human
Can you write a poem for me in the style of W. Warde (William Warde) Fowler?
assistant
Sure, here's a poem in the style of W. Warde (William Warde) Fowler:
  Recent change in the estimate of Roman Poetry
Want of originality
As compared with Greek Poetry
"      "    with Roman Oratory and History
The most complete literary monument of Rome
Partly imitative, partly original
Imitative in forms
"     in metres
Imitative element in diction
"        "    in matter
Original character, partly Roman, partly Italian
National spirit
Imaginative sentiment
Moral feeling
Italian element in Roman Poetry
Personal element in Roman Poetry
Character of each
Niebuhr's theory of a Ballad-Poetry
The Saturnian metre
Prophetic verses
Fescennine verses
Gnomic verses
Commemorative verses
Inferences as to their character
From early state of the language
No public recognition of Poetry
Roman story result of tradition and reflection
Inferences from the nature of Roman religion
From the character and pursuits of the people
Roman Poetry of Italian rather than Roman origin
Contact with Greece after capture of Tarentum
First period of Roman literature
Forms of Poetry during this period
Cn. Naevius, his life
Epic poem
Notices of his life
Influences affecting his career
Italian birth-place
Greek education
Service in Roman army
Historical importance of his age
Intellectual character of his age
Personal traits
Description of himself in the Annals
Intimacy with Scipio
His enthusiastic temperament
Religious spirit and convictions
Miscellaneous works
Idea by which it is animated
Artistic defects
Roman character of the work
Contrast with the Greek Epic
Contrast in its personages
Contrast in supernatural element
Description and imagery
Rhythm and diction
Chief literary characteristics of Ennius
Energy of conception
Patriotic and imaginative sentiment
Moral emotion
Practical understanding
Estimate in ancient times
Disparaging criticism of Niebuhr
Popularity of early Roman Tragedy
Partial adaptation of Athenian drama
Inability to reproduce its pure Hellenic character
Nearer approach to the spirit of Euripides than of Sophocles
Grounds of popularity of Roman Tragedy
Moral tone and oratorical spirit
Causes of its decline
M. Pacuvius, notices of his life
Ancient testimonies
His dramas
Passages illustrative of his thought
Of his moral and oratorical spirit
Descriptive passages
Drama on a Roman subject
L. Accius, notices of his life
His various works
Fragments illustrative of his oratorical spirit
"          "        of his moral fervour
"          "        of his sense of natural beauty
Conclusion as to character of Roman Tragedy
How far any claim to originality?
Disparaging judgment of later Roman critics
Connection with earlier Saturae
Naevius and Plautus popular poets
Facts in the life of Plautus
Attempt to fill up the outline from his works
Familiarity with town-life
Traces of maritime adventure
Life of the lower and middle classes represented in his plays
Love of good living
Love of money
Artistic indifference
Influence of the spirit of his age
Dramas adaptations of outward conditions of Athenian New Comedy
Manner and spirit, Roman and original
Indications of originality in his language
"              "       in his Roman allusions and national
characteristics
Favourite plots of his plays
Mode of dealing with his characters
Moral and political indifference of his plays
Value as a poetic artist
Power of expression by action, rhythm, diction
Comedy between the time of Plautus and Terence
Conflicting accounts of life of Terence
Order in which his Plays were produced
His 'prologues' as indicative of his individuality
Epicurean 'humanity' chief characteristic
Sentimental motive of his pieces
Minute delineations of character
Diction and rhythm
Influence on the style and sentiment of Horace
Independent origin of Roman satire
Essentially Roman in form and spirit
"        "   in its political and censorial function
Personal and miscellaneous character of early satire
Critical epoch at which Lucilius appeared
Question as to the date of his birth
Fragments chiefly preserved by grammarians
Miscellaneous character and desultory treatment of subjects
Traces of subjects treated in different books
Impression of the author's personality
Political character of Lucilian satire
Social vices satirised in it
Intellectual peculiarities
Literary criticism
His style
Grounds of his popularity
Common aspects in the lives of poets in the second century B.C.
Popular and national character of their works
Political condition of the time reflected in its literature
Defects of the poetic literature in form and style
Other forms of literature cultivated in that age
Oratory and history
Familiar letters
Critical and grammatical studies
Summary of character of the first period
Dearth of poetical works during the next half century
Literary taste confined to the upper classes
Great advance in Latin prose writing
Influence of this on the style of Lucretius and Catullus
Closer contact with the mind and art of Greece
Effects of the political unsettlement on the contemplative
life and thought
"    on the life of pleasure, and the art founded on it
The two representatives of the thought and art of the time
Little known of him from external sources
Examination of Jerome's statement
Inferences as to his national and social position
Impression of the author to be traced in his poem
Influence produced by the action of his age
Minute familiarity with Nature and country life
Spirit in which he wrote his work
His consciousness of power and delight in his task
His polemical spirit
Influence of other Greek writers
His interests speculative, not national
His Roman temperament
Three aspects of the poem
General scope of the argument
Analysis of the poem
Question as to its unfinished condition
What is the value of the argument?
Weakness of his science
Power of scientific reasoning, observation, and expression
Connecting links between his philosophy and poetry
"  of change
"  of the infinite
"  of the individual
"  of the subtlety of Nature
"  of Nature as a living power
General character of Greek epicureanism
Prevalence at Rome in the last age of the Republic
New type of epicureanism in Lucretius
Forms of evil against which his teaching was directed
Fear of death
Passion of love
Limitation of his ethical views
His literary power as a moralist
Artistic defects of the work
"        arising from the nature of the subject
"        from inequality in its execution
Intensity of feeling pervading the argument
Cumulative force in his rhythm
Qualities of his style
Freshness and sincerity of expression
Imaginative suggestiveness and creativeness
Use of analogies
Pictorial power
Poetical interpretation of Nature
Energy of movement in his descriptions
Poetic aspect of Nature influenced by his philosophy
Poetical interpretation of life
Modern interest of the poem
Contrast to the poetry of Lucretius
The poetry of youth
Accidental preservation of his poems
Principle of their arrangement
Vivid personal revelation afforded by them
Uncertainty as to the date of his birth
Birth-place and social standing
Influences of his native district
Poems written between 61 and 57 B.C.
Poems connected with his Bithynian journey
Poems written between 56 and 54 B.C.
Character of his poems, founded on the passion of love
"         "            "    on friendship and affection
His short satirical pieces
Other poems expressive of personal feeling
Qualities of style in these poems
"     of rhythm
"     of form
His longer and more purely artistic pieces
The longer elegiac poems
Rank of Catullus among the poets of the world
Page xii, line 25 from top, _for_ Ampitryo _read_ Amphitryo.
"  157, note 2, add the words, 'Terence, who was by birth a
foreigner, was probably brought to Rome as a child.'
"  194, line 25 from top, _for_ The Italian liveliness, &c.,
made them, _read_ Their liveliness, &c., made the Italians.
"  194, third line from bottom, _for_ nisim _read_ nisam.
"  213, line 12 from top, _for_ Æschylus _read_ Æschinus.
"  215, note, _for_ debacehentur _read_ debacchentur.
"  230, foot of the page, _for_ divitias _read_ divitiis.
"  287, line 12 from top, _for_ arbonis _read_ arboris.
"  343, line 7 from bottom, _for_ fungiferentis _read_
frugiferentis.
"  413, note 1, add the words, 'Cicero also, in his letters to
αὐτοδίδακτος δ᾽ εἰμί, θεὸς δέ μοι ἐν φρεσὶν οἴμας
παντοίας ἐνέφυσεν.
But their poetry, on the other hand, came to the Romans after
their habits were fully formed, as an ornamental addition to
their power,--κηπίον καὶ ἐγκαλλώπισμα πλούτου. Unlike the
as unsuited to the gravity of his greatest work, the Roman poets
the extent to which the taste of the later Romans was formed by
the familiar study of a foreign language so much superior to the
rude speech spoken by their fathers. The habitual study of any
Quo magis aeternum da dictis, diva, leporem;
Cetera, quae vacuas tenuissent carmina mentes,
Omnia jam vulgata.
thought, taste, and education. The poetry of Rome was, however, a
earliest poet of the ancient world, there is a kind of promise of
The poets of the latest age of the Republic alone express little
Ut satius multo jam sit parere quietum
Quam regere imperio res velle et regna tenere.
Roman poetry is pervaded also by a peculiar vein of imaginative
actions, and institutions of man. It is in their most serious and
The love of natural scenery and of country life is certainly more
Homer, and which is seen still characterising the most typical
representatives of the race in the days of St. Paul. The Roman
statesman, on the other hand, prized his _otium_ as the healthy
Molle atque facetum
Vergilio annuerunt gaudentes rure camenae.
Roman poetry is also interesting as the revelation of personal
Ille velut fidis arcana sodalibus olim
Credebat libris: neque si male cesserat, unquam
Decurrens alio, neque si bene: quo fit, ut omnis
Votiva pateat veluti descripta tabella
Vita senis.
It thus appears that, over and above their higher and finer
standard of conduct, their personal worth, and their strength of
The poetry of each of these periods is distinctly marked in form,
Magnus ab integro saeclorum nascitur ordo.
Catullus, dying only a few years before the extinction of popular
the end of the Augustan age. Under the continued pressure of the
This review of Roman poetry will bring before us the origin and
Haec finis Priami fatorum; hic exitus illum
Sorte tulit, Troiam incensam et prolapsa videntem
Pergama, tot quondam populis terrisque superbum
Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit, et artes
Intulit agresti Latio.
But it has been maintained, in recent times, that this was but
the second birth of Roman poetry, and that a golden age of native
Sic horridus ille
Defluxit numerus Saturnius, et grave virus
Munditiae pepulere.
Quum neque musarum scopulos quisquam superarat
Nec dicti studiosus erat.
The irregularity of the metre may be inferred from a saying of an
Nec non Ausonii, Troja gens missa, coloni
Versibus incomptis ludunt risuque soluto.
Enos, Lases, juvate.
Ne veluerve, Marmar, sins incurrere in pleores.
Satur fu, fere Mars.
Limen sali.
Sta berber.
Semunis alternis advocapit concto.
Enos, Marmar, juvato.
Triumpe, triumpe, triumpe, triumpe, triumpe.
The address to Mars 'Satur fu,' or, according to another reading,
From the extreme antiquity of these ceremonial chants it may be
Scripsere alii rem,
Versibu' quos olim Fauni vatesque canebant,
Amnem Trojugena Cannam Romane fuge, etc.,
suggest no more idea of poetical inspiration than the occasional
notices, in Latin authors, of the oracles of the Sibylline books.
Fescennina per hunc inventa licentia morem
Versibus alternis opprobria rustica fudit;
Libertasque recurrentes accepta per annos
Lusit amabiliter, donec jam saevus apertam
In rabiem coepit verti jocus et per honestas
Ire domos impune minax. Doluere cruento
Dente lacessiti; fuit intactis quoque cura
Conditione super communi; quin etiam lex
Poenaque lata, malo quae nollet carmine quemquam
Describi; vertere modum, formidine fustis
Ad bene dicendum delectandumque redacti.
testimony of Horace, to have been in metrical dialogue. This rude
unmistakably this primitive coarseness.
probable etymology of the word _satura_ connects it in origin
Besides the odes sung or recited at banquets, there were certain
funeral poems, called _Naeniae_, originally chanted by the female
The fact, however, remains, that the Romans did possess, in early
possession of a great commonwealth--one most tenacious of every
Iliad and the Odyssey--this early poetry could not have perished
While, therefore, it appears that the actual notices of the early
λησμοσύνην τε κακῶν ἄμπαυμά τε μερμηράων.
Flerent divae Camenae Naevium poetam.
notice, indeed, of a class of men who practised the profession of
had learned, through long years of war and subsequent dependence,
At rex sollicitus monstris, oracula Fauni,
Fatidici genitoris adit.
attached to minstrels in Scotland.]
The historical event which first brought the Romans into familiar
Serus enim Graecis admovit acumina chartis;
Et post Punica bella quietus, quaerere coepit
Quid Sophocles et Thespis et Aeschylus utile ferrent.
The earliest period of Roman poetry extends from the close of the
be incomplete. Yet these fragments are sufficient to produce a
The two earliest authors who fill a period of forty years in the
οὐ γὰρ ἔγωγέ τί φημι κακώτερον ἄλλο θαλάσσης
ἄνδρα γε συγχεῦαι, εἰ καὶ μάλα καρτερὸς εἴη;
are thus rendered:--
Namque nilum pejus
Macerat hemonem, quamde mare saevom, viris quoi
Sunt magnae, topper confringent importunae undae.
Fato Metelli Romae fiunt consules;
Dabunt malum Metelli Naevio poetae.
that his poem on the First Punic War was composed in his old age.
Mortales immortales flere si foret fas,
Flerent divae Camenae Naevium poetam,
Itaque postquam est Orcino traditus thesauro,
Obliti sunt Romae loquier Latina lingua.
Vos, qui regalis corporis custodias
Agitatis, ite actutum in frundiferos locos,
Ingenio arbusta ubi nata sunt, non obsita.
He composed a number of comedies, and also some original plays,
Quasi pila
In choro ludens dadatim dat se, et communem facit:
Alii adnutat, alii adnictat, alium amat, alium tenet;
Alibi manus est occupata, alii percellit pedem;
Alii spectandum dat annulum; a labris alium invocat;
Cum alio cantat, attamen dat alii digito literas.
destroyed your great commonwealth?' the pregnant answer is given,
Proveniebant oratores novi, stulti adolescentuli.
Quae ego in theatro hic meis probavi plausibus,
Ea nunc audere quemquam regem rumpere?
Quanto libertatem hanc his superat servitus?
and this also:--
Semper pluris feci potioremque ego
Libertatem habui multo quam pecuniam.
Uxores noctu Troiade exibant capitibus
Opertis, flentes abeuntes lacrimis cum multis.
He represents Aeneas as having only one ship built by Mercury,--a
Transit Melitam Romanus exercitus, insulam integram
Urit, populatur, vastat, rem hostium concinnat.
Naevius. 'Equidem quum audio socrum meam Laeliam (facilius enim
Our knowledge of Naevius is thus, of necessity, very limited and
The reading of the passage here adopted is that given by Munk.]
Etiam qui res magnas manu saepe gessit gloriose,
Cujus facta viva nunc vigent, qui apud gentes solus praestat,
Eum suus pater cum pallio ab amica abduxit uno.
The fragments of Ennius will repay a more minute examination than
the deeper veins of sentiment latent in the national imagination.
Nos sumu' Romani, qui fuvimus ante Rudini.
Among the circumstances which prepared him to be the creator of a
Ibant aequati numero regemque canebant.
Ad patrios montes et ad incunabula nostra--
in the expression of Ovid,--
Calabris in montibus ortus--
and in the phrase of Silius,--
Hispida tellus
Miserunt Calabri; Rudiae genuere vetustae
the poet owed the 'Italian heart' the virtue of a race still
uncorrupted and unsophisticated, the buoyant energy and freshness
kind of local character, distinguishing them alike from the older
who were widely spread among the Greeks of Southern Italy. The
Omnia cum belli trepido concussa tumultu
Horrida contremuere sub altis aetheris oris;
In dubioque fuere utrorum ad regna cadendum
Omnibus humanis esset terraque marique.
Though during that struggle the loyalty of some of the Italian
Vincere Caecilius gravitate, Terentius arte,
Poenico bello secundo Musa pinnato gradu
Intulit se bellicosam in Romuli gentem feram.
men's deepest convictions. Though the definite tenets of Stoicism
Sicut fortis equus, spatio qui saepe supremo
Vicit Olimpia, nunc senio confectu' quiescit.
In none of his fragments is there any trace of that melancholy
Ennius ipse pater nunquam, nisi potus, ad arma
Prosiluit dicenda;
and from the poet's own confession,
Nunquam poetor, nisi si podager,
Haece locutu' vocat quocum bene saepe libenter
Mensam sermonesque suos rerumque suarum
Congeriem partit, magnam cum lassu' diei
Partem fuisset de summis rebu' regendis
Cousilio, indu foro lato sanctoque senatu:
Cui res audacter magnas parvasque jocumque
Eloqueretur, cuncta simul malaque et bona dictu
Evomeret, si qui vellet, tutoque locaret.
Quocum multa volup ac gaudia clamque palamque:
Ingenium cui nulla malum sententia suadet
Ut faceret facinus levis aut malu', doctu', fidelis,
Scitu', secunda loquens in tempore, commodu', verbum
Paucum, multa tenens antiqua sepulta, vetustas
Quem fecit mores veteresque novosque tenentem.
Multorum veterum leges divumque hominumque;
Prudenter qui dicta loquive tacereve possit.
Hunc inter pugnas Servilius sic compellat.
There are many touches in this picture, which suggest the kind of
Hic est ille situs cui nemo civi' neque hostis
Quivit pro factis reddere opis pretium;
and this also,
A sole exoriente supra Maeoti' paludes
Nemo est qui factis me aequiperare queat.
Si fas endo plagas coelestium ascendere cuiquam est,
Mi soli caeli maxima porta patet.
With many marked differences, which distinguish a man of active,
Nil tamen hoc habuisse viro praeclarius in se,
Nec _sanctum_ magis, et mirum carumque videtur.
The inscription which Ennius composed for his own bust directly
Aspicite, O cives, senis Enni imagini' formam,
Hic vestrum panxit maxima facta patrum.
Nemo me lacrimis decoret nec funera fletu
Faxit. Cur? Volito vivu' per ora virum.
Two lines from one of his satires--
Enni poeta salve qui mortalibus
Versus propinas flammeos medullitus.
Some of the greatest of modern poets, such as Dante, Milton, and
Scripsere alii rem
Versibu', quos olim Fauni vatesque canebant,
Quum neque Musarum scopulos quisquam superarat
Nec dicti studiosus erat.
Another point in which there is some affinity between Ennius and
Ego deum genus esse semper dixi et dicam caelitum,
Sed eos non curare opinor, quid agat humanum genus;
Nam si curent, bene bonis sit, male malis, quod nunc abest:
Quo neque permaneant animae neque corpora nostra
Sed quaedam simulacra modis pallentia miris,
author of any prose writing. His version of the Sacred Chronicle
One of his works in verse was a treatise on good living, called
Quid turdum, merulam, melanurum umbramque marinam
Praeterii, atque scarum, cerebrum Jovi' paene supremi?
Nestoris ad patriam hic capitur magnusque bonusque.
He wrote also a philosophical poem in trochaic septenarian verse,
Istic est is Jupiter quem dico, quem Graeci vocant
Aërem: qui ventus est et nubes; imber postea
Atque ex imbre frigus: ventus post fit, aër denuo,
Haece propter Jupiter sunt ista quae dico tibi,
Quoniam mortalis atque urbes beluasque omnis juvat.
Saturae, or Miscellanies, under which title Ennius composed four,
Nunquam poetor, nisi si podager.
Hoc erit tibi argumentum semper in promptu situm:
Nequid expectes amicos, quod tute agere possies.
Nam qui lepide postulat alterum frustrari,
Quom frustrast, frustra illum dicit frustra esse.
Nam qui se frustrari quem frustra sentit,
Qui frustratur frustrast, si ille non est frustra.
O Tite tute Tati tibi tanta tiranne tulisti,
quoted from the Annals. Many of his fragments show indeed that he
tragedians, will be examined in the following chapter. It is not
titles of about twenty-five of his tragedies are known, and a few
Attic dramatists. Cicero speaks of it, along with the Antiope of
Pacuvius, as being translated word for word from the Greek; and a
οἶδα γὰρ πολλοὺς βροτῶν
σεμνοὺς γεγῶτας, τοὺς μὲν ὀμμάτων ἄπο
τοὺς δ᾽ ἐν θυραίοις,
being thus rendered in Latin,--
Multi suam rem bene gessere et publicam patria procul.
Utinam ne in nemore Pelio securibus
Caesa cecidisset abiegna ad terram trabes,
Neve inde navis inchoandae exordium
Coepisset, quae nunc nominatur nomine
Argo, quia Argivi in ea dilecti viri
Vecti petebant pellem inauratam arietis
Colchis, imperio regis Peliae, per dolum;
Nam nunquam era errans mea domo ecferret pedem
Medea, animo aegra, amore saevo saucia.
soldierly character. Cicero adduces the wounded Eurypylus as an
example of the kind of fortitude and superiority to pain produced
In the former of these scenes Cassandra, under the influence of
Adest, adest fax obvoluta sanguine atque incendio:
Multos annos latuit: cives ferte opem et restinguite.
Iamque mari magno classis cita
Texitur: exitium examen rapit.
Advenit, et fera velivolantibus
Navibus complevit manus litora.
characterises his ordinary verse in the line,
In scaenam missos cum magno pondere versus;
and this slow and weighty movement seems to have been the general
In two of his dramas, the Sabinae and Ambracia, he made use of
Hic vestrum panxit maxima facta patrum:
and again, apparently at the opening of the poem, he wrote,--
Latos per populos terrasque poemata nostra
Clara cluebunt.
Multa tenens, antiqua, sepulta,
The poem was written in eighteen books. Of these books about six
Quum veter occubuit Priamus sub marte Pelasgo,
to the death and deification of Romulus;
Romulus in caelo cum dis genitalibus aevum
Quam prisci casci populi tenuere Latini.
Fecerat et viridi fetam Mavortis in antro
Procubuisse lupam: geminos huic ubera circum
Ludere pendentes pueros, et lambere matrem
Impavidos; illam terreti cervice reflexam
Mulcere alternos, et corpora fingere lingua,--
At domus interior gemitu miseroque tumultu, etc.
Ostia munita est; idem loca navibu' pulchris
Munda facit; nautisque mari quaesentibu' vitam.
This line also
Postquam lumina sis oculis bonus Ancu' reliquit
is familiar from its reappearance in one of the most impressive
passages of Lucretius.
Scripsêre alii rem, etc.
a friend of Servilius Geminus, occurred in the seventh book. Two
Flos delibatus populi suadaeque medulla,
and the lines in honour of Q. Fabius Maximus,
Insece Musa manu Romanorum induperator
Quod quisque in bello gessit cum rege Philippo,
treated of the Macedonian war, and of the deeds of T. Quintius
Audire est operae pretium procedere recte
Qui rem Romanam Latiumque augescere vultis;
and this other line which Cicero compared to the utterance of an
Moribus antiquis stat res Romana virisque.
Quem fecit mores veteresque novosque tenentem.
unaccompanied by beauty, grace, or symmetry. The creation of an
and the Roman poet in their modes of representing human life and
of Homer's Olympus and that outline which may still be traced in
Unus erit quem tu tolles in caerula caeli
they are introduced as debating, 'tectis bipatentibus,' on the
Romanis coepit Juno placata favere.
advancing these decrees, seem to be an artistic addition to this
νιφάδεσσιν ἐοίκοτα χειμερίῃσι,
Pellitur e medio sapientia, vi geritur res:
Spernitur orator bonus, horridu' miles amatur:
Haut doctis dictis certantes, sed maledictis
Miscent inter sese inimicitiam agitantes;
Non ex jure manu consertum, sed magi' ferro
Rem repetunt, regnumque petunt, vadunt solida vi.
Many lines of the Annals are evidently fragments of speeches. The
Nec mi aurum posco, nec mi pretium dederitis:
Non cauponantes bellum, sed belligerantes,
Ferro non auro vitam cernamus utrique.
Vosne velit an me regnare era quidve ferat Fors,
Virtute experiamur. Et hoc simul accipe dictum:
Quorum virtutei belli fortuna pepercit,
Eorundem libertati me parcere certum est.
Dono ducite, doque volentibu' cum magnis dis.
Quo vobis mentes rectae quae stare solebant
Antehac, dementes sese flexere viai.
indu foro lato sanctoque senatu--
Flumina amem silvasque inglorius.
Yet both in his illustrative imagery and in his narrative, he
Et tum sic ut equus, qui de praesepibu' fartus,
Vincla suis magnis animis abrupit, et inde
Fert sese campi per caerula laetaque prata
Celso pectore, saepe jubam quassat simul altam,
Spiritus ex anima calida spumas agit albas.
the silent expectation with which the assembled people watch the
Expectant vel uti consul cum mittere signum
Volt, omnes avidi spectant ad carceris oras,
Quam mox emittat pictis e faucibu' currus.
expression, which has been adopted by Virgil, 'stellis ingentibus
Vertitur interea caelum cum ingentibu' signis.
Et ripas raptare locosque novos;
Quod per amoenam urbem leni fluit agmine flumen;
Jupiter hic risit tempestatesque serenae
Riserunt omnes risu Jovis omnipotentis.
Corde capessere: semita nulla pedem stabilibat.
Poste recumbite vestraque pectora pellite tonsis.
Miscent inter sese inimicitiam agitantes.
The quantity of syllables and the inflexions of words were so far
Partem fuisset de summis rebu' regendis;
and this,
Noenum rumores ponebat ante salutem;
Cives Romani tunc facti sunt Campani;
and this
Appius indixit Karthaginiensibu' bellum;
Floralemque Falacrem et Pomonalem fecit
Hic idem.
Incedunt arbusta per alta, securibu' caedunt,
Percellunt magnas quercus, exciditur ilex,
Fraxinu' frangitur, atque abies consternitur alta.
Pinus proceras pervortunt: omne sonabat
Arbustum fremitu siluai frondosai.
The diction also of the Annals is generally fresh and forcible,
Noenum rumores ponebat ante salutem:
Ergo plusque magisque viri nunc gloria claret.
accomplished inscribed on the tombs of the Scipios.
Aspectabat virtutem legioni' suai,
Expectans, si mussaret, quae denique pausa
Pugnandi fieret, aut duri fini' laboris.
Musae quae pedibus magnum pulsatis Olympum.
Transnavit cita per teneras caliginis auras.
Postquam discordia taetra
Belli ferratos postes portasque refregit.
Quem super ingens
Porta tonat caeli.
Spiritus austri imbricitor. Naves velivolae, etc. etc.
Ennius ut noster cecinit, qui primus amoeno
Detulit ex Helicone perenni fronde coronam,
Per gentes Italas hominum quae clara clueret;
Excita cum tremulis anus attulit artubu' lumen,
Talia commemorat lacrimans, exterrita somno.
Eurudica prognata, pater quam noster amavit,
Vires vitaque corpu' meum nunc deserit omne.
Et ripas raptare locosque novos; ita sola
Postilla, germana soror, errare videbar
Corde capessere: semita nulla pedem stabilibat.
Exin compellare pater me voce videtur
His verbis: 'O gnata, tibi sunt ante ferendae
Aerumnae, post ex fluvio fortuna resistet.'
Haec ecfatu' pater, germana, repente recessit
Nec sese dedit in conspectum, corde cupitus,
Quanquam multa manus ad caeli caerula templa
Tendebam lacrimans et blanda voce vocabam:
Vix aegro cum corde meo me somnu' reliquit.
Agit ipse furentem
In somnis ferus Aeneas: semperque relinqui
Sola sibi, semper longam incomitata videtur
Ire viam, et Tyrios deserta quaerere terra.
Another of the most impressive passages in the early books of the
Among the modes of imaginative sentiment by which the poetry of
affinity to Virgil in ancient, and to Scott in modern times. He
Pectora ... tenet desiderium, simul inter
Sese sic memorant, O Romule, Romule die
Qualem te patriae custodem di genuerunt!
O pater, O genitor, O sanguen dis oriundum!
Tu produxisti nos intra luminis oras.
Teque pater Tiberine tuo cum flumine sancto.
and also in this fragment--
Postquam consistit fluvius qui est omnibu' princeps
Qui sub caeruleo.
The enumeration of the great warlike races in the line
Marsa manus, Peligna cohors, Vestina virum vis,
may recall the pride and enthusiasm which are kindled in the
heart of Virgil by the names of the various tribes of Italy, and
of places renowned for their fame in story, or their picturesque
environment. This fond use of proper names recalling old
It was seen in the introductory chapter that the Roman mind was
Magnum pulsatis Olympum. Indu mari magno.
Litora lata sonant.
Latos per populos terrasque.
Magnae gentes opulentae.
Quis potis ingentis oras evolvere belli?
Vertitur interea caelum cum ingentibu' signis;
and again in the following--
Indu foro lato sanctoque senatu.
Augusto augurio postquam incluta condita Roma est.
Omnibu' cura viris uter esset induperator,
and in the epithet which Cicero quotes as applied to cities--
Urbes magnas atque _imperiosas_.
O pater, O patria, O Priami domus,
Saeptum altisono cardine templum!
Vidi ego te, astante ope barbarica,
Tectis caelatis, lacuatis,
Auro ebore instructum regifice!
tenderness is found in union with the grave tones of Pacuvius and
Ast animo superant atque aspera prima
Volnera belli dispernunt;
Ego cum genui tum morituros scivi, et ei rei sustuli:
Praeterea ad Trojam cum misi ob defendendam Graeciam,
Scibam me in mortiferum bellum, non in epulas mittere.
The generosity and courage of a magnanimous nature are stamped
upon the kingly speech which he puts into the mouth of Pyrrhus. A
Eo ego ingenio natus sum,
Aeque inimicitiam atque amicitiam in frontem promptam gero.
ridiculed by the purism of Seneca:
Is dictus 'st ollis popularibus olim
Qui tum vivebant homines, atque aevum agitabant,
Flos delibatus populi suadaeque medulla.
Otioso in otio animus nescit quid velit;
Hic itidem est: enim neque domi nunc nos neque militiae sumus,
Imus huc, illuc hinc, cum illuc ventum est, ire illinc lubet;
Incerte errat animus: praeter propter vitam vivitur,--
a fragment which might be compared with certain passages in the
Exit saepe foras magnis ex aedibus ille
Esse domi quem pertaesum 'st, subitoque revertit,
Quippe domi nihilo melius qui sentiat esse,' etc.
Eremites and friars
White, black, and grey, with all their trumpery.
Satin' vates verant aetate in agenda?
Quod est ante pedes nemo spectat: caeli scrutantur plagas.
Sed superstitiosi vates, impudentesque arioli,
Aut inertes aut insani, aut quibus egestas imperat,
Qui sibi semitam non sapiunt, alteri monstrant viam,
Quibus divitias pollicentur, ab eis drachmam ipsi petunt.
Philosophari est mihi necesse, at paucis: nam omnino haut placet.
Such appear to be the chief attributes of genius and imaginative
acknowledge their admiration. The strong testimony of Lucretius,
the most imaginative poet and the most powerful thinker whom Rome
Ennius, ingenio maximus, arte rudis.
Ennius et sapiens et fortis et alter Homerus,
Quo promissa cadant et somnia Pythagorea,
The variety and extent of his works bear witness to remarkable
ministerio.]
Quid contraxistis frontem, quia tragoediam
Dixi futuram hanc?
βουλόμενος φησὶ μόνον ἄν Ὥμηρον ἐπαξίους ἐπαίνους εἰπεῖν
Σκιπίωνος.--Aelian, as quoted by Suidas, vol. i. p. 1258. Ed.
Cor jubet hoc Enni, postquam destertuit esse
Maeonides, Quintus pavone ex Pythagoreo.
Epicharmus of Megara, or rather had, at least for the most part,
Quippe sine cura laetus lautus cum advenis
Insertis malis, expedito bracchio
Alacer, celsus, lupino expectans impetu,
Mox cum alterius obligurias bona,
Quid censes domino esse animi? pro divum fidem!
Ille tristis cibum dum servat, tu ridens voras.
Εἴθ᾽ ὤφελ᾽ Αργοῦς μὴ διαπτάσθαι σκάφος
Κόλχων ἐς αἶαν κυανέας Συμπληγάδας,
μηδ᾽ ἐν νάπαισι Πηλίου πεσεῖν ποτε
τμηθεῖσα πεύκη, μηδ᾽ ἐρετμῶσαι χέρας
ἀνδρῶν ἀριστέων, οἳ τὸ πάγχρυσον δέρος
Πελίᾳ μετῆλθον· οὐ γὰρ ἂν δέσποιν᾽ ἐμὴ
Μήδεια πύργους γῆς ἔπλευσ᾽ Ἰωλκίας
ἔρωτι θυμὸν ἐκπλαγεῖσ᾽ Ἰάσονος.
statement he is supposed to have derived from the _Cypria_.]
me a ransom. Let us wage the war, not like hucksters, but like
soldiers--with the sword, not with gold, putting our lives to the
ὡς δ᾽ ὅτε τις στατὸς ἵππος, ἀκοστήσας ἐπὶ φάτνῃ
δεσμὸν ἀπορρήξας θείῃ πεδίοιο κροαίνων,
εἰωθὼς λούεσθαι εὐρρεῖος ποταμοῖο,
κυδιόων· ὑψοῦ δὲ κάρη ἔχει, ἀμφὶ δὲ χαῖται
ὤμοις ἀΐσσονται· ὁ δ᾽ ἀγλαΐηφι πεποιθώς,
ῥίμφα ἑ γοῦνα φέρει μετά τ᾽ ἤθεα καὶ νομὸν ἵππων.
Qualis ubi abruptis fugit praesepia vinclis
Tandem liber equus, campoque potitus aperto
Aut ille in pastus armentaque tendit equarum,
Aut adsuetus aquae perfundi flumine noto
Emicat, arrectisque fremit cervicibus alte
Luxurians, luduntque jubae per colla, per armos.
Olli subridens hominum sator atque deorum
Voltu, quo caelum tempestatesque serenat.--Aen. i. 254.
φησι . . . . δῆλον δὲ ὡς ἐτεθήπει τοῦ ποιητοῦ τὴν μεγαλόνοιαν καὶ
Itur in antiquam silvam, stabula alta ferarum,
Procumbunt piceae, sonat icta securibus ilex,
Fraxineaeque trabes cuneis et fissile robur
Scinditur, advolvunt ingentis montibus ornos.
Quique altum Praeneste viri, quique arva Gabinae
Junonis gelidumque Anienem et roscida rivis
Hernica saxa colunt, quos dives Anagnia pascit,
'Undique conveniunt velut imber, tela tribuno,' etc.
'Ita sapere opino esse optimum, ut pro viribus
Tacere ac fabulare tute noveris;'
'Ea libertas est quae pectus purum et firmum gestitat.'
fortune-tellers, idle fellows, or madmen, or the victims of want,
'Ennius est lectus, salvo tibi, Roma, Marone.'
expressed not with the subtlety and reflective genius of Greece,
but in the plain and straightforward tones of the Roman Republic.
The following questions suggest themselves as of most interest in
The materials or substance of Roman tragedy were almost entirely
ancient legends; but this was but one part, perhaps not the most
important part, of their functions. They represented before the
The contemplative and religious thought of Greek tragedy was thus
fortunes amassed and the high consideration enjoyed by the actors
Sestius, the same author says, 'amid a great variety of opinions
occasional appeal to national and political feeling.
orator. These instances, and the comments Cicero makes upon them,
accomplishments which fitted men for public life at Rome.
The testimony of later writers points to the conclusion that the
Nam spirat tragicum satis et feliciter audet;
('virilitas et sanctitas), were to be studied in them. He states
M. Pacuvius, nephew, by the mother's side, of Ennius, was born at
Ambigitur quoties uter utro sit prior, aufert
Pacuvius docti famam senis, Accius alti.
Adolescens, tametsi properas, te hoc saxum rogat,
Ut se aspicias, deinde quod scriptum est, legas,
Hic sunt poetae Pacuvi Marci sita
Ossa. Hoc volebam nescius ne esses. Vale.
Nerei repandirostrum incurvicervicum pecus.
Verum tristis contorto aliquo ex Pacuviano exordio.
Hoc vide, circum supraque quod complexu continet
Solisque exortu capessit candorem, occasu nigret,
Id quod nostri caelum memorant, Graii perhibent aethera:
Quidquid est hoc, omnia animat, format, alit, auget, creat,
Sepelit recipitque in sese omnia, omniumque idem est pater,
Indidemque eadem quae oriuntur, de integro aeque eodem incidunt.
Fortunam insanam esse et caecam et brutam perhibent philosophi
Saxoque instare in globoso praedicant volubili:
Insanam autem esse aiunt, quia atrox, incerta, instabilisque sit:
Sunt autem alii philosophi, qui contra fortunam negant
Esse ullam, sed temeritate res regi omnis autumant.
Id magis veri simile esse usus reapse experiundo edocet:
Velut Orestes modo fuit rex, factu'st mendicus modo.
Nam isti qui linguam avium intelligunt
Plusque ex alieno jecore sapiunt quam ex suo,
Magis audiendum quam auscultandum censeo;
and this is to the same effect--
Nam si qui, quae eventura sunt, provideant, aequiparent Jovi.
intuentes,' address this reproof to him, 'leviter gementi':--
Tu quoque Ulysses, quanquam graviter
Cernimus ictum, nimis paene animo es
Molli, qui consuetu's in armis
Aevom agere!
Conqueri fortunam adversam, non lamentari decet:
Id viri est officium, fletus muliebri ingenio additus.
Ego odi homines ignava opera et philosopha sententia.
Omnes qui tam quam nos severo serviunt
Imperio callent dominum imperia metuere.
Men' servasse ut essent qui me perderent.
Other passages again appear to be fragments of spirited dialogue,
Cicero quotes from the Teucer of Pacuvius the reproach of
Segregare abs te ausu's aut sine illo Salamina ingredi,
Neque paternum aspectum es veritus, quom aetate exacta indigem
Liberum lacerasti orbasti extinxti, neque fratris necis
Neque ejus gnati parvi, qui tibi in tutelam est traditus--?
Profectione laeti piscium lasciviam
Intuentur, nec tuendi capere satietas potest.
Interea prope jam occidente sole inhorrescit mare,
Tenebrae conduplicantur, noctisque et nimbum occaecat nigror,
Flamma inter nubes coruscat, caelum tonitru contremit,
Grando mista imbri largifico subita praecipitans cadit,
Undique omnes venti erumpunt, saevi existunt turbines,
Fervit aestu pelagus.
There are also, in the same style, these rough and graphic lines,
Armamentum stridor, flictus navium,
Strepitus fremitus clamor tonitruum et rudentum sibilus.
Insequitur clamorque virum, stridorque rudentum.
The effect of alliteration and assonance may be illustrated by a
Cedo tamen pedem tuum lymphis flavis flavum ut pulverem
Manibus isdem quibus Ulixi saepe permulsi abluam,
Lassitudinemque minuam manuum mollitudine.
Animaeque magnae
Prodigum Paulum, superante Poeno,
Neither the fragments nor the ancient notices of Pacuvius produce
L. Accius (or Attius) was born in the year 170 B.C., of parentage
He was much the most productive among the early tragic poets. The
Disce puer virtutem ex me verumque laborem,
Fortunam ex aliis,
Virtuti sis par, dispar fortunis patris.
The address of Latinus to Turnus--
O praestans animi juvenis, quantum ipse feroci
Virtute exsuperas, tanto me impensius aequum est
Consulere atque omnis metuentem expendere casus,
Quanto magis te istius modi esse intelligo,
Tanto, Antigona, magis me par est tibi consulere ac parcere.
Tereus indomito more atque animo barbaro
Conspexit in eam amore vecors flammeo,
Depositus: facinus pessimum ex dementia
Abducite intro; nam mihi miseritudine
Commovit animum excelsa aspecti dignitas;
Nam huius demum miseret, cuius nobilitas miserias
Sein' ut quem cuique tribuit fortuna ordinem,
Nunquam ulla humilitas ingenium infirmat bonum.
Erat istuc virile, ferre advorsam fortunam facul.
Nam si a me regnum fortuna atque opes
Eripere quivit, at virtutem non quit.
Nullum est ingenium tantum, neque cor tam ferum,
Quod non labascat lingua, mitiscat malo.
Nil credo auguribus, qui auris verbis divitant
Alienas, suas ut auro locupletent domos.
Rex, quae in vita usurpant homines, cogitant, curant, vident,
Quaeque agunt vigilantes agitantque, ea si cui in somno accidunt
Minus mirum est.
a shepherd, who had never before seen a ship, announces the first
Tanta moles labitur
Fremebunda ex alto, ingenti sonitu et spiritu:
Prae se undas volvit, vortices vi suscitat:
Ruit prolapsa, pelagus respergit, reflat.
Sub axe posita ad stellas septem, unde horrifer
Aquilonis stridor gelidas molitur nives.
Forte ante Auroram, radiorum ardentum indicem,
Cum e somno in segetem agrestis cornutos cient,
Ut rorulentas terras ferro rufidas
Proscindant, glebasque arvo ex molli exsuscitent.
Saxum id facit angustitatem, et sub eo saxo exuberans
Scatebra fluviae radit ripam.
The early expression of this kind of emotion seems to have been
Hac ubi curvo litore latratu
Unda sub undis labunda sonit.
The following lines, quoted by Cicero (Tusc. Disp. i. 28) without
Caelum nitescere, arbores frondescere,
Vites laetificae pampinis pubescere,
Rami bacarum ubertate incurviscere,
Segetes largiri fruges, florere omnia,
Fontes scatere, herbis prata convestirier.
We note also many instances of plays on words, alliteration, and
asyndeton, reminding us of similar modes of conveying emphasis in
Pari dyspari, si impar esses tibi, ego nunc non essem miser.
Pro se quisque cum corona clarum cohonestat caput.
Egredere, exi, ecfer te, elimina urbe.
'Denique caelesti sumus omnes semine oriundi' etc.
together of the ships, the uproar, the crash, the rattle of the
thunder, and the whistling of the ropes.']
distinction to his misery.']
plough, and turn up the clods from the soft soil.']
The era in which Roman epic and tragic poetry arose was also the
Ea tempestate flos poetarum fuit
Qui nunc abierunt hinc in communem locum.
of Plautus and in the prologues of Terence we infer that there
Nam spirat tragicum satis et feliciter audet.
The rhetorical character of Roman education and the rhetorical
tendencies of the Roman mind secured favour for this kind of
were not called upon to create a new taste, or to gratify a taste
'Cantica,' which were accompanied by music and gesticulation, and
Quantus sit Dossennus edacibus in parasitis.
evidence of his desire to use his position as a popular poet for
was reduced to work as a hired servant in a mill; and while thus
How far are we able to fill up this meagre outline by personal
We find one reference to his birthplace, in the form of a bad pun
He mentions other districts or towns in Italy in the tone of
half-humorous, half-contemptuous indifference, which a Londoner
of last, or a Parisian of the present century, might adopt to the
Praeneste were especially regarded as butts by the wits of Rome.
is contrast rather than analogy in the impression left upon their
Neptune. The colloquial use of Greek phrases in many of his
speculation:--
Navibus magnis mercaturam faciam: aput reges rex perhibebor.
Post animi causa mihi navem faciam atque imitabor Stratonicum,
Oppida circumvectitabor, ubi nobilitas mea erit clara,
Oppidum magnum conmoenibo: ei ego urbi Gripo indam nomen.
He shows much greater familiarity with the life of the lower and
Pernam callum glandium sumen etc.
find no place in the more fastidious gastronomy of our own times,
been, till the sudden influx of luxury in his own time, described
the return of their masters from abroad, the tastes which the
Ennius ipse pater numquam nisi potus ad arma
Prosiluit dicenda,
Narratur et prisci Catonis
Saepe mero caluisse virtus,
Another criticism of Horace upon Plautus--
Gestit enim nummum in loculos demittere--
Balzac, and, to a certain extent, even Shakespeare. To the poets
of Nature, or of the higher thought and emotions of men, the pure
Securus cadat an recto stet fabula talo;--
and this criticism is to a great extent true. His object was to
give the largest amount of immediate amusement. He was not a
Set quasi poeta, tabulas quom cepit sibi,
Quaerit quod nusquamst gentium, reperit tamen;
and he speaks of the pleasure which he took in his play
'Epidicus.' Cicero also testifies to the joy which he derived
from two of the works of his old age, the Pseudolus and the
Truculentus. But his delight was that of a vigorous creator, not
of a painstaking artist.
Postremo in magno populo, in multis hominibus,
Re placida atque otiosa, victis hostibus.
Amare oportet omnes, qui quod dent habent.
With this new sense of freedom and of fullness of life, the old
restraints of religion and of the morality bound up with it were
increased contact with the mind and life of the Greeks powerfully
Desidiose agere aetatem lustrisque perire.
Viscera magnarum domuum dominique futuri.
Aebutius and the freedwoman Hispala Fecenia bring to mind those
from any direct dealing with the delicate subject of Roman social
witnessing a spectacle of Greek life.
courtesy, and the like. The very fluency, copiousness, and verve
familiar to Romans--towns in Italy, streets, markets, gates,
in Rome; of Roman magistrates and other officials, Quaestors,
Aediles, Praetors, Tresviri, Publicani; they allude to the public
of foreign luxuries at the same time, the extreme frequency with
the lex alearia, probably passed about this time to resist the
Non matronarum officium est, sed meretricium,
Viris alienis, mi vir, subblandirier--
obsidendi vias, et viros alienos appellandi?... An blandiores in
publico quam in privato, et alienis quam vestris estis?' The
Again, the great fertility of Plautus and his many-sided contact
with life are apparent in the number and variety of his metaphors
Viden hostis tibi adesse, tuoque tergo obsidium? Consule,
Coge in obsidium perduellis, nostris praesidium para.
Interclude conmeatum inimicis, tibi moeni viam,
Qua cibatus conmeatusque ad te et legionis tuas
Tuto possit pervenire. Hanc rem age: res subitariast.
We are less able to speak of his originality in the selection of
Hi senes nisi fuissent nihili jam inde ab adulescentia,
Non hodie hoc tantum flagitium facerent canis capitibus,
away by the apparition of his wife, and the wrathful and scornful
Hic senex siquid clam uxorem suo animo fecit volup
Neque novom neque mirum fecit nec secus quam alii solent.
There are two or three other plays in which a father appears as
the rival of his son. None of the characters in Plautus, not even
Noli minitari: scio crucem futuram mihi sepulchrum:
Ibi mei sunt maiores siti, pater, avos, proavos, abavos,
Non possunt tuis minaciis hisce oculi mi ecfodiri.
Securus cadat an recto stet fabula talo,--
is peculiarly applicable. No less suitable 'Deus ex machina' than
Several other plays turn upon similar 'frustrationes.' Two of the
affection. There are none of the baser or more brutal characters
The 'Trinummus,' if less amusing than most of the other plays of
Di divites sunt, deos decent opuleutiae
Et factiones: verum nos homunculi
Scintillula animae, quam quom extemplo emisimus,
Aequo mendicus atque ille opulentissimus
Censetur censu ad Acheruntem mortuos,--
'Quist imperator divom atque hominum Iuppiter,
Is nos per gentis hic alium alia disparat,
Hominum qui facta, mores, pietatem et fidem
Noscamus, ut quemque adjuvet opulentia.
Manus mihi date, exurgite a pedibus ambae,
Misericordior nulla mest feminarum;
Tibi auscultamus et, Venus alma, ambae te opsecramus
Aram amplexantes hanc tuam lacrumantes, genibus nixae,
In custodelam nos tuam ut recipias et tutere, etc.
Even the moral sentiment expressed is of a finer quality than the
Isto tu's pauper, quom nimis sancte piu's--
O Gripe Gripe, in aetate hominum plurimae
Fiunt transennae, [illi] ubi decipiuntur dolis.
Atque edepol in eas plerumque esca inponitur,
Quam siquis avidus poscit escam avariter,
Decipitur in transenna avaritia sua.
Ille qui consulte, docte atque astute cavet,
Diutine uti ei bene licet partum bene.
Mi istaec videtur praeda praedatum irier,
Majore ut cum dote abeat hinc quam advenerit.
Egone ut quod ad me adlatum esse alienum sciam
Celem? minume istuc faciet noster Daemones.
Semper cavere hoc sapientes aequissumum'st,
Ne conscii sint ipsi maleficii suis.
Ego nisi quom lusim nil morer ullum lucrum.
Dum ne ob malefacta, peream: parvi id aestimo.
Si ego hic peribo, ast ille, ut dixit, non redit,
At erit mi hoc factum mortuo memorabile,
Me meum erum captum ex servitute atque hostibus
Reducem fecisse liberum in patriam ad patrem,
Meumque potius me caput periculo
Hic praeoptavisse quam is periret ponere--
enable us to feel that some of the glory of the older and nobler
Quam non adstricto percurrat pulpita socco,
Ita erae meae hodie contigit: nam ubi partuis deos sibi invocat,
Strepitus, crepitus, sonitus, tonitrus: subito ut propere, ut
valide tonuit.
Ubi quisque institerat, concidit crepitu: ibi nescio quis maxuma
Voce exclamat: 'Alcumena, adest auxilium, ne time:
Et tibi et tuis propitius caeli cultor advenit.
Exurgite' inquit 'qui terrore meo occidistis prae metu.'
Ut iacui, exurgo: ardere censui aedis: ita tum confulgebant.
Nor is there, perhaps, anywhere in ancient literature a nobler
realisation of the virtue of womanhood than in the indignant
vindication of herself by Alcmena,--
Non ego illam mihi dotem esse duco, quae dos dicitur,
Set pudicitiam et pudorem et sedatum cupidinem,
Deum metum et parentum amorem et cognatum concordiam,
Tibi morigera atque ut munifica sim bonis, prosim probis.
Non ventus fuit, verum Alcumena Euripidi.
As in the case of other productive writers there is no absolute
agreement as to which are the best of the Plautine plays. Without
Salva res est: philosophatur quoque jam, non mendax modo'st
Sed jam satis est philosophatum
of Pseudolus. Yet to Tyndarus he attributes a sense of religious
trust befitting both his character and situation--
Est profecto deus, qui quae nos gerimus auditque et videt, etc.,
Centum doctum hominum consilia sola haec devincit dea,
Fortuna, etc.
Probably the truth is that living in an age of active enjoyment
and energy, he troubled himself very little about the 'problem of
imply that he recognised in the growing ascendency of wealth an
Nemo hinc prohibet nec vetat
Quin quod palamst venale, si argentumst, emas.
Nemo ire quemquam puplica prohibet via,
Dum ne per fundum saeptum faciat semitam:
Dum ted apstineas nupta vidua virgine
Luventute et pueris liberis, ama quod lubet.
Fui ego bellus, lepidus,--bonus vir nunquam neque frugi bonae
Neque ero unquam.
But the life of careless freedom and strong animal spirits which
Plautus shaped with prodigal power into humorous scenes and
representations for the holiday amusements of the mass of his
Postquam est mortem aptus Plautus, comoedia luget,
Scaena est deserta, dein risus, ludu' iocusque
Et numeri innumeri simul omnes conlacrumarunt.
Cervantes or Molière. Nor does he compensate for these defects by
Plautus ad exemplar Siculi properare Epicharmi
refers to the rapidity with which he hurries on to the dénouement
But the largest endowment of Plautus, the truest note of his
Illuc sis vide
Quem ad modum astitit severo fronte curans, cogitans.
Pectus digitis pultat: cor credo evocaturust foras.
Ecce avortit: nisam laevo in femine habet laevam manum.
Dextera digitis rationem conputat: fervit femur
Dexterum, ita vehementer icit: quod agat, aegre suppetit.
Concrepuit digitis: laborat, crebro conmutat status.
Eccere autem capite nutat: non placet quod repperit.
Quidquid est, incoctum non expromet, bene coctum dabit.
Ecce autem aedificat: columnam mento suffigit suo.
Apage, non placet profecto mihi illaec aedificatio:
Nam os columnatum poetae esse indaudivi barbaro,
Quoi bini custodes semper totis horis occubant.
Euge, euscheme hercle astitit et dulice et comoedice.
Quid hoc? sicine hoc fit? pedes, statin an non?
An id voltis ut me hinc jacentem aliqui tollat? etc.
His temptation was to exaggerate in this, as in other elements of
It is characteristic of the liveliness of Plautus' temperament,
that the lyrical and recitative parts of his plays occupy a place
Multas res simitu in meo corde vorso,
Multum in cogitando dolorem indipiscor.
Egomet me coquo et macero et defatigo.
Pessuli, heus pessuli, vos saluto lubens,
Vos amo vos volo vos peto atque obsecro,
Gerite amanti mihi morem amoenissumi:
Fite caussa mea ludii barbari,
Sussulite, obsecro, et mittite istanc foras,
Quae mihi misero amanti exhibit sanguinem.
Hoc vide ut dormiunt pessuli pessumi
Nec mea gratia conmovent se ocius.
they do, in a rude kind of way, show facility and native power in
Haec, quom ego a foro revortar, facite ut offendam parata,
Vorsa sparsa tersa strata lauta structaque omnia ut sint.
Nam mi hodiest natalis dies: eum decet omnis vos concelebrare.
Magnifice volo me viros summos accipere, ut rem mi esse reantur.
execration, or bantering endearment. The mannerisms of his style,
deviates from his Greek models, are not laboured efforts, but the
is a Rabelaisian ebullition, stimulated by the novel contact with
Rufus quidam, ventriosus, crassis suris, subniger.
Magno capite, acutis oculis, ore rubicundo, ad modum
Magnis pedibus;
Cum hirquina barba;
Adulescentem strenua facie, rubicundum, fortem;
Harpax, in the same play,
Recalvom ac silonem senem, statutum, ventriosum
Tortis superciliis, contracta fronte, etc.--
Pol hic quidem fungino generest: capite se totum tegit.
Illurica facies videtur hominis: eo ornatu advenit;
and later--
Mira sunt
Loca contemplat, circumspectat sese, atque aedis noscitat.
Ubi portu eximus, homines remigio sequi,
Neque aves neque venti citius, etc.,
or the account which Curculio gives of his encounter with the
soldier, tersely, rapidly, and vividly, as if he were recalling
writes letters with the forms of courtesy, and with the ease and
'Nugas theatri: verba quae in comoediis
Solent lenoni dici, quae pueri sciunt.'
'Vt vobis victi Poeni poenas sufferant.'
genuine, and also the speech of _Auxilium_ in the Cistellaria.]
Spectavi ego pridem comicos ad istum modum
Sapienter dicta dicere atque is plaudier,
Quom illos sapientis mores monstrabant poplo.
Set quom inde suam quisque ibant divorsi domum
Nullus erat illo pacto ut illi iusserant.
'Quid tibi, malum, hic ante aedis clamitatiost?
An ruri censes te esse? apscede ab aedibus.' Most. 6. 7.
'Quantus sit Dossennus edacibus in parasitis.'
'Horum causa haec agitur spectatorum fabula,
Hi sciunt qui hic adfuerunt; vobis post narravero.'
techinae, prothyme, basilicus, etc., etc.]
'Praesertim in re populi placida, atque interfectis hostibus,
Non decet tumultuari.'
'Set sumne ego stultus qui rem curo publicam
Ubi sint magistratus, quos curare oporteat?'
Menander, is completely non-political.]
'Et tu vale.
Iniuriam illic insignite postulat:
Nostro sibi servire nos censet cibo.
Verum ita sunt omnes isti nostri divites:
Si quid bene facias, levior pluma est gratia;
Si quid peccatum est, plumbeas iras gerunt.'
'Quom mi ipsum nomen eius Archidemides
Clamaret dempturum esse si quid crederem.' Bacchid. 285.
'Propterea huic urbi nomen Epidamno inditumst
Quia nemo ferme sine damno huc devortitur.' Menaech. 264.
'Non enim es in senticeto, eo non sentis.' Captivi, 857.
'Atque mores hominum moros et morosos efficit,' etc., etc.
'Laudem, lucrum, ludum, iocum, festivitatem, ferias.'
'Vorsa, sparsa, tersa, strata, lauta, structaque omnia ut sint.'
'Quid ego cesso Pseudolum
Facere ut det nomen ad Molas coloniam.' Pseud. 1082.
'Non omnes possunt olere unguenta exotica.' Mostell. 42.
'Set, spectatores, vos nunc ne miremini
Quod non triumpho: peruolgatumst, nil moror.
Verum tamen accipientur mulso milites.'
'Mihi quod credideris, sumes ubi posiueris.' Trinum. 145.
'Nequaquam argenti ratio comparet tamen.' Ib. 418.
Iovem se placare posse donis, hostiis:
Et operam et sumptum perdunt: id eo fit quia
Nihil ei accemptumst a periuris supplici,' etc.--22-5.
dower, but chastity and modesty, and passion subdued, fear of
the Gods, affection to my parents, amity with my kinsmen, a will
to yield to thee, to be bountiful to the good, of service to the
'Nam, meo quidem animo, si idem faciant ceteri,
Opulentiores pauperiorum filias
Ut indotatas ducant uxores domum,
Et multo fiat civitas concordior,
Et invidia nos minore utamur, quam utimur.'
respectable man I never was nor will be.'--Capt. 956-7.]
Highlander,' and the lines in one of Burns' earliest songs--
'And then there's something in her gait
Gars ony dress look weel.'
The names of five or six comic dramatists are known, who fill
the space of eighteen years between the death of Plautus and the
Vincere Caecilius gravitate, Terentius arte--
who often quotes from him, speaks of him as having written a bad
style. He is also mentioned among those poets who 'powerfully
moved the feelings.'
He composed about forty plays. Most of them had Greek titles, and
comedies by Menander. Two of the longest of his fragments express
Serit arbores quae alteri saeclo prosint,
quoted by Cicero in the Tusculan Questions, and this line--
Saepe est etiam sub palliolo sordido sapientia.
enthusiasm for Greek art and letters of the older generation,--of
He was born at Carthage in the year 185 B.C., and became the
His art is so purely imitative, that for any knowledge of his
circumstances and character we have to trust entirely to his
Eum adiutare adsidueque una scribere:
Quod illi maledictum vemens esse existumant.
Eam laudem his ducit maxumam, quom illis placet,
Qui vobis univorsis et populo placent,
Quorum opera in bello, in otio, in negotio
Suo quisque tempore usus't sine superbia.
he charges his opponent with having, by his bad style and literal
Qui bene vortendo et easdem scribendo male
Ex Graecis bonis Latinas fecit non bonas.
interests, any sense of duty, or any high aspirations.
Terence is, accordingly, in substance and form, a 'dimidiatus
might be taken as its motto. The idea of 'human nature,' in its
weakness and in its sympathy with weakness, may be said to be the
'To step aside is human'--
The motive of all the pieces is love. There is generally a double
conclusion of the 'Asinaria' and 'Bacchides.'
personality which they had to the poet himself is implied in the
Non te dignum, Chaerea,
Fecisti: nam si ego digna hac contumelia
Sum maxume, at tu indignus qui faceres tamen;
Non adeo inhumano ingenio sum, Chaerea,
Neque ita inperita, ut quid amor valeat, nesciam.
credibility. Parmeno and Phaedria are natural embodiments of the
analysis, though with less vigour than those of Pseudolus and
characterised and distinguished from one another; and Phormio is
himself a type of the parasite, as distinct from Gnatho, as he is
Hinc illae lacrimae. Amantium irae amoris integratiost.
Quot homines, tot sententiae.
Tacent: satis laudant.
Nosse omnia haec salus est adulescentulis.
Cantilenam eandem canis--laterem lavem,--etc. etc.
him to correct his own faults by observing other men must have
been suggested by the conversation between Demea and Syrus in the
Inspicere tamquam in speculum in vitas omnium
Iubeo atque ex aliis sumere exemplum sibi.
Again, the remonstrance of Micio to Demea,
Sineres nunc facere, dum per aetatem licet,
Dicitur Afrani toga convenisse Menandro.
'Si quisquamst, qui placere se studeat bonis
Quam plurimis et minime multos laedere,
In his poeta hic nomen profitetur suom.'
'Nolite sinere per vos artem musicam
Recidere ad paucos.'
'Hic est vietus, vetus, veternosus senex,'--
'Profundat, perdat, pereat, etc.;'
discreditable.']
Of all the forms of Roman poetry, satire was least indebted to
the works of the Greeks. Quintilian claims it altogether for his
countrymen--'satira tota nostra est.' Horace characterises it as
Satire was not only national in its intellectual and moral
Primores populi arripuit populumque tributim.
It endeavoured also, by acting on individual character, to effect
Detrahere et pellem, nitidus qua quisque per ora
Cederet, introrsum turpis.
truest exponent of the character, pursuits, and interests of the
Ille velut fidis arcana sodalibus olim, etc.,
implies that Lucilius used his satire as a natural vehicle for
The time at which he appeared was one of the most critical epochs
Attamen et iustum poteras et scribere fortem
Scipiadem ut sapiens Lucilius--;
and the parallel there suggested between the relation of Lucilius
Percrepa pugnam Popilli, facta Corneli cane,
contrasts the defeat of M. Popillius Laenas in 138 B.C. with the
criticism Lucilius dreaded. These and other passages must have
Quo fit ut omnis
Votiva pateat veluti descripta tabella
lose their point, unless _senis_ is to be understood in its usual
under nineteen years of age. But with these admissions it is not
His birth-place was Suessa Aurunca in Campania. Juvenal calls him
His satires were written in thirty Books. The remaining fragments
initiate a change in Roman literature.
Garrulus atque piger scribendi ferre laborem,
Quo me habeam pacto, tametsi non quaeri', docebo,
Quando in eo numero mansti, quo in maxima nunc est
Pars hominum,
Ut periise velis quem visere nolueris, cum
Debueris. Hoc nolueris et debueris te
Si minu' delectat, quod τεχνίον Isocratium est,
Ληρῶδέςque simul totum ac συμμειρακιῶδες,
Non operam perdo.
Mantica cantheri costas gravitate premebat--
The fragments however, when read collectively, bring out the main
of the joy of escaping from the storms of life into a quiet haven
and immunity from envy, and the superiority of plain living
to luxury. Like Horace, while holding to his independence of
life, he put a high value on friendship, and strove to fulfil its
self-consciousness which accompanies that condition. On the whole
the exercise of his art,--a warm friend and partisan, and a bold
and uncompromising enemy,--not professing any austerity of life,
of public duty and personal honour.
those assailed by him on political grounds, L. Hostilius Tubulus,
especially his devotion to Scipio--may have stimulated these
animosities; but there were instances enough of incapacity in
war, profligacy and extortion in the government of the provinces,
satirised by Lucilius. Such passages as these--
Cenasti in vita numquam bene, quom omnia in ista
Consumis squilla atque acipensere quum decumano.
Hoc fit item in cena, dabis ostrea millibu' nummum
Occidunt, Lupe, saperdae te et iura siluri.
Vivite lurcones, comedones, vivite ventres.
Illum sumina ducebant atque altilium lanx
Hunc pontes Tiberinu' duo inter captu' catillo.
Purpureo tersit tunc latas gausape mensas, etc.
show the proportions already assumed by a form of sensuality, the
Milia dum centum frumenti tolli medimnum,
Vini mille cadum.--
Denique uti stulto nihil est satis, omnia cum sint.--
Rugosi passique senes eadem omnia quaerunt.--
Mordicus petere aurum e flamma expediat, e caeno cibum.--
Aquam te in animo habere intercutem.
The following description of a miser seems to have suggested the
beginning of one of Catullus' lampoons:--
Cui neque inmentumst nec servos nec comes ullus,
Bulgam et quidquid habet nummum secum habet ipse,
Cum bulga cenat, dormit, lavit; omnis in unast
Spes homini bulga. Bulga haec devincta lacertost.
In other passages he inculcates the lessons of good sense and
The extravagance, airs, and vices of women, are another theme of
Cum tecumist, quidvis satis est: visuri alieni
Sint homines, spiras, pallam, redimicula promit.
Another fragment--
Homines ipsi hanc sibi molestiam ultro atque aerumnam offerunt,
to provide for the continued well-being of the world than for our
Terriculas Lamias, Fauni quas Pompiliique
Instituere Numae, tremit has, hic omnia ponit;
Ut pueri infantes credunt signa omnia ahena
Vivere, et esse homines; et sic isti omnia ficta
Vera putant, credunt signis cor inesse in ahenis;
Pergula pictorum, veri nihil, omnia ficta.
Paenula, si quaeris, canteriu', servu', segestre,
Utilior mihi, quam sapiens;
Nondum etiam, qui haec omnia habebit,
Formosus, dives, liber, rex solu' feretur,
Graecum te, Albuci, quam Romanum atque Sabinum,
Praeclarorum hominum ac primorum signiferumque,
Maluisti dici. Graece ergo praetor Athenis,
Id quod maluisti, te, cum ad me accedi,' saluto:
Chaere, inquam, Tite. Lictores turma omni' cohorsque
Chaere, Tite. Hinc hostis mi, Albucius, hinc inimicus.
We learn from Cicero's account of the orators antecedent to, and
The satire of Lucilius, besides its political, moral, and social
function, assumed the part of a literary critic and censor. The
testimony of Horace on this point,--
Nil comis tragici mutat Lucilius Acci?
Non ridet versul Enni gravitate minores,
Cum de se loquitur non ut maiore reprensis?
confirmed by that of Gellius, is amply borne out by extant
criticisms in the sneer of Persius,--
Est nunc Briseis quem venosus liber Acci,
Sunt quos Pacuviusque et verrucosa moretur
Antiopa, aerummis cor luctificabile fulta.
Distichum, epistula item quaevis non magna;
Virtus, Albine, est pretium persolvere verum,
Queis in versamur, queis vivimu' rebu', potesse:
Virtus est hominis, scire id quod quaeque habeat res.
Virtus scire homini rectum, utile, quid sit honestum;
Quae bona, quae mala item, quid inutile, turpe, inhonestum;
Virtus quaerendae rei finem scire modumque:
Virtus divitiis pretium persolvere posse:
Virtus id dare quod re ipsa debetur honori:
Hostem esse atque inimicum hominum morumque malorum,
Contra defensorem hominum morumque bonorum,
Hos magnifacere, his bene velle, his vivere amicum;
Commoda praeterea patriae sibi prima putare,
Deinde parentum, tertia jam postremaque nostra.
Nunc vero a mane ad noctem, festo atque profesto,
Toto itidem pariterque die, populusque patresque
Iactare indu foro se omnes, decedere nusquam,
Uni se atque eidem studio omnes dedere et arti,
Verba dare ut caute possint, pugnare dolose,
Blanditia certare, bonum simulare virum se
Insidias facere, ut si hostes sint omnibus omnes.
At dixi fluere hunc lutulentum.
If we regard these passages as on the ordinary level of his style
Terra abit in nimbos imbresque,
Parcentis viribus atque
Extenuantis eas consulto.
acknowledges the guidance of his earliest master. In reading both
But if we cannot altogether account for, we may yet partially
Ridiculum acri
Fortius et melius magnas plerumque secat res,
But Lucilius had much more than this power of personal raillery,
Hinc omnis pendet Lucilius, hosce secutus.
His fragments show familiarity with Homer, with the works of the
Greek physical and ethical philosophers, with the systems of the
rhetoricians, and some acquaintance with the writings of Plato,
Hominem pagina nostra sapit.
Sicilians.' There was nothing about him of the fastidiousness and
Scilicet uni aequus virtuti atque eius amicis.
'Publiu' Pavu' mihi [      ] quaestor Hibera
In terra fuit, lucifugus, nebulo, id genu' sane.'
'Quo facetior videare et scire plus quam caeteri
Pertisum hominem, non pertaesum dices.'
'Iucundasque puer qui lamberat ore placentas.'
One of many lines imitated and almost reproduced by Horace.]
'Nunc mihi curto
Ire licet mulo, vel, si libet, usque Tarentum,
Mantica cui lumbos onere ulceret, atque eques armos.'
'Promontorium remis superamu' Minervae.--
Hinc media remis Palinurum pervenio nox,--
Tertius hic mali superat decumanis fluctibus--carchesia summa.'
'Haud ita pridem
Galloni praeconis erat acipensere mensa
'Quo fit ut omnis
Votiva pateat veluti descripta tabella
Vita senis.'
'Secuit Lucilius urbem--
Primores populi arripuit populumque tributim--
Non ridet versus Enni gravitate minores--?'
'Mihi quidem non persuadetur publiceis mutem meos.
Publicanu' vero ut Asiae fiam scriptuarius
Pro Lucilio, id ego nolo, et uno hoc non muto omnia.'
Otia divitiis Arabum liberrima muto.'
'Quadque te in tranquillum ex saevis transfers tempestatibus.'
'Nam si quod satis est homini, id satis esse potisset
Hoc sat erat; nam cum hoc non est, qui credimu' porro
Divitias ullas animum mi explere potisse.'
'Nulli me invidere: non strabonem fieri saepius
Deliciis me istorum.'
'O lapathe, ut jactare nec es sati cognitu' qui sis--
Quod sumptum atque epulas victu praeponis honesto.'
'Munifici comesque amicis nostris videamur viri--
Sic amici quaerunt animum, rem parasiti ac ditias.'
'Querquera consequitur capitisque dolores
Infesti mihi.--
Si tam corpu' loco validum ac regione maneret.
Scriptoris quam vera manet sententia cordi.'
'Verum haec ludus ibi susque omnia deque fuerunt,
Susque et deque fuere, inquam, omnia ludu' iocusque.'
'Et saepe quod ante
Optasti, freta Messanae, Regina videbis
'Quantum haurire animus Musarum ec fontibu' gestit.'
'Cum sciam nil esse in vita proprium mortali datum
Jam qua tempestate vivo chresin ad me recipio.'
Cf. 'Vitaque mancipio nulli datur, omnibus usu.']
'Peccare impune rati sunt
Posse et nobilitate procul propellere iniquos.'
'Hostiliu' contra
Pestem permitiemque catax quam et Maniu' nobis.'
eam causam minus quam volebat familiaris, sed tamen et doctus et
perurbanus.'
'Aut laeso doluere Metello
Famosisque Lupo cooperto versibus?'
'Secuit Lucilius urbem
'Sardines and fish-sauce are your death, O Lupus.'
'Long live, ye gluttons, gourmands, belly-gods.'
'Then he wiped the ample table with a purple cloth.'
The two last passages are reproduced by Horace in the lines:--
'Unde datum sentis, lupus hic Tiberinus, an alto
Captus hiet, pontesne inter iactatus, an amnis
'Gausape purpureo mensam pertersit.'--Ib. ii. 8. 11.
Cf. 'Crescit indulgens sibi dirus hydrops,' etc.
'Furei cui neque servus est neque arca,' etc.
Somnia, terrores magicos, miracula, sagas,
Nocturnos lemures portentaque Thessala rides?'
Accordingly, I, as praetor of Athens, when you approach me, greet
'Ego enim contemnificus fieri et fastidire Agamemnona.--
Di monerint meliora, amentiam averruncassint tuam.--
Hic cruciatur fame,
Frigore, inluvie, inperfundie, inbalnite, incuria.--
Nunc ignobilitas his mirum, taetrum, ac monstrificabile--
Dividant, differant, dissipent, distrahant.'
'Verum tristis contorto aliquo ex Pacuviano exordio.'
And this from another book of Satires:--
'Ransuro tragicus qui carmina perdit Oreste.'
'Hastis longis campus splendet et horret,'--
'Tum late ferreus hastis
Horret ager.'
(1) 'Quantum haurire animus Musarum ec fontibu' gestit.'
(2) 'Cum sciam nil esse in vita proprium mortali datum
Jam quae tempestate vivo, chresin ad me recipio.'
(3) 'Ut pueri infantes credunt signa omnia ahena
Vivere et esse homines, sic istic omnia ficta
Vera putant.'
'Detrahere et pellem nitidus qua quisque per ora
Cederet, introrsum turpis.'
habitually within the city. The taste for country life prevailing
But perhaps the most important condition determining the original
In this era, more than in any later age, the poetry of Rome, like
law-courts.
the settlers in a new country, who are spared the pains of exact
Arido modo pumice expolitum.
The style of the early poets was marked by haste, harshness, and
redundance, occasionally by verbal conceits and similar errors of
Historical composition also took its rise at Rome at this period.
This era also saw the beginning of the critical and grammatical
language into a more certain and uniform vehicle, and, comment on
The existing works of the two great writers of Roman comedy have
The accomplished art of the last age of the Republic and of the
'Quom illis placet,
Qui vobis univorsis et populo placent,
Quorum opera in bello, in otio, in negotio
Suo quisque tempore usust sine superbia.'
'Ut pueris placeas et declamatio fias.'
An interval of nearly half a century elapsed between the death of
But Cicero is not to be ranked among the poets of Rome. He merely
facility by translating passages from the Greek tragedians in his
sacrifice of individual conviction or public sentiment to satisfy
the immediate predecessors and contemporaries of Cicero. It was
Perfection of style attained in one of the two great branches of
a national literature cannot fail to react on the other. It was
the peculiarity of Latin literature that this perfection or high
accomplishment was reached in prose sooner than in poetry. The
revived. Learned Greeks continued to flock to Rome and to attach
Carmina, picturas, et daedala signa;
Musaea mele per chordas organici quae
Mobilibus digitis expergefacta figurant.
The delicate appreciation of the paintings, statues, gems, vases,
As the bent given to philosophical and literary studies developed
Saecli incommoda, pessimi poetae,--
a countryman of his own, Tanusius Geminus, the author of a long
While so much of the literature of that age has perished, we are
Et cycnea mele Phoebeaque daedala chordis
Carmina consimili ratione oppressa silerent.
These lines point to the union of music and lyrical poetry.]
It is in keeping with the isolated and independent position which
prevented his speaking of himself and telling his own history as
The well-known statement of Jerome is to this effect,--'The poet
Lucretius was born in the year 94 B.C. He became mad from the
some tragic circumstances in the poet's history, than as the idle
it would have been quite in accordance with the principles of his
Sed tua me virtus tamen et sperata voluptas
Suavis amicitiae--.
While Lucretius pays the tribute of admiration to the literary
Nec Memmi clara propago
Talibus in rebus communi deesse saluti--
This relation to Memmius is the only additional fact which an
Quae belle tangere possunt
Auris et lepido quae sunt fucata sonore.
Sanguine civili rem conflant, etc.--
recall the thought and spectacle of crime and bloodshed vividly
presented to him in the impressible years of his youth. Other
Si non forte tuas legiones per loca campi, etc.--
have been noted as a probable allusion to the position actually
Certare ingenio, contendere nobilitate,
Noctes atque dies niti praestante labore
Ad summas emergere opes rerumque potiri,--
have a resemblance to words directly applied by Cicero to Caesar,
Thus the first general impression of Lucretius which we form from
of action and social pleasure, deliberately chose the life of
stage by the awnings of the theatre, of the works of art adorning
well as the occasional use of such words as _vidi_, show that
Palantis comites cum montis inter opacos
Quaerimus et magna dispersos voce ciemus,--
Nam loca declarat sursum ventosa patere
Res ipsa et sensus, montis cum ascendimus altos.
Propter aquae rivum sub ramis arboris altae,--
'Is fraught too deep with pain,'
'And thou hast pleasures too to share
With those who come to thee,
Balms floating on thy mountain air
And healing sights to see.'
Avia Pieridum peragro loca nullius ante
Trita solo--
moved Virgil less powerfully in speaking of his humbler theme--
Sed me Parnassi deserta per ardua dulcis
Raptat amor;
and inspired the English poet in his great invocation:--
I thence
Invoke thy aid to my adventurous song,
That with no middle flight intends to soar
Above the Aonian mount, while it pursues
Things unattempted yet in prose and rhyme.
The sense of difficulty and the joy of overcoming it meet us with
Ardua dum metuunt amittunt vera viai.
Without disowning the passion for fame,--'laudis spes magna,'--so
Conquisita diu dulcique reperta labore
Digna tua pergam disponere carmina cura:
Nunc age dicta meo dulci quaesita labore
Tuisque ex, inclute, chartis,
Floriferis ut apes in saltibus omnia libant,
Omnia nos itidem depascimur aurea dicta.
Multaque de rerum mixtura dicere callent
Et sibi proporro quae sint primordia quaerunt;
Nos agere hoc autem et naturam quaerere rerum
Semper et inventam patriis exponere chartis.
'The human heart by which we live.'
His high intellectual confidence, based on his firm trust in his
Clarus ob obscuram linguam magis inter inanis
Quamde gravis inter Graios qui vera requirunt.
Deus ille fuit, deus, inclute Memmi.
He speaks of his master throughout not only with the affection of
His admiration for him springs from a deeper source of spiritual
Nullam rem e nilo gigni divinitus unquam,
was obviously taken from the lines of the old poem περὶ φύσεως--
ἐκ τοῦ γὰρ μὴ ἐόντος ἀμήχανόν ἐστι γενέσθαι
τό τ᾽ ἐὸν ἐξόλλυσθαι ἀνήνυστον καὶ ἄπρηκτον.
Nil tamen hoc habuisse viro praeclarius in se
Nec sanctum magis et mirum carumque videtur.
Carmina quin etiam divini pectoris eius
Vociferantur et exponunt praeclara reperta,
Ut vix humana videatur stirpe creatus.
παῦρον δὲ ζωῆς ἀβίου μέρος ἀθρήσαντες
ὡκύμοροι, καπνοῖο δίκην ἀρθέντες ἀπέπταν
αὐτὸ μόνον πεισθέντες, ὅτῳ προσέκυρσεν ἕκαστος,
παντοσ᾽ ἐλαυνόμενοι· τὸ δ᾽οὖλον ἐπεύχεται εὑρεῖν
αὔτως. οὔτ᾽ ἐπιδερκτὰ τάδ᾽ ἄνδρασιν οὔτ᾽ ἐπάκουστα
οὔτε νόῳ περιληπτά.
Miscetur funere vagor
Quem pueri tollunt visentis luminis oras:
Nec nox ulla diem neque noctem aurora secutast
Quae non audierit mixtos vagitibus aegris
Ploratus mortis comites et funeris atri.
Besides Epicurus and Empedocles Lucretius mentions Democritus and
responses from the shrine of their own hearts with more holiness
and truth than the Pythia from the tripod and laurel of Apollo.'
Adde repertores doctrinarum atque leporum,
Adde Heliconiadum comites; quorum unus Homerus
Sceptra potitus eadem aliis sopitu' quietest.
The passages in which Lucretius imitates him show how clearly
he recognised his exact vision of outward things, and his true
Per gentis Italas hominum quae clara clueret,--
Lumina sis oculis etiam bonus Ancu' reliquit,--
inde super terras fluit agmine dulci,--
Scipiadas, belli fulmen, Carthaginis horror,--
Nam neque nos agere hoc patriai tempore iniquo,--
'Power to make
Our noisy years seem moments in the being
Of the eternal silence.'
But while by his silence on the subject of national glory and his
'Atque eadem nobis vigilantibus obvia mentes
Terrificant atque in somnis, cum saepe figuras
Contuimur miras simulacraque luce carentum,
Quae nos horrifice languentis saepe sopore
Excierunt, ne forte animas Acherunte reamur
Effugere aut umbras inter vivos volitare.'
Review, on 'Hallucination of the Senses,' suggests a possible
explanation of the mental condition of Lucretius, during the
προσαγωγότερον τῇ ἀκροάσει ἢ ἀληθέστερον.--Thuc. i. 21.]
'At non multa virum sub signis milia ducta
Una dies dabat exitio,' etc.--
'Ardua dum metuunt amittunt vera viai'
'Avia Pieridum peragro loca.'
expressions occur.]
'His ibi me rebus quaedam divina voluptas
Percipit adque horror.'
professes to fulfil the three distinct offices of a philosophical
Primum quod magnis doceo de rebus et artis
Religionum animum nodis exsolvere pergo,
Deinde quod obscura de re tam lucida pango
Carmina, musaeo contingens cuncta lepore.
which the permanent value of the poem depends. Thus, although the
society,--would naturally have been treated immediately after the
Hunc igitur terrorem animi tenebrasque necessest
Non radii solis neque lucida tela diei
Discutiant, sed naturae species ratioque.
Horribili super aspectu mortalibus instans,--
the cause of ignorance, degradation, and misery,--are vividly
personified and presented in close contrast with one another. The
which alone remained permanent amid the changing aspects of the
Nullam rem e nilo gigni divinitus unquam.
The apprehension of this principle--a principle common to all the
Materies quia rebus reddita certast
Gignundis e qua constat quid possit oriri.
The original substances out of which all things are produced, and
Corporibus caecis igitur natura gerit res.
Ergo praeter inane et corpora tertia per se
Nulla potest rerum in numero natura relinqui.
All material bodies are either elemental substances or compounded
Sunt igitur solida primordia simplicitate
Quae minimis stipata cohaerent partibus arte.
Non ex illarum conventu conciliata,
Sed magis aeterna pollentia simplicitate,
Unde neque avelli quicquam neque deminui jam
Concedit natura reservans semina rebus.
elements that volition in living beings becomes possible.
Unde ubi qua vi et quo pacto congressa coibunt
Materiae tanto in pelago turbaque aliena?
Sic aequo geritur certamine principiorum
Ex infinito contractum tempore bellum.
Further, the great diversity in Nature is to be accounted for by
Immortalia si volumus subiungere rebus
Fundamenta quibus nitatur summa salutis;
Ne tibi res redeant ad nilum funditus omnes.
Further, although they are the origin of all living and sentient
of matter. These atoms, by virtue of their ultimate conditions,
are capable only of certain combinations with one another. These
combinations have been brought about by perpetual motion, through
The third book treats of the nature of the mind, and of the vital
Quod simul atque hominem leti secura quies est
Indepta atque animi natura animaeque recessit,
Nil ibi libatum de toto corpore cernas
Ad speciem, nil ad pondus: mors omnia praestat
Vitalem praeter sensum calidumque vaporem.
Non modo enim ratio ruat omnis, vita quoque ipsa
Concidat extemplo, nisi credere sensibus ausis.
Morte obita quorum tellus amplectitur ossa,--
Nil ideo quoniam natumst in corpore ut uti
Possemus, sed quod natumst id procreat usum.
satirical power.
The object of the fifth book is to explain the formation of our
As the parts of our system,--earth, water, air, and heat,--are
perishable, and constantly passing through processes of decay and
First plants and trees, afterwards men and animals, were produced
Et Venus inminuit viris puerique parentum
Blanditiis facile ingenium fregere superbum.
The last source of superstition is our ignorance of the causes of
Praesertim rebus in illis
Quae supera caput aetheriis cernuntur in oris.
The practical purpose of the poem--the overthrow of
Tu mihi supremae praescribta ad candida calcis, etc.
Usque adeo largos haustus e fontibu' magnis
Lingua meo suavis diti de pectore fundet;--
It was also part of the author's design to enunciate his deepest
thoughts on the Gods, on Nature, and on human life in more highly
underlies the special subject of the poem. Some of these passages
The poem, though incomplete in regard to the arrangement of its
illustrious modern critic has said, that 'the greatest didactic
poem in any language was written in defence of the silliest and
advent of physical science. But, as a means of throwing light on
Invenies primis ab sensibus esse creatam
Notitiam veri neque sensus posse refelli.
But besides the direct action of outward things on the senses, he
apprehension or intuition of the mind (iniectus animi) into
things beyond the cognisance of sense. Thus there is no
actual inconsistency with his principles in claiming the power of
Omnis enim longe nostris ab sensibus infra
Primorum natura iacet.
Nam cur tam variae res possint esse requiro,
Ex uno si sunt igni puroque creatae.
At primordia gignundis in rebus oportet
Naturam clandestinam caecamque adhibere.
In his statement of the doctrine of the _Clinamen_, or slight
or matters.' But, in common with the earlier enquirers of Greece,
Undique quandoquidem per caulas aetheris omnis
Et quasi per magni circum spiracula mundi
Exitus introitusque elementis redditus extat.
Of the growth of plants and herbage it is said--
Ut pluma atque pili primum saetaeque creantur
Quadripedum membris et corpore pennipotentum,
Sic nova tum tellus herbas virgultaque primum
Sustulit, inde loci mortalia saecla creavit.
Tam magis expressus salsus de corpore sudor
Augebat mare manando camposque natantis.
Quoniam nec venae perpetiuntur
Quod satis est neque quantum opus est natura ministrat.
As a necessary result of a system of natural philosophy based on
assumptions, largely illustrated indeed, but not corroborated by
Namque alid ex alio clarescet nec tibi caeca
Nox iter eripiet quin ultima naturai
Pervideas: ita res accendent lumina rebus,
To the general reader there is another aspect, in which it is
Impia te rationis inire elementa viamque
Indugredi sceleris,
show that scientific enquiry had to encounter the same prejudice
in ancient as in modern times. The insufficiency and audacity of
Immortalia mortali sermone notantes.
The views of Lucretius as to the natural origin of life, and the
and consequent denial of immortality,--and his utilitarianism in
morals,--all present striking parallels to the opinions of one of
Scilicet haec aliis praedae lucroque iacebant
Indupedita suis fatalibus omnia vinclis,
Donec ad interitum genus id natura redegit.
The attempt to trace the origin of all supernatural belief to the
But altogether apart from the truth and falsehood, the right and
the 'vivida vis animi.' The freshness of feeling and vividness of
Mente vigenti
Avia Pieridum peragro loca,
are as remarkable in the processes of his intellect as of his
imagination.
This vigour of understanding is displayed in many processes of
His system cannot be called either purely inductive or purely
deductive, though it is more of the former than of the latter. He
E thuris glaebis evellere odorem
Haud facile est quin intereat natura quoque eius.
So also it is difficult to separate his faculty of clear, exact,
Denique fluctifrago suspensae in litore vestes,
curiosity of a naturalist, as well as the sympathetic feeling and
Errant saepe canes itaque et vestigia quaerunt.
How happily their characteristics are struck off in the line--
At levisomna canum fido cum pectore corda.
Et validis cycni torrentibus ex Heliconis
Cum liquidam tollunt lugubri voce querellam;
and again--
Parvus ut est cycni melior canor ille gruum quam
Clamor in aetheriis dispersus nubibus austri.
The description of sea-birds,
Mergique marinis
Fluctibus in salso victum vitamque petentes,
τανύγλωσσοί τε κορῶναι
εἰνάλιαι τῇσίν τε θαλάσσια ἔργα μέμηλεν.
His lively personal observation and active interest in the casual
Cum lubrica serpens
Exuit in spinis vestem; nam saepe videmus
Illorum spoliis vepres volitantibus auctas.
that overtakes the mind--
Adde furorem animi proprium atque oblivia rerum,
Adde quod in nigras lethargi mergitur undas;
the bodily waste, produced by long-continuous speaking--
Perpetuus sermo nigrai noctis ad umbram
Aurorae perductus ab exoriente nitore;
observation of a physician, as well as the profound thought of a
moralist.
Quam Grai memorant nec nostra dicere lingua
Concedit nobis patrii sermonis egestas.
Lucretius has occasionally to meet the first difficulty by the
character appears in the links by which his argument is kept
country, or the first unfolding of some illimitable prospect.
Nullam rem e nilo gigni divinitus unquam,
Unde refert nobis victor quid possit oriri,
Quid nequeat, finita potestas denique cuique
Quanam sit ratione atque alte terminus haerens.
Following on his steps the poet himself professes to teach--
Quo quaeque creata
Foedere sint, in eo quam sit durare necessum,
Nec validas valeant aevi rescindere leges.
In another place he says--
Et quid quaeque queant per foedera naturai
Quid porro nequeant, sancitum quandoquidem extat.
Certum ac dispositumst ubi quicquit crescat et insit.
Libera continuo dominis privata superbis.
Illud in his rebus videor firmare potesse,
Usque adeo naturarum vestigia linqui
Parvola, quae nequeat ratio depellere nobis
Ut nil inpediat dignam dis degere vitam.
From these high places of his philosophy,--'the "templa serena"
well-bulwarked by the learning of the wise' he derives not only a
Haud igitur penitus pereunt quaecumque videntur,
Quando alid ex alio reficit natura nec ullam
Rem gigni patitur nisi morte adiuta aliena?
Sic aequo geritur certamine principiorum
Ex infinito contractum tempore bellum.
and life, support the existing creation in unceasing harmony. The
Nunc hinc nunc illic superant vitalia rerum,
Et superantur item.
decay is no mere war of abstractions: it is the daily and hourly
Cedit enim rerum novitate extrusa vetustas.
runners in a race, pass on the torch of life'--
Inque brevi spatio mutantur saecla animantum
Et quasi cursores vitai lampada tradunt.
Sic alid ex alio numquam desistet oriri
Vitaque mancipio nulli datur, omnibus usu.
Hinc alitur porro nostrum genus atque ferarum,
Hinc laetas urbes pueris florere videmus
Frondiferasque novis avibus canere undique silvas.
Inde super terras fluit agmine dulci
Qua via secta semel liquido pede detulit undas.
Denique tantopere inter se cum maxima mundi
Pugnent membra, pio nequaquam concita bello,
Nonne vides aliquam longi certaminis ollis
Posse dari finem? vel cum sol et vapor omnis
Omnibus epotis umoribus exsuperarint;
Quod facere intendunt, neque adhuc conata patrantur.
Et videas caelum summai totius unum
Quam sit parvula pars et quam multesima constet
Atque omne immensum peragravit mente animoque.
Quis regere immensi summam, quis habere profundi
Indu manu validas potis est moderanter habenas.
Degitur hoc aevi quodcumquest,
are called forth by the ever-present thought of the Infinite and
Invenies tamen inter se differre figuris.
the imagination of the poet seems, in some passages, to attach
atheistic. But the sense of will, freedom, individual life, is so
This new and more vital conception which supersedes the old
Aeneadum genetrix, hominum divomque voluptas,
The mysterious power there addressed is identified with the Alma
addressed as a Power, present through all the world,--
Caeli subter labentia signa
Quae mare navigerum quae terras frugiferentis
She is not only omnipresent, but all-creative,--
Per te quoniam genus omne animantum
and all-regulative--
Quae quoniam renum naturam sola gubernas, &c.
Quo magis aeternum da dictis, diva leporem.
ἡμεῖς δὲ κλέος οἶον ἀκούομεν, οὐδέ τι ἴδμεν,--
and by the gift of a Power which he cannot command. Like Goethe,
But still true to his philosophy, and remembering the Empedoclean
Tibi rident aequora ponti
Placatumque nitet diffuso lumine caelum;--
conscious of this joy.'
Omnia suppeditat porro Natura,--
Quando omnibus omnia large
Tellus ipsa parit Naturaque daedala rerum.
Denique si vocem rerum Natura repente, etc.
Usque adeo res humanas vis abdita quaedam
Opterit et pulchros fascis saevasque secures
Proculcare ac ludibrio sibi habere videtur.
ἦμος δ᾽ οὔτ᾽ ἄρ πω ἠώς, ἔτι δ᾽ ἀμφιλύκη νύξ.
associated, very little is known.]
'In quae corpora si nullus tibi forte videtur
Posse animi iniectus fieri, procul avius erras.'--ii. 739-40.
tidings of what may and what may not come into existence: on what
firmament is of the whole sum of things, how small a fraction it
They inculcated political quiescence as well as the abnegation of
susceptibility, as well as to the ordinary temperament of men. It
ἐξελαύνων, ἀφ᾽ ὧν πλεῖστος τὰς ψυχὰς καταλαμβάνει θόρυβος.' To a
regulating life by an ideal standard afforded a broader aim and a
'The longing for confirmed tranquillity
Inward and outward.'
At bene non poterat sine puro pectore vivi.
Nonne videre
Nil aliud sibi naturam latrare, nisi ut, cui
Corpore seiunctus dolor absit, mente fruatur
Iucundo sensu cura semotu' metuque?
This difference in the spirit, rather than the letter, of their
Suave, mari magno turbantibus aequora ventis, etc.
life was necessarily coloured by the action of his times; yet all
The evils of life, for the cure of which Lucretius considers his
philosophy available, appeared to him to spring not out of man's
relation to Nature, but out of the weakness of his reason and the
Intellegit ibi vitium vas efficere ipsum
Omniaque illius vitio corrumpier intus,
Quae conlata foris et commoda cumque venirent;
Partim quod fluxum pertusumque esse videbat,
Ut nulla posset ratione explerier umquam;
Partim quod taetro quasi conspurcare sapore
Omnia cernebat, quaecumque receperat, intus.
Omnia suffundens mortis nigrore.
Quid undas
Arguit et liquidam molem camposque natantis.
O genus infelix humanum, talia divis
Cum tribuit facta atque iras adiunxit acerbas!
Quantos tum gemitus ipsi sibi, quantaque nobis
Volnera, quas lacrimas peperere minoribu' nostris!
Nec pietas ullast velatum saepe videri
Vertier ad lapidem atque omnis accedere ad aras
Nec procumbere humi prostratum et pandere palmas
Ante deum delubra nec aras sanguine multo
Spargere quadrupedum nec votis nectere vota,
Sed mage pacata posse omnia mente tueri.
Nec delubra deum placido cum pectore adibis,
Nec de corpore quae sancto simulacra feruntur
In mentes hominum divinae nuntia formae
Suscipere haec animi tranquilla pace valebis.
Apparet divum numen sedesque quietae
Quas neque concutiunt venti nec nubila nimbis
Aspergunt neque nix acri concreta pruina
Cana cadens violat semperque innubilus aether
Integit, et large diffuso lumine rident.
'They reveal themselves to man in dreams and waking visions by
At, credo, in tenebris vita ac maerore iacebat,
Donec diluxit rerum genitalis origo.
Si non ipsa dedit specimen natura creandi?'
country. In regard to all his religious impressions his intensity
The same strength of heart and mind characterises that passage of
fortitude combating the suggestions of human weakness.
First, we are made to realise the entire unconsciousness in death
Non si terra mari miscebitur et mare caelo.
Nec radicitus e vita se tollit et eicit
Sed facit esse sui quiddam super inscius ipse.
Nec quisquam expergitus exstat,
Frigida quem semel est vitai pausa secuta.
ἀλλὰ, φίλος, θάνε καὶ σύ· τίη ὀλοφύρεαι οὕτως;
κάτθανε καὶ Πάτροκλος, ὅπερ σέο πολλὸν ἀμείνων--
Frigida quem semel est vitai pausa secuta;--
Cum summo gelidi cubat aequore saxi;--
Urgerive superne obtritum pondere terrae.--
Iam iam non domus accipiet te laeta, neque uxor
Optima nec dulces occurrent oscula nati
Praeripere et tacita pectus dulcedine tangent,
Ad confligendum venientibus undique Poenis,
of the regal state of kings and emperors--
Inde alii multi reges rerumque potentes
Occiderunt, magnis qui gentibus imperitarunt,
Sic alid ex alio nunquam desistet oriri.
The practical use of the study of Nature, according to Lucretius,
Sed nil dulcius est, bene quam munita tenere
Edita doctrina sapientum templa serena,
Despicere unde queas alios passimque videre
Errare atque viam palantis quaerere vitae,
Certare ingenio, contendere nobilitate,
Noctes atque dies niti praestante labore
Ad summas emergere oper rerumque potiri.
Quod si ridicula haec ludibriaque esse videmus,
Re veraque metus hominum curaeque sequaces
Nec metuunt sonitus armorum nec fera tela,
Audacterque inter reges rerumque potentis
Versantur neque fulgorem reverentur ab auro
Nec clarum vestis splendorem purpureai,
Quid dubitas quin omni' sit haec rationi' potestas?
Omnis cum in tenebris praesertim vita laboret.
The desire of power and station leads to the shame and misery of
most sacred ties of Nature. While failure in the struggle is
degradation, success is often only the prelude to the most sudden
Quandoquidem sapiunt alieno ex ore petuntque
Res ex auditis potius quam sensibus ipsis.
Praesertim cum tempestas adridet et anni
Tempora conspergunt viridantis floribus herbas.
With fervid sincerity he announces the truth that 'to the man who
Quod siquis vera vitam ratione gubernet,
Divitiae grandes homini sunt vivere parce
Aequo animo.
Aeternumque daret matri sub pectore volnus;--
or such pictures, as that at iii. 469, of friends and relatives
surrounding the bed of one who has sunk into a deep lethargy--
Ad vitam qui revocantes
Circumstant lacrimis rorantes ora genasque,--
show how strong and real was his regard for the great elemental
inscriptions of the Romans, of that 'fear of Acheron'--
Funditus humanam qui vitam turbat ab imo
Omnia suffendens mortis nigrore neque ullam
Esse voluptatem liquidam puramque reliquit.
persecution, and to extreme forms of fanaticism in modern times,
than to the tolerant spirit and the not unkindly superstition of
Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum,--
The limitation of his philosophy is also apparent in his want of
sympathy with the active duties and pursuits of life. He can see
only different modes of evil in the busy interests of the world.
Sed mage pacata posse omnia mente tueri--
he regards as the only true religion for man: the 'mute and
Yet a modern reader, without accepting the conclusions of his
The same 'vivida vis' with which he observes natural phenomena
characterises his insight into human character and passion. He
men seem objects of ridicule or scorn, but to restore them to the
Aut cum conscius ipse animus se forte remordet
Desidiose agere aetatem lustrisque perire,
Aut quod in ambiguo verbum iaculata reliquit
Quod cupido adfixum cordi vivescit ut ignis,
Aut nimium iactate oculos aliumve tueri
Quod putat in voltuque videt vestigia risus:
Exit saepe foras magnis ex aedibus ille,
Esse domi quem pertaesumst, subitoque revertit,
Quippe foris nilo melius qui sentiat esse.
Currit agens mannos ad villam praecipitanter,
Auxilium tectis quasi ferre ardentibus instans;
Oscitat extemplo, tetigit cum limina villae,
Aut abit in somnum gravis atque oblivia quaerit,
Aut etiam properans urbem petit atque revisit.
Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum.--
Cur non ut plenus vitae conviva recedis?--
Vitaque mancipio nulli datur omnibus usu.--
Surgit amari aliquit quod in ipsis floribus angat.--
Nam verae voces tum demum pectore ab imo
Eiciuntur et eripitur persona, manet res.--
Divitiae grandes homini sunt vivere parce
Aequo animo.
nervous energy, not without flashes of the vigorous wit, of Roman
Cur etiam loca sola petunt frustraque laborant?
Nam tibi praeterea quod machiner inveniamque,
Quod placeat, nil est: eadem sunt omnia semper.--
'Quantum Epicure tibi parvis suffecit in hortis.'
'Vidi ego multa saepe picta quae Acherunti fierent
Cruciamenta: verum enimvero nulla adaequest Acheruns
Atque ubi ego fui in lapicidinis.'
'Ergo hominum genus incassum frustraque laborat
Semper et in curis consumit inanibus aevom,
Nimirum quia non cognovit quae sit habendi
Finis et omnino quoad crescat vera voluptas.'
title of a poem. The work of Empedocles and the kindred works of
with the imaginative fancies of the dawn of ancient enquiry. He
professes to make both conducive to the practical purpose of
Quoniam haec ratio plerumque videtur
Tristior esse quibus non est tractata, retroque
Volgus abhorret ab hac.
Aeneadum genetrix, hominum divomque voluptas, etc.;--
and again the lines in the introduction to Book iii:--
Apparet divum numen sedesque quietae, etc.
but akin to, the impulses of poetry. That marvellous intensity of
Again, although his rhythm, even at its best, falls far short of
In caeloque deum sedes et templa locarunt,
Per caelum volvi quia nox et luna videtur,
Luna dies et nox et noctis signa severa
Noctivagaeque faces caeli flammaeque volantes.
Nubila sol imbres nix venti fulmina grando
Et rapidi fremitus et murmura magna minarum.
Urgerive superne obtritum pondere terrae,--
at ii. 569-580, by the sad and solemn movement of the close,--
Ploratus mortis comites et funeris atri,--
and at i. 101, by the line of cardinal significance, which ends a
Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum.
The poetical style of Lucretius is, like his rhythm, a true and
Usque adeo largos haustus e fontibu' magnis
Lingua meo suavis diti de pectore fundet.
Thus although the poetical style of Lucretius shows the traces of
immediately reproduced in such lines as these:--
Caeli subter labentia signa
Quae mare navigerum quae terras frugiferentis
Denique per maria ac montis fluviosque rapacis
Frondiferasque domos avium camposque virentis.
Frondiferasque novis avibus canere undique silvas.
Nam saepe in colli tondentes pabula laeta
Lanigerae reptant pecudes quo quamque vocantes
Invitant herbae gemmantes rore recenti.
Nec tenerae salices atque herbae rore vigentis
Fluminaque illa queunt summis labentia ripis.
Quam fluitans circum magnis anfractibus aequor
Ionium glaucis aspargit virus ab undis.
Severa silentia noctis
Undique cum constent.
Ut nubes facile interdum concrescere in alto
Cernimus et mundi speciem violare serenam
Aera mulcentes motu.
Pars etiam glebarum ad diluviem revocatur
Imbribus et ripas radentia flumina rodunt.
The changing face of Nature is to his spirit so full of power and
Morte obita quorum tellus amplectitur ossa,
Ossa dedit terrae proinde ac famul infimus esset.
Ergo cum primum magnas invecta per urbis
Munificat tacita mortalis muta salute.
Aeternumque daret matri sub pectore volnus,--
tacito mussabat medicina timore,--
tacita pectus dulcedine tangent,--
His ibi me rebus quaedam divina voluptas
Percipit adque horror.--
His language has the further power of producing a vague sense of
Altitonans Volturnus et auster fulmine pollens.
Nec fulmina nec minitanti
Murmure compressit caelum.
Murmura magna minarum, etc.
Impendent atrae formidinis ora superne.
Sustentata ruet moles et machina mundi.
Aut cecidisse urbis magno vexamine mundi.
Non si terra mari miscebitur et mare caelo.
Avia Pieridum peragro loca nullius ante
Trita solo;
Volvere curarum tristis in pectore fluctus,
Errare atque viam palantis quaerere vitae.
A similar power of imagination is shown in his more elaborate use
Sed quasi naufragiis magnis multisque coortis
Disiectare solet magnum mare transtra guberna
Antemnas proram malos tonsasque natantis,
Per terrarum omnis oras fluitantia aplustra
Ut videantur et indicium mortalibus edant,
Infidi maris insidias virisque dolumque
Ut vitare velint, neve ullo tempore credant,
Subdola cum ridet placidi pellacia ponti,
Sic tibi si finita semel primordia quaedam
Constitues, aevom debebunt sparsa per omnem
Disiectare aestus diversi materiari,
Numquam in concilium ut possint compulsa coire
Nec remorari in concilio nec crescere adaucta.
Pinea semiferi capitis velamina quassans,--
Quae caput a caeli regionibus ostendebat
Horribili super aspectu mortalibus instans.
It ver et Venus, et veris praenuntius ante
Pennatus graditur zephyrus, vestigia propter
Flora quibus mater praespargens ante viai
Cuncta coloribus egregiis et odoribus opplet.
But it is in describing actual scenes and actual aspects of human
Quod in magnis bacchatur montibu' passim,--
In the descriptions of Lucretius, as in those of Homer, there is
Nec validi possunt pontes venientis aquai
Vim subitam tolerare: ita magno turbidus imbri
Molibus incurrit validis cum viribus amnis.
quoted,--and again, in these lines--
Denique nota vagi silvestria templa tenebant
Nympharum, quibus e scibant umori' fluenta
Lubrica proluvie larga lavere umida saxa,
Umida saxa, super viridi stillantia musco,
Et partim plano scatere atque erumpere campo.
In this representation of the sea-shore--
Concharumque genus parili ratione videmus
Pingere telluris gremium, qua mollibus undis
Litoris incurvi bibulam pavit aequor harenam,--
λαΐγγας πότι χέρσον ἀποπλύνεσπε θάλασσα.
Primum aurora novo cum spargit lumine terras
Et variae volucres nemora avia pervolitantes
Aera per tenerum liquidis loca vocibus opplent,
Quam subito soleat sol ortus tempore tali
Convestire sua perfundens omnia luce,
Omnibus in promptu manifestumque esse videmus.
Aurea cum primum gemmantis rore per herbas
Matutina rubent radiati lumina solis
Exhalantque lacus nebulam fluviique perennes,
Ipsaque ut interdum tellus fumare videtur;
Omnia quae sursum cum conciliantur, in alto
Corpore concreto subtexunt nubila caelum.
'Upon the dark materials of the storm.'
scenery. The lines at ii. 352-366, describing the cow searching
Noscit humi pedibus vestigia pressa bisulcis;--
Nec tenerae salices atque herbae rore vigentes
Fluminaque illa queunt summis labentia ripis;--
Nam saepe in colli tondentes pabula laeta,' etc.;
Praeterea magnae legiones cum loca cursu
Camporum complent belli simulacra cientes,
Fulgor ibi ad caelum se tollit totaque circum
Aere renidescit tellus supterque virum vi
Excitur pedibus sonitus clamoreque montes
Icti reiectant voces ad sidera mundi
Et circumvolitant equites mediosque repente
Tramittunt valido quatientes impete campos.
The truth and fulness of life in this passage are immediately
Et tamen est quidam locus altis montibus unde
Stare videntur et in campis consistere fulgor.
Summa etiam cum vis violenti per mare venti
Induperatorem classis super aequora verrit
Cum validis pariter legionibus atque elephantis,
Non divom pacem votis adit ac prece quaesit
Ventorum pavidus paces animasque secundas, etc.
Tum porro puer, ut saevis proiectus ab undis
Navita, nudus humi iacet, infans, indigus omni
Vitali auxilio, cum primum in luminis oras
Nixibus ex alvo matris natura profudit,
Vagituque locum lugubri complet, ut aecumst
Cui tantum in vita restet transire malorum.
Iamque caput quassans grandis suspirat arator
Crebrius incassum manuum cecidisse labores,
Et cum tempora temporibus praesentia confert
Praeteritis, laudat fortunas saepe parentis
Et crepat, anticum genus ut pietate repletum
Perfacile angustis tolerarit finibus aevom,
Cum minor esset agri multo modus ante viritim.
mixtos vagitibus aegris
Ploratus mortis comites et funeris atri.
imagination.
His imagination, which depicts so forcibly the intimations of
extra flammantia moenia mundi--
His excellencies are so different from those of Virgil that the
'Quaerentem dictis quibus et quo carmine demum
Clara tuae possim praepandere lumina menti
Res quibus occultas penitus convisere possis.'
tossing flag-posts of ships, to warn mortals that they shun the
'The appearance, instantaneously disclosed,' etc.
hedera iuvenalia vinctus
Quae dulcem curis miscet amaritiem.
The ultimate preservation of his poems depended on a single copy,
Namque tu solebas
Meas esse aliquid putare nugas, etc.--
This collection consists of about 116 poems, written in various
to Diana,' receive a rude shock from the two intervening poems,
In longum tamen aevum
Manserunt hodieque manent vestigia ruris.
There is some uncertainty as to the exact date of his birth and
Vatinius. A line in the poem, immediately preceding that
containing the allusion to the speech of Calvus,--
Per consulatum perierat Vatinius,--
was, till the appearance of Schwabe's 'Quaestiones Catullianae,'
Quid est Catulle? quid moraris emori?
in supposing that she was ten than that she was seven years older
Veronae, mater amata meae;
he speaks of one of his fellow-townsmen, as--
Quendam municipem meum.
Salve, o venusta Sirmio, atque ero gaude;
Gaudete vosque o vividae lacus undae--
shows that he derived keen enjoyment from the familiar loveliness
impression made unconsciously on his imagination by the mountain
scenery of Northern Italy.
His native district afforded scope for the culture, which was the
Sapphica puella
Musa doctior,--
both with the 'Muse of Sappho,' and with the more laboured art of
Tempore quo primum vestis mihi tradita pura'st,
Iucundum cum aetas florida ver ageret,
Multa satis lusi: non est dea nescia nostri,
Quae dulcem curis miscet amaritiem.
The early poems there referred to probably gained him his first
reputation and attracted that notice of Cornelius Nepos, which is
Quoi dono lepidum novum libellum.
'Vesper adest: invenes consurgite'--may have been written before
Cui faveam potius? Caeli, tibi, nam tua nobis
Per facta exhibitas't unica amicitia,
Cum vesana meas torreret flamma medullas.
that the lady addressed under that name was the notorious Clodia,
Splendidaque a docto fama refulget avo.
Lesbius est pulcher: quidni? quem Lesbia malit
Quam te cum tota gente, Catulle, tua.
Ille mi par esse deo videtur;
and again
Quo mea se molli candida diva pedem
That the intrigue was carried on and had even reached its second
stage--that of the 'amantium irae'--in the lifetime of Metellus,
appears from the 83rd poem,
Lesbia mi praesente viro mala plurima dicit, etc.
Sed furtiva dedit mira munuscula nocte,
Ipsius ex ipso dempta viri gremio--
clearly imply that these meetings occurred after the return of
Nam unguentum dabo, quod meae puellae
Visam te incolumem audiamque Hiberum
Narrantem loca, facta, nationes--
Macedonia, it seems a not unwarranted conjecture that they were
The first hint of any rift in the loves of Catullus and Clodia is
Quare, quod scribis Veronae turpe Catullo, etc.
Catullus had retired to Verona on hearing of the death of his
Etsi me adsiduo confectum cura dolore
Sevocat a doctis, Ortale, virginibus, etc.
In his letter to Manlius, in which he excuses himself on the same
somewhat later to Allius,--
Non possum reticere deae qua me Allius in re, etc.--
Quae tamen etsi uno non est contenta Catullo
Rara verecundae furta feremus erae.
tenderness. Afterwards, even though his passion from time to time
The poems representing the second and third stage--that in which
passion and scorn strive with one another--of the relations to
O dulces comitum valete coetus.--
Varus me meus ad suos amores
Visum duxerat e foro otiosum--
Disertissime Romuli nepotum
Quot sunt quotque fuere, Marce Tulli--
Tanto pessimus omnium poeta
Quanto tu optimus omnium patronus--
seems to point to some exercise of Cicero's special talent as an
The poems written in the two last years of the poet's life do not
Maestius lacrimis Simonideis.
The lines--
Malest, me hercule, et est laboriose,
Et magis magis in dies et horas--
might well have been drawn from him by the rapid advance of his
Peliaco quondam prognatae, etc.--
Zymrna mei Cinnae nonam post denique messem
Quam coepta'st nonamque edita post hiemem,--
Sed postquam tellus scelere est imbuta nefando, etc.--
But although longer life might have brought to Catullus a still
higher rank among the poets of the world, the chief charm of the
poems actually written by him arises from the strength and depth
interpreters of Nature and of human life: none have expressed so
directly and truthfully the great elemental affections, or have
'Odi et amo,' till at last he obtains his emancipation by the
Vivamus, mea Lesbia, atque amemus,
Quaeris, quot mihi basiationes, etc.,--
Miser, Catulle, desinas ineptire--
in which he recalls the bright days of the past--
Fulsere quondam candidi tibi soles,--
wounds, which had been partially healed, had broken out afresh,--
Si qua recordanti benefacta priora voluptas, etc.;
Furi et Aureli comites Catullo,--
in which scornful irony is combined with an imaginative power and
Si quicquam mutis gratum acceptumque sepulchris
Accidere a nostro Calve dolore potest,
Quo desiderio veteres renovamus amores
Atque olim missas flemus amicitias
Certe non tanto mors immatura dolori est
Quintiliae, quantum gaudet amore tuo.
Poetae tenero, meo sodali
Velim Caecilio papyre dicas,--
Venistine domum ad tuos Penates
Fratresque unanimos anumque matrem?
Venisti. O mihi nuntii beati.
Sed contra accipies meros amores
Seu quid suavius elegantiusve.
Haec amem necessest
Ut Veraniolum meum et Fabullum.
Certe tute iubebas animam tradere, inique, me
Inducens in amorem, quasi tuta omnia mi forent.
Inde nunc retrahis te ac tua dicta omnia factaque
Ventos irrita ferre ac nebulas aerias sinis.
These, and other poems, show that Catullus was quick to feel any
coldness or neglect on the part of his friends, and exceedingly
dependent for his happiness on their sympathy. But the tone of
these poems is quite different from the resentment which he feels
Pauca nuntiate meae puellae
Non bona dicta.
Si qua recordanti benefacta priora voluptas
Est homini, cum se cogitat esse pium,
Nec sanctam violasse fidem, nec foedere in ullo
Divum ad fallendos numine abusum homines, etc.
Another, and less admirable, side of the nature of Catullus is
Quis hoc potest videre, quis potest pati.
Nisi impudicus et vorax et aleo, etc.--
and in the less vigorous but much more offensive 57th poem.
Catullus in these poems expresses the animosity which the 'boni'
Et ille nunc superbus et superfluens
Perambulabit omnium cubilia, etc.
Irascere iterum meis iambis
Inmerentibus, unice imperator,--
Nam castum esse decet pium poetam
Ipsum, versiculos nihil necesse est.
language.
O Colonia, quae cupis ponte ludere magno,--
which has some touches of graceful poetry as well as of humourous
Quoi cum sit viridissimo nupta flore puella
(Et puella tenellulo delicatior haedo,
Asservanda nigerrimis diligentius uvis),--
Munus hoc mihi maximi da, Colonia, risus--
Chommoda dicebat, si quando commoda vellet
Dicere, et insidias Arrius hinsidias, etc.
Just as the ears of men had recovered from this infliction--
Subito affertur nuntius horribilis,
Ionios fluctus, postquam illuc Arrius isset,
Iam non Ionios esse, sed Hionios.
Like fastidious and irritable poets of other times (Horace, Pope,
Dii magni, horribilem ac sacrum libellum.
friends, who, though in other respects a man of sense, wit, and
Plenam veneni et pestilentiae.
About one half of the shorter poems, and more than half of the
epigrams, are to be classed among his personal lampoons or light
satiric pieces. Many of these show Catullus to us on that side of
Iam ver egelidos refert tepores,--
Phaselus ille quem videtis, hospites,--
Iam mens praetrepidans avet vagari,
with which a cultivated mind forecasts the pleasure of travelling
Aut quam sidera multa, cum facet nox,
Furtivos hominum vident amores,--
Velut prati
Ultimi flos, praetereunte postquam
Tactus aratro est;--
Nec sapit pueri instar
Bimuli, tremula patris dormientis in ulna,--
Et puella tenellulo delicatior haedo,
Adservanda nigerrimis diligentius uvis.
But the great charm of the style in these shorter poems is its
Miser Catulle desinas ineptire,--
Vivamus, mea Lesbia, atque amemus,--
Acmen Septimius suos amores,--
Verani, omnibus e meis amicis,--
Iam ver egelidos refert tepores,--
Paene insularum Sirmio insularumque,--
Miser Catulle, desinas ineptire,--
we apprehend through a perfectly pure medium, and by a single
Minister vetuli puer Falerni
Inger mi calices amariores, etc.
'In profuse strains of unpremeditated art.'
Ne diu taceat procax
Fescennina locutio--
Quos Hamadryades deae
Ludicrum sibi roscido
Nutriunt humore,--
Alba parthenice velut
Luteumve papaver--
the symbol of maidens--
'Whom youth makes so fair and passion so pale.'
The grace of trees and the bloom of flowers were prized by him
among the fairest things in Nature. The charm in woman which most
the Epithalamium of Peleus and Thetis, he compares Ariadne in her
Quales Eurotae progignunt flumina myrtos
Aurave distinctos educit verna colores.
Viden ut faces
Splendidas quatiunt comas?
The two pictures, further on in the poem, of a peaceful old age
prolonged to the utmost limit of human life--
Usque dum tremulum movens
Cana tempus anilitas
Omnia omnibus annuit--
and of infancy, awakening into consciousness and affection,--
Torquatus volo parvulus
Matris e gremio suae
Porrigens teneras manus,
Dulce rideat ad patrem
Semihiante labello.
Sit suo similis patri
Manlio et facile insciis
Noscitetur ab omnibus,
Et pudicitiam suae
Matris indicet ore.
are drawn with the truest and most delicate hand.
Idem cum tenui carptus defloruit ungui,
Nulli illum pueri, nullae optavere puellae,--
οἵαν τὰν ὑάκινθον ἐν ὤρεσι ποίμενες ἄνδρες
πόσσι καταστείβοισι, χάμαι δέ τε πόρφυρον ἄνθος.
'Grows, lives, and dies in single blessedness;'
Iam iam contingit summum radice flagellum,--
Sed ubi oris aurei Sol radiantibus oculis
Lustravit aethera album, sola dura, mare ferum,
Pepulitque noctis umbras vegetis sonipedibus.
Everything is seen in those sharply-defined forms, which imprint
imagination to produce the original which Catullus is supposed to
Sed postquam tellus scelerest imbuta nefando, etc.,
O nimis optato saeclorum tempore nati
Heroes, saluete, deum genus.
(Illa rudem cursu prima imbuit Amphitriten),
and when the Gods and Goddesses of Olympus, the mysterious Powers
Emersere feri candenti e gurgite vultus
Aequoreae monstrum Nereides admirantes,--
Quam tum saepe magis fulgore expalluit auri,--
and again, looking on the distant fleet--
Saxea ut effigies bacchantis,--
of the advent of Bacchus--
Cum thiaso Satyrorum et Nysigenis Silenis,--
Extenuata gerens veleris vestigia poenae,--
of the aged Parcae--
infirmo quatientes corpora motu--
Idomeneosne petam montes? a gurgite lato
Discernens ponti truculentum ubi dividit aequor?
Nam quoscumque ferunt campi, quos Thessala magnis
Montibus ora creat, quos propter fluminis undas
Aura parit flores tepidi fecunda Favoni,
Hos indistinctis plexos tulit ipse corollis,
Quo permulsa domus iucundo risit odore;
Tempe quae silvae cingunt super inpendentes,--
planted before the vestibule of the palace.
Lucretius, yet they do appear, as in the lines--
Peliaco quondam prognatae vertice pinus,--
Aut tereti tenues tinnitus aere ciebant,--
Putridaque infirmis variabant pectora palmis,--etc., etc.
As in the Attis we find such word-formations as _sonipedibus_,
Frigidulos udo singultus ore cientem,
Languidulosque paret tecum coniungere somnos.
familiar to the Greek idyl, of the recurring chime of the same or
Vos ego saepe meo vos carmine compellabo;--
Cui Iupiter ipse
Ipse suos divom genitor concessit amores;--
Sicine me patriis avectam, perfide, ab oris,
Perfide, deserto liquisti in litore Theseu?
Sicine discedens neglecto numine divom;--
Nulla fugae ratio, nulla spes; omnia muta
Omnia sunt deserta, ostentant omnia mortem, etc.
The phrases are to a much greater extent cast in a Greek mould.
The words follow one another in a less natural order. Ornamental
The four longer elegiac pieces which follow add little to our
Quo tibi tum casu pulcherrima Laudamia,
Ereptum est vita dulcius atque anima
There is an exquisite picture of his own stolen meetings with his
Et longe ante omnes mihi quae me carior ipso'st
Lux mea qua viva vivere dulce mihi'st.
In this poem too, although the application of the image is an
incongruous adaptation of an old Homeric simile, we meet with a
Qualis in aerii perlucens vertice montis
Rivos muscoso prosilit e lapide
Qui cum de prona praeceps est valle volutus
Per medium sensim transit iter populi,
Dulce viatori lasso in sudore levamen,
Cum gravis exustos aestus hiulcat agros.
the keenness of their satire, and their shrewd observation of the
'Ceu pulsae ventorum flamine nubes,
Aerium nivei montis liquere cacumen.'
'Qualis in aerii perlucens vertice montis
Rivos muscoso, prosilit e lapide,' etc.
'Flos Veronensum. .. iuvenum.'
'Quod mihi fortuna casuque oppressus acerbo'--
retractes munera neniae') with the lighter poetry of love.]
'Nunc te cognovi: quare etsi impensius uror,
Multo mi tamen es vilior et levior.
Qui potis est? inquis. Quia amantem iniuria talis
Cogit amare magis, set bene velle minus.'
'Calvus, if those now silent in the tomb
Can feel the touch of pleasure in our tears
For those we loved, who perished in their bloom,
And the departed friends of former years:
Oh then, full surely thy Quintilia's woe.
For the untimely fate that bade ye part,
Will fade before the bliss she feels to know
How very dear she is unto thy heart.'--Martin.
'Dii magni, salaputium disertum.'
'Neu me odisse putes hospitis officium.'
'Quintilio si quid recitares, Corrige, sodes,
Hoc aiebat et hoc'--
'Litus ul longe resonante Eoa
Tunditur unda.'
'Quam mater prope Deliam
Deposivit olivam,
Montium domina ut fores
Silvarumque virentium
Saltuumque reconditorum
Amniumque sonantum.'
'Soon my eyes shall see, mayhap,
Of his mother, as he stands
Stretching out his tiny hands,
And his little lips the while
Half-open on his father's smile.
'And oh! may he in all be like
Manlius his sire, and strike
Strangers when the boy they meet
As his father's counterfeit,
And his face the index be,
Of his mother's chastity.'--Martin.
'Neque Alexandrina beluata conchyliata tapetia.'
'Whate'er of loveliest decks the plain, whate'er
The giant mountains of Thessalia bear,
Whate'er beneath the west's warm breezes blow,
Where crystal streams by flowery margents flow,
These in festoons or coronals inwrought
Of undistinguishable blooms he brought,
Whose blending odours crept from room to room,
Till all the house was gladdened with perfume.'--Martin.
'As some clear stream, from mossy stone that leaps,
Far up among the hills, and, wimpling down
By wood and vale, its onward current keeps
To lonely hamlet and to stirring town,
Cheering the wayworn traveller as it flows
When all the fields with drought are parched and bare.'