SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF ROMAN LITERATURE, FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO
THE DEATH OF AUGUSTUS.
For many centuries after the foundation of the city the Romans can
hardly be said to have had any literature at all. There may have
existed, at an early period, some songs or ballads, recounting, in rude
strains,[74] the exploits of the heroes of Roman story, but all trace of
these has disappeared. It was not till the conquest of the Greek cities
in Southern Italy, shortly before the First Punic War, that we can date
the commencement of the Roman literature. It began with the Drama.
Dramatic exhibitions were first introduced at Rome from Etruria in B.C.
363, on the occasion of a severe pestilence, in order to avert the anger
of the gods. But these exhibitions were only pantomimic scenes to the
music of the flute, without any song or dialogue. It was not till B.C.
240 that a drama with a regular plot was performed at Rome. Its author
was M. LIVIUS ANDRONICUS, a native of Magna Græcia, who was taken
prisoner at the capture of Tarentum, and carried to Rome, where he
became the slave of M. Livius Salinator. He was afterward set free, and,
according to Roman practice, took the gentilic name of his master. He
acquired at Rome a perfect knowledge of the Latin language, and wrote
both tragedies and comedies, which were borrowed, or, rather, translated
from the Greek. He also wrote an Odyssey in the Saturnian metre, and
some hymns. He may be regarded as the first Roman poet. His works were
read in schools in the time of Horace.
CN. NÆVIUS, the second Roman poet, was a Campanian by birth. He served
in the First Punic War, and, like Livius, wrote dramas borrowed from the
Greek. His first play was performed in B.C. 235. He was attached to the
Plebeian party; and, with the license of the old Attic comedy, he made
the stage a vehicle for assailing the aristocracy. In consequence of his
attacks upon the Metelli he was thrown into prison. He obtained his
release through the Tribunes, but was soon compelled to expiate a new
offense by exile. He retired to Utica, where he died about B.C. 202. In
his exile he wrote, in the Saturnian metre, an epic poem on the First
Punic War, in which he introduced the celebrated legends connected with
the foundation of Rome. This poem was extensively copied both by Ennius
and Virgil.
Q. ENNIUS, however, may be regarded as the real founder of Roman
literature. Like Livius, he was a native of Magna Græcia. He was born at
Rudiæ, in Calabria, B.C. 239. Cato found him in Sardinia in B.C. 204,
and brought him in his train to Rome. He dwelt in a humble house on the
Aventine, and maintained himself by acting as preceptor to the youths of
the Roman nobles. He lived on terms of the closest intimacy with the
elder Scipio Africanus. He died B.C. 169, at the age of 70. He was
buried in the sepulchre of the Scipios, and his bust was allowed a place
among the effigies of that noble house. His most important work was an
epic poem, entitled the "Annals of Rome," in 18 books, written in
dactylic hexameters, which, through his example, supplanted the old
Saturnian metre. This poem commenced with the loves of Mars and Rhea,
and came down to the age of Ennius. Virgil borrowed largely from it;
and, down to his time, it was regarded as the great epic poem of the
Latin language. He also wrote numerous tragedies, a few comedies, and
several other works, such as _Satiræ_, composed in a great variety of
metres, from which circumstance they probably received their name.
The comic drama of Rome, though it continued to be more or less a
translation or an imitation of the Greek, was cultivated with
distinguished success by two writers of genius, several of whose plays
are still extant.
T. MACCIUS PLAUTUS was a native of Sarsina, a small village in Umbria,
and was born about B.C. 254. He probably came to Rome at an early age,
and was first employed in the service of the actors. With the money he
had saved in this inferior station he left Rome, and set up in business;
but his speculations failed: he returned to Rome, and his necessities
obliged him to enter the service of a baker, who employed him in
turning a hand-mill. While in this degrading occupation he wrote three
plays, the sale of which to the managers of the public games enabled him
to quit his drudgery, and begin his literary career. He was then about
30 years of age (B.C. 224), and continued to write for the stage for
about 40 years. He died in B.C. 184, when he was 70 years of age. The
comedies of Plautus enjoyed unrivaled popularity among the Romans, and
continued to be represented down to the time of Diocletian. Though they
were founded upon Greek models, the characters in them act, speak, and
joke like genuine Romans, and the poet thereby secured the sympathy of
his audience more completely than Terence. It was not only with the
common people that Plautus was a favorite; educated Romans read and
admired his works down to the latest times. Cicero places his wit on a
level with that of the old Attic comedy; and St. Jerome used to console
himself with the perusal of the poet, after spending many nights in
tears on account of his past sins. The favorable impression which the
ancients entertained of the merits of Plautus has been confirmed by the
judgment of modern critics, and by the fact that several of his plays
have been imitated by many of the best modern poets. Twenty of his
comedies are extant.
P. TERENTIUS AFER, usually called TERENCE, was born at Carthage, B.C.
195. By birth or purchase he became the slave of P. Terentius, a Roman
senator, who afforded him the best education of the age, and finally
gave him his freedom. The _Andria_, which was the first play of Terence
acted (B.C. 166), was the means of introducing him to the most refined
and intellectual circles of Rome. His chief patrons were Lælius and the
younger Scipio, both of whom treated him as an equal, and are said even
to have assisted him in the composition of his plays. He died in the
36th year of his age, in B.C. 159. Six comedies are all that remain to
us. The ancient critics are unanimous in ascribing to Terence immaculate
purity and elegance of language. Although a foreigner and a freedman, he
divides with Cicero and Cæsar the palm of pure Latinity.
There were two other comic poets, whose works are lost, but who enjoyed
a great reputation among the Romans. Q. CÆCILIUS was a native of Milan,
and, like Terence, came to Rome as a slave. He was the immediate
predecessor of Terence, and died B.C. 108, two years before the
representation of the _Andria_. L. AFRANIUS flourished B.C. 100, and
wrote comedies describing Roman scenes and manners, called _Comoediæ
Togatæ_, to distinguish them from those depicting Grecian life, which
were termed _Palliatæ_, from _pallium_, the national dress of the
Greeks.
There were two tragic poets contemporary with Terence, who also enjoyed
great celebrity, though their works have likewise perished. M. PACUVIUS,
son of the sister of Ennius, was born about B.C. 220, and died in the
90th year of his age. He is praised by the Latin writers for the
loftiness of his thoughts, the vigor of his language, and the extent of
his knowledge. Hence we find the epithet _doctus_ frequently applied to
him. Most of his tragedies were taken from the Greek writers; but some
belonged to the class called _Prætextatæ_, in which the subjects were
taken from Roman story. One of these, entitled _Paullus_, had as its
hero L. Æmilius Paullus, the conqueror of Perseus, king of Macedonia. L.
ACCIUS, a younger contemporary of Pacuvius, was born B.C. 170, and lived
to a great age. Cicero, when a young man, frequently conversed with him.
His tragedies, like those of Pacuvius, were chiefly imitations of the
Greek; but he also wrote some on Roman subjects, one of which was
entitled _Brutus_.
Though the Roman Drama, properly so called, was derived from the Greeks,
there were some kinds of dramatic exhibitions which were of Italian
origin. The first of these were the _Atellanæ Fabulæ_, or Atellane
Plays, which took their name from Atella, a town in Campania. They were
composed in the Oscan dialect, and were at first rude extemporaneous
farces, but were afterward divided into acts like a regular drama. They
seem to have been the origin of the Policinello of modern Italy. The
Oscan dialect was preserved even when they were introduced at Rome. The
_Mimes_ were another species of comedy, of which only the name seems to
have been derived from the Greek. They were a species of low comedy of
an indecent description, in which the dialogue was subordinate to
mimicry and gesture. The Dictator Sulla was very fond of these
performances. The two most distinguished writers of Mimes were DEC.
LABERIUS, a knight, and P. SYRUS, a freedman, and originally a Syrian
slave, both of whom were contemporaries of Julius Cæsar. At Cæsar's
triumphal games in October, B.C. 45, P. Syrus challenged all his craft
to a trial of wit in extemporaneous farce, and Cæsar offered Laberius
500,000 sesterces to appear on the stage. Laberius was 60 years old, and
the profession of a mimus was infamous, but the wish of the Dictator was
equivalent to a command, and he reluctantly complied. He had, however,
revenge in his power, and took it. His prologue awakened compassion, and
perhaps indignation; and during the performance he adroitly availed
himself of his various characters to point his wit at Cæsar. In the
person of a beaten Syrian slave he cried out, "Marry! Quirites, but we
lose our freedom," and all eyes were turned upon the Dictator; and in
another mime he uttered the pregnant maxim, "Needs must he fear who
makes all else adread." Cæsar, impartially or vindictively, awarded the
prize to Syrus.
The _Fescennine Songs_ were the origin of the _Satire_, the only
important species of literature not derived from the Greeks, and
altogether peculiar to Italy. These Fescennine Songs were rude
dialogues, in which the country people assailed and ridiculed one
another in extempore verses, and which were introduced as an amusement
in various festivals. They were formed into the _Satire_[75] by C.
LUCILIUS, who wrote in hexameter verse, and attacked the follies and
vices both of distinguished persons and of mankind in general. He was
born B.C. 148, at Suessa Aurunca, and died at Naples in B.C. 103. He
lived upon terms of intimacy with the younger Scipio and Lælius, and was
the maternal ancestor of Pompey the Great. Lucilius continued to be
admired in the Augustan age; and Horace, while he censures the harsh
versification and the slovenly haste with which Lucilius threw off his
compositions, acknowledges with admiration the fierceness and boldness
of his attacks upon the vices and follies of his contemporaries.
Between Lucilius and the poets of the Augustan age lived Lucretius and
Catullus, two of the greatest--perhaps the greatest--of all the Roman
poets.
T. LUCRETIUS CARUS was born B.C. 95, and died about B.C. 51. He is said
to have been driven mad by a love-potion, and to have perished by his
own hand. The work which has immortalized his name is a philosophical
didactic poem, in heroic hexameters, entitled _De Rerum Natura_, divided
into six books, and addressed to C. Memmius Gemellus, who was prætor in
B.C. 58. Its object is to state clearly the leading principles of the
Epicurean philosophy in such a form as might render the study attractive
to his countrymen. He attempts to show that there is nothing in the
history or actual condition of the world which does not admit of
explanation without having recourse to the active interposition of
divine beings. The work has been admitted by all modern critics to be
the greatest of didactic poems. The most abstruse speculations are
clearly explained in majestic verse, while the subject, which in itself
is dry and dull, is enlivened by digressions of matchless power and
beauty.
VALERIUS CATULLUS was born at Verona or in its immediate vicinity, B.C.
87. He inherited considerable property from his father, who was the
friend of Julius Cæsar; but he squandered a great part of it by
indulging freely in the pleasures of the metropolis. In order to better
his fortunes, he went to Bithynia in the train of the Prætor Memmius,
but it appears that the speculation was attended with little success. It
was probably during this expedition that his brother died in the Troad,
a loss which he deplores in the affecting elegy to Hortalus. On his
return he continued to reside at Rome, or at his country seats on the
promontory of Sirmio and at Tibur. He died about B.C. 47. His poems are
on a variety of topics, and composed in different styles and metres.
Some are lyrical, others elegies, others epigrams; while the Nuptials of
Peleus and Thetis is an heroic poem. Catullus adorned all he touched,
and his shorter poems are characterized by original invention and
felicity of expression. His _Atys_ is one of the most remarkable poems
in the whole range of Latin literature, distinguished by wild passion
and the noblest diction.
Among the poets of the Augustan age Virgil and Horace stand forth
pre-eminent.
P. VIRGILIUS (more properly VERGILIUS) MARO was born B.C. 70, at Andes,
a small village near Mantua, in Cisalpine Gaul. His father left him a
small estate, which he cultivated. After the battle of Philippi (B.C.
42) his property was among the lands assigned by Octavian to the
soldiers. Through the advice of Asinius Pollio, who was then governor of
Cisalpine Gaul, and was himself a poet, Virgil applied to Octavian at
Rome for the restitution of his land, and obtained his request. The
first Eclogue commemorates his gratitude. Virgil lived on intimate terms
with Mæcenas, whom he accompanied in the journey from Rome to
Brundusium, which forms the subject of one of the Satires of Horace. His
most finished work, the _Georgics_, was undertaken at the suggestion of
Mæcenas.[76] The poem was completed after the battle of Actium, B.C. 31,
while Octavian was in the East.[77] The _Æneid_ was the occupation of
his latter years. His health was always feeble, and he died at
Brundusium in B.C. 19, in his 51st year. His remains were transferred to
Naples, which had been his favorite residence, and placed on the road
from Naples to Puteoli (_Pozzuoli_), where a monument is still shown,
supposed to be the tomb of the poet. It is said that in his last illness
he wished to burn the Æneid, to which he had not given the finishing
touches, but his friends would not allow him. He was an amiable,
good-tempered man, free from the mean passions of envy and jealousy. His
fame, which was established in his lifetime, was cherished after his
death as an inheritance in which every Roman had a share; and his works
became school-books even before the death of Augustus, and continued
such for centuries after. He was also the great poet of the Middle Ages.
To him Dante paid the homage of his superior genius, and owned him for
his master and model. The ten short poems called Bucolics, or Eclogues,
were the earliest works of Virgil, and probably all written between B.C.
41 and B.C. 37. They have all a Bucolic form and coloring, but some of
them have nothing more. Their merit consists in their versification, and
in many natural and simple touches. The Georgics is an "Agricultural
Poem" in four books. Virgil treats of the cultivation of the soil in the
first book, of fruit-trees in the second, of horses and other cattle in
the third, and of bees in the fourth. This poem shows a great
improvement both in his taste and in his versification. Neither in the
Georgics nor elsewhere has he the merit of striking originality; his
chief excellence consists in the skillful handling of borrowed
materials. The Æneid, or adventures of Æneas after the fall of Troy, is
an epic formed on the model of the Homeric poems. It was founded upon an
old Roman tradition that Æneas and his Trojans settled in Italy, and
were the founders of the Roman name. In the first six books the
adventures of Ulysses in the Odyssey are the model, and these books
contain more variety of incident and situation than those which follow.
The last six books, the history of the struggles of Æneas in Italy, are
based on the plan of the battles of the Iliad. Latinus, the king of the
Latini, offers in marriage to the Trojan hero his daughter Lavinia, who
had been betrothed to Turnus, the warlike king of the Rutuli. The
contest is ended by the death of Turnus, who falls by the hand of Æneas.
The fortunes of Æneas and his final settlement in Italy are the subjects
of the Æneid, but the glories of Rome and the Julian house, to which
Augustus belonged, are indirectly the poet's theme. In the first book
the foundation of Alba Longa is promised by Jupiter to Venus, and the
transfer of empire from Alba to Rome; from the line of Æneas will
descend the "Trojan Cæsar," whose empire will only be limited by the
ocean, and his glory by the heavens. The ultimate triumphs of Rome are
predicted.
Q. HORATIUS FLACCUS, usually called HORACE, was born at Venusia, in
Apulia, B.C. 65. His father was a freedman. He had received his
manumission before the birth of the poet, who was of ingenuous birth,
but who did not altogether escape the taunt which adhered to persons
even of remote servile origin. His father's occupation was that of a
collector (_coactor_) of taxes. With the profits of his office he had
purchased a small farm in the neighborhood of Venusia. Though by no
means rich, he declined to send the young Horace to the common school,
kept in Venusia by one Flavius, to which the children of the rural
aristocracy resorted. Probably about his twelfth year his father carried
him to Rome to receive the usual education of a knight's or senator's
son. He frequented the best schools in the capital. One of these was
kept by Orbilius, a retired military man, whose flogging propensities
have been immortalized by his pupil. The names of his other teachers are
not recorded by the poet. He was instructed in the Greek and Latin
languages: the poets were the usual school-books--Homer in the Greek,
and the old tragic writer, Livius Andronicus, in the Latin. In his
eighteenth year Horace proceeded to Athens, in order to continue his
studies at that seat of learning. When Brutus came to Athens after the
death of Cæsar, Horace joined his army, and received at once the rank of
a military tribune and the command of a legion. He was present at the
battle of Philippi, and shared in the flight of the republican army. In
one of his poems he playfully alludes to his flight, and throwing away
his shield. He now resolved to devote himself to more peaceful pursuits;
and, having obtained his pardon, he ventured at once to return to Rome.
He had lost all his hopes in life; his paternal estate had been swept
away in the general forfeiture; but he was enabled to obtain sufficient
money to purchase a clerkship in the Quæstor's office, and on the
profits of that place he managed, with the utmost frugality, to live.
Meantime some of his poems attracted the notice of Varius and Virgil,
who introduced him to Mæcenas (B.C. 39). Horace soon became the friend
of Mæcenas, and this friendship quickly ripened into intimacy. In a year
or two after the commencement of their friendship (B.C. 37) Horace
accompanied his patron on the journey to Brundusium already alluded to.
About the year B.C. 34 Mæcenas bestowed upon the poet a Sabine farm,
sufficient to maintain him in ease, comfort, and even in content, during
the rest of his life. The situation of this farm was in the valley of
Ustica, within view of the mountain Lucretilis, and near the Digentia,
about 15 miles from Tibur (_Tivoli_). A site exactly answering to the
villa of Horace, and on which were found ruins of buildings, has been
discovered in modern times. Besides this estate, his admiration of the
beautiful scenery in the neighborhood of Tibur inclined him either to
hire or to purchase a small cottage in that romantic town; and all the
later years of his life were passed between the metropolis and these two
country residences. He died, B.C. 8, in his 57th year. He was buried on
the slope of the Esquiline Hill, close to his friend and patron Mæcenas,
who had died before him in the same year. Horace has described his own
person. He was of short stature, with dark eyes and dark hair, but early
tinged with gray. In his youth he was tolerably robust, but suffered
from a complaint in his eyes. In more advanced life he grew fat, and
Augustus jested about his protuberant belly. His health was not always
good, and he seems to have inclined to be a valetudinarian. In dress he
was rather careless. His habits, even after he became richer, were
generally frugal and abstemious; though on occasions, both in youth and
maturer age, he seems to have indulged in conviviality. He liked choice
wine, and in the society of friends scrupled not to enjoy the luxuries
of his time. He was never married. The _Odes_ of Horace want the higher
inspirations of lyric verse. His amatory verses are exquisitely
graceful, but they have no strong ardor, no deep tenderness, nor even
much light and joyous gayety; but as works of refined art, of the most
skillful felicities of language and of measure, of translucent
expression, and of agreeable images embodied in words which imprint
themselves indelibly on the memory, they are unrivaled. In the _Satires_
of Horace there is none of the lofty moral indignation, the fierce
vehemence of invective, which characterized the later satirists. It is
the folly rather than the wickedness of vice which he touches with such
playful skill. In the _Epodes_ there is bitterness provoked, it should
seem, by some personal hatred or sense of injury; but the _Epistles_ are
the most perfect of the Horatian poetry, the poetry of manners and
society, the beauty of which consists in its common sense and practical
wisdom. The Epistles of Horace are, with the Poem of Lucretius, the
Georgics of Virgil, and, perhaps, the Satires of Juvenal, the most
perfect and the most original form of Roman verse. The _Art of Poetry_
was probably intended to dissuade one of the younger Pisos from devoting
himself to poetry, for which he had little genius, or, at least, to
suggest the difficulties of attaining to perfection.
Three celebrated Elegiac poets--Tibullus, Propertius, and Ovid--also
belong to the Augustan age.
ALBIUS TIBULLUS was of equestrian family, and possessed an hereditary
estate between Tibur and Præneste. His great patron was Messala, whom he
accompanied in B.C. 31 into Aquitania, whither Messala had been sent by
Augustus to suppress a formidable insurrection which had broken out in
this province. In the following year (B.C. 30) Messala, having pacified
Gaul, was sent into the East. Tibullus set out in his company, but was
taken ill, and obliged to remain in Corcyra, from whence he returned to
Rome. So ceased the active life of Tibullus. He died at an early age
soon after Virgil. The poetry of his contemporaries shows Tibullus as a
gentle and singularly amiable man. To Horace especially he was an object
of warm attachment. His Elegies, which are exquisite small poems,
celebrate the beauty and cruelty of his mistresses.
SEXTUS AURELIUS PROPERTIUS was a native of Umbria, and was born about
B.C. 51. He was deprived of his paternal estate by an agrarian division,
probably that in B.C. 33, after the Sicilian War. He began to write
poetry at a very early age, and the merit of his productions soon
attracted the attention and patronage of Mæcenas. The year of his death
is altogether unknown. As an elegiac poet a high rank must be awarded to
Propertius, and among the ancients it was a disputed point whether the
preference should be given to him or to Tibullus. To the modern reader,
however, the elegies of Propertius are not nearly so attractive as those
of Tibullus. This arises partly from their obscurity, but in a great
measure, also, from a certain want of nature in them. The fault of
Propertius was too pedantic an imitation of the Greeks. His whole
ambition was to become the Roman Callimachus, whom he made his model. He
abounds with obscure Greek myths, as well as Greek forms of expression,
and the same pedantry infects even his versification.
P. OVIDIUS NASO, usually culled OVID, was born at Sulmo, in the country
of the Peligni, on the 20th of March, B.C. 43. He was descended from an
ancient equestrian family, and was destined to be a pleader; but the
bent of his genius showed itself very early. The hours which should have
been spent in the study of jurisprudence were employed in cultivating
his poetical talent. It is a disputed point whether he ever actually
practiced as an advocate after his return to Rome. The picture Ovid
himself draws of his weak constitution and indolent temper prevents us
from thinking that he ever followed his profession with perseverance,
if, indeed, at all. He became, however, one of the _Triumviri
Capitules_; and he was subsequently made one of the _Centumviri_, or
judges who tried testamentary, and even criminal causes. Till his 50th
year he continued to reside at Rome, where he had a house near the
Capitol, occasionally taking a trip to his Pelignian farm. He not only
enjoyed the friendship of a large circle of distinguished men, but the
regard and favor of Augustus and the imperial family; notwithstanding,
in A.D. 9, he was suddenly commanded by an imperial edict to transport
himself to Tomi, a town on the Euxine, near the mouths of the Danube, on
the very border of the empire. He underwent no trial, and the sole
reason for his banishment stated in the edict was his having published
his poem on the Art of Love (_Ars Amatoria_). The real cause of his
banishment is unknown, for the publication of the Art of Love was
certainly a mere pretext. Ovid draws an affecting picture of the
miseries to which he was exposed in his place of exile. He complains of
the inhospitable soil, of the severity of the climate, and of the perils
to which he was exposed, when the barbarians plundered the surrounding
country, and insulted the very walls of Tomi. In the midst of all his
misfortunes he sought some relief in the exercise of his poetical
talents. He died at Tomi in the 60th year of his age, A.D. 18. Besides
his amatory poems, Ovid wrote the _Metamorphoses_ in 15 books, which
consist of such legends or fables as involved a transformation, from the
Creation to the time of Julius Cæsar, the last being that emperor's
change into a star; the _Fasti_ in 12 books, of which only the first six
are extant, a sort of poetical Roman calendar, with its appropriate
festivals and mythology; and the _Elegies_, written during his
banishment. Ovid undoubtedly possessed a great poetical genius, which
makes it the more to be regretted that it was not always under the
control of a sound judgment. He exhibits great vigor of fancy and warmth
of coloring, but he was the first to depart from that pure and correct
taste which characterizes the Greek poets and their earlier Latin
imitators.
* * * * *
We now turn to the history of prose literature among the Romans. The
earliest prose works were Annals, containing a meagre account of the
principal events in Roman history, arranged under their respective
years. The earliest Annalists who obtained reputation were Q. FABIUS
PICTOR and L. CINCIUS ALIMENTUS, both of whom served in the Second Punic
War, and drew up an account of it, but they wrote in the Greek language.
The first prose writer in the Latin language, of whom any considerable
fragments have been preserved, is the celebrated Censor, M. Porcius
Cato, who died B.C. 149, and of whose life an account has been already
given. He wrote an important historical work entitled _Origines_. The
first book contained the history of the Roman kings; the second and
third treated of the origin of the Italian towns, and from these two
books the whole work derived its title; the fourth book treated of the
First Punic War, the fifth book of the Second Punic War, and the sixth
and seventh continued the narrative to the year of Cato's death. There
is still extant a work on agriculture (_De Re Rustica_) bearing the name
of Cato, which is probably substantially his, though it is certainly not
exactly in the form in which it proceeded from his pen. There were many
other annalists, of whom we know little more than the names, and whose
works were used by Livy in compiling his Roman history.
Oratory was always cultivated by the Romans as one of the chief avenues
to political distinction. Cicero, in his work entitled _Brutus_, has
given a long list of distinguished Orators whose speeches he had read,
but he himself surpassed all his predecessors and contemporaries. In his
works the Latin language appears in the highest perfection. Besides his
numerous orations he also wrote several treatises on _Rhetoric_, of
which the most perfect is a systematic treatise on the art of Oratory
(_De Oratore_), in three books. His works on _Philosophy_ were almost
the first specimens of this kind of literature ever presented to the
Romans in their own language. He does not aim at any original
investigation or research. His object was to present, in a familiar and
attractive form, the results at which the Greek philosophers had
arrived, not to expound any new theories. His Epistles, of which more
than eight hundred have come down to us, are among the most valuable
remains of antiquity. Cicero, during the most important period of his
life, maintained a close correspondence with Atticus, and with a wide
circle of political friends and connections. These letters supply the
most ample materials for a history of the Roman Republic during its last
struggles, and afford a clear insight into the personal dispositions and
motives of its chief leaders.
The most learned Roman under the Republic was M. TERENTIUS VARRO, a
contemporary and friend of Cicero. He served as Pompey's lieutenant in
Spain in the Civil Wars, but was pardoned by Cæsar after the battle of
Pharsalia, and was employed by him in superintending the collection and
arrangement of the great library designed for public use. Upon the
formation of the second Triumvirate, Varro's name appeared upon the list
of the proscribed; but he succeeded in making his escape, and, after
having remained for some time in concealment, he obtained the protection
of Octavian. His death took place B.C. 28, when he was in his 80th year.
Not only was Varro the most learned of Roman scholars, but he was
likewise the most voluminous of Roman authors. We have his own authority
for the assertion that he had composed no less than 490 books, but of
these only two have come down to us, and one of them in a mutilated
form: 1. _De Re Rustica_, a work on Agriculture, in three books, written
when the author was 80 years old; 2. _De Lingua Latina_, a grammatical
treatise which extended to 24 books, but six only have been preserved,
and these are in a mutilated condition. The remains of this treatise are
particularly valuable. They have preserved many terms and forms which
would otherwise have been altogether lost, and much curious information
connected with the ancient usages, both civil and religious, of the
Romans.
C. JULIUS CÆSAR, the great Dictator, was also distinguished as an
author, and wrote several works, of which the _Commentaries_ alone have
come down to us. They relate the history of the first seven years of the
Gallic War in seven books, and the history of the Civil War down to the
commencement of the Alexandrine in three books. Neither of these works
completes the history of the Gallic and Civil Wars. The history of the
former was completed in an 8th book, which is usually ascribed to
Hirtius. The history of the Alexandrine, African, and Spanish Wars was
written in three separate books, which are also ascribed to Hirtius, but
their authorship is uncertain. The purity of Cæsar's Latin and the
clearness of his style have deservedly obtained the highest praise.
C. SALLUSTIUS CRISPUS, a contemporary of Cæsar, and one of his
supporters, was also distinguished as a historian. He was born B.C. 86
at Amiternum, in the country of the Sabines, and died in B.C. 34. After
the African War (B.C. 46) he was left by Cæsar as governor of Numidia,
where he acquired great riches by his oppression of the people. Two of
his works have come down to us, the _Catilina_, the history of the
suppression of Catiline's conspiracy, and the _Jugurtha_, the history of
the war against Jugurtha. Sallust made Thucydides his model, and took
great pains with his style.
CORNELIUS NEPOS, the contemporary and friend of Cicero and Atticus, was
the author of numerous works, all of which are lost, with the exception
of the well-known Lives of Distinguished Commanders (_Vitæ Excellentium
Imperatorum_). But even these Lives, with the exception of that of
Atticus, are probably an abridgment of the original work of Nepos, made
in the fourth century of the Christian era.
Of the prose writers of the Augustan age the most distinguished was the
historian TITUS LIVIUS, usually called LIVY. He was born at Patavium
(_Padua_), B.C. 59. The greater part of his life appears to have been
spent in Rome, but he returned to his native town before his death,
which happened at the age of 76, in the fourth year of Tiberius, A.D.
17. His literary talents secured the patronage and friendship of
Augustus; and his reputation became so widely diffused, that a Spaniard
traveled from Cadiz to Rome solely for the purpose of beholding him;
and, having gratified his curiosity in this one particular, he
immediately returned home. Livy's "History of Rome" extended from the
foundation of the city to the death of Drusus, B.C. 9, and was comprised
in 142 books. Of these 35 have descended to us. The whole work has been
divided into _decades_, containing 10 books each. The First decade (bks.
i.-x.) is entire. It embraces the period from the foundation of the city
to the year B.C. 294, when the subjugation of the Samnites may be said
to have been completed. The Second decade (bks. xi.-xx.) is altogether
lost. It included the period from B.C. 294 to B.C. 219, comprising an
account, among other matters, of the invasion of Pyrrhus and of the
First Punic War. The Third decade (bks. xxi.-xxx.) is entire. It
embraces the period from B.C. 219 to B.C. 201, comprehending the whole
of the Second Punic War. The Fourth decade (bks. xxxi.-xl.) is entire,
and also one half of the Fifth (bks. xli.-xlv.). These 15 books continue
the history from B.C. 201 to B.C. 167, and develop the progress of the
Roman arms in Cisalpine Gaul, in Macedonia, Greece, and Asia, ending
with the triumph of Æmilius Paullus. Of the remaining books nothing is
extant except inconsiderable fragments. The style of Livy may be
pronounced almost faultless. In judging of his merits as a historian, we
are bound to ascertain, if possible, the end which he proposed to
himself. No one who reads his work with attention can suppose that he
ever conceived the project of drawing up a critical history of Rome. His
aim was to offer to his countrymen a clear and pleasing narrative,
which, while it gratified their vanity, should contain no startling
improbabilities or gross amplifications. To effect this purpose, he
studied with care the writings of some of his more celebrated
predecessors in the same field; but in no case did he ever dream of
ascending to the fountain-head, and never attempted to test the accuracy
of his authorities by examining monuments of remote antiquity.
[Illustration: Mæcenas.]
[Footnote 74: These were probably composed in the Saturnian metre, the
oldest species of versification among the Romans, in which much greater
license was allowed in the laws of quantity than in the metres which
were borrowed from the Greeks.]
[Footnote 75: The name signifies a mixture or medley. Hence a _lex per
saturam lata_ is a law which contained several distinct regulations at
once.]
[Footnote 76: _Georg._, iii., 41.]
[Footnote 77: Comp. _Georg._, iv., 560, and ii., 171.]
[Illustration: Aureus of Augustus Cæsar.]