Silius' career as an orator is mentioned by Martial vii. 63, 5-8,

'Sacra cothurnati non attigit ante Maronis, implevit magni quam Ciceronis opus. Hunc miratur adhuc centum gravis hasta virorum, hunc loquitur grato plurimus ore cliens.'

The Punica is an Epic in seventeen Books on the Second Punic War, and treats of events down to the battle of Zama, B.C. 202. The historical treatment is founded mainly on Livy, and in point of style Silius has followed Homer and Virgil, imitations of whom are found on every page. For Silius' reverence for Virgil, see above, and cf. viii. 593,

'Mantua Musarum domus, atque ad sidera cantu evecta Aonio, et Smyrnaeis aemula plectris.'

Silius also follows Homer and Virgil in their mythology, bringing in supernatural motives in a way unsuitable to a historical subject, e.g. in xv. 20, where Scipio has, like Hercules, to choose between Voluptas and Virtus.

The example of Hannibal's dream, iii. 163-182, will show these different points. The story of the dream is got from Livy xxi. 22, but, for iuvenis divina specie, Silius, like Virg. Aen. iv. 222 sqq. and 259 sqq. substitutes Mercury. Individual imitations in the passage are: l. 172, 'Turpe duci totam somno consumere noctem,' from Il. ii. 24, ou chre pannychion heudein boulephoron andra; l. 168, 'umentem noctis umbram' is from Aen. iv. 7, 'umentemque Aurora polo dimoverat umbram'; l. 174, 'iam maria effusas cernes turbare carinas,' from Aen. iv. 566, 'iam mare turbari trabibus ... videbis'; l. 182, 'altae moenia Romae' is from Aen. i. 7; l. 181, 'respexisse veto' from Ecl. 8, 102, 'nec respexeris.'

The Epitome of the Iliad (in 1075 hexameters), which passes under the name of Homerus Latinus, has been attributed to Silius. It is a close adaptation from the original.



STATIUS.

(1) LIFE.

P. Papinius Statius was born at Naples (Silv. i. 2, 260, 'mea Parthenope'), probably about A.D. 60, for he speaks of himself as on the threshold of life at the time of his father's death, about A.D. 80 ('limine primo fatorum,' Silv. v. 3, 72). The apparent discrepancy in Silv. iv. 4, 69 (written A.D. 94-5), 'Nos facta aliena canendo vergimur in senium,' may be explained by observing that 'senium' is very often used for premature age induced by study (cf. 'insenuit,' Hor. Ep. ii. 2, 82).

The father of Statius came of a distinguished but not wealthy family: Silv. v. 3, 116,

'Non tibi deformes obscuri sanguinis ortus nec sine luce genus, quamquam fortuna parentum artior expensis.'

He taught first at Naples (ibid. l. 146) and then at Rome (l. 176); and died at the age of sixty-five (l. 252) soon after the eruption of Vesuvius, which he had intended to make the subject of a poem (l. 205). It was from his learned father ('genitor perdocte,' l. 3) that Statius derived his first impulse towards poetry, and to his training he acknowledges deep obligations (ll. 209-214).

Statius won two prizes for poetry, at the Augustalia in Naples and at Alba; but was unsuccessful at the Capitoline competition, probably in A.D. 94 (ibid. 225-232). In that year he seems to have removed from Rome to Naples, and spent there the remainder of his days: Silv. iii. 5, 12,

'Anne quod Euboicos fessus remeare penates auguror et patria senium componere terra?'

The date of his death is unknown. The latest event mentioned in his poems is the seventeenth consulship of Domitian, A.D. 95 (Silv. iv. 1).

Statius was married to a widow named Claudia (Silv. iii. 5, 51 sqq.), but had no children (v. 5, 79).

He enjoyed the favour of Domitian ('indulgentissimus imperator,' Silv. i. praef.) who granted him a supply of water for his country house at Alba, and occasionally invited him to his table: Silv. iii. 1, 61,

'Ast ego, Dardaniae quamvis sub collibus Albae rus proprium magnique ducis mihi munere currens unda domi curas mulcere aestusque levare sufficerent.'

Silv. iv. praef., 'Sacratissimis eius epulis honoratus.'

He more than once promises to write an epic on Domitian's career (e.g. Theb. i. 32). The emperor's freedman Earinus (Silv. iii. 4) was one of Statius' patrons.

His regard for the poet Lucan produced Silv. ii. 7, which is a poem on Lucan's birthday, addressed to his widow (see p. 267). But his chief admiration was reserved for the memory of Virgil: Naples and Alba were endeared to him by their associations with the 'great master' and the story of Aeneas: Silv. iv. 4, 53,

'Tenues ignavo pollice chordas pulso, Maroneique sedens in margine templi sumo animum et magni tumulis adcanto magistri.'

For Alba cf. Silv. v. 3, 37. The Thebais must recognize its inferiority to the Aeneid: Theb. xii. 816,

'Vive, precor; nec tu divinam Aeneida tempta, sed longe sequere et vestigia semper adora.'

(2) WORKS.

1. The Thebais, an epic poem in twelve Books, occupied Statius for twelve years: xii. 811,

'O mihi bis senos multum vigilata per annos Thebai.'

Cf. Silv. iv. 7, 26,

'Thebais multa cruciata lima.'

The twelve years were probably 79-91 or 80-92 A.D. Silv. i. praef. (written 91 or 92), 'Adhuc pro Thebaide mea, quamvis me reliquerit, timeo.' The publication apparently did not take place till A.D. 95 (cf. Silv. iv. 4, 87 sqq. written in that year).

The subject of the poem is the strife between the brothers Eteocles and Polynices, and the subsequent history of Thebes to the death of Creon. The dedication is to Domitian. For the popularity of the Thebais cf. Juv. Sat. 7, 82,

'Curritur ad vocem iucundam et carmen amicae Thebaidos, laetam cum fecit Statius urbem promisitque diem. Tanta dulcedine captos afficit ille animos tantaque libidine volgi auditur; sed, cum fregit subsellia versu, esurit, intactam Paridi nisi vendit Agaven.'

2. The Achilleis, also dedicated to Domitian, is an incomplete epic, consisting of one Book and part of a second. It was later than the Thebaid, for Statius was working at it in A.D. 95: Silv. iv. 4, 93,

'Nunc vacuos crines alio subit infula nexu: Troia quidem magnusque mihi temptatur Achilles.'

The poem was intended to cover the whole career of Achilles, including his retreat in Scyros before the Trojan War, and his exploits after the death of Hector, which did not enter into the plan of the Iliad: cf. l. 3,

'Quamquam acta viri multum inclita cantu Maeonio, sed plura vacant: nos ire per omnem (sic amor est) heroa velis.'

3. The Silvae, which represent the poet in his less serious mood, are occasional poems on miscellaneous subjects, published in five separate Books. Cf. 1, praef. 'Diu multumque dubitavi ... an hos libellos, ... cum singuli de sinu meo prodierint, congregates ipse dimitterem.' Many of them were thrown off in haste at the command of the Emperor or the request of friends: cf. such expressions as 'stili facilitas' (ii. praef.), 'libellorum temeritas,' 'hanc audaciam stili nostri' (iii. praef.). Of the poems in Book i. he says, 'nullum ex illis biduo longius tractum, quaedam et in singulis diebus effusa' (i. praef.). Each of the Books is introduced by a prose preface.

None of the Silvae appeared before A.D. 92; for Rutilius Gallicus, for whom i. 4 was written, died in that year, and the poem was not published till after his death (i. praef.). Book v. was probably a posthumous work: there is no proper preface, and the third and fifth poems are incomplete.

Hexameter verse is employed for all the Silvae except six. Of these, four are in hendecasyllabics, one in the Alcaic and one in the Sapphic stanza.

4. The only other poem of which there is distinct evidence is the pantomime Agave, written not later than A.D. 84, the year in which the player Paris was put to death (Juv. Sat. 7, 86, quoted above).



MARTIAL.[90]

(1) LIFE.

M. Valerius Martialis (Coquus is added in the old glossaries) was born at Bilbilis in Hispania Tarraconensis on 1st March in one of the years A.D. 38-41. His tenth Book, written A.D. 95-8, contains a poem (x. 24) written on his fifty-seventh birthday. Cf. ll. 4-5,

'quinquagesima liba septimamque vestris addimus hanc focis acerram';

ix. 52, 3,

'ut nostras amo Martias Kalendas';

x. 103, 1,

'Municipes, Augusta mihi quos Bilbilis acri monte creat, rapidis quem Salo cingit aquis.'

His parents' names are given, v. 34, 1, 'Fronto pater, genetrix Flaccilla.' Martial went through the usual education at Bilbilis or at a neighbouring town; ix. 73, 7,

'At me litterulas stulti docuere parentes: quid cum grammaticis rhetoribusque mihi?'

Martial went to Rome A.D. 64, for in A.D. 98, when he left Rome, he gives the length of his stay as thirty-four years; x. 103, 7,

'Quattuor accessit tricesima messibus aestas, ut sine me Cereri rustica liba datis, moenia dum colimus dominae pulcherrima Romae.'

At Rome Martial became the client of the house of the Senecas, and was on intimate terms with L. Calpurnius Piso, Memmius Gemellus, and Vibius Crispus; xii. 36, 8,

'Pisones Senecasque Memmiosque et Crispos mihi redde sed priores.'

The failure of Piso's conspiracy in A.D. 65 and the consequent downfall of the Senecas must have affected Martial's position. In A.D. 96 Martial addresses as his patroness Argentaria Polla, Lucan's widow, the only surviving member of the family; x. 64, 1,

'Contigeris regina meos si Polla libellos,' etc.

From her he may have got the small vineyard near Nomentum which he possessed by A.D. 84 (xiii. 42 and 119).

Little is known of Martial's life before the reign of Domitian. He may have practised at the bar; cf. ii. 30, 5,

'Is mihi "dives eris, si causas egeris" inquit';

and Quintilian appears to have advised this course (ii. 90). He probably lived as a client of great houses to which he was recommended by his early-developed poetical talents. Cf. i. 113, 1,

'Quaecumque lusi iuvenis et puer quondam.'

In A.D. 80 he commemorated the opening by Titus of the Flavian Amphitheatre by a collection of poems sent to the emperor. Cf. Spectac. 32,

'Da veniam subitis: non displicuisse meretur, festinat, Caesar, qui placuisse tibi.'

Martial received the 'ius trium liberorum' from two of the emperors. This probably means that Titus bestowed it and Domitian ratified it. Cf. ix. 97, 5,

'tribuit quod Caesar uterque ius mihi natorum.'

Martial became a titular tribune, and consequently an eques, an honour probably given him by Titus; iii. 95, 9

'vidit me Roma tribunum';

v. 13, 1,

'Sum, fateor, semperque fui, Callistrate, pauper, sed non obscurus nec male notus eques.'

Martial is unsparing in his flattery of Domitian and his freedmen. Cf. ix. 79, iv. 45, of Parthenius, the emperor's chamberlain; vii. 99, viii. 48, of Crispinus, the emperor's favourite. In A.D. 86 we find his poems eagerly read by the emperor. Cf. iv. 27,

'Saepe meos laudare soles, Auguste, libellos.'

He obtained citizen rights for several applicants; cf. ix. 95. 11,

'Quot mihi Caesareo facti sunt munere cives';

and was occasionally invited to the emperor's table; cf. ix. 91. Domitian, however, refused to assist him pecuniarily (vi. 10). A description of Martial's life as a client of great houses is found, e.g., in v. 20. Among the friends of high rank whom Martial made after A.D. 86 were the poet Silius Italicus (iv. 14), the future emperor Nerva (v. 28), the author S. Iulius Frontinus (x. 58), the younger Pliny (x. 19). Martial also mentions Quintilian (ii. 90) and other literary men from Spain, and Juvenal (vii. 24, etc.). Statius he never mentions, and was probably at enmity with him; cf. his sneers at mythological epics (x. 4, etc.), which hint indirectly at the Thebais. Martial also attacks his critics (i. 3; xi. 20, etc.), plagiarists (e.g. xi. 94), and those who wrote scurrilous verses in his name (e.g. x. 3).

Martial received rewards in return for his poetry, and often begs for gifts, and complains of his poverty and the unproductiveness of his estate at Nomentum (xii. 57); v. 36,

'Laudatus nostro quidam, Faustina, libello dissimulat, quasi nil debeat: imposuit';

vii. 16,

'Aera domi non sunt, superest hoc, Regule, solum, ut tua vendamus munera: numquid emis?'

From 86 to 90 A.D. Martial lived in lodgings on the Quirinal, three stairs up; i. 117, 6,

'Longum est, si velit ad Pirum venire, et scalis habito tribus, sed altis.'

Later he had a house of his own (ix. 18, 2, etc.), and mentions his slaves (i. 101; v. 34, etc.). That he was still poor in A.D. 98 is evident from Pliny, Ep. iii. 21, 2, 'Prosecutus eram viatico secedentem: dederam hoc amicitiae, dederam etiam versiculis quos de me composuit.'

Martial was evidently never married (ii. 92). In A.D. 98 he left Rome and went to Spain, where he had liberal friends, as Terentius Priscus (xii. 4), and Marcella (xii. 21), who gave him an estate, described in xii. 18. From xii. praef. we see his longing for Rome:

'In hac provinciali solitudine ... bibliothecas, theatra, convictus ... desideramus quasi destituti. Accedit his municipalium robigo dentium et iudici loco livor,' etc.

Martial died, at latest, about A.D. 104, being from 63 to 66 years old.

Pliny Ep. iii. 21 (written not after A.D. 104), 'Audio Valerium Martialem decessisse et moleste fero.'

Martial does not disguise the bad points of his character. Cf. his flattery of Domitian, and his continual begging (passim), his cynical reasons for giving panegyrics (v. 36, quoted above); the number of indecent poems he wrote, for which he apologizes (e.g. i. praef.). Among his good points are his 'candor,' mentioned by Pliny, Ep. iii. 21; his love of unadorned nature, e.g. iii. 58; his love for his friends, e.g. i. 15.

(2) WORKS.

Publication of the Poems.—Liber Spectaculorum was published A.D. 80, on the opening of Titus' Amphitheatre. The Xenia and Apophoreta were two collections of inscriptions for presents at the Saturnalia in December 84 or 85 A.D. The numbering of these as Books xiii. and xiv. has no ancient authority. Martial furnished the other Books with numbers (cf. ii. 92, 1, 'primus liber'). Books i., ii., appeared together A.D. 86. Then came Books iii.-xi. at intervals of about a year to December, 96 A.D. Martial prepared a selection from Books x. and xi. for Nerva's use (no longer extant). This was presented along with xii. 5,

'Longior undecimi nobis decimique libelli artatus labor est, et breve rasit opus. Plura legant vacui, quibus otia tuta dedisti; haec lege tu Caesar; forsan et illa leges.'

Book xii. appeared at the beginning of A.D. 102. and shortly afterwards in an enlarged edition. An edition of all the Books probably did not appear till after Martial's death.

For Martial's immediate popularity, cf. vi. 61,

'Laudat, amat, cantat nostros mea Roma libellos, meque sinus omnis, me manus omnis habet';

xi. 3, 3,

'Sed meus in Geticis ad Martia signa pruinis a rigido teritur centurione liber, dicitur et nostros cantare Britannia versus.'

Pliny Ep. iii. 21 (written just after Martial's death), 'Erat homo ingeniosus acutus acer, et qui plurimum in scribendo et salis haberet et fellis nec candoris minus.'

Martial's Models.—His manner is very original, but some of his motives are taken from Greek epigrammatists, especially from Lucillius, who flourished under Nero. Thus iv. 53 = Lucill. 30; v. 53 = L. 93; xii. 23 = L. 34. Many of his pieces are doubtless improvisations, and consequently contain careless expressions and errors as to facts. Thus, vii. 61, 2,

'Inque suo nullum limine limen erat';

x. 2, 1,

'Festinata prior decimi mihi cura libelli elapsum manibus nunc revocavit opus';

x. 93, 5,

'Ut rosa delectat, metitur quae pollice primo' (= the rose which has not yet been plucked).

In iv. 55, 3, Arpi is given as Cicero's birthplace; in v. 30, 2, etc., Calabria instead of Apulia is given as Horace's native district. Catullus is Martial's chief model for hendecasyllabics and choliambics. He mentions no other poet so often. Cf. x. 103, 5,

'Nec sua plus debet tenui Verona Catullo meque velit dici non minus illa suum.'

Ovid, of whom he has more than two hundred reminiscences, is Martial's chief pattern for elegiacs. After these Martial's chief model is Virgil, chiefly the Priapea; then Horace to a less extent; Propertius; and Tibullus. Domitius Marsus, Gaetulicus, Calvus, etc., are mentioned frequently, and doubtless imitated.

For Martial's conception of himself as a painter of manners, cf. viii. 3, 19 (ad Musam),

'At tu Romano lepidos sale tinge libellos: adgnoscat mores vita legatque suos. Angusta cantare licet videaris avena, dum tua multorum vincat avena tubas.'

x. 4, 7,

'Quid te vana iuvant miserae ludibria chartae? hoc lege, quod possit dicere vita "Meum est." Non hic Centauros, non Gorgonas, Harpyiasque invenies: hominem pagina nostra sapit.'

Martial satirizes people under manufactured or arbitrarily chosen names.

Cf. i. praef., 'Spero me secutum in libellis meis tale temperamentum, ut de illis queri non possit, quisquis de se bene senserit, cum salva infimarum quoque personarum reverentia ludant.'

Some are tell-tale names, as Vetustilla, 'an old woman,' iii. 93; Dento, 'a gourmand,' v. 45; Eulogus, 'a herald,' vi. 8; but the same names, e.g. Zoilus, are often used to denote different types.

The chief forms of verse used are the elegiac distich (most frequent), scazons, and hendecasyllabics. In vi. 65 he apologizes for using the pure hexameter, which is found only four times. Other metres are extremely rare.



QUINTILIAN.

(1) LIFE.

M. Fabius Quintilianus was born at Calagurris in Spain. Auson. prof. i. 7, 'Adserat usque licet Fabium Calagurris alumnum.' Cf. Jerome yr. Abr. 2104 (quoted below).

Quintilian came at an early age to Rome, where his father was a rhetorician. Cf. his reminiscences:

x. 1, 86, 'Utar verbis isdem quae ex Afro Domitio (died A.D. 59) iuvenis excepi.'

v. 7, 7, 'a Domitio Afro quem adulescentulus senem colui.'

vi. 1, 14, 'Nobis adulescentibus accusator Cossutiani Capitonis' (A.D. 57), etc.

From the above quotations, Quintilian must have been born somewhere between A.D. 35 and 40. A.D. 35 is usually given as an approximation. For Quintilian's father cf. ix. 3, 73, 'Et cur me prohibeat pudor uti domestico exemplo? Pater meus contra eum qui,' etc. He is possibly the person mentioned by Seneca, Contr. x. praef. 2, 'quo modo ... Quintilianus senex declamaverit.'

For Quintilian's teachers of rhetoric, cf. Pliny, Ep. ii. 14, 10, 'Narrabat ille [Quintilianus], Adsectabar Domitium Afrum.' Others were Iulius Africanus (Quint. x. 1, 118), Servilius Nonianus (x. 1, 102), Galerius Trachalus (x. 1, 119), Iulius Secundus (x. 1, 120), Vibius Crispus (xii. 10, 11), Remmius Palaemon (Schol. ad Iuv. 6, 452). After his education Quintilian returned to Calagurris, but was brought back to Rome by Galba in A.D. 68.

Jerome yr. Abr. 2084 = A.D. 68, 'M. Fabius Quintilianus Romam a Galba perducitur.'

Quintilian engaged as a pleader at Rome, and makes some references to his cases. Some of his speeches were published without his consent.

vii. 2, 24, 'In causa Naevi Arpiniani ... cuius actionem et quidem solam in hoc tempus emiseram, quod ipsum me fecisse ductum iuvenili cupiditate gloriae fateor. Nam ceterae, quae sub nomine meo feruntur, neglegentia excipientium in quaestum notariorum corruptae minimam partem mei habent.'

iv. 1, 19, 'Ego pro regina Berenice apud ipsam eam causam dixi.'

Cf. also vii. 2, 5; ix. 2, 73-4.

Quintilian was the first person who received an imperial grant as teacher of oratory.

Jerome yr. Abr. 2104 = A.D. 88, 'Quintilianus ex Hispania Calagurritanus primus Romae publicam scholam et salarium e fisco accepit et claruit.' The date given by Jerome is much too late, as it is Quintilian that is alluded to by Sueton. Vesp. 18, 'Primus e fisco Latinis Graecisque rhetoribus annua centena constituit.' The appointment must therefore have been made by A.D. 79. The professorship is referred to by Mart. ii. 90, 1,

'Quintiliane, vagae moderator summe iuventae, gloria Romanae, Quintiliane, togae.'

Cf. Pliny, Ep. ii. 14, 10, 'Ita certe ex Quintiliano, praeceptore meo, audisse memini.' Quintilian's career as a teacher lasted for twenty years.

i. prooem. 1, 'Post impetratam studiis meis quietem, quae per viginti annos erudiendis iuvenibus impenderam.'

Teuffel thinks that the Institutio was written A.D. 89-91, in which case Quintilian's career as professor was from A.D. 68 to 88; Peterson[91] thinks that Quintilian dated his educational work as from A.D. 70 to 90, and that the Institutio was begun A.D. 92.

Quintilian grew rich by the practice of his profession, from which he ultimately retired. Iuv. 7, 186,

'Hos inter sumptus sestertia Quintiliano, ut multum, duo sufficient; res nulla minoris constabit patri, quam filius. "Unde igitur tot Quintilianus habet saltus?"'

Quint. ii. 12, 12, 'quando et praecipiendi munus iam pridem deprecati sumus et in foro quoque dicendi, quia honestissimum finem putamus, desinere dum desideraremur.'

After his retirement Quintilian was appointed tutor of Domitian's grandnephews, sons of his niece Flavia Domitilla and his cousin Flavius Clemens.

Quint. iv. prooem. 2, 'Cum mihi Domitianus Augustus sororis suae nepotum delegaverit curam.'

Through the influence of Clemens, he obtained the consulship.

Auson. grat. act. p. 23 (Schenkl), 'Quintilianus consularia per Clementem ornamenta sortitus honestamenta potius videtur quam insignia potestatis habuisse.'

Cf. Iuv. 7, 197,

'Si Fortuna volet, fies de rhetore consul; si volet haec eadem, fies de consule rhetor.'

His gratitude led him into fulsome flattery of Domitian.

x. 1, 91, 'Germanicum Augustum ab institutis studiis deflexit cura terrarum, parumque dis visum est esse eum maximum poetarum' (cf. iv. prooem. 3-5).

Quintilian married late in life. His wife died at the age of eighteen, his younger son soon afterwards at the age of five, the elder one subsequently at the age of nine.

vi. prooem. S 2, 'Illum, de quo summa conceperam et in quo spem unicam senectutis reponebam, repetito volnere orbitatis amisi'; par. 9, 'Non flosculos, sicut prior, sed iam decimum aetatis ingressus annum, certos ac deformatos fructus ostenderat'; par. 4, 'erepta prius mihi matre eorumdem, quae nondum expleto aetatis undevicesimo anno duos enixa filios ...'; par. 5, 'cum omni virtute, quae in feminas cadit, functa insanabilem adtulit marito dolorem, tum aetate tam puellari, praesertim meae comparata, potest et ipsa numerari inter volnera orbitatis'; par. 6, 'Mihi filius minor quintum egressus annum prior alterum ex duobus eruit lumen.'

The date of Quintilian's death is unknown. If he outlived Domitian it was not for long, as Pliny in the letters quoted above (the earlier written about A.D. 100) does not speak of Quintilian as alive.

(2) WORKS.

Earlier works.—Quintilian refers to a work de causis corruptae eloquentiae, and to an ars rhetorica in two Books. For speeches of his taken down and published, see vii. 2, 24, quoted p. 303.

vi. prooem. 3, 'eum librum, quem de causis corruptae eloquentiae emisi.'

i. prooem. 7, 'Duo iam sub nomine meo libri ferebantur artis rhetoricae neque editi a me neque in hoc comparati. Namque alterum, sermone per biduum habito, pueri, quibus id praestabatur, exceperant; alterum pluribus sane diebus, quantum notando consequi potuerant, interceptum, boni iuvenes sed nimium amantes mei, temerario editionis honore volgaverant.'

The Institutio Oratoria.—For the date of publication see p. 304. The circumstances of publication are given by Quintilian in the preface addressed to his bookseller Trypho.

'Efflagitasti cottidiano convicio, ut libros, quos ad Marcellum meum de Institutione oratoria scripseram, iam emittere inciperem. Nam ipse eos nondum opinabar satis maturuisse, quibus componendis, ut scis, paulo plus quam biennium tot alioqui negotiis districtus impendi ... Sed si tanto opere efflagitantur quam tu affirmas, permittamus vela ventis et oram solventibus bene precemur.'

The work is dedicated to Vitorius Marcellus (to whom Statius' Silvae, Book iv., is addressed), and was originally written in view of the education of his son Geta.

i. prooem. 6, 'Quod opus, Marcelle Vitori, tibi dicamus ... quod erudiendo Getae tuo ... non inutiles fore libri videbantur.'

Book iv. prooem. was written when Quintilian had been appointed tutor to the young princes, who are mentioned along with Geta and Quintilian's elder son; Book vi. prooem. was written not long afterwards, and refers to his bereavements; in Book xii. prooem. no names are mentioned.

The work deals with the whole education of the future orator.

i. prooem. 5, 'Nec aliter, quam si mihi tradatur educandus orator, studia eius formare ab infantia incipiam.'

Quintilian himself gives a sketch of the contents:

i. prooem. 21-2, 'Liber primus ea quae sunt ante officium rhetoris continebit [including grammar and philology]. Secundo prima apud rhetorem elementa et quae de ipsa rhetorices substantia quaeruntur tractabimus. Quinque deinceps (iii.-vii.) inventioni, nam huic et dispositio subiungitur, quattuor (viii.-xi.) elocutioni, in cuius partem memoria ac pronuntiatio veniunt, dabuntur. Unus (xii.) accedet, in quo nobis orator ipse informandus est, ut qui mores eius, quae in suscipiendis, discendis, agendis causis ratio, quod eloquentiae genus, quis agendi debeat esse finis, quae post finem studia ... disseramus.'

The ordinary handbooks of rhetoric are attacked.

i. prooem. 24-5, 'Nam plerumque nudae illae artes nimia subtilitatis affectatione frangunt atque concidunt quidquid est in oratione generosius, et omnem sucum ingeni bibunt et ossa detegunt, quae ut esse et adstringi nervis suis debent, sic corpore operienda sunt. Ideoque nos non particulam illam, sicut plerique, sed quidquid utile ad instituendum oratorem putabamus, in hos duodecim libros contulimus breviter omnia demonstraturi.'

Quintilian uses his own experience and the best views of different authorities.

vi. 2, 25, 'Quod si tradita mihi sequi praecepta sufficeret, satisfeceram huic parti, nihil eorum, quae legi vel didici, quod modo probabile fuit, omittendo; sed eruere in animo est, quae latent, et penitus ipsa huius loci aperire penetralia, quae quidem non aliquo tradente sed experimento meo ac natura ipsa duce accepi.'

Quintilian insists that the orator must be a good man (cf. the importance he attaches to early education, i. 1, etc.).

xii. 1, 1, 'Sit ergo nobis orator, quem constituimus, is qui a M. Catone finitur, vir bonus dicendi peritus; verum, id quod et ille posuit prius, et ipsa natura potius ac maius est, utique vir bonus.'

Cf. i. prooem. 9-10; ii. 2 (the whole chapter); ii. 15, 1.

Quintilian's exposition is founded mainly on Cicero, from whom he seldom differs. Cf. vii. 3, 8, 'Quamquam dissentire vix audeo a Cicerone.'

Quintilian's illustrations are mainly drawn from classical writers. Upwards of four hundred and fifty passages of Cicero and about one hundred and forty of Virgil are referred to. Quintilian not only attacks the modern style, but warns his pupils against the early writers.

ii. 5, 21-2, 'Duo autem genera maxime cavenda pueris puto: unum, ne quis eos antiquitatis nimius admirator in Graccorum Catonisque et aliorum similium lectione durescere velit ... Alterum, quod huic diversum est, ne recentis huius lasciviae flosculis capti voluptate prava deleniantur, ut praedulce illud genus et puerilibus ingeniis hoc gratius, quo propius est, adament.'

For Quintilian's high appreciation of Cicero see x. 1, 105-112; and for his antagonism to Seneca, x. 1, 125-131, and to philosophers in general, i. prooem. 10.

For Quintilian's authorities see iii. 1, 'Prooemium de scriptoribus artis rhetoricae.' They include Dionysius of Halicarnassus; Caecilius; Chrysippus (for education; cf. i. 1, 16, etc.); Cicero; Auctor ad Herenn.; Celsus, cf. iii. 1, 21, etc.; Rutilius, cf. ix. 3, 89; Remmius Palaemon.

Literary criticism is treated of in Book X. as regards the Greek and Latin authors useful to the orator. The principal authority used was the peri mimeseos of Dionysius Halicarnassius. Much of Quintilian's criticism is traditional, and the lists of great writers came ultimately from the critics of Alexandria. Roman literary critics referred to were Cicero (e.g. on the Attic orators, x. 1, 76-80) and Horace (x. 1, 24; 56, etc.).

Spurious works.—These include two collections of declamationes.

1. Nineteen long pieces, ascribed to Quintilian by Jerome and others, but much later than Quintilian's time.

2. One hundred and forty-five shorter pieces out of an original collection of three hundred and eighty-eight, the first half being lost. Some suppose they are the 'libri artis rhetoricae' (i. prooem. 7, quoted above), but this is not likely.



FRONTINUS.

(1) LIFE.

Iulius Frontinus (as he is called by Tacitus: inscriptions and some MSS. give the praenomen Sextus) was born at latest A.D. 41, for he was praetor urbanus A.D. 70.

Tac. Hist. iv. 39, 'in senatu quem Iulius Frontinus praetor urbanus vocaverat ... Mox eiurante Frontino Caesar Domitianus praeturam cepit.'

He served in Gaul during the revolt of Civilis, and received the submission of the Lingones (Front. Strat. iv. 3, 14[92]). Under Vespasian he held the consulship, and preceded Agricola in the command in Britain, where he conquered the Silures, probably A.D. 76-78.

Tac. Agr. 17, 'Et Cerealis quidem alterius successoris curam famamque obruisset: sustinuit molem Iulius Frontinus, vir magnus, quantum licebat, validamque et pugnacem Silurum gentem armis subegit, super virtutem hostium locorum quoque difficultates eluctatus.'

His knowledge of the tactics of Domitian (Strat. i. 1, 8; i. 3, 10; ii. 3, 23; ii. 11, 7) makes it probable that he took part in the war with the Chatti, A.D. 83. In 97 he became curator aquarum (Aq. 102), and at the beginning of the following year was consul for the second time (C.I.L. iii., p. 862); cf. Martial x. 48, 20, 'bis Frontino consule.' In 100 he was once more consul (C.I.L. viii. 7066). He also held the office of augur, in which, A.D. 103 or 104, he was succeeded by the younger Pliny; Plin. Ep. iv. 8, 'gratularis mihi quod acceperim auguratum ... Successi Iulio Frontino, principi viro.' His death then may be placed in A.D. 103.

Frontinus was a friend of Martial, who addresses to him Epig. x. 58.

We get a glimpse of his character from Pliny's words, Ep. ix. 19, 6, 'Vetuit exstrui monumentum: sed quibus verbis? "Impensa monumenti supervacua est: memoria nostri durabit si vita meruimus."'

(2) WORKS.

During the reign of Domitian (A.D. 81-96) Frontinus composed two works. One of these, of which only fragments survive, dealt with the art of land-surveying and the laws relating to land. The other, written after A.D. 84, when Domitian received the title of Germanicus (Strat. ii. II, 7, 'eo bello quo victis hostibus cognomen Germanici meruit'), is a manual of strategy, in three Books, entitled Strategemata. It is a sequel to a previous work (now lost) on the theory of the art of war, and illustrates its rules by historical examples derived chiefly from Sallust, Caesar, and Livy. The purpose of the book did not require the citation of authorities, and the mention of Livy in ii. 5, 31 and 34, is probably spurious. Frontinus gives either a paraphrase retaining some of the expressions of the original (cf. Strat. i. 5, 16, with Liv. xxxv. 11, 2-13), or a bald summary (cf. Strat. ii. 5, 1, with Liv. i. 14, 6-11). See G. Gundermann, Jahrb. f. class. Philol., suppl. xvi., p. 315 sqq. (1888). Some later hand has added a fourth Book, which not only presents marked differences in style and tone from the original three, but deals with an entirely different subject—the maintenance of discipline, and other duties of a commander.

Under Nerva and Trajan (A.D. 97-98) Frontinus wrote his treatise on the Roman water-supply, De Aquis Urbis Romae. Having been appointed curator aquarum, he considered it his first duty to acquaint himself with the details of his department, and published the result of his inquiries in the hope that they might be useful to his successors (cf. the preface). The book was begun under Nerva (praef. 'cum ... sit nunc mihi ab Nerva Augusto ... aquarum iniunctum officium'), but Nerva had been succeeded by Trajan before it was completed (118, 'divus Nerva'; 93, 'Traianum Augustum').



JUVENAL.

The sources for Juvenal's life are (1) his works; (2) an inscription found at Aquinum; (3) thirteen extant vitae; (4) information of the scholiasts; (5) references in Martial and other writers.

The inscription at Aquinum has been much debated; but it is safe to follow the opinion of Mommsen, whose experience in identifying people mentioned in inscriptions with historical characters depends upon a width of knowledge that no other person possesses. The vitae are all early mediaeval works, probably founded on a brief account of the poet's life composed by some unknown ancient writer, and existing at the early Renaissance. The extant vitae contain a very few facts which appear to be derived from this source, together with a number of inferences gathered, often incorrectly, from Juvenal's works. The most important statement is that regarding Juvenal's birth, which is contained in the vita in the Codex Barberinus, 8, 18, discovered by J. Duerr. The date is given in such precise and accurate terms, and is in itself so probable as solving so many of the questions connected with the poet's works, that to invent it requires an amount of knowledge with which we cannot credit the writer of this otherwise very poor account. The statements of the vitae must be carefully weighed, and accepted only when rendered probable by other considerations.[93]

Juvenal's name is given in some of the MSS. as Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis. He was born A.D. 55.

Codex Barberinus, 'Iunius Iuvenalis Aquinas Iunio Iuvenale patre, matre vero Septumuleia ex Aquinati municipio Claudio Nerone et L. Antistio consulibus natus est. Sororem habuit Septumuleiam, quae Fuscino nupsit.'

The statement about his sister and mother is very doubtful; that about Fuscinus is a bad inference from the fact that Sat. 14 (on the education of children) is addressed to him. The name Septumuleia may be invented from 14, 105, septima lux. Juvenal's sister must have been called Iunia after her father; the naming of a girl after her mother was a mediaeval idea.

Juvenal was born at Aquinum, a town of the Volscians. Twelve of the vitae agree in this, and they are confirmed by the poet's own words supposed to be addressed to him by his friend Umbricius: 3, 318-21,

'Quotiens te Roma tuo refici properantem reddet Aquino, me quoque ad Helvinam Cererem vestramque Dianam converte a Cumis.'

Cf. 6, 57,

'agello cedo paterno.'

This is corroborated by the inscription found at Aquinum (C.I.L. x. 5382), which gives us other information about the poet:

cereRI . SACRVM d . iuNIVS . IVVENALIS trib COH.i.DELMATARVM II . VIR . QVINQ . FLAMEN DIVI . VESPASIANI VOVIT . DEDICAVitqVE SVA PEC

This inscription appears to have stood near the temple of Ceres Helvina or Elvina, dedicated by a member of the gens Elvia, references to which are found on inscriptions of the district.

The vitae say that Juvenal was the son of a freedman.[94] Cf. Vitae i. a, i. b, ii. c (Duerr): 'libertini locupletis incertum filius an alumnus.' Vita v. (Duerr), 'ordinis ut fertur libertinorum.' This story is due to a misapprehension of some of Juvenal's references. 1, 99-102,

'Iubet a praecone vocari ipsos Troiugenas (nam vexant limen et ipsi nobiscum): "da praetori, da deinde tribuno." Sed libertinus prior est.'

Libertinus here is not to be taken to mean that the entire set are freedmen.

As to 4, 98,

'unde fit ut malim fraterculus esse gigantis,'

it gives no evidence whatever of Juvenal's position. If it meant anything, it would rather imply that Juvenal was the son of a poor Italian and not of a foreign slave. So for 11, 145-6. His family was respectable, his means were fair, and he could afford to look down on upstarts in virtue both of his birth and of his property, although it is clear from his own works that he had in Rome the position of a rather humble dependent, who would be exposed to insult at the tables of the rich and powerful. Cf. 3, 318; 6, 57 (above); 12, 89, 'laribus paternis'; 1, 24,

'patricios omnes opibus cum provocet unus, quo tondente gravis iuveni mihi barba sonabat.'

So 10, 225.

In vita iv. he is said to have attained equestrian rank. (Tribunician rank implied equestrian). This, on the whole, is confirmed by the inscription, and may be founded on the original vita.

Juvenal had a full course of education, first under the litterator and the grammaticus, then under the rhetor.[95] Cf. 1, 15,

'Et nos ergo manum ferulae subduximus, et nos consilium dedimus Sullae, privatus ut altum dormiret.'

This would imply a good position, and a certain command of money. Such patres libertini as Horace's were very rare.

The inscription above quoted (divi Vespasiani shows that its date is after A.D. 79, and probably not long after) informs us that Juvenal was (1) 'tribunus cohortis I. Delmatarum'[96]; (2) 'duumvir quinquennalis'[97] and 'flamen divi Vespasiani' at Aquinum. The dates when Juvenal held these posts cannot be determined exactly; but we can infer certain points.

(1) There was a certus ordo honorum in municipal life, and Juvenal must have held the quaestorship and the aedileship before the duumviratus quinquennalis. The lower limit of entering on a municipal career was twenty-five, according to an order of Augustus, and people did not usually begin it much later; we may therefore conclude that these municipal posts were held by Juvenal somewhere between A.D. 80 and 90. The last year is approximately fixed by the way in which Martial in two of his epigrams (vii. 24 and 91) belonging to A.D. 91 or 92 speaks of Juvenal; the words show that the latter must have been established in Rome for some time.

(2) In ordinary course Juvenal would enter the army after the completion of his seventeenth year. The short time he took to arrive at the position of tribune, and the statement of vita iv. 'cum ... ad dignitatem equestris ordinis pervenire sua virtute meruisset,' make it probable that he entered the army as petitor militiae equestris, as a preliminary step towards entering on a political career.

The cohors Delmatarum I., which Juvenal commanded as tribune, was in Britain in A.D. 106, and in A.D. 124.[98] Probably it had been stationed there for a period of years, and it is likely that Juvenal filled his tribuneship there. Now, all the vitae inform us that Juvenal was banished under the pretext of a military command. While the other vitae give Egypt as the place of his banishment, vita iv. gives Scotland; and it seems highly probable that vita iv. has confused Juvenal's regular military command in Britain, and his banishment, late in life, to Egypt. The words are:

'[Tyrannus] sub honoris praetextu fecit eum praefectum militis contra Scotos, qui bellum contra Romanos moverant.'

This is supported by Juvenal's references to Britain. Some of these, like his references to Egypt, seem, in contradistinction to most of his references to foreign parts, to imply personal knowledge and observation. They are as follows:

(1) 2, 159-161,

'Arma quidem ultra litora Iuvernae promovimus et modo captas Orcadas ac minima contentos nocte Britannos.'

Here 'Iuverna' is the old name of Ireland, which is not mentioned even in Tacitus' Agricola[99]; for the Orcades cf. Tac. Agr. 10; and the excessive shortness of the summer nights mentioned in the last clause is especially true of the north of Scotland.

(2) 10, 14,

'Quanto delphinis balaena Britannica maior.'

This is also particularly applicable to the north of Scotland, whales being frequently seen off the Orkney and Shetland Islands.

(3) 4, 141,

'Rutupinove edita fundo ostrea.'

(4) 14, 196,

'Castella Brigantum.'

(5) 15, 111,

'Gallia causidicos docuit facunda Britannos, de conducendo loquitur iam rhetore Thule.'

Cf. Tac. Agr. 21.

(6) 15, 124, 'Brittones.' This form is rarely found except in military inscriptions,[100] and could scarcely have been used except by one familiar with the camp in Britain.[101]

That Juvenal came to Rome about A.D. 90 has been shown above. This step he may have taken to forward his promotion in the army and afterwards in the procuratorial service. His failure in this direction may have led to his pessimism. His friendship with Martial (whom, however, he does not mention) is shown by Mart. vii. 24 (cf. vii. 91),

'Cum Iuvenale meo quae me committere temptas, quid non audebis, perfida lingua, loqui?' etc.

That he was still in Rome in B.C. 101, and had the entree of the atria of rich nobles is shown by Mart. xii. 18, written in that year.

'Dum tu forsitan inquietus erras clamosa, Iuvenalis, in Subura aut collem dominae teris Dianae, dura per limina te potentiorum sudatrix toga ventilat vagumque maior Caelius et minor fatigant, me multos repetita post Decembres accepit mea rusticumque fecit auro Bilbilis et superba ferro.'

From this we see that he lived in the Subura, the plebeian quarter. Cf. 3, 5,

'ego vel Prochytam praepono Suburae.'

While in Rome he still possessed his land at Aquinum and also a property at Tibur; 11, 65,

'de Tiburtino veniet pinguissimus agro haedulus.'

The statement of the vitae that Juvenal studied rhetoric till middle life is, as already stated, improbable, as being inconsistent with his military and municipal career; 'facundus,' applied to him by Mart. vii. 91, 1, does not mean 'declaiming,' but 'poetical' or 'oratorical.'

Vitae i. a and b (and other seven) say, 'ad mediam fere aetatem declamavit animi magis causa quam quod scholae se aut foro praepararet.'

Juvenal's literary life.—In the MSS. the satires are divided into Books, and the division seems ancient. Book i. includes Sat. 1-5; Book ii. = Sat. 6; Book iii. = Sat. 7-9; Book iv. = Sat. 10-12; Book v. = Sat. 13-16.

Book i. was written under Trajan; certainly after A.D. 100, the date of the trial of Marius Priscus [102]; 1, 49,

'exul ab octava Marius bibit et fruitur dis iratis.'

Book ii. not earlier than A.D. 116. It is highly probable that 6, 407, 'instantem regi Armenio Parthoque cometen,' refers to a comet seen at Rome in November A.D. 115; and 6, 411, 'nutare urbes, subsidere terras,' to the earthquake at Antioch, 13th December, A.D. 115.

Book iii., probably about A.D. 120, was written under Hadrian, who is eulogized in 7, 1-35. Duerr thinks it probable that 7, 36-243, was written under Trajan, and that the introduction, in praise of Hadrian, was written afterwards. This is also Friedlaender's view; cf. l. 1, 'Et spes et ratio studiorum in Caesare tantum,' with Spart. vit. Hadr. 14, 8, 'poematum studiosissimus.' This also supports the view that the introduction was written not long after Hadrian's accession, when a new era for poets was supposed to be beginning.

Book iv. was probably written about A.D. 125.

Book v. A clue to the date is found in 13, 16-7,

'Stupet haec, qui iam post terga reliquit sexaginta annos, Fonteio consule natus.'

Fonteius Capito and C. Iulius Rufus were consuls A.D. 67, in which year the sexagenarian friend whom Juvenal addresses was born. The date of writing will therefore be A.D. 127.[103]

Cf. also 15, 27, 'nuper consule Iunco.' Iuncus was consul A.D. 127, so that this satire could not have been written before A.D. 128. So 15, 44,

'Horrida sane Aegyptos, sed luxuria, quantum ipse notavi, barbara famoso non cedit turba Canopo.'

Juvenal must have added these lines to the satire while he was an exile in Egypt, if he did not write the whole of it there. This is in accordance with what vita v. says, 'in exilio ampliavit satyras.' Supposing this passage to be an addition, we may conclude that Book v. was written about A.D. 128, but not before that year.

Juvenal's banishment.—As before stated, all the vitae but one give Egypt as the place of Juvenal's exile. The exact place, according to the scholiast on 1, 1 and 4, 38, was the Great Oasis (Hoasa: Hoasis). Three vitae (i. a, b, iii. c) state that he was at that time octogenarius. This would make the date A.D. 135 or 136. Most of the vitae give as the reason of his exile the fact that he wrote the lines,[104] 7, 90-2,

'Quod non dant proceres dabit histrio. Tu Camerinos et Baream, tu nobilium magna atria curas? Praefectos Pelopea facit, Philomela tribunos.'

Now these lines, the first he ever wrote (vita iii. c) were composed in his youth as an epigram on Paris, Domitian's favourite, probably about A.D. 81-3. The true story then is that, when Juvenal in A.D. 135 or 136 published a new edition of Sat. 7, he added these lines (vitae i. a, b, 'ut ea quoque quae prima fecerat inferciret novis scriptis').[105] Now it has been inferred from Spart. vit. Hadr. 23 sqq. that at this time an actor had great influence over Hadrian, and the lines were taken as referring to him. The emperor in a rage banished Juvenal to Egypt per honorem militiae, writing maliciously on his commission 'Et te Philomela promovit' (vita iv.). The banishment is assigned to the influence of Paris by Iohannes Malalas, p. 262 sqq. (Dindorf), and by Suidas. Cf. also Sat. 15, 44 sqq., already quoted, and Sidonius Apollinaris 9, 267 sqq.,

'Non qui tempore Caesaris secundi aeterno incoluit Tomos reatu: non qui consimili deinde casu ad volgi tenuem strepentis auram irati fuit histrionis exul.'

Vita iii. b, 'Tristitia et angore periit anno aetatis suae altero et octuagesimo.'

Vita v., 'Decessit longo senio confectus exul Antonino Pio imperatore.'

If this last statement is correct, Juvenal died after reaching the age of eighty-two, as Antoninus came to the throne on 10th July, A.D. 138. It follows from this also that he must have been born in the second half of A.D. 55.

The Satires.—The following are the more important points regarding these:

(1) Juvenal's reasons for writing satire are given in Sat. 1, ll. 1-14. He is wearied with tragedies and epics on mythological subjects, 'Semper ego auditor tantum?'

He is resolved to follow in the footsteps of Lucilius; ll. 19-21,

'Cur tamen hoc potius libeat decurrere campo, per quem magnus equos Auruncae flexit alumnus, si vacat ac placidi rationem admittitis, edam.'

His satire is due to indignation at the moral decay of the Roman world.

l. 30, 'Difficile est satiram non scribere' (cf. ll. 63, 79).

However, he does not intend to satirize the living, at least under their own names; and in fact he has in his mind particularly the times of Domitian, while most of his names are those of persons living under Claudius or Nero; l. 170,

'Experiar quid concedatur in illos, quorum Flaminia tegitur cinis atque Latina.'

In the first nine Satires Juvenal's bitterness is directed mainly against the senatorial class, possibly because they had given him no support in his office-seeking. Even his violent attack on women in Sat. 6 is launched chiefly against the women of the highest class. Note also the unjust way in which he speaks of the government of the provinces (Sat. 8, 87-139). Juvenal is very bitter against Greeks and Orientals, most of all against Egyptians (cf. Sat. 15, and his attacks on the Egyptian Crispinus in 4, 1-33, etc.). Cf. 3, 119-125, for his attacks on foreigners.

(2) He claims a wide scope for his subject; 1, 85,

'Quidquid agunt homines, votum timor ira voluptas gaudia discursus nostri farrago libelli est.'

(3) His pessimism is very marked; cf. 1, 147,

'Nil erit ulterius, quod nostris moribus addat posteritas; eadem facient cupientque minores, omne in praecipiti vitium stetit. Utere velis, totos pande sinus.'

So 12, 48-9. His pessimism leads to extravagant language like 6, 29 sqq. He is as hard on trifling foibles as on the most heinous offences. Cf. 6, 166 sqq., 185 sqq., 398 sqq., 434-56 (on learned ladies).

(4) His rhetorical learning and style (found in all the Satires, but particularly in the later ones) are shown by

(a) His metre and language. Thus we find rhetorical uses of ergo (3, 104; 281, etc.); nunc (3, 268; 10, 210); porro (3, 126; 11, 9); and of other particles.

(b) The way in which he chooses themes for his Satires, and subdivides them. Several of the Satires, as 5, 8, 10, 14, are theses, i.e. problems of a general character worked out in the manner of the rhetorical schools. Thus Sat. 5 discusses the question, 'Is the position of a client worth having?' Sat. 8, 'Has high birth a value in itself?' He sometimes uses the commonplaces of the schools, as 8, 56,

'Animalia muta quis generosa putet nisi fortia?'

So 8, 215-6. In the manner of a rhetorician he sometimes gives superabundant details. The best example of this is 10, 190-250, on the troubles of old age.

(c) His knowledge of mythology, history, law, and philosophy. This is found mostly in the later Books. In the earlier Satires he dealt more with life as he had known it. In the later Satires he has recourse to republican times and to foreign history. His historical examples Friedlaender thinks he took mostly from Valerius Maximus. Juvenal's knowledge of philosophy was very superficial, and was probably got from his rhetorical training. Errors occur; thus in 13, 121-2, Stoics and Cynics are looked upon as identical.[106]

(d) His high-flown language referred to above.

(e) His references to previous literature. Thus Horace is often referred to (cf. 7, 62 and 227); Virgil with great frequency (cf. 1, 162; 6, 434 sqq.; 7, 66 and 227; 7, 233 sqq.). Mayor mentions Homer, Herodotus, Plato, Lucilius, Cicero, Ovid, Manilius, Valerius Maximus, Seneca, Lucan, and Martial among the authors imitated by Juvenal.



PLINY THE YOUNGER.

Pliny's full name on the inscriptions of the later period of his life reads 'C. Plinius L. f. Ouf. Caecilius Secundus.' This name he partly got from his mother's brother C. Plinius Secundus (Pliny the elder), who adopted him by will: cf. Ep. v. 8, 5, 'Avunculus meus idemque per adoptionem pater.' Pliny's name before his adoption in A.D. 79 (see below) was P. Caecilius L. f. Ouf. Secundus. His birthplace was Comum, and he belonged to the Oufentina, the tribe of the people of Comum, as well on the side of his natural as on that of his adoptive father. In an inscription preserved at Como (C.I.L. v. 5279) Pliny's father, Cilo, is mentioned, and two men who are undoubtedly Cilo's sons, the second mentioned being Pliny the younger, who had always been called Secundus.

'L. Caecilius L. f. Cilo iiii.vir a(edilicia) p(otestate), qui testamento suo (sestertium) n(ummum) xxxx. (milia) municipibus Comensibus legavit, ex quorum reditu quotannis per Neptunalia oleum in campo et in thermis et in balineis omnibus, quae sunt Comi, praeberentur, t(estamento) f(ieri) iussit et L. Caecilio L. f. Valenti et P. Caecilio L. f. Secundo et Lutullae Picti f. contubernali.'[107]

For Cilo's bequests here mentioned cf. Pliny, Ep. i, 8, 5; Comum is referred to as 'patria mea' in Ep. iv. 30, 1. The Caecilii were a family of station at Comum even in Caesar's time. Cf. Catull. 35,

'Poetae tenero meo sodali velim Caecilio, papyre, dicas, Veronam veniat Novi relinquens Comi moenia Lariumque litus.'

Pliny inherited landed property there from his father and mother.

Ep. vii. 11, 5, 'Indicavit mihi cupere se aliquid circa Larium nostrum possidere: ego illi ex praediis meis quod vellet ... optuli, exceptis maternis paternisque.'

The above inscription shows that Pliny's father belonged to the municipal nobility, and possibly had 'equestris nobilitas.'

Pliny was in his eighteenth year (Ep. vi. 20, 5, 'agebam duodevicensimum annum') on 24th August, A.D. 79, when his uncle perished in the eruption of Vesuvius, and he was therefore born in the second half of 61 or in the first half of 62 A.D. Cilo died young, before holding the chief municipal post, and before Pliny was of age; and Verginius Rufus became Pliny's guardian.

Ep. ii. 1, 8, 'Ille mihi tutor relictus adfectum parentis exhibuit.' Pliny was removed to Rome with his uncle, probably at the end of A.D. 72. While at school he wrote poetry (Ep. vii. 4, 2, quoted below), and studied philosophy and rhetoric.

Ep. vi. 6, 3, 'Quos tunc ego frequentabam, Quintilianum, Niceten Sacerdotem.' Cf. also ii. 14, 10; i. 20, 4; vii. 4, etc. For literary studies with his uncle cf. Ep. vi. 20, 5, 'Posco librum Titi Livi et quasi per otium lego, atque etiam, ut coeperam, excerpo.'

His uncle, as above stated, died on 24th August, A.D. 79, and by his will adopted Pliny, whose name thereafter was C. Plinius L. f. Ouf. Caecilius Secundus. He therefore changed his praenomen to that of his adoptive father, and put his former nomen among his cognomina. By his contemporaries he is called Plinius (cf. Martial, x. 19), or Secundus, as by Trajan. The name Caecilius was confined to formal inscriptions.

In A.D. 80 or 81 Pliny first appeared as an advocate. Cf. Ep. v. 8, 8, 'Undevicensimo aetatis anno dicere in foro coepi.' Before entering the Senate, he held (as stated in the chief inscription, given below) the decemvirate litibus iudicandis, the military tribunate in the third Gallic legion, and the title of Sevir in the Roman knighthood. Pliny probably held his military tribunate under Domitian (i.e., after 13th September, A.D. 81) in Syria.

Cf. Ep. i. 10, 2, 'Hunc [Euphraten philosophum] ego in Syria, cum adulescentulus militarem, penitus et domi inspexi.'

The date of Pliny's praetorship as A.D. 93 is settled by Ep. iii. 11, 2, the events recorded in which passage are known from Tac. Agr. 45 to have taken place shortly after Agricola's death in August, A.D. 93.

'Fui praetor ... cum ... occisis Senecione Rustico Helvidio, relegatis Maurico Gratilla Arria Fannia ... mihi quoque impendere idem exitium certis quibusdam notis augurarer.'

The words in Ep. vii. 16 (of Calestrius Tiro), 'Simul quaestores Caesaris fuimus: ille me in tribunatu liberorum iure praecessit, ego illum in praetura sum consecutus, cum mihi Caesar annum remisisset,' refer to the fact that the emperor did not insist on the year of absence from office between the tribunate and the quaestorship. Pliny was quaestor from 1st June, 89 to 31st May, 90 A.D., being nominated by the emperor, as shown by the above passage. He was trib. pleb. from 10th December, 90 to 9th December, 91 A.D., and during his year of office undertook no cases. Cf. Ep. i. 23, 2, 'Ipse cum tribunus essem ... abstinui causis agendis.' By special favour he was allowed to take office as praetor on 1st January, A.D. 93. In this year he appeared before the Senate for the people of Baetica against the procurator Baebius Massa.

Ep. vii. 33, esp. par. 4, 'Dederat me senatus cum Herennio Senecione advocatum provinciae Baeticae contra Baebium Massam.'

The inscriptions of Pliny show that he was praefectus aerarii militaris between his praetorship in 93 and his praefectura aerarii Saturni (from 98 onwards), and this office he held either from 94 to 96 or from 95 to 97 A.D. Pliny tells us that he and Cornutus Tertullus were designated consuls, when they had held the praefectura aerarii Saturni for less than two years.

Paneg. 91, 'Nondum biennium compleveramus in officio laboriosissimo et maximo, cum tu nobis ... consulatum obtulisti.'

This designatio took place on 9th January, A.D. 100, whence the praefectura must have been entered on shortly after 9th January, A.D. 98. Pliny was probably nominated to it by Nerva and Trajan.

Cf. ad Trai. 3, 'Ut primum me, domine, indulgentia vestra promovit ad praefecturam aerarii Saturni.'

Mommsen[108] believes that this praefectura was held at the same time as the consulship, and on to December, A.D. 101, an unusual length of tenure. H. F. Stobbe, however, makes the trial of Classicus, on which the last date depends, extend from September 99 to July 100 A.D. (Philologus, xxx. 347 sqq.).

Paneg. 92, 'Nobis praefectis aerarii consulatum ante quam successorem dedisti.'

Pliny, along with Cornutus Tertullus, his colleague in the praefectura, was made consul A.D. 100. He held the office in September of that year, and the tenure was either from July 1 to September 30, or from September 1 to October 31.

Paneg. 92, 'Ei nos potissimum mensi attribuisti quem tuus natalis exornat.'

The Panegyricus is a speech of thanks to Trajan spoken on this occasion. In A.D. 99 Pliny, along with Tacitus, appeared for the Africans against the proconsul Marius Priscus (see Ep. ii. 11 quoted p. 338); and in A.D. 101, while still praefectus aerarii, he appeared for the people of Baetica against the proconsul Caecilius Classicus.

Ep. iii. 4, 2, 'Legati provinciae Baeticae questuri de proconsulatu Caecili Classici advocatum me a senatu petierunt.'

Pliny obtained the augurship, probably in 103 or 104, in succession to Sex. Iulius Frontinus, who probably died in 102 or 103 A.D. Cf. Ep. iv. 8, 3, 'Successi Iulio Frontino.' In 103 or 104 A.D. he appeared against the Bithynians for the proconsul Iulius Bassus (Ep. iv. 9 etc.). He held the cura alvei Tiberis et riparum et cloacarum urbis probably from 105 to 107 A.D. See Pliny's chief inscription (below), and cf. Ep. v. 14, 1-2, 'Mihi nuntiatum est Cornutum Tertullum accepisse Aemiliae viae curam ... aliquanto magis me delectat mandatum mihi officium, postquam par Cornuto datum video.'

About A.D. 106 Pliny appeared against the Bithynians for the proconsul Varenus Rufus (Ep. vi. 29, 11).

From 111-2 or 112-3 A.D. Pliny was governor of Pontus and Bithynia, being sent out for a special purpose by the emperor as legatus pro praetore consulari potestate. Cf. the chief inscription (below) and the words of Trajan.

Trai. 32, 'Meminerimus idcirco te in istam provinciam missum, quoniam multa in ea emendanda apparuerint.'

The date of Pliny's governorship is fixed by the mention of Calpurnius Macer in the letters (ad Trai. 42; 61; 62) as the governor of the nearest province. Mommsen has identified him with P. Calpurnius Macer Caulius Rufus, who is shown by an inscription (C.I.L. iii. 7 and 17) to have been governor of Lower Moesia in 112 A.D. This is corroborated by the fact that no mention is made of Bithynia in the chief collection of letters, which was not completed till A.D. 108 at least. Therefore the governorship falls after that time. On the other hand, Pliny must have been sent out not later than A.D. 113, as in the chief inscription Optimus does not appear in Trajan's name, and this cognomen he assumed in A.D. 114. Finally, the fact that Trajan was at Rome during Pliny's governorship points to a time between the end of the second Dacian War in A.D. 107 and the outbreak of the Parthian War in A.D. 113.

Our information about Pliny ends with the close of his correspondence with Trajan. It is certain that he held no further office, and it is probable that he died before A.D. 114 in his province or shortly after his return to Rome.

As regards municipal relations, Pliny held the post of flamen divi Augusti, according to the inscription which the corporation of Vercellae erected to him at his own town (C.I.L. v. 5667).

'C. Plini[o L. f. O]uf. Caec[ilio] Secundo [c]os. augur. cur. alv. Tib. [et ripa]r. et cloac. urb. [praef. a]er. Sat. praef. aer. mil. [pr. tr. pl.] imp. sevir. eq. R. tr. m[i]l. leg. iii. Gall. x. viro stl. iud. fl. divi T. Aug.'

For bequests to his native town see the chief inscription (below). Besides these are mentioned gifts in his life-time. Under Domitian Pliny presented his townspeople with a library (Ep. i, 8), apparently worth 1,000,000 sesterces (v. 7), and endowed it with 100,000 sesterces. He also gave 500,000 sesterces for the support of freeborn boys and girls (Ep. i, 8); and promised to pay one-third of the salary of the professor of rhetoric at Comum (Ep. iv. 13, 5).

The following is the chief inscription of Pliny (as restored by Mommsen), which was erected at the Thermae which he presented to Comum (C.I.L. v. 5262):

'C. Plinius L. f. Ouf. Caecilius Secundus cos. augur legat. pro pr. provinciae Ponti et Bithyniae consulari potestat. in eam provinciam ex. s. c. missus ab Imp. Caesar. Nerva Traiano Aug. Germanico Dacico p.p. curator alvei Tiberis et riparum et cloacar. urb. praef. aerari Saturni praef. aerari milit. pr. trib. pl. quaestor imp. sevir equitum Romanorum trib. milit. leg. iii. Gallicae x.vir stlitib. iudicand. thermas ex HS ... adiectis in ornatum HS ccc ... et eo amplius in tutelam HS CC t. f. i. item in alimenta libertor. suorum homin. C. HS XVIII LXVI DCLXVI reip. legavit, quorum increment. postea ad epulum pleb. urban. voluit pertinere ... item vivus dedit in aliment. pueror. et puellar. pleb. urban. HS D item bybliothecam et in tutelam bybliothecae HS C.'

Pliny was also patron of Tifernum Tiberinum and of the Baetici.

Ep. iv. 1, 4, 'Oppidum est praediis nostris vicinum, nomen Tiferni Tiberini, quod me paene adhuc puerum patronum cooptavit ... In hoc ego ... templum pecunia mea exstruxi, cuius dedicationem ... differre longius inreligiosum est.'

Ep. iii. 4, 4, 'Legati ... inplorantes fidem meam, quam essent contra Massam Baebium experti, adlegantes patrocini foedus.'

Pliny married three times, twice under Domitian. Cf. ad Trai. 2, 'Liberos ... habere etiam tristissimo illo saeculo volui, sicut potes duobus matrimoniis meis credere.' For his third wife, Calpurnia, who died A.D. 97, see Ep. iv. 19. Pliny had no children, but Trajan conferred on him the ius trium liberorum in A.D. 98. Cf. ad Trai. 2, 'Me dignum putasti iure trium liberorum.'

Pliny as orator and writer.—Most of Pliny's cases were before the centumviri, who dealt with inheritances: cf. Ep. vi. 12, 2, 'in harena mea, hoc est apud centumviros.' So Mart. x. 19, 14 (written A.D. 96),

'Totos dat tetricae dies Minervae dum centum studet auribus virorum hoc quod saecula posterique possint Arpinis quoque comparare chartis.'

For Pliny's five speeches in criminal trials before the Senate see above. Cf. Ep. vi. 29, 7 sqq., 'Egi quasdam a senatu iussus ... Adfui Baeticis contra Baebium Massam ... Adfui rursus isdem querentibus de Caecilio Classico ... Accusavi Marium Priscum ... Tuitus sum Iulium Bassum ... Dixi proxime pro Vareno.'

Pliny recited his speeches before delivering them, and subsequently published them, sometimes with additions.

Ep. vii. 17, 2, 'Miror quod scribis fuisse quosdam qui reprehenderent quod orationes omnino recitarem.'

Ep. iii. 18, 1 (of the Panegyricus), 'Quod ego in senatu cum ad rationem et loci et temporis ex more fecissem, bono civi convenientissimum credidi eadem illa spatiosius et uberius volumine amplecti.'

Pliny speaks of his early attempts at poetry:

Ep. vii. 4, 2-3, 'Numquam a poetice (altius enim repetam) alienus fui; quin etiam quattuordecim natus annos Graecam tragoediam scripsi. Qualem? inquis: nescio: tragoedia vocabatur.'

In Books i.-iii. he appears only as a lover of poetry and a patron of poets (cf. i. 16; iii. 15). From Book iv. (published A.D. 105) onwards he appears as a poet. In Ep. vii. 4, 6 are thirteen poor hexameter lines on Cicero; ibid. par. 7-8, 'Transii ad elegos: hos quoque non minus celeriter explicui: addidi iambos, facilitate corruptus ... Postremo placuit exemplo multorum unum separatim hendecasyllaborum volumen absolvere, nec paenitet. Legitur, describitur, cantatur etiam.' Pliny defends himself for writing light verses in Ep. v. 3, etc. In the later books he refers to another proposed collection of verses.

Ep. viii. 21, 3, 'Liber fuit et opusculis varius et metris.'

Pliny says he did not observe chronological order in publishing his letters.

Ep. i. 1, 1, 'Collegi non servato temporis ordine (neque enim historiam componebam), sed ut quaeque in manus venerat.'

This, however, is not convincing, as it falls in with Pliny's wish to give an appearance of negligence to the work, and besides it may apply only to Book i. Successive publication of the different Books is shown by many references; so Ep. ix. 19, 'Significas legisse te in quadam epistula,' where Ep. vi. 10 is referred to. So also contemporaneous events are always described in the same Book or in two Books close together; and when a subject is continued in another letter, the order of the two letters fits in with chronology. So iii. 4 and iv. 1 deal with the building of a temple at Tifernum; iii. 20 and iv. 25 with ballot at elections.

The following are the probable dates of publication: Book i. in A.D. 97; Book ii. in A.D. 100; Book iii. in A.D. 101 or 102; Book iv. in A.D. 105; Book v. in A.D. 106; Book vi. possibly in A.D. 106; Book vii. in A.D. 107; Book viii. not before A.D. 109; Book ix. probably about the same time.

The correspondence with Trajan is independent of the nine Books of letters. The epistles are roughly in chronological order. Epp. 1-14 range from 98 to 106 A.D. Epp. 15 to the end were probably all written in Bithynia during Pliny's governorship there. Trajan's reply is subjoined to most of the letters. The correspondence extant stretches from September A.D. 111 over January A.D. 113.

Pliny had intimate relations with other writers, the principal being Tacitus; Martial (cf. Ep. iii. 21); Silius Italicus (cf. Ep. iii. 7). See pp. 340, 298, 289. For his literary reputation see Ep. ix. 23, 2, quoted p. 338 and cf. Ep. i. 2, 6, 'Libelli quos emisimus dicuntur in manibus esse, quamvis iam gratiam novitatis exuerint; nisi tamen auribus nostris bibliopolae blandiuntur.'

Pliny's character.—Pliny, without being a great man, is a more favourable specimen of character, feeling, and gentlemanly tone, than almost any other Roman author. He avoided censorious writing, and most of the people he mentions are praised. The chief exception is Regulus (Ep. i. 5, etc.), and possibly also Iavolenus Priscus (vi. 15). When anybody is blamed, his name is omitted unless he is dead or has been banished.

Ep. vii. 28, i, 'Ais quosdam apud te reprehendisse, tamquam amicos meos ex omni occasione ultra modum laudem. Agnosco crimen, amplector etiam. Quid enim honestius culpa benignitatis?'

For his desire of praise cf. Ep. ix. 23, 5, 'An ... ego celebritate nominis mei gaudere non debeo? Ego vero et gaudeo et gaudere me dico.'

For his kindness to slaves cf. Ep. viii. 16, 1, 'Permitto servis quoque quasi testamenta facere eaque ut legitima custodio' (and the rest of the letter).

For his grief at the loss of friends cf. Ep. v. 21, 6, 'Sed quid ego indulgeo dolori? cui si frenos remittas, nulla materia non maxima est. Finem epistulae faciam, ut facere possim etiam lacrimis quas epistula expressit.'

For his love of nature cf. Ep. i. 9, 6, 'O mare, o litus, verum secretumque mouseion, quam multa invenitis, quam multa dictatis!'

Cf. also descriptions of natural scenery, as in Epp. ii. 17, 3; v. 6, 13; vi. 31, 15; viii. 8.



TACITUS.

(1) LIFE.

The historian's full name is uncertain. Other writers, e.g. Pliny the younger, call him Cornelius Tacitus, or simply Tacitus. His praenomen is given as P. in the best Tacitean MS. (Mediceus I.), and as C. in later MSS. and by Sidonius Apollinaris (Ep. iv. 14; 22).[109] His birthplace is unknown. The tradition that he was born at Interamna in Umbria arose from the fact that the emperor Tacitus (A.D. 275-6), who claimed descent from the historian (Vopisc. Tac. 10, 3), was born there.[110] The probable date of his birth is got from a comparison of two passages:

Dial. 1, 'Disertissimorum ... hominum ... quos eamdem hanc quaestionem pertractantes iuvenis admodum audivi.'

Pliny, Ep. vii. 20, 3, 'Erit rarum et insigne duos homines aetate dignitate propemodum aequales ... alterum alterius studia fovisse. Equidem adulescentulus, cum iam tu fama gloriaque floreres, te sequi, tibi longo sed proximus intervallo et esse et haberi concupiscebam.'

The dramatic date of the Dialogue is A.D. 75 (Dial. 17), and at that time Tacitus, as iuvenis admodum, must have been between seventeen and twenty. From a consideration of the words of Pliny, who was born A.D. 61 or 62, the later age seems nearer the mark, and we may conclude that Tacitus was born A.D. 55 or 56.

We have no positive information about Tacitus' family, but his education, political career, and marriage into a distinguished house, prove that he belonged to a family of station. The first person of the name we know of is mentioned by Pliny the elder as an eques, and may have been Tacitus' father.

Pliny, N.H. vii. 76, 'Corneli Taciti, equitis Romani, Belgicae Galliae rationes procurantis.'

Tacitus received the regular rhetorical training under the best masters.

Dial. 2, 'M. Aper et Iulius Secundus, celeberrima tum ingenia fori nostri, quos ego in iudiciis non modo studiose audiebam, sed domi quoque et in publico adsectabar, mira studiorum cupiditate et quodam ardore iuvenili, ut fabulas quoque eorum et disputationes et arcana semotae dictionis penitus exciperem.'

That Tacitus had a very great reputation as a speaker is seen from Pliny, Ep. ix. 23, 2, 'Numquam maiorem cepi voluptatem, quam nuper ex sermone Corneli Taciti. Narrabat sedisse se cum quodam Circensibus proximis: hunc post varios eruditosque sermones requisisse "Italicus es an provincialis?" se respondisse "nosti me, et quidem ex studiis." Ad hoc illum "Tacitus es an Plinius?"'

In A.D. 98 (according to others, 97) Tacitus delivered the funeral oration over Verginius Rufus, and in A.D. 100 he and Pliny prosecuted Marius Priscus, proconsul of Africa, for extortion.

Pliny, Ep. ii. 1, 6, 'Laudatus est [Verginius Rufus] a consule Cornelio Tacito: nam hic supremus felicitati eius cumulus accessit, laudator eloquentissimus.'

Ibid. ii. 11, 2, 'Ego et Cornelius Tacitus, adesse provincialibus iussi.' par. 17, 'Respondit Cornelius Tacitus eloquentissime, et quod eximium orationi eius inest, semnos.'

In A.D. 77 Tacitus was betrothed to the daughter of Agricola, then consul, and in A.D. 78 he married her.

Agr. 9, 'Consul egregiae tum spei filiam iuveni mihi despondit ac post consulatum collocavit, et statim Britanniae praepositus est.'

Tacitus gives us a clue to his political career in Hist. i. 1.

'Dignitatem nostram a Vespasiano incohatam, a Tito auctam, a Domitiano longius provectam non abnuerim.'

This probably means that Vespasian granted him the latus clavus, i.e. a place in the ordo senatorius, which was followed by the vigintiviratus given by the Senate, and a commission in the army as tribunus militum laticlavius; that Titus appointed him quaestor A.D. 80-1; and that Domitian made him tribune or aedile (about 84), and in A.D. 88 praetor. For the last office cf. Ann. xi. 11,

'Is [Domitianus] edidit ludos saeculares, eisque intentius adfui sacerdotio quindecimvirali praeditus ac tunc praetor.'

That Tacitus was absent from Rome A.D. 90-93 we may infer from what he says of Agricola's death (A.D. 93).

Agr. 45, 'Nobis tam longae absentiae condicione ante quadriennium amissus est.'

He must have returned to Rome soon afterwards, for he says in the same chapter: 'Mox nostrae duxere Helvidium in carcerem manus; nos Maurici Rusticique visus, nos innocenti sanguine Senecio perfudit.'

Tacitus was appointed consul suffectus under Trajan A.D. 98 (see Pliny, Ep. ii. 1, 6, above quoted).

An inscription found at Mylasa in Caria shows that Tacitus was proconsul of Asia about 112-116 A.D.[111]

Tacitus probably died soon after the publication of the Annals (A.D. 115-7), as he did not live to write his contemplated works on the Augustan age and the reigns of Nerva and Trajan.

Hist. i. 1, 'Quod si vita suppeditet, principatum divi Nervae et imperium Traiani ... senectuti seposui.'

Ann. iii. 24, 'Cetera illius aetatis [Augusti] memorabo, si effectis in quae tetendi, plures ad curas vitam produxero.'

Tacitus was on intimate terms with Pliny, eleven of whose letters are addressed to him. From vii. 20 and viii. 7 we see that they were in the habit of "exchanging proof-sheets." To the same circle belonged Fabius Iustus, to whom the Dialogus is dedicated, and Asinius Rufus.

Pliny, Ep. iv. 15, 1, 'Asinium Rufum singulariter amo. ... Idem Cornelium Tacitum arta familiaritate complexus est.'

(2) WORKS.

1. Dialogus de Oratoribus, an inquiry into the causes of the decay of eloquence—'cur nostra potissimum aetas deserta et laude eloquentiae orbata vix nomen ipsum oratoris retineat' (Dial. 1). Some critics have supposed that Tacitus meant this work to be an apologia pro vita sua, a justification of his preference for a literary to a rhetorical career, but this cannot be proved. That Tacitus is the author is clear from Pliny, Ep. ix. 10, 2, 'Itaque poemata quiescunt, quae tu inter nemora et lucos commodissime perfici putas'—a reference to Dial. 9, 'poetis ... in nemora et lucos, id est in solitudinem, secedendum est.' The dramatic date is given in Dial. 17 as A.D. 75; the statement there and in Dial. 24 that one hundred and twenty years have passed since Cicero's death (which would give A.D. 77) is made in round numbers. The date of composition is uncertain. It was not under Domitian, as Tacitus remained silent during his reign (Agr. 2). We can hardly suppose it to have been written under Nerva, as its style is so different from that of the Agricola; but it may have been written under Domitian, and published after his death. Some authorities put it as early as A.D. 81.[112]

2. De vita et moribus Iulii Agricolae liber, an account of the life of Cn. Iulius Agricola, Tacitus' father-in-law, and particularly of his career in Britain. It was written early in the reign of Trajan, and therefore after 27th Jan., 98 A.D., and probably in that year.

Agr. 3, 'quamquam primo statim beatissimi saeculi ortu Nerva Caesar res olim dissociabiles miscuerit, principatum ac libertatem, augeatque cottidie felicitatem temporum Nerva Traianus.'

3. Germania.—The Vatican MSS. give the title as de origine et situ (another MS. adds moribus ac populis) Germanorum. The date of publication, as seen from Germ. 37, was A.D. 98. The book is not mentioned in Agr. 3 among the proposed works of Tacitus; and it has therefore been supposed that the materials were collected for the Histories, and that the work was published separately on account of its length, and also the interest felt in Germany at the time. There is nothing in the theory that the book is a political pamphlet, or that it contains a moral purpose. Tacitus is by no means blind to the faults of the Germans (c. 17 sqq., etc.), though he compares them favourably in many respects with the Romans.

4. Historiae.—The title is guaranteed by Tertull. apol. 16, 'Cornelius Tacitus in quinta historiarum suarum.' The work embraced the time from Galba to Domitian, i.e. 69-96 A.D. The first four Books and part of the fifth are extant, and give the history of 69 and most of 70 A.D. In MS. Mediceus II., the only ancient MS. that contains Ann. xi.-xvi. and the Histories, there is no title, but the Books are numbered continuously as belonging to the same work. Cf. Jerome, Comm. on Zacharias, iii. 14, 'Cornelius Tacitus, qui post Augustum usque ad mortem Domitiani vitas Caesarum triginta voluminibus exaravit.' If, therefore, the Annals contained sixteen Books, the Histories must have contained fourteen, supposing Jerome's statement to be correct. Some authorities think the numbers were eighteen and twelve respectively. The work was written under Trajan (cf. Hist. i. 1, 'principatum divi Nervae et imperium Traiani'), and was probably brought out in instalments. Pliny's letters (vi. 16; 20; vii. 33), written about A.D. 106-9, contain contributions to it.

5. Annales, or rather Ab excessu divi Augusti, the title given by MS. Med. I. Tacitus often calls his work annales (as in Ann. iv. 32), but uses the word to signify his plan of recording events by their years. Cf. Ann. iv. 71, 'Ni mihi destinatum foret suum quaeque in annum referre, avebat animus antire,' etc.

He occasionally apologises (as in xii. 40) for departing from this order for the sake of clearness. The Books, the division into which was made by Tacitus himself (cf. vi. 27, 'in prioribus libris'), usually, however, end with some important event.

The Annals deal with the time from the death of Augustus to that of Nero, i.e. from 14 to 68 A.D. There are extant Books i.-iv. and a part of v. and vi., and Books xi.-xvi., except the beginning of xi. and the end of xvi. We have thus lost the whole of the reign of Caligula and the reign of Claudius from 41-47 (part), and Nero's reign from the close of 66 to 68. The work was published between A.D. 115 and 117. This is settled by Ann. ii. 61, 'Exin ventum Elephantinen ac Syenen, claustra olim Romani imperii, quod nunc rubrum ad mare patescit.'

The conquest here spoken of was made by Trajan A.D. 115, and his successor Hadrian, soon after coming to the throne (August, A.D. 117), gave up the regions beyond the Euphrates and Tigris (Spartianus, Hadri. 5).[113]

Tacitus' views on politics, philosophy, and religion.—

(1) The ideal mixed form of government Tacitus considers to be impracticable.

Ann. iv. 33, 'Cunctas nationes et urbes populus aut primores aut singuli regunt: delecta ex eis et consociata rei publicae forma laudari facilius quam evenire, vel si evenit, haud diuturna esse potest.'

Tacitus is essentially a conservative. Thus he always uses antiquus and priscus in a good sense (H. ii. 5; 64; Ann. vi. 32).

In Ann. iii. 60 he speaks with pride of the republic: 'Magna eius diei species fuit, quo senatus maiorum beneficia, sociorum pacta, regum etiam, qui ante vim Romanam valuerant, decreta ipsorumque numinum religiones introspexit, libero, ut quondam, quid firmaret mutaretve.'

See also the speech of C. Cassius in Ann. xiv. 43. As an aristocrat Tacitus is sometimes unjust to men of low birth, as in Ann. iv. 3, where he sneers at Seianus as 'municipali adultero,' and attaches great value to high birth (cf. vi. 27). He is prejudiced against slaves and barbarians.

Tacitus theoretically prefers a republic (cf. Ann. vi. 42, 'Populi imperium iuxta libertatem, paucorum dominatio regiae libidini propior est'), but admits the impossibility of a restitution of the free state (H. ii. 37-8) and the necessity of empire. H. i. 1 (of Augustus), 'omnem potentiam ad unum conferri pacis interfuit.'

Cf. also Galba's speech in H. i. 16. The problem is to reconcile the empire with freedom (see Agr. 3 quoted p. 341). One's duty is to steer one's course inter abruptam contumaciam et deforme obsequium (Ann. iv. 20). Tacitus gives only modified approval to patriots like Paetus Thrasea (Ann. xiv. 12; 49) and Helvidius Priscus (H. iv. 6), and on the other hand gives praise for moderation to men like Agricola (Agr. 42), M. Lepidus (Ann. iv. 20), L. Piso (Ann. vi. 10).

Ann. xiv. 12, 'Thrasea Paetus ... sibi causam periculi fecit, ceteris libertatis initium non praebuit.'

Agr. 42, 'Non contumacia neque inani iactatione libertatis famam fatumque provocabat.'

Tacitus blames those who despair of their own times. Ann. ii. 88, 'dum vetera extollimus recentium incuriosi.' He thinks that the emperors, from their irresponsible position, were often gradually led into wickedness, their downward career being helped by flatterers and satellites, and draws a moral lesson from the servile Senate and the delatores, who, like the emperors themselves, received punishment for their conduct (Ann. i. 74; iii. 65 sqq.).

Ann. vi. 48, 'Cum Tiberius post tantam rerum experientiam vi dominationis convulsus et mutatus sit.'

Ann. iv. 33, 'Pauci prudentia honesta ab deterioribus utilia ab noxiis discernunt, plures aliorum eventis docentur.'

Ann. vi. 6, 'Adeo facinora atque flagitia sua ipsi quoque in supplicium verterant ... Quippe Tiberium non fortuna, non solitudines protegebant, quin tormenta pectoris suasque ipse poenas fateretur.'

(2) Tacitus attaches himself to no particular school of philosophy, and deprecates too close an attention to the subject.

Agr. 4, 'Memoria teneo solitum ipsum [Agricolam] narrare se prima in iuventa studium philosophiae acrius, ultra quam concessum Romano ac senatori, hausisse, ni prudentia matris incensum ac flagrantem animum coercuisset.'

He cannot make up his mind as to freewill and predestination, but in spite of this doubt expressly states his desire to find out the causes of events.

Ann. vi. 22, 'Sed mihi haec ac talia audienti in incerto iudicium est, fatone res mortalium et necessitate immutabili an forte volvantur' (and the rest of the chapter, where the Stoic and Epicurean views are mentioned). On the other hand, H. i. 4, 'Ut non modo casus eventusque rerum, qui plerumque fortuiti sunt, sed ratio etiam causaeque noscantur.'

He expresses his belief in divine agency, particularly in the Annals, but sometimes adopts the pessimistic view that the gods take little interest in mankind.

Ann. xiv. 5, 'Noctem sideribus inlustrem et placido mari quietam, quasi convincendum ad scelus, di praebuere.'

H. v. 5, 'Pessimus quisque spretis religionibus patriis.'

H. i. 3, 'Nec enim umquam atrocioribus populi Romani cladibus magisve iustis indiciis adprobatum est non esse curae deis securitatem nostram, esse ultionem.'

Ann. xvi. 33, 'Aequitate deum erga bona malaque documenta.'

He believes in the science of divination (see especially Ann. iv. 58), but speaks contemptuously of the impostors found among soothsayers and astrologers.

H. i. 22, 'Mathematicis ... genus hominum potentibus infidum, sperantibus fallax, quod in civitate nostra et vetabitur semper et retinebitur.'

Prodigies are recognized, but mentioned only in the Histories and the last books of the Annals (from A.D. 51 onwards). See especially H. ii. 50.

Tacitus as a historian.—As regards his sources, Tacitus makes more use of his predecessors than he does of original documents. Among the latter he mentions acta diurna (Ann. iii. 3) and commentarii or acta senatus (Ann. xv. 74); but these he did not make much use of, as they were apt to be falsified. He also refers to publica acta, probably inscriptions (Ann. xii. 24); Tiberius' speeches (Ann. i. 81); memoirs of Agrippina, Nero's mother (Ann. iv. 53); and of Domitius Corbulo on his campaigns in Parthia (Ann. xv. 16). He also refers by name to several historians, especially in dealing with the times after Nero, as C. Plinius (Ann. i. 69, quoted p. 284), Vipstanus Messalla (H. iii. 25), Fabius Rusticus,[114] and Cluvius Rufus[115] (Ann. xiii. 20).

Other writers are sparingly mentioned, as Sisenna (H. iii. 51), Caesar (Germ. 28). It is certain that Tacitus made use of other historians, but he generally refers to his sources without mentioning names (as Ann. i. 29, 'tradunt plerique'). He sometimes weighs the value of two conflicting accounts, or mentions a story only to reject it.

Ann. iv. 11, 'Haec vulgo iactata, super id quod nullo auctore certo firmantur, prompte refutaveris.'

Tacitus' credibility has been attacked, particularly as regards his representation of the characters of Tiberius and Nero, but not very successfully. He has, however, made mistakes, the most striking of which are his view of the Christians (Ann. xv. 44) and his account of the Jews (H. v. 2 sqq.). The explanation is that he held the view current in the upper classes, and did not take the trouble to investigate these matters, as the Jews and Christians belonged mostly to the lower orders.

Tacitus is not free from superstition (Ann. xi. 21; H. ii. 50, etc.), but one must not suppose he believes the fables he relates (as Ann. vi. 28; H. iv. 83) simply because he expresses no opinion of them.

Tacitus is free from party spirit (Ann. i. 1, 'sine ira et studio, quorum causas procul habeo'; cf. H. i. 1) and just in his judgment, except in a few passages in the Histories, where he is rather unfair (i. 42, ii. 95). He is milder in the Annals through advancing years, and from the better times he lived in. Generally he takes a lenient view of things, except (1) in offences against the state (cf. the character of Tiberius); (2) when the religious element comes in; cf. what he says of Claudius' marriage with his brother's daughter Agrippina: Ann. xiv. 2, 'Agrippina ... exercita ad omne flagitium patrui nuptiis.'

He shows a somewhat lax morality occasionally, as in Ann. xiii. 17 sqq., when speaking of Nero's murder of his brother Britannicus. In Ann. xi. 19 he approves of compassing a barbarian's death by treachery.

For Tacitus' conception of history as dealing with great events cf. Ann. xiii. 31, 'pauca memoria digna evenere, nisi cui libeat laudandis fundamentis et trabibus, quis molem amphitheatri apud campum Martis Caesar extruxerat, volumina implere, cum ex dignitate populi Romani repertum sit res inlustres annalibus, talia diurnis urbis actis mandare.'

His complaints as to his subject-matter in Ann. iv. 32, 'Nobis in arto et inglorius labor,' must not be taken too seriously.



SUETONIUS.

(1) LIFE.

C. Suetonius Tranquillus was the son of Suetonius Laetus, a tribune of the thirteenth legion, who took part in the battle of Bedriacum, A.D. 69 (Sueton. Otho, 10). His birth seems to have taken place soon after that year,[116] for he was 'adulescens' twenty years after Nero's death; Nero 57, 'cum post viginti annos, adulescente me, exstitisset condicionis incertae qui se Neronem esse iactaret.'

Suetonius was a friend of the younger Pliny, to whom he was indebted for a military tribuneship, which he afterwards passed on to a relative (Plin. Ep. iii. 8), and for assistance in the purchase of a small estate (ibid. i. 24). Pliny encouraged him to publish some of his writings (v. 10), and obtained for him from Trajan the ius trium liberorum (ad Trai. 94).

Under Hadrian he was magister epistularum, but was dismissed from office in A.D. 121. Spartianus, Hadr. 11, 3, 'Septicio Claro praefecto praetorio et Suetonio Tranquillo epistularum magistro multisque aliis, quod apud Sabinam uxorem in usu eius familiarius se tunc egerant quam reverentia domus aulicae postulabat, successores dedit.' The remainder of his life appears to have been devoted to literature.

(2) WORKS.

1. De Vita Caesarum, in eight Books (Books i.-vi. Iulius-Nero; vii. Galba, Otho, and Vitellius; viii. Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian). It was published A.D. 119-21, as it was dedicated (according to Joannes Lydus) to C. Septicius Clarus, praetorian prefect, who held office during those years. The preface and the beginning of the life of Iulius are wanting. Suetonius is a conscientious and accurate writer (cf. his discussion of Caligula's birthplace, Calig. 8), and he makes use of good sources, e.g. the Monumentum Ancyranum, Acta populi, Acta senatus, autograph documents of the emperors (Aug. 87, Nero 52); but there is in his work an almost entire absence of dates, and the personal element is, from the point of view of history, unduly prominent.

2. De Viris Illustribus, including poets, orators (beginning with Cicero), historians (from Sallust onwards), philosophers, grammarians, and rhetoricians. The greater part of the section De grammaticis et rhetoribus is extant, as well as lives of Terence, Horace, and Lucan from the section de poetis, and of Pliny the elder from the section de historicis. Extracts from the rest of the work are preserved by Jerome. In each section there was (1) a list of the authors discussed, (2) a general survey of their branch of literature, (3) brief notices of the authors in chronological order. The publication took place, according to Roth, 106-113 A.D.

3. Minor works, now lost (mentioned by Suidas), on Greek games, Roman games, the Roman year, on critical marks, on Cicero's Republic, on dress, on imprecations (peri dysphemon lexeon etoi blasphemion kai pothen hekaste), on Roman laws and customs. Some of these were probably only sections of the Prata, a miscellany in ten Books, which also treated of natural science and philology. The books on Greek games and on imprecations were almost certainly composed in Greek.



Footnotes to Chapter IV

[72] The praenomen 'Gaius' is rendered highly probable by the reading of the editio princeps and by an inscription found in Africa (C.I.L. viii. 10311).

[73] Les Poetes Latins de la Decadence, vol. i., p. 8.

[74] Antwerp edition, p. 89.

[75] Tacitus does not say openly that Seneca was privy to the murder. On the whole he is favourable to Seneca, either because he followed the authority of Fabius Rusticus, a friend of Seneca, or because Seneca perished afterwards through Nero's agency, or because he thought Seneca deserved his consideration.

[76] Seneca's influence on the Imperial policy, especially in the liberal view it took regarding religion, is well brought out by Prof. W. M. Ramsay, in his book, St. Paul the Traveller and the Roman Citizen, pp. 354 sqq.

[77] See the very large list of parallels collected by Heitland, Introduction to Haskins' Lucan, par. 51.

[78] See under Varro, p. 96.

[79] Ed. of Cena Trimalchionis, p. 7.

[80] See O. Hirschfeld's note on this passage in Roemische Verwaltungsgeschichte, p. 261.

[81] Messalla was a favourite of Gaius, Narcissus of Claudius.

[82] Pomponius was the author of Aeneas and other tragedies. Pliny calls him 'consularis poeta,' 'vates civisque clarissimus' (N.H. vii. 80, xiii. 83). Cf. Tac. Ann. xii. 28.

[83] Given with other examples by W. C. Summers, Study of the Argonautica (Camb. 1894), p. 27.

[84] Summers, ibid. p. 56.

[85] Cf. Tac. Hist. iii. 65.

[86] Mart. vii. 63.

[87] Mart. xi. 48; 49.

[88] Mart. viii. 66.

[89] Mart. ix. 68.

[90] The references are to L. Friedlaender's edition (Leipzig, 1886).

[91] Ed. of Book x., Introd. p. 9 (Oxford, 1891).

[92] A passage probably inserted by the pseudo-Frontinus from memoirs of the genuine Frontinus to give an air of authenticity to his work.

[93] J. Duerr, Das Leben Juvenals (Ulm, 1888). L. Friedlaender (ed. of Juvenal: Leipzig, 1895) attaches little importance to this and the other vitae, but his arguments do not appear to us to be convincing.

[94] E. G. Hardy (ed. of Juvenal: London, 1891, introd. p. 8) thinks that this is supported by Juvenal's gentile name Iunius. As a representative of the middle classes he (thinks Hardy) could not have been related by blood to either of the two gentes of that name. Hardy also states that Decimus is a common praenomen of the plebeian gens Iunia, and suggests that Juvenal may have got his praenomen from them. There is no reason, however, to think that every Iunius must be related or associated in some way with one of these two gentes.

[95] The statement of the vitae, 'ad mediam fere aetatem declamavit,' may imply no more than that he continued his studies in private; but it must be observed that the usual meaning of declamare is 'to attend college classes'; and the statement, in whatever way it is taken, must be looked upon as improbable.

[96] If the number I. is right, and this appears most likely. II. is the only other possible reading, and it must be noted that the second Dalmatian cohort was in Britain at the beginning of the second century, and probably had been there for a considerable time. Trib. in the inscription is a conjecture suggested by the vitae: praef., which is epigraphically possible, is preferred by some authorities.

[97] E. G. Hardy thinks that A.D. 87 was one of the years when duumviri quinquennales (appointed every five years) were elected in Aquinum, and hypothetically assigns Juvenal's holding of the post to that year.

[98] C.I.L. vii. 1195.

[99] Cf. E. G. Hardy, ed. of Juvenal.

[100] Cf. E. G. Hardy, ibid.

[101] The reference in 4, 126, 'De temone Britanno excidet Arviragus,' proves nothing. It is the sort of reference that would be made by an Italian ignorant of Britain, and is, in fact, put into the mouth of one.

[102] The view that Sat. i. 33 sqq. refers to M. Aquilius Regulus, who died probably A.D. 105 (Pliny, Ep. i. 5, 14-15), is rejected by Friedlaender ad loc.

[103] H. Nettleship (Journal of Philology, xvi., p. 45) points out that C. Vipstanus Apronianus and C. Fonteius Capito were consuls A.D. 59, and suggests that this may be the year meant. This would give A.D. 119 as the date of composition.

[104] The scholiast connects with 4, 37-8.

[105] This story is rejected both by Hardy and by Friedlaender.

[106] Juvenal had a leaning to Stoicism: cf. Sat. 10 ad fin., and his references to fate, e.g. 7, 200; 10, 365; 12, 63. He believes in the gods (13, 247-9), but disbelieves the doctrines of the popular religion (2, 149 sqq.).

[107] The inscription records the appointment of Cilo's sons and a woman Lutulla as trustees of a fund, the interest of which was to be disbursed to the people of Comum.

[108] Hermes, iii. 31 sqq.

[109] The inscription in Caria, formerly supposed to give P. as praenomen, is now shown to have been misread.

[110] The inhabitants of Terni (Interamna) erected a statue to Tacitus as to a fellow-townsman in A.D. 1514.

[111] Bull. de Corr. Hell., 1890, p. 621, quoted by Prof. W. M. Ramsay, The Church in the Roman Empire, p. 228.

[112] One of the speakers in the Dialogue, Curiatius Maternus, was the author of tragedies Medea and Thyestes, and of praetextae Domitius and Cato (Dial. 2-3).

[113] Various attempts have been made, especially in a work published in London, 1878, to prove, of course unsuccessfully, that the Annals were forged in the fifteenth century by the Italian scholar Poggio Bracciolini.

[114] Fabius Rusticus, a friend of Seneca, quoted also for the shape of Britain (Agr. 10).

[115] Cluvius Rufus, governor of Hispania Tarraconensis B.C. 69 (H. i. 8). Mommsen considers that he is one of the historians censured in H. ii. 101.

[116] Roth gives 71, Teuffel 75 at latest.



APPENDIX A

ON SOME OF THE CHIEF ANCIENT AUTHORITIES FOR THE HISTORY OF ROMAN LITERATURE.

1. JEROME[117] (HIERONYMUS) was born about A.D. 335 at Stridon, on the frontiers of Dalmatia and Pannonia, and died A.D. 420 at the monastery of Bethlehem. His contributions to the history of Roman literature are to be found in his translation of the Chronicle (chronikoi kanones) of Eusebius, in which the dates are reckoned from the first year of Abraham (= B.C. 2016 according to his chronology), the point at which Eusebius commenced. On the period between the Trojan War and A.D. 325 Jerome not merely translated the remarks of Eusebius, as he had done in the earlier period, but also added numerous extracts from authorities on Roman history and literature. The source from which he derived nearly all his information on literature is universally admitted to have been the work of Suetonius De Viris Illustribus. With the statements in the surviving sections of that treatise the observations of Jerome agree, and there can be no reasonable doubt that he made a similar use of the parts no longer extant. It is a significant fact that the important authors on whom Jerome is silent, e.g. Tacitus, Juvenal, and the younger Pliny, are precisely those whom Suetonius, as a contemporary, naturally could not discuss.

The statements of Jerome, based as they are on the high authority of Suetonius, may be regarded as in the main trustworthy. Some of them, however, are doubtful, and others manifestly wrong.

(a) Jerome's plan obliged him to fix every event to a definite year; and this, in many cases, can only be guess-work, for Suetonius, as may be seen from his extant writings, was often vague in his chronology.

(b) Comparison with the remains of Suetonius shows that Jerome's claim to have made his extracts with care was not always well grounded; e.g. his statement that Ennius was a native of Tarentum (see p. 27).

(c) In reckoning, according to his system of dates, events dated by one of the many confusing systems of chronology current in ancient times, many openings for error presented themselves; e.g. he sometimes erred through confusing consuls of the same or similar names, as in the case of Lucilius (p. 59); or through confusing similar events, as in the case of Livius Andronicus, although the mistake about the latter was of long standing (p. 2). Once at least he seems to have confused the date of an author's floruit and that of his death, making Plautus die in B.C. 200 instead of B.C. 184 (p. 8).

2. AULUS GELLIUS[118] was born probably about A.D. 123, and studied under the most eminent teachers both at Rome and at Athens. Of his subsequent life nothing is known except that he held some judicial post at Rome. His work, the Noctes Atticae in twenty Books (of Book viii. only the headings of chapters are preserved), is a miscellany of information on philology, philosophy, rhetoric, history, biography, literary criticism, natural science, and antiquities. The title is due to the fact that the book was commenced in the winter evenings during the author's residence at Athens. The arrangement of the contents simply follows the haphazard order of the notes which Gellius made in the course of his reading of Greek and Roman authors. Those authors, and the conversation of contemporaries, are Gellius' professed sources, but in some cases the author he names is evidently quoted at second-hand, and many of the conversations are doubtless quite imaginary. Our obligations to Gellius are twofold.