[a] The rural delight of Virgil is described by himself:
Rura mihi et rigui placeant in vallibus amnes;
Flumina amem, sylvasque inglorius. O ubi campi,
Sperchiusque, et virginibus bacchata Lacænis
Taygeta! O quis me gelidis sub montibus Hæmi
Sistat, et ingenti ramorum protegat umbrâ?
GEORGICA, lib. ii. ver. 485.
Me may the lowly vales and woodland please,
And winding rivers, and inglorious ease;
O that I wander'd by Sperchius' flood,
Or on Taygetus' sacred top I stood!
Who in cool Hæmus' vales my limbs will lay,
And in the darkest thicket hide from day?
WHARTON'S VIRG.
Besides this poetical retreat, which his imagination could command at
any time, Virgil had a real and delightful villa near Naples, where
he composed his Georgics, and wrote great part of the Æneid.
[b] When Augustus, or any eminent citizen, distinguished by his public
merit, appeared in the theatre, the people testified their joy by
acclamations, and unbounded applause. It is recorded by Horace, that
Mæcenas received that public honour.
----Datus in theatro
Cum tibi plausus,
Care Mæcenas eques, ut paterni
Fluminis ripæ, simul et jocosa
Redderet laudes tibi Vaticani
Montis imago.
Lib. i. ode 20.
When Virgil appeared, the audience paid the same compliment to a man
whose poetry adorned the Roman story. The letters from Augustus, which
are mentioned in this passage, have perished in the ruins of ancient
literature.
[c] Pomponius Secundus was of consular rank, and an eminent writer of
tragedy. See _Annals_, b. ii. s. 13. His life was written by Pliny
the elder, whose nephew mentions the fact (book iii. epist. 5), and
says it was a tribute to friendship. Quintilian pronounces him the
best of all the dramatic poets whom he had seen; though the critics
whose judgement was matured by years, did not think him sufficiently
tragical. They admitted, however, that his erudition was considerable,
and the beauty of his composition surpassed all his contemporaries.
_Eorum, quos viderim, longe princeps Pomponius Secundus, quem senes
parum tragicum putabant, eruditione ac nitore præstare confitebantur._
Lib. x. cap. 1.
[d] Quintilian makes honourable mention of Domitius Afer. He says,
when he was a boy, the speeches of that orator for Volusenus Catulus
were held in high estimation. _Et nobis pueris insignes pro Voluseno
Catulo Domitii Afri orationes ferebantur._ Lib. x. cap 1. He adds, in
another part of the same chapter, that Domitius Afer and Julius
Africanus were, of all the orators who flourished in his time, without
comparison the best. But Afer stands distinguished by the splendour
of his diction, and the rhetorical art which he has displayed in all
his compositions. You would not scruple to rank him among the ancient
orators. _Eorum quos viderim, Domitius Afer et Julius Secundus longe
præstantissimi. Verborum arte ille, et toto genere dicendi
præferendus, et quem in numero veterum locare non timeas._ Lib. x.
cap. 1. Quintilian relates, that in a conversation which he had when a
young man, he asked Domitius Afer what poet was, in his opinion, the
next to Homer? The answer was, _Virgil is undoubtedly the second epic
poet, but he is nearer to the first than to the third. Utar enim
verbis, quæ ex Afro Domitio juvenis accepi; qui mihi interroganti,
quem Homero crederet maximè accedere: Secundus, inquit, est Virgilius,
propior tamen primo quam tertio._ Lib. x. cap. 1. We may believe that
Quintilian thought highly of the man whose judgement he cites as an
authority. Quintilian, however, had in view nothing but the talents of
this celebrated orator. Tacitus, as a moral historian, looked at the
character of the man. He introduces him on the stage of public
business in the reign of Tiberius, and there represents him in haste
to advance himself by any kind of crime. _Quoquo facinore properus
clare cere._ He tells us, in the same passage (_Annals_, b. iv. s.
52), that Tiberius pronounced him an orator in his own right, _suo
jure disertum_. Afer died in the reign of Nero, A.U.C. 812, A.D. 59.
In relating his death, Tacitus observes, that he raised himself by his
eloquence to the first civil honours; but he does not dismiss him
without condemning his morals. _Annals_, b. xiv. s. 19.
[e] We find in the Annals and the History of Tacitus, a number of
instances to justify the sentiments of Maternus. The rich found it
necessary to bequeath part of their substance to the prince, in order
to secure the remainder for their families. For the same reason,
Agricola made Domitian joint heir with his wife and daughter. _Life of
Agricola_, section 43.
[f] By a law of the Twelve Tables, a crown, when fairly earned by
virtue, was placed on the head of the deceased, and another was
ordered to be given to his father. The spirit of the law, Cicero says,
plainly intimated, that commendation was a tribute due to departed
virtue. A crown was given not only to him who earned it, but also to
the father, who gave birth to distinguished merit. _Illa jam
significatio est, laudis ornamenta ad mortuos pertinere, quod coronam
virtute partam, et ei qui peperisset, et ejus parenti, sine fraude lex
impositam esse jubet._ _De Legibus_, lib. ii. s. 24. This is the
reward to which Maternus aspires; and, that being granted, he desires,
as Horace did before him, to waive the pomp of funeral ceremonies.
Absint inani funere næniæ,
Luctusque turpes et querimoniæ;
Compesce clamorem, ac sepulchri
Mitte supervacuos honores.
Lib. ii. ode 20.
My friends, the funeral sorrow spare,
The plaintive song, and tender tear;
Nor let the voice of grief profane,
With loud laments, the solemn scene;
Nor o'er your poet's empty urn
With useless idle sorrow mourn.
FRANCIS'S HORACE.