Now he says himself that he scarcely
produced
one book in a year, (x.
Satires
lx.
, 5, "Sed quos arcanæ servant tabulata Catastæ.
" Plin.
, H.
N.
,
xxxv. , 17. Tib. , II. , iii. , 59, "Regnum ipse tenet quem sæpe coëgit
Barbara gypsatos ferre catasta pedes. " Persius recommends his miserly
friend to condescend to any low trade, even that of a slave-dealer,
to get money. Cappadocia was a great emporium for slaves. Cic. , Post.
Red. , "Cappadocem modo abreptum de grege venalium diceres. " Hor. ,
i. , Ep. vi. , 39, "Mancipiis locuples eget æris Cappadocum rex. " The
royal property, consisting chiefly in slaves, was kept in different
fortresses throughout the country. The whole nation might be said to be
addicted to servitude; for when they were offered a free constitution
by the Romans, they declined the favor, and preferred receiving a
master from the hand of their allies. Strabo, xii. , p. 540. After the
conquest of Pontus, Rome and Italy were filled with Cappadocian slaves,
many of whom were excellent bakers and confectioners. Vid. Plutarch v.
Lucullus. Athen. , i, p. 20; iii. , 112, 3. Cramer, Asia Minor, ii. , p.
121. Mart. , vi. , Ep. lxvii. , 4.
[1545] _Depunge. _ A metaphor from the graduated arm of the steelyard.
Cf. v. , 100, "Certo compescere puncto nescius examen. " The end of the
fourteenth Satire of Juvenal, and of the fifteenth Epistle of Seneca,
may be compared with the conclusion of this Satire. "Congeratur in te
quidquid multi locupletes possederunt: Ultra privatum pecuniæ modum
fortuna te provehat, auro tegat, purpurâ vestiat, . . . majora cupere
ab his disces. Naturalia desideria finita sunt: ex falsâ opinione
nascentia ubi desinant non habent. Nullus enim terminus falso est. "
Sen. , Ep. xvi. , 7, 8; xxxix. , 5; ii. , 5.
[1546] _Chrysippi. _ This refers to the σωρειτικὴ ἀπορία of the Stoics,
of which Chrysippus, the disciple of Zeno or Cleanthes, was said to
have been the inventor. The Sorites consisted of an indefinite number
of syllogisms, according to Chrysippus; to attempt to limit which,
or to bound the insatiable desires of the miser, would be equally
impossible. It takes its name from σῶρος, acerbus, "a heap:" "he that
could assign this limit, could also affirm with precision how many
grains of corn just make a _heap_; so that were but one grain taken
away, the remainder would be _no heap_. " Cf. Cic. , Ac. Qu. , II. ,
xxviii. Diog. Laert. , VII. , vii. Hor. , i. , Ep. ii. , 4. Juv. , ii. , 5;
xiii. , 184. Of the seven hundred and fifty books said to have been
written by Chrysippus, and enumerated by Diogenes Laertius, not one
fragment remains. His logic was so highly thought of, that it was
said "that, had the gods used logic, they would have used that of
Chrysippus. "
SULPICIA.
INTRODUCTION.
The occasion of the following Satire is generally known as "the
expulsion of the philosophers from Rome by Domitian. " As the same thing
took place under Vespasian also, it becomes worth while to inquire who
are the persons intended to be included under this designation; and in
what manner the fears of the two emperors could be so worked upon as
to pass a sweeping sentence of banishment against persons apparently
so helpless and so little formidable as the peaceful cultivators
of philosophy. It seems not improbable then that the fears both of
Vespasian and Domitian were of a _personal_ as well as of a political
nature. We find that in both cases the "Mathematici" are coupled
with the "Philosophi. " Now these persons were no more nor less than
pretenders to the science of judicial astrology «cf. Juv. , iii. , 43;
vi. , 562; xiv. , 248; Suet. , Cal. , 57; Tit. , 9; Otho, 4; Gell. , i. ,
9»; and to what an extent those who were believed to possess this
knowledge were dreaded in those days of gross superstition, may be
easily inferred by merely looking into Juvenal's sixth and Persius'
fifth Satire. Besides the baleful effects of incantations, which were
sources of terror even in Horace's days, the mere possession by another
of the nativity of a person whose death might be an object of desire to
the bearer, was supposed, at the time of which we are now speaking, to
be a sufficient ground of serious alarm. We are not surprised therefore
to find it recorded as an instance of great generosity on the part of
Vespasian, that on one occasion he pardoned one Metius Pomposianus,
although he was informed that he had in his possession a "Genesis
Imperatoria;" or that the possession of a similar document with regard
to Domitian cost the owner his life. (Cf. Suet. , Vesp. , 14; Domit. ,
10. ) With regard to the philosophers, it appears that the followers
of the Stoic school were those against whom the edict was especially
directed. Not only did the tenets of this school inculcate that
independence of thought and manners most directly at variance with the
servility and submissiveness inseparable from a state of thraldom under
a despot; but the cultivation of this branch of philosophy was held to
be nothing more than a specious cover for an attachment to the freedom
of speech and action enjoyed under the republican form of government:
and philosophy was accounted only another name for revolution and
rebellion. [1547]
The story told of Demetrius the Cynic, in Dio (lxvi. , 13), and
confirmed by Suetonius (Vesp. , c. 13), illustrates this view of the
subject. (Cf. Tac. , Hist. , iv. , 40. ) It appears to have been at the
suggestion of Mucianus,[1548] that all philosophers, but especially
the Stoics, were banished from Rome; and that the celebrated Musonius
Rufus was the only one who was suffered to remain. This took place A. D.
74. Sixteen years after this we find a decree of the senate passed to
a similar effect. Now, as philosophy may be studied equally well any
where, there seems no reason why, if it were not in some way connected
with their _political_ creed, all these votaries of Stoicism should in
the interim have taken up their abode at Rome. And though, no doubt,
the unoffending may have suffered with the guilty, the history of the
edict seems pretty plainly to show what _particular doctrines_ of their
philosophy were so obnoxious to Domitian. Suetonius, Tacitus, and Dio
all agree in the cause assigned for the sentence: viz. , that Julius
Arulenus Rusticus and Herennius Senecio had been enthusiastic in their
praises of Thrasea Pætus and Helvidius Priscus; and that _therefore_
"all philosophers were removed from Rome. " ("Cujus criminis occasione
philosophos omnes Urbe Italiâque submovit. " Suet. , Domit. , 10. Cf.
Tac. , Agric, 2; Dio, lxvii. , 13. ) But it was for their undisguised
hatred of tyrants, and for no dogma of the schools, that the former of
these was put to death by Nero, and the latter by Vespasian. Both of
them, as we know, celebrated with no ordinary festivities the birthdays
of the Bruti (Juv. , v. , 36); and Helvidius, even while prætor, went
so far as to omit all titles of honor or distinction before the name
of Vespasian. (Suet. , Vesp. , 15. ) We must not therefore fall into the
common error of supposing this "banishment of philosophers" to have
been a mere act of wanton, senseless tyranny, or of brutal ignorance.
Even by his enemies' showing, the opening scenes of Domitian's
life[1549] are at direct variance with such an idea. (Cf. ad Juv. ,
vii. , 1. ) And though we regret to find that men like Epictetus and Dio
of Prusa were included in the disastrous sentence, it is some relief to
learn that Pliny the younger, though living at the time in the house
of the philosopher Artemidorus, and the intimate friend of Senecio
and six or seven others of the banished, to whom he supplied money (a
fact which, as he himself hints, could not but have been known to the
emperor, as Pliny was prætor at the time), yet escaped unscathed. (Cf.
Plin. , iii. , Ep. XI. , vii. , 19; Gell. , xv. , 11. )
How far Sulpicia was connected with this movement, or whether she was
involved in the same sentence which overwhelmed the others, we have now
no means of ascertaining. It is quite clear that all her sympathies
were with the Greeks; and the passage concerning Scipio and Cato (1.
45-50) leaves little doubt that her philosophical opinions were those
of the Stoics. She rivals Juvenal in her thorough hatred of Domitian;
which may, perhaps, be partly also attributed to family reasons. For
we must remember that she belonged to the gens which produced Servius
Sulpicius Galba; and, as we have noticed on many occasions with regard
to Juvenal, an attachment to that emperor seems to go hand in hand with
hatred of Otho and Domitian. From the conclusion of the Satire, it is
probable that her husband was not implicated.
The Sulpician gens produced many distinguished men; of whom we may
mention the commissioner sent to Greece, and the conquerors of the
Samnites, of Sardinia, and of Pyrrhus, besides the notorious friend
of Marius. Of this illustrious stock she was no unworthy scion.
Martial[1550] bears the strongest testimony to the purity of her morals
and the chastity of her life, as well as to her devoted conjugal
affection; which latter virtue she illustrated in a poem replete with
the most lively, delicate, and virtuous sentiments; and which, had
not the licentiousness of the age been beyond such a cure, might have
produced a deep moral effect on the peculiar vices which especially
disgraced the era of the Cæsars. Her husband's name was Calenus, who
not improbably belonged to the Fufian gens,[1551] and with him she
enjoyed fifteen years of the purest domestic felicity, as we learn from
the Epigram addressed to him by Martial, in which, not without a tinge
of envy, he congratulates Calenus on the possession of so inestimable a
treasure. Both Epigrams are exceedingly beautiful, and every reader of
Martial will be only too ready to say, "O si sic omnia. " Of her other
works we unfortunately do not possess a single fragment;[1552] and even
the solitary Satire which bears her name, was at one time, as Scaliger
tells us, falsely attributed to Ausonius.
Very much of the Satire is corrupt. Wernsdorf's seems, on the whole,
the best _approximation_ to a true reading; and the Commentary of Dousa
is, as far as it goes, satisfactory.
FOOTNOTES:
[1547] Vid. Niebuhr's Lectures, iii. , p. 212.
[1548] _Licinius Mucianus_, the governor of Syria. He belonged to the
noble family of the Licinii, and was connected with the Mucii. For his
character, see Niebuhr's Lectures, vol. iii. , p. 206.
[1549] "Domitian was a man of a cultivated mind and decided talent, and
is of considerable importance in the history of Roman literature. The
Paraphrase of Aratus, which is usually ascribed to Germanicus, is the
work of Domitian. The subject of the poem is poor, but it is executed
in a very respectable manner. Domitian's taste for Roman literature
produced its beneficial effects. He instituted the great pension
for rhetoricians, which Quintilian, for example, enjoyed, and the
Capitoline contests, in which the prize poems were crowned. During this
period, Roman literature received a great impulse, to which Domitian
himself must have contributed. From his poem we see that he was opposed
to the false taste of the time. " Niebuhr's Lectures, iii. , p. 216, 7.
[1550] Lib. x. , Epig. 35 and 38. There is nothing in these two Epigrams
to imply that Sulpicia and Calenus were not both living peacefully and
happily at Rome, at the time Martial wrote his tenth book of Epigrams.
Now he says himself that he scarcely produced one book in a year, (x. ,
70), and lib. ix. was written A. D. 94 or 95. The second edition of
his tenth book came out A. D. 99. The Epigrams to Calenus and Sulpicia
were probably therefore written at least six years after the Edict of
Domitian, i. e. , between A. D. 90 and 99.
[1551] Vid. not. ad l. 62.
[1552] With the exception of a doubtful fragment quoted by the old
Scholiast on Juvenal, Sat. vi. , 538.
SULPICIA.
ARGUMENT.
The Satire opens with an Invocation of Calliope, the Muse of
Heroic poetry. The dignity of the subject, which is in fact the
undeserved sufferings of the good and great men whom Domitian's
edict was ejecting from their homes, deserves a higher strain
than is compatible with the more commonplace, and therefore less
powerful, invectives of Iambic metre. The effect produced by such
a measure is described as nothing less than forcing the civilized
world to retrograde to a state of primæval barbarism. The cause
which has led to such a perversion of taste and degradation of
intellect is then examined; which are shown to be the result of
a long-protracted peace. The old Roman valor which had raised
the city to the proud position promised by the father of gods
and men, had become gradually enervated and enfeebled, as it
ceased to have an object on which to exercise itself. The stern
and rigid virtue of the best period of the city's history,
which had led her greatest men, even in the fierce struggles
for existence against the rival republic, to appreciate and
patronize the philosophy of Greece, the love of country and the
ties of brotherhood which had been fostered by that "rugged nurse
Adversity," were now all buried in the corpse-like lethargy
induced by the enervating influence of a lengthened peace. The
Satire concludes with a bitter denunciation of coming vengeance
against the tyrant; and a prophetic anticipation of the lasting
fame to be enjoyed by the poem.
Grant me, O Muse,[1553] to tell my little tale in a few words, in those
numbers in which thou art wont to celebrate[1554] heroes and arms! For
to thee I have retired; with thee revising[1555] my secret plan. [1556]
For which reason, I neither trip on in the measure of Phalæcus,[1557]
nor in Iambic[1558] trimeter; nor in that metre which, halting with
the same foot, learned under its Clazomenæan guide boldly to give vent
to its wrath. All other things[1559] moreover, in short, my thousand
sportive effusions; and how I was the first that taught our Roman
matrons to rival the Greeks, and to diversify their subject with wit
untried before, consistently[1560] with my purpose, I pass by; and thee
I invoke, in those points in which thou art chief of all, and, supreme
in eloquence, art best skilled. Descend[1561] at thy votary's prayer
and hear!
Tell me, O Calliope, what is it the great[1562] father of the gods
purposes to do? Does he revert to earth, and his father's age; and
wrest from us in death the arts that once he gave; and bid us, in
silence, nay, bereft of reason, too, just as when we arose in the
primæval age,[1563] stoop again[1564] to acorns,[1565] and the pure
stream? Or does he guard with friendly care all other lands and cities,
but thrusts away[1566] the race of Ausonia, and the nurslings of
Remus? [1567]
For, what must we suppose? There are two ways by which Rome reared
aloft her mighty head. Valor in war, and wisdom in peace. But valor,
practiced[1568] at home and by civil warfare, passed over to the seas
of Sicily and the citadels of Carthage, and swept away also all other
empires and the whole world.
Then, as the victor, who, left alone in the Grecian stadium, droops,
and though with valor undaunted, feels his heart sink within him--just
so the Roman race, when it had ceased from its struggles, and had
bridled peace in lasting trammels; then, revising at home the laws
and discoveries of the Greeks,[1569] ruled with policy and gentle
influence[1570] all that had been won by sea and land as the prizes of
war.
By this Rome stood--nor could she indeed have maintained her ground
without these. Else with vain words[1571] and lying lips would
Jupiter[1572] have been proved to have said to his queen, "I have given
them empire[1573] without limit! "
Therefore, now, he who sways the Roman state[1574] has commanded all
studies, and the philosophic name and race of men to depart out of
doors and quit the city.
What are we to do? We left the Greeks and the cities of men,[1575] that
the Roman youth might be better instructed in these.
Now, just as the Gauls,[1576] abandoning their swords and scales, fled
when Capitoline Camillus thrust them forth; so our aged men are said
to be wandering forth,[1577] and like some deadly burden, themselves
eradicating their own books. Therefore the hero of Numantia and of
Libya, Scipio, erred in that point, who grew wise under the training
of his Rhodian[1578] master; and that other band, fruitful in talent,
in the second war;[1579] among whom the divine apophthegm[1580] of
Priscus[1581] Cato[1582] held it of such deep import to determine
whether the Roman stock would better be upheld[1583] by prosperity
or adversity. By adversity, doubtless; for when the love of country
urges them to defend[1584] themselves by arms, and their wife held
prisoner together with their household gods, they combine[1585] just
like wasps (a bristling band, with weapons all unsheathed along their
yellow bodies), when their home and citadel is assailed. But when
care-dispelling peace has returned, forgetful of labor, commons and
fathers together lie buried in lethargic sleep. A long-protracted and
destructive peace[1586] has therefore been the ruin of the sons of
Romulus. [1587]
Thus our tale comes to a close. Henceforth, kind Muse, without whom
life is no pleasure to me, I pray thee warn them that, like the Lydian
of yore, when Smyrna fell,[1588] so now also they may be ready to
emigrate; or else, in line, whatever thou wishest. This only I beseech
thee, goddess! Present not in a pleasing light to Calenus[1589] the
walls of Rome and the Sabines.
Thus much I spake. Then the goddess deigns to reply in few words, and
begins:
"Lay aside thy just fears, my votary. See, the extremity of hate is
menacing him, and by our mouth shall he perish! For we haunt the laurel
groves of Numa,[1590] and the self-same springs, and, with Egeria
for our companion,[1591] deride all vain essays. Live on! Farewell!
Its destined fame awaits the grief that does thee honor. Such is the
promise of the Muses' choir, and of Apollo[1592] that presides over
Rome. "
FOOTNOTES:
[1553] _Musa. _ Although about to indite a Satire, Sulpicia declares
her intention of not imitating the Hendecasyllabics of Phalæcus, the
Iambics of Archilochus, or the Scazontics of Hipponax, but of writing
in the good old Heroic metre. She therefore invokes the aid of Calliope.
[1554] _Frequentas. _ "Celebrare" is often used in the sense of
"crowding in large numbers to a place;" so here, conversely,
frequentare is used in the sense of "frequently celebrating. "
[1555] _Detexere_ is properly to "finish off one's weaving. " Vid. Hyg. ,
Fab. , 126, "Cum telam detexuero nubam. " Plaut. , Ps. I. , iv. , 7, "Neque
ad detexundam telam certos terminos habes. "
[1556] _Penetrale_ is applied to the inmost and most sacred recesses;
hence the "Penetrales Dii. " Cic. , Nat. D. , ii. , 27. Senec. , Œdip. , 265.
So "penetrale sacrificium. "--_Retractans_, in the sense of going over
again with a view to corrections and additions. So Plin. , v. Ep. , 8,
"Egi graves causas; has destino retractare. " Senec. , Ep. , 46, "De libro
tuo plura scribam cum illum retractavero. "
[1557] _Phalæco. _ Phalæcus is said by Diomedes (iii. , 509) and
Terentianus (p. 2440) to have been the inventor of the Hendecasyllabic
metre, which consists of five feet; the first a Spondee or Iamb. ,
the second a Dactyl, and the three last Trochees. Many of Catullus's
pieces are in this metre. E. g. "Lugete O Veneres, Cupidinesque. " Vid.
Hermann, Elem. Doctr. Metr. , p. 264.
[1558] _Iambo. _ The Iambic metre was peculiarly adapted to Satire.
Hence its probable etymology from ἰάπτω, jacio; and hence the epithet
_criminosi_ applied to these verses by Horace (i. , Od. xvi. , 2),
and _truces_ by Catullus (xxxvi. , 5). Archilochus, the Parian, who
flourished in the eighth century B. C. (Cic. , Tusc. Q. , i. , 1; Bähr, ad
Herod. , i. , 12), is said to have been the inventor of the metre, and to
have employed it against Lycambes, who had promised him his daughter
Neobule, but afterward retracted. Cf. Hor. , A. P. , 79, "Archilochum
proprio rabies armavit Iambo. " i. , Ep. xix. , 23, "Parios ego primus
Iambos Ostendi Latio numeros animosque secutus Archilochi non res et
agentia verba Lycamben. " The allusion in the next line is to Hipponax,
who flourished cir. B. C. 540; Ol. lx. He was a native of Ephesus; but
being expelled from his native country by the tyrant Athenagoras,
he settled at Clazomenæ, now the Isle of St. John. The common story
is, that he was so hideously ugly, that the sculptors Bupalus and
Athenis caricatured him. And to avenge this insult, Hipponax altered
the Iambic of Archilochus into a more bitter form by making the last
foot a spondee, which gave the verse a kind of halting rhythm, and was
hence called Scazontic, from σκάζω· or Choliambic, from χῶλος, "lame. "
Diomed. , iii. , 503. «A specimen may be seen in Martial's bitter epigram
against Cato. i. , Ep. I, "Cur in Theatrum Cato severe venisti? "» In
this metre he so bitterly satirized them that they hanged themselves,
as Lycambes had done, in consequence of the ridicule of Archilochus.
Hence Horace, vi. , Epod. 13, "Qualis Lycambæ spretus infido gener Aut
acer hostis Bupalo. " Pliny (H. N. , xxxvi. , 5) treats the whole story as
mythical. Cf. Mart. , i. , Ep. 97, for some good specimens, and Catull. ,
xxxix. Another form of Choliambic verse is the substitution of an
Antibacchius for the final Iamb. : e. g. , "Remitte pallium mihi quod
involasti. " Catull. , xxv. Two of Hipponax's verses may be seen, Strabo,
lib. xiv. , c. 1.
[1559] _Cætera. _ From the high compliment paid to her chastity and
poetical powers by Martial, it is probable that Sulpicia had composed
many poems before the present Satire. From the metre Martial chooses
for his complimentary effusion, and from the testimony of the old
Scholiast, it is probable these verses were in Hendecasyllabics; or at
all events in some lyrical metre. There was a poetess named Cornificia
in the time of Augustus, who wrote some good Epigrams. She was the
sister of Cornificius, the reputed enemy of Virgil (vid. Clinton, F.
H. , in ann. B. C. 41), but as she was not a _lyrical_ poetess, Sulpicia
claims the palm to herself.
[1560] _Constanter. _ The subject is too serious and solemn for lyrical
poetry; she therefore employs the dignity of Heroic verse. So Juvenal,
iv. , 34, "Incipe Calliope--non est _cantandum_, res vera agitur,
narrate puellæ Pierides. "
[1561] _Descende. _ Cf. Hor. , iii. , Od. iv. , 1, "_Descende_ cœlo et
_dic_ age tibiâ Regina longum _Calliope_ melos. " Calliope, as the Muse
of _Heroic_ poetry, holds the chief place.
xxxv. , 17. Tib. , II. , iii. , 59, "Regnum ipse tenet quem sæpe coëgit
Barbara gypsatos ferre catasta pedes. " Persius recommends his miserly
friend to condescend to any low trade, even that of a slave-dealer,
to get money. Cappadocia was a great emporium for slaves. Cic. , Post.
Red. , "Cappadocem modo abreptum de grege venalium diceres. " Hor. ,
i. , Ep. vi. , 39, "Mancipiis locuples eget æris Cappadocum rex. " The
royal property, consisting chiefly in slaves, was kept in different
fortresses throughout the country. The whole nation might be said to be
addicted to servitude; for when they were offered a free constitution
by the Romans, they declined the favor, and preferred receiving a
master from the hand of their allies. Strabo, xii. , p. 540. After the
conquest of Pontus, Rome and Italy were filled with Cappadocian slaves,
many of whom were excellent bakers and confectioners. Vid. Plutarch v.
Lucullus. Athen. , i, p. 20; iii. , 112, 3. Cramer, Asia Minor, ii. , p.
121. Mart. , vi. , Ep. lxvii. , 4.
[1545] _Depunge. _ A metaphor from the graduated arm of the steelyard.
Cf. v. , 100, "Certo compescere puncto nescius examen. " The end of the
fourteenth Satire of Juvenal, and of the fifteenth Epistle of Seneca,
may be compared with the conclusion of this Satire. "Congeratur in te
quidquid multi locupletes possederunt: Ultra privatum pecuniæ modum
fortuna te provehat, auro tegat, purpurâ vestiat, . . . majora cupere
ab his disces. Naturalia desideria finita sunt: ex falsâ opinione
nascentia ubi desinant non habent. Nullus enim terminus falso est. "
Sen. , Ep. xvi. , 7, 8; xxxix. , 5; ii. , 5.
[1546] _Chrysippi. _ This refers to the σωρειτικὴ ἀπορία of the Stoics,
of which Chrysippus, the disciple of Zeno or Cleanthes, was said to
have been the inventor. The Sorites consisted of an indefinite number
of syllogisms, according to Chrysippus; to attempt to limit which,
or to bound the insatiable desires of the miser, would be equally
impossible. It takes its name from σῶρος, acerbus, "a heap:" "he that
could assign this limit, could also affirm with precision how many
grains of corn just make a _heap_; so that were but one grain taken
away, the remainder would be _no heap_. " Cf. Cic. , Ac. Qu. , II. ,
xxviii. Diog. Laert. , VII. , vii. Hor. , i. , Ep. ii. , 4. Juv. , ii. , 5;
xiii. , 184. Of the seven hundred and fifty books said to have been
written by Chrysippus, and enumerated by Diogenes Laertius, not one
fragment remains. His logic was so highly thought of, that it was
said "that, had the gods used logic, they would have used that of
Chrysippus. "
SULPICIA.
INTRODUCTION.
The occasion of the following Satire is generally known as "the
expulsion of the philosophers from Rome by Domitian. " As the same thing
took place under Vespasian also, it becomes worth while to inquire who
are the persons intended to be included under this designation; and in
what manner the fears of the two emperors could be so worked upon as
to pass a sweeping sentence of banishment against persons apparently
so helpless and so little formidable as the peaceful cultivators
of philosophy. It seems not improbable then that the fears both of
Vespasian and Domitian were of a _personal_ as well as of a political
nature. We find that in both cases the "Mathematici" are coupled
with the "Philosophi. " Now these persons were no more nor less than
pretenders to the science of judicial astrology «cf. Juv. , iii. , 43;
vi. , 562; xiv. , 248; Suet. , Cal. , 57; Tit. , 9; Otho, 4; Gell. , i. ,
9»; and to what an extent those who were believed to possess this
knowledge were dreaded in those days of gross superstition, may be
easily inferred by merely looking into Juvenal's sixth and Persius'
fifth Satire. Besides the baleful effects of incantations, which were
sources of terror even in Horace's days, the mere possession by another
of the nativity of a person whose death might be an object of desire to
the bearer, was supposed, at the time of which we are now speaking, to
be a sufficient ground of serious alarm. We are not surprised therefore
to find it recorded as an instance of great generosity on the part of
Vespasian, that on one occasion he pardoned one Metius Pomposianus,
although he was informed that he had in his possession a "Genesis
Imperatoria;" or that the possession of a similar document with regard
to Domitian cost the owner his life. (Cf. Suet. , Vesp. , 14; Domit. ,
10. ) With regard to the philosophers, it appears that the followers
of the Stoic school were those against whom the edict was especially
directed. Not only did the tenets of this school inculcate that
independence of thought and manners most directly at variance with the
servility and submissiveness inseparable from a state of thraldom under
a despot; but the cultivation of this branch of philosophy was held to
be nothing more than a specious cover for an attachment to the freedom
of speech and action enjoyed under the republican form of government:
and philosophy was accounted only another name for revolution and
rebellion. [1547]
The story told of Demetrius the Cynic, in Dio (lxvi. , 13), and
confirmed by Suetonius (Vesp. , c. 13), illustrates this view of the
subject. (Cf. Tac. , Hist. , iv. , 40. ) It appears to have been at the
suggestion of Mucianus,[1548] that all philosophers, but especially
the Stoics, were banished from Rome; and that the celebrated Musonius
Rufus was the only one who was suffered to remain. This took place A. D.
74. Sixteen years after this we find a decree of the senate passed to
a similar effect. Now, as philosophy may be studied equally well any
where, there seems no reason why, if it were not in some way connected
with their _political_ creed, all these votaries of Stoicism should in
the interim have taken up their abode at Rome. And though, no doubt,
the unoffending may have suffered with the guilty, the history of the
edict seems pretty plainly to show what _particular doctrines_ of their
philosophy were so obnoxious to Domitian. Suetonius, Tacitus, and Dio
all agree in the cause assigned for the sentence: viz. , that Julius
Arulenus Rusticus and Herennius Senecio had been enthusiastic in their
praises of Thrasea Pætus and Helvidius Priscus; and that _therefore_
"all philosophers were removed from Rome. " ("Cujus criminis occasione
philosophos omnes Urbe Italiâque submovit. " Suet. , Domit. , 10. Cf.
Tac. , Agric, 2; Dio, lxvii. , 13. ) But it was for their undisguised
hatred of tyrants, and for no dogma of the schools, that the former of
these was put to death by Nero, and the latter by Vespasian. Both of
them, as we know, celebrated with no ordinary festivities the birthdays
of the Bruti (Juv. , v. , 36); and Helvidius, even while prætor, went
so far as to omit all titles of honor or distinction before the name
of Vespasian. (Suet. , Vesp. , 15. ) We must not therefore fall into the
common error of supposing this "banishment of philosophers" to have
been a mere act of wanton, senseless tyranny, or of brutal ignorance.
Even by his enemies' showing, the opening scenes of Domitian's
life[1549] are at direct variance with such an idea. (Cf. ad Juv. ,
vii. , 1. ) And though we regret to find that men like Epictetus and Dio
of Prusa were included in the disastrous sentence, it is some relief to
learn that Pliny the younger, though living at the time in the house
of the philosopher Artemidorus, and the intimate friend of Senecio
and six or seven others of the banished, to whom he supplied money (a
fact which, as he himself hints, could not but have been known to the
emperor, as Pliny was prætor at the time), yet escaped unscathed. (Cf.
Plin. , iii. , Ep. XI. , vii. , 19; Gell. , xv. , 11. )
How far Sulpicia was connected with this movement, or whether she was
involved in the same sentence which overwhelmed the others, we have now
no means of ascertaining. It is quite clear that all her sympathies
were with the Greeks; and the passage concerning Scipio and Cato (1.
45-50) leaves little doubt that her philosophical opinions were those
of the Stoics. She rivals Juvenal in her thorough hatred of Domitian;
which may, perhaps, be partly also attributed to family reasons. For
we must remember that she belonged to the gens which produced Servius
Sulpicius Galba; and, as we have noticed on many occasions with regard
to Juvenal, an attachment to that emperor seems to go hand in hand with
hatred of Otho and Domitian. From the conclusion of the Satire, it is
probable that her husband was not implicated.
The Sulpician gens produced many distinguished men; of whom we may
mention the commissioner sent to Greece, and the conquerors of the
Samnites, of Sardinia, and of Pyrrhus, besides the notorious friend
of Marius. Of this illustrious stock she was no unworthy scion.
Martial[1550] bears the strongest testimony to the purity of her morals
and the chastity of her life, as well as to her devoted conjugal
affection; which latter virtue she illustrated in a poem replete with
the most lively, delicate, and virtuous sentiments; and which, had
not the licentiousness of the age been beyond such a cure, might have
produced a deep moral effect on the peculiar vices which especially
disgraced the era of the Cæsars. Her husband's name was Calenus, who
not improbably belonged to the Fufian gens,[1551] and with him she
enjoyed fifteen years of the purest domestic felicity, as we learn from
the Epigram addressed to him by Martial, in which, not without a tinge
of envy, he congratulates Calenus on the possession of so inestimable a
treasure. Both Epigrams are exceedingly beautiful, and every reader of
Martial will be only too ready to say, "O si sic omnia. " Of her other
works we unfortunately do not possess a single fragment;[1552] and even
the solitary Satire which bears her name, was at one time, as Scaliger
tells us, falsely attributed to Ausonius.
Very much of the Satire is corrupt. Wernsdorf's seems, on the whole,
the best _approximation_ to a true reading; and the Commentary of Dousa
is, as far as it goes, satisfactory.
FOOTNOTES:
[1547] Vid. Niebuhr's Lectures, iii. , p. 212.
[1548] _Licinius Mucianus_, the governor of Syria. He belonged to the
noble family of the Licinii, and was connected with the Mucii. For his
character, see Niebuhr's Lectures, vol. iii. , p. 206.
[1549] "Domitian was a man of a cultivated mind and decided talent, and
is of considerable importance in the history of Roman literature. The
Paraphrase of Aratus, which is usually ascribed to Germanicus, is the
work of Domitian. The subject of the poem is poor, but it is executed
in a very respectable manner. Domitian's taste for Roman literature
produced its beneficial effects. He instituted the great pension
for rhetoricians, which Quintilian, for example, enjoyed, and the
Capitoline contests, in which the prize poems were crowned. During this
period, Roman literature received a great impulse, to which Domitian
himself must have contributed. From his poem we see that he was opposed
to the false taste of the time. " Niebuhr's Lectures, iii. , p. 216, 7.
[1550] Lib. x. , Epig. 35 and 38. There is nothing in these two Epigrams
to imply that Sulpicia and Calenus were not both living peacefully and
happily at Rome, at the time Martial wrote his tenth book of Epigrams.
Now he says himself that he scarcely produced one book in a year, (x. ,
70), and lib. ix. was written A. D. 94 or 95. The second edition of
his tenth book came out A. D. 99. The Epigrams to Calenus and Sulpicia
were probably therefore written at least six years after the Edict of
Domitian, i. e. , between A. D. 90 and 99.
[1551] Vid. not. ad l. 62.
[1552] With the exception of a doubtful fragment quoted by the old
Scholiast on Juvenal, Sat. vi. , 538.
SULPICIA.
ARGUMENT.
The Satire opens with an Invocation of Calliope, the Muse of
Heroic poetry. The dignity of the subject, which is in fact the
undeserved sufferings of the good and great men whom Domitian's
edict was ejecting from their homes, deserves a higher strain
than is compatible with the more commonplace, and therefore less
powerful, invectives of Iambic metre. The effect produced by such
a measure is described as nothing less than forcing the civilized
world to retrograde to a state of primæval barbarism. The cause
which has led to such a perversion of taste and degradation of
intellect is then examined; which are shown to be the result of
a long-protracted peace. The old Roman valor which had raised
the city to the proud position promised by the father of gods
and men, had become gradually enervated and enfeebled, as it
ceased to have an object on which to exercise itself. The stern
and rigid virtue of the best period of the city's history,
which had led her greatest men, even in the fierce struggles
for existence against the rival republic, to appreciate and
patronize the philosophy of Greece, the love of country and the
ties of brotherhood which had been fostered by that "rugged nurse
Adversity," were now all buried in the corpse-like lethargy
induced by the enervating influence of a lengthened peace. The
Satire concludes with a bitter denunciation of coming vengeance
against the tyrant; and a prophetic anticipation of the lasting
fame to be enjoyed by the poem.
Grant me, O Muse,[1553] to tell my little tale in a few words, in those
numbers in which thou art wont to celebrate[1554] heroes and arms! For
to thee I have retired; with thee revising[1555] my secret plan. [1556]
For which reason, I neither trip on in the measure of Phalæcus,[1557]
nor in Iambic[1558] trimeter; nor in that metre which, halting with
the same foot, learned under its Clazomenæan guide boldly to give vent
to its wrath. All other things[1559] moreover, in short, my thousand
sportive effusions; and how I was the first that taught our Roman
matrons to rival the Greeks, and to diversify their subject with wit
untried before, consistently[1560] with my purpose, I pass by; and thee
I invoke, in those points in which thou art chief of all, and, supreme
in eloquence, art best skilled. Descend[1561] at thy votary's prayer
and hear!
Tell me, O Calliope, what is it the great[1562] father of the gods
purposes to do? Does he revert to earth, and his father's age; and
wrest from us in death the arts that once he gave; and bid us, in
silence, nay, bereft of reason, too, just as when we arose in the
primæval age,[1563] stoop again[1564] to acorns,[1565] and the pure
stream? Or does he guard with friendly care all other lands and cities,
but thrusts away[1566] the race of Ausonia, and the nurslings of
Remus? [1567]
For, what must we suppose? There are two ways by which Rome reared
aloft her mighty head. Valor in war, and wisdom in peace. But valor,
practiced[1568] at home and by civil warfare, passed over to the seas
of Sicily and the citadels of Carthage, and swept away also all other
empires and the whole world.
Then, as the victor, who, left alone in the Grecian stadium, droops,
and though with valor undaunted, feels his heart sink within him--just
so the Roman race, when it had ceased from its struggles, and had
bridled peace in lasting trammels; then, revising at home the laws
and discoveries of the Greeks,[1569] ruled with policy and gentle
influence[1570] all that had been won by sea and land as the prizes of
war.
By this Rome stood--nor could she indeed have maintained her ground
without these. Else with vain words[1571] and lying lips would
Jupiter[1572] have been proved to have said to his queen, "I have given
them empire[1573] without limit! "
Therefore, now, he who sways the Roman state[1574] has commanded all
studies, and the philosophic name and race of men to depart out of
doors and quit the city.
What are we to do? We left the Greeks and the cities of men,[1575] that
the Roman youth might be better instructed in these.
Now, just as the Gauls,[1576] abandoning their swords and scales, fled
when Capitoline Camillus thrust them forth; so our aged men are said
to be wandering forth,[1577] and like some deadly burden, themselves
eradicating their own books. Therefore the hero of Numantia and of
Libya, Scipio, erred in that point, who grew wise under the training
of his Rhodian[1578] master; and that other band, fruitful in talent,
in the second war;[1579] among whom the divine apophthegm[1580] of
Priscus[1581] Cato[1582] held it of such deep import to determine
whether the Roman stock would better be upheld[1583] by prosperity
or adversity. By adversity, doubtless; for when the love of country
urges them to defend[1584] themselves by arms, and their wife held
prisoner together with their household gods, they combine[1585] just
like wasps (a bristling band, with weapons all unsheathed along their
yellow bodies), when their home and citadel is assailed. But when
care-dispelling peace has returned, forgetful of labor, commons and
fathers together lie buried in lethargic sleep. A long-protracted and
destructive peace[1586] has therefore been the ruin of the sons of
Romulus. [1587]
Thus our tale comes to a close. Henceforth, kind Muse, without whom
life is no pleasure to me, I pray thee warn them that, like the Lydian
of yore, when Smyrna fell,[1588] so now also they may be ready to
emigrate; or else, in line, whatever thou wishest. This only I beseech
thee, goddess! Present not in a pleasing light to Calenus[1589] the
walls of Rome and the Sabines.
Thus much I spake. Then the goddess deigns to reply in few words, and
begins:
"Lay aside thy just fears, my votary. See, the extremity of hate is
menacing him, and by our mouth shall he perish! For we haunt the laurel
groves of Numa,[1590] and the self-same springs, and, with Egeria
for our companion,[1591] deride all vain essays. Live on! Farewell!
Its destined fame awaits the grief that does thee honor. Such is the
promise of the Muses' choir, and of Apollo[1592] that presides over
Rome. "
FOOTNOTES:
[1553] _Musa. _ Although about to indite a Satire, Sulpicia declares
her intention of not imitating the Hendecasyllabics of Phalæcus, the
Iambics of Archilochus, or the Scazontics of Hipponax, but of writing
in the good old Heroic metre. She therefore invokes the aid of Calliope.
[1554] _Frequentas. _ "Celebrare" is often used in the sense of
"crowding in large numbers to a place;" so here, conversely,
frequentare is used in the sense of "frequently celebrating. "
[1555] _Detexere_ is properly to "finish off one's weaving. " Vid. Hyg. ,
Fab. , 126, "Cum telam detexuero nubam. " Plaut. , Ps. I. , iv. , 7, "Neque
ad detexundam telam certos terminos habes. "
[1556] _Penetrale_ is applied to the inmost and most sacred recesses;
hence the "Penetrales Dii. " Cic. , Nat. D. , ii. , 27. Senec. , Œdip. , 265.
So "penetrale sacrificium. "--_Retractans_, in the sense of going over
again with a view to corrections and additions. So Plin. , v. Ep. , 8,
"Egi graves causas; has destino retractare. " Senec. , Ep. , 46, "De libro
tuo plura scribam cum illum retractavero. "
[1557] _Phalæco. _ Phalæcus is said by Diomedes (iii. , 509) and
Terentianus (p. 2440) to have been the inventor of the Hendecasyllabic
metre, which consists of five feet; the first a Spondee or Iamb. ,
the second a Dactyl, and the three last Trochees. Many of Catullus's
pieces are in this metre. E. g. "Lugete O Veneres, Cupidinesque. " Vid.
Hermann, Elem. Doctr. Metr. , p. 264.
[1558] _Iambo. _ The Iambic metre was peculiarly adapted to Satire.
Hence its probable etymology from ἰάπτω, jacio; and hence the epithet
_criminosi_ applied to these verses by Horace (i. , Od. xvi. , 2),
and _truces_ by Catullus (xxxvi. , 5). Archilochus, the Parian, who
flourished in the eighth century B. C. (Cic. , Tusc. Q. , i. , 1; Bähr, ad
Herod. , i. , 12), is said to have been the inventor of the metre, and to
have employed it against Lycambes, who had promised him his daughter
Neobule, but afterward retracted. Cf. Hor. , A. P. , 79, "Archilochum
proprio rabies armavit Iambo. " i. , Ep. xix. , 23, "Parios ego primus
Iambos Ostendi Latio numeros animosque secutus Archilochi non res et
agentia verba Lycamben. " The allusion in the next line is to Hipponax,
who flourished cir. B. C. 540; Ol. lx. He was a native of Ephesus; but
being expelled from his native country by the tyrant Athenagoras,
he settled at Clazomenæ, now the Isle of St. John. The common story
is, that he was so hideously ugly, that the sculptors Bupalus and
Athenis caricatured him. And to avenge this insult, Hipponax altered
the Iambic of Archilochus into a more bitter form by making the last
foot a spondee, which gave the verse a kind of halting rhythm, and was
hence called Scazontic, from σκάζω· or Choliambic, from χῶλος, "lame. "
Diomed. , iii. , 503. «A specimen may be seen in Martial's bitter epigram
against Cato. i. , Ep. I, "Cur in Theatrum Cato severe venisti? "» In
this metre he so bitterly satirized them that they hanged themselves,
as Lycambes had done, in consequence of the ridicule of Archilochus.
Hence Horace, vi. , Epod. 13, "Qualis Lycambæ spretus infido gener Aut
acer hostis Bupalo. " Pliny (H. N. , xxxvi. , 5) treats the whole story as
mythical. Cf. Mart. , i. , Ep. 97, for some good specimens, and Catull. ,
xxxix. Another form of Choliambic verse is the substitution of an
Antibacchius for the final Iamb. : e. g. , "Remitte pallium mihi quod
involasti. " Catull. , xxv. Two of Hipponax's verses may be seen, Strabo,
lib. xiv. , c. 1.
[1559] _Cætera. _ From the high compliment paid to her chastity and
poetical powers by Martial, it is probable that Sulpicia had composed
many poems before the present Satire. From the metre Martial chooses
for his complimentary effusion, and from the testimony of the old
Scholiast, it is probable these verses were in Hendecasyllabics; or at
all events in some lyrical metre. There was a poetess named Cornificia
in the time of Augustus, who wrote some good Epigrams. She was the
sister of Cornificius, the reputed enemy of Virgil (vid. Clinton, F.
H. , in ann. B. C. 41), but as she was not a _lyrical_ poetess, Sulpicia
claims the palm to herself.
[1560] _Constanter. _ The subject is too serious and solemn for lyrical
poetry; she therefore employs the dignity of Heroic verse. So Juvenal,
iv. , 34, "Incipe Calliope--non est _cantandum_, res vera agitur,
narrate puellæ Pierides. "
[1561] _Descende. _ Cf. Hor. , iii. , Od. iv. , 1, "_Descende_ cœlo et
_dic_ age tibiâ Regina longum _Calliope_ melos. " Calliope, as the Muse
of _Heroic_ poetry, holds the chief place.
