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There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924026491989 ORIGINAL VIEWS, &c. &c. ORIGINAL VIEWS OP PASSAGES IN THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF HORACE: WITH WHICH IS COMBINED AN ILLUSTRATION OF THE SDITABILITY OF THE ANCIENT EPIC AND LYRIC STYLES TO MODERN SUBJECTS OF NATIONAL AND GENERAL INTEREST. . JOHN MURRAY, A.M., LL.D. " LegUimse inquisitionis vera norma est, ut nihil veniat in practicami cl^us non fit ctiam doctrina aliqua et theoria." — Bacon, De Augmentis Scientianim. SECOKD EDITION, REVISED AND CORRECTED. DUBLIN : HODGES AND SMITH, GKAFTON-STREET, BOOKSELLERS TO THE UNIVERSITY. MDCCCLII. <3} CORNi UNfVERsiTYl LiSRARV DUBLIN: ^rint&ti at tije Slniioersttp ^ress, BY M. H. r.ILIi. . c- PREFACE. The approbation with which the'foriner Edition of this Work, under a slightly different title, was re- ceived by the public Press generally, so far as a very limited issue would permit the application of such a test, has induced me to publish the present Edition in a form more convenient for general cir- culation. I have further availed myself of the oppor- tunity thus afforded for maturely weighing friendly hints, unfriendly strictures (particularly the latter), and second thoughts ; in order to amend defects va- riously incidental to a first publication. Any faults that may now remain can claim little allowance on the plea of oversight. With one further remark only will I delay the reader. As it has been objected by some, that the style of the book savours more of advocacy than of commentary, I beg to say, that whatever in the fol- lowing' original views'* is not specified, or qualified * It is related, I think, by Baron Holberg, in his Outlines of Universal History, that the Spanish author Sepulveda once pub- lished an antiquarian Work, apparently for the sake of introduc- ing a single original notion worthy of record, namely, that of deriving the term ^ra from the initial letters of the words com- posing the sentence ' Annus Erat Regnantis AugustV And al- IV PEEFACE. in some degree, as being speculative, is my delibe- rate opinion in each case, formed with as much care and judgment as I am capable of applying to the several subjects discussed. JOHN MURRAY. Chambers, 2, Trinity College, Dublin, February 25, 1852. though the derivation is about as well founded as would be that of the English term News from the initials of the names of the four cardinal points, yet it appears that Sepulveda, on the whole, derived sufficient protection from results ascertained by others, to cover the paucity and poverty of his own ' originalities.' Now, although I feel a moderate hope that Sepulveda's favou- rite ' idea' may not prove a fit representative of all those which I am about to submit to the reader's criticism, yet I would, wereit practicable, most gladly avail myself of the advantage which every modern editor of the Works of any notable ancient author may derive by blending his own remarks with those that are already stamped by the impress of established names. The conclusions, however, at which I have arrived, are so frequently adverse to generally received notions, that it must be solely to the argu- ments on which they rest that they can owe any favour which they may eventually receive from readers ; while the principal of these arguments could not possibly be embodied in a compendium of general annotations. — Revised eoctract from Preface to First Edition. CONTENTS. SECTION I. Page. Introdcctoey Observations, 1 SECTION II. BiOGEAPHicAL Memoir OF THE Bard OP Venusia, . . . 17 SECTION III. Detached Passages op the Satires, Lyrics, and Epis- tles OF Horace examined : with preliminaey and GENERAL REMARKS ON THE CONTEXT, 88 SECTION IV. Trifling Propositions attributed to Eoman Satirists examined, 217 SECTION V. Illustration of the suitability of the ancient Epic AND Lyric styles to modern subjects of national AND general interest, 227 ORIGINAL VIEWS, &c. &c. SECTION I. INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. The products of ancient classical genius, considered relatively to their matter, and independently of titles, authors, and times,maybe conceived to belong to three, and these for the most part very intermixed, classes. Under one class may be included those whose modes of thought and forms of expression are based on asso- ciations which have not only ceased to exist among men, but which it is now impossible for the imagi- nation adequately to recall. Another may recognise the offspring of combinations which, although obli- terated by time, are yet fairly restorable in thought. A third, and the most important, will embrace such as respect those developments of mental and physi- cal agencies whose uniform processes constitute the course of nature itself. That casual associations should be famihar at one time or place which in a different locality or age may appear impracticable or inconceivable would, of course, be a necessary result even of the influence ex- A 2 INTEODUCTOEY OBSEEVATIONS. ercised by local varieties of external nature upon the suggestions of human invention and fancy. But the constitution of human society and the natural laws ' of improvement require that the main amount of the thoughts and practices of men should originate in constant sources, should be familiar to the intelligence of communities in general, and should be transmis- sible through successive ages. Hence those recesses in the extant stores of ancient literature, which time or change has locked against us, occupy but a trifling portion of the vast included space: and from almost every department of these inexhaustible resources the visitant ' bringeth forth things' (that are at once both) ' new and old.' 'Tis true the Mschjlean and Pindaric strains awake but faint echoes in the modem mind; the choral chant of Sophocles, and even the less aspiring lay of Euri- pides, is no longer comprehensible in its primary in- tent and effect ; the flash of Aristophanic wit is widely dissipated or wholly intercepted by the hazy atmo- sphere which it now traverses ; the written or recited period no more resembles the speaking inspiration of Demosthenes, than the music-scroll represents the performance of the piece; while the lessons of Aris- totle ever and anon elude our apprehension,'because of an apparently irremediable deficiency in our ac- quaintance with the exact import of sundry ancient technicalities. Still these disappointments are happily the exceptions, not the rule, belonging to our case. And from the soul-stirring heroics of Homer (the great INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. 3 body of whose conceptions respecting gods, heroes, armies, battles, travel, and the spiritual world, we ai-e perhaps as competent to picture before the mind's eye as was the original auditory of the minstrel sage) to the quaint sententiousness of Tacitus, it is gene- rally the privilege of the modern scholar to commune with the worthies of olden time, with a freedom which his own will almost alone restricts, — to test the phi- losopher's theory, to scan the historian's facts, to ap- plaud the statesman's eloquence, to ponder the mo- ralist's precept, and to attune the poet's song. Among the authors whose feelings and sentiments have found a constant and cordial response in the approval of each succeeding age, the Poet-philoso- pher of Venusia holds a confessedly pre-eminent rank. Exuberant in graceful poetic imagery and terse phi- losophic sentiment, which are adapted with a rare knowledge of human nature to illustrate every pos- sible grade, condition, and circumstance of ordinary life, his Works may in this respect fairly assert rivalry with those of our own immortal bard of Avon: and a Latin linguist unfamiliar with Horace stands in the same predicament as would an English literate un- versed in Shakespeare. The universal applicability, however, which renders quotation from an ancient author familiar as house- hold words, is not unattended by countervailing dis- advantages. Mistaken notions, whether of direct or collateral import, when once received, often become inveterate by mere transmissive adoption : an inter- a2 4 INTEODtrCTOEY OBSEEVATIONS. pretation or statement which was originally a casual blunder or idle fiction maybe eventually confirmed by usage as an accredited 'acceptation' : and thus by sole force of repetition the circulation of error is assimi- lated to the currency of truth. The sanction which general consent sometimes bestows, merely because it is general consent, upon the most palpable distor- tions of a writer's meaning, may be instanced by a simple case, where in a very well-known quasi- proverb not only are the plain words of the author completely misstated, but sense (a usual attribute of popular sayings) is thereby neutralized. Who has not heard the following couplet quoted? — Convince a man against his will, He's of the same opinion still. But the author of Hudibras was a writer too saga- cious to indite such a contradiction in terms : and accordingly in the original the passage reads : — ' He that complies against his will Is of his own opinion still. A peculiar liability to mistake in our estimate of ancient popular authors may arise from the circum- stance that, when we discover a considerable coinci- ' dence between their modes of thought and those which we ourselves ordinarily observe, we are dis- posed to think morally of them as we do of one ano- ther; and to forget the vast disparity of the external circumstances under which they wrote from those in INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. 5 which we read. Accordingly not only is too little of real admiration likely to accrue to sterling virtues exercised under disadvantages which we can but faintly imagine — not only is too little of extenuation admitted for apparent deficiencies or overt faults of character, but the influences which the before-men- tioned disparity may bring to bear upon the interpre- tation itself are apt to be forgotten. Again, when an author, such as Horace, accom- modates himself to conventional trifles (which, after all, constitute the principal sum of human life in ge- neral), we are inclined to attribute to his Works less of scientific design — less of systematic deduction- — less of harmony in the parts — than may be consis- tent with the depth of root whence the whole pro- duction is confessed to spring. And thus, to a cer- tain extent, with authors, as with acquaintances, 'too much familiarity breeds contempt.' As far as such circumstances may have conduced to the origin and perpetuation of any misconception of passages in the life and writings of the bard of Ve- nusia, so far their suggestion here is relevant, as an apology for the purport of the present work. But as new comment in this province of classical literature is not generally felt to be a desideratum — as every school-boy is supposed to ' know his Horace,' and every 'lecturer' to have 'only not' contributed to edify the conversaziones of Maecenas, because of an accidental distance of time and place — the author is much more likely to be regarded beforehand as an 6 INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. • innovator tlian as a restorer: no share of that ante- cedent favour which encourages an attempt made to supply an admitted deficiency can be his: the justifi- cation of his undertaking must rest upon its perform- ance; and even here an unusual difficulty is encoun- tered at every step, in the probability that the reader may feel each new proposition as an impeachment of his own individual (previous) judgment. The most general form in which the whole result contemplated could be stated is expressible in one word — simplification: the substitution of what the author conceives to be the plain, the natural, and the sound, for the conflicting, the constrained, and the untenable. But it by no means follows that the pro- cess necessary for the attainment of this end should itself be invariably simple ; or that it ought in any instance to be such as would be devised without in- dustry, and estimated without care. But easy and difficult are often only other names for known and un- known; and the question of the present moment be- comes the axiom of the next. It is certainly not insinuated here that any argument employed in the following pages is likely to prove difficult to any one — the author's hope and endeavour lie in the opposite direction : and in several cases a few passing remarks are considered adequate to compass the required pur- pose. It is merely urged that what is relied upon as the main utility of the book, and as constituting its chief claim to attention, namely — simplification of result — should not in any particular instance be INTRODUCTOEY OBSERVATIONS. 7 prejudiced because the author has not been clever enough to invent a demonstration as brief as his pro- position, or because he that reads may not always run. Upon the line of proof generally adopted it should be observed by the junior reader that to argue from deference to a particular authority on one question, and against the validity of the same authority on another, however nearly similar, infers no inconsis- tency. In some practical affairs, such as the rules which govern the proceedings of courts of justice, it is convenient to restrict controversial tendencies by forbidding to go behind certain precedents : but in matters of opinion, authority is supposed to be quo- ted, neither to favour despatch, nor yet to serve the purposes of advocacy, but because the party citing such believes it,in the given instance, to be right; and it is just as competent for him to shew cause, the next moment, against the reception of the same au- thority, as it is to originate any inquiry, improvement, or discovery whatsoever. In the case, however, of verbal investigations proper to a dead language, a more than ordinary weight must certainly be due to long-established authority, as the utmost discover- able result here can never ascend higher than the ascertainment of past facts, and these are not to be arrived at by any mere process of reasoning. Still, considerable scope for inference exists in the compa- rison of testimonies, the adjustment of contradictions, and the assignment of their proper rank to authorities. But as new views of ancient compositions remarkable 8 INTRODUCTOEY OBSEEVATIONS. in themselves not less for versatility of style than di- versity of matter, must arise, in a peculiar degree, independently of any consecutive train of suggestion, such a uniformity of argument as would connect the parts cannot be expected in a Work introduced to the reader's notice under the present title. Indeed no species of comment can well be conceived more likely, from the nature of the case, to prove fragmen- tary in detail, and unsymmetrical as a whole. Con- tinuous deduction being thus generally out of the question, arrangement becomes not only arbitrary, but in a great degree immaterial. Two limitations only are necessary: — that the author be made as far as pos- sible his own commentator, by the placing of such pas- sages in juxtaposition as reflect mutual illustration; and that any familar order be not disturbed for the mere novelty of deviation. Illustrative coincidence, however, of original views, can be rarely expected ; and it involves at best somewhat of reciprocal as- sumption : accordingly the passages commented upon are taken, for the most part, indiscriminately as they occur in the order of their publication. It is scarcely necessary to remark that the term ' publication' bears a peculiar meaning in this case. Horace ' published' his writings chiefly in order that by this help, as through an instrument elegantly adapted to the mind's eye, a select intellectual few I might contrast symmetrical pictures of external na- ! ture, and of virtue, with correlative deformities of I artificial society, — and smile: while the moral essays INTEODUCTOEY OBSEEVATIONS. 9 of Lucilius and Juvenal were designed as a glaring mirror in which a corrupt public might behold its own turpitude, — and blush. It is true, the bard of Venusia soon perceived, with a proud foresight, that the sphere of his own chosen intimates could not cir- cumscribe the diffusion of his fame — that the propa- gation of the tones of his Muse would ultimately be co-ordinate with the echo of the Roman lyre itself: but while he did not affect to shun such popularity as must follow in the course of natural consequence, this was in no degree an object of his calculation, either as an impelling or a restraining motive. The public meed of praise was a result of the merits; and is not to be regarded in defining our poet-philoso- pher's views and purposes. In short, publication was, in this case, properly irrespective of publicity. In the almost unqualified praise accorded in these pages to the mental dispositions and literary perform- ances of Horace, whether regarded in a poetical or in a philosophical light, some portions of his Works are assumed to be as virtually non-existent in fact, as they should ever be unrecognised in publication. The evil consequences of objectionable expressions, spoken or written, are often beyond the reach of repentance and reformation: but it is a concession, which the weakness of human nature not less urgently needs, than the good feeling of society is prompt to extend, that where a departure from propriety is plainly ascribable to influences, whether from within or from without, which the party yielding to them 10 INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. had not adequate means, from whatever cause, of viewing in their true aspect, and where an assurance of any kind exists, that, had his opportunities of re- flecting and judging been larger, his conduct would have been different, the record of transgression is EXPUNGED, and the offender stands exactly as though he had not transgressed. Is this meed of equitable charity to be freely bestowed upon those who yet live to encounter, and perhaps again to fail under, probation ; and is it to be denied to the memory of those whose frailty is now beyond the reach of trial — the exact measure of whose faults is fixed ? Surely — ^putting aside the question, how far the practical influences of Christianity would have been likely to affect the conduct of one whose unaided light even divines themselves are proud to reflect — there lives not that scholar who believes that, at the lowest estimate, the judicious sagacity, the re- fined taste, the philosophic predilections of Horace, would tolerate even the momentary continuance amongst his writings of the least word which could offend the sensibilities of such society as would now do him homage, could he personally visit the scenes of modern enlightenment. But, in whatever degree a coarse expression, or one offensive to morality, is found to be advisedly and unreservedly published by the poet laureate of a court, in the same degree is an afortiore proof afforded of the universal preva- lence of a vicious standard by which the law of pub- lic opinion would be adjusted at the time. The sub- INTRODUCTOEY OBSERVATIONS. 11 mission yielded to this law is as implicit, as both its provisions and permissions in any society must be even inconceivable to the members of many others. Hence our surprise may in a great measure be trans- ferred from the original discovery of such passages in our author to the bad taste and even the injustice of retaining them on record. They were penned ere yet the Christian era dawned on man — they are re- called by all else that their author ever penned. Where he sinned, no chastening voice was heard — where he repents, the Graces themselves intercede. Explanation of passages, and not their translation, being the main object of this publication, the junior reader will be disappointed if he expect much assist- ance from it in the latter department. Indeed, where- ever an English version is given, it is intended merely as an easy conveyance of the meaning^ in the common language by which the author and most of his pro- bable readers speak and think. But as the facility by which a composition in one language is transmuted tastefully into the phrase of another, so as to preserve exactly the original sense, is a criterion not only of skill in both languages, but also of adequate compre- hension of the sense of the original, and as the trial of this performance is as convenient a test in the hands of the classical examiner as the accomplish- ment of it is one of the highest qualifications which the studerft can attain, it may be considered some sort of compensation for the barrenness of the Work in this respect, that the author should make such re- 12 INTKODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. marks upon the acquirement in general as he thinks likely to be useful. Besides it is a portion of his ge- neral plan to interweave throughout as much of com- bination of principles, and of reduction to class, as he considers to be compatible with his immediate sub- ject, or even to be justified by any fair excuse arising out of it. Respecting, then, the version of the Greek and Latin languages into English, it should be borne in mind that the order of the suggestion of ideas in the former two is chiefly that which would follow from: the observation of things themselves, whereas in the latter it is habitually subject to the order of ver- bal dependency. The Greeks and Romans (in differ- ent degrees certainly) thought objectively — we think grammatically. What the causes of this may be we cannot now stop to canvass: but the effect with which we have to deal is, that two antagonist principles must be reconciled almost at every important step. However, that repugnant elements may be harmoni- ously blended is sufficiently exemplified in akindred department. For instance, the essence of words is separate significance ; while the tones that compose music are, apart from combination, almost wholly inexpressive. Now, if words be combined in prose their separateness is easily preserved, and if music be produced by the notes of an instrument, or by the humming of the voice, there is nothing to fetter the continuity. But if language be set to music, then an- tagonism between two principles is at once felt, and INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. 13 that singer is applauded who, while he renders duly the melody of the song, likewise conveys its words: and of the same nature is rhythm in reading or reciting written poetry.* In like manner the translator must adapt opposing materials, giving to no element an undue preponderance in the result, but producing a refined, or at least a smooth, combination. The forms of phrase in which any given sentiment is expressible are indefinite : of these he should con- fine himself, as closely as possible, to that which the text prefers. That is, his version should be literal: otherwise he substitutes himself where he should supply his author, and this generally to the disad- vantage of both. The modes of association familiar to the original language should take precedence : and to them, as far as the genius of the modern language will permit, the new phrase should be accommodated. In other words, the order of the Greek and Latin words should be preserved in its integrity when prac- ticable. But idioms may be rendered by parallel idioms. The use of synonymes also should super- sede the terms immediately derived from the original. A syllabically adapted translation generally betrays a scant vocabulary. Nor can the habit of ' taking the words' (as is the * This appears to be the true principle of the metrical ccesura, ■whose effects have been more accurately observed than their cause has been clearly stated. The ccesura, by slurring in some degree the necessary break between terms, effects a compromise between the two opposite elements of the verse as above specified — the musical and the sentimental. 14 INTRODUCTOBY OBSERVATIONS. poor but appropriate phrase) in viva voce translation be too strongly discouraged. It mars the author, dulls the translator, and wastes time. It is, no doubt, a sound exercise for the student whose praxis is imperfect: and an advanced scholar who really cannot, or who obstinately will not, discard the custom, may possess attainments and qualifications beside which the best powers of translation sink into insignificance. But as well might a stiff row of separate letters in a school- boy's copy-book be called a line of running-hand, as a monotonous enumeration of the several words in a sentence of Cicero, with the ' English' appended re- spectively to each, be dignified by the misnomer of a ' translation.' With regard to the employment by students, of published translations, as a means of preparation in their studies, it would appear that ly the translation do not mislead, and if the student do not misuse, a considerable saving of time may be effected by his availing himself of such aid. The translation in this case should always be assumed to convey the mean- ing merely, not to specify the construction. The per- fectly just version should indeed combine both with elegance. But such are rare: and it may be better that the help should not be too complete: the mor- ceaux which satisfy the epicure would stint the ope- rative. If the student, without due examination, substitutes the words of the translation for his own, he abuses it. If he employs it as an index to the meaning which he is to bring out by preserving gram- INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. 15 matical and other proprieties, he uses it aright. And thus a translation somewhat resembles a guide to a dissected map. Without it, in many instances, the adapter of parts may expend more time than the ex- ercise requites; and after all may light upon the cor- rect disposition by accident, or by guess. But its presence is not designed to spare him the trouble of minutely adjusting his materials. However, the need of help in this, as in any other case, implies propor- tionate inability. Thus much the author has deemed it advisable to state on this important topic, lest his views he mis- conceived from the circumstance that he translates or paraphrases indiscriminately as may best forward explanation of his views in the following examination of texts : and also in the hope that the student may be thus better assisted to express his own ' original views' by translation in general, than he would be by being furnished with a formal version of the pas- sages here brought under consideration. Finally, upon the whole Work the author may ob- serve that he could sincerely desire the performance of it to have been originally unnecessary. He could wish, for the subject's sake, that Orellius — as yet the 'ultimus ille bonorurn! — had really completed the task of annotation which Terentius Scaurus began ; that the elegant biography of Milman — whose Work on the whole is an honour to the age that has pro- duced it — had finally crowned the structure whose first stone was laid bv Suetonius. Britain and Ger- 16 INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. many— the lands of Bentley and Niebuhr— would thus have appropriately applied 'the last hand' to a notable work. But that work still remains, in both its departments, unfinished. The interpretation of Horace is not yet emancipated from the glosses which imperfect or unsound commentary has introduced in the lapse of ages — the Life of Horace still exhibits the exaggerations of fiction unrelieved by the poetry of romance. The present performance is indeed very limited in its application, and is far from assuming to be com- plete in its execution. But as, on the one hand, the author will rejoice if even the arraignment of his faults may serve the cause of classical truth, so, on ■the other, he trusts to classical candour in believing that, wherever a denial of his statements or inferences maybe advanced, the disproof relied upon will be likewise furnished. With reference to the closing Section, upon which must rest his own pretensions to compose in that language whose use and structure he assumes to cri- ticise, it becomes him to be silent. Its annexation to the main Work must evidently appear to be very much due to circumstances of personal retrospect. He trusts, however, that it may in some degree con- tribute to relieve the prosaic details of the rest of the volume. 17 SECTION II. BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF THE BARD OF VBNUSIA. It is a development of our natural susceptibility of social impressions, that we not only desire to be in- formed of the character of those whose endowments in any department of life have won the admiration of mankind, but that we even cling with a fond at- tachment to records of their circumstances, casual habits, and personal appearance. Hence biographical sketches, and pictorial resem- blances, prefixed to the works of eminent authors, convey to the mind of the admirer of their esta- blished fame a dreamy realization of introductory acquaintance. The cold memorial of the real past becomes the vivid impersonation of the ideal pre- sent: and the reader almost shares in the romantic vision of the Scottish chieftain : " Again his soul he interchanged With friends whom death had long estranged ; As warm each hand, each brow as gay, As if they parted yesterday." We may, on this principle, fairly accord to the following lines a precedence in our examination of certain passages in the works of the poet-philosopher of Venusia. 18 BIOGRAPHICAL MBMOIE. Nunc ad me redeo libeetino patee natum ; quem eodunt omnes libertino patee natum, NdNC quia, Ma;CENAS, TIBI SIM CONVICTOE, AT OLIM QnOD MlHI PAEEEET LEGIO ROMANA TEIBUNO. Ser. I. vi. 45-48. No commentator or translator has heretofore ques- tioned the literal acceptation of this prominent pas- sage. That is, the author is universally under- stood here to make literal statements respecting certain relations of his (then) present and past positions in life, which are themselves as gene- rally supposed to have been literally as stated by his expositors. And hence all the biographical notices which have endeavoured to trace the poet's chequered course, from the meagre outline attri- buted to Suetonius (probably composed in the be- ginning of the second century of our Era), to the diversified and elaborate disquisition of Milman, in 1849, allege as fact that which there is no evi- dence whatsoever to attribute to any other source than the usual construction of this passage. We are of course not strictly entitled to conclude that those who suppress mention of their authorities necessarily rest on the only voucher which those who quote any do, in fact, adduce. But the nature of the case will be found to supply abundant proofs to the same virtual purport. We shall now proceed to analyze this cardinal sen- tence. For as, in the words of Milman, — "without DIVISION OP SUBJECT. 19 the biography of the poet the poetry of Horace^cannot be truly appreciated, it can hardly be understood," — so, conversely, without a sure interpretation of the writings of an author, the substantive facts of whose life are to be gleaned solely from his works, his bio- grapher may mistake fiction for fact, — or, possibly, even the absurd for the actual. The statements which the commentators^ unani- mously attribute to Horace in the preceding passage, some by direct comment, some by silent acquies- cence in the views of others, seem to be fairly com- prehended in the three following propositions : — 1st, — That he stood in the relation of convictor to his patron, Maecenas, at the period when he wrote the passage.. 2nd, — That he had previously filled the office of Tribunus Militum. 3rd, — That he had, as such, commanded a Roman Legion. And as the for- tunes of our poet do not appear to have sufiered any declension previously to his sharing in the disaster of Marcus Junius Brutus, the last proposition virtually includes another, viz., — That he led the said legion at the great battle of Philippi. Our present inquiry is intended to investigate (with due deference to the proper claims of the argument ad verecundiam)^ how far all this is certain or probable ; or whether Horace may have merely intended to instance indirectly (a form of style not unusual with him) the language of exaggerated ridicule, to which both his patron and himself were exposed from jealous or malevolent sneers; as he does elsewhere directly, as, for es.- &m^\e,—'-'-FortuncBfilius,omnes" See. II. vi, 49. ^'■Deos B 2 20 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR. quoniam propius contingis" Id. 52. — Jovis auribus isia servas, Ep. I. xix. 43. We shall, therefore, first examine the general phraseology of the passage by •authorized rules of syntax ; and shall, secondly, dis- cuss the statements involved, as independent propo- sitions. The text is undisputed, save that editions give indifferently sum and sim ; and a few have paruerit instead of pareret; sim is admitted by all to be sus- tained by the greater number of MSS. ; and among the many commentators who support it are Bentley and Heindorf. This reading will further, it is hoped, derive weighty confirmation from the second part of this argumen|, which will be found sufficiently inde- pendent to supply corroboration even of what is not denied to be essential to the first ; and most probably had Heindorf and the other advocates of sim regarded what appears to be the real import of the context as to the term conui'cior, they would have taken higher ground than the mere assimilation of mood to j>arere?, ov paruerit, supplies. And to this ground, be it par- cularly observed, all objections are directed; for the counter-arguments of Orellius, Eeisig, and Wiiste- mann amount at most to this, that the subjunctive after quia is not so necessary as after qu^d. But this as- sumes the meaning — for it may not be denied that both words, as occasion requires, qualify alike indica- tive and subjunctive clauses — and therefore would be a petitio principii, did their opponents occupy our pre- sent ground. The reading paruerit ( as also Bentley's al- teration of the order of words in line 3 — sim tibi, Moece- PROFESSOR ZUMPT'S CANON. 21 nas), is quite immaterial to this argument ; and is merely noticed here, in order that nothing be held back. We are now in a position to scrutinize the con- struction : and upon this head, a law which appears applicable to the given case is laid down so fully in de- tail by Professor Jjumpt, in section 549 of his Philo- sophical Grammar, that the quotation of the whole is desirable to the purposes of our argument. (The quotation is from the translation published by the learned Schraitz.) " When a proposition containing the statement of a fact, and therefore expressed by the indicative, has another dependent upon it or added to it (by a conjunction or a relative pronoun) the dependent clause is expressed by the subjunctive, provided the substance of it is alleged as the sentiment or the words of the person spoken of, and not of the speaker himself. Thus the proposition : Noster am- hulabat in publico Themistocles, quod somnum capere non posset (Cic, Tusc. iv. 19), suggests, that The- mistocles himself gave this reason for his walking at night. But I, the writer of the proposition, may ex- press the reason as my own remark, and in this case the indicative poterat is required, as well as ambulabat. Bene majores nostri accubitionem epularem amicorum, quia vitce conjunctionem haberet, convivium nomina- runt, Cic, Cat. Maj. 13. Socrates accusatus est, quod corrumperet juventutem et novas superstitiones induceret. Quintil., iv. 4. Ai-istides nonne ab earn causam ex- pulsus est patria, quod proeter modum Justus esset ? Cic, Tusc. V. 36. The clause beginning with quod 22 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR. in the second of these examples, contains the reasons alleged by the accusers of Socrates ; and the subjunc- tive in the last example indicates that the reason there stated was alleged by the Athenians them- selves, according to the well-known story, and it re- mains uncertain whether Aristides was really so just; but this uncertainty would not exist if the indicative had been used." It is evident from this extract that quia and quod are alike employed in linking the dependent to the absolute clause. Indeed quia is properly the old neuter plural, which afterwards migrated into the usual form quce; and, that quod was, originally, a pure relative, and derived its subjunctive separate- ness from ellipsis of its antecedent, we must be convinced with Sanctius, without, at the same time, coinciding in such extreme propositions as the fol- lowing — " Quod particula prima linguam Latinam post Ciceronis aureum sseculum ausa est deturpare. Hsec Aristotelis et Platonis dialecticam, et utramque philosophiam, pessime dilaceravit." Min., iii. 14. Thus, the relation subsisting between quia and quod corresponds with that which marks the Greek are and oT«. Further upon quod we find in Wiistemann the following remarkable comment under the pas- sage in question — " Quod bezieht sich nur auf die vorstellung des Neidischen." And upon quia, Mar- tini, in the Lexicon Philologicum, observes — " Quia, on, aliquando servit mimesi." Now from Quintilian we collect the following definition oimimesis — " Imi- tatio morum alienorum — et in factis et in dictis ver- SYNTACTICAL INFERENCE. 23 sata." But although there were no testimony to this precise effect, the argument, so far as it yet goes, needs no cumulative evidence. All that is here maintained is, that the phrase or diction, in which certain statements are couched, supplies adequate proof to show that they are intended by the writer to appear as the sayings of his enemies. How far these sayings are just and true, will depend on the nature of the case, i. e., on the matter of the propo- sitions weighed relatively to known or probable rela- tions of life. And this latter question alone remains ; for doubtless no real force would attach to the con- ceivable objection, that in the first of the examples quoted by Zumpt, the subjunctive statement was probably true; in the second, certainly so; and in each of the other two, believed, or, at all events, alleged, to be so, by the parties to whom the writer attributes them, and who are thus entitled to be heard as wit- nesses testifying the fact to be so and so ; and that, although such testimony was afterwards disproved, in the cases of Socrates and Aristides, yet the mul- titude of witnesses in the present case (omnes) is in itself a credible voucher of matters not heretofore disputed. Any such objection is merely apparent; for it is known that parties who invent stories for purposes of malice or ridicule often really come at last to believe their own tales, while the bulk of hearers (the popular omnes) will readily adopt, and propagate as fact, a censorious or ludicrous saying, such as, suppose,—" Lo ! the son of a quondam slave chums with Maecenas ! The profuse and pompous 24 BIOGBAPHICAL MEMOIEi magnate must needs he king of his company, when he cannot revel in /easting without stick appendages to his board/" Or, again — "Lo! a veritable specimen of Brutus' s lieutenant-generals ! Foremost in the ranks at Philippi; the last man to fly, of course ! Little wonder, in good sooth, that the great regicides* Evil Genius should have looked in upon him occasionally, if such were his general military arrangements !" We may conclude our review of the syntactical con- struction by reference to a remarkable passage in the same Sermo, where quod introduces a proposi- tion, in the subjunctive form, which is known to convey a negative implication: * * * Non solicitus mihi quod eras Surgendum sit mane, obeundus Marsya, — Seem. i. 6, 119-20. and shall next proceed to the discussion of the three component propositions, seriatim. First, Is it certain or probable that Horace really intends the term convictor to represent his social rela- tion to Maecenas ? The following quotations comprise all the instances adduced by lexicographers to illustrate the use of the term convictor in the extant memorials of Latin lite- rature. In our own aiithor it occurs once before, — Me Capitolinus convictore usus amicoque apuero est. I. Ser. iv. 96-97. In the volume of Cicero's works commonly called Epistolce ad Familiares, we find the following passage :— " Utor familiaribus et quotidianis * See Plutarch's -well-known story. ETYMOLOGICAL INDUCTION. 25 convictoribus quos secum Mitylenis Cratippus adduxit, hominibus et doctis et illi probatissimis." — Lib. xvi. ( Tironi) Ep. 21. (In the edition of Scheller, as also in that of ForcelUnus, in the Ubrary of Trinity Col- lege, Dublin, the reference is erroneously to the se- cond Epistle.) Again, where the bard of Sulmo expostulates with a false friend, who had deserted him in his season of exile, he reminds him of their once domestic familiarity in these terms: — Ille ego convictor densoque domesticus usu. Ep. ex Pont. iv. 3, 15. Suetonius, in his unreserved and therefore often repulsive history of the Emperor Tiberius, having devoted a chapter to sketching the tyrant's conduct towards his " veteres amicos ac familiares," as also to those whom he had chosen, " velut con- siliarios in negotiis publicis," opens the next chap- ter thus distinctively: — '' Nihilo lenior in convic- tores Groeculos, quibus vel maxime acquiescebat." Lib. iii. 56. And lastly, in the Epistles of Seneca (as the author himself styles those compositions, which Moretus regards rather as common-places), where he dwells upon the pernicious effects of bad example, we read thus : — " Unum exemplum aut luxurias aut avaritise multum raali facit: Convictor delicatus pauUatim enervatet emollit: malignus comes quamvis candido et simplici rubiginem suam affricuit" — Epist. ad Lucil. 7 ; a passage which, we may observe inci- dentally, as has been well remarked by Lipsius, illus- trates the "^rugo mera" of Horace in Serm. i. 4 ; but he is not so correct in further stating that the o ■j/ff^oX-jy/xei/or of Epictetus represents such a character 26 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR. as described by Horace and Seneca ; for the Greek term means begrimed by aspersion of soil, and no- thing more ; whereas both the Latin words (particu- larly that of Horace) imply additionally the notion of deleterious corrosiveness. From the aggregate of the above instances it is plain that convictor is never a term of dignity, but is employed either in associations of contempt or as inti- mating a chum-like familiarity. The only passage which seems unfavourable to this view is that from the Ciceronian Epistles ; for the popular estimate of the character of PetilUus neutralizes thejuxta-position of the honourable term " amico" in the quotation re- ferring to him. But it is particularly to be noted that the twenty-first Epistle above specified (as also the twenty-fifth of the same Book), is not the composition of the great Cicero, though found only in his "Works," but of his son (and these, moreover, the only extant productions of his pen), who was at best (even with- out our giving full assent to the severe strictures pro- nounced upon his conduct by Seneca and Pliny) a vo- latile and unsteady person, not to be relied upon in any way, save as being a brave and smart military officer. And as these letters are penitential for past extrava- gance and dissipation, and are addressed to his father's intimate friend, TuUius Tiro, it is highly probable that, with the ardour of a new convert, or the simu- lation of a plausible roue, he may have greatly co- loured and exaggerated the terms of his intimacy with these men of learning and character; if, indeed, the term convietoribus be not itself actually borrowed SOCIETY 01" MiECENAS. 27 from the associations of his long-continued habits of company-keeping. For the most favourable estimate of his character see Niebuhr and Middleton. No doubt, where the principal term expresses a relation which must itself be referred principally to the same variable standard by which the particular applicability in question is to be adjusted, viz., the changeful modes of tos^e, considerable allowance must be made for the difference of conclusion to which indi- viduals will feel themselves conducted by their re- spective estimates of proprieties ; and it is not pre- tended here that the old-established impressions can be so far unsettled as fully to establish new views. However, as in this instance the choice seems limited to two, every element of likelihood is of a double value; and therefore the following considerations are strongly recommended to the reader's attention, and are submitted without any comment, the utmost aim of which could be merely to persuade. Supposing the meaning of convictor to be as above stated, shall we believe that the poor, lowly-born, poet-philosopher, just emerging, not merely from the destitution consequent on the confiscation of his little patrimony, but also from the degradation attendant on the utter prostration of the republi- can cause (for which he had recently and openly, though constrainedly, borne arms), seriously meant to express in public, by the choice of such a term, the private character of his intercourse with the first subject of the empire ? Supposing the moral and mental eclat of that celebrated statesman to 28 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIB. have reached no higher appreciable value than that assigned by Wieland or Niebuhr, shall we feel no surprise that freedom so great should characte- rise the earlier stage of our author's intimacy ? That this should be thus broadly stated in the first public announcement of that intimacy made by Horace; and in an essay which he opens by merely complimenting his patron on being too high-minded to " scorn" humble folk as such ? Or that so great confidence of tone should be assumed by a young man, as mo- dest and retiring as he was shrewd and sagacious, at the very outset of an uphill course of authorship, particularly if we suppose, with Walchnaer and other eminent moderns, that Horace had, before ac- quaintance began, satirised Msecenas himself, along with others of the Csesarean or Imperialist party ? It is not at all necessary to go, with Bentley, the length of maintaining that Horace wrote, as he cer- tainly published, the contents of his various books of Odes, Satires, and Epistles, separately and consecu- tively, in a certain order. Still less can we assent to Dr. Tate's dogma, that Horace, in Ser. i. 4, " says, as plainly as a man can say it, that he had not then written anything which could entitle him to the name of a poet;" the confutation of which opinion is quoted by Milman, from the Classical Museum, No. v. p. 215, to the effect that Horace elsewhere uses si- milar language, as in Ep. ii. 1, 111, when his reputa- tion must have been well established. Besides, some specimens of his genius must have existed when Virgil and Varius undertook to show Mtecenas '■quid INFERENCE FROM CARDINAL DATES. 29 esset^ or what manner of man he was. But this is very certain: — First, that the first book of Satires was his first published book. Secondly, that, whatever may have been the amount of the detached pieces by which alone it is conceivable that he could then have attracted notice in any degree, and which are probably now scattered throughout his works (for we hear nothing of any works of Horace being lost), still his reputation must have been comparatively insignificant as an author, previously to \h.e publica- tion of the very works which have immortalized his name to succeeding ages. Thirdly, that as the battle of Philippi was fought b. c. 42, a minimum space for the known intermediate circumstances is allowed by fixing his introduction to Maecenas at B. c. 39, and the publication in question at or about b. c. 34 or 35, and when Horace was about thirty years ofage. Fourthly, that as Horace's last publication, viz., his second book of Epistles, appeared at or about b. c. 12, and the death of Msecenas happened about B. c. 7, it follows that this supposed declaration of his familiarity with the Emperor's state-adviser must have been published within the first four years of an intimacy extending over thirty years ; and in the very first of a series of publications extending over twenty-three years, and which seem necessary, according to their development, to establish the author's character. Or, finally, on the extreme supposition that the term convictor is unobjectionable, are the known social qualifications of Horace sufiicient to 30 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR. justify the fact, or is the sanguineness of a young writer adequate to account for the statement, that one of the humblest andmostunfavourably circumstanced men in Rome had reached his maximum intimacy with the first literary patron of the day at a period when both the length of his acquaintance with that personage, and his own public authorship, were at or near a comparative minimum f All things considered, is the term convictor more suited to the vocabulary of the coarse and envious re- viler, or to that of him whomMilman supposes to have been the most sensible and the best informed man in the society in which he moved ? Whether more likely to be adopted as the sneer of some disappointed syco- phant, or as the suggestion of a spirit whose nobility of independence is truthfully reflected in the roman- tic pride of honest, muse-taught, Robert Burns ? Is such the adopted designation of him respecting whom the above-mentioned biographer thus justly writes: " Horace, indeed, asserted and maintained greater independence of personal character than most sub- jects of the new empire ; there is a tone of dignity and self respect, even in the most adulatory passages of his writings ;" and again, in whom he commends deservedly a " singular tact and delicacy through which the poet preserves his freedom by never tres- passing beyond its proper bounds," and whose attach- ment to ' the glorious privilege of being indepen^ dent,' in his refusal of a confidential office placed at his disposal by the Emperor himself, is so elegantly WAS HOEACE A MILITARY TRIBUNE ? 31 eulogized by Wieland? If we suppose a serious use of this hoon-fellow-like epithet in the case, we must con- ceive it applied by Horace jointly to himself and to a patron of whom the same polished writer remarks: " M^cenas in the mean time was winning, if not to the party, or to personal attachment towards Au- gustus, at least to contented acquiescence in his sovereignty, those who would yield to the silken charms of social enjoyment:" again, "The mutual amity of all the great men of letters, in this period, gives a singularly pleasing picture of the society which was harmonized and kept together by the example and influence of Maecenas." And would not the immediate substitution of the term " amicum" in the expostulation with his enemies which follows this passage, seem intended as a delicate corrective of a vulgar taunt? But of the sequel to the passage more hereafter. 2ndly. Is it certain or probable that Horace ever was a Tribunus Militum ? If any doubt has been cast upon the affirmative of the first proposition, this will be reflected a priori in some degree upon the second. And it is here especially to be noted that — if the" present passage does not establish the fact, it is morally certain that no proof of it whatsoever exists, or ever did exist. This sentence supplies the only evidence adduced by those who supply any ; for quotations of the authority of biographers by biographers are to be left out of the question. And it is an extreme concession to logical technicahty to imagine the remote possibility, that Suetonius and 32 BIOGEAPHICAL MEMOIB. others may have rested their assertions on some independent testimony. Nor should we insist upon the circumstance of Suetonius being the most ancient extant biographer of Horace, nor yet upon the fact that he flourished so early as the beginning of the se- cond century, with a view to inferring that he th erefore probably possessed peculiar sources of correct infor- mation above ^ny that we, at this distance of time, can command. For he lived at a period as remote from the age of Horace as the present time is from that of Dean Swift : and we are familiar with the fact, that many statements made by nearly contemporary autho- rities respecting the latter eminent character have been already disputed or disproved. Indeed, even the birth-place* of the most celebrated of British gene- rals — the illustrious Duke of Wellington — ^w;ho hap- pily still lives to receive new and unprecedented ho- nours — is at this very day unquestionably misstated in all public records: so few persons are curious about matters of this kind ; and, so natural a tendency have purely biographical facts to elude demonstration. It would be a strange assumption to suppose any reader, whose feeling of interest has led him thus far seriously to examine the argument here submitted, to be ignorant of the vast dignity and responsibility attaching to the office of a Eoman Military Tribune. It is known that the command-in-chief of a Legion was shared by six officers so designated; and that a Roman legion on field service mustered ordina- • See Pamphlet (published in 1 850) by the author of these pages. FUNCTIONS OF THE MILITARY TRIBUNES. 33 rily, exclusive of the auxiliary contingent, which was commanded directly by its own Prsefecti, a force amounting to not less than from 4500 to 5000 men. Their authority is, of course, to be understood as consisting strictly in regimental command ; for a Consul, Prsetor, Legatus, or Prtefectus castrorum, would be senior in general command. But as very general terms of this class have a tendency to be ta- ken in some large indefinite sense, without much regard being paid to the complex instituted relations which their signification may include, and as a corres- ponding vagueness is likely to aficct their applica- tion, many persons may have a very imperfect notion of what functions they actually suppose to have de- volved upon Horace when they assert such an im- portant fact in his biography, as that he discharged the above distinguished and onerous trust. If the entire nature of that office was as instanced in Smith's Dictionary of Antiquities, and in Riddle's Etymological Dictionary, the present question would not be worth discussion. The following is their ac- count : — " Their duties consisted in keeping order among the soldiers in the camp, in superintending their military exercises, inspecting outposts and sen- tinels, procuring provisions, settling disputes among soldiers, superintending their health, &c." — This statement would imply that they differed little from commissaries or quarter-masters. The sequel will show that the "&c. " here includes the real sub- stance of the authority belonging to this most m- c 34 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR. fluential department; and thatupon these ofiScers really devolved the responsibility of the entire discipline and efficiency of the army, both in the field and in quarters. The most varied and circumstantial details on this subject will be found in the "Dies Geniales " of Alex- ander ab Alexandro, a work whose valuable infor- mation would, if equalled by the style, render it justly a standard book. The following is a brief extract from a long chapter — " a quibus" (tribunis, sciz), sive in hostes ducere, sive castra metari, sive in prima acie et fronte locari, aut in subsidiis poni, vel in stationes et vigilias ire conveniret, tesseram milites petebant * * • Milites quoque, in conflictu prceliorum, singulos et universos hortari et monere tribuni proprium munus erat * * * — veteri institute ad tribunatum admitti nemo poterat nisi prius alam duxisset : neque alam ducere nisi cohorti prcefuisset!' — Lib. vi. cap. 18. One further quotation, from the terse compendium of Vege^ius, will suflSce for the present purpose : — " Tanta autem servabatur exercendi milites cur a, ut non solum tribuni vel prcepositi contubernales sibi creditos sub oculis suis juberent quotidie meditari, sed etiam ipsi armorum arte perjiecti cceteros ad imi- tationem propria cohortarentur exemplo." — Lib. ii. cap. 12. Having now before us the substantive character and dignity of a Roman Military Tribune, let us next ex- amine the personal pretensions which could have so far recommended Horace to the stern regicide-chief, that he should at one step have been appointed by THE MEMORY OF THE DEAD. 35 him to a joint-command of 5000 men. Could the fu- ture bard boast of science as a tactician? — skill as a disciplinarian? — enthusiasm as a volunteer? — hero- ism as a leader? — prowess as a man? — or influence as a patrician ? In reply to each and all of these qualifying suppositions, truth requires that an em- phatic negative be recorded. The benign virtue of charity, which ' covereth the multitude of sins' in our neighbour from the censoriously magnifying gaze of his fellow-mortal, is seldom more gracefully exercised than when a bio- graphical tribute rendered to departed worth so paints the foibles and failings incidental even to the best combination of attributes which can con- stitute human character, that they may exhibit a tinge borrowed from the brightness of the virtuous aggregate, without imparting to it a like propor- tion of their own sombre hue. Questionable, in- deed, would be the taste which could find any relish in disturbing associations at once so credit- able and so pleasing that it is to be regretted that kindred feelings less frequently modify the strin- gent judgments which we are prone to pass on the living. It is, therefore, not intended here to de- tract from the value of arguments penned by va- rious able hands in vindication of the physical courage of Horace, and in extenuation of his own admissions on this delicate subject ; particularly in the instance familiar to every reader, where he admits that at the battle of Philippi he had acted c2 36 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR. " not well " (to use his own words) in " abandoning the shield" and betaking himself to "precipitate flight." We can permit Lessing to maintain his high position among those who hold that the poet here merely borrows a phrase from very similar incidents in the lives of his favourite Greek prototypes (as recorded of Alcseus by Herodotus, and of Archilo- chus by himself); a probable hypothesis, but one which is liable to the danger of proving too much; for if the poet copied these humbler associations of thought, it may be held by many that a fair pro- portion of his more spirited passages is due to similar sources. Alcseus was certainly a valorous penman. But " thoughts that breathe and words that burn" evaporate occasionally in deeds that brand: and that might brand in war which would even grace in peace. The benefit of Wieland's high-wrought suppo- sition should not here be withheld. — " Horace," observes his enthusiastic advocate, " could not have called up the remembrance of the hero (Brutus), by whom he was beloved, without reproaching himself for having yielded to the instinct of personal safety instead of dying with him ; and, according to my feeling, the non bene is a sigh of regret, which he offers to the memory of that great man, and an ex- pression of that shame, of which a noble spirit alone is capable," — though it may possibly be said that such voucher of " a noble spirit " can be safely followed but a very, little waj' in its conceivable results. We VIEWS OF LESSINiS AND WIELAND. 37 shall even invent a supposition in order to cover the formidable term paventem which Milman ob- jects to Wieland's theory, as being an undoubted con- fession of the poet's quaking fears, in the very next stanza ; and shall imagine the expression to be merely employed in highly poetic treatment of the feelings natural to a first aerial voyage, though un- dertaken even with the pilotage of ' Mercury,' as he elsewhere applies the same epithet to the young eagle in its earlier flights — " Insolitos docuere nisus venti paventem." — Carm. iv. 4, 8-9. The most ela- borate defence, however, can amount merely to this: that Horace did not yield to any extraordinary in- dividual panic: that he fled in company. But, waving arguments which rest on results and the contingencies of battle, reflection employed about the real original facts of the case seems sufficient beforehand to incumber the supposition of Horace's appointment to such high military command with considerably greater difficulties than could possibly attach to an ironical interpretation of the given pas- sage; in fact, to represent such an arrangement on the part of Brutus as perhaps the most strange and, un- der the circumstances, the most unlikely act which has ever been received as true by general consent respecting any man of like character. Milman, in- deed, in the following passage, seems strongly im- pressed with the force of the anomaly, which yet assumes a gloss as smooth as though caught from the association of pictorial embellishment. — " Horace 38 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR. was at once advanced to the rank of military tribune and the command of a legion. Excepting at such critical periods," proceeds the learned apologist of a rather intractable datum, " when the ordinary course of military promotion was superseded by the exi- gencies of the times, when it was no doubt difficult for Brutus to find Eoman officers for his newly- raised troops, the son of a freedman, of no very robust frame, and altogether inexperienced in war, would not have acquired that rank." — It might really be supposed from this that Brutus, while at Athens, was engaged in organizing some rabble rout to which the accession of an educated Eoman youth was of such vast importance that the high- est battalion-command would be the immediate re- ward, however ridiculously palpable might be the party's incapacity ; that " his newly-raised troops" were undisciplined, raw levies, and not, as they were for the most part, the tried and hardy veterans who had fought and bled under the banners of Julius Cassar, as also of Pompey, in Gaul, in Asia, in Egypt, and atPharsalia; and that the result of the battle of Philippi was a natural consequence of originally feeble and disorderly tactics, instead of being, as Mebuhr demonstrates, the fruit of pure accident partly unforeseen, partly unimproved. But let us rear facts, instead of nursing fancies. The great Historian of Bonn thus testifies of the army and its character, the battle and its antece- dent prospects : " Nearly all the Romans of rank BATTLE-ARRAY AT PHILIPPI. 39 and wealth were in the armies of Brutus and Cassius; for the most distinguished persons had been pro- scribed, and the greater number of these had taken refuge with Brutus and Cassius Brutus, who faced the army of Octavian, gained a victory without any difficulty Had Brutus known that his fleet had gained a complete victory on the same day on which the first battle of Philippi was fought, ... by making the fleet land in the rere of the hostile armies, he would have compelled them to retreat." — Lect. li. Indeed a finer army of 100,000 men was rarely marshalled under the Roman eagles than Brutus led almost to victory at Philippi. Nor does it appear from the statements of the Greek historians who have specifically exhibited the various phases of the civil war then raging, that Brutus, from the first moment when he openly unfurled the republican banner, laboured under any deficiency of officers, men, money, munitions, or sanction of authority from home. The learned reader shall not require to be reminded here that Roman history, properly so called, closed with the last page indited by the immortal Livy; and that the latest of his extant books reaches no farther than to about 127 years before the period to which we now refer. For further authentic information we have fortu- nately access to the works of Greek writers who adopted Roman subjects, particularly Plutarch, Appian, and Dion Cassius', who supply the inter- val, both in time and scope, between the volumi- 40 BIOGBAPHICAL MEMOm. nous researches of Livy and the cursory compila- tions of Florus, Orosius, Eutropius, &c. Greek ex- tracts, therefore, are not only not far-fetched, but, to a certain extent, are here unavoidable. The follow- ing is Appian's train of thought upon the might and majesty of the array at Philippi. — " Ovrw [xep ?r) Kai- aapi re koI Avraiviw, 8ta roXfitjv e7ria(j)aXovs Koi hvoiu •jre^ofiax^laiv TrfKiKovrov epyov rjvvarOj oiov ouj^ erepov eyevero Ttpo eiceivov, ovre yap ffTparoi roaovros r] roiov- T09 er "xeipas Trporepov '?/\6e Taifiatwv eicaTepa>6ev' od;)^ VTTO avvTci^ei ttoXitikij aTparevaafievuip aXKa dpiarivde e-irtXeXeyfjievuiv' ovb aizeipcmoKifjuev eti, aW Ik ttoWov yeyvfivaafievwv' koX (oi/Ter) atTK'^ffetas Kal Kuprepias ofiOL- ai^€rro Ma/reSoviu? Kal tyj^ YKKvptbo^ avrfjv, Kal rwv kv afxtpoTepoi^ VTrdXoi-KiDV OTparwv M apxov ^povrou a.p')(eiv, jj-ixpi Karaarairi to Koiva . . . rovi re aWoyy oaoi rives eOvov^ ri arparov Twfiaimv ap'xpvai airo rijs loviov 6a\aa- avfi em rr^v em iravra^ vnaKoveiv « o, ri mpoaraaaol Kac- aioirj Bpovroi." — Cap. 63. Plutarch andDion Cassius will be found to support all this: to multiply quo- tations is needless. Horace's actual connexion with brutus? 41 But were Brutus as weak as he was strong both in power and in hope, what "exigencies" of any times could be met by taking a poor, lowly-born, book-worn (as he describes himself) student of twenty-two years of age, as abhorrent from military tastes, as he was ignorant and ill-favoured as to military requirements, — one, besides, dragged most reluctantly into the ser- vice, though perhaps called a ' volunteer,' — and ap- pointing him, "at once," to drill and lead into action 5000 men, the one-twentieth of the whole army? Did the wildest revolution ever yet throw an unknown man so prominently to the surface of events, without some hind of inclination, profession, or pretension on his part, were it merely an affectation or conceit, in the given department, much less in diametric opposi- tion to his own feelings and efforts? It seems, indeed, certain, that Horace was drawn, along with the other Roman youths, into the society and train of Brutus; and it is conceivable that, having the use of limb and thought, he might have served well enough as a per- sonal attach^ of some kind, in the way of writing to dictation, receiving and transmitting reports, bearing orders to officers in command, &c., &c., as is often the business of ' volunteers,' where they are trusted. But to suppose him as a military commandant of brigade upon the battle-field, contriving and effecting strategic combinations, seems fairly akin either to non-examination of the subject, or to establishment of a case singularly and unnecessarily exceptional even among the extraordinary possibilities of human life. 42 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIE. Nor let it be forgotten, that the auxiliary contingent was ordinarily almost equal in force to the legion itself, and that its officers were junior in rank and powers of command to the Eoman legionary officers. But it must not be concealed that the brilliant pencil of the latest illustrator would bring out in glowing tints a very patriot-knight-errant, on the same ground where we have chalked a rather unim- posing squire. Thus paints Milman : — " In his youth he (Horace) plunges into the fierce and sanguinary civil war ; and afterwards, subsiding quietly into literary ease, the partisan of Brutus softens into the friend of Maecenas." A pretty picture, and worthy of being framed and glazed in an illuminated page. Immediately afterwards we have the following sun- burst of imagination, in the gleam of which crowns and sceptres are presented in a subdued light to po- pular eyes : — " It had been surprising if the whole Eoman youth, at this ardent and generous period of life, breathing the air of Pericles, Aristides, and De- mosthenes, imbibing the sentiments of republican li- berty from all which was the object of their study, had not thrown themselves at once into the ranks of Brutus, and rallied around the rescued, but still im- perilled freedom of Rome." Now it maybe not at all " surprising" to manypersons, that there should have been among the " ardent and generous" young aristo- crats, several who might deem an act of covert trea- chery and dark assassination to be as morally disgrace- ful and infamous, even in vindication of "rescued REPUBLICAN CONSTITUTIONS. 43 freedom," as an enlightened Christian writer could possibly conceive the murder of Julius Caesar to have been; and asMilman no doubt would be found really to regard it, however apparently strong may be his implied panegyric upon Brutus. Nor are the advantages of " republican liberty," as exemplified in the history of Athenian polity, so intui- tively perceptible, that " the whole Eoman youth," or any other youth, should be necessarily captivated as one man by all the associations which the chief scene of its action would be fitted to recall. It seems fully as conceivable, that many might believe " the air of Pericles, Aristides, and Themistocles" to have been a rather free conductor of sound; and that much talk and little action was a prevailing characteristic of the gigantic assemblages of newsmongering citi- zens whom the iKKXviaia habitually diverted from in- dustrial pursuits. To many the ultimate downfall of the glory of Athens might seem ascribable to the universal dissipation of energy, the vanity, wrang- ling, and insubordination which her greatest sons, whether poets, philosophers, orators, or generals, have lamented as facts, and which might he further regard- ed by others as results of her political system. Such reasoners would be likely for " republican liberty" to read ' democratic license' on the sombre page which chronicles the circumstances of her decline and fall; and to imagine that even the lights with which she gilded the previously dark atmosphere of Grecian literature and science, might have shone as brightly. 44 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR. and with greater stability and diffusiveness, under the national protection of a more concentrated power of executive government. Now the Eomans were essentially a practical and calculating people. A comparison of the principles and fruits of the Athenian republican constitution, with those of their own past " freedom," would have formed a probable and profitable study in intellectual circles at this period. TImr "republican liberty" had long since become amere by-word with rival factions, having endured, in its integrity, just until the extent and individ/uality of Koman dominion became suiB- ciently defined to tempt the monarchical aspirings of bold and able statesmen. The question — How far was the inahility of Athens to resist aggressionfrom with- out, and of Rome to withstand faction from within, ascribahle to a republican form of government ? — might conceivably have divided a society composed of " the whole Eoman youth" studying at Athens. The issue of another discussion also — Whether is a monarchical constitution more liJcelj/, from the na- ture of man, to lead to the excessive despotism of one, or " repullican liberty" to the antagonistic ty- ranny of many ? — might not have been unanimous. Nor might the possibility of combining the monar- chic, aristocratic, and popular elements in an ap- proximately harmonious whole have appeared to all so hopeless as that of permanently equalizing the civil condition of men, who are all by nature, intellec- tually, morally, and physically unequal to each other. THE poet's notes OP FACT AND FEELING. 45 But however this may be, the alacrity of Horace's " rally" — the vigour of his- ''plunge" — was anything but calisthenic, if he may be allowed to know his own mind, and to tell his own unvarnished tale. In the epistle in which he says of himself, with all the amiable simplicity of a truly candid mind, "The cast of character which (in youth) selected for its exercise uncrowded Athens, bestowed seven years on study, and waxed (prematurely) old mid books and cares, goes forth more silent than a statue for the most part, and convulses the populace with laughter," — he observes naively of Athens, — " But hard times forced me from that sweet retreat, and the tide of civil strife bore me, wholly untutored in arms, into war," ^c. — Epist. ii. 2, 46-7, 81-4. Upon the preceding passages an interesting col- lateral question may further arise: — Are the biogra- phers right in stating that Horace repaired to Athens for the purpose of completing his education according to the fashionable curriculum of the day? It seems hardly natural that a youth of recluse and retiring habits, whose father was "macro pauper agello," and who had been accustomed in his boyhood to look on the young sons of the rustic burgomasters as " magni puerij magnis centurionibus orti" (though he must needs be supposed, in a very few years afterwards, to have had personal command over sixty centu- rions !) should have contemplated to maintain, on Ais return, a rank corresponding with an education which, relatively to Roman society, would be suitable only to 46 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIB. the possessor of ample means. Now when we con- sider that the fond pride of an indulgent father had extended his educational course greatly beyond his own sphere in life; that when his mainstay was withdrawn, he must ha%'e felt such a course of train- ing to be, after all, but little adapted to the rough and up-hill walks of humble life, and his. adventi- tious school-intimacy with the " sons of knights and senators" to be fast vanishing before the conven- tional realities of maturing years; that the expres- sion desumpsit sibi seems to imply that Horace was then, in popular phrase, 'his own master,' in other words, that the parent who had guided his boyish steps was then no more, — (for it is not to be sup- posed that a son, who was so ready to pay tribute of respect and gratitude to the memory of his father, would have omitted to associate his name with such a remarkable occurrence in the affairs of both, as that of the necessarily expensive, indeed it may be said extravagant, arrangement of his being sent to Athens to " finish " his Roman education, had that parent lived to witness, and to assist with his means and counsel, such an undertaking) ; — shall it not seem a more probable theory that Horace, having imbibed enough of literature at home to induce a thirst for deeper fountains, should have resolved to abandon /or* ever the worldly tumult of promiscuous Rome, and live upon the proceeds of his little patri- mony in the studious retirement of " uncrowded Athens"? Does not the expression rfesMwpszV sibi seem REAL ATTRACTION OF ATHENS ? 47 indicative rather of a deliberate choice, peculiar to himself, than of a fanciful compliance with the ha- bits of others ? Is not the term emov4re strikingly- applicable to the disturbance of fixed and rooted habits of local association or attachment? In this view it was no spirit of fashionable rivalry, no vision- ary aspiring to foreign patents of precedence in learn- ing, which dictated the removal of our future poet to a land (as he would say himself) " glowing be- neath a stranger sun," but that feeling which was the master-principle of his life, the mainspring of his social existence — the love of personal independence, freedom, and literary ease. Further, the aggregate of those dispositions which mark his entire course and character (and which, it may be observed, assimilate his mental constitution and its developments, more closely to those of the Scottish poet, Robert Burns, — the unartificial bard, the unsophisticated philosopher, — than to the feel- ings and expressions of, perhaps, any poet who has lived since Horace first touched the Eoman lyre), is happily enumerated in the following passage of that familiar poetic epistle in which he discriminates so tastefully the difierences existing between the cour- tier and the sycophant, the flatterer and the friend. " Sit mihi quod nunc est, etiam minus ; et mihi vivam Quod superest sevi ; si quid superesse volunt Di. Sit bona librorum et proVisje frugis in annum Copia; neu fiuitem dubise spe pendulus horse." — Epis. xviii. 107-110. 48 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR. This passage, taken in connexion with another iii the eleventh epistle, where he confesses his indiffer- ence to locality as compared with contentment and ease, — "I would fain live at (the most sequestered of Asiatic places specified) Lebedus, — oblitusque meo- rum, obliviscendus et illis," — exactly expresses that temper of mind which would prompt a person of an uncontentious but buoyant spirit to bid farewell for ever to a scene of strife, bustle, and competition, such as a city like Rome must have presented to Horace, when he 'became a man' and 'put away childish things.' And had not 'wild war's blast' swept the groves of Academus, most probably the unambitious philosopher would have pursued his noiseless "search for truth" (as he expresses it) amid their luxuriant dells, even with the waning light of life's setting sun, and the stray flower of Ilissus' or Cephisus' vale would alone have decked his nameless grave. The feeling, however, which once more (happily for Latin literature) attracted him towards the scene of early associations, when his fortunes were wrecked upon a foreign rock, and when the haughty bearing of Rome towards her own sons might appear to be love itself in comparison with the cold austerity which a desolate and now penniless stranger-outcast might experience, even in a school of exalted theories of hospitality and generositj', is equally conceivable. To return from this digression. It will be rea- dily conceded by all his readers that our poet-philoso- PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS. 49 pher acts no hypocritic part by consistent exhibi- tion, in his writings, of an unwarlike temperament. Independently of his charming honesty of disposition, he knew human nature too well to suppose that he could effectually ingratiate himself with the imperial party, or with political opponents, by thus demean- ing himself And in whatever phases we view his unstudied ebullitions of genuine, artless character, — whether we regard the deep horror of war, and es- pecially of civil war, which pervades his works; the undisguised timidity of his nature, particularly as evidenced in the first Epode, and by his reiterated, and even splenetic allusion to accidents of personal danger; his pertinacious declining of military themes, notwithstanding influential expostulation, and that evidently not from want of fire of imagination, but from an inertness in combating natural distastes ; his omission of all allusion to any juvenile ambition for military fame, in the plaintive passage wliere he enumerates the several encroachments which years in their onward course had made upon his youthful feelings, Ep. n. 2, 55-7 ; the unchivalrous tame- ness which is palpably observable in his famous triumphal ode (Carm. i. 37) on the issue of the battle of Actium, in which felicitation at a general escape from danger, and a satisfied gaze upon his life-like drawing of the flight and fall of the haughty and hapless Egyptian Queen, are the leading fea- tures, (and nearly similar is the Epode, which com- memorates the Sicilian and Actian victories con- D 50 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR. jointly, whose tone reaches its climax in the com- fortable reflection — " Curam metumque CEesaris re- rum juvat dulci Lyaeo solvere." — Ep. rx. 37-8) ; his hearty raillery of a friend who really aspired to emerge from philosophic shade into military glare, though he had "promised better," (Carm. i. 29); his constitutional and fervent devotion to do- mestic scenes and rural enjoyments, to quote the instances of which would be to transcribe nearly two-thirds of his whole compositions ; his good-hu- moured smiles at personal defects in himself, which in a military commander would amount to positive disabilities ; — to whichsoever of these spontaneous evidences of mental bias we turn our view, the sup- position of his having ever pretended to or obtained command over a large integral section of a highly disciplined army seems a satire on the sobriety of fact adapted only to the fancy-sketch of the hu- mourist or caricaturist. It is an apposite circum- stance here that his writings afford a case in point, and supply us with a picture of his feelings on actu- ally offering to accompany a patron ' to the wars' (First Epode) : on which occasion (instead of plac- ing at Maecenas's disposal some fruits of military experience, as a man who had seen service pro- perly so called would he likely to do), he offers himself exactly in that indefinite volunteer capacity of a personal attache which we have supposed him to have previously filled with Brutus. The weight of this instance will be little diminished by proper allowance for the declension of youthful feelings. FACT LESS STUBBOBN THAN FICTION. 51 and the probability that he may not, when enlisting under Brutus, have illustrated his own weakness and his fears for a friend by such an image as that of ' tJie bird and brood.' And surely no one can imagine that we presume here to clip the border of a single leaf that decks the laurelled brow of Horace. But false praise is little better than true blame : and none would protest more strongly than the gifted bard of Venusia himself against being ' arrayed in borrowed plumes,' even although nothing of the grotesque were thereby im- parted to his figure. The present view of the subject will admit of full credit being accorded to Milman's statement: — "He acquired the confidence of his com- manders," (the writer either means, or might well mean '•friendly confidence,') " and, unless he has highly coloured his hard service, was engaged in some difficulties and perils." — Of course he was: and so was every camp-follower of the army. Horace never "colours" facts egotistically ; and his own state- ment is the best that can be made for him : — "Me primis urbis belli placuisse domique." — Epist. i. 20. But as domi cannot here mean ' household relations,' so belli may be equally far from implying ' field ser- vice.' Bello would be the form in which to convey a manner of action. Belli merely lays the scene in a cam- paign, as domi does in civil society. And no doubt both camp and court were alike " pleased" and adorned by his amiable manners, unafiected truthfulness, va- ried information, and companionable bonhomie. d2 52 BIOGBAPHICAL MEMOIR. But an objection ex argwmento ad verecundiam re- mains to be disposed of. It may be said, ' Niebuhr's account is adverse to this theory.' This is a serious demur, if we are sure that we have Niebuhr's account : for surely the present writer, who felt it an honour to visit his grave, does not presume to disparage his lecture-hall. In connexion with the fortunes of the scattered components of the fine army of Brutus, Niebuhr is said to have stated, in a spoken lecture: — " Many also returned to Italy in secret, as for ex- ample Horace the poet, who had been among the volunteers in the army of Brutus. He had been staying at Athens, like many other young Romans, for the purpose of studjdng, and Brutus had received those young men, as volunteers, into his army, and appointed them tribunes." — Lec.li. What! J.ZZ the un- formed Roman striplings who thronged the benches of the Athenian schools placed at once, by sixes, at the head of regular (for such they were) Roman le- gions, composed almost exclusively (see page 38) of veteran soldiers ! Out of the one hundred and four- teen tribuneships of those regular troops, who flocked to Brutus not viritim but legionatim, how many in this case could have remained, or become, open to officers of respectable service-qualifications ? Are the above really the words of the great discriminator between fact and fiction ? — are we to be persuaded that Niebuhr after all was a believer in the fable of Minerva's having issued in panoply from the brain of Jupiter? Seriously, the given I'esult is the same TESTIMONY OF PLUTARCH. 53 as though Niebuhr had simply multiplied the sup- posed statement of Horace respecting himself by the whole number of Roman students sojourning at Athens. But perhaps much of the argument which we have just examined, as apphed to the probabilities in Ho- race's instance, would better admit of that process. It is difficult to conceive on what authority Nie- buhr could have relied. Plutarch seems to be the only original historian who is specific in the details of these incidents. No subsequent writer appears either directly or inferentially to impugn his plain narrative of them. And he assuredly relates the natural incident of Brutus's cultivation of the inti- macy of the Roman youth in terms which would imply the very reverse of his intrusting them indiscri- minately with high command ; for the son of Cicero, who had served before, and particularly at the battle of Pharsalia, as a cavalry officer, with much credit, is the only one who is specified as having attracted his particular admiration. The following are the words of Plutarch : — " Kat yap eh 'MaKelovlav i-nefi^ev 'HpoarpaTou, oiiceiovfxeuos Toy? IttI twu exei aTparoire- ha)v, Kal TOW? a'XpXa^ovras and Vwfxiji iv aarei veovs ave\afi(iavev koX arate authority, as vested in single tribunes at or for any time, but in an attempt to show that their command teas properly over the whole legion, as contradistinguished from being confined to a particular department of it. His words are: — "Recte^otajwlegionem sibi vindicat (Horatius) quia bini et bini imperabant ei per vices;" — having pre- viously stated his exact proposition thus — " Legioni toti praeerant (tribuni). Toti dico: nee enim certce ejus parti." Thus the modern statement is in direct contra- diction to the evidence of Polybius, the most diffuse and minute writer, upon these subjects, of ancient times, and who has been deservedly " recommended E 2 68 SUPFLEMENTAEY QUESTION. in every age and country " (to quote the words of Lempriere) " as the best master in the art of war." It is likewise opposed to the express testimony of his learned, though quaint, commentator of the sixteenth century. And this is of weight, even although we may see reason to reject the whole argument of Lip- sius as being extreme in the opposite direction. It is nowhere to be found in Vegetius, Alex, ab Alex., or Gellius. Nothing tantamount is quoted from any other ancient writer : and the splendid work known as Rosini Antiquitatum Corpus, belonging to the next century (from whose treasures more is apparently borrowed than acknowledged in modern publica- tions), is wholly silent about any such military arrangement. Besides, did such exist, what conceivable pur- pose could the selection Jypairs have been intended to serve ? Why should not the command have passed from tribune to tribune in monthly rotation, without any arrangement by pairs being adopted in the man" ner so specifically detailed ? It is of course impos- sible to assign limits to extreme cases, which in war- service often necessitate the suspension of standing rules, and temporarily invest even inferior officers with extraordinary powers. But a mere provision against contingencies would not be adequate to account for a permanent institution like that now under consi- deration. And on the whole, the notion of single tribunes being systematically and ex officio advanced by alternation to ' the command of a legion ' appears ARGUMENT OF LIPSIUS EXAMINED. 69 to be a modern fancy contravening known regula- tions of Roman military economy. These observations may fitly close with a brief notice of the principle put forward in the argument of Lipsius above alluded to, with a view to reducing it within reconcileable limits. The exact scope of it has been previously stated in his own words ; and denies the applicability of Polybius's term "x^iXiap- Xot to the tribunes as indicating command over any portion of a legion, but supposes it to be a borrowed term from Greek military affairs in a general sense. His objectidn to tribunes holding departmental command seems over-minutely arithmetical — " Istce (cohortes) decern : et tribuni sex fuerwnt : quomodo aptes ?" To which it might be retorted : How were the four, who were not in general command, employed ? Of this no solution is derivable from his system. Now it seems very natural to suppose that while two commanded in chief, the remaining /owr com- manded in departments. This will harmonize with the entire system of Polybius, and will fairly account for the term x'^t^PX'"^ (which, after all, is too specific to be so summarily generalized), when we estimate in round numbers the ordinary contingent of a Roman legion : it will coincide with a statement of Dr. Adam — " In battle, a tribune seems to have had the charge of ten centuries, or about 1,000 men :" it will not interfere with the derivation of the Latin name from the original assignment of separate Tribunes to the separate Tribes, as stated by Varro: and it will help 70 SUPPLEMENTAEY QUESTION. to solve a difficulty in Livy, " — sub lisec A. Bascu- lonium signiferum suum, notae fortitudinis virum, inferre signum jussit." xli. 4: — upon which Walker remarks — " Jure quasrit Dukerus, cur addat suum, quasi peculiarem aliquem signiferum tribuni. Tri- buni militum toti prseerant legioni." — The present theory would admit the inference that the author pro- bably alludes to the bearer of the leading standard of the division which the tribune commanded ; and which, no doubt, at that period, was a division exclu- sively either of Hastati, Principes, or Triarii ; for it was not until the time of Marius, or of Csesar, that the organization by cohorts superseded this separate distribution of troops.* If our discussion of this antiquarian question has served to illustrate, in a manner encouraging to the inquirer, the process of reducing not only to their least terms, but also to their least value, the appa- rently embarrassing contradictions which sometimes meet us in this department of classical research, a greater end is certainly gained than the determina- tion of the particular issue involved. The impor- tance of the latter, however, would be ill appreciated * The reader will find corroborative matter in the article Manipulus in Smith's Dictionary of Antiquities, contributed by Mr. Ramsay. But instead of referring to what the writer calls the locus classicus on the subject, viz., Aulus Gellius's quo- tation from ' Cincius de re militari,' and which is confined to one line in the original, he may with profit substitute the " Dies Geniales" for the " Noctes Atticse." RECAPITULATION OF HEADS. 71 by regarding it merely as an isolated question of fact. Taken in connexion with its antecedents in the pre- ceding pages (the results being supposed to be fairly made out), few subjects of inquiry, perhaps, could more strongly exemplify the effects of the primary abuse of words. An amount of incongruities almost ludicrous is here found lurking unexamined for ages under the use of a single term " without clear and distinct ideas." Yet, as far as the ideas which con- stituted complex notions belonging to bygone times can be truly collected by reasonable industry em- ployed about accessible proofs, so far at least the classical scholar ought to be expected to be precise in his application of the representative terms. The views advanced in the preceding part of the present Section, and which follow in it the order of their being suggested by the text, may now be summed up, relatively to the prominence of their bearing upon the received biography of Horace, un- der the following heads : 1st. That the current belief of his having been *' advanced to the rank of military tribune," and that too in an army which has been shown to have comprised, not a fortuitous concourse of adventurers and revolutionists, but one of the most imposing com- binations of highly-disciplined battalions which the Roman world ever witnessed, appears wholly desti- 72 BIOGKAFHICAL COEOLLARIES. tute of real foundation in fact. 2nd. That not less foreign, in all probability, from the facts and feelings which marked the poet's career is the equally pre- valent notion of his having visited Athens, for the purpose of superadding a Grecian ' finish' to his Eoman acquirements, among the wealthier crowd, indiscriminately composed, no doubt, of thoughtful students and frivolous idlers (for to this latter ubi- quitous class also Athens must have presented a diversified series of attractive novelties), whom the established law of haut ton, at least as much as the desire of improvement, may be naturally supposed to have congregated to that fashionable resort. 3rd. That a supposition running parallel with the former of those, in position and fallacy, (and materially aiding the illustration of its absurdity), attributes to him a statement almost equally anomalous respecting his social relations. 4th. That even had the poet borne the office of military tribune, it would not, therefore, be true that he held " the command of a legion;" much less, if it be possible, that he ' commanded' at the battle of Philippi. These views would appear, for the most part, re- ciprocally to derive some further accession of proof from several incidental considerations, whose men- tion might have incumbered the previous arguments, and to impart to these a certain amount of inferential weight, mutual independence being sufficiently pre- served. And first, let us glance at the remaining passages PEESONJE TKIBUNlTIiE HOEATIANiE. 73 in the works of Horace, in which the military tribu- nate is alluded to. These are limited to two. One almost immediately precedes the passage just now under consideration, in which he satirises a probably pompous ojfficial by this apostrophe — * * * * Quotibi,™} Sumere depositum clavum, fierique tribuno ? Invidia accrevit, privato quae minor esset. Ser. I. VI. 24-6. The other occurs in an association almost identi- cal with the former — Hoc, hoc tribuno militum !— Ep. iv. 20. It is fortunately as unnecessary, as it would be tedious, to discuss with the commentators whether the parties thus ridiculed were originally of high or low degree ; or whether the demerit of Tillius or of Mgnas be literal, as that of Nomentanus, or figurative, as that of Canidia. Suffice to say, that each of these parties combined with his military tribunate an in- fluential status in society, and thus had considerably the advantage of Horace, who could allege neither this, nor the merit of a soldier, as an apology for having adventured to climb to a like elevation in the army. The one is mentioned as having ' re- gained' laticlavian rank; and, if his identity be as certain as most commentators maintain it to be, a change of political parties had alone caused him to lose it: of the other (besides the dignity implied by 74 BIOGRAPHICAL COKOLLARIES. "sedilibusque magnus in primis eques" — which, how- ever, may have merely belonged to his official posi- tion), it is affirmed (probably with some exaggera- tion) "aratFalerni mille fundi jugera." The parties, moreover, were severally in possession of an office from which our satirist is related to have fallen. On the generally received supposition, does not all this tend much (' absit ab illo dedecus hoc!') to reduce the poet-philosopher to the level of the malignum vulgus which he professed to despise ? Does not indignant satire here seem to sink into en- vious grudge ? And what shall we say of the im- policy of such allusions to the particular office as he must have foreseen would be likely to be so in- terpreted by the world, while the facts of his own case were yet recent ? But, on the contrary, should we conclude that the invented story of his military tribuneship was a standing jest against him, and that, in the passage which has suggested our whole in- quiry, he merely speaks " in the character, assumed for the moment, of an adversary" (if we may apply to the citation of an irony the words of an eminent author in describing the ironical form itself), his per- fect indifference to such idle jeers would be strongly (and the more so if unintentionally) exhibited by his freely exposing, on public grounds, when it came in course, what he deemed to be the unworthiness of parties to reach this very distinction. Again, the coarseness of the term convictor, as com- pared with conviva, seems not less repugnant to the PARTICULAR TESTS OF GENERAL ASSERTION. 75 erratic freedom of the poet's very idleness, than to the independence of his fixed principles. Even the delicacy of his physical constitution forbad him to be fettered to task or table, and anon caused him, even amid the fatigues of travel, to fast while others feasted; (" — CEenantes haud aequo animo expectans comites." Ser. I. V. 8-9.) And what task would be to him most irksome ? Emphatically the cultura potentis aniici. What table to him most habitually inviting ? The simple lapis albus, with its campana supellex. Frankly on occasion to interchange hospitalities, and freely to pass the bowl, possessed for him a lively social charm. But even his praises of wine never, in a single instance, respect the gratification of his own palate. It is with him simply an instrument of soci- ety or health. His invitations to Msecenas breathe the same easy spirit as those addressed to other friends; and in his many familiar recognitions of the kindness of his patron, no allusion to any marked hospitable attentions ever occurs. Substantial tokens of gene- rous friendship, particularly the gift of the Sabine farm, " the only productive property" (in the words of Milman) " that he ever possessed," he certainly had received: and these he was ever as ready to acknowledge, as he was content to resign should the retention of them at any time seem to com- promise, or even to trench upon his first, and most jealously fenced prerogative — independence. But it is not a little remarkable that in describing the rise and progress of his intimacy with Mtecenas, as 76 BIOGRAPHICAL COROLLAEIES. also the censorious taunts and jeers thence resulting, the habit of personal intercourse is throughout laid in mid-day or morning visits, excursions, and scenes of public amusement. (Thus, " — tu pulses omne quod obstat, ad Msecenatem memori si mente recurras !" Sek. II. VI. 30-1. "Imprimathis cura Maecenas signa tabellis." Id. 38. " — quem toUere rheda vellet iter faciens." Id. 42-3. " Matutina parum cautos jam frigoramordent." Id. 45. " — ludos spectaverat (or -it) unk: luserat {or -it) incampo." Id. 48-9.) Thispuh- Ikity it was, no doubt, which first attracted the eyes of scorners: and the envious crowd imagined the rest. But that his presence at the sumptuous board of Mascenas (whose vast circle of acquaintance among private compeers, diplomatic functionaries, and poli- tical celebrities alone it must have been a difficult and delicate task to contract interiore gyro, or to divide into convenient social segments) was not an habi- tual occurrence, much less a matter of course, seems an unconstrained deducible, not only from the above and other omissions of any kindred allusion, but also from the humorous sketch which Horace supposes his servant to draw of the flurry consequent on the sudden arrival of an occasional (and, it would ap- pear, private) summons of this kind — * * * * Jusserit ad se Maecenas serum sub lumina prima venire Convivam : ' Neraon oleum feret ocius ? Eoquis Audit ?' cum magno blateras clamore, n ^- " S- ° ' lunsque.J Seb. II. vn, 32-5. THE COMMON INDICES OF CHARACTER. 77 It may, indeed, be questioned, whether the pre- ceding considerations do not furnish at least as much ground for resting our interpretation of the phrase, quia Sim tibi convictor, upon the truth or falsehood of the matter of the proposition itself, as any other reasons have supplied for treating the serious use of convictor in the case as a question of good taste or impropriety. Nor will any force which they may appear to possess be at all diminished by reference to the amount of familiarity implied in the salutary check administered by our poet to a stranger, who contemplated a surreptitious introduction to the so- ciety of Msecenas, " — non isto vivimus (or vivitur) illic quo tu rere modo." Sbr. I. ix. 48-9. For the terms representing ' life are, by an instinctively natural figure, employed so generally, in languages living and dead, to signify a course of conduct, that such usage resembles a result of general consent. And thus the phrase amounts to no more than this — " the character of our converse there is not such as you suppose." Of course the intimacy of Horace and his select friends with Msecenas was sufiiciently great to enable the parties duly to estimate one another. But that very small portions of the ' lives' of indivi- duals, passing under the immediate notice of their fel- lows, should be often taken as rational exponents of the whole, is not only a natural and necessary law of human society, as a fair basis of general approbation or disesteem, but is really a suppressed premiss in most cases of the inference of good or bad charac- 78 BIOGRAPHICAL COEOLLABIES. ter even from full and formal records : though the amount of particular experience requisite to the as- certainment of a virtuous or a vicious moral constitu- tion be allowed to be fully as great as indicated by the distich — li.p6vOQ SiKMOv avSpa celKVvaiv fiovog' KaKOv SI Kuv iv rifiipi- yvoirig fuq.. Against the theory, however, which would thus suppose Horace to exhibit by the term tribunus, in the passage which heads this Section, an instance of the derision to which he was exposed, and by con- victor a specimen of the affected scorn, in which the envious vented their jealousy, it may with some show of reason be objected that, were such a sense really contained in the passage, it would not have remained thus long undetected. But besides that such an ap- plication of the argumentum ad verecundiam may be identical with saying that everything which can ever be known of Horace and his writings is known (and who shall assert this of any ancient author?), the occa- sional tendency even of whole ironical dissertations to escape the apprehension of readers is very remark- able : and this must be true afortiore of isolated ironi- cal and sarcastic allusions ; and still more of indirect citations of such. How many have commented upon the satire of Horace commencing Unde et quo Ca- tiusf (perhaps the best of his satirical productions) without at all perceiving the pungency of its point throughout ? How many readers have perused some THE PHILOSOPHIC SCHOOLS OF ATHENS. 79 of the best of Lucian's Dialogues, and imagined them- selves reading a book of illustrations of legendary systems of belief, like the Metamorphoses of Ovid ? And no doubt this subtlety, by which ' the ivy-wreath conceals the point of the thyrsus,' is still latent in very many undiscovered instances in satiric writers. Lastly, had Horace's journey to Athens been made with a temporary and specific view, as is invariably stated, " to complete his education" (a euphonic phrase which generally ' loses' by interpretation), a much less period might be supposed to have suited both his requirements and his means than that which he actually spent in the Capital of Letters. A six months' residence there sufficed Cicero for (in the words of his latest and best biographer) " diligently revising and extending his acquaintance with philo- sophy;" and yet we find our poet-philosopher com- plaining that, after what the most accredited autho- rities agree in fixing as a stay of fully three, if not of four years' duration^ " dura sed emove^'e loco me tempora grato"! Epis. IL n. 46. Now, independently of the outlay contingent on travel, the class-fees of the Athenian schools must have borne a full proportion to all the concomitant circumstances. The professors were eminent: those fees constituted their chief, if not their whole in- come:* the scene of their labours was world-famed: * The Athenian schools of philosophy do not appear to have been sustained by any public endowmenj; before the time of the Antonines, whose liberal policy assigned a state allowance of ten thousand drachmae annually to each professor of the four chiefly 80 BIOGBAPHICAL COBOLLAKIES. and the pupils were opulent. The laws of arithmetic will not be trifled with ; query, then, can any conceiv- able condition of circumstances make it probable, or not very improbable, that the income of the macer agellus could have sufficed for such disproportionate expenses as these must have been? • Moreover, had Horace formally attached himself to the Athenian schools, should we not naturally ex- pect to find some* mention occurring, within a range antagonist schools, viz. the Platonic, Peripatetic, Stoic, and Epicurean ; as also to the professors of rhetorical and of politi- cal science. Previously to this period any collateral support which they received seems to have been merely permissive by law, such as the bequest of the gardens of Epicurus, the devising of the patrimony of Plato, and the foundation of the library by Adrian. The principle of the endowment by the Antonines is traceable, through a fluctuating amount of salary, almost unin- terruptedly to the date of the compulsory closing of the schools by Justinian. Isocrates, on the other hand, who flourished about 400 years before the time of Horace, was in receipt of a sum equal to the preceding from his rhetorical class alone of 100 pupils, although he derides the avarice of the lecturers of that day, and is himself said to have shed tears when he first " exchanged [the communication of] knowledge for gold." From these extremes we may approximate somewhat to a mean, which will afiirm the estimated value and probable expen- siveness of educational courses at Athens. * It is to be hoped that the commentators are wrong in assu- ming the Philodemus so disreputably associated in Ser. I. ii. to be the same who presided at the head of the Epicurean school at Athens. But even if the fact be so, the tone of the passage sounds much more of the gossip of a town than of the echo of a lecture- hall ; and is, therefore, proportionally unlike the language of a pupil. EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES. 81 SO diversified as that of his works, of some of the pro- fessors who presided in those august seats of learn- ing; some allusion to competition in the literary race; some record of acquaintance begun or matured at Athens in that rank of life to which his talents even- tually introduced him at Eome ? But no clue leading in this direction is anywhere discoverable. Indeed, the only direct allusion which he makes to the scho- lastics of Athens even conveys a sneer, (Jam mcechus Romce,jam mallet doctor (or, doctus) Athenis vivere. Ser. it. VII. 13-4), however it may favour her pre- tensions to superior external decorum. Thus he who has ' wedded to immortal verse' the transient associations called forth by remembi'ance of the village pedagogue Flavius, and the metropolitan 'principal' Orbilius, (a name impressed by the least agreeable of the helps to memory), can find no niche in the temple of poetry wherein to set up the image of a Theomnestus or a Cratippus. He who has indeli- bly recorded his obligation to the rustic Ofellus, from whose frugality, and resignation under sadly altered circumstances of a once well-plenished homestead, he had derived a chance lesson of practical economy and contentment, seems to have been indebted for the guidance of his steps to no '■Faunus, Mercurialium custos virorum.1 in pacing the sylvan recesses of the Academia. Attempts have indeed been made to establish a probability that two of his friends at Rome, (Messala and Bibulus), had been among his former associates 82 BIOGRAPHICAL COROLLAEIES. at Athens; but these are admittedly conjectural, and plainly inconclusive. Even his intimacy abroad with his earliest known companion, Pompeius Varus, can- not be traced back to A thens. Nor is it less remark- able that he whose nature was so kindly, and whose words so truthfully reflect his thoughts, in every relation of a chequered life, seems to have breathed no homeward aspiration during, or at the close of, a comparatively protracted sojourn in a foreign city. Nay, he even expresses chagrin at having been ^^ forced out of" a place which to Eoman students in general served as a very temporary diverticulum on the high road of professional accomplishment, or fash- ionable pleasure : and it would further appear, from other places in his writings (Carm. I. vii. 10-1. Epis. I. XI. 7-8), that during his subsequent peregri- nations with Brutus, (when alone it is conceivable that he could have visited such localities), he had com- pared the relative recommendations of yet more dis- tant scenes wherein to re-enter, and eventually to wind to its close, the fallentis semita vitce. If the theory proposed in pp. 45-8 be true, these manifest difficulties are at once removed without be- ing perceptibly replaced by others. The showy and expensive courses of the Schools, their rhetorical diatribes, and technical subtleties, could have offered little attraction to an humble Eoman youth, who does not appear to have eyer entertained the most distant intention of attempting at home any known course of professional competition, oratorical dis- THE poet's memoranda OF ATHENS. 83 play, or authorship in the severer departments of literature and science. But to the private studier of books and men (and such in the strictest sense we suppose our poet-philosopher to have been) Athens, as a residence, must have offered rich and rare ad- vantages : such, indeed, as a cursory visit could little pretend to realize. To describe here must be to poetise. We shall, therefore, call upon the poet himself to speak ; and this with a view of showing that the epithets which he bestows, and the allusions on which he dwells, are, when simply developed, precisely those which would recommend such a place as the chosen residence of such a man : that, in fact, directly opposite terms would express his per- sonal estimate of Athens and of Rome. The follow- ing are his references to this subject: Adjecere honce paulo plus artis Athenae; Scilicet ut possem curvo dignoscere rectum, Atque inter sylvas Academi queer ere verum. Dura sed emovere loco me tempora grato, &c. Epis. II. II. 43-6. Ingenium, sibi quod vacuas desumpsit Athenas, Et stvdiis annos septem dedit, insenuitque Libris et curls, statua taciturnius exit, &c. Id. 81-3. On the first two verses of the former extract we shall find occasion to comment hereafter ; and the latter has already occurred, in an English form, in page 45. But a conjoined view of both passages in this place will much assist our inference. Here, then, we have the true secret of his Athenian predilections. F 2 84 BIOGRAPHICAL COROLLARIES. Her social characteristics were honce — blithesome, witty, frank: her local scenes were vacuce — uncrowd- ed, noiseless, free : here too bloomed sylvcB{om bard's delight) — those hallowed groves whose every tree was nature's monument of classic scene or honoured sage: and here, if anywhere, was it feasible for the earnest student qucerere verum — to glean the fruits of intellects of richest growth at the source itself of their luxuriance, (for here chiefly, at a time when dif- fusion of thought received but a niggard aid from mechanical contrivance, would convenient access to genuine products of the Grecian mind be had); and, by adding to communion with the illustrious dead the converse of the philosophic living, thus ' verce numerosque modosque ediscere vitse.' To contrast with this the satirists' unanimous description of Eome would give a ludicrous result against her. 'Tis true her existing majesty and ancient heroism were often proud themes of our poet-philo- sopher's admiration. But he never seems to have re- garded her dwellings as his home. A beloved father's society appears to have supplied his chief objective notion of an early home : of other kindred we have no account. That society once dissolved, (see page 46), what local tie remained ? The aspect of the whole social world may well 'be supposed to have appeared bleakly uniform to the friendless youth. The resources of literature alone would, under all the circumstances, suggest themselves, even apriore, as likely to supply to Mm a present solace and a future joy: and we find, FINAL CONSIDERATIONS FOE THE READER. 85 in the event, that where their magnet most attracted, thither his steps were instinctively directed. The candid reader is now fairly in a position to answer to himself these questions. — Does this inte- resting epoch in our poet-philosopher's life seem to be naturally or adequately noticed in the invaria- ble parlance of his biographers — ' He repaired to Athens, after the example of the young nobility, to complete his education' ? The emphatic phrases in his own account of his studies and their effects — the ' insenuit libris et curis' — ^the ' statua taciturnius exit' — of which do they savour more — the society of the lively class, or the solitude of the lonely closet ? Do not even the active forms of speech, dignoscere and qucerere, imply an independent, self-suggested exercise of will and effort sufficiently to contrast with the passive expressions of a verse which im- mediately precedes — " Romas nutriri mihi contigit, atque doceri," &c. ? Would not allusion to professo- rial names be naturally omitted by one who had not the popular and usual scholastic or fashionable fruits of an Athenian residence to show ? And is not the absence of all mention of his having formed any friendships at Athens adequately accounted for by the suppositions which our theory supplies — That he had only entered upon the incipient stage of what he probably intended to be a life-residence: that the difference between his pursuits and those of the ge- nerality of students was as great as the disparity of rank was wide : that, being naturally of unobtrusive 86 CONCLUDING OBSBEVATIONS. and even retiring demeanour, and being so far wholly engrossed in private studies or reflective rambles, (perhaps yet inexpert in polite colloquial Greek, for such was not the Apuli-Lucanian compound), he had probably made but an introductory progress in that ' philosophic converse' to which we have alluded, with the worthies who roamed and reasoned in the groves of Academus ? To conclude, if the preceding dissertation has suc- ceeded in so disposing the scattered fragments which remain of the biography of the Venusine bard, that the compound may more nearly resemble a consistent whole than any which previous efforts at combination have produced — if the superficies now brought out exhibits the points of light and shade in the poet's life so as to reflect a more equable and natural repre- sentation than either the false lustre of an over- artistic gloss, or the dull and confused image of an undigested mass — the dedication of this humble tri- bute is secure of meeting a favourable reception at the hands of the antistites who worthily minister ad sacra vatum. If, on the other hand (as is very supposable), the conceptions shall be pronounced ' new-fangled,' and the treatment of the subject defective, it is hoped at least that the effort has been made with becoming respect for the character not only of the theme itself, but of those in whose hands it has heretofore proved intractable. And it cannot, at the worst, be discre- ditable to fail where no one has yet succeeded. CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS. 87 It is, however, to be distinctly borne in mind, that these latter paragraphs have reference solely to the points of exception specified in the present Section. To disparage Dean Milman's Life of Horace, in a ge- neral sense, would be to herald the disparager's own incompetence. And the author of these pages has selected that particular work, whereon to ground his dissent from the biographers in general, simply be- cause it represents the ablest statement of the oppo- site case on record; and, therefore, any point of his- torical fact or probability successfully established against such an authority, must carry accumulated force as against any other. The 'Republic of Letters' is a republic indeed, and knows no distinction of ranks save that which each individual creates for him- self. Accordingly the opinions and statements of several eminent authors have been, and shall be, can- vassed in these pages, with that perfect freedom which is the undoubted right of the humblest member of the literary community; but, at the same time, the author is most anxious to avoid even ' the appearance of evil' in the shape of disrespect to any established authority. He is not unaware that it is easy to cen- sure, and still easier to misunderstand; but he hopes he shall not in any instance attempt to pull down, without manifesting a willingness, at all events, to assist in building up. 88 SECTION III. DETACHED PASSAGES OF THE SATIRES,* LYRICS, AND EPISTLES OF HORACE EXAMINED : WITH PRELIMINARY AND GENERAL REMARKS ON THE CONTEXT. The course of comment here intended to be pursued generally falls in with the order of publication in the original Works, subject to the provisional exceptions before mentioned. The passages, however, belonging to the Fourth Book of Odes, are, for the sake of uni- formity, taken in conjunction with the general body of the Lyrics. * If the word Satire be really derived from the Lanx Satura, its application may be suspected to have been originally due more to jest than earnest. The term seems too far-fetched to be se- rious ; although it may have been seriously ' appropriated.' Mo- dern cases of such use of terms that w^ere at first bestowed in ridicule are instanced in The Archbishop of Dublin's "Elements of Rhetoric," ch. III. s. 7. Compare an expression of Juvenal, Sat. I. 85-6— " Quidquid agiint homines . . nostri est _/arra^o libelli." At all events, the transference of the notion from variously assorted parcels of fruits to such desultory combinations as the earliest satirical poems presented, would appear to have been ori- ginally suggested rather by a correspondence in variety of external forms — that is, by studied diversity of verbal composition, or, in other words, by mixed metres — than, as is usually supposed, by the multitude of subjects intrinsically included. But, of course, the extension or continuation of the name to compositions of a uniform metrical aspect would imply, even afortiore, that much of heterogeneous matter lies beneath the surface. ORDER OP PUBLICATION HOW PAR IMPORTANT. 89 The Works of Horace, (however uncertain the existing plans, or hopeless the future prospect, of assigning specific dates to their composition), are now generally allowed to have been given to (as it proved in event) the world originally in the follow- ing series: The Two Books of Satires. The Epodes. The First Three Books of Odes. The First Book of Epistles. The Secular Hymn. The Fourth Book of Odes. The Second Book of Epistles. Thus far the labour of investigation is rewarded by its profit. But whether we now have the con- tents of the separate books themselves arranged in the order in which they were written, and whether any (and if any, what) portions were probably known in Roman literary circles previous to formal publica- tion, are questions more curious than useful. Sufiice it to say, that if, with Bentley, we suppose the seve- ral species of versification to have engaged the author's attention as separately in time as the books were pub- lished, we attribute to Horace an amount of system in composition which is incompatible with the natural characteristics, not alone of him, but of most genuine poets. Our postulate is independent of all contro- versy; and permits the admirer of the sparkling ec- centricities of Sanadon's Nouvelle Distribution, or even of the refined complication of arbitrary suppo- 90 THE WORKS OF HORACE EXAMINED. sition which Dr. Kirchner's Tabula Chrmologiea dis- plays, to enjoy his taste as securely as the unimagina- tive follower of Zurck or Baxter. Let it be merely granted that each Satire is in itself a complete whole, beginning, continuing, and ending as we now have it, and our task proceeds at once, with an attempt at Classification of these apparently desultory, if not erratic productions. The Satires of Horace, though heretofore un- classed, seem capable of being conveniently ranked, according to their form, under the following desig- nations : The Discursive (belonging to both Boohs). The Narrative {peculiar to the First). The Dramatic {peculiar to the Second). The Discursive, which constitute the most nume- rous class, may be described as Satires in which the author chiefly addresses observations, reflections, and reasonings directly in any way. Of these there are two species, which may be called respectively General and Personal. The former is limited to the First Three Satires of the First Book, and the Economic Percepts borrowed from Ofellus in the Second. The latter includes the Satires conversant especially about the author's personal circumstances, — ^namely, the Fourth of the First, and the Sixth of each Book, — and the Lucilian Critique which closes the First Book, and relates chiefly to the comparative merits of individual authors. The Narrative are, of course, those wherein pas- CLASSIFICATION OP THE SATIRES. 91 sages of incident either past, or supposed to be so, are related throughout. These are, the Journey to Brundusiuin; The Rmcmtre of Kupilius and Persius; The Adventure with an Intruder; and what Swift would have called The Tale of a Scare-crow. The Dramatic lay a scene of action, by introducing parties by name to the reader, who are supposed to discourse, describe, or act, in character. With these the Second Book is chiefly occupied. Their subjects are, The Discussion with Trebatius; The Paradox- ical Illustrations of Damasippus; The Gourmanderie of Catius; The Ironical Revelations of Tiresias; The Sarcastic Brusqueries of Davus; and The Convivial Jocularities of Fundanius. The following scale will exhibit compendiously the heads to which we propose to reduce the VAEIOUS FORMS OF THE HORATIAN SATIRE. I I 1 Discursive. Nakeative. Dramatic. T General. Personal. 5. 7. 8. 9. 1. 3. 4. 5. 7. 8. 1.2.3. 2. 4.6.10. 6. 1st Book. 2nd Book. 1st Book. 2nd Book. 1st Book. 2nd Book. A slight admixture of some of these classes with others is occasionally found. But the boundaries of the preceding division are plainly discernible. Let us next examine whether a principle of classi- fication may not be applied with advantage to a cer- tain set of particular passages also, commencing with the opening of the First Satire. 92 THE WORKS OP HOKACE EXAMINED. That the very first paragraph of a composition which is received as the earliest known effort of the muse of Horace should, after so many centuries of comment, afford any good ground for new remark, is a statement which appears to pre-suppose some credulity on the part of the reader. It is perhaps fortunate, therefore, that in our Jirst attempt to dis- cover such in it we are enabled partially to mitigate ' prejudication' by distributing our responsibility over two other passages taken in connexion with this. Let us then imagine the three passages included respectively within the following limits, to be now before us: Qui fit, Mjecenas, ut nemo, quam sibi sortem PkjEtebea ne sic ut qui jocularia ridens, etc. Ser. 1. 1. 1-23. Ambubaiarum collegia, pharmacopol^, slquis nunc qu^bat — quo res h^c pertinet ? illuc, etc. Ser. I. II. 1-23. Omnibus hoc vitium est cantoribus, inter amicos . Nunc aliquis dicat mihi — Quid tu ? etc. Ser. I. III. 1-19. The Tpeculiar parallelism of these (understood) ex- tracts has strangely escaped notice, although even an inspection of the verbal outlines drawn above might suggest it. The difficulty of establishing a conse- cutive connexion of parts in the First Satire has been felt; but Ave find no attempt made to ascertain PARALLELISM OF PRELUDES. 93 by comparison whether any of the other Satires may resemble the First in structure sufficiently to furnish us with such rules of the author's practice as may assist in solving or diminishing the objection. And yet it is matter of common experience that things will seem easy and symmetrical when considered as parts of a scheme or system, which, in an isolated view, appear irregular or unintelligible. It has been just now laid down, that the First Three Satires belong to one and the same subdivi- sion of a separate class. This reduction may here be more strictly narrowed by observing that, as formal compositions of Horace, they properly constitute that subdivision: for of the only other production of his pen immediately associated with them in our classi- fication it is stated by himself, " nee mens hie sermo, sed quae prcecepit — rusticus, abnormis sapie?is ;" and we shall hereafter have occasion to inquire how far this borrowed character has been understood in a sense sufficiently literal. To these three Satires the three given extracts seem intended to stand in the relation of Preludes ; by which term is here meant — a light and easy introduction to a grave subject, less formal than a preface, and less serious than the con- text. And besides this general similarity, their paral- lelism is distinctly traceable through the following guiding points. 1st. They are nearly equal in length. 2nd. 'Vhej RYe equally separable from the sequel; for, although some commentators have assumed a desig- nation for the whole subject of the First Satire from 94 THE WORKS OF HORACE EXAMINED. the opening verses, namely, '■On the Discontent of Men,' yet by most the main argument is admitted to be different ; while the prelude to the Second is so independent that, the sequel being omitted, this ex- ordium, with the moral added, forms in itself a suffi- ciently complete whole ; and that of the Third relates to matters which but partially concern the general disquisition which follows. 3rd. They are equally connected with the subsequent arguments ; which will more immediately appear from a review of the gene- ral plan of the whole compositions. Their subject matter may be assumed to be fairly given in the headings adopted in the Gesner-Zeu- nian Edition; thus, the First is ' in Avaros,' the Se- cond ' in Mcechos,' the Third ' in Obtrectatores, et supercilium Stoicum.' Now, each of these topics is alike introduced by a lively exhibition of some cog- nate folly or vice. For instance, placing in the fore- ground of the First Satire such a picture of Discon- tent, the author thence argues against Avarice. He does not maintain, as might at first appear, that mul- titudes who complain of their condition would not gladly accept the position of others — [query, are there not few who would not individually change with some one?] — but the argument appear to be this : — ' The true ground of the discontent of men who toil in the gainful or active pursuits of life is not to be sought, as they allege, in a reciprocal predilection for the pursuits of each other; (for as they would be found to rest as little satisfied in an exchange of lots. STRUCTURE OF THE FIRST SATIRE. 95 were such a general experiment possible, the whole amount of discontent remains constant) : but it really consists in the feverish restlessness with which they all alike pursue a common object, or, in the insatiable nature of grasping selfishness; though they excuse their felt dissatisfaction under pretence of compara- tive hardships appertaining to their own pursuits ; and their m.otives of eagerness in all pursuits by the plea, senes ut in otia tuta recedant.' The vices and absurdities of the avaricious, (and particularly of the worst species, the miser), thus become the burden of the piece : and when the mere folly of discontent is naturally lost sight of in these, the author takes occasion to remind his readers, toward the close, that this minor trait, from the illustration of which he had diverged, is to be understood throughout as pervading the miser's character in its most aggravated forms, even so as to harass him, in addition to his peculiar solitary miseries, by an interminable contest with others* That this Satire, which the eminent modem * In connexion with the Prelude to the First Satire, we may bestow a passing glance upon the strange argument of Orellius, in reference to two remarkable counterparts of it which are found in the works of Maximus Tyrius (Diss. 5, referred to by Orellius as 21 ), and Himerius (Eel. 20). The points of coincidence are so strongly stamped in the former, (marking out the same characters, the same dissatisfaction, and withal, the same ultimate refusal to change), that any one might naturally conclude, unless positive cause were shown to the contrary, that the sentiments of the Latin moralist must have been borrowed by the Greek. Not so Orellius. His reasoning runs thus : " Non credibile est ab his 96 THE WORKS OF HORACE EXAMINED. commentator Orellius and others have considered so fragmentary as to require the apology of being per- haps one of the author's earliest efforts in imitating the Lucilian medley, is thus easily reducible to a Sophistis unquam lectas esse Horatii Satiras; sed vel casu in eundem locum inciderunt, vel antiquius aliquod exemplar Grse- cum ante oculos habuerunt." That is, the incredibility of either Sophist having seen the works of Horace being assumed, we are left the choice indicated by the dilemma, — ' either both indepen- dently chanced to fall in with nearly the same peculiar association of thought (for this must be the meaning of eundem locum) with Horace, or both chanced to copy the same part of some Greek mo- del which itself chanced to coincide with tlie Horatian argument.' A rare chapter of accidents: in which the question whether one of the Greek authors might not have borrowed from the other is put out of view. Now, Maximus Tyrius flourished about 200 years before Himerius; and, granting the latter never to have seen the "Western World, it is equally asserted and doubted that the former (about A. D. 146) visited Rome. It is certain the second Antonine was a hearer of his lectures, but whether at Rome or Athens is as uncertain as it is immaterial. In either case the works of Horace would probably have become known to him, even from converse with a Latin scholar so accomplished as that Emperor. This supposition is strengthened by a similarity, apparently much greater than identity of subject would be likely to cause, in other parts of the works of Maximus, not only to particular trains of Horace's reasoning, but also to the Satires of Juvenal and Persius: (see particularly Diss. 4 and 19). On the whole, the reader is strongly recommended to receive, as an elegant Greek paraphrase of the opening lines of Horace's First Satire, the extract which Orellius quotes, but rejects as such. Indeed, in general, how far the later Greek Moralists may have been indebted to the Roman Satirists, would be an interesting classical inquiry. STBUCTDRE OF SECOND AND THIRD SATIRES. 97 consistent whole, will further appear from its simi- larity in form to the next two. The Second Satire likewise opens with a light, graphic Tpicture,yiz.,oi The Extravagance of Extremes: and then proceeds to satirize a grave social vice, whose alliance with the subject of the Prelude, though less prominent than the more repulsive traits, is yet preserved throughout in nearly the same pro- portion and connexion as the discontent of the miser in the First. To dwell upon this Satire is unnecessary. The tissue of frivolities whose review forms the substance of the Prelude to the Third Satire, would, at first sight, seem incapable of in any way furnishing even a flimsy basis for the solid structure of practical philosophy whose symmetry claims a universal ad- miration for the body of the Satire. Whether the bearings of the Prelude itself have been duly esti- mated, and its general intent adequately understood, shall be considered in its examination as a separate passage. Suffice it here to say, that from a playful mood of banter the argument proceeds, by an easy gradation, to combat determinedly the fairness of the common judgments passed by men upon each other, and hence to array the apparent uncharitableness of certain dogmas of the Stoical* philosophy; thus completing the analogy which we seek to establish in the forms presented by that class of compositions that are found in immediate succession at the open- * See pages 137-40. G 98 THE WORKS OF HOBACE EXAMINED. ing of this celebrated department of ancient Roman literature. A further instance of similarity in these Preludes is reserved for notice, until the full analysis of the contents of the last shall come under consideration. Nor are other cases of marked parallelism in the works of Horace wanting, which have not heretofore been observed upon-: but their citation would be un- productive of any new result. The exhibition of parallel passages often proves no more than that the original author, under different circumstances, is reasonably like himself, and that the harmonist has employed some diligence. But as far as combina- tion of parts under general heads may assist our es- timate of them and of the whole, or as far as apparent incongruities in a given context may be correctly shown to be subordinate parts of a plan, and there- fore less likely to be really abnormal, so far the uti- lity of a true classification would be fairly described by applying the words of the bard of Mantua (parce detorta): Non animum modo uti pascat prospectus inanem, Sed quia non aliter vires dabit omnibus sequas [Sermol &c. We shall now advance to what is properly the business of the present Section : namely, particular views of detached portions of the Horatian text, taken in the generally admitted order of publication. DETACHED PASSAGES OF THE SATIRES. 99 Qui fit, M^cenas, ut nemo, quam sibi sostem SeU ratio DEDERIT SEU FORS OBJECEEIT, ILLA contentus tivat ; laudet diversa sequentes ? See. 1. 1. 1-3. This passage, however trite and elementary, in- cludes two peculiarities for which the best syntac- tical authorities have not made adequate provision. The general result in such cases is, that forms of ex- pression, which might have been fairly included under original definitions, are made to stand out as anoma- lies : and thus exceptions to a rule sometimes even seem to dispute the right of ascendancy with its ex- amples ; and to aflfect the authority of the principle of the rule itself In the present instance, a slight extension of the compass usually assigned to two Fi- gures of Speech seems much required. For instance, were some such general description of the figure Attraction adopted, as the following, — ' Attraction is a principle of sympathy between a relative and its antecedent, which assimilates their case-forms ; pre- dominating in proportion to the flexibility of the lan- guage, (being, for instance, more frequently met in the Greek than in the Latin language), and operating usually by accommodating the dependent term to the principal, but occasionally vice versa.' — Such expres- sions as contentus ilia quam sortem above, the urhem quam statuo vestra est of Virgil, licet esse beatis, &c., &c., would, instead of being treated as a sort of m- pitis minor class, hold the rank simply oiless ordinary g2 100 THE WORKS OF HORACE EXAMINED. examples of a principle whose operation is yet uni- form. The preceding definition is limited to suit re- ceived opinions ; but the question might not prove unworthy the attention of scholars — whether the effect of Attraction in {orras of speech is not fairly comparable in principle and extent with that of As- sociation in modes of thinking; and whether to its influence, which is a power of Nature herself, a con- siderabty greater amount of the symmetry of language be not probably due than has been adequately assigned to it. If so, its efficacy in reducing apparent incon- gruities to order and harmony has been as unaccount- ably as it has been generally overlooked. However, to dilate on this subject here would be inappropriate. "We shall merely add, that if any be disposed to think the term ' sympathy' an affected expression, it may be urged in extenuation that the brilliant phrase " Pa- thology of the Latin Language," which dazzles our vision towards the close of a dark and weary journey through the defiles of Donaldson's Varronianus, has attracted this adventurous term, by an irresistible force of fascination. The second peculiarity, namely, the action laudet being left to derive a positive agent from the nega- tive nominative of its neighbour, might, perhaps, be held to be referable to the same principle of attrac- tion, were it seemly to attempt the development of any new general influences in a work so confined as the present. We shall, therefore, merely deal with , it as a case which might be easily rescued from the DETACHED PASSAGES OF THE SATIRES. 101 chaos of anomaly by a more comprehensive inclu- siveness in the definition of the figure Zeugma. And first, let us examine the accounts furnished by Zumpt and Scheller, which differ very much. That of the former is — ' Zeugma is that form of ex- pression in which a verb which grammatically belongs to two or more nouns is, as to its meaning, applicable only to one.' Scheller says, — " Sometimes writers unite two substantives to one verb, or one verb to two infinitives, when properly it only applies to one." But the converse, which is the case now before us, is not at all provided for by these. From Sanctius's remark, indeed, upon Quinctilian's definition of this figure, called by him Synezeugmenon, and supposed to occur — " quoties vox posita in una oratione inccete- ris desideratur" — we might be led to suppose that the case was fully met. But from the general treatment of the subject by both, it is plain that by vox they meant constantly a verb or adjective: and to this Peri- zonius's comment subscribes. But without at all entering into the cumbrous subdivisions of Prolepsis, prozeugma, mesozeugma., hypozeugma, &c., might not the figure be briefly defined or described thus ? — ' Zeugma is a figure which assists the compendium of speech by expressing only one verb, noun, or adjec- tive, as connected with two or more clauses of a sen- tence, where the sense requires, and will easily sup- ply, a separate term of the given class to each.' The temptation is strong to add — ' and is itself to be re- ferred to the more universal principle oi Attraction' 102 THE WOEKS OF HORACE EXAMINED. Finally, upon the second of the three given verses it may be observed that Horace does not necessarily intimate that either of the accounts given of the phe- nomenon is correct. But by seu — seu he rather im- plies that this point is immaterial : as if he had said, — ' settle that question as you will.' The existence of a sors humana being given, the theory of its source is wholly irrelevant to the issue : — and these two are not the only accounts that have been given of it. HOE^ momento cita mors venit aut victobia l^ta. See. 1. 1. 7-8. The force of this statement lies in the word aut. The seafaring trader's complaint is really this : that the triumphant issue of a battle may secure the sol- dier's fortunes, while the successful weathering of a storm (in which cita mors may be equally imminent) does but spare him (the trader) to toil anew. The interpretations given of the phrase horce mo- menta fluctuate variously between — in a moment of an hour, in a moment of time, in a brief space of time, and, in the brief space of an hour : but no case is cited which might not itself raise a question as t9 the ex- actness of the notion intended. This absence of un- doubted authority particularly affects the use oihora as a representative of time in general; the scanty (supposed) instances adduced by Riddle and others DETACHED PASSAGES OF THE SATIRES. 103 being evidently disputable. The first of the versions given is a weak and frivolous expression : but, with- out any objection being raised against the last, may not momento here be advantageously taken in its ori- ginal acceptation ; and the phrase rendered — ' by the preponderating influence of a single hour comes,' &c. ? The fate oicita mors being alike contingent to each, the difference between the parties hinges chiefly on the difference of the issue consequent on escape from it : and even the impatient murmur of the mariner could hardly (in the diction of Horace) exaggerate any rapidity of victory into the result of a moment ; (our phrase ' moment of victory' is used in a quite dif- ferent sense): but an hour is a natural and unstrained measure of the decisive approaches ofttimes of 'death or glory.'* * As an instance of the kind of criticism sometimes employed even in quarters where the highest pretensions are made in this department, it maybe here observed, that the above comparatively immaterial comment, and the casual remark OTi fide, in page 125, are the only passages of the first Edition that were referred to by the Athenceum, as specimens oi upwards of sixty new interpreta- tions suggested in the work. Again, in immediate connexion with general exceptions to the style of the work, and in order to show that (in the words of the critic) " Mr. Murray has not yet learned to call a spade a spade," the book is twice misquoted; and a plainly-printed phrase, " extant stores of ancient literature" (in page 2), reads in the pages of the Athenceum, "extant shores," &c. Further, as regards the Latin Poem with which the book closes, the lengthening of the final syllable in the word temere (page 244) which is censured as " a stretch of poetic license," and a political allusion which is pronounced " by no means happy," but which the Author certainly would not take the trouble of altering, are the 104 THE WORKS OF HORACE EXAMINED. Perfidus hic caupo .... Ser. 1. 1. 29. The supposition of caupo representing the juris legumque peritus, under any figurative guise, appears questionable. However, the reading is of undeniable authority; and yet an interruption certainly arises from the appearance of this new character. Might the restrictive term hic assist us ? Might it mean ihe now present character: that is, the character whose vices are henceforth to be the theme of the piece? In short, is the caupo the Avarusf The soldier and sailor are remote characters. The juris- peritus and agricola, however appositely instanced as partakers of the discontent of men in active life, are too generally popular to prove forcible examples of a mean vice. But the caupo (a class which Horace seems to have peculiarly disliked) would probably seem to him to furnish as strong an instance of a sordid monopolist as could be brought to illustrate sole points selected for special notice. Now, it is true that the final syllable of temere is never lengthened by writers of the Augustan age; but neither is it shortened — it is constantly elided by them. But, if it be granted that Tertullian, Sarbievius (Latin poet- laureat to the learned Pope Urban VIII., and who is praised by Grotius, Heinsius, and others, as being sometimes fully equal to Horace), and Gray, were probably as good scholars as the writer in the Athenceum, and (/"he knew that all these have lengthened the syllable in very elegant extant compositions, it will follow that he might well have spared so small a comment. It must be added, that the author could not obtain any explanation, much less retractation, of matter so likely to misrepresent his work, and (what is of greater moment) to misinform the many readers of the periodical in question. DETACHED PASSAGES OF THE SATIRES. 105 that genus. At the same time, if his trade were very prominently alluded to throughout, it might be forgotten that a general vice, and not the tendency of a particular calling, is the subject of exposure. We have not ground for establishing such a theory to the exclusion of any other ; but bearing in mind that caupo is not a vintner exclusively, hut a retailer of victuals generally, let us here bring together some of the passages from the main argument itself, as showing the general tenor of its associations : Cum sibi sint congesta cibaria — ver. 32. Non tuus hoc capiet venter plus quam mens — 46. Reticulum panis venales inter — 47. Cur tua plus laudes cumeris gra- naria nostris — 53. Panis ematur, olus, vini sextarius — 74. Non . . . uajopamjubeoacnebulonem — 104. Quodque aliena capella gerat distentius uber — 110. . . . uti conviva satur — 119. All these expressions (particularly that in verse 74, if it be taken as part of the expostulation of the Avarus arguing from the uses of money in favour of its abuses), would well agree with our supposition of his avocation. However, ' hoc utcunque animadver- sum aut existimatum erit, hand in magno equidem ponendum discrimine.' QUID REFEKAT INTEA NATURiB FINES VIVENTI, JUGERA CENTUM AN MiLLEARET? SeR. I. I. 49-51. The first introduction of the important term finis into the argument, upon which much will be found 106 THE WORKS OF HORACE EXAMINED. to depend hereafter, appears to be elegantly bor- rowed from the agricultural associations of the im- mediate context. As if it were said — ' He who lives as Nature's tenant within her boundaries, needs not to labour beyond them.' And he evidently meant further to convey that those lines could be as little produced to enclose the jugera centum as the jug era mille. The general doctrine here inculcated is happily expressed by our own poet. Goldsmith — " Man wants but little here below,nor wants that little long.'' At bona pars hominum, decbpta cupidine falso, ' Nil satis kst,' inquit, ' quia tanti quantum habeas sis.' See. I. I. 61-2. This argument of the bona pars^ with its suppressed E supplied, appears specious enough in the dress of E AE of the first figure, thus : No gradation of favourable estimate of ns in respectable society is at any time such that we should not strive to increase it ; The amount of our property is a gradation of favourable estimate of us in respectable society ; Therefore, the amount of our property is never such that we should not strive to increase it. However, without barring either premiss by a negatur, the reader will feel no difficulty in refuting the conclusion of the syllogism by applying logically the test which Horace himself supplies above. DETACHED PASSAGES OF THE SATIRES. 107 At si cognatos nullo natuea laboee QtIOS TIBI DAT EEXINEKE VELIS SEEVAEEQUE AMICOS, InFELIX OPEEAM PEEDAS, TJT si aUIS ASELLUM In campo doceat parentem ctjeeeee fe^nis. See. 1. 1. 88-91. Upon this passage, whicli exhibits a great variety of form in different editions, and has called forth several interpretations, which have each and all con- siderable claims to adoption, it is merely intended here to offer a new conjecture, without prejudice to any received opinion. Query, then, may not retinere and servare be really designed to imply coercion or restraint, rather than, as all commentators suppose, preservation ? The former certainly yields the derivative retinaculum in this sense; and the latter seems to be borrowed from the habits of the Avarus. Query, also, has the ma- nifest contrast intended between nullo labore dat in the protasis, and infelix operam perdas in the apodosis been turned to adequate account ? Now, be it ob- served, that the above extract is immediately pre- ceded hy the statement, Miraris, cum tu argento post omnia ponas. Si nemo praestet quern non merearis amorem : and the following paraphrase may, perhaps, advan- tageously present itself,—' As nature bestows upon you kindred nuUo labore [^mo], so the best offices of life must be spontaneous — [" Amici quos neque armis 108 THE WORKS OP HORACE EXAMINED. cogere,neque auro parare potes; ofScio et fide pariun- tur." Sall.] : — if, therefore, you toil and spare, partly, as you say,ut habeas qui assideat and soforth,and thus labour to hold your friends by restraints of expec- tancy {retinere), and to keep them in reserve for mere selfish purposes, as you keep your gold (servare), the result of your laboured efforts is likely to prove as clumsy and futile, as though you should attempt to accustom to easy fleetness in harness an animal whose nature is peculiarly fitted to resist artificial training.' The advantage of this interpretation would consist in connecting the comparison by a more easy and natural association with the context, than regarding it as an arbitrary sign of mere abstract impossibility can do. In the latter view, it seems far-fetched and inapposite: in the former, that is where a parallel train of ideas presents itself, our poet's simile will bear comparison with a cognate one which Homer introduces as forci- bly as unexpectedly Qc 8' or' ovog Trap' ctpovpav iwv ijiiriaaTO TraiSag "QiQ TOT iirsiT AiavTa. k. t. X. Dbniqtje sit finis qu^eendi ; ^^^'^^^ | habeas plus, Paupeeiem metuas minus ; et finiee laboeem Incipias, paeto quod avebas .... See. I. I. 92-4. Commentators leave it optional with readers to render the first clause here as intending either a DETACHED PASSAGES OF THE SATIRES. 109 present or a prospective ' end,' forgetting that the ad- monition, in the former sense, could not, in the na- ture of things, apply to one case out of a thousand in which the remaining clauses of the advice convey a beneficial lesson; though the whole is plainly in- tended to be equally general. In such a sense it must presuppose a similarity of circumstances in each individual addressed to those of the Avarus, (and who will suppose this in his own instance ?). In the other acceptation, it is irrespec- tive of all particular limitations, and seems merely intended to be a wholesome corrective of the previ- ous fallacy — ' Nil satis est.' But the real diflBculty in the last clause — incipias Jinire, parto &c., has been left wholly untouched. If Jinire mean to end, how can a man begin (as if by a process) to end anything ? To say that the notion of ending may naturally include the drawing toward a close is irrelevant. The Latin verb jinire, when it signifies to end, means so absolutely. Again, i[ Jinire be taken to signify to limit or circumscribejwhy should one then only begin to abridge labour, when the whole object of labour shall have been gained ? A defined limit being given by the first clause, one would sup- pose that the struggle of the race should be abso- lutely commensurate with the reaching of this goal. We may safely approach a solution by rejecting the former acceptation assigned to Jinire altogether. To connect it with incipias in such a sense would be to adopt a phrase without meaning or parallel; for 110 THE WOEKS OF HORACE EXAMINED. tte English oxymoron — ' the beginning of the end' — could scarcely be quoted in point. The several meanings of the verb finio will be found to proceed from the radical notion in the fol- lowing order: — 1st. To mark out by a boundary, sim- ply. 2nd. To restrain within boundary something which has a tendency to exceed. 3rd. To limit, de- fine, or jix stationarily to small compass, or to a point. 4th. To end, absolutely. Of all these the second will naturally suggest it- self as the most applicable to the practical bearing of the subject. The active habits are not trained to maturity to be suddenly suspended for ever in a mo- ment : the constitution of nature is opposed to this. Now, by merely erasing the comma-mark before parto, and thereby converting that word into the causal case, instead of the case absolute, the sense would run thus: — ' Begin to bound and restrict your toil by (or, in proportion to) that being realized (no doubt, gradually), which you originally fixed as the amount of your desires.' Of course it would be only when danger of miscarriage in the final issue was past, and when a fair approximation was being made to the sum total, that such influence of the partum should sensibly operate. But these conditions being supposed, what can be more according to right reason than that a man should begin, with the first substantial earnest of his reward being secured, proportionately to narrow and restrict the labour of acquisition, as the mariner begins to shorten sail when within the compass of the wished-for haven? DETACHED PASSAGES OF THE SATIEES. Ill In this view the mode of expression may be com- pared with a phrase in Carm. I. xi. 6-7,—'. . Spatio brevi spem longam reseces . .;' and even the materials of a sound aphorism may perhaps be fairly gathered in the preceding sense, — ' parto laborem finias.' Peegis pugnantia secum Feontibus adveesis componeee : non ego, avartjm Cum veto te fieri, vappam jubeo ac kebulonem. Est intek Tanaim quiddam socerumque Viselli. Est modus in eebus ; sunt certi denique fines, Quos ultra citraque nequit consistere rectum. Ser. I. I. 102-7. The paraphrase of the first clause given by Orel- lius — '■'• Non desinis contraria ita componere ut e regi- one sibi opposita sint," [how otherwise could contraria be placed?], and the meaning assigned to the fourth verse — '•"Multum inter se differebant isti duo homines" fully exemplify the views adopted by even the best commentators. But whether they have not diverged as far from the true mean as the interrogator in the context, who could see nothing in the case but ex- tremes, is a point awaiting the reader's decision. The minor questions, viz., the immediate connex- ion of/roniz&MS adversis, and the conjectured character of the difference between the two obscure nonde- scripts named in the text, about which they have all principally concerned themselves, are utterly imma- 112 THE WOEKS OF HOEACE EXAMINED. terial to the main argument, whose bearing they have overlooked. The author's object is simplyand plainly to establish the bona fide ^osi\AYe existence of a mean between given extremes, which (to borrow a portion of Locke's description of Solidity) "would eternally hinder the approach of two" such being made, to its ovm exclusion. Thus the expression est quiddam in- ter is not a mode of conveying by litotes the notion multum differuntjhut is the assertion of this true mean; (the doubtfulness of an illustration in no wise con- cerning the certainty of the truth of the proposition itself: its suitability merely affects clearness): and accordingly the pretensions of the following simple paraphrase to supersede altogether, in this instance, the received notions, is submitted with some confi- dence. ' You proceed to place together, {componere, as if nothingintervened),thingswhose increasing proxi- mity infers an increasing [metaphorically expressed] repulsion. Jdo not {ego^ emphatic) so advise: there is a certain quiddam inter; in other words, est modus in rehus.^ This is the same principle which he else- where enunciates thus : " Virtus est medium vitiorum et utrinque reductura." Epis. I. xviii. 9. In the last clause the copulative que connects, not ultra and citra, but the two clauses that are merged in the elliptical form, namely — quos ultra nequit and quos citra nequit, &c., and may perhaps be rendered conveniently by ' as also;' and the whole clause translated — ' There are ultimately (denique, 817) fixed limits; beyond as also on the nearer side (that DETACHED PASSAGES OF THE SATIRES. 113 is, relatively to your character) of which propriety can find no abiding place.' The locus of all mode- ration is neither ultra nor citra, but intra^ fines. Com- pare ' quid referat intra naturae fines viventi, &c.' Supr. Omnibus hoc vitium est cahtoribus, inter amicos Ut nunquam inducant animum cantaee rogati, Injtjssi nunquam desistant. Sardus habebat Ille Tigellius hoc. C^sar, qui cogere posset, Si peteret per amicitiam patris atque suam, non quidquam proficeret : si collibuisset, ab ovo Usque ad mala iteraret* Io Bacche, modo summa Voce, modo hac resonat qu^ chordis quatuor ima. Nil jEquale homini fuit illi : s^pe velut qui Currebat fugiens hostem ; pers^pe velut qui junonis sacra ferret : alebat* s^pe ducentos, s-sipe decem servos : modo reges atque tetrarchas, Omnia magna loquens ; modo sit mihi mensa tripes, et Concha salis puri, et toga qu^e defendere frigus QUAMVIS crassa queat. Decies centena dedisses huic parco, faucis contento, quinque diebus Nil erat in loculis : noctes vigilabat ad ipsum Mane ; diem totum stertebat. Nil fuit unquam Sic impar sibi. Nunc aliquis dicat mihi, ' quid tu? NULLANE HABES VITIA ?' ImMO ALIA ET FORTASSE MINORA. Ser. I. III. 1-20. In these verses, whose bearing upon the context has been already discussed in a dijQferent relation, the * Dr. Bentley's grounds of preference for iteraret and alebat, H 114 THE WORKS OF HOKACE EXAMINED. author is supposed, by all his expositors, actually to ridicule, (as he appears to do), certain oddities of a class in general (cantores), and of one individual espe- cially. But it may be more than suspected that the real point of ridicule lies in a different direction, (while it must be admitted that Tigellius and simi- lar characters are in effect ridiculed here), and that a true vein of covert irony runs throughout this exordium. In this view it would be intended to ex- hibit indirectly a specimen of the littleness of the occa- sions which are sufficient to evoke the world's censo- rious strictures; and would correspond in rhetorical form with the well-known passage, " Sequor hunc, Lucanus an Appulus anceps," &c. See. II. i. 34-9. And as the poet, in the latter place, introduces with a sudden and informal appositeness an indirect sam- ple of certain peculiarities in the style of Lucilius, so, in that now before us, he may suppose himself, in the character of a worldly backbiter, to pour forth a torrent of voluble detraction, which at length ex- hausts itself in the final — '■nilfuit unquam sic impar sibi,' just as now-a-days we often hear a tirade of gossip ending with — ' Did you ever in your life hear such a piece of so and so !' The moral of all this however immediately follows in the sober — ' Nunc aliquis dicat mihi: Quid Tu? nuUane,' &c. Although it does not accord with the plan of these instead of the common citaret and habebat, are so strong, that it seems strange these latter readings should ever again have ap- peared, at least in British editions of any note. DETACHED PASSAGES OF THE SATIRES. 115 pages that much of their space should be occupied by introduction of text, yet the foregoing long extract is given in full, in order that the reader may examine it, clause by clause, in reference to this theory, and com- pare the difference of effect at each step between the former acceptation and that here proposed. It would also somewhat strengthen our position to imagine the foibles of several of his neighbours to pass in re- view through the field of the (supposed) censor's magnifier : and a consecutive review of all the clauses will enable the reader to judge whether any neces- sity exists for supposing, with the commentators, that Tigellius alone is alluded to throughout. Why should illi in verse 9 be identical with huic in verse 16, ex- ceptionally to general usage ? Or why must either represent Tigellius ? On the contrary, as the analogy furnished by the Preludes of both the preceding Sa- tires largely warrants the reader in giving the bene- fit of any doubt, which he may now feel, in favour of the supposition of several characters being in- tended, the extract has been here printed in subdi- visional paragraphs. It may be further observed, that as in this light the third paragraph will close with nearly the same reflection by which the second is introduced, the awkwardness is thus avoided of applying the same sentiment twice, within such a narrow compass, to the same instance. And the chief difference between this Prelude and the two others would lie in the fact, that whereas the nature of the H 2 116 THE WORKS OF HORACE EXAMINED. subject requires that those be understood directly, the sense and point of this seem to be not only sharp- ened but directed by an ironical acceptation. But another question yet remains. Is the Sardus Tigellius here spoken of the same with Hermogenes Tigellius who occurs elsewhere? On the one hand, it is exceedingly strange that two apparently noto- rious persons should have existed at the same time, so like in name, profession, skill, general character, and even particular obnoxiousness to Horace. On the other, ' the death of the singer Tigellius' appears to be recorded in the beginning of the Second Satire, and his social freaks are spoken of in the present Pre- lude as a thing that ' was :' whence Sanadon, Desprez, and Kirchner, have argued most seriously on the ne- cessity of supposing two Tigellii ; and the palpable expedient of imagining one of them to have been son, adopted-son, or even freedman of the other, has been duly resorted to. Yet mention oi Hermogenes, as a then existing first-class singer, occurs further on in the same composition, in the informal style of allu- sion which would naturally apply to a previously in- troduced character : and Smith's System of Classical Biography, a generally well-informed authority, takes no notice of the French theory; so that its adoption is not at all events a matter of course, as Milman and others seem to imagine. If we can now substitute a less for a more improbable conjecture, we shall have achieved the utmost that such a case admits, or would compensate. DETACHED PASSAGES OF THE SATIRES. 117 Let US just place together the few sentences which bear upon this point: 1. Ambubaiarum collegia, pharmacopolae, Mendici, mimse, balatrones, hoc genus omne Msestum ac soUicitum est cantons morte Tigelli ; Quippe benignus erat Ser. I. ii. 1-4. 2. The first pararagraph of the present heading. 3. Ut quamvis tacet Hermogenes, cantor tamen atque Optlmus est modulator Id. 129-30. This Hermogenes was notoriously named Tigel- lius, (" Fannius Hermogmis laedat conviva Tigelli." See. I. X. 80.): and it requires no very violent strain of fancy to suppose the silence of Hermo- genes, mentioned in No. 3 above, to be in some way connected with the fitful muteness ascribed to Tigellius in the beginning of the Satire. Slighter coincidences than this have ere now helped identi- fication. Now, if Tigellius, whose eminence in the musical profession and intimacy with the two Cse- sars are allowed on all hands, should, with the capri- ciousness of a spoiled favourite, have not only been accustomed to coquet with his convivial admirers, but should also have sullenly refused for some long period to gratify the public ear, the cantor Tigellius might be humourously supposed by a humourous writer to be in one sense defunct, while in another the taeens Hermogenes was still a veritable exponent of his power. The imaginary mourning of the corps dramatique, constituting probably his stock-com- pany, whose occupation for the time was ' gone,' 118 THE WORKS OF HORACE EXAMINED. and the treatment of his whimsicalities as a thing ' past and fled,' will hardly appear either very point- less, or impossibly outre, to any one who has read Swift's Death of Partridge : nor is every expression of a writer like Horace to be set down as spoken in sober earnest unless he himself apprizes us that he jests. But however this may be judged of, the reader will please to bear in mind, that the weight of the conjecture, if any, is on the side of simplification of a real though unimportant perplexity. In the answer which the author supposes to be rendered to the question — ' Quid tu? NuUane,' &c., the reading et, as distinguished from Aldus Manu- tius's ' haudl has the unquestionable sanction of the MSS.; and yet the sentiment is enfeebled by it, whe- ther we suppose the reply to proceed from Horace directly, or from the character which we have ima- gined him to assume for the moment. This may perhaps be relieved by understanding et to be taken in sole connexion with /ortosse, and including both in parenthesis; when the sense would run — 'yes, others {and tis a chance if) of less magnitude.' But query without this refinement, may not minora mean more paltry, more petty — of a lower grade? And it must be admitted that some of the faults brought forward in the preceding verses are somewhat childish. This would certainly be an undignified confession, if understood, in the usual way, as the direct reply of him who is about to lecture so gravely upon morals, (although perhaps not more undignified than some DETACHED PASSAGES OF THE SATIRES. 119 of the previous strictures commonly attributed to Horace propria persona) : but taken as a suggestion of what must be the answer of the backbiter if he speaks truly, it harmonizes well with our previous theory. And be it observed that Kirchner does in fact regard the sentence, not as uttered by the party in- terrogated, but as ironically suggested by the ques- tioner. This is important even although he does so evidently in order to cover the difficulty of the non- adversative et, which we have just now endeavoured to remove by a more simple process: for while the objections which Orellius makes to the extent to which he pushes his supposition are undoubtedly valid, still the name of such an acute critic as Kirch- ner must mitigate one of the counts, at all events, of the indictment for innovation which is probably by this time beginning to swell to a monster compass against us. MiENIUS ABSEMEM NoVIUM CUM CARPEaET, ' HeUS TU,' quidam ait, ' ignoras te ? an ut ignotum dare nobis Verba putas ?' ' Egomet mi ignosco,' M^nius inquit. Ser. I. III. 21-3. A VERY pointless reply of Msenius, as generally un- derstood, and irrelevant withal. But if it be true that ' gentle dulness ever loves a joke,' perhaps it will here gently permit itself to be converted into one. Let us now suppose the following dialogue: — 120 THE WORKS OF HORACE EXAMINED. Ques. ' Ignoras te?' Ans. ' Ig-nosco ml.' Ques. ' An ut ignotum nobis,' &c. ? Ans. (may be supposed) ' Ignotum est ml.' Msenius admits the soft impeach- ment of being a practical stranger to the adage ' rvw6i (TeavTov,' in terms which imply a jestingly complacent ignoring of his own faults. Though ig- notus in the latter sense could not be applied to a person^ (and therefore, instead of ' Ignotus sum mV, an impersonal form is here employed, as in Ter. Adel. III. 4. 28. — " Ignotum est, creditum est," &c.), yet the common participial form is used by Hirtius, (a respectable classical writer, and thesamewho even- tually became one of the two last of the Roman Repub- lican Consuls, properly so called), in Bell. Gall. 31 . . . " tamen saBpease(JulioC£esare) fugatis, pulsis, perterritisque et vitam concessam, et ignota peccata," &c. Some puns are so exceedingly bad that they amuse as much as the best; though from a different cause. And thus the jest here would inevitably re- coil upon Mfenius himself, and all such characters as he represents. Nam VITUS nemo sine nascitite : optimus ille est Qui minimis uegetur See. I. III. 68-9. The singularly meagre sentiment which general con- sent attributes, by an unaccountable oversight, to the latter member of the above sentence, is held over for DETACHED PASSAGES OF THE SATIRES. 121 examination in Section IV., which shall be reserved exclusively for the discussion of a certain class of propositions to which this seems to belong. Lest however the reader may too hastily imagine that there cannot be anything very particular in the case, it is desirable that he should here just consider for a moment what it is that the usual version of the pas- sage exactly means — " He is best who is cumbered by least faults" — that is — ' Every man is in propor- tion better than if he were worse.' Is this a senti- ment worthy of a Roman poet-philosopher? At the lowest estimate, is it in keeping with the plain prac- tical good sense of Horace? It is probable, on the contrary, that there is no reader who, when his at- tention has been once called to the place, would not desire to see the sense otherwise vindicated, and par-r ticularly if this can be effected without any strain of text or context. But whether such hope can be re- alized must for the present remain a depending issue. Paultjm dkliquit amicus, (q0od nisi concedas habeake insdavis, acerbus,) -i (Quod nisi concedas habeare insuavis), acerbus j Odisti et fugis, ut Rusonem debitor ^ris : Ser. I. III. 84-6. While it must be granted that some of the commen- tators have much assisted an unembarrassed con- struction by suggesting the parenthetic relation of * 122 THE WORKS OF HOBACE EXAMINED. the clause which is accordingly so printed here, yet a like measure of approbation is not due to their invariable exposition of its meaning, which is thus paraphrased by Orellius, speaking with the general voice — " Quod nisi condones et ignoscas, merito te omnes nominabunt intractabilem et morosum." — The phrase ' to forgive a fault' is susceptible (inde- pendently of any particular language) of either a literal or a figurative acceptation. In the former, sense, the relation of a person to (or in favour of) whom the mental action passes must, to complete the sense, be likewise expressed; and for this the Latin language has duly provided in such phrases as ' con- cedere alicui peccata,' Cic. &c. : in the latter the fault itself is (for compendium) personified^ and its repre- sentative word must therefore appear in the case-form of the person- word, as in the expression ' concedere peccatis,' Cic. &c. This rule is not the dictum of an individual, but the sum of the principles derivable from the whole examples given in such cases ; and is manifestly founded in most natural associations. With it, however, the preceding paraphrase of our parenthesis is wholly inconsistent. No example whatsoever occurs of the omission of the oblique case-form of the person-word where the ' fault' im- plied is the literal object of the action : still less, if possible, of its not assuming the person-case, (asset- tied by the rule in that instance provided), if its re- lation to the verb be figurative. Therefore, ' quod concedere,' in the sense of to pardon which, must, in DETACHED PASSAGES OF THE SATIRES. 123 any view, be a solecism. Concedere here means sim- ply to grant : and quod plainly refers to the point raised in the preceding paulum, and which exactly involves the question in debate. The parenthesis should be translated — (" which [that is, the possi- bility of the supposition ' paulum deliquit'] unless you grant," &c. ) Contrast the use of the given verb by our author in a passage of the next Satire : where moreover he appears to play upon different significa- tions of the word — . . . Hoc est mediocribus illis Ex vitiis unurn, cui si concedere noles, . cogemus [te] in banc concedere turbam. 139-43. [Conspersit] lectum potus, mensave catillum evandei manibus tritum dejbcit ; ob hanc rem, aut positum ante mea quia pullum in parte catini sustulit esuriens, minus hoc jucundus amicus Sit mihi? quid faciam si furtum fecerit, aut si Prodiderit commissa fide, sponsumve negarit ? See. I. III. 90-5. Has any commentator ever seriously asked himself, whether a state of decent society is even conceivable in imagination, in which a party conducting himself as above stated should not be esteemed, at the very least, a '■minus jucundus amicus' ? To such a conception we may truly say, in the words of the Satire itself, ' sen- 124 THE WORKS OF HORACE EXAMINED. sus moresque repugnant, atque ipsa utilitas.' Were the expression of Horace * minus dilectus^ ' minus sincerus,' &c., an intelligible, but still a very unin- structive, meaning would be supplied; hut minus ju- cundus, — alas, that common sense should so easily vanish before the flourish of a copyist's pen! It will be granted that no form of clerical mark is more likely to thrust itself intrusively into MSS. than the note of interrogation. It resembles in shape both the caudal dash, ' which so gracefully curls' by mere motu of the ' ornamental' penman, and the experimental crescent which he oft indites on an old or soiled mar- gin, ' to prove his weapon's point.' To such origin, or to some equally surreptitious title, the presence of the former of the two marks of this kind which appear in the text would seem necessarily ascribable : for by erasure of it an argument becomes at once clear and consistent which is otherwise unnatural and ridiculous. The author had just previously laid down the doctrine that the restraint and discourage- ment of the faults inherent in human nature, by pro- portionate processes, and not the chimerical project of their eradication., should be the aim of the moral reformer. In practical illustration of the different operation of the two systems he then observes to the Stoic, — ' If your friend paulum deliquit, the conse- quence is odisti etfugis. If mine so transgresses, (as suppose, &c.), my sentence upon him is, '■minus hoc jucundus amicus sit mihi:' — hoc being the ratio of de- linquency. But lest it should be imagined that this DETACHED PASSAGES OF THE SATIRES. 125 equable forbearance with superficial faults would have a necessary tendency to degenerate into a criminal weakness or complicity, he adds forcibly, if not tri- umphantly, the closing question, which requires no answer to be supplied. As if he had said — ' But in the case of moral delinquency should you not see whether I could not vindicate the dignity of (in this instance, really) outraged friendship' ? One almost feels here as though an innocent prisoner had been set free, by the removal of the above crooked ob- struction. There is no necessity for understanding^afe, in the last verse, as an obsolete case-form. The phrase com- missafide may be very well rendered — ' things (of any kind) intrusted in honourable reliance' (whether positively or impliedly) to a friend's guardianship.* Nam dt ferula c^das meritum majora subike VeRBERA, HON VEREOR Ser. I. in. 120-1. Any person who has not been constrained in some way by the rigour of scholastic requirement to wade through the intricate disquisitions which this little sentence has originated, will scarcely believe that the subjoined analysis can be either intended for, or adapted to, any purpose of simplification. But when it is stated that such names as Bauer, Jahn, Grote- fend, Orellius, Heindorf, &c., figure in the contro- * See note at foot of pages 103-104. 126 THE WORKS OF HORACE EXAMINED. versy, it may be fairly granted that ' quicquid id est, non temere est.' The causa belli is that while the com- mentators generally maintain that the expression ' non vereor ut' must, according to the rules of Latinity, mean, ' I do not fear you will not,' and that this is exactly the reverse of what the argument evidently requires (both which statements are plainly reason- able), they have so multiplied hazardous conjectures and conflicting principles, that no two of them can be found to agree as to the best mode of disen- tangling the sense. But perhaps, after all, it may be rendered probable, or not very improbable, that no real difficulty exists in the case : and that with- out any disparagement being intended to those to whom the author of these pages is as much indebted as others for the most of what he may happen to know of Horace. The arguments, in every view, assume that if ' vereor ut facias' would mean ' I fear you may not do,' (and this must be admitted), ' non vereor ut facias' must mean ' / don't fear you may not do.' Now, this is by no means certain. On the contrary, the only passage which the most eminent philologists adduce of wif being so constructed with non veror is a case where the action depending on ut is desired by the party speaking (and we shall see hereafter how important is this distinction), — " ne verendum qui- dem est ut tenere se possit, ut moderari, ne honoribus nostris elatus intemperantius suis opibus utatur." Cic. Phil. v. 18. — whereas, in the present case, the DETACHED PASSAGES OF THE SATIRES. 127 action denoted in ' ut ferula csedas meritum majora! cannot be so understood ; for the awarding of too light punishments is as adverse to the equity which is pleaded for in the context, as the infliction of too severe. Proofs of usage, and not abstract reason- ings, are the proper tests of the import of idiomatic phrases such as that before us is assumed to be. Nor will any argument founded on a true basis of verbal analogy justify the establishment of an idiom on supposition from the admitted existence of any other, however nearly approaching in diction. The very nature, and oven the name of such phrases, implies that a separate especial ground of inter- pretation must be shown for the assignment of their separate significations. No one will argue from the known signification of '■ jubeo Chremetem,' that ' non vappam jubeo ac nebulonem' could mean ' I do not salute you as so and so.' And why ? Because, 1st, the language afibrds no corresponding negative idiom; and 2nd, if it did, there is enough in the context to disprove its use in this particular instance. Now, it would be only in virtue of an idiomatic license that the phrase in our text could convey a sense so inde- pendent of the mere wording as that which the com- mentators assign to it. If, therefore, there be no independent proof of the existence of such idiom, we are at once enabled to interpret the passage by the obvious import of the words there employed — '/ do not apprehend that you may,' &c. : and it may be a question whether, even if the idiom were proved to 128 THE WORKS OF HOEACE EXAMINED. exist by the solitary example quoted, we would not be called upon to waive its application here in favour of the ordinary meaning of the terms themselves. But not only is no evidence in favour of it derivable from the researches of Gesner, Facciolatus, Forcel- linus, Ainsworth, or Scheller, but the frequent oc- currence of a different form for expressing the sense assigned by commentators to the given clause must be taken as strong evidence against the admissibility of this, seeing that its own independent ground is in- firm and disputable. And that form is simply ' non — ne — non- as — " non quo verear ne tua virtus opi- nioni hominum ?2ora respondeat:" Cic. ad Fam.II. 5. It maybe observed in general, that where apprehen- sion as to an event is affirmed or denied, such state- ment may refer either to the event itself as " culpari metuit fides," or to the probability or improbability of such occurring, in which instance its reference to the event is secondary. The due conveyance of these no- tions through the medium of the Latin Language has proved a fruitful source of dispute amongst philolo- gists, in the shape of an inquiry as to the proper clas- sical construction of the verbs vereor, metuo,a.nd timeo, with the particles ut, ne, &c., &c. And the following exposition is founded on the hope, that if an attempt to reduce the various modes of thought involved to a few simple principles, tabularly expressible, should here prove even so far successful as to lay a founda- tion for better development, much would be gained to the cause of clearness and simplicity. BET ACHED PASSAGES OF THE SATIRES. 129 However diflferent may be the notions conveyed by the separate terms vereor, metuo, and timeo, as re- gards the character of the apprehension itself, the grammatical effect of each upon the sequel is the same : and they may all be fairly represented by the English term ' fear.' As these verbs exceed simple anticipation in their meaning, so indifferent events are excluded : and thus another element, namely the fact of the event itself being desirable or undesirable, is proper and necessary to the case. Accordingly three notions are included in all such expressions: — 1st. — the presence or absence of fear of — 2nd — the occurrence or non-occurrence of a future event which the principal agent regards as — 3rd — desirable or unde- sirable. These notions are, of course, only limitedly compatible. But as a clear conception of the avail* able associations may be assisted by their compa- rison with those that are not so, the following synopsis gives all possible trinary combinations of arbitrary representative marks of both, which for brevity we shall call modes, noting those in which the notions could not themselves co-exist by [f ], and particularizing useless modes thus [*]. In the selec- tion of corresponding verbal exiamples, all varieties that depend for their existence on disputed readings are omitted, as belonging to a portion of the contro- versy both uninteresting and indeterminate. And thus the reader may confine his attention to the ap- plicability of the proofs, without being embarrassed by any feeling of insecurity as to their reality. I 130 THE WORKS OF HORACE EXAMINED. ^^ a > CQ ^ m o a K o 63 O « « § o 5 Sn C3 0} *^ m <^ 9 8 ho "... 03 CI S "^ S 3 S s § § S S " s ■noissajdxa JO BOUO^ •s »-» I '2 00 £ on J ■3 5 OS ^ S 3 .S s O iH n^ o £ ° I I I I si; »; s s" a. S" ss; -a; DETACHED PASSAGES OF THE SATIRES. 131 The junior reader may find his discrimination as- sisted by following out the subjoined easily verified results. If y be taken for the desirableness ofp orp', and y for the reverse, it is evident that, in the four modes which include p, y may be substituted for x^ and 2/ for x\ the same character of mode being pre- served; and that a vice versa process would merely cause the modes severally to interchange places with one another, the whole result being as before. But where p' occurs, if we supply x by y, and x' by y', we shall have new modes, which are all, however, reducible to previous expressions: thus — (t) {m, p, y) = {m, p, x) (»«. p, y) = (»», p, x) {rn,p\y')= (m, p, x) (*) ('w'.p'.y) = (.«»', p',«') The inverse substitution would obviously cause nothing beyond a transposition in order. Thus every possible concurrence of notions in such like case is so far provided for. And all this will hold equally good in instances of substitution of tantamount terms, such as of ut non for ne, &c., &c. From the scale exhibited on the opposite page, it would appear that Professor Zumpt's canon requires some modification. That eminent authority lays down the rule that ne should be used " when it is wished that something should not happen ;" ut "when it is wished that something should take place;" and that " these same verbs are followed by the infinitive i2 132 THE WOEKS OF HORACE EXAMINED. when they express only a state of mind, without im- plying any wish either the one way or the other, as vereor dieere." This last case is sufficiently noticed by mere allu- sion to it, as in page 128. Upon the other rules it must be remarked, 1st, That they leave the very question raised in this controversy wholly unprovided for, and even untouched. 2nd, That, if our present view of the given text be correct, the rule as regards ut is not universally true. 3rd, That the circum- stance of negative cases in general being no otherwise adjusted, than so far as we may infer that the " some- thing which it is wished should not happen" may itself be the non-occurrence of an event, is insufficient for purposes of clearness. 4th, That a consequence of this latter defect, together with the absence of all account of the principle of the distinction specified, is, that a student might suppose it a matter of indifference in any case whether he wrote ^vereor utliceat,' or ^vereor ne non liceat; and yet in the strictest obedience to a rule of grammar, which the professor makes manda- tory, he might violate a rule of taste, which usage stamps with a sanction equal to that of other under- stood, though undefined, verbal courtesies of life. And this brings us to the principle of the distinction between the use of ut and ne, which appears to be — that tendency to euphemism which is almost involuntary in speech. Thus, in English, we say — ' I fear as to its being probable,' instead of the harsher ' I fear lest it he not probable.' But who shall base on this a rule DETACHED PASSAGES OF THE SATIRES. 1^3 of grammar ? Or how could a rule of grammar, based in any way, b'e brought to bear upon the proprieties of such a case ? No doubt, while correct taste would not be violated by a party saying respecting himself, * verebamini ne non id facerem quod recepissem se- mel ?' the parties addressed would be represented as expressing to him such a fear, by ' veremur ut facias,' &c. ; and again, while Horace makes the seer convey his apprehension to the person concerned by ' puer, ut sis vitalis metuo,' the other might properly express the same sentiment as his own question thus, ' metuis ne non sim vitalis ?' Hence the more frequent use of ne, and ne non, with m'. Understood with these limitations the rules of Pro- fessor Zumpt are in the main included throughout the more copious particulars which the scale laid down in page 130 supplies. But it will be necessary to con- fine his canon respecting the construction of ut to certain idiomatic uses, by taking the given text out of the range of which we have reduced the meaning of the sentence to the result of the mere grammatical combination of the meanings of its actual words. It is satisfactory, in confirmation of the present view, that the fastidious Bentle j found no fault in the given passage, which he must therefore have received in that simplicity of construction to which the present effort seeks to restore it : and that may be very sim- ple in itself which requires a complex vindication. 134 THE WOEKS OF HOEACE EXAMINED. NON NOSTI QUID PATKR, INftUIT, Chrysippus dicat : sapiens crepidas sibi nunquam NeC SOLEAS fecit ; SUTOR TAMEN EST SAPIENS. Ser. I. III. 126-8. Not even the unstinted communicativeness of Dio- genes Laertius supplies us with any dogma or saying of Chrysippus which in reason could have directly provoked the preceding parody. But it may be supposed to have been to the effect, that ' although the " wise man" may have never worn a crown, nor held a sceptre, yet the " wise man" is truly a king, be- cause he rules himself' This receives confirmation from another place where our author uses the words, " Sapiens, sibi qpiimperiosus." — See. II. vii. 83. Plu- tarch, in his Treatise Trepl ev6v/j.ias, gives incidentally a very comprehensive summary of the Stoical pre- tensions as popularly understood — ""Evioi tow fiev SratiVou? olovtui Ttai^etv, orav aKovamai rov aof^ov -nap avToii firi ixovov (jjpovifiov kuI lUaiov kol avhpeTov, aWa Kal p'TjTopa KOI arpaTVf^ov kol -noiifjTtjv koi TcKovffiov xal jSao-jAea Trpoaaiyopevofievov, avrovi Se itavTWv a^iovai TOVTOiv, Kav fxv} Tvy')(avw(Tiv, aviwvrai, A brief attempt to simplify the real bearing and origin of these extraordinary claims, and in part to vindicate Stoical principle from the misconception to which the aspirings of an ambitious but necessa- rily imperfect conformity in practice exposed it, is reserved for the next article. DETACHED PASSAGES OF THE SATIRES. 135 Vellunt tibi bakbam Lascivi pueri ; quos tu hi fuste coeeces Privatusque magis vivam te eege beatus. See. I. III. 133-42. Where the verb carries its own subject implied in its termination, as in the first and second persons, or where the context supplies it to the third, a per- sonal pronoun is never employed by classical writers to represent the subject, save emphatically or dis- tinctively. The point (certainly a small one) which this canon here suggests is, that the phrase ' ni fuste coerces^ is borrowed from that which intro- duces the discussion, a mode of closing upon the original question very familiar with Horace. As if he had said jestingly — ' Well, whatever be the true " regula" by which " ratio delicta coercet" it is plain that " TtJ ni pueros fuste coerces," &c.' More advan- tageous instances of the force of such use of personal pronouns by our author are furnished in the follow- ing quotations — . . " *Non ego pauperum Sanguis parentum non ego quem vocas Dilecte Maecenas obibo ;" &c. Carm. ii. xx. 5-7. " Non ego me claro natum patre, non ego circum Me Satureiano vectari rura caballo," &c. Seb. I. VI. 58-9. * The punctuation of this stanza is so much disputed, and is after all so purely a question of taste, and so immaterial to the purposes of the introduction of the passage here, that it is left above to the reader's discretion. 136 THE WORKS OF HORACE EXAMINED. " Ille non, inclusus equo Minervse Sacra mentito, male feriatos Troas et Isetam Priami choreis Falleret aulam." Cabm. IV. vi. 13-6. Here it is well worthy the reader's attention to ob- serve how admirably the emotions oi pride, ingenu- ousness, and scorn, are respectively sustained by mere introduction of a personal pronoun, which by itself is of course wholly Mwsignificant of such feelings. In negative instances the difference caused by the relative positions of the pronoun and negative ad- verb appears to consist in this — that where the nega- tive precedes, the character of the action or event is contrasted with what it might have been supposed to be in the same subject: where the pronoun precedes, the character of the agent himself or subject is con- trasted with that of another agent or subject. For instance, in the first and second of the above exam- ples, Horace contrasts a certain condition and conduct on his own part with what might otherwise be sup- posed to appertain to him: in the third Achilles is contrasted with others. And all this is done by judi- cious management of a personal pronoun combined with the common negative adverb. The last ten verses of the Third Satire (supposed to be here quoted), require some notice to connect them with the previous argument in their full signi- ficance. In these the author abandons the profess- ing Stoic to two ludicrous practical consequences of his unsocial doctrines; the scene being laid m can'ca- DETACHED PASSAGES OF THE SATIEES. 137 tures taken, one from the pains of life, another from its pleasures. In the former, he observes, ' vdlunt tibi barham lascivi pueri: now, thesefustecoej'cere you cannot, for this would be to admit my principle ; and horribili sectari flagello you dare not, for society will not tolerate your's: thus nature's only resource is a helpless outcry of anger and agony ! In the latter, even while enjoying one of the few poor pleasures which alone your system affords, solitude is your por- tion: for as vitiis nemo sine nascitur, and as you there- fore amicos odisti etfugis, the limited number of the sapientes will only afford your majesty one stipator; and if he be not stultus, he is worse, i. e. ineptus !' Having now enjoyed with Horace our laugh at his fancy sketch of a moral reformer-general, as, in the ill-assorted dress of pride and poverty, he is supposed to rebuke the ancient world, it may be well to guard the junior reader against an error which is very pre- valent amongst his class, namely, that of inferring en- tire mistake in theory from such glaring practical mis- carriage, and of assuming that the Stoical principles were themselves as necessarily absurd as the conduct of their professors was avowedly eccentric. Such an estimate would ill appreciate the severe views of a Zeno, a Cleanthes, and even of Socrates himself, whose doctrines entered largely into their system. The Stoics in truth made a more approximate effort at reasoning out some of the essential truths which have since been clearly and authoritatively confirmed to us by an express revelation than any of their contem- 138 THE WORKS OF HOEACE EXAMINED. porary investigators of the moral phenomena of hu- man nature. And as some of the most remarkable historical facts of the primitive physical world are re- coverable from the mass of superstition which consti- tutes mythological tradition — (the record of the uni- versal Deluge, and the Dispersion from the plains of Shinar, for instance, being traceable in fabulous re- gions under the guise of ' The Flood of Ogyges,' and ■ The Defeat of the Titans,') — so the true ethical history of man likewise deposited some relics in the archives of Time which were never wholly lost. Thus in the ' wise man' of the Stoics we behold a shadowy reflection of that ' finitely perfect' being which we now know that man in fact originally was ; and in their ' laa ra afmfnrjuaTa we decipher the distorted elements of a lesson since taught us by the unerring record, namely, that even one, the least transgression, is sufficient to degrade from that high and holy state. Naturally unable to solve beforehand the mystic pro- blem of man's regeneration (now so accommodated to every capacity by the marvellous simplicity of the account vouchsafed to us, that even the child can lisp , its accomplishment), and yet discerning evidences of a higher attainment being suitable to his spiritual na- ture than he commonly proposes to himself, they were fain to essay the impracticable achievement of so pu- rifying the heart and mind by a process of self-recti- fication that man might thereby approximate to the full dignity of ' the just made perfect.' It does not appear that the founder, or any genuine disciple of the DETACHED PASSAGES OF THE SATIRES. 139 Philosophy of the Porch, ever assumed to resemble that paragon of rectitude which their visionary arche- type ideally personified ; and their ' I'aa to. KaropBw- fxara is a direct abnegation of all claim to cumulative desert. But that such a profession as it was neces- sary for the Stoic to maintain would have a natural tendency to represent even the most conscientious and judicious sage of that sect as an uncharitable and self-righteous ascetic, while in the person of the weak- minded or insincere follower it would be inevitably likely to degenerate into ridiculous arrogance and practical absurdity, is sufficiently evident. To this latter case the strictures of Horace chiefly apply. It is not pretended here, however, that he probably held their highest principles in much veneration. And it must have been a task to which he was constitution- ally ill adapted, to ascertain and estimate what of good their system actually included, amid the asperi- ties of controversy which often cause the best men to overstate their own case, the misrepresentations of enemies, and the shortcomings and hypocrisy of many nominal adherents. But in whatever degree the ridicule of Horace, or of any other objector tinged with Epicurean or Cyrenaic predilections, is directed against the stern ethical views of Stoicism, the consi- derations above suggested would appear fairly enti- tled to be taken into account. Upon the precise verbal form of the leading dog- mas of the Stoical system it may be remarked, that the pamphlet by Cicero, called the Paradqxa, and 140 THE WORKS OF HORACE EXAMINED. addressed to Marcus Brutus, furnishes a more suc- cinct view of those which are alluded to throughout this Satire, than any that can be derived from the quotations from Stobseus found in Orellius. These latter indeed are mere paraphrases, lacking altogether the sententiousness of aphorisms. On this account, the six " paradoxes" which Cicero discusses, and which may therefore be supposed to be given in the form most familiar to Eoman eyes, are here subjoined in their order of precedence in his pamphlet. 1. Ort fiovov ayaOov, to kuXov. 2. Ort aiiTapKrig ij aperrj irpoe svSai/ioviav. 3. 'On '/(TO TO afiapTrjfiara, koi to. KaropBdyfiara. 4. ' Ort iravTig ol fxuipoi fialvovrai. 5. "On iravTSQ ol aoipoX iXsvOtpoi, iravng Se (ib)po\ SovXoi. 6. "Ort fiovoQ 6 cTOipoQ TrXovmoQ. A sketch of Cicero's general view of these prin- ciples, in his own words, may fitly close the present observations. " Ego vero ilia ipsa, quse vix in gymnasiis, et in otio Stoici probant, ludens conjeci in communes lo- cos: qu^ quia sunt admirabilia contraque opinionem omnium, ab ipsis etiam vapaSo^a appellantur. Ten- tare \olm possentne prceferri in lucem, id est in forum; et ita did ut probarentur : an alia qusedam esset eru- dita, alia popularis oratio : eoque scripsi libentius, quod mihi ista -napalo^a qu^ce appellant masAme viden- tur esse Socratica, longeque verissima." — Par. Lib. ad M. Brut. DETACHED PASSAGES OP THE SATIRES. 141 HOC MIHI JUEIS Cum venia dabis . . . See. I. iv. 104-5. The dicta of the highest authorities tend to regard the governmental form which subjects the genitive of a substantive of any gender to an adjective or pronoun of the neuter, as convertible into a concord of the same terms, so far as the notion jointly con- veyed is concerned. Thus for instance, Professor Zumpt distinctly lays down that " exiguum campi" is equivalent to exiguus campus, " ultimum inopice," to ultima inopia, &c. And he thus seems to take neu- ters out of the general category which he had pre- viously established respecting partitives in general. The able adaptation of Kiihner's Work to the highest requirements of Greek scholars in these countries, known as ' Jelf 's Greek Grammar,' more philosophi- cally considers this as one of several instances in which " the substantive is put in the attributive geni- tive," thus defining the adjectival notion instead of being defined by it, as would occur in the instance of a true concord. This latter is a satisfactory account, so far as it goes : nor can any reasonable objection lie against extending to the whole class Professor Zumpt's statement of the mere syntactical qualifica- tion of neuter adjectives and pronouns for governing in this instance, viz. — " first, because in meaning they have become substantives ; second, because they ex- press a part of the whole." But with all due defe- 142 THE WORKS OP HORACE EXAMINED. rence to these authorities, (and none more eminent exist in any country), they have dealt too vaguely with the principle of this construction. For this ' attributive' genitive must exercise naturally a more restrictive force upon the extension of the adjectival term taken substantively, from the circumstance of its case-form necessarily expressing inclusiveness of it, and must thus mark it out more prominently as be- ing but a part of the whole, than any defining power of the adjectival notion operating upon the substan- tival by concord could exert. Thus ' exiguum cam- pi' conveys a much more specific notion than ' exiguus campus ;' or lest it be supposed that the latter ex- pression being equivocal may affect this more than it really does, the " kuto, tovto xaipov" of Thucy- dides (vii. 2) fixes a stated point in time, which Kara Tovrov Kaipov would have left comparatively indeter- minate; the " satis eloquentiae" of Sallust still inti- mates a shortcoming in the accomplishment; the " (fiWTwv affKimv iKT^pia" of Sophocles (CEd. Col. 923) is a plea of privilege which excludes the obdurate and unbending of the a.6\ioi ; the " dppa ■napvflloi" of Euripides (Phcen. 1500) suggests to the imagination points of delicacy and beauty diversifying a fair sur- face; the " Lydorum quidquidJ' (See. I. vi. 1) of our own author is intended to imply emphatically each and every individual included in the extension of the universal term ; while the force of such forms as " opaca locorum" " vilia rerum," plainly lies in the selection implied. DETACHED PASSAGES OP THE SATIRES. 143 That the principle just stated is as much the true distinctive characteristic of such cases as Professor Zumpt would admit it to be in the instance of express partitives and numerals, appears to be demonstrable by a very simple proof; namely — that when the ad- jectival term taken substantively would represent the ab- stract ' whole' this peculiar construction is not found, anymore than if it were a summation of individuals. Accordingly such combinations as totum mundi, vir- tutis, armorum, irav or SKov (with or without to) tov KoafjLov, Ttjs apervji^ rwv ottXwj/, at once strike the ear and eye of the reader as unfamiliar expressions. And why? Obviously because a statement of the ' whole' including itself could not possess any distinctiveness of notion beyond what an ordinary concord would be fitted to convey. It might indeed at first sight appear that the general canon, which the before-men- tioned authorities have partially propounded, is in- consistent with the " omnibus Macedonum" of Livy, and the " cuncta terrarum" of our own author. But on examination it will appear that these are exceptions which truly prove the present rule in its most ex- tended sense. For by such plural forms the attention is rather distributed over the several parts, as such, that constitute the whole, than fixed upon the aggre- gate which they complete : and so " cuncta terrarum subacta, prceter atrocem animum Catonis" (Carm., IL I. 23-4) poetically contrasts multiplied instances of (real) success with one solitary (figurative) failure; but does not extol the magnitude of their amount 144 THE WORKS OF HORACE EXAMINED. above any smallness appertaining to the individual exception. The original adjectives and pronouns of the neuter gender that, in the Latin language, ' govern the genitive,' as the scholastic phrase is, seem to be reducible to two very distinct classes. First — Those which in themselves express a relation of quantity to the whole of which they are a part, thus holding a position relatively to it somewhat resem- bling that of numerator to denominator in a proper fraction: such are multum^ paidu7n,niinium,ei,dYeThs of quantity, comparatives and superlatives in general, diminutives, and the negative nihil. These and all such we would naturally suppose included under Zumpt's rule as to partitives in general, were it not for his statement respecting '■exiguum campi! Second — Those which, implying still the relation of part to whole, do not in their proper signification convey any note of quantity, but nevertheless belong as strictly to the rule as the former: such are hoc, id, illud, istud, aliud, tantum and quantum with their compounds, quid and quod with compounds, and adverbs expres- sive oi points in time or space. The value of each of the former is directly as its own meaning. The lat- ter, with the exception of the last subdivision of them, depend upon the context, and may range in any de- gree between maxima and minima; thus — " Quid hoc, Tarquini, reiest?" i. e. ' "What is this monstrous piece of conduct?' — Liv. i. 48. "Hoc wAn juris" &c., i. e. ' You shall grant me this much (this slight boon) of DETACHED PASSAGES OF THE SATIRES. 145 privilege.' See text above. " Saguntum ut caperetur quidTpex octo menses periculi, guid laboris exhaustum est?" i. e. ' What a vast amount of danger and toil?' &c. — Liv. XXI. 30. " Quid causce est merito quin illis," &c.? i. e. ' What shadow of ground exists,' &c. ? Ser. 1. 1. 20. In each of these instances Zumpt would evidently consider a concord form to be merely a vari- ation of expression. Of course the difference between ultima inopia and ultimum inopice,extremumpericulum and extremum periculi^ is not greater than in the English language is suggested by the expressions ' utmost want or danger,' and ' extremity of want or danger.' But that philologists have overlooked the necessity of an essential difference appertaining more or less to all instances of tlie governmental construc- tion, would appear to derive further confirmation from the circumstance that in cases where a concord form is employed instead of it, as in ' summa domus,' i. e. 'the top oj" the house,' ' vere primo,' i. e. in the begin- ning of spring,' &c., &c., the construction is so artifi- cial as to be regarded even as ornamental: and this mode of expression has itself, no doubt, arisen from the natural tendency to assimilation which has been elsewhere in these pages called the principle of As- sociation, and to which some other forms of speech are there sought to be reduced. The bearing of the Greek parallel throughout will readily suggest itself to the minds of readers. Professor Zumpt further remarks: " It is however to be observed, that these neuters are used as sub- K 146 THE WORKS or HORACE EXAMINED. stantives only in the nominative and accusative, and that they must not be dependent upon prepositions." Also, " Only adjectives of the second declension can be treated as substantives." And again, " Poets and prose writers later than Cicero use the neuters of ad- jectives in general, both in the singular and plural, as substantives, and join them with a genitive." No disrespect towards one to whom every scholar stands deeply indebted will, it is hoped, be thought to attach to a protest against thus accumulating rules without assigning principles, and including under a common exception as well cases for which a reason may be rendered, as those that are most probably due to accidental circumstance. In the case of supposed idioms, as has been before said, the absence of proof of use is conclusive. But in what may be called open questions it is rather a slen- der foundation for peremptory rules. The limitation to the nominative and accusative cases indeed may be accounted for from the circumstance of the neuter being in these instances alone demonstrably marked out as such. And the transition of usage mentioned in the last clause may be worth knowing as a fact. But the excluding of adjectives of the third declension may, for anything that appears to the contrary, be merely tantamount to stating that such partitives as have been specified happen to belong to the second. Nor is it easy to conceive on what principle the disqualification of prepositions rests. Why should not a writer of Latin composition now-a-days express, DETACHED PASSAGES OF THE SATIEES. 147 for instance, the phrase — ' after enjoying a little rest' — by ^ post paulum quietis delibatum'? Or why should he not combine the words of our text, if con- venient, with a preposition, thus — '■propter hoc juris,' suppose? Such a rule is at least contrary to analogy : nor is the instance of " ad id locorum" in Sallust rea- dily removed by regarding with Zumpt the genitive as simply superfluous. But our pages are forgetting their subordination to the Title-page : and must be recalled to their pro- per duty, the illustration of particular Latin Text. . . . Mali culices ran^que palustres avebtunt somnos ; absentem ut cantat amicam multa pk.oi-utus vappa nauta, atciue viator Certatim: tandem fesstjs dormire viator InCIPIT : AC MISSiE pastum retinacula mul^ Nauta piger saxo religat, stertitque supinus. Ser. I. V. 14-9. "Hoc est, UT, sive dum cantat nauta, et viator arnicas" &c. Such is Dr. Bentley's summary mode of dis- posing of the ' difficulty' said to belong here to the construction of ut: nor does any other seem to the commentators more feasible. But fact is unyielding : and it is a fact, that either all the standard lexico- graphers are wrong in not assigning the meaning ' while' in any case to ut, or Bentley's view is unsound. k2 148 THE WORKS OF HORACE EXAMINED. Ut, as a temporal adverb, is limited to two signifi- cations, '■when! and ' since.' In these uses, its power seems to be to emphaticise rapidity, iramediateness, or a coincidence of points in time; as, " Homo, ut (i. e. soon as) hoc audivit, sic exarsit," &c. — Cic. Verr. i. 25. " Nam ut numerabatur forte pecunia, (i. e. '•just as it was being,' &c.), intervenit homo ex im proviso." — Adel. III. iii. 52. This latter is the soli- tary example cited by Bentley in support of his case : but the point of the expression is evidently lost by so applying it. Of the notion ' since being thus ex- pressible the following examples are given — " Ut illos libros edidisti, nihil a te sane postea accepimus." — Cic. Brut. v. " Qui (dies) primus risit, dirus ut Afer (sEeviit)" &c.— Car. IV. iv. 42. " Ut fluxit in terram Eemi cruor," i. e. 'ever since.' — Ep. vii. 19. But of ' while' not one instance seems discoverable. But if ut be not ' while' what is it? If it be granted that a conjecture favouring simplification is entitled to more allowance than one which would be perplex- ing or idle, it may -not be wholly impertinent to ask here — why should not ut imply a comparison of cases in the usual meaning oi as? Horace was evidently disposed to note trivial associations of thought, and to be amused with trifles, during this famous ' Jour- ney.' Why may he not here be understood to com- pare ludicrously the annoyance felt from the croaking and buzzing of ranoe and culices with that inflicted by the drunken and drowsy lays of a ' boat-man' and ' landsman'? May not the rana palustris find his DETACHED PASSAGES OE THE SATIRES. 149 parallel in \heprolutusvappa nauta, and the m/e^r, or companion pest, in the ' landsman-passenger'? With respect to the much-disputed term viator^ its acceptation in the most simple meaning, as above, seems borne out by several considerations. There is no instance of a driver of horses or mules being called viator, nor any reason why he should be: besides, where does he compose himself ' to sleep'? On the other hand, there is a reason why a common steerage- passenger should be so described ; for he would be just the sort of traveller who on land would be called a way-farer: and so the term is used, evidently in contradistinction to the better class of itinerants, fur- ther on, in verse 90 — " Callidus ut soleat humeris portare viator!' And again — " durus vindemiator et invictus, cui ssepe viator cessisset." — vii. 30. The expression also ' tandem fessus dormire,' seems to imply an unmoved composing of himself to natural slumber by the Jessus viator even less soon than might be expected, as opposed to the irregular and improper stertit supinus of the nauta piger, who takes advantage of the unconscious state of probably the only traveller within view-distance, to unyoke his beast and steal a nap: while the circumstance of the one thus dropping asleep^ and of the other making formal preparation, proves that the carriage of the boat was properly in charge of the latter. But why did not our travelling party within, one of whom at all events seems to have noted circumstantially what was passing, expostulate against this proceeding? Simply because the nauta was not in a state to ma- 150 THE WORKS OF HORACE EXAMINED. nage or be managed. But when, on awaking in the morning, they found matters still in statu quo, then condign punishment overtook the idlers both human and veterine, but did not reach the viator. Orellius is entirely mistaken in supposing that the passage which he gives from Varro proves that the viator was an equiso. Had he referred to the appli- cation of it made by the original quoter (Nonius Mar- cellus, De Proprietate Sermonis), he would have seen that it is adduced to prove an extended use of the term from its applicability to a totally different no- tion. Under the word Equiso, Marcellus writes thus — " Equisones non equorum tantum moderatores aut magistros, sed omnes quibus regimen conceditur cu- juslibet rei dici posse veteres probaverunt. Varro, Marcipore: ' Hie in ambivio navem conscendimus palustrem, quam nautici equisones per viam conduce- rent loro\ " In Horace's journey we have simply a mula in charge of a nauta, in place of these equisones nautici- . . Prior Sabmentus : ' Equi te Esse feri similbm dico' — Ridemus : et ipse Messics, ' AcciPio ;' caput ex movet — ' O tua cornu nl foret ex3ect0 frons,' inquit ' quid faceres cum Sic mutilus miniteris' — ? . . . See. I. V. 56-60. A PASSAGE occurs in Pliny's Natural History that seems capable of throwing some new light on the bearing of this comparison. A connexion between the notion implied by the ' equusferus,' in the former DETACHED PASSAGES OP THE SATIRES. 151 part of Sarmentus' taunt, and that of the ' cornu ex- secto frond in the latter, has never been clearly made out : and the general tendency of comment is, by taking them separately, to add to the frivolity which must be admitted to characterize the images and al- lusions of the context. Pliny, in describing some wild sports of India, writes as follows : " Orssei Indi simias candentes toto corpore venantur: asperrimam autem feram mono- cerotem^ reliquo corpore equo similem, capite cervo, pe- dibus eiephanto, cauda apro, mugitu gravi, una cornu nigro media fronte cubitorum duum eminente. HancT feram vivam negant capi." — N. H. vin. 31. Vide Dillenburg. ad loc. We are certainly not entitled to infer that ' Equus Ferud would be a proper technical designation for the animal known, to controversy and heraldry at least, as the Unicom ; though perhaps it would not be more vague than ' sea-horse^ &c., as applied to others : nor is it to be denied that Pliny employs the terms elsewhere in the common meaning of ' wUd horse^ ; as, for instance, — ' Septentrio fert et equorum greges ferorum, sicut asinorum Asia et Africa.' — Ch. 16. But, in the absence of any stronger objec- tions than these, the common sense of the passage before us would be apparently improved by supposing the comparison borrowed from this (real or imagi- nary) stravagama of the bestial tribe, as afterwards, in the ^ pastorem Cyclopa saltare,' we are presented with a picture of the monstrous in humanity. 152 THE WORKS OF HORACE EXAMINED. NoN QUIA, M^cENAs, Ltdorum qtiidquid Etbuscos Incoluit fines, nemo generosiob est te, NeC QtroD AVUS TIBI MATEKN0S FUIT ATQUE PATERNUS, OlIM Qtri MAGNIS LEGIONIBUS IMPERITARINT, Ut PLERIQUE SOLENT, NASO SUSPENDIS ADUNCO Ignotos, ut me LIBERTINO patbe natum. Cum referre negas, quali sit quisque parente Natus, dum ingenuus, persuades hoc tibi veee, Ante potestatem Tulli atque ignobile regnum, MuLTOS s^PE tiros nullis majoribus ortos Et vixisse probob, amplis et honoribus auctos : Contra L^vinum, Valeri genus unde Supeebus Tarquinius regno pulsus fuit, unius assis NoN UNQUAM PRETIO PLURIS LICUISSE, NOTANTE judice, quo nosti, populo ; qui stultus honores s^pe dat indignis, et fam^ servit ineplus ; Qui stupet in titulis et imaginibus. Quid opoetet nos facere, a vulgo longe lateque remotos? NaMQUE ESTO, POPULUS L^VINO MALLET HONOREM QUAM DeCIO MANDARE NOVO ; CENSORQUE MOVERET ApPIUS, INGENUO SI NON ESSEM PATEE NATUS; VeL MERITO, QUONIAM in propria NON PELLE QUIESSEM. Sed FULGENTE TEAHIT consteictos gloeia cueeu NoN minus ignotos geneeosis. . . . See. I. VI. 1-24. When one considers how natural it is to give full credit to the supposition of some real difficulty exist- ing in any case that has given rise to multitudes of dif- ficult, and still unsatisfactory, comments, it seems not unlikely that the reader may regard beforehand with much suspicion a proposal to show cause for believing that all the learned, prolix, and ingenious reasoning DETACHED PASSAGES OF THE SATIRES. 153 that has been resorted to for connecting the line of argument throughout this exordium, and estab- lishing its exact relation to the sequel, is, according to the ancient proverbial phrase, the ' feeling for a knot in a bulrush.' Yet so little seems necessary to be said, for the purpose of making this evident, that it were to be wished the quotation of the extract in extenso could be dispensed with, as its length must contrast very disproportionately with the insignifi- cant dimensions of the comment. The preceding subdivisional arrangement by paragraphs, however, exhibiting a new and easy succession oi protasis and apodosis, could not be well left to mere imagination for evidence of its claims to adoption. Keliance being had upon the reader's memory of the points arising from the text, it may be remarked, that the controversy seems to have originated mainly in the assumption that the sentence beginning — ' Namque esto : populus Lsevino mallet,' &c. — is the introduction of a new protasis ; the apodosis appropri- ate to which is the principal missing link of the chain. Now, by regarding the interval from ' Namque — to quiessem,' — merely as a confirmation of the answer implied in the question — ' Quid oportet nos facere a vulgo . . remotes'? — and not as requiring any de- pendent clause whatever to follow, the transition to ' Sed fulgente trahit' is perfectly unembarrassed. To show this clearly, a brief review of the heads of the introduction is alone wanting. After complimenting his patron upon his freedom 154 THE WORKS OF HORACE EXAMINED. from class-prejudices, by a graceful allusion to him- self, Horace proceeds to confirm the rectitude of the general principle involved by examples taken from ex- treme and opposite political instances ; he next asks — ' What should be my conduct, (or, How much more should / acquiesce in all this ?) removed as I am ' far from the vulgar crowd's ignoble strife,' (yet destitute, as before confessed, of aristocratic preten- sions?) — that is, he professes himself to be exactly in that position which would enable him best to ap- preciate, and act upon, such principles as those stated. In immediate sequence to a vulgo longe remotos, (and so directly depending on that notion, that the new sentence is but the exegesis of the full meaning and result of being ' a vulgo longe remotos'), he adds — ' Namque esto,' &c. ; meaning, that so independent was he, in fact, of the mere worldly crowd, that if the fickle populace chose to reverse the case he had supposed, it could in no degree affect him or his judgment : he could afford to allow that the people should even prefer the worthless to the worthy, for any difference this would make against the strength of his convictions; and that the legislator should in- troduce a rank-qualification clause, which could only operate to his disadvantage whm he should be caught out of his own sphere; and then he would be an in- truder with notice, and therefore punishable on the merits, which would reduce the matter to the origi- nal personal question. It is familiar with Horace to suggest an under- DETACHED PASSAGES OF THE SATIRES. 155 stood answer rhetorically by the pungent force of a question. And if here, immediately after the query ' Quid oportetf &c., we imagine its virtual answer in- serted, the force of ' Namque esto', as introducing a confirmation of it, is apparent. Thus — Quid oportet Nos facere, a vulgo longe lateque remotos ? \_Nempe tuam meriti normam celebrare probanda. Nee moveat populi recta aut sententia prava ;] Namque esto populus Laevino mallet honorem, &c. ; esto exactly meaning: — ' for aught I care.' ' But,' he adds, ' the pomp and circumstance of worldly pride is the attractive object with men in ge- neral, causing even those unknown to fame to despise their inferiors, and proving an endless source both of envy of success, and ridicule of obtrusive demerit ;' • Sed fulgente trahit . . gloria,' . . &c. : and thus the subject proceeds naturally and connectedly. How apposite (?) all this to a mushroom ex-com- mandant of a Legion, as the commentators and bio- graphers will have Horace to be ! For it is observable, that the passage which heads the ' Biographical Me- moir,' at page 18, follows immediately after this hearty and humble disavowal of an aspiring temper. Surely a strong argument in favour of the opinions there advanced is derivable from the entire tenor of the Satire, and of the introduction to it which we have just now been considering. It must not be for- gotten also that the reading of regionibus instead of ' legionibus' is purely conjectural, and supported by no higher authority than that of Wakefield and Fea. 156 THE WORKS OF HORACE EXAMINED. It will now be for the reader to say with what pos- sible consistency Horace could have either bestowed this compliment, or reasoned as in the sequel, were the commonly received account respecting himself true. Causa f0it pater his, qui macro pauper agello NOLUIT IN FlAvi LUDUM ME MITTERE ; MAGNI quo p0eri, magnis e centurionibus orti, l^vo suspensi loculos tabulamque lacerto Ibant octonis beferentes Idibus ^RA ; Sed puebum est ausus Romam portare docendum ArTES, QUAS DOCEAT QUIVIS EQUES ATQtJE SENATOR Semet prognatos. Vestem servosque sequentes In magno ut populo si qui vidisset, avita Ex RE PRjEBERI sumtus mihi credebet illos. Ser. I. VI. 71-80. It is a much easier task here to exhibit the utterly inconclusive character of the efforts that have been made to interpret the expression — ' octonis referentes Idibus* aerd — than to supply anything that can fairly * The junior reader will be safer in understanding Idus as having been originally the contracted plural-form of EjSw — oes, oDs — than in taking it as a derivative of the * obsolete verb Iduo? ElSoSs means the phases of the moon, particularly her appearance at the full; hence the middle of the lunar course; and so the mid- dle of a month, even by the solar reckoning. The word — ^s-ris — ^properly means metallic union, or the re- duction of simple metals to a compound : and so is near akin to As-eis, which was at first a Doric form of ets, one. The latter,, in Roman usage, came early to signify the unit in coinage, and the former to be indiscriminately employed to mean prq)ared copper, brass, or bronge. DETACHED PASSAGES OF THE SATIRES. 157 pretend to supersede them. Octonoe, as a general epithet of Idus^ seems open to objections which none of the commentators have weighed. And these objections are three: 1st, It looks retrospectively from one given cardinal date to another (for the Ides are supposed present) ; while, as a term of reck- oning, it should be expected to follow the rule of all other such terms in the Roman notation of the days of the month. 2nd, It is not inclusive of the two days from and to which the reckoning is had, con- trary to established usage. 3rd, It even involves a contradiction of the standing designation of the day to which it is supposed to refer retrospectively: and thus the same interval is diflferently stated at the same time by the numerical appellatives which its boun- daries borrow from the interval itself Surely such anomalies as these would apologize even for a strained interpretation which should remove them. The context plainly contrasts the ' vestem servos- que sequentes,' which the generous ambition of our author's father afforded him, with the comparatively menial drudgery to which the sons of wealthier pa- rents were subjected, as represented in ' L^vo sus- pensi loculos tabulamque lacerto.' This being ad- mitted, it would be likely that the course of education to which these minor details were subordinate — the ' artes, quas doceat quivis eques atque senator semet prognatos' — should also find its contrast in the pre- vious picture; and when we place before us the fol- lowing sarcastic description of the prevailing princi- 158 THE WOEKS OF HOEACE EXAMINED. pie of general school-education, in those days, and of Horace's estimate of such, Komani pueri longis rationibus assem Discunt in partes centum diducere. Dicat Filius Albini, si de quincunce remota est Uncia, quid superat ? Poteras dixisse. Triens. Eu ! Rem poteris seryare tuam. Eedit uncia, quid fit ? Semis. An, hsec animos aerugo et cura peculi Cum semel imbuerit, speramus carmina fingi Posse linenda cedro, et levi servanda cupresso ? Epis. ad Pis. 325-32, we may safely reject altogether the idea of the verse in dispute signifying the payment of school fees^ (the introduction of the mere name of which, with- out any allusion to relative amount, could not in the least have assisted the opposition of the pictures), and may confine it to the practical course of instruc- tion supplied. The interest of money and general pecuniary cal- culations among the Romans were regulated rela- tively to the Kalends and Ides of months. In the months of March, May, July, and October, which, as with us, were months of thirty-one days each, the Ides are known to have fallen on the 15th; and ac- cordingly these months would afford little scope for the practical exercise of ingenuity, in reckoning the interest for days, &c.,&c., relatively to so nearly equal a division of time. But the case would be otherwise in the remaining eight months, in which the Ides occurred on the 13th, and the last day of the month DETACHED PASSAGES OP THE SATIRES. 159 might range anywhere from 28 to 31 inclusive (for the Bissextile day gave a 29th day, to all intents and purposes, to February in leap year, although there was no 29th of February): and the adjustment of computations to meet these varying cases at sight would form a natural and useful exercise in a mere arithmetical point of view. Query, then, may the passage mean — ' Computing sums by, or correspond- ingly to, the eighthly-recurring (or thirteenth-day) Ides' — as a general representative expression of minute ferformance in the detail of learning to keep accounts? The conjecture certainly cannot affect to rest on more substantial ground than the difference between an absolutely great and a relatively small difficulty of in- terpretation, being ruled in its favour, would afford: but, nevertheless, had it been broached by some early popular commentator, it may not be improbable that it would ere this have found numerous supporters. . . . . Quid multa? pudicum (Qui peimus vietutis honos) seevavit ab omni non solum facto, veeum oppeobeio quoque tuepi. See. I. VI. 82-4, The above parenthesis is probably intended to sug- gest the same imagery as that by which honos or honor is elsewhere representative of the hloom of flowers and fruits: as, " Non semper \As,xq. flor'ihus est honor vernis." — Car. II. xi. 9-10. " Et quoscumque 160 THE WORKS OF HORACE EXAMINED. feret cultus tibi fundus honores." — Ser. II. v. 13. At least, if the reader's taste approve the suggestion, the sense of the context will not forbid his adopting it. Innocence is thus ' virtue's first bloom :' reformation cannot, at the best, be more than a second growth of the same. CaKNE TAMEN QUAMVIS PISTAT NIHIL HAC MAGIS ILLA, Imparibus formis deceptum te patet Ser. II. II. 29-30. In the whole range of classical literature there is not a passage that has caused more perplexity, both to readers and writers, than that now before us. One enigraatist makes many: and accordingly we have here upwards of a dozen most ingenious puzzles con- structed out of the above apparently scanty mate- rials ; a select assortment of which, and those of the newest mould, will be found in Orellius. The old ones are as familiar as the riddle of the Sphinx. Still ' confusion worse confounded' is the aggre- gate result: and the student is fain to acquiesce at last in merely recording in memory the judgments of others, while they in effect smother his own. The slenderness of a guiding thread will not be despised by him who seeks to escape from a laby- rinth. And if, among such a crowd of theories, any of which may be false, even the least principle can be fixed which must be true, the interpreter may DETACHED PASSAGES OF THE SATIEES. 161 yet have hope. Now, the student is invited to try the validity of the following, viz. — The probability of any construction of the given passage being true must be inversely as its complexity. This would virtually put out of account all elaborate and far-fetched views — from those which derive a government for ' carni from the remote ' vesceris,' or ' velis tergere palatum,' to more modern curiosities in the art of word-fencing; if, therefore, it be certainly correct, a manifest advan- tage is derivable from its use. The commentators, one and all, seem to have for- gotten who it is that speaks the original words — that he is neither a Lucretius, a Persius, nor yet Horace himself, but — the rustic Ofellus. The whole essay is, no doubt, from the pen of Horace : but he most distinctly professes to speak in the character, and in the words (nee meus hie sermo, &c., vv. 2-3) of the ' abnormis sapiens;' the only verses in which he him- self discourses propria persona being yv. 2, 3, 112- 15 — or six out of 136. Hence a studied simplicity of deduction, illustration, and phraseology, consistently in keeping not less with the character of the hamlet- philosopher who speaks, than of the primitive doc^ trines which he inculcates, characterize the piece throughout. Addressing his (supposed, and evidently village) audience by the homely title, ' boni,' he pro- ceeds to unfold probably the plainest system of admo- nitions and reasons contained in any didactic treatise of antiquity. And can it be reasonably held possible that any interpretation whicl^ would attribute rheto- L 162 THE WORKS OF HORACE EXAMINED. rical complication to a single passage supposed by the judicious Horace to be addressed by such a speaker to such an audience, can be a true one? Assuming then the truth of our fundamental rule — 1st, Let us discard the notion of a double ablative in verse 29, as making a construction against which, in any view, this rule would strongly operate. 2nd, Let the materials of construction be sought exclusively from the sentence itself, as in all the other sentences of the piece; the connexion with the previous context implied in ' hac' and ' ilia! being of course observed. 3rd, Let ' magis' be referred, as is most natural, to the given, the allowed, difference between the pavo and the gallina (the overlooking of which point has been the root of the whole difficulty). Finally, Combine (as suggested by Matthise) ' nihil magis^ as one notion, ac- cording to the Greek analogy of ovlev ti fiSXKov. Thus the sentence will be found to be nothing more than a plain denial of what may be called the argumentum a visibili ad invisihile — thus — ' However, although the former {the caropavonis) differs nothing the more (i. e. because of the given external difference) from the latter, 'tis plain you are deceived {into thinking that it does) by the external dissimilarity.' This simple theory likewise supersedes the neces- sity of supposing any question involved of the actual relative merits of the two species alluded to. This would be a matter of mere taste, and on which Ofellus would have probably seemed an incompetent autho- rity. But he merely deals with the overt fact that DETACHED PASSAGES OF THE SATIRES. 163 impar forma does not of itself infer proportionately imparem carnem. Might it be that the troubled spirit of this sentence is at length laid ? . . . . TANTUM HOC EDISSEKE, QUO ME ^QROTAKE PUTES ANIMI TIXIO ? AcCIPE : PBIMUM, 1. ^DIFICAS ; HOC EST, LONGOS IMITAKIS, ETC. See. II. m. 306-8. 2. AdDE POEMATA nunc, hoc est, OLEUM ADDE CAMINO ; 3. NON DICO HORRENDAM RABIEM. JaM DESINE. CuLTUM 4. Majorem censu. Teneas, Damasippe, tuis te. 5. mille puellarum . . . furores. Ibim. 321, 323-5. The ludicrous correspondence of the answers of Damasippus with the wording of certain of his own previous classifications has not been remarked. He in effect reduces the ' madness' of his disputant indiscriminately to several of the heads just before enumerated. Allowance being made for a slight dis- tortion of terms, which is quite natural to the case, the following verses will illustrate the phraseology of their numerical correlatives above with tolerable exactness. 1. ^dificante casas qui sanior? — v. 275. . . . adde cruorem 2. Stultitise, atque ignem gladio scrutare — 275-6. 3. Mille ovium insanus morti dedit . . . — 197. 4. Nunc age luxuriam et Nomentanum arripe mecum. — 224. 5. Si puerilius his ratio esse evincet amare ; — 250. l2 164 THE WORKS OF HORACE EXAMINED. In the first two a play upon words points the deri- sion : for it is plain that the term ' cedificas^ (requiring an explanation of its application, which the speaker accordingly supplies) would not naturally suggest itself in the case, but occurs from the previous con- text; and that the ' adde cruorem stultitice atque ignem scrutare ferrd finds a ready parallel in ' addepoemata [ambitioni], hoc est, oleum adde camino\ the illustra- tion being nearly identical. In the last three a for- mal reduction to class is evident. Unde et quo Catius? etc. . . . Ser. II. IV. 1 to end. This is probably the most elaborate satirical produc- tion (in the modern acceptation of the term) that has descended to us from remote ages. But, from the delicate ingenuity of its irony, and the artful invo- lution of its points, it is peculiarly liable, as has been before remarked, to escape the appreciation of stu- dents. Hence the continual complaints of its insi- pidity that every lecturer has heard in his classes. It is obviously impossible here to do more justice to the composition than generally to recommend every word of its pregnant contents to the re-consideration of any who may have lightly passed them over. And this purpose may perhaps be forwarded by com- paring it with the Second Satire of this Book ('Ofelli Sermo'), which has been just now considered. DETACHED PASSAGES OF THE SATIBES. 165 The moral of these two essays is nearly identical. But a stronger contrast can scarcely be imagined than that which the different modes of conveying it re- spectively exhibit. In the Second Satire a virtue is gently impressed, in the Fourth an opposite vice is smartly ridiculed. The chief character in the one is a plain-spoken swain, in whose entire reasoning in praise of frugal fare there is ?zoi owe ambiguity; in the other a pedantic cit is made to affect the technical abstruseness of scientific diction, while he recom- mends the receipts of cooks and gluttons. In the former, unvitiated nature is directly vindicated : in the latter, perverted art is ironically arraigned. What ridicule can be more exquisite — after the expectation of some wondrous philosophic revela- tions has been wrought up to a high pitch — than the formal precept — " Longa quibus fades ovis erit^ ilia memento" Sfc.f What sarcasm more pungent than the mock-contempt of — " Sunt quorum ingenium nova tantum crustula promit" ? What a hearty laugh must have been called forth by — " Est operce pretium du- plicis pernoscere juris naturam" — and — " Immane est vitium. angusto vagos pisces urgere catino" ? Could the depraved folly of the gourmand be more happily ex- emplified than in — " Vinea submittit capreas non sem- per edules" f where the vine is represented as a nurse ofkidsiov his especial gratification, the mischief done by these animals to such property being immaterial in his eyes, in comparison to the contingency of his palate being disappointed. 166 THE WOBKS OF HORACE BXAMINED. But we must reluctantly bid farewell to the placid Ofellus and the flippant Catius. Septimus octavo pkopior jam fugeeit annus, ex quo maecenas me ccepit habere suorum In numeko . . . Ser. II. VI. 40-2. It is an ungrateful, if not an ungracious, task to take exception to the only etymological remark that occurs within the compass of Milman's Life of Horace. The comment will be found in note (49), which reads as follows — " Some construe ' Septimus octavo propior jam fugerit annus,' as only six years and a half The 'psist, fugerit, surely implies that the seventh year had actually elapsed, and above half a year more." Surely not; iov fugerit is not the past, but the com- mon future-perfect. To admit such a position would be to abandon the fundamental distinctions recog- nised in the Latin language between the indicative and subjunctive moods. Upon particular meanings of the future-perfect tense, a few remarks are reserved for a more peculiar occasion of its occurrence. For the present it is sufficient to cite the following parallel instances of its use. — " Dum loquimur fugerit invida £etas," i. e. ' while we yet speak, (or, ere we cease to speak) envious duration shall have fled' — Car. I. xi. 7-8: and again, similarly future in conception (the leading subjunctive characteristic) is the following — '■'• Exuerint sylvestrem animum" — Geor. ir. 25. DETACHED PASSAGES OE THE SATIRES. 167 It is probable that the proximity of jam may have caused the inadvertence. But a case of its unques- tioned construction with the future occurs in — " Jam te premet nox." — Car. I. iv. 16. Indeed the imitation of the passage by Swift evidently shows that a future reference would be the plain, natural suggestion of the text — 'Tis, let me see, three years and more, October next it will be four, Since Harley bade me first attend, And chose me for an humble friend. With this note of Milman, another statement, in page 56, viz. — " It was in the eighth year of his fami- liarity with Mtecenas that this Satire was composed" — must fall to the ground. Where we have so few direct dates furnished from the text, we should be slow to disturb those that offer. On the whole, the passage may be rendered thus — ' The seventh, nearer (at its present stage) to the eighth year (than it is to the sixth), shall presently have fled, since,' &c. MULTIUS ET SCUEEJE, TIBI NON EEFEKENDA PEECATI, DiSCEDUNT .... See. I. VII. 36-7. Whence do they depart? ' From the house of Ho- race,' say all commentators. That is, any unexpected invitation from Maecenas which finds Horace Haudan- tem securum olm' (as stated immediately before) and 168 THE WORKS OF HOBACB EXAMINED. acquiescing happily in domestic retirement, at the same time obliges him to dismiss a hand of jesters, that he habitually employs to amuse his solitude, when '■ nusquam forte vocatus ad coenamP Truly, Mulvius deals severely with himself in declaring at his departure — Tateor me ventre levem dud; nasum nidore supinor' : — else no one would have thus inter- preted his chagrin at being disappointed of sharing in the ' securum olus\ His likings and his loss seem both too strongly drawn for the occasion. Horace also has with a bad grace in one sense elsewhere in- stanced as a lunatic a person who was fond of being — r' In vacuo Icetus sessor plausorque theatro.' The reader probably by this time suspects that a departure from the house of Mcecenas is about to be suggested as being here meant: that it is to be con- sidered more appropriate to the nature of the case to suppose that when the great man alters the usual con- vivial arrangements of the evening to a tete-a-tete with a literary friend (' jusserit ad se serum convivam'), the subordinate ministers to the banquet's mirth receive an unexpected dismissal, the chief of whom vents his disappointment upon its unwitting cause, to whom he naturally attributes the same sycophantic motives that are professional with himself. It would be hardly respectful to the reader, in such a case, to do more than merely to place the hint at his disposal. DETACHED PASSAGES OE THE LYRICS. 169 The Lyrical performances of Horace, as may be naturally anticipated, afford but little scop^e for new- comment. Excellence in this species of composition infers characteristics most opposite to the abstruse or the equivocal: and, in a general way, it is only where the associations are obsolete, in the manner alluded to in the Introductory Observations, or the words un- certain, that we should expect to encounter difficulty of construction or uncertainty of meaning. Happily neither of these disadvantages dulls, to any appre- ciable extent, the clear-voiced lays of the Venusine bard. In these effusions, distinctness of imagery and simplicity of 'tone blend in unbroken harmony with rhythmical grace and metrical exactness. The reader is privileged to commune with the poet, with- out introduction from his expositors ; to perceive without effort, and to admire without reserve. Even the sober diction of commentary has often caught a relieving freshness from the associations of the theme: and from the superficial glosses of Francis to the elaborate illustrations of Mitscherlitz, the annota- tions of the learned generally impart here less oi hea- viness to the reader's thoughts than when exercised on any other equal portion of ancient poesy. To the aids thus already furnished the reader may generally resort with satisfaction. It is merely intended here to submit a very few passing remarks on some ex- 170 THE WORKS OF HOBACE EXAMINED. pressions, together with an examination of the only (two or three) admittedly difficult passages found in this department. Haud pakavero Quod aut avarus tjt Chbemes tekka premam, etc. Ep. I. 32-3. EhEU ! TRANSLATOS ALIO M^REBIS AMORES : AST EGO VICISSIM RISERO. Ep. XV. 23-4. Notwithstanding the elaborate disquisitions that profess to illustrate the precise nature of the differ- ence between indicative and subjunctive enunciation, no student will be likely to reject beforehand the least particle of new theory on the ground that the sub- ject is already sufficiently intelligible : and the pre- ceding sentences are selected as affording a simple illustration of a new principle here proposed for sub- dividing the meaning of the form commonly called \he future-perfect, or '■futurum exactum.^ It has been noticed by philologists that this tense is sometimes used where a mere indicative future might be ex- pected; and it is to this feature of the case that the reader's attention is now particularly requested. To speak strictly, a future act or state must be regarded, relatively to the time at which a speaker utters anything respecting it, only as a mental concep- tion. Hence we should naturally expect that all fu- ture expressions would be subjunctively conveyed. In practice, however, the indicative form prevails for DETACHED PASSAGES OF THE LYRICS. 171 f the future absolute, no doubt by force of the instinc- tive argument from analogy by which we transfer the idea of certainty from the experience of the past. The reason why the expression of a purely future-perfect notion is confined to the subjunctive would appear to be, because it is, if the expression may be allowed, a conception within a conception, and therefore neces- sarily limited to the conceptive mood. But where the notion is imperfectly future, and yet conveyed by this tense, query, would it not be more philosophical, if what has been now said be true, to consider this as the strictest form of the proper expression of the future absolute; and the indicative use, however ge- neral, as a conventional tranference of the phraseo- logy of the past and present to the future, rather than as an exception unaccounted for? In this view the import of the verbal-form will appear very dif- ferent in the two sentences quoted; and none are likely to be found which will not be reducible to either. In the former, the notion of the imperfect future is put in a rigidly conceptive form — ' Haud paravero' i. e. ^ I think I shall not,' &c., or, ' If I know my own mind, I shall not' &c. In the latter the pro- per future-perfect appears in — ' you shall bewail, &c., but /, in my turn, shall (previously) have enjoyed my laugh.' Thus line future-proper might be as good a designation for the subjunctive tense in the former instance, as \he future-perfect is universally admitted to be in cases like the latter. 172 THE WORKS OF HOEACE EXAMINED. Ah ! Ah ! solutus ambulat venefic^ SciENTIORIS CAKMINE. NON USITATIS, VaRE, POTIONIBUS, (o multa fleturum caput !) Ad me recurees : nec vocata mens tua Marsis redibit vocibus; Majus parabo, majus infundam tibi Fastidienti poculum. Ep. v. 71-8. In connexion witli this passage, a modern edition of some of the Idyls of Theocritus contains the follow- ing remarks: — " The editor avails himself of this op- portunity to suggest, that the passage preceding these lines in Horace, . . . ' Nec vocata mens tua Marsis redibit vocibus,' which appears to him to be erroneously explained by all the commentators, should be understood thus : ' Nor is it by mere Marsian spells that your soul shall be recalled to me.' Thus — nec Marsis vocibus corresponds with — non usitatis potionibus, and ' re- dibit' to ' recurres' — and thus also there is an addi- tional propriety in the repetition of Majus — majus — in the following verse."* It is to be feared the erroneous explanations have not been altogether removed by the comment of the learned editor. It seldom happens in such cases that * See page 108 of " A Selection from the Remains of Theoc- ritus. By Frederick H. Kingwood, A. M." Dublin, 1846. DETACHED PASSAGES OF THE LYRICS. 173 any course is open to an objector beyond a reference to the reader's experience, and to the induction of par- ticulars which the labours of eminent lexicographers and philologists have compiled for general use. To these tests the following statement is now submitted, namely, — that whenever either Mens or Animus is said redire, the phrase intimates a return to the natural owner, or individual whose it is by nature: — Thus in Ovid — " Et mens et rediit verus in ora color." — Art. ni. 730. "... Isto verbo animus mihi rediit." — Tee. Hec. ni. 2. 12. All argument founded on the natural and general meaning of redeo, and upon the undisputed import of kindred expressions, is here dispensed with; such as ' redire ad se,' whether in a good or bad sense, — " redeat in viam." — Tee. An. i. 2. 19. "... tunc mens et sonus relapsus, atque notus in vultus honor." — Ep. XVII. 17-8. " Et tu, potes nam, solve me de- mentia." — lb. 45. (The last two passages belong to a prayer addressed to this same Canidia.) " Ani- mumque reddas." — Caem. I. xvi. 28, &c. Nor is it necessary to insist upon any exception which might be taken to the rendering of 'mens' by the term ' soul,' in preference to ' reason,' in the translation. The classical usage of the verb in the given association is alone relied upon, together with reference to the train of ideas running through the whole context. The sting of Canidia's complaint is that the subject of her spells ' solutus amhulat veneficte scientioris carmine': and hence a double threat — 1st, That he 174 THE WORKS OF HORACE EXAMINED. shall be re-consigned to thraldom: 2nd, That future escape shall, during her pleasure, be impossible, even though sought by aid of proverbially potent spells ; for that she majus parabit, &c. lo TeIUMPHE ! NEC JuaURTHINO PAKEM Bello reportasti ducem, Neque Africanum, cui super Carthaginem Virtus sepulchrum condidit. Ep. IX. 23-6. The foregoing has proved a most unsatisfactory pas- sage to commentators, and therefore to readers. The objections urged by Dr. Bentley against ' Africano' (referred, as it must be, to bello) have been wisely allowed by most: but, on the other hand, there is an unpleasant abruptness, and a striking want of symmetrical arrangement, in the solitary word Afri- canum, understood as a proper name, following im- mediately upon the elegant paraphrastic allusion to Marius ; and as a proper name it is invariably ren- dered. But it should be remembered that such use of an honorary appellative is more colloquial than poetical. And accordingly here, ' reportasti Africa- num' is less likely to mean — ' Thou didst bear back Africanus', than — ' Thou didst bear back one (who left home without such title) as " Africanus" ' : and the whole passage may be understood thus — ' Nee {ilium) Jugurthino bello (nobilem) reportasti ducem DETACHED PASSAGES OF THE LYRICS. 175 parem (Ccesari); neque (alterum reportando saluta- tum) " Africanum." ' As Marius (strangely enough) derived no title from his Numidian conquests, the correspondence of the clauses would be thus ren- dered as complete as circumstances would allow our author to make it. It is strange that any doubt should exist about referring this allusion to the younger Africanus : the parallelism of another passage — " Qui duxit ab op- PEESSA meritum Carthagine nomen" — Ser. II. i, 66 — appearing quite conclusive as to which of the indi- viduals bearing that name Horace (in part, perhaps, from the intimacy with Lucilius, upon which he seems to dwell with pleasure) had more habitually in view. Besides this, the balance of honourable mention in other distinguished connexions turns de- cidedly in favour of the junior of these two remark- able men. The epitomist of the forty-ninth Book of Livy thus records of him — " Quum virtutem ejus et Cato, vir promptioris ad vituperandum linguEe, in senatu sic prosecutus est ut diceret, reliquos, qui in Africa mili- tarmt umbras militare, Scipionem vigere; et populus Eomanus eo favore complexus, ut comitiis plurimse eum tribus consulem scriberent, quum hoc per seta- tern non liceret :" and this while he had as yet dis- tinguished himself no farther in war, than by retriev- ing losses incurred in the first siege of Carthage in the opening of the third Punic war, attempted by the Consuls L. Marcius and M. Manlius. 176 THE WOBKS OF HORACE EXAMINED. Again, in the De Natura Deorum^ Cicero attributes to one of his dialogi personce the following notable expression "... quod, ut e patre audivi, L. Tudi- tano et M'. Aquillio* consulibus evenerat: quo qui- dem anno P. Africanus, sol alter, extinctus est." — II. V. The spirit of romance in which the exploits of Hannibal have been recounted would appear to have imparted an air of mystery and uncertainty to the history of his conqueror also, which contrast strongly with the substantial reminiscences resulting from the actual destruction of Carthage, and thus place the later hero more prominently in the fore- ground : though the tone of melancholy which softens the proud reminiscence revived in the final clause is but too appropriate to the unhappy end of each of the glorious Scipios. And here lies a deep vein of delicate compliment to Csesar, in the inference that in a bright future also his destinies should transcend those of a Marius and a Scipio. Csesar consolidates a kingdom, and achieves for himself imperial prestige by his African (Egyp- tian) conquest; in Scipio's instance, ' Virtue reared to him (but) a sepulchral monument' upon the ruins of a fallen state : while the eventful fate of Marius, the dismemberer of his country, is merged in solemn silence. * This consulate exactly corresponds with the year b. c. 128, the date of the death of the younger Africanus. DETACHED PASSAGES OF THE LYRICS. 177 non incisa notis marmora publicis, Per qtj^ spiritus et vita redit bonis Post mortem ducibus, non celeres fug^, Reject^que retrorsum Hannibalis misx, Non incendia Carthaginis impi-e, Ejus qui domita nomen ab Africa Lucratus rediit, clarius indicant Laudes, quam Calabrjs Piebides. Carm. IV. VIII. 13-20. This much controverted passage is taken here, out of regular order, in connexion with that just now exa- mined, as deriving from it some amount of illustra- tion ; so far, at least, as fixing the identity of the younger Africanus in this place also is concerned. The Romans could not believe themselves su- perior to rivalry so long as Carthage existed; a feel- ing well instanced in the familiar ^Delenda est Car- thago' of Cato. Hence, together with the considera- tion of the tremendous power evinced by that state in its final struggle, they regarded the memory of the consummator of the destruction of their dreaded an- tagonist (' homines postrema meminere,' says Julius Caesar), with a degree of admiration and gratitude, which posterity, taking the retrospect through a colder but clearer medium, may conceive more due to him who first taught the immortal Hannibal the lesson of defeat. From these circumstances, along with the cause shown in the preceding article, we shall feel little difficulty in confirming the testimony of MSS. by the nature of the case; and accordingly M 178 THE WOEKS OF HORACE EXAMINED. receiving ' ineendia' as the true reading, may discard as cumbrous trifles the proposals of ' stipendia' and ' impendia' instead. Thus the younger Africanus is fixed not less decisively before our view in the pre- sent passage than in the former. Since the metrical irregularity, which confessedly mars the rhythm of the verse — 'Non ineendia Car- thaginis impise' — remains unaffected by any proposed correction, and since Meinecke's ingenious surmise, to the effect that, as the number of verses in mono- strophic and distrophic odes throughout the Four Books, follows the multiple-of-four law of the tetra- strophic, two verses are probably wanting to this Ode of 34, carries no warrant, in the absence oia,nj lacuna in MSS., that such verses would, if supplied, be likely to belong to this particular place, we shall do best in receiving the materials of construction as they lie be- fore us, and in concerning ourselves more about what is, or may be, than about what might possibly have been, but certainly is not. The difficulties complained of are these : That the ' rejectee Hannihalis mince' cannot refer to the younger Scipio, nor the ' ineendia Carthaginid to the elder (for the suppositions of ' ineendia! being figuratively ap- plied either to '■slaughter^ or to the 'burning of the ships of Carthage' in the second Punic war, is almost too puerile to be recorded). Again, that the ^Calabrce Pierides' or lays of Ennius, must cause the allusion to revert to the elder Scipio, while the laws of gram- matical dependency will not admit of the reference DETACHED PASSAGES OF THE LYRICS. 179 being carried back beyond the younger, which is ab- surd. To these Orellius adds in effect—' The theme of Ennius was itself these very " celeres fugoe" and " rejectee mince;" nulla est ergo avTiOeffis, quam tamen manifeste qucesivit poeta.' Now, in the first place, it is not at all necessary to confine the expression ' Calabrce Pierides' to Poems of Ennius from the circumstance that he did in fact dilate in his Annals on the subject of the second Pu- nic war. This may have combined with other con- siderations to suggest such a paraphrase for ' national Italian poetry' in general : but nothing further, if even so much, is necessary in the case. Horace is himself called ' Calaber' by Martial, where he alludes to the mutual non-interference of poets with the provinces of each other — Sic Maro non Calahri tentavlt carmina Flacci. Ep. VIII. 18. 5. But, allowing the phrase to apply to Ennius par- ticularly, we may find cause to believe that the com- mentators have been over-exact in requiring the apodosis to correspond with the enivce protasis : that the verse ' Non incisa notis marmorapublicis' (which as essentially belongs to the chain as the nearer links) leads the thoughts back indefinitely far : and that in such a series it is natural and suiBcient that the phrase of the apodosis should originate in the latter or last association. A striking instance of this kind of Zeugma (see page 101), and one even more marked from the absolute incongruity of the verbal-notion M 2 180 TUE WORKS OF HORACE EXAMINED. with any but the proximate subject, is supplied in the famous Ode usually entitled — '■Drusi Laudes:^ Qui primus [dies] alma risit adorea, Dirus per urbes Afer ut Italas, CeMJlamma per taedas, vel Eurus Per Siculas equitavit undas. Carm. IV. IV. 41-4, Similarly here, it is evident that the poetic image in the words ^clarius indicant' is directly suggested-by the last nominative, ' incendia,' from such analogy as " dant clara incendia lucem" — jEn. ii. 569; while by an extension of metaphor the same verbal-notion may likewise be referred to ' marmora! as subject, with 'bonorum ducum laudes supposed as object; and to \fugciB rejectceque mince,' with '■AfricaniMajoris laudes' similarly understood: and in the same way, ^Calabrce Fierides,' originating in an immediately cognate as- sociation, may answer in the apodosis supplied to each of these, without any allowance being pleaded for it, beyond the principle established respecting ' clarius indicant.' They both alike express associations de- rived particularly, and either applied or implied generally. The difficulty suggested by the eminent Orellius (as stated in the preceding page) is next to be con- sidered. It has been well observed by him that in the Hncisa notis marmora,' Horace had probably in view the statues of patriotic celebrities, which Au- gustus was then setting up at Eome. And this refe- rence will derive corroboration from another place — r DETACHED PASSAGES OF THE LYRICS. 181 'si quseret pater urbium subscribi statuis." — Carm. III. XXIV. 27-8. Now when we consider that, in the context preceding, Horace exalts the conservative efficacy of Poetry above that both of Sculpture and Painting, would it not be allowable to suppose that in the 'celeres fugse, Eejectseque retrorsum Hannibalis mina3,' as also in the ' incendia Carthaginis,' some well-known pictures of the stirring incidents of the Punic wars may be the subject of allusion? The fa- miliarity of such associations to the Italian mind is well instanced in Wagner's remark upon the picture of the Trojan wars which ^neas is represented as having seen at Carthage — ' poeta morem Italice sum sequitur, in qua passim visebantur porticus templo- rum pictoe.^ The multitude of grouped figures inci- dental to such scenes would well exhibit a chief power oi painting, as contrasted with the solitary im- pressiveness of the 'animated bust;' and the 'avTiOean' required would be fully supplied, in the assertion of the Muses' supremacy above the highest claims of the kindred Arts. In fine, two objects are aimed at in this article. 1st, To account for certain phraseology. 2nd, To argue from the principle of that account to a more general bearing of the context. If this has been satis- factorily done, the difficulties that have been urged by the commentators must appear to be fetters which they have forged for the author and themselves. As for the metrical exception, the license of proper names has been pleaded by competent apologists with quite sufficient force for the occasion. 182 THE WORKS OF HORACE EXAMINED. CrAS INGENS ITEKABIMUS JEQUOB. Cakm. I. VII. 32. The verbal-notion here is stronger than ' traverse again.' It is borrowed from agricultural labour, as the noun also is; and both present us with an image of the sea, instead of the land, as a field of enterprise. Itero being iterum-aro, this dash of encouragement to the followers of Teucer's second tour of adventure should be boldly given — 'To-morrow we shall (but) enter on a second-ploughing of the vast ocean-sur- face.' . . . dum loquimuk, fugeeit invida JEtas. Carm. I. XI. 7-8. The above elegant example of minimum in the range oi the future-perfect tense admirably sketches both the rapidity of the transition described, and the im- mediateness of the moral conviction impressed. It may be interesting to the student unacquainted with the Hebrew tongue to be informed, that the same sentiment which the poet-philosopher here so simply and briefly expresses, is the fundamental principle upon which the general verb-system of that sublime language is based. With a bold and severe exact- ness, the Hebrew language wholly ignores the notion of present time in the personal departments of any verb, and assigns the third person singular of the preterite as the root. The principle, as regards tense, is obviously this — that before the thought can be DETACHED PASSAGES OF THE LYRICS. 183 fixed upon a passing instant, that instant has fled. The third person is probably preferred to the others, because we first obtain the notion of active and passive power, and of states of being, by observing external agencies and conditions, before we either think of addressing ourselves, even by gesture, to any agent as such, or of reflectively referring the observed power of agency, susceptibility, or even of existence, to ourselves. In the 'S.Qhr&y^ future (as it appears in the most ancient grammatical forms, although modern usage pleases rather to assimilate its form to that of the preterite), the rule is reversed; and we there have the persons arranged in the order gene- rally familiar in other languages ; probably because the notion of future is strictly conceptim, agreeably to what we have laid down in page 170 ; and such conception is originally observed as his own by the person who forms it, and is then transferred first to the nearer person. If this be so, it would afford a strong corroboration of the theory by which it has been proposed, in page 171, to regard the subjunctive- future when it signifies indicatively as the purest form of future expression known to classical language. Fertur Prometheus . . . insani leonis Vim stomacho adposuisse nosteo. Carm I. XVI. 13, 15-6. It is idly disputed here whether stomachus means cor, jecur^ or pectus; for '■ adposuisse' imiHies 'addition 184 THE WORKS OF HOEACE EXAMINED. /o' in a way not intelligible in any of these associations. Let us rather take it, as in the only other instance of the lyrical use of the word by Horace — " gravem Peleidse stomachum" Cakm. I. vi. 5-6 — as a meta- phorical expression for '• passionate pride." The no- tions, 'vis leonis fastui hominis animoso adposita', if they may not constitute a mixed mode, at least may exist together in such without incoherence. Te semper anteit s^va Necessitas, Clavos teabales kt cuneos manu Gestans ahena ; nec severus Uncus abest, liquidumque plumbum. Caem. I. XXXV. 17-20. Si figit adamantinos SUMMIS VERTICIBUS DIEA NeCESSITAS Clavos, non animum metu NON MORTIS LAQUEIS EXPEDIES CAPUT. Caem. III. xxiv. 5-8. Tub former of these passages the reader will recog- nise as belonging to the noble Ode to Fortune, com- mencing, — -' O Diva! gratum quae regis Antium" — : the latter is not addressed to any particular person, real or supposed, Tliey are evidently suitable to purposes of mutual illustration: and the manner in which the commentators have dealt with both ren- ders it necessary to combine influences tending in that direction. All commentators (with the exception of Cru- quius, whose reference here to 'instruments of torture^ DETACHEB PASSAGES OF THE LYRICS. 185 however, appears to be justly faulted) suppose the ap- pliances of personified Necessity, as assigned above — 'spikes' — ' wedges' — 'damps' — and 'molten lead' — to be representative o{ constructiveness. That is, the god- dess Fortune, 'whosejickleness is a universal theme, is waited upon by another allegorical personage bearing emblems of stability and firmness, although herself invariably sung of by poets, and particularly by Ho- race, as a destroyer: that other who thus ministers to the whims oi Fortune is the goddess oi Fate or Destiny, to \i\i.ose decrees ancient mythology teaches us that Jove himself was subject. And all this is re- conciled on the ground that, although Fortune is in- constant, her decrees are irresistible, and hence the building apparatvis which Fate keeps at her disposal ! Who has not heard of ' the poetry of architecture'? Who has not sympathized with the romantic influ- ences ascribed to ' Fate's decree'? Surely, shotild poetry ever unhappily bid a final adieu to earth, as Astrtea is fabled to have done, she will fix her last lingering glance upon that impressive group of fi- gures, reading them as the commentators have read! But seriously, let us inquire whether this is likely to be the imagery which Horace intended to picture; or whether the very reverse be the truth, and that in- struments of demolition are really here represented. And first, on what authority have the commenta- tors assumed 'trabalis' to mean 'of or belonging to beams' and so, ' uniting beams' ? The following in- clude instances of every association in which it is stated to occur in the Latin language; and in all it 186 THE WORKS OF HORACE EXAMINED. is taken as a term of hyperbole, to signify '■as large as a beam.' Virgil uses it as an epithet of his hero's spear, — " teloque orantem multa trabali . . ferit." — xii. 294-5. In Claudian's 'Rapta Proserpina' we find it applied to a sceptre., — " indignatusque trabali Saxa ferit sceptro" — ii. 172-3; and it is again employed by him in describing the piston of the Hydraulicon, or organ played by the agency of water, which is still used in some of the rural districts of Italy, thus — '•'•trabali Vecte laborantes in carmina concitet undas," — XVII. 317-18; while in the Argonautics it implies huge weapons in general — " Jamque alii clypeos et tela trabalia dextris Expediunt." — Val. Flac. viii. 301-2. Cicero connects it with the noun itself given in our text, and manifestly in the same sense as the other authors — " Ut beneficium trabali clavo figerit." — Verr. v. 52. Now, what would be the natural meaning of a ' beam-sized spike' in connexion with demolition? Obviously that of a prizing-lever, or what we call a crow-bar. Next as to ' cuneus.' No one will deny that, how- ever numerous may be the metaphorical meanings of ' a wedge' in classical language, it is a fit and proper emblem oi division; that as a mechanical instrument its purpose is well described by Virgil — " Quadrifi- dam quercum cuneis ut forte coactis Scindebat," — ^N. VII. 509-10 ; and that it is by its separating force alone that it could even be a mean of consolidation. And it is not a little remarkable that cunei is em- ployed by the great architectural authority, Vitru- vius, in relation to construction, as coloured inlaid DETACHED PASSAGES OF THE LYRICS. 187 pieces of substance, for the purpose oi '■ smoothing' a surface (like our mosaic) or pictorial imitations of such; but never as tighteners or fasteners. — vii. 4, 5. The term ' uncus' is never used to signify anything like what we call a clamp or hold-fast; nor does it even approach nearer to such import than when it is applied to the anchor of a ship. It is, however, fre- quently connected with violence hy dragging, as of criminals hauled to execution; and in one place very remarkably, and very forcibly for our purpose, of a statue in the condition of being torn from its pedestal by popular fury and dragged through the mire. " Se- janus ducitur unco." — Juv. x. 66. And this brings us to a point which the commentators have passed in silence, namely, the introduction of ' laqueV in the second passage. Not imagining that it bears any re- lation to the previously mentioned ' clavos,' they treat it as an independent metaphor, in disregard of the incongruity thus produced between protasis and apodosis — '■Si figit verticibus clavos necessitas, non laqueis expedies caput.' Where is the sequence, real or figurative? Truly, 'mixed metaphor' is strongly in requisition. But a paraphase, by Scheller, of a passage in Pro- pertius, throws much light here — "Cum fixum mento decusseris uncum" — iv. 1, 141, ' i. e.' says Scheller, ' cum uno te laqueo extricaveris.' Again in Juvenal, — " descendunt statuse, restemque sequuntur" — x. 58. So here if we understand the ' clavos adaman- tines' to be either levers of destruction applied to, or 188 THE WORKS OF HORACE EXAMINED. huge spikes for the attachment of ropes fixed in, the summits of lofty constructions of any kind, when they are about to be precipitated, we shall have a plain cor- respondence between the members of the second sen- tence. It is superfluous to remark that the emblem * molten lead" is as fitted to signify ' lead dislodged by fire^ or ' old lead being re-cast for new uses,' as to imply lead employed in original construction. On the whole the moral suggestions intended by the allegorical representations seem to be the fol- lowing: — No structure was ever raised by man, which must not, at some time, decay or be pulled down. Fortune may build; but Fate shall assuredly level. {Fate meaning the inevitable doom of all earthly things. ) Hence ' Necessity^ does not wait upon, but takes precedence of Fortune^ bearing her own instru- ments of irresistible destroying force, while a gentler and more cheering group {Spes and Fides) are the immediate companions of the other, in order that men may have comfort, under adverse dispensations, from Hope within their own breasts, and Faithfulness on the part of friends. ' Necessity^ sure to execute all her own purposes sooner or later, merely takes them in detail as Fortune iro-wrxs on any object; and hence is attributed to Fortune herself the effect of such dis- pleasure ; while she is, after all, but a secondary and temporary influence: Nullum numen habes, si sit prudontia; nos te, Nos facimus, Fortuna, deam, cceloque locamus. Juv. X. 365-6. DETACHED PASSAGES OF THE LYRICS. 189 The commentators have, no doubt rightly, sup- posed the picture to be taken from some well-known piece of statuary. It was not in our poet's power, even in compliment to a Cassar, in whose behalf the prayer of the Ode is written, to alter the established allegorical representation; and the language is ac- cordingly that of submissive propitiation of a dreaded divinity. Finally, some expressions occur in the im- mediately preceding context which are strongly re- commended to the reader's attention, as confirmatory of the view here offered: Te Dacus asper, te profugi Scythae, Urbesque gentesque, et Latium ferox, Regumque matres barbarorum, et Purpurei metuunt tyranni, Injurioso ne pede proruas Stantem columnam; neu populus frequens Ad arma cessantes, ad arma Concitet, imperiumque frangat, XXXV. 9-16, FeETUB PUDICiE CONJUGIS OSCULUM Pakvosque natos, ut capitis minor, Ab se removisse, et virilem tobvds humi posuisse vultum. Carm. III. v. 41-4. It is to be regretted that the least shade of indis- tinctness should rest upon any point of the brilliant 190 THE WORKS OF HORACE EXAMINED. picture presented in this magnificent ode, of the self- sacrifice of the patriot-hero Eegulus. Yet the com- mentators leave us wholly uninformed of the precise verbal analysis of the peculiar and prominent phrase, ' CAPITIS MEsroR;' and contenting themselves with re- ferring us to a forensic technicality occurring in the practice of Eoman jurisprudence, called ' Capitis De- minutio,' or forfeiture of civil status, they dismiss us to connect the given expression with it as best we may. 'But capitis deminutio' was of various degrees; and one of these — the ' deminutio minima^ — implied no further alienation of personal rights than such as would arise, suppose, from adoption or coverture; whence the general phrase ' capitis minor,' even if an evident similarity of derivation implied a neces- sary relationship between the expressions, would be far too vague to convey that abandon (to borrow a French term) of humiliated yet obstinate pride which represents the martyr to the cause of honour and truth as proclaiming himself unworthy of re- ceiving a parting embrace from wife and children, or of elevating his manly brow amongst his fellows. It is here proposed to refer the expression to an entirely diflFerent origin, and one which will reach the root of the idiom itself. The classis called ' capite censi' did not include the Servi. Although the lowest, it was still a class of Cives. Hence the words ' capite censis minor', or, as the classical expression would be likely to run, ^capitis censu minor' would form a natural paraphrase DETACHED PASSAGES OF THE LYRICS. 191 for servus: while the transition to the elliptical form ' capitis-minor would be simply due to conventional compendium sermonisj and the application here would imply that Eegulus now regarded himself as ' one lower than the lowest o/" citizens.' If this account be admissible, it were superfluous to impress the con- venience of adopting it. NoN Hydra secto cobpoee fibmior Vinci dolentem crevit in Herculem : monstrumve submisere colchi Majus, Echionijsve Theb^. Carm. IV. IV. 61-4. All the authorities, whether in the department of lexicography, geography, or criticism, agree in as- signing toCoLCHi the sole meaning of — ^Inhabitants of Colchis' But, waiving the incongruity of placing '■ColchV in this sense in juxta-position with ^Thebce,' may we not ask — With what possible regard to poetic or other propriety could the ' inhabitants' of a district be said ' submittere (avairifji'Treiv) mons- trum;' and especially in the present case, where, in both instances alike, the ear^A is fabled to have yielded the formidable growth ? Now, besides several pas- sages in the Argonautics, in which Colchi and its in- flexions would appear to require to be understood, consistently with good taste, as a designation of the country, not of the inhabitants (though it might be diiBcult actually to prove this) — two very plain in- 192 THE WORKS OP HORACE EXAMINED. stances in point are available in Ovid's delineation of Medea's remorseful address to Jason, — Jussus inexpertam Colchos advertere puppim, Intrasti patriae regna beata meae. Heroid. XII. 23-4, Laese pater, gaude: Colchi gaudete relicti; Inferias umbrae fratris habete mei ! Ib. 159-60. This latter case is perfectly demonstrative; for the reception of i»i/en'oB was attributed to departed spirits and to theEarth, but not to living persons in any sense. Hence, Colchi will correspond in form with Bruttii, Locri, &c. Dive, quem peoles Niob(ea magn^ ViNDICEM lingua, TiTYOSQUE RAPTOR Sensit, Caem. IV. VI. 1-3. That the exact measure of Niobe's offence differed somewhat in the primitive legend from that given by amplifiers of fable, such as Ovid, whom modern my- thologists follow, will appear from a passagein the Homeric writings which is usually mistranslated : Ovveic' apa ArjToT [NtOjS?;] laaaKero KaWmapyw. ^'tj doiw reKeeiv, 'Tj 5 avrvi yeivaro •jroKKovS' Tai B apa, kui doiu) Trep eopr , otto Travra^ oXeatrav. II. xxiv. 607-9. Here the latter member of the penultimate verse should be taken as explanatory of the point of the DETACHED PASSAGES OF THE LYRICS. 193 taunt insinuated in the former ; and not as Ovid seems to have understood the passage (if we may infer that he had it in view in the following coun- terpart of the usual translation given), namely, as a portion of the expression of Niobe, Ilia duobus Facta parens; uteri pars est hsec septima nostri. Met. VI. hi. 191-2. The original version of the legend, interpreted as here recommended, represents the dignity of the offended deities as greater, and the effrontery of the culprit as less, than the common acceptation, and so enhances the delicacy of the moral and the force of the reli- gious impression. Est MIHl NONUM SUPEKANTIS ANNUM Plenus Albani cad us ; . . . Cakm. IV. XI. 1-2. Although, from the length to which these pages have already run, the conviction is pressing that an examination of the Art of Poetry will not be com- patible with the compass of the present work, while an imperfect notice would be worse than none, yet the preceding clause furnishes so easy an illustration of one cardinal sentence in that standard critique, that it is difficult to dismiss the subject of the Lyrics without alluding to it. The passage is as follows : SI QUID TAMEN OLIM SCKIPSEEIS IN M.ECI DESCENDAT JUDICIS AUEES, Et PATRIS, ET NOSTRAS ; NONUMQUE PREMATUR IN ANNUM, Membranis INTUS POSITIS. Ar. Poet. 386-9. N 194 THE WORKS OP HORACE EXAMINED. Because it happens that the luckless Helvius ,Cin- na did in fact hold back a poem/o?- nine years before publication, it has been supposed that the allusion is to Mm (a supposition which Weichert gravely un- dertakes to prove uncertain), while the allusion of ' nonum in annurri is, in any view, taken as a large nu- merical expression of time; as if time in itself could produce any beneficial efiect on writings; or as if the disadvantages of delay might not in many cases equal or exceed those of haste. But nothing more seems intended by the poet than figuratively to recommend that a poem should be mellowed by reflection, just as wine is improved by time. It happens that time is generally essential to the completion of criticism; but such a term must repre- sent an indefinitely varying quantity, for one man will mentally mature more in a few hours than another could accomplish with equal diligence in any number of years. Hence the expression is to be taken as purely figurative here. This is borne out by the cor- respondence of a parallel phrase ' positis intus Chii veterisque Falerni mille cadis,' with ' memhranis intus positis': but in the case of writings, a detention for pur- poses of scrutiny, and not a putting out of view, must be intended, though the figure be borrowed as before. It is evident that the text implies wine exceeding average quality in point of age; and hence it is likely that the ninth year was a standard in such case: and so would be representative of perfection secured by a maturing process. DETACHED PASSAGES OP THE EPISTLES. 195 Epistolary writing, so far as it is a communication between familiar parties, is a species of composition likely to be imperfectly understood by indifferent persons, almost in proportion as the allusions imply an easy conception on the part of those concerned. Indeed many expressions found in such often appear even highly ridiculous when published, which may yet have been sufficiently suitable to any piirpose for which they could have been originally intended. Where, on the other hand, the epistolary style is adopted, merely in imitation of the former use, for the familiar conveyance of general sentiments, it may be expected to display much of the inartificial freedom of social converse, with as little introduction as possible of particulars not intelligible to, or appre- ciable by many. The utility and beauty which this latter mode of giving free expression to reflection is fitted to exhibit are considerable, though somewhat compromised by the modern editorial fiction of ad- dressing, as ' Letters' to public bodies or individuals, compositions which are really written speeches, ad- vertisements, or notices. The Epistles of Horace include elegant specimens of both the legitimate classes above adverted to. Be- neath the smooth surface of the former there lies, no doubt, a large amount of allusion, which was strictly relevant to circumstances of the passing hour and of private associations, but which is now for ever lost: n2 1^6 THE WORKS OF HORACE EXAMINED. while the simplicity of style equally natural to the latter would contribute as much on the other hand to dispense with the services of modern criticism in this department. A few steps therefore will conduct the reader be- yond the confines of this field of investigation. Si fortunatum species et gratia pe^stat, MeRCEMUR SEETUM, qui DICTET NOMINA, LMVVM Qui fodicet latus, et cogat trans pondera dexteam poreigere. Epis. I. VI, 49-52. It is worthy of notice that all the manifold attempts made to account for the expression ' trans pondera porrigere^ whether passable, laughable, or deplorable, take trans in the same one (and that not the original) of its two significations. Now, instead of supposing it to mean ' across^ in connexion with motion, let us try whether 'beyond,' or ' on the other side of,' in posi- tion, may not conduce to a more intelligible, or, at all events, a less frivolous interpretation than many of those resting on the other ground. In this view the language is strongly suggestive of operations in machinery., by which weights applied at one of two sides produce motion at the other, as, suppose, of an index traversing proportional spaces. The nomenclator 'Icevum fodicat latus' (the verbal- notion being perhaps borrowed from the indenting of DETACHED PASSAGES OF THE EPISTLES. 197 notches to sustain forces), and proceeds to apply his 'pondera! (a term often used metaphorically, as in ' nugis addere^joncZws', &c.), in the suggestions, ' Hie multum in Fabia valet,' — ' Cuilibet hie fasces dabit,' &c. &c., and so ' cogit dextram porrigere' at the side remote from the application of the motive power. Thus the electioneering aspirant is represented as a sort of automaton — ' ducitur ut nervis alienis mo- bile lignum- and the phrase may be taken as a true proverbial expression introduced in progressu sen- ientice without any formal intimation of its real cha- racter; as in — " At nos virtutes ipsas invertimus, Sitqne Sincerum cupimus vas incrustare." — See. I. in. 55-6, &c. &e. ' QUKD VOLUI ?' DICES, UBI QUID TE L^SEEIT. Et SCIS In BREVE TE COGI PLENUS QTJUM LANGUET AMATOK. Quod si non odio peccantis desipit augur, Charus eris Rom^ donec te deseret ^tas ; Epis. I. XX. 7-10. A mistake as great as it must appear, on a little re- flection, to be evident, is common to all comments on and versions of the sentence — ' Et scis in breve te cogi plenus quum languet amator • for although so plainly expressed in present time, it is constantly rendered as part and parcel of the prospect which the author foreshadows in this fanciful address to his Book. Yet throughout the entire epistle not only is the future in events appropriately described by 198 THE WORKS OF HORACK EXAMINED. the future in time, but these are supposed to be re- vealed to a party ignorant of consequences; whereas here we have the knowledge of that party appealed to in present time, which must therefore infer expe- rience in some way however imaginary. The solution is simply this. By 'plenus amator' Horace means himself; just as immediately after- wards he refers to himself in the third person — * ride- bit monitor non exauditus;' and the argument is — ' if such be your present treatment occasionally at the hand of your original and most interested ^amator' what must you expect from the caprice of strangers?' Cum tot sasTiUEAS et tanta negotia solus, Res Italas armis tuteris, moribus obnes, Legibus emendes, in publica commoda peccem, Si longo sermone morer tua tempora, C^sab. Epist. II. I. 1-4. If the correct interpretation of this highly-wrought passage, which forms the inaugural prelude to the most elaborate criticism upon the rise and progress of Roman poetry from Saturnian infancy to Augustan maturity bequeathed to us by Roman genius, shall appear to have hitherto escaped the observation of the shrewdest critics, the reflective reader will not fail to attribute such oversight to its real cause, viz. — that the gracefulness of the preface has been absorbed in the brilliancy of the sequel, — that the substance of DETACHED PASSAGES OF THE EPISTLES. 199 the treatise itself (to use a free adaptation of its own words) ' uritfulgore suo . . . artes (in this instance, artes exordium ornate concinnandi) infra sepositasJ In the following endeavour to show that such inad- vertence has indeed occiured here, simplicity both of process and result is relied upon to shield the effort from the supposition of assuming to accom- plish ' some great thing' in particulars where larger publications have been naturally conversant rather with generals. The assertion, however, that so many eminent men, belonging to so many different ages and countries, should a^Zhave sanctioned an inadmissible idiom, and most of them incongruity of tense, in the exposition of one of the most prominent passages in the works of a notable classic author, must, at first hearing appear adventurous. In any view it is likely to create a presumption against its truth which no mere preamble can modify; and, therefore, in this as in other instances, the alternative of the great histo- rian of Patavium, in recording the substance of the Decemvir's apparently impossible decree, alone re- mains — ' id, quod constat, nudum videtur proponen- dum.' In the first place, then, the expression ' morer temr •pord has been invariably received as conveying the notion of ' delaying time' But it appears to be a pro- position capable of demonstration, that pure Latinity knows no such idiom ; and that the words of the text must have impressed another and a less feeble apo- logetic sentiment upon the attention of the imperial 200 THE WORKS or HORACE EXAMINED. personage to whom they were addressed. We must not here be misled by the familiarity of such phrase in our own, or in any other language; nor by its con- ventional application at present in association simi- lar to that in the instance under consideration. The question is, did the Latin tongue in fact recognise the idiom Hempus morari' in the preceding sense ? And if it did not, it follows that the plural form Hempord will still less admit of such construction; for it will not be supposed by any scholar whom this discussion concerns, that the author employed it merely to sub- serve metrical purposes. The general difficulty of proving a negative proposition is much reduced here, as elsewhere, by the research of able phraseologists before referred to, whose inductive authority is the highest available standard of propriety in the case; and whose works (especially that of Scheller) ex- hibit such depth and extent of varied learning, as to justify the confident assumption that any phrase or idiom not recognised in these repertories cannot be found in the whole range of Latin literature. From these accredited records, then, two conclu- sions are derivable. First, that the phrase in ques- tion is nowhere quoted or alluded to among cognate phrases. Secondly, that it is inconsistent in its na- ture with other established and undoubted classical phrases which are so quoted. The validity of the former can only be ascertained by the industry of the reader, who will find abundant instances of tempus perdere, amittere, terere, &c. &c. ; but not one of tern- DETACHED PASSAGES OE THE EPISTLES. 201 pus morari The latter, also, must, to a certain ex- tent, require that readers shall follow in the mea- sured steps of investigation which writers have smoothed before : but the inquiry may be assisted by some collateral considerations, in the way of strength- ening a possibly incomplete induction. In each and all of the figurative applications of the verb moror adduced by the before-mentioned autho- rities, the primary and original idea of actual detention or stoppage is present and paramount, however bold may be the figure presented to the imagination. To instance this in extreme cases: — In the well-known ode where Horace, with a conception worthy of the noble Olympic lay of Pindar, which he follows as a model, describes the magic spell of the Orphean lyre, a strong example occurs: Arte materna rapidos morantem Flumlnum lapsus, celeresque ventos. Carm. I. xii. 9-10. As also where, with poetic fervour, he extends such mystic influence to the lyre in general: "Tu potes . . rivos celeres morari." — Carm. III. xi. 13-4. Again, that secondary use of moror which is farthest re- moved from the primary, appears to occur in such phrases as " vina nihil moror^ — HoR. " Nil moror officium." — Id. " Nee dona moror!' — Vikg., &c. &c. Yet even here it is evident that it is only in virtue of the idea of detaining, stopping to question, estimate, or ea;am/rae (probably borrowed metaphorically from joer- sons in the first instance), that the word is significant. 202 THE WORKS OF HORACE EXAMINED. But strictly, the idea of stoppingordetaininga passing volume of air or water involves in itself no impossi- bility : the poetic marvel lay in the agency employed: while to construct moror, in the sense here maintained to be proper, with tempus in the sense which the commentators assign to it (for they treat tempora as tempus) would express an impossibility which would be properly employed to illustrate only the impossi- ble or the absurd, or that which is supposed to be so, whether actually or approximately. Thus " ac, veluti stet volucris dies, parcis deripere," &c. — Carm. III. xxviii. 6-7. Such expressions as " volucris fati tar- davit alas," — Carm. II. xvii. 24-5, — are not in point, for it is evident that the postponement oian event or issue in time is metaphorically intended. The signi- fication of tempus morari, then, would be to stop* the * Probably the most extreme case open to human conception of an apparent approach to suspension of the progress of Time oc- curs in connexion with a sublime passage of Holy Scripture — " Then spake Joshua to the Lord in the day when the Lord de- livered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon, and thou. Moon, in the valley of Ajalon. And the sun stood still and the moon stayed," &c. — Joshua, x. 12, 13. However duration itself (to bar which would be more than a miraculous interruption of the mere course of nature), is independent of particular appearances of anything used as a measure of it ; and the appearances in this case may have been due to a miraculously increased intensity of atmospheric powers which even naturally produce very astonish- ing effects. The mountain-brow, no doubt, represents the boun- dary of the sensible (western) horizon, where the sun's altitude appeared to stay constant at a minimum for the necessary period; DETACHED PASSAGES OF THE EPISTLES. 203 progress, or (to speak with less of popular metaphor) the continuance o/"time; and would bear no affinity whatever to the English phrase to delay time. To examine the exact analysis of this latter expression, or the precise propriety of its use, would be entirely beside the present question. It suffices if it be here established that the Latins had no such phrase as tempus morari: and that, had they had such, its sig- nification would have been wholly different from that assigned to it by the commentators in the passage un- der consideration. Having necessarily dilated in seeking confirma- tion for our first objection, we are now enabled to pursue a narrower and less rugged path in inquir- ing whether the second member of the clause — ' tem- pord — has been rightly understood by the com- mentators. That exposition is ever the best where the author is his own expositor ; and in the present instance it will not be needful to travel beyond the Horatian page in endeavouring to develope the true Horatian sentiment. •wLile the moon (in a favourable quarter, suppose the iAtVrf) may be conceived to have operated reciprocally so as to share the re- quired agency. Thus, although, in the words of the inspired penman, — " And there was no day like that before it or after it," — ^v. 14, — yet the picture presented appears to be so far from necessarily inferring any very violent disturbance of nature, that it may be regarded as a marked instance of that accommodation of the language of Scripture to the primary and most natural conceptions of men, which, by assisting human weakness, so largely favours general apprehension. 204 THE WOEKS OF HORACE EXAMINED. The word ^temporal with its inflexions, occurs in fifteen instances in the works of Horace as re^ presentative of some mode of time. In none is it less specific or precise than our English term ' times,' as contradistinguished from ' time,' and in most it marks particular periods, eventful seasons, or notable junctures. An examination of these refer- ences will requite the reader's patience ; but for the present purpose the quotation of a very few passages will suffice. See, then, " orientia tempora," — Epis. II. I. 130; " tempora fastosque mundi," — Ser. I. iii. 112; " tempora queer am," -^Ser. I. ix. 58; "rabiosi tempora signi," — Ser. I. vi. 126. The emendation of Cruquius, stamped as it is by the marked sanction of Bentley, followed by (amongst many others) Orellius, Hein- dorf, and Milman, will disentitle this last passage to absolute rank among examples; but it is of some rela- tive value as furnishing an easy introduction for the remark, that a leading and emphatic force of ' tempora' is its application to the transitions and revolutions of the heavenly bodies. See its construction above with ' momentis,' which is itself used in this sense by our author in the only place where it again occurs, viz. — "momenta Leonis," — Epis. I. x. 1 6 ; and ' orientia tempora' is probably a trope derivable from this very notion. Now, be it observed that the comparison of the emperor to a dazzling luminary, and of the improvements, which his superintendence was intro- ducing, to the beneficial influences of a star or con- stellation, ushering in a genial season, was familiar to DETACHED PASSAGES OF THE EPISTLES. 205 the poet's mind. Thus, in the seventeenth line, we find the remarkable expression, — "Nil oriturum alias, nil ortum tale fatentes," — in reference to Ctesar; and this is immediately preceded by two others which evidently coexist in the same association with it, " Urit enim fulgore suo" «&;c., and — " extinctus amabitur idem." Again, whatever judgment may be formed of the opposite views of DacierandMitscherlich respect- ing the opening verse of the ode, ' Divis orte bonis^ there can be no mistake about the following passage : Lucem redde tuae. Dux bone, patrias : Instar veris enim vulius uhi tuus Affulsit populo, gratior it dies, Et soles melius nitent. Carm. IV. V. 5-8. This image is found elsewhere also in our author, as in — "*S(?^em AsiseBrutum appellat; stellasque s'alu- bres comites ejus," &c. — Ser.I.vii. 24-5. Thus, then, we at length approach a full view of an entirely new meaning of our text, which it is hoped shall appear improbable to none, and morally certain to some, viz., that Horace really intends by the expression " morer tua tempora" the keeping back or retarding of the Emperor's shinings-porth before his people as a heaveiily agent of national good. It were a profitless task to review, in the second instance, the multiplied discussions of the commen- tators upon the former part of the verse, viz. — " si longo sermone" — : while they strive in vain to disen- tangle the poet from difficulties in which they have 206 THE WORKS OF HORACE EXAMINED. themselves involved him. But as the hand-book of Professor Anthon, a work whose plan amply relieves the momentary wants of the hurried or helpless stu- dent, and the abler (though more limited) manual of the acute and judicious M'Caul, as well as vari- ous other compendia, have given a fixed currency, in the schools of these countries generally, to Bishop Kurd's acceptation of ' sermone,' in the sense of ^pre- face' without at all noticing Dr. Parr's confutation of it (though they in general give his far-fetched re- mark upon ' longo' as meaning ' long relatively to the importance of the subject'), it may be as well to intro- duce a new view of the clause by a quotation from the latter writer's work, which is scarce. In a note to his ironical dedication of the Warbur- tonian Tracts to the above distinguished prelate. Dr. Parr remarks, in his usua,l sharp style of criticism, — "The commentator" (meaning Dr. Hurd himself) " ex- plains longo sermone, ' a long introduction,' and in the close of his note he interweaves into the word sermone the additional meaning of 'familiar conversation.' But to me, I confess, the word as used here suggests neither the one nor the other sense ; and even with the aid of the learned commentator, I am unable to see how, in one and the same place, it holds two' meanings so very remote from each other. Sermo is used here in the same sense which it bears in line 5, Carmen 8, lib. 3, of the Odes, where the close of Bentley's note may illustrate this disputed passage in the Epistle to Augustus." — The note of Bentley DETACHED PASSAGES OF THE EPISTLES. 207 reads as follows. After observing with characteristic sagacity, that the expression, " Docte sermones utri- usque linguoe" cannot mean, as addressed to Maecenas, mere education in the Greek language (an attainment common-place in respectable ranks of society at that period) and acquaintance with his own, the learned critic proceeds : " Enimvero aliud quid et majus hie sighificat sermones, nevciT^e Z?'6ros Tractatus,Historias, ut apud GrsBCOs AOFOI, Xenophontis OIkovo/hkov Xojo?, &c. Inde Oratores, Philosophi, Historici Aoyoypaipoi appellati. Ita Horatius Satiras suas ser- mones, sive Aoyow inscripsit, et Carm. III. xxi. — non ille quamnis Socraticis madet sermonibiis, &c.; id est "EwKpariKOLs Xoyois." — Mitscherlitch suggests fjivBovs, which is not borne out by Passow's dicta un- der head of fiSBos and Xoyos. But whatever be the Greek or English parallel, Dr. Kurd's version, " In- troduction," is wholly without authority or precedent of any kind. The entire controversy, in which the above dispu- tants are only two in a crowd, appears to have arisen from inattention to the simple consistency of the present tense throughout the passage. This has not been re- marked upon, though it may have suggested the plain direct view of Sanadon and Orellius. Nothing can be more simple than the diction of Horace, if he will only be allowed to speak in his own words. Horace does not intend to convey in this passage that the pub- lic welfare would suffer werehe to detain the emperor from imperial callings, but he confesses that he feels 208 THE WORKS OF HORACE EXAMINED. he is probably interfering with general interests by so detaining him. On the whole, it seems both necessary and desirable that the passage should be rendered in the following, or in any other tantamount terms : — " Since you, O Csesar, support single-handed so many and weighty functions, protect Italian interests by prowess, grace them in moral comeliness,rectify them by legislation, {I feel that) I may probably sin against the national weal, if I impede (or, in thus impeding) your beneficent public manifestations by (closeting you to peruse) a lengthy literary disquisition." The delicacy of the subjunctive verbal form throughout in the original, presenting in the several clauses not objective fact but subjective conception, seems incapable of being conveyed by any of the or- dinary English auxiliaries (of which our language avails itself as supplying the want of a subjunctive mood) without, at the same time, weakening the amount oj" absolute truth which such conceptions are calculated to imply: but the force of the conceptive form peccem seems adequately rendered by the ad- verb ^probably.' The applicability of the present subjunctive to ex- press in independent sentences a contingency which the mind of the writer subjectively regards as morally probable whether subjectively or objectively, would ap- pear to be well sustained by its use in our author's works and elsewhere. But it must not be denied that no notice of this peculiarity is taken by the eminent Professor Zumpt, whose rules are deservedly autho- DETACHED PASSAGES OF THE EPISTLES. 209 ritative both in England and on the Continent. The following passages appear to supply advantageous in- stances in point: — " Quid statis ? Nolint" — Ser. I. I. 19, — tantamount to ''the chances are, they^reunwil- ling." Again, "In primis valeas bene," — See. II. ii. 71, — i. e. " among the chief advantages, you are likely to enjoy good health" — a blessing which, of course, the utmost caution could not guarantee. Again, " quod non desk habentem," — Epis. II. ii. 52, — i. e. "having what is not likely to fail." In the ^neid we find ex- actly the same association, — " Hoc Ithacus velit, et magno mercentur Atreid^." — ii. 104. And finally, not to multiply instances, a strong case occurs in the (so called) Catilinarian War, — "quem neque gloria, neque pericula excitant, nequidquam hortere." — Cap. Lviii. In all these places an absolute and independent power of imTg\y\Q.g prohahility over and above mere conceptive contingencyis observable. But, of course, the ground of such probability is inherent in the con- text, and therefore the independence here spoken of is a constructive independence, and not such as would infer that the verbal-form could be self-significant of probability. A condition must indeed be always implied more or less : and the immediate context, though not ex- pressed hypothetically, may be so resolvable; as, for instance, the last example quoted above is tantamount to — [si ali-]'quem neque gloria, neque pericula ex- citant, [sequitur ut eum] nequidquam hortere.' 210 THE WORKS OF HOKACE EXAMINED. Pk^senti tibi matubos largimue honoees, jueandasqtje tuum pee nomen ponimus aeas. Epis. II. I. 15-6. The commentators have permitted two apparent mis- conceptions to mar this passage : one both of mean- ing and construction; the other of meaning only. With regard to the former, they all confound ' juran- das tuum per nomen' above, with the expression '_/«- rare per aliquid^ and they accumulate instances of this use of ' per\ as if any scholar could doubt the fact that it may be, and commonly is, so used. But if such be its signification here, what is the mean- ing of ^jurandad ? If it be supposed that the word can signify ' to be sworn at, beside, or before,' the answer is simple — that such is not consistent with the fact of classical usage. No meaning can be extracted from the yerhjuro but that assigned by Ovid in a parallel phrase — ^'diis juranda palus," — Met. ii. 21, — i. e. 'to be sworn by.' But it is asserted, as if in explanation, that the party would hold the altar while he swore. Probably so : but this does not prove that ' jurare aram' can niean ' to hold by an altar, while you swear by something else.' The apparent difficulty is easily removed. ' Per' must here imply not ' by' but ' through'. And the poet intimates that altars would derive their sacred- ness as objects of adjuration — they would become arce jurandce — in virtue of the Emperor's name, to which they would be solemnly dedicated. DETACHED PASSAGES OF THE EPISTLES. 211 But has not the delicacy of ihQ future notion im- plied in '•jurandas^ been also overlooked, although the admitted fact that Augustus, probably from mo- tives of state policy, rigidly forbade the practice here alluded to, might have suggested it? — " Templa quamvis sciret etiam proconsulibus decerni solere, in nulla tamen provincia nisi communi suo Eomgeque nomine recepit ; nam in Urbe quidem pertinacissime abstinuit hoc honore." — Suet. Vit. Oct. lii. This is the point then which the poet seems to guard ; the language being, in all probability, purely figurative : as if he had said — ' the materiel for the rendering of divine honours is ready prepared : its application to the purpose is merely a question oi future time.^ Si, quia Graiorum sunt antiquissima qu^qu^ scripta vel optima, romani pensantur eadem scriptores trtjtina, non est quod multa loquamue ; Nil INTRA EST OLEAM, NIL EXTRA EST IN NUCE DURI ; VeNIMUS ad SUMMUM FORTUNE, PINGIMUS ATQUE PSALLIMUS ET LUCTAMUR ACHIVIS DOCTIUS UNCTIS. Epis. II. I. 28-33. The elaborate disquisitions of Bishop Hurd and others, upon the reasoning here employed, while they would represent its general tenor as very intricate, leave its literal forms and their connexion wholly unexplained. Let us just view the condition, and the inference o2 212 THE WORKS OF HORACE EXAMINED. which it involves, disentangled from subordinate details. ' If,' says Horace, ' because the several most ancient extant productions of Greek writers are even (i. e. fully granting the fact) the best, Koman writers are therefore weighed in the same scale — [it follows that'] — we Romans paint, perform musical pieces, and conduct athletic sports, more scientifically than the Greeks.^ Why so ? Where exactly lies the vis consequentice ? It is generally supposed that the consequent here merely conveys a general instance to the effect — ' any absurdity may be as well main- tained :' or, as Bishop Hurd paraphrases this senti- ment — " There was no reasoning with persons ca- pable of such extravagant positions." Horace seems to have thought otherwise. According to him there was no need of much reasoning with them — ' non est quod multa loquamur' — but there was need of some; although of much less, and that of a simpler kind than the learned prelate himself and others have expended upon the subject. What has added not a little to the embarrassment here felt is, that the exact application of the verse, ' Nil intra est oleam^ &c., is disputed. Most persons take it as a kind of duplicate phrase to imply ' absur- dity^ : this is an easy generality. Orellius, more inge- niously, observes — " verum potius est hOvfivifia con- tractum et implicatum ex his : 1.) Oliva et nux similes sunt fructus, quoniam ex utraque oleum ex- primitur ; 2.) Nihil duri est intra nucem ; ergo neque intra olivam ; 3.) Nihil duri est extra olivam ; ergo ne- DETACHED PASSAGES OF THE EPISTLES. 213 que extra nucem." And he apologizes for the intro- duction of such a puerihty by Horace on the ground that it may be borrowed from the quibbles of the schools. But to return to the argument — which, after all, may truly be said (if the reader will not suspect a jest) to ' lie in a nutshell' Horace's plea for modern, in comparison with an- cient, Eoman poets, as developed in the seventy-five verses — from v. 18 to 92 — over which it extends, rests on two positions, a negative and a positive : — 1st, That priority in time gives no warrant of superiority in merit. 2nd, That the ancients are in fact inferior. The root of complication in the present instance seems to lie in the circumstance of the commentators having universally supposed what is the proper con- clusion of the first part, as here stated, to be identical with the conclusion of a merely subsidiary argument. In the passage before us Horace draws no compari- son between ancient and modern Roman writers. He merely denies the case of the most ancient extant Greek writers to be parallel to that of the Eoman : and his statement of the case appears tantamount to the following — ' If we compare ancient Grecian with ancient Eoman poetry on the one hand, and modern Grecian with modern Eoman proficiency in arts on the other, we shall have as undoubted a contrast be- tween the refined and the rough in the former case as must be admitted to exist in the latter, although it be less universally evident; just as in the instance of an olive and a nut, the unseen stone of the former is as 214 THE WORKS OF HORACE EXAMINED. certainly present as the outward shell of the latter; and he who denies the existence of the former might as well maintain the external covering of the latter fruit to be the softer part. Thus as well might it be asserted that we now paint, &c., " Achivis doctius," as that our ancient performances are not relatively to the ancient Greek, as the stone of an olive to the esculent part.' Thus the much disputed bearing of the simile of the ' nut' and ' olive,' would appear to be neither a mere form for expressing ' the absurd,' nor yet a scho- lastic quibble; but a natural illustration of a given reciprocal position. Adjecere bon^ paullo plus abtis Athenje, Scilicet ut possem cukvo dignoscere rectum, Atque inter sylvas Acadbmi qu^reke verum. Epist. II. II. 43-5. The principle that right and lorong mutually exhibit each the other is so essential a component of every argument, and is so plainly reduced to a proverbial form by Greek writers, that it seems strange that no one should have recognised it in the Latin dress which it wears in the second of the preceding verses. In Sophocles we have a very striking parallel — VvwfiriQ TTOvrjpoc Kuvorrtv avafiSTpov/xevog "laTb) TO aCxppov- Elec. 52-3. The converse application is found in Euripides — OTSev to y alaxphv Kavovi tov koXov fiaOwv- Hec. 600. DETACHED PASSAGES OF THE EPISTLES. 215 Again, upon the verse of Homer — II. VI. 51. the Scholiast in Townley's MS.j as quoted by Porson, remarks — " el y^ei tt/jo? to ^vXaaaeaOai jirj ifntlitTeiv ei9 avTo.." In this aspect the clause should be rendered — 'to distinguish the right {not from, but) by the wrong': that is, by the scholastic exercise of adopting the wrong side of questions for the better elucidation of the right. This practice was peculiarly germane to the Academicians {rom the nature of their tenets ; and we have still a remnant of it in the form of Dis- putations for collegiate Degrees. It has been before maintained (in pp. 45-8, and 79-86), that the edu- cational contributions which our bard derived from Athens were of a private and conversational, not of a public and tutorial, character. And it seems ex- ceedingly likely that, from early bias, he would attach himself to that particular form of theoretical discus- sion which in practical matters he had been taught to cultivate with his first perceptions. What does he state to have been the mode of training up to the prac- tice of virtue which a tender preceptor adopted with respect to himself? The fixing of attention upon the consequences of vice: — " Cum me hortaretur ut parce, frugaliter, &c. &c., viverem, ' Nonne vides Albi ut ma?e vi vat filius, atque Barrus mops.?' — ' Sectanidis- milis sis' — ' Deprensi non hella est fama Treboni,' aiebat." — Seem. I. iv. 107-115. In fact the passage 216 THE WORKS OF HORACE EXAMINED. before us very much resembles a fulfilment of his father's prophecy — . . " Sapiens, vitatu quidque petitu Sit melius, caiosas reddet tibi ; mi satis est si Traditum ab antiquis morem servare," &c. Serm. I. IV. 115-17. However the wisdom of such a mode of training may be judged of, it must certainly be admitted that the manner which an Academician would be likely to adopt in enforcing the principles of acts, and the motives of will, would exactly fall in with the prac- tical system pursued in the first instance. tu me inter strepitus nocturnos atque dihenos Vis caneee, et contracta sequi vestigia vatum ? Epist. II. II. 79-80. It is merely intended here to add one to the many guesses that have been offered in explanation of the expression ' Contracta vestigia v&tum.' May not the poet plead ex absurdo thus? — ' I have shown that the steps of street-passengers in a tumultous scene must be narrowly measured {contracta) because of the dangers which beset them: but if you expect that they shall at the same time follow the bent oi poets' footmarks — that their steps should have been likewise contracta — you expect what is absurd. " Contracta sequi vestigia vatum?" — There are none such: "scrip- torum chorus omnis amat nemus et fugit urbes." ' — Supr. 77. A figurative inference is also obvious. 217 SECTION IV. TRIFLING PROPOSITIONS ATTRIBUTED TO ROMAN SATI- RISTS EXAMINED. Few modes of verbal expression less aid the disco- very of truth, or less influence its diffusion, either in knowledge or practice, than formal enunciation of truisms. Assimilated in outline both to the axiom and the proverb, such propositions possess neither the theoretical applicability of the one, nor the prac- tical conclusiveness of the other. They may cer- tainly assist very weak (as in children), or very slow, perceptions to comprehend inferences or appreciate duties; and are even employed with advantage in exemplification by that Art which systematizes the processes of the thinking mind, as animal mechanics reduce to law the energies of the moving body. In the former case, however, they are properly truisms only relatively to the teacher ; and in the latter are not used for the sake of the matter which they communicate, but merely as exhibiting, by insignificant but indisputable examples, certain constructions to which even the most valuable mate- rials must be adjusted; just as very weak and inarti- ficial pieces of matter may exemplify the operation ofthe highest physical functions. But as exponents of actual thought amongst men they betray barrenness 218 TRIFLING PROPOSITIONS of mind even in common conversation, and should be wholly forbidden to disfigure the philosophic page. At the same time it must be observed that it is by the meaning imputed to a proposition, and not by its actual phraseology, that its character in this respect is to be estimated. A saying translated or under- stood in one of two admissible views may be purely trifling, which may yet yield an excellent sense when the other is suggested. So independent indeed of the words may the sense be, that even the most ap- parently trifling class of all conceivable expressions, ■ — namely, the predicating a term of itself — may, by virtue of a peculiar emphasis of meaning, almost reach proverbial rank. For instance, the burden of a very popular ballad of Eobert Burns is — " A man's a man, for a' that ;" a homely phrase, whose significance, were it duly estimated, would often materially alter the conduct of superiors towards inferiors in worldly condition. If the remarks before made on truisms properly so called be correct, it will be readily conceded that fruitless excrescences of this kind must be re- garded as peculiarly unlikely beforehand to cum- ber the ground which blooms with the animating freshness and charming variety of the mental pro- ductions of Horace. Still less, if it were possible, would any weak or futile dictum be supposed com- patible with the intense earnestness and undaunted courage of Juvenal. This latter author is pro- perly without the pale of our general treatise. But DEFINED IN THEIR PRESENT ACCEPTATION. 219 as he is a joint sufferer with Horace, in the depart- ment here alluded to, it is a befitting tribute to the stern and tru.thful impressiveness of one of virtue's most disinterested friends, to include him in this at- tempted vindication. And assuredly there is no true admirer of the enduring contributions which these two poet-philosophers have afforded to the knowledge of things and the graces of literature, who would not rejoice to find, even at the eleventh hour, that the few trifling propositions which have been unanimously attributed to them by the commentators are, after all, misconceptions of the true and simple meaning. To assert directly, however, that universal error in such simple cases has in fact prevailed, must appear to be a rather adventurous statement on the part of any modern writer. But the following modification may claim an unprejudiced attention, namely, — That certain passages in the works of Horace and Juve- nal, which, as heretofore understood, have yielded a confessedly trifling meaning, are susceptible of translations which not only convey substantive sen- timents, but such as contribute, so far as they go, to enforce the authors' doctrines in the context. The instances adducible in proof of this position are hap- pily so few as to have precluded the occurrence of any serious mischief from the misconception here supposed ; though they appear to be sufi5ciently nu- merous to justify this notice. 220 TRIFLING PROPOSITIONS Nam VITUS nemo sine nascituk: optimus ille est Qui minimis urgetur. Serm. I. III. 68-9. Of the class of propositions just now alluded to the above extract furnishes a prominent example, in its latter clause. The whole passage is invariably ren- dered — " For no one is born free from faults — he is best who is borne down (or oppressed) by fewest (faults)." The increase to our knowledge which such a sen- timent affords may be illustrated by the following: — ' No one is free from occasional bodily infirmities : he is most healthy who is affected by least.' It re- quires no Hippocrates to inculcate this fact. Now, by simple conversion of Horace's proposition an en- tirely new view is given. The logical reader must not feel alarmed on hearing of ' simple conversion' of a universal affirmation, for the given terms are reci- procal. We thus have the ' optimus^ as our subject, and the ' qui minimis urgetur' as predicate; as ' opti- mus — est — ille qui minimis (vitiis) urgetur' : and the whole sentiment runs thus : — No human being is born into this world exempt from faults of character : and, (to take the extreme conceivable case as proof), the most that can be said for the best man (could he be instanced) is that he is clogged by the least amount of faults ; but it would not be true to say that he is afflicted with none: — 'The best man — is — he who is depressed by fewest faults.' If this be the author's ELIMINATED FROM THE SATIEES OF HORACE. 221 real meaning, its being so shaded as to escape gene- ral apprehension, can be accounted for only by the fact that a metrical requirement has partially distri- buted the predicate about the copula. But the latter is much more easily extricated than in multitudes of cases where it is commonly absorbed. In this view, then, so far is the sentiment from pro- pounding a truism, that it does not generally seem to be felt as a truth. For we continually hear people praising one another as 'faultless' characters ; and that not merely in fanciful poetry, but even in the gravest prose : so that the statistics of notices of deaths, for instance, whether passing or monumental, would make it appear not only that ' spotless,' 'blame- less,' ' pure,' and ' perfect' beings may ordinarily exist in the world, but that such even exhibit a fair ave- rage amount in respectable classes of society. And in a somewhat similar manner the pride of human nature is fostered by such dogmas as the following, enunciated inPope's peculiarly didactic style of theo- rizing, and of course extensively adopted : " An honest man's the noblest work of God." And, again : " For modes of faith let graceless zealots fight; His can't be wrong, whose life is in the right." Had the light of revelation illuminated our poet-phi- losopher's page, he would have written more humbly than this Christian moralist; and would certainly have nothing to recall in his own sentiment which we have just now examined. 222 TRIFLING PKOPOSXTIONS NON QUI SlDONIO CONTENDERE CALLIDUS OSTRO NeSCIT AqUINATKM POTANTIA VELLERA FTJCITM, Certius accipiet damnum propiusve medullis, quam qui non poterit vero distinguere falsum. Epist. I. X. 26-9. The paraphrase of Professor Anthon maybe taken as fairly representative of the ' general sense' upon this passage : — " Horace compares the taste of nature to the true purple, and that of the passions to a counter- feit colour. The man, he observes, who cannot dis- tinguish between what is true and what is false, will as surely injure himself, as the merchant who knows not the difference between the genuine purple and that which is the reverse." That is, in short — ' The difference between truth and falsehood is no less im- portant, than to a trader is the right estimate of dye- stuffs.' A sufficiently cold and negative compliment paid to Truth, it must be confessed. May we not here allowably remark of Horace, with a slight license of adaptation, as Juvenal does of Cicero ? [Hie " mles ludos"] "potuit contemnere, si sic Omnia dixisset" ! But such is not the meagre sentiment of the poet- philosopher. By simple attention to the prominent emphasis of the initial negative, a quite different light is cast upon the passage. By it the author enters, as it were, an indignant protest against the false estimates of selfish reasoners. " 'Tis not thefact;' he says (as the sordid practices of men would imply it to be), ELIMINATED FROM THE EPISTLES OF HOKACE. 223 " that he who miscalculates his worldly gains shall incur a more real loss, or one nearer to his vital in- terests, than he who shall not be able to distinguish truth from falsehood." The language too is evidently pointed with caustic significance against the vanities of engrossing pur- suits of the former kind : and here also, as in the preceding case, the habits of the present day, equally as in the time of Horace, remove the sentiment very far indeed from being received as a truism. Sic honor et nomen divinis vatibus atque Cakminibus venit. Post hos insignis Homerus, &c. Epis. ad Pis. 400-1. The former sentence here is constantly rendered — ' Thus credit and celebrity accrued to divine poets and their lays.' But the extreme conceivable amount of this ' honor et nomeri would consist in their being accounted ' divine'; for no ' divinity' independent of the attribution of men was pretended here, as it was in the instance of the Gods themselves. Hence the expression is a poor and weak one. Orellius alone of the moderns, evidently seeing this difficulty, but still regarding ' divinis' as a qua- lifying epithet, remarks with his usual ability — " a vatibus mythicis, quos di inspiraverant transit ad his- toriam poesis verge apud Grtecos." No doubt this is refined distinction ; and the construction now pro- 224 TRIFLING PROPOSITIONS posed may include it. Let the passage be read — ' Thus the dignity and name of " divine" accrued to,' &c. : just as in — ' dederim quibus esse poetis' ' trimetris ac- crescere jussit nomen iavibis,' &c., — and all difficulty vanishes. This sentence, being merely the statement of a particular fact, would scarcely be entitled to no- tice in this general relation, were it not for the nature of the fact itself. Maxima debetur puero reverentia. Juv. Sat. XIV. 47. The next passage which seeks acquittal from the charge of frivolity is supplied from the works of Ju- venal. It occurs in connexion with the author's argu- ment upon the fatal effects of bad example in adults as applied to the tender susceptibilities of the infant mind ; and is comprised in the above four plain words. The passage is usually rendered — " The greatest (that is, very great) respect is due to (the presence of) a child." This meaning requires no alteration. By being merely intensified, so to speak, it can be raised from the rank of a saying in which persons of ordinary moral intelligence would find no accession to previous notions., Juvenal's point appears to be to impress his subject with a vivid energy, by, as it were, revolutionizing a received maxim, and trans- ferring its application /rom the old to the young, by an ELIMINATED FROM THE SATIRES OF JUVENAL. 225 extreme instance. As if he had said — ' It is a com- mon notion that respect due to age should be gradu- ated by seniority ; and in conventional civilities this is as it should be. But in morals we must invert the rule : and here it is to the (perceptive) child of the company that the chief reverence due to age is to be paid.' — The comparative passiveness of the ordinary version has arisen from apparent inattention to the import of the word ' reverential which is much too strong to be primarily associable with ' puero! It seems on reflection to be manifestly borrowed from the opposite period of life; and in the new accepta- tion will even form with its adjunct a pleasing and impressive oxymoron. Sunt qu^dam vitiorum elementa. Juv. Sat. XIV. 123. To exhibit the light in which this clause has been viewed by even the best expositors of Juvenal, it is merely necessary to observe that Ruperti refers to the following passage in the works of Horace, as pa- rallel and illustrative — Eradenda cupidinis Pravi sunt elmenta. . . . Caem. hi. XXIV. 51-2. Now, as '■cupidd' is an inward emotion, its "elementd must be of this nature : and although in Horace's aphorism this yields an excellent sense, yet a similar application of the terra reduces Juvenal's proposition p 226 TRIULING PROPOSITIONS, ETC. to the veriest puerility. " There are certain elements of vices." Deep philosophy ! How should we have fared had not a Juvenal arisen to enlighten us with this truth; one of no less moment than would be the publication of the physical fact — ' There are certain components of organized bodies'? But had the commentators referred to a different passage of Horace, — viz. ..." pueros elementa do- centem," — Epis. I. xx. 17, — they might have, by the help of it, assigned a less futile sentiment to Juvenal. In this latter case, the term ' elementa! is applied to the first principles of instruction from without, as it was before employed to signify the first suggestions from within: just as at present we speak oi Euclid's Elements, &c. And applying this notion to the im- mediate context, " his protinus imbuit illos," — the reader will be led to the very feasible conclusion that the author really means to state such to have been the systematic depravity of the day, that there existed actual ' simple formularies' for the inculcation of vices, with which, ' from the outset,' the infant mind was habitually ' seasoned:' just as easy precepts are ordinarily emplo}'ed for the inculcation of virtues on the tender perception of children. But the numerical index of our page now strongly recalls the words of the Mantuan bard — Sed nos'immensum spatiis confecimus oequor: Et jam tempus equum fumantia solvere colla. This latter task we now proceed gradually to perform. 227 SECTION V. ILLUSTRATION OF THE SUITABILITY OF THE ANCIENT EPIC AND LYRIC STYLES TO MODERN SUBJECTS OF NATIONAL AND GENERAL INTEREST. The purposes to whicli the two generic classes of metres employed by Horace are now generally ap- plied are in themselves so very elementary, and are so poorly answered by the accruing results, that pro- fessors and lecturers, on the one hand, appear to think it incumbent on them to conform to a habit of dig- nified reserve in confining themselves altogether to the use of the inverted end of the stylus; while, on the other, students seem to conceive that the metres of a dead language may be well employed in pleading apologies for poverty of living thought. Compositions fashioned in the more elaborate de- partments of metrical science, and even animated by a dignified poetic conception, occasionally, it is true, relieve the prosaic tones in which our Almce Matres usually speak themselves, and are addressed by their sons. But such seldom effectually embody living associations : and hence they generally savour more of artistic subtilty than of spontaneous suggestion ; and are proportionately devoid of popular interest. It has fared better with the elegant colloquialisms of polite comedy: and the Prologue and Epilogue of p 2 228 SUITABILITY OT ANCIENT METRICAL STYLES ' The "Westminster Play' annually afford to the public a pleasing illustration of the capabilities which the Latin tongue possesses in this department for adap- tation to the most modern conventional varieties pro- per to the topics of government, law, politics, com- merce, &c., and in fact all the ' subjects' of the passing day. The following poem is an attempt in the same way to accommodate the more grave and severe require- ments of the Latin muse to the highest class of na- tional theme. It is the Latin Prize Poem of the Dublin University, composed in celebration of the birth of the present Prince of "Wales; and is so far at least connected with the subject of this book, that it embodies the only imitation of the Carmen Seculare that has had the good fortune to be honoured by a special mark of royal favour since Horace submit- ted his production to the Emperor Cassar Augustus, about the sixteenth year before the Christian Era. The prizes awarded for the cultivation of classical poetry in Trinity College, Dublin, are bestowed ex- clusively upon the "Undergraduate classes. But on this important occasion, the field for competition was opened to the whole College, Graduates (under the Degree of M. A.) and Undergraduates: and it was understood to be desirable that enlarged general views, suited to a national subject, should supersede the fulsome compliments which often impart an air of pure fiction to poetic homage rendered to Eoyalty. It was expressly ordered that no poem should exceed TO MODERN NATIONAL SUBJECTS. 229 two hundred verses in length : to which precise stan- dard the present composition is adjusted. And it is a fact no less creditable to the conscientious and critical rigour of the Board, than suggestive of a useful lesson to aspirants, that when the selection of the successful composition from among the vast amount furnished was announced, even some trivial errors were found carefully noted in the margin. The author was subsequently induced to submit the Poem to the judgment of a Monarch whom it is no flattery to style the most intellectually endowed of all the continental Sovereigns ; but who was not even remotely alluded to in the Work itself The let- ter copied on the next page, and bearing a signature familiar to European literature — that of the eminent Chevalier Bunsen — together with an engraving of its unique accompaniment, exhibits the result. The Poem is here for the first time published : a previous circulation having been confined to a few very intimate friends, and some of the Fellows of the College. It is presented to the reader with such im- provements in the text as a larger experience has now suggested, accompanied by a few cursory anno- tations; and with such adaptations as the author trusts will render the general sentiments permanently appli- cable to the most prominent characteristics of the British Empire and Constitution. LoHDON, 4, Oabi/ton House TESBAoa, Septemtei 12, 1844. SIR, I have the honoui to inform you, that the Poem intrusted to my care has been auTsmitted to His Majesty the Kino or PEnasiA. His Majesty has commanded me to thani you in his name for the sentimenta expressed in that production of your Muse, and to deliver to you the Medal for " Scienoe and Aets," which is given hy His Majesty aa acknowledgment of distinguished merits in either. The Medal will be delivered to you, or to a person autho- rized by you to receive it, at the Office of the Legation, any morning from 11 to 1 o'clock, Sunday, of course, excepted. I have the honour to be, Sir, Tour obedient Servant, BUNSBN. John Mubbat, Esq., A. M., Sea. &o. &c. 2, Trinity College, Dublin. BNGHAVING OF GOLD MBDAL IS " SCIBNCK AND JlB-TS, PRESENTED BT HIS MAJESTY THE KING OF PRUSSIA TO JOHN MUBBAT, U- A.. MDdCCSLIV REGIA NATALITIA. ASCANIUM SURGENTEM, ET SPES H^REDIS liJLI Respice .... ImPEEIUM sine FINE DEDI. ViRG. Maetia quid sonitus certent iterare canoros, Classica, dum armorum quatiunt castella fragores" ; -^thera cur verrant plausus, vexillaque Iteta Turribus undatim fluitent super undique suminis ; Musa, precor, moneas — prisco mihi thure colenda, Alta silet*" quamvis quse olim spirabat in asde" Chorda, nee antiquum servat tua Gr^cia numen. " Armorum fragores.'\ This innovation upon the strict import of armorum fragor, will, it is hoped, be excused as unavoidable: one of the most animating features of modern national rejoicing being foreign from Latin associations. *■ AUa silet.'] This adverbial use of the neuter plural, although not very usual in the Latin language, is instanced by such cases as the following, — " Asper, acerba sonans ;" — Vihg. Geor. in. 149 ; " equus . . Terram orebra ferit." — lb. 499-500. " j/Ede.} The ' JEdes Apollinis' at Rome is intended. The leading sentiment is adapted from Moore's Melody, " The Harp that once through Tara's Hall," &c. 234 REGIA NATALITIA. Lseta dies radiis festis albata refulsit, Millibus innumeris expleti nuncia voti. Proles namque novis hodie de gente vetusta Auspiciis oritur Brunsvici pulchra virilis; Imperii qui hseres validi, populique volentis Venturus sancte dominus salvere jubetur. Omina tanta gerit nascens cui regna debentur, Maxima sub coelo pavit quse Tethyos uber: Lumina nee priuceps alter vitalia carpsit, Cui tot magna dedere orienti regna salutem, Auguria hinc repetent gentes quot fausta remotfe. Herculis" agnoscet scandens hunc unda Columnas, Quasque tumens Melites saxosis intonat oris. Pacificos montes aqueos contempler, an Afros? Quk vel apex supera vanescit Gangaris*" Eethra? Pellaso juveni nee tantos eessit Aornos, India persolvet quantos huie dives honores. Quinetiam Hesperias equitans alata per undas, Arvaque diversis" prastenta Columbia zonis, ' Herculis, ^c.J A sketch of Great Britain's maritime sway is here combined with an outline of her foreign possessions. Such must necessarily be imperfect : and must labour under a difficulty arising from the peculiar notions which Latin associations were wont to attach to some of the specified localities. ^ Apex . . . Gangarts.^ Eepresentative of the Indian mountain-fastnesses. ° Arvaque diversis, ^c] The Colonies in North and South Ame- rica, and the West Indian islands, are included in this verse. REGIA NATALITIA. 235 Anglica Fama ciet* Isetante tonitrua voce. Aurse thura dabunt Australes : ipsa nee ingens Serica contemptrix'', quamvis invita, negabit. O si de coelo liceat terrena beatia Despicere, et sedes oculis haurire relictas, Gaudia quanta ferunt hodie lucentia vultu, Alta quibus patrise florescunt pignora" gratse! Expectata dies, vetuit te fama perire, Temporis e rapido servatam flumine gemmam ! Nee tamen infantis limo jam fata maligne, (Ejus quis diademaferat viduare lapillo?) Si vel sera preeor nostro defunetaque sseelo, Debita materno potiendi tempora seeptro. Gaudia rara legis sine nexo^ vita, dolore ! Spina latens roseos earpentem fallat honores : Idem qui setherios^ oeulus compleetitur ignes, Cassam luee pio eonspergat rore favillam. '^ Anglica . . ciet . . tonitrua, ^c.j Trans. ' Shall call forth the thunder of British guns.' '' Serica contemtrix.l ' Gens,' sciz. The national character- istic of Chinese exclusiveness is alluded to. " Alta . . . pignora.] Trans. ' Monumental pledges.' '' Legis . . . nexo.] Metaphors from the culling of flowers. ' Idem qui cetherios, ^c] An illustration of the close affinity of pleasure and pain is hazarded, from two very opposite functions of the same organ : the eye, while it is the most constant and prolific of our sources of enjoyment, being the organ which is most expressive of poignant sorrow. 236 EEGIA NATALITIA. Sic quoque decretum ad solium quae hunc hora vocabi t, Invida dilectam Matrem don^rit Olympo. Absint at sacris operate ab carmine questus. Regina potius pr^senti et sospite teti, Ipsi cum Sponso generoso justa feramus"; Quos setate pares, sociato sidere natos, Ingenio pariter, specie, virtute decoros, Conjugium, magno populo Isetante, beavit. Regie, nee voveam tibi quidquam majus, alumne, Dotibus eximiis referes si utrumque parentem. Illa bonis animi locuples atque indole prompta, Desidise nullara juvenilem prodidit horam : Fidis sed teneros sensus formata raagistris, Artibus incubuit queis mens tollatur ad alta. Jamque*, novo rosese vix acto vere juventse, Lubrica conscendens sortis fastigia summse, Gentibus una caput prsecelsum foemina multis, Constanti mentem gerit baud virtute minorem, Hospitiis facilem, contraque pericla virilem. Forma Illb egregius, mansueto corde benignus, ^ Justa feramus,] Trans. ' Let us offer due compliments.' In tlie performance of this poetic duty (one inseparable from the main subject), it has been the author's desire to avoid the dress- ing of any sentiment in the flimsy guise of mere flattery. It is strange that the opposite practice should be sanctioned by the authority of many eminent poets. '' Jamque.] Trans. ' And next.' REGIA NATALITIA. 237 Vultus cvii ornataB mentis feliciter index, Odia nulla gerens, carpit quern nemo inimicus, Laudibus invidiam superat : nee promptior ullus, Seu studio incumbit, seu tela virilia tractat. Infans ter felix! ^ sit tibi munere coeli Sospes inemptus amor, tutelaque fida parentum, Per vitse ambages firmandi dum tibi gressus, Invalidi puero, juveni per caeca dolosi. Multa tibi discenda manent. Haud aurea solum Tempora sortitur qui sceptra tuenda capessit. Eegem non faciunt solium, diadema, senatus Submissus, gladii sponte aut mercede fideles; Eex non est dominum gentes quem mille fatentur, Cujus et ad nutum populi tremuere subacti. Rex est quem, patrise columen, virtutis amicum Intrepidum metuunt hostes, civesque verentur; Aures qui populo placidas adhibere querenti Usque studet, ficto cautus discernere verum; Qui, si forte premant populum ex re nata tributa*, Ultro partem*" oneris sibi poscit rite ferendam. " Ex re nata trihuta.'] Taxation arising from the requirements of the public service. * Ultro partem, ^c. j An apposite instance is furnished in a statement -which was familiar in general circles at the period when the levying of the present Income Tax was first projected by a former Ministry; namely, that Her Majesty had hersAi proposed that her own income should not be exempt. 238 REGIA NATALITIA. Jamque hunc exemplis certe felicibus auctum Risu Spes puerum designans indice fausto, His populum blande dictis affatur ovantem : — " Candida diraotis ut quondam Stella tenebris Orta rec^ns homini monstravit prima salutem, Glorige in excelsis, in terris nuncia pacis; Aurea sic patrise dilectae ssecla reportans I^ucifer en oritur, Divini pignus amoris! Cordaque demulcens idem desueta quieti, Dissidii oblitos pacis nos ducit ad aram," Quod restat, Puero poscamus prospera votis. Flore viam spargens praecedat Fama perenni, Gloria dum aurato sequitur vestigia curru: Marte-potens dextram Virtus, Astrea sinistram — Ecce autera placidse sertis prEEcinctus olivse, Victricem amplexu luctantis vincere laurum, Prodit sacra Chorus^ modulatus carmina plectris — ° Chorus.'] The reader will bear in mind the functions ascribed, in religious and poetic fancy, to a Chorus when supposed to speak with a Nation's voice. On the fifth formal commemoration of the centenary of the Eoman State, Horace is known to have been specially appointed to compose the Secular Sovg: and in al- lusion to the Chorus who sang it he thus defines — Poscit opem Chorus, et praesentia numina sentit, Coelestes implorat aquas docta preoe blandus, Avertit morbos, metuenda pcricula pellit, Impetrat et pacem, et locupletem frugibus annum. Epis. I. I. 134-7. REGIA NATALITIA. 239 [ffii)oicu3 Infit] CAEMEN SACRUM* IN SERENISSIMI CAMBEIiE PEINCIPIS HONOEEM ET PEO IMPEEII BEITANNICI INCOLUMITATE CONDITUM, Arbiter mundi! Pater et Redemptor! Gloriam cujus decus et perenne Prsedicant cceli, liquidumque tranans jEthera tellus ; Qui parum Sanctis populos feroces Viribus tristi domitas ruina; Cui placet fidps opibus juvare Ccelici amoris. « Those verses of Horace which are suggestive of any passages in the following imitation of his Carmen Seculare, ■will be found transcribed in the notes : not by way of explanation or illustra- tion (which is generally unnecessary), but in order that the exact amount of obligation to the prototype may be apparent. 240 BEGIA NATALITIA. Commodes mentem precibus benignam, Natio rebus patriis salutem Dum petit ; des te placidumque" justis Tempore* votis. Regio imprimis Puero precamur, Fontibus felix jubar ex eois Qui recens nobis oritur, secundes Fata futura. Spiritu. vitam moderere Sancto : Sit memor natum Tibi se ministrum : Creditum fidus cumulet Talentum" Foenore grandi. Jura tutetur populo catense Asperae nunquam docili ferendfe: Legibus cives*, gladio superbum Comprimat hostem. ' Des te placuHumqiie, 4''!.] . . . " date quse precamur Teinpore sacro." Casm. Sec 3-4. '' Jtistts tempore votis.J Trans. ' Prayers rightful on the oc- casion.' ' Creditum . . . Talentum, ^c] The reference is to the scriptural parable of ' the Talents.' ■• Le^ibua oives, ^c. j " Imperet, bellante prior, jacentem Lenis in hostem," Carm. Sec. 51-2, REGIA NATALITIA. 241 Artibiis cultor vacet ille doctis ; Sedibus initis faveat cainen^m"' : . Laudis hinc mentem veteris reflexa Tangat imago. O quibus Matris capiti venusts3 lavocem sacro precibus salutem ! Cui tua optandum nihil hic reliquit Gratia plena. Unice charus vigeat Maritus Regius : clare manifestus ambos Coelicus nuper clypeus'' periclo Servet ab omni. O Deus ! prsesens oculos verendaB CuriEe" intendas vigiles, paternos; Cuncta ccelesti^ monitu statuta Rite secundans. * Sedibus . . . eamenum.] Trans. ' Seats of learning.' ^ Ccdicus nuper clypeus, ^c] In allusion to a (then recent) providential escape of Her Majesty and the Prince Consort under circumstances of personal danger, to which it would be unseason- able to allude in such a connexion as the present, were it not that both the Royal fortitude and the popular loyalty have been alike nobly displayed on every occasion requiring such manifestation. " CuricB.^ Trans. ' Parliament.' ^ Cuncta ccelesti, ^c] " patrumque Prosperes decreta." . . . Carm. Sec. 17-8. 242 EEGIA NATALITIA. Protegat fidis^ clypeixm : rebelles Debitos poenas'' meritse refrasnet : Audiat digne" stabilis tenaxque Anchora gentis. Damna depellens populum corones Gratia totum, cumulesqiie donis* Optimis ; quorum pietas nitescat Ordine primum. O bonum solum, pietas, perenne ! Corda pertentes placide BritanniJim : Eegiam frontem potior nee ulla Gemma decebit. Eura centeno bove cui domentur, Te parum felix sine condat aurum; Alter at tecum locuples futurus^, Castera pauper. " Fidis.] Trans. ' The loyal.' >> Debitos poence, ^c] For ' quibus poena debetur.' Probably too bold an hypallage. ° Audiat digne, ^c] Trans. ' May it be worthily styled,' &c. '' Cumulesque donis, ^c.J ..." genti date remque prolemque, Et decus omne." Cakm. Sec. 47-8. " Fvturus.'] This employment of the fnt«re form to intimate habit is illustrated by the phrase of Horace " His me consolor, victurus suavius," &c. — Seem. I. vi. 130. HEGIA NATALITIA. 243 Veritas fontes reseret docendi : Jusque jurandum tueatur ^quum : Abstinens victiis alieni et alma in- dustria crescat. Recta doctrina emoveat venenum, Prava quo nomen sociale lasdens* Factio, juri simulata, vanas Falleret aures. Cultui lis religiosa cedat''; Disparis ritus" pereat simultas : Unitas fratrum viola ta cesset Foedera plorans. Copia et frugum'', veniente turpis Pellitur qua pauperies, adaucta Sit peregrinis opibus, domique" Arva coronet. " Nomen sociale IcBdens.'J Trans. ' Outraging the name of social' : i. e. by assuming the designation of ' Socialists.'' '' Cultui lis religiosa cedat.^ Trans. ' May religious strife yield to religious duty.' ' Disparis ritus.'\ The causal genitive. Trans. ' Because of difference of religious ordinance.' * Copia etfrugum.^ " Fertilis frugum pecorisque tellus." Cakm. Sec. 29. ° Peregrinis opibus, domiqne, ^c] It is to be hoped that two opposite sections of political economists will find their views ade- quately blended here. Q 244 REGIA NATALITIA. Fine bellorum* placido fruamur : Nostra dum nemo* temere lacessat Jura, semoto vigeamus seque Mercibus ense. Multus hinc rivus scateat, fluenta Aureus quo amnis" sinuosa flectens Intimos sese facili per agros Explicet haustu. Jamque regressus spatiis, et unde Orsa deduxi repetens e6dem, Regio infanti patriaa reposco Versus ad aras — O procul distet tibi lux suprema ! Munere et longo imperii fruaris; Bellicas artes studiumque pacis Firmiter sequans. " Fine hellorum, ^c.J This allusion is, strictly speaking, pro- leptic of the eventual issues in Affghanistan and China. "' Nostra dum nemo, ^c.J " Jam mari terraque manus potentes Medus Albanasque timet secures." Cakm. Sec. 53-4. " Aureus quo amnis, ^c.J The commercial advantages contem- plated by the establishment of new relations with the Chinese Empire, about that period, are here referred to ; the image beinfe borrowed from the legend of the golden sands of Hermus : a tale whose improbability is considerably reduced by modern facts. BEGIA NATALITIA. 245 Te tamen fati gelidus minister Amplius quando vetuit morari; Quando terrestris, nebula premente, Scena recessit ; Aliger fotum gremio per astra CcEtus, eeternos celebrans triumphos, Alta sublimem ferat ad beat^m Limina Isetus. Ilia turn demum potior corona Sit tibi — quanto pretio parata! Sit tibi laudes Domini canendo Ducere s^cla". * The author cannot close without remarking, that several of the aspirations of the preceding Carmen Sacrum happily seem to be much less prospectiye in their realization, and less merely poetic in their fancy, than when the poem was written. Among the symptoms of public amelioration now actually present may be noticed — a growing appreciation of the peaceful energies of practical pursuits above the busy idleness of political speculation ; a more consistent application of the true principles of science to the advancement of agricultural and commercial interests ; a general tendency to adjust mutual interests rather than to contest separate rights ; the moral discouragement, more potent than laws, which the intelligence of the community evi- dently presents to setting up any barrier of religious exclusive- ness in the path of national improvement ; and the hospitable pledge of patronage and example which Great Britain has prof- fered to the Industry of All Nations. FINIS. ERRATTA. 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