A History of Roman Literature by Charles Thomas Cruttwell
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Charles Thomas Cruttwell >> A History of Roman Literature
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In two points the writer appears in an unfavourable light--in his love of
gain, and in his brutal treatment of his slaves. With him farming is no
mere amusement, nor again is it mere labour. It is primarily and
throughout a means of making money, and indeed the only strictly
honourable one. However, Cato so far relaxed the strictness of this theory
that he became "an ardent speculator in slaves, buildings, artificial
lakes, and pleasure-grounds, the mercantile spirit being too strong within
him to rest satisfied with the modest returns of his estate." As regarded
slaves, the law considered them as chattels, and he followed the law to
the letter. If a slave grew old or sick he was to be sold. If the weather
hindered work he was to take his sleep then, and work double time
afterwards. "In order to prevent combinations among his slaves, their
master assiduously sowed enmities and jealousies between them. He bought
young slaves in their name, whom they were forced to train and sell for
his benefit. When supping with his guests, if any dish was carelessly
dressed, he rose from table, and with a leathern thong administered the
requisite number of lashes with his own hand." So pitilessly severe was
he, that a slave who had concluded a purchase without his leave, hung
himself to avoid his master's wrath. These incidents, some told by
Plutarch, others by Cato himself, show the inhuman side of Roman life, and
make it less hard to understand their treatment of vanquished kings and
generals. For the other sex Cato had little respect. Women, he says,
should be kept at home, and no Chaldaean or soothsayer be allowed to see
them. Women are always running after superstition. His directions about
the steward's wife are as follows. They are addressed to the steward:--
"Let her fear you. Take care that she is not luxurious. Let her see as
little as possible of her neighbours or any other female friends; let her
never invite them to your house; let her never go out to supper, nor be
fond of taking walks. Let her never offer sacrifice; let her know that the
master sacrifices for the whole family; let her he neat herself, and keep
the country-house neat." Several sacrificial details are given in the
treatise. We observe that they are all of the rustic order; the master
alone is to attend the city ceremonial. Among the different industries
recommended, we are struck by the absence of wheat cultivation. The
vineyard and the pasture chiefly engage attention, though herbs and green
produce are carefully treated. The reason is to be sought in the special
nature of the treatise. It is not a general survey of agriculture, but
merely a handbook of cultivation for a particular farm, that of Manlius or
Mallius, and so probably unfit for wheat crops. Other subjects, as
medicine, are touched on. But his prescriptions are confined to the rudest
simples, to wholesome and restorative diet, and to incantations. These
last have equal value assigned them with rational remedies. Whether Cato
trusted them may well be doubted. He probably gave in such cases the
popular charm-cure, simply from not having a better method of his own to
propose.
Another series of treatises were those addressed to his son, in one of
which, that on medicine, he charitably accuses the Greeks of an attempt to
kill all barbarians by their treatment, and specially the Romans, whom
they stigmatise by the insulting name of _Opici_. [28] "I forbid you, once
for all, to have any dealings with physicians." Owing to their temperate
and active life, the Romans had for more than five hundred years existed
without a physician within their walls. Cato's hostility to the
profession, therefore, if not justifiable, was at least natural. He
subjoins a list of simples by which he kept himself and his wife alive and
in health to a green old age. [29] And observing that there are countless
signs of death, and none of health, he gives the chief marks by which a
man apparently in health may be noted as unsound. In another treatise, on
farming, also dedicated to his son, for whom he entertained a warm
affection, and over whose education he sedulously watched, he says,--"Buy
not what you want, but what you must have; what you don't want is dear at
a farthing, and what you lack borrow from yourself." Such is the homely
wisdom which gained for Cato the proud title of _Sapiens_, by which, says
Cicero, [30] he was familiarly known. Other original works, the product of
his vast experience, were the treatise on eloquence, of which the pith is
the following: "Rem tene: verba sequentur;" "Take care of the sense: the
sounds will take care of themselves." We can well believe that this
excellent maxim ruled his own conduct. The art of war formed the subject
of another volume; in this, too, he had abundant and faithful experience.
An attempt to investigate the principles of jurisprudence, which was
carried out more fully by his son, [31] and a short _carmen de moribus_ or
essay on conduct, completed the list of his paternal instructions. Why
this was styled _carmen_ is not known. Some think it was written in
Saturnian verse, others that its concise and oracular formulas suggested
the name, since _carmen_ in old Latin is by no means confined to verse. It
is from this that the account of the low estimation of poets in the early
Republic is taken. Besides these regular treatises we hear of letters,
[32] and _apophthegmata_, or pithy sayings, put together like those of
Bacon from divers sources. In after times Cato's own apophthegms were
collected for publication, and under the name of _Catonis dicta_, were
much admired in the Middle Ages. We see that Cato's literary labours were
encyclopaedic. In this wide and ambitious sphere he was followed by Varro,
and still later by Celsus. Literary effort was now becoming general.
FULVIUS NOBILIOR, the patron of Ennius and adversary of Cato, published
annals after the old plan of a calendar of years. CASSIUS HEMINA and
Calpurnius Piso, who were younger contemporaries, continued in the same
track, and we hear of other minor historians. Cassius is mentioned more
than once as "_antiquissimus auctor_," a term of compliment as well as
chronological reference. [33] Of him Niebuhr says: "He wrote about Alba
according to its ancient local chronology, and synchronised the earlier
periods of Rome with the history of Greece. He treated of the age before
the foundation of Rome, whence we have many statements of his about
Siculian towns in Latium. The archaeology of the towns seems to have been
his principal object. The fourth book of his work bore the title of
_Punicum bellum posterius_, from which we infer that the last war with
Carthage had not as yet broken out."
About this epoch flourished Q. FABIUS MAXIMUS SERVILIANUS, who is known to
have written histories. He is supposed to be miscalled by Cicero, [34]
Fabius Pictor, for Cicero mentions a work in Latin by the latter author,
whereas it is certain that the old Fabius wrote only in Greek. The best
authorities now assume that Fabius Maximus, as a clansman and admirer of
Pictor, translated his book into Latin to make it more widely known. The
new work would thus be indifferently quoted as Fabius Pictor or Fabius
Maximus.
L. CALPURNIUS PISO FRUGI CENSORIUS (Cons. 133), well known as the
adversary of the Gracchi, an eloquent and active man, and staunch adherent
of the high aristocratic party, was also an able writer of history. That
his conception of historical writing did not surpass that of his
predecessors the annalists, is probable from the title of his work; [35]
that he brought to bear on it a very different spirit seems certain from
the quotations in Livy and Dionysius. One of the select few, in breadth of
views as in position, he espoused the rationalistic opinions advocated by
the Scipionic circle, and applied them with more warmth than judgment to
the ancient legends. Grote, Niebuhr, and others, have shown how
unsatisfactory this treatment is; illusion is lost without truth being
found; nevertheless, the man who first honestly applies this method,
though he may have ill success, makes an epoch in historical research.
Cicero gives him no credit for style; his annals (he says) are written in
a barren way. [36] The reader who wishes to read Niebuhr's interesting
judgment on his work and influence is referred to the _Introductory
Lectures on Roman History_. In estimating the very different opinions on
the ancient authors given in the classic times, we should have regard to
the divers standards from time to time set up. Cicero, for instance, has a
great fondness for the early poets, but no great love for the prose
writers, except the orators, nearly all of whom he loads with praise.
Still, making allowance for this slight mental bias, his criticisms are of
the utmost possible value. In the Augustan and early imperial times,
antiquity was treated with much less reverence. Style was everything, and
its deficiency could not be excused. And lastly, under the Antonines (and
earlier [37]), disgust at the false taste of the day produced an
irrational reaction in favour of the archaic modes of thought and
expression, so that Gellius, for instance, extols the simplicity,
sweetness, or noble vigour of writings in which we, like Cicero, should
see only jejune and rugged immaturity. [38] Pliny speaks of Piso as a
weighty author (_gravis auctor_), and Pliny's penetration was not easily
warped by style or want of style. We may conclude, on the whole, that
Piso, though often misled by his want of imagination, and occasionally by
inaccuracy in regard to figures, [39] brought into Roman history a
rational method, not by any means so original or excellent as that of
Cato, but more on a level with the capacities of his countrymen, and
infinitely more productive of imitation.
The study of Greek rhetoric had by this time been cultivated at Rome, and
the difficulty of composition being materially lightened [40] as well as
its results made more pleasing, we are not surprised to find a number of
authors of a somewhat more pretentious type. VENNONIUS, CLODIUS LICINUS,
C. FANNIUS, and GELLIUS are little more than names; all that is known of
them will be found in Teuffel's repertory. They seem to have clung to the
title of annalist though they had outgrown the character. There are,
however, two names that cannot be quite passed over, those of SEMPRONIUS
ASELLIO and CAELIUS ANTIPATER. The former was military tribune at Numantia
(133 B.C.), and treated of that campaign at length, in his work. He was
killed in 99 B.C. [41] but no event later than the death of Gracchus (121
B.C.) is recorded as from him. He had great contempt for the old
annalists, and held their work to be a mere diary so far as form went; he
professed to trace the motives and effects of actions, rather, however,
with the object of stimulating public spirit than satisfying a legitimate
thirst for knowledge. He had also some idea of the value of constitutional
history, which may be due to the influence of Polybius, whose trained
intelligence and philosophic grasp of events must have produced a great
impression among those who knew or read him.
We have now mentioned three historians, each of whom brought his original
contribution to the task of narrating events. Cato rose to the idea of
Rome as the centre of an Italian State; he held any account of her
institutions to be imperfect which did not also trace from their origin
those of the kindred nations; Piso conceived the plan of reducing the
myths to historical probability, and Asellio that of tracing the moral
causes that underlay outward movements. Thus we see a great advance in
theory since the time, just a century earlier, when Fabius wrote his
annals. We now meet with a new element, that of rhetorical arrangement. No
one man is answerable for introducing this. It was in the air of Rome
during the seventh century, and few were unaffected by it. Antipater is
the first to whom rhetorical ornament is attributed by Cicero, though his
attainments were of a humble kind. [42] He was conspicuous for word
painting. Scipio's voyage to Africa was treated by him in an imaginative
theatrical fashion, noticed with disapproval by Livy. [43] In other
respects he seems to have been trustworthy and to have merited the honour
he obtained of being abridged by J. Brutus.
In the time of Sulla we hear of several historians who obtained celebrity.
The first is CLAUDIUS QUADRIGARIUS (fl. 100 B.C.). He differs from all his
predecessors by selecting as his starting-point the taking of Rome by the
Gauls. His reason for so doing does him credit, viz. that there existed no
documents for the earlier period. [44] He hurried over the first three
centuries, and as was usual among Roman writers, gave a minute account of
his own times, inserting documents and speeches. So archaic was his style
that his fragments might belong to the age of Cato. For this reason, among
others, Gellius [45] (in whom they are found) greatly admires him. Though
he outlived Sulla, and therefore chronologically might be considered as
belonging to the Ciceronian period, yet the lack of finish in his own and
his contemporaries' style, makes this the proper place to mention them.
The _period_, [46] as distinct from the mere stringing together of
clauses, was not understood even in oratory until Gracchus, and in history
it was to appear still later. Cicero never mentions Claudius, nor VALERIUS
ANTIAS (91 B.C.), who is often associated with him. This writer, who has
gained through Livy's page the unenviable notoriety of being the most
lying of all annalists, nevertheless obtained much celebrity. The chief
cause of his deceptiveness was the fabrication of circumstantial
narrative, and the invention of exact numerical accounts. His work
extended from the first mythical stories to his own day, and reached to at
least seventy-five books. In his first decade Livy would seem to have
followed him implicitly. Then turning in his later books to better
authorities, such as Polybius, and perceiving the immense discrepancies,
he realised how he had been led astray, and in revenge attacked Antias
throughout the rest of his work. Still the fact that he is quoted by Livy
oftener than any other writer, shows that he was too well-known to be
neglected, and perhaps Livy has exaggerated his defects.
L. CORNELIUS SISENNA, (119-67 B.C.), better known as a statesman and
grammarian, treated history with success. His daily converse with
political life, and his thoughtful and studious habits, combined to
qualify him for this department. He was a conscientious man, and tells how
he pursued his work continuously, lest if he wrote by starts and snatches,
he might pervert the reader's mind. His style, however, suffered by this,
he became prolix; this apparently is what Fronto means when he says
"_scripsit longinque_." To later writers he was interesting from his
fondness for archaisms. Even in the senate he could not drop this affected
habit. Alone of all the fathers he said _adsentio_ for _adsentior_, and
such phrases as "_vellicatim aut sultuatim scribendo_" show an absurd
straining after quaintness.
C. LICINIUS MACER (died 73 B.C.) the father of the poet Calvus, was the
latest annalist of Rome. Cicero, who was his enemy, and his judge in the
trial which cost him his life, criticises his defects both as orator and
historian, with severity. Livy, too, implies that he was not always
trustworthy ("Quaesita ea propriae familiae laus leviorem auctorem facit,"
[47]) when the fame of his _gens_ was in question, but on many points he
quotes him with approval, and shows that he sought for the best materials,
_e.g._ he drew from the _lintei libri_, [48] the books of the magistrates,
[49] the treaty with Ardea, [50] and where he differed from the general
view, he gave his reasons for it.
The extent of his researches is not known, but it seems likely that, alone
of Roman historians, he did not touch on the events of his day, the latest
speech to which reference is made being the year 196 B.C. As he was an
orator, and by no means a great one, being stigmatised as "loquacious" by
Cicero, it is probable that his history suffered from a rhetorical
colouring.
In reviewing the list of historians of the ante-classical period, we
cannot form any high opinion of their merits. Fabius, Cincius, and Cato,
who are the first, are also the greatest. The others seem to have gone
aside to follow out their own special views, without possessing either
accuracy of knowledge or grasp of mind sufficient to unite them with a
general comprehensive treatment. The simultaneous appearance of so many
writers of moderate ability and not widely divergent views, is a witness
to the literary activity of the age, but does not say much for the force
of its intellectual creations.
NOTE.--The fragments of the historians have been carefully collected and
edited with explanations and lists of authorities by Peter. (_Veterum
Historicorum Romanorum Relliquiae_. Lipsiae, 1870.)
APPENDIX.
_On the Annales Pontificum._
(Chiefly from _Les Annales des Pontifes_, Le Clerc.)
The _Annales_, though not literature in the proper sense, were so
important, as forming materials for it, that it may be well to give a
short account of them. They were called _Pontificum_, _Maximi_, and
sometimes _Publici_, to distinguish them from the _Annales_ of other
towns, of families, or of historical writers. The term _Annales_, we may
note _en passant_, was ordinarily applied to a narrative of facts
preceding one's own time, _Historiae_ being reserved for a contemporary
account (Gell. v. 8). But this of course was after its first sense was
lost. In the oldest times, the Pontifices, as they were the lawyers, were
in like manner the historians of Rome (Cic. de Or. ii. 12). Cicero and
Varro repeatedly consulted their records, which Cicero dates from the
origin of the city, but Livy only from Aneus Martius (i. 32). Servius,
apparently confounding them with the _Fasti_, declares that they put down
the events of every day (ad Ac. i. 373); and that they were divided into
eighty books. Sempronius Asellio (Gell. v. 18) says they mention _bellum
quo initum consule, et quo modo confectum, et quis triumphans introierit_,
and Cato ridicules the meagreness of their information. Nevertheless it
was considered authentic. Cicero found the eclipse of the year 350 duly
registered; Virgil and Ovid drew much of their archaeological lore
(_annalibus eruta priscis_, Ov. Fast i. 7.) and Livy his lists of
prodigies from them. Besides these marvellous facts, others were doubtless
noticed, as new laws, dedication of temples or monuments, establishment of
colonies, deaths of great men, erection of statues, &c.; but all with the
utmost brevity. _Unam dicendi laudem putant esse brevitatem_ (De Or. ii.
12). Sentences occur in Livy which seem excerpts from them, _e.g._ (ii.
1).--_His consulibus Fidenae obssesae, Crustumina capta, Praeneste ab
Latinis ad Romanos descivit_. Varro, in enumerating the gods whose altars
were consecrated by Tatius, says (L. L. v. 101), _ut Annales veteres
nostri dicunt_, and then names them. Pliny also quotes them expressly, but
the word _vetustissimi_ though they make it probable that the Pontifical
Annals are meant, do not establish it beyond dispute (Plin. xxxiii. 6,
xxxiv. 11).
It is probable, as has been said in this work, that the _Annales
Pontificum_ were to a great extent, though not altogether, destroyed in
the Gallic invasion. But Rome was not the only city that had Annales.
Probably all the chief towns of the Oscan, Sabine, and Umbrian territory
had them. Cato speaks of Antemna as older than Rome, no doubt from its
records. Varro drew from the archives of Tusculum (L. L. vi. 16),
Praeneste had its Pontifical Annals (Cic de Div. ii. 41), and Anagnia its
_libri lintei_ (Fronto, Ep. ad Ant. iv. 4). Etruria beyond question
possessed an extensive religious literature, with which much history must
have been mingled. And it is reasonable to suppose, as Livy implies, that
the educated Romans were familiar with it. From this many valuable facts
would be preserved. When the Romans captured a city, they brought over its
gods with them, and it is possible, its sacred records also, since their
respect for what was religious or ancient, was not limited to their own
nationality, but extended to most of those peoples with whom they were
brought in contact. From all these considerations it is probable that a
considerable portion of historic record was preserved after the burning of
the city, whether from the Annals themselves, or from portions of them
inscribed on bronze erstone, or from those of other states, which was
accessible to, and used by Cato, Polybius, Varro, Cicero, and Verrius
Flaccus. It is also probable that these records were collected into a
work, and that this work, while modernized by its frequent revisions,
nevertheless preserved a great deal of original and genuine annalistic
chronicle.
The _Annales_ must be distinguished from the _Libri Pontificum_, which
seem to have been a manual of the _Jus Pontificale_. Cicero places them
between the _Jus Civile_ and the Twelve Tables (De Or. i. 43.) The _Libri
Pontificii_ may have been the same, but probably the term, when correctly
used, meant the ceremonial ritual for the _Sacerdotes_, _flamines_, &c.
This general term included the more special ones of _Libri sacrorum_,
_sacerdotum_, _haruspicini_, &c. Some have confounded with the _Annales_ a
different sort of record altogether, the _Indigitamenta_, or ancient
formulae of prayer or incantation, and the _Axamenta_, to which class the
song of the Arval Brothers is referred.
As to the amount of historical matter contained in the Annals, it is
impossible to pronounce with confidence. Their falsification through
family and patrician pride is well known. But the earliest historians must
have possessed sufficient insight to distinguish the obviously fabulous.
We cannot suspect Cato of placing implicit faith in mythical accounts. He
was no friend to the aristocratic families or their records, and took care
to check them by the rival records of other Italian tribes. Sempronius
Asellio, in a passage already alluded to (ap. Gell. v. 18), distinguishes
the annalistic style as puerile (_fabulas pueris narrare_); the historian,
he insists, should go beneath the surface, and understand what he relates.
On comparing the early chronicles of Rome with those of St Bertin and St
Denys of France, there appears no advantage in a historical point of view
to be claimed by the latter; both contain many real events, though both
seek to glorify the origin of the nation and its rulers by constant
instances of divine or saintly intervention.
CHAPTER X.
THE HISTORY OF ORATORY BEFORE CICERO.
As the spiritual life of a people is reflected in their poetry, so their
living voice is heard in their oratory. Oratory is the child of freedom.
Under the despotisms of the East it could have no existence; under every
despotism it withers. The more truly free a nation is, the greater will
its oratory be. In no country was there a grander field for the growth of
oratorical genius than in Rome. The two countries that approach nearest to
it in this respect are beyond doubt Athens and England. In both eloquence
has attained its loftiest height, in the one of popular, in the other of
patrician excellence. The eloquence of Demosthenes is popular in the
noblest sense. It is addressed to a sovereign people who knew that they
were sovereign. Neither to deliberative nor to executive did they for a
moment delegate that supreme power which it delighted them to exercise. He
that had a measure or a bill to propose had only to persuade them that it
was good, and the measure passed, the bill became law. But the audience he
addressed, though a popular, was by no means an ordinary one. It was
fickle and capricious to a degree exceeding that of all other popular
assemblies; it was critical, exacting, intellectual, in a still higher
degree. No audience has been more swayed by passion; none has been less
swayed by the pretence of it. Always accessible to flattery, Athens counts
as her two greatest orators the two men who never stooped to flatter her.
The regal tones of Pericles, the prophetic earnestness of Demosthenes, in
the response which each met, bear witness to the greatness of those who
heard them. Even Cleon owed his greatest triumphs to the plainness with
which he inveighed against the people's faults. Intolerant of inelegance
and bombast, the Athenians required not only graceful speech, but speech
to the point. Hence Demosthenes is of all ancient orators the most
business-like. Of all ancient orators, it has been truly said he would
have met with the best hearing from the House of Commons. Nevertheless
there is a great difference between Athenian and English eloquence. The
former was exclusively popular; the latter, in the strictest sense, is
hardly popular at all. The dignified representatives of our lower house
need no such appeals to popular passion as the Athenian assembly required;
only on questions of patriotism or principle would they be tolerated.
Still less does emotion govern the sedate and masculine eloquence of our
upper house, or the strict and closely-reasoned pleadings of our courts of
law. Its proper field is in the addresses of a popular member to one of
the great city constituencies. The best speeches addressed to hereditary
legislators or to elected representatives necessarily involve different
features from those which characterised orations addressed directly to the
entire nation assembled in one place. If oratory has lost in fire, it has
gained in argument. In its political sphere, it shows a clearer grasp of
the public interest, a more tenacious restriction to practical issues; in
its judicial sphere, a more complete abandonment of prejudice and passion,
and a subordination, immeasurably greater than at Athens, to the authority
of written law.
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