 |
[38] Hist. Lat. Lit. vol. iii.
[39] The most powerful are perhaps the description of a storm (G. i. 316, sqq.). of the cold winter of Scythia (G. iii. 339, sqq.), and in a slightly different way, of the old man of Cerycia (G. iv. 125, sqq.).
[40] The latis otia fundis so much coveted by Romans. These remarks are scarcely true of Horace.
[41] Naples, Baiae, Pozzuoli, Pompeii, were the Brightons and Scarboroughs of Rome. Luxurious ease was attainable there, but the country was only given in a very artificial setting. It was almost like an artist painting landscapes in his studio.
[42] G. ii. 486. The literary reminiscences with which Virgil associated the most common realities have often been noted. Cranes are for him Strymonian because Homer so describes them. Dogs are Amyclean, because the Laco was a breed celebrated in Greek poetry. Italian warriors bend Cretan bows, &c.
[43] Cum canerem reges et praelia Cynthius aurem Vellit, et admomuit Pastorem Tityre, pingues Pascere oportet oves, deductum dicere carmen. (E. vi. 3).
[44] En erit unquam Ille dies tua cum liceat mihi dicere facta. (E. viii. 7).
[45] Mox tamen ardentes accingar dicere pugnas Caesaris, &c. (G. iii. 46). The Caesar is of course Augustus.
[46] This eagerness to have their exploits celebrated, though common to all men, is, in its extreme development, peculiarly Roman. Witness the importunity of Cicero to his friends, his epic on himself; and the ill- concealed vanity of Augustus. We know not to how many poets he applied to undertake a task which, after all, was never performed (except partially by Varius).
[47] Except perhaps by Plato, who, with Sophocles, is the Greek writer that most resembles Virgil.
[48] Virgil, like Milton, possesses the power of calling out beautiful associations from proper names. The lists of sounding names in the seventh and tenth Aeneids are striking instances of this faculty.
[49] It is true this law is represented as divine, not human; but the principle is the same.
[50] Niebuhr, Lecture, 106.
[51] For example, Sallust at the commencement of his Catiline regards it as authoritative.
[52] Cf. Geor. ii. 140-176. Aen. i. 283-5; vi. 847-853; also ii. 291, 2; 432-4; vi. 837; xi. 281-292.
[53] Loc. cit.
[54] Observe the care with which he has recorded the history and origin of the Greek colonies in Italy. He seems to claim a right in them.
[55] This word, as Mr. Nettleship has shown in his Introduction to the Study of Virgil, is used only of Turnus.
[56] xi. 336, sqq. But the character bears no resemblance to Cicero's.
[57] There are no doubt constant rapports between Augustus and Aeneas, between the unwillingness of Turnus to give up Lavinia, and that of Antony to give up Cleopatra, &c. But it is a childish criticism which founds a theory upon these.
[58] ton katholon estin, Arist. De Poet.
[59] "Urbis orbis."
[60] Suggestions Introductory to the Study of the Aeneid.
[61] The Greek heroic epithets dios, kalos, agathos, &c. primarily significant of personal beauty, were transferred to the moral sphere. The epithet pius is altogether moral and religious, and has no physical basis.
[62] Pater ipse colendi; haud facilem esse viam voluit, and often. The name of Jupiter is in that poem reserved for the physical manifestations of the great Power.
[63] The questions suggested by Venus's speech to Jupiter (Aen. 1, 229, sqq.) as compared with that of Jupiter himself (Aen. x. 104), are too large to be discussed here. But the student is recommended to study them carefully.
[64] Like Dante, he was held to be Theologus nullius dogmatis expers. See Boissier, Religion des Romains, vol. i ch. iii. p. 260.
[65] Aen. xii. 882.
[66] Ib. xii. 192.
[67] See Macr. Sat. i. 24, 11.
[68] Boissier, from whom this is taken, adduces other instances. I quote an interesting note of his (Rel. Rom. p. 261): "Cependant, quelques difficiles trouvaient que Virgile s'etait quelquefois trompe. On lui reprochait d'avoir fait immoler par Enee un taureau a Jupiter quand il s'arrete dans la Thrace et y fonde une ville, et selon Ateius Capito et Labeon, les lumieres du droit pontifical, c'etait presqu'un sacrilege. Voila donc, dit-on, votre pontife qui ignore ce que savent meme les sacristains! Mais on peut repondre que precisement le sacrifice en question n'est pas acceptable des dieux, et qu'ils forcent bientot Enee par de presages redoutables, a s'eloigner de ce pays. Ainsi en supposant que la science pontificale d'Enee soit en defaut, la reputation de Virgile reste sans tache."
[69] Aen. x. 288.
[70] "Fierement dessine." The expression is Chateaubriand's.
[71] xii. 468.
[72] The reader is referred to a book by M. de Bury, "Les femmes du temps d'Auguste," where there are vivid sketches of Cleopatra, Livia, and Julia.
[73] Aen. i. 402; ii. 589.
[74] A list of passages imitated from Latin poets is given in Macrob. Sat. vi., which should be read.
[75] Such as Latium from latere, (Aen. viii. 322), and others, some of which may be from Varro or other philologians.
[76] A few instances are, the origin of Ara Maxima (viii. 270), the custom of veiled sacrifices (iii. 405), the Troia sacra (v. 600), &c.
[77] The pledging of Aeneas by Dido (i. 729), the god Fortunus (v. 241).
[78] E.g. the allusion to the legendary origin of his narrative by the preface Dicitur, fertur (iv. 205; ix. 600).
[79] E.g. olli, limus, porgite, pictai, &c.: mentem aminumque, teque ... tuo cum flumine sancto; again, calido sanguine, geminas acies, and a thousand others. His alliteration and assonance have been noticed in a former appendix.
CHAPTER III.
[1] In the consulship of L. Aurelius Cotta and L. Manlius Torquatus. "O nate mecum consule Manlio," Od. III. xxi. 1; Epod xiii. 6.
[2] Libertino patre natum, Sat. I. vi. 46.
[3] Natus dum ingenuus, ib. v. 8.
[4] Sat. I. vi. 86.
[5] Me fabulosae Vulture in Apulo, &c.; Od. iii. 4, 9.
[6] Ep. II. i. 71.
[7] S. I. vi. 8.
[8] Juv. vii. 218.
[9] Sat. I. iv. 113.
[10] Ep. II. ii. 43.
[11] Quae mihi pareret legio Romana tribuno, Sat. I. vi, 48.
[12] O saepe mecum tempus in ultimum deducte, Od. II. vii. 1.
[13] Ib. 5.
[14] Ep. II. ii. 51.
[15] Sueton. Vit. Hor.; cf. Sat. II. vi. 37, De re communi scribae te orabant ...reverti.
[16] Ep. ii. 2, 51.
[17] S. I. vi. 55.
[18] Iubesque esse in amicorum numero.—Ib. This expression is important, since many scholars have found a difficulty in Horace's accompanying Maecenas so soon after his accession to his circle, and have supposed that Sat. I. v. refers to another expedition to Brundisium, undertaken two years later. This is precluded, however, by the mention of Cocceius Nerva.
[19] S. ii. 3. 11.
[20] Ep. I. vi. 16.
[21] Nullius addictus iurare in verba magistri, Ep. I. i. 14.
[22] S. I. ii. 25.
[23] Suet. Vit. Hor. Fragments of four letters are preserved. One to Maecenas, "Ante ipse sufficiebam scribendis epistolis amicorum; nunc occupatissimus et infirmus, Horatium nostrum te cupio adducere. Veniet igiur ab ista parasitica mensa ad hanc regiam, et nos in epistolis scribendis adiuvabit." Observe the future tense, the confidence that his wish will not be disputed. He received to his surprise the poet's refusal, but to his credit did not take it amiss. He wrote to him, "Sume tibi aliquid iuris apud me, tanquam si convictor mihi fueris; quoniam id usus mihi tecum esse volui, si per valetudinem tuam fieri potuisset." And somewhat later, "Tui qualem habeam memoriam poteris ex Septimio quoque nostro audire; nam incidit, ut illo coram fieret a me tui mentio. Neque enim, si tu superbus amicitiam nostram sprevisti, ideo nos quoque anthuperphronoumen." The fourth fragment is the one translated in the text.
[24] Quem rodunt omnes ... quia sum tibi, Maecenas, convictor, S. I. vi. 46. Contrast his tone, Ep. I. xix. 19, 20; Od. iv. 3.
[25] Sat. I. ix.
[26] Sat. II. vi. 30, sqq.
[27] S. II. vi. 1.
[28] O. II. xviii. 14; III. xvi. 28, sqq.
[29] The year in which he received the Sabine farm is disputed. Some (e.g. Grotefend) date it as far back as 33 B.C.; others, with more probability, about 31 B.C.
[30] They were probably published simultaneously in 23 B.C. If we take the earlier date for his possession of the Sabine farm, he will have been nearly ten years preparing them.
[31] Ep. I. ix.
[32] Ep. I. xvii. and xviii.
[33] Ep. I. xiv.
[34] The first seven stanzas of IV. 6, with the prelude (III. i. 1-4), are supposed to have been sung on the first day; I. 21 on the second; and on the third the C. S. followed by IV. vi. 28-44.
[35] See p.38.
[36] C. xxxii.
[37] Od. IV. 4.
[38] Ep. I. i. 10.
[39] Ep. I. xx.
[40] Od. II. xvii. 5.
[41] E.g. the infamous Sextus Menas who is attacked in Ep. 4.
[42] Epod. 5 and 17, and Sat. I. viii.
[43] Epod. viii. xii.; Od. iv. xiii.
[44] The sorceresses or fortune-tellers. Some have without any authority supposed her to have been a mistress of the poet's, whose real name was Gratidia, and with whom he quarrelled.
[45] I. xxxv.
[46] II. xvii.
[47] Cf. Troiae renascens alite lugubri... with Occidit occideritque sinas cum nomine Troia. In both cases Juno is supposed to utter the sentiment. This can hardly be mere accident.
[48] Ep. I. i. 33, Fervet avaritia miseroque cupidine pectus; Sunt verba et voces quibus hunc lenire dolorem Possis.
[49] Od. I. xii. 17.
[50] Od. I. ii. 43.
[51] Od. IV. v. 1.
[52] Od. III. iii. 9.
[53] Ep. II. i. 15.
[54] The best instance is Od. III. vi. 45, where it is expressed with singular brevity.
[55] Od. I. xi. among many others.
[56] A. P. 391, sqq.; S. I. iii. 99.
[56] Ep. I. iv. and ii. 55.
[57] E.g. laborum decepitur, Od. II. xiii. 38. The reader will find them all in Macleane's Horace.
[58] The most extraordinary instance of this is Od. IV. iv. 17, where in the very midst of an exalted passage, he drags in the following most inappropriate digression—Quibus Mos unde deductus per omne Tempus Amazonia securi Dextras obarmet quaerere distuli, Nec scire fas est omnia. Many critics, intolerant of the blot, remove it altogether, disregarding MS. authority.
[59] Ego apis Matinae more modoque ... operosa parvus carmina fingo, Od. IV. ii. 31.
[60] Od. IV. iv. 33.
[61] Od. III. iii. 17.
[62] Od. III. xxviii.
[63] Od. III. xi.
[64] Od. III. ix.
[65] I.e. the hall where rhetorical exhibitions were given.
[66] Nisi quod pede certo differt sermoni, sermo merus, S. I. iv. So the title sermones.
[67] We learn this from the life by Suetonius.
[68] E.g. invideor, imperor, se impediat (S. I. x. 10) = impediatur; amphora coepit institui for coepta est. Others might easily be collected.
[69] S. I. iv. 10; S. II. i. in great part.
[70] S. L. iv 60, Postquam Discordia tetra Belli ferratos postes portasque refregit. These are also imitated by Virgil; but they do not appear to show any particular beauty.
[71] S. I. v. 101; Ep. I. iv. 16.
[72] Neque simius iste Nil praeter Calvum et doctus cantare Catullum (S. I. x. 19). I cannot agree with Mr. Martin (Horace for English Readers. p. 57), who thinks the allusion not meant to be umcomplimentary.
[73] Parios iambos has been ingeniously explained to mean the epode, i.e. the iambic followed by a shorter line in the same or a different rhythm, e.g. pater Lukamba poion ephraso tode; ti sas paraeeire phrenas; but it seems more natural to give Parios the ordinary sense. Cf. Archilochum proprio rabies armavit iambo, A. P. 79.
[74] Ep. I. xix. 24.
[75] S. i. 118, Omne vafer vitium ridenti Flaccus amico Tangit, et admissus circum praecordia ludit, Callidus excusso populum suspendere naso.
[76] Tib. IV. i. 179, Est tibi qui possit magnis se accingere rebus Valgius: aeterno propior non alter Homero.
[77] Od. II. ix. 19.
[78] Quint. III. i. 18. Unger, quoted by Teuffel, S 236, conjectures that for Nicandrum frustra secuti Macer atque Virgilius, we should read Valgius, in Quint. X. i. 56.
[79] Sat. I. ix. 61.
[80] Arguta meretrice potes Davoque Chremeque Eludente senem comis garrire libellas Unus vivorum, Fundani. After all, this praise is equivocal.
[81] Pindarici fontis qui non expalluit haustus.... An tragica desaevit et ampullatur in arte? Ep. I. iii. 10.
[82] Ep. I. viii. 2.
[83] Ep. I. iii. 15.
[84] Od. IV. ii. 2.
[85] Od. iv. ii. 2, quoted by Teuffel.
[86] Od. I. xxxiii.; Ep. I. iv.
CHAPTER IV.
[1] E.g. In the first 100 lines of the Remedium Amoris, a long continuous treatise, there is only one couplet where the syntax is carried continuously through, v. 57, 8, Nec moriens Dido summa vidisset ab arce Dardanias vento vela dedisse rates, and even here the pentameter forms a clause by itself. Contrast the treatment of Catullus (lxvi. 104-115) where the sense, rhythm, and syntax are connected together for twelve lines. The same applies to the opening verses of Virgil's Copa. Tate's little treatise on the elegiac couplet correctly analyses the formal side of Ovid's versification. As instances of the relation, of the elegiac to the hexameter—iteration (Her. xiii. 167), Aucupor in lecto mendaces caelibe somnos; Dum careo veris gaudia falsa iuvant: variation (Her. xiv. 5), Quod manus extimuit iugulo demittere ferrum Sum rea: laudarer si scelus ausa forem: expansion (id. 1), Mittit Hypermnestra de tot modo fratribus una: Cetera nuptarum crimine turba iacet: condensation (Her. xiii. 1), Mittit et optat amans quo mittitur ire salutem, Haemonis Haemonio Laodamia viro: antithesis (Am. I. ix. 3), Quae bello est habilis veneri quoque convenit aetas; Turpe senex miles turpe senilis amor. These illustrations might be indefinitely increased, and the analysis carried much further. But the student will pursue it with ease for himself. Compare ch. ii. app. note 3.
[2] Ecl. x. 2.
[3] Two Greek Epigrams (Anthol. Gr. ii. p. 93) are assigned to him by Jacobs (Teuffel).
[4] Quint. x. 1, 93.
[5] Mart. iv. 29, 7.
[6] Id. vii. 29, 8.
[7] v. 17, 18.
[8] Tr. II. x. 6.
[9] El. I. i. 19.
[10] Ep. I. iv. 7.
[11] Prisca iuvent alios: ego me nunc denique natum Gratulor: haec aetas moribus apta meis (A. A. iii. 121). Ovid is unquestionably right.
[12] Od. I. xxxiii. 2.
[13] El. I. 7; II. 1. Tibullus turns from battle scenes with relief to the quiet joys of the country.
[14] Others read Plautia, but without cause.
[15] El. ii. 21.
[16] Ib. i. 57.
[17] Ib. ii. 1.
[18] Albi, nostrorum sermonum candide index, Hor. Ep. I. iv.
[19] Ov. Am. III. ix. 32, implies that Delia and Nemesis were the two successive mistresses of the poet.
[20] El. IV. ii. 11, 12, urit ... urit. Cf. G. i. 77, 78. Again, dulcissima furta (v. 7), cape tura libens (id. 9); Pone metum Cerinthe (iv. 15), will at once recall familiar Virgilian cadences.
[21] Ib. IV. vi. 2; vii. 8.
[22] Ib. IV. viii. 5; x. 4.
[23] S. I. ix. 45.
[24] Ib. iv. 23, 24; v. 8, 1.
[25] Whatever may be thought of his identity with Horace's bore, and it does not seem very probable, the passage, Ep. II. ii. 101, almost certainly refers to him, and illustrates his love of vain praise.
[26] Merivale has noticed this in his eighth volume of the History of the Romans.
[27] As instances of his powerful rhythm, we may select Cum moribunda niger clauderet ora liquor; Et graviora rependit iniquis pensa quasillis: Non exorato stant adamante vias; and many such pentameters as Mundus demissis institor in tunicis; Candida purpureis mixta papaveribus.
[28] See El. I. ii. 15, sqq.; I. iii. 1-8, &c.
[29] Ib. ii. 34, 61.
[30] El. iii. (iv.) 6 (7).
[31] Ib. v. (iv.) 7.
[32] Ib. iv. (iii.) 8 (9). Two or three other elegies are addressed to him.
[33] iv. (iii.) 1, 3.
[34] On these see next chapter, p. 320.
[35] See Contr. ii. 11.
[36] Trist. I. ii. 77.
[37] So says the introduction; but it is of very doubtful authenticity.
[38] Am. II. i. 11.
[39] A. A. III. 346, ignotum hoc aliis ille novavit opus
[40] G. iii, 4, sqq.
[41] These remarks apply equally to the Metamorphoses, and indeed to all Ovid's works.
[42] Lex Papia-Poppaea.
[43] It is probable that the Art of Love was published 3 B.C., the year of Julia's exile.
[44] Some have, quite without due grounds, questioned the authenticity of this fragment.
[45] Tac. De Or. xiii; Quint. X. i. 98.
[46] i. vii. 27.
[47] See the witty invocation to Venus, Bk. IV. init.
[48] F. ii. 8.
[49] The most beautiful portions are perhaps the following:—The Story of Phaethon (ii. 1), the Golden Age (i. 89), Pyramus and Thisbe (iv. 55), Baucis and Philemon, a rustic idyl (viii. 628), Narcissus at the Fountain (iii. 407), The Cave of Sleep (xi. 592), Daedalus and Icarus (viii. 152), Cephalus and Procris (vii. 661), The passion of Medea (vii. 11), from which we may glean some idea of his tragedy.
[50] The chief passages bearing on it are, Tr. II. 103; III. v. 49; VI. 27; IV. x. 90. Pont, I. vi. 25; II. ix. 75; III. iii. 75.
[51] Such names as Messala, Graecinus, Pompeius, Cotta, Fabius Maximus, occur in his Epistles.
[52] This continual dwelling on mythological allusions is sometimes quite ludicrous, e.g., when he sees the Hellespont frozen over, his first thought is, "Winter was the time for Leander to have gone to Hero; there would have been no fear of drowning!"
[53] His abject flattery of Augustus hardly needs remark. It was becoming the regular court language to address him as Jupiter or Tonans; when Virgil, at the very time that Octavius's hands were red with the proscriptions, could call him a god (semper erit Deus), we cannot wonder at Ovid fifty years later doing the same.
[54] E.g. 69-90.
[55] We may notice with regard to the Ciris that it is very much in Ovid's manner, though far inferior. I think it may be fixed with certainty to a period succeeding the publication of the Metamorphoses. The address to Messala, v. 54, is a mere blind. The goddess Sophia indicates a later view than Ovid, but not necessarily post-Augustan. The goddess Crataeis (from the eleventh Odyssey), v. 67, is a novelty. The frivolous and pedantic object of the poem (to set right a confusion in the myths), makes it possible that it was produced under the blighting government of Tiberius. Its continual imitations make it almost a Virgilian Cento.
[56] Tac. Ann. vi. 18.
[57] Pont. IV. xvi.
[58] Am. II. xviii. 27.
[59] IV. xvi. 27.
[60] Quint. X. i. 89.
[61] I.e. that waged with Sextus Pompey.
[62] Suas. vi. 26.
[63] Pont. VI. xvi. 5.
[64] Pont. VI. xvi. 34.
[65] The name Faliscus is generally attached to him, but apparently without any certain authority.
[66] I. 898.
[67] IV. 935.
[68] Ib. 764.
[69] V. 513.
[70] Manilius hints at the general dislike of Tiberius in one or two obscure passages, e.g. I. 455; II. 290, 253; where the epithets tortus, pronus, applied to Capricorn, which was Tiberius's star, hint at his character and his disgrace. Cf. also, I. 926.
[71] De Or. I. 16.
[72] It may interest the reader to catalogue some of his peculiarities. We find _admota moenibus arma_ (iv. 37), a phrase unknown to military language; _ambiguus terrae_ (II. 231), _agiles metae Phoebi_ (I. 199) = circum quas agiliter se vertit; _Solertia facit artes_ (I. 73) = invenit. Attempts at brevity like _fallente solo_ (I. 240) = Soli declivitas nos longitudine fallens; _Moenia ferens_ (I. 781) = muralem coronam; inaequales Cyclades_ (iv. 637), _i.e._ ab inaequalibus procellis vexatae, a reminiscence from Hor. (Od. II. ix. 3). Constructions verging on the illegitimate, as _sciet, quae poena sequetur_ (iv. 210); _nota aperire viam_, sc. sidera (I. 31); _Sibi nullo monstrante loquuntur Neptuno debere genus_ (II. 223); _Suus_ for eius (IV. 885); _nostrumque parentem Pars sua perspicimus_. The number might be indefinitely increased. See Jacob's full index.
[73] These are worth reading. They are—I. 1-250, 483-539; II. 1-150, 722-970; III. 1-42; IV. 1-118 (the most elaborate of all), 866-935; V. 540-619, the account of Perseus and Andromeda.
[74] A hint borrowed from Plato's Timaeus.
[75] I. 246. An instance of a physical conclusion influencing moral or political ones. The theory that seas separate countries has always gone with a lack of progress, and vice versa.
[76] Vis animae divina regit, sacroque meatu Conspirat deus et tacita ratione gubernat (I. 250).
[77] Hyg. P. A, ii. 14.
[78] I. 458.
[79] II. 58.
[80] Mundi Vates, II. 148.
[81] E.g. that of spring, V. 652-668.
[82] E.g. the transitions Nunc age (iii. 43), Et quoniam dictum est (iii. 385); Percipe (iv. 818), &c.; the frequent use of alliteration (i. 7, 52, 57, 59, 63, 84, 116, &c.); of asyndeton (i. 34; ii. 6); polysyndeton (i. 99, sqq.).
[83] E.g. pedibus quid iungere certis (iii. 35).
[84] E.g. in those of Phaethon, and Perseus and Andromeda.
[85] E.g. alia proseminat usus (i. 90); inde species (ii. 155), &c.
[86] Facis ad (i. 10); caelum et (i.795); conor et (in thesi. iii. 3); pudent (iv. 403).
[87] E.g. clepsisset (i. 25); itiner (i. 88); compagine (i. 719); sorti abl. (i. 813); audireque (ii 479).
[88] E.g. the plague so depopulated Athens that (ii. 891) de tanto quondam populo vix contigit heres! At the battle of Actium (ii. 916); in Ponto quaesitus rector Olympi!
CHAPTER V.
[1] He was an adept in the res culinaria. Tac. An. vi. 7, bitterly notes his degeneracy.
[2] Haterii canorum illud et profluens cum ipso simul extinctum est, Ann. iv. 61.
[3] The author of two books on figures of speech, an abridged translation of the work of Gorgias, a contemporary Greek rhetorician.
[4] Seneca and Quintilian quote numerous other names, as Passienus, Pompeius, Silo, Papirius Flavianus, Alfius Flavus, &c. The reader should consult Teuffel, where all that is known of these worthies is given.
[5] The praenomen M. is often given to him, but without authority.
[6] Probably until 38 A.D.
[7] Contr. I. praef. ii.
[8] See Teuffel, S 264.
[9] His son speaks of his home as antiqua et severa.
[10] Caesar, it will be remembered, was greatly struck with the attention given to the cultivation of the memory in the Druidical colleges of Gaul.
[11] Many of these facts are taken from Seeley's Livy, Bk. I. Oxford, 1871.
[12] L. Seneca (Epp. xvi. 5, 9) says: "Scripsit enim et dialogos quos non magis philosophiae annumeres quam historiae et ex professo philosophiam continentes libros." These half historical, half philosophical dialogues may perhaps have resembled Cicero's dialogue De Republica: Hertz supposes them to have been of the same character as the logistopika of Varro (Seeley, v. 18).
[13] Tac. Ann. iv. 34.
[14] Sen. N. Q.
[15] Plin. Ep. ii. 3.
[16] Praef. ad Nat. Hist.
[17] De. Leg. i. 2. See also Book II. ch. iii. init.
[18] Maiorum quisquis primus fuit ille tuorum Aut pastor fuit aut illud quod dicere nolo, Sat. viii. ult.
[19] E.g. III. 26. "When Cincinnatus was called to the dictatorship, he was either digging or ploughing; authorities differed. All agreed in this, that he was at some rustic work." Cf. iv. 12, and i. 24, where we have the sets of opposing authorities, utrumque traditur, auctores utroque trahunt being appended.
[20] A contemporary of the Gracchi; very little is known of him.
[21] Quaestor, 203 B.C. He wrote in Greek. A Latin version by a Claudius, whom some identify with Quadrigarius, is mentioned by Plutarch.
[22] For these see back, Bk. I. ch. 9.
[23] See App. p. 103.
[24] Fasti.
[25] See p. 88.
[26] Liv. viii. 40, Falsis imaginum titulis.
[27] viii. 18, 1.
[28] ix. 44, 6.
[29] i. 7.
[30] ii. 40, 10.
[31] xxx. 45.
[32] i. 46; x. 9.
[33] xliii. 13.
[34] i. 16.
[35] i. 26.
[36] E.g., the consuls being both plebeian, the auspices are unfavourable (xxiii. 31). Again, the senate is described as degrading those who feared to return to Hannibal (xxiv. 18). Varro, a novus homo, is chosen consul (xxii. 34).
[37] xxxvii. 39.
[38] xlii. 74.
[39] Cf. xlii 21; xliii. 10; xlv. 34.
[40] iv. 20, 5.
[41] viii. 11, Haec etsi omnis divini humanique memoria abolevit nova peregrinaque omnia priscis ac patriis praeferendo, haud ab re duxi verbis quoque iosis ut tradita nuncupataque sunt referre.
[42] Sur Tite-Live. The writer has been frequently indebted to this clear and striking essay for examples of Livy's historical qualities.
[43] xxxviii. 17.
[44] v. 44.
[45] vii. 34.
[46] As the invective of the old centurion who had been scourged for debt (ii. 23); Canuleius's speech on marriage (iv. 3); the admirable speech of Ligustinus showing how the city drained her best blood (xlii. 34).
[47] We cannot refrain from quoting an excellent passage from Dr. Arnold on the unreality of these cultivated harangues. Speaking of the sentiments Livy puts into the mouth of the old Romans, he says "Doubtless the character of the nobility and commons of Rome underwent as great changes in the course of years as those which have taken place in our own country. The Saxon thanes and franklins, the barons and knights of the fourteenth century, the cavaliers and puritans of the seventeenth, the country gentlemen and monied men of a still later period, all these have their own characteristic features, which he who would really write a history of England must labour to distinguish and to represent with spirit and fidelity; nor would it be more ridiculous to paint the members of a Wittenagemot in the costume of our present House of Commons than to ascribe to them our habits of thinking, or the views, sentiments, and language of a modern historian."
[48] The latter given by Seneca the elder, the former xxxix. 40.
[49] viii. 5.
[50] ii. 54, 5.
[51] xxx. 20.
[52] xxi. 10.
[53] i. 26, 10.
[54] E.g. Haec ubi dicta dedit: ubi Mars est atrocissimus: stupens animi; laeta pascua, &c. (Teuffel).
[55] Auctor e severissimis, Plin. xi. 52, 275.
[56] The view that he flourished under Titus is altogether unworthy of credit.
[57] See pref. to Book VI.
[58] II. pref. 5.
[59] Many of these facts are borrowed from the Dict. Biog. s. v.
[60] Pref. to Book VII.
[61] Epist. ad Car. Magn. Praef. ad Paul. Diac.
[62] Tr. iii. 14, is perhaps addressed to him.
[63] S 257, 7.
[64] Ep. i. 19, 40.
BOOK III.
CHAPTER I.
[1] The Empire is here regarded solely in its influence on literature and the classes that monopolised it. If the poor or the provincials had written its history it would have been described in very different terms.
[2] Pont. iv. 2. Impetus ille sacer, qui vatum pectora nutrit Qui prius in nobis esse solebat abest. Vix venit ad partes; vix sumtae Musa tabellae Imponit pigras paene coacta manus.
[3] Suet. Tib. 70.
[4] Sat. vii. 234.
[5] Livy and Trogus.
[6] Varro.
[7] Cicero.
[8] Juv. vii. 197.
[9] See ii. 94 which contains exaggerated commendations on Tiberius.
[10] The author's humble estimate of himself appears, Si prisci oratores ab Jove Opt. Max. bene orsi sunt ... mea parvitas eo iustius ad tuum favorem decurrerit, quod cetera divinitas opinione colligitur, tua praesenti fide paterno avitoque sideri par videtur ... Deos reliquos accepimus, Caesarea dedimus.
[11] The reader is referred to Teuffel, Rom. Lit. S 274, 11.
[12] Daremberg.
[13] Notices of Celsus are—on his Husbandry, Quint. XII. xi. 24, Colum. I. i. 14; on his Rhetoric, Quint. IX. i. 18, et saep.; on his Philosophy, Quint. X. i. 124; on his Tactics, Veget. i. 8. Celsus died in the time of Nero, under whom he wrote one or two political works.
[14] See Sen. Contr. Praef. X. 2-4.
[15] Quint. X. i. 91.
[16] Mart. III. 20, Aemulatur improbi iocos Phaedri.
[17] Phaed. III. prol. 21.
[18] Phaed. IV. prol. 11; he carefully defines his fables as Aesopiae, not Aesopi.
[19] Quint. X. i. 95.
CHAPTER II.
[1] Cal. 34.
[2] Suet. Claud. 41.
[3] Id.
[4] See p. 11.
[5] Sen. de. Tr. 14, 4.
[6] Nero had asked Cornutus's advice on a projected poem on Roman history in 400 books. Cornutus replied, "No one, Sire, would read so long a work." Nero reminded him that Chrysippus had written as many. "True!" said Cornutus, "but his books are useful to mankind."
[7] v. Suetonius's Vita Persii.
[8] Pers. v. 21.
[9] Ib. i. 12.
[10] "Sed sum petulanti splene cachinno," Pers. i. 10.
[11] Himself a lyric poet (Quint. X. i. 96) of some rank. He also wrote a didactic poem, De Metris, of a similar character to that of Terentianus Maurus. Persius died 62 A.D.
[12] Vit. Pers.: this was before he had written the Pharsalia.
[13] Quint. X. i. 94.
[14] Mart. IV. xxix. 7.
[15] Pers. i. 96.
[16] E.g. i. 87, 103. Cf. v. 72.
[17] Pers. iii. 77.
[18] Ib. iv. 23.
[19] Ib. i. 116. The examples are from Nisard.
[20] Ep. ii. 1, 80.
[21] Pers. v. 103. Compare Lucan's use of frons, nec frons erit ulla senatus, where it seems to mean boldness. In Persius it = shame.
[22] A. P. 102.
[23] Pers. i. 91. Compare ii. 10; i. 65. with Hor. S. II. vi. 10; II. vii. 87.
[24] Ib. i. 124.
[25] Ib. i. 59.
[26] Ib. v. 119.
[27] Ib. vi. 25.
[28] The accuracy of this story has been doubted, perhaps not without reason. Nero's contests were held every five years. Lucan had gained the prize in one for a laudation of Nero, 59 A.D.(?), and the one alluded to in the text may have been 64 A.D. when Nero recited his Troica. Dio. lxii. 29.
[29] Perhaps Phars. iii. 635. The incident is mentioned by Tac., Ann. xv. 70.
[30] Phars. i. 33.
[31] Ib. vii. 432.
[32] I.e. beyond the bounds of the Roman empire.
[33] Martial alludes to Quintilian's judgment when he makes the Pharsalia say, me criticus negat esse poema: Sed qui me vendit bibliopola putat.
[34] Phars. v. 59.
[35] Si libertatis Superis tam cura placent Quam vindicta placet, Phars. iv. 806.
[36] Superum pudor, Phars. viii. 597.
[37] Ib. 605.
[38] Ib. 665.
[39] Ib. 800.
[40] Ib. 869, Tam mendax Magni tumulo quam Creta Tonantis.
[41] Ib. ix. 143.
[42] Ib. i. 128.
[43] Phars. vii. 454.
[44] Est ergo flamen ut Iovi ... sic Divo Iulio M. Antonius. Cic. Phil. ii.
[45] Nos te, Nos facimus Fortuna deam caeloque locamus, Juv. x. ult.
[46] Phars. v. 110, sqq.
[47] Ib. vi. 420-830.
[48] Ib. ii. 1-15.
[49] Ib. v. 199.
[50] Ib. ii. 380.
[51] Ib. ix. 566-586. This speech contains several difficulties. In v. 567 the reading is uncertain. The MS. reads An sit vita nihil, sed longam differat aetas? which has been changed to et longa? an differat actas? but the original reading might be thus translated, "Or whether life itself is nothing, but the years we spend here do but put off a long (i.e. an eternal) life?" This would refer to the Druidical theory, which seems to have taken great hold on him, that life in reality begins after death. See i. 457, longae vitae Mors media est, which exactly corresponds with the sentiment in this passage, and exemplifies the same use of longus.
[52] Capit impia plebes Cespite patricio somnos, Phars. vii. 760.
[53] Vivant Galataeque, Syrique, Cappadoces, Gallique, extremique orbis Iberi, Armenii, Cilices, nam post civilia bella Hic populus Romanus erit, Ib. vii. 335. Compare Juv. iii. 60; vii. 15.
[54] Phars. i. 56.
[55] Ib. vii. 174.
[56] See the long list, ii. 525, and the admirable criticism of M. Nisard.
[57] Phars. iii. 538, sqq.
[58] Ib. ix. 735.
[59] Of the seps Lucan says, Cyniphias inter pestes tibi palma nocendi est; Eripiunt onmes animam, tu sola cadaver (Phars. ix. 788).
[60] In allusion to the swelling caused by the prester, Non ausi tradere busto, Nondum stante modo, crescens fugere cadaver! Of the iaculus, a species which launched itself like an arrow at its victim, Deprensum est, quae funda rotat, quam lenta volarent, quam segnis Scythicae strideret arundinis aer.
[61] Phars. ix. 211.
[62] Ib. iv. 520.
[63] Silv. ii. 7, 54.
[64] Phars. v. 540.
[65] Ib. vi. 195.
[66] Phars. vii. 825.
[67] Ib. iv. 823.
[68] Ib iv. 185.
[69] The two passages are, Eumenidum veluti demens videt agmina Pentheus Et solem geminum et duplices se ostendere Thebas; Aut Agamemdnonius scaenis agitatus Orestes Armatum facibus matrem et squalentibus hydris cum fugit, ultricesque sedent in limiue Dirae (Aen. iv. 469). Lucan's (Phars. vii. 777), runs, Haud alios nondum Scythica purgatus in ara Emmenidum vidit vultus Pelopeius Orestes: Nec magis attonitos animi sensere tumultus, Cum fueret, Pentheus, aut cum desisset, Agave.
[70] Particularly that after the third foot, which is a feature in his style (Phars. vii. 464), Facturi qui monstra ferunt. This mode of closing a period occurs ten times more frequently than any other.
[71] I have collected a few instances where he imitates former poets:— Lucretius (i. 72-80), Ovid (i. 67 and 288), Horace (v. 403), by a characteristic epigram; Virgil in several places, the chief being i. 100, though the phrase belli mora is not Virgil's; ii. 32, 290, 408, 696; iii. 234, 391, 440, 605; iv. 392; v. 313, 610; vi. 217, 454; vii. 467, 105, 512, 194; viii. 864; x. 873.
[72] Phars. i. 363.
[73] Ib. viii. 3.
[74] Ib. i. 529.
[75] Phars. v. 479.
[76] Ib. v. 364.
[77] Metuentia astra, 51; Sirius irdex, 247. Cf. Man. i. 399 sqq.
[78] The rare form Ditis = Dis occurs in these two writers.
[79] Ep. 34, 2.
[80] Ep. 79, 1, 5, 7.
[81] See v. 208, 216, 304, 315, 334.
[82] Tac. A. xiv. 52, carmina orebrius factitare points to tragedy, since that was Nero's favourite study. Mart. i. 61, 7, makes no distinction between Seneca the philosopher and Seneca the tragedian, nor does Quint. ix. 2, 8, Medea apud Senecam, seem to refer to any but the well-known name. M. Nisard hazards the conjecture that they are a joint production of the family; the rhetorician, his two sons Seneca and Mela, and his grandson Lucan having each worked at them!
[83] Aen. iv. 11, Con.
[84] Hippol. 1124 and Oed. 979, are the finest examples.
CHAPTER III.
[1] Praefectus vigilum.
[2] Plin. N. H. xxii. 23, 47.
[3] Said to have amounted to 300,000,000 sesterces. Tac. An. xiii. 42. Juvenal calls him praedives. Sat. x. 16.
[4] Au. xiv. 53.
[5] The great blot on his character is his having composed a justification of Nero's matricide on the plea of state necessity.
[6] Ep. 45, 4; cf. 2, 5.
[7] Ep. 110, 18.
[8] He was a scurrilous abuser of the government. Vespasian once said to him, "You want to provoke me to kill you, but I am not going to order a dog that barks to execution." Cf. Sen. Ep. 67, 14; De ben. vii. 2.
[9] Ep. 64, 2.
[10] Or at least in a much less degree. Tacitus and Juvenal give instances of rapacity exercised on the provinces, but it must have been inconsiderable as compared with what it had been.
[11] Ep. 6, 4.
[12] Ep. 75, 3.
[13] Ep. 75, 1.
[14] Vit. Beat. 17, 3.
[15] Ep. 38, 1. He compares philosophy to sun-light, which shines on all; Ep. 41, 1. This is different from Plato: to plaethos adunaton philosophon einai.
[16] Martha, Les Moralistes de l'Empire romain.
[17] Ep. 45.
[18] Ep. 38, 1; and 94, 1.
[19] Such as Serenus, Lucilius, &c. The old families seem to have eschewed him.
[20] Vit. Beat. 17, 1.
[21] M. Havet, Boiss. Rel. rom. vol. ii. 44.
[22] The question is sifted in Aubertin, Seneque et Saint Paul; and in Gaston Boissier, La Religion romaine, vol. II. ch. ii.
[23] De Vir. Illust. 12. Tertullian (Ap. ii. 8, 10) had said before, Seneca saepe noster; but this only means that he often talks like a Christian.
[24] He afterwards repudiated her, and she died in great poverty. Her act shows a gentle and forgiving spirit.
[25] Claud. 25, "Iudaeos impulsore Chresto assidue tumultuantes expulit."
[26] Tac. An. xv. 44.
[27] Hodie tricesima Sabbata, S. I. ix.
[28] We have seen how the great orators Crassus and Antonius pretended that they did not know Greek: the same silly pride made others pretend they had never heard of the Jews, even while they were practising the Mosaic rites. And the number of noble names (Cornelii, Pomponii, Caecilii) inscribed on Christian tombs in the reigns of the Antonines proves that Christianity had made way even among the exclusive nobility of Rome.
[29] Prol. 13; ii. 45.
[30] 107, 12.
[31] 74, 20.
[32] Frag. 123.
[33] Ep. 110, 10 parens noster.
[34] 41, 2.
[35] Ep. 47, 18.
[36] Benef. iv. 12.
[37] E.g. In the Consol. ad Marc. 19, 5; ad Polyb. 9, 3. Even in Ep. 106, 4, he says, animus corpus est. Cf. 117, 2.
[38] 57, 7-9; 63, 16.
[39] 86, 1, animum eius in coelum, ex quo erat, redisse persuade mihi.
[40] 102, 26.
[41] Some have thought that if he did not know St Paul (who came to Rome between 56 and 61 A.D. when Seneca was no longer young) he may have heard some of the earlier missionaries in Rome.
[42] He could not have been occupied for years in governing the world, and, with his desire for virtue, not have risen to nobler conceptions than those with which he began.
[43] De. Ira, iii. 28, 1; cf. id. i. 14, 3.
[44] De. Clem. ii. 6, 2.
[45] Ep. 59, 14; 31, 3.
[46] 53, 11; cf. Prov. 66.
[47] This is the more cogent, because we find that the philosophers who were converted to Christianity all turned at once to its principles, often calling it a philosophia. Its practice they admired also; but this was not the first object of their attention.
[48] Ep. 95, 52.
[49] Ep. 95, 30.
[50] Ep. 96, 33, homo sacra res homini.
[51] Ben. iii. 28, 2.
[52] Ep. 47, humiles amici.
[53] In the treatise De Superstitione, of which several fragments remain. It is, however, probable that Seneca would have equally disliked any positive religion. He regards the sage as his own temple.
[54] Ep. 88, 37. There is a celebrated passage in one of his tragedies (Med. 370) where he speaks of our limited knowledge, and thinks it probable that a great New World will be discovered: "Venient annis secula seris Quibus Oceanus vincula rerum Laxet, et ingens pateat tellus, Tethysque novos detegat orbes Nec sit terris ultima Thule," an announcement almost prophetic.
[55] Ep. 48, 11. He did not advise, but he allowed, suicide, as a remedy for misfortune or disgrace. It is the one thing that makes the wise man even superior to the gods, that at any moment he chooses he can cease to be!
CHAPTER IV.
[1] Tac. An. xv. 16.
[2] For a full list of all the arguments for and against these dates the reader is referred to Teuffel, R. L. S 287.
[3] The exact date is uncertain. He speaks of Seneca as living, probably between 62 and 65 A.D. But he never mentions Pliny, who, on the contrary, frequently refers to him. He must, therefore, have finished his work before Pliny became celebrated.
[4] Perhaps the treatise Adversus Astrologos was written with the object of recommending the worship of the rural deities (xii. 1, 31). In one place (ii. 225) he says he intends to treat of lustrationes ceteraque sacrifitia.
[5] G. iv. 148.
[6] On the pro Milone, pro Scauro, pro Cornelia, in Pisonem, in toga candida.
[7] Scholia Bobbiensia.
[8] It is identical with the second book of Sacerdos, who lived at the close of the third century.
[9] Ann. xvi. 18.
CHAPTER V.
[1] Suetonius calls him Novocomensis. He himself speaks of Catullus as his own conterraneus, from which it has been inferred by some that he was born at Verona (N. H. Praef.). His full name is C. Plinius Secundus.
[2] Dubii Sermonis, sometimes named De Difficilibus Linguae Latinae.
[3] De Iaculatione Equestri.
[4] Ep. vi. 16.
[5] Plin. vi. 20.
[6] Ib. iii. 5.
[7] Plin. N. H. ii. 1.
[8] Some have supposed that he lived much later, till 118 A.D., but this is improbable.
[9] Referred to in the proemium to Book VI. Some have thought it the work we possess, and which is usually ascribed to Tacitus, but without reason.
[10] De Institutione Oratoria.
[11] See Appendix.
[12] Plin. vi. 32.
[13] Juv. iv. 75.
[14] Juv. vii. 186. Pliny gave him L400 towards his daughter's dowry, a proof that, though he might be well off, he could not be considered rich.
[15] Mr. Parker told the writer that it was impossible to overrate the accuracy of Frontinus, and his extraordinary clearness of description, which he had found an invaluable guide in many laborious and minute investigations on the water-supply of ancient Rome.
[16] He is named by St Aug. De Util. Cred. 17.
CHAPTER VI.
[1] In the single ancient codex of the Vatican, at the end of the second book we read C. Val. Fl. Balbi explicit, Lib. II.; at the end of the fourth book, C, Val. Fl. Setini, Lib. IV. explicit; at the end of the seventh, C. Val. Fl. Setini Argonauticon, Lib. VII. explicit. The obscurity of these names has caused some critics to doubt whether they really belonged to the poet.
[2] Mart. I. 61-4.
[3] I. 5.
[4] X. i. 90.
[5] So Dodwell, Annal Quintil.
[6] i. 7, sqq.
[7] E.g., of Titus storming Jerusalem (i. 13),
"Solymo nigrantem pulvere fratem Spargentemque faces, et in omni turre furentem."
[8] iv. 508; cf. iv. 210.
[9] Ep. III. 7.
[10] Ren. i. 535.
[11] ix. 491.
[12] See Silv. V. iii. passim. This poem is a good instance of an epicedion.
[13] Ib. II. ii. 6.
[14] Ib. III. v. 52.
[15] Ib. III. v. 28; cf. IV. ii 65.
[16] Quint. III. vii. 4.
[17] Ib. III. v. 31.
[18] Silv. IV. ii. 65.
[19] For a brilliant and interesting essay on the two Statii, the reader is referred to Nisard, Poetes de la Decadence, vol. I. p. 303.
[20] The fifth book is unfinished. Probably he did not care to recur to it after leaving Rome.
[21] Silv. I. ii. 95.
[22] Book II. part II. ch. i.
[23] Sat. I. iv. 73.
[24] Pont. IV. ii. 34; Trist. III. xiv. 39.
[25] Laetam fecit cum Statius Urbem Promisitque diem, Juv. vii. 86.
[26] Esurit intactam Paridi nisi vendit Agaven, Juv. ib.
[27] Bis senos vigilata per annos, Theb. xii. 811.
[28] Theb. vii. 435, quoted by Nisard.
[29] "The land on the other side."
[30] The reader is referred to an article on the later Roman epos by Conington, Posthumous Works, vol. i. p. 348.
[31] Aen. vi. 413.
[32] Phars. i. 56.
[33] Theb. i. 17; Ach. i. 19.
[34] Theb. xii. 815.
[35] As i. 49, 3; iv. 55, 11, &c.
[36] In x. 24, 4, he tells us he is fifty-six; in x. 104, 9, written at Rome, he says he has been away from Bilbilis 34 years. In xii. 31. 7, he says his entire absence lasted 35 years. Now this was written in 100 A.D.
[37] iii. 94.
[38] v. 13.
[39] Nisard, p. 337.
[40] vii. 36.
[41] i. 77, &c.
[42] vii. 34.
[43] vii. 21.
[44] iv. 22.
[45] xi. 104.
[46] ii. 92, 3.
[47] So it is inferred from xii. 31.
[48] xii. 21.
[49] iii. 21.
[50] They will be found in Epig. x. 19.
[51] v. 37.
[52] See esp. ix. 48, as compared with Juv. ii. 1-30.
[53] x. 2.
[54] Mart. xi. 10.
[55] Mart. ix. 9.
[56] Ep. ix. 19, 1.
[57] Ep. iii. 1.
[58] x. 35, 1.
[59] E.g. The description of Domitian: qui res Romanas imperat inter, Non trabe sed tergo prolapsus et ingluvie albus. The underlined expression is an imitation of Aristophanes' Nub. 1275, ouk apo dokou all' ap' onou, i.e. apo nou, "He fell not from a beam, but from a donkey."
[60] Juv. i. 2.
[61] Ib. 3, recitaverit ille togatas, &c.
CHAPTER VII.
[1] Como.
[2] Juv. i. 49.
[3] The correspondence dates from 97 to 108 A.D.
[4] x. 96 (97).
[5] This refers to the malicious charges of acts of cruelty performed at the common meal, often brought against the early believers.
[6] Probably deaconesses.
[7] Ep. II. 13, 4.
[8] Ep. II. 11, 19.
[9] Ep. V. 5, 1.
[10] Ep. VII, 31, 5.
[11] Ep. VI. 15.
[12] An exhaustive list of these minor authors will be found in Teuffel, S 336-339.
[13] iii. 3l9.
[14] It runs: Cereri sacrum D. Junius Juvenalis tribunus cohortis I. Delmatarum, II. vir quinquennalis flamen Divi Vespasiani vovit dedicavitque sua pecunia. See Teuffel, S 326.
[15] Perhaps vii. 90.
[16] xv. 45.
[17] So, at least, says the author of the statement. But the cohort of which Juvenal was prefect was in Britain A.D. 124 under Hadrian. See Teuffel.
[18] Nuper console Junco, xv. 27. Others read Junio.
[19] Coleridge's definition of poetry as "the best words in their right places" may be fitly alluded to here. It occurs in the Table Talk.
[20] iv. 128; viii. 6, 7; xv. 75.
[21] Except in his poorer satires; certainly never in i. ii. iii. iv. vi. vii. viii.
[22] The close intimacy between Juvenal and Martial is no great testimony in favour of Juvenal. See Mart. vii. 24.
[23] iii. 61; cf. vi. 186, sqq.
[24] Cum perimit saevos classis numerosa tyrannos, vii. 151.
[25] Sat. iv.
[26] Ib. vii. 1-24.
[27] Experiar quid concedatur in illos Quorum Flaminia tegitur cinis atque Latina, i. 170.
[28] x. 66.
[29] viii. 147.
[30] x. 147, sqq.
[31] iii. 61, 87, 7.
[32] vii. pass.
[33] i. 32, 158.
[34] vii. 16.
[35] iii. 77-104.
[36] vi. 562, et al.
[37] See especially iii. 30-44.
[38] References, allusions, and imitations of Virgil occur in most of the Satires. For reminiscences of Lucan, cf. Juv. i. 18, 89; xii. 97, 8; with Phars. i. 457; viii. 543; ix. 781, 2.
[39] His praenomen is uncertain; some think it was Publius.
[40] N. H. vii. 17.
[41] Hist. i. 1.
[42] Agr. 45.
[43] A. iv. 20.
[44] A. xiv. 12.
[45] De Or. 2.
[46] Ep. vii. 20, 4.
[47] Ep. ii. 1, 6.
[48] Ch. 29 especially, seems an echo of Quintilian.
[49] E.g. Pallentem Famam, ch. 13. The expression—Augustus eloquentiam sient cetera pacaverat; and that so admirably paraphrased by Pitt (ch. 36), Magna eloquentia, sicat flamma, materia alitur et motibus excitatur et urendo clarescit.
[50] Ch. 3.
[51] Esp. ch. 10, 11.
[52] Notably the history of the Jews. Hist. v.
[53] Ann. iv. 32.
[54] De Bury, Les Femmes de l'Empire.
CHAPTER VIII.
[1] For an excellent account of this inconstant prince see his biography by Aelius Spartianus, who preserves other poems of his.
[2] Cf. Dom. 12, Interfuisse me adolescentulum memini cum inspiceretur senex (a Domitiano). From Gram. 4, Ner. 57, as compared with this, we should infer that he was about fifteen in the year 90.
[3] Ep. i. 18.
[4] Ep. iii. 8.
[5] Paneg. Traj. 95.
[6] Ep. i. 24.
[7] E.g. Fronto writing under Antoninus mentions him as still living.
[8] Hist. Var. 6, 874-896 (Roth).
[9] De Spect. 5.
[10] Ad Aen. 7, 612: Tria suntgenera trabearum; nuum diis sacratum, quod est tantum de purpura; aliud regum, quod est purpureum, habet tanem album aliquid; tertium augurale de purpura et cocco. The other passage (Ad Aen. 2, 683) describes the different priestly caps, the apex, the tubulus, and the galerus.
[11] Etym. 18, 2, 3.
[12] Perhaps the word Stemma should be supplied before syngenikon.
[13] In one MS. is appended to Suetonius's works a list of grammatical observations called Differentiae sermonum Remmi Palaemonis ex libro Suetoni Tranquilli qui inscribitur Pratum. Roth prints these, but does not believe them genuine.
[14] It will be found Ner. 47-49.
[15] Qualis artifex pereo.
[16] Many of these ejaculations are in Greek. On this see note i. p. 37.
[17] Usually (from the Cod. Bamberg.) Julius Florus; but Mommsen considers this a corruption.
[18] Riese, Anthol. Lat. p. 168-70; ib. No. 87, p. 101. Some have ascribed the Pervigilium Veneris to him.
[19] ii. 1.
[20] See back page 331.
[22] Dio. xl. 5, 20.
[23] For these writers, see Teuff. S 345.
[24] i. 4, 1.
[25] He speaks of having learnt from him to epistasthai oti hae turannikae baskania kai poikilia kai hypokrisis kai oti os epipan oi kaloumenoi outoi par aemin Eupatridai astorgoteroi pos eisin.
[26] Paneg. Constant. 14.
[27] Sat. V. 1.
[28] Siccum. This shows more acumen than we should have expected from Macrobius.
[29] Ep. ad M. Caes ii. 1.
[30] In complaining of fate, he suddenly breaks off with the words: Fata a fando appellata aiunt; hoccine est recte fari? S 7.
[31] On this see a fuller account, pp. 478, 474.
[32] Some of the more interesting chapters in his work may be referred to:—On religion, i. 7; iv. 9; iv. 11; v. 12; vi. 1. On law, iv. 3; iv. 4; iv. 5; v. 19; vii. 15; x. 20. On Virgil, i. 23; ii. 3; ii. 4; v. 8; vi. 6; vii. 12; vii. 20; ix. 9; x. 16; xiii. 1; xiii. 20. On Sallust, i. 15; ii. 27; iii. 1; iv. 15; x. 20. On Ennius, iv. 7; vii. 2; xi. 4; xviii. 5.
[33] And those often rare ones, as solitavisse.
[34] E.g. in vii. 17, where he poses a grammarian as to the signification of obnoxius. Compare also xiv. 5, on the vocative of egregius.
[35] See xiv. 6.
[36] See iv. 9.
[37] See esp. xix. 9.
[38] E.g. iv. 1.
[39] Especially iv. 7; v. 21; vii. 7, 9, 11; xvi. 14; xviii. 8, 9.
[40] xviii. 5.
[41] Civ. Dei. ix. 4.
[42] Teuffel, S 356.
[43] Note 1, p. 466.
[44] xix. 11.
[45] The personal taste of the emperors now greatly helped to form style. This should not be forgotten in criticising the works of this period.
[46] Such is Teuffel's opinion, following Buchelor, L. L. S 358.
[47] P. 1414.
[48] This date is adopted by Charpentier. Teuffel (L. L. S 362, 2) inclines to a later date, 125 A.D.
[49] Apol. 23.
[50] Sometimes called De Magia.
[51] The word paupertas must be used in a limited sense, as it is by Horace, pauperemque dives me petit; or else we must suppose that Apuleius had squandered his fortune in his travels.
[52] The case was tried before the Proconsul Claudius Maximus.
[53] It will be found Metam. iv. 28—vi. 24.
[54] Apuleius himself (i. 1) calls it a Milesian tale (see App. to ch. 3). These are very generally condemned by the classical writers. But there is no doubt they were very largely read sub rosa. When Crassus was defeated in Parthia, the king Surenas is reported to have been greatly struck with the licentious novels which the Roman officers read during the campaign.
[55] St Augustine fully believed that he and Apollonius of Tyana were workers of (demoniacal) miracles.
CHAPTER IX.
[1] The reader is referred to Champagny, Les Cesars, vols. iii. and iv; Martha, Les Moralistes romaines; Gaston Boissier, Les Antonins; Charpentier, Ecrivains latins sous l'Empire.
[2] The declaimers of Suaseriae in praise of the heroes of old were contemptuously styled Marathonouachos.
[3] Delivered by Fronto.
[4] One, irritated that the Emperor Antoninus did not bow to him in the theatre, called out, "Caesar! do you not see me?"
[5] Inst. Div. iii. 23.
[6] Dio. xvii. p. 464.
[7] Id. xii. p. 397.
[8] Epictetus (Dissert. iii. 26) uses the very word—theoi diakonoi ko martyres. Christianity hallowed this term, as it did so many others.
[9] See Juvenal: Gallia causidicos docuit facunda Britannos De conducende loquitur iam rhetore Thule, xv. 1112.
[10] Dissert. i. 9.
[11] Tac. Hist. iii. 81.
[12] Plut. De Defect. Orac. p. 410.
[13] Vit. Apol. iv. 40.
[14] Jampridem Syrus in Tiberim defluxit Orontes, Juv. iii. 52.
[15] Decernat quodcunque volet de corpore nostro Isis, Id. xiii. 93.
[16] Herm. 24.
[17] De deo Socr. 3.
[18] E.g. Those of Greece are cheerful for the most part, those of Egypt gloomy.
[19] He was an African, it will be remembered.
APPENDICES
[1] From the Romische Zeittafeln of Dr E. W. Fischer, and from Clinton, Fasti Hellenici and Romani. Only those dates which are tolerably certain are given.
[2] Clinton places his birth in 193; but see Teuff. S 97, 6.
[3] Others place this event in 109 B.C.
[4] Others place this event in 55 B.C.
[5] Or, perhaps, in 24 B.C.
[6] Jerome places it in 13 A.D.
[7] The most convenient and accessible are here recommended, not the most complete or exhaustive. For these the reader is referred to Teuffel's work, from which several of those here mentioned are taken.
[8] Some of these questions are taken from University Examinations, some also from Mr. Gantillon's Classical Examination Papers.
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