A History of Roman Literature
by
Charles Thomas Cruttwell
Part 11 out of 12
[13] Others, again, explain _fascinum_ as = _phallos_, and regard the
songs as connected with the worship of the reproductive power in nature.
This seems alien from the Italian system of worship, though likely enough
to have existed in Etruria. If it ever had this character, it must have
lost it before its introduction into Rome.
[14] Ep. ii. 1, 139, _sqq._
[15] vii. 2.
[16] Macr. S. ii. 4, 21.
[17] C. lii.
[18] C. lxi.
[19] _Loc. cit._
[20] Juv. viii. 191.
[21] Some have imagined that, as _Saturnia tellus_ is used for Italy, so
_Saturnius numerus_ may simply mean the native or Italian rhythm. Bentley
(Ep. Phal. xi.) shows that it is known to the Greeks.
[22] The name _prochaios_, "the running metre," sufficiently indicates its
applicability to early recitations, in which the rapidity of the singer's
movements was essential to the desired effect.
[23] Attilius Fortunatianus, _De Doctr. Metr._ xxvi. Spengel (quoted
Teuff. Rom. Lit. S 53, 3) assumes the following laws of Saturnian metre:--
"(1) The Saturnian line is asynartetic; (2) in no line is it possible to
omit more than one _thesis_, and then only the last but one, generally in
the second half of the line; (3) the caesura must never be neglected, and
falls after the fourth _thesis_ or the third _arsis_ (this rule, however,
is by no means universally observed); (4) hiatus is often permitted; (5)
the _arsis_ may be solved, and the _thesis_ replaced by pyrrhics or long
syllables."
[24] The reader will find this question discussed in Wagner's _Aulularia_;
where references are given to the original German authorities.
[25] Dactylic poetry is not here included, as its progress is somewhat
different. In this metre we observe: (1) That when a dactyl or spondee
ends a word, the natural and metrical accents coincide; _e.g.--omnia, sunt
mihi, prorumpunt_. Hence the fondness for such easy and natural endings as
_clauduntur lumina nocte_, common in all writers down to Manilius. (2)
That the caesura is opposed to the accent, _e.g.--arma virumque cano |
Troiae | qui_. These anti-accentual rhythms are continually found in
Virgil, Ovid, &c. from a fondness for caesura, where the older writers
have _qui Troiae_, and the like. (3) That it would be possible to avoid
any collision between ictus and accent, _e.g.--scilicet omnibus est labor
impendendus et omnes: inveterascit et aegro in corde senescit_, &c. But
the rarity of such lines after Lucretius shows that they do not conform to
the genius of the language. The correspondence thus lost by improved
caesura is partially re-established by more careful elision. Elision is
used by Virgil to make the verse run smoothly without violating the
natural pronunciation of the words; _e.g.--monstrum horrendum informe_;
but this is only in the Aeneid. Such simple means of gaining this end as
the Lucretian _sive voluptas est, immortali sunt_, are altogether avoided
by him. On the whole, however, among the Dactylic poets, from Ennius to
Juvenal, the balance between natural and metrical accent remained
unchanged.
[26] Most of the verses extant in this metre will be found in Wordsworth's
_Fragments and Specimens of Early Latin_.
[27] A good essay on this subject is to be found in Wordsworth's
_Fragments_ p. 580, _sqq._
CHAPTER III.
[1] Scipio quoted Homer when he saw the flames of Carthage rising. He is
described as having been profoundly moved. And according to one report
Caesar's last words, when he saw Brutus among his assassins, were _kahi se
teknon_.
[2] The reader will find them all in Wordsworth.
[3] Brut. xviii. 71, _non digna sunt quae iterum legantur_.
[4] Ep. ii. 1, 69.
[5] Liv. vii. 2.
[6] 19, 35. The lines are--
"Etiam purpureo suras include cothurno,
Altius et revocet volueres in pectore sinus:
Pressaque iam gravida crepitent tibi terga pharetra;
Derige odorisequos ad certa cubilia canes."
In their present form these verses are obviously a century and a half at
least later than Livius.
[7] Livy, xxvii. 37.
[8] Gell. xvii. 21, 45.
[9] See page 46.
[10] The reader may like to see one or two specimens. We give one from
tragedy (the _Lycurgus_):
"Vos qui regalis corporis custodias
Agitatis, ite actutum in frundiferos locos,
Ingenio arbusta ubi nata sunt, non obsita;"
and one from comedy (the _Tarentilla_), the description of a coquette--
"Quasi pila
In choro ludens datatim dat se et communem facit;
Alii adnutat, alii adnictat, alium amat, alium tenet.
Alibi manus est occupata, alii percellit pedem,
Anulum alii dat spectandum, a labris alium invocat,
Alii cantat, attamen alii suo dat digito literas."
[11] The _Hariolius_ and _Leo_.
[12] Mil. Glor. 211.
[13] Brut. 19, 75.
[14] If immortals might weep for mortals, the divine Camenae would weep
for Naevius the poet; thus it is that now he has been delivered into the
treasure-house of Orcus, men have forgotten at Rome how to speak the Latin
tongue.
CHAPTER IV.
[1] See Livy, vii. 2.
[2] The most celebrated was that erected by Scaurus in his aedileship 58
B.C., an almost incredible description of which is given by Pliny, N.H.
xxxvi. 12. See Dict. Ant. _Theatrum_, whence this is taken.
[3] A temporary stone theatre was probably erected for the Apollinarian
Games, 179 B.C. If so, it was soon pulled down; a remarkable instance of
the determination of the Senate not to encourage dramatic performances.
[4] Done by Curio, 50 B.C.
[5] _Primus subselliorum ordo._
[6] Otho's Law, 68 B.C.
[7] See Mommsen, Bk. iii. ch. xv.
[8] See prol. to Andria.
[9] Quint. x. 1, _Comoedia maxime claudicamus_.
[10] Hor. Ep. ii. 1, 170.
"At vestri proavi Plautinos et numeros et
Laudavere sales: nimium patienter utrumque
Ne dicam _stulte_ mirati."
[11] De Off. i. 29, 104.
[12] iii. 3, 14.
[13] This process is called contamination. It was necessitated by the
fondness of a Roman audience for plenty of action, and their indifference
to mere dialogue.
[14] Cic. de Sen. 50.
[15] ii. 2, 35.
[16] Poen. v. 1.
[17] Plautus himself calls it Tragico-comoedia.
[18] We find in Donatus the term _crepidata_, which seems equivalent to
_palliata_, though it probably was extended to tragedy, which _palliata_
apparently was not. _Trabeata_, a term mentioned by Suet. in his _Treatise
de Grammat._, seems = _praetextata_, at all events it refers to a play
with national characters of an exalted rank.
[19] _E.g._ trahax, perenniservus, contortiplicati, parcipromus,
prognariter, and a hundred others. In Pseud. i. 5; ii. 4, 22, we have
_charin touto poio, nal nam, kai touto dae_, and other Greek modes of
transition. Cf. Pers. ii. 1, 79.
[20] One needs but to mention forms like _danunt_, _ministreis_, _hibus_,
_sacres_, _postidea dehibere_, &c. and constructions like _quicquam uti_,
_istanc tactio_, _quid tute tecum_? _Nihil enim_, and countless others, to
understand the primary importance of Plautus's works for a historical
study of the development of the Latin language.
[21] De Opt. Gen. Or. 1; cf. Att. vii. 3, 10.
[22] "in eis quas primum Caecili didici novas
Partim sum earum exactus, partim vix steti.
* * * * *
Perfeci ut spectarentur: ubi sunt cognitae
Placitae sunt"
--_Prol_. 2, 14.
[23] 2 Hor. Ep, li. 1, 59. _Vincere Caecilius gravitate_.
[24] Adelph. prol.:
"Nam quod isti dicunt malevoli, homines nobiles
Hunc adiutare, assidueque una scribere;
Quod illi maledictmn vehemens existimant,
Eam laudem hic ducit maximam: cum illis placet,
Qui vobis universis et populo placent:
Quorum opera in bello, in otio, in negotio
Suo quisque tempore usus est sine superbia."
[25] See prol. to Andria.
[26] Suet. Vit. Ter.
[27] Tu quoque tu in summis, o dimidiate Menander, poneris, &c.--_Ib._
[28] Possibly the following may be exceptions:--Andr. 218; Haut. 218, 356;
Hec. 543. See Teuffel.
[29] See the first scene of the _Adelphoe_.
[30] _Metriotaes_, the quality so much admired by the Greek critics, in
which Horace may be compared with Terence. Cf. _Aul. Gell._ vi. (or vii.)
14, 6.
[31] 1. 37, _sqq._
[32] Suet. Vit. Ter.
[33] Sat. 1, 4, 53, referring to the scene in the _Adelphoe_.
[34] Except in the prologues to the _Eun._ and _Hecyra_.
[35] 805, "_ut quimus_" _aiunt_, "_quando ut volumus non licet_." The line
of Caecilius is "_Vivas ut possis quando non quis ut velis._"
[36] Georg. iii. 9.
"Tentanda via est qua me quoque possim
Toll ere humo _victorque virum volitare per ora_."
He expresses his aspiration after immortality in the same terms that
Ennius had employed.
[37] Eun. v. iv.
[38] Or "Lanuvinus." Those who wish to know the inartistic expedients to
which he resorted to gain applause should read the prologues of Terence,
which are most valuable materials for literary criticism.
[39] Att. xiv. 20, 3.
[40] Teuffel 103.
[41] Sometimes called _Tabernaria_, Diomed iii. p. 488, though, strictly
speaking, this denoted a lower and more provincial type.
[42] x. 1, 100.
CHAPTER V.
[1] _Quadrati versus._ Gell. ii. 29.
[2] Cic. de Sen. 5, 14.
[3] Ep. I. xix. 7.
[4] Nunquam poetor nisi podager.
[5] _Quintus Maeonides pavone ex Pythagoreo_ (Persius).
[6] Greek, Oscan, and Latin.
[7] Ep. II. i. 52.
[8] Fragment of the _Telamo_.
[9] _Aufert Pacuvius docti famam senis_.--_Hor. Ep._ ii. 1, 56.
[10] We learn from Pliny that he decorated his own scenes.
[11] We infer that he came to Rome not later than 169, as in that year he
buried Ennius; but it is likely that he arrived much earlier.
[12] De Am. vii.
[13] 1, 77. "Antiopa aerumnis cor luctificabile fulta."
[14] Tusc. II. x. 48.
[15] The Antiopa and Dulorestes.
[16] Quint. I. V. 67-70.
[17] We give the reader an example of this feature of Pacuvius's style. In
the _Antiopa_, Amphion gives a description of the tortoise: "_Quadrupes
tardigrada agrestis humilis aspera Capite brevi cervice anguina aspectu
truci Eviscerata inanima, cum artimali sono._" To which his hearers reply
--"_Ita saeptuosa dictione abs te datur, Quod coniectura sapiens aegre
contulit. Non intelligimus nisi si aperte dixeris._"
[18] Prob. 94 B.C. when Cic. was twelve years old. In Planc. 24, 59, he
calls him "gravis et ingeniosus poeta."
[19] Cf. Hor. Ep. ii. 1, 56; Cv. Am. i. 15, 19. On the other hand, Hor. S.
I. x. 53.
[20] Loco = decori, Non. 338, 22.
[21] Compare a similar subtle distinction in the Dulorestes, "_Piget_
paternum nomen, maternum _pudet_ profari."
[22] Propria = perpetua, Non. 362, 2.
CHAPTER VI.
[1] Vahlen, quoted by Teuffel, S 90, 3; see Gell. xvii. 21, 43.
[2] Post. Works, i. p. 344.
[3] Inest in genere et sanctitas regum, qui plurimum inter nomines
pollent, et caerimonia deorum, quorum ipsi in potestate sunt reges.--
_Suet. Jul._ 6.
[4] "Postquamst morte datus Plautus Comoedia luget:
Scaenast deserta; dein Risus, Ludus, Jocusque
Et numeri innumeri simul omnes collacrumarunt."
--_Gell._ i. 24, 3.
[5] "Amnem, Troiugena, Cannam Romane fuge hospes," is the best known of
these lines. Many others have been collected, and have been arranged with
less probability, in Saturnian verse by Hermann. The substance is given,
Livy, xxv. 12. See Browne, Hist. Rom. Lit. p. 34, 35. Another is preserved
by Ennius, Aio te, Aeacida, Romanes vincere posse.
[6] The shortening of final _o, ergo, pono, vigilando_, through the
influence of accent, is almost the only change made after Ennius except in
a few proper names.
[7] Compare that of the horse (II. vi. 506), "Et tum sicut equus qui de
praesepibu' fartus Vincla suis magnis animis abrupit, et inde Fert sese
campi per caerula laetaque prata Celso pectore, saepe iubam quassat simul
altam. Spiritus ex anima calida spumas agit albas," with Virg. Aen. xi.
492.
[8] Lucr. i. 111.
[9] Tr. ii. 424.
[10] Sat. vi. 1.
[11] III. 20, 8.
[12] Imitated respectively, Virg. A. iv. 585; A. i. 539; A. x. 361.
CHAPTER VII.
[1] Satira tota nostra est.--_Quint._ x. i.
[2] Aen. vi. 847, _sqq._ G. ii. 190; _ib._ 461, _sqq._
[3] On this subject the reader may be referred to Merivale's excellent
remarks in the last chapter of his History of the Romans under the Empire.
[4] It is probable that there were two kinds of Greek _drama satyrikon_;
the tragic, of which we have an example in the _Cyclops_ of Euripides,
which represented the gods in a ludicrous light, and was abundantly
furnished with _Sileni_, _Satyrs_, &c.; and the comic, which was
cultivated at Alexandria, and certainly represented the follies and vices
of contemporary life under the dramatic guise of heroic incident. But it
is the non-dramatic character of Roman Satire that at once distinguishes
it from these forms.
[5] See Hor. S. i. iv. 1-6.
[6] These were of a somewhat different type, and will not be further
discussed here. See p. 144. Cf. Quint, x. 1, 95.
[7] Not invariably, however, by Lucilius himself. He now and then employed
the trochaic or iambic metres.
[8] Sat. i. iv. 39, and more to the same effect in the later part of the
satire.
[9] "In hora saepe ducentos ut multum versus dictabat stans pede in uno."
_Sat_. 1, iv. 9.
[10] Posthumous Works, vol. ii. on the Study of Latin.
[11] iii. p. 481, P. (Teuffel).
[12] 201 B.C.
[13] As, _e.g._ the Precepts of Ofella, S. ii. 2, and the _Unde et quo
Catius?_ S. ii. 4.
[14] The words are, (1) "Hic est ille situs, cui nemo civis neque hostis
Quivit pro factis reddere operae pretium," where "operae" must be pro
nounced "op'rae;" (2) "A sole exoriente supra Mucotis paludes Nemo est qui
factis me acquiparare queat. Si fas eudo plagas caelestum ascendere
cuiquam est, Mi soli caeli maxima porta patet."
[15] Infra Lucili censum, Sat. ii. 1, 75.
[16] L. Corn. Lentulus Lupus.
[17] Pers. i. 115.
[18] "Primores populi arripuit populumque tributim,
Scilicet uni aequus virtuti atque eius amicis."
--_Hor. Sat._ ii. 1, 69.
[19] Ense velut stricto quoties Lucilius ardens Infremuit, rubet auditor
cui frigida mens est Criminibus, tacita sudant praecordia culpa.--Juv. i.
165.
[20] X. i. 93.
[21] Plin. N. H. Praef.
[22] De Fin. i. 3, 7.
[23] "Lucilianae humilitatis."--_Petronius_.
[24] Sat. i. x.
[25] Primus condidit stili nasum, N. H. Praef.
[26] As instances we may take "Has res ad te scriptas Luci misimus Aeli:"
again, "Si minus delectat, quod _atechnon_ et Eisocratiumst, _Laerodes_que
simul totum ac sum _meirakiodes_ ..." or worse still, "Villa _Lucani_ mox
potieris _aca_" for "Lucaniaca," quoted by Ausonius, who adds "Lucili vati
sic imitator eris."
[27] From which Hor. borrowed his Iter ad Brundisium.
[28] Hor. S. i. x.
[29] Cic. de Fin. i. 3, 7.
CHAPTER VIII.
[1] Liv. vii. 2. The account, however, is extremely confused.
[2] Liv. x. 208, _gnaros Oscae linguae_ exploratum mittit.
[3] See Teuff. R. Lit. 9, S 4.
[4] Ad Fam. ix. 16, 7.
[5] Val. Max. ii. 1.
[6] Sat. i. 10, 3.
[7] The names are Aleones, Prostibulum, Pannuceatae, Nuptiae, Privignus,
Piscatores, Ergastulum, Patruus, Asinaria, Rusticus, Dotata, Decuma
Fullonis, Praeco, Bucco, Macci gemini, Verres aegrotus, Pistor, Syri,
Medicus, Maialis, Sarcularius, Augur, Petitor, Anulus, Praefectus, Arista,
Ilernia, Poraria, Marsupium, Aeditumus, Auctoratus, Satyra, Galli,
Transalpini, Maccus miles, Maccus sequester, Pappus Agricola, Leno, Lar
familiaris, &c.
[8] iii. 174, vi. 71.
[9] Viz. his own epitaph, and those on Scipio, p. 78, ii. 4.
[10] xix. 9, 14.
[11] De Nat. Deor. i. 28, 79.
[12] Vit. Ter.
[13] = Pacuvi.
CHAPTER IX.
[1] So says Servius, but this can hardly be correct. See the note at the
end of the chapter.
[2] _E.g._ iv. 7, 13, 20.
[3] The Roman mind was much more impressible to rich colour, decoration,
&c. than the Greek. Possibly painting may on this account have met with
earlier countenance.
[4] R. H. vol. i. p. 272.
[5] Liv. xxi. 38. calls him "maximus auctor."
[6] Sat. i. 12.
[7] vii. 3.
[8] The question does not concern us here. The reader is referred to
Niebuhr's chapter on the Era from the foundation of the city.
[9] Cic. de Off. iii. 32, 115.
[10] This is an inference, but a probable one, from a statement of
Plutarch.
[11] Vide M. Catonis Reliquiae, H. Jordan, Lips. 1860.
[12] So he himself asserted; but they did not hold any Roman magistracy.
[13] Gell. xi. 2.
[14] Plin. N. H. vii. 27.
[15] Liv. xxxix. 40.
[16] De Sen. xvii. 65.
[17] Brut. xvi. 63.
[18] See H. Jordan's treatise.
[19] This was his age when he accused the perjured Galba after his return
from Numantia (149 B.C.)--one of the finest of his speeches.
[20] Cato, 3, 2-4.
[21] See Wordsworth, Fr. of early Latin, p. 611, S 2.
[22] Serv. ad Virg. Aen. i. 267.
[23] Charis. ii. p. 181 (Jord).
[24] Serv. ad Virg. Aen. xi. 700.
[25] Gell. ii. 28, 6.
[26] Gell. iii. 7, 1.
[27] xii. 11, 23.
[28] _Opikes_. Cato's superficial knowledge of Greek prevented him from
knowing that this word to Greek ears conveys no insult, but is a mere
ethnographic appellation.
[29] Plin. N.H. xxix. 8, 15.
[30] De Sen. He gives the ground of it "_quia multarum rerum usum
habebat_."
[31] Cic. de Or. 11, 33, 142.
[32] Cic. de Off. i. 11. 10.
[33] Plin. xiii. 37, 84, and xxix. 6.
[34] De Or. ii. 12. See Nieb. Introd. Lect. iv.
[35] _Annales_, also _Commentarii_.
[36] _Exiliter scriptos_, Brut. 27, 106.
[37] See Quint. x. 1, passim.
[38] Gell. vii. 9, 1; speaks in this way of Piso.
[39] See Liv. i. 55.
[40] Cato, doubtless reflecting on the difficulty with which he had formed
his own style, says "_Literarum radices amarae, fructus incundiores_."
[41] Liv. lxxiv. Epit.
[42] _aulo influxit vehementius ... agrestis ille quidem et horridus_.--
Cic. leg. i. 2, 6. So "_addidit historiae maiorem sonum_," id. de Or. ii.
12, 54.
[43] xxix. 27.
[44] Plut. Numa. i.
[45] ix. 13. So Fronto ap. Gell. xiii. 29, 2.
[46] _Aegis katestoaumenae_, as distinct from _Aegis eiromenae_, Ar. Rhet.
[47] vii. 9.
[48] Liv. xxiii. 2.
[49] Id. xx. 8.
[50] iv. 7.
CHAPTER X.
[1] The evil results of a judicial system like that of Rome are shown by
the lax views of so good a man as Quintilian, who compares deceiving the
judges to a painter producing illusions by perspective (ii. 17, 21). "Nec
Cicero, cum se tenebras offudisse iudicibus in causa Cluentii gloriatus
est, nihil ipse vidit. Et pictor, cum vi artis suae efficit, ut quaedam
eminere in opere, quaedam recessisse credamus, ipse ea plana esse non
nescit."
[2] x. 1. 32.
[3] See the article _Judicia Publica_ in Ramsay's Manual of Roman
Antiquities.
[4] The reader is referred to the admirable account of the Athenian
_dicasteries_ in Grote's History of Greece.
[5] See Forsyth's Life of Cicero, ch. 3.
[6] Brut. xiv. 53.
[7] Quint. ii. 16, 8.
[8] _Peitho_ quam vocant Graeci, cuius effector est Orator, hanc Suadam
appellavit Ennius.--_Cic. Br_. 58.
[9] Brut. 65.
[10] Brut. 293.
[11] Cic. Sen. ii. 38.
[12] viii. 7, 1.
[13] Diom. ii. p. 468.
[14] Ep. ad. Anton. i. 2, p. 99.
[15] Jordan, p. 41.
[16] Brut. 82.
[17] Wordsworth gives extracts from Aemilius Paulus Macedonicus (228-169
B.C.), C. Titius (161 B.C.), Metellus Macedonicus (140 B.C.), the latter
apparently modernised.
[18] He and Scipio are thus admirably characterised by Horace:--
"Virtus Scipiadae et mitis sapientia Laeli."
[19] Brut. xxi. 83.
[20] Cic. Brut, xxiii. The narrator from whom Cicero heard it was Rutilius
Rufus.
[21] He did not attempt to justify himself, but by parading his little
children he appealed with success to the compassion of his judges!
[22] In 149 B.C. Piso established a permanent commission to sit throughout
the year for hearing all charges under the law _de Repetundis_. Before
this every case was tried by a special commission. Under Sulla all crimes
were brought under the jurisdiction of their respective commissions, which
established the complete system of courts of law.
[23] Ch. 34.
[24] Brut. 97, 333.
[25] Hist. Rom. bk. iv. ch. iii.
[26] Cic. de Or. III. lx. 225.
[27] Brut. xxxiii. 125.
[28] The same will be observed in Greece. We are apt to think that the
space devoted to personal abuse in the _De Corona_ is too long. But it was
the universal custom.
[29] Tac. Or. 26.
[30] Fronto, Ep. ad Ant. p. 114.
[31] Cic. Brut. xxix.
[32] Hor. Od. i. 12.
[33] Nobilis ornatur lauro collega secunda.--_Juv._ x.
[34] See Brut. xxxv. 132, _sq._
[35] See Dunlop, vol. ii. p. 274.
[36] _I.e._ the continuous edict, as being issued fresh with every fresh
praetor.
[37] De repetundis, de peculatu, de ambitu, de maiestate, de nummis
adulterinis, de falsis testamentis, de sicariis, de vi.
[38] Verr. i. 14.
[39] That against Caepio, _De Or_. ii. 48, 199.
[40] _Eloquentium iurisperitissimus_: Scaevola was _iurisperitorum
eloquentissimus_.--Brut. 145.
[41] De Or. iii. 1, 4.
[42] Brut. lv.
[43] Orator. lxiii. 213.
[44] Judiciorum rex. Divin. in Ae. Caecil. 7.
[45] Dict. Biog. s.v. Hortensius. Forsyth's _Hortensius_, and an article
on him by M. Charpentier in his "Writers of the Empire," should be
consulted.
[46] Div. in Q. Caecil.
[47] Brut. xcv.
[48] "Dellendus Cicero est, Latiaeque silentia linguae"--_Sen Suas._
CHAPTER XI.
[1] Au vos consulere scitis, consulem facere nescitis? See Teuffel, R. L.
S 130, 6.
[2] Lael. i. His character generally is given, Brut. xxvi. 102.
[3] Q. Mucius Scaevola, Pontifex, son of Publius, nephew of Q. Mucius
Scaevola, Augur.
[4] Quoted by Teuffel, S 141, 2.
[5] Dict. Biog.
[6] See De Or. i. 53, 229.
[7] Ep. ii. 2, 89.
[8] ii. 4, 42.
[9] See Teuffel, Rom. Lit. 149, S 4.
[10] Compare Lucr. i. 633. Magis inter _inanes_ quamde gravis inter Graios
qui vera requirunt.
[11] Brut. lvi. 207.
[12] De Or. ii. 37.
[13] "_egertika noaeseos_."--_Plat. Rep_. Bk. iv.
[14] _apatheia, ataraxia_.
[15] _epistaemae_ and _doxa_, so often opposed in Plato and Aristotle.
[16] Sext. Emp. Pyrrh. Hyp. i. 234. (_Arkesilaos_) _kata men to procheiron
pyrroneios ephaineto einai kata de taen alaetheian dogmatikos aen_. So
Bacon: Academia nova Acatalepsiam dogmatizavit.
[17] That is, all practically considered _indifference or insensibility_
to be the thing best worth striving after.
[18] Cic. Tusc. iv. 3.
[19] Contrast the indifference of the vulgar for the tougher parts of the
system. Lucr. "Haec ratio Durior esse videtur ... retroque volgus abhorret
ab hac."
[20] See a fuller account of this system under _Lucretius_.
BOOK II.
PART I.
CHAPTER I.
[1] Caes. B. C. ii. 16-20. From i. 36, we learn that all further Spain had
been intrusted to him. Varro was in truth no partisan; so long as he
believed Pompey to represent the state, he was willing to act for him.
[2] Phil. ii. 40, 41.
[3] Cf. Hor. Ep. 2, 43, "Sabina qualis aut perusta solibus Pernicis uxor
Appuli."
[4] Fr. of Catus. Cf. Juvenal. "Usque adeo nihil est quod nostra infantia
caelum Hausit Aventinum, baca nutrita Sabina?"
[5] i. 4, 4.
[6] Ac. Post. i. 2. 8. He there speaks of them as _vetera nostra_.
[7] Given in Appendix, note i.
[8] Given in Aulus Gellius, xiii. xi. 1.
[9] v. i., et Romae quidem stat, sedet Athenis, nusquam autem cubat.
[10] We take occasion to observe the frequent insertion of Greek words, as
in Lucilius and in Cicero's letters. These all recall the tone of high-
bred conversation, in which Greek terms were continually employed.
[11] Mommsen, vol. iv. pt. 2, p. 594; Riese, Men. Satur. Reliquiae, Lips.
1865.
[12] See the interesting discussion in Cicero, Acad. Post. 1.
[13] _Antiquitates rerum humanarum et divinarum_.
[14] He also quotes the Aeneid as a source of religious ideas. Civ. D. v.
18, 19, et al.
[15] C. D. vi. 3, qui agant, ubi agant, quando agant, quid agant.
[16] Qui exhibeant (sacra), ubi exhibeant, quando exhibeant, quid
exhibeant, quibus exhibeant.
[17] Plato says, _Synoptikis a dialektikos_; the true philosopher can
embrace the whole of his subject; at the same time, _temnei kai arthpa_;
he carves it according to the joints, not according to his notions where
the joints should be (_Phaedr._) But the Romans only understood Plato's
popular side.
[18] See the end of the Res Rust. Bk. i.
[19] L. L. ix, 15; cf. vi. 82, x. 16, v. 88.
[20] R. R. iii. 5.
[21] Acad. Post. i. 3.
[22] Civ. Dei iv. 31.
[23] Cic. De Or. i. 39; N. D. ii. 24.
[24] Civ. Dei vi. 5.
[25] Seneca.
[26] Civ. Dei xviii. 9, 10, 17.
[27] Ad Att. xvi. 11. The Greek term simply means "a gallery of
distinguished persons," analogously named after the _Peplos_ of Athene, on
which the exploits of great heroes were embroidered.
[28] That on Demetrius Poliorcetes is preserved: "Hic Demetrius aeneis tot
aptust Quot luces habet annus exsolutus" (_aeneis_ = bronze statues).
[29] Plin. xxxv. 2; benignissimum inventum.
[30] See Bekker's Gallus, p. 30, where the whole subject is discussed.
[31] Civ. Dei, vi. 2.
[32] Aul. Gell. iii. 10, quotes also from the _Hebdomades_ in support of
this.
[33] Muller notices with justice the mistake of Cicero in putting down
Varro as a disciple of Antiochus, whereas the frequent philosophical
remarks scattered throughout the _De Lingua Latina_ point to the
conclusion that at this time, Varro had become attached to the doctrines
of stoicism. It is evident that there was no real intimacy between him and
Cicero. See ad Att. xiii. 12, 19; Fam. ix. 8.
[34] vi. 6, vii. 76.
[35] v. 92, vii. 32.
[36] v. 44, 178.
[37] v. 71, vii. 87.
[38] vi. 52, vii. 36.
[39] vii. 60; where, after a quotation from Plautus, we have--"hoc itidem
in Corollaria Naevius: idem in Curculione ait,"--where the words from
_hoc_ to _Naevius_ are an after addition. Cf. vii. 54.
[40] _E.g._ homo bulla--Di facientes adiuvant--Romani sedentes vincunt.
[41] Varro refuses to invoke the Greek gods, but turns to the old rustic
_di Consentes_, Jupiter, Tellus; Sol, Luna; Robigus, Flora; Minerva,
Venus; Liber, Ceres; Lympha and Bonus Eventus. A motley catalogue!
[42] ii. 4.
[43] ii. 4.
CHAPTER II.
[1] The biographical details are to a great extent drawn from Forsyth's
Life of Cicero.
[2] Or _diosaemeia_.
[3] _Pro Quintio._
[4] _Pro S. Roscio Amerino._
[5] See _De Off._ ii. 14.
[6] _Pro Roscio Comoedo_.
[7] _Pro M. Tullio_.
[8] _Divinatio in Caecilium_.
[9] In Verrem. The titles of the separate speeches are _De Praetura
Urbana_, _De Iurisdictione Siciliensi_, _De Frumento_, _De Signis_, _De
Suppliciis_.
[10] _Pro Fonteio_.
[11] _Pro Caecina_.
[12] _Pro Matridio_ (lost).
[13] _Pro Oppio_ (lost).
[14] _Pro Fundanio_ (lost).
[15] _Pro A. Cluentio Habito_.
[16] _Pro lege Manilia_.
[17] _Pro G. Cornelio_.
[18] _In toga candida_.
[19] _Pro. Q. Gellio_ (lost).
[20] _De lege Agraria_.
[21] _Pro C. Rabirio_.
[22] _Pro Calpurnio Pisone_ (lost).
[23] _In L. Catilinam_.
[24] _Pro Muraena_.
[25] _Pro Cornelio Sulla_ (lost).
[26] _Pro Archia poeta_.
[27] _Pro Scip. Nasica_.
[28] _Orationes Consulares_.
[29] _Pro A. Themio_ (lost).
[30] _Pro Flacco_.
[31] _Orationes post reditum_. They are _ad Senatum_, and _ad Populum_.
[32] _De domo sua_.
[33] _De haruspicum responsis_.
[34] _Pro L. Bestia_.
[35] _Pro Sextio_.
[36] _De Provinciis Consularibus_.
[37] _Pro Coelio_.
[38] Pro Can. Gallo_ (lost).
[39] _In Pisonen_.
[40] _Pro Plancio_.
[41] _Pro Scauro_ (lost).
[42] Pro G. Rabirio Postumo_ (lost).
[43] _Pro T. Annia Milone_.
[44] _Pro Marcello_.
[45] _Pro Q. Ligario_.
[46] _Pro Rege Deiotaro_.
[47] _Orationes Philippicae in M. Antonium_ xiv.
[48] Such are the speeches for the Manilian law, for Marcellus, Archias,
and some of the later Philippics in praise of Octavius and Servius
Sulpicius.
[49] It will be remembered that Milo and Clodius had encountered each
other on the Appian Road, and in the scuffle that ensued, the latter had
been killed. Cicero tries to prove that Milo was not the aggressor, but
that, even if he had been, he would have been justified, since Clodius was
a pernicious citizen dangerous to the state.
[50] Rosc. Com. 7.
[51] In Verr. ii. v. 11.
[52] In Vatin. 2.
[53] Pro Font. 11.
[54] Pro Rabir. Post. 13.
[55] Cat. iii. 3.
[56] Pro Coel. 3.
[57] Phil. ii. 41.
[58] In Verr. v. 65.
[59] Pro Coel. 6.
[60] Pro Cluent. pass.
[61] Forsyth; p. 544.
[62] He himself quotes with approval the sentiment of Lucilius:
nec doctissimis;
Manium Persium haec legere nolo; Iunium Congum volo.
[63] _De Republica_, _De Legibus_ and _De Officiis_.
[64] N. D. ii. 1, fin.
[65] De Off. i. 43.
[66] See Acad. Post. ii. 41.
[67] De Off. i. 2.
[68] De Fin. ii. 12.
[69] De Fin. ii. 12.
[70] _E.g._ the sophisms of the Liar, the Sorites, and those on Motion.
[71] Ac. Post. 20.
[72] De Leg. i. 13 fin. Perturbatricem autem harum omnium rerum Academian
hanc ab Arcesila et Carneado recentem exoremus ut sileat. Nam si invaserit
in haec, quae satis scite nobis instructa et composita videntur, nimias
edet ruinas. Quam quidem ego placare cupio, submovere non audeo.
[73] i. 28.
[74] Tusc, i. 12, a very celebrated and beautiful passage.
[75] The Paradoxes are--(1) _oti monon to kalon agathon_, (2) _oti
autarkaesaearetae pros eudaimonian_, (3) _oti isa ta amartaemata kai ta
katorthomata_, (4) _oti pas aphron mainetai_. We remember the treatment
of this in Horace (S. ii. 3). (5) _oti monos o sophos eleutheros kai pas
athron doulos_, (6) _oti monos o sophos plousios_.
[76] A well-known fragment of the sixth book, the _Somnium Scipionis_, is
preserved in Macrobius.
[77] _Latrant homines, non loquuntur_ is his strong expression, and in
another place he calls the modern speakers _clamatores non oratores_.
[78] Calamus.
[79] Atramentum.
[80] Called _Librarii_ or _A manu_.
[81] Caesar generally used as his cipher the substitution of d for a, and
so on throughout the alphabet. It seems strange that so extremely simple a
device should have served his purpose.
[82] This is Servius's spelling. Others read _Temelastis_, or _Talemgais_,
Orelli thinks perhaps the title may have been _ta en elasei_ (_Taenelasi_,
corrupted to _Tamelastis_) _i.e._ de profectione sua, about which he tells
us in the first Philippic.
[83] Brut. 75.
[84] Brut. 80.
[85] Sextilius Ena, a poet of Corduba. The story is told in Seneca, Suas.
vi.
CHAPTER III.
[1] Cicero went so far as to write some short commentarii on his
consulship in Greek, and perhaps in Latin also; but they were not edited
until after his death, and do not deserve the name of histories.
[2] Cf. _ad. Fam._; v. 12, 1, and vi. 2, 3.
[3] X. i. 31. He calls it _Carmen Solutum_.
[4] See _Bell. Civ_. i. 4, 6, 8, 30; iii. 1.
[5] "_Clementia tua_," was the way in which he caused himself to be
addressed on occasions of ceremony.
[6] B. G. iv. 12.
[7] B. G. ii. 34. and iii. 16.
[8] Ib. see vii. 82.
[9] It was then that, as Suetonius tells us, Caesar declared that Pompey
knew not how to use a victory.
[10] B. G. v. 36.
[11] Ib. iii. 25.
[12] Ib. i. 6, 7.
[13] Ib. iii. 59.
[14] B. G. iii. 7.
[15] Suetonius thus speaks (_Vit. Caes._ 24) of his wanton aggression,
"_Nec deinde ulla belli occasione ne iniusti quidem ac periculosi
abstinuit tam federatis tam infestis ac feris gentibus ultro lacessitis._"
An excellent comment on Roman lust of dominion.
[16] I am told by Professor Rolleston that Caesar is here mistaken. The
pine, by which he presumably meant the Scotch fir, certainly existed in
the first century B.C.; and as to the beech, Burnham beeches were then
fine young trees. Doubtless changes have come over our vegetation. The
linden or lime is a Roman importation, the small-leaved species alone
being indigenous; so is the English elm, which has now developed specific
differences, which have caused botanists to rank it apart. There is,
perhaps, some uncertainty as to the exact import of the word _fagus_.
[17] B. G. vi. 11, _sqq._
[18] Phars. i. 445-457.
[19] B. G. vi. 19.
[20] Ib. iii. 20.
[21] Ib. iv. 5.
[22] Ib. see i. 30; ii. 30.
[23] Ib. ii. 17; v. 5. Ib. iii. 16, 49, and many other passages.
[24] B. G. ii. 16, 207.
[25] Brut. lxxv. 262.
[26] "_Calamistris inurere_," a metaphor from curling the hair with hot
irons. The entire description is in the language of sculpture, by which
Cicero implies that Caesar's style is statuesque.
[27] "_Praerepta non praebita facultas._"
[28] B. C. ii. 27, 28.
[29] Ib. i. 67.
[30] Ib. iii. 78. Compare also the brilliant description of the siege of
Salonae iii. 7.
[31] _Vell. Pat._ ii. 73.
[32] _De Or._ iii. 12.
[33] See _Aul. Gell._ i. 10.
[34] The word _ambactus_ (= _cliens_); and the forms _malacia_,
_detrimentosus_, _libertati_ (abl.), _Senatu_ (dat.). But these last can
be paralleled from Cicero.
[35] B. H. 5.
[36] Id. 5.
[37] Id. 33.
[38] Id. 31.
[39] Id. 5.
[40] Id. 15.
[41] Id. 19.
[42] _E.g._ 20.
[43] Ib.
[44] Tac. De Or. 21. "Non alius contra Ciceronem nominaretur." Quint. x.
i. 114.
[45] _Elegantia_, Brut. 72, 252.
[46] The best will be found in Suet. Jul. Caes. vi. Aul. Gel. v. 13, xiii.
3. Val. Max. v. 3. Besides we can form some idea of them from the analysis
of them in his own Commentaries.
[47] _De Analogia_, in two books, Suet. 56.
[48] Brut. lxxii.
[49] See the long quotation in Gall. xix. 8.
[50] Gell. ix. 14.
[51] Charis. i. 114.
[52] Ibid.
[53] Gell. vii. 9.
[54] Prisc. i. 545.
[55] Cassiod. ex Annaeo Cornuto.--_De Orthog._ col. 2228.
[56] Macrob. i. 16.
[57] _E.g._ Macrob. Sat. i. 16. Plin. xviii. 26.
[58] Sat. vi. 334.
[59] Cicero calls them _Vituperationes_, ad Att. xii. 41.
[60] Suet. Caes. 77.
[61] Suet. 78.
[62] Ib. 75. Flor. iv. 11, 50.
[63] Ib. 74.
[64] _Doctis Iupiter! et laboriosis_, Cat. i. 7.
[65] More particularly the life of his friend Atticus, which breathes a
really beautiful spirit, though it suppresses some traits in his character
which a perfectly truthful account would not have suppressed.
[66] This is Nipperdey's arrangement.
[67] Hist. Rom. vol. viii.
[68] ii. 2.
[69] i. 2.
[70] They are fully expounded in the second volume of Roby's Latin
Grammar.
[71] Unless _Cotus_ be thought a more accurate representative of the
Greek.
[72] Nipperdey, xxxvi.-xxxviii. quoted by Teuffel.
[73] Dunlop, ii. p. 146.
[74] Suet. Caes. 45.
[75] Ib. 56.
[76] _Victrix causa deis placuit, sed victa Catoni._--Phars. i. 128.
[77] Catil. 53.
[78] _Cat._ 3. The chapter is very characteristic; _Jug._ 3, scarcely less
so.
[79] Suet. Gram. 15, tells us that a freedman of Pompey named Lenaeus
vilified Sallust; he quotes one sentence: _Nebulonem vita scriptisque
monstrosum; praeterea priscorum Catonisque ineruditissimum furem_. Cf.
Pseudo-Cic. Decl. in Sall. 8; Dio. Hist. Rom. 43, 9.
[80] _Res gestas carptim ut quaeque memoria digna videbantur,
perscribere_. Cat. 4.
[81] Anson, id. iv. _ad Nepotem_ implies that he began his history 90 B.C.
Cf. Plutarch, _Compar. of Sulla and Lysander_. And see on this controversy
Dict. Biog. s. v. _Sallust_.
[82] Jug. 95.
[83] Suet. J. C. 3.
[84] _A spe, metu, partibus, liber_.--Cat. 4; cf. Tac. Hist. i. 1. So in
the Annals, _sine ira et studio_.
[85] This is not certain, but the consensus of scholars is in favour of
it.
[86] Cat. 31, Cicero's speech is called _luculenta atque utilis
Reipublicae_, cf. ch. 48.
[87] Ib. 8, 41, compared with Caes. B. C. ii. 8; iii. 58, 60.
[88] Ib. 1, compared with 52 (Caesar's speech).
[89] See esp. Cat. 54.
[90] Jug. 15.
[91] Ib. 67.
[92] Jug. 31.
[93] Cat. 35, 43; cf. also ch. 49.
[94] Jug. 95.
[95] Cat. 5.
[96] Jug. 6, _sqq._
[97] Cat. 15, and very similarly Jug. 72.
[98] Quint. x. 1. _Nec opponere Thucydidi Sallustium verear_. The most
obvious imitations are, Cat. 12, 13, where the general decline of virtue
seems based on Thuc. iii. 82, 83; and the speeches which obviously take
his for a model.
[99] As instances we give--_multo maxime miserabile_ (Cat. 36), _incultus,
us_ (54), _neglegisset_ (Jug. 40), _discordiscus_ (66), &c. Poetical
constructions are--_Inf_. for _gerund_, often; _pleraque nobilitas_ for
_maxima pars nobilium_ (Cat. 17). For _asyndeton_ cf. Cat. 5, _et
saepiss._
[100] Cat. 10. The well-known line _os ch' eteron men kenthoi eni phresin,
allo os bazoi_, is the original.
[101] Ib. i. 1, _virtus clara aeternaque habetur; obedientia finxit_.
[102] It should perhaps be noticed that many MSS. spell the name
Salustius.
CHAPTER IV.
[1] The actors in the _Atellanae_ not only wore masks but had the
privilege of refusing to take them off if they acted badly, which was the
penalty exacted from those actors in the legitimate drama who failed to
satisfy their audience. Masks do not appear to have been used even in the
drama until about 100 B.C.
[2] Second Philippic.
[3] _Planipedes audit Fabios_. Juv. viii. 190.
[4] "_Or Jonson's learned sock be on_." Milton here adopts the Latin
synonym for comedy.
[5] The _Pallium_. This, of course, was not always worn.
[6] Ovid's account of the _Mimus_ is drawn to the life, and is instructive
as showing the moral food provided for the people under the paternal
government of the emperors (Tr. ii. 497). As an excuse for his own free
language he says, _Quid si scripsissim Mimos obscaena iocantes Qui semper
vetiti crimen amoris habent; In quibus assidue cultus procedit adulter,
Verbaque dat stulto callida nupta viro? Nubilis haec virgo, matronaque,
virque, puerque Spectat, et ex magna parte Senatus adest. Nec satis
incestis temerari vocibus aures; Assuescunt oculi multa pudenda pati ...
Quo mimis prodest, scaena est lucrosa poetae_, &c. The laxity of the
modern ballet is a faint shadow of the indecency of the Mime.
[7] The passage is as follows (Ep. ii. 1, 185): _Media inter carmina
poscunt Aut ursum aut pugiles: his nam plebecula plaudit. Verum equitis
quoque iam miravit ab aure voluptas Omnis ad incertos oculos ... Captivum
portator ebur, captiva Corinthus: Esseda festinant, pilenta, petorrita,
naves ... Rideret Democritus, et ... spectaret populum ludis attentius
ipsis Ut sibi pradientem mimo spectacula plura_, etc. From certain remarks
in Cicero we gather that things were not much better even in his day.
[8] This is what Gellius (xvii. 14,2) says.
[9] The whole is preserved, Macrob. S. ii. 7, and is well worth reading.
[10] Cic. ad Att. xii. 18.
[11] See App. note 2, for more about Syrus.
[12] Hor. Sat. i. x. 6, where he compares him to Lucilius.
[13] Examples quoted by Gellius, x. 24; xv. 25.
[14] vi. 21.
[15] We should infer this also from allusions to Pythagorean tenets, and
other philosophical questions, which occur in the extant fragments of
Mimes.
[16] Tr. ii. 503, 4.
[17] S. 1-3, et al.
[18] Vell. Pat. ii. 83, where Plancus dancing the character of Glaucus is
described, cf. Juv. vi. 63.
[19] _Quae gravis Aesopus, quae doctus Roscius egit_ (Ep. ii. 1, 82).
Quintilian (_Inst. Or_. xi. 3) says, _Roscius citatior, Aesopus gravior
fuit, quod ille comoedias, hic tragoedias egit_.
[20] _Cic. de Or._ i. 28, 130. As Cicero in his oration for Sextius
mentions the expression of Aesopus's eyes and face while acting, it is
supposed that he did not always wear a mask.
[21] Ep. ii. 1, 173.
[22] xiv. 15. Others again think the name expresses one of the standing
characters of the _Atellanae_, like the _Maccus_, etc.
[23] Pro Sext. 58.
[24] See Book i. chapter viii.
[25] These were doubtless much the worst of his poetical effusions. It was
in them that the much-abused lines _O fortunam natam me Consule Romam_,
and _Cedant arma togae, concedat laurea laudi_, occurred. See Forsyth,
Vit. Cic. p. 10, 11. His _gesta Marii_ was the tribute of an admiring
fellow-townsman.
[26] In the preface to his _Lucretius_.
[27] _E.g. Inferior paulo est Aries et flumen ad Austri Inclinatior. Atque
etiam_, etc. v. 77; and he gives countless examples of that break after
the fourth foot which Lucretius also affects, _e.g. Arcturus nomine
claro._ Two or three lines are imitated by Virgil, _e.g._ v. 1, _ab Jove
Musarum primordia_; so v. 21, _obstipum caput et tereti cervice reflexum_.
The rhythm of v. 3, _cum caeloque simul noctesque diesque feruntur_,
suggests a well-known line in the eighth Aeneid, _olli remigio noctemque
diemque fatigant_.
[28] Suet. J. C. 56.
[29] N. H. xix. 7.
[30] Suet. vit. Ter. see page 51.
[31] See Bernhardy Grundr. der R. L. Anm, 200, also Caes. Op. ed. S.
Clarke, 1778.
[32] De Bell. Alex. 4.
[33] Whenever a ship touched at Alexandria, Euergetes sent for any MSS.
the captain might have on board. These were detained in the museum and
labelled _to ek ton ploion_.
[34] The museum was situated in the quarter of the city called _Brucheium_
(Spartian. in Hadr. 20). See Don. and Muller, Hist. Gk. Lit. vol. ii.
chap. 45.
[35] The school of Alexandria did not become a religious centre until a
later date. The priestly functions of the librarians are historically
unimportant.
[36] It is true Theocritus stayed long in Alexandria. But his inspiration
is altogether Sicilian, and as such was hailed by delight by the
Alexandrines, who were tired of pedantry and compliment, and longed for
naturalness though in a rustic garb.
[37] This is the true ground of Aristophanes' rooted antipathy to
Euripides. The two minds were of an incompatible order, Aristophanes
represents Athens; Euripides the human spirit.
[38] He must have had some real beauties, else Theocritus (vii. 40) would
hardly praise him so highly: "_ou gar po kat' emdn noon oude ton eslon
Sikelidan nikemi ton ek Samo oude Philetan Aeidon, batrachos de pot
akridat hos tis erisdo_."
[39] Even an epic poem was, if it extended to any length, now considered
tedious; _Epyllia_, or miniature epics, in one, two, or three books,
became the fashion.
[40] Others assign the poem which has come down to us to Germanicus the
father of Caligula, perhaps with better reason.
[41] Cic. De Or. xvi. 69.
[42] Ovid (Amor. i, 15, 16) expresses the high estimate of Aratus common
in his day: _Nulla Sophocleo veniet iactura cothurno. Cum sole et luna
semper Aratus erit_. He was not, strictly speaking, an Alexandrine, as he
lived at the court of Antigonus in Macedonia; but he represents the same
school of thought.
[43] They are generally mentioned together. Prop IV. i. 1, &c.
[44] Nothing can show this more strikingly than the fact that the Puritan
Milton introduces the loves of Adam and Eve in the central part of his
poem.
[45] The _Cantores Euphorionis_ and despisers of Ennius, with whom Cicero
was greatly wroth. Alluding to them he says:--_Ita belle nobis_ "Flavit ab
Epiro lenissimus Onchesmites." _Hunc spondeiazonta si cui vis to neoteron
pro tuo vendita_. Ad. Att. vii, 2, 1.
[46] The reader is referred to the introductory chapter of Sellar's _Roman
poets of the Republic_, where this passage is quoted.
[47] The reader is again referred to the preface to Munro's _Lucretius_.
[48] _Quem tu, dea, tempore in omni Omnibus ornatum voluisti excellere
rebus_.
[49] i, 41.
[50] Ep. ad Q. Fr. ii. 11. It seems best to read _multis ingenii luminibus
non multae tamen artis_ than to put the _non_ before _multis_. The
original text has no _non_; if we keep to that, _tamen_ will mean _and
even_.
[51] Lucr. had a great veneration for his genius, see ii. 723: _Quae_
(Sicilia) _nil hoc habuisse viro praeclarius in se Nec sanctum magis et
mirum carumque videtur. Carmina quinctiam divini pectoris eius
Vociferantur, et exponunt praeclara reperta, Ut vix humana videatur stirpe
creatus_.
[52] In his treatise _de Poetica_ he calls him _physiologon mallon i
poiaeten_.
[53] A French writer justly says "_L'utilite c'est le principe createur de
la litterature romaine_."
[54] Some one has observed that the martial imagery of Lucretius is taken
from the old warfare of the Punic wars, not from that of his own time. He
speaks of elephants, of Scipio and Hannibal, as if they were the heroes
most present to his mind.
[55] The _eros philosuphus_, so beautifully described by Plato in the
_Symposium_.
[56] A Scotch acquaintance of the writer's when asked to define a certain
type of theology, replied, "An interminable argument."
[57] Philetas wore himself to a shadow by striving to solve the sophistic
riddle of the "Liar." His epitaph alludes to this: _Xeine, Philaetas eimi,
logon d' o pseudomenos me olese kai nukton phrontides esperioi_.
[58] iii. 3. "Te sequor, o Graiae gentis decus!"
[59] v. 8, where, though the words are general, the reference is to
Epicurus.
[60] By Sulla, 84 B.C.
[61] He defined it as a _leia kinaesis_, or smooth gentle motion of the
atoms which compose the soul.
[62] The doctrine of inherited aptitudes is a great advance on the ancient
statement of this theory, inasmuch as it partly gets rid of the
inconsistency of regarding the senses as the fountains of knowledge while
admitting the inconceivability of their cognising the ultimate
constituents of matter.
[63] Prof. Maudesley's books are a good example.
[64] _Dux vitae, dia voluptas_ (ii. 171). So the invocation to Venus with
which the poem opens.
[65] As where he invokes Venus, describes the mother of the gods, or
deifies the founder of true wisdom.
[66] _Nec sum animi dubius Graiorum obscura reperta Difficile inlustrare
Latinis versibus esse; Multa novis verbis praesertim cum sit agendum
Propter egestatem linguae et rerum novitatem_ (i. 130).
[67] i. 75.
[68] Lu. i. 56-95.
[69] Ib. i. 710-735; iii. 1-30.
[70] Ib. i. 912-941.
[71] Ib. ii. 1-60.
[72] Ib. ii. 354-366.
[73] Ib. iii. 1036 _sqq._
[74] Ib. i. 32-40.
[75] Contrast him with Manilius, or with Ovid in the last book of the
_Metamorphoses_, or with the author of _Etna_. The difference is immense.
[76] Lu. ii. 371.
[77] Ib. v. 18.
[78] Ib. Ib. v. 3.
[79] Ib. _apatheia_.
[80] Ib. v. 1201, _sqq._
[81] The passage in which they are described is perhaps the most beautiful
in Latin poetry, iii. 18, _sqq._ Cf. ii. 644.
[82] _E.g. omoiomepeia_, and various terms of endearment, iv. 1154-63.
[83] S. i. 10.
[84] _E.g._ frequently in Juvenal.
[85] _E.g. terrai frugiferai: lumina sis oculis: indugredi, volta,
vacefit, facie are_ on the analogy of Ennius's _cere comminuit brum,
salsae lacrimae_, &c.
[86] See Appendix.
[87] Besides the passages quoted or referred to, the following throw light
upon his opinions or genius. The introduction (i. 1-55), the attack on
mythology (ii, 161-181, 591-650); that on the fear of death (iii. 943-
983), the account of the progress of the arts (v. 1358-1408), and the
recommendation of a calm mind (v. 56-77).
[88] _E.g. quocirca, quandoquidem, id ita esse, quod superest, Huc accedit
ut_, &c.
[89] Lu. i. 914.
[90] Qu. x. 1, 87.
[91] Ov. Am. i. 15, 23; Stat. Silv. ii. 7, 76.
[92] Hor. _Deos didici securum agere aerom_, S. i. v. 101.
[93] Georg. ii. 490. Connington in his edition of Virgil, points out
hundreds of imitations of his diction.
[94] Tac. Ann. lv. 34.
[95] We cannot certainly gather that Furius was alive when Horace wrote
Sat. ii. 5, 40,
"Furius hibernas cana nive conspuit Alpes."
[96] S. i. x. 36.
[97] See Virg. Aen. iv. 585; xii. 228; xi. 73l.
[98] Hor. S. i. x. 46, _experto frustra Varrone Atacino_.
[99] Ov. Am. i. xv. 21; Ep. ex. Pont. iv. xvi. 21.
[100] Qu. x. 1, 87.
[101] Trist. ii. 439. For some specimens of his manner see App. to chap.
i. note 3.
[102] Ecl. ix. 35.
[103] Told by Ovid (_Metam._ bk. x.).
[104] Cat. xc. 1.
[105] Cic. (_Brut._) lxxxii. 283.
[106] _Romae vivimus; illa domus_, lxviii. 34.
[107] See. C. xxxi.
[108] C. xxv.
[109] C. i.
[110] C. xlix.
[111] C. xciii. lvii. xxix.
[112] What a different character does this reveal from that of the
Augustan poets! Compare the sentiment in C. xcii.:
"Nil nimium studeo Caesar tibi velle placere
Nec scire utrum sis albus an ater homo."
[113] For the character of Clodia, see Cic. pro Cael. _passim_; and for
her criminal passion for her brother, compare Cat. lxxix., which is only
intelligible if so understood. Cf. also lviii. xci. lxxvi.
[114] The beautiful and pathetic poem (C. lxxvi.) in which he expresses
his longing for peace of mind suggests this remark.
[115] C. lxv. and lxviii.
[116] C. xxxi.
[117] Compare, however, Lucr. iii. 606-8.
[118] C. vi. 15, _quicquid habes boni malique Die nobis_.
[119] See xix. 5-9, and lxxvi.
[120] Especially in the Attis.
[121] Ov. Amor. iii. 9, 62, _docte Catulle_. So Mart. viii. 73, 8. Perhaps
satirically alluded to by Horace, _simius iste Nil praeter Calvum et_
doctus _cantare Catullum_. S. I. x.
[122] The first foot may be a spondee, a trochee, or an iambus. The
licence is regarded as _duriusculum_ by Pliny the Elder. But in this case
freedom suited the Roman treatment of the metre better than strictness.
[123] A trimeter iambic line with a spondee in the last place, which must
always be preceded by an iambus, _e.g. Miser Catulle desinas ineptire._
[124] _E.g._ in C. lxxxiv. (12 lines) there is not a single dissyllabic
ending. In one place we have _dictaque factaque sunt_. I think Martial
also has _hoc scio, non amo te_. The best instance of continuous narration
in this metre is lxvi. 105-30, _Quo tibi tum--conciliata viro_, a very
sonorous passage.
[125] _E.g. Perfecta exigitur | una amicitia_ (see Ellis. Catull.
Prolog.), and _Iupiter ut Chalybum | omne genus percut_, which is in
accord with old Roman usage, and is modelled on Callimachus's _Zeu kater,
os chalybon pan apoloito genos_.
[126] This has been alluded to under Aratus. As a specimen of Catullus's
style of translation, we append two lines, _Hae me Konon eblepsen en aeri
ton Berenikaes bostruchon on keinae pasin ethaeke theois_ of translation,
we append two lines, which are thus rendered, _Idem me ille Conon_
caelesti munere _vidit E Bereniceo vertice caesariem_ Fulgenlem clare,
_quam multis illa deorum_ Levia protendens brachia _pollicitaest_. The
additions are characteristic.
[127] clxviii.
[128] Ca. clxi: lxii.
[129] The conceit in v. 63, 64, must surely be Greek.
[130] _Epullion_.
[131] C. 68.
[132] See Ellis, _Cat. Prolegomena_.
PART II.
CHAPTER I.
[1] Tibullus was, however, a Roman knight.
[2] O. ii. 7, 10. _Tecum Philippos et celerem fugam Sensi relicta non bene
parmula._
[3] G. ii. 486. _Flumina amem silvasque inglorius._
[4] i. 57. _Non ego laudari curo mea Delia: tecum Dummodo sim, quaeso,
segnis inersque vocer._
[5] Pr. i. 6,29. _Non ego sum laudi, non natus idoneus armis._
[6] The lack of patrons becomes a standing apology in later times for the
poverty of literary production.
[7] Pollio, however, stands on a somewhat different footing. In his
cultivation of rhetoric he must be classed with the imperial writers.
[8] Dis te minorem quod geris imperas, 0. iii. 6, 5.
[9] Cicero was Augur. Admission to this office was one of the great
objects of his ambition.
[10] Od. iii. 24, 33.
[11] C. S. 57; O. iv. 5, 21.
[12] Ecl. i. 7.
[13] Ep. ii. 1, 16.
[14] Prop. iii. 4, 1; Ovid Tr. iii. 1, 78.
[15] This subject is discussed in an essay by Gaston Boissier in the first
volume of _La Religion romaine d'Auguste aux Antonins._
[16] _Tac. Ann_. i. 2, Ubi militem donis, populum annona, cunctos
dulcedine otii pellexit, insurgere paulatim, munia senatus magistratuum
legum in se trahere, nullo adversante, cum ferocissimi per acies aut
proscriptione cecidissent, ceteri nobilium, quanto quis servitio
promptior, opibus et honoribus extollerentur, ac novis ex rebus aucti tuta
et praesentia quam vetera et periculosa mallent.
[17] Cum divus Augustus sicut caetera eloquentiam pacaverat.--_De Causs.
Corr. Eloq._
[18] Pompon Dig. I. 2. 2.47 (quoted by Teuffel). Primus Divus Augustus,
_ut maior iuris auctoritas haberetur_, constituit ut ex auctoritate eius
responderent.
[19] _Odi profanum vulgus et arceo_ (Hor. Od. iii. 1, 1), _Parca dedit
malignum spernere vulgus_ (id. ii. 16, 39), _satis est equitem mihi
plaudere_ (Sat. I. x. 77), and often. So Ovid, Fast. I. _exordium_.
[20] See the pleasing description in the ninth Satire of Horace's first
book.
[21] Suet. Aug. 84. Tac. An. xiii. 3.
[22] _Tuque pedestribus Dices historiis praelia Caesaris Maecenas melius
ductaque per vias Regum colla minacium_ (Od. ii. 12, 9).
[23] Ep. 101, 11. I quote it to show what his sentiments were on a point
that touched a Roman nearly, the fear of death: _Debilem facito manu
debilem pede coxa: Tuber astrue gibberum, lubricos quate dentes: Vita dum
superest, bene est: hanc mihi vel acuta Si sedeam cruce sustine._
[24] He was so when Horace wrote his first book of Satires (x. 51). _Forte
epos acer lit nemo Varius ducit_.
[25] Often quoted as the poem _de Morte_.
[26] Sat. vi. 2.
[27] Ecl. viii. 5, 88, _procumbit in ulva Perdita, nec serae_, &c. Observe
how Virgil improves while he borrows.
[28] Aen. vi. 621, 2.
[29] Od. i. 61.
[30] So says the Schol. on Hor. Ep. I. xvi. 25.
[31] X. i. 98
[32] X. 3. 8.
[33] Ec. ix. 35.
[34] Virg. Ec. iii. 90; Hor. Epod. x.
[35] "_Cinna procacior_," Ov. Trist. ii. 435.
[36] _Saepe suas volucres legit mihi grandior aevo, Quaeque necet serpens,
quae iuvet herba Macer._ Trist. iv. 10, 43. Quint. (x. 1, 87) calls him
_humilis_.
CHAPTER II.
[1] See Sellar's _Virgil_, p. 107.
[2] _Pagus_ does not mean merely the village, but rather the village with
its surroundings as defined by the government survey, something like our
parish.
[3] _Mantua vae miseras nimium vicina Cremonae_, Ecl. 9. 27.
[4] In the celebrated passage _Felix qui potuit_, &c.
[5] Horace certainly did, and that in a more thorough manner than Virgil.
See his remark at the end of the _Iter ad Brundisium_, and other well-
known passages.
[6] Contrast the way in which he speaks of poetical studies, G. iv. 564,
_me dulcis alebat Parthenope studiis florentem ignobilis oti_, with the
language of his letter to Augustus (Macrob. i. 24, 11), _cum alia quoque
studia ad id opus multoque potiora_ (_i.e._ philosophy) _impertiar_.
[7] This is alluded to in a little poem (Catal. 10): "_Villula quae
Sironis eras et peuper agelle, Verum illi domino tu quoque divitiae: Me
tibi, et hos una mecum et quos semper amavi.... Commendo, in primisque
patrem; tu nunc eris illi Mantua quod fuerat, quodque Cremona prius._" We
observe the growing peculiarities of Virgil's style.
[8] See Hor. S. i. 5 and 10.
[9] Macrob. i. 24. See note, p. 5.
[10] As Horace. Od. I. iii. 4: "_Animae dimidium meae._" Cf. S. i. 5, 40.
[11] "_Namque pila lippis inimicum et ludere crudis._" Hor. S. i. v. 49.
[12] "_A penitissima Graecorum doctrina._" Macr. v. 22, 15.
[13] "_Gallo cuius amor tantum mihi crescit in horas
Quantum vere novo viridis se subiicit alnus._"
--Ecl. x. 73.
[14] The _Ciris_ and _Aetna_ formerly attributed to him are obviously
spurious.
[15] vi. and x.
[16] iii. iv.
[17] viii. ix.
[18] v. vii.
[19] Macrob. Sat. iii. 98, 19, calls Suevius _vir doctissimus_.
[20] "The original motive of the poem can only have been the idea that the
gnat could not rest in Hades, and therefore asked the shepherd whose life
it had saved, for a decent burial. But this very motive, without which the
whole poem loses its consistency, is wanting in the extant _Culex_."--
_Teuffel, R. L._ S 225, 1, 4.
[21] Its being edited separately from Virgil's works is thought by Teuffel
to indicate spuriousness. But there is good evidence for believing that
the poem accepted as Virgil's by Statius and Martial was our present
_Culex_. Teuffel thinks _they_ were mistaken, but that is a bold
conjecture.
[22] The missing the gist of the story, of which Teuffel complains, does
not seem to us worse than the glaring inconsistency at the end of the
sixth book of the Aeneid, where Aeneas is dismissed by the gate of the
false visions. That incident, whether ironical or not, is unquestionably
an artistic blunder, since it destroys the impression of truth on which
the justification of the book depends.
[23] For instance, v. 291, _Sed tu crudelis, crudelis tu magis Orpheu_
looks more like an imperfect anticipation than an imitation of _Improbus
ille puer crudelis tu quoque mater_. Again, v. 293, _parvum si Tartara
possent peccatum ignovisse_, is surely a feeble effort to say _scirent si
ignoscere Manes_, not a reproduction of it; v. 201, _Erebo cit equos Nox_
could hardly have been written after _ruit Oceano nox_. From an
examination of the similarities of diction, I should incline to regard
them as in nearly every case admitting naturally of this explanation. The
portraits of Tisiphone, the Heliades, Orpheus, and the tedious list of
heroes, Greek, Trojan, and Roman, who dwell in the shades, are difficult
to pronounce upon. They might be extremely bad copies, but it is simpler
to regard them as crude studies, unless indeed we suppose the versifier to
have introduced them with the express design of making the _Culex_ a good
imitation of a juvenile poem. Minute points which make for an early date
are _meritus_ (v. 209), cf. _fultus hyacintho_ (Ecl. 6); the rhythms
_cognitus utilitate manet_ (v. 65), _implacabilis ira nimis_, (v. 237);
the form _videreque_ (v. 304); the use of the pass. part. with acc. (v.
ii. 175); of alliteration (v. 122, 188); asyndeton (v. 178, 190);
juxtapositions like _revolubile volvens_ (v. 168); compounds like
_inevectus_ (v. 100, 340); all which are paralleled in Lucr. and Virg. but
hardly known in later poets. The chief feature which makes the other way
is the extreme rarity of elisions, which, as a rule, are frequent in Virg.
Here we have as many as twenty-two lines without elision. But we know that
Virgil became more archaic in his style as he grew older.
[24] _Molle atque facetum Virgilio annuerunt guadentes rure camenae_.--
Sat. i. x. 40.
[25] _E.g. tutthon d' osson apothen_ becomes _procul tantum_; _panta d'
enalla genoito_ becomes _omnia vel medium fiant mare_, &c.
[26] Virgil as yet claims but a moderate degree of inspiration. _Me quoque
dicunt Vatem pastores: sed non ego credulus illis. Nam neque adhuc Vario
videor nec dicere Cinna Digna, sed argutos inter strepere anser olores_.
Ec. ix. 33.
[27] Ec. v. 45.
[28] In his preface to the Eclogues.
[29] Page 248. Cf. also _tua Maecenas haud mollia iussa_, G. iii. 41.
[30] _Ascraeumque cano Romana per oppida carmen_, G. ii. 176.
[31] The words _Ille_ ludere _quae vellum calamo permisit agresti_ (Ecl.
i. 10), might seem to contradict this, but the Eclogues were of a lighter
cast. He never speaks of the Georg. or Aen. as _lusus_. So Hor. (Ep. i. 1,
10), _versus et cetera ludicra pono_; referring to his odes.
[32] Hor. A. P. 218.
[33] See G. i. 500, _sqq._ where Augustus is regarded as the saviour of
the age.
[34] We have observed that except Lucretius all the great poets were from
the municipia or provinces.
[35] The tenth; imitated in Milton's _Lycidas_.
[36] In its form it reminds us of those _Epyllia_ which were such
favourite subjects with Callimachus, of which the _Peleus and Thetis_ is a
specimen.
[37] Said to have been uttered by Cicero on hearing the Eclogues read; the
_rima spes Romae_ being of course the orator himself. But the story,
however pretty, cannot be true, as Cicero died before the Eclogues were
composed.
[38] Hist. Lat. Lit. vol. iii.
[39] The most powerful are perhaps the description of a storm (G. i. 316,
_sqq._). of the cold winter of Scythia (G. iii. 339, _sqq._), and in a
slightly different way, of the old man of Cerycia (G. iv. 125, _sqq._).
[40] The _latis otia fundis_ so much coveted by Romans. These remarks are
scarcely true of Horace.
[41] Naples, Baiae, Pozzuoli, Pompeii, were the Brightons and Scarboroughs
of Rome. Luxurious ease was attainable there, but the country was only
given in a very artificial setting. It was almost like an artist painting
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