A a V I B E T O CLASSICAL L^ARNINGj O R POLYMETIS ABRIDGED. C O N T A I- The Hiftory of the Polite Arts among the Romans ; with the Characters of the Latin Poets and their Works. II. The Ufefulnefs of Antiques towards explaining the Clas- sics. A true Idea of the Al- legories of the Ancients, and their whole Scheme of Ma- chinery} with Remarksoh I N I N G, the modern Commentators and School Education. III. An Inquiry concerning the Agreement between the Works of the Roman Po- ets, and the Remains of the ancient Artists, in Or- der to illuftrate them from one another ; with many ufeful Hints to the Modern Ar- tists. Being a Work necelTary not only for CLASSICAL INSTRUCTION* But for all thofe who wifh to have a TRUE TASTE For the Beauties of POETRY, SCULPTURE, and PAINTING. By N. TINDAL, Tranflatorof RAPIN. The SECOND EDITION, corrected and ini ar ge6« LONDON Printed for R. Horsfield, in Ludgat e-Street, and J. Dodslev, in Pall-Mall, M.DCC.LXV. THE INTRODUCTION. O F all the attempts towards explain- ing the daffies, hitherto extant, the molt ufeful and inftruftive is Mr. Spence’s Inquiry concerning the agreement between the works of the Roman poets , aud the remains of the ancient artijis , publiffied under the title of Polymetis. The principal defign of the author in this inquiry was, to compare the deferiptions and expreffions in the Latin poets, relating to the Roman deities, with the allegorical reprefentations of the fame, by the painters and fculptors in their pi£tures, reiievos> medals, and gems, in order to illuftrate them mutually from one another a . A 2 As a This inquiry was the refult of two very differ- ent feenes of life, in which the author was engaged. He was profeffor of poetry in the univerfity of Oxford for ten years ; and for above five years he happened to live abroad. His profefforfhip obliged him to deal in poetical criticifm ; and his flay, during his. travels, INTRODUCTION. As the author has confined himfelf to the Rorpan poets only, and as there is a great deal of difference in the authority of a poet near the fecond punic war, and one of the Auguftan age, he was obliged (in order to fettle the degree of credit due to each poet) to premife an account of the rife, progrefs, travels, at Florence and Rome, naturally led him t« the obfervation of antiques. As thefe two periods partly coincided, it put him in mind to join thefe two ftudies together ; in which he found very little diffi- culty ; for the connexion between criticifm and an- tiquities is fo natural, that they may feem rather to meet one another, than to have been brought together by any contrivance. This connexion, though fpoken of in general both by ancients and moderns, has not been treated on in particular by any writer. Our author, therefore, compares his fubjett to a newly dif- covered country where there were no trattsmade, and where much more is left to be found out than was known to the perfon who firft difcovered it. He looks npon himfelf as the firft difcoverer in this cafe. For Mr. Addifon, in his treatife on medals (the only at- tempt of this kind) feems rather to have failed round the coafts than to have entered at all into the country. Poly metis was firft publilhed in folio, 1,745* and. again 1757. and INTRODUCTION. and decay of poetry and the polite arts among the Romans, wherein he gives the charadters of the latin poets, and their works, from Ennius down to Juvenal. He hath alfo fubjoined a diflertation upon the ufes of fuch inquiries in general, and of his own in particular. In this difler- tation he has made judicious remarks upon our commentators, and fchool education ; and given a true idea of the allegories of the ancients, and of their whole fcheme of machinery. The want of this idea is the caufe of all the miftakes and defedts of the modern poets and artifts in allegorical fub- jedls. Many inftances of thefe defedts are produced from Ripa’s Iconology — from Horace’s Emblems by Venius — from the works of Rubens, particularly from his celebrated ceiling in the banqueting- houfe at Whitehall, and his pidtures in the Lux- emburg gallery at Paris — from Spenfer’s Fairy-Queen — and from Dryden’sTranfla- tion of Virgil. — Even the divine Raphael himfelf is not without his faults in the alle- gorical parts of his works. •A 3 Tho INTRODUCTION. The following ftieets are a full though concife abridgment of this valuable treafure. of clafiical learning *, in the drawing up of which it is fo managed, that the text may- be perufed without interruption by the readers of both fexes, as it contains chiefly th« hiftory of the polite arts among the Romans, and the defcriptions of the figures, characters, drefs, and attributes of their allegorical deities ; whilft the critical re- marks, and other lefs diverting, though not lefs inftruCtive, particulars, are thrown into the notes, together with the references to the paflages alluded to in the courfe of the work b . Thefe paflages could not be inferred at length, confidently with the abridger’s defign of reducing the whole within the compafs of a fmall pocket- b The author took the pains to read over all the Roman poets, from the fragments of Livius Andro- nicus, to the fatires of Juvenal ; and to mark down the moft linking paflages relating to the allegorical beings received as deities among the Romans. He aifo -increafed his ftock of quotations from feveral profe- writers, from Varro dewn to Maerobius. volume. INTRODUCTION. I volume. They are therefore left to be turned to by the young ftudents, who, by comparing them with what is faid in the text, will receive more light towards the underftanding of the clafiics, than by read- ing over all the commentators, who gener- ally, by their explanatory notes, rather miflead than inform c . In Ihort, by ftudying this compendium, the reader may learn the rife, growth, and fall of the polite arts among the Romans — the juft chara&ers of the Latin poets, and their works— -the figures and other appearances of their deities — He may gain a true no- tion of the allegories of the ancients, and of their machinery, or the interpofition of the gods — confequently he may acquire a true tafte for the beauties of poetry, painting, and fculpture, and be enabled to judge of the propriety and impropriety of the modern allegories, and the excellencies and defeats of our authors, tranflators, and artifts. I ® There are no lefs than three thoufand paiTages from the dailies referred to and illuilrated in this abridgment. i In* INTRODUCTION* In this fecond Edition, the whole has been carefully revifed and corrected : Some ufeful paffages have been added, and others enlarged, with a general index : And for the better underftanding of the chapter of conftellations, a print of the celeftial Far- nefe Globe (the only ancient one in the world) is prefixed to the fourth Book. ERRATA. Page 144, note ( })for cales, read feales. Ibid.^o?* udgment r. judgment. P. 134, line ult. for Abbvtla, r, Albula. A guide T O Claffical Learning. PART I. CHAP. I. The RISE and GROWTH of the ROMAN P O E T R Y. T ^HE Romans, in the Infancy of their ftate, were entirely unpolifhed. They fprung from Shepherds ; they were in- creafed by the refufe of the neighbouring na- tions d : and their manners agreed with their ori- ginal. As they lived wholly on tillage and plunder, war was their bufmefs, and hufbandry their chief art. Roughnels, raifed into a virtue by calling it Roman fpirit, was long an applauded character among their great men, and a kind of rufricity reigned even in their Senate-houfe. a Romulus fet up an afylum, to invite all the murderers and fugitives in the neighbourhood to join him, B In. r 2 ] In a nation of fuch a temper, conftantly em- ployed in extending their conquefts, or in fettling the balance of power among themfelves, it was long before the polite arts made any appearance : and very long before they dlourifhed to any de- gree. Poetry firft appeared j but fuch as might be expelled among a warlike uncultivated people b . To fay nothing of the Songs of Triumph mentioned even in Romulus’s time, there was certainly fomething of Poetry under Numa, who pretended to converfe with the Mufes, as well as with Egeria c . Pythagoras, either then, or foon after, gave the Romans a tin&ure of Poe- try d . The Pythagoreans made great ufe of Poetry, and, like the Druids, delivered moft of their precepts in verfe. Indeed, in that and the following ages, the Roman Poetry was of a re- ligious kind. Their very prayers were poetical c . They had alfo prophetic, or facred writers, who generally wrote in verfe f . They had too a kind of b Her. ii. ep. i. v. 160, 163. Lucr. 1. v. v. 1452. e See Plut. in vita Rom. and Livy, b. iii. 2.9. b. iv. 20, Ovid hints, that Numa taught feme rites in verfe, Metam. xv. 4.84. Horace calls the old Salian verfes, which were fung by the Salian prielts, Numa’s verfes, b. ii. ep. 1. 86. A Cicero aflerts this, Tufc. Quseft, b. iv. Vitr. 1. v. proaem. e See Hor. b. ii. ep. 1. v. 138. f Thefe were fo numerous, that there were above 4oo 0 «f their volumes even in Auguftus’s time. Horace probabl y W alludes [ 3 1 of plays, derived from what they had feen of the Tufcan adlors, fent for to Rome to expiate a plague 5 . Thefe were like our dumb-jfhews, or elfe extempore farces, in ufe to this day in fome parts of Italy. To thefe may be added the jell- ing dialogues at their vintage feafts (which were carried on afterwards fo abulively, as to be re- trained by a fevere law) and thofe Poets who feem to have attended at the tables of the rich, and, like our bards, fung the atchievements of their anceftors, to inflame others to follow their examples h . alludes to them, b. ii. ep. i. v. 26. Though the authors are called Vates, and their works Carmina, that does not necelfarily imply that they were all poetry. Carmen is of- ten ufed for a charm, and particularly by Pliny, b. xxviii. 2, Perhaps too it was ufed for any thing expreffed in a high poetical ftyle : for he calls the form of words ufed by the Decii, in devoting themfelves, Carmen ; which form pro- bably is the fame with that in Livy, b. viii. 9. Perhaps the folemn forms, prophecies, and charms, were all at firft written in verfe, and thence tire terms carmen, cantare, de- cantare, might be ufed, even when they were in profe. S See Livy, b. vii. 2. The Fefcennine poetry, mentioned by Livy and Horace:, was probably a fort of dialogues, fince the latter expreffes it by alter nis verfibus. Thus Virgil, eel. iii. v. 59. Hejier, in Tufcan, dignified a Player. Hence Hiftrio in Latin inftead of Ludio. h Hor. b. ii. ep. 1. v. 154. Val. Max. b,ii.cap. 1. Cic. Tufc. quseft. b, i. p, 289. B 2 Almoft * [- 4 ] Almoft all thefe, with their works, lleep in peace ; and it feerris the lofs is not great ; for they are reprefented as very obfcure, and as to° barbarous for politer ears 1 . Livius Andronicus is the firft Roman poet of whom any thing remains, and from whom the Romans date the beginning of their poetry, even in the Auguftan age. The firft kind of poetry that met with any fuc* cefs, was that for the ftage. The Romans were very religious, and ftage-plays then made a con- fiderable part of their public devotions. Livius, Naevius, and Ennius, were the foremoft in the lift of dramatic poets. Livius’s firft play (and it was the firft written play that ever ap- peared at Rome) was added in the 514th year from the building of the city. He feemsto have been noted for the fiift, rather than for a oood writer k . He was the only one for the ftage, till Nee vius a.rofe, and, probably, exceeded his maftcr. i Hor. b. ii. ep. 1. v. 87. 27. 159. Liv. xxvii. 38. Au- guftus ordered the greateft part to be burned, refer vir.g only the choice of the books of the Sibyls. Suet, in Aug. c. 30. Martius, one of the moft famous of thefe Vates, is quoted by Livy, b. xxv. 12. k The plays before Livius were extempore. He was the firft who compofed one in form, and wrote it down for the aftois to learn by heart. Hence, perhaps, he is called by Horace, Livius feriptor. b. ii. ep. 1. v. 62. Cicero (de claris orat. c. 72.) fays, his pieces did not deferve a fecund reading. Naevius [ 5 ] Naevius ventured alfo upon an Hiftorical Poem on the firft Carthaginian war. Ennius followed his fteps, in this as well as in the dramatic way, and excelled him as much as he had excelled Livius. Thefe were three actors, as well as poets, and feem rather to have wrote what was wanted for the ftage, than to have confulted their own genius. Each publifhed, fometimes comedies, fometimes tragedies, and fometimes dramatic fa- tires ; whereas the moll celebrated ancient wri- ters for the ftage excel only in one kind. There is no tragedy of Terence or Menander, nor co- medy of Adtius or Euripides. The quiet the Romans enjoyed after the fe- cond Punic War, and their eafy conquefts after- wards in Greece, gave them leifure to improve greatly in their poetry. Their dramatic writers had the benefit of the excellent Greek patterns, and formed themfelves on thofe models. Plautus was the firft who confulted his own genius, and confined himfelf to comedy ; for which he was beft fitted hy nature. Indeed his comedy (like the old Athenian) is of a ruder kind ; his jefts are often rough, and his wit coarfe : but there is a ftrength and fpirit in him, that makes him read with pleafure l . Caecilius B 3 took I Horace, in his Art of poetry, (v. 274.) fpeaks of his un- politenefs, but with the more referve, perhaps, becaufe Cicero (de r 6 i took his example in following his genius, but improved their comedy fo much beyond him, that he is named by Cicero as the beft of their comic writers ; not for his language, but either for the dignity of his chara&ers, or the ftrength of his fentiments m . Terence firft appeared when Caecilius was in high reputation n . It is feen by his plays to what exa&nefs and elegance the Roman comedy was arrived in his time. There is a beautiful fimpli- city throughout all his works : his fpeakers fay juft what they fhould fay, and no more. The ftory is always going on, and juft as it ought. The whole age, long before, and long after Te- rence, is more remarkable for ftrength than for beauty in writing. The Roman language itfelf, in Terence’s hands, feems to be advanced almoft one hundred years forwarder than the times he Jived in. 7'his feems very ftrange j but it may be accounted for by his great intimacy with Scipio (de officiis, b. i. c. 29.) had cried up his wit as elegant and fine. Horace is more fevere in b. ii. ep. 1. r. 176. m Cic. Brutus, c. 74,. Hor. b. ii. ep. 1. v. 59. n The ftory goes, that the JEdiles Tent him with his firft play to Caecilius, for his opinion ; who being at fupper, and: feeing Terence meanly drefted, placed him on a ftool,. and bade him read 5 but, upon hearing a few lines only, Caecilius altered his behaviour, and placed him next himfelf at table. Bader's life of Terence. and r 7 j and Laelius, in whofe families the Roman lan- guage was fpoken in perfedion even in thofe days; and to whom, it was imagined, he was indebted for more than the corrednefs of his ftyle g . His ufual method, in compofmg his plays, was to tak<2 his plans and charaders from the Greek comic poets, efpecially from Menander?; where- as, Afranius’s ftories and perfons were Roman. Hence the comedies on the Greek plans were called Palliates, wherein Terence excelled ; and thofe on the Roman, ‘Togatce, in which Afranius was unrivalled ; who, even in the Auguftan age, was regarded as the moft exad imitator of Me- nander ; and therefore the lofs of his works is greatly to be lamented. About the fame time Pacuvius, contemporary with Terence, and Adi us with Afranius, carried tragedy to the higheft perfedion it ever attained in the Roman hands. It is remarkable in Pacu- vius, that he was almoft as eminent for painting as for poetry. Pliny fpeaks of paintings by him « Terence himfelf feems rather to be pleafed with this opi- fii6n than to difown it. Prol. to the Adelphi and Heauton. p They who fay he tranflated all Menander’s comedies are miftaken, they being more than he ever wrote. Of his fix plays, he himfelf fays, five were taken from the Greek ; but does not fay the fame of the Hecyra. See Prol. to Artdria, v. 14.. to Eunuchus, v. ai. 3a. to Adelphi. v. 11. to Heau- ton. v. 9. to Phormio. v. 16. See the life of Terence by Suetonius. b 4 tbs the molt celebrated next to thole of Fabius Pie- tor -3. Adius began to publifh when Pacuvius was leaving off. His language was not fo fine, nor his verfes fo well turned, as his predeceffor’s r . tor more than an hundred years, the Page was almoft the foie province of the Roman poets : but afterwards, Satire, a new fpecies of poetry, wholly of Roman growth, fprung up, the pro- duce of the old comedy. Ennius, and others, had attempted it ; but it was fo altered and im- proved by Lucilius, by the lights he borrowed from the old Athenian comedy, that he was called the inventor of it Not long after, Lucretius joined poetry to philofophy. Where his fubjeft gives him leave, he difeovers a great deal of fpi- 1!t > anc * hi s digreffions he appears to have been of a more poetical turn than Virgil him- S He painted the decorations of his own plays. See Plin, nat. hill. b. xxxv. c. 4. T A£Hus ’ bein S lonelily told by Pacuvius (to whom he was reading his tragedy of Atreus) that his poetry, though fonorous and majeftic, Teemed rather too harfh and ftiff, re- plied, he was not forry for it ; for (adds he) it is with writers as with fruits; the meft Toft and palatable fooneft decay, whereas, the rough laft longer, and are higher relifhed when mellowed by time. See Quintilian Inftit. b. x. c. 1. and Paterculus, b. j. c. 17. and b. ii. c , 9. s Hor. b. 11. fat. 1, y. 63. b. i. fat. 10. v. 66. b. i. fat. 4. V. 7. felf. C. 9 ] felf b Catullus, at the fame time, began to fhow the Romans the excellence of the Greek Lyric Poets. He was admired. in all the different ways of writing he attempted. His odes, per- haps, are the leaft valuable part of his works. The fatirical ffrokes in his epigrams are very fe- 'vere, and his deferiptions in his Idylliums very pidlurefque. He paints ftrongly, but, with more force than elegance. Of thefe the firft age of the Roman poetry may be faid to confift ; an age more remarkable for ftrength than for refinement in writing. All that remains of this period, are the poems of Ca- tullus ; the philofophical poem of Lucretius ; fix comedies of Terence, and twenty of Plantus ;; with fuch paffages as are quoted by the old cri- tics ; to whom, particularly to Cicero, Horace, and Quintilian, we are indebted for the charac- ter and merit of the poets of the firft age. They difagree indeed in their fentiments, but that may be eafily accounted for. Cicero milled, perhaps, by the nearnefs of the times, thinks more highly of them than the reft. It was probably the fa~ t This Teems (o be owned partly by Virgil himfelf, in that fine compliment he pays him in his fecond book of Georgies : Felix, qui potuif, &c. which undoubtedly is meant of Lucre- tius, who was the only poet when Virgil faid this, who had written any philofophical poem. b 5 {hi on f 10 1 /hion in his time to cry up the old poets, which continued afterwards in theAuguftan age u . Thi$ vulgar error was combated by Horace with great warmth, who, profelTedly writing againft the old poets, gives them a chara&er rather too fevere Quintilian fleers a middle courfe, not commend- ing them fo generally as Cicero, nor cenfuring them fo ftrongly as Horace •, and therefore he is more to be depended upon perhaps in this cafe. He compares Ennius to an old grove, where the oaks look more venerable than pleafing. He commends Pacuvius and Adfius for flrength of language and force of fentiments, but fays they wanted the polifli that was afterwards fet on th* ** * He gives up Livius indeed, but then he commends N;e- vius. All the other comic poets he quotes with 1 efpect ; and as to the tragic, he carries it fo far as to feem ftrongly inclined to oppofe Ennius to Efchylus, Pacuvius to Sophocles, and Aflius to Euripides. He was himfelf no good poet. Juve- nal even calls his poems ridiculous. Cic. acad. queft. b. i. e. 3. de orat. b. iii. c. 7. Juv. fat. x. v. 125 , w Hor. b. ii. ep. 1 . v. 18 — 89. b. i. fat. 10. v. 1 — 1 1 . 20. —30. 50 — 71. He fays, “Their language was obfolete, they u are often incorreft, and thecompofitions ftiff ; it was there- “ fore provoking to commend them for what, indeed, they “ might be pardoned, as the fault of their times. He owns ** Lucilius had a good deal of wit, but rather of the farce “ kind, than true genteel wit. He is a rapid writer, with. many good things, but is often very' fuperfluous, and his “ language dafhed with Greek, and his verfes harlh and in- “ harmonious. Roman r ii i Roman poetry. He fpeaks of Plautus and Cae- eilius as applauded writers ; of Terence as a tnoft elegant, and of Afranius as an excel- lent one i but all (he fays) fall infinitely fhort of the grace and beauty of the Attic writers. According to him, Lucilius is too much extolled by forne, and too much run down by Horace. Lu- cretius is more read for matter than ftyle j and Catullus is remarkable for fatire, but hardly fo for the reft of his lyric poetry x . * See Quintilian’s inftitutes, b. x. c. i. CHAP. II. The FLOURISHING STATE of the ROMAN POETRY. HEN the Roman ftate was quite formed into a monarchy, and Auguftus had no longer any dangerous opponents, he looked kind- ly on the improvement of all the arts and ele- gancies of life. Maecenas, his chief minifter, (though a a bad writer himfelf) knew how to en- a Quintil. de caufis cor. el.b. ii. Auguftus ufed to divert hhnfelf in ridiculing the affe&ation of Maecenas’s ftyle., Suet, in Aug. c. 86. Macrobiushas preferved part of one of Auguftus’s letters to Maecenas, which in Engliih would be to courage this f 12 ] courage the heft, and admitted them into a great intimacy with him. Virgil flood one of the fore- moft i a this lift, who foon grew the moft ap- plauded writer for genteel paftorals b ; and then pubJifhed the moft beautiful and corrca poem on agriculture that ever was penned in the Roman language : and, laftfy, he undertook a political poem, in fupport of the new monarchcial ftate. In this light his ^neid may be fairly confidered'.’ He this effect : “ Farewel my little honey, thou honey of' all “ nations ! thou Tufcan ivory, thou fretwork ceiling of ** Aiezzo > f hou pearl of Tiber, thou Cilnian emerald, and “ benl of Porfenna,” &c. Seneca has alfo given fome in- ftances from Maecenas himfelf ; which fhew his ftyle could not be fet in too ridiculous a light. Epift. i H . b All paftoral writers may be divided into two claffes, the tural and the ruftic ; or, if you will, the genteel and the homely. See Hor. b. i. fat. 10, v. 45. where molle feems to^be meant of the fWeetnefs of Virgil’s verification in his paftorals, as facetus denotes the genteelnefs. c 1 ne author fays he had this notion from reading BofTu. Virgil is faid to have begun his poem the veiy year that Au- guftus was freed from his great rival Antony, when the go- vernment was to be wholly in him. This monarchical form muft naturally he apt to difpleafe the people; and Virgil feems to have laid the plan of his poem to reconcile them to it. He weaves into it the old prophecy, of their having the empire of the world, with the moft probable account of their origin or delcent from the Trojans, as being that of Dionyfius Hahcarnafteus, and fome of the heft Roman hiftorians. Ho- merhadfaid, H.y. v. 308. that tineas and his defendants fliould [ i3 ] He fhows in this poem, 44 That iEneas was call- *« ed into Italy by the exprefs order of the gods: “ that he was made king ©f it by the will of heaven, and by all human rights; that there “ was an uninterrupted fuccellion fiom him to “ Romulus : that his heirs were to reign there “ for ever, and that the Romans were to obtain “ the monarchy of the world : that Julius Cse- 44 far was of this race, and that Auguftus was 44 his foie heir ; confequently, that the Romans, 44 if they would obey the gods, and be mailers 44 of the world, mull yield obedience to the new 44 eftablilhtnent under that prince d .” Thus it is plain, that the two great points aimed at by Vir- gil were, the maintenance of their old religious tenets, and the fupport of the new government in the family of the Ctefars. His poem, there- fore, may well be confidered as a religious and political work. If this was the cafe, it is no wonder Virgil was fo highly careffed by Auguftus fliould rule the Trcjans from generation to generation. This prophecy, by changing T^uecraiv into TravWcnv was inter- preted of iEneas and his race, that they fhould reign in Italy, and obtain the univerfal empire. See Pope, il. xx. v. 355. /£n.v. v. 97. vii. v. 101. ix. v. 44.9. d All thefe particulars are inferted by Virgil in his yEneid. See i. v. 1. — 7. iii. v. 185. 97. 167. iv. v. 279, x. v. 30. — 34. xii. v. 175. — 225. 937. vii. 50 — 52. i. v. 265. 269.273,276. vi„ v. 776. 780. 288. vi. v. 836. Suet, in Juli#. c. 6. and in Aug. c. 8. and r n J and Maecenas. In fhort, he wrote in the fer- vice of the new ufurpation ; and all that can be faid in his excufe is, that the bent of their con- ftitution at that time was fuch, that the reins of «he government muft have fallen into the hands of fome one perfon, who might be lefs indul- gent than Auguftus was at that time. Be this as it will, the poem (though left unfinifhed) has been applauded in all ages c . It preferves more of the religion of the Romans than all the other Latin poets, except Ovid ; and gives us the forms and appearances of their deities, as ftrong- ly as if we had fo many pictures of them drawn by the beft hands in the Auguftan age.- His ima- gination has been praifed by fome of the ancients themfelves, though that is not his charadler fo much as exadtnefs f .. He was certainly the molt \ corredt poet even of his time ; and it is as cer- tain that there is but little invention (much left perhaps than is imagined) in his iEneid. His minutefl fadis are built on hiftory $ and no one perhaps ever borrowed more from the former e The many bieaks or hemiftichs, which are to be found in fflo other fimfhed Latin poem, nor in any other of Virgil’s Works, are a plain proof of the -ffineid being left unfinifhed. f Juvenal, fat. vii. v. 71. points to the very nobleft efforts ©f imagination that Virgil hasfhown in his poem, all relating to the deities. Thefe paffages are, iEn. xii. v. 332. i. v. 127. 195.155, ii, v, 623. vii. v. 518, poets. [ i5 ] poets, inferring whole verfes from Ennius and- others. He minded not the obfoletenefs of their llyle, for he was fond of their old language, and, doubtlefs, inferted more antiquated words than can now be difcovered s . Judgment was his diftinguifhing charader. Whatever he bor- rowed he made his own, by fo artfully weaving it into his work, that it looks all of a piece Modefty and good-nature were the chief beau- ties in his private chara&er K He thought hum- S This is fhown by Macrobius, and the other colle&ors of Virgil’s imitations of Homer, &c. Even the minuteft paf— fages (fuch as Afcanius’s jeft, and the like) appear to any one who has read Dionyfius Halicarnaffeus, to have been* traditional and hiftoiical. Many of his old words have pro- bably been altered by the tranferibers, and others have be€h miftaken by the critics. Thus, they fay, Virgil ufes fewer* fhort, to make the found agree with the fenfe ; whereas the reafon was, becaufe the ancients ufed fer-vo, and ferveo, in- differently. Qmnt. Inftit. i. c. 6. 2 En. viii. v. 677. h There are two celebrated old manufeript Virgils in the Vatican library at Rome, with paintings in them, relating to- fome of the moft remarkable paffages. The more ancient of the two is generally thought to be of Conftantinc’s time, by the learned in the ages of manuferipts : but the pictures are evidently of too good a manner for that, age, they are fuppofed, by the belt judges, to have been co- pied from fome others of the moft flourilhing ages. Our au- thor, therefore, has not fcrupled to make ufe of thefe pictures in the courle of his work, i Hor. b. i. fat. 5. v. 41* bly biy of himfelf, and handiomdy of others ; ever ready to (how his regard to merit, even when it feemed to clafh with his own. Horace wasfirft recommended by him to Maecenas fc . No man was fitter for a court, where wit was fo particu- larly encouraged, than Horace, who had himfelf a great deal, and was well acquainted with man- kind. His gaiety, and even his debauchery, re- commended him Hill the more to Maecenas. Hence that uncommon degree of friendship be- tween a firft minifter and a poet, which is thought to have had fuch an effedt upon him, as to haften himfelf out of this world, to accompany his great friend in the next K Horace far excelled in lyric poetry ai; the Roman poets, and rivalled the Greek, which was the height of his ambition m . He is alfo famous for refining fatire, and bringing it from the coarfentfs of Luciiius, to that gen- teel eafy manner, which none but he, and per- haps one perfon more, in all ages fince, has ever pofiefied n . As the ancients fay nothing of his k Hor. b. i. fat. 6. v. 55. 1 Hor. b. ii. ode 17. They both died in the year 746, U. C. Iloiace cued about three weeks after Maecenas, near whom he ordered himfelf to be buried. This ode teems to be too ferious to be only a poetical rhodomontade. m b* ii- od. 16. v. 40. So llkewife at the end of his fiift ode, he muft mean the Greek iyjfc poets, as there were no Latin ones before Horace. n Mr. Pope in his Ethic Epi files. epiftlesj C '7 1 epiftles, poiTibly they palled under the fame name with his fatires °. They are generally written in a converfation-ftyle, and fo alike as hardly to be his excellent talent for criticifm, efpecially in his epiftles to Auguftus, and in that to Pifo, com- monly called his Art of Poetry. They abound in ftrokes fhowing his great knowledge of man- kind, laughing away vice, infinuating virtue, and ferving to make men better and wifer. He was in general an honeft man himfelf, without one ill-natured vice about him. In the fame court flourilhed Tibullus, who is kindly mentioned by Horace, both in his Odes and in his Epiftles p . He was deemed by their beft judges, and is, the moft exadf and beautiful writer of love verfes among the Romans q . His talent feems to have been only elegies ; at leaft, his compliment to Maftala fhows he was neither deftgned for heroics nor panegyrics. Elegance is his diftinguifhing character ; and, if his fubje£l will not let him be fublimc, his judgment keeps him from being faulty. His rival Propertius who, by fome, is preferred before him, followed 0 Perhaps that of Sennones. P Hor. b. i. ode 33. and b. i. ep. 4.. q Qnintil. Inftit. or. b. x. c. 1. too f 18 J tOO many different models. Had he fixed upon* any one, he might perhaps have fucceeded better r v Ovid is the next of the elegiac writers, and is more loofe and incorrect than either of the other. He endeavoured to fhine in too many kinds of writing, and chofe rather to indulge than reftrain his redundant genius. He excels moft in his Fafti ; then in his Love Elegies ; next in his Epiftles, and laftly in his Metamorphcfis. As for his verfes after his banifhment, he has quite loft his fpirit j nor does his genius ever fhine out after that fatal misfortune. His very love of be- ing witty had forfaken him, though it grew upon him when leaft becoming, toward his old age y for his Metamorphofis (which was not finifhed when he was banifhed) has more inftances of falfe wit than all his other works "put together. His tranfitions, though cried up by fome, were differently thought of by the ancients, and by Quintilian are rather excufed than commended *. ^e have a great lofs in the latter half of his Fafti and in his Medea, which is much applauded. r In one place lie calls himlelf the Roman Callimachus, b. iv. el. x. v. 64.. in another, he talks of rivalling Philetas, ibid. el. 6. v. 3. Hence it appears, that it was the conftant cuftom of the Roman poets to fet lome Greek pattern before them. * He excufes it from the nature of his work, which feemed 1 tb require fuch connexions, Inftit, or. b, iv. c. r. There r 19 t There is fcarce any mention of dramatic poetry in the Auguftan age. Their own critics boaft rather of fingle pieces than of authors j and the. two tragedies fo highly extolled, are the Medea* of Ovid, and Varius’s Thyeftes l . However, if plays were not, all other kinds of poetry were then, in their greateft excellence at Rome. Under this period Phaedrus may be ranked 5 for though his book did not appear till the reign of Tiberius, when good writing was on the de- cline, it deferves to be reckoned among the works of the Auguftan age. He profefledly follows /Efop in his Fables, even where the fubjedt is his own invention u . By this it is plain, that ASfop’s way of telling ftories was fhort and plain j for Phaedrus’s diftinguifhing beauty is concifenefs and /implicit)^ The tafte was fo much depraved when he publilhed his Fables, that both thefo were objected to him as faults. He ufed the cri- tics as they deferved. He tells a long tedious ftory to thofe who cenfured his concifenefs, and an- fwers thofe who blamed the plainnefs of his ftyle with a run of bombaft verfes, without any fenfe w «- t Quintil. Inftit. or. b. 1. u See his Prologue to his firft book, and b. hi. fab. io» v. 8. and 38. b. ii. fab. 5. w B. iii.fab. 10. 52—60. b. iv. fab. 6. Manilius, [ 20 J Manilius, though mentioned by no ancient author, is at prefent generally reckoned of the Auguftan age. There are many pafiages in his poem relating to his own times, which have all a regaid to that age x . If therefore the poem be not a forgery, his being of that time cannot be denied j and if it be a modern forgery, how ■ comes it to agree in fo many particulars with the ancient globe of the heavens in the Farnefe pa^ lace ? Behdes this work of Manilius, there is no- thing more remains but what has been mentioned, except the garden poem of Columella, the hunt- ing piece of Grratius, and perhaps an elegy or two of G-allus. i hefe are but fmall remains for an age wherein poetry was fo well cultivated, and followed by very great numbers, moil of the beft of whom are probably come down to us y . It * Thefe paflages are very numerous and exprefs. He fpeaks of Julius Caefar’s death, b. iv. v. 6 o. of the battles of Philippi and Aaium, b. i. v. 905. and of Varus’s defeat in Germany, v. 896. Indeed, his language and verfifica- tion are fuch as are not, perhaps, to be met with in the Auguftan age. See b. v. v. 268.224-. b. i. v. 189. 27. 88. b.iii. 596. b. iv. 844.. 134.439. b. i. v. 75.168. 666. b. v. v. 152. 97. 735. &c. y As for the others, we only hear of the Elegies of Ca. pelia and Montanus : that Proculus imitated Callimachus ; and Rufus, Pindar: that Fontanus wrote a pifcatory eclogue; and Maccr, a poem on birds, beafts, and infers; that Macer all® [ 21 ] It is no wonder that the Roman poetry, after having been gradually improving for above two centuries, fhould rile to fuch a height under Au- guftus, whole own inclinations, and whofe very politics, led him to nurfe all the arts, and moie efpecially poetry. The wonder is, that the Ro- mans, when they had got fo far towards perfec- tion, fhould fall, as if were, all at once, and, from their greateft purity, degenerate into a lower and more affected manner of writing than had ever been known among them. alfowith Rabirius, Marfus, Ponti'cus, Pedo Albinovanus, and feyeral others, were epic writers : that Fundanius was then their belt, and Meliflus no bad, comic poet : that : be- fore the AEneid, Varius was moft dteemed for epic poetry and always for tragedy. Poliio, befides his other excel- lencies, is much commended for tragedy, and Varus, either for tragedy or epic poetiy, being doubtful for which. Thefe 1 ait are great names ; but there were (fill greater, as Maece- nas, Auguftus’s prime minifter, and his grandfon Germani- eus, who translated Aratus. The emperor himfelf was both a critic and author. He wrote chiefly in pvofe, but Some- thing 1 alfo in verfe, and particularly a great part of a tragedy called Ajax. See Gvid. ex Pont. b. iv. el. 16. v. 12. 3 6-* 32. 28. Trill, b. iv. el. 10. v. 44. Quintii. Inftit. Or, b. x. c. 1. Trill, b. iv. el. 16. v. 47. Ex. Pont b. iv, el. j 6. v. 10, 30. Ovid. ep. b. >v. ep. xc. v. 73. Hor. b. i. tat. 10, v. 42.44. Hor, b. ii. od. 1. Virg. eel. vi. v. 12. andix. v. 36. Ovid, ex Pont. b.v. ep. 16. v. 31. Fafti. b. i, v. 25. Suet, in Aug. c. 85. 86. and Macrobius. CHAP. I 22 ] CHAP. IIL The FALL of POETRY among the ROMANS. T HE decline of the Roman eloquence (fay fome) began in the latter end of Auguftus’s reign a . It certainly fell very much under Tibe- rius ; and daily growing weaker, was wholly changed under Caligula. Hence, therefore, may he dated the third age, or the fall of the Roman poetry. Under fuch monfters as fucceeded Au- guftus, warlike difeipline, domeftic virtues, love of liberty, and all tafte for found eloquence and good poetry, faded away, as they had flourifhed, together. Inftead of the fenfible, chafte, and manly way of writing of the former age, there now rofe up an affectation of fliining in every thing they faid, and their poetry was quite loft in high flights and obfeurity b . Lucan and Perflus, in the reign of Nero, may well ferve for examples of the iwelling and ob- feure ftyles then in vogue- Lucan runs too much into bombaft. In his calm hours he is very wife, a Quint, decanfiscor. el. b. ii. b Seneca and Petronius Arbiter, th-e two noted profe writers in Nero’s time, afford many proofs of this as to profe- but [ 23 1 but he is often in his rants* efpecially in his bat- tles and ftorms c . The fwellings in the other parts of his work may be imputed to his being born at Corduba in Spain, a city marked by Cicero for a very bad tafte. What this poet has been always, and ever will be admired for, are his many philofophical pafiages, and his generous fentiments, particularly on the love of liberty, and contempt of death. Indeed, his fentences are more folid than could be expected from fo young an author, had he wanted fuch an uncle as Seneca* and fuch a maf- ter as Corn u-t us. His behaviour at his death has c Inftances of this are, i. Caefar’s Crofting the fea in a fmall velfel : “ The fixed ftars themfelves feemed to be in ft motion — ■ the waves rife over the mountains, and carry ff away their tops — the fea opens and leaves it’s bottom “ dryland. — The foundations of the univerfe are rtiaker 9 “ and nature fears a fecond chaos.” — 2. In the battle of Phar- falia, “ The foldiers, fearlefs for themfelves, were concerned ** only for the commonwealth and Pompey — The mountain:', in a fright, feemed fome to thruft their heads together, “ and others to hide themfelves in the vallies — A ftrange “ and fudden gloom that day feized every Roman in what- ever part of the world he was, and made him ready to cry, “ though he did not know why.” — 3. The fea-fight off Marseilles, wherein the poet chufes to be moft entertaining in the wounds he gives the foldiers, which are very ftrange and romantic. Luc. b. v. v. 564.. 617. 629. 604. 634. 642, 64.9, b. vii. v. 138. 174., 191. b, iii. v. 591. 616. 668. 708 7H- left . [ 24 ] left a blot on his moral character. On a difco- very of his being in a plot againft Nero, in hopes of faving himfelf, he accufed not only feveral of his friends, but even his own mother. But all this bafenefs (fo unworthy a philofopher as he feems to have been) was of no ufe to him : for Nero at la ft ordered him to be executed. His veins were opened, and he died repeating fome verfes of hi$ own d . Perfius was a fchool-fellow with Lucan under Cornutus, and, like him, bred more a philofo- pher than a poet. Fie has the character of a good man, but fcarce deferves that of a good writer. His writings are virtuous, but not very poetical. His grand fault is obfcurity, which by fome is palliated from the danger of the times. But he feems to be naturally fond of ob- fcurity, fince it is to be found in the general courfe of his fatires. Such was the Roman poetry under Nero. Flis three fucceffors had fhort tumultuous reigns e . Then came Vefpafian, the fifft of the Flavian family, who endeavoured to recover the former d Suppofed to be fome of thofe in the fight off Marieillejs, b. iii. v. 641. See Tacitus, annal. b. xv. c. 56 and 57. This was called Pil'0’3 confpiracy, and was difcovered by one Milichus. c The reigns of Galba, Qiho, and Vitellius, did not take up two years and a half. Suet, in Vefp, c. 10. good [ 2 5 ] good taftej and his Ton Titus, the delight , of mankind, encouraged poetry by his example, as well as by his bounties ; and even Domitian af- fected to be thought a patron of the mufes. In the following good reigns, from Nerva to the An- tonines, poetry revived once more among the Romans : not that the poets even now were very good, but they were better at leaft than thofe un- der Nero. This period produced three Epic poets, Silius, Statius, and Valerius Flaccus. Silius, as if he had been frightened at Lucan’s high flights, fc arce ever attempts to foar throughout his work. It is plain, though low ; and if he has but little poetical fire, he is free from the affetfation, bombaft, and obfcurity of his immediate predeceflbrs f . Sta- tius had more fpirit, with lefs prudence :’for his 1 hebaid is ill conduced, and hardly well writ- ten. His Achilleid, by the little we have of it would probably have been a better poem, had he lived to finifli it : but as he did not, he may de- f The fubjeft of his poem is the fecond Punic war. Si- lias did not write till he was old, as his ftyle fhows, which is unlike that of Nero’s timej and therefore he is not reckon- ed here as under him, though he was conful in the laft year of that emperor. He lived long after him, and probably wrote after Nero’s death. He w is a great colle&cr of' pi&ures and ftatues, fome of which he is faid to worfliip, particularly Virgil, PJin. b. ii. ep. y. c fervc . [ 26 ] ferve more reputation as a mifcellaneous, than as an epic writer: for the odes and other verfes in his Sylvae are not fo faulty as his Thebaid. Sta- tius’s chief faults, in his Sylvae, proceeded from incorre&nefs and hafte, and in his Thebaid, from over corre£tnefs. Thegreateft fign of his bad judg- ment is his extravagant admiration of Lucan, preferring him even to Homer and Virgil Va- lerius Flaccus wrote a little before Statius. He died young, having finiflied but feven books of his Argonautics, and part of the eighth, in which the Argonauts are on the fea returning home. He is, by the critical editors of bis works, placed next to Virgil, and with good reafon ; for he has more lire than Silius, and is more correct than Statius. He imitates Virgil’s language better than either, and his plan or ftory is lefs confufed than the Thebaid. Quintilian, who fays nothing of Silius or Statius, fpeaks with great refpeci of Flaccus. As to the dramatic writers of this time, we have not one comedy, and only ten tragedies, under the name of Seneca, though probably the work of Z Stat. b. ii. Sylv. 7. v. 35. 51. 74.. 78. Poetry ran in Statius’s family. He received it from his father, who had been an eminent poet, and who lived to fee his fon obtain the laurel-crown at the Alban games, as he had formerly done himfelf. Statius addreffes his Sylvae 1o Domitian, and Flac- cus, his poem to Velpafian, Gyrald. de lat. Poet. O. 4. different t 27 ] different hands. They have been attributed to authors, as diftant as the reigns of Auguftus and Trajan, But, without injury to any of them, they may be fuppofed to have been all written in this third age, under the decline of the Roman poetry h . Of all the other poets of this period, there are none whofe works remain but Martial, who lived under Domitian and Nerva ; and Juvenal, under Nerva, Trajan, and Adrian. Martial deals only in epigram, the loweft kind of poetry. If a friend died, he made an epitaph : if a ftatue was eredled, he was applied to for an infcription : if he made a new-year’s gift, he fent a diftich with it. Thefe were the common of- fices of his mufe. If he ftruck a fault, he mark- ed it down in a few lines ; and if he had a mind to pleafe a friend or a patron, his ftyle was turned to panegyric ; and thefe were his higheft em- ployments. However, he was a good writer in his way, and wrote with dignity on higher oc- cailons. h Lipfius will have the Thebais (his favourite) to have been written in the Auguftan age : but Heinfius thinks it unworthy of Liplius’s praifes, and attributes the ten tragedies to five different authors, and only the fourth, fixth, and feventh to Luc. Annaeus Seneca, the phikd'opher. See dirumoy’s, •Theatre Gr. b. ii. p. 44.2. C 2 Juvenal * C 28 ] Juvenal, though he came after all who have been mentioned, writes with more poetical fi e t han any of them. He has but little of Horace’s genteelnefs, yet is not without humour. He is the moft fevere of all the fatirifts j but the vices of the times may often excufe his rage. How- ever his fatires have a great deal of fpirit, and fnow a ftrong hatred of vice, with fome very fine fentiments of virtue. They are indeed fo ani- mated, that no poem of that age can be read with near fo much pleafure as his fatires. After his time poetry continued decaying to the time of Conftantine, w’hen all the arts were fo far loft among the Romans, that they may from that time be very well called by the name they gave all the world but the Greeks ; for the Romans had fcarce any thing to diftinguifh them from the Barbarians. There are therefore but three ages of the Ro- man poetry. The firft, from the Punic w ? ar to the reign of Auguftus, is more remarkable for ftrength than beauty in writing. The fecond, or Auguftan age, was famous both for beauty and ftrength j and the third, from Nero to the death of Adrian, endeavoured after beauty more than ftrength ; and ran too much into affeHation. In a word, their poetry in it’s youth was ftrong and nervous ; in it’s middle age, manly and pplite j in it’s latter days, it grew tawdry and feeble. What [ 29 ] What has been faid of the Roman poetry is equally applicable, not only to the Grecian, but to the poetry of all the modern nations. In each, the beginnings of their poetry have been rude, trueft tafte of funplicity ; riot fo rude and naked, but modeftly adorned, and well drefl'ed ; and when they came to fall, they have always run in- to affectation, by endeavouring to make an ap- pearance above their flrength. Such has been the courfe of poetry in Italy, in France, and in England. The cafe, upon examination, will be found to be much the fame, with regard to it’s filter arts, fculpture and painting. The Introduction, Improvement, and Fall of the ARTS at ROME. HE city of Rome, like the inhabitants, was at fiift rude and unadorned. The houfes, agreeably to the name given them \ie5Ja~\ were only a covering and defence againfl bad weather. They were not formed into regular Ilreets, but flung together as chance directed. The walls but ftrong : in their bell ages, they have had the CHAP. IV. were I 30 ] were half mud, and the roofs pieces of boards a . Any thing finer than ordinary was ufed in deck- ing the temples ; and when thefe began to be furnifhed with the ftatues of the gods (which was not till long after Numa’s time) they were either of earthen ware or chopped out of wood b * The chief ornament both of the temples and the houfes % was their ancient trophies, which were trunks of trees loaded with the arms taken in war d . Such was the ftateof Rome, w'hen the citizens had fubdued the better part of Italy, and were able to engage in war with the Carthaginians, the firongeft power then a t land, and abfolute maf- C 4 ters » This was an after improvement, for in Romulus’s time the roofs were only of ftravv, anti from thence called Cul- mina. T h® palace of the Icings was a little thatched houfe, called by Ovid and Livy a cottage, Virg. JEn. viii. v. 654. Ovid, faft.b. iii. v. 185. b. u v. 200. Liv. b. v. c. 53 . Val. Max. b. ii. c. 8. b Propert. b. iv. el. 1. v. 6. Ovid. faft. b. i. v. 20a* Juv. fat. xi. v. 116. Plin. nat. liift. b. xxxiv. c. 7. c This privilege at firft was allowed only to patricians, and had fome rights annexed to it. The Plebeians came after- wards to have a fhare in this honour, Liv. b. x. c. 7. b. xxiiu c. 23. It was unlawful to remove thefe trophies, and they were never removed but on extraordinary occafion?, as after the battle cf Cannx Plin. nat. b. xxxv. c. 2. Liv. b. xxil. C * 57 - ' (i Virg. iEn.xi. v. 83.. See his defeription of iEneas’s trophy over Mazentius like thofe on medals and triumphal arches [ 3i ] tcrs at Tea. But it was not till the fecond Punic war that the Romans acquired a tafte for the arts and elegancies of life: for though in the firft war with Carthage they had conquered Sicily (which, in the old Roman geography, made a part of Greece) and were mafters of feveral cities in the eaftern part of Italy, which were inhabited by Grecian colo- nies, and adorned with the pictures and ftatuea in which that nation excelled all the world, they had hitherto looked on them with fo carelefs an eye, that they were not touched with their beau, ty. This infenfibility remained fo long, either from the groftenefs of their minds, or from fuper- ftition, or (what is more likely) from a political dread that their martial fpirit and natural rough- nefs might be deftroyed by the Grecian arts and elegancies. When Fabius Maximus, in the fe- cond Punic war, had taken Tarentum, he found it full of riches, and adorned with pi&ures and ftatues, particularly with fome fine CololTeal figures of the gods fighting againft the re- bel giants e . The money and plate Fabius or- dered to be fent to Rome, but the ftatues and pictures to be left behind. The fecretary, ftruck arches and columns in the better times of the Romans, JEn. xi. v. ii. e Thefe were made by the moft eminent mafters of Greece, and the Jupiter probably by Lyfippus : for Luciiius fpeaks of a remarkable figure of Jupiter at Tarentum, fixty feet high, fat, 16. Liv. b. 127. c. 17. with C 32 J with the largenefs and noble air of the ftatucf, afked whether they too were to be left with the . Yes, icplied he, leave their angry gods to the Tarentines ; we will have nothino- to do “ with them.” Adarcelius had indeed, a year or two before, aaed very differently at the taking of Syracufe, which abounded in the works of the beft matters: lor he fent all the pi&ures and ftatues to Rome, in order (as he ufed to declare) to introduce a tatte for the fine arts among his countrymen f . This difference of behaviour in their two great- eft leaders occafioned two parties in Rome. The old people cried up Fabius, “ Let the Greeks