Part 11 (1/2)

The re coainst the dissipation and enormous vices which prevailed at Rome in his time The various objects of aniest colours, and placed in theloose reins to just and nation, Juvenal is every where animated, vehe theof their success, he neither adopts the raillery of Horace, nor the derision of Persius, but prosecutes vice and folly with all the severity of sentiment, passion, and expression He sometimes exhibits a mixture of humour with his invectives; but it is a hue than of pleasantry; broad, hostile, but coarse, and rivalling in indelicacy the profligate manners which it assails The satires of Juvenal abound in philosophical apophthegms; and, where they are not sullied by obscene description, are supported with a uniform air of virtuous elevation Amidst all the intemperance of sarcasm, his numbers are harmonious Had his zeal perenius into the channel of ridicule, and endeavour to put to shame the vices and follies of those licentious times, as much as he perhaps exasperated conviction rather than excited contrition, he would have carried satire to the highest possible pitch, both of literary excellence and moral utility With every abatement of attainable perfection, we hesitate not to place him at the head of this arduous department of poetry

Of STATIUS no farther particulars are preserved than that he (501) was born at Naples; that his father's naelina, and that he died about the end of the first century of the Christian era So for the stage, but of this there is no sufficient evidence; and if ever he composed dramatic productions, they have perished The works of Statius now extant, are two poems, viz the Thebais and the Achilleis, besides a collection, named Silvae

The Thebais consists of twelve books, and the subject of it is the Theban hich happened 1236 years before the Christian era, in consequence of a dispute between Eteocles and Polynices, the sons of Oedipus and Jocasta These brothers had entered into an agreen alternately for a year at a tiot first possession of the throne This prince refusing to abdicate at the expiration of the year, Polynices fled to Argos, whereof that country, he procured the assistance of his father-in-law, to enforce the engageives enerals, ere to attack separately the seven gates of Thebes After much blood had been spilt without any effect, it was at last agreed between the two parties, that the brothers should detereether upon the funeral pile, it is said that their ashes separated, as if actuated by the implacable resentment which they had borne to each other

If we except the Aeneid, this is the only Latin production extant which is epic in its form; and it likewise approaches nearest in merit to that celebrated poe In unity and greatness of action, the Thebais corresponds to the laws of the Epopea; but the fable arded as defective in some particulars, which, however, arise more from the nature of the subject, than from any fault of the poet The distinction of the hero is not sufficiently prominent; and the poem possesses not those circu the reader's affections in the issue of the contest To this it may be added, that the unnatural colooht, and restrains the syence of fancy to sorandeur, however, and animation of sentiment and description, as well as for harmony of numbers, the Thebais is eher degree of estienerally obtained In the contrivance of some of the episodes, and frequently in the modes of expression, Statius keeps an attentive eye to the style of Virgil It is said that he elve years employed in the composition of this poe, that he polished it with all the care and assiduity practised by the poets in the Augustan age: Quippe, te fido monitore, nostra Thebais, multa cruciata lima, Tentat audaci fide Mantuanae Gaudia faht by you, with steadfast care I trienerous rivalry to share The glories of the Mantuan bard

The Achilleis relates to the same hero who is celebrated by Homer in the Iliad; but it is the previous history of Achilles, not his conduct in the Trojan hich for hero is under the care of the Centaur Chiron, Thetis makes a visit to the preceptor's sequestered habitation, where, to save her son from the fate which, it was predicted, would befall hie of that place, she orders hiirl, and sent to live in the fa of Scyros But as Troy could not be taken without the aid of Achilles, Ulysses, accoo to Scyros, and bring hiacious ast his fe before thest which was some arerly seized a sword and shi+eld, and est emotions of heroic enthusias with Lyconant of a son, he set sail with the Grecian chiefs, and, during the voyage, gives them an account of the manner of his education with Chiron

This poem consists of two books, in heroic measure, and is written with taste and fancy Commentators are of opinion, that the Achilleis was left incomplete by the death of the author; but this is extremely improbable, from various circumstances, and appears to be founded only upon the word Hactenus, in the conclusion of the poem: (503) Hactenus annorum, comites, elementa meorum Et memini, et meminisse juvat: scit caetera mater

Thus far, companions dear, with mindful joy I've told My youthful deeds; the rest my mother can unfold

That any consequential reference was intended by hactenus, seems to me plainly contradicted by the words which immediately follow, scit caeteraany further account of Achilles's life, because a general narrative of it had been given in the first book The voyage from Scyros to the Trojan coast, conducted with the celerity which suited the purpose of the poet, admitted of no incidents which required description or recital: and after the voyagers had reached the Grecian camp, it is reasonable to suppose, that the action of the Iliad in of extending the plan of the Achilleis beyond this period, is expressly declared in the exordiueniem, et patrio vetitam succedere coelo, Diva, refer; quanquam acta viri multum inclyta cantu Maeonio; sed plura vacant Nos ire per omnem (Sic amor est) heroa velis, Scyroque latentem Dulichia proferre tuba: nec in Hectore tracto Sistere, sed tota juvene of him, Who shook the Thunderer's throne, and, for his crireat Aeacides Maeonian strains Have lorious the task To trace the future hero's young career, Not dragging Hector at his chariot wheels, But while disguised in Scyros yet he lurked, Till true Ulysses led him to the Trojan coast

The Silvae is a collection of poems almost entirely in heroic verse, divided into five books, and for the most part written extempore Statius himself affirms, in his Dedication to Stella, that the production of none of them employed him more than two days; yet many of them consist of between one hundred and two hundred hexameter lines We meet with one of two hundred and sixteen lines; one, of two hundred and thirty-four; one, of two hundred and sixty-two; and one of two hundred and seventy-seven; a rapidity of co to what Horace mentions of the poet Lucilius It is no small encomium to observe, that, considered as extemporaneous productions, (504) thecensure, either in point of senties which command our applause

The poet MARTIAL, surnamed likewise Coquus, was born at Bilbilis, in Spain, of obscure parents At the age of twenty-one, he ca five-and-thirty years under the emperors Galba, Otho, Vitellius, the two Vespasians, Don of Trajan He was the panegyrist of several of those emperors, by whom he was liberally rewarded, raised to the Equestrian order, and pro treated with coldness and neglect by Trajan, he returned to his native country, and, a few years after, ended his days, at the age of seventy-five

He had lived at Roh esteem for his poetical talents; but upon his return to Bilbilis, it is said that he experienced a great reverse of fortune, and was chiefly indebted for his support to the gratuitous benefactions of Pliny the Younger, whorams

The poems of Martial consist of fourteen books, all written in the epigrammatic form, to which species of composition, introduced by the Greeks, he had a peculiar propensity Amidst such a multitude of verses, on a variety of subjects, often composed extempore, and many of them, probably, in thethat we find a large nuenius of the author Delicacy, and even decency, is often violated in the productions of Martial Grasping at every thought which afforded even the shadow of ingenuity, he gave unliination In respect to composition, he is likewise liable to censure At one time he wearies, and at another tantalises the reader, with the prolixity or auity of his preambles His prelusive sentie not with a natural declination into the focus of epigraoverned more by prejudice or policy, than by justice and truth; and he is more constantly attentive to the production of wit, than to the improvement of morality

But while we remark the blee his extraordinary ant and correct; and where the subject is capable of connection with sentienuity never fails to extract froht and surprise His fancy is prolific of beautiful i theyric with inirace, and satirises with equal dexterity In a fund of Attic salt, he surpasses every other writer; and though he seeall, he is not destitute of candour With almost every kind of versification he appears to be fa a facility of te, perhaps, on many occasions, to the licentiousness of the ti indications to pronounce, that, as a moralist, his principles were virtuous It is observed of this author, by Pliny the Younger, that, though his coht, perhaps, not obtain immortality, he wrote as if they would [Aeterna, quae scripsit, non erunt fortasse: ille taives of his epigrams, is just and comprehensive: Sunt bona, sunt quaedais: hic aliter non fit, Avite, liber

Soain still worse; Such, Avitus, you will find is a common case with verse

THE END OF THE TWELVE CAESARS

LIVES OF EMINENT GRAMMARIANS

(506)

I The science of graue at Rome; indeed, it was of little use in a rude state of society, when the people were engaged in constant wars, and had not much time to bestow on the cultivation of the liberal arts 843 At the outset, its pretensions were very slender, for the earliest , ere both poets and orators, may be considered as half-Greek: I speak of Livius 844 and Ennius 845, who are acknowledged to have taught both languages as well at Ron parts 846 But they (507) only translated fro of their own in Latin, it was only froh there are those who say that this Ennius published two books, one on ”Letters and Syllables,” and the other on ”Metres,” Lucius Cotta has satisfactorily proved that they are not the works of the poet Ennius, but of another writer of the saury” is attributed

II Crates of Mallos 847, then, was, in our opinion, the first who introduced the study of grammar at Ro been sent by king Attalus as envoy to the senate in the interval between the second and third Punic wars 849, soon after the death of Ennius 850, he had the misfortune to fall into an open sewer in the Palatine quarter of the city, and broke his leg After which, during the whole period of his e much pains to instruct his hearers, and he has left us an example orthy of imitation It was so far followed, that poems hitherto little known, the works either of deceased friends or other approved writers, were brought to light, and being read and commented on, were explained to others Thus, Caius Octavius La been written in one volume without any break in the manuscript, he divided into seven books After that, Quintus Vargonteius undertook the Annals of Ennius, which he read on certain fixed days to crowded audiences So Laelius Archelaus, and Vectius Philocomus, read and commented on the Satires of their friend Lucilius 852, which Lenaeus Pompeius, a freedman, tells us he studied under Archelaus; and Valerius Cato, under Philocorammar in various branches, namely, Lucius Aelius Lanuvinus, the son-in-law of Quintus Aelius, and Servius Claudius, both of ere Roreat services both to learning and the republic

III Lucius Aelius had a double cognomen, for he was called Praeconius, because his father was a herald; Stilo, because he was in the habit of cohest rank; indeed, he was so strong a partisan of the nobles, that he accompanied Quintus Metellus Nu clandestinely obtained his father-in-law's book before it was published, was disowned for the fraud, which he took so much to heart, that, overwhel seized with a fit of the gout, in his impatience, he applied a poisonous ointment to his feet, which half-killed him, so that his lower limbs mortified while he was still alive After this, rew in public estihest rank did not hesitate in undertaking to write so on the subject; and it is related that sometimes there were no less than twenty celebrated scholars in Rorammarians, that Lutatius Daphnides, jocularly called ”Pan's herd” 855 by Lenaeus Melissus, was purchased by Quintus Catullus for two hundred thousand sesterces, and shortly afterwards made a freedman; and that Lucius Apuleius, as taken into the pay of Epicius Calvinus, a wealthy Roht, at the annual salary of ten thousand crowns, had many scholars Grammar also penetrated into the provinces, and son parts, particularly in Gallia Togata In the number of these, we may reckon Octavius (509) Teucer, Siscennius Jacchus, and Oppius Cares 856, who persisted in teaching to a most advanced period of his life, at a tiht failed

IV The appellation of grammarian was borrowed from the Greeks; but at first, the Latins called such persons literati Cornelius Nepos, also, in his book, where he draws a distinction between a literate and a philologist, says that in common phrase, those are properly called literati who are skilled in speaking or writing with care or accuracy, and those more especially deserve the narammarians by the Greeks It appears that they were named literators by Messala Corvinus, in one of his letters, when he says, ”that it does not refer to Furius Bibaculus, nor even to Sigida, nor to Cato, the literator,” 857 , doubtless, that Valerius Cato was both a poet and an erammarian Some there are who draw a distinction between a literati and a literator, as the Greeks do between a gra the former term to men of real erudition, the latter to those whose pretensions to learning are moderate; and this opinion Orbilius supports by examples For he says that in old times, when a company of slaves was offered for sale by any person, it was not custoood reason, to describe either of theue as a literati, but only as a literator,that he was not a proficient in letters, but had a sht rhetoric also, and we have many of their treatises which include both sciences; whence it arose, I think, that in later tih the two professions had then becora so, such as the problem, the periphrasis, the choice of words, description of character, and the like; in order that they ht not transfer (510) their pupils to the rhetoricians no better than ill-taught boys But I perceive that these lessons are now given up in some cases, on account of the want of application, or the tender years, of the scholar, for I do not believe that it arises from any dislike in the master I recollect that when I was a boy it was the custom of one of these, whose na and disputing; and so, and declaim in the afternoon, when he had his pulpit removed I heard, also, that even within the rammarians passed directly froh place in the ranks of the uished advocates The professors at that tireat eive an account in the following chapters

V SAEVIUS 858 NICANOR first acquired fa: and, besides, he reater part of which, however, are said to have been borrowed He also wrote a satire, in which he inforno verses; Saevius Nicanor Marci libertus negabit, Saevius Posthumius idem, sed Marcus, docebit

What Saevius Nicanor, the freedman of Marcus, will deny, The same Saevius, called also Posthumius Marcus, will assert

It is reported, that in consequence of some infamy attached to his character, he retired to Sardinia, and there ended his days

VI AURELIUS OPILIUS 859, the freedht philosophy, then rhetoric, and last of all, gra closed his school, he followed Rutilius Rufus, when he was banished to Asia, and there the two friends grew old together He also wrote several volumes on a variety of learned topics, nine books of which he distinguished by the number and names of the nine Muses; as he says, not without reason, they being the patrons of authors and poets I observe that its title is given in several indexes by a single letter, but he uses two in the heading of a book called Pinax

VII MARCUS ANTONIUS GNIPHO 860, a free-born native of Gaul, was exposed in his infancy, and afterwards received his freedom from his foster-father; and, as some say, was educated at Alexandria, where Dionysius Scytobrachion 861 was his fellow pupil This, however, I am not very ready to believe, as the tiree He is said to have been a ular meing and agreeable teenerally left it to the liberality of his scholars He first taught in the house of Julius Caesar 862, when the latter was yet but a boy, and, afterwards, in his own private house He gave instruction in rhetoric also, teaching the rules of eloquence every day, but declai only on festivals It is said that so others, Marcus Cicero, during the time he held the praetorshi+p 863 He wrote a nuh he did not live beyond his fiftieth year; but Atteius, the philologist 864, says, that he left only two volumes, ”De Latino Sermone;” and, that the other works ascribed to hih his name is sometimes to be found in them

VIII M POMPILIUS ANDRONICUS, a native of Syria, while he professed to be a grammarian, was considered an idle follower of the Epicurean sect, and little qualified to be a , therefore, that, at Rome, not only Antonius Gnipho, but even other teachers of less note were preferred to him, he retired to cuh he wrote several books, he was so needy, and reduced to such straits, as to be compelled to sell that excellent little work of his, ”The Index to the Annals,” for sixteen thousand sesterces Orbilius has informed us, that he redeemed this work from the oblivion into which it had fallen, and took care to have it published with the author's na left an orphan, by the death of his parents, who both fell a sacrifice to the plots of their eneistrates He then joined the troops in Macedonia, when he was first decorated with the plumed helmet 865, and, afterwards, pro completed his military service, he resuence fro period in his own country, at last, during the consulshi+p of Cicero, ht with more reputation than profit For in one of his works he says, that ”he was then very old, and lived in a garret” He also published a book with the title of Perialogos; containing complaints of the injurious treat redress at the hands of parents His sour temper betrayed itself, not only in his disputes with the sophists opposed to him, whom he lashed on every occasion, but also towards his scholars, as Horace tells us, who calls hier;” 866 and Domitius Marsus 867, who says of him: Si quosoblius ferula scuticaque cecidit

If those Orbilius with rod or ferule thrashed

(513) And not even men of rank escaped his sarcas to be examined as a witness in a crowded court, Varro, the advocate on the other side, put the question to hiained his livelihood?” He replied, ”That he lived by re hunchbacks fro to Muraena's deformity He lived till he was near a hundred years old; but he had long lost his memory, as the verse of Bibaculus informs us: Orbilius ubinam est, literarum oblivio?

Where isoblius now, that wreck of learning lost?

His statue is shown in the Capitol at Beneventum It stands on the left hand, and is sculptured inthe palliu-cases in his hand He left a son, narammar

X ATTEIUS, THE PHILOLOGIST, a freedman, was born at Athens Of him, Capito Atteius 869, the well-known jurisconsult, says that he was a rhetorician a the rhetoricians Asinius Pollio 870, in the book in which he finds fault with the writings of Sallust for his great affectation of obsolete words, speaks thus: ”In this work his chief assistant was a certain Atteius, a rammarian, the aider and preceptor of those who studied the practice of declano to Lucius Herreat proficiency in Greek literature, and some in Latin; that he had been a hearer of Antonius Gnipho, and his Heran to teach others Moreover, that he had for pupilsere the two (514) brothers, Appius and Pulcher Claudius; and that he even accompanied them to their province” He appears to have assuus, because, like Eratosthenes 872, who first adopted that cognoh repute for his rich and varied stores of learning; which, indeed, is evident froh but few of them are extant Another letter, however, to the same Hermas, shews that they were very nuenerally our Extracts, which we have collected, as you know, of all kinds, into eight hundred books” He afterwards formed an intimate acquaintance with Caius Sallustius, and, on his death, with Asinius Pollio; and when they undertook to write a history, he supplied the one with short annals of all Roman affairs, from which he could select at pleasure; and the other, with rules on the art of composition I am, therefore, surprised that Asinius Pollio should have supposed that he was in the habit of collecting old words and figures of speech for Sallust, when he must have known that his own advice was, that none but well known, and common and appropriate expressions should be s, the obscurity of the style of Sallust, and his bold freedom in translations, should be avoided

XI VALERIUS CATO was, as some have informed us, the freedman of one Bursenus, a native of Gaul He hinatio,” that he was born free, and being left an orphan, was exposed to be easily stripped of his patrireat nuhly esteemed as a preceptor suited to those who had a poetical turn, as appears frorait ac facit poetas