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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[9] Cic. de Off. iii. 32, 115.
[10] This is an inference, but a probable one, from a statement of
Plutarch.
[11] Vide M. Catonis Reliquiae, H. Jordan, Lips. 1860.
[12] So he himself asserted; but they did not hold any Roman magistracy.
[13] Gell. xi. 2.
[14] Plin. N. H. vii. 27.
[15] Liv. xxxix. 40.
[16] De Sen. xvii. 65.
[17] Brut. xvi. 63.
[18] See H. Jordan's treatise.
[19] This was his age when he accused the perjured Galba after his return
from Numantia (149 B.C.)--one of the finest of his speeches.
[20] Cato, 3, 2-4.
[21] See Wordsworth, Fr. of early Latin, p. 611, S 2.
[22] Serv. ad Virg. Aen. i. 267.
[23] Charis. ii. p. 181 (Jord).
[24] Serv. ad Virg. Aen. xi. 700.
[25] Gell. ii. 28, 6.
[26] Gell. iii. 7, 1.
[27] xii. 11, 23.
[28] _Opikes_. Cato's superficial knowledge of Greek prevented him from
knowing that this word to Greek ears conveys no insult, but is a mere
ethnographic appellation.
[29] Plin. N.H. xxix. 8, 15.
[30] De Sen. He gives the ground of it "_quia multarum rerum usum
habebat_."
[31] Cic. de Or. 11, 33, 142.
[32] Cic. de Off. i. 11. 10.
[33] Plin. xiii. 37, 84, and xxix. 6.
[34] De Or. ii. 12. See Nieb. Introd. Lect. iv.
[35] _Annales_, also _Commentarii_.
[36] _Exiliter scriptos_, Brut. 27, 106.
[37] See Quint. x. 1, passim.
[38] Gell. vii. 9, 1; speaks in this way of Piso.
[39] See Liv. i. 55.
[40] Cato, doubtless reflecting on the difficulty with which he had formed
his own style, says "_Literarum radices amarae, fructus incundiores_."
[41] Liv. lxxiv. Epit.
[42] _aulo influxit vehementius ... agrestis ille quidem et horridus_.--
Cic. leg. i. 2, 6. So "_addidit historiae maiorem sonum_," id. de Or. ii.
12, 54.
[43] xxix. 27.
[44] Plut. Numa. i.
[45] ix. 13. So Fronto ap. Gell. xiii. 29, 2.
[46] _Aegis katestoaumenae_, as distinct from _Aegis eiromenae_, Ar. Rhet.
[47] vii. 9.
[48] Liv. xxiii. 2.
[49] Id. xx. 8.
[50] iv. 7.
CHAPTER X.
[1] The evil results of a judicial system like that of Rome are shown by
the lax views of so good a man as Quintilian, who compares deceiving the
judges to a painter producing illusions by perspective (ii. 17, 21). "Nec
Cicero, cum se tenebras offudisse iudicibus in causa Cluentii gloriatus
est, nihil ipse vidit. Et pictor, cum vi artis suae efficit, ut quaedam
eminere in opere, quaedam recessisse credamus, ipse ea plana esse non
nescit."
[2] x. 1. 32.
[3] See the article _Judicia Publica_ in Ramsay's Manual of Roman
Antiquities.
[4] The reader is referred to the admirable account of the Athenian
_dicasteries_ in Grote's History of Greece.
[5] See Forsyth's Life of Cicero, ch. 3.
[6] Brut. xiv. 53.
[7] Quint. ii. 16, 8.
[8] _Peitho_ quam vocant Graeci, cuius effector est Orator, hanc Suadam
appellavit Ennius.--_Cic. Br_. 58.
[9] Brut. 65.
[10] Brut. 293.
[11] Cic. Sen. ii. 38.
[12] viii. 7, 1.
[13] Diom. ii. p. 468.
[14] Ep. ad. Anton. i. 2, p. 99.
[15] Jordan, p. 41.
[16] Brut. 82.
[17] Wordsworth gives extracts from Aemilius Paulus Macedonicus (228-169
B.C.), C. Titius (161 B.C.), Metellus Macedonicus (140 B.C.), the latter
apparently modernised.
[18] He and Scipio are thus admirably characterised by Horace:--
"Virtus Scipiadae et mitis sapientia Laeli."
[19] Brut. xxi. 83.
[20] Cic. Brut, xxiii. The narrator from whom Cicero heard it was Rutilius
Rufus.
[21] He did not attempt to justify himself, but by parading his little
children he appealed with success to the compassion of his judges!
[22] In 149 B.C. Piso established a permanent commission to sit throughout
the year for hearing all charges under the law _de Repetundis_. Before
this every case was tried by a special commission. Under Sulla all crimes
were brought under the jurisdiction of their respective commissions, which
established the complete system of courts of law.
[23] Ch. 34.
[24] Brut. 97, 333.
[25] Hist. Rom. bk. iv. ch. iii.
[26] Cic. de Or. III. lx. 225.
[27] Brut. xxxiii. 125.
[28] The same will be observed in Greece. We are apt to think that the
space devoted to personal abuse in the _De Corona_ is too long. But it was
the universal custom.
[29] Tac. Or. 26.
[30] Fronto, Ep. ad Ant. p. 114.
[31] Cic. Brut. xxix.
[32] Hor. Od. i. 12.
[33] Nobilis ornatur lauro collega secunda.--_Juv._ x.
[34] See Brut. xxxv. 132, _sq._
[35] See Dunlop, vol. ii. p. 274.
[36] _I.e._ the continuous edict, as being issued fresh with every fresh
praetor.
[37] De repetundis, de peculatu, de ambitu, de maiestate, de nummis
adulterinis, de falsis testamentis, de sicariis, de vi.
[38] Verr. i. 14.
[39] That against Caepio, _De Or_. ii. 48, 199.
[40] _Eloquentium iurisperitissimus_: Scaevola was _iurisperitorum
eloquentissimus_.--Brut. 145.
[41] De Or. iii. 1, 4.
[42] Brut. lv.
[43] Orator. lxiii. 213.
[44] Judiciorum rex. Divin. in Ae. Caecil. 7.
[45] Dict. Biog. s.v. Hortensius. Forsyth's _Hortensius_, and an article
on him by M. Charpentier in his "Writers of the Empire," should be
consulted.
[46] Div. in Q. Caecil.
[47] Brut. xcv.
[48] "Dellendus Cicero est, Latiaeque silentia linguae"--_Sen Suas._
CHAPTER XI.
[1] Au vos consulere scitis, consulem facere nescitis? See Teuffel, R. L.
S 130, 6.
[2] Lael. i. His character generally is given, Brut. xxvi. 102.
[3] Q. Mucius Scaevola, Pontifex, son of Publius, nephew of Q. Mucius
Scaevola, Augur.
[4] Quoted by Teuffel, S 141, 2.
[5] Dict. Biog.
[6] See De Or. i. 53, 229.
[7] Ep. ii. 2, 89.
[8] ii. 4, 42.
[9] See Teuffel, Rom. Lit. 149, S 4.
[10] Compare Lucr. i. 633. Magis inter _inanes_ quamde gravis inter Graios
qui vera requirunt.
[11] Brut. lvi. 207.
[12] De Or. ii. 37.
[13] "_egertika noaeseos_."--_Plat. Rep_. Bk. iv.
[14] _apatheia, ataraxia_.
[15] _epistaemae_ and _doxa_, so often opposed in Plato and Aristotle.
[16] Sext. Emp. Pyrrh. Hyp. i. 234. (_Arkesilaos_) _kata men to procheiron
pyrroneios ephaineto einai kata de taen alaetheian dogmatikos aen_. So
Bacon: Academia nova Acatalepsiam dogmatizavit.
[17] That is, all practically considered _indifference or insensibility_
to be the thing best worth striving after.
[18] Cic. Tusc. iv. 3.
[19] Contrast the indifference of the vulgar for the tougher parts of the
system. Lucr. "Haec ratio Durior esse videtur ... retroque volgus abhorret
ab hac."
[20] See a fuller account of this system under _Lucretius_.
BOOK II.
PART I.
CHAPTER I.
[1] Caes. B. C. ii. 16-20. From i. 36, we learn that all further Spain had
been intrusted to him. Varro was in truth no partisan; so long as he
believed Pompey to represent the state, he was willing to act for him.
[2] Phil. ii. 40, 41.
[3] Cf. Hor. Ep. 2, 43, "Sabina qualis aut perusta solibus Pernicis uxor
Appuli."
[4] Fr. of Catus. Cf. Juvenal. "Usque adeo nihil est quod nostra infantia
caelum Hausit Aventinum, baca nutrita Sabina?"
[5] i. 4, 4.
[6] Ac. Post. i. 2. 8. He there speaks of them as _vetera nostra_.
[7] Given in Appendix, note i.
[8] Given in Aulus Gellius, xiii. xi. 1.
[9] v. i., et Romae quidem stat, sedet Athenis, nusquam autem cubat.
[10] We take occasion to observe the frequent insertion of Greek words, as
in Lucilius and in Cicero's letters. These all recall the tone of high-
bred conversation, in which Greek terms were continually employed.
[11] Mommsen, vol. iv. pt. 2, p. 594; Riese, Men. Satur. Reliquiae, Lips.
1865.
[12] See the interesting discussion in Cicero, Acad. Post. 1.
[13] _Antiquitates rerum humanarum et divinarum_.
[14] He also quotes the Aeneid as a source of religious ideas. Civ. D. v.
18, 19, et al.
[15] C. D. vi. 3, qui agant, ubi agant, quando agant, quid agant.
[16] Qui exhibeant (sacra), ubi exhibeant, quando exhibeant, quid
exhibeant, quibus exhibeant.
[17] Plato says, _Synoptikis a dialektikos_; the true philosopher can
embrace the whole of his subject; at the same time, _temnei kai arthpa_;
he carves it according to the joints, not according to his notions where
the joints should be (_Phaedr._) But the Romans only understood Plato's
popular side.
[18] See the end of the Res Rust. Bk. i.
[19] L. L. ix, 15; cf. vi. 82, x. 16, v. 88.
[20] R. R. iii. 5.
[21] Acad. Post. i. 3.
[22] Civ. Dei iv. 31.
[23] Cic. De Or. i. 39; N. D. ii. 24.
[24] Civ. Dei vi. 5.
[25] Seneca.
[26] Civ. Dei xviii. 9, 10, 17.
[27] Ad Att. xvi. 11. The Greek term simply means "a gallery of
distinguished persons," analogously named after the _Peplos_ of Athene, on
which the exploits of great heroes were embroidered.
[28] That on Demetrius Poliorcetes is preserved: "Hic Demetrius aeneis tot
aptust Quot luces habet annus exsolutus" (_aeneis_ = bronze statues).
[29] Plin. xxxv. 2; benignissimum inventum.
[30] See Bekker's Gallus, p. 30, where the whole subject is discussed.
[31] Civ. Dei, vi. 2.
[32] Aul. Gell. iii. 10, quotes also from the _Hebdomades_ in support of
this.
[33] Muller notices with justice the mistake of Cicero in putting down
Varro as a disciple of Antiochus, whereas the frequent philosophical
remarks scattered throughout the _De Lingua Latina_ point to the
conclusion that at this time, Varro had become attached to the doctrines
of stoicism. It is evident that there was no real intimacy between him and
Cicero. See ad Att. xiii. 12, 19; Fam. ix. 8.
[34] vi. 6, vii. 76.
[35] v. 92, vii. 32.
[36] v. 44, 178.
[37] v. 71, vii. 87.
[38] vi. 52, vii. 36.
[39] vii. 60; where, after a quotation from Plautus, we have--"hoc itidem
in Corollaria Naevius: idem in Curculione ait,"--where the words from
_hoc_ to _Naevius_ are an after addition. Cf. vii. 54.
[40] _E.g._ homo bulla--Di facientes adiuvant--Romani sedentes vincunt.
[41] Varro refuses to invoke the Greek gods, but turns to the old rustic
_di Consentes_, Jupiter, Tellus; Sol, Luna; Robigus, Flora; Minerva,
Venus; Liber, Ceres; Lympha and Bonus Eventus. A motley catalogue!
[42] ii. 4.
[43] ii. 4.
CHAPTER II.
[1] The biographical details are to a great extent drawn from Forsyth's
Life of Cicero.
[2] Or _diosaemeia_.
[3] _Pro Quintio._
[4] _Pro S. Roscio Amerino._
[5] See _De Off._ ii. 14.
[6] _Pro Roscio Comoedo_.
[7] _Pro M. Tullio_.
[8] _Divinatio in Caecilium_.
[9] In Verrem. The titles of the separate speeches are _De Praetura
Urbana_, _De Iurisdictione Siciliensi_, _De Frumento_, _De Signis_, _De
Suppliciis_.
[10] _Pro Fonteio_.
[11] _Pro Caecina_.
[12] _Pro Matridio_ (lost).
[13] _Pro Oppio_ (lost).
[14] _Pro Fundanio_ (lost).
[15] _Pro A. Cluentio Habito_.
[16] _Pro lege Manilia_.
[17] _Pro G. Cornelio_.
[18] _In toga candida_.
[19] _Pro. Q. Gellio_ (lost).
[20] _De lege Agraria_.
[21] _Pro C. Rabirio_.
[22] _Pro Calpurnio Pisone_ (lost).
[23] _In L. Catilinam_.
[24] _Pro Muraena_.
[25] _Pro Cornelio Sulla_ (lost).
[26] _Pro Archia poeta_.
[27] _Pro Scip. Nasica_.
[28] _Orationes Consulares_.
[29] _Pro A. Themio_ (lost).
[30] _Pro Flacco_.
[31] _Orationes post reditum_. They are _ad Senatum_, and _ad Populum_.
[32] _De domo sua_.
[33] _De haruspicum responsis_.
[34] _Pro L. Bestia_.
[35] _Pro Sextio_.
[36] _De Provinciis Consularibus_.
[37] _Pro Coelio_.
[38] Pro Can. Gallo_ (lost).
[39] _In Pisonen_.
[40] _Pro Plancio_.
[41] _Pro Scauro_ (lost).
[42] Pro G. Rabirio Postumo_ (lost).
[43] _Pro T. Annia Milone_.
[44] _Pro Marcello_.
[45] _Pro Q. Ligario_.
[46] _Pro Rege Deiotaro_.
[47] _Orationes Philippicae in M. Antonium_ xiv.
[48] Such are the speeches for the Manilian law, for Marcellus, Archias,
and some of the later Philippics in praise of Octavius and Servius
Sulpicius.
[49] It will be remembered that Milo and Clodius had encountered each
other on the Appian Road, and in the scuffle that ensued, the latter had
been killed. Cicero tries to prove that Milo was not the aggressor, but
that, even if he had been, he would have been justified, since Clodius was
a pernicious citizen dangerous to the state.
[50] Rosc. Com. 7.
[51] In Verr. ii. v. 11.
[52] In Vatin. 2.
[53] Pro Font. 11.
[54] Pro Rabir. Post. 13.
[55] Cat. iii. 3.
[56] Pro Coel. 3.
[57] Phil. ii. 41.
[58] In Verr. v. 65.
[59] Pro Coel. 6.
[60] Pro Cluent. pass.
[61] Forsyth; p. 544.
[62] He himself quotes with approval the sentiment of Lucilius:
nec doctissimis;
Manium Persium haec legere nolo; Iunium Congum volo.
[63] _De Republica_, _De Legibus_ and _De Officiis_.
[64] N. D. ii. 1, fin.
[65] De Off. i. 43.
[66] See Acad. Post. ii. 41.
[67] De Off. i. 2.
[68] De Fin. ii. 12.
[69] De Fin. ii. 12.
[70] _E.g._ the sophisms of the Liar, the Sorites, and those on Motion.
[71] Ac. Post. 20.
[72] De Leg. i. 13 fin. Perturbatricem autem harum omnium rerum Academian
hanc ab Arcesila et Carneado recentem exoremus ut sileat. Nam si invaserit
in haec, quae satis scite nobis instructa et composita videntur, nimias
edet ruinas. Quam quidem ego placare cupio, submovere non audeo.
[73] i. 28.
[74] Tusc, i. 12, a very celebrated and beautiful passage.
[75] The Paradoxes are--(1) _oti monon to kalon agathon_, (2) _oti
autarkaesaearetae pros eudaimonian_, (3) _oti isa ta amartaemata kai ta
katorthomata_, (4) _oti pas aphron mainetai_. We remember the treatment
of this in Horace (S. ii. 3). (5) _oti monos o sophos eleutheros kai pas
athron doulos_, (6) _oti monos o sophos plousios_.
[76] A well-known fragment of the sixth book, the _Somnium Scipionis_, is
preserved in Macrobius.
[77] _Latrant homines, non loquuntur_ is his strong expression, and in
another place he calls the modern speakers _clamatores non oratores_.
[78] Calamus.
[79] Atramentum.
[80] Called _Librarii_ or _A manu_.
[81] Caesar generally used as his cipher the substitution of d for a, and
so on throughout the alphabet. It seems strange that so extremely simple a
device should have served his purpose.
[82] This is Servius's spelling. Others read _Temelastis_, or _Talemgais_,
Orelli thinks perhaps the title may have been _ta en elasei_ (_Taenelasi_,
corrupted to _Tamelastis_) _i.e._ de profectione sua, about which he tells
us in the first Philippic.
[83] Brut. 75.
[84] Brut. 80.
[85] Sextilius Ena, a poet of Corduba. The story is told in Seneca, Suas.
vi.
CHAPTER III.
[1] Cicero went so far as to write some short commentarii on his
consulship in Greek, and perhaps in Latin also; but they were not edited
until after his death, and do not deserve the name of histories.
[2] Cf. _ad. Fam._; v. 12, 1, and vi. 2, 3.
[3] X. i. 31. He calls it _Carmen Solutum_.
[4] See _Bell. Civ_. i. 4, 6, 8, 30; iii. 1.
[5] "_Clementia tua_," was the way in which he caused himself to be
addressed on occasions of ceremony.
[6] B. G. iv. 12.
[7] B. G. ii. 34. and iii. 16.
[8] Ib. see vii. 82.
[9] It was then that, as Suetonius tells us, Caesar declared that Pompey
knew not how to use a victory.
[10] B. G. v. 36.
[11] Ib. iii. 25.
[12] Ib. i. 6, 7.
[13] Ib. iii. 59.
[14] B. G. iii. 7.
[15] Suetonius thus speaks (_Vit. Caes._ 24) of his wanton aggression,
"_Nec deinde ulla belli occasione ne iniusti quidem ac periculosi
abstinuit tam federatis tam infestis ac feris gentibus ultro lacessitis._"
An excellent comment on Roman lust of dominion.
[16] I am told by Professor Rolleston that Caesar is here mistaken. The
pine, by which he presumably meant the Scotch fir, certainly existed in
the first century B.C.; and as to the beech, Burnham beeches were then
fine young trees. Doubtless changes have come over our vegetation. The
linden or lime is a Roman importation, the small-leaved species alone
being indigenous; so is the English elm, which has now developed specific
differences, which have caused botanists to rank it apart. There is,
perhaps, some uncertainty as to the exact import of the word _fagus_.
[17] B. G. vi. 11, _sqq._
[18] Phars. i. 445-457.
[19] B. G. vi. 19.
[20] Ib. iii. 20.
[21] Ib. iv. 5.
[22] Ib. see i. 30; ii. 30.
[23] Ib. ii. 17; v. 5. Ib. iii. 16, 49, and many other passages.
[24] B. G. ii. 16, 207.
[25] Brut. lxxv. 262.
[26] "_Calamistris inurere_," a metaphor from curling the hair with hot
irons. The entire description is in the language of sculpture, by which
Cicero implies that Caesar's style is statuesque.
[27] "_Praerepta non praebita facultas._"
[28] B. C. ii. 27, 28.
[29] Ib. i. 67.
[30] Ib. iii. 78. Compare also the brilliant description of the siege of
Salonae iii. 7.
[31] _Vell. Pat._ ii. 73.
[32] _De Or._ iii. 12.
[33] See _Aul. Gell._ i. 10.
[34] The word _ambactus_ (= _cliens_); and the forms _malacia_,
_detrimentosus_, _libertati_ (abl.), _Senatu_ (dat.). But these last can
be paralleled from Cicero.
[35] B. H. 5.
[36] Id. 5.
[37] Id. 33.
[38] Id. 31.
[39] Id. 5.
[40] Id. 15.
[41] Id. 19.
[42] _E.g._ 20.
[43] Ib.
[44] Tac. De Or. 21. "Non alius contra Ciceronem nominaretur." Quint. x.
i. 114.
[45] _Elegantia_, Brut. 72, 252.
[46] The best will be found in Suet. Jul. Caes. vi. Aul. Gel. v. 13, xiii.
3. Val. Max. v. 3. Besides we can form some idea of them from the analysis
of them in his own Commentaries.
[47] _De Analogia_, in two books, Suet. 56.
[48] Brut. lxxii.
[49] See the long quotation in Gall. xix. 8.
[50] Gell. ix. 14.
[51] Charis. i. 114.
[52] Ibid.
[53] Gell. vii. 9.
[54] Prisc. i. 545.
[55] Cassiod. ex Annaeo Cornuto.--_De Orthog._ col. 2228.
[56] Macrob. i. 16.
[57] _E.g._ Macrob. Sat. i. 16. Plin. xviii. 26.
[58] Sat. vi. 334.
[59] Cicero calls them _Vituperationes_, ad Att. xii. 41.
[60] Suet. Caes. 77.
[61] Suet. 78.
[62] Ib. 75. Flor. iv. 11, 50.
[63] Ib. 74.
[64] _Doctis Iupiter! et laboriosis_, Cat. i. 7.
[65] More particularly the life of his friend Atticus, which breathes a
really beautiful spirit, though it suppresses some traits in his character
which a perfectly truthful account would not have suppressed.
[66] This is Nipperdey's arrangement.
[67] Hist. Rom. vol. viii.
[68] ii. 2.
[69] i. 2.
[70] They are fully expounded in the second volume of Roby's Latin
Grammar.
[71] Unless _Cotus_ be thought a more accurate representative of the
Greek.
[72] Nipperdey, xxxvi.-xxxviii. quoted by Teuffel.
[73] Dunlop, ii. p. 146.
[74] Suet. Caes. 45.
[75] Ib. 56.
[76] _Victrix causa deis placuit, sed victa Catoni._--Phars. i. 128.
[77] Catil. 53.
[78] _Cat._ 3. The chapter is very characteristic; _Jug._ 3, scarcely less
so.
[79] Suet. Gram. 15, tells us that a freedman of Pompey named Lenaeus
vilified Sallust; he quotes one sentence: _Nebulonem vita scriptisque
monstrosum; praeterea priscorum Catonisque ineruditissimum furem_. Cf.
Pseudo-Cic. Decl. in Sall. 8; Dio. Hist. Rom. 43, 9.
[80] _Res gestas carptim ut quaeque memoria digna videbantur,
perscribere_. Cat. 4.
[81] Anson, id. iv. _ad Nepotem_ implies that he began his history 90 B.C.
Cf. Plutarch, _Compar. of Sulla and Lysander_. And see on this controversy
Dict. Biog. s. v. _Sallust_.
[82] Jug. 95.
[83] Suet. J. C. 3.
[84] _A spe, metu, partibus, liber_.--Cat. 4; cf. Tac. Hist. i. 1. So in
the Annals, _sine ira et studio_.
[85] This is not certain, but the consensus of scholars is in favour of
it.
[86] Cat. 31, Cicero's speech is called _luculenta atque utilis
Reipublicae_, cf. ch. 48.
[87] Ib. 8, 41, compared with Caes. B. C. ii. 8; iii. 58, 60.
[88] Ib. 1, compared with 52 (Caesar's speech).
[89] See esp. Cat. 54.
[90] Jug. 15.
[91] Ib. 67.
[92] Jug. 31.
[93] Cat. 35, 43; cf. also ch. 49.
[94] Jug. 95.
[95] Cat. 5.
[96] Jug. 6, _sqq._
[97] Cat. 15, and very similarly Jug. 72.
[98] Quint. x. 1. _Nec opponere Thucydidi Sallustium verear_. The most
obvious imitations are, Cat. 12, 13, where the general decline of virtue
seems based on Thuc. iii. 82, 83; and the speeches which obviously take
his for a model.
[99] As instances we give--_multo maxime miserabile_ (Cat. 36), _incultus,
us_ (54), _neglegisset_ (Jug. 40), _discordiscus_ (66), &c. Poetical
constructions are--_Inf_. for _gerund_, often; _pleraque nobilitas_ for
_maxima pars nobilium_ (Cat. 17). For _asyndeton_ cf. Cat. 5, _et
saepiss._
[100] Cat. 10. The well-known line _os ch' eteron men kenthoi eni phresin,
allo os bazoi_, is the original.
[101] Ib. i. 1, _virtus clara aeternaque habetur; obedientia finxit_.
[102] It should perhaps be noticed that many MSS. spell the name
Salustius.
CHAPTER IV.
[1] The actors in the _Atellanae_ not only wore masks but had the
privilege of refusing to take them off if they acted badly, which was the
penalty exacted from those actors in the legitimate drama who failed to
satisfy their audience. Masks do not appear to have been used even in the
drama until about 100 B.C.
[2] Second Philippic.
[3] _Planipedes audit Fabios_. Juv. viii. 190.
[4] "_Or Jonson's learned sock be on_." Milton here adopts the Latin
synonym for comedy.
[5] The _Pallium_. This, of course, was not always worn.
[6] Ovid's account of the _Mimus_ is drawn to the life, and is instructive
as showing the moral food provided for the people under the paternal
government of the emperors (Tr. ii. 497). As an excuse for his own free
language he says, _Quid si scripsissim Mimos obscaena iocantes Qui semper
vetiti crimen amoris habent; In quibus assidue cultus procedit adulter,
Verbaque dat stulto callida nupta viro? Nubilis haec virgo, matronaque,
virque, puerque Spectat, et ex magna parte Senatus adest. Nec satis
incestis temerari vocibus aures; Assuescunt oculi multa pudenda pati ...
Quo mimis prodest, scaena est lucrosa poetae_, &c. The laxity of the
modern ballet is a faint shadow of the indecency of the Mime.
[7] The passage is as follows (Ep. ii. 1, 185): _Media inter carmina
poscunt Aut ursum aut pugiles: his nam plebecula plaudit. Verum equitis
quoque iam miravit ab aure voluptas Omnis ad incertos oculos ... Captivum
portator ebur, captiva Corinthus: Esseda festinant, pilenta, petorrita,
naves ... Rideret Democritus, et ... spectaret populum ludis attentius
ipsis Ut sibi pradientem mimo spectacula plura_, etc. From certain remarks
in Cicero we gather that things were not much better even in his day.
[8] This is what Gellius (xvii. 14,2) says.
[9] The whole is preserved, Macrob. S. ii. 7, and is well worth reading.
[10] Cic. ad Att. xii. 18.
[11] See App. note 2, for more about Syrus.
[12] Hor. Sat. i. x. 6, where he compares him to Lucilius.
[13] Examples quoted by Gellius, x. 24; xv. 25.
[14] vi. 21.
[15] We should infer this also from allusions to Pythagorean tenets, and
other philosophical questions, which occur in the extant fragments of
Mimes.
[16] Tr. ii. 503, 4.
[17] S. 1-3, et al.
[18] Vell. Pat. ii. 83, where Plancus dancing the character of Glaucus is
described, cf. Juv. vi. 63.
[19] _Quae gravis Aesopus, quae doctus Roscius egit_ (Ep. ii. 1, 82).
Quintilian (_Inst. Or_. xi. 3) says, _Roscius citatior, Aesopus gravior
fuit, quod ille comoedias, hic tragoedias egit_.
[20] _Cic. de Or._ i. 28, 130. As Cicero in his oration for Sextius
mentions the expression of Aesopus's eyes and face while acting, it is
supposed that he did not always wear a mask.
[21] Ep. ii. 1, 173.
[22] xiv. 15. Others again think the name expresses one of the standing
characters of the _Atellanae_, like the _Maccus_, etc.
[23] Pro Sext. 58.
[24] See Book i. chapter viii.
[25] These were doubtless much the worst of his poetical effusions. It was
in them that the much-abused lines _O fortunam natam me Consule Romam_,
and _Cedant arma togae, concedat laurea laudi_, occurred. See Forsyth,
Vit. Cic. p. 10, 11. His _gesta Marii_ was the tribute of an admiring
fellow-townsman.
[26] In the preface to his _Lucretius_.
[27] _E.g. Inferior paulo est Aries et flumen ad Austri Inclinatior. Atque
etiam_, etc. v. 77; and he gives countless examples of that break after
the fourth foot which Lucretius also affects, _e.g. Arcturus nomine
claro._ Two or three lines are imitated by Virgil, _e.g._ v. 1, _ab Jove
Musarum primordia_; so v. 21, _obstipum caput et tereti cervice reflexum_.
The rhythm of v. 3, _cum caeloque simul noctesque diesque feruntur_,
suggests a well-known line in the eighth Aeneid, _olli remigio noctemque
diemque fatigant_.
[28] Suet. J. C. 56.
[29] N. H. xix. 7.
[30] Suet. vit. Ter. see page 51.
[31] See Bernhardy Grundr. der R. L. Anm, 200, also Caes. Op. ed. S.
Clarke, 1778.
[32] De Bell. Alex. 4.
[33] Whenever a ship touched at Alexandria, Euergetes sent for any MSS.
the captain might have on board. These were detained in the museum and
labelled _to ek ton ploion_.
[34] The museum was situated in the quarter of the city called _Brucheium_
(Spartian. in Hadr. 20). See Don. and Muller, Hist. Gk. Lit. vol. ii.
chap. 45.
[35] The school of Alexandria did not become a religious centre until a
later date. The priestly functions of the librarians are historically
unimportant.
[36] It is true Theocritus stayed long in Alexandria. But his inspiration
is altogether Sicilian, and as such was hailed by delight by the
Alexandrines, who were tired of pedantry and compliment, and longed for
naturalness though in a rustic garb.
[37] This is the true ground of Aristophanes' rooted antipathy to
Euripides. The two minds were of an incompatible order, Aristophanes
represents Athens; Euripides the human spirit.
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