No More Learning

I stand
ROMAN LIFE UNDER AUGUSTUS. 323
ROMAN LIFE UNDER AUGUSTUS. By W. A. BECKER.
[Wilhelm Adolf Becker, a noted German classical antiquary, was born at Dresden, 1796 ; died at Meissen, 1846. Designed for trade, he left it for scholarship ; studied at Leipsic, and the last four years of his life was professor there. His still familiar works are " Charicles " and " Gallus," novels embody ing the social life of the Greeks in Alexander's time and the Romans in Augustus'. His "Handbook of Roman Antiquities" (1843-1846) is his chief monument as a scholar.
This historical novel of Becker's is based on the real fate of Cornelius Gallus. ]
Studies and Letters.
Gallus had for some time past kept as much as possible aloof from the disquieting labors of public life, and had been accustomed to divide his time between the pleasures of the table and of love, the society of friends, and the pursuit of his studies, serious as well as cheerful. On the present occasion also, after his friends had departed, he withdrew into the chamber, where he used daily to spend the later hours of the morning, in converse with the great spirits of ancient Greece —a pursuit animating and refreshing alike to heart and soul —or to yield himself up to the sport of his own muse. . . .
Immediately adjoining this apartment was the library, full of the most precious treasures acquired by Gallus, chiefly in Alexandria. There, in presses of cedar wood, placed round the walls, lay the rolls, partly of parchment, and partly of the finest Egyptian papyrus, each supplied with a label, on which was seen, in bright red letters, the name of the author and title of the book. Above these again were ranged the busts, in bronze or marble, of the most renowned writers, an entirely novel ornament for libraries, first introduced into Rome by Asinius Pollio, who perhaps had only copied it from the libraries of Pergamus and Alexandria. True, only the chief representatives of each separate branch of literature were to be found in the narrow space available for them ; but to com pensate for this, there were several rolls which contained the portraits of seven hundred remarkable men. These were the hebdomades or peplography of Varro, who, by means of a new and much-valued invention, was enabled in an easy manner to multiply the collection of his portraits, and so to spread copies
824 ROMAN LIFE UNDER AUGUSTUS.
of them, with short biographical notices of the men, through the whole learned world.
On the other side of the library was a larger room in which a number of learned slaves were occupied in transcribing, with nimble hand, the works of illustrious Greek and the more ancient Roman authors, both for the supply of the library, and for the use of those friends to whom Gallus obligingly com municated his literary treasures. Others were engaged in giving the rolls the most agreeable exterior, in gluing the separate strips of papyrus together, drawing the red lines which divided the different columns, and writing the title in the same color ; in smoothing with pumice-stone and blacken ing the edges ; fastening ivory tops on the sticks round which the rolls were wrapped, and dyeing bright red or yellow the parchment which was to serve as a wrapper.
Gallus, with Chresimus, entered the study, where the freed- man, of whom he was used to avail himself in his studies, to make remarks on what was read, to note down particular passages, or to commit to paper his own poetical effusions, as they escaped him, was already awaiting him. After giving Chresimus further instructions to make the necessary prepara tions for an immediate journey, he reclined, in his accustomed manner, on his studying couch, supported on his left arm, his right knee being drawn up somewhat higher than the other, in order to place on it his books or tablets.
" Give me that roll of poetry of mine, Phaedrus," said he
I will not set out till I have sent the book finished to the bookseller. I certainly do not much desire to be sold in the Argiletan taverns for five denarii, and find my
to the freedman ; "
name hung up on the doors, and not always in the best com pany ; but Secundus worries me for it, and therefore be it so. " " He understands his advantage," said Phajdrus, as he drew forth the roll from the cedar- wood chest. " I wager that his scribes will have nothing else to do for months, but to copy off your Elegies and Epigrams, and that you will be rewarded with the applause poured upon them not by Rome only, nor by
Italy, but by the world. "
" Who knows ? " said Gallus. " It is always hazardous to
give to the opinion of the public that which was only written for a narrow circle of tried friends : and besides, our public is so very capricious. For one I am too cold, for another I speak too much of Lycoris ; my Epigrams are too long for a third ;
ROMAN LIFE UNDER AUGUSTUS. 825
and then there are those grammarians, who impute to me the blunders which the copyist in his hurry has committed. But look ! " continued he, as he unfolded the roll, " there is just room left before we get to the umbilicus, for a small poem on which I meditated this morning when walking to and fro in the peristyle. It is somewhat hurriedly thrown off, I grant, and its jocular tone is not exactly in keeping with the last elegy. Perhaps they will say I had done better to leave it out, but its contents are the best proof of its unassumingness : why, therefore, should I not let the joke stand ? Listen, then, and write. " "
No," said Gallus, "the time before our departure is too brief. Take style and tablet, write with abbreviations, and insert it afterwards whilst
the roll, and to send thither Philodamus, whom his master generally employed to write his letters ; equally acquainted with both languages, he used, in most instances, to discharge the duties of the Greek and Latin correspondent, and particu larly when the contents of the letters made a confidential scribe necessary. To-day, however, this was not the case ; for Gallus only wished some short friendly letters, which contained no secrets, to be written. Philodamus brought the style, the wooden tablets coated over with wax, and what was requisite for sealing the letters ; took the seat of Phaedrus, and set down with expert hand the short sentences which Gallus dictated. Notifications of his departure to his friends ; invitations to them to visit him at his villa ; approval of a purchase of some statues and pictures, which a friend in Athens had made for him ; recommendations of one friend to another in Alexan dria ; such were the quickly dispatched subjects of the day's correspondence. . . .
He read over once more the letters which Philodamus had written ; the slave then fastened the tablets together with crossed thread, and where the ends were knotted, placed a round piece of wax ; while Gallus drew from his finger a beau tiful beryl, on which was engraved by the hand of Dioscorides, a lion driven by four amoretts, breathed on it, to prevent the tenacious wax from adhering to and then impressed deeply into the pliant mass. Meanwhile Philodamus had summoned the tabellarii, or slaves used for conveying letters. Each of
Phaedrus here was about taking the roll.
I am dictating a few letters. " . . .
Phaedrus departed to copy the poem more intelligibly on
it,
it
326 ROMAN LIFE UNDER AUGUSTUS.
them received a letter ; but that destined for Athens was about to be intrusted to a friend journeying thither.
The Drinkers.
The lamps had been long shining on the marble panels of the walls in the triclinium, where Earinos, with his assistants, was making preparations, under the direction of the tricliniarch, for the nocturnal comissatio. Upon the polished table between the tapestried couches stood an elegant bronze candelabrum, in the form of a stem of a tree, from the winterly and almost leaf less branches of which four two-flamed lamps, emulating each other in beauty of shape, were suspended. Other lamps hung by chains from the ceiling, which was richly gilt and ingen iously inlaid with ivory, in order to expel the darkness of night from all parts of the saloon. A number of costly goblets and larger vessels were arranged on two silver sideboards. On one of these a slave was just placing another vessel filled with snow, together with its colum, whilst on the other was the
caldarium, containing water kept constantly boiling by the coals in its inner cylinder, in case any of the guests should prefer the calda, the drink of winter, to the snow-drink, for which he might think the season was not sufficiently advanced.
steaming
By degrees the guests assembled from the bath and the peristylum, and took their places in the same order as before on the triclinium. Gallus and Calpurnius were still wanting. They had been seen walking to and fro along the cryptoporticus in earnest discourse. At length they arrived, and the gloom seemed dissipated from the brow of Gallus ; his eyes sparkled more brightly, and his whole being seemed to have become more animated.
" I hope, my friends, you have not waited for us," said he to Pomponius" and Caecilianus, who reproached him for his long absence. How could we do otherwise," responded Pomponius, " as it is necessary first to choose the king who shall reign su preme over the mixing bowl and cyathus ? Quick, Lentulus, let us have the dice directly, or the snow will be turned to calda before we are able to drink it. "
On a signal from Lentulus, a slave placed upon the table the dice-board, of terebinth us wood, the four dice made from the knuckles of gazelles, and the ivory turret-shaped dice-box.
ROMAN LIFE UNDER AUGUSTUS. 327
" But first bring chaplets and the nardum" cried the host ; "roses or ivy, I leave the choice to each of you. "
Slaves immediately brought chaplets, both of dark green ivy and of blooming roses.
" Honor to the spring," said Gallus, at the " same time en circling his temples with a fragrant wreath ; ivy belongs to winter ; it is the gloomy ornament with which nature decks her own bier. "
"Not so," said Calpurnius, "the more somber garland becomes men. I leave roses to the women, who know nothing but pleasure and trifling. "
"No reflection on the women," cried Faustinus, from the lectus summits ; " for they, after all, give the spice to life, and I should not be at all grieved if some gracious fair one were now at my side. Listen, Gallus : you know that I sometimes attempt a little poetry ; what think you of an epigram I have lately made ?
" Let women come and share our festal joy,
For Bacchus loves to sit with Venus' boy !
But fair her form and witty be her tongue,
Such as the nymph's whom Philolaches sung. Just sip her wine, with jocund glee o'erflow, To-morrow hold her tongue — if she know how. "
" Very
apply as well to men ;
I will continue your epigram :
—
good," said Gallus ; " but the last doctrine will
" And you, O men ! who larger goblets drain,
Nor draining blush, — this golden rule maintain. While foams the cup, drink, rattle, joke away, All unrestrained your boisterous mirth display. But with the wreath be memory laid aside,
And let the morn night's dangerous secrets hide. "
"Exactly so," cried Pomponius, whilst a loud a-o$<S? re sounded from the lips of the others : " let the word of which the nocturnal triens was witness, be banished from our memory, as if it had never been spoken. But now to business. Bassus, you throw first, and he who first throws the Venus is king for the night. " "
Bassus collected the dice in the box, and shook it.
theris for me," cried he, as he threw ; it was an indifferent cast.
Cy-
328 ROMAN LIFE UNDER AUGUSTUS.
" Who" would think of making so free with the name of his beloved ! said Faustinus, as he prepared for his chance. " To the beautiful one of whom I am thinking ; take care, it will be the Venus. " He threw ; loud laughter succeeded ; it was the dog.
The dice passed in this manner from hand to hand till they came to Pomponius. " Ah I " exclaimed Lentulus, as Pom- ponius seized the box, " now I am anxious to know which, out of the number of"his loves, he will invoke, — Chione or Galla, Lyde or Neaera ?
" Neither of them," answered Pomponius. " Ah ! one, three, four, six ; here's the Venus ! but as all have not yet thrown, another may be equally fortunate. " He handed the dice to Gallus, who, however, as well as the Perusians, having declined the dignity, Pomponius was hailed as lord over the crater and cyathus.
" Do not let us have too much water in the mixture," said Caecilianus ; "for Lentulus, you know, would not be sulky even should we drink the wine neat. "
" No, no," replied Pomponius ; " we have had a long pause, and may now well indulge a little. Three parts of water and two of wine is a fair proportion, that shall be the mixture to-night. Do you, Earinos, measure out five cyathi for each of us. "
The goblets were filled and emptied amidst jokes and mer riment, which gradually grew louder, for Pomponius took care that the cyathi should not have much repose. "I propose," said he at length, when, from the increased animation of the conversation, the power of the Falernian became evident, " that we try the dice a little. Let us play for low stakes, merely for amusement ; let each of us stake five denarii, and put in another for every ace or six that may be thrown. Whoever throws the Venus first, gains the whole sum staked. "
The proposal was acceded to, and the play began.
" How shall it be, Bassus ? " said Pomponius, " a hundred denarii that I make the lucky throw before you. "
" Agreed," replied the other.
" I will also bet the same with you," said Gallus : " a hun dred denarii on each side. "
The dice went round the table, and first Caecilianus and then one of the Perusians won the pool. The bets remained
" And I bet you the same sum," said Lentulus to Gallus ; " and if either of us should throw the dog, he must pay double. "
ROMAN LIFE UNDER AUGUSTUS. 829
still undecided. When Pomponius had again thrown, he cried, "Won ! look here, each dice exhibits a different number. "
Gallus took the box and threw. Four unlucky aces were the result. The Perusians laughed loudly ; for which Gallus darted a fierce glance at them. The money was paid.
" Shall we bet again ? " inquired Lentulus.
" Of course," replied Gallus ; " two thousand sesterces, and let him who throws sixes also lose. "
Lentulus threw ; again the Venus appeared, and loud laughter arose from the lectus imus. By degrees the game became warmer, the bet higher, and Gallus more desperate. In the meantime Pomponius had, unnoticed, altered the pro portions of the mixture. " I am now in favor of a short pause," said he, "that we may not entirely forget the cups. Bring larger goblets, Earinos, that we may drink according to the custom of the Greeks. " "
Pour out for me six cyathi," cried he. " This cup I drink to you, Gal
Larger crystal glasses were placed before him.
lus. Hail to you I "
Gallus replied to the greeting, and then desired the cyathus
to be emptied seven times into his goblet. " Let us not forget the absent," said he. " Lycoris, this goblet I dedicate to you. " " "Well done," said Bassus, as his cup was being filled.
Now my turn has come. Eight letters form the name of my love. Cytheris ! " said he, as he drained the glass. Thus the toast passed from mouth to mouth, and finally came to the turn of the Perusians.
" I have no love," said the one on the middle seat, " but I will give you a better name, to which let each one empty his glass ; Caesar Octavianus ! hail to him. "
" Hail to him," responded the other Perusian. " Six cyathi to each, or ten ? What, Gallus and Calpurnius ! does not the name sound pleasant to you that you refuse the goblet ? "
" I have no reason for drinking to his welfare," rejoined Gallus, scarcely suppressing his emotion.
" Reason or no," said the Perusian, " it is to the father of our fatherland ! "
"Father of our fatherland ! " screamed Calpurnius, vio lently enraged. " Say rather to the tyrant, the bad citizen, the suppressor of liberty ! "
" Be not so violent," said the stranger, with a malicious smile ; "if you will not drink it, why, leave it undone. But
330 ROMAN LIFE UNDER AUGUSTUS.
yet I wager, Gallus, that you have often enough drunk to our lord before his house was closed upon you. It certainly is not pleasant, when a man thinks he has made the lucky throw, to find" the dog suddenly before him. " "
Scoundrel ! " cried Gallus, springing up ;
a matter of entire indifference to me whether the miserable, cowardly tyrant close his doors on me or no. "
" No doubt he might have used stronger measures," quietly continued the stranger ; " and if the lamentations of the Egyp tians had made themselves heard, you would now be cooling yourself by a residence in Mœsia. "
" Let him dare to send me there," called out Gallus, no longer master of himself.
" Dare ! " said the Perusian, with a smile, " he dare, who could annihilate you with a single word ! "
" Or I him," exclaimed Gallus, now enraged beyond all bounds : " Julius even met with his dagger. "
know that it is
" Ah ! unheard-of treason ! " cried the second stranger,
"I call the assembled company to witness that I have taken no part in the highly treasonable speeches that have been uttered here. My sandals, slave: to remain here any longer would be a crime. "
starting up ;
The guests had all risen, although a part of them reeled. Some endeavored to bring Gallus, who now did not seem to think so lightly of the words which had hastily escaped him, to moderation. Pomponius addressed the Perusians, but as they insisted on quitting the house, he promised Gallus that he would endeavor to pacify them on the way home.
The other guests also bethought them of departing ; one full of vexation at the unpleasant breaking up of the feast, another blaming Pomponius for introducing such unpolished fellows; Gallus not without some anxiety, which he in vain endeavored to silence by bold resolutions for the future.
The Catastrophe.
The day commenced very differently, on the present occa sion, in the house of Gallus, from what it had done on the morning of his journey. His disgrace, by some foreseen, but to most both unexpected and looked upon as the harbinger of still more severe misfortunes, formed the principal topic of the
ROMAN LIFE UNDER AUGUSTUS. 331
day, and was discussed in the forum and the tabernae with a thousand different comments. The intelligence of his return to Rome soon became diffused throughout the city; and the loud tidings of his presence should have collected the troop of clients who, at other times, were accustomed to flock in such great numbers to his house. On this day, however, the ves- tibulum remained empty; the obsequious crowd no longer thronged it. The selfish, who had promised themselves some advantage from the influence of their patron, became indif ferent about a house which could no longer be considered, as it had lately been, the entrance-hall of the palace. The timid were deterred by fear of the cloud which hung threatening over Gallus, lest they themselves should be overtaken by the destroy ing flash. The swarm of parasites, prudently weighing their own interest, avoided a table of doubtful duration, in order that they might not forfeit their seats at ten others, where un disturbed enjoyment for the future appeared more secure. And even those few in whom feelings of duty or shame had over come other considerations, seemed to be not at all dissatisfied when the ostiarius announced to them that his master would receive no visitors that day.
In the house itself all was quiet. The majority of the slaves had not yet returned from the villa, and those who were present seemed to share the grief of the deeply affected dispensator.
Uneasiness and anxiety had long since banished sleep from the couch of Gallus. He could not conceal from himself to what a precipice a misuse of his incautious expressions would drive him, and that he could expect no forbearance or secrecy from the suspicious-looking strangers. Animated by the dreams of freedom with which Calpurnius had entertained him ; half enlisted in the plans which the enthusiast, sincerely moved at the misfortune of his friend, had proposed to him ; highly excited by the strength of the wine and the heat of the play ; and stung to fury by the insolence of the strange guests, — he had suffered himself to be drawn into an indiscreet avowal which he was far from seriously meaning. On calmer reflections he perceived the folly of all those bold projects which, in the first moment of excitement, seemed to present the possibility of averting his own fate by the overthrow of the tyrant ; and he now found himself without the hope of escape, in the power of two men whose whole behavior was calculated
332 ROMAN LIFE UNDER AUGUSTUS.
to inspire anything but confidence. His only consolation was that they had been introduced by Pomponius, through whose exertions he hoped possibly to obtain their silence ; for Gallus still firmly believed in the sincerity of his friendship, and paid no attention even to a discovery which his slaves professed to have made on the way homeward. It was as follows : His road, in returning from the mansion of Lentulus, passed not far from that of Largus ; and the slaves who preceded him with the lantern had seen three men, resembling very much Pomponius and the two Perusians, approach the house. One of them struck the door with the metal knocker, and they were all immediately admitted by the ostiarius. Gallus certainly thought so late a visit strange ; but, as it was no uncommon thing for Largus to break far into the night with wine and play, he persuaded himself that it must be some acquaint ances who had called upon him on their return from an earlier party.
At last the drowsy god had steeped him in a beneficial obliv ion of these cares, and although the sun was by this time high in the heavens, yet Chresimus was carefully watching lest any noise in the vicinity of his bed-chamber should abridge the moments of his master's repose. The old man wandered about the house uneasily, and appeared to be impatiently wait ing for something.
In the atrium he was met by Leonidas, approaching from the door. "
" Well, no messenger yet ?
" None," replied the vicarius.
"And no intelligence in the house? " Chresimus again
asked.
"None since his departure," was the answer. He shook
his head, and proceeded to the atrium, where a loud knocking at the door was heard. The ostiarius opened it. It was an express with a letter from Lycoris.
" At last," cried Chresimus, as he took the letter from the tabellarius.
" My lady," said the messenger, " enjoined me to make all possible haste, and bade me give the letter only to yourself or your lord. Present it to him directly. " I
" Your admonition is not wanted," replied Chresimus : " have been long expecting your arrival. "
The faithful servant had indeed anxiously expected the letter. Although Gallus had strictly forbidden him from
he hastily inquired of him.
ROMAN LIFE UNDER AUGUSTUS. 833
letting the cause of his departure from the villa become known, yet Chresimus believed that he should be rendering him an important service by acquainting Lycoris with the un fortunate occurrence. She had at Baiae only half broken to him the secret, which confirmed but too well his opinion of Pomponius. He had therefore urged her not to lose a moment in making Gallus acquainted, at whatever sacrifice to herself, with the danger that was threatening him, and immediately return herself, in order to render lasting the first impression caused by her avowal. He now hastened toward the apart ment in which his master was still sleeping, cautiously fitted the three-toothed key into the opening of the door, and drew back the bolts by which it was fastened.
" Gallus, awakened by"the noise, sprang up from his couch. What do you bring ? cried he to the domestic, who had
pushed aside the tapestry and entered.
" A letter from Lycoris," said the old man, " just brought
by a courier. He urged me to deliver it immediately, and so I was forced to disturb you. "
Gallus hastily seized the tablets. They were not of the usual small and neat shape which afforded room for a few tender words only, but from their size they evidently inclosed a large epistle. "Doubtless," said he, as he cut the threads with a knife which Chresimus had presented to him, " doubt less the poor girl has been terrified by some unfavorable re ports about me. "
He read the contents, and turned pale. With the anxiety of a fond heart, she accused herself as the cause of what had befallen her lover, and disclosed to him the secret which must enlighten him on the danger that threatened him from Pom ponius. Without sparing herself, she alluded to her former connection with the traitor, narrated the occurrences of that evening, his attempt to deceive her, and his villainous threats. She conjured Gallus to take, with prudence and resolution, such steps as were calculated to render harmless the intrigues of his most dangerous enemy. She would herself arrive, she added, soon after he received the letter, in order to beg pardon with her own mouth for what had taken place.
" There stood the undeceived Gallus in deep emotion.
Read," said he, handing the letter to the faithful freedman, who shared all his secrets.
Chresimus took it, and read just what he had expected.
334 ROMAN LIFE UNDER AUGUSTUS.
" I was not deceived," said he, " and thank Lycoris for clearly disclosing to you, although late, the net they would draw around you. Now hasten to Caesar with such proofs of treachery in your hand, and expose to him the plot which they have formed against you. Haply the gods may grant that the storm which threatens to wreck the ship of your pros perity may yet subside. "
" I fear it is too late," replied his master, " but I will speak with Pomponius. He must know that I see through him ; per chance he will not then venture to divulge what, once published, must be succeeded by inevitable ruin. Dispatch some slaves immediately to his house, to the forum, and to the tabernae, where he is generally to be met with at this hour. He must have no idea that I have heard from Lycoris. They need only say that I particularly beg he will call upon me as soon as possible. "
Chresimus hastened to fulfill the commands of his lord. The slaves went and returned without having found Pomponius. The porter at his lodgings had answered that his master had set out early in the morning on a journey ; but one of the slaves fancied that he had caught a glimpse of him in the carinae, although he withdrew so speedily that he had not time to overtake him. At last, Leonidas returned from the forum ; he had been equally unsuccessful in his search, but brought other important intelligence, communicated to him by a friend of his master. " An obscure report," said this man, " is going about the forum, that Largus had, in the assembled senate, ac cused Gallus of high treason, and of plotting the murder of the emperor ; that two strangers had been brought into the curia as witnesses, and that Augustus had committed to the senate the punishment of the outrage. "
The intelligence was but too well founded. In order to anticipate any steps that Gallus might take for his security, Pomponius had announced to Largus, on the very night of the supper with Lentulus, that his artifice had met with com plete success. At daybreak Largus repaired to the imperial palace, and portrayed in glaring colors the treasonable designs which Gallus, when in his cups, had divulged. Undecided as to how he should act, yet solicitous for his own safety, Augus tus had referred the matter to the decision of the senate, most of the members of which were far from displeased at the charge. It is true that many voices were raised, demanding
ROMAN LIFE UNDER AUGUSTUS. 335
that the accused should not at least be condemned unheard : but they availed nothing against the louder clamor of those who declared that there were already previous charges suffi cient to justify extreme severity ; and that they themselves should be guilty of high treason did they, by delay or forbear ance, expose the life of Caesar and the welfare of the republic to danger. The result of the debate was a decree, by which Gallus was banished to an inhospitable country on the Pontus Uuxinus, and his property confiscated to the emperor. He was also ordered to leave Rome on the following morning, and Italy within ten days.
At the seventh hour Calpurnius rushed into the house of Gallus bringing confirmation of the dread decree, and was soon followed by others from all quarters. Gallus received the news, which cleared up the last doubts concerning his fate, with visible grief but manly composure. He thanked his friend for his sympathy, warning him at the same time to be more cautious on his own account for the future. He then re quested him to withdraw, ordered Chresimus to bring his double tablets, and delivered to him money and jewels to be saved for Lycoris and himself. Having pressed the hand of the veteran, who wept aloud, he demanded to be left alone. The domestic loitered for a while, and then retired full of the worst forebodings.
Gallus fastened the door, and for greater security placed the wooden bar across it. He then wrote a few words to Augustus, begging him to give their freedom to the faithful servants who had been in most direct attendance upon him. Words of farewell to Lycoris filled the other tablets. After this, he reached from the wall the sword, to the victories achieved by which he owed his fatal greatness, struck it deep into his breast, and as he fell upon the couch, dyed yet more strongly the purple coverlet with the streams of his blood.
The lictor, sent to announce to him the sentence of banish ment, arrived too late. Chresimus had already, with faithful hand, closed the eyes of his beloved master, and round the couch stood a troop of weeping slaves, uncertain of their future lot, and testifying by the loudness of their grief that a man of worth was dead.
336 LATIN POETIC RHYTHMS.
LATIN POETIC RHYTHMS. By F. W. H. MYERS.
[Frederick W. H. Mtebs : English essayist and poet ; born February 6, 1843. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, of which he became a Fellow. He published his charming poem "St. Paul" in 1867, "Renewal of Youth and Other Poems " in 1882. His " Essays Modern and Classical " came out in 1885; his "Science and a Future Life" in 1893. He has been greatly interested in the speculations regarding spiritualism, and is one of the honorable secretaries of the Society of Psychical Research. He is an inspector of schools, and resides in Cambridge. ]
No words that men can any more set side by side can ever affect the mind again like some of the great passages of Homer. For in them it seems as if all that makes life precious were in the act of being created at once and together — language itself, and the first emotions, and the inconceivable charm of song. When we hear one single sentence of Anticleia's answer, as she begins —
ov£ emeg' en megaroisin euskopos ioeheaira —
what words can express the sense which we receive of an effort less and absolute sublimity, the feeling of morning freshness and elemental power, the delight which is to all other intellec tual delights what youth is to all other joys ? And what a lan guage I which has written, as it were, of itself those last two words for the poet, which offers them as the fruit of its inmost structure and the bloom of its early day ! Beside speech like this Virgil's seems elaborate, and Dante's crabbed, and Shake speare's barbarous.
There never has been, there never will be, a language like the dead Greek. For Greek had all the merits of other tongues without their accompanying defects. It had the monumental weight and brevity of the Latin without its rigid unmanageability ; the copiousness and flexibility of the Ger man without its heavy commonness and guttural superfluity ; the pellucidity of the French without its jejuneness; the force and reality of the English without its structureless com minution. But it was an instrument beyond the control of any but its creators. When the great days of Greece were past, it was the language which made speeches and wrote
LATIN POETIC RHYTHMS. 337
books, and not the men. Its French brilliancy taught Isoc- rates to polish platitude into epigram ; its German profundity enabled Lycophron to pass off nonsense as oracles ; its Italian flow encouraged Apollonius Rhodius to shroud in long-drawn sweetness the languor of his inventive soul. There was noth ing except the language left. Like the golden brocade in a queen's sepulchre, its imperishable splendor was stretched stiffly across the skeleton of a life and thought which inhabited there no more.
The history of the Latin tongue was widely different. We do not meet it full-grown at the dawn of history; we see it take shape and strength beneath our eyes. We can watch, as it were, each stage in the forging of the thunderbolt ; from the day when Ennius, Naevius, Pacuvius, inweave their "three shafts of twisted storm,"1 till Lucretius adds "the sound and terror," and Catullus "the west wind and the fire. " It grows with the growth of the Roman people; it wins its words at the sword's point; and the "conquered nations in long array " pay tribute of their thought and speech as surely as of their blood and gold.
In the region of poetry this union of strenuous effort with eager receptivity is conspicuously seen. The barbarous Satur- nian lines, hovering between an accentual and a quantitative system, which were the only indigenous poetical product of Latium, rudely indicated the natural tendency of the Latin tongue towards a trochaic rhythm. Contact with Greece introduced Greek meters, and gradually established a definite quantitative system. Quantity and accent are equally con genial to the Latin language, and the trochaic and iambic meters of Greece bore transplantation with little injury. The adaptations of these rhythms by early Roman authors, how ever uncouth, are at least quite easy and unconstrained ; and so soon as the prestige of the Augustan era had passed away, we find both Pagans and Christians expressing in accentual iambic, and especially in accentual trochaic meters, the thoughts and feelings of the new age. Adam of S. Victor is metrically nearer to Livius Andronicus than to Virgil or Ovid ; and the Litany of the Arval Brethren finds its true succession, not in the Secular Ode of Horace, but in the Dies Irce or the Veni Creator.
* Tris imbris torti radios, tris nnbis aquosae
Addiderant, rutili tris ignis et alitis Austri. JSneid viii. 43ft
vol. v. — 22
338
LATIN POETIC RHYTHMS
For Latin poetry suffered a violent breach of continuity in the introduction from Greece of the hexameter and the elegiac couplet. The quantitative hexameter is in Latin a difficult and unnatural meter. Its prosodial structure excludes a very large proportion of Latin words from being employed at all. It narrowly limits the possible grammatical constructions, the modes of emphasis, the usages of curtailment, the forms of narration. On the other hand, when successfully managed, its advantages are great. All the strength and pregnancy of
Latin expression are brought out by the stately march of a meter perhaps the most compact and majestic which has ever been invented. The words take their place like the organs in a living structure — close packed, but delicately adjusted and mutually supporting. And the very sense of difficulty over come gives an additional charm to the sonorous beauty of the dactylic movement, its self-retarding pauses, its onward and overwhelming flow.
To the Greek the most elaborate poetical effects were as easy as the simplest. In his poetic, as in the glyptic art, he found all materials ready to his hand ; he had but to choose between the marble and the sardonyx, between the ivory and the gold. The Roman hewed his conceptions out of the granite rock ; oftenest its craggy forms were rudely piled together, yet dignified and strong ; but there were hands which could give it finish too, which could commit to the centuries a work splendid as well as imperishable, polished into the basalt's shimmer and fervent with the porphyry's glow. "
It must not, however, be supposed that even the uEneid has wholly overcome the difficulties inseparable from the Latin poetry of the classical age, that it is entirely free either from the frigidities of an imitation or from the constraints of a tour de force. In the first place, Virgil has not escaped the injury which has been done to subsequent poets by the example of the length and the subject-matter of Homer. An artificial dignity has been attached to poems in twelve or twenty-four books, and authors have been incited to tell needlessly long stories in order to take rank as epic poets. And because Homer is full of tales of personal combat — in his day an excit ing and all-important thing — later poets have thought it necessary to introduce a large element of this kind of descrip tion, which, so soon as it loses reality, becomes not only frigid but disgusting. It is as if the first novel had been written by
"
Virgil, Horace and Varius
From the painting by Jalabert in the Luxembourg
ODES OF HORACE. 339
a schoolboy of genius, and all succeeding novelists had felt bound to construct their plots mainly of matches at football. It is the later books of the " Mneid " that are most marred by this mistake. In the earlier books there are, no doubt, some ill- judged adaptations of Homeric incident, some labored reproduc tions of Homeric formulae, but for the most part the events are really noble and pathetic, — are such as possess permanent inter est for civilized men. The three last books, on the other hand, which have come down to us in a crude and unpruned condi tion, contain large tracts immediately imitated from Homer, and almost devoid of independent value.
Besides these defects in matter, the latter part of the poem illustrates the metrical dangers to which Latin hexameters suc cumbed almost as soon as Virgil was gone. The types on which they could be composed were limited in number and were be coming exhausted. Many of the lines in the later books are modeled upon lines in the earlier ones. Many passages show that peculiar form of bald artificiality into which this difficult meter so readily sinks ; nay, some of the tibicines, or stop-gaps, suggest a grotesque resemblance to the well-known style of the fourth-form boy. Other more ambitious passages give the painful impression of just missing the effect at which they aim.
ODES OF HORACE.
Translated by CHARLES STUART CALVERLEY.
[Quiirrus Horatius Flaccus, the most popular of Roman poets, was born b. o. 05 ; superbly educated ; at eighteen joined Brutus' army, and fought at Philippi ; had his estate confiscated, but through Virgil's intercession with Maecenas received it again, and gained Augustus' friendship as well as that of Maecenas, who presented him with the immortal " Sabine Farm. " He died b. c. 8. His odes are enduringly valued for their charm of style and genial Epicureanism of philosophy. ]
Book Ode To Thcdiarchus.
One dazzling mass of solid snow Soracte stands the bent woods fret Beneath their load and, sharpest-set
With frost, the streams have ceased to flow.
;
;
I. ,
9.
340
ODES OP HORACE.
Pile on great fagots and break up
The ice : let influence more benign Enter with four-years-treasured wine,
Fetched in the ponderous Sabine cup :
Leave to the gods all else. When they Have once bid rest the winds that war Over the passionate seas, no more
Gray ash and cypress rock and sway.
Ask not what future suns shall bring. Count to-day gain, whate'er it chance
To be : nor, young man, scorn the dance,
Nor deem sweet Love an idle thing,
Ere time thy April youth hath changed To sourness. Park and public walk Attract thee now, and whispered talk
At twilight meetings prearranged ;
Hear now the pretty laugh that tells In what dim corner lurks thy love ; And snatch a bracelet or a glove
From wrist or hand that scarce rebels.
Ode 11.
To LeuconOe.
Seek not, for thou shalt not find what my end, what thine shall be;
Ask not of Chaldaea's science what God wills, Leuconoe
Better far, what comes, to bear it. Haply many wintry blast Waits thee still and this, may be, Jove ordains to be thy last, Which flings now the flagging sea wave on the obstinate sandstone
reef.
Be thou wise fill up the wine cup shortening, since the time
brief,
Hopes that reach into the future. While speak, hath stolen away
Jealous Time.
Mistrust To-morrow, catch the blossom of To-day.
Book III. , Ode 1.
scorn and shun the rabble's noise. Abstain from idle talk. A thing
That ear hath not yet heard,
The Muses' priest, to maids and boys.
sing,
I
; I
I:
;
is
it
it,
a
:
ODES OF HORACE.
To Jove the flocks which great kings sway, To Jove great kings allegiance owe. Praise him : he laid the giants low :
All things that are, his nod obey.
This man may plant in broader lines
His fruit trees: that, the pride of race Enlists a candidate for place :
In worth, in fame, a third outshines
His mates ; or, thronged with clients, claims Precedence. Even-handed Fate
Hath but one law for small and great :
That ample urn holds all men's names.
He o'er whose doomed neck hangs the sword Unsheathed, the dainties of the South Shall lack their sweetness in his mouth :
No note of bird or harpsichord
Shall bring him Sleep. Yet Sleep is kind, Nor scorns the huts of laboring men ; The bank where shadows play, the glen
Of Tempe dancing in the wind.
He, who but asks " Enough," defies
Wild waves to rob him of his ease ;
He fears no rude shocks, when he sees
Arcturus set or Haedus rise :
When hailstones lash his vines, or fails His farm its promise, now of rains And now of stars that parch the plains
Complaining, or unkindly gales.
— In straitened seas the fish are pent ; For dams are sunk into the deep : Pile upon pile the builders heap,
And he, whom earth could not content,
The Master. Yet shall Fear and Hate
Climb where the Master climbs : nor e'er From the armed trireme parts black Care;
He sits behind, the horseman's mate.
And if red marble shall not ease
The heartache ; nor the shell that shines Star-bright ; nor all Falernum's vines,
All scents that charmed Achaemenes :
342
ODES OF HORACE.
Why should I rear me halls of rare
Design, on proud shafts mounting high ? Why bid my Sabine vale good-by
For doubled wealth and doubled care ?
Ode 2.
Friend ! with a poor man's straits to fight Let warfare teach thy stalwart boy : Let him the Parthian's front annoy
With lance in rest, a dreaded knight :
Live in the field, inure his eye
To danger. From the foeman's wall May the armed tyrant's dame, with all
Her damsels, gaze on him, and sigh,
" Dare not, in war unschooled, to rouse Yon Lion — whom to touch is death, To whom red Anger ever saith,
' Slay and slay on' — O prince, my spouse ! "
— Honored and blest the patriot dies. From death the recreant may not flee : Death shall not spare the faltering knee
And coward back of him that flies.
Valor — unbeat, unsullied still —
Shines with pure luster : all too great To seize or drop the sword of state,
Swayed by a people's veering will.
Valor — to souls too great for death
Heaven opening — treads the untrodden way: And this dull world, this damp cold clay,
On wings of scorn, abandoneth.
— Let too the sealed lip honored be. The babbler, who'd the secrets tell Of holy Ceres, shall not dwell
Where I dwell ; shall not launch with me
A shallop. Heaven full many a time Hath with the unclean slain the just : And halting-footed Vengeance must
O'ertake at last the steps of crime.
ODES OF HORACE.
Book III. , Ode 3.
The just man's single-purposed mind
Not furious mobs that prompt to ill
May move, nor kings' frowns shake his will
Which is as rock ; not warrior winds
That keep the seas in wild unrest ;
Nor bolt by Jove's own finger hurled : The fragments of a shivered world
Would crash round him still self-possest.
Jove's wandering son reached, thus endowed, The fiery bastions of the skies ;
Thus Pollux ; with them Caesar lies
Beside his nectar, radiant-browed.
Honored for this, by tigers drawn
Rode Bacchus, reining necks before Untamed ; for this War's horses bore
Quirinus up from Acheron.
To the pleased gods had Juno said In conclave: "Troy is in the dust; Troy, by a judge accursed, unjust,
And that strange woman prostrated.