y\3 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 003 234 184 6 I f 0M hi ^^i^B BKrN I Jam IE '-^jI jm Wdmt w ii**** ! LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. # » : # J UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. £ CLASSICAL DISQUISITIONS AND CURIOSITIES, CRITICAL AND HISTORICAL. BY BENJAMIN HEATH MALKIN, LL.D. & F. S. A, HEAD MASTER OF BURY SCHOOL. LONDON: PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, BROWN, AND GREEN, PATERNOSTER-ROW. 1825. «$ London: Printed by A. & R. Spottiswoode, New- Street- Square . TO MY FORMER PUPILS. I inscribe the following pages to you, in the hope that they will remind you of times, persons, and places, not devoid of interest in your estimation. Various are the topics, direct and collateral, which have been the subject of enquiry and discussion between us, arising out of our classical reading. I perhaps have not overrated the measure of your respect and favourable opinion, in supposing that an attempt on my part to continue our literary in- tercourse will not be unacceptable to you. On this presumption, I have devoted my intervals of leisure for the last six months, to the collection and examination of many passages, of more or less ordinary occurrence, with a view to illustrate the bearings of ancient upon modern taste, literature, and opinions, and to encourage you to a more va- ried and extensive acquaintance with Latin and Greek authors, than falls within the compass of school instruction or public lectures. That this collection consists of articles, neither connected in subject nor of consecutive arrangement, is at once explained, and I trust justified, by the consider- ation that none but leisure hours could with pro- A3 IV DEDICATION. priety be devoted to their production. Had the work aspired to the dignity of a regular treatise on any given subject, Horace's term of gestation would not have been too long for its final dev elopement: but in detached essays, of more humble preten- sion, where the mind of the writer shifts rapidly from theme to theme, there seems to be little gained by the anxieties of minute revision, or the hesitation necessary to more important lucubra- tions. In the papers now submitted to you* light and serious topics are alternately treated ; such as they are, with all their imperfections, they are the result of that miscellaneous reading, which forms the occupation and amusement of my privacy, in furtherance of my public teaching. But you will expect me to address you in the language of apology, not only for the deficiencies of the present attempt, but for the undue execu- tion of an important trust, if you believe what you have of late been frequently told. It seems to be the fashionable doctrine among the philosophers, that the system of our public schools does not keep pace with the advancement of the age ; and that its victims are thrown upon the world, without any preparation for its serious business, without any clue to those paths in which they are indivi- dually to walk. Before I attempt to repel this charge, I must observe generally, that in these days of free dis- cussion, the lust of innovation keeps pace with the spirit of improvement. Ancient systems and es- tablished practice are convenient foils to the novel DEDICATION. V conceptions and bold theories of speculative men. Projects of education run a race with steam-en- gines and rail-roads. Schools and universities are voted to be slow coaches : and then comes forward a prospectus, undertaking to teach all the professor knows of Latin and Greek in a month ; to give a bird's-eye view of the whole circle of sciences in a year; and to fortify the youthful mind. agaUw^jj the temptations of the world in a course of twelve lectures. The sentiments of Locke and Milton, on the subject of education, are before the world, and have been examined in every point of view. But old Burton, " Democritus Junior/' the Anatomist of Melancholy, has the following passage in his quaint style : — " But and if Very Truth be ex- tant indeede on earth, as some hold she it is which actuates men's deeds, purposes, ye may in vaine look for her in the learned universities, halls, col- leges. Truth is no Doctoresse, she taketh no de- grees at Paris or Oxford, amongst great clerks, disputants, subtile Aristotles, men nodosi ingenii, able to take Lully by the chin, but oftentimes to such an one as myself, an Idiota, or common person, no great things, melancholizing in woods where waters are, quiet places by rivers, fountains, whereas the silly man expecting no such matter, thinketh only how best to delectate and refresh his mynde continually with Natura her pleasaunt scenes, woods, water-falls, or Art her statelie gardens, parks, terraces, Belvideres, on a sudden the god- desse herself Truth has appeared, with a shyning a 4 VI DEDICATION. lyghte, and a sparkling countenance, so as yee may not be able lightly to resist her*" Now we humbly maintain, that Truth is not only a God- desse, but a Doctoresse : that she may be looked for in universities, halls, and colleges ; and we fur- ther venture to hope, in those public schools which prepare the student for his probation in the higher stag-pc of academical discipline. The first charge against us is, that we devote too large a portion of irrevocable time to the at- tainment of one object, namely classical learning. Here a question arises, whether classical learning be really one object, or whether it do not rather embrace a circle of important objects. It seems to me to furnish a supply of various and gradually accumulating knowledge, suggested to the scholar incidentally, through the medium of languages to be learned, with more interest and effect than would be produced by the formality of systematic lectures, and at a more early period than any at which the mind would be strong enough to en- counter the severity of strict philosophical discus- sion. Did my limits admit of examining the sub- ject in all its bearings, I might enlarge on the consideration, that he who knows only modern languages, knows no language at all. But the prejudice of the moment seems all for science. Cer- tain philosophers would teach the young idea how to shoot with the cross-bow of geology : but we can herein convict them of belying their own preten- sions to method, and jumping in medias res, when they would start their little geologues in the DEDICATION. Vll career of knowledge from hie lapis, a stone. We on the contrary adhere to the principle, so often and so learnedly inculcated by the first Lord Kenyon, whose legal knowledge was unbounded, and whose fondly displayed power of quotation, now and then overleaped the enclosures of the Latin syntax, stare super antiquas vias. On this sound constitutional principle, so fit to be adopted by the professors of learning, we set out from haec musa, a song. But then this singing propensity of ours is alleged as one of our principal criu»p S# \y e are accused of making poets, whereas they ougii^f be born. Now assuredly we are not so absurd as to suppose, either that we can, or that the gods will, make our pupils poetical. It is supposed that we confine our efforts to fostering an annual poet or two, for the purpose of supporting our own repu- tation in the universities. But we are not so am- bitious as to aim at usurping the prerogative of royalty : nay, the king himself, who can do no evil, can do no more good than to make a laureate : in which capacity Cibber and Pye chaunted, and Southey is silent. It is said that we teach an art, which not one in iive hundred of our pupils will ever practise in after life. That is highly probable, and by no means to be regretted, if there be any truth in a Spanish proverb, that " He w r ho cannot make one verse is a blockhead ; he who makes more is a fool. 5 ' I have relieved you from the first of these imputations, and I warn you against in- curring the second. But should the muse be so spiteful as to inspire you, send not the effusions to VJ11 DEDICATION. me, since I can assure you, that to a schoolmaster, sufficient unto the day is the authorship thereof. Teaching composition, like other great crimes, car- ries its punishment along with it. Why then do we teach composition in Latin and Greek, and particularly verse? It is to make critics, not poets. It is to ensnare our pupils into a more ex- tensive, and a more curious examination of the oreat writers, than the public tuition of a mixed body would allow. The practice of classical com- position * a verse and prose compels a composer of anv calent or ambition to pull to pieces the whole phraseology of the principal authors for his own use, and carefully to examine their thoughts for the purposes of adaptation. Thus an acquaintance is formed with their contents, and an insight gained into their spirit, not to be acquired by mere mechanical construction in a lesson, or by yawning over the notes of Delphin or Variorum commentators. We are further accused, not only of making an annual poet, but of making an annual scholar ; of cultivating highly soils of abundant promise, and suffering the light lands to lie fallow. This vain or mercenary conduct I indignantly disclaim for myself. A long experience of the public school system, and an extensive acquaintance among its conductors, enable me to disclaim it in behalf of my brethren. I feel convinced that there is no set of gentlemen at the head of any public school in the kingdom, so mean, so unworthy of the name, as to betray their vice- DEDICATION. IX parental trust, and to consign those pupils to igno- rance, who are not blessed with brilliant talents. The frequently recurring failure of laborious and painful efforts is sufficiently mortifying, without being imputed as a fault ; but who can escape censure, if the apathy of sluggish minds, or the impracticability of dull parts, is to be fixed on the instructors as arising from a dereliction of their duty ? There will always be a grenadier company in academical as well as in military bodies. It is to be feared there will also be an awkward squad : but we find that we can drill those prevailing numbers, who just come up to the regimental standard, into useful fighting men. That our course of instruction is so completely unprofessional, is with me a merit, rather than a defect. We teach the general principles of reli- gion ; but we leave it to the universities to form the divine : we leave it to the bar to form its own lawyers : but we endeavour to lay that solid found- ation, on which a superstructure of any order may be raised. A strong objection against edu- cating with professional views too early, is, that all professional education, not to speak invidiously, has an eye to pecuniary interest, and the politic arts of pushing forward in life. There is no fear that these objects will not occupy the mind soon enough : and it is highly desirable that it should previously be furnished with sentiments of inde- pendence, with a taste for the liberal arts, with that common stock for the intercourse of polite society, which distinguish the gentleman from the DEDICATION. recluse, the pedant, or the plodder. But the truth is, that besides this advantage, classical education does make preparation for the peculiar duties and pursuits of after life, though not exclusively or engrossingly : in addition to which, it furnishes at the time, and continues to furnish through life, something valuable in itself to all those who pos- sess it, independently of its subserviency to their more necessary pursuits, and independently of the mental discipline incident to its acquirement. My station in life may be supposed to give a bias to my opinions and reasonings on this subject. I will therefore appeal to the testimony of the great Lord Chatham, as simply and beautifully delivered in those letters to his nephew, Lord Camelford, for the possession of which we are indebted to Lord Grenville : — " I rejoice to hear that you have begun Homer's Iliad, and have made so great a progress in Virgil. I hope you taste and love those authors particularly. You cannot read them too much ; they are not only the two greatest poets, but they contain the finest lessons for your age to imbibe j lessons of honour, courage, disinterestedness, love of truth, command of temper, gentleness of behaviour, humanity, and in one word, virtue in its true signification. Go on, my dear nephew, and drink as deep as you can of those divine springs : the pleasure of the draught is equal at least to the prodigious ad- vantage of it to the heart and morals. I hope you will drink them as somebody does in Virgil, DEDICATION. XL of another sort of cup : Ilk impiger hausit spu- mantem pater am" Lord Chatham, it should seem, did not hold the opinion expressed by a German writer, who says that he would as soon insist on seeing a boy with a brandy bottle, as a book, continually in his hands. In a subsequent passage, the great statesman who so gracefully and benevolently descends into the office of a private tutor, advises his pupil to con- sider the poets, however delightful, as subordinate objects of his attention : — " I beg a copy of your elegy on your mother's picture : it is such admirable poetry, that I beg you to plunge deep into prose and severer studies, and not indulge your genius for verse, for the present. Finitimus or at or i poeta. Substitute Tully and Demosthenes in the place of Homer and Virgil ; and arm yourself with all the variety of manner, copiousness and beauty of diction, no- bleness and magnificence of ideas, of the Roman consul ; and render the powers of eloquence com- plete, by the irresistible torrent of vehement argu- mentation, the close and forcible reasoning, and the depth and fortitude of mind of the Grecian statesman." If what has been said be sufficient to justify the choice of our studies, the next question is, whether we "pursue them wisely and successfully. It will scarcely be contended, that with the advantage of the emulation we have the means of exciting, we are likely to be less qualified teachers of the learned languages, than those who devote their XII DEDICATION. talents to more confined numbers or individual objects of their attention. The charge to which we must plead guilty is, taking a longer time about it. Perhaps, however, we lay up a larger stock of materials in the course of our teaching, than those who make a merit of communicating the mere languages in a shorter time than ourselves. In fact, I positively deny that the seven or eight years passed at a public school are devoted to the acquisition of two languages. Simple construction is merely mechanical ; and lectures produce little of lasting impression even on adult minds. We endeavour, in our upper classes, to unite the in- terest of lectures with the discipline of examination. Those youths who make full use of the oppor- tunities offered them in public instruction, and that more extensive course of private reading, in which it is our habit to engage boys of ardent mind and considerable power, acquire with the languages, the heart and soul of the authors : the facts contained in their histories, their principles of public conduct, their private morals, the civil and military constitutions of their countries, with their resemblances and discrepancies in reference to our own : the most approved rules of taste in poetry and the fine arts, and their effects upon modern literature. I should think but meanly of that teacher, who could read Homer with his class, and not occasionally talk to them about Milton. With as little favour should I regard the intellectual energy of him, who could read page after page of Cicero with his pupils, without comparing the DEDICATION. X1U Roman Forum with the practice of the English Bar, and the province of our juries with the office of their judices ; without looking at the senatus populusque Romanus, with reference to the con- stitutional functions of the British Parliament : who could read the two great orators of antiquity without associating the name of Cicero with that of Pitt, and the name of Demosthenes with that of Fox. Still less could I apologise for the neglect or apathy of that instructor, who should pass by any occasion which either the best or the worst philosophy and morals of the ancients may happen to furnish, of impressing on the minds of his hearers the superiority of the wisdom from above, to any thing that the wit of man has ever yet devised ; of pointing out how abhorrent from Christian principles are their worst doctrines, how greatly inferior the noblest conjectures of their most highly favoured minds. With respect to the mode in which religious convictions are most successfully impressed, I feel convinced from the habitual practice of both methods, that the evi- dences of Christianity, those at least which are collateral, are more favourably received when thrown in incidentally, when they strike with a surprise, or steal upon the mind, than when they are ushered in with the formality of prepared lec- tures. All those who are extensively conversant with young minds and feelings must know, that what is necessarily very serious, is presupposed to be very dull, and consequently heard with listless- ness, or perhaps even with disgust. The only XIV DEDICATION. painful part of a public teacher's office, is the constant effort required, to cheat his pupils into attention : and he who will not introduce consi- derable variety of topics, who is too pompous to be entertaining, and too full of his own dignity to throw an occasional air of vivacity over subjects grave in their general tenor, will be heard with obtuse ears, charm he never so wisely. It has been the fashion of late years, especially with that class of persons who compliment them- selves with the epithet of serious-minded, and endow their own confined party with the title of the religious public, to insinuate that the habits of large schools are somewhat whimsical in point of morality. Now it is unavoidable that where con- siderable numbers are congregated, and a certain portion of liberty is allowed, irregularities and abuses should occasionally arise : but it does not therefore follow, that the accumulation of numbers, or that certain extent of liberty, miist on the average be an evil. To argue the point, would lead me too far : but I am a decided enemy to keeping boys in perpetual leading-strings. At the same time, where there is option, there will sometimes be a wrong choice. The painful part to a master's feelings is the necessity of setting up scarecrows : a necessity which falls with more severity on the grieved and disappointed parent, than on the worth- less son. But I have never known an instance within my own experience, in which the scarecrow has failed to perform his office. On whatever occasion any question of discipline or morals has DEDICATION. XV arisen here, a very large majority has always taken the right side ; has always acted rightly, and what is even of more importance, has thought and felt rightly. As a set-off against the superior vigilance, or rather the more unrelenting superintendence, of private or domestic education, I allege the system of moral discipline, and the habit of moral feeling, always subsisting among you independently of me : a system and habits which put a stern negative on every thing like meanness or shuffling ; which hold the character of a gentleman to be of the very first necessity. In no instance have I ever known ungentlemanly or immoral conduct cheered by any individual not personally implicated. I have the pleasure to find that you, my friends, support in after life the character you have borne during your residence under my roof ; nor need I, when I hear how respectfully you are spoken of in the Uni- versity of Cambridge, where you are so numerous, entertain any fears for you, on a comparison with that description of young persons, nursed in sup- posed innocence and security, among the pet animals of a lady's drawing-room : a hat-box con- taining kittens on one side of the fireplace ; a large band-box containing the heir apparent on the other. On looking back to what I have written, I con- ceive it not impossible that some persons may consider it as the quip modest in favour of my own individual establishment : but this would not be a candid construction of my feelings or inten- a XVI DEDICATION. tions. If the Cambridge triposes warrant me in considering myself as in any degree a successful teacher, I unfeignedly attribute that success, not to my talents, but to my breeding. That, as most of you know, took place at Harrow : there I learned my art, and on the model there furnished have I practised it. The late Dr. Benjamin Heath was the master of that school during all my earlier time. That excellent person was held in the highest veneration by his pupils, and was not only as good a master, but as good a man as ever lived. In him, firmness, which was neither shaken by difficulties nor exasperated by opposition, unques- tioned impartiality, and a system of discipline founded on moral propriety and practical good sense, were the features of his public ministry. An opinion then very generally prevailing, that young persons were to be kept in a state of awe, gave an appearance of sternness to his outward deport- ment ; but it went no deeper than the features and the wig. All the rest was candour, benevolence, and zeal for the interests of his pupils. Like the general run of immaculate men, he judged the frailties of others with a lenity which sinners never exercise ; and smiled in private at those venial errors which shook down a tempest of powder with the thunders of official denunciation. My school education was finished under his successor, Dr. Drury ; to whose strenuous en- couragement and friendly advice I feel deeply indebted : of him I should say more, were it not that the praise of the living is too often considered DEDICATION; XV11 as flattery. He has long since retired ; but the name still flourishes. For myself I cannot but hope that the labours of sixteen years have given me some ground of my own to stand upon ; but I have no doubt that the circumstance of my bearing the name of my venerable relative occasioned my earlier services to be received with partiality. On the nearly identified regulations of Harrow and Eton I formed my system, not as a servile copyist, but as a free and faithful follower. But while I adopted their course of study and modes of management, I have from time to time introduced such devi- ations, as difference of local circumstances, and the facilities of a less extensive concern induced me in the exercise of an independent judgment to ap- prove. But in my changes and additions, as well as in my adoptions, I have endeavoured to adhere to the spirit when departing from the letter. The list of Harrow worthies, in all departments, ecclesiastical, civil, and military, did my limits allow of its transcription, would furnish a triumphant evidence of practical utility. Among the earlier names are those of Baxter the philologist and an- tiquary, and the critic Dennis, more celebrated than well esteemed. Bruce the Abyssinian traveller, Orme the his- torian of Hindostan, and Hamilton the author of ^Egyptiaca, form no mean triumvirate in an inter- esting department of literature. Sir William Jones was the Crichton of his age. In the naval and military department, we have the names of Lord Rodney, Lord Hastings, and Colonel Ponsonby, a2 XV1U DEDICATION. whose noble career was prematurely terminated in the field of Waterloo. Of official statesmen our harvest is abundant : Lord Weilesley began at Har- row, and finished at Eton ; to whom add, the late Spencer Percival, Mr. Robinson the present Chan- cellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Peel the present Se- cretary of State for the Home Department, the Duke of Manchester, Lord Westmoreland, Lord Palmerston, and Lord Harrowby. * The labourers in the unproductive field of opposition are also not a few : independently of names which shall be re- served to grace other than the political department, there are those of the Duke of Grafton, Lord Euston, Lord Althorpe, the Duke of Hamilton, the Marquis of Douglas, Lord Archibald Hamil- ton, Lord Dun cannon, Lord Grosvenor, and many others of later standing. To Richard Brinsley Sheridan that happened which never hap- pened to any other man : on the same evening he was in three places at once ; he was entertaining crowded audiences with his School for Scandal, and Duenna, at the two theatres, and making one of his most brilliant displays of eloquence in the House of Commons. Among those of the nobility honourably distinguished for classical pursuits and acquirements, may be mentioned the late Earl of Denbigh, the present Earl Spencer, and the Earl of Hardwicke w T ho edited the collection called " Athenian Letters." In another department of literary pursuit we have the Earl of Aberdeen, the * All but Lord Weilesley are exclusively Harrovians. DEDICATION. XIX president of the Antiquarian Society ; Mr. Taylor Combe, secretary to the Royal, director of the Antiquarian Society, and keeper of the antiquities and coins in the British Museum. The Duke of Devonshire is among the most distinguished col- lectors of books, and works in the fine arts, in this collecting country. The Earl of Elgin brought into England (we need not enter into controversy) the finest specimens of Grecian sculpture existing. Among lawyers, we have Mr. East, the celebrated reporter, and a name which cannot be mentioned without deep regret. The failure of Sir John Richardson's health, and his unavoidable retire- ment, have grievously disappointed his profession and his country. His promotion was entirely ow- ing to his great talents and unspotted virtues. The acuteness of his conception, the clearness of his understanding, and the soundness of his legal principles, led the public to look forward to the most substantial benefits from his judicial services : and though the profession of the law is too well stocked with talents and integrity to allow the secession of any individual to be irretrievable, it is a national loss that the interpretation and applica- tion of the laws should have devolved for so short a time on such a man. This catalogue might be extended to many more pages ; but such extension would be out of place. I will close it with two names, which will only perish, the one with the records of classical learn- ing, the other with English poetry, in the very highest ranks of which his works will stand to the SI o XX DEDICATION. last, when personal malignity, always pursuing the obliquities of superior genius, shall have expended its stock of exaggerated imputation. You will anticipate the names of Dr. Parr and Lord Byron. The zeal with which I have defended our public establishments should not subject me to the suspi- cion of looking with a hostile or jealous eye on the extensive projects of education now afloat. To the unlimited diffusion of knowledge, whether through the channel of philosophical institutions for me- chanics, or the erection of a university in London, I wish success, and predict it from the growing spirit of the age. It is to be hoped that soon there will not be a totally uneducated person in this country. The effect of this, so far from being a reasonable subject of alarm, would be as advanta- geous to the higher as to the lower classes of so- ciety. There ought to be no danger, lest the peasant should tread on the heels of the courtier. The education which the working population of a country can possibly receive, must always be li- mited by their circumstances. The nature of those circumstances will always prevent it from being educated up to the higher ranks. Their know- ledge must be of a practical, money-getting order. When once they advance beyond mere rudiments, the ornamental must always be left for the more fortunate. Give them all the education they can possibly receive, no evil consequences can result from its extension. The only danger that could arise, would be in the very improbable case of the gentleman's education being lowered to their stand- DEDICATION. XXI arch But even in the equally improbable case of the general standard being so raised, that their average knowledge should equal or surpass that of gentlemen now, it would still be our own fault i they were educated up to the education of gentle- men then. With the start which the constitution of society has given us, a constitution undergoing a modification, but not a subversion, from the pe- culiar spirit of the times, with the means of select- ing the most valuable assistance, with a large por- tion of leisure, and a comparative exemption from the anxieties arising out of hazardous subsistence, we should deserve little compassion if we suffered the energies of poverty to rival or overmaster the indolence of advantageous position. Should the cultivation of the popular mind rise above the most cowardly anticipations of those who see more danger in improvement than in deterioration, no harm would really be done, but on the contrary much good : for unless in the improbable and dis- graceful alternative of the higher classes dege- nerating in proportion to the improvement of the lower, the education of the poor could scarcely be extended without forcing the rich also to ex- tend theirs. But the education of the common people cannot be so extended as to engender any prejudicial confusion, provided the education of the higher classes, however it may become ne- cessary to enlarge its range, continue to be, as it now is, mainly directed to what we are in the habit of distinguishing by the title of polite litera- ture or elegant attainment. The superior advan- XX11 DEDICATION. ' tage of competition above monopoly is not more obvious in the principles of political economy and their application to the commercial system, than it is likely to be in the market of philosophy and letters, when it shall be open to the purchasers of every country, occupation, and degree. But I have pursued these subjects beyond the modern limits of a dedicatory address. I cannot conclude without expressing much pleasure in the conviction, that after all, I have ushered a much larger proportion of good than of evil into the world, bad as it is represented to be. I can wish nothing better for the generality of you, than that you may act by society at large with as much good faith and correct feeling as you have mani- fested in your transactions with me. I will close this long epistle with a few words of advice, tran- scribed from those letters of Lord Chatham, to some passages in which I have already called your attention : — " You have the true clue to guide you, in the maxim that the use of learning is, to render a man more wise and virtuous, not merely to make him more learned. Made tua virtute ; go on by this golden rule, and you cannot fail to become every thing your generous heart prompts you to wish to be, and that mine most affectionately wishes for you. There is but one danger in your way, and that is, perhaps, natural enough to your age, the love of pleasure, or the fear of close appli- cation and laborious diligence. With the last there is nothing that you may not conquer ; and the first is sure to conquer and enslave whoever DEDICATION. XX111 does not strenuously and generously resist the first allurements of it, lest, by small indulgences, he fall under the yoke of irresistible habit. Vitanda est improba Siren, Desidia, I desire may be affixed to the curtains of your bed, and to the walls of your chambers. If you do not rise early, you ne- ver can make any progress worth talking of: if you do not set apart your hours of reading, and never suffer yourself or any one else to break in upon them, your days will slip through your hands unprofitably and frivolously ; unpraised by all you wish to please, and really unenjoyable to yourself. Be assured, whatever you take from pleasure, amusements, or indolence, for these first few years of your life, will repay you a hundred fold in the pleasures, honours, and advantages of all the re- mainder of your days." I will not overlay the simplicity, or weaken the force of this wise advice from a wise man, by add- ing any thing from myself, beyond the assurance of my being Your faithful and affectionate friend, BENJ. H. MALKIN. Bury, May 25. 1825. CONTENTS. Page Comparative Estimate of Terence and Plautus 1 On the Epicurean Philosophy 26 On the Aristotelian Philosophy , 52 Character of Timon the Misanthrope 63 Character of Apemantus 81 Character of Alcibiades 84 On Callimachus 113 On Horace 125 On the Characters of Titus and Berenice.... ]57 On Caesar's Commentaries 179 On the History of Josephus. — On Herod, Mariamne, and Herod the Tetrarch 187 On the Character of Mucius Scaevola 242 On Cicero 248 On Seneca 285 On Ausonius 304 On the Character of Cinna 317 On the Titles and Mythological Character of Mercury 324 On the Mythological Character of Rhadamanthus.... 331 On the Mythological Character of Pluto 333 On a Sentiment in Catullus 335 Equivoques and Amphibologies 338 Acrostics , 344 Echo 345 Leonine Verses 346 Expressive Descriptions : 350 Verses of Whimsical Construction....,, 354 XXVI CONTENTS. Page Roman Notes , 358 Epitaphs 362 Miscellaneous Epigrams %qq Miscellaneous Etymologies, and Peculiar Meanings and Usages of Words 373 Miscellaneous Passages from Horace 379 Miscellaneous Passages from Juvenal 388 Miscellaneous Passages from Virgil 397 Quaint Opinions, Expressions, and Manners of the Ancients 413 Sound Moral Doctrines of the Ancients 418 Popular Tricks and Superstitious Imaginations of the Ancients 420 Miscellaneous Passages from Plutarch 425 Miscellaneous Passages from Erasmus 427 Passage from Sallust..... 429 Miscellaneous Passages from Pliny the Natural His- torian 430 Passage from iElian de Natura Animalium 434 Miscellaneous Passages from Aulus Gellius 435 Miscellaneous Passages from Cicero 439 Poetical Genealogies and Exploits of Fabulous Per- sonages 442 Miscellaneous Passages from Persius 444 Miscellaneous Passages from Modern Authors 446 Miscellaneous Passages from Homer 450 Miscellaneous Passages from Plautus 456 Passage from Tacitus 458 Passage from Quinctilian 459 Passage from Aristophanes , 9 .. 460 CLASSICAL DISQUISITIONS AND CURIOSITIES. COMPARATIVE ESTIMATE OF TERENCE AND PLAUTUS. Ambigitur quoties, uter utro sit prior ; aufert Pacuvius docti famam senis, Accius alti : Dicitur Afrani toga convenisse Menandro ; Plautus ad exemplar Siculi properare Epicharmi ; Vincere' Csecilius gravitate, Terentius arte. Horatii Epist. i. lib. 2. Ihe commentators are so much at variance re- specting Horace's real drift in his critical epistles, whether he gives certain characters as his own or as the popular opinion, that we can scarcely avail ourselves of his decisions, but as we find them confirmed by other and tantamount authorities. Among the principal of these is Varro, who thus sums up the leading characteristics of Ceecilius and Terence : " In argumentis Caecilius poscit palmam; 2 COMPARATIVE ESTIMATE OF in ethesin Terentius." Horace's grwvitas, therefore, as illustrated by this passage, may be applied to the affecting cast of Csecilius's general style : and that application is confirmed by another observation of the same author : " Pathe Trabea, Attilius, et Ccecilius facile moverunt." Horace's ars, also, to reconcile it in a similar point of view with Varro's criticism, may be understood to represent, though by too vague a term, that delineation of manners which is the obvious meaning of Varro's expres- sion, ethesin. But the probability is, that it rather applies to the discovery of the double plot, or combination of two stories into one, which the Latin poets invented to satisfy the craving appe- tite of their audience, too little refined to relish the Greek simplicity and unity. The degree of per- fection to which Terence carried this contrivance, and the many occasions on which Plautus contented himself with the single plot of the old comedy, form a strong point of contrast between these two dramatists : and the verb properare, in the line devoted to Plautus, shows that such contrast was here intended in reference to the management of their plots ; because though ars might refer to the manners, properare could not ; and this verb must not be understood merely, as by some critics, to express the closeness with which he imitated, or followed up Epicharmus without losing sight of him ; an apparent attempt to put more into the verb than it has room to contain; but the careless rapidity and inartificial winding up of his plots, in which he did not feel it necessary to be more exact than his model. And this explanation, which places arte in substantial, though not in grammatical, antithesis with properare, as well as with gravitate, TERENCE AND PLAUTUS. 3 seems quite consonant with that curiosa felicitas in Horace, enabling him to make single words do the office of whole sentences, and to deliver a criticism or a sarcasm, as it were in a nut-shell. These opposite habits of composing evidently did not arise from the fluctuations of taste in the audience, because the plays of each kept possession of the stage, and divided the sentiments of its frequenters, long after the respective periods of their natural lives ; but from the different turn of mind and dissimilar talents in the individuals. Plautus was a perfect master of the Roman language ; so much so, that Varro is stated by Quinctilian to have quoted a saying of iElius Stilo : " Musas Plautino sermone locuturas fuisse, si Latine loqui vellent." He was besides gifted with a vein of forcible raillery, and a happy union of that buffoonery which always delights a mixed audience, with the higher qualities of real genius ; there was in him a combination of strong, caustic, genuine humour, with a spirit of lively repartee, and a facetious turn of expression, always at com- mand. He, therefore, had the means of securing to himself the goodwill of his audience, independently of curiosity, or the complex interest of a fable. Terence, on the other hand, confined himself strictly and sometimes timidly, within the limits of nature and every-day life, even in ' his most tumorous characters : he did not range the bound- less field of what might have been done or said, but transcribed what he had seen and heard in his intercourse with mankind, or what he could justify on the authority of his Grecian master. The fabric of his plots, and the situations in which he places the persons of his drama, are often at variance b 2 * COMPARATIVE ESTIMATE OF with modern notions of propriety ; but he carefully abstains from that licence and coarseness of par- ticularising, from the adoption of that most blunt and strongest language, (and we are told the Muses would have been somewhat broad, ladies though they be,) in which the admirer of the old, and the master of the middle comedy indulged. The consequence was, that Terence felt it necessary to guard against the charge of insipidity, by variety of action and accumulation of incident. In accounting for the different modes in which these two great writers conducted their fables, we have been led partly to anticipate some remarks on their habits of expression, which were rough and unbridled in Plautus, but smooth, regular, and polished in Terence. Now it might be sup- posed that delicacy was not much more natural to a Carthaginian slave, than to a hanger-on of the theatre, who had spent his substance on stage dresses, and had reduced himself to the necessity of becoming a baker's servant, to gain a livelihood by working at a hand-mill. But the condition of slaves was not always disadvantageous, as we know by the exam- ple of more than one eminent writer born in that condition, as well as by the instance of Cicero's Freed-Man, who was the associate of his literary occupations. The slave in question was so for- tunate as to fall into the hands of Terentius Lucanus, a man of family, and a member of the senate, who not only gave him a good education, as was the custom with the Roman gentlemen when they picked up boys of promise, but at a manly age presented him with his freedom, and introduced him into the very best society. It was through this kind conduct of his master, that the future TERENCE AND PLAUTUS. 5 poet became acquainted with Scipio and Lselius. * On this part of the subject, we have a letter of Cicero to Atticus, in which the former says, " Se- cutus sum, non dico Csecilium ; malus enim Latinitatis auctor est: sed Terentium, cujus Fabellse propter elegantiam sermonis, putabantur a Lselio scribi, &c."t This passage will enable us to appreciate the style of both without disparage- ment to either. Plautus was said, in the language of a preceding quotation, to have spoken the very Latin in which the Muses must have expressed themselves, had they been born and bred at Rome. Cicero, without giving any opinion of it, repeats the gossip of Terence's inability to write in so polite a style, and the consequent transfer of his laurels to the brow of a man of fashion. Eras- mus, one of the best judges of classical literature at the revival of learning, says, that there is no author from whom we can better learn the pure Roman style than from the poet Terence. Tt has been further remarked on him, that the Romans thought themselves in conversation when they heard his comedies. When the respective produc- * This intimacy, stated by so many ancient writers, and alluded to by himself, renders Bonnell Thornton's conjecture unnecessary, that he was employed about the stage like Shak- speare, and an actor. f On this, hear Terence himself, in the Prologue to the Adelphi : — Nam quod isti dicunt malevoli, homines nobiles Eum adjutare, assidueque una scribere : Quod illi maledictum vehemens existimant, Earn laudem hie ducit maximam, quum illis placet, Qui vobis universis et populo placent ; Quorum opera in bello, in otio, in negotio, Suo quisque tempore usus est sine superbia. B 3 COMPARATIVE ESTIMATE OF tions of these authors are examined on the prin- ciples of common sense and modern taste, as- sisted and checked by the authorities above-quoted, the result of the comparison as to style will probably be found as follows. Plautus had the raciness of early language, the pith of original genius, and the various resources of a man who had mixed with human life in all its forms, and had kept company with Nature in her working dress as well as in her best clothes. Terence was the associate of gentlemen : and though the ascrip- tion of his plays to Lselius must be considered as a mere suspicion, arising from the superior elegance and courtly polish of their language ; it is both pro- bable in itself and appears to have been credited as fact by the ancients, that he was assisted in his compositions both by him and Scipio, as amateur critics. The consequence of Terence's access to such high society was, that while the diction of Plautus was more poetical, more pointed, more blunt, and more rich in natural touches, he himself maintained a decided superiority in the tone of gen- tlemanly conversation ; that his copy of the Greek model he had adopted was in the best taste of scholarship ; that his vivacity excited a smile rather than a laugh ; his morals were those of urbanity, not of severity \ his satire tickled without stinging. Few authors have furnished a larger number of maxims for the government or illustration of com- mon life. Goldsmith's opinion of him is expressed in his complimentary line on Cumberland : — The Terence of England, the mender of hearts. Plautus, therefore, it should appear from his writ- ings and his habits, resembled Shakspeare, as his TERENCE AND PLAUTUS. 7 biographers, right or wrong, have represented him ; the hero of the deer-park, of the street before the theatre, or the stage within it. Terence was more like the Congreve or the Sheridan of the court of Queen Anne or George the Third. The palm of wit remains to be won, or to be divided. With respect to the positive claims of Plautus, Cicero and Horace take opposite sides. Cicero classes him with the Attic writers of the old comedy, with the Socratic philosophers, and with the elder Cato. August company for the spendthrift and the droll ! He says in his first book De Officiis : " Duplex omnino est jocandi genus : unum illiberale, petulans, flagitiosum, ob- sccenum ; alterum, elegans, urbanum, ingeniosum, facetum. Quo genere non modo Plautus noster, et Atticorum antiqua comcedia, sed etiam philo- sophorum Socraticorum libri referti sunt : mul- taque multorum facete dicta; ut ea quag a sene Catone collecta sunt, quag vocant cb^o<£#^y j aaTa.' , The epithets applied to the second genus are strictly and abundantly applicable to Plautus and to the Attic writers of the old comedy ; but I fear neither can be exempted from some of those assigned to the first. Dr. Hurd ascribes the cause of this strong predilection in favour of Plautus, to the conformity of the old-comedy wit with the genius of popular eloquence ; but I think we trace it also, in part, to a similar conformity of natural taste. Cicero's own wit and humour were, in many in- stances, neither refined, nor decent, nor genuine. His genius in his Orations appears with as much dignity and elevation as brilliancy: and his Trea- tise De Oratore, (with the exception I am going to state, probably the most perfect of his works,) is not b 4 5 COMPARATIVE ESTIMATE OF only a master-piece of exact criticism, but carries the beau ideal of an art as high as it can be carried without extravagance : like Longinus, he gives a current exemplification of his principles and rules, in the march of his own eloquence. But I could have been well contented, looking only at Cicero's credit, (for the chapters in themselves are very curious, and eminently useful as a warning,) that the sections in the second book, from 240 to 289, had been in a great measure filled up with asterisks, and mult a desunt ; for nothing can be more coarse than much of the humour here, and still more in a most disgraceful letter in the collection Ad Fami- liares; nothing more frigid than most of the puns. Dr. Hurd seems to adopt Cicero's own apology, that "the main end of jesting at the bar is, not to acquire the credit of consummate humour, but to carry the cause, ut prqficiamus aliquid : that is, to make an impression on the people ; which is generally, we know, better done by a coarser joke, than by the elegance of refined raillery." — Notes on the Art of Poetry. Now I condemn these classed laws, specimens, and models of joking; not solely on the ground of coarseness, but because many of the exam- ples are cold and vapid, and because the excur- sions of wit seem to be properly a casual adjunct to parliamentary or forensic eloquence, rather than an integral part of it to be treated profes- sorially. The Roman orator, it is true, had occa- sion prqficere aliquid, translated by Dr. Hurd, to make an impression on the people; but the pro- miscuous audience should not enter into the thoughts of the modern advocate, who addresses judges and juries, supposed to be grave and en- TERENCE AND PLAUTUS. \J lightened. Ought then wit to be excluded from public speaking, whether at the bar or in par- liament ? Certainly not : and it is in fact more frequently and more successfully resorted to by modern than by ancient orators, although our speakers have little occasion to make an impression on the common people, unless on the hustings at elections. But the wit of Burke and Sheridan in our House of Commons, and of Erskine at our bar, was born with the occasion, sudden, vigorous, and natural ; not hammered and manufactured on the anvil of rhetorical system. The impromptu would be more insipid than even " the pathos of a week old." Rules for the general conduct of a cause, for the selection and arrangement of topics and arguments, for almost every thing else with which the advocate has to deal, are strictly in place, and will be useful in proportion to their justness : but Rules for jesting at the bar ! It is as if Mr. Butterworth, or any other eminent book- seller, were to insert into his catalogue of law books, The Barrister's Joe Miller. But to return to Plautus : — At vestri proavi Plautinos et numeros et Laudavere sales : nimium patienter utrumque, Ne dicam stulte, mirati. De Arte Poet, An attempt has been made to soften this judg- ment on the part of Horace, and to reconcile its apparent severity with the more favourable opinion of Cicero and other critics, by reading, and that on MS. authority, non for ne. The criticism would then stand thus. The word numeric strictly taken, expresses measure and versification ; which, in this 10 COMPARATIVE ESTIMATE OF author, are often confessedly unequal and irregular. Some have supposed that the term is used with epistolary freedom, to comprehend language. But there seems no occasion to put Horace further beyond the pale of received opinion ; since this author's purity in that respect is universally al- lowed : his works are, indeed, a magazine of Latin idiom. His sales, we are told, were borne too pa- tiently, though Cicero heartily admired them, as elegantes et urbanos. That praise must, however, be taken with as much allowance as Horace's censure ; for his pleasantries are often indelicate, his wit low, and his jests as cold as Cicero's own. Indeed the lighter parts of Cicero's writings, as observed upon in a preceding paragraph, seem to furnish a com- ment ad hominem, on his apparently unqualified approbation of Plautus. But Horace rather hint- ing than pronouncing a censure on Plautus's faults, if we read, non dicam stulte, the indulgence expressed by nimium patienter, is ascribed to the prejudice of the people in favour of his beauties, which is said not to be foolish, that is, without foundation or positively erroneous, but too indis- criminate. But this reading has obtained pos- session of few texts ; and the reading generally received makes Horace say that the admiration was foolish as well as too tolerant, and that only delicacy prevents him from stating it so in plain terms. The truth seems to be, that Horace is rather righting professionally for himself and his con- temporaries, than giving his private and personal opinion. Poets and painters have in all ages been prone to exclaim against the superstitious venera- tion of old masters, as discouraging to the birth and expansion of modern genius. Horace, there- TERENCE AND PLAUTUS. 11 fore, lays hold of a tendency in the old comedian, as a topic of censure, which the improved delicacy of the Augustan age had not chastised out of him- self. Neither is his present squeamishness, as to Plautus, in unison with his approbation ex- pressed elsewhere, of the still less delicate old comedy : nor is it very consistent to find fault with Plautus on this head, and yet to relish Aristo- phanes, who must be included, for more than his versification, in the general advice, — Vos exemplaria Grseca Nocturna versate manu, versate diurna. After all, Horace, while exhibiting the faults of preceding poets in a strong point of view, for the purpose of checking the extravagance of admiration, only attributes such to Plautus as are common to early dramatic writers in every age and country : in our own, not only to the Chapmans, the Lylys, and the Deckers, but to Shakspeare, Jonson, and Fletcher. If Horace has censured the too coarse style of Plautus, Caesar, on the supposition that the follow- ing lines are truly ascribed to him, characterises Terence's plays as devoid of comic spirit : — Tu quoque, tu in summis, 6 dimidiate Menander, Poneris, et merito, puri sermon is amator; Lenibus atque utinam scrip tis adjuncta foret vis Comica, ut sequato virtus polleret honore Cum Graecis, neque in hac despectus parte jaceres. Unum hoc maceror, et doleo tibi deesse, Terenti. By the expression, dimidiate Mena?ider, it is obvious that the deficiency is not to be understood 1*2 COMPARATIVE ESTIMATE OF as confined to the comic drollery of the old and middle comedy, with which Plautus had so en- chanted the dramatic world, as to continue the reigning favourite, not only after the appearance of Afranius and Terence, but throughout the Au- gustan age. Caesar evidently represents him as defective also in that other species of comic height- ening in which the Greek comedians of the new school excelled. When he calls Terence a Me- nander by halves, he pronounces him to be a beautiful, but faint shadow of his Grecian pro- totype. To account for this from the stubborn- ness of the Latin tongue, and to say with Dr. Hurd, that the two first lines are complimentary, and the censure confined to the following, may im- prove Terence's relative situation with Menander, about whom we know so little, but it leaves the lack of vis comica where it found it. Menander, very probably, possessed as little of it ; but had Terence felt it in himselfi he would have discovered precedents and models for its practical use, with the same ease and success with which he copied the urbanity of Menander. But in fact Terence, however Mr. Colman may plead against it, was, in some of his plays, little more than a translator of that author. With a fund of original humour, he might have effected a coalition of the old and new comedy from the materials before him, superior to any thing in the Greek in every respect, excepting that of language. But there, Quinctilian puts any approach to a rival grace entirely out of the ques- tion, by limiting that undefinable subtlety of ex- pression to one dialect, even of the Greek. " Vix levem consequimur umbram, adeo ut mihi sermo ipse Romanus non recipere videatur illam solis TERENCE AND PLAUTUS. 13 concessam Atticis Venerem, quando earn ne Graeci quidem in alio genere linguse obtinuerint." — Instit. Orat. lib. x. 1. One truth seems to apply to the strictures both of Horace and of Caesar. Critical censures, espe- cially when conveyed in verse, which so narrowly confines the space for qualification, and furnishes so strong a temptation to pointed sayings, are, in most cases, expressed too positively, and with exaggeration. The loss of Menander's works prevents us from comparing the copyist with his original ; but we must not be hurried away by the idea, that because originality and humour were not Terence's strong hold, and because in some of his pieces he was a professed translator, he had no portion of those qualities. There are touches, both of comic humour and of true taste in his works, scarcely to be surpassed in point of spirit, whatever advantage in point of elegance a more tractable language might have given to an Attic writer : and touches so natural, that in the absence of matter- of-fact testimony, we may reasonably infer that they were native and not adopted. Donatus first, and afterwards Hurd in his Horace, have referred to the following as a peculiarly happy stroke of character in the Hecyra : — Turn tu igitur nihil adtulisti hue plus una sententia? Laches, the speaker, a covetous old legacy- hunter, has been eagerly enquiring what his kins- man Phania had bequeathed him. Pamphilus stops his mouth with the moral reflection, that he left behind him the praise of having lived well. " Is a sentence all you have brought home?" The M« COMPARATIVE ESTIMATE . OF spirit of this is exquisite, and the turn truly comic. Dr. Hurd says, in his Dissertation on the Pro- vinces of the Drama, that " this is true humour. For his character, which was that of a lover of money, drew the observation naturally and forcibly from him. His disappointment of a rich succession made him speak contemptibly of a moral lesson, which rich and covetous men, in their best humours, have no high reverence for. And this too without design ; which is important, and shows the distinction of what, in the more re- strained sense of the word, we call humour, from other modes of pleasantry. For had a young friend of the son, an unconcerned spectator of the scene, made the observation, it had then, in another's mouth, been wit, or a designed banter on the father's disappointment." Of this humour, distinguished from pleasantry, there is another admirable instance in the Hecyra, and that in the same character of Laches : — Odiosa haec est aetas adolescentulis : E medio aequom excedere est. Postremo jam nos fabulas Sumus, Pamphile, senex, atque anus. On this Dr. Hurd further remarks, " There is nothing, I suppose, in these words which provokes a smile. Yet the humour is strong, as before. In his solicitude to promote his son's satisfaction, he lets fall a sentiment truly characteristic, and which old men usually take great pains to conceal ; I mean, his acknowledgment of that suspicious fear of contempt, which is natural to old age. So true a picture of life, in the representation of this weak- ness, might, in other circumstances, have created TERENCE AND PLAUTUS. 15 some pleasantry ; but the occasion which forced it from him, discovering at the same time the amiable disposition of the speaker, covers the ridicule of it, or more properly converts it into an object of our esteem." There is no character, in the delineation of which Terence excels more, than in that of the quaint and sometimes splenetic, but kind-hearted old man. Micio and Demea are an admirably contrasted pair of brothers. Chremes and Si mo, in the Andrian, are naturally drawn and consistently supported. The long narrative of the latter, in the opening scene, is also a strong confirmation of Diderot's remark on this author's especial skill in conducting such necessary explanations. The French critic notices the absence of wit, or display of sentiment, which he says are always out of place. This is perfectly true ; but quiet pathos, and the natural mixing up of amiable and selfish feeling, which we encounter so much more frequently in life than staring exhibitions either of virtue or vice, are quite compatible with the narrative parts of dra- matic poetry, and give an interest and a heighten- ing to it, without which the mere relation of the tale would be insipid. Of this we have a pregnant instance in the following passage of Simo's story : — Ibi turn films Cum illis, qui amabant Chrysidem, una aderat frequens ; Curabat una funus ; tristis interim, Nonnunquam conlacrumabat. Placuit turn id mihi : Sic cogitabam ; Hie, parvae consuetudinis Causa, hujus mortem tarn fert familiariter : Quid, si ipse amasset? quid hie mihi faciet, patri? Haec ego putabam esse omnia humani ingeni, Mansuetique animi officia. 1(5 COMPARATIVE ESTIMATE OF Hurd, in his Discourse on Poetical Imitation, remarks that this reasoning on Pamphilus's con- cern for Chrysis bears a strong resemblance to the comment of the Duke in Twelfth Night, on Va- lentine's report of Olivia's grief for the loss of a brother ; and expresses his surprise that the simi- larity of sentiment should not have produced a charge of plagiarism against Shakspeare, according to the usual habit of the critics. The passage is of extraordinary elegance : — O, she that hath a heart of that fine frame, To pay this debt of love but to a brother, How will she love, when the rich golden shaft Hath kill'd the flock of all affections else That live in her ? The Bishop closes his observations with the fol- lowing liberal remark : — " Common sense directs us, for the most part, to regard resemblances in great writers, not as the pilferings or frugal acquisitions of needy art, but as the honest fruits of genius, the free and liberal bounties of unenvying nature" On the subject of originality, Terence, whose plays were not so well received as he felt that they deserved to be, thinks it necessary to vindicate his own system of borrowing, in regard to fables, in all his Prologues which have come down to us : and in that to the Eunuch, he still further apo- logises for coincidence of characters, by alleging the necessary uniformity of moral description : — Quod si personis iisdem uti aliis non licet : Qui magis licet, currentes Servos scribere, Bonas Matronas facere, Meretrices malas, TERENCE AND PLAUTUS. 1J Parasitum edacem, gloriosum Militem, Puerum supponi, falli per Servum Senem, Amare, odisse, suspicari ? Denique Nullum est jam dictum, quod non dictum sit prius. One cannot but be sorry, that a" man so highly gifted, and apparently of such an amiable charac- ter, should have been so much hurt, as Terence evidently was, by the malice of his calumniators and the want of general popularity. That he should have been personally run down as an imitator was peculiarly unfair, when we consider how few Latin authors there are, who are not liable to the same charge ; and that after Terence's time, through the Augustan age, down to the last gasp of classical genius, the greatest writers not only formed themselves on the Grecian model, but translated more or less from their Grecian pre- decessors. If Plautus indulged in a greater licence of plot than Terence, it was not because his invention was in that respect more fertile, but because he served himself from the more va- riously furnished storehouse of a different school. Indeed Plautus himself seems to have had some doubts, whether his own adoption of the liberties indulged in by Aristophanes and others, espe- cially in the introduction of high and reverend personages for low and ludicrous purposes, would be tolerated ; at least if we may judge by the apology he thought it necessary to make for his Amphitruo, in the prologue to it : — Faciam ut commista sit Tragicocomaedia : Nam me perpetuo facere ut sit Comsedia, Reges quo veniant et Di, non par arbitror. 18 COMPARATIVE ESTIMATE OF Quid igitur ? quoniam hie servos quoque parteis habet. Faciam, sit, proinde ut dixi, Tragicocomsedia. As a specimen of Plautus's humour and cha- racter, we may take the following description of a servant's life in place, from the first speech of Sosia, the Currens Servus, in the first scene of the same play : — Quid faciam nunc, si Tresviri me in career em compegerint ? Inde eras e promptuaria cella depromar ad flagrum ? Nee caussam liceat dicere mihi, neque in hero quicquam auxilii siet ? Nee quisquam sit quin me omnes esse dignum deputent : ita Quasi incudem me miser um homines octo validi caedant : ita Peregre adveniens hospitio publicitus accipiar ? Hsec heri immodestia coegit, me qui hoc Noctis a portu ingratis excitavit. Nonne idem hoc luci me mittere potuit ? Opulento homini hoc servitus dura est? Hoc magis miser est divitis servos : Noctesque diesque assiduo satis superque est, Quo facto, aut dicto adest opus, quietus ne sis. In comparing our two poets, it will be neces- sary to guard against the supposition, that Terence is all art, and Plautus all rough nature and hu- mour. The latter has contrivance abundantly at command, though he had not arrived at the double plot ; and is peculiarly happy in the little circumstances of which he lays hold, to help for- ward his fables. Of this there is an example in the Miles Gloriosus, Actus 2. Scena 4. v. 27. : — Pa. Pergin', sceleste, intendere, atque hanc arguere? Ph. Ecastor ergo Mihi haud falsum eveniat somnium, quod noctu hoc som- niavi. TERENCE AND PLAUTUS. 19 Palasstrio finding it difficult to make Sceledrus disbelieve the evidence of his own eyes, Philo- comasium artfully introduces this dream of hers, for the purpose of reconciling the belief they wished to impress, which was so necessary to the success of their object, with what he had actually seen ; and the appearance of Philocomasium as her own twin sister immediately afterwards, per- suades Sceledrus, prepared as he was by the previous recital, and by the anticipated feeling, "ita dorsus totus prUrit," "prius ob oculos sibi caliginem obstitisse." There are some points of humour in Plautus, of which no modern language would admit. Of this kind is the following speech of Hegio, in the Capteivi, Actus 1. Scena 2. v. 56. : — Multis et multigeneribus opus est tibi Militibus. primum dum opus est Pistoriensibus. Opus Paniceis, opus Placentinis quoque, Opus Turdetanis, opus est Ficedulensibus : Jam maritumi omnes milites opus sunt tibi. There is a sort of untranslateable pun on the names of places, as Pistorium and Placentia, Italian towns, ascribing to the inhabitants, by inference, the pre-eminence in certain trades, which were in necessary request for furnishing out entertainments. The Pistorienses are both Pistorians and bakers, of which he says there are " genera aliquot :" the Placentini, both Placentians and pastry-cooks, &c. Among the writers of modern comedy, Moliere comes in closest contact both with Plautus and with Terence. L'Ecole des Maris is obviously taken from the Adelphi of Terence, but with an c 2 20 COMPARATIVE ESTIMATE OF addition of interest congenial with the French taste. In the Adelphi, two old men of opposite characters, a father and an uncle, educate a son and a nephew on totally opposite systems. In L'Ecole des Maris, two guardians have each a fe- male ward committed to their charge ; and, as in the Latin play, one is severe and the other indulgent ; but in the French play, both are lovers. The converse of Moliere's subject was beautifully treated by Garrick, in a little piece called The Guardian, the hint of which was taken from La Pupil e of Monsieur Fagan, a writer who seems to have formed himself on the elegant model of Terence. But nothing can exceed the art with which Moliere, in his Amphitrion, has borrowed from Plautus, who had before availed himself of Euripides and of Archippus, as the originals who had treated this subject among the Greeks, and from them the Latin poet introduced it to his country- men. Moliere has shown a very just taste, both in his alterations and additions. The French cri- tics assign the superiority to their own poet ; but this can scarcely be conceded, were it only on the consideration that he is so much further removed from originality. Rotrou had produced the co- medy of Les Sosies thirty years before Moliere. His Cephalie is a transcript of Plautus's Thes- sala ; and their only use in the fable is as con- fidantes of Alcmena. But Moliere's Cleanthis, by being made the wife of Sosia in addition to her other connection with the plot, is rendered a more important and entertaining personage. Another instance of Moliere's felicity in chang- ing and adding, occurs in the conclusion of the TERENCE AND PLAUTUS. 21 piece. Plautus has recourse to the old pis-aller of machinery : and Amphitruo concludes gravely, though perhaps with a little touch of sarcasm : — Nunc, spectatores, Jovis summi causa clare plaudite. In Moliere, Sosia finishes with a stroke of humour. After observing that on such delicate occasions, the selection of complimentary phraseo- logy is a matter of difficulty between the parties, he says : — Le grand Dieu Jupiter nous fait beaucoup d'honneur, Et sa bonte, sans doute, est pour nous sans seconde ; II nous promet Pinfaillible bonheur D'une fortune, en mille biens feconde, Et chez nous il doit naitre un fils d'un tres-grand cceur, Tout cela va le mieux du monde ; Mais enfin coupons auxdiscours; Et que chacun chez soi doucement se retire. Sur telles affaires toujours, Le meilleur est de ne rien dire. Moliere took the hint of 1/ Avare, and a great part of the comedy itself, from the Aulularia of Plautus. The Latin title is derived from aula, or olla, the diminutive of which is aulula. This signifies a pot, in which the old miser Euclio kept the treasure he had found. The very humorous conduct of the scene, in which Euclio in the Latin, and Harpagon in the French play, receive the proposition for the marriage without a portion, is implicitly adopted by Moliere, who has also been bold enough to adopt Euclio's address to the spectators, after Strobilus has stolen his treasure. The passages are so strongly illustrative of the c 3 % c 2 COMPARATIVE ESTIMATE OF spirit of both, that I shall transcribe them at length : — Obsecro vos ego, mihi auxilio, Oro, obtestor, sitis, et hominem demonstretis, qui earn » abstulerit, Qui vestitu et creta occultant sese, atque sedent quasi sint frugi. Quid ais tu? tibi credere certum est. Nam esse bonum, e vultu cognosco. Quid est ? quid ridetis ? novi omnes. Scio fures esse hie complures. Hem, nemo habet horum ! occidisti. die igitur, quis habet ? nescis ! Heu me miserum, miserum ! perii male perditus ! pes- sume ornatus eo. Tantum gemiti et mala? molestiae hie dies mihi obtulit, Famem et pauperiem : perditissumus ego sum omnium in terra. Nam quid mihi opus est vita, qui tantum auri perdidi ? Quod custodivi sedulo. Egomet me defraudavi, Animumque meum, geniumque meum. Nunc eo alii laeti- ficantur, Meo malo et damno : pati nequeo. Qui peut-ce etre? Qu'est-il devenu? Ou est-il? Ou se cache-t-il ? Que ferai-je pour le trouver ? Ou courir ? Ou ne pas courir ? N'est-il point la ? N'est-il point ici ? Quiest-ce? Arrete. Ren-moi mon argent, coquin Ah ! e'est moi Que de gens assembles ! Je ne jette mes regards sur personne qui ne me donne des soupcons, et tout me semble mon voleur. He ? De quoi est-ce qu'on parle la ? De celui qui m'a derobe ? Quel bruit fait-on la-haut ? Est-ce mon voleur qui y est ? De grace, si Ton scait des nouvelles de mon voleur, je supplie que l'on m'en dise. N'est-il point cache la parmi vous ? lis me regardent tous, et se mettent a rire. In both these instances comic despair is carried to the utmost; and Harpagon, seizing on his own TERENCE AND PLAUTUS. 23 arm, is a bold, but happy and original exag- geration. The subsequent scene between Euclio and Ly- conides in the one, Harpagon and Valere in the other, is a specimen of natural equivoque ; a re- course which seldom fails on the stage, even when it is extravagant. They mutually mistake each other's meaning most humorously: and the Pot and the Daughter being both of the same gender, the pronouns are let in to play their part with very great effect. Thus far the ancient and modern poets go hand in hand : and good taste will bear Moliere out in those incidental touches of humour which he has superinduced. Indeed there is nothing in him so extravagant as the supposition of Strobilus, that Euclio' s desire of saving carries him so far, as not only to grudge the escape of smoke from his kitchen chimney, but to catch his own breath while asleep, in a bag fastened to his mouth and throat. We may also notice the " ostende etiam tertiam" of Plautus, and the conceit of the cooks being all of Geryon's race, and having six hands a-piece. But whether Moliere can be justified when he travels so far out of the record as to superadd new circumstances to the character of the miser, may be much doubted. I feel quite clear, that to re- present him in love, albeit that passion owes its birth and death to avarice, is not natural, and therefore a fault. Avarice is an engrossing and exclusive tyrant. The making Harpagon a usurer, and that towards his own son, renders the character more complicated than that of Euclio, who, having become rich by chance, has no object beyond the safe custody of his treasure. Harpagon's eager- c 4 24 COMPARATIVE ESTIMATE OF ness to amass by accumulation of interest, as well as to save by abstinence from expense, is perfectly in keeping with the avaricious character, as it ap- pears in modern life, and therefore may, I think, be considered as a judicious graft on the original stock. The last piece of Moliere I shall notice is, Les Fourberies de Scapin. In this hero of the shoulder- knot, the French poet, without direct copying, has brought together the humours of both Plautus and Terence, in that favourite and soul of the ancient stage, the currens Servus, qui fallit Senem. He has, however, in the much canvassed scene between Geronte and Scapin, descended to farce, and to the minor humour of dialect. But the general liveliness and rapid succession of intrigue is quite in the style of Plautus, especially in the fictitious adventure of the Turkish galley. The art with which the spectators are informed of the intended stratagem, by means of one character talking to himself, on the supposition of being alone, and of another overhearing and forming his own plans by what he says, is very much in Terence's spirit. Indeed Scapin bears a strong resemblance to Davus, in the Andrian. The first scene of the piece is also cleverly contrived, where the " plot is insi- nuated into the boxes," by means of a monosyllabic and tautological footman, who performs the office of Sosia in listening dutifully to his master's story. But it is time to close these remarks, which are becoming too desultory. Enough has been said to prove, that Moliere has, on the whole, shown taste and skill in adapting Plautus and Terence to modern manners, similar to what those masters of the Roman comedy have exhibited, in the dress they TERENCE AND PLAUTUS. 25 have given to their originals. In one respect the task of the modern was more difficult, because he found it necessary to make his characters French, scarcely with the exception of his gods : but the Latin authors, in many cases, did not even take the trouble to shift their scene from Athens. 26 ON THE EPICUREAN PHILOSOPHY. 'Ewlxovpog 6 TapyriTriog eAsysv, a> oklyov ou^ Uuvov 9 u\XoL toutw ye owSev \xuvbv.- — JElian. Var. Hist. lib. iv. cap. 13. JJiogenes Laertius mentions four persons who bore the name of Epicurus. This circumstance has led Cruquius, in his Commentary on Horace, to doubt whether the Gargettian Epicurus be the founder of the celebrated sect. " Fuit hie Philo- demus Epicurus # (ut Strabo scribit) patria Gada- rseus : quem Asconius Pedianus in oration e Cic. in Lucium Pisonem, scribit Epicureum fuisse ea aetate nobilissimum : sed arbitror apud Asconium le- gendum esse pro Epicureum, Epicurum dictum, ut habet Strabo, vel hunc ex illo restituendum : tamen Epicuri cujusdam (quem etiam Gargettium nomi- nat) frequens est mentio apud Stobaeum." This hesitation seems to have been excited by the passage in Stobaeus ; but Statius, Cicero, ^Elian, and Dio- genes Laertius, all agree as to the birth-place of the founder : which is so far material, that sup- posing the Gargettian to be a different person, and only a follower, he would remain in possession of the excellent maxim ascribed to him by iElian, and mucji other good morality, and leave the founder with nothing but a burden of metaphysical * Diogenes Laertius calls Philodemus an Epicurean. Gas- sendi mentions an Epicurus spoken of by Galen, as a maker of plasters. — De Vita et Moribus Epicuri. ON THE EPICUREAN PHILOSOPHY. 27 nonsense on his shoulders. Assuming, therefore, that there was but one eminent person of this name, he died in the second year of the 127th Olympiad, 129 years after Socrates, and 271 before Christ, and consequently was contemporary with Alex- ander the Great. This date, which Gassendi says he found in a manuscript, was restored by Isaac Casaubon, the words xu) efaoorifc having been omit- ted by transcribers and printers of D. Laertius, who copied one another, through the inaccuracy of the first. This error left the date 107, an j}tev, t7no~T0Aa£ jH0VTa otaeKyel^ w$ 'EtTrixovgoV kou rot slg Xp67rlxovpo$ qvto$ SioixeT, ttuvtcc AojSopwv, ttuvtol v7T07rrsvcuv, S7n crroAac ot$ia,kvT0V$ jxoi ypotfoov, kx.diwx.cjov ex tou XY\7tou, {xa. Tr t v ' 'A§ gnj, ovx a.v clvtov Y\vzo-yo\vrp tyQeipiwvTQg xa) (pikovocovvrog xa) xatToi7rs7ri\Yifji,svou sv pu\u 1:0x01$ ctvri niXoov* This letter carries internal marks of forgery. Leontium represents her old lover as eighty years of age : now Epicurus died in his seventy-second year, and Leontium died before him. In proof of this we find in Gassendi, that she was either the wife or the mistress Metrodori, sodalis sui, as Cicero has it ; and that they left a son, mentioned in Epicurus' s will, as an orphan recommended by his friend Metrodorus. This anachronism is de- cisive ; and there are other suspicious circum- stances about the letter. In the passage above quoted, she says, that he sent her letters written in such a style that no ingenuity can solve their mean- ing; and in another passage, she says she will rather change this land for some other j ? rats sma-To- xcls ccutov toLs hourvourTous uvegopM. Again she speaks of him in point of language, as if hx Kcmvo&oidcts np&Tos tyiv l EAA«5a rjxuv. Now it is very unlikely that his D 2 36 ON THE EPICUREAN PHILOSOPHY. letters should be disjointed, when we have the testimony of Diogenes Laertius, that perspicuity was the sole object of attainment in his style. With respect to the Cappadocian brogue or slang imputed to him, there certainly is a passage in Athenseus immediately before that just quoted, where his style is represented as inelegant : and Casaubon, in his notes, affirms that Epicurus could not speak the Greek language correctly. He does not state his authority for that assertion ; so that it may possibly be no better than this lady's supposititious sarcasm on his Cappadocian-like dia- lect, But the expressions of Athenaeus are easily reconcilable with those of Diogenes Laertius. The probability is, that aiming at perspicuity, he neglected the ornaments of eloquence : his periods might be unmelodious, and his style rather let down to vulgar capacity, than raised to the level of polished society ; but clearness and connection were necessary in a writer or a lecturer, who wished to lead his classes through the intricacies of so perplexed a labyrinth. Metrodorus, as well as Timocrates, is said to have deserted the standard of his leader. Against this supposition, Gassendi, De Vita et Moribus Epicuri, adduces the following argument. "Sane si Metrodorus a vivente adhuc Epicuro defecisset, quaesitum non fuisset ex Arcesila (qui duodecim annis Epicuro supervixit) cur homines a cceteris ad Epicureos, ab Epicureis vero ad cceteros non com- migrarent" Had two conspicuous instances of desertion been before the public, such a question would scarcely have been put to Arcesilaus. But whatever may be thought of that proof; and Bayle treats it with great contempt, it is not probable ON THE EPICUREAN PHILOSOPHY. 37 that the son of a person, who had been inconstant in so important a matter as sectarian adherence, would be kindly mentioned in the will of his in- jured friend : or at all events, however placable that friend might be in his nature, the seceder must have had a more than usual share of assurance, to have been the first proposer of such an adoption. But to the continuance of the friendship between Epicurus and Metrodorus, we have Seneca's tes- timony. After speaking of Rutilius, Epist. 79. " Nunquid non sorti suse gratias egit, et exsilium suum complexus est ? De his loquor, quos illu- stravit fortuna, dum vexat : quam multorum pro- fectus in notitiam evasere, post ipsos ? quam multos fama non excepit, sed emit ? Vides Epi- curum, quantopere non tantum eruditiores, sed haec quoque imperitorum turba miretur. Hie ignotus ipsis Athenis fuit, circa quas delituerat. Multis itaque jam annis Metrodoro suo superstes, inquadam epistola, cum amicitiam suam et Metro- dori, grata commemoratione cecinisset, hoc no- vissime adjecit, Nihil sibi et Metrodoro inter bona tanta nocuisse, quod ipsos ilia nobilis Graecia non ignotos solum habuisset, sedpene inauditos. Num- quid ergo non postea, quam esse desierat, inventus est? numquid non opinio ejus emicuit? Hoc jyietrodorus quoque in quadam epistola confitetur, se et Epicurum non satis eminuisse : sed post, se et Epicumm, magnum paratumque nomen habituros, apud eos qui voluissent per eadem ire vestigia." Chrysippus and Epicurus are represented as the two most voluminous writers of the philo- sophical tribe. Diogenes Laertius, lib. x. num. 26., gives the palm to Epicurus. Fsyovs U noxvypec- j a-vvuywyYi twv SoyptxTcov fiovXopsvoc. 7rupKTTuveiv, OTi roc ''Eimuovpov olxetot dvvuixei ys- ypaju-jaeva, xoti uTrupuftzTa ovtu, \tMpio) 7rAs/o> ear) toov Xpu- cnWou /3j/3AjW, fjLsy yug ouSs axct§=$ eyxhlvai ty\v uroy.w truyxoogov- E SO ON THE EPICUREAN PHILOSOPHY. jv twv %^c/jx«jv, el xoti Ts^vixooTsgov SCTTl X.OU TtSQlTTQTSQOV i^SLgyOCO-fMSVOV, 7ruqaLTEiocgov, e]g tyjv §a.\cHT7roj£ a7ncTs7v xou dvo-^egaivsiv, 'O 8s Tlpcvv y\v 'ASyivouqc, 0$ xou ysyovev YjXixla. [mocXiq-tu xoltoL tov IIsAo7rovv>jcnajtov 7ro\sfj,ov 9 io~TOj tov vsctvl$ on -sroAAwv 'A§Y)VCiloi$ xaxwv a"iTio$ so-oito. Tov ds 'Attyj^oivtov \lovov, cb$ oy,oiov uvtco xou £>j- Xovvtol ty)v diothav, sVnv ots GJgoo-lsTO' xou 7tots ty^ toov yo&v f ovq-y}$ kogTr);, elcrnwvro xu§ 3 avTOvg oi duo. Tov ft ' At;y\[lolvtov

j- jv xou Trgo&fioxlccv fj.sya.KYiv $ioi to v7oigo&o%QV sItcc s'nrsiv, 'Eot* /xoi pixpov olxonedov, w olv$ge$ 'ASyivouqi, xou q-vxyi ti$ Iv olvtco izstpvxsv, I£ i)$ *J§>j J(r< -sja^a ty]v $ukuMo~§s to, 'UJgouyovra tov ouyiuKov* xou to * The comic writer of that name. f This feast took place on the second or middle day of the Anthesteria. 64 CHARACTER OF rov Ttxfov* 7 Hv 8* e7riysygu[j,fj,svQV 9 Tovvopa. $' ou ■crsucrojcrSs, xctxol $s xctxw$ omoXourSs. Ka) tovto [asv avrov tri tpovra. vrs7roiY)xsv>xi Xsyov/A*ad\)c, xoXuxw cnraVToov 6 ffisKugwruTog. ovTog 8e -crap' hfiou ay gov oKov Aa6e«v, xc£i tJ SuyctTp) vrgoixoi l6o tolKolvtol, fuo-Qov tou gffOllvQU, 07T0TS UQ~CLVT01}1*S S 'UTOLVTWV &iCti7Ta)VT00Vy jU,0V0.£ U7re£S7T)JV£0-eV, I7roaoo"«/Asvoj wtiixwregov elvui ra>v xuxvooVj InztioLv vqgouvtol tsqviYp elU pi, xa) 'srgoo-yikQov Inixouglotg faopevog, ^K^yotg 6 yivvuiog vrpo Zka-TTOroL' xou owing fm$ (jLictgoug rouroug xoXaxug quXufy, roug S7T4 TYl$ TgaTTztflg [JLOVOV? TO. CtWot $£ XOgOlXCUV Ovhh ^lOi^SgOVTOig* QUX STl 'aTKTTSVTSOt TWV VUV QuSsVl* TSUVTZg CtyJwKTXOl^ XOt) 'STOVYjgoL *Eyw he raXuvrov g xou I. "AvOgetinoi, Ka.rsa.ya tou xpaviou biro too a^aglo-rou, hori to, o-vprfsgovra hovQsrovv UVTOV. There is much wit in the decree which Demea brings making him out a conqueror at the Olym- pic games ; and when Timon says that he never was there, the sycophant says, Well ! but you will be there. The decree then makes him fight against the Peloponnesians ; to which he again makes the following slight objection of impossibility, notwith- standing which the decree proceeds in all solemnity and magnificence, to detail the honours voted to him. The decree itself affords a specimen of an Athenian parliamentary address : — TI. Ylwg ; dia yag to /x>j ep^eiv oitKct, ovds Tsgoeyga^v kv rco xaTaXoyco. AH. Mergia ra i&sp) o~avrou \eyei$* YjfjLsl; a^agicrroi av el^^sv afj.VY)ix,QvovvTs$. ii 'Eri Ss xa\ ^Yj^i&f^UTBt ypaQoov, xa\ o-v^ovksuoov, xa\ } GovXy, xa) tco &Jju,«>, xa\ tyj 'Hhiala. xara jvav Iv t»j axgo- 7ro\si, xegavvov sv ry §£%ia e^ovra, yea) axrivas hii\ t>] xstyaXy xa\ (TTeQotvobcrou aurov %pvj£. The whole speech is not unlike part of the Ana- paests, spoken by Io, in the same play : — Tgo^o^ivsiToa 8' o^jaafl' kXlydyv, rivsUjU-otTi fjjtgyoo, yXoocra^g ux.ga.TY}$' Qo\ego\ Is \6yoi, 'uraloxxr sItcyj ^TvyvY\$ ?vgo$ x6[Aj^. Commend me to them ; And tell them, that, to ease them of their griefs. Their fears of hostile strokes, their aches, losses, Their pangs of love, with other incident throes TIMON THE MISANTHROPE. 77 That nature's fragile vessel doth sustain In life's uncertain voyage, I will some kindness do them i I'll teach them to prevent wild Alcibiades' wrath. Mr. Kemble would here have had to maintain a second warfare with the gallery, on the subject of aches and akes. That the galleries should have combated his correct pronunciation, was naturally to be expected : but marvellous to relate, persons who from their education and rank in life would be offended at a hint of ignorance or want of cri- tical judgment, have sided with the mob against metre and known usage. They seem to suppose that the English language, perhaps the most fluc- tuating of all, has been always stationary, and its immediate modes immemorial ! Will they have the goodness to try if they can read the third line of the last quotation any way but one, and retain the verse upon the tongue ? Having incidentally mentioned the name of Mr. Kemble, I cannot help expressing my regret, that Timon was never added to the list of Shakspeare's characters, of which he was for so many years the best commentator and illustrator. One such living exposition is worth all the notes that were ever written. Various and opposite opinions have been entertained, respecting the comparative merits of Kemble and Garrick. Those who are not old enough to remember the latter, and the number who do remember him will soon be very small, cannot arbitrate between the combatants. We have heard much of Garrick's eye and brow ; of his expressive lip, and fine tones. The testimony is as strong as to any historical fact, and we have as much reason to believe it, that he had a power 78 CHARACTER OF of expressing the passions incident to the character he represented, and consequently a dominion over the feelings of his audience, never exceeded by predecessor or contemporary, and probably not surpassed by any successor. But there is one ground, which Mr. Kemble occupied alone : that of the philosophical and moral actor. His scholar- ship, and a Roman cast of person, peculiarly fitted him for Coriolanus and Cato ; and would have en- abled him to re-embody and re-animate the Grecian misanthrope. Besides these, there was a cast of character which Garrick seemed to think beneath him ; for the theatrical records show that it was then consigned to performers of the second class. But who has seen Mr. Kemble represent the melancholy and philosophical Jaques, or attended on the moral lessons of the disguised Duke in Measure for Mea- sure, without rational pleasure and real improve- ment? In this respect, however, I know of no dramatic experiment so hazardous, and of no suc- cess so decisive and triumphant, as that of the modern play called Deaf and Dumb. In this, a highly gifted member of Mr. Kemble's family * not only made dumbness eloquent, but recom- mended a most important institution of charity, by showing its mode of relief without occasioning the disgust usually attendant on the exhibition of any natural defect ; and at the same time proved the triumph of a fine and cultivated mind over the most hopeless of infirmities : while he himself made an old grey-headed clergyman preach such a ser- mon, as drew crowded congregations night after * Mrs. C. Kemble, at that time Miss De Camp. TIM ON THE MISANTHROPE. 79 night, and rendered the benches of the theatre auxiliary to the pews of the church. Those who remember Mr. Kemble with a pleas- ing regret, may imagine how he would have wound up the character in the delivery of the closing speech : — Come not to me again : but say to Athens, Timon hath made his everlasting mansion Upon the beached verge of the salt flood ; Whom once a day with his embossed froth The turbulent surge shall cover; thither come, And let my grave-stone be your oracle. — Lips, let sour words go by, and language end : What is amiss, plague and infection mend ! Graves only be men's works ; and death, their gain ! Sun, hide thy beams ! Timon hath done his reign. After this, Timon appears no more, and here the play had better end. This play was altered by Shadwell, and restored to the stage in 1 678. Travellers have mentioned that there were the ruins of a building near Athens, which was designated as Timon's Tower. Dr. Johnson's criticism on this play seems cold, and parsimonious of praise. " The play of Timon is a domestick tragedy, and therefore strongly fas- tens on the attention of the reader." I cannot think that its domestic nature constitutes its charm. It is in subjects of deep pathos, that domestic tra- gedy seizes on the feelings of the spectator. I should rather attribute its interest to the pecu- liarities of mind it exhibits, and the studies of hu- man nature it furnishes. " In the plan there is not much art, but the incidents are natural, and the characters various and exact." The moral it 80 CHARACTER OF TIMON THE MISANTHROPE. enforces is justly stated by the critic, and cannot be mistaken by the spectator or the reader. " The catastrophe affords a very powerful warning against that ostentatious liberality, which scatters bounty, but confers no benefits, and buys flattery, but not friendship." Callimachus continues Timon's misanthropy even after death, in the following epigram : — T/jowov (ou yag tr £0~o~i) tl toi jf, xct) K\ei)ju,ov, xu) tov$ rvguvvovg !£e£aXov, xou Kcuri^crav Ixe/vyjv ty}V fypoxgctTlotv, l£ rj$ of TzoTCncti iffgos [xh otvSpiotv ovroog £7raj&su3>j(rav, axrrs tou$ fictqGagovg tov$ em Tzucruv hxSovTctg tyjv 'EAAa&x, y*6voi vixctv iAct%0fj,£V0i» He then goes on to state that Alcibiades' s father and his own grandfather fell in the battle of Cheronea. 'ETnTgOTreuSij $e U7ro Uegixhsovg, ov vtuvtss «v 6/x.oAoy^craisv cog GOtypgOVSGTCtTOVy XOLl tilXCllOTUTOV, X.OLI (TO^OOTUTOV ysySVYljtou ds xca *AgivTOjTO£ Iv ol$ £7rio~xw7TT£i 0eoogov y EIt 'AXxi£ia&>js elire 7rgb$ ju,e TgauAicras, c OA«5 0ectfXov ; tjjv xeQotXYjV xokaxog *X Si ' 'OgQa>$ ye tout 'AXxi/3iaS»jj sTgotuXios* Kat "Agxinwos tov vlov tqv 'AXw&a&ou o-xwrrcov, BaS/?si, fypi, haxzyX^iy $oipa,Tiov ehxwy, ovsos typghs ™ 7r*Tg\ ptx\i$-u So'Jeiev e»va<, K\aVO-CCU^SVBUSTCik T£ XOU TgOLVXt&TUh Cicero begins a letter to Caelius with a similar ridicule of fashionable affectation, where he spells the name of Hirrus, Cselius's competitor for the aedileship, according to the lisping pronunciation. • Alcibiades's early partiality for Homer is well known. G 3 86 CHARACTER OF ALCIBIADES. " Non enim possum adduci, ut abs te, postea quam eedilis es factus, nullas putem datas : prae- sertim cum esset tanta res, tantse gratulationis \ de te, quia quod sperabam : dein Hillo, balbus enim sum, quod non putaram." Aristotle, De Republica, discusses the advantages and disadvantages of music in the education of boys. Uoregov os osi fcavSavsw gcvtovs afovTtx$ re xct) X sl §" ovgyovvTag, r\ pj, xaSuneg Yjisjogr}^ tzrgOTsgov, vvv Xsxrsov. — — Lib. viii. In the course of the chapter, Aristotle represents Minerva as rinding a flute and throwing it away. Alcibiades had supported his own juve- nile resolution against learning the flute, by a reference to the same anecdote, fifty years before Aristotle ; and his ridicule was the means of con- fining musical accomplishment among gentlemen to the lyre. Plutarch introduces him : — AuAsnwav ovVj e^ij, Qyifltxloov ncttief ov yug 1&go$ 'Avtkpwvtu rbv co(pi(rT)jv SieXe^rj, py vrctgGtXnrsiv, 'O yug 'Avn^cov 7tot£ fiovXopevos robg crvvovQ~iao~ToL$ oturou TragsXeoSai, xugotrsK^wv tw l^CJQXgtXTSl, VTOLgOVTOQV OLVTOOV, sAe^S T«8s* CO ^aiXgtXTSS, hyw [X,EV Wjxvjv rov§ (pi\oo-opYi)$ xXivoi$ / ur1sgov. His frolic at Anytus's supper party is related by Plutarch without any mention of Thrasyllus, the only circumstance which can plead any apology for it. Athenseus introduces it thus : — 'E^ix^ua-ug ll -CTole w§ "Avvlov, sgcts-YiV ov7a, xou •urXovrtov, rvvsTrmcapotlZflvlos uutoo rcov halgcov kvog QgouruXXov, (roov •sreviJTWV 8' oOros vjv) vygQ7ricbv too Sgxo~vXXco to\ ^i(rr] twv noTYiploov twv £7n too xvXixsioo izgoxsi- [xsvoov, exeXsvQ-a tov$ axoXovSovs otvrofegew vrgog tov GgctvuXXov gld' OVTW $ ye Swodoc, xoc) 06% a^ocgi^cred^oci oljxai yvcop^, tjrocvv Stzgcra)' xoc) %elgwv ov$ev) CC%lCO Zoxelv V(jlwv elvoci, el tv; Ipavlov \Le\o\ tcov tTToKe^icoiocTcov, $1X0x0X1$ -crole loxoov ehoci, vvv eyxgoclcZg e&eg^OfAoir ov$e vtztottI ^eveoS oil jxou els t^v Qvyo&ixYjv 'srgo^v^ltxv tov \6yov» He ascribes his conduct to the wickedness of his enemies. The following anecdote proves beyond all ques- tion the strong attachment of this gay youth to CHARACTER OF ALCIBIADES. 89 his philosophical friend. After the defeat of the Athenians at the battle of Delium, Socrates was retreating on foot : Alcibiades brought him safe out of the field, in spite of the enemy who pressed furiously forward, and made a very considerable slaughter. A speech of Andocides against Alcibiades is preserved in the Oratores Graeci of Aldus, and the Oratores Veteres of Stephens, in which both his public and private character are virulently at- tacked. * Plato has two dialogues between Socrates and Alcibiades ; one, De Natura Hominis, the other De Voto. Socrates, as usual, drives his pupil into a corner. The oratory of Alcibiades has been much commended by the ancients; but even with them, though the fact be highly probable, the report seems to be little more than that of common fame. The speeches of Thucydides are admirable as charac- teristic illustrations ; but they are not parliament- ary reports. Alcibiades was, like other statesmen, a New- market man. He won the first, second, and third prizes in person; his chariots won twice in his absence. He is said to have put Eupolis to death for writing a satire against him ; in which is sup- posed to have been the verse quoted by Aulus Gellius : — " Eupolidis quoque versus de id genus hominibus consignatissime factus est, XaAeTv agw$, ctivvoLTuyrotTos Ksyeiv : quod Sallustius noster imitari volens, loquax y inquit, magis, quam facundus" * The excellent edition of the Oratores Attici by Bekker, from the Clarendon Press, 1823, supersedes the necessity of any other, except to the professed collector. 90 CHARACTER OF ALCIBIADES. Eupolis, a native of Athens, is honourably men- tioned by Quinctilian and by Horace, who both rank him with Aristophanes and Cratinus. His fragments are scattered up and down in many ancient authors, and have been collected by Grotius. Alcibiades and Phaeax are accused of having bor- rowed the consecrated plate, and having refused to return it, after profaning it by secular uses, till the eve of the sacred processions in which it was to be exhibited. The object of this retention is alleged to be, that strangers might consider it as a private loan. * Phseax is likewise mentioned by Thucydi- des, lib. V. Cap. 4. : — <&ulug §s 6 'Egcx5 a^o^svoi, e^'UTO^obv ovti } tcov 'Egpwv vrsgixovrY) ysvoflo* xoti ouSev e'Aj cxvtcov o, ti ou [xst sxslvou s^gu^y STnKsyovlsg tsk^yj^iu, tyjv aAA>jv avTov sg to. htmlYifisupctla. qv 8>j]ao7j floury v?sgl ts tqutwv, xou j/aov TotvTct Xsyoixnv, sixoLytxywvlai to zj\y)§oc, xcti Gi7T(]Q0~§Yi rj 'Agyslctiv ^uyy/xyid' y^ycLvarou ds vrgbg uutovc roiovSe Ti 6 'AXxifiio&Yic- tovc AoLXsScupovlove ivefoei, mlc-iv olvtoIc §ovc, yv (j,Yj 6yo\oyY}o~ct)o-iv sv tco typoo ctvloxgccTogsc vjxsiv, YlvXov ts avTolc catoo s oQvsw. vrslosiv yccg uvtoc 'A§r}va!ov$ coo-vtsq xou wv uvliXsysiv, xou tolXKol £uvaAAa£ejv. fiovkoysvos §s olvtovc Nix/dii ts a-cropjo-aj, tuvtol sTrgdlrs, xou 07tco$ sv too hrjyoo SiaoaXcov uvtovc coc ovfisv oCkf^sc sv vco syovo~iv } ov$e ksyovo~iv qv^sttots toluIol, tovc 'Agyslovc xou 'Hksiovg xou MavTivsae. ^v^yocyovg Groi^o-v}. xou sysvslo ovtcjoc, s7rs^Y} yo\g k$ tov Srj^ov G70if>s\§dv1sc 9 xou sttsooq- Tuoysvoi ovx s$uvav (ooo~7rsg sv tyi /3ouA>j) ccvTOxpuTOgsc rjxsw, ol 'ASyjvouoi ovxsti rpslyovlo' olKKoX tow 'Ahxt^iufov •uroKKoo yaWov yj mpoTsgov xotlotGooovloc twv Aaxs^ouyovicov, so~yjxov6v ts xou eTOipoi Yicruv evSvc uTupayctyov1e$ Tobc'Agysiovc, xou tovc ysT-oivlcvv, jju/x- 92 CHARACTER OF ALCIBIADES. l^ocyovg -arotstcrSa/. jva», v) exx\Yij. Tjj 8' vfspotlct sxx\yijo-ai yxsiv, opoo$ toI$ Actxe$ctiy,ovlois s

j %0>jva»

j8sv» £u|U,£a/vsiv. Siwsiv Ti hxekevov, OTk xa) <7j8») av 'Apys/ous fu^a^ouj -srsTrojija-Sar wj VTctgsivul y avTOug uvtov tovtou svsxa. sTts t» uKKo evexctXovv, i&OLvltx ei&ifel\uvle$, a.7TE7rs(/,$/civ tov$ TaTEq) tov- Ntx»av wpso-fiei$, xx) cctpixopevctiv uvtcov, xa» StTruyysiXuvTtoV tu ts- a.X\ct } xct) rsXo$ eI&ovIw, oti el pt) ty)v £ujU,/x,ap£iav &vv\], xai 8j3J (oweg x«i eys'vs7o), aTnoj 8oxwv slvai twv nrgos Aaxs8«i/xoviouj o-7rov8wv. ava%w^- j vato* ou8sv sx t>J5 Aaxs8a/ju.ovoj -CTSOTPayjUrSVoy, su^u^ 8/ o^y% tiyov xcu vopltyvles a8jxs7 jxs'ya ju,ev ouSsv fj v(x>) OTgoo-g'drjxg xga7q3(rav, ggyov rjv ty\v Aaxc8a»/xova -C7g^y=vecr^a<. lhe consequence was the battle of Mantinea, in which the Athenians were beaten without adding much to the confidence or to the resources of the Lace- demonians. The web of Alcibiades's policy was curiously Wrought : \AAxjj3ia8>j£ yoig, ots ocTrysi Ix ty\c *gxw ?&jj jxeloc- rois h Mscnjvvj, JuvsiSco^ to jxIxxov. — Thitcyd. lib. vi. cap. 66. Without any genuine and rational patriotism, he was continually stirring up the young men of Athens to aim at the empire, not only of the sea but of the land ; and reminding them of the oath they had taken in the temple of Aglauros. Attica was a barren tract ; and they had sworn to con- sider any country as their own, which abounded in corn, wine, and oil. Among the military effeminacies of Alcibiades, was that of carrying a shield of gold in the wars, with the ensign, a Cupid bearing a thunderbolt, instead of the owl, or the olive, or Minerva herself; the usual and recognised devices of the Athe- nians. Demosthenes, in his oration against Midias, speaks with mingled praise and censure of Alcibiades : — Asys7a* rolvuv mols sv rr\ WAsj, xa7a Tyv vrctkcciolv ixs/vqv su&ai- /xov/av, 'AXxi&a&rjs yevsoScti, a> o"xs\|/a(r3s, rlvwv susgyso-ioov vnug- youvlo$ ygct-

jv cov 6 jx£.v £*%sv 'OAv/X7na§a ku\ HvSictdct s-e$otvouj$ 'AA- CHARACTER OF ALCIBIADES. 95 xifiio&Yji;) JcctXXioov jcr7rov7ov £*%ov fisGalcog, aAAa xot) 7% a\\ri$ §ct\a.cro-Yi$ IjpjAacrav xciioL xgovros rohg Accxsda.i(xovioug. The soldiers of Alcibiades became exceedingly insolent. Thrasyllus having miscarried in an at- tempt upon Ephesus, the Ephesians erected a trophy of brass, to perpetuate the Athenian infamy. Alcibiades's men bitterly reproached those of Thra- syllus, on account of this new and mortifying circumstance ; for trophies had been made of wood till that time, that memorials of national hostility might not be too durable. Indeed both the Greeks and Romans seem to have disapproved of stone or iron, as materials for those monuments of tri- umph. Cicero has a curious passage on the sub- ject : — Ea est hujusmodi : Cum Thebani Lace- daemonios bello superavissent, et fere mos esset Grajis, cum inter se bellum gessissent, ut ii, qui vicissent, tropseum aliquod in finibus statuerent, victorias modo in praesentia declarandae causa, non ut in perpetuum belli memoria maneret ; aeneum statuerunt tropaeum." — De I?ivent., lib. ii. The case is brought before the Amphictyons, and 112 CHARACTER OF ALCIBIADES. stated on both sides with logical and juridical precision. Alcibiades, after performing many other ex- ploits, sailed into the Hellespont, and took Selym- bria, a city of Thrace, on the coast of the Pro- pontis. In the action, with characteristic rash- ness, he exposed himself to unnecessary danger. After the treaty with Pharnabazus, he went against Byzantium. Cydon, Ariston, and Anaxicrates secretly engaged to deliver up the place, on con- dition that it should be protected from plunder; and Alcibiades honourably fulfilled his engagement. Duris the Samian, who lived in the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus, boasted of his descent from Alcibiades. He is commended for his accuracy by Cicero, Epist. ad Att. lib. vi. He is arguing, that no historian can stand his ground, if occa- sional error is to be too severely imputed. This Duris is placed in very respectable company: — " Num idcirco Duris Samius, homo in historia diligens, quod cum multis erravit, irridetur ? Quis Zaleucum leges Locris scripsisse non dixit ? Num igitur jacet Theophrastus, si id a Timseo, tuo familiari, reprehensum est ? Sed nescire, proavum suum censorem non fuisse, turpe est ; prsesertim cum post eum consulem, nemo Cornelius, illo vivo, censor fuerit." This Duris describes in glowing colours the triumphal return of Alcibiades ; the oars keeping time to the flute of Chrysogonus, who had gained a victory in the Pythian games : while Callipedes, the tragedian, gave direction to the rowers, in all the splendour of his theatrical paraphernalia. The admiral's vessel he described as entering the port with a purple sail, in token of Bacchanalian revelry. All this is. in perfect keep- CHARACTER OF ALCIBIADES. 113 ing with the character of Alcibiades : but neither Xenophon, Justin, nor Athenaeus, mention any such particulars ; and as Plutarch tells us, that Theopompus and Ephorus are equally silent, the probability is that Duris had exaggerated. He might have thought it an honour to be descended from the Rochester or Buckingham of ancient days, and have given these gay anecdotes with pious unction. With respect to the decree for his recall, Plutarch Says : To /xey ouv ^V ( P l£ olutoc sv reus iheyslui$ -57£7ro/>jx£V, VTro^i^VYjfTKwv rov 'AAxj£j«$»3v tyj$ ^agilo^ Iv TOUT 01$, rWJpj §' rj j« "Agyovg * 'AxptZiov, the reading of the Anthologia. Dr. Blomfield in- troduces the more elegant reading, M^ Ao|f into the text. ON CALLIMACHUS. 119 o»x«7]U,o/. 'A^xaS/a. TXavKog, 'EX7r/8gr. "^ctivqixu Sofy&oBec, jaevov £»j aav7o waXov Kgovlty(n hoi Tgi^oc Iwpotloi veifiotr Tl$ 8s x W OvXvpTTW ts xcd aifo xXygov eguovou, "0$ \loCKol (At) vsvlyXog ; In \j 'STj afevow 8/8ou 8* agsrrjv re xa» ok£ov» As a specimen of his sepulchral poetry, we may take, in addition to his inscription on his father, the following epitaph on a friend drowned at sea : — '12}j&s7$ n«7Sa AioxXs/Soo ^w7roAiv ef&vofiev NOv 8* 6 jasv e»v aAf srov (psgsrou vsxvg* avlt 8' exslvov Ouvo//,a xa» xsveov (rijj&a 'srageg^o^sdoi. But the most distinguished of his very numerous pieces were those in the elegiac strain, of which only Minerva's Bath has come down to posterity. Yet his compositions in this line constituted the firm foundation of his character among the an- cients, who estimated his merit in this elegant and pathetic style most highly. The poem on Queen Berenice's hair still lives in the translation of Ca- tullus, and proves that he was worthy to rank with the Roman triumvirate in the expression of such natural thoughts, as Ovid, who imputes art without genius to him, could not equal with all his wit and refined imagery. It seems that Ovid was like le commun des Martyrs ; and saw most clearly those faults in others, which were most rank, but to which he was completely blind, in himself The following lines will give some notion of the turn of 1^4 pN CALLIMACHUS, thought. The star is supposed to speak in the language of compliment to its mistress : — Sed quamquam me nocte premunt vestigia Divum, Luce autem canas Tethyi restituor; (Pace tuafari hsec liceat, Rhamnusia virgo.; Namque ego non ullo vera timore tegam ; Non, si me infestis discerpant sidera dictis, Condita quin veri pectoris evoliiam) Non his tarn laetor rebus, quam me abfore, semper Abfore me a dominae vertice discrucior : Quicum ego, dum virgo quondam fuit, omnibus expers Unguentis, una millia multa bibi. Sidera cur retinent ? utinam coma regia flam : Proximus Hydrochoi fulgeret Oarion. The general character of the hymns, which con- stitute the largest portion of this Greek poet's extant works, partakes much of the lyric, though written in heroic verse ; they are composed in a free style, with much spirit, and full of curious matter, illus- trative of other authors on subjects of rites, ce- remonies, and mythology. The accumulation of epithets and proper names, or what the French call sobriquets, may appear tiresome to the reader who reads only for momentary entertainment; but the mythologist, the enquirer into early anti- quity, the comparer of idolatrous errors with the true knowledge, the investigator of the fallacious paths which polytheism trod, after its descent from the immoveable mountain of one and undivided truth ; of the labyrinth and the darkness in which it wandered after the light was hidden from its eyes, and the guide withdrawn from its steps, in consequence of its waywardness and obstinacy, may find much food for speculation in the Hymns of Callimachus. \m ON HORACE. Sapiens, vitatu quidque petitu Sit melius, causas reddet tibi : mi satis est, si Traditum ab antiquis morem servare, tuamque, Dum custodis eges, vitam famamque tueri Incolumem possim : simul ac duraverit astas Membra animumque tuum, nabis sine cortice. Hor. lib. i. sat. 4, Horace, as an article in biography, lies within a very narrow compass. Suetonius despatches him in three pages. His story may be told almost in three lines. He was a man of humble birth, pa- tronised for his talents, which were of the most marketable kind : brilliant, and convivial. He be- came a court poet, and consequently a rake. Had he not been a time-server and a turn-coat, he could not so have risen: but he was not a malignant turn- coat, and he did not vilify his brother poets of more strict principle, either alive or dead. In fact, he lived on terms of friendship and good- will with all of them who were respectable. He was a poet of that class in society, which in modern lan- guage is termed the man of fashion ; and however his life or his writings might fall short, or even offend against what the strict moralist or the divine might require, we shall find him to have retained more right principle, more genuine feeling, more heart, than a licentious court usually leaves to the 126 ON HORACE. ministers or the masters of its revels. In this point of view it is interesting to examine Horace's cha- racter, as exhibited by himself in his Satires and Epistles. His filial piety was most creditable to good feel- ing. He was far from the affectation of wishing to sink his parentage : on the contrary, he delights in talking of his father ; and represents him, both in the passage at the head of this essay, and in others, in a most interesting light. Yet Horace, with his usual good taste, is not led by partiality to make too much of his father. The old man was libertinus : consequently must have been plain in his habits, and appears to have been of more than average soundness in understanding : but the pro- priety of the character is strictly preserved, and has been warmly eulogised by the critics. The father disclaims any power of argumentation, and tells his son that Sapiens, the philosopher, will not only teach him what is better to be avoided, and what to be pursued, but will assign the reasons why one action is right and another wrong, and will give him that insight into the nature of things, which none but a professor or a habitual student can communicate. The knowledge necessary for this purpose he disclaims, and is too modest to consider himself as qualified to engage in a discus- sion on morals as an abstract question. But he jean tell his son what custom will exact from him ; he can preserve vltamfamamque ; the object of his care is to guard him against rashness, and to hinder him from incurring those dangers, which dissolute habits of life never fail to produce. The passage, of which I have quoted a portion, may be considered as a summary of parental duty, ON HORACE. 127 conveyed by the striking example of a person, who performed that duty in both its branches, with no other advantage than that of good sense, conscien- tiously and anxiously exerting itself. Horace tells us in the preceding lines, that his father had laid up something to provide for the subsistence of his children in comfort, though with frugality; and that he exhorts them therewith to be content. In the lines quoted, he represents him as anxious for their reputation. The prudent conduct of the father was amply rewarded by the gratitude of the son, who by these sketches of biographical piety, has raised a monument of fame to that father, not so splendid indeed, but as durable as his own. Nor is the skill with which the lessons of the father are represented to be enforced, less remarkable than their intrinsic wisdom. Moral lectures, when too long or too severe, disgust young minds : this father renders his palatable, by describing in a beautiful metaphor the approaching period when his child's advancement in the acquisition of learning, in bodily and mental strength, will render those arti- ficial and extraneous assistances no longer neces- sary : nobis sine cortice. Horace's tender sentiments of gratitude to his father appear again in sat. 6. : — Nunc ad me redeo libertino patre natum, Quern rodunt omnes libertino patre natum. The repetition in these two lines is evidently de- signed to tell us, that he is invulnerable by such attacks, and ready to re-echo the libertinus to those who would bawl it in his ears. A few lines further, he makes his birth almost an occasion of boast- ing : — 128 ON HORACE. Ut veni coram, singultim pauca locutus, (Infans namque pudor prohibebat plura profari) Non ego me claro natum patre, non ego circum Me Satureiano vectari rura caballo, Sed, quod eram, narro: respondes (ut tuus est mos) Pauca: abeo; et revocas nono post mense, jubesque Esse in amicorum numero. The line in parenthesis leads to an incidental remark, that Horace, with all his wit, was not only no great talker, but naturally bashful and timid, both which properties, often the concomitants of superior genius, are fully though concisely described by the expression, Infans namque pudor. Some apology may seem necessary for so long a descant on common and easy passages. It may, perhaps, be sufficient to allege the pleasing strain of those passages ; the sense and intelligence dis- played in every clause of them ; the expression of the poet's mind in his graver moods. Horace's amatory and bacchanalian songs are elegant and spirited ; his talent for humour, as a good-natured satirist, is in the highest degree mirth-provoking ; but there is something better than all this : there is a just though not austere philosophy, interspersed through all his writings, whether lyric, satirical, or critical, which checks levity in its downward career towards vice, and surprises mere literary disquisi- tion and critical taste into the service of morality. Horace was probably indebted in no inconsider- able degree, to the prudential counsels of his father, for that discriminating observation of human nature, which gave a peculiar tone of amenity, a*widely varied style and manner to his satirical and didactic writings, so as to prevent his in- structions from being offensive to the proudest or the most fastidious of his readers : — ON HORACE, 1^9 Ergo non satis est Hsu diducere rictum Auditoris (et est quaedam tamen hie quoque virtus ) : Est brevitate opus, ut currat sententia, neti se Impediat verbis lassas onerantibus aures; Et sermone opus est, modo tristi, saepe jocoso, Defendente vicem modo rhetoris, atque poetae, Interdum urbani, parcentis viribus, atque Extenuantis eas consulto. Lib. i. sat. 10. From the description before given of his father's method, it seems to have first taught him that prejudices are most sure to be removed, and con- verts most sure to be gained, to any system or set of opinions we adopt, by not seeming to advocate them too pertinaciously. The great, especially, are wrapt up in themselves and their own importance. While others look up to literature, science, and philosophy, they look down on those accom- plishments with an eye of mere patronage. The apologist for virtue must be candid in his views, and plausible in his address : his praise must not sting those who neglect it too poignantly, his pre- tensions must not be so high as to discourage those who wish to follow it. Horace's father, though no philosopher, possessed a thorough knowledge of the world: the son imbibed the art of dealing with various characters, of applying himself innocently to their prejudices, and of enforcing what he knew better than themselves, by arguments adapted to their previous habits and cherished hopes. This Aristippus-like assumption of attractive shapes, this versatility of agreeable talent, this fitness for the commerce of the world, is totally distinct from a genius for intrigue, from the machinations of cunning, or depravity of moral purpose. In this K ISO ON HORACE. view of the subject, no two poets ever wrote on principles more opposite than Juvenal and Horace. The former attacks the mischievous, the worthless, and the contemptible, with all the violence of de- clamatory fury. He is eloquent and he is poetical: but it is the eloquence and the poetry of unbridled invective against the disturbers of human happiness. The latter entraps the giddy and the vain into better and more correct manners, by the sportive- ness of his fancy, the variety and solid sense of his remarks. He has energy to convince, address to persuade, acuteness to anticipate and obviate ob- jections : poetry and raillery are alternately re- sorted to ; the dulce and the utile are mingled in agreeable proportions. In nothing is Horace to be more admired, than in his friendly dispositions, especially towards dis- tinguished persons, whose rival claims to court favour might not unnaturally produce a spirit of jealousy and disunion. His agreeable meeting with Plotius, Varius, and Virgil, on the sea-coast at Sinuessa, a town about eighteen miles from Formiae, on the Sinus Setinus, as described in the narrative of his journey, has a most engaging air of reality and substance in point of attachment : — Postera lux oritur multo gratissima ; namque Plotius et Varius Sinuessae, Virgiliusque, Occurrunt ; animae, quales neque candidiores Terra tulit, neque queis me sit devinctior alter. Lib. i. sat. v. He never loses an opportunity of extolling Virgil. In the following passage he tells us that Vaiius carried epic dignity to such a height ut nemo ON HORACE, 131 of the Latin poets : for Virgil's iEneid had not yet appeared. He also describes the characteristic merit of Fundanius on comic, and of Pollio on tragic subjects, in iambics, pede ter percusso. As these authors, all but Virgil, are lost to us, I shall transcribe the passage : — Arguta meretrice potes, Davoque Chremeta Eludente senem, comis garrire libellos, Unus vivorum, Fundani : Pollio regum Facta canit pede ter percusso : forte epos acer, Ut nemo, Varius ducit : molle atque facetum Virgilio annuerunt gaudentes rure Camcenag. Lib. i. sat. 10. This passage helps to ascertain the date of the satire. It could not be composed before the year 723, because the Georgics were not finished till then, and they as well as the Bucolics are cer- tainly included in the character of molle atque facetum. The temple of Apollo Palatine being dedicated about 7^6, renders it probable that the satire was written in 7^7> or 7^8, seven or eight years before Virgil's voyage to Greece, recorded in Horace's prophetic farewell ode. In a line and a half, the delicacy of sentiment and language, the art of treating plain and common subjects without rudeness, the power of giving a tender feeling and a refined colouring to rural topics, whether in the pastoral or didactic style, which might have afforded subject matter for the length- ened panegyric of an ordinary poet, are here concentrated without loss either of substance or of flavour. The term facetum is used in its m*ost ex- tended sense, to represent whatever is graceful and beautiful, the height of elegance and ornament, K % 132 ON HORACE. as well as witty and agreeable expression. The other adjective is used metaphorically, and likens the drawing of his characters and descriptions to the finest wool of his shepherd's sheep. His tender affection for his friends breaks out on all occasions of absence or return, of quarrel or reconciliation. In a letter to Julius Florus he enquires into the several particulars of which he wanted to be informed : — Juli Flore, quibus terrarum militet oris Claudius, Augusti privignus, scire laboro. Lib. i. epist. 3. It concludes with a vow to sacrifice to the tutelary gods on his return, and a strong attempt to repair the breach of brotherly friendship : — Debes hoc etiam rescribere, si tibi curae, Quanta? conveniat, Munatius ; an male sarta Gratia nequicquam coit, et rescinditur ? At vos Seu calidus sanguis, seu rerum inscitia vexat, Indomita cervice feros, ubicunque locorum Vivitis, indigni fraternum rumpere fcedus, Pascitur in vestrum reditum votiva juvenca. He here not only bears testimony to the sacred- ness of fraternal ties, and hints at the calamitous consequences of their violation, but augurs from his long experience, that the balance having once been deranged, its readjustment is uncertain, and too likely to be but temporary. He puts it to Florus as strongly as his conciliatory system will allow, whether his own youthful blood and inexpe- rience be not the main obstacle to the restoration of permanent harmony, and gives a pious hint of ON HORACE. 133 that most effective peace-maker, a good dinner at meeting after absence. So on the return of Pomponius Numida, of the Plotian and Emilian families, from the Spanish war, after an absence of three years, Horace invites a party of friends and schoolfellows, and gives vent to the transports of renewed association with sa- crifices, songs, and dances, in the thirty-sixth ode of the first book : — Et thure et fidibus juvat Placare, et vituli sanguine debito, Custodes Numidae Deos ; Qui nunc Hesperia sospes ab ultima Caris multa sodalibus, Nulli plura tamen dividit oscula, Quam dulci Lamiae, memor Actae non alio rege puertiae, Mutataeque simul togae. The age mutatce togce, of assuming the manly gown, was in the fifteenth year in Horace's time : but a custom prevailed under the emperors, when discipline of every kind began to be relaxed, of dispensing with one year of the regular probation. The toga was of different kinds, in point of length, colour, and ornaments, according to the respective rank and profession of the wearers. The ordinary sort was a large woollen cloak in form of a semi- circle. It was worn over the tunic. It may be remarked, that Hesperia ab ultima is not used like the epithet ultima to Thule, but as a geographical designation. All the western part of Europe was called Hesperia; astronomically from the star Hesperus, accompanying the setting sun ; mythologically from a son of Atlas, who k 3 184 ON HORACE. reigned in those parts. When therefore Hesperia stands without an epithet, or with that o£ pro3cima> it represents Italy ; when with ultima, it is appro- priated to Spain, as lying farther to the west. Hitherto we have described the kindness of his sentiments towards his friends : the friendship of great men towards himself was equally honourable to his character. He was courted by men of all parties. To recount the names which are scattered through his works would be endless ; but he enu- merates among his personal intimates, Cassius, Brutus, Messala, Lollius, Pollio, Agrippa, Maece- nas, and Augustus : — Cum tibi sol tepidus plures admoveret aures, Me libertino natum patre, et in tenui re Majores pennas nido extendisse loqueris, Ut, quantum generi demas, virtutibus addas; Me primis urbis belli placuisse domique ; Corporis exigui, prsecanum, solibus aptum, Irasci celerem, tamen ut placabilis essem. Lib. i. epist. 20. He here throws in a humorous account of his own person and temper. The complaint of be- coming prcecanus seems rather whimsical, if that appalling event did not take place till the age of forty, as we may gather from his ode on the return of Augustus from Spain, and we may infer, in addition, that the whiteness did not become universal till ten years afterwards. There is no author so well deserving of attention as Horace, for the curious and discriminate use of epithets. Sol tepidus is not to be applied in the foregoing passage to the excessive heat of the sun, which he would have expressed by calidus, as ON HORACE. 135 being hot in contradistinction to cold : tepidas is the mean between the two extremes, or moderately warm ; and here signifies the evening sun, when the air is more mild and temperate than at mid-day. Horace's skill and prudence in the recommend- ation of a friend is conspicuous in his letter to Claudius Tiberius Nero, descended from the an- cient family of the Claudii, who were of Appius Claudius's race, He introduces Septimius in the most favourable point of view, with a well-turned compliment to the patron he wished to interest. He insinuates that the prince admits none into his retinue, but men of the most nice probity: he ascribes all the qualities to Septimius, which would entitle him to honour and dignity in so distin- guished a situation. Dignwn mente domoque, fyc. is a splendid but delicate panegyric on the patron and the candidate : — Septimius, Claudi, nimirum intelligit unus, Quanti me facias : nam cum rogat, et prece cogit, Scilicet ut tibi se laudare et tradere coner, Dignum mente domoque legentis honesta Neronis, Munere cum fungi propioris censet amici, Quid possim videt ac novit me valdius ipso. Lib. i. epist. 9. As Horace was pleased with his friends and acceptable to them, he was also contented with his actual fortune, which is a leading feature in the composition of an agreeable character : — Ergo ubi me in montes et in arcem ex urbe removi, Quid prius illustrem Satiris musaque pedestri ? Nee mala me ambitio perdit, nee plumbeus Auster, Autumnusque gravis, Libitinas qusestus acerbae. K 4 186 ON HORACE. Matutine pater, seu Jane libentius audis, Unde homines operum primos vitaeque labores Instituunt (sic Dis placitum) tu carminis esto Principium. Lib. ii. sat. 6. I shall now lay before the reader some passages, illustrative of Horace's wit, and humorous deli- neation of character. One of his earliest compositions was written in revenge against Publius Rupilius Rex, a native of Prseneste, who had affronted him by spitting out his pus at que venenum, his malice and abuse. The story begins thus : — Proscripti Regis Rupili pus atque venenum Hybrida quo pacto sit Persius ultus, opinor Omnibus et lippis notum et tonsoribus esse. Lib. i. sat. 7. Purblind people and barbers seem at first sight a strange combination ; but it shows the extent of Horace's experience and the acuteness of his re- mark. Persons who have a defective sight are curious about every thing that passes, and weari- some with the number and irrelevancy of their enquiries. Nature, when curtailed of one sense, always endeavours to work double tides with another. The ears make good the deficiency of sight, and contrariwise. But why are barbers pe- culiarly inquisitive ? Because their shops are the resort of a promiscuous assemblage at leisure hours, a principal mart of vulgar news and vague, gossip ; by retailing of which the tonsor himself at once gratifies his own appetite and earns popularity with his customers. ON HORACE. 137 With respect to the narrative, Rupilius Rex had been proscribed by Augustus in the time of his triumvirate, and had withdrawn to the army of Brutus. He was jealous of Horace's superior for- tune, as holding the office of tribune in the army, and indulged in mean scurrilities on the score of his servile extraction. Horace retaliates by des- cribing the contest of Rupilius before Brutus with a merchant who had business in Asia, by name Persius. The poet calls him Hybrida, the mon- grel, because his father was a Greek and his mother an Italian. Rupilius considered himself as a per- son of great importance ; and the ridicule is heightened by the elevated tone and mock epic of the description. Nothing can be more keen than the satire conveyed in the equal match of the disputants. The two gladiators, Bithus and Bac- chius, were not better paired. The historically allusive pun at the conclusion may be thrown out as a - bone to the snarlers at that universally con- demned, but much practised species of wit. The ninth satire, in which he draws the picture of an impertinent fop and poetaster, is so excellent that it lives in every man's memory. The combination of literary and personal impertinence is the greatest of all nuisances in society : Horace laid hold of a precious specimen, and displayed it in the most ludicrous point of view. Fops may be divided into two classes ; the unconscious and the conscious. Horace's is of the latter description, and the prince of coxcombs. The circumstance of seizing the hand of a person with whom he had little or no acquaintance, is highly characteristic of indelicate boldness ; and the stiff civility, the " Your humble servant" of Horace, represents in the most lively 138 ON HORACE. manner the well-bred rebuff which fine gentlemen so well know how to administer : — Accurrit quidam notus mihi nomine tantum, Arreptaque manu, Quid agis, dulcissime rerum ? Suaviter, ut nunc est, inquam ; et cupio omnia quae vis. Not that the intrusion could be so shaken off. Sometimes Horace stops short ; then he walks fast, but in vain. His inward prayer for Bolanus to relieve him is full of pleasantry, as we must suppose him to have been a person capable of being pleased with so self-conceited a talker. Paucorum homi- num, applied to Maecenas, as a person of judg- ment in the selection of his intimates, is borrowed from Terence, where it is applied by Thraso to the King of Persia, and derives its humour from the proverbial notoriety of the phrase. It was wittily addressed to Scipio by Pontius. Scipio one evening invited two or three friends to sup on fish. He was going to detain another party who accidentally called in afterwards. Pontius took him aside, and cautioned him against promiscuous familiarity. " Your fish is paucorum hominum." The pleasantry of the passage is much heightened by the fop considering himself as a fit member of Maecenas's select society. Horace's answer fur- nishes an elegant compliment to Maecenas, in that collateral and unobtrusive mode of eulogy, which practised and judicious courtiers are skilful in em- ploying. A story apposite to the subject of this satire is told of Aristotle. An impertinent fellow related some fact, and asked him if it was not wonderful. " No ! but it is wonderful that any man with two sound legs will stop to hear you." ON HORACE. 139 In the third satire of the second book, Horace gives a fictitious dialogue between himself and Da- masippus, a Stoic philosopher, who was paying him a visit in the country. In another scene between Damasippus and Stertinius, the latter excepts none but the philosophic sage from the general imputa- tion of human folly. This character he, as a Stoic, maintains to be no where found but on his own system. Horace's object is to ridicule the severity of modern philosophers, and their exaggeration of the principles established by the founders of their respective sects. His peculiar skill is displayed in giving a ludicrous turn to what is ostensibly grave and rational, not with the design of undermining the foundations of truth, but of pulling away the gro- tesque additions which deface its superstructure. For this purpose he listens with an air of compo- sure to their philosophical lessons. They deal out folly and madness in large portions, and give him his full share. Stertinius, among others, details the maxims of Staberius, and his hope that poste- rity would know what vast riches he had left be- hind him, from the information of the inscription on his monument : — Quid simile isti Graecus Aristippus ? qui servos prqjicere aurum In media jussit Libya, quia tardius irent, Propter onus segnes. Horace shows an inclination to be thoroughly acquainted with his own folly, which is the only truth the schools are not calculated to teach, and to see his own picture drawn to the life. Both Damasippus and Stertinius utter excellent pre- cepts, and express them in lively and natural terms. 140 ON HORACE. The mind would at once assent to every thing they propose, but for occasional bursts of extravagance, which turn them and their theories into jest, and are made to serve the moral purpose of humbling philosophical pride in general, and the arrogance of Damasippus in particular. In the next satire he adopts an opposite topic of ridicule against the imputed doctrine of the Epi- cureans, who made pleasure, as it was said, to consist in sensuality. He represents those cook- ing philosophers, who have since been denominated epicures, as slight, insignificant and con temp tible.- Catius says : — Quin id erat curse, quo pacto cuncta tenerem ; Utpote res tenues, tenui sermone peractas. In the next he describes in the most ingenious manner the sordid practices of persons, whose aim was to succeed by flattery to the inheritance of childless old men. But the speculation was carried a degree further : — Si cui praeterea validus male films in re Praeclara sublatus aletur, ne manifestum Ccelibis obsequium nudet te, leniter in spem Arrepe officios us, ut et scribare secundus Haeres, et, si quis casus puerum egerit Oreo, In vacuum venias : perraro haec alea fallit. The word sublatus refers to that savage custom among the ancients, which left the exposure of children to the option of the fathers. They were laid on the ground immediately on their birth : if the fathers took them up, they acquired civil rights by this adoption, and were educated under the parental roof. ON HORACE. 141 The eighth satire is one of the most entertaining. Horace introduces the description of a miser's en- tertainment, by the following question to Fun- danius : — Ut Nasidieni juvit te coena beati ? Nam mihi quaerenti convivam, dictus heri illic De medio potare die. Men of sobriety among the Romans began their entertainments in the evening. This avaricious person, aiming at the reputation of a boon com- panion, for a single day of rare recurrence, begins his feast at noon, in the spirit of a true reveller. The flashes of wit and humour succeed each other so entirely without interval, that it would be im- possible to do them justice without transcribing a long poem in every scholar's hands. But if Horace laughs at his friends and all man- kind, he feels no reluctance to represent himself in a fantastical point of view : — Si queeret quid agam, die, multa et pulchra minantem, Vivere nee recte nee suaviter ; haud quia grando Contuderit vites, oleamque momorderit aestus, Nee quia longinquis armentum aegrotet in agris ; Sed quia mente minus validus quam corpore toto, Nil audire velim, nil discere, quod levet aegrum ; Fidis offendar medicis, irascar amicis, Cur me funesto properent arcere veterno ; Quae nocuere sequar ; fugiam quae profore credam ; Romae Tibur amem ventosus, Tibure Romam. The epithet jidis must be considered as applying not only to medicis, but to amicis. By the latter are meant the ancient philosophers, who act as physicians to the mind, and administer remedies 142 ON HORACE. against worldly anxiety and sorrows, by directing their patients to simple and natural enjoyments, by strengthening them against the fear of death, and setting before them their imperfect views of hap- piness in a future life. In the third satire of the second book he gives a similar portraiture of himself through the mouth of Damasippus : — Atqui vultus erat multa et praeclara minantis, Si vacuum tepido cepisset villula tecto. We must now look at Horace as a philosopher : and in passing to this part of his character, we may notice his fondness for a country life as a proof that he was not a courtier at heart, but that he could adorn the freedom and tranquillity of a rural retreat with all the charms of poetical feeling : — Perditur hsec inter misero lux, non sine votis : O rus, quando ego te aspiciam ? quandoque licebit, Nunc veterum libris, nunc somno et inertibus horis, Ducere solicitse jucunda oblivia vitoe ? O quando faba Pythagorae cognata, simulque Uncta satis pingui ponentur oluscula lardo ? O noctes, ccenseque Deum ! quibus ipse, meique, Ante Larem proprium vescor, vernasque procaces Pasco libatis dapibus. Lib. ii. sat. 6. Virtue and competence are here set forth in the most amiable light, and the place pointed out where they may be enjoyed in the highest perfection. The peaceful evenings and social suppers in the country are called the nights and repasts of the gods, because the happiness found at them was un- alloyed. There is a tone of genuine feeling, a recollection of rational enjoyment in these lines, ON HORACE, 143 which convince us that Horace was not acting the philosopher, but expressing his real sentiments. Yet grave as the passage is, he could not resist a stroke of satire at the kindred of Pythagoras to the bean, which, according to him, having been pro- duced from the same corruption, and at the same time with man, was to be treated with filial absti- nence and reverence. But Horace was no Pytha- gorean, and could eat his beans and bacon with a safe conscience, and a farmer-like appetite. On another occasion he expresses impatience to see his country-seat, and illustrates the persuasions to rural enjoyment by a most ingenious compa- rison. It was a proverbial saying, that no slaves were so happy as the servants of priests. Instead of coarse household bread, they lived on the cakes offered to the gods by votaries. Yet, as it some- times happened, they were so glutted with this " cheesecake diet/' that they ran away from their master's house to get a slice of ordinary bread. In like manner Horace is sickened of town gaieties, and runs into the country for a taste of simple, unadulterated pleasures : — Quid quaeris ? vivo et regno, simul ista reliqui Quae vos ad ccelum fertis rumore secundo : Utque sacerdotis fugitivus, liba recuso ; Pane egeo jam mellitis potiore placentis. Lib. i. epist. 10. Rure ego viventem, tu dicis in urbe beatum. Lib. i. epist. 14. His account of his Sabine farm, in his epistle to Quintius, furnishes a pleasing specimen of his de- scriptive powers. Along a valley, between the 144 ON HORACE. Teverone and Currese, a ridge of hills ran from north to south, divided by another valley from east to west, where lay the territories of Blandusia and Mandela. The mountain Lucretilis was in the centre of Blandusia. One of its sides, called Ustica, gave the name to Horace's house and lands. The Digentia had its source in the district of Ustica, and flowed through Blandusia and Mandela, wa- tering a wood, which, with a temple in it, was dedicated to the goddess Vacuna : — Continui montes, nisi dissocientur opaca Valle; sed ut veniens dextrum latus aspiciat Sol, Laevum discedens curru fugiente vaporet. Lib. i. epist. 16. This being the bent of Horace's taste, though he was not a didactic writer, many notices are scattered through his works, which throw light on ancient agriculture. Among others, we learn that the shepherds drove their flocks alternately in summer and winter, to the distant pasturages of Calabria and Lucania. It has been observed before that our poet's cha- racter is not to be rated by his table songs. He takes many opportunities of censuring the volup- tuousness of his contemporaries, and commending the temperance and frugality of the early Roman heroes : — Hos utinam inter Heroas natum tellus me prima tulisset ! Das aliquid famae, quae carmine gratior aurem Occupat hum an am ? Grandes rhombi patinaeque Grande ferunt una cum damno dedecus. Lib. ii. sat. 2. ON HORACE. 14,5 The necessity of virtue and wisdom, without which freedom is a snare and not a blessing, con- stitutes a favourite topic with him. In the satire in which Davus takes the privilege of the Saturn- alia, the poet puts into the mouth of his Grecian slave, by way of making the object of preference more characteristic and less offensive, a description of Rome, as a sink of impurity ; of Athens, as the seat of learning and virtue. In earlier and more heroic days, a person would have been considered as a coxcomb, and a violator of public decency, had he appeared with more than one ring. In the more luxurious times, it was the fashion to wear three. He describes the inconsistency of mankind, in vacillating between virtue and vice, in a very spirited portrait : — Saepe notatus Cum tribus annellis, modo laeva Priscus inani, Vixit inaequalis, clavum ut mutaret in horas; iEdibus ex magnis subito se conderet, unde Mundior exiret vix libertinus honeste : Jam mcechus Romae, jam mallet doctus Athenis Vivere ; Vertumnis, quotquot sunt, natus iniquis. Lib. ii. sat. 7. In a letter to Maecenas, he attacks two of the most common vices, which throw impediments in the way of human happiness. The first is avarice and ambition warring with united forces ; the second is levity and inconstancy in the objects of pursuit. For these two diseases he proposes two remedies : truth, and honesty or honour : what the Greeks term irgiirov, the Latins decorum, which is Cicero's word throughout the first book of his Offices. His definition of it includes the practice 146 ON HORACE. of all the virtues ; a course of action worthy of human nature. He seems indeed to consider it as the leading distinction between the instinct of the lower animals and the reason of man : — " Nee vero ilia parva vis naturae est rationisque, quod unum hoc animal sentit, quid sit ordo ; quid sit, quod deceat ; in factis dictisque qui modus." Horace exhibits himself here in an interesting light; as abjuring slighter composition, and devoting himself to philosophy, which consists in the con- templation and knowledge of things, and to what he calls the decern, or that conduct of which the verum is the parent. He professes however to be the votary of no sect. Truth was his choice, wherever he could find it. His experienced scru- tiny had discovered the forte and the feeble of every sect : we have seen in repeated instances, how he calls them back from their fallacies, and winds a retreat when they have lost their game, and are pursuing the counterscent of prejudice. He was the huntsman, not one of the hounds : had he belonged to the pack, his cry might have been louder than the rest, but its articulation would have been lost in the hubbub and confusion of the field : — Nunc itaque et versus et caetera ludicra pono ; Quid verum atque decens, euro et rogo, et omnis in hoc sum; Condo, et compono, quae mox depromere possim : Ac ne forte roges, quo me duce, quo lare tuter , Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri, Quo me cunque rapit tempestas, deferor hospes.^ Lib. i. epist. I. Truth accomplishes the philosopher, and virtue makes the man happy. The sincere enquirer after ON HORACE. 147 both, to be successful, must be earnest, consistent, and unwearied in his endeavours : he must think for himself) without rejecting either the discoveries or the experiences of others. Difficulties vanish before assiduous research, and proficiency is the reward of perseverance. Plato has a fine passage on this subject, in the sixth book of his Republic : — 'Hyou- [tevYis $r) aXrjSelac, ovx uv nols, olfj.cu, x«i o-coppoo-vvYiV sVscrSai. The next epistle, to Lollius, contains precau- tions against ambition, avarice, debauchery, and passion : — Semper avarus eget : certum voto pete finem. The miseries and inconsistency of avarice have furnished an abundant topic to all writers on morals and manners. From the following passage of Cicero pro Roscio, we learn how easy it is for those who are not blinded by avarice, to detect the ma- chinations of the avaricious man, or to lead him to his own ruin : — " O praeclarum testem, judices ! O gravitatem dignam expectatione ! O vitam honestam, atque ejusmodi, ut libentibus animis ad ejus testimonium vestrum jusjurandum accommc- detis ! Profecto non tarn perspicue istorum male- ficia videremus, nisi ipsos ccecos redderet cupiditas, et avaritia, et audacia." Sat. Sed quibus captus dolis, Nostros dabit perductus in laqueos pedem ? Inimica credit cuncta. Atr. Non poterat capi, Nisi capere vellet. Regna nunc sperat mea : Hac spe minanti fulmen occurret Jpvi : Hac spe subibit gurgitis tumidi minas ; L 2 148 ON HORACE. Dubiumque Libycae Syrtis intrabit fretum; Hac spe, quod esse maximum retur malum, Fratrem videbit. Seneca in Thyeste, 286. In an epistle to Numicius, our author proves thaf the admiration of unworthy objects is a principal cause of misery : — Hunc solem, et Stellas, et decedentia certis Tempora momentis, sunt qui formidine nulla Imbuti spectent. Lib. i. epist. 6. Horace's reasoning stands on this foundation. Nothing is naturally so calculated to excite the astonishment and raise the admiration of the human mind, as the structure of the universe, the uni- formity of motion in the bodies that compose our system, the revolutions of the seasons, and the complicated, yet methodised arrangement of exist- ing things. Some philosophers have seen hunc solem, et Stellas, and yet have admired nothing. If they have not been moved by these wonders, if their hearts have not been affected by the connection between themselves and this stupendous machinery of material splendour, how can we admire the inferior glories of the mine or of the palace ? How can we value, or even withhold our contempt from the trappings of state, or the frivolity of popular applause, and the ephemeral triumph of political honours ? This world contains nothing which a wise man would admire. The hierarchies of heaven obey the will of their Creator : the im- pression their magnificence should make on us, is to lead us to look down on them, and up to their first Mover. ON HORACE. 149 The last point of view in which we have to look at Horace, is the literary and the critical. The scope of his ambition in his writings, was to please judges of a certain cast : — Nam satis est equitem mihi plaudere, ut audax, Contemtis aliis, explosa Arbuscula dixit. Lib. i. sat. 10. The Equites, or Knights, are here taken for the nobility at large, and especially those of a cultivated mind. To stand well with posterity, we must please our contemporaries of the best taste. Each age furnishes a few ; no age furnishes many. But a reputation so established is preferable to the shouts of the vulgar, which are silent after the first explo- sion : a fame founded on enlightened approbation is like the swell of a well-tuned instrument ; barely audible when the tone is first emitted, but increas- ing in progressive vibration, till it fills the area within which it is confined. As his own critic, he maintains his claim to originality, though he had been accused of plagiarism : — Libera per vacuum posui vestigia princeps, Non aliena meo pressi pede. Lib. i, epist. 19. He maintains that he had discovered a path unknown to the poets of his country, and that he is a guide, not a follower : but he acknowledges that he has imitated the Greeks, and points out how his countrymen may imitate him, instead of copying what is least valuable. In the second l 3 150 ON HORACE. epistle of the same book, he lays down rules for reading the poets in general with advan- tage : — Fabula, qua Paridis propter narratur amorem Grsecia Barbarian lente collisa duello, Stultorum regum et populorum continet sestus. The fable is what the Greek critics call y.6Qo$, or the disposition of the subject. Order and arrangement of parts are necessary to the compo- sition of a poem. We hear much of the probable and the improbable in a story. It matters not how absurd or improbable be the end, provided the means be natural and probable. Tasso and Ariosto please not only the lovers of the marvellous and the extravagant, but the very readers of taste and judgment who most affect the correctness and purity of Virgil. Were probability of story indis- pensable, JEsop's fables would never have pene- trated beyond the nursery : yet they have been edited by those who were competent to comment on the Iliad. The difference between the fabulist and Homer, setting aside the graces and splendours of poetry, which have nothing to do with the pre- sent question, is that ^Esop makes beasts, the poet makes men, his heroes. The mode of conducting the actions of the heroes is strictly analogous ; the moral of either apologue is rational. The character of Horace's genius as a critic is principally to be drawn from his epistles to the Pisos and to Augustus. There are two kinds of the epistle ; the elegiac and the didactic. The former, the characteristic of which is sensibility of ON HORACE. 151 nature and elegance of mind, or perhaps more pro- perly tenderness of heart, is Ovid's province. The latter requires superiority of sound and common sense, an extensive knowledge of human life, and the polish of high breeding and courtly address. Here Horace reigned without a rival, in that deli- cate department of moral criticism, which partakes more of refined sentiment than of scholastic learn- ing or precision. In the epistle to Augustus, he ridicules the unmeaning admiration of anti- quity : — Naevius in manibus non est, et mentibus haeret Paene recens ? adeo sanctum est vetus omne poema. But this is far from being uttered in contempt of the poets who preceded him. We admire the masculine understanding, the easy expression, the unsophisticated representation of life and manners in the old writers of our own country. Horace entertained no less candid and rational esteem for the early Roman poets, who formed them- selves on the model of Eupolis, Cratinus, and Aristophanes : — Illi, scripta quibus comcedia prisca viris est, Hoc stabant, hoc sunt imitandi ; quos neque pulcher Hermogenes unquam legit, neque simius iste, Nil prseter Calvum et doctus cantare Catullum. Lib. i. sat. 10. This Hermogenes Tigellius was a literary as well as a personal dandy. He was the favourite musician of Augustus ; insipid in his tastes, more l 4 152 ON HORACE. barbarous in his delicacy, than the utmost bar- barism of unadulterated roughness. Yet this fellow thought it genteel to affect antiquarian literature ; and professed himself the partisan of Lucilius, whom Horace swears he never read. Horace was the advocate, and the model of cor- rectness ; but it was only to counteract this egre- gious foppery, that he for a moment attempted to dam up the ancient spring of genuine poetry. His ear could not reconcile itself to the ruggedness of verse in Lucilius : but in a passage at the begin- ning of the last-quoted satire, he apologises for his presumption : — Quis tarn Lucili fautor inepte est, Ut non hoc fateatur ? at idem, quod sale multo Urbem defricuit, charta laudator eadem. Horace repels the imputation of contradictory criticism. He admits the wit and pleasantry of the old bard's writings, which had animated the coarse merriment of a preceding generation ; but finds himself bound to enter his protest against the harshness of his versification. The two positions, which the witlings of his day had endeavoured to represent as contradictory, are perfectly in unison with the true principles and consistency of cri- ticism. Horace's Lucilian satires are a curious part of his critical works. However ready to admit the general merit of Lucilius, the correctness of man- ners and taste in the Augustan age, his own station at court, as the arbiter elegantiarum, made it ne- cessary for him to establish a Procrustes' bed of ON HORACE. 153 criticism, to which the dimensions of the old poet were incommensurate. Yet the fashionable cry was at this time for the ancients : that of Hermogenes for Lucilius, that of Demetrius for Calvus and Catullus, and we have already seen that Plautus was more popular than Terence. The court therefore was divided into parties ; and it was necessary for Horace, with w T hom popularity was as it were a stock in trade, to unite with one with- out giving mortal offence to the other. He had to parry as well as to thrust ; and this consideration will enable us to reconcile the seeming incongruities of his critical opinions. In writing critically, he had objects ulterior to criticism. The galled jades, who winced at his censures, thought to elude their point by crying up the broad blunt satire of a former poet : Horace, who had no malignity, and less vigour than his predecessor Lucilius, the satirist of a coarser age, or than his successor Ju- venal, the satirist of a period still more corrupt than his own, was obliged to exercise the arts of pleading in behalf of that tender treatment, by which alone he could manage and regulate the loose and slippery morals of a luxurious court and people. Dr. Hurd says, the epistle to Augustus is an apology for the Roman poets. His epistle to the Pisos is a criticism on the Roman drama, accord- ing to this critic, and not on the art of poetry in general. Baxter is of the same opinion. " Satira haec est in sui saeculi poetas, praecipue vero in Romanum Drama." We find indeed desultory remarks on all departments ; but nothing like a principled system of criticism, an ars et institutio poetica. The most that can be made of it is a 154 ON HORACE. miscellaneous collection, if we consider poetry at large as the subject of the piece. Under the influence of this latter prejudice, says Dr. Hurd, " several writers of name took upon them to com- ment and explain it : and with the success which was to be expected from so fatal a mistake on setting out, as the not seeing that the proper and sole purpose of the author was, not to abridge the Greek critics, whom he probably never thought of ; nor to amuse himself with composing a short cri- tical system, for the general use of poets, which every line of it absolutely confutes ; but, simply to criticise the Roman drama. For to this end, not the tenor of the work only, but, as will appear, every single precept of it, ultimately refers." This eminent critic displays much ingenuity in re- medying the mischief of so fundamental an error. Instead of considering it as an epitome of the Greek critics, according to which notion it would often be difficult to reconcile him with his sup- posed authorities, and often necessary to create conformities never thought of by the author, Dr. Hurd establishes a unity in the subject, and a connection in the method. On his hypothesis, what as a maxim or remark on universal poetry would seem slight, unsatisfactory, or unconnected, appears in its proper place in the general order of the author's reflections, as illustrating the state of the Roman theatre at particular periods. The especial rules of composition are all directed to the formation of a Roman dramatist, whose business it is to derive instruction and assistance from the kindred families of the poetic art ; and hence it is, that in a treatise on the stage, we glean occa- sional information, but no consistent and regulated ON HORACE. 155 theory of the epic, the didactic, the elegiac and the satirical styles. Horace and Virgil have given much offence by their flattery of Augustus. The former in the epistle to Augustus : — Praesenti tibi maturos largimur honores, Jurandasque tuum per numen ponimus aras, Nil oriturum alias, nil ortum tale fatentes. Their only apology is to be found in the uni- versal incense of extravagant adulation, offered up by all the court poets of the Augustan age. The blasphemous practice of erecting altars to the em- perors, took its rise under the tyranny of Julius Csesar. The senate had enjoined, by an express decree, that the Romans should swear by Caesar's health and safety, even in his lifetime. Balbus says in a letter to Cicero, " Haec quam prudenter tibi scribam, nescio : sed illud certe scio, me ab singulari amore ac benevolentia, qusecumque scribo, tibi scribere : quod te (ita, incolumi Caesare, moriar) tanti facio, ut paucos seque ac te caros habeam." — Ep. ad Att. This passage shows that Caesar was at this period an every-day oath. He has no more to do than Jove or Pallas with the subject of the sentence into which he is paren- thetically introduced ; so that this vow of self- devotion for his sake has not even the merit of what Sheridan calls sentimental swearing. Those who have gone this length will go further. The following passage from Dio completes the farce : — "AAArjv rs Tivol elxovu h$ rov tou Kvpivov volov Sscp uvixyjtw sTriyputyocvTeg, xui «AA>jv s$ tov Kci7riTookiov -&upa. tou§ @a<7i\s6j 'Pc/JjUOr), UV=§=jv 8s ' AXs£av8pou -sxa»8s/av av e7n£XeV)j£, 'Ygxotvovg yotpsiv £7ruidev}$*j(rsv, gl7ra>v, oti ov I&goo-Yjxsi cuvtco tjv jxsra too aScA^ou row 'Aygi7nrjy 23<2 ON THE HISTORY OF JOSEPHUS, ETC. nodorus died of haemorrhage, at Antioch in Syria. Caesar bestowed his country, of considerable ex- tent, on Herod. It lay between Trachon and Ga- lilee, containing Ulatha, Paneas, and the adjoining country. He also made him one of the procurators of Syria, and commanded that nothing should be done without his approbation. In short, he arrived at such a height of prosperity, that at a time when there were but two men who governed the vast Roman empire, first, Caesar, and then his principal favourite Agrippa* Caesar preferred no one but Agrippa to Herod ; and Agrippa entertained more friendship for Herod than for any one but Caesar. The rebuilding of the temple is attended with many difficulties. Herod is stated to have taken away the old foundations, and to have laid others on which he erected the temple, being in length a hundred cubits, and in height twenty additional cubits, which twenty, upon the sinking of their foundations, fell down. Some architects have sup- posed Josephus to mean, that the entire found- ations of the holy house sunk to the depth of no less than twenty cubits. This is impossible, when we consider that the temple stood on a rocky mountain. Neither the expression nor the subject is very clear ; but we must suppose that the found- ations which sunk were those of the additional twenty cubits only ; or rather, as in modern archi- tecture we do not comprehend the laying of se- cond foundations on a superstructure already erected, that the cubits themselves above the hun- dred fell down in consequence of being made pur- posely weak not to be too heavy for the building, and merely for show and grandeur. Agrippa's preparation for building the minor parts of the temple twenty cubits higher, men- ON THE HISTORY OF JOSEPHUS, ETC. 233 tioned by Josephus in another passage, must in all probability refer to this accident, as he says, in the passage now under consideration, that what had fallen down in Herod's time they resolved to raise again in the days of Nero. Now it was under Nero that Agrippa made his preparation. Josephus is not unfrequently obscure, from inaccuracy of ex- pression, which is naturally to be expected from a person writing in a foreign language. A little farther on he calls Solomon the first king of the Jews. It appears from other passages, in which he is more careful, that he meant no more than that he was the first of David's posterity, and the first builder of the temple. It was in the sixteenth year of his reign that Herod rebuilt the temple, and encompassed a piece of land about it with a wall, which land was twice as large as that before enclosed. After many family quarrels, Herod was recon- ciled to his sons by the feeling conduct of Alex- ander, on his trial for treason against Caesar, on the accusation of Antipater. The young man could scarcely speak for grief: but though he was in danger, both from the craft of his half-brother and the rash folly of Herod, he modestly avoided lay- ing any imputation on his father, but with great force of reasoning refuted the calumnies vented against himself. He demonstrated the innocence of his own brother, who was involved in the same danger. He then bew T ailed the malice and treachery of Antipater, and the disgrace he had brought on the whole family. But this reinstatement of family good understanding endured not ; for Antipater by his flatteries could make Herod do what he pleased. His influence could prevail even when that of 234 ON THE HISTORY OF JOSEPHUS, ETC. his sister Salome was ineffectual. To her, indeed, he ultimately behaved with much harshness. Cae- sar's wife, Julia, had inspired her with a strong inclination to marry Sylleus the Arabian, and she applied with earnestness to Herod for his consent. He swore he would esteem her as his bitterest enemy, unless she would give up that project. Not content with this, he married her, against her own will, to his friend Alexas, and made one of her daughters marry the son of Alexas, and the other he gave to Antipater's uncle by the mother's side. But there was no end to these family feuds. Pheroras was obstinate in retaining his wife, a wo- man of low family, and refused to marry one nearly related to Herod, though he so earnestly desired it. That wife's admission to the counsels of the principal ladies about the court is not easily to be reconciled with Herod's open importunity as to the divorce of Pheroras, and his subsequent mar- riage. The most plausible account to be given of this, as represented by Josephus, is by presuming Pheroras's belief, and Herod's suspicion, that the prediction of the Pharisees would prove true. The purport of it was, that the crown of Judea should be translated from Herod to the posterity of Pheroras : he probably believed, and Herod feared, that the posterity signified was to descend from his actual, and not from a future wife. In debating this question, Herod told Pheroras he would give him his choice of two things ; to be on good terms with himself as a brother, or with his wife. Phe- roras answered, he would rather die than forsake his wife. Herod knew not what more to do. He directed his speech to Antipater, and charged him to have no intercourse either with the wife of Phe- ON THE HISTORY OF JOSEPHUS, ETC. 235 roras, or with Pheroras himself, or with any one be- longing to her. Antipater did not disobey that in- junction publicly : buthe went in secretto their noc- turnal meeting. Being afraid that Salome watched his proceedings, he procured leave, by means of his Italian friends, to go and live at Rome. Those friends wrote word that it was proper for Antipater to be sent to Caesar for some time. Herod dismissed him without delay, splendidly attended, with a large sum of money, and gave him his will to carry, con- taining the bequest of the kingdom to Antipater, and appointing Herod for Antipater's successor. The Herod here meant by Josephus is not Herod the tetrarch, but the son of Mariamne, the high- priest Simon's daughter. Herod soon after this laboured under the com- plicated evils of a severe distemper, old age, and a melancholy state of mind. He was already almost seventy years of age, and had been prematurely weighed down by the calamities he had sustained respecting his children. His life was attended with no pleasure, even when in health. He was grieved that Antipater, whose character had been fully de- veloped since his return from Rome, was still alive. This aggravated his disease ; and he resolved to put him to death, though not suddenly or rashly. He determined that as soon as he should be well again, his execution should take place publicly. It did so ; and his own death immediately ensued. He survived the slaughter of his son only five days. Herod had reigned thirty-four years since the time when he procured the death of Antigonus, and obtained his kingdom : thirty-seven years since he had been made king by the Romans. At his funeral there was a bier entirely of gold, em- %36 ON THE HISTORY OF JOSEPHUS, ETC. broidered with precious stones, and a purple bed of various contexture, with the dead body on it, covered with purple. A diadem was set on his head, and a crown of gold above it, a sceptre in his right hand. Herod's sons were near the bier, and a great number of his kindred. Next to them came his guards, and the regiment of Thracians. The Germans were there, and the Gauls, all ac- coutred as if they were going to war. The rest of the army took precedence, armed, and following their captains and officers with military regularity. After them, five hundred of his domestic servants and freed-men followed with sweet spices in their hands. The body was carried two hundred fur- longs, to Herodium, where he had given his own directions to be buried. There are few characters in biography which furnish more abundance or variety of incident, more scope for political and moral reflection, than this of Herod. But his life was so active, and his turns of fortune, both domestic and public, so fre- quent, that it is impossible within the compass of an essay like this, to do more than to make a se- lection of events and characteristic anecdotes, from the long and detailed narrative of Josephus. Herod the tetrarch was the son of Herod the Great. When Cyrenius had disposed of Arche- laus's money, and when the taxation was con- cluded, which was made in the thirty-seventh year after Caesar's victory over Antony at Actium, Jo- azar was deprived of the high-priesthood, a dignity conferred upon him by the multitude. Ananus the son of Seth was appointed high-priest. Herod- Antipas and Philip had each of them received their, own tetrarchy, and had established their af- ON THE HISTORY OF JOSEPHUS, ETC. 237 fairs on a permanent footing. The ethnarchy of Archelaus, another son of Herod, brother of Philip and Antipas, had fallen into a Roman province. When Salome died, she bequeathed both her to- parchy and Jamnia, besides her plantation of palm-trees in Phasaelis, to Julia, the wife of Au- gustus. When the Roman empire was translated to Tiberius, the son of Julia, upon the death of Augustus, who had reigned fifty-seven years six months and two days, both Herod and Philip re- mained in their tetrarchies. The latter built the city of Caesarea, at the fountains of Jordan, and in the region of Paneas ; besides the city Julias, in the lower Gaulanitis. Herod built the city of Tiberias in Galilee, and another also called Julias in Perea beyond Jordan. It is on the accession of Tiberias to the empire, that Josephus inserts that famous testimony concerning Jesus Christ. In a homily also, having just mentioned Christ, as God the Word, and the Judge of the World, appointed by the Father, he adds, that he had himself spoken elsewhere about him more nicely or particularly. After terms of peace had been agreed upon be- tween Artabanus and Vitellius, Herod the tetrarch erected a rich tent on the temporary bridge over the Euphrates, and made a feast there. After this Vitellius went to Antioch, and Artabanus to Ba- bylon. Herod, desirous of giving Caesar the first intimation that they had obtained hostages, sent couriers with letters, leaving nothing for the con- sular Vitellius to tell. For on the arrival of his letters, Tiberius let him know that he was ac- quainted with the whole transaction already. Vitel- lius was much troubled at this, conceiving himself a greater sufferer by the anticipation than he really 238 ON THE HISTORY OF JOSEPHUS, ETC. was. He therefore cherished a secret anger, wait- ing for revenge, which he took after Caius had succeeded to the government. Soon after this time, a quarrel took place between Aretas, king of Arabia Petraea, and Herod, on the following occa- sion. Herod the tetrarch had married the daughter of Aretas, and had lived with her a great while. Once, when he was at Rome, he lodged with He- rod, his brother, but not by the same mother. This Herod was the son of the high-priest Simon's daughter, and seems to have had the additional name of Philip, as Antipas was named Herod- An- tipas, Antipas and Antipater have the appearance of being the very same name ; yet two sons of Herod the Great bore those names. So might Philip the tetrarch and this Herod- Philip be two different sons of the same father. It was not Philip the tetrarch, but this Herod-Philip, whose wife Herod the tetrarch had married in her first husband's life- time, and that, although that first husband had issue by her. For this adulterous and incestuous marriage John the Baptist justly reproved Herod the tetrarch. For this reproof Salome, the daughter of Herodias, by her first husband Herod-Philip, who was still alive, occasioned him to be unjustly beheaded. This last Herod's wife, with whom the tetrarch fell in love, was the daughter of their bro- ther Aristobulus, and the sister of Agrippa the Great. The tetrarch ventured to talk to her about marriage. She allowed of his addresses. An agree- ment was made that she should change her resi- dence, and come to him as soon as he should re- turn from Rome. One article of the contract was, that he should divorce the daughter of Aretas. Antipas, when he had made this bargain, sailed ON THE HISTORY OF JOSEPHUS, ETC. 2£>9 to Rome, transacted his business, and returned. His wife had discovered the transaction with He- rodias ; but her husband was not aware that she was acquainted with the whole design. She de- sired him to send her to Machasrus, a place on the borders of Aretas and Herod's dominions, carefully concealing her own intentions. Herod accordingly complied with his wife's request on the supposition of her ignorance. But she had sent some time before to Machserus, as being under her father's govern- ment. All things necessary for her journey were got in readiness by the general of Aretas's army. Thus she soon reached Arabia, under the conduct of the several generals, who carried her from one to another successively, so that she soon came to her father, and told him of Herod's projects. This was the first occasion of quarrel between Aretas and Herod, though the latter had some variance with the former about their limits in the country of Gemalitis. They raised armies on both sides, and prepared for war, sending their generals to fight instead of themselves. When they had joined battle, Herod's whole army was destroyed by the treachery of some fugitives, who though they were of Philip's tetrarchy, had joined Herod's army. Herod wrote on these subjects to Tiberius, who was very angry at the attempt of Aretas. He au- thorised Vitellius to make war upon him, and either to take him alive and bring him in bonds, or to kill him and send his head. Some of the Jews considered the destruction of Herod's army as a just judgment from God, for his proceeding against John surnamed the Baptist. Josephus here bears testimony to him whom Herod slew, as a good man, recommending virtue, righteousness, £40 ON THE HISTORY OF JOSEPHUS, ETC. and piety, through baptism. The great popularity of this preacher alarmed Herod, lest the people should enable him to raise a rebellion. He there- fore gladly embraced an opportunity of putting him to death, lest he should fall into difficulties by sparing a man who might make him repent of his forbearance. He was accordingly sent a prisoner to the before-mentioned castle of Machserus, and there put to death. The Jews naturally enter- tained an opinion that the loss of the army was a punishment on Herod, and a mark of God's dis- pleasure. Herodias, Agrippa's sister, lived as wife to He- rod the tetrarch of Galilee and Perea. She felt envious at the great authority of her brother when she saw a greater dignity bestowed on him than on her husband. Her brother had absconded from inability to pay his debts. He was now come back, in the high road to dignity and good fortune. She urged to Herod, that though he formerly was not concerned to be in a lower condition than his fa- ther, the author of his birth, he should now aim at the dignity to which his kinsman had arrived. She told him not to endure the contempt, that a man who had admired his riches, should be in greater honour than himself. He must not suffer Agrippa's poverty to purchase greater things than their abun- dance. It would be shameful to stand lower than one who, the other day, lived on the charity of his family. These arguments had their effect on his corrupt mind, and produced those mutual family machin- ations so common in those times and countries. On the accession of Caius, he released Agrippa, who had been in bonds, and gave the tetrarchy of ON THE HISTORY OF JOSEPHUS, ETC. 241 Philip, who was now dead. When Agrippa had arrived at that dignity, he kindled the ambition of his brother tetrarch, who was chiefly induced to hope for the royal authority by his wife Herodias.* She reproached him for his sloth, and said it was only because he would not pay his personal com- pliments to the new Caesar, that he was not raised to that high dignity. Caesar had made Agrippa king from a private station. Much more would he advance him from a tetrarchy to that rank. Herod complied, and went to Caius, who punished him for his ambition, by banishing him into Spain. Agrippa had followed him to prefer an accusation. Caius added this tetrarchy also to Agrippa' s pre- vious honours. Herod died in Spain, whither his wife had followed him. * Delrius, in his Disquisitiones Magicae, states that Hero- dias was sometimes identified with the fairy queen. The term the learned Jesuit applies to her is saltalricula : and he gravely argues against the abominable heresy of believing that she any longer leads choral dances on earth. This is second only to the absurdity of the romance writers, who make Mercury the prince of the fairies ; and in Orfeo and Henrodis, convert the Grecian story of Orpheus and Eurydice into a Gothic tale, graciously conferring on Heurodis the kingdom of Winchester, the ancient name of which was Thrace ! Orpheus's father was descended from King Pluto, and his mother from King Juno. The tale ends melodramatically, and not tragically. Orpheus does not act so like a blockhead as in the Greek version : he makes his escape good, and they both reign safe and sound at Winchester. The history of John the Baptist was considered by our ancestors as altogether mysterious, and gave rise to a great number of superstitious practices on St. John's Eve, particularly that of fern-seed, alluded to by Shakspeare in Henry IV,: — " We have the receipt of fern-seed ; we walk in- visible." 242 ON THE CHARACTER OF MUCIUS SC^EVOLA. When Porsena, king of Clusium in Etruria, was besieging Rome, provisions became exceedingly scarce and dear in that city. This partisan of the Tarquins entertained hopes, that by converting the siege into a blockade, he should become master of the town. Caius Mucins, a noble youth, was filled with indignation, to think that the Roman people while in bondage under their kings, should never have been besieged by an enemy in any war, and yet that the same people, now in a state of freedom, were blockaded by those very Etrurians whose armies they had often routed. He resolved therefore, by some great and daring effort, to remove such reproach. Livy says, " Primo sua sponte penetrare in hostium castra constituit dein metuens, ne, si consulum injussu et ignaris omni- bus iret, forte deprehensus a custodibus Romanis retraheretur ut transfuga, for tuna turn nobis crimen adfirmante, senatum adiit, 'Transire Tiberim,' inquit, ' Patres, et intrare, si possim, castra ho- stium volo ; non praedo, nee populationum in vicem ultor. majus, si Dii juvant, in animo est facinus.' Adprobant Patres : abdito intra vestem ferro, proficiscitur." * The passages marked in italics * Lib. ii. cap. 12. ON THE CHARACTER OF MUCIUS SC^VOLA. 243 show, that in stating this extraordinary fact, so much the admiration of schoolboys, Livy is sen- sible that the action itself was criminal, and that the condition to which the city of Rome was re- duced, was the only apology for the baseness of assassination. We mast, with our superior lights, say that no distress, no approbation even of a Roman senate, no specious gloss of the historian, can justify the morality of such a proceeding. It was now the second year after the expulsion of the kings. Porsena considered Rome as already sufficiently reduced to admit of their restoration. He was celebrating a sacrifice, to propitiate the gods in favour of that event : Mucius could not venture to enquire which was Porsena, lest his not knowing the king should discover him to be a stranger. He was therefore obliged to trust to fortune and probability. A secretary was close to the king, in the act of paying the soldiers, whose attention therefore was more immediately directed to him. Porsena himself rather seemed to be per- forming the duties of a priest. This probably led Mucius to mistake the secretary for the king, so that he killed him instead of the intended victim. When brought before the king's tribunal, he stood there single, among a crowd of enemies. Even in this situation, deserted by fortune and threatened with the severest tortures, he declared himself to be a Roman citizen ; his name Caius Mucius. He seemed in fact more capable of alarming the in- vader, than of feeling terror in his own person. He says to him, " Proinde in hoc discrimen, si juvat adcingere, ut in singulas horas capite dimi- ces tuo ; ferrum hostemque in vestibulo -habeas regiae. Hoc tibi juventus Romana indicimus r 2 244 ON THE CHARACTER OF MUCIUS SC^EVOLA. bellum. Nullam aciem, nullum praelium timueris. Uni tibi, et cum singulis res erit. Quum rex, simul ira infensus, periculoque conterritus, cir- cumdari ignes minitabundus juberet, nisi expromeret propere, quas insidiarum sibi minas per ambages jaceret: ' En tibi,' inquit, 'ut sentias, quam vile corpus sit Us, qui magnam gloriam vident : ' dex- tramque accenso ad sacrificium foculo injicit. quam quum velut alienato ab sensu torreret animo ; prope adtonitus miraculo rex, quum ab sede sua prosi- luisset, amoverique ab altaribus juvenem jussisset, « Tu vero abi,* inquit, « in te magis, quam in me hostilia ausus.' " For the purpose of fixing the admiration on the proper point of this story, and at the same time to do Livy justice, it must be remarked, that the for- titude here displayed, and that of the passive kind, is the part of Scaevola's conduct proposed as an example, and the only part to be adopted in spirit, by those who have occasion to show their reso- lution, under circumstances less shocking and incredible. I say incredible ; and it is remarkable that Dionysius has omitted this part of the romantic scene, described by Livy with so much ostentation. He simply imputes to Mucius the politic con- trivance of inventing the story of the three hundred youths to save himself. His character in the Greek historian does indeed descend from its heroics. But according to Livy, whose narrative is best known and most popular, Porsena finishes his address by saying, << I dismiss you untouched and unhurt ; and discharge you from the penalties which by the laws of war I have a right to inflict." Mucius felt inclined to make some return for this act of favour, and spoke to him thus : — " Since I OX THE CHARACTER OF MUCIUS SCEVOLA. £45 find you disposed to honour braveiy, you shall obtain from me by kindness what threats could not extort. Know then, that three hundred of us, the principal youths in Rome, have bound ourselves to each other by an oath, to attack you in this manner. My lot happened to be first. The others will be with you, each in his turn, as the lot may place him foremost, until fortune shall furnish an opportunity of succeeding against you." Mucins was then dismissed, and was followed to Rome by ambassadors from Porsena. The king had been deeply affected, not only by the action, but by the asseveration, that Rome possessed many such resolute devotees. He had before experienced the existence of a similar spirit. Horatius Codes, Horace with the Single-eye, had alone stopped the same Porsena from passing the Sublician bridge, till it was broken down behind him. Though wounded, he swam across the river to his friends. He was lame ever after : but he used to say, that every step he took gave him joy of his triumph. The occasion of the peace also converted Porsena' s anger into admiration. He spoke of Clcelia's ex- ploit as superior even to those of Codes and Mucius. He therefore proposed the following alternative. Should the hostage not be given up, he would consider the treaty as broken off; should she be surrendered, he would send her back to her friends in safety. There is something very noble in the character of Porsena. His engagement with the Tarquins, and natural predilection in favour of royalty, placed him in the wrong : but he was open to conviction ; and the extraordinary accidents which had happened to himself gave him an opportunity b 3 £46 ON THE CHARACTER OF MUCIUS SCiEVOLA, of extricating himself with a good grace, and of leaving that liberty to the Romans, which they knew so well how to defend. The loss of his right hand by burning procured for Mucius, or Mutius, the surname of Scaevola, the Left-handed. We see here, in the case of Horatius Codes, and in a thousand others, that the Roman surnames ran much on personal peculiarities or defects, as in the case of Cicero. The senate gave a tract of ground on the other side of the Tiber to Caius Mucius, as a reward of his valour. These lands were afterwards called the Mucian meadows. The honour thus paid to courage seems to have excited even the other sex to merit public distinctions, which were so amply given to Clcelia. Martial has two epigrams on this subject. The first is in lib. i. : — DE PORSENA ET MUCIO SC^VOLA. Cum peteret regem, decepta satellite, dextra Ingessit sacris se peritura focis. Sed tarn saeva pius miracula non tulit hostis, Et raptum flammis jussit abire virum. Urere quam potuit contemto Mucius igne, Hunc spectare manum Porsena non potuit. Major deceptae fama est et gloria dextrae: Si non errasset, fecerat ilia minus. The other is in lib. x. The point of it is not so obvious as in the former : — DE MUCIO. In matutina nuper spectatus arena Mucius, imposuit qui sua membra focis, Si patiens forti^que tibi durusque videtur, Abderitanae pectora plebis habes. ON THE CHARACTER OF MUCIUS SC^EVOLA. 247 Nam, cum dicatur, tunica praesente molesta, Ure manum ; plus est dicere, Non facio. It is to be understood that Martial was no friend to violence, and least of all to self-violence. He was not ambitious to think "with the sages of Abde- ra> a city of Thrace, whose very air was thought to teem with stupidity or madness. He therefore pronounces it less bold spontaneously to burn a limb, than to refuse to do so : especially where the torturing tunic, lined with various combustibles, must be expected as the immediate consequence. The last word of the epigram, which the elliptic idiom of the Latin language uses in the sense of sacrificing, has given rise to the conjecture that Martial alludes to some Christian criminal, ad- mired even by enemies, and placed on a higher pinnacle of self-devotion than Mucius, for refusing facere, to offer incense to the heathen deities. At all events, the drift is philosophical, in raising passive above active courage. r 4 248 ON CICERO. 1 here is no work of more universal acceptance, from the time of its publication down to this pe- riod, than Dr. Middleton's History of Cicero's Life, which is, in fact, the history of Cicero's times. Nor could it be otherwise. From the first ad- vancement of that eminent man to public magis- tracies, there was not any thing of moment trans- acted in the state, in which he did not bear an eminent part. From the very time of his birth, the crisis of the Roman affairs was preparing; and for sixty years, the events which passed in succes- sion were the most important, the characters of the persons who conducted, or were affected by them, the most dignified and interesting to be met with in the annals of Rome, or perhaps of the world. Dr. Middleton had an honourable object in view ; to rescue the character of Cicero from the obloquy cast on it by the writers who curried favour in the court of the emperors by misrepresenting the cha- racters and motives of all the great patriots. Thus Dio opens his forty-fourth book in the following manner : — '0 ph ovv Kcti but to be shown only to a few friends. It was written, as before observed, after the manner of the historian Theopompus, who indulged in the severity of a satirist, and the invec- tive of a misanthrope. He began his Book of Offices at his country- seat near Naples, designed, as he tells us, for the use and instruction of his son, that the time passed in an excursion of pleasure might not be entirely lost. He also composed there an oration, adapted to the circumstances of the time, and sent it to Atticus, to be suppressed or brought forward at his discretion ; besides which he engaged to finish, and send to his friend shortly, his secret history or anecdotes in the manner of Heraclides, to be care- fully concealed in his cabinet. He wrote a treatise also on the Nature of the Gods. In all these books an incautious reader is apt to be misled ; but an attentive one never can. ON CICERO. 2? 3 The author sometimes takes upon himself the cha- racter of a Stoic ; sometimes that of an Epicurean ; or again, that of a Peripatetic. The object of this is to explain, with more semblance of authority, the different doctrines of each sect ; and besides that, to show by what arguments those who differ from himself can each confute the other. When he puts off this mask, and appears in his own per- son of an Academic, he disputes against them all collectively. Hence he has been accused of broach- ing contradictory sentiments, from the occasions not having been carefully noted when he has set up an argument only to knock it down. It must be distinctly understood, if we mean to assist our own powers of reasoning, or in any way to profit by this branch of his writings, that when he treats any subject professedly, or gives a judgment on it deliberately, either in his own person or in that of an Academic, he is to be held responsible for all opinions there brought forward. In scenes where he does not introduce himself, he generally lets us know to which of the interlocutors he consigns the maintenance of the party he in his own mind espouses : and that interlocutor is usually the prin- cipal speaker in the dialogue. Thus Crassus re- presents Cicero in the treatise De Oratore ; Scipio, in that De Republica ; Cato, in that De Senectute. He seems to have thought with Socrates, that a minute and curious attention to natural philosophy, so as to make it an ultimate object of scientific in- vestigation, is attended with little profit, and an inadequate employment further than as a relax- ation. On the great subject, the immortality of the soul, and its separate existence after death, in a 274 ON CICERO. state of happiness or misery, he probably carried the belief of the doctrine as far as a person unen- lightened by revelation could push it. If he went no further than inference, and stopped at a point far short of what we consider as the proof, it was the misfortune of his age, not the fault of his mind. The opinion of the Stoics was, that the soul is a subtilised fiery substance, which survives the earthy particles of the body, and subsists for a long time after it : but that it was not capable of resisting the expected final destruction of all things by the rage of its own element. Cicero, on the contrary, treated it as an unmixed and indivisible essence. If it could not be separated by any external force, he argued that it could not perish. All its powers and faculties he considered, both in their nature and extent, as favourable to the supposition of im- mortality. The principle of voluntary self-origin- ating motion, memory, invention, wit, comprehen- sion ; — all these seemed to him incompatible with the inertness of matter. He laid much stress also on the thirst of immortality so ardent in the best and the most elevated minds : he felt the destiny of man to be indicated, not by the coarse pleasures of the multitude, but by the sublime aspirations of nature's noblest master-pieces. The doctrine of God, providence, and immortality, was the basis of Cicero's religion, on which, as a measure of prudence, he professed to raise the superstructure of the Roman Dii Minorum Gentium : but the heaven of his secret breast was not peopled with such inhabitants. His opinions and conduct on the subject of augury, on which Appius dedicated a treatise to him, are worthy of remark. He did not altogether agree with the notions either of his ON CICERO. 275 dedicator or of Marcellus. His belief was, that augury might possibly be first instituted on a per- suasion of its divinity. The improvement of arts and learning in succeeding ages had exploded that opinion in all but the vulgar mind : but state-craft retained the establishment for the political purpose of influencing and overawing that vulgar mind ; and Cicero himself was glad to be an augur, at the risk of laughing in the faces of his colleagues. To return to his esoteric opinions. He consi- dered the system of the world, as exposed to the view of man, to be the promulgation of God's law, the sensible announcement of his will to mankind. Hence we may collect his being, nature, and attri- butes, and in some degree ascertain the principles and motives on which he acts. By observing what he has done, we may learn what we ought to do : by tracing the operations of divine reason, we may learn how to discipline our own. The imitation of God he makes to constitute the perfection of man. From the will of God manifested in his works, he derives the origin of ail duty and moral obligation. The fitness and relation of things displayed through- out all creation, constitute the prototype of our propriety, consistency, and rationality. God is the inventor, propounder, and enactor of his own law. Whosoever will not obey it, throws off his alle- giance, and renounces the nature of man. Though he escape the tortures of material punishment as commonly believed, Cicero thinks that conscience will be his severest tormentor. Nothing but the study of this law, he says, can teach us this im- portant lesson prescribed by the Pythian oracle, to know ourselves. He explains this pithy precept t 2 276 ON CICERO. in detail ; and makes its fulfilment to consist in the knowledge of our own nature and rank in the general system ; the relation we bear to other things ; and the purposes for which we were sent into the world. When a man has carefully observed the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the things in them ; has scrutinised their origin, their apparent tendency, and their probable end ; has sepa- rated the divine and eternal from the perishable : when he has almost found his way into the divine presence, and feels himself an unconfined citizen of the world : with such enlarged prospects, then will he begin to know himself, and to despise what the vulgar esteem most glorious. On these prin- ciples as laid down in his writings did Cicero build his religion and morality. His treatise on Govern - ment and Laws illustrated, explained, and enlarged them. His Book of Offices made the scheme complete. The elder Pliny bears testimony to the merit of these works : — " Scito enim conferentem auctores me deprehendisse a juratissimis et proximis veteres transcriptos ad verbum, neque nominatos : non ilia Virgiliana virtu te, ut certarent ; non Cicero- niana simplicitate, qui in libros de Republica, < Platonis se Comitem' profitetur : in Consola- tione iiliae, * Crantorem, inquit, sequor :' item * Panaetium de Officiis :' quae volumina ejus edi- scenda, non modo in manibus quotidie habenda, nosti." The treatise De Republica, the greatest of these works, was lost, with the exception of a few frag- ments.* He had here given so full and fair a * Some further portions have been recently recovered. ON CICERO. 277 transcript of his inward mind, that he tells Atticus, those six books are so many hostages given to his country for his good behaviour. Were he ever to go backward from his integrity, he could never again dare to open those volumes. Is it to be inferred, that these great discoveries of a heathen lessen the necessity of revelation ? Cicero is a standing proof of the direct contrary. St. Paul says that there is a law taught by nature, and written on the hearts of the Gentiles, to guide them through their self-regretted ignorance and darkness, till a more perfect revelation of the di- vine will should be vouchsafed. The scheme pro- fessed by Cicero was unquestionably the most per- fect ever divulged to the heathen world : the greatest effort of unassisted nature towards attain- ing the supreme good of which it is capable, and the proper end of created beings. Erasmus could not help exclaiming, that the mind from which such sublime truths proceeded, must have been under the influence of something more than natural suggestions. Yet these glorious sentiments were rather the visions of his hope, than the convictions of his reason. These were the ebullitions of his enthusiasm : other passages of his works furnish us with the misgivings of his melan- choly moments, the diffidence of his timid calcu- lations, the doubts which the Sceptic too success- fully proposed to the Academic. Insulated quot- ations will establish in the mind of a reader not thoroughly acquainted with his works, a disbelief in the immortality of the soul, a negative on a future state of rewards and punishments. In his political capacity he was invariably the friend of peace and liberty. He was constantly t S 27$ ON CICERO. bent on smoothing down the violence of the con- flicting parties, and set his face against every new advance to the propagation of civil discord. He was so indefatigable in contriving and proposing projects of accommodation, that he incurred the nick-name of the Peace-maker. His leading max- im as a politician was, that as the end of a pilot is a prosperous voyage ; that of a physician, the health of his patient ; that of a general, victory ; —that of a statesman is, to make the people happy ; to esta- blish them in power, to enrich them, to advance their glory and secure their virtue. This he de- clares to be the best work a man can perform. But as this cannot be effected, without unanimity in a state, it was his uniform endeavour to blend the different orders into one mass of mutual con- fidence ; to balance the supremacy of the people by the authority of the senate ; to divide their functions between counsel and execution, between ultimate decision and previous influence. It hap- pened unfortunately, he was leagued with a party made up of unconnected shreds and patches. Brutus and Cassius were men of character like himself; high in principle, patriotic in purpose. But very different were those next in authority to them. Decimus Brutus and C. Trebonius had both been deeply pledged to Caesar's interests. They had been favoured, promoted, and confided in by him in all his wars. When Caesar first marched into Spain, he left Brutus to command the siege of Marseilles by sea, Trebonius by land. They ac- quitted themselves with bravery and military skill, and reduced that strong place to the necessity of a surrender at discretion. Their opportunities of thus signalising themselves were created by Caesar's ON CICERO. 2/9 patronage : strong indeed must have been the patriotic impulse, if such it were, which should induce them to cut asunder all the ties of ' gratitude. The conduct of the party has been hallowed by its martyrdom ; but Cicero's correspondence gives us reason to believe, that had success given birth to the clash of interests and the recriminations of jealousy, much foul play and mean motive, treachery and avarice, dishonourable ambition and factious intrigue would have disfigured the history, and swelled with dirty anecdotes the scandalous chron- icles of the times. Cicero seemed to derive great hopes from Plancus ; but generally speaking, he despaired of the cause from the discordant elements of which it was composed. " Quae si ad tuum tempus perducitur, facilis gubernatio est : ut per- ducatur autem, magnae cum diiigentiaa est, turn etiam fortunse." The qualification was distrustful, and prophetic. The evocati, a body of veterans, invited again to the service after dismissal, on the footing of volunteers, and entitled to peculiar privileges, were brought down on Antony's side in the oreat conflict in w^hich Hirtius and Pansa lost their lives. The consul or the general who com- manded them reckoned much upon them. Such a band, with experience and military renown, return- ing in vigour to the war, with honourable distinction and the popularity of well-earned laurels, was a host which they of the adverse faction wanted. The gain of a victory produced no lasting benefit to the patriots ; the loss of a battle placed them on the brink of destruction. Their armies were destroyed ; their military chiefs fell in various ways, and Cicero was murdered for his Philippics. t 4 280 ON CICERO. The length of this article leaves no room for entering at large into an examination of Cicero's speeches. The great orations are well known to every classical reader: but the shortest deserve attention. The ninth philippic, in answer to Ser- vilius, is not only eloquent, but shows Cicero in the light of a private friend, as well as a promoter of the public service. " Quod si cuiqam Justus honos habitus est in morte legato, in nullo justior, quam in Ser. Sulpicio, reperietur. . . . Sulpicius cum aliqua perveniendi ad M. Antonium spe profectus est, nulla revertendi. qui cum ita affectus esset, ut, si ad gravem vali- tudinem labor viae accessisset, sibi ipse diiflderet : non recusavit, quo minus vel extremo spiritu, si quam opem reipublicse ferre posset, experiretur. Itaque non ilium vis hiemis, non nives, non lon- gitudo itineris, non asperitas viarum, non morbus in- gravescens retardavit : cumque jam ad congressum colloquiumque ejus pervenisset, ad quern erat missus, in ipsa cura et ineditatione obeundi sui muneris ex- cessit e vita Ego autem, patres conscripti, sic interpretor sensisse majores nostros, ut causam mortis censuerint, non genus esse quaerendum. Etenim cui legatio ipsa morti fuisset, ejus monu- m en turn exstare voluerunt, ut in bellis periculosis obirent homines legationis munus audacius Nunc autem quis dubitat, quin ei vitam abs- tulerit ipsa legatio ? secum enim ille mortem ex- tulit: quam, si nobiscum remansisset sua cura, optimi filii, fidelissimaa conjugis diligentia, vitare potuisset. At ille, cum videret, si vestrse aucto- ritati non paruisset, dissimilem se futurum sui ; si paruisset. munus sibi illud pro republica susceptum, ON CICERO. £81 vitae finem allaturum : maluit in maximo reipu- blicas discrimine mori, quam minus, quam potuisset, videri reipublicae profuisse. Multis illi in urbibus, qua iter faciebat, reficiendi se, et curandi potestas fuit. aderat et hospitum invitatio liberalis pro di- gnitate summi viri, et eorum hortatio, qui una erant missi, ad requiescendum, et vita? suae con- sulendum. At ille properans, festinans, mandata nostra conficere cupiens, in hac constantia, morbo adversante, perseveravit Quod si excusa- tionem Ser. Sulpicii, patres conscripti, legationis obeundae recordari volueritis, nulla dubitatio relin- quetur, quin honore mortui, quam vivo injuriam fecimus, sarciamus, Vos enim, patres conscripti, (grave dictu est, sed dicendum tarn en,) vos, in- quam, Ser. Sulpicium vita privastis : quern cum videretis re magis morbum, quam oratione, excu- santem, non vos quidem crudeles fuistis, (quid enim minus in hunc ordinem convenit?) sed, cum speraretis nihil esse, quod non illius auctoritate et sapientia effici posset, vehementius excusationi obstitistis : atque eum, qui semper vestrum con. sensum gravissimum judicavisset, de sententia dejecistis. Ut vero Pansae consulis accessit co- hortatio gravior, quam aures Ser. Sulpicii ferre didicissent, turn vero denique filium, meque seduxit, atque ita locutus est, ut auctoritatem vestram vitas suae se diceret anteferre. cujus nos virtutem admi- rati, non ausi sumus ejus adversari voluntati. mo- vebatur singulari pietate filius : non multum ejus perturbationi meus dolor concedebat : sed uterque nostrum cedere cogebatur magnitudini animi, ora- tionisque gravitati : cum quidem ille, maxima laude et gratulatione omnium vestrum, pollicitus °2S°2 ON CICERO. est, se, quod velletis, esse facturum, neque ejus sententiae periculum vitaturum, cujus ipse auctor fuisset : quern exsequi mandata vestra properantem, mane postridie prosecuti sumus. . . Reddite igitur, patres conscripti, ei vitam, cui ademistis. vita enim mortuorum in memoria vivorum est posita. perficite, ut is, quern vos ad mortem inscii misistis, immortalitatem habeat a vobis. cui si statuam in Rostris decreto vestro statueritis, nulla ejus lega- tionem posteritatis inobscurabit oblivio." With respect to his virtues, talents and general character, he says, " Nam reliqua Ser. Sulpicii vita multis erit praeclarisque monumentis ad omnem memoriam commendata haec enim statua, mortis honestse testis erit : ilia, memoria vitae glo- riosae : ut hoc magis monumentum grati senatus, quam clari viri, futurum sit." He ends by pro- posing a decree, " Sulpicio statuam pedestrem seneam in Rostris ex hujus ordinis sententia statui, circumque earn statuam locum gladiatoribus liberos posterosque ejus quoquo versus pedes quinque habere, eamque causam in basi inscribi : Pansa, Hirtius, consules, alter, ambove, si eis videatur, quaestoribus urbanis imperent, ut earn basim sta- tuamque faciendam et in Rostris statuendam lo- cent : quantique locaverint, tantam pecuniam red- emtori attribuendam solvendamque curent : cum- que antea senatus auctoritatem suam in virorum fortium funeribus ornamentisque ostenderit ; pla- cere, eum quam amplissime supremo die suo efferri. .... utique locum sepulcro in campo Esquilino C. Pansa consul, seu quo alio in loco videatur, pedes triginta quoquo versus adsignet, quo Ser. Sulpicius inferatur. quod sepulcrum, ipsius, libe- rorum, posterorumque ejus sit, uti quod optimo ON CICERO. 283 jure sepulcrum publice datum est." The senate agreed to this proposal ; and the statue itself, as we are told by Pomponius, De Orig. Jur., remained to his time in the Rostra of Augustus. This is a fair specimen of Cicero's eloquence of the middle kind, and the whole proceedings about the statues and the decrees, are full of antiquarian information with respect to manners, and curious illustration. Cicero's correspondence is one of the most va- luable legacies bequeathed to us by antiquity. The collection addressed to his friends and received from them, is full of political intelligence, and lets us more behind the scenes than all the other writings of the period put together. The letters to Atticus partake fully of that recommendation, besides which, they portray the writer's mind in its undress : for he there opens his heart in all the frankness of familiar intercourse and unlimited confidence. The strong attachment, the sorrow at parting, the desire of meeting, appear equally and with amiable fervour in both. Political confidence is followed up by unreserved communication of literary projects. Cicero says in one of his letters, " That part of yours pleases me, where you com- fort yourself with the hope of our speedily meeting again. The same expectation chiefly supports me. I will write to you regularly, and by every possible opportunity ; and will give you an account of every thing relating to Brutus. I will also send you shortly my Treatise on Glory ; and finish for you the other work, to be locked up with your treasure." This last announcement of course refers to the invectives mentioned before. 284 ON CICERO. On the whole, great as is his fame, there is no character which has met with harder treatment than that of Cicero. His besetting sin was vanity : and it has raised up, both among his contempo- raries and with posterity, a hue and cry against him which so venial a failing seldom encounters. With many drawbacks from the general infirmity of human nature, obliged to do many things from the extreme difficulty, danger, and perplexity of the times, which calm judgment and good feeling would have avoided, Cicero was one of the best as well as the greatest men of a crisis, when good- ness was not thought necessary to greatness, and was more uncommon than it. If we wish to see the greatest lawyer that ever lived, we must look at Cicero in the Forum : if the most prompt and the bravest of chief magistrates in times of imminent danger, we must note Cicero in his consulship, and study well the conspiracy of Catiline : would we know who was the most just and the deepest thinker, most nearly approximating to the philo- sophy of Christianity, in the Gentile world, we must read Cicero's opinions on the immortality of the soul, and on a future state. 28,5 ON SENECA At Agrippina, ne malis tantum facinoribus notesceret, ve- niam exsilii pro Annaeo Seneca, simul Praeturam impetrat, laetum in publicum rata, ob claritudinem studiorum ejus, utque Domitii pueritia tali magistro adolesceret, et consiliis ejusdem ad spem dominationis uteretur : quia Seneca fidus in Agrip- pinam, memoria beneficii, et infensus Claudio, dolore injuriae, credebatur.— Cornel. Tacit. Annal. lib. xii. cap. 8. The family of the Senecas was Spanish. Spain was also proud of counting in those days, her Lucan, Quintilian, Silius, and Martial. The latter poet mentions the principal places in the pro- vinces, w T hence eminent writers have come : — Apollodoro plaudit imbrifer Nilus ; Nasone Peligni sonant : Duosque Senecas, unicumque Lucanum Facunda loquitur Corduba. Lib. i. epig. 62. He mentions in the same epigram Verona, the second Venetian city, as the birthplace of Catullus, and Padua as that of Livy. He speaks of Seneca again : — Atria Pisonum stabant cum stemmate toto, Et docti Senecse ter numeranda domus. Lib. iv. epig. 42. 286 ON SENECA. Lucius Seneca, born at Corduba, now Cordova, was the son of Marcus the orator, and uncle to the poet Lucan. He was himself an orator, a philo- sopher, a historian, and a poet, on the presumption that the tragedies were written by him, which how- ever has been doubted, as it has been supposed that there was a third Seneca. But as they passed under his name we shall consider them as his.* There is no name in antiquity, respecting which more difference of opinion has prevailed, both in a personal and literary point of view. It must be confessed that he did not set out very well in life. The passage at the head of this article, informs us, that he was appointed tutor to Nero by Agrippina, who recalled him from banishment. His first no- torious exploit, for which he was driven into that banishment, was corrupting Julia the daughter of Germanicus.t Lord Bolingbroke did not philoso- phise more vain-gloriously on magnanimity and patience, than this Stoical seducer on so honour- able an occasion of his exile. He flattered Clau- dius, and still more grossly his favourite Polybius, to obtain the repeal of his sentence. When he had succeeded, he forgot the latter, and betrayed the former. But it is after his return that it is worth our while to trace him. His great abilities in- troduced him to the joint tutorship with Burrus. The latter was his instructor in military science, and endeavoured to communicate his own se- * Seneca the philosopher had two brothers : Annaeus Mela, the father of Lucan ; and Annaeus Novatus, who was afterwards adopted by Gallio, and took that name. The death of Mela is mentioned in the Annals of Tacitus. \ Claudius banished him for this alleged intrigue to the island of Corsica, A. U. C. 794. ON SENECA. 287 dateness and gravity of manners. Elegant ac- complishment, taste for the arts, and polite ad- dress were Seneca's province. Among other tuto- rial employment, he composed Nero's speeches. The first, a funeral oration for Claudius, was un- fortunate in its effect, according to Tacitus: — "Post- quam ad providentiam sapientiamqae flexit, nemo risui temperare, quamquam oratio, a Seneca com- posita, multum cultus praeferret : ut fuit illi viro ingenium amcenum, et temporis ejus auribus adcom- modatum." — Lib. xiii. cap. 3. Nero's next harangue, probably also written by Seneca, though Tacitus does not say so, gave uni- versal satisfaction. It was delivered on his first appearance in the senate, and promised a reign of moderation. Seneca, we may suppose, seized the opportunity, in putting a popular inauguration speech into the young prince's mouth, to impress his mind also with a lesson on the true arts of go- vernment. Dio says that this address was ordered to be engraven on a pillar of solid silver, and to be publicly read every year when the consuls en- tered on their office. Seneca soon obtained an exclusive influence over his pupil, and engaged Annseus Serenus, who stood high in his esteem and friendship, to assist him in the means, not very creditable, of preserving his ascendency, by supplying Nero with a mistress, and persecuting his patroness Agrippina, whose indignation rose far above high-water mark. Taci- tus put into her mouth a few emphatic words, said to be uttered in the emperor's hearing. They have been finely imitated and expanded by Racine, in his tragedy of Britannicus ; and Gray, in his short fragment of Agrippina, has done little more than 288 ON SENECA. translate Racine : how closely and how well, the passage from the French poet will show : — Pallas n'emporte pas tout Pappui d'Agrippine : Le ciel m'en laisse assez pour venger ma mine. Le fils de Claudius commence a ressentir Des crimes dont je n'ai que le seul repentir. J'irai, n'en doutez point, le montrer a l'armee ; Plaindre, aux yeux des soldats, son enfance opprimee ; Leur faire, a mon exemple, espier leur erreur. On verra d'un cote le fils d'un empereur Redemandant la foi juree a sa famille, Et de Germanicus on entendra la fille. De l'autre, Ton verra le fils d'CEnobarbus, Appuye de Seneque et du tribun Burrhus, Qui, tous deux de l'exil rappele's par moi-meme, Partagent a mes yeux l'autorite supreme. De nos crimes communs je veux qu'on soit instruit ; On saura les chemins par ou je l'ai conduit. Pour rendre sa puissance et la votre odieuses, J'avourai les rumeurs les plus injurieuses ; Je confesserai tout, exils, assassinats, Poison meme. Agrippina regained a temporary influence, and succeeded in punishing some of her accusers, and rewarding her friends. Among the promotions obtained by her, was that of Balbillus to the pro- vince of Egypt, It seems strange, that a person so highly spoken of by Seneca, should have been patronised by Agrippina at this juncture. "Bal- billus virorum optimus, in omni litterarum genere rarissimus, auctor est, cum ipse praefectus obtineret iEgyptum, Heracleotio ostio Nili, quod est maxi- mum, spectaculo sibi fuisse delphinorum a mari occurrentium, et crocodilorum a flumine adversum agmen agentium, velut pro partibus prgelium/' — Anncei Seneca? Natural. Qiwest. lib. iv. ON SENECA. 289 It was not till Suilius had too justly upbraided, but at the same time coarsely reviled Seneca, that the lat- ter incurred any large portion of popular censure. Among the grounds on which Suilius attacked him, were those of usury, avarice, and rapacity. That he was avaricious is beyond all question ; but his practices must have been exorbitant to justify so violent an invective as that recorded by Tacitus : — " An gravius existimandum, sponte litigatoris prae- mium honestae operas adsequi, quam conrumpere cubicula Principum feminarum ? Qua sapientia, quibus philosop riorum praeceptis, intra quadrien- nium Regiae amicitias, ter millies sestertium para- visset ? Romae testamenta et orbos v«lut indagine ejus capi. Italiam et provincias inmenso fenore hauriri." — Annal. lib. xiii. cap. 42. The only historical authority on which Seneca's memory is loaded with this strong charge of usury, is that of Dio, who says that the philosopher had placed very large sums out at interest in Britain, and that his vexations and unrelenting demands of payment had been the cause of insurrections among the Britons. But Dio's veracity has been suspected on some occasions ; and as for the colour given to the imputation by the passage quoted from Taci- tus, it must be remembered that it occurs as pro- ceeding from the mouth of an enraged enemy. These imputed faults could scarcely escape a hint from Juvenal, although he had made use of him before as a contrast to Nero, and seems generally favourable to his character : — Temporibus diris igitur, jussuque Neronis, Longinum, et magnos Senecse praedivitis hortos Clausit, et egregias Lateranorum obsidet aedes Tota cohors : rams venit in ccenacula miles. Sat 10. u 290 ON SENECA. Seneca's share in the death inflicted on Agrip- pina by her son, and a strong suspicion that he drew up the palliative account of it, bear still harder on his fame. The savage mode of the as- sassination, and the meanness of the posthumous honours paid to her, a circumstance of infinitely more importance than modern ideas attach to it, as affecting the future happiness and condition of the departed spirit, reflect indelible disgrace on all concerned, The murder took place in the neigh- bourhood of Baise. Seneca, in his epistles, de- scribes the villas of Marius, Pompey, and Csesar, as built on the ridges of the neighbouring hills : — " Adspice quam position em elegerunt, quibus sedi- ficia excitaverunt locis, et qualia : scias non villas esse, sed castra." — Ep. 51. An humble monument was erected by her do- mestics in this sequestered spot, difficult of access, that the busy world might have nothing to remind it of the parricide. In a plausible letter addressed to Nero by the senate, in which the public saw the hand of Seneca, allusion is made to that politic in- terference on the part of the adroit preceptor, which, under the show of suggesting filial piety, prevent- ed the attempt of the mother to share the tribunal with her son, at the audience of the Armenian ambassadors. Retribution soon overtook these unworthy com- pliances with the will of a wicked master. Nero, to whom, in the usual descent from bad to worse, the slightest infusion of virtue was an offence, listened to evil counsellors, and with complacency allowed the most respectable of his adherents to be traduced. Tacitus says, " Hi variis criminationi- bus Senecam adoriuntur, tanquam ingentes et pri- vatum supra modum evectas opes adhuc augeret, ON' SENECA, C 2Q1 quodque studia civium in se verteret, hortorum quoque amcenitate et villarum magnificentia quasi Principem supergrederetur. Objiciebant etiam, elo- quentise laudem uni sibi adsciscere, et carmina crebrius factitare, postquam Neroni amor eorum venisset. Nam oblectamentis Frincipis palam in- iquum, detrectare vim ejus equos regentis ; inludere voces, quoties caneret. Quern ad finem nihil in Rep. clarumfore, quod non abillo reperiri credatur." — Lib. 14. The tragedies are here alluded to, which were ascribed to him when they could do him mischief. The flattery of Nero was here adroitly mixed up with malice against his devoted friend. There is too much reason to believe that his nu- merous villas, his extensive gardens, and great riches whetted the edge of these accusations, No- mentanum was one of his country residences, from which he dates a letter : — " Ex Nomentano meo te saluto, et jubeo te habere mentem bonam, hoc est, propitios deos omnes : quos habet placatos et fa- ventes, quisquis sibi se propitiavit."— Ep. 110.* His speech to the emperor, in which he offers to resign all his wealth and power, and asks permis- sion to retire, is a fine specimen of apologetic elo- quence. His admissions confirm Dio's account of his immoderate riches ; but the historian pro- bably exaggerates, when he imputes the insurrec- tion in Britain to his exactions. From this time he avoided the court, and lived an abstemious life in constant danger. His works however show that he was more useful in retirement, than while filling high offices. He devoted himself to philosophy, natural and moral. Among other things, we owe to * In Nomentanum meum fugi, quid putas ? urbem, imo fe- brem et quidem surrepentem. — Ep. 304. U C Z 292 ON SENECA. him an account of the earthquake at Pompeii, which happened in his time : but he places it a year later than other authorities. The town was finally over- whelmed by an eruption of MountVesuvius, A.U.C. 832. Its modern name is Torre deW Annunciata. Nero now sought his destruction ; and Piso's conspiracy, to which he was supposed to be a par- ty, gave the opportunity. Tacitus has the follow- ing passage : — " Fama fuit, Subrium Flavium cum centurionibus occulto consilio, neque tamen igno- rante Seneca, destinavisse, ut, post occisum opera Pisonis Neronem, Piso quoque interficeretur, tra- dereturque Imperium Senecaa, quasi insontibus claritudine virtutum ad summum fastigium delecto. Quin et verba Flavii vulgabantur : non referre dedecori, si citharcedus demoveretur et tragcedus succederet : quia, ut Nero cithara, ita Piso tragico ornatu canebat."- — AnnaL lib. xv. His death took place in the following manner : — Sylvanus the tribune, by order of Nero, surrounded Seneca's magnificent villa near Rome, with a troop of soldiers^ and then sent in a centurion to acquaint him with the emperor's orders, that he should put himself to death. On the receipt of this command, he opened the veins of his arms and legs, then was put into a hot bath : this was found ineffectual, and he drank poison : the poison was swallowed in vain, and he was suffocated with the steam of a hot bath. The poison he swallowed was cicuta. He called for that particular poison, which was given to criminals at Athens. This shows that philosophical ostentation adhered to him in the agonies of death : for he had thus expressed himself in one of his letters : — " Cicuta magnum Socratem fecit : Catoni gladium assertorem libertatis extorque, magnam partem de- traxeris gloriae." — Ep. 13. ON SENECA. 293 Seneca's wife was permitted to live. But on this catastrophe Juvenal asks, in a passage quoted on a former occasion, if the people were allowed to give their votes freely, who is so lost to all sense of virtue, who so abandoned, as even to doubt whether he should prefer Seneca to Nero ? For Nero's many parricides, more than one death is deserved. By the Roman law, a parricide was sewn up in a sack, with a cock, a serpent, an ape, and a dog, and thrown into the sea. Other ancient authors, as well as Juvenal, who was a diligent reader of Seneca's works, have been lavish of his praises. Martial takes many occa- sions of mentioning him with some commendatory epithet : — Facundi Senecae potens amicus, Caro proximus aut prior Sereno, Hie est Maximus ille, quern frequenti Felix litera pagina salutat. Hunc tu per Siculas secutus undas, O nullis, Ovidi, tacende Unguis, Sprevisti domini furentis iras. • Lib. vii. ep. 45. But this is on the ground of eloquence. Why did St. Jerome saint him ? The reason is thus ex- plained by Dr. Ireland, in a communication to Mr. Gifford while translating Juvenal : — " The writer to whom you refer seems to have used the term without much consideration. In Jerome's time, it was applied to Christians at large, as a general distinction from the Pagans. Indeed it was given to those who had not yet received bap- tism, but who looked forward to it, and were therefore called candidates of the faith. It could be only a charitable extension of this term which u 3 C 2[H ON SENECA. led Jerome to place Seneca among the sancti ; for he still calls him a Stoic philosopher. The case is, that in the time of Jerome certain letters were ex- tant, which were said to have passed between Se- neca and St. Paul. In one of these, the former had expressed a wish, that he were to the Romans what Paul was to the Christians. This Jerome seems to have interpreted as an evangelical senti- ment. He therefore placed Seneca among the ecclesiastical writers, and saints ; — in other words, he presumptively styled him a Christian, though not born of Christian parents.'* The sketch of Seneca's life here given, when checked by the authorities, will not warrant his being ranked in any respect with the first Christian worthies. His early life was confessedly irregular and licentious. This, if sincerely repented of, might be forgiven. But his conduct, after his recall, making allowance for the calumny and wholesale libel of the times, was, to speak of it in measured and negative terms, not altogether com- mendable. That his philosophical professions had some occasional influence with his imperial pupil, that they did a little towards stemming the torrent of profligacy with the people for a time, we are willing and desirous to concede: but that the practice of the preacher too frequently counter- acted the tendency of his preaching, it would be uncandid to deny. Of the later political delin- quencies charged against him, he was unquestion- ably innocent. With respect to Piso's conspiracy, it was the current report at Rome that the con- spirators, after having employed Piso to get rid of Nero, meant to destroy Piso himself and raise ON SENECA. 295 Seneca to the vacant throne ; but the conception of such a scheme could have been nothing short of madness. Seneca was at the time old and infirm ; and his tamperings in conduct with the virtue he rigidly taught, and with the self-denial he Stoically enforced in his writings as what the wise man could undeniably exemplify, had rendered him too un- popular to make the tenure of the empire safe in his hands for the shortest period of time. In re- spect of this charge he was shamefully treated. But his personal biography, on the whole, has an unfortunate tendency. Whatever may be thought of his excellencies or defects as a writer, or of the caricature and priggishness of the Stoic sect, he was in his writings an earnest, a highly pretending, and apparently a sincere advocate of ascetic severi- ty. When the professions of such persons are belied by their lives and conduct, the interests of severity cannot fail to suffer. If his ministry was corrupt, his behaviour under Nero's frown was not mag- nanimous. It is true, he did not abandon his literary pursuits : but his resignation was lip-deep; and his exaggerated affectation of sickness and infirmity, his anxiety about diet and fear of poison, show that his fine reasonings and great calmness when doomed to die, his excellent discourses and ostentation of firmness, had more of theatrical ex- hibition than of natural and self-possessed reality. His character and his love of Stoical paradox are admirably delineated by Massinger, who had consi- dered him well ; and though the quaintness and studied point of his manner had rendered him almost indiscriminately acceptable to the readers and writ- ers of that period, the shrewd old dramatist had u 4 296 ON SENECA. thoroughly appreciated him where he was weak as well as where he was strong. The passage is in the Maid of Honour : — Thus Seneca, when he wrote it, thought. — But then Felicity courted him ; his wealth exceeding A private man's ; happy in the embraces Of his chaste wife Paulina ; his house full Of children, clients, servants, flattering friends, Soothing his lip-positions ; and created Prince of the senate, by the general voice, At his new pupil's suffrage : then, no doubt, He held, and did believe, this. But no sooner The prince's frowns and jealousies had thrown him Out of security's lap, and a centurion Had offer'd him what choice of death he pleased, But told him, die he must ; when straight the armour Of his so boasted fortitude fell off, [throws away the booh. Complaining of his frailty. It remains that we consider Seneca as a philo- sopher and as an author. He was the principal ornament of Stoicism in his day, and a valuable instructor of mankind. If, when commanded to die, neither he nor his nephew Lucan maintained to the utmost the dignity of philosophy, the infir- mity of human nature may be pleaded as the ex- cuse. Some little vanity may appear on the scene of Seneca's dissolution ; but there was nothing cowardly, and nothing inconsistent, m As a writer, he was exactly made of that stuff which invites to controversy. To say that his style was faulty, is to say no more than that he lived after the Au- gustan age. But perhaps our admiration of pure style, and our desire, by constant contemplation, to ON SENECA. 297 impregnate our own with the same spirit, makes us too exclusive. We shall lose much that is instruct- ive and valuable, if we determine to read nothing which is not perfectly written. Tacitus and Ju- venal, as well as Seneca and Lucan, are beyond the pale of best Latinity. Yet who would relin- quish the possession of either ? My friend Mr. Hodgson thinks thatQuinctilian's character of Seneca is nothing short of absolute con- demnation. He asks why he should have been so scrupulous in omitting Seneca's name, while he examined every different style of eloquence, if he intended to attack him at the close of his discus- sion ? I think the spirited and poetical annotator of Juvenal right in his estimate of Seneca to a certain extent : but surely he bears a little hard on Quinctilian, as he avers that the great critic does on his client. In the following passage, which he might possibly have had in his eye, the subject is of minute verbal criticism, and Cicero and Sal- lust as well as Seneca are brought under his cen- sure : — " Nostri autem, in jungendo aut derivando paullum aliquid ausi, vix in hoc satis recipiuntur. Nam memini juvenis admodum inter Pomponium et Senecam etiam prsefationibus esse tractatum, an gradus eliminate apud Accium in Tragcedia, dici oportuisset. At veteres ne expectorat quidem ti- muerunt." — Quinctilianus, lib. viii. cap. 3. Quinctilian again puts him in good company in the following passage on interrogations: — " Inter- rogans us etiam, quod negari non possit : Diocitne tandem caussam C. Fidiculanius Falcula ? Aut ubi respondendi difficilis est ratio, ut vulgo uti solemus, Quo modo ? qui Jieri potest ? Aut invidiam gratia, 298 ON SENECA. ut Medea apud Senecam, Quas peti terras jubes ? Aut miserationis, ut Sinon apud Virgilium, Heu quce me tellus, inquit, quce me cequora possunt Accipere P Aut instandi, et auferendse dissimulations : ut Asinius, Audisne ? juriosum, inquam, non inqffi- ciosum testamentum reprehendimus ." — Lib. ix. cap. 2. Surely the following is neither absolute con- demnation nor faint praise : — " Cujus et multae alioqui, et magnse virtutes fuerunt : ingenium fa- cile et copiosum, plurimum studii, multarum rerum cognitio : in qua tamen aliquando ab iis, quibus in- quirenda quaedam mandabat, deceptus est. Tracta- vit etiam omnem fere studiorum materiam. Nam et orationes ejus, et poemata, et epistolae, et dialogi feruntur." — Lib. x. cap. 1. Suetonius, in his Caligula, gives the contra- dictory opinions of the emperor and of the public, rather than his own : — " Peroraturus, stricturum se lucubrationis telum, minabatur : lenius comtiusque scribendi genus adeo contemnens, ut Senecam, turn maxime placentem, commissiones meras componere, et, arenam esse sine calce, diceret." The opinion of Aulus Gellius is unfavourable : but his verdict is comparatively of little importance, though the anecdotes in his miscellany pleasantly fill up many a hiatus in the small talk of classical literature. Having already alluded to the repre- sentations of Dio, I shall adduce a specimen of the manner in which he has drawn Seneca's character : — — Toil; rs / urgew7rwv booing l-Kcti- vsbr)vcti. — Lib. lxi. There is much doubt hanging about the appro- priation of the different works bearing the name of Seneca. Justus Lipsius has a long article on the subject, in which is the following passage : — "L. Annseus Seneca Philosophus patrem habuit nomine et cognomine eodem. Is domo Corduba fuit ; professione, Rhetor. Natus ante bellum civile Caesarianum, supervixit ad Claudii circiter principatum : sine honoribus, et non aliud quam provincialis eques. Is jam senex non dubie filiis suis scripsit, aut dictavit potius, hos qui supersunt Controversiarum et Suasoriarum libros. Sed ut in Plauti fabula, inter duos Mensechmos : sic inter duos Senecas confusione nominum ortus error. Tributa illi, quae hujus sunt : et claritate nimia filii obscurus pater hodie, imo ignotus. Memoriam boni senis fugitivam (impune hoc dixerim) primus retraham ego. Ejus, inquam, Senecse hi libri. Doceo ex astate : quae patri convenit, disconvenit proli. Doceo ex inscriptione, quae in omnibus libris, etiam scriptis, concipitur : L. Annaei Senecce, ad Senecam, 300 ON SENECA. Nomtum, et Melam Filios. Optime. Inter tres filios quos nominat, Seneca Philosophus est: re- liqui ejus fratres. Stemma tale : L. Annaeus Seneca, f L. Annaeus Seneca, qui Philosophus. qui Rhetor. -j Annaeus Novatus, aliter Junius Gallio. Elbia, ejus uxor. [ Annaeus Mela, sive Mella, pater Lucani." Elect orum, lib. i. The prose works bearing the name of Seneca are generally printed together, of which the Decla- mationes, and the Controversiarum Libri are gene- rally taken to have been written by the father. The Tragedies generally form a separate publica- tion, and the authorship remains uncertain ; but there seems a strong probability, from the passion of Nero for the stage, and the sarcasms thrown out by the preceptor Seneca's accusers, on his turning poet as a time-serving measure, that at least some of them were written by him. There is however no discrepancy of style, to fix any particular pieces on him, whom with all his faults we may justly deno- minate the great Seneca. The style indeed is in itself a strong argument of their genuine ascription. It has the defects and the merits of his prose. It is the style which such a prose writer might be supposed to have formed, when he turned his thoughts to poetical composition. With respect to the tragedies themselves, they have all the faults, and more than the faults of their age. They are professedly formed on the model of the Greek tragedies, and in many parts actual translations. But whether translated or only imitated, there is too frequently a bombastic exaggeration of the original. This is the besetting fault: but it is redeemed by many spirited passages, and occa- ON SENECA. 301 sionally by high flights of sublimity. It is however the fashion to abuse these tragedies in the lump. Mr. Hodgson, who " studies his fellow- creatures as well as books," says that thousands have sworn to the opinion of Quinctilian, who could not have construed that opinion into their native language. It may also be safely affirmed, that many abuse Seneca's Tragedies by way of being classical in company, especially if ladies be present, who have never read a word of them. I shall pursue this subject no further than to give a specimen or two of his style : — Dextra cur patrui vacat ? Nondum Thyestes liberos deflet suos ? Ecquando toilet ? Ignibus jam subditis, Spument ahena : membra per partes eant Discerpta : patrios polluat sanguis focos : Epulas instruantur, non novi sceleris tibi Con viva venies. Liberum dedimus diem, Tuamque ad istas solvimus mensas famem. Thyestes^ Actus 1. En, impudicum crine contorto caput Laeva reflexi. Hippoli/tus, Actus 2. Discedo, exeo, Penatibus profugere quam cogis tuis Ad quos remittis ? Phasin et Colchos petam, Patriumque regnum, quaeque fraternus cruor Perfudit arva ? quas peti terras jubes ? Quae maria monstras ? Pontici fauces freti ? Per quas revexi nobiles regum manus, Adulterum secuta per Symplegadas ? Parvumne Iolcon, Thessala an Tempe, petam ? Quascunque aperui tibi vias, clusi mini. Medea, Actus 3. 302 ON SENECA. The passage, "nobiles regum manus," is evidently imitated from Ovid, " Mota manus procerum est." Statius uses manus in the sense of a set of servants, in his Sylvae. As a last example of the author, take the following : — Tuque 6 magni nata Tonantis Inclita Pallas, quae Dardanias Ssepe petisti cuspide turres : Te permisto matrona minor Majorque choro colit, et reserat Veniente dea templa sacerdos : Tibi nexilibus turba coronis Redimita venit. Agamemnon^ Actus 2. I cannot agree with Mr. Gifford, that Seneca has been " at the Fair of good names, and bought a reasonable commodity of them." On the con- trary, I think the critics have sold his name at too low a price ; and that the opinion-suckers of the critics often make a market of their shrewdness and discrimination, in lauding the Augustan age at the expense of that which succeeded it, without knowing much about either. The unfavourable opinion of Mr. Gifford himself however, whose extensive reading and sound judgment both in classical and English literature is scarcely to be matched in the present day, is of far more im- portance than any thing to be picked up at the Fair. Still, every man has a right to think for himself; and as I, while thinking for myself, think with my before- mentioned friend Mr. Hodgson, I will conclude with transcribing his judgment of Seneca, which is expressed in a much more em- phatic manner than any into which I could translate the same opinion. " I think then that Seneca was a deep enquirer into the human heart ; that his philo- ON SENECA. 303 sophical observations generally arise from true principles ; and that he eminently possesses that first characteristic of genius, the power of lively illustration. His language is often, to my taste, delightful ; full of figure and metaphor ; by turns playful or severe, as his subject varies. It doubt- less is sometimes falsely ornamented ; but I cannot think he deserves any thing less than predomi- nating praise from a reader whom he has so much amused." 304 ON AUSONIUS. Julius Ausonius was the father of the poet. He was born in the neighbourhood of Bourdeaux, and settled there as a physician. His wife's name was iEmilia iEonia, daughter of Cecilius Argicius Arbo- rius, who fled into Aquitain, after a proscription by which he was deprived of his estates in Burgundy. Arborius established himself in the city of Acqs on the Adour, and married a woman of genteel birth but no fortune, whose name was ^Emilia Corinthia Maura. By this marriage he had one son and three daughters. The son was iEmilius Magnus Arborius. He gave lectures on rhetoric at Toulouse, and took particular care of the poet's education. One of the daughters was married to Julius Ausonius, and had four sons, of whom the poet was the second. Julius Ausonius was a per- son of great merit. His conduct was marked by the greatest possible consistency. His professional benevolence was unbounded in the admission of gratuitous patients. His hatred of lawsuits was as remarkable as his medical zeal. He neither in- creased nor diminished his private fortune : he was harassed neither by envy nor ambition : he hejd swearing and lying to be kindred vices, and be- lieved that he who would do one would do the other. He avoided private conspiracies and public ON AUSONIUS. 305 broils, and satisfied himself with cultivating ho- nourable friendships, He was married forty-five years, and kept his conjugal faith inviolably. His high qualities are recorded with filial piety by his son, in his Epicedion in Patrem suum Julium Auso- nium. He is there made to say of himself : — Judicium de me studui prsestare bonorum : Ipse mihi nunquam, judice me, placui. Indice me null us, sed neque teste, pent. Felicem scivi, non qui, quod vellet, haberet : Sed qui per fatum non data non cuperet. Non occursator, non garrulus, obvia cernens, Valvis et velo condita non adiL Famam, qua posset vitam lacerare bonorum, Non finxi : et verum si scierim, tacui. Deliquisse nihil nunquam laudem esse putavi, Atque bonos mores legibus antetuli. He is described as not eloquent in Latin, but suf- ficiently so in Greek : — Sermone impromptus Latio : verum Attica lingua Suffecit culti vocibus eloquii. He had the honours of several high offices conferred on him as a personal compliment, with an exemp- tion from the labour of exercising them in person. He died at the age of ninety years, without having felt any decay. Curia me duplex, et uterque Senatus habebat Muneris exsortem, nomine participem. Ipse nee affectans, nee detrectator honorum, Praefectus magni nuncupor IllyricL x 306 ON AUSONIUS. Nonaginta annos baculo sine, corpore toto Exegi, cunctis integer officiis. The following couplet of the above, seems to be an elegiac concentration of a glowing and elegant passage in Horace's ninth ode of the fourth book : — Felicem scivi, non qui, quod vellet, haberet, Sed qui per fatum non data non cuperet. Non possidentem multa vocaveris Recte beatum ; rectius occupat Nomen beati, qui Deorum Muneribus sapienter uti, Duramque callet pauperiem pati ; Pejusque leto flagitium timet ; Non ille pro caris amicis Aut patria timidus perire. Another line bears the appearance of a moral appli- cation to a critical remark in the Art of Poetry : — Deliquisse nihil nunquam laudem esse putavi. Idcircone vager, scribamque licenter; ut omnes Visuros peccata putem mea, tutus et intra Spem veniae cautus ? vitavi denique culpam, Non laudem merui, Ausonius celebrates his father also in his Paren- talia. The preceding passages are in his Idyllia ; — Non quia fatorum nimia indulgentia : sed quod Tarn moderata illi vota fuere viro. Quern sua contendit septem Sapientibus setas ; Quorum doctrinam moribus excoluit : Viveret ut potius, quam diceret arte sophorum, Quamquam et facundo non rudis ingenio. ON AUSONIUS. DU7 Inde et perfunctae manet haec reverentia vitae ; iEtas nostra illi quod dedit hunc titulum : Ut nullum Ausonius, quem sectaretur, habebat; Sic nullum, qui se nunc imitetur, habet. The elder Ausonius, though not eloquent in Latin, wrote several medical works spoken of with approbation. There is no evidence in the poet, though the fact has been stated, that the father was physician to the emperor Valentinian, before his son was appointed preceptor to Gratian, The poet's grandfather by his mother's side, Cascilius Argicius Arborius, was an adept in astro- logy. He had cast the scheme of his grandson's nativity, and concealed it ; but it was ultimately discovered by the mother: — Tu cceli numeros, et conscia sidera fati Callebas, studium dissimulanter agens. Non ignota tibi nostras quoque formula vitae, Signatis quam tu condideras tabulis ; Prodita non unquam : sed matris cura retexit, Sedula quam timidi cura tegebat avi. Arborius had been frequently exposed to the severity of fortune. Among other calamities, his only son died at the age of thirty. He derived consolation from the vista vision of his grandson's honours opened to him by his astrological re- searches : — Dicebas sed te solatia longa fovere ; Quod mea praecipuus fata maneret honos. Et modo conciliis animarum mixte piorum Fata tui certe nota nepotis habes. Sentis quod quaestor, quod te praefectus, et idem Consul, honorifico munere commemoro, x 2 308 ON AUSONIUS. The expression, " Et conscia sidera fati callebas," is taken verbatim from Virgil, in one of the finest parts of the iEneid ;— Ipsa, mola manibusque piis, altaria juxta, Unum exuta pedem vinclis, in veste recincta, Testatur moritura Deos, et conscia fall Sidera ; turn, si quod non aequo fcedere amantes Curae numen habet justumque memorque, precatur. In the above passage, the poet supposes his grandfather's soul not to be unconscious of the fact, nor indifferent to it, that the predictions of the nativity were duly accomplished, and that the prognosticated dignities had been conferred at the emperor's court. In another passage of the Pro- fessores, he relapses into scepticism : — Et nunc, sive aliquid post fata extrema supersif, Vivis adhuc ; aevi quod periit, meminens :* Sive nihil superest, nee habent longa otia sensus r Tu tibi vixisti : nos tua fama juvat. We are told that the good Homer sometimes takes a nap; Ausonius's Christianity must at this moment have been under his nightcap. This passage, and other features of his works, have given rise to an opinion on the part of some writers, that he was a Pagan ; and Paulinus has been quoted as having censured him on that ground. As among the epistles to Ausonius, there is one from Paulinus, he shall speak for himself: — * An abominable participle of the lower ages. ON AUSONIUS. 309 At si forte itidem, quod legi, et quod sequor, audis, Cordapio vovisse Deo, venerabile Christi Imperium docili pro credulitate sequentem, Persuasumque Dei monitis, geterna parari Prasmia mortali, damnis prsesentibus emta, Non reor id sano sic displicuisse Parenti, Mentis ut errorem credat, sic vivere Christo, Ut Christus sanxit. The probability is that, had Ausonius professed Paganism, so holy a man as Paulinus would have earnestly exhorted him to be baptised, and to become a member of the Christian communion. But there is nothing of this kind in the epistle. Yet Brietius, in Syntagmata de Poetis, asserts from the works of Paulinus, as he says, but without mentioning where, and perhaps taking it on hearsay without consulting the original, that he was a heathen : — " Ex Paulino certum est eum Ethni- cum fuisse, quare opera Christiana huic adjudi- cari solita sine dubio alterius sunt." This is one way of filching from a man his good name, and robbing him of his identity as an author. Vossius also is in the same story, De Poet. Lat. : — " Poeta fuit Gentilis, quemadmodum ex Paulino liquet, ut, quae Christum celebrant, perperam illi sint tributa." It would be hard indeed, on such authority, to take from him the religious part of his collection, especially as those critics have no person in readiness to father the supposed found- lings. The poem in his Ephemeris, of which I shall transcribe the beginning, has been indeed ascribed to Paulinus ; but, as the Delphin editor justly observes, unless we be prepared to give up the whole of the Ephemeris, there seems no reason for judging away its most elegant and meritorious x a 310 ON AUSONIUS. pieces, on no internal evidence, and of external, nothing beyond vague conjecture : — Omnipotens, solo mentis mihi cognite cultu, Ign orate malis, et nulli ignote piorum : Principio, extremoque carens : antiquior sevo, Quod fuit, aut veniet, cujus formamque modumque Nee mens complecti poterit, nee lingua profari : Cernere quem solus, coramque audire jubentem Fas habet, et patriam propter considere dextram, Ipse opifex rerum, rebus causa ipse creandis, Ipse Dei Verbum, Verbum Deus, anticipator Mundi, quem facturus erat : generatus in illo Tempore, quo tempus nondum fuit : editus ante Quam jubar, et rutilus caelum illustraret Eous : Quo sine nil actum, per quem facta omnia : cujus In ccelo solium : cui subdita terra sedenti, Et mare, et obscurse chaos insuperabile noctis : Irrequies, cuncta ipse movens, vegetator inertum : Non genito genitore Deus, qui fraude superbi Offensus populi, gentes in regna vocavit, Stirpis adoptivae meliore propage colendus : Cernere quem licuit proavis : quo Numine viso, Et Patrem vidisse datum : contagia nostra Qui tulit, et diri passus ludibria leti, Esse iter seternse docuit remeabile vitse : Nee solam remeare an imam, sed corpore toto Ccelestes intrare plagas, et inane sepulchri Arcanum vacuis adopertum linquere terris. The passage, " Cujus in ccelo solium, cui subdita terra sedenti," was evidently suggested by the open- ing of chap. Ixvi. of Isaiah : — " Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me ? and where is the place of my rest ? For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord: but to ON AUSONIUS. oil this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word/' Again, " Quo Numine viso, et Patrem vidisse datum," is translated from chap. xiv. of John : — 4 'Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him. Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip ? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father ; and how sayest thou, Shew us the Father ? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me ? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father, that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works." The Versus Paschales and other pieces are sup- posed by many critics not to belong to him, as not being a Christian. Gyraldus has placed the mat- ter in its true light : — " Christianus quidem Au- sonius fuit, ut ex ejus versibus, et item Paulini ejus discipuli facile colligimus : sed petulantior tamen, et lascivior, quam ut inter Christianos nu- merari dignus sit." — De Poetarum Historia, dia- logus x. The poems to which this last censure particularly applies are his Epigrams, and his Cento Nuptialis. The charge is repeated by Scaliger the Father, who thought that nothing but the fire was capable of purging some of the epigrams. Father Brietius, influenced perhaps by the same zeal for morality, refuses him Christian fellowship. * But if the offence here so deservedly condemned is to dis- qualify a man from the profession of a Christian, we must not only shut up our Aristophanes, our * Rittershusius acknowledges he was a Christian, but de- nounces him as a monster, x 4 312 ON AUSONIUS. Terence, and our Horace, as readers, but we must excommunicate a large majority of Christian poets, not only in the coarse, though brilliant age of Elizabeth, but in the progressively refining periods of Anne, and the third and fourth Georges. Those who have genuinely pure minds will know where to turn over the leaves which contain the false coin ^ for there is always in the title or the general subject something to indicate what is coming : but they need not throw away the pure ore with the dross. Nothing can excuse this offence. Pope has told us that w^ant of decency is want of sense, and has often exemplified his own precept. The situation of Ausonius at court is the most admissible excuse for the Cento Nu- ptialis, his most serious crime. He was aware of the blame he should incur, and professes his re- luctance to undertake the task. As he makes the best of his own case, we will apologise for him in his own words : — " Piget enim Virgiliani carminis dignitatem tarn joculari dehonestasse materia. Sed quid facerem ? Jussum erat : quodque est poten- tissimum imperandi genus, rogabat, qui jubere pot- erat, S. Imperator Valentinianus, vir meo judicio eruditus : qui nuptias quondam ejusmodi ludo descripserat, aptis equidem versibus et compositione festiva. Experiri deinde volens, quantum nostra contentione prascelieret, simile nos de eodem con- cinnare praecepit. Quam scrupulosum hoc mihi fuerit, intellige. Neque anteferri volebam, neque posthaberi : quum aliorum quoque judicio dete- genda esset adulatio inepta, si cederem : insolentia, si ut aemulus eminerem. Suscepi igitur similis recusanti : feliciterque obnoxius gratiam tenui, nee victor orTendL" ON AUSONXUS, 313 The culprit has surely in some degree extenuated his misdeed by the modesty of his apology, by the elegance of his prose at so late a period of the Latin language, and above all by his masterly ex- position of the distresses under which a court-poet labours, when "the Manager writes himself." Modern courts are too refined and too pious ever to admit the approach of contamination in word or deed : but should it ever be our lot to have a third Charles like the second, it might puzzle a laureate to maintain his sanctity. The before- mentioned pote?itissimum imperandi genus is a pow- erful thumb- screw ; and might extort dithyrambics from a psalm -singer. But the whole court on this occasion must have run a-muck ; for Valentinian himself, who forced his laureate from his propri- eties by compelling him to contend for the prize, was a person, in his general habits, of strictness and gravity, of modesty and chastity. Such is the character given of him by Ammianus Marcel- linus: — "Omni pudicitiaa cultu domi castus et foris, nullo contagio conscientise violatus obscense, nihil incestum : hancque ob causam tamquam reti- naculis petulantiam frenarat aulas regalis: quod custodire facile poterat, necessitudinibus suis nihil indulgens, quas aut in otio reprimebat, aut me- diocriter honoravit, absque patre : quern temporis compulsus augustiis, in amplitudinis suae societatem adsumpsit." — Lib. xxx. cap. 10. But to return to the charge of Paganism : there is no evidence of it either in these obliquities or in Paulinus. On the contrary, in the epistle of Auso- nius Paulino suo, though it may intimate that the courtier thought the monastic seclusion too nearly allied to misanthropy, there is none of that scoff 314 ON AUSONIUS. which an unbeliever would have been likely to throw into the treatment of the subject: — Tristis, egens, deserta colat : tacitusque pererret Alpini convexa jugi : cui dicitur olim Mentis inops, coetus hominum, et vestigia vitans, Avia perlustrasse vagus loca Bellerophontes. It is also stated, that Ausonius was not only indebted to his uncle for his education, but that his early morals and opinions were superintended by two of his aunts, who were nuns. Whether this be an unquestionable fact in history, may not perhaps at this distance of time be easily decided. But supposing it to be so, it settles the question. Christianity was now triumphantly established ; and the instances were few, if any, of Christian children becoming Pagans when they arrived at maturity. It has been suggested that Claudian as well as Ausonius were influenced by Symmachus to abjure the Christian faith ; and St. Augustin is quoted for the fact. St. Augustin says nothing about Ausonius, but does say that Claudian was attached to Paganism. There is no evidence that Claudian ever was a Christian. The seven letters of Symmachus which appear in front of the Delphin edition of Ausonius, prove friendship, but nothing more: the friendship produced by conformity of literary tastes and pursuits ; not the attachment of brother sectaries. At all events, a strong inference on the subject is to be derived from the unquestion- able position, that the morality of Ausonius when in a grave temper of mind, though for poetical purposes referring to Pythagoras and the ancient sages of Greece, was worthy of a better system. ON AUSONIUS. 315 In evidence of this, we may refer to one of the Idyllia, beginning thus : — Vir bonus, et sapiens, qualem vix repperit unum Millibus e multis hominum consultus Apollo, Judex ipse sui, totum se explorat ad unguem. Ausonius tells us, in his Gratiarum Actio, that he was made prefect of the Preetorium by the Emperor Gratian : — " Tot gradus nomine Comitis propter tria incrementa congestis ex tuo merito, te ac patre principibus, Quaestura communis : et tui tantum Praefectura beneficii, quae et ipsa non vult vice simplici gratulari, liberalius divisa quam juncta : quum teneamus duo integrum, neuter desideret separatum.' ' Ausonius was consul in 379, and, to give one halfpenny worth of the bread of chronology with all this critical sack, he lived to the year 394 or thereabouts. His advancement to the prefecture of the Praetorium of Italy had taken place in 376, five months after the death of the Emperor Valen- tinian. His son Hesperius was his colleague. Ausonius was made prefect of the Praetorium in Gaul about the same time ; and in 377 Ausonius executed the office in Italy, and Antonius in Gaul. In 378 Antonius acted in Italy, Ausonius and his son in Gaul ; and they did not resign till 380. The following passage occurs in the Idyllia : — Quique suas rexere urbes, purumque tribunal Sanguine, et innocuas illustravere secures ; Aut Italum populos, aquilonigenasque Britannos Praefecturarum titulo tenuere secundo. 316 ON AUSONIUS. This is not spoken of himself; for the poem was written in the time of Valentinian ; and Au- sonius did not come into the office of prefect till after the death of that emperor. Scaliger says in his Life of Ausonius : — " Hoc itaque tanto viro nascitur Burdegalse Decius Ma- gnus Ausonius nomine avi materni, cognomine patris." This is a mistake between the uncle and the grandfather. The grandfather of Ausonius by the mother's side was Caecilius Argicius Arborius. He left one son, ^Emilius Magnus Arborius. The two nuns were his aunts, ^Emilia Hilaria by the mother's side, Julia Cataphronia by the father's. After all the controversy which has taken place about the morality or immorality, the Paganism or Christianity, of Ausonius, his works speak suffi- ciently for themselves. When he professed to write gravely, he wrote piously and even theo- logically, as a long extract in this article will show : for there is no reason for taking it from him. When called on by the court, he wrote up to its temper ; and when he wrote sportively, he ex- plains himself thus : — Admoneo, ante bibas. Jejunis nil scribo. Meum post pocula si quis Legerit, hie sapiet. 317 ON THE CHARACTER OF CINNA. Vix quidquam in Sullae operibus clarius duxerim, quam quod, cum per triennium Cinnanae Marianseque partes Italiam obsiderent, neque illaturum se bellum iis dissimulavit, nec ? quod erat in manibus, omisit : existimavitque ante frangendum hostem, quam ulciscendum civem ; repulsoque externo metu, ubi, quod alienum esset, vicisset, superavit quod erat domesti- cum. — Paterculus, lib.ii. cap. 24. Cornelius Cinna was a patrician, but attached to the party of the people. Sylla, when he made him consul, had the precaution to administer a solemn oath to him, by which he pledged himself to sup- port his new patron's interest. How likely he was to feel himself encumbered by such an obligation, may be gathered from the character given of him by Paterculus : — " Cinna, seditione orta, ab exer- citu interemtus est ; vir dignior, qui arbitrio victo- rum moreretur, quam iracundia militum : de quo vere dici potest, ausum eum, quae nemo auderet bonus ; perfecisse, quae a nullo nisi fortissimo per- fici possent ; et fuisse in consultando temerarium, in exsequendo virum." Appian gives the follow- ing account of the effect produced on the opposite party by his appointment : — 01 Ss t&v yuya&wv jj tov Klvvctv, cbg ev xivfivvcp Te tyjv •ctoAiv xcciaKmovlcc vnctlov, xcu fiovXoig eXevQeglctv XYipv^uvloc, e^cplcroiio \ly\tz V7ralov \Kr\re 'utoXItyjv It* elvcu' xou Aevxiov MepoXav Ip£sipo7ov>]goiv SfioucrYig. ovTcog pslotTrifiwelcei tov Motpw Klvvug- xoti Tgiyy TY)$ duvupsoog b s javepj0s/vg£ hnovlt ^yAAa xotxwg S7T0}J[JL0VV. After the decree of the senate against China, he repaired to Capua, where a Roman army was sta- tioned, and gained the officers who commanded it to his interest. With their sanction, the troops were convened. Cinna attended the meeting with- out the fasces, in the habit of a private man. This histrionic manoeuvre procured him an oath of. fide- lity both from the officers and the common men. An extraordinary circumstance is related to have happened in the course of this war : — "In quo bello duo fratres, alter ex Pompeii exercitu, alter ex Cinnae, ignorantes concurrerunt : et, quum vi- ctor spoliaret occisum, agnito fratre, ingenti lamen- tatione edita, . . . ipse supra rogum se transfodit." — Liv. epit. 79. The historian goes on to say that Cinna and Marius, with four armies, two of which were commanded by Sertorius and Carbo, laid siege to the city of Rome. It is to be noted, that young Marius joined his father when they left Africa, and sailed for Italy on China's invitation. 320 ON THE CHARACTER OF CINNA, With China's invitation, he had given the elder Marius the title of proconsul, and had sent him the fasces and other badges of that dignity. During the operations against Rome, Cinna sent a party of soldiers to take possession of Ariminum, that no assistance might be sent from Gaul. Appius Clau- dius, to whom the guard of Janiculum had been intrusted, received Marius and Cinna into the place, ; but they were driven out again by Pom- peius Strabo and Octavius the consul. But Me- tellus was so much better a general than Octavius, that the soldiers of the latter proposed to transfer their services to the former. Metellus reproved them severely, and commanded them to return to the consul j but instead of obeying, they went over to the other party. Cinna had recourse to his old expedient : he proclaimed liberty to all the slaves in the city who should join him. As might naturally be expected, they flocked to him in crowds. The senate became greatly alarmed. The people were suffering much from the failure of their provisions, which seemed likely to produce general discontent. They there- fore sent deputies to Cinna, and made an inef- fectual attempt to negociate a peace* On the termination of the conference, Cinna advanced and encamped under the walls. The senate were en- tirely at a loss how to act, in consequence of their unwillingness to depose Merula, who had been ap- pointed consul in the room of Cinna. Merula vo- luntarily laid down his office, to remove all possible impediment in the way of the public tranquillity. The senate immediately sent a fresh commission to Cinna, with directions to acknowledge him as con- sul. At the conference Marius was standing close ON THE CHARACTER OF CINNA. 321 to China's tribunal. Cinna soon afterwards entered Rome ; but Marius stopped at the gate, saying with gloomy and inauspicious sternness, that he was an exile, and forbidden to enter the city by the laws. If the people wanted his presence, they must repeal the sentence of banishment against him. It does not appear as if Cinna and Marius w r ere on very good terms at this juncture ; but community of crime and cruelty soon reconciled them. — "Oti o\ 'ursg) rov K/vvav kcc\ Magiov auTolg rou§ e7n)v g-oav TauTvjv xa) 'Hp^oyj oyo/xa^ouci' fioqcravli Ss avSgl £n7axi$ u7ro Trjs ^%&~£ vj j Itti t«§£, xai S7tj ■cxAsov st< a7ro&/$OTa;. Plutarch, in his treatise n^l 'ABoAe*-;^, mentions a third: T>jv ju,sv yag ev 'OAtijU,7na ?ooLv ccno i^iag ). Martial's epigrams on the Saturnalian hospi- talities, throw much light on the state of manners, and of natural history at this time. In this latter respect, they often illustrate Pliny : — Mollis in aequorea quae crevit spina Ravenna Non erit incultis gratior asparagis. Lib. xlii. epig. 21. Pliny mentions in more passages than one the pleasantness and prolific character of the gardens at Ravenna, The splendour or plainness of the exterior should be proportioned to the much or little worth of the interior ; as illustrated by the following epigram on an ivory coffer : — Hos nisi de flava loculos implere moneta ferant Lib. xiv. epig. 12. Non decet : argentum vilia ligna ferant. The vicissitudes of fashion in the arrangement of the table are not unhappily touched upon in the following question of Martial : — Claudere quae coenas lactuca solebat avorum, Die mihi, eur nostras inchoat ilia dapes ? Lib. xiii. epig. 14,, BB 370 MISCELLANEOUS EPIGRAMS. Martial also gives us an account of what was called a many-match lamp : — Illustrem cum tota meis convivia flammis, Totque geram myxas, una lucerna vocor. In the thirteenth epigram of Catullus, there is much humour in the following description of empty-pursed poverty leaving ample room for spiders to spin their cobwebs. The poet has been furnishing his friend with a copious list of requisites, which, if he bring with him, he will be sure of a good supper : — Hsec si, inquam, attuleris, venuste noster, Ccenabis bene ; nam tui Catulli Plenus sacculus est aranearum. The following allusion to the meat and drink of the gods, with their acceptance of more humble fare from their sacrirlcers, is in the true spirit of epigram, and highly complimentary to the poet's friend : — Miraris, docto quod carmina mitto Severe, Ad coenam quod te, docte Severe, vocem ? Jupiter ambrosia satur est, et nectare vivit ; Nos tamen exta Jovi cruda, merumque damus. Martial* lib. xi. epig. 58. Martial, in another epigram, points out a pleasant invention of the ancients, in drinking as many glasses of wine as there were letters in the names of their mistresses. This is the earliest mode of toasting ; and the practice served as a comment on the sober or Bacchanalian character of the lover. MISCELLANEOUS EPIGRAMS. 371 If he were a lover also of wine, he would of course pay his addresses to a lady with a long name. What a train of admirers would the Wilhelmina's and the Theodosia's have in these our days ! — Nsevia sex cyathis, septem Justina bibatur ; Quinque Lycas, Lyde quattuor, Ida tribus. Omnis ab infiiso numeretur arnica Falerno ; Et, quia nulla venit, tu mihi, Somne, veni. Some of the commentators, on the word Somne, tell us it was the custom of the poets to invoke sleep, and instance Ovid and Statius. What of it ? there seems no particular point in that, or at least a very blunt one. The Delphin editor says, that to propitiate sleep, they tossed off the last cup to Mercury, as the god presiding over that blessing, which Sancho characterises as wrapping a man round like a blanket. But this was not a case of the last cup. The meaning of the poet seems to be, that having no mistress, he will regulate his drinking to five cups, the number of letters in the word Somne. By this he purposes to declare his moderation ; the number being exactly a mean between the shortest and the tallest lady toasted by the rest of the party. It may also be con- sidered, that if any one at table were to attempt to force him beyond his stint, and to drink the president of sleep by his proper and longer name of Mercurius, he would tell them plainly, he had rather go to sleep than drink any more. But not of his opinion was a modern humourist. In a company where the guests took it into their heads to revive this ancient custom, he, like Martial, having no lady to toast, declared that he would B B 2 8J2 MISCELLANEOUS EPIGRAMS, drink to Somnus in the nominative case ; and filled six successive bumpers accordingly. Eubulus, in Athenaeus, screws down the jollity of the wise man at the sticking-place of three glasses : — T.peig yap povovg xpuTYig&g eyxspavvvco Tolg sv o-xyjvttos W0[/,oi£eTOLi. tcuv 5c xsQOLVV&v, ol [J,sv ot\§u\oodsig, ^ioKoevTsg XsyovTai' ol §e roc^eoog tiOTTOvrsS) u-pyriTss* eh.ix.tou de $ ol ygcipfAoeiBcog (pegopevoi* — — Arist. Lib. de Mundo. The Greek word yvpog signifies a small mass of flesh of a round figure. Hence a frog is called yvgtvog at the commencement of its generation, as being a shapeless black lump, with no parts dis- tinctly indicated but two large eyes and a tail* Thus Plato in Theseteto : — f/ Iv« psyuxovs gewoos xa) ttolvu x.oiToi7raiv We see here why yvgtvoi came to signify, in a metaphorical sense, fools and stupid per- sons. MEANINGS AND USAGES OF WORDS. 377 There were two Greek words, o-v^oKyj and o-fy,- $oXov, both from the same compound verb. The Pythagoric symbols were certain pointed and short sentences, often obscure and enigmatical, employed as means of instruction by Pythagoras. The word afterwards came to signify the payment of a per* son's scot, or quota of a reckoning, whence our legal term of paying scot and lot, meaning parochial payments, which give a title to the rights and privileges of a parishioner. This compound phrase sometimes assumes the proverbial sense of a sound drubbing : as when Falstaff says, that if he had not counterfeited, that hot termagant Scot would have paid him scot and lot too. In the following pas- sage symbola, not symbolum, is used for a reckon- ing :— Phaedrum, aut Cliniam Dicebant, aut Niceratum ; nam hi tres turn simul Amabant. " Eho ! quid Pamphilus ?" " Quid ? symbolam Dedit; coenavit." Gaudebam. Terent.-in Andria* Pamphilus supped, and paid his reckoning. The word is used in another sense for a badge, or ral- lying point, for persons of the same party ; con- formably to which, it is applied to regimental colours, to a royal or national standard. ^v^oXyj also, but not (tu^oKov, takes the signification of a conference or par- ley, and of comparison. It is also synonymous with a type, in the scriptural sense of the latter word. The goddesses presiding over fate and fortune are etymologised by Pomp. Festus in the follow- ing terms : — " Tenitae credebantur esse sortium deae, dictse quod tenendi haberent potestatem."— Lib. xviiL S78 MEANINGS AND USAGES OF WORDS. The Tubilustria was the day of benediction at Rome for the trumpets dedicated to sacrifices: — " Tubilustria dies appellabant in quibus agna tubas lustrabant. Tubilustria quibus diebus adscriptum in fastis est, cum in atrio sutorio agna tubag lustran- tur, ab eis tubos appellant, quod genus lustrationis ex Arcadia Pallanteo transvectum esse dicunt." — Pomp. Fest. Proxima Vulcani lux es ; Tubilustria dicunt : Lustrantur purae, quas facit ille, tubae. Ovid. Fast. lib. v. 379 MISCELLANEOUS PASSAGES FROM HORACE. Ut pictura, poesis ; erit quae, si propius stes, Te capiat magis ; et quaedam, si longius abstes. Haec amat obscurum ; volet haec sub luce videri, Judicis argutum quae non formidat acumen : Haec placuit semel ; haec decies repetita placebit. De Arte Poetica* 1 his analogy between poetry and painting is just* and judiciously stated. Effects in either can only be produced by a just distribution of light and shade. A painter who shall paint in a strong light what is only adapted to a faint one, will be unable to place the spectator at any point of view, at which either the proportions of symmetry or the grada- tions of perspective will meet the eye aright. So is it with a poem ; some parts of which are de- signed for a full light, others to fall into a gradu- ated obscurity. The principle applies to the finish- ing of figures, as well as to perspective and chiaro scuro. A judicious painter will execute the principal and the subordinate parts with different degrees of care : the former will be given in full and exact proportion, with all the mastery of drawing ; the most remote and least important among the latter will rather be indicated than made out. In like manner, the poet will sketch minor objects slightly * and leave them in a subdued tone of colouring, that the reader may relax from the earnestness of his 380 MISCELLANEOUS PASSAGES gaze, and recruit his attention for the more promi- nent features of the work. Uniform grace in a picture, or unrelenting brilliancy of thoughts and expressions in a poem, will in the end reduce the too highly stimulated admirer to a condition little short of a critical gutta serena. Cicero has ap- plied the same principle of gradation to oratory : — " Quamquam ilia ipsa exclamatio, N on potest metius, sit velim crebra ; sed habeat tamen ilia in dicendo admiratio ac summa laus umbram aliquam et reces- sum, quo magis id, quod erit illuminatum, extare atque eminere videatur." — De Oratore, lib. iii. Sic Jovis interest Optatis epulis impiger Hercules ; Clarum Tyndaridae sidus ab infimis Quassas eripiunt sequoribus rates ; Ornatus viridi tempora pampino Liber vota bonos ducit ad exitus. Carmin. lib. iv. od. 8. The life of the gods, denominated apotheosis, when conferred on mortals, was distinguished by two especial privileges : the one, that of sitting at the table of Jupiter ; the other, the marriage of some goddess. ' Horace was indebted to Homer, in the eleventh book of the Odyssey, for the hint of Hercules enjoying the 1 former privilege of divinity; and being a notoriously huge feeder* he of course made the most of his free quar- ters : but he does not notice his investment with the latter on the part of Homer, who gives him Hebe, the goddess of youth, for a wife : neither does he touch upon that curious opinion of the an- cients, respecting the threefold partition of man after death : the body of Hercules was consumed FROM HORACE. 381 in the flames ; his image conversed with Ulysses in the shades below ; while his soul was domesticated in the heavenly mansions and society. There is much humour, both in the ideas and the expression of the following passages : — Aurem substringe loquaci. Importunus amat laudari ? donee, ohe jam ! Adccelum manibus sublatis dixerit, urge, et Crescentem tumidis infla sermonibus utrem. The bustling incidents of a journey, the confu- sion and clamour of going by water, are no where more pleasantly described than in the narrative of the poet's peregrination to Brundisium. The boat- men required payment from the passengers on entrance : — Hue appelle : trecentos inseris : ohe ! Jam satis est. Dum aes exigitur, dum mula ligatur, Tota abit hora. Satir. lib. i. sat. 5. Sanadon instances the following passage as an example of modesty unusual among poets ; any man but a Frenchman would consider it to be an ebullition of vanity. Si placeo, on which he lays stress, is but the " butter- woman's rank to mar- ket" of humility : — O testudinis aureae Dulcem quae strepitum, Pieri, temperas; . O mutis quoque piscibus Donatura eyeni, si libeat, sonum : Totum muneris hoc tui est, Quod monstror digito praetereuntium Romanae fidicen lyrae. Quod spiro, et placeo, si placeo, tuum est. Carmin. lib. iv. od. 3. 382 MISCELLANEOUS PASSAGES He speaks of himself more pleasingly in the fourth ode of the third book, where he acknow- ledges that he owes his life to the muses, and alludes to his own unmilitary flight from battle : — Vestris amicum fontibus, et choris Non me Philippis versa acies retro, Devota non extinxit arbor, Nee Sicula Palinurus unda. Although the slipshod style be the character- istic of Horace's hexameters, he occasionly shows by a line of much rythm and beauty, that his will, and not his poverty, consents to ramble abroad in an undress. Take as an example of this the last line of the following passage from the second epis- tle of the first book : — Nos numerus sumus, et fruges consumere nati, Sponsi Penelopae, nebulones, AlcinoVque In cute curanda plus aequo operata juventus ; Cui pulchrum fuit in medios dormire dies, et Ad strep itum citharae cessatum ducere curam. Nothing can be more unhappy than Dr. Bentley's reading for cessatum ducere curam, of cessantem ducere somnum : nor more tasteless and injudicious than Sanadon's admission of it into the text. The island of Corfu, in the mouth of the gulf of Venice, constituted the kingdom of Alcinous. This account of the sloth and effeminacy in which the youth of that coast were sunk is taken from the eighth book of the Odyssey. Alcinous him- self gives them the following character : — Aie» 8' >jjU,7v $a»$ ts l§ ts, %OQoi re, FROM HORACE. 383 A passage in Horace's fourteenth epistle ap- proaches in some degree to the caustic severity of Juvenal, in describing the distaste a debauched town life engenders for the simple and moral pleasures of the country ; — Fornix tibi et uncta popina Incutiunt urbis desiderium, video ; et quod Angulus iste feret piper ac thus ocius uva ; Nee vicina subest vinum praebere taberna Quae possit tibi; nee meretrix tibicina, cujus Ad strepitum salias terra? gravis. The following passage aptly illustrates the neces- sity of congenial genius, or at all events of refined taste, to render imitation respectable. The com- mon herd of imitators are incapable of appreci- ating the real merits of their models, and therefore generally run foul of every fault and every defect, but steer clear of the beauty and excellence. — Quid ? si quis vultu torvo ferus, et pede nudo, Exiguaeque togas simulet textore Catonem, Virtutemne repraesentet moresque Catonis ? Rupit Hiarbitam Timagenis aemula lingua, Dum studet urbanus, tenditque disertus haberi. The sixteenth ode of the third book opens with a moral satire against avarice, holding out riches as the greatest evil, and an honest and contented mediocrity as the greatest good. But this is not, as has been stated, the whole design. By a delicate transition from generalities to personal application, he instances himself as an example of moderation, and his patron of generosity. Maecenas had pre- sented him with a small country seat ; and he pro- fesses to be as much gratified as if he had been made governor of a province. — 38i< MISCELLANEOUS PASSAGES Inelusam Danaen turris ahenea, Robustaeque fores, et vigilum canum Tristes excubiae munierant satis Nocturnis ab adulteris ; Si non Acrisium virginis abditae Custodem pavidum Jupiter et Venus Risissent : fore enim tutum iter et patens, Converso in pretium Deo. The story of Acrisius, the last king of Argos, who being warned by an oracle that he should be deprived of his kingdom, and put to death by his grandson, resolved, if possible, to hinder his daughter Danae from having any children, and thus prevent the accomplishment of the oracle, is beautifully told. Robustus signifies made of oak. Robust eus is used by Varro and Vitruvius : robo- reus by Columella and Ovid : roburneus by Co- lumella. The Latins used adulter simply for a lover. The opposition of character is beautifully managed, and Acrisius' s conduct and motives com- prised in the single epithet pavidum. Horace fol- lows the common and ancient opinion, that Ju- piter transformed himself into a shower of gold. The character of Tigellius is among Horace's most happy and brilliant delineations. The affect- ation of intimacy with persons of royal and noble rank, founded on casual contact in public or mixed company, is not unknown to modern times : — Modo reges atque tetrarchas, Omnia magna loquens ; modo ; Sit mihi mensa tripes et Concha salis puri, et toga quae defendere frigus Quamvis crassa queat. Decies centena dedisses Huic parvo, paucis contento ; quinque diebus Nil erat in loculis. FROM HORACE. 385 The table with three feet is the emblem of an- cient frugality. No other was known till after the introduction of Asiatic luxury: but when tables with four feet like our own were once introduced, none but the lower classes of the people would use those of the antiquated form. The mention of the concha salts puri is a happy stroke at Tigellius's alternate adoption of extreme rusticity. The superstition attaching to salt through- out the ancient world, and in all half-civilised countries, is remarkable. Selden tells us, "that the old Gauls (whose customs and the British were near the same) had their orbicular tables to avoid controversy of precedency, a form much com- mended by a late writer for the like distance of all from the salt, being centre, first, and last, of the furniture." * We are to infer from this, that our British ancestors placed a vessel in the middle of their round table, filled with a sufficient quantity of salt to serve the whole company ; we may sup- pose that the vessel was considerably ornamented, probably bearing some resemblance to our modern epergne. So the Romans had their salinum, form-: ing a leading feature in their laws of hospitality. To do an injury to any one with whom they had partaken of salt was a crime against religion, and required a peculiar expiation. But Tigellius was; satisfied with a mere shell, to hold as much salt as he could himself consume, and professed not to * In compliance with popular superstition, it was an ancient custom to place a quantity of salt on the breast of a corpse. Salt also entered into the composition of an oath: — " He took bread and salt by this light, that he would never open his lips." — The Honest Whore, Act 5. Scene 12. c c 386 MISCELLANEOUS PASSAGES aim at that more stately furniture, which would have been necessary for the reception of guests. The Roman reckoning by sesterces was ex- tremely troublesome. Decies centena means decies centena millia. Another expression was, decies millia : sometimes decies alone, or decies sestercium. The lesser sesterce was twopence all but half a farthing of our money. This makes the reduction of a large sum to our denominations a delicate operation in arithmetic. A million of sesterces amounted to 7812/. 10s. Horace's courtly principles are evinced in the following line : — Principibus placuisse viris, non ultima laus est. Epist. lib. i. ep. 17. Horrida tempestas coelum contraxit ; et imbres Nivesque deducunt Jovem. In this little piece, nothing can be more pleasant than the manner in which Epicurean suggestions are delivered with all the pomp and gravity of the Stoic school. The real drift seems to be, con- dolence with some friend on a reverse of fortune. The preceptor of Achilles is introduced as deliver- ing the oracles of wisdom to his pupil, which far from being the lecture of a pedagogue, turn out to be an invitation to reflect on the shortness of life, not for the purpose of enhancing care, but of ex- pelling it by music, wine, and company. Horace speaks with indignation of the effeminacy prevalent in the camp of Antony and Cleopatra : and its effect in occasioning the desertion of the Gallograeci : — FROM HORACE. 387 Interque signa turpe militaria Sol aspicit conopeum. Ad hoc frementes verterant bis mille equos Galli, canentes Caesarem; Hostiliumque navium portu latent Puppes sinistrorsum sitae. The KwvcoTTsiov was a sort of tent-bed, in common use with the Egyptians as a protection against mosquitos, from the Greek xwvawrsj, in Latin culices ; but queens and princesses were very splendid and luxurious in the furniture of those beds. The following protest in the Art of Poetry, against destroying the probability of dramatic re- presentation by the introduction of such chimaeras as nurses and foolish mothers frighten children with, is well pointed by the spectre which was supposed after seducing to devour young persons, and derived its name from the Greek \otipo$ 9 mean- ing the gullet or gluttony : — ■ Ficta voluptatis causa sint proxima veris ; Ne, quodcunque volet, poscat sibi fabula credi ; Nee pransae Lamiae vivum puerum extrahat alvo. Horace seems to think that who drives fat oxen must himself be fat , and that Homer and Ennius must have acquired gout as well as fame by their praises of wine : — Laudibus arguitur vini vinosus Homerus. Ennius ipse pater nunquam nisi potus ad arma Prosiluit dicenda. Epist, lib. L ep. 1 9. cc^ 888 MISCELLANEOUS PASSAGES FROM JUVENAL. Proximus ejusdem properabat Acilius aevi Cum juvene indigno, quern mors tarn saeva maneret, Et domini gladiis jam festinata: sed olim ," Prodigio par est in nobilitate senectus: Unde fit, ut malim fraterculus esse gigantum. Profuit ergo nihil misero, quod cominus ursos Figebat Numidas, Albana nudus arena Venator : quis enim jam non intelligat artes Patricias ? quis priscum illud miretur acumen, Brute, tuum ? facile est barbato imponere regi. Sat. iv. The Acilius here mentioned was Acilius Glabrio, of whom little is known, but that he was a senator of singular prudence and fidelity. The victim of Domitian's cruelty, alluded to in the following lines, is supposed by some of the commentators, and most of the translators, to have been Domitius, the son of Acilius. They were both charged with designs against the emperor, and condemned to death. The father's sentence was changed into banishment, with a show of mercy, substantially designed as an aggravation, that at the advanced age of eighty, when a good man is prepared to die, he might linger out some superfluous days in the remembrance of his son's undeserved suffering for treason, which, like his own, amounted probably to MISCELLANEOUS PASSAGES FROM JUVENAL. 389- no more than a suspicion of virtue. Whether they were father and son or not, the young man had imitated the well-known trick of the elder Brutus, in feigning fatuity. When Domitian celebrated his annual games at Alba, in honour of Minerva, this youth fought naked with wild beasts in the amphitheatre : but Domitian was not to be de- ceived by such affectation of insanity ; and sent him to execution with circumstances of extreme cruelty, and under various methods of torture. But Juvenal's allusions are so slight, that sometimes we cannot trace the facts in what remains of his- tory ; and, at other times, the innuendo seems to admit of more than one application. At the Quinquatria, Domitian was in the habit of ex- hibiting pairs of noblemen in combat with wild beasts on the stage. If they conquered, it was imputed as a crime. Dio relates either this, or a similar story. The impiety charged on so many appears to have been a propensity to what he calls Judaism, which the Romans continually confounded with Christianity : — c T) e%oxe\\ovTS$ ttoXKo) xa.Tsdixa.cr Syr oiv . . . tov 8s Syj r\tx§glooTot tov [j,stoL tov T^aVavou ug^otVTU, xaTYiyogrjSsvTot tu ts aAXa, xcd old ol 7roAAo», xcci on xou §Y)gloi$ s[xa^sT0, anexTsivsV' Thus djd Domitian sport with the lives of his subjects. But the practice of cutting off the nobility, from jealousy, fear, or hatred, had prevailed from the days of Nero : so that the poet professes, he would prefer being a Terrce Jilius and a squab brother of the giants, to a descent from the most illustrious families. The fabulous sons of Titan and Tellus rebelled and fought against Jupiter ; but even that hazard is not equal to standing up against the overwhelming power of Domitian. Neither was 890 MISCELLANEOUS PASSAGES he to be cajoled by the stratagem of playing the fool, like Tarquin the Proud. Domitius had mis- carried in the policy, which had saved Lucius Junius Brutus, when his brother and many of the nobility had been destroyed. David had recourse to a similar device at the court of Achish, king of Gath, Juvenal professes a wish to leave Rome, and banish himself to the most inhospitable regions, rather than hear hypocrites preach morality : — Ultra Sauromatas fugere hinc libet, et glacialem Oceanum 5 quoties aliquid de moribus audent Qui Curios simulant, et Bacchanalia vivunt. Sat. ii, The Sauromatae were the people of Asiatic and European Sarmatia, the Asiatic Sauromatas being the inhabitants of modern Tartary, the European those of modern Russia. In the following very spirited passage of Lucan, the Northern Ocean, which was perpetually frozen, is called the Scythian Sea, as washing the shores of Scythia : — ■ Quis furor, o cives ? quae tanta licentia ferri, Gentibus invisis Latium praebere cruorem ? Cumque superba foret Babylon spolianda tropaeis Ausoniis, umbraque erraret Crassus inulta ; Bella geri placuit nullos habitura triumphos ? Heu ! quantum terrae potuit, pelagique, parari Hoc, quem civiles hauserunt, sanguine, dextrae ! Unde venit Titan, et nox ubi sidera condit, Quaque dies medius flagrantibus aestuat horis, "Et qua bruma rigens, ac nescia vere remitti. FROM JUVENAL, 391 Adstringit Scythicum glaciali frigore pontum. Sub juga jam Seres, jam barbarus isset Araxes, Et gens si qua jacet nascenti conscia Nilo. The popular characters of Heraclitus, and De« mocritus, as the weeping and laughing philosophers, though a vulgar error, were particularly well suited to the purposes of moral satire, and are admirably handled by Juvenal : — Jamne igitur laudas, quod de sapientibus alter Ridebat, quoties a limine moverat unum Protuleratque pedem : flebat contrarius alter ? Sed facilis cuivis rigidi censura cachinni : Mirandum est, unde ille oculis suffecerit humor* Perpetuo risu pulmonem agitare solebat Democritus, quanquam non essent urbibus illis Praetexta, et trabeae, fasces, lectica, tribunal. Quid, si vidisset Prastorem in curribus altis Extantem, et medio sublimem in pulvere circi, In tunica Jovis, et pictae Sarrana ferentem Ex humeris aulaea togae, magnaeque coronae Tantum orbem, quanto cervix non sufficit ulla? Quippe tenet sudans hanc publicus, et sibi Consul Ne placeat, curru servus portatur eodem. Da nunc et volucrem sceptro quae surgit eburno, Illinc cornicines, hinc prascedentia longi Agminis officia, et niveos ad fraana Quirites, Defossa in locuiis quos sportula fecit amicos. Tunc quoque materiam risus invenit ad omnes Occursus hominum ; cujus prudentia monstrat, Summos posse viros, et magna exempla daturos, Vervecum in patria, crassoque sub aere nascL The Thracian Abdera, and Bceotia in genera!, laboured considerably under the stigma of stu- pidity, although Bceotia was in some measure cc4< 3Q& MISCELLANEOUS PASSAGES redeemed from the general censure by the indi- vidual greatness of Pindar. Still however, Abdera was called the country of sheep, and Bceotia that of hogs. We also indulge occasionally in aca- demical nicknames to particular colleges. The satire on the various official ensigns, the fopperies of augural appendages, the patrician and consular robes, and the pompous display of the praetor as presiding at the Circensian Games fur- nishes as fine a specimen of the serious and severe style of invective, as any to be found in the works of this indignant poet. The following irony on the superstitions of my- thology, and particularly on the fable of Prome- theus, and the sarcastic indignation expressed against the cruelties and unnatural practices occa- sioned by bigotry, are among the very striking passages of the author : — Hinc gaudere libet, quod non violaverit ignem, Quem summa coeli raptum de parte Prometheus Don^vit terris : elemento gratulor, et te Exsultare reor : sed qui mordere cadaver Sustinuit, nihil unquam hac carne libentius edit : Nam scelere in tanto ne quaeras, aut dubites, an Prima voluptatem gula senserit : ultimus autem Qui stetit absumpto jam toto corpore, ductis Per terram digitis, aliquid de sanguine gustat. Vascones (ut fama est) alimentis talibus usi Produxere animas : sed res diversa : sed illic Fortunae invidia est, bellorumque ultima, casus Extremi, longae dira obsidionis egestas. Hujus enim, quod nunc agitur, miserabile debet Exemplum esse cibi. Sat. .1 5. The contrast in the case of the Vascons, who sustained a siege from Cn. Pompey and Metellus, FROM JUVENAL. SQS and were driven by the pressure of famine to eat human flesh, is well introduced, to show that the rage of the satirist is not so indiscriminate, as to confound the cravings of nature with the wanton- ness of barbarous and unnatural appetite. But among all the superstitions of Rome, none had more completely taken possession of the popular mind, than the belief in astrology. It has indeed been the most universal and enduring of all cre- dulous follies, and more or less occupies the vulgar even in these enlightened times. Women have always been peculiarly prone to a belief in the influence of the stars. Juvenal therefore takes up the subject in satire vi. which is devoted to the reprehension of female vices and weaknesses : — Praecipuus tamen est horum, qui saepius exul, Cujus amicitia, conducendaque tabella Magnus ferns obit, et formidatus Othoni. Inde fides arti, sonuit si dextera ferro Laevaque, si longo castrorum in carcere man sit. Nemo mathematicus genium indemnatus habebitj Sed qui pene perit : cui vix in Cyclada mitti Contigit, et parva tandem caruisse Seripho. Consulit ictericae lento de funere matris, Ante tamen de te, Tanaquil tua ; quando sororem Efferat, et patruos : an sit victurus adulter Post ipsam : quid enim majus dare numina possunt ? Haec tamen ignorat, quid sidus triste minetur Saturni ; quo laeta Venus se proferat astro ; Qui mensis damno, quae dentur tempora lucro. Illius occursus etiam vitare memento, In cujus manibus, ceu pinguia succina, tritas Cernis ephemeridas ; quae nullum consulit, et jam Consulitur ; quae castra viro patriamque petente, Non ibit pariter, numeris revocata Thrasylli. Ad primum lapidem vectari cum placet, hora 394f MISCELLANEOUS PASSAGES Sumitur ex libro ; si prurit frictus ocelli Angulus, inspecta genesi collyria poscit. iEgra licet jaceat, capiendo nulla videtur Aptior hora cibo, nisi quam dederit Petosiris. Petosiris is mentioned by Suidas under the re- spectable title of a philosopher. It is a common proverb, that extremes meet : and its truth is strikingly exemplified in the fate of the mathe- matical sciences. It might have been supposed that their severity, and the strictness of proof required by them, would have operated as a pro- hibition against wild and irregular fancies : yet we find that the extravagant pursuit of truth itself leads to error ; a result which also takes place in the enthusiastic study of religion. The mathema- ticians of the middle ages, and still lower, were all astrologers, though the lower class of astrologers probably were not mathematicians. To such an excess was this pretended science carried, that not only were the leading secrets of men's lives pre- dieted, but the practising physicians prescribed with reference to them ; and the stars were con- sulted to ascertain the propitious hour, at which the patient was to take a fresh egg or a basin of soup. The following caution against such a course of conduct as shall make a man dependent on the secrecy of others, especially of mean persons and menials, is given with profound knowledge of the world : — Illos ergo roges, quicquid paulo ante petebas A nobis. Taceant illi, sed prodere malunt Arcanum, quam subrepti potare Falerni, Pro populo faciens quantum Laufella bibebat. Vivendum recte, cum propter plurima, turn his FROM JUVENAL. 39^ Prsecipue causis, ut linguas mancipiorum Contemnas : nam lingua mali pars pessima servi. Deterior tamen hie, qui liber non erit, illis Quorum animas et farre suo custodit, et aere. Sat. ix. This satire has been severely condemned for its subject, which is indeed thoroughly disgusting ; but the mode in which that disgusting subject has been treated, is ably vindicated by Mr. GifFord in the argument to his translation of it, against the sweeping censure of Julius Scaliger and others. Scaliger is indeed so indiscriminate as to propose the rejection of all Juvenal's works, including the moral tenth satire, on account of this proscribed subject. But surely this is carrying delicacy and refinement to extravagance; and comes too near to what an ancient friend of mine once charac- terised as the temper of the present age ; to be more shocked at strong language than at bad actions. Mr. Gifford has vindicated his author both by reasoning, and by translating him ; and my friend Mr. Hodgson, though he could have been better pleased to omit it altogether, has executed his task with perfect decency, and yet with strong impression. There are certainly many passages in this satire which one would not quote ;■ but there are many also, the suppression of which would lessen the stock of useful moral repro- bation. Mr. Hodgson in his argument quotes one passage as a beautiful example of musical cadence 5 and refers to the elegant complaint of the short- ness of youth. In fact, the offensive passages occur principally in Naevolus's part of the dialogue ; and I would add the following lines in the opening of 896 MISCELLANEOUS PASSAGES FROM JUVENAL. the satire, as a characteristic specimen of the poet, to the lines just quoted by myself, and to the passages referred to by the translator : — Omnia nunc contra : vultus gravis, horrida siccae Sylva comae ; nullus tota nitor in cute, qualem Praestabat calidi circumlita fascia visci ; Sed fruticante pilo neglecta et squallida crura. Sat. ix. 397 MISCELLANEOUS PASSAGES FROM VIRGIL. V irgil concludes his fourth eclogue, with calling upon the child to distinguish his mother by her smiles ; because those children, on whom their parents did not smile at their birth, were accounted unfortunate : — Incipe, parve puer, risu cognoscere matrem : Matri longa decern tulerunt fastidia menses. Incipe, parve puer : cui non risere parentes, Nee Deus hunc mensa, Dea nee dignata cubili est. The commentators are not all agreed, whether the poet means that the child should know its mother by her smiling on him, or that he should recognise his mother by smiling on her. The two last of the four lines can only accord with the for- mer sense. Servius is rather inconsistent on the subject. He seems to consider this passage as in- volving an interchange of smiles. The passage of Catullus, In Nuptias Julice et Manlii, represents the smiles of infants very pleasingly, but at a more advanced period : — Torquatus, volo, parvulus Matris e gremio suae Porrigens teneras manus, Dulce rideat ad patrem, Semihiante labello. 398 MISCELLANEOUS PASSAGES Pliny thus speculates on the subject : — " Ho- minem tantum nudum et in nuda humo, natali die abjicit ad vagitus statim et ploratum, nullumque tot animalium aliud ad lacrymas, et has protinus vitge principio. At hercules risus, praecox ille et celerrimus, ante quadragesimum diem nulli datur." The same author states a whimsical exception to his general rule, with what he seems to consider as a physical cause for it, in the instance of a great philosopher: — "Risisse eodem die, quo genitus esset unum hominem accepimus Zoroastrem. Eidem cerebrum ita palpitasse, ut impositam repelleret ma- num, futurae praesagio scientiae." In St. John's gospel there is a beautiful descrip- tion of the maternal feeling : — " A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come : but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world." Another objection to the application of the smiling to the child, is the strained sense it forces on cognoscere, to own by smiles, which, on every principle of compounding prepositions with verbs, should have been expressed by agnoscere. Servius has an absurd explanatory note on decern menses, inferring from the expression that males are born in the tenth month, females in the ninth. But the difference between lunar and calendar months will justify the number generally without having recourse to a distinction so trifling, and so entirely unfounded in truth. Pliny states the variations even of the lunar month. The pas- sage is worth giving at length, as illustrative of his astronomical notions : — " Proxima ergo cardini, ideoque minimo ambitu, vicenis diebus septenisque, FROM VIRGIL. 399 et tertia diei parte peragit spatia eadem, quae Sa- turni sidus altissimum triginta (ut dictum est) an- nis. Deinde morata in coitu Solis biduo, cum tardissime e tricesima luce rursus ad easdem vices exit : haud scio an omnium, quae in ccelo pernosci potuerunt, magistra : In duodecim mensium spatia oportere dividi annum, quando ipsa toties Solem redeuntem ad principia, consequitur. Solis fulgore reliqua siderum regi, siquidem in toto mutuata ab eo luce fulgere, qualem in repercussu aquae voli- tare conspicimus : ideo molliore et imperfecta vi solvere tantum humorem, atque etiam augere, quern Solis radii absumant : Ideo et inaequali lumine aspici: quia ex adverso demum plena, reliquis diebus tantum ex se terris ostendat, quantum ex Sole ipsa concipiat : In coitu quidem non cerni : quoniam haustum omnem lucis aversa illo regerat, unde acce- perit : Sidera vero haud dubie humore terreno pa- sci, quia orbe dimidio nonnumquam maculosa cer- natur, scilicet nondum suppetente ad haurieudum ultra justa vi : maculas enim non aliud esse quam terrae raptas cum humore sordes : Defectus autem suos, et Solis, rem in tota contemplatione naturae maxime miram, et ostento similem, eorum magni- tudinum, umbraeque indices exsistere." The same author gives the opinion of his age respecting the indefinite periods of human partu- rition : — " Ceteris animantibus statum et pariendi et partus gerendi temp us est : homo toto anno, et incerto gignitur spatio. Alius septimo mense, alius octavo, et usque ad initia decimi undecimique. Ante septimum mensem haud unquam vitalis est." In another place he gives an individual instance of this uncertainty: — "Vestilia C. Herdicii, ac 400 MISCELLANEOUS PASSAGES postea Pomponii, atque Orfiti clarissimorum ci- vium conjux, ex his quatuor partus enixa, septimo semper mense, genuit Suilium Rufum undecimo, Corbulonem septimo, utrumque Consulem : postea Cassoniam Caii principis conjugem, octavo." Ovid, in the third book of his Fasti, accounts for the division of the old year in reference to this calculation, without any distinction of male or female : — Annus erat ; decimum cum Luna repleverat orbem. Hie numerus magno tunc in honore fuit. Seu quia tot digiti, per quos numerare solemus : Seu quia bis quino femina mense parit. Servins says, that in the passage of Virgil, some read abstulerint, making the sense, Si riseris, abs- tulerint decern menses matri tuce longa fastidia : but other commentators justly think that interpret- ation ridiculous. Qui is used by some editors for cui, on the au- thority of Quinctilian : — " Est figura et in nume- ro : vel cum singulari pluralis subjungitur, Gladio pugnacissima gens Romani : gens enim ex multis : vel e diverso, Qui non risere parentes, Nee deus hunc mensa, dea nee dignata cubili est. Ex illis enim, qui non risere, hunc non dignatus deus, nee dea dignata." The testimony of Quinctilian therefore, in adopt- ing this reading, goes to the sense, those who have not smiled on their parents, with the additional harshness of considering hunc as used for hos. Ruaeus also considers the passage as a denunci- ation of some imminent calamity to the child, if FROM VIRGIL. 401 he know not his mother by a smile. An additional proof that this is not the right sense is derived from the use of the dative case after the same verb in the following passage of the fifth ^Eneid : — Risit pater optimus olli, Et clypeum efferri jussit, Didymaonis artes, Neptuni, sacro Danai's, de poste refixum : Hoc juvenem egregium praestanti munere donat. The most approved meaning is this : — " Begin sweet boy to know thy parents by their smile ; for thy parents must smile upon thee before thou canst be advanced to the life of the gods." A preceding passage confirms this : — Ille Deum vitam accipiet, Divisque videbit Permistos heroas, et ipse videbitur illis ; Pacatumque reget patriis virtutibus orbem. Bucol, eel. iv* He elsewhere expresses the employments of im- mortality in a most spirited and beautiful manner, and makes it the vehicle of a highly wrought com- pliment to Augustus : — Tuque adeo, quern mox quae sint habitura Deorum Concilia,, incertum est ; urbisne invisere, Caesar, Terrarumque velis curam, et te maximus orbis Auctorem frugum, tempestatumque potentem Accipiat, cingens materna tempora myrto ; An Deus immensi venias maris, ac tua nautae Nutnina sola colant ; tibi serviat ultima Thule, Teque sibi generum Tethys emat omnibus undis ; Anne novum tardis sidus te mensibus addas, Qua locus Erigonen inter Chelasque sequentes Panditur : ipse tibi jam brachia contrahit ardens Scorpius, et cceli justa plus parte reliquit. Georg. lib. i. D D 402 MISCELLANEOUS PASSAGES Sunt quibus ad portas cecidit custodia sorti : Inque vicem speculantur aquas et nubila coeli; Aut onera accipiunt venientum ; aut agmine facto, Ignavum fucos pecus a praesepibus arcent. Fervet opus, redolentque thymo fragrantia mella. Georg. lib. iv. In one of the Arundelian manuscripts, for por- tas cecidit, is read portam tendit. The three last lines of this passage are repeated in the first j^Eneid. The drones are the males without stings : and as they do not assist the others in their labour, after fecundation, they are expelled from the hive by the labouring bees. A French commentator confounds the drones with wasps. Urgent is read for arcent in the Arundelian manuscript, and Jla- grantia for fragrantia in the Lombard and both Dr. Mead's. Quid Syrtes, aut Scylla mihi, quid vasta Charybdis Profuit ? optato conduntur Thybridis alveo, Securi pelagi, atque mei. Mars perdere gentem Immanem Lapithum valuit : concessit in iras Ipse Deum antiquam genitor Calydona Dianae : Quod scelus aut Lapithis tantum, aut Calydona meren- tern? Ast ego, magna Jovis conjunx, nil linquere inausum Quae potui infelix, quae memet in omnia verti, Vincor ab iEnea. Quod, si mea numina non sunt Magna satis, dubitem baud equidem implorare quod usquam est : Flectere si nequeo Superos, Acheronta movebo. JEn. lib. vii. The speech of Juno, of which this is a part, is particularly fine throughout. The character of the FROM VIRGIL. 403 goddess is grandly and consistently supported : the sentiments are characteristic of a mind, determined to go all lengths in the attainment of its object. The ancients roasted their meat on wooden spits, either of hazel or of service. So in lib. ii. of the Georgics : — Ergo rite suum Baccho dicemus honorem Carminibus patriis, lancesque et liba feremus ; Et ductus cornu stabit sacer hircus ad aram, Pinguiaque in verubus torrebimus exta colurnis. The libum was a sort of holy cake. The victims were led to the altar with a slack rope : if they were reluctant it was considered as a bad omen. The spits were made of hazel on this occasion, because that tree was destructive to the vines, as we find at verse 299. So the goat was sacrificed to Bacchus, because that animal is highly injurious to vines. Neve tibi ad solem vergant vineta cadentem ; Neve inter vites corylum sere ; neve flagella Summa pete, aut summa distringe ex arbore plantas ; Tantus amor terras ! neu ferro lsede retuso Semina; neve oleae silvestres insere truncos. The precepts here given relating to vineyards are curious. The objection to the hazel was the size and extent of the roots. It is worth while to compare the poet with the practical writer, who in a great measure followed his steps. With respect to aspect, Virgil only protests against an exposure to the setting sun : Columella is diffuse in his re- gulations : — " Quae cuncta, sicut ego reor, magis d d 2 404 MISCELLANEOUS PASSAGES prosunt, cum suffragatur etiam status cceli: cujus quam regionem spectare debeant vineae, vetus est dissensio, Saserna maxime probante solis ortum, mox deinde meridiem, turn occasum : Tremellio Scrofa praecipuam positionem meridianam censente: Virgilio de industria occasum repudiante : De- mocrito et Magone laudantibus cceli plagam se- ptentrional em, quia existiment ei subjectas feraeis- simas fieri vineas, quag tamen bonitate vini superen- tur. Nobis in universum praecipere optimum visum est, ut in locis frigidis meridiano vineta subjiciantur ; tepidis orienti advertantur : si tamen non infesta- bantur Austris Eurisque, velut orae maritimas in Bcetica. Sin autem regiones prasdictis ventis fue- rint obnoxiae, melius Aquiloni vel Favonio com- mittentur. nam ferventibus provinciis, ut ^Egy- pto et Numidia, uni septentrioni rectius opponen- tur. ,J Columella's doctrine respecting cuttings is as follows : — " Optima habentur a lumbis ; secunda ab humeris ; tertia a summa vite lecta, quae celer- rime comprehendunt, et sunt feraciora, sed ea quoque celeriter senescunt." He also, like Virgil, forbids the use of a blunt knife : — " Super caetera illud etiam censemus, ut duris tenuissimisque et acutissimis ferramentis totum istud opus exequamur. obtusa enim et hebes et mollis falx putatorem moratur, eoque minus operis efficit, et plus laboris ^ffert vinitori. Nam si curvatur acies, quod accidit molli ; sive tardius penetrat, quod evenit in retuso et crasso ferramento ; majore nisu est opus, turn etiam plagaa asperse atque inaequales vites lacerant. neque enim uno sed saepius repetito ictu res trans- igitur. quo plerumque fit, ut quod praacidi debeat prasfringatur, et sic vitis laniata scabrataque pu- FROM VIRGIL. 405 trescat humoribus, nee plagae consanentur. Quare magnopere monendus putator est, ut prolixet aciem ferramenti, et quantum possit novae ulae similem reddat." Summajiagella, we may infer from an observation of Mr. Miller, means the upper part of the shoot, which ought to be cut off: — " You should always make choice of such shoots as are strong and well- ripened of the last year's growth. These should be cut from the old vine, just below the place where they were produced, taking a knot of the two year's wood, which should be pruned smooth : then you should cut off the upper part of the shoot, so as to leave the cutting about sixteen inches long. Now in making the cuttings after this man- ner, there can be but one taken from each shoot ; whereas most persons cut them into lengths of about a foot, and plant them all, which is very wrong : for the upper parts of the shoots are never so well ripened as the lower part, which was pro- duced early in the spring ; so that, if they do take root, they never make so good plants; for the wood of those cuttings being spungy and soft, admits the moisture too freely, whereby the plants will be luxuriant in growth, but never so fruitful as such whose wood is closer and more compact." The classical traveller in Italy will trace with interest the geographical and picturesque descrip- tions of Virgil, especially such as were the scenes of religious rites and oracular superstitions, se- lected for those purposes as being calculated to impress awe on those uninitiated in natural know- ledge. Of this kind in particular were regions of subterranean fire or sulphureous exhalations : — • d d 3 406 MISCELLANEOUS PASSAGES At rex, sollicitus monstris, oracula Fauni, Fatidici genitoris, adit, lucosque sub alta Consulit Albunea ; nemorum quae maxima sacro Fonte sonat, seevamque exhalat opaca mephitim. JEn. lib. vii. The voyage of iEneas would be well worth making, with the poem in hand, to mark the truth with which the permanent works of nature are delineated, and to meditate on the faint traces remaining of what constituted human grandeur in ages long past : — Hinc altas cautes projectaque saxa Pachyni Radimus ; et fatis nunquam concessa moveri Apparet Camarina procul, campique Geloi, Immanisque Gela, fluvii cognomine dicta. JEn. lib. iii. The Aldides are celebrated by Virgil, in con- nection with the Titans and the Giants : — Hie et Aloi'das geminos, immania vidi Corpora ; qui manibus magnum rescindere ccelum Aggressi, superisque Jovem detrudere regnis. jEn. lib. vi. The story of Metabus, king of Privernum in the country of the Volscians, is justly dealt with by the moral poet, in the iEneid, lib. xi. : — Pulsus ob invidiam regno viresque superbas, Priverno antiqua Metabus cum excederet urbe, Infantem, fugiens media inter prselia belli, Sustulit exsilio comitem, matrisque vocavit Nomine Casmillse, mutata parte, Camillam. FROM VIRGIL. 407 The consequences of indulging tyrannical dis- positions to a man in whom natural affections were notwithstanding strong, are pathetically touched : — Non ilium tectis ullae, non mcenibus, urbes Accepere, neque ipse manus feritate dedisset : Pastorum et solis exegit monlibus asvum. The scene between ^Eneas and his father, in the shades below, is one of the most striking, and the most highly wrought achievements of the poet, combining high romantic interest with political instruction : — Tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento ; Hae tibi erunt artes : pacisque imponere morem, Parcere subjectis, et debellare superbos. Sic pater Anchises, atque haec mirantibus addit. Adspice, ut insignis spoliis Marcellus opimis, Ingreditur, victorque viros supereminet omnes. Hie rem Romanam, magno turbante tumultu, Sistet, eques sternet Pcenos, Gallumque rebellem ; Tertiaque arma patri suspendet capta Quirino. Atque hie iEneas, (una namque ire videbat Egregium forma juvenem et fulgentibus armis ; Sed frons laeta parum, et dejecto lumina vultu.) JEn. lib. vi. From the first line of this passage, Alexander Severus fancied he derived an omen of that im- perial dignity, to which many years afterwards he was raised. The infant civilisation of Rome is thus pic- turesquely described by our poet : — d d 4 408 MISCELLANEOUS PASSAGES Et dubitamus adhuc virtutem extendere factis ? Aut metus Ausonia prohibet consistere terra? Quis procul ille autem ramis insignis olivae, Sacra ferens? nosco crines incanaque menta Regis Romani. JEn. lib. vi. Not the least of Virgil's merits are those common- place descriptions, which set originality at defiance, and yet engage and gratify the mind by their un- obtrusive simplicity and elegance : — Tempus erat, quo prima quies mortalibus segris Incipit, et dono Divum gratissima serpit. JEn. lib. ii. The cave of the sibyl, her character and office, are thus described : — At pius iEneas arces quibus altus Apollo Prsesidet, horrendaeque procul secreta Sibyllae, Antrum immane, petit : magnam cui mentem, animumque Delius inspirat vates, aperitque futura. JEn. lib. vi. The following passage on the subject of Queen Amata, the wife of King Latinus, is elegant and spirited : — Regina, ut tectis venientem prospicit hostem, Incessi muros, ignes ad tecta volare, Nusquam acies contra Rutulas, nulla agmina Turni, Infelix pugnae juvenem in certamine credit Extinctum; et, subito mentem turbata dolore, Se caussam clamat, crimenque, caputque malorum ; FROM VIRGIL. 409 Multaque per mcestum demens effata furorem, Purpureos moritura manu discindit amictus, Et nodum informis leti trabe nectit ab alta. Erichthonius was the son of Dardanus, and father of Tros. The Phrygians discovered the art of driving a chariot and pair ; but Erichthonius was the founder of the Four-in-Hand Club : — Primus Erichthonius currus et quatuor ausus Jungere equos, rapidusque rotis in sister e* victor. Georg. lib. iii. Servius, in a note on this passage, tells us, that Erichthonius being, according to the etymology of his name, tgig and %^cov, the offspring of strife and earth, was not accommodated with shoes, but in- commoded with tails of serpents instead of feet. Stripping the story of its mythological marvels, he was probably what we call club-footed. It was to conceal this deformity, we are told, that he im- proved the science of the whip. As there is no evidence that the ancient chariots had aprons, the concealment could only have been effected, as withdrawing the eye of the spectator from his feet, by the skill and elegance with which he squared his elbows. Independently, however, of all personal vanity, the moral probably goes no further, than that a carriage is particularly convenient to a lame man. Nee vero terrae ferre omries omnia possunt. Adspice et extremis domitum cultoribus orbem, Eoasque domos Arabum, pictosque Gelonos j 410 MISCELLANEOUS PASSAGES Divisae arboribus patriae : sola India nigrum Fert ebenum ; solis est thurea virga Sabaeis. The Geloni were a Scythian tribe, with painted faces after the manner of other barbarous nations, for the purpose of inspiring terror in war. Ebony was the produce of India and Ethiopia. This elegant wood, of which there are three kinds, black, red, and green, was first brought to Rome when Pompey triumphed over Mithridates. The geography of distant countries was so imperfectly known to the Romans, that they reckoned Ethiopia as a part of India : a circumstance which accounts for the apparent inaccuracy and confusion both of natural historians and poets, in fixing the locality of various productions. The following catalogue of allegorical personages is remarkable at once for the grandeur of the grouping, and a severely tasteful parsimony in the use of characteristic epithets or adjuncts : — Vestibulum ante ipsum, primisque in faucibus Orci, Luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae ; Pallentesque habitant Morbi, tristisque Senectus, Et Metus, et malesuada Fames, ac turpis Egestas, Terribiles visu formae ; Letumque Laborque ; Turn, consanguineus Leti, Sopor, et mala mentis Gaudia ; mortiferumque adverso in limine Bellum, Ferreique Eumenidum thalami, et Discordia demens, Vipereum crinem vittis innexa cruentis. The epithet malesuada to famine, as a pernicious counsellor, often leading her thrall to bad actions, is one of the happiest concentrations of an im- portant sentiment in a single word, to be met with even in this author so happy in his epithets. FROM VIRGIL. 411 The enumeration of crimes and punishments is concluded in the spirit, and almost in the words, of Homer : — Non, mihi si linguae centum sint, oraque centum, Ferrea vox, omnes scelerum comprendere formas, Omnia pcenarum percurrere nomina possim. Mn. lib. vi- lli the enumeration of the topics, which con- stituted the song of Iopas, Virgil has followed his master, Homer, especially adopting, as far as his inferior language would admit, the jjAjqs ax&pxs, without repose and yet without weariness, both which ideas are involved in the Greek epithet : — Hie canit errantem lunam, solisque labores ; Unde hominum genus, et pecudes ; unde imber, et ignes ; Arcturum, pluviasque Hyadas, geminosque Triones ; Quid tantum Oceano properent se tingere soles Hiberni, vel quae tardis mora noctibus obstet. Orion seems to be derived ami toS oglvsw 9 from dis- turbing and troubling. This is the character at- tributed to that constellation by common consent of all the ancient poets, astrologers, and historians : a most formidable star, leading rain, hail, and storm in its train. Thus Virgil, iEneid, lib. i. ; — - Hue cursus fuit : Quum, subito adsurgens fluctu, nimbosus Orion In vada caeca tulit, penitusque procacibus austris, Perque undas, superante salo, perque in via saxa Dispulit : hue pauci vestris adnavimus oris, 412 MISCELLANEOUS PASSAGES FROM VIRGIL. We have a spirited description of Styx, that river of which the gods themselves stood in awe : — JEneas, miratus enim, motusque tumultu, Die, ait, o virgo ! quid vult concursus ad amnem ? Quidve petunt animae ? vel quo discrimine ripas Hae linquunt, illse remis vada livida verrunt ? Olli sic breviter fata est longaeva sacerdos : Anchisa generate, deum certissima proles, Cocyti stagna alta vides, Stygiamque paludem, Di cujus jurare timent, et fallere, numen. JEn. lib. vi. The length of this article warns me to stop ; though the topics of laudatory criticism afforded by the subject are inexhaustible. It will be per- ceived, that neither in this, nor in my other collec- tions of miscellaneous passages, has my choice fallen on the most conspicuous parts of the re- spective authors. My object in making such selec- tions has rather been, to lead my younger readers to look at others besides what may be called the Elegant Extract passages of the classics, not only with a critical eye, but in reference to those de- ductions and practical applications, which almost every sentence of an eminent author, whether an* cient or modern, may furnish to acute, inquisitive, and reflecting minds. 41S QUAINT OPINIONS, EXPRESSIONS, AND MANNERS OF THE ANCIENTS. Anima certe, quia spiritus est, in sicco habitare non potest. — S. Augustin. Pliny says of the bear, " Nee alteri animalium in maleficio stultitia solertior." —Lib. viii. This is indeed a quaint and paradoxical attribute of Bruin's character. Not that the paradox involved in the antithesis, solertior stultitia, will not admit of an explanation analogous to that of vis inertia?, and many similar combinations ; but we are at a loss what to do with in maleficio. Folly may be busy, and bustling in left-handed attempts to do good, in impotent or accidentally successful efforts to do evil : but a consistent and well fol- lowed up plot of mischief, and nothing else could deserve the epithet of solei^s, must be an effort of strength, and not an ebullition of weakness. Har- duin's reading of astutia for stultitia, proposed con- jecturally without a shadow of authority, takes away the point and epigram of the sentence, and leaves the bare statement of a fact, probably in all the truth of natural history. The Flibbertigibbet of Shakspeare and the Great Unknown is in close alliance with those familiar spirits or hobgoblins, conceived by the ancients to amuse themselves by wrestling with men merely to put them into a fright. Puck is 414 QUAINT OPINIONS, EXPRESSIONS, the most delightful of all hobgoblins ; and Sir Jo- shua Reynolds, in his picture painted for the Shak- speare Gallery, proved how truly Shakspearian both his mind and pencil were. Pliny, in the pre- face to his Natural History, represents Plancus as humourously alluding to these ghostly opi- nions of the people : — " Nee Plancus illepide, cum diceretur Asinius Pollio orationes in eum pa- rare, quae ab ipso aut liberis post mortem Planci ederentur, ne respondere posset : Cum mortuis non nisi law as luctari." It is a practice among the vulgar, in modern times, to call down a blessing on the sneezer. We learn from Cicero, that the same absurdity pre- vailed among the ancients: — "Quae si suscipiamus, pedis oifensio nobis, et abruptio corrigise, et ster- nutamenta erunt observanda." But the modern benediction is only a remnant of a more extensive and ridiculous superstition. Not only was sneezing considered as a presage of impending events, but the prosperous or adverse characters of those events was calculated by the direction in which the prophetic convulsion took place, whether to the right or to the left. The dying speech and confession of the swan was among the most strange fancies of popular be- lief. It was, however, well adapted to poetical em- bellishment and illustration. The swans of the river Maeander were supposed to be most zealous in undertaking their own funerals. Ovid makes Dido begin her pathetic remonstrance to iEneas with an appeal to this authentic fact : — Sic, ubi fata vocant, udis abjectus in herbis, Ad vada Mseandri concinit albus olor. Epist. vii. AND MANNERS OF THE ANCIENTS. 415 There has been much dispute whether Horace, in his satires, means Tiresias to sneer at Ulysses, and covertly to express his private opinion of his own art, which is the most obvious sense, and lets down the pretence of prophecy to the level of the most ordinary capacity ; or whether in the words, O Laertiade, quidquid dicam, aut erit, aut non : Divinare etenim magnus mihi donat Apollo, Satir. lib. ii. sat. 5. we are to adopt a construction, which shall make the passage a serious assertion of prophetic truth. The rules of interpretation will fairly ad- mit the meaning to be, considering the sentence as elliptical, that whatever he says shall be, will come to pass ; and whatever he says shall not be, will not take place. The probability is that Horace intended the sense to be equivocal : in disguising the real meaning of the supposed diviner, he clearly, but safely, indicates his own opinion, that their pretended skill was mere imposition, and humourously makes the prophet assert his profes- sional character, in terms as ambiguous as those in w T hich his policy was in the habit of couching his oracular answers. Herodotus represents the evil consequences to the Eubceans, of having rejected the advice of an oracle, delivered in unusually intelligible terms, involving little more than the plain dictates of common sense : — Bax*2< yelp %$ 6 %^ & ^5 tovtm 4>pa^£0 f$ctgt3oig6$u)vov otolv tyyh sl$ aAa /3aAA7j B'J^Ajvov, EujSo'fys cbrsp^sjv TroAupjxa&xj cilycts* 416 QUAINT OPINIONS, EXPRESSIONS, There were three soothsayers, of the name of Bacis. The most ancient was of Eleus in Bceotia ; the second of Athens ; and the third of Caphya in Arcadia, who went also by the names of Cydus and Aletes. The most wonderful stories are told of this last. The following is a proverbial expression : — Anguilla'st, elabitur. Plant in Pseud. Among the number of strange fancies, is one, attaching to the number ten. The ancients thought, and many of the summer bathers at Brighton and Margate continue to think, that the tenth wave is larger, stronger, and more overwhelming than the other nine. If the military writers talk to us about the decuman legion and the decuman gate, the authors on natural history and agriculture talk of decuman pears being very fine and large ; and we are gravely . told, that the tenth egg is always the largest. Is not the tenth pig also the most plump of the litter? The decuman gate, we are told, was so called on account of its size. If its dimensions were imposing, its purpose was awful : — " Decumana autem porta quae appellatur, post praetorium est, per quam dehnquentes milites edu- cuntur ad portam." — Veget. Pomponius Mela tells us of a bandy-legged or baker-kneed nation in Ethiopia. Their name is derived from fytaj. " Ab eo tractu, quern ferae infe- stant, proximi sunt Himantopodes, inflexi lentis cruribus, quos serpere potius quam ingredi referunt; deinde Pharusii, aliquando, tendente ad Hesperidas Hercule, dites ; nunc inculti, et, nisi quod pecore aluntur, admodum inopes." — Lib. iii. cap. ult. OF THE ANCIENTS. 417 Seneca gives a very humourous account of per- sons leading a sort of antipodean life, doing every- thing by contraries, and living by candle-light. It seems an anticipation of modern hours in the fashionable world : — " Excedebat, inquit, coena ejus diem ? Minim e ! valde enim frugaliter vive- bat ; nihil consumebat, nisi noctem. Itaque, crebro dicentibus ilium quibusdam avarum et sor- didum: Vos, inquit, ilium et lychnobium dicatis! Non debes admirari, si tantas invenis vitiorum proprietates : varia sunt j innumerabiles habent facies ; comprendi eorum genera non possunt," E E 418 SOUND MORAL DOCTRINES OF THE ANCIENTS. Ay«7r»i ov tyrei ru suutyis* — Plato, in Symposio. Whatever we may think respecting the dete- rioration of style in the time of the Senecas, it seems as if Christian habits of thinking, marked by a more just feeling and philosophy, had thus early made a silent progress in the heathen mind. The following sentiment may indeed be found in anterior authors, but I doubt whether it be any where so simply and correctly stated : — Nemo tarn Divos habuit faventes, Crastinum ut possit sibi polliceri. Senec, in Thyeste. Ovid is not the poet to whom we should pre- ferably recur for morality. Yet the great principle of the connection between occupation and virtue is strongly stated and exemplified by him in his elegiac poem De Remed. Amor. : — Quseritis, JEgisthus quare sit factus adulter ? In promtu caussa est : desidiosus erat. The illustration is notorious, but strong and pointed. The general doctrine had been previously laid down : — ■ MORAL DOCTRINES OF THE ANCIENTS. 419 Otia si tollas, periere Cupidinis arcus, Contemtaeque jacent, et sine luce, faces : Quam platanus vino gaudet, quam populus unda, Et quam limosa canna palustris humo ; Tarn Venus otia amat. Seneca, not the tragedian, as quoted by Erasmus, but the philosopher, in the 107th of his epistles, borrows the following sentiment, closely expressed in a single iambic line, from the original Greek of Cleanthes the Stoic, whence Epictetus also trans- ferred it to ch. 77. of his Manual : — Ducunt volentem fata, nolentem trahunt. e e 2 420 POPULAR TRICKS AND SUPERSTITIOUS IMAGI, NATIONS OF THE ANCIENTS. Veteres iis quos irridere volebant, cornua dormientibus ca- piti imponebant, vel caudam vulpis, vel quid simile.— Scali- gerana. The Sortes Virgiliance furnish a specimen of Pagan superstition. To enter into any explanation of them might seem like paying the reader a bad compliment : but it may not be so generally known, that under the first race of the French kings, a most profane practice was substituted for the Homeric or Virgilian lots. Three different books of the Bible were taken, for instance, the Pro- phecies, the Gospels, and the Epistles of St. Paul. Having laid them on the altar of some saint, by way of enhancing the piety of the proceeding, the consulters opened the books at hazard, and entered into a solemn examination of the respective texts, to ascertain in what respects they were applicable to the points they wished to ascertain. It is ob- vious that this would not always end in mere folly ; but that the cunning contrivers of the accidental opening would take care the book should gape at such leaves, as should contain some fact or sen- timent which they might wrest to the purposes they designed to promote. Louis le Debonnaire POPULAR TRICKS, ETC. OF THE ANCIENTS, 421 had the merit of abolishing this custom. In the Ordinances of that emperor, the law to such effect is found in the following terms : — "Ut nullus in Psalterio, vel Evangelio, vel aliis rebus sortiri praesumat, nee divinationes aliquas observare." But even Socrates himself was not proof against this superstition ; as we learn from the following passage of Diogenes Laertius, in the Life of Socrates. It shows in a strong point of view the inconsistency of human wisdom in the wisest, that the man who could make such a reply as the fol- lowing to his wife ; T% yvvxiKos eiTrouoys, 3 A§Uoq$ owroflvii- 2% POPULAR TRICKS, ETC. Ovid gives the following account of the festival of Vesta, which was celebrated on the 9th of June, in his Fasti : ■ — Adspicit instantes mediis sex lucibus Idus Ilia dies, qua sunt vota soluta Deae. Vesta, fave : tibi nunc operata resolvimus ora : Ad tua si nobis sacra venire licet. Ovid's Medea, and Horace's Canidia, are both indebted to the Pharmaceutria of Theocritus for many of their love-charms. The wy? was a bird used by magicians in their incantations, supposed to be the wag-tail. The moon and the night, notwithstanding the supposed purity of Diana, have always kept bad company with sorcerers, and are the old accomplices of their abominations, as well as the receivers of lovers' vows, knowing them to be stolen : — BacrsDjaat ttotj tuv TifiotyyTOio TruXulfpetv Avpiov ov$ v)v '»§«;• xou jaepJ/Hjaa/, ola [xs noiii. Nuv he v\v Ix Svecjov xulu§6a7i/e xaAov t)v yag, 7roloiela.QIJ*(x.xo<. raOS' ephoKrct ^epslova pyre ti Klgxag M.yits ri> M»)5e/aj, fAYjTs %ixv§as IT epi[/,$oig. *lvy%9 eAxe tu Tvjvov gjxov irofi hoopoi rov uvdpao Manducus was the name given to a strange figure, dressed up frightfully, with wide jaws and large teeth, carried about at public shows : — - OF THE ANCIENTS. 423 C. Quid, si aliquo ad ludos me pro manduco locem ? L. Quapropter ? C. Quia pol clare crepito dentibus. Plautus, in JRudente. These grotesque masks were designed partly to raise terror, and partly laughter. Juvenal also alludes to them : — Pars magna Italiae est, si verum admittimus, in qua Nemo togam sumit, nisi mortuus. Ipsa dierum Festorum herboso colitur si quando theatro Majestas, tandemque redit ad pulpita notum Exodium, cum personae pallentis hiatum In gremio matris formidat rusticus infans. Sat. Hi. Superstition is often closely connected with vice, sometimes degenerating into it, and ulti- mately furnishing a mere cloak for it. The fes- tivals and ceremonies in honour of Bacchus, ce- lebrated by his frantic priestesses, whose very name is derived ano t§ palvso-Sm are thus indignantly described : — Nota Bonae secreta Deae, cum tibia lumbos Incitat ; et cornu pariter, vinoque feruntur Attonitae, crinemque rotant, ululantque Priapi Maenades. Juvenal, sat. vi, Morpheus is represented as one of the children of sleep, and as taking the human semblance : — At pater e populo natorum mille suorum Excitat artificem, simulatoremque figurae, Morphea. Ovid. MetamorpJi. xi. E E 4 424 POPULAR TRICKS, ETC. OF THE ANCIENTS. Another of the sons of sleep is denominated $o$r)Tcog 9 from the Greek po&jTpov, signifying affright, or a dreadful vision and phantom of night : — Hunc Icelon Super!, mortale Phobetora vulgus Nominat. 425 MISCELLANEOUS PASSAGES FROM PLUTARCH, We have an English proverb, that cleanliness is next to godliness. The sentiment, though quaint in terms, expresses an ancient and universal feel- ing with all people, sufficiently civilised to have " sat in good men's seats," or to " have been knolled to church by the bell" of any religious sect, false or true. Plutarch thus describes the magnificence of the funeral made for Timoleon by the Syracusans, and attended by the people dressed in what we should call their Sunday clothes : — IlgawSjCwrov Ss ttoKXx) [tvpio&sg avSgcov xai yvvciixwv, wv o^fig jxen y)v sooty, irgiTTOVcu, noivleov srsZavccpivow xat xot§apw$ tcrSrj- rag qooovv'lwv. The transfiguration of Christ, as recorded by Matthew, chap, xvii., forcibly illustrates the na- turally received connection, between whiteness and absolute purity : — " And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them : and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light." There is considerable obscurity and difficulty in the following passage of Plutarch's treatise, Cur Pythia nunc non reddat Oracula carmine. In the text of Wyttenbach it stands thus : — : Olftai 8s y<- vwa-xeiv to nag* 'HpaxXshop teyopsvov, o? ova£, ol to pxv° 426 MISCELLANEOUS PASSAGES FROM PLUTARCH. Teiov if* to h As\ "v«£, making the sense to be, that the king whose oracle, etc. i. e. Apollo, only furnishes a glance, or vista vision of futurity, neither explaining events categorically, nor veiling them in impenetrable darkness. The reading left by Wyttenbach to occupy the text, b'g oW£, is mani- festly incorrect. The words unabbreviated must be wg o ava^» There is much curious matter in the treatise of Plutarch on Isis and Osiris, with respect to the doctrines of Zoroaster concerning Oromazes, and Arimanius, and Mithras. Mithras was the media- torial power between the other two, whose respec- tive worship is thus characterised : 'E8/5a?e jalv ra suxtolxo, Sustv xui ^agi^gix., tco Se u7roTgo7ruiU xa\ o~xu§pci07roi* The proverb, Isiacum non facit Linostolia, the dress does not make the monk, seems to have originated with Plutarch : — Outs yotp $ ayudov : adhuc catulire, atque, ut Graeci dicere solent, xairpouv, et magna mercede con- ductum aliquem Phaonem inducere, fucis assidue vultum oblinere, nusquam a speculo discedere, inflmas pubis sylvam vellere, vietas ac putres osten- tare mammas, tremuloque gannitu languentem solicitare cupidinem, potitare, misceri puellarum choris, literulas amatorias scribere." The following passage is remarkable, as having furnished a subject of illustration to the pencil of Holbein : — " Rursum alios qui pecuniae con- tactum ceu aconitum horreant, nee a vino inters im, nee a mulierum contactu temperantes." The 428 MISCELLANEOUS PASSAGES FROM ERASMUS. Church was very sure to furnish the subject, and the order of Cordeliers was selected by the painter. Erasmus treats the doctors of the Sorbonne and their sophistry with very little reserve. Among other imputations, he says, " Theological scien- tial laudem, omnibus prope summotis, sibi pecu- liariter arrogant." 429 PASSAGE FROM SALLUST. Jr ostremo, corporis et fortunae bonorum, lit ini- tium, finis est ; omnia orta occidunt, et aucta senescunt : animus incorruptus, seternus, rector humani generis, agit atque habet cuncta, neque ipse habetur." — Jugurth. cap. 2. This is a noble common-place, and at the same time a fine and favourable specimen of the au- thor's manner. Habet here bears the same sense as in the following passage of Ovid : — Cum mihi, qui fulmen, qui vos habeoque regoque, Struxerit insidias, 430 MISCELLANEOUS PASSAGES FROM PLINY THE NATURAL HISTORIAN. " Eorum medius Sol fertur, amplissima magni- tudine ac potestate : nee temporum modo terra- rumque, sed siderum etiam ipsorum, ccelique rector. Hunc mundi esse totius animum, ac planius mentem: hunc principale naturae regimen, ac numen credere decet, opera ejus aestimantes. Hie lucem rebus ministrat, aufertque tenebras : hie reliqua sidera occultat, illustrat : hie vices temporum, annum que semper renascentem ex usu naturae temperat : hie cceli tristitiam discutit, atque etiam humani nubila animi serenat : hie suum lumen ceteris quoque sideribus fenerat. Praeclarus, eximius, omnia in- tuens, omnia etiam exaudiens, ut principi literarum Homero placuisse in uno eo video/' — Hist. Nat. lib. ii. cap. 6. This description of the sun, as the great vivifying principle of material nature, is dif- fuse, but extremely fine. In some respects, it bears a considerable resemblance to the passage in the last article, where Sallust represents the mind as incorruptible and eternal, the mover of the human frame, and the governor of human actions. " Ovium summa genera duo, tectum et colo- nicum : illud mollius, hoc in pascuo delicatius, MISCELLANEOUS PASSAGES FROM PLINY. 431 quippe cum tectum rubis vescatur." — Lib. ii. cap. 47. The first kind had the wool soft, curly, and short. The last had it long, thick, and shaggy. The former were called tectce oves, because their car- cases were carefully covered to preserve the beauty of their fleeces. We find, therefore, that the modern practice among fashionable breeders and agricul- tural dandies, of dressing their sheep in jackets, is only the revival of an ancient custom : so true is it, that there is nothing new under the sun. The latter were denominated ores colonicce, because they were left to take their chance in the pastures, with no better coat than what Nature in her tailor capacity had provided for them. Yet, clownish as they were, they had some advantage over their genteeler brethren : for the ancients had again anticipated us in the notable discovery and im- portant maxim, that, as food, the hardiest sheep make the best mutton. " Quod alii Orionis, alii Oti fuisse arbitrantur." — Lib vii. cap. 16. These are the names of fa- bulous giants. There is another reading : Quod alii Orionis, alii Etionis, §c. But the most correct editions retain Oti. The black letter editions of Pliny write this latter name Othns : but the proper orthography is Otus. Two historical giants are mentioned by this author, as having appeared in the time of Augustus: — " Pusioni et Secundillge erant nomina." Leontium, a courtesan, no very dignified anta- gonist to an eloquent philosopher, is alluded to by Pliny in the preface to his Natural History, as the woman who wrote against Theophrastus, and gave rise to the proverbial expression in the fol- 432 MISCELLANEOUS PASSAGES FROM lowing passage : — '" Ceu vero nesciam, adversus Theophrastum hominem in eloquentia tantum, ut nomen divinum inde invenerit, scripsis.se etiam feminam, et proverbium inde natum, suspendio ar- borem eligendi. Non queo mihi temperare, quo- minus ad hoc pertinentia ipsa censorii Catonis verba ponam : ut inde appareat, etiam Catoni de Militari disciplina commentanti, qui sub Africano, immo vero et sub Annibale didicisset militare, et ne Africanum quidem ferre potuisset, qui imperator triumphum reportasset, paratos fuisse istos, qui obtrectatione alienae scientiae famam sibi aucu- pantur." Cicero also mentions Leontium as writing against Theophrastus ; Epicurus, Metrodorus, and Hermachus against Pythagoras, Plato, and Empe- docles. Vegetius speaks of Cato's treatise on military discipline. Livy imputes to Cato an un- worthy jealousy of Scipio Africanus, and Pliny here acquaints us that he experienced retaliation in an invidious attack on himself as a writer on military subjects. The credulity of the ancient compilers of natural history was extreme. What are we to think of Pliny opening the twenty-fifth chapter of his ninth book with such gossips' tales as these ? — " Est parvus admodum piscis adsuetus petris, echeneis appellatus : hoc carinis adhaerente naves tardius ire creduntur, inde nomine imposito : quam ob causam amatoriis quoque veneficiis infamis est, et judiciorum ac litium mora ; quae crimina una laude pensat, fluxus gravidarum utero sistens, partusque continens ad puerperium." The following description of cups, fragile in their texture, in the preface to book xxxiii., goes very nearly to represent our modern china : — PLINY THE NATURAL HISTORIAN. 433 " Murrhina et crystallina ex eadem terra effodimus, quibus pretium facer et fragilitas." The Troglodytes were a people of Ethiopia, below Egypt, so called from their inhabiting sub- terranean holes and caverns, from the word rpwy\^ a hole, a defile, or a cavern, and §6voo, to enter generally, and specifically, to enter in a crouching and creeping attitude : — " Troglodytse specus ex- cavant. Hge illis domus, victus serpentium carnes, stridorque, non vox : adeo sermonis commercio ca- rent : Garamantes matrimoniorum exsortes, passim cum feminis degunt." — Lib. v. cap. 8. Making allowance for Pliny's habitual tendency to the mar- vellous, these people must have been in the lowest condition of human nature. F F 434 PASSAGE FROM JELIAN DE NATURA ANI- MALIUM. J\.7rov, *va (X.Y) nors vsrjKu^eg bvrsg ol ®getxeg r i7nroi 9 sir ex. [asvtoi sxtt^tIoovtou roig vsxpolg iju,7rX#7*- ropsvoi, xcxi otYj^cjog xcer uutvqv, clog nvcov cpofispcuv fiouvovTsg, ct7ro]Aov, ovx £7rap£$>j£ ou$s Spcutvc, uKKoi fJ*sycc$ slvat loxsl xct) eoJ-^^jT0s , a>$ 7rov xcii tov UutpoxKov 6 %oi^TY^ ^stpiov G G 2 452 MISCELLANEOUS PASSAGES xu) ctVETrtipSovov ev tw xot.Tog$ovv } ev 8s too reXevTuv [AeyaXriyogav •G7S7To/>]X£ Xeyovrct, Toiovtoi 8' elireg pot eelxoo~iv uVTe£6\rij crs, yegcav meg eobv 9 jv 3 K.07rroov af/,V-st;eXao~cu[j,i, o~vog wg XyiGoTelgYig. 'Lcocai vvv, r {va nuvTsg e7nyvoo(jog $ av o~b vecoTegcp avdg) pa^ou) $ FROM HOMER. 453 *£lc ol [jJev 7rg07rtzgoifa Svgavov u^/r t \aoov Ovfov S7n %s^' Is gov \lsvoc, 'Avtivqoio, Odyss. lib. xviii. An English farmer would be surprised to hear that the modern practice of pounding cattle might be considered as a refinement on a very ancient custom, of barbarous severity, but a radical cure for trespassing. iElian thus describes it, De Nat. Animal, lib. v. cap. 45. : — 'Ev ^ahaipm 1= ^xwgov CtTOV XCi) KYjtoV X.0fJ,WVT0$ SUV J *Ay%i 7rugto-TUfj.svYi ^g'As' ?X8«V£ TTMfievi Kuwv. Mvr / <7Tr / £r£ S* ugu ituvTsc V7rsg$iu\co$ uyucruvTO' 'OS* Is Tig ehretrxev Mobv eg ttXyjo'Iov uKXov 'H Tuyu 'Igog uigoc l?r»WaoT0V xuxbv Ifer O^v Ik fuxswv b ysgcov «nyouv/8# Qctiveu 454 MISCELLANEOUS PASSAGES *ll$ ug tyotv *Iga) Se xaxwg wglvero $vpo$' 'AAAa xu) w$ dgyo-TYigss uyov gaxroiVTs$ avayxy, AetiioTix.* vagxeg Ss li&giTg'ofAsoVTO (j,sks) tovtov ys Tgopesis xou dsihas u\voo$ y "Avdgct yegovTu, Soy a^vjjuivov, v\ pw Ixtxvet. 'AAA' ex roi egeoo, to Ss xct) Terekeo-pevov eo-rat, Ai hsv jA>j|U,ova 7ra.VTcov, r/ 0$ x' a7ro p»va rufXYjO-i xu) ouutcl vqkei x&kxco, M)j$ea t e£e§v)Ai/0ov avS^sg T^wjiTa/, [Aug? uyovreg aSugpoiTOi vy\i [asXxivyj. "Etrxs £s nargoc, i^xoTo yuvrj QoIvhtg- 3 sv) oixca, KaAvj ts \LzyoCkf\ re, xct) uyKaci egy e'&vioc Tr}V ft OipCi OiVlXS$ TTOXWirOLlTrOLkOl Yj7rsg07TSV0V Uhwovo-Yj ri$ Trgc/JTU piyr), xol\y noigci vyi, Euvrj xcci (pjAoVyjTi' Ta tz egz$h Sw. 456 MISCELLANEOUS PASSAGES FROM PLAUTUS. Plautus, in the last scene of the Trinummus, thus describes the connection between inward feeling and outward expression : — Si quid stulte fecit, ut ea missa faciat omnia. Quid quassas caput ? Ch. Conciatur cor mihi, et metuo. The practice of unction was adopted by the Greeks and Romans on a variety of occasions : at gymnastic exercises, after public or private bathing, medicinally, and at banquets and festivals as a luxury. This custom at the bath is mentioned in Paenulo : — Quid multa verba ? faciam, ubi tu laveris, Ubi ut balneator faciat unguentariam. Sed hsec latrocinantur quae ego dixi omnia. The literal meaning of latrocinantur is, those who serve in war for pay. I have already remarked on the Miser of Plautus at considerable length : but I cannot refrain from adding the following passage, in which Euclio suspects that even the cock had been suborned by MISCELLANEOUS PASSAGES FROM PLAUTUS. 4,57 the cooks to scratch for his pot of crowns, and executes summary justice on him accordingly : — Condigne etiam meus me intus gallus gallinaceus, Qui erat anui peculiaris, perdidit paenissume. Ubi erat haec defossa, occoepit ibi scalpurire ungulis Circumcirca: quid opus est verbis ? ita mihi pectus per- acuit : Capio fustem, obtrunco gallum, furem manifestariurn. Credo ego edepol illi mercedem gallo pollicitos coquos, Si id palam fecisset. exemi e manu manubrium. Quid opus est verbis ? facta est pugna in gallo gallinaceo, Sed Megadorus meus affinis eccum incedit a foro. H H 458 PASSAGE FROM TACITUS. When we are told lib. iii. Annal. that Agrip- pina, " postquam duobus cam liberis, feralem urnam tenens, egressa navi, defixit oculos," &c. it seems from the testimony of concurrent historians, that the two children of Germanicus were Cali- gula, who went with his father into the East ; and Julia, who was born in the Isle of Lesbos. 459 PASSAGE FROM QUINCTILIAN. The great Roman authority, on the subject of education, was nearly as general in his system as those of the moderns who object to our public schools and universities, as being too confined and exclusive. He evidently wishes young students to revolve round all the sciences : — " Hasc de Gram* matica, quam brevissime potui, non ut omnia di- cerem sectatus, quod infinitum erat ; sed ut maxime necessaria : nunc de cseteris artibus, quibus institu- endos prius, quam tradantur rhetori, pueros existi- mo, strictim subjungam, ut efficiatur orbis ille doctrinae, quam Graeci \yx.U\w vruifelctv vocant." — Quinct. lib. i. ch. 10* 460 PASSAGE FROM ARISTOPHANES. Aristophanes is the most artful of satirists. He slides almost imperceptibly from general sarcasm to personalities. Before he particularises Socrates and his disciples by name, he sets their doctrines in an invidious light, and describes what he repre- sents as their sophistry, to consist in injury to the state, by the evasion of the laws, and fraud on in- dividuals by bilking their creditors.