A crown was given not only to him who earned it, but also to
the father, who gave birth to distinguished merit.
the father, who gave birth to distinguished merit.
Tacitus
_Convenitur ad eum mirâ
celebritate: cuncti detestantur, oderunt; et, quasi probent, quasi
diligant, cursant, frequentant, utque breviter, quod sentio, enunciem,
in Regulo demerendo, Regulum imitantur. Tenet se trans Tyberim in
hortis, in quibus latissimum solum porticibus immensis, ripam statuis
suis occupavit; ut est, in summâ avaritia sumptuosus, in summâ
infamiâ gloriosus. _ Lib. iv. ep. 2. All this splendour, in which
Regulus lived, was the fruit of a gainful and blood-thirsty eloquence;
if that may be called eloquence, which Pliny says was nothing more
than a crazed imagination; _nihil præter ingenium insanum_. Lib. iv.
ep. 7.
[c] Orpheus, in poetic story, was the son of Calliope, and Linus
boasted of Apollo for his father.
----Nec Thracius Orpheus,
Nec Linus; huic mater quamvis, atque huic pater adsit,
Orphei Calliopea, Lino formosus Apollo.
VIRG. ECL. iv. ver. 55.
Not Orpheus' self, nor Linus, should exceed
My lofty lays, or gain the poet's meed,
Though Phœbus, though Calliope inspire,
And one the mother aid, and one the sire.
WHARTON'S VIRGIL.
Orpheus embarked in the Argonautic expedition. His history of it,
together with his hymns, is still extant; but whether genuine, is much
doubted.
[d] Lysias, the celebrated orator, was a native of Syracuse, the
chief town in Sicily. He lived about four hundred years before the
Christian æra. Cicero says, that he did not addict himself to the
practice of the bar; but his compositions were so judicious, so pure
and elegant, that you might venture to pronounce him a perfect orator.
_Tum fuit Lysias, ipse quidem in causis forensibus non versatus sed
egregiè subtilis scriptor, atque elegans, quem jam prope audeas
oratorem perfectum dicere. _ Cicero _De Claris Orat. _ s. 35. Quintilian
gives the same opinion. Lysias, he says, preceded Demosthenes: he is
acute and elegant, and if to teach the art of speaking were the only
business of an orator, nothing more perfect can be found. He has no
redundancy, nothing superfluous, nothing too refined, or foreign to
his purpose: his style is flowing, but more like a pure fountain, than
a noble river. _His ætate Lysias major, subtilis atque elegans, et quo
nihil, si oratori satis sit docere, quæras perfectius. Nihil enim est
inane, nihil arcessitum; puro tamen fonti, quam magno flumini
propior. _ Quint, lib. x. cap. 1. A considerable number of his orations
is still extant, all written with exquisite taste and inexpressible
sweetness. See a very pleasing translation by Dr. Gillies.
Hyperides flourished at Athens in the time of Demosthenes, Æschynes,
Lycurgus, and other famous orators. That age, says Cicero, poured
forth a torrent of eloquence, of the best and purest kind, without the
false glitter of affected ornament, in a style of noble simplicity,
which lasted to the end of that period. _Huic Hyperides proximus, et
Æschynes fuit, et Lycurgus, aliique plures. Hæc enim ætas effudit hanc
copiam; et, ut opinio mea fert, succus ille et sanguis incorruptus
usque ad hanc ætatem oratorum fuit, in qua naturalis inesset, non
fucatus nitor. _ _De Claris Orat. _ s. 36. Quintilian allows to Hyperides a
keen discernment, and great sweetness of style; but he pronounces him
an orator designed by nature to shine in causes of no great moment.
_Dulcis in primis et acutus Hyperides; sed minoribus causis, ut non
dixerim utilior, magis par. _ Lib. x. cap. 1. Whatever might be the
case when this Dialogue happened, it is certain, at present, that the
fame of Sophocles and Euripides has eclipsed the two Greek orators.
[e] For an account of Asinius Pollio and Corvinus Messala, see
_Annals_, b. xi. s. 6. Quintilian (b. xii. chap. 10) commends the
diligence of Pollio, and the dignity of Messala. In another part of
his Institutes, he praises the invention, the judgement, and spirit of
Pollio, but at the same time says, he fell so short of the suavity and
splendour of Cicero, that he might well pass for an orator of a former
age. He adds, that Messala was natural and elegant: the grandeur of
his style seemed to announce the nobility of his birth; but still he
wanted force and energy. _Malta in Asinio Pollione inventio, summa
diligentia, adeo ut quibusdam etiam nimia videatur; et consilii et
animi satis; a nitore et jucunditate Ciceronis ita longe abest, ut
videri possit sæculo prior. At Messala nitidus et candidus, et
quodammodo præ se ferens in dicendo nobilitatem suam, viribus minor. _
Quintilian, lib. x. cap. 1. The two great poets of the Augustan age
have transmitted the name of Asinius Pollio to the latest posterity.
Virgil has celebrated him as a poet, and a commander of armies, in the
Illyrican and Dalmatic wars.
Tu mihi, seu magni superas jam saxa Timavi,
Sive oram Illyrici legis æquoris; en erit unquam
Ille dies, mihi cum liceat tua dicere facta?
En erit, ut liceat totum mihi ferre per orbem
Sola Sophocleo tua carmina digna cothurno?
ECLOG. viii. ver. 6.
O Pollio! leading thy victorious bands
O'er deep Timavus, or Illyria's sands;
O when thy glorious deeds shall I rehearse?
When tell the world how matchless is thy verse,
Worthy the lofty stage of laurell'd Greece,
Great rival of majestic Sophocles!
WHARTON'S VIRGIL.
Horace has added the orator and the statesman:
Paulum severæ musa tragediæ
Desit theatris; mox, ubi publicas
Res ordinaris, grande munus
Cecropio repetes cothurno,
Insigne mœstis præsidium reis,
Et consulenti, Pollio, curiæ,
Cui laurus æternos honores
Dalmatico peperit triumpho.
Lib. ii. ode 1.
Retard a while thy glowing vein,
Nor swell the solemn tragic scene;
And when thy sage, thy patriot cares
Have form'd the train of Rome's affairs,
With lofty rapture reinflam'd, diffuse
Heroic thoughts, and wake the buskin'd muse.
FRANCIS'S HORACE.
But after all, the question put by Maternus, is, can any of their
orations be compared to the _Medea_ of Ovid, or the _Thyestes_ of
Varius? Those two tragedies are so often praised by the critics of
antiquity, that the republic of letters has reason to lament the loss.
Quintilian says that the _Medea_ of Ovid was a specimen of genius,
that shewed to what heights the poet could have risen, had he thought
fit rather to curb, than give the rein to his imagination. _Ovidii
Medea videtur mihi ostendere quantum vir ille præstare potuisset, si
ingenio suo temperare, quam indulgere maluisset. _ Lib. x. cap. 1.
The works of Varius, if we except a few fragments, are wholly lost.
Horace, in his journey to Brundusium, met him and Virgil, and he
mentions the incident with the rapture of a friend who loved them
both:
Plotius, et Varius Sinuessæ, Virgiliusque
Occurrunt; animæ quales neque candidiores
Terra tulit, neque queis me sit devinctior alter.
Lib. i. sat. 5.
Horace also celebrates Varius as a poet of sublime genius. He begins
his Ode to Agrippa with the following lines:
Scriberis Vario fortis, et hostium
Victor, Mæonii carminis alite,
Quam rem cumque ferox navibus, aut equis
Miles te duce gesserit.
Lib. i. ode 6.
Varius, who soars on epic wing,
Agrippa, shall thy conquests sing,
Whate'er, inspir'd by thy command,
The soldier dar'd on sea or land.
FRANCIS'S HORACE.
A few fragments only of his works have reached posterity. His tragedy
of THYESTES is highly praised by Quintilian. That judicious critic
does not hesitate to say, that it may be opposed to the best
productions of the Greek stage. _Jam Varii Thyestes cuilibet Græcorum
comparari potest. _ Varius lived in high favour at the court of
Augustus. After the death of Virgil, he was joined with _Plotinus_
and _Tucca_ to revise the works of that admirable poet. The _Varus_ of
Virgil, so often celebrated in the Pastorals, was, notwithstanding
what some of the commentators have said, a different person from
Varius, the author of Thyestes.
Section XIII.
[a] The rural delight of Virgil is described by himself:
Rura mihi et rigui placeant in vallibus amnes;
Flumina amem, sylvasque inglorius. O ubi campi,
Sperchiusque, et virginibus bacchata Lacænis
Taygeta! O quis me gelidis sub montibus Hæmi
Sistat, et ingenti ramorum protegat umbrâ?
GEORGICA, lib. ii. ver. 485.
Me may the lowly vales and woodland please,
And winding rivers, and inglorious ease;
O that I wander'd by Sperchius' flood,
Or on Taygetus' sacred top I stood!
Who in cool Hæmus' vales my limbs will lay,
And in the darkest thicket hide from day?
WHARTON'S VIRG.
Besides this poetical retreat, which his imagination could command at
any time, Virgil had a real and delightful villa near Naples, where
he composed his Georgics, and wrote great part of the Æneid.
[b] When Augustus, or any eminent citizen, distinguished by his public
merit, appeared in the theatre, the people testified their joy by
acclamations, and unbounded applause. It is recorded by Horace, that
Mæcenas received that public honour.
----Datus in theatro
Cum tibi plausus,
Care Mæcenas eques, ut paterni
Fluminis ripæ, simul et jocosa
Redderet laudes tibi Vaticani
Montis imago.
Lib. i. ode 20.
When Virgil appeared, the audience paid the same compliment to a man
whose poetry adorned the Roman story. The letters from Augustus, which
are mentioned in this passage, have perished in the ruins of ancient
literature.
[c] Pomponius Secundus was of consular rank, and an eminent writer of
tragedy. See _Annals_, b. ii. s. 13. His life was written by Pliny
the elder, whose nephew mentions the fact (book iii. epist. 5), and
says it was a tribute to friendship. Quintilian pronounces him the
best of all the dramatic poets whom he had seen; though the critics
whose judgement was matured by years, did not think him sufficiently
tragical. They admitted, however, that his erudition was considerable,
and the beauty of his composition surpassed all his contemporaries.
_Eorum, quos viderim, longe princeps Pomponius Secundus, quem senes
parum tragicum putabant, eruditione ac nitore præstare confitebantur. _
Lib. x. cap. 1.
[d] Quintilian makes honourable mention of Domitius Afer. He says,
when he was a boy, the speeches of that orator for Volusenus Catulus
were held in high estimation. _Et nobis pueris insignes pro Voluseno
Catulo Domitii Afri orationes ferebantur. _ Lib. x. cap 1. He adds, in
another part of the same chapter, that Domitius Afer and Julius
Africanus were, of all the orators who flourished in his time, without
comparison the best. But Afer stands distinguished by the splendour
of his diction, and the rhetorical art which he has displayed in all
his compositions. You would not scruple to rank him among the ancient
orators. _Eorum quos viderim, Domitius Afer et Julius Secundus longe
præstantissimi. Verborum arte ille, et toto genere dicendi
præferendus, et quem in numero veterum locare non timeas. _ Lib. x.
cap. 1. Quintilian relates, that in a conversation which he had when a
young man, he asked Domitius Afer what poet was, in his opinion, the
next to Homer? The answer was, _Virgil is undoubtedly the second epic
poet, but he is nearer to the first than to the third. Utar enim
verbis, quæ ex Afro Domitio juvenis accepi; qui mihi interroganti,
quem Homero crederet maximè accedere: Secundus, inquit, est Virgilius,
propior tamen primo quam tertio. _ Lib. x. cap. 1. We may believe that
Quintilian thought highly of the man whose judgement he cites as an
authority. Quintilian, however, had in view nothing but the talents of
this celebrated orator. Tacitus, as a moral historian, looked at the
character of the man. He introduces him on the stage of public
business in the reign of Tiberius, and there represents him in haste
to advance himself by any kind of crime. _Quoquo facinore properus
clare cere. _ He tells us, in the same passage (_Annals_, b. iv. s.
52), that Tiberius pronounced him an orator in his own right, _suo
jure disertum_. Afer died in the reign of Nero, A. U. C. 812, A. D. 59.
In relating his death, Tacitus observes, that he raised himself by his
eloquence to the first civil honours; but he does not dismiss him
without condemning his morals. _Annals_, b. xiv. s. 19.
[e] We find in the Annals and the History of Tacitus, a number of
instances to justify the sentiments of Maternus. The rich found it
necessary to bequeath part of their substance to the prince, in order
to secure the remainder for their families. For the same reason,
Agricola made Domitian joint heir with his wife and daughter. _Life of
Agricola_, section 43.
[f] By a law of the Twelve Tables, a crown, when fairly earned by
virtue, was placed on the head of the deceased, and another was
ordered to be given to his father. The spirit of the law, Cicero says,
plainly intimated, that commendation was a tribute due to departed
virtue.
A crown was given not only to him who earned it, but also to
the father, who gave birth to distinguished merit. _Illa jam
significatio est, laudis ornamenta ad mortuos pertinere, quod coronam
virtute partam, et ei qui peperisset, et ejus parenti, sine fraude lex
impositam esse jubet. _ _De Legibus_, lib. ii. s. 24. This is the
reward to which Maternus aspires; and, that being granted, he desires,
as Horace did before him, to waive the pomp of funeral ceremonies.
Absint inani funere næniæ,
Luctusque turpes et querimoniæ;
Compesce clamorem, ac sepulchri
Mitte supervacuos honores.
Lib. ii. ode 20.
My friends, the funeral sorrow spare,
The plaintive song, and tender tear;
Nor let the voice of grief profane,
With loud laments, the solemn scene;
Nor o'er your poet's empty urn
With useless idle sorrow mourn.
FRANCIS'S HORACE.
Section XIV.
[a] Vipstanius Messala commanded a legion, and, at the head of it,
went over to Vespasian's party in the contention with Vitellius. He
was a man of illustrious birth, and equal merit; the only one, says
Tacitus, who entered into that war from motives of virtue. _Legioni
Vipstanius Messala præerat, claris majoribus, egregius ipse, et qui
solus ad id bellum artes bonas attulisset. _ _Hist. _ lib. iii. s. 9. He
was brother to Regulus, the vile informer, who has been mentioned. See
Life of Agricola, section 2. note a, and this tract, s. xii. note [b].
Messala, we are told by Tacitus, before he had attained the senatorian
age, acquired great fame by pleading the cause of his profligate
brother with extraordinary eloquence, and family affection. _Magnam eo
die pietatis eloquentiæque famam Vipstanius Messala adeptus est;
nondum senatoriâ ætate, ausus pro fratre Aquilio Regulo deprecari. _
_Hist. _ lib. iv. s. 42. Since Messala has now joined the company, the
Dialogue takes a new turn, and, by an easy and natural transition,
slides into the question concerning the causes of the decline of
eloquence.
[b] This is probably the same Asiaticus, who, in the revolt of the
provinces of Gaul, fought on the side of VINDEX. See _Hist. _ b. ii. s.
94. Biography was, in that evil period, a tribute paid by the friends
of departed merit, and the only kind of writing, in which men could
dare faintly to utter a sentiment in favour of virtue and public
liberty.
[c] In the declamations of Seneca and Quintilian, we have abundant
examples of these scholastic exercises, which Juvenal has placed in a
ridiculous light.
Et nos ergo manum ferulæ subduximus, et nos
Consilium dedimus Syllæ, privatus ut altum
Dormiret.
Sat. i. ver. 15.
Provok'd by these incorrigible fools,
I left declaiming in pedantic schools;
Where, with men-boys, I strove to get renown,
Advising Sylla to a private gown.
DRYDEN'S JUVENAL.
Section XV.
[a] The eloquence of Cicero, and the eminent orators of that age, was
preferred by all men of sound judgement to the unnatural and affected
style that prevailed under the emperors. Quintilian gives a decided
opinion. Cicero, he says, was allowed to be the reigning orator of his
time, and his name, with posterity, is not so much that of a man, as
of eloquence itself. _Quare non immerito ab hominibus ætatis suæ,
regnare in judiciis dictus est: apud posteros vero id consecutus, ut
Cicero jam non hominis, sed eloquentiæ nomen habeatur. _ Lib. x. cap.
1. Pliny the younger professed that Cicero was the orator with whom he
aspired to enter into competition. Not content with the eloquence of
his own times, he held it absurd not to follow the best examples of a
former age. _Est enim mihi cum Cicerone æmulatio, nec sum contentus
eloquentiâ sæculi nostri. Nam stultissimum credo, ad imitandum non
optima quæque præponere. _ Lib. i. epist. 5.
[b] Nicetes was a native of Smyrna, and a rhetorician in great
celebrity. Seneca says (_Controversiarum_, lib. iv. cap. 25), that his
scholars, content with hearing their master, had no ambition to be
heard themselves. Pliny the younger, among the commendations which he
bestows on a friend, mentions, as a praise-worthy part of his
character, that he attended the lectures of Quintilian and Nicetes
Sacerdos, of whom Pliny himself was at that time a constant follower.
_Erat non studiorum tantum, verum etiam studiosorum amantissimus, ac
prope quotidie ad audiendos, quos tunc ego frequentabam, Quintilianum
et Niceten Sacerdotem, ventitabat. _ Lib. vi. epist. 6.
[c] Mitylene was the chief city of the isle of Lesbos, in the Ægean
Sea, near the coast of Asia. The place at this day is called
_Metelin_, subject to the Turkish dominion. _Ephesus_ was a city of
_Ionia_, in the Lesser Asia, now called _Ajaloue_ by the Turks, who
are masters of the place.
[d] Domitius Afer and Julius Africanus have been already mentioned,
section xiii. note [d]. Both are highly praised by Quintilian. For
Asinius Pollio, see s. xii. note [e].
Section XVI.
[a] Quintilian puts the same question; and, according to him,
Demosthenes is the last of the ancients among the Greeks, as Cicero
is among the Romans. See _Quintilian_, lib. viii. cap. 5.
[b] The siege of Troy is supposed to have been brought to a conclusion
eleven hundred and ninety-three years before Christian æra. From that
time to the sixth year of Vespasian (A. U. C. 828), when this Dialogue
was had, the number of years that intervened was about 1268; a period
which, with propriety, may be said to be little less than 1300 years.
[c] Demosthenes died, before Christ 322 years, A. U. C. 432. From that
time to the sixth of Vespasian, A. U. C. 828, the intervening space was
about 396 years. Aper calls it little more than 400 years; but in a
conversation-piece strict accuracy is not to be expected.
[d] In the rude state of astronomy, which prevailed during many ages
of the world, it was natural that mankind should differ in their
computation of time. The ancient Egyptians, according to Diodorus
Siculus, lib. i. and Pliny the elder, lib. vii. s. 48, measured time
by the new moons. Some called the summer one year, and the winter
another. At first thirty days were a lunar year; three, four, and six
months were afterwards added, and hence in the Egyptian chronology the
vast number of years from the beginning of the world. Herodotus
informs us, that the Egyptians, in process of time, formed the idea of
the solar or solstitial year, subdivided into twelve months. The Roman
year at first was lunar, consisting, in the time of Romulus, of ten
months. Numa Pompilius added two. Men saw a diversity in the seasons,
and wishing to know the cause, began at length to perceive that the
distance or proximity of the sun occasioned the various operations of
nature; but it was long before the space of time, wherein that
luminary performs his course through the zodiac, and returns to the
point from which he set out, was called a year. The great year (_annus
magnus_), or the PLATONIC YEAR, is the space of time, wherein the
seven planets complete their revolutions, and all set out again from
the same point of the heavens where their course began before.
Mathematicians have been much divided in their calculations. Brotier
observes, that Riccioli makes the great year 25,920 solar years;
Tycho Brahe, 25,816; and Cassini, 24,800. Cicero expressly calls it a
period of 12,954 years. _Horum annorum, quos in fastis habemus, MAGNUS
annos duodecim millia nonagentos quinquaginta quatuor amplectitur
solstitiales scilicet. _ For a full and accurate dissertation on the
ANNUS MAGNUS, see the Memoirs of the Academy of Belles Lettres, tom.
xxii. 4to edit. p. 82.
Brotier, in his note on this passage, relates a fact not universally
known. He mentions a letter from one of the Jesuits on the mission,
dated _Peking_, 25th October 1725, in which it is stated, that in the
month of March preceding, when Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and Mercury were
in conjunction, the Chinese mathematicians fancied that an
approximation of Saturn was near at hand, and, in that persuasion,
congratulated the emperor YONG-TCHING on the renovation of the world,
which was shortly to take place. The emperor received the addresses of
the nobility, and gave credit to the opinion of the philosophers in
all his public edicts. Meanwhile, _Father Kegler_ endeavoured to
undeceive the emperor, and to convince him that the whole was a
mistake of the Chinese mathematicians: but he tried in vain; flattery
succeeded at court, and triumphed over truth.
[e] The argument is this: If the great year is the measure of time;
then, as it consists, according to Cicero, of 12,954 solar years, the
whole being divided by twelve, every month of the great year would be
clearly 1080 years. According to that calculation, Demosthenes not
only lived in the same year with the persons engaged in the Dialogue,
but, it may be said, in the same month. These are the months to which
Virgil alludes in the fourth eclogue:
Incipient magni procedere menses.
Section XVII.
[a] Menenius Agrippa was consul A. U. C. 251. In less than ten years
afterwards, violent dissensions broke out between the patrician order
and the common people, who complained that they were harassed and
oppressed by their affluent creditors. One Sicinius was their
factious demagogue. He told them, that it was in vain they fought the
battles of their country, since they were no better than slaves and
prisoners at Rome. He added, that men are born equal; that the fruits
of the earth were the common birth-right of all, and an agrarian law
was necessary; that they groaned under a load of debts and taxes; and
that a lazy and corrupt aristocracy battened at ease on the spoils of
their labour and industry. By the advice of this incendiary, the
discontented citizens made a secession to the MONS SACER, about three
miles out of the city. The fathers, in the meantime, were covered with
consternation. In order, however, to appease the fury of the
multitude, they dispatched Menenius Agrippa to their camp. In the rude
unpolished style of the times (_prisco illo dicendi et horrido modo_,
says Livy), that orator told them:
"At the time when the powers of man did not, as at present,
co-operate to one useful end, and the members of the human
body had their separate interest, their factions, and
cabals; it was agreed among them, that the belly maintained
itself by their toil and labour, enjoying, in the middle of
all, a state of calm repose, pampered with luxuries, and
gratified with every kind of pleasure. A conspiracy
followed, and the several members of the body took the
covenant. The hand would no longer administer food; the
mouth would not accept it, and the drudgery of mastication
was too much for the teeth. They continued in this
resolution, determined to starve the TREASURY of the body,
till they began to feel the consequences of their
ill-advised revolt. The several members lost their former
vigour, and the whole body was falling into a rapid decline.
It was then seen that the belly was formed for the good of
the whole; that it was by no means lazy, idle, and inactive;
but, while it was properly supported, took care to
distribute nourishment to every part, and having digested
the supplies, filled the veins with pure and wholesome
blood. "
The analogy, which this fable bore to the sedition of the Roman
people, was understood and felt. The discontented multitude saw that
the state of man described by Menenius, was _like to an
insurrection_. They returned to Rome, and submitted to legal
government. _Tempore, quo in homine non, ut nunc, omnia in unum
consentiebant, sed singulis membris suum cuique consilium, sum sermo
fuerat, indignatas reliquas partes, suâ curâ, suo labore, ac
ministerio, ventri omnia quæri; ventrem in medio quietum, nihil aliud,
quam datis voluptatibus frui; conspirasse inde, ne manus ad os cibum
ferrent, nec os acciperit datum, nec dentes conficerent. Hac irâ dum
ventrem fame domare vellent, ipsa unâ membra, totumque corpus ad
extremam tabem venisse. Inde apparuisse, ventris quoque haud segne
ministerium esse; nec magis ali quam alere eum; reddentem in omnes
corporis partes hunc, quo vivimus vigemusque, divisum, pariter in
venas, maturum confecto cibo sanguinem. _ Livy, lib. ii. s. 32. St.
Paul has made use of a similar argument;
"The body is not one member, but many: if the foot shall
say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it,
therefore, not of the body? and if the ear shall say,
Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it,
therefore, not of the body? If the whole body were an eye,
where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where
were the smelling? But now hath God set the members everyone
of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. And if they
were all one member, where were the body? But now are they
many members, yet but one body: and the eye cannot say unto
the hand, I have no need of thee; nor again, the head to the
feet, I have no need of you. And whether one member suffer,
all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured,
all the members rejoice with it. "
_First Epistle to the Corinthians_, chap. xii.
This reasoning of St. Paul merits the attention of those friends of
innovation, who are not content with the station in which God has
placed them, and, therefore, object to all subordination, all ranks in
society.
[b] Cæsar the dictator was, as the poet expresses it, graced with both
Minervas. Quintilian is of opinion, that if he had devoted his whole
time to the profession of eloquence, he would have been the great
rival of Cicero. The energy of his language, his strength of
conception, and his power over the passions, were so striking, that he
may be said to have harangued with the same spirit that he fought.
_Caius vero Cæsar si foro tantum vacasset, non alius ex nostris contra
Ciceronem nominaretur. Tanta in eo vis est, id acumen, ea concitatio,
ut illum eodem animo dixisse, quo bellavit, appareat. _ Lib. x. cap. 1.
To speak of Cicero in this place, were to hold a candle to the sun. It
will be sufficient to refer to Quintilian, who in the chapter above
cited has drawn a beautiful parallel between him and Demosthenes. The
Roman orator, he admits, improved himself by a diligent study of the
best models of Greece. He attained the warmth and the sublime of
Demosthenes, the harmony of Plato, and the sweet flexibility of
Isocrates. His own native genius supplied the rest. He was not
content, as Pindar expresses it, to collect the drops that rained down
from heaven, but had in himself the living fountain of that copious
flow, and that sublime, that pathetic energy, which were bestowed upon
him by the bounty of Providence, that in one man eloquence might exert
all her powers. _Nam mihi videtur Marcus Tullius, cum se totum ad
imitationem Græcorum contulisset, effinxisse vim Demosthenis, copiam
Platonis, jucunditatem Isocratis. Nec vero quod in quoque optimum fuit
studio consecutus est tantum, sed plurimas vel potius omnes ex se ipso
virtutes extulit immortalis ingenii beatissimâ ubertate. Non enim
pluvias (ut ait Pindarus) aquas colligit sed vivo gurgite exundat,
dono quodam providentiæ genitus, in quo vires suas eloquentia
experiretur. _ Lib. x. cap. 1.
[c] Marcus Cælius Rufus, in the judgement of Quintilian, was an orator
of considerable genius.
celebritate: cuncti detestantur, oderunt; et, quasi probent, quasi
diligant, cursant, frequentant, utque breviter, quod sentio, enunciem,
in Regulo demerendo, Regulum imitantur. Tenet se trans Tyberim in
hortis, in quibus latissimum solum porticibus immensis, ripam statuis
suis occupavit; ut est, in summâ avaritia sumptuosus, in summâ
infamiâ gloriosus. _ Lib. iv. ep. 2. All this splendour, in which
Regulus lived, was the fruit of a gainful and blood-thirsty eloquence;
if that may be called eloquence, which Pliny says was nothing more
than a crazed imagination; _nihil præter ingenium insanum_. Lib. iv.
ep. 7.
[c] Orpheus, in poetic story, was the son of Calliope, and Linus
boasted of Apollo for his father.
----Nec Thracius Orpheus,
Nec Linus; huic mater quamvis, atque huic pater adsit,
Orphei Calliopea, Lino formosus Apollo.
VIRG. ECL. iv. ver. 55.
Not Orpheus' self, nor Linus, should exceed
My lofty lays, or gain the poet's meed,
Though Phœbus, though Calliope inspire,
And one the mother aid, and one the sire.
WHARTON'S VIRGIL.
Orpheus embarked in the Argonautic expedition. His history of it,
together with his hymns, is still extant; but whether genuine, is much
doubted.
[d] Lysias, the celebrated orator, was a native of Syracuse, the
chief town in Sicily. He lived about four hundred years before the
Christian æra. Cicero says, that he did not addict himself to the
practice of the bar; but his compositions were so judicious, so pure
and elegant, that you might venture to pronounce him a perfect orator.
_Tum fuit Lysias, ipse quidem in causis forensibus non versatus sed
egregiè subtilis scriptor, atque elegans, quem jam prope audeas
oratorem perfectum dicere. _ Cicero _De Claris Orat. _ s. 35. Quintilian
gives the same opinion. Lysias, he says, preceded Demosthenes: he is
acute and elegant, and if to teach the art of speaking were the only
business of an orator, nothing more perfect can be found. He has no
redundancy, nothing superfluous, nothing too refined, or foreign to
his purpose: his style is flowing, but more like a pure fountain, than
a noble river. _His ætate Lysias major, subtilis atque elegans, et quo
nihil, si oratori satis sit docere, quæras perfectius. Nihil enim est
inane, nihil arcessitum; puro tamen fonti, quam magno flumini
propior. _ Quint, lib. x. cap. 1. A considerable number of his orations
is still extant, all written with exquisite taste and inexpressible
sweetness. See a very pleasing translation by Dr. Gillies.
Hyperides flourished at Athens in the time of Demosthenes, Æschynes,
Lycurgus, and other famous orators. That age, says Cicero, poured
forth a torrent of eloquence, of the best and purest kind, without the
false glitter of affected ornament, in a style of noble simplicity,
which lasted to the end of that period. _Huic Hyperides proximus, et
Æschynes fuit, et Lycurgus, aliique plures. Hæc enim ætas effudit hanc
copiam; et, ut opinio mea fert, succus ille et sanguis incorruptus
usque ad hanc ætatem oratorum fuit, in qua naturalis inesset, non
fucatus nitor. _ _De Claris Orat. _ s. 36. Quintilian allows to Hyperides a
keen discernment, and great sweetness of style; but he pronounces him
an orator designed by nature to shine in causes of no great moment.
_Dulcis in primis et acutus Hyperides; sed minoribus causis, ut non
dixerim utilior, magis par. _ Lib. x. cap. 1. Whatever might be the
case when this Dialogue happened, it is certain, at present, that the
fame of Sophocles and Euripides has eclipsed the two Greek orators.
[e] For an account of Asinius Pollio and Corvinus Messala, see
_Annals_, b. xi. s. 6. Quintilian (b. xii. chap. 10) commends the
diligence of Pollio, and the dignity of Messala. In another part of
his Institutes, he praises the invention, the judgement, and spirit of
Pollio, but at the same time says, he fell so short of the suavity and
splendour of Cicero, that he might well pass for an orator of a former
age. He adds, that Messala was natural and elegant: the grandeur of
his style seemed to announce the nobility of his birth; but still he
wanted force and energy. _Malta in Asinio Pollione inventio, summa
diligentia, adeo ut quibusdam etiam nimia videatur; et consilii et
animi satis; a nitore et jucunditate Ciceronis ita longe abest, ut
videri possit sæculo prior. At Messala nitidus et candidus, et
quodammodo præ se ferens in dicendo nobilitatem suam, viribus minor. _
Quintilian, lib. x. cap. 1. The two great poets of the Augustan age
have transmitted the name of Asinius Pollio to the latest posterity.
Virgil has celebrated him as a poet, and a commander of armies, in the
Illyrican and Dalmatic wars.
Tu mihi, seu magni superas jam saxa Timavi,
Sive oram Illyrici legis æquoris; en erit unquam
Ille dies, mihi cum liceat tua dicere facta?
En erit, ut liceat totum mihi ferre per orbem
Sola Sophocleo tua carmina digna cothurno?
ECLOG. viii. ver. 6.
O Pollio! leading thy victorious bands
O'er deep Timavus, or Illyria's sands;
O when thy glorious deeds shall I rehearse?
When tell the world how matchless is thy verse,
Worthy the lofty stage of laurell'd Greece,
Great rival of majestic Sophocles!
WHARTON'S VIRGIL.
Horace has added the orator and the statesman:
Paulum severæ musa tragediæ
Desit theatris; mox, ubi publicas
Res ordinaris, grande munus
Cecropio repetes cothurno,
Insigne mœstis præsidium reis,
Et consulenti, Pollio, curiæ,
Cui laurus æternos honores
Dalmatico peperit triumpho.
Lib. ii. ode 1.
Retard a while thy glowing vein,
Nor swell the solemn tragic scene;
And when thy sage, thy patriot cares
Have form'd the train of Rome's affairs,
With lofty rapture reinflam'd, diffuse
Heroic thoughts, and wake the buskin'd muse.
FRANCIS'S HORACE.
But after all, the question put by Maternus, is, can any of their
orations be compared to the _Medea_ of Ovid, or the _Thyestes_ of
Varius? Those two tragedies are so often praised by the critics of
antiquity, that the republic of letters has reason to lament the loss.
Quintilian says that the _Medea_ of Ovid was a specimen of genius,
that shewed to what heights the poet could have risen, had he thought
fit rather to curb, than give the rein to his imagination. _Ovidii
Medea videtur mihi ostendere quantum vir ille præstare potuisset, si
ingenio suo temperare, quam indulgere maluisset. _ Lib. x. cap. 1.
The works of Varius, if we except a few fragments, are wholly lost.
Horace, in his journey to Brundusium, met him and Virgil, and he
mentions the incident with the rapture of a friend who loved them
both:
Plotius, et Varius Sinuessæ, Virgiliusque
Occurrunt; animæ quales neque candidiores
Terra tulit, neque queis me sit devinctior alter.
Lib. i. sat. 5.
Horace also celebrates Varius as a poet of sublime genius. He begins
his Ode to Agrippa with the following lines:
Scriberis Vario fortis, et hostium
Victor, Mæonii carminis alite,
Quam rem cumque ferox navibus, aut equis
Miles te duce gesserit.
Lib. i. ode 6.
Varius, who soars on epic wing,
Agrippa, shall thy conquests sing,
Whate'er, inspir'd by thy command,
The soldier dar'd on sea or land.
FRANCIS'S HORACE.
A few fragments only of his works have reached posterity. His tragedy
of THYESTES is highly praised by Quintilian. That judicious critic
does not hesitate to say, that it may be opposed to the best
productions of the Greek stage. _Jam Varii Thyestes cuilibet Græcorum
comparari potest. _ Varius lived in high favour at the court of
Augustus. After the death of Virgil, he was joined with _Plotinus_
and _Tucca_ to revise the works of that admirable poet. The _Varus_ of
Virgil, so often celebrated in the Pastorals, was, notwithstanding
what some of the commentators have said, a different person from
Varius, the author of Thyestes.
Section XIII.
[a] The rural delight of Virgil is described by himself:
Rura mihi et rigui placeant in vallibus amnes;
Flumina amem, sylvasque inglorius. O ubi campi,
Sperchiusque, et virginibus bacchata Lacænis
Taygeta! O quis me gelidis sub montibus Hæmi
Sistat, et ingenti ramorum protegat umbrâ?
GEORGICA, lib. ii. ver. 485.
Me may the lowly vales and woodland please,
And winding rivers, and inglorious ease;
O that I wander'd by Sperchius' flood,
Or on Taygetus' sacred top I stood!
Who in cool Hæmus' vales my limbs will lay,
And in the darkest thicket hide from day?
WHARTON'S VIRG.
Besides this poetical retreat, which his imagination could command at
any time, Virgil had a real and delightful villa near Naples, where
he composed his Georgics, and wrote great part of the Æneid.
[b] When Augustus, or any eminent citizen, distinguished by his public
merit, appeared in the theatre, the people testified their joy by
acclamations, and unbounded applause. It is recorded by Horace, that
Mæcenas received that public honour.
----Datus in theatro
Cum tibi plausus,
Care Mæcenas eques, ut paterni
Fluminis ripæ, simul et jocosa
Redderet laudes tibi Vaticani
Montis imago.
Lib. i. ode 20.
When Virgil appeared, the audience paid the same compliment to a man
whose poetry adorned the Roman story. The letters from Augustus, which
are mentioned in this passage, have perished in the ruins of ancient
literature.
[c] Pomponius Secundus was of consular rank, and an eminent writer of
tragedy. See _Annals_, b. ii. s. 13. His life was written by Pliny
the elder, whose nephew mentions the fact (book iii. epist. 5), and
says it was a tribute to friendship. Quintilian pronounces him the
best of all the dramatic poets whom he had seen; though the critics
whose judgement was matured by years, did not think him sufficiently
tragical. They admitted, however, that his erudition was considerable,
and the beauty of his composition surpassed all his contemporaries.
_Eorum, quos viderim, longe princeps Pomponius Secundus, quem senes
parum tragicum putabant, eruditione ac nitore præstare confitebantur. _
Lib. x. cap. 1.
[d] Quintilian makes honourable mention of Domitius Afer. He says,
when he was a boy, the speeches of that orator for Volusenus Catulus
were held in high estimation. _Et nobis pueris insignes pro Voluseno
Catulo Domitii Afri orationes ferebantur. _ Lib. x. cap 1. He adds, in
another part of the same chapter, that Domitius Afer and Julius
Africanus were, of all the orators who flourished in his time, without
comparison the best. But Afer stands distinguished by the splendour
of his diction, and the rhetorical art which he has displayed in all
his compositions. You would not scruple to rank him among the ancient
orators. _Eorum quos viderim, Domitius Afer et Julius Secundus longe
præstantissimi. Verborum arte ille, et toto genere dicendi
præferendus, et quem in numero veterum locare non timeas. _ Lib. x.
cap. 1. Quintilian relates, that in a conversation which he had when a
young man, he asked Domitius Afer what poet was, in his opinion, the
next to Homer? The answer was, _Virgil is undoubtedly the second epic
poet, but he is nearer to the first than to the third. Utar enim
verbis, quæ ex Afro Domitio juvenis accepi; qui mihi interroganti,
quem Homero crederet maximè accedere: Secundus, inquit, est Virgilius,
propior tamen primo quam tertio. _ Lib. x. cap. 1. We may believe that
Quintilian thought highly of the man whose judgement he cites as an
authority. Quintilian, however, had in view nothing but the talents of
this celebrated orator. Tacitus, as a moral historian, looked at the
character of the man. He introduces him on the stage of public
business in the reign of Tiberius, and there represents him in haste
to advance himself by any kind of crime. _Quoquo facinore properus
clare cere. _ He tells us, in the same passage (_Annals_, b. iv. s.
52), that Tiberius pronounced him an orator in his own right, _suo
jure disertum_. Afer died in the reign of Nero, A. U. C. 812, A. D. 59.
In relating his death, Tacitus observes, that he raised himself by his
eloquence to the first civil honours; but he does not dismiss him
without condemning his morals. _Annals_, b. xiv. s. 19.
[e] We find in the Annals and the History of Tacitus, a number of
instances to justify the sentiments of Maternus. The rich found it
necessary to bequeath part of their substance to the prince, in order
to secure the remainder for their families. For the same reason,
Agricola made Domitian joint heir with his wife and daughter. _Life of
Agricola_, section 43.
[f] By a law of the Twelve Tables, a crown, when fairly earned by
virtue, was placed on the head of the deceased, and another was
ordered to be given to his father. The spirit of the law, Cicero says,
plainly intimated, that commendation was a tribute due to departed
virtue.
A crown was given not only to him who earned it, but also to
the father, who gave birth to distinguished merit. _Illa jam
significatio est, laudis ornamenta ad mortuos pertinere, quod coronam
virtute partam, et ei qui peperisset, et ejus parenti, sine fraude lex
impositam esse jubet. _ _De Legibus_, lib. ii. s. 24. This is the
reward to which Maternus aspires; and, that being granted, he desires,
as Horace did before him, to waive the pomp of funeral ceremonies.
Absint inani funere næniæ,
Luctusque turpes et querimoniæ;
Compesce clamorem, ac sepulchri
Mitte supervacuos honores.
Lib. ii. ode 20.
My friends, the funeral sorrow spare,
The plaintive song, and tender tear;
Nor let the voice of grief profane,
With loud laments, the solemn scene;
Nor o'er your poet's empty urn
With useless idle sorrow mourn.
FRANCIS'S HORACE.
Section XIV.
[a] Vipstanius Messala commanded a legion, and, at the head of it,
went over to Vespasian's party in the contention with Vitellius. He
was a man of illustrious birth, and equal merit; the only one, says
Tacitus, who entered into that war from motives of virtue. _Legioni
Vipstanius Messala præerat, claris majoribus, egregius ipse, et qui
solus ad id bellum artes bonas attulisset. _ _Hist. _ lib. iii. s. 9. He
was brother to Regulus, the vile informer, who has been mentioned. See
Life of Agricola, section 2. note a, and this tract, s. xii. note [b].
Messala, we are told by Tacitus, before he had attained the senatorian
age, acquired great fame by pleading the cause of his profligate
brother with extraordinary eloquence, and family affection. _Magnam eo
die pietatis eloquentiæque famam Vipstanius Messala adeptus est;
nondum senatoriâ ætate, ausus pro fratre Aquilio Regulo deprecari. _
_Hist. _ lib. iv. s. 42. Since Messala has now joined the company, the
Dialogue takes a new turn, and, by an easy and natural transition,
slides into the question concerning the causes of the decline of
eloquence.
[b] This is probably the same Asiaticus, who, in the revolt of the
provinces of Gaul, fought on the side of VINDEX. See _Hist. _ b. ii. s.
94. Biography was, in that evil period, a tribute paid by the friends
of departed merit, and the only kind of writing, in which men could
dare faintly to utter a sentiment in favour of virtue and public
liberty.
[c] In the declamations of Seneca and Quintilian, we have abundant
examples of these scholastic exercises, which Juvenal has placed in a
ridiculous light.
Et nos ergo manum ferulæ subduximus, et nos
Consilium dedimus Syllæ, privatus ut altum
Dormiret.
Sat. i. ver. 15.
Provok'd by these incorrigible fools,
I left declaiming in pedantic schools;
Where, with men-boys, I strove to get renown,
Advising Sylla to a private gown.
DRYDEN'S JUVENAL.
Section XV.
[a] The eloquence of Cicero, and the eminent orators of that age, was
preferred by all men of sound judgement to the unnatural and affected
style that prevailed under the emperors. Quintilian gives a decided
opinion. Cicero, he says, was allowed to be the reigning orator of his
time, and his name, with posterity, is not so much that of a man, as
of eloquence itself. _Quare non immerito ab hominibus ætatis suæ,
regnare in judiciis dictus est: apud posteros vero id consecutus, ut
Cicero jam non hominis, sed eloquentiæ nomen habeatur. _ Lib. x. cap.
1. Pliny the younger professed that Cicero was the orator with whom he
aspired to enter into competition. Not content with the eloquence of
his own times, he held it absurd not to follow the best examples of a
former age. _Est enim mihi cum Cicerone æmulatio, nec sum contentus
eloquentiâ sæculi nostri. Nam stultissimum credo, ad imitandum non
optima quæque præponere. _ Lib. i. epist. 5.
[b] Nicetes was a native of Smyrna, and a rhetorician in great
celebrity. Seneca says (_Controversiarum_, lib. iv. cap. 25), that his
scholars, content with hearing their master, had no ambition to be
heard themselves. Pliny the younger, among the commendations which he
bestows on a friend, mentions, as a praise-worthy part of his
character, that he attended the lectures of Quintilian and Nicetes
Sacerdos, of whom Pliny himself was at that time a constant follower.
_Erat non studiorum tantum, verum etiam studiosorum amantissimus, ac
prope quotidie ad audiendos, quos tunc ego frequentabam, Quintilianum
et Niceten Sacerdotem, ventitabat. _ Lib. vi. epist. 6.
[c] Mitylene was the chief city of the isle of Lesbos, in the Ægean
Sea, near the coast of Asia. The place at this day is called
_Metelin_, subject to the Turkish dominion. _Ephesus_ was a city of
_Ionia_, in the Lesser Asia, now called _Ajaloue_ by the Turks, who
are masters of the place.
[d] Domitius Afer and Julius Africanus have been already mentioned,
section xiii. note [d]. Both are highly praised by Quintilian. For
Asinius Pollio, see s. xii. note [e].
Section XVI.
[a] Quintilian puts the same question; and, according to him,
Demosthenes is the last of the ancients among the Greeks, as Cicero
is among the Romans. See _Quintilian_, lib. viii. cap. 5.
[b] The siege of Troy is supposed to have been brought to a conclusion
eleven hundred and ninety-three years before Christian æra. From that
time to the sixth year of Vespasian (A. U. C. 828), when this Dialogue
was had, the number of years that intervened was about 1268; a period
which, with propriety, may be said to be little less than 1300 years.
[c] Demosthenes died, before Christ 322 years, A. U. C. 432. From that
time to the sixth of Vespasian, A. U. C. 828, the intervening space was
about 396 years. Aper calls it little more than 400 years; but in a
conversation-piece strict accuracy is not to be expected.
[d] In the rude state of astronomy, which prevailed during many ages
of the world, it was natural that mankind should differ in their
computation of time. The ancient Egyptians, according to Diodorus
Siculus, lib. i. and Pliny the elder, lib. vii. s. 48, measured time
by the new moons. Some called the summer one year, and the winter
another. At first thirty days were a lunar year; three, four, and six
months were afterwards added, and hence in the Egyptian chronology the
vast number of years from the beginning of the world. Herodotus
informs us, that the Egyptians, in process of time, formed the idea of
the solar or solstitial year, subdivided into twelve months. The Roman
year at first was lunar, consisting, in the time of Romulus, of ten
months. Numa Pompilius added two. Men saw a diversity in the seasons,
and wishing to know the cause, began at length to perceive that the
distance or proximity of the sun occasioned the various operations of
nature; but it was long before the space of time, wherein that
luminary performs his course through the zodiac, and returns to the
point from which he set out, was called a year. The great year (_annus
magnus_), or the PLATONIC YEAR, is the space of time, wherein the
seven planets complete their revolutions, and all set out again from
the same point of the heavens where their course began before.
Mathematicians have been much divided in their calculations. Brotier
observes, that Riccioli makes the great year 25,920 solar years;
Tycho Brahe, 25,816; and Cassini, 24,800. Cicero expressly calls it a
period of 12,954 years. _Horum annorum, quos in fastis habemus, MAGNUS
annos duodecim millia nonagentos quinquaginta quatuor amplectitur
solstitiales scilicet. _ For a full and accurate dissertation on the
ANNUS MAGNUS, see the Memoirs of the Academy of Belles Lettres, tom.
xxii. 4to edit. p. 82.
Brotier, in his note on this passage, relates a fact not universally
known. He mentions a letter from one of the Jesuits on the mission,
dated _Peking_, 25th October 1725, in which it is stated, that in the
month of March preceding, when Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and Mercury were
in conjunction, the Chinese mathematicians fancied that an
approximation of Saturn was near at hand, and, in that persuasion,
congratulated the emperor YONG-TCHING on the renovation of the world,
which was shortly to take place. The emperor received the addresses of
the nobility, and gave credit to the opinion of the philosophers in
all his public edicts. Meanwhile, _Father Kegler_ endeavoured to
undeceive the emperor, and to convince him that the whole was a
mistake of the Chinese mathematicians: but he tried in vain; flattery
succeeded at court, and triumphed over truth.
[e] The argument is this: If the great year is the measure of time;
then, as it consists, according to Cicero, of 12,954 solar years, the
whole being divided by twelve, every month of the great year would be
clearly 1080 years. According to that calculation, Demosthenes not
only lived in the same year with the persons engaged in the Dialogue,
but, it may be said, in the same month. These are the months to which
Virgil alludes in the fourth eclogue:
Incipient magni procedere menses.
Section XVII.
[a] Menenius Agrippa was consul A. U. C. 251. In less than ten years
afterwards, violent dissensions broke out between the patrician order
and the common people, who complained that they were harassed and
oppressed by their affluent creditors. One Sicinius was their
factious demagogue. He told them, that it was in vain they fought the
battles of their country, since they were no better than slaves and
prisoners at Rome. He added, that men are born equal; that the fruits
of the earth were the common birth-right of all, and an agrarian law
was necessary; that they groaned under a load of debts and taxes; and
that a lazy and corrupt aristocracy battened at ease on the spoils of
their labour and industry. By the advice of this incendiary, the
discontented citizens made a secession to the MONS SACER, about three
miles out of the city. The fathers, in the meantime, were covered with
consternation. In order, however, to appease the fury of the
multitude, they dispatched Menenius Agrippa to their camp. In the rude
unpolished style of the times (_prisco illo dicendi et horrido modo_,
says Livy), that orator told them:
"At the time when the powers of man did not, as at present,
co-operate to one useful end, and the members of the human
body had their separate interest, their factions, and
cabals; it was agreed among them, that the belly maintained
itself by their toil and labour, enjoying, in the middle of
all, a state of calm repose, pampered with luxuries, and
gratified with every kind of pleasure. A conspiracy
followed, and the several members of the body took the
covenant. The hand would no longer administer food; the
mouth would not accept it, and the drudgery of mastication
was too much for the teeth. They continued in this
resolution, determined to starve the TREASURY of the body,
till they began to feel the consequences of their
ill-advised revolt. The several members lost their former
vigour, and the whole body was falling into a rapid decline.
It was then seen that the belly was formed for the good of
the whole; that it was by no means lazy, idle, and inactive;
but, while it was properly supported, took care to
distribute nourishment to every part, and having digested
the supplies, filled the veins with pure and wholesome
blood. "
The analogy, which this fable bore to the sedition of the Roman
people, was understood and felt. The discontented multitude saw that
the state of man described by Menenius, was _like to an
insurrection_. They returned to Rome, and submitted to legal
government. _Tempore, quo in homine non, ut nunc, omnia in unum
consentiebant, sed singulis membris suum cuique consilium, sum sermo
fuerat, indignatas reliquas partes, suâ curâ, suo labore, ac
ministerio, ventri omnia quæri; ventrem in medio quietum, nihil aliud,
quam datis voluptatibus frui; conspirasse inde, ne manus ad os cibum
ferrent, nec os acciperit datum, nec dentes conficerent. Hac irâ dum
ventrem fame domare vellent, ipsa unâ membra, totumque corpus ad
extremam tabem venisse. Inde apparuisse, ventris quoque haud segne
ministerium esse; nec magis ali quam alere eum; reddentem in omnes
corporis partes hunc, quo vivimus vigemusque, divisum, pariter in
venas, maturum confecto cibo sanguinem. _ Livy, lib. ii. s. 32. St.
Paul has made use of a similar argument;
"The body is not one member, but many: if the foot shall
say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it,
therefore, not of the body? and if the ear shall say,
Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it,
therefore, not of the body? If the whole body were an eye,
where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where
were the smelling? But now hath God set the members everyone
of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. And if they
were all one member, where were the body? But now are they
many members, yet but one body: and the eye cannot say unto
the hand, I have no need of thee; nor again, the head to the
feet, I have no need of you. And whether one member suffer,
all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured,
all the members rejoice with it. "
_First Epistle to the Corinthians_, chap. xii.
This reasoning of St. Paul merits the attention of those friends of
innovation, who are not content with the station in which God has
placed them, and, therefore, object to all subordination, all ranks in
society.
[b] Cæsar the dictator was, as the poet expresses it, graced with both
Minervas. Quintilian is of opinion, that if he had devoted his whole
time to the profession of eloquence, he would have been the great
rival of Cicero. The energy of his language, his strength of
conception, and his power over the passions, were so striking, that he
may be said to have harangued with the same spirit that he fought.
_Caius vero Cæsar si foro tantum vacasset, non alius ex nostris contra
Ciceronem nominaretur. Tanta in eo vis est, id acumen, ea concitatio,
ut illum eodem animo dixisse, quo bellavit, appareat. _ Lib. x. cap. 1.
To speak of Cicero in this place, were to hold a candle to the sun. It
will be sufficient to refer to Quintilian, who in the chapter above
cited has drawn a beautiful parallel between him and Demosthenes. The
Roman orator, he admits, improved himself by a diligent study of the
best models of Greece. He attained the warmth and the sublime of
Demosthenes, the harmony of Plato, and the sweet flexibility of
Isocrates. His own native genius supplied the rest. He was not
content, as Pindar expresses it, to collect the drops that rained down
from heaven, but had in himself the living fountain of that copious
flow, and that sublime, that pathetic energy, which were bestowed upon
him by the bounty of Providence, that in one man eloquence might exert
all her powers. _Nam mihi videtur Marcus Tullius, cum se totum ad
imitationem Græcorum contulisset, effinxisse vim Demosthenis, copiam
Platonis, jucunditatem Isocratis. Nec vero quod in quoque optimum fuit
studio consecutus est tantum, sed plurimas vel potius omnes ex se ipso
virtutes extulit immortalis ingenii beatissimâ ubertate. Non enim
pluvias (ut ait Pindarus) aquas colligit sed vivo gurgite exundat,
dono quodam providentiæ genitus, in quo vires suas eloquentia
experiretur. _ Lib. x. cap. 1.
[c] Marcus Cælius Rufus, in the judgement of Quintilian, was an orator
of considerable genius.
