ROMAN HISTORICAL LITERATURE—PRINCIPAL
HISTORIANS—LUCCEIUS—LUCULLUS—CORNELIUS NEPOS—OPINIONS OF THE GENUINENESS
OF THE WORKS WHICH BEAR HIS NAME—BIOGRAPHY OF J. CÆSAR—HIS
COMMENTARIES—THEIR STYLE AND LANGUAGE—HIS MODESTY OVERRATED—OTHER
WORKS—CHARACTER OF CÆSAR.
HISTORICAL WRITERS.
In historical composition alone can the Romans lay claim to originality;
and in their historical literature especially is exhibited a faithful
transcript of their mind and character. History at once gratified their
patriotism, and its investigations were in accordance with their love of
the real and practical. Thus those natural powers which had been
elicited and cultivated by an acquaintance with Greek literature were
applied with a naïve simplicity to the narration of events, and
embellished them with all the graces of a refined style. The practical
good sense and political wisdom which the Roman social system was
admirably adapted to nurture found food for reflection: their shrewd
insight into character, and their searching scrutiny into the human
heart gave them a power over their materials; and hence they were
enabled in this department of literature to emulate, not merely imitate,
the Greeks, and to be their rivals, and sometimes their superiors. The
elegant simplicity of Cæsar is as attractive as that of Herodotus; not
one of the Greek historians surpasses Livy in talent for the
picturesque, and in the charm with which he invests his spirited and
living stories; whilst for condensation of thought, terseness of
expression, and political and philosophical acumen, Tacitus is not
inferior to Thucydides.
The subjects which historical investigation furnished were so peculiarly
national, so congenial to the character of the mind of the Romans, that
they seem to have cast aside their Greek originals, and to have struck
out an independent line for themselves.
The catalogue of Roman historians is a proud one. At the head of it
stand the four great names of Cæsar, Sallust, Livy, and Tacitus; all of
whom, except the last, belong to the Augustan age. It comprehends those
of Cornelius Nepos, Trogus Pompeius, Cremutius Cordus, Aufidius Bassus,
and Sallust, in the golden age; Velleius Paterculus, Valerius Maximus,
Q. Curtius, Suetonius, and Florus, in the succeeding one; nor must L.
Lucceius and L. Licinius Lucullus be passed over without mention.
L. LUCCEIUS.
L. Lucceius, the friend and correspondent of Cicero,[888] was an orator
who espoused the party of J. Cæsar, and relying on his influence,
became, together with him, a candidate for the consulship.[889] Being
unsuccessful, he quitted politics for the calm enjoyment of a literary
life. His right to be called an historian is founded on his having
commenced a history of the Social and Civil Wars, but it was never
completed or published. Cicero[890] entreats him to speak of the events
which he was recording, as well as of his own character and conduct,
with partiality; it is, therefore, impossible to trust the encomiums
which accompany this request, as they were probably dictated by a wish
to purchase his favourable opinion. The period of his retirement from
public affairs was not of long duration, for he afterwards again engaged
in the civil strife which agitated Rome, and joined the party of Pompey,
who held him in high estimation.[891] On his downfall he shared with
other Pompeians the clemency of the dictator.
L. LICINIUS LUCULLUS.
L. Licinius Lucullus,[892] the illustrious but luxurious conqueror of
Mithridates, did not disdain to devote his leisure to the composition of
history, although his works are not of such merit as to claim for him a
distinguished position among the historians of his country. The stirring
events of the Social War tempted him to record them.[893] Part of his
enormous wealth he had expended on a magnificent library: to the poet
Archias he was a kind friend;[894] and his patronage was liberally
granted to literary men, especially to those philosophers who held the
doctrines of his favourite Academy. Like most of those who combined with
a love of literature a life of activity in the public service of his
country, he was an orator of no mean abilities.[895] His love of Greek,
and his habits of intercourse with Greek philosophers, led him to write
his history in the Greek language, and to select and transcribe extracts
from the histories of Cælius Antipater and Polybius.
CORNELIUS NEPOS.
Cornelius Nepos was a contemporary of Catullus, and lived until the
sixth year of the reign of Augustus.[896] Ausonius says that he was a
Gaul,[897] Catullus that he was an Italian.[898] Both are probably
right, as the prevailing opinion is, that he was born either at Verona,
or the neighbouring village of Hostilia in Cisalpine Gaul. Besides
Catullus, he reckoned Cicero[899] and Atticus amongst the number of his
friends.[900] These circumstances constitute all that is known
respecting his personal history.
All his works which are mentioned by the ancients are unfortunately
lost; but respecting the genuineness of that with which every scholar is
familiar from his childhood, strong doubts have been entertained. His
lost works were, (1.) Three books of Chronicles, or a short abridgment
of Universal History. They are mentioned by A. Gellius,[901] and
allusion is made to them by Catullus.[902] (2.) Five books of anecdotes
styled “Libri Exemplorum,”[903] and also entitled “The Book of C. Nepos
_de Viris illustribus_.” (3.) A Life of Cicero,[904] and a collection of
Letters addressed to him.[905] (4.) “De Historicis,” or Memoirs of
Historians.[906] The work now extant which bears his name is entitled
“The Lives of Eminent Generals.” But besides the biographies of twenty
generals, it contains short accounts of some celebrated monarchs, lives
of Hamilcar and Hannibal, and also of Cato and Atticus. The Proëmium of
the book is addressed to one Atticus, and to the first edition was
prefixed a dedication to the Emperor Theodosius, from which it appeared
that the author’s name was Probus. These biographical sketches continued
to be ascribed to this unknown author until the latter half of the
sixteenth century.
At that time the celebrated scholar Lambinus, Regius Professor of Belles
Lettres at Paris, argued from the purity of the style that it was a work
of classical antiquity, and, from a passage in the life of Cato, that
the Atticus, to whom it was dedicated, was the well-known correspondent
of Cicero, and the author no other than Cornelius Nepos. The argument
derived from the Latinity is unanswerable; that, however, from the life
of Cato is a “_petitio principii_,” inasmuch as there is no more
evidence in favour of the life of Cato having been written by Nepos,
than the other biographies. The life of Atticus, which is a complete
model of biographical composition, is ascribed to him by name in some of
the best MSS. Of the rest nothing more can be affirmed with certainty,
than that they are a work, or the epitome of a work, belonging to the
Augustan age.
The strongest evidence which exists in favour of the authorship of C.
Nepos, is that Jerome Magius, a contemporary of Lambinus, who also
published an annotated edition of the “_Vitæ Illustrium Imperatorum_,”
found a MS. with the following conclusion: “Completum est opus Æmilii
Probi Cornelii Nepotis.” These words would seem to assert the authorship
of Nepos, and at the same time to admit that Probus was the editor or
epitomator, and thus support the theory of Lambinus, without accusing
Probus of a literary forgery.
C. JULIUS CÆSAR (BORN B. C. 100.)
To give a biographical account of Cæsar would be, in fact, nothing less
than to trace the contemporary history of Rome; for Roman history had
now become the history of those master-minds who seized upon, or were
invested by their countrymen with, supreme power. Although the rapid and
energetic talents of Cæsar never permitted him to lose a day, his active
devotion to the truly Roman employments of politics and war, left him
little time for sedentary occupations. His literary biography,
therefore, will necessarily occupy but a short space, compared with the
other great events of his career.
C. Julius Cæsar was descended from a family of the Julian _gens_, one of
the oldest among the patrician families of Rome, of which all but a very
few had by this time become extinct. The Cæsar family was not only of
patrician descent, but numbered amongst its members, during the century
which preceded the birth of the Dictator, many who had served curule
offices with great distinction. He was born on the 4th of the ides of
July (the 12th,) B. C. 100, and attached himself, both by politics and
by matrimonial connexion to the popular party: his good taste, great
tact, and pleasing manners, contributed, together with his talents, to
insure his popularity. He became a soldier in the nineteenth year of his
age; and hence his works display all the best qualities which are
fostered by a military education, and which therefore characterize the
military profession—frankness, simplicity, and brevity. He served his
first campaign at the conclusion of the first Mithridatic war, during
which he was present at the siege and capture of Mitylene,[907] and
received the honour of a civic crown for saving the life of a citizen.
His earliest literary triumph was as an orator. Cn. Dolabella was
suspected of oppressive extortion in the administration of his province
of Macedonia, and Cæsar came forward as his accuser. The celebrated
Hortensius was the advocate for the accused; and although Cæsar did not
gain his cause, the skill and eloquence which he displayed as a pleader
gave promise of his becoming hereafter a consummate orator. The
following year he increased his reputation by taking up the cause of the
province of Achaia against C. Antonius, who was accused of the same
crime as Dolabella; but he was again unsuccessful in the result.
He subsequently sailed for Rhodes, in order to pursue the study of
oratory under the direction of Apollonius Molon,[908] who was not only a
teacher of rhetoric, but also an able and eloquent pleader in the courts
of law. Cicero[909] bears testimony to his being a skilful instructor
and an eloquent speaker, and received instruction from him when he came
to Rome as an ambassador from Rhodes.[910] Cæsar, on his voyage, was
captured by pirates; but after he was ransomed, he carried his intention
into effect, and placed himself for a short time under the tuition of
Molon. After his return to Rome,[911] a proposition was made to recall
from exile those of the party of Lepidus, who had joined Sertorius, and
he spoke in favour of the measure. Two years subsequently he delivered
funeral orations in praise of his wife Cornelia, who was the daughter of
Cinna, and his aunt Julia, the widow of Marius.
The Catilinarian conspiracy, in which, without reason, he was suspected
of having been concerned, furnished him with another opportunity of
displaying his ability as an orator. His speech in the senate on the
celebrated nones of December, would probably have saved the lives of the
conspirators, had not Cato’s influence prevailed. Cæsar pleaded that it
was unconstitutional to put Roman citizens to death by the vote of the
senate, without a trial; but his arguments were overruled, and the
measure which subsequently led to the fall and assassination of Cicero
was carried. The following year,[912] when Metellus made this a subject
of accusation against Cicero, Cæsar again supported the same view with
his eloquence, but was unsuccessful.
Great, therefore, although it is said that his talents as an orator
were, he never appears to have convinced his hearers. This may have been
owing, not to deficiency in skill, but to the unfortunate nature of the
causes which he took in hand, or to the superior powers of his
opponents, for there is no doubt that his manner of speaking was most
engaging and popular. Tacitus speaks of him not only as the greatest of
authors,[913] but also as rivalling the most accomplished orators;[914]
whilst Suetonius praises his eloquence, and quotes the testimony of
Cicero himself in support of his favourable criticism.[915]
Hitherto, with the exception of his first campaign, the life of Cæsar
was of a civil complexion. His literary eminence took the colouring of
the public occupations in which he was engaged. Like a true Roman,
literature was subordinate to public duty, and his taste was directed
into the channel which was most akin to, and identified with, his life.
His intellectual vigour, however, demanded employment as well as his
practical talents for business; and for this reason, as has been seen,
he devoted himself to the study of oratory; and the principal works
which as yet obtain for him a place in a history of Roman literature are
merely orations.
His next official appointment opened to him a new field for thought. In
B. C. 63 he obtained the office of Pontifex Maximus, and examined so
diligently into the history and nature of the Roman belief in augury, of
which he was the official guardian, that his investigations were
published in a work consisting of at least sixteen books (_Libri
Auspiciorum_.[916]) In order to fit himself for discharging the duties
of his office he studied astronomy, and even wrote a treatise on that
science,[917] entitled “_de Astris_”, and a poem somewhat resembling the
Phenomena of Aratus. His knowledge of this science enabled him, with the
aid of the Alexandrian astronomers, to carry into effect some years[918]
afterwards the reformation of the calendar.
The works above mentioned are philosophically and scientifically
valueless, but curious and interesting; but we have now to view Cæsar in
that capacity which was the foundation of his literary reputation. He
obtained the province of Hispania Ulterior;[919] and at this post his
career as a military commander began. As had been the case during his
previous career, so now the almost incessant demands on his thoughts and
time did not divert him from literary pursuits, but determined the
channel in which his tastes should seek satisfaction, and furnished the
subject for his pen. He had evidently an ardent love for literature for
its own sake. It was not the paltry ambition of showing that he could
achieve success, and, even superiority, in every thing which he chose to
undertake, although his versatility of talent was such as to encourage
him to expect success, but a real attachment to literary employment.
Hence whatever leisure his duties as a military commander permitted him
to enjoy was devoted, as to a labour of love, to the composition of his
Memoirs or Commentaries of the Gallic and Civil Wars.
His comprehensive and liberal mind was also convinced of the
embarrassing technicalities which impeded the administration of the
Roman law. Its interpretation was confined to a few who had studied its
pedantic mysteries; and the laws which regulated the _dies fasti_ and
_nefasti_ had originally placed its administration in the hands of the
priests and patricians. Appius Claudius had already commenced the work
of demolishing the fences which to the people at large were impregnable;
and Cæsar entertained the grand design of reducing its principles and
practice to a regular code.[920] His views he imbodied in a
treatise,[921] which, as is often the case with pamphlets, perished when
the object ceased to exist for which it was intended.
It is said that he also contemplated a complete survey and map of the
Roman empire.[922] But his greatest benefaction, perhaps, to the cause
of Roman literature was the establishment of a public library.[923] The
spoils of Italy, collected by Asinius Pollio, furnished the materials,
just as the museums of Paris were enriched by the great modern conqueror
from the plunder of Europe; but it was, nevertheless, a great and
patriotic work; and he enhanced its utility by intrusting the collection
and arrangement of it to the learned Varro as librarian.
Besides the works already named, Cæsar left behind him various letters,
some of which are extant amongst those of Cicero; orations, of which, if
the panegyrics of Cicero, Tacitus, and Quintilian[924] are not
exaggerated, it is deeply to be regretted that the titles are alone
preserved;[925] a short treatise or pamphlet, called _Anticato_; a work
on the analogy of the Latin language; a collection of apothegms; and a
few poems.
These are the grounds on which the claims of the great conqueror to
literary fame rest in the various capacities of orator, historian,
antiquarian, philosopher, grammarian, and poet; but by far the most
important of his works is his “Commentaries.” These have fortunately
come down to us in a tolerably perfect state, although much still
remains to be done before we can be said to possess an accurate
edition.[926] Seven books contain the history of seven years of the
Gallic war, and three carry the history of the civil war down to the
commencement of the Alexandrine. These are the works of Cæsar himself.
The eighth book, “_De Bello Gallico_,” which completes the subject, and
the three supplemental books of the work, “_De Bello Civili_,” which
contain the Alexandrine, African, and Spanish wars, have been variously
ascribed to the friends of Cæsar, A. Hirtius, C. Oppius, and even to
Pansa. The claims of the latter, however, are entirely groundless. The
marked similarity between the style of the eighth book of the Gallic war
and that of the Alexandrine war proves that they were written by the
same author; and from the elegance and purity of the Latinity, and the
confidential footing on which the author must have been with Cæsar,
there is a probability, almost amounting to a certainty, that the
History of the Alexandrine War must be the work of A. Hirtius. It may
also be remarked that this opinion is in unison with that of
Suetonius.[927]
Hirtius was the only one of the three who united in himself both these
important qualifications. C. Oppius was indeed equally in the confidence
of Cæsar; he was his inseparable companion.[928] But, nevertheless,
Oppius was not so highly educated as Hirtius. Niebuhr, therefore, is
probably correct in attributing to him, “without hesitation,”[929] the
book on the African war. The intelligence and information displayed in
it are worthy of the sensible soldier and confidential friend, with whom
he corresponded in cipher, and whom he intrusted with writing the
introduction to his defence in the “Anticato;” whilst the inferiority of
the language marks a less skilful and practised hand than that of the
refined Hirtius. The book on the Spanish war is by some unknown author:
it is founded on a diary kept by some one engaged in the war; but
neither its language nor sentiments are those of a liberally educated
person.[930] The Greek term “Ephemerides” has sometimes been applied to
the “Commentaries,” though Bayle[931] thought that they were different
works.
These memoirs are exactly what they profess to be, and are written in
the most appropriate style. Few would wish it to be other than it is.
They are sketches taken on the spot, in the midst of action, whilst the
mind was full: they have all the graphic power of a master-mind, and the
vigorous touches of a master-hand. Take, for example, the delineation of
the Gallic character, and compare it with some of the features still to
be found in the mixed race, their successors, and no one can doubt of
its accuracy, or of the deep and penetrating insight into human nature
which generally indicates the powerful and practical intellect. Their
elegance and polish is that which always mark even the least-laboured
efforts of a refined and educated taste, not that which proceeds from
careful emendation and correction. The “Commentaries” are the materials
for history; notes jotted down for future historians. It is evident that
no more time was spent upon them than would naturally be devoted to such
a work by one who was employing the inaction of winter quarters in
digesting the recollections stored up during the business of the
campaign; and for this reason few faults have been found with the
“Commentaries,” even by the most fastidious critics. The very faults
which may be justly found with the style of Cæsar are such as reflect
the man himself. The majesty of his character principally consists in
the imperturbable calmness and equability of his temper. He had no
sudden bursts of energy, and alternations of passion and inactivity: the
elevation of his character was a high one, but it was a level
table-land. This calmness and equability pervades his writings, and for
this reason they have been thought to want life and energy; whereas in
reality they are only deficient in contrast, and light and shade. The
uniformity of his active character is interesting as one great element
of his success; but the uniformity of style may perhaps be thought by
some readers to diminish the interest with which his work is read.
The simple beauty of his language is, as Cicero says, statuesque rather
than picturesque. Simple, severe, naked—“omni ornatu orationis tanquam
veste detracto;” and whilst, like a statue, it conveys the idea of
perfect and well-proportioned beauty, it banishes all thoughts of human
passion. It was this perfect calm propriety, perhaps this absence of all
ornamental display, which prevented him from being a successful orator,
and his orations from surviving, although he had every external
qualification for a speaker[932]—a fine voice, graceful action, a noble
and majestic appearance, and a frank and brilliant delivery.
The very few instances of doubtful Latinity which a hypercritical spirit
may detect are scarcely blemishes, and fewer than might have been
expected from the observation of Hirtius,[933] “Ceteri quam bene atque
emendate, nos etiam, quam facile ac celeriter eos perscripserit,
scimus.” When A. Pollio[934] called his “Commentaries” hasty, his
criticism was fair; but he was scarcely just in blaming the writer for
inaccuracy and credulity. These faults, so far as they existed, were due
to circumstances, not to himself. His observing mind wished to collect
information with respect to the foreign lands which were the field of
his exploits, and the habits of the inhabitants, quite as much as to
describe his own tactics and victories. He naturally accepted the
accounts given him, even when he had no means of testing their veracity.
He is, therefore, not to blame for recording those which subsequent
discoveries have shown to be untrue.
His digressions of this character yield in interest to no portion of his
work; and though some of his accounts of the Gauls and Germans are
incorrect, many were subsequently confirmed by the investigations of
Tacitus. The only quality in the character of Cæsar which has been
sometimes exaggerated is modesty. He does not, indeed, add to his own
reputation by detracting from the merits of those who served under him.
He is honest, generous, and candid, not only towards them, but also
towards his brave barbarian enemies. Nor is he guilty of egotism in the
strict literal sense of the term. This, however, is scarcely enough to
warrant the eulogy which some have founded upon it. He has too good
taste to recount his successes with pretension and arrogance; but he has
evidently no objection to be the hero of his own tale. He skilfully
veils his selfish, unpatriotic, and ambitious motives; and his object
evidently is to leave such memoirs, that future historians may be able
to hand down the most favourable character of Cæsar to posterity.
Though himself is his subject, his memoirs are not confessions. Not a
record of a weakness appears, nor even of a defect, except that which
the Romans would readily forgive, cruelty. His savage waste of human
life he recounts with perfect self-complacency. Vanity was his crowning
error in his career as a statesman; and though hidden by the reserve
with which he speaks of himself, it sometimes discovers itself in the
historian.
The “Commentaries” of Cæsar have sometimes been compared with the work
of the great soldier historian of Greece, Xenophon. Both are eminently
simple and unaffected; but there the parallel ends. The severe contempt
of ornament which characterizes the stern Roman is totally unlike the
mellifluous sweetness of the Attic writer.
The “Anticatones”[935] were two books in answer to Cicero’s panegyric of
Cato, which he had written immediately after the philosopher’s death.
Hirtius first, at the request of Cæsar, wrote a reply, and sent it to
Cicero from Narbonne. Although he denied the justice of Cicero’s
eulogium, he secured the good-will of the orator himself by liberal
commendations.[936] This prepared the way for Cæsar’s own pamphlet.
His philological work, _de Analogia_, or _de Ratione Latine Loquendi_,
is commended by Cicero[937] for its extreme accuracy, and was held in
high estimation by the Roman grammarians. Probably, in liveliness and
originality, it was far superior to any of their works. Wonderful to
say, it was written during the difficulties and occupations of a journey
across the Alps. From the quotations from it, in the writings of the
grammarians, we learn that he proposed that the letter V should be
written Ⅎ, to mark its connexion with the Greek digamma; and that the
new orthography, which substituted _lacrimæ_ for _lucrumæ_, _maximus_
for _maxumus_, &c., was established by his authority.
The “_Apophthegmata_” is said to have been a collection of wise and
witty sayings by himself and others, although it is remarkable not a
single witty saying of Cæsar is on record.[938] He began it early in
life, and was continually making additions to it.
His poetical attempts consisted of a tragedy entitled “Œdipus;” a short
piece, the subject of which was the praises of Hercules (both of these,
as well as the Apophthegmata, were suppressed by Augustus;[939]) “Iter,”
an account of his march into Spain; the astronomical poem already
mentioned; and some epigrams, of which three are extant, although their
authenticity is somewhat doubtful.[940]
The character of Cæsar is full of inconsistencies; but they are the
inconsistencies which are natural to man, and are sometimes found in men
of a strong will and commanding talents who are destitute of moral
principle. His faults and excellences, his capability and talents, were
the result of his natural powers—not of pains or study. He was one of
the greatest as well as one of the worst men who ever lived. He was an
Epicurean in faith, and yet he had all the superstition which so often
accompanies infidelity. His habitual humanity and clemency towards his
fellow-citizens were interrupted by instances of stern and pitiless
cruelty. He shed tears at the assassination of Pompey, and yet could
massacre the Usipetes and the Tenchteri, and acted like a savage
barbarian towards his chivalrous foe Vercingetorix. He delighted in the
pure and refined pleasures of literature, and his intimate associates
were men of taste and genius; and yet he was the slave of his sensual
passions, and indulged in the grossest profligacy. He was candid,
friendly, confiding, generous; but he was attracted by brilliant
talents, and the qualities of the head, rather than the affections of
the heart. The mainspring of his conduct as a general and a statesman
exhibits a strong will and perfect self-reliance; and in like manner he
owes the energy of his style of writing, and the persuasive force of his
oratory, to the influence of no other minds: they are the natural fruit
of clear perceptions, a penetrating intellect, an observing mind capable
of taking a wide and comprehensive view of its subject. Men of varied
acquirements and extensive knowledge, but of pedantic taste, are said to
talk like books; the writings of Cæsar, on the contrary, are like lively
and unconstrained conversation: they have all the reality which
constitutes the great charm of his character.
He was above affectation, for his was a mind born to lead the age in
which he lived, not to think with others merely in deference to
established usage and custom; and although his natural vanity and
self-confidence led him to set his own character in the most favourable
light, his vanity was honest: he had no intention wilfully to deceive.
His wonderful memory fitted him for the task of faithfully recording the
events in which he himself was an actor; and his power of attention and
abstraction, which enabled him to write, converse, and dictate at the
same time, shows how valuable must be a work on which were concentrated
at once all the energies of his penetrating mind.