EARLY ROMAN SATIRE--C. LUCILIUS, DIED 102 B.C.
Poetical satire, as a branch of cultivated literature, arose out of
the social and political circumstances, and the moral and literary
conditions of Roman life in the last half of the second century B.C.
The tone by which that form of poetry has been characterised, in
ancient and modern times, is derived from the genius and temper of a
remarkable man, belonging to that era, and from the spirit in which he
regarded the world. C. Lucilius invented satire, by first imparting
a definite purpose to an inartistic kind of metrical composition, in
which miscellaneous topics had been treated in accordance with the
occasional mood or interests of the writer. Although the satire of
Lucilius was rude and unfinished, and evidently retained much of the
vague general character belonging to the satura of Ennius, yet he was
undoubtedly the first Roman writer who used his materials with the aim
and in the manner which poetical satire has permanently assumed.
The indigenous satura existing at Rome before the rise of regular
literature had been merged partly in the Latin comedy of Naevius,
Plautus, Caecilius, etc., partly in the metrical miscellanies of
Ennius and Pacuvius, which, though not written for the stage, retained
the name of the old scenic medley. The new satire differed from Latin
comedy in form and style, and in the personal and national aims which
it set before itself. The satire of Lucilius, and even that of Horace,
retained many features in common with the desultory medley which
Ennius had formed out of the older satura. But the latter was the
parent of no permanent form of literary art. The miscellanies of
Varro, the most famous work produced on this model, were composed
partly in prose and partly in verse, and were never ranked by the
Romans among their poetical works. The former, on the other hand, was
the parent of the satire of Horace, of Persius, and of Juvenal, and,
through that, of the poetical satire of modern times. The spirit
of censorious criticism, in which Lucilius treated the politics and
morals, the social manners and the literary taste of his age, has
become the essential characteristic of that form of literature which
derived its name from the old Italian satura.
Of all the forms of Roman poetry, satire was least indebted to
the works of the Greeks. Quintilian claims it altogether for his
countrymen--'satira tota nostra est.' Horace characterises it as
'Graecis intacti carminis.' While the names by which they are known
at once betray the Greek invention of the other great forms of poetic
art, the name of satire alone indicates a Roman origin. It is true
that Lucilius, like every educated man of his time, was acquainted
with the Greek language and literature. It is true also that the
critical spirit in Greece had found vent for itself in the works
of the early iambic writers, Archilochus, Simonides of Amorgos, and
Hipponax, of the great authors of the old political comedy of Athens,
and apparently in later writings such as the satiric discourses of
Bion of Borysthenes, mentioned in Horace's line--
Ille Bioneis sermonibus et sale nigro.
But Roman satire sprang up and flourished independently of any of
those kinds of composition. In national spirit and moral purpose
it was unlike the personal lampoons of the Greek satirists. It was
perhaps not less personal, but was more ethical; it professed at least
to be animated not by private enmity but by public spirit. It embraced
also a much greater variety of topics. Horace finds a closer parallel
to the satire of Lucilius in the old Athenian comedy. These two kinds
of literature have this in common, that they are the expression of
public, not of personal feeling. But though Lucilius probably, like
Horace after him, studied the old comic poets 'Eupolis, Cratinus and
Aristophanes,' to catch something of their spirit and manner in his
satire, Roman satire was not an imitation of Greek comedy. Where Roman
literature professes to be an imitation of Greek, it is the form and
the metre much more than the spirit and matter that are reproduced.
Greek comedy and Roman satire were the independent results of freedom
of speech and criticism in different ages and countries. Their
difference in form arose out of fundamental differences in the
character as well as in the genius of the two nations. Although Roman
speakers and writers exercised a license of speech and of personal
criticism equal to that which prevailed in the Athenian democracy, and
beyond what the spirit of personal honour tolerates in modern times,
yet the exposure of public men to ridicule on the stage was utterly
repugnant to the instincts of an aristocratic republic in which one
of the great bonds of union was respect for outward authority[1]. The
tendency of the Roman mind to reduce all things to rule and to express
itself in abstract comments on life, rather than to represent human
nature in living forms, also favoured the assumption by Lucilius of a
mode of literature addressing itself to the understanding of readers,
and not to the curiosity of spectators.
The spirit by which satire is animated was native to Italy. The germ
out of which it was developed was the _Fescennina licentia_, or, as
it is called by Dionysius, the [Greek: kertomos kai satyrike paidia],
peculiar to the Italian people. But in assuming a regular literary
form, this native raillery was tempered by the serious spirit and
vigorous understanding of Rome, and liberalised by the tastes
and ideas derived from a Greek education. The age in which satire
arose,--the age of the Gracchi,--was one of social discontent, of
political excitement, of intellectual activity, of moral and religious
unsettlement: and all these conditions exercised a powerful influence
on its character. As addressed not to the imagination but to the
practical understanding, it was in a peculiar manner the literary
product of a people 'rebus natus agendis.' It combined the practical
philosophy of the 'abnormis sapiens,' expressing itself in proverbial
sayings, anecdotes, and homely illustrations; the keen perceptions,
the criticism, and vivacity of a circle, educated, well-bred, and
versed in affairs; the serious purpose of a moral censor; and the
knowledge of life, which results from the mixed study of men and
books. Their circumstances, temper, and pursuits, united these various
elements, in different proportions, first in Lucilius, and after him
in Horace. By writing what interested themselves, in accordance with
their own natural bent, they satisfied the practical and social tastes
of their countrymen. While the higher poetical imagination was a rare
and exceptional gift among Roman authors, and was appreciated only by
a limited class of readers, there was in Roman satire a true popular
ring and a close adaptation to the national character, understanding,
and circumstances. Martial writes in his day--
Nescis heu, nescis dominae fastidia Romae:
Crede mihi nimium Martia turba sapit:
Maiores nusquam rhonchi; iuvenesque senesque
Et pueri nasum rhinocerotis habent[2].--i. 4. 2-6.
As the most genuine product of actual Roman life, satire was, if not
so luxuriant, a more vigorous plant than any other species of Roman
poetry. It is seen growing up in hardy vigour under the free air
of the Republic, attaining to mature perfection amid the rich
intellectual life of the Augustan age, and still fresh and vital in
the general intellectual languor and corruption of the Empire.
The Roman character of satire is attested also by the fact that other
Roman poets and authors, besides those who professed to follow in the
footsteps of Lucilius, have exhibited the satiric spirit. The caustic
sense of Ennius, the generous scorn of Lucretius, the license of
Catullus, attest their affinity, in some elements of character, to the
Roman satirists. There may be remarked also in the best modern works
of poetical satire,--such as the Absalom and Achitophel, the Prologue
to Pope's Satires, the Vanity of Human Wishes,--a conscious or
unconscious echo of that vigorous sense and nervous speech, which
accompanied the great practical energy of the Romans.
Satire was not only national in its intellectual and moral
characteristics, but it played a part in public life at Rome. Even
under the Empire, when free speech and comment on the government were
no longer possible, the Roman satirists claimed to perform an office
similar in spirit to that which the Republic in its best days had
devolved on its most honourable magistracy. But the satire of the
Republic, besides performing this magisterial office, played an active
part in the politics of the day. It combined the freedom of a tribune
with the severity of a censor. It held up to public criticism the
delinquencies of leading politicians, and of the mass of the people in
their elective divisions,--
Primores populi arripuit populumque tributim.
Nor was it confined to aggressive criticism: it was used also as an
instrument of political partisanship, to paint the virtues of Scipio
as well as the vices of his antagonists. It thus performed something
of the same kind of public office as the political pamphlet of an
earlier time, and the newspaper of the present day.
It endeavoured also, by acting on individual character, to effect
objects which the Roman State strove to accomplish by direct
legislation. The various sumptuary laws of that age, and the
enactments made to repress the study of Greek rhetoric and philosophy,
emanated from the same spirit which led Lucilius to denounce the
increase of luxury and the affectation of Greek manners among his
contemporaries. The strong Roman appetites and the novelty of new
studies prevailed alike over the artificial restraints of legislative
enactments, and over the contemptuous and the earnest teaching of
satire. But the influence of satire could reach further than that of
censors or sumptuary laws. While it could brand notorious offenders it
was able also to unmask hypocritical pretences--
Detrahere et pellem, nitidus qua quisque per ora
Cederet, introrsum turpis.
It could stimulate to virtue as well as denounce flagrant offences.
It wielded something of the power of the preacher to produce an
inward change in the characters of men. By its close contact with real
experience and its close adherence to the national standard of virtue,
it might educate men for the duties of citizens more effectually than
the teaching of Greek rhetoric or philosophy.
But while satire in its earlier manifestation, from one side, is to be
regarded as the directest expression of Roman public life, it was,
at the same time, the truest exponent of the character, pursuits,
and interests of the individual writer. The old definition of it by
a Latin grammarian, 'Carmen maledicum et ad carpenda hominum vitia
compositum,' is quite inapplicable to those familiar writings of
Horace, in which he gives a pleasant account of his habits and mode of
life in town and country, or that in which he humorously narrates
his various adventures on his journey to Brundisium. The writings of
Horace and Lucilius bore a more varied and miscellaneous character
than that of the satire of the Empire or of modern times. Horace
expresses his opinions and feelings in the form sometimes of a
dialogue, sometimes of a familiar epistle, sometimes of a discourse
put into the mouth of another, sometimes of a moral disquisition. He
makes abundant use of fables, anecdotes, personal portraiture, real
and imaginary, autobiography, and self-analysis. The fragments of
Lucilius, and the notices about him in ancient authors, prove that in
these respects Horace followed in his footsteps. The testimony of the
lines--
Ille velut fidis arcana sodalibus olim, etc.,
implies that Lucilius used his satire as a natural vehicle for
expressing everything that interested him, in his own life and in the
circumstances of his time. In regard to the miscellaneous nature
of the topics treated by him, and the frankness of his personal
revelations, his truest modern parallel is Montaigne,--the father of
the prose essay, which has performed the function of the older Roman
satire more completely than even the poetical satire of modern times.
Among the poets of the Republic, whose works have reached us only
in fragments, Lucilius is only second in importance to Ennius. Roman
Satire owes as much in form, substance, and spirit to him as the Roman
epic does to the older poet. While Ennius represents the highest
mood of Rome, and first gave expression to that imperial idea which
ultimately realised itself in history, Lucilius is the exponent of her
ordinary moods, manifested in the streets and the forum, and of those
internal dissensions and destructive forces by which her political
life was agitated and ultimately overthrown. His personal
characteristics and literary position can be inferred with nearly
as much certainty as those of Ennius. The most important external
evidence from which we form our idea of him is that of Horace and
Cicero. But the numerous fragments of his writings bear a strong
impress of his personality. From the confirmation which they give to
other testimonies, we may endeavour to recover some of the lines and
colours of that 'votiva tabula' which the contemporaries of Horace
found in his books, and to realise the nature of the work performed by
him and of the influence which he exercised over his countrymen.
The time at which he appeared was one of the most critical epochs
in Roman history, the end of one great era,--that of the undisputed
ascendency of the Senate,--the beginning of the century of revolution
which ended with the Battle of Actium. The mind of the nation began
then to turn from the monotonous spectacle of military conquest and
to busy itself with the conditions of internal well-being. A spirit
of discontent with these, similar to that which called forth the
legislation of the Gracchi, opened up a new path for Latin literature.
It began then to concern itself, not with the national idea of
conquest and empire, but with the actual condition of men. It sought
for its material, not in the representation which had been fashioned
by Greek dramatic art out of the heroic legends of early Greece or the
citizen life of her later days, but out of the every day life of
the Roman streets, law-courts, public assemblies, dinner-tables, and
literary coteries, and out of the baser details of actual experience
by which the magnificent ideal of Roman greatness was largely
qualified. Though there is considerable difficulty in accepting the
dates usually assigned for the birth and death of Lucilius, there is
no reason to doubt that his active literary career began about the
time of the tribunates of Tib. Gracchus, and continued till nearly
the end of the first century B.C. This period is so important and
interesting that such glimpses of light as are afforded by the
fragments of the contemporary satirist are highly to be prized.
The dates of his birth and death, according to Jerome, were 148 B.C.
and 102 B.C. We are told, on the same authority, that he died
at Naples and received the honour of a public funeral. The chief
difficulty in accepting these dates arises from the statement of
Velleius that Lucilius served as an 'eques' under Scipio in the
Numantine War[3], and from the fact, attested by Horace and other
authorities, of his great intimacy with both Scipio and Laelius[4].
Horace also mentions that he celebrated in his writings the justice
and valour of Scipio,--
Attamen et iustum poteras et scribere fortem
Scipiadem ut sapiens Lucilius--;
and the parallel there suggested between the relation of Lucilius to
the great soldier and statesman of his age, and of Horace to Augustus,
would be inappropriate unless the praises there spoken of had been
bestowed on Scipio in his lifetime. Fragments from one book of
the Satires appear to be parts of a letter written by Lucilius to
congratulate his friend on the capture of Numantia[5]. One line of
Book xxvi,--
Percrepa pugnam Popilli, facta Corneli cane,
contrasts the defeat of M. Popillius Laenas in 138 B.C. with the
subsequent successes of Scipio. In another fragment Lucilius charges
Scipio with affectation for pronouncing the word 'pertaesum' as if
it were 'pertisum[6].' He is also mentioned as one of those whose
criticism Lucilius dreaded[7]. These and other passages must have been
written in the lifetime of Scipio--i.e. before 129 B.C. Thus, if
the date assigned for the birth of Lucilius is correct, he must have
served in the Numantine War at the age of fourteen or fifteen, he
must have been admitted into the most intimate familiarity with the
greatest man of the age, and must have composed some books of his
Satires, and thus introduced a new form of literature, before the age
of nineteen. L. Mueller in his edition of the Fragments adduces other
considerations for rejecting the dates given by Jerome, such as the
allusions to the career of Lupus (whom he supposes to be the same as
the Censor of 147 B.C.) and to the war with Viriathus. He holds also
that the words of Horace--
Quo fit ut omnis
Votiva pateat veluti descripta tabella
Vita _senis_--
lose their point, unless _senis_ is to be understood in its usual
sense. He supposes that the mistake of Jerome arose from a similarity
in the names of the Consuls of 148 B.C. and 180 B.C., and would
therefore throw the date of the poet's birth more than thirty years
further back than that commonly received.
Whatever strength there may be in the other objections urged against
accepting the date 148 B.C. as that of the birth of Lucilius, it
is difficult to believe that Lucilius should have taken part in the
Numantine War, and been admitted to apparently equal intimacy with
Scipio before he had attained the age of fifteen. It is still more
difficult to suppose that the earliest book or books of his Satires,
composed before the death of Scipio, should be the work of a boy under
nineteen years of age. But with these admissions it is not necessary
to throw back the date of the poet's birth so far as is done by
Mueller. A more probable explanation of the error in the date was
suggested by Mr. Munro in the Journal of Philology. He supposes that
Jerome in copying the words of Suetonius referring to the death and
funeral of Lucilius substituted the 'anno aetatis xlvi. for lxiv. or
lxvi., and then adapted the year of birth to the annus Abrahae which
would correspond to this false reading.' Mr. Munro adds, 'Everything
would now run smooth. Lucilius when he went with Scipio to Spain would
be in the prime of manhood, thirty-two or thirty-four years of age.
Soon after that time he would be writing and publishing his earliest
Books, xxvi.-xxix., and then xxx. Some of these at all events would
be published before the death of Scipio, when the poet would
be thirty-seven or thirty-nine[8].' It may be added against the
supposition that Lucilius was born in the year 180 B.C., that, in that
case, we should have expected to have found in his numerous fragments
allusions to events even earlier than the Censorship of P. Cornelius
Lupus or the wars with Viriathus. Moreover the notices of his relation
to Scipio and Laelius, as in the 'discincti ludere' of Horace, and in
the story told by the Scholiast on that passage, of Laelius coming on
them, when the poet was chasing Scipio round the table with a napkin,
seem to indicate the familiar footing of a much younger to older men.
His birth-place was Suessa Aurunca in Campania. Juvenal calls him
'Auruncae magnus alumnus.' He belonged to the equestrian order, a fact
indicated in the passage in which Horace speaks of himself as 'infra
Lucili censum.' The Scholiast on that passage mentions that he was on
the mother's side grand-uncle to Pompey--a relationship confirmed by a
passage in Velleius, who mentions that the mother of Pompey was named
Lucilia.
His satires were written in thirty Books. The remaining fragments
amount to about 1100 lines. Most of these are single lines, preserved
by grammarians as illustrative of the use of words. The amount and
variety of these, if they had no other value, would at least be
suggestive of the industry with which grammatical and philological
research into their own language was carried on by Roman writers.
Some fragments are found in ancient commentaries on the Satires and
Epistles of Horace. The longer passages are quoted by Cicero, Gellius,
Lactantius, and others. The Books from i. to xx. were written in
hexameters; Book xxii., apparently, in elegiacs, a metre which had
hitherto been employed only in short epigrams. Of the intervening
Books between xxii. and xxvi. there remains only one line[9].
Books xxvi. and xxix., from which a large number of lines have been
preserved, were written in trochaics and iambics. The last Book (xxx.)
was written in hexameters. From the fact that the trochaic and iambic
metres had been chiefly employed by the older writers of saturae, it
seems probable that Lucilius made his first attempts in these metres,
that he afterwards adopted the hexameter, and that in one or two of
his latest books he attempted to write continuously in elegiacs. The
allusions in Book xxvi. to the Spanish wars and to the 'exploits of
Cornelius,' and the statement of his reasons for coming forward as an
author, render it not improbable that this Book was the earliest
in order of composition. It was in this Book that he appeared most
conspicuously as the censor and critic of the older writers, a
position not unlikely to have been assumed, at the very outset of his
career, by one who claimed to initiate a change in Roman literature.
The first impression produced by reading these fragments, as they have
been arranged by Mueller or Lachmann, is one of extreme desultoriness
and discursiveness of treatment. The words applied by Horace to
Lucilius,--
Garrulus atque piger scribendi ferre laborem,
characterise not his style only but his whole mode of composition.
Subjects most widely removed from one another seem to have been
introduced into the same book. We have no means of determining whether
the separate books consisted of one or several miscellaneous pieces.
He seems to start off on some new chase on the slightest suggestion,
verbal or otherwise, as in the opening of Book v.--
Quo me habeam pacto, tametsi non quaeri', docebo,
Quando in eo numero mansti, quo in maxima nunc est
Pars hominum,
Ut periise velis quem visere nolueris, cum
Debueris. Hoc nolueris et debueris te
Si minu' delectat, quod [Greek: technion] Isocratium est,
[Greek: Lerodes]que simul totum ac [Greek: symmeirakiodes],
Non operam perdo[10].
We cannot accordingly expect to trace in them anything of the unity of
purpose, the formal discourse and illustration of a set topic, which
characterise the Satires of Persius and Juvenal, nor yet, of the
apparently artless, but carefully meditated ease with which Horace,
in his Satires, reproduces the manner of cultivated conversation.
Lucilius adopts many modes of bringing himself into relations with
his reader. Sometimes he speaks of himself by name, and appears to be
communing with himself on his own fortunes or feelings. Sometimes he
carries on a controversy in the form of dialogue; at other times he
addresses the reader directly; or again, he puts a discourse in the
mouth of another, as that on the luxury of the table in the mouth of
Laelius. He makes frequent use of the epistolary form--a form which
in prose and verse became one of the happiest products of Roman
literature. He employs fables, quotations, and parodies, to illustrate
his subject. He gives a narrative of his travels, and describes scenes
and incidents at which he was present, such as a fight between two
gladiators, a rustic feast, and a storm which he encountered in his
voyage to Sicily. In other places he plays the part of a moralist,
and discourses to a friend on the nature of virtue. More frequently he
takes on himself the special office of a censor, and assails the vices
of the day by direct denunciation and living examples. In other places
he appears as a literary critic and a dictator on questions of grammar
and orthography.
In Book i., dedicated to Aelius Stilo the grammarian, a council of
the gods was introduced, debating how the Roman State was still to be
preserved; and some of the most notorious men of the time were exposed
by name to public reprobation. Book iii. contained an account of
the author's journey from Rome to the Sicilian Strait, and has been
imitated by Horace in his journey to Brundisium. From the line--
Mantica cantheri costas gravitate premebat[11]--
it appears that some part of the journey was made on horseback, but
other lines[12] show that the latter part was made by water, and that
a severe storm was encountered on the voyage. In Book iv., imitated by
Horace (Sat. ii. 2), and by Persius in his third satire, was included
the discourse of Laelius against gluttony. In this book mention was
made of the sturgeon which gained notoriety for Gallonius[13]. Book v.
contained a letter to a friend of the poet, who had neglected to visit
him when ill. Book ix. was composed of a dissertation on questions of
grammar, orthography, and criticism. Book xi. treated of the wars in
Spain and Transalpine Gaul, and contained criticisms and anecdotes of
various public men. Book xvi. was named 'Collyra,' in honour of the
poet's mistress. In other books the castigation of particular vices
formed a prominent topic, and some of the latest (probably the
earliest in the order of composition), were largely filled with
personal explanations and with criticisms of the older poets. But the
desultory, discursive, self-communing character seems to have been
common to all of them; and it would be contrary to our evidence
to speak of any single book as composed on a definite plan, or as
treating of a special topic.
The fragments however, when read collectively, bring out the main
sources of interest which the Romans found in the writings of
Lucilius; first, the interest of a self-portraiture and close personal
relation established with the reader[14]: second, the interest of a
censorious criticism on politics, morals, and literature[15].
Among the personal indications of the author we note the great freedom
and independence of his life and character. In his mode of expressing
this freedom and independence he reminds us of Horace, who seems to
have imitated him in his view of life as well as in his writings.
Thus, Lucilius declares his indifference to public employment, and
his unwillingness to change his own position for the business of the
Publicani of Asia, just as Horace declares that he would not exchange
his leisure for all the wealth of Arabia[16]. Like Horace, he speaks
of the joy of escaping from the storms of life into a quiet haven
of repose[17], or inculcates contentment with one's own lot[18]
and immunity from envy[19], and the superiority of plain living to
luxury[20]. Like Horace, while holding to his independence of life, he
put a high value on friendship, and strove to fulfil its duties[21].
Like him, while condemning excess and weakness, he did not conform
to any austerer standard of morals than that of the world around him.
Like Horace, too, in his later years, he seems to have been
something of a valetudinarian[22], and to have had much of the
self-consciousness which accompanies that condition. On the whole
the impression we get of him is that of an independent, self-reliant
character,--of a man living in strong contact with reality, taking all
the rubs of life cheerfully[23],--enjoying society, travelling[24],
the exercise of his art[25],--a warm friend and partisan, and a bold
and uncompromising enemy,--not professing any austerity of life,
but knowing and following the course which gave his own nature most
satisfaction[26], while, at the same time, upholding a high standard
of public duty and personal honour[27].
This establishment of a personal relation with his readers was one of
the most original elements in the Lucilian satire. He was the first
of Roman, and one of the first among all, writers, who took the public
into his confidence, and gained their ear, without exposing himself to
contempt, by making a frank and unreserved display of his inmost and
most personal thoughts and feelings. Had his works reached us entire,
we should probably have found the same kind of attraction in them,
from the sense of familiar intimacy with a man of interesting
character and intelligence, which we find in the Epistles of Cicero
and the Satires and Epistles of Horace.
His independent social position, and the character of the times in
which he lived, enabled him to perform the office of a political
satirist with more freedom than any other Roman writer. He belonged to
the middle party between the extreme partisans of the aristocracy and
of the democracy, the party of Scipio and Laelius, and that to which
Cicero, in a later age, naturally inclined. He directed his satire
against the corruption, incapacity, and arrogance[28] of the nobles by
whom the wars abroad and affairs at home were mismanaged. His service
under Scipio, and his admiration of his generalship, made him keenly
sensitive to the disgrace incurred by the Roman arms under 'the
limping Hostilius and Manius[29],' and in the war against Viriathus.
Among those assailed by him on political grounds, L. Hostilius
Tubulus, notorious for openly receiving bribes while presiding at a
trial for murder, and C. Papirius Carbo, the friend of Tib. Gracchus
and the suspected murderer of Scipio, were conspicuous. The more
reputable names of Q. Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus and Mucius
Scaevola are also mentioned among the objects of his satire[30].
Personal motives--and especially his devotion to Scipio[31]--may
have stimulated these animosities; but there were instances enough of
incapacity in war, profligacy and extortion in the government of
the provinces, corruption and favouritism in the administration of
justice, of venality and ignorance in the electoral bodies, to justify
the bold exposure by Lucilius of 'the leading men of the State and
of the mass of the people in their tribes.' The personality of his
attacks probably made him many enemies; and thus we hear that he was
assailed by name on the stage, and was unable to obtain redress, while
a writer who had taken a similar liberty with the tragic poet Accius
was condemned. But the honour of a public funeral awarded to him at
his death would indicate that the final verdict of his contemporaries
was that in assuming the censorial function of attaching marks of
infamy against the names of eminent men he was actuated, in the main,
by worthy motives, and had done good service to the State.
The chief social vices which Lucilius attacks are those which reappear
in the pages of the later satirists. They are the two extremes to
which the Roman temperament was most prone, rapacity and meanness
in gaining money, vulgar ostentation and coarse sensuality in using
it[32]. These were opposite results of a sudden influx of wealth among
a people trained through many generations to habits of thrift
and self-restraint, and, through this accumulated vital force,
unaccompanied, as it was, with much capacity for refined enjoyment,
animated by a strong craving for the coarser enjoyments of life. The
intensity and concentrativeness of the Roman temperament also tended
to produce those one-sided types of character, which are the favourite
objects of satiric portraiture. The parasites and spendthrifts, the
misers and money-makers of Horace's Satires and Epistles, Maenius
and Avidienus for instance, are among the most strongly marked of his
personal sketches. Lucilius witnessed the same tendencies in his time
and exposed them with greater freedom. The names which are typical of
certain characters in Horace, such as Nomentanus, Pantolabus (probably
a nickname) Maenius and Gallonius, had first been taken by Lucilius
from the streets and dinner-tables of Rome. This indifference to the
claims of personal feeling, in which Lucilius emulates the license of
the old Greek comedy, although sanctioned by the approval of Horace
in a poet of an earlier age, would probably have been forbidden by the
greater urbanity and decorum of the Augustan age.
The excesses of his contemporaries in the way of good living, against
which numerous sumptuary laws (the Lex Fannia and Lex Licinia for
instance), enacted in that age, vainly contended, were largely
satirised by Lucilius. Such passages as these--
O Publi, O gurges Galloni, es homo miser, inquit,
Cenasti in vita numquam bene, quom omnia in ista
Consumis squilla atque acipensere quum decumano.
Hoc fit item in cena, dabis ostrea millibu' nummum
Empta.
Occidunt, Lupe, saperdae te et iura siluri.
Vivite lurcones, comedones, vivite ventres.
Illum sumina ducebant atque altilium lanx
Hunc pontes Tiberinu' duo inter captu' catillo.
Purpureo tersit tunc latas gausape mensas, etc.[33]
show the proportions already assumed by a form of sensuality the
beginnings of which may be traced in Plautus and in the publication of
the Hedyphagetica of Ennius, but of which the final culmination is to
be sought in the ideal of life realised under the Empire, by Apicius,
Vitellius, Elagabalus, and many men of less note.
The other extreme of unceasing activity in getting, and sordid
meanness in hoarding money, and the discontent produced among all
classes by the restless passion to grow rich, which fills so large a
place in the Satires and Epistles of Horace, appears also frequently
in the fragments of Lucilius; as, for instance, in the following:--
Milia dum centum frumenti tolli medimnum,
Vini mille cadum.--
Denique uti stulto nihil est satis, omnia cum sint.--
Rugosi passique senes eadem omnia quaerunt.--
Mordicus petere aurum e flamma expediat, e caeno cibum.--
Aquam te in animo habere intercutem[34].
The following description of a miser seems to have suggested the
beginning of one of Catullus' lampoons[35]:--
Cui neque iumentumst nec servos nec comes ullus,
Bulgam et quidquid habet nummum secum habet ipse,
Cum bulga cenat, dormit, lavit; omnis in unast
Spes homini bulga. Bulga haec devincta lacertost[36].
In other passages he inculcates the lessons of good sense and
moderation in the use of money, or urges, in the person of an
objector, that a man is regarded in proportion to the estimate of his
means. In his enumeration of the various constituents of virtue, one
on which he dwells with emphasis, is the right estimation of the value
of money. In all his thoughts and expressions on this subject it is
easy to see how closely Horace follows on his traces.
The extravagance, airs, and vices of women, are another theme of
his satire. But he deals with these topics rather in the spirit of
raillery adopted by Plautus, than in that of Juvenal. In one fragment
he compares, in terms neither delicate nor complimentary, the
pretensions to beauty of the Roman ladies of his time with those of
the Homeric heroines. In another he contrasts the care which they take
in adorning themselves when expecting the visits of strangers with
their indifference as to their appearance when alone with their
husbands,--
Cum tecum'st, quidvis satis est: visuri alieni
Sint homines, spiras, pallam, redimicula promit[37].
Another fragment--
Homines ipsi hanc sibi molestiam ultro atque aerumnam offerunt,
Ducunt uxores, producunt quibus haec faciant liberos,--
indicates the same repugnance to marriage, which is expressed in a
fragment of contemporary oratory, quoted by A. Gellius: 'If, Quirites,
we could get on at all without wives, we should all keep clear of
that nuisance; but since, in the way of nature, life cannot go on
comfortably with them, nor at all without them, we ought rather
to provide for the continued well-being of the world than for our
temporary comfort.' The dislike to incur the responsibilities of
family life, which appears so conspicuously among the cultivated
classes in the later times of the Republic, was probably, if we are to
judge from the testimony and examples of Lucilius and Horace, as much
the result of the license allowed to men, as of the extravagant habits
or jealous imperiousness of women.
The intellectual, as well as the moral and social peculiarities of
the age were noted by Lucilius. One fragment is directed against the
terrors of superstition, and shows that Lucilius, like all the older
poets, was endowed with that strong secular sense which enabled the
educated Romans, notwithstanding the forms and ceremonies of religion
encompassing every private and public act, to escape, in all their
ordinary relations, from supernatural influences. This passage affords
a fair specimen of the continuous style of the author:--
Terriculas Lamias, Fauni quas Pompiliique
Instituere Numae, tremit has, hic omnia ponit;
Ut pueri infantes credunt signa omnia ahena
Vivere, et esse homines; et sic isti omnia ficta
Vera putant, credunt signis cor inesse in ahenis;
Pergula pictorum, veri nihil, omnia ficta[38].
His attitude to philosophy, like his attitude to superstitious
terrors, was not unlike that of Horace. We find mention in his
fragments of the 'Socratici charti,' of the 'eidola atque atomus
Epicuri' of the four [Greek: stoicheia] of Empedocles, of the 'mutatus
Polemon,' spoken of in Horace (Sat. ii. 3, 253), of Aristippus, and
of Carneades; but his own wisdom was that of the world and not of the
schools. In these lines,--
Paenula, si quaeris, canteriu', servu', segestre,
Utilior mihi, quam sapiens;
and--
Nondum etiam, qui haec omnia habebit,
Formosus, dives, liber, rex solu' feretur,
we find an anticipation of the tones in which Horace satirised the
professors of Stoicism in his own time. The affectation of Greek
manners and tastes is ridiculed in the person of Titus Albutius, in a
passage which Cicero describes as written 'with much grace and pungent
wit'[39]:--
Graecum te, Albuci, quam Romanum atque Sabinum,
Municipem Ponti, Tritanni, Centurionum,
Praeclarorum hominum ac primorum signiferumque,
Maluisti dici. Graece ergo praetor Athenis,
Id quod maluisti, te, cum ad me accedi', saluto:
Chaere, inquam, Tite. Lictores turma omni' cohorsque
Chaere, Tite. Hinc hostis mi, Albucius, hinc inimicus[40].
We learn from Cicero's account of the orators antecedent to, and
contemporary with himself, that this denationalising fastidiousness
was a not uncommon result of the new studies. The practice of Lucilius
of mixing Greek words and phrases with his Latin style might, at first
sight, expose him to a similar criticism. But this mannerism of style,
which is condemned by the good sense of Horace, is merely superficial,
and does not impair the vigorous nationality of the sentiment
expressed by the Roman satirist. Like the similar practice in the
Letters of Cicero, it was probably in accordance with the familiar
conversational style of men powerfully attracted by the interest and
novelty of the new learning, but yet strong enough in their national
self-esteem to adhere to Roman standards in all the greater matters
of action and sentiment. Lucilius seems however to recognise a
deeper mischief than that of mere literary affectation in the general
insincerity of character produced by the rhetorical and sophistical
arts fostered by the new studies, and finding their sphere of action
in the Roman law-courts.
The satire of Lucilius, besides its political, moral, and social
function, assumed the part of a literary critic and censor. The
testimony of Horace on this point,--
Nil comis tragici mutat Lucilius Acci?
Non ridet versus Enni gravitate minores,
Cum de se loquitur non ut maiore reprensis?
confirmed by that of Gellius[41], is amply borne out by extant
fragments. These criticisms formed a large part of the twenty-sixth
book, which Mueller supposes to have been the earliest of the
compositions of Lucilius. Several lines preserved from that book are
either quotations or parodies from the old tragedies[42]. We observe
in these and other quotations the peculiarities of style, noticed in
the two tragic poets, such as their tendencies to alliteration and
the use of asyndeta, the strained word-formations of Pacuvius, and the
occasional inflation of Accius[43]. We trace the influence of these
criticisms in the sneer of Persius,--
Est nunc Briseis quem venosus liber Acci,
Sunt quos Pacuviusque et verrucosa moretur
Antiopa, aerummis cor luctificabile fulta.
The antagonism displayed by Lucilius to the more ambitious style
of the tragic and epic poets was perhaps as much due to his
own deficiency in poetical imagination, as to his keen critical
discernment, the 'stili nasus' or 'emunctae nares' attributed to him
by Pliny and Horace.
The criticism of Lucilius was not only aggressive, but also directly
didactic. In the ninth book he discussed, at considerable length,
disputed questions of orthography; and a passage is quoted from the
same book, in which a distinction is drawn out between 'poema' and
'poesis.' Under the first he ranks--
Epigrammation, vel
Distichum, epistula item quaevis non magna;
under the second, whole poems, such as the Iliad, or the Annals of
Ennius. The only interest attaching to these fragments is that, like
the didactic works of Accius, they testify to the crude critical
effort that accompanied the creative activity of the earlier Roman
poets.
As specimens of his continuous style the two following passages may
be given. The first exemplifies the serious moral spirit with which
ancient satire was animated; the second vividly represents and rebukes
one of the most prevalent pursuits of the age--
Virtus, Albine, est pretium persolvere verum,
Queis in versamur, queis vivimu' rebu', potesse:
Virtus est hominis, scire id quod quaeque habeat res.
Virtus scire homini rectum, utile, quid sit honestum;
Quae bona, quae mala item, quid inutile, turpe, inhonestum;
Virtus quaerendae rei finem scire modumque:
Virtus divitiis pretium persolvere posse:
Virtus id dare quod re ipsa debetur honori:
Hostem esse atque inimicum hominum morumque malorum,
Contra defensorem hominum morumque bonorum,
Hos magnifacere, his bene velle, his vivere amicum;
Commoda praeterea patriae sibi prima putare,
Deinde parentum, tertia jam postremaque nostra[44].
If there is no great originality of thought nor rhetorical grace
of expression in this passage, it proves that Lucilius judged of
questions of right and wrong from his own point of view. To him, as
to Ennius, common sense and a just estimate of life were large
ingredients in virtue. To be a good hater as well as a staunch friend,
and to choose one's friends and enemies according to their characters,
is another quality of his virtuous man. With him, as with the best
Romans of every age, love of country, family, and friends, were the
primary motives to right action. The next passage, written in language
equally plain and forcible, gives a graphic picture of the growing
taste for forensic oratory--
Nunc vero a mane ad noctem, festo atque profesto,
Toto itidem pariterque die, populusque patresque
Iactare indu foro se omnes, decedere nusquam,
Uni se atque eidem studio omnes dedere et arti,
Verba dare ut caute possint, pugnare dolose,
Blanditia certare, bonum simulare virum se
Insidias facere, ut si hostes sint omnibus omnes[45].
These passages are probably not unfavourable specimens of the author's
continuous style. At its best that style appears to be sincere,
serious, rapid, and full of vital force, but careless, redundant,
and devoid of all rhetorical point and subtle suggestiveness. Even to
these passages the censure of Horace applies,--
At dixi fluere hunc lutulentum.
If we regard these passages as on the ordinary level of his style we
cannot hesitate to recognise his immense inferiority to Terence
in elegance and finish[46], and to Plautus in rich and humorous
exuberance of expression. There is scarcely a trace of imaginative
power, or of susceptibility to the grandeur and pathos of human life,
or to the beauty and sublimity of Nature in the thousand lines of his
remains. We find a few vivid touches, as in this half-line--
Terra abit in nimbos imbresque,
but we fail to recognise not only the 'disjecti membra poetae,' but
even the elements of the rhetorician, or of the ironical humourist--
Parcentis viribus atque
Extenuantis eas consulto.
Thus it is difficult to understand what Cicero means when he speaks
of the 'Romani veteres atque urbani sales' as being 'salsiores' than
those of the true masters of Attic wit, such as were Aristophanes,
Plato, and Menander.
But these passages are simple, direct, and clear, compared with many
of the single lines or longer passages, already quoted in illustration
of the substance of his satire. These leave an impression not only of
a total want of the 'limae labor,' but of an abnormal harshness and
difficulty, beyond what we find in the fragments of Pacuvius, Accius,
or Ennius. The fragments of his trochaics and iambics are much
simpler, 'much less depart from the natural order of the words,' than
those of his hexameters: a fact which reminds us of the great
advance made by Horace in adapting the heroic measure to the familiar
experience of life. Lucilius is moreover a great offender against not
only the graces but the decencies of language. Lines are found in his
fragments as coarse as the coarsest in Catullus or Juvenal: nor could
he urge the extenuating plea of having forgotten the respect due to
his readers from the necessity of relieving his wounded feelings or of
vindicating morality.
Yet it is undoubted that, notwithstanding the most glaring faults and
defects in form and style, he was one of the most popular among the
Roman poets. The testimony of Cicero, Persius, Juvenal, Quintilian,
Tacitus, and Gellius, confirms on this point the more ample testimony
of Horace. If, as Mr. Munro thinks, Horace may have expressed, in
deference to the prevailing taste of his time, a less qualified
admiration for him than he really felt, this only shows how strong a
hold his writings had over the reading public in the Augustan age. But
Horace shows by no means the same deference to the admirers of Plautus
and Ennius. To Lucilius he pays also the sincerer tribute of
frequent imitation. He made him his model, in regard both to form
and substance, in his satires; and even in his epistles he still
acknowledges the guidance of his earliest master. In reading both the
Satires and Epistles we are continually coming upon the vestiges of
Lucilius, in some turn of expression, some personal or illustrative
allusion. Similar vestiges are found, imbedded in the harsh and jagged
diction of Persius, and though not to the same extent, in the polished
rhetoric of Juvenal. Nor was his literary influence confined to Roman
satirists. Lucretius, Catullus, and even Virgil, have not disdained to
adopt his thoughts or imitate his manner[47].
But if we cannot altogether account for, we may yet partially
understand the admiration which his countrymen felt for Lucilius. In
every great literature, while there are some works which appeal to
the imagination of the whole world, there are others which seem to hit
some particular mood of the nation to which their author belongs,
and are all the more valued from the prominence they give to this
idiosyncracy. Every nation which has had a literature seems to have
valued itself on some peculiar humour or vein of observation and
feeling, which it regards as specially allotted to itself, over and
above its common inheritance of the sense of the ludicrous, which it
shares with other races. Those writers who have this last in unusual
measure become the favourite humourists of the world. But their own
countrymen often prefer those endowed with the narrower domestic type;
and of this type Lucilius seems to have been a true representative.
The 'antiqua et vernacula festivitas,' attributed to him, seems to
have been more combative and aggressive than genial and sympathetic.
The 'Italum acetum' was employed by the Romans as a weapon of
controversy with the view of damaging an adversary and making
either himself or the cause he represented appear ridiculous and
contemptible. The dictum of a modern humourist, that to laugh at a
man properly you must first love him, would have seemed to an ancient
Roman a contradiction in terms. When Horace writes--
Ridiculum acri
Fortius et melius magnas plerumque secat res,
he means that men are more likely to be made better by the fear of
contempt than of moral reprobation.
But Lucilius had much more than this power of personal raillery,
exercised with the force supplied and under the restraints imposed by
an energetic social and political life. He is spoken of not only
as 'comis et urbanus,' but also as 'doctus' and 'sapiens.' Even his
fragments indicate that he was a man of large knowledge of 'books and
men.' Horace testifies to the use which he made of the old comic poets
of Athens:--
Hinc omnis pendet Lucilius, hosce secutus.
His fragments show familiarity with Homer, with the works of the
Greek physical and ethical philosophers, with the systems of the
rhetoricians, and some acquaintance with the writings of Plato,
Archilochus, Euripides, and Aesop. His habit of building up his Latin
lines with the help of Greek phrases illustrates the first powerful
influence of the new learning before the Roman mind was able
thoroughly to assimilate it, but when it was in the highest degree
stimulated and fascinated by it. The mind of Lucilius was susceptible
to the novelty of the new thoughts and new impressions, but like that
of his contemporaries was insensible to the grace and symmetry of
Greek art. Terence is the only writer in the ante-Ciceronian period
who had the sense of artistic form. But all this foreign learning was,
in the mind of Lucilius, subsidiary to the freshest observation and
most discerning criticism of his own age. He was a spectator of life
more than an actor in it, but he yet had been present at one of the
most important military events of the time, and he had lived in the
closest intimacy with the greatest soldier and most prudent statesman
of his age. His satire had thus none of the limitation and unreality
which attaches to the work of a student and recluse, such as Persius
was. To the writings of Lucilius more perhaps than to those of any
other Roman would the words of Martial apply--
Hominem pagina nostra sapit.
It is his strong realistic tendency both in expression and thought
that seems to explain his antagonism to the older poets who treated
of Greek heroes and heroines in language widely removed from that
employed either in the forum or in the social meetings of educated
men. The popularity of Lucilius among the Romans may thus be explained
on much the same grounds as that of Archilochus among the Greeks. He
first introduced the literature of the understanding as distinct from
that either of the graver emotions or of humorous and sentimental
representation. And, while writing with the breadth of view and wealth
of illustration derived from learning, he did not, like the poets of
later times, write for an exclusive circle of critical readers,
but rather, as he himself said, 'for Tarentines, Consentini, and
Sicilians[48].' There was nothing about him of the fastidiousness and
shyness of a too refined culture. Every line almost of his fragments
attests his possession of that quality which, more than any other,
secures a wide, if not always a lasting, popularity, great vitality
and its natural accompaniment, boldness and confidence of spirit.
While he saw clearly, felt keenly, and judged wisely the political
and social action of his time, he reproduced it vividly in his pages.
Whatever other quality his style may want, it is always alive. And
the life with which it is animated is thoroughly healthy. There is a
singular sincerity in the ring of his words, the earnest of a mind,
absolutely free from cant and pretence, not lashing itself into fierce
indignation as a stimulant to rhetorical effect, nor forcing itself to
conform to any impracticable scheme of life, but glowing with a hearty
scorn for baseness, and never shrinking from its exposure in whatever
rank and under whatever disguise he detected it[49], and ever
courageously 'upholding the cause of virtue and of those who were on
the side of virtue'--
Scilicet uni aequus virtuti atque eius amicis.
It was by the rectitude and manliness of his character, as much as by
his learning, his quick and true discernment, his keen raillery
and vivid portraiture, that he became the favourite of his time and
country, and, alone among Roman writers, succeeded in introducing a
new form of literature into the world.
[Footnote 1: Bernhardy quotes the following words from Cicero,
de Rep. iv. ap. Augustin. C. D. ii. 9:--
Etsi eiusmodi cives (scil. Cleonem, Cleophontem, Hyperbolum)
a censore melius est, quam a poeta notari ... iudiciis enim
magistratuum, disceptationibus legitimis propositam vitam, non
poetarum ingeniis habere debemus; nec probrum audire nisi ea
lege ut respondere liceat et iudicio defendere.]
[Footnote 2: 'You know not, ah you know not the airs of
Imperial Rome: believe me the people of Mars is too critical:
nowhere are there greater sneers; young men and old and even
boys have the nose of a rhinoceros.']
[Footnote 3: Vell. Paterc. ii. 9. The service of Lucilius in
Spain seems to be confirmed by a line in one of his Satires:--
Publiu' Pavu' mihi [ ] quaestor Hibera
In terra fuit, lucifugus, nebulo, id genu' sane.]
[Footnote 4: Hor. Sat. ii. I. 71-5.]
[Footnote 5: Cf. L. Mueller's edition of the Fragments.]
[Footnote 6:
Quo facetior videare et scire plus quam caeteri
Pertisum hominem, non pertaesum dices.
The comment of Festus shows that these words were addressed by
Lucilius to Scipio.]
[Footnote 7: Cic. de Fin. i. 3.]
[Footnote 8: Journal of Philology, vol. viii. 16.]
[Footnote 9:
Iucundasque puer qui lamberat ore placentas.
One of many lines imitated and almost reproduced by Horace.]
[Footnote 10: 'I will tell you how I am, though you don't ask
me, since you are of the fashion of most men now, and would
rather that the man whom you did not choose to visit, when
you ought, had died. If you don't like this "nolueris"
and "debueris," because it is the trick of Isocrates, and
altogether nonsensical and puerile, I don't waste my time on
the matter.' This passage illustrates two characteristics of
Lucilius--his habit of mixing Greek with Latin words, and the
attention he bestowed on technical rules of style.]
[Footnote 11: Imitated by Horace in the lines:--
Nunc mihi curto
Ire licet mulo, vel, si libet, usque Tarentum,
Mantica cui lumbos onere ulceret, atque eques armos.]
[Footnote 12:
Promontorium remis superamu' Minervae.--
Hinc media remis Palinurum pervenio nox.--
Tertius hic mali superat decumanis fluctibus--carchesia summa.]
[Footnote 13: Hor. Sat. ii. 2. 46:--
Haud ita pridem
Galloni praeconis erat acipensere mensa
Infamis.]
[Footnote 14:
Quo fit ut omnis
Votiva pateat veluti descripta tabella
Vita senis.]
[Footnote 15:
Secuit Lucilius urbem--
Primores populi arripuit populumque tributim--
Non ridet versus Enni gravitate minores--?]
[Footnote 16:
Mihi quidem non persuadetur publiceis mutem meos.
Publicanu' vero ut Asiae fiam scriptuarius
Pro Lucilio, id ego nolo, et uno hoc non muto omnia.
Cf. Hor. Ep. i. 7. 36:--
Nec
Otia divitiis Arabum liberrima muto.]
[Footnote 17:
Quodque te in tranquillum ex saevis transfers tempestatibus.]
[Footnote 18:
Nam si quod satis est homini, id satis esse potisset,
Hoc sat erat; nam cum hoc non est, qui credimu' porro
Divitias ullas animum mi explere potisse.]
[Footnote 19:
Nulli me invidere: non strabonem fieri saepius
Deliciis me istorum.]
[Footnote 20:
O lapathe, ut iactare nec es sati cognitu' qui sis--
Quod sumptum atque epulas victu praeponis honesto.]
[Footnote 21:
Munifici comesque amicis nostris videamur viri--
Sic amici quaerunt animum, rem parasiti ac ditias.
Among the friends of Lucilius, besides Scipio and Laelius,
were Aelius Stilo, Albinus, and Granius, whom Cicero quotes
for his wit.]
[Footnote 22:
Querquera consequitur capitisque dolores
Infesti mihi.--
Si tam corpu' loco validum ac regione maneret.
Scriptoris quam vera manet sententia cordi.]
[Footnote 23:
Verum haec ludus ibi susque omnia deque fuerunt,
Susque et deque fuere, inquam, omnia ludu' iocusque.]
[Footnote 24:
Et saepe quod ante
Optasti, freta Messanae, Regina videbis
Moenia.]
[Footnote 25:
Quantum haurire animus Musarum ec fontibu' gestit.]
[Footnote 26:
Cum sciam nil esse in vita proprium mortali datum
Iam qua tempestate vivo chresin ad me recipio.
Cf. Vitaque mancipio nulli datur, omnibus usu.]
[Footnote 27: Cf. Virtus, Albine, etc. Infra, p. 240.]
[Footnote 28:
Peccare impune rati sunt
Posse et nobilitate procul propellere iniquos.]
[Footnote 29:
Hostiliu' contra
Pestem permitiemque catax quam et Maniu' nobis.]
[Footnote 30: Cf. Cic. De Or. 1. 16: Sed ut solebat C.
Lucilius saepe dicere, homo tibi (i.e. Scaevolae) subiratus,
mihi propter eam causam minus quam volebat familiaris, sed
tamen et doctus et perurbanus.
Hor. Sat. ii. 1. 67:--
Aut laeso doluere Metello
Famosisque Lupo cooperto versibus?
Pers. i. 115:--
Secuit Lucilius urbem,
Te Lupe, te Muci, et genuinum fregit in illis.]
[Footnote 31: Fuit autem inter P. Africanum et Q. Metellum
sine acerbitate dissensio.]
[Footnote 32: Cf. Diversisque duobus vitiis, avaritia et
luxuria civitatem laborare.--Livy, xxxiv. 4.]
[Footnote 33: 'O Publius Gallonius, thou whirlpool of excess;
thou art a miserable man, says he; never in thy life hast thou
supped well, since thou spendest all thy substance in that
lobster of thine and that monstrous sturgeon.'
'This too is the case at dinner, you will give oysters, bought
at a thousand sesterces.'
'Sardines and fish-sauce are your death, O Lupus.'
'Long live, ye gluttons, gourmands, belly-gods.'
'One was attracted by sow-teats and a dish of fatted fowls;
another by a gourmandising pike caught between the two
bridges.'
'Then he wiped the ample table with a purple cloth.'
The two last passages are reproduced by Horace in the lines:--
Unde datum sentis, lupus hic Tiberinus, an alto
Captus hiet, pontesne inter iactatus, an amnis
Ostia sub Tusci?--Sat. ii. 2. 31.
And
Gausape purpureo mensam pertersit.--Ib. ii. 8. 11.]
[Footnote 34: Cf.
Crescit indulgens sibi dirus hydrops, etc.]
[Footnote 35:
Furei cui neque servus est neque arca, etc.]
[Footnote 36: 'Who has neither beast, nor slave, nor
attendant; he carries about him his purse and all his money;
with his purse he sleeps, dines, bathes--his whole hopes
centre in his purse; this purse is fastened to his arm.']
[Footnote 37: Cp. the speech of Cato (Livy, xxxiv. 4) in
support of the Oppian law: 'An blandiores in publico quam in
privato, et alienis quam vestris estis?']
[Footnote 38: 'These bugbears and goblins from the days of
the Fauni and Numa Pompilius fill him with terror; he believes
anything of them. As children suppose that statues of brass
are real and living men, so they fancy all these delusions to
be real: they believe that there is understanding in brazen
images: mere painter's blocks, no reality, all a delusion.'
Cf. Horace, Ep. ii. 2. 208:--
Somnia, terrores magicos, miracula, sagas,
Nocturnos lemures portentaque Thessala rides?]
[Footnote 39: De Fin. i. 3.]
[Footnote 40: 'You preferred, Albucius, to be called a Greek,
rather than a Roman or Sabine, a fellow-countryman of the
Centurions, Pontius, Tritannius, excellent, first-rate men,
and our standard-bearers. Accordingly, I, as praetor of
Athens, when you approach me, greet you, as you wished to be
greeted. "Chaere," I say, Titus; my lictors, escort, staff,
address you with "Chaere." Hence you are to me a public and
private enemy.']
[Footnote 41: Et Pacuvius, et Pacuvio iam sene Accius,
clariorque tunc in poematis corum obtrectandis Lucilius fuit.]
[Footnote 42: E.g.
Ego enim contemnificus fieri et fastidire Agamemnona.--
Di monerint meliora, amentiam averruncassint tuam.--
Hic cruciatur fame,
Frigore, inluvie, inperfundie, inbalnite, incuria.--
Nunc ignobilitas his mirum, taetrum, ac monstrificabile--
Dividant, differant, dissipent, distrahant.]
[Footnote 43: In the same spirit is the following line:--
Verum tristis contorto aliquo ex Pacuviano exordio.
And this from another book of Satires:--
Ransuro tragicus qui carmina perdit Oreste.
Among the phrases of Ennius at which Lucilius carped was one
which Virgil did not disdain to adopt. The passage of the old
poet,--
Hastis longis campus splendet et horret,--
parodied by the Satirist in the form 'horret et alget,' was
justified by being reproduced in the Virgilian phrase,
Tum late ferreus hastis
Horret ager.]
[Footnote 44: 'Virtue, Albinus, consists in being able to give
their true worth to the things on which we are engaged, among
which we live. The virtue of a man is to understand the real
meaning of each thing: to understand what is right, useful,
honourable for him; what things are good, what bad, what is
unprofitable, base, dishonourable; to know the due limit and
measure in making money; to give its proper worth to wealth;
to assign what is really due to office; to be a foe and enemy
of bad men and bad principles; to stand by good men and good
principles; to extol the good, to wish them well, to be their
friend through life. Lastly, it is true worth to look on our
country's weal as the chief good; next to that, the weal of
our parents; third and last, our own weal.']
[Footnote 45: 'But now from morning till night, on holiday and
work-day, the whole day alike, common people and senators
are bustling about within the Forum, never quitting it--all
devoting themselves to the same practice and trick of wary
word-fencing, fighting craftily, vying with each other in
politeness, assuming airs of virtue, plotting against each
other as if all were enemies.']
[Footnote 46: Cp. Mr. Monro's criticism in the Journal of
Philology.]
[Footnote 47: Passages of Lucilius apparently imitated by
Lucretius:--
(1) Quantum haurire animus Musarum ec fontibu' gestit.
(2) Cum sciam nil esse in vita proprium mortali datum
Iam qua tempestate vivo, chresin ad me recipio.
(3) Ut pueri infantes credunt signa omnia ahena
Vivere et esse homines, sic istic omnia ficta
Vera putant.
Virgil's 'rex ipse Phanaeus' is said by Servius to be imitated
from the [Greek: Chios te dynastes] of Lucilius. Other
imitations are pointed out in Macrobius and in Servius. An
apparent imitation by Catullus has been already noticed.]
[Footnote 48: Cic. De Fin. i. 3.]
[Footnote 49:
Detrahere et pellem nitidus qua quisque per ora
cederet, introrsum turpis.]