*HISTORY*
OF
*ROMAN LITERATURE,*
FROM
*ITS EARLIEST PERIOD*
TO
THE AUGUSTAN AGE.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
BY
JOHN DUNLOP,
AUTHOR OF THE HISTORY OF FICTION.
FROM THE LAST LONDON EDITION.
VOL. II.
PUBLISHED BY
E. LITTELL, CHESTNUT STREET, PHILADELPHIA.
G. & C. CARVILL, BROADWAY, NEW YORK.
1827
_James Kay, Jun. Printer,_
_S. E. Corner of Race & Sixth Streets,_
_Philadelphia._
CONTENTS.
[Agriculture]
Marcus Porcius Cato
Marcus Terentius Varro
Nigidius Figulus
History
Quintus Fabius Pictor
Sallust
Julius Cæsar
Cicero
Appendix
Livius Andronicus, Nævius
Ennius
Plautus
Terence
Lucilius
Lucretius
Catullus
Laberius—Publilius Syrus
Cato—Varro
Sallust
Cæsar
Cicero
Chronological Table
Index
Transcriber’s note
*HISTORY*
OF
*ROMAN LITERATURE, &C.*
*HISTORY*
OF
*ROMAN LITERATURE, &c.*
In almost all States, poetical composition has been employed and
considerably improved before prose. First, because the imagination expands
sooner than reason or judgment; and, secondly, because the early language
of nations is best adapted to the purposes of poetry, and to the
expression of those feelings and sentiments with which it is conversant.
Thus, in the first ages of Greece, verse was the ordinary written
language, and prose was subsequently introduced as an art and invention.
In like manner, at Rome, during the early advances of poetry, the progress
of which has been detailed in the preceding volume, prose composition
continued in a state of neglect and barbarism.
The most ancient prose writer, at least of those whose works have
descended to us, was a man of little feeling or imagination, but of sound
judgment and inflexible character, who exercised his pen on the subject of
_Agriculture_, which, of all the peaceful arts, was most highly esteemed
by his countrymen.
The long winding coast of Greece, abounding in havens, and the innumerable
isles with which its seas were studded, rendered the Greeks, from the
earliest days, a trafficking, seafaring, piratic people: And many of the
productions of their oldest poets, are, in a great measure, addressed to
what may be called the maritime taste or feeling which prevailed among
their countrymen. This sentiment continued to be cherished as long as the
chief literary state in Greece preserved the sovereignty of the
seas—compelled its allies to furnish vessels of war, and trusted to its
naval armaments for the supremacy it maintained during the brightest ages
of Greece. In none either of the Doric or Ionian states, was agriculture
of such importance as to exercise much influence on manners or literature.
Their territories were so limited, that the inhabitants were never removed
to such a distance from the capital as to imbibe the ideas of husbandmen.
In Thessaly and Lacedæmon, agriculture was accounted degrading, and its
cares were committed to slaves. The vales of Bœotia were fruitful, but
were desolated by floods. Farms of any considerable extent could scarcely
be laid down on the limited, though lovely isles of the Ægean and Ionian
seas. The barren soil and mountains of the centre of Peloponnesus confined
the Arcadians to pasturage—an employment bearing some analogy to
agriculture, but totally different in its mental effects, leading to a
life of indolence, contemplation, and wandering, instead of the
industrious, practical, and settled habits of husbandmen. Though the
Athenians breathed the purest air beneath the clearest skies, and their
long summer was gilded by the brightest beams of Apollo, the soil of
Attica was sterile and metallic; while, from the excessive inequalities in
its surface, all the operations of agriculture were of the most difficult
and hazardous description. The streams were overflowing torrents, which
stripped the soil, leaving nothing but a light sand, on which grain would
scarcely grow. But it was with the commencement of the Peloponnesian war
that the exercise of agriculture terminated in Attica. The country being
left unprotected, owing to the injudicious policy of Pericles, was
annually ravaged by the Spartans, and the husbandmen were forced to seek
refuge within the walls of Athens. In the early part of the age of
Pericles, the Athenians possessed ornamented villas in the country; but
they always returned to the city in the evening(1). We do not hear that
the great men in the early periods of the republic, as Themistocles and
Aristides, were farmers; and the heroes of its latter ages, as Iphicrates
and Timotheus, chose their retreats in Thrace, the islands of the
Archipelago, or coast of Ionia.
A picture, in every point of view the reverse of this, is presented to us
by the _Agreste Latium_. The ancient Italian mode of life was almost
entirely agricultural and rural; and with exception, perhaps, of the
Etruscans, none of the Italian states were in any degree maritime or
commercial. Italy was well adapted for every species of agriculture, and
was most justly termed by her greatest poet, _magna parens frugum_.
Dionysius of Halicarnassus(2), Strabo(3), and Pliny(4), talk with
enthusiasm of its fertile soil and benignant climate. Where the ground was
most depressed and marshy, the meadows were stretched out for the
pasturage of cattle. In the level country, the rich arable lands, such as
the Campanian and Capuan plains, extended in vast tracts, and produced a
profusion of fruits of every species, while on the acclivities, where the
skirts of the mountains began to break into little hills and sloping
fields, the olive and vine basked on soils famed for Messapian oil, and
for wines of which the very names cheer and revive us. The mountains
themselves produced marble and timber, and poured from their sides many a
delightful stream, which watered the fields, gladdened the pastures, and
moistened the meads to the very brink of the shore. Well then might Virgil
exclaim, in a burst of patriotism and poetry which has never been
surpassed,—
“Sed neque Medorum sylvæ, ditissima terra,
Nec pulcher Ganges, atque auro turbidus Hermus,
Laudibus Italiæ certent; non Bactra, neque Indi,
Totaque thuriferis Panchaia pinguis arenis.
Hic ver assiduum, atque alienis mensibus æstas;
Bis gravidæ pecudes, bis pomis utilis arbor.
* * * *
Salve, magna parens frugum, Saturnia tellus(5)!”
One would not suppose that agricultural care was very consistent, at least
in a small state, with frequent warfare. But in no period of their
republic did the Romans neglect the advantages which the land they
inhabited presented for husbandry. Romulus, who had received a rustic
education, and had spent his youth in hunting, had no attachment to any
peaceful arts, except to rural labours; and this feeling pervaded his
legislation. His Sabine successor, Numa Pompilius, who well understood and
discharged the duties of sovereignty, divided the whole territory of Rome
into different cantons. An exact account was rendered to him of the manner
in which these were cultivated; and he occasionally went in person to
survey them, in order to encourage those farmers whose lands were well
tilled, and to reproach others with their want of industry(6). By the
institution, too, of various religious festivals, connected with
agriculture, it came to be regarded with a sort of sacred reverence. Ancus
Martius, who trod in the steps of Numa, recommended to his people the
assiduous cultivation of their lands. After the expulsion of the kings, an
Agrarian law, by which only seven acres were allotted to each citizen, was
promulgated, and for some time rigidly enforced. Exactness and economy in
the various occupations of agriculture were the natural consequences of
such regulations. Each Roman having only a small portion of land assigned
to him, and the support of his family depending entirely on the produce
which it yielded, its culture necessarily engaged his whole attention.
In these early ages of the Roman commonwealth, when the greatest men
possessed but a few acres, the lands were laboured by the proprietors
themselves. The introduction of commerce, and the consequent acquisition
of wealth, had not yet enabled individuals to purchase the estates of
their fellow-citizens, and to obtain a revenue from the rent of land
rather than from its cultivation.
The patricians, who, in the city, were so distinct from the plebeian
orders, were thus confounded with them in the country, in the common
avocations of husbandry. After having presided over the civil affairs of
the republic, or commanded its armies, the most distinguished citizens
returned, without repining, to till the lands of their forefathers.
Cincinnatus, who was found at labour in his fields by those who came to
announce his election to the dictatorship, was not a singular example of
the same hand which held the plough guiding also the helm of the state,
and erecting the standard of its legions. So late as the time of the first
Carthaginian war, Regulus, in the midst of his victorious career in
Africa, asked leave from the senate to return to Italy, in order to
cultivate his farm of seven acres, which had been neglected during his
absence(7). Many illustrious names among the Romans originated in
agricultural employments, or some circumstances of rustic skill and
labour, by which the founders of families were distinguished. The Fabii
and Lentuli were supposed to have been celebrated for the culture of
pulses, and the Asinii and Vitellii for the art of rearing animals. In the
time of the elder Cato, though the manual operations were performed for
the most part by servants, the great men resided chiefly on their
farms(8); and they continued to apply to the study and practice of
agriculture long after they had carried the victorious arms of their
country beyond the confines of Italy. They did not, indeed, follow
agriculture as their sole avocation; but they prosecuted it during the
intervals of peace, and in the vacations of the Forum. The art being thus
exercised by men of high capacity, received the benefit of all the
discoveries, inventions, or experiments suggested by talents and force of
intellect. The Roman warriors tilled their fields with the same
intelligence as they pitched their camps, and sowed corn with the same
care with which they drew up their armies for battle. Hence, as a modern
Latin poet observes, dilating on the expression of Pliny, the earth
yielded such an exuberant return, that she seemed as it were to delight in
being ploughed with a share adorned with laurels, and by a ploughman who
had earned a triumph:—
“Hanc etiam, ut perhibent, sese formabat ad artem,
Cùm domito Fabius Dictator ab hoste redibat:
Non veritus, medio dederat qui jura Senatu,
Ferre idem arboribusque suis, terræque colendæ,
Victricesque manus ruri præstare serendo.
Ipsa triumphales tellus experta colonos,
Atque ducum manibus quondam versata suorum,
Majores fructus, majora arbusta ferebat(9).”
Nor were the Romans contented with merely labouring the ground: They also
delivered precepts for its proper cultivation, which, being committed to
writing, formed, as it were, a new science, and, being derived from actual
experience, had an air of originality rarely exhibited in their literary
productions. Such maxims were held by the Romans in high respect, since
they were considered as founded on the observation of men who had
displayed the most eminent capacity and knowledge in governing the state,
in framing its laws, and leading its armies.
These precepts which formed the works of the agricultural writers—the
_Rusticæ rei scriptores_—are extremely interesting and comprehensive. The
Romans had a much greater variety than we, of grain, pulse, and roots;
and, besides, had vines, olives, and other plantations, which were
regarded as profitable crops. The situation, too, and construction of a
villa, with the necessary accommodation for slaves and workmen, the wine
and oil cellars, the granaries, the repositories for preserving fruit, the
poultry yard, and aviaries, form topics of much attention and detail.
These were the appertenancies of the _villa rustica_, or complete
farm-house, which was built for the residence only of an industrious
husbandman, and with a view towards profit from the employments of
agriculture. As luxury, indeed, increased, the villa was adapted to the
accommodation of an opulent Roman citizen, and the country was resorted to
rather for recreation than for the purpose of lucrative toil. What would
Cato the Censor, distinguished for his industry and unceasing attention to
the labours of the field, have thought of the following lines of Horace?
“O rus, quando ego te aspiciam? quandoque licebit
Nunc veterum libris, nunc somno et inertibus horis,
Ducere sollicitæ jucunda oblivia vitæ?”
It was this more refined relish for the country, so keenly enjoyed by the
Romans in the luxurious ages of the state, that furnished the subject for
the finest passages and allusions in the works of the Latin poets, who
seem to vie with each other in their praises of a country life, and the
sweetness of the numbers in which they celebrate its simple and tranquil
enjoyments. The Epode of Horace, commencing,
“Beatus ille, qui procul negotiis,”
which paints the charms of rural existence, in the various seasons of the
year—the well-known passages in Virgil’s _Georgics_, and those in the
second book of Lucretius, are the most exquisite and lovely productions of
these triumvirs of Roman poetry. But the ancient prose writers, with whom
we are now to be engaged, regarded agriculture rather as an art than an
amusement, and a country life as subservient to profitable employment, and
not to elegant recreation. In themselves, however, these compositions are
highly curious; they are curious, too, as forming a commentary and
illustration of the subjects,
“Quas et facundi tractavit Musa Maronis.”
It is likewise interesting to compare them with the works of the modern
Italians on husbandry, as the _Liber Ruralium Commodorum_ of Crescenzio,
written about the end of the thirteenth century,—the _Coltivazione
Toscana_ of Davanzati,—Vittorio’s treatise, _Degli Ulivi_,—and even
Alamanni’s poem _Coltivazione_, which closely follows, particularly as to
the situation and construction of a villa, the precepts of Cato, Varro,
and Columella. The plough used at this day by the peasantry in the
Campagna di Roma, is of the same form as that of the ancient Latian
husbandmen(10); and many other points of resemblance may be discovered, on
a perusal of the most recent writers on the subject of Italian
cultivation(11). Dickson, too, who, in his _Husbandry of the Ancients_,
gives an account of Roman agriculture so far as connected with the labours
of the British farmer, has shown, that, in spite of the great difference
of soil and climate, many maxims of the old Roman husbandmen, as delivered
by Cato and Varro, corresponded with the agricultural system followed in
his day in England.
Of the distinguished Roman citizens who practised agriculture, none were
more eminent than Cato and Varro; and by them the precepts of the art were
also committed to writing. Their works are original compositions, founded
on experience, and not on Grecian models, like so many other Latin
productions. Varro, indeed, enumerates about fifty Greek authors, who,
previous to his time, had written on the subject of agriculture; and Mago,
the Carthaginian, composed, in the Punic language, a much-approved
treatise on the same topic, in thirty-two books, which was afterwards
translated into Latin by desire of the senate. But the early Greek works,
with the exception of Xenophon’s _Œconomics_ and the poem of Hesiod called
_Works and Days_, have been entirely lost; the tracts published in the
collection entitled _Geoponica_, being subsequent to the age of Varro.
MARCUS PORCIUS CATO,
better known by the name of Cato the Censor, wrote the earliest book on
husbandry which we possess in the Latin language. This distinguished
citizen was born in the 519th year of Rome. Like other Romans of his day,
he was brought up to the profession of arms. In the short intervals of
peace he resided, during his youth, at a small country-house in the Sabine
territory, which he had inherited from his father. Near it there stood a
cottage belonging to Manius Curius Dentatus, who had repeatedly triumphed
over the Sabines and Samnites, and had at length driven Pyrrhus from
Italy. Cato was accustomed frequently to walk over to the humble abode of
this renowned commander, where he was struck with admiration at the
frugality of its owner, and the skilful management of the farm which was
attached to it. Hence it became his great object to emulate his
illustrious neighbour, and adopt him as his model(12). Having made an
estimate of his house, lands, slaves, and expenses, he applied himself to
husbandry with new ardour, and retrenched all superfluity. In the morning
he went to the small towns in the vicinity, to plead and defend the causes
of those who applied to him for assistance. Thence he returned to his
fields; where, with a plain cloak over his shoulders in winter, and almost
naked in summer, he laboured with his servants till they had concluded
their tasks, after which he sat down along with them at table, eating the
same bread, and drinking the same wine(13). At a more advanced period of
life, the wars, in which he commanded, kept him frequently at a distance
from Italy, and his forensic avocations detained him much in the city; but
what time he could spare was still spent at the Sabine farm, where he
continued to employ himself in the profitable cultivation of the land. He
thus became by the universal consent of his contemporaries, the best
farmer of his age, and was held unrivalled for the skill and success of
his agricultural operations(14). Though everywhere a rigid economist, he
lived, it is said, more hospitably at his farm than in the city. His
entertainments at his villa were at first but sparing, and seldom given;
but as his wealth increased, he became more nice and delicate. “At first,”
says Plutarch, “when he was but a poor soldier, he was not difficult in
anything which related to his diet; but afterwards, when he grew richer,
and made feasts for his friends, presently, when supper was done, he
seized a leathern thong, and scourged those who had not given due
attendance, or dressed anything carelessly(15).” Towards the close of his
life, he almost daily invited some of his friends in the neighbourhood to
sup with him; and the conversation at these meals turned not chiefly, as
might have been expected, on rural affairs, but on the praises of great
and excellent men among the Romans(16).
It may be supposed, that in the evenings after the agricultural labours of
the morning, and after his friends had left him, he noted down the
precepts suggested by the observations and experience of the day. That he
wrote such maxims for his own use, or the instruction of others, is
unquestionable; but the treatise _De Re Rustica_, which now bears his
name, appears to have been much mutilated, since Pliny and other writers
allude to subjects as treated of by Cato, and to opinions as delivered by
him in this book, which are nowhere to be found in any part of the work
now extant.
In its present state, it is merely the loose unconnected journal of a
plain farmer, expressed with rude, sometimes with almost oracular brevity;
and it wants all those elegant topics of embellishment and illustration
which the subject might have so naturally suggested. It solely consists of
the dryest rules of agriculture, and some receipts for making various
kinds of cakes and wines. Servius says, it is addressed to the author’s
son; but there is no such address now extant. It begins rather abruptly,
and in a manner extremely characteristic of the simple manners of the
author: “It would be advantageous to seek profit from commerce, if that
were not hazardous; or by usury, if that were honest: but our ancestors
ordained, that the thief should forfeit double the sum he had stolen, and
the usurer quadruple what he had taken, whence it may be concluded, that
they thought the usurer the worst of the two. When they wished highly to
praise a good man, they called him a good farmer. A merchant is zealous in
pushing his fortune, but his trade is perilous and liable to reverses. But
farmers make the bravest men, and the stoutest soldiers. Their gain is the
most honest, the most stable, and least exposed to envy. Those who
exercise the art of agriculture, are of all others least addicted to evil
thoughts.”
Our author then proceeds to his rules, many of which are sufficiently
obvious. Thus, he advises, that when one is about to purchase a farm, he
should examine if the climate, soil, and exposure be good: he should see
that it can be easily supplied with plenty of water,—that it lies in the
neighbourhood of a town,—and near a navigable river, or the sea. The
directions for ascertaining the quality of the land are not quite so clear
or self-evident. He recommends the choice of a farm where there are few
implements of labour, as this shews the soil to be easily cultivated; and
where there are, on the other hand, a number of casks and vessels, which
testify an abundant produce. With regard to the best way of laying out a
farm when it is purchased, supposing it to be one of a hundred acres, the
most profitable thing is a vineyard; next, a garden, that can be watered;
then a willow grove; 4th, an olive plantation; 5th, meadow-ground; 6th,
corn fields; and, lastly, forest trees and brushwood. Varro cites this
passage, but he gives the preference to meadows: These required little
expense; and, by his time, the culture of vines had so much increased in
Italy, and such a quantity of foreign wine was imported, that vineyards
had become less valuable than in the days of the Censor. Columella,
however, agrees with Cato: He successively compares the profits accruing
from meadows, pasture, trees, and corn, with those of vineyards; and, on
an estimate, prefers the last.
When a farm has been purchased, the new proprietor should perambulate the
fields the day he arrives, or, if he cannot do so, on the day after, for
the purpose of seeing what has been done, and what remains to be
accomplished. Rules are given for the most assiduous employment without
doors, and the most rigid economy within. When a servant is sick he will
require less food. All the old oxen and the cattle of delicate frame, the
old wagons, and old implements of husbandry, are to be sold off. The
sordid parsimony of the Censor leads him to direct, that a provident
_paterfamilias_ should sell such of his slaves as are aged and infirm; a
recommendation which has drawn down on him the well-merited indignation of
Plutarch(17). These are some of the duties of the master; and there
follows a curious detail of the qualifications and duties of the
_villicus_, or overseer, who, in particular, is prohibited from the
exercise of religious rites, and consultation of augurs.
It is probable that, in the time of Cato, the Romans had begun to extend
their villas considerably, which makes him warn proprietors of land not to
be rash in building. When a landlord is thirty-six years of age he may
build, provided his fields have been brought into a proper state of
cultivation. His direction with regard to the extent of the villa is
concise, but seems a very proper one;—he advises, to build in such a
manner that the villa may not need a farm, nor the farm a villa. Lucullus
and Scævola both violated this golden rule, as we learn from Pliny; who
adds, that it will be readily conjectured, from their respective
characters, that it was the farm of Scævola which stood in need of the
villa, and the villa of Lucullus which required the farm.
A vast variety of crops was cultivated by the Romans, and the different
kinds were adapted by them, with great care, to the different soils. Cato
is very particular in his injunctions on this subject. A field that is of
a rich and genial soil should be sown with corn; but, if wet or moist,
with turnips and raddish. Figs are to be planted in chalky land; and
willows in watery situations, in order to serve as twigs for tying the
vines. This being the proper mode of laying out a farm, our author gives a
detail of the establishment necessary to keep it up;—the number of
workmen, the implements of husbandry, and the farm-offices, with the
materials necessary for their construction.
He next treats of the management of vineyards and olives; the proper mode
of planting, grafting, propping, and fencing: And he is here naturally led
to furnish directions for making and preserving the different sorts of
wine and oil; as also to specify how much of each is to be allowed to the
servants of the family.
In discoursing of the cultivation of fields for corn, Cato enjoins the
farmer to collect all sorts of weeds for manure. Pigeons’ dung he prefers
to that of every animal. He gives orders for burning lime, and for making
charcoal and ashes from the branches or twigs of trees. The Romans seem to
have been at great pains in draining their fields; and Cato directs the
formation both of open and covered drains. Oxen being employed in
ploughing the fields, instructions are added for feeding and taking due
care of them. The Roman plough has been a subject of much discussion: Two
sorts are mentioned by Cato, which he calls _Romanicum_, and
_Campanicum_—the first being proper for a stiff, and the other for a light
soil. Dickson conjectures, that the _Romanicum_ had an iron Share, and the
_Campanicum_ a piece of timber, like the Scotch plough, and a sock driven
upon it. The plough, with other agricultural implements, as the _crates_,
_rastrum_, _ligo_, and _sarculum_, most of which are mentioned by Cato,
form a curious point of Roman antiquities.
The preservation of corn, after it has been reaped, is a subject of much
importance, to which Cato has paid particular attention. This was a matter
of considerable difficulty in Italy, in the time of the Romans; and all
their agricultural writers are extremely minute in their directions for
preserving it from rot, and from the depredations of insects, by which it
was frequently consumed.
A great part of the work of Cato is more appropriate to the housewife than
the farmer. We have receipts for making all sorts of cakes and puddings,
fattening hens and geese, preserving figs during winter; as also medical
prescriptions for the cure of various diseases, both of man and beast.
_Mala punica_, or pomegranates, are the chief ingredient, in his remedies,
for Diarrhœa, Dyspepsia, and Stranguary. Sometimes, however, his cures for
diseases are not medical recipes, but sacrifices, atonements, or charms.
The prime of all is his remedy for a luxation or fracture.—“Take,” says
he, “a green reed, and slit it along the middle—throw the knife upwards,
and join the two parts of the reed again, and tie it so to the place
broken or disjointed, and say this charm—‘Daries, Dardaries, Astataries,
Dissunapiter.’ Or this—‘Huat, Hanat, Huat, Ista, Pista, Fista, Domiabo,
Damnaustra.’ This will make the part sound again(18).”
The most remarkable feature in the work of Cato, is its total want of
arrangement. It is divided, indeed, into chapters, but the author,
apparently, had never taken the trouble of reducing his precepts to any
sort of method, or of following any general plan. The hundred and
sixty-two chapters, of which his work consists, seem so many rules
committed to writing, as the daily labours of the field suggested. He
gives directions about the vineyard, then goes to his corn-fields, and
returns again to the vineyard. His treatise was, therefore, evidently not
intended as a regular or well-composed book, but merely as a journal of
incidental observations. That this was its utmost pretensions, is farther
evinced by the brevity of the precepts, and deficiency of all illustration
or embellishment. Of the style, he of course would be little careful, as
his _Memoranda_ were intended for the use only of his family and slaves.
It is therefore always simple,—sometimes even rude; but it is not ill
adapted to the subject, and suits our notion of the severe manners of its
author, and character of the ancient Romans.
Besides this book on agriculture, Cato left behind him various works,
which have almost entirely perished. He left a hundred and fifty
orations(19), which were existing in the time of Cicero, though almost
entirely neglected, and a book on military discipline(20), both of which,
if now extant, would be highly interesting, as proceeding from one who was
equally distinguished in the camp and forum. A good many of his orations
were in dissuasion or favour of particular laws and measures of state, as
those entitled—“Ne quis iterum Consul fiat—De bello Carthaginiensi,” of
which war he was a vehement promoter—“Suasio in Legem Voconiam,—Pro Lege
Oppia,” &c. Nearly a third part of these orations were pronounced in his
own defence. He had been about fifty times accused(21), and as often
acquitted. When charged with a capital crime, in the 85th year of his age,
he pleaded his own cause, and betrayed no failure in memory, no decline of
vigour, and no faltering of voice(22). By his readiness, and pertinacity,
and bitterness, he completely wore out his adversaries(23), and earned the
reputation of being, if not the most eloquent, at least the most stubborn
speaker among the Romans.
Cato’s oration in favour of the Oppian law, which was a sumptuary
restriction on the expensive dresses of the Roman matrons, is given by
Livy(24). It was delivered in opposition to the tribune Valerius, who
proposed its abrogation, and affords us some notion of his style and
manner, since, if not copied by the historian from his book of orations,
it was doubtless adapted by him to the character of Cato, and his mode of
speaking. Aulus Gellius cites, as equally distinguished for its eloquence
and energy, a passage in his speech on the division of spoil among the
soldiery, in which he complains of their unpunished peculation and
licentiousness. One of his most celebrated harangues was that in favour of
the Rhodians, the ancient allies of the Roman people, who had fallen under
the suspicion of affording aid to Perseus, during the second Macedonian
war. The oration was delivered after the overthrow of that monarch, when
the Rhodian envoys were introduced into the Senate, in order to explain
the conduct of their countrymen, and to deprecate the vengeance of the
Romans, by throwing the odium of their apparent hostility on the
turbulence of a few factious individuals. It was pronounced in answer to
those Senators, who, after hearing the supplications of the Rhodians, were
for declaring war against them; and it turned chiefly on the ancient,
long-tried fidelity of that people,—taking particular advantage of the
circumstance, that the assistance rendered to Perseus had not been a
national act, proceeding from a public decree of the people. Tiro, the
freedman of Cicero, wrote a long and elaborate criticism on this oration.
To the numerous censures it contains, Aulus Gellius has replied at
considerable length, and has blamed Tiro for singling out from a speech so
rich, and so happily connected, small and insulated portions, as objects
of his reprehensive satire. All the various topics, he adds, which are
enlarged on in this oration, if they could have been introduced with more
perspicuity, method, and harmony, could not have been delivered with more
energy and strength(25).
Both Cicero and Livy have expressed themselves very fully on the subject
of Cato’s orations. The former admits, that his “language is antiquated,
and some of his phrases harsh and inelegant: but only change that,” he
continues, “which it was not in his power to change—add number and
cadence—give an easier turn to his sentences—and regulate the structure
and connection of his words, (an art which was as little practised by the
older Greeks as by him,) and you will find no one who can claim the
preference to Cato. The Greeks themselves acknowledge, that the chief
beauty of composition results from the frequent use of those forms of
expression, which they call tropes, and of those varieties of language and
sentiment, which they call figures; but it is almost incredible with what
copiousness, and with what variety, they are all employed by Cato(26).”
Livy principally speaks of the facility, asperity, and freedom of his
tongue(27). Aulus Gellius has instituted a comparison of Caius Gracchus,
Cato, and Cicero, in passages where these three orators declaimed against
the same species of atrocity—the illegal scourging of Roman citizens; and
Gellius, though he admits that Cato had not reached the splendour,
harmony, and pathos of Cicero, considers him as far superior in force and
copiousness to Gracchus(28).
Of the book on Military Discipline, a good deal has been incorporated into
the work of Vegetius; and Cicero’s orations may console us for the want of
those of Cato. But the loss of the seven books, _De Originibus_, which he
commenced in his vigorous old age, and finished just before his death,
must ever be deeply deplored by the historian and antiquary. Cato is said
to have begun to inquire into the history, antiquities, and language of
the Roman people, with a view to counteract the influence of the Greek
taste, introduced by the Scipios; and in order to take from the Greeks the
honour of having colonized Italy, he attempted to discover on the Latin
soil the traces of ancient national manners, and an indigenous
civilization. The first book of the valuable work _De Originibus_, as we
are informed by Cornelius Nepos, in his short life of Cato, contained the
exploits of the kings of Rome. Cato was the first author who attempted to
fix the era of the foundation of Rome, which he calculated in his
_Origines_, and determined it to have been in the first year of the 7th
Olympiad. In order to discover this epoch, he had recourse to the memoirs
of the Censors, in which it was noted, that the taking of Rome by the
Gauls, was 119 years after the expulsion of the kings. By adding this
period to the aggregate duration of the reigns of the kings, he found that
the amount answered to the first of the 7th Olympiad. This is the
computation followed by Dionysius of Halicarnassus, in his great work on
Roman antiquities. It is probably as near the truth as we can hope to
arrive; but even in the time of Cato, the calculated duration of the
reigns of the kings was not founded on any ancient monuments then extant,
or on the testimony of any credible historian. The second and third books
treated of the origin of the different states of Italy, whence the whole
work has received the name of _Origines_. The fourth and fifth books
comprehended the history of the first and second Punic wars; and in the
two remaining books, the author discussed the other campaigns of the
Romans till the time of Ser. Galba, who overthrew the Lusitanians.
In his account of these later contests, Cato merely related the facts,
without mentioning the names of the generals or leaders; but though he has
omitted this, Pliny informs us that he did not forget to take notice, that
the elephant which fought most stoutly in the Carthaginian army was called
Surus, and wanted one of his teeth(29). In this same work he incidentally
treated of all the wonderful and admirable things which existed in Spain
and Italy. Some of his orations, too, as we learn from Livy, were
incorporated into it, as that for giving freedom to the Lusitanian
hostages; and Plutarch farther mentions, that he omitted no opportunity of
praising himself, and extolling his services to the state. The work,
however, exhibited great industry and learning, and, had it descended to
us, would unquestionably have thrown much light on the early periods of
Roman history and the antiquities of the different states of Italy.
Dionysius of Halicarnassus, himself a sedulous inquirer into antiquities,
bears ample testimony to the research and accuracy of that part which
treats of the origin of the ancient Italian cities. The author lived at a
time which was favourable to this investigation. Though the Samnites,
Etruscans, and Sabines, had been deprived of their independence, they had
not lost their monuments or records of their history, their individuality
and national manners. Cicero praises the simple and concise style of the
_Origines_, and laments that the work was neglected in his day, in
consequence of the inflated manner of writing which had been recently
adopted; in the same manner as the tumid and ornamented periods of
Theopompus had lessened the esteem for the concise and unadorned narrative
of Thucydides, or as the lofty eloquence of Demosthenes impaired the
relish for the extreme attic simplicity of Lysias(30).
In the same part of the dialogue, entitled _Brutus_, Cicero asks what
flower or light of eloquence is wanting to the _Origines_—“Quem florem,
aut quod lumen eloquentiæ non habent?” But on Atticus considering the
praise thus bestowed as excessive, he limits it, by adding, that nothing
was required to complete the strokes of the author’s pencil but a certain
lively glow of colours, which had not been discovered in his
age.—“Intelliges, nihil illius lineamentis, nisi eorum pigmentorum, quæ
inventa nondum erant, florem et calorem defuisse(31).”
The pretended fragments of the _Origines_, published by the Dominican,
Nanni, better known by the name of Annius Viterbiensis, and inserted in
his _Antiquitates Variæ_, printed at Rome in 1498, are spurious, and the
imposition was detected soon after their appearance. The few remains first
collected by Riccobonus, and published at the end of his Treatise on
History, (Basil, 1579,) are believed to be genuine. They have been
enlarged by Ausonius Popma, and added by him, with notes, to the other
writings of Cato, published at Leyden in 1590.
Any rudeness of style and language which appears either in the orations of
Cato, or in his agricultural and historical works, cannot be attributed to
total carelessness or neglect of the graces of composition, as he was the
first person in Rome who treated of oratory as an art(32), in a tract
entitled _De Oratore ad Filium_.
Cato was also the first of his countrymen who wrote on the subject of
medicine(33). Rome had existed for 500 years without professional
physicians(34). A people who as yet were strangers to luxury, and
consisted of farmers and soldiers, (though surgical operations might be
frequently necessary,) would be exempt from the inroads of the “grisly
troop,” so much encouraged by indolence and debauchery. Like all
semi-barbarous people, they believed that maladies were to be cured by the
special interposition of superior beings, and that religious ceremonies
were more efficacious for the recovery of health than remedies of medical
skill. Deriving, as they did, much of their worship from the Etruscans,
they probably derived from them also the practice of attempting to
overcome disease by magic and incantation. The Augurs and Aruspices were
thus the most ancient physicians of Rome. In epidemic distempers the
Sibylline books were consulted, and the cures they prescribed were
superstitious ceremonies. We have seen that it was to free the city from
an attack of this sort that scenic representations were first introduced
at Rome. During the progress of another epidemic infliction a temple was
built to Apollo(35); and as each periodic pestilence naturally abated in
course of time, faith was confirmed in the efficacy of the rites which
were resorted to. Every one has heard of the pomp wherewith Esculapius was
transported under the form of a serpent, from Epidaurus to an islet in the
Tiber, which was thereafter consecrated to that divine physician. The
apprehension of diseases raised temples to Febris and Tussis, and other
imaginary beings belonging to the painful family of death in order to
avert the disorders which they were supposed to inflict. It was perceived,
however, that religious professions and lustrations and _lectisterniums_
were ineffectual for the cure of those complaints, which, in the 6th
century, luxury began to exasperate and render more frequent at Rome. At
length, in 534, Archagatus, a free-born Greek, arrived in Italy, where he
practised medicine professionally as an art, and received in return for
his cures the endearing appellation of _Carnifex_(36). But though
Archagatus was the first who practised medicine, Cato was the first who
wrote of diseases and their treatment as a science, in his work entitled
_Commentarius quo Medetur Filio, Servis, Familiaribus_. In this book of
domestic medicine—duck, pigeons, and hare, were the foods he chiefly
recommended to the sick(37). His remedies were principally extracted from
herbs; and colewort, or cabbage, was his favourite cure(38). The recipes,
indeed, contained in his work on agriculture, show that his medical
knowledge did not exceed that which usually exists among a semi-barbarous
race, and only extended to the most ordinary simples which nature affords.
Cato hated the compound drugs introduced by the Greek
physicians—considering these foreign professors of medicine as the
opponents of his own system. Such, indeed, was his antipathy, that he
believed, or pretended to believe, that they had entered into a league to
poison all the barbarians, among whom they classed the Romans.—“Jurarunt
inter se,” says he, in a passage preserved by Pliny, “barbaros necare
omnes medicina: Et hoc ipsum mercede faciunt, ut fides iis sit, et facile
disperdant(39).” Cato, finding that the patients lived notwithstanding
this detestable conspiracy, began to regard the Greek practitioners as
impious sorcerers, who counteracted the course of nature, and restored
dying men to life, by means of unholy charms; and he therefore advised his
countrymen to remain stedfast, not only by their ancient Roman principles
and manners, but also by the venerable unguents and salubrious balsams
which had come down to them from the wisdom of their grandmothers. Such as
they were, Cato’s old medical saws continued long in repute at Rome. It is
evident that they were still esteemed in the time of Pliny, who expresses
the same fears as the Censor, lest hot baths and potions should render his
countrymen effeminate, and corrupt their manners(40).
Every one knows what was the consequence of Cato’s dislike to the Greek
philosophers, who were expelled from the city by a decree of the senate.
But it does not seem certain what became of Archagatus and his followers.
The author of the _Diogene Moderne_, as cited by Tiraboschi, says that
Archagatus was stoned to death(41), but the literary historian who quotes
him doubts of his having any sufficient authority for the assertion.
Whether the physicians were comprehended in the general sentence of
banishment pronounced on the learned Greeks, or were excepted from it, has
been the subject of a great literary controversy in modern Italy and in
France(42).
Aulus Gellius(43) mentions Cato’s _Libri quæstionum Epistolicarum_, and
Cicero his _Apophthegmata_(44), which was probably the first example of
that class of works which, under the appellation of _Ana_, became so
fashionable and prevalent in France.
The only other work of Cato which I shall mention, is the _Carmen de
Moribus_. This, however, was not written in verse, as might be supposed
from the title. Precepts, imprecations, and prayers, or any set _formulæ_
whatever, were called _Carmina_. I do not know what maxims were inculcated
in this _carmen_, but they probably were not of very rigid morality, at
least if we may judge from the “Sententia Dia Catonis,” mentioned by
Horace:
“Quidam notus homo cùm exiret fornice, Macte
Virtute esto, inquit sententia dia Catonis(45).”
Misled by the title, some critics have erroneously assigned to the Censor
the _Disticha de Moribus_, now generally attributed to Dionysius Cato, who
lived, according to Scaliger in the age of Commodus and Septimius
Severus(46).
The work of
MARCUS TERENTIUS VARRO,
On agriculture, has descended to us more entire than that of Cato on the
same subject; yet it does not appear to be complete. In the early times of
the republic, the Romans, like the ancient Greeks, being constantly
menaced with the incursions of enemies, indulged little in the luxury of
expensive and ornamental villas. Even that of Scipio Africanus, the rival
and contemporary of Cato the Censor, and who in many other respects
anticipated the refinements of a later age, was of the simplest structure.
It was situated at Liternum, (now Patria,) a few miles north from Cumæ,
and was standing in the time of Seneca. This philosopher paid a visit to a
friend who resided in it during the age of Nero, and he afterwards
described it in one of his epistles with many expressions of wonder and
admiration at the frugality of the great Africanus(47). When, however, the
scourge of war was removed from their immediate vicinity, agriculture and
gardening were no longer exercised by the Romans as in the days of the
Censor, when great crops of grain were raised for profit, and fields of
onions sown for the subsistence of the labouring servants. The patricians
now became fond of ornamental gardens, fountains, terraces, artificial
wildernesses, and grottos, groves of laurel for shelter in winter, and
oriental planes for shade in summer. Matters, in short, were fast
approaching to the state described in one of the odes of Horace—
“Jam pauca aratro jugera regiæ,
Moles relinquent: undique latius
Extenta visentur Lucrino
Stagna lacu: platanusque cœlebs
Evincet ulmos: tum violaria, et
Myrtus, et omnis copia narium,
Spargent olivetis odorem
Fertilibus domino priori.
Tum spissa ramis laurea fervidos
Excludet ictus. Non ita Romuli
Præscriptum, et intonsi Catonis
Auspiciis, veterumque norma(48).”
Agriculture, however, still continued to be so respectable an employment,
that its practice was not considered unworthy the friend of Cicero and
Pompey, nor its precepts undeserving to be delivered by one who was
indisputably the first scholar of his age—who was renowned for his
profound erudition and thorough insight into the laws, the literature, and
antiquities of his country,—and who has been hailed by Petrarch as the
third great luminary of Rome, being only inferior in lustre to Cicero and
Virgil:—
“Qui’ vid’ io nostra gente aver per duce
Varrone, il terzo gran lume Romano,
Che quanto ’l miro più, tanto più luce(49).”