CHAPTER III

THE AUGUSTAN AGE.

VIRGIL.

(1) LIFE.

Our chief authority for the life of Virgil, apart from his own writings and those of his contemporaries, is Donatus, whose work is probably based on Suetonius' _De Poetis_. Donatus' work, though not free from romance, is much more valuable than the Life by Probus[41] or the metrical account given by Phocas.[42] Some important details are given in the Life wrongly attributed to Servius, and in an account preserved in a Berne MS. of the tenth century.

The poet's name is correctly given as P. Vergilius Maro in all the Lives. The balance of authority is decidedly in favour of the spelling 'Vergilius'; it is always so written in the early MSS. and in inscriptions of the Republic and of the early centuries A.D. The traditional form in modern literature, 'Virgil,' is here retained.

Virgil was born 15th October, B.C. 70, at Andes (identified traditionally with Pietole)[43] near Mantua. Donatus, _vit. Verg._, 'Natus est Cn. Pompeio Magno et M. Licinio Crasso primum coss. iduum Octobrium die, in pago qui Andes dicitur et abest a Mantua non procul.'

He was of humble extraction, his father being originally either a potter or a day-labourer.

Probus, _vit. Verg._, 'Matre Magia Polla, patre rustico.'

Donatus, 'Parentibus modicis fuit ac praecipue patre, quem quidam opificem figulum, plures Magi cuiusdam viatoris initio mercennarium mox ob industriam generum tradiderunt egregieque substantiae silvis coemendis et apibus curandis auxisse reculam.' (Cf. Virgil's treatment of bees in _Georgic_ iv.)

His early years were spent at Cremona, whence in B.C. 55 he went to Mediolanum and then to Rome for his higher education. He studied philosophy, medicine, mathematics, and rhetoric; but his shyness prevented his being a success at the bar, where, we are told, he appeared only once.

Donatus, 'Initia aetatis Cremonae egit usque ad virilem togam, quam xv. anno natali suo accepit isdem illis consulibus iterum duobus quibus erat natus, evenitque ut eo ipso die Lucretius poeta decederet. De Cremona Mediolanum et inde paulo post transiit in urbem ... Inter cetera studia medicinae quoque ac maxime mathematicae[44] operam dedit. Egit et causam apud iudices unam omnino nec amplius quam semel; nam et in sermone tardissimum ac paene indocto similem fuisse Melissus [a freedman of Maecenas] tradidit.'

The Berne MS. above referred to says: 'Ut primum se contulit Romam, studuit apud Epidium oratorem cum Caesare Augusto.'[45] For his studies under the Epicurean Siron cf. _Catal._ 7, 8,

'Nos ad beatos vela mittimus portus, magni petentes docta dicta Sironis, vitamque ab omni vindicabimus cura.'

Cf. also _Ecl._ 6, 31-40, where a brief sketch is given of the Epicurean theory of creation.

For a few years we hear nothing of his life, but we may suppose that he continued his studies in literature and philosophy, probably at his farm, if we can draw any inference from the language of _Ecl._ 1, especially l. 19 _sqq._ So far as is known, he took no part in the civil wars. In B.C. 41, when lands were assigned to the troops of Antonius, Virgil was dispossessed of his property. On the recommendation of Asinius Pollio, who was _legatus_ of Gallia Transpadana, he went to Rome and obtained from Octavian the restitution of his land. The poet expresses his gratitude in _Ecl._ 1, 42,

'Hic illum vidi iuvenem, Meliboee, quotannis bis senos cui nostra dies altaria fumant. Hic mihi responsum primus dedit ille petenti: "Pascite ut ante boves, pueri, submittite tauros."'

Cf. also ll. 70-3.

Donatus, 'Ad bucolica transiit maxime ut Asinium Pollionem, Alphenum Varum, et Cornelium Gallum celebraret, quia in distributione agrorum qui post Philippensem victoriam[46] veteranis triumvirorum iussu trans Padum dividebantur, indemnem se praestitissent.'

Virgil was evicted a second time in the following year, after the Bellum Perusinum, by the troops of Octavian. Conflicting accounts are given by the Lives regarding the persons who seized his land.[47]

Servius, _vit. Verg._, 'Postea ortis bellis civilibus inter Antonium et Augustum, Augustus victor Cremonensium agros, quia pro Antonio senserant, dedit militibus suis. Qui cum non sufficerent, his addidit agros Mantuanos, sublatos non propter civium culpam, sed propter vicinitatem Cremonensium: unde ipse in Bucolicis (9, 28), "Mantua vae miserae nimium vicina Cremonae."'

Virgil and his household found refuge on an estate which had once belonged to his old master Siron: _Catal._ 10,

'Villula, quae Sironis eras, et pauper agelle ... Tu nunc eris illi [patri] Mantua quod fuerat quodque Cremona prius.'

Whether he recovered his old farm is uncertain: at all events he spent most of his time in the south of Italy. Besides a house in Rome, he seems to have had a country house near Nola, and we know that the _Georgics_ (cf. iv. 563) were written at Naples.

Donatus, 'Habuit domum Romae Esquiliis iuxta hortos Maecenatis, quamquam secessu Campaniae Siciliaeque plurimum uteretur.'

Gell. vi. 20, 1, 'Scriptum in quodam commentario repperi ... Vergilium petivisse a Nolanis, aquam uti duceret in propinquum rus.'

He lived a retired life, seldom visiting Rome, and devoting most of his time to poetical composition, in which he was regular and painstaking.

Tac. _Dial._ 13, 'Securum et quietum Vergilii secessum, in quo tamen neque apud divum Augustum gratia caruit neque apud populum Romanum notitia: testes Augusti epistulae, testis ipse populus, qui auditis in theatro Vergilii versibus surrexit universus et forte praesentem spectantemque Vergilium veneratus est sic quasi Augustum.'

Quint. x. 3, 8, 'Vergilium paucissimos die composuisse versus auctor est Varius.'

Cf. his own expression, quoted by Gell. xvii. 10, 2, 'parere se versus more atque ritu ursino' (alluding to the notion that the bear licked its young into shape).

He was already an influential member of Maecenas' literary circle, to which, in B.C. 39, he introduced Horace. Cf. Hor. _Sat._ i. 6, 54,

'optimus olim Vergilius, post hunc Varius dixere quid essem.'

By Maecenas he was introduced to Augustus,[48] who treated him with liberality. Cf. Hor. _Ep._ ii. 1, 246,

'Munera quae multa dantis cum laude tulerunt dilecti tibi Vergilius Variusque poetae.'

He was on intimate terms with Horace, who addresses _Od._ i. 3 to him on the occasion of a proposed visit to Greece. Cf. ll. 5-8,

'Navis, quae tibi creditum debes Vergilium, finibus Atticis reddas incolumem, precor, et serves animae dimidium meae.'

In B.C. 37 he formed one of the party who travelled with Horace to Brundisium: Hor. _Sat._ i. 5, 40 (see under 'Horace,' p. 167).

For the rest of his life we hear little of Virgil in any public connexion. In B.C. 19 he started on a voyage to Greece and Asia, intending to spend three years on the revision of the _Aeneid_, but returned from Athens in bad health, and died at Brundisium on 21st September. His remains were buried near Naples. The epitaph quoted by Donatus is obviously not by Virgil: 'Anno aetatis lii. impositurus Aeneidi summam manum, statuit in Graeciam et in Asiam secedere triennioque continuo nihil amplius quam emendare, ut reliqua vita tantum philosophiae vacaret: sed cum ingressus iter Athenis occurrisset Augusto ab oriente Romam revertenti destinaretque non absistere atque etiam una redire, dum Megara vicinum oppidum ferventissimo sole cognoscit, languorem nactus est eumque non intermissa navigatione auxit, ita ut gravior aliquanto Brundisium appelleret, ubi diebus paucis obiit xi. Kal. Octobr. Cn. Sentio Q. Lucretio coss. (21st September, B.C. 19). Ossa eius Neapolim translata sunt tumuloque condita ... in quo distichon fecit tale:

"Mantua me genuit, Calabri rapuere, tenet nunc Parthenope: cecini pascua, rura, duces."'

His personal appearance and character are thus described by Donatus: 'Corpore et statura fuit grandis, aquilo colore, facie rusticana, valetudine varia: nam plerumque a stomacho et a faucibus ac dolore capitis laborabat, sanguinem etiam saepe reiecit.' (Cf. Hor. _Sat._ i. 5, 48,

'Lusum it Maecenas, dormitum ego Vergiliusque; namque pila lippis inimicum et ludere crudis.')

'Cibi vinique minimi, libidinis pronior ... cetera sane vita et ore et animo tam probum constat, ut Neapoli Parthenias volgo appellatus sit, ac si quando Romae, quo rarissime commeabat, viseretur in publico, sectantes demonstrantesque se suffugeret in proximum tectum.'

(2) WORKS.

MINOR POEMS.--According to Donatus, these were: 'In Balistam ... deinde Catalecton et Priapia et Epigrammata et Diras, item Cirim et Culicem, cum esset annorum xvi.' Servius omits the boyish production 'in Balistam,' and adds the 'Copa.' The 'Aetna,' mentioned with doubt by Donatus, is, of course, not by Virgil. (1) _Catalecta_.-This seems better than _Catalecton_; either would mean "a collection of poems." Some give _Catalepton_ (= "trifles," like Aratus' work +ta kata lepton+). Ribbeck thinks _Catalecta_ originally included the _Priapea_, _Epigrammata_, and _Dirae_, but came to be restricted to the fourteen short pieces given in our MSS. under that title. Some of these, _e.g._ No. 5, are spurious. Quint. viii. 3, 28 vouches for No. 2. Virgil's friends, Tucca and Varius, are addressed in 1 and 9, and 10 (on Siron's villa) refers to an event in Virgil's life. In the vein of Catullus are 3, 4, and 8, the last being an extremely close parody of Catullus, c. 4. (2) _Priapea_, three in number. (3) _Dirae_, spurious. (4) _Ciris_. The writer's reference to himself in l. 2, 'Irritaque expertum fallacis praemia volgi,' shows that Virgil is not the author. (5) _Culex_. That Virgil wrote a poem with this title is attested by Suetonius, Statius, and Martial; _e.g._ Mart. viii. 56, 19,

'Protinus Italiam concepit et arma virumque qui modo vix Culicem fleverat ore rudi.'

The poem in its present form is accepted by Ribbeck, but it does not correspond exactly to the account given by Donatus of the contents. (6) The _Copa_ Ribbeck accepts as genuine, but other critics find in it characteristics rather of Ovid or of Propertius. (7) The _Moretum_, though found in MSS., is not mentioned by Donatus or Servius, a strong argument against its being genuine.

BUCOLICA.--These ten poems are called in the MSS. _Eclogae_ ("selected pieces"), and were composed B.C. 43-39. Probus, 'Scripsit Bucolica annos natus xxviii., Theocritum secutus.'

Servius, 'Tunc ei proposuit Pollio ut carmen bucolicum scriberet, quod eum constat triennio[49] scripsisse et emendasse.'

They were doubtless published separately as they were written, and afterwards collected into a volume with _Ecl._ 1 (Tityrus) coming first. Cf. _Georg._ iv. 565,

'Carmina qui lusi pastorum, audaxque iuventa, Tityre, te patulae cecini sub tegmine fagi.'

The present order is certainly not the chronological order.

_Ecl._ 1 was written B.C. 41 as a thanksgiving to Augustus (see p. 150).

_Ecl._ 2 cannot be earlier than the end of 43 when Pollio was made governor of Gallia Transpadana, and possibly should not be put earlier than the summer of 42. The poem is written on his favourite slave Alexis (see Serv. _ad loc._).

_Ecl._ 3 was probably written soon afterwards. Virgil refers in l. 84 to his intimacy with Pollio,

'Pollio amat nostram, quamvis est rustica, Musam.'

_Ecl._ 2 and 3 are earlier than 5. Cf. 5, 86-7,

'Haec nos "Formosum Corydon ardebat Alexim," haec eadem docuit "Cuium pecus? an Meliboei?"'

_Ecl._ 4. The date is clear from l. 3,

'Si canimus silvas, silvae sint _consule_ dignae.'

It must have been written in 40, when Pollio was consul. This eclogue, which in the Middle Age was believed to be a prophecy of the Messiah's coming, cannot be satisfactorily explained as referring to Pollio's son Saloninus, or to the expected child of Augustus, Julia.

_Ecl._ 5. Spohn's view is highly probable, that it was written for the first celebration of Caesar's birthday in July, 42.

_Ecl._ 6, to Varus, probably written B.C. 40 from Siron's villa.

_Ecl._ 7 contains no allusion to contemporary events: the tone is purely pastoral.

_Ecl._ 8 was written while Pollio was on his way back to Rome from his victory over the Parthini in Illyricum, for his triumph in B.C. 39. Cf. ll. 6 and 12.

In _Ecl._ 9, written B.C. 40 at Siron's villa, the poet expresses his grief at the second expulsion from his farm.

_Ecl._ 10 entitled 'Gallus' was written B.C. 39. For details see under 'Gallus,' p. 182.[50]

_Sources of the Eclogues._--Several of the Eclogues are modelled on Theocritus (cf. 'Sicelides Musae' 4, 1; 'Syracosius versus' 6, 1), _e.g._ _Ecl._ 8 on Theocr. 2 and 3; and close imitations are found throughout. The poet Euphorion of Chalcis (of third century B.C.) is alluded to in _Ecl._ 10, 50 in connection with Gallus. The names of the shepherds are mostly from Theocritus, as Tityrus, Mopsus, Damoetas. They are 'Arcades' (7, 4, etc.), but, like the scenery, exhibit traits both of Sicily and of North Italy. Thus the scenery never gives an accurate picture of any one locality: _e.g._ _Ecl._ 9, ll. 1-10, 26-7, 36, 59-60, present features of the district around Mantua, while in ll. 39-43 a Sicilian scene is introduced from Theocritus. The lofty mountains, _e.g._ 1, 84, are Sicilian, and so are many of the trees, as chestnut and pine, which are said not to be found near Mantua. For Mantuan scenery cf. _e.g._ 7, 12,

'Hic virides tenera praetexit harundine ripas Mincius.'

The GEORGICS were written from B.C. 37 to 30 at the suggestion of Maecenas. Cf. i. 1.

Serv. _vit. Verg._ 'Item proposuit Maecenas Georgica, quae scripsit emendavitque septem annis.'

The poem was finished by B.C. 29. Cf. Donatus, 'Georgica reverso post Actiacam victoriam Augusto atque Atellae ... commoranti per continuum quadriduum legit.' It was written at Naples. Cf. iv. 559,

'Haec super arvorum cultu pecorumque canebam ... Illo Vergilium me tempore dulcis alebat Parthenope, studiis florentem ignobilis oti.'

The concluding part of Book iv., originally a dirge on Cornelius Gallus, was afterwards altered for the myth of Aristaeus, to please Augustus.

Serv. _ad Ecl._ 10, 1, 'Fuit Cornelius Gallus amicus Vergilii, adeo ut quartus Georgicorum a medio usque ad finem eius laudes teneret, quas postea iubente Augusto in Aristaei fabulam commutavit.'

_Sources of the Georgics._--Besides his own observation, Virgil used the following authorities:

1. Hesiod--mostly in Book i., _e.g._ ll. 276-286 (lucky and unlucky days). Cf. ii. 176,

'Ascraeumque cano Romana per oppida carmen.'

2. Books of the priests; _e.g._ i. 269 _sqq._ (what is lawful on holy days), i. 338 _sqq._ (Ambarvalia).

3. For agriculture and natural history--Greek writers like Aristotle, Theophrastus, Democritus, and Xenophon; and Latin writers like Cato and Varro.

4. Alexandrian writers for science and mythology; _e.g._ Eratosthenes for i. 233, 'quinque tenent caelum zonae,' etc.; i. 351-465, signs of weather, from the +Diosêmeia+ of Aratus; iii. 425 _sqq._, the Calabrian serpent, from the +Thêriaka+ of Nicander, whose writings were also used for the subject of bees in Book iv.

5. Lucretius, to whom Virgil is chiefly indebted, ii. 475 _sqq._, especially 490 _sqq._, 'felix qui potuit,' etc., refers to Lucretius. The idea of Lucretius, cf. v. 206-217, that man has a perpetual struggle with nature, is reflected in Virgil, but modified by his acceptance of the argument from design. Cf. i. 99,

'_Exercet_que frequens tellurem atque _imperat_ arvis,'

and the whole passage i. 118-159. Lucretian science is borrowed in passages like i. 89,

'Seu pluris calor ille vias et caeca relaxat spiramenta, novas veniat qua sucus in herbas';

l. 415-423 (of the habits of birds); iii. 242 _sqq._ (on the passion of love). Notice also, with Munro, Lucretian phrases like _principio_, _quod superest_, _his animadversis_, _nunc age_, _praeterea_, _nonne vides_, _contemplator_, _genitalia semina_.

_Political purpose of the Georgics._--The political purpose of the Georgics is to help the policy of Augustus, which aimed at checking the depopulation of the country districts. Cf. i. 498-514, and especially ll. 506-7,

'Non ullus aratro dignus honos: squalent abductis arva colonis.'

The Emperor is introduced throughout as the object of veneration. Cf. i. 24-42.

_Natural scenery._--Virgil dwells on Nature in her softer aspects. Cf. phrases like ii. 470, 'mollesque sub arbore somni,' and the passage ii. 458-540 in praise of a country life. For the praise of Italy see the beautiful passage ii. 136-176, where special districts are mentioned.

AENEID.--Even before the _Eclogues_ were written, Virgil had meditated the composition of an epic, perhaps, as Servius suggests, on the kings of Alba. Cf. _Ecl._ 6, 3,

'Cum canerem reges et proelia, Cynthius aurem vellit et admonuit: "pastorem, Tityre, pingues pascere oportet oves, deductum dicere carmen."'

The idea of a poem in honour of Augustus was present to his mind when he wrote _Georg._ iii. 46,

'Mox tamen ardentes accingar dicere pugnas Caesaris.'

The _Aeneid_ was commenced B.C. 29, and remained unfinished at Virgil's death.

Servius, _vit. Verg._, 'postea ab Augusto Aeneidem propositam scripsit annis undecim, sed nec emendavit nec edidit.'

His method of working at the poem is thus described by Donatus, 'Aeneida prosa prius oratione formatam digestamque in xii. libros particulatim componere instituit, prout liberet quidque et nihil in ordinem arripiens. Ut ne quid impetum moraretur, quaedam imperfecta transmisit, alia levissimis verbis veluti fulsit, quae per iocum pro tibicinibus interponi aiebat ad sustinendum opus donec solidae columnae advenirent.'

In what order the Books were written it is impossible to decide; but Book vi. was not read to Augustus till after the death of the young Marcellus, B.C. 23.

Donatus, 'Cui [Augusto] multo post perfectaque demum materia tres omnino libros recitavit, secundum quartum sextum, sed hunc notabili Octaviae adfectione, quae cum recitationi interesset ad illos de filio suo versus, "Tu Marcellus eris," defecisse fertur atque aegre focillata est.'

Virgil, writing to the emperor, insists on the magnitude of the task he had rashly undertaken.

Macrob. _Saturn._ i. 24, 11, 'Tanta incohata res est, ut paene vitio mentis tantum opus ingressus mihi videar, cum praesertim, ut scis, alia quoque studia ad id opus multoque potiora impertiar.'

Although in his will Virgil left instructions to Varius (and Tucca) to destroy all his unpublished manuscripts, Varius was expressly desired by Augustus to revise and publish the _Aeneid_.

Donatus, 'Egerat cum Vario, priusquam Italia decederet, ut si quid sibi accidisset Aeneida combureret; sed is facturum se pernegarat ... Edidit autem auctore Augusto Varius, sed summatim emendata, ut qui versus etiam imperfectos sicut erant reliquerit.'

This account is corroborated by Pliny the elder, _N.H._ vii. 114, Gellius, and Macrobius.

The rules laid down to the editors by the Emperor were, according to Servius, 'ut superflua demerent, nihil adderent tamen.'

It seems probable that the _Aeneid_ was published B.C. 17, for it is in the _Carmen Saeculare_ of that year that Horace first alludes to the story of Aeneas (cf. l. 50, 'clarus Anchisae Venerisque sanguis'), and in the fourth Book of the _Odes_ (four years later) it is more than once introduced.

The _choice of the subject_ was influenced (1) by the personal desire of the Emperor; (2) by the connexion of the Caesarian house with Venus, through Iulus;[51] cf. the invention of Atys (_Aen._ v. 568) by Virgil to please Augustus, whose mother was Atia; (3) by Virgil's design to write an epic on the greatness of Rome, in the manner of Homer.

_The Aeneas Legend._--Stesichorus of Himera, among other writers, made Aeneas, a Homeric hero (cf. _Il._ xx. 307-8), settle in Italy; and Naevius is said to have adopted the legend in the form given by Timaeus, the Sicilian historian of the third century B.C. The legend probably arose from the worship of Aphrodite on the coasts of Italy, and was disseminated by the Greeks of Cumae to please the Romans. The connexion of Rome with Troy had been officially recognized for two hundred years (cf. Sueton. _Claud._ 25), and, though not a popular belief, had been accepted in literature from the time of Naevius.

_Sources of the Aeneid._--1. Earlier Roman poets as Naevius, Ennius, Pacuvius, Accius, Lucilius, Hostius, Varro Atacinus, Lucretius. For details see under these names.

2. Cato's _Origines_ and Varro's _Antiquitates_, for Italian legends and peoples.

3. _Ius pontificium_ and _ius augurale_, as found in the books of sacred colleges (Macrob. i. 24, 16). Cf. the ritual meaning of _porricio_ (v. 776), _porrigo_ (viii. 274), the habit of praying with veiled head (iii. 405), prayer to Apollo of Soracte (xi. 785).

4. Greek sources: (_a_) particularly the _Iliad_ and _Odyssey_, but also the Homeric Hymns and Cyclic Poems. Thus the games in Book v. = the games in honour of Patroclus in _Il._ xxiii.; the shield of Aeneas (viii. 626-731) = the shield of Achilles in _Il._ xviii.; (_b_) Apollonius Rhodius, for the passion of Dido = that of Medea; (_c_) Greek tragedies, _e.g._ the lost _Laocoon_ of Sophocles for ii. 40 _sqq._

_Religion in the Aeneid._--1. The mythology is mainly from Homer. From Latin myths come Faunus, Saturnus, Janus, Picus. Euhemerism is shown by the last three being represented as originally kings of Rome.

2. The power of the gods is denoted by _fatum_ or _fata_; cf. x. 112-3,

'rex Iuppiter omnibus idem: fata viam invenient.'

3. The description of the lower world in Book vi. is from the descent into Hades in _Od._ xi., but is modified by Pythagorean ideas (vi. 748-751, metempsychosis), Stoic ideas (vi. 724 _sqq._, pantheism, cf. _Georg._ iv. 219-227) and Platonic myths (_e.g._ in the _Gorgias_, _Phaedo_, and _Republic_), and rendered more definite by the introduction of heroes of the Republic. Note that Virgil emphasizes its mythical nature by dismissing Aeneas through the ivory gate (of false dreams).

4. Other beliefs: (_a_) The golden bough (vi. 203-9) compared to the mistletoe, the symbol of the lower world with many Indo-European peoples; (_b_) Divinities attached to special places, _e.g._ viii. 349-354 of the _religio_ attaching to the Capitol, ii. 351-2 guardian deities: cf. Carmentis, pater Tiberinus, etc.; (_c_) Worship of the dead, and belief in their continued influence on human affairs, iii. 66-8, 301-5.

_Political significance._--1. The pre-eminence of the Julian race and of Augustus himself. Cf. i. 286,

'Nascetur pulchra Troianus origine Caesar, imperium Oceano, famam qui terminet astris, Iulius, a magno demissum nomen Iulo.'

So vi. 789 _sqq._

2. The idea of empire: cf. i. 33,

'Tantae molis erat Romanam condere gentem';

and of Rome as the conqueror and civilizer of the world: vi. 851,

'Tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento: hae tibi erunt artes, pacisque imponere morem, parcere subiectis et debellare superbos.'

3. The unity of Italy with Rome is seen in Aeneas and Turnus, representing respectively the _pietas_ and the martial courage of a past age. This is brought out also by the introduction of local names. Cf. vii. 682-5, 710-7, 797-802.

4. Virgil shows here and there contempt for pure democracy: vi. 815,

'iactantior Ancus nunc quoque iam nimium gaudens popularibus auris.'

Cf. also i. 148-9.

_Authors influenced by Virgil._--Livy, Tacitus, Ovid, Tibullus, Propertius, Manilius, Lucan, Silius Italicus, Statius, Valerius Flaccus, Martial, Juvenal, the author of _Aetna_. See under each.

HORACE.

(1) LIFE.

Our chief source of information about Horace is his own works, and some important details are added in a life of him by Suetonius.

Horace's full name is Quintus (_Sat._ ii. 6, 37) Horatius (_Od._ iv. 6, 44) Flaccus (_Sat._ ii. 1, 18). He was born 8th December, B.C. 65, at Venusia in Apulia, on the frontier of Lucania.

Sueton. _vit. Hor._, 'Natus est vi. Id. Decembr. L. Cotta et L. Torquato coss.'

_Ep._ i. 20, 26-8,

'Forte meum siquis te percontabitur aevum, me quater undenos sciat inplevisse Decembris collegam Lepidum quo duxit Lollius anno.'

_Sat._ i. 1, 34,

'Lucanus an Appulus anceps: nam Venusinus arat finem sub utrumque colonus.'

There are a great many references to Apulia in Horace. So _Od._ iii. 4, 9 _sqq._,

'Me fabulosae Volture in Appulo nutricis extra limina Pulliae' (his nurse's name), etc.

All Roman virtues are attributed to the Apulians, as in _Od._ i. 22, 13; iii. 5, 9; _Epod._ ii. 39-42.

Horace, though free-born (_Sat._ i. 6, 7) was the son of a freedman, who was by profession a collector of debts, or, according to others, a fishmonger. To this last story Horace probably refers with proud humility in _Ep._ ii. 2, 60,

'Bioneis sermonibus et sale nigro.'

Sueton. _vit. Hor._, 'Patre, ut ipse tradit, libertino et auctionum coactore, ut vero creditum est, salsamentario.'

_Sat._ i. 6, 6,

'Ut me libertino patre natum';

_ibid._ 85,

'Nec timuit, sibi ne vitio quis verteret olim, si praeco parvas aut, ut fuit ipse, coactor mercedes sequerer.'

Stories of his childhood are given, _Od._ iii. 4, 9 _sqq._; _Sat._ i. 9, 29 _sqq._; _Sat._ ii. 2, 112 _sqq._

Horace speaks highly of his father, who took him from the village school to Rome for his education. After speaking of his own freedom from vice he says (_Sat._ i. 6, 71 _sqq._),

'Causa fuit pater his, qui macro pauper agello noluit in Flavi ludum me mittere, ... sed puerum est ausus Romam portare docendum artis quas doceat quivis eques atque senator semet prognatos. Vestem servosque sequentis, in magno ut populo, si qui vidisset, avita ex re praeberi sumptus mihi crederet illos. Ipse mihi custos incorruptissimus omnis circum doctores aderat.'

He received instruction, both in Latin and Greek, from Orbilius,[52] a teacher of conservative tendencies. _Ep._ ii. 1, 69,

'Non equidem insector delendave carmina Livi esse reor, memini quae plagosum mihi parvo Orbilium dictare.'

_Ep._ ii. 2, 41,

'Romae nutriri mihi contigit atque doceri iratus Graiis quantum nocuisset Achilles.'

His education was continued at Athens. _Ep._ ii. 2, 43,

'Adiecere bonae paulo plus artis Athenae, scilicet ut vellem curvo dignoscere rectum atque inter silvas Academi quaerere verum.'

His studies were interrupted by the civil war; he joined Brutus (who came to Athens in August, B.C. 44), was by him appointed _tribunus militum_, and took part in the battle of Philippi, B.C. 42. _Ep._ ii. 2, 46,

'Dura sed emovere loco me tempora grato civilisque rudem belli tulit aestus in arma Caesaris Augusti non responsura lacertis.'

_Od._ ii. 7, 9,

'Philippos et celerem fugam sensi, relicta non bene parmula.'

In _Sat._ i. 7 Horace relates a scene at Clazomenae before Brutus and his staff; and in _Ep._ i. 11 he speaks, as if with personal knowledge, of places in Asia Minor and the islands of the Aegean, which he probably visited then. He refers to the hardships of war in _Od._ ii. 6, 7; ii. 7, 1; iii. 4, 26.

After the civil war his paternal property was confiscated, probably in B.C. 41, and his poverty compelled him to seek the post of a clerk in the quaestor's office, and, as he says, to write verses. (Some satires and epodes were then written.)

Sueton. _vit. Hor._, 'Victis partibus, venia inpetrata, scriptum quaestorium comparavit.'

_Sat._ ii. 6, 36,

'De re communi scribae magna atque nova te orabant hodie meminisses, Quinte, reverti.'

_Ep._ ii. 2, 49,

'Unde simul primum me dimisere Philippi, decisis humilem pennis inopemque paterni et laris et fundi paupertas inpulit, audax ut versus facerem.'

In the spring of B.C. 38 Horace was introduced to Maecenas[53] by Varius and Virgil, and became intimate with him in the winter of B.C. 38-7.

Sueton. _vit. Hor._, 'Primo Maecenati, mox Augusto insinuatus non mediocrem in amborum amicitia locum tenuit. Maecenas quanto opere eum dilexerit satis testatur illo epigrammate:

"Ni te visceribus meis, Horati, plus iam diligo, tu tuum sodalem Ninnio videas strigosiorem":

sed multo magis extremis iudiciis tali ad Augustum elogio: "Horati Flacci ut mei esto memor!"'

_Sat._ i. 6, 54,

'Optimus olim Vergilius, post hunc Varius dixere quid essem ... Abeo, et revocas nono post mense iubesque (l. 61) esse in amicorum numero.'

In _Sat._ ii. 6, 40-58 Horace describes how intimate he was socially with Maecenas, who, however, did not make him a confidant in political matters. The most noteworthy event of this period is described in _Sat._ i. 5, viz. Horace's journey to Brundisium in the train of Maecenas and Cocceius, who went to arrange some matters between Augustus and Antony. His companions were Virgil, Varius, Plotius, and the Greek rhetorician, Heliodorus. Plotius, Virgil, and Varius are thus referred to (_Sat._ i. 5, 41):

'Animae quales neque candidiores terra tulit neque quis me sit devinctior alter.'[54]

In B.C. 34 Maecenas gave Horace an estate in the country of the Sabines. The question of its position was settled last century by the abbé Capmartin de Chaupy. The only place that suits Horace's description is east of Tivoli, and in the neighbourhood of Vicovaro, which is the same as the Varia of Horace (_Ep._ i. 14, 3), the market-town of his tenants. Near it is the stream Licenza, the Digentia of Horace, on which stands Bardela (the Mandela of Hor.). _Ep._ i. 18, 104,

'Me quotiens reficit gelidus Digentia rivus, quem Mandela bibit, rugosus frigore pagus.'

The site of his villa may be pretty closely determined from _Ep._ i. 10, 49,

'Haec tibi dictabam post fanum putre Vacunae.'

Vacuna is a Sabine goddess, identified with Victoria: near the village an inscription has been found which was erected by Vespasian, 'Aedem Victoriae vetustate dilapsam sua impensa restituit,' and the natural inference is that this is the temple mentioned by Horace.[55] Horace stayed a great deal at his country-house, and his works contain many references to it.

Sueton. _vit. Hor._, 'Vixit plurimum in secessu ruris sui Sabini aut Tiburtini, domusque eius ostenditur circa Tiburni luculum.'

_Sat._ ii. 6, 16,

'Ubi me in mentis et in arcem ex urbe removi.'

Other references are _Ep._ i. 16, 1-14; _Od._ ii. 18, 14.

Augustus having tried unsuccessfully to induce Horace to become his secretary, was not offended at the poet's refusal, but continued to bestow his favour upon him.

Sueton. _vit. Hor._, 'Augustus epistularum quoque ei officium obtulit, ut hoc ad Maecenatem scripto significat: "Ante ipse sufficiebam scribendis epistulis amicorum, nunc occupatissimus et infirmus Horatium nostrum a te cupio abducere. Veniet ergo ab ista parasitica mensa ad hanc regiam et nos in epistulis scribendis adiuvabit." Ac ne recusanti quidem aut succensuit quicquam aut amicitiam suam ingerere desiit ... unaque et altera liberalitate locupletavit.'

Horace composed for Augustus the _Carmen Saeculare_; _Od._ iv. 4; iv. 14, celebrating the victories of Augustus' step-sons over the Rhaetians and the Vindelici; also _Ep._ ii. 1.

Sueton. _vit. Hor._, 'Scripta quidem eius usque adeo probavit mansuraque perpetuo opinatus est, ut non modo Saeculare carmen componendum iniunxerit sed et Vindelicam victoriam Tiberii Drusique privignorum suorum eumque coegerit propter hoc tribus carminum libris ex longo intervallo quartum addere; post sermones vero quosdam lectos nullam sui mentionem habitam ita sit questus: "Irasci me tibi scito, quod non in plerisque eius modi scriptis mecum potissimum loquaris; an vereris ne apud posteros infame tibi sit, quod videaris familiaris nobis esse?" expresseritque eclogam ad se, cuius initium est:

"Cum tot sustineas et tanta negotia solus,"' etc. (_Ep._ ii. 1).

Horace died 27th November, B.C. 8, and was buried near Maecenas. He appointed Augustus his heir.

Sueton. _vit. Hor._, 'Decessit v. Kal. Decembris C. Marcio Censorino et C. Asinio Gallo coss. lvii. aetatis anno, herede Augusto palam nuncupato; ... et conditus est extremis Esquiliis iuxta Maecenatis tumulum.'

In personal appearance Horace was 'brevis atque obesus,' according to Suetonius, who quotes a joke of Augustus on the subject: 'Vereri autem mihi videris ne maiores libelli tui sint, quam ipse es; sed tibi statura deest, corpusculum non deest.' Cf. Hor. _Ep._ i. 20, 24,

'Corporis exigui, praecanum, solibus aptum, irasci celerem, tamen ut placabilis essem';

_Ep._ i. 4, 15,

'Me pinguem et nitidum bene curata cute vises, cum ridere voles, Epicuri de grege porcum.'

Cf. also _Ep._ i. 7, 25; _Od._ iii. 14, 25.

(2) WORKS.

_Chronology of the Works._--(1) _Satirae_, in two Books (called _Sermones_ in all the MSS.).

Book i. It is clear from _Sat._ ii. 6, 40 that Horace was introduced to Maecenas in the spring of B.C. 38. Now all the references to Maecenas, with the exception of the prologue in _Sat._ 1 (written last), are in the second half of the book, there being no mention of him in _Sat._ 2; 3; and 4. It is therefore probable that these three Satires were written when Horace knew Varius and Virgil, but not Maecenas, _i.e._ B.C. 40-38. _Sat._ 2 is probably the oldest we have, as is shown by other considerations, and by the number of archaisms it contains. _Sat._ 5 (on the journey to Brundisium) was written shortly after the spring of B.C. 37, when the events recorded took place. The date of the publication of the book cannot be exactly fixed, the only clue we have being the reference in _Sat._ i. 10, 86, to Bibulus, the political agent of Antony, whose presence in Rome B.C. 35 may be referred to. It cannot be proved that _Sat._ i. 1, 114 _sqq._, is imitated from Verg. _Georg._ i. 512 _sqq._, published B.C. 35.

Book ii. and the _Epodes_ were published in B.C. 30 about the same time. We have references to Actium (B.C. 31), as in _Sat._ ii. 5, 63; and _Sat._ ii. 1 (written last) speaks of Augustus (ll. 11-15) as the hero in war, not yet the bringer of peace, and was probably therefore composed before the temple of Janus was shut in the beginning of B.C. 29.

(2) _Epodon liber_, B.C. 30, as above. _Epod._ 9 was written shortly after the battle of Actium, 2nd September, B.C. 31, before it was known whither Antony had fled.

(3) _Carmina_ (Odes) Books i.-iii., published B.C. 23. In _Od._ i. 12, 45,

'Crescit occulto velut arbor aevo fama Marcellis,'

we have a reference to the marriage in B.C. 25 of Augustus' daughter, Julia, to his nephew, Marcellus. Marcellus died in the autumn of B.C. 23, and the lines must have been written before his death. _Od._ ii. 10 and iii. 19 contain references to Licinius Murena, brother of Terentia, Maecenas' wife. Murena was executed for his share in the conspiracy of Fannius Caepio in the end of B.C. 23, and it is improbable that Horace could have made these references after that event.[56]

(4) _Epistles_, Book i., published B.C. 20. The date is fixed by _Ep._ i. 20, 26-8, already quoted, p. 164.

The year referred to is B.C. 21, and the book was therefore composed in B.C. 20, before December of that year.

(5) _Carmen Saeculare_, composed for the _Ludi Saeculares_ of B.C. 17 (see Sueton. quoted above). An inscription commemorating these games was discovered in 1890 on the left bank of the Tiber, and in it Horace is mentioned: 'Sacrificioque perfecto pueri xxvi. quibus denuntiatum erat patrimi et matrimi et puellae totidem carmen cecinerunt eodemque modo in Capitolio. Carmen composuit Q. Horatius Flaccus.'[57]

(6) _Odes_, Book iv., published B.C. 13. _Od._ 4 and 14 celebrate the campaign of Drusus and Tiberius in Rhaetia and Vindelicia B.C. 15. _Od._ 2 and 5 were written just before Augustus' return, B.C. 13, from Gaul, where he had been since B.C. 16.

(7) _Epistles_, Book ii. _Ep._ ii. 1, to Augustus, was written B.C. 14 in response (see the quotation from Suetonius above) to the emperor's request for a poem addressed to himself, after seeing that no mention was made of him in _Ep._ ii. 2 and the _Epistula ad Pisones_. These are the _sermones quidam_ (both, like _Ep._ ii. 1, on literary criticism) referred to by Suetonius, and not Book i. of the Epistles, where Augustus is frequently mentioned. The date is fixed by l. 15, 'praesenti tibi maturos largimur honores,' etc., referring to the worship of the _numen Augusti_, which was legalized B.C. 14, and by the reference in ll. 252 _sqq._ to the victories of Drusus and Tiberius, and their celebration in _Od._ iv. 4; iv. 14. _Ep._ ii. 2 (to Iulius Florus) was written B.C. 18. Horace hints (l. 25, ll. 84-6) that he has not yet returned to lyric poetry; the epistle was therefore written before B.C. 17. The _Epistula ad Pisones_ or _De Arte Poetica_ was probably written B.C. 17 or 16 after the _Carmen Saeculare_, but before Horace had entered on the composition of the fourth Book of the Odes.

The _Satires_ are called _Sermones_ in all the MSS., but as Horace gave this name both to his Satires (_Sat._ i. 4, 42) and to his Epistles (_Ep._ ii. 1, 4; 250) it is convenient to call them _Satirae_, the name which Horace also gives them (_Sat._ ii. 1, 1; 6, 17), and which represent their intended scope. Horace's chief model is Lucilius, whom he wished to adapt to the Augustan age. _Sat._ i. 4, 56,

'his, ego quae nunc, olim quae scripsit Lucilius.'

So _Sat._ ii. 1, 28 and 74. Lucilius' influence is seen most in _Sat._ i. 2; 5; 7; 8; ii. 2; 3; 4; 8. Horace, after the reception _Sat._ i. 2 met with, did not, like Lucilius, attack individuals; nor did his position as a dependent (_Sat._ ii. 1, 60-79) allow him to do so. We find, therefore, no political satire in Horace, who confines himself to social and literary topics. He does not attack his contemporaries by name, but (_a_) takes some names from Lucilius, as Albucius (_Sat._ ii. 1, 48), Opimius (_Sat._ ii. 3, 142); (_b_) invents 'tell-tale-names,' as Pantolabus (_Sat._ i. 8, 11), Novius (_Sat._ i. 3, 21). In _Sat._ i. 4 and ii. 1 he defines the moral and social aim of his satire. In _Sat._ i. 4, 1-13 he criticizes Lucilius' style; this seems to have given offence, and in _Sat._ i. 10 he gives reasons for his former criticism. Horace's Epicureanism is more pronounced in Book i. than in Book ii. In _Sat._ i. 1 and i. 3 (cf. ll. 99-124) the influence of Lucretius is seen. In i. 3 he takes up an antagonistic position to Stoicism (cf. ll. 124-142). In ii. 3 he shows less hostility to Stoicism though he still criticizes it.[58] In _Sat._ ii. 7, where the slave Davus enunciates the Stoic doctrine, +hoti monos ho sophos eleutheros+, Davus' arguments from l. 75 onwards have been taken by Horace from Cic. _Parad._ 5.

Horace does not pretend that his Satires (or Epistles) are poetry, and makes several statements to that effect. _Sat._ ii. 6, 17,

'Quid prius inlustrem satiris musaque pedestri?'

_Ep._ ii. 1, 250,

'Sermones ... repentes per humum.'

So _Sat._ i. 4, 39-44.

The _Epodes_ are called _Epodi_ in the MSS. +Epôdos+ was the name given to a piece composed of couplets, the first line of which is longer than the second. Horace calls them _iambi_ (_Epod._ 14, 7; _Od._ i. 16, 3). Their style is an imitation of that of Archilochus of Paros. _Ep._ i. 19, 23-5,

'Parios ego primus iambos ostendi Latio, numeros animosque secutus Archilochi, non res et agentia verba Lycamben.'

This is seen in the personal attacks made in many of them, as well as in the +aischrologia+ employed, and also in the versification. The dates of several can be fixed. _Epod._ 16 was written B.C. 41, and refers to the Perusian war. Horace takes no part with either side, but advises his countrymen to leave Rome, like the Phocaeans of old. _Epod._ 7 was written B.C. 39; and _Epod._ 1, 9, and 14, about B.C. 31. The order is strictly metrical. Epodes 1-10 are simple iambics (trimeter and dimeter alternately); 11-16 more complicated forms; 17, the last, in iambic trimeters.

The _Odes_ Horace himself calls _carmina_. The metres are nearly all taken from Sappho and Alcaeus, the two poets whose works Horace wished to present to his countrymen in a Roman dress. Cf. _Od._ iii. 30, 13-4,

'Princeps Aeolium carmen ad Italos deduxisse modos.'

The metrical differences between himself and his originals are due to the difference in the genius of the two languages and to the fact that he adopted the views on metre current in his time. Catullus' metre, on the other hand, was closely modelled on that of the Alexandrian poets. The odes are largely founded on the best Greek lyric poetry, with which Horace was thoroughly familiar; cf. his first intention to write in Greek (_Sat._ i. 10, 31-5). Alexandrian influence is little seen, and his mythological allusions are seldom obscure. Examples of imitation (which is commonest in Book i.) are: _Od._ i. 9, the beginning of which is from Alcaeus (so i. 10; 11; 18); i. 12 (beginning) is from Pindar; i. 27 from Anacreon. Bacchylides is imitated, _e.g._ in ii. 18.

_Subjects of the Odes._--1. Love and wine form the themes of many. _Od._ i. 6, 17,

'Nos convivia, nos proelia virginum sectis in iuvenes unguibus acrium cantamus.'

Cf. _Od._ ii. 1, 37-40; iii. 3, 69-72.

The love-poems show no trace of personal passion, and the names of the women whose charms are sung are taken from Greek; thus Pyrrha (a well-known name from Attic comedy) i. 5; Lydia, i. 13, etc.; Lalage, i. 22; ii. 5. Cinara (iv. 1; iv. 13) is probably the only one that represents a real person. Wine is celebrated, _e.g._ in i. 9; 18; 27; ii. 7; iii. 21. A tone of moderation is observed throughout the drinking-songs. It is highly probable[59] that in _Od._ i. 27, 1-4 the unrestrained bacchanalian spirit of Catullus (cf. c. 27) is reproved,

'Natis in usum laetitiae scyphis pugnare Thracum est. Tollite barbarum morem verecundumque Bacchum sanguineis prohibete rixis.'

2. In _Od._ i. 24 we have the beautiful dirge on the death of Quintilius Varus.

3. _On political subjects._--The chief of these are as follows: i. 2 (towards the end of B.C. 28); i. 12; i. 14; i. 35 (in B.C. 26); i. 37 (in B.C. 30); ii. 1. The most important, however, are _Od._ iii. 1-6, which form one whole, and are written on the new name of Augustus, and the ideas therewith connected. They were all written about B.C. 27.[60]

In iii. 1, which is general, the rising generation is addressed by the prophet of the empire; ll. 3, 4,

'Musarum sacerdos virginibus puerisque canto.'

The lesson of the ode is 'A moderate life is the best. Lucky is the man who is spared the trouble of managing the State.'

iii. 2 praises courage and honesty, but with special reference to two institutions of Augustus: (1) the professional soldier as opposed to the citizen-soldier of the republic. The officers were taken from the two privileged classes, and there was no promotion from the ranks. This is the explanation of ll. 1-4,

'Angustam amice pauperiem pati robustus acri militia puer condiscat et Parthos ferocis vexet eques,'

lines which also refer to the resuscitation by Augustus of the citizen-cavalry. The soldier is not to trouble about politics (ll. 17-20), and must not fear death (l. 13). (2) The new imperial administrative officers, employed not only in collecting taxes, but in administrative business of every kind. Speaking of them, Horace pays a tribute to loyal silence, and emphasizes the curse that clings to breach of faith; l. 25,

'Est et fideli tuta silentio merces';

l. 31,

'Raro antecedentem scelestum deseruit pede Poena claudo.'

iii. 3 touches intimately the political questions of the day. Pointed reference is made to Cleopatra; she is the _mulier peregrina_ (l. 20), the _Lacaena adultera_ (l. 25), who brought Troy low, and would bring Rome low, if she and her _famosus hospes_ (l. 26) could raise Troy again. The reference here is to a report current about Antony, that he intended to make Troy the capital. It is certain that he intended to restore to Cleopatra her kingdom with extended frontiers, and to make himself ruler of the Eastern empire. This, which would have meant the subjection of Rome to the Greeks and half-Greeks, was prevented by the 'iustum et tenacem propositi virum' (l. i), who for his services is honoured as one of the gods; ll. 11-12,

'Quos inter Augustus recumbens purpureo bibit ore nectar.'

In iii. 4 the poet's personality comes out strongest. He describes his protection by the Muses in his early years, and this leads him to speak of one of the monarch's chief works of peace, his encouragement of literature; ll. 37-40,

'Vos Caesarem altum, militia simul fessas cohortes abdidit oppidis, finire quaerentem labores Pierio recreatis antro.'

iii. 5 is a defence of Augustus' foreign policy. Publicly he kept up Caesar's war policy, hence ll. 2-5,

'Praesens divus habebitur Augustus adiectis Britannis imperio gravibusque Persis';

but that this concealed his real policy of non-intervention is shown by his action regarding Parthia. Hence Horace, by a speech put into the mouth of Regulus (l. 18 _sqq._) warns the Romans against trying to rescue the survivors of Crassus' army, who, by becoming captives, had ceased to be citizens. That some of the Senate wished to interfere in this matter is probably shown by ll. 45-6,

'Donec labantis consilio patres firmaret auctor numquam alias dato.'

iii. 6 refers (ll. 1-8) to Augustus' policy in restoring the ancient religion, as is seen by the fact that he rebuilt 82 temples. Lines 21-32 refer to a law of Augustus on adultery, the date of which is unknown.

In Book iv., Odes 2, 4, 5, 6, 14, 15, are political. They show traces of adulation, and sing the praises rather of the imperial family than of the nation. Cf. iv. 2, 37 (of Augustus),

'Quo nihil maius meliusve terris fata donavere bonique divi,' etc.

The _Epistles_.--_Sermones_ is the name given them by Horace; they are also called _Epistulae_ in the MSS. Social, ethical, and literary questions are treated of, and the style is much more careful than that of the Satires. The motto, one might say, of the book is _Ep._ i. 1, 10.

'Nunc itaque et versus et cetera ludicra pono: quid verum atque decens, curo et rogo et omnis in hoc sum.'

The dates of _Ep._ ii. 1, 2, have already been mentioned. Both treat of literary criticism, and the first deals particularly with that of the drama. Iulius Florus, to whom _Ep._ ii. 2 is addressed, was the representative of the younger literary school at Rome. The _Epistula ad Pisones_ or _De Arte Poetica_ is an essay in verse on literary criticism, specially pointing out how necessary art is to composition. In it, according to Porphyrion, Horace 'congessit praecepta Neoptolemi +tou Parianou+[61] de arte poetica, non quidem omnia, sed eminentissima.' Horace probably was also indebted to Aristotle's _Poetics_. Porphyrion says that Horace wrote the _Ars Poetica_ 'ad L. Pisonem qui postea urbis custos fuit eiusque liberos.' This does not fit in with the probable date, B.C. 17 or 16, as L. Piso was born B.C. 49, and his sons could not have been old enough for the letter to be addressed to them. It is probable that Porphyrion is wrong, and that the _A.P._ was addressed to Cn. Piso, who served with Horace under Brutus, and his two sons.

_Horace and nature._--Besides references to his Sabine villa, Horace refers to natural scenery in many passages. Such are _Epod._ 2; _Od._ i. 7, 10; ii. 6, 13; iii. 13, 9; _Sat._ ii. 6, 1 _sqq._; _Ep._ i. 10, 6 _sqq._, i. 16, 1 _sqq._[62] Horace is fond of comparing dangers to the plague of floods,[63] a plague from which Italy has always suffered. Cf. _Od._ i. 31, 7,

'rura quae Liris quieta mordet aqua taciturnus amnis.'

So _Od._ iii. 29, 32 _sqq._, and many other passages.

_Popularity of Horace._--Horace's prediction that his works would become school-books, _Ep._ i. 20, 17,

'Hoc quoque te manet, ut pueros elementa docentem occupet extremis in vicis balba senectus,'

was early fulfilled. Cf. Iuv. 7, 226,

'Quot stabant pueri, cum totus decolor esset Flaccus et haereret nigro fuligo Maroni.'

CONTEMPORARY POETS:

The following writers were friends of Horace:

(_a_) _C. Valgius Rufus_, consul suffectus B.C. 12, belonged to the circle of Maecenas (Hor. _Sat._ i. 10, 82).

Valgius' works, of which only a few lines are extant, included (1) Elegiae. Cf. Hor. _Od._ ii. 9, 9-12,

'Tu semper urges flebilibus modis Mysten ademptum, nec tibi Vespero surgente decedunt amores nec rapidum fugiente solem.'

(2) Epigrammata, (3) Miscellanies, (4) A translation of Apollodorus' +technê+. (See Quint. iii. 1, 18.) (5) A book on herbs. (Pliny, _N.H._ xxv. 4.) An epic was also expected of him, but whether written is unknown. Tibull. iv. 1, 179,

'Est tibi, qui possit magnis se adcingere rebus, Valgius; aeterno propior non alter Homero.'

(_b_) _M. Aristius Fuscus_, a poet and grammarian (Porphyr. _ad Sat._ i. 9, 60); _Od._ i. 22, and _Ep._ i. 10, are addressed to him.

(_c_) The _Visci_. Comm. Cruq. _ad Sat._ i. 10, 83, 'Visci duo fratres fuerunt optimi poetae et iudices critici.'

(_d_) _C. Fundanius_, wrote comedies (Porphyr. _ad Sat._ i. 10, 40).

(_e_) _Servius Sulpicius_, a love poet (Ovid, _Trist._ ii. 441; Hor. _Sat._ i. 10, 86).

(_f_) _Iulius Florus_ was 'saturarum scriptor' (Porphyr. _ad Hor. Ep._ i. 3, 1). Hor. _Ep._ i. 3 and ii. 2, are addressed to him.

(_g_) _Titius_ wrote Pindaric odes, and tragedies, Hor. _Ep._ i. 3, 9-14.

(_h_) _Albinovanus Celsus_. See Hor. _Ep._ i. 3, 15-7.

(_i_) _C. Iullus Antonius_, B.C. 44-B.C. 2, was a son of the triumvir M. Antonius. The Schol. on Hor. _Od._ iv. 2, 2, says of him, "Heroico metro Diomedeam scripsit et nonnulla alia soluta oratione."

(_k_) _Furnius_, an orator; died B.C. 37. He is mentioned by Hor. _Sat._ i. 10, 86.

Other poets contemporary with Virgil and Horace are:

(_a_) _L. Varius Rufus_ (cf. Verg. _Ecl._ 9, 35). His works were:

(1) Epics (_a_) on the death of Julius Caesar (Macrob. _Saturn._ vi. 1, 39), (_b_) in praise of Augustus. Hor. _Ep._ i. 16, 27-29 is a quotation from this poem (Acron _ad loc._), and it is probably referred to in _Od._ i. 6, 1 (to Agrippa),

'Scriberis Vario fortis et hostium victor Maeonii carminis aliti, quam rem cumque ferox navibus aut equis miles te duce gesserit.'

(2) A tragedy, _Thyestes_, praised by Quint. x. 1, 98, 'iam Varii Thyestes cuilibet Graecarum comparari potest.'

(3) Elegies: Porphyr. ad Hor. _Od._ i. 6, 1, 'fuit L. Varius et ipse carminis et tragoediarum et elegiorum auctor.'

(_b_) _Aemilius Macer_ was a native of Verona, and died B.C. 16: Jerome yr. Abr. 2001, 'Aemilius Macer Veronensis poeta in Asia moritur.' He was a friend of Virgil, and was the 'Mopsus' of _Ecl._ 5, according to Serv. _ad loc._ Ovid in his youth enjoyed his acquaintance; cf. _Tr._ iv. 10, 43, where three didactic poems are referred to: (1) _Ornithogonia_, on birds; (2) _Theriaca_, on venomous serpents; (3) _De Herbis_, on plants.

For his obligations to Nicander, see under 'Virgil,' p. 158. Quintilian calls him 'humilis' (x. 1, 87).

(_c_) _C. Cornelius Gallus_ was born at Forum Iulii B.C. 70, and died by his own hand B.C. 27. Jerome yr. Abr. 1990, 'Cornelius Gallus Foroiuliensis poeta ... xliii. aetatis suae anno propria se manu interficit.' Having commanded a division in the war against Antony, he was appointed by Octavian the first prefect of Egypt, B.C. 30, but incurred his anger and was banished from Caesar's house and provinces (Sueton. _Aug._ 66). The cause of his downfall was indiscreet language about Augustus, according to Ovid, _Tr._ ii. 445,

'Non fuit opprobrio celebrasse Lycorida Gallo, sed linguam nimio non tenuisse mero';

and _Am._ iii. 9, 63,

'Tu quoque, si falsum est temerati crimen amici, sanguinis atque animae prodige, Galle, tuae.'

The tenth eclogue of Virgil is a testimony to his friendship for Gallus, l. 2,

'Pauca meo Gallo, sed quae legat ipsa Lycoris, carmina sunt dicenda; neget quis carmina Gallo?'

Lines 44-49 are said by Servius, _ad loc._, to be quoted from Gallus ('de ipsius translati carminibus'). For the tribute to Gallus in the original draft of _Georgic_ iv. see under 'Virgil,' p. 157.

He wrote four Books of love-poems to Cytheris, the _liberta_ who afterwards deserted him for Antony: Serv. _ad Ecl._ x. 1, 'amorum suorum de Cytheride scripsit libros iv.' According to Servius he also translated the poems of Euphorion of Chalcis. Cf. Verg. _Ecl._ x. 50,

'Ibo et Chalcidico quae sunt mihi condita versu carmina pastoris Siculi modulabor avena.'

Compared with Tibullus and Propertius, he was 'durior' (Quint. x. 1, 93).

(_d_) _Codrus_, mentioned by Virgil, _Ecl._ 7, 22 and 26; 5, 11, was a contemporary poet (Serv. _ad Ecl._ 7), and was praised by Valgius (Schol. Veron. _ad loc._), but nothing is known of his writings. The name is not Roman, and is probably a disguised form of Cordus. He is sometimes identified with the Iarbitas of Hor. _Ep._ i. 19, 15.

(_e_) _Bavius_ and _Mevius_ were enemies of Virgil and Horace. Verg. _Ecl._ 3, 90,

'Qui Bavium non odit, amet tua carmina, Mevi.'

Horace, _Epod._ 10, prays for the shipwreck of Mevius. He wrote about the prodigal son of the actor Aesopus (Porphyr. ad Hor. _Sat._ ii. 3, 239). Bavius died B.C. 35, according to Jerome.

(_f_) _Anser_ wrote a poem in praise of Antony, and was rewarded with a grant of land (Serv. _ad Ecl._ 9, 36; Cic. _Phil._ xiii. 11). He is mentioned by Ovid, _Tr._ ii. 435,

'Cinna quoque his comes est, Cinnaque procacior Anser.'

Servius sees an allusion to him in _Ecl._ 9, 36,

'Argutos inter strepere anser olores.'

(_g_) _Domitius Marsus_. His epigram on Tibullus (see p. 186) shows that he was alive in B.C. 19; he was, however, dead when Ovid was exiled in A.D. 8.

Ovid, _Ex Pont._ iv. 16, 3,

'Famaque post cineres maior venit; et mihi nomen tunc quoque, cum vivis adnumerarer, erat, cum foret et Marsus, magnique Rabirius oris, Iliacusque Macer sidereusque Pedo.'

He was a member of Augustus' literary circle. Mart. viii. 56, 21,

'Quid Varios Marsosque loquar, ditataque vatum nomina, magnus erit quos numerare labor?'

His works were:

1. _Cicuta_, a collection of epigrams, often referred to by Martial. Cf. ii. 71, 3,

'aut Marsi recitas aut scripta Catulli.'

2. _Amazonis_, an epic poem.[64] Mart. iv. 29, 7,

'Saepius in libro memoratur Persius uno quam levis in tota Marsus Amazonide.'

3. _Amores_ or _Elegiae_. Mart. vii. 29, 7,

'Et Maecenati, Maro cum cantaret Alexin, nota tamen Marsi fusca Melaenis erat.'

4. _Fabellae_.

5. _De Urbanitate_ (in prose). Quint. vi. 3, 102, 'Domitius Marsus, qui de urbanitate diligentissime scripsit.'

(_h_) _Pupius_, a tragedian, sneered at by Hor. _Ep._ i. 1, 67, 'lacrimosa poemata Pupi.'

(_i_) _C. Melissus_, a freedman of Maecenas, invented the _trabeata_, a variety of the _togata_.

Sueton. _Gramm._ 21, 'Fecit et novum genus togatarum inscripsitque trabeatas.'

TIBULLUS.

(1) LIFE.

Albius Tibullus (his praenomen was perhaps Aulus, which, from the abbreviation A. being followed by Albius, was lost in the MSS.) seems to have been born near Pedum in Latium. (1) Horace, in _Ep._ i. 4, 2, addressed to Tibullus, asks, 'Quid nunc te dicam facere in regione Pedana?' apparently referring to the 'sedes avitae' of Tibullus (Tibull. ii. 4, 53). (2) The Life contained in the best MSS., and probably to be attributed to Suetonius, calls him 'Albius Tibullus, eques Romanus' (codd. Paris. and Lips. 'regulis'). Bährens (_Tibullische Blätter_) holds that _Romanus_ is an erroneous correction of _regulis_, for which he proposes to read _R._ (= Romanus) _e Gabis_ (= Gabiis). Gabii was within a short distance of Pedum.

The date of his birth can be fixed only by indirect evidence.

(1) The Life says 'obiit adulescens,' and the epigram of Domitius Marsus, found in the best MSS., calls Tibullus 'iuvenis' at the time of his death, which must have occurred about the same time as Virgil's, in B.C. 19,

'Te quoque Vergilio comitem non aequa, Tibulle, mors iuvenem campos misit ad Elysios, ne foret aut elegis molles qui fleret amores aut caneret forti regia bella pede.'

(2) Ovid (_Tr._ iv. 10, 53) says of Tibullus,

'Successor fuit hic tibi, Galle, Propertius illi.'

Since Gallus was born B.C. 70, and Propertius about B.C. 49, the birth of Tibullus must have fallen between those years.

(3) Tibullus accompanied Messalla when he left for Aquitania, B.C. 30 or 29, according to the Life: 'Ante alios Corvinum Messallam oratorem dilexit, cuius etiam contubernalis Aquitanico bello militaribus donis donatus est.' Cf. Tibull. i. 7, 9,

'Non sine me est tibi partus honos; Tarbella Pyrene testis et Oceani litora Santonici.'

Putting together these references we may place the date of Tibullus' birth in B.C. 54. (The statement of the Life in the Codex Guelferbytanus, 'Natus est Hyrtio et Pansa coss.' is clearly wrong).

He was of equestrian rank, and at one time possessed considerable wealth, apparently inherited from a long line of ancestors; i. 1, 41,

'Non ego divitias patrum fructusque requiro quos tulit antiquo condita messis avo.'

Cf. ii. 1, 1; ii. 4, 53; Hor. _Ep._ i. 4, 7,

'Di tibi divitias dederunt.'

His family property, however, had been greatly diminished; i. 1, 19,

'Vos quoque, felicis quondam nunc pauperis agri custodes, fertis munera vestra, lares: tunc vitula innumeros lustrabat caesa iuvencos; nunc agna exigui est hostia parva soli.'

Cf. i. 1, 5 and 37.

It has been supposed that Tibullus suffered these losses in the agrarian disturbances of B.C. 41, and that his lands, like those of Virgil and Propertius, were confiscated. No town in Latium, however, is mentioned by Appian as having its territory thus assigned. Tibullus' property may possibly have been restored to him through the influence of Messalla.[65] Cf. Hor. _Ep._ i. 4, 11,

'Et mundus victus non deficiente crumena';

also Tibull. i. 1, 77,

'Ego composito securus acervo despiciam dites despiciamque famem.'

Of Messalla Tibullus always speaks with the greatest affection. He refused at first to accompany him to the East after the battle of Actium, but afterwards followed him, and was forced through illness to remain at Corcyra: i. 1, 53,

'Te bellare decet terra, Messalla, marique, ut domus hostiles praeferat exuvias: me retinent vinctum formosae vincla puellae';

i, 3, 3,

'Me tenet ignotis aegrum Phaeacia terris.'

In the Aquitanian campaign he was Messalla's _contubernalis_, and had military distinctions conferred on him (see p. 186).

No further particulars of Tibullus are known, save his love for his mistresses Delia and Nemesis, and the fact mentioned by Ovid, in a poem on his death, that his mother and sister survived him; _Amor._ iii. 9, 50,

'Mater et in cineres ultima dona tulit. Hinc soror in partem misera cum matre doloris venit inornatas dilaniata comas.'

Delia's real name was Plania (+dêlos+ = _planus_): cf. Apuleius, _Apol._ 10, 'eadem igitur opera accusent ... Tibullum quod ei sit Plania in animo Delia in versu.' She was a _libertina_, for the name is not known as a _nomen gentilicium_, and she had had a husband (i. 2, 41, 'coniunx tuus'), who appears to have been serving with the army in Cilicia: i. 2, 65,

'Ferreus ille fuit, qui te cum posset habere, maluerit praedas stultus et arma sequi. Ille licet Cilicum victas agat ante catervas,' etc.

A divorce had probably taken place, as she was not entitled to wear the distinctive dress of the Roman matron; i. 6, 67,

'Sit modo casta, doce, quamvis non vitta ligatos impediat crines nec stola longa pedes.'

Nemesis was a _meretrix_; ii. 4, 14,

'Illa cava pretium flagitat usque manu.'

She appears to be the 'immitis Glycera' of Hor. _Od._ i. 33, 2, addressed to Albius (so Kiessling _ad loc._). Both Delia and Nemesis are represented by Ovid as present at the funeral of Tibullus. _Amor._ iii. 9, 53,

'Cumque tuis sua iunxerunt Nemesisque priorque oscula nec solos destituere rogos.'

Tibullus was on friendly terms with Horace, who addressed to him _Od._ i. 33 and _Ep._ i. 4. Horace was doubtless attracted by the frank nature of Tibullus (_Ep._ i. 4, 1, 'Albi, nostrorum sermonum candide iudex'), and by the community of taste which led them both to imitate the classical Ionic rather than the Alexandrian elegy. Horace corroborates the statement of Life i. ('insignis forma cultuque corporis observabilis') that Tibullus had a fine presence; _ibid._ 1. 6,

'Non tu corpus eras sine pectore: di tibi formam, di tibi divitias dederunt artemque fruendi.'

Ovid had met and admired him, and has numerous imitations of him in his poems; but the difference of age and the early death of Tibullus prevented any long acquaintance; Ovid, _Tr._ iv. 10, 51,

'Nec amara Tibullo tempus amicitiae fata dedere meae.'

Of friendship between Propertius and Tibullus there is no evidence: they never mention one another.

(2) WORKS.

Four Books of elegiac poems are attributed to Tibullus, who ranks first among Roman elegists in the view of Quintilian, x. 1, 93, 'Elegia quoque Graecos provocamus, cuius mihi tersus atque elegans maxime videtur auctor Tibullus.'

Book i., on the poet's love for Delia and Marathus (_El._ 7 is to Messalla), was published by himself, and was apparently composed in the years B.C. 31-27. This agrees with Ovid, _Tr._ ii. 463,

'Legiturque Tibullus et placet, et iam te principe notus erat,'

if we assume that 'principe' refers to the title of Augustus.

Book ii., the chief subject of which is Nemesis, appears to have been written several years later. It is unfinished, not having received the author's final revision, and was probably published soon after his death, certainly several years before Ovid's _Ars Amatoria_ (cf. _A.A._ 535 _sqq._).

Book iii. (six Elegies) is professedly the work of Lygdamus. No poet of that name is mentioned in ancient literature, and it has been suggested that the author may have been a young relative of Tibullus who used a Greek adaptation of the gentile name Albius (+lygdos+ = white marble). He speaks as a man of good social position (iii. 2, 22). From the fact that he belonged to the circle of Messalla, his poems came to be added to those of Tibullus, whom he constantly imitates. There are also many reminiscences of Horace, Ovid, and Propertius. The six Elegies are addressed to Neaera, who was probably the poet's cousin and was married or betrothed to him (iii. 1, 23; 2, 12). Lygdamus was born in the same year as Ovid, B.C. 43; iii. 5, 17,

'Natalem primo nostrum videre parentes, cum cecidit fato consul uterque pari.'

The remarkable coincidence between iii. 5, 15-20, and Ovid, _A.A._ ii. 669-70, _Tr._ iv. 10, 6, _Amor._ ii. 14, 23-4, is best explained by Hiller (_Hermes_, xviii. 360-1), who suggests that Lygdamus may have composed the poem in his earlier years merely to amuse Neaera, without publishing it, and that after Ovid's works had appeared he may, to oblige a friend or patron (_e.g._ Messalinus), have published his collection of elegies, adding in the process of revision the lines copied from Ovid.

The remaining poems belong to Book iii. in the MSS., but in most editions are printed as a separate Book iv. iv. 1, in hexameters, is the _Panegyricus Messallae_, written in honour of Messalla's consulship, B.C. 31. Its rhetorical exaggeration and want of taste forbid its being attributed to Tibullus, written, as it was, so shortly before he reached the summit of his powers. Its date puts Lygdamus out of question: doubtless it is by some young member of Messalla's circle.

The rest of the Book has for its theme the love of Sulpicia, the daughter of Servius Sulpicius and Valeria, the sister of Messalla, for a young Greek named Cerinthus. _El._ 2-6 are apparently by Tibullus himself, who may have amused himself by turning into verse the letters of the young lovers. _El._ 7 is of disputed authorship; but it resembles the work of Sulpicia rather than that of Tibullus. _El._ 8-12 are by Sulpicia to Cerinthus. _El._ 13 purports to be by Tibullus. _El._ 14 is an epigram, of doubtful authorship.

Two _Priapea_ are found in MSS. of Tibullus, but probably neither of them is by him.

PROPERTIUS.

(1) LIFE.

The name by which the poet designates himself is Propertius simply; the praenomen Sextus rests on the authority of Donatus. The additions in some MSS., 'Aurelius' and 'Nauta,' are clearly erroneous.

He was certainly a native of the district of Umbria, and probably of the town of Asisium (the modern Assisi). Cf. iv. 1, 121,

'Umbria te notis antiqua penatibus edit, (mentior? an patriae tangitur ora tuae?) qua nebulosa cavo rorat Mevania campo, et lacus aestivis intepet Umber aquis, scandentisque Asisi consurgit vertice murus, murus ab ingenio notior ille tuo.'

'Asisi' in l. 125 is Lachmann's emendation for 'Asis' of the MSS., and is rendered almost certain by the topography of the district. Asisium agrees better than Hispellum (the modern Spello) with the description in the passage quoted; with iv. 1, 65,

'Scandentes quisquis cernet de vallibus arces, ingenio muros aestimet ille meo';

and with the epithet 'proxima' in i. 22, 9, as Asisium is nearer than Hispellum to Perusia. Cf. i. 22, 3-10,

'Si Perusina tibi patriae sunt nota sepulcra, Italiae duris funera temporibus, ... proxima supposito contingens Umbria campo me genuit terris fertilis uberibus.'

At Assisi, moreover, have been found several inscriptions of the Propertii, one of which, C. PASSENNO | C. F. SERG. |, PAULLO | PROPERTIO | BLAESO,[66] probably refers to the Passennus Paullus mentioned by Pliny, _Ep._ vi. 15, as 'municeps Propertii.'

Propertius was younger than Tibullus, and older than Ovid. His birth, therefore, took place between B.C. 54 and 43 (Hertzberg gives 46, Postgate prefers 50). Cf. Ovid, _Tr._ iv. 10, 53,

'Successor fuit hic [Tibullus] tibi, Galle; Propertius illi; quartus ab his serie temporis ipse fui.'

He came of a family well known in the neighbourhood (cf. iv. 1, 121, 'notis penatibus,' already quoted), but not 'noble' in the technical sense; ii. 34, 55,

'Aspice me, cui parva domi fortuna relictast, nullus et antiquo Marte triumphus avi.'

His childhood was clouded by the early death of his father, and by the confiscation of his estate in B.C. 41; iv. 1, 127,

'Ossaque legisti non illa aetate legenda patris; et in tenues cogeris ipse lares, nam tua cum multi versarent rura iuvenci, abstulit excultas pertica tristis opes.'

His mother then took him to Rome, where he studied law for a short time after assuming the _toga virilis_, but abandoned it in favour of poetry; iv. 1, 131,

'Mox ubi bulla rudi demissast aurea collo, matris et ante deos libera sumpta toga, tum tibi pauca suo de carmine dictat Apollo et vetat insano verba tonare foro.'

Meanwhile he was engaged in his first love affair with Lycinna, who is otherwise unknown (iii. 15, 3 _sqq._). In B.C. 29 or 28 his acquaintance with Cynthia began. Her real name was Hostia (Apuleius, _Apol._ 10, 'Accusent ... Propertium, qui Cynthiam dicat, Hostiam dissimulet'), and she was possibly a grand-daughter of the poet Hostius (p. 65). Cf. iii. 20, 8,

'Splendidaque a docto fama refulget avo.'

A courtesan of the higher class, she is represented by Propertius as possessed of great personal charms and varied accomplishments (i. 2, 30, 'Omnia quaeque Venus quaeque Minerva probat'), combined with many faults of temper and character. She had a house at Rome in the Subura, and we hear of her also at Tibur, where she was buried (iv. 7, 15; 85). She was considerably older than Propertius; ii. 18, 19,

'At tu etiam iuvenem odisti me, perfida, cum sis ipsa anus haud longa curva futura die.'

At the end of two years the unfaithfulness of Propertius led to twelve months of estrangement; iii. 16, 9,

'Peccaram semel, et totum sum pulsus in annum.'

Cynthia was reconciled to him about the beginning of B.C. 25; but the passion on both sides gradually cooled until, in 23, Propertius harshly cast her off (iii. 24 and 25). Possibly there was a second reconciliation before her death (iv. 7). The five years of bondage (iii. 25, 3, 'Quinque tibi potui servire fideliter annos,') will thus be B.C. 28, 27, 25-23.

Propertius lived chiefly at Rome; but i. 18 was written near the Clitumnus, and in ii. 19 he promises to join Cynthia in that region. In iii. 21 he contemplates a voyage to Athens; l. 1,

'Magnum iter ad doctas proficisci cogor Athenas, ut me longa gravi solvat amore via.'

A few years earlier he had refused to accompany his friend Tullus to Athens and Asia (i. 6).

Nothing is known of the subsequent life of Propertius, but from two passages in the younger Pliny it is natural to infer that he married, in obedience to the _Lex Iulia_ of B.C. 18, and had issue. Pliny, _Ep._ vi. 15, 'Passennus Paullus ... inter maiores suos Propertium numerat'; ix. 22, 'Propertium ... a quo genus ducit.'

We cannot tell even when he died. He must have been alive in B.C. 16, because iv. 6 was written for the _ludi quinquennales_, which were held for the first time in that year; and iv. 11. 65, is an allusion to the consulship of P. Cornelius Scipio, also in B.C. 16.

In personal appearance Propertius was pale and thin, and rather fond of dress; i. 5, 21,

'Nec iam pallorem totiens mirabere nostrum, aut cur sim toto corpore nullus ego';

ii. 4, 5,

'Nequiquam perfusa meis unguenta capillis, ibat et expenso planta morata gradu.'

He had been introduced to Maecenas after the publication of his first Book, but naturally was not on such intimate terms with him as older men like Virgil and Horace were. ii. 1 and iii. 9 are addressed to Maecenas. In the first of these poems Propertius declares that he is unequal to the composition of an epic, which his patron had urged upon him, but adds (l. 17)

'Quod mihi si tantum, Maecenas, fata dedissent ut possem heroas ducere in arma manus, ... bellaque resque tui memorarem Caesaris, et tu Caesare sub magno cura secunda fores.'

For poems referring to Augustus cf. ii. 10, iv. 6 (on Actium), iii. 18 (on the death of Marcellus).

Horace and Propertius do not mention each other by name. Chronology forbids the identification of the bore in Hor. _Sat._ i. 9 with Propertius, who, on the same ground, cannot be meant in _Sat._ i. 10, 18,

'Neque simius iste, nil praeter Calvum et doctus cantare Catullum.'

But Hor. _Ep._ ii. 2, 87-101, is undoubtedly aimed at Propertius. Cf. especially l. 99,

'Discedo Alcaeus puncto illius; ille meo quis? quis nisi Callimachus? Si plus adposcere visus, fit Mimnermus et optivo cognomine crescit.'

Though both poets belonged to the same literary circle, they differed widely in temperament as well as in age. With Tibullus, who was a member of Messalla's circle, Propertius may have had no personal acquaintance; at all events, neither alludes to the other.

For Virgil Propertius expresses warm admiration in ii. 34, written during the composition of the _Aeneid_. Ovid, who calls him 'blandus' (_Tr._ ii. 465) and 'tener' (_A.A._ iii. 333), was an intimate friend of his; cf. _Tr._ iv. 10, 45 (quoted p. 206). The minor poets to whom he writes are Ponticus (i. 7 and 9), Bassus (i. 4), and a tragic poet, Lynceus (a pseudonym, ii. 34, 25).

(2) WORKS.

The extant Elegies, divided in the MSS. into four Books, are probably all that Propertius ever wrote. On account of the disproportionate length of Book ii., and the number 'tres' (which, however, may be said in anticipation) in ii. 13, 25,

'Sat mea sat magna est si tres sint pompa libelli, quos ego Persephonae maxima dona feram,'

some editors make Book ii. consist only of _El._ 1-9, and assign the remainder (10-34) to a new Book iii. Books iii. and iv. of the MSS. then become iv. and v. respectively. In the most recent editions, however, the MSS. arrangement is retained, and it is here followed.

_Book_ i.--All the Elegies in Book i., except the last two, are amatory. _El._ 2-10 belong to the first months of the poet's love, when Cynthia was gracious, though capricious. She had refused to accompany a rival of his, who was going to Illyricum as praetor (_El._ 8); but afterwards she left Rome for Baiae, and the rest of the Book is full of complaints of her harshness. _El._ 1, written after the year of separation, introduces the whole Book in a melancholy strain.

The clearest indication of date in Book i. is 8, 21, 'Nam me non ullae poterunt corrumpere taedae,' where Propertius protests that he will never marry, in spite of the _Lex Iulia_ of B.C. 27. (He could not legally marry a woman of Cynthia's class.) The Book was published probably in B.C. 25, under the title of 'Cynthia.' Cf. ii. 24, 1,

'Cum sis iam noto fabula libro et tua sit toto Cynthia lecta foro.'

Her name was a recommendation for the Book, and it was probably her satisfaction at the fame which it brought her that caused her to relent towards Propertius. Cf. Mart. xiv. 189,

'Cynthia, facundi carmen iuvenile Properti, accepit famam, nec minus ipsa dedit.'

At all events, a few months afterwards we find the old relations re-established; ii. 3, 3,

'Vix unum potes, infelix, requiescere mensem, et turpis de te iam liber alter erit.'

_Book_ ii.--Cynthia is the theme of nearly all the thirty-four poems of Book ii., which give lively expression to her lover's varying moods. Only three Elegies (1, 10, and 31) are given to other subjects.

Of the few poems to which dates can be assigned, the earliest is _El._ 31 (on the dedication of the temple of the Palatine Apollo, B.C. 28), and the latest is _El._ 10, to Augustus (written shortly before the invasion of Arabia by Aelius Gallus in B.C. 24. Cf. l. 16, 'et domus intactae te tremit Arabiae'). The Book was therefore published B.C. 24 at the earliest.

_Book_ iii.--In this Book the poems on Cynthia form a far smaller proportion; 7, 12, and 22 show the warmth of the poet's friendship; events of national interest are treated in 4, 11, and 18. In 5, 23-47, Propertius looks forward to spending his later years in the study of natural science ('naturae perdiscere mores,' l. 25).

There are few hints of the date of any of the poems in iii. _El._ 20 is apparently as early as B.C. 28; 18 certainly belongs to B.C. 23; 4 perhaps refers to the expedition against the Parthians planned in B.C. 22. The last-mentioned year is the earliest possible date of publication.

_Book_ iv., in which there is no principle of arrangement, probably appeared after the author's death. His archaeological tastes come out in four Elegies written, in imitation of the +Aitia+ of Callimachus, on Roman antiquities--_El._ 2 on Vertumnus, 4 on Tarpeia, 9 on Cacus, 10 on Jupiter Feretrius. In this way Propertius fulfilled his promise to Maecenas, iii. 9, 49,

'Celsaque Romanis decerpta Palatia tauris ordiar et caeso moenia firma Remo, eductosque pares silvestri ex ubere reges, crescet et ingenium sub tua iussa meum.'

_El._ 7 and 8 relate to Cynthia; in 7 her ghost appears to the poet. _El._ 3, a letter from Arethusa to Lycotas, possibly suggested to Ovid the plan of his _Heroides_, just as the antiquarian poems already mentioned may have suggested the _Fasti_. The Book ends with a lament for Cornelia, daughter of Scribonia, Augustus' first wife (_El._ 11).

The date of 6 and 11 is certainly not earlier than B.C. 16, while 8 seems to have been written before the rupture with Cynthia. The antiquarian poems are considered by some to have been among Propertius' earliest efforts.

Propertius was familiar with the whole range of Greek poetry--Homer (iii. 1, 25-34), Mimnermus (i. 9, 11), Pindar (iii. 17, 40), the dramatists, Theocritus, and Apollonius Rhodius. As his models he names especially the Alexandrians Callimachus and Philetas, whom he claims to follow more closely than any of his predecessors; iii. 1, 1,

'Callimachi Manes et Coi sacra Philetae, in vestrum, quaeso, me sinite ire nemus. Primus ego ingredior puro de fonte sacerdos Itala per Graios orgia ferre choros.'

Cf. iv. 1, 64,

'Umbria Romani patria Callimachi.'

In wealth of mythological illustration Propertius is peculiarly Alexandrian. He is continually drawing parallels and contrasts from Greek legend; _e.g._ i. 15, Cynthia how unlike Calypso! iii. 12, Aelia Galla a modern Penelope. Of Roman poets, he names as his predecessors in amatory verse Virgil, Varro Atacinus, Catullus, Calvus, and Cornelius Gallus (ii 34, 61-92). Once he dreams of writing an epic on the Alban kings in the vein of Ennius; iii. 3, 5,

'Parvaque tam magnis admoram fontibus ora, unde pater sitiens Ennius ante bibit.'

In Propertius love of social pleasures appears side by side with a strain of deep melancholy _e.g._ in. 5, 21,

Me iuvat et multo mentem vincire Lyaeo et caput in verna semper habere rosa,

contrasted with the numerous passages where he is thinking of the grave, _e.g._ ii. 1, 71,

'Quandocumque igitur vitam mea fata reposcent, et breve in exiguo marmore nomen ero.'

There is no greater patriot than Propertius. Cf. the denunciation of Cleopatra (iii. 11) and the frequency of the epithet 'Romanus.'

OVID.

(1) LIFE.

Ovid's own writings (especially _Tr._ iv. 10) supply nearly all the information we possess regarding his life. The biographies in the MSS. are valueless.

P. Ovidius Naso was his full name, in which the MSS. agree. He speaks of himself as Naso simply, and Statius and Martial refer to him by that name; Tacitus and the two Senecas use the _nomen_ Ovidius.

He was born in Sulmo, one of the three divisions of the Paelignian country, B.C. 43--the year in which Hirtius and Pansa fell at Mutina. _Tr._ iv. 10, 3,

'Sulmo mihi patria est, gelidis uberrimus undis, milia qui novies distat ab urbe decem. Editus hic ego sum; nec non ut tempora noris, cum cecidit fato consul uterque pari.'

His birthday was 20th March--the second day of the festival of the Quinquatria (cf. _Fast._ iii. 809-814), l. 13,

'Haec est armiferae festis de quinque Minervae, quae fieri pugna prima cruenta solet.'

He belonged to an equestrian family, and he frequently contrasts himself with those who had reached that dignity by military service or by possessing the requisite fortune; _ibid._ l. 7,

'Si quid id est, usque a proavis vetus ordinis heres, non sum fortunae munere factus eques.'

Cf. _Am._ i. 3, 7; iii. 8, 9; iii. 15, 5; _Pont._ iv. 8, 17.

Along with his elder brother, he received a careful education at Rome, and studied also at Athens. He practised rhetoric under Arellius Fuscus and Porcius Latro. _Tr._ iv. 10, 15,

'Protinus excolimur teneri, curaque parentis imus ad insignes urbis ab arte viros.'

_Tr._ i. 2, 77,

'Non peto quas quondam petii studiosus Athenas.'

Sen. _Contr._ ii. 10, 8, 'Hanc controversiam memini ab Ovidio Nasone declamari apud rhetorem Arellium Fuscum, cuius auditor fuit, nam Latronis admirator erat, cum diversum sequeretur dicendi genus.' Seneca says that _Met._ xiii. 121, and _Am._ i. 2, 11, were borrowed from Latro.

But, in spite of his father's remonstrances, Ovid preferred poetry to public life. _Tr._ iv. 10, 19,

'At mihi iam parvo caelestia sacra placebant, inque suum furtim Musa trahebat opus. Saepe pater dixit, "studium quid inutile temptas? Maeonides nullas ipse reliquit opes." Motus eram dictis totoque Helicone relicto scribere conabar verba soluta modis: sponte sua carmen numeros veniebat ad aptos; quicquid temptabam dicere, versus erat.'

In due time he assumed the _toga virilis_, and with it the broad purple stripe worn by prospective senators. He also held two of the minor offices of the _vigintiviratus_, the preliminary to a senatorial career, being (1) triumvir capitalis or else triumvir monetalis, (2) decemvir stlitibus iudicandis. _Tr._ iv. 10, 28,

'Liberior fratri sumpta mihique toga est, induiturque umeris cum lato purpura clavo';

l. 33,

'Cepimus et tenerae primos aetatis honores, deque viris quondam pars tribus una fui.'

_Fast._ iv. 384,

'Inter bis quinos usus honore viros.'

In virtue of this second office he sat in the centumviral court;[67] and he also acted as an arbitrator. _Tr._ ii. 93,

'Nec male commissa est nobis fortuna reorum lisque decem deciens inspicienda viris. Res quoque privatas statui sine crimine iudex.'

He sought no higher office, having neither strength nor inclination for the Senate; he assumed the narrow stripe of the _eques_, and devoted himself to poetry and pleasure. _Tr._ iv. 10, 35,

'Curia restabat: clavi mensura coacta est: maius erat nostris viribus illud onus. Nec patiens corpus, nec mens fuit apta labori, sollicitaeque fugax ambitionis eram. Et petere Aoniae suadebant tuta sorores otia, iudicio semper amata meo.'

He made a tour in Asia (including Troy) and Sicily in the company of the poet Pompeius Macer: the date of this journey is unknown, but he was almost a year in Sicily. _Pont._ ii. 10, 21-29 (to Macer),

'Te duce magnificas Asiae perspeximus urbes, Trinacris est oculis te duce nota meis, ... Hic mihi labentis pars anni magna peracta est.'

_Fast._ vi. 423,

'Cura videre fuit: vidi templumque locumque,'

(of the temple of Pallas at Troy).

Towards the end of A.D. 8, Ovid was banished by imperial edict to Tomi, on the Black Sea, near the mouth of the Danube, the cause alleged being the publication of the _Ars Amatoria_. Ovid mentions this edict, but also hints at another reason, connected with the imperial family. _Tr._ ii. 207,

'Perdiderint cum me duo crimina, carmen et error, alterius facti culpa silenda mihi; nam non sum tanti renovem ut tua vulnera, Caesar, quem nimio plus est indoluisse semel. Altera pars superest, qua turpi carmine factus arguor obscaeni doctor adulterii.'

He was guilty of no crime of his own, but was banished for witnessing the crime of another. Cf. _Tr._ iii. 5, 49,

'Inscia quod crimen viderunt lumina, plector, peccatumque oculos est habuisse meum.'

It is probable that the real reason[68] of Ovid's banishment was that he was privy to a guilty intrigue between D. Silanus and Julia, the grand-daughter of Augustus. Julia was banished in A.D. 9, and Tacitus (_Ann._ iii. 24) tells us of the intrigue, for which Silanus (like Ovid) suffered _relegatio_. His knowledge of the offence was betrayed by friends and domestics. Cf. _Tr._ iv. 10, 101,

'Quid referam comitumque nefas famulosque nocentes?'

The date of his banishment is given _Tr._ iv. 10, 95,

'Postque meos ortus Pisaea vinctus oliva abstulerat decies praemia victor equus, cum maris Euxini positos ad laeva Tomitas quaerere me laesi principis ira iubet.'

[Here an Olympiad is reckoned as five years.] His punishment was _relegatio_, involving banishment to a fixed spot, but not confiscation of property; _Tr._ ii. 135,

'Adde quod edictum, quamvis immite minaxque, attamen in poenae nomine lene fuit; quippe relegatus, non exul, dicor in illo, privaque fortunae sunt ibi verba meae.'

In Tomi he spent the remaining years of his life, far from friends and books; _Tr._ v. 12, 53,

'Non liber hic ullus, non qui mihi commodet aurem, verbaque significent quid mea norit, adest';

suffering from illness (_Tr._ iii. 3) and the climate, and fighting against the barbarians; _Tr._ iv. 1, 71,

'Aspera militiae iuvenis certamina fugi, nec nisi lusura movimus arma manu: nunc senior gladioque latus scutoque sinistram, canitiem galeae subicioque meam.'

On the other hand he learned the language of the people, and actually wrote poems in it; _Tr._ v. 12, 57,

'Ipse mihi videor iam dedidicisse Latine: nam didici Getice Sarmaticeque loqui.'

_Pont._ iv. 13, 19,

'A! pudet, et Getico scripsi sermone libellum, structaque sunt nostris barbara verba modis, et placui--gratare mihi--coepique poetae inter inhumanos nomen habere Getas! materiam quaeris? laudes de Caesare dixi.'

For his popularity with the natives cf. _Pont._ iv. 14, 53,

'Solus adhuc ego sum vestris immunis in oris, exceptis si qui munera legis habent. Tempora sacrata mea sunt velata corona, publicus invito quam favor imposuit';

also _Pont._ iv. 9, 101.

Ovid's death took place in A.D. 18: Jerome yr. Abr. 2033, 'Ovidius poeta in exilio diem obiit et iuxta oppidum Tomos sepelitur.' He was thrice married; _Tr._ iv. 10, 69,

'Paene mihi puero nec digna nec utilis uxor est data, quae tempus per breve nupta fuit; illi successit quamvis sine crimine coniunx, non tamen in nostro firma futura toro; ultima, quae mecum seros permansit in annos, sustinuit coniunx exulis esse viri.'

His third wife belonged to the _gens Fabia_. Cf. _Pont._ i. 2, 138 (to Fabius Maximus),

'Ille ego, de vestra cui data nupta domo est.'

The _filia_ mentioned _Tr._ iv. 10, 75, may have been either a daughter or step-daughter of Ovid's. Some think that she is the Perilla of _Tr._ iii. 7.

Ovid's social position was of the highest, as may be inferred from his relations with the palace. He was intimate with Messalla, the patron of Tibullus, and wrote an elegy on him (now lost). Cf. _Pont._ i. 7, 27 (to Messalinus),

'Nec tuus est genitor nos infitiatus amicos, hortator studii causaque faxque mei: cui nos et lacrimas, supremum in funere munus, et dedimus medio scripta canenda foro.'

Among the friends to whom the _Epp. ex Ponto_ are written may be mentioned Albinovanus, Carus, Rufus, Severus, Fabius Maximus Cotta, Tuticanus, the younger Macer, all poets; and other literary men of distinction, _e.g._ Graecinus, Atticus, Brutus, Sex. Pompeius, Gallio. For his intimacy with the learned Hyginus cf. Sueton. _Gramm._ 20, 'fuit familiarissimus Ovidio poetae.'

He was old enough to have seen Virgil, and hear Aemilius Macer and Horace recite; with Propertius, Tibullus, Ponticus, and Bassus he was on terms of close intimacy (_Am._ iii. 9 is a lament for Tibullus), _Tr._ iv. 10, 41-52,

'Temporis illius colui fovique poetas, quotque aderant vates, rebar adesse deos. Saepe suas volucres legit mihi grandior aevo, quaeque necet serpens, quae iuvet herba, Macer. Saepe suos solitus recitare Propertius ignes, iure sodalicii qui mihi iunctus erat. Ponticus heroo, Bassus quoque clarus iambis dulcia convictus membra fuere mei. Detinuit nostras numerosus Horatius aures, dum ferit Ausonia carmina culta lyra. Vergilium vidi tantum; nec amara Tibullo tempus amicitiae fata dedere meae.'

Besides the _rura paterna_ at Sulmo, Ovid possessed an estate on the _via Clodia_, near Rome; _Pont._ i. 8, 41,

'Non meus amissos animus desiderat agros ruraque Paeligno conspicienda solo, nec quos piniferis positos in collibus hortos spectat Flaminiae Clodia iuncta viae.'

He cannot have been poor, in spite of his complaints, _e.g._ _Pont._ iv. 8, 32,

'Carpsit opes illa ruina meas.'

(2) WORKS.

1. _Amores_, at first in five Books, but in a second edition reduced to three; cf. the motto prefixed to the Book,

'Qui modo Nasonis fueramus quinque libelli, Tres sumus.'

The poems are nearly all on Corinna, a name which probably does not stand for any real person, but merely for an abstraction around which Ovid groups his own fancies. To suppose, as Sidonius Apollinaris did (23, 157)[69] that Augustus' daughter Julia was meant, is absurd, for Corinna is a _meretrix_. The identity of Corinna was unknown; _Am._ ii. 17, 28,

'Et multae per me nomen habere volunt. Novi aliquam, quae se circumferat esse Corinnam';

and twenty years afterwards Ovid could write (_A.A._ iii. 538),

'Et multi, quae sit nostra Corinna, rogant.'

The _Amores_, in their original form, constituted Ovid's earliest work, written in his youth. The extant poems are not all that he wrote on Corinna; _Tr._ iv. 10, 57,

'Carmina cum primum populo iuvenilia legi, barba resecta mihi bisve semelve fuit. Moverat ingenium totam cantata per urbem nomine non vero dicta Corinna mihi. Multa quidem scripsi; sed quae vitiosa putavi, emendaturis ignibus ipse dedi.'

The lament for Tibullus (iii. 9) must have been written in Ovid's twenty-fourth year.

2. _Heroides_.--Some of these at least were written before the second edition of the _Amores_, for in _Am._ ii. 18, 21-6 nine of them are mentioned by name. The title _Heroides_ is due to the grammarian Priscian; in the MSS. they are called _Epistulae_, and so Ovid himself refers to them, _A.A._ iii. 345,

'Vel tibi composita cantetur epistula voce: ignotum hoc aliis ille novavit opus.'

Of the twenty letters in our collection 1-14 are letters from heroines to their lovers; 15-20 are in pairs, _e.g._ Paris to Helen and Helen to Paris. The authenticity of these last six is doubted, partly because the title _Heroides_ cannot apply to half of them, and also because of their inferiority in style. In the use of the epistolary form in love poetry Ovid had no predecessor, and he himself calls attention to the novelty (_A.A._ above). The style shows the influence of Ovid's rhetorical training: the Epistles are _suasoriae_ in verse, and of _suasoriae_ we know that he was particularly fond (Sen. _Contr._ ii. 10, 12, 'Declamabat Naso raro controversias et non nisi ethicas: libentius dicebat suasorias. Molesta illi erat omnis argumentatio.'). His matter he would naturally draw from Homer, the _Cypria_, Apollonius Rhodius, and the Greek tragedians.

3. Between the two editions of the _Amores_ he wrote the lost tragedy _Medea_. It was later than _Am._ iii. 1, where he pictures the Muses of Elegy and Tragedy as contending for his homage, and he finally decides (ll. 67-8),

'Exiguum vati concede, Tragoedia, tempus: tu labor aeternus; quod petit illa breve est.'

On the other hand, it was earlier than _Am._ ii. 18, 13,

'Sceptra tamen sumpsi, curaque tragoedia nostra crevit, et huic operi quamlibet aptus eram.'

The drama enjoyed a high reputation in antiquity. Cf. Quint. x. 1, 98, 'Ovidii Medea videtur mihi ostendere, quantum ille vir praestare potuerit, si ingenio suo imperare quam indulgere maluisset.'

4. _Medicamina Faciei Femineae_, an incomplete poem of 100 lines, giving directions for the toilet. Cf. _A.A._ iii. 205,

'Est mihi, quo dixi vestrae medicamina formae, parvus, sed cura grande, libellus, opus.'

5. _Ars Amatoria_, a didactic poem in three Books, on the art of love-intrigue. The title given by the MSS. is doubtless correct: Ovid himself speaks of 'ars amandi,' or simply 'ars' or 'artes.' It was written about B.C. 2, from the allusion, i. 171, to the 'naumachia' in that year,

'Quid, modo cum belli navalis imagine Caesar Persidas induxit Cecropiasque rates?'

The _Ars_ must have been in view when he wrote _Am._ ii. 18, 19,

'Quod licet, aut artes teneri profitemur amoris-- ei mihi, praeceptis urgeor ipse meis!'

6. _Remedia Amoris_, written next, while professing to be a recantation of the last-named work, exhibits, if possible, a more immoral tone. Cf. l. 487,

'Quaeris, ubi invenias? artes, i, perlege nostras.'

7. Ovid now produced a work of greater compass, the _Metamorphoses_, in fifteen Books of heroic verse. When it was composed is not known, but he had the idea of it in his mind when he wrote _Am._ iii. 12, 21-40. At the time of his banishment the poem had been written, but not revised. He committed his MS. to the flames, but copies were in the hands of friends; _Tr._ i. 7, 13-16,

'Carmina mutatas hominum dicentia formas, infelix domini quod fuga rupit opus. Haec ego discedens, sicut bene multa meorum, ipse mea posui maestus in igne manu.

Quae quoniam non sunt penitus sublata, sed extant, (l. 23) pluribus exemplis scripta fuisse reor.

Ablatum mediis opus est incudibus illud, (l. 29) defuit et scriptis ultima lima meis.'

The poem consists of a collection of stories of the transformation of human beings into animals. Cf. i. 1,

'In nova fert animus mutatas dicere formas corpora.'

The idea, title, and much of the subject-matter was borrowed from the Alexandrians, _e.g._ the +Metamorphôseis+ of Parthenius, the +Heteroioumena+ of Nicander.

8. In the _Fasti_, in six Books, Ovid furnishes a poetical calendar of the Roman year. Each month has a Book allotted to it, and he speaks of having written twelve Books; _Tr._ ii. 549,

'Sex ego Fastorum scripsi totidemque libellos, cumque suo finem mense volumen habet. Idque tuo nuper scriptum sub nomine, Caesar, et tibi sacratum sors mea rupit opus.'

Probably the second six Books were never completed; but there are references to portions of them, _e.g._ iii. 57,

'Vester honos veniet, cum Larentalia dicam; acceptus Geniis illa December habet.'

The _Fasti_ had been written side by side with the _Metam._ and interrupted at the sixth Book by Ovid's banishment. During his exile he added some passages, but found that his Muse was fit only for melancholy themes; iv. 81,

'Sulmonis gelidi--patriae, Germanice, nostrae-- me miserum, Scythico quam procul illa solo est!'

i. 540,

'Felix, exilium cui locus ille fuit!'

The design is stated at the outset, i. 1-8,

'Tempora cum causis Latium digesta per annum lapsaque sub terras ortaque signa canam ... Sacra recognosces annalibus eruta priscis, et quo sit merito quaeque notata dies.'

The work is thus a medley of religion, history, and astrology, and in its explanations of customs may be compared to the +Aitia+ of Callimachus. For information about religious rites, and for derivations of names (_e.g._ _Agnalia_, i. 317-332), he would have recourse to Varro; for history, to Livy (cf. ii. 193-242, the story of the Fabii, from Livy, ii. 49, and vi. 587, etc., the story of Tullia, from Livy, i. 48); for astronomy, to Clodius Tuscus.

It was begun some time after Augustus regulated the Julian calendar in B.C. 8, and was originally addressed to Augustus, as Ovid himself says (_Tr._ ii. 552 above); 'Caesar' is addressed ii. 15, vi. 763, and elsewhere. After the death of Augustus, Ovid began to remodel it and dedicate it to Germanicus. Cf. i. 3,

'Excipe pacato, Caesar Germanice, voltu hoc opus et timidae dirige navis iter.'

But the task was stopped by his death; and while Book i. has the remodelled form, Books ii.-vi. remain as first written.

_Poems written in exile._--9. _Tristia_, five Books of letters to Augustus, to Ovid's wife and friends (who, however, are not named), praying for pardon or for a place of exile nearer Rome. Book i. was written on the journey to Tomi, the other books not after A.D. 11 or 12, Cf. v. 10, 1,

'Ut sumus in Ponto, ter frigore constitit Hister.'

10. The _Ibis_ was written at the beginning of his exile. Cf. l. 1,

'Tempus ad hoc, lustris bis iam mihi quinque peractis.'

The title was taken from the poem in which Callimachus attacked Apollonius Rhodius under the name of Ibis. Cf. l. 55,

'Nunc, quo Battiades inimicum devovet Ibin, hoc ego devoveo teque tuosque modo.'

Ovid studiously conceals the identity of the enemy whom he attacks; l. 61,

'Et quoniam, qui sis, nondum quaerentibus edo, Ibidis interea tu quoque nomen habe.'

He had once been a friend of the poet, but had proved false to him, doubtless in connexion with the circumstances which caused his banishment; cf. l. 85, 'capiti male fido,' l. 130, 'perfide.' He persecuted Ovid's wife, and tried to get possession of his property.

The conjectures that the unknown was Messalla Corvinus or the poet Manilius may be dismissed at once. Many hold that Hyginus is meant; Prof. Ellis suggests the _delator_ Cassius Severus (Tac. _Ann._ iv. 21), or T. Labienus (Sen. _Contr._ x. praef. 4), or the astrologer Thrasyllus (Tac. _Ann._ vi. 20). To the same person probably are addressed _Tr._ iii. 11, iv. 9, v. 8; _Pont._ iv. 3.

11. The _Epistulae ex Ponto_, in four Books, were written A.D. 12-16. In tone they resemble the _Tristia_, but the composition is more careless, and the friends to whom he writes are mentioned by name.

12. _Halieuticon_, a poem on fish, in hexameters, in a fragmentary condition. Ovid wrote this towards the end of his life.

Pliny, _N.H._ xxxii. 152, 'His adiciemus ab Ovidio posita nomina quae apud neminem alium reperiuntur, sed fortassis in Ponto nascentium, ubi id volumen supremis suis temporibus incohavit.'

MANILIUS.

Manilius is not mentioned by any other writer, and his own poem gives no particulars of his life. There is uncertainty even as to the true form of his name, the MSS. giving variously M. Mallius, Manlius, or Manilius, with the addition in one case of EQOM (probably = equitis Romani). In some MSS. the poem is wrongly attributed to Aratus or Boetius, both of whom wrote on the same subject as Manilius.

Bentley conjectured that Manilius was an Asiatic Greek, but the poet speaks of Latin as 'nostra lingua' (ii. 889), while Greek is 'externa lingua' (iii. 40), and he uses no Greek constructions.

His poem, the _Astronomica_, in its present form, consists of five Books of hexameter verse: probably a sixth Book has been lost. It may have been wholly composed in the reign of Tiberius, or begun under Augustus. Book v. was written under Tiberius, if the burning of Pompey's theatre in A.D. 22 is alluded to in ll. 513-515. The earlier Books contain nothing which might not have been written after the death of Augustus--the allusions to the disaster of Varus in A.D. 9 (i. 899), and to the sojourn of Tiberius at Rhodes (iv. 764). Either Augustus or Tiberius may be the 'Caesar' of i. 7 and i. 386. On the other hand, if Ovid is referring to Manilius (as Prof. Ellis suggests) in _Tr._ ii. 485,

'Ecce canit formas alius iactusque pilarum, hic artem nandi praecipit, ille trochi,'

it would follow that the whole poem had been published before the death of Augustus, for the descriptions of ball-play and swimming occur in v. 165-171 and 420-431.

Astronomy is treated only in Book i.; the rest of the poem is devoted to astrology. This is in accordance with the author's statement of his theme (i. 1-3), which he was the first Roman to treat in verse (i. 4, 113, ii. 57). As his object is to convey instruction rather than to give pleasure (iii. 36-39), he does not scruple to use Greek technical terms (ii. 693, 829, 897, iii. 40). The subject does not lend itself readily to verse (i. 20, iii. 31), and the poem is intolerably dry, except the introductions to each Book, which reveal considerable poetical power. The chief peculiarities of Manilius' language are his strange use of prepositions and his fondness for alliteration; imitations of Virgil are found throughout.

Manilius is a fatalist (iv. 14 and 22): still fate does not abolish the moral quality of actions (iv. 108-118). The universe is directed by a 'vis animae divina' or 'divinum numen' (i. 250, 491).

LIVY.

There is no ancient biography of Livy, and very little light is thrown on his life by his own writings or by allusions in other authors.

Titus Livius was born at Patavium (the modern Padua) B.C. 59: Jerome yr. Abr. 1958, 'T. Livius Patavinus scriptor historicus nascitur.' (The Armenian version gives _Ol._ 180, 4 = B.C. 57.) Near Patavium there was a famous sulphur spring known as Aponus or Aponi fons, whence Martial calls the district Apona tellus (i. 61, 3, 'Censetur Apona Livio suo tellus'). There is no reason to suppose from this that Livy's birthplace was not Patavium itself, but a village Aponus, which is nowhere mentioned. Statius (_Silv._ iv. 7, 55) calls him 'Timavi alumnus.' For Livy's acquaintance with Patavium cf. x. 2, 14 and 15.

From his tone we may infer that he came of a good family, and he must have possessed a fair income. The charge against his style of _Patavinitas_ implies that he spent a considerable part of his life in his native town, but he probably settled at Rome about B.C. 30. That he took no part in public life is clear from his own words: i. praef. 5, 'Hoc laboris praemium petam, ut me a conspectu malorum, quae nostra tot per annos vidit aetas, tantisper certe, dum prisca illa tota mente repeto, avertam, omnis expers curae, quae scribentis animum etsi non flectere a vero, sollicitum tamen efficere posset.'

He enjoyed the intimacy of Augustus, whom he himself mentions, iv. 20, 7, 'hoc ego cum Augustum Caesarem ... se ipsum ... legisse audissem.' Tac. _Ann._ iv. 34, 'T. Livius, eloquentiae ac fidei praeclarus in primis, Cn. Pompeium tantis laudibus tulit, ut Pompeianum eum Augustus appellaret; neque id amicitiae eorum offecit.' It was at Livy's suggestion that the future emperor, Claudius, started to compose a history: Sueton. _Claud._ 41, 'historiam in adulescentia, hortante T. Livio, Sulpicio vero Flavo etiam adiuvante, scribere adgressus est.' On the other hand, Caligula would have liked to remove Livy's writings and his bust from all the libraries, calling him 'verbosum in historia neglegentemque' (Sueton. _Calig._ 34).

Nothing more is known of his life, except that he visited Campania, xxxviii. 56, 3, 'Nam et Literni monumentum monumentoque statua superimposita fuit, quam tempestate disiectam nuper vidimus ipsi.'

He died at his native town, A.D. 17: Jerome yr. Abr. 2033, 'Livius historicus Patavii moritur.'

He had at least one son (Quint. x. 1, 39, 'apud Livium in epistula ad filium scripta'), and one daughter (Sen. _Contr._ x. praef. 2, 'L. Magius gener T. Livi').

Livy wrote philosophical works, probably popular treatises like Cicero's, some of them in the form of dialogues.

Sen. _Ep._ 100, 9, 'Nomina adhuc T. Livium. Scripsit enim et dialogos, quos non magis philosophiae adnumerare possis quam historiae, et ex professo philosophiam continentis libros.'

A book on rhetoric was known to Quintilian and Seneca the elder, apparently in the form of a letter addressed to the author's son (Quint. x. 1, 39, above).

Quint. ii. 5, 20, 'quemadmodum Livius praecipit' (on models of style); Sen. _Contr._ ix. 2, 26, 'Livius de oratoribus ... aiebat' (on obscurity of expression); Sen. _Contr._ ix. 1, 14, 'T. Livius tam iniquus Sallustio fuit ut hanc ipsam sententiam ... obiceret Sallustio.'

These minor works have perished, and of his great history only a portion survives.

Its title, according to the oldest MSS., the summaries of the lost Books, and the grammarians, was _Ab urbe condita libri_; and this is corroborated by Livy's own language: i. praef. 1, 'si a primordio urbis res populi Romani perscripserim'; and by Pliny, _N.H._ praef. 16, 'T. Livium ... in historiarum suarum, quas repetit ab origine urbis, quodam volumine.' Livy refers to it loosely as _meos annales_ (xliii. 13, 2). Separate parts may have had special titles: thus Books cix-cxvi. were known as _Civilis belli libri_ viii. (Codex Nazarenus of the Periochae).

The number of Books now extant is thirty-five, viz., i.-x., which carry the history down to B.C. 293, and xxi.-xlv., covering the period B.C. 218-167. Of these xli. and xliii. are incomplete. But we possess summaries (_Periochae_ or _Argumenta_) of Books i.-cxlii., except cxxxvi. and cxxxvii., which show that the narrative was continued to the death of Drusus in B.C. 9. There is no evidence that it actually went further; but as the death of Drusus is hardly an event of sufficient importance to form the conclusion of so great a work, it has been thought that Livy may have intended to finish with the death of Augustus--the point from which Tacitus starts. The total number of Books would then have been probably one hundred and fifty.

The division into Books (_libri_ or _volumina_) is due to the author: vi. 1, 1, 'quae ab condita urbe Romani gessere quinque libris exposui.' The division into decades (_i.e._ sets of ten Books) is first mentioned towards the end of the fifth century; it is merely a conventional arrangement, the subject-matter falling naturally into sets of fifteen Books, which again sometimes embrace three sub-divisions each a half-decade, or two, a half-decade and a decade.

An epitome was known to Martial, xiv. 190,

'Pellibus exiguis artatur Livius ingens, quem mea non totum bibliotheca capit.'

The evidence of the date of composition is as follows:

(_a_) i. 19, 3, 'Bis deinde post Numae regnum [Ianus] clausus fuit, semel T. Manlio consule post Punicum primum perfectum bellum, iterum, quod nostrae aetati dei dederunt ut videremus, post bellum Actiacum ab imperatore Caesare Augusto pace terra marique parta.' Now, as the first closing of the temple of Janus by Augustus was in B.C. 29, and as Livy is silent as to the second closing after the Cantabrian war in 25, it follows that this passage was written B.C. 29-25. The use of the title Augustus, conferred on Octavian in 27, puts the earliest possible date two years later. The history therefore was not begun before B.C. 27.

(_b_) ix. 36, 1, 'Silva erat Ciminia magis tum invia atque horrenda quam nuper fuere Germanici saltus.' In this Niebuhr found an allusion to the campaigns of Drusus, B.C. 12-9, and accordingly assumed that the first decade was not published till B.C. 9. But the passage may equally well refer to earlier campaigns, _e.g._ of Julius Caesar. Nor can it be shown that the history of Dionysius of Halicarnassus, published B.C. 7, was used by Livy for Books viii.-x. Book ix. must have been written before B.C. 20, or Livy would have mentioned the recovery of the standards from the Parthians in ix. 18, 9.

(_c_) xxviii. 12, 12, 'Hispania prima Romanis inita provinciarum, quae quidem continentis sint, postrema omnium nostra demum aetate ductu auspicioque Augusti Caesaris perdomita.' This was written not earlier than B.C. 19, if it refers to Agrippa's victory over the Cantabrians.

(_d_) Book lix. mentioned the _lex de maritandis ordinibus_, and consequently cannot have been earlier than B.C. 18.

(_e_) The books in which Pompeius figured were composed in the lifetime of Augustus (Tac. _Ann._ iv. 34, above).

(_f_) Book cxxi., according to the oldest MS. of the Periochae, was published after the death of Augustus; so doubtless were the remaining Books (A.D. 14-17).

A work of such compass, and occupying so many years of the author's life, would naturally be published in sections. This _a priori_ view is corroborated by several considerations: (_a_) There are separate prefaces to various sections (vi. 1; xxi. 1; xxxi. 1); (_b_) Livy's style was censured[70] by Asinius Pollio, who died A.D. 5; (_c_) Augustus was acquainted with Livy's sympathetic treatment of Pompeius (see above); (_d_) Livy had great fame in his lifetime: Pliny, _Ep._ ii. 3, 8, 'Numquamne legisti Gaditanum quemdam T. Livi nomine gloriaque commotum ad visendum eum ab ultimo terrarum orbe venisse statimque ut viderat abisse?'

The historians from whom Livy derived his materials, and whom he himself mentions are: _Fabius Pictor_ (i. 44, 2, etc.). Livy refers to him six times, but it may be questioned whether he used him at first-hand. More probably he took his opinions on the authority of later annalists like Macer, Antias, and Tubero. _Cincius Alimentus_ (xxi. 38, 3): the Cincius quoted in vii. 3, 7, may be the same, or an antiquarian of the Ciceronian or Augustan age; _Cato_ (xxxiv. 15, 9); _Calpurnius Piso_ (xxv. 39, 15); _Coelius Antipater_ (xxix. 25, 3); _Claudius Quadrigarius_ (vi. 42, 5, etc.); _Valerius Antias_, quoted thirty-five times--far more frequently than any other authority; _Licinius Macer_; _Aelius Tubero_ (iv. 23, 1); _Clodius Licinus_ (xxix. 22, 10); _Rutilius_ (xxxix. 52, 1); _Polybius_; _Silenus_ (xxvi. 49, 3), a Greek, whose account of the Second Punic War was favourable to the Carthaginians.

A criticism of Livy's use of these sources is impossible, except in the case of Polybius, all the others having perished. His tone in alluding to the Greek historian is remarkable for its coldness: xxx. 45, 5, 'Polybius haudquaquam spernendus auctor'; cf. xxxiii. 10, 8. Although Polybius is not mentioned till Book xxx., he was undoubtedly used throughout the third decade, as well as in the fourth and fifth. Livy follows him very closely. Where Livy differs from Polybius he is probably following the account of Coelius Antipater, who is his leading authority for the Second Punic War.

Livy is not careful to reconcile his sources, and so frequently contradicts himself. His way of explaining a discrepancy between his authorities is by striking an average (xxvi. 49, 6, 'si aliquis adsentiri necesse est, media simillima veris sunt'). His irresolution was noted by Quintilian, ii. 4, 19, 'saepe quaeri solet de tempore, de loco, quo gesta res dicitur, nonnumquam de persona quoque, sicut Livius frequentissime dubitat.' This of course has its good side: it saves him from dogmatizing on uncertain points, and he has a hearty appreciation of the confusion in his authorities: xxxvii. 34, 5, 'is ubi et quando et quo casu captus sit, sicut pleraque alia, parum inter auctores constat.' He recognizes the value of contemporary evidence: xxii. 7, 4, 'Fabium aequalem temporibus huiusce belli potissimum auctorem habui'; xxi. 38, 3, 'L. Cincius Alimentus, qui captum se ab Hannibale scribit, maxime auctor moveret.' Criticism of his authorities is most conspicuous in the case of Valerius Antias, whom at first he followed in good faith; he condemns him again and again for exaggeration and credulity, _e.g._ xxxiii. 10, 8, 'si Valerio qui credat, omnium rerum immodice numerum augenti'; xxxix. 43, 1, 'Valerius Antias, ut qui nec orationem Catonis legisset et fabulae tantum sine auctore editae credidisset.' He also recognizes the bias of Licinius Macer: vii. 9, 5, 'quaesita ea propriae familiae laus leviorem auctorem Licinium facit.' For the untrustworthiness of family records, cf. viii. 40, 4, 'vitiatam memoriam funebribus laudibus reor falsisque imaginum titulis, dum familiae ad se quaeque famam rerum gestarum honorumque fallenti mendacio trahunt.'

Livy often refers to authorities whom he does not name: 'invenio apud quosdam,' 'satis constat'; and to tradition: 'fama est,' 'dicitur,' 'fertur,' 'traditur.' Tradition was the sole source for events prior to the sack of Rome by the Gauls, cf. vi. 12, 2 _sqq._

There is no trace in Livy of any use of original documents.

He constantly resists the temptation to digress from his proper theme: _e.g._ xxxix. 48, 6, 'cuius belli et causas et ordinem si expromere velim, immemor sim propositi, quo statui non ultra attingere externa, nisi qua Romanis cohaererent rebus.'

In spite of his love of truth (xxii. 7, 4, 'nihil haustum ex vano velim, quo nimis inclinant ferme scribentium animi': cf. Tac. _Ann._ iv. 34, 'fidei praeclarus'), partiality blinds him to the faults of his own countrymen, and he fails to do justice to opponents like the Samnites and Carthaginians.

In dealing with the legendary period he admits that his narrative has no trustworthy foundation, and gives it merely for what it is worth: Praef. 6, 'Quae ante conditam condendamve urbem poeticis magis decora fabulis quam incorruptis rerum gestarum monumentis traduntur, ea nec adfirmare nec refellere in animo est. Datur haec venia antiquitati, ut miscendo humana divinis primordia urbium augustiora faciat.'

The numerous speeches exemplify Livy's rhetorical tendency, representing what he thought the speaker would have said under the given circumstances: iii. 67, 1, 'ibi in hanc sententiam locutum accipio.'

His power of describing character is noted by Seneca, _Suas._ vi. 21, 'Quoties magni alicuius viri mors ab historicis narrata est, toties fere consummatio totius vitae et quasi funebris laudatio redditur. Hoc ... T. Livius benignius omnibus magnis viris praestitit.'

_Religion and morality._--Livy believes in the influence of the gods on human affairs: ix. 1, 11, 'cum rerum humanarum maximum momentum sit, quam propitiis rem, quam adversis agant dis.' Superior to the gods is _necessitas_ (ix. 4, 16), and _fortuna_ is also powerful (ix. 17, 3; v. 37, 1). He condemns the irreligion of his own day (x. 40, 10, 'iuvenis ante doctrinam deos spernentem natus'), cf. iii. 20, 5; viii. 11, 1. He retains the old belief in prodigies and portents, every war being introduced by a list of them, but recognizes that many reported instances were fictitious: xxi. 62, 1, 'Multa ea hieme prodigia facta, aut, quod evenire solet motis semel in religionem animis, multa nuntiata et temere credita sunt.'

He condemns the vices of his own age, and lauds the old Romans: Praef. 12, 'Nuper divitiae avaritiam et abundantes voluptates desiderium per luxum atque libidinem pereundi perdendique omnia invexere.'

_Politics._--Livy is an aristocrat, with a poor opinion of the lower orders: _e.g._ xxiv. 25, 8, 'Ea natura multitudinis est: aut servit humiliter aut superbe dominatur; libertatem, quae media est, nec cupere modice nec habere sciunt.' His political attitude is influenced to a great extent by the earlier historians, who had mostly been on the aristocratic side. Yet he is not a defender of the aristocratic party through thick and thin; and though he admired the character of some leading republicans, there can be no question of his loyalty to the Empire. Cf. Tac. _Ann._ iv. 34, 'Scipionem, Afranium, hunc ipsum Cassium, hunc Brutum nusquam latrones et parricidas, quae nunc vocabula imponuntur, saepe ut insignes viros nominat.'

Livy's view of Caesar is quoted by Seneca, _N.Q._ v. 18, 4, 'in incerto esse utrum illum nasci magis rei publicae profuerit, an non nasci?'

_Contemporaries of Livy._--1. _Pompeius Trogus_, whose history is known to us only through the abridgment made by M. Iunianus Iustinus, probably in the time of the Antonines. Trogus was of Gallic descent. His grandfather had received the Roman _civitas_ from Pompey; his father was one of Caesar's officers, and is possibly to be identified with the Cn. Pompeius of Caes. _B.G._ v. 36 (Iustin. xliii. 5, 11). His chief work, _Historiae Philippicae_, in forty-four Books, was concerned chiefly with the history of Macedonia and the Diadochi; but it embraced also the empires of the East and the history of Greece down to the time of Philip, as well as Parthia, Spain, Carthage, and the early history of Rome.

2. _Fenestella_, who died, according to Jerome, in A.D. 19 at the age of seventy. Nothing is known of his life, or of the poems which Jerome attributes to him; but he certainly wrote _Annales_ (Nonius, p. 154). He is also quoted as an authority on miscellaneous antiquarian and constitutional points.

3. _M. Verrius Flaccus_, tutor to the grandsons of Augustus (Sueton. _Gramm._ 17), was the author of _Fasti_, fragments of which have been discovered near Praeneste, and which were used by Ovid for his poem of that name. Of Verrius' grammatical works, the greatest was that entitled _De verborum significatu_ (Gell. v. 17, 1), arranged alphabetically. It is lost, but we possess part of an abridgment (nine out of sixteen Books) made by _Sex. Pompeius Festus_ before the third century A.D. The abridgment of Festus was in turn epitomized by _Paulus Diaconus_ in the time of Charlemagne, and his work is extant in a complete form.

4. _C. Iulius Hyginus_, a freedman of Augustus and librarian of the Palatine library (Sueton. _Gramm._ 20), wrote _De vita rebusque illustrium virorum_ (Gell. i. 14, 1); _Exempla_ (Gell. x. 18, 7); _De situ urbium Italicarum_ (Serv. _ad Verg. Aen._ iii. 553); _De familiis Troianis_ (ibid. v. 389); theological works, _e.g._ _De dis Penatibus_ (Macrob. _Saturn._ iii. 4, 13); commentaries on Virgil and Helvius Cinna; and _De Agricultura_, a treatise to which Virgil was indebted (Colum. i. 1, 13). The Hyginus who wrote _Fabulae_ and _De Astrologia_ probably lived in the second century A.D.

VITRUVIUS.

Vitruvius Pollio (the cognomen appears only in the abridgment of his book) served under Caesar in Africa B.C. 46; viii. 3, 25, 'C. Iulius Masinissae filius ... cum patre Caesari militavit. Is hospitio meo est usus. Ita cottidiano convictu necesse fuerat de philologia disputare ...'

Under Augustus he was an officer of engineers, and was enabled to spend the rest of his life in comfort through the liberality of that prince and his sister Octavia: i. praef. 2, 'Cum M. Aurelio et P. Minidio et Cn. Cornelio ad apparationem ballistarum et scorpionum reliquorumque tormentorum refectionem fui praesto et cum eis commoda accepi. Quae cum primo mihi tribuisti, recognitionem per sororis commendationem servasti. Cum ergo eo beneficio essem obligatus, ut ad exitum vitae non haberem inopiae timorem ...'

He wrote the treatise _De Architectura_, in ten Books, when he was no longer young (ii. praef. 4, 'faciem deformavit aetas'), between the years B.C. 16 and 13. The temple of Quirinus, mentioned iii. 2, 7, was built in the former year; and he speaks of only one stone theatre in Rome (iii. 2, 2), whereas in B.C. 13 there were three.

The arrangement of the subject-matter is as follows: Book i., sciences on which architecture is based, chief divisions of the subject, choice of site, and method of laying out a town; ii., building materials; iii., temples--Ionic order; iv., Doric and Corinthian orders; v., public buildings, _e.g._, forum, theatre; vi., private houses--construction; vii., decoration; viii., water-supply; ix., methods of measuring time, _e.g._, sun-dials; x., engines and machines used in war and in the arts.

The work is dedicated to Augustus, who is addressed throughout, and is meant to be of practical use to him in his building operations.

The body of the work is severely technical; the introductions to the Books are in a more ambitious style. Vitruvius writes as a professional man, not as a scholar: i. 1, 17, 'Non uti summus philosophus nec rhetor disertus nec grammaticus summis rationibus artis exercitatus, sed ut architectus his litteris imbutus haec nisus sum scribere.' He freely confesses his obligations to Greek authors, whom he enumerates vii. praef. 10-14. Diagrams were appended to the text: i. 6, 12, 'Quoniam haec a nobis sunt breviter exposita, ut facilius intellegantur visum est mihi in extremo volumine formas, sive uti Graeci +schêmata+ dicunt duo explicare.'

SENECA THE ELDER.

(1) LIFE.

Annaeus Seneca (for the praenomen Marcus, usually given, there is no authority: in the best MSS. it is Lucius, possibly through confusion with his son) was a native of Corduba: Mart. i. 62, 7,

'Duosque Senecas unicumque Lucanum facunda loquitur Corduba.'

The date of his birth is probably about B.C. 55, for he was old enough to have heard Cicero if the civil wars had not prevented him leaving his native town: _Contr._ i. praef. 11, 'Omnes magni in eloquentia nominis excepto Cicerone videor audisse: ne Ciceronem quidem aetas mihi eripuerat, sed bellorum civilium furor, qui tunc orbem totum pervagabatur, intra coloniam meam me continuit.'

He was of equestrian rank; cf. the speech of Seneca the younger, Tac. _Ann._ xiv. 53, 'Egone, equestri et provinciali loco ortus, proceribus civitatis adnumeror?'

Most of his life appears to have been spent in Rome, where alone he could have acquired his vast knowledge of contemporary rhetoric. Together with his countryman Porcius Latro, he attended the lectures of the rhetorician Marullus: _Contr._ i. praef. 22, 'Hoc Latro meus faciebat, ut sententias amaret. Cum condiscipuli essemus apud Marullum rhetorem ...' Asinius Pollio he had heard at two different periods: _Contr._ iv. praef. 3, 'audivi illum et viridem et postea iam senem.'

Seneca's wife was Helvia, whose noble character is described by her son (_ad Helv._ 14, 3; 16, 3): by her he had three sons, M. Annaeus Novatus, L. Annaeus Seneca, and M. Annaeus Mela.

He survived Tiberius; for (1) he alludes to events which happened after his reign, (2) Sueton. _Tib._ 73, quotes from 'Seneca' an account of the death of Tiberius, and we know that the elder Seneca wrote history: that his son did likewise there is nothing to show. Hence he was alive after A.D. 37. On the other hand, he was dead before his son's exile in A.D. 43, for Sen. _ad Helv._ 2, 5, after enumerating the calamities which had befallen his mother--among them his father's death--concludes with the words 'raptum me audisti: hoc adhuc defuerat tibi, lugere vivos.'

Seneca was a man of stern character: for his old-world views and dislike of innovation cf. his son's words (_ad Helv._ 17, 3), 'Patris mei antiquus rigor ... Virorum optimus, pater meus, maiorum consuetudini deditus.' He disapproved of the higher education of women, 'propter istas quae litteris non ad sapientiam utuntur, sed ad luxuriam instruuntur.'

(2) WORKS.

The only extant works of Seneca are _Oratorum et Rhetorum Sententiae, Divisiones, Colores Controversiarum et Suasoriarum_.

1. The _Controversiae_ were written at the request of his three sons, but were intended for a wider circle of readers: i. praef. 10, 'Quaecumque a celeberrimis viris facunde dicta teneo, ne ad quemquam privatim pertineant, populo dedicabo.' Seneca here gives a criticism of the rhetoricians of his time, with specimens of the style of each: i. praef. 1, 'Exigitis rem magis iucundam mihi quam facilem; iubetis enim quid de his declamatoribus sentiam qui in aetatem meam inciderunt indicare, et si qua memoriae meae nondum elapsa sunt ab illis dicta colligere, ut quamvis notitiae vestrae subducti sint, tamen non credatis tantum de illis, sed et iudicetis.' The specimens are given from memory, and the arrangement is not systematic: i. praef. 4, 'Illud necesse est impetrem, ne me quasi certum aliquem ordinem velitis sequi in contrahendis quae mihi occurrent.' Seneca treats only of those rhetoricians whom his sons had not themselves heard: i. praef. 4, 'Neque de his me interrogatis quos ipsi audistis, sed de his qui ad vos usque non pervenerunt.' His hero is Cicero, since whose time oratory has steadily degenerated: i. praef. 11, 'Illud ingenium quod solum populus Romanus par imperio suo habuit'; _ibid._ 7, 'Omnia ingenia quae lucem studiis nostris attulerunt tunc nata sunt: in deterius deinde cottidie data res est.'

Of the ten Books of _Controversiae_ only five have come down to us, viz., i., ii., vii., ix., and x. The deficiency is to some extent supplied by an abridgment (_Excerpta_) made in the fourth or fifth century A.D., which adds thirty-nine themes to the thirty-five contained in the surviving part of the original work. Each Book had a separate preface. Those to v., vi., and viii. are entirely wanting; for the prefaces to ii., iii., and iv. we are indebted to the abridgment.

The _Controversiae_ were written when Seneca was an old man, and when his two elder sons were preparing for public life, probably about A.D. 20: x. praef. 1, 'Sinite me ab istis iuvenilibus studiis ad senectutem meam reverti'; ii. praef. 4 (to Mela), 'Fratribus tuis ambitiosa curae sunt foroque se et honoribus parant.'

As to the date of publication, it has been argued[71] that they appeared after the fall of Seianus and before the death of Mamercus Scaurus, _i.e._, between A.D. 31 and 34. Probably, however, the publication did not take place till after the death of Tiberius, A.D. 37; the protest against the burning of books (x. praef. 6-7) would have been as offensive to him as to Seianus.

2. There is only one book of _Suasoriae_, and the beginning of it is lost. It gives specimens of the treatment of seven themes, _e.g._, 3, 'Deliberat Agamemnon an Iphigeniam immolet negante Calchante aliter navigari fas esse.' It is certainly later than the _Controversiae_: _Contr._ ii. 4, 8, 'Quae dixerit suo loco reddam, cum ad suasorias venero.' One passage cannot have been written before A.D. 34: 2, 22, 'Scaurum Mamercum, in quo Scaurorum familia exstincta est.' It was not published in the lifetime of Tiberius, for Seneca calls the accuser of Scaurus 'homo quam improbi animi tam infelicis ingenii' (2, 22), and quotes Cremutius Cordus (6, 19) whose books had been burned in Tiberius' time.

3. Seneca wrote also on Roman history from the commencement of the civil wars to his own time, but left the work of publication to his son.

L. Seneca _de vita patris_ (Haase, vol. iii. p. 436), 'Si quaecumque composuit pater meus et edi voluit iam in manus populi emisissem, ad claritatem nominis sui satis sibi ipsi prospexerat ... Quisquis legisset eius historias ab initio bellorum civilium, unde primum veritas retro abiit, paene usque ad mortis suae diem,' etc.

Footnotes to Chapter III

[41] M. Valerius Probus of Berytus (Sueton. _Gramm._ 24) who flourished, according to Jerome, A.D. 56, prepared critical editions of Lucretius, Virgil, and Horace. A commentary on the _Eclogues_ and _Georgics_ passes under his name, but most of it is spurious.

[42] A grammarian of the fifth century A.D., who merely versifies Donatus.

[43] On this point Professor W. M. Ramsay writes to us: 'Virgil's farm was certainly not at Pietole (which is two miles south of Mantua, out in the flat plain): for (1) the farm was a long way from the city (cf. _Ecl._ 9, 59 _sqq._); (2) it was beside hills (_ibid._ 7 _sqq._); (3) woods were on or by it (cf. Donatus "silvis coemendis"), and the flat fertile valley was certainly not abandoned to forests. After exploring the country, I felt clear that the farm was on the west bank of the Mincio, opposite Valeggio, where the northern hills sink to the dead level of the Po valley.'

[44] His knowledge of science is reflected in his works. Cf. _Georgics_, passim, and _Ecl._ 3, ll. 40-2.

[45] The latter part of this statement is worthless: Augustus was only a child when Virgil came to Rome.

[46] Probus is manifestly wrong in saying that the distribution of land took place 'post _Mutinense_ bellum.'

[47] For details see H. Nettleship, _Ancient Lives of Vergil_, who holds that there was really only one eviction.

[48] The writings of Augustus are enumerated by Sueton. Aug. 85--(1) _Rescripta Bruto de Catone_, a reply to Brutus' pamphlet on Cato; (2) _Hortationes ad Philosophiam_; (3) _De Vita Sua_; (4) Life of Drusus (Sueton. _Claud._ 1); (5) Poems: 'Sicily' in hexameters, Epigrams and Fescennine verses; a tragedy, 'Ajax' (never finished).

[49] Servius wrote 'triennio' perhaps because he thought only of the dates of _Ecl._ 1 and 10 (H. Nettleship, _ibid._).

[50] C. Schaper's view is that _Ecls._ 4, 6, and 10 were not written till B.C. 27-25 for a second edition. He supposes _Ecl._ 6 to allude to the marriage of Marcellus and Julia in 25 (referring 6, 3 to the _Aeneid_), and _Ecl._ 10 to be a lament for Gallus, who committed suicide B.C. 27.

[51] Iulus is properly spelt Iullus (as in inscriptions), and is for Iovillos, a diminutive from the stem of Iuppiter.

[52] L. Orbilius Pupillus of Beneventum, who in his +Perialgês+ complained of the wrongs of his profession (Sueton. _Gramm._ 4 and 9).

[53] Maecenas wrote, besides smaller prose works, a history of his own times (Hor. _Od._ ii. 12, 9; Pliny, _N.H._ vii. 148).

[54] For Horace's relations to Propertius see _Ep._ ii. 2, 91-101, and under '_Propertius_,' p. 196.

[55] See G. Boissier, _Nouvelles Promenades Archéologiques: Horace et Virgile_ (Paris, 1886).

[56] Dr. A. W. Verrall's argument (_Studies in Horace_, pp. 25 _sqq._) that _Od._ i.-iii. were published B.C. 19 is not convincing.

[57] Ed. by Mommsen in _Ephemeris Epigraphica_, 1892, p. 225.

[58] For Horace's eclectic position in philosophy, cf. _Ep._ i. 1, 14-15,

'Nullius addictus iurare in verba magistri, quo me cumque rapit tempestas, deferor hospes.'

[59] As suggested to us by Prof. W. M. Ramsay. For Horace's opinion of Catullus cf. _Sat._ i. 10, 18-9,

'Simius iste, nil praeter Calvum et doctus cantare Catullum.'

[60] See Th. Mommsen, _Sitzungsberichte der königl. preuss. Akad. der Wissenschaften zu Berlin_. 24 Jan. 1889.

[61] A Peripatetic of the third century B.C., who wrote a popular account of the literary and philosophical views of his school.

[62] E. Voss, _Die Natur in der Dichtung des Horaz_ (Düsseldorf, 1889).

[63] As pointed out by A. W. Verrall, _Studies in Horace_, p. 134 _sqq._

[64] This poem is probably referred to by Hor. _Od._ iv. 4, 19-22.

[65] M. Valerius Messalla Corvinus, author of memoirs of the Civil War (Tac. _Ann._ iv. 34), love poems (Pliny, _Ep._ v. 3, 5), and works on grammar (Quint. i. 7, 35).

[66] Dessau, _Inscr. Lat. Sel._ 2925. _Serg._ stands for _Serg[ia tribu]_, and is not a cognomen _Sergio_.

[67] See Pliny, _Ep._ v. 9, 2.

[68] This question was first satisfactorily worked out by T. Dyer, _Classical Museum_ for 1847, p. 229 _sqq._

[69] See under 'Juvenal,' p. 323.

[70] Pollio accused him of Patavinitas, _i.e._ the use of provincialisms (_verba peregrina_, as opposed to _Latina_, Quint. i. 5, 55, _curiose loqui_ rather than _Latine_, Quint. viii. 1, 2).

[71] By A. Diepenbrock, _L. Annaeus Seneca_, p. 12 (Amsterdam, 1888).