A DIALOGUE CONCERNING ORATORY, OR THE CAUSES OF CORRUPTELOQUENCE.
I. General introduction, with the reasons forwriting an account of the following discourse.
II. The persons engaged in the dialogue; atfirst, Curiatius Maternus, Julius Secundus, and Marcus Aper.
III. Secundus endeavours to dissuadeMaternus from thinking any more of dramatic composition.
IV. Maternus gives his reasons forpersisting.
V. Aper condemns his resolution, and, in pointof utility, real happiness, fame and dignity, contends that theoratorical profession is preferable to the poetical.
VIII. He cites the example of EpriusMarcellus and Crispus Vibius, who raised themselves by theireloquence to the highest honours.
IX. Poetical fame brings with it noadvantage.
X. He exhorts Maternus to relinquish themuses, and devote his whole to eloquence and the business of thebar.
XI. Maternus defends his favourite studies;the pleasures arising from poetry are in their nature innocent andsublime; the fame is extensive and immortal. The poet enjoys themost delightful intercourse with his friends, whereas the life ofthe public orator is a state of warfare and anxiety.
XIV. Vipstanius Messala enters the room. Hefinds his friends engaged in a controversy, and being an admirer ofancient eloquence, he advises Aper to adopt the model of theancients in preference to the plan of the modern rhetoricians.
XV. Hence a difference of opinion concerningthe merit of the ancients and the moderns. Messala, Secundus, andMaternus, profess themselves admirers of the oratory thatflourished in the time of the republic. Aper launches out againstthe ancients, and gives the preference to the advocates of his owntime. He desires to know who are to be accounted ancients.
XVIII. Eloquence has various modes, allchanging with the conjuncture of the times. But it is the nature ofmen to praise the past, and censure the present. The period whenCassius Severus flourished, is stated to be the point of time atwhich men cease to be ancients; Cassius with good reason deviatedfrom the ancient manner.
XX. Defects of ancient eloquence: the modernstyle more refined and elegant.
XXI. The character of Calvus, Cælius,Cæsar and Brutus, and also of Asinius Pollio, and MessalaCorvinus.
XXII. The praise and censure of Cicero.
XXIII. The true rhetorical art consists inblending the virtues of ancient oratory with the beauties of themodern style.
XXIV. Maternus observes that there can beno dispute about the superior reputation of the ancient orators: hetherefore calls upon Messala to take that point for granted, andproceed to an enquiry into the causes that produced so great analteration.
XXV. After some observations on theeloquence of Calvus, Asinius Pollio, Cæsar, Cicero, andothers, Messala praises Gracchus and Lucius Crassus, but censuresMæcenas, Gallio, and Cassius Severus.
XXVII. Maternus reminds Messala of thetrue point in question; Messala proceeds to assign the causes whichoccasioned the decay of eloquence, such as the dissipation of theyoung men, the inattention of their parents, the ignorance ofrhetorical professors, and the total neglect of ancientdiscipline.
XXXIV. He proceeds to explain the plan ofstudy, and the institutions, customs, and various arts, by whichorators were formed in the time of the republic.
XXXV. The defects and vices in the newsystem of education. In this part of the dialogue, the sequel ofMessala's discourse is lost, with the whole of what was said bySecundus, and the beginning of Maternus: the supplement goes onfrom this place, distinguished by inverted commas [transcriber'snote: not used], and the sections marked with numericalfigures.
1. Messala describes the presumption of theyoung advocates on their first appearance at the bar; their want oflegal knowledge, and the absurd habits which they contracted in theschools of the rhetoricians.
2. Eloquence totally ruined by the preceptors.Messala concludes with desiring Secundus and Maternus to assign thereasons which have occurred to them.
4. Secundus gives his opinion. The change ofgovernment produced a new mode of eloquence. The orators under theemperors endeavoured to be ingenious rather than natural. Senecathe first who introduced a false taste, which still prevailed inthe reign of Vespasian.
8. Licinius Largus taught the advocates of histime the disgraceful art of hiring applauders by profession. Thiswas the bane of all true oratory, and, for that reason, Maternuswas right in renouncing the forum altogether.
10. Maternus acknowledges that he wasdisgusted by the shameful practices that prevailed at the bar, andtherefore resolved to devote the rest of his time to poetry and themuses.
11. An apology for the rhetoricians. Thepraise of Quintilian. True eloquence died with Cicero.
13. The loss of liberty was the ruin ofgenuine oratory. Demosthenes flourished under a free government.The original goes on from this place to the end of thedialogue.
XXXVI. Eloquence flourishes most in timesof public tumult. The crimes of turbulent citizens supply theorator with his best materials.
XXXVII. In the time of the republic,oratorical talents were necessary qualifications, and without themno man was deemed worthy of being advanced to the magistracy.
XXXVIII. The Roman orators were notconfined in point of time; they might extend their speeches to whatlength they thought proper, and could even adjourn. Pompey abridgedthe liberty of speech, and limited the time.
XXXIX. The very dress of the advocatesunder the emperors was prejudicial to eloquence.
XL. True eloquence springs from the vices ofmen, and never was known to exist under a calm and settledgovernment.
XLI. Eloquence changes with the times. Everyage has its own peculiar advantages, and invidious comparisons areunnecessary.
XLII. Conclusion of the dialogue.
The time of this dialogue was the sixth of Vespasian'sreign.
Year of Rome—OfChrist Consuls.
828 75 Vespasian, 6th time; Titus his son, 4th time.
A DIALOGUE CONCERNING ORATORY, OR THE CAUSES OF CORRUPTELOQUENCE.
I. You have often enquired of me, my good friend, Justus Fabius, how and from whatcauses it has proceeded, that while ancient times display a race ofgreat and splendid orators, the present age, dispirited, andwithout any claim to the praise of eloquence, has scarcely retainedthe name of an orator. By that appellation we now distinguish nonebut those who flourished in a former period. To the eminent of thepresent day, we give the title of speakers, pleaders, advocates,patrons, in short, every thing but orators.
The enquiry is in its nature delicate; tending, if we are notable to contend with antiquity, to impeach our genius, and if weare not willing, to arraign our judgement. An answer to so nice aquestion is more than I should venture to undertake, were I to relyaltogether upon myself: but it happens, that I am able to state thesentiments of men distinguished by their eloquence, such as it isin modern times; having, in the early part of my life, been presentat their conversation on the very subject now before us. What Ihave to offer, will not be the result of my own thinking: it is thework of memory only; a mere recital of what fell from the mostcelebrated orators of their time: a set of men, who thought withsubtilty, and expressed themselves with energy and precision; each,in his turn, assigning different but probable causes, at timesinsisting on the same, and, in the course of the debate,maintaining his own proper character, and the peculiar cast of hismind. What they said upon the occasion, I shall relate, as nearlyas may be, in the style and manner of the several speakers,observing always the regular course and order of the controversy.For a controversy it certainly was, where the speakers of thepresent age did not want an advocate, who supported their causewith zeal, and, after treating antiquity with sufficient freedom,and even derision, assigned the palm of eloquence to the practisersof modern times.
II. Curiatius Maternus gave a public reading of his tragedy of Cato. On thefollowing day a report prevailed, that the piece had given umbrageto the men in power. The author, it was said, had laboured todisplay his favourite character in the brightest colours; anxiousfor the fame of his hero, but regardless of himself. This soonbecame the topic of public conversation. Maternus received a visitfrom Marcus Aper andJulius Secundus, bothmen of genius, and the first ornaments of the forum. I was, at thattime, a constant attendant on those eminent men. I heard them, notonly in their scenes of public business, but, feeling aninclination to the same studies, I followed them with all theardour of youthful emulation. I was admitted to their privateparties; I heard their debates, and the amusement of their socialhours: I treasured up their wit, and their sentiments on thevarious topics which they had discussed in conversation. Respectedas they were, it must, however, be acknowledged that they did notescape the malignity of criticism. It was objected to Secundus,that he had no command of words, no flow of language; and to Aper,that he was indebted for his fame, not to art or literature, but tothe natural powers of a vigorous understanding. The truth is, thestyle of the former was remarkable for its purity; concise, yetfree and copious; and the latter was sufficiently versed in allbranches of general erudition. It might be said of him, that hedespised literature, not that he wanted it. He thought, perhaps,that, by scorning the aid of letters, and by drawing altogetherfrom his own fund, his fame would stand on a more solidfoundation.
III. We went together to pay our visit to Maternus. Uponentering his study, we found him with the tragedy, which he hadread on the preceding day, lying before him. Secundus began: Andare you then so little affected by the censure of malignantcritics, as to persist in cherishing a tragedy which has given somuch offence? Perhaps you are revising the piece, and, afterretrenching certain passages, intend to send your Cato into theworld, I will not say improved, but certainly less obnoxious. Therelies the poem, said Maternus; you may, if you think proper, peruseit with all its imperfections on its head. If Cato has omitted anything, Thyestes,at my next reading, shall atone for all deficiencies. I have formedthe fable of a tragedy on that subject: the plan is warm in myimagination, and, that I may give my whole time to it, I now ameager to dispatch an edition of Cato. Marcus Aper interposed: Andare you, indeed, so enamoured of your dramatic muse, as to renounceyour oratorical character, and the honours of your profession, inorder to sacrifice your time, I think it was lately to Medea, andnow to Thyestes? Your friends, in the mean time, expect yourpatronage; the colonies invoke your aid, and the municipal cities inviteyou to the bar. And surely the weight of so many causes may bedeemed sufficient, without this new solicitude imposed upon you byDomitius or Cato.And must you thus waste all your time, amusing yourself for everwith scenes of fictitious distress, and still labouring to add tothe fables of Greece the incidents and characters of the Romanstory?
IV. The sharpness of that reproof, replied Maternus, would,perhaps, have disconcerted me, if, by frequent repetition, it hadnot lost its sting. To differ on this subject is grown familiar tous both. Poetry, it seems, is to expect no quarter: you wage anincessant war against the followers of that pleasing art; and I,who am charged with deserting my clients, have yet every day thecause of poetry to defend. But we have now a fair opportunity, andI embrace it with pleasure, since we have a person present, ofability to decide between us; a judge, who will either lay me underan injunction to write no more verses, or, as I rather hope,encourage me, by his authority, to renounce for ever the dryemployment of forensic causes (in which I have had my share ofdrudgery), that I may, for the future, be at leisure to cultivatethe sublime and sacred eloquence of the tragic muse.
V. Secundus desired to be heard: I am aware, he said, that Apermay refuse me as an umpire. Before he states his objections, let mefollow the example of all fair and upright judges, who, inparticular cases, when they feel a partiality for one of thecontending parties, desire to be excused from hearing the cause.The friendship and habitual intercourse, which I have evercultivated with Saleius Bassus, that excellent man, and no less excellent poet, arewell known: and let me add, if poetry is to be arraigned, I know noclient that can offer such handsome bribes.
My business, replied Aper, is not with Saleius Bassus: let him,and all of his description, who, without talents for the bar,devote their time to the muses, pursue their favourite amusementwithout interruption. But Maternus must not think to escape in thecrowd. I single him out from the rest, and since we are now beforea competent judge, I call upon him to answer, how it happens, thata man of his talents, formed by nature to reach the heights ofmanly eloquence, can think of renouncing a profession, which notonly serves to multiply friendships, but to support them withreputation: a profession, which enables us to conciliate the esteemof foreign nations, and (if we regard our own interest) lays openthe road to the first honours of the state; a profession, which,besides the celebrity that it gives within the walls of Rome,spreads an illustrious name throughout this wide extent of theempire.
If it be wisdom to make the ornament and happiness of life theend and aim of our actions, what can be more advisable than toembrace an art, by which we are enabled to protect our friends; todefend the cause of strangers; and succour the distressed? Nor isthis all: the eminent orator is a terror to his enemies: envy andmalice tremble, while they hate him. Secure in his own strength, heknows how to ward off every danger. His own genius is hisprotection; a perpetual guard, that watches him; an invinciblepower, that shields him from his enemies.
In the calm seasons of life, the true use of oratory consists inthe assistance which it affords to our fellow-citizens. We thenbehold the triumph of eloquence. Have we reason to be alarmed forourselves, the sword and breast-plate are not a better defence inthe heat of battle. It is at once a buckler to cover yourself and a weapon to brandishagainst your enemy. Armed with this, you may appear with couragebefore the tribunals of justice, in the senate, and even in thepresence of the prince. We lately saw Eprius Marcellus arraigned before the fathers: inthat moment, when the minds of the whole assembly were inflamedagainst him, what had he to oppose to the vehemence of his enemies,but that nervous eloquence which he possessed in so eminent adegree? Collected in himself, and looking terror to his enemies, hewas more than a match for Helvidius Priscus; a man, no doubt, ofconsummate wisdom, but without that flow of eloquence, whichsprings from practice, and that skill in argument, which isnecessary to manage a public debate. Such is the advantage oforatory: to enlarge upon it were superfluous. My friend Maternuswill not dispute the point.
VI. I proceed to the pleasure arising from the exercise ofeloquence; a pleasure which does not consist in the mere sensationof the moment, but is felt through life, repeated every day, andalmost every hour. For let me ask, to a man of an ingenuous andliberal mind, who knows the relish of elegant enjoyments, what canyield such true delight, as a concourse of the most respectablecharacters crowding to his levee? How must it enhance his pleasure,when he reflects, that the visit is not paid to him because he isrich, and wants an heir, or is in possession of a public office, but purelyas a compliment to superior talents, a mark of respect to a greatand accomplished orator! The rich who have no issue, and the men inhigh rank and power, are his followers. Though he is still young,and probably destitute of fortune, all concur in paying their courtto solicit his patronage for themselves, or to recommend theirfriends to his protection. In the most splendid fortune, in all thedignity and pride of power, is there any thing that can equal theheartfelt satisfaction of the able advocate, when he sees the mostillustrious citizens, men respected for their years, andflourishing in the opinion of the public, yet paying their court toa rising genius, and, in the midst of wealth and grandeur, fairlyowning, that they still want something superior to all theirpossessions? What shall be said of the attendants, that follow theyoung orator from the bar, and watch his motions to his own house?With what importance does he appear to the multitude! in the courtsof judicature, with what veneration! When he rises to speak, theaudience is hushed in mute attention; every eye is fixed on himalone; the crowd presses round him; he is master of their passions;they are swayed, impelled, directed, as he thinks proper. These arethe fruits of eloquence, well known to all, and palpable to everycommon observer.
There are other pleasures more refined and secret, felt only bythe initiated. When the orator, upon some great occasion, comeswith a well-digested speech, conscious of his matter, and animatedby his subject, his breast expands, and heaves with emotions unfeltbefore. In his joy there is a dignity suited to the weight andenergy of the composition which he has prepared. Does he rise tohazard himself in asudden debate; he is alarmed for himself, but in that very alarmthere is a mingle of pleasure, which predominates, till distressitself becomes delightful. The mind exults in the prompt exertionof its powers, and even glories in its rashness. The productions ofgenius, and those of the field, have this resemblance: many thingsare sown, and brought to maturity with toil and care; yet that,which grows from the wild vigour of nature, has the most gratefulflavour.
VII. As to myself, if I may allude to my own feelings, the dayon which I put on the manly gown, and even the days that followed, when, as a newman at Rome, born in a city that did not favour my pretensions, I rose insuccession to the offices of quæstor, tribune, andprætor; those days, I say, did not awaken in my breast suchexalted rapture, as when, in the course of my profession, I wascalled forth, with such talents as have fallen to my share, todefend the accused; to argue a question of law before thecentumviri, or, inthe presence of the prince, to plead for his freedmen, and theprocurators appointed by himself. Upon those occasions I toweredabove all places of profit, and all preferment; I looked down onthe dignities of tribune, prætor, and consul; I felt withinmyself, what neither the favour of the great, nor the wills andcodicils of therich, can give, a vigour of mind, an inward energy, that springsfrom no external cause, but is altogether your own.
Look through the circle of the fine arts, survey the wholecompass of the sciences, and tell me in what branch can theprofessors acquire a name to vie with the celebrity of a great andpowerful orator. His fame does not depend on the opinion ofthinking men, who attend to business and watch the administrationof affairs; he is applauded by the youth of Rome, at least by suchof them as are of a well-turned disposition, and hope to rise byhonourable means. The eminent orator is the model which everyparent recommends to his children. Even the common people stand at gaze, as hepasses by; they pronounce his name with pleasure, and point at himas the object of their admiration. The provinces resound with hispraise. The strangers, who arrive from all parts, have heard of hisgenius; they wish to behold the man, and their curiosity is neverat rest, till they have seen his person, and perused hiscountenance.
VIII. I have already mentioned Eprius Marcellus and CrispusVibius. I citeliving examples, in preference to the names of a former day. Thosetwo illustrious persons, I will be bold to say, are not less knownin the remotest parts of the empire, than they are at Capua, orVercellæ,where, we are told, they both were born. And to what is theirextensive fame to be attributed? Not surely to their immoderateriches. Three hundred thousand sesterces cannot give the fame ofgenius. Their eloquence may be said to have built up theirfortunes; and, indeed, such is the power, I might say theinspiration, of eloquence, that in every age we have examples ofmen, who by their talents raised themselves to the summit of theirambition.
But I waive all former instances. The two, whom I havementioned, are not recorded in history, nor are we to glean animperfect knowledge of them from tradition; they are every daybefore our eyes. They have risen from low beginnings; but the moreabject their origin, and the more sordid the poverty, in which theyset out, their success rises in proportion, and affords a strikingproof of what I have advanced; since it is apparent, that, withoutbirth or fortune, neither of them recommended by his moralcharacter, and one of them deformed in his person, they have,notwithstanding all disadvantages, made themselves, for a series ofyears, the first men in the state. They began their career in theforum, and, as long as they chose to pursue that road of ambition,they flourished in the highest reputation; they are now at the headof the commonwealth, the ministers who direct and govern, and sohigh in favour with the prince, that the respect, with which hereceives them, is little short of veneration.
The truth is, Vespasian, now in the vale of years, but always open to thevoice of truth, clearly sees that the rest of his favourites deriveall their lustre from the favours, which his munificence hasbestowed; but with Marcellus and Crispus the case is different:they carry into the cabinet, what no prince can give, and nosubject can receive. Compared with the advantages which those menpossess, what are family-pictures, statues, busts, and titles ofhonour? They are things of a perishable nature, yet not withouttheir value. Marcellus and Vibius know how to estimate them, asthey do wealth and honours; and wealth and honours are advantagesagainst which you will easily find men that declaim, but none thatin their hearts despise them. Hence it is, that in the houses ofall who have distinguished themselves in the career of eloquence,we see titles, statues, and splendid ornaments, the reward oftalents, and, at all times, the decorations of the great andpowerful orator.
IX. But to come to the point, from which we started: poetry, towhich my friend Maternus wishes to dedicate all his time, has noneof these advantages. It confers no dignity, nor does it serve anyuseful purpose. It is attended with some pleasure, but it is thepleasure of a moment, springing from vain applause, and bringingwith it no solid advantage. What I have said, and am going to add,may probably, my good friend Maternus, be unwelcome to your ear;and yet I must take the liberty to ask you, if Agamemnon or Jason speaks in your piecewith dignity of language, what useful consequence follows from it?What client has been defended? Who confesses an obligation? In thatwhole audience, who returns to his own house with a grateful heart?Our friend Saleius Bassus is, beyond all question, a poet of eminence, or, touse a warmer expression, he has the god within him: but who attendshis levee? who seeks his patronage, or follows in his train? Shouldhe himself, or his intimate friend, or his near relation, happen tobe involved in a troublesome litigation, what course do you imaginehe would take? He would, most probably, apply to his friend,Secundus; or to you, Maternus; not because you are a poet, nor yetto obtain a copy of verses from you; of those he has a sufficientstock at home, elegant, it must be owned, and exquisite in thekind. But after all his labour and waste of genius, what is hisreward?
When in the course of a year, after toiling day and night, hehas brought a single poem to perfection, he is obliged to solicithis friends and exert his interest, in order to bring together anaudience, so obligingas to hear a recital of the piece. Nor can this be done withoutexpence. A room must be hired, a stage or pulpit must be erected;benches must be arranged, and hand-bills distributed throughout thecity. What if the reading succeeds to the height of his wishes?Pass but a day or two, and the whole harvest of praise andadmiration fades away, like a flower that withers in its bloom, andnever ripens into fruit. By the event, however flattering, he gainsno friend, he obtains no patronage, nor does a single person goaway impressed with the idea of an obligation conferred upon him.The poet has been heard with applause; he has been received withacclamations; and he has enjoyed a short-lived transport.
Bassus, it is true, has lately received from Vespasian a presentof fifty thousand sesterces. Upon that occasion, we all admired thegenerosity of the prince. To deserve so distinguished a proof ofthe sovereign's esteem is, no doubt, highly honourable; but is itnot still more honourable, if your circumstances require it, toserve yourself by your talents? to cultivate your genius, for yourown advantage? and to owe every thing to your own industry,indebted to the bounty of no man whatever? It must not beforgotten, that the poet, who would produce any thing trulyexcellent in the kind, must bid farewell to the conversation of hisfriends; he must renounce, not only the pleasures of Rome, but alsothe duties of social life; he must retire from the world; as thepoets say, "to groves and grottos every muse's son." In otherwords, he must condemn himself to a sequestered life in the gloomof solitude.
X. The love of fame, it seems, is the passion that inspires thepoet's genius: but even in this respect, is he so amply paid as torival in any degree the professors of the persuasive arts? As tothe indifferent poet, men leave him to his own mediocrity: the real genius moves in anarrow circle. Let there be a reading of a poem by the ablestmaster of his art: will the fame of his performance reach allquarters, I will not say of the empire, but of Rome only? Among thestrangers who arrive from Spain, from Asia, or from Gaul, whoenquires after SaleiusBassus? Should it happen that there is one, who thinks, of him; hiscuriosity is soon satisfied; he passes on, content with a transientview, as if he had seen a picture or a statue.
In what I have advanced, let me not be misunderstood: I do notmean to deter such as are not blessed with the gift of oratory,from the practice of their favourite art, if it serves to fill uptheir time, and gain a degree of reputation. I am an admirer ofeloquence; I hold itvenerable, and even sacred, in all its shapes, and every mode ofcomposition. The pathetic of tragedy, of which you, Maternus, areso great a master; the majesty of the epic, the gaiety of the lyricmuse; the wanton elegy, the keen iambic, and the pointed epigram;all have their charms; and Eloquence, whatever may be the subjectwhich she chooses to adorn, is with me the sublimest faculty, thequeen of all the arts and sciences. But this, Maternus, is noapology for you, whose conduct is so extraordinary, that, thoughformed by nature to reach the summit of perfection, you choose to wander into deviouspaths, and rest contented with an humble station in the valebeneath.
Were you a native of Greece, where to exhibit in the publicgames is an honourableemployment; and if the gods had bestowed upon you the force andsinew of the athletic Nicostratus; do you imagine that I could look tamely on, and seethat amazing vigour waste itself away in nothing better than thefrivolous art of darting the javelin, or throwing the coit? To dropthe allusion, I summon you from the theatre and public recitals tothe business of the forum, to the tribunals of justice, to scenesof real contention, to a conflict worthy of your abilities. Youcannot decline the challenge, for you are left without an excuse.You cannot say, with a number of others, that the profession ofpoetry is safer than that of the public orator; since you haveventured, in a tragedy written with spirit, to display the ardourof a bold and towering genius.
And for whom have you provoked so many enemies? Not for afriend; that would have had alleviating circumstances. Youundertook the cause of Cato, and for him committed yourself. Youcannot plead, by way of apology, the duty of an advocate, or thesudden effusion of sentiment in the heat and hurry of anunpremeditated speech. Your plan was settled; a great historicalpersonage was your hero, and you chose him, because what falls fromso distinguished a character, falls from a height that gives itadditional weight. I am aware of your answer: you will say, it wasthat very circumstance that ensured the success of your piece; thesentiments were received with sympathetic rapture: the room echoedwith applause, and hence your fame throughout the city of Rome.Then let us hear no more of your love of quiet and a state ofsecurity: you have voluntarily courted danger. For myself, I amcontent with controversies of a private nature, and the incidentsof the present day. If, hurried beyond the bounds of prudence, Ishould happen, on any occasion, to grate the ears of men in power,the zeal of an advocate, in the service of his client, will excusethe honest freedom of speech, and, perhaps, be deemed a proof ofintegrity.
XI. Aper went through his argument, according to his custom,with warmth and vehemence. He delivered the whole with a peremptorytone and an eager eye. As soon as he finished, I am prepared, saidMaternus smiling, to exhibit a charge against the professors oforatory, which may, perhaps, counterbalance the praise so lavishlybestowed upon them by my friend. In the course of what he said, Iwas not surprised to see him going out of his way, to lay poorpoetry prostrate at his feet. He has, indeed, shewn some kindnessto such as are not blessed with oratorical talents. He has passedan act of indulgence in their favour, and they, it seems, areallowed to pursue their favourite studies. For my part, I will notsay that I think myself wholly unqualified for the eloquence of thebar. It may be true, that I have some kind of talent for thatprofession; but the tragic muse affords superior pleasure. My firstattempt was in the reign of Nero, in opposition to the extravagantclaims of the prince,and in defiance of the domineering spirit of Vatinius, that pernicious favourite,by whose coarse buffoonery the muses were every day disgraced, Imight say, most impiously prophaned. The portion of fame, whateverit be, that I have acquired since that time, is to be attributed,not to the speeches which I made in the forum, but to the power ofdramatic composition. I have, therefore, resolved to take my leaveof the bar for ever. The homage of visitors, the train ofattendants, and the multitude of clients, which glitter so much inthe eyes of my friend, have no attraction for me. I regard them asI do pictures, and busts, and statues of brass; things, whichindeed are in my family, but they came unlooked for, without mystir, or so much as a wish on my part. In my humble station, I findthat innocence is a better shield than oratory. For the last Ishall have no occasion, unless I find it necessary, on some futureoccasion, to exert myself in the just defence of an injuredfriend.
XII. But woods, and groves, and solitary places, have not escaped thesatyrical vein of my friend. To me they afford sensations of a puredelight. It is there I enjoy the pleasures of a poetic imagination;and among those pleasures it is not the least, that they arepursued far from the noise and bustle of the world, without aclient to besiege my doors, and not a criminal to distress me withthe tears of affliction. Free from those distractions, the poetretires to scenes of solitude, where peace and innocence reside. Inthose haunts of contemplation, he has his pleasing visions. Hetreads on consecrated ground. It was there that Eloquence firstgrew up, and there she reared her temple. In those retreats shefirst adorned herself with those graces, which have made mankindenamoured of her charms; and there she filled the hearts of thewise and good with joy and inspiration. Oracles first spoke inwoods and sacred groves. As to the species of oratory, whichpractises for lucre, or with views of ambition; that sanguinaryeloquence now somuch in vogue: it is of modern growth, the offspring of corruptmanners, and degenerate times; or rather, as my friend Aperexpressed it, it is a weapon in the hands of ill-designingmen.
The early and more happy period of the world, or, as we poetscall it, the golden age, was the æra of true eloquence.Crimes and orators were then unknown. Poetry spoke in harmoniousnumbers, not to varnish evil deeds, but to praise the virtuous, andcelebrate the friends of human kind. This was the poet's office.The inspired train enjoyed the highest honours; they held commercewith the gods; they partook of the ambrosial feast: they were atonce the messengers and interpreters of the supreme command. Theyranked on earth with legislators, heroes, and demigods. In thatbright assembly we find no orator, no pleader of causes. We read ofOrpheus, of Linus,and, if we choose to mount still higher, we can add the name ofApollo himself. This may seem a flight of fancy. Aper will treat itas mere romance, and fabulous history: but he will not deny, thatthe veneration paid to Homer, with the consent of posterity, is atleast equal to the honours obtained by Demosthenes. He mustlikewise admit, that the fame of Sophocles and Euripides is notconfined within narrower limits than that of Lysias or Hyperides. To come home to ourown country, there are at this day more who dispute the excellenceof Cicero than of Virgil. Among the orations of Asinius or Messala, is there one thatcan vie with the Medea of Ovid, or the Thyestes of Varius?
XIII. If we now consider the happy condition of the true poet,and that easy commerce in which he passes his time, need we fear tocompare his situation with that of the boasted orator, who leads alife of anxiety, oppressed by business, and overwhelmed with care?But it is said, his contention, his toil and danger, are steps tothe consulship. How much more eligible was the soft retreat inwhich Virgilpassed his days, loved by the prince, and honoured by the people!To prove this the letters of Augustus are still extant; and thepeople, we know, hearing in the theatre some verses of that divinepoet, when hehimself was present, rose in a body, and paid him every mark ofhomage, with a degree of veneration nothing short of what theyusually offered to the emperor.
Even in our own times, will any man say, that Secundus Pomponius, in point ofdignity or extent of fame, is inferior to Domitius Afer? But Vibius andMarcellus have been cited as bright examples: and yet, in theirelevation what is there to be coveted? Is it to be deemed anadvantage to those ministers, that they are feared by numbers, andlive in fear themselves? They are courted for their favours, andthe men, who obtain their suit, retire with ingratitude, pleasedwith their success, yet hating to be obliged. Can we suppose thatthe man is happy, who by his artifices has wriggled himself intofavour, and yet is never thought by his master sufficiently pliant,nor by the people sufficiently free? And after all, what is theamount of all his boasted power? The emperor's freedmen haveenjoyed the same. But as Virgil sweetly sings, Me let the sacredmuses lead to their soft retreats, their living fountains, andmelodious groves, where I may dwell remote from care, master ofmyself, and under no necessity of doing every day what my heartcondemns. Let me no more be seen at the wrangling bar, a pale andanxious candidate for precarious fame; and let neither the tumultof visitors crowding to my levee, nor the eager haste of officiousfreedmen, disturb my morning rest. Let me live free fromsolicitude, a stranger to the art of promising legacies, in order to buy thefriendship of the great; and when nature shall give the signal toretire, may I possess no more than may be safely bequeathed to suchfriends as I shall think proper. At my funeral let no token ofsorrow be seen, no pompous mockery of woe. Crown me with chaplets; strew flowerson my grave, and let my friends erect no vain memorial, to tellwhere my remains are lodged.
XIV. Maternus finished with an air of enthusiasm, that seemed tolift him above himself. In that moment, Vipstanius Messala entered the room.From the attention that appeared in every countenance, he concludedthat some important business was the subject of debate. I amafraid, said he, that I break in upon you at an unseasonable time.You have some secret to discuss, or, perhaps, a consultation uponyour hands. Far from it, replied Secundus; I wish you had comesooner. You would have had the pleasure of hearing an eloquentdiscourse from our friend Aper, who has been endeavouring topersuade Maternus to dedicate all his time to the business of thebar, and to give the whole man to his profession. The answer ofMaternus would have entertained you: he has been defending his art,and but this moment closed an animated speech, that held more ofthe poetical than the oratorical character.
I should have been happy, replied Messala, to have heard both myfriends. It is, however, some compensation for the loss, that Ifind men of their talents, instead of giving all their time to thelittle subtleties and knotty points of the forum, extending theirviews to liberal science, and those questions of taste, whichenlarge the mind, and furnish it with ideas drawn from thetreasures of polite erudition. Enquiries of this kind affordimprovement not only to those who enter into the discussion, but toall who have the happiness of being present at the debate. It is inconsequence of this refined and elegant way of thinking, that you,Secundus, have gained so much applause, by the life of JuliusAsiaticus, withwhich you have lately obliged the world. From that specimen, we aretaught to expect other productions of equal beauty from the samehand. In like manner, I see with pleasure, that our friend Aperloves to enliven his imagination with topics of controversy, andstill lays out his leisure in questions of the schools, not, indeed, in imitationof the ancient orators, but in the true taste of our modernrhetoricians.
XV. I am not surprised, returned Aper, at that stroke ofraillery. It is not enough for Messala, that the oratory of ancienttimes engrosses all his admiration; he must have his fling at themoderns. Our talents and our studies are sure to feel the salliesof his pleasantry. Ihave often heard you, my friend Messala, in the same humour.According to you, the present age has not a single orator to boastof, though your own eloquence, and that of your brother, aresufficient to refute the charge. But you assert roundly, andmaintain your proposition with an air of confidence. You know howhigh you stand, and while in your general censure of the age youinclude yourself, the smallest tincture of malignity cannot besupposed to mingle in a decision, which denies to your own genius,what by common consent is allowed to be your undoubted right.
I have as yet, replied Messala, seen no reason to make meretract my opinion; nor do I believe, that my two friends here, oreven you yourself (though you sometimes affect a different tone),can seriously maintain the opposite doctrine. The decline ofeloquence is too apparent. The causes which have contributed to it,merit a serious enquiry. I shall be obliged to you, my friends, fora fair solution of the question. I have often reflected upon thesubject; but what seems to others a full answer, with me servesonly to increase the difficulty. What has happened at Rome, Iperceive to have been the case in Greece. The modern orators ofthat country, such as the priest Nicetes, and others who, like him, stun the schoolsof Mytelene and Ephesus, are fallen to a greater distance fromÆschines and Demosthenes, than Afer and Africanus, or you, my friends, fromTully or Asinius Pollio.
XVI. You have started an important question, said Secundus, andwho so able to discuss it as yourself? Your talents are equal tothe difficulty; your acquisitions in literature are known to beextensive, and you have considered the subject. I have noobjection, replied Messala: my ideas are at your service, uponcondition that, as I go on, you will assist me with the lights ofyour understanding. For two of us I can venture to answer, saidMaternus: whatever you omit, or rather, what you leave for us toglean after you, we shall be ready to add to your observations. Asto our friend Aper, you have told us, that he is apt to differ fromyou upon this point, and even now I see him preparing to givebattle. He will not tamely bear to see us joined in a league infavour of antiquity.
Certainly not, replied Aper, nor shall the present age, unheardand undefended, be degraded by a conspiracy. But before you soundto arms, I wish to know, who are to be reckoned among the ancients?At what point of time do you fix your favourite æra? When you talkto me of antiquity, I carry my view to the first ages of the world,and see before me Ulysses and Nestor, who flourished little lessthan thirteenhundred years ago. Your retrospect, it seems, goes no farther backthan to Demosthenes and Hyperides; men who lived in the times ofPhilip and Alexander, and indeed survived them both. The interval,between Demosthenes and the present age, is little more than four hundredyears; a space of time, which, with a view to the duration of humanlife, may be called long; but, as a portion of that immense tractof time which includes the different ages of the world, it shrinksinto nothing, and seems to be but yesterday. For if it be true, asCicero says in his treatise called Hortensius, that the great andgenuine year is that period in which the heavenly bodies revolve tothe station from which their source began; and if this grandrotation of the whole planetary system requires no less than twelvethousand nine hundred and fifty-four years of our computation, it follows thatDemosthenes, your boasted ancient, becomes a modern, and even ourcontemporary; nay, that he lived in the same year with ourselves; Ihad almost said, in the same month.
XVII. But I am in haste to pass to our Roman orators. MeneniusAgrippa mayfairly be deemed an ancient. I take it, however, that he is not theperson, whom you mean to oppose to the professors of moderneloquence. The æra, which you have in view, is that of Cicero andCæsar; of Cælius and Calvus; of Brutus, Asinius, and Messala. Those are themen, whom you place in the front of hour line; but for what reasonthey are to be classed with the ancients, and not, as I think theyought to be, with the moderns, I am still to learn. To begin withCicero; he, according to the account of Tiro, his freedman, was putto death on the seventh of the ides of December, during theconsulship of Hirtius and Pansa, who, we know, were both cut off in the course ofthe year, and left their office vacant for Augustus and QuintusPedius. Count from that time six and fifty years to complete thereign of Augustus; three and twenty for that of Tiberius, four forCaligula, eight and twenty for Claudius and Nero, one for Galba,Otho, and Vitellius, and finally six from the accession ofVespasian to the present year of our felicity, we shall have fromthe death of Cicero a period of about one hundred and twenty years, whichmay be considered as the term allotted to the life of man. I myselfremember to have seen in Britain a soldier far advanced in years,who averred that he carried arms in that very battle in which his countrymensought to drive Julius Cæsar back from their coast. If thisveteran, who served in the defence of his country againstCæsar's invasion, had been brought a prisoner to Rome; or, ifhis own inclination, or any other accident in the course of things,had conducted him thither, he might have heard, not onlyCæsar and Cicero, but even ourselves in some of our publicspeeches.
In the late public largess you will acknowledge that you saw several old men,who assured us that they had received more than once, the likedistribution from Augustus himself. If that be so, might not thosepersons have heard Corvinus and Asinius? Corvinus, we all know, lived throughhalf the reign of Augustus, and Asinius almost to the end. How thenare we to ascertain the just boundaries of a century? They are notto be varied at pleasure, so as to place some orators in a remote,and others in a recent period, while people are still living, whoheard them all, and may, therefore, with good reason rank them ascontemporaries.
XVIII. From what I have said, I assume it as a clear position,that the glory, whatever it be, that accrued to the age in whichthose orators lived, is not confined to that particular period, butreaches down to the present time, and may more properly be said tobelong to us, than to Servius Galba, or to Carbo, and others of the same ormore ancient date. Of that whole race of orators, I may freely say,that their manner cannot now be relished. Their language is coarse,and their composition rough, uncouth, and harsh; and yet yourCalvus, yourCælius, and even your favourite Cicero, condescend to followthat inelegant style. It were to be wished that they had notthought such models worthy of imitation. I mean to speak my mindwith freedom; but before I proceed, it will be necessary to make apreliminary observation, and it is this: Eloquence has no settledform: at different times it puts on a new garb, and changes withthe manners and the taste of the age. Thus we find, that Gracchus, comparedwith the elder Cato, is full and copious; but, in his turn, yields toCrassus, anorator more polished, more correct, and florid. Cicero risessuperior to both; more animated, more harmonious and sublime. He isfollowed by Corvinus, who has all the softer graces; a sweetflexibility in his style, and a curious felicity in the choice ofhis words. Which was the greatest orator, is not the question.
The use I make of these examples, is to prove that eloquencedoes not always wear the same dress, but, even among yourcelebrated ancients, has its different modes of persuasion. And beit remembered, that what differs is not always the worst. Yet suchis the malignity of the human mind, that what has the sanction ofantiquity is always admired; what is present, is sure to becondemned. Can we doubt that there have been critics, who werebetter pleased with Appius Cæcus than with Cato? Cicero had hisadversaries:it was objected to him, that his style was redundant, turgid, nevercompressed, void of precision, and destitute of Attic elegance. Weall have read the letters of Calvus and Brutus to your famousorator. In the course of that correspondence, we plainly see whatwas Cicero's opinion of those eminent men. The former appeared to him coldand languid; the latter, disjointed, loose, and negligent. On the otherhand, we know what they thought in return: Calvus did not hesitateto say, that Cicero was diffuse luxuriant to a fault, and floridwithout vigour. Brutus, in express terms, says, he was weakenedinto length, and wanted sinew. If you ask my opinion, each of themhad reason on his side. I shall hereafter examine them separately.My business at present, is not in the detail: I speak of them ingeneral terms.
XIX. The æra of ancient oratory is, I think, extended byits admirers no farther back than the time of Cassius Severus. He, they tell us,was the first who dared to deviate from the plain and simple styleof his predecessors. I admit the fact. He departed from theestablished forms, not through want of genius, or of learning, butguided by his own good sense and superior judgement. He saw thatthe public ear was formed to a new manner; and eloquence, he knew,was to find new approaches to the heart. In the early periods ofthe commonwealth, a rough unpolished people might well be satisfiedwith the tedious length of unskilful speeches, at a time when tomake an harangue that took up the whole day, was the orator'shighest praise. The prolix exordium, wasting itself in feeblepreparation; the circumstantial narration, the ostentatiousdivision of the argument under different heads, and the thousandproofs and logical distinctions, with whatever else is contained inthe dry precepts of Hermagoras and Apollodorus, were in that rude period receivedwith universal applause. To finish the picture, if your ancientorator could glean a little from the common places of philosophy,and interweave a few shreds and patches with the thread of hisdiscourse, he was extolled to the very skies. Nor can this bematter of wonder: the maxims of the schools had not been divulged;they came with an air of novelty. Even among the oratorsthemselves, there were but few who had any tincture of philosophy.Nor had they learned the rules of art from the teachers ofeloquence.
In the present age, the tenets of philosophy and the precepts ofrhetoric are no longer a secret. The lowest of our popularassemblies are now, I will not say fully instructed, but certainlyacquainted with the elements of literature. The orator, byconsequence, finds himself obliged to seek new avenues to theheart, and new graces to embellish his discourse, that he may notoffend fastidious ears, especially before a tribunal where thejudge is no longer bound by precedent, but determines according tohis will and pleasure; not, as formerly, observing the measure oftime allowed to the advocate, but taking upon himself to prescribethe limits. Nor is this all: the judge, at present, will notcondescend to wait till the orator, in his own way, opens his case;but, of his own authority, reminds him of the point in question,and, if he wanders, calls him back from his digression, not withouta hint that the court wishes to dispatch.
XX. Who, at this time, would bear to hear an advocateintroducing himself with a tedious preface about the infirmities ofhis constitution? Yet that is the threadbare exordium of Corvinus.We have five books against Verres. Who can endure that vast redundance? Who can listento those endless arguments upon points of form, and cavillingexceptions, which wefind in the orations of the same celebrated advocate for MarcusTullius and AulusCæcina? Our modern judges are able to anticipate theargument. Their quickness goes before the speaker. If not struckwith the vivacity of his manner, the elegance of his sentiments,and the glowing colours of his descriptions, they soon grow wearyof the flat insipid discourse. Even in the lowest class of life,there is now a relish for rich and splendid ornament. Their tasterequires the gay, the florid, and the brilliant. The unpolishedstyle of antiquity would now succeed as ill at the bar, as themodern actor who should attempt to copy the deportment of Roscius, or Ambivius Turpio.Even the young men who are preparing for the career of eloquence,and, for that purpose, attend the forum and the tribunals ofjustice, have now a nice discriminating taste. They expect to havetheir imaginations pleased. They wish to carry home some brightillustration, some splendid passage, that deserves to beremembered. What has struck their fancy, they communicate to eachother: and in their letters, the glittering thought, given withsententious brevity, the poetical allusion that enlivened thediscourse, and the dazzling imagery, are sure to be transmitted totheir respective colonies and provinces. The ornaments of poeticdiction are now required, not, indeed, copied from the rudeobsolete style of Accius and Pacuvius, but embellished with the graces ofHorace, Virgil, andLucan. The public judgement has raised a demand for harmoniousperiods, and, in compliance with the taste of the age, our oratorsgrow every day more polished and adorned. Let it not be said thatwhat we gain in refinement, we lose in strength. Are the temples,raised by our modern architects, of a weaker structure, becausethey are not formed with shapeless stones, but with themagnificence of polished marble, and decorations of the richestgilding?
XXI. Shall I fairly own to you the impression which I generallyreceive from the ancient orators? They make me laugh, or lull me tosleep. Nor is this the case only, when I read the orations ofCanutus, Arrius,Furnius, Toranius and others of the same school, or rather, thesame infirmary; anemaciated sickly race of orators; without sinew, colour, orproportion. But what shall be said of your admired Calvus? He, I think, has left noless than one and twenty volumes: in the whole collection, there isnot more than one or two short orations, that can pretend toperfection in the kind. Upon this point there is no difference ofopinion. Who now reads his declamations against Asitius or Drusus?His speeches against Vatinius are in the hands of the curious,particularly the second, which must be allowed to be a masterpiece.The language is elegant; the sentiments are striking, and the earis satisfied with the roundness of the periods. In this specimen wesee that he had an idea of just composition, but his genius was notequal to his judgement. The orations of Cælius, though uponthe whole defective, are not without their beauties. Some passagesare highly finished. In those we acknowledge, the nice touches ofmodern elegance. In general, however, the coarse expression, thehalting period, and the vulgarity of the sentiments, have too muchof the leaven of antiquity.
If Cæliusis still admired, it is not, I believe, in any of those parts thatbear the mark of a rude illiterate age. With regard to JuliusCæsar,engaged as he was in projects of vast ambition, we may forgive himthe want of that perfection which might, otherwise, be expectedfrom so sublime a genius. Brutus, in like manner, may be excused onaccount of his philosophical speculations. Both he and Cæsar,in their oratorical attempts, fell short of themselves. Theirwarmest admirers acknowledge the fact, nor is there an instance tothe contrary, unless we except Cæsar's speech for Decius theSamnite, and thatof Brutus for kingDejotarus. But are those performances, and some others of the samelukewarm temper, to be received as works of genius? He who admiresthose productions, may be left to admire their verses also. Forverses they both made, and sent them into the world, I will notsay, with more success than Cicero, but certainly more to theiradvantage; for their poetry had the good fortune to be littleknown.
Asinius lived near our own times. He, seems to have studied in the old school ofMenenius and Appius. He composed tragedies as well as orations, butin a style so harsh and ragged, that one would think him thedisciple of Accius and Pacuvius. He mistook the nature ofeloquence, which may then be said to have attained its true beauty,when the parts unite with smoothness, strength, and proportion. Asin the human body the veins should not swell too high, nor thebones and sinews appear too prominent; but its form is then mostgraceful, when a pure and temperate blood gives animation to the whole frame; whenthe muscles have their proper play, and the colour of health isdiffused over the several parts. I am not willing to disturb thememory of Corvinus Messala. If he did not reach the graces of moderncomposition, the defect does not seem to have sprung from choice.The vigour of his genius was not equal to his judgement.
XXII. I now proceed to Cicero, who, we find, had often upon hishands the very controversy, that engages us at present. It was thefashion with his contemporaries to admire the ancients, while he,on the contrary, contended for the eloquence of his own time. WereI to mention the quality that placed him at the head of his rivalsI should say it was the solidity of his judgement. It was he thatfirst shewed a taste for polished and graceful oratory. He washappy in his choice of words, and he had the art of giving weightand harmony to his composition. We find in many passages a warmimagination, and luminous sentences. In his later speeches, he haslively sallies of wit and fancy. Experience had then matured hisjudgement, and after long practice, he found the true oratoricalstyle. In his earlier productions we see the rough cast ofantiquity. The exordium is tedious; the narration is drawn intolength; luxuriant passages are not retouched with care; he is noteasily affected, and he rarely takes fire; his sentiments are notalways happily expressed, nor are the periods closed with energy. There isnothing so highly finished, as to tempt you to avail yourself of aborrowed beauty. In short, his speeches are like a rude building,which is strong and durable, but wants that grace and consonance ofparts which give symmetry and perfection to the whole.
In oratory, as in architecture, I require ornament as well asuse. From the man of ample fortune, who undertakes to build, weexpect elegance and proportion. It is not enough that his housewill keep out the wind and the rain; it must strike the eye, andpresent a pleasing object. Nor will it suffice that the furnituremay answer all domestic purposes; it should be rich, fashionable,elegant; it should have gold and gems so curiously wrought, thatthey will bear examination, often viewed, and always admired. Thecommon utensils, which are either mean or sordid, should becarefully removed out of sight. In like manner, the true oratorshould avoid the trite and vulgar. Let him reject the antiquatedphrase, and whatever is covered with the rust of time; let hissentiments be expressed with spirit, not in careless,ill-constructed, languid periods, like a dull writer of annals; lethim banish low scurrility, and, in short, let him know how todiversify his style, that he may not fatigue the ear with amonotony, ending for ever with the same unvaried cadence.
XXIII. I shall say nothing of the false wit, and insipid playupon words, which we find in Cicero's orations. His pleasantconceits about the wheel of fortune, and the arch raillery on theequivocal meaning of the word VERRES, do not merit a moment's attention.I omit the perpetual recurrence of the phrase, esse videatur, whichchimes in our ears at the close of so many sentences, sounding big,but signifying nothing. These are petty blemishes; I mention themwith reluctance. I say nothing of other defects equally improper:and yet those very defects are the delight of such as affect tocall themselves ancient orators. I need not single them out byname: the men are sufficiently known; it is enough to allude, ingeneral terms, to the whole class.
We all are sensible that there is a set of critics now existing,who prefer Lucilius to Horace, and Lucretius to Virgil; who despise theeloquence of Aufidius Bassus and Servilius Nonianus, and yet admire Varro and Sisenna. Bythese pretenders to taste, the works of our modern rhetoricians arethrown by with neglect, and even fastidious disdain; while those ofCalvus are held in the highest esteem. We see these men prosing intheir ancient style before the judges; but we see them left withoutan audience, deserted by the people, and hardly endured by theirclients. The truth is, their cold and spiritless manner has noattraction. They call it sound oratory, but it is want of vigour;like that precarious state of health which weak constitutionspreserve by abstinence. What physician will pronounce that a stronghabit of body, which requires constant care and anxiety of mind? Tosay barely, that we are not ill, is surely not enough. True healthconsists in vigour, a generous warmth, and a certain alacrity inthe whole frame. He who is only not indisposed, is little distantfrom actual illness.
With you, my friends, the case is different: proceed, as youwell can, and in fact, as you do, to adorn our age with all thegrace and splendour of true oratory. It is with pleasure, Messala,that I see you selecting for imitation the liveliest models of theancient school. You too, Maternus, and you, my friend, Secundus, you bothpossess the happy art of adding to weight of sentiment all thedignity of language. To a copious invention you unite the judgementthat knows how to distinguish the specific qualities of differentauthors. The beauty of order is yours. When the occasion demandsit, you can expand and amplify with strength and majesty; and youknow when to be concise with energy. Your periods flow with ease,and your composition has every grace of style and sentiment. Youcommand the passions with resistless sway, while in yourselves youbeget a temperance so truly dignified, that, though, perhaps, envyand the malignity of the times may be unwilling to proclaim yourmerit, posterity will do you ample justice.
XXIV. As soon as Aper concluded, You see, said Maternus, thezeal and ardour of our friend: in the cause of the moderns, what atorrent of eloquence! against the ancients, what a fund ofinvective! With great spirit, and a vast compass of learning, hehas employed against his masters the arts for which he is indebtedto them. And yet all this vehemence must not deter you, Messala,from the performance of your promise. A formal defence of theancients is by no means necessary. We do not presume to vie withthat illustrious race. We have been praised by Aper, but we knowour inferiority. He himself is aware of it, though, in imitation ofthe ancient manner, he has thought proper, for the sake of aphilosophical debate, to take the wrong side of the question. Inanswer to his argument, we do not desire you to expatiate in praiseof the ancients: their fame wants no addition. What we request is,an investigation of the causes which have produced so rapid adecline from the flourishing state of genuine eloquence. I call itrapid, since, according to Aper's own chronology, the period fromthe death of Cicero does not exceed one hundred and twenty years.
XXV. I am willing, said Messala, to pursue the plan which youhave recommended. The question, whether the men who flourishedabove one hundred years ago, are to be accounted ancients, has beenstarted by my friend Aper, and, I believe, it is of the firstimpression. But it is a mere dispute about words. The discussion ofit is of no moment, provided it be granted, whether we call themancients, or our predecessors, or give them any other appellation,that the eloquence of those times was superior to that of thepresent age. When Aper tells us, that different periods of timehave produced new modes of oratory, I see nothing to object; norshall I deny, that in one and the same period the style and mannershave greatly varied. But this I assume, that among the orators ofGreece, Demosthenes holds the first rank, and after him Æschynes, Hyperides,Lysias, and Lycurgus, in regular succession. That age, by commonconsent, is allowed to be the flourishing period of Atticeloquence.
In like manner, Cicero stands at the head of our Roman orators,while Calvus, Asinius, and Cæsar, Cælius and Brutus,follow him at a distance; all of them superior, not only to everyformer age, but to the whole race that came after them. Nor is itmaterial that they differ in the mode, since they all agree in thekind. Calvus is close and nervous; Asinius more open andharmonious; Cæsar is distinguished by the splendour of his diction;Cælius by a caustic severity; and gravity is thecharacteristic of Brutus. Cicero is more luxuriant inamplification, and he has strength and vehemence. They all,however, agree in this: their eloquence is manly, sound, andvigorous. Examine their works, and you will see the energy ofcongenial minds, a family-likeness in their genius, however it maytake a distinct colour from the specific qualities of the men.True, they detracted from each other's merit. In their letters,which are still extant, we find some strokes of mutual hostility.But this littleness does not impeach their eloquence: theirjealousy was the infirmity of human nature. Calvus, Asinius, andCicero, might have their fits of animosity, and, no doubt, wereliable to envy, malice, and other degrading passions: they weregreat orators, but they were men.
Brutus is the only one of the set, who may be thought superiorto petty contentions. He spoke his mind with freedom, and, Ibelieve, without a tincture of malice. He did not envy Cæsarhimself, and can it be imagined that he envied Cicero? As to Galba, Lælius, andothers of a remote period, against whom we have heard Aper'sdeclamation, I need not undertake their defence, since I am willingto acknowledge, that in their style and manner we perceive thosedefects and blemishes which it is natural to expect, while art, asyet in its infancy, has made no advances towards perfection.
XXVI. After all, if the best form of eloquence must beabandoned, and some, new-fangled style must grow into fashion, giveme the rapidity of Gracchus, or the more solemn manner of Crassus, with all theirimperfections, rather than the effeminate delicacy of Mæcenas, or thetinkling cymbalof Gallio. The most homely dress is preferable to gawdy colours andmeretricious ornaments. The style in vogue at present, is aninnovation, against every thing just and natural; it is not evenmanly. The luxuriant phrase, the inanity of tuneful periods, andthe wanton levity of the whole composition, are fit for nothing butthe histrionic art, as if they were written for the stage. To thedisgrace of the age (however astonishing it may appear), it is theboast, the pride, the glory of our present orators, that theirperiods are musical enough either for the dancer's heel, or the warbler'sthroat. Hence it is, that by a frequent, but preposterous,metaphor, the orator is said to speak in melodious cadence, and thedancer to move with expression. In this view of things, even Cassius Severus(the only modern whom Aper has ventured to name), if we compare himwith the race that followed, may be fairly pronounced a legitimateorator, though it must be acknowledged, that in what remains of hiscompositing, he is clumsy without strength, and violent withoutspirit. He was the first that deviated from the great masters ofhis art. He despised all method and regular arrangement; indelicatein his choice of words, he paid no regard to decency; eager toattack, he left himself unguarded; he brandished his weaponswithout skill or address; and, to speak plainly, he wrangled, butdid not argue. And yet, notwithstanding these defects, he was, as Ihave already said, superior to all that came after him, whether weregard the variety of his learning, the urbanity of his wit, or thevigour of his mind. I expected that Aper, after naming this orator,would have drawn up the rest of his forces in regular order. He hasfallen, indeed, upon Asinius, Cælius, and Calvus; but whereare his champions to enter the lists with them? I imagined that hehad a phalanx in reserve, and that we should have seen them man byman giving battle to Cicero, Cæsar, and the rest insuccession. He has singled out some of the ancients, but hasbrought none of his moderns into the field. He thought it enough togive them a good character in their absence. In this, perhaps, heacted with prudence: he was afraid, if he selected a few, that therest of the tribe would take offence. For among the rhetoricians ofthe present day, is there one to be found, who does not, in his ownopinion, tower above Cicero, though he has the modesty to yield toGabinianus?
XXVII. What Aper has omitted, I intend to perform. I shallproduce his moderns by name, to the end that, by placing theexample before our eyes, we may be able, more distinctly, to tracethe steps by which the vigour of ancient eloquence has fallen todecay. Maternus interrupted him. I wish, he said, that you wouldcome at once to the point: we claim your promise. The superiorityof the ancients is not in question. We want no proof of it. Uponthat point my opinion is decided. But the causes of our rapiddecline from ancient excellence remain to be unfolded. We know thatyou have turned your thoughts to this subject, and we expected fromyou a calm disquisition, had not the violent attack which Aper madeupon your favourite orators, roused your spirit, and, perhaps,given you some offence. Far from it, replied Messala; he has givenme no offence; nor must you, my friends, take umbrage, if at anytime a word should fall from me, not quite agreeable to your way ofthinking. We are engaged in a free enquiry, and you know, that, inthis kind of debate, the established law allows every man to speakhis mind without reserve. That is the law, replied Maternus; youmay proceed in perfect security. When you speak of the ancients,speak of them with ancient freedom, which, I fear, is at a lowerebb than even the genius of those eminent men.
XXVIII. Messala resumed his discourse: The causes of the decayof eloquence are by no means difficult to be traced. They are, Ibelieve, well known to you, Maternus, and also to Secundus, notexcepting my friend Aper. It seems, however, that I am now, at yourrequest, to unravel the business. But there is no mystery in it. Weknow that eloquence, with the rest of the polite arts, has lost itsformer lustre: and yet, it is not a dearth of men, or a decay oftalents, that has produced this fatal effect. The true causes are,the dissipation of our young men, the inattention of parents, theignorance of those who pretend to give instruction, and the totalneglect of ancient discipline. The mischief began at Rome, it hasover-run all Italy, and is now, with rapid strides, spreadingthrough the provinces. The effects, however, are more visible athome, and therefore I shall confine myself to the reigning vices ofthe capital; vices that wither every virtue in the bud, andcontinue their baleful influence through every season of life.
But before I enter on the subject, it will not be useless tolook back to the system of education that prevailed in formertimes, and to the strict discipline of our ancestors, in a point ofso much moment as the formation of youth. In the times to which Inow refer, the son of every family was the legitimate offspring ofa virtuous mother. The infant, as soon as born, was not consignedto the mean dwelling of a hireling nurse, but was reared and cherished inthe bosom of a tender parent. To regulate all household affairs,and attend to her infant race, was, at that time, the glory of thefemale character. A matron, related to the family, anddistinguished by the purity of her life, was chosen to watch theprogress of the tender mind. In her presence not one indecent wordwas uttered; nothing was done against propriety and good manners.The hours of study and serious employment were settled by herdirection; and not only so, but even the diversions of the childrenwere conducted with modest reserve and sanctity of manners. Thus itwas that Cornelia, the mother of the Gracchi, superintended theeducation of her illustrious issue. It was thus that Aurelia trainedup Julius Cæsar; and thus Atia formed the mind of Augustus. Theconsequence of this regular discipline was, that the young mindgrew up in innocence, unstained by vice, unwarped by irregularpassions, and, under that culture, received the seeds of science.Whatever was the peculiar bias, whether to the military art, thestudy of the laws, or the profession of eloquence, that engrossedthe whole attention, and the youth, thus directed, embraced theentire compass of one favourite science.
XXIX. In the present age, what is our practice? The infant iscommitted to a Greek chambermaid, and a slave or two, chosen forthe purpose, generally the worst of the whole household train; allutter strangers to every liberal notion. In that worshipful society the youth growsup, imbibing folly and vulgar error. Throughout the house, not oneservant cares what he says or does in the presence of his young master: and indeedhow should it be otherwise? The parents themselves are the first togive their children the worst examples of vice and luxury. Thestripling consequently loses all sense of shame, and soon forgetsthe respect he owes to others as well as to himself. A passion forhorses, players, and gladiators, seems to be the epidemic folly of the times. Thechild receives it in his mother's womb; he brings it with him intothe world; and in a mind so possessed, what room for science, orany generous purpose?
In our houses, at our tables, sports and interludes are thetopics of conversation. Enter the places of academical lectures,and who talks of any other subject? The preceptors themselves havecaught the contagion. Nor can this be wondered at. To establish astrict and regular discipline, and to succeed by giving proofs oftheir genius, is not the plan of our modern rhetoricians. They paytheir court to the great, and, by servile adulation, increase thenumber of their pupils. Need I mention the manner of conveying thefirst elements of school learning? No care is taken to give thestudent a taste for the best authors; the page of history lies neglected;the study of men and manners is no part of their system; and everybranch of useful knowledge is left uncultivated. A preceptor iscalled in, and education is then thought to be in a fair way. But Ishall have occasion hereafter to speak more fully of that class ofmen, called rhetoricians. It will then be seen, at what period thatprofession first made its appearance at Rome, and what reception itmet with from our ancestors.
XXX. Before I proceed, let us advert for a moment to the plan ofancient discipline. The unwearied diligence of the ancient orators,their habits of meditation, and their daily exercise in the wholecircle of arts and sciences, are amply displayed in the books whichthey have transmitted to us. The treatise of Cicero, entitledBrutus, is in allour hands. In that work, after commemorating the orators of aformer day, he closes the account with the particulars of his ownprogress in science, and the method he took in educating himself tothe profession of oratory. He studied the civil law under Mucius Scævola; hewas instructed in the various systems of philosophy, by Philo of the academicschool, and by Diodorus the stoic; and though Rome, at that time,abounded with the best professors, he made a voyage to Greece, and thence toAsia, in order to enrich his mind with every branch of learning.Hence that store of knowledge which appears in all his writings.Geometry, music, grammar, and every useful art, were familiar tohim. He embraced the whole science of logic and ethics. He studied the operationsof nature. His diligence of enquiry opened to him the long chain ofcauses and effects, and, in short, the whole system of physiologywas his own. From a mind thus replenished, it is no wonder, my goodfriends, that we see in the compositions of that extraordinary manthat affluence of ideas, and that prodigious flow of eloquence. Infact, it is not with oratory as with the other arts, which areconfined to certain objects, and circumscribed within their ownpeculiar limits. He alone deserves the name of an orator, who canspeak in a copious style, with ease or dignity, as the subjectrequires; who can find language to decorate his argument; whothrough the passions can command the understanding; and, while heserves mankind, knows how to delight the judgement and theimagination of his audience.
XXXI. Such was, in ancient times, the idea of an orator. To formthat illustrious character, it was not thought necessary to declaimin the schools of rhetoricians, or to make a vain parade in fictitiouscontroversies, which were not only void of all reality, but even ofa shadow of probability. Our ancestors pursued a different plan:they stored their minds with just ideas of moral good and evil;with the rules of right and wrong, and the fair and foul in humantransactions. These, on every controverted point, are the orator'sprovince. In courts of law, just and unjust undergo his discussion;in political debate, between what is expedient and honourable, itis his to draw the line; and those questions are so blended intheir nature, that they enter into every cause. On such importanttopics, who can hope to bring variety of matter, and to dignifythat matter with style and sentiment, if he has not, beforehand,enlarged his mind with the knowledge of human nature? with the lawsof moral obligation? the deformity of vice, the beauty of virtue,and other points which do not immediately belong to the theory ofethics?
The orator, who has enriched his mind with these materials, maybe truly said to have acquired the powers of persuasion. He whoknows the nature of indignation, will be able to kindle or allaythat passion in the breast of the judge; and the advocate who hasconsidered the effect of compassion, and from what secret springsit flows, will best know how to soften the mind, and melt it intotenderness. It is by these secrets of his art that the orator gainshis influence. Whether he has to do with the prejudiced, the angry,the envious, the melancholy, or the timid, he can bridle theirvarious passions, and hold the reins in his own hand. According tothe disposition of his audience, he will know when to check theworkings of the heart, and when to raise them to their full tumultof emotion.
Some critics are chiefly pleased with that close mode oforatory, which in a laconic manner states the facts, and forms animmediate conclusion: in that case, it is obvious how necessary itis to be a complete master of the rules of logic. Others delight ina more open, free, and copious style, where the arguments are drawnfrom topics of general knowledge; for this purpose, the peripateticschool willsupply the orator with ample materials. The academic philosopher will inspirehim with warmth and energy; Plato will give the sublime, andXenophon that equal flow which charms us in that amiable writer.The rhetorical figure, which is called exclamation, so frequentwith Epicurusand Metrodorus, will add to a discourse those sudden breaks ofpassion, which give motion, strength, and vehemence.
It is not for the stoic school, nor for their imaginary wiseman, that I am laying down rules. I am forming an orator, whosebusiness it is, not to adhere to one sect, but to go the round ofall the arts and sciences. Accordingly we find, that the greatmaster of ancient eloquence laid their foundation in a thoroughstudy of the civil law, and to that fund they added grammar, music,and geometry. The fact is, in most of the causes that occur,perhaps in every cause, a due knowledge of the whole system ofjurisprudence is an indispensable requisite. There are likewisemany subjects of litigation, in which an acquaintance with othersciences is of the highest use.
XXXII. Am I to be told, that to gain some slight information onparticular subjects, as occasion may require, will sufficientlyanswer the purposes of an orator? In answer to this, let it beobserved, that the application of what we draw from our own fund,is very different from the use we make of what we borrow. Whetherwe speak from digested knowledge, or the mere suggestion of others,the effect is soon perceived. Add to this, that conflux of ideaswith which the different sciences enrich the mind, gives an air ofdignity to whatever we say, even in cases where that depth ofknowledge is not required. Science adorns the speaker at all times,and, where it is least expected, confers a grace that charms everyhearer; the man of erudition feels it, and the unlettered part ofthe audience acknowledge the effect without knowing the cause. Amurmur of applause ensues; the speaker is allowed to have laid in astore of knowledge; he possesses all the powers of persuasion, andthen is called an orator indeed.
I take the liberty to add, if we aspire to that honourableappellation, that there is no way but that which I have chalkedout. No man was ever yet a complete orator, and, I affirm, nevercan be, unless, like the soldier marching to the field of battle,he enters the forum armed at all points with the sciences and theliberal arts. Is that the case in these our modern times? The stylewhich we hear every day, abounds with colloquial barbarisms, andvulgar phraseology: no knowledge of the laws is heard; ourmunicipal policy is wholly neglected, and even the decrees of thesenate are treated with contempt and derision. Moral philosophy isdiscarded, and the maxims of ancient wisdom are unworthy of theirnotice. In this manner, eloquence is dethroned; she is banishedfrom her rightful dominions, and obliged to dwell in the coldregions of antithesis, forced conceit, and pointed sentences. Theconsequence is, that she, who was once the sovereign mistress ofthe sciences, and led them as handmaids in her train, is nowdeprived of her attendants, reduced, impoverished, and, stripped ofher usual honours (I might say of her genius), compelled toexercise a mere plebeian art.
And now, my friends, I think I have laid open the efficientcause of the decline of eloquence. Need I call witnesses to supportmy opinion? I name Demosthenes among the Greeks. He, we areassured, constantly attended the lectures of Plato. I name Cicero among theRomans: he tells us (I believe I can repeat his words), that if heattained any degree of excellence, he owed it, not so much to theprecepts of rhetoricians, as to his meditations in the walks of theacademic school. I am aware that other causes of our presentdegeneracy may be added; but that task I leave to my friends, sinceI now may flatter myself that I have performed my promise. In doingit, I fear, that, as often happens to me, I have incurred thedanger of giving offence. Were a certain class of men to hear theprinciples which I have advanced in favour of legal knowledge andsound philosophy, I should expect to be told that I have been allthe time commending my own visionary schemes.
XXXIII. You will excuse me, replied Maternus, if I take theliberty to say that you have by no means finished your part of ourenquiry. You seem to have spread your canvas, and to have touchedthe outlines of your plan; but there are other parts that stillrequire the colouring of so masterly a hand. The stores ofknowledge, with which the ancients enlarged their minds, you havefairly explained, and, in contrast to that pleasing picture, youhave given us a true draught of modern ignorance. But we now wishto know, what were the exercises, and what the discipline, by whichthe youth of former times prepared themselves for the honours oftheir profession. It will not, I believe, be contended, thattheory, and systems of art, are of themselves sufficient to form agenuine orator. It is by practice, and by constant exertion, thatthe faculty of speech improves, till the genius of the man expands,and flourishes in its full vigour. This, I think, you will notdeny, and my two friends, if I may judge by their looks, seem togive their assent. Aper and Secundus agreed without hesitation.
Messala proceeded as follows: Having, as I conceive, shewn theseed-plots of ancient eloquence, and the fountains of science, fromwhich they drew such copious streams; it remains now to give someidea of the labour, the assiduity, and the exercises, by which theytrained themselves to their profession. I need not observe, that inthe pursuit of science, method and constant exercise areindispensable: for who can hope, without regular attention, tomaster abstract schemes of philosophy, and embrace the wholecompass of the sciences? Knowledge must be grafted in the mind byfrequent meditation; to that must be added the faculty of conveyingour ideas; and, to make sure of our impression, we must be able toadorn our thoughts with the colours of true eloquence. Hence it isevident that the same arts, by which the mind lays in its stock ofknowledge, must be still pursued, in order to attain a clear andgraceful manner of conveying that knowledge to others. This may bethought refined and too abstruse. If, however, we are still to betold that science and elocution are things in themselves distinctand unrelated; this, at least, may be assumed, that he, who, with afund of previous knowledge, undertakes the province of oratory,will bring with him a mind well seasoned, and duly prepared for thestudy and exercise of real eloquence.
XXXIV. The practice of our ancestors was agreeable to thistheory. The youth, who was intended for public declamation, wentforth, under the care of his father, or some near relation, withall the advantages of home-discipline; his mind was expanded by thefine arts, and impregnated with science. He was conducted to themost eminent orator of the time. Under that illustrious patronagehe visited the forum; he attended his patron upon all occasions; helistened with attention to his pleadings in the tribunals ofjustice, and his public harangues before the people; he heard himin the warmth of argument; he noted his sudden replies, and thus,in the field of battle, if I may so express myself, he learned thefirst rudiments of rhetorical warfare. The advantages of thismethod are obvious: the young candidate gained courage, andimproved his judgement; he studied in open day, amidst the heat ofthe conflict, where nothing weak or idle could be said withimpunity; where every thing absurd was instantly rebuked by thejudge, exposed to ridicule by the adversary, and condemned by thewhole bar.
In this manner the student was initiated in the rules of soundand manly eloquence; and, though it be true, that he placed himselfunder the auspices of one orator only, he heard the rest in theirturn, and in that diversity of tastes which always prevails inmixed assemblies, he was enabled to distinguish what was excellentor defective in the kind. The orator in actual business was thebest preceptor: the instructions which he gave, were livingeloquence, the substance, and not the shadow. He was himself a realcombatant, engaged with a zealous antagonist, both in earnest, andnot like gladiators, in a mock contest, fighting for prizes. It wasa struggle for victory, before an audience always changing, yetalways full; where the speaker had his enemies as well as hisadmirers; and between both, what was brilliant met with applause;what was defective, was sure to be condemned. In this clash ofopinions, the genuine orator flourished, and acquired that lastingfame, which, we all know, does not depend on the voice of friendsonly, but must rebound from the benches filled with your enemies.Extorted applause is the best suffrage.
In that school, the youth of expectation, such as I havedelineated, was reared and educated by the most eminent genius ofthe times. In the forum, he was enlightened by the experience ofothers; he was instructed in the knowledge of the laws, accustomedto the eye of the judges, habituated to the looks of a numerousaudience, and acquainted with the popular taste. After thispreparation, he was called forth to conduct a prosecution, or totake upon himself the whole weight of the defence. The fruit of hisapplication was then seen at once. He was equal, in his firstoutset, to the most arduous business. Thus it was that Crassus, atthe age of nineteen, stood forth the accuser of Papirius Carbo: thusJulius Cæsar, at one and twenty, arraigned Dolabella; AsiniusPollio, about the same age, attacked Caius Cato; and Calvus, but alittle older, flamed out against Vatinius. Their several speechesare still extant, and we all read them with admiration.
XXXV. In opposition to this system of education, what is ourmodern practice? Our young men are led to academical prolusions in theschool of vain professors, who call themselves rhetoricians; a raceof impostors, who made their first appearance at Rome, not longbefore the days of Cicero. That they were unwelcome visitors, isevident from the circumstance of their being silenced by the twocensors,Crassus and Domitius. They were ordered, says Cicero, to shut uptheir school of impudence. Those scenes, however, are open atpresent, and there our young students listen to mountebank oratory.I am at a loss how to determine which is most fatal to all truegenius, the place itself, the company that frequent it, or the planof study universally adopted. Can the place impress the mind withawe and respect, where none are ever seen but the raw, theunskilful, and the ignorant? In such an assembly what advantage canarise? Boys harangue before boys, and young men exhibit beforetheir fellows. The speaker is pleased with his declamation, and thehearer with his judgement. The very subjects on which they displaytheir talents, tend to no useful purpose. They are of two sorts,persuasive or controversial. The first, supposed to be of thelighter kind, are usually assigned to the youngest scholars: thelast are reserved for students of longer practice and riperjudgement. But, gracious powers! what are the compositions producedon these occasions?
The subject is remote from truth, and even probability, unlikeany thing that ever happened in human life: and no wonder if thesuperstructure perfectly agrees with the foundation. It is to thesescenic exercises that we owe a number of frivolous topics, such asthe reward due to the slayer of a tyrant; the election to be madeby violatedvirgins; the rites and ceremonies proper to be used during a ragingpestilence; the loose behaviour of married women; with otherfictitious subjects, hackneyed in the schools, and seldom or neverheard of in our courts of justice. These imaginary questions aretreated with gaudy flourishes, and all the tumor of unnaturallanguage. But after all this mighty parade, call these striplingsfrom their schools of rhetoric, into the presence of the judges,and to the real business of the bar:
1. What figure will they make before that solemn judicature?Trained up in chimerical exercises, strangers to the municipallaws, unacquainted with the principles of natural justice and therights of nations, they will bring with them that false taste whichthey have been for years acquiring, but nothing worthy of thepublic ear, nothing useful to their clients. They have succeeded innothing but the art of making themselves ridiculous. The peculiarquality of the teacher,whatever it be, is sure to transfuse itself into the performance ofthe pupil. Is the master haughty, fierce, and arrogant; the scholarswells with confidence; his eye threatens prodigious things, andhis harangue is an ostentatious display of the common-places ofschool oratory, dressed up with dazzling splendour, and thunderedforth with emphasis. On the other hand, does the master valuehimself for the delicacy of his taste, for the foppery ofglittering conceits and tinsel ornament; the youth who has beeneducated under him, sets out with the same artificial prettiness,the same foppery of style and manner. A simper plays on hiscountenance; his elocution is soft and delicate; his actionpathetic; his sentences entangled in a maze of sweet perplexity; heplays off the whole of his theatrical skill, and hopes to elevateand surprise.
2. This love of finery, this ambition to shine and glitter, hasdestroyed all true eloquence. Oratory is not the child of hirelingteachers; it springs from another source, from a love of liberty,from a mind replete with moral science, and a thorough knowledge ofthe laws; from a due respect for the best examples, from profoundmeditation, and a styleformed by constant practice. While these were thought essentialrequisites, eloquence flourished. But the true beauties of languagefell into disuse, and oratory went to ruin. The spirit evaporated;I fear, to revive no more. I wish I may prove a false prophet, butwe know the progress of art in every age and country. Rude atfirst, it rises from low beginnings, and goes on improving, till itreaches the highest perfection in the kind. But at that point it isnever stationary: it soon declines, and from the corruption of whatis good, it is not in the nature of man, nor in the power of humanfaculties, to rise again to the same degree of excellence.
3. Messala closed with a degree of vehemence, and then turningto Maternus and Secundus, It is yours, he said, to pursue this train ofargument; or if any cause of the decay of eloquence lies stilldeeper, you will oblige us by bringing it to light. Maternus, Ipresume, will find no difficulty: a poetic genius holds commercewith the gods, and to him nothing will remain a secret. As forSecundus, he has been long a shining ornament of the forum, and byhis own experience knows how to distinguish genuine eloquence fromthe corrupt and vicious. Maternus heard this sally of his friend'sgood humour with a smile. The task, he said, which you have imposedupon us, we will endeavour to execute. But though I am theinterpreter of the gods, I must notwithstanding request thatSecundus may take the lead. He is master of the subject, and, inquestions of this kind, experience is better than inspiration.
4. Secundus compliedwith his friend's request. I yield, he said, the more willingly, asI shall hazard no new opinion, but rather confirm what has beenurged by Messala. It is certain, that, as painters are formed bypainters, and poets by the example of poets, so the young oratormust learn his art from orators only. In the schools ofrhetoricians, who thinkthemselves the fountain-head of eloquence, every thing is false andvitiated. The true principles of the persuasive art are never knownto the professor, or if at any time there may be found a preceptorof superior genius, can it be expected that he shall be able totransfuse into the mind of his pupil all his own conceptions, pure,unmixed, and free from error? The sensibility of the master, sincewe have allowed him genius, will be an impediment: the uniformityof the same dull tedious round will give him disgust, and thestudent will turn from it with aversion. And yet I am inclined tothink, that the decay of eloquence would not have been so rapid, ifother causes, more fatal than the corruption of the schools, hadnot co-operated. When the worst models became the objects ofimitation, and not only the young men of the age, but even thewhole body of the people, admired the new way of speaking,eloquence fell at once into that state of degeneracy, from whichnothing can recover it. We, who came afterwards, found ourselves ina hopeless situation: we were driven to wretched expedients, toforced conceits, and the glitter of frivolous sentences; we wereobliged to hunt after wit, when we could be no longer eloquent. Bywhat pernicious examples this was accomplished, has been explainedby our friend Messala.
5. We are none of us strangers to those unhappy times, whenRome, grown weary of her vast renown in arms, began to think ofstriking into new paths of fame, no longer willing to depend on theglory of our ancestors. The whole power of the state was centred ina single ruler, and by the policy of the prince, men were taught tothink no more of ancient honour. Invention was on the stretch fornovelty, and all looked for something better than perfection;something rare, far-fetched, and exquisite. New modes of pleasurewere devised. In that period of luxury and dissipation, when therage for new inventions was grown epidemic, Seneca arose. Histalents were of a peculiar sort, acute, refined and polished; butpolished to a degree that made him prefer affectation and wit totruth and nature. The predominance of his genius was great, and, byconsequence, he gave the mortal stab to all true eloquence. When I say this, let me not besuspected of that low malignity which would tarnish the fame of agreat character. I admire the man, and the philosopher. Theundaunted firmness with which he braved the tyrant's frown, will doimmortal honour to his memory. But the fact is (and why should Idisguise it?), the virtues of the writer have undone hiscountry.
6. To bring about this unhappy revolution, no man was soeminently qualified. Hisunderstanding was large and comprehensive; his genius rich andpowerful; his way of thinking ingenious, elegant, and evencharming. His researches in moral philosophy excited the admirationof all; and moral philosophy is never so highly praised, as whenthe manners are in a state of degeneracy. Seneca knew the taste ofthe times. He had the art to gratify the public ear. His style isneat, yet animated; concise, yet clear; familiar, yet seldominelegant. Free from redundancy, his periods are often abrupt, butthey surprise by their vivacity. He shines in pointed sentences;and that unceasing persecution of vice, which is kept up withuncommon ardour, spreads a lustre over all his writings. Hisbrilliant style charmed by its novelty. Every page sparkles withwit, with gay allusions, and sentiments of virtue. No wonder thatthe graceful ease, and sometimes the dignity of his expression,made their way into the forum. What pleased universally, soon founda number of imitators. Add to this the advantages of rank andhonours. He mixed in the splendour, and perhaps in the vices, ofthe court. The resentment of Caligula, and the acts of oppressionwhich soon after followed, served only to adorn his name. To crownall, Nero was his pupil, and his murderer. Hence the character andgenius of the man rose to the highest eminence. What was admired,was imitated, and true oratory was heard no more. The love ofnovelty prevailed, and for the dignified simplicity of ancienteloquence no taste remained. The art itself, and all its necessarydiscipline, became ridiculous. In that black period, when vicetriumphed at large, and virtue had every thing to fear, the temperof the times was propitious to the corruptors of taste and liberalscience. The dignity of composition was no longer of use. It had nopower to stop the torrent of vice which deluged the city of Rome,and virtue found it a feeble protection. In such a conjuncture itwas not safe to speak the sentiments of the heart. To be obscure,abrupt, and dark, was the best expedient. Then it was that theaffected sententious brevity came into vogue. To speak concisely,and with an air of precipitation, was the general practice. To workthe ruin of a person accused, a single sentence, or a splendidphrase, was sufficient. Men defended themselves in a shortbrilliant expression; and if that did not protect them, they diedwith a lively apophthegm, and their last words were wit. This wasthe fashion introduced by Seneca. The peculiar, but agreeable vicesof his style, wrought the downfall of eloquence. The solid wasexchanged for the brilliant, and they, who ceased to be orators,studied to be ingenious.
7. Of late, indeed, we have seen the dawn of better times. Inthe course of the last six years Vespasian has revived our hopes. The friend of regularmanners, and the encourager of ancient virtue, by which Rome wasraised to the highest pinnacle of glory, he has restored the publicpeace, and with it the blessings of liberty. Under his propitiousinfluence, the arts and sciences begin once more to flourish, andgenius has been honoured with his munificence. The example of hissons has helped tokindle a spirit of emulation. We beheld, with pleasure, the twoprinces adding to the dignity of their rank, and their fame inarms, all the grace and elegance of polite literature. But it isfatally true, that when the public taste is once corrupted, themind which has been warped, seldom recovers its former tone. Thisdifficulty was rendered still more insurmountable by the licentiousspirit of our young men, and the popular applause, that encouragedthe false taste of the times. I need not, in this company, call tomind the unbridled presumption, with which, as soon as genuineeloquence expired, the young men of the age took possession of theforum. Of modest worth and ancient manners nothing remained. Weknow that in former times the youthful candidate was introduced inthe forum by a person of consular rank, and by him set forward in his road to fame. Thatlaudable custom being at an end, all fences were thrown down: nosense of shame remained, no respect for the tribunals of justice.The aspiring genius wanted no patronage; he scorned the usual formsof a regular introduction; and, with full confidence in his ownpowers, he obtruded himself on the court. Neither the solemnity ofthe place, nor the sanctity of laws, nor the importance of theoratorical character, could restrain the impetuosity of youngambition. Unconscious of the importance of the undertaking, andless sensible of his own incapacity, the bold adventurer rushed atonce into the most arduous business. Arrogance supplied the placeof talents.
8. To oppose the torrent, that bore down every thing, the dangerof losing all fair and honest fame was the only circumstance thatcould afford a ray of hope. But even that slender fence was soonremoved by the arts ofLargius Licinius. He was the first that opened a new road toambition. He intrigued for fame, and filled the benches with anaudience suborned to applaud his declamations. He had his circleround him, and shouts of approbation followed. It was upon thatoccasion that Domitius Afer emphatically said, Eloquence is now at the last gasp.It had, indeed, at that time shewn manifest symptoms of decay, butits total ruin may be dated from the introduction of a mercenaryband to flatter andapplaud. If we except a chosen few, whose superior genius has notas yet been seduced from truth and nature, the rest are followed bytheir partisans, like actors on the stage, subsisting altogether onthe bought suffrages of mean and prostitute hirelings. Nor is thissordid traffic carried on with secrecy: we see the bargain made inthe face of the court; the bribe is distributed with as littleceremony as if they were in a private party at the orator's ownhouse. Having sold their voices, this venal crew rush forward fromone tribunal to another, the distributors of fame, and the solejudges of literary merit. The practice is, no doubt, disgraceful.To brand it with infamy, two new terms have been invented, one in the Greek language,importing the venders of praise, and the other in the Latin idiom,signifying the parasites who sell their applause for a supper. Butsarcastic expressions have not been able to cure the mischief: theapplauders by profession have taken courage, and the name, whichwas intended as a stroke of ridicule, is now become an honourableappellation.
9. This infamous practice rages at present with increasingviolence. The party no longer consists of freeborn citizens; ourvery slaves are hired. Even before they arrive at full age, we seethem distributing the rewards of eloquence. Without attending towhat is said, and without sense enough to understand, they are sureto crowd the courts of justice, whenever a raw young man, stungwith the love of fame, but without talents to deserve it, obtrudeshimself in the character of an advocate. The hall resounds withacclamations, or rather with a kind of bellowing; for I know not bywhat term to express that savage uproar, which would disgrace atheatre.
Upon the whole, when I consider these infamous practices, whichhave brought so much dishonour upon a liberal profession, I am farfrom wondering that you, Maternus, judged it time to sound yourretreat. When you could no longer attend with honour, you did well,my friend, to devote yourself entirely to the muses. And now, sinceyou are to close the debate, permit me to request, that, besidesunfolding the causes of corrupt eloquence, you will fairly tell us,whether you entertain any hopes of better times, and, if you do, bywhat means a reformation may be accomplished.
10. It is true,said Maternus, that seeing the forum deluged by an inundation ofvices, I was glad, as my friend expressed it, to sound my retreat.I saw corruption rushing on with hasty strides, too shameful to bedefended, and too powerful to be resisted. And yet, though urged byall those motives, I should hardly have renounced the business ofthe bar, if the bias of my nature had not inclined me to otherstudies. I balanced, however, for some time. It was, at first, myfixed resolution to stand to the last a poor remnant of thatintegrity and manly eloquence, which still lingered at the bar, andshewed some signs of life. It was my intention to emulate, not,indeed, with equal powers, but certainly with equal firmness, thebright models of ancient times, and, in that course of practice, todefend the fortunes, the dignity, and the innocence of myfellow-citizens. But the strong impulse of inclination was not tobe resisted. I laid down my arms, and deserted to the safe andtranquil camp of the muses. But though a deserter, I have not quiteforgot the service in which I was enlisted. I honour the professorsof real eloquence, and that sentiment, I hope, will be always warmin my heart.
11. In my solitary walks, and moments of meditation, it oftenhappens, that I fall into a train of thinking on the flourishingstate of ancient eloquence, and the abject condition to which it isreduced in modern times. The result of my reflections I shallventure to unfold, not with a spirit of controversy, nor yetdogmatically to enforce my own opinion. I may differ in somepoints, but from a collision of sentiments it is possible that somenew light may be struck out. My friend Aper will, therefore, excuseme, if I do not, with him, prefer the false glitter of the modernsto the solid vigour of ancient genius. At the same time, it is notmy intention to disparage his friends. Messala too, whom you,Secundus, have closely followed, will forgive me, if I do not, inevery thing, coincide with his opinion. The vices of the forum,which you have both, as becomes men of integrity, attacked withvehemence, will not have me for their apologist. But still I may beallowed to ask, have not you been too much exasperated against therhetoricians?
I will not say in their favour, that I think them equal to thetask of reviving the honours of eloquence; but I have known amongthem, men of unblemished morals, of regular discipline, greaterudition, and talents every way fit to form the minds of youth toa just taste for science and the persuasive arts. In this numberone in particular haslately shone forth with superior lustre. From his abilities, allthat is in the power of man may fairly be expected. A genius likehis would have been the ornament of better times. Posterity willadmire and honour him. And yet I would not have Secundus amusehimself with ill-grounded hopes: neither the learning of that mostexcellent man, nor the industry of such as may follow him, will beable to promote the interests of Eloquence, or to establish herformer glory. It is a lost cause. Before the vices, which have beenso ably described, had spread a general infection, all true oratorywas at an end. The revolutions in our government, and the violenceof the times, began the mischief, and, in the end, gave the fatalblow.
12. Nor are we to wonder at this event. In the course of humanaffairs there is no stability, nothing secure or permanent. It iswith our minds as with our bodies: the latter, as soon as they haveattained their full growth, and seem to flourish in the vigour ofhealth, begin, from that moment, to feel the gradual approaches ofdecay. Our intellectual powers proceed in the same manner; theygain strength by degrees, they arrive at maturity, and, when theycan no longer improve, they languish, droop, and fade away. This isthe law of nature, to which every age, and every nation, of whichwe have any historical records, have been obliged to submit. Thereis besides another general law, hard perhaps, but wonderfullyordained, and it is this: nature, whose operations are alwayssimple and uniform, never suffers in any age or country, more thanone great example of perfection in the kind. This was the case in Greece, thatprolific parent of genius and of science. She had but one Homer,one Plato, one Demosthenes. The same has happened at Rome: Virgilstands at the head of his art, and Cicero is still unrivalled.During a space of seven hundred years our ancestors were strugglingto reach the summit of perfection: Cicero at length arose; hethundered forth his immortal energy, and nature was satisfied withthe wonder she had made. The force of genius could go no further. Anew road to fame was to be found. We aimed at wit, and gay conceit,and glittering sentences. The change, indeed, was great; but itnaturally followed the new form of government. Genius died withpublic liberty.
13. We find that the discourse of men always conforms to thetemper of the times. Among savage nations language is never copious. A few wordsserve the purpose of barbarians, and those are always uncouth andharsh, without the artifice of connection; short, abrupt, andnervous. In a state of polished society, where a single ruler swaysthe sceptre, the powers of the mind take a softer tone, andlanguage grows more refined. But affectation follows, and precisiongives way to delicacy. The just and natural expression is no longerthe fashion. Living in ease and luxury, men look for elegance, andhope by novelty to give a grace to adulation. In other nations,where the first principles of the civil union are maintained invigour; where the people live under the government of laws, and notthe will of man; where the spirit of liberty pervades all ranks andorders of the state; where every individual holds himself bound, atthe hazard of his life, to defend the constitution framed by hisancestors; where, without being guilty of an impious crime, no mandares to violate the rights of the whole community; in such astate, the national eloquence will be prompt, bold, and animated.Should internal dissensions shake the public peace, or foreignenemies threaten to invade the land, Eloquence comes forth arrayedin terror; she wields her thunder, and commands all hearts. It istrue, that upon those occasions men of ambition endeavour, fortheir own purposes, to spread the flame of sedition; while the goodand virtuous combine their force to quell the turbulent, and repelthe menaces of a foreign enemy. Liberty gains new strength by theconflict, and the true patriot has the glory of serving hiscountry, distinguished by his valour in the field, and in debate noless terrible by his eloquence.
14. Hence it is that in free governments we see a constellationof orators. Hence Demosthenes displayed the powers of his amazinggenius, and acquired immortal honour. He saw a quick and livelypeople, dissolved in luxury, open to the seductions of wealth, andready to submit to a master; he saw a great and warlike monarchthreatening destruction to the liberties of his country; he sawthat prince at the head of powerful armies, renowned for victory,possessed of an opulent treasury, formidable in battle, and, by hissecret arts, still more so in the cabinet; he saw that king,inflamed by ambition and the lust of dominion, determined todestroy the liberties of Greece. It was that alarming crisis thatcalled forth the powers of Demosthenes. Armed with eloquence, andwith eloquence only, he stood as a bulwark against a combination ofenemies foreign and domestic. He roused his countrymen from theirlethargy: he kindled the holy flame of liberty; he counteracted themachinations of Philip, detected his clandestine frauds, and firedthe men of Athens with indignation. To effect these generouspurposes, and defeat the policy of a subtle enemy, what powers ofmind were necessary! how vast, how copious, how sublime! Hethundered and lightened in his discourse; he faced every dangerwith undaunted resolution. Difficulties served only to inspire himwith new ardour. The love of his country glowed in his heart;liberty roused all his powers, and Fame held forth her immortalwreath to reward his labours. These were the fine incentives thatroused his genius, and no wonder that his mind expanded with vastconceptions. He thought for his country, and, by consequence, everysentiment was sublime; every expression was grand andmagnificent.
XXXVI. The true spirit of genuine eloquence, like an intense fire, is keptalive by fresh materials: every new commotion gives it vigour, andin proportion as it burns, it expands and brightens to a purerflame. The same causes at Rome produced the same effect.Tempestuous times called forth the genius of our ancestors. Themoderns, it is true, have taken fire, and rose above themselves, asoften as a quiet, settled, and uniform government gave a fairopportunity; but eloquence, it is certain, flourishes most under abold and turbulent democracy, where the ambitious citizen, who bestcan mould to his purposes a fierce and contentious multitude, issure to be the idol of the people. In the conflict of parties, thatkept our ancestors in agitation, laws were multiplied; the leadingchiefs were the favourite demagogues; the magistrates were oftenengaged in midnight debate; eminent citizens were brought to apublic trial; families were set at variance; the nobles were splitinto factions, and the senate waged incessant war against thepeople. Hence that flame of eloquence which blazed out under therepublican government, and hence that constant fuel that kept theflame alive.
The state, it is true, was often thrown into convulsions: buttalents were exercised, and genius opened the way to publichonours. He who possessed the powers of persuasion, rose toeminence, and by the arts which gave him popularity, he was sure toeclipse his colleagues. He strengthened his interest with theleading men, and gained weight and influence not only in thesenate, but in all assemblies of the people. Foreign nations courted hisfriendship. The magistrates, setting out for their provinces, madeit their business to ingratiate themselves with the popularspeaker, and, at their return, took care to renew their homage. Thepowerful orator had no occasion to solicit for preferment: theoffices of prætor and consul stood open to receive him. Hewas invited to those exalted stations. Even in the rank of aprivate citizen he had a considerable share of power, since hisauthority swayed at once the senate and the people. It was in thosedays a settled maxim, that no man could either rise to dignities,or support himself in office, without possessing, in an eminentdegree, a power of words, and dignity of language.
Nor can this be a matter of wonder, when we recollect, thatpersons of distinguished genius were, on various occasions, calledforth by the voice of the people, and in their presence obliged toact an important part. Eloquence was the ruling passion of all. Thereason is, it was not then sufficient merely to vote in the senate;it was necessary to support that vote with strength of reasoning,and a flow of language. Moreover, in all prosecutions, the partyaccused was expected to make his defence in person, and to examinethe witnesses, who at that time were not allowed to speak inwritten depositions, but were obliged to give their testimony inopen court. In this manner, necessity, no less than the temptationof bright rewards, conspired to make men cultivate the arts oforatory. He who was known to possess the powers of speech, was heldin the highest veneration. The mute and silent character fell intocontempt. The dread of shame was a motive not less powerful thanthe ambition that aimed at honours. To sink into the humiliatingrank of a client, instead of maintaining the dignity of a patron,was a degrading thought. Men were unwilling to see the followers oftheir ancestors transferred to other families for protection. Aboveall, they dreaded the disgrace of being thought unworthy of civilhonours; and, if by intrigue they attained their wishes, the fearof being despised for incapacity was a spur to quicken their ardourin the pursuit of literary fame and commanding eloquence.
XXXVII. I do not know whether you have as yet seen thehistorical memoirs which Mucianus has collected, and latelypublished, containing, in eleven volumes, the transactions of thetimes, and, in three more, the letters of eminent men who figuredon the stage of public business. This portion of history is wellauthenticated by the original papers, still extant in the librariesof the curious. From this valuable collection it appears, thatPompey and Crassus owed their elevation as much to their talents asto their fame in arms; and that Lentulus, Metellus, Lucullus, Curio, andothers of that class, took care to enlarge their minds, anddistinguish themselves by their powers of speech. To say all in oneword, no man, in those times, rose to eminence in the state, whohad not given proof of his genius in the forum and the tribunals ofjustice.
To this it may be added, that the importance, the splendour, andmagnitude of the questions discussed in that period, served toanimate the public orator. The subject, beyond all doubt, lifts themind above itself: it gives vigour to sentiment, and energy toexpression. Let the topic be a paltry theft, a dry form ofpleading, or a petty misdemeanor; will not the orator feel himselfcramped and chilled by the meanness of the question? Give him acause of magnitude, such as bribery in the election of magistrates,a charge for plundering the allies of Rome, or the murder of Romancitizens, how different then his emotions! how sublime eachsentiment! what dignity of language! The effect, it must beadmitted, springs from the disasters of society. It is true, thatform of government, in which no such evils occur, must, beyond allquestion, be allowed to be the best; but since, in the course ofhuman affairs, sudden convulsions must happen, my position is, thatthey produced, at Rome, that flame of eloquence which at this houris so much admired. The mind of the orator grows and expands withhis subject. Without ample materials no splendid oration was everyet produced. Demosthenes, I believe, did not owe his vastreputation to the speeches which he made against his guardians; nor wasit either the oration in defence of Quinctius, or that for Archiasthe poet, that established the character of Cicero. It wasCatiline, it was Verres, it was Milo and Mark Antony, that spreadso much glory round him.
Let me not be misunderstood: I do not say, that for the sake ofhearing a bright display of eloquence, it is fit that the publicpeace should be disturbed by the machinations of turbulent andlawless men. But, not to lose sight of the question before us, letit be remembered, that we are enquiring about an art which thrivesand flourishes most in tempestuous times. It were, no doubt, betterthat the public should enjoy the sweets of peace, than be harassedby the calamities of war: but still it is war that produces thesoldier and great commander. It is the same with Eloquence. Theoftener she is obliged, if I may so express it, to take the field,the more frequent the engagement, in which she gives and receivesalternate wounds, and the more formidable her adversary; the moreshe rises in pomp and grandeur, and returns from the warfare of theforum crowned with unfading laurels. He, who encounters danger, isever sure to win the suffrages of mankind. For such is the natureof the human mind, that, in general, we choose a state of securityfor ourselves, but never fail to gaze with admiration on the man,whom we see, in the conflict of parties, facing his adversaries,and surmounting difficulties.
XXXVIII. I proceed to another advantage of the ancient forum; Imean the form of proceeding and the rules of practice observed inthose days. Our modern custom is, I grant, more conducive to truthand justice; but that of former times gave to eloquence a freecareer, and, by consequence, greater weight and splendour. Theadvocate was not, as now, confined to a few hours; he mightadjourn as often as it suited his convenience; he might expatiate,as his genius prompted him: and the number of days, like that ofthe several patrons, was unlimited. Pompey was the first whocircumscribed the genius of men within narrower limits. In his thirdconsulship he gave a check to eloquence, and, as it were, bridledits spirit, but still left all causes to be tried according to lawin the forum, and before the prætors. The importance of thebusiness, which was decided in that court of justice, will beevident, if we compare it with the transactions before thecentumvirs, who at present have cognizance of all matterswhatever. We have not so much as one oration of Cicero orCæsar, of Brutus, Cælius, or Calvus, or any otherperson famous for his eloquence, which was delivered before thelast-mentioned jurisdiction, excepting only the speeches of AsiniusPolliofor the heirs of Urbinia. But those speeches were delivered aboutthe middle of the reign of Augustus, when, after a long peace withforeign nations, and a profound tranquillity at home, that wise andpolitic prince had conquered all opposition, and not only triumphedover party and faction, but subdued eloquence itself.
XXXIX. What I am going to say will appear, perhaps, too minute;it may border on the ridiculous, and excite your mirth: with all myheart; I will hazard it for that very reason. The dress now in useat the bar has an air of meanness: the speaker is confined in aclose robe,and loses all the grace of action. The very courts of judicatureare another objection; all causes are heard, at present, in littlenarrow rooms, where spirit and strenuous exertion are unnecessary.The orator, like a generous steed, requires liberty and amplespace: before a scanty tribunal his spirit droops, and the dullnessof the scene damps the powers of genius. Add to this, we pay noattention to style; and indeed how should we? No time is allowedfor the beauties of composition: the judge calls upon you to begin,and you must obey, liable, at the same time, to frequentinterruptions, while documents are read, and witnessesexamined.
During all this formality, what kind of an audience has theorator to invigorate his faculties? Two or three stragglers drop inby chance, and to them the whole business seems to be transacted insolitude. But the orator requires a different scene. He delights inclamour, tumult, and bursts of applause. Eloquence must have hertheatre, as was the case in ancient times, when the forum wascrowded with the first men in Rome; when a numerous train ofclients pressed forward with eager expectation; when the people, intheir several tribes; when ambassadors from the colonies, and agreat part of Italy; attended to hear the debate; in short, whenall Rome was interested in the event. We know that in the cases ofCornelius, Scaurus, Milo, Bestia, and Vatinius, the concourse wasso great, that those several causes were tried before the wholebody of the people. A scene so vast and magnificent was enough toinflame the most languid orator. The speeches delivered upon thoseoccasions are in every body's hands, and, by their intrinsicexcellence, we of this day estimate the genius of the respectiveauthors.
XL. If we now consider the frequent assemblies of the people,and the right of prosecuting the most eminent men in the state; ifwe reflect on the glory that sprung from the declared hostility ofthe most illustrious characters; if we recollect, that even Scipio,Sylla, and Pompey, were not sheltered from the storms of eloquence,what a number of causes shall we see conspiring to rouse the spiritof the ancient forum! The malignity of the human heart, alwaysadverse to superior characters, encouraged the orator to persist.The very players, by sarcastic allusions to men in power, gratifiedthe public ear, and, by consequence, sharpened the wit and acrimonyof the bold declaimer.
Need I observe to you, that in all I have said, I have not beenspeaking of that temperate faculty which delights in quiet times, supported by its ownintegrity, and the virtues of moderation? I speak of populareloquence, the genuine offspring of that licentiousness, to whichfools and ill-designing men have given the name of liberty: I speakof bold and turbulent oratory, that inflamer of the people, andconstant companion of sedition; that fierce incendiary, that knowsno compliance, and scorns to temporize; busy, rash, and arrogant,but, in quiet and well regulated governments, utterly unknown. Whoever heard of an orator at Crete or Lacedæmon? In thosestates a system of rigorous discipline was established by the firstprinciples of the constitution. Macedonian and Persian eloquenceare equally unknown. The same may be said of every country, wherethe plan of government was fixed and uniform.
At Rhodes, indeed, and also at Athens, orators existed withoutnumber, and the reason is, in those communities the people directedevery thing; a giddy multitude governed, and, to say the truth, allthings were in the power of all. In like manner, while Rome wasengaged in one perpetual scene of contention; while parties,factions, and internal divisions, convulsed the state; no peace inthe forum, in the senate no union of sentiment; while the tribunalsof justice acted without moderation; while the magistrates knew nobounds, and no man paid respect to eminent merit; in such times itmust be acknowledged that Rome produced a race of noble orators; asin the wild uncultivated field the richest vegetables will oftenshoot up, and flourish with uncommon vigour. And yet it is fair toask, Could all the eloquence of the Gracchi atone for the lawswhich they imposed on their country? Could the fame which Ciceroobtained by his eloquence, compensate for the tragic end to whichit brought him?
XLI. The forum, at present, is the last sad relic of ancientoratory. But does that epitome of former greatness give the idea ofa city so well regulated, that we may rest contented with our formof government, without wishing for a reformation of abuses? If weexcept the man of guilt, or such as labour under the hard hand ofoppression, who resorts to us for our assistance? If a municipalcity applies for protection, it is, when the inhabitants, harassedby the adjacent states, or rent and torn by intestine divisions,sue for protection. The province, that addresses the senate for aredress of grievances, has been oppressed and plundered, before wehear of the complaint. It is true, we vindicate the injured, but tosuffer no oppression would surely be better than to obtain relief.Find, if you can, in any part of the world a wise and happycommunity, where no man offends against the laws: in such a nationwhat can be the use of oratory? You may as well profess the healingart where ill health is never known. Let men enjoy bodily vigour,and the practice of physic will have no encouragement. In likemanner, where sober manners prevail, and submission to theauthority of government is the national virtue, the powers ofpersuasion are rendered useless. Eloquence has lost her field ofglory. In the senate, what need of elaborate speeches, when allgood men are already of one mind? What occasion for studiedharangues before a popular assembly, where the form of governmentleaves nothing to the decision of a wild democracy, but the wholeadministration is conducted by the wisdom of a single ruler? Andagain; when crimes are rare, and in fact of no great moment, whatavails the boasted right of individuals to commence a voluntaryprosecution? What necessity for a studied defence, often composedin a style of vehemence, artfully addressed to the passions, andgenerally stretched beyond all bounds, when justice is executed inmercy, and the judge is of himself disposed to succour thedistressed?
Believe me, my very good, and (as far as the times will admit)my eloquent friends, had it been your lot to live under the oldrepublic, and the men whom we so much admire had been reserved forthe present age; if some god had changed the period of theirs andyour existence, the flame of genius had been yours, and the chiefsof antiquity would now be acting with minds subdued to the temperof the times. Upon the whole, since no man can enjoy a state ofcalm tranquillity, and, at the same time, raise a great andsplendid reputation; to be content with the benefits of the age inwhich we live, without detracting from our ancestors, is the virtuethat best becomes us.
XLII. Maternus concluded his discourse. There have been, said Messala, somepoints advanced, to which I do not entirely accede; and others,which I think require farther explanation. But the day is well nighspent. We will, therefore, adjourn the debate. Be it as you thinkproper, replied Maternus; and if, in what I have said, you find anything not sufficiently clear, we will adjust those matters in somefuture conference. Hereupon he rose from his seat, and embracingAper, I am afraid, he said, that it will fare hardly with you, mygood friend. I shall cite you to answer before the poets, andMessala will arraign you at the bar of the antiquarians. And I,replied Aper, shall make reprisals on you both before the schoolprofessors and the rhetoricians. This occasioned some mirth andraillery. We laughed, and parted in good humour.
END OF THE DIALOGUE.
NOTES ON THE DIALOGUE CONCERNING ORATORY.
The scene of the following Dialogue is laid in the sixth year ofVespasian, A.U.C. 828. A.D. 75. The commentators are much dividedin their opinions about the real author; his work they all agree isa masterpiece in the kind; written with taste and judgement;entertaining, profound, and elegant. But whether it is to beascribed to Tacitus, Quintilian, or any other person whom theycannot name, is a question upon which they have exhausted a storeof learning. They have given us, according to their custom, muchcontroversy, and little decision. In this field of conjectureLipsius led the way. He published, in 1574, the first good editionof Tacitus, with emendations of the text, and not removed; he stillremains in suspense. Cum multa dixerim, claudo tamen omnia hocresponso; MIHI NON LIQUERE. Gronovius Pichena, Ryckius,Rhenanus, and others, have entered warmly into the dispute. Anelegant modern writer has hazarded a new conjecture. The last ofSir Thomas Fitzosborne's Letters is a kind of preface to Mr.Melmoth's Translation of the Dialogue before us. He says; of allthe conversation pieces, whether ancient or modern, either of themoral or polite kind, he knows not one more elegantly written thanthe little anonymous Dialogue concerning the rise and decline ofeloquence among the Romans. He calls it anonymous, though he isaware, that it has been ascribed not only to Tacitus andQuintilian, but even to Suetonius. The reasons, however, are soinconclusive, that he is inclined to give it to the younger Pliny.He thinks it perfectly coincides with Pliny's age; it is addressedto one of his particular friends, and is marked with similarexpressions and sentiments. But, with all due submission to Mr.Melmoth, his new candidate cannot long hold us in suspense. Itappears in the account of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, in whichPliny's uncle lost his life. A.U.C. 832. A.D. 79, that Pliny wasthen eighteen years old, and, as the Dialogue was in 828, he couldthen be no more than fourteen; a time of life, when he was neitherfit to be admitted to a learned debate, nor capable ofunderstanding it. Besides this, two letters to his friend FABIUSare still extant; one in the first book, epist. 11; the other, bookvii. epist. 2. No mention of the Dialogue occurs in either of thoseletters, nor in any other part of his works; a circumstance, whichcould scarce have happened to a writer so tenderly anxious abouthis literary character, if the work in question had been theproduction of his part. Brotier, the last, and, it may be said, thebest of all the editors of Tacitus, is of opinion that a tract, sobeautiful and judicious, ought not, without better reasons thanhave been as yet assigned, to be adjudged from Tacitus to any otherwriter. He relies much on the first edition, which was published atVenice (1468), containing the last six books of the Annals (thefirst six not being then found), the five books of the History, andthe Dialogue, intitled, Cornelii Taciti Equitis Romani Dialogusde Oratoribus claris. There were also in the Vatican,manuscript copies of the Dialogue de Oratoribus. In 1515,when the six first Annals were found in Germany, a new edition,under the patronage of Leo X. was published by Beroaldus, carefullycollated with the manuscript, which was afterwards placed in theFlorentine Library. Those early authorities preponderate withBrotier against all modern conjecture; more especially, since theage of Tacitus agrees with the time of the Dialogue. He was fouryears older than his friend Pliny, and, at eighteen, might properlybe allowed by his friends to be of their party. In two yearsafterwards (A.U. 830), he married Agricola's daughter, and heexpressly says, (Life of Agricola, sect. ix.) that he was then avery young man. The arguments, drawn by the several commentatorsfrom the difference of style, Brotier thinks are of no weight. Thestyle of a young author will naturally differ from what he hassettled by practice at an advanced period of life. This has beenobserved in many eminent writers, and in none more than Lipsiushimself. His language, in the outset, was easy, flowing, andelegant; but, as he advanced in years, it became stiff, abrupt, andharsh. Tacitus relates a conversation on a literary subject; and insuch a piece, who can expect to find the style of an historian oran annalist? For these reasons Brotier thinks that this Dialoguemay, with good reason, be ascribed to Tacitus. The translatorenters no farther into the controversy, than to say, that in a casewhere certainty cannot be obtained, we must rest satisfied with thebest evidence the nature of the thing will admit. The dispute is ofno importance; for, as Lipsius says, whether we give the Dialogueto Quintilian or to Tacitus, no inconvenience can arise. Whoeverwas the author, it is a performance of uncommon beauty.
Before we close this introduction, it will not be improper tosay a word or two about Brotier's Supplement. In the wreck ofancient literature a considerable part of this Dialogue hasperished, and, by consequence, a chasm is left, much to be lamentedby every reader of taste. To avoid the inconvenience of a brokencontext, Brotier has endeavoured to compensate for the loss. Whathe has added, will be found in the progress of the work; and as itis executed by the learned editor with great elegance, and equalprobability, it is hoped that the insertion of it will be moreagreeable to the reader, than a dull pause of melancholyregret.
Section I.
Justus Fabius wasconsul A.U.C. 864, A.D. 111. But as he did not begin the year, hisname does not appear in the FASTI CONSULARES. There are two lettersto him from his friend Pliny; the first, lib. i. epist. 11; theother, lib. vii. ep. 2. it is remarkable, that in the last, theauthor talks of sending some of his writings for his friend'sperusal; quæram quid potissimum ex nugis meis tibiexhibeam; but not a word is said about the decline ofeloquence.
Section II.
ConcerningMaternus nothing is known with any kind of certainty. Dio relatesthat a sophist, of that name, was put to death by Domitian, for aschool declamation against tyrants: but not one of the commentatorsventures to assert that he was the Curiatius Maternus, whomakes so conspicuous a figure in the Dialogue before us.
No mention is madeof Marcus Aper, either by Quintilian or Pliny. It is supposed thathe was father of Marcus Flavius Aper, who was substituted consulA.U.C. 883, A.D. 130. His oratorical character, and that ofSecundus, as we find them drawn in this section, are not unlikewhat we are told by Cicero of Crassus and Antonius. Crassus, hesays, was not willing to be thought destitute of literature, but hewished to have it said of him, that he despised it, and preferredthe good sense of the Romans to the refinements of Greece.Antonius, on the other hand, was of opinion that his fame wouldrise to greater magnitude, if he was considered as a man whollyilliterate, and void of education. In this manner they bothexpected to increase their popularity; the former by despising theGreeks, and the latter by not knowing them. Fuit hoc in utroqueeorum, ut Crassus non tam existimari vellet non didicisse, quamilla despicere, et nostrorum hominum in omni genere prudentiamGræcis anteferre. Antonius autem probabiliorem populoorationem fore censebat suam, si omninò didicisse nunquamputaretur; atque ita se uterque graviorem fore, si altercontemnere, alter ne nosse quidem Græcos videretur.Cicero De Orat. lib. ii. cap. 1.
Quintilian makeshonourable mention of Julius Secundus, who, if he had not beenprematurely cut off, would have transmitted his name to posterityamong the most celebrated orators. He would have added, and he wasdaily doing it, whatever was requisite to complete his oratoricalgenius; and all that could be desired, was more vigour in argument,and more attention to matter and sentiment, than to the choice ofwords. But he died too soon, and his fame was, in some degree,intercepted. He has, notwithstanding, left a considerable name. Hisdiction was rich and copious; he explained every thing with graceand elegance; his periods flowed with a suavity that charmed hisaudience; his language, when metaphorical, was bold, yet accurate;and, if he hazarded an unusual phrase, he was justified by theenergy with which his meaning was conveyed. Julio Secundo, silongior contigisset ætas, clarissimum profecto nomen oratorisapud posteros foret. Adjecisset enim, atque adjiciebat,cæteris virtutibus suis, quod desiderari potest; id estautem, ut esset multo magis pugnax, et sæpius ad curam rerumab elocutione respiceret. Cæterum interceptus quoque magnumsibi vindicat locum. Ea est facundia, tanta in explicando, quodvelit, gratia; tam candidum, et lene, et speciosum dicendi genus;tanta verborum, etiam quæ assumpta sunt, proprietas; tanta inquibusdam, ex periculo petitis, significantia. Quintil. lib. x.s. 1. It is remarkable, that Quintilian, in his list of Romanorators, has neither mentioned Maternus, nor Marcus Aper. TheDialogue, for that reason, seems to be improperly ascribed to him:men who figure so much in the enquiry concerning oratory, would nothave been omitted by the critic who thought their conversationworth recording.
Section III.
Thyestes was acommon and popular subject of ancient tragedy.
Indignatur item privatis, etprope socco
Dignis carminibus narraricœna Thyestæ.
HORAT. ARS POET. ver.90.
It was thecustom of the colonies and municipal towns, to pay their court tosome great orator at Rome, in order to obtain his patronage,whenever they should have occasion to apply to the senate for aredress of grievances.
Domitius wasanother subject of tragedy, taken from the Roman story. Who he was,does not clearly appear. Brotier thinks it was Domitius, the avowedenemy of Julius Cæsar, who moved in the senate for a law torecall that general from the command of the army in Gaul, and,afterwards, on the breaking out of the civil war, fell bravely atthe battle of Pharsalia. See Suetonius, Life of Nero, section 2.Such a character might furnish the subject of a tragedy. The Romanpoets were in the habit of enriching their drama with domesticoccurrences, and the practice was applauded by Horace.
Nec minimum meruêre decus,vestigia Græca
Ausi deserere, et celebraredomestica facta.
ARS POET. ver. 286.
No path to fame our poets leftuntried;
Nor small their merit, when withconscious pride
They scorn'd to take from Greecethe storied theme,
But dar'd to sing their owndomestic fame.
FRANCIS'S HORACE.
Section V.
There were at Romeseveral eminent men of the name of Bassus. With regard to theperson here called Saleius Bassus, the commentators have not beenable to glean much information. Some have contended that it was tohim Persius addressed his sixth satire:
Admovit jam bruma foco te, Basse,Sabino.
But if we may believe the old scholiast, his name wasCÆSIUS BASSUS, a much admired lyric poet, who was living onhis own farm, at the time when Mount Vesuvius discharged itstorrents of fire, and made the country round a scene of desolation.The poet and his house were overwhelmed by the eruption of thelava, which happened A.U. 832, in the reign of Titus. Quintiliansays of him (b. x. chap. 1.), that if after Horace any poetdeserves to be mentioned, Cæsius Bassus was the man. Siquem adjicere velis, is erit Cæsius Bassus. SaleiusBassus is mentioned by Juvenal as an eminent poet in distress:
——At Serrano tenuiqueSaleio
Gloria quantalibet quid erit, sigloria tantum est?
SAT. vii. ver. 80.
But to poor Bassus what avails aname,
To starve on compliments andempty fame!
DRYDEN'S JUVENAL.
Quintilian says, he possessed a poetic genius, but so warm andvehement, that, even in an advanced age, his spirit was not underthe control of sober judgement. Vehemens et poeticum ingeniumSALEII BASSI fuit; nec ipsum senectute maturum. This passageaffords an insuperable argument against Lipsius, and the rest ofthe critics who named Quintilian as a candidate for the honour ofthis elegant composition. Can it be imagined that a writer of fairintegrity, would in his great work speak of Bassus as he deserved,and in the Dialogue overrate him beyond all proportion? Duplicitywas not a part of Quintilian's character.
Tacitus, it may bepresumed with good reason, was a diligent reader of Cicero, Livy,Sallust, and Seneca. He has, in various parts of his works,coincidences of sentiment and diction, that plainly shew the sourcefrom which they sprung. In the present case, when he callseloquence a buckler to protect yourself, and a weapon to annoy youradversary, can anyone doubt but he had his eye on the followingsentence in Cicero de Oratore? Quid autem tamnecessarium, quam tenere semper arma, quibus vel tectus ipse essepossis, vel provocare integros, et te ulcisci lacessitus?
Eprius Marcellus isoften a conspicuous figure in the Annals and the History ofTacitus. To a bad heart he united the gift of eloquence. In theAnnals, b. xvi. s. 28, he makes a vehement speech againstPætus Thrasea, and afterwards wrought the destruction of thatexcellent man. For that exploit, he was attacked, in the beginningof Vespasian's reign, by Helvidius Priscus. In the History (bookiv. s. 7 and 8) we see them both engaged in a violent contention.In the following year (823), Helvidius in the senate opened anaccusation in form; but Marcellus, by using his eloquence as hisbuckler and his offensive weapon, was able to ward off the blow. Herose from his seat, and, "I leave you," he said, "I leave you togive the law to the senate: reign, if you will, even in thepresence of the prince." See Hist. iv. s. 43. See also, Life ofAgricola, s. 11. notes a and b.
Section VI.
To be rich andhave no issue, gave to the person so circumstanced the highestconsequence at Rome. All ranks of men paid their court to him. Todiscourage a life of celibacy, and promote population, Augustuspassed a law, called Papia Poppæa, whereby bachelorswere subjected to penalties. Hence the compliment paid by Horace tohis patron:
Diva producas sobolem,patrumque
Prosperes decreta superjugandis
Fæminis, prolisquenovæ feraci
Lege marita.
CARMEN SÆCULARE.
Bring the springing birth tolight,
And with ev'ry genialgrace
Prolific of an endlessrace,
Oh! crown our vows, and bless thenuptial rite.
FRANCIS'S HORACE.
But marriage was not brought into fashion. In proportion to therapid degeneracy of the manners under the emperors, celibacy grewinto respect; insomuch, that we find (Annals xii. s. 52) a man toostrong for his prosecutors, because he was rich, old, andchildless. Valuitque pecuniosâ orbitate etsenectâ.
The faculty ofspeaking on a sudden question, with unpremeditated eloquence,Quintilian says, is the reward of study and diligent application.The speech, composed at leisure, will often want the warmth andenergy, which accompany the rapid emotions of the mind. Thepassions, when roused and animated, and the images which presentthemselves in a glow of enthusiasm, are the inspirers of trueeloquence. Composition has not always this happy effect; theprocess is slow; languor is apt to succeed; the passions subside,and the spirit of the discourse evaporates. Maximus verostudiorum fructus est, et velut præmium quoddam amplissimumlongi laboris, ex tempore dicendi facultas. Pectus est enim quoddisertos facit, et vis mentis. Nam benè concepti affectus,et recentes rerum imagines, continuo impetu feruntur, quænonnunquam morâ stili refrigescunt, et dilatæ wonrevertuntur. Quintilian. lib. x. cap. 7.
Section VII.
The translationis not quite accurate in this place. The original says, when Iobtained the laticlave, and the English calls it themanly gown, which, it must be admitted, is not the exactsense. The toga virilis, or the manly gown, wasassumed, when the youth came to man's estate, or the age ofseventeen years. On that occasion the friends of the young manconducted him to the forum (or sometimes to the capitol),and there invested him with the new gown. This was called diestirocinii; the day on which he commenced a tiro, or acandidate for preferment in the army. The laticlave, was anadditional honour often granted at the same time. The sons ofsenators and patricians were entitled to that distinction, as amatter of right: but the young men, descended from such as were notpatricians, did not wear the laticlave, till they enteredinto the service of the commonwealth, and undertook the functionsof the civil magistracy. Augustus Cæsar changed that custom.He gave leave to the sons of senators, in general, to assume thelaticlave presently after the time of putting on the togavirilis, though they were not capable of civil honours. Theemperors who succeeded, allowed the same privilege, as a favour toillustrious families. Ovid speaks of himself and his brotherassuming the manly gown and the laticlave at the sametime:
Interea, tacito passu labentibusannis,
Liberior fratri sumpta mihiquetoga;
Induiturque humeris cum latopurpura clavo.
Pliny the younger shews, that the laticlave was a favourgranted by the emperor on particular occasions. He says, he appliedfor his friend, and succeeded: Ego Sexto latumclavum aCæsare nostro impetravi. Lib. ii. epist. 9. Thelatusclavus was a robe worn by consuls, prætors,generals in triumph, and senators, who were calledlaticlavii. Their sons were admitted to the same honour; butthe emperors had a power to bestow this garment of distinction, andall privileges belonging to it, upon such as they thought worthy ofthat honour. This is what Marcus Aper says, in the Dialogue, thathe obtained; and, when the translation mentions the manlygown, the expression falls short of the speaker's idea. Dacierhas given an account of the laticlave, which has been wellreceived by the learned. He tells us, that whatever was made to beput on another thing, was called clavus, not because it hadany resemblance to a nail, but because it was made an adjunct toanother subject. In fact, the clavi were purple galloons,with which the Romans bordered the fore part of the tunic, on bothsides, and when drawn close together, they formed an ornament inthe middle of the vestment. It was, for that reason, called by theGreeks, [Greek: mesoporphuron]. The broad galloons made thelaticlave, and the narrow the angusticlave. Thelaticlave, Dacier adds, is not to be confounded with theprætexta. The latter was, at first, appropriated tothe magistrates, and the sacerdotal order; but, in time, wasextended to the sons of eminent families, to be worn as a mark ofdistinction, till the age of seventeen, when it was laid aside forthe manly gown. See Dacier's Horace, lib. i. sat. 5;and see Kennet's Roman Antiquities, p. 306.
Marcus Aper,Julius Secundus, and Curiatius Maternus, according to Brotier andothers, were natives of Gaul. Aper (section x.) mentions the Gaulsas their common countrymen: Ne quid de Gallis nostrisloquamur. If that was the fact, a new man at Rome wouldhave difficulties to surmount. Ammianus Marcellinus (a Latinhistorian of the fourth century) says, that at Rome the peopledespised every thing that did not grow before their eyes within thewalls of the city, except the rich who had no children; and theveneration paid to such as had no heirs was altogether incredible.Vile esse quidquid extra urbis pomærium nascitur,æstimant; nec credi potest qua obsequiorum diversitatecoluntur homines sine liberis Romæ. Lib. xiv. s. 5. Insuch a city a young man and a stranger could not expect to befavoured.
All causes of aprivate nature were heard before the centumviri. Three werechosen out of every tribe, and the tribes amounted to five andthirty, so that in fact 105 were chosen; but, for the sake of around number, they were called CENTUMVIRI. The causes that wereheard before that jurisdiction are enumerated by Cicero, DeOrat. lib. i. s. 38.
The translationsays, the wills and codicils of the rich; but it is by nomeans certain that those words convey the meaning of the text,which simply says, nec codicillis datur. After due enquiry,it appears that codicillus was used by the Latin authors,for what we now call the letters patent of a prince.Codicils, in the modern sense of the word, implying a supplement toa will, were unknown to the intent Roman law. The Twelve Tablesmention testaments only. Codicils, in aid to wills, were firstintroduced in the time of Augustus; but, whatever their operationwas, legacies granted by those additional writings were for sometime of no validity. To confirm this, we are told that the daughterof Lentulus discharged certain legacies, which, being given bycodicil, she was not bound to pay. In time, however, codicils, asan addition made by the testator to his will, grew into use, andthe legacies thereby granted were confirmed. This might be the casein the sixth year of Vespasian, when the Dialogue passed betweenthe parties; but it is, notwithstanding, highly probable, that theword codicilli means, in the passage before us, theletters patent of the prince. It is used in that sense bySuetonius, who relates, that Tiberius, after passing a night andtwo days in revelling with Pomponius Flaccus and Lucius Piso,granted to the former the province of Syria, and made the latterprefect of the city; declaring them, in the patents,pleasant companions, and the friends of all hours.Codicillis quoque jucundissimos et omnium horarum amicosprofessus. Suet. in Tib. s. 42.
The commonpeople are called, in the original, tunicatus populus; thatclass of men, who wore the tunic, and not the toga,or the Roman gown. The tunica, or close coat, was thecommon garment worn within doors, and abroad, under thetoga. Kennet says, the proletarii, the capitecensi, and the rest of the dregs of the city, could not affordto wear the toga, and therefore went in their tunics;whence Horace says (lib. i. epist. 7).
Vilia vendentem tunicato scrutapopello.
The TOGA, however, was the peculiar dress of the Roman people.VIRGIL distinguishes his countrymen by their mode of apparel:
Romanos rerum dominos, gentemquetogatam.
But, though this was the Roman habit, the lower citizens wereobliged to appear abroad is their tunica, or close garment.The love of praise is so eager a passion, that the public orator ishere represented as delighting in the applause of the rabble.Persius, the satirist, has said the same thing:
Pulchrum est digito monstrari, etdicier. HIC EST.
Section VIII.
Thecharacter of Eprius Marcellus has been already stated, section v.note. Crispus Vibius ismentioned as a man of weight and influence, Annals, bookxiv. s. 28. Quintilian has mentioned him to his advantage: he callshim, book v. chap. 13, a man of agreeable and elegant talents,vir ingenii jucundi et elegantis; and again, Vibius Crispuswas distinguished by the elegance of his composition, and thesweetness of his manner; a man born to please, but fitter forprivate suits, than for the importance of public causes. EtVIBIUS CRISPUS, compositus, et jucundus, et delectationi natus;privatis tamen causis, quam publicis, melior. Lib. x. cap.1.
Which ofthese two men was born at Capua, and which at Vercellæ, isnot clearly expressed in the original. Eprius Marcellus, who hasbeen described of a prompt and daring spirit, ready to embark inevery mischief, and by his eloquence able to give colour to theworst cause, must at this time have become a new man, since we findhim mentioned in this Dialogue with unbounded praise. He, it seems,and Vibius Crispus were the favourites at Vespasian's court.Vercellæ, now Verceil, was situated in the easternpart of Piedmont. Capua, rendered famous by Hannibal, was acity in Campania, always deemed the seat of pleasure.
Vespasian issaid to have been what is uncommon among sovereign princes, apatient hearer of truth. His attention to men of letters may beconsidered as a proof of that assertion. The younger Pliny tellsus, that his uncle, the author of the Natural History, used tovisit Vespasian before day-light, and gained admittance to theemperor, who devoted his nights to study. Ante lucem ibat adVespasianum imperatorem: nam ille quoque noctibus utebatur.Lib. iii. epist. 5.
Section IX.
Agamemnon andJason were two favourite dramatic subjects with the Roman poets.After their example, the moderns seem to have been enamoured withthose two Grecian heroes. Racine has displayed the former, in histragedy of Iphigenia, and the late Mr. Thomson in a performance ofgreat merit, entitled Agamemnon. Corneille, and, the late Mr.Glover, thought Jason and Medea worthy of their talents.
Saleius Bassus hasbeen already mentioned, s. v. note. It maybe added in this place, that the critics of his time concurred ingiving him the warmest praise, not only as a good and excellentman, but also as an eminent and admirable poet. He was descendedfrom a family of distinction, but was poor and often distressed.Whether he or Cæsius Bassus was the friend of Persius, is notperfectly clear. Be the fact as it may, the satirist describes afine poet, and his verses were applicable to either of them:
Jamne lyrâ, et tetricovivunt tibi pectine chordæ?
Mire opifex numeris veterumprimordia rerum,
Atque marem strepitum fidisintendisse Latinæ;
Mox juvenes agitare jocos, etpollice honesto
Egregios lusissesenes.
PERSIUS, sat. vi.
Before theinvention of printing, copies were not easily multiplied. Authorswere eager to enjoy their fame, and the pen of the transcriber wasslow and tedious. Public rehearsals were the road to fame. But anaudience was to be drawn together by interest, by solicitation, andpublic advertisements. Pliny, in one of his letters, has given alively description of the difficulties which the author had tosurmount. This year, he says, has produced poets in greatabundance. Scarce a day has passed in the month of April, withoutthe recital of a poem. But the greater part of the audience comeswith reluctance; they loiter in the lobbies, and there enter intoidle chat, occasionally desiring to know, whether the poet is inhis pulpit? has he begun? is his preface over? has he almostfinished? They condescended, at last, to enter the room; theylooked round with an air of indifference, and soon retired, some bystealth, and others with open contempt. Hence the greater praise isdue to those authors, who do not suffer their genius to droop, but,on the contrary, amidst the most discouraging circumstances, stillpersist to cultivate the liberal arts. Pliny adds, that he himselfattended all the public readings, and, for that purpose, staidlonger in the city than was usual with him. Being, at length,released, he intended, in his rural retreat, to finish a work ofhis own, but not to read it in public, lest he should be thought toclaim a return of the civility which he had shewn to others. He wasa bearer, and not a creditor. The favour conferred, if redemanded,ceases to be a favour. Magnum proventum poetarum annus hicattulit. Toto mense Aprili nullus fere dies, quo non recitaretaliquis. Tametsi ad audiendum pigre coitur. Plerique in stationibussedent, tempusque audiendis fabulis conterunt, ac subinde sibinuntiari jubent, an jam recitator intraverit, an dixeritpræfationem, an ex magná parte evolverit librum? Tumdemum, ac tune quoque lentè, cunctanterque veniunt, nectamen remanent, sed ante finem recedunt; alii dissimulanter, acfurtim, alii, simpliciter, ac liberè. Sed tanto magislaudandi probandique sunt, quos a scribendi recitandique studiohæc auditorum vel desidia, vel superbia non retardat. Equidemprope nemini defui: his ex causis longius, quam destinaveram,tempus in urbe consumpsi. Possum jam repetere secessum, et scriberealiquid, quod non recitem, ne videar, quorum recitationibus affui,non auditor fuisse, sed creditor. Nam, ut in cæteris rebus,ita in audiendi officio, perit gratia si reposcatur. Pliny,lib. i. ep. 13. Such was the state of literature under the worst ofthe emperors. The Augustan age was over. In the reigns of Tiberiusand Caligula learning drooped, but in some degree revived under thedull and stupid Claudius. Pliny, in the letter above cited, says ofthat emperor, that, one day hearing a noise in his palace, heenquired what was the cause, and, being informed that Nonianus wasreciting in public, went immediately to the place, and became oneof the audience. After that time letters met with no encouragementfrom the great. Lord Shaftesbury says, he cannot but wonder how theRomans, after the extinction of the Cæsarean andClaudian family, and a short interval of princes raised anddestroyed with much disorder and public ruin, were able to regaintheir perishing dominion, and retrieve their sinking state, by anafter-race of wise and able princes, successively adopted, andtaken from a private state to rule the empire of the world. Theywere men, who not only possessed the military virtues, andsupported that sort of discipline in the highest degree; but asthey sought the interest of the world, they did what was in theirpower to restore liberty, and raise again the perishing arts, andthe decayed virtue of mankind. But the season was past:barbarity and gothicism were already entered into thearts, ere the savages made an impression on the empire. SeeAdvice to an Author, part. ii. s. 1. The gothicism,hinted at by Shaftesbury, appears manifestly in the wretchedsituation to which the best authors were reduced. The poets whocould not hope to procure an audience, haunted the baths and publicwalks, in order to fasten on their friends, and, at any rate,obtain a hearing for their works. Juvenal says, the plantations andmarble columns of Julius Fronto resounded with the vociferation ofreciting poets:
Frontonis platani convulsaquemarmora clamant
Semper, et assiduo ruptælectore columnæ.
Expectes eadem a summo minimoquepoetâ.
SAT. i. ver. 12.
The same author observes, that the poet, who aspired to literaryfame, might borrow an house for the purpose of a public reading;and the great man who accommodated the writer, might arrange hisfriends and freedmen on the back seats, with direction not to besparing of their applause; but still a stage or pulpit, withconvenient benches, was to be procured, and that expence thepatrons of letters would not supply.
——At si dulcedinefamæ
Contentus recites, Maculonuscommodat ædes.
Scit dare libertos extremâin parte sedentes
Ordinis, et magnas comitumdisponere voces.
Nemo dabit procerum, quantisubsellia constent.
SAT. vii. ver. 39.
Statius, in Juvenal's time, was a favourite poet. If heannounced a reading, his auditors went in crowds. He delighted alldegrees and ranks of men; but, when the hour of applause was over,the author was obliged to sell a tragedy to Paris, the famousactor, in order to procure a dinner,
Curritur ad vocem jucundam, etcarmen amicæ?
Thebaidos, lætam fecit cumStatius urbem?
Promisitque diem: tantâdulcedine vulgi
Auditur; sed cum fregit subselliaversu,
Esurit, intactam Paridi nisivendit Agaven.
SAT. vii. ver. 82.
This was the hard lot of poetry, and this the state of publicreading, which Aper describes to his friend Maternus.
Section X.
Horace has the sameobservation:
——Mediocribus essepoetis
Non Dii, non homines, nonconcessere columnæ.
ART OF POETRY, ver.372.
But God and man, and letter'dpost denies,
That poets ever are of middlingsize.
FRANCIS'S HORACE.
Notwithstanding allthat is said, in this Dialogue, of Saleius Bassus, it does notappear, in the judgement of Quintilian, that he was a poet whosefame could extend itself to the distant provinces. Perfection inthe kind is necessary. Livy, the historian, was at the head of hisprofession. In consequence of his vast reputation, we know fromPliny, the consul, that a native of the city of Cadiz was so struckwith the character of that great writer, that he made a journey toRome, with no other intent than to see that celebrated genius; andhaving gratified his curiosity, without staying to view the wondersof that magnificent city, returned home perfectly satisfied.Nunquamne legisti Gaditanum quemdam Titi Livii nominegloriâque commotum, ad visendum eum ab ultimo terrarum orbevenisse; statimque, ut viderat, abiisse? Lib. ii. epist. 3.
In Homer and Virgil,as well as in the dramatic poets of the first order, we frequentlyhave passages of real eloquence, with the difference whichQuintilian mentions: the poet, he says, is a slave to the measureof his verse; and, not being able at all times to make use of thetrue and proper word, he is obliged to quit the natural and easyway of expression, and avail himself of new modes and turns ofphraseology, such as tropes, and metaphors, with the liberty oftransposing words, and lengthening or shortening syllables as hesees occasion. Quod alligati ad certam pedum necessitatem nonsemper propriis uti possint, sed depulsi a rectâ viâ,necessario ad quædam diverticula confugiant; nec mutarequædam modo verba, sed extendere, corripere, convertere,dividere cogantur. Quint, lib. x. cap. 1. The speaker in theDialogue is aware of this distinction, and, subject to it, thevarious branches of poetry are with him so many different modes ofeloquence.
The original has, thecitadel of eloquence, which calls to mind an admired passage inLucretius:
Sed nil dulcius est bene quammunita tenere
Edita doctrinâ sapientumtempla serena,
Despicere unde queas alios,passimque videre
Errare, atque viam pallantesquærere vitæ.
Lib. ii. ver. 7.
It is a fact wellknown, that in Greece the most illustrious of both sexes thought ithonourable to exercise themselves in the exhibitions of thetheatre, and even to appear in the athletic games. Plutarch, it istrue, will have it, that all scenic arts were prohibited at Spartaby the laws of Lycurgus; and yet Cornelius Nepos assures us, thatno Lacedæmonian matron, however high her quality, was ashamedto act for hire on the public stage. He adds, that throughoutGreece, it was deemed the highest honour to obtain the prize in theOlympic games, and no man blushed to be a performer in plays andpantomimes, and give himself a spectacle to the people. NullaLacedæmoni tam est nobilis vidua, quæ non in scenam eatmercede conducta. Magnis in laudibus totâ fuitGræciâ, victorem Olympiæ citari. In scenam veroprodire, et populo esse spectaculo nemini in iisdem gentibus fuitturpitudini. Cor. Nep. in Præfat. It appears,however, from a story told by Ælian and cited by Shaftesbury,Advice to an Author, part ii. s. 3, that the Greek womenwere by law excluded from the Olympic games. Whoever was found totransgress, or even to cross the river Alpheus, during thecelebration of that great spectacle, was liable to be thrown from arock. The consequence was, that not one female was detected, exceptCallipatria, or, as others called her,Pherenicè. This woman, disguised in the habit of ateacher of gymnastic exercises, introduced her son,Pisidorus, to contend for the victor's prize. Her sonsucceeded. Transported with joy at a sight so glorious, the motheroverleaped the fence, which enclosed the magistrates, and, in theviolence of that exertion, let fall her garment. She was, byconsequence, known to be a woman, but absolved from allcriminality. For that mild and equitable sentence, she was indebtedto the merit of her father, her brothers, and her son, who allobtained the victor's crown. The incident, however, gave birth to anew law, whereby it was enacted, that the masters of the gymnasticart should, for the future, come naked to the Olympic games.Ælian lib. x. cap. 1; and see Pausanias, lib.v. cap. 6.
Nicostratus ispraised by Pausanias (lib. v. cap. 20), as a great master of theathletic arts. Quintilian has also recorded his prowess."Nicostratus, whom in our youth we saw advanced in years, wouldinstruct his pupil in every branch of his art, and make him, whathe was himself, an invincible champion. Invincible he was, since,on one and the same day, he entered the lists as a wrestler and aboxer, and was proclaimed conqueror in both." Ac si fuerit quidocebitur, ille, quem adolescentes vidimus, Nicostratus, omnibus ineo docendi partibus similiter uteretur; efficietque illum, qualishic fuit, luctando pugnandoque quorum utroque in certamine iisdemdiebus coronabatur invictum. Quint. lib, ii. cap. 8.
Section XI.
Nero's ambition toexcel in poetry was not only ridiculous, but, at the same time,destructive to Lucan, and almost all the good authors of the age.See Annals, b. xv. According to the old scholiast on theSatires of Persius, the following verses were either written byNero, or made in imitation of that emperor's style:
Torva Mimalloneis impleruntcornua bombis,
Et raptum vitulo caput ablaturasuperbo
Bassaris, et lyncem Mænasflexura corymbis,
Evion ingeminat: reparabilisadsonat echo.
The affectation of rhyme, which many ages afterwards was theessential part of monkish verse, the tumour of the words, and thewretched penury of thought, may be imputed to a frivolous prince,who studied his art of poetry in the manner described by Tacitus,Annals, b. xiv. s. 16. And yet it may be a question, whetherthe satirist would have the hardiness to insert the very words ofan imperial poet, armed with despotic power. A burlesque imitationwould answer the purpose; and it may be inferred from anotherpassage in the same poem, that Persius was content to ridicule themode of versification then in vogue at court.
Claudere sic versum didicit;Berecynthius Attin,
Et qui cæruleum dirimebatNerea Delphin.
Sic costam longo subduximusApennino.
Vatinius was afavourite at the court of Nero. Tacitus calls him the spawn of acook's-shop and a tippling-house; sutrinæ et tabernæalumnus. He recommended himself to the favour of the prince byhis scurrility and vulgar humour. Being, by those arts, raisedabove himself, he became the declared enemy of all good men, andacted a distinguished part among the vilest instruments of thatpernicious court. See his character, Annals xv. s. 34. Whenan illiberal and low buffoon basks in the sunshine of a court, andenjoys exorbitant power, the cause of literature can have nothingto expect. The liberal arts must, by consequence, be degraded by acorrupt taste, and learning will be left to run wild and grow toseed.
Section XII.
That poetryrequires a retreat from the bustle of the world, has been so oftenrepeated, that it is now considered as a truth, from which therecan be no appeal. Milton, it is true, wrote his Paradise Lost in asmall house near Bunhill Fields; and Dryden courted the musein the hurry and dissipation of a town life. But neither of themfixed his residence by choice. Pope grew immortal on the banks ofthe Thames. But though the country seems to be the seat ofcontemplation, two great writers have been in opposite opinions.Cicero says, woods and groves, and rivers winding through themeadows, and the refreshing breeze, with the melody of birds, mayhave their attraction; but they rather relax the mind intoindolence, than rouse our attention, or give vigour to ourfaculties. Sylvarum amænitas, et præterlabentiaflumina, et inspirantes ramis arborum auræ, volucrumquecantus, et ipsa late circumspiciendi libertas ad se trahunt; atmihi remittere potius voluptas ista videtur cogitationem, quamintendere. De Orat. lib. ii. This, perhaps, may be true asapplied to the public orator, whose scene of action lay in theforum or the senate. Pliny, on the other hand, says to his friendTacitus, there is something in the solemnity of venerable woods,and the awful silence which prevails in those places, that stronglydisposes us to study and contemplation. For the future, therefore,whenever you hunt, take along with you your pen and paper, as wellas your basket and bottle; for you will find the mountains not moreinhabited by Diana, than by Minerva. Jam undique sylvæ, etsolitudo, ipsumque illud silentium, quod venationi datur, magnacogitationis incitamenta sunt. Proinde, cum, venabere, licebit,auctore me, ut panarium et lagunculam, sic etiam pugillares feras.Experiaris non Dianam magis montibus quam Minervam inerrare.Lib. i. epist. 6. Between these two different opinions, a true poetmay be allowed to decide. Horace describes the noise and tumult ofa city life, and then says,
Scriptorum chorus omnis amatnemus, et fugit urbes.
Epist. lib. ii. ep. ii. ver.77.
Alas! to grottos and to groves werun,
To ease and silence, ev'ry muse'sson.
POPE.
The expressionin the original is full and expressive, lucrosæ hujus etsanguinantis eloquentiæ; that gainful and blood-thirstyeloquence. The immoderate wealth acquired by Eprius Marcellus hasbeen mentioned in this Dialogue, section 8. Pliny gives us an ideaof the vast acquisitions gained by Regulus, the notorious informer.From a state of indigence, he rose, by a train of villainousactions, to such immense riches, that he once consulted the omens,to know how soon he should be worth sixty millions of sesterces,and found them so favourable, that he had no doubt of being worthdouble that sum. Aspice Regulum, qui ex paupere et tenui adtantas opes per flagitia processit, ut ipse mihi dixerit, cumconsuleret, quam cito sestertium sexcennies impleturus esset,invenisse se exta duplicata, quibus portendi millies et ducentieshabiturum. Lib. ii. ep. 20. In another epistle the same authorrelates, that Regulus, having lost his son, was visited upon thatoccasion by multitudes of people, who all in secret detested him,yet paid their court with as much assiduity as if they esteemed andloved him. They retaliated upon this man his own insidious arts: togain the friendship of Regulus, they played the game of Regulushimself. He, in the mean time, dwells in his villa on the otherside of the Tiber, where he has covered a large tract of groundwith magnificent porticos, and lined the banks of the river withelegant statues; profuse, with all his avarice, and, in the depthof infamy, proud and vain-glorious. Convenitur ad eum mirâcelebritate: cuncti detestantur, oderunt; et, quasi probent, quasidiligant, cursant, frequentant, utque breviter, quod sentio,enunciem, in Regulo demerendo, Regulum imitantur. Tenet se transTyberim in hortis, in quibus latissimum solum porticibus immensis,ripam statuis suis occupavit; ut est, in summâ avaritiasumptuosus, in summâ infamiâ gloriosus. Lib. iv.ep. 2. All this splendour, in which Regulus lived, was the fruit ofa gainful and blood-thirsty eloquence; if that may be calledeloquence, which Pliny says was nothing more than a crazedimagination; nihil præter ingenium insanum. Lib. iv.ep. 7.
Orpheus, inpoetic story, was the son of Calliope, and Linus boasted of Apollofor his father.
——Nec ThraciusOrpheus,
Nec Linus; huic mater quamvis,atque huic pater adsit,
Orphei Calliopea, Lino formosusApollo.
VIRG. ECL. iv. ver.55.
Not Orpheus' self, nor Linus,should exceed
My lofty lays, or gain the poet'smeed,
Though Phœbus, thoughCalliope inspire,
And one the mother aid, and onethe sire.
WHARTON'S VIRGIL.
Orpheus embarked in the Argonautic expedition. His history ofit, together with his hymns, is still extant; but whether genuine,is much doubted.
Lysias, thecelebrated orator, was a native of Syracuse, the chief town inSicily. He lived about four hundred years before the Christianæra. Cicero says, that he did not addict himself to thepractice of the bar; but his compositions were so judicious, sopure and elegant, that you might venture to pronounce him a perfectorator. Tum fuit Lysias, ipse quidem in causis forensibus nonversatus sed egregiè subtilis scriptor, atque elegans, quemjam prope audeas oratorem perfectum dicere. Cicero De ClarisOrat. s. 35. Quintilian gives the same opinion. Lysias, hesays, preceded Demosthenes: he is acute and elegant, and if toteach the art of speaking were the only business of an orator,nothing more perfect can be found. He has no redundancy, nothingsuperfluous, nothing too refined, or foreign to his purpose: hisstyle is flowing, but more like a pure fountain, than a nobleriver. His ætate Lysias major, subtilis atque elegans, etquo nihil, si oratori satis sit docere, quæras perfectius.Nihil enim est inane, nihil arcessitum; puro tamen fonti, quammagno flumini propior. Quint, lib. x. cap. 1. A considerablenumber of his orations is still extant, all written with exquisitetaste and inexpressible sweetness. See a very pleasing translationby Dr. Gillies.
Hyperides flourished at Athens in the time of Demosthenes,Æschynes, Lycurgus, and other famous orators. That age, saysCicero, poured forth a torrent of eloquence, of the best and purestkind, without the false glitter of affected ornament, in a style ofnoble simplicity, which lasted to the end of that period. HuicHyperides proximus, et Æschynes fuit, et Lycurgus, aliiqueplures. Hæc enim ætas effudit hanc copiam; et, utopinio mea fert, succus ille et sanguis incorruptus usque ad hancætatem oratorum fuit, in qua naturalis inesset, non fucatusnitor. De Claris Orat. s. 36. Quintilian allows to Hyperides akeen discernment, and great sweetness of style; but he pronounceshim an orator designed by nature to shine in causes of no greatmoment. Dulcis in primis et acutus Hyperides; sed minoribuscausis, ut non dixerim utilior, magis par. Lib. x. cap. 1.Whatever might be the case when this Dialogue happened, it iscertain, at present, that the fame of Sophocles and Euripides haseclipsed the two Greek orators.
For an accountof Asinius Pollio and Corvinus Messala, see Annals, b. xi.s. 6. Quintilian (b. xii. chap. 10) commends the diligence ofPollio, and the dignity of Messala. In another part of hisInstitutes, he praises the invention, the judgement, and spirit ofPollio, but at the same time says, he fell so short of the suavityand splendour of Cicero, that he might well pass for an orator of aformer age. He adds, that Messala was natural and elegant: thegrandeur of his style seemed to announce the nobility of his birth;but still he wanted force and energy. Malta in Asinio Pollioneinventio, summa diligentia, adeo ut quibusdam etiam nimia videatur;et consilii et animi satis; a nitore et jucunditate Ciceronis italonge abest, ut videri possit sæculo prior. At Messalanitidus et candidus, et quodammodo præ se ferens in dicendonobilitatem suam, viribus minor. Quintilian, lib. x. cap. 1.The two great poets of the Augustan age have transmitted the nameof Asinius Pollio to the latest posterity. Virgil has celebratedhim as a poet, and a commander of armies, in the Illyrican andDalmatic wars.
Tu mihi, seu magni superas jamsaxa Timavi, O Pollio! leading thy victoriousbands Horace has added the orator and the statesman: Retard a while thy glowingvein, But after all, the question put by Maternus, is, can any oftheir orations be compared to the Medea of Ovid, or theThyestes of Varius? Those two tragedies are so often praisedby the critics of antiquity, that the republic of letters hasreason to lament the loss. Quintilian says that the Medea ofOvid was a specimen of genius, that shewed to what heights the poetcould have risen, had he thought fit rather to curb, than give therein to his imagination. Ovidii Medea videtur mihi ostenderequantum vir ille præstare potuisset, si ingenio suotemperare, quam indulgere maluisset. Lib. x. cap. 1. The works of Varius, if we except a few fragments, are whollylost. Horace, in his journey to Brundusium, met him and Virgil, andhe mentions the incident with the rapture of a friend who lovedthem both: Horace also celebrates Varius as a poet of sublime genius. Hebegins his Ode to Agrippa with the following lines: Varius, who soars on epicwing, A few fragments only of his works have reached posterity. Histragedy of THYESTES is highly praised by Quintilian. That judiciouscritic does not hesitate to say, that it may be opposed to the bestproductions of the Greek stage. Jam Varii Thyestes cuilibetGræcorum comparari potest. Varius lived in high favour atthe court of Augustus. After the death of Virgil, he was joinedwith Plotinus and Tucca to revise the works of thatadmirable poet. The Varus of Virgil, so often celebrated inthe Pastorals, was, notwithstanding what some of the commentatorshave said, a different person from Varius, the author ofThyestes. Section XIII. The ruraldelight of Virgil is described by himself:
Sive oram Illyrici legisæquoris; en erit unquam
Ille dies, mihi cum liceat tuadicere facta?
En erit, ut liceat totum mihiferre per orbem/span>
Sola Sophocleo tua carmina dignacothurno?
ECLOG. viii. ver. 6.
O'er deep Timavus, or Illyria'ssands;
O when thy glorious deeds shall Irehearse?
When tell the world how matchlessis thy verse,
Worthy the lofty stage oflaurell'd Greece,
Great rival of majesticSophocles!
WHARTON'S VIRGIL.
Desit theatris; mox, ubipublicas
Res ordinaris, grandemunus
Cecropio repetescothurno,
Insigne mœstispræsidium reis,
Et consulenti, Pollio,curiæ,
Cui laurus æternoshonores
Dalmatico peperittriumpho.
Lib. ii. ode 1.
Nor swell the solemn tragicscene;
And when thy sage, thy patriotcares
Have form'd the train of Rome'saffairs,
With lofty rapture reinflam'd,diffuse
Heroic thoughts, and wake thebuskin'd muse.
FRANCIS'S HORACE.
Occurrunt; animæ qualesneque candidiores
Terra tulit, neque queis me sitdevinctior alter.
Lib. i. sat. 5.
Victor, Mæonii carminisalite,
Quam rem cumque ferox navibus,aut equis
Miles te ducegesserit.
Lib. i. ode 6.
Agrippa, shall thy conquestssing,
Whate'er, inspir'd by thycommand,
The soldier dar'd on sea orland.
FRANCIS'S HORACE.
Flumina amem, sylvasqueinglorius. O ubi campi,
Sperchiusque, et virginibusbacchata Lacænis
Taygeta! O quis me gelidis submontibus Hæmi
Sistat, et ingenti ramorumprotegat umbrâ?
GEORGICA, lib. ii. ver.485.
Me may the lowly vales andwoodland please,
And winding rivers, andinglorious ease;
O that I wander'd by Sperchius'flood,
Or on Taygetus' sacred top Istood!
Who in cool Hæmus' vales mylimbs will lay,
And in the darkest thicket hidefrom day?
WHARTON'S VIRG.
Besides this poetical retreat, which his imagination couldcommand at any time, Virgil had a real and delightful villa nearNaples, where he composed his Georgics, and wrote great part of theÆneid.
WhenAugustus, or any eminent citizen, distinguished by his publicmerit, appeared in the theatre, the people testified their joy byacclamations, and unbounded applause. It is recorded by Horace,that Mæcenas received that public honour.
——Datus intheatroCum tibi plausus,
Care Mæcenas eques, utpaterni
Fluminis ripæ, simul etjocosa
Redderet laudes tibiVaticani
Montis imago.
Lib. i. ode 20.
When Virgil appeared, the audience paid the same compliment to aman whose poetry adorned the Roman story. The letters fromAugustus, which are mentioned in this passage, have perished in theruins of ancient literature.
PomponiusSecundus was of consular rank, and an eminent writer of tragedy.See Annals, b. ii. s. 13. His life was written by Pliny theelder, whose nephew mentions the fact (book iii. epist. 5), andsays it was a tribute to friendship. Quintilian pronounces him thebest of all the dramatic poets whom he had seen; though the criticswhose judgement was matured by years, did not think himsufficiently tragical. They admitted, however, that his eruditionwas considerable, and the beauty of his composition surpassed allhis contemporaries. Eorum, quos viderim, longe princepsPomponius Secundus, quem senes parum tragicum putabant, eruditioneac nitore præstare confitebantur. Lib. x. cap. 1.
Quintilianmakes honourable mention of Domitius Afer. He says, when he was aboy, the speeches of that orator for Volusenus Catulus were held inhigh estimation. Et nobis pueris insignes pro Voluseno CatuloDomitii Afri orationes ferebantur. Lib. x. cap 1. He adds, inanother part of the same chapter, that Domitius Afer and JuliusAfricanus were, of all the orators who flourished in his time,without comparison the best. But Afer stands distinguished by thesplendour of his diction, and the rhetorical art which he hasdisplayed in all his compositions. You would not scruple to rankhim among the ancient orators. Eorum quos viderim, Domitius Aferet Julius Secundus longe præstantissimi. Verborum arte ille,et toto genere dicendi præferendus, et quem in numero veterumlocare non timeas. Lib. x. cap. 1. Quintilian relates, that ina conversation which he had when a young man, he asked DomitiusAfer what poet was, in his opinion, the next to Homer? The answerwas, Virgil is undoubtedly the second epic poet, but he isnearer to the first than to the third. Utar enim verbis, quæex Afro Domitio juvenis accepi; qui mihi interroganti, quem Homerocrederet maximè accedere: Secundus, inquit, est Virgilius,propior tamen primo quam tertio. Lib. x. cap. 1. We may believethat Quintilian thought highly of the man whose judgement he citesas an authority. Quintilian, however, had in view nothing but thetalents of this celebrated orator. Tacitus, as a moral historian,looked at the character of the man. He introduces him on the stageof public business in the reign of Tiberius, and there representshim in haste to advance himself by any kind of crime. Quoquofacinore properus clare cere. He tells us, in the same passage(Annals, b. iv. s. 52), that Tiberius pronounced him anorator in his own right, suo jure disertum. Afer died in thereign of Nero, A.U.C. 812, A.D. 59. In relating his death, Tacitusobserves, that he raised himself by his eloquence to the firstcivil honours; but he does not dismiss him without condemning hismorals. Annals, b. xiv. s. 19.
We find inthe Annals and the History of Tacitus, a number of instances tojustify the sentiments of Maternus. The rich found it necessary tobequeath part of their substance to the prince, in order to securethe remainder for their families. For the same reason, Agricolamade Domitian joint heir with his wife and daughter. Life ofAgricola, section 43.
By a law ofthe Twelve Tables, a crown, when fairly earned by virtue, wasplaced on the head of the deceased, and another was ordered to begiven to his father. The spirit of the law, Cicero says, plainlyintimated, that commendation was a tribute due to departed virtue.A crown was given not only to him who earned it, but also to thefather, who gave birth to distinguished merit. Illa jamsignificatio est, laudis ornamenta ad mortuos pertinere, quodcoronam virtute partam, et ei qui peperisset, et ejus parenti, sinefraude lex impositam esse jubet. De Legibus, lib. ii. s. 24.This is the reward to which Maternus aspires; and, that beinggranted, he desires, as Horace did before him, to waive the pomp offuneral ceremonies.
Absint inani funerenæniæ,Luctusque turpes etquerimoniæ;
Compesce clamorem, acsepulchri
Mitte supervacuoshonores.
Lib. ii. ode 20.
My friends, the funeral sorrowspare,
The plaintive song, and tendertear;
Nor let the voice of griefprofane,
With loud laments, the solemnscene;
Nor o'er your poet's emptyurn
With useless idle sorrowmourn.
FRANCIS'S HORACE.
Section XIV.
VipstaniusMessala commanded a legion, and, at the head of it, went over toVespasian's party in the contention with Vitellius. He was a man ofillustrious birth, and equal merit; the only one, says Tacitus, whoentered into that war from motives of virtue. Legioni VipstaniusMessala præerat, claris majoribus, egregius ipse, et quisolus ad id bellum artes bonas attulisset. Hist. lib. iii. s.9. He was brother to Regulus, the vile informer, who has beenmentioned. See Life of Agricola, section 2. note a, and this tract,s. xii. note. Messala, we are told byTacitus, before he had attained the senatorian age, acquired greatfame by pleading the cause of his profligate brother withextraordinary eloquence, and family affection. Magnam eo diepietatis eloquentiæque famam Vipstanius Messala adeptus est;nondum senatoriâ ætate, ausus pro fratre Aquilio Regulodeprecari. Hist. lib. iv. s. 42. Since Messala has now joinedthe company, the Dialogue takes a new turn, and, by an easy andnatural transition, slides into the question concerning the causesof the decline of eloquence.
This isprobably the same Asiaticus, who, in the revolt of the provinces ofGaul, fought on the side of VINDEX. See Hist. b. ii. s. 94.Biography was, in that evil period, a tribute paid by the friendsof departed merit, and the only kind of writing, in which men coulddare faintly to utter a sentiment in favour of virtue and publicliberty.
In thedeclamations of Seneca and Quintilian, we have abundant examples ofthese scholastic exercises, which Juvenal has placed in aridiculous light.
Et nos ergo manum ferulæsubduximus, et nosConsilium dedimus Syllæ,privatus ut altum
Dormiret.
Sat. i. ver. 15.
Provok'd by these incorrigiblefools,
I left declaiming in pedanticschools;
Where, with men-boys, I strove toget renown,
Advising Sylla to a privategown.
DRYDEN'S JUVENAL.
Section XV.
The eloquence ofCicero, and the eminent orators of that age, was preferred by allmen of sound judgement to the unnatural and affected style thatprevailed under the emperors. Quintilian gives a decided opinion.Cicero, he says, was allowed to be the reigning orator of his time,and his name, with posterity, is not so much that of a man, as ofeloquence itself. Quare non immerito ab hominibus ætatissuæ, regnare in judiciis dictus est: apud posteros vero idconsecutus, ut Cicero jam non hominis, sed eloquentiæ nomenhabeatur. Lib. x. cap. 1. Pliny the younger professed thatCicero was the orator with whom he aspired to enter intocompetition. Not content with the eloquence of his own times, heheld it absurd not to follow the best examples of a former age.Est enim mihi cum Cicerone æmulatio, nec sum contentuseloquentiâ sæculi nostri. Nam stultissimum credo, adimitandum non optima quæque præponere. Lib. i.epist. 5.
Nicetes was anative of Smyrna, and a rhetorician in great celebrity. Seneca says(Controversiarum, lib. iv. cap. 25), that his scholars,content with hearing their master, had no ambition to be heardthemselves. Pliny the younger, among the commendations which hebestows on a friend, mentions, as a praise-worthy part of hischaracter, that he attended the lectures of Quintilian and NicetesSacerdos, of whom Pliny himself was at that time a constantfollower. Erat non studiorum tantum, verum etiam studiosorumamantissimus, ac prope quotidie ad audiendos, quos tunc egofrequentabam, Quintilianum et Niceten Sacerdotem, ventitabat.Lib. vi. epist. 6.
Mitylene was thechief city of the isle of Lesbos, in the Ægean Sea, near thecoast of Asia. The place at this day is called Metelin,subject to the Turkish dominion. Ephesus was a city ofIonia, in the Lesser Asia, now called Ajaloue by theTurks, who are masters of the place.
Domitius Afer andJulius Africanus have been already mentioned, section xiii. note. Both are highly praised by Quintilian.For Asinius Pollio, see s. xii. note.
Section XVI.
Quintilian putsthe same question; and, according to him, Demosthenes is the lastof the ancients among the Greeks, as Cicero is among the Romans.See Quintilian, lib. viii. cap. 5.
The siege ofTroy is supposed to have been brought to a conclusion elevenhundred and ninety-three years before Christian æra. Fromthat time to the sixth year of Vespasian (A.U.C. 828), when thisDialogue was had, the number of years that intervened was about1268; a period which, with propriety, may be said to be little lessthan 1300 years.
Demosthenesdied, before Christ 322 years, A.U.C. 432. From that time to thesixth of Vespasian, A.U.C. 828, the intervening space was about 396years. Aper calls it little more than 400 years; but in aconversation-piece strict accuracy is not to be expected.
In the rudestate of astronomy, which prevailed during many ages of the world,it was natural that mankind should differ in their computation oftime. The ancient Egyptians, according to Diodorus Siculus, lib. i.and Pliny the elder, lib. vii. s. 48, measured time by the newmoons. Some called the summer one year, and the winter another. Atfirst thirty days were a lunar year; three, four, and six monthswere afterwards added, and hence in the Egyptian chronology thevast number of years from the beginning of the world. Herodotusinforms us, that the Egyptians, in process of time, formed the ideaof the solar or solstitial year, subdivided into twelve months. TheRoman year at first was lunar, consisting, in the time of Romulus,of ten months. Numa Pompilius added two. Men saw a diversity in theseasons, and wishing to know the cause, began at length to perceivethat the distance or proximity of the sun occasioned the variousoperations of nature; but it was long before the space of time,wherein that luminary performs his course through the zodiac, andreturns to the point from which he set out, was called a year. Thegreat year (annus magnus), or the PLATONIC YEAR, is thespace of time, wherein the seven planets complete theirrevolutions, and all set out again from the same point of theheavens where their course began before. Mathematicians have beenmuch divided in their calculations. Brotier observes, that Ricciolimakes the great year 25,920 solar years; Tycho Brahe, 25,816; andCassini, 24,800. Cicero expressly calls it a period of 12,954years. Horum annorum, quos in fastis habemus, MAGNUS annosduodecim millia nonagentos quinquaginta quatuor amplectitursolstitiales scilicet. For a full and accurate dissertation onthe ANNUS MAGNUS, see the Memoirs of the Academy of Belles Lettres,tom. xxii. 4to edit. p. 82.
Brotier, in his note on this passage, relates a fact notuniversally known. He mentions a letter from one of the Jesuits onthe mission, dated Peking, 25th October 1725, in which it isstated, that in the month of March preceding, when Jupiter, Mars,Venus, and Mercury were in conjunction, the Chinese mathematiciansfancied that an approximation of Saturn was near at hand, and, inthat persuasion, congratulated the emperor YONG-TCHING on therenovation of the world, which was shortly to take place. Theemperor received the addresses of the nobility, and gave credit tothe opinion of the philosophers in all his public edicts.Meanwhile, Father Kegler endeavoured to undeceive theemperor, and to convince him that the whole was a mistake of theChinese mathematicians: but he tried in vain; flattery succeeded atcourt, and triumphed over truth.
The argument isthis: If the great year is the measure of time; then, as itconsists, according to Cicero, of 12,954 solar years, the wholebeing divided by twelve, every month of the great year would beclearly 1080 years. According to that calculation, Demosthenes notonly lived in the same year with the persons engaged in theDialogue, but, it may be said, in the same month. These are themonths to which Virgil alludes in the fourth eclogue:
Incipient magni procederemenses.Section XVII.
MeneniusAgrippa was consul A.U.C. 251. In less than ten years afterwards,violent dissensions broke out between the patrician order and thecommon people, who complained that they were harassed and oppressedby their affluent creditors. One Sicinius was their factiousdemagogue. He told them, that it was in vain they fought thebattles of their country, since they were no better than slaves andprisoners at Rome. He added, that men are born equal; that thefruits of the earth were the common birth-right of all, and anagrarian law was necessary; that they groaned under a load of debtsand taxes; and that a lazy and corrupt aristocracy battened at easeon the spoils of their labour and industry. By the advice of thisincendiary, the discontented citizens made a secession to the MONSSACER, about three miles out of the city. The fathers, in themeantime, were covered with consternation. In order, however, toappease the fury of the multitude, they dispatched Menenius Agrippato their camp. In the rude unpolished style of the times (priscoillo dicendi et horrido modo, says Livy), that orator toldthem:
"At the time when the powers ofman did not, as at present,co-operate to one useful end, andthe members of the human
body had their separate interest,their factions, and
cabals; it was agreed among them,that the belly maintained
itself by their toil and labour,enjoying, in the middle of
all, a state of calm repose,pampered with luxuries, and
gratified with every kind ofpleasure. A conspiracy
followed, and the several membersof the body took the
covenant. The hand would nolonger administer food; the
mouth would not accept it, andthe drudgery of mastication
was too much for the teeth. Theycontinued in this
resolution, determined to starvethe TREASURY of the body,
till they began to feel theconsequences of their
ill-advised revolt. The severalmembers lost their former
vigour, and the whole body wasfalling into a rapid decline.
It was then seen that the bellywas formed for the good of
the whole; that it was by nomeans lazy, idle, and inactive;
but, while it was properlysupported, took care to
distribute nourishment to everypart, and having digested
the supplies, filled the veinswith pure and wholesome
blood."
The analogy, which this fable bore to the sedition of the Romanpeople, was understood and felt. The discontented multitude sawthat the state of man described by Menenius, was like to aninsurrection. They returned to Rome, and submitted to legalgovernment. Tempore, quo in homine non, ut nunc, omnia in unumconsentiebant, sed singulis membris suum cuique consilium, sumsermo fuerat, indignatas reliquas partes, suâ curâ, suolabore, ac ministerio, ventri omnia quæri; ventrem in medioquietum, nihil aliud, quam datis voluptatibus frui; conspirasseinde, ne manus ad os cibum ferrent, nec os acciperit datum, necdentes conficerent. Hac irâ dum ventrem fame domare vellent,ipsa unâ membra, totumque corpus ad extremam tabem venisse.Inde apparuisse, ventris quoque haud segne ministerium esse; necmagis ali quam alere eum; reddentem in omnes corporis partes hunc,quo vivimus vigemusque, divisum, pariter in venas, maturum confectocibo sanguinem. Livy, lib. ii. s. 32. St. Paul has made use ofa similar argument;
"The body is not one member, butmany: if the foot shallsay, Because I am not the hand, Iam not of the body; is it,
therefore, not of the body? andif the ear shall say,
Because I am not the eye, I amnot of the body; is it,
therefore, not of the body? Ifthe whole body were an eye,
where were the hearing? If thewhole were hearing, where
were the smelling? But now hathGod set the members everyone
of them in the body, as it hathpleased him. And if they
were all one member, where werethe body? But now are they
many members, yet but one body:and the eye cannot say unto
the hand, I have no need of thee;nor again, the head to the
feet, I have no need of you. Andwhether one member suffer,
all the members suffer with it;or one member be honoured,
all the members rejoice withit."
First Epistle to theCorinthians, chap. xii.
This reasoning of St. Paul merits the attention of those friendsof innovation, who are not content with the station in which Godhas placed them, and, therefore, object to all subordination, allranks in society.
Cæsarthe dictator was, as the poet expresses it, graced with bothMinervas. Quintilian is of opinion, that if he had devoted hiswhole time to the profession of eloquence, he would have been thegreat rival of Cicero. The energy of his language, his strength ofconception, and his power over the passions, were so striking, thathe may be said to have harangued with the same spirit that hefought. Caius vero Cæsar si foro tantum vacasset, nonalius ex nostris contra Ciceronem nominaretur. Tanta in eo vis est,id acumen, ea concitatio, ut illum eodem animo dixisse, quobellavit, appareat. Lib. x. cap. 1. To speak of Cicero in thisplace, were to hold a candle to the sun. It will be sufficient torefer to Quintilian, who in the chapter above cited has drawn abeautiful parallel between him and Demosthenes. The Roman orator,he admits, improved himself by a diligent study of the best modelsof Greece. He attained the warmth and the sublime of Demosthenes,the harmony of Plato, and the sweet flexibility of Isocrates. Hisown native genius supplied the rest. He was not content, as Pindarexpresses it, to collect the drops that rained down from heaven,but had in himself the living fountain of that copious flow, andthat sublime, that pathetic energy, which were bestowed upon him bythe bounty of Providence, that in one man eloquence might exert allher powers. Nam mihi videtur Marcus Tullius, cum se totum adimitationem Græcorum contulisset, effinxisse vim Demosthenis,copiam Platonis, jucunditatem Isocratis. Nec vero quod in quoqueoptimum fuit studio consecutus est tantum, sed plurimas vel potiusomnes ex se ipso virtutes extulit immortalis ingeniibeatissimâ ubertate. Non enim pluvias (ut ait Pindarus) aquascolligit sed vivo gurgite exundat, dono quodam providentiægenitus, in quo vires suas eloquentia experiretur. Lib. x. cap.1.
MarcusCælius Rufus, in the judgement of Quintilian, was an oratorof considerable genius. In the conduct of a prosecution, he wasremarkable for a certain urbanity, that gave a secret charm to hiswhole speech. It is to be regretted that he was not a man of betterconduct and longer life. Multum ingenii in Cælio, etpræcipuè in accusando multa urbanitas; dignusque vir,cui et mens melior, et vita longior contigisset. Quint, lib. x.cap. 1. His letters to Cicero make the eighth book of theEpistolæ ad Familiares. Velleius Paterculus says ofhim, that his style of eloquence and his cast of mind bore aresemblance to Curio, but raised him above that factious orator.His genius for mischief and evil deeds was not inferior to Curio,and his motives were strong and urgent, since his fortune was worsethan even his frame of mind. Marcus Cælius, vir eloquioanimoque Curioni simillimus, sed in utroque perfectior; nec minusingeniosè nequam, cum ne in modicâ quidem servariposset, quippe pejor illi res familiaris, quam mens. Vell.Patere. lib. ii. s. 68.
Licinius Macer Calvus, we are told by Seneca, maintained a longbut unjust contention with Cicero himself for the palm ofeloquence. He was a warm and vehement accuser, insomuch thatVatinius, though defended by Cicero, interrupted Calvus in themiddle of his speech, and said to the judges, "Though this man hasa torrent of words, does it follow that I must be condemned?"Calvus diu cum Cicerone iniquissimam litem de principatueloquentiæ habuit; et usque eò violentus accusator etconcitatus fuit, ut in media actione ejus surgeret Vatinius reus,et exclamaret, Rogo vos, judices, si iste disertus est, ideo medamnari oportet? Seneca, Controv. lib. iii. cap. 19.Cicero could not dread him as a rival, and it may therefore bepresumed, that he has drawn his character with an impartial hand.Calvus was an orator more improved by literature than Curio. Hespoke with accuracy, and in his composition shewed great taste anddelicacy; but, labouring to refine his language, he was tooattentive to little niceties. He wished to make no bad blood, andhe lost the good. His style was polished with timid caution; butwhile it pleased the ear of the learned, the spirit evaporated, andof course made no impression in the forum, which is the theatre ofeloquence. Ad Calvum revertamur; qui orator fuisset cum literiseruditior quam Curio, tum etiam accuratius quoddam dicendi, etexquisitius afferebat genus; quod quamquam scienter eleganterquetractabat, nimium tamen inquirens in se, atque ipse sese observans,metuensque ne vitiosum colligeret, etiam verum sanguinemdeperdebat. Itaque ejus oratio nimiâ religione attenuata,doctis et attentè audientibus erat illustris, a multitudineautem, et a foro, cui nata eloquentia est, devorabatur. De ClarisOrat. s. 288. Quintilian says, there were, who preferred him toall the orators of his time. Others were of opinion that, by beingtoo severe a critic on himself, he polished too much, and grew weakby refinement. But his manner was grave and solid; his style waschaste, and often animated. To be thought a man of attic eloquencewas the height of his ambition. If he had lived to see his error,and to give to his eloquence a true and perfect form, not byretrenching (for there was nothing to be taken away), but by addingcertain qualities that were wanted, he would have reached thesummit of his art. By a premature death his fame was nipped in thebud. Inveni qui Calvum præferrent omnibus; inveni quicontrà crederent eum, nimiâ contra se calumniâ,verum sanguinem perdidisse. Sed est et sancta et gravis oratio, etcastigata, et frequenter vehemens quoque. Imitator est autemAtticorum; fecitque illi properata mors injuriam, si quidadjecturus, non si quid detracturus fuit. Quintil. lib. x. cap.1.
This was thefamous Marcus Junius Brutus, who stood forth in the cause ofliberty, and delivered his country from the usurpation of JuliusCæsar. Cicero describes him in that great tragic scene,brandishing his bloody dagger, and calling on Cicero by name, totell him that his country was free. Cæsare interfecto,statim cruentum altè extollens Marcus Brutus pugionem,Ciceronem nominatim exclamavit, atque ei recuperatam libertatem estgratulatus. Philippic, ii. s. 28. The late Doctor Akenside hasretouched this passage with all the colours of a sublimeimagination.
Look then abroad through nature,through the rangeOf planets, suns, and adamantinespheres,
Wheeling unshaken through thevoid immense,
And speak, O man! does thiscapacious scene
With half that kindling majestydilate
Thy strong conception, as whenBrutus rose
Refulgent from the stroke ofCæsar's fate,
Amid the crowd of patriots, andhis arm
Aloft extending, like eternalJove
When guilt brings down thethunder, call'd aloud
On Tully's name, and shook hiscrimson steel,
And bade the Father of hisCountry hail!
For, lo! the tyrant prostrate inthe dust,
And Rome again isfree.
PLEASURES OF IMAG. b. i. ver.487.
According to Quintilian, Brutus was fitter for philosophicalspeculations, and books of moral theory, than for the career ofpublic oratory. In the former he was equal to the weight anddignity of his subject: you clearly saw that he believed what hesaid. Egregius vero multoque quam in orationibuspræstantior Brutus, suffecit ponderi rerum; scias eum sentirequæ dicit. Quintil. lib. x. cap. 1.
For Asinius Pollio and Messala, see section xii. note.
Hirtius andPansa were consuls A.U.C. 711; before the Christian æra 43.In this year, the famous triple league, called theTRIUMVIRATE, was formed between Augustus, Lepidus, and Antony. Theproscription, or the list of those who were doomed to diefor the crime of adhering to the cause of liberty, was alsosettled, and Cicero was one of the number. A band of assassins wentin quest of him to his villa, called Astura, near thesea-shore. Their leader was one Popilius Lænas, a militarytribune, whom Cicero had formerly defended with success in acapital cause. They overtook Cicero in his litter. He commanded hisservants to set him down, and make no resistance; then looking uponhis executioners with a presence and firmness which almost dauntedthem, and thrusting his neck as forward as he could out of thelitter, he bade them do their work, and take what theywanted. The murderers cut off his head, and both his hands.Popilius undertook to convey them to Rome, as the most agreeablepresent to Antony; without reflecting on the infamy of carryingthat head, which had saved his own. He found Antony in theforum, and upon shewing the spoils which he brought, was rewardedon the spot with the honour of a crown, and about eight thousandpounds sterling. Antony ordered the head to be fixed uponthe rostra, between the two hands; a sad spectacle to thepeople, who beheld those mangled members, which used to exertthemselves, from that place, in defence of the lives, the fortunes,and the liberties of Rome. Cicero was killed on the seventh ofDecember, about ten days from the settlement of the triumvirate,after he had lived sixty-three years, eleven months, and fivedays. See Middleton's Life of Cicero, 4to edit. vol. ii.p. 495 to 498. Velleius Paterculus, after mentioning Cicero'sdeath, breaks out in a strain of indignation, that almost redeemsthe character of that time-serving writer. He says to Antony, in aspirited apostrophe, you have no reason to exult: you have gainedno point by paying the assassin, who stopped that eloquent mouth,and cut off that illustrious head. You have paid the wages ofmurder, and you have destroyed a consul who was the conservator ofthe commonwealth. By that act you delivered Cicero from adistracted world, from the infirmities of old age, and from a lifewhich, under your usurpation, would have been worse than death. Hisfame was not to be crushed: the glory of his actions and hiseloquence still remains, and you have raised it higher than ever.He lives, and will continue to live in every age and nation.Posterity will admire and venerate the torrent of eloquence, whichhe poured out against yourself, and will for ever execrate thehorrible murder which you committed. Nihil tamen egisti, MarceAntoni (cogit enim excedere propositi formam operis erumpens animoac pectore indignatio): nihil, inquam, egisti; mercedemcælestissimi oris, et clarissimi capitis abscissi numerando;auctoramentoque funebri ad conservatoris quondam reipublicætantique consulis irritando necem. Rapuisti tu Marco Ciceroni lucemsollicitam et ætatem senilem, et vitam miseriorem teprincipe, quam sub te triumviro mortem. Famam vero, gloriamquefactorum atque dictorum adeo non abstulisti, ut auxeris. Vivit,vivetque per omnium sæculorum memoriam; omnisque posteritasillius in te scripta mirabitur, tuum in eum factum execrabitur.Vell. Paterc. lib. ii. s. 66.
Between theconsulship of Augustus, which began immediately after thedestruction of Hirtius and Pansa, A.U.C. 711, and the death of thatemperor, which was A.U. 767, fifty-six years intervened, and to thesixth of Vespasian (A.U.C. 828), about 118 years. For the sake of around number, it is called in the Dialogue a space of 120years.
JuliusCæsar landed in Britain in the years of Rome 699 and 700. SeeLife of Agricola, s. 13. note a. It does not appear whenAper was in Britain; it could not be till the year of Rome 796,when Aulus Plautius, by order of the emperor Claudius, undertookthe conquest of the island. See Life of Agricola, s. 14.note a. At that time, the Briton who fought against Cæsar,must have been far advanced in years.
A largesswas given to the people, in the fourth year of Vespasian, whenDomitian entered on his second consulship. This, Brotier says,appears on a medal, with this inscription: CONG. II. COS. II.Congiarium alterum, Domitiano consule secundùm. Thecustom of giving large distributions to the people was for manyages established at Rome. Brotier traces it from Ancus Martius, thefourth king of Rome, when the poverty of the people called forrelief. The like bounty was distributed by the generals, whoreturned in triumph. Lucullus and Julius Cæsar displayed, onthose occasions, great pomp and magnificence. Corn, wine, and oil,were plentifully distributed, and the popularity, acquired by thosemeans, was, perhaps, the ruin of the commonwealth. Cæsarlavished money. Augustus followed the example, and Tiberius did thesame; but prodigality was not his practice. His politic geniustaught him all the arts of governing. The bounties thusdistributed, were called, when given to the people, CONGIARIA, and,to the soldiers, DONATIVA. Whoever desires to form an idea of thenumber of Roman citizens who, at different times, receivedlargesses, and the prodigious expence attending them, may see anaccount drawn up with diligent attention by Brotier, in anelaborate note on this passage. He begins with Julius Cæsar;and pursues the enquiry through the several successive emperors,fixing the date and expence at every period, as low down as theconsulship of Constantius and Galerius Maximianus; when, the empirebeing divided into the eastern and western, its former magnificencewas, by consequence, much diminished.
The personhere called Corvinus was the same as Corvinus Messala, whoflourished in the reign of Augustus, at the same time with AsiniusPollio. See s. xii. note.
Section XVIII.
ServiusSulpicius Galba was consul A.U.C. 610, before the Christianæra 144. Cicero says of him, that he was, in his day, anorator of eminence. When he spoke in public, the natural energy ofhis mind supported him, and the warmth of his imagination made himvehement and pathetic; his language was animated, bold, and rapid;but when he, afterwards, took his pen in hand to correct andpolish, the fit of enthusiasm was over; his passions ebbed away,and the composition was cold and languid. Galbam fortasse visnon ingenii solum, sed etiam animi, et naturalis quidam dolor,dicentem incendebat, efficiebatque, ut et incitata, et gravis, etvehemens esset oratio; dein cum otiosus stilum prehenderat,motusque omnis animi, tanquam ventus, hominem defecerat,flaccescebat oratio. Ardor animi non semper adest, isque cumconsedit, omnis illa vis, et quasi flamma oratoris extinguitur.De Claris Orat. s. 93. Suetonius says, that the person hereintended was of consular dignity, and, by his eloquence, gaveweight and lustre to his family. Life of Galba, s. iii.
Caius Papirius Carbo was consul A.U.C.634. Cicero wishes that he had proved himself as good a citizen, ashe was an orator. Being impeached for his turbulent and seditiousconduct, he did not choose to stand the event of a trial, butescaped the judgement of the senate by a voluntary death. His lifewas spent in forensic causes. Men of sense, who heard him havereported, that he was a fluent, animated, and harmonious speaker;at times pathetic, always pleasing, and abounding with wit.Carbo, quoad vita suppeditavit, est in multis judiciis causisquecognitus. Hunc qui audierant prudentes homines, canorum oratorem,et volubilem, et satis acrem, atque eundem et vehementem, et valdedulcem, et perfacetum fuisse dicebant. De Claris Orat. s.105.
Calvusand Cælius have been mentioned already. See s. xvii. note.
CaiusGracchus was tribune of the people A.U.C. 633. In that character hetook the popular side against the patricians; and, pursuing theplan of the agrarian law laid down by his brother, TiberiusGracchus, he was able by his eloquence to keep the city of Rome inviolent agitation. Amidst the tumult, the senate, by a decree,ordered the consul, Lucius Opimius, to take care that thecommonwealth received no injury; and, says Cicero, not a singlenight intervened, before that magistrate put Gracchus to death.Decrevit senatus, ut Lucius Opimius, consul, videret, ne quiddetrimenti respublica caperet: nox nulla intercessit; interfectusest propter quasdam seditionum suspiciones Caius Gracchus,clarissimo patre natus, avis majoribus. Orat. i. in Catilinam.His reputation as an orator towers above all his contemporaries.Cicero says, the commonwealth and the interests of literaturesuffered greatly by his untimely end. He wishes that the love ofhis country, and not zeal for the memory of his brother, hadinspired his actions. His eloquence was such as left him without arival: in his diction, what a noble splendour! in his sentiments,what elevation! and in the whole of his manner, what weight anddignity! His compositions, it is true, are not retouched with care;they want the polish of the last hand; what is well begun, isseldom highly finished; and yet he, if any one, deserves to be thestudy of the Roman youth. In him they will find what can, at once,quicken their genius, and enrich the understanding. Damnum enim,illius immaturo interitu, res Romanæ, Latinæqueliteræ fecerunt. Utinam non tam fratri pietatem, quampatriæ præstare voluisset. Eloquentia quidem nescio anhabuisset parem: grandis est verbis, sapiens sententiis, generetoto gravis. Manus extrema non accessit operibus ejus;præclare inchoata multa, perfecta non plane. Legendus est hicorator, si quisquam alius, juventuti; non enim solum acuere, sedetiam alere ingenium potest. De Claris Orat. s. 125, 126.
This isthe celebrated Marcus Portius Cato, commonly known by the name ofCato the censor. He was quæstor under Scipio, who commandedagainst the Carthaginians, A.U.C. 548. He rose through the regulargradations of the magistracy to the consulship. When prætor,he governed the province of Sardinia, and exerted himself in thereform of all abuses introduced by his predecessors. From his ownperson, and his manner of living, he banished every appearance ofluxury. When he had occasion to visit the towns that lay within hisgovernment, he went on foot, clothed with the plainest attire,without a vehicle following him, or more than one servant, whocarried the robe of office, and a vase, to make libations at thealtar. He sat in judgement with the dignity of a magistrate, andpunished every offence with inflexible rigour. He had the happy artof uniting in his own person two things almost incompatible;namely, strict severity and sweetness of manners. Under hisadministration, justice was at once terrible and amiable. Plutarchrelates that he never wore a dress that cost more than thirtyshillings; that his wine was no better than what was consumed byhis slaves; and that by leading a laborious life, he meant toharden his constitution for the service of his country. He neverceased to condemn the luxury of the times. On this subject aremarkable apophthegm is recorded by Plutarch; It isimpossible, said Cato, to save a city, in which a singlefish sells for more money than an ox. The account given of himby Cicero in the Cato Major, excites our veneration of the man. Hewas master of every liberal art, and every branch of science, knownin that age. Some men rose to eminence by their skill injurisprudence; others by their eloquence; and a great number bytheir military talents. Cato shone in all alike. The patricianswere often leagued against him, but his virtue and his eloquencewere a match for the proudest connections. He was chosen CENSOR, inopposition to a number of powerful candidates, A.U.C. 568. He wasthe adviser of the third Punic war. The question occasioned severalwarm debates in the senate. Cato always insisted on the demolitionof Carthage: DELENDA EST CARTHAGO. He preferred an accusationagainst Servius Sulpicius Galba on a charge of peculation in Spain,A.U.C. 603; and, though he was then ninety years old, according toLivy (Cicero says he lived to eighty-five), he conducted thebusiness with so much vigour, that Galba, in order to excitecompassion, produced his children before the senate, and by thatartifice escaped a sentence of condemnation. Quintilian gives thefollowing character of Cato the censor: His genius, like hislearning, was universal: historian, orator, lawyer, he cultivatedthe three branches; and what he undertook, he touched with amaster-hand. The science of husbandry was also his. Great as hisattainments were, they were acquired in camps, amidst the din ofarms; and in the city of Rome, amidst scenes of contention, and theuproar of civil discord. Though he lived in rude unpolished times,he applied himself, when far advanced in the vale of years, to thestudy of Greek literature, and thereby gave a signal proof thateven in old age the willing mind may be enriched with new stores ofknowledge. Marcus Censorius Cato, idem orator, idemhistoriæ conditor, idem juris, idem rerum rusticarumperitissimus fuit. Inter tot opera militiæ, tantas domicontentions, ridi sæculo literas Græcas, ætatejam declinatâ didicit, ut esset hominibus documento, eaquoque percipi posse, quæ senes concupissent. Lib. xii.cap. 11.
LuciusLicinius Crassus is often mentioned, and always to his advantage,by Cicero DE CLARIS ORATORIBUS. He was born, as appears in thattreatise (sect. 161), during the consulship of Lælius andCæpio, A.U.C. 614: he was contemporary with Antonius, thecelebrated orator, and father of Antony the triumvir. Crassus wasabout four and thirty years older than Cicero. When Philippus theconsul shewed himself disposed to encroach on the privileges of thesenate, and, in the presence of that body, offered indignities toLicinius Crassus, the orator, as Cicero informs us, broke out in ablaze of eloquence against that violent outrage, concluding withthat remarkable sentence: He shall not be to me A CONSUL, to whom Iam not A SENATOR. Non es mihi consul, quia nec ego tibi senatorsum. See Valerius Maximus, lib. xli. cap. 2. Cicero hasgiven his oratorical character. He possessed a wonderful dignity oflanguage, could enliven his discourse with wit and pleasantry,never descending to vulgar humour; refined, and polished, without atincture of scurrility. He preserved the true Latin idiom; in hisselection of words accurate, with apparent facility; no stiffness,no affectation appeared; in his train of reasoning always clear andmethodical; and, when the cause hinged upon a question of law, orthe moral distinctions of good and evil, no man possessed such afund of argument, and happy illustration. Crasso nihil statuofieri potuisse perfectius: erat summa gravitas; erat cum gravitatejunctus facetiarum et urbanitatis oratorius, non scurrilis, lepos.Latinè loquendi accurata, et, sine molestiâ, diligenselegantia; in disserendo mira explicatio; cum de jure civili, cumde æquo et bono disputaretur, argumentorum et similitudinumcopia. De Claris Orat. s. 143. In Cicero's books DEORATORE, Licinius Crassus supports a capital part in the dialogue;but in the opening of the third book, we have a patheticaccount of his death, written, as the Italians say, conamore. Crassus returned from his villa, where the dialoguepassed, to take part in the debate against Philippus the consul,who had declared to an assembly of the people, that he was obligedto seek new counsellors, for with such a senate he could notconduct the affairs of the commonwealth. The conduct of Crassus,upon that occasion, has been mentioned already. The vehemence, withwhich he exerted himself, threw him into a violent fever, and, onthe seventh day following, put a period to his life. Then, saysCicero, that tuneful swan expired: we hoped once more to hear themelody of his voice, and went, in that expectation, to thesenate-house; but all that remained was to gaze on the spot wherethat eloquent orator spoke for the last time in the service of hiscountry. Illud immortalitate dignum ingenium, illa humanitas,illa virtus Lucii Crassi morte extincta subitâ est, vixdiebus decem post eum diem, qui hoc et superiore libra continetur.Illa tanquam cycnea fuit divini hominis vox, et oratio, quam quasiexpectantes, post ejus interitum veniebamus in curiam, ut vestigiumillud ipsum, in quo ille postremum institisset, contueremur. DeOrat. lib, iii. s. 1. and 6. This passage will naturally callto mind the death of the great earl of Chatham. He went, in afeeble state of health, to attend a debate of the first importance.Nothing could detain him from the service of his country. The dyingnotes of the BRITISH SWAN were heard in the House of Peers. He wasconveyed to his own house, and on the eleventh of May 1778, hebreathed his last. The news reached the House of Commons late inthe evening, when Colonel BARRE had the honour of being the firstto shed a patriot tear on that melancholy occasion. In a strain ofmanly sorrow, and with that unprepared eloquence which the heartinspires, he moved for a funeral at the public expence, and amonument to the memory of virtue and departed genius. By performingthat pious office, Colonel BARRE may be said to have made his ownname immortal. History will record the transaction.
MessalaCorvinus is often, in this Dialogue, called Corvinus only. See s.xii. note.
AppiusClaudius was censor in the year of Rome 442; dictator, 465; and,having at a very advanced age lost his sight, he became betterknown by the name of Appius Cæcus. Afterwards, A.U. 472, whenPyrrhus, by his ambassador, offered terms of peace, and a treaty ofalliance, Appius, whom blindness, and the infirmities of age, hadfor some time withheld from public business, desired to be conveyedin a litter to the senate-house. Being conducted to his place, hedelivered his sentiments in so forcible a manner, that the fathersresolved to prosecute the war, and never to hear of anaccommodation, till Italy was evacuated by Pyrrhus and his army.See Livy, b. xiii. s. 31. Cicero relates the same fact in his CATOMAJOR, and further adds, that the speech made by APPIUS CÆCUSwas then extant. Ovid mentions the temple of Bellona, built anddedicated by Appius, who, when blind, saw every thing by the lightof his understanding, and rejected all terms of accommodation withPyrrhus.
Hac sacrata die Tusco BellonaduelloDicitur, et Latio prospera semperadest.
Appius est auctor, Pyrrho quipace negatâ
Multum animo vidit, luminecæcus erat.
FASTORUM lib vi. ver.201.
Quintilian acknowledges this fact, with his usual candour. Thequestion concerning Attic and Asiatic eloquence was of longstanding. The style of the former was close, pure, and elegant; thelatter was said to be diffuse and ostentatious. In the ATTIC,nothing was idle, nothing redundant: the ASIATIC swelled above allbounds, affecting to dazzle by strokes of wit, by affectation andsuperfluous ornament. Cicero was said by his enemies to be anorator of the last school. They did not scruple to pronounce himturgid, copious to a fault, often redundant, and too fond ofrepetition. His wit, they said, was the false glitter of vainconceit, frigid, and out of season; his composition was cold andlanguid; wire-drawn into amplification, and fuller of meretriciousfinery than became a man. Et antiqua quidem illa divisio interAsianos et Atticos fuit; cum hi pressi, et integri, contra, inflatiilli et inanes haberentur; et in his nihil superflueret, illisjudicium maximè ac modus deesset. Ciceronem tamen et suorumhomines temporum incessere audebant ut tumidiorem, et Asianum, etredundantem, et in repetitionibus nimium, et in salibus aliquandofrigidum, et in compositione fractum, exultantem, ac penè(quod procul absit) viro molliorem. Quintil. lib. xii. cap. 10.The same author adds, that, when the great orator was cut off byMarc Antony's proscription, and could no longer answer for himself,the men who either personally hated him, or envied his genius, orchose to pay their court to the, triumvirate, poured forth theirmalignity without reserve. It is unnecessary to observe, thatQuintilian, in sundry parts of his work, has vindicated Cicero fromthese aspersions. See s. xvii. note.
ForCalvus, see s. xvii. note. For Brutus,see the same section, note. What Cicerothought of Calvus has been already quoted from the tract DeClaris Oratoribus, in note, s. xvii.By being too severe a critic on himself, he lost strength, while heaimed at elegance. It is, therefore, properly said in thisDialogue, that Cicero thought Calvus cold and enervated. But did hethink Brutus disjointed, loose and negligent—otiosum atquedisjunctum? That he often thought him disjointed is notimprobable. Brutus was a close thinker, and he aimed at theprecision and brevity of Attic eloquence. The sententious speakeris, of course, full and concise. He has no studied transitions,above the minute care of artful connections. To discard thecopulatives for the sake of energy was a rule laid down by the bestancient critics. Cicero has observed that an oration may be said tobe disjointed, when the copulatives are omitted, and strokes ofsentiment follow one another in quick succession. Dissolutiosive disjunctio est, quæ conjunctionibus e medio sublatis,partibus separatis effertur, hoc modo: Gere morem parenti; parecognatis; obsequere amicis; obtempera legibus. Ad Herennium,lib. iv. s. 41. In this manner, Brutus might appear disjointed, andthat figure, often repeated, might grow into a fault. But how isthe word OTIOSUS to be understood? If it means a neglect ofconnectives, it may, perhaps, apply to Brutus. There is no room tothink that Cicero used it in a worse sense, since we find him in aletter to Atticus declaring, that the oratorical style of Brutuswas, in language as well as sentiment, elegant to a degree thatnothing could surpass. Est enim oratio ejus scriptaelegantissimè, sententiis et verbis, ut nihil possitultra. A grave philosopher, like Brutus, might reject thegraces of transition and regular connection, and, for that reason,might be thought negligent and abrupt. This disjointed style, whichthe French call style coupé, was the mannercultivated by Seneca, for which Caligula pronounced him, sandwithout lime; arenam sine calce. Sueton. Life ofCalig. s. 53. We know from Quintilian, that a spirit ofemulation, and even jealousy, subsisted between the eminent oratorsof Cicero's time; that he himself was so far from ascribingperfection to Demosthenes, that he used to say, he often found himnapping; that Brutus and Calvus sat in judgement on Cicero, and didnot wish to conceal their objections; and that the two Pollios wereso far from being satisfied with Cicero's style and manner, thattheir criticisms were little short of declared hostility.Quamquam neque ipsi Ciceroni Demosthenes videatur satis esseperfectus, quem dormitare interdum dicit; nec Cicero BrutoCalvoque, qui certè compositionem illius etiam apud ipsumreprehendunt; ne Asinio utrique, qui vitia orationis ejus etiaminimicè pluribus locis insequuntur. Quintil. lib. xii.cap. 1.
Section XIX.
Cassius Severuslived in the latter end of the reign of Augustus, and through aconsiderable part of that of Tiberius. He was an orator, accordingto Quintilian, who, if read with due caution, might serve as amodel worthy of imitation. It is to be regretted, that to the manyexcellent qualities of his style he did not add more weight, morestrength and dignity, and thereby give colour and a body to hissentiments. With those requisites, he would have ranked with themost eminent orators. To his excellent genius he united keenreflection, great energy, and a peculiar urbanity, which gave asecret charm to his speeches. But the warmth of his temper hurriedhim on; he listened more to his passions than to his judgement; hepossessed a vein of wit, but he mingled with it too much acrimony;and wit, when it misses its aim, feels the mortification and theridicule which usually attend disappointed malice. Multa, si cumjudicio legatur, dabit imitatione digna CASSIUS SEVERUS, qui, sicæteris virtutibus colorem et gravitatem orationisadjecisset, ponendus inter præcipuos foret, Nam et ingeniiplurimum est in eo, et acerbitas mira, et urbanitas, et vis summa;sed plus stomacho quàm consilio dedit; præterea utamari sales, ita frequenter amaritudo ipsa ridicula est. Lib.x. cap. 1. We read in Suetonius (Life of Octavius, s. 56),that Cassius had the hardiness to institute a prosecution for thecrime of poisoning against Asprenas Nonius, who was, at the time,linked in the closest friendship with Augustus. Not content withaccusations against the first men in Rome, he chose to vent hismalevolence in lampoons and defamatory libels, against the mostdistinguished of both sexes. It was this that provoked Horace todeclare war against Cassius, in an ode (lib, v. ode 6), whichbegins, Quid immerentes hospites vexas, canis. See anaccount of his malevolent spirit, Annals, b, i. s. 72. Hewas at length condemned for his indiscriminate abuse, and banishedby Augustus to the isle of Crete. But his satirical rage was not tobe controlled. He continued in exile to discharge his malignity,till, at last, at the end of ten years, the senate took cognizanceof his guilt, and Tiberius ordered him to be removed from Crete tothe Rock of Seriphos, where he languished in old age and misery.See Annals, b. iv. s. 21. The period of ancient oratoryended about the time when Cassius began his career. He was thefirst of the new school.
These tworhetoricians flourished in the time of Augustus. Apollodorus, weare told by Quintilian (b. iii. chap. 1), was the preceptor ofAugustus. He taught in opposition to Theodorus Gadareus, who readlectures at Rhodes, and was attended by Tiberius during his retreatin that island. The two contending masters were the founders ofopposite sects, called the Apollodorean andTheodorian. But true eloquence, which knows no laws butthose of nature and good sense, gained nothing by party divisions.Literature was distracted by new doctrines; rhetoric became a trickin the hands of sophists, and all sound oratory disappeared.Hermagoras, Quintilian says, in the chapter already cited, was thedisciple of Theodorus.
Section XX.
Doctor Middletonsays, "Of the seven excellent orations, which now remain on thesubject of VERRES, the first two only were spoken; the one called,The Divination; the other, The first Action, which isnothing more than a general preface to the whole cause. The otherfive were published afterwards, as they were prepared and intendedto be spoken, if Verres had made a regular defence: for as this wasthe only cause in which Cicero had yet been engaged, or everdesigned to be engaged, as an accuser, so he was willing toleave those orations as a specimen of his abilities in that way,and the pattern of a just and diligent impeachment of a greatand corrupt magistrate." Life of Cicero, vol. i. p. 86, 4toedit.
The Digestenumerates a multitude of rules concerning exceptions topersons, things, the form of the action, the niceties of pleading,and, as the phrase is, motions in arrest of judgement.Formula, was the set of words necessary to be used in thepleadings. See the Digest, lib. xliv. tit. 1. DeExceptionibus, Præscriptionibus, et Præjudiciis.See also Cujacius, observat. xxiii.
The oration forMarcus Tullius is highly praised by Macrobius, but is not to befound in Cicero's works. The oration for Aulus Cæcina isstill extant. The cause was about the right of succession to aprivate estate, which depended on a subtle point of law, arisingfrom the interpretation of the prætor's interdict. It shewsCicero's exact knowledge and skill in the civil law, and that hispublic character and employment gave no interruption to his usualdiligence in pleading causes. Middleton's Life of Cicero,vol. i. p. 116, 4to edit.
Roscius, in thelast period of the republic, was the comedian, whom all Romeadmired for his talents. The great esteemed and loved him for hismorals. Æsop, the tragedian, was his contemporary. Horace, inthe epistle to Augustus, has mentioned them both with their properand distinctive qualities.
——Ea cum reprehendereconerQuæ GRAVIS ÆSOPUS,quæ DOCTUS ROSCIUS egit.
A certain measured gravity of elocution being requisite intragedy, that quality is assigned to the former, and the latter iscalled DOCTUS, because he was a complete master of his art; sotruly learned in the principles of his profession, that hepossessed, in a wonderful degree, the secret charm that gaveinimitable graces to his voice and action. Quintilian, in a fewwords, has given a commentary on the passage in Horace. Grief, hesays, is expressed by slow and deliberate accents; for that reason,Æsop spoke with gravity; Roscius with quickness; the formerbeing a tragedian, the latter a comedian. Plus autem affectushabent lentiora; ideoque Roscius citatior, Æsopus graviorfuit, quod ille comœdias, his tragœdias egit. Lib.xi. cap. 1. Cicero was the great friend and patron of Roscius. Anelegant oration in his behalf is still extant. The cause was this:One FANNIUS had made over to Roscius a young slave, to be formed byhim to the stage, on condition of a partnership in the profitswhich the slave should acquire by acting. The slave was afterwardskilled. Roscius prosecuted the murderer for damages, and obtained,by composition, a little farm, worth about eight hundred pounds,for his particular share. FANNIUS also sued separately, and wassupposed to have gained as much; but, pretending to have recoverednothing, he sued ROSCIUS for the moiety of what he had received.One cannot but observe, says Dr. Middleton, from Cicero's pleading,the wonderful esteem and reputation in which Roscius thenflourished. Has Roscius, says he, defrauded his partner? Can such astain stick upon such a man; a man who, I speak it with confidence,has more integrity than skill, more veracity than experience? a manwhom the people of Rome know to be a better citizen than he is anactor; and, while he makes the first figure on the stage for hisart, is worthy of a seat in the senate for his virtue. Quempopulus Romanus meliorem virum quam histrionem esse arbitratur; quiita dignissimus est scená propter artificium, ut dignissimussit curiá propter abstinentiam. Pro Roscio Comœdo,s. 17 In another place, Cicero says, he was such an artist, as toseem the only one fit to appear on the stage; yet such a man, as toseem the only one who should not come upon it at all. Cumartifex ejusmodi sit, ut solus dignus videatur esse qui inscená spectetur; tum vir ejusmodi est, ut solus dignusvideatur, qui eo non accedat. Pro Publ. Quinctio, s. 78. WhatCicero has said in his pleadings might be thought oratorical,introduced merely to serve the cause, if we did not find thecomedian praised with equal warmth in the dialogue DE ORATORE. Itis there said of Roscius, that every thing he did was perfect inthe kind, and executed with consummate grace, with a secret charm,that touched, affected, and delighted the whole audience: insomuch,that when a man excelled in any other profession, it was grown intoa proverb to call him, THE ROSCIUS OF HIS ART. Videtisne, quamnihil ab eo nisi perfectè, nihil nisi cum summâvenustate fiat? nihil, nisi ita ut deceat, et uti omnes moveat,atque delectet? Itaque hoc jam diu est consecutus, ut in quoquisque artificio excelleret, is in suo genere Roscius diceretur.De Orat. lib. i. s. 130. After so much honourable testimony,one cannot but wonder why the DOCTUS ROSCIUS of Horace is mentionedin this Dialogue with an air of disparagement. It may be, thatAPER, the speaker in this passage, was determined to degrade theorators of antiquity; and the comedian was, therefore, to expect noquarter. Dacier, in his notes on the Epistle to Augustus, observesthat Roscius wrote a book, in which he undertook to prove toCicero, that in all the stores of eloquence there were not so manydifferent expressions for one and the same thing, as in thedramatic art there were modes of action, and casts of countenance,to mark the sentiment, and convey it to the mind with its duedegree of emotion. It is to be lamented that such a book has notcome down to us. It would, perhaps, be more valuable than the besttreatise of rhetoric.
Ambivius Turpio acted in most of Terence's plays, and seems tohave been a manager of the theatre. Cicero, in the treatise DeSenectute, says: He, who sat near him in the first rows,received the greatest pleasure; but still, those, who were at thefurther end of the theatre, were delighted with him. TurpioneAmbivio magis delectatur, qui in primâ caveâ spectat;delectatur tamen etiam qui in ultimâ.
ACCIUS andPACUVIUS flourished at Rome about the middle of the sixth centuryfrom the foundation of the city. Accius, according to Horace, washeld to be a poet of a sublime genius, and Pacuvius (who lived tobe ninety years old) was respected for his age and profoundlearning.
Ambigitur quoties uter utro sitprior, aufertPACUVIUS docti famam senis,ACCIUS alti.
EPIST. AD AUG. ver.56.
Velleius Paterculus says, that ACCIUS was thought equal to thebest writers of the Greek tragedy. He had not, indeed, the diligenttouches of the polishing hand, which we see in the poets of Athens,but he had more spirit and vigour. Accius usque inGræcorum comparationem erectus. In illis limæ in hocpenè plus videri fuisse sanguinis. He is often quoted byCicero in his book De Naturâ Deorum. But after all, itis from the great critic, who gives the best account of the Romanpoets, orators, and historians, that we are to take the genuinecharacter of ACCIUS and PACUVIUS, since their works are lost in thegeneral mass of ancient literature. They were both excellent tragicpoets: elevation of sentiment, grandeur of expression, and dignityof character, stamped a value on their productions; and yet, wemust not expect to find the grace and elegance of genuinecomposition. To give the finishing hand to their works was nottheir practice: the defect, however, is not to be imputed to them;it was the vice of the age. Force and dignity are thecharacteristics of ACCIUS; while the critics, who wish to bethought deep and profound, admire PACUVIUS for his extensivelearning. Tragœdiæ scriptores Accius atque Pacuvius,clarissimi sententiarum verborumque pondere, et auctoritatepersonarum. Cæterum nitor, et summa in excolendis operibusmanus, magis videri potest temporibus, quam ipsis defuisse. Viriumtamen Accio plus tribuitur; Pacuvium videri doctiorem, qui essedocti affectant, volunt. Quintil. lib. x. cap. 1. It was thefashion in Horace's time to prefer the writers of the old school tothe new race that gave so much lustre to the Augustan age. Inopposition to such erroneous criticism, the poet pronounces adecided judgement, which seems to be confirmed by the opinion ofQuintilian.
Si quædam nimisantiquè, si pleraque durèDicere credit eos, ignavèmulta fatetur,
Et sapit, et mecum facit, et Jovejudicat æquo.
EPIST. AD AUGUST. ver.66.
But that sometimes their styleuncouth appears,
And their harsh numbers rudelyhurt our ears;
Or that full flatly flows thelanguid line,
He, who owns this, has Jove'sassent and mine.
FRANCIS'S HORACE.
Lucan was nephewto Seneca, and a poet of great celebrity. He was born, in the reignof Caligula, at Corduba in Spain. His superior genius made Nero hismortal enemy. He was put to death by that inhuman emperor, A.U.C.818, in the twenty-seventh year of his age. See the Annals,b. xv. s. 70. As a writer, Quintilian says, that he possessed anardent genius, impetuous, rapid, and remarkable for the vigour ofhis sentiments: but he chooses to class him with the orators,rather than the poets. Lucanus ardens, et concitatus, etsententiis clarissimus; et, ut dicam quod sentio, magis oratoribusquam poetis annumerandus. Lib. x. cap. 1. Scaliger, on theother hand, contends that Lucan was a true poet, and that thecritics do but trifle, when they object that he wrote history, notan epic poem. STRADA in his Prolusions, has given, among otherimitations, a narrative in Lucan's manner; and, though he thinksthat poet has not the skill of Virgil, he places him on the summitof Parnassus, managing his Pegasus with difficulty, often in dangerof falling from the ridge of a precipice, yet delighting his readerwith the pleasure of seeing him escape. This is the true characterof Lucan. The love of liberty was his ruling passion. It is butjustice to add, that his sentiments, when free fromantithesis and the Ovidian manner, are not excelledby any poet of antiquity. From him, as well as from Virgil andHorace, the orator is required to cull such passages as will helpto enrich his discourse; and the practice is recommended byQuintilian, who observes, that Cicero, Asinius Pollio, and others,frequently cited verses from Ennius, Accius, Pacuvius, and Terence,in order to grace their speeches with polite literature, andenliven the imagination of their hearers. By those poeticinsertions, the ear is relieved from the harsh monotony of theforum; and the poets, cited occasionally, serve by their authorityto establish the proposition advanced by the speaker. Nampræcipue quidem apud Ciceronem, frequenter tamen apud Asiniumetiam, et cæteros, qui sunt proximi, vidimus ENNII, ACCII,PACUVII, TERENTII et aliorum inseri versus, summâ noneruditionis modò gratiâ, sed etiam jucunditatis; cumpoeticis voluptatibus aures a forensi asperitate respirent, quibusaccedit non mediocris utilitas, cum sententiis eorum, velutquibusdam testimoniis, quæ proposuere confirmant.Quintil. lib. i. cap. 8.
Section XXI.
There is inthis place a blunder of the copyists, which almost makes thesentence unintelligible. The translator, without entering intominute controversies, has, upon all such occasions, adopted whatappeared, from the context, to be the most probable sense. Itremains, therefore, to enquire, who were the several orators hereenumerated. CANUTIUS may be the person mentioned by Suetonius DeClaris Rhetoribus. Cicero says of ARRIUS, that he was astriking proof of what consequence it was at Rome to be useful toothers, and always ready to be subservient to their honour, or toward off danger. For, by that assiduity, Arrius raised himself froma low beginning to wealth and honours, and was even ranked in thenumber of orators, though void of learning, and without genius, orabilities. Loco infimo natus, et honores, et pecuniam, etgratiam consecutus, etiam in patronorum, sine doctrinâ, sineingenio, aliquem numerum pervenerat. De Claris Orat. s. 243.FURNIUS may be supposed, not without probability, to be the personwith whom Cicero corresponded. Epist. ad Familiares, lib. x.ep. 25, 26. With regard to Terrianus we are left in the dark. Thecommentators offer various conjectures; but conjecture is often aspecious amusement; the ingenious folly of men, who take pains tobewilder themselves, and reason only to shew their uselesslearning.
The punyorators are said to be in an infirmary, like sickly men, who werenothing but skin and bone. These, says Cicero, were admirers of theAttic manner; but it were to be wished that they had the wholesomeblood, not merely the bones, of their favourite declaimers.Attico genere dicendi se gaudere dicunt; atqui utinamimitarentur nec ossa solum, sed etiam et sanguinem. CiceroDe Claris Oratoribus.
What is heresaid of Calvus is not confirmed by the judgement of Quintilian. Sees. xvii. note. His orations, which wereextant at the time of this Dialogue, are now totally lost.
ForQuintilian's opinion of Cælius, see s. xvii. note.
Here againQuintilian, that candid and able judge, has given a differentopinion. See s. xvii. note. It may beproper to add the testimony of Velleius Paterculus. Cæsar, hesays, had an elevation of soul, that towered above humanity, andwas almost incredible; the rapid progress of his wars, his firmnessin the hour of danger, and the grandeur of his vast conceptions,bore a near affinity to Alexander, but to Alexander neither drunk,nor mad with passion. Animo super humanam et naturam, et fidemevectus, celeritate bellandi, patientiâ periculorum,magnitudine cogitationum; magno illi Alexandro, sed sobrio nequeiracundo, simillimus. Vel. Patercul. lib. ii. s. 41. EvenCicero tells us, that, of all the eminent orators, he was theperson who spoke the Latin language in the greatest purity, andarrived at that consummate perfection by study, by diligentapplication, and his thorough knowledge of all polite literature.Illum omnium ferè oratorum Latinè loquielegantissimè: ut esset perfecta illa benè loquendilaus, multis litteris, et iis quidem reconditis et exquisitis,summoque studio et diligentiâ est consecutus. De ClarisOrat. s. 252.
Cæsar'sspeech for Decius the Samnite, and all his other productions(except the Commentaries), are totally lost.
This speech ofBrutus is also lost with his other works. Cicero says, he heard himplead the cause of Dejotarus with great elegance, and a flow ofharmonious periods. Causam Dejotari, fidelissimi atque optimiregis, ornatissimè et copiosissimè a Bruto me audissedefensam. De Claris Orat. s. 21. He tells us in another place,that Cæsar observed of Brutus, that whatever he desired, hedesired with ardour; and therefore, in the cause of Dejotarus, heexerted himself with warmth, with vehemence, and great freedom oflanguage. Quidquid vult, valdè vult; ideoque, cum prorege Dejotaro dixerit, valdè vehementer eum visum, etliberè dicere. Ad Attic. lib. xiv. ep. 1. The sameDejotarus was afterwards defended by Cicero before Cæsarhimself. See the Oration pro Rege Dejotaro.
See what issaid of Asinius Pollio, s. xii. note.
Pliny theyounger has the same metaphorical allusions, which we here find inthe Dialogue. Speaking of the difference between the oratorial andhistorical style; the latter, he says, may be content with thebones, the muscles, and the nerves; the former must have theprominence of the flesh, the brawny vigour, and the flowing mane.Habent quidem oratio et historia multa communia, sed pluradiversa in his ipsis, quæ communia videntur. Narrat saneilla, narrat hæc, sed aliter. Huic pleraque humilia, etsordida, et ex medio petita: illi omnia recondita, splendida,excelsa conveniunt. Hanc sæpius ossa, musculi, nervi; illamtori quidam, et quasi jubæ decent. Lib. v. ep. 8.
MessalaCorvinus has been often mentioned. See for him s. xii. note.
Section XXII.
The wordssententia and sensus were technical terms with thecritics of antiquity. Quintilian gives the distinct meaning ofeach, with his usual precision. According to the established usage,the word sensus signified our ideas or conceptions, as theyrise in the mind: by sententia was intended, a proposition,in the close of a period, so expressed, as to dart a suddenbrilliancy, for that reason called lumen orationis. He says,these artificial ornaments, which the ancients used but sparingly,were the constant practice of the modern orators. Consuetudo jamtenuit, ut mente concepta, SENSUS vocaremus; lumina autem,præcipuèque in clausulis posita, SENTENTIAS.Quæ minus crebra apud antiquos, nostris temporibus modocarent. Lib. viii. cap. 5. These luminous sentences, Quintiliansays, may be called the eyes of an oration; but eyes are not to beplaced in every part, lest the other members should lose theirfunction. Ego vero hæc lumina orationis velut oculosquosdam esse eloquentiæ credo: sed neque oculos esse totocorpore velim, ne cætera membra suum officium perdant.Lib. viii, cap. 5. As Cowley says,
Jewels at nose and lips but illappear;Rather than all things, wit letnone be there.
In order toform a good style, the sentence should always be closed withvariety, strength, and harmony. The ancient rhetoricians held thisto be so essentially requisite, that Quintilian has given it a fulldiscussion. That, he says, which offends the ear, will not easilygain admission to the mind. Words should be fitted to their places,so that they may aptly coalesce with one another. In building, themost ill shapen stones may be conveniently fixed; and in likemanner, a good style must have proper words in proper places, allarranged in order, and closing the sentence with grace and harmony.Nihil intrare potest in affectum, quod in aure, velut quodamvestibulo, statim offendit. Non enim ad pedes verba dimensa sunt;ideoque ex loco transferuntur in locum, ut jungantur quo congruuntmaximè; sicut in structurâ saxorum rudium etiam ipsaenormitas invenit cui applicari, et in quo possit insistere.Felicissimus tamen sermo est, cui et rectus ordo, et apta junctura,et cum his numerus opportunè cadens contingit. Quintil.lib. ix. cap. 4.
Section XXIII.
Theremark in this place alludes to a passage in the oration againstPISO, where we find a frivolous stroke of false wit. Ciceroreproaches Piso for his dissolute manners, and his scandalousdebauchery. Who, he says, in all that time, saw you sober? Whobeheld you doing any one thing, worthy of a liberal mind? Did youonce appear in public? The house of your colleague resounded withsongs and minstrels: he himself danced naked in the midst of hiswanton company; and while he wheeled about with alacrity inthe circular motion of the dance, he never once thought ofTHE WHEEL OF FORTUNE. Quis te illis diebus sobrium, quis agentemaliquid, quod esset libero dignum? Quis denique in publico vidit?Cum collegæ tui domus cantu et cymbalis personaret; cumqueipse nudus in convivio saltaret, in quo ne tum quidem, cum illumsuum SALTATORIUM VERSARET ORBEM, FORTUNÆ ROTAMpertimescebat. Oratio in Pisonem, prima pars, s. 22. Delph.edit. vol. iii.
Thepassage here alluded to, presents us with a double pun. The wordVerres is the name of a man, and also signifies a boarpig, as we read in Horace, Verris obliquum meditantisictum. Lib. iii. ode 22. The word jus is likewise oftwofold meaning, importing law and sauce, or broth;tepidumque ligurierit jus. Lib. i. sat. 3. The objection toCicero is, that playing on both the words, and taking advantage oftheir ambiguous meaning, he says it could not be matter of wonderthat the Verrian jus was such bad HOG-SOUP. The wit (if itdeserves that name) is mean enough; but, in justice to Cicero, itshould be remembered, that he himself calls it frigid, and says,that the men, who in their anger could be so very facetious, as toblame the priest who did not sacrifice such a hog (Verres),were idle and ridiculous. He adds, that he should not descend torepeat such sayings (for they were neither witty, nor worthy ofnotice in such a cause), had he not thought it material to shew,that the iniquity of VERRES was, in the mouth of the vulgar, asubject of ridicule, and a proverbial joke. Hinc illi homineserant, qui etiam ridiculi inveniebantur ex dolore: quorum alii, utaudistis, negabant mirandum esse, JUS tam nequam esseVERRINUM: alii etiam frigidiores erant; sed quia stomachabantur,ridiculi videbantur esse, cum SACERDOTEM execrabantur,qui VERREM tam nequam reliquisset, Quæ ego noncommemorarem (neque enim perfacetè dicta, neque porro hacseveritate digna sunt) nisi vos id vellem recordari, istiusnequitiam et iniquitatem tum in ore vulgi, atque communibusproverbiis esse versatam. In Verrem, lib. i. pars tertia, s.121.
Quintilian acknowledges that the words esse videatur (it seemsto be) occur frequently in Cicero's Orations. He adds, that heknew several, who fancied that they had performed wonders, whenthey placed that phrase in the close of a sentence. Noveramquosdam, qui se pulchrè expressisse genus illudcælestis hujus in dicendo viri sibi viderentur, si inclausulâ posuissent esse videatur. Quintil. lib. x. cap.2.
Thespecies of composition, called satire, was altogether of Romangrowth. Lucilius had the honour of being the inventor; and hesucceeded so well, that even in Quintilian's time, his admirerspreferred him not only to the writers who followed in the same way,but to all poets of every denomination. Lucilius quosdam itadeditos sibi adhuc habet imitatores, ut eum non ejusdem modooperis, sed omnibus poetis præferre non dubitent. Lib. x.cap. 1. The great critic, however, pronounces judgement in favourof Horace, who, he says, is more terse and pure; a more acuteobserver of life, and qualified by nature to touch the ridicule ofthe manners with the nicest hand. Multo est tersior, ac purusmagis Horatius, et ad notandos hominum morespræcipuus.
Lucretiusis not without his partisans at this hour. Many of the Frenchcritics speak of him with rapture; and, in England, Dr. Wharton ofWinchester seems to be at the head of his admirers. He does notscruple to say that Lucretius had more spirit, fire, and energy,more of the vivida vis animi, than any of the Roman poets.It is neither safe nor desirable to differ from so fine a genius asDr. Wharton. The passages which he has quoted from his favouritepoet, shew great taste in the selection. It should be remembered,however, that Quintilian does not treat Lucretius with the samepassionate fondness. He places Virgil next to Homer; and the rest,he says, of the Roman poets follow at a great distance. MACER andLUCRETIUS deserve to be read: they have handled their respectivesubjects with taste and elegance; but Macer has no elevation, andLucretius is not easily understood. Cæteri omnes longesequuntur. Nam MACER et LUCRETIUS legendi quidem; elegantes insuâ quisque materiâ, sed alter humilis, alterdifficilis. Lib. x. cap. 1. Statius, the poet, who flourishedin the reign of Domitian, knew the value of Lucretius, and, in oneline, seems to have given his true character; et docti furorarduus Lucreti; but had he been to decide between him andVirgil, it is probable, that he would say to Lucretius, as he didto himself,
——Nec tu divinamÆneida tenta,Sed longe sequere, et vestigiasemper adora.
THEBAIDOS lib. xii. ver.816.
AufidiusBassus and Servilius Nonianus were writers of history. Bassus,according to Quintilian, deserved great commendation, particularlyin his History of the German war. In some of his other works hefell short of himself. Servilius Nonianus was known to Quintilian,and, in that critic's judgement, was an author of considerablemerit, sententious in his manner, but more diffuse than becomes thehistoric character. See Quintilian, lib. x. cap. 1. The death ofSERVILIUS, an eminent orator and historian, is mentioned by Tacitusin the Annals, b. xiv. s. 19; but the additional name ofNONIANUS is omitted. The passage, however, is supposed to relate tothe person commended by Quintilian. He died in the reign of Nero,A.U.C. 812; of the Christian æra 59.
Varro wasuniversally allowed to be the most learned of the Romans. He wroteon several subjects with profound erudition. Quintilian says, hewas completely master of the Latin language, and thoroughlyconversant in the antiquities of Greece and Rome. His works willenlarge our sphere of knowledge, but can add nothing to eloquence.Peritissimus linguæ Latinæ, et omnis antiquitatis,et rerum Græcarum, nostrarumque; plus tamen scientiæcollaturus, quam eloquentiæ. Lib. x. cap. 1.
Sisenna, we are told by Cicero, was a man of learning, wellskilled in the Roman language, acquainted with the laws andconstitution of his country, and possessed of no small share ofwit; but eloquence was not his element, and his practice in theforum was inconsiderable. See De Claris Oratoribus, s. 228.In a subsequent part of the same work, Cicero says, that Sisennawas of opinion, that to use uncommon words was the perfection ofstyle. To prove this he relates a pleasant anecdote. One CaiusRufus carried on a prosecution. Sisenna appeared for the defendant;and, to express his contempt of his adversary, said that many partsof the charge deserved to be spit upon. For this purpose he coinedso strange a word, that the prosecutor implored the protection ofthe judges. I do not, said he, understand Sisenna; I amcircumvented; I fear that some snare is laid for me. What does hemean by sputatilica? I know that sputa is spittle:but what is tilica? The court laughed at the oddity of aword so strangely compounded. Rufio accusante Chritilium,Sisenna defendens dixit quædam ejus SPUTATILICA esse crimina.Tum Caius Rufius, Circumvenior, inquit, judices, nisi subvenitis.Sisenna quid dicat nescio; metuo insidias. SPUTATILICA! quid esthoc? Sputa quid sit, scio; tilica nescio. Maximirisus, De Claris Oratoribus, s. 260. Whether this was the sameSisenna, who is said in the former quotation to have been a correctspeaker, does not appear with any degree of certainty.
For thecharacter of Secundus, see s. ii. note.
Quintilian says, the merit of a fine writer flourishes after hisdeath, for envy does not go down to posterity. Ad posteros enimvirtus durabit, nec perveniet invidia. Lib. iii. c. 1. Envy isalways sure to pursue living merit; and therefore, Cleo observes toAlexander, that Hercules and Bacchus were not numbered among thegods, till they conquered the malignity of their contemporaries.Nec Herculem, nec Patrem Liberum, prius dicatos deos,quàm vicissent secum viventium invidiam. QuintusCurtius, lib. viii. s. 18. Pliny the younger has a beautifulepistle on this subject. After praising, in the highest manner, thevarious works of Pompeius Saturninus, he says to his correspondent,Let it be no objection to such an author, that he is still living.If he flourished in a distant part of the world, we should not onlyprocure his books, but we should have his picture in our houses:and shall his fame be tarnished, because we have the man before oureyes? Shall malignity make us cease to admire him, because we seehim, hear him, esteem and love him? Neque enim debet operibusejus obesse, QUOD VIVIT. An si inter eos, quos nunquam vidimus,floruisset, non solum libros ejus, verum etiam imaginesconquireremus, ejusdem nunc honor præsentis et gratia quasisatietate languescet? At hoc pravum malignumque est, non admirarihominem admiratione dignissimum, quia videre, alloqui, audire,complecti, nec laudare tantum, verum etiam amare contingit.Lib. i. ep. 16.
Section XXIV.
In theDialogues of Plato, and others of the academic school, the ablestphilosophers occasionally supported a wrong hypothesis, in order toprovoke a thorough discussion of some important question.
Cicero waskilled on the seventh of December, in the consulship of Hirtius andPansa, A.U.C. 711; before Christ, 43. From that time to the sixthof Vespasian the number of years is exactly 117; though in theDialogue said to be 120. See s. xvii. note.
Section XXV.
See Plutarch'sLives of Lysias, Lycurgus, Demosthenes, and Hyperides. See also theelegant translation of the Orations of Lysias, by Dr. Gillies.
ForQuintilian's opinion of Cæsar's eloquence, see s. xvii. note. To what is there said may be added theauthority of Cicero, who fairly owns, that Cæsar's constanthabit of speaking his language with purity and correctness,exempted him from all the vices of the corrupt style adopted byothers. To that politeness of expression which every well-bredcitizen, though he does not aspire to be an orator, ought topractise, when Cæsar adds the splendid ornaments ofeloquence, he may then be said to place the finest pictures in thebest light. In his manner there is nothing mechanical, nothing ofprofessional craft: his voice is impressive, and his actiondignified. To air these qualities he unites a certain majesty ofmien and figure, that bespeaks a noble mind. Cæsar autemrationem adhibens, consuetudinem vitiosam et corruptam purâet incorruptâ consuetudine emendat. Itaque cum ad hancelegantiam verborum Latinorum, quæ etiam si orator non sis,et sis ingenuus civis Romanus, tamen necessaria est, adjungit illaoratorio, ornamenta dicendi; tum videtur tanquam tabulas benepictas collocare in bono lumine. Hanc cum habeat præcipuamlaudem in communibus, non video cui debeat cedere. Splendidamquamdam, minimeque veteratoriam rationem dicendi tenet, voce, motu:formâ etiam magnificâ, et generosâ quodammodo. DeClaris Oratoribus, s. 261.
For Cælius, see s. xvii. note;and for Brutus, the same section, note.
Servius Galbahas been already mentioned, s. xviii. note. Caius Lælius was consul A.U.C. 614;before the Christian æra, 140. He was the intimate friend ofScipio, and the patron of Lucilius, the first Roman satirist. SeeHorace, lib. ii. sat. i. ver. 71.
Quin ubi se a vulgo etscenâ in secretâ remôrantVirtus Scipiadæ, et mitissapientia Lælî,
Nugari cum illo, et discinctiludere, donec
Decoqueretur olus,soliti.
When Scipio's virtue, and ofmilder vein
When Lælius' wisdom, fromthe busy scene
And crowd of life, the vulgar andthe great.
Could with their favouritesatirist retreat,
Lightly they laugh'd at many anidle jest,
Until their frugal feast of herbswas drest.
FRANCIS'S HORACE.
It is probable, that the harsh manner of Lucilius, duruscomponere versus, infected the eloquence of Lælius, sincewe find in Cicero, that his style was unpolished, and had much ofthe rust of antiquity. Multo tamen vetustior et horridior illequam Scipio, et, cum sint in dicendo variæ, voluntates,delectari mihi magis antiquitate videtur, et lubenter verbis etiamuti paulo magis priscis Lælius. De Claris Oratoribus, s.83.
Section XXVI.
For anaccount of Caius Gracchus, see s. xviii. note.
For LuciusCrassus, see s. xviii. note
The false taste of Mæcenas has been noted by the poetsand critics who flourished after his death. His affectedprettinesses are compared to the prim curls, in which women andeffeminate men tricked out their hair. Seneca, who was himselftainted with affectation, has left a beautiful epistle on the veryquestion that makes the main subject of the present Dialogue. Hepoints out the causes of the corrupt taste that debauched theeloquence of those times and imputes the mischief to the degeneracyof the manners. Whatever the man was, such was the orator. Talisoratio quails vita. When ancient discipline relaxed, luxurysucceeded, and language became delicate, brilliant, spangled withconceits. Simplicity was laid aside, and quaint expressions grewinto fashion. Does the mind sink into languor, the body movesreluctantly. Is the man softened into effeminacy, you see it in hisgait. Is he quick and eager, he walks with alacrity. The powers ofthe understanding are affected in the same manner. Having laid thisdown as his principle, Seneca proceeds to describe the softdelicacy of Mæcenas, and he finds the same vice in hisphraseology. He cites a number of the lady-like terms, which thegreat patron of letters considered as exquisite beauties. In allthis, says he, we see the man who walked the streets of Rome in hisopen and flowing robe. Nonne statim, cum hæc legis,occurrit hunc esse, qui solutis tunicis in urbe semperincesserit? Seneca, epist. cxiv. What he has said ofMæcenas is perfectly just. The fopperies of that celebratedminister are in this Dialogue called CALAMISTRI; an allusionborrowed from Cicero, who praises the beautiful simplicity ofCæsar's Commentaries, and says there were men of avicious taste, who wanted to apply the curling-iron, thatis, to introduce the glitter of conceit and antithesis in the placeof truth and nature. Commentarios quosdam scripsit rerum suarum,valde quidem probandos: nudi enim sunt, et recti, et venusti, omniornatu orationis, tanquam veste, detracto. Ineptis gratum fortassefecit, qui volunt illa CALAMISTRIS inurere. Cicero DeClaris Orat. s. 262.
Who Galliowas, is not clearly settled by the commentators. Quintilian, lib.iii. cap. 1, makes mention of Gallio, who wrote a treatise ofeloquence; and in the Annals, b. xv. s. 73, we find JuniusGallio, the brother of Seneca; but whether either of them is theperson here intended, remains uncertain. Whoever he was, hiseloquence was a tinkling cymbal. Quintilian says of such orators,who are all inflated, tumid, corrupt, and jingling, that theirmalady does not proceed from a full and rich constitution, but frommere infirmity; for,
As in bodies, thus in souls wefind,What wants in blood and spirits,swell'd with wind.
Nam tumidos, et corruptos, et tinnulos, et quocumque aliocacozeliæ genere peccantes, certum habeo, non virium, sedinfirmitatis vitio laborare: ut corpora non robore, sed valetudineinflantur. Quintil. lib. ii. cap. 3.
Plinydeclares, without ceremony, that he was ashamed of the corrupteffeminate style that disgraced the courts of justice, and made himthink of withdrawing from the forum. He calls it sing-song, andsays that nothing but musical instruments could be added. Pudetreferre, quæ quam fractâ pronunciatione dicantur;quibus quam teneris clamoribus excipiantur. Plausus tantum, ac solacymbala et tympana, illis canticis desunt. Pliny, lib. ii.epist. 14. The chief aim of Persius in his first satire is levelledagainst the bad poets of his time, and also the spurious orators,who enervated their eloquence by antithesis, far-fetched metaphors,and points of wit, delivered with the softest tone of voice, andridiculous airs of affectation.
Fur es, ait Pedio: Pedius quid?Crimina rasisLibrat in antithetis; doctusposuisse figuras
Laudatur. Bellum hoc! hoc bellum!an Romule ceves?
Men' moveat quippe, et, cantet sinaufragus, assem
Protulerim? Cantas, cumfractâ te in trabe pictum
Ex humero portes?
PERSIUS, sat. i. ver.85.
Theft, says the accuser, to thycharge I lay,
O Pedius. What does gentle Pediussay?
Studious to please the genius ofthe times,
With periods, points, and tropes,he slurs his crimes.
He lards with flourishes his longharangue:
'Tis fine, say'st thou. What! tobe prais'd, and hang?
Effeminate Roman! shall suchstuff prevail,
To tickle thee, and make thee wagthy tail?
Say, should a shipwreck'd sailorsing his woe,
Wouldst thou be mov'd to pity,and bestow
An alms? What's more prepost'rousthan to see
A merry beggar? wit inmisery!
DRYDEN'S PERSIUS.
For CassiusSeverus, see s. xix. note.
Gabinianuswas a teacher of rhetoric in the reign of Vespasian. Eusebius, inhis Chronicon, eighth of Vespasian, says that Gabinianus, acelebrated rhetorician, was a teacher of eloquence in Gaul.Gabinianus, celeberrimi nominis rhetor, in Galliâdocuit. His admirers deemed him another Cicero, and, after him,all such orators were called CICERONES GABISTIANI.
Section XXVIII.
Inorder to brand and stigmatise the Roman matrons who committed thecare of their infant children to hired nurses, Tacitus observes,that no such custom was known among the savages of Germany. SeeManners of the Germans, s. xx. See also Quintilian, on thesubject of education, lib. i. cap. 2 and 3.
Cornelia, the mother of the two Gracchi, was daughter to the firstScipio Africanus. The sons, Quintilian says, owed much of theireloquence to the care and institutions of their mother, whose tasteand learning were fully displayed in her letters, which were thenin the hands of the public. Nam Gracchorum eloquentiæmultum contulisse accepimus Corneliam matrem, cujus doctissimussermo in posteros quoque est epistolis traditus. Quint. lib. i.cap. 1. To the same effect Cicero: Fuit Gracchusdiligentiâ Corneliæ matris a puero doctus, etGræcis litteris eruditus. De Claris Orat. s. 104. Again,Cicero says, We have read the letters of Cornelia, the mother ofthe Gracchi, from which it appears, that the sons were educated,not so much in the lap of their mother, as her conversation.Legimus epistolas Corneliæ, matris Gracchorum: apparetfilios non tam in gremio educatos, quam in sermone matris. DeClaris Orat. s. 211. Pliny the elder informs us that a statuewas erected to her memory, though Cato the Censor declaimed againstshewing so much honour to women, even in the provinces. But withall his vehemence he could not prevent it in the city of Rome.Pliny, lib. xxxiv. s. 14.
ForAurelia, the mother of Julius Cæsar, see The GenealogicalTable of the Cæsars, No. 2.
ForAtia, the mother of Augustus, see Genealogical Table of theCæsars, No. 14. As another instance of maternal care,Tacitus informs us that Julia Procilla superintended the educationof her son. See Life of Agricola, s. iv.
Section XXIX.
Quintilianthinks the first elements of education so highly material, that hehas two long chapters on the subject. He requires, in the firstplace, that the language of the nurses should be pure and correct.Their manners are of great importance, but, he adds, let them speakwith propriety. It is to them that the infant first attends; helistens, and endeavours to imitate them. The first colour, imbibedby yarn or thread, is sure to last. What is bad, generally adherestenaciously. Let the child, therefore, not learn in his infancy,what he must afterwards take pains to unlearn. Ante omnia, nesit vitiosus sermo nutricibus. Et morum quidem in his hauddubiè prior ratio est; rectè tamen etiam loquantur.Has primùm audiet puer; harum verba effingere imitandoconabitur. Et naturâ tenacissimi sumus eorum, quærudibus annis percipimus; nec lanarum colores, quibus simplex illecandor mutatus est, elui possunt. Et hæc ipsa magispertinaciter hærent, quæ deteriora sunt. Non assuescatergo, ne dum infans quidem est, sermoni, qui dediscendus est.Quint. lib. i. cap. 1. Plutarch has a long discourse on thebreeding of children, in which all mistakes are pointed out, andthe best rules enforced with great acuteness of observation.
Juvenal hasone entire satire on the subject of education:
Nil dictu fœdum visuquehæc limina tangat,Intra quæ puer est. Proculhinc, procul inde puellæ
Lenonum, et cantus pernoctantisparasiti.
Maxima debetur pueroreverentia.
SAT. xiv. ver. 44.
Suffer no lewdness, no indecentspeech,
Th' apartment of the tender youthto reach.
Far be from thence the gluttonparasite,
Who sings his drunken catches allthe night.
Boys from their parents may thisrev'rence claim.
DRYDEN'S JUVENAL.
The rage ofthe Romans for the diversions of the theatre, and public spectaclesof every kind, is often mentioned by Horace, Juvenal, and otherwriters under the emperors. Seneca says, that, at one time, threeways were wanted to as many different theatres: tribus eodemtempore theatris viæ postulantur. And again, the mostillustrious of the Roman youth are no better than slaves to thepantomimic performers. Ostendam nobilissimos juvenes mancipiapantomimorum. Epist. 47. It was for this reason that Petroniuslays it down as a rule to be observed by the young student, neverto list himself in the parties and factions of the theatre:
——Neve plausor inscenâSedeat redemptus,histrioniæ addictus.
It is well known, that theatrical parties distracted the Romancitizens, and rose almost to phrensy. They were distinguished bythe green and the blue, Caligula, as we read inSuetonius, attached himself to the former, and was so fond of thecharioteers, who wore green liveries, that he lived for aconsiderable time in the stables, where their horses were kept.Prasinæ factioni ita addictus et deditus, ut cœnaretin stabulo assidue et maneret. Life of Caligula, s. 55.Montesquieu reckons such party-divisions among the causes thatwrought the downfall of the empire. Constantinople, he says, wassplit into two factions, the green and the blue,which owed their origin to the inclination of the people to favourone set of charioteers in the circus rather than another. These twoparties raged in every city throughout the empire, and their furyrose in proportion to the number of inhabitants. Justinian favouredthe blues, who became so elate with pride, that theytrampled on the laws. All ties of friendship, all naturalaffection, and all relative duties, were extinguished. Wholefamilies were destroyed; and the empire was a scene of anarchy andwild contention. He, who felt himself capable of the most atrociousdeeds, declared himself a BLUE, and the GREENS were massacred withimpunity. Montesquieu, Grandeur et Décadence desRomains, chap. xx.
Quintilian,in his tenth book, chap. 1. has given a full account of the bestGreek and Roman poets, orators, and historians; and in b. ii. ch.6, he draws up a regular scheme for the young student to pursue inhis course of reading. There are, he says, two rocks, on which theymay split. The first, by being led by some fond admirer ofantiquity to set too high a value on the manner of Cato and theGracchi; for, in that commerce, they will be in danger of growingdry, harsh, and rugged. The strong conception of those men will bebeyond the reach of tender minds. Their style, indeed, may becopied; and the youth may flatter himself, when he has contractedthe rust of antiquity, that he resembles the illustrious orators ofa former age. On the other hand, the florid decorations and falseglitter of the moderns may have a secret charm, the more dangerous,and seductive, as the petty flourishes of our new way of writingmay prove acceptable to the youthful mind. Duo autem generamaximè cavenda pueris puto: unum, ne quis eos antiquitatisnimius admirator in Gracchorum, Catonisque, et aliorum similiumlectione durescere velit. Erunt enim horridi atque jejuni. Namneque vim eorum adhuc intellectu consequentur; et elocutione,quæ tum sine dubio erat optima, sed nostris temporibusaliena, contenti, quod est pessimum, similes sibi magnis virisvidebuntur. Alterum, quod huic diversum est, ne recentis hujuslasciviæ flosculis capti, voluptate quâdam pravâdeliniantur, ut prædulce illud genus, et puerilibus ingeniishoc gratius, quo propius est, adament. Such was the doctrine ofQuintilian. His practice, we may be sure, was consonant to his ownrules. Under such a master the youth of Rome might be initiated inscience, and formed to a just taste for eloquence and legitimatecomposition; but one man was not equal to the task. Therhetoricians and pedagogues of the age preferred the novelty andmeretricious ornaments of the style then in vogue.
Section XXX.
This is thetreatise, or history of the most eminent orators (DE CLARISORATORIBUS), which has been so often cited in the course of thesenotes. It is also entitled BRUTUS; a work replete with the soundestcriticism, and by its variety and elegance always charming.
Quintus MuciusScævola was the great lawyer of his time. Cicero draws acomparison between him and Crassus. They were both engaged, onopposite sides, in a cause before the CENTUMVIRI. Crassus provedhimself the best lawyer among the orators of that day, andScævola the most eloquent of the lawyers. Ut eloquentiumjuris peritissimus Crassus; jurisperitorum eloquentissimusScævola putaretur. De Claris Orat. s. 145. During theconsulship of Sylla, A.U.C. 666, Cicero being then in thenineteenth year of his age, and wishing to acquire a competentknowledge of the principles of jurisprudence, attached himself toMucius Scævola, who did not undertake the task of instructingpupils, but, by conversing freely with all who consulted him, gavea fair opportunity to those who thirsted after knowledge. Egoautem juris civilis studio, multum operæ dabam Q.Scævolæ, qui quamquam nemini se ad docendum dabat,tamen, consulentibus respondendo, studiosos audiendi docebat. DeClaris Orat. s. 306.
Philo was aleading philosopher of the academic school. To avoid the fury ofMithridates, who waged a long war with the Romans, he fled fromAthens, and, with some of the most eminent of his fellow-citizens,repaired to Rome. Cicero was struck with his philosophy, and becamehis pupil. Cùm princeps academiæ Philo, cumAtheniensium optimatibus, Mithridatico bello, domo profugisset,Romamque venisset, totum ei me tradidi, admirabili quodam adphilosophiam studio concitatus. De Claris Orat. s. 306.
Cicero adds, that he gave board and lodging, at his own house,to Diodotus the stoic, and, under that master, employed himself invarious branches of literature, but particularly in the study oflogic, which may be considered as a mode of eloquence, contracted,close, and nervous. Eram cum stoico Diodoto: qui cumhabitavisset apud me, mecumque vixisset, nuper est domi meæmortuus. A quo, cum in aliis rebus, tum studiosissime indialecticâ exercebar, quæ quasi contracta et adstrictaeloquentia putanda est. De Claris Orat. s. 309.
Cicero gives anaccount of his travels, which he undertook, after having employedtwo years in the business of the forum, where he gained an earlyreputation. At Athens, he passed six months with Antiochus, theprincipal philosopher of the old academy, and, under the directionof that able master, resumed those abstract speculations which hehad cultivated from his earliest youth. Nor did he neglect hisrhetorical exercises. In that pursuit, he was assisted byDemetrius, the Syrian, who was allowed to be a skilful preceptor.He passed from Greece into Asia; and, in the course of his travelsthrough that country, he lived in constant habits with Menippus ofStratonica; a man eminent for his learning; who, if to be neitherfrivolous, nor unintelligible, is the character of Attic eloquence,might fairly be called a disciple of that school. He met with manyother professors of rhetoric, such as Dionysius of Magnesia,Æschylus of Cnidos, and Zenocles of Adramytus; but notcontent with their assistance, he went to Rhodes, and renewed hisfriendship with MOLO, whom he had heard at Rome, and knew to be anable pleader in real causes; a fine writer, and a judicious critic,who could, with a just discernment of the beauties as well as thefaults of a composition, point out the road to excellence, andimprove the taste of his scholars. In his attention to the Romanorator, the point he aimed at (Cicero will not say that hesucceeded) was, to lop away superfluous branches, and confinewithin its proper channel a stream of eloquence, too apt to swellabove all bounds, and overflow its banks. After two years thusspent in the pursuit of knowledge, and improvement in hisoratorical profession, Cicero returned to Rome almost a new man.Is (MOLO) dedit operam (si modo id consequi potuit) ut nimisredundantes nos, et superfluentes juvenili quadam dicendiimpunitate, et licentiâ, reprimeret, et quasi extra ripasdiffluentes cœrceret. Ita recepi me biennio post, non modoexercitatior, sed propè mutatus. See De ClarisOratoribus, s. 315 and 316.
Cicero is heresaid to have been a complete master of philosophy, which, accordingto Quintilian, was divided into three branches, namely, physics,ethics, and logic. It has been mentioned in this section, note, that Cicero called logic a contracted andclose mode of eloquence. That observation is fully explained byQuintilian. Speaking of logic, the use, he says, of thatcontentious art, consists in just definition, which presents to themind the precise idea; and in nice discrimination, which marks theessential difference of things. It is this faculty that throws asudden light on every difficult question, removes all ambiguity,clears up what was doubtful, divides, develops, and separates, andthen collects the argument to a point. But the orator must not betoo fond of this close combat. The minute attention, which logicrequires, will exclude what is of higher value; while it aims atprecision, the vigour of the mind is lost in subtlety. We often seemen, who argue with wonderful craft; but, when petty controversywill no longer serve their purpose, we see the same men withoutwarmth or energy, cold, languid, and unequal to the conflict; likethose little animals, which are brisk in narrow places, and bytheir agility baffle their pursuers, but in the open field are soonoverpowered. Hæc pars dialectica, sive illam diceremalimus disputatricem, ut est utilis sæpe et finitionibus, etcomprehensionibus, et separandis quæ sunt differentia, etresolvendâ ambiguitate, et distinguendo, dividendo,illiciendo, implicando; ita si totum sibi vindicaverit in forocertamen, obstabit melioribus, et sectas ad tenuitatem viresipsâ subtilitate consumet. Itaque reperias quosdam indisputando mirè callidos; cum ab illâ veròcavillatione discesserint, non magis sufficere in aliquo gravioriactu, quam parva quædam animalia, quæ in angustiismobilia, campo deprehenduntur. Quint. lib. xii. cap. 2.
Ethics, or moral philosophy, the same great critic holds to beindispensably requisite. Jam quidem pars illa moralis, quædicitur ethice, certè tota oratori est accommodata. Nam intantâ causarum varietate, nulla ferè dici potest,cujus non parte aliquâ tractatus æqui et bonireperiantur. Lib. xii. Unless the mind be enriched with a storeof knowledge, there may he loquacity, but nothing that deserves thename of oratory. Eloquence, says Lord Bolingbroke, must flow like astream that is fed by an abundant spring, and not spout forth alittle frothy stream, on some gaudy day, and remain dry for therest of the year. See Spirit of Patriotism.
With regard to natural philosophy, Quintilian has a sentiment sotruly sublime, that to omit it in this place would look likeinsensibility. If, says he, the universe is conducted by asuperintending Providence, it follows that good men should governthe nations of the earth. And if the soul of man is of celestialorigin, it is evident that we should tread in the paths of virtue,all aspiring to our native source, not slaves to passion, and thepleasures of the world. These are important topics; they oftenoccur to the public orator, and demand all his eloquence. Nam siregitur providentiâ mundus, administranda certè bonisviris erit respublica. Si divina nostris animis origo, tendendum advirtutem, nec voluptatibus terreni corporis serviendum. An hoc nonfrequenter tractabit orator? Quint. lib. xii. cap. 2.
Section XXXI.
Quintilian,as well as Seneca, has left a collection of school-declamations,but he has given his opinion of all such performances. They aremere imitation, and, by consequence, have not the force and spiritwhich a real cause inspires. In public harangues, the subject isfounded in reality; in declamations, all is fiction. Omnisimitatio ficta est; quo fit ut minus sanguinis ac viriumdeclamationes habeant, quam orationes; quod in his vera, in illisassimulata materia est. Lib. x. cap. 2. Petronius has given alively description of the rhetoricians of his time. Theconsequence, he says, of their turgid style, and the pompous swellof sounding periods, has ever been the same: when their scholarsenter the forum, they look as if they were transported into a newworld. The teachers of rhetoric have been the bane of all trueeloquence. Hæc ipsa tolerabilia essent, si ad eloquentiamituris viam facerent: nunc et rerum tumore, et sententiarumvanissimo strepitu, hoc tantum proficiunt, ut quum in forumvenerint, putent se in alium terrarum orbem delatos. Pacevestrâ liceat dixisse, primi omnium eloquentiamperdidistis. Petron. in Satyrico, cap. 1 and 2. That gaywriter, who passed his days in luxury and voluptuous pleasures (seehis character, Annals, b. xvi. s. 18), was, amidst all hisdissipation, a man of learning, and, at intervals, of deepreflection. He knew the value of true philosophy, and, therefore,directs the young orator to the Socratic school, and to that planof education which we have before us in the present Dialogue. Hebids his scholar begin with Homer, and there drink deep of thePierian spring: after that, he recommends the moral system; and,when his mind is thus enlarged, he allows him to wield the arms ofDemosthenes.
——Det primos versibusannos,Mæoniumque bibat felicipectore fontem:
Mox et Socratico plenus gregemutet habenas
Liber, et ingentis quatiatDemosthenis arma.
Cicero hasleft a book, entitled TOPICA, in which he treats at large of themethod of finding proper arguments. This, he observes, was executedby Aristotle, whom he pronounces the great master both of inventionand judgement. Cum omnis ratio diligens disserendi duas habeatpartes; unam INVENIENDI, alteram JUDICANDI; utriusque princeps, utmihi quidem videtur, Aristoteles fuit. Ciceronis Topica,s. vi. The sources from which arguments may be drawn, are calledLOCI COMMUNES, COMMON PLACES. To supply the orator with amplematerials, and to render him copious on every subject, was thedesign of the Greek preceptor, and for that purpose he gave hisTOPICA. Aristoteles adolescentes, non ad philosophorum moremtenuiter disserendi, sed ad copiam rhetorum in utramque partem, utornatius et uberius dici posset, exercuit; idemque locos (sic enimappellat) quasi argumentorum notas tradidit, unde omnis in utramquepartem traheretur oratio. Cicero, De Oratore. Aristotlewas the most eminent of Plato's scholars: he retired to agymnasium, or place of exercise, in the neighbourhood ofAthens, called the Lyceum, where, from a custom, which heand his followers observed, of discussing points of philosophy, asthey walked in the porticos of the place, they obtained thename of Peripatetics, or the walking philosophers. See Middleton'sLife of Cicero, vol. ii. p. 537, 4to edit.
The academicsect derived its origin from Socrates, and its name from acelebrated gymnasium, or place of exercise, in the suburbsof Athens, called the Academy, after Ecademus, whopossessed it in the time of the Tyndaridæ. It wasafterwards purchased, and dedicated to the public, for theconvenience of walks and exercises for the citizens of Athens. Itwas gradually improved with plantations, groves and porticos forthe particular use of the professors or masters of the academicschool; where several of them are said to have spent their lives,and to have resided so strictly, as scarce ever to have come withinthe city. See Middleton's Life of Cicero, 4to edit. vol. ii.p. 536. Plato, and his followers, continued to reside in theporticos of the academy. They chose
——The greenretreatsOf Academus, and the thymyvale,
Where, oft inchanted withSocratic sounds,
Ilyssus pure devolv'd his tunefulstream
In gentle murmurs.
AKENSIDE, PLEAS. OFIMAG.
For dexterity in argument, the orator is referred to thisschool, for the reason given by Quintilian, who says that thecustom of supporting an argument on either side of the question,approaches nearest to the orator's practice in forensic causes.Academiam quidam utilissimam credunt, quod mos in utramquepartem disserendi ad exercitationem forensium causarumproximè accedat. Lib. xii. cap. 2 Quintilian assures usthat we are indebted to the academic philosophy for the ablestorators, and it is to that school that Horace sends his poet forinstruction:
Rem tibi Socraticæ poteruntostendere chartæ,Verbaque provisam rem non invitasequentur.
ARS POET. ver. 310.
Good sense, that fountain of themuse's art,
Let the rich page of Socratesimpart;
And if the mind with clearconception glow,
The willing words in justexpressions flow.
FRANCIS'S HORACE.
Epicurusmade frequent use of the rhetorical figure called exclamation; andin his life, by Diogenes Lærtius, we find a variety ofinstances. It is for that manner of giving animation to a discoursethat Epicurus is mentioned in the Dialogue. For the rest,Quintilian tells us what to think of him. Epicurus, he says,dismisses the orator from his school, since he advises his pupil topay no regard to science or to method. Epicurus imprimis nos ase ipse dimittit, qui fugere omnem disciplinam navigatione quamvelocissima jubet. Lib. xii. cap. 2. Metrodorus was thefavourite disciple of Epicurus. Brotier says that a statue of themaster and the scholar, with their heads joined together, was foundat Rome in the year 1743.
It is worthy of notice, that except the stoics, who, withoutaiming at elegance of language, argued closely and with vigour,Quintilian proscribes the remaining sects of philosophers.Aristippus, he says, placed his summum bonum in bodilypleasure, and therefore could be no friend to the strict regimen ofthe accomplished orator. Much less could Pyrrho be of use, since hedoubted whether there was any such thing in existence as the judgesbefore whom the cause must be pleaded. To him the party accused,and the senate, were alike non-entities. Neque vero Aristippus,summum in voluptate corpora bonum ponens, ad hunc nos laboremadhortetur. Pyrrho quidem, quas in hoc opere partes habere potest?cui judices esse apud quos verba faciat, et reum pro quo loquatur,et senatum, in quo sit dicenda sententia, non liquebat.Quintil. lib. xii. cap. 2.
Section XXXII.
We aretold by Quintilian, that Demosthenes, the great orator of Greece,was an assiduous hearer of Plato: Constat Demosthenem, principemomnium Græciæ oratorum, dedisse operam Platoni.Lib. xii. cap. 2. And Cicero expressly says, that, if he mightventure to call himself an orator, he was made so, not by themanufacture of the schools of rhetoric, but in the walks of theAcademy. Fateor me oratorem, si modo sim, aut etiam quicumquesim, non ex rhetorum officinis, sed ex Academiæ spatiisextitisse. Ad Brutum Orator, s. 12.
Section XXXIII.
Theancient critics made a wide distinction, between a mere facility ofspeech, and what they called the oratorical faculty. This is fullyexplained by Asinius Pollio, who said of himself, that by pleadingat first with propriety, he succeeded so far as to be often calledupon; by pleading frequently, he began to lose the propriety withwhich he set out; and the reason was, by constant practice heacquired rashness, not a just confidence in himself; a fluentfacility, not the true faculty of an orator. Commodèagenda factum est, ut sæpe agerem; sæpe agenda, utminus commodè; quia scilicet nimia facilitas magis quamfacultas, nec fiducia, sed temeritas, paratur. Quintil. lib.xii.
Section XXXIV.
There isin this place a trifling mistake, either in Messala, the speaker,or in the copyists. Crassus was born A.U.C. 614. See s. xviii. note. Papirius Carbo, the person accused, wasconsul A.U.C. 634, and the prosecution was in the following year,when Crassus expressly says, that he was then only one and twenty.Quippe qui omnium maturrimè ad publicas causasaccesserim, annosque natus UNUM ET VIGINTI, nobilissimum hominem eteloquentissimum in judicium vocârim. Cicero, DeOrat. lib. iii. s. 74. Pliny the consul was another instance ofearly pleading. He says himself, that he began his career in theforum at the age of nineteen, and, after long practice, he couldonly see the functions of an orator as it were in a mist.Undevicessimo ætatis anno dicere in foro cœpi, etnunc demum, quid præstare debeat orator, adhuc tamen percaliginem video. Lib. v. epist. 8. Quintilian relates ofCæsar, Calvus, and Pollio, that they all three appeared atthe bar, long before they arrived at their quæstorian age,which was seven and twenty. Calvus, Cæsar, Pollio, multumante quæstoriam omnes ætatem gravissima judiciasusceperunt. Quintilian, lib. xii. cap. 6.
Section XXXV.
Lipsius, inhis note on this passage, says, that he once thought the wordscena in the text ought to be changed to schola; buthe afterwards saw his mistake. The place of fictitious declamationand spurious eloquence, where the teachers played a ridiculouspart, was properly called a theatrical scene.
LuciusLicinius Crassus and Domitius Ænobarbus were censors A.U.C.662. Crassus himself informs us, that, for two years together, anew race of men, called Rhetoricians, or masters of eloquence, keptopen schools at Rome, till he thought fit to exercise his censorianauthority, and by an edict to banish the whole tribe from the cityof Rome; and this, he says, he did, not, as some people suggested,to hinder the talents of youth from being cultivated, but to savetheir genius from being corrupted, and the young mind from beingconfirmed in shameless ignorance. Audacity was all the new masterscould teach; and this being the only thing to be acquired on thatstage of impudence, he thought it the duty of a Roman censor tocrush the mischief in the bud. Latini (sic diis placet) hocbiennio magistri dicendi extiterunt; quos ego censor edicto meosustuleram; non quo (ut nescio quos dicere aiebant) acui ingeniaadolescentium nollem, sed, contra, ingenia obtundi nolui,corroborari impudentiam. Hos vero novos magistros nihilintelligebam posse docere, nisi ut auderent. Hoc cum unumtraderetur, et cum impudentiæ ludus esset, putavi essecensoris, ne longius id serperet, providere. De Orat. lib. iii.s. 93 and 94. Aulus Gellius mentions a former expulsion of therhetoricians, by a decree of the senate, in the consulship ofFannius Strabo and Valerius Messala, A.U.C. 593. He gives the wordsof the decree, and also of the edict, by which the teachers werebanished by Crassus, several years after. See A. Gellius, NoctesAtticæ, lib. xv. cap. 2. See also Suetonius, De ClarisRhet. s. 1.
Seneca hasleft a collection of declamations in the two kinds, viz. thepersuasive, and controversial. See his SUASORIÆ, andCONTROVERSIÆ. In the first class, the questions are, WhetherAlexander should attempt the Indian ocean? Whether he should enterBabylon, when the augurs denounced impending danger? WhetherCicero, to appease the wrath of Marc Antony, should burn all hisworks? The subjects in the second class are more complex. Apriestess was taken prisoner by a band of pirates, and sold toslavery. The purchaser abandoned her to prostitution. Her personbeing rendered venal, a soldier made his offers of gallantry. Shedesired the price of her prostituted charms; but the military manresolved to use force and insolence, and she stabbed him in theattempt. For this she was prosecuted, and acquitted. She thendesired to be restored to her rank of priestess: that point wasdecided against her. These instances may serve as a specimen of thetrifling declamations, into which such a man as Seneca was betrayedby his own imagination. Petronius has described the literary farceof the schools. Young men, he says, were there trained up in folly,neither seeing nor hearing any thing that could be of use in thebusiness of life. They were taught to think of nothing, but piratesloaded with fetters on the sea-shore; tyrants by their edictscommanding sons to murder their fathers; the responses of oraclesdemanding a sacrifice of three or more virgins, in order to abatean epidemic pestilence. All these discourses, void of common sense,are tricked out in the gaudy colours of exquisite eloquence, soft,sweet, and seasoned to the palate. In this ridiculous boy's-playthe scholars trifle away their time; they are laughed at in theforum, and still worse, what they learn in their youth they do notforget at an advanced age. Ego adolescentulos existimo inscholis stultissimos fieri, quia nihil ex iis, quæ in usuhabemus, aut audiunt aut vident; sed piratas cum catenis in littorestantes, et tyrannos edicta scribentes, quibus imperent filiis, utpatrum suorum capita præcidant; sed responsa inpestilentiâ data, ut virgines tres aut plures immolentur; sedmellitos verborum globos, et omnia dicta factaque quasi papavere etsesamo sparsa. Nunc pueri in scholis ludunt; juvenes ridentur inforo; et, quod utroque turpius est, quod quisque perperam discit,in senectute confiteri non vult. Petron. in Satyrico,cap. 3 and 4.
Hereunfortunately begins a chasm in the original. The words are, Cumad veros judices ventum est, * * * * rem cogitare * * * * nihilhumile, nihil abjectum eloqui poterat. This is unintelligible.What follows from the words magna eloquentia sicut flamma,palpably belongs to Maternus, who is the last speaker in theDialogue. The whole of what Secundus said is lost. The expedienthas been, to divide the sequel between Secundus and Maternus; butthat is mere patch-work. We are told in the first section of theDialogue, that the several persons present spoke their minds, eachin his turn assigning different but probable causes, and at timesagreeing on the same. There can, therefore, be no doubt butSecundus took his turn in the course of the enquiry. Of all theeditors of Tacitus, Brotier is the only one who has adverted tothis circumstance. To supply the loss, as well as it can now bedone by conjecture, that ingenious commentator has added aSupplement, with so much taste, and such a degree of probability,that it has been judged proper to adopt what he has added. Thethread of the discourse will be unbroken, and the reader, it ishoped, will prefer a regular continuity to a mere vacant space. Theinverted comma in the margin of the text [transcriber's note: notused, but numbered with decimal rather than Roman numerals] willmark the supplemental part, as far as section 36, where theoriginal proceeds to the end of the Dialogue. The sections of theSupplement will be marked, for the sake of distinction, withfigures, instead of the Roman numeral letters.
SUPPLEMENT.
Section 1.
Petronius says, youmay as well expect that the person, who is for ever shut up in akitchen, should be sweet and fresh, as that young men, trained upin such absurd and ridiculous interludes, should improve theirtaste or judgement. Qui inter hæc nutriuntur, non magissapere possunt, quam bene olere, qui in culiná habitant.Petronius, in Satyrico, s. 2.
Section 2.
The means by which anorator is nourished, formed, and raised to eminence, are hereenumerated. These are the requisites, that lead to thatdistinguished eloquence, which is finely described by Petronius,when he says, a sublime oration, but sublime within due bounds, isneither deformed with affectation, nor turgid in any part, but,depending on truth and simplicity, rises to unaffected grandeur.Grandis, et, ut ita dicam, pudica oratio, non est maculosa, necturgida, sed naturali pulchritudine exsurgit. Petronius, inSatyrico, s. 2.
Section 3.
Maternus engaged forhimself and Secundus, that they would communicate their sentiments:see s. 16. In consequence of that promise, Messala now calls uponthem both. They have already declared themselves admirers ofancient eloquence. It now remains to be known, whether they agreewith Messala as to the cause that occasioned a rapid decline: orwhether they can produce new reasons of their own.
Section 4.
Secundus proceeds togive his opinion. This is managed by Brotier with great art andjudgement, since it is evident in the original text that Maternusclosed the debate. According to what is said in the introduction tothe Dialogue, Secundus agrees with Messala upon most points, butstill assigns different, but probable reasons. A revolution, hesays, happened in literature; a new taste prevailed, and the worstmodels were deemed worthy of imitation. The emotions of the heartwere suppressed. Men could no longer yield to the impulse ofgenius. They endeavoured to embellish their composition withnovelty; they sparkled with wit, and amused their readers withpoint, antithesis, and forced conceits. They fell into the case ofthe man, who, according to Martial, was ingenious, but noteloquent:
Cum sexaginta numeret Casseliusannos;Ingeniosus homo est: quandodisertus erit?
Lib. vii. epig. 8.
Enough, perhaps, hasbeen already said in the notes, concerning the teachers ofrhetoric; but it will not be useless to cite one passage more fromPetronius, who in literature, as well as convivial pleasure, may beallowed to be arbiter elegantiarum. The rhetoricians, hesays, came originally from Asia; they were, however, neither knownto Pindar, and the nine lyric poets, nor to Plato, or Demosthenes.They arrived at Athens in evil hour, and imported with them thatenormous frothy loquacity, which at once, like a pestilence,blasted all the powers of genius, and established the rules ofcorrupt eloquence. Nondum umbraticus doctor ingenia deleverat,cum Pindarus novemque lyrici Homericis versibus canere nontimuerunt. Certe neque Platona, neque Demosthenem, ad hoc genusexercitationis accessisse video. Nuper ventosa isthæc etenormis loquacitas Athenas ex Asia commigravit, animosque juvenumad magna surgentes veluti pestilenti quodam sidere afflavit;simulque corruptæ eloquentiæ regula stetit etobtinuit. Petron. Satyricon, s. 2.
Section 5.
When the public tastewas vitiated, and to elevate and surprise, as Bayes says,was the new way of writing, Seneca is, with good reason,ranked in the class of ingenious, but affected authors. Menagesays, if all the books in the world were in the fire, there is notone, whom he would so eagerly snatch from the flames as Plutarch.That author never tires him; he reads him often, and always findsnew beauties. He cannot say the same of Seneca; not but there areadmirable passages in his works, but when brought to the test theylose their apparent beauty by a close examination. Seneca serves tobe quoted in the warmth of conversation, but is not of equal valuein the closet. Whatever be the subject, he wishes to shine, and, byconsequence, his thoughts are too refined, and often false.Menagiana, tom. ii. p. 1.
Section 6.
This charge againstSeneca is by no means new. Quintilian was his contemporary; he sawand heard the man, and, in less than twenty years after his death,pronounced judgement against him. In the conclusion of the firstchapter of his tenth book, after having given an account of theGreek and Roman authors, he says, he reserved Seneca for the lastplace, because, having always endeavoured to counteract theinfluence of a bad taste, he was supposed to be influenced bymotives of personal enmity. But the case was otherwise. He saw thatSeneca was the favourite of the times, and, to check the torrentthat threatened the ruin of all true eloquence, he exerted his bestefforts to diffuse a sounder judgement. He did not wish that Senecashould be laid aside: but he could not in silence see him preferredto the writers of the Augustan age, whom that writer endeavoured todepreciate, conscious that, having chosen a different style, hecould not hope to please the taste of those who were charmed withthe authors of a former day. But Seneca was still in fashion; hispartisans continued to admire, though it cannot be said that theyimitated him. He fell short of the ancients, and they were stillmore beneath their model. Since they were content to copy, it wereto be wished that they had been able to vie with him. He pleased byhis defects, and the herd of imitators chose the worst. Theyacquired a vicious manner, and flattered themselves that theyresembled their master. But the truth is, they disgraced him.Seneca, it must be allowed, had many great and excellent qualities;a lively imagination, vast erudition, and extensive knowledge. Hefrequently employed others to make researches for him, and wasoften deceived. He embraced all subjects; in his philosophy, notalways profound, but a keen censor of the manners, and on moralsubjects truly admirable. He has brilliant passages, and beautifulsentiments; but the expression is in a false taste, the moredangerous, as he abounds with delightful vices. You would havewished that he had written with his own imagination, and thejudgement of others. To sum up his character; had he known how torate little things, had he been above the petty ambition of alwaysshining, had he not been fond of himself, had he not weakened hisforce by minute and dazzling sentences, he would have gained, notthe admiration of boys, but the suffrage of the judicious. Atpresent he may be read with safety by those who have madeacquaintance with better models. His works afford the fairestopportunity of distinguishing the beauties of fine writing fromtheir opposite vices. He has much to be approved, and even admired:but a just selection is necessary, and it is to be regretted thathe did not choose for himself. Such was the judgement ofQuintilian: the learned reader will, perhaps, be glad to have thewhole passage in the author's words, rather than be referred toanother book. Ex industriâ Senecam, in omni genereeloquentiæ versatum, distuli, propter vulgatam falso de meopinionem, quâ damnare eum, et invisum quoque habere sumcreditus. Quod, accidit mihi, dum corruptum, et omnibus vitiisfractum dicendi genus revocare ad severiora judicia contendo. Tumautem solus hic fere in manibus adolescentium fuit. Quem nonequidem omnino conabar excutere, sed potioribus præferri nonsinebam, quos ille non destiterat incessere, cum, diversi sibiconscius generis, placere se in dicendo posse iis quibus illiplacerent, diffideret. Amabant autem eum magis, quàmimitabantur; tantumque ab illo defluebant, quantum ille ab antiquisdescenderat. Foret enim optandum, pares, aut saltem proximos, illiviro fieri. Sed placebat propter sola vitia, et ad ea se quisquedirigebat effingenda, quæ poterat. Deinde cum se jactareteodem modo dicere, Senecam infamabat. Cujus et multæ alioquiet magnæ virtutes fuerunt; ingenium facile et copiosum;plurimum studii; et multarum rerum cognitio, in quâ tamenaliquando ab iis, quibus inquirenda quædam mandabat, deceptusest. Tractavit etiam omnem ferè studiorum materiam; Inphilosophiâ parum diligens, egregius tamen vitioruminsectator. Multa in eo claræque sententiæ; multa etiammorum gratiâ legenda; sed in eloquendo corrupta pleraque,atque eo perniciosissima, quod abundat dulcibus vitiis. Velles eumsuo ingenio dixisse, alieno judicio. Nam si aliqua contempsisset;si parum concupisset, si non omnia sua amasset; si rerum ponderaminutissimis sententiis non fregisset, consensu potius eruditorum,quàm puerorum amore comprobaretur. Verùm sic quoquejam robustis, et severiore genere satis firmatis, legendus, velideo, quod exercere potest utrimque judicium. Multa enim (ut dixi)probanda in eo, multa etiam admiranda sunt; eligere modo curæsit, quod utinam ipse fecisset. Quintil. lib. x. cap. 1. Fromthis it is evident, that Seneca, even in the meridian of his fameand power, was considered as the grand corrupter of eloquence. Thecharge is, therefore, renewed in this Dialogue, with strictpropriety. Rollin, who had nourished his mind with ancientliterature, and was, in his time, the Quintilian of France, hasgiven the same opinion of Seneca, who, he says, knew how to playthe critic on the works of others, and to condemn the strainedmetaphor, the forced conceit, the tinsel sentence, and all theblemishes of a corrupt style, without desiring to weed them out ofhis own productions. In a letter to his friend (epist. 114), whichhas been mentioned section xxvi. note,Seneca admits a general depravity of taste, and with greatacuteness, and, indeed, elegance, traces it to its source, to theluxury and effeminate manners of the age; he compares the floridorators of his time to a set of young fops, well powdered andperfumed, just issuing from their toilette: Barbâ etcomâ nitidos, de capsulâ totos; he adds, that suchaffected finery is not the true ornament of a man. Non estornamentum virile, concinnitas. And yet, says Rollin, he didnot know that he was sitting to himself for the picture. He aimedfor ever at something new, far fetched, ingenious, and pointed. Hepreferred wit to truth and dignified simplicity. The marvellous waswith him better than the natural; and he chose to surprise anddazzle, rather than merit the approbation of sober judgement. Histalents placed him at the head of the fashion, and with thoseenchanting vices which Quintilian ascribes to him, he was, nodoubt, the person who contributed most to the corruption of tasteand eloquence. See Rollin's Belles Lettres, vol. i. surle Gout. Another eminent critic, L'ABBE GEDOYN, who has givenan elegant translation of Quintilian, has, in the preface to thatwork, entered fully into the question concerning the decline ofeloquence. He admits that Seneca did great mischief, but he takesthe matter up much higher. He traces it to OVID, and imputes thetaste for wit and spurious ornament, which prevailed under theemperors, to the false, but seducing charms of that celebratedpoet. Ovid was, undoubtedly, the greatest wit of his time; but hiswit knew no bounds. His fault was, exuberance. Nescivit quodbene cessit relinquere, says Seneca, who had himself the samedefect. Whatever is Ovid's subject, the redundance of a copiousfancy still appears. Does he bewail his own misfortunes; he seemsto think, that, unless he is witty, he cannot be an object ofcompassion. Does he write letters to and from disappointed lovers;the greatest part flows from fancy, and little from the heart. Hegives us the brilliant for the pathetic. With these faults, Ovidhad such enchanting graces, that his style and manner infectedevery branch of literature. The tribe of imitators had not thegenius of their master; but being determined to shine in spite ofnature, they ruined all true taste and eloquence. This is thenatural progress of imitation, and Seneca was well aware of it. Hetells us that the faults and blemishes of a corrupt style are everintroduced by some superior genius, who has risen to eminence inbad writing; his admirers imitate a vicious manner, and thus afalse taste goes round from one to another. Hæc vitia unusaliquis inducit, sub quo tunc eloquentia est: cæteriimitantur; et alter alteri tradunt. Epist. 114. Seneca,however, did not know that he was describing himself. Tacitus sayshe had a genius suited to the taste of the age. Ingeniumamœnum et temporis ejus auribus accommodatum. He adoptedthe faults of Ovid, and was able to propagate them. For thesereasons, the Abbé Gedoyn is of opinion, that Ovid began themischief, and Seneca laid the axe to the root of the tree. It iscertain, that, during the remaining period of the empire, trueeloquence never revived.
Section 7.
Historians haveconcurred in taxing Vespasian with avarice, in some instances, meanand sordid; but they agree, at the same time, that the use which hemade of his accumulated riches, by encouraging the arts, andextending liberal rewards to men of genius, is a sufficient apologyfor his love of money.
Titus, it is needlessto say, was the friend of virtue and of every liberal art. Eventhat monster Domitian was versed in polite learning, and by fitsand starts capable of intense application: but we read in Tacitus,that his studies and his pretended love of poetry served as a cloakto hide his real character. See History, b. iv. s. 86.
Pliny the youngerdescribes the young men of his time rushing forward into the forumwithout knowledge or decency. He was told, he says, by personsadvanced in years, that, according to ancient usage, no young man,even of the first distinction, was allowed to appear at the bar,unless he was introduced by one of consular dignity. But, in histime, all fences of respect and decency were thrown down. Young menscorned to be introduced; they forced their way, and tookpossession of the forum without any kind of recommendation. Athercule ante memoriam meam (majores natu ita solent dicere), nenobilissimis quidem adolescentibus locus erat, nisi aliquoconsulari producente; tantâ veneratione pulcherrimum opuscelebrabatur. Nunc refractis pudoris et reverentiæ claustris,omnia patent omnibus. Nec inducuntur, sed irrumpunt. Plin. lib.ii. epist. 14.
Section 8.
This want of decorumbefore the tribunals of justice would appear incredible, were itnot well attested by the younger Pliny. The audience, he says, wassuited to the orators. Mercenary wretches were hired to applaud inthe courts, where they were treated at the expence of the advocate,as openly as if they were in a banqueting-room. Sequunturauditores actoribus similes, conducti et redempti mancipes.Convenitur in mediâ basilicâ, ubi tam palamsportulæ quam in triclinio dantur. Plin. lib, ii. epist.14. He adds in the same epistle, LARGIUS LICINIUS first introducedthis custom, merely that he might procure an audience. Primushunc audiendi morem induxit Largius Licinius, hactenus tamen utauditores corrogaret.
This anecdote is alsorelated by Pliny, in the following manner: Quintilian, hispreceptor, told him that one day, when he attended Domitius Afer ina cause before the centumviri, a sudden and outrageous noisewas heard from the adjoining court. Afer made a pause; thedisturbance ceased, and he resumed the thread of his discourse. Hewas interrupted a second and a third time. He asked, who was theadvocate that occasioned so much uproar? Being told, that Liciniuswas the person, he addressed himself to the court in these words:Centumvirs! all true eloquence is now at an end. Ex Quintiliano,præceptore meo, audisse memini: narrabat ille, AssectabarDomitium Afrum, cum apud centumviros diceret graviter etlentè (hoc enim illi actionis genus erat), audiit ex proximoimmodicum insolitumque clamorem; admiratus reticuit; ubi silentiumfactum est, repetit quod abruperat; iterum clamor, iterum reticuit;et post silentium, cœpit idem tertio. Novissimè quisdiceret quæsivit. Responsum est, Licinius. Tumintermissâ causâ, CENTUMVIRI, inquit, HOCARTIFICIUM PERIIT. Lib. ii. ep. 14. Domitius Afer has beenmentioned, s. xiii. note. To what isthere said of him may be added a fact related by Quintilian, whosays that Afer, when old and superannuated, still continued at thebar, exhibiting the decay of genius, and every day diminishing thathigh reputation which he once possessed. Hence men said of him, hehad rather decline than desist. Malle eumdeficere, quam desinere. Quint. lib. xii. cap. 11.
The men who applaudedfor hire, went from court to court to bellow forth their venalapprobation. Pliny says, No longer ago than yesterday, two of mynomenclators, both about the age of seventeen, were bribedto play the part of critics. Their pay was about threedenarii: that at present is the price of eloquence. Exjudicio in judicium pari mercede transitur. Heri duo nomenclatoresmei (habent sane ætatem eorum, qui nuper togas sumpserunt),ternis denariis ad laudandum trahebantur. Tanti constat, ut sisdisertus. Lib. ii. epist. 14.
The whole account ofthe trade of puffing is related in the Dialogue, on the authorityof Pliny, who tells us that those wretched sycophants had twonick-names; one in Greek, [Greek: Sophokleis], and the other inLatin, LAUDICÆNI; the former from sophos, the usualexclamation of applause, as in Martial: Quid tam grande sophosclamat tibi turba, togata; the Latin word importingparasites who sold their praise for a supper. Inde jamnon inurbanè [Greek: Sophokleis] vocantur; iisdem nomenLatinum impositum est, LAUDICÆNI. Et tamen crescitindies fœditas utrâque linguâ notata. Lib.ii. epist. 14.
Section 10.
Pliny tells us,that he employed much of his time in pleading causes before thecentumviri; but he grew ashamed of the business, when hefound those courts attended by a set of bold young men, and not bylawyers of any note or consequence. But still the service of hisfriends, and his time of life, induced him to continue his practicefor some while longer, lest he should seem, by quitting itabruptly, to fly from fatigue, not from the indecorum of the place.He contrived however to appear but seldom, in order to withdrawhimself by degrees. Nos tamen adhuc et utilitas amicorum, etratio ætatis, moratur ac retinet. Veremur enim nefortè non has indignitates reliquisse, sed laborem fugissevideamur. Sumus tamen solito rariores, quod initium est gradatimdesinendi. Lib. ii. epist. 14.
Section 11.
The person heredistinguished from the rest of the rhetoricians, is the celebratedQuintilian, of whose elegant taste and superior judgement it weresuperfluous to say a word. Martial has given his character in twolines:—
Quintiliane, vagæ moderatorsumme juventæ,Gloria Romanæ, Quintiliane,togæ.
Lib. ii. epig. 90.
It is generally supposed that he was a native ofCalaguris (now Calahorra), a city in Spain, renderedfamous by the martial spirit of Sertorius, who there stood a siegeagainst Pompey. Vossius, however, thinks that he was born a Roman;and GEDOYN, the elegant translator mentioned section 6. note, accedes to that opinion, since Martial doesnot claim him as his countryman. The same writer says, that it isstill uncertain when Quintilian was born, and when he died; but,after a diligent enquiry, he thinks it probable that the greatcritic was born towards the latter end of Tiberius; and, of course,when Domitius Afer died in the reign of Nero, A.U.C. 812, A.D. 59,that he was then two and twenty. His Institutions of an Orator werewritten in the latter end of Domitian, when Quintilian, as hehimself says, was far advanced in years. The time of his death isno where mentioned, but it probably was under Nerva or Trajan. Itmust not be dissembled, that this admirable author was not exemptfrom the epidemic vice of the age in which he lived. He flatteredDomitian, and that strain of adulation is the only blemish in hiswork. The love of literature may be said to have been his rulingpassion; but, in his estimation, learning and genius aresubordinate to honour, truth, and virtue.
Section 12.
Maternus, withoutcontradicting Messala or Secundus, gives his opinion, viz. that thedecline of eloquence, however other causes might conspire, waschiefly occasioned by the ruin of a free constitution. To this headds another observation, which seems to be founded in truth, as wefind that, since the revival of letters, Spain has produced oneCERVANTES; France, one MOLIERE; England, one SHAKSPEARE, and oneMILTON.
Section 13.
Examples of short,abrupt, and even sublime speeches out of the mouth of Barbarians,might, if the occasion required it, be produced in great abundance.Mr. Locke has observed, that the humours of a people may be learnedfrom their usage of words. Seneca has said the same, and, inepistle cxiv. has explained himself on the subject with acutereasoning and beautiful illustration. The whole letter merits theattention of the judicious critic. The remainder of this, and thewhole of the following section, serve to enforce the proposition ofthe speaker, viz. that Roman eloquence died with public liberty.The Supplement ends here. The original text is resumed in the nextsection, and proceeds unbroken to the end of the Dialogue.
Section XXXVI.
Whengreat and powerful eloquence is compared to a flame, that must besupported by fresh materials, it is evident that the sentence is acontinuation, not the opening of a new argument. It has beenobserved, and it will not be improper to repeat, that the twoformer speakers (Messala and Secundus) having stated, according totheir way of thinking, the causes of corrupt eloquence, Maternus,as was promised in the outset of the Dialogue, now proceeds to giveanother reason, and, perhaps, the strongest of all; namely, thealteration of the government from the old republican form to theabsolute sway of a single ruler.
Thecolonies, the provinces, and the nations that submitted to theRoman arms, had their patrons in the capital, whom they courtedwith assiduity. It was this mark of distinction that raised theambitious citizen to the first honours in the state. To have anumber of clients, as well at home as in the most importantcolonies, was the unremitting desire, the study, and constantlabour of all who aimed at pre-eminence; insomuch that, in the timeof the old republic, the men who wished to be distinguishedpatrons, impoverished, and often ruined their families, by theirprofusion and magnificence. They paid court to the common people,to the provinces, and states in alliance with Rome; and, in theirturn, they received the homage of their clients. See Annals,b. iii. s. 55.
We readin Quintilian, that oral testimony, and depositions signed by thewitnesses, were both in use in his time. Written evidence, heobserves, was easily combated; because the witness who chose tospeak in the presence of a few who signed his attestation, might beguilty of a violation of truth with greater confidence; andbesides, not being cited to speak, his being a volunteer in thecause was a circumstance against him, since it shewed that he actedwith ill-will to the opposite party. With regard to the witness whogives his testimony in open court, the advocate has more upon hishands: he must press him with questions, and in a set speechobserve upon his evidence. He must also support his own witnesses,and, therefore, must draw up two lines of battle. Maximuspatronis circa testimonia sudor est. Ea dicuntur aut per tabulas,aut a præsentibus. Simplicior contra tabulas pugna. Nam etminus obstitisse videtur pudor inter paucos signatores, et prodiffidentiâ premitur absentia. Tacitâ prætereaquâdam significatione refragatur his omnibus, quod nemo pertabulas dat testimonium, nisi suâ voluntate; quo ipso nonesse amicum ei se, contra quem dicit, fatetur. Cumpræsentibus verò ingens dimicatio est: ideoque velutduplici contra eos, proque his, acie confligitur, actionum etinterrogationum. Quint. lib. v. cap. 7.
Section XXXVII.
For anaccount of Mucianus, see section 7, note c [transcriber's note:reference does not match]; also the History, b. ii. s. 5.Suetonius relates that Vespasian, having undertaken to restorethree thousand brazen plates, which had perished in theconflagration of the capital (see the Hist. of Tacitus, b.iii. s. 71), ordered a diligent search to be made for copies,and thereby furnished the government with a collection of curiousand ancient records, containing the decrees of the senate, acts ofthe commons, and treaties of alliance, almost from the building ofthe city. Suetonius, Life of Vespasian, s. 8. This, with theaddition of speeches and letters composed by men of eminence, was,most probably, the collection published by Mucianus. We may be surethat it contained a fund of information, and curious materials forhistory; but the whole is unfortunately lost.
Theperson intended in this place must not be confounded with LuciusCrassus, the orator celebrated by Cicero in the Dialogue DEORATORE. What is here said, relates to Marcus Crassus, who wasjoined in the triumvirate with Pompey and Cæsar; a man famousfor his riches, his avarice, and his misfortunes. While Cæsarwas engaged in Gaul, and Pompey in Spain, Crassus invaded Asia,where, in a battle with the Parthians, his whole army was cut topieces. He himself was in danger of being taken prisoner, but hefell by the sword of the enemy. His head was cut off, and carriedto Orodes, the Parthian king, who ordered liquid gold to be infusedinto his mouth, that he, who thirsted for gold, might be gluttedwith it after his death. Caput ejus recisum ad regem reportatum,ludibrio fuit, neque indigno. Aurum enim liquidum in rictum orisinfusum est, ut cujus animus arserat auri cupiditate, ejus etiammortuum et exangue corpus auro uteretur. Florus, lib. iii. cap.11. Cicero says, that with slender talents, and a small stock oflearning, he was able for some years, by his assiduity andinterest, to maintain his rank in the list of eminent orators.Mediocriter a doctrinâ instructus, angustius etiam anaturâ, labore et industriâ, et quod adhibebat adobtinendas causas curam etiam, et gratiam, in principibus patronisaliquot annos fuit. In hujus oratione sermo Latinus erat, verba nonabjecta, res compositæ diligenter; nullus flos tamen, nequelumen ullum: animi magna, vocis parva contentio; omnia ferèut similiter, atque uno modo dicerentur. Cicero, De ClarisOratoribus, s. 233.
Lentulus succeeded more by his action than by real ability. With aquick and animated countenance, he was not a man of penetration;though fluent in speech, he had no command of words. His voice wassweet and melodious; his action graceful; and with those advantageshe was able to conceal all other defects. Cneius autem Lentulusmulto majorem opinionem dicendi actione faciebat, quam quanta in eofacultas erat; qui cum esset nec peracutus (quamquam et ex facie etex vultu videbatur) nec abundans verbis, etsi fallebat in eo ipso;sed voce suavi et canorâ calebat in agendo, ut ea, quædeerant, non desiderarentur. Cicero, De ClarisOratoribus, s. 234. Metellus, Lucullus, and Curio, arementioned by Cicero in the same work. Curio was a senator of greatspirit and popularity. He exerted himself with zeal and ardour forthe legal constitution and the liberties of his country against theambition of Julius Cæsar, but afterwards sold himself to thatartful politician, and favoured his designs. The calamities thatfollowed are by the best historians laid to his charge. Lucan saysof him,
Audax venali comitatur Curiolinguâ;Vox quondam populi, libertatemquetueri
Ausus, et armatos plebi miscerepotentes.
Lib. i. ver. 269.
And again,
Moméntumque fuit mutatusCurio rerum,Gallorum captus spoliis, etCæsaris auro.
PHARSALIA, lib. iv. ver.819.
Demosthenes, when not more than seven years old, lost his father,and was left under the care of three guardians, who thought anorphan lawful prey, and did not scruple to embezzle his effects. Inthe mean time Demosthenes pursued a plan of education, without theaid or advice of his tutors. He became the scholar of Isocrates,and he was the hearer of Plato. Under those masters his progresswas such, that at the age of seventeen he was able to conduct asuit against his guardians. The young orator succeeded so well inthat prelude to his future fame, that the plunderers of theorphan's portion were condemned to refund a large sum. It is saidthat Demosthenes, afterwards, released the whole or the greatestpart.
Section XXXVIII.
Therule for allowing a limited space of time for the hearing ofcauses, the extent of which could not be known, began, as Pliny theyounger informs us, under the emperors, and was fully establishedfor the reasons which he gives. The custom, he says, of allowingtwo water-glasses (i.e. two hour-glasses) or only one, andsometimes half a one, prevailed, because the advocates grew tiredbefore the business was explained, and the judges were ready todecide before they understood the question. Pliny, with someindignation, asks, Are we wiser than our ancestors? are the lawsmore just at present? Our ancestors allowed many hours, many days,and many adjournments, in every cause; and for my part, as often asI sit in judgement, I allow as much time as the advocate requires;for would it not be rashness to guess what space of time isnecessary in a cause which has not been opened? But someunnecessary things may be said; and is it not better, that what isunnecessary should be spoken, than that what is necessary should beomitted? And who can tell what is necessary, till he has heard?Patience in a judge ought to be considered as one of the chiefbranches of his duty, as it certainly is of justice. See Plin. b.vi. ep. 2. In England, there is no danger of arbitrary rules, togratify the impatience of the court, or to stifle justice. Theprovince of juries, since the late declaratory act in the case oflibels, is now better understood; and every judge is taught, that acause is tried before him, not BY HIM. It is his to expoundthe law, and wait, with temper, for the verdict of those whom theconstitution has intrusted.
Pompey's third consulship was A.U.C. 702; before Christ, 52. He wasat first sole consul, and in six or seven months Metellus Scipiobecame his colleague.
Thecentumviri, as mentioned s. vii. note,were a body of men composed of three out of every tribe, for thedecision of such matters as the prætors referred to theirjudgement. The nature of the several causes, that came before thatjudicature, may be seen in the first book DE ORATORE.
Thequestion in this cause before the centumviri was, whether ClusiniusFigulus, the son of Urbinia, fled from his post in battle, and,being taken prisoner, remained in captivity during a length oftime, till he made his escape into Italy; or, as was contended byAsinius Pollio, whether the defendant did not serve under twomasters, who practised physic, and, being discharged by them,voluntarily sell himself as a slave? See Quintilian, lib. vii. cap.2.
Section XXXIX.
Theadvocates, at that time, wore a tight cloak, or mantle, like thatwhich the Romans used on a journey. Cicero, in his oration forMilo, argues that he who wore that inconvenient dress, was notlikely to have formed a design against the life of any man.Apparet uter esset insidiator; uter nihil cogitaret mali: cumalter veheretur in rheda, penulatus, unà sederet uxor. Quidhorum non impeditissimum? Vestitus? an vehiculum? an comes? Atravelling-cloak could give neither grace nor dignity to an oratorat the bar. The business was transacted in a kind of chat with thejudges: what room for eloquence, and that commanding action whichsprings from the emotions of the soul, and inflames every breastwith kindred passions? The cold inanimate orator is described, byQuintilian, speaking with his hand under his robe; manum intrapallium continens.
Section XL.
Maternus is nowdrawing to a conclusion, and, therefore, calls to mind theproposition with which he set out; viz. that the flame of oratoryis kept alive by fresh materials, and always blazes forth in timesof danger and public commotion. The unimpassioned style, whichsuited the areopagus of Athens, or the courts of Rome, wherethe advocate spoke by an hour-glass, does not deserve the name ofgenuine eloquence. The orations of Cicero for Marcellus, Ligarius,and king Dejotarus, were spoken before Cæsar, when he wasmaster of the Roman world. In those speeches, what have we toadmire, except delicacy of sentiment, and elegance of diction? Howdifferent from the torrent, tempest, and whirlwind ofpassion, that roused, inflamed, and commanded the senate, andthe people, against Catiline and Marc Antony!
For the account ofCicero's death by Velleius Paterculus, see s. xvii. note. Juvenal ascribes the murder of the great Romanorator to the second Philippic against Antony.
——Ridenda poematamalo,Quam te conspicuæ divinaPhilippica famæ,
Volveris a primâ quæproxima.
SAT. x. ver. 124.
I rather would be Mævius,thrash for rhymes
Like his, the scorn and scandalof the times,
Than the Philippic,fatally divine,
Which is inscrib'd the second,should be mine.
DRYDEN'S JUVENAL.
What Cicero says of Antonius, the celebrated orator, may beapplied to himself: That head, which defended the commonwealth, wasshewn from that very rostrum, where the heads of so many Romancitizens had been saved by his eloquence. In his ipsis rostris,in quibus ille rempublicam constantissime consul defenderat,positum caput illud fuit, a quo erant multorum civium capitaservata. Cicero De Oratore, lib. iii. s. 10.
Section XLII.
The urbanitywith which the Dialogue is conducted, and the perfect harmony withwhich the speakers take leave of each other, cannot but leave apleasing impression on the mind of every reader of taste. It hassome resemblance to the conclusion of Cicero's Dialogue DE NATURADEORUM. In both tracts, we have a specimen of the politeness withwhich the ancients managed a conversation on the most interestingsubjects, and by the graces of style brought the way of instructingby dialogue into fashion. A modern writer, whose poetical geniuscannot be too much admired, chooses to call it a frippery way ofwriting. He advises his countrymen to abandon it altogether;and this for a notable reason: because the Rev. Dr. Hurd (nowBishop of Worcester) has shewn the true use of it. That thedialogues of that amiable writer have an intrinsic value, cannot bedenied: they contain a fund of reflection; they allure by theelegance of the style, and they bring us into company with men whomwe wish to hear, to know, and to admire. While we have suchconversation-pieces, not to mention others of the same stamp, bothancient and modern, the public taste, it may be presumed, will noteasily be tutored to reject a mode of composition, in which thepleasing and useful are so happily blended. The present Dialogue,it is true, cannot be proved, beyond a controversy, to be the workof Tacitus; but it is also true, that it cannot, with equalprobability, be ascribed to any other writer. It has been retainedin almost every edition of Tacitus; and, for that reason, claims aplace in a translation which professes to give all the works of sofine a writer.
CONCLUSION.
The Author of these volumes has now gone through the difficulttask of translating Tacitus, with the superadded labour ofsupplements to give continuity to the narrative, and notes toillustrate such passages as seemed to want explanation; but hecannot lay down his pen, without taking the liberty of addressing afew words to the reader. As what he has to offer relates chiefly tohimself, it shall be very short. He has dedicated many years of hislife to this undertaking; and though, during the whole time, he hadthe pleasure and the honour of being acquainted with many gentlemenof taste and learning, he had no opportunity of appealing to theiropinion, or guiding himself by their advice. Amidst the hurry oflife, and the various pursuits in which all are engaged, how couldhe hope that any one would be at leisure to attend to the doubts,the difficulties, and minute niceties, which must inevitably occurin a writer of so peculiar a genius as Tacitus? He was unwilling tobe a troublesome visitor, and, by consequence, has been obliged,throughout the whole of his work, to trust to his own judgement,such as it is. He spared no pains to do all the justice in hispower to one of the greatest writers of antiquity; but whether hehas toiled with fruitless industry, or has in any degree succeeded,must be left to the judgement of others.
He is now at the end of his labours, and ready, after theexample of Montesquieu, to cry out with the voyager in Virgil,Italiam! Italian! But whether he is to land on a peacefulshore; whether the men who delight in a wreck, are to rush upon himwith hostile pens, which in their hands are pitch-forks; whetherhis cargo is to be condemned, and he himself to be wounded, maimed,and lacerated; a little time will discover. Such critics will actas their nature prompts them. Should they cry havoc, and letslip the dogs of war, it may be said,
Quod genus hoc hominum,quæve hunc tam barbara moremPermittit patria? Hospitioprohibemur arenæ;
Bella cient, primâquevetant consistere terrâ.
This, they may say, is anticipating complaint; but, in the worstthat can happen, it is the only complaint this writer will evermake, and the only answer they will ever receive from his pen.
It is from a very different quarter that the translator ofTacitus waits for solid criticism. The men, as Pliny observes, whoread with malignity, are not the only judges. Neque enim solijudicant, qui malignè legunt. The scholar will seedefects, but he will pronounce with temper: he will know thedifficulty, and, in some cases, perhaps the impossibility, ofgiving in our language the sentiments of Tacitus with the precisionand energy of the original; and, upon the whole, he willacknowledge that an attempt to make a considerable addition toEnglish literature, carries with it a plea of some merit. While theFrench could boast of having many valuable translations of Tacitus,and their most eminent authors were still exerting themselves, withemulation, to improve upon their predecessors, the present writersaw, with regret, that this country had not so much as onetranslation which could be read, without disgust, by any personacquainted with the idiom and structure of our language. To supplythe deficiency has been the ambition of the translator. Hepersevered with ardour; but, his work being finished, ardoursubsides, and doubt and anxiety take their turn. Whatever the eventmay be, the conscious pleasure of having employed his time in afair endeavour will remain with him. For the rest, he submits hislabours to the public; and, at that tribunal, neither flushed withhope, nor depressed by fear, he is prepared, with due acquiescence,to receive a decision, which, from his own experience on formeroccasions, he has reason to persuade himself will be founded intruth and candour.
GEOGRAPHICAL TABLE:
OR,
INDEX OF THE NAMES OF PLACES, RIVERS, &c. MENTIONED INTHESE VOLUMES.
A.
ACHAIA, often taken for part of Peloponnesus, but in Tacitusgenerally for all Greece.
ACTIUM, a promontory of Epirus, now called the Cape ofTigolo, famous for the victory of Augustus over M. Antony.
ADDUA, a river rising in the country of the Grisons, andin its course separating Milan from the territory of the Venetians,till it falls into the Po, about six miles to the west of Cremona.It is now called the Adda.
ADIABENE, a district of Assyria, so called from the riverAdiaba; Adiabeni, the people.
ADRANA, now the Eder; a river that flows nearWaldeck, in the landgravate of Hesse, and dischargesitself into the Weser.
ADRIATIC, now the gulf of Venice.
ADRUMETUM, a Phœnician colony in Africa, about seventeenmiles from Leptis Minor.
ÆDUI, a people of Ancient Gaul, near what is now calledAutun, in Lower Burgundy.
ÆGEÆ, a maritime town of Cilicia; now AiasKala.
ÆGEAN SEA, a part of the Mediterranean which lies betweenGreece and Asia Minor; now the Archipelago.
ÆGIUM, a city of Greece, in the Peloponnesus; now theMorea.
ÆNUS, a river rising in the country of the Grisons,and running thence into the Danube.
ÆQUI, a people of Ancient Latium.
AFRICA generally means in Tacitus that part which was made aproconsular province, of which Carthage was the capital; now theterritory of Tunis.
AGRIPPINENSIS COLONIA, so called from Agrippina, the daughter ofGermanicus, mother of Nero, and afterwards wife of the emperorClaudius. This place is now called Cologne, situate on theRhine.
ALBA, a town of Latium, in Italy, the residence of the Albankings; destroyed by Tullus Hostilius.
ALBANIA, a country of Asia, bounded on the west by Iberia, onthe east by the Caspian Sea, on the south by Armenia, and on thenorth by Mount Caucasus.
ALBINGANUM; now Albinga, to the west of the territory ofGenoa, at the mouth of the river Cente.
ALBIS, now the Elbe; a river that rises in the confinesof Silesia, and, after a wide circuit, falls into the Germansea below Hamburgh.
ALBIUM INTEMELIUM; now Vintimiglia, south-west of theterritory of Genoa, with a port on the Mediterranean, betweenMonaco and S. Remo.
ALESIA, a town in Celtic Gaul, situate on a hill. It wasbesieged by Julius Cæsar. See his Commentaries, lib. vii. s.77.
ALEXANDRIA, a principal city of Egypt, built by Alexander theGreat, on the Mediterranean; famous for the library begun byPtolemy Philadelphus, and consisting at last of seven hundredthousand volumes, till in Cæsar's expedition it was destroyedby fire.
ALISO, a fort built by Drusus, the father of Germanicus, in thepart of Germany now called Westphalia, near the city ofPaderborn.
ALLIA, river of Italy, running into the Tiber, about forty milesfrom Rome; famous for the slaughter of the Romans by the Gauls,under Brennus.
ALLOBROGES, a people of Narbon Gaul, situate between theRhodanus and the Lacus Lemanus.
ALPS, a range of high mountains separating Italy from Gaul andGermany. They are distinguished into different parts, under severalnames: such as the Maritime Alps, near Genoa; the CottianAlps, separating Dauphiné from Piedmont; the GraianAlps, beginning from Mount Cenis, where the Cottianterminate, and extending to Great St. Bernard; the PennineAlps, extending from west to east to the Rhetian Alps,the Alpes Noricæ, and the Pannonian Alps, asfar as the springs of the Kulpe. Their height in some placesis almost incredible. They are called Alps, fromAlpen, a Celtic term for high mountains.
ALTINUM, a town in the territory of Venice, on the Adriatic; nowin ruins, except a tower, still retaining the name ofAltino.
AMANUS, a mountain of Syria, separating it from Cilicia; nowcalled Montagna Neros by the inhabitants; that is, thewatery mountain, abounding in springs and rivulets.
AMATHUS, a maritime town of Cyprus, consecrated to Venus, withan ancient temple of Adonis and Venus: it is now calledLimisso.
AMAZONIA, a country near the river Thermodon, in Pontus.
AMISIA, now the Ems; a river of Germany that falls intothe German sea, near Embden.
AMORGOS, an island in the Egean sea, now Amorgo.
AMYDIS, a town near the gulf of that name, on the coast ofLatium in Italy.
ANAGNIA, a town of ancient Latium, now Anagni, thirty-sixmiles to the east of Rome.
ANCONA, a port town in Italy, situate on the gulf of Venice.
ANDECAVI, now Anjou.
ANEMURIUM, a promontory of Cilicia, with a maritime town of thesame name near it. See Pomponius Mela.
ANGRIVARIANS, a German people, situate on the west side of theWeser, near Osnaburg and Minden.
ANSIBARII, a people of Germany.
ANTIOCH, or ANTIOCHIA, the capital of Syria, calledEpidaphne, to distinguish it from other cities of the nameof Antioch. It is now called Antakia.
ANTIPOLIS, now Antibes, on the coast of Provence, aboutthree leagues to the west of Nice.
ANTIUM, a city of the ancient Volsci, situate on the Tuscan Sea;the birth-place of Nero. Two Fortunes were worshipped there, whichSuetonius calls Fortunæ Antiates, and Martial,Sorores Antii. Horace's Ode to Fortune is wellknown—
O Diva gratum quæ regis Antium.
The place is now called Capo d'Anzo.
ANTONA, now the Avon. See Camden.
AORSI, a people inhabiting near the Palus Mæotis; now theeastern part of Tartary, between the Neiper and theDon.
APAMEA, a city of Phrygia, near the banks of the Mæander;now Aphiom-Kara-Hisar.
APENNINUS, now the Apennine, a ridge of mountains runningthrough the middle of Italy, extremely high, yet short of theAlps. Its name is Celtic, signifying a high mountain.
APHRODISIUM, a town of Caria in Thrace, on theEuxine.
APOLLONIDIA, a city of Lydia.
APULIA, a territory of Italy, along the gulf of Venice; nowCapitanate, Otranto, &c.
AQUILEIA, a large city of the Veneti, and formerly a Romancolony, near the river Natiso, which runs into the gulf ofVenice.
AQUINUM, a town of the Ancient Latins; now Aquino, butalmost in ruins.
AQUITANIA, a division of Ancient Gaul, bounded by theGarumna (now Garonne), by the Pyrenees, and theocean.
ARABIA, an extensive country of Asia, reaching from Egypt toChaldea. It is divided into three parts, ArabiaPetræa, Deserta, and Felix.
ARAR, or ARARIS, a river of Gaul; now the Saone.
ARAXES, a river of Mesopotamia, which runs from north to south,and falls into the Euphrates.
ARBELA, a city of Assyria, famous for the battle betweenAlexander and Darius.
ARCADIA, an inland district in the heart of Peloponnesus;mountainous, and only fit for pasture; therefore celebrated bybucolic or pastoral poets.
ARDEN, Arduenna, in Tacitus; the forest of Arden.
ARENACUM, an ancient town in the island of Batavia; nowArnheim, in Guelderland.
ARICIA, a town of Latium in Italy, at the foot of Mons Albanus,about a hundred and sixty stadia from Rome. The grove, calledAricinum Nemus, was in the vicinity.
ARII, a people of Asia.
ARIMINUM, a town of Umbria, at the mouth of the river Ariminus,on the gulf of Venice.
ARMENIA, a kingdom of Asia, having Albania and Iberia to thenorth, and Mount Taurus and Mesopotamia to the south: divided intothe GREATER, which extends astward to the Caspian Sea; and theLESSER, to the west of the GREATER, and separated from it by theEuphrates; now called Turcomania.
ARNUS, a river of Tuscany, which visits Florence in its course,and falls into the sea near Pisa.
ARSANIAS, a river of the GREATER ARMENIA, running betweenTigranocerta and Artaxata, and falling into the Euphrates.
ARTAXATA, the capital of Armenia, situate on the riverAraxes.
ARVERNI, a people of Ancient Gaul, inhabiting near the Loire;their chief city Arvernum now Clermont, the capitalof Auvergne.
ASCALON, an ancient city of the Philistines, situate on theMediterranean; now Scalona.
ASCIBURGIUM, a citadel on the Rhine, where the Romans stationeda camp and a garrison.
ATESTE, a town in the territory of Venice, situate to the southof Patavium.
ATRIA, a town of the Veneti, on the river Tartarus, between thePadus and the Athesis, now the Adige.
AUGUSTA TAURINORUM, a town of the Taurini, at the foot of theAlps; now Turin, the capital of Piedmont.
AUGUSTODUNUM, the capital of the Ædui; now Autun,in the duchy of Burgundy. It took its name from AugustusCæsar.
AURIA, an ancient town of Spain; now Orense, inGalicia.
AUZEA, a strong castle in Mauritania.
AVENTICUM, the capital of the Helvetii; by the Germans calledWiflisburg, by the French Avenches.
B.
BACTRIANI, a people inhabiting a part of Asia, to the south ofthe river Oxus, which rains from east to west into theCaspian Sea.
BAIÆ, a village of Campania, between the promontory ofMisenum and Puteoli (now Pozzuolo), nine miles to the westof Naples.
BALEARES, a cluster of islands in the Mediterranean, of whichMajorca and Minorca are the chief.
BASTARNI, a people of Germany, who led a wandering life in thevast regions between the Vistula and the Pontic sea.
BATAVIA, an island formed by two branches of the Rhine and theGerman sea. See Annals, book ii. s. 6; and Manners of the Germans,s. 29. note a.
BATAVODURUM, a town in the island of Batavia; now, as some ofthe commentators say, Wyk-te-Duurstede.
BEBRYACUM, or BEDRYACUM, a village situate between Verona andCremona; famous for two successive defeats; that of Otho, and soonafter that of Vitellius.
BELGIC GAUL, the country between the Seine and the Marne to thewest, the Rhine to the east, and the German sea to the north.
BERYTUS, now Barut, in Phœnicia.
BETASII, the people inhabiting the country now calledBrabant.
BITHYNIA, a proconsular province of Asia Minor, bounded on thenorth by the Euxine and the Propontic, adjoining to Troas,over-against Thrace; now Becsangial.
BŒTICA, one of the provinces into which AugustusCæsar divided the Farther Spain.
BOII, a people of Celtic Gaul, in the country now calledBourbonnois. There was also a nation of the same name in Germany.See Manners of the Germans, s. 28.
BONNA, now Bonn, in the electorate of Cologne.
BONONIA, called by Tacitus Bononiensis; nowBologna, capital of the Bolognese in Italy.
BOSPHORANI, a people bordering on the Euxine; theTartars.
BOSPHORUS, two straits of the sea so called; one BosphorusThracius, now the straits of Constantinople; the otherBosphorus Cimmerius, now the straits of Caffa.
BOVILLÆ, a town of Latium, near Mount Albanus; about tenmiles from Rome, on the Appian Road.
BRIGANTES, the ancient inhabitants of Yorkshire,Lancashire, Durham, Westmoreland, andCumberland.
BRIXELLUM, the town where Otho dispatched himself after thedefeat at Bedriacum; now Bresello, in the territoryof Reggio.
BRIXIA, a town of Italy, on this side of the Po; nowBrescia.
BRUCTERIANS, a people of Germany, situate in Westphalia. See theManners of the Germans, s. 33. note a.
BRUNDUSIUM, a town of Calabria, with an excellent harbour, atthe entrance of the Adriatic, affording to the Romans a commodiouspassage to Greece. The Via Appia ended at this town. NowBrindisi, in the territory of Otranto, in the kingdomof Naples.
BYZANTIUM, a city of Thrace, on the narrow strait that separatesEurope from Asia; now Constantinople. See Annals, xii. s.63.
C.
CÆLALETÆ, a people of Thrace, near MountHæmus.
CÆRACATES, probably the diocese of Mayence.
CÆSAREA, a maritime town in Palestine; nowKaisarié.
CÆSIAN FOREST, now the Forest of Heserwaldt, in theduchy of Cleves. It is supposed to be a part of the HercynianForest.
CALABRIA, a peninsula of Italy, between Tarentum and Brundusium;now the territory of Otranto, in the kingdom of Naples.
CAMELODUNUM, said by some to be Malden in Essex, but byCamden, and others, Colchester. It was made a Roman colonyunder the emperor Claudius; a place of pleasure rather than ofstrength, adorned with splendid works, a theatre, and a temple ofClaudius.
CAMERIUM, a city in the territory of the Sabines; nowdestroyed.
CAMPANIA, a territory of Italy, bounded on the west by theTuscan sea. The most fertile and delightful part of Italy; nowcalled Terra di Lavoro.
CANGI, the inhabitants of Cheshire, and part of Lancashire.
CANINEFATES, a people of the Lower Germany, from the same originas the Batavians, and inhabitants of the west part of the isle ofBatavia.
CANOPUS, a city of the Lower Egypt, situate on a branch of theNile called by the same name.
CAPPADOCIA, a large country in Asia Minor, between Cilicia theEuxine sea. Being made a Roman province, the inhabitants had anoffer made them of a free and independent government; but theiranswer was, Liberty might suit the Romans, but the Cappadocianswould neither receive liberty, nor endure it.
CAPREA, an island on the coast of Campania, about four miles inlength from east to west, and about one in breadth. It standsopposite to the promontory of Surrentum, and has the bay ofNaples in view. It was the residence of Tiberius for severalyears.
CAPUA, now Capoa, a city in the kingdom of Naples; theseat of pleasure, and the ruin of Hannibal.
CARMEL, a mountain in Galilee, on the Mediterranean.
CARSULÆ, a town of Umbria, about twenty miles fromMevania; now in ruins.
CARTHAGO, once the most famous city of Africa, and the rival ofRome; supposed by some to have been built by queen Dido, seventyyears after the foundation of Rome; but Justin will have it beforeRome. It was the capital of what is now the kingdom ofTunis.
CARTHAGO NOVA, a town of Hispania Tarraconensis, or theHither Spain; now Carthagena.
CASPIAN SEA, a vast lake between Persia, Great Tartary, Muscovyand Georgia, said to be six hundred miles long, and near asbroad.
CASSIOPE, a town in the island of Corcyra (now Corfou),called at present St. Maria di Cassopo.
CATTI, a people of Germany, who inhabited part of the countrynow called Hesse, from the mountains of Hartz, to theWeser and the Rhine.
CAUCI. See CHAUCI.
CELENDRIS, a place on the coast of Cilicia, near the confines ofPamphylia.
CENCHRIÆ, a port of Corinth, situate about ten milestowards the east; now Kenkri.
CENCHRIS, a river running through the Ortygian Grove.
CEREINA, an island in the Mediterranean, to the north of theSyrtis Minor in Africa; now called Kerkeni.
CHALCEDON, a city of Bithynia, situate at the mouth of theEuxine, over-against Byzantium. It was called the City of theBlind. See Annals, xii. s. 63.
CHAUCI, a people of Germany, inhabiting what we now call EastFriesland, Bremen, and Lunenburg. See Manners ofthe Germans, s. 35.
CHERUSCANS, a great and warlike people of Ancient Germany, tothe north of the Catti, between the Elbe and theWeser.
CIBYRA, formerly a town of Phrygia, near the banks of theMæander, but now destroyed.
CILICIA, an extensive country in the Hither Asia, bounded byMount Taurus to the north, by the Mediterranean to the south, bySyria to the east, and by Pamphylia to the west. It was one of theprovinces reserved for the management of the emperor.
CINITHIANS, a people of Africa.
CIRRHA, a town of Phocis, near Delphi, sacred to Apollo.
CIRRHUS, a town of Syria, in the district of Commagene, and notfar from Antioch.
CIRTA, formerly the capital of Numidia, and the residence of theking. It is now called Constantina, in the kingdom ofAlgiers.
CLITÆ, a people of Cilicia, near Mount Taurus.
CLUNIA, a city in the Hither Spain.
COLCHOS, a country of Asia, on the east of the Euxine, famousfor the fable of the Golden Fleece, the Argonautic Expedition, andthe Fair Enchantress, Medea.
COLOPHON, a city of Ionia, in the Hither Asia. One of the placesthat claimed the birth of Homer; now destroyed.
COMMAGENE, a district of Syria, bounded on the east by theEuphrates, on the west by Amanus, and on the north by MountTaurus.
COOS. See Cos.
CORCYRA, an island in the Adriatic; now Corfou.
CORINTHUS, a city of Achaia, on the south part of the isthmuswhich joins Peloponnesus to the continent. From its situationbetween two seas, Horace says,
Bimarisve Corinthimœnia.The city was taken and burnt to the ground by Mummius the Romangeneral, A.U.C. 608. It was afterwards restored to its ancientsplendour, and made a Roman colony. It retains the name ofCorinth.
CORMA, a river in Asia; mentioned by Tacitus only.
CORSICA, an island in the part of the Mediterranean called theSea of Liguria, in length from north to south about a hundred andfifty miles, and about fifty where broadest. To the south it isseparated from Sardinia by a narrow channel.
COS, or COOS, one of the islands called the Cyclades, in theÆgean sea, famous for being the birth-place of Apelles; nowStan Co.
COSA, a promontory of Etruria; now Mont Argentaro, inTuscany.
CREMERA, a river of Tuscany, falling into the Tiber a little tothe north of Rome, rendered famous by the slaughter of theFabii.
CREMONA, a city of Italy, built A.U.C. 536, and afterwards, inthe year 822, rased to the ground by the army of Vespasian, in thewar with Vitellius. It was soon rebuilt by the citizens, with theexhortations of Vespasian. It is now a flourishing city in theduchy of Milan, and retains the name of Cremona.
CUMÆ, a town of Campania, near Cape Misenum, famous forthe cave of the Cumæan Sibyl.
CUSUS, a river in Hungary, that falls into the Danube.
CYCLADES, a cluster of islands in the Ægean sea, so calledfrom Cyclus, the orb in which they lie. Their names andnumber are not ascertained. Strabo reckons sixteen.
CYME, a maritime town of Æolia in Asia.
CYPRUS, a noble island opposite to the coast of Syria, formerlysacred to Venus, whence she was called the Cyprian goddess.
CYRENE (now called Curin), the capital of Cyrenaica, adistrict of Africa, now the Desert of Barca. It stood abouteleven miles from the sea, and had an excellent harbour.
CYTHERA, an island situated on the coast of Peloponnesusformerly sacred to Venus, and thence her name of Cytherea.The island is now called Cerigo.
CYTHNUS, one of the islands called the Cyclades, in theÆgean Sea.
CYZICUS, a city of Mysia, in the Hither Asia, rendered famous bythe long siege of Mithridates, which at last was raised byLucullus.
D.
DACIA, a country extending between the Danube and the Carpathianmountains to the mouth of the Danube, and to the Euxine, comprisinga part of Upper Hungary, Transylvania, and Moldavia. Theinhabitants to the west, towards Germany, were called Daci;those to the east towards the Euxine were called Getæ.The whole country was reduced by Trajan to a Roman province.
DAHÆ, a people of Scythia, to the south of the Caspian,with the Massagetæ on the east. Virgil calls themindomitique Dahæ.
DALMATIA, an extensive country bordering on Macedonia andMæsia, and having the Adriatic to the south.
DANDARIDÆ, a people bordering on the Euxine. Brotier saysthat some vestiges of the nation, and its name, still exist at aplace called Dandars.
DANUBE, the largest river in Europe. It rises in Suabia, andafter visiting Bavaria, Austria, Hungary, and taking thence aprodigious circuit, falls at last into the Black or Euxine sea. SeeManners of the Germans, s. 1. note g.
DELOS, the central island of the Cyclades, famous in mythologyfor the birth of Apollo and Diana.
DELPHI, a famous inland town of Phocis in Greece, with a templeand oracle of Apollo, situate near the foot of Mount Parnassus.
DENTHELIATE LANDS, a portion of the Peloponnesus that laybetween Laconia and Messenia; often disputed by those states.
DERMONA, a river of Gallia Transpadana; it runs into the Ollius(now Oglio), and through that channel into the Po.
DIVODURUM, a town in Gallia Belgica, situate on the Moselle, onthe spot where Metz now stands.
DONUSA, or DONYSA, an island in the Ægean sea, not farfrom Naxos. Virgil has, Bacchatamque jugis Naxon,viridemque Donysam.
DYRRACHIUM, a town on the coast of Illyricum. Its port answeredto that of Brundusium, affording a convenient passage to Italy.
E.
ECBATANA, the capital of Media; now Hamedan.
EDESSA, a town of Mesopotamia; now Orrhoa, orOrfa.
ELEPHANTINE, an island in the Nile, not far from Syene; at whichlast place stood the most advanced Roman garrison, NotitiaImperii.
ELEUSIS, a district of Attica near the sea-coast, sacred toCeres, where the Eleusinian mysteries were performed; now inruins.
ELYMÆI, a people bordering on the gulf of Persia.
EMERITA, a city of Spain; now Merida in the province ofEstramadoura.
EPHESUS, an ancient and celebrated city of Ionia, in Asia Minor;now Efeso. It was the birth-place of Heraclitus, the weepingphilosopher.
EPIDAPHNE, a town in Syria, not far from Antioch.
EPOREDIA, a town at the foot of the Alps, afterwards a Romancolony; now Jurea, or Jura, a city of Piedmont.
ERINDE, a river of Asia, mentioned by Tacitus only.
ERITHRÆ, a maritime town of Ionia, in Asia Minor.
ETRURIA, a district of Italy, extending from the boundary ofLiguria to the Tiber; now Tuscany.
EUBŒA, an island near the coast of Attica; nowNegropont.
EUPHRATES, a river of Asia, universally allowed to take its risein Armenia Major. It divides into two branches, one running throughBabylon, and the other through Seleucia. It bounds Mesopotamia onthe west.
EUXINE, or PONTUS EUXINUS; now the Black Sea.
F.
FERENTINUM, a town of Latium, in Italy; now Ferentino, inthe Campania of Rome.
FERENTUM, a town of Etruria; now Ferenti.
FERONIA, a town in Etruria.
FIDENÆ, a small town in the territory of the Sabines,about six miles to the north of Rome. The place where the ruins ofFidenæ are seen, is now called Castello Giubileo.
FLAMMINIAN WAY, made by Flamminius A.U.C. 533, from Rome toAriminum, a town of Umbria, or Romana, at the mouth of theriver Ariminus, on the gulf of Venice. It is now calledRimini.
FLEVUS, a branch of the Rhine, that emptied itself into thelakes which have been long since absorbed by the Zuyderzee.A castle, called Flevum Castellum, was built there byDrusus, the father of Germanicus.
FORMIÆ, a maritime town of Italy, to the south-east ofCajeta. The ruins of the place are still visible.
FOROJULIUM. See FORUM JULIUM.
FORUM ALLIENI, now Ferrare, on the Po.
FORUM JULIUM, a Roman colony in Gaul, founded by JuliusCæsar, and completed by Augustus, with a harbour at the mouthof the river Argens, capable of receiving a large fleet. Theruins of two moles at the entrance of the harbour are still to beseen. See Life of Agricola, s. 4. note a. The place is now calledFrejus.
FRISII, the ancient inhabitants of Friesland. See Mannersof the Germans.
FUNDANI MONTES, now Fondi, a city of Naples, on theconfines of the Pope's dominions.
G.
GABII, a town of Latium, between Rome and Preneste. A particularmanner of tucking up the gown, adopted by the Roman consuls whenthey declared war or attended a sacrifice, was called CinctusGabinus. The place now extinct.
GÆTULI, a people of Africa, bordering on Mauritania.
GALATIA, or GALLOGRÆCIA, a country of Asia Minor, lyingbetween Cappadocia, Pontus, and Pophlagonia; nowcalled Chiangare.
GALILÆA, the northern part of Canaan, or Palestine,bounded on the north by Phœnicia, on the south bySamaria, on the east by the Jordan, and on the westby the Mediterranean.
GALLIA, the country of ancient Gaul, now France. It wasdivided by the Romans into Gallia Cisalpina, viz. Gaul onthe Italian side of the Alps, with the Rubicon for itsboundary to the south. It was also called Gallia Togata,from the use made by the inhabitants of the Roman Toga. Itwas likewise called Gallia Transpadana, or Cispadana,with respect to Rome. The second great division of Gaul wasGallia Transalpina, or Ulterior, being, with respectto Rome, on the other side of the Alps. It was also calledGallia Comata, from the people wearing their hair long,which the Romans wore short. The southern part was GALLIANARBONENSIS, Narbon Gaul, called likewise Braccata,from the use of braccæ, or breeches, which were nopart of the Roman dress; now Languedoc, Dauphiny, andProvence. For the other divisions of Gaul on this side ofthe Alps, into the Gallia Belgica, Celtica, Aquitanica,further subdivided by Augustus, see the Manners of the Germans, s.1. note a.
GARAMANTES, a people in the interior part of Africa, extendingover a vast tract of country at present little known.
GARIZIM, a mountain of Samaria, famous for a temple built on itby permission of Alexander the Great.
GELDUBA, not far from Novesium (now Nuys, in theelectorate of Cologne) on the west side of the Rhine.
GEMONIÆ, a place at Rome, into which were thrown thebodies of malefactors.
GERMANIA, Ancient Germany, bounded on the east by the Vistula(the Weissel), on the north by the Ocean, on the west by theRhine, and on the south by the Danube. A great part of Gaul, alongthe west side of the Rhine, was also called Germany by AugustusCæsar, Germania Cisrhenana, and by him distinguishedinto Upper and Lower Germany.
GOTHONES, a people of ancient Germany, who inhabited part ofPoland, and bordered on the Vistula.
GRAIAN ALPS, Graiæ Alpes, supposed to be so called fromthe Greeks who settled there. See ALPS.
GRINNES, a town of the Batavi, on the right side of the Vahalis(now the Waal), in the territory of Utrecht.
GUGERNI, a people originally from Germany, inhabiting part ofthe duchy of Cleves and Gueldre, between the Rhine and theMeuse.
GYARUS, one of the islands called the Cyclades, renderedfamous by being allotted for the banishment of Roman citizens.Juvenal says, Aude aliquid brevibus Gyaris, et carcere dignum,si vis esse aliquis.
H.
HÆMUS, MOUNT, a ridge of mountains running from Illyricumtowards the Euxine sea; now Mont Argentaro.
HÆMONADENSIANS, a people bordering on Cilicia.
HALICARNASSUS, the capital of Caria, in Asia Minor, famous forbeing the birth-place of Herodotus and Dionysius, commonly calledDionysius Halicarnassensis.
HELVETII, a people in the neighbourhood of the Allobroges,situate on the south-west side of the Rhine, and separated fromGaul by the Rhodanus and Lacus Lemanus.
HENIOCHIANS, a people dwelling near the Euxine Sea.
HERCULANEUM, a town of Campania, near Mount Vesuvius, swallowedup by an earthquake. Several antiquities have been lately dug outof the ruins.
HERCYNIAN FOREST: in the time of Julius Cæsar, the breadthcould not be traversed in less than nine days; and after travellinglengthways for sixty days, no man reached the extremity.Cæsar, De Bell. Gal. lib. vi. s. 29.
HERMUNDURI, a people of Germany, in part of what is now calledUpper Saxony, bounded on the north by the river Sala, on theeast by the Elbe, and on the south by the Danube.
HIERO-CÆSAREA, a city in Lydia, famous for a temple to thePersian Diana, supposed to have been built by Cyrus.
HISPALIS, a town of Bœtica in the Farther Spain; nowSeville in Andalusia.
HISPANIA, Spain, otherwise called Iberia, from the riverIberus. It has the sea on every side except that next toGaul, from which it is separated by the Pyrenees.During the time of the republic, the whole country was divided intotwo provinces, Ulterior and Citerior, theFarther and Hither Spain. Augustus divided theFarther Spain into two provinces; Bœtica, andLusitania. The Hither Spain he called Tarraconensis,and then Spain was formed into three provinces;Bœtica, under the management of the senate; and theother two reserved for officers appointed by the prince.
HOSTILIA, a village on the Po: now Ostiglia, in theneighbourhood of Cremona.
HYPÆPA, a small city in Lydia, now rased to theground.
HYRCANIA, a country of the Farther Asia, to the east of theCaspian Sea, with Media on the west, and Parthia on the south;famous for its tigers. There was a city of the same name inLydia.
I.
IBERIA, an inland country of Asia, bounded by Mount Caucasus onthe north, by Albania on the cast, by Colchis and part of Pontus onthe west, and by Armenia on the south. Spain was also calledIberia, from the river Iberus; now the Ebro.
IBERUS, a noble river of the Hither Spain; now theEbro.
ICENI, a people of Britain; now Essex, Suffolk, andNorfolk.
ILIUM, another name for ancient Troy. A new city, nearer to thesea, was built after the famous siege of Troy, and made a Romancolony. But, as was said of the old city, Etiam periereruinæ.
ILLYRICUM, the country between Pannonia to the north, and theAdriatic to the south. It is now comprised by Dalmatia andSclavonia, under the respective dominion of the Venetiansand the Turks.
INSUBRIA, a country of Gallia Cisalpina; now theMilanese.
INTEMELIUM. See ALBIUM INTEMELIUM.
INTERAMNA, an ancient town of the Volsci in Latium, not far fromthe river Liris. It is now in ruins.
IONIAN SEA, the sea that washes the western coast of Greece,opposite to the gulf of Venice.
ISICHI, a people bordering on the Euxine, towards the east.
ISTRIA, an island in the gulf of Venice, still retaining itsancient name. There was also a town of the same name near the mouthof the Ister, on the Euxine Sea.
ITURÆA, a Transjordan district of Palestine, nowBacar.
J.
JAPHA, a strong place, both by nature and art, in the LowerGalilee, not far from Jotapata; now Saphet.
JAZYGES, a people of Sarmatia Europæa, situate on thisside of the Palus Mæotis, near the territory of Maroboduus,the German king.
JUGANTES, said by Camden to be the same as the Brigantes,but Brotier thinks it probable that they were a distinct,people.
L.
LACUS LEMANUS, now the Lake of Geneva.
LANGOBARDI, a people of Germany, between the Elbe and theOder, in part of what is now called Brandenburg.
LANUVIUM, a town of Latium, about sixteen miles from Rome; nowCivita Lavinia.
LAODICEA, a town of Phrygia, called, to distinguish it fromother cities of the same name, Laodicea ad Lycum. Spon, inhis account of his travels, says it is rased to the ground, exceptfour theatres built, with marble, finely polished, and in as goodcondition as if they were modern structures; now calledLadik.
LAODICEA AD MARE, a considerable town on the coast of Syria,well built, with a commodious harbour.
LATIUM, the country of the Latini, so called from king Latinus;contained at first within narrow bounds, but greatly enlarged underthe Alban kings and the Roman consuls, by the accession of theÆqui, Volsci, Hernici, &c.
LECHÆUM, the west port of Corinth, which the people usedfor their Italian trade, as they did Cenchræ for theireastern or Asiatic.
LEPTIS, there were in Africa two ancient cities of the name,Leptis magna, and Leptis parva. The first (now calledLebeda) was in the territory of Tripoli; the second, a townon the Mediterranean, not far from Carthage.
LESBOS, an island in the Egean Sea, near the coast of Asia; thebirth-place of Sappho: now called Metelin.
LEUCI, a people of Gallia Belgica, to the north of the Lingones,between the Moselle and the Meuse.
LIBYA, the name given by the Greeks to all Africa; but, properlyspeaking, it was an interior part of Africa.
LIGERIS; now the Loire.
LIGURIA, a country of Italy, divided into the maritime, LigusOra; and the inland Liguria; both between the Apennineto the south, the Maritime Alps to the west, and the Po to thenorth. It contained what is now called Ferrara, and theterritories of Genoa.
LINGONES, a people of Gallia Belgica, inhabiting the countryabout Langres and Dijon.
LONGOBARDI, or LANGOBORDI, a people of Germany, between the Elbeand the Oder. See Manners of the Germans, s. 40 note a.
LUCANIA, a country of ancient Italy; now called theBasilicate.
LUGDUNUM, a city of ancient Gaul; now Lyons.
LUGDUNUM BATAVORUM, a town of the Batavi, now Leyden inHolland. There was another town of the name in Gallia Celtica, atthe confluence of the Arar (the Saone) and the Rhodanus (theRhone). The place is now called Lyons.
LUPPIA, a river of Westphalia; now the Lippe.
LUSITANIA, now the kingdom of Portugal, on the west ofSpain, formerly a part of it.
LYCIA, a country in Asia Minor, bounded by Pamphylia, Phrygia,and the Mediterranean.
LYDIA, an inland country of Asia Minor, formerly governed byCrœsus; now Carasia.
LYGII, an ancient people of Germany, who inhabited the countrynow called Silesia, and also part of Poland.
M.
MACEDONIA, a large country, rendered famous by Philip of Macedonand his son Alexander; now a province of the Turkish empire,bounded by Servia and Bulgaria to the north, by Greece to thesouth, by Thrace and the Archipelago to the east, and by Epirus tothe west.
MÆOTIS PALUS, a lake of Sarmatia Europæa, stillknown by the same name, and reaching from Crim Tartary to the mouthof the Tanais (the Don).
MÆSIA, a district of the ancient Illyricum, bordering onPannonia, containing what is now called Bulgaria, and partof Servia.
MAGNESIA: there were anciently three cities of the name; one inIonia, on the Mæander, which, it is said, was given toThemistocles by Artaxerxes, with these words, to furnish histable with bread; it is now called Guzel-Hissard, inAsiatic Turkey: the second was at the foot of Mount Sipylus, inLydia; but has been destroyed by earthquakes: the third Magnesiawas a maritime town of Thessaly, on the Egean Sea.
MAGONTIACUM, a town of Gallia Belgica; now Mentz, situateat the confluence of the Rhine and the Maine.
MARCODURUM, a village of Gallia Belgica; now Duren on theRoer.
MARCOMANIANS, a people of Germany, between the Rhine, theDanube, and the Neckar. They removed to the country of the Boii,and having expelled the inhabitants, occupied the country nowcalled Bohemia. See Manners of the Germans, s. 42.
MARDI, a people of the Farther Asia, near the Caspian Sea.
MARITIME ALPS. See ALPS.
MARSACI, a people in the north of Batavia, inhabiting thesea-coast.
MARSI, a people of Italy, who dwelt round the Lacus Fucinus.Another people called Marsi, in Germany, to the south of theFrisii, in the country now called Paderborne andMunster.
MASSILLIA, a town of Gallia Narbonensis, formerly celebrated forpolished manners and learning; now Marseilles, a port townof Provence.
MATTIACI, a branch of the Catti in Germany. Their capital townwas
MATTIUM, supposed now to be Marpourg in Hesse.
MAURITANIA, a large region of Africa, extending from east towest along the Mediterranean, divided by the emperor Claudius intoCæsariensis, the eastern part, and Tingitana,the western. It had Numidia to the east, and Getulia to the south;and was also bounded by the Atlantic ocean, the straits ofGibraltar, and the Mediterranean to the north. The natives werecalled Mauri, and thence the name of Mauritania; nowBarbary.
MEDIA, a country of the Farther Asia, bounded on the west byArmenia, on the east by Parthia, on the north by the Caspian Sea,on the south by Persia. Ecbatana was the capital.
MEDIOLANUM, now Milan in Italy.
MEDIOMATRICI, a people of Gallia Belgica; now the diocese ofMetz.
MELITENE, a city of Cappadocia.
MEMPHIS, a city of Egypt, famous for its pyramids.
MENAPII, a people of Belgia; now Brabant andFlanders.
MESOPOTAMIA, a large country in the middle of Asia; so called,because it lies, [Greek: mesae potamon], between two rivers, theEuphrates on the west, and the Tigris on the east.
MESSENA, or MESSANA, an ancient and celebrated city of Sicily,on the strait between that island and Italy. It still retains thename of Messina.
MEVANIA, a town of Umbria, near the Clitumnus, a river that runsfrom east to west into the Tiber.
MILETUS, an ancient city of Ionia, in Asia Minor; now totallydestroyed.
MILVIUS PONS, a bridge over the Tiber, at the distance of twomiles from Rome, on the Via Flamminia; now calledPonte-Molle.
MINTURNÆ, a town on the confines of Campania, near theriver Liris.
MISENUM, a promontory of Campania, with a good harbour, near theSinus Puteolanus, or the bay of Naples, on the north side.It was the station for the Roman fleets. Now Capo diMiseno.
MITYLENE, the capital city of the isle of Lesbos, and now givesname to the whole island.
MONA, an island separated from the coast of the Ordovices by anarrow strait, the ancient seat of the Druids. Now the isle ofAnglesey.
MONÆCI PORTUS, now Monaco, a port town in theterritory of Genoa.
MORINI, a people of Belgia, inhabiting the diocese ofTournay, and the country about St. Omer andBoulogne.
MOSA, a large river of Belgic Gaul; it receives a branch of theRhine, called Vahalis, and falls into the German Ocean belowthe Briel. It is now the Mæse, or Meuse.
MOSELLA, a river, which, running through Lorrain, falls into theRhine at Coblentz, now called the Moselle.
MOSTENI, the common name of the people and their town on theriver Hermus, in Lydia.
MUSULANI, an independent savage people in Africa, on theconfines of Carthage, Numidia, and Mauritania.
MUTINA, now Modena, a city of Lombardy, in Italy.
MYRINA, a town of Æolis, or Æolia, inthe Hither Asia; now Sanderlik.
N.
NABALIA, the name of the channel made by Drusus from the Rhineto the river Sala; now the Ysell. See Annals, ii. s. 8.
NABATHÆI, a people between the Euphrates and the Red Sea;comprehending Arabia Petræa, and bounded by Palestine on thenorth.
NAR, a river which rises in Umbria, and, falling into the lakeVelinus, rushes thence with a violent and loud cascade, andempties itself into the Tiber.
NARBON GAUL, the southern part of Gaul, bounded by the Pyreneesto the west, the Mediterranean to the south, and the Alps and theRhine to the east.
NARNIA, a town of Umbria, on the river Nar; nowNarni, in the territory of the Pope.
NAUPORTUM, a town on a cognominal river in Pannonia.
NAVA, a river of Gallia Belgica, which runs north-east into thewest side of the Rhine; now the Nahe.
NAVARIA, now Novara, a city of Milan.
NEMETES, a people originally of Germany, removed to the dioceseof Spire, on the Rhine.
NICEPHORUS, a river of Asia that washes the walls ofTigranocerta, and runs into the Tigris;D'Anville says, now called Khabour.
NICOPOLIS: there were several towns of this name, viz. in Egypt,Armenia, Bithynia, on the Euxine, &c. A town of the same namewas built by Augustus, on the coast of Epirus, as a monument of hisvictory at Actium.
NINOS, the capital of Assyria; called alsoNineve.
NISIBIS, a city of Mesopotamia, at this day calledNesibin.
NOLA, a city of Campania, on the north-east of Vesuvius. At thisplace Augustus breathed his last: it retains its old name to thisday.
NORICUM, a Roman province, bounded by the Danube on the north,by the Alpes Noricæ on the south, by Pannonia on theeast, and Vindelicia on the west; now containing a great part ofAustria, Tyrol, Bavaria, &c.
NOVESIUM, a town of the Ubii in Gallia Belgica; now Nuys,on the west side of the Rhine, in the electorate ofCologne.
NUCERIA, a city of Campania; now Nocera.
NUMIDIA, a celebrated kingdom of Africa, bordering onMauritania, and bounded to the north by the Mediterranean; nowAlgiers, Tunis, Tripoli, &c. the eastern part of thekingdom of Algiers. Syphax was king of one part, andMasinissa of the other.
O.
OCRICULUM, a town of Umbria, near the confluence of the Nar andthe Tiber; now Otricoli, in the duchy ofSpoletto.
ODRYSÆ, a people situated in the western part of Thrace,how a province of European Turkey.
OEENSES, a people of Africa, who occupied the country betweenthe two Syrtes on the Mediterranean. Their city was calledOea, now Tripoli.
OPITERGIUM, now Oderzo, in the territory of Venice.
ORDOVICES, a people who inhabited what we now callFlintshire, Denbighshire, Carnarvon, andMerionethshire, in North Wales.
OSTIA, formerly a town of note, at the mouth of the Tiber (onthe south side), whence its name; at this day it lies in ruins.
P.
PADUS, anciently called Eridanus by the Greeks, famousfor the fable of Phæton; it receives several rivers from theAlps and Apennine, and, running from west to east, dischargesitself into the Adriatic. It is now called the Po.
PAGIDA, a river in Numidia; its modern name is not ascertained.D'Anville thinks it is now called Fissato, in the territoryof Tripoli.
PALUS MÆOTIS; see MÆOTIS.
PAMPHYLIA, a country of the Hither Asia, bounded by Pisidia tothe north, and by the Mediterranean to the south.
PANDA, a river of Asia, in the territory of the Siraci;not well known.
PANDATARIA, an island of the Tuscan Sea, in the Sinus Puteolanus(now il Golfo di Napoli), the place of banishment forillustrious exiles, viz. Julia the daughter of Augustus, Agrippinathe wife of Germanicus, Octavia the daughter of Claudius, and manyothers. It is now called L'lsle Sainte-Marie, or SantaMaria.
PANNONIA, an extensive country of Europe, bounded by Mæsiaon the east, by Noricum on the west, Dalmatia on the south, and bythe Danube to the north; containing part of Austria andHungary.
PANNONIAN ALPS. See ALPS.
PAPHOS: there were two towns of the name, both on the west sideof the island of Cyprus, and dedicated to Venus, who was hence thePaphian and the Cyprian goddess.
PARTHIA, a country of the Farther Asia, with Media on the west,Asia on the east, and Hyrcania on the north.
PATAVIUM, now Padua, in the territory of Venice.
PELIGNI, a people of Samaium, near Naples.
PELOPONNESUS, the large peninsula to the south of Greece, socalled after Pelops, viz. Pelopis Nesus. It is joinedto the rest of Greece by the isthmus of Corinth, which lies betweenthe Egean and Ionian seas. It is now called the Morea.
PENNINÆ ALPES. See ALPS.
PERGAMOS, an ancient and famous city of Mysia, situate onthe Caicus, which runs through it. It was the residence of Attalusand his successors. This place was famous for a royal library,formed, with emulation, to vie with that of Alexandria in Egypt.The kings of the latter, stung with paltry jealousy, prohibited theexportation of paper. Hence the invention of parchment, calledPergamana charta. Plutarch assures us, that the library atPergamos contained two hundred thousand volumes. The wholecollection was given by Marc Antony as a present to Cleopatra, andthus the two libraries were consolidated into one. In about six orseven centuries afterwards, the volumes of science, by order of thecalif Omar, served for a fire to warm the baths of Alexandria; andthus perished all the physic of the soul. The town subsistsat this day, and retains the name of Pergamos. See Spon'sTravels, vol. i.
PERINTHUS, a town of Thrace, situate on the Propontis, nowcalled Heraclea.
PERUSIA, formerly a principal city of Etruria, on the north sideof the Tiber, with the famous Lacus Trasimenus to the east.It was besieged by Augustus, and reduced by famine. Lucan has,Perusina fames. It is now called Perugia, in theterritory of the Pope.
PHARSALIA, a town in Thessaly, rendered famous by the lastbattle between Pompey and Julius Cæsar.
PHILADELPHIA: there were several ancient towns of this name.That which Tacitus mentions was in Lydia, built by AttalusPhiladelphus; it is now called by the Turks, AlahScheyr.
PHILIPPI, a city of Macedonia, on the confines of Thrace; builtby Philip of Macedon, and famous for the battle fought on itsplains between Augustus and the republican party. It is now inruins.
PHILIPPOPOLIS, a city of Thrace, near the river Hebrus.It derived its name from Philip of Macedon, who enlarged it, andaugmented the number of inhabitants.
PICENTIA, the capital of the Picentini, on the TuscanSea. not far from Naples.
PICENUM, a territory of Italy, to the east of Umbria, and insome parts extending from the Apennine to the Adriatic. It is nowsupposed to be the March of Ancona.
PIRÆEUS, a celebrated port near Athens. It is muchfrequented at this day; its name, Porto Lione.
PISÆ, a town of Etruria, which gave name to the bay ofPisa, Sinus Pisanus.
PLACENTIA, a town in Italy, now called Placenza, in theduchy of Parma.
PLANASIA, a small island near the coast of Etruria, in theTuscan Sea; now Pianosa.
POMPEII, a town of Campania, near Herculaneum. It was destroyedby an earthquake in the reign of Nero.
POMPEIOPOLIS: there were anciently two cities of the name; onein Cilicia, another in Paphlagonia.
PONTIA, an island in the Tuscan sea; a place of relegation orbanishment.
PONTUS, an extensive country of Asia Minor, lying betweenBithynia and Paphlagonia, and extending along the PontusEuxinus, the Euxine or the Pontic Sea, from which it took itsname. It had that sea to the east, the mouth of the Ister to thenorth, and Mount Hæmus to the south. The wars betweenMithridates, king of Pontus, and the Romans, are well known.
PRÆNESTE, a town of Latium to the south-east of Rome,standing very high, and said to be a strong place. The town thatsucceeded it, stands low in a valley, and is calledPalestrina.
PROPONTIS, near the Hellespont and the Euxine; now the Sea ofMarmora.
PUTEOLI, a town of Campania, so called from its number of wells;now Pozzuolo, nine miles to the west of Naples.
PYRAMUS, a river of Cilicia, rising in Mount Taurus, and runningfrom east to west into the Sea of Cilicia.
PYRGI, a town of Etruria, on the Tuscan Sea; now St.Marinella, about thirty-three miles distant from Rome.
Q.
QUADI, a people of Germany, situate to the south-east ofBohemia, on the banks of the Danube. See Manners, of the Germans,s. 42. note b.
R.
RAVENNA, an ancient city of Italy, near the coast of theAdriatic. A port was constructed at the mouth of the river Bedesis,and by Augustus made a station for the fleet that guarded theAdriatic. It is still called Ravenna.
REATE, a town of the Sabines in Latium, situate near the lakeVelinus.
REGIUM. See RHEGIUM.
REMI, a people of Gaul, who inhabited the northern part ofChampagne; now the city of Rheims.
RHACOTIS, the ancient name of Alexandria in Egypt.
RHÆTIA, a country bounded by the Rhine to the west, theAlps to the east, by Italy to the south, and Vindelicia tothe north. Horace says Videre Rhæti bella sub AlpibusDrusum gerentem, et Vindelici. Now the country of theGrisons.
RHEGIUM, an ancient city at the extremity of the Apennine, onthe narrow strait between Italy and Sicily. It is now calledReggio, in the farther Calabria.
RHINE, the river that rises in the Rhætian Alps, anddivides Gaul from Germany. See Manners of the Germans, s. 1. notef; and s. 29. note a.
RHODANUS, a famous river of Gaul, rising on Mount Adula, not farfrom the head of the Rhine. After a considerable circuit it entersthe Lake of Geneva, and in its course visits the city ofLyons, and from that place traverses a large tract of country, andfalls into the Mediterranean. It is now called theRhone.
RHODUS, a celebrated island in the Mediterranean, near the coastof Asia Minor, over-against Caria. The place of retreat forthe discontented Romans. Tiberius made that use of it.
RHOXOLANI, a people on the north of the PalusMæotis, situate along the Tanais, now the Don.
RICODULUM, a town of the Treviri on the Moselle.
S.
SABRINA, now the Severn; a river that rises inMontgomeryshire, and running by Shrewsbury,Worcester, and Glocester, empties itself into theBristol Channel, separating Wales from England.
SALA. It seems that two rivers of this name were intended byTacitus, One, now called the Issel, which had a communication withthe Rhine, by means of the canal made by Drusus, the father ofGermanicus. The other SALA was a river in the country now calledThuringia, described by Tacitus as yielding salt, which theinhabitants considered as the peculiar favour of heaven. The salt,however, was found in the salt springs near the river, which runsnorthward into the Albis, or Elbe.
SALAMIS, an island near the coast of Attica, opposite toEleusis. There was also a town of the name of Salamis, onthe eastern coast of Cyprus, built by Teucer, when driven by hisfather from his native island. Horace says, Ambiguam tellurenovâ Salamina futuram.
SAMARIA, the capital of the country of that name in Palestine;the residence of the kings of Israel, and afterwards of Herod.Samaritans, the name of the people. Some magnificent ruins of theplace are still remaining.
SAMBULOS, a mountain in the territory of the Parthians, with theriver Corma near it. The mountain and the river arementioned by Tacitus only.
SAMNIS, or SAMNITES, a people of ancient Italy, extending onboth sides of the Apennine, famous in the Roman wars.
SAMOS, an island of Asia Minor, opposite to Ephesus; thebirth-place of Pythagoras, who was thence called the SamianSage.
SAMOTHRACIA, an island of Thrace, in the Egean Sea, opposite tothe mouth of the Hebrus. There were mysteries of initiationcelebrated in this island, held in as high repute as those ofEleusis; with a sacred and inviolable asylum.
SARDES, the capital of Lydia, at the foot of Mount Tmolus, fromwhich the Pactolus ran down through the heart of the city. Theinhabitants were called Sardicni.
SARDINIA, an island on the Sea of Liguria, lying to the south ofCorsica. It is said that an herb grew there, which, when eaten,produced a painful grin, called Sardonius risus. The islandnow belongs to the Duke of Saxony, with the title of king.
SARMATIA, called also Scythia, a northern country of vastextent, and divided into Europæa and Asiatica;the former beginning at the Vistula (its western boundary), andcomprising Russia, part of Poland, Prussia, and Lithuania; and thelatter bounded on the west by Sarmatia Europæa and the Tanais(the Don), extending south as far as Mount Caucasus and theCaspian Sea, containing Tartary, Circassia, &c.
SAXA RUBRA, a place on the Flamminian road in Etruria, ninemiles from Rome.
SCEPTEUCI, a people of Asiatic Sarmatia, between the Euxine andthe Caspian Sea.
SCYTHIA, a large country, now properly Crim Tartary; in ancientgeography divided in Scythia Asiatica, on either side of MountImaus; and Scythia Europæa, about the Euxine Sea and theMæotic Lake. See also SARMATIA.
SEGESTUM, a town of Sicily, near Mount Eryx, famous for atemple sacred to the Erycinian Venus.
SELEUCIA, a city of Mesopotamia, situate at the confluence ofthe Euphrates and the Tigris; now calledBagdad. We find in ancient geography several cities of thisname.
SEMNONES, a people of Germany, called by Tacitus the mostillustrious branch of the Suevi. They inhabited between the Albisand Viadrus.
SENENSIS COLONIA, now Sienna, in Tuscany.
SENONES, inhabitants of Celtic Gaul, situate on theSequana (now the Seine); a people famous for their invasionof Italy, and taking and burning Rome A.U.C. 364.
SEQUANI, a people of Belgic Gaul, inhabiting the country nowcalled Franche Comté or the Upper Burgundy,and deriving their name from the Sequana (now theSeine), which, rising near Dijon in Burgundy, runsthrough Paris, and, traversing Normandy, falls into the BritishChannel near Havre de Grace.
SERIPHOS, a small island in the Ægean Sea, one of theCyclades: now Serfo, or Serfanto.
SICAMBRI, an ancient people of Lower Germany, between theMæse and the Rhine, where Guelderland is. They weretransplanted by Augustus to the west side of the Rhine. Horace saysto that emperor, Te cæde gaudentes Sicambri compositisvenerantur armis.
SILURES, a people of Britain, situate on the Severn andthe Bristol Channel; now South Wales, comprisingGlamorgan, Radnorshire, Hereford, andMonmouth. See Camden.
SIMBRUINI COLLES, the Simbruine Hills, so called from theSimbruina Stagna, or lakes formed by the river Anio,which gave the name of Sublaqueum to the neighbouring town.
SINOPE, one of the most famous cities in the territory ofPontus. It was taken by Lucullus in the Mithridatic war, andafterwards received Roman colonies. It was the birth-place ofDiogenes the cynic, who was banished from his country. The place isstill called Sinope, a port town of Asiatic Turkey, on theEuxine.
SINUESSA, a town of Latium, on the confines of Campania, beyondthe river Liris (now called Garigliano). The place was muchfrequented for the salubrity of its waters.
SIPYLUS, a mountain of Lydia, near which Livy says the Romansobtained a complete victory over Antiochas.
SIRACI, a people of Asia, between the Euxine and theCaspian Seas.
SMYRNA, a city of Ionia in the Hither Asia, which laid a claimto the birth of Homer. The name of Smyrna still remains in a porttown of Asiatic Turkey.
SOPHENE, a country between the Greater and the Lesser Armenia;now called Zoph.
SOZA, a city of the Dandaridæ.
SPELUNCA, a small town near Fondi, on the coast ofNaples.
STÆCHADES, five islands, now called the Hieres, onthe coast of Provence.
STRATONICE, a town of Caria in the Hither Asia, so called afterStratonice, the wife of Antiochus.
SUEVI, a great and warlike people of ancient Germany, whooccupied a prodigious tract of country. See Manners of the Germans,s. 38. and note a.
SUNICI, a people removed from Germany to Gallia Belgica.According to Cluverius, they inhabited the duchy ofLimburg.
SWINDEN, a liver that flows on the confines of theDahæ. It is mentioned by Tacitus only. Brotiersupposes it to be what is now called Herirud, or LaRiviere d'Herat.
SYENE, a town in the Higher Egypt, towards the borders ofEthiopia, situate on the Nile. It lies under the tropic of Cancer,as is evident, says Pliny the elder, from there being no shadowprojected at noon at the summer solstice. It was, for a long time,the boundary of the Roman empire. A garrison was stationed there:Juvenal was sent to command there by Domitian, who, by conferringthat unlocked for honour, meant, with covered malice, to punish thepoet for his reflection on Paris the comedian, a native of Egypt,and a favourite at court.
SYRACUSE, one of the noblest cities in Sicily. The Romans tookit during the second Punic war, on which occasion the greatArchimedes lost his life. It is now destroyed, and no remains ofthe place are left. Etiam periere ruinæ.
SYRIA, a country of the Hither Asia, between the Mediterraneanand the Euphrates, so extensive that Palestine, or the Holy Land,was deemed a part of Syria.
SYRTES, the deserts of Barbary: also two dangerous sandygulfs in the Mediterranean, on the coast of Barbary; one calledSyrtis Magna, now the Gulf of Sidra; the otherSyrtis Parva, now the Gulf of Cassos.
T.
TANAIS, the Don, a very large river in Scythia, dividingAsia from Europe. It rises in Muscovy, and flowing through CrimTartary, runs into the Palus Mæotis, near the citynow called Azoff, in the hands of the Turks.
TARENTUM, now Tarento, in the province of Otranto. TheLacedemonians founded a colony there, and thence it was called byHorace, Lacedæmonium Tarentum.
TARICHÆA, a town of Galilee. It was besieged and taken byVespasian, who sent six thousand of the prisoners to assist incutting a passage through the isthmus of Corinth.
TARRACINA, a city of the Volsci in Latium, near the mouth of theUfens, in the Campania of Rome. Now Terracina, on theTuscan Sea.
TARRACO, the capital of a division of Spain, called by theRomans Tarraconensis; now Taragon, a port town in Catalonia,on the Mediterranean, to the west of Barcelona. SeeHISPANIA.
TARTARUS, a river running between the Po and the Athesis, (theAdige) from west to east, into the Adriatic; nowTartaro.
TAUNUS, a mountain of Germany, on the other side of the Rhine;now Mount Heyrick, over-against Mentz.
TAURANNITII, a people who occupied a district of ArmeniaMajor, not far from Tigranocerta.
TAURI, a people inhabiting the Taurica Chersonesus, onthe Euxine. The country is now called CrimTartary.
TAURINI, a people dwelling at the foot of the Alps. Theircapital was called, after Augustus Cæsar, who planted acolony, there, Augusta Taurinorum. The modern name isTurin, the capital of Piedmont.
TAURUS, the greatest mountain in Asia, extending from the Indianto the Ægean Sea; said to be fifty miles over, and fifteenhundred long. Its extremity to the north is calledImaus.
TELEBOÆ, a people of Æolia or Acarnania in Greece,who removed to Italy, and settled in the isle of Capreæ.
TEMNOS, an inland town of Æolia, in the Hither Asia.
TENCTERI, a people of Germany. See the Manners of the Germans,s. 32.
TENOS, one of the Cyclades.
TERMES, a city in the Hither Spain; now a village calledTiermes, in Castille.
TERRACINA, a city of the Volsci in Latium, near the mouthof the Ufens, on the Tuscan Sea; now calledTerracina, in the territory of Rome.
TEUTOBURGIUM, a forest in Germany, rendered famous by theslaughter of Varus and his legions. It began in the country of theMarsi, and extended to Paderborn, Osnaburg, and Munster, betweenthe Ems and the Luppia.
THALA, a town in Numidia, destroyed in the war of JuliusCæsar against Juba.
THEBÆ, a very ancient town in the Higher Egypt, on theeast side of the Nile, famous for its hundred gates. Another cityof the same name in Bœotia, in Greece, said to have beenbuilt by Cadmus. It had the honour of producing two illustriouschiefs, Epaminondas and Pelopidas, and Pindar the celebrated poet.Alexander rased it to the ground; but spared the house and familyof Pindar.
THERMES otherwise THERMA, a town in Macedonia, afterwards calledThessalonica, famous for two epistles of St. Paul to theThessalonians. The city stood at the head of a large bay, calledThermæus Sinus; now Golfo di Salonichi.
THESSALY, a country of Greece, formerly a great part ofMacedonia.
THRACIA, an extensive region, bounded to the north by MountHæmus, to the south by the Ægean Sea, and by the Euxineand Propontis to the east. In the time of Tiberius it was anindependent kingdom, but afterwards made a Roman province.
THUBASCUM, a town of Mauritania in Africa.
THURII, a people of ancient Italy, inhabiting a part of Lucania,between the rivers Crathis (now Crate), and Sybaris (nowSibari).
TIBER, a town of ancient Latium, situate on the Anio, abouttwenty miles from Rome. Here Horace had his villa, and it was thefrequent retreat of Augustus. Now Tivoli.
TICINUM, a town of Insubria, situate on the riverTicinus, near its confluence with the Po; now Pavia, inMilan.
TICINUS, a river of Italy falling into the Po, near the city ofTicinum, or Pavia; now Tesino.
TIGRANOCERTA, a town of Armenia Major, built by Tigranes in thetime of the Mithridatic war. The river Nicephorus washes oneside of the town. Brotier says, it is now called Sert orSered.
TIGRIS, a great river bounding the country called Mesopotamia tothe east, while the Euphrates incloses it to the west. Pliny givesan account of the Tigris, in its rise and progress, till it sinksunder ground near Mount Taurus, and breaks forth again with a rapidcurrent, falling at last into the Persian Gulf. It divides into twochannels at Seleucia.
TMOLUS, a mountain of Lydia, commended for its vines, itssaffron, its fragrant shrubs, and the fountain-head of thePactolus. It appears from Tacitus, that there was a town of thesame name, that stood near the mountain.
TOLBIACUM, a town of Gallia Belgica; now Zulpich, orZulch, a small town in the duchy of Juliers.
TRALLES, formerly a rich and populous city of Lydia, not farfrom the river Meander. The ruins are still visible.
TRAPEZUS, now Trapezond or Trebizond, a city witha port in the Lesser Asia, on the Euxine.
TREVIRI, the people of Treves; an ancient city of theLower Germany, on the Moselle. It was made a Roman colony byAugustus, and became the most famous city of Belgic Gaul. It is nowthe capital of an electorate of the same name.
TRIBOCI, a people of Belgica, originally Germans. They inhabitedAlsace, and the diocese of Strasbourg.
TRIMETUS, an island in the Adriatic; one of those which theancients called Insulæ Diomedeæ; it stillretains the name of Tremiti. It lies near the coast of theCapitanate, a province of the kingdom of Naples, on the Gulfof Venice.
TRINOBANTES, a people of Britain, who inhabited Middlesexand Essex.
TUBANTES, an ancient people of Germany, aboutWestphalia.
TUNGRI, a people of Belgia. Their city, according toCæsar, Atuaca; now Tongeren, in the bishopricof Liege.
TURONII, a people of ancient Gaul, inhabiting the east side ofthe Ligeris (now the Loire). Hence the modern name ofTours.
TUSCULUM, a town of Latium, to the north of Alba, abouttwelve miles from Rome. It gave the name of Tusculanum toCicero's villa, where that great orator wrote his TusculanQuestions.
TYRUS, an ancient city of Phœnicia, situate on an islandso near the continent, that Alexander the Great formed it into apeninsula, by the mole or causey which he threw up during thesiege. See Curtius, lib. iv. s. 7.
U.
UBIAN ALTAR, an altar erected by the Ubii, on their removal tothe western side of the Rhine, in honour of Augustus; but whetherthis was at a different place, or the town of the Ubii, is notknown.
UBII, a people originally of Germany, but transplanted byAugustus to the west side of the Rhine, under the conduct ofAgrippa. Their capital was then for a long time calledOppidum Ubiorum, and, at last, changed by the empressAgrippina to Colonia Agrippinensis; now Cologne, thecapital of the electorate of that name.
UMBRIA, a division of Italy, to the south-east of Etruria,between the Adriatic and the Nar.
UNSINGIS, a river of Germany, running into the sea, nearGroningen; now the Hunsing.
URBINUM, now Urbino, a city for ever famous for havinggiven birth to Raphael, the celebrated painter.
USIPII, or USIPETES, a people of Germany, who, after theirexpulsion by the Catti, settled near Paderborn. See Mannersof the Germans, s. 32. and note a.
USPE, a town in the territory of the Siraci; nowdestroyed.
V.
VADA, a town on the left-hand side of the Nile, in the island ofBatavia.
VAHALIS, a branch of the Rhine; now the Waal. See Manners of theGermans, s. 29. and note a.
VANGIONES, originally inhabitants of Germany, but afterwardssettled in Gaul; now the diocese of Worms.
VASCONES, a people who inhabited near the Pyrenees, occupyinglands both in Spain and Gaul.
VELABRUM, a place at Rome, between Mount Aventine and MountPalatine, generally under water, from the overflowing of the Tiber.Propertius describes it elegantly, lib. iv. eleg. x.
Qua Velabra suo stagnabantflumine, quáqueNauta per urbanas velificabataquas.
VELINUS, a lake in the country of the Sabines.
VENETI, a people of Gallia Celtica, who inhabited what is nowcalled Vannes, in the south of Britanny, and also aconsiderable tract on the other side of the Alps, extending fromthe Po along the Adriatic, to the mouth of the Ister.
VERCELLÆ, now Vercelli in Piedmont.
VERONA, now Verona, in the territory of Venice, on theAdige.
VESONTIUM, the capital of the Sequani; nowBesançon, the chief city of Burgundy.
VETERA, i.e. Vetera Castra. The Old Camp, which was a fortifiedstation for the legions; now Santen, in the duchy of Cleves,not far from the Rhine.
VIA SALARIA, a road leading from the salt-works at Ostia to thecountry of the Sabines.
VIADRUS, now the Oder, running through Silesia,Brandenburg, Pomerania, and discharging itself intothe Baltic.
VICETIA, now Vicenza, a town in the territory ofVenice.
VIENNÆ, a city of Narbonese Gaul; now Vienne, inDauphiné.
VINDELICI, a people inhabiting the country of Vindelicia,near the Danube, with the Ræhti to the south; now part ofBavaria and Suabia.
VINDONISSA, now Windisch, in the canton of Bern, inSwisserland.
VISURGIS, a river of Germany, made famous by the slaughter ofVarus and his legions; now the Weser, running north betweenWestphalia and Lower Saxony, into the German Sea.
VOCETIUS MONS, a mountain of the Helvetii, thought to be theroughest part of Mount Jura, to which the Helvetii fled whendefeated by Cæcina. See Hist. i. s. 67.
VOLSCI, a powerful people of ancient Latium, extending fromAntium, their capital, to the Upper Liris, and theconfines of Campania.
VULSINII, or VOLSINII, a city of Etruria, the native place ofSejanus; now Bolseno, or Bolsenna.
Z.
ZEUGMA, a town on the Euphrates, famous for a bridge overthe river. See Pliny, lib, v. s. 24.
