TIBERIUS TO VESPASIAN
The emperors (Tiberius, 14-37 A. D.; Caligula, 37-41 A. D.;
Claudius, 41-54 A. D.; Nero, 54-68 A. D.)—Phædrus, about 40
A. D.—Germanicus, 15 B. C.-19 A. D.—Velleius Paterculus,
30 A. D.—Valerius Maximus, about 47 B. C. to about 30 A.
D.—Celsus about 35 A. D.—Votienus Montanus, died 27 A.
D.—Asinius Gallus, 40 B. C.-33 A. D.—Mamercus Scaurus, died
34 A. D.—Publius Vitellius, died 31 A. D.—Domitius Afer,
14 B. C.-59 A. D.—Cremutius Cordus, died 25 A. D.—Aufidius
Bassus—Remmius Palæmon—Julius Atticus—Julius Gracchinus—Marcus
Apicius—Philosophers—Lucius Annæus Seneca, about 1 A. D. to 65
A. D.—Persius, 34-62 A. D.—Lucan, 39-65 A. D.—Calpurnius, about
60 A. D.—Pomponius Secundus, about 50 A. D.—Petronius, died 66
A. D.—Quintus Curtius, about 50 (?) A. D.—Columella, about 40 A.
D.—Mela, about 40 A. D.—Other writers.
[Sidenote: Literature after Augustus.] With the death of Augustus the
greatest period of Roman literature comes to an end. From this time its
history is a record of decay, not regularly progressive, to be sure,
and not always manifested in the same way, but almost constant, and
hardly interrupted even by the appearance of a few writers of genuine
ability. With the establishment of peace throughout the Roman Empire,
and with the ease and security of travel from province to province,
men from all parts of the empire came to Rome for a time and returned
to their homes, after, perhaps, imbibing something of the culture of
the capital, while others took up their residence permanently in the
imperial city. Some men of each class devoted themselves to literature.
The elder Seneca belongs to one of these classes, the younger Seneca
certainly to the latter. The influence of the provincials upon Roman
literature could not fail to be great. In the hands of Spaniards
like the Senecas, Latin could hardly remain the city speech, _sermo
urbanus_, of the time of Cicero. The evil influence of even the best
rhetorical teaching of the time of Augustus has already been mentioned,
and as time went on the rhetorical teaching became constantly worse.
Moreover, the circumstances of the empire, and especially of the city
of Rome, were not favorable to the growth of literature. The peace that
followed the unrest of the civil wars had led in the time of Augustus
to great literary activity, but the continued peace in the subsequent
years, when men’s minds were no longer moved by the remembrance of
stirring events, tended to deaden the imagination and to dry up the
springs of literary life. In the early part of the first century after
Christ there are few important writers either in Greek or Latin. In the
city itself the character of the emperor had a powerful effect upon
literature.
[Sidenote: The relations of the emperors to literature.] Tiberius
(14-37 A. D.) was a pupil of the Greek rhetorician, Theodorus of
Gadara, and was familiar with Greek and Latin literature. He wrote
Greek verses in the learned Alexandrian manner, a Latin poem on the
death of Lucius Cæsar, and autobiographical memoirs in prose; but
his own literary interest did not make him a patron of literature.
His suspicious nature caused him to seek out and punish all real or
imaginary allusions to himself in the works of contemporary authors,
with the natural result that authorship became a pursuit too dangerous
to be popular. Caligula (37-41 A. D.) had some ability as a speaker,
and wished to be considered an orator, but his insanity led him to wish
to destroy the works of Homer, and to remove the works and the busts
of Virgil and Livy from the public libraries, on the ground that one
of them was without genius or learning and the other was diffuse and
careless. Although he did not systematically repress literature, his
brief reign was certainly not favorable to its cultivation. Claudius
(41-54 A. D.), who came to the throne at the age of fifty years, was
a dull and learned pedant. He began to write a history from the death
of Cæsar, but stopped at the end of the second book, owing to the
objections of his mother and grandmother. He then wrote a history in
forty-one books, probably beginning with the bestowal of the title of
Augustus upon Octavian (27 B. C.), and continuing for forty-one years.
He also wrote a history of the Etruscans in twenty books and a history
of Carthage in eight books. Of all these works nothing remains. Some
idea of his style may be derived from two inscriptions found at Lyons
and Trent. The first is a speech delivered in the senate in 48 A. D.,
advocating the extension to the Gallic nobility of the _ius honorum_,
or right to hold offices, the second a decree renewing the grant of
citizenship to the inhabitants of the regions in the Rhætian Alps
about Trent, and regulating their affairs. In both cases the style is
confused and entirely without elegance or merit. Claudius also wrote a
defense of Cicero against Asinius Gallus, the son of Asinius Pollio,
who had maintained that Pollio was the greater orator. The addition by
Claudius of three letters to the Latin alphabet shows his interest in
linguistic matters, but was without permanent effect. Under this ruler
literature revived somewhat after the persecutions under Tiberius. Nero
(54-68 A. D.), the pupil of Seneca, wrote various short poems and an
epic, entitled _Troica_, on the Trojan War. His jealousy caused him to
be the enemy of other poets, but he paid little attention to literary
attacks upon himself. On the whole, literature was not repressed during
his reign, though after the discovery of the conspiracy of Piso, in 65
A. D., his wrath fell upon philosophers and men of letters.
The literature of the times of Tiberius and Caligula is less important
than that of the following years. [Sidenote: Phædrus.] The only poet of
importance is Phædrus, a freedman of Augustus, who wrote fables in
iambic verse. These are for the most part not original with Phædrus,
but are the so-called fables of Æsop, tales of Oriental origin, which
migrated in writing or in oral form to Europe. The Greeks thought
them the inventions of Æsop, but modern investigations have proved
that they belong to the migratory folk-lore of India. After the
first book of his fables, Phædrus introduces fables and tales of his
own among those ascribed to Æsop. The whole collection now consists
of ninety-three fables, divided into five books; but it originally
contained a greater number, especially in Books II and V. The fables
are still, many of them, at least, familiar to most children. Such are
the stories of the Wolf and the Lamb, the Frog who tried to be as big
as an Ox, the Fox and the Crane, and many others. Phædrus tells the
fables in well-composed verses, but sometimes overdoes his love of
brevity so as to be obscure. He also points out the moral of his tales
too plainly, leaving nothing to the imagination of his readers. His
language is the simple and easy Latin of the early Augustan period,
without the rhetorical flourishes popular in the following years. Yet
it is evident from references in the prologue to the third book that,
although Sejanus was powerful after the appearance of the first two
books, the third was written after his fall, that is to say, after
31 A. D. Probably Phædrus wrote at least as late as 40 A. D. Of his
personal history little is known. He was born in Pieria, in Macedonia,
but went to Italy and probably to Rome, at an early age. Something in
the first two books of fables brought down upon the poet the wrath of
Sejanus, but how serious its effects were is not known. The Eutychus
to whom the third book is addressed is probably the charioteer who was
an important personage in the last years of Caligula. Particulo and
Philetes, whom Phædrus addresses in the epilogue and the last fable of
the fifth book, are unknown. The _Fables_ of Phædrus have been much
used as a text-book, because they are interesting to young readers and
are written in simple, classical Latin.
[Sidenote: Germanicus.] A poem belonging to the first years after
the death of Augustus is the _Aratea_, by Germanicus, the son of
Drusus (15 B. C.-19 A. D.). This is a translation and adaptation of
the _Phænomena_ of Aratus, and shows that the author was not only a
talented writer of hexameters, but also a well-educated astronomer.
This poem contains 725 lines. Of a poem on the stars and constellations
in their relation to the weather and the like, entitled _Prognostica_,
only a few fragments remain. Besides these astronomical poems of
Germanicus, the last book of Manilius (see p. 138) belongs to this
period. So also do some of the poems wrongly ascribed to Virgil and
Ovid, and for that matter, the later poems of Ovid himself.
[Sidenote: Velleius Paterculus.] The only prose writers of the years
before Claudius whose works are extant are Velleius Paterculus,
Valerius Maximus, and Celsus. Gaius Velleius Paterculus was an officer
who had served under Tiberius; he was _tribunus militum_ in 1 A. D.
and prætor-elect in 14 A. D. The latest date mentioned in his _Roman
History_ is the consulship of Vinicius, 30 A. D. The dates of his birth
and death are unknown. The _Roman History_ consists of two books, the
first of which is imperfectly preserved. Velleius does not confine
himself strictly to Roman affairs, but begins his work with a brief
sketch of the foundation of the Greek cities in Italy. The early part
of the work is a mere summary, but more details are introduced as
the narrative approaches the author’s own times; yet it is, even in
the latter part, by no means an exhaustive history. Throughout the
work Velleius introduces his own opinions and is governed by his own
prejudices; his history is therefore not especially trustworthy. His
praise of Tiberius is so excessive that it can not be excused even
as the enthusiasm of a veteran for his old general, and the almost
equally exaggerated praise of Sejanus is without the shadow of excuse.
A noteworthy peculiarity is that Velleius pays attention to the history
of Greek and Roman literature, which would hardly be expected in so
short a work. The style is clumsy, but shows a desire for rhetorical
effect. The vocabulary is that of the Augustan age, but the pretentious
rhetoric and the evident striving for variety are characteristic of
the later time. The chief interest of Velleius is in the character
of the persons of whom he writes, and his whole work has something
personal about it which distinguishes it from a mere record of events.
In the early part of the work he follows good authorities, though he
often disagrees with Livy, perhaps on account of Livy’s republican
sympathies. In the latter part of the history he is untrustworthy,
owing to his servile partiality for Tiberius and those connected with
him.
[Sidenote: Valerius Maximus.] The nine books of _Memorable Doings and
Sayings_ (_Facta et Dicta Memorabilia_), by Valerius Maximus, were
written not far from 30 A. D., and dedicated to Tiberius. Of the writer
little is known except that he accompanied Sextus Pompeius to Asia,
about 27 B. C. He was, then, born probably as early as 47 B. C., and
can hardly have lived long after the completion of his books. Many of
the anecdotes contained in his work are interesting, but the style is
artificial, pompous, and dull. The most servile flattery is given to
Tiberius, Julius Cæsar, and Augustus. The anecdotes cover a wide range
of subjects—religion, ancient customs, all varieties of character,
fortune, old age, remarkable deaths, and many more. Naturally, the
work contains some valuable information, but this is thinly distributed
through the nine books. The work was, however, popular in the Middle
Ages, and is preserved in many manuscripts. A book on words, especially
names (_De Prænominibus, etc._), contained in the manuscripts of
Valerius Maximus, is by some unknown author and is of little value.
[Sidenote: Celsus.] Aulus Cornelius Celsus wrote an encyclopedia,
which contained treatises on agriculture, medicine, the art of war,
oratory, jurisprudence, and philosophy. Part, at least, of this great
work was written under Tiberius, but other parts may have been written
later, for there is no definite indication of the date of the author’s
birth or death. Only the treatise on medicine (Books VI-XIII of the
entire work) is preserved. This shows that Celsus was well versed in
the medical science of his day, and that medical science had at that
time reached a high degree of perfection. Celsus writes in a simple,
straightforward style, without the artificial rhetoric or the poetic
phraseology common among post-Augustan prose writers. His work was
deservedly popular among those who wished for scientific knowledge in
the Middle Ages, was one of the first books printed after the invention
of the printing-press, and was used as a text-book for medical students
until recent times. Whether the other parts of the encyclopedia were
as good as the treatise on medicine can not now be determined. The
treatise on agriculture is mentioned with respect by Columella, but
Quintilian speaks slightingly of Celsus, perhaps on account of defects
in the rhetorical parts of his work.
[Sidenote: Prose writers whose works are lost.] The names of several
orators of this period are handed down, chiefly in the reminiscences of
the elder Seneca. The most noteworthy are, perhaps, Votienus Montanus,
who was banished by Tiberius and died in 27 A. D.; Asinius Gallus
(40 B. C.-33 A. D.) the son of Asinius Pollio; Mamercus Scaurus,
who was forced by Tiberius to commit suicide in 34 A. D.; Publius
Vitellius, who brought about the condemnation of Piso for the murder of
Germanicus in 19 A. D., and who died in 31 A. D.; and Domitius Afer,
from Nemausus (14 B. C.-59 A. D.), who held important offices under
Tiberius, Caligula, and Nero. Among these orators, Domitius Afer was
most prominent as a speaker in court, while Montanus was a teacher of
oratory and a declaimer. Historians whose works are lost were Aulus
Cremutius Cordus and Aufidius Bassus. The former published under
Augustus a historical work in which he praised Brutus and spoke of
Cassius as “the last of the Romans.” For this his books were burned by
decree of the senate in 25 A. D., and he committed suicide by starving
himself. Bassus wrote a contemporary history in rhetorical style,
probably embracing the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius, and possibly
the end of the republic. Among the grammarians of this time, the most
important was Quintus Remmius Palæmon, whose grammar (_Ars Grammatica_)
was much used by the later writer Charisius. There were also several
writers on special subjects, such as Cæpio and Antonius Castor, who
wrote on botany, Julius Atticus and Julius Gracchinus, who wrote on
vine culture, and Marcus Apicius, who wrote on cookery, though the
extant cook-book ascribed to him is a work of the third century. These
names show that even under Tiberius prose writing, although not so
important as at other times, was not entirely neglected.
[Sidenote: Philosophy.] Philosophy was much cultivated at Rome in this
time, as it had been for at least a century, but the philosophical
teachers under Tiberius and Caligula wrote for the most part, when they
wrote at all, in Greek. Among them were the Sextii and Sotion, whose
activity was in the later years of Augustus and the earlier years of
Tiberius, Lucius Annæus Cornutus, and Gaius Musonius Rufus, both of
whom were banished by Nero in 65 A. D. These men, and others of less
note, whose doctrines were chiefly Stoic, exercised great influence
upon Roman thought, but as their teachings were chiefly oral and their
written works were in Greek, they must be passed over with a brief
mention by no means commensurate with their real importance. Sotion was
one of the teachers of the younger Seneca, the most important writer
of the time of Nero, while Cornutus was the teacher of the satirist
Persius, and Musonius of the powerful ethical preacher Epictetus.
[Sidenote: Lucius Annæus Seneca.] Lucius Annæus Seneca, the son of the
rhetor Seneca, whose work on the oratorical teachers of the period
of Augustus and the subsequent years has already been mentioned, was
born at Corduba, in Spain, about the beginning of the Christian era,
but was educated in Rome, where he studied under Sotion, the Stoic
Attalus, and a follower of the Sextii, Papirius Fabianus, besides
attending schools of rhetoric. His mother, Helvia, was a lady of noble
birth, whose sister married Vitrasius Pollio, who was for some years
governor of Egypt. Seneca appears to have spent some time in Egypt
with his aunt, through whose influence he obtained the quæstorship
after his return to Rome, at some time between 42 and 37 A. D. A speech
which he delivered in the senate nearly caused his death by arousing
the jealousy of Caligula in 39 A. D. In 41 A. D. he was banished to
Corsica through the influence of Messalina, on the charge of too great
intimacy with Julia Livilla, Caligula’s younger sister. Such stories
were circulated about all the members of the imperial family, and we
have now no means of knowing whether there was any truth in the charge
against Seneca and Livilla. Probably the real reason for Seneca’s
banishment was his connection with the faction of Agrippina. At any
rate, Agrippina recalled him from Corsica eight years later, after the
execution of Messalina, obtained for him the prætorship, and made him
tutor to her son Domitius Nero. His influence over his young pupil was
so great that when Nero came to the throne, Seneca, with the aid of his
friend Afranius Burrus, commander of the prætorian guards, directed the
imperial government. He restrained the ferocity of Nero and checked
the ambition and vengefulness of Agrippina. Owing to his influence
the early years of Nero’s reign were long remembered as a period of
rest and peace at Rome. But Seneca obtained and held his influence in
great measure by yielding consent to Nero’s wishes, even when they were
opposed to his better judgment or his conscience. He was probably privy
to the murder of Claudius, by which Nero became emperor, there is no
indication that he opposed the murder of Germanicus in 55 A. D., and he
probably had some connection with the murder of Agrippina in 59 A. D.
It is natural that in spite of his remarkable intellectual and social
gifts, he was unable to maintain his moral ascendency over the emperor.
With the death of Burrus, in 62 A. D., Seneca’s power was broken. He
recognized the fact, withdrew so far as he could from the life of the
court, and in 64 A. D. offered to give up his great wealth. But his
retirement did not save him from Nero’s cruelty, and in 65 A. D. he was
accused of sharing in the conspiracy of Piso and compelled to commit
suicide.
Seneca’s philosophy did not forbid him to have a share of worldly
wealth and honors. At the height of his prosperity he was immensely
wealthy, possessing estates in Italy and abroad, and having money out
at interest as far away as Britain. His total wealth was estimated at
more than $15,000,000. He held all the regular offices, attaining the
consulship in 57 A. D. Of his private life little is known. He was
twice married, His first wife bore him at least two sons, one of whom
died shortly before his father’s banishment. His second wife, Pompeia
Paulina, whom he married in 57 A. D., wished to commit suicide at the
time of her husband’s death, but was prevented by Nero.
Seneca was an extremely voluminous writer, and though many of his works
are lost, those that remain still exceed in bulk the extant works of
almost any other ancient writer. [Sidenote: Seneca’s tragedies.] They
comprise tragedies, philosophical treatises, a satire on the death of
Claudius, and a few epigrams. The exact dates of individual works can
be established only in comparatively few instances, and no attempt will
be made here to treat them in chronological order. Since, however, it
is probably that the tragedies are works of his earlier years, they may
be mentioned first. Nine of these are extant.[91] The subjects are all
derived from Greek mythology, and had all been used as the subjects of
tragedies by Greek dramatists. No originality of plot is therefore to
be expected in Seneca’s tragedies. Nor is there any great originality
of treatment. Seneca imitates Euripides and some of the later Greek
tragic poets, not simply translating their work, yet inventing few if
any new situations, and differing from the Greek dramatists chiefly
in his greater realism and his declamatory rhetoric. In fact, his
tragedies are a succession of speeches, hardly interrupted by choral
songs, which differ from the speeches of the actors chiefly in metre.
In themselves these tragedies are feeble imitations and perversions of
their Greek prototypes, though in them, as in his other works, Seneca
shows great mastery of language and vigor of expression; but their real
importance to the modern reader is due to their great influence upon
the English dramatists of the sixteenth century and upon the whole
course of the French classical drama. At a time when Latin was far
more familiar than Greek these tragedies were regarded as the highest
expression of ancient dramatic art, and were studied and imitated by
the dramatists of the modern nations.
[Sidenote: The Medea.] The best known among them is, perhaps, the
_Medea_. In this play, as in the _Medea_ of Euripides, the part of
the myth is treated in which Jason deserts his wife Medea to marry
Creüsa, daughter of Creon, king of Corinth. Medea sends her two sons
to Creüsa to give her a poisoned robe, which causes her death and that
of her father Creon. Then Medea, in order to pain Jason, kills the two
children. The following passage is taken from Medea’s reply to her
nurse, who urges her to flee when the news is brought that Creon and
Creüsa have been killed by the poisoned robe she had sent:
Shall I fly? I? Were I already gone
I would return for this, that I might see
These new betrothals. Dost thou pause, my soul?
This joy’s but the beginning of revenge.
Thou dost but love if thou art satisfied
To widow Jason. Seek new penalties;
Honor is gone and maiden modesty—
It were a light revenge pure hands could yield.
Strengthen thy drooping spirit, stir up wrath,
Drain from thy heart its all of ancient force,
Thy deeds till now call honor; wake, and act,
That they may see how light, how little worth,
All former crime—the prelude of revenge!
What was there great my novice hands could dare?
What was the madness of my girlhood days?
I am Medea now, through sorrow strong.
Rejoice, because through thee thy brother died;
Rejoice, because through thee his limbs were torn,
Through thee thy father lost the golden fleece;
Rejoice, that armed by thee his daughters slew
Old Pelias! Seek revenge! No novice hand
Thou bring’st to crime; what wilt thou do; what dart
Let fly against thy hated enemy?
I know not what my maddened spirit plots,
Nor yet dare I confess it to myself!
In folly I made haste—would that my foe
Had children by this other! Mine are his.
We’ll say Creüsa bore them! ’Tis enough;
Through them my heart at last finds full revenge.
My soul must be prepared for this last crime.
Ye who were once my children, mine no more,
Ye pay the forfeit for your father’s crimes.
Awe strikes my spirit and benumbs my hand;
My heart beats wildly; mother-love drives out
Hate of my husband; shall I shed their blood—
My children’s blood? Demented one, rage not,
Be far from thee this crime! What guilt is theirs?
Is Jason not their father?—guilt enough!
And worse, Medea claims them as her sons.
They are not sons of mine, so let them die!
Nay, rather let them perish since they are!
But they are innocent—my brother was!
Fear’st thou? Do tears already mar thy cheek?
Do wrath and love like adverse tides impel
Now here, now there? As when the winds wage war,
And the wild waves against each other smite,
My heart is beaten; duty drives out fear,
As wrath drives duty. Anger dies in love.[92]
[Sidenote: Seneca’s philosophical writings.] Seneca’s philosophical
writings fall naturally into three divisions: the formal treatises on
ethical subjects, the twenty books of _Ethical Letters_ (_Epistulæ
Morales_), addressed to Lucilius[93], and the _Studies of Nature_
(_Quæstiones Naturales_), in seven books. The last-mentioned work,
addressed to Lucilius, and written between 57 and 64 A. D., is by no
means a complete treatise on nature. Two books treat of astronomy,
two of physical geography, and four of meteorology; for Book IV
should properly be divided into two books, one on physical geography,
the other on meteorology. These subjects are treated from the point
of view of the Stoics, without any original investigation by Seneca,
who derives his information entirely from books. The work was very
popular in the Middle Ages, but is of no scientific value. Seneca’s
chief interest was in ethics, and he uses the phenomena of nature as
texts for his ethical views. The formal treatises on ethics discuss
such subjects as _Anger_ (_De Ira_, in three books), _The Shortness
of Life_ (_De Brevitate Vitæ_), _Clemency_ (_De Clementia_). _The
Happy Life_ (_De Vita Beata_), _Consolation_ (_De Consolatione_, three
independent treatises addressed to different persons), and _The Giving
and Receiving of Favors_ (_De Beneficiis_, an elaborate treatise in
seven books). The _Letters_ treat of similar subjects in a somewhat
less formal way. These works show that Seneca had studied with great
diligence the works of previous writers on such subjects, especially
those of the Stoics, though the writings of Epicureans had been by no
means neglected. The moral teaching is, in the main, sound and wise,
but there is little originality of thought. The style is vigorous
and effective, though artificial and rhetorical; but these latter
qualities were so natural to Seneca, in common with other writers of
his day, that they do not detract from the sincerity of the sentiments
expressed. Seneca is the most complete exponent of the Stoic philosophy
as it developed at Rome. He is not so much a speculative thinker as a
giver of practical advice for the conduct of life. Like most, if not
all, the Roman Stoics, he is a preacher and teacher; and as such he is
of the highest interest and importance. His works were much read in
his own time and in the years immediately following, though Quintilian
and others who wished to revive the Latin of Cicero found fault with
their style. Their popularity continued unabated for centuries, and
their high moral tone led to the belief that Seneca was a Christian.
This belief was strengthened by the composition, at a comparatively
early date, of a series of fourteen letters supposed to have been
exchanged between Seneca and the Apostle Paul. These letters are,
however, obviously forgeries, and possess no literary merit. Seneca’s
influence did not die with the death of the ancient civilization, but
has continued even to our own times, and is very marked in the writings
of Ralph Waldo Emerson.
[Sidenote: The Apocolocyntosis.] In the _Apocolocyntosis_ Seneca
appears as a political satirist. The title may be translated
_Pumpkinification_, for the word is made from the Greek _apotheosis_,
with the word for “pumpkin” substituted for the word meaning “god.”
This joke does not, however, appear in the pamphlet itself. The Emperor
Claudius, who had just died, is supposed to arrive at Olympus and claim
admittance among the gods. The gods hold a meeting, at which Augustus
speaks against the admission of Claudius, who is finally sent off to
Hades, where he is met by those whom he has unjustly put to death.
This is the only extant specimen of a complete _Menippean Satire_, a
work written in prose for the most part, but containing also metrical
portions. For that reason it has a certain interest, but its literary
merit is slight. Nor are Seneca’s epigrams of any great importance.
They are merely such verses as any cultivated man of letters like
Seneca can write when the occasion offers.
The age of Seneca produced no great poets, and few whose works have
survived. [Sidenote: Persius.] The earliest of these is Aulus Persius
Flaccus, who was born at Volaterræ, December 4, 34 A. D., and died at
the age of twenty-eight, November 24, 62 A. D. At the age of twelve,
Persius left his native town for Rome, where he attended various
schools, among them that of the grammarian Remmius Palæmon. At the
age of sixteen he attached himself to the Stoic Cornutus and became
an enthusiastic adherent of the Stoic school. He was acquainted with
many of the distinguished men of the time, among them Seneca and the
epic poet Lucan. He was related to Arria, the wife of Pætus Thrasea,
and his intimacy with Thrasea and his family doubtless strengthened
his interest in the Stoic philosophy; for Thrasea was one of the many
noble Romans who found in the Stoic doctrines some moral support amid
the vice and corruption of their degenerate times. Persius belonged to
a family of equestrian rank, and at his death left a large property.
His library he left to Cornutus, who edited his poems, consisting of
six _Satires_. Persius had written some notes of travel and a tragedy
of the kind called _prætexta_, but these were not published. In the
first satire he attacks the literary production of the time, and the
prevailing love of notoriety. This is a real satire, in imitation of
those of Lucilius or, rather, of Horace. In the remaining poems Persius
discourses on subjects drawn from the doctrines of the Stoics. The
second satire treats of prayer, the third of the contradiction between
our conduct and what we know is right, the fourth of self-knowledge;
in the fifth Persius gratefully praises Cornutus, who had trained
him in Stoic philosophy, and passes on to describe true freedom,
which delivers men from the tyranny of the passions; in the sixth
he addresses his friend, the poet Cæsius Bassus, speaks of his own
pleasant life in retirement at Luna, and discusses the true use of this
world’s goods.
[Sidenote: Quality of the poems of Persius.] The poems of Persius
were much admired by his contemporaries, and later generations, even
throughout the Middle Ages, read them and wrote commentaries upon
them. This admiration was due to the moral and ethical contents of
the poems, though the style also no doubt pleased the perverted taste
of the poet’s own times. But neither the contents nor the style
merits admiration. Persius was a young man of little originality, who
expressed in his poems only what he learned from his teachers. The
Stoic doctrines he teaches are trite, even the examples he cites being
derived from books, not from his own experience; and the style has all
the faults of the period. Persius had studied Horace with diligence,
and his poems are full of Horatian words and phrases, but they have
nothing of the grace and charm of Horace. Persius aims at striking
expressions and novelty of form. He therefore avoids as much as
possible all that is natural, employs unusual words in unnatural order,
and succeeds in being obscure without being profound. Few authors have
so undeservedly gained long-enduring reputation.
[Sidenote: Lucan.] A far abler poet was Marcus Annæus Lucanus, the
nephew of Seneca. He was born at Corduba in 39 A. D., but was taken to
Rome when only eight months old. There he was well-educated, especially
in rhetoric, and acquired a reputation as a declaimer in Greek and
Latin. One of his teachers was the philosopher Cornutus, and among his
friends was Persius, whom he admired greatly. He went to Athens to
complete his education, and was called back to Rome by Nero, who made
him one of his circle of friends. In 60 A. D. he wrote a poem in praise
of Nero, which led to his political advancement. But Nero’s favor was
short-lived, either because Lucan was guilty of some impoliteness in
public declaiming, or because Nero was jealous of his reputation as a
poet, and forbade him to write or recite. Lucan joined the conspiracy
of Piso, and was forced to commit suicide, April 30, 65 A. D.
[Sidenote: The Pharsalia.] Lucan wrote several works, chiefly in verse,
but the only, one extant is an epic poem in ten books, entitled _De
Bello Civili_ (_On the Civil War_), ordinarily called _Pharsalia_,
in which he tells the story of the civil war to the time when Cæsar
was besieged at Alexandria. The narrative is prosaic and somewhat
dull, but the tedium is relieved by vivid descriptions and really
eloquent speeches. The chief historical source is Livy, though other
writers seem to have been consulted. Some inaccuracies detract
from the historical value of the poem. The diction is in the main
Virgilian, though it is evident that Lucan had studied Horace and Ovid.
Geographical and mythological lore is sometimes needlessly displayed,
and the author’s rhetorical training and ability are too evident. In
Books I-III Lucan is still friendly to Nero, whom he flatters in Book
I, 33-66, though throughout the entire work Cæsar, the founder of the
empire, is the constant object of the poet’s hostility. In the first
three books Pompey is the hero, and Cato and Brutus are spoken of
with admiration. The opposition to Cæsar does not, however in Lucan’s
case, indicate hostility to the empire and a desire to return to the
republican form of government; in fact, Lucan’s participation in the
conspiracy of Piso, which had for its purpose the overthrow of Nero
and the substitution of a good emperor in his place, shows that he
accepted the imperial form of government as the only one possible. As a
specimen of Lucan’s spirit, and of the speeches which lend brilliancy
to his pages, we may take the address of Cato to the Roman soldiers of
Pompey’s army in Egypt after Pompey’s death, when the army was on the
point of joining Cæsar:
So for no higher cause you waged your wars?
You, too, youths, fought for masters, and you were
No Roman force, but only Pompey’s band?
Since not for royalty you’re toiling now,
Since for yourselves, not for your leaders’ gain
You live and die, since not for any man
You seek to gain the world, since now for you
’Tis safe to conquer, you shrink back from wars,
And seek a yoke to press your empty necks,
And know not how to live without a king!
Yet now you have a cause worth risk for men.
Your blood could be for Pompey shed in streams,
And do you now refuse your country’s call
For lives and swords when liberty is nigh?
Of three lords Fortune now has left but one.
O shame! The royal palace of the Nile
And Parthian soldier’s bow have more than you
Upheld the Roman laws. Go now, despise
The merit Ptolemy by arms has won!
Degenerate soldiers! Who will think that e’er
Your hands were red with any battle’s blood?
He will believe you quickly turned your backs
In flight before him; he will think that you
Fled first from dire Philippi’s Thracian field.
So go in safety! You have saved your lives,
In Cæsar’s judgment, not subdued by arms,
Nor yet by siege. O base, unmanly slaves!
Your former master dead, go to his heir!
Why will you not earn more than life and more
Than pardon? Let great Pompey’s wretched wife
And let Metellus’ offspring o’er the waves
Be borne in chains; take captive Pompey’s sons;
Let Ptolemy’s deserts be less than yours!
My own head, too, whoever brings and gives
The hateful tyrant, reaps no mean reward.
Those men will know by my head’s price that they
Served no mean standard when they followed mine.
Then come, and by great slaughter gain deserts.
Mere flight is a base crime.[94]
Lucan is certainly the chief poet of the time of Nero. [Sidenote:
Calpurnius.] Less important is Titus Calpurnius Siculus, the author
of seven _Eclogues_ in imitation of Virgil and Theocritus. Formerly
eleven eclogues were attributed to him, but it is now evident that he
was the author of only seven, the remainder being probably the work
of Nemesianus, who lived in the first half of the third century. The
_Eclogues_ of Calpurnius are close imitations of those of Virgil, but
are far inferior to their prototypes. They are attractive, but so much
less attractive than Virgil’s _Eclogues_ that they are little read. A
poem _In Praise of Piso_ (_De Laude Pisonis_) is attributed with great
probability to Calpurnius. The Piso whose praise is sung is without
doubt Calpurnius Piso, the rich and influential man who headed the
conspiracy against Nero and committed suicide in 65 A. D. This poem
is full of imitations of Virgil, Ovid, and Horace. [Sidenote: Other
poems.] The poem entitled _Ætna_ (see p. 141) and many of the anonymous
poems preserved in manuscripts, some of which are not without merit,
are to be ascribed to this period. The _prætexta_ entitled _Octavia_,
preserved among Seneca’s tragedies, undoubtedly belongs to a slightly
later time, as Seneca and Nero appear in it. So far as its style is
concerned, it might almost be by Seneca, though the rhetoric displayed
is somewhat less effective than that of Seneca’s tragedies. The play
is interesting, chiefly because it is the only extant play of its
class. Only a few unimportant fragments remain of the tragedies by the
distinguished general, Publius Pomponius Secundus.
[Sidenote: Petronius.] A work of unique interest is the novel by
Petronius. This author is without much doubt identical with the Gaius
Petronius, who was proconsul of Bithynia and afterwards consul, whom
Nero admitted to his friendship and regarded as the _arbiter elegantiæ_
or judge of good taste, but who was accused by Tigellinus in 66 A. D.,
and committed suicide to avoid execution. The novel, known as _Satiræ_,
originally consisted of some twenty books, and contained an account
of the adventures of a Greek freedman, Encolpius, as told by himself.
The adventures were strung together with no plot, except as the wrath
of the god Priapus (a parody of the wrath of Poseidon in Homer’s
_Odyssey_) may have served as a plot to some extent. The extant parts
are from the fifteenth and sixteenth books. The form is that of a
Menippean Satire, prose and verse in combination, but the longer parts
are exclusively in prose.
[Sidenote: Trimalchio’s banquet.] The chief of these is the _Cena
Trimalchionis_ (_Trimalchio’s Banquet_), the description of an
elaborate entertainment given by a rich and purse-proud freedman,
Trimalchio. The scene of the banquet is laid at Cumæ, or Puteoli. The
house is large and full of costly things, but shows utter lack of
taste. Trimalchio himself is a fat old fellow, who comes to the dinner
after all the guests have been seated for some time. He informs them
that it was inconvenient for him to come, but that he did not wish to
disappoint them. At first he plays checkers with an attendant, but
presently takes part in the feast and the conversation. The first
course brought in is a wooden fowl sitting on eggs, which prove to be
made of paste, and to contain finely seasoned birds. When a silver
dish falls on the floor, Trimalchio orders it to be swept up with
the rubbish. Another course consists of a great boar, out of which,
when it is cut open by a slave in hunting costume, fly live thrushes.
Again a roast pig is cut open, and sausages of all kinds fall out. The
entertainment has other than gastronomical surprises, for a troupe of
Homeric actors appear and perform scenes of the Trojan War, speaking
in Greek. At the end of their performance a boiled calf is brought in,
and the actor who takes the part of Ajax hacks it with his sword in
imitation of the attack made by Ajax in his madness upon the cattle
at Troy, and offers the astonished guests pieces of meat on his sword
point. Acrobats also come in, and when one of them falls from a ladder
upon Trimalchio, he is at once freed from slavery, lest it be said
that so great a man as Trimalchio was injured by a slave. Presently
the ceiling rolls apart, and a great hoop is let down, upon which are
jars of perfumes as keepsakes for the guests. All these astonishing
performances are made more amusing by the naive pride of Trimalchio,
who prates much of his great wealth, and exhibits his ignorance by
trying to make a show of learning. One of the guests tells a ghost
story and another a tale of an adventure with a werewolf. Further
excitement is caused by a fight between a fat little dog brought
by Trimalchio’s friend, the stone-cutter Habinnas, and a large dog
belonging to Trimalchio. The slaves then take part in the banquet,
Trimalchio has his will read, and all weep. After a bath, the company
passes to a second dining-room. Here Trimalchio has a furious quarrel
with his wife, who is jealous of a favorite slave boy. Trimalchio
finally has his grave-clothes brought in, and lies down as if dead,
ordering his horn-blowers to play funereal music. The noise is so
great that the police, thinking something is the matter, break into
the house, whereupon the guests escape. All this, with many more
details of the lavish and tasteless expenditure, the pride of the
vulgar Trimalchio, and the absurd features of the banquet, is described
with much satirical humor. The language of the narrative is refined,
evidently that of a highly cultivated man. Trimalchio, however, and
some of the other characters speak the popular dialect of southern
Italy, which contains many words strange to literary Latin. Their
speech is not without mistakes in grammar, and is full of proverbs,
like the speech of Sancho Panza in _Don Quixote_.
Among the poems contained in the novel, the longest, entitled _De Bello
Civili_ (_On the Civil War_), consists of two hundred and ninety-five
hexameters, in imitation of Lucan, with touches of parody; the next
in length is the _Troiæ Halosis_ (_Capture of Troy_), in sixty-five
senarii, probably a parody of Nero’s poem of the same title. The novel
of Petronius is, in some places, extremely indecent, but is interesting
on account of the specimens of popular speech it contains, and still
more, as the only known example of the satirical novel in Latin. It is,
moreover, full of wit and humor, and shows keen observation and much
knowledge of human nature as well as of literature. The loss of the
greater part of the work is greatly to be regretted.
[Sidenote: Quintus Curtius.] The only extant historical work of this
period is the _History of Alexander the Great_ (_De Gestis Alexandri
Magni_), by Quintus Curtius Rufus, of whose personality nothing
is known, but who seems to have written under Claudius. The work
originally consisted of ten books, the first two of which are lost. The
style is modelled upon that of Livy, and is clear and simple for the
most part, though not entirely free from the affectation of elegance
customary at the time. Some of the descriptions and speeches are
exceptionally fine. Curtius is not a critical historian, and follows
Greek authorities selected without much attention to their accuracy.
Of the other historical works of this period nothing remains.
[Sidenote: Memoirs.] The memoirs composed by various more or less
important persons are also lost. Among them may be mentioned those of
the Empress Agrippina and of the generals Gnæus Domitius Corbulo, who
was _consul suffectus_ in 39 A. D., and was put to death by Nero in 86
A. D., and Suetonius Paulinus, who was twice consul, once soon after
42, and again in 66 A. D.
[Sidenote: Columella.] Many scientific treatises were written at
this time, as in the previous period, but two only are extant: the
treatise _On Agriculture_ (_De Re Rustica_), by Lucius Junius Moderatus
Columella, and the _Geography_ (_Chorographia_), by Pomponius Mela.
Columella was born at Gades (Cadiz), and served in the army in Syria.
He possessed land in Italy, and in his work he has the agriculture of
Italy chiefly in mind. The work is divided into twelve books, and is
the most complete ancient treatise on agriculture extant—more complete
than those of Cato and Varro. It is written in a simple and dignified
style, more like the prose of the Augustan period than the artificial
rhetoric of most contemporary writings. In this respect Columella is
a precursor of the classical revival under the Flavian emperors. The
tenth book, on gardening, is written in hexameters, to serve as a fifth
book of Virgil’s _Georgics_, because Virgil had hardly touched upon
this branch of his subject.[95] The entire work is dedicated to Publius
Silvinus, and it was due to a suggestion from him and another friend
that the tenth book was written in verse. Columella’s verse is simple
and classical, but is greatly inferior to that of Virgil, and less
admirable than his prose. [Sidenote: Mela.] Mela, like Columella, was a
Spaniard. His native place was Tingentera. His three books on geography
were written soon after 40 A. D., and form the earliest systematic
treatise on the subject extant. The style is far inferior to that of
Columella, for Mela writes in the affected manner of his times. The
work is enlivened by descriptions of peoples, places, and customs, and
is valuable as a source of information, since it is based upon good
authorities.
[Sidenote: Various writers.] Historical explanations of five orations
of Cicero by Quintus Asconius Pedianus (about 3-88 A. D.) are preserved
in a fragmentary condition. They show great care and diligence, and
are written in simple classical style. Of other works by Asconius some
fragments are preserved in the commentary of Servius on Virgil. The
works of the orators of this period are all lost, as are the legal
writings of Proculus and Gaius Cassius Longinus (consul in 30 A. D.),
who continued the schools of Labeo and Capito. [Sidenote: Probus.] The
most important grammarian of this time was Marcus Valerius Probus, of
Berytus, to whom Jerome assigns the date 56 A. D. He prepared and
published editions of Terence, Lucretius, Virgil, Horace, and Persius,
paying attention to various readings, punctuation, and the like, and
commenting upon the text. He also wrote grammatical treatises, though
the grammar preserved under his name is not his work. His only extant
works are a list of abbreviations and parts of the commentaries on
Virgil.