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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APPENDIX.
Note I.--_Imitations of Virgil in Propertius, Ovid, and Manilius._
The prestige of Virgil made him a subject for imitation even during his
lifetime. Just as Carlyle, Tennyson, and other vigorous writers soon
create a school, so Virgil stamped the poetical dialect for centuries. But
he offered two elements for imitation, the declamatory or rhetorical,
which is most prominent in his speeches, and in the second and sixth
books; and detached passages showing descriptive imagery, touches of
pathos, similes, &c. These last might he imitated without at all unduly
influencing the individuality of the imitator's style. In this way Ovid is
a great imitator of Virgil; so to a less extent are Propertius, Manilius,
and Lucan. Statius and Silius base their whole poetical art on him, and
therefore particular instances of imitation throw no additional light on
their style. We shall here notice a few of the points in which the
Augustan poets copied him:--
(1) _In Facts._--Beside the great number of early historical points on
which he was followed implicitly, we find even his errors imitated, _e.g._
the confusion which perhaps in Virgil is only apparent between Pharsalia
and Philippi, has, as Merivale remarks, been adopted by Propertius (iv.
10,40), Ovid (M. xv, 824), Manilius (i. 906), Lucan (vii. 854), and
Juvenal (viii. 242); not so much from ignorance of the locality as out of
deference to Virgilian precedent. The lines may be quoted--Virgil (G. i.
489), _Ergo inter se paribus concurrere telis Romanas acies iterum videre
Philippi;_ Propertius, _Una Philippeo sanguine inusta nota;_ Ovid,
_Emathiaque iterum madefient caede Philippi;_ Manilius, _Arma Philippeos
implerunt sanguine campos. Vixque etiam sicca miles Romanus arena Ossa
virum lacerosque prius superastitit artus;_ Lucan, _Scelerique secundo
Praestatis nondum siccos hoc sanguine campos;_ Juvenal, _Thessaliae campis
Octavius abstulit ... famam...._ This is analogous to the way in which the
satirists use the names consecrated by Lucilius or Horace as types of a
vice, and repeat the same symptoms _ad nauseam, e.g._ the miser who
anoints his body with train oil, who locks up his leavings, who picks up a
farthing from the road, &c. The veiled allusion to the poet Anser (Ecl.
ix. 36) is perhaps recalled by Prop. iii. 32, 83, _sqq._ So the portents
described by Virgil as following on the death of Caesar are told again by
Manilius at the end of Bk. I. and referred to by Lucan (_Phars._ i.) and
Ovid. Again, the confusion between _Inarime_ and _ein Arimois_, into which
Virgil falls, is borrowed by Lucan (_Phars._ v. 101).
(2) _In Metre._--As regards metre, Ovid in the _Metamorphoses_ is nearest
to him, but differs in several points, He imitates him--(_a_) in not
admitting words of four or more syllables, except very rarely, at the end
of the line; (_b_) in rhythms like _vulnificus sus_ (viii. 358), and the
not unfrequent _spondetazontes_; (_c_) in keeping to the two caesuras as
finally established by him, and avoiding beginnings like _scilicet omnibus
| est_, &c. In all these points Manilius is a little less strict than
Ovid, _e.g._ (i. 35) _et veneranda_, (iii. 130) _sic breviantur_, (ii.
716) _altribuuntur_. He also follows Virgil in alliteration, which Ovid
does not. They differ from Virgil in--(_a_) a much more sparing employment
of elision. The reason of this is that elision marks the period of living
growth; as soon as the language had become crystallised, each letter had
its fixed force, the caprices of common pronunciation no longer
influencing it; and although no correct writer places the unelided _m_
before a vowel, yet the great rarity of elision not only of _m_ but of
long and even short vowels (except _que_) shows that the main object was
to avoid it, if possible. The great frequency of elision in Virgil must be
regarded as an archaism. (_b_) In a much lesser variety of rhythm. This
is, perhaps, rather an artistic defect, but it is designed. Manilius,
however, has verses which Virgil avoids, _e.g. Delcetique sacerdotes_ (i.
47), probably as a reminiscence of Lucretius.
Imitations in language are very frequent. Propertius gives _ah pereat!
qui_ (i. 17, 13), from the _Copa_. Again, _Sit licet et saxo patientior
illa Sicano_ (i. 16, 29), from the _Cyclopia saxa_ of _Aeneid_, i. 201;
_cum tamen_ (i. 1, 8) with the indic. as twice in Virgil; _Umbria me
genuit_ (i. 23, 9), perhaps from the _Mantua me genuit_ of Virgil's
epitaph. These might easily be added to. Ovid in the _Metamorphoses_ has a
vast number of imitations of which we select the most striking; _Plebs
habitat diversa locis_ (i. 193); _Navigat, hic summa_, &c. (i. 296); cf.
_Naviget, haec summa est_, in the 4th Aeneid; _similisque roganti_ (iii.
240), _amarunt me quoque Nymphae_ (iii. 454); _Arma manusque meae, mea,
nate, potentia, dixit_ (v. 365); _Heu quantum haec Niobe Niobe distabat ab
illa_ (vi. 273); _leti discrimine parvo_ (vi. 426); _per nostri foedera
lecti, perque deos supplex oro superosque neosque, Per si quid merui de te
bene_ (vii. 852); _maiorque videri_ (ix. 269). These striking
resemblances, which are selected from hundreds of others, show how
carefully he had studied him. Of all other poets I have noticed but two or
three imitations in him, _e.g. multi illum pueri, multae cupiere puellae_
(iii. 383), from Catullus; _et merito, quid enim...?_ (ix. 585) from
Propertius (i. 17). Manilius also imitates Virgil's language, _e.g. acuit
mortalia corda_ (i. 79), _Acherunta movere_ (i. 93), _molli cervice
reflexus_ (i. 334), and his sentiments in _omnia conando docilis solertia
vicit_ (i. 95), compared with _labor omnia vicit improbus: invictamque sub
Hectore Troiam_ (i. 766), with _decumum quos distulit Hector in annum_ of
the _Aeneid_; cf. also iv. 122, and _litora litoribus regnis contraria
regna_ (iv. 814); cf. also iv. 28, 37.
NOTE II.--_On the shortening of final o in Latin poetry._
The fact that in Latin the accent was generally thrown back caused a
strong tendency to shorten long final vowels. The one that resisted this
tendency best was _o_, but this gradually became shortened as poetry
advanced, and is one of the very few instances of a departure from the
standard of quantity as determined by Ennius. There is one instance even
in him: _Horrida Romuleum certamina pango duellum_. The words _ego_ and
_modo_, which from their frequent use are often shortened in the
comedians, are generally long in Ennius; Lucretius uses them as common,
but retains _homo_, which after him does not appear. Catullus has one
short _o_, _Virro_ (89, 1), but this is a proper name. Virgil has
_sci0_ (_Aen._ iii. 602), but _ego, homo_, when in the arsis, are
always elided, _e.g. Pulsus ego? aut; Graius homo, infectos. Spondeo_
which used to be read (_Aen._ ix, 294), is now changed to _sponde_.
_Pollio_ is elided by Virgil, shortened by Horace (O. II. i. 14). He also
has _mentio_ and _dixero_ in the _Satires_ (I. iv. 93, 104). A line by
Maecenas, quoted in Suetonius, has _diligo_. Ovid has _cito, puto_ (_Am._
iii. vii. 2), but only in such short words; in nouns, _Naso_ often,
_origo, virgo_, once each. Tibullus and Propertius are stricter in this
respect, though Propertius has _findo_ (iii. or iv. 8 or 9, 35); Manilius
has _leo, Virgo_ (i. 266), Lucan _Virgo_ (ii. 329), _pulmo_ (iii. 644),
and a few others. Gratius first gives the imperative _reponito_ (_Cyn._
56); Calpurnius, in the the time of Nero, the false quantities _quando
ambo_, the latter (ix. 17) perhaps in a spurious eclogue; so _expecto_. In
Statius no new licenses appear. Juvenal, however, gives _vigilando_ (iii.
232), an improper quantity repeated by Seneca (_Tro._ 264) _vincendo_,
Nemesianus (viii. 53) _mulcendo_, (ix. 80), _laudano_. Juvenal gives also
_sumito, octo, ergo_. The dat. and abl. sing. are the only terminations
that were not affected. We see the gradual deterioration of quantity, and
are not surprised that even before the time of Claudian a strict knowledge
of it was confined to the most learned poets.
NOTE III.--_On parallelism in Virgil's poetry._
There is a very frequent feature in Virgil's poetry which we may compare
to the parallelism well known as the chief characteristic of Hebrew verse.
In that language the poet takes a thought and either repeats it, or varies
it, or explains it, or gives its antithesis in a corresponding clause, as
evenly as may be balancing the first. As examples we may take--
(1) A mere iteration:
"Why do the nations so furiously rage together?
And why do the people imagine a vain thing?"
(2) Contrast:
"A wise son maketh a glad father:
But a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother."
This somewhat rude idea of ornament is drawn no doubt from the simplest
attempts to speak with passion or emphasis, which naturally turned to
_iteration_ or _repetition_ as the obvious means of gaining the effect.
Roman poetry, as we have already said, rests upon a primitive and rude
basis, the Greek methods of composition being applied to an art arrested
before its growth was complete. The fondness for repetition is very
prominent. Phrases like _somno gravidi vinoque sepulti; indu foro lato,
sanctoque senatu_, occur commonly in Ennius; and the trick of composition
of which they are the simplest instances, is perpetuated throughout Roman
poetry. It is in reality rather rhetorical than poetical, and abounds in
Cicero. It scarcely occurs in Greek poetry, but is very common in Virgil,
_e.g. _:
"Ambo florentes aetatibus, Arcades ambo,
Et cantare pares, et respondere parati."
Similar to this is the introduction of
corresponding clauses by the same
initial word, _e.g. ille_ (_Ecl._ i. 17):
"Namque erit _ille_ mihi semper deus: _illius_ aram
Saepe tener nostris ab ovilibus imbuet agnus.
_Ille_ meas errare boves..."
Instances of this construction will occur to every reader. Frequently the
first half of the hexameter expresses a thought obscurely which is
expressed clearly in the latter half, or _vice versa, e.g._ (G. iv. 103):
"At quum incerta volant, caeloque examina ludunt."
Again (_Aen._ iv. 368):
"Nam quid dissimulo, aut quae me ad maiora reservo?"
at times this parallelism is very useful as helping us to find out the
poet's meaning, _e.g._ (_Aen._ ii. 121):
"Cui fata parent, quem poseat Apollo."
Here interpretations vary between _fata_, n. to _parent_, and acc. after
it. But the parallelism decides at once in favour of the former "for whom
the fates are making preparations; whom Apollo demands." To take another
instance (_Aen_. i. 395):
"Nunc terras ordine longo
Aut capere, aut captas, iam despectare videntur."
This passage is explained by its parallelism with another a little further
on (v. 400):
"Puppesque tuae plebesque tuorum
Aut portum tenet aut pleno subit ostia velo."
Here the word _capere_ is fixed to mean "settling on the ground" by the
words _portum tenet_. Once more in _Aen_. xii. 725:
"Quem damnet labor, aut quo vergat pondere letum,"
the difficulty is solved both by the iteration in the line itself, by
which _damnet labor = vergat letum_; and also by its close parallelism
with another (v. 717), which is meant to illustrate it:
"Mussantque iuvencae
Quis nemori imperitet quem tota armenta sequantur."
This feature in Virgil's verse, which might be illustrated at far greater
length, reappears under another form in the Ovidian elegiac. There the
pentameter answers to the second half of Virgil's hexameter verse, and
rings the changes on the line that has preceded in a very similar way. A
literature which loves the balanced clauses of rhetoric will be sure to
have something analogous. Our own heroic couplet is a case in point. So
perhaps is the invention of rhyme which tends to confine the thought
within the oscillating limits of a refrain, and that of the stanza, which
shows the same process in a much higher stage of complexity.
NOTE IV.--_On the Legends connected with Virgil_.
Side by side with the historical account of this poet is a mythical one
which, even within the early post-classical period, began to gain
credence. The reasons of it are to be sought not so much in his poetical
genius as in the almost ascetic purity of his life, which surrounded him
with a halo of mysterious sanctity. Prodigies are said, in the lives that
have come down to us, to have happened at his birth; his mother dreamt she
gave birth to a laurel-branch, which grew apace until it filled the
country. A poplar planted at his birth suddenly grew into a stately tree.
The infant never cried, and was noted for the preternatural sweetness of
its temper. When at Naples he is said to have studied medicine, and cured
Augustus's horses of a severe ailment. Augustus ordered him a daily
allowance of bread, which was doubled on a second instance of his
chirurgical knowledge, and trebled on his detecting the true ancestry of a
rare Spanish hound! Credited with supernatural knowledge, though he never
pretended to it, he was consulted privately by Augustus as to his own
legitimacy. By the cautious dexterity of his answer, he so pleased the
emperor that he at once recommended him to Pollio as a person to be well
rewarded. The mixture of fable and history here is easily observed. The
custom of making pilgrimages to his tomb, and in the case of Silius
Italicus (and doubtless others too), of honouring it with sacrifices,
seems to have produced the belief that he was a great magician. Even as
early as Hadrian the _Sortes Virgilianae_ were consulted from an idea that
there was a sanctity about the pages of his book; and, as is well known,
this superstitious custom was continued until comparatively modern times.
Meanwhile plays were represented from his works, and amid the general
decay of all clear knowledge a confused idea sprung up that these stories
were inspired by supernatural wisdom. The supposed connection of the
fourth Eclogue with the _Sibylline Books_, and through them, with the
sacred wisdom of the Hebrews, of course placed Virgil on a different level
from other heathens. The old hymn, "Dies irae dies illa Solvet saeclum cum
favilla Teste David cum Sibylla," shows that as early as the eighth
century the Sibyl was well established as one of the prophetic witnesses;
and the poet, from the indulgence of an obscure style, reaped the great
reward of being regarded almost as a saint for several centuries of
Christendom. Dante calls him _Virtu summa_, just as ages before Justinian
had spoken of Homer as _pater omnis virtutis_. But before Dante's time the
real Virgil had been completely lost in the ideal and mystic poet whose
works were regarded as wholly allegorical.
The conception of Virgil as a magician as distinct from an inspired sage
is no doubt a popular one independent of literature, and had originally a
local origin near Naples where his tomb was. Foreign visitors disseminated
the legend, adding striking features, which in time developed almost an
entire literature.
In the _Otia Imperialia_ of Gervasius of Tilbury, we see this belief in
formation; the main point in that work is that he is the protector of
Naples, defending it by various contrivances from war or pestilence. He
was familiarly spoken of among the Neapolitans as _Parthenias_, in
allusion to his chastity. It was probably in the thirteenth century that
the connection of Virgil with the Sibyl was first systematically taught,
and the legends connected with him collected into one focus. They will be
found treated fully in Professor Comparetti's work. We append here a very
short passage from the _Gesta Romanorum_ (p. 590), showing the necromantic
character which surrounded him:--
"Refert Alexander Philosophus de natura rerum, quod Vergilius in civitate
Romana nobile construxit palatium, in cuius medio palatii stabat imago,
quae Dea Romana vocabatur. Tenebat enim pomum aureum in manu sua. Per
circulum palatii erant imagines cuiuslibet regionis, quae subiectae erant
Romano imperio, et quaelibet imago campanam ligneam in manu sua habebat.
Cum vero aliqua regio nitebatur Romanis insidias aliquas imponere, statim
imago eiusdem regionis campanam suam pulsavit, et miles exivit in equo
aeneo in summitate predicti palatii, hastam vibravit, et predictam
regionem inspexit. Et ab instanti Romani hoc videntes se armaverunt et
predictam regionem expugnaverunt.
"Ista civitas est Corpus Humanum: quinque portae sunt quinque Sensus:
Palatium est Anima rationalis, et aureum pomum Similitudo cum Deo. Tria
regna inimica sunt Caro, Mundus, Diabolus, et eius imago Cupiditas,
Voluptas, Superbia."
The above is a good instance both of the supernatural powers attributed to
the poet, and the supernatural interpretation put upon his supposed
exercise of them. This curious mythology lasted throughout the fourteenth
century, was vehemently opposed in the fifteenth by the partisans of
enlightened learning, and had not quite died out by the middle of the
sixteenth.
CHAPTER III.
HORACE (65-8 B.C.).
If Virgil is the most representative, Horace is the most original poet of
Rome. This great and varied genius, whose exquisite taste and deep
knowledge of the world have made him the chosen companion of many a great
soldier and statesman, suggesting as he does reflections neither too ideal
nor too exclusively literary for men of affairs, was born at or near
Venusia, on the borders of Lucania and Apulia, December 8, 65 B.C. [1] His
father was a freedman of the Horatia gens, [2] but set free before the
poet's birth. [3] We infer that he was a tax-gatherer, or perhaps a
collector of payments at auctions; for the word _coactor_, [4] which
Horace uses, is of wide application. At any rate his means sufficed to
purchase a small farm, where the poet passed his childhood. Horace was
able to look back to this time with fond and even proud reminiscences, for
he relates how prodigies marked him even in infancy as a special favourite
of the gods. [5] At the age of twelve he was brought by his father to Rome
and placed under the care of the celebrated Orbilius Pupillus. [6] The
poet's filial feeling has left us a beautiful testimony to his father's
affectionate interest in his studies. The good man, proud of his son's
talent, but fearing the corruptions of the city, accompanied him every day
to school, and consigned him in person to his preceptor's charge, [7] a
duty usually left to slaves called _paedagogi_, who appear to have borne
no high character for honesty, [8] and at best did nothing to improve
those of whom they had the care. From the shrewd counsels of his father,
who taught by instances not by maxims, [9] and by his own strict example,
Horace imbibed that habit of keen observation and that genial view of life
which distinguish him above all other satirists. He also learnt the
caution which enabled him to steer his course among rocks and shoals that
would have wrecked a novice, and to assert his independence of action with
success even against the emperor himself.
The life of Horace is so well known that it is needless to retrace it
here. We shall do no more than summarise the few leading events in it,
alluding more particularly to those only which affect his literary
position. After completing his education so far in the capital, he went
for a time, as was customary, to study philosophy at Athens. [10] While he
was there the death of Caesar and the events which followed roused the
fierce party spirit that had uneasily slumbered. Horace, then twenty-two
years of age, was offered a command by Brutus on his way to Macedonia,
which he accepted, [11] and apparently must have seen some hard service.
[12] He shared the defeat of the Republicans at Philippi, [13] and as the
territory of Venusium, like that of Cremona, was selected to be parcelled
out among the soldiery, Horace was deprived of his paternal estate, [14] a
fact from which we learn incidentally that his father was now dead.
Thrown upon his own resources, he sought and obtained permission to come
to Rome, where he obtained some small post as a notary [15] attached to
the quaestors. Poverty drove him to verse-making, [16] but of what kind we
do not certainly know. Probably epodes and satires were the first fruits
of his pen, though some scholars ascribe certain of the _Odes_ (_e.g._ i.
14) to this period. About this time he made the acquaintance of Virgil,
which ripened at least on Horace's part into warm affection. Virgil and
Varius introduced him to Maecenas, [17] who received the bashful poet with
distant hauteur, and did not again send for him until nine months had
elapsed. Slow to make up his mind, but prompt to act when his decision was
once taken, Maecenas then called for Horace, and in the poet's words bade
him be reckoned among his friends; [18] and very shortly afterwards we
find them travelling together to Brundisium on a footing of familiar
intimacy (39 B.C.). This circumspection of Maecenas was only natural, for
Horace was of a very different stamp from Varius and Virgil, who were warm
admirers of Octavius. Horace, though at first a Platonist, [19] then an
Epicurean, [20] then an Eclectic, was always somewhat of a "free lance."
[21] His mind was of that independent mould which can never be got to
accept on anybody's authority the solution of problems which interest it.
Even when reason convinced him that imperialism, if not good in itself,
was the least of all possible evils, ho did not become a hearty partisan;
he maintained from first to last a more or less critical attitude. Thus
Maecenas may have heard of his literary promise, of his high character,
without much concern. It was the paramount importance of enlisting so able
a man on his own side that weighed with the shrewd statesman. For Horace,
with the recklessness that poverty inspires, had shown a disposition to
attack those in power. It is generally thought that Maecenas himself is
ridiculed under the name Malthinus. [22] It is nevertheless clear that
when he knew Maecenas he not only formed a high opinion of his character
and talent, but felt a deep affection for him, which expresses itself in
the generous language of an equal friend, with great respect, indeed, but
totally without unworthy complaisance. The minister of monarchy might
without inconsistency gain his goodwill; with the monarch it was a
different matter. For many years Horace held aloof from Augustus. He made
no application to him; he addressed to him no panegyric. Until the year
29, when the Temple of Janus was closed, he showed no approval of his
measures. All his laudatory odes were written after that event. He indeed
permitted the emperor to make advances to him, to invite him to his table,
and maintain a friendly correspondence. But he refused the office of
secretary which Augustus pressed upon him. He scrupulously abstained from
pressing his claims of intimacy, as the emperor wished him to do; and at
last he drew forth from him the remorseful expostulation, "Why is it that
you avoid addressing me of all men in your poems? Is it that you are
afraid posterity will think the worse of you for having been a friend of
mine?" [23]
This appeal elicited from the poet that excellent epistle which traces the
history and criticises the merits of Latin poetry. From all this we may be
sure that when Augustus's measures are celebrated, as they are in the
third book of the Odes and other places, with emphatic commendation,
though the language may be that of poetical exaggeration, the sentiment is
in the main sincere. It is a greater honour to the prudent ruler to have
won the tardy approval of Horace, than to have enlisted from the outset
the enthusiastic devotion of Virgil.
We left Horace installed as one of Maecenas's circle. This position
naturally gained him many enemies; nor was his character one to conciliate
his less fortunate rivals. He was choleric and sensitive, prompt to resent
an insult, though quite free from malice or vindictiveness. He had not yet
reached that high sense of his position when he could afford to treat the
envious crowd with contempt. [24] He records in the satires which he now
wrote, painting with inimitable humour each incident that arose, the
attempts of the outsiders to obtain from him an introduction to Maecenas,
[25] or some of that political information of which he was supposed to be
the confidant. [26] At this period of his career he lived a good deal with
his patron both in Rome and at his Tiburtine villa. Within a few years,
however (probably 31 B.C.), he was put in possession of what he had always
desired, [27] a small competence of his own. This was the Sabine estate in
the valley of Ustica, not far from Tivoli, given him by Maecenas, the
subject of many beautiful allusions, and the cause of his warmest
gratitude. [28] Here he resided during some part of each year [29] in the
enjoyment of that independence which was to him the greatest good; and
during the seven years that followed he wrote, and at their close
published, the first three books of the Odes. [30] The death of Virgil,
which happened when Horace was forty-six years of age, and soon afterwards
that of Tibullus, threw his affections once more upon his early patrons.
He now resided more frequently at Rome, and was often to be seen at the
palace. How he filled the arduous position of a courtier may be gathered
from many, of the Epistles of the first book. The one which introduces
Septimus to Tiberius is a masterpiece; [31] and those to Scaeva and
Lellius [32] are models of high-bred courtesy. No one ever mingled
compliment and advice with such consummate skill. Horace had made his
position at court for himself, and though he still loved the country best,
[33] he found both interest and profit in his daily intercourse with the
great.
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