[a] To be rich and have no issue, gave to the person so circumstanced
the highest consequence at Rome. All ranks of men paid their court to
him. To discourage a life of celibacy, and promote population,
Augustus passed a law, called _Papia Poppæa_, whereby bachelors were
subjected to penalties. Hence the compliment paid by Horace to his
patron:
Diva producas sobolem, patrumque
Prosperes decreta super jugandis
Foeminis, prolisque novæ feraci
Lege marita.
CARMEN SÆCULARE.
Bring the springing birth to light,
And with ev'ry genial grace
Prolific of an endless race,
Oh! crown our vows, and bless the nuptial rite.
FRANCIS'S HORACE.
But marriage was not brought into fashion. In proportion to the rapid
degeneracy of the manners under the emperors, celibacy grew into
respect; insomuch, that we find (Annals xii. s. 52) a man too strong
for his prosecutors, because he was rich, old, and childless.
_Valuitque pecuniosâ orbitate et senectâ._
[b] The faculty of speaking on a sudden question, with unpremeditated
eloquence, Quintilian says, is the reward of study and diligent
application. The speech, composed at leisure, will often want the
warmth and energy, which accompany the rapid emotions of the mind. The
passions, when roused and animated, and the images which present
themselves in a glow of enthusiasm, are the inspirers of true
eloquence. Composition has not always this happy effect; the process
is slow; languor is apt to succeed; the passions subside, and the
spirit of the discourse evaporates. _Maximus vero studiorum fructus
est, et velut præmium quoddam amplissimum longi laboris, ex tempore
dicendi facultas. Pectus est enim quod disertos facit, et vis mentis.
Nam benè concepti affectus, et recentes rerum imagines, continuo
impetu feruntur, quæ nonnunquam morâ stili refrigescunt, et dilatæ won
revertuntur._ Quintilian. lib. x. cap. 7.