influence had not been so strong as to prevent
-their development. The early Romans sang songs at weddings and at
-harvest festivals, chanted hymns to the gods, and were familiar with
-rude popular performances which might have given rise to a native
-drama. The words of such songs and performances were of course, for the
-most part at least, rhythmical, but few if any of them were committed
-to writing until much later times. The art of writing was, however,
-known to the Romans as early as the sixth century B. C., for the Greek
-colonies on the coast of Italy must have had trade connections with the
-Romans at a very early time, and writing was thoroughly familiar to
-the Greeks by the time Rome was two centuries old.
-
-From early times the Romans kept lists of officials, records of
-prodigies, lists of the _dies fasti_, i. e., of the days on which
-it was lawful to conduct public business, and other simple records.
-The twelve tables of the laws are said to have been written in 451
-and 450 B. C., and these had some influence on Roman prose, for they
-were the first attempt at connected prose in the Latin language. No
-doubt other laws and probably also treaties were written in Latin and
-preserved at an early date. Funeral orations called for some practise
-in oratory, but probably not for careful preparation, and certainly not
-for composition in writing in the early days of Rome. [Sidenote: Appius
-Claudius Caecus.] The first Roman speech known to have been written
-out for publication is the speech delivered in 280 B. C., by the aged
-Appius Claudius Caecus, in which he urged the rejection of the terms of
-peace offered by Pyrrhus. This speech was known and read at Rome for
-two centuries after the death of its author. A collection of sayings
-or proverbs was also current under the name of Claudius, and he was
-actively interested in adapting more perfectly to the Latin language
-the alphabet which the Romans had received from the Greeks, and in
-fixing the spelling of Latin words.
-
-All this is, however, not so much literature as the material from which
-literature might have developed if Rome had been removed from the
-sphere of Greek influence. Since that was not the case, these first
-steps toward a national literature led to nothing, though they show
-that the Romans had some originality, and help us to understand some
-of the peculiarities of Roman literature as distinguished from its
-Greek prototype. Still Roman literature is a literature of imitation,
-and the beginning of it was made by a Greek named Andronicus, who
-was brought to Rome after the capture of Tarentum in 272 B. C. when
-he was still a boy. At Rome he was the slave of M. Livius Salinator,
-whose children he instructed in Greek and Latin. [Sidenote: L.
-Livius Andronicus.] When set free, he took the name of Lucius Livius
-Andronicus, and continued to teach. As there were no Latin books which
-he could use in teaching, he conceived the idea of translating Homer's
-Odyssey into Latin, thereby making the beginning of Latin literature.
-His translation of the Odyssey was rude and imperfect. Andronicus made
-no attempt to reproduce in Latin the hexameter verse of Homer, but
-employed the native Saturnian verse (see page 7), probably because it
-seemed to him better fitted to the Latin language than the more stately
-hexameter. After the first Punic war, at the _Ludi Romani_ in 240 B.
-C., Andronicus produced and put upon the stage Latin translations of
-a Greek tragedy and a Greek comedy. In these and his later dramas he
-retained the iambic and trochaic metres of the originals, and his
-example was followed by his successors. He also composed hymns for
-public occasions. Of his works only a few fragments are preserved,
-hardly more than enough to show that they had little real literary
-merit. But he had made a beginning, and long before his death, which
-took place about 204 B. C., his successors were advancing along the
-lines he had marked out.
-
-Gnaeus Naevius, a freeborn citizen of a Latin city in Campania, was the
-first native Latin poet of importance. [Sidenote: Gnaeus Naevius.] He was
-a soldier in the first Punic war, at the end of which, while still a
-young man, he came to Rome, where he devoted himself to poetry. He was
-a man of independent spirit, not hesitating to attack in his comedies
-and other verses the most powerful Romans, especially the great family
-of the Metelli. For many years he maintained his position, but at last
-the Metelli brought about his imprisonment and banishment, and he died
-in exile in 199 B. C., at about seventy years of age. His dramatic
-works were numerous, both tragedies and comedies, for the most part
-translations and adaptations from the Greek, but alongside of these he
-produced also plays based upon Roman legends. These were called _fabulae
-praetextae_ or _praetextatae_, "plays of the purple stripe," because the
-characters wore Roman costumes. In one of these plays, the _Romulus_
-(or in two, if the _Lupus_ or "Wolf" is not the _Romulus_ under another
-title), he dramatized the story of Romulus and Remus, and in another,
-the _Clastidium_, the defeat (in 222 B. C.) of the Insubrians by M.
-Claudius Marcellus and Cn. Cornelius Scipio. In his later years he
-turned to epic poetry and wrote in Saturnian verse the history of the
-first Punic war, introduced by an account of the legendary history of
-Rome from the departure of Aeneas for Italy after the fall of Troy. This
-poem was read and admired for many years, and parts of it were imitated
-by Virgil in the _Aeneid_. Naevius also wrote other poems, called
-_Satires_, on various subjects, partly, but not entirely, in Saturnian
-metre. Of all these works only inconsiderable fragments remain. They
-show, however, that Naevius was a poet of real power, and that with him
-the Latin language was beginning to develop some fitness for literary
-use. His epitaph, preserved by Aulus Gellius, will serve not only to
-show the stiff and monotonous rhythm of the Saturnian verse, but also,
-since it was probably written by Naevius himself, to exhibit his proud
-consciousness of superiority:
-
-    _Immortales mortales si foret fas flere
-    Flerent divae Camenae Naevium poetam.
-    Itaque postquam est Orci traditus thesauro
-    Obliti sunt Romai loquier lingua Latina._
-
-    If it were right that mortals be wept for by immortals,
-    The goddess Muses would weep for Naevius the poet.
-    And so since to the treasure of Orcus he's departed,
-    The Romans have forgotten to speak the Latin language.
-
-Naevius had a right to be proud. He had made literature a real force at
-Rome, able to contend with the great men of the city; he had invented
-the drama with Roman characters, and had written the first national
-epic poem. In doing all this he had at the same time added to the
-richness and grace of the still rude Latin language. But great as were
-the merits of Naevius, he was surpassed in every way by his successor.
-
-Quintus Ennius, a poet of surprising versatility and power, was born
-at Rudiae, in Calabria, in 239 B. C. [Sidenote: Quintus Ennius.] While
-he was serving in the Roman army in Sardinia, in 204 B. C., he met
-with M. Porcius Cato, who took him home to Rome. Here Ennius gave
-lessons in Greek and translated Greek plays for the Roman stage. He
-became acquainted with several prominent Romans, among them the elder
-Scipio Africanus, went to Aetolia as a member of the staff of M. Fulvius
-Nobilior, and obtained full Roman citizenship in 184 B. C. His death
-was brought on by the gout in 169 B. C.
-
-[Sidenote: Various works of Ennius.] The works of Ennius were many and
-various, including tragedies, comedies, a great epic poem, a metrical
-treatise on natural philosophy, a translation of the work of Euhemerus,
-in which he explained the nature of the gods and declared that they are
-merely famous men of old times,[1] a poem on food and cooking, a series
-of _Precepts_, epigrams (in which the elegiac distich was used for the
-first time in Latin), and satires. His most important works were his
-tragedies and his great epic, the _Annales_.
-
-The tragedies were, like those of Naevius, translations of the works of
-the great Greek tragedians and their less great, but equally popular,
-successors. [Sidenote: His dramatic works.] The titles and some
-fragments of twenty-two of these plays are preserved, from which it
-is evident that Ennius sometimes translated exactly and sometimes
-freely, while he allowed himself at other times to depart from his
-Greek original even to the extent of changing the plot more or less.
-For the most part, however, the invention of the plot, the delineation
-of character, and the poetic imagery of his plays were due to the
-Greek dramatists whose works he presented in Latin form. To Ennius
-himself belong the skillful use of the Latin language, the ability
-to express in a new language the thoughts rather than the words of
-the Greek poets, and also such changes as were necessary to make
-the Greek tragedies appeal more strongly to a Roman audience. It is
-impossible to tell from the fragments just what changes were made, but
-the popularity of the plays, which continued long after the death of
-Ennius, proves that the changes attained their object and pleased the
-audience. The titles of two _fabulae praetextae_ by Ennius are known, the
-_Sabine Women_, a dramatic presentation of the legend of the Rape of
-the Sabines, and _Ambracia_, a play celebrating the capture of Ambracia
-by M. Fulvius Nobilior. His comedies seem to have been neither numerous
-nor especially successful.
-
-[Sidenote: The Annales.] The most important work of Ennius is his great
-epic in eighteen books, the _Annales_, in which he told the legendary
-and actual history of the Romans from the arrival of Aeneas in Italy to
-his own time. In this work, as in his tragedies, he may be said to have
-followed in the way pointed out by Naevius, but the _Annales_ mark an
-immense advance beyond the _Bellum Punicum_ of Naevius. The monotonous
-and unpolished Saturnian metre could not, even in the most skillful
-hands, attain the dignity or the melodious cadences appropriate to
-great epic poems. Ennius therefore gave up the native Italian metre
-and wrote his epic in hexameter verse in imitation of Homer. This was
-no easy matter, for the laws of the verse as it existed in Greek could
-not be applied without change to Latin, but Ennius modified them in
-some particulars and thus fixed the form of the Latin hexameter, at the
-same time establishing in great part the rules of Latin prosody. Only
-about six hundred lines of the _Annales_ remain, and many of these are
-detached from their context, yet from these we can see that Ennius had
-much poetic imagination, great skill in the use of words, and great
-dignity of diction. The line _At tuba terribili sonitu taratantara
-dixit_ shows at once his ability to make the sound of his words imitate
-the sound he wishes to describe (in this case that of a trumpet) and
-his liking for alliteration. This last quality is found in many Roman
-poets, but in none more frequently than Ennius.
-
-The _Annales_ continued to be read and admired even after the time of
-Virgil, though the _Aeneid_ soon took rank as the greatest Roman epic.
-Some of the lines of Ennius breathe the true Roman spirit of military
-pride and civic rectitude, as
-
-     _Moribus antiquis res stat Romana virisque_,[2]
-
-  or _Quem nemo ferro potuit superare nec auro_,[3]
-
-  or _Nec cauponantes bellum sed belligerentes_.[4]
-
-Among the existing fragments are several which seem to have suggested
-to Virgil some of the passages in the _Aeneid_, and there is no doubt
-that Virgil found Ennius worthy of imitation.
-
-We may learn something of the character of Ennius from a passage
-of the _Annales_ in which he is said,[5] on the authority of the
-grammarian L. Aelius Stilo, to be describing himself: "A man of such
-a nature that no thought ever prompts him to do a bad deed either
-carelessly or maliciously; a learned, faithful, pleasant man, eloquent,
-contented and happy, witty, speaking fit words in season, courteous,
-and of few words, possessing much ancient buried lore; a man whom old
-age made wise in customs old and new and in the laws of many ancients,
-both gods and men; one who knew when to speak and when to be silent."
-
-[Sidenote: Continued production of tragedies, but not of epics.]
-Ennius was the first great epic poet at Rome. After him epic poetry
-was neglected, until it was taken up again a hundred years later.
-Tragedy, however the other branch of literature in which Ennius chiefly
-excelled, was cultivated without interruption, for it had become usual
-to produce tragedies at the chief festivals of the city and on other
-public occasions, and new plays were therefore constantly in demand.
-But as gladiatorial shows grew more frequent and more magnificent,
-tragedy declined in popularity, though tragedies continued to be
-written, and even acted. The development of Roman tragedy is, however,
-contained within a few generations, the professional authors of
-tragedies about whom we have any information are few, and their works
-are lost, with the exception of such fragments as have happened to be
-quoted by later writers. It is therefore best to continue the account
-of Roman tragedy now, even at the sacrifice of strict chronological
-order.
-
-[Sidenote: Marcus Pacuvius.] The successor of Ennius as a writer of
-tragedies was his nephew, Marcus Pacuvius, who was born at Brundusium
-in 220 B. C., but spent most of his life at Rome. As an old man he
-returned to southern Italy, and died at Tarentum about 130 B. C. He was
-a painter, as well as a writer of tragedies, and it may be due to his
-activity as a painter that his plays were comparatively few. The titles
-of twelve tragedies are known, in addition to one _fabula praetexta_,
-the _Paulus_, written in honor of the victory of L. Aemilius Paulus over
-King Perseus in the battle of Pydna (168 B. C.). These plays are all
-lost, and the existing fragments (about 400 lines) are unsatisfactory.
-Cicero considered Pacuvius the greatest Roman tragic writer, and
-Horace speaks of him as "learned." Probably this epithet refers to
-his careful use of language as well as to his knowledge of the less
-popular legends of Greek mythology. The extant fragments show more
-ease and grace of style than do those of Ennius, and great richness of
-vocabulary. Some of the words used are not found elsewhere, and seem to
-have been invented by Pacuvius himself; at any rate they did not come
-into ordinary use. Of the real dramatic ability of Pacuvius we can not
-judge, but his literary skill is evident even from the poor fragments
-we have. We may therefore believe that Cicero's favorable judgment of
-him was in some measure justified.
-
-[Sidenote: Lucius Accius.] The last important writer of tragedies,
-and probably the greatest of all, was Lucius Accius, of Pisaurum, in
-Umbria. He was born in 170 B. C., and one of his first tragedies was
-produced in 140 B. C., when Pacuvius produced one of his last. Accius
-lived to a great age, but the date of his death is not known. Cicero,
-as a young man, was well acquainted with him, and used to listen to
-his stories of his own early years. The shortness of the life of Roman
-tragedy, and the rapidity with which Roman literature developed, may
-be seen by observing that Cicero, the great master of Latin prose,
-knew Accius, whose birth took place only thirty-four years after the
-death of Livius Andronicus. Of the plays of Accius somewhat more
-than 700 lines are preserved, and about fifty titles are known. The
-fragments are for the most part detached lines, but some are long
-enough to let us see that the poet had a vigorous and graceful style,
-and a vivid imagination. Like most of his predecessors, Accius wrote
-various minor poems, and was interested in the development of the
-Latin language. He proposed a number of innovations, including some
-changes in the alphabet, but these last were not adopted by others.
-Besides his tragedies translated from the Greek, he wrote at least two
-_fabulae praetextae_, the _Brutus_, in which he dramatized the tale of
-the expulsion of the Tarquins, and _Aeneadae_, glorifying the death of
-Publius Decius Mus at the battle of Sentinum in 295 B. C. Even in his
-regular tragedies he departed occasionally from the original Greek so
-far as to show his own power of invention, though these plays were for
-the most part mere free translations. One of the longer fragments,[6]
-in which a shepherd, who has never seen a ship before, describes the
-coming of the Argo, may give some idea of Accius's skill in description:
-
-    So great a mass glides on, roaring from the deep with vast sound
-    and breath, rolls the waves before it, and stirs up the whirlpools
-    mightily. It rushes gliding forward, scatters and blows back
-    the sea. Now you might think a broken cloud was rolling on, now
-    that a lofty rock, torn off, was being swept along by winds or
-    hurricanes, or that eddying whirlwinds were rising as the waves
-    rush together; or that the sea was stirring up some confused heaps
-    of earth, or that perhaps Triton with his trident overturning the
-    cavern down below, in the billowy tide, was raising from the deep
-    a rocky mass to heaven.
-
-With Accius, Roman tragedy reaches its height. Contemporary with him
-were C. Titius and C. Julius Caesar Strabo (died 87 B. C.), both of whom
-were orators as well as tragic poets. [Sidenote: Decay of tragedy.]
-Of their works only slight traces remain. After this time tragedies
-were written by literary men as a pastime, or for the entertainment of
-their friends, and some of their plays were actually performed. The
-Emperor Augustus began a play entitled _Ajax_, Ovid wrote a _Medea_,
-and Varius (about 74-14 B. C.) was famous for his _Thyestes_, but none
-of these works has left more than a mere trace of its existence. The
-tragedies of Seneca (about 1-65 A. D.) were rather literary exercises
-than productions for the stage. With the growth of prose literature,
-especially of oratory, on the one hand, and the increased splendor of
-the gladiatorial shows on the other, tragedy ceased to be a living
-branch of Roman literature.
-
-[Sidenote: The Roman theatre.] Before passing on to the treatment of
-comedy, it would be well to try to picture to ourselves the Roman
-theatre and the manner of producing a play. In the early days of Livius
-Andronicus there was no permanent theatre building, and the spectators
-stood up during the performance, but, as time went on, arrangements
-for seating the audience were made, and finally, in 55 B. C., a stone
-theatre was erected. Stone theatres had long been in use in Greece,
-and in course of time they came to be built in all the large cities of
-the Roman empire. The Roman theatre differed somewhat from the Greek
-theatre, though resembling it in its general appearance. [Sidenote: The
-stage.] The Roman stage was about three or four feet high, and long
-and wide enough to give room for several actors, usually not more than
-four or five at a time, one or two musicians, a chorus of indefinite
-number, and as many supernumeraries as might be needed. These last were
-sometimes very numerous, when kings appeared with their body-guards, or
-generals led their armies or their hosts of prisoners upon the stage.
-At the back of the stage was a building, usually three stories high,
-representing a palace. In the middle was a door leading into the royal
-apartments, and two other doors, one at each side, led to the rooms
-for guests. At each end of the stage was a door, the one at the right
-leading to the forum, the other to the country or the harbor. Changes
-of scene were imperfectly made by changing parts of the decoration. In
-comedies, the background represented not a palace, but a private house
-or a street of houses.
-
-In front of the stage was the semicircular _orchestra_ or _arena_, in
-which distinguished persons had their seats. [Sidenote: The orchestra
-and the cavea.] This semicircle was flat and level. The front of the
-stage formed the diameter. From the curve of the orchestra rose the
-_cavea_, consisting of seats in semicircular rows, rising from the
-orchestra at an angle sufficient to enable those who sat in any row
-to see over those who sat in front of them. The theatre had no roof,
-but in the luxurious times of the empire, and even before the end of
-the republic, a covering of canvas or silk was stretched like a tent
-between the spectators and the sun.
-
-[Sidenote: Masks and costumes.] In the early days of the Roman drama,
-the actors did not wear masks, but before the end of the republic
-masks were introduced. These were useful in the large theatres of the
-time, as they added to the volume of the actor's voice, and since the
-expression of the actor's face could be seen by only a small proportion
-of the spectators, little was lost by hiding it with a mask. The masks
-themselves were carefully made, and were appropriate to the different
-characters. The costumes were conventional, kings wearing long robes
-and holding sceptres in their left hands, all tragic actors wearing
-boots with thick soles to raise them above the stature of the chorus,
-and all comic actors wearing low shoes without heels. The actors were,
-as a rule at least, slaves, but the profits of the profession were so
-great that a successful actor can have had but little difficulty in
-buying his freedom.
-
-[Sidenote: Dialogue and song.] In Roman tragedies, as in their Greek
-originals, the dialogue was carried on in simple metres, mostly
-trochaic and iambic, and a chorus of trained singers sang between the
-acts, but probably took little part in the action of the play. The
-songs of the chorus were composed in more elaborate metres than the
-dialogue, and were sung to the accompaniment of the flute. In Roman
-comedy there was no chorus, but parts of the play were sung as solos
-or duets. These were called _cantica_, while the dialogue parts of the
-comedy were called _diverbia_.
-
-[Sidenote: Brilliancy of dramatic performances.] Plays were performed
-at Rome on various occasions when the people were to be entertained,
-and the aediles and other officials and public men vied with each other
-in showing their wealth and in courting popularity. We must, therefore,
-imagine, that when a play was performed in the latter part of the
-republican period the actors, chorus, and supernumeraries were dressed
-in the richest and most gorgeous costumes, and everything possible was
-done to add to the spectacular effect of the performance, while the
-audience, excited by the scene and the action, lost no opportunity of
-cheering their favorite actors, or hissing those who failed to please.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II
-
-COMEDY
-
-    Comedy imported--Plautus, about 254 to 184 B. C.--Plots of Roman
-    comedies--Extant plays of Plautus--Degree of originality in
-    Plautus--Statius Caecilius, birth unknown, death about 165 B.
-    C.--Other comic writers--Terence, about 190 to 159 B. C.--Plays
-    of Terence--Plautus and Terence compared--Turpilius, died 103
-    B. C.--Fabula togata--Titinius, about 150 B. C. (?)--Titus
-    Quinctius Atta, died 77 B. C.--Lucius Afranius, born about 150
-    B. C.--Fescennine verses--Fabulae Atellanae--Pomponius and Novius,
-    about 90 B. C.--Mimes--Decimus Laberius and Publilius Syrus, about
-    50 B. C.
-
-
-[Sidenote: Comedy an imported product.] Comedy, like tragedy, was an
-imported product, not an original growth, at Rome. There had, to be
-sure, been improvised dialogues of more or less dramatic nature even
-before Livius Andronicus, but these, about which a few words will
-be said later, have nothing to do with the origin of Roman comedy,
-which is an imitation of the new Attic comedy as it existed at Athens
-after the time of Alexander the Great, being at its best from about
-320 to about 280 B. C. No plays of the new Attic comedy are preserved
-in the original Greek, but there are fragments which supplement the
-knowledge we derive from the Latin imitations. The poets of the new
-comedy, Menander, Philemon, Diphilus, and others, avoided historical
-and political subjects and drew their comedies from private life,
-finding in petty intrigues, interesting situations, and unexpected
-complications, some compensation for the general meagreness of the
-plot. This kind of play was called at Rome _fabula palliata_ because
-the actors wore the _pallium_, or Greek costume. Another kind of
-comedy, in which Roman characters and scenes were represented, though
-even in this kind of plays the plots were derived from Greek originals,
-was called _fabula togata_, because the actors wore the Roman toga. Of
-this latter kind of plays only a few fragments are preserved, and it
-seems never to have been so popular as the _fabula palliata_.
-
-Livius Andronicus, Ennius, and Pacuvius, all produced comedies at Rome,
-as did other writers of tragedies, but of these works only scanty
-fragments remain. Three writers, Plautus, Caecilius, and Terence,
-devoted themselves exclusively to comedy, and it is from the extant
-plays of the eldest and the youngest of these, Plautus and Terence,
-that most of our knowledge of Roman comedy is derived.
-
-[Sidenote: T. Maccius Plautus.] Titus Maccius Plautus (Flatfoot) was
-born at Sarsina, a town of Umbria, about 254 B. C. He went to Rome
-while still a boy, and seems to have earned so much as a servant or
-assistant of actors, that he was able to leave the city and engage
-in trade at some other place. His business venture was a failure; he
-lost his money, and returned to Rome, where he hired himself out to a
-miller, in whose service he was when he wrote his first three plays.
-His first appearance with a play was probably about 224 B. C. Further
-details of his life are unknown. He died in 184 B. C., at the age of
-about seventy years. He was, therefore, a younger contemporary of
-Livius Andronicus and Naevius, but older than Ennius and Pacuvius.
-
-Of the plays of Plautus twenty are extant, besides extensive fragments
-of another. His total production is said to have been one hundred and
-thirty plays, though some of these were probably wrongly ascribed to
-him. The plots of his plays, as of those of Terence, are usually
-founded upon a love affair between a young man of good family and a
-girl of low position and doubtful character. [Sidenote: The plots and
-characters of Roman comedies.] The young man is aided by his servant
-or a parasite, but his father is opposed to his having anything to do
-with the girl. The girl's mother or mistress usually aids the lovers,
-but often has to be won over by money, which the young man and his
-servant have to get from his father. Sometimes the characters mentioned
-are duplicated, and we have two pairs of lovers, two irate fathers,
-two cunning slaves, etc. Other typical characters are the procurer,
-the parasite, the boastful soldier, and a few more, who help to bring
-about amusing situations, and serve as the butt of many jokes. In the
-end, the lovers are usually united, and the girl turns out to be of
-good birth, often the long-lost daughter of one of the older men in the
-play. Sometimes other plots are chosen, as in the _Amphitruo_, which
-is founded on the story that Jupiter, when he visited Alcmene, used
-to take the form of her husband Amphitryon, and the fun of the play
-is caused by the confusion between the real husband and the disguised
-god. In a few plays the plot is less decidedly a love plot, but, as a
-general rule, the Roman comedies had love stories for their foundation.
-There is, however, room for considerable variety, as may be seen by a
-brief sketch of the contents of the extant plays of Plautus.
-
-[Sidenote: The extant plays of Plautus.] The _Amphitruo_, bringing the
-"Father of gods and men" into comic confusion with a mortal, and under
-very suspicious circumstances at that, is a burlesque, full of rather
-broad fun and amusing situations, perhaps the most interesting of all
-Latin comedies. In the _Asinaria_, the _Casina_, and the _Mercator_,
-father and son are rivals for the affection of the same girl. Of these
-three, the _Casina_ is the worst in its indecency, while the other two
-lack interest. These plays, however, like all the comedies of Plautus,
-are full of animal spirits, plays on words, and clever dialogue. The
-_Aulularia_, or _Pot of Gold_, has a plot of little interest, but
-is famous for the brilliant and lifelike presentation of the chief
-character, the old miser Euclio. The _Captivi_, one of the best of the
-plays, has for its subject the friendship between a master and his
-slave. There are no female characters, and the piece is entirely free
-from the coarseness and immorality which disfigure most of the others.
-The _Trinummus_, or _Three-penny Piece_, has also friendship, not love,
-as its leading motive, though it ends with a betrothal. This play also
-is free from coarseness, and gives an attractive picture of the good
-old days when friend was true to friend. The _Curculio_ is interesting
-chiefly through the cleverness of the parasite, who succeeds in making
-the rival of his employer furnish the money needed to obtain the girl.
-The _Epidicus_, the _Mostellaria_, and the _Persa_, also owe their
-interest to the tricks and rascalities of the parasite or the valet.
-The _Cistellaria_, only part of which is preserved, contains a love
-affair, but has for its chief interest the recognition between a father
-and his long-lost daughter. The _Vidularia_, too, which exists only
-in fragments, leads up to a recognition, this time between a father
-and his son. The _Miles Gloriosus_, a play of very ordinary plot, is
-distinguished for the somewhat exaggerated and farcical portrait of the
-braggart soldier. So the _Pseudolus_ is a piece of character drawing,
-in which the perjured go-between, Ballio, is the one important figure.
-In the _Bacchides_ the plot is more intricate and interesting, and
-the execution more brilliant, but the life depicted is that of loose
-women and immoral men. The _Stichus_ has little plot, but several
-attractive scenes. Two women, whose husbands have disappeared, remain
-faithful to them, and are rewarded by having them return with great
-wealth. The _Poenulus_ is chiefly interesting on account of passages
-in the Carthaginian language, which have for centuries attracted the
-attention of linguists. In the _Truculentus_, a countryman comes to
-the city and changes his rustic manners for city polish. The scenes
-are witty and effective, but the plot is weak. In the _Menaechmi_,
-twin brothers come to the town of Epidamnum, and their likeness to
-each other causes most laughable confusion. This is the original of
-Shakespeare's _Comedy of Errors_ and many other modern plays of similar
-plot. The _Rudens_, or _Cable_, has for its subject the restoration of
-a long-lost daughter to her father and her union with her lover, but
-is distinguished from the other plays of Plautus by the evident love
-of nature and the fresh breath of the sea and open air that breathe
-through it, making it one of the most attractive of his comedies.
-
-[Sidenote: Degree of originality in Plautus.] How much of the plots of
-these plays can be attributed to Plautus himself it is hard to tell. In
-some instances nearly all the details seem to be Greek, and probably
-the plays in which this is the case are simply free translations with
-just enough changes to make them easily understood at Rome. In other
-cases, as in the _Stichus_, the play as we have it seems to be made up
-of scenes only loosely strung together, arranged apparently rather for
-a Roman audience which cared chiefly for spectacular effect and stage
-by-play than for a Greek audience accustomed to weigh and criticize
-the excellence of the plot. In some instances, too, the Latin play
-is known to be made up of scenes taken from two Greek plays and put
-together in order to produce a single piece of more action than either
-of the originals. The importance of the work of the Latin playwright
-varies therefore considerably. There are, however, numerous passages
-containing references to details of Roman life, which must be in great
-measure original with the Roman writer; there are many plays on Latin
-words which could not be introduced in a mere translation from a
-foreign language; and in other respects also the comedies show Roman
-rather than Greek qualities. We must therefore attribute to Plautus a
-considerable share of originality, and the metrical form of his plays
-is naturally due to him alone.
-
-The following passage, whatever it may owe to the Greek original,
-doubtless owes part of its unusual liveliness to Plautus:[7]
-
-    _Sceparnio._ But, O Palaemon, holy companion of Neptune, who art
-    said to be a sharer in the labors of Hercules, what's that I see?
-    [Sidenote: Two shipwrecked women.] _Daemones._ What do you see?
-    _Scep._ I see two women folk sitting all alone in a boat. How the
-    poor things are tossed about! Ah! ha! Bully for that! The current
-    has turned the boat from the rock to the shore. No pilot could
-    have done it better. I think I never saw bigger waves. They are
-    safe, if they have escaped those billows. Now, now's the danger!
-    Oh! It has thrown one of them out. But she's in shallow water;
-    she'll swim out easily. Whew! Do you see how the water threw that
-    other one out? She's come up again; she's coming this way. She's
-    safe!
-
-A second passage[8] will give an idea of the style of some of
-the dialogue of Plautus. The speakers are a boy, Paegnium, and a
-maid-servant, Sophoclidisca:
-
-    [Sidenote: Bantering talk.] _Sophoclidisca._ Paegnium,
-    darling boy, good day. How do you do? How's your health?
-    _Paegnium._ Sophoclidisca, the gods bless me! _Soph._ How
-    about me? _Paeg._ That's as the gods choose; but if they do
-    as you deserve, they'll hate you and hurt you. _Soph._ Stop
-    your bad talk. _Paeg._ When I talk as you deserve, my talk
-    is good, not bad. _Soph._ What are you doing? _Paeg._ I'm
-    standing opposite and looking at you, a bad woman. _Soph._
-    Surely I never knew a worse boy than you. _Paeg._ What do I
-    do that's bad, or to whom do I say anything bad? _Soph._
-    To whomever you get a chance. _Paeg._ No man ever thought
-    so. _Soph._ But many know that it is so. _Paeg._ Ah! _Soph._
-    Bah! _Paeg._ You judge other people's characters by your own
-    nature. _Soph._ I confess I am as a pimp's maid should be.
-    _Paeg._ I've heard enough. _Soph._ What about you? Do you
-    confess you're as I say? _Paeg._ I'd confess if I were so.
-    _Soph._ Go off now. You're too much for me. _Paeg._ Then
-    you go off now. _Soph._ Tell me this: where are you going?
-    _Paeg._ Where are you going? _Soph._ You tell; I asked first.
-    _Paeg._ But you'll find out last. _Soph._ I'm not going far
-    from here. _Paeg._ And I'm not going far, either. _Soph._
-    Where are you going, then, scamp? _Paeg._ Unless I hear first
-    from you, you'll never know what you ask. _Soph._ I declare
-    you'll never find out to-day, unless I hear first from you.
-    _Paeg._ Is that so? _Soph._ Yes, it is. _Paeg._ You're bad.
-    _Soph._ You're a scamp. _Paeg._ I've a right to be. _Soph._
-    And I've just as good a right. _Paeg._ What's that you say?
-    Have you made up your mind not to tell where you're going,
-    you wretch? _Soph._ How about you? Have you determined to
-    conceal where you're bound for, you scoundrel? _Paeg._ Hang
-    it, you answer like with like. Go away now, since it's
-    settled so. I don't care to know. Good-by.
-
-[Sidenote: Statius Caecilius.] Statius Caecilius, an Insubrian by birth,
-probably came to Rome as a slave--that is, a captive--at some time not
-far from 200 B. C. Here he became a writer of comedies, was set free
-by his master, and lived in the same house with Ennius. He died about
-165 B. C. The titles of some forty plays by Caecilius are known; but
-the extant fragments are too short to afford much information as to
-his style, his ability, or the contents of his plays. As many of the
-titles of his pieces are known also as titles of plays by Menander, it
-is clear that Caecilius presented plays of the Greek new comedy in
-Latin form. He appears to have followed the Greek originals rather
-more closely than Plautus, and to have cultivated elegance of style
-rather than brilliant dialogue. [Sidenote: Other writers of comedies.]
-Other comic writers of the same time were Trabea, Atilius, Aquilius,
-Licinius Imbrex, and Luscius Lanuvinus, of whose works few fragments
-exist, and who are mentioned here merely to show that there were
-writers of comedies at Rome between Plautus and Terence. No one of
-them, however, seems to have possessed the originality and exuberant
-wit of Plautus, or to have attained the elegance and polish of
-Terence.
-
-[Sidenote: P. Terentius Afer.] Publius Terentius Afer, called Terence
-in English, was born at Carthage and brought to Rome as a slave. He can
-not have come as a captive to Rome, for his birth took place between
-the second and third Punic wars, at a time when the Romans were waging
-no war in Africa. He was the slave of the senator Terentius Lucanus, by
-whom he was carefully educated and soon set free. From him he derived
-his name Terentius, and he was called Afer on account of his African
-origin. He became intimate with Scipio Africanus the younger, his
-friend Laelius, and others of the most cultivated and prominent men of
-Rome. It was even said by some that the plays of Terence were really
-written by Scipio, while others thought Laelius was their author. This
-goes to prove that Terence was intimate with Scipio, Laelius, and the
-rest, and may be regarded as an indication of his age; for if he was
-much older than Scipio he would hardly have been charged with passing
-off Scipio's work as his own. If he was of the same age as Scipio he
-was born in 185 B. C., and in that case was only nineteen years old
-when the _Andria_, his first play, was produced in 166. It is therefore
-likely that he was a few years older than Scipio, and was born about
-190 B. C. After he had produced six comedies he went to Greece in 160
-B. C. to study, and died in the next year either on his way back to
-Rome or in Greece. His popularity with the most cultivated men of Rome
-testifies to his good breeding and agreeable manners. Suetonius tells
-us that he was of moderate height, slender figure, and dark complexion,
-that he had a daughter who was afterwards married to a Roman knight,
-and that he left property amounting to twenty acres. The six plays of
-Terence are all preserved to us, together with the dates of the first
-performance of each.
-
-[Sidenote: The Andria.] The _Andria_, produced at the Ludi Megalenses,
-166 B. C., is adapted from the _Andria_ of Menander, with additions
-from his _Perinthia_. A young man, Pamphilus, is in love with a girl
-from Andros, but his father, Simo, has arranged a marriage for him
-with the daughter of a neighbor, Chremes. Pamphilus's servant, Davus,
-succeeds in breaking off the match, and the girl from Andros is
-finally found to be a daughter of Chremes. Pamphilus and his beloved
-are united, and a second young man comes forward to marry the other
-daughter.
-
-The _Hecyra_ (Mother-in-law), first produced at the Ludi Megalenses,
-165 B. C., is adapted from the Greek of Apollodorus. [Sidenote: The
-Hecyra.] Pamphilus is a young man who has recently married Philumena,
-for whom he has no affection. He goes on a journey to attend to some
-property, and Philumena returns to her mother. Upon Pamphilus's return,
-a child born to Philumena in his absence is shown to be his, and he and
-Philumena are reconciled. This play was unsuccessful, and deservedly
-so, as it is the least interesting Latin comedy extant.
-
-[Sidenote: The Heauton-Timorumenos.] The _Heauton-Timorumenos_
-(Self-tormentor), after Menander's play of the same title, was produced
-at the Ludi Megalenses in 163 B. C. Menedemus has by his harshness
-driven his son Clinias, who is in love with Antiphila, to take
-service in a foreign army. He therefore torments himself on account
-of remorse, and he confides his troubles to his friend Chremes, whose
-son, Clitipho, is in love with Bacchis. When Clinias comes back from
-the wars, he and Clitipho get Chremes to receive Antiphila and Bacchis
-in his house, in the belief that Clinias is in love with Bacchis,
-and that Antiphila is her servant. Finally Antiphila is found to be
-the daughter of Chremes and is betrothed to Clinias. Clitipho gives
-up the spendthrift Bacchis. The comic personage of the play is the
-slave Syrus, who helps the young men to get the money they need. The
-character of Chremes is well drawn, but the action of the play is weak.
-
-[Sidenote: The Eunuchus.] The _Eunuchus_, produced at the Ludi
-Megalenses in 161 B. C., is adapted from the "Eunuch" of Menander,
-with additions from the "Flatterer" of the same author. The plot is
-complicated and interesting, involving a love affair between Thais
-and Phaedria, who has a soldier as his rival, and a second love affair
-between Pamphila, who had been brought up as foster sister to Thais,
-and Phaedria's brother, Chaerea. In order to approach Pamphila, Chaerea
-disguises himself as a eunuch. In the end Pamphila's brother Chremes
-appears, proclaims her free birth, and sanctions her marriage to
-Chaerea. The characters are well drawn, Chaerea, perhaps, the best of
-all, and the action is amusing.
-
-[Sidenote: The Phormio.] The _Phormio_, first performed at the Ludi
-Romani, in 161 B. C., is adapted from the Greek of Apollodorus. Two
-brothers, Chremes and Demipho, have gone on a journey, leaving their
-two sons, Phaedria and Antipho, in charge of a slave, Geta. Antipho
-marries a poor girl named Phanium, from Lesbos, and Phaedria falls in
-love with a slave girl, whose owner sells her to some one else, but
-agrees to give her to Phaedria if he brings the sum of thirty minae in
-one day. The two fathers return, and the parasite, Phormio, from whom
-the play takes its name, now has to get the money for Phaedria and to
-secure the consent of Demipho to the marriage of Antipho and Phanium.
-He gets the money from Demipho by telling him that he will himself
-marry Phanium for thirty minae, but just at the right moment Phanium is
-found to be the daughter of Chremes, and her marriage with Antipho is
-accepted by all parties. The plot is well carried out, and the two old
-men and their sons are well portrayed.
-
-[Sidenote: The Adelphoe.] The _Adelphoe_ (Brothers), after Menander's
-play of the same name, with additions from a play by Diphilus was
-first performed at the funeral games of Aemilius Paulus, in 160 B. C.
-Demea had two sons, and gave his brother, Micio, one of them, named
-Aeschinus, keeping the other, Ctesipho, himself. Micio is a bachelor,
-and treats Aeschinus with the greatest indulgence, whereas Demea is very
-strict toward Ctesipho, but the result is about the same. Ctesipho
-falls in love with a harpist, whom Aeschinus, to please his brother,
-carries off from her master. Aeschinus himself is engaged in an affair
-with the daughter of a poor widow. The girl is, however, of good Attic
-parentage, and Aeschinus has promised to marry her. In the end this
-marriage takes place, Ctesipho gets his harpist and Micio is persuaded
-to marry the widow.
-
-[Sidenote: Terence and Plautus compared.] The plays of Terence are
-written in a style far more advanced, more refined, and more artistic
-than those of Plautus, but they show much less originality, wit, and
-vigor. Plautus wrote at a time when Greek culture was already known to
-the Romans, but when it was less thoroughly appreciated than later,
-and he wrote not for any one class of Romans, but for the people. The
-language of Plautus is therefore the language of every-day life as it
-was spoken by the average Roman; his wit is of the kind that appealed
-to ordinary men, and his plays have much action, that the common man
-might enjoy them. Plautus took Greek plays and made them over to suit
-the average Roman. The position of Terence was different. In his day
-a cultivated class of Romans existed, who knew Greek literature well,
-who admired and loved Greek culture, but were none the less patriotic
-Romans. These men wished to introduce all that was best in Greece into
-Rome. So far as literature was concerned, they wished to make Latin
-literature as much like Greek literature as possible, and therefore
-encouraged imitation rather than originality, purity and grace of
-language rather than vigor of thought or expression. These were the
-men among whom Terence lived, and whose taste influenced him most.
-His plays contain few indications that they are written for a Roman
-audience (except, of course, that they are written in Latin), but are
-Greek in their refinement of language, gentle humor, and polished
-excellence of detail. There is less variety of metre than in the plays
-of Plautus, as, indeed, there is less variety of any kind, for Terence
-relies for his effect, not upon variety, but upon finished elegance. He
-is the earliest Latin author who tries to equal the Greeks in stylistic
-refinement, and few of those who came after him were as successful as
-he.
-
-Many of the qualities of the style of Terence are lost in translation;
-but something of the air of ease, naturalness, and good humor that
-pervades his plays is seen in the short scene in the Phormio, in which
-Demipho asks Nausistrata, the wife of Chremes, to persuade Phanium to
-marry Phormio.[9]
-
-    _Demipho._ Come then, Nausistrata, with your usual good nature
-    make her feel kindly toward us, so that she may do of her own
-    accord what must be done. _Nausistrata._ I will. _De._ You'll be
-    aiding me now with your good offices, just as you helped me a
-    while ago with your purse. _Na._ You're quite welcome; and upon
-    my word, it's my husband's fault that I can do less than I might
-    well do. _De._ Why, how is that? _Na._ Because he takes wretched
-    care of my father's honest savings; he used regularly to get
-    two talents from those estates. How much better one man is than
-    another! _De._ Two talents, do you say? _Na._ Yes, two talents,
-    and when prices were much lower than now. _De._ Whew! _Na._ What
-    do you think of that? _De._ Oh, of course--_Na._ I wish I'd been
-    born a man, I'd soon show you--_De._ Oh, yes, I'm sure. _Na._ The
-    way--_De._ Pray do save yourself up for her, lest she may wear
-    you out; she's young, you know. _Na._ I'll do as you tell me. But
-    there's my husband coming out of your house.
-
-[Sidenote: Turpilius.] The comedies of Plautus and Terence have served
-as the originals for almost countless plays in later times, and through
-them the Greek comedy has survived until our own day. There were other
-Latin writers of comedies derived from the Greek after Terence, most
-noted of whom was Turpilius, who died in 103 B. C., but of their works,
-which were unimportant, little remains. Of the _fabula togata_, Roman
-comedy in Roman dress, little need be said. It never attained great
-popularity, and it lasted but a comparatively short time. [Sidenote:
-Fabula togata. Titinius, Atta, Afranius.] The first writer of comedies
-of this sort was Titinius. About one hundred and eighty lines of
-fragments and fifteen titles of his plays are preserved, from which
-we can learn little about the quality of his works. He seems to have
-written a little later than Terence. Titus Quinctius Atta has left to
-us the titles of eleven plays and about twenty-five lines of fragments.
-Little is known of him except the date of his death, 77 B. C. Lucius
-Afranius, the last and most important writer of this kind of comedies,
-was born probably not far from 150 B. C. Forty-two titles and more than
-four hundred lines of fragments now remain to attest his activity. The
-scenes of the plays are laid in the smaller towns of Italy, and the
-characters belong for the most part to the lower social classes. In
-these respects Afranius seems to have differed little from Titinius and
-Atta, but his plays had apparently less local color than theirs, and
-thus approached more nearly the character of the _fabula palliata_ as
-developed by Terence.
-
-Three other kinds of dramatic composition deserve brief mention, though
-little now remains of them and their literary importance was never very
-great. [Sidenote: Fescennine Verses.] The _Fescennine Verses_, named
-from the town of Fescennium in Etruria, were originally sung at rustic
-festivals and weddings and consisted of jokes and sarcasms directed by
-the country folk at each other.
-
-They never became regular stage performances, and gradually lost
-their dramatic qualities, until they were nothing more than wedding
-songs. [Sidenote: Fabulae Atellanae.] The _Fabulae Atellanae_, named
-from the Oscan town of Atella, in Campania, had some sort of plot,
-carried out with more or less dramatic unity. The characters were
-conventional--Maccus, the fool, Pappus, the old man, Bucco, the talker
-and liar, Dossenus, the clever man and boaster, and the like--and
-the whole performance was a popular burlesque comedy, somewhat like
-our Punch and Judy. This sort of performance was introduced at Rome
-after the conquest of Campania, in 211 B. C., and Roman youths of good
-family took the parts for amusement. Somewhat later, the custom arose
-of performing an Atellan piece at the end of a tragedy. The performers
-were now regular actors, and presently the _Fabulae Atellanae_ became a
-regular branch of literature, the chief writers of which were Lucius
-Pomponius, from Bononia, and Novius, both of whom flourished in the
-time of Sulla, about 90 B. C. Few fragments of their works remain.
-The Atellan plays continued to be performed even after the beginning
-of the empire, but the words became less and less important, and the
-performance became mere pantomime. [Sidenote: Mimes.] Another kind of
-burlesque performance was the _Mime_, which was introduced into Rome
-from the Greek cities of Italy and Sicily. It had less consistent plots
-than comedy, and was more popular in its character. Though doubtless
-introduced at Rome as early as comedy itself, it hardly appears as
-a branch of literature until about the time of Cicero, when mimes
-serve as afterpieces at tragic performances. In imperial times mimes
-were performed independently. The chief authors of mimes were Decimus
-Laberius (105-43 B. C.), a Roman knight, and Publilius Syrus, a slave
-from Antioch, both belonging to the time of Caesar, about the middle of
-the first century B. C. No mimes are extant, nor is their loss to be
-greatly regretted, for their humor was generally coarse, their plots
-often indecent, and their literary qualities of a low order. Some of
-the fragments of the mimes of Laberius show, however, considerable
-merit, and in those of Publilius so many sensible precepts and wise
-utterances were embodied that a collection of his sayings was made,
-part of which is preserved to us.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III
-
-EARLY PROSE--THE SCIPIONIC CIRCLE--LUCILIUS
-
-    Greek influence upon Roman prose--Fabius Pictor, 216 B.
-    C.--Cincius Alimentus, 210 B. C.--Cato, 234-149 B. C.--Cato's
-    works--Orators--Jurists--Latin annalists--Scipio Africanus the
-    younger, 185-129 B. C.--The Scipionic circle--Lucilius, 180(?)-126
-    B. C.--Satire--Satires of Lucilius--Literature in the fifty
-    years before Cicero--Poetry--History--Learned works--General
-    writers--Jurists--Oratory--Rhetoric addressed to Herennius--Great
-    development of prose in this period.
-
-
-Tragedy and comedy began, reached their full development, and decayed
-in the short period of a century and a half between the first play of
-Livius Andronicus and the death of Accius. It was therefore advisable
-to give a connected account of dramatic literature at Rome for this
-entire period, and to reserve for separate treatment the beginnings of
-prose literature, which, though less rapid in its growth, had a far
-longer life and was a much truer expression of the national genius.
-
-[Sidenote: Greek influence upon Roman prose.] The rudiments of a
-strictly native prose literature, the twelve tables of the laws, the
-various lists and records, and the speeches delivered on public and
-private occasions, mark the lines along which Roman prose was destined
-to advance--history, jurisprudence, and eloquence. But Roman prose,
-like Roman poetry, came under the influence of Greek literature as
-soon as the Romans began to pay any attention to literary style. It
-was when the conquest of southern Italy brought Rome into closer
-contact than before with the cities of Magna Graecia that Livius
-Andronicus was brought to Rome, and it was in the years immediately
-after the first Punic war that he produced the first Latin plays in
-imitation of Greek originals. To about the same or a little later time
-belong the earliest Roman prose writers. Some of these men, regarding
-the Latin language as too imperfect for use in prose literature, wrote
-in Greek, recording the events of Roman history for the enlightenment
-of foreigners and of educated Romans. [Sidenote: Q. Fabius Pictor.]
-Such was Quintus Fabius Pictor, a man of much distinction at Rome, who
-was sent by the state to consult the oracle at Delphi after the battle
-of Cannae in 216 B. C. He wrote in Greek prose a history of Rome from
-the days of Aeneas to his own times, selecting the same subject chosen
-by his contemporary Ennius for his _Annales_ in Latin verse. This work
-of Fabius Pictor was very soon translated into Latin, and remained one
-of the chief sources from which later historians, such as Livy,
-derived their information. [Sidenote: L. Cincius Alimentus.] Lucius
-Cincius Alimentus, who was praetor in command of a Roman army in the
-second Punic war, wrote Roman history in Greek prose, as did also
-Publius Cornelius Scipio, the son of the elder Africanus, Aulus
-Postumius Albinus, and Gaius Acilius, about the middle of the second
-century B. C. Their works, being in Greek, had little direct influence
-on Latin literature, but show how powerful the Greek influence was
-among the cultivated men at Rome in the years following the second
-Punic war. [Sidenote: Greek influence.] This influence was not
-confined to literature, but affected dress, manners, ways of
-thinking--in short, all sides of life--especially among the
-upper classes. The Greeks of this time were no longer the hardy
-citizen-soldiers of the old days of Marathon and Thermopylae, but were
-now distinguished for culture, refinement, and scholarship, too often
-accompanied by effeminacy, luxury, and dishonesty. Not by any means
-all the Romans were ready to profit by contact with Greek
-civilization, with its mixture of good and bad qualities, and there
-was naturally a party at Rome which opposed everything Greek, and
-wished to preserve the old Roman simplicity. The most important man of
-this party was Cato.
-
-[Sidenote: M. Porcius Cato.] Marcus Porcius Cato was born at Tusculum,
-in 234 B. C., and died in 149 B. C. Throughout his life he was active
-in public affairs. He was quaestor (204 B. C.), aedile (199 B. C.),
-consul (195 B. C.), and censor (184 B. C.), and in all his offices
-showed his honesty, efficiency, singleness of purpose, and sincere,
-though somewhat narrow-minded, patriotism. He believed that the
-influence of Greek art, literature, philosophy, and ways of life
-was bad, though in his old age he learned the Greek language, and
-studied Greek literature. In a letter to his son, he says: "I shall
-speak about those Greeks in their proper place, son Marcus, and tell
-what I discovered at Athens, and that it is good to look into their
-literature, but not to learn it thoroughly. I shall convince you that
-their race is most worthless and unteachable."[10]
-
-Cato was opposed to the prevailing tendencies in literature--the
-tendencies which were destined to prevail--but in spite of that he was
-one of the most productive literary men of his time. [Sidenote: Cato
-as an orator.] His active political life gave him many occasions for
-public speaking, in the senate or before the people, and he spoke
-often in courts of law, either in suits of his own or as an advocate
-for others. One hundred and fifty of his speeches existed in Cicero's,
-time, and some, at least, were read and admired long after Cicero.
-About eighty scattered fragments now exist, some of which belong to
-political, others to legal speeches. These show vigor and terseness
-of expression, a sort of dry humor, and straightforward freedom of
-speech, but no elegance of style.
-
-Cato's most important work was the _Origines_, in seven books, the
-first Roman history in Latin prose. [Sidenote: The Origines.] In style
-and method this work was very uneven. Sometimes events were narrated in
-brief, annalistic fashion, at other times Cato devoted much space to
-details. One book, from which the whole work derived its name, told of
-the origins and early history of the various towns of Italy. The work
-treated of Roman and Italian history from the earliest times to Cato's
-own day, and in the latter part Cato took pains to give his own actions
-at least as much prominence as was their due, even inserting in his
-narrative the speeches he had delivered on various occasions. In the
-form of letters to his son, Cato composed treatises on agriculture, the
-care of health, eloquence, and the art of war. He also wrote a series
-of rules of conduct in verse, and made a collection of wise and witty
-sayings.
-
-[Sidenote: The treatise On Agriculture.] Of all his works the only
-one extant is a treatise _On Agriculture_. Born and brought up in the
-small town of Tusculum, and full of admiration for the simple virtues
-of the early Romans, Cato saw with deep disapproval the tendency of the
-men of his own day to give up agriculture for commercial and financial
-occupations. "It would sometimes be better to seek gain by commerce,
-if it were not so dangerous; and likewise by money-lending, if it were
-so honorable. For our ancestors held this matter thus, and put it in
-the laws in this way, that a thief be punished by a double fine, a
-money-lender by a fourfold one. From this one can see how much worse
-citizen they considered a money-lender than a thief. And when they
-praised a good man, it was a good farmer, a good colonist. They thought
-that a man was most amply praised who was praised in this way. Now I
-think a merchant is energetic and diligent in seeking gain; but, as I
-said above, he is exposed to danger and ruin. But from farmers both the
-bravest men and most energetic soldiers arise, and the business they
-follow is most pious and surest, and least exposed to envy; and those
-who are occupied in that pursuit are least given to evil thoughts."[11]
-In other parts of the book Cato gives in short, simple sentences,
-practical rules to be followed by the farmer. "Be sure to do everything
-early. For this is the way with farming: if you do one thing late, you
-will do all the work late." This style of short, sharp sentences, is
-characteristic of Cato. He despises all appearance of literary polish,
-as if he wished to show that the arts of elegance cultivated by most
-other Roman writers were unnecessary and undesirable.
-
-Cato was one of the most famous orators of his time, but his
-competitors were many, among them some of the most noted men of Rome.
-[Sidenote: Other orators.] Most of these orators were men of natural
-ability, whose eloquence was trained in the school of public life
-and owed its effect in great measure to the weight of the speaker's
-dignity or the glory of his deeds. Their speeches are lost, and the
-reputation they had survives only to remind us that during and after
-the second Punic war Roman eloquence was growing in power, preparing,
-as it were, for the brilliant oratory of the Gracchi in the second half
-of the second century B. C., and the superb productions of Cicero in
-the century to follow. Among orators of Cato's time should be mentioned
-Quintus Fabius Maximus Cunctator, five times consul, censor, and
-dictator, the conqueror of Hannibal, then Quintus Caecilius Metellus,
-consul in 206 B. C., Marcus Cornelius Cethegus (died in 196 B. C.),
-Publius Licinius Crassus (died 183 B. C.), and Scipio Africanus the
-elder (died 183 B. C.).
-
-[Sidenote: Jurists] In the field of jurisprudence there was
-considerable activity in the days of Cato. Publius Aelius (consul 201,
-died 174 B. C.) and his brother Sextus (consul 198 B. C.) published
-the most systematic work on jurisprudence. This work was called
-_Tripertita_, and was for centuries regarded with reverence as the
-beginning from which grew the great system of Roman law. Scipio Nasica
-(consul 191 B. C.), Lucius Acilius, Quintus Fabius Labeo (consul 183
-B. C.), and Cato's son (born about 192, died in 152 B. C.) were all
-distinguished jurists whose interpretation of the Twelve Tables and
-whose wisdom in regard to legal matters are mentioned with praise by
-later writers. Their writings have perished, but the results of their
-studies were incorporated in the later works on Roman law.
-
-[Sidenote: Latin annalists.] The annalists who wrote in Greek, such
-as Fabius Pictor, were followed, soon after the middle of the second
-century B. C., by several writers whose works differed from theirs
-chiefly by being written in Latin. They derived their general views and
-methods, as well as some of their facts, from earlier Greek historians,
-such as Ephorus and Timaeus. The first of these Latin annalists was
-Lucius Cassius Hemina, who wrote a history of Rome to his own time.
-Somewhat more important was Lucius Calpurnius Piso Frugi, who was
-consul in 133 B. C. His annals covered the same ground as those of
-Hemina, and are said to have been written in an artless, somewhat rude
-style. A similar lack of elegance seems to have belonged to the works
-of the other annalists of this time. Evidently the Romans had not yet
-learned to write artistic prose. Yet this is the period when, under the
-guidance of Greek teachers, the Romans were paying more attention than
-ever before to grammar and rhetoric, purity of language, and nicety of
-expression.
-
-[Sidenote: Scipio.] The man about whom the best literary life of the
-city centred was Scipio Africanus the younger, who lived from 185 to
-129 B. C. He was the son of the distinguished Lucius Aemilius Paulus,
-whose victory at Pydna, in 168 B. C., had destroyed the last foreign
-power capable of making serious resistance to the Roman legions, and
-he had been adopted by the son of the elder Scipio Africanus. He was
-himself a distinguished soldier, for as a simple officer (_tribunus
-militum_) he had saved the Roman army in Africa, after which he had
-been made consul and commander of the army which brought the third
-Punic war to a close by the capture and destruction of Carthage (146
-B. C.). It might have been expected that he would take an active part
-in the government, especially as in his time the state needed the
-help of her best citizens. But Scipio seems to have felt that the
-internal troubles, which beset the state now that all external dangers
-were over, were too serious to be cured. He used his influence for
-good wherever he was able, but made no systematic attempt to correct
-the abuses of the government, which led at last to the revolutionary
-disorders of the days of the Gracchi (133-121 B. C.). Instead of
-being a party leader, he occupied a position somewhat apart from
-the aristocratic and the popular parties, lending his influence and
-his eloquence to the causes that seemed to him good, and in this
-way preserving a reputation for independence and good judgment. His
-patriotism was undoubted, and his influence as great as that of any man
-in Rome.
-
-[Sidenote: The Scipionic circle.] Scipio had been carefully educated,
-and employed his leisure in literary and intellectual pursuits. He was
-not an author himself, except in so far as he published his speeches,
-which were much admired, but he loved to be surrounded by men of
-letters, to profit by their conversation, and lend them the support of
-his social position and influence. His somewhat older friend, Gaius
-Laelius, who was consul in 140 B. C., shared his literary tastes, though
-he, too, refrained from publishing other works than speeches. From 167
-to 150 B. C. a thousand Greeks of prominent position in their native
-country were kept as hostages in Italy. Among these was the historian
-Polybius, who was assigned a residence in Rome, and who became a member
-of the circle of literary friends who surrounded Scipio and Laelius.
-The Stoic philosopher Panaetius, who afterward became the head of the
-Stoic school, was another Greek belonging to the Scipionic circle. The
-influence of Panaetius upon Roman philosophy was great, as was that of
-Polybius upon the writing of Roman history. But Latin writers also
-gathered about Scipio. Among them were Terence (see page 24), the most
-polished writer of comedies; Hemina and Piso, the annalists; Gaius
-Fannius, a nephew of Laelius, who was consul in 122 B. C., and achieved
-distinction as an orator, besides writing a history of Rome; Sempronius
-Asellio, whose history of his own times was continued at least to 91 B.
-C.; Lucius Furius Philus, consul in 136 B. C., orator and jurist, and
-many others. Among them all, the most original genius was the father of
-Roman satire, Gaius Lucilius.
-
-[Sidenote: Gaius Lucilius.] Lucilius was born, probably in 180 B. C.,
-at Suessa Aurunca, in Campania. He was a member of a wealthy equestrian
-family, and when he went to live at Rome he kept himself free from the
-cares of business as well as of politics, devoting himself to social
-life and to literature. He lived as a wealthy bachelor, not holding
-himself aloof from the pleasures of the capital, but not indulging in
-excesses. Most of his life was passed in the city, but in 134 B. C. he
-followed Scipio to the war in Spain, and in 126 B. C., when all who
-were not Roman citizens were obliged to leave Rome, he made a journey
-to Sicily, from which he did not return until 124 B. C. He died at
-Naples in 103 B. C.
-
-[Sidenote: Satire.] The name _satire_, (_satura_) may be derived from
-the _lanx satura_, a dish full of all sorts of fruits, and as applied
-to poems by Ennius (see p. 8), designates poems of mixed contents.
-Perhaps all the poems of Ennius, except his dramas and his great epic,
-may have been classed together as satires. At any rate, Lucilius is the
-first writer who gave to satire the definite character it has possessed
-ever since his time. He made his poems the vehicle for the expression
-of sharp and biting attacks upon persons, institutions, and customs
-of his day, for genial and humorous remarks about the failings of his
-neighbors, and for much information about himself. Ever since Lucilius,
-satire has been at once sharp and humorous, bitter and sweet. This kind
-of poetry, which takes the form of dialogue, familiar conversation, or
-letters, is not Greek, but is the invention of him who must be regarded
-as the most original of all Roman poets.
-
-[Sidenote: The Satires of Lucilius.] The _Satires_ of Lucilius were
-contained in thirty books, each book containing several satires.
-The subjects treated were of all sorts--the faults and foibles of
-individuals, the defects of works of literature, the ridiculous
-imitation of Greek manners and dress, the absurdities of Greek
-mythology, the folly of expensive dinner parties, the author's journey
-to Sicily, Latin grammar, the proper spelling of Latin words, and
-Scipio's journey to Egypt and Asia. The personality of the writer, his
-mode of life, and his views on all subjects were so clearly brought
-before his readers that the _Satires_ were a complete autobiography.
-They were written for the most part in hexameters, the metre which
-was adopted by all later Roman satirists, but some of them were in
-iambic _senarii_ and trochaic _septenarii_, others in elegiacs.[12]
-They were not written at one time, but their composition was continued
-at intervals through many years, for Lucilius was not a professional
-poet, but a man of letters who expressed himself in verse whenever he
-felt inclined. His form of expression was unconventional, resembling
-conversation (in fact he called the poems _sermones_, "conversations"),
-with free use of dialogue. Careful literary finish was not attempted,
-and Horace, whose satires are imitations of those of Lucilius, blames
-the older poet for carelessness. But the easy and natural tone of the
-poems must have more than made up for any lack of polish.
-
-[Sidenote: The extant fragments.] The extant fragments amount to
-more than eleven hundred lines, but are for the most part short and
-disconnected. In one,[13] Lucilius seems to accept with pleasure
-an invitation to dinner "with good conversation, well cooked and
-seasoned"; in another,[14] he reproves the luxury which leads to greed
-of gain: "For if that which is enough for a man could be enough, it
-would be enough. Now, since this is not so, how can we think that any
-riches can satisfy my soul?" Again,[15] he describes a miser as one who
-has no cattle nor slaves nor any attendant, but keeps his purse and all
-the money he has always with him. "He eats, sleeps, and bathes with
-his purse; the man's whole hope is in his purse alone. This purse is
-fastened to his arm." One of the longest fragments[16] is a description
-of _virtus_ (virtue):
-
-    Virtue, Albinus, is being able to pay the true price for the
-    things in and by which we live; virtue is knowing to what each
-    thing leads for a man. Virtue is knowing what is right, useful,
-    honorable for a man, what things are good, what bad likewise,
-    what is useless, base, dishonorable; virtue is knowing the limit
-    and measure in seeking anything; virtue is giving to riches their
-    true value; virtue is giving to honor what is really due to it; is
-    being an enemy and opponent of bad men and morals, on the other
-    hand a defender of good men and morals, regarding them as of much
-    importance, wishing them well, living as their friend; moreover,
-    considering the advantages of one's country first, of one's
-    relatives second, of ourselves third and last.
-
-Other fragments contain direct attacks upon individuals, but these
-which have been quoted serve to give an idea of the freedom of speech,
-good sense, and serious purpose of the first great satirist.
-
-[Sidenote: Literature in the fifty years before Cicero.] The life
-of Lucilius fell in a period of many changes. As a boy, he saw the
-Roman power established in the east, before he reached middle life
-he witnessed the destruction of Carthage, then he lived through the
-troublous years before and after the death of Tiberius Gracchus in
-133 B. C. and that of his brother Gaius in 121 B. C., and in the year
-before his death he saw the consulship in the hands of Gaius Marius. It
-was not until the long struggle between Marius and Sulla was over that
-any measure of tranquility returned to the Roman state. Then came the
-Golden Age of Roman literature. But for fifty years before the time of
-Cicero circumstances at Rome were not favorable to literary production
-of every kind. Lucilius, Accius, Afranius and a few other poets lived
-on until about the end of the second century B. C., but there was
-little new life in poetry. Gnaeus Matius translated the Iliad, and
-Laevius Melissus imitated some of the lighter Greek poems. [Sidenote:
-Poetry.] The epic poem of Hostius on the Istrian war and that of Aulus
-Furius from Antium (Furius Antias) on an unknown subject have left
-hardly any traces. It is not worth while to mention in detail the
-occasional love songs and epigrams written by various authors. Aside
-from Lucilius and the dramatists already mentioned, there are no poets
-of note in this period.
-
-[Sidenote: History.] In history, the production was greater and more
-important. Fannius and Asellio were emulated by Coelius Antipater,
-whose history of the second Punic war was of some importance, and he
-was followed by Quintus Claudius Quadrigarius, who wrote a history of
-Rome in at least twenty-three books, coming down to the year 82 B. C.
-Another more voluminous but less trustworthy historian was Valerius
-Antias, who wrote annals in at least seventy-five books. His date is
-uncertain, but he seems to have lived early in the first century B.
-C. Two other historians of the latter part of this period were Lucius
-Cornelius Sisenna (119-67 B. C.), who wrote a history of his own
-times in an antiquated style, and Gaius Licinius Macer, whose annals,
-beginning with the earliest times, were probably continued until near
-the date of his death (66 B. C.). The dictator Sulla (138-78 B. C.)
-wrote memoirs, which must have possessed great historical value. Gaius
-Sempronius Tuditanus (consul in 129 B. C.) was not only an annalist,
-but also an antiquarian.[17]
-
-[Sidenote: Jurists.] Important writers on legal subjects were Publius
-Mucius Scaevola (consul in 133 B. C.) and his brother Publius Licinius
-Crassus Mucianus (consul in 131 B. C.), but more important than either
-was Quintus Mucius Scaevola (consul in 95 B. C.), whose systematic
-treatment of Roman law served as the foundation for all later works on
-the subject. Quintus Scaevola was also distinguished as an orator.
-
-[Sidenote: Oratory.] Throughout the period from the third Punic
-war to the dictatorship of Sulla--and, in fact, until the death of
-Cicero--nearly every public man at Rome was an orator, and many of them
-published their speeches. In the times of the Gracchi, Rome contained,
-perhaps, more excellent speakers than at any other period, among whom
-none equalled in force, brilliancy and oratorical power the great,
-though unsuccessful, statesman and patriot Gaius Gracchus, (154-121
-B. C.), who far surpassed his elder brother Tiberius (163-133 B. C.)
-in eloquence, though he, too, was an orator of distinction. After the
-Gracchi the most distinguished orators were Marcus Antonius (143-87
-B. C.) and Lucius Licinius (140-91 B. C.), the first of whom excelled
-in vigor and liveliness of delivery, the second in wit, elegance and
-variety of composition. These orators were not merely men with natural
-ability to speak, but were carefully trained in accordance with the
-precepts of Greek rhetoric.
-
-Of all the works mentioned so far in this chapter, only one--Cato's
-treatise _On Agriculture_--has come down to us entire, and only the
-satires of Lucilius are known to us by numerous fragments. [Sidenote:
-These works lost.] The other works and their authors have left little
-more than their names. There is, however, one work, now usually
-ascribed to Cornificius, an author of whom nothing is known, which
-is preserved entire. [Sidenote: Rhetorica ad Herennium.] This is the
-_Rhetoric Addressed to Herennius_, which was preserved because it was
-falsely included among Cicero's works. The treatise goes over much
-the same ground as Cicero's youthful essay _On Invention_, which is
-evidently intended to be little more than a new and improved edition of
-the earlier work.
-
-The importance of the period immediately preceding the time of Cicero
-can not be judged by the extant literature, but must be estimated by
-the number of works and authors mentioned by later writers and the
-qualities assigned to them. [Sidenote: Great progress of prose.] It
-is at once evident that poetry made little progress, while prose
-writing of all kinds advanced with rapid strides. It is only natural,
-therefore, that the age of Cicero should be the most brilliant period
-of Latin prose, and that the highest general development of poetry
-should be reserved for the Augustan age. Yet, even the Augustan age
-can only equal, not surpass, the immortal poems of two of Cicero's
-contemporaries, Lucretius and Catullus.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV
-
-LUCRETIUS
-
-    The Ciceronian period--Lucretius, 99(?)-55(?) B. C.--Philosophy at
-    Rome--The poem of Lucretius--Its purpose, contents, and style.
-
-
-It was in the dictatorship of Sulla, 81 B. C., that Cicero made his
-first appearance as an orator, and almost from that time until his
-death, in 43 B. C., he was the most prominent orator and man of
-letters in Rome. [Sidenote: The age of Cicero a time of unrest.] It
-is but right that in the history of literature this period of nearly
-forty years is called the age of Cicero. In political and external
-matters this was a time of great unrest. Sulla's dictatorship, which
-seemed to put an end to strife, served only to strengthen the power
-of the senate, not to diminish its abuses; the increase of the slave
-population of Italy still continued to drive the freeborn farmers to
-Rome to swell the number of the city rabble; the slaves themselves
-broke out into open war; the provinces were discontented on account
-of the extortions of their governors; the Cilician pirates became
-so powerful that their suppression was a matter of some difficulty;
-Mithridates aroused a war in the east, and was overcome only by great
-exertion; while in Rome itself the conspiracy of Catiline and the
-struggle between Pompey and Caesar clearly foreshadowed the end of the
-republic.
-
-[Sidenote: Wealth and culture. Progress of literature.] This period
-was at the same time one of great material prosperity at Rome. In
-spite of disturbing influences, wealth increased, interest in art and
-literature was wide-spread, and there was, alongside of much vulgar
-extravagance and display, a steady growth in culture and refinement.
-By the beginning of this period the Latin language had become a proper
-medium of expression in prose and verse, though its natural qualities
-of rigidity and precision made it always better adapted to the needs
-of the commander, orator, jurist, and historian than to the lighter
-and more varied uses of the poet. Among the poets of the time, some
-followed in the footsteps of Ennius, while others imitated the poems
-of the Alexandrian Greeks, characterized by mythological learning,
-elegance of execution, and emptiness of contents. Of this latter school
-Catullus was the only one who rose to greatness, breathing into his
-verse the fire of poetic genius, while Lucretius stands out as the one
-great and commanding figure among the poets who continued the technical
-traditions of Ennius.
-
-[Sidenote: Life of Lucretius.] Of the life of Lucretius little is
-known. Jerome, under the year 95 B. C., says: "Titus Lucretius, the
-poet, was born, who afterwards was made insane by a love potion,
-and, when he had in the intervals of his madness written several
-books, which Cicero corrected, killed himself by his own hand in
-the forty-fourth year of his age."[18] Donatus, in his _Life of
-Virgil_,[19] says that Lucretius died on the day when Virgil was
-fifteen years old, i. e., October 15, 55 B. C. This does not agree
-with the statement of Jerome. Cicero, in a letter written in February,
-54 B. C.,[20] mentions the poems of Lucretius, but says nothing about
-correcting or editing them. This is the only contemporary reference to
-Lucretius or his work. Now the great poem of Lucretius was evidently
-never entirely finished by its author, who was therefore probably dead
-when Cicero wrote this letter. The date (55 B. C.) for his death is
-thus corroborated. The date of his birth must remain uncertain, but it
-was probably not far from 99 B. C. Jerome's statement that Lucretius
-was insane and committed suicide is not in itself improbable. His work
-shows him to have been a man of passionate and intense feelings, and
-gives some ground for the belief that in the course of his life he was
-subjected to great emotional strain. Of his friends and his daily life
-we know nothing. His poem is dedicated to Memmius, who is generally
-supposed to be the Gaius Memmius who was propraetor in Bithynia in 57 B.
-C.
-
-The only work of Lucretius is a didactic poem of six books, in
-hexameter verse, _On the Nature of Things_ (_De Rerum Natura_), in
-which he expounds the doctrines of Epicurus. [Sidenote: Philosophy
-known to the Romans.] The Romans had been for many years acquainted
-with Greek philosophical teachings, especially with those of the Stoic
-and Epicurean schools. The Stoic doctrines had been taught by one of
-the most eminent philosophers of the second century B. C., Panaetius,
-the friend of the younger Scipio Africanus, and were clearly congenial
-to the Roman temperament; for the Stoics taught that virtue is the
-highest good, that nothing else is worth striving for, and that the
-ordinary pleasures of life are mere interruptions of the philosopher's
-peace. The Epicurean doctrine, that pleasure is the highest good, was
-popular only with those who wished to devote themselves to selfish and
-physical enjoyment, for the higher aspects of the doctrines of Epicurus
-were not understood. As early as 161 B. C. the senate had passed a
-vote banishing philosophers and rhetoricians from Rome, and six years
-later, when three famous philosophers--Diogenes the Stoic, Critolaus
-the Peripatetic, and Carneades of the Academic school--came to Rome,
-they aroused so much interest that the senate decided to remove them
-from the city as soon as possible. Greek philosophy was, then, not a
-new thing at Rome, but the poem of Lucretius is the first systematic
-presentation of the Epicurean doctrines.
-
-The purpose of the poem is to free men from superstition and the fear
-of death by teaching the doctrines of Epicurus. [Sidenote: The reason
-for writing in verse.] This is a most serious purpose, and Lucretius
-is thoroughly in earnest. If he adopts the poetic form, it is in order
-to make his presentation of the doctrines more attractive, in the hope
-that it will thus have greater influence. This point of view, and at
-the same time the poet's sense of the difficulty of his theme and his
-power to cope with it, is clearly expressed in the following passage:
-
-    Come now, and what remaineth learn and hear
-    More clearly. Well in my own mind I know
-    The doctrine is obscure; but mighty hope
-    Of praise has struck my heart with maddening wand,
-    And with the blow implanted in my breast
-    The sweet love of the Muses, filled with which
-    I wander with fresh mind through pathless tracts
-    Of the Pierides, untrod before
-    By any mortal's foot. 'Tis sweet to go
-    To fountains new and drink; and sweet it is
-    To pluck new flow'rs and seek a garland thence
-    For my own head, whence ne'er before a crown
-    The Muses twined for any mortal's brow.
-    'Tis first because I teach of weighty things
-    And guide my course to set the spirit free
-    From superstition's closely knotted bonds;
-    And next because concerning matters dark
-    I write such lucid verses, touching all
-    With th' Muses' grace. Then, too, because it seems
-    Not without reason; but as when men try
-    In curing boys to give them bitter herbs,
-    They touch the edges round about the cups
-    With yellow liquid of the honey sweet,
-    That children's careless age may be deceived
-    As far as to the lips, and meanwhile drink
-    The juice of bitter herb, and though deceived
-    May not be harmed, but rather in such wise
-    Gain health and strength, so I now, since my theme
-    Seems gloomy for the most part unto those
-    To whom 'tis not familiar, and the crowd
-    Shrinks back from it, have wished to treat for thee
-    My theme with sweetly speaking poetry's verse
-    And touch it with the Muses' honey sweet.[21]
-
-[Sidenote: Arrangement and contents of the poem.] The arrangement
-of the poem is as follows: Book i sets forth the atomic theory,
-invented by Democritus and held by Epicurus, that the world consists
-of atoms--infinitely small particles of matter--and void, i. e., empty
-space. The theories of other Greek philosophers, such as Heraclitus,
-Empedocles, and Anaxagoras, are refuted. In Book ii it is explained
-how the atoms combine to form the various things in the world, because
-as they fall through space they depart from a straight line and come
-in contact with each other. It is also shown that the atoms, although
-infinite in number, are limited in variety. In Book iii the mind and
-the soul, or principle of life, are shown to be material and to die
-when the body dies. Religion and the fear of death, which Lucretius
-regards as a result of religion, are attacked. Since the soul dies with
-the body, there is no reason to fear death, because after death we
-shall feel no lack of anything, shall have no troubles, but shall be as
-if we had not been born, or as if we lay wrapped in dreamless sleep:
-
-    So death to us is naught, concerns us not,
-    When the soul's nature is as mortal known.[22]
-
-Book iv shows how the impressions made upon our senses are caused by
-minute images detached from the objects about us. We see, for instance,
-because minute images of the object seen strike our eyes. Dreams and
-love are also treated in this book. In Book v the origin of the earth,
-sun, moon, and stars is described, the beginning of life is explained,
-and the progress of civilization, from the time when men were savages,
-is depicted. Some passages in this book anticipate in a measure the
-modern doctrine of the survival of the fittest. Since our world was not
-created, but came into being naturally by the combinations of atoms, it
-will also come to an end at some time by the separation of the atoms.
-In Book vi various striking phenomena are treated, such as thunder,
-lightning, earthquakes, tempests, and volcanoes. The book ends with
-a description of the plague at Athens, derived from the account of
-Thucydides.
-
-[Sidenote: Ethical doctrine.] Since the main purpose of the poem
-is to free men from religion and the fear of death by showing that
-all things, including the soul, came into being and are to pass
-away without any action of the gods, ethical doctrines are not
-systematically treated. Lucretius accepts, however, the Epicurean dogma
-that pleasure is the chief good, "the guide of life,"[23] but the
-pleasure he has in mind is not the common physical pleasure, but the
-calm repose of the philosopher:
-
-    Oh wretched minds of men, oh blinded hearts!
-    Within what shades of life and dangers great
-    Is passed whate'er of age we have! Dost thou
-    Not see that nature makes demand for naught
-    Save this, that pain be absent from our frame,
-    That she, removed from care at once and fear,
-    May have her pleasure in the joys of mind?[24]
-
-Again, in the splendid praise of Epicurus, which opens the fifth book,
-he says that we may live without grain or wine,
-
-    But well one can not live without pure heart.[25]
-
-The only Greek philosophers, besides Epicurus, of whom Lucretius
-speaks in terms of praise are Democritus, from whom Epicurus borrowed
-the atomic theory, and Empedocles. Perhaps Lucretius imitates in his
-work the poem of Empedocles, which bore the same title. At any rate,
-Empedocles was a man of exalted modes of thought and dignified, poetic
-expression, qualities which would naturally awaken admiration in the
-mind of Lucretius. [Sidenote: His reading, observation, and love of
-nature.] That Lucretius was well acquainted with the great works of
-Greek literature and with the writings of Naevius, Ennius, Pacuvius,
-Lucilius, and Accius, is evident from direct references to them, or
-imitations of them. But he was not merely a student of books. His power
-of observation and his love of nature are shown in many passages, as
-where he describes the raging winds and rivers,[26] the life and motion
-of an army,[27] the striking features of the island of Sicily,[28] the
-echo in the mountains,[29] or pleasant repose under a shady tree on the
-grass by the river side.[30]
-
-[Sidenote: Two famous passages.] The poem opens with an invocation to
-Venus, which is justly famous. The first lines are:
-
-    Goddess from whom descends the race of Rome,
-      Venus, of earth and heaven supreme delight,
-    Hail, thou that all beneath the starry dome--
-      Lands rich with grain and seas with navies white--
-    Blessest and cherishest! Where thou dost come
-      Enamelled earth decks her with posies bright
-    To meet thy advent; clouds and tempests flee,
-    And joyous light smiles over land and sea.[31]
-
-Another famous passage is the beginning of Book ii, which has been
-translated into English hexameters as follows:
-
-    Sweet, when the great sea's water is stirred to its depth
-      by the storm winds,
-    Standing ashore to descry one afar off mightily struggling;
-    Not that a neighbor's sorrow to you yields dulcet enjoyment;
-    But that the sight hath a sweetness, of ills ourselves are exempt
-      from.
-    Sweet 'tis too to behold, on a broad plain mustering war-hosts
-    Arm them for some great battle, one's self unscathed by the danger;
-    Yet still happier this: To possess, impregnably guarded,
-    Those calm heights of the sages which have for an origin Wisdom;
-    Thence to survey our fellows, observe them this way and that way
-    Wander amid Life's paths, poor stragglers seeking a highway;
-    Watch mind battle with mind, and escutcheon rival escutcheon;
-    Gaze on that untold strife, which is waged 'neath the sun and the
-      starlight,
-    Up as they toil on the surface whereon rest Riches and Empire.[32]
-
-Lucretius was perfectly aware that his subject was not an easy one to
-treat in verse, but was confident of his own power. His work shows that
-his confidence was justified. Yet even he could not, in explaining the
-details of the philosophy of Epicurus, move always in the upper realms
-of poetry. [Sidenote: Style.] The result is that the poem is uneven. In
-parts it rises to heights hardly attained by any other Latin author,
-but in other parts long passages are dull and monotonous. Yet even in
-these parts the verses have a serious, dignified music, the language
-is carefully chosen, and the subject is treated with consistency,
-clearness, and vigor. In the more animated portions of his work,
-Lucretius speaks almost like an inspired prophet. His thought hurries
-his lines along with increasing impetus, until their flow seems almost
-irresistible. Strength, rapidity, and power are the most striking
-features of his style. Minor elements are frequent assonances of
-various kinds, such as alliteration, repetition, the use of two or more
-words from one root, and the like, elaborate similes, and occasionally
-the form of direct address. With all these, the style is characterized
-by an austere dignity.
-
-In his discussion of the development of the universe, and especially
-in the part dealing with living creatures, man, and the progress of
-civilization, Lucretius expresses conclusions not unlike some of those
-reached in our own day by modern science. [Sidenote: Anticipation of
-modern science.] But his processes are not scientific. He reasons,
-to be sure, from concrete facts to theories and from theories again
-to concrete facts, but the method of his reasoning is unlike that of
-modern science. Lucretius, like other philosophers of ancient times,
-having once accepted a theory which explains certain phenomena, makes
-his theory the rule by which all phenomena are to be measured and in
-accordance with which they are to be understood. It is interesting to
-note that Lucretius, following Democritus and Epicurus, anticipates
-to a certain extent the modern atomic theory, the theories of the
-evolution of species, of the survival of the fittest, and of the
-continual progress of mankind from a condition of savagery to
-civilization, but his conclusions are reached, not by the patient toil
-of modern scientific research, but by abstract theorizing, to which his
-poetic imagination gives vividness and almost convincing power.
-
-The greatness of Lucretius as a poet has always been recognized by
-critical readers; but he has never been a popular author. His subject
-is too abstruse and his style too austere and dignified to appeal to
-the taste of the masses, which probably accounts for the fact that his
-poem has come down to us through only one copy, from which all the
-existing manuscripts are derived.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V
-
-CATULLUS--MINOR POETS
-
-    Catullus, about 84-54 B. C.--His life--The book of poems--The
-    longer poems--The shorter poems--Minor poets--Gnaeus
-    Matius--Laevius--Sueius--Gaius Licinius Calvus, 87-47 B. C.--Gaius
-    Helvius Cinna--Varro Atacinus, 82 to after 37 B. C.--Publius
-    Valerius Cato--Marcus Furius Bibaculus--Gaius Memmius, propraetor
-    in 57 B. C.--Ticidas--Quintus Cornificius--Cornelius Nepos--Marcus
-    Tullius Cicero--Quintus Cicero.
-
-
-The greatest lyric poet of the Ciceronian period is Gaius Valerius
-Catullus. [Sidenote: Life of Catullus.] The exact dates of his birth
-and death are uncertain. According to Jerome he was born in 87 B.
-C., and died in 57 B. C., at the age of thirty years. But in one
-poem[33] he refers to Pompey's second consulship (55 B. C.), and in two
-others[34] he mentions Caesar's expedition to Britain (55 B. C.). It is
-therefore evident that his death can not have taken place in 57 B. C.
-But as his poems contain no references to any event later than 55 or 54
-B. C., it is reasonably certain that he died not much after the latter
-date. As he is known to have died young, his birth may be assigned to
-about 85 B. C., or perhaps a year or two later. His birthplace was
-Verona, and his family was wealthy and of good position. He went to
-Rome while still hardly more than a boy, and began to write love poems
-soon after taking the _toga virilis_, that is to say, at the age of
-seventeen. Rome was then a brilliant capital, in which Greek culture,
-with all its intellectual vivacity and all its vices, had taken firm
-root. The family connections of the young Catullus, whose father was a
-friend of Julius Caesar, introduced him to the aristocratic society of
-the capital, and his personal qualities doubtless contributed to make
-him a prominent figure among the gay youth of the city.
-
-[Sidenote: Lesbia.] About 61 B. C. began his passionate love for the
-brilliant but dissolute woman whom he has immortalized in his poems
-under the name of Lesbia. Her real name was Clodia, and when he met
-her she was the wife of Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer. For a time
-she seemed at least to return the love of her young adorer, but almost
-immediately after her husband's death, which took place in 59 B. C.,
-she is reproached by Catullus for faithlessness. In the spring of 57 B.
-C., Catullus went to Bithynia as a member of the staff of the propraetor
-C. Memmius, and by this time his connection with Clodia seems to have
-been at an end. In the spring of 56 B. C., Catullus returned to Rome,
-after visiting the tomb of his brother, who had died in the Troad. From
-this time on his poems are still in part poems of love, but they lack
-the passionate fire of the lines addressed to Lesbia. Most of the poems
-belonging to the last years of his life, when they contain personal
-allusions, are inspired rather by the political events of the time than
-by love.
-
-[Sidenote: The Book of Poems.] The poems of Catullus, as they have
-been handed down to us, form a small book of 2,280 lines. They are not
-arranged chronologically, but rather according to contents and style.
-The first sixty are short poems in various lyric metres, and have to
-do with the poet's love, with his friends and enemies, and with the
-experiences of his life. These are followed by seven longer poems in
-imitation of Alexandrian originals, and the rest of the collection
-consists of short pieces, all in elegiac verse. This arrangement is
-doubtless due to some editor, not to Catullus himself, but gives the
-book a certain artistic unity which would be lacking if the poems were
-arranged in chronological order. A few quotations from Catullus which
-can not be identified with passages in the extant poems are found in
-the works of other writers, but they are so few as to indicate that
-nearly all he ever wrote is contained in the existing book.
-
-[Sidenote: The epithalamia.] In the longer poems Catullus shows himself
-a consummate master of language and versification and a skillful
-imitator of the Alexandrian poetry most popular among the younger
-literary men of his time. The first epithalamium, or wedding song,
-composed for the marriage of Manlius Torquatus and Vinia Arunculeia,
-is written in lyric metre of short lines. It is supposed to be
-sung as the bride is escorted to her new home, the first part by a
-chorus of maidens, the second by youths. Such songs were traditional
-among the Greeks as well as among the Romans, and there is little
-originality in the subject or its general treatment, but the brilliant
-versification and the charming tender passages it contains make this
-the most attractive of all the longer poems of Catullus. The second
-epithalamium, in hexameter verse, was apparently composed for no
-special occasion. A chorus of youths and a chorus of maidens sing
-responses, calling upon Hymenaeus, the god of marriage, and describing
-by allusion the passage of the bride from maidenhood to wifehood.
-So the maidens compare her to a flower that has grown in a secluded
-garden, and the youths compare her to a vine that twines about an elm.
-
-The third of the longer poems, the sixty-third of the whole collection,
-is the only existing Latin poem in the difficult and complicated
-galliambic metre. It describes the madness of the youth Attis, who
-mutilates himself and gives himself up to the service of the goddess
-Cybele. The despair of Attis when he recovers from his madness and
-yearns for his country, his friends, and his past happiness, is
-depicted with admirable power, and the ecstatic worship of Cybele is
-most vividly portrayed. [Sidenote: The other long poems.] The longest
-poem of all describes in hexameter verse the marriage of Peleus with
-the sea-goddess Thetis. This is not in any sense a lyric poem, but
-an epyllion, or little epic. It contains passages of great beauty,
-but offers little opportunity for the display of the peculiarly lyric
-genius of Catullus, and is, on the whole, the least successful of his
-poems. This is followed by _The Lock of Berenice_, a translation of a
-poem of the same name by the Alexandrian Callimachus. Queen Berenice
-had cut off a lock of her hair in accordance with a vow when her
-husband returned safe from war. The lock disappeared from the temple
-in which it had been offered, and the astronomer Conon discovered it
-as a new constellation in the heavens. The lock of hair is supposed
-to speak and to yearn for its former place upon the forehead of the
-queen. In the preface to this poem, which is addressed to the orator
-Hortensius Hortalus, Catullus speaks in beautiful lines of the death of
-his brother:
-
-    Oh, is thy voice forever hushed and still?
-      Oh, brother, dearer far than life, shall I
-    Behold thee never? But in sooth I will
-      Forever love thee, as in days gone by:
-      And ever through my songs shall ring a cry
-    Sad with thy death, sad as in thickest shade
-      Of intertangled boughs the melody,
-    Which by the woful Daulian bird is made,
-    Sobbing for Itys dead her wail through all the glade.[35]
-
-The _Lock of Berenice_ is followed by a conversation with a door, which
-hints at several immoral stories. The last of the longer poems is an
-elegy on the death of the poet's brother, joined with the praises of
-his friend M'. Allius and of his beloved. This poem is remarkable for
-the number of digressions it contains, and in this, as in its general
-tone, it is an imitation of the Alexandrian style.
-
-The seven poems just described contain many beautiful passages, but
-they show us Catullus chiefly as the learned, skillful, and successful
-imitator of Alexandrian Greek models. [Sidenote: The short poems.] His
-real genius appears in the shorter poems, which deal with the feelings
-of his own heart. In these also he is an imitator, so far as his metres
-are concerned, but the feelings are his own, and he expresses them in
-words that burn. No translation can do justice to the sharp, quick
-strokes of his invectives or to the passionate outpourings of his love.
-One of his favorite metres is the "hendecasyllable" or eleven syllable
-verse, which, by its quick movement, helps to create an impression
-of great swiftness of thought and flashing outbursts of emotion. At
-the same time, the numerous diminutive suffixes employed give a light
-and graceful, almost playful, tone to the verse. Some of the lines
-directed against those whom Catullus hated or despised, are scurrilous
-and indecent; but that is the fault of the age rather than of the poet
-himself. In general the thoughts and emotions expressed range from
-passionate love to violent invective, while through many of the poems
-there runs a vein of half satirical playfulness. Some of the qualities
-of Catullus' poetry may be made clear by translations of a few of the
-short poems. The first shows at once his passionate love for Lesbia,
-and something of his half-satirical humor:
-
-    My Lesbia, let us live and love,
-    Nor let us count it worth above
-    A single farthing if the old
-    And carping greybeards choose to scold.
-    The suns that set and fade away
-    May rise again another day.
-    When once has set our little light
-    We needs must sleep one endless night.
-    A thousand kisses give me, then
-    A hundred, then a thousand, when
-    I bid you give a hundred more;
-    When many thousands o'er and o'er
-    We've kissed, we'll mix them, so that we
-    Shall lose the count, and none shall be
-    Aroused to evil envious hate
-    Through knowing that the sum's so great.[36]
-
-A well-known and especially attractive poem is the playful lament for
-the sparrow:
-
-    Let mourning fill the realms of Love;
-    Wail, men below and Powers above!
-    The joy of my beloved has fled,
-    The Sparrow of her heart is dead--
-    The Sparrow that she used to prize
-    As dearly as her own bright eyes.
-    As knows a girl her mother well,
-    So knew the pretty bird my belle,
-    And ever hopping, chirping round,
-    Far from her lap was never found.
-    Now wings it to that gloomy bourne
-    From which no travellers return.
-    Accurs'd be thou, infernal lair!
-    Devourer dark of all things fair,
-    The rarest bird to thee is gone;
-    Take thou once more my malison.
-    How swollen and red with weeping, see,
-    My fair one's eyes, and all through thee.[37]
-
-Like most educated Romans, Catullus had a great love for the country.
-His joy in returning to his country seat on the peninsula of Sirmio
-forms the subject of a charming little poem:
-
-    Gem of all isthmuses and isles that lie,
-      Fresh or salt water's children, in clear lake
-    Or ampler ocean; with what joy do I
-      Approach thee, Sirmio! Oh! am I awake,
-    Or dream that once again mine eye beholds
-    Thee, and has looked its last on Thracian wolds?
-      Sweetest of sweets to me that pastime seems,
-    When the mind drops her burden, when--the pain
-    Of travel past--our own cot we regain,
-      And nestle on the pillow of our dreams!
-    'Tis this one thought that cheers us as we roam.
-      Hail, O fair Sirmio! Joy, thy lord is here!
-      Joy too, ye waters of the Golden Mere!
-    And ring out, all ye laughter-peals of home![38]
-
-Of the lesser poets of the Ciceronian period little need be said.
-Their works are lost, but for scattered fragments, except in so far as
-a few anonymous poems are to be ascribed to this period. The writers
-of mimes, Decimus Laberius and Publilius Syrus, have already been
-mentioned (p. 30). [Sidenote: Matius, Laevius, Sueius.] Gnaeus Matius,
-who appears to belong to this time, wrote mimiambics in the manner of
-Herondas and other Alexandrian poets--lively reproductions of scenes
-of ordinary life--in choliambic verse, that is, iambic trimetres, the
-last foot of which is a spondee; Laevius wrote sportive love-poems
-(_Erotopaegnia_); and Sueius composed idylls, two of which, the
-_Moretum_ and the _Pulli_, are known by name, besides a book of annals.
-Matius also made a free translation of Homer's _Iliad_.
-
-More important in their own day were two friends of Catullus, Gaius
-Licinius Calvus and Gaius Helvius Cinna. [Sidenote: Calvus and Cinna.]
-Calvus, who lived from 87 to 47 B. C., was a distinguished orator and
-politician, who devoted his leisure hours to poetry. His poems included
-epithalamia, elegies, epigrams, and at least one mythological epyllion,
-entitled _Io_. Cinna appears to have come, like Catullus, from northern
-Italy, but of his life little is known beyond the fact that he was
-with Catullus on the staff of Memmius in Bithynia. His chief work was
-a poem entitled _Smyrna_, which, although it was of moderate length,
-occupied him for nine years. The subject was the unnatural love of
-the maiden Smyrna for her father and the birth of their son Adonis.
-The poem was so learned and obscure as to be almost incomprehensible,
-and was similar in this respect to the _Alexandra_ of the Alexandrian
-Lycophron. The admiration expressed by Catullus for this work shows how
-highly the younger Roman poets esteemed successful imitations of even
-the worst faults of their Alexandrian models.
-
-[Sidenote: Varro Atacinus.] A poet who continued the national
-traditions of Ennius and also imitated the Alexandrians was Publius
-Terentius Varro, called Varro Atacinus. He was born at Atax, in Gallia
-Narbonensis, in 82 B. C. He wrote a poem in hexameters on Caesar's
-war with the Sequani, and some satires, probably in the manner of
-Lucilius, In his thirty-fifth year he is said to have turned to the
-study of the Greek poets, and it is probably about this time that he
-translated into Latin hexameters the _Argonautica_ of the Alexandrian
-epic poet Apollonius Rhodius. A geographical poem, probably entitled
-_Chorographia_, and a series of elegiac poems in the Alexandrian manner
-probably belong to the time after the year 37 B. C. The few fragments
-of his poems show that he was a poet of more than ordinary gifts.
-
-[Sidenote: Valerius Cato.] The intellectual leader of the school of
-poets who found their inspiration in the works of the Alexandrians was
-the grammarian and teacher, P. Valerius Cato, whom Eurius Bibaculus
-calls "Cato the grammarian, the Latin Siren, who alone reads and
-makes poets." Cato's influence was exerted to lead his followers to
-imitate their Greek models carefully, to perfect their Latin style,
-and probably to introduce the new metres into Latin poetry. His
-own writings were grammatical treatises, poems, and a revision and
-correction of the works of Lucilius. The poem entitled _Dirae_, which is
-contained in manuscripts of Virgil, and really consists of two distinct
-poems, _Dirae_ and _Lydia_, has been ascribed with some probability to
-Cato. In the first poem the writer curses a veteran named Lycurgus,
-who has deprived him of his property and his beloved Lydia; in the
-second he addresses a touching farewell to Lydia, who has remained in
-the country. [Sidenote: Other poets.] Other poets of this period are
-M. Furius Bibaculus, who wrote satirical verses, Gaius Memmius, the
-propraetor of Bithynia in 57 B. C., Ticidas, Quintus Cornificius, and
-Cornelius Nepos--all of whom belonged to the new school and imitated
-the Alexandrians. Nepos we shall meet again among the prose writers.
-Others also, whose chief activity was in other fields, wrote poetry
-occasionally. Among these Cicero and his brother Quintus may be
-mentioned.
-
-The names of these lesser poets are of little importance to us, but
-it is worth while to mention them to call attention to the fact that
-poetry was cultivated by many of the younger men in the Ciceronian
-period. Through their efforts the various styles and metres of the
-Greek poets, especially those of the Alexandrian period, were made
-familiar to the Romans, and thus the way was prepared for Horace,
-Virgil, and Ovid in the Augustan age.
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: CICERO.
-
-Bust in the Vatican Museum, Rome.]
-
-CHAPTER VI
-
-CICERO
-
-    Cicero, 106-43 B. C.--His importance--His life--Periods of
-    his literary activity--His works--The orations--Philosophical
-    works--Letters--His character.
-
-
-Marcus Tullius Cicero, orator, statesman and philosopher, is the great
-commanding figure of the literary period which is designated by his
-name. With him Latin prose reaches a height never before attained and
-never afterward surpassed. [Sidenote: Importance of Cicero.] The cooler
-and more critical judgment of our northern natures and later age may
-find his eloquence too exuberant, and our scholars, trained in the
-study of the Greek philosophers, may deny him the title of an original
-thinker, but no one can fail to appreciate the power of his utterance,
-the clearness of his exposition, or the lucid elegance of his diction.
-He found the Latin language the chief dialect of Italy, the speech
-of a great and mighty city; he made it the language of the world for
-centuries.
-
-To write the life of Cicero in all the known details would be to
-write the history of Rome during the entire period of his manhood.
-The historian of literature must content himself with a mere sketch.
-[Sidenote: Education and early years.] Cicero was born at Arpinum, a
-small town in the hills of eastern Latium, on the third of January,
-106 B. C. The town was also the birthplace of Marius, whose fame no
-doubt fired the imagination of the young Cicero and helped to rouse
-his ambition. His father determined to give him the best possible
-education and sent him to Rome, where he knew the two great orators,
-M. Antonius and L. Crassus, and also the aged M. Accius and the Greek
-poet Archias. Since legal knowledge was a necessary part of an orator's
-education, he studied with the jurist Q. Scaevola (p. 44), and the Augur
-of the same name. He also paid attention to philosophy, studying with
-the Epicurean Phaedrus, the Academic philosopher Philo, who was a pupil
-of Clitomachus, and the Stoic Diodotus. His teacher of rhetoric was
-Molo, of Rhodes, and he also received instruction from the rhetorician
-M. Antonius Gnipho and the actors Roscius and Aesopus. He acquired a
-great reputation as an advocate by several speeches, especially by
-his defense of Quinctius (81 B. C.) and Roscius of Ameria (80 B. C.);
-but his health failed, and at the same time he wished to perfect his
-education. He therefore left Rome and spent two years (79-77 B. C.) in
-Greece and Asia. At Athens he studied under the Academic Antiochus, the
-Epicurean Zeno, his old teacher Phaedrus, and the instructor in oratory,
-Demetrius. In Asia he became acquainted with the florid Asian style
-of eloquence, and at Rhodes he studied again under his former teacher
-Molo, who exerted himself to chasten the exuberance of his style, which
-had been encouraged by the Asiatic orators. At Rhodes he also became
-acquainted with the famous Stoic Posidonius.
-
-[Sidenote: His political career.] In 77 B. C. he returned to Rome and
-continued his career as an orator. It was soon after his return that
-he married Terentia, a lady of noble birth, with whom he lived for
-thirty-two years. In 75 B. C. he began his official career as quaestor
-of Lilybaeum in Sicily, an office which he filled with great credit.
-He was elected aedile in 69 and praetor in 66 B. C. In 63 B. C. he was
-chosen consul, with Antonius as his colleague, and truthfully claimed
-that, although he was a _novus homo_, a man who had no family influence
-or prestige to aid him, he had obtained each of the important offices
-of the state at the earliest legally admissible age. [Sidenote: The
-conspiracy of Catiline.] In his consulship the conspiracy of Catiline
-occurred, which Cicero suppressed with relentless vigor, although it
-was supposed to be favored by some of the most powerful men in Rome,
-including Crassus and Caesar. The conspirators were not sentenced to
-death by regular legal process, but the senate decreed that the consul
-should defend the safety of the state, and Cicero gave the order for
-their execution. To this year belong the four speeches against Catiline.
-
-[Sidenote: Cicero's banishment.] In 60 B. C. the first triumvirate was
-formed. The triumvirs found the influence of Cicero unfavorable to
-their plans, and encouraged his enemy, P. Clodius Pulcher, who had been
-adopted into a plebeian family and been elected tribune of the people,
-to propose a bill that any one who had put a Roman citizen to death
-without due process of law be banished. Cicero, finding that he could
-not defend himself with success, withdrew from Rome, and his banishment
-was decreed. He remained in exile from April, 58 B. C., until August,
-57 B. C., when he was recalled and received with great honors.
-
-[Sidenote: His later years.] In 53 B. C. he was elected to fill
-the place in the college of augurs made vacant by the death of the
-younger Crassus. In 51 and 50 B. C. Cicero was again absent from Rome,
-as proconsul of Cilicia. On his return he found Caesar and Pompey
-in open strife. Cicero had never been a party man. He was always a
-sincere patriot, full of pride in the glorious past of his country,
-and more than ready to do his duty, and now, when he could not fail
-to see that both parties were ruled by selfish ambition rather than
-by disinterested patriotism, it was hard for him to attach himself
-to either. After some hesitation, he joined the party of Pompey and
-the senate, and, in 49 B. C., followed Pompey to Epirus, but was not
-present at the battle of Pharsalus. After Pompey's defeat he waited
-at Brundusium until Caesar allowed him to return to Rome in 47 B. C.
-Here he lived in retirement, devoting himself to literary pursuits. In
-46 B. C. he divorced his wife, Terentia, and married his young ward,
-Publilia, from whom he parted the following year. The year 45 B. C.
-was saddened by the death of his only daughter, Tullia. The death of
-Caesar, in 44 B. C., recalled Cicero for a short time to public life,
-but he seems to have left the city in April and to have spent some
-months at his various villas. In July he decided to visit Athens, where
-his son was studying, but after he had reached Sicily he heard that
-he was needed at Rome, gave up his plan, and returned to the capital.
-Here he took a leading part in the opposition to Antony, against whom
-he delivered the fourteen orations known as the _Philippics_. When the
-triumvirs came to terms with one another, Cicero was included by Antony
-among those whose death he demanded. [Sidenote: His death.] After
-moving first to Tusculum, and then to Formiae, he went aboard a ship at
-Caeta, but turned back to land, resolved to die in his native country.
-On his way between his villa and the sea he was overtaken by a party of
-Antony's soldiers and killed, on the seventh of December, 43 B. C. His
-head and hands were cut off and exposed upon the rostra in the Roman
-forum.
-
-[Sidenote: Periods of Cicero's literary activity.] Cicero's oratorical
-and literary activity falls naturally into four chronological
-divisions: his earlier years, to the beginning of his career as a
-political orator (81-66 B. C.); the period of his greatest power,
-lasting until just before his banishment (66-59 B. C.); from his return
-from banishment until his departure for Cilicia (57-51 B. C.); and from
-his return from Cilicia until his death (50-43 B. C.).
-
-To the first period belong several speeches delivered in different
-kinds of lawsuits, the most remarkable of which are the seven orations
-in the suit against Verres (70 B. C.) for extortion and misgovernment
-in Sicily. At the earnest request of the Sicilians, Cicero undertook
-the prosecution. [Sidenote: The first period.] The first speech, the
-_Divinatio in Caecilium_, was delivered to determine whether Cicero or
-Q. Caecilius Niger, who had been quaestor under Verres in Sicily, should
-conduct the prosecution. The first speech in the prosecution itself
-settled the case. Cicero had prepared all the evidence and summoned the
-witnesses, and instead of giving the defence an opportunity for delay,
-brought forward his overwhelming evidence at the beginning, after a
-mere introduction. Hortensius, Verres' advocate, gave up the defence
-after hearing the evidence, and Verres was banished. The five remaining
-orations, called the _Actio Secunda in Verrem_, were published by
-Cicero in order that the facts might be universally known, but were
-never delivered in court. They show not only that Cicero was at this
-time a consummate master of eloquence, but also that his diligence
-in the collection and preparation of his material was remarkable.
-In addition to his speeches, Cicero wrote in this period several
-translations from the Greek, which are lost, and also a handbook of
-oratory, the _De Inventione_, in two books. This work was written when
-the author was only twenty years old, and is based upon the treatise
-addressed to Herennius (p. 45). In it Cicero treats of the various
-divisions of oratory and their uses. The work is greatly inferior to
-his later rhetorical writings.
-
-[Sidenote: The second period.] The second period opens with the superb
-oration _For the Manilian Law_ or _De Imperio Gnaei Pompei_ (66 B. C.),
-in which Cicero advocates the appointment of Pompey with extraordinary
-powers to carry on the war against Mithridates. The four brilliant and
-vehement speeches _Against Catiline_ belong to the year of Cicero's
-consulship, 63 B. C. To the same year belongs the witty and able
-speech _For Muraena_, in which Cicero defends Muraena against a charge
-of bribery. The delightful speech _For the Poet Archias_ was delivered
-in 62 B. C. in support of the poet's claim to the Roman citizenship.
-Throughout this period Cicero's time and energy were so fully occupied
-with affairs of state and with the suits in which he was engaged as
-to leave him little leisure for purely literary production. In 60
-B. C., however, when the troubles that led to his banishment were
-thickening about him, he made a metrical version of the astronomical
-poems of Aratus, portions of which are preserved in his later work
-_On the Nature of the Gods_, and wrote a poem in three books _On His
-Consulship_, which is lost.
-
-[Sidenote: The third period.] The speeches of the third period were
-delivered for the most part in private cases, though one of them,
-_On the Consular Provinces_ (B. C. 56), urging that Caesar retain his
-proconsulship of Gaul and that Gabinius and Piso be recalled from Syria
-and Macedonia, is political, while political considerations have an
-important place in several others. In the year 55 B. C. the dialogue
-_On the Orator_ (_De Oratore_) was written, in which the two great
-orators of the generation before Cicero, Lucius Crassus and Marcus
-Antonius, discuss the proper qualities of an orator. The dialogue is
-supposed to have taken place shortly before the death of Crassus (91 B.
-C.). The lesser parts are taken by some of the younger statesmen of the
-day, and in the beginning Cicero's teacher, the augur Scaevola, appears.
-This is one of the most attractive of Cicero's works. The technical
-discussions are enlivened by anecdotes and conversation, and the whole
-dialogue has a grace and sprightliness not often found in Latin prose.
-The dialogue _On the State_ (_De Re Publica_), in six books, was
-published before 51 B. C. Only about one third of this is preserved in
-a fragmentary condition, and for many centuries the entire work was
-lost with the exception of the _Dream of Scipio_ (_Somnium Scipionis_),
-from the sixth book. The discussion of the state was followed by a
-dialogue _On Laws_ (_De Legibus_), which was begun apparently in 52 B.
-C., but was never finished. In this period we find Cicero turning his
-attention to technical works on rhetoric and also to philosophy.
-
-[Sidenote: The fourth period.] The last period was for the most part
-a time of quiet literary work for Cicero. Only after Caesar's death
-did he return to public life. In 46 B. C. he thanked Caesar, in the
-oration _For Marcellus_, for allowing Marcellus, who had been consul
-in 51 B. C., to return to Rome; later in the same year he pleaded the
-case of Quintus Ligarius in the speech _For Ligarius_, and in 45 B.
-C. he spoke in behalf of Deiotarus, tetrarch of Galicia, who had been
-accused of treachery to Caesar (_For King Deiotarus_), but these are
-the only speeches of this period except the fourteen _Philippics_,
-directed against Antony, all of which belong to the short time between
-the second of September, 44 B. C., and the twenty-second of April, 43
-B. C. In these Cicero shows his old energy and fire, but not quite his
-earlier power. The name _Philippics_ was given to these speeches almost
-from the very first, and was in fact authorized by Cicero himself,
-who welcomed the parallel between himself, arousing and encouraging
-the Romans against Antony, and Demosthenes urging the Athenians to
-oppose Philip. But these orations were the work of a few months; by far
-the greater part of the years after 50 B. C. was occupied with other
-things. [Sidenote: Rhetorical and philosophical works.] In the three
-years 46-44 B. C. appeared the rhetorical writings _Brutus_, the
-_Orator_, the _Divisions of Oratory_, the essay _On the Best Kind of
-Orators_, and the long series of philosophical dialogues and
-treatises, the most important of which are the _De Finibus Bonorum et
-Malorum_, a discussion of the different theories respecting the
-highest good, in five books; the _Academics_, two books of which are
-preserved; the _Tusculan Disputations_, in five books, treating of the
-chief essentials for happiness; the treatise _On the Nature of the
-Gods_, in three books; and the three books _On Duties_ (_De
-Officiis_); to which should be added, on account of their beauty of
-style and sentiment, the _Cato Maior_ (_On Old Age_) and the _Laelius_
-(_On Friendship_).
-
-Cicero's extant works comprise fifty-seven orations and fragments
-of twenty more, seven rhetorical treatises, thirteen philosophical
-treatises, including those _On the State_ and _On Laws_, and about
-eight hundred and sixty letters, among which are ninety addressed to
-him by his correspondents. Among the lost works are a few historical
-writings and several translations from the Greek.
-
-[Sidenote: Cicero as an orator.] Cicero's chief ambition was to be
-a great orator, and he spared no pains to attain his end. Richly
-endowed by nature, he was not content to employ his natural gifts
-without careful cultivation. He studied the orators of earlier times,
-especially the great masters of Greek eloquence, made many translations
-from the Greek for the sake of perfecting his style, and was a diligent
-student of rhetorical theories. His conception of the proper qualities
-of the orator was high and noble. In the essay _De Oratore_, he makes
-Crassus say:
-
-    Wherefore, if one wishes to define and embrace the proper power
-    of an orator in all its extent, that man will be, in my opinion,
-    an orator worthy of this great name, who can speak wisely, in
-    an orderly and polished manner, from memory, and even with some
-    dignity of action, upon whatever subject arises that needs to be
-    set forth in speech.[39]
-
-And again:
-
-    I assert that by the moderation and wisdom of the perfect orator
-    not only his own dignity, but the welfare of very many persons and
-    of the entire commonwealth is preserved.[40]
-
-In short, the orator should be, in Cicero's opinion, not only a great
-and practised speaker, but a man of varied learning, and at the same
-time a man of the highest character. This was the ideal he set before
-himself and strove throughout his life to attain. Certainly it was no
-low ideal, nor was the man who strove to attain it a character to be
-despised.
-
-[Sidenote: Oratorical style.] Cicero's oratorical style is always
-careful and finished, but is far from that monotonous smoothness
-which study often gives to the speech of those who are not by nature
-gifted orators. In the narrative parts of his speeches he is clear,
-straightforward, and lucid; in his arguments he is logical, incisive,
-and full of force; in his appeals to the feelings of his hearers he is
-vivid, quick and powerful, sometimes, according to the demands of the
-occasion, violent or pathetic. [Sidenote: Irony.] The elaborate
-periodic structure of his sentences is varied by many short questions
-or exclamations, and the habitual dignity of his utterance is softened
-and enlivened by frequent touches of wit, humor, and irony. So in his
-defence of Quintus Ligarius, who had served in the senatorial army in
-Africa, although he knew that Caesar, before whom the case was argued,
-was perfectly acquainted with the facts, he began his speech as
-follows:
-
-    A new charge, Gaius Caesar, and one never heard of before this day,
-    my relative, Quintus Tubero, has brought before you: that Quintus
-    Ligarius was in Africa; and Gaius Pansa, a man of excellent
-    character, trusting, perhaps, in his friendship with you, has
-    dared to confess that it is true. Therefore I know not where to
-    turn. For I had come prepared, since you could not know it by
-    yourself, and could not have heard it from any one else, to take
-    advantage of your ignorance for the salvation of the unfortunate
-    man.[41]
-
-After this ironical introduction, which serves to make his opponents
-seem ridiculous, Cicero appeals to Caesar's well-known clemency before
-proceeding to his argument.
-
-[Sidenote: Patriotic feeling.] In his own political life Cicero
-constantly showed his reverence for the dignity of the Roman people,
-the established forms of government, and the traditions and great deeds
-of the earlier days of Rome. The same feeling is evident in nearly
-all his orations. References to the Roman people, the majesty of the
-Roman people, the Roman empire, the dignity of the senate, the customs
-or institutions of the ancestors, are found on almost every page. The
-oration _On the Manilian Law_ is not merely a panegyric of Pompey and
-an argument for giving him new and greater powers, but at the same time
-a hymn of praise to the glory of the Roman republic and the virtues of
-the men of old:
-
-    Our ancestors often engaged in wars because our merchants or
-    ship-owners had been somewhat unjustly treated; what, pray,
-    should be your feelings when so many thousands of Roman citizens
-    have been slaughtered by one edict and at one time? Because our
-    envoys had been too haughtily addressed it pleased your fathers
-    that Corinth, the light of all Greece, be blotted out; will you
-    let that king go unpunished who has slain an ex-consul and envoy
-    of the Roman people, after subjecting him to imprisonment, and
-    scourging, and all kinds of torture? They did not endure it when
-    the liberty of Roman citizens was curtailed; will you be negligent
-    when their lives have been taken? They followed up the verbal
-    violation of the right of embassies; will you desert the cause of
-    an ambassador slain with all torments? Be on your guard, lest,
-    just as it was most honorable for them to hand down to you so
-    great and glorious an empire, so it be most disgraceful for you to
-    fail to guard and preserve what you have received.[42]
-
-Here the orator's effort is to arouse his hearers to maintain the
-dignity and glory of the republic, whose greatness is brought home
-to their minds by the references to the deeds of their ancestors.
-This passage is also a good example of the effective use of repeated
-contrasts.
-
-In the speech _For the Manilian Law_ Cicero addresses the assembled
-Roman people on a political question of immediate and great importance.
-His tone is exalted and earnest, his eloquence stirring and inspiring.
-The same qualities are found in all the political orations, and in many
-of the private speeches, delivered in cases involving the life of the
-accused or Cicero's own character. [Sidenote: Gentler and more graceful
-style.] In speeches dealing with less urgent matters the tone is more
-gentle and the effect more graceful. Quotations from the poets are
-numerous, and the rhythmical structure of the sentences is more marked
-than in the stirring and excited passages of the political harangues.
-The oration _For the Poet Archias_ is the best example of Cicero's
-less stirring and more graceful oratory. After establishing by a brief
-statement the fact that Archias had a valid claim to the citizenship,
-Cicero devotes the remainder of his speech to the praise of literary
-pursuits:
-
-    These studies nourish youth, delight old age, adorn prosperity,
-    furnish a refuge and solace in adversity, gladden us at home, are
-    no hindrance abroad, spend the nights with us, are with us in our
-    foreign travels, and at our country seats.[43]
-
-In this oration Cicero appears as the man of letters whose literary
-interest was not bounded by the career of the politician or the orator,
-and who, in spite of political successes and disappointments, was to
-achieve greater fame as an author than any other writer of Latin prose.
-
-[Sidenote: Direct address.] Few passages are more striking or
-characteristic in the orations of Cicero than those in which he
-turns to address directly either the opposing party in the case or
-his advocate. In these passages, which vary in length from a brief
-exclamation to an elaborate invective, the stinging words shoot forth
-with quick and passionate directness. One of the longer passages of
-this kind, in which additional force is lent to the words by the
-suggestion that they are uttered by the culprit's own father, is the
-following:
-
-    Here you will even dare to say, "Among the judges, that one
-    is my friend, that one a friend of my father." Is not every
-    one, the more closely he is connected with you in any way,
-    the more ashamed of you for being subject to a charge of this
-    kind? He is your father's friend. If your father himself were
-    a judge, what, in the name of the immortal gods, could you do
-    when he said to you: "You, the praetor of the Roman people in
-    a province, when you had to carry on a naval war, excused the
-    Mamertines for three years from supplying the ship which they
-    were bound by treaty to supply; for your private use a freight
-    ship of the largest size was built at public expense by those
-    same Mamertines; you exacted money from the cities under the
-    pretext of the fleet; you dismissed rowers for bribes; you,
-    when a pirate vessel had been captured by the quaestor and the
-    lieutenant, removed the leader of the pirates from the sight
-    of all; you could put under the headsman's axe men who were
-    said to be Roman citizens, who were known as such by many; you
-    dared to take pirates to your house, and to bring the pirate
-    captain to the court from your own dwelling; you, in that
-    splendid province, in the sight of our most faithful allies,
-    of most honorable Roman citizens, lay for days together on the
-    shore at festive banquets at a time when the province was in
-    fear and danger; during those days no one could find you at
-    your house, no one could see you in the forum; you brought to
-    those banquets the wives of allies and friends; among women
-    of that sort you placed your youthful son, my grandson, that
-    his father's life might offer him examples of wickedness at
-    the age which is especially unsteady and lacking in fixed
-    principles; you, the praetor, were seen in the province in a
-    tunic and purple cloak; you, for the gratification of your
-    passion and lust, took away the command of the ships from a
-    lieutenant of the Roman people and gave it to a Syracusan;
-    your soldiers in the province of Sicily were in want of food
-    and grain; owing to your luxury and avarice a fleet of the
-    Roman people was captured and burned by pirates; in your
-    praetorship pirates sailed their ships in that harbor which no
-    enemy had ever entered since the foundation of Syracuse; and
-    these disgraces of yours, so many and so great, you did not
-    care to hide by concealment on your part, nor by making men
-    forget them and keep silent about them, but you tore away to
-    death and torture even the captains of the ships, without any
-    cause, from the embraces of their parents, your own friends,
-    nor in seeing the grief and tears of those parents did any
-    memory of me soften you; to you the blood of innocent men was
-    not only a pleasure, but even a source of profit." If your
-    father should say this to you, could you ask pardon from him?
-    could you entreat him to forgive you?[44]
-
-These few examples, perhaps not the most striking to be found in the
-great body of his orations, may give some idea of the variety of
-Cicero's oratory. In his youth the Roman orators were divided into two
-parties on the question of style; the elder men, chief among whom was
-Hortensius, favored the Asian style, with its wealth of rhetorical
-adornment, while the younger men, the Atticists, as they called
-themselves, aimed at extreme simplicity, taking Lysias as their model.
-Cicero perceived that a middle course was best. His natural tendency
-was toward exuberance, but he tempered it by careful study. He does
-not avoid rhetorical adornment, but he seldom uses it to excess. Like
-Demosthenes, whom he regarded as the greatest of the Greek orators, he
-varies his style to suit the occasion, and, like him, he stands forth
-as the greatest orator of his nation.
-
-[Sidenote: Philosophical works.] In his philosophical writings Cicero's
-purpose was to be useful to his fellow citizens by making them
-acquainted with the results of Greek speculative thought. As he himself
-says:
-
-    As I sought and pondered much and long by what means I could be of
-    use to as many men as possible, that I might never cease to care
-    for the welfare of the republic, nothing greater occurred to me
-    than if I should make accessible to my fellow citizens the paths
-    of the noblest learning.[45]
-
-With this end in view he wrote his treatises, for the most part in the
-dialogue form, after the manner of Plato, in which he set forth the
-doctrines of the Greek philosophers on the most important subjects,
-such as the chief end of life, the means of attaining happiness, duty,
-the nature of the gods, and the like, laying the chief stress upon
-what he believed to be true and correct. He lays no claim to great
-originality of thought, but only to independence of judgment. In
-general, he regards himself as a disciple of the Academic school, which
-did not claim to establish absolute truth, but to show what was most
-probable. He uses, however, the works of Stoic and even of Epicurean
-philosophers, whenever they express views in accordance with his own,
-as well as when he wishes to refute their teachings. He is not entirely
-consistent in all his writings, but his high moral sense, his belief
-in the divine government of the world, and his hope of immortality
-are the foundations of his philosophy. His style in these writings
-is, as befits his subject, dignified and serene, but enlivened by the
-occasional interruptions incident to the dialogue form.
-
-[Sidenote: Importance of Cicero's philosophical works.] To the
-professional student of ancient philosophy these treatises are of great
-importance chiefly because of the information they contain concerning
-the writings and doctrines of Greek philosophers whose works have
-been lost; to the student of literature they offer admirable examples
-of learned works in popular form, with all the charm of exquisite
-literary workmanship; and their influence upon later ages was so great
-that no one who is interested in the progress of human thought can
-disregard them. St. Augustine, and many other writers of the early
-Christian Church, acknowledge their indebtedness to them; they are the
-foundation of the speculative thought of the middle ages; and it is
-in great measure due to their influence that the Latin language has
-remained, almost to our own day, the great medium for the expression
-of philosophical and scientific speculation. Cicero made "the paths of
-the noblest learning" accessible not only to his Roman fellow citizens,
-but to countless generations of men of all lands. His noble purpose was
-accomplished more grandly than he ever hoped or dreamed. Let those who
-will, accuse him of shallowness and superficiality; mankind owes him an
-immeasurable debt of gratitude.
-
-Cicero's orations have served as models for many generations of
-orators, his rhetorical treatises may be regarded as the foundation of
-nearly all later theories of style, his philosophical works exerted an
-influence which permeated the thought of centuries. [Sidenote: Cicero's
-letters.] It remains to speak of his letters. These are in some
-respects the most interesting of his writings, because they show the
-feelings of the man as he disclosed them to his intimate friends, they
-make us acquainted with the personal relations between the prominent
-Romans of the time, and shed many rays of light upon the dark pages of
-contemporary history. The first of the extant letters is dated in 68
-B. C., the last July 28, 43 B. C. The collection was made by Cicero's
-friends, and edited probably by his freedman, Tiro, and his publisher
-and most intimate friend, Atticus. They fall into four groups; sixteen
-books addressed to various persons (_Ad Familiares_), three books to
-Cicero's brother Quintus (_Ad Quintum Fratrem_), sixteen books to
-Atticus (_Ad Atticum_), and two books to Brutus (_Ad Brutum_). There
-were originally nine books of letters to Brutus, but only the eighth
-and the ninth are preserved.
-
-The letters differ greatly in importance, in length, and in interest.
-Some are mere greetings or brief introductions, while others are
-carefully composed treatises; some are expressions of Cicero's inmost
-feelings to his intimate friends, while others are business notes
-or occasional letters to men with whom he was on a less familiar
-footing; some are addressed to the great leaders of the political
-parties, others to comparatively obscure persons; some are on literary
-subjects, others on private business, and still others on matters that
-pertain to the history of the world. [Sidenote: Variety of contents.]
-The style and language vary with the contents of the letters, but are
-in general less careful than in any of Cicero's other writings. The
-language is evidently that of common speech rather than of literary
-composition. In the letters written during his exile Cicero betrays
-unmanly discouragement, and breaks out into pitiful lamentation, just
-as in many of his orations he betrays great vanity, and extols overmuch
-his own courage and patriotism in the matter of the Catilinarian
-conspiracy; but these letters are the confidential utterances of
-momentary feelings, not the deliberate expressions of the man's
-character, and we must not forget that Cicero was an Italian, a man
-of easily aroused emotions, whose vanity might overflow or whose
-grief might break forth without affecting his real earnestness or
-steadfastness. One of the briefer letters to Atticus is the following,
-written from Thurium, in April, 58 B. C., soon after Cicero's
-banishment began:
-
-    Terentia thanks you frequently and very warmly. That is a great
-    comfort to me. I am the most miserable man alive, and am being
-    worn out with the most poignant sorrow. I don't know what to write
-    to you. For if you are at Rome, it is now too late for me to reach
-    you; but if you are on the road, we shall discuss together all
-    that needs to be discussed when you have overtaken me. All I ask
-    you is to retain the same affection for me, since it was always
-    myself you loved. For I am still the same man; my enemies have
-    taken what was mine, they have not taken myself. Take care of your
-    health.[46]
-
-A letter to Marcus Terentius Varro, written in 46 B. C., among the
-troubles of the civil war, shows Cicero consoling himself with
-literature:
-
-    From a letter of yours, which Atticus read to me, I learnt what
-    you were doing and where you were; but when we were
-    likely to see you, I could gain no idea at all from the letter.
-    However, I am beginning to hope that your arrival is not far off.
-    I wish it could be any consolation to me! But the fact is, I am
-    overwhelmed by so many and such grave anxieties, that no one but
-    the most utter fool ought to expect any alleviation; yet, after
-    all, perhaps you can give me some kind of help, or I you. For
-    allow me to tell you that, since my arrival in the city, I have
-    effected a reconciliation with my old friends--I mean my books;
-    though the truth is that I had not abandoned their society because
-    I had fallen out with them, but because I was half ashamed to look
-    them in the face. For I thought, when I plunged into the maelstrom
-    of civil strife, with allies whom I had the worst possible reason
-    for trusting, that I had not shown proper respect for their
-    precepts. They pardon me; they recall me to our old intimacy, and
-    you, they say, have been wiser than I for never having left it.
-    Wherefore, since I find them reconciled, I seem bound to hope, if
-    I once see you, that I shall pass through with ease both what is
-    weighing me down now, and what is threatening. Therefore, in your
-    company, whether you choose it to be in your Tusculan or Cuman
-    villa, or, which I should like least, at Rome, so long only as
-    we are together, I will certainly contrive that both of us shall
-    think it the most agreeable place possible.[47]
-
-[Sidenote: Cicero's character.] Cicero's letters give us a more
-complete insight into his private character than could be gained from
-his other writings. He was a faithful and affectionate friend, a genial
-companion, a good husband and father, and a devoted patriot. In his
-political career he exhibited a lack of that insight which enables the
-great statesman to foresee inevitable changes, and therefore he strove
-to preserve the old system of government at a time when its usefulness
-had passed away. He could not sympathize thoroughly with Pompey and
-his party, still less with the revolutionary policy of Caesar. The
-result was indecision and apparent fickleness, but his indecision was
-not so much that of weakness as of the inability to choose between
-what he must have regarded as two evils. When he saw his duty clearly
-before him, as in the year of his consulship, he did not flinch, and
-again, when Antony was arrayed in arms against the state, he stood
-forth boldly as the defender of the republic. He showed his courage
-and firmness also when, in 50 B. C., after Pompey's flight from Italy,
-he exposed himself to Caesar's displeasure by refusing to come to Rome
-except as an avowed partizan of Pompey.[48] In all the relations of
-life he was honorable and conscientious, and in the field of literature
-he stands among the great men of the world.
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: CAESAR.
-
-Bust in the museum at Naples.]
-
-CHAPTER VII
-
-CAESAR--SALLUST--OTHER PROSE WRITERS
-
-    Caesar, 102(?)-44 B. C.--Hirtius, ?-43 B. C.--Oppius, died after
-    44 B. C.--Continuations of Caesar's Commentaries--Sallust,
-    86-35 B. C.--Cornelius Nepos, before 100 B. C. to after 30 B.
-    C.--Varro, 116-27 B. C.--Atticus, 109-32 B. C.--Hortensius, 114-50
-    B. C.--Calidius, died 47 B. C.--Calvus, 87-47 B. C.--Brutus,
-    78 (?)-42 B. C.--Cornificius, ?-41 B. C.--Quintus Cicero,
-    102-43, B. C.--Tiro--Nigidius Figulus, died 45 B. C.--Aurelius
-    Opilius--Antonius Gnipho--Pompilius Andronicus--Santra--Servius
-    Sulpicius Rufus.
-
-
-What has been said of Cicero applies with at least equal force to
-Caesar--the story of his life belongs to the history of Rome rather than
-to that of literature. We must therefore content ourselves with a brief
-sketch.
-
-[Sidenote: Caesar's early life.] Gaius Julius Caesar was born, according
-to the common account, in 100 B. C., but the real date is probably
-two years earlier. He was of patrician birth and his family claimed
-descent from Ascanius; or Iulus, the son of Aeneas. Marius, his uncle
-by marriage, made him a priest of Jupiter at the age of not more than
-fifteen. While still little more than a boy he married Cornelia, the
-daughter of Cinna, and barely escaped the proscription of Sulla when
-he refused to divorce her. The young Caesar was thus, in spite of his
-patrician birth, identified with the popular party. In 67 B. C. he was
-quaestor in Farther Spain, in 65 B. C. he became curule aedile, in which
-office he distinguished himself by the magnificence of his public games
-and exhibitions, and in 63 B. C. he was elected pontifex maximus,
-thereby becoming for life the official head of the Roman religion.
-
-[Sidenote: His government in Spain.] In 62 B. C. he was chosen praetor,
-and the next year was sent as propraetor to Farther Spain. Up to this
-time he was known chiefly as a dissolute man and an unscrupulous
-demagogue. His extravagance had involved him in debts amounting to
-more than a million dollars. But in the government of his province
-he distinguished himself by military successes and excellent civil
-administration, besides amassing sufficient wealth to pay his debts.
-
-[Sidenote: The first triumvirate.] In 60 B. C. he returned to Rome,
-and soon formed with Pompey and Crassus the agreement known as the
-first triumvirate, by which he was assured of the consulship in 59
-B. C., and the government of Gaul for the following five years. To
-strengthen the alliance he married his young and beautiful daughter
-Julia to Pompey. In 56 B. C. he met Pompey and Crassus at Lucca, in
-the presence of a great concourse of senators and their followers, and
-an agreement was made that Caesar should continue to hold the province
-of Gaul through 49 B. C., while Pompey and Crassus were to be consuls
-in 55 B. C., after which Syria and Spain were to be given to Crassus
-and Pompey respectively for five years. The agreement was duly carried
-out, and in 54 B. C. Crassus went to Syria, where he lost his life
-after the battle of Carrhae, in 53 B. C. In the same year Pompey's
-wife, Julia, died. Pompey had not gone to Spain to take possession of
-his province, but remained at Rome, and soon became openly hostile
-to Caesar. When the Gallic war was ended, the senatorial party, with
-Pompey at its head, demanded that Caesar disband his army. [Sidenote:
-The civil war.] This he refused to do unless Pompey also gave up his
-military command. Hereupon the civil war broke out, Caesar crossed the
-Rubicon, the boundary of his province, and Pompey fled to Greece, where
-he was defeated in 48 B. C., at Pharsalus, then to Egypt, where he was
-murdered. In 46 B. C. the senatorial party was finally defeated in the
-battle of Thapsus, in Africa, and their leader, Cato, committed suicide
-at Utica.
-
-[Sidenote: Caesar's dictatorship and death.] Caesar now returned to Rome,
-where he was made _imperator_ and perpetual dictator, thus uniting
-in one person all the political power of the state. Henceforth the
-forms of republican government were but a thin mask disguising a real
-monarchy. In the brief period of his power Caesar accomplished the
-reform of the calendar, and carried through numerous important changes
-for the improvement of the government, but nothing could placate the
-hatred of those who wished to restore the rule of the senate, whatever
-its abuses had been. On the Ides of March (March 15), 44 B. C., he was
-murdered in the senate-house by a band of conspirators headed by Brutus.
-
-[Sidenote: Caesar's writings.] Caesar's extant writings are seven books
-of _Commentaries_ on the Gallic War, covering the years 58-52 B. C.,
-and three books of _Commentaries_ on the Civil War, covering the years
-49-48 B. C. He also wrote some poems, a book _On the Stars_, two books
-_Against Cato_, and a few grammatical or rhetorical essays, all of
-which are lost, as are also his orations, which were greatly admired.
-Collections of his letters existed in antiquity, but these also have
-been lost, and the only extant letters of Caesar are a few which are
-preserved in the correspondence of Cicero. Caesar doubtless intended to
-publish commentaries on the years between 52 and 49 B. C., as well as
-on his wars in Egypt and elsewhere, but did not carry out his intention.
-
-Caesar's _Commentaries on the Gallic War_ were written apparently in
-the year 51 B. C., when he was still on good terms with Pompey. The
-energy of this pale, slender, delicate man sufficed not only to make
-him the conqueror of the warlike tribes of the north, and afterward
-of the trained armies of the republic, but also to gain him an
-eminent position among the great narrative and descriptive writers
-of the world. The _Commentaries_ were written rapidly,[49] for the
-double purpose of showing what Caesar had done to increase the glory
-and power of Rome, and to prove to his detractors that his conquest
-of Gaul had not been an act of unprovoked aggression, but had been
-forced upon him by circumstances. The facts narrated are drawn, in all
-probability, from the official army records, supplemented from Caesar's
-own recollections, and perhaps from his private journals. In striking
-contrast to the transparent vanity which led Cicero to extol his own
-merits on all possible occasions, Caesar keeps his personality in the
-background, and writes of himself always in the third person, as if the
-deeds he narrates were those of another than the writer. This gives
-his narrative the appearance of great impartiality, but the careful
-reader can hardly fail to notice that Caesar's conduct is always put
-in the most favorable light, that his victories are made as important
-as possible, and his reverses are more lightly passed over. The
-_Commentaries_ are not to be regarded as accurate history, but rather
-as a justification of Caesar's actions, presented in historical form.
-
-[Sidenote: Caesar's style.] Caesar's style is clear, simple, and
-unaffected, and free from all obtrusive rhetorical adornment, but the
-narrative of his campaigns is varied and enlivened by the insertion
-of descriptions, speeches, dialogues, and all sorts of interesting
-details. He frequently takes occasion to signalize the brave deeds of
-his men. So in his account of the siege of Gergovia, he describes the
-heroic death of one of his centurions:
-
-    Marcus Petronius, a centurion of the same legion, in trying to
-    break down the gate, was overwhelmed by numbers and despaired
-    of his life. When he had already been wounded many times, he
-    said to his comrades, who had followed him: "Since I can not
-    save myself together with you, I will at least provide for
-    your safety, since through my greed for glory I have led you
-    into danger. When an opportunity is given you, do you look
-    out for yourselves." At once he rushed into the midst of the
-    enemy, and after killing two, drove the rest a little away
-    from the gate. When his comrades tried to succour him, "In
-    vain," he said, "do you try to save my life, since my blood
-    and my strength are ebbing away. So go away, while you have
-    the opportunity, and retreat to the legion." Thus fighting he
-    soon fell and saved his comrades.
-
-The history of the Gallic war was published under the unassuming title
-of _Commentarii_, or "notes"; but such is the perfection of its simple
-style that no one ever thought of rewriting it.
-
-[Sidenote: The Civil War.] The three books of _Commentaries on the
-Civil War_ show the same qualities as those _On the Gallic War_, but in
-a less admirable degree. In one external matter they differ from the
-history of the Gallic War, for in the latter each book contains the
-account of a year's campaign, while the story of the first year of the
-Civil War occupies two books. The historical interest of this work is
-at least as great as that of the books on the Gallic War, but it does
-not compete with them in literary merit, and contains some positive
-misstatements. Probably the work was written in haste and was never
-revised by its author. This supposition would account for some of its
-defects. It may have been prepared for publication by one of Caesar's
-officers, perhaps by one of those who undertook to furnish histories of
-the campaigns which Caesar had left unrecorded.
-
-Among those who continued Caesar's record of his wars, the best writer
-is Aulus Hirtius. He was one of Caesar's lieutenants in Gaul, and was
-sent by him to Rome as a trusted agent. In 49 B. C. he was with Caesar
-in Rome. What share he had in the civil war is not known, but he
-himself says that he was not present in the Alexandrian and African
-wars. [Sidenote: Continuations of Caesar's Commentaries.] He was praetor,
-on Caesar's nomination, in 46 B. C., and was consul in 43 B. C., when
-he was killed in the battle of Mutina, fighting against Antony. The
-only work ascribed to him with certainty is the eighth book of the
-_Commentaries on the Gallic War_, in which he shows himself far
-inferior to Caesar as a writer, but not without some ability. The book
-is well written, in a style evidently intended to resemble that of
-Caesar. Whether the book on the _Alexandrian War_ was written by Hirtius
-or by Gaius Oppius is uncertain. Oppius was a man of equestrian rank, a
-supporter and agent of Caesar at Rome. After Caesar's death he attached
-himself to the party of Octavius, and urged Cicero to do the same. He
-appears not to have lived long after 44 B. C. The _Alexandrian War_ is
-written in a style similar to that of the eighth book of the _Gallic
-War_. The books on the _African War_ and the _Spanish War_ are by
-unknown authors. The style of the first is tasteless and turgid, while
-that of the latter is hesitating and crabbed. These books possess a
-certain literary interest, because they show the immense difference
-between Caesar's literary ability and that of the average Roman of his
-day.
-
-Caesar's inimitable _Commentaries_ are the records of their author's own
-deeds, written from the point of view of the chief actor in the events
-narrated. They are not the results of wide historical research, nor
-do they attempt to give the reader a broad general knowledge of the
-course of events, with all their causes and consequences. They are not,
-strictly speaking, history, but a masterly presentation of the material
-from which history is made. The earlier records of the past by Roman
-writers, such as Valerius Antias, Cornelius Sisenna, and others (see
-page 43), were mere annals, deficient alike in careful research and
-literary finish. The first real historian of Rome was Sallust.
-
-[Sidenote: Sallust.] Gaius Sallustius Crispus was born of a plebeian
-family, at Amiternum, in the Sabine country, in 86 B. C. At some
-unknown date he obtained the office of quaestor, and in 52 B. C. he
-was tribune. In the earlier part of his life he was dissolute, and
-he is said to have brought his father in sorrow to the grave. In 50
-B. C. he was expelled from the senate by the censors Appius Claudius
-and Lucius Piso. In the following year he was reappointed quaestor by
-Caesar and thus regained his place in the senate. In 48 B. C. he was in
-command of a legion in Illyria, in the year following he was sent by
-Caesar to suppress a mutiny among the soldiers in Campania, and in 46
-B. C. served as praetor in the African war. At the end of the year he
-was made proconsul of Numidia, where he enriched himself by plundering
-the province. He then bought a villa and gardens on the Quirinal, and
-devoted himself to historical writing until his death in 35 B. C.
-
-[Sidenote: Sallust's works.] Sallust's works are _The Conspiracy of
-Catiline_, _The Jugurthine War_, and the _Histories_. The first two are
-preserved entire, but of the _Histories_, which treated of the events
-from 78 to 67 B. C., only fragments are preserved, in addition to four
-speeches and two letters, which were inserted in the narrative, but
-were collected and published for use in rhetorical teaching. The two
-letters to Caesar and the speech against Cicero, published under the
-name of Sallust, are spurious.
-
-[Sidenote: Character of Sallust's works.] In his writings Sallust
-appears as an opponent of the nobility and a champion of the popular
-party. He depicts in glaring colors the corruption and greed of the
-senate, and describes in glowing terms the successes and virtues of
-the popular hero Marius. At times his political bias leads him even
-to distort the truth, though the distortion is not so great as to
-deprive his works of historical value. He is not content to state the
-bare facts of history, but exerts himself to depict the sentiments
-and motives underlying the actions of the chief persons about whom
-he writes, and even of mankind in general. He prefaces his narrative
-with introductions of a philosophical nature, sometimes not strictly
-relevant to the subject in hand. His style is rhetorical and piquant,
-and he uses many archaic words, chosen in great part from Cato's
-works. He evidently imitates the style of Thucydides, and, like him,
-he introduces speeches and letters composed to suit the occasion on
-which they are supposed to have been delivered or written. These
-peculiarities give his works the interest of individuality, and have
-caused them to be much admired, and also severely criticised, in
-ancient and modern times. Some of the qualities of Sallust's writing
-may appear in translations of a few brief extracts. The opening words
-of the _Catiline_ are as follows:
-
-    All men, who desire to excel the other animals, ought to strive
-    with all their power not to pass their lives in silence, like the
-    cattle which nature has made prone and obedient to their appetite.
-    But all our power is situated in the spirit and the body; our
-    spirit is more for command, our body for obedience; the one we
-    have in common with the gods, the other with the beasts; wherefore
-    it seems to me more fitting to seek glory by the resources of
-    the mind than by physical strength, and, since the life which we
-    enjoy is itself brief, to make the memory of us as lasting as
-    possible.[50]
-
-His account of the terror at Rome when the greatness of the danger
-from the conspiracy of Catiline became known, shows his power of vivid
-description:
-
-    By these things the state was deeply moved and the face of the
-    city was changed. From the greatest gaiety and wantonness, which
-    long peace had brought forth, suddenly utter sadness came in;
-    people hurried, ran trembling about, had no confidence in any
-    place or man, neither waged war, nor were at peace; each one
-    measured the danger by his own fear.[51]
-
-The beginning of the speech of Marius to the Romans exhibits Sallust's
-rhetorical style, his liking for antitheses and for descriptive
-epithets:
-
-    I know, Quirites, that not by the same conduct do most men seek
-    power from you and use it after they have obtained it, that at
-    first they are industrious, humble, and moderate, but afterward
-    pass their lives in sloth and haughtiness. But to me the opposite
-    seems right, for by as much as the entire state is more important
-    than the consulship or the praetorship, with so much greater care
-    ought the former to be administered than these latter to be
-    sought. Nor am I ignorant how much trouble I am taking upon myself
-    at the same time with the greatest honor from you. To make ready
-    for war, and at the same time spare the treasury, to force to
-    military service those whom one does not wish to offend, to care
-    for everything at home and abroad, and to do this among envious,
-    opposing, seditious men, is harder, Quirites, than you think.
-
-Artificial though the style of Sallust is, it is interesting, lively,
-often concise and vivid. It had no little influence upon the style of
-subsequent writers, especially upon that of Tacitus, the greatest of
-Roman historians. We must remember, too, that the _Catiline_ and the
-_Jugurtha_ were of much less importance than the lost _Histories_. In
-this greater and more mature work Sallust may have avoided some of the
-faults of style that appear in the extant treatises.
-
-[Sidenote: Cornelius Nepos.] A much less interesting writer than
-Sallust is Cornelius Nepos. Like Catullus and several other authors
-of this period, he came to Rome from the north. His birthplace was
-probably Ticinum, on the river Po. Little is known of his life, which
-appears to have extended from a little before 100 B. C. to a little
-after 30 B. C. He was a friend of Catullus and of Cicero's friend
-Atticus, probably also of other literary men at Rome. His works
-were all, with the exception of some love poems, historical and
-biographical. The _Chronica_, in three books, treating of universal
-history, was probably written before 52 B. C. The _Exempla_, in five
-books, was a history of Roman manners and customs. Three other works
-were a _Life of Cato_ (the elder), a _Life of Cicero_, and a treatise
-on geography. His latest work, published apparently between 35 and 33
-B. C., was a great collection of biographies of distinguished men (_De
-Viris Illustribus_), dedicated to Atticus. An addition to the life of
-Atticus was made between 31 and 27 B. C. This work contained at least
-sixteen books, and was divided into sections of two books each, so
-that each section contained one book on Romans and one on foreigners.
-The sections treated of Kings, Generals, Statesmen, Orators, Poets,
-Philosophers, Historians, and Grammarians.
-
-[Sidenote: Qualities of the works of Nepos.] Of all the works of Nepos,
-there remain to us only the book on foreign generals, and from the book
-on Roman historians the lives of Cato the elder and of Atticus, besides
-fragments of the letters of Cornelia, mother of the Gracchi. The book
-on foreign generals contains biographies of twenty Greek generals,
-a brief sketch of kings who were also generals, and biographies of
-Hamilcar and Hannibal. Nepos draws his facts from good sources, such
-as Thucydides, Xenophon, Theopompus, Polybius, and the writings of
-Hannibal, but is careless and uncritical, and does not employ all the
-important sources of information on each subject. He makes mistakes
-in matters of history and geography, arranges his material badly,
-and gives to trivial anecdotes the space that might better have been
-devoted to more important matters. His style, though generally clear,
-is without elegance. The structure of his sentences is simple, and
-his subject-matter is interesting. For these reasons, rather than on
-account of any literary merit, his _Lives_ have been much used as a
-text-book for beginners in Latin.
-
-[Sidenote: Varro.] One of the most productive and learned writers of
-the age of Cicero was Marcus Terentius Varro, who was born in 116 B. C.
-at Reate, in the Sabine country. He studied at Rome under Lucius Aelius
-Stilo, and at Athens under Antiochus of Ascalon. In 76 B. C. he was
-in the army in Spain, in 67 B. C. he distinguished himself in the war
-against the pirates. Perhaps he continued to serve under Pompey in the
-war with Mithridates. In the civil war he was on the side of Pompey,
-and was forced to surrender to Caesar the legion under his command. He
-was afterward in Epirus, at Corcyra, and at Dyrrhachium. After Caesar's
-victory, Varro accepted the new government and was placed in charge of
-the public libraries. He was proscribed by Antony after Caesar's death,
-but his life was saved through the devotion of his friends, and he
-spent his remaining years in peace, continuing his literary activity
-until the end. He died in his ninetieth year, 27 B. C.
-
-[Sidenote: Varro's works.] Varro's works were many and varied. Some
-seventy-four titles are known, and the total number of single books
-amounted to about six hundred and twenty. These included poems,
-works on grammar, history, geography, law, rhetoric, philosophy,
-mathematics, literary history and education, miscellaneous essays,
-orations, and letters. Of all these there remain one complete work,
-_On Agriculture_ (_De Re Rustica_), in three books, six (v-x) of the
-original twenty-five books of the treatise _On the Latin Language_ (_De
-Lingua Latino_), numerous short fragments of the _Menippean Satires_
-(_Saturae Menippeae_), and a few fragments of some of the other works.
-The collection of maxims that passes under Varro's name is probably
-spurious.
-
-[Sidenote: Varro's extant works.] The _Menippean Satires_ were written
-in prose interspersed with verses, in imitation of the works of the
-Cynic Menippus, who lived about 300 B. C., and probably belong to
-Varro's earlier years. They treat of almost all the relations of
-human life in a satirical vein. The extant verses show some ability
-in metrical composition and no little humor. It is evident, however,
-that Varro was not a great poet, and the loss of his other poems is
-little to be regretted. The three books _On Agriculture_ give, in the
-form of a dialogue, a systematic treatment of agriculture proper, of
-stock-raising, and of poultry, game, and fish. The dialogue is stiff,
-and the arrangement of the different parts of the subject artificial.
-The work is valuable for the information it contains, but its literary
-form is unattractive. The extant books of the treatise _On the Latin
-Language_ are chiefly concerned with the derivation of words and with
-inflections. Syntax was treated in books xiv-xxv. Varro's etymologies
-are often incorrect, and his ideas concerning inflections unscientific;
-but the work contains much that is of value to the student of the
-Latin language and of Roman antiquities. The style is dry and often
-dull. In fact, this is hardly a work of literature, but rather a
-technical treatise. Varro was a man of great learning and prodigious
-industry, but not a literary artist. [Sidenote: The Antiquitates and
-the Imagines.] Among his lost works the most important were probably
-the _Human and Divine Antiquities_ (_Antiquitates Rerum Divinarum
-Humanarumque_), in forty-one books, and the _Portraits_ (_Hebdomades_,
-or _Imagines_), in fifteen books. The latter work contained brief
-accounts in prose and verse of seven hundred famous Greeks and Romans,
-with their portraits. Varro's works were vast treasure-houses of
-information, but there is no reason to suppose that they possessed any
-great literary qualities.
-
-The remaining prose writers of this period may be passed over with a
-brief mention. Many of them are little more than names to us, and the
-works of all are lost. [Sidenote: Atticus.] One of the most interesting
-is Titus Pomponius Atticus (109-32 B. C.), whose biography was written
-by Cornelius Nepos. He was a wealthy man, who abstained from public
-life and devoted himself to literature by publishing the works of
-others and giving friendly aid to literary men as well as by writing.
-His friendship with Cicero has already been mentioned. His works were
-historical, the most important being the _Annals_ (_Liber Annalis_), a
-chronological sketch of Roman history from the foundation of the city
-to the year 49 B. C. His other works were biographies or genealogies,
-and descriptive verses written to accompany portraits of distinguished
-men.
-
-[Sidenote: Minor orators.] The orator Quintus Hortensius Hortalus
-(114-50 B. C.) is chiefly known through Cicero. He was the advocate
-of Verres when Cicero conducted the prosecution, he spoke against the
-Manilian Law, which Cicero supported, and in several suits he was
-engaged by the same client who secured Cicero's services. Hortensius
-was the chief representative of the florid and ornamental "Asian" style
-of oratory at Rome. Among the orators who adopted the simple Attic
-style, the most important were Marcus Calidius, who was praetor in 57
-B. C. and died in 47 B. C.; Gaius Licinius Calvus (87-47 B. C.), who
-has been mentioned above (page 62) as a poet; Marcus Junius Brutus, the
-leader of the conspirators who murdered Caesar; and Quintus Cornificius,
-who was also a poet (see page 64).
-
-[Sidenote: Quintus Cicero.] Quintus Tullius Cicero (102-43 B. C.),
-the brother of Marcus, was also a literary man, though far inferior
-to his brother. When he was Caesar's lieutenant in Gaul, in 54 B. C.,
-he wrote several tragedies, apparently translations from the Greek,
-and he was also the author of annals and of an epic poem on Caesar's
-expedition to Britain. The only writings of Quintus Cicero now existing
-are three letters to Tiro and one to Marcus Cicero, besides an _Essay
-on Candidature for the Consulship_, in the form of a letter to Marcus,
-written when he was a candidate for that office in 64 B. C. This gives
-some interesting information about the methods of Roman politicians,
-but has little literary interest. The first of Marcus Cicero's _Letters
-to Quintus_ is a similar treatise on the government of a province,
-written when Quintus was beginning his third year as propraetor of Asia,
-59 B. C. [Sidenote: Tiro.] Another writer closely connected with Cicero
-was his freedman and friend Tiro, who wrote Cicero's biography, made
-editions of his speeches and letters, and collected his witticisms,
-besides writing on grammar and inventing a system of shorthand.
-
-[Sidenote: Writers on special subjects.] The grammatical, theological,
-and scientific works of Publius Nigidius Figulus, who was praetor in
-58 B. C., and died in banishment in 45 B. C., have little to do with
-literature, and are lost. Nor is it necessary to devote even a brief
-space to the grammatical and rhetorical works of Aurelius Opilius,
-Antonius Gnipho, Marcus Pompilius Andronicus, and others, whose
-teachings helped to inform some of the great writers and orators of
-the time, but whose works have not been preserved. A philologist,
-historian, and poet, whose writings were considered important, was
-Santra, who seems to have been somewhat younger than Varro, but we are
-now unable to determine wherein their importance consisted. Among the
-jurists of this period the most distinguished was Servius Sulpicius
-Rufus, two letters from whom are preserved in Cicero's correspondence
-(_Ad Familiares_, iv, 5, and iv, 12). These give a high idea of his
-style, but are the only remains of his writings. All branches of
-knowledge, so far as they existed at that time, were treated by various
-writers, but a discussion of their lost works has no place in a brief
-history of literature.
-
-The last years of the republic are made illustrious by the great names
-of Lucretius, Catullus, Cicero, and Caesar. In the Augustan age, poetry
-attained a still greater height of perfection with Virgil and Horace,
-but the age of Cicero is the golden age of Latin prose.
-
-
-
-
-BOOK II
-
-_THE AUGUSTAN PERIOD_
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VIII
-
-THE PATRONS OF LITERATURE--VIRGIL
-
-    Effect of the Empire upon literature--Augustus, 63 B. C.-14 A.
-    D.--Agrippa, 63-12 B. C.--Pollio, 67 B. C.-5 A. D.--Messalla, 64
-    B. C.-8 A. D.--Maecenas, 70 (?)-8 B. C.--Virgil, 70-19 B. C.--His
-    life--The Eclogues--The Georgics--The Aeneid.
-
-
-[Sidenote: Effect of the Empire upon literature.] With the battle of
-Actium the Roman Republic came to an end. Julius Caesar had, to be sure,
-gathered all the power of the state into his own hand, but he had
-held it only a short time; Octavius--after 27 B. C., Augustus--held the
-full power until his death, and left it unimpaired to his successors.
-The change from a free government, whatever its corruption and decay,
-to what was really an unlimited monarchy could not fail to have some
-influence upon literature. Henceforth the great orator might hope to
-win cases in the courts, but he could no longer change the policy of
-the nation; the historian might search the records of the past and
-describe the deeds of those who were no longer living, but if he wrote
-of the history of his own times, he must have the fear of the master
-always before his eyes; the poet could sing of love and wine and
-nature without let or hindrance, but poems of national and political
-importance could hardly be written except by those in sympathy with
-the empire. The emperor might exert his influence to put down all
-literary expression not agreeable to him without encouraging literature
-of any kind, or he might encourage certain kinds of literature and
-certain writers without treating with severity even those whose works
-displeased him, or he might at the same time encourage some and
-suppress others. Under an imperial master literary expression could not
-be so free as in the days of the republic, but the degree of restraint
-at any time depended upon the character of the emperor. It is due to
-the enlightened liberality of Augustus that the period of his rule was
-the most brilliant epoch of Roman literature.
-
-[Sidenote: Augustus.] Augustus (63 B. C.-14 A. D.) had received a
-careful education in his youth, and had a genuine and intelligent
-admiration for literature. His own literary productions comprised an
-epic poem entitled _Sicily_, some short epigrams, an unfinished tragedy
-entitled _Ajax_, orations, memoirs, and letters. Before his death he
-directed that an account of his deeds (_Index Rerum Gestarum_) should
-be engraved on bronze tablets and affixed to his tomb. He probably
-composed this account himself, and the copy of it found inscribed upon
-the wall of the temple of Augustus and Rome at Ancyra (the _Monumentum
-Ancyranum_), containing in simple and dignified language the record
-of his life, his political measures, and his military activity, shows
-the good taste of the first Roman emperor, for he who had become the
-ruler of the civilized world was not led to praise himself or speak
-in extravagant terms of any of his deeds, but composed the record of
-his wonderful life in terms of simplicity so grave and dignified as to
-inspire veneration. It was not, however, through his own compositions
-but through his influence that Augustus made his name great in the
-history of literature. He encouraged Virgil, Horace, and other poets,
-he attended the recitations of authors who wished to bring their new
-works before an enlightened public, and he surrounded himself with
-friends who delighted in aiding and honoring those whose genius could
-give glory to their patrons and add lustre to the empire.
-
-[Sidenote: Agrippa.] Among these friends of literature was Marcus
-Vipsanius Agrippa (63-12 B. C.), who caused the first map of the
-world to be set up in the porticus Polae and was himself the author of
-geographical works. More important was Gaius Asinius Pollio (67 B. C.-5
-A. D.), who established the first public library in Rome. [Sidenote:
-Pollio.] His example was followed by Augustus, who established two
-libraries, one in the porch of Octavia, the other in the temple of the
-Palatine Apollo, under the care of the learned Varro. Pollio was a
-soldier, statesman, and orator, but also wrote tragedies and a history
-of the years 60-42 B. C., in which he criticized boldly the statements
-of Julius Caesar, the adoptive father of Augustus. Pollio was the first
-to hold and encourage public and private recitations of new literary
-works. [Sidenote: Mesalla.] Less closely connected with the emperor
-was Marcus Valerius Messalla (64 B. C.-8 A. D.), who had originally
-been a partizan of Brutus, but had made his peace with Augustus. He
-was, like Pollio, an orator, but occupied himself also with
-antiquarian and grammatical researches, and in his earlier years made
-translations from the Greek and wrote Greek prose and verse. His house
-was a gathering place for the younger poets of the period.
-
-[Sidenote: Maecenas.] But of all the patrons of literature under
-Augustus, the most distinguished was Gaius Maecenas, the friend of
-Augustus, of Virgil, and of Horace. He was born about 70 B. C., and
-died in 8 B. C. A member of an ancient and noble Etruscan family, he
-had been carefully educated, and developed the most refined literary
-taste. His attractive and winning personality made him of great service
-to Octavius in his negotiations with Antony and Sextus Pompey, and
-after the power of Augustus was established Maecenas was the close
-friend and constant adviser of the emperor. In spite of his fine
-literary taste, he was without talent as a writer, and his works, both
-prose and verse, were severely criticized by his contemporaries and by
-later readers. It is little to be regretted that his writings, like
-those of the other patrons of literature who have been mentioned, are
-lost. And yet the name of Maecenas will always occupy an honored place
-in the history of literature, for it was he who made possible the poems
-of Virgil and Horace.
-
-[Sidenote: Virgil.] The greatest of Roman poets is Virgil. Publius
-Vergilius Maro was born of humble parents, at Andes, a village in
-the territory of Mantua, October 15, 70 B. C. His parents can not
-have been poor, for they gave him a good education, first at Cremona,
-then at Milan, and later at Rome. He was trained chiefly in rhetoric
-and philosophy, but the only teacher whose influence seems to have
-been lasting was the Epicurean philosopher Siro. For oratory Virgil
-developed no taste. After the battle of Philippi (42 B. C.) the
-triumvirs recompensed their veterans by a distribution of farm lands,
-and Virgil's farm was given to a new owner. At that time Asinius
-Pollio, who had admired Virgil's poetry and had encouraged him to
-write the _Bucolics_ or _Eclogues_, was governor of the region beyond
-the Po, and through his influence the poet was reinstated in his
-property. But in the following summer a new distribution of lands was
-made, and Pollio was no longer governor of the province. Virgil was
-dispossessed, and had to take refuge at the villa of his teacher Siro.
-Through the influence of Cornelius Gallus and Maecenas, Augustus was led
-to recompense the poet for his loss, and from this time Virgil was in
-close relations to the imperial circle. Hereafter he lived at Rome and
-on an estate near Naples, which he received from Augustus.
-
-In 37 or 36 B. C. and the following years he wrote the _Georgics_ in
-honor of Maecenas, and the _Aeneid_, written at the request of Augustus,
-was begun in 29 B. C. When the poem was finished and the poet had
-reached his fifty-first year, he went to Athens, intending to devote
-three years to the final revision of his work, and then to give himself
-up to the study of philosophy. But at Athens he met with Augustus,
-who was on the point of returning to Rome from the East and invited
-him to join the imperial party. Virgil was already ill from exposure
-to the heat during a visit to Megara, but accepted the invitation. On
-the voyage his illness increased, and a few days after his arrival at
-Brundusium he died, September 21, 19 B. C. He was buried at Naples,
-where he had passed most of his later years.
-
-[Sidenote: Virgil's Works.] Virgil's undisputed works are three:
-the _Eclogues_, called, on account of their pastoral nature, the
-_Bucolics_; the _Georgics_; and the _Aeneid_. [Sidenote: The Eclogues.]
-The _Eclogues_ are a series of ten idylls in imitation of the poems
-of the Greek poet Theocritus. The Greek word "idyll" means "little
-picture," and since all Virgil's idylls, except the fourth, and most
-of those of Theocritus, depict the life of herdsmen in the country,
-the word is generally applied to pastoral poems. Virgil's _Eclogues_
-are little pictures of pastoral life, but contain many allusions to
-the poet's own circumstances and to his friends and patrons, Pollio,
-Gallus, Varus, Maecenas, and Augustus. Pastoral poems, written for the
-cultivated circle of an imperial court, are necessarily artificial,
-and to this rule the _Eclogues_ are no exception. Yet the charm of
-their diction, the polish of their verse, the genuine love of nature
-and appreciation of rural life which they display, have given these
-poems a well-deserved place among the most famous productions of Roman
-literature. In the _Eclogues_ Virgil is, even more than in his other
-poems, dependent on Greek originals. Not only scattered lines, but
-whole passages are almost literal translations from the idylls of
-Theocritus, and less noticeable adaptations from other poets also
-occur. Sometimes Virgil's version is less beautiful than the original
-poem from which he borrows, and some of the most admired passages are
-not his own inventions; but even in the _Eclogues_, the earliest of his
-authentic works, written when he was about thirty years of age, amid
-the distress that accompanied his ejection from his little property,
-Virgil succeeds in making from his Greek originals new and great poems
-of genuinely Roman character. From first to last Virgil is a national
-poet.
-
-The poem which stands first in the series, but which was not the
-first in order of composition, has the form of a dialogue between two
-herdsmen, Meliboeus and Tityrus. In it the poet expresses his gratitude
-to Augustus, whom he calls a god. The poem begins:
-
-      _Meliboeus._ Stretched in the shadow of the broad beech, thou
-    Rehearsest, Tityrus, on the slender pipe
-    Thy woodland music. We our fatherland
-    Are leaving, we must shun the fields we love:
-    While, Tityrus, thou, at ease amid the shade,
-    Bidd'st answering woods call Amaryllis "fair."
-
-      _Tityrus._ O Meliboeus! 'tis a god that made
-    For me this holiday: for a god I'll aye
-    Account him; many a young lamb from my fold
-    Shall stain his altar. Thanks to him, my kine
-    Range as thou seest them: thanks to him, I play
-    What songs I list upon my shepherd's pipe.[52]
-
-In the dialogue that follows, Tityrus, who represents Virgil himself,
-speaks of his visit to Rome and his meeting with Augustus:
-
-    There, Meliboeus, I beheld that youth
-    For whom each year twelve days my altars smoke.
-    Thus answered he my yet unanswered prayer,
-    "Feed still, my lads, your kine, and yoke your bulls."[53]
-
-The fourth _Eclogue_, addressed to Pollio, and written in the year of
-his consulship (40 B. C.), celebrates in prophetic and lofty language
-the birth of a child. As the child grows the world is to become
-better, until the golden age of peace and good-will among men shall
-come again. This poem was, curiously enough, long supposed to be an
-inspired prophecy of the coming of Christ. Who the child really was
-is uncertain, but there is some evidence that Gaius Asinius Gallus,
-Pollio's son, is meant. The lofty tone is struck with the very opening
-of the poem:
-
-    Muses of Sicily, a loftier song
-    Wake we! Some tire of shrubs and myrtles low.
-    Are woods our theme? Then princely be the woods.
-
-    Come are those last days that the Sibyl sang;
-    The ages' mighty march begins anew.
-    Now comes the virgin, Saturn reigns again;
-    Now from high heaven descends a wondrous race.
-    Thou on the new-born babe--who first shall end
-    That age of iron, bid a golden dawn
-    Upon the broad world--chaste Lucina, smile:
-    Now thy Apollo reigns. And Pollio, thou
-    Shalt be our Prince, when he that grander age
-    Opens, and onward roll the mighty moons:
-    Thou, trampling out what prints our crimes have left,
-    Shalt free the nations from perpetual fear.
-    While he to bliss shall waken; with the Blest
-    See the Brave mingling, and be seen of them,
-    Ruling that world o'er which his father's arm shed peace.[54]
-
-But the atmosphere of the _Eclogues_ is generally that of the country,
-and the form that of dialogue, with competitive songs by the herdsmen.
-The opening lines of the fifth _Eclogue_ may serve as an example. The
-characters are Menalcas and Mopsus:
-
-    _Men._ Mopsus, suppose now two good men have met--
-    You at flute-blowing, as at verses I--
-    We sit down here, where elm and hazel mix.
-
-      _Mop._ Menalcas, meet it is that I obey
-    Mine elder. Lead, or into shade--that shifts
-    At the wind's fancy--or (mayhap the best)
-    Into some cave. See, here's a cave, o'er which
-    A wild vine flings her flimsy foliage.
-
-      _Men._ On these hills one--Amyntas--vies with you.
-
-      _Mop._ Suppose he thought to out-sing Phoebus' self?
-
-      _Men._ Mopsus, begin. If aught you know of flames
-    That Phyllis kindles, aught of Alcon's worth,
-    Or Codrus' ill-temper, then begin;
-    Tityrus meanwhile will watch the grazing kids.
-
-      _Mop._ Ay, I will sing the song which t'other day
-    On a green beech's bark I cut; and scored
-    The music as I wrote. Hear that, and bid
-    Amyntas vie with me.
-
-      _Men._              As willow lithe
-    Yields to pale olive; as to crimson beds
-    Of roses yields the lowly lavender,
-    So, to my mind, Amyntas yields to you.[55]
-
-[Sidenote: The Georgics.] The _Eclogues_ were published not later
-than 38 B. C. In 29 B. C. the four books of the _Georgics_ were
-completed. One of the most important tasks of the new government, now
-that the civil strife was ended, was to ensure the continuance of
-tranquility by settling the veterans in the country and encouraging
-agriculture, which had been sadly neglected in Italy for many years.
-It was therefore with a practical end in view that Maecenas suggested
-to Virgil the composition of a poem on agriculture. This was a subject
-which Virgil was especially qualified to treat with success, and the
-poem, to which he devoted seven years, is the most perfect of his
-works. It is a very free imitation of the _Works and Days_ of Hesiod,
-and contains many passages derived from Aratus and other Greek poets,
-but in its composition and its poetic beauty it is independent of
-all but Virgil's own genius. It is dedicated to Maecenas. The first
-book treats of the tilling of the soil, the beginning of agriculture,
-the instruments needed by the farmer, the tasks appropriate to the
-different seasons, and the signs of the weather, ending with a splendid
-passage describing the portents at the time of Caesar's death, and a
-prayer that Augustus may put an end to the wars and disorders of the
-times. This passage is closely connected with the preceding lines in
-which the signs of the weather given by the appearance of the sun are
-described. It begins:
-
-    And last, what evening brings, and when the wind
-    Bears placid clouds, and also with what thoughts
-    The wet south wind is moved, of all these things
-    The sun will give thee signs. Who dares to say
-    The sun is false? He even warns ofttimes
-    That strife unseen and treason are at hand
-    And hidden wars are swelling to break forth.
-    He even, pitying Rome for Caesar's fall,
-    In pitchy darkness veiled his shining head;
-    The impious age feared endless night. Yet then
-    Earth also and the waters of the sea
-    And obscene dogs and evil-omened birds
-    Gave signs. How often did we see boil forth
-    From bursting furnace of the Cyclopes
-    The waves of Aetna o'er the fertile fields
-    And roll her balls of flame and molten rocks!
-    Germania heard through all the sky the sound
-    Of arms; the Alps with unused tremblings shook.
-    Then, too, by many through the silent groves
-    A mighty voice was heard, and pallid forms
-    In wondrous wise appeared in dusky night,
-    And dumb beasts spake (oh, horror!), and the streams
-    Stood still, and earth yawned open, and the sad
-    Carved ivory wept within the sacred fanes,
-    And sweat poured forth from statues wrought of bronze.
-    Eridanus, the king of rivers, rushed
-    Whirling the woods along on eddies mad,
-    And through the fields bore stables with the herds.[56]
-
-The second book treats of the culture of trees and of the vine, and
-includes a description of the properties of different kinds of soil.
-Among its beautiful passages one is the praise of Italy,[57] another
-the description of the blessings of the farmer's life, beginning--
-
-    O blessed farmers, if they only might
-    Their blessings know! For whom the bounteous earth
-    Herself, afar from strife of clashing arms,
-    Pours forth an easy livelihood.[58]
-
-The third book is devoted to the care of horses and cattle. A beautiful
-passage, near the beginning of the book, expresses the poet's love for
-his native Mantua and his homage to Augustus. The first lines of this
-passage are as follows:
-
-    I first, if life be granted, coming back,
-    Will lead the Muses from Aonian heights
-    To my own land; I first will bring to thee,
-    My Mantua, Idumaean palms, and in
-    Thy verdant mead will build a marble fane
-    Beside the water, where the mighty stream
-    Of Mincius wanders slow with winding curves
-    And clothes with tender reeds the river banks.
-    There in the midst for me shall Caesar stand
-    And hold the temple. Then to him will I
-    As victor, clad in Tyrian purple garb,
-    Drive to the stream a hundred four-horse cars.[59]
-
-The fourth book treats of the culture of bees. It contains several
-passages of singular beauty, one of the most striking of which is the
-description of the life of the hive.[60] The poem ends with an epic
-description of the visit of Aristaeus, the mythical founder of bee
-culture, to his mother, the sea-nymph Cyrene. This includes an account
-of the struggle of Aristaeus with the sea-god Proteus and the death
-of Eurydice, the wife of Orpheus. A tradition exists that the poem
-originally ended with a passage in praise of Gallus; but before its
-publication Gallus had died in disgrace, and the present ending was
-substituted. In its final form the close of the _Georgics_ shows that
-Virgil was already tending to become an epic poet.
-
-[Sidenote: The Aeneid.] At the request of Augustus, Virgil began, in 29
-B. C., the composition of his greatest work, the _Aeneid_, in which he
-tells of the mythical origin of the Roman race and of the greatness
-and glory of the Rome that was to arise and reach its height under
-the leadership of the Julian family, which claimed direct descent
-from Aeneas. As early as the sixth century B. C. the Sicilian poet
-Stesichorus had sung of the coming of Aeneas to Italy. Naevius and Ennius
-had connected Aeneas with the origin of Rome, and had fixed some of the
-details of the story. Upon the foundations thus prepared for him Virgil
-erected the splendid structure of his poem. In the _Eclogues_ he had
-followed, closely for the most part, in the footsteps of Theocritus;
-the _Works and Days_ of Hesiod had served as the prototype of the
-_Georgics_, though here Virgil was so far from slavish imitation that
-his work surpasses the _Works and Days_ in every respect. In the
-_Aeneid_ the imitation of Homer's _Iliad_ and _Odyssey_ is constantly
-evident, and certain passages are clearly derived from Euripides,
-Sophocles, and Apollonius of Rhodes; but the _Aeneid_ is by no means
-a mere imitation. In some respects it is far inferior to the Homeric
-poems. It lacks their simplicity, their rapidity of movement, and their
-fresh joyousness; it can not be compared with them in narrative power
-or brilliancy of imagery. In these qualities Homer is unapproachable.
-But as a national epic, as the expression in prophetic form of the
-national greatness and of the poet's deep-seated passion for his
-country's glory the _Aeneid_ had no prototype, as it has had no
-successor. Virgil is not Homer; he is reflective, filled with the deep
-thoughts that centuries of speculation had implanted in the serious
-minds of his age; and his great poem is more than a mere narrative.
-In execution the _Aeneid_ is uneven. At times it is polished to the
-highest degree, at other times it falls to a level hardly, if at all,
-above mediocrity; some passages breathe a poetic fervor unsurpassed,
-while others might almost as well be written in prose. So conscious was
-Virgil himself of the unevenness and imperfections of his work that he
-wished it to be burned after his death, and could hardly be persuaded
-to leave its fate in the hands of his friends. His death came before he
-had perfected the poem, and its most perfect parts show what he wished
-it all to be and what it might have become had his life been spared.
-Even though it lacks the master's final revision, it remains the
-greatest poem of Roman times and one of the greatest poems of all ages.
-
-[Sidenote: Imitation of Homer.] The _Aeneid_ was to be for the Romans
-what the _Iliad_ and the _Odyssey_ together were for the Greeks. The
-first six books are modelled chiefly on the _Odyssey_. As the _Odyssey_
-tells of the wanderings and adventures of Odysseus before he reaches
-his home, so these books of the _Aeneid_ tell of the adventures of Aeneas
-on his voyage from Troy to Italy, and more than one passage shows how
-constantly the _Odyssey_ was in the poet's mind. The last six books
-tell of the struggles of Aeneas and his followers against the warriors
-who opposed their settlement in Italy; and here the combats described
-in the _Iliad_ are imitated, sometimes even in details. In the final
-struggle Aeneas is a second Achilles, and the brave but unfortunate
-Turnus is an Italian Hector.
-
-In the first book, after a brief introduction, the poem begins in the
-midst of the story. The fleet of Aeneas is off the coast of Sicily, when
-Juno causes the wind-god, Aeolus, to rouse a storm. The Trojan vessels
-are driven on the rocks, and the sea is stirred to its lowest depths.
-Then Neptune, angered that his waters are thus tossed about without
-his consent, rebukes Aeolus, and puts the waves to rest:
-
-    He said, and ere his words were done,
-    Allays the surge, brings back the sun:
-    Triton and swift Cymothoe drag
-    The ships from off the pointed crag:
-    He, trident-armed, each dull weight heaves,
-    Through the vast shoals a passage cleaves,
-    Makes smooth the ruffled wave, and rides
-    Calm o'er the surface of the tides.
-    As when sedition oft has stirred
-    In some great town the vulgar herd,
-    And brands and stones already fly--
-    For rage has weapons always nigh--
-    Then should some man of worth appear
-    Whose stainless virtue all revere,
-    They hush, they hist: his clear voice rules
-    Their rebel wills, their anger cools:
-    So ocean ceased at once to rave,
-    When, calmly looking o'er the wave,
-    Girt with a range of azure sky,
-    The father bids his chariot fly.[61]
-
-The Trojans reach the African coast, where Aeneas meets his mother,
-Venus, and is directed to the city of Carthage, which the Phoenician
-princess Dido has just founded. Aeneas and his comrade, the faithful
-Achates, enter the city wrapped in a cloud, which makes them invisible.
-When they are revealed to Dido, she receives them kindly, and takes
-them to her palace. Aeneas sends to the ships for his son Ascanius, also
-called Iulus, but Venus substitutes for him the god of love, Cupid,
-who fills Dido's heart with love for Aeneas. In the second book Aeneas
-begins the story of his adventures with a superb account of the fall
-of Troy, his own valiant but ineffectual struggle against the Greeks,
-and his final flight. In the third book he continues his story to
-the time of his arrival at Carthage. The fourth book is devoted to
-the love and fate of Dido. Aeneas and Dido, with their followers, go
-hunting in the forest; a storm arises, and the two, separated from the
-rest, take refuge in a cave, where only the woodland nymphs witness the
-union of their loves. Dido looks forward to a joint reign over Trojans
-and Tyrians alike. But Aeneas is warned by Mercury, at the command of
-Jupiter, to fulfil his destiny and sail to Italy. Dido overwhelms
-him with loving reproaches, but in vain; he remains steadfast in his
-obedience to the divine will. Then Dido determines to die. She erects
-a funeral pyre, places upon it the mementoes of her former husband,
-Sychaeus, and mounts it to end her life. But before she dies she calls
-down curses upon Aeneas and his race:
-
-    Eye of the world, majestic Sun,
-    Who seest whate'er on earth is done,
-    Thou, Juno, too, interpreter
-    And witness of the heart's fond stir,
-    And Hecate, tremendous power,
-    In cross-ways howled at midnight hour,
-    Avenging fiends, and gods of death
-    Who breathe in dying Dido's breath,
-    Stoop your great powers to ills that plead
-    To heaven, and my petition heed.
-    If needs must be that wretch abhorred
-      Attain the port and float to land;
-    If such the fate of heaven's high lord,
-      And so the moveless pillars stand;
-    Scourged by a savage enemy,
-      An exile from his son's embrace,
-    So let him sue for aid and see
-      His people slain before his face;
-    Nor, when to humbling peace at length
-      He stoops, be his or life or land,
-    But let him fall in manhood's strength
-      And welter tombless on the sand.
-    Such malison to heaven I pour,
-    A last libation with my gore.
-    And, Tyrians, you through time to come
-      His seed with deathless hatred chase:
-    Be that your gift to Dido's tomb.
-      No love, no league 'twixt race and race.
-    Rise from my ashes, scourge of crime,
-      Born to pursue the Dardan horde
-    To-day, to-morrow, through all time,
-      Oft as our hands can wield the sword,
-    Fight shore with shore, fight sea with sea,
-    Fight all that are or e'er shall be![62]
-
-These lines are the poetic and mythological justification for the long
-and disastrous wars between Rome and Carthage. In the fifth book the
-Trojans reach Sicily, and celebrate at Eryx funeral games in honor of
-Anchises, the father of Aeneas, who had died there the year before. In
-the sixth book they reach Cumae, in Italy. Aeneas descends to Hades to
-consult with the shade of Anchises. Here he sees the fabled monsters of
-the lower regions, and the shades of many departed heroes. Then there
-pass before him the forms of those as yet unborn. This gives the poet
-an opportunity to praise the great men of Rome, among them Julius Caesar
-and Augustus. Here he sees the form of the young Marcellus, son of
-Octavia, the sister of Augustus. When this book was written, Marcellus
-had recently died in his twentieth year. Virgil read his lines[63] on
-Marcellus to Augustus and Octavia, and the bereaved mother was so moved
-that she fainted. Virgil's description of the realm of the dead is in
-some parts unusually beautiful, and is especially interesting, because
-it stands, not only in date but also in many other respects, midway
-between the eleventh book of Homer's _Odyssey_ and Dante's _Divine
-Comedy_.
-
-[Sidenote: The last six books.] The last six books of the _Aeneid_,
-recounting the struggles of the Trojans in Italy, contain many fine
-passages, but are for the most part less interesting to the modern
-reader than the earlier books. In many parts they are finished with
-most exquisite art, even showing that Virgil's technical ability
-increased as the poem drew toward its close, but many other passages
-show the lack of the final revision. To the Roman the ancient legends
-of the origin of the Roman power must have been of surpassing interest,
-but most modern readers remember, amid the successive scenes of strife,
-only the heroic Turnus, the lovely Lavinia, the warlike maidens Camilla
-and Juturna, and the brave and devoted friends, Nisus and Euryalus, who
-were slain when endeavoring to carry a message in the night through the
-hostile camp to the absent Aeneas:
-
-    Blest pair! if aught my verse avail,
-    No day shall make your memory fail
-      From off the heart of time,
-    While Capitol abides in place,
-    The mansion of the Aeneian race,
-    And throned upon that moveless base
-      Rome's father sits sublime.[64]
-
-The _Aeneid_ closes with the death of Turnus, the chief opponent of
-the Trojans in Italy. In spite of its obvious imperfections, it is
-the greatest poem in the Latin language; and no later epic poem in
-any language equalled or even approached it in excellence until the
-appearance of Dante's _Divine Comedy_. [Sidenote: Virgil in the Middle
-Ages.] It is not to be wondered at that throughout the Middle Ages
-Virgil was regarded as the impersonation of all that was great in
-poetry; nor is it strange that the poet whose verses breathe such an
-indescribable, sweet sadness, who sings in lofty, inspired language
-of that Roman greatness which was ever present to the mediaeval
-imagination, who describes the dwellings of the dead, and who was even
-believed to have foretold the coming of the Messiah, should have become
-in mediaeval legends the possessor of all wisdom and all magic power.
-It is natural that Dante chose Virgil as his guide through hell and
-purgatory, and would gladly have admitted him to paradise had his
-theology allowed him to do so.
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: VIRGIL AND TWO MUSES.
-
-Mosaic in the Bardo Museum, Tunis.]
-
-CHAPTER IX
-
-HORACE
-
-    Quintus Horatius Flaccus, 65-8 B. C.--Virgil and Horaces--Life of
-    Horace--The first book of Satires--The Epodes--The second book
-    of Satires--The first three books of Odes--The first book of
-    Epistles--The literary Epistles--The Carmen Saeculare--The fourth
-    book of Odes--Conclusion.
-
-
-Throughout the Middle Ages Virgil was regarded as incomparably the
-greatest of Roman poets. In modern times his greatness has been called
-in question, and some scholars have even gone so far as to deny that
-he was a great poet at all. The difference is due, in great measure,
-to the fact that in the Middle Ages the poems of Homer, Theocritus,
-and the other Greek poets whom Virgil imitated, were unknown, and
-Virgil was regarded as the great epic and pastoral poet of antiquity.
-[Sidenote: Virgil and Horace.] That Virgil imitated the Greek poets
-is evident, but in the last chapter enough has been said to show that
-his poetry contains qualities not to be found in the works of the
-Greeks, and that although his poems are in many respects not equal to
-those of Homer, he must still be regarded as one of the greatest poets
-of the world. The increase of knowledge which has led to the undue
-depreciation of Virgil tended to make the second great poet of the
-Augustan period more highly appreciated. The odes of Horace, which are
-the best known and the most popular of his poems, are imitations of
-the poetry of the Greek lyrists, Alcaeus, Sappho, Anacreon, and their
-followers, but the Greek originals are for the most part lost, so that
-Horace can not suffer by comparison with them. Moreover, modern taste
-is less pleased with epic than with lyric verse, and the delicate,
-highly finished, and charming odes of Horace appeal strongly to the
-cultivated modern reader. In his satires and epistles, too, Horace,
-whatever his indebtedness to Lucilius and others, displays undoubted
-originality. It is, therefore, natural that he is sometimes called
-the greatest of Roman poets. But Virgil wrote of greater themes; he
-was the great national poet, who sang in grand, prophetic tones of
-the greatness of Rome and her destinies, while Horace appealed to a
-narrower circle of cultured readers. Yet Horace is, in his own field,
-unsurpassed, and deserves all the admiration that has been accorded him.
-
-[Sidenote: Life of Horace.] Quintus Horatius Flaccus was born at
-Venusia, in Apulia, near the border of Lucania, December 8, 65 B. C.
-His father was a freedman, the owner of a small farm, but he determined
-to give his son the best education possible. The school at Venusia was
-unsatisfactory, and Horace's father moved with his family to Rome,
-where he gained his livelihood as a _coactor_ or collector of the money
-offered by bidders at auctions. This was a business of some importance
-at Rome, and must have been lucrative, for Horace attended the best
-schools, where he came in contact with the sons of wealthy and noble
-parents. His father exercised personal supervision over the boy's
-education, accompanying him to the school, and calling his attention to
-what went on about him, pointing out the evil effects of bad conduct,
-and giving him practical advice. In school, under a strict master,
-Orbilius, who did not spare the rod, Horace read the translation of
-the _Odyssey_ by Livius Andronicus, and also the _Iliad_, the latter,
-perhaps, in the original Greek. From Rome, he went to Athens to study
-philosophy, and was there when Brutus arrived in 44 B. C., after the
-death of Caesar. Like many another patriotic young Roman, he joined the
-army of Brutus, in which he was given the rank of _tribunus militum_.
-He took part in the battle of Philippi and the flight that followed
-it. In the distribution of lands among the soldiers of the victorious
-armies, Horace's farm was confiscated, and the young man, whose father
-had died during his absence, returned to Rome, where he obtained,
-perhaps with the last remnants of his father's savings, a small
-position as a clerk of the quaestors.
-
-This position gave him a livelihood and some leisure for poetry.
-Poverty, he says,[65] drove him to write verses, and certainly
-his poems brought him prosperity, for they led Virgil and Varius
-to introduce him to Maecenas in the spring of 38 B. C., and in the
-following winter Maecenas admitted him to the circle of his familiar
-friends. Horace, with his short, rotund figure, his witty, genial
-conversation, and his poetic genius, became socially very intimate with
-Maecenas, without, however, being his confidant in political matters.
-When Maecenas went to Brundusium to negotiate an agreement between
-Augustus and Antony, Horace, with Virgil, Varius, Plotius, and the
-Greek rhetorician Heliodorus, was in his train.[66] In 34 or 33 B. C.
-Maecenas gave him a country seat in the Sabine hills not far from Tibur
-(Tivoli), so large that it contained five farmhouses. Here the poet
-spent a great part of his remaining years. Maecenas also introduced him
-to Augustus, who wished to make him his private secretary, but Horace
-refused the honor, probably because he preferred to retain his freedom.
-The emperor was not offended by the refusal, but continued to regard
-him as a friend. Honored by Augustus and his circle, Horace lived in
-comfort and peace. He died November 27, 8 B. C., and was buried near
-the tomb of Maecenas, on the Esquiline. He made Augustus his heir.
-
-Upon his return to Rome after the battle of Philippi, Horace employed
-his leisure in writing verse. [Sidenote: The first book of Satires.] To
-this period belong the _Epodes_ and the first book of the _Satires_.
-These poems were originally not intended for publication, but were read
-to the author's friends. About 35 B. C. ten _Satires_ were collected
-and published. Horace himself calls these poems not _Satires_, but
-_Sermones_ or "Talks." He even disclaims the title of poet, though
-his "Talks" are in hexameters. The first _Satire_ is addressed to
-Maecenas, and serves to dedicate the entire collection to the poet's
-chief patron, though its subject is the general discontent of every
-man with his own lot and the foolishness of heaping up wealth. In
-general, the _Satires_ are not, as were those of Lucilius, attacks upon
-individuals, but rather criticisms of the follies and foibles of the
-times. In the second _Satire_ the dangers to which adulterers expose
-themselves are set forth; in the third, those who carp at and criticize
-their neighbors are held up to ridicule; the fourth praises the wit,
-but criticizes sharply the style of Lucilius, the defects of which are
-attributed to the rapidity with which Lucilius wrote great quantities
-of verse. In the same _Satire_ Horace defends himself against the
-charge of malice, maintaining that his verse is far less malicious than
-private gossip, and describes the way his father took to train him in
-his youth:
-
-    But if I still seem personal and bold,
-    Perhaps you'll pardon when my story's told.
-    When my good father taught me to be good,
-    Scarecrows he took of living flesh and blood.
-    Thus, if he warned me not to spend, but spare
-    The moderate means I owe to his wise care,
-    'Twas, "See the life that son of Albius leads!
-    Observe that Barrus, vilest of ill weeds!
-    Plain beacons these for heedless youth, whose taste
-    Might lead them else a fair estate to waste":
-    If lawless love were what he bade me shun,
-    "Avoid Scatanius' slough," his words would run:
-    "Wise men," he'd add, "the reason will explain
-    Why you should follow this, from that refrain:
-    For me, if I can train you in the ways
-    Trod by the worthy folks of earlier days,
-    And, while you need direction, keep your name
-    And life unspotted, I've attained my aim:
-    When riper years have seasoned brain and limb,
-    You'll drop your corks, and like a Triton swim."[67]
-
-The fifth _Satire_ is an account of the journey to Brundusium in the
-train of Maecenas with Virgil, Varius, and others; the sixth, again
-addressed to Maecenas, tells us how the poet became acquainted with
-the great man, reverts to his father's attentive care, and declares
-that Horace has no reason to be ashamed of his origin or discontented
-with his lot. The seventh tells of a joke in a lawsuit between Publius
-Rupilius Rex and a banker, Persius; the eighth, of some interrupted
-magic rites before a statue of the god Priapus; and the ninth, of the
-poet's ineffectual efforts to get rid of a bore, who stuck to him until
-he was dragged off to the court by a plaintiff. In the tenth _Satire_,
-which serves as an epilogue to the collection, Horace returns to his
-criticism of Lucilius, maintaining that what he had said in the fourth
-_Satire_ was really not too severe, and at the same time he expresses
-his opinion of some of the other Roman poets and of his own ability:
-
-    No hand can match Fundanus at a piece
-    Where slave and mistress clip an old man's fleece;
-    Pollio in buskins chants the deeds of kings;
-    Varius outsoars us all on Homer's wings;
-    The Muse that loves the woodland and the farm
-    To Virgil lends her gayest, tenderest charm.
-    For me, this walk of satire, vainly tried
-    By Atacinus and some few beside,
-    Best suits my gait; yet readily I yield
-    To him who first set footstep on that field,
-    Nor meanly seek to rob him of the bay
-    That shows so comely on his locks of gray.[68]
-
-[Sidenote: The Epodes.] The _Epodes_ were written in the same period as
-the first book of _Satires_, and, like them, are on various subjects.
-About 31 B. C. Horace yielded to the persuasions of Maecenas and
-published a collection of seventeen pieces which he had written at
-various times since 40 B. C. The first ten are in the _epodic_ metre,
-that is, an iambic trimeter followed by an iambic dimeter, as in the
-lines:
-
-    _Beatus ille, qui procul negotiis
-      Ut prisca gens mortalium,
-    Paterna rura bobus exercet suis,
-      Solutus omni fenore,_[69]
-
-the following translation of which shows approximately the rhythm of
-the original:
-
-    Oh blest is he, who far from troubles, fears and cares,
-        As did the early mortal race,
-    With oxen of his own through fields ancestral fares,
-        And knows not usury's disgrace.
-
-The shorter line is called an _epode_, or appendix, to the longer, and
-it is from this that the collection of poems gets its name. The last
-seven poems of the collection are in various metres, though most of
-these are in alternating long and short lines. Horace himself calls
-these poems _Iambics_ simply. In them he imitates the Greek poet
-Archilochus, but though several of the poems are somewhat aggressive,
-they all lack the intense and violent tone of invective attributed by
-the ancients to Archilochus, of which, however, the extant fragments of
-Archilochus show few traces. In one of his _Epistles_[70] Horace
-claims to be the first who introduced the iambics of Archilochus into
-Latin literature, but this is not strictly true, for Catullus and his
-contemporaries had written invectives in iambics. Horace did, however,
-introduce the epodic metre, and he is also the first to employ his
-iambics to castigate the follies of his time rather than individuals.
-In subject the _Epodes_ range from the praise of rural life (ii) and
-encouragement to live a life of ease and pleasure (xiii) to invectives
-against a rich upstart (iv) or a woman who deals in poisons (v, xvii),
-and a rebuke of the Romans who are eager to stir up a civil war (xvi).
-The last _Epode_ (xvii) has the form of a dialogue between the poet
-and the poisoner Canidia, but the others are the simple expressions of
-the poet's sentiments, often in the form of a letter or address to a
-friend. In this they differ from the _Satires_, which have something
-of the dialogue form, either between two persons mentioned by name or
-between the poet and some indefinite person, perhaps the reader.
-
-[Sidenote: The second book of Satires.] The second book of _Satires_,
-finished about 30 B. C., contains eight pieces, most of which are in
-the form of a dialogue between the poet and one other person. The most
-amusing is the fifth, a dialogue between Ulysses and Tiresias, in
-which Tiresias tells Ulysses how he can repair his fortunes by paying
-court to rich men and getting them to mention him in their wills. This
-_Satire_ is directed against a class of men only too numerous in Rome.
-Others treat of various subjects, such as the serious study bestowed
-upon dinners (viii, iv), certain Stoic doctrines (iii, vii), the
-criticisms of the earlier _Satires_ (i), or the joys of the farmer's
-simple life (ii). In almost every case, the thoughts and theories
-expressed are put into the mouth of some one other than the poet,
-whereas in the first book of _Satires_ the poet expressed the opinions
-himself. Horace's _Satires_ differ from those of Lucilius in being less
-bitter and less political, more carefully composed and written, and far
-more genial. The kindly, gentlemanly spirit of the man is everywhere
-visible. His "talks" are the witty, amusing conversation of a man of
-the world, often dealing with serious subjects, but always in a light
-and easy way. They are full of sententious remarks, which have been
-frequently quoted from Horace's time to our own.
-
-Catullus and his contemporaries had imitated almost exclusively
-the poems of the Alexandrians, of the Greek poets, that is to say,
-who flourished after Greece had lost her independence. [Sidenote:
-The Odes.] Horace in his _Epodes_ went farther back and imitated
-Archilochus, and in his _Odes_, without altogether neglecting the
-Alexandrians, he follows for the most part in the footsteps of Alcaeus,
-Sappho, and Anacreon. Among his odes are several which are in part
-translations of extant fragments of these poets, and it is certain
-that if the poems of the early Greek lyrists were not almost entirely
-lost, we could recognize many of them in Latin version in the _Odes_
-of Horace. The _Odes_ contain also lines that remind one of similar
-passages in the poems of Euripides, Bacchylides, and other Greek
-poets, but in form as well as in contents they are for the most part
-imitations of the three great early lyrists. Most of the _Odes_ are
-divided into stanzas of four lines each, and in all such a division
-is possible, with perhaps one exception. The first three books of the
-_Odes_ were published in 23 B. C., but their composition belongs in
-part as early as 30 B. C. The first book contains thirty-eight poems,
-the second twenty, the third thirty. The first ode of Book I serves
-as a dedication to Maecenas, and in the odes immediately following
-nearly all the metres employed in the three books are used one after
-the other. Throughout the three books variety of metre governs the
-arrangement. The second book opens with an ode addressed to Pollio, and
-at the beginning of the third book are six odes celebrating in various
-tones the Roman glory. The last ode of Book III, beginning,
-
-    _Exegi monumentum aere perennius,_
-
-    I've reared a monument than bronze more lasting,
-
-serves as an epilogue to the finished collection.
-
-The subjects of the odes are so various as to touch upon almost every
-circumstance of human life and every mood of human feeling. Friendship,
-love, the gods, patriotism, conviviality, the pleasures of country
-life, events of the day, and philosophical thoughts, all find their
-place. In tone the odes are grave and gay, lively and serene, sometimes
-fantastic, more often thoughtful or at least reasonable. More than
-once the thought that life is short and we should pluck its blossoms
-ere they fade occurs in one form or another. The workmanship of the
-odes is wonderful in its perfection. Horace is not one of those who
-believe that perfect poetry comes purely by inspiration, without
-labor. He writes no word without being sure that it is the best word
-in its place. His metres are adapted to the thought he wishes to
-express, and the perfection of the metre makes even simple or common
-thoughts beautiful. The odes are not the ardent outpourings of a
-passionate spirit, as are some of the poems of Catullus, but they are
-the carefully elaborated expressions of the thoughts and sentiments of
-a gentle, kindly, thoughtful, but gay and humorous man of the world.
-They do not stir our blood, but they arouse our admiration, satisfy our
-taste, and please us by their tone of cultured and refined sentiment.
-The variety of their contents can not be presented in selections,
-nor can all the qualities of any ode be adequately rendered in a
-translation. One of the shortest but not the least attractive odes is
-the following, addressed to his cup-bearer:
-
-    Persia's pomp, my boy, I hate;
-      No coronals of flowerets rare
-    For me on bare of linden plait,
-      Nor seek thou to discover where
-    The lush rose lingers late.
-
-    With unpretending myrtle twine,
-      Naught else! It fits your brows
-    Attending me; it graces mine
-      As I in happy ease carouse
-    Beneath the thick-leaved vine.[71]
-
-The following ode offers more variety, and is perhaps more
-representative:
-
-    One dazzling mass of solid snow,
-      Soracte stands; the bent woods fret
-      Beneath their load, and, sharpest set
-    With frost, the streams have ceased to flow.
-
-    Pile on great fagots and break up
-      The ice; let influence more benign
-      Enter with four-years-treasured wine,
-    Fetched in the ponderous Sabine cup;
-
-    Leave to the gods all else. When they
-      Have once bid rest the winds that war
-      Over the passionate seas, no more
-    Gray ash and cypress rock and sway.
-
-    Ask not what future suns shall bring;
-      Count to-day gain, whatever it chance
-      To be; nor, young man, scorn the dance,
-    Nor deem sweet Love an idle thing,
-
-    Ere Time thy April youth have changed
-      To sourness. Park and public walk
-      Attract thee now, and whispered talk
-    At twilight meetings prearranged.
-
-    Hear now the pretty laugh that tells
-      In what dim corner lurks thy love,
-      And snatch a bracelet or a glove
-    From wrist or hand that scarce rebels.[72]
-
-[Sidenote: The first book of Epistles.] After the three books of _Odes_
-were published in 23 B. C., Horace returned to his previous manner of
-composition in hexameters, but gave to the collection of twenty poems
-which he published in 20 B. C., the form of letters or _Epistles_.
-These are sometimes real letters to his friends, sometimes satires or
-"talks" in the form of letters. The subjects of these poems are as
-various as those of the _Satires_, but it is evident that the poet
-is turning more toward philosophy. He advises his friends to take
-things as they find them, without allowing themselves to be troubled
-or excited (vi), he teaches the Stoic doctrine that virtue suffices
-to make men happy (xvi), he advocates calmness and the avoidance of
-care, and urges Tibullus (iv, 13) to live as if each day were to be
-his last. But he also sings the praise of wine (v, 16 ff.) and of the
-quiet life in the country (x, xiv). In two epistles he gives practical
-advice concerning intercourse with persons of high station, and various
-practical suggestions are found scattered through the other poems. In
-a letter to Maecenas (xix) he ridicules his imitators and mocks at his
-critics. The twentieth poem is an address to his book as he sends it
-into the world. In it he foretells the various fortunes of the book,
-and at the end he gives his age, saying that he has seen four times
-eleven Decembers in the year of the consulship of Lepidus and Lollius.
-In these letters Horace reveals his character more fully and with a
-more delicate touch than in any of his other works. The _Odes_ are the
-works by which he will always be best known, and to which he owes his
-great fame as a poet, but nowhere so fully as in the _Epistles_ does
-he disclose his kindly and genial, yet serious views of life as they
-ripened with his advancing years.
-
-In the seventh _Epistle_ of the first book Horace refuses, at least
-for the present, an invitation of Maecenas, on the ground that his
-health is poor and that he needs the repose of the country and the
-seashore. At the same time he explains the manner in which he wishes
-his relation to his patron to be understood. He is not a parasite, and
-openly says that he must retain his freedom, and can not be at the
-beck and call even of Maecenas. In the first _Epistle_ (lines 4 and 10)
-he refuses to write more odes, because he is no longer young and is
-turning toward philosophy. [Sidenote: The second book of Epistles.] The
-same attitude is disclosed in the second _Epistle_ of the second book
-(lines 25 and 141 ff.). The poet wished to retire and pursue the study
-of philosophy; but he had gained much experience in literary matters,
-and in three letters, written probably between 19 and 14 B. C., he
-records the results of this experience. The first letter is addressed
-to Augustus, the second to Julius Florus. These two form the second
-book of the _Epistles_. The third letter, addressed to the Pisos,
-father and two sons, was originally published with the others, but was
-[Sidenote: The Ars Poetica.] soon separated from them, and is known
-as the _Ars Poetica_. This is not a systematic treatise on poetry,
-but Horace's views, derived in part from his own experience, in part
-from his reading, are set forth in the easy style of a letter or talk.
-He insists that each poem must have a consistent fundamental idea or
-plot, that the characters of a drama must speak as befits their age and
-station, and must be drawn from life, he advises care in the choice of
-a subject, points out that nobody cares for mediocre poets, and that
-what is once published can not be recalled. Throughout the letter or
-treatise he constantly impresses upon his readers his conviction that
-good poetry is the result of hard work. Many critical and historical
-remarks are scattered through the _Ars Poetica_ as well as through the
-two other letters.
-
-In spite of his desire to give up the writing of poetry and to devote
-himself to philosophy, Horace did not finish his career as a lyric
-poet with the completion of three books of odes. In 17 B. C. it was
-decided that the Sibylline books required the celebration of the _ludi
-saeculares_, which were supposed to recur at the end of every _saeculum_,
-or period of one hundred and ten years. An important part of the
-celebration was the singing of a hymn in honor of Apollo and Diana.
-This was to be sung by a chorus of boys and girls of pure Roman birth,
-both of whose parents were living, and whose mothers had married only
-once. Horace was asked by Augustus to compose this hymn, and could not
-refuse the honor, which distinguished him as the official poet laureate
-of the Roman Empire. [Sidenote: The Carmen Saeculare.] The hymn, called
-the _Carmen Saeculare_, is a somewhat formal poem, as is fitting for the
-solemn occasion at which it was first sung, but it shows real religious
-feeling, mingled with pride and confidence in the Roman greatness. It
-is the work of a masterly artist and an inspired poet.
-
-In addition to appointing him to write the _Carmen Saeculare_, Augustus
-demanded of Horace a song, or songs, in honor of his stepsons, Tiberius
-and Drusus. [Sidenote: The fourth book of Odes.] Horace could not
-refuse, and composed odes in honor of the victories of Drusus (IV, iv)
-and Tiberius (IV, xiv), to which he added thirteen other poems, making
-a fourth book of fifteen odes, written apparently in the years 17-13 B.
-C. The fourth book of _Odes_ is in no way inferior to its predecessors
-in variety of form or perfection of workmanship, and it contains a
-larger proportion of exalted, patriotic poems. The sixth ode, addressed
-to Apollo, seems to be a prooemium to the _Carmen Saeculare_, or at any
-rate to have some connection with the _ludi saeculares_. The fifth ode,
-to Augustus, urging his return to Rome, and the fifteenth, also to
-Augustus, on the restoration of peace, celebrate the greatness of Rome
-as well as its ruler. Horace, as well as Virgil, though in a different
-way, was a poet of the Roman Empire.
-
-[Sidenote: The literary activity of Horace.] As we look back upon the
-literary activity of Horace, we find that he turned at first to satires
-in hexameters and epodes in the simple epodic metre. Then he enriched
-Roman literature by odes in imitation of the early Greek lyrists, to
-return afterward to his original style in the more refined form of
-epistles. It was only at the command of Augustus that he once more
-composed elaborate lyrics. His lyric poems are not natural outpourings
-of sentiment, but deliberate attempts to add to the beauty of Roman
-literature and thereby to the glory of the Roman Empire. And it is
-chiefly to these poems that he owes his fame. They are not equal
-in merit, but they are the most perfect productions of Roman lyric
-poetry. As such they were recognized in Horace's own lifetime, and as
-such they have been admired and loved through the succeeding ages,
-never more than in recent times. Countless scholars, poets, and men of
-letters have read them with delight, and many have been the attempts
-to render their inimitable charm in translations. But their subtle
-beauty defies the translator's art. None but Horace himself has been
-able to express his delicate feeling and poetic fancy in such perfect
-form. The _Satires_ and the _Epistles_ are full of brilliant and witty
-sayings, of critical and historical remarks; they throw much light upon
-the social and literary life of the period, and make us acquainted with
-the character of the poet; but the _Odes_ are "a monument more enduring
-than bronze," testifying to the genius, the industry, the good taste,
-and, in some cases, to the patriotic spirit of the most perfect of
-Roman lyric poets.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER X
-
-TIBULLUS--PROPERTIUS--THE LESSER POETS
-
-    Roman society--The amorous elegy--Cornelius Gallus, 70-27
-    B. C.--Gaius Valgius Rufus, consul 12 B. C.--Albius
-    Tibullus, about 54 to about 19 B. C.--Lygdamus, born 43 B.
-    C.--Sulpicia--Sextus Propertius, about 50 to about 15 B.
-    C.--Domitius Marsus, about 54 to about 4 B. C.--Albinovanus
-    Pedo--Ponticus--Macer--Grattius--Rabirius--Cornelius
-    Severus--Gaius Melissus and the Fabula Trabeata--Manilius--The
-    Priapea--Poems ascribed to Virgil and Ovid.
-
-
-[Sidenote: The condition of society.] During the last century of the
-republic Rome had grown from a powerful Italian city to be the mistress
-of the world, and this growth of power had been accompanied by many
-changes. The wealth of the governing classes had increased enormously.
-Greek art and Greek literature had become familiar in the form of
-original works and of Roman imitations, and with the increase of wealth
-and luxury the growth of immorality went hand in hand. The early
-profligacy of Caesar and Sallust, and the love of Catullus for a married
-woman have already been mentioned. These were not isolated cases, but
-merely examples of what was only too common. In fact, the man whose
-life was pure was an exception in the latter days of the republic. Nor
-were the women of the wealthier classes better than the men. The Roman
-matron, who was betrothed at twelve and married at fourteen years of
-age, naturally found herself in many instances united to a man with
-whom she had no sympathy, and whose distasteful society she gladly
-exchanged for that of a clandestine lover. Divorces were numerous, and
-were accompanied with little disgrace. When Augustus established his
-power, he brought about many reforms in the government of the city and
-the provinces and caused laws to be passed to ensure the sanctity of
-marriage and of family life, but his success in stemming the tide of
-immorality was slight. To be sure, the life of his chosen friends and
-of the court circle in general was pure, and even perhaps puritanical;
-but the spirit of the times was so corrupt that even his own family
-did not escape. The immorality of his daughter Julia became at last so
-notorious that she was banished from Rome and ended her life in exile.
-Her daughter Julia resembled her in character and met with a similar
-fate. In the later years of Augustus banishments for moral reasons
-were numerous, but it was impossible to bring order into the life of a
-society in which immorality had ceased to be disgraceful.
-
-[Sidenote: The elegy.] It was in and for this society that the Roman
-elegists composed their poems. Elegiac verse had been employed in
-the seventh and sixth centuries B. C. by Mimnermus, Tyrtaeus, Solon,
-and others, for the expression of all sorts of personal sentiments,
-as well as for political purposes; but in the Alexandrian period
-it had been appropriated almost exclusively to poems of love. This
-Alexandrian elegiac poetry had been introduced at Rome by some of the
-contemporaries of Catullus, and in the Augustan period it attained a
-remarkable development. The Roman elegists imitate the Alexandrians,
-and, like them, insert in their love poems countless mythological
-allusions and even mythological stories. The fashion demanded that
-the elegist be learned in Greek mythology. Cornelius Gallus received
-from the Greek Parthenius a compendium of mythological tales to aid
-him in selecting proper allusions to the myths. The poet's beloved is
-compared to Juno, Minerva, or Venus, Antiope or Helen; the lover gazes
-upon his mistress as Argus gazed upon Io; faithful wives are compared
-with Penelope or Alcestis, faithless lovers with Ulysses who deserted
-Calypso, and Jason who left Medea for another wife. These and similar
-allusions are mingled with figures drawn from rustic life or from war.
-The god Amor and his mother Venus play important parts in the poems.
-Amor transfixes the poet's heart with his arrows, plants his foot upon
-the poet's neck, makes him his slave. The poet sings of the beauty of
-his mistress, designating her by a fictitious name, but one which has
-the same length of syllables as the real name of the woman to whom the
-poems are addressed. The poet is usually poor, but offers his songs
-as the most valuable of offerings, and is filled with indignation if
-his mistress seems to care for wealth or jewels. No adornments are
-necessary for the beautiful woman, and love of wealth is disgraceful.
-The woes of lovers, false promises, faithlessness, the troubles of the
-lover who spends whole nights waiting at the door, the torments which
-love inflicts upon the heart, all these are repeated over and over
-again. So much of all this is conventional that it is hard to tell
-what part of the contents of these poems has any truth. Occasionally a
-line is evidently intended to give information about the writer, and
-in general it is certain that the poems were really addressed to some
-particular person, but how much of the feeling expressed is genuine,
-and how much mere affectation, it is impossible to determine. The
-details--the nights spent in wind and rain before the door, the quarrels
-or reconciliations, the voyages and returns--may or may not be founded
-upon real events in the poet's life. Whether they are to be regarded as
-historical or not depends upon their context; but it is evident that
-many details are purely imaginary.
-
-The three chief elegists are Tibullus, Propertius, and Ovid. Of
-Ovid, the youngest and most voluminous, and one of the most gifted
-among the Augustan poets, it will be better to treat in a separate
-chapter. [Sidenote: Cornelius Gallus.] Somewhat older than Tibullus and
-Propertius was Cornelius Gallus, whose elegies were greatly admired
-by his contemporaries, but of which hardly a trace remains. Gallus
-was born at Forum Julii (Frejus), in 70 B. C. He was a schoolmate of
-Augustus, commanded some troops in the war against Antony, and held the
-town of Paraetonium when Antony attacked it. He was afterwards prefect
-of Egypt, but indulged in offensive remarks about Augustus, and showed
-his pride by setting up statues of himself in various places in Egypt,
-and having his name carved upon the pyramids. When he was recalled in
-disgrace by Augustus his creditors brought suits against him, he was
-condemned to exile, and his property was confiscated. Unable to bear
-his troubles, he committed suicide at the age of 43 years. His greatest
-claim to remembrance is his friendship for Virgil, who expressed his
-gratitude to him in the sixth and tenth _Eclogues_, and, perhaps, in
-the original ending of the _Georgics_. The elegies of Gallus, in four
-books, were addressed to Lycoris, an actress of low birth and loose
-morals, whose stage name was Cytheris. In addition to his elegies,
-Gallus wrote translations from the Greek of Euphorion. [Sidenote:
-Valgius.] Another writer of elegies was Gaius Valgius Rufus, a friend
-of Horace, who was _consul suffectus_ in 12 B. C. Of his elegies on a
-boy named Mystes little remains, but they are spoken of by Horace and
-admired by the author of a panegyric on Messalla. Valgius also wrote
-some learned works, among them a treatise on medicine and a translation
-of the rhetoric of Apollodorus.
-
-[Sidenote: Tibullus.] Albius Tibullus was born near Pedum, in Latium,
-probably about 54 B. C., and was, if the "Life of Tibullus," contained
-in the best manuscripts of his works, is to be trusted, of equestrian
-rank. He inherited a large property, but lost the greater part of it,
-perhaps in the confiscations of 41 B. C. Apparently it was restored to
-him by Messalla, of whom he speaks with great affection. He followed
-Messalla to the East soon after the battle of Actium, but was detained
-by illness at Corcyra. He also accompanied Messalla in his campaign
-in Aquitania. Nothing further is known of his life, except his love
-for Delia, who appears to have been a married woman of low birth
-(_libertina_), and for Nemesis, who is apparently identical with the
-Glycera mentioned by Horace (_Od._ I, xxxiii, 2). Tibullus died about
-19 B. C. He was a friend of Horace and was admired by Ovid, but there
-is no evidence that he and Propertius knew one another.
-
-Four books of elegies are ascribed to Tibullus, but not all of these
-are really his work. Apparently the collection was made in the literary
-circle of Messalla, and poems by less noted members of the circle were
-added to those of Tibullus. [Sidenote: Elegies to Delia and Nemesis.]
-The ten elegies of the first book, addressed to Delia and to a youth
-named Marathus, are undoubtedly by Tibullus, and were published during
-his lifetime. The six elegies of Book II, addressed to Nemesis, seem
-to have been written several years later. They were left unfinished
-by Tibullus, and were published after his death. [Sidenote: Lygdamus.]
-The six elegies published as Book III are by a poet who calls himself
-Lygdamus. No poet of that name is known, and probably this is a
-pseudonym. Whoever the author of these poems was, he was a member of
-the circle of Messalla, was born in 43 B. C., and was familiar with
-the poems of Tibullus, Horace, Propertius, and Ovid. These elegies are
-addressed to Neaera, who was probably the poet's cousin, and either
-married or betrothed to him. They are greatly inferior to those of
-Tibullus. They lack variety and imagination, and in technical execution
-they want the graceful charm for which the genuine poems of Tibullus
-are distinguished. The remaining poems ascribed to Tibullus are printed
-in most editions as Book IV, though in the manuscripts they form a
-part of Book III. The first of these is a _Panegyric on Messalla_,
-written in honor of his consulship, 31 B. C. This poem, which is
-written in hexameters, shows a lack of taste and a love of rhetorical
-exaggeration entirely foreign to Tibullus. Lygdamus can not be its
-author, for he was only twelve years old at the time of Messalla's
-consulship. It was doubtless written by some member of Messalla's
-circle, and included in the collection with the poems of Tibullus on
-account of its subject. [Sidenote: Sulpicia.] The other poems of Book
-IV have for their subject the love of Messalla's niece Sulpicia for a
-young Greek named Cerinthus. The five elegies numbered viii-xii are by
-Sulpicia to Cerinthus. These are very short poems--none having more than
-eight lines--but they express genuine feeling in beautiful form, though
-without delicacy or reserve. The seventh elegy--of ten lines--seems
-rather to be by Tibullus than Sulpicia. Elegies ii-vi and xiii are
-apparently by Tibullus, and the epigram of four lines, with which the
-book closes, is of doubtful authorship.
-
-The elegies of Tibullus are less learned than those of his
-contemporaries. They contain many mythological allusions, but these
-are simply expressed and do not form too large a part of the poems.
-The sentiments expressed are not virile or powerful, but gentle and
-pensive. Tibullus loves the life of the country and hates war; he feels
-deeply the woes that oppress the lover; the thought of death weighs
-upon him; but love is ever in his heart. His poems are masterpieces of
-expression and versification, though they lack the fire of passionate
-emotion. Two brief selections[73] from the third elegy of Book I may
-give at least some idea of the quality of his sentiment:
-
-    While you, Messalla, plough th' Aegean sea,
-    O sometimes kindly deign to think of me;
-    Me, hapless me, Phaeacian shores detain,
-    Unknown, unpitied, and oppressed with pain.
-    Yet spare me, Death, ah, spare me and retire;
-    No weeping mother's here to light my pyre;
-    Here is no sister, with a sister's woe,
-    Rich Syrian odors on the pile to throw;
-    But chief, my soul's soft partner is not here,
-    Her locks to loose, and sorrow o'er my bier.
-
-So the poem begins. The poet laments his enforced delay at Corcyra,
-where he is detained by illness. There follows a list of the bad omens
-that warned Tibullus not to set out from Rome, then a prayer to Isis
-for aid. A brief description of the Golden Age is introduced, and the
-poet prays that Jove may grant him life:
-
-    But, if the Sisters have pronounced my doom,
-    Inscribed be these upon my humble tomb:
-    "Lo! here inurn'd a youthful poet lies,
-    Far from his Delia and his native skies,
-    Far from the lov'd Messalla, whom to please
-    Tibullus followed over land and seas."
-
-The remainder of the poem consists of a description of the lower
-world and an appeal to Delia. No translation can render exactly the
-qualities of expression which make Tibullus one of the greatest among
-the lesser Roman poets. It is only after repeated reading of his poems
-that one learns to appreciate the lightness of touch and the technical
-perfection of this sweet singer of soft themes.
-
-[Sidenote: Propertius.] Sextus Propertius was born in Umbria, probably
-at Asisium (Assisi), about 50 B. C., for he was younger than Tibullus
-and older than Ovid, whose birth was in 43 B. C. His family was of
-some importance and must have been wealthy, for although Propertius,
-whose father was already dead, lost part of his property in the
-confiscations of 41 B. C., enough remained to support him and give him
-a good education. His mother took him to Rome, where he studied law for
-a short time, but abandoned it for the pursuit of poetry. After the
-publication of the first book of his elegies, Propertius was introduced
-to Maecenas, to whom he afterward addressed two poems (II, i; and III,
-ix). He appears, however, to have been less intimate with him than were
-Horace and Virgil. Propertius nowhere mentions Horace, and if Horace
-refers to him at all it is without mentioning his name. He was a warm
-admirer of Virgil and a friend of Ovid. Little is known of his life,
-and it is only because his poems contain no allusions to events later
-than 16 B. C. that his death is supposed to have taken place about 15
-B. C. From two passages in the letters of the younger Pliny, in which
-a certain Passenus Paullus is said to be descended from Propertius, it
-appears that the poet married and left at least one child.
-
-[Sidenote: The poems of Propertius.] Propertius is a poet of love, who
-expresses as few poets have done the tender emotions of the heart. His
-poems are passionate and sensual, without the pensive melancholy of
-Tibullus or the frivolity of Ovid. The object of his love is Cynthia,
-whose real name was Hostia. She was a courtesan, but educated and
-refined in taste, beautiful and attractive. She it was who inspired his
-first poems, and only in the last book does she cease to be the chief
-theme of his verses. The poems are handed down to us in four books,
-the second of which is, however, made up of two incomplete books. The
-appearance of the first book made Propertius famous and introduced him
-to the circle of Maecenas. Naturally Maecenas wished him to sing the
-praises of Augustus and the Roman Empire, and from this time Cynthia is
-no longer the exclusive subject of his poems. In the fourth book (the
-fifth in many editions) there are four poems on Roman antiquities, in
-imitation of the [Greek: Aitia] (_Causes_) of Callimachus. Love is,
-however, throughout the subject to which Propertius naturally turns. His
-poems are full of learned mythological allusions, and the situations
-described or depicted are doubtless for the most part imaginary, yet
-the passionate nature of the poet's love is manifest through all his
-learning and his invention. Even though he did not pass through all
-the hopes and fears, the changes of love and hate, the joy and sorrow,
-the jealousy and the reconciliations which the poems depict with such
-wealth of illustration and such beauty of language, he knew as few have
-known them the varying passions of the lover's heart. For the modern
-reader his passion is too sensuous and his erudition too obtrusive; but
-the genuine feeling expressed makes his poems beautiful in spite of
-occasional coarseness and constant display of mythological learning.
-Propertius is remarkable for the sonorous richness of his lines, and in
-the technical execution of his verse he is careful and accurate. His
-earlier poems admit words of three and four syllables at the end of
-the pentameter without scruple, but in the later poems the pentameter
-usually ends with a word of two syllables, showing that Propertius was
-disposed to follow Ovid's rule in this particular. Like other Roman
-poets, Propertius is professedly an imitator of the Greeks. Those whom
-he claims to imitate especially are Callimachus and Philetas, both
-poets of the Alexandrian period.
-
-One of the shortest of his poems, free alike from coarseness and
-display of learning, is the following, on Cynthia's absence:
-
-    Why ceaselessly my fancied sloth upbraid,
-    As still at conscious Rome by love delay'd?
-    Wide as the Po from Hypanis is spread
-    The distance that divides her from my bed.
-    No more with fondling arms she folds me round,
-    Nor in my ear her dulcet whispers sound.
-    Once I was dear; nor e'er could lover burn
-    With such a tender and a true return.
-    Yes--I was envied--hath some god above
-    Crush'd me? or magic herb that severs love,
-    Gather'd on Caucasus, bewitch'd my flame?
-    Nymphs change by distance; I'm no more the same.
-    Oh, what a love has fleeted like the wind,
-    And left no vestige of its trace behind!
-    Now sad I count the ling'ring nights alone;
-    And my own ears are startled by my groan.
-    Happy! the youth who weeps, his mistress nigh;
-    Love with such tears has mingled ecstasy:
-    Blest, who, when scorned, can change his passing heat;
-    The pleasures of translated bonds are sweet.
-    I can no other love; nor hence depart;
-    For Cynthia, first and last, is mistress of my heart.[74]
-
-[Sidenote: Lesser Augustan poets.] In an age of great poets many
-lesser poets are sure to be found. Ovid, in one of his letters,[75]
-mentions twenty-three poets of the Augustan age, and his list is not
-exhaustive. Little is known of these lesser writers, and few of their
-works are preserved, even in fragments. Domitius Marsus, who lived
-from about 54 to about 4 B. C., and belonged to the circle of Maecenas,
-wrote a series of epigrams, entitled _Cicuta_ (poisonous hemlock),
-which enjoyed considerable reputation, some elegies on Melaenis, an epic
-poem on the Amazons, and a treatise _De Urbanitate_ (on refinement
-of expression). Albinovanus Pedo was also an author of epigrams and
-an epic poet. One of his epics, the _Theseis_, narrated the deeds of
-Theseus, another gave an account of a voyage to the ocean, probably
-the voyage of Germanicus, in 16 B. C. A fragment of twenty-three lines
-contains a vivid description of the stranding of some vessels in the
-night, which shows that the author was a poet of some ability. Of a
-poem on hunting (_Cynegetica_) by Grattius, five hundred and forty-one
-hexameters are preserved, which show little poetic merit. Only a few
-brief fragments remain of a poem on the Egyptian war of Augustus,
-by Rabirius. Cornelius Severus wrote a poem on Roman history (_Res
-Romanae_), and perhaps other epics. The longest extant fragment consists
-of twenty-five lines on the death of Cicero, and shows rhetorical
-rather than poetic ability. Ovid's friends, Ponticus and Macer, and
-several others, wrote mythological epics. Iambic verses were composed
-by Bassus, and other poets gained more or less reputation for various
-kinds of poetry.
-
-Gaius Melissus, a freedman of Augustus, from Spoletum, was by
-profession a librarian. [Sidenote: The Fabula Trabeata.] He was the
-originator of the _fabula trabeata_, named from the _trabea_, the
-distinctive costume of the equestrian rank. This was a national comedy,
-differing from the _fabula togata_ of Titinius and Atta (see page
-29) in the rank of the persons represented, for the _fabula togata_
-had chosen its characters from the lower classes, while the _fabula
-trabeata_ was a comedy of high life. Its popularity was brief, and
-it disappeared, leaving hardly a trace of its existence. Melissus
-also made a collection of humorous tales (_Ineptiae_) in one hundred
-and fifty books, and appears to have been the author of some learned
-treatises.
-
-[Sidenote: Manilius.] A poem on astronomy and astrology
-(_Astronomica_), ascribed in some of the manuscripts to an otherwise
-unknown Marcus or Gaius Manilius, is a didactic poem of unusual
-merit. As preserved it consists of five books, the last of which is
-incomplete. If, as is probable, a sixth book once existed, the whole
-work contained about five thousand lines. Even in its present condition
-it is the longest didactic Latin poem except the _De Rerum Natura_ of
-Lucretius. The poem is, as a whole, rather uninteresting, but contains
-passages of great vigor, showing independence of thought and remarkable
-power of expression. The author has an easy mastery of hexameter verse,
-in which he is superior to Lucretius; but with all his skill in
-versification, his earnestness, his learning, and his originality, he
-can not entirely overcome the prosaic nature of his subject. The poem
-is uneven, at times prosaic, sometimes rhetorical, not often, if ever,
-rising to lofty heights of poetic fancy, but serious and thoughtful.
-A large part of it is occupied with astrology, and other portions
-describe the heavenly bodies. In the introductions to the several
-books, and in digressions, theories concerning the origin of the world,
-the nature of man, and the power of fate are introduced, showing that
-the author accepts in the main the Stoic doctrines as opposed to the
-Epicurean teachings of Lucretius. So he maintains that the world is not
-the product of blind forces but of a divine will:
-
-    Who can believe that masses of such size
-    Were formed from particles without God's aid,
-    And that the world did blindly come to pass?
-    If mere Chance gave it us, let mere Chance rule.
-    But why do we perceive in stated turn
-    The constellations rise and, as it were
-    By order giv'n, run through their course prescribed,
-    Nor any hastening leave the rest behind?
-    Why do the selfsame stars adorn the nights
-    Of summer ever, and the selfsame stars
-    The winter nights? And why does every day
-    Return the world its form and leave it fixed?[76]
-
-Various mythological tales are inserted with a view to enlivening the
-poem, but the author lacks narrative skill. The most elaborate of these
-episodes, in which the story of Perseus and Andromeda is told,[77]
-shows, however, good descriptive ability and lively rhetoric. Manilius
-is not a great poet, but he treats, not without success, a subject new
-to Roman poetry, and shows himself to be a man of original power of
-mind and of serious purpose. With all its defects, the _Astronomica_
-has also great merits.
-
-Many Augustan poets are known by name whose works have perished. On
-the other hand, some poems by unknown authors are preserved. A curious
-collection of eighty short poems in elegiac and lyric metres, all
-addressed to the god Priapus, or at least written with reference to
-him, belongs for the most part to this period. [Sidenote: Priapea.]
-Statues of Priapus, the god of gardens and of fruitfulness of all
-sorts, were set up in public parks, in orchards, and other places, and
-most of the _Priapea_, as these short poems are called, are supposed to
-have been inscribed upon or affixed to such statues. Many of the poems
-are extremely indecent, but many are well written and witty.
-
-Far more interesting than the _Priapea_ are the poems falsely ascribed
-to Virgil, and contained in manuscripts of his works. Three of these
-are "epyllia," or short epics, composed, like Virgil's genuine works,
-in hexameter verse. [Sidenote: Culex.] The first, entitled _Culex_,
-"The Gnat," tells in four hundred and fourteen lines how a herdsman,
-lying asleep in the noonday heat, was on the point of being killed
-by a poisonous serpent, when a gnat stung him, and, by arousing him
-to his danger, saved his life. As he awoke, the herdsman killed the
-gnat, whose soul afterward appears to him in a dream and reproaches
-him. Finally the herdsman erects a funeral mound in honor of the gnat.
-The poem is a mock epic, intended to be humorous, but is not very
-successful. In versification it shows great similarity to the genuine
-works of Virgil, but also in some respects to those of Ovid. A poem
-entitled _Culex_ is ascribed to Virgil's youthful days by Martial and
-Statius, but the metrical qualities of the existing poem show that
-it can not have been written until a later date. Either, therefore,
-Martial and Statius were mistaken, or this is not the poem to which
-they refer.
-
-[Sidenote: Ciris.] The second piece, entitled _Ciris_, is a little
-longer than the _Culex_. This poem, evidently written by some member of
-the circle of Messalla, tells the story of Scylla, who caused the death
-of her father, Nisus, and betrayed her native town, on account of her
-love for Minos, the leader of an invading army. She was dragged through
-the water at the stern of a vessel, but the gods pitied her and changed
-her into a seabird called ciris. Her father was restored to life and
-made a sea eagle. [Sidenote: Moretum.] The third poem, the _Moretum_
-(the word denotes a sort of salad eaten by the peasants), contains
-only one hundred and twenty-four lines. It is a slight poem, idyllic
-in character, and admirably written. It describes how a poor peasant
-and his slave, a negress, make the _moretum_ in the early morning.
-[Sidenote: Copa.] This poem is said to be an imitation of a Greek
-original by Parthenius. It is possible, though not probable, that it
-is by Virgil. The fourth poem is the _Copa_ (barmaid), consisting of
-only thirty-eight lines of elegiac verse. It has to do with the
-barmaid of a wayside tavern, and is clever and interesting, but has
-none of the qualities of Virgil's poems. It belongs, however, without
-doubt, to the Augustan period. [Sidenote: Aetna] The _Dirae_, which is
-also included in the manuscripts of Virgil, belongs, as has been said
-(page 63), to an earlier time, and the _Aetna_ belongs to the
-subsequent period. This consists of six hundred and forty-six
-hexameters, describing volcanic eruptions, and attempting to account
-for them. It has little poetic merit, but shows that even an
-indifferent poet could write good hexameters. The remaining short
-poems ascribed to Virgil are of little interest or importance, though
-one of them--a comic ode in honor of an old muleteer--is an excellent
-parody of the poem of Catullus addressed to his old yacht.
-
-[Sidenote: Nux. Consolatio ad Liviam.] The elegy entitled _Nux_ (nut
-tree), and the _Consolatio ad Liviam_ (Consolation to Livia), both
-ascribed to Ovid, are imitations by writers of a slightly later time,
-and have little merit. The _Nux_ is the complaint of a tree on account
-of the bad treatment it receives from passers-by. The _Consolatio ad
-Liviam_ purports to be addressed to Livia, wife of Augustus, on the
-death of her son Drusus, in 9 B. C.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XI
-
-OVID
-
-    Ovid, 43 B. C.-18 A. D.--His life--Poems of
-    love--Fasti--Metamorphoses--Poems written after his
-    banishment--His qualities and influence.
-
-
-[Sidenote: Life of Ovid.] Publius Ovidius Naso was born at Sulmo,
-in the country of the Paeligni, in 43 B. C., on the 20th of March.
-He belonged to a wealthy equestrian family and received, along with
-his elder brother, a good education at Rome, practising rhetoric
-under Arellius Fuscus and Porcius Latro. He also studied at Athens,
-and at some time traveled with the poet Macer in Asia and Sicily.
-After assuming the _toga virilis_ he held two of the minor offices
-incidental to the beginning of the senatorial career, and was
-employed as arbitrator in private cases. But in spite of his father's
-remonstrances, he withdrew from public life and devoted himself to
-poetry. This decision was, according to his own statement, due in part
-to his delicate physique, but the chief reason was probably his love of
-poetry and pleasure, and his aversion to serious affairs. His social
-position was excellent. He was intimate with Messalla and his circle,
-and had many friends among the literary men of the capital. Virgil,
-he says, he only saw, but he was intimate with Tibullus, Propertius,
-Ponticus, and Bassus. He was married three times. His first wife, whom
-he married in his early youth, was "neither worthy nor useful,"[78] and
-he was soon separated from the second also, though he charges her with
-no fault. His third wife, of the Fabian family, remained faithful to
-him, and he to her. He had one daughter, who in turn had two children.
-His life of ease and social pleasure at Rome was brought to a sudden
-close in 8 A. D. by an imperial edict banishing him to Tomi, on the
-shore of the Pontus (Black Sea). "Two charges," he writes, "wrought
-my ruin, a poem and an error, but I must be silent about the fault
-of one of these acts. I am not important enough to renew thy wounds,
-Caesar, since it is more than enough that thou hast suffered once. The
-other part remains, in which, as author of a vile poem, I am charged
-with being a teacher of obscene adultery."[79] The poem referred to
-can be no other than the _Ars Amatoria_; but this was published ten
-years before the poet's banishment. The real cause of his sentence must
-be sought in the charge about which he keeps silence through fear of
-wounding Augustus. Perhaps he was privy to an intrigue between Julia,
-the granddaughter of Augustus, and Decimus Silanus. Ovid remained in
-banishment at Tomi until his death in 18 A. D.
-
-[Sidenote: Ovid's Poems] Ovid's poems fall into three divisions:
-poems of love, in elegiac metre, the works of his earlier years;
-antiquarian and mythological poems (the _Fasti_, in elegiacs, and the
-_Metamorphoses_, in hexameters), written before his banishment; and
-the poems written, in elegiac verse, at Tomi. The exact chronological
-order of the love poems is hard to fix, as the first series of elegies,
-the _Amores_, appeared in two editions, at first in five books, later
-in three. The later edition is preserved. Most of these elegies were
-probably written between 22 and 15 B. C. The _Heroides_, letters from
-mythical heroines to their absent husbands or lovers, were written soon
-after the _Amores_, then followed the poem _On the Care of the Face_
-(_De Medicamine Faciei_), then the _Ars Amatoria_ (_The Art of Love_)
-and the _Remedia Amoris_ (_Cures for Love_). The last two seem to have
-been published between the beginning of 1 B. C. and the end of 1 A. D.,
-but need not have been entirely written in the space of those two years.
-
-[Sidenote: The Amores] The three books of the _Amores_ contain
-forty-nine elegies, nearly all of which are love poems. Among the
-comparatively small number on other subjects the best known and most
-interesting are the elegy on the death of Tibullus (III, ix) and the
-description of a festival of Juno (III, xiii). The love poems are in
-great part addressed to Corinna, who seems to be a mere figment of
-the poet's imagination, not, like the Lesbia of Catullus, the Delia
-of Tibullus, and the Cynthia of Propertius, a real person under a
-fictitious name. Ovid's love poems are not expressions of his own
-feelings for any individual, but the means by which he exhibits his
-astonishing facility in versification and his lively imagination. From
-beginning to end the poems show an utter lack of serious purpose. All
-the vicissitudes of a long love affair are treated with equal lightness
-and grace. Corinna is ill, she goes away, she receives a letter, to
-which she replies unfavorably, her parrot dies, and her lover laments
-it in an elegy; but nowhere does any real feeling make itself manifest.
-The poet seems to wish to give a complete series of pictures of the
-feelings and conduct of a lover under all possible circumstances, and
-his lively imagination plays lightly with all the varying phases of
-passion, but it is all play. Some of the poems are based upon Greek
-originals, many contain mythological allusions, a few are heavy with
-Alexandrian learning, some are harmlessly sportive, others extremely
-indecent, but all alike are masterly in technical execution, and empty
-of real sentiment. In these, his earliest poems, Ovid is already
-the most brilliant of Roman elegists. The easy flow of his verse is
-admirable. The rules that each distich must form a complete sentence,
-or at least express an independent thought, and that each pentameter
-must end with a word of two syllables, give great uniformity to the
-cadence of the verses, but in spite of this the variety of expression
-and the clever rhetoric employed preserve the poems from monotony. Only
-the sameness of subject and the lack of real feeling make the _Amores_
-tedious to the modern reader.
-
-[Sidenote: The Heroides.] The subject of the _Amores_ is continued in
-the _Heroides_, but in a different form. Here the elegies are supposed
-to be letters from fifteen famous women of antiquity--Penelope, Briseis,
-Phaedra, and others--to their absent lovers or husbands. The form of
-poetic love-letter was known to the Alexandrians and had been employed
-once (IV, iii) by Propertius, but was first made popular at Rome by
-Ovid, who was also, apparently, the first to write in the character
-of mythological persons. Soon after the publication of Ovid's letters
-from heroines, replies to some, at least, were written by Sabinus.[80]
-These replies are lost, but at the end of the _Heroides_ we now have
-three pairs of letters. Paris, Leander, and Acontius write respectively
-to Helen, Hero, and Cydippe, and each woman writes a reply. These six
-letters are so nearly in the style of Ovid that only careful study has
-led the best critics to the opinion that they are not his work, but
-clever imitations by some unknown contemporary. In the _Heroides_,
-as in the six letters just mentioned, the fact that the writers are
-well-known mythological persons lends an interest and a dramatic
-quality to the poems, which is wanting in the _Amores_, but the general
-character of the work remains the same.
-
-[Sidenote: On the Care of the Face.] The book _On the Care of the
-Face_ is imperfectly preserved, for it breaks off after one hundred
-lines. The introduction compares the highly developed culture of the
-Augustan period with the rough simplicity of earlier times. The maids
-and matrons of old may not have bestowed any care upon their personal
-beauty, but the Roman girls of the present must act differently, since
-even the men are no longer careless of their persons. To be sure, the
-character is more important than personal beauty, for character remains
-while beauty is fleeting. Up to this point the poem is attractive,
-but the remainder, consisting of recipes for cosmetics, with accurate
-directions concerning weights and measures of the various ingredients,
-is so uninteresting that the loss of the latter part of the poem is
-hardly to be regretted.
-
-[Sidenote: The Art of Love.] The _Art of Love_ is one of the most
-immoral poems in existence. The first book gives instruction to young
-men to aid them in finding and seducing desirable mistresses, the
-second tells them how to keep the girls' affection, and the third
-instructs girls in the art of gaining lovers. The love of which Ovid
-writes is mere sensual passion, not the union of souls, and his three
-books of systematic instruction in the arts of seduction would be
-utterly tedious were they not enlivened by some striking descriptive
-passages and myths, as well as by sententious lines of worldly wisdom.
-A remarkable passage in the first book[81] celebrates the praise of
-Roman greatness and of Augustus, in order to lead up to the mention of
-a triumphal procession; and this is mentioned, because in the crowd of
-spectators the young man may scrape acquaintance with a girl. Of the
-Roman women at the theatre, Ovid says:
-
-    _Spectatum veniunt, veniunt spectentur ut ipsae,_
-    They come to see, and to be seen themselves,
-
-and many other lines show keen observation, knowledge of humanity, and
-no little humor; but, in spite of these beauties of detail, the poem
-is, as a whole, so uninteresting that its immorality has probably done
-little harm.
-
-[Sidenote: The Cure of Love.] The _Cure of Love_ offers various means
-for freeing oneself from the bonds of passion. Activity and travel are
-recommended; the lover who longs for freedom is advised to consider
-the faults of his mistress, and the expense she causes him; he is told
-to make her show her faults; is urged to fall in love with another,
-to avoid reminders of the beloved when she is absent, and to shun
-poetry, music, and the dance. All this is uninteresting enough; but
-this poem, like the _Ars Amatoria_, contains many fine details. The
-_Remedia Amoris_ is the last of Ovid's poems on the subject of love.
-From beginning to end his love poems show the greatest ease and fluency
-of expression, superb mastery of technique, much imagination, wit, and
-humor, but an almost absolute lack of real feeling and serious purpose.
-
-[Sidenote: The Fasti.] With the _Fasti_, or calendar of Roman
-festivals, Ovid's poetry becomes more serious. When this work was begun
-can not be determined, but it probably occupied part of the poet's
-time for several years. The description of the festival of Juno in the
-_Amores_ (III, xiii) shows an interest in religious ritual, and it may
-be that Ovid conceived the idea of writing the _Fasti_ even before the
-_Ars Amatoria_ was published. However that may be, the _Fasti_ never
-reached completion. The poem as planned was to consist of twelve books,
-one for each month of the year, and was dedicated to Augustus; but,
-when six books had been written, the work was interrupted by Ovid's
-banishment. After the death of Augustus, Ovid began a revision of the
-poem, and prefixed to it a dedication to Germanicus; but the revision
-progressed no further than the first book. As this book contains
-references to events as late as 17 A. D., the entire work as we possess
-it must have been published after Ovid's death.
-
-Poetic descriptions of festivals, with accounts of their origin, had
-been written by the Alexandrians, notably by Callimachus, and four
-elegies of Propertius (see p. 135) had introduced such subjects into
-Roman poetry. Ovid undertook to treat systematically all the Roman
-festivals, arranging them according to the days on which they occurred.
-This arrangement often causes related myths to be widely separated,
-and the same myth to be treated in several places, thus destroying
-the poetic unity of the work. The poet is also obliged by his subject
-to regard the astronomical as well as the antiquarian aspects of the
-calendar, and this double interest destroys the harmony of the poem.
-Ovid was not a careful student of astronomy, and the astronomical parts
-of his work contain some serious mistakes; but they are interesting
-on account of their clear descriptions, their variety of expression,
-and the myths connected with the stars which are introduced. The days
-that mark important events in Roman history are treated with especial
-fulness, and the poet takes every opportunity for the expression of
-patriotic sentiments, and for the praise of Augustus and the Julian
-family. The descriptions of festivals are lively and beautiful
-pictures of Roman life. Events of the poet's own times, or of the
-early, mythical period, are described with great variety, sometimes
-in elaborate detail, sometimes more briefly, but always with easy
-and attractive grace. The causes or origins of festivals and customs
-are introduced in various ways; sometimes a god appears and reveals
-them, sometimes they are narrated by a friend or contemporary of the
-poet, or again the poet tells them without adducing any authority. The
-Greek myths narrated are derived from some of the many collections of
-such material familiar to the Romans of Ovid's day; and even in the
-matter of Roman legends Ovid probably made no original researches.
-The grammarian Verrius Flaccus had compiled a prose calendar, with
-explanations of the established customs pertaining to each day, and it
-is probably from this that Ovid derived much of his antiquarian lore.
-The books from which Ovid derived his information are lost, and his
-work is now one of the chief sources from which we can gain knowledge
-of Roman ritual, belief, religious antiquities, and even topography,
-for Ovid frequently mentions the relative positions of temples and
-other buildings. To the student of Roman life the six books of the
-_Fasti_ are therefore of great importance. And their importance is
-not less to the student of Roman poetry, for they teem with beautiful
-and lively descriptions and interesting stories, and the patriotic
-sentiments eloquently expressed in several passages show that Ovid was
-something more than the careless, frivolous writer of corrupt love
-poems. In beauty of workmanship, vividness of description, and fluent
-grace of narrative, many portions of the _Fasti_ are equal to any works
-of Roman literature, not even excepting the _Metamorphoses_ of Ovid
-himself.
-
-[Sidenote: The Metamorphoses.] The fifteen books of the _Metamorphoses_
-are Ovid's greatest achievement. When he began the work we do not know,
-but, according to his own statement,[82] he had finished it at the
-time of his banishment, though he had not revised and perfected it to
-his own satisfaction. In his grief he put the manuscript in the fire
-and burned it, but several copies must have been made, so the work
-survived. The opening lines of the poem explain its purpose:
-
-    Of forms transmuted into bodies new
-    My spirit moves to tell. Ye gods (for ye
-    Did change them), lend my task your favoring breath,
-    And to my times continuous lead the song.
-
-This great collection of myths became almost immediately, and has
-remained ever since, the chief source of popular knowledge of
-mythology. Poets and artists alike have drawn their conceptions of
-the ancient gods and heroes from Ovid even more than from Homer. The
-myths selected are those in which a metamorphosis, or change of form,
-takes place. Collections of the same sort had been made by several
-Alexandrian writers; but Ovid was apparently the first to arrange these
-stories in continuous order from the beginning of the world to his own
-time. The astonishing skill with which the transition from one tale to
-the next is accomplished, the rapidity and fluency of the narrative,
-the abundance of charming descriptive passages, and the never-failing
-variety of expression, make this one of the most remarkable of poems.
-The number of stories told is so great that a list of them would be
-tedious, but a brief mention and characterization of some of the more
-important among them will serve to show the scope and variety of the
-work.
-
-[Sidenote: Contents of the Metamorphoses.] After describing the
-creation, Ovid gives an account of the four ages (of gold, silver,
-bronze, and iron) of mankind's deterioration and of the flood, from
-which only Deucalion and Pyrrha survived. The story of Phaethon's
-attempt to drive the chariot of the Sun is told with great animation,
-though the poet's display of geographical knowledge is somewhat out
-of place. The tale of the founding of Thebes by Cadmus is a striking
-example of narrative skill. More tragical in subject, and more dramatic
-in composition, are the stories of Pentheus, torn in pieces by the
-maddened worshipers of Bacchus, led by his own mother and sisters,
-and of Athamas, who is driven mad by Juno and kills his eldest son,
-while his wife Ino casts herself, with her son Melicerta, into the
-sea. Between these two stories are several less dramatic tales, among
-them the sentimental idyll of Pyramus and Thisbe, which is burlesqued
-in Shakespeare's _Midsummer Night's Dream_. The deeds of Perseus,
-his rescue of Andromeda from the sea-monster, their wedding, with the
-quarrel that arose, and the turning into stone of Perseus's enemies by
-means of the terrible Gorgon's head, are narrated with vivid detail.
-The story of Proserpine, carried off by Pluto and sought all over the
-world by her mother Ceres, is enriched and retarded by the insertion
-of all manner of geographical, antiquarian, and mythological details.
-The tale of the pride and grief of Niobe is told with tragic pathos.
-In telling of Medea's love for Jason, Ovid imitates to some extent the
-portrayal of her mental torments given by Apollonius of Rhodes,[83]
-and at the same time displays his own liking for rhetorical argument.
-The adventures of Cephalus and Procris, Nisus and Scylla, Daedalus and
-Icarus, and others, are more simply told. The story of the Calydonian
-boar-hunt and the death of Meleager, enables Ovid to show his ability
-in description, narrative, and psychological analysis. The charming
-idyll of the pious and hospitable rustics, Philemon and Baucis, rests
-the mind of the reader after the preceding tales of violence. The deeds
-of Hercules follow, then the story of Orpheus, in which are inserted
-numerous tales, as if told by Orpheus himself. The account of the
-terrible death of Orpheus is followed by the story of Midas, who turned
-all things to gold by his touch, and whose ears were changed into those
-of an ass because he declared Pan to be a better musician than Apollo.
-The transformation of Ceyx and Alcyone into sea-gulls gives the poet
-an opportunity to tell of and praise conjugal fidelity. The combat of
-the centaurs and Lapithae is told at some length, with too many names
-and too little unity. Many tales are told in connection with the Trojan
-war. Among these, the strife of Ajax and Ulysses for the armor of
-Achilles occupies a prominent position, and Ovid shows his rhetorical
-tendency by introducing set speeches by the two rivals in support of
-their claims. With the fall of Troy and the escape of Aeneas, the poem
-begins to deal with Roman rather than Greek subjects. The earlier
-adventures of Aeneas and others after the fall of Troy are, to be sure,
-still derived from Greek sources, but the stories of the combats in
-Italy and of the founding of Rome are no longer Greek. Near the end of
-the poem the Pythagorean doctrine of the transmigration of souls is set
-forth in considerable detail. Several Roman stories follow, and at last
-comes the account of Julius Caesar's ascent to the gods, and a prophecy
-of a similar fortune for Augustus. Then the poem ends with the lines:
-
-    And now my work is done; which not Jove's wrath,
-    Nor fire, nor sword, nor all-consuming age
-    Can e'er destroy. Let when it will that day,
-    Which only o'er this body's frame has power,
-    Make ending of my life's uncertain space;
-    Yet shall the better part of me be borne
-    Above the lofty stars through countless years,
-    And ever undestroyed shall be my name.
-    Where'er the Roman power o'er conquered lands
-    Extends, shall I be read by many tongues,
-    And through all ages, if there's aught of truth
-    In prophecies of bards, my fame shall live.
-
-Certainly Ovid had written a most remarkable poem. At times the lack
-of earnestness so noticeable in his earlier works appears also in the
-_Metamorphoses_, but frequently he is carried along by his subject
-to utterances of real power and pathos. His hexameters have not the
-swelling grandeur of Virgil's, but they have a fluent rapidity and easy
-grace that no other Latin writer ever attained. Nor does any other
-Roman poet equal Ovid in the art of telling a story. He is a master of
-direct, simple narrative and of clear, vivid description, and he excels
-also in dramatic presentation and in the analysis of human thoughts
-and feelings.
-
-In the _Metamorphoses_ Ovid's power is at its height. His later poems,
-written after his banishment, show a constant deterioration in every
-respect, even in technique. The long series of laments over his exile
-is tedious and wearisome. The five books entitled _Tristia_ consist of
-elegies addressed for the most part to no one person, while the four
-books of _Letters from the Pontus_ (_Ex Ponto_) have the form of real
-letters to the poet's friends. The second book of the _Tristia_ is one
-long letter of appeal to Augustus. The short poem entitled _Ibis_ is
-an elaborate heaping up of curses and maledictions against an enemy to
-whom the fictitious name of Ibis is given, and the _Halieutica_ is a
-fragment (134 lines) of a poem on fishes. Among all these poems those
-in which Ovid refers to his own circumstances are the most interesting.
-It is from these[84] that most of our information about his life is
-derived. In some of these elegies the tone of genuine feeling, which is
-wanting in the earlier poems, is evident:
-
-    When in my mind of that night the sorrowful vision arises,
-    Which was the end of my life spent in the city of Rome,
-    When I remember the night when I parted from all that was dearest,
-    Sadly a piteous tear falls even now from my eyes.[85]
-
-So Ovid sings of his departure from Rome. His letters to his wife[86]
-and the letter to his daughter Perilla[87] are among the most
-attractive of these poems of bitter exile and grief. But even upon
-these the bitterness of the exile's lot casts its shadow. A greater
-poet, or a poet of greater character, might have soared above his grief
-and disappointment; but Ovid wearies us with his continued complaints.
-
-Several works by Ovid have been lost. The most important was probably
-his tragedy _Medea_, which was regarded as one of the greatest of Roman
-tragedies. Only two fragments of this play remain, from one of which we
-learn that Ovid represented Medea in a state of excitement bordering
-upon madness. Of a work in hexameters on the constellations, entitled
-_Phaenomena_, and a series of epigrams, a few brief fragments remain.
-Not even fragments are preserved of a bridal song (Epithalamium)
-for Fabius Maximus, an elegy on the death of Messalla, a poem on
-the triumph of Tiberius (January 16, 13 A. D.), a poem on the death
-of Augustus, a medley on bad poets, made up of lines from Macer's
-_Tetrasticha_, and a poem in the Getic language in honor of the
-imperial family.
-
-Ovid's one defect as a poet is his lack of character. No other Roman
-wrote more polished verse, no other employed the Latin language more
-effectively for his purposes; but the want of moral earnestness and
-power makes Ovid, with all his genius, the least among the great
-Roman poets. His weakness is most noticeable in his earlier and later
-works, and the _Metamorphoses_ and the _Fasti_ are therefore the most
-admirable of his poems. Ovid was read throughout the Middle Ages, and
-the mythological allusions in writings of the Renaissance period and
-modern times are, for the most part, traceable to him. He was one of
-Milton's favorite authors, and several passages in _Paradise Lost_
-show his influence. Shakespeare, too, was acquainted, directly or
-indirectly, with the _Metamorphoses_, and numerous echoes of Ovid's
-poems are heard in the strains of other English poets.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XII
-
-LIVY--OTHER AUGUSTAN PROSE WRITERS
-
-    Livy, 59 B. C.-17 A. D.--His qualities as historian and
-    writer--Pompeius Trogus, about 20 B. C.--Justin, second or
-    third century after Christ--Fenestella, 52 B. C.-19 A.
-    D.--Oratory--Seneca the elder, about 55 B. C. to about 40 A.
-    D.--Verrius Flaccus, about 1 A. D.--Festus, third or fourth
-    century after Christ--Hyginus, about 64 B. C. to about 17
-    A. D.--Extant works under the name of Hyginus--Labeo and
-    Capito--Vitruvius, about 70 B. C. to after 16 B. C.
-
-
-[Sidenote: Prose inferior to poetry of this period.] The Augustan
-period is the golden age of Latin poetry. Prose reached its greatest
-height in the age of Cicero and began to deteriorate soon after his
-death. One reason for this is the great development of poetry, which
-led to the introduction of poetic words and phrases into prose; another
-is the fashionable rhetoric of the day, which aimed not at simplicity
-and clearness, nor dignity and grandeur, but at novel or striking
-expressions, artificial arrangement, and subtlety of thought. The
-influence of the rhetorical schools is seen in some of the poetry of
-Ovid and Manilius, but is much more evident in the prose of this period
-and the succeeding times.
-
-[Sidenote: Livy.] The only great prose writer of the Augustan period
-is Livy. Titus Livius was born at Patavium (Padua) in 59 B. C., and
-died in his native place in 17 A. D. Little is known of his life, but
-the tone of his writing indicates that he was not poor and belonged to
-a family of some position. He is said to have written philosophical
-works, probably popular treatises in the form of dialogues, and a
-treatise on rhetoric in the form of a letter to his son. These works
-are lost, and can never have possessed much importance in comparison
-with the great history to which Livy devoted more than forty years of
-his life. About 30 B. C. Livy moved to Rome, where he lived the greater
-part of the time until his death. Probably he visited his native Padua
-more than once, and he travelled also to other places in Italy. He was
-a republican in principle, but accepted the rule of Augustus without
-reserve. In fact, he was a personal friend of Augustus, who called
-him in jest a Pompeian, on account of his criticisms of Julius Caesar
-and his admiration for the old republic. Livy appears in his work
-as a man of conservative tendencies, content to live under whatever
-government happened to exist, provided it was not too oppressive,
-willing to accept the state religion, with all its beliefs in signs and
-omens, while recognizing that some, at least, of the omens reported
-were inventions. His one great enthusiasm was for the greatness of
-Rome. This sentiment it was which led him to devote his life to the
-composition of a great history of Rome from the earliest times to his
-own day.
-
-[Sidenote: Livy's History.] The title of Livy's history was _Libri ab
-Urbe Condita_ (_Books from the Foundation of the City_). It consisted
-of 142 books, the first of which was written between 29 and 25 B. C.,
-while the last twenty-two were published after the death of Augustus.
-The last book ended with the death of Drusus, in 9 A. D. Whether Livy
-intended to carry his work still further is unknown. The division
-into books is Livy's own, but the division into decades, or groups of
-ten books, was made later, though it may perhaps have been suggested
-by the original publication of some of the books in groups. For the
-earlier parts of the work comparatively little material was available;
-consequently the history of the early years of Rome is less detailed
-than that of later periods. Fifteen books carry the narrative from the
-foundation of the city to the beginning of the Punic wars, a period
-of nearly five hundred years, while the war with Hannibal occupies ten
-books, and ten books are devoted to the eight years from the death of
-Marius to the death of Sulla (86-78 B. C.).
-
-Of this immense work only thirty-five books are extant: Books I-X,
-from the beginning into the third Samnite War (753-293 B. C.), and
-XXI-XLV, from the second Punic War to the Macedonian triumph of Lucius
-Aemilius Paulus (218-167 B. C.). In Books XXI-XLV numerous gaps occur.
-The contents of the remaining books are known to us through a series
-of abstracts made not directly from Livy, but from an epitome. Such an
-epitome existed as early as the time of Martial, not many years after
-Livy's death.
-
-[Sidenote: Qualities of Livy's History.] Livy derived his material from
-earlier historians, such as Fabius Pictor, Valerius Antias, Licinius
-Macer, Claudius Quadrigarius, and Polybius, following sometimes one
-and sometimes another, but seldom trying to reconcile conflicting
-statements of his authorities. When they did not agree, he usually
-accepted the statement that seemed to him most probable. He did not
-try to discover new truths by the study of original sources, such as
-inscriptions and other monuments, nor did he make careful studies of
-battlefields, routes of march, or the like. He did not, as most modern
-historians do, try to establish facts by independent research, but
-he worked over the accounts of his predecessors with the intention
-of presenting the whole of Roman history in an attractive literary
-form. In this he was so successful that his history soon became the
-one source from which all subsequent writers drew their information.
-His lack of military knowledge makes his description of battles and
-other military matters somewhat untrustworthy, and the early part of
-his work suffers from his inability to understand the gradual growth
-of Roman civilization, but such defects are more than compensated for
-by the admirable literary qualities of his history. He is, moreover,
-truthful, so far as he knows the truth, and any incorrect statements
-are due rather to insufficient knowledge than to any desire to conceal
-or pervert the truth. In his accounts of the dealings of the Romans
-with other peoples he is partial to the Romans, but that is because his
-sincere admiration for the Roman greatness leads him to believe that
-the Romans were in the right and acted rightly, and his partiality to
-the Scipios is to be accounted for in a similar way.
-
-It is evident from what has been said above that Livy is far from
-being a perfect historian; yet his history is true in the main, and is
-based upon broad knowledge and insight into the underlying principles
-of human character and human actions. He is less interested in
-accuracy of detail than in broader and more general truth and dramatic
-presentation. [Sidenote: Livy's speeches.] So in the speeches with
-which he enlivens his work, he does not pretend to repeat what the
-speakers actually said, nor even in every instance to put in their
-mouths words that express their individual characters, but rather to
-say in good rhetorical form what the circumstances seem to him to
-demand. In this he follows Thucydides, and his speeches, like those
-of Thucydides, serve not merely to give variety to the narrative, but
-also to bring vividly before us and to explain the circumstances and
-motives that led up to the actions narrated. These speeches are the
-most brilliant parts of his work. In them he shows the fruit of his
-training in the rhetorical schools and of careful study of Demosthenes
-and Cicero; but his rhetoric does not end in mere declamation. The
-speeches are not written merely to exhibit his rhetorical training, but
-to explain and enlighten.
-
-Throughout his work Livy appears as the enemy of extremes. His
-admiration for Pompey does not lead him to become hostile to the
-ruling family; he is opposed alike to royalty and to unbridled
-democracy. At the same time he treats his subject with sympathy and
-warmth of feeling, and makes the ethical side of history prominent,
-seeking to present in a strong light such actions as may serve as
-models for conduct, not merely to give a record of events.
-
-[Sidenote: Livy's style.] Livy is unrivalled as a narrator and a
-painter in words. His style is clear and straightforward, although his
-periods are often long and sometimes made complicated by the insertion
-in the sentence of numerous subordinate ideas, often expressed in the
-form of participles. As is natural for one who wrote when Roman poetry
-was at its height, he introduces poetical words which are foreign to
-the prose of Cicero and Caesar, and some of his phrases show poetic
-coloring. But his Latin is pure, and it is difficult to see what
-Asinius Pollio meant by accusing him of "Patavinitas" or Paduanism.
-In later prose writers the striving for poetic effect becomes a
-disagreeable mannerism, but such traces of poetry as are found in Livy
-are not the result of conscious effort, but of the literary atmosphere
-of the time. His style is not everywhere of uniform excellence; for
-it is inevitable that in such a long historical work the different
-qualities of the subject and the advancing age of the writer affect the
-mode of presentation, but there is no part of the work in which the
-style is dull or without charm. It is perhaps at its best in the books
-dealing with the Punic wars.
-
-Livy's work was even in his lifetime regarded as the most perfect
-example of historical writing. The younger Pliny tells us that a
-citizen of Cadiz travelled all the way to Rome merely to see Livy, and
-when he had seen him returned at once to Cadiz, feeling that the other
-sights of Rome were of no further interest. Livy's influence upon later
-Roman writers was of the utmost importance, and his work has served
-as a model for more than one historian in more recent times. His
-enthusiasm for what is good and noble, his admiration for the great men
-of Rome, and his worship of Rome itself, give to his work something of
-the exalted character that belongs to a hymn of praise or a panegyric.
-His great history served, like Virgil's _Aeneid_, to give permanent
-literary expression to the greatness of the past days of the Roman
-commonwealth.
-
-It would occupy too much space to try to give specimens of all the
-varieties of Livy's style and composition. His descriptions of battles,
-among which that of the defeat of Antiochus at Magnesia[88] deserves
-special mention, are masterpieces of painting in words, even when
-they betray his lack of military knowledge, and his summaries of the
-characters of important persons are admirable. The introduction to the
-history of the war with Hannibal, with the description of the siege of
-Saguntum, the hesitation at Rome, and the scene in the Carthaginian
-senate, is unsurpassed. [Sidenote: Speech of Hanno.] The speech of
-Hanno, who alone among the Carthaginian senators wished to preserve
-peace by relinquishing Saguntum and delivering Hannibal into the hands
-of the Romans, is one of the most remarkable of the many striking
-passages in this wonderful history:[89]
-
-    You have sent to the army, adding, as it were, fuel to the fire, a
-    youth who burns with the desire of ruling, and who sees only one
-    way to his end, if he lives girt with arms and legions, sowing
-    from wars the seed of wars. You have therefore nourished this fire
-    with which you are now burning. Your armies are now surrounding
-    Saguntum, which the treaty forbids them to approach; presently
-    the Roman legions will surround Carthage under the leadership
-    of those same gods by whom in the last war the broken treaties
-    were avenged. Do you not know the enemy, or yourselves, or the
-    fortune of the two peoples? Your good general refused to admit to
-    his camp envoys who came from allies in behalf of allies; they,
-    nevertheless, though refused admittance where even the envoys of
-    enemies are not forbidden to enter, have come to us; they demand
-    restitution in accordance with the treaty; that there may be no
-    deceit on the part of the state, they ask that the author of the
-    wrong and the accused person be delivered up. The more gently they
-    act, the more slowly they begin, the more persistently, I fear,
-    they will rage when once they have begun. Place before your eyes
-    the Aegates islands and Eryx and what you suffered by land and sea
-    for twenty-four years. And that leader was no boy, but his father
-    Hamilcar himself, a second Mars, as his partisans will have it.
-    But we had not kept our hands off from Tarentum, that is from
-    Italy, in obedience to the treaty, as now we are not keeping them
-    off from Saguntum. Therefore the gods overcame men, and in the
-    question at issue, which people had broken the treaty, the event
-    of war, like a just judge, gave the victory to that side on which
-    right stood. It is against Carthage that Hannibal is now moving
-    up his screens and towers; he is shaking the walls of Carthage
-    with his battering-ram. The ruins of Saguntum (may I prove a false
-    prophet!) will fall upon our heads, and the war begun against the
-    Saguntines must be carried on against the Romans. "Shall we then
-    give up Hannibal?" some one will say. I know that in his case my
-    influence has little weight on account of my enmity to his father;
-    but I have been glad that Hamilcar is dead, because if he were
-    living we should already be at war with the Romans, and I hate and
-    detest this youth as the fury and fire-brand of this war, as one
-    who ought not only to be given up as an expiation for the broken
-    treaty, but if no one demanded him, should be carried away to
-    the uttermost shores of sea and land, removed to such a distance
-    that his name and fame could not reach to us nor he disturb the
-    condition of our quiet state. I make this motion: That ambassadors
-    be sent at once to Rome, to give satisfaction to the senate;
-    other envoys to announce to Hannibal that he withdraw his army
-    from Saguntum, and to hand Hannibal himself over to the Romans in
-    pursuance of the treaty; I move a third embassy to restore their
-    property to the Saguntines.
-
-This speech, composed with powerful rhetoric and placed in a dramatic
-setting, serves not only to bring before our eyes the fruitless errand
-of the Roman envoys at Carthage, but to emphasize the justice of the
-Roman cause and to predict the ultimate success of the Romans, on
-whose side the gods that watch over treaties were enlisted. It is an
-example of Livy's oratorical composition, of his dramatic power, of his
-desire to show that historical events are the result of moral causes,
-and of his conviction that the Roman power was founded upon right and
-justice.
-
-Livy's great work was the first complete history of Rome composed in
-fine literary form. The time was ripe for such a work. The Roman people
-had spread its power over the whole civilized world, and the peace and
-order established by Augustus made it natural that men should wish to
-read the history of the long struggles of the republic that led up to
-the present peace of the empire. Livy's history, therefore, appealed
-directly to a large circle of readers. But in extending its power over
-the world, the Roman people had come in contact with various nations,
-and it was natural that the history of those nations should be of
-interest to the Romans. [Sidenote: Pompeius Trogus.] The task of
-writing this history was undertaken by Pompeius Trogus. By descent
-he was a Vocontian, of the province of Gallia Narbonensis, but his
-grandfather had received the Roman citizenship from Pompey, and his
-father had served under Caesar in Gaul. Pompeius Trogus himself is
-mentioned as a writer on zoology, but his most important work was
-his universal history entitled _Historiae Philippicae_, in forty-four
-books. Trogus began with the history of the Oriental empires, Assyria,
-Media, and Persia, passing from the Persians to the Scythians and the
-Greeks. The greater part of his work was taken up with the account
-of the Macedonian Empire founded by Philip, and of the kingdoms that
-arose from it after the death of Alexander the Great. The history of
-each of these kingdoms is continued to its absorption in the Roman
-Empire. It is from this part of the work (Books VII-XL) that the whole
-received its title. The forty-first and forty-second books contained
-the history of the Parthians, the forty-third told of the beginnings
-of Rome and treated of affairs in Gaul, and the forty-fourth book
-contained the history of Spain, ending with the victory of Augustus
-over the Spaniards.
-
-[Sidenote: Justin's summary.] The history of Trogus is not preserved
-in its original form, but only in a brief summary made in the second
-or third century after Christ by an otherwise unknown Marcus Junianus
-Justinus. It is evident that Trogus was not an original investigator,
-and his work was probably little more than a translation of a Greek
-original, perhaps by Timagenes of Alexandria, who came to Rome in the
-time of the civil wars. Nevertheless, the work was important, as it
-was based on good authorities. It never became so popular as Livy's
-history, but it was evidently much used by later writers, and Justin's
-summary was much read in the Middle Ages. Of the style of Trogus it is
-difficult to judge, but so far as it can be appreciated in Justin's
-abridgment, it was clear and lively, with a good deal of rhetorical
-adornment. Even the abridgment is a valuable work on account of the
-importance of its contents.
-
-Several other historians of the Augustan period are known by name, but
-their works are lost and have left few traces. [Sidenote: Fenestella.]
-The most important of these writers was probably Fenestella, who lived
-from 52 B. C. to 19 A. D. He wrote _Annals_ in at least twenty-two
-books, and probably also a variety of works on antiquarian subjects.
-
-[Sidenote: Oratory.] The oratory of this period was far inferior to
-that of the age of Cicero. It was for the most part without serious
-purpose, and the productions of the orators were little more than
-school exercises to show their skill and serve as models for their
-pupils. Messalla, Pollio, and some others continued the earlier style
-of oratory in the Augustan age, but they found few imitators or
-successors. Among other early Augustan orators was Titus Labienus, who
-wrote a history as well as speeches. He was so bitterly opposed to the
-rule of Augustus that his works were burned by decree of the senate.
-Cassius Severus made in his speeches and writings such violent attacks
-upon the aristocracy that he was banished by Augustus, and his property
-was confiscated under Tiberius. He died in great poverty at Seriphus in
-32 A. D. Other orators, whose speeches were almost exclusively school
-exercises, were Marcus Porcius Latro, Gaius Albucius Silus, Quintus
-Haterius, Lucius Junius Gallio, and the two Asiatic Greeks, Arellius
-Fuscus and Lucius Cestius Pius. [Sidenote: Seneca the elder.] Little
-or nothing is known about any of these men except what is derived from
-the works of Annaeus Seneca, the father of the philosopher Lucius Annaeus
-Seneca and grandfather of the epic poet Lucan. Of the life of the elder
-Seneca little is known. He was born at Corduba, in Spain, probably as
-early as 55 B. C., and spent part of his life in Rome. He lived to a
-great age, for his only extant work was written as late as 37 A. D.
-This is a series of recollections of famous orators and rhetoricians,
-written at the request of the author's sons, Novatus, Seneca, and Mela.
-It originally contained ten books of _Controversiae_ or arguments, and
-one book of _Suasoriae_ or speeches advising some particular course of
-conduct. The most important parts of the work are the introductions,
-which contain much information on the history of oratory. The ten
-books of _Controversiae_ treated of seventy-four subjects, the book
-of _Suasoriae_ of seven. The beginning of the _Suasoriae_ is now
-lost, and of the _Controversiae_ only thirty-five are preserved.
-The subject-matter is throughout insipid and dull. Such things are
-discussed as this: "A man and his wife swore that if anything happened
-to one of them the other would die. The man went on a journey and sent
-a message to his wife that he was dead. The wife threw herself down
-from a high place. She was brought to herself again, and her father
-ordered her to leave her husband. She refused." The utterances of the
-masters of rhetoric on such matters as this are given by Seneca, whose
-prodigious memory made him able to repeat them almost, if not quite,
-in the original words. The most interesting single theme is the sixth
-_Suasoria_, in which the question is answered whether Cicero should beg
-Antony to spare his life. The answers given contain several judgments
-on Cicero, among them those of Asinius Pollio and Livy. But the folly
-and emptiness of the sort of oratorical study with which Seneca makes
-us acquainted can not fail to impress every reader. Seneca himself
-expresses his disgust. His remarkable memory enabled him to hand down
-to later ages specimens of the oratorical teaching which, even in the
-Augustan age, began to corrupt Latin style. Seneca's own style is not
-far removed from that of Cicero's time, and Seneca, though he wrote
-under Caligula, probably acquired his style in the early part of the
-Augustan period. The specimens he has preserved show, however, that the
-influential teachers of his early days had far less taste than he.
-
-[Sidenote: Verrius Flaccus.] Among the learned writers on special
-subjects one of the most important was Verrius Flaccus, of whose life
-little is known, except that he was chosen by Augustus to educate
-his grandsons Gaius and Lucius, and that he died in old age during
-the reign of Tiberius. Of his numerous works on grammatical and
-antiquarian subjects one only, _On the Meaning of Words_ (_De Verborum
-Significatu_), is partially preserved in an abridgment by Pompeius
-Festus, who seems to have lived in the third or fourth century after
-Christ. Only part of this abridgment remains, but this is important
-for the information it contains concerning Roman antiquities and
-early Latin words. A further abridgment of Festus was made in the
-eighth century by Paulus, and even this is of value, though it is a
-mere skeleton of the original work of Verrius Flaccus. [Sidenote:
-Hyginus.] Another scholar was Gaius Julius Hyginus, a freedman of
-Augustus and librarian of the Palatine library. His life extended from
-about 64 B. C. to about 17 A. D. He composed works on agriculture,
-history, geography, and antiquities, besides commentaries on Virgil and
-on Cinna's poem to Asinius Pollio. Of all these works nothing remains;
-but two works under the name of Hyginus are extant. One of these is
-a treatise on astronomy, including myths relating to the stars, the
-other a mythological handbook entitled _Fabulae_, to which a series of
-genealogies is appended. The handbook is valuable chiefly because the
-myths told in it are taken from Greek tragedies for the most part, and
-through them we learn the plots of many lost works of Greek authors.
-These extant works are, however, not by the librarian Hyginus, but by
-a later writer, who lived probably in the second century after Christ.
-[Sidenote: Labeo and Capito.] Of the legal writings of Marcus Antistius
-Labeo and Gaius Ateius Capito nothing remains. Each was the head of
-a school of writers and teachers on legal subjects. Labeo tried to
-explain changes and growth in legal matters, as well as in grammar, by
-the principle of analogy or likeness, while Capito regarded anomaly or
-difference as more important.
-
-[Sidenote: Vitruvius.] A work of no literary excellence, but of great
-value on account of the information it contains, is the treatise _On
-Architecture_ (_De Architectura_), in ten books, by Vitruvius Pollio.
-Vitruvius was a practical architect, who built a basilica at Colonia
-Fanestris and had charge of the construction of machines of war under
-Augustus.[90] His books appear to have been written between 16 and
-13 B. C., and dedicated to Augustus. They form the only systematic
-treatise on architecture preserved to us from antiquity, and are for
-that reason of the greatest importance to architects and archaeologists.
-The style is, however, inelegant and obscure, though its obscurity
-is due in part to the necessary employment of technical expressions.
-Vitruvius was evidently a man of no great literary education or
-ability, however able he may have been as an architect.
-
-The age of Augustus is marked by the highest development of Roman
-poetry. Virgil, Horace, Tibullus, Propertius and Ovid are, each in his
-own way, the greatest of the Roman poets. Only Catullus and Lucretius
-can be compared with any one of them. The only great prose writer of
-the period is Livy. His style is still pure, and is certainly very
-charming; but even Livy departs somewhat from the dignity and beauty
-of the _sermo urbanus_, the Latin of Cicero and Caesar. The extracts
-preserved by Seneca show that the rhetorical teaching of the time was
-artificial and tasteless, and was leading the way to decline, to the
-so-called silver Latin of the imperial epoch.
-
-
-
-
-BOOK III
-
-_THE EMPIRE AFTER AUGUSTUS_
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIII
-
-TIBERIUS TO VESPASIAN
-
-    The emperors (Tiberius, 14-37 A. D.; Caligula, 37-41 A. D.;
-    Claudius, 41-54 A. D.; Nero, 54-68 A. D.)--Phaedrus, about 40
-    A. D.--Germanicus, 15 B. C.-19 A. D.--Velleius Paterculus,
-    30 A. D.--Valerius Maximus, about 47 B. C. to about 30 A.
-    D.--Celsus about 35 A. D.--Votienus Montanus, died 27 A.
-    D.--Asinius Gallus, 40 B. C.-33 A. D.--Mamercus Scaurus, died
-    34 A. D.--Publius Vitellius, died 31 A. D.--Domitius Afer,
-    14 B. C.-59 A. D.--Cremutius Cordus, died 25 A. D.--Aufidius
-    Bassus--Remmius Palaemon--Julius Atticus--Julius Gracchinus--Marcus
-    Apicius--Philosophers--Lucius Annaeus Seneca, about 1 A. D. to 65
-    A. D.--Persius, 34-62 A. D.--Lucan, 39-65 A. D.--Calpurnius, about
-    60 A. D.--Pomponius Secundus, about 50 A. D.--Petronius, died 66
-    A. D.--Quintus Curtius, about 50 (?) A. D.--Columella, about 40 A.
-    D.--Mela, about 40 A. D.--Other writers.
-
-
-[Sidenote: Literature after Augustus.] With the death of Augustus the
-greatest period of Roman literature comes to an end. From this time its
-history is a record of decay, not regularly progressive, to be sure,
-and not always manifested in the same way, but almost constant, and
-hardly interrupted even by the appearance of a few writers of genuine
-ability. With the establishment of peace throughout the Roman Empire,
-and with the ease and security of travel from province to province,
-men from all parts of the empire came to Rome for a time and returned
-to their homes, after, perhaps, imbibing something of the culture of
-the capital, while others took up their residence permanently in the
-imperial city. Some men of each class devoted themselves to literature.
-The elder Seneca belongs to one of these classes, the younger Seneca
-certainly to the latter. The influence of the provincials upon Roman
-literature could not fail to be great. In the hands of Spaniards
-like the Senecas, Latin could hardly remain the city speech, _sermo
-urbanus_, of the time of Cicero. The evil influence of even the best
-rhetorical teaching of the time of Augustus has already been mentioned,
-and as time went on the rhetorical teaching became constantly worse.
-Moreover, the circumstances of the empire, and especially of the city
-of Rome, were not favorable to the growth of literature. The peace that
-followed the unrest of the civil wars had led in the time of Augustus
-to great literary activity, but the continued peace in the subsequent
-years, when men's minds were no longer moved by the remembrance of
-stirring events, tended to deaden the imagination and to dry up the
-springs of literary life. In the early part of the first century after
-Christ there are few important writers either in Greek or Latin. In the
-city itself the character of the emperor had a powerful effect upon
-literature.
-
-[Sidenote: The relations of the emperors to literature.] Tiberius
-(14-37 A. D.) was a pupil of the Greek rhetorician, Theodorus of
-Gadara, and was familiar with Greek and Latin literature. He wrote
-Greek verses in the learned Alexandrian manner, a Latin poem on the
-death of Lucius Caesar, and autobiographical memoirs in prose; but
-his own literary interest did not make him a patron of literature.
-His suspicious nature caused him to seek out and punish all real or
-imaginary allusions to himself in the works of contemporary authors,
-with the natural result that authorship became a pursuit too dangerous
-to be popular. Caligula (37-41 A. D.) had some ability as a speaker,
-and wished to be considered an orator, but his insanity led him to wish
-to destroy the works of Homer, and to remove the works and the busts
-of Virgil and Livy from the public libraries, on the ground that one
-of them was without genius or learning and the other was diffuse and
-careless. Although he did not systematically repress literature, his
-brief reign was certainly not favorable to its cultivation. Claudius
-(41-54 A. D.), who came to the throne at the age of fifty years, was
-a dull and learned pedant. He began to write a history from the death
-of Caesar, but stopped at the end of the second book, owing to the
-objections of his mother and grandmother. He then wrote a history in
-forty-one books, probably beginning with the bestowal of the title of
-Augustus upon Octavian (27 B. C.), and continuing for forty-one years.
-He also wrote a history of the Etruscans in twenty books and a history
-of Carthage in eight books. Of all these works nothing remains. Some
-idea of his style may be derived from two inscriptions found at Lyons
-and Trent. The first is a speech delivered in the senate in 48 A. D.,
-advocating the extension to the Gallic nobility of the _ius honorum_,
-or right to hold offices, the second a decree renewing the grant of
-citizenship to the inhabitants of the regions in the Rhaetian Alps
-about Trent, and regulating their affairs. In both cases the style is
-confused and entirely without elegance or merit. Claudius also wrote a
-defense of Cicero against Asinius Gallus, the son of Asinius Pollio,
-who had maintained that Pollio was the greater orator. The addition by
-Claudius of three letters to the Latin alphabet shows his interest in
-linguistic matters, but was without permanent effect. Under this ruler
-literature revived somewhat after the persecutions under Tiberius. Nero
-(54-68 A. D.), the pupil of Seneca, wrote various short poems and an
-epic, entitled _Troica_, on the Trojan War. His jealousy caused him to
-be the enemy of other poets, but he paid little attention to literary
-attacks upon himself. On the whole, literature was not repressed during
-his reign, though after the discovery of the conspiracy of Piso, in 65
-A. D., his wrath fell upon philosophers and men of letters.
-
-The literature of the times of Tiberius and Caligula is less important
-than that of the following years. [Sidenote: Phaedrus.] The only poet of
-importance is Phaedrus, a freedman of Augustus, who wrote fables in
-iambic verse. These are for the most part not original with Phaedrus,
-but are the so-called fables of Aesop, tales of Oriental origin, which
-migrated in writing or in oral form to Europe. The Greeks thought
-them the inventions of Aesop, but modern investigations have proved
-that they belong to the migratory folk-lore of India. After the
-first book of his fables, Phaedrus introduces fables and tales of his
-own among those ascribed to Aesop. The whole collection now consists
-of ninety-three fables, divided into five books; but it originally
-contained a greater number, especially in Books II and V. The fables
-are still, many of them, at least, familiar to most children. Such are
-the stories of the Wolf and the Lamb, the Frog who tried to be as big
-as an Ox, the Fox and the Crane, and many others. Phaedrus tells the
-fables in well-composed verses, but sometimes overdoes his love of
-brevity so as to be obscure. He also points out the moral of his tales
-too plainly, leaving nothing to the imagination of his readers. His
-language is the simple and easy Latin of the early Augustan period,
-without the rhetorical flourishes popular in the following years. Yet
-it is evident from references in the prologue to the third book that,
-although Sejanus was powerful after the appearance of the first two
-books, the third was written after his fall, that is to say, after
-31 A. D. Probably Phaedrus wrote at least as late as 40 A. D. Of his
-personal history little is known. He was born in Pieria, in Macedonia,
-but went to Italy and probably to Rome, at an early age. Something in
-the first two books of fables brought down upon the poet the wrath of
-Sejanus, but how serious its effects were is not known. The Eutychus
-to whom the third book is addressed is probably the charioteer who was
-an important personage in the last years of Caligula. Particulo and
-Philetes, whom Phaedrus addresses in the epilogue and the last fable of
-the fifth book, are unknown. The _Fables_ of Phaedrus have been much
-used as a text-book, because they are interesting to young readers and
-are written in simple, classical Latin.
-
-[Sidenote: Germanicus.] A poem belonging to the first years after
-the death of Augustus is the _Aratea_, by Germanicus, the son of
-Drusus (15 B. C.-19 A. D.). This is a translation and adaptation of
-the _Phaenomena_ of Aratus, and shows that the author was not only a
-talented writer of hexameters, but also a well-educated astronomer.
-This poem contains 725 lines. Of a poem on the stars and constellations
-in their relation to the weather and the like, entitled _Prognostica_,
-only a few fragments remain. Besides these astronomical poems of
-Germanicus, the last book of Manilius (see p. 138) belongs to this
-period. So also do some of the poems wrongly ascribed to Virgil and
-Ovid, and for that matter, the later poems of Ovid himself.
-
-[Sidenote: Velleius Paterculus.] The only prose writers of the years
-before Claudius whose works are extant are Velleius Paterculus,
-Valerius Maximus, and Celsus. Gaius Velleius Paterculus was an officer
-who had served under Tiberius; he was _tribunus militum_ in 1 A. D.
-and praetor-elect in 14 A. D. The latest date mentioned in his _Roman
-History_ is the consulship of Vinicius, 30 A. D. The dates of his birth
-and death are unknown. The _Roman History_ consists of two books, the
-first of which is imperfectly preserved. Velleius does not confine
-himself strictly to Roman affairs, but begins his work with a brief
-sketch of the foundation of the Greek cities in Italy. The early part
-of the work is a mere summary, but more details are introduced as
-the narrative approaches the author's own times; yet it is, even in
-the latter part, by no means an exhaustive history. Throughout the
-work Velleius introduces his own opinions and is governed by his own
-prejudices; his history is therefore not especially trustworthy. His
-praise of Tiberius is so excessive that it can not be excused even
-as the enthusiasm of a veteran for his old general, and the almost
-equally exaggerated praise of Sejanus is without the shadow of excuse.
-A noteworthy peculiarity is that Velleius pays attention to the history
-of Greek and Roman literature, which would hardly be expected in so
-short a work. The style is clumsy, but shows a desire for rhetorical
-effect. The vocabulary is that of the Augustan age, but the pretentious
-rhetoric and the evident striving for variety are characteristic of
-the later time. The chief interest of Velleius is in the character
-of the persons of whom he writes, and his whole work has something
-personal about it which distinguishes it from a mere record of events.
-In the early part of the work he follows good authorities, though he
-often disagrees with Livy, perhaps on account of Livy's republican
-sympathies. In the latter part of the history he is untrustworthy,
-owing to his servile partiality for Tiberius and those connected with
-him.
-
-[Sidenote: Valerius Maximus.] The nine books of _Memorable Doings and
-Sayings_ (_Facta et Dicta Memorabilia_), by Valerius Maximus, were
-written not far from 30 A. D., and dedicated to Tiberius. Of the writer
-little is known except that he accompanied Sextus Pompeius to Asia,
-about 27 B. C. He was, then, born probably as early as 47 B. C., and
-can hardly have lived long after the completion of his books. Many of
-the anecdotes contained in his work are interesting, but the style is
-artificial, pompous, and dull. The most servile flattery is given to
-Tiberius, Julius Caesar, and Augustus. The anecdotes cover a wide range
-of subjects--religion, ancient customs, all varieties of character,
-fortune, old age, remarkable deaths, and many more. Naturally, the
-work contains some valuable information, but this is thinly distributed
-through the nine books. The work was, however, popular in the Middle
-Ages, and is preserved in many manuscripts. A book on words, especially
-names (_De Praenominibus, etc._), contained in the manuscripts of
-Valerius Maximus, is by some unknown author and is of little value.
-
-[Sidenote: Celsus.] Aulus Cornelius Celsus wrote an encyclopedia,
-which contained treatises on agriculture, medicine, the art of war,
-oratory, jurisprudence, and philosophy. Part, at least, of this great
-work was written under Tiberius, but other parts may have been written
-later, for there is no definite indication of the date of the author's
-birth or death. Only the treatise on medicine (Books VI-XIII of the
-entire work) is preserved. This shows that Celsus was well versed in
-the medical science of his day, and that medical science had at that
-time reached a high degree of perfection. Celsus writes in a simple,
-straightforward style, without the artificial rhetoric or the poetic
-phraseology common among post-Augustan prose writers. His work was
-deservedly popular among those who wished for scientific knowledge in
-the Middle Ages, was one of the first books printed after the invention
-of the printing-press, and was used as a text-book for medical students
-until recent times. Whether the other parts of the encyclopedia were
-as good as the treatise on medicine can not now be determined. The
-treatise on agriculture is mentioned with respect by Columella, but
-Quintilian speaks slightingly of Celsus, perhaps on account of defects
-in the rhetorical parts of his work.
-
-[Sidenote: Prose writers whose works are lost.] The names of several
-orators of this period are handed down, chiefly in the reminiscences of
-the elder Seneca. The most noteworthy are, perhaps, Votienus Montanus,
-who was banished by Tiberius and died in 27 A. D.; Asinius Gallus
-(40 B. C.-33 A. D.) the son of Asinius Pollio; Mamercus Scaurus,
-who was forced by Tiberius to commit suicide in 34 A. D.; Publius
-Vitellius, who brought about the condemnation of Piso for the murder of
-Germanicus in 19 A. D., and who died in 31 A. D.; and Domitius Afer,
-from Nemausus (14 B. C.-59 A. D.), who held important offices under
-Tiberius, Caligula, and Nero. Among these orators, Domitius Afer was
-most prominent as a speaker in court, while Montanus was a teacher of
-oratory and a declaimer. Historians whose works are lost were Aulus
-Cremutius Cordus and Aufidius Bassus. The former published under
-Augustus a historical work in which he praised Brutus and spoke of
-Cassius as "the last of the Romans." For this his books were burned by
-decree of the senate in 25 A. D., and he committed suicide by starving
-himself. Bassus wrote a contemporary history in rhetorical style,
-probably embracing the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius, and possibly
-the end of the republic. Among the grammarians of this time, the most
-important was Quintus Remmius Palaemon, whose grammar (_Ars Grammatica_)
-was much used by the later writer Charisius. There were also several
-writers on special subjects, such as Caepio and Antonius Castor, who
-wrote on botany, Julius Atticus and Julius Gracchinus, who wrote on
-vine culture, and Marcus Apicius, who wrote on cookery, though the
-extant cook-book ascribed to him is a work of the third century. These
-names show that even under Tiberius prose writing, although not so
-important as at other times, was not entirely neglected.
-
-[Sidenote: Philosophy.] Philosophy was much cultivated at Rome in this
-time, as it had been for at least a century, but the philosophical
-teachers under Tiberius and Caligula wrote for the most part, when they
-wrote at all, in Greek. Among them were the Sextii and Sotion, whose
-activity was in the later years of Augustus and the earlier years of
-Tiberius, Lucius Annaeus Cornutus, and Gaius Musonius Rufus, both of
-whom were banished by Nero in 65 A. D. These men, and others of less
-note, whose doctrines were chiefly Stoic, exercised great influence
-upon Roman thought, but as their teachings were chiefly oral and their
-written works were in Greek, they must be passed over with a brief
-mention by no means commensurate with their real importance. Sotion was
-one of the teachers of the younger Seneca, the most important writer
-of the time of Nero, while Cornutus was the teacher of the satirist
-Persius, and Musonius of the powerful ethical preacher Epictetus.
-
-[Sidenote: Lucius Annaeus Seneca.] Lucius Annaeus Seneca, the son of the
-rhetor Seneca, whose work on the oratorical teachers of the period
-of Augustus and the subsequent years has already been mentioned, was
-born at Corduba, in Spain, about the beginning of the Christian era,
-but was educated in Rome, where he studied under Sotion, the Stoic
-Attalus, and a follower of the Sextii, Papirius Fabianus, besides
-attending schools of rhetoric. His mother, Helvia, was a lady of noble
-birth, whose sister married Vitrasius Pollio, who was for some years
-governor of Egypt. Seneca appears to have spent some time in Egypt
-with his aunt, through whose influence he obtained the quaestorship
-after his return to Rome, at some time between 42 and 37 A. D. A speech
-which he delivered in the senate nearly caused his death by arousing
-the jealousy of Caligula in 39 A. D. In 41 A. D. he was banished to
-Corsica through the influence of Messalina, on the charge of too great
-intimacy with Julia Livilla, Caligula's younger sister. Such stories
-were circulated about all the members of the imperial family, and we
-have now no means of knowing whether there was any truth in the charge
-against Seneca and Livilla. Probably the real reason for Seneca's
-banishment was his connection with the faction of Agrippina. At any
-rate, Agrippina recalled him from Corsica eight years later, after the
-execution of Messalina, obtained for him the praetorship, and made him
-tutor to her son Domitius Nero. His influence over his young pupil was
-so great that when Nero came to the throne, Seneca, with the aid of his
-friend Afranius Burrus, commander of the praetorian guards, directed the
-imperial government. He restrained the ferocity of Nero and checked
-the ambition and vengefulness of Agrippina. Owing to his influence
-the early years of Nero's reign were long remembered as a period of
-rest and peace at Rome. But Seneca obtained and held his influence in
-great measure by yielding consent to Nero's wishes, even when they were
-opposed to his better judgment or his conscience. He was probably privy
-to the murder of Claudius, by which Nero became emperor, there is no
-indication that he opposed the murder of Germanicus in 55 A. D., and he
-probably had some connection with the murder of Agrippina in 59 A. D.
-It is natural that in spite of his remarkable intellectual and social
-gifts, he was unable to maintain his moral ascendency over the emperor.
-With the death of Burrus, in 62 A. D., Seneca's power was broken. He
-recognized the fact, withdrew so far as he could from the life of the
-court, and in 64 A. D. offered to give up his great wealth. But his
-retirement did not save him from Nero's cruelty, and in 65 A. D. he was
-accused of sharing in the conspiracy of Piso and compelled to commit
-suicide.
-
-Seneca's philosophy did not forbid him to have a share of worldly
-wealth and honors. At the height of his prosperity he was immensely
-wealthy, possessing estates in Italy and abroad, and having money out
-at interest as far away as Britain. His total wealth was estimated at
-more than $15,000,000. He held all the regular offices, attaining the
-consulship in 57 A. D. Of his private life little is known. He was
-twice married, His first wife bore him at least two sons, one of whom
-died shortly before his father's banishment. His second wife, Pompeia
-Paulina, whom he married in 57 A. D., wished to commit suicide at the
-time of her husband's death, but was prevented by Nero.
-
-Seneca was an extremely voluminous writer, and though many of his works
-are lost, those that remain still exceed in bulk the extant works of
-almost any other ancient writer. [Sidenote: Seneca's tragedies.] They
-comprise tragedies, philosophical treatises, a satire on the death of
-Claudius, and a few epigrams. The exact dates of individual works can
-be established only in comparatively few instances, and no attempt will
-be made here to treat them in chronological order. Since, however, it
-is probably that the tragedies are works of his earlier years, they may
-be mentioned first. Nine of these are extant.[91] The subjects are all
-derived from Greek mythology, and had all been used as the subjects of
-tragedies by Greek dramatists. No originality of plot is therefore to
-be expected in Seneca's tragedies. Nor is there any great originality
-of treatment. Seneca imitates Euripides and some of the later Greek
-tragic poets, not simply translating their work, yet inventing few if
-any new situations, and differing from the Greek dramatists chiefly
-in his greater realism and his declamatory rhetoric. In fact, his
-tragedies are a succession of speeches, hardly interrupted by choral
-songs, which differ from the speeches of the actors chiefly in metre.
-In themselves these tragedies are feeble imitations and perversions of
-their Greek prototypes, though in them, as in his other works, Seneca
-shows great mastery of language and vigor of expression; but their real
-importance to the modern reader is due to their great influence upon
-the English dramatists of the sixteenth century and upon the whole
-course of the French classical drama. At a time when Latin was far
-more familiar than Greek these tragedies were regarded as the highest
-expression of ancient dramatic art, and were studied and imitated by
-the dramatists of the modern nations.
-
-[Sidenote: The Medea.] The best known among them is, perhaps, the
-_Medea_. In this play, as in the _Medea_ of Euripides, the part of
-the myth is treated in which Jason deserts his wife Medea to marry
-Creusa, daughter of Creon, king of Corinth. Medea sends her two sons
-to Creusa to give her a poisoned robe, which causes her death and that
-of her father Creon. Then Medea, in order to pain Jason, kills the two
-children. The following passage is taken from Medea's reply to her
-nurse, who urges her to flee when the news is brought that Creon and
-Creusa have been killed by the poisoned robe she had sent:
-
-    Shall I fly? I? Were I already gone
-    I would return for this, that I might see
-    These new betrothals. Dost thou pause, my soul?
-    This joy's but the beginning of revenge.
-    Thou dost but love if thou art satisfied
-    To widow Jason. Seek new penalties;
-    Honor is gone and maiden modesty--
-    It were a light revenge pure hands could yield.
-    Strengthen thy drooping spirit, stir up wrath,
-    Drain from thy heart its all of ancient force,
-    Thy deeds till now call honor; wake, and act,
-    That they may see how light, how little worth,
-    All former crime--the prelude of revenge!
-    What was there great my novice hands could dare?
-    What was the madness of my girlhood days?
-    I am Medea now, through sorrow strong.
-    Rejoice, because through thee thy brother died;
-    Rejoice, because through thee his limbs were torn,
-    Through thee thy father lost the golden fleece;
-    Rejoice, that armed by thee his daughters slew
-    Old Pelias! Seek revenge! No novice hand
-    Thou bring'st to crime; what wilt thou do; what dart
-    Let fly against thy hated enemy?
-    I know not what my maddened spirit plots,
-    Nor yet dare I confess it to myself!
-    In folly I made haste--would that my foe
-    Had children by this other! Mine are his.
-    We'll say Creusa bore them! 'Tis enough;
-    Through them my heart at last finds full revenge.
-    My soul must be prepared for this last crime.
-    Ye who were once my children, mine no more,
-    Ye pay the forfeit for your father's crimes.
-    Awe strikes my spirit and benumbs my hand;
-    My heart beats wildly; mother-love drives out
-    Hate of my husband; shall I shed their blood--
-    My children's blood? Demented one, rage not,
-    Be far from thee this crime! What guilt is theirs?
-    Is Jason not their father?--guilt enough!
-    And worse, Medea claims them as her sons.
-    They are not sons of mine, so let them die!
-    Nay, rather let them perish since they are!
-    But they are innocent--my brother was!
-    Fear'st thou? Do tears already mar thy cheek?
-    Do wrath and love like adverse tides impel
-    Now here, now there? As when the winds wage war,
-    And the wild waves against each other smite,
-    My heart is beaten; duty drives out fear,
-    As wrath drives duty. Anger dies in love.[92]
-
-[Sidenote: Seneca's philosophical writings.] Seneca's philosophical
-writings fall naturally into three divisions: the formal treatises on
-ethical subjects, the twenty books of _Ethical Letters_ (_Epistulae
-Morales_), addressed to Lucilius[93], and the _Studies of Nature_
-(_Quaestiones Naturales_), in seven books. The last-mentioned work,
-addressed to Lucilius, and written between 57 and 64 A. D., is by no
-means a complete treatise on nature. Two books treat of astronomy,
-two of physical geography, and four of meteorology; for Book IV
-should properly be divided into two books, one on physical geography,
-the other on meteorology. These subjects are treated from the point
-of view of the Stoics, without any original investigation by Seneca,
-who derives his information entirely from books. The work was very
-popular in the Middle Ages, but is of no scientific value. Seneca's
-chief interest was in ethics, and he uses the phenomena of nature as
-texts for his ethical views. The formal treatises on ethics discuss
-such subjects as _Anger_ (_De Ira_, in three books), _The Shortness
-of Life_ (_De Brevitate Vitae_), _Clemency_ (_De Clementia_). _The
-Happy Life_ (_De Vita Beata_), _Consolation_ (_De Consolatione_, three
-independent treatises addressed to different persons), and _The Giving
-and Receiving of Favors_ (_De Beneficiis_, an elaborate treatise in
-seven books). The _Letters_ treat of similar subjects in a somewhat
-less formal way. These works show that Seneca had studied with great
-diligence the works of previous writers on such subjects, especially
-those of the Stoics, though the writings of Epicureans had been by no
-means neglected. The moral teaching is, in the main, sound and wise,
-but there is little originality of thought. The style is vigorous
-and effective, though artificial and rhetorical; but these latter
-qualities were so natural to Seneca, in common with other writers of
-his day, that they do not detract from the sincerity of the sentiments
-expressed. Seneca is the most complete exponent of the Stoic philosophy
-as it developed at Rome. He is not so much a speculative thinker as a
-giver of practical advice for the conduct of life. Like most, if not
-all, the Roman Stoics, he is a preacher and teacher; and as such he is
-of the highest interest and importance. His works were much read in
-his own time and in the years immediately following, though Quintilian
-and others who wished to revive the Latin of Cicero found fault with
-their style. Their popularity continued unabated for centuries, and
-their high moral tone led to the belief that Seneca was a Christian.
-This belief was strengthened by the composition, at a comparatively
-early date, of a series of fourteen letters supposed to have been
-exchanged between Seneca and the Apostle Paul. These letters are,
-however, obviously forgeries, and possess no literary merit. Seneca's
-influence did not die with the death of the ancient civilization, but
-has continued even to our own times, and is very marked in the writings
-of Ralph Waldo Emerson.
-
-[Sidenote: The Apocolocyntosis.] In the _Apocolocyntosis_ Seneca
-appears as a political satirist. The title may be translated
-_Pumpkinification_, for the word is made from the Greek _apotheosis_,
-with the word for "pumpkin" substituted for the word meaning "god."
-This joke does not, however, appear in the pamphlet itself. The Emperor
-Claudius, who had just died, is supposed to arrive at Olympus and claim
-admittance among the gods. The gods hold a meeting, at which Augustus
-speaks against the admission of Claudius, who is finally sent off to
-Hades, where he is met by those whom he has unjustly put to death.
-This is the only extant specimen of a complete _Menippean Satire_, a
-work written in prose for the most part, but containing also metrical
-portions. For that reason it has a certain interest, but its literary
-merit is slight. Nor are Seneca's epigrams of any great importance.
-They are merely such verses as any cultivated man of letters like
-Seneca can write when the occasion offers.
-
-The age of Seneca produced no great poets, and few whose works have
-survived. [Sidenote: Persius.] The earliest of these is Aulus Persius
-Flaccus, who was born at Volaterrae, December 4, 34 A. D., and died at
-the age of twenty-eight, November 24, 62 A. D. At the age of twelve,
-Persius left his native town for Rome, where he attended various
-schools, among them that of the grammarian Remmius Palaemon. At the
-age of sixteen he attached himself to the Stoic Cornutus and became
-an enthusiastic adherent of the Stoic school. He was acquainted with
-many of the distinguished men of the time, among them Seneca and the
-epic poet Lucan. He was related to Arria, the wife of Paetus Thrasea,
-and his intimacy with Thrasea and his family doubtless strengthened
-his interest in the Stoic philosophy; for Thrasea was one of the many
-noble Romans who found in the Stoic doctrines some moral support amid
-the vice and corruption of their degenerate times. Persius belonged to
-a family of equestrian rank, and at his death left a large property.
-His library he left to Cornutus, who edited his poems, consisting of
-six _Satires_. Persius had written some notes of travel and a tragedy
-of the kind called _praetexta_, but these were not published. In the
-first satire he attacks the literary production of the time, and the
-prevailing love of notoriety. This is a real satire, in imitation of
-those of Lucilius or, rather, of Horace. In the remaining poems Persius
-discourses on subjects drawn from the doctrines of the Stoics. The
-second satire treats of prayer, the third of the contradiction between
-our conduct and what we know is right, the fourth of self-knowledge;
-in the fifth Persius gratefully praises Cornutus, who had trained
-him in Stoic philosophy, and passes on to describe true freedom,
-which delivers men from the tyranny of the passions; in the sixth
-he addresses his friend, the poet Caesius Bassus, speaks of his own
-pleasant life in retirement at Luna, and discusses the true use of this
-world's goods.
-
-[Sidenote: Quality of the poems of Persius.] The poems of Persius
-were much admired by his contemporaries, and later generations, even
-throughout the Middle Ages, read them and wrote commentaries upon
-them. This admiration was due to the moral and ethical contents of
-the poems, though the style also no doubt pleased the perverted taste
-of the poet's own times. But neither the contents nor the style
-merits admiration. Persius was a young man of little originality, who
-expressed in his poems only what he learned from his teachers. The
-Stoic doctrines he teaches are trite, even the examples he cites being
-derived from books, not from his own experience; and the style has all
-the faults of the period. Persius had studied Horace with diligence,
-and his poems are full of Horatian words and phrases, but they have
-nothing of the grace and charm of Horace. Persius aims at striking
-expressions and novelty of form. He therefore avoids as much as
-possible all that is natural, employs unusual words in unnatural order,
-and succeeds in being obscure without being profound. Few authors have
-so undeservedly gained long-enduring reputation.
-
-[Sidenote: Lucan.] A far abler poet was Marcus Annaeus Lucanus, the
-nephew of Seneca. He was born at Corduba in 39 A. D., but was taken to
-Rome when only eight months old. There he was well-educated, especially
-in rhetoric, and acquired a reputation as a declaimer in Greek and
-Latin. One of his teachers was the philosopher Cornutus, and among his
-friends was Persius, whom he admired greatly. He went to Athens to
-complete his education, and was called back to Rome by Nero, who made
-him one of his circle of friends. In 60 A. D. he wrote a poem in praise
-of Nero, which led to his political advancement. But Nero's favor was
-short-lived, either because Lucan was guilty of some impoliteness in
-public declaiming, or because Nero was jealous of his reputation as a
-poet, and forbade him to write or recite. Lucan joined the conspiracy
-of Piso, and was forced to commit suicide, April 30, 65 A. D.
-
-[Sidenote: The Pharsalia.] Lucan wrote several works, chiefly in verse,
-but the only, one extant is an epic poem in ten books, entitled _De
-Bello Civili_ (_On the Civil War_), ordinarily called _Pharsalia_,
-in which he tells the story of the civil war to the time when Caesar
-was besieged at Alexandria. The narrative is prosaic and somewhat
-dull, but the tedium is relieved by vivid descriptions and really
-eloquent speeches. The chief historical source is Livy, though other
-writers seem to have been consulted. Some inaccuracies detract
-from the historical value of the poem. The diction is in the main
-Virgilian, though it is evident that Lucan had studied Horace and Ovid.
-Geographical and mythological lore is sometimes needlessly displayed,
-and the author's rhetorical training and ability are too evident. In
-Books I-III Lucan is still friendly to Nero, whom he flatters in Book
-I, 33-66, though throughout the entire work Caesar, the founder of the
-empire, is the constant object of the poet's hostility. In the first
-three books Pompey is the hero, and Cato and Brutus are spoken of
-with admiration. The opposition to Caesar does not, however in Lucan's
-case, indicate hostility to the empire and a desire to return to the
-republican form of government; in fact, Lucan's participation in the
-conspiracy of Piso, which had for its purpose the overthrow of Nero
-and the substitution of a good emperor in his place, shows that he
-accepted the imperial form of government as the only one possible. As a
-specimen of Lucan's spirit, and of the speeches which lend brilliancy
-to his pages, we may take the address of Cato to the Roman soldiers of
-Pompey's army in Egypt after Pompey's death, when the army was on the
-point of joining Caesar:
-
-    So for no higher cause you waged your wars?
-    You, too, youths, fought for masters, and you were
-    No Roman force, but only Pompey's band?
-    Since not for royalty you're toiling now,
-    Since for yourselves, not for your leaders' gain
-    You live and die, since not for any man
-    You seek to gain the world, since now for you
-    'Tis safe to conquer, you shrink back from wars,
-    And seek a yoke to press your empty necks,
-    And know not how to live without a king!
-    Yet now you have a cause worth risk for men.
-    Your blood could be for Pompey shed in streams,
-    And do you now refuse your country's call
-    For lives and swords when liberty is nigh?
-    Of three lords Fortune now has left but one.
-    O shame! The royal palace of the Nile
-    And Parthian soldier's bow have more than you
-    Upheld the Roman laws. Go now, despise
-    The merit Ptolemy by arms has won!
-    Degenerate soldiers! Who will think that e'er
-    Your hands were red with any battle's blood?
-    He will believe you quickly turned your backs
-    In flight before him; he will think that you
-    Fled first from dire Philippi's Thracian field.
-    So go in safety! You have saved your lives,
-    In Caesar's judgment, not subdued by arms,
-    Nor yet by siege. O base, unmanly slaves!
-    Your former master dead, go to his heir!
-    Why will you not earn more than life and more
-    Than pardon? Let great Pompey's wretched wife
-    And let Metellus' offspring o'er the waves
-    Be borne in chains; take captive Pompey's sons;
-    Let Ptolemy's deserts be less than yours!
-    My own head, too, whoever brings and gives
-    The hateful tyrant, reaps no mean reward.
-    Those men will know by my head's price that they
-    Served no mean standard when they followed mine.
-    Then come, and by great slaughter gain deserts.
-    Mere flight is a base crime.[94]
-
-Lucan is certainly the chief poet of the time of Nero. [Sidenote:
-Calpurnius.] Less important is Titus Calpurnius Siculus, the author
-of seven _Eclogues_ in imitation of Virgil and Theocritus. Formerly
-eleven eclogues were attributed to him, but it is now evident that he
-was the author of only seven, the remainder being probably the work
-of Nemesianus, who lived in the first half of the third century. The
-_Eclogues_ of Calpurnius are close imitations of those of Virgil, but
-are far inferior to their prototypes. They are attractive, but so much
-less attractive than Virgil's _Eclogues_ that they are little read. A
-poem _In Praise of Piso_ (_De Laude Pisonis_) is attributed with great
-probability to Calpurnius. The Piso whose praise is sung is without
-doubt Calpurnius Piso, the rich and influential man who headed the
-conspiracy against Nero and committed suicide in 65 A. D. This poem
-is full of imitations of Virgil, Ovid, and Horace. [Sidenote: Other
-poems.] The poem entitled _Aetna_ (see p. 141) and many of the anonymous
-poems preserved in manuscripts, some of which are not without merit,
-are to be ascribed to this period. The _praetexta_ entitled _Octavia_,
-preserved among Seneca's tragedies, undoubtedly belongs to a slightly
-later time, as Seneca and Nero appear in it. So far as its style is
-concerned, it might almost be by Seneca, though the rhetoric displayed
-is somewhat less effective than that of Seneca's tragedies. The play
-is interesting, chiefly because it is the only extant play of its
-class. Only a few unimportant fragments remain of the tragedies by the
-distinguished general, Publius Pomponius Secundus.
-
-[Sidenote: Petronius.] A work of unique interest is the novel by
-Petronius. This author is without much doubt identical with the Gaius
-Petronius, who was proconsul of Bithynia and afterwards consul, whom
-Nero admitted to his friendship and regarded as the _arbiter elegantiae_
-or judge of good taste, but who was accused by Tigellinus in 66 A. D.,
-and committed suicide to avoid execution. The novel, known as _Satirae_,
-originally consisted of some twenty books, and contained an account
-of the adventures of a Greek freedman, Encolpius, as told by himself.
-The adventures were strung together with no plot, except as the wrath
-of the god Priapus (a parody of the wrath of Poseidon in Homer's
-_Odyssey_) may have served as a plot to some extent. The extant parts
-are from the fifteenth and sixteenth books. The form is that of a
-Menippean Satire, prose and verse in combination, but the longer parts
-are exclusively in prose.
-
-[Sidenote: Trimalchio's banquet.] The chief of these is the _Cena
-Trimalchionis_ (_Trimalchio's Banquet_), the description of an
-elaborate entertainment given by a rich and purse-proud freedman,
-Trimalchio. The scene of the banquet is laid at Cumae, or Puteoli. The
-house is large and full of costly things, but shows utter lack of
-taste. Trimalchio himself is a fat old fellow, who comes to the dinner
-after all the guests have been seated for some time. He informs them
-that it was inconvenient for him to come, but that he did not wish to
-disappoint them. At first he plays checkers with an attendant, but
-presently takes part in the feast and the conversation. The first
-course brought in is a wooden fowl sitting on eggs, which prove to be
-made of paste, and to contain finely seasoned birds. When a silver
-dish falls on the floor, Trimalchio orders it to be swept up with
-the rubbish. Another course consists of a great boar, out of which,
-when it is cut open by a slave in hunting costume, fly live thrushes.
-Again a roast pig is cut open, and sausages of all kinds fall out. The
-entertainment has other than gastronomical surprises, for a troupe of
-Homeric actors appear and perform scenes of the Trojan War, speaking
-in Greek. At the end of their performance a boiled calf is brought in,
-and the actor who takes the part of Ajax hacks it with his sword in
-imitation of the attack made by Ajax in his madness upon the cattle
-at Troy, and offers the astonished guests pieces of meat on his sword
-point. Acrobats also come in, and when one of them falls from a ladder
-upon Trimalchio, he is at once freed from slavery, lest it be said
-that so great a man as Trimalchio was injured by a slave. Presently
-the ceiling rolls apart, and a great hoop is let down, upon which are
-jars of perfumes as keepsakes for the guests. All these astonishing
-performances are made more amusing by the naive pride of Trimalchio,
-who prates much of his great wealth, and exhibits his ignorance by
-trying to make a show of learning. One of the guests tells a ghost
-story and another a tale of an adventure with a werewolf. Further
-excitement is caused by a fight between a fat little dog brought
-by Trimalchio's friend, the stone-cutter Habinnas, and a large dog
-belonging to Trimalchio. The slaves then take part in the banquet,
-Trimalchio has his will read, and all weep. After a bath, the company
-passes to a second dining-room. Here Trimalchio has a furious quarrel
-with his wife, who is jealous of a favorite slave boy. Trimalchio
-finally has his grave-clothes brought in, and lies down as if dead,
-ordering his horn-blowers to play funereal music. The noise is so
-great that the police, thinking something is the matter, break into
-the house, whereupon the guests escape. All this, with many more
-details of the lavish and tasteless expenditure, the pride of the
-vulgar Trimalchio, and the absurd features of the banquet, is described
-with much satirical humor. The language of the narrative is refined,
-evidently that of a highly cultivated man. Trimalchio, however, and
-some of the other characters speak the popular dialect of southern
-Italy, which contains many words strange to literary Latin. Their
-speech is not without mistakes in grammar, and is full of proverbs,
-like the speech of Sancho Panza in _Don Quixote_.
-
-Among the poems contained in the novel, the longest, entitled _De Bello
-Civili_ (_On the Civil War_), consists of two hundred and ninety-five
-hexameters, in imitation of Lucan, with touches of parody; the next
-in length is the _Troiae Halosis_ (_Capture of Troy_), in sixty-five
-senarii, probably a parody of Nero's poem of the same title. The novel
-of Petronius is, in some places, extremely indecent, but is interesting
-on account of the specimens of popular speech it contains, and still
-more, as the only known example of the satirical novel in Latin. It is,
-moreover, full of wit and humor, and shows keen observation and much
-knowledge of human nature as well as of literature. The loss of the
-greater part of the work is greatly to be regretted.
-
-[Sidenote: Quintus Curtius.] The only extant historical work of this
-period is the _History of Alexander the Great_ (_De Gestis Alexandri
-Magni_), by Quintus Curtius Rufus, of whose personality nothing
-is known, but who seems to have written under Claudius. The work
-originally consisted of ten books, the first two of which are lost. The
-style is modelled upon that of Livy, and is clear and simple for the
-most part, though not entirely free from the affectation of elegance
-customary at the time. Some of the descriptions and speeches are
-exceptionally fine. Curtius is not a critical historian, and follows
-Greek authorities selected without much attention to their accuracy.
-Of the other historical works of this period nothing remains.
-[Sidenote: Memoirs.] The memoirs composed by various more or less
-important persons are also lost. Among them may be mentioned those of
-the Empress Agrippina and of the generals Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo, who
-was _consul suffectus_ in 39 A. D., and was put to death by Nero in 86
-A. D., and Suetonius Paulinus, who was twice consul, once soon after
-42, and again in 66 A. D.
-
-[Sidenote: Columella.] Many scientific treatises were written at
-this time, as in the previous period, but two only are extant: the
-treatise _On Agriculture_ (_De Re Rustica_), by Lucius Junius Moderatus
-Columella, and the _Geography_ (_Chorographia_), by Pomponius Mela.
-Columella was born at Gades (Cadiz), and served in the army in Syria.
-He possessed land in Italy, and in his work he has the agriculture of
-Italy chiefly in mind. The work is divided into twelve books, and is
-the most complete ancient treatise on agriculture extant--more complete
-than those of Cato and Varro. It is written in a simple and dignified
-style, more like the prose of the Augustan period than the artificial
-rhetoric of most contemporary writings. In this respect Columella is
-a precursor of the classical revival under the Flavian emperors. The
-tenth book, on gardening, is written in hexameters, to serve as a fifth
-book of Virgil's _Georgics_, because Virgil had hardly touched upon
-this branch of his subject.[95] The entire work is dedicated to Publius
-Silvinus, and it was due to a suggestion from him and another friend
-that the tenth book was written in verse. Columella's verse is simple
-and classical, but is greatly inferior to that of Virgil, and less
-admirable than his prose. [Sidenote: Mela.] Mela, like Columella, was a
-Spaniard. His native place was Tingentera. His three books on geography
-were written soon after 40 A. D., and form the earliest systematic
-treatise on the subject extant. The style is far inferior to that of
-Columella, for Mela writes in the affected manner of his times. The
-work is enlivened by descriptions of peoples, places, and customs, and
-is valuable as a source of information, since it is based upon good
-authorities.
-
-[Sidenote: Various writers.] Historical explanations of five orations
-of Cicero by Quintus Asconius Pedianus (about 3-88 A. D.) are preserved
-in a fragmentary condition. They show great care and diligence, and
-are written in simple classical style. Of other works by Asconius some
-fragments are preserved in the commentary of Servius on Virgil. The
-works of the orators of this period are all lost, as are the legal
-writings of Proculus and Gaius Cassius Longinus (consul in 30 A. D.),
-who continued the schools of Labeo and Capito. [Sidenote: Probus.] The
-most important grammarian of this time was Marcus Valerius Probus, of
-Berytus, to whom Jerome assigns the date 56 A. D. He prepared and
-published editions of Terence, Lucretius, Virgil, Horace, and Persius,
-paying attention to various readings, punctuation, and the like, and
-commenting upon the text. He also wrote grammatical treatises, though
-the grammar preserved under his name is not his work. His only extant
-works are a list of abbreviations and parts of the commentaries on
-Virgil.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIV
-
-THE FLAVIAN EMPERORS--THE SILVER AGE
-
-    Vespasian, 69-79 A. D.--Titus, 79-81 A. D.--Domitian, 81-96 A.
-    D.--Valerius Flaccus, died about 90 A. D.--Silius Italicus,
-    25-101 A. D.--Statius, about 40 to about 95 A. D.--The father
-    of Statius, about 15-80 A. D.--Saleius Bassus, about 70 A.
-    D.--Curiatius Maternus, about 70 A. D.--Martial, about 40 to about
-    104 A. D.--Pliny the elder, 23-79 A. D.--Frontinus, praetor 70 A.
-    D.--Quintilian, about 35 to about 100 A. D.
-
-
-[Sidenote: The Flavian emperors.] THE death of Nero was followed by a
-year of disorder, in which Galba, Otho, and Vitellius were successively
-raised to the highest power, overthrown, and killed. But the terror
-which had brooded over Rome in the latter years of Nero's rule passed
-away with the coming of the Flavian emperors. Vespasian (69-79 A. D.)
-and Titus (79-81 A. D.) were firm but gentle rulers. Both were chiefly
-known as brave soldiers and able generals, but neither was uncultured
-or without literary interests. Vespasian wrote memoirs and Titus
-composed in 76 A. D. a poem on a comet. Their interest in literature
-and intellectual pursuits was, however, exhibited less by their own
-productions than in other ways. Vespasian was liberal to poets and
-artists; he paid attention to dramatic performances; he caused the
-three thousand bronze tablets destroyed in the burning of the capitol
-to be replaced by copies; and provided for the payment of rhetors, or
-instructors in oratory, by the state, being thus the first to establish
-a system of public education. The banishment of philosophers and
-astrologers during his reign was due to the reactionary politics of the
-philosophers, not to any opposition to philosophy on his part. Domitian
-(81-96 A. D.) was a very different character. Before his accession
-to the imperial power he exhibited a taste for poetry which led the
-writers of the day to flatter him as if he were one of the greatest
-of poets; but when he became emperor he relinquished all literary
-pursuits. No works by him are mentioned except a poem on the battle
-that took place at the capitol in 69 A. D. and a treatise on the care
-of the hair, a subject in which he was interested on account of his
-baldness. Nevertheless he restored the libraries which had been burned,
-and instituted public games in which dramatists, poets, and orators
-took part. But his jealousy and cruelty were greater than his literary
-interests. Twice, in 89 and 93 A. D., the philosophers and astrologers
-were banished from Rome, and though these acts may be excused on the
-ground of political expediency, no such excuse can be found for the
-cruelty which led him to persecute authors and put them to death on the
-flimsiest pretexts. The last years of his reign were a period of terror
-for men of letters even more than for his other subjects.
-
-Under Vespasian, the mad terror of the reign of Nero was succeeded
-by a period of calm. In literature also greater dignity and better
-taste succeeds to the exaggerated rhetoric of the preceding years.
-The writers of the Flavian period--the so-called Silver Age of Roman
-literature--revert to the manner of the great Augustan writers. Tacitus
-alone develops a style of marked originality, and Tacitus is the only
-really great writer of this period. The others, foremost among whom are
-Quintilian, Statius, and the elder Pliny, show learning and judgment,
-but not genius.
-
-[Sidenote: Valerius Flaccus] The earliest poet of the Flavian epoch is
-Gaius Valerius Flaccus, whose only known work is an epic poem entitled
-_Argonautica_, on the adventures of Jason and his comrades in quest of
-the golden fleece. A reference to the capture of Jerusalem by Titus
-shows that the earlier part of the poem was written not long after 70
-A. D., and the mention of the eruption of Vesuvius proves that it
-was not completed until after 79 A. D. The poet died shortly before
-90 A. D. Further than this nothing is known of his life. The story of
-the Argonautic expedition was told in the _Argonautica_ of the Greek
-poet Apollonius Rhodius in the third century B. C., and Valerius
-Flaccus imitates Apollonius in his general treatment of the subject,
-sometimes even translating his words; but he amplifies some scenes
-which Apollonius had treated briefly and adds some new elements to the
-tale, while on the other hand he omits much of the superfluous learning
-displayed by Apollonius and narrates briefly parts of the story which
-the Greek poet had told at greater length. In general, when Valerius
-changes the treatment of Apollonius the change is for the better. For
-instance, in the Latin poem, when Jason reaches Colchis, he finds Aeetes
-hard pressed by a hostile army, and receives from him the promise of
-the golden fleece in return for his assistance in the war. When the
-enemy is defeated Aeetes breaks his promise, and Jason is thus justified
-in accepting the aid of Medea and her magic arts. Nothing of all this
-is to be found in Apollonius, and the Roman poet has made a decided
-addition to the plot of the story. Valerius pays more attention to
-character painting than Apollonius, and is especially successful in
-making the characters of Aeetes and Jason stand out in strong relief.
-His description of the mental struggles of Medea, torn between her
-love for Jason and her duty to her father and her country, is far more
-effective than that of Apollonius or even than Virgil's description of
-Dido's love for Aeneas, which is founded upon Apollonius. In diction
-Valerius imitates Virgin, though his style is far less simple and clear
-than Virgil's, and in the treatment of many episodes of the poem he
-copies Virgil's treatment of similar themes; the work shows also the
-influence of Ovid and of Seneca's tragedies. In its present condition
-the _Argonautica_ breaks off in the eighth book, leaving the tale
-incomplete; but whether the remainder of the poem is lost or was never
-written can not be determined.
-
-[Sidenote: Silius Italicus.] Silius Italicus, whose whole name was
-Tiberius Cattius Silius Italicus, chose for the subject of his epic a
-Roman theme, the second Punic War. He was born in 25 A. D. and starved
-himself to death on account of an incurable disease in 101 A. D. He is
-said to have been an informer (_delator_) under Nero, but rose to the
-consulship in 68 A. D., and was afterwards governor of Asia under
-Vespasian. The latter part of his life was spent in honorable
-retirement in Campania. Here he devoted himself to literature and
-wrote the seventeen books of the _Punica_, in which he tells the story
-of the second Punic War to the decisive battle of Zama, in 202 B. C.
-His historical information is derived from Livy, and is therefore
-correct in all essential matters. The events of the war are described
-in chronological order. The style is an imitation of Homer and Virgil,
-and the imitation extends to more than mere style, for the traditional
-epic machinery of gods, prophecies, heroes, and the like, is employed
-as freely as if the second Punic War were as mythical as the
-adventures of Aeneas. So Juno strives to give Hannibal the victory,
-while Venus aids the Romans. The sea-god Proteus foretells the course
-of the war to a Carthaginian fleet, and Hannibal, with his crested
-helmet, his sword, and his spear "fatal to thousands," rages about the
-walls of Saguntum like Achilles at the siege of Troy. In short,
-Silius, having no poetic inspiration or imagination of his own, uses
-in his account of the Punic War the methods which had been
-appropriately applied to the myths of earlier days by Homer and
-Virgil. As a result, the _Punica_, though written in good hexameters,
-is hopelessly dull and uninteresting. The so-called _Homerus Latinus_,
-or _Ilias Latina_, an epitome of the _Iliad_ in one thousand and
-seventy hexameters, is attributed to the earlier years of Silius
-Italicus. It attained considerable popularity, but is a work of little
-merit.
-
-[Sidenote: Statius.] The most eminent poet of this period was Publius
-Papinius Statius. He was born at Naples, probably about 40 A. D., but
-spent most of his life at Rome, though he returned to Naples, probably
-in 94 A. D. The last date to which reference is made in his poems is
-95 A. D. His father was of a distinguished but not wealthy family, and
-attained some distinction as a poet and teacher, first at Naples, and
-later at Rome, where Domitian was among his pupils. He had intended to
-write a poem on the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 A. D., but was prevented
-by death, which must therefore have come upon him about 80 A. D. From
-him Statius received his early education and his first impulse toward
-poetry. Statius won prizes for poetry at the _Augustalia_ at Naples,
-and at Alba, but failed to win a prize at the _Capitolia_ in Rome. This
-was probably in 94 A. D., and his retirement to Naples may have been
-due to his disappointment. He was married to a widow named Claudia, who
-had a daughter by her former husband; but Statius had no children of
-his own. Domitian regarded him with favor, gave him a supply of running
-water for his country house at Alba, and invited him to his table.
-These few details of his life are derived from his poems, chiefly from
-a poem in honor of his father's memory, which is published as the third
-in the fifth book of the _Silvae_.
-
-[Sidenote: Works of Statius.] The chief work of Statius is the
-_Thebais_, an epic poem in twelve books, the subject of which is the
-strife between the two sons of OEdipus, Eteocles and Polynices, and the
-legendary history of Thebes to the death of Creon. This work occupied
-the poet for twelve years, probably about 80-92 A. D. His other
-extant works are the _Silvae_, a collection of shorter poems on various
-subjects, divided into five books, and the _Achilleis_. None of the
-poems contained in the _Silvae_ appears to have been written before
-91 or 92 A. D., and the fifth book, which has no preface and which
-contains some incomplete poems, was probably published after the poet's
-death. The _Achilleis_ was to be an account of the life of Achilles,
-embracing the story of the Trojan War, but it breaks off in the second
-book, before Achilles reaches Troy. The only lost works of Statius to
-which any reference exists are a pantomime entitled _Agave_, and an
-epic on Domitian's German war; but the latter work was probably never
-completed.
-
-[Sidenote: The Thebais.] Statius was an ardent admirer of Virgil,
-and the _Thebais_ is an elaborate imitation of the _Aeneid_. Not only
-Virgil's language is imitated, but the division of the poem into twelve
-books, the general chronological sequence of events, the arrangement
-by which the scenes of combat begin with the seventh book, and the
-treatment of many individual scenes are adopted from the _Aeneid_. The
-subject of the _Thebais_ had been treated by many previous poets, and
-Statius could find the story in various mythological handbooks. It is
-therefore not certain, though not improbable, that he followed the
-version given by Antimachus in his _Thebais_, written in the fifth
-century B. C. Statius is not a great epic poet. He lacks the sense of
-proportion and has little dramatic power, in spite of the fact that
-he evidently aims at dramatic effect. He excels in descriptions and
-similes, but devotes far too much space to each; his similes especially
-become wearisome. The entire poem lacks the charm of true poetic
-inspiration. It is learned and correct, but artificial, imitative,
-and tedious. One of the briefest of the powerful descriptions in the
-_Thebais_, and one which shows Statius's liking for what is horrible
-and painful, is that of OEdipus, when he hears of the death of his sons
-and comes forth to lament over their bodies:
-
-    But when their father heard the tale of crime,
-    He rushed from the deep shadows where he dwelt,
-    And on the cruel threshold brought to view
-    His half-dead form; his hoary locks unkempt
-    Were vile with ancient filth, and stiff with gore
-    The hair that veiled his Fury-driven head;
-    His mouth and cheeks were sunken deep, and clots
-    Of blood were remnants of his torn-out eyes.[96]
-
-[Sidenote: The Achilleis and the Silvae.] The _Achilleis_ has much the
-same good and bad qualities as the _Thebais_, and is less wearisome
-only because it is less long. In the _Silvae_ Statius shows to better
-advantage. These occasional poems were evidently written for the most
-part in haste. In fact Statius says in his preface to the first book
-that none of the poems contained in it occupied him more than two days,
-and one of these poems contains 277 lines. The poems were written
-chiefly to please some noble or wealthy patron, and the subjects
-are in many cases trivial, such as a parrot, a fine bath-house, or
-a beautiful tree belonging to the person addressed. Such works call
-for little poetic fervor, but merely for skill in writing verses, and
-that Statius possessed in remarkable measure. Nearly all the poems
-are in hexameters, only six, among them one in celebration of Lucan's
-birthday, being in other metres. There is more or less padding in the
-poems; invocations of the Muses or of gods take up considerable space,
-and mythological allusions are needlessly multiplied; but these things
-are excusable in a poet who writes to order to please a patron. Of
-all the poems of Statius the most pleasing is one of only nineteen
-lines addressed to Sleep, the "youth, most gentle of the gods." The
-wakeful poet begs Sleep to come, but does not ask him to spread all his
-wings over his eyes, but merely to touch him with his wand, or pass
-lightly over him. The _Thebais_ and the _Achilleis_ attained immediate
-popularity, and continued to be much read and admired in the Middle
-Ages; but modern times have reversed the former judgment, and such
-admiration as is still accorded to Statius is given him on account of
-the _Silvae_.
-
-[Sidenote: Other poets.] The epics of Saleius Bassus and of Statius's
-father, both of whom wrote under Vespasian, have disappeared, as have
-the tragedies and orations of Curiatius Maternus, who lived at the same
-time. The lyric poet, Arruntius Stella, and the poetess, Sulpicia,
-wrote under Domitian, but their works also are lost, for the extant
-short poem attributed to Sulpicia is a product of a later time. The
-only Flavian poet, besides Valerius Flaccus, Silius Italicus, and
-Statius, whose works remain, is Martial.
-
-[Sidenote: Martial.] Marcus Valerius Martialis was born at Bilbilis,
-in the northeastern part of Spain, on the first of March, about 40 A.
-D. His parents, Fronto and Flacilla, gave him the usual grammatical
-and rhetorical education at Bilbilis, or some neighboring town, and
-in 64 A. D. he went to Rome, where he became a client or hanger-on of
-the family of Seneca, and some other important families. He may have
-practised law for a time, but lived chiefly from the bounty of his
-patrons. The _ius trium liberorum_ granted him by Titus, was ratified
-by Domitian. He received the title of tribune, which carried with it
-equestrian rank. He owned a small country estate near Nomemtum, perhaps
-a gift from Argentaria Polla, Lucan's widow; and at one time he had
-a house of his own at Rome and kept some slaves. Still he can never
-have been rich, for he complains constantly of poverty. In 98 A. D. he
-returned to Spain, and died in his native place not later than 104 A.
-D., for the younger Pliny, in a letter written about that date, speaks
-of his recent death.
-
-Martial's poems comprise fourteen books of epigrams, the last two
-books of which, consisting of lines intended to accompany _xenia_ and
-_apophoreta_, gifts which it was customary to present to friends at the
-_Saturnalia_, were not published as books by their author. One book of
-_Spectacula_ celebrates the theatrical performances and other shows
-in which the Romans delighted; the remaining books are _Epigrammata_,
-each book revised and published with an introduction by the author.
-The longest poem contains fifty-one lines, the shortest consists of
-one hexameter. Most of the poems are in elegiac verse, but many are in
-hendecasyllables, and a few other metres occur. Martial is the master
-of epigram. His verses are sententious and to the point, often bitter,
-not infrequently indecent, but never stilted, dull, or unnatural. In
-an age of many imitative poets, Martial was original. This does not
-mean that no traces of imitation are to be found in his poems, for his
-obligations to Catullus are evident and frankly acknowledged, while
-the influence of Virgil, Ovid, and Juvenal is plainly to be seen; but
-his pointed wit, his candor, and his sententious brevity are his own.
-He has no lofty poetic inspiration, and exhibits no greater height
-of character than what is needed to let him see and acknowledge his
-own limitations. In spite of the bitterness of many of his verses, he
-seems to have been a man of genial nature. He was a friend of Silius
-Italicus, Quintilian, the younger Pliny, and Juvenal, but does not
-mention Statius by name, though his sneers at epic poets are probably
-directed against him. The younger Pliny says of him: "He was a
-talented, acute, and spirited man, whose writings are full of wit and
-gall, and not less candor."[97]
-
-Martial is not to be ranked among great poets, but his ability to
-express well-defined thoughts in brief, sententious, pointed words, has
-made his epigrams the models for all later times. The following lines
-commemorate the death of Arria, who, when her husband Paetus was ordered
-to kill himself, showed him the way:
-
-    The poniard, with her life-blood dyed,
-        When Arria to her Paetus gave,
-    "'Twere painless, my beloved," she cried,
-        "If but my death thy life could save."[98]
-
-Another brief epigram is on some fishes, supposed to be the work of the
-great sculptor Phidias:
-
-    These fishes Phidias wrought; with life by him
-    They are endowed; add water and they swim.[99]
-
-These lines also refer to a work of art:
-
-    That lizard on the goblet makes thee start.
-    Fear not; it lives only by Mentor's art.[100]
-
-The daily life of Rome is described in the following lines:
-
-    Visits consume the first, the second hour;
-    When comes the third, hoarse pleaders show their power;
-    At four to business Rome herself betakes;
-    At six she goes to sleep, by seven she wakes;
-    By nine well breathed from exercise we rest,
-    And in the banquet hall the couch is pressed.
-    Now, when thy skill, greatest of cooks, has spread
-    The ambrosial feast, let Martial's rhymes be read,
-    With mighty hand while Caesar holds the bowl,
-    When drafts of nectar have relaxed his soul.
-    Now trifles pass. My giddy Muse would fear
-    Jove to approach in morning mood severe.[101]
-
-[Sidenote: Pliny the elder.] Among the many learned writers of this
-period the most important is the elder Pliny. Gaius Plinius Secundus
-was born at Novum Comum, in northern Italy, in 23 A. D. At an early
-age he went to Rome, where he came under the influence of Pomponius
-Secundus, whose example may have led him to combine public service with
-diligent study and authorship. Pliny's life was passed in the service
-of the state. He was an officer in the cavalry, serving in Germany
-and perhaps also in Syria; he was a trusted counsellor and agent of
-Vespasian, and held at different times the important post of procurator
-or governor in several provinces. His nephew mentions especially his
-procuratorship in Spain. These various and important official duties
-did not, however, withdraw Pliny's mind from his studies. When he
-was carried in the litter through the streets in the evening, after
-his official duties were performed, while he was bathing, and at his
-meals, he read or was read to constantly. He believed that no book was
-so poor as not to contain something worth recording, and therefore he
-took notes of all he read. At his death he left one hundred and sixty
-rolls of manuscript notes, closely written on both sides. With all this
-reading Pliny was not a mere bookworm, but a practical man of affairs
-and an interested observer of men and things about him. His zeal for
-knowledge cost him his life; for when the great eruption of Vesuvius
-took place, in 79 A. D., Pliny, who was in command of the fleet at
-Misenum, went in a war galley to the neighborhood of the volcano to
-investigate the strange phenomenon and to aid those in peril, landed,
-and finally succumbed to the ashes and noxious gases. The description
-of this event is the most interesting of the letters of his nephew, the
-younger Pliny.
-
-[Sidenote: The Natural History.] The result of Pliny's diligence
-is seen in his great encyclopaedic work, the _Natural History_, in
-thirty-seven books. In this he undertakes to describe the whole realm
-of nature in a systematic way. The first book consists of a table of
-contents with a list of the authors consulted. Then follow in order
-the general mathematical and physical description of the universe,
-geography and ethnology, anthropology, zoology, botany, and mineralogy.
-Under mineralogy the uses of metals and stones are described, and this
-leads to a valuable history of painting and sculpture. The _Natural
-History_ is written for the most part in a simple, straightforward
-style, though with occasional lapses from good taste, but it is not
-a great work of literature. Its importance lies in the information
-it contains. In the first book, Pliny mentions nearly five hundred
-authors from whom his information is derived, but as he also speaks of
-one hundred chosen ones whose works he consulted, it is evident that
-his authorities fall into two classes. Apparently he really consulted
-about one hundred, but recorded in the first book the names of other
-writers to whom his real authorities referred. Pliny is almost the only
-ancient writer who tries to give much information about the sources
-of his knowledge, but it is often difficult, if not impossible, even
-in his case to be sure from what source a particular statement is
-derived. In general, it is clear that Pliny was a careful worker, and
-his statements can, as a rule, be accepted as true. The great work
-was ready for publication in 77 A. D. and was sent to Titus with an
-interesting preface. But even after this, Pliny continued to add the
-results of further reading or observation. His death came upon him
-in the midst of his work. [Sidenote: Pliny's other works.] Pliny was
-also the author of several other works, the most important of which
-were the _History of the German Wars_, in twenty books, and a history
-_From the End of the History of Aufidius Bassus_, in thirty-one books.
-Just what period this work embraced is not certain, but the suggestion
-that each book treated of one year and that the whole was a history of
-the years 41-71 A. D. is not improbable. These works, as well as
-Pliny's lesser writings, are lost, but they served at least to supply
-material to Tacitus, who cites the _German Wars_, and to other
-historians.
-
-[Sidenote: Frontinus. Various writers.] Of the technical writings of
-this period only two now exist: the _Stratagems_ (_Strategemata_) and
-the treatise on the Roman aqueducts (_De Aquis Urbis Romae Libri II_),
-by Sextius Julius Frontinus, a man of some distinction, who was praetor
-in 70 A. D., consul several times, and was appointed _Curator Aquarum_,
-or overseer of the water supply of Rome, in 97 A. D. His writings
-belong rather to the history of technical studies than to that of
-literature. The names of several authors of memoirs of travels, legal
-treatises, speeches, histories, and technical writings of various kinds
-are known to us, but their works are lost or only partially preserved
-as unsatisfactory fragments. The schools of grammar and rhetoric
-continued to exist, and many teachers of these subjects enjoyed
-considerable reputation. The greatest among them, and the only one
-whose work has survived to modern times, is Quintilian, the last, and
-in some respects the greatest, of the Spanish writers of Rome.
-
-[Sidenote: Quintilian.] Marcus Fabius Quintilianus was born at
-Calagurris, in Spain, about 35 A. D. He was educated at Rome under the
-most distinguished teachers of the time, and when his education was
-completed returned to his native place. But in 68 A. D., Galba, who had
-been governor in Spain before he became emperor, called Quintilian to
-Rome. Here he became a teacher of rhetoric, and received a salary from
-the imperial treasury. At the same time he was a prominent barrister,
-but published only one speech, though others were published without
-his authority from shorthand reports. He was a man of great influence,
-and was even raised to the consulship by Domitian, who had appointed
-him tutor of his grandnephews. After teaching for twenty years he
-gave up his school and devoted himself to the composition of his great
-work, the _Institutio Oratoria_. This was published about 93 A. D. An
-earlier work, _On the Reasons for the Decay of Oratory_ (_De Causis
-Corruptae Eloquentiae_), is lost. Quintilian's private life was not free
-from trouble. He married at an advanced age, but his wife died when
-only eighteen years old, his younger son soon after at the age of five,
-and his elder son after a brief interval at the age of nine. When
-Quintilian died is not known, but he can hardly have lived long after
-100 A. D.
-
-[Sidenote: Institutio Oratoria.] The title _Institutio Oratoria_, given
-by Quintilian to his work, designates it as a text-book of oratory. But
-it is no mere technical treatise on the art of speaking. Quintilian
-was an enthusiastic lover of his profession, and believed that oratory
-was the highest expression of human thought and human life. Like Cato,
-he demanded that the orator be not merely a good speaker, but also,
-and first of all, a good man. He must also have a general literary
-education before proceeding to the technical study of oratory.
-
-Owing to this large conception of the qualities of the orator,
-Quintilian's great work became a general and very important treatise
-on education. Its arrangement is as follows: the first book treats of
-the elements of education and contains many interesting observations
-upon family life; the fundamental principles of rhetoric are treated in
-the second book, which carries on the discussion of the purposes and
-methods of education; the next five books (III-VII) deal exhaustively
-with the matter of oratory under the main heads of _invention_ and
-_disposition_ or arrangement, and are for the most part strictly
-technical; four books (VIII-XI) treat of expression and all that is
-included in the word _style_ with a discussion of memorizing and
-delivery; and the last book (XII), now that the theory of oratory
-is expounded, reverts to the orator himself, and discusses the moral
-qualities and the continuous self-discipline which alone can make the
-orator great.
-
-The technical part of the _Institutio Oratoria_, is now, since the
-study of formal rhetoric is no longer an important part of a liberal
-education, of little interest except to those who make a special study
-of Roman style and educational theories. Yet even in these books are
-many wise utterances of permanent value, such as "the price of a laugh
-is too high when it is purchased at the expense of virtue";[102] or,
-"a joke at the expense of the wretched is inhuman";[103] or, "it is
-the spirit and the force of mind that make men eloquent."[104] Such
-remarks, admirably expressed and inserted in fitting places, make the
-more technical books of Quintilian's work even now well worth reading.
-But the chief interest for the modern reader lies in those parts of the
-work which have less to do with the special training of the orator, and
-are more general in their scope--the discussion of elementary education
-in the first book, the treatise on the larger and broader education of
-mature life in the last book, and the brief critical survey of Greek
-and Latin literature in the first chapter of the tenth book.
-
-[Sidenote: The theory of education.] The theory of education as
-presented by Quintilian is the result of serious thought. It shows a
-breadth of view, a reasonableness, and at the same time a loftiness of
-conception that give its author at once an important position among
-educational writers. The ethical or moral element in education is
-especially emphasized. Quintilian, like many others in his day, felt
-that the standard of morals, of literature, and of oratory was lower
-than in the days of the republic. But instead of mourning over the
-decay of Roman virtue and taste, Quintilian, seeing that the only cure
-lay in right education, undertook to show the way to a restoration
-of the ancient excellence. Tacitus, in his essay on oratory, mentions
-carelessness of parents and bad education as the chief reason for
-the decay of eloquence; the same ground had apparently been taken by
-Quintilian himself in his lost essay on the _Decay of Oratory_, and in
-the _Institutio Oratoria_ the attempt is made to show how deterioration
-may be stopped and the old virtue restored. That others besides
-Quintilian were seriously interested in reform there is no doubt,
-and if their efforts met with little success, it is probably in part
-because they tried to restore the excellence of a time that was past
-and were unable to regulate the active forces of the present.
-
-[Sidenote: Literary criticism.] As a literary critic Quintilian
-exhibits the same sanity that characterizes his educational theory.
-Since a knowledge of the best literature is necessary for the orator,
-Quintilian passes in review the chief Greek and Latin writers, and it
-is interesting to observe that he regards the latter as the equals
-of the Greeks. He has decided preferences, and gives to Cicero, whom
-he regards as the equal of Demosthenes, the foremost place among the
-Romans. Yet he recognizes the merits even of those authors, such as
-Seneca, whose style he least admires. In brief and admirably expressive
-words he characterizes the style of the chief writers of Greece and
-Rome, and his judgment has, in almost every case, remained the judgment
-of later ages. It is interesting also to note that the works of nearly
-all those writers whom he mentions as the best have been preserved to
-our own time, which is an additional proof that the extant works have
-been preserved for the most part not by mere chance but on account of
-their intrinsic merit. Quintilian's admiration for Cicero is evident
-in his own style. Statius had reverted to the style of Virgil, and
-Quintilian goes back to Cicero, discarding the rhetorical excrescences
-of Seneca and his school. [Sidenote: Style.] His Latin is classical
-and beautiful, sometimes equal to that of Cicero himself. He is the
-foremost representative of the classical reaction of his time. But the
-reversion to an earlier style, whether in literature or art, has never
-been permanent, and Quintilian's influence, great as it undoubtedly
-was, could not stop the course of that change and decay which was in
-the end destined to transform the Latin language and bring into being
-the Romance tongues of modern times.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XV.
-
-NERVA AND TRAJAN
-
-    Nerva, 96-98 A. D.--Trajan, 98-117 A. D.--Tacitus, about 55 to
-    about 118 A. D.--Juvenal, 55 (?) to about 135 A. D.--Pliny the
-    younger, 61 or 62 to 112 or 113 A. D.--Other writers.
-
-
-[Sidenote: Nerva and Trajan.] Under Nerva (96-98 A. D.) and Trajan
-(98-117 A. D.) freedom of speech and literary utterance, which had
-been banished under the tyranny of Domitian, were restored. Nerva and
-Trajan were educated men. Nothing remains of Nerva's poems, which led
-Martial to call him "the Tibullus of our times," and Trajan's history
-of the Dacian War is also, unfortunately, lost. Trajan's replies to
-the letters of the younger Pliny show that he could write in a clear,
-concise, and business-like manner, but exhibit no further literary
-qualities. He paid attention to the education of the young and founded
-the Ulpian library, but was not a man of marked literary tastes.
-Under Nerva and Trajan literature was allowed to take its own course
-without hindrance and also without that imperial patronage which
-sometimes stifles free utterance quite as effectually as severity or
-intimidation. Nevertheless there was little literary production of any
-importance. There were many writers, but most of them have left not
-even their names to posterity. The only authors of literary importance
-under these emperors are Tacitus, Juvenal, and the younger Pliny.
-
-[Sidenote: Tacitus.] Cornelius Tacitus[105] was born, according to
-such evidence as exists, in 55 or 56 A. D. The place of his birth is
-not recorded, and nothing certain is known of his family; but his
-education, his career, and his marriage to the daughter of Agricola all
-combine to indicate that he belonged to a family of some importance.
-His marriage took place in 78 A. D., one year after the consulship of
-Agricola. Tacitus began his official career under Vespasian, continued
-it under Titus, and reached the rank of praetor under Domitian, in 88
-A. D. Under Trajan, in 97 A. D., he was appointed _consul suffectus_,
-and about 112-116 A. D. he was proconsul of Asia. His death took place
-probably not long after 117 A. D. He had a great reputation as a
-public speaker, as is evident from the fact that in 97 or 98 A. D. he
-delivered the funeral oration over Verginius Rufus, and it was probably
-due in great measure to his eloquence that in 100 A. D. he and Pliny
-accomplished the conviction of Marius Priscus, proconsul of Africa,
-for extortion. It was not without knowledge of public affairs that
-Tacitus turned to the writing of history, nor was it without practical
-knowledge of oratory that he wrote the dialogue _De Oratoribus_.
-
-[Sidenote: Works of Tacitus. The Dialogus.] The works of Tacitus in
-the order of composition are the _Dialogue on Orators_ (_Dialogus de
-Oratoribus_), the dramatic date of which is 75 A. D., while the date of
-composition is uncertain; the _Germania_, published in 98 A. D.; the
-_Agricola_, written early in the reign of Trajan, probably in 98 A. D.;
-the _Histories_, written under Trajan, and apparently not completed
-much before 110 A. D.; and the _Annals_, published between 115 and
-117 A. D. The _Dialogue on Orators_ is an inquiry into the causes of
-the decay of oratory. In form it is an imitation of Cicero's famous
-dialogue _De Oratore_, and the style also imitates that of Cicero. In
-this respect the dialogue is so unlike the later works of Tacitus that
-his authorship has been denied by many scholars. It must, however, be
-remembered that this is his earliest work, and that the Ciceronian
-style was taught in the school of Quintilian and no doubt in other
-schools at Rome, so that an imitation of Cicero was a natural beginning
-for a young author. Moreover, there are in the dialogue traces of the
-later style of Tacitus, which is distinguished for its epigrammatic
-utterances and its frequent use of innuendo. The work may therefore be
-unhesitatingly ascribed to Tacitus. It is an interesting and attractive
-dialogue, in which the quiet life of the poet is contrasted with the
-more active career of the orator before the real subject--the reasons
-for the decay of oratory--is discussed. The conclusion is reached
-that oratory has declined partly on account of the faulty rhetorical
-education in vogue, but still more because the orator no longer has
-under the imperial government the influence and power that belonged to
-his predecessors in the days of the republic.
-
-[Sidenote: The Agricola.] The _Agricola_ (_De Vita et Moribus Iulii
-Agricolae_) is a biography and panegyric of Gnaeus Julius Agricola,
-Tacitus's father-in-law. In the introduction Tacitus gives his reasons
-for having written nothing during the reign of Domitian. The passage
-deserves to be quoted, not only as a specimen of Tacitus's style, but
-because it places in a clear light his view of the imperial government
-in the first century. Throughout the _Histories_ and the _Annals_ his
-attitude is the same, and his genius has imposed his view upon all
-later times. Under Domitian two eminent Stoics, Arulenus Rusticus and
-Herennius Priscus, had been put to death and their works publicly
-burned. Tacitus mentions this and then expresses himself as follows:
-
-    They thought forsooth that in that fire the voice of the Roman
-    people and the freedom of the senate and the conscience of the
-    human race were being consumed, especially since the teachers
-    of philosophy had been banished and every good profession
-    driven into exile, that nothing honorable might offend them.
-    We have indeed given a great proof of our patience; and
-    just as the ancient time saw the utmost limit of liberty,
-    so we have seen the utmost limit of servitude, when even
-    the intercourse of speech and hearing was taken away by the
-    inquisitions. And with our speech we should have lost even
-    our very memory, if we had been as able to forget as to keep
-    silent. Now at last our courage has returned, but although ...
-    Trajan is daily adding to the blessedness of the times, ...
-    and the state has gained confidence and strength, nevertheless
-    by the nature of human weakness remedies are slower than
-    diseases; and just as our bodies grow slowly, but are quickly
-    destroyed, so you can oppress genius and learning more quickly
-    than you can revive them. For the charm of sloth also comes
-    over us, and the inactivity we hated at first grows dear at
-    last. Throughout fifteen years, a great part of the life of
-    man, many have fallen through chance mishaps, and all the most
-    energetic ones by the cruelty of the emperor, and a few of us
-    are left, so to speak, as survivors not only of the others,
-    but even of ourselves, since there have been taken out of our
-    lives so many years, in which we who were youths have passed
-    to old age and as old men have almost reached the limit of
-    life itself without a word.[106]
-
-Agricola was not a great man either in intellect or in force of
-character. Moreover, he had lived through the reign of Domitian in
-safety by not opposing the will of the tyrant. Naturally it was hard
-to write a panegyric on such a man which should interest and please
-the public. But Tacitus, by laying the chief stress upon Agricola's
-successful administration in Britain, which is prefaced by an account
-of the country and of the previous Roman expeditions thither, made
-of his panegyric a genuine bit of history with Agricola, the most
-prominent person in it. Thus the reader's interest is kept alive and
-the writer's purpose accomplished. The work closes with an eloquent and
-beautiful apostrophe to Agricola.
-
-When he wrote the _Agricola_, Tacitus was already planning a great
-history of his own times, for which he had at least begun to accumulate
-materials. [Sidenote: The Germania.] In the _Germania_ (_De Origine
-Situ Moribus ac Populis Germaniae_) the material collected to serve as
-introductory to the account of the wars in Germany is published as
-a separate work. The little treatise is interesting as the earliest
-extant connected account of the country and inhabitants of northern
-Europe. A few of the statements contained in it are manifestly
-incorrect, but for the most part, what Tacitus tells us agrees with
-and supplements what we know from other sources. The essay is a
-compilation from various earlier works, among which Pliny's _History
-of the German Wars_ was no doubt the most important, though Tacitus
-probably consulted the works of Caesar, Velleius Paterculus, and others,
-besides obtaining information from some of the many Romans who had
-served in the army in Germany. There is no indication that Tacitus
-was ever in Germany himself. As a literary production the _Germania_
-is far inferior to the _Agricola_, though written at about the same
-time. In the _Agricola_ Tacitus expresses his own feelings for his
-father-in-law, whom he evidently loved and respected, while in the
-_Germania_ there is little room for feeling of any sort, and none for
-emotion. Yet, with all the difference in literary merit, the two works
-show the style of Tacitus at the same stage. There are still some
-remnants of Ciceronian smoothness, but these are evidently survivals.
-The tendency to use concise, even abbreviated phrases, to add point
-to expressions by verbal antithesis or by inversion of order, and to
-make his sentences imply more than the words actually express, is
-characteristic of Tacitus's mature style and is evident, though not yet
-fully developed, in the _Agricola_ and the _Germania_ alike.
-
-[Sidenote: The great history.] At least as early as 98 A. D. Tacitus
-planned to write a history of his own times. His original purpose was
-to begin with the accession of Galba and continue in chronological
-order. But after completing the history of the period from Galba to
-the death of Domitian (68-96 A. D.) he went back to the death of
-Augustus, and wrote the history of the time to the accession of Galba
-(14-68 A. D.). He intended to write the history of the reigns of Nerva
-and Trajan, but never did so. The part of the work first completed,
-treating of the events of the author's own lifetime, is entitled
-_Histories_ (_Historiae_); the part written later, but treating of the
-earlier period, is usually called the _Annals_ (_Annales_), though its
-proper title is _Ab Excessu Divi Augusti_, in imitation of the title
-of Livy's history, _Ab Urbe Condita_. The two together consisted of
-thirty books, of which fourteen belong to the _Histories_ and sixteen
-to the _Annals_. Of the _Annals_, the following parts are preserved:
-Books I-IV and the beginning of Book V, from the death of Augustus
-to the year 29 A. D., Book VI, with the exception of the beginning,
-carrying on the story to the death of Tiberius, and Books XI-XVI, from
-47-66 A. D., though this long fragment is mutilated at the beginning
-and the end. The account of the reign of Caligula is lost, as is that
-of the first seven years of the reign of Claudius, and of somewhat more
-than two years at the end of the reign of Nero. Of the _Histories_ only
-the first four books and part of the fifth remain, and this important
-fragment is preserved in only one manuscript. It contains the history
-of little more than one year, the memorable year 68-69 A. D., in which
-Galba, Otho, and Vitellius, in quick succession, gained the imperial
-power and lost their lives, to be followed by Vespasian.
-
-[Sidenote: The Annals.] In the _Annals_, dealing with a period before
-his own recollection, Tacitus treats the history of Rome and the
-empire as if it were directed by the wishes, the whims, and caprices
-of a few individuals. He depicts the character of Tiberius and the
-court of Nero in vivid and lurid colors. The court intrigues, the
-judicial and private murders, the licentiousness and corruption of
-the capital are spread before us with all the power of his brilliant
-and incisive style. These things appear as the most important matters
-in the history of the time. Modern scholars have, with the aid of
-inscriptions, found that the Roman empire was, throughout this period,
-ably and peaceably administered by permanent officials, and was little
-affected by the terror that reigned in the capital. But for Tacitus,
-Rome was the empire. The provinces were in the dim distance and had
-in his eyes little historical importance. That his view of history is
-narrow and distorted is clear; yet his genius has made it for centuries
-the only accepted view of Roman history under the early emperors.
-In the _Histories_, dealing with his own times, he sees things more
-clearly. The uprising of the Batavians under Civilis and the war in
-Palestine are treated with as much detail as the sanguinary struggles
-in Rome, though here also the influence of the characters and acts of
-individuals upon the irresistible course of history is overrated. This
-view of history, which makes events depend too much upon individuals,
-joined with a pessimism which sees hidden motives behind even innocent
-or indifferent acts, is the great defect of Tacitus as an historian.
-His information is carefully collected, though, as a rule, he neglects
-all mention of his authorities. In preparing his account of the Jews
-in the fifth book of the _Histories_ he relied apparently upon hearsay
-and upon other untrustworthy sources of information, without referring
-to the Septuagint or to Josephus, but similar carelessness can not be
-proved in other parts of his work.
-
-[Sidenote: Style of Tacitus.] His style is impregnated with the words
-and phrases of the classical writers, especially of Virgil, and with
-the rhetorical teaching of the Silver Age, and yet it is thoroughly
-individual. It is concise, sharp, and cutting, but often grandly poetic
-in its eloquence; it is apparently straightforward, yet somehow often
-reveals a half-hidden meaning; it is carefully elaborated, yet it
-affects the reader with rugged earnestness. Such a style is almost
-inimitable, whether by writers of Latin or by translators. It has been
-compared to that of Carlyle, and the comparison is worth mentioning,
-though it should not be pushed too far. Few prose works contain more
-epigrammatic sentences than those of Tacitus. Examples are: "Traitors
-are hated, even by those whom they advance";[107] "None grieve more
-ostentatiously than those who are most delighted in their hearts";[108]
-"Princes are mortal, the state eternal";[109] "When the state was most
-corrupt the laws were most numerous";[110] "New men rather than new
-measures";[111] "Vices will exist as long as men";[112] "Fame does
-not always err; sometimes it chooses."[113] Endowed, as he was, with
-striking stylistic ability, writing, in fact, in a style which could
-not fail to arouse the interest and hold the attention of his readers,
-it is no wonder that Tacitus succeeded in imposing upon the world his
-views of history, which can be only partially corrected by the careful
-study and interpretation of fragmentary records.
-
-[Sidenote: Juvenal.] Juvenal can hardly be separated from Tacitus.
-Both depict the life of Rome in the same lurid light, and the picture
-presented by each agrees with that of the other. Juvenal's diatribes
-seem to illustrate the statements of Tacitus, and Tacitus shows that
-Juvenal's violence is justified by the facts. Of Juvenal's life little
-is known. His full name is given in some manuscripts as Decimus Iunius
-Iuvenalis. One _vita_ or _life_ gives the date of his birth as 55 A.
-D., which may be correct, though there is no especial reason to regard
-it as exact. He was born at Aquinum, a town of the Volscians, where
-he held the offices of _duumvir quinquennalis_ and of _flamen Divi
-Vespasiani_. He was also at one time a military tribune, serving with
-the first Dalmatian cohort, perhaps in Britain. This military service
-probably belongs to his youth, and the local offices to his later
-life. He evidently received a good education, and he appears to have
-practised oratory for some years. Martial, who mentions him several
-times, speaks of him as eloquent, not as poetic or satirical. The
-_lives_ agree in stating that he was banished, but not in regard to the
-time or place of his banishment. He came to Rome about 90 A. D., was
-still there in 101 A. D., and probably spent part of some of the later
-years in the capital. At Rome he lived in the Subura, the plebeian
-quarter, but had access to the houses of rich nobles. His satires were
-written between 100 and 127 A. D., and he died about 135 A. D.
-
-[Sidenote: The Satires.] Juvenal is the harshest and most violent of
-the four great Roman satirists. Lucilius was outspoken and sometimes
-bitter, but aimed to correct while he rebuked the follies of his time;
-Horace soon lost all bitterness and expressed good-humored raillery;
-Persius derived his themes from books and preached Stoic doctrines; but
-Juvenal attacks Roman society in fierce and biting verses, shrinking
-from no gruesome or indecent detail, showing no humor save of the
-grimmest and harshest sort, and with no hope of correcting the evils
-he depicts. He has all the variety of phrase of the accomplished
-rhetorician, and his lines have a rolling grandeur almost Virgilian. He
-shows, indeed, the influence of Virgil more than of any other previous
-writer, though traces of Homer, Herodotus, Plato, nearly all the
-Roman poets, and among Roman prose writers Cicero, Valerius Maximus,
-and Seneca are found in his satires. The violence of his satires is,
-however, not directed against his contemporaries. He seems to have in
-mind rather the Rome of Domitian than that of Trajan or Hadrian, under
-whose rule he wrote. The sixteen satires are divided into five books.
-Book I (Satires i-v) not earlier than 100 A. D., and Book II (Satire
-vi) not before 116 A. D. These are the most powerful, most violent,
-and least agreeable books. Book III (Satires vii-ix) was written about
-120, Book IV (Satires x-xii) about 125, and Book V (Satires xiii-xvi)
-in 127 A. D. In these three books there is less virulence, but also
-less power than in the first two. Old age brought with it a loss at
-once of fierceness and of strength.
-
-[Sidenote: Contents of the Satires.] In the first satire, Juvenal gives
-his reasons for writing as he does. He is tired of listening to endless
-epics, and the corruptions of the time are such that "it is difficult
-not to write satire,"[114] and "indignation makes verse."[115] The
-evils to be attacked are enumerated in a series of rapidly sketched
-pictures, and the poet declares that "all that men do, their hope,
-fear, wrath, pleasure, joys, and gaddings make up the medley of my
-book."[116] And in the following satires the faults of men, the dangers
-of the city, the court of Domitian, the pride of wealth, the crimes of
-women, the lack of honor paid to intellect, the worthlessness of noble
-birth without virtue, unnatural lust, the shortsightedness of human
-wishes, the wrong of setting children a bad example, and other striking
-features of the life of Rome are vividly presented and ruthlessly
-attacked. One of the most interesting satires is the third, in which
-the dangers of the city are described. A man who is leaving Rome for a
-small country town gives reasons for his departure:
-
-    What should I do at Rome? I can not lie;
-    I can not praise a book that's bad and beg
-    A copy of it; I am ignorant
-    Of the motions of the stars; I neither will
-    Nor can make promise of a father's death.[117]
-
-The dirty streets, the water dripping from the aqueduct, the risk
-from falling tiles or household vessels, the drunken brawls in the
-streets, the rich man escorted home by clients and slaves with flaming
-torches, the danger from robbers--these and many other details of
-the ill regulated capital are set before us. This satire is imitated
-by Johnson in his _London_, which has rightly been called one of the
-finest modern imitations of an ancient poem, and the same author's poem
-on _The Vanity of Human Wishes_ is a less accurate, though not less
-admirable, imitation of Juvenal's tenth satire. The closing passage of
-the tenth satire, in which the poet tells what are the proper objects
-of prayer, is a lofty utterance of human wisdom. The most savage of all
-the satires is, on the other hand, the sixth, in which the crimes of
-women are held up to execration.
-
-It is not easy for the modern reader to enjoy Juvenal. His satires
-are full of allusions to unknown persons and things at Rome; they
-abound also in mythological references and literary reminiscences, and
-finally the savage tone of the earlier books is disagreeable. Yet the
-power of invective, the clearness and vividness of description, the
-variety of diction, and the beauty of versification have combined to
-make Juvenal a much read author. That he is also much quoted is due to
-the epigrammatic and pointed form of many of his phrases. _Mens sana
-in corpore sano_,[118] _Rara avis_,[119] _Panem et circenses_,[120]
-_Hoc volo, sic iubeo_,[121] _Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?_[122]
-are among the most familiar Latin quotations, and many other almost
-equally familiar expressions are derived from Juvenal. Some of these
-are distinguished for their significance quite as much as for their
-form. Such are, for instance: "_And for the sake of life give up life's
-only end_"[123] and "_The greatest reverence is due a child._"[124] It
-is not without reason that Juvenal has exerted great influence on human
-thought.
-
-Tacitus and Juvenal resemble each other in their originality and vigor
-of thought and expression, their severe judgment of men and manners,
-and their pessimism. [Sidenote: Pliny the younger.] The younger Pliny
-contrasts with them in all these respects, and his letters give us an
-idea of Roman life very different from that which we derive from them.
-Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus was the son of Lucius Caecilius Cilo,
-a wealthy nobleman of Comum, but was adopted by will by his uncle,
-the elder Pliny. He therefore changed his name, which was originally
-Publius Caecilius Secundus, and took that of his uncle, retaining his
-original family name, Caecilius, only for legal and formal use. He was
-born in 61 or 62 A. D., for he was in his eighteenth year when the
-eruption of Vesuvius took place, August 24, 79 A. D. Cilo had died
-when Pliny was young, and the boy had become the ward of Verginius
-Rufus, which fact did not, however, diminish the paternal interest of
-his uncle, with whom he was at the time of the eruption. Pliny began
-his career as an advocate in 80 or 81 A. D. He held various offices,
-was military tribune, quaestor in 89-90 A. D., tribune of the people
-in 90-91 A. D., praetor in 93 A. D., was one of the prefects in charge
-of the war treasury and also of the general treasury, became consul
-in 100 A. D., and succeeded Sextus Julius Frontinus in the college
-of augurs in 103 or 104 A. D. He was governor of Pontus and Bithynia
-either in 111-112 or 112-113 A. D., and died before 114 A. D., either
-in his province or soon after his return to Italy. His life was passed
-chiefly in the service of the government, and for the most part at
-Rome. He was married three times, but had no children. He was an orator
-of some importance, delivering most of his speeches in inheritance
-cases, though he was employed five times in important criminal
-suits. He recited his speeches before delivering them in public, and
-after delivery he published them, sometimes with corrections. He was
-interested in poetry, and wrote poems of various kinds, but these, as
-well as his speeches, with the exception of his panegyric on Trajan,
-are lost.
-
-[Sidenote: Pliny's letters.] Pliny's extant works consist of nine books
-of letters to various persons, written between 97 and 109 A. D., a
-panegyric on the Emperor Trajan, delivered in 100 A. D. when
-Pliny was made consul, and seventy-two letters to Trajan, written
-between 98 and 106, and from September, 111, to January, 113 A. D.
-Trajan's replies to fifty-one of these letters are published which
-exhibit his firm judgment and practical common sense in striking
-contrast to Pliny's indecision and lack of independence. Pliny's
-other letters are more interesting. He describes the scenes in the
-Roman courts, the gatherings where the audience was bored by authors
-who recited their works, he gives detailed descriptions of his
-Laurentine[125] and Tuscan[126] villas, in two letters[127] to Tacitus
-he gives an account of the eruption of Vesuvius, his uncle's death,
-and his own feelings. Incidentally he throws much light upon the
-social and family life of the time. His own character is also clearly
-portrayed. What a young prig he must have been who refused his uncle's
-invitation to accompany him to see, from a nearer point of view, the
-great eruption, preferring to spend his time over his books, and who
-even continued to make extracts when awakened by the terrible quaking
-of the earth--and this at seventeen years of age! His vanity is
-beautifully exhibited in another letter to Tacitus,[128] in which he
-tells a story to his own credit, and hopes that Tacitus will insert it
-in the _Histories_, and in still another,[129] where he says to the
-most original and inimitable of all Roman writers since the Augustan
-times, "You, such is the similarity of our natures, always seemed to me
-most easy to imitate and most to be imitated. Wherefore I am the more
-pleased that, if there is any talk about literature, we are mentioned
-together, that I occur at once to those who are speaking of you." Other
-qualities appear no less clearly. Vain he was and fond of praise, but
-at the same time kind to his slaves, affectionate to his friends,
-gentle, and conscientious. He seldom speaks unkindly of any one; and
-when he utters a sharp criticism, he almost always avoids mentioning
-the name of the person criticized. The love of nature was fashionable
-at Rome, and Pliny may be only following the fashion when he writes
-of natural scenery, but it is quite as probable that he really felt
-its charms. He had a great admiration for Cicero, and it was doubtless
-owing, in part, at least, to this admiration that Pliny, like Cicero,
-published his letters. There is, however, a great difference between
-the two collections. Cicero's letters were collected and published
-by others, whereas Pliny's were from the beginning intended for
-publication and were published at various times by Pliny himself. They
-are therefore not unpremeditated utterances, but carefully prepared
-writings for the perusal of the public. Nevertheless the epistolary
-style is well preserved, though not without some pedantic elegance, and
-the letters give us the same insight into Roman life under Trajan as do
-those of Cicero into the life of the last years of the republic.
-
-[Sidenote: The Panegyric.] The _Panegyric on Trajan_ was delivered
-as the official expression of thanks on the part of Pliny and his
-colleague Cornutus Tertullus for their elevation to the consulate.
-After the speech was delivered it was revised and enlarged. It is
-therefore in its extant form neither a speech nor an historical essay,
-but a mixture of the two. After an introduction, Trajan's acts before
-his entrance into Rome are recounted, then his entrance into the city,
-and his many political, municipal, and financial measures for the good
-of the state. Trajan's personal qualities are praised in the most
-fulsome manner and those of Domitian set forth in the most hateful
-light. Then comes an account of Trajan's second and third consulships,
-his care for the provinces, and his judicial acts, with traits of his
-private life. The speech or treatise ends with the expression of thanks
-from Pliny and his colleague. The _Panegyric_ is not an attractive
-production, but it is the chief source of information concerning the
-history of the earlier years of Trajan's rule.
-
-Though not a great man nor a great writer, Pliny was a cultivated
-gentleman and a useful citizen. His letters make us acquainted with
-Roman life from a side that Tacitus and Juvenal leave practically
-untouched. They are therefore not only interesting, but, as historical
-documents of great importance. Besides Tacitus, Juvenal, and Pliny,
-there are no writers of the time of Trajan who deserve more than
-passing mention. [Sidenote: Other writers.] The names of numerous
-poets are preserved, chiefly in Pliny's letters, but their works are
-lost, and we have no reason to believe that they merited preservation.
-Orators, jurists, and grammarians continued speaking and writing, and
-some among them attained eminence, but their works are lost for the
-most part, and the technical treatises on grammar which are preserved
-possess little interest for the student of literature. The same remark
-applies to the treatises on surveying and on the fortification of camps
-by Hyginus, on geometry by Balbus, and on surveying by Siculus Flaccus.
-The literature of the period between the death of Domitian and the
-accession of Hadrian is contained in the works of Tacitus, Juvenal, and
-Pliny.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVI
-
-THE EMPERORS AFTER TRAJAN--SUETONIUS--OTHER WRITERS
-
-    Hadrian, 117-138 A. D.--Antoninus Pius, 138-161 A. D.--Marcus
-    Aurelius, 161-180 A. D.--Commodus, 180-192 A. D.--Septimius
-    Severus, 193-211 A. D.--Alexander Severus, 222-235 A. D.--Gordian
-    I, 238 A. D.--Gallienus, 260-268 A. D.--Aurelian, 270-275 A.
-    D.--Tacitus, 275 A. D.--Suetonius, about 70 or 75 to about
-    150 A. D.--Florus, time of Hadrian--Justin, time of Hadrian
-    (?)--Liciniauus, time of Antoninus Pius--Ampelius, time of
-    Antoninus Pius (?)--Salvius Julianus, time of Hadrian--Sextus
-    Pomponius, time of Antoninus Pius--Gaius, about 110-180
-    A. D.--Quintus Cervidius Scaevola, time of Antoninus and
-    M. Aurelius--Papinianus, time of Commodus and Septimius
-    Severus--Terentius Scaurus, time of Hadrian--Terentianus Maurus
-    and Juba, before 200 A. D.--Aero, about 200 A. D.--Porphyrio,
-    about 200 A. D.--Festus, early in the third century.
-
-
-[Sidenote: Latin literature after Trajan.] It was not until the fourth
-century after Christ that a new capital of the Roman empire was founded
-at Constantinople; but long before that time the real centre of gravity
-of the empire was shifting toward the east. In Asia, Egypt, and Africa,
-were the great sources of wealth and the great masses of population.
-While Rome was growing from the position of a small Italian town to
-that of the ruler of the world, and even for some time after the
-establishment of the empire, the Romans had possessed a strong national
-feeling, and Roman literature, although it began with imitation of
-the works of the Greeks, had been a national literature. But with
-the second century a change, which had been in preparation since the
-days of Augustus, became apparent. Rome was no longer the centre of
-the world in all things, though still the seat of government. Men of
-distinction spent at least a great part of their time in the smaller
-towns of Italy, and the leaders of thought and creators of literature
-no longer found it necessary to take up their residence at Rome. Then
-too, the progress of Christianity brought with it a new literature
-which was not national, but Christian. These causes, with others
-less obvious, but perhaps no less potent, led to the rapid decay of
-the national literature. It is our task from this point to trace the
-progress of this decay, and at the same time to record the rise of
-Christian literature in the Latin language. Works of great literary
-importance are few in this period, and the history of literature can be
-treated in less detail than heretofore.
-
-[Sidenote: Hadrian.] The Emperor Hadrian (117-138 A. D.) was a man of
-singular versatility. He delivered and published speeches and wrote
-an autobiography, works on grammar, and even poems. He was equally
-familiar with Greek and Latin, and it is probably in part due to
-this fact that the literary revival during his rule was less Latin
-than Greek. He spent a great part of his time away from Rome, and
-wherever he went his path was marked by the erection of buildings for
-use and ornament. He lived for three years at Athens, where he added
-a new quarter to the ancient city. Greek, which had for centuries
-been familiar to the literary men of Rome, became now, more than
-ever before, the literary language of the empire. It is hardly to
-be wondered at that Latin literature has under Hadrian no greater
-representative than Suetonius.
-
-[Sidenote: The Antonines.] Hadrian's successor, Antoninus Pius
-(138-161 A. D.), was no writer, but showed his interest in literary
-and intellectual matters by granting salaries and privileges to
-philosophers and rhetors. Marcus Aurelius (161-180 A. D.) was carefully
-instructed by Greek and Roman teachers. While still a mere boy he was
-greatly interested in the Stoic philosophy; but the famous orator
-and teacher Fronto (see page 235) obtained such great influence over
-him, that for a number of years he devoted himself to rhetoric. The
-correspondence of Fronto with Marcus Aurelius shows how great was the
-affection that existed between teacher and pupil, and also how petty
-were the rhetorical teachings and investigations in which Fronto passed
-his life and to which he hoped his pupil would devote his intellect.
-Fronto was, however, doomed to disappointment, for when Marcus Aurelius
-was in his twenty-fifth year he turned again to philosophy. The
-correspondence with Fronto is conducted in Latin similar to Fronto's
-own, plentifully adorned with obsolete expressions taken from writers
-of the republican period. The _Thoughts_ of Marcus Aurelius, those
-ethical maxims and moral reflections which make the Stoic doctrines
-seem so much like Christianity, are written in Greek. That Marcus
-Aurelius regarded Greek as the proper language of culture, or at least
-of philosophy, is shown by the fact that he established the schools of
-philosophy at Athens with regularly salaried professors. Lucius Verus,
-the colleague of Marcus Aurelius until 169 A. D., was also a pupil of
-Fronto, and in his letters to his teacher shows the same faults of
-style exhibited by Marcus Aurelius. He had no influence upon Latin
-literature, and Commodus (180-192 A. D.) had no interest in literature
-of any sort.
-
-[Sidenote: Later emperors.] Pertinax had literary tastes, but his brief
-reign gave him no opportunity to influence the course of the national
-literature, while his successor Didius Julianus, who bought the empire
-from the praetorian guards, found after sixty-six days of nominal
-power that his purchase brought him ruin and death. Septimius Severus
-(193-211 A. D.), although his native tongue was probably Punic, was
-well educated in Greek and Latin and wrote an autobiography, but there
-is no indication that he exercised any marked influence upon Roman
-literature. Among the later emperors were few whose literary interests
-were strong, and still fewer who appear as authors. In the third
-century Alexander Severus (222-235 A. D.) was seriously interested in
-Greek and Latin literature and encouraged literary production by all
-the means in his power; Gordian I (238 A. D.) wrote a metrical history
-of the Antonines in thirty books, besides various other works in prose
-and verse, but these are lost, and his brief reign did not enable him
-to give imperial encouragement to literature; the poems and speeches
-of Gallienus (260-268 A. D.) and the historical writings of Aurelian
-(270-275 A. D.) were of little importance. The Emperor Tacitus (275
-A. D.) exerted himself to spread abroad the works of his ancestor
-the historian, and it may be due to him that those works are in part
-preserved. Those among the still later emperors who had literary
-interests made their influence felt rather upon Greek than Latin
-literature.
-
-[Sidenote: Suetonius.] The most important writer in the reign of
-Hadrian is Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus. He was born apparently between
-70 and 75 A. D. He was a friend of the younger Pliny, who mentions him
-in his letters. Pliny obtained for him a military tribuneship, which he
-passed on to a relative. Pliny also assisted him in the purchase of a
-small estate and encouraged him to publish some of his writings. Under
-Hadrian he held a position as secretary, from which he was dismissed in
-121 A. D. Of his later life nothing is known, but he probably devoted
-himself to his literary labors, and as his works were numerous, we may
-assume that he lived to an advanced age.
-
-Only two works of Suetonius are preserved, the first entire, but for a
-small part at the beginning, and of the second only a part, and that
-much mutilated. [Sidenote: The Lives of the Caesars.] The _Lives of
-the Twelve Caesars_ (_De Vita Caesarum_), in eight books, contains the
-lives of Julius Caesar (Book I), Augustus (Book II), Tiberius (Book
-III), Caligula (Book IV), Claudius (Book V), Nero (Book VI), Galba,
-Otho, Vitellius (Book VII), Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian (Book VIII).
-The work is dedicated to Septicius Clarus, to whom Pliny the younger
-dedicated his letters, and was published between 119 and 121 A. D., for
-Clarus is addressed as _praefectus praetorio_, an office which he held
-only during those years. The beginning is lost, for the life of Caesar
-begins at the point when Caesar was sixteen years old. Suetonius is a
-careful and conscientious writer and makes use of various sources of
-information, not only published histories and biographies, but also
-public documents, autograph letters of the emperors, and apparently
-oral tradition. He lacks, however, the critical insight necessary for
-a good historian and the understanding of character needed by a good
-biographer. He collected his material with impartiality, avoiding
-neither what was friendly nor what was hostile to the emperors whose
-lives he records, and arranged this material as best he could, with
-no apparent endeavor to trace the development of character, or even
-to determine in all cases the chronological sequence of events. Dates
-are seldom given, and the work as a whole presents rather the material
-for history than real history. But this material is interesting, and
-the style is simple, straightforward, and clear. Although he wrote at
-a time when affectations of style were fashionable, Suetonius had the
-good taste to keep himself free from them.
-
-[Sidenote: De Viris Illustribus.] The second work of Suetonius,
-entitled _De Viris Illustribus_ (_On Illustrious Men_), was a series
-of philosophers, grammarians, and rhetoricians. The section on orators
-began with Cicero, that on historians with Sallust. The greater part of
-the section on grammarians and rhetoricians is extant, as are the lives
-of Terence, Horace, and Lucan from the section on poets, and that of
-Pliny the elder from the section on historians. Extracts from other
-parts of the work are preserved by Jerome and in the scholia on various
-writers. Each section contained a list of the authors discussed, a
-brief account of their branch of literature, and short lives of the
-authors arranged chronologically. In this work also the style is simple
-and clear, but brevity is sought at the expense of literary excellence.
-
-[Sidenote: Other works.] Other works by Suetonius, some of which were
-much used by later writers as sources of information, were on Greek
-Games, Roman Games, the Roman Year, Critical Marks in Books, Cicero's
-_Republic_, Dress, Imprecations, and Roman Laws and Customs. Some of
-theses were doubtless included in a work entitled _Prata_, a sort of
-encyclopaedia in ten books, which dealt also with philology and natural
-science. The works on Greek Games and on Imprecations were apparently
-written in Greek, the rest in Latin. Suetonius was not a great writer,
-but was a diligent compiler of interesting information. His extant
-works are valuable as sources of information rather than as literary
-productions, though their freedom from the affectations of the age
-entitles their author to some praise even from a literary point of view.
-
-[Sidenote: Florus.] To the time of Hadrian belongs a brief history of
-Rome by Annius or Annaeus Florus. This is not a mere epitome of Livy,
-as it is entitled in one of the manuscripts, but rather a panegyric
-on the Roman people. Florus personifies the Roman people, speaks of
-its childhood under the rule of the kings, its youth while Rome was
-conquering Italy, its manhood from the conquest of Italy to the time
-of Augustus, and then instead of going on to tell of its old age, he
-says the emperor restored it to youth. Florus writes in a flowery,
-rhetorical style, and pays little attention to any part of history
-except wars and battles. For these reasons, and also because of its
-brevity, the work was a popular text-book in the Middle Ages. This
-Florus is probably identical with a poet who is reported to have joked
-with Hadrian, and who has left two rather attractive specimens of
-verse, one of five lines on spring, the other of twenty-six lines on
-the quality of life. A fragment of a discussion of the question whether
-Virgil was greater as a poet or as an orator is also preserved under
-the name of Florus. If this Florus is still the same person, we learn
-from the fragment that he was unsuccessful in competing for a prize
-in poetry at Rome, traveled about in many parts of the empire, and
-finally settled as a teacher in a provincial town, probably Tarraco
-(Tarragona), in the northeast part of Spain.
-
-Historical writing was at a low ebb. Suetonius is far the most
-important historian of the second century, and he is made important
-rather by the dearth of good historians than by his own merits.
-[Sidenote: Other historical writings of the second century.] Florus
-hardly deserves the name of historian. Justin's epitome of Trogus (see
-page 164) belongs, perhaps, to the time of Hadrian, and is important
-because it has preserved much of the substance of the work of Trogus,
-but is in no sense an original history. Under Antoninus Pius a history
-of Rome was written by Granius Licinianus, but the extant fragments
-show that this was little more than an epitome of Livy. The _Liber
-Memorialis_, by Lucius Ampelius, written at about the same time, is a
-little handbook of useful knowledge, containing general information
-about the earth, the stars, and the winds, followed by a brief sketch
-of the history of various nations. It is a mere compilation, possessing
-neither historical nor literary value.
-
-[Sidenote: Jurists.] The study of law was, on the other hand, pursued
-by many jurists of ability, whose works were much used by those
-who gave to Roman law its final form in the reign of Justinian.
-Under Hadrian the edicts of the praetors and other magistrates were
-collected and codified by Salvius Julianus, a distinguished jurist
-of African birth, who attained the position of _praefectus urbi_ and
-was twice consul. The _Edictum Perpetuum_, as his work is called,
-became henceforth the basis of Roman law. Julianus was also the
-author of independent juristic works. Sextus Pomponius, a younger
-contemporary of Julianus, wrote among other things a brief history of
-Roman jurisprudence, which is incorporated in the digests. Among the
-many jurists of the reign of Antoninus Pius, the most important is
-Gaius (about 110-180 A. D.), whose introduction to the study of law
-(_Institutiones_), clearly written in good and simple language, is for
-the most part preserved in the digests, and served as the foundation
-of the similar work written at the command of Justinian. The works of
-Quintus Cervidius Scaevola, who lived under Antoninus Pius and Marcus
-Aurelius, were also much used by the writers of the pandects. One of
-the most distinguished jurists under Commodus and Septimius Severus was
-Papinianus, who was put to death under Caracalla (212 A. D.) because he
-was faithful to that emperor's brother Geta.
-
-[Sidenote: Grammar, literature, and philosophy.] The study of grammar
-was diligently pursued in the second century, and with it went the
-writing of commentaries on the classical authors. Under Hadrian,
-Terentius Scaurus wrote a Latin grammar, part of which is preserved
-in an abbreviated form, as well as commentaries on Plautus, Virgil,
-and Horace, fragments of which are found in the works of later
-commentators. Under the Antonines, rhetoricians and grammarians were
-numerous, and discussions of literary and grammatical questions formed
-a considerable part of polite conversation. Metrical handbooks were
-written by Terentianus Maurus and Juba, Helvius Acro wrote commentaries
-on Terence, Horace, and Persius about the end of the second century,
-and Pomponius Porphyrio, a grammarian of distinction, whose scholia on
-Horace still exist, though not in their original form, wrote probably
-at the end of the second or the beginning of the third century. Festus,
-who made an epitome of Verrius Flaccus (see page 166) probably lived
-but little after this time. Some of the rhetoricians of this period
-probably continued to teach as they had themselves been taught, but the
-most important among them developed a new school, which will form the
-subject of our next chapter. Philosophy had in the second century still
-many followers, but there was little literary production in Latin. Dio
-Chrysostom, Plutarch, Marcus Aurelius, and Sextus Empiricus wrote in
-Greek.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVII
-
-LITERARY INNOVATIONS
-
-    Fronto, about 100 to about 175 A. D.--Gellius, born about 125
-    A. D.--Apuleius, about 125 to about 200 A. D.--Innovations in
-    poetry--The _Pervigilium Veneris_.
-
-
-[Sidenote: Fronto.] AN important figure in the literature of the
-second century was Marcus Cornelius Fronto, of Cirta, in Numidia. He
-was born about 100 A. D., studied under the best teachers, and was
-distinguished as an orator and teacher even under Hadrian, though his
-greatest influence was exerted under the Antonines. He became a member
-of the senate under Hadrian, and his speech against the Christians
-may have been delivered before that body. In 143 A. D. he was consul,
-and was to have been proconsul entrusted with the government of Asia,
-but relinquished that office on account of ill health. He was the
-teacher of Marcus Antoninus and Lucius Verus, both of whom were much
-attached to him, and as was natural under such circumstances, he was
-greatly honored and became very wealthy. Of his family life we know
-only that he was married, that his daughter Gratia married Gaius
-Aufidius Victorinus, and that five daughters were removed by death.
-The date of his death is unknown, but it was probably shortly after
-175 A. D. Parts of Fronto's correspondence were discovered in 1815,
-and from his letters, we get an idea of his style and his teaching.
-The correspondence is with Marcus Aurelius, Lucius Verus, Antoninus
-Pius, and others, and several essays are included, which were probably
-sent with the letters to Fronto's correspondents. One of these essays,
-the _Principia Historiae_ compares the Parthian campaigns of Verus and
-Trajan to the advantage of Verus. This essay was intended to serve as
-an introduction to a history of the deeds of Verus in the Parthian
-War, but the history was never written. What gives Fronto's letters
-their chief interest is his teaching in regard to oratory and style.
-He considers rhetoric the noblest possible study, and warns Marcus
-Aurelius against surrendering to the charms of philosophy, but the
-chief end of the study of rhetoric is to acquire new and striking words
-and phrases. Fronto apparently despaired of acquiring new ideas or
-new points of view, and he saw that Latin literature could not go on
-forever merely imitating the writers of the Golden Age, or even those
-of the Silver Age. He was too much of a scholar to think of drawing
-from the living spring of common every-day speech, and therefore hit
-upon the expedient of reverting to the early writers, such as Ennius,
-Plautus, Accius, Cato, Sallust, and Gracchus. His language is therefore
-full of old-fashioned expressions used without the simplicity that
-belongs to the early times. That such a writer as Fronto was highly
-respected and exerted a powerful influence upon his contemporaries is a
-sign of the depth to which Roman literature had sunk.
-
-[Sidenote: Aulus Gellius.] A much younger man than Fronto, but like
-him, a man of books and an admirer of archaic phraseology, was Aulus
-Gellius, who was born probably about 125 A. D., studied under various
-masters at Rome and at Athens, and held some judicial position at
-Rome. His extant work, entitled _Noctes Atticae_ (_Attic Nights_),
-received its title from the fact that it contains the results of the
-writer's labors begun at Athens, when he used to read various authors
-and make extracts from them in the night. These extracts, with a
-variety of notes and comments, are arranged in twenty books, all of
-which are preserved except the eighth, of which we have only the table
-of contents, and the end of the twentieth. The subjects treated are
-language and literature, law, philosophy and natural history. Gellius
-quotes no contemporary authors, but introduces them as speakers, for
-parts of his work have the form of dialogues. There is no order in the
-arrangement of subjects, but things are put down as Gellius happened
-to find them in the works he read. No critical faculty is exhibited,
-nor has Gellius any marked literary skill. He is simply a diligent
-compiler, whose work is interesting and valuable to us merely because
-it preserves fragments of earlier works now lost and information about
-a variety of subjects.
-
-[Sidenote: Changes in Latin.] The Latin of the Golden Age was a more
-or less artificial language developed by the genius of the great
-writers from the common language of every-day life. The Latin of the
-Silver Age was a development from the literary Latin of the Golden Age,
-not directly from the popular speech. While literary Latin was thus
-passing through various phases, the popular speech was also developing
-along its own lines, and by the second century after Christ was very
-different from the literary Latin of the time as well as from any
-Latin, whether spoken or written, of the Ciceronian or earlier times.
-It had already entered upon the course of change which was in the end
-to lead to the birth of the Romance languages. Fronto, in his desire to
-infuse new life into the worn-out literary Latin of his day, went back
-to the writers before Cicero and adopted their words and phrases, at
-the same time exerting himself to arrange words in unusual order with
-the intention of giving piquancy to his expression. His precepts and
-example were followed by others, as, for instance, Gellius, and still
-more clearly, Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus as they appear in their
-letters to their teacher. But Fronto, although he had great influence
-for a time, could not turn the stream of progress backward. If literary
-Latin was to develop anything new, it must be by adopting something
-from the living speech of the people. This course was followed, in a
-measure, at least, by Apuleius.
-
-[Sidenote: Apuleius.] Apuleius (the _praenomen_ Lucius is doubtful)
-was, like Fronto, an African, though he may have been of Roman
-descent. He was born probably about 125 A. D., at Madaura, on the
-borders of Numidia and Gaetulia. He was educated at Madaura, Carthage,
-and Athens, travelled extensively, and was for a time in Rome, where
-he was employed as an advocate. He married Aemilia Pudentilla, a
-wealthy widow of Oea, in Africa, and was accused by her relatives of
-having led her into the marriage by means of magic arts. His defense
-against this charge is the extant book _De Magia_ (_On Magic_), also
-called the _Apologia_. In its present form the book is a revised
-and enlarged edition of the speech in court. Apuleius was evidently
-acquitted, and he became a man of great influence and reputation. He
-prided himself on his versatility, wrote and spoke both Greek and
-Latin, and confined himself to no one branch of literature, but was
-orator, poet, scientist, philosopher, and novelist, without, however,
-displaying any great originality in any direction. He preferred to
-call himself a Platonic philosopher, but his chief activity was that
-of a travelling orator, or sophist, who went from place to place
-giving public exhibitions of his skill in composing and delivering
-interesting speeches on all sorts of subjects. He seems to have spent
-most of his life in Africa, and he held the office of priest of the
-province (_sacerdos provinciae_) at Carthage. He was initiated into the
-mysteries of Isis and seems to have been one of those who sought in the
-mystic worship of foreign deities the satisfaction of their religious
-yearnings which the Roman state religion did not give. He seems to have
-been opposed to Christianity, though he nowhere mentions it directly.
-His great reputation and the number of works ascribed to him would seem
-to indicate that he lived to a good age, but the date of his death is
-unknown.
-
-[Sidenote: Works of Apuleius.] The extant works of Apuleius are the
-_Metamorphoses_, a novel in eleven books, the _Apologia_, a book on
-spirits especially the familiar spirit of Socrates, _De Deo Socratis_,
-two books on the doctrines of Plato, _De Dogmate Platonis_, and a
-collection of extracts from his speeches entitled _Florida_. The
-dialogue _Asclepius_, the treatise _On the World_ (_De Mundo_), and
-the treatise published as the third book on Plato's teachings, are
-not by Apuleius. Of these works the most interesting is the novel
-entitled _Metamorphoses_, in which are narrated the adventures of
-a certain Lucius of Corinth, who was changed by magic into an ass,
-and in that form passed through many vicissitudes and saw and heard
-many strange things, until he was finally restored to human form by
-the aid of the goddess Isis, to whose service he afterwards devoted
-himself. This story is derived from a Greek original which appears in
-abbreviated form among the writings falsely ascribed to Lucian, under
-the title _Lucius_ or _The Ass_. Apuleius amplified his Greek original
-by inserting nearly twenty stories that have no connection with the
-plot. These are usually introduced in an unskillful way, interrupting
-the narrative and destroying the unity of the work, but they are in
-themselves the most interesting parts of the whole novel. The longest
-and most famous among them is the charming story of Cupid and Psyche,
-beautifully rendered by William Morris in his _Earthly Paradise_.
-This mystic love tale was derived, like the other tales inserted in
-the story of Lucius, from a Greek original. It is not an invention of
-Apuleius, but he inserted it in his novel, and thus preserved it to
-later times.
-
-[Sidenote: The style of Apuleius.] The style of Apuleius is not the
-same in his different works. Everywhere, to be sure, he aims at
-striking effect by means of unusual words arranged in peculiar order,
-and of sentences curiously broken up into short rhythmical members,
-very different in effect from the dignified, sonorous periods of
-Cicero and other classical writers. But in the _Metamorphoses_ he
-adopts many expressions from the common speech of the people, whereas
-in his oratorical and philosophical works he reverts, like Fronto, to
-the early writers. Apuleius and Fronto, both Africans, are the chief
-representatives of the _elocutio novella_, the new rhetoric, which
-broke with the continuous tradition of classical Latin and tried to
-infuse new life into Latin literature. Neither Fronto nor Apuleius was
-a man of great inventive genius. Both imitated the Greek sophists of
-their time, such as Maximus of Tyre and Aelius Aristides, not only in
-the subject matter of their discourses, but to some extent in their
-style; yet the fact that they wrote and spoke in Latin and tried to
-influence the course of Latin literature gives them an importance not
-possessed by any of the later Greek sophists except Dio Chrysostom and
-Lucian. Apuleius was apparently more gifted by nature than Fronto,
-and his works show a surprising ability in the use of language, which
-makes up in a measure for the lack of originality in thought. Of his
-extant works the _Metamorphoses_ is the most important. It not only
-shows the qualities of the _elocutio novella_ more completely than any
-other work, but it gives a picture of the life of the times, with its
-superstitions, loose morals, robberies, friendships, hospitalities, and
-social amenities. Moreover, it has preserved to us many interesting
-tales, among them the story of Cupid and Psyche. Owing probably to the
-supernatural elements in the _Metamorphoses_ and to the fact that he
-had been accused of magical arts, Apuleius came soon after his death to
-be regarded as a mighty sorcerer, and as a sorcerer he was associated
-with Virgil in mediaeval times.
-
-[Sidenote: Innovations in poetry.] While Fronto, Apuleius, and others
-were practising the _elocutio novella_ in prose, attempts were made to
-introduce innovations in poetry. Terentianus Maurus, who wrote in verse
-a handbook on letters, syllables, and metres toward the end of the
-second century, mentions _poetae novelli_, and Diomedes, a grammarian
-of the latter part of the fourth century, speaks of _poetae neoterici_,
-to whom he ascribes a variety of innovations. The names of several of
-these poets are mentioned, but too little is known of them to awaken
-any interest in their personalities. Their innovations seem to have
-consisted largely of verbal juggling, a remarkable example of which is
-seen in these lines:
-
-    _Nereides freta sic verrentes caerula tranant,
-      Flamine confidens ut Notus Icarium.
-    Icarium Notus ut confidens flamine, tranant
-      Caerula verrentes sic freta Nereides._
-
-Here lines three and four are lines one and two read backward. Other
-examples are less elaborate, but show the same spirit, the same
-foolish playing with words. From such things as this no new life
-could be infused into poetry, and most of the verses preserved to us
-from the second and even the third centuries after Christ are little
-more than feeble echoes of the distant music of Virgil. Nevertheless
-there are already indications of the new mediaeval spirit, which was
-not to find its full development until the days of the minnesinger
-and the troubadours. [Sidenote: The Pervigilium Veneris.] Whether
-the _Pervigilium Veneris_ (_Night-watch of Venus_) belongs to the
-second century or the third is not certain. At any rate it is the most
-striking early example of the romantic sentiment peculiar to mediaeval
-and modern times. The poem is written for the spring festival of
-Venus Genetrix, whose worship was revived and encouraged by Hadrian.
-It is therefore probable that it belongs to the second century. It
-consists of ninety-three trochaic septenarii (the rhythm of Tennyson's
-_Locksley Hall_), a verse freely used by the early Latin poets, but
-hardly to be found in the first century after Christ. At irregular
-intervals the refrain:
-
-    _Cras amet qui nunquam amavit, quique amavit cras amet_,[130]
-
-is repeated. In the beginning of the poem,
-
-    _Ver novum; ver iam canorum; vere natus est Iovis;
-    Vere concordant amores; vere nubunt alites_,[131]
-
-may well have suggested to Tennyson the lines:
-
-    In the Spring a fuller crimson comes upon the robin's breast;
-    In the Spring the wanton lapwing gets himself another crest;
-    In the Spring a livelier iris changes on the burnished dove;
-    In the Spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.
-
-At the end of the poem the lines:
-
-    _Illa cantat, nos tacemus. Quando ver venit meum?
-    Quando fiam ut chelidon et tacere desinam?
-    Perdidi Musam tacendo nec me Apollo respicit_,[132]
-
-sound like the wail of the old literature, which no spring was to
-awaken to new song. Indeed, the _Pervigilium Veneris_ is almost as
-much mediaeval as classical. Its quantitative rhythm coincides with the
-natural accent of the words, it is full of assonances that suggest
-both alliteration and rhyme, its spirit is almost modern in its
-sentiment; and even in its grammatical structure, especially in the use
-of the preposition _de_, it points forward to the great changes to come.
-
-In prose and verse alike, the second century after Christ was a period
-of innovations. The new methods of Fronto and Apuleius did not hold
-their own for any great length of time, but they serve as symptoms of
-the decay of Latin speech, and may even have hastened that decay by
-turning men away from the continued imitation of the classic writers.
-The history of classical Roman literature may be said to end with
-Suetonius. But something of the old spirit survived even into the
-period of the Middle Ages and affected strongly the literature of the
-Christian church. For this reason it is well to give a brief sketch of
-early Christian literature in Latin, and of the surviving remnants of
-pagan literary activity in the third and fourth centuries.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVIII
-
-EARLY CHRISTIAN WRITERS
-
-    Minucius Felix, about 160 A. D.--Tertullian, about 160 to about
-    230 A. D.--St. Cyprian, about 200-258 A. D.--Commodianus 249 A.
-    D.--Arnobius, about 290 A. D.--Lactantius, about 300 A. D.
-
-
-[Sidenote: The beginning of Christian literature in Latin.] The
-Christians are mentioned by Tacitus, the younger Pliny, and Suetonius,
-but in such a way as to show that their religion was misunderstood
-and their growing importance little appreciated. But as time went
-on, Christianity and the Christians became more and more important.
-Various means were tried to suppress them, for their belief and their
-practises were opposed to the state religion and seemed inimical to the
-state itself. Yet the new religion continued to gain in the number and
-influence of its converts, and in the second century Christian writings
-begin to appear in Latin. The new religion had been founded in the
-eastern part of the empire, and its first literary productions were in
-Greek, a language which continued for many years to be the chief medium
-of expression for Christian thought. No sketch of the development of
-Christianity, even in the western part of the empire, could be given
-without more than a mere mention of the early Greek Christian writings;
-but the development of Christianity is a subject quite outside of the
-scope of this book, which is concerned with Christian literature only
-in so far as it was written in Latin. Nor is it possible in a book of
-this kind to do more than mention briefly the chief Christian writers
-and their works, leaving all discussion of their doctrines to the
-historians of the church.
-
-[Sidenote: Minucius Felix.] The first Christian writer of Latin is
-Marcus Minucius Felix, of whose life nothing is known except that
-he was a barrister (_causidicus_) at Rome, that he was a pagan in
-early life, and that he became a Christian. His only extant work is a
-defense of Christianity entitled _Octavius_, which was written probably
-not far from 160 A. D. The introduction tells how Minucius., with
-his two friends Octavius and Caecilius, was walking by the seashore
-at Ostia. Caecilius saluted a statue of Serapis which they happened
-to pass, whereupon Octavius rebuked Minucius for letting his friend
-remain in ignorance of the true religion. They continue their walk,
-but Caecilius can not let the rebuke of Octavius pass. At last the
-three friends sit down, Caecilius undertakes the defense of the old
-religion, Octavius that of the new, and Minucius is to be judge of
-their arguments. Caecilius argues that it is absurd for persons of
-little education, such as are most Christians, to think that they can
-settle questions which have puzzled the wisest philosophers. The Roman
-religion should therefore be retained, especially as the power of the
-gods has often been shown. An attack upon the lives and ceremonies
-of the Christians follows, which is interesting as a proof of the
-ignorance that prevailed in pagan circles. Caecilius then attacks the
-Christian belief in a future life, and ends with a recommendation of
-skepticism. His speech is vigorous and even vehement, showing marked
-rhetorical training. Octavius in his reply takes up the various points
-raised by Caecilius and replies to them in order. He lays the chief
-stress upon the unity of God and the absurdities of pagan polytheism
-and philosophy. There is no argument based upon the crucifixion or
-the resurrection of Christ, no argument that is strictly Christian.
-There is no appeal to faith or to love, but only to reason, and the
-arguments are not drawn from the Bible, but from the works of pagan
-philosophers, especially Cicero's _De Natura Deorum_ and Seneca's
-writings, or from the experiences of human life. When Octavius has
-finished, Caecilius declares that he is convinced and the friends
-separate.
-
-The _Octavius_ is different from other early writings in defense of
-Christianity, inasmuch as it bases no argument upon the Bible and
-makes no appeal to the emotions. These peculiarities are most easily
-explained by the theory that Minucius wrote his treatise as a reply to
-a speech of Fronto against Christianity, that he put the substance of
-Fronto's speech into the mouth of Caecilius, and then, in the person
-of Octavius, refuted it point for point. In style Minucius attains at
-times an almost classic elegance and simplicity, though he shows the
-influence of the rhetorical schools of the Silver Age and is sometimes
-needlessly emphatic. He continues the tradition of the classical
-school, with no trace of the affectations or innovations of Fronto or
-Apuleius. Apart from its interest as the earliest specimen of Christian
-writing in Latin, the _Octavius_ deserves to be read as the most
-attractive Latin prose after the time of Trajan.
-
-Minucius Felix is known to us by only one short work, in which he
-displays conservative literary taste, cultivated imagination, and
-ability to conduct an argument calmly and dispassionately. [Sidenote:
-Tertullian.] Tertullian, a much more important figure than Minucius in
-the history of the church, is known by a great body of writings, in
-which the qualities he shows are almost the opposite of those we admire
-in Minucius. Yet Tertullian is an interesting and powerful figure in
-the history of literature as well as in that of the church. Quintus
-Septimius Florens Tertullianus was born at Carthage, probably about 160
-A. D., and may have died about 230 A. D. At any rate, the period of his
-chief activity was in the reigns of Septimius Severus and Caracalla. In
-early life he was a pagan, but was converted to Christianity, possibly
-through his wife, who was a Christian. He attained the position of
-presbyter in the church. In middle life he became a Montanist--that
-is, a follower of Montanus, an enthusiast of Ardaba, in Mysia, who
-declared himself the Comforter promised by Christ, claimed prophetic
-powers, declared that the end of the world was at hand, and promulgated
-a variety of strict doctrines and rules for conduct. The writings
-of Tertullian are from beginning to end controversial. Some of them
-are in defense of Christianity against the heathen, while others are
-directed against those Christian beliefs and practises which he does
-not approve. To the second class belong the writings in support of
-Montanism, for Tertullian was of such a passionate nature that an
-argument in support of any doctrine necessarily becomes an attack upon
-those who hold any other views. As the chief advocate of Montanism
-in the west, Tertullian softened some of its more obviously absurd
-doctrines, but could not modify them so far as to make them acceptable
-to the church at large. He was therefore in constant opposition to the
-church during the latter part of his life, and at a later time his
-writings came to be regarded as heretical. Nevertheless, his works were
-much read, and his _Apologeticus_ was even translated into Greek.
-
-[Sidenote: Style of Tertullian.] Tertullian exercised the greatest
-influence upon the Latin of the church, for up to his time most
-speculative Christian writing had been in Greek, and he was therefore
-obliged to invent or adapt the suitable means for the expression of
-those thoughts and ideas which were unknown to the pagan writers. He
-is justly regarded as the founder of western, as opposed to eastern
-or Greek, theology. His style is harsh, inelegant, and sometimes
-obscure, but vigorous and animated. His eloquence is that of intense
-earnestness rather than of careful training. His vocabulary is not
-strictly classic, but contains expressions taken from the popular
-speech and from Greek, as well as others which he seems to have
-formed for himself. He has been called the Cicero of the church, but
-whatever the greatness of his eloquence, it has little resemblance
-in quality to that of Cicero. Only in a few orations does Cicero
-approach the enthusiastic earnestness of Tertullian, and the polished
-beauty of Cicero's periods is utterly lacking to Tertullian's rugged
-utterance. His style has more resemblance in detail to that of his
-fellow-African Apuleius, but shows no evidence of conscious imitation.
-He uses short sentences, as a rule, and even his long sentences have
-no periodic structure; he strives for effect by means of unnatural
-expressions; he delights in antitheses, plays on words, and even
-rhymes. His Latin is hard to read, but his originality of thought and
-his passionate earnestness of purpose compensate fully for his defects
-of style. With Minucius Felix Christian writing in Italy appears as
-an attempt to express Christian thoughts, or at least to defend the
-Christian religion, with all the elegance of classical Latinity.
-Tertullian writes with vigor and enthusiasm, hampered by no classical
-traditions. The relative importance of the Italian and African schools
-may be judged in a measure by the difference in extent between the
-brief treatise of Minucius and Tertullian's voluminous writings. For
-nearly two centuries the style of Tertullian predominates, being only
-gradually assimilated to the classical norm, until St. Augustine
-fixes the Latin of the church by forming a style in which the African
-elements are subordinate.
-
-[Sidenote: Cyprian.] The beginning of this change is seen even in
-the writings of Tertullian's admirer, St. Cyprian. Thascius Caecilius
-Cyprianus was born of pagan parents about 200 A. D. The place of his
-birth is unknown, but we are informed that he was an African. He
-received a good education and became a teacher of rhetoric. After his
-conversion he became a presbyter, and in 248 or 249 A. D. was chosen
-bishop of Carthage, not without opposition. From January 21, 250 A.
-D., until the beginning of March in the following year, he lived in
-concealment to escape the persecution of the Christians under Decius.
-His avoidance of martyrdom at this time was severely criticized, but he
-defended it on the ground that his life was necessary to the welfare
-of the church. In 257 A. D. a new persecution was instituted by the
-Emperor Valerian, and Cyprian was banished to Curubis, but afterwards
-recalled to Carthage and confined to his gardens. When ordered to
-appear before the proconsul at Utica he fled, but returned to his
-gardens when the proconsul came to Carthage. He was arrested September
-13, 258 A. D., and on the following day was tried, condemned, and
-executed. Cyprian's writings comprise thirteen treatises and eighty-one
-letters, among which are several letters manifestly by other authors.
-Some of the treatises or tracts are addressed to individuals, and
-some of the letters are to all intents and purposes tracts, so that
-the division into two classes is not easy to carry out consistently.
-His writings are partly in defense of Christianity against paganism,
-partly for the encouragement of the Christians in persecution, and
-partly on various points of church discipline. His letters are
-especially valuable for the light they throw upon church history. His
-doctrines are orthodox, and his writings were therefore not open to
-the objections urged against those of Tertullian. He was, however,
-an ardent admirer of Tertullian, and shows the constant influence of
-his teachings. His style is easier and simpler than Tertullian's,
-always clear, and often attractive. Although he lacks Tertullian's
-originality, he excels him in ability to express his thoughts so as to
-appeal to the reader.
-
-[Sidenote: Commodianus.] The earliest Christian poet is Commodianus.
-Of his life little is known, and the statement that he was born at
-Gaza, in Syria, is based upon a somewhat doubtful interpretation of
-the title of one of his poems.[133] In early life he was a pagan, but
-was converted, and became a bishop. His works consist of a long poem
-in defense of Christianity (_Carmen Apologeticum_) and a collection of
-eighty short poems called _Instructions_ (_Instructiones per Litteras
-Versuum Primas_) so composed that the initial letters of the lines
-spell the titles of the poems. The _Carmen Apologeticum_ contains
-references which fix its date in 249 A. D. The poems are remarkable for
-the earnestness of their Christian feeling and still more for their
-metrical peculiarities. The hexameters are divided into halves, and at
-the end of each half the rules for quantity are observed, while in the
-rest of the verse those rules are disregarded. The lines are not merely
-faulty hexameters, but a new and original combination of quantitative
-verse and prose. In the _Carmen Apologeticum_ the lines are arranged in
-pairs, so that each pair forms a distich. The most remarkable part of
-the _Carmen Apologeticum_ is the fantastic description of the end of
-the world with which the poem closes. The _Instructiones_ are divided
-into two books, the first warning the heathen and the Jews to lay aside
-their errors, the second containing advice for the various classes
-of Christians. In spite of the dryness of his style Commodianus is
-interesting as the earliest Christian poet, and the student of language
-finds in his poems many words and constructions taken from the common
-speech of the people.
-
-[Sidenote: Arnobius.] Much less interest attaches to the seven books
-_Adversus Nationes_ (_Against the Gentiles_) by Arnobius, who wrote
-under Diocletian (284-305 A. D.). Jerome says that Arnobius was a
-distinguished rhetor at Sicca in Africa, who opposed Christianity for a
-long time. When he became converted the bishop demanded a proof of his
-faith, whereupon he wrote a work against the heathen and was received
-into the church. Whether this report is accurate or not, a work is
-extant under the name of Arnobius, entitled _Adversus Nationes_, which
-shows by its style that the author had been trained in the practise
-of rhetoric. The first two books defend the Christians against
-the accusations of their enemies, especially the charge that the
-misfortunes of the world were due to the progress of Christianity and
-the neglect of the old gods. The five remaining books proceed to show
-the absurdities of polytheism and the foolishness of the pagan forms of
-worship. Arnobius has little knowledge of the Christian religion and
-little originality of thought. The only doctrine peculiar to him is his
-theory that the soul is not immortal by nature, but may become immortal
-through the grace of God. His style is disfigured by its excessive
-vehemence and artificial rhetoric, which shows, however, that the
-author was carefully educated. This appears also in his discussion of
-pagan philosophy and religion, and indeed the chief interest attaching
-to the books _Adversus Nationes_ is their testimony to the manner
-in which an educated pagan employed his education in the service of
-Christianity.
-
-[Sidenote: Lactantius.] Lactantius (Lucius Caecilius Firmianus
-Lactantius) was a pupil of Arnobius, according to Jerome's statement,
-and was called by Diocletian with the grammarian Flavius to teach Latin
-rhetoric at Nicomedia, in Bithynia, a Greek city in which teachers
-of Latin found few patrons. Lactantius was therefore poor and had
-leisure for writing. When he was converted to Christianity is not
-known, but it can not have been before he reached middle life. In his
-old age he was called by the Emperor Constantine to be the tutor of
-his son Crispus. Nothing remains of writings by Lactantius before his
-conversion, but his later works, both prose and verse, are numerous.
-The most important are the seven books entitled _Institutiones Divinae_
-(_Divine Institutions_, an exhaustive philosophical work in support of
-Christianity against paganism), after which should be mentioned the
-treatises _De Opificio Dei_ (_On the Work of God_, a discussion of
-creation and the nature of man), _De Ira Dei_ (_On the Wrath of God_,
-dealing with the current theories of Providence), a fanatical work
-on the deaths of the persecutors from Nero to Galerius (_De Mortibus
-Persecutorum_), and a curious poem _On the Phoenix_. The treatise _De
-Opificio Dei_ is Christian only in its general tendency, and contains
-no direct reference to Christianity. This is probably because it was
-written at the time of the persecution under Diocletian (303 A. D.).
-The poem _On the Phoenix_ (that fabulous bird that builds a nest,
-burns itself up, reappears among the ashes as a worm, grows to an
-egg, is hatched, and flies away to renewed life) shows many traces of
-Christianity but contains no direct reference to the new religion.
-Lactantius was well educated in the learning of the pagans, and when
-he became a Christian did not forget what he had learned before. His
-style is purer than that of his Christian predecessors, being modelled
-upon that of Cicero. For this reason the name "Christian Cicero" has
-been applied more appropriately to him than to Tertullian, though in
-power of eloquence Tertullian, with all his harshness of style, is the
-greater.
-
-The second century, which saw the birth of Christian literature in
-Latin, produced, as we have seen, several writers of real power, and as
-the third century opened, Christian literature gained, in the person of
-Lactantius, a writer who possessed at the same time elegance of style.
-With Lactantius the African school of Christian writing approaches the
-classical style of Minucius Felix, and the path is made straight for
-the writings of St. Jerome and St. Augustine. From this time on, the
-real life of Latin literature is seen in Christian rather than in pagan
-writings.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIX
-
-PAGAN LITERATURE OF THE THIRD CENTURY
-
-    Terentianus, about 200 A. D.--Quintus Serenus Sammonicus, about
-    200 A. D.--Nemesianus, 283 A. D.--Reposianus, toward 300 A.
-    D.--Vespa, late in the third century--Hosidius Geta, early in the
-    third century--Disticha Catonis--Marius Maximus, about 165-230
-    A. D.--Aelius Julius Cordus, about 250 A. D.--The _Historia
-    Augusta_--Domitius Ulpianus, killed 228 A. D.--Julius Paulus,
-    first half of third century--Cornelius Labeo--Quintus Gargilius
-    Martialis--Censorinus, 238 A. D.--Gaius Julius Solinus--Gaius
-    Julius Romanus, early third century--Marius Plotius Sacerdos,
-    latter part of third century--Aquila Romanus--Aelius Festus
-    Aphthonius, end of third century--The panegyrists: Eumenius,
-    Nazarius, Mamertinus, Drepanius.
-
-
-[Sidenote: Pagan poetry of the third century.] While Christian
-literature was developing in the third century the pagan literature
-dragged on its senile existence. There was little poetry that deserved
-the name, though skill in versification was not uncommon. Terentianus
-wrote in verse his handbook of metres about the beginning of the
-century, and not far from the same time Quintus Serenus Sammonicus
-composed a medical handbook containing sixty-three recipes in 1,107
-hexameters. He does not pretend to be a physician, but derives his
-wisdom, such as it is, from Pliny and other writers. The recipes are
-of various kinds, some recommending the use of herbs in a simple and
-sensible way, while others prescribe more or less disgusting compounds
-of animal matter, and a few are nothing more nor less than magic
-charms. So fevers are to be cured by wearing tied to one's neck a bone
-found within the enclosure of a house, and a cure for another fever
-is found in a piece of paper inscribed in the proper manner with the
-magic formula _abracadabra_, which is to be worn round the neck of
-the patient. To the credit of Sammonicus it should be said that his
-knowledge of metre is greater than his knowledge of medicine; but even
-that does not raise his handbook to the level of poetry. A writer of
-much better quality, who even deserves to be called a poet, is Marcus
-Aurelius Olympius Nemesianus, who wrote, in the year 283 A. D., a poem
-_On Hunting_ (_Cynegetica_), 325 lines of which are preserved, and who
-is also the author of four eclogues formerly attributed to Calpurnius
-(see page 188). The discussion of dogs, horses, hunting-nets, and the
-like in the _Cynegetica_ can hardly be called poetry, but the eclogues,
-though written in close imitation of Calpurnius, who was himself an
-imitator of Virgil, show some genuine poetic spirit. There is also some
-poetic beauty in the poem on the love of Mars and Venus, by Reposianus,
-written toward the end of the third century, but not so much can be
-said in praise of Vespa's metrical argument between a baker and a cook
-(_Indicium Coci et Pistoris Iudice Vulcano_) as to the relative merits
-of their callings, or of the epigrams and "echo verses" of Pentadius.
-These last consist of elegiac distichs so written that the first words
-of the hexameter are repeated or "echoed" at the end of the pentameter.
-Such verse has little relation to poetry, but shows that there was
-still an interest felt in the technique of metrical writing. That the
-study of the classic writers, especially of Virgil, was diligently
-cultivated, is shown by the existence of poems composed entirely of
-Virgilian lines and fragments of lines. A remarkable extant specimen of
-such work is the short tragedy _Medea_, probably written by Hosidius
-Geta, near the beginning of the third century. Several anonymous poems
-add little to our admiration for the poets of the third century,
-but the so-called _Disticha Catonis_ should be mentioned because
-they gained great and long-continued popularity. They are maxims of
-every-day wisdom expressed in distichs of two hexameters. Such maxims
-are: "Regard it as the first virtue to hold your tongue; he is nearest
-God who knows how to keep a wise silence"; or, "Be sure to tell many
-of another's kindness, but keep silence about the kindnesses you have
-done to others." These distichs were soon imitated, and similar maxims
-in one line--monostichs--were also written. They are hardly poetry, but
-have some interest because of their popular nature.
-
-[Sidenote: Pagan prose in the third century.] The prose of the
-third century possesses even less interest than the verse. The only
-historians worthy of the name--Dio Cassius and Herodian--wrote in Greek.
-Marius Maximus (about 165-230 A. D.) continued Suetonius's lives of
-the emperors from Nerva to Heliogabalus, and about the middle of the
-century Aelius Julius Cordus wrote lives of the more obscure emperors.
-These works are lost, but, like those of several other writers of this
-period, were used by the authors of the so-called _Historia Augusta_,
-a collection of lives of the emperors from Hadrian to Numerianus
-(117-284 A. D.). These lives were written by six authors, four of
-whom, Aelius Spartianus, Julius Capitolinus, Vulcacius Gallicanus, and
-Trebellius Pollio, wrote under Diocletian (284-305 A. D.), while the
-remaining two, Aelius Lampridius and Flavius Vopiscus, belong to the
-early part of the fourth century. They are all alike in the poverty of
-their style and their liking for petty personal details. The books on
-the _Praetorian Edict_ by Domitius Ulpianus, who was killed in 228 A.
-D., and by his younger contemporary, Julius Paulus, as well as other
-juristic works of the third century, were important contributions to
-the development of Roman law, and the attempt made by Cornelius Labeo
-in his lost work on the Roman religion to explain the pagan cult would
-probably, if it were preserved, be interesting as an attempt to defend
-the old religion against skepticism and Christianity. The extant
-parts of the work of Quintus Gargilius Martialis on agriculture,
-veterinary medicine, the use of healing herbs, and the like, show that
-the whole was a compilation from the works of Pliny the elder and
-other writers by a man who had sense and judgment; the treatise _On
-Birthdays_ (_De Die Natali_), written in a lively and easy style by a
-grammarian Censorinus in 238 A. D., is a compilation from Suetonius,
-Varro, and others, of information concerning the birth and life of a
-man, astrology, music, and some other matters; and the _Collection of
-Things Worth Remembering_ (_Collectanea Rerum Memorabilium_), by Gaius
-Julius Solinus, contains valuable information about early Roman history
-(to Augustus) and the geography of the ancient world, with especial
-attention to oddities and peculiarities, whether of the countries or
-their inhabitants; but none of these works is of independent literary
-importance. The grammatical writings of Gaius Julius Romanus, who lived
-in the first years of the third century, were much used by Charisius
-somewhat more than a century later. A grammar (_Ars Grammatica_) in
-three books by Marius Plotius Sacerdos, written in the latter part
-of the century, is extant, as is also a brief rhetorical treatise by
-Aquila Romanus. The four books _On Metres_ by Aelius Festus Aphthonius,
-written under Diocletian, are lost, but their contents are in part
-preserved by Marius Victorinus. These grammatical works are of
-importance chiefly for their references to earlier literature.
-
-None of the prose works just mentioned exhibits any creative talent
-or testifies to any new literary development. The only new literary
-phenomenon of the period is the rise of a school of oratory in Gaul,
-which produced, to be sure, nothing of great importance, but which
-shows by its very existence how far removed from Rome were now the
-centres of intellectual life, when the great Christian writers were
-Africans and the pagan orators were Gauls. The Gallic orators avoided
-the harshness and obscurity of the African school, and wrote in smooth
-Ciceronian Latin, with a plentiful flow of words and a poor supply of
-ideas. [Sidenote: The panegyrists.] A collection of twelve panegyrics
-has been preserved, the first of which is Pliny's address in honor of
-Trajan, delivered in 100 A. D., while the remaining eleven are dated
-at different times from 291 to 389 A. D. One of these was delivered in
-297 A. D. by Eumenius, a teacher of Greek descent, but Gallic birth,
-for the benefit of the schools in his native town of Augustodunum
-(Autun), and three (perhaps four) of the others are probably by the
-same author. Three of the remaining speeches are assigned to known
-authors and dates. They are by Nazarius, in honor of Constantine (321
-A. D.); by Mamertinus, in honor of Julian (362 A. D.); and by Latinus
-Drepanius Pacatus, in honor of Theodosius (389 A. D.). Two of these
-orators belong to the second half of the fourth century, but their
-speeches resemble the others in the collection, all of which are full
-of most exaggerated praise of the emperors. These speeches contain many
-references to the history of the times, but must be used with great
-care by the historian, since their purpose is to praise the emperors,
-and not even historical facts must be allowed to cast a shadow upon the
-imperial glory. The Gallic school of oratory was evidently flourishing
-in the later years of the third century and the greater part at least
-of the fourth. It was a learned school, based upon imitation of the
-ancient classics, and standing in no close relation to the living
-language of the times. The extant speeches show how thoroughly the
-study of the classics was carried on in Gaul, and at the same time how
-ready the orators were to flatter emperors who were pleased to listen
-to their obsequious praise.
-
-Now that the chief centres of Latin literature are found to be in Gaul
-and Africa, not in Rome or even Italy, the history of Roman literature
-has apparently reached its end; and yet throughout the fourth century,
-yes, even into the sixth century, the stream of old Roman tradition
-can be traced, and in the poems of Ausonius and Claudian and the _De
-Consolatione Philosophiae_ of Boethius classical literature still
-survives. It is hard to fix a date for the beginning of the Middle
-Ages, and even harder to assign a definite time for the end of
-classical Roman literature. The first great independent and original
-Christian writings in Latin--those of Tertullian--may be regarded as
-the beginning of mediaeval literature; but classical Latinity was by
-no means yet dead. In fact, in the fourth century, after Constantine
-had recognized Christianity as a state religion on an equal footing
-with the ancient belief, there was a revival of literature. Christian
-writers wrote in the ancient Roman manner, and secular writings by
-Christians are not to be distinguished from those of the adherents of
-the old religion. The religious writings of the leaders of Christian
-thought--St. Hilary, bishop of Poitiers, St. Ambrose, bishop of Milan,
-St. Jerome and St. Augustine--belong to the history of the church
-rather than to that of Roman literature, and can be mentioned here only
-in passing, while the writings of many lesser lights of the church must
-be altogether neglected. There still remain, however, many works in
-which something of the old Roman literary spirit survives, even after
-Rome herself has ceased to be the seat of empire.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XX
-
-THE FOURTH AND FIFTH CENTURIES
-
-    Nonius, early in the fourth century--Macrobius, 410 (?) A.
-    D.--Martianus Capella, about 400 A. D.--Firmicus Maternus, 354
-    (?) A. D.--Marius Victorinus, about 350 A. D.--Aelius Donatus,
-    about 350 A. D.--Charisius, about 350 A. D.--Diomedes, about 350
-    A. D.--Priscian, about 500 A. D.--Servius, latter part of the
-    fourth century--Itineraries--_Notitia_, 354 A. D.--Peutinger
-    Tablet--Palladius, about 350 A. D.--Vegetius, about 400 A.
-    D.--Aurelius Victor, 360 A. D.--Eutropius, 365 A. D.--Festus, 369
-    A. D.--Julius Obsequens, about 360 A. D.--St. Jerome, 331-420
-    A. D.--Ammianus Marcellinus, about 330-400 A. D.--Sulpicius Severus,
-    early in the fifth century--Orosius, 417 A. D.--Gregorianus, about
-    300 A. D.--Hermogenianus, about 330 A. D.--_Codex Theodosianus_,
-    438 A. D.--The _Code_ of Justinian, 529 A. D.--The _Pandects_ and
-    _Institutes_, 533 A. D.--Symmachus, about 345-405 A. D.--Dictys
-    (L. Septimius), second half of the fourth century--Dares, fifth
-    century--Hilarius, about 315 to 367 A. D.--Ambrose, about
-    340-397 A. D.--Jerome, 331-420 A. D.--Augustine, 354-430 A.
-    D.--Optatianus, early in the fourth century--Juvencus, early in
-    the fourth century--Avienus, 370 A. D.--The _Querolus_, about
-    370 A. D.--Ausonius, about 310 to about 395 A. D.--Prudentius,
-    348 to about 410 A. D.--Claudian, 400 A. D.--Namatianus,
-    416 A. D.--Avianus, about 400 A. D.--Sedulius, about 450 A.
-    D.--Dracontius, end of the fifth century.
-
-
-The prose writings of the fourth century are, with the exception of
-theological treatises, almost all mere compilations or abbreviations of
-earlier works. [Sidenote: Nonius. Macrobius. Martianus Capella.] In the
-early years of the century Nonius Marcellus, a Peripatetic philosopher
-of Thubursicum, in Numidia, wrote for his son a work in twenty books,
-_De Compendiosa Doctrina_, in which he discusses many questions
-pertaining for the most part to early Latin literature. This work is
-modelled on the _Noctes Atticae_ of Gellius, to which it is vastly
-inferior. It is nevertheless of value as our only authority for the
-titles of some lost works and even for extracts from them. For similar
-reasons the _Saturnalia_, in seven books, by Ambrosius Theodosius
-Macrobius, is of some importance. Macrobius, who was probably, like
-Nonius, an African, appears to be identical with the Macrobius who was
-proconsul of Africa in 410 A. D, The imaginary conversations of which
-his _Saturnalia_ consists treat of Roman literature and antiquities,
-especially of the poetry of Virgil. Like Gellius and Nonius, Macrobius
-uses the works of earlier critics and commentators, and gives many
-quotations from Greek and Roman authors. Macrobius also wrote a
-commentary on Cicero's _Dream of Scipio_, in which he quotes many
-authors, especially Greeks, but displays little or no originality.
-The encyclopaedia, in nine books, written about the end of the fourth
-century by a third African, Martianus Capella, is of less value than
-the compilations of Nonius and Macrobius, though it, too, goes back to
-good authorities, such as Varro.
-
-[Sidenote: Philosophy. Grammar.] The chief seat of philosophy in the
-fourth century was Athens, and philosophical writings were almost all
-in Greek. For the most part they expounded the mystical doctrines of
-Neoplatonism.[134] The grammarian Aelius Donatus, who flourished at
-Rome about 350 A. D. and was one of the teachers of St. Jerome, wrote
-commentaries on Terence and Virgil to which he prefixed the lives of
-the two poets from the lost work of Suetonius. The work on Virgil is
-lost, and the commentary on Terence contains in its present form many
-later additions. The extant grammars (_Ars Grammatica_) of Charisius
-and Diomedes, which have preserved much of the learning of earlier
-grammarians, belong to a very slightly later time. The last and most
-complete ancient grammar was written under the Emperor Anastasius
-(491-518 A. D.) at Constantinople in the Latin language by Priscian,
-from Caesarea, in Mauretania. This work, in eighteen books, is entitled
-_Institutiones Grammaticae_, and contains a vast quantity of material
-from the earlier literature. Much of the grammatical terminology,
-even of the present time, is derived from Priscian. The important
-commentary on Virgil by Servius was written in the latter part of the
-fourth century, and is preserved in two forms, in one of which numerous
-additions have been made to the original work.[135]
-
-[Sidenote: History.] In 360 A. D., Aurelius Victor wrote a short
-history of the emperors (_Caesares_) from the time of Augustus to the
-tenth consulship of Constantius and Julian, i. e., to the date of his
-writing. He makes free use of Suetonius, and his style is sometimes
-an imitation of that of Sallust. A second entirely distinct work
-attributed to the same author is a brief epitome of the history of
-the emperors to the death of Theodosius I (395 A. D.). Under Valens
-(364-378 A. D.) Eutropius wrote a _Breviarium ab Urbe Condita_, a short
-sketch of Roman history from the beginning to the year 365 A. D., which
-is distinguished for its simple, easy style and pure Latinity, but has
-no independent value as an historical work.[136]
-
-Much more important is the _Chronicle_ of St. Jerome (331-420 A. D.),
-a translation from the Greek of Eusebius with important additions.
-The _Chronicle_ begins with the first year of Abraham (2016 B. C.).
-From this point to the Trojan War, Jerome merely translates Eusebius,
-from the Trojan War to 325 A. D. he translates Eusebius and adds much
-information concerning Roman history and literature, and from 325 to
-378 A. D. the work is entirely his own. His information concerning the
-history of Roman literature is derived chiefly from Suetonius (_De
-Viris Illustribus_) and is of the utmost importance, though the dates
-given are sometimes wrong, which is not surprising when one remembers
-the carelessness in respect to dates exhibited by Suetonius in his
-extant _Lives of the Caesars_. Jerome's _Chronicle_ was continued in
-the fifth century by Prosper of Aquitania to the year 455 A. D., and
-further additions were made after that time. The _Chronicle_ is of
-great importance to the historian, but is itself merely the dry bones
-of history. The only real history that the last centuries of Roman
-literature produced, the only serious and original historical work
-after Tacitus, is that of Ammianus Marcellinus; for the summary of
-universal history (_Chronicorum Libri II_) written by the Aquitanian
-Sulpicius Severus in the early years of the fifth century, and the more
-pretentious but no more original history of the world (_Historiarum
-Adversus Paganos Libri VII_) by Orosius of Spain, compiled soon after
-417 A. D., are even less important than the handbook of Eutropius.
-
-[Sidenote: Ammianus Marcellinus.] Ammianus Marcellinus (about 330-400
-A. D.) was a Greek of Antioch, who became a soldier in the Roman army,
-served in Asia, in Gaul, and in the Persian campaign of the Emperor
-Julian, and was at some time in Egypt, but finally settled at Rome,
-where he wrote in Latin a continuation of Tacitus from Nerva to the
-death of Valens (96-378 A. D.). The entire work consisted of thirty-one
-books, thirteen of which are lost; but the extant books (XIV-XXXI),
-treating of the time from 353 to 378 A. D., and dealing with events
-in which the author took part, are especially valuable. Ammianus is
-an honest soldier, who, to use his own expression, never knowingly
-corrupts the truth by silence or falsehood, who has no liking and not
-much understanding for court intrigues, but is intent upon giving his
-readers a fair and unbiased account of events. His Latin is hard to
-understand, partly because he writes it as a foreigner, but still more
-because he wishes to write an ornate style and embellishes his work
-with many references to the Roman classics, sometimes quoting their
-exact words, oftener changing them a little, as if to show his perfect
-familiarity with the earlier literature. The geographical digressions
-introduced are not original descriptions of what Ammianus had himself
-seen, but are taken from Greek or Latin books. Although himself a
-pagan, Ammianus shows no hostility to Christianity, but his paganism
-is not very serious. He seems to believe that not all men think alike,
-and that on the whole it is well for each to believe as he can. His
-pictures of the life of the times are admirable, and bring before us
-in a clear light the corruption and degeneration of the age. Yet he
-does not seem to feel righteous indignation nor to understand that the
-greatness of the Roman empire is rapidly passing away. His history ends
-with the disastrous defeat of the Romans by the Goths at Hadrianople
-and the death of the Emperor Valens; but so accustomed was the world
-to the power of the Roman empire that even this terrible reverse was
-not recognized as portending the end of the ancient order of things.
-For a little while Theodosius was able to maintain the integrity of
-the empire, but the end was at hand. It is not unfitting that the
-last Roman historian, himself a Greek by birth, ends his work at a
-moment when more than ever before the Greek city of Constantinople was
-becoming the refuge of what remained of the old Roman civilization.
-
-[Sidenote: Law.] The study of law, which had for centuries been among
-the most important pursuits of Roman thinkers, was not neglected in
-the last centuries of Roman life. Under Diocletian (284-305 A. D.)
-the imperial edicts were codified by Gregorianus, and in the reign of
-Constantine (323-337 A. D.) Hermogenianus continued the codification
-to his own time. In 438 A. D., under Theodosius II, the _Codex
-Theodosianus_ was compiled by a commission of jurists, and in the reign
-of Justinian a commission headed by the distinguished jurist, scholar,
-and man of affairs Tribonian, gave to Roman law its final form in three
-great works: the _Code_, published in 529 A. D., the _Pandects_ or
-_Digests_, and the _Institutes_, published in 533 A. D., which have
-served as the basis for all later jurisprudence.
-
-[Sidenote: Oratory.] Oratory found its chief field of activity in the
-Christian pulpit from the time of Constantine, but was not confined
-to the exposition of Christian doctrine. The Gallic school of oratory
-continued to flourish, and indeed Gaul was prominent in literature of
-all kinds during the fourth and fifth centuries. Among other orators
-the most important was Quintus Aurelius Symmachus, a Roman of noble
-family and honorable character, whose life extended from about 345
-to 405 A. D. His panegyrics on Valentinian I and Gratianus resemble
-the other panegyrics of the period, and the fragmentary remains of
-later speeches delivered in the senate show no greater ability. More
-interesting are his letters, in which he appears as an imitator of the
-younger Pliny, and his official reports as prefect of the city.
-
-[Sidenote: Dictys and Dares.] A curious prose version of the story
-of the Trojan War was written by Lucius Septimius, apparently in the
-second half of the fourth century. This purports to a translation of
-an ancient Greek manuscript in Phoenician letters found in the tomb
-of a certain Dictys, in Crete. The story of the discovery of the
-manuscript is undoubtedly an invention, but the Latin account may be a
-translation of a lost Greek original. The style is artificial and full
-of antiquated expressions. The author most persistently imitated is
-Sallust. A somewhat similar little work belonging to the fifth century
-pretends to be a translation by Cornelius Nepos of a Greek account of
-the Trojan War given by a Phrygian Dares, who fought among the Trojans.
-The style is dry and unattractive, but the little book was much read in
-the Middle Ages. These two works serve to give us some idea of the kind
-of literature which, alongside of the Greek novels, amused the leisure
-hours of cultivated persons.
-
-The contents of the works of the leaders of the church in the fourth
-and fifth centuries can hardly be considered in a history of Roman
-literature, but inasmuch as their writings show the continued influence
-of classical Latin, their style and choice of words should be briefly
-mentioned. [Sidenote: Hilarius.] The bitter controversy between the
-Arians and the Athanasians produced in the fourth century a great
-number of controversial writings, among which those of Hilarius (St.
-Hilary), Bishop of Poitiers, are remarkable for depth of philosophical
-thought and care in expression. Hilarius was born between 310 and
-320 A. D., and was trained in the Gallic school of eloquence. After
-his conversion to Christianity he soon became bishop of his native
-Poitiers. His opposition to Arianism, which Constantius favored, led
-to his banishment, but he was recalled after three years, in 358 A. D.
-His death took place in 367 A. D. Besides his controversial writings
-he was the author of commentaries on several books of the Old and New
-Testaments, and perhaps also of hymns. His style shows in some passages
-his early training in the school of wordy and ornate Gallic oratory,
-but is chiefly distinguished for its vigor and passion. Hilarius
-carried on the work of adapting Latin to the expression of Christian
-abstract thought, which had been begun in Africa by Tertullian.
-
-[Sidenote: Ambrosius.] Ambrosius (St. Ambrose), who lived from about
-340 to 397 A. D., was probably born in Gaul, where his father was
-prefect, but was of Roman, not Gallic blood. After a careful education
-he became a barrister, and was soon raised to the consular rank and
-made governor of the provinces of Liguria and Aemilia. Thus he came to
-Milan, where he was chosen bishop in 374 A. D. He was a man of great
-tact as well as firmness, who dared to exclude the Emperor Theodosius
-from the church, until he had shown repentance for the massacre at
-Thessalonica, and to refuse the request of the Empress Justina that one
-of the churches at Milan be set aside for the Arians, but who succeeded
-in avoiding any breach with the emperor in spite of his independence.
-It was in great part due to St. Ambrose that Italy was kept from
-adopting the Arian heresy. His writings comprise letters, dogmatic
-treatises, practical treatises on the conduct of life, commentaries on
-the Scriptures, funeral orations on Valentinian II and Theodosius, and
-hymns. He is also the probable author of a translation of Josephus into
-Latin. In his mystic, allegorical interpretations of Scripture St.
-Ambrose follows the Jewish-Stoic philosopher Philo, who lived about the
-time of Christ, and in his treatise _On Duties_ he imitates Cicero's
-work of the same title. His intimate acquaintance with other works of
-the classical period is made evident both by the general quality of his
-style, which is purer than that of most of his contemporaries, and by
-many special references. His hymns have had great influence upon church
-poetry and music.
-
-[Sidenote: Jerome (Hieronymus).] St. Jerome (Hieronymus) was born about
-331 A. D., at Stridon, a town on the borders of Dalmatia and Pannonia,
-studied at Rome under Donatus, then spent two years at Treves, was
-afterwards at Aquileia for some time, then sailed to Syria. Here he was
-ill for a time, and solaced himself by reading the classics, until he
-was warned by a dream to give up profane literature. He retreated into
-the wilderness of Chalcis, where he remained five years. In 362 A. D.
-he returned Rome, where he had great influence for many years, but in
-386 he retired to a monastery at Bethlehem. There he remained until
-his death, in 420 A. D. As a controversial writer St. Jerome had great
-influence in settling the doctrines of the Catholic church; he also
-wrote commentaries on various books of the Bible, and numerous letters
-dealing with religious questions. His translation of the Bible was a
-masterly performance, and is the basis of the Latin Vulgate, still in
-use in the Roman Catholic church. He compiled a brief work, _De Viris
-Illustribus_, in which he gave sketches of the lives of Christian
-writers, as Suetonius, in his work of the same title, had given the
-lives of the old Roman authors. The sketches given by Jerome are,
-however, much briefer than were those of Suetonius. The translation and
-continuation of the _Chronicle_ of Eusebius has already been mentioned
-(see page 262). St. Jerome is one of the ablest writers of the early
-Christian church, and certainly the most learned Christian writer of
-his time. His style is not exempt from the faults of exaggeration and
-verbal quibbling common in the writings of the age, but possesses much
-life and earnestness, and is free from the affectation of classicism,
-though it shows the effect of his prolonged study of the classics.
-
-[Sidenote: Augustine] St. Augustine (Aurelius Augustinus) was born in
-354 A. D. at Tagaste, in Africa. His father was a pagan, his mother
-a Christian, and in his early years Augustine himself accepted the
-doctrine of Manicheeism, a sort of mystical materialism, which denied
-all authority, and claimed to rest entirely upon reason. He was a
-successful teacher of rhetoric in Africa, at Rome, and at Milan,
-where he came under the influence of St. Ambrose and was converted.
-In 388 A. D. he returned to Africa, became presbyter at Hippo in 392,
-and bishop in 395 A. D. His death took place in 430 A. D. His nature
-was many sided, and composed of apparently contradictory elements.
-He was a mystic speculator, a sharp reasoner, at one time harsh and
-uncompromising, at another full of tenderness, an original thinker yet
-a believer in authority, dreamer, poet, philosopher, rhetorician, and
-quibbler in one. His writings are in part speculations on theology, in
-part ponderings on the soul, its nature and its relations to God, and
-in part controversial treatises, sermons, commentaries, and letters.
-The best known among them are the _Confessions_, in which Augustine
-gives many details of his life, and records the doubts that perplexed
-him, and the _City of God_ (_De Civitate Dei_), a work of his old
-age, in which he contrasts the city (or better, the state) of this
-world with the ideal city of God. This work was written in reply to
-the pagans, who claimed that the sack of Rome by Alaric was due to
-the neglect of the ancient worship. It consists of twenty-two books,
-in the first ten of which the "vain opinions adverse to the Christian
-religion" are refuted, while the twelve remaining are devoted to a
-presentation of Christian truth, though each division contains many
-digressions, and in each the part of the subject properly belonging
-to the other is treated as occasion demands. In many parts of this
-great work reference is made to Cicero's _De Re Publica_ and other
-philosophical writings, and Augustine's dialogue _Contra Academicos_
-is an evident imitation of Cicero's _Academics_. Yet it can not be
-said that Augustine's style is modelled upon that of Cicero. It is
-rather a style which had gradually developed among Christian writers,
-in which the periodic structure of the Ciceronian age is abandoned for
-the most part, many words unknown to strictly classical Latin have been
-introduced, partly from the popular speech and partly by new formation
-to express abstract ideas, not a few Biblical phrases are employed,
-and some slight changes in syntax are noticeable. This is the Latin of
-the church, which has remained nearly as St. Augustine left it, except
-in so far as the strictly classical element grew less in the centuries
-preceding the Renaissance. For St. Augustine the "state" of this world
-still means the Roman empire, though the eternal city had been sacked
-by the Goths, but the time seems to him not far distant when the state
-of God shall rest in the "stability of its eternal seat." So his
-language is still Latin; but his thoughts and sentiments are Christian,
-not Roman. The ancient world was still visible about him, but the life
-of the Middle Ages had begun.
-
-The fourth century produced a considerable number of poets who
-possessed no mean skill in versification, but whose works have for the
-most part disappeared. [Sidenote: Optatianus.] Optatianus (Publilius
-Optatianus Porphyrius) composed a poem in praise of Constantine in
-which he shows his ingenuity by writing lines that take the shape of
-an altar or an organ, contriving to make fifteen successive hexameters
-each one letter shorter than its predecessor, making nineteen stanzas
-of four lines each from the same twenty words, and inventing the
-most complicated and elaborate acrostics and the like. Such work is
-not poetry, but it shows skill in the manipulation of words. It is
-interesting to know that Constantine was so pleased that he recalled
-the ingenious author from banishment. [Sidenote: Juvencus.] About the
-same time Juvencus (Gaius Vettius Aquilinus Juvencus) made a version
-of the Gospel story in hexameters after the manner of Virgil. He shows
-intelligent appreciation of the dignity and beauty of his model, and
-writes skillfully and easily. This Latin poem is the prototype of the
-"Gospel Harmonies" of the Middle Ages. [Sidenote: Avienus.] Avienus
-(Rufus Festus Avienus), of Vulsinii, in Etruria, was a descendant of
-the Stoic philosopher Musonius Rufus (see page 177), and was twice
-proconsul--in Africa in 366 and in Greece in 371 A. D. He translated
-the _Phaenomena_ of Aratus into Latin verse, and tried to improve upon
-the translations by Cicero and Germanicus (see pages 70 and 173),
-made a similar translation with variations from the _Periegesis_ of
-Dionysius, described the coasts of the Black Sea, the Caspian, and the
-Mediterranean in iambic trimeters, and made abridgments of Livy and
-Virgil in the same metre. These last are lost, as is a large part of
-the description of the coasts. Avienus was also the author of several
-short poems. He has no little ability as a maker of verses, and has
-the good taste to imitate Virgil, but exhibits no poetic originality.
-His language is for the most part strictly classic. [Sidenote:
-Querolus.] To about the same time as Avienus belongs also a curious
-comedy entitled _Querolus_ (_The Discontented Man_), a free imitation
-of the _Aulularia_ of Plautus, composed in a remarkable mixture of
-prose and verse.
-
-[Sidenote: Ausonius.] The only really interesting poet of the fourth
-century is, however, Ausonius, whose life extends through nearly
-the entire century. Decimus Magnus Ausonius was born at Bordigala
-(Bordeaux) about 310 A. D. He became a teacher of rhetoric and oratory,
-and was appointed tutor to Gratian, the son of the Emperor Valens.
-When Gratian became emperor he rewarded his teacher with public
-offices, and raised him in 379 A. D. to the consulate. After Gratian's
-death (383 A. D.) Ausonius retired from public life and devoted himself
-to literary pursuits at his native Bordeaux until his death, which took
-place not far from 395 A. D. Nearly all his extant writings belong to
-this period. The only considerable specimen of his prose extant is the
-oration in which he expressed his thanks to Gratian for the consulship.
-In this the style, though somewhat flowery, is not without dignity,
-and the vocabulary is pretty strictly classic. The extant poems are of
-various kinds and in various metres. They include epigrams, idylls,
-letters, a series of short poems called _Parentalia_, devoted to
-the poet's relatives, a _Commemoratio Professorum Burdigalensium_,
-describing his colleagues at Bordeaux, verses on the Roman emperors,
-on famous cities, and a variety of other subjects. Some of these show
-cleverness in the use of language, but no higher quality. Such are the
-letters written partly in Greek and partly in Latin, and the idylls so
-composed that the last word of each line is a monosyllable; but among
-the poems are some of considerable interest even though their poetic
-qualities are not of the highest. So the _Parentalia_ and the verses on
-the Bordeaux professors give the reader some insight into the life of
-an important provincial city. It is interesting, too, to observe that
-of the seventeen cities mentioned in the _List of Famous Cities_ five
-are in Gaul. To be sure, Ausonius was himself a Gaul, and may have made
-his native region unduly prominent, but other evidence, including the
-remains of ancient buildings, supports his estimate of the importance
-of the Gallic cities. His lines on Bordeaux, famous for its wine, its
-culture, its fertile soil, great rivers, copious water supply, and fine
-buildings, show his patriotism and his skill in descriptive writing.
-The latter quality is conspicuous in the most famous of his idylls,
-the one entitled _Mosella_, in which Ausonius describes the stream and
-the valley of the Moselle, which he had visited on some business not
-further specified. The vine-clad hills and grassy meadow lands, the
-roofs of villas that stand upon the banks, the broad, clear river,
-calm and placid as a lake, are all brought before our eyes with clear,
-well-chosen words and a masterly lightness of touch. At the same time
-the poet's love of nature and her beauties is as plainly manifest
-as in any poem of Wordsworth or Whittier. Unfortunately, Ausonius
-proceeds to mention all the different kinds of fish in the Moselle,
-and the remarkable productivity of the river does not add to the
-attractiveness of the poem. Yet the poem is deservedly famous for its
-beauty of expression and its enthusiastic love of nature. It is also
-remarkably modern in its tone. Satyrs and Naiads are mentioned, but
-only as a modern poet might mention them. Ausonius is a Christian, and
-for him the pagan deities of the woods are only beings which he "might
-imagine." This poem shows as clearly as the _Pervigilium Veneris_,
-though in a different way, that the spirit of the Middle Ages was awake.
-
-Ausonius was a Christian, but his poems have no specifically Christian
-contents. [Sidenote: Ausonius.] The most important specifically
-Christian poet of the fourth century is Aurelius Prudentius Clemens,
-who was born in Spain, at or near Saragossa, in 348 A. D., studied and
-practised oratory, and held important offices. His life was apparently
-passed for the most part in Spain, but at one time he held a position
-at the imperial court of Theodosius. The date of his death is probably
-about 410 A. D. Prudentius, like Ausonius, employs hexameters and
-various other classic metres, in which he departs occasionally, but
-not often, from the rules of quantitative verse. His poems, both epic
-and lyric, are religious and inspired by earnest faith and genuine
-enthusiasm. He excels in narrative and description, in wealth and
-brilliancy of language, but lacks the virtue of simplicity. His poetry
-was intended to appeal to educated readers, not to the people, and the
-cultured classes of the time were only too thoroughly accustomed to an
-artificial style. Yet, in spite of his faults of style, Prudentius is
-the most important Christian poet of the fourth century, and among the
-other poets of the time none equal him except Ausonius and Claudian.
-
-[Sidenote: Claudian.] Claudius Claudianus, the last important Roman
-poet, was, like Livius Andronicus, with whom Roman poetry began,
-a Greek by birth. He was born in Asia Minor, but lived so long at
-Alexandria that he called that centre of learning his fatherland
-(_patria_). In 395 A. D. he went to Rome, where he was attached to the
-court of Honorius, from whom he received the rank of patrician and
-the honor of a statue in the Forum of Trajan. He remained at Rome,
-or rather at Milan, until 404 A. D., but about that time returned to
-Alexandria, and married a noble woman of the place, being aided in his
-suit by Serena, niece and adopted daughter of the Emperor Theodosius
-and wife of Stilicho. Claudian's poems all appear to have been written
-from 395 to 404 A. D., and throughout this period he is the faithful
-follower and enthusiastic admirer of Stilicho, Whether Stilicho's death
-in 408 A. D. relegated Claudian to obscurity, or the poet himself
-died at about the same time as his patron, can not now be determined.
-Claudian's works comprise epic poems on the important events of his
-times, such as the Gothic war and the war against Gildo, mythological
-epics, and shorter miscellaneous poems. Among the historical epics
-are included poems in praise of Honorius and other patrons of the
-poet, as well as metrical attacks upon Rufinus and Eutropius. The only
-remains of his mythological epics are three books of a poem, on the
-_Rape of Proserpine_, and somewhat more than one hundred lines of a
-_Gigantomachia_. In these poems Claudian shows the mythological and
-antiquarian learning which had for centuries been characteristic of the
-Alexandrian school of poetry. That school was already old when it was
-imitated by Catullus and his contemporaries in the early days of Roman
-poetry, and now, when Roman literature was dying, Alexandria continued
-to train learned poets. Had Claudian not gone to Italy, he would
-doubtless have continued to write in his native Greek, and might, as a
-Greek poet, have rivalled his contemporary Nonnus. In his historical
-and miscellaneous poems also Claudian exhibits much Alexandrian
-learning, and at the same time shows an intimate acquaintance with
-the earlier Roman poets, which is somewhat surprising in one who was
-educated in the Greek-speaking provinces of the east. It is equally
-surprising that Claudian uses the Latin language with an ease and
-grace not attained by any of his contemporaries. His verse is correct,
-dignified, and harmonious, his diction pure and classical. In these
-respects, as well as in wealth of imagery, brilliancy of narrative,
-and skill in composition, he is unequalled by any Roman poet after
-Statius. His historical poems must be used with caution by historians,
-for, although facts are not invented, they are presented in a strong
-light, or left in obscurity, according to the effect they might have
-upon the reputation of the poet's friends or enemies. In the exuberance
-of his praise, Claudian equals the contemporary prose panegyrists, and
-surpasses the early Alexandrian and most of the later Roman poets.
-Among his miscellaneous poems none is so well known in modern times,
-or so modern in tone, as the brief elegy of only twenty-two lines, on
-an old man of Verona, who never left his suburb, who pressed his staff
-upon the same sand in which he had crept, counted his years by the
-changes of crops, not by consuls, and saw the trees grow old which he
-had seen as little sprouts. The advantages of a quiet, humble life have
-seldom been more charmingly set forth than in this poem.
-
-With all his learning, skill, and genuine poetic inspiration,
-Claudian is still the belated singer of a worn-out empire and a dying
-civilization. Rome was no longer the mighty and unquestioned ruler
-of the world. The poet whose chief task it was to sing the praises
-of Stilicho, and spread the glory of his victories, must needs shut
-his eyes, so far as possible, to the evident decay, but he could not
-simulate utter blindness. In the beginning of his poem on the war with
-Gildo, Claudian shows that the feebleness and old age of Rome were not
-hidden from him. He describes the personified city, the goddess Roma,
-as she approaches Olympus to beg for aid against Gildo, whose revolt,
-involving the loss of the African grain supply, threatened to expose
-the city to famine:
-
-    Her voice is weak, and slow her steps; her eyes
-    Deep sunk within; her cheeks are gone; her arms
-    Are shrivelled up with wasting leanness. On
-    Her feeble shoulders hardly can she bear
-    Her tarnished shield; she shows from loosened helm
-    Her hoary locks, and drags a rusty spear.[137]
-
-Even the poet who sang of Rome's victories could portray her in such
-terms as these. Yet the tradition of Roman greatness still survived.
-[Sidenote: Namatianus.] In the year 416, Rutilius Claudius Namatianus,
-a Gaul who had risen to the position of _praefectus urbi_ at Rome, was
-obliged to return to Gaul to attend to his property, which had been
-laid waste by the Goths. The journey was the occasion of a poem in two
-books, most of which is preserved. It is written in elegiacs, with
-much still and feeling. Many episodes and descriptions are inserted
-in the narrative, but no passage is so striking as that in which the
-traveller, passing out from the Ostian gate, addresses the imperial
-city:
-
-    Wide as the ambient ocean is thy sway,
-    And broad thy empire as the realms of day;
-    Still on thy bounds the sun's great march attends,
-    With thee his course begins, with thee it ends.
-    Thy strong advance nor Afric's burning sand,
-    Nor frozen horrors of the Pole withstand;
-    Thy valor, far as kindly Nature's bound
-    Is fixed for man, its dauntless way has found.
-    All nations own in thee their common land,
-    And e'en the guilty bless thy conquering hand;
-    One right for weak, for strong, thy laws create,
-    And bind the wide world in a world-wide State.[138]
-
-The history of Roman poetry is virtually at an end with Claudian.
-Other poets there were, but none whose works are living and breathing
-exponents of the ancient Roman life. [Sidenote: Avianus. Sedulius.
-Dracontius.] About 400 A. D. Avianus published forty-two fables of Aesop
-in elegiac verse; about the middle of the fifth century the presbyter
-Sedulius wrote several religious poems, in which he shows acquaintance
-not with Biblical literature alone, but also with the Latin classics;
-and at the end of the century the African poet Blossius Aemilius
-Dracontius wrote a didactic poem _On the Praise of God_, in three
-books, a number of short epics, chiefly mythological, and several other
-poems. Dracontius is not unskillful in his versification and his use
-of language, and his poems prove that rhetorical training was still to
-be found in Africa. Moreover, his knowledge of the Roman classics is
-as evident as his knowledge of the Bible. But neither Dracontius nor
-the other poets whose works are preserved to us from the fifth century
-could do more than help to pass on to the Middle Ages something of the
-ancient feeling for beauty of form in literature. And even that had
-ceased to be understood by the people.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXI
-
-CONCLUSION
-
-    The end of the ancient civilization--Boethius, about 480-524 A.
-    D.--Later literature no longer Roman--Practical character of Roman
-    literature--The first period--The Augustan period--The period of
-    the empire--Our debt to the Romans.
-
-
-[Sidenote: The end of the old civilization.] Long before the end of
-the fifth century the power of Rome was broken, and the centre of what
-had been the Roman empire was at Constantinople. The western provinces
-were in the hands of barbarians, Angles and Saxons ruled in Britain,
-Franks in northern Gaul, Visigoths in southern Gaul and Spain, and
-Vandals in Africa. Italy itself had been repeatedly overrun by hardy
-warriors from the north, and Rome had twice been sacked, by the Goths
-under Alaric in 410 and by the Vandals under Genseric in 455 A. D. With
-the establishment by Theodoric, in 493 A. D., of the Gothic kingdom
-with its seat at Ravenna, the last vestige of the Roman empire of the
-West passed away. Henceforth western Europe is the scene of strife and
-disorder, through which men were to struggle onward to the new order
-of modern life. In the empire of the East much of the old civilization
-survived, and throughout the Middle Ages the ancient culture still shed
-some rays of light from Constantinople to the darkened west; but in
-western Europe there was little culture, and learning was for the most
-part shut up in the walls of monasteries.
-
-[Sidenote: Boethius.] The last writer who seems to belong to the old
-civilization is Boethius. Anicius Manlius Torquatus Severinus Boethius
-was a Roman of noble birth and exalted station. He was born about
-480 A. D., and after his father's death was adopted by the patrician
-Symmachus, whose daughter he afterwards married. In 500 A. D. he
-delivered in the senate a speech in honor of Theodoric, who made
-frequent use of his learning and literary skill. He held important
-offices at Rome, received the title of patrician and in 510 A. D.
-became consul without a colleague. In 522 A. D. his two sons were made
-consuls, and the joyful father delivered an oration in praise of the
-Gothic king to whose favor they owed their elevation. But that favor
-was destined soon to pass from Boethius. The emperor of the East,
-Justin, tried to stir up the Catholic Italians to revolt against the
-Arian Theodoric. Boethius was suspected, arrested, and put to death
-with tortures in 524 A. D. The servile senate decreed his death without
-even the formality of a trial.
-
-[Sidenote: The Consolation of Philosophy.] Boethius was a prolific
-writer. He translated from the Greek various philosophical and
-mathematical treatises, to some of which he added commentaries, and
-the importance of the Aristotelian logic during the Middle Ages is in
-great measure due to him; he also wrote a bucolic poem, which is lost,
-and several treatises on points of Christian doctrine; but the work by
-which he is now best known, and to which he owes his reputation as the
-last Roman author, is the treatise _On the Consolation of Philosophy_
-(_De Consolatione Philosophiae)_, which he wrote in prison while waiting
-for his condemnation. This work consists of five books, and has the
-literary form of a _satura_--that is, the prose is interrupted and
-varied by the insertion of passages in verse. These metrical passages,
-although their rhythms and diction are excellent, do not show the
-same depth of thought as the prose portions. This is explained by the
-fact that the prose portions of the treatise are derived in great
-measure from the _Protrepticus_ of Aristotle, while the verses are more
-entirely the work of Boethius himself. It is not likely that Boethius
-employed the _Protrepticus_ directly, but he probably had before him
-some work in which Aristotle's teachings had been modified by the
-eclecticism of the later Platonists. Everywhere noble sentiments are
-expressed, but without the slightest indication of Christianity, or
-of any specific religion. The names of the pagan deities are used,
-but Boethius believes in them no more than did Milton or the numerous
-writers of the eighteenth century in whose works their names occur.
-The attitude of Boethius is throughout that of a cultivated and
-intellectual man who seeks for consolation when in trouble not in
-faith, but in reason. In the beginning of the work he laments his hard
-fate, when Philosophy appears before him in the form of a woman, and a
-dialogue ensues, in which the unimportance of what is ordinarily termed
-good or bad fortune, the nature of Providence, the divine order of the
-world, chance, free will, and similar subjects, are discussed. The
-style is the artificial, ornate style of the time, held in check by the
-logical sequence of the argument. Boethius was a Christian, but in his
-adversity he turned to philosophy for consolation, and his philosophy
-is no more Christian than is that of Cicero. Yet his teachings, though
-not belonging to any one religion, are essentially religious. It is not
-wonderful that the _Consolation_ was much read in the Middle Ages, and
-has continued to find many readers in later times.
-
-[Sidenote: Later literature no longer Roman.] There were still, in the
-sixth century, men who, like Boethius, could find, amid the disorders
-of the times, the leisure and the taste for study; and the only kind
-of study possible was that of the ancient literature. But Boethius
-is the last in whom the ancient thoughts and feelings appear clad
-in literary form. Throughout the Middle Ages some of the classical
-writers, especially Virgil, were read and copied in monasteries, and
-those laymen who received a clerkly education learned Latin as the
-only language (except the more distant and difficult Greek) in which
-a literature existed; but Latin was then, as now, a language of
-the past, even though it was still used for literary purposes, and
-the ancient civilization was far less understood than now. Writings
-in Latin after Boethius belong not to Roman literature, but to the
-literature of the church and to that of the various nations of Europe.
-
-[Sidenote: The first period of Roman literature.] The date of the
-beginning of Roman literature can be fixed almost to a year, for there
-was no Roman literature before Livius Andronicus. At that time Latin
-imitations of Greek works were introduced to add to the attractions
-of public entertainments and to make the young acquainted with the
-history of the past. As the republic grew in power, literature, still
-in imitation of the Greek, but expressing more and more completely the
-Roman character, developed in all directions, but especially in prose.
-The orators cultivated perfection in speech that they might move the
-judges, the senate, or the people; historians hoped that the records of
-the past would have a practical effect upon the deeds of the future,
-or they aimed, like Caesar in his _Commentaries_, to further their own
-immediate ends; and Cicero adapted Greek philosophy to Roman readers
-in order that the republic might have wise and good citizens. The
-practical purpose of the lyric poetry of Catullus and his contemporary
-poets is less evident, though even lyric verse may serve political
-ends, and yet there seems to have been in the careful imitation of
-learned Alexandrian works a deliberate educational purpose. Certainly
-in all branches of literature except lyric poetry throughout the
-republican period a practical purpose, and usually a political purpose,
-is almost invariably to be found. Literature as developed by the Greeks
-seemed to the Romans to possess practical utility, and the great works
-of the republican period were created by practical men to aid in the
-attainment of their ends.
-
-[Sidenote: The Augustan period.] In the Augustan period the practical
-purpose of literature is even more evident than in the earlier years.
-In the transition from the republic to the monarchy it was desirable
-that the minds of men should not be too much occupied with politics,
-and literature was naturally encouraged by Augustus as an outlet for
-intellectual energy which might otherwise have turned to political
-matters. It was also desirable that the Julian family be connected as
-closely as possible with the beginnings of Rome, and how could that be
-done better than by such a poem as the _Aeneid_? The immediate practical
-purpose of Virgil's _Georgics_ is evident. The poems of Horace, too,
-are in part openly intended to increase the popular prestige of the
-imperial house, and the mere fact that the poet was known to be the
-friend of the emperor would add as much to the glory of the one as of
-the other. The greatness of poetry in this period is due directly to
-the encouragement of Augustus, and his encouragement had a practical
-purpose. That prose, especially oratory, declined at this time is due
-to the fact that the orator was no longer the great power in the state.
-
-[Sidenote: The imperial period.] Under the empire the influence of
-literature upon politics disappeared. Oratory no longer led to the
-highest power, poetry must, under some emperors at least, be careful
-not to overstep prescribed limits, and history could not safely
-record all facts with their causes and results. Even philosophical
-speculation was not safe if it led to practical conclusions adverse to
-the government. It was precisely those branches of literature which
-might be used for political purposes that the imperial government
-could hardly fail to discourage directly or indirectly, and those
-were the branches in which the practical Romans naturally excelled.
-There were, to be sure, emperors who encouraged literature, but their
-encouragement, leading to flattery and artificial eloquence, was little
-likely to raise the quality, even though it increased the quantity, of
-literary production. With its practical importance Roman literature
-loses its vigor. Aside from Tacitus and Juvenal, hardly a single
-powerful and vigorous author appears in the imperial period until,
-with the growth of Christianity, literature again acquires practical
-importance. That literature maintained for so many years a relatively
-high degree of excellence is due to the constant influence of Greece,
-which counteracted to some extent the forces that tended to destroy
-all literary life. Thus Roman literature lingered on until after the
-breaking up of the Roman empire.
-
-Only a small part of the great bulk of Roman literature is preserved to
-us, but that part includes the greatest works of the best period. Those
-are worthy subjects of study for their beauty of form, their clearness
-of thought, their power, their vigor, and their ethical qualities. The
-productions of the imperial period are inferior in quality to those
-of the republican and the Augustan times, though their quantity is
-proportionate to the duration of the empire; but these works also are
-proper subjects of study, for they also express the character of the
-Romans.
-
-[Sidenote: Our debt to the Romans.] Three ancient peoples have
-impressed themselves strongly upon the nations of Europe and
-America--the Hebrews, the Greeks, and the Romans. To the first we owe
-the foundations of our religion, to the second the beginnings of all
-arts and sciences, to the Romans we are indebted for the adaptation of
-the arts and sciences, of philosophy, and even of religion to civilized
-life. The names of our months are Roman, and our calendar is, with
-slight necessary changes, that established by Julius Caesar. The laws
-of continental Europe and, though to a less degree, of England and
-the United States, are based upon Roman law as finally established
-under Justinian. The so-called Gothic architecture, which arose in
-France in the Middle Ages and which is still the prevailing style of
-our churches, can be traced back step by step to Roman buildings,
-and though Roman architecture was dependent upon that of Greece, it
-was through Rome that western Europe learned to use the column, the
-arch, and the vault. The beautiful architecture of the Renaissance is
-a conscious imitation of that of Rome. The Romans, too, in the early
-centuries of the Christian church, did their full share to systematize
-Christian belief, to reconcile it with philosophy, and to establish
-a reasonable form of church government. The results of their labors
-are inherited directly by the Roman Catholic church, and indirectly
-or partially by Protestants. There is hardly a side of modern life
-which is not more or less affected by ancient Rome; while the dignity,
-the sturdy manhood, the stoical disregard of fortune, the patriotism,
-and the vigorous earnestness expressed in Roman literature have a
-powerful influence in developing what is best in modern manhood. Roman
-literature will continue to be an important object of study as long
-as men still feel their obligations to the past, or are capable of
-learning from the example and precepts of other ages.
-
-
-
-
-APPENDIX I
-
-BIBLIOGRAPHY
-
-
-[This is not intended to be an exhaustive bibliography, but is merely
-an attempt to refer the student to some of the best and most available
-sources of information. Books in foreign languages, and editions with
-notes in foreign languages, are mentioned only in exceptional cases
-and for special reasons. Further bibliographical information is to
-be found in the larger histories of Roman literature, in Engelmann's
-_Bibliotheca Scriptorum Classicorum_, the monthly lists in the
-_Classical Review_, and the _Guide to the Choice of Classical Books_,
-by J. B. Mayor, London, 1879, D. Nutt; with its New Supplement, 1896.]
-
-
-GENERAL WORKS
-
-    +C. T. Cruttwell.+ History of Roman Literature, London, 1877,
-      Griffin.
-
-    +J. W. Mackail.+ Latin Literature, London, 1895, Murray; New York,
-      Scribner's.
-
-    +G. A. Simcox.+ History of Latin Literature, London and New York,
-      1883, Longmans, 2 vols.
-
-    +G. Middleton+ and +T. R. Mills+. Handbook to Latin Authors,
-      London and New York, 1896, Macmillan.
-
-    +W. Y. Sellar.+ The Roman Poets of the Republic, Oxford, 2d ed.
-      1889; Poets of the Augustan Age (Virgil), Oxford, 1891; Horace and
-      the Elegiac Poets, Oxford, 1892.
-
-    +R. Y. Tyrrell.+ Latin Poetry, Boston, 1895, Houghton & Mifflin.
-
-    +G. F. Aly.+ Geschichte der roemischen Litteratur, Berlin, 1894, R.
-      Gaertner.
-
-    +G. Bernhardy.+ Grundriss der roemischen Litteratur, 5th ed. Halle,
-      1872.
-
-    +W. S. Teuffel.+ Geschichte der roemischen Litteratur, 5th ed.
-      revised by L. Schwabe, Leipzig, 1890, Teubner; translated by G.
-      C. W. Warr, 2 vols., London, 1891, Bell. [Especially good for
-      bibliography.]
-
-    +M. Schanz.+ Roemische Litteraturgeschichte, Munich, 2d ed.
-      1898-1901, Beck. 3 vols. (to Constantine); vol. iv (to Justinian)
-      in preparation.
-
-    +O. Ribbeck.+ Geschichte der roemischen Dichtung. 3 vols.
-      Stuttgart, 1887-'92.
-
-    +C. Lamarre.+ Histoire de la Litterature latine depuis la
-      Fondation de Rome jusqu'a la Fin du Gouvernement Republicain;
-      Paris, 1901, Delagrave. 4 vols. [Vol. iv contains selections from
-      Latin literature in the original and in French translation. The
-      literature of the imperial period is to be treated in subsequent
-      volumes.]
-
-    +G. Michaut.+ Le Genie latin. Paris, 1900, Fontemoing.
-      [Interesting and suggestive.]
-
-    A useful series of books called "Ancient Classics for English
-      Readers" contains Caesar, by _Anthony Trollope_; Catullus,
-      Tibullus, and Propertius, by _James Davies_; Cicero, by _W. L.
-      Collins_; Horace, by _Theodore Martin_; Juvenal, by _E. Walford_;
-      Livy, by _W. L. Collins_; Lucretius, by _Mallock_; Ovid, by _A.
-      Church_; Plautus and Terence, by _W. L. Collins_; Pliny, by _A.
-      Church_ and _W. J. Brodribb_; Tacitus, by _W. B. Donne_; and
-      Virgil, by _W. L. Collins_. These are not translations, but
-      essays illustrated by extracts. Published in America by the J. B.
-      Lippincott Co.
-
-
-COLLECTIONS
-
-[This list contains the titles of collections referred to below. Many
-other collections exist, the titles of which are to be found in larger
-bibliographies.]
-
-    +Poetae Latini Minores+, ed. _Baehrens_. 5 vols. Leipzig,
-      1879-'83, Teubner series.
-
-    +Fragmenta Poetarum Romanorum+, ed. _Baehrens_, Leipzig, 1886,
-      Teubner series.
-
-    +Corpus Poetarum Latinorum+, ed. _J. P. Postgate_; parts i, ii,
-      (vol. i), and iii. London, 1893-1900, Bell.
-
-    +Patrologia Latina+, ed. _Migne_, Paris. [221 vols. containing the
-      works of ecclesiastical writers of Latin from the Apostolic times
-      to those of Pope Innocent III.]
-
-    +Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum.+ [A series of
-      ecclesiastical writings, published by the Imperial Academy at
-      Vienna, begun in 1866 and not yet completed.]
-
-    +Scaenicae Romanorum Poesis Fragmenta+, ed. _O. Ribbeck_. 2 vols.
-      Leipzig, 1897-'98, Teubner series. [Vol. i, Tragicorum Romanorum
-      Fragmenta; vol. ii, Comicorum Romanorum Fragmenta.]
-
-    +Grammatici Latini+, ed. _H. Keil_, Leipzig, 1857-'80, Teubner, 7
-      vols.
-
-    +Historicorum Romanorum Relliquiae+, ed. _H. Peter_, vol. i,
-      Leipzig, 1870, Teubner.
-
-    +Historicorum Romanorum Fragmenta+, ed. _H. Peter_, Leipzig, 1883,
-      Teubner series.
-
-    +Scriptores Historiae Augustae+, ed. _H. Peter_, Leipzig. 2 vols.
-      Teubner series.
-
-    +Anthologia Latina+, ed. _F. Buecheler_ and _A. Riese_, Leipzig,
-      1870-'97. 2 vols. Teubner series.
-
-    +XII Panegyrici Latini+, ed. _Baehrens_. Leipzig, 1874, Teubner
-      series.
-
-    +Oratorum Romanorum Fragmenta+, ed. _Meyer_. Paris, 1837.
-
-
-EDITIONS AND TRANSLATIONS
-
-    ACCIUS. Text in _Fragm. Poet. Rom._, vol. i, and _Scaen. Rom.
-      Poes. Fragm._, vol. i.
-
-    AETNA. Text in _Corp. Poet. Lat._, part iii, and _Poet. Lat. Min._,
-      vol. ii. Text with notes and translation by _Robinson Ellis_,
-      Oxford, 1901.
-
-    AMBROSIUS (St. Ambrose). Text, _Patrologia Latina_, vols. xiv-xvii.
-
-    AMMIANUS MARCELLINUS. Text. _Gardthausen_, Leipzig. 3 vols.
-      Teubner series.
-
-    AMPELIUS. Text. _Woelfflin_ in Halm's _Florus_, Leipzig, 1854,
-      Teubner series.
-
-    ANDRONICUS. See LIVIUS.
-
-    APHTHONIUS. Text in _Grammat. Lat._, vol. vi.
-
-    APULEIUS. Text with Latin notes. _Hildebrand_, Leipzig, 1842. 2
-      vols.
-
-    Translation. _Sir George Head_, London, 1851; _anonymous_, in
-      Bohn's Library.
-
-    ARNOBIUS. Text. _Reifferscheid_, vol. iv of _Corp. Script. Eccl. Lat._
-      Also in _Patrol. Lat._, vol. v.
-
-    ATTA. Text in _Scaen. Rom. Poesis Fragm._, vol. ii.
-
-    ATTICUS. Text in _Hist. Rom. Fr._
-
-    AUGUSTINUS (St. Augustine). Text. _Patrol. Lat._, vols.
-      xxxii-xlvii; De Civitate Dei, _Dombart_, Leipzig, 1877, 2
-      vols., Teubner series; Confessiones, _Raumer_, Guetersloh, 1876,
-      Bertelsmann.
-
-    AUGUSTUS. Monumentum Ancyranum, _Mommsen_, 2d ed. Berlin, 1883,
-      Weidmann; _W. Fairley_ (with English translation), Philadelphia,
-      1898, the University of Philadelphia.
-
-      Fragments, _Weichart_, Grimma, 1845.
-
-    AURELIUS (Marcus Aurelius). See FRONTO.
-
-    AUSONIUS. Text. _Peiper_, Leipzig, 1886, Teubner series.
-
-    AVIANUS. Text. _Poet. Lat. Min._ vol. v; critical text and notes. _R.
-      Ellis_, Oxford, 1887.
-
-    AVIENUS. Crit. text. _Holder_, Innsbruck, 1887, Wagner.
-
-    BOETHIUS. Text. _Peiper_, Leipzig, 1871, Teubner series.
-
-      Translation. H. E. James, London, 1897, Elliot Stock; _Fox_, in
-      Bohn's Library.
-
-    CAESAR. Text. _Kuebler_, Leipzig, 1893-1897, Teubner series. 3 vols.
-
-      Translation. _W. A. McDevitte_, Bohn's Library. Text and notes.
-      The Gallic War, Allen & Greenough, Boston, Ginn & Co.; The Civil
-      War, _Perrin_, New York, University Publishing Co. Many other
-      school editions exist.
-
-    CALPURNIUS. Text. _Poet. Lat. Min._, vol. iii; with NEMESIANUS, Text
-      and Latin notes, _Schenkl_, Leipzig and Prague, 1885.
-
-    CAPELLA. See MARTIANUS.
-
-    CATO. De Agricultura. Text and Latin notes, _Keil_, Leipzig, 1884-'94,
-      Teubner. [Two vols. with VARRO, Res Rusticae.]
-
-      Other works. Text and Latin notes. _Jordan_, Leipzig, 1860,
-      Teubner.
-
-    CATONIS DISTICHA. _Poet. Lat. Min._, vol. iii.
-
-    CATULLUS. Text. _Mueller_, Leipzig, 1885, Teubner series. [With
-      TIBULLUS, PROPERTIUS, the fragments of LAEVIUS, CALVUS, CINNA, and
-      others, and the PRIAPEA]; crit. text with appendices, _R. Ellis_,
-      2d ed., Oxford, 1878.
-
-      Annotated edition. _Merrill_, Boston, 1893, Ginn & Co.
-
-      Commentary. _R. Ellis_, 2d ed., Oxford, 1889.
-
-      Translation (verse). _Theodore Martin_, Edinburgh and London,
-      1875, Blackwood.
-
-    CELSUS. Text. _Daremberg_, Leipzig, 1859, Teubner series.
-
-      Translation. _J. Grieve_, London, 1756.
-
-    CENSORINUS. Text. _Hultsch_, Leipzig, 1867, Teubner series; crit.
-      text, _J. Cholodniak_, St. Petersburg, 1889.
-
-    CHARISIUS. Text in _Gram. Lat._, vol. i.
-
-    CICERO. Text. _Baiter_ and _Kayser_, Leipzig, 1860-'69, B. Tauchnitz,
-      11 vols.; _Mueller_, _Klotz_, and others, Leipzig, Teubner series,
-      10 vols. [Editions of separate works and selections are numerous.]
-
-      Correspondence, arranged according to its chronological order,
-      with commentary and introductory essays. _R. Y. Tyrrell_ and _L.
-      C. Purser_, Dublin and London, 1855-1901. 7 vols [vol. i in 2d ed.]
-
-      Translation. Orations, _C. D. Yonge_, 4 vols.; On Oratory and
-      Orators, with Letters to Quintus and Brutus, _J. S. Watson_; On
-      the Nature of the Gods, Divination, Fate, Laws, a Republic, and
-      Consulship, _C. D. Yonge_ and _F. Barham_; Academics, De Finibus,
-      and Tusculan Questions, _C. D. Yonge_; Offices, or Moral Duties,
-      Cato Major, an Essay on Old Age, Laelius, an Essay on Friendship,
-      Scipio's Dream, Paradoxes, Letter to Quintus on Magistrates, _C.
-      R. Edmonds_; Letters, _E. Shuckburgh_, 4 vols. Bohn's Library.
-
-      Life. _W. Forsyth_, London, 1863, Murray; New York, Scribner's.
-
-    CINCIUS ALIMENTUS. Text in _Hist. Rom. Rell._
-
-    CIRIS. Text in _Poet. Lat. Min._, vol. ii.
-
-    CLAUDIAN. Text. _Koch_, Leipzig, 1893, Teubner series.
-
-      Translation. _Hawkins_, London, 1817, 2 vols.
-
-    COLUMELLA. Text in _Scriptores Rei Rusticae_, ed. _Schneider_,
-      Leipzig, 1794-'97; De Arboribus, text, _Lundstrom_, Upsala,
-      1897.
-
-      Translation. _Anonymous_, London, 1745.
-
-    COMMODIANUS. Text. _Ludwig_, Leipzig, 1877-'78, 2 vols. Teubner
-      series.
-
-    CONSOLATIO AD LIVIAM. Text in _Poet. Lat. Min._, vol. i.
-
-    CORNIFICIUS (See Cicero ad Herennium). Text. _Marx_, Leipzig,
-      1894, Teubner.
-
-    CULEX. Text in _Poet. Lat. Min._, vol. ii.
-
-    CURTIUS RUFUS, Text. _Vogel_, Leipzig, 1881, Teubner series.
-
-      Translation. _John Digby_, 3d ed. corr. by _Young_,
-        London, 1747.
-
-    CYPRIAN. Text. _Hartel_, Vienna, 1868-'71, 4 vols. in _Corp.
-      Script. Eccl. Lat._
-
-    DARES. Text. _Meister_, Leipzig, 1873, Teubner series.
-
-    DICTYS. Text. _Meister_, Leipzig, 1872, Teubner series.
-
-    DIOMEDES. Text in _Gram. Lat._
-
-    DIOSCORIDES. Text in _Gram. Lat._
-
-    DIRAE. Text in _Poet. Lat. Min._, Vol. ii.
-
-    DONATUS. Text in _Gram. Lat._ and in the introductions to
-      early editions of Terence.
-
-    ENNIUS. Text in _Fragm. Poet. Rom._ and _Corp. Poet. Lat._,
-      vol. i.
-
-    EUTROPIUS. Text. _Ruehl_, Leipzig, 1887, Teubner series.
-
-      Translation. See JUSTIN.
-
-    FENESTELLA. Text in _Hist. Rom. Fragm._
-
-    FESTUS (RUFIUS). Text. _Wagner_, Prague, 1886.
-
-    FESTUS (SEXTUS POMPEIUS). Text. _Thewrewk_, Budapest, 1889.
-
-    FIRMICUS MATERNUS. Text, _Halm_, Vienna, 1867, in _Corp.
-      Script. Eccl. Lat._, vol. ii; _Baehrens_, Leipzig, 1886,
-      Teubner series.
-
-    FLORUS. Text. _Halm_, Leipzig, 1854, Teubner series.
-
-    FRONTINUS. Strategemata. Text. _Gundermann_, Leipzig, 1888,
-      Teubner series.
-
-      Translation. _R. Scott_, London, 1811.
-
-      De Aquis Urbis Romae. Text. _Buecheler_, Leipzig, 1858, Teubner.
-
-      Text with translation and discussion. _C. Herschel_, Boston,
-      1899, Dana, Estes & Co.
-
-    FRONTO. Text. _Naber_, Leipzig, 1867, Teubner.
-
-    GAIUS. Text with translation and notes. _Poste_, 3d ed.,
-      Oxford, 1890.
-
-    GELLIUS. Text. _Hertz_, Leipzig, 1887, Teubner series, 2 vols.
-
-      Crit. Text. _Hertz_, Leipzig, 1894, Teubner, 2 vols.
-
-      Translation. _Beloe_, London, 1795, 3 vols.
-
-    GERMANICUS. Text in _Poet. Lat. Min._, vol. i.
-
-    GRATIUS. Text in _Poet. Lat. Min._, vol. i; _Corp. Poet.
-      Lat._, part iii.
-
-    HIERONYMUS. See JEROME.
-
-    HILARIUS (St. Hilary). Text. _Patrol Lat._, vols. ix and x.
-
-    HIRTIUS. Text in complete editions of Caesar.
-
-    HORACE. Text in _Corp. Poet. Lat._, vol. i; _Kellar_ and
-      _Haeussner_, 2d ed. Prague, 1892. Annotated editions are
-      numerous.
-
-      Translation (verse). _Theodore Martin_, Edinburgh and London,
-      1881, Blackwood, 2 vols. Odes and Epodes, _Lord Lytton_,
-      Edinburgh and London, 1869, New York, 1870.
-
-    HYGINUS. Text. _M. Schmidt_, Jena, 1872.
-
-    HYGINUS GROMATICUS. Text. _Domaszewski_, Leipzig, 1887.
-
-    JEROME. Text. _Patrol. Lat._, vols. xxii-xxx. De Viris
-      Illustribus, _Herding_, Leipzig, 1879, Teubner series.
-
-    JULIUS. See CAESAR.
-
-    JULIUS CAESAR STRABO. Text in _Orat. Rom. Fragm._
-
-    JULIUS VICTOR. Text in Orelli's _Cicero_, vol. v, p. 195, and
-      in Halm's _Rhetores Minores_, p. 371.
-
-    JUSTIN. Text. _Jeep_, Leipzig, 1859, Teubner series;
-      _Hallberg_, Paris, 1875.
-
-      Translation. _Watson_, London, 1853, Bohn's Library, [with
-        CORNELIUS NEPOS and EUTROPIUS].
-
-    JUVENAL. Text. _Buecheler_, Berlin, 2d ed. 1886, Weidmann [with
-      PERSIUS and SULPICIA].
-
-      Annotated edition. _Pearson & Strong_, Oxford, 1892.
-
-      Translation. (Prose) _Leeper_, London, 1891, 2d ed. Macmillan [see
-      also LUCILIUS]; (verse) _Dryden_, in Dryden's works.
-
-    LACTANTIUS. Text. _Patrol Lat._, vols. vi and vii. [Some of
-      his works have appeared in _Corp. Script. Eccl. Lat._ The Poem
-      on the Phoenix is in _Poet. Lat. Min._, vol. ii.]
-
-    LAMPRIDIUS. Text in _Scriptores Historiae Augustae_.
-
-    LIVIUS ANDRONICUS. Text in _Fragm. Poet. Rom._ and _Scaen.
-      Rom. Poesis Fragm._, vols. i and ii.
-
-    LIVY. Text. _Weissenborn_, Leipzig, 1878, Teubner series, 6
-      vols.
-
-      Crit. Text. _Madvig_ and _Ussing_, Copenhagen, 4th ed. 1886 and
-      later. 4 vols.
-
-      Translation. _Spillan_, _Edmunds_, and _McDevitte_, London, Bohn's
-      Library. 4 vols.
-
-    LUCAN. Text in _Corp. Poet. Lat._, part iii; _Hosius_,
-      Leipzig, 1892. Teubner series.
-
-      Translation (verse). _N. Rowe_, London, 1807. 3 vols.
-
-    LUCILIUS. Text in _Fragm. Poet. Rom._
-
-      Translation. _Evans_, London, Bohn's Library. [JUVENAL,
-        PERSIUS, SULPICIA, and LUCILIUS.]
-
-    LUCRETIUS. Text. _Munro_, London, Bell; also in Harper's
-      Classical Texts.
-
-      Crit. Text. _Lachmann_, Berlin, 1866. 2 vols.
-
-      Text and notes. _Munro_, London, 4th ed. 1891-'93, Bell. 3
-      vols., the third of which is a prose translation.
-
-    MACROBIUS. Text. _Eyssenhardt_, Leipzig, 1868, 2d ed. Teubner
-      series.
-
-    MAECENAS. Text in _Fragm. Poet. Rom._
-
-    MANILIUS. Text in _Corp. Poet. Lat._, part iii.
-
-      Translation. _Creech_, London, 1700. [Appended to LUCRETIUS.]
-
-    MANLIUS. See VOPISCUS.
-
-    MARCELLINUS. See AMMIANUS.
-
-    MARIUS VICTORINUS. Text in _Gram. Lat._, vol. vi, Orelli's
-      _Cicero_, vol. v, Halm's _Rhetores Minores_, and _Patrol.
-      Lat._, vol. viii.
-
-    MARTIAL. Text. _Gilbert_, Leipzig, 1886, Teubner series.
-
-      Translation (prose). Edited by _H. G. Bohn_, London, 1897.
-      [Contains also metrical translations from various sources.]
-
-    MARTIANUS CAPELLA. Text. _Eyssenhardt_, Leipzig, 1866, Teubner
-      series.
-
-    MELA. Text. _Frick_, Leipzig, 1880, Teubner series.
-
-    MINUCIUS FELIX. Text. _Baehrens_, Leipzig, 1886, Teubner
-      series.
-
-    MORETUM. Text in _Poet. Lat. Min._, vol. ii.
-
-    NAEVIUS. Text in _Fragm. Poet. Rom._, _Scaen. Rom. Poesis
-      Fragm._, vols. i and ii.
-
-    NAMATIANUS. See RUTILIUS.
-
-    NEMESIANUS. Text in _Poet. Lat. Min._, vol. iii.
-
-    NEPOS. Text. _Halm-Fleckeisen_, Leipzig, 10th ed. 1889,
-      Teubner series.
-
-      Translation. See JUSTIN.
-
-    NIGIDIUS FIGULUS. Text of fragments with Latin notes.
-      _Stroboda_, Vienna, 1889.
-
-    NONIUS MARCELLUS. Crit. text with comment. _Mueller_, Leipzig,
-      1888, Teubner. 2 vols. _Onions_, Oxford, 1895.
-
-    OCTAVIUS. See AUGUSTUS.
-
-    OROSIUS. _Zangemeister_, _Corp. Script. Eccl. Lat._, vol. v,
-      and Leipzig, 1889, Teubner series.
-
-    OVID. Text in _Corp. Poet. Lat._, vol. i; _Merkel-Ewald_,
-      Leipzig, 3d ed. begun 1888, Teubner series.
-
-      Annotated editions of separate works and of selections are
-      numerous.
-
-      Translation (prose). Bohn's Library. Metrical translations by
-      Dryden and others are contained in Chalmers' _English Poets_.
-
-    PACUVIUS. Text in _Scaen. Rom. Poesis Fragm._, vol. i.
-
-    PALLADIUS. Text in _Scriptores Rei Rusticae_, ed. _Schneider_,
-      Jena, 1794-'97.
-
-    PERSIUS. Text in _Corp. Poet. Lat._, vol. i; _Buecheler_. See
-      JUVENAL; with translation and commentary, _Conington_ and
-      _Nettleship_, Oxford, 1893.
-
-      Translation (prose). See LUCILIUS and JUVENAL; (verse)
-      _Dryden_, in his complete works and Chalmers' _English Poets_.
-
-    PERVIGILIUM VENERIS. Text in _Poet. Lat. Min._, vol. iv.
-
-    PETRONIUS. Text. _Buecheler_, Berlin, 3d ed. 1895, _Weidmann_.
-      [With the satires of VARRO and SENECA.]
-
-      Translation. (Trimalchio's Dinner). _H. T. Peck_, New York,
-      1898, Harper's.
-
-    PHAEDRUS. Text in _Corp. Poet. Lat._, part iii; _Riese_,
-      Leipzig, 1885, B. Tauchnitz.
-
-      Translation. _Smart_, London, 1831. [Also appended to Riley's
-      version of Terence and Phaedrus in Bohn's Library.]
-
-    PLAUTUS. Text. _Goetz_ and _Schoell_, Leipzig, 1892-'95,
-      Teubner series, 7 parts.
-
-      Critical edition. _Ritschl_ (2d ed. by _Goetz_, _Loewe_, and
-      _Schoell_), Leipzig, 1878-'93, Teubner, 20 parts.
-
-      Many annotated editions of separate plays exist.
-
-      Translation (prose). _Riley_, London, Bohn's Library; (verse)
-      _Thornton_ and _Warner_, London, 1767-'72.
-
-    PLINY THE ELDER. Text, _Jan_ and _Mayhoff_, Leipzig, 2d ed.
-      Teubner series. 6 vols.
-
-      Translation. With Notes, _Bostock_ and _Riley_, London, Bell.
-      6 vols.
-
-    PLINY THE YOUNGER. Text. _Keil_, Leipzig, 1873, Teubner series.
-
-      Translation. _Melmoth_, revised by _Bosanquet_, London, 1877,
-       Bell; _Lewis_, London, 1879, Truebner.
-
-    PLOTIUS. See SACERDOS.
-
-    POMPEIUS TROGUS. See JUSTIN.
-
-    POMPONIUS. See MELA.
-
-    POMPONIUS (LUCIUS). Text in _Fragm. Poet. Rom._
-
-    PRIAPEA. Text in _Poet. Lat. Min._, vol. i, cf. vol. ii.
-
-    PRISCIAN. Text in _Gram. Lat._, vols. ii and iii.
-
-    PROBUS (VALERIUS). Text in _Gram. Lat._, vol. iv.
-
-    PROPERTIUS. Text in _Corp. Poet. Lat._, vol. i; _Mueller_,
-      Leipzig, 1880, Teubner series. See CATULLUS.
-
-      Ed. Crit. _Postgate_, London, 1880, Bell.
-
-      Translation (prose). _Gantillon_, with metrical versions of
-      select elegies by _Nott_ and _Elton_, London, Bohn's Library.
-
-    PRUDENTIUS. Text. _Patrol. Lat._, vols. lix and lx.
-
-    PUBLILIUS SYRUS. Text. _Bickford-Smith_, Cambridge, 1885; _O.
-      Friedrich_, Berlin, 1880, Grieben [with notes].
-
-    QUINTILIAN. Text. Institutiones Oratoriae, _Meister_, Leipzig,
-      1886-'87, Freytag.
-
-      Declamationes. _Ritter_, Leipzig, 1884, Teubner series.
-
-      Translation. Institutes of Oratory, _J. S. Watson_, London,
-      Bohn's Library. 2 vols.
-
-    REPOSIANUS. Text in _Poet. Lat. Min._, vol. iv.
-
-    RUTILIUS NAMATIANUS. Text in _Poet. Lat. Min._, vol. v.
-
-    SACERDOS. Text in _Gram. Lat._, vol. vi.
-
-    SALLUST. Text. _Eussner_, Leipzig, 1888, Teubner series.
-      [School editions of the Catiline and the Jugurtha are
-      numerous.]
-
-      Translation. _Pollard_, London, 1882, Macmillan.
-
-    SAMMONICUS SERENUS. Text in _Poet. Lat. Min._, vol. iii.
-
-    SEDULIUS. Text in _Patrol. Lat._, vol. ix, and _Corp. Script.
-      Eccl. Lat._, vol. x.
-
-    SENECA (the father). Text. _Mueller_, Leipzig, 1888, Freytag;
-      _Kiessling_, Leipzig, 1872, Teubner series.
-
-    SENECA (the son). Text. Philosophical works. _Haase_, Leipzig,
-      1852 sqq., Teubner series.
-
-      Tragedies, _Leo_, Berlin, 1879, Weidmann, 2 vols.
-
-      Translation. On Benefits, Minor Essays, and On Clemency.
-        _A. Stewart_, London, Bohn's Library. 2 vols. Two Tragedies
-       (Medea and Daughters of Troy), _E. I. Harris_, Boston, 1899,
-       Houghton & Mifflin.
-
-    SERVIUS. Text with Latin notes. _Thilo_ and _Hagen_,
-      1878-1902, Teubner. 4 vols.
-
-    SIDONIUS APOLLINARIS. Text in _Patrol. Lat._, vol. lviii;
-      _Luejohann_, Berlin, 1887 (_Monum. German. Hist. Auct.
-      Antiquiss._, vol. viii).
-
-    SILIUS ITALICUS. Text. _Bauer_, Leipzig, 1890-'92, Teubner
-      series. 2 vols.
-
-      Translation (verse). _Tytler_, Calcutta, 1828. 2 vols.
-
-    SISENNA. Text in _Hist. Rom. Rell._
-
-    SOLINUS. Crit. Text. _Mommsen_, Berlin, 2d ed. 1895, Weidmann.
-
-    STATIUS. Text. _Kohlmann_, Leipzig, 1879-'84, Teubner series.
-      2 vols.
-
-      Translation (verse). Thebaid. _Lewis_, in Chalmers' _English
-      Poets_, vol. xx; _Coleridge_, in his collected poems;
-      Achilleis, _Sir Robert Howard_, in his poems.
-
-    SUEIUS. Text in _Fragm. Poet. Rom._
-
-    SUETONIUS. Text. _Roth_, Leipzig, 1875, Teubner series.
-
-      Translation. _Thomson_, revised by Forester, in Bohn's Library.
-
-    SULPICIA. See JUVENAL.
-
-    SYMMACHUS. Text. _Seeck_, Berlin, 1883 (_Monum. Germ. Hist.
-      Auct. Antiquiss._, vol. vi, 1).
-
-    TACITUS. Text. _Nipperdey_, Berlin, 1871-'76, Weidmann. 4 vols.
-
-      [Annotated editions of separate works are many.]
-
-      Translation. _Church_ and _Brodribb_, London, 1868-'77,
-      Macmillan. 3 vols.
-
-    TERENCE. Text. _Dziatzko_, Leipzig, 1884, B. Tauchnitz.
-
-      Ed. Crit. _Umpfenbach_, Leipzig, 1871, Teubner.
-
-      Annotated ed. _Wagner_, London, 1869, Bell. [Annotated
-      editions of separate plays are numerous.]
-
-      Translation (verse). _Colman_, London, 1810; (prose) _Riley_,
-      in Bohn's Library [with PHAEDRUS].
-
-    TERENTIANUS MAURUS. Text in _Gram. Lat._, vol. vi.
-
-    TERTULLIAN. Text. _Patrol. Lat._, vols. i and ii;
-      _Reifferscheid_ and _Wissowa_, _Corp. Script. Eccl. Lat._,
-      vol. xx [only vol. i of Tertullian].
-
-    TIBULLUS. Text in _Corp. Poet. Lat._, vol. i; see also
-      CATULLUS.
-
-    Translation. _Cranstoun_, Edinburgh and London, 1872,
-      Blackwood. [English verse with notes.]
-
-    TROGUS. See JUSTIN.
-
-    VARIUS. Text in _Fragm. Poet. Rom._
-
-    VARRO ATACINUS. Text in _Fragm. Poet. Rom._
-
-    VARRO (MARCUS). Text. De Lingua Latina, _Mueller_, Leipzig,
-      1833; _Spengel_, Berlin, 1885. De Re Rustica, _Keil_, Leipzig,
-      1889, Teubner series [commentary, 1891]. Fragments of Varro's
-      Menippean Satires are contained in _Buecheler's_ PETRONIUS, of
-      the lost grammatical works in _Wilmanns_, De Varronis Libris
-      Grammaticis, Berlin, 1864, Weidmann, of the Antiquitates
-      in _Merckel's_ edition of OVID'S Fasti, Berlin, 1841, and
-      poetical fragments in _Fragm. Poet. Rom._
-
-    VEGETIUS RENATUS. Text. Epitoma Rei Militaris, _Lang_,
-      Leipzig, 2d ed. 1885, Teubner series.
-
-      Mulomedicina. In Schneider's _Scriptores Rei Rusticae_, Jena,
-        1794-'97.
-
-    VELLEIUS PATERCULUS. Text. _Halm_, Leipzig, 1876, Teubner
-      series.
-
-    Translation. _J. S. Watson_, Bohn's and Harper's Libraries.
-      [SALLUST, FLORUS, and VELLEIUS PATERCULUS, with notes.]
-
-    VIRGIL. Text. _Ribbeck_, Leipzig, 2d ed., Teubner series.
-
-      Crit. Text. _Ribbeck_, Leipzig, 2d ed., Teubner. 4 vols.
-
-      Annotated editions. _Conington_ and _Nettleship_, London,
-      1865-'71, Bell, 3 vols.; _Greenough_, Boston, 1895, Ginn & Co.
-      [School editions of parts of Virgil's works are numerous.]
-
-      Translation (verse). _Dryden_, in his complete works.
-
-      Aeneid. _Conington_, London, 1870, Longmans; _J. D. Long_,
-      Boston, 1879, Lockwood, Brooks & Co.
-
-      Eclogues. _C. S. Calverley_, in his collected works, London,
-      1901, Bell.
-
-      Georgics. _H. W. Preston_, Boston, 1881, Osgood & Co.
-
-    VITRUVIUS. Crit. Text. _Rose_, Leipzig, 1899, Teubner series.
-      Translation. _Gwilt_, London, new ed. 1860, Weale.
-
-    VOLCACIUS SEDIGITUS. Text in _Fragm. Poet. Rom._
-
-    VOPISCUS. Text in _Script. Hist. Aug._
-
-
-
-
-APPENDIX II
-
-CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE
-
-
-[When two dates are given they designate the birth and death of the
-author or authors named in the same line. The dates given opposite the
-names of emperors, which are printed in italics, refer, however, to
-their reigns, not to their lives. When one date is given it designates
-a time when the activity of the author or authors was probably at its
-height. Interrogation points denote uncertainty.]
-
-      B. C.
-  280.                    | Appius Claudius Caecus (orator).
-  Before 270-about 204.   | Livius Andronicus.
-  About 269-199.          | Gnaeus Naevius.
-  About 254-184.          | Titus Maccius Plautus.
-  239-169.                | Quintus Ennius.
-  234-149.                | Marcus Porcius Cato.
-  About 230.              | Quintus Fabius Maximus Cunctator
-                          |   (orator).
-  220-about 130.          | Marcus Pacuvius.
-  216.                    | Quintus Fabius Pictor.
-  211.                    | Fabulae Atellanae introduced.
-  210.                    | Lucius Cincius Alimentus.
-  206.                    | Quintus Caecilius Metellus (orator).
-  Before 200-about 165.   | Statius Caecilius (comic poet).
-  198.                    | Sextus Aelius (jurist).
-  (?)-196.                | Marcus Cornelius Cethegus (orator).
-  About 192-152.          | Cato's son (jurist).
-  191.                    | Scipio Nasica (jurist).
-  About 190-159.          | Publius Terentius Afer (Terence).
-  185-129.                | Scipio Africanus the younger.
-  183.                    | Quintus Fabius Labeo (jurist).
-  (?)-183.                | Publius Licinius Crassus (orator),
-                          |   Scipio Africanus the elder.
-  About 180.              | Lucius Acilius (jurist).
-  180 (?)-126.            | Gaius Lucilius.
-  (?)-174.                | Publius Aelius (jurist).
-  170-at least 100.       | Lucius Accius.
-  163-133.                | Tiberius Gracchus (orator).
-  About 158-about 75.     | Publius Rutilius Rufus.
-  154-121.                | Gaius Gracchus (orator).
-  About 154-after 100.    | Lucius Aelius Praeconinus Stilo.
-  About 152-87.           | Quintus Lutatius Catulus.
-                          |
-  About 150.              | Lucius Afranius, Titinius (comic poets),
-                          |   Publius Cornelius Scipio, Aulus
-                          |   Postumius Albinus, Gaius Acilius.
-  143-87.                 | Marcus Antonius (orator).
-  About 140.              | Lucius Cassius Hemina, Gaius Laelius.
-  140-91.                 | Lucius Licinius Crassus (orator).
-  136.                    | Lucius Furius Philus (orator and jurist).
-  133.                    | Publius Mucius Scaevola, Lucius Calpurnius
-                          |   Piso Frugi.
-  131.                    | Publius Licinius Crassus Mucianus (jurist).
-  About 130.              | Gaius Titius.
-  122.                    | Gaius Fannius (orator and historian).
-  119-67.                 | Lucius Cornelius Sisenna.
-  116-27.                 | Marcus Terentius Varro.
-  114-50.                 | Hortensius (orator).
-  109-32.                 | Titus Pomponius Atticus.
-  106-43.                 | Marcus Tullius Cicero.
-  105-43.                 | Decimus Laberius.
-  (?)-103.                | Turpilius (comic poet).
-  102 (?)-44.             | Gaius Julius Caesar.
-  102-43.                 | Quintus Cicero.
-  Latter part of the      | Gnaeus Matius, Laevius Melissus, Hostius,
-    second century.       |   Aulus Furius, Coelius Antipater, Quintus
-                          |   Valerius Soranus.
-  Before 100-after 30.    | Cornelius Nepos.
-  About 99-55 (?).        | Titus Lucretius Carus.
-  (?)-at least 91.        | Sempronius Asellio (historian).
-  95.                     | Quintus Mucius Scaevola (jurist).
-  About 90.               | Lucius Pomponius, Novius (writers of
-                          |   _Fabulae Atellanae_), Volcacius Sedigitus.
-  (?)-87                  | Gaius Julius Caesar Strabo (tragedian).
-  87-47.                  | Gaius Licinius Calvus.
-  86-35.                  | Gaius Sallustius Crispus.
-  Early in the first      |
-    century.              | Valerius Antias, Quintus Cornificius.
-  First half of the first | Sueius, Gaius Helvius Cinna, Publius
-    century.              |   Valerius Cato, Gaius Memmius, Ticidas,
-                          |   Aurelius Opilius, Antonius Gnipho,
-                          |   Marcus Pompilius Andronicus, Santra,
-                          |   Servius Sulpicius Rufus.
-  About 84-about 54.      | Gaius Valerius Catullus.
-  (?)-at least 82.        | Quintus Claudius Quadrigarius (historian).
-  82-after 37.            | Varro Atacinus.
-  78 (?)-42.              | Marcus Junius Brutus.
-  (?)-77                  | Titus Quinctius Atta.
-  70-27.                  | Cornelius Gallus.
-  70 (?)-8.               | Gaius Maecenas.
-  70-19.                  | Publius Vergilius Maro (Virgil).
-  About 70-after 16.      | Vitruvius Pollio.
-  67-5 A. D.              | Gaius Asinius Pollio.
-  65-8.                   | Quintus Horatius Flaccus (Horace).
-  About 64-about 17 A. D. | Gaius Julius Hyginus.
-  64-8 A. D. Marcus       | Valerius Messalla.
-  63-14 A. D.             | Gaius Octavius (Caesar Octavianus Augustus).
-  63-12 A. D.             | Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa.
-  59-17 A. D.             | Titus Livius (Livy).
-  About 55-about 40 A. D. | Seneca (the father).
-  About 54-about 19.      | Albius Tibullus.
-  About 54-about 4.       | Domitius Marsus.
-  52-19 A. D.             | Decimus Fenestella.
-  About 50.               | Publilius Syrus (writer of mimes).
-  About 50-about 15.      | Sextus Propertius.
-  (?)-47.                 | Marcus Calidius.
-  47-about 30 A. D.       | Decimus Valerius Maximus.
-  (?)-45.                 | Nigidius Figulus.
-  (?)-after 44.           | Gaius Oppius.
-  (?)-43.                 | Aulus Hirtius.
-  (?)-after 43.           | Marcus Tullius Tiro.
-  43-(?).                 | Lygdamus.
-  43-17 A. D.             | Publius Ovidius Naso (Ovid).
-  40-33 A. D.             | Asinius Gallus.
-  About 20.               | Pompeius Trogus.
-  15-19 A. D.             | Claudius Caesar Germanicus.
-  14-59 A. D.             | Domitius Afer.
-  12.                     | Gaius Valgius Rufus.
-  Second half of the      | Sulpicia, Albinovanus Pedo, Ponticus,
-    first century.        |   Macer, Grattius, Rabirius, Cornelius
-                          |   Severus, Gaius Melissus, the _Priapea_,
-                          |   the _Consolatio ad Liviam_, Titus Labienus,
-                          |   Marcus Porcius Latro, Gaius Albucius
-                          |   Silus, Quintus Haterius, Lucius
-                          |   Junius Gallio, Arellius Fuscus, Lucius
-                          |   Cestius Pius, Marcus Antistius Labeo,
-                          |   Gaius Ateius Capito.
-  First half of the first | Manilius, the _Aetna_, Aufidius Bassus,
-    century.              |   Quintus Remmius Palaemon, Caepio, Antonius
-                          |   Castor, Julius Atticus, Lucius
-                          |   Gracchinus, Marcus Apicius, Lucius
-                          |   Annaeus Cornutus, the Sextii, Gaius
-                          |   Musonius Rufus.
-  About 1.                | Verrius Flaccus.
-  About 1-65.             | Lucius Annaeus Seneca (the son).
-  About 3-88.             | Asconius Pedianus.
-  14-37.                  | _Tiberius._
-  About 15-80.            | The father of Statius.
-  16-59.                  | Agrippina.
-  23-79.                  | Gaius Plinius Secundus (Pliny the elder).
-  (?)-25.                 | Cremutius Cordus.
-  25-101.                 | Silius Italicus.
-  (?)-27.                 | Votienus Montanus.
-  30.                     | Velleius Paterculus.
-                          |
-  (?)-31.                 | Publius Vitellius.
-  (?)-32.                 | Cassius Severus.
-  (?)-34                  | Mamercus Scaurus.
-  34-62.                  | Aulus Persius Flaccus (Persius).
-  About 35-about 100.     | Marcus Fabius Quintilianus (Quintilian).
-  About 35.               | Aulus Cornelius Celsus.
-  37-41.                  | _Caligula._
-  39-65.                  | Marcus Annaeus Lucanus (Lucan).
-  About 40.               | Phaedrus, Columella, Pomponius Mela.
-  About 40-about 95.      | Publius Papinius Statius.
-  About 40-about 104.     | Marcus Valerius Martialis (Martial).
-  41-54.                  | _Claudius._
-  About 45.               | Gaius Cassius Longinus, Proculus.
-  About 50.               | Pomponius Secundus, Quintus Curtius
-                          |   Rufus, Suetonius Paulinus.
-  54-68.                  | _Nero._
-  About 55-about 118.     | Cornelius Tacitus.
-  55 (?)-about 135.       | Decimus Junius Juvenalis (Juvenal).
-  56                      | Marcus Valerius Probus.
-  About 60.               | Titus Calpurnius Siculus.
-  61 or 62-112 or 113.    | Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus (Pliny
-                          |   the younger).
-  (?)-66                  | Petronius Arbiter.
-  (?)-67                  | Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo.
-  69-79.                  | _Vespasian._
-  About 70.               | Saleius Bassus, Curiatius Maternus,
-                          |   Sextus Julius Frontinus.
-  About 70 or 75 to about | Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus.
-    150.                  |
-  79-81.                  | _Titus._
-  81-96.                  | _Domitian._
-  (?)-about 90.           | Gaius Valerius Flaccus.
-  96-98.                  | _Nerva._
-  Time of Nerva and       | Hyginus, Balbus, Siculus Flaccus,
-    Trajan.               |   several grammarians, etc.
-  98-117.                 | _Trajan._
-  About 100-175.          | Marcus Cornelius Fronto.
-  About 110-180.          | Gaius.
-  117-138.                | _Hadrian._
-  Time of Hadrian.        | Lucius Annaeus (?) Florus, Marcus Junianus
-                          |   Justinus (Justin), Salvius Julianus,
-                          | Quintus Terentius Scaurus.
-  About 125-(?).          | Aulus Gellius.
-  About 125-about 200.    | Apuleius.
-  138-161.                | _Antoninus Pius._
-  Time of Antoninus.      | Granius Licinianus, Lucius Ampelius, Sextus
-                          |   Pomponius.
-  Time of Antoninus and   | Quintus Cervidius Scaevola.
-    M. Aurelius.          |
-  About 160.              | Marcus Minucius Felix.
-  About 160-about 230.    | Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus
-                          |   (Tertullian).
-  161-180.                | _Marcus Aurelius._
-  About 165-230.          | Marius Maximus.
-  180-192.                | _Commodus._
-  (?)-212.                | Aemilius Papinianus.
-  Before 200.             | Terentianus Maurus, Juba.
-  193-211.                | _Septimius Severus._
-  Second or third century.| The _Pervigilium Veneris_.
-  About 200.              | Helenius Acro, Pomponius Porphyrio,
-                          |   Quintus Sammonicus Serenus.
-  Early in the third      | Hosidius Geta, Gaius Julius Romanus,
-    century.              |   Julius Paulus.
-  Third century.          | The _Disticha Catonis_, Cornelius Labeo,
-                          |   Quintus Gargilius Martialis, Aquila Romanus,
-                          |   Gaius Julius Solinus.
-  About 200-258.          | St. Cyprian (Thascius Caecilius Cyprianus).
-  222-235.                | _Alexander Severus._
-  (?)-228.                | Domitius Ulpianus.
-  238.                    | _Gordian I._
-  238.                    | Censorinus.
-  249.                    | Commodianus.
-  About 250.              | Aelius Julius Cordus.
-  260-268.                | _Gallienus._
-  270-275.                | _Aurelian._
-  275.                    | _Tacitus._
-  283.                    | Marcus Aurelius Olympius Nemesianus.
-  284-305.                | _Diocletian._
-  Time of Diocletian.     | Aelius Spartianus, Julius Capitolinus,
-                          |   Vulcacius Gallicanus, Trebellius Pollio.
-  About 290.              | Arnobius.
-  297.                    | Eumenius (panegyrist).
-  Latter part of the      | Vespa, Marius Plotius Sacerdos.
-    third century.        |
-  End of the third        | Aelius Festus Aphthonius.
-    century.              |
-  About 300.              | Lactantius Firmianus, Reposianus,
-                          |   Gregorianus.
-  Early part of the       | Aelius Lampridius, Flavius Vopiscus, Nonius,
-    fourth century.       |   Macrobius, Optatianus, Juvencus.
-  Fourth century.         | Itineraries, Peutinger Tablet.
-  About 310-about 395.    | Ausonius.
-  About 315-367.          | St. Hilary.
-  321.                    | Nazarius (panegyrist).
-  About 330.              | Hermogenianus.
-  330-400.                | Ammianus Marcellinus.
-  331-420.                | St. Jerome.
-  About 340-397.          | St. Ambrose.
-  About 345-405.          | Symmachus.
-  348 to about 410.       | Prudentius.
-  About 350.              | Marius Victorinus, Aelius Donatus,
-                          |   Charisius, Diomedes, Palladius.
-  354 (?).                | Firmicus Maternus.
-  354.                    | The _Notitia_.
-  354-430.                | St. Augustine.
-  About 360.              | Julius Obsequens.
-  360.                    | Aurelius Victor.
-  362.                    | Mamertinus (panegyrist).
-  365.                    | Eutropius.
-  Second half of fourth   | Dictys Cretensis (L. Septimius).
-    century.              |
-  Latter part of the      | Servius.
-    fourth century.       |
-  369.                    | Rufius Festus.
-  370.                    | (Rufius Festus) Avienus.
-  About 370.              | The _Querolus_.
-  389.                    | Drepanius (panegyrist).
-  About 400.              | Claudian (Claudius Claudianus),
-                          |   Martianus Capella, Vegetius, Avianus.
-  Early in the fifth      | Sulpicius Serenus.
-    century.              |
-  Fifth century.          | Dares.
-  416.                    | Namatianus.
-  417.                    | Orosius.
-  438.                    | _Codex Theodosianus._
-  About 450.              | Sedulius.
-  End of the fifth        | Dracontius.
-    century.              |
-  About 500.              | Priscian.
-  529.                    | _Code_ of Justinian.
-  533.                    | _Pandects_ and _Institutes_.
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[1] Even if this work and some treatises on grammar should be ascribed
-to a later Ennius, which is not proved, the works of the great poet
-were sufficiently various.
-
-[2] Ancient customs and men cause the Roman republic to prosper.
-
-[3] Whom no one with the sword could overcome nor by bribing.
-
-[4] This line occurs in a context which is worth translating. "I do
-not ask gold for myself, and do not you offer me a ransom: not waging
-the war like hucksters, but like soldiers, with the sword, not with
-gold, let us strive for our lives. Let us try by our valor whether our
-mistress Fortune wishes you or me to rule."
-
-[5] Aulus Gellius, xii, 4.
-
-[6] Quoted by Cicero, _De Deor. Nat._ II, 35, 89.
-
-[7] _Rudens_, 160-173.
-
-[8] _Persa_, 204-224.
-
-[9] _Phormio_, 784 ff. Translated by M. H. Morgan.
-
-[10] Quoted by Pliny, _N. H._ xxix, 7, 14.
-
-[11] _De Re Rustica_, i.
-
-[12] A brief description of some of the feet and metres most frequently
-used by Roman poets may be useful. These were, with the exception of
-the Saturnian verse (see p. 7), borrowed, with certain modifications,
-from the Greek. The most usual feet are the iambus ([)]--), the trochee
-(--[)]), the spondee (----), the dactyl (--[)][)]), the anapaest
-([)][)]--), and the choriambus (--[)][)]--). The dactylic hexameter
-consists of six feet, each of which is either a dactyl or a spondee,
-though the sixth is always a spondee and the fifth almost always a
-dactyl. An illustration of this is the line from Lucilius,
-
-      _Maior erat natu; non omnia possumus omnes_,
-
-the rhythm of which is retained in this translation:
-
-      He was the elder by birth; not all of us all things can compass.
-
-The iambic _senarius_ consists of six iambics, as
-
-      _Hominem inter vivos quaeritamus mortuom._
-
-                               (Plautus, _Menaechmi_, 240.)
-
-      Among the living we do seek a man who's dead.
-
-This is a common metre in the dialogue parts of dramas. It is one
-foot longer than the line in English blank verse. The trochaic
-_septenarius_, also a common metre in the drama, consists of seven
-trochees and an additional long syllable. The English line,
-
-    Do not lift him from the bracken; leave him lying where he fell
-
-gives an idea of the rhythm.
-
-The elegiac distich consists of an hexameter followed by a so-called
-pentameter, that is, a line made up of six dactyls or spondees, with
-the omission of the last half of the third and of the sixth feet. This
-is illustrated and described by Coleridge in the lines,
-
-    In the hexameter rises the fountain's silvery column.
-    In the pentameter aye falling in melody back.
-
-In the iambic and trochaic metres other feet are often substituted for
-the iambus and the trochee, but without change of rhythm.
-
-Some of the other metres will be explained or illustrated as they occur.
-
-[13] iv, Frg. 8, Mueller.
-
-[14] v, Frg. 33, Mueller.
-
-[15] vi, Frg. 16, Mueller.
-
-[16] libr. incert., Frg. 1, Mueller.
-
-[17] Lucius Aelius Praeconinus Stilo, of Lanuvium, Stoic philosopher,
-philologist and rhetorician, was the first to give regular lessons in
-Latin literature and eloquence and to apply the historical method to
-the study of the Latin language. He was born not far from 154 B. C.,
-and lived well into the first century B. C. His contemporary, Quintus
-Valerius Soranus (from Sora), also wrote on Latin literature, the study
-of which was, in his case, joined with that of Roman antiquities.
-Volcacius Sedigitus, of whose personality nothing is known, wrote a
-didactic poem on the history of Latin literature about 90 B. C. Besides
-these, numerous works on grammar, philology, antiquities, agriculture,
-and other subjects were written by various authors, whose names are in
-many cases lost, but whose works served as quarries from which Varro
-and other writers derived their treasures of learning.
-
-Many prominent Romans played some part in the progress of literature.
-So Publius Rutilius Rufus (born about 158 B. C., consul in 105, died
-about 75) studied the Stoic philosophy, published speeches, juristic
-writings, and an autobiography in Latin, and wrote a history in Greek,
-while Quintus Lutatius Catulus (born about 152 B. C., consul in 102,
-died in 87) published orations and epigrams. Among the letters written
-and published in this period none were more admired than those of
-Cornelia, mother of the Gracchi.
-
-[18] Jerome, in Eusebius' Chronicle, year 1922 of Abraham, i. e., 95 B.
-C.
-
-[19] _Vita Vergilii_, 2.
-
-[20] _Ad Quintum Fratrem_, II, xi, 4.
-
-[21] Book i, 921-947.
-
-[22] iii, 830 f.
-
-[23] Book ii, 172.
-
-[24] ii, 14 ff.
-
-[25] v, 18.
-
-[26] Book i, 271-294.
-
-[27] ii, 323-332 and ii, 40-43.
-
-[28] i, 716-725.
-
-[29] ii, 573-579.
-
-[30] ii, 29-33.
-
-[31] i, 1-9, translation by Goldwin Smith.
-
-[32] Book ii, 1-13, translated by C. S. Calverley.
-
-[33] _c._ cxiii, l. 2.
-
-[34] _cc._ xi and xxix.
-
-[35] Translated by Theodore Martin.
-
-[36] _c._ v.
-
-[37] c. iii. Translated by Goldwin Smith in _Bay-Leaves_.
-
-[38] _c._ xxxi, Translated by C. S. Calverley.
-
-[39] _De Oratore_, i, 15, 64.
-
-[40] _Ibid._, i, 8, 34.
-
-[41] _Pro Ligario_, 1.
-
-[42] _Pro Lege Manilia_, 5, 11.
-
-[43] _Pro Archia Poeta_, 7, 16.
-
-[44] _In Verrem_, ii, v, 52.
-
-[45] _De Divinatione_, ii, 1.
-
-[46] _Ep. ad Atticum_, iii, 5, Shuckburgh's translation.
-
-[47] _Ep. ad Familiares_, ix, 1, Shuckburgh's translation.
-
-[48] _Ep. ad Atticum_, ix, 18.
-
-[49] Hirtius, _De Bello Gallico_, viii, 1.
-
-[50] _Catiline_, 1.
-
-[51] _Ibid._, 31.
-
-[52] _Ecl._ i, 1-10. The selections from the _Eclogues_ are given in
-the translation by C. S. Calverley.
-
-[53] _Ibid._, 42-45.
-
-[54] _Ecl._ iv, 1-17.
-
-[55] _Ecl._ v, 1-18.
-
-[56] _Georgics_, i, 461-483.
-
-[57] _Georgics_, ii, 136 ff.
-
-[58] _Ibid._, ii, 458-460.
-
-[59] _Ibid._, iii, 9-18.
-
-[60] _Ibid._, iv, 149 ff.
-
-[61] _Aeneid_, i, 142-156. The selections from the _Aeneid_ are given in
-Conington's translation.
-
-[62] _Aeneid_, iv, 607-629.
-
-[63] _Ibid._, vi, 868-686.
-
-[64] _Aeneid_, ix, 446-449.
-
-[65] _Epist._ II, ii, 51.
-
-[66] _Sat._ I. v.
-
-[67] _Sat._ I, iv, 103-120, freely translated by Conington.
-
-[68] _Sat._ I, x, 40-49, freely translated by Conington.
-
-[69] _Epode_ ii, 1-4.
-
-[70] _Epist._ I, xix, 23.
-
-[71] _Od._ I, xxxviii, translated by Sir Theodore Martin.
-
-[72] _Od._ I, ix, Calverley's version.
-
-[73] I, iii, 1-9, 53-56, translated by James Grainger.
-
-[74] I, xii. Elton's translation.
-
-[75] _Ex Ponto_, IV, xvi.
-
-[76] Book i, 499-507. The same subject is continued through line 530.
-
-[77] Book v, 540-615.
-
-[78] _Tristia_, IV, x, 69.
-
-[79] _Tristia_, II, 107 ff.
-
-[80] Ovid, _Amores_ II, xviii, 27 ff.
-
-[81] Lines 177 ff.
-
-[82] _Tristia_, I, vii, 13 ff.
-
-[83] _Argonautica_, III, 750 ff. Virgil, _Aeneid_, IV, 522 ff., imitates
-Apollonius more closely.
-
-[84] Especially _Tristia_, IV, x.
-
-[85] _Ibid._, I, iii, 1-4.
-
-[86] _Ibid._, I, vi, III, iii, IV, iii, V, ii, 1-44, xi, xiv, _Ex
-Ponto_, I, iv, III, i.
-
-[87] _Tristia_, III, vii.
-
-[88] xxxvii, 39 ff.
-
-[89] xxi, 10.
-
-[90] This is the generally accepted date, but it is possible that
-Vitruvius may have lived somewhat later.
-
-[91] Hercules Furens, Troades (or Hecuba), Phoenissae (or Thebais, two
-disconnected scenes from Theban myths), Medea, Phaedra (or Hippolytus),
-OEdipus, Agamemnon, Thyestes, and Hercules OEtaeus. The _Fabula Praetexta_
-entitled Octavia is not by Seneca.
-
-[92] Lines 893-944. Translated by Ella Isabel Harris.
-
-[93] This Lucilius has been supposed, though without sufficient reason,
-to be the author of the _Aetna_ (see p. 141).
-
-[94] _Pharsalia_, ix, 256-283.
-
-[95]
-
-    _Verum haec ipse equidem spatiis exclusus iniquis
-    Praetereo atque aliis post me memoranda relinquo._
-
-                        Virgil, _Georgics_, iv, 147 f.
-
-[96] _Thebais_, xi, 580-585.
-
-[97] Pliny, _Ep._ III, xxi.
-
-[98] I, xiii. These selections are translated by Goldwin Smith in _Bay
-Leaves_.
-
-[99] III, xxxv.
-
-[100] III, xli.
-
-[101] IV, viii.
-
-[102] _Inst. Orat._, vi, 3, 5.
-
-[103] _Ibid._, vi, 3, 5.
-
-[104] _Ibid._, vii, 7, 2
-
-[105] The _praenomen_ is uncertain. The best manuscript (Mediceus I)
-gives it as Publius, later manuscripts and Sidonius Apollinaris as
-Gaius.
-
-[106] _Agricola_, 2.
-
-[107] _Annals_, i, 58.
-
-[108] _Ann._, ii, 77.
-
-[109] _Ann._, iii, 6.
-
-[110] _Ann._, iii, 27.
-
-[111] _Hist._, ii, 95.
-
-[112] _Hist._, iv, 74.
-
-[113] _Agric._, 9.
-
-[114] _Sat._ i, 30.
-
-[115] _Sat._ i, 79.
-
-[116] _Sat._ i, 85 f.
-
-[117] _Sat._ iii, 41 ff.
-
-[118] _Sat._ x, 356.
-
-[119] _Sat._ vi, 165.
-
-[120] _Sat._ x, 81.
-
-[121] _Sat._ vi, 223.
-
-[122] _Sat._ vi, 347.
-
-[123] _Sat._ viii, 84.
-
-[124] _Sat._ xiv, 47.
-
-[125] _Ep._, II, xvii.
-
-[126] _Ibid._, V, vi.
-
-[127] _Ibid._, VI, xvi, xx.
-
-[128] _Ibid._, VII, xxxiii.
-
-[129] _Ep._, VII, xx.
-
-[130]
-
-    To-morrow he shall love who ne'er has loved, and he who has loved
-      to-morrow shall love.
-
-[131]
-
-    It is new spring; spring already harmonious; in spring Jove was born.
-    In the spring loves join together; in the spring the birds wed.
-
-[132]
-
-    She (the swallow) is singing, we are silent. When will my spring
-      come?
-    When shall I become like the swallow and cease to be silent?
-    I have lost the Muse by keeping silent, and Apollo cares not for me.
-
-[133] The poem is the last of the _Instructiones_. The title reads:
-_Nomen Gasei_ and the initial letters of the lines read from the last
-to the first from the words: _Commodianus mendicus Christi_. From this
-it is inferred that Commodian was _Gasaeus_, i. e., from Gaza.
-
-[134] The chief Latin writer on philosophy was Firmicus Maternus, whose
-eight books, _Matheseos_ (_Of Learning_), published about 354 A. D.,
-are occupied with Neoplatonic astrology. He is to be distinguished from
-his Christian contemporary and namesake, who wrote of the _Error of the
-Pagan Religions_. Gaius Marius Victorinus, who also lived about the
-middle of the century, was an African by birth, but taught rhetoric at
-Rome. He was the author of philosophical works, chiefly translations
-and adaptations from the Greek, but is best known by his extant work on
-metres in four books, and by some other extant grammatical treatises.
-In his later life he became a Christian, and wrote commentaries on St.
-Paul's epistles, besides some controversial tracts.
-
-[135] These grammatical works have little literary value of their own,
-and owe their importance to the fact that they contain information
-which is not elsewhere preserved. The same is true of several
-handbooks of various kinds compiled in the fourth century. Such are
-the _Itineraries_, giving the distances and routes between the towns
-along the Roman roads, the _Notitia_, describing the regions of the
-city of Rome, and a historical handbook of Rome for the year 354 A.
-D. preserved most fully in a manuscript in Vienna. A few maps of this
-period also exist, the most famous of which is the _Peutinger Tablet_
-(_Tabula Peutingeriana_), now in Vienna. A handbook of _Agriculture_
-(_De Re Rustica_) by Palladius, and the _Epitome of Military Science_
-(_Epitoma Rei Militaris_) by Flavius Vegetius Renatus, who also wrote
-an extant treatise on _Veterinary Medicine_ (_Mulomedicina_), may
-properly be mentioned here, and these works possess also some slight
-literary interest.
-
-[136] In 369 A. D. Festus wrote a handbook similar to that of
-Eutropius, but of less merit. The list of prodigies that took place
-from 249 to 12 B. C., compiled by Julius Obsequens from an abridgment
-of Livy, probably belongs to about the same time. Since a large part of
-Livy's history is lost, such works as these are of some value.
-
-[137] _De Bello Gildonico_, i, 21-25.
-
-[138] _De Reditu Suo_, i, 55-66. Translated by A. J. Church.
-
-
-
-
-INDEX
-
-     [This index contains the names of all Latin authors mentioned
-     in this book, and in addition the names of some historical
-     personages. Reference is also made to a number of special topics.
-     When several references are given, the chief reference to any
-     author stands first. The titles of works are in Italics.]
-
-
-  Accius (Lucius), 12; 13; 32; 43; 53; 236.
-
-  Acilius (Gaius), 33;
-    (Lucius), 37.
-
-  Acro (Helvius), grammarian, 234.
-
-  Aelius Aristides, Greek sophist, 240.
-
-  Aelius Julius Cordus, 255.
-
-  Aelius (P.), jurist, 37;
-    (Sextus), jurist, 37.
-
-  Aesop, 172; 276.
-
-  Aesopus, actor, 66.
-
-  _Aetna_, ascribed to Virgil, 141; 181; 188.
-
-  Afranius, comic poet, 29; 43.
-
-  African school of literature, 248; 257.
-
-  Agrippa (M. Vipsanius), 99.
-
-  Agrippina, 191; 177; 178.
-
-  Albinovanus Pedo, 137.
-
-  Albucius Silus (C.), 165.
-
-  Alcaeus, 114; 121.
-
-  Alexander Severus, emperor, 229.
-
-  Alexandrian literature, 48; 57; 58; 60; 62; 64; 121; 129; 136; 274; 281.
-
-  Ambrose (St.), 266 f.; 258; 268.
-
-  Ammianus Marcellinus, 263 f.
-
-  Ampelius (L.), 232.
-
-  Anacreon, 114; 121.
-
-  Anastasius, emperor, 261.
-
-  Anaxagoras, Greek philosopher, 51.
-
-  Andronicus (L. Livius), 5; 6; 12; 14; 17; 18; 32; 33; 115; 273; 281.
-
-  Andronicus (M. Pompilius). See Pompilius.
-
-  Antimachus, 199.
-
-  Antiochus, Academic philosopher, 66.
-
-  Antonines, 227; 235.
-
-  Antoninus Pius, emperor, 227; 232; 233; 235.
-
-  Antonius Castor, 176.
-
-  Antonius (M.), orator, 45; 66; 70.
-
-  Antonius (M.), triumvir, 68; 71; 82; 93; 99; 131.
-
-  Aphthonius (Aelius Festus), 256.
-
-  Apollodorus, Greek comic poet, 25; 26;
-    Greek rhetorician, 135.
-
-  Apollonius of Rhodes, 63; 107; 152; 196.
-
-  Appius Claudius Caecus, 5.
-
-  Apuleius, 237-240; 241; 243; 246; 248.
-
-  Aquila Romanus, 256.
-
-  Aquilius, comic poet, 23.
-
-  Aratus, Greek poet on astronomy, 70; 173; 270.
-
-  Archias, poet, 66; 70; 75.
-
-  Archilochus, Greek poet, 119; 120.
-
-  Arellius Fuscus, 143; 165.
-
-  Aristotle, 279; 280.
-
-  Arnobius, 250.
-
-  Arria, wife of Paetus, 184; 203.
-
-  Arulenus Rusticus, Stoic, 213.
-
-  Asconius Pedianus (Q.), 192.
-
-  Asellio (Sempronius), 39; 43.
-
-  Atellan plays, 30.
-
-  Atilius, comic poet, 23.
-
-  Atta, 29; 138.
-
-  Attalus, Stoic, 177.
-
-  Atticus (Julius), 176.
-
-  Atticus (T. Pomponius), 94 f.; 79; 80; 91; 92.
-
-  Augustine (St.), 268 f.; 78; 248; 252; 258.
-
-  Augustus, 98; 14; 97; 99; 100; 101; 102; 103; 104; 105; 106; 107; 111;
-    116; 125; 126; 127; 129; 131; 135; 138; 142; 144; 147; 148; 149; 153;
-    154; 155; 157; 163; 165; 168; 169; 170; 171; 172; 173; 174; 176; 177;
-    183; 216; 231; 261; 282.
-
-  Aurelian, emperor, 229.
-
-  Aurelius Victor, 261.
-
-  Ausonius, 270-272; 258; 273.
-
-  Avianus, 276.
-
-  Avienus, 270.
-
-
-  Bacchylides, Greek poet, 121.
-
-  Balbus, writer on geometry, 225.
-
-  Bassus (Aufidius), historian, 176; 205.
-
-  Bassus, poet, 138; 143.
-
-  Bassus (Caesius), poet, 184.
-
-  Bassus (Saleius), poet, 201.
-
-  Boethius, 278-280; 258; 281.
-
-  Brutus (M. Junius), 95; 116; 176; 186.
-
-  Burrus (Afranius), 178.
-
-
-  Caecilius (Q. ---- Metellus), 36.
-
-  Caecilius (Statius), 23; 18.
-
-  Caesar (C. Julius), 83-87; 47; 56; 57; 67; 68; 71; 73; 81; 82; 88; 89;
-    93; 95; 96; 97; 99; 105; 111; 116; 128; 153; 157; 160; 163; 165;
-    168; 174; 186; 215; 281; 283.
-
-  Caesars, Twelve, _lives_ by Suetonius, 230.
-
-  Calidius (M.), 95.
-
-  Caligula, 170; 166; 172; 173; 176; 177; 216.
-
-  Callimachus, Alexandrian poet, 59; 135; 136; 149.
-
-  Calpurnius Piso Frugi (L.), 37; 39.
-
-  Calpurnius Siculus (T.), 187 f.; 254.
-
-  Calvus (Gaius Licinius), 62; 95.
-
-  Cantica, 16.
-
-  Capella (Martianus), 260.
-
-  Capito (C. Ateius), 167; 192.
-
-  Capitolinus (Julius), 255.
-
-  Caracalla, emperor, 233; 247.
-
-  Carlyle, compared with Tacitus, 217.
-
-  Carneades, Academic philosopher, 49.
-
-  Cassius Longinus (C.), jurist, 192.
-
-  Cassius Severus, 165.
-
-  Castor (Antonius), 176.
-
-  Catiline, 47; 67; 89; 90.
-
-  Cato (M. Porcius), 34-36; 8; 45; 90; 92; 192; 207; 236;
-    his son, 37.
-
-  Cato (P. Valerius), 63 f.
-
-  Cato (Uticensis), 186.
-
-  _Catonis disticha_, 254 f.
-
-  Catullus, 56-62; 46; 48; 91; 96; 120; 121; 122; 128; 129; 141; 145;
-    168; 202; 281.
-
-  Catulus (Q. Lutatius), 44.
-
-  Celsus (A. Cornelius), 175; 173.
-
-  Censorinus, 256.
-
-  Cestius Pius (L.), 165.
-
-  Cethegus (M. Cornelius), 36.
-
-  Charisius, grammarian, 261; 176.
-
-  Christian literature, 227; 243; 244-252; 258; 265-269; 270; 272 f.; 276.
-
-  Cicero (M. Tullius), 65-82; 12; 30; 36; 45; 46; 47; 48; 64; 83; 85; 86;
-    89; 91; 92; 95; 96; 138; 156; 159; 160; 164; 166; 168; 170; 171; 183;
-    192; 209; 210; 212; 213; 215; 219; 224; 230; 237; 240; 246; 248; 252;
-    257; 260; 267; 269; 270; 280; 281.
-
-  Cicero (Q.), 95 f.; 64; 79.
-
-  Cincius Alimentus, 33.
-
-  Cinna (C. Helvius), 62; 167.
-
-  _Ciris_, ascribed to Virgil, 141.
-
-  Claudian, 273-275; 258; 276.
-
-  Claudius, emperor, 171; 173; 178; 179; 183; 191; 216.
-
-  Clitomachus, philosopher, 66.
-
-  _Code_ of Justinian, 264.
-
-  Coelius Antipater, 43.
-
-  Columella, 191 f.
-
-  Comedy, 17-31; 6; 7; 8; 14; 15; 16; 32;
-    its plots and characters, 19.
-
-  Commodianus, Christian poet, 249 f.
-
-  Commodus, emperor, 228, 233.
-
-  Constantine, emperor, 251; 257; 258; 264; 270; 271.
-
-  Constantinople, 226; 261; 278.
-
-  Constantius, emperor, 261; 266.
-
-  _Copa_, ascribed to Virgil, 191.
-
-  Corbulo (Gnaeus Domitius), 191.
-
-  Cordus. See Aelius Julius.
-
-  Corinna, addressed in Ovid's poems, 145.
-
-  Cornelia, mother of the Gracchi, 44; 92.
-
-  Cornelius Nepos. See Nepos.
-
-  Cornificius, 45; 64; 95.
-
-  Cornutus (L. Annaeus), 177; 184; 185.
-
-  Costumes, theatrical, 15.
-
-  Crassus (L.), 66; 70; 72.
-
-  Crassus (P. Licinius), 36.
-
-  Cremutius Cordus, historian, 176.
-
-  Critolaus, Peripatetic philosopher, 49.
-
-  _Culex_, ascribed to Virgil, 140; 141.
-
-  Curtius Rufus (Q.), 191.
-
-  Cynthia, beloved of Propertius, 135; 136; 145.
-
-  Cyprian (St.), 248 f.
-
-
-  Dante, 111; 112; 113.
-
-  Dares, 265.
-
-  Decius, emperor, persecuted Christians, 249.
-
-  Delia, beloved of Tibullus, 132; 134; 145.
-
-  Demetrius, teacher of oratory, 66.
-
-  Democritus, Greek philosopher, 51; 52; 55.
-
-  Demosthenes, 71; 77; 159; 209.
-
-  Dictys, 265.
-
-  Didius Julianus, emperor, 228.
-
-  _Digests_, 264.
-
-  Dio Cassius, 255.
-
-  Dio Chrysostom, 234; 240.
-
-  Diocletian, emperor, 250; 251; 252; 255; 256; 264.
-
-  Diodotus, Stoic philosopher, 66.
-
-  Diogenes, Stoic philosopher, 49.
-
-  Diomedes, grammarian, 261; 241.
-
-  Dionysius, Greek writer, 270.
-
-  Diphilus, Greek comic poet, 17; 26.
-
-  _Dirae_, poem ascribed to Virgil, 63 f.; 141.
-
-  _Disticha Catonis_, 254 f.
-
-  Diverbia, 16.
-
-  Domitian, emperor, 195; 198; 199; 201; 207; 211; 212; 213; 214; 216;
-    219; 225.
-
-  Domitius Afer, orator, 176.
-
-  Domitius Marsus, 137.
-
-  Domitius Ulpianus, 255.
-
-  Donatus, 260; 48; 267.
-
-  Dracontius, late poet, 276.
-
-  Drepanius, panegyrist, 257.
-
-
-  Elegy, 128-137.
-
-  Elocutio novella, 240; 241.
-
-  Emerson (R. W.), 183.
-
-  Empedocles, Greek philosopher, 51; 52; 53.
-
-  Emperors, their influence upon literature, 170 f.; 194 f.; 227-229.
-
-  Ennius (Quintus), 8-10; 11; 12; 18; 33; 40; 48; 53; 107; 236.
-
-  Ephorus, Greek historian, 37.
-
-  Epictetus, ethical preacher, 177.
-
-  Epicurean doctrines, 49-55; 78; 182.
-
-  Epicurus, 49; 50; 51; 52; 54; 55.
-
-  Eumenius, panegyrist, 257.
-
-  Euphorion, 131.
-
-  Euripides, 107; 121; 179; 180.
-
-  Eusebius, 48; 262; 268.
-
-  Eutropius, 262.
-
-
-  Fabianus (Papirius), 177.
-
-  Fabius (Q. ---- Labeo), 37.
-
-  Fabius Pictor, 33; 37; 158.
-
-  Fabius Maximus Cunctator, 36.
-
-  Fabulae Atellanae, 30.
-
-  Fabulae palliatae, 18; 29.
-
-  Fabulae praetextae, 7; 9; 12; 13; 179; 184; 188.
-
-  Fabulae togatae, 18; 29; 138.
-
-  Fabulae trabeatae, 138.
-
-  Fannius (G.), 39; 43.
-
-  Fenestella, historian, 164.
-
-  Fescennine verses, 29.
-
-  Firmicus Maternus, 260.
-
-  Festus, wrote a handbook of history, 262.
-
-  Festus (Pompeius), 166; 167; 234.
-
-  Flavius, grammarian, 251.
-
-  Florus, 231.
-
-  Frontinus (Sextus Julius), 206.
-
-  Fronto, 235 f.; 228; 237; 238; 240; 241; 243; 246.
-
-  Fundanus, 118.
-
-  Furius. See Philus.
-
-  Furius Antias, 43.
-
-  Furius Bibaculus, 64; 63.
-
-
-  Gaius, jurist, 233.
-
-  Galba, emperor, 194; 206; 215; 216.
-
-  Galerius, 252.
-
-  Gallic oratory, 256 f.; 264 f.
-
-  Gallicanus (Vulcacius), 255.
-
-  Gallienus, emperor, 229.
-
-  Gallio (L. Junius), 165.
-
-  Gallus (Cornelius), 131; 100; 101; 107; 129.
-
-  Gallus (C. Asinius), 103; 171; 176.
-
-  Gargilius Martialis (Q.), 256.
-
-  Gellius (Aulus), 236 f.; 7; 259; 260.
-
-  Germanicus, 173; 176; 178; 270.
-
-  Geta (Hosidius), 254.
-
-  Gnipho (M. Antonius), 66; 96.
-
-  Gordian I, emperor, 229.
-
-  Gracchi, 36; 43; 44; 45.
-
-  Gracchinus (Julius), 176.
-
-  Gracchus (Gaius), 45; 43; 236.
-
-  Gracchus (Tiberius), 45; 43.
-
-  Grammar, 93; 96; 166; 176; 225; 233 f.; 256; 260 f.
-
-  Granius Licinianus, 232.
-
-  Gratian, emperor, 265; 271.
-
-  Grattius, 137.
-
-  Greek influence in Roman literature, 1; 4; 5; 17; 21; 27; 32; 37; 48;
-      128 f.; 179; 180; 226; 283;
-    in Roman manners, 33; 128 f.
-
-  Gregorianus, 264.
-
-
-  Hadrian, emperor, 219; 225; 227; 229; 231; 232; 233; 235; 241; 255.
-
-  Haterius (Q.), 165.
-
-  Heliogabalus, emperor, 255.
-
-  Hemina (L. Cassius), 37; 39.
-
-  Heraclitus, Greek philosopher, 51.
-
-  Herennius Priscus, Stoic, 213.
-
-  Herennius, treatise addressed to, 45; 69.
-
-  Hermogenianus, jurist, 264.
-
-  Herodian, 255.
-
-  Herodotus, 219.
-
-  Herondas, Greek poet, 62.
-
-  Hesiod, 107.
-
-  Hieronymus. See Jerome.
-
-  Hilary (St.), 265 f.; 258.
-
-  Hirtius (A.), 87 f.
-
-  _Historia Augusta_, 255.
-
-  History, 33; 43; 88; 163 f.; 173; 176; 191; 232; 255; 261 ff.
-
-  Homer, 6; 62; 107; 108; 109; 114; 118; 149; 171; 187; 197; 219.
-
-  Honorius, emperor, 273.
-
-  Horace, 114-127; 12; 41; 64; 96; 98; 99; 100; 139; 168; 185; 186; 188;
-    193; 219; 231; 233; 234; 282.
-
-  Hortensius Hortalus, 95; 59; 69; 77.
-
-  Hosidius Geta, 254.
-
-  Hostius, 43.
-
-  Hyginus (C. Julius), 167.
-
-  Hyginus, writer on surveying, 225.
-
-
-  _Institutes_ of Justinian, 264.
-
-  Itineraries, 261.
-
-
-  Jerome (St.), 267 f.; 48; 49; 56; 193; 231; 250; 251; 252; 258; 261;
-    262.
-
-  Johnson, Samuel, 221.
-
-  Josephus, Greek historian, 217; 267.
-
-  Juba, grammarian, 234.
-
-  Julian, emperor, 257; 261; 263.
-
-  Julianus (Salvius), jurist, 233.
-
-  Julius Obsequens, 262.
-
-  Julius Paulus, jurist, 255.
-
-  Jurists, 37; 44; 96; 167; 192; 225; 233; 255; 264.
-
-  Justin (M. Junianus Justinus), 164; 232.
-
-  Justin, emperor, 279.
-
-  Justinian, emperor, 233; 264; 283.
-
-  Juvenal, 218-222; 202; 211; 225; 283.
-
-  Juvencus, 270.
-
-
-  Labeo, see Fabius.
-
-  Labeo (M. Antistius), 167; 192.
-
-  Labeo (Cornelius), 255.
-
-  Laberius (Decimus), 30 f.; 62.
-
-  Labienus (T.), 165.
-
-  Lactantius, 251 f.
-
-  Laelius (C.), 39; 24; 38.
-
-  Lampridius (Aelius), 255.
-
-  Laevius, 62.
-
-  Latin language, 2;
-    changes in, 237.
-
-  Latro (M. Porcius), 165.
-
-  Lesbia, 57; 60; 61; 145.
-
-  Licinianus (Granius), 232.
-
-  Licinius Imbrex, comic poet, 23.
-
-  Licinius (L.), orator, 45.
-
-  Livius Andronicus. See Andronicus.
-
-  Livy (T. Livius), 156-163; 166; 168; 171; 186; 191; 197; 216; 231; 232;
-    262; 270.
-
-  Lucan (M. Annaeus Lucanus), 185-187; 165; 184; 190; 201; 231.
-
-  Lucian, Greek writer, 240.
-
-  Lucilius (Gaius), 39-42; 43; 45; 115; 117; 118; 121; 219.
-
-  Lucilius, Seneca's writings addressed to, 181.
-
-  Lucretius (T.), 47-55; 46; 96; 138; 139; 168; 193.
-
-  Luscius Lanuvinus, comic poet, 23.
-
-  Lycophron, Alexandrian poet, 63.
-
-  Lygdamus, poet, 132 f.
-
-
-  Macer (Gaius Licinius), 44; 158.
-
-  Macer, epic poet, 138; 143; 155.
-
-  Macrobius, 260.
-
-  Maecenas (Gaius), 99; 100; 101; 104; 116; 118; 119; 121; 124; 135; 137.
-
-  Mamertinus, panegyrist, 257.
-
-  Manilius, 138 f.; 156; 173.
-
-  Marcus Aurelius, emperor, 227 f.; 233; 234; 235; 236; 237.
-
-  Marius (Gaius), 43; 83; 91; 158.
-
-  Marius Maximus, 255.
-
-  Marius Victorinus, 256.
-
-  Martial, 201-203; 140; 141; 158; 211; 219.
-
-  Martialis (Q. Gargilius), 256.
-
-  Martianus Capella, 260.
-
-  Masks, theatrical, 15.
-
-  Maternus (Curiatius), 201;
-    (Firmicus), 260.
-
-  Matius (Gnaeus), 43; 62.
-
-  Maximus of Tyre, 240.
-
-  Mela (Pomponius), 192; 191.
-
-  Melissus (Laevius), 43.
-
-  Memmius (Gaius), 64; 49; 57.
-
-  Menander, Greek comic poet, 17; 25; 26.
-
-  Menippean satires, 93; 183; 189.
-
-  Menippus, Greek Cynic, 93.
-
-  Messalla (M. Valerius), 99; 131; 132; 133; 134; 141; 155.
-
-  Metres, 40 f.; 6; 7; 28; 121; 122; 124; 129; 136; 140; 144; 153.
-
-  Middle Ages, 112; 243; 272; 281.
-
-  Milton, 155; 280.
-
-  Mimes, 30 f.
-
-  Mimnermus, Greek poet, 129.
-
-  Minucius Felix, 245 f.; 248; 252.
-
-  Molo, Cicero's teacher, 66.
-
-  Montanus, 247.
-
-  Montanus. See Votienus.
-
-  _Monumentum Ancyranum_, 98.
-
-  _Moretum_, ascribed to Virgil, 141.
-
-  Morris (William), the _Earthly Paradise_, 239.
-
-  Mucianus (P. Licinius Crassus), 44.
-
-  Musonius Rufus (C.), 177; 270.
-
-
-  Naevius (Gnaeus), 6; 7; 8; 9; 18; 53; 107.
-
-  Namatianus (Rutilius Claudius), 275.
-
-  Nazarius, panegyrist, 257.
-
-  Nemesianus, 254; 188.
-
-  Nepos (Cornelius), 91 f.; 64; 94; 265.
-
-  Nero, emperor, 171; 176; 177; 178; 179; 185; 186; 188; 191; 194; 195;
-    197; 216; 252.
-
-  Nerva, emperor, 211; 216; 255; 263.
-
-  Nigidius Figulus (P.), 96.
-
-  Nonius, 259; 260.
-
-  Nonnus, Greek poet, 274.
-
-  _Notitia_, 261.
-
-  Novius, 30.
-
-  Numerianus, emperor, 255.
-
-
-  Obsequens (Julius), 262.
-
-  Opilius (Aurelius), 96.
-
-  Oppius (Gaius), 88.
-
-  Optatianus, 269 f.
-
-  Orators, 5; 34; 45; 95; 164 f.; 175 f.; 225; 256 f.; 264.
-
-  Orosius, 263.
-
-  Otho, emperor, 194; 216.
-
-  Ovid, 143-155; 14; 64; 130; 132; 134; 135; 136; 137; 138; 140; 142;
-      156; 168; 173; 186; 188; 197; 202;
-    poems ascribed to, 142.
-
-
-  Pacuvius, 11; 12; 18; 53.
-
-  Paetus Thrasea, 184; 203.
-
-  Palladius, 261.
-
-  Panaetius, Stoic philosopher, 39; 49.
-
-  _Pandects_, 264.
-
-  Panegyrists, 257.
-
-  Papinianus, jurist, 233.
-
-  Papirius Fabianus, 177.
-
-  Parthenius, 129.
-
-  Paul (St.), alleged correspondence with Seneca, 183.
-
-  Paulus (Julius), 255.
-
-  Pentadius, 254.
-
-  Perilla, Ovid's daughter, 154.
-
-  Periods of Roman literature, 3; 281 ff.
-
-  Persius (A. ---- Flaccus), 183-185; 177; 193; 219; 234.
-
-  Pertinax, emperor, 228.
-
-  _Pervigilium Veneris_, 241-243; 272.
-
-  Petronius (C. ---- Arbiter), 188-191.
-
-  _Peutinger Tablet_, 261.
-
-  Phaedrus, Epicurean, 66.
-
-  Phaedrus, poet of fables, 172 f.
-
-  Philemon, Greek comic poet, 17.
-
-  Philo, Jewish-Greek philosopher, 66; 267.
-
-  Philosophy, 49; 78; 176 f.; 181 f.; 260.
-
-  Philus (L. Furius), 39.
-
-  Piso (L. Calpurnius ---- Frugi), 37; 39.
-
-  Piso (Calpurnius), conspired against Nero, 172; 178; 185; 186; 188.
-
-  Plato, 219; 239.
-
-  Plautus, 18-23; 27; 28; 29; 233; 236; 270.
-
-  Pliny the elder, 204-206; 195; 215; 222; 231; 253; 256.
-
-  Pliny the younger, 222-225; 160; 202; 204; 211; 229; 230; 244; 257; 265.
-
-  Plotius, 116;
-    Plotius Sacerdos. See Sacerdos.
-
-  Plutarch, 234.
-
-  Pollio (Gaius Asinius), 99; 100; 101; 102; 103; 118; 122; 160; 166;
-      167; 171; 176;
-    (Trebellius), 255.
-
-  Polybius, Greek historian, 39; 92; 158.
-
-  Pompeius Trogus. See Trogus.
-
-  Pompey, 47; 56; 67; 68; 69; 81; 82; 84; 93; 158; 163; 186; 187.
-
-  Pompilius Andronicus (M.), 96.
-
-  Pomponius (L.), 30.
-
-  Pomponius Secundus (P.), 188; 204.
-
-  Pomponius (Sextus), 233.
-
-  Ponticus, poet, 138; 143.
-
-  Porcius Latro, 143.
-
-  Porphyrio (Pomponius), grammarian, 234.
-
-  Posidonius, Stoic, 66.
-
-  Postumius Albinus, 33.
-
-  _Priapea_, 140.
-
-  Priscian, 261.
-
-  Probus (M. Valerius), 193.
-
-  Proculus, jurist, 192.
-
-  Propertius, 134-137; 130; 131; 132; 143; 145; 146; 149; 168.
-
-  Prose, Greek influence upon, 32;
-    progress in, 46; 156.
-
-  Prosper of Aquitania, 262.
-
-  Prudentius, Christian poet, 272 f.
-
-  Publilia, Cicero's wife, 68.
-
-  Publilius Syrus, 30 f.; 62.
-
-  Punic war;
-    first, 6; 33; 158;
-    second, 33; 36; 158;
-    third, 38; 44.
-
-  Pythagoras, doctrine, 153.
-
-
-  Quadrigarius (Q. Claudius), 43; 158.
-
-  Quintilian, 206-210; 175; 182; 195; 202; 213.
-
-  Quintus Curtius Rufus, 191.
-
-
-  Rabirius, 138.
-
-  Remmius Palaemon (Q.), 176; 184.
-
-  Renatus (Flavius Vegetius), 261.
-
-  Reposianus, 254.
-
-  Roman literature;
-    its importance, 1; 284;
-    its practical purpose, 2 f.; 211 f.;
-    its divisions, 3; 281 ff.;
-    native elements, 4;
-    its progress, 48;
-    its decay, 169; 226 f.; 283;
-    Greek influence, 1; 4; 5; 17; 21; 27; 32; 48; 128 f.; 226; 283;
-    effect of the empire, 97.
-
-  Roman society, 47 f.; 128 f.
-
-  Romance languages, 210; 237.
-
-  Romans practical, 2.
-
-  Romans, our debt to, 283.
-
-  Romanus (C. Julius), 256;
-    (Aquila), 256.
-
-  Roscius, actor, 66.
-
-  Rutilius Claudius Namatianus, 275.
-
-  Rutilius Rufus (P.), 44.
-
-
-  Sabinus, poet, 146.
-
-  Sacerdos (Marius Plotius), 256.
-
-  Sallust, 89-91; 88; 128; 230; 236; 265.
-
-  Sammonicus (Serenus), 253 f.
-
-  Santra, 96.
-
-  Sappho, 114; 121.
-
-  Satire, 39; 40; 41; 42; 93; 117 f.; 179; 183; 184; 188 f.; 219 f.
-
-  Saturnian verse, 7; 6; 9.
-
-  Scaevola (P.), 44;
-    (Mucius), 44;
-    (Q. Mucius), 44; 66;
-    (the augur), 66; 70;
-    (Q. Cervidius), jurist, 233.
-
-  Scaurus (Terentius), 233.
-
-  Scipio (Cn. Cornelius), 7;
-    Africanus the elder, 36; 38;
-    Africanus the younger, 24; 38; 39; 49;
-    P. Cornelius, 33;
-    Nasica, 37.
-
-  Sedigitus (Volcacius), 44.
-
-  Sedulius, 276.
-
-  Sempronius (Gaius ---- Tuditanus), 44.
-
-  Seneca, the elder, 165 f.; 168, 170; 175; 177.
-
-  Seneca, the younger, 177-183; 14; 165; 170; 171; 184; 185; 188; 197;
-    201; 209; 210; 219.
-
-  Septimius (L.), 265.
-
-  Septimius Severus, emperor, 228; 233; 247.
-
-  _Septuagint_, 217.
-
-  Servius Sulpicius Rufus, 96.
-
-  Servius, commentary on Virgil, 261; 192.
-
-  Severus (Cornelius), poet, 138.
-
-  Sextii, philosophers, 176; 177.
-
-  Sextus Empiricus, 234.
-
-  Shakespeare, 21; 151; 155.
-
-  Siculus Flaccus, 225.
-
-  Silius Italicus, 197 f.; 202.
-
-  Sisenna (L. Cornelius), 44; 88.
-
-  Socrates, 239.
-
-  Solinus, 256.
-
-  Solon, 129.
-
-  Sophocles, 107.
-
-  Soranus (Q. Valerius), 44.
-
-  Sotion, philosopher, 176 f.
-
-  Spartianus (Aelius), 255.
-
-  Statius, 198-201; 140; 141; 195; 202; 209; 274;
-    his father, 198; 201.
-
-  Stella (Arruntius), 201.
-
-  Stesichorus, Greek poet, 107.
-
-  Stilicho, general, 273; 275.
-
-  Stilo (L. Aelius Praeconinus), 44; 11; 93.
-
-  Stoic philosophy, 49; 78; 120; 124; 177; 182; 228.
-
-  Strabo (C. Julius Caesar), 13.
-
-  Sueius, 62.
-
-  Suetonius Paulinus, 191.
-
-  Suetonius Tranquillus (C.), 229-231; 24; 227; 243; 244; 255; 256; 261;
-    262; 267.
-
-  Sulla, 44; 47; 158.
-
-  Sulpicia, poetess of elegies, 133.
-
-  Sulpicia, poetess, 201.
-
-  Sulpicius Severus, 263.
-
-  Symmachus (Q. Aurelius), 265; 279.
-
-
-  Tacitus, 211-218; 91; 195; 206; 209; 222; 223; 225 f.; 244; 262; 263;
-    283.
-
-  Tacitus, emperor, 229.
-
-  Tennyson, 242.
-
-  Terentia, Cicero's wife, 66; 68.
-
-  Terentianus Maurus, 233; 241; 253.
-
-  Terentius Scaurus, 233.
-
-  Tertullian, 246-248; 249; 252; 258; 266.
-
-  Theatre, 14-16.
-
-  Theocritus, Greek poet, 101; 107; 114; 187.
-
-  Theodoric, 278; 279.
-
-  Theodorus, emperor, 257; 266; 267; 272; 273.
-
-  Theodorus, of Gadara, 170.
-
-  Theopompus, Greek writer, 92.
-
-  Thrasea. See Paetus.
-
-  Tiberius, emperor, 170; 124; 155; 165; 166; 170; 171; 172; 173; 174;
-    175; 176; 177; 216.
-
-  Tibullus, 131-134; 124; 130; 135; 145; 146; 168; 211.
-
-  Ticidas, poet, 64.
-
-  Timaeus, Greek historian, 37.
-
-  Tiro, 96; 79.
-
-  Titinius, 29; 138.
-
-  Titius, 13.
-
-  Titus, emperor, 194; 195; 201; 205.
-
-  Trabea, comic poet, 23.
-
-  Tragedy, 11; 6; 7; 8; 12; 14; 17; 32.
-
-  Trajan, emperor, 211; 212; 214; 216; 219; 223; 224; 225; 236; 246, 257.
-
-  Trebellius Pollio, 255.
-
-  Tribonian, jurist, 264.
-
-  Trimalchio, in Petronius's novel, 189; 190.
-
-  Triumvirate; first, 67; 84.
-
-  Trogus, 163 f.; 232.
-
-  Tullia, Cicero's daughter, 68.
-
-  Turpilius, comic poet, 29.
-
-  _Twelve tables_, 5; 37.
-
-  Tyrtaeus, 129.
-
-
-  Ulpian, 255.
-
-
-  Valens, emperor, 262; 263; 264; 271.
-
-  Valentinian I, 265.
-
-  Valentinian II, 267.
-
-  Valerian, emperor, persecuted Christians, 249.
-
-  Valerius Antias, 43; 88; 158.
-
-  Valerius Flaccus (C.), 195-197.
-
-  Valerius Maximus, 174 f.; 173; 219.
-
-  Valgius Rufus, 131.
-
-  Varius, 14; 116; 118.
-
-  Varro Atacinus, 63; 118.
-
-  Varro (M. Terentius), 92-94; 44; 96; 99; 192; 256; 260.
-
-  Varus, 101.
-
-  Vegetius, 261.
-
-  Velleius Paterculus, 173 f.; 215.
-
-  Verrius Flaccus, grammarian, 166; 149; 167; 234.
-
-  Verus (L.), 228; 235; 236; 237.
-
-  Vespa, 254.
-
-  Vespasian, emperor, 194; 195; 197; 201; 204; 212; 216.
-
-  Victorinus (C. Marius), 256; 260.
-
-  Virgil, 100-113; 64; 96; 98; 99; 114; 115; 116; 118; 127; 131: 135;
-      140; 141; 143; 153; 161; 167; 168; 171; 173; 187; 188; 192; 193;
-      196; 197; 202; 209; 217; 219; 232; 233; 240; 241; 254; 260; 261;
-      270; 280; 282;
-    poems ascribed to, 140; 141.
-
-  Vitellius (P.), orator, 176.
-
-  Vitellius, emperor, 194; 216.
-
-  Vitruvius, 167 f.
-
-  Volcacius. See Sedigitus and Gallicanus.
-
-  Vopiscus (Flavius), 255.
-
-  Votienus Montanus, orator, 175.
-
-  Vulcacius. See Volcacius.
-
-
-  Whittier, 272.
-
-  Wordsworth, 272.
-
-
-  Xenophon, Greek writer, 92.
-
-
-  Zeno, Epicurean, 66.
-
-
-
-
-      *      *      *      *      *      *
-
-
-
-
-Transcriber's note:
-
-Inconsistent spellings have been kept, including inconsistent use of
-hyphen (e.g. "well known" and "well-known").
-
-
-
-***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A HISTORY OF ROMAN LITERATURE***
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