[a] Vipstanius Messala commanded a legion, and, at the head of it,
went over to Vespasian's party in the contention with Vitellius. He
was a man of illustrious birth, and equal merit; the only one, says
Tacitus, who entered into that war from motives of virtue. _Legioni
Vipstanius Messala præerat, claris majoribus, egregius ipse, et qui
solus ad id bellum artes bonas attulisset._ _Hist._ lib. iii. s. 9. He
was brother to Regulus, the vile informer, who has been mentioned. See
Life of Agricola, section 2. note a, and this tract, s. xii. note [b].
Messala, we are told by Tacitus, before he had attained the senatorian
age, acquired great fame by pleading the cause of his profligate
brother with extraordinary eloquence, and family affection. _Magnam eo
die pietatis eloquentiæque famam Vipstanius Messala adeptus est;
nondum senatoriâ ætate, ausus pro fratre Aquilio Regulo deprecari._
_Hist._ lib. iv. s. 42. Since Messala has now joined the company, the
Dialogue takes a new turn, and, by an easy and natural transition,
slides into the question concerning the causes of the decline of
eloquence.
[b] This is probably the same Asiaticus, who, in the revolt of the
provinces of Gaul, fought on the side of VINDEX. See _Hist._ b. ii. s.
94. Biography was, in that evil period, a tribute paid by the friends
of departed merit, and the only kind of writing, in which men could
dare faintly to utter a sentiment in favour of virtue and public
liberty.
[c] In the declamations of Seneca and Quintilian, we have abundant
examples of these scholastic exercises, which Juvenal has placed in a
ridiculous light.
Et nos ergo manum ferulæ subduximus, et nos
Consilium dedimus Syllæ, privatus ut altum
Dormiret.
Sat. i. ver. 15.
Provok'd by these incorrigible fools,
I left declaiming in pedantic schools;
Where, with men-boys, I strove to get renown,
Advising Sylla to a private gown.
DRYDEN'S JUVENAL.