r< V V*S*V V^'V VW 4 J « c °«^fc % /^mk*-r *'£&>*' /J *~V^« A A* a° %, 'vvf* -a* <** '»« «* js* ^ %^>° v^*> V^V \f ** .** ^ « A -^ ,' ^ A^ 1 *- . . s • A <.*».» O > v » f * ° X ^ ^ *.;-.' A ^ f '. . » • ,G V V 0° .•rf^l*. °o ^o« ,0. ^ *t ** x "V COMMENTARIES ON <7% CLASSICAL LEARNING, BY The Rev. D. H. URQUHART, M. A. PREBENDARY OF LINCOLN, &c. &c. * f Claffical ftudies extend the boundaries of human knowledge, and open fuch a new field of inquiry and obfervation as lead mankind to a perfect acquaintance with the powers of the mind, with the beauties of poetry, the ufeiulnefs oi hiftory, and the wifdoni of philofophy." LONDON: PRINTED FOR T. CADELL AND W. DAVIES, STRAND. i8oq. Printed by A. Strahan, PnntejvMrttt. TO THE RIGHT REVEREND GEORGE PRETTMAN, LORD BISHOP OF LINCOLN. MY LORD, I fhould not have afked permiffion to infcribe this volume to your Lord- {hip, had I not been perfuaded, that both its motive and its object would obtain your approbation. At a time, when human learn- ing is loudly decried by the igno- rant fanatic, I allured myfelf that its humbled advocate would be fe- cure ( iv ) cure of the countenance of a dif- tinguifhed Scholar. In the concluding fe&ion of this work, prefuming on the continuance of public tranquillity, I ventured to recommend the patronage of litera- ture to our rulers. But, alas ! that flattering profpedt feems now to have vanifhed from our view* Still, though it be the lucklefs condition of fociety, that, amidft the din of arms, the ingenuous arts are ne- glected j your Lord ihip will allow, tnat, as learning always offers a temporary afylum from the ills of life, it frequently invites us to turn our eyes from the horrors of war to the contemplation of objeds, which afford confolation, infrac- tion, c ) tion, and delight. The man of letters finds alfo another powerful argument to ftimulate him in his favourite purfuit. r^paj-xsw hUwopsvog, is the ardent wifh of every mind which has been improved by early culture, and is actuated by laudable emulation. I have the Honor to be Your Lordfhip's refpedtful and obliged fcrvant, D. H. URQUHL^RT, ADVERTISEMENT TO THE READER. It is right to apprize the reader, that fome of the quotations in this volume were made from memory, and that the name of the author did not always occur. Some paffages from Pope are fo well known, as to render it unneceflary to men- tion his name at the end of each. It is however proper to fay, that the ar- rangement of the Greek and Latin writers was formed on the model of Monfieur La Harpe's ingenious work, and that his fen- timents frequently appear in thefe Com- mentaries. An apology for fo large a table of Errata muft be derived from a dangerous illnefs» which difabled the author, during the greater part of the time, from accurately correcting the Prefs. a a CONTENTS. \ SECTION I. fJ N the general Advantages of ClaJJical Learnings anion its particular Advantages to the Lawyer — the Phy* Jinan—the Divine-— to the Naval and Military Officer —the State/man — the Poet— the Painter— 'the Sculp' tor— the Mufician— and the Merchant, Page I SECTION II. On the Epie Poets of Greece— Homer, Hejiod, Apollonius Rhodius, - - - - 67 SECTION III. Lyric Poetry, Linus, Orpheus, Mufxus, Stefichorus, Sappho, Simonidesy Anacreon, Pindar, - 1 00 SECTION IV. Greek Tragedy. Thefpis, JEfchyluSy Sophocles, EuripU des, - - - 124 SECTION V. On Greek Comedy, the old, the middle, and the new^ Ariflophanes, Menander, and many Writers, of whom only Fragments are extant, -» - . k? 8* ( x ) SECTION VI. Pajloral Poetry . — Epig ram . — Theocritus.— Bion. — Mof- chus.—Anthologia, - - Page 185 SECTION VII. On Grecian Oratory, Pericles ; Lyfias, Ifocrates, Hype* rides, Ifaus y JEf chines ,DemoJlhenes, - - 192 SECTION VIII. On the Grecian Hijlorians. — Cadmus. — Hecataus. — He* rodotus. — Thucidydes. — Xenophon. — Polybius, — Dio~ dorus Siculus. — Dionyjtus of Halicarnajjus . — Appian. -—Arian. — Dion Cajfius. — Herodian, - 226 SECTION IX. Plutarch, - - - 279 SECTION X. Grecian Satire, - - - - 287 SECTION XL On Roman Literature. — The Drama. — Comedy.— Livius Andronicus. — Ennius. — Plautus.— Cacilius. *— Terence. —Pantomime, - 293 SECTION XII. Roman Tragedy.— Pacuvius. — Accius.—Varius.—Ovid. Seneca, - * - - 3 tl ( xi ) SECTION XII. Roman Satire, — En?iius.—Lucilius.—-Varro. — Horace*— Juvenal. — Perfius y - - Page 331 SECTION XIII. Latin Epic Poetry. — Lucretius*— VirgiL— -Ovid.— ~ Lu- ean.—Silius Italicus. — Valerius Flaccus. — Statins , 362 SECTION XIV. Latin Elegy. Ovid. — Catullus. — -Tibullus* — Propertius % 415 SECTION XV. Martial. — Aufonius. — Claudian y - - 426 SECTION XVI. Roman Oratory. — The Gracchi. — Cato.— Cicero % 433 SECTION XVII. Roman Moralljls and didaclic Writers.*— Seneca.— - ghiintilian.— Pliny the Tcunger, - - 465 SECTION XVIII. Roman Hijlorians. — Julius Cafar. — Sallujl. — Livy.—* Tacitus. — ^uintus Curtius % - * 495 ( xii ) SECTION XIX. Latin Hiftorians of 'the fecond Clafs, — Tragus Pompeius — Jujlin. — ~ Florus. — Velleius Pater cuius.—* Cornelius Nepos. — Suetonius, - - Page 526 SECTION XX. Conclu/ion, - - - - - 535 COM. COMMENTARIES ON CLASSICAL LEARNING^ SECTION I. On the general Advantages of ClaJJical Learning, and on. its particular Advantages to the Lawyer — the Phy- Jician-—the Divine-— to the Naval and Military Officer —'the State/man — the Poet — the Painter*— the Sculp* tor —the Mufician—and the Merchant. I hat the cultivation of the mental powers is amongft the higheft objects "which can engage human attention, ieems to be one of thofe propofitions that demand and receive a general aflent. In every civilized age and country, the laborious and fuccefsful enquirer after ufeful b knowledge 8 COMMENTARIES ON knowledge has either been diftinguifhed by the praifes of his contemporaries, or duly appreciated by the jufter decifion of pof- terity. It is therefore not the leaft grateful of our fpeeulative employments, to mark the progreffive gradations of mankind from a ftate of ignorance and barbarifm, to one of elegance and refinement. In fuch refearches our felf-love is grati* fied, and our patriotifm is warmed by the refle&ion that we are inhabitants of a country where art has embellifhed life, and fcience enlightened the mind y where a fpirit of liberty which vindicates our civil rights^ is, in a certain degree, the refult of that liberal information which has taught us to> know their value. If the intelle&ual faculties be the highcll boon which the Deity has bellowed on the moft favored work of his creation, the honor of the individual, and the interefts of fociety, depend upon the* improvement of them. That a ftate of nature is a ftate ii of CLASSICAL LEARNING. 3 of \var, hiftory and experience combine to atteft ; and though a fenfe of the infecurity of fuch a ftate induced mankind to form a focial compact, its firft elements were but an indigefted chaos^ nor, until the mental faculties had been improved, were they ever duly difpofed in order arid in har- mony. This becomes evident whenever we recur to thofe Gothic ages anterior to the cafual invention of that ufeful art, which like the birth-place of Homer, has been fo ftrenuoufly contefted. The annals of thofe early times reflect no pleafing images on the memory* Affimilated in roughnefs to their brethren of the foreft, the Aborigines of our ifle difplayed none of the higher energies of the mind. The hut of the favage was little fuperior to the den of the wild beaft, and the ardor of the fportfman. was analogous to the ferocity of his prey. Our country was long difgraced by in- teftine difcord and by domeftic cruelty. A feeble monarch now furrendered the rights he ought to have maintained, an ufurper B 2 waded 4 COMMENTARIES Otf waded through murder to the throne, a tyrannous ariftocracy attacked the regal privileges, and a bigoted priefthood fettered the rights of a vaflal people. The revival of learning by enlightening the mind, and exciting habits of reflection, rendered men better adepts in the fcience of government, and taught them to doubt the purity of the national religion. Error will not ftand the teft of enquiry. Both were at length happily reformed : the fet- ters were taken from genius, and tafte, that refined quality which difcriminates excel- Jence, began to diftinguifh the candidates for literary fame. The mind of man, natur- ally inquifitive, and eager to difcover the fources from which knowledge was origi- nally derived, is dire&ed to two countries as the parents x>f every thing valuable and ornamental in fcience. Their precious relics at firft cafually found, and now happily fecured from farther ruin, ought to be explored and venerated by almoft all defcriptions in fociety, becaulc every man q who CLASSICAL LEARNING. ? who is placed above the neceffity of manual labour, would find the higheft utility and the moft exquifite pleafure to be the reward of his refearches. That which is emphati- cally ftyled Claffical Learning, the works of the poets, orators, and hiftorians of Greece and Rome, contains every thing that can awaken the genius and improve the tafte. Perfect models of both are ex- hibited in their epic, lyric, and dramatic writers, while their orators and hiftorians produce the moft ftriking examples of a difdain of the felfifh paffions, and that generous ardour for the public good which conftitutes unfufpe&ed patriotifm. That our parents and children are dear to us is the voice of nature; and where cuftom has not hardened the mind, a favage will obey its dictates. But ages of refine- ment alone could inform us, that the patriot acknowledges a higher object of his regard, and that the claims which our kin- dred have upon our affections are fubordi- nate to the claims of our country, b 3 «* Can 6 COMMENTARIES ON " Cari fiint parentes, cari liberi, feci omnes omnium caritates cornplexa eft pa- tria." It appears no difficult talk to point out the advantages of Claffical Learning in all confiderable fituations of life^ Ample in- deed is the range of knowledge which expands itfelf to the view of the jurifpru- dent. He fhould be enabled by laborious ftudy, to deduce the principles of natural and politic law from the nature and the ftate of man; to difcern that what is juft and unjuft has been notified to us by the principles of moral inftincT: ; to trace civil fociety to its original formation ; to obferve how it has been refolved by the genius of a people into the democratic, ariftocratic, or monarchical form of government. He ought to be thoroughly acquainted with the difference in their leading principles, to mark the confequences which refult from thence to their civil and criminal code, to the form of their judgments, and the in- fliction of their punifhments. It behoves him CLASSICAL LEARNING. 7 him to know what it is that determines the purity of well conftituted ftates, and the caufes which lead to their corruption ; to perceive how the fmallefl deviation from their original principles is attended with a ferious injury, while if thofe be firmly maintained, a change often becomes an amendment ; to enquire in what manner the various forms of government provide for their fafety by defenfive, or attempt their aggrandifement by offenfive opera- tions ; and above all, to inveftigate the laws that guard political liberty and human hap- pinefs. But to accomplifh the Englifh lawyer, it certainly is not fufficient that he be per- fectly acquainted with the oral cuftoms and the written laws of his own country. The profeflbr of a liberal fcience will beft know how to appreciate them, if he has contem- plated the wifdom of ancient legiflators in the mirror of their inftitutions. The laws of Draco, Solon, and Lycurgus, will in- form him of the manners of the times £4 and 8 COMMENTARIES ON and the vices of the Athenian and Spartan people. They will enable him to trace the aberrations of the human heart in the pu- nifhments denounced againft crimes, and thoroughly to learn the nature and the hiftory of his fpecies. Without facrificing our Alfred and Edward." to the manes of Theodofius and Juftinian," he will derive no fmall pleafure and utility from obferving what laws the matters of the ancient world borrowed from the nation they fubdued ; and, while he marks their progrefs from Simplicity to refinement, and from refine- ment to corruption, he will confefs that an acquaintance with the inftitutions of Greece and Rome, is more than ornamental to the Englifli lawyer. Numerous examples to evince this truth might be found upon the bench and at the bar ; but as the compari- fon of living chara&ers is fometimes invi- dious, the praife of them is not always unfufpe&ed. But the author of the Com- mentaries of the Laws of England is a fplendid inftance of the efficacy of claffical learning. In his immortal work, the luci- dus CLASSICAL LEARNING, 9 dus ordo and the copia verborum are fo happily combined, that while every pro- feffional man may trace the country in which he is to travel, every man of tafte beholds its beauties with admiration. And here indeed the queftion might fairly reft, did not recollection point alfo to that accomplifhed fcholar who fo long and fo ably prefided over the higheft court of law in this country. Of whom alas ! the poet's prediction is verified : " For Murray, long enough his country's pride, iS Is now no more than Tully or than Hyde." Claffical learning feems to be indifpenfi- bly requiiite to gentlemen of the medical profeffion. The very terms of their art are borrowed from the Greeks, and to their works they are excited to apply by the moil laudable motives, an ardor after knowledge, and a veneration for excellence. It mull gratify them to obferve the marked pre- eminence which Homer gives to the phy- fician, at a time when valour was efteemed above TO COMMENTARIES ON above all other qualities, and fynonimous with virtue itfelf. 'Ivjjpcg yct$ uvqp ttoWmv ocfja,^iog aWoov. In thofe times of fimplicity difeafes were few, and chymiftry had made but fmall advances towards perfefiion. The man, therefore, whofe knowledge of the nature of fimples could teach him how to mitU gate the anguifh of a wound, was juftly efteemed during the Trojan war as of fur* palling dignity and worth. We are taught by the ancient mythology that iEfculapius was the god of phyfic, and that Hygeia, the goddefs of health, was his daughter ; but the more fober and more credible page of hiftory informs us, that experience was long reforted to before the art of medicine was converted into a fcience. The Babylonians obliged themfelves by an cxprefs law, to carry their fick into places of public refort, and to enquire of all who paffed by, whether they ever had felt or feea CLASSICAL LEARNING. II feen any fuch diftemper as the fick perfon laboured under, and what was done to remove it. The progrefs of phyfic was certainly very flow, although Herodotus calls this, as it really was, vifiog CLASSICAL LEARNING. 2jT when, like father Paul, a patriot defires his country to be perpetual, he facrifices the di&ate of reafon to the wifhes of his hearty the refult of his experience to the ardour of his hopes. The hiftory of empires has been truly faid to be that of the mifery of mankind ; the hiftory of learning, that of their grandeur and their happinefs. It is not only curious but inftru&ive to follow this revolution in the religion, government, and manners which have fucceffively defo- lated and corrupted the world. The con- trail: of the infancy with the grandeur of Rome, is worthy the attention of the ftatefman. In reading the iEneid of Virgil, he will be inftru&ed in all thefe points, and cannot fail to be ftruck at the comparison of a fmall town covered with ftraw, to the fame town become the capital of the univerfe, of which " the houfes were palaces, the citizens princes, and the provinces empires." The pages of Tacitus mould be his fre- quent and attentive ftudy \ for by reading them, 26 COMMENTARIES ON them, he will read mankind. He will perceive fcenes of horror acled at Rome unexampled but in our own times, and paint- ed in colours which will never fade. A fran- tic people under the Praetorian bands and the German legions, friends to anarchy and leagued againft civil government, fum- mon his deepeft attention. In the manners of the Germans he will perceive the origin of the Britifh conftitu- tion ; and in the life of Agricola, the day- fpring of that liberty which is the boaft of Englifhmen, and the wonder of foreign ftates. He will fee.that if the Greeks had not a fecond time been flaves, the Latins would again have been barbarians. Con-* ftantinople, it is true, fell beneath the fword of Mahomet; but when the Medici re- ceived the perfecuted mufes, and Erafmus cultivated them, Homer penetrated into regions unknown to Alexander, and Horace became the delight of countries invincible by the Romans. Thofe ages of reviving wifdom found that it was excellent to perufe CLASSICAL LEARNING, 2 7 perufe the ancients, and to admire them. The warrior read them in his tent, and the ftatefman ftudied them in his clofet. The keen eye of Grotius pierced through the veil of antiquity. By its light he read the oracles of facred truth, with whofe powerful weapons he combated fuperfti- tion and ignorance, and with whofe amiable precepts he foftened the rigours of war. A retrofpect of paft times will perhaps tend to render the ftatefman not only the lover of literature, but the public and avowed patron of learned men. When aflailed by the war-whoop of enthu- fiafm againft profane learning, his mind, foaring to a nobler height and taking a wider furvey of things, will perceive that when found learning flourifhes, and good tafte prevails, the maintenance of focial order and legitimate government is recog- nized amidft his higheft duties by the en«» lightened citizen. It has been contended that a poet is born and not made, and the declarations of a Roman 28 COMMENTARIES ON Roman and a Britifh bard are adduced in favor of this hypothefis. But neither Ovid nor Pope would have afferted that he was not indebted to the great models he had before him, for many of his pretenfions to poetical reputation. The two epic poets amongft the ancients, whofe works have immortalized their names, befides the con- current advantages refulting from the cli- mate of the countries, and the Hate of the times in which they lived, were poflefled of all the learning then in the world. No one can doubt this affertion refpe&ing the friend of Auguftus; and a little inquiry will fatisfy us as to the acquired knowledge of Homer. Homer was educated by Phe- mius, one of the bards probably whofe public recitations contained and conveyed all the learning of thofe early times. To his office was attached a dignity of which the moderns can form a very inadequate conception, m CLASSICAL LEARNING, 2 9 He charmed the ears of a fimple age by the fpontaneous effufions of unwritten and harmonious verfe; he inftru&ed them in the hiftory of their progenitors ; he enter- tained them with agreeable allegory and fable ; and, while he aftonifhed them with finging the harmony of the univerfe and the viciflitudes of nature, he profefled to be under the immediate direction of the gods. Though he could not boaft of wealth or power, his fituation was always attended with eafe and honor. He was well re- ceived at the courts of kings, neceflfary at facrifices, and reverenced by the people. At that period, the philofopher, the divine, and the legiflator were all united in the fame perfon : fuch was Orpheus and his fcholar Mufseus ; and all the ancient law- givers employed the mufes to difpenfe their xnfiruaions and recommend their morals. In fuch a fchooi was Homer taught. He was firft placed in the houfe of his 1 3 matter 30 COMMENTARIES Ott matter to be inftrudted in poetry and phi- lofophy, and he afterwards fucceeded him in his office. There were poems in exiftence before the Trojan war ; and in allegory and fable, Homer found many cejebrated models worthy of his imitation. Partly from ftudy and partly from travel, he had become learned in all the wifdom of Egypt, and acquainted with all the arts of Phoenicia. His poverty as a man conftituted no fmall part of his happinefs as a poet; for when he affumed the profeffion of a ftrolling bard, he difplayed the higheft effort of his de- lightful art. When the council of the Amphi&yons were met at Delphi to con- fult on the general welfare of Greece, his hymn to Apollo and Diana expreffes the felicity attendant on his fituation. tc Hai!, heavenly powers, whofe praifesl fing," fays the bard, " let me alfo hope to be remem- bered in the ages to come ! And when any one born of the tribes of man comes hither 5 weary CLASSICAL LEARNING. 3* a weary traveller, and inquires who is the fweeteft of the finging men that refort to your feafts, and whom you mod delight to hear ? then do you make anfwer for me, It is the blind man that dwells in Chios ; his fongs excell all that can be fung." At the Pythian games the public a&ors were the rhapfodifts; and it was long before the mufcular could vie with the mental, be- fore horfe racing and wreftling made part of the entertainment. Although Euftathius fays of Homer, that he breathed nothing but verfe, and was fo poffefTed with the heroic mufe as to fpeak in numbers with more eafe than others in profe ; .yet no infpira- tion can account for his being a great genealogift, a correct hiftorian, and an admirable geographer. From Orpheus and Mufasus he is laid to have borrowed largely : nor was he the author of the Polytheifm of the Iliad, or the inventor of its religious and philofophical allegories, but recorded them as he received them from the Egyp- tians. **2 COMMENTARIES ON tians. In addition, therefore, to the ad- vantage of living at a period of fociety, when he could from obfervation delineate the varieties of the human character, kings, princes, warriors, artifans and peafants ; when his mind had been expanded, and his views enlarged by* foreign travel, he fearched diligently every avenue to fcience, and verified the aflertion I have made, that he poflefled himfelf all the learning then in the world. Horace propofes the queftion refpecting the fuperior advantage of genius and learn- ing to a poet, and determines them to be equally neceffary to the perfection of his art; " Ego nee iludium fine divite vena, . tf Nee rude quid profit video ingenium : alterius fie " Altera pofeft opem res, et conjurat amice.*'. It would be fuperfluous to bring any argument to prove how much the epic poet of our own country was indebted to claf- fical learning ; for this is evident on the flighted perufal of his works. In what fublime CLASSICAL LEARNING. 33 fublime drains does he acknowledge his obligation to the foftering nurfe of ancient literature. " Behold! Where on the iEgean more a city Hands Built nobly, pure the air, and light the foil, Athens, the eye of Greece, mother of arts j And eloquence, native to famous wits Or hofpitable, in her fweet recefs, City or fuburban, fludious walks and mades." In this country we have had many in- ftances of poets who could not boaft of a literary education ; and however we may admire the effufions of untutored enthu- fiafm, it is impoffible to contend with fuo cefs, that their wood-notes wild would not have been improved by culture and an acquaintance with the works of the an- cients, thofe archetypes of genius, thofe repofitaries of learning, thofe models of fine writing, and perpetual ftandards of good tafte. Not only a contemplation of the works of art, but an acquaintance with the writ- D ings 34 COMMENTARIES ON ings of the ancients is effential to the painter. Their animated defcriptions, and the pre- cious relics, unfortunately too few, which have come down to pofterity, compel him to deplore the ravages which time and vio- lence have made upon the graphic art. He perceives, however, that Greece was the unrivalled arbiter of form, that the minds of the Greeks were elevated with the notion of a celeftial origin, that their {hapes were moulded by a mild and genial climate, and their fpirits animated by the nature of their civil polity. It has been elegantly faid that in the infancy of Grecian art, the Graces rocked the cradle, and Love taught it to fpeak. The ftory of the Corinthian maid who fhadowed the figure of her lover by lamp- light on a wall, may perhaps be only a legendary tale; but by appealing to our fympathy, it feems almoft to deferve our belief. To the modern painter the account of the origin and progrefs of his art fhould unqueftionably be familiar. Reynolds and Fufeli CLASSICAL LEARNING. 35 Fufcli have delighted to trace it from the firft mechanical eflfay,; from fimple outline, to the magic fcale of Grecian colours ; to diftinguifh the three claffes of painting, the epic, the dramatic, and the hiftorical ; the firft of which prepared, the fecond efta- blifhed, and the third refined it. The origin of all the arts is involved in obfcurity and oburnbrated by fable ; and while Pliny has preferved the fcanty materials of the one we are now contemplating, he loudly complains of the want of exa&nefs in the Greek writers on the fubje£t. An imitation of painting is obvious to the view of the fcholar, when Homer acquaints him with the employment of females in the higher ranks of life. Helen works on tapeftry a reprefentatiOn of the battles fhe had caufed, and the haplefs Andromache is called from a fimilar occupation to be informed of the fall of the illuftrious and much lamented defender of Troy. The praife of early excellence will be liberally befto wed by the learned artift on Polygnotus. His emula- tion will be excited by the art of Zeuxis, B 2 who 36 COMMENTARIES 0£f who in a clutter of grapes could deceive the birds, and by the fuperior fkill of Par- rhafius, who in the imitation of a curtain deceived, and therefore furpaffed, his rival. The name of Apelles will be ever venerated by him whom learning has enabled to ex- plore the avenues of tafte ; and his obfer- vation to a young artift will be a warning voice againft a fondnefs for meretricious ornament ;— " Young man ! not being able to make your Helen beautiful, you have refolved to make her fine." His literary curiofity will be gratified by an endeavor to trace the high antiquity of painting in Egypt, and by perceiving the honor which was paid to the loweft profeffor of the art in China. Pliny will inform him that it was carried to perfection before the foundation of Rome. The inhabitants of Etruria were the firft who connected the practice of it with the ftudy of nature ! the tombs of the Tarquins (till remain as veftiges of their .fkill, and the vafes of Campania demon- strate CLASSICAL LEARNING. 37 ftrate how well the Grecian colonies taught the inhabitants of Italy the imitative arts. An acquaintance with the writings of the Greek hiftorians and dramatifts, a thorough knowledge of the mythology of the ancients, and of the works df Virgil and Ovid, would accomplifh the education of the painter. No picture of antiquity is more celebrated than the facrifice of Iphi- genia, the mafier-piece of Timanthes the Cynthian. His pencil could delineate the forrow of the prieft, the regret of UlyfTes, and the fympathy of Menelaus, but unequal to depidure the feelings of the father, he threw a veil over his face. Can the artift feel the force of mind which the author of this melancholy ftory porTerled, or be con- fcious of half the beauties of the piece, if he be ignorant of the language which has £onfecrated it to immortality ? Sir Jofhua Reynolds, in one of his dif- $ourfes to the royal academy, 'very truly P 3 obferves 3 38 COMMENTARIES ON obferves, that he who is acquainted with the works which have pleafed different ages, and different countries, and has formed his opinion on them, has more materials, and more means of knowing what is analogous to the mind of man than he who is conver- fant only with the works of his own age or country. Nothing but a liberal education can enable the artift to exhibit that ethic of painting which is the acme of the art. In an ancient fpecimen, where the fpee^ tator could diftinguifh Ulyffes by hi$ feverity and vigilance, Menelaus by his mildnefs, and Agamemnon by a kind of divine majefty, an air of freedom in the fou pf Tydeus, of ferocity in Ajax, and of alerts nefs in Antilochus, was difcovered, that; chara&eriftic of tranfcendent excellence; which induced Ariftotle to denominate Polygnotus a painter of the manners, from the fame fource alone can the artift derive CLASSICAL LEARNING. 39 derive that vigor of mind which will enable him to counteract the fpirit of the age in which he lives. With nature and the works of the bed matters before him, Raphael was prevented by the want of education, from reaching the ideal of the ancients. Apelles foared into regions of empyrean purity; Raphael did but tread the earth, although he moved with majeftic dignity. When the art revived, the Roman fchool was diftinguiflied by the learning of its mailers. While the magnificence derived from its commerce with the eaft, charac- terifed that of Venice, and dictated its gaudy tafte ; the grovelling manner of the Dutch artifts may be accounted for from the habits of their countrymen. It is their delight to imitate the loweft obje&s ; the taverns, the fmith's fhop, and the vulgar amufements of boors. Hence it may be concluded, that grace and elegance are the handmaids of learning, and that learning confers upon the fine arts their irrefiftible attractions, P4 If 40 COMMENTARIES ON If the mind of the Sculptor be unin- formed, his art will be merely a mechanical one. The ancient reliques have fo decided a fuperiority over thefineft works of modern times, that the generous emulation which will ftimulate the artift to imitate what perhaps never will be equalled, is connected with a natural curiofity to learn from what caufes their excellence proceeded. This eagernefs of enquiry can only be gratified by having recourfe to claffic authors, where he will find the poet, the mythologift, and the hiftorian contending to afford him information. Fancy has traced the origin of fculpture to the wilds of Scythia, and imagined the head of the Urus to have been the fymbol of the Deity. " The bull's ftern front to which rude myriads kneel *< The favorite idol of benighted zeal." Some CLASSICAL LEARNING. 4* Some authors give us the fame account of the origin of fculpture as of painting ; and the tale of the Corinthian maid, though twice told, is never heard with fcorn. In facred writ, the lamentation of a father for the premature death of a child, which induced him to confole himfelf with the formation of his image, is mentioned not only as a reft of parental affection, but as the origin of idolatry. " For thus in procefs of time an ungodly cuftom grown ftrong was kept as a law, and graven images were worfhipped by the command- ment of kings." The Egyptians very early applied themfelves to this art, and Luciart an Affyrian and a fculptor, fpeaks of them as diftinguifhed by their meritorious efforts in its infancy. Love, forrow and fuperfti- tion combined in the production of fculp- ture. Long before ftatues appeared, the trunk of a tree was worfhipped by the Tfaefpians as their Juno, and ftones of a cubic 42 COMMENTARIES ON cubic form were confidered as fymbols of the divinity, A thoufand years were requiflte to bring the art to perfe&ion ; and the intelligent fculptor muft be delighted at the contraft of the pointed ftake, which was the firft Minerva of the Athenians, with the perfect works of Phidias and Praxiteles. The age of Alexander the Great, fome- what more than three centuries before the chriftian sera, w r as the epoch of all the arts and fciences; from which period they began to decline* The Grecian fculptors reprefented the tortures of Prometheus with unrivalled ability. The fcholar who thrills with horror at the defcription of iEfchylus, feels his mind relieved by doubting the authen- ticity of the ftory, and by yielding his affent to the report that Prometheus was a fervant high in the confidence of Ofiris an Egyptian CLASSICAL LEARNING. 43 Egyptian monarch, and that he was punifli- ed for communicating the arts of Egypt to the ruder Greeks; that the officer who guarded him was flain by Hercules, and the prifoner fet free. The ftory of Daedalus is the amufement of our early years, but we are not then taught to confider him as the father of Grecian fculpture. When he efcaped from the rage of Minos, fable gives him the invention of wings; but Paufanias fays that he executed a ftatue of Hercules, in return for his having buried his fon Icarus, whofe body had been caft upon a fhore. The reprefentation of the dance of Ariadne in bas relief, is mentioned as a work of great celebrity by Homer, 6C A figured dance fucceeds, fuch once was feen In lofty GnofTus for the Cretan queen, Formed by Dsedalean art, a comely band Of youths and maidens, bounding hand in hand j The maids in foft cymars of linen dreft, Tlie youths all graceful in the gloffy vett," The 44 COMMENTARIES ON The farther the Sculptor fhall be enabled to fearch the ftorehoufes of ancient learn- ing, the higher dignity will be attributable to his elegant art. He wili find the talents of Phidias to have been fo remarkable as to form an sera in the hiftory of fculpture. The genius of this Athenian, matured un- der the reign of Pericles, excited him to convert the marble brought by the Perfians as a trophy of their victory, into a memo- rial of their defeat. The artift who tranf- mitted to pofterity the figures of thofe intrepid patriots that dared to oppofe the tyranny of Hipparchus, rendered fculpture the means of exciting a patriot ardor in the minds of an enflaved people, and of perpetuating the memory of thofe who perifhed in the defence of public liberty. He was adored by the Athenians, and the name of Praxiteles will exift, while thofe of Harmodius and Arifiogiton fhall be remem- bered. The approach to the heart is quicker by the eye than by the ea:f : what effe<3: mud thefe CLASSICAL LEARNING. 45 thefe flatues have had upon contemporary beholders, when Lowth informs us, that the fong of Harmodius would have gone further to put an end to the tyranny of the Csefars, than all the Philippics of Demofthenesl Sculpture not only explains ancient hift- ory, but unfolds ancient manners, A ftatue of a man rubbing himfelf after the ufe of the bath, delighted the fancy of Tiberius ; and he removed it from the baths of Agrippa, to his own chamber. The people clamored for its reftoration, and compelled the tyrant to yield in a trifling conteft, whom they had not the fpirit to oppofe in his invafion of their liberties. The Romans had a fingular inaptitude for this elegant art, which feems not reluc- tantly confeffed by the beft of their poets* " Excudent alii fpirantia mollius sera." Still they had tafte or rapacity enough to import the beft ftatues from tfte country 13 they 46 COMMENTARIES ON they had fubdued, and by an unworthy fpecies of deceit, which was not the parent of a generous rivalfhip, they often erafed the Grecian infcriptions, and inferted falfe titles of their own countrymen. It is not to be wondered at, that the ftatue of Alexander, after the conqueft of Macedon, fhould adorn the portico of Me- tellus, or that Csefar «« Sighed at the fculptured form of Amnion's fon." But it is impoffible not to defpife thd fraud of the great Conftantine, who put his own name on the ftatue of Apollo. Indeed deceptions of every kind were common. Phsedrus informs us, that thofe who had pieces of fculpture to fell, erafed the name of an inferior artift, and fubfti- tuted that of Praxiteles. Too much admiration cannot be ren- dered to the Grecians for the excellence to 3 which CLASSICAL LEARNING. 47 which they carried the art of fculpturej nor too much refpecT: for the ufes to which they applied it. It was with them an honorable and a lading tribute to departed worth, and a powerful ftimulus to laudable emulation. The poet and the orator fliared its honors with the hero and the patriot ; and it is a high eulogium on the republican fpirit of the Athenians, that their juftice and gratitude induced them to erecl: a ftatue to Pififtratus, for having col- lecled and publifhed the works of Homer. Sculpture mud be in find alliance with learning, fince it has been faid that if time had reftored only the Laocoon, the Belvi- dere Apollo, and the Medicean Venus, a lover of the arts might confider his kindnefs equivalent to his literary benefi- cence, in preferving the compofitions of Demofthenes, Plato, and Homer. Much has been faid on the influence of climate on the human mind, and both the ancients and the moderns have extended it too 48 COMMENTARIES Otf too far. Boeotia and Attica were adjacent countries, and if the ftatues found at Thebes, were generally the work of fo- reign artifts, it fliould be remembered that there was a law in that country, by which fculptors and painters who did not excel, were liable to a fine : a mod injudicious regulation, and of itfelf fufficient to check the labor of induftry, and reprefs all the energies of genius ! Where fuch obftacles did not oppofe them, an unwholefome atrnofphere could not extinguish the poetic fire of Pindar, nor cloud the philofophic fpirit of Plutarch. The hiftory of fculp- ture will prove it to be an art connected with the fubiimefl fentiments, and the beft affections of the foul ; and the artift who is unacquainted with the writings of the an- cients, muft be contented to remain a fer- vile copier, or at beft to exercife the chif- fel of the ignorant mechanic, undirected by the mind of the mafter. Although very little of the practical part of mufic is come down to us, yet the won- derful CLASSICAL LEARNING. 49 derful effect of this delightful art on the fenfibility of the ancients, is an induce- ment to us to examine the various teftimo- nies of its effedt in foftening the manners, promoting civilization, and humanizing men naturally favage and barbarous. Pythagoras, the Samian philofopher, endeavoured to demonftrate, that the uni- verfe was fabricated by a rnufical fcale. On account of their particular talent, Apol- lo was confidered as the highefl of the gods* and Orpheus of the demi-gods ; and the graved of writers, the hiftorians and philo- fophers of Greece, contend with the poets in their praifes of mufic. The learned mufician will know from Herodotus, that it was long difputed be- tween the Egyptians and Phrygians, which of them firft cultivated the art, for man in- vents, but does not create. Sacred and profane hiftorians derived moft of the arts from Egypt. By geometry they afcer- tained the boundaries of private property £ which 5© COMMENTARIES ON whieh the overflowing of the Nile had obliterated. The antiquity of their archi- tecture, the oldeft profane hiftorian could not difcover. To Egypt the world is pro- bably indebted for the knowledge of har- mony, and the geometrical menfuration of founds. There the profeflion of mufic was hereditary in the priefthood ; a prac- tice adopted by the Hebrews, and their Mercury was faid to have invented the lyre by accidentally ftriking his foot againft the {hell of a tortoife, on the banks of the Nile. The oldeft inftrument of mufic demonftrates man to have been originally a hunter and a fifher j for the lyre was com- pofed of two parts the horn of an animal, and the Ihell of a fiih. The hymns to Bacchus, preferved in the Greek writers, are fuppofed to have originated in Egypt • and the enquirer into the origin of the art, will find it to have had admiilion into the religious ceremonies, public feftivals, and focial amufements of mankind. The mufi- cian was fo highly efteemed in ancient times, that Quintilian informs us he was l honored CLASSICAL LEARNING. $ l honored with the name of prophet and of fage : from Phoenicia, in fcripture denomi- nated Canaan, mufic paffed into Greece, where to the fabulous reports of its mira- culous efficacy, a voluntary credulity yielded its aflfent. It was faid to poflefs not only the more credible power of repreffing the paffions, but the medicinal quality of curing difeafes. Terpander is reported to have appeafed a violent fedition by mufic \ and Solon by finging an elegy of his own compofition, to have excited his countrymen, the Athe* nians, to the renewal and termination of a war with Salarnis. It was afferted that fevers were removed by fong, and that deafnefs was cured by the found of the trumpet ; that Thales delivered the Laced semonians from a pef- tilence by the fweetnefs of his lyre; and that the found of inftruments was fuccefsfully employed in the cure of madaefs, epilepfy, E 2 and 52 COMMENTARIES ON and fciatic gout. Homer reprefents Aga- memnon as confiding the chaftity of Clytemneftra to the guardianfhip of aMufi- cian, until whofe difmiflal, her feducer JEgifthus had no power over her affe&io.ns. " At firft with worthy fliame and decent pride The royal dame his lawlefs fuit denied ; For virtue's image yet poffeffed her mind, Taught by a matter of the tuneful kind. Atrides parting for the Trojan war, Configned his youthful con fort to his care. True to his charge, the bard preferved her long In honor's limits, fuch the power of fong." Ariftotle fays that the Tyrrhenians never fcourged their flaves but by the found of flutes, in order to give fome counterpoife to pain. How highly the ancients appreciated this art, may be known by the account We read of Amphion having raifed the walls of Thebes, by the magical influence of his lyre. If CLASSICAL LEARNING. 53 If this induced the Thebans to fortify their town, we can readily acquiefce in the interpretation given by the poets, and in the wonderful powers poffefled by the artift. The mufes were originally only fingers in the fervice of Ofiris, the Egyp- tian Bacchus ; they were deified t in Greece, denominated the daughters of Jupiter, and fome of them derived their names from the excellence of their voice. The defcriptions of the orgies of Bacchus are the moft voluptuous of ancient poetry. This god of pleafure is regaled with mufic as well as wine, and the Dithyrambics which gave birth to dramatic reprefentation are coeval with his worlhip. The Sirens of Sicily are in the common- place book of every claffical fchoolboy; and the wife Ulyffes although cautioned by the following warning of Circe, found great difficulty in refifting their fedu&ion : E 3 Nest 54 COMMENTARIES ON ft Next where the Sirens dwell you plough the feas/ Their fong is death, and makes deftrudtion pleafe. Unbleft the man whom mufic wins to ftray Nigh the curfed fhore, and liften to the lay ; No more that wretch mail view the joys of life, His blooming offspring, or his beauteous wife." Every one feels an intereft in marking trie progrefs of an art, which in the rudeft ages of the world, was firft the delight of fhepherd-princes, next of ploughmen, and then of afibciated man ; when all that depended on proportion, appertained to the fcience of harmony. To whatever profefTion the moft illuftrious characters were deflined, a large portion of their time was applied to mufic. Nee fides didicit, nee natare, was difgraceful to every one of fortune and of birth. The fabulous ac- counts of Chiron, of Amphion, Orpheus, Linus and Mufeus, ferve at leafi: to fhew the general opinion of the art. Hercules is faid to have learned mufic in the fchool of Chiron, and an interesting painting, faved CLASSICAL LEARNING. $$ faved amidft the ruins of Herculaneum, exhibits the young Achilles receiving inftruftion on the lyre from the fame pre* ceptor. To Linus at the annual facrifice to the Mufes, the higheft honors were paid, and an altar and a ftatue eredted to him on mount Helicon. The ftory of Orpheus and Eurydice contains perhaps the higheft eulogium which any art has ever received. The inftruments of mufic were few du- ring the Trojan war. A torch, the fhell of a fim, and the voice of a herald was fuc- ceffively the fignal of battle. The bard had a place of honor at all the banquets of the Greeks, and Penelope informs us of the entertainment he afforded to the enraptured guefts. U Phemius ! let afts of gods and heroes bold, What ancient bards in hall and bower have told, Attempered to the lyre, your voice employ, Such the pleafed ear will drink with filent joy." E4 The $6 ' COMMENTARIES ON The two offices of poet and mufician were combined in all the Grecian games, and Alcasus and Sappho, Simonides and Pindar fuftained both thefe characters. But to mufic at the public games, a ftill higher dignity was attached ; for it was there ren- dered fubfervient to the facred caufe of liberty. Not only Rhapfodifts were ap- pointed to fing the verfes of Homer, but Harmodius and Ariftogiton who had op- pofed the Pififtratidse and Ariftobulus who had delivered the Athenians from the power of the thirty tyrants, were the fubjects of their mellifluous praifes. That art indeed muft have been juftly efteemed which could boaft of Socrates, Plato, and Pericles as its profeffed admirers and patrons. The learned author of the Hiftory of Mufic has fhewn it to have been flowly progreffive in Greece. That the firft at- tempts were rude and fimple, that rhythm was attended to before tone or melody, that inftruments of percuffion preceded all othersj CLASSICAL LEARNING. $J others, that the fteps in the dance, and the feet in poetry, were marked with precifion before founds were refined ; that the flute imitated, and the lyre accompanied the ■voice in its inflexions of forrow and of joy ; and what excites the curiofity of the fcholar, that the irregularities in the verfi- fication of the later Greeks, were an indul- gence to the inftrumental performer. From the public games mufic pafled to the ftage, where the chorus was fubfervient to the melody of the lyrift, and from being the humble companion of poetry, became its fovereign. The Romans borrowed all the liberal arts from other nations ; before Greece was known to them they derived their mufic from Etruria, a country peopled by a Gre- cian colony, to which their youth were fent for education. Dionyfius HaJicar- naffus fays, that Romulus and Remus acquired at Gabii the knowledge of the Greek language, mufic, and the ufe of arms. 58 COMMENTARIES ON arms. In the time of Nuraa the Salii danced to the flute, and Servius Tullius inftituted military mafic. In funerals mufic became an accompaniment, and it was con- ftantly attached to the Roman drama. Mufic, in the later periods of Rome, was chiefly confined to flaves ; in Greece, it was juftly confidered as a liberal art, and appropriated to freemen. This circum- ftance may account for the pre-eminence it reached in the latter country. That capricious tyrant Nero is faid to have ap- peared on the ftage at Naples as a public finger, and to have compelled the judges in a thoufand contefts, to aflign to him the prize. Though the fcience of mufic is certainly obfcure and difficult, the knowledge of the theory of Grecian harmony, will tend greatly to elucidate it ; and the learned practitioner will be highly gratified by feeing the prodigious effe&s afcribed by the ancients to the favorite object of his purfuit, and the intimate connection which it CLASSICAL LEARNING. 59 it has always had with manners, policy and religion. Who would not defire to know the hiftory of an art, which under the guidance of philofophy, has been faid to be one of the iublimeft gifts of heaven, and thenobleft inventions of men ? There is no country in the world where commerce leads to wealth by fo direct and fhort a road as in England. The Englifli merchant is every where celebrated for the liberality of his conduit ; and a certain portion of claffical attainments would to no rank of fociety be both more ornamental and more ufeful. Riches rapidly conduit to honors and diftindtion, and it is highly requifite that ignorance mould not difgrace the elevated ftation to which induftry has climbed. That a knowledge of the dead languages facilitates the acquirement of the living ones, which are effential to a man of extenfive concerns, is an aflertion as incon- trovertible as it is general. But 60 COMMENTARIES ON But it is alfo the frequent ambition of gentlemen engaged in commercial bufinefs, to become magiftrates and members of the fenate, where their decifion and their advice on queftions of the greateft import to the intereft of individuals and of their country, is looked to with refpe&ful deference. To every man in public life, the capacity of delivering his fentiments without per- plexity or hefitation, is moft defirable. This cannot be acquired by habit alone, for the foundation of all eloquence is a knowledge of the fubje£t, and one of its principal conftituents is purity of language ; both thefe refult from education and re- flexion. Riches can then only be regarded as the means of happinefs when they produce a defire for virtuous diftindion ; but if the poffeffor has negle&ed the culture of the mind, they ferve but to expofe him to ridi- cule and contempt. In CLASSICAL LEARNING. 6l In vain will it be that he refort to a fplendor of equipage and retinue to coun- terbalance the defect of education, for there can be no counterpoife to poverty of mind in oftenfible fituations. How evident is this in fuch perfons of noble birth as debafe themfelves by moral inactivity and mental indolence, who wafte the precious years of youth in the amufements of the turf or the gaming table, which had been well employ- ed in mufing on the banks of the Ifis, or in exploring the treafures of the Bodleian, But although to every commercial man, public life may not have equal attractions, yet claflical learning will furnifh to every one a feaft of luxury. In his occafional retreats from the buftle of bufinefs, it will be the folace of his labour, and the fource of rational entertainment. He will learn from it the proper ufe of profperity, and be eager to poffefs the endowments which conftitute its value, In a ftate of nature, bodily ftrength or perfonal valour decides 6 the 62 COMMENTARIES ON the fuperiority of man ; but in the prefent ftate of fociety, all but the loweft claffes are fummoned to mix fpeculation with adtion, and the higher energies of the mind are required to dignify their worldly condi- tions. It is faid by Montefquieu, that commerce is a cure for the mod deftru&ive prejudices, and that wherever there is commerce, there we meet with agreeable manners. That an intercourfe with other nations, and an acquaintance with their manners, will enable us by comparifon to improve our own, is a propofition not to be denied ; but if this intercourfe be merely a barter of commodities, furely from fuch traffic a polilhed urbanity cannot proceed. It is probable that a fpirit of trade may fix in the mind a fentiment of exaft and fcrupu- lous juftice, but it requires education to expand that rigid principle both in its de- mands and its conceffions. The CLASSICAL LEARNING. 6$ The fame author juftly obferves, that the great enterprizes of merchants are always neceffarily connected with the affairs of the government; but experience will notjuftify his aflertion that they are not fuited to monarchical, but only to republican go- vernments : indeed a fubfequent chapter of his own work contradicts it ; for he there fays, that the Englifh know better than any other people upon earth how to value thefe great advantages, religion, commerce and liberty. It is impoffible to look back to the earlieft effe&s of commerce in this country without veneration and gratitude. We owe to it the firft check which was given to ariftocratical power, that giant in ftrength, and tyrant in oppreffion ; we owe to it the recognition of the equal rights of all the citizens, and the dawn of that civil liberty which diffufes its bleffings over the whole community. The commerce of the ancients, even in the days of Alexander, was fo infignificant when f>4 COMMENTARIES ON when compared with that of modern times f that however it might amufe the leifure hours of the merchant to ftudy the writings of their hiftorians, with a view to obtain information on this point, he would pro- bably not find it of much pra&ical utility to him. Still like the liberal arts, he would per- ceive it migrating from one quarter of the globe to another, as conqueft expelled or freedom offered it an afylum. His pre- judices in favour of his native country, would unqueftionably be gratified by ob- ferving, that while the proudeft cities in Afia, whofe commerce once convened all the nations of the world, now exift only in the pages of Livy and of Strabo, a gloomy foreft, an ifland of barbarians, girt by rocks and beaten by feas, difplays a fcene at which the falfe pride of Cicero would have revolted : — " The fame people at once the lords and fa&ors of the univerfe ." Having CLASSICAL LEARNING. 65 Having thus endeavoured to (hew the advantages of claffical learning in its refer- ence to the feveral profeffions, it is my defign to attempt an illuftration of this doclrine, by an outline of the life and a brief review of the works of the principal poets, orators, and hiftorians of antiquity. At the outfet of this inquiry, I wifh pre- cifely to ftate the motive which has induced me to enter upon it, left fuch of my readers as might expect to find the laborious in- vestigations of the commentator, or the accute obfervations of the critic in this work, fhould be difappointed and difgufted by the perufal of it. My fole purpofe is to enforce an important truth, — the utility of a liberal education to individuals and to fociety, If perfons of each fex, and of various ages and conditions, fhall find their accefs to this difcuffion rendered more eafy by its being conducted in our vernacular lan- guage, and diverted of all parade of learning; and if literary men fhall not difdain to approve a work which, having * that 66 COMMENTARIES ON that object in view, has affumed a popular air; their fuffrages will vindicate the nature of my plan, and their candour will palliate the defe&s of its execution. CLASSICAL LEARNING. 6j SECTION II. Ofi the Epic Poets of Greece — Hottier, He/tod, Apollonlu: Rhodtus, The climate of Greece, and the lively imagination of the people, their cuftoms and their religious rites, were all peculiarly favourable to poetry. Thefe circumftances fhould be prefent to bur minds when we compare ancient and modern literature. It fhould bfc remem- bered that, nature being always the fame, the firlt poet who gave a defcription of the fpring, of ftorms, of the night, of beauty, and of battles, was likely to make the ftrongeft imprefllon on the readers; and every fucceeding one to appear only a copier or a plagiarift. It feems fair to feafon thus when we perufe the pages of Homer, as it may tend, although not to i 2 leffete 68 COMMENTARIES ON leflen our veneration for excellence, yet by calming our raptures to enable us more correctly to appreciate his merit. Poetry is the firft art which civilized nations have cultivated, and the epic the earlieft poetry. Second, in order of time, to the Holy Scriptures, and to the works of Indian and Chinefe writers, are the poems of Homer. The few fragments of Orpheus which we poffefs are fcarce worthy to contradid this affertion, but they ferve to prove that the firft employment of the mufe was to cele- brate gods and heroes. The epic is the recital in verfe of an action probable, Jieroic, and interefting. Not bound by the ftricl: rules of hiftoric truth, it muft, however, be guided by moral probability. Confecrated to great fubjedts it becomes heroic; and it is rendered interefting becaufe it captivates the imagination, and penetrates the foul. Of all the productions of which the hu- man underftanding is capable, epic poetry is unqueftionably the higheft, fince it in- cludes the beft qualities of every fpecies of writing. It cannot, therefore, but afford us CLASSICAL LEARNING. 6<) us amufement and inftr action to recall to our memory thofe great mafters, whofe names are immortalized by the fuperior nature of their works, and the unrivalled afcendancy of their genius. Homer was born, probably, about nine hundred years before the chriftian aera, and three hundred after the Trojan war. Of fo great a writer we are naturally anxious to inquire into every particular of the life, but here our curiofity will not be gratified. He is known only by his works; for though feven cities contended for the honour of giving him birth, no authentic documents remain to decide the conteft. His imputed poverty is not well afcertained, fince it is even doubtful whether the reception which he every where met with in his travels, did honor to the compaffion or to the hofpitality of his hofts. At all events, he amply recompenfed their kindnefs by the recital of his incomparable poems. From very early times much induftry has been wafted by learned men on the birth-place of Homer ; and if the Emperor Adrian v 3 was JO COMMENTARIES ON was willing to rely on the anfwer of the Oracle who fixed it at Ithaca, pcfterity lefs credulous refufes to acquiefce in fuch fuf- picious authority; Perhaps the town of Smyrna and the ifland of Chios exhibit the beft pretenfions to that honor. But the queftion is furely unimportant, fmce human nature has the honor of his genius, and the world at large can hoaft the treafure of his works. It is not, however, unamufmg to contemplate the fabulous accounts we have received of him, Euftathius declares him to have been born in Egypt, and nurfed by the prieftefs Ifis, whofe breaft fupplied him with honey inftead of milk ; that one night the infant was heard to fet up cries which refembled the fong of nine different birds ; and that the next day there were found in his cradle nine turtle-doves who played with him. Diodorus Siculus tells us, that Homer had found a manufcript of a certain Daphne, piieftefs of the temple of Delphi, who had an admirable talent for rendering in good CLASSICAL LEARNING. *]l good verfe the oracles of the gods, aad that thence Homer tranfcribed them into his poems. Others make him defcended in a right line from Apollo, from Linus, and from Orpheus. It is alfo fabled that long before his time, a woman of Memphis, whofe name was Phantafy, had compofed a poem on the Trojan war. All thefe prove the tafte of the Greeks for allego- rical tales, and compofe the higheft poffible eulogium on the greateft of poets. His verfes were firft fung in Ionia by the rhapfodifts or reciters. Not being then collected into books, they would chant fome favorite part of them ; the quarrel of Achilles with Agamemnon, or the death of Patroclus, or the parting of Hector and Andromache. Lycurgus, in his voyage to Ionia, firft collected and brought them to Lacedsemon, whence they fpread through the whole of Greece. In the time of Solon and Pififtratus, Hipparchus, fon of the latter, made a new copy at Athens by order of his father, which was currently in ufe till the time of Alexander the Great. That f 4 prince 72 COMMENTARIES ON prince commanded Callifthenes and Anax- archus carefully to review the poems of Homer, which mull have been altered in paffing through fo many hands and fo many countries. Ariftotle was confulted about this edition, which was called the cafket ; becaufe Alexander inclofed a copy of it in a fmall box of ineftimable value, taken on his journey from Arbela, amidft the fpoils of Darius. This he always kept under his pillow, faying that the mod' precious cafket in the whole world fhould contain the fineft work of human genius. After the death of Alexander, Zenodorus of Jiphefus again revifed this edition, under the reign of the firft of the Ptolemies, Finally, under Ptolemy Philometer, five hun- dred years before Chrift, Ariftarchus, fo celebrated for his tafte and underftanding, undertook the laft revifion of the poems of Homer. This eclipfed all the others ; it is the one which has come down to us, and feems to have fuffered few eflential altera^ tipns t Np CLASSICAL LEARNING. 73 No fubjeft could have been found to operate fo forcibly on the feelings of the Grecians, as that of the fiege and deftruc- tion of Troy. The recital of the interefting ftory muft at once have gratified their vanity, excited their military ardour, and warmed their patriotifm. That the choice of his fubjeft was not more happy than the execution of his plan, is a commenda- tion bellowed on Homer by the beft critics of every age. Horace places him above the chiefs of the Academy and the Portico; and though Plato would banifh him, to- gether with all other poets, from his repub- lic, yet he confefles that his early refpe£t and love for his writings, ought to chain hi$ tongue ; that he is the creator of all the poets who have followed him. The fable of the Iliad, diverted of its epifodes, is remarkably fimple and concife. !' One of the Grecian generals, difcontented with the commander in chief, retires from the camp, deaf to the call of duty, of rea- fon, and of his friends ; he fcruples not to abandon the public weal to his private pefentment ; 74 COMMENTARIES ON refentment ; and his enemies, profiting by his mifconduct, obtain great advantages over his party, and kill his bofom-friend. Vengeance and friendfhip induce him to re-affume his arms, and he overcomes the chief of the enemy." Whoever carefully perufes the Iliad, will find the execution of the work to be not lefs judicious than the plan, which was to demonftrate the evils arifing from difcord amongft rulers. The defcription that Homer gives of characters is throughout eonfiftent, and his manner, though fimple, is fublime. His images are finifhed pictures, his reflections are moral axioms. His imagination is rich in a fuperlative degree ; and his knowledge is univerfal. He is of all profeflions, poet, orator, mathematician, philofopher, geo- grapher, and artifan. In the order of his ftory there is a variety, and in the relation of it an energy, which are produced by elevation of genius; and his verfes, which delight the ear by their rhythm and their CLASSICAL LEARNING. 75 their cadence, denominate him the true poet of nature. In reading the twelve firft books of Homer, we are ftruck with the fimple yet noble progrefs of the work. We admire the artifice of the poet, who fuffess the intervention of the gods to terminate a bat- tle between Menelaus and Paris, which muft otherwife have terminated the war. Our attention is fummoned to that part where Helen paffes before the old Trojans, who regard her with admiration, and are no longer aftonifhed at feeing Europe and Afia bleeding on her account. Her con- verfation with the aged Priam, when flie makes known to him the principal chiefs of Greece, is particularly interefting. The fcene between Hedlor and Andromache when the hero returns to order a facrifice, and then departs from Troy iiever,to re- enter it, has not been celebrated too often pr too much. Thefe are delightful epifodes, which agreeably vary the uniformity of the prin- cipal action. In j6 COMMENTARIES ON In the ninth book, Homer appears as a dramatift and an orator. In the fpeeches of Phoenix, of Ulyffes, of Ajax, and in the anfwer of the inflexible Achilles, we may difcern models of all kinds of elo- quence. We are then carried to the field of battle where the contending armies dis- play every effort of prowefs. The Greeks are driven within their entrenchments, and their mips become their laft afylum. The Trojans haften in crowds to force this barrier, and Sarpedon pulls down one of the battlements of the wall ; He&or hurls an enormous ftone againft the gates; they fly open, and he loudly calls for a torch to fire the mips ; 41 Hafte, bring the flames ! the toil often long years Is finifhed, and the day defired appears." Almoft all the chiefs of Greece are wounded, and retired from fight. Ajax is the only rampart of his country, which he ftill protects with his valour and his fliield ; at length, though opprefled by fa- tigue, CLASSICAL LEARNING. 77 tigue, and driven to the Ihips, he yet repels the vi&ors ; u Ev'n to the laft, his naval charge defends; Now makes his fpear, now lifts, and now protends. Ev'n yet the Greeks with piercing fhouts infpires, Amidft attacks and death, and darts and fires." The flames at length appear rifing from i the (hips; and this was the date which Achilles had fixed to his rage. He then yields to the entreaties of his friend ; H Arm, arm, Patroclus ! Lo ! the blaze afpires, The glowing ocean reddens with the fires. Arm, ere our veffels catch the fpreading flame, Arm, ere the Grecians be no more a name." It has been juftly obferved by Mr. Gib- bon, that the 16th book of the Iliad af- fords a very clear idea of the polytheifm of the Greeks, and that it contains fome prodigioufly fine fimilies. When encou- raged by Apollo, who promifes him the aid of Jove, how glorious is the ardour and how powerful the efFeft of He&or's fortitude ! « Urged 78 COMMENTARIES ON '* Urged by the voice divine, thus He&or flew. Full of the god, and all his hoft purfue ; As when the force of men and dogs combined Invade the mountain goat, or branching hind £ Far from the hunter's rage, fecure they lie, Glofe in the rock, not fated yet to die ; When lo ! a lion moots acrofs the way, They fly : at once the chafers and the prey. So Greece that late in conquering troops purfued, And marked their progrefs thro' the ranks in bloody Soon as they fee the furious chief appear, Forget to vanc^uifh, and confer.t to fear." Pofz. It is from the Iliad that Lohgirius felefts his examples of grand ideas, and grand images. He takes an inftance of it from the 20th book, where Jupiter gives permiflion to the gods to mingle in the quarrel with the Greeks and Trojans, and to defcend into the field of battle. He Limfelf gives the fignal by making his thunder found from the height of heaven ; and Neptune* ftriking the earth with his trident, makes the fummits of Ida to tremble. You fee, fays Longinus, the earth fhaken to its foundation, Tartarus difcovered, CLASSICAL LEARNING. 79 difcovered, the machine of the world over- turned, and heaven and hell, mortals and immortals, all together in the combat and in the danger. In the moral pictures of Homer, there is no one more captivating than that where the anger of Achilles is reprefented as yielding to the foft emotions of friendfhip. Patroclus, ever mild and amiable, feems to convey a portion of his fpirit to the inexo- rable hero. The contraft of paffions which is exhibited by Achilles, when he is in- formed of the death of Patroclus ; his ten- der cafe and pious offices to his corpfe ; the interview between him and Priam, when the afflicted monarch falls pro urate before the murderer of his fon ; are paf- fages which in point both of poetical merit and tragic effect, have never been excelled. It has been objected to Homer, that he has degraded his gods by reprefenting them as under the influence of fome of the mod defpicable of the human paffions : but it fhould be recollected that this was the vul- 1 gar 80 COMMENTARIES ON gar creed, and that if the gods of Virgil are beings of more dignity and worth, it is becaufe the age was more enlightened and refined. It is the duty of the philofopher to correct the falfe notions that prevail amongft men ; it is the office of the poet to reprefent them as they exift: the one is the reformer, the other the hiftorian of his time. Impreffed with the force of this objection againft Homer, fome of his ad- mirers have afferted that the mythology is merely allegorical : that the air was defig- nated by Jupiter, fire by Vulcan, the earth by Cybele, and the fea by Neptune, may be true ; but to declare that Jupiter means only the power of God, Deftiny his will, Juno his juftice, Venus his pity, and Minerva his wifdom, is a fentiment fo re- plete with abfurdity, that it can never ob- tain the affent of a rational critic. The manners of the times furnifh a fi- milar if not a fufficient apology for the heroes of Homer, as for his gods. Praife was the prerogative of bodily ftrength : he a. who CLASSICAL LEARNING. 8l who could fuftain the greateft weight of armour, and pierce through cuiraffes and bucklers, had the higheft rank in the Gre- cian table of precedence. In forming our judgments oh ancient modes, we muft diveft ourfelves of the prejudices of habit and education. Mo- dern arms and modern honor, place all gentlemen on a level ; but in the Iliad, it is common to fee a warrior retreat without fhame, confeffing that another is his fupe- rior in ftrength. iEneas does not blufh when he fays to Achilles, I well know that you are more valiant than I am, (which means, I know you are ftronger,) but if fome god would aflift me, I could conquer you. This intervention of the deities raifed the warrior in the opinion of his contem- poraries ; for it conftituted no fmall fhare of his merit, to be a favorite of heaven. This too ferved as an excufe for every error, and for every crime. When Agamemnon would juftify himfelf for injuring Achilles* he fays, fome god G had 82 COMMENTARIES ON had difturbed his reafon. Achilles ex- horts Patroclus to avoid Hector, for he had always near him fome protecting deity. It has been faid that the valour of Achilles excites no admiration, becaufe he is invul- nerable. This is a popular miftake ; an invention of later date, and no where to be found in the Iliad. Achilles is wound- ed in the hand ; and there is great addrefs in the poet, who reprefents his hero firm and undaunted in his m'rnd, although he is confeious that he fhall die before the walls of Troy. He knows that his youth and beauty, and the divinity of his mother will avail him nothing; that he facrifices every thing to glory; and though he car- ries conqueft all around, that he marches to inevitable death. All thefe circum- flances fix our attention on Achilles, for whom we feel that intereft which always attaches to extraordinary men.- The tranfeendant genius of Homer is fhewn, in making the retirement of his hero the fpring which gives action and energy to th$ CLASSICAL LEARNING. 8$ the poem : even at the moment when He&or has driven the Grecians to their fhips, and their deftru&ion feems inevita- ble, our attention is carried from the fury of the fight, from flames and death, to contemplate Achilles in his tent, tranquilly lamenting the lofs of fo many brave men, victims to the rage of Agamemnon ; and exulting at the dreadful abafement of his pride. It has been obje&ed to Homer, that he exhibits his Chiefs employed in the moft fervile offices ; Achilles, for inftance, pre- paring the repaft for the deputies of the army. Nothing furely can be more falfe than this criticifm : if it be true, that a great genius " pleafes more when he daz- zles lefs," it is equally fo that a hero fum- mons a greater portion of our efteem, when he exhibits the mild attributes of courteoufnefs and humanity : (i When pure affecn'on thinks no office mean." Were a poet to treat of that point in hifto- ry where Curius receives the deputies c 2 of 84 COMMENTARIES ON* of Pyrrhus, who come to bribe him with prefents, would he withhold the circum- ftance of the herbs which he prepared himfelf, and placed before them, faying, " You fee that he who lives in this man- ner, has no want of any thing. The Ro- mans do not care about having gold them- felves; they wifh to command thofe who have it." The mod reafonable cenfure brought againft the author of the Iliad, is the te- dious repetition of combats which occupy nearly half the work : the nature of his fubject is however partly an apology, and the richnefs of imagination with which he has ornamented them, in a great degree redeems the fault. " One while he de- fcribes the character, age, and nation of the dying hero ; at another time he defcribes different kinds of wounds arid death ; fometimes by tender and pathetic ftrokes he reminds the reader of the aged parent, who is fondly expecting the return of his mur- dered ion ; of the defolate condition of the widows CLASSICAL LEARNING. '85 widows who will now be enflaved, and of the children that will be dafhed againft the ftones." A Grecian would have heard thofe recitals with enthufiam, which we perufe with coldnefs and faftidioufnefs. Envy is infeparable from excellence : two centuries and a half before the Chrif- tian sera, Zoilus, a fophiit, a declaimer, and a hungry critic, prefented his ftridlures on the works of Homer, to Ptolemy Phila- delphus ; but the monarch of Egypt re- jected them with difdafn. The temerity of the defamer was feverely p.uniflied by the inhabitants of Smyrna, who ordered him to be burned, as a memorial of their regard for a poet, whom they claimed as their citizen. Had Homer feen the criticifms of Zoilus, he would perhaps have been equally un- moved with the epic poet of our own country, when his bookfeller offered him five pounds for the copyright of his Para- dife loft. Like Milton, he would have known that immortality was the price of G 3 his 86 COMMENTARIES ON his works, and that the difcernment of pofterity would fpontaneoufly pay it. The Emperor Caligula has completed his character by having endeavoured, hap- pily in fcVain, to deftroy the productions of Homer. The witty and the powerful were amongft his adverfaries ; yet though the fplendor of his name irritated pride and envy in a fimilar degree, neither fpecies of enmity could leffen his reputa- tion. Merit which can fuftain fuch proofs, is gold tried by the furnace. Our admira- tion of Homer yields only to his genius and his fame : three thoufand applauding years have confecrated his name, and we exult to find a poet fo great, and mankind fo juft. Longinus fays, that " Homer in the Odyfley is like the fetting fun, which is ftill great to the eyes, but we no longer feel its warmth. It is no longer the fire which animates the whole of the Iliad, that height of genius which never debafes itfelf, that activity CLASSICAL LEARNING. 87 activity which never repofes, that torrent of paflions which hurries us away, that crowd of fidions happy and probable; but as the ocean at the moment of its reflux, and when it leaves its mores, is ftill the ocean, the old age of which I fpeak, is ftill the old age of Homer." Thofe who are difpofed to depreciate the OdyfTey, fay of it, that its fables are only fitted for the amufement of children, that its progrefs languifhes, that the poem drags on from adventure to adventure without attracting attention or exciting intereft. That the fituation of Penelope and Telemachus is the fame during twenty- four books, — a conftant re-iteration of out- rages on the part of the fuitors, and fimilar complaints on the part of the mother and the fon. That UlyfTes is in Ithaca fo early as in the 12th book; that he lives a very long time with Eumasus difguifed as a beggar, while the adion of the poem does not advance a ftep. That in the menial offices and indignities fuftained by him there, Homer has outraged the effect of £ 4 contra ftj SS COMMENTARIES ON contraft, and paffed all the bounds of deco- rum. That the meeting of the huflbtand and the wife fo long expe&ed, is cold and unproductive of the effe&s of which it is fufceptible ; and, what is revolting to good fenfe, that fcarcely had Ulyffes been re- cognifed by Penelope, before he informs her that fate condemns him again to tra- verfe the world with an oar upon hi$ Ihoulder until he meet a man who may take it to fan his corn : — " To this the king : ah, why mull I difclofe A dreadful ftory of approaching woes ? Why in this hour of tranfport wound thy eats ? When thou mull learn what I mud fpeak with tears, Heaven by the Theban Ghoft thy fpoufe decrees Torn from thy arms to fail a length of feas." It is objected too, that the fojourning of Ulyffes in the ifland of Calypfo and of Circe, offers nothing interefting to the reader ; and that if Calypfo be the original of Dido, it is a drop of water converted into a pearl: that in his defcent to the mades below, Ulyffes entertains himfelf with a crowd of ghofts who are absolutely ftrangess to CLASSICAL LEARNING. 89 to him, and who recount adventures in which he is entirely uninterefted. Thefe ftridtures are undoubtedly too fevere, and not warranted by the impref- fion which the perufal of the Odyffey makes upon our minds. It prefents us with a pleafing picture of ancient manners, with the virtues of hofpi- tality and refpect for age, of patience, pru- dence, wifdom, temperance and fortitude, Menelaus, Neftor and Eumasus, difplay the firfl: ; Telemachus is a finking inftance of the fecond, together with courage, candour and noblenefs of nature ; and the others fhine in an unexampled manner in the character of Ulyfles. The addrefs of Eu- masus to his unknown mailer, is very attractive. ** The fvvain replied ; It never was our guife To fiight the poor, or ought humane defpife. For Jove unfolds our hofpitable door, 'Tis Jove that fends the ftranger and the poor." If Ulyffes be top much degraded by his difguife, and too long in inaction, yet thefe circumftances produce a fufpenfion and go COMMENTARIES ON and an attention to the cataftrophe, which render it more bold and lively. The flaughter of the fuitors is traced with colours which recal the pi&ures of the Iliad. Of the two poems the moral of the Odyffey is preferable. The qualities I have mentioned are of general concern, and all ranks of life may be benefited by the cultivation of them. The Iliad has been called the ma- nual of monarchs, and it undoubtedly furnifhes an awful leffon againft the impe- tuofity and tyranny of power. But its ufefulnefs is lefs extenfive, as its applica- tion is more limited. Of the fubje&s of the Odyffey one is perfectly in unifon with the nature of refentment, the other with our experience. Ulyffes is driven by the fury of the winds and waves, becaufe Nep- tune was juftly enraged at his treatment of his fon Polypheme; and the devaluation and ruin confequent upon his abfence from home, allowing fomewhat for poetical em- bellifhrnent, would occur in any family where the beauty of the miftrefs mould invite fuitors, and, the rapacity and info- 2 lence CLASSICAL LEARNING. 91 lence of fervants fhould be without control The progrefs and cataftrophe of the poem, are equally probable as the plan. When a ftorm has compelled Ulyfles to afk the hofpitality of the Phseacians, they entertain him in a manner fuitable to the kindnefs and fimplicity of the times. A bard then furniflied the higheft entertain- ment at every feaft, and Demodorus recited the interefting ftory of the fall of Troy. We may eafily imagine what an effect this would produce on Ulyfles, and that the curiofity of the king Alcinous and his afiembled guefls would lead to the difcovery of the ftranger. Although modern refinement renders fimi- lar incidents impoffible, we feel no repug- nance in believing, that the Phaeacians were moved by the relation of his melancholy ad- ventures to fo great a degree, as to conduct him fafely to Ithaca. There the circum- ftance of his faithful dog, who recognifes him with all the acutenefs and affection which inftinct boafts, and then expires at his feet, affects the reader in the moft lively manner ; and the doubts, and fears, and 92 COMMENTARIES ON and hopes of Penelope, are the natural iuggeftions of a mind long habituated to misfortune, at the fudden dawn of unex- pected happinefs. It is the glory of Homer to have been an original writer. The arts have been brought to perfection in corrupt times ; but poetr j may challenge to itfelf this honorable dis- tinction, that it attained its higheft excel* lence in an age of purity and Simplicity. Homer has been truly faid to be the great fource whence all the Greek writers derive their chief excellence. He gave rife to all the various kinds of compofition ; he is the beft poet and orator in the various kinds of elocution ; he excels all mankind in grandeur, vehemence, fweetnefe, and accu-, racy of ftyle. There is, however, a queftion which naturally fuggefts itfelf on this fuhject. Admitting the fact:, we are defirous to know the caufe of Homer's pre-eminence above all fubfequent poets. At firft view it fhould feem paradoxical, that all the writers of every age and country muft yield CLASSICAL LEARNING. 93 yield the palm to him, fince his compofi- tion, his ftyle, his di&ion, his manner, his fublimity, have prefented a model to their eyes, which while it inftructed and formed their underftanding, has ever flimulated them to a defire of competition and of ex- cellence. Sir William Temple has refolved the doubts of every fceptic in this ititerefting enquiry. " Of all the numbers of man- kind," fays he, " that live within the com- pafs of a thoufand years, for one man that is born capable of making a great poet, there may be a thoufand born capable of making as great generals or minifters of ftate as the moft renowned in ftory. Con- junctures and manners are not fufficient to produce poets. Greece and the climate of Afia, though in a proper temperament, for the fpace of two or three hundred years, produced only one Homer. Something more than thefe is neceffary, an univerfal and elevated genius, a quality as rare as it is valuable : certainly many circumftances of life, many advantages of education, and 5 opportunities 94 COMMENTARIES ON opportunities of knowing mankind, are neceifary ; great travelling, and wide ob- fervationr HE S 10 D. Of the precife period when Hefiod was faorn we have no certain account, but Afcra in Bceotia is faid to have been the place of his nativity. He w T ho fearches moft anx- ioufly for the date of that event, finds himfelf loft in the clouds by which anti- quity is obfcured. Whether he were anterior to the time of Homer, his contemporary, or fucceffbr, has been a fubjecT: on which an- cient writers have differed ; and their con- trary affertions (till require the corrobora- tion of proof One thing is certain, that he had feen his works, for he has entire verfes which are borrowed from him. My- thology feems to have ha^d two fathers ; and thefe moft ancient poets may alike lay claim to the production. Only two complete poems written by him are ftill extant, the one entitled Works and CLASSICAL LEARNING. 95 and Days, the other the Theogony or the Birth of the Gods. The firft contains precepts of agriculture, from which proba- bly Virgil firft conceived his idea of the Georgics. But refledions which would do honor to a philofopher, are interfperfed throughout the work. It is divided into three parts, the one mythological, the other moral, the laft didactic. Hefiod begins by recounting the fable of Pandora; and if he be the inventor of it, no fcanty portion of praife is due to his imagination. We feel a confiderable gra- tification on its firft perufal ; and it is never read with difguft. He defcribes alfo the birth of Venus, and of thofe coy females, the nine daughters of Jupiter and Mnemo- fyne. Then follows a defcription of the differ- ent ages of the world, which has been imitated by Ovid; but the former poet adds one to the general number. Like every writer on this fubje£t, he confiders himfelf as living in the age of iron ; this age, there- fore, §6 commentaries on fore, muft have been of wonderful dura- tion. A courfe of morals fucceeds to his my- thology ; it is addreffed to his brother Perfeus, with whom he had been engaged in a law-fiut refpecling their paternal fuc- ceffion ; and in this part of his work, precepts of hufbandry are blended with lefTons of wifdom. He was a prieft of the Temple of the Mufes on Mount Helicon, and the gravity of his office was well fuited to the inftru&ions which he gave. The conclufion of the work is a tiffue of the moft abfurd fuperftitions. Particular days of the month are ftated as favorable to the celebration of marriage, to the {hearing of fheep, and to the production of children. Experience has not confirmed the hypo- thefis, which was the fuggeftion of the grofleft ignorance. The Theogony fatigues the reader with its long catalogue of gods and goddeffes of every fpecies ; but at the end of the work it repays him for his labour by an animated defcriptioa c CLASSICAL LEARNING. 97 defcription of the war of the gods againft the giants. This defcription, indeed, to* gether with that of winter in the Works and Days, is worthy to be compared with the fineft paflages of Homer. The picture of Tartarus where the Titans are thrown down by the thunder of Jupiter, has certain traits of refemblance to the Hell of Milton fo ftriking, that the one was probably the model of the other. A very fingular co- incidence, if we confider the difference in the religious fentiments of the authors. It is not true, as has been afferted, that Hefiod vanquifhed Homer in a poetical conteft at the funeral of Amphidamas; but his verfes, which are pofleffed of elegance of ftyle and fweetnefs of poetry, were written on tablets in the temple of the mufes, and the Greeks compelled their children to learn them by heart. Cicero confers upon him a handfome eulogium ; but Quintilian will not allow that he often rifes to excellence. He grants him only the praife which belongs to fmoothnefs of language, and refufes him h the 98 COMMENTARIES ON the palm that is due to Superiority of talents. APOLLONIUS RHODIUS. This writer was born at Naucratis in Egypt, about two hundred and thirty years before Chrift. He was furnamed the Rho- dian from his refidence in that ifland. His education was the beft, for Callimachus and Pansetius were his preceptors. He wasr i one of the keepers of the famous library of Alexandria under Ptolemy Evergetes. No- thing remains of his writings but his poem on the Expedition of the Argonauts in four books. The plan of his work has been generally confidered as having too little of the epic in it. It is too hiftorical in the order of the fads, and overcharged with epifodes, which are introduced without felecYion,and told without effect. In fome parts the execution is not deftitute of merit. The love of Medea for Jafon, is painted in glowing colours ; and Virgil has not dis- dained to borrow ideas from Apollonius. But CLASSICAL LEARNING. 99 But he has given to Dido a force of ex- preffion from which the Greek poet is far diftant. His plagiarifms are few, and his fuperiority is infinite. K 2 IOO COMMENTARIES ON SECTION III. Lyric Poetry. Linus, Orpheus, Mufaus, Stefidorus, Sappho, Simonider, Anacreon, Pindar. 1 pie origin of lyric poetry is loft in fable. Linus has been faid to be the inventor of rhythm and melody, and being born at Thebes in Bceotia, is one amongft many inftancesto prove how little is the influence of climate and local fituation on original genius. The poetry of the Greeks being always accompanied by mufic, produced that enthufiafm both in the hearer and the compofer, which was eafily excited in men remarkable for the fenfibility of their or- gans. The Mantuan bard affigns to Linus, in his fixth eclogue, the raoft diftinguifhed place amongft the favorites of the mufes, and honors him with the appellation of their interpreter. Mortals of great celebrity were CLASSICAL LEARNING. 101 were frequently dignified by a fuppofed celeftial origin ; and the fon of Ifmenias the mufician, who had this tribute paid to his art by a certain king of Scythia, that he preferred his mufic to the braying of an afs, was poetically defcended from Mercury and Urania. Similar legendary tales in- form us, that he was killed by a ftroke of the lyre from his pupil Hercules, and that Apollo deprived him of life for prefuming to imitate him. It is unfortunate for his fame, that none of his poems remain to enable pofteritv to eftimate the quantity of truth which is blended with fiction, or to determine how well qualified Linus was to be the rival of a God. Orpheus, whether the fon of a Thracian king, or of Apollo, is generally faid to have been the offspring of Caliope, and to have attained a reputation fuperior to that of his preceptor Linus, becaufe he rendered poetry and mufic fubfervient to the ceremonies of religion. H 3 Thefe 102 COMMENTARIES ON Thefe ceremonies he borrowed from the Egyptians and introduced into Greece. He inftituted the myfteries of Bacchus, and the Eleufinian Ceres in imitation of thofe of Ifis and Ofiris. Some fragments attri- buted to him are preferved, which have no corruption of polytheifm, but which a chriftian and a philofopher may perufe with no fmall gratification. " God alone exifts of himfelf and by himfelf 5 he is in all things ; no mortal can fee him, and he fees every thing. He alone in his juftice diftributes the evils which afflicT: mankind, war and mifery. He governs the winds which agitate the air, and he lights the fires of the thunder. He fits on high in the heavens on a throne of gold, and the earth is under his feet. He ftretches his hand to the utmoft limits of the ocean, and the mountains tremble to their foundations. It is he who made every thing in the univerfe, and who is at once the beginning, the middle, and the end. 55 This fragment preferved by Suidas, feems to give fome fauttion to what has been CLASSICAL LEARNING, IO3 been confidered a fanciful notion of Bifhop Warburton, refpe&ing the grand fecret in the Eleufmian myfteries. But if the unity of God were the belief of fages, the popular creed was effential to the prefervation of focial order amidft a people whofe imagi- nation was ardent, and whofe minds on this important fubjecl: were unenlightened. So correct was the conduct of Orpheus, that whoever led a life of more than ordi- nary purity, was faid to be his fcholan Indeed, his elevated fentiments of Deity would naturally operate on his morals and his heart, for poetry in his time was always intimately connected with ethics and reli- gion. Mufseus was the difciple of Orpheus, and prefided over the Eleufmian myfteries at Athens. Virgil in his fixth iEneid, places him at the head of the poets in the Elyfian Fields, where they celebrate thofe who are worthy of Apollo. None of his compofitions remain. In fearching into antiquity, we have perpetually to lament the depredations which time and violence and H 4 bigotry 104 COMMENTARIES ON bigotry have made on the proudeft monu- ments of genius and of fkill. But it is fome confolation to refled that if the offer were given us to exchange what has been preferved for that which has been loft, we fhould not for a moment hefitate in retain- ing the valuable relics of which we are in poffeffion. Where is the literary epicure of refined tafte, who would fteal a moment from the enchanting entertainment with which Ho- mer and Pindar are ever ready to prefent him, in order to lament the lofs of thofe leiTer dainties that Bacchylides and Mu- fseus might once have afforded ? Thefe lyrical writers flourifhed nearly thirteen centuries before the chriftian sera ; and of many others who fucceeded them, after a lapfe of feveral centuries, we poffefs only a dull catalogue of names, and a few fragments contained in Athen»us. Amongft thefe is Alcaeus, who lived about fix hundred years before Chrift, a native of Mitylene, and the fuppofed in- ventor of the harp, and of Alcaic metre. His CLASSICAL LEARNING. IOJ His works are faid to have been ferviceable to the public manners ; concife, dignified and accurate in the ftyle, and not diffimi- lar to that of Homer. Still he could de- fcend to trifle on fubje&s of fport and love, and to pay his addrefTes to the much cele- brated inventrefs of Sapphic verfe. Poets have not been very remarkable for their courage. Alcaeus fled from a battle in which Pittacus delivered his country from the power of the Athenians, and his arms were fufpended in the Temple of Minerva, as a monument of his dis- grace, Horace in defcribing the amufement of the manes in Elyfium, fays, « Whene'er Alcseus lifts the ftrain, To deeds of war and tyrants flam ; In thicker crowds the fliadowy throng Drink deeper down the martial fong." Stefichorus was a native of Himera in Sicily ; he lived about five hundred and feventy years before Chrift, and received his name from fome alteration that he 4 made 106 COMMENTARIES ON made in the chorus which he fung to the accompaniment of his harp. Of twenty- fix books which he wrote in the Doric dia- led, but a few lines have reached pofterity. His merit muft have been confiderable, for his funeral was magnificently celebrated at the public coft, by the inhabitants of Catana ; and Phalaris the tyrant of Agri- gentum, ere&ed a temple to his name, and decreed him divine honors. About fix hundred years before the chriftian sera, Sappho, equally renowned for beauty, poetry, and ill-requited love, gave celebrity to the Ifle of Lefbos, the place of her nativity. The ufual cure for lovers, a leap from mount Leucate, put a period to her woes and her exiftence ; and the fpecimens of her talents which have reached us, a hymn to Venus, and an ode to Lefbia, together with the appellation of the tenth mufe, given to her by the an- cients, have induced the literary world to lament the lofs of her three books of lyrical compofitions, her elegies, and her epigrams. Philips CLASSICAL LEARNING. I07 Philips has done himfelf fo much credit by his tranflation of thofe odes, that my readers will probably not cenfure me for tranfcribing the firft flanza of one of them. " O Venus ! beauty of the flues, To whom a thoufand temples rife ; Gaily falfe in gentle fmiles, Full of lovt -perplexing wiles. O Goddefs ! from my heart remove The wafting cares and pains of love." Plutarch compares Sappho to Cacus the fon of Vulcan, who breathed nothing but flame ; and Horace fays, that the fire of her love ftill burns in her verfes. It is well obferved by Mr. Addifon, of this un- fortunate poetefs " that he does not know by the chara&er that is given of her works, whether it be not for the benefit of man- kind, that they are loft. They were filled with fuch bewitching tendernefs and rap- ture, that it might have been dangerous to have given them a reading. From the time of Homer till that of Sappho, there i$ almoft a total blank in literature ; nor are 1 any Io8 COMMENTARIES ON any productions preferved between the time of Sappho and Anacreon, who flou- rifhed at the diftance of feventy years from each other. Between Anacreon and Pin- dar, another chafm appears. After this the works of the tragedians, hiftorians, and philofophers were produced, all within three hundred years ; the moft illuftrious period of human genius W Simonides a celebrated poet of Cos, was born about five hundred and thirty-feven years before Chrift, and lived in the court of Hipparchus the Athenian tyrant. He wrote elegies, epigrams, and dramatical pieces, efteemed for their fweetnefs and elegance. He compofed alfo an epic poem 6n Cambyfes king of Perfia ; and another on the battle of Salamis. It was his hap- pinefs to be courted by all the princes of Greece and Sicily. Phsedrus fays when a houfe fell upon the guefts at a feaft, the gods fpared the life of Simonides. He obtained a prize in the eightieth, and fur- vived to the ninetieth year of his age. The Syracufans erecled a monument to his CLASSICAL LEARNING, 09 his memory. His ftyle was fo formed for exciting pity, that fome critics have de- clared him in that refpecT:, to excel all other writers. Plato mentions him with praife, and Dionyfius places him amongft thofe polilhed writers who excel in a fmooth volubility, and flow like plenteous and perennial ftreams. The ftory of Danae enclofed in a cheft with her infant Perfeus, and thrown into the fea by her father, is related by the poet in very beautiful verfes. The following is, I fear, an inadequate attempt at a tranflation 1 ** While forrow chills thy mother's bread, Sleep feals thy lovely eyes my boy ; Clofe cradled in thy darkfome cheft, No fears thy innocence annoy. Unheard, the winds around thee howl, The waves unfeen their fury try ; Enveloped in thy purple dole, Sweet fleep can all their power defy. Did'ft thou the impending danger know, ' And fears that rack a parent's heart, Then would 'ft thou liften to my woe, And from thy peaceful {lumbers Hart. But IIO COMMENTARIES ON But flill fleep on my beauteous child, Ye waves to Halcyon calm fubfide J Sleep too my griefs, left accents wild Should wake and fcare my darling pride. " From thefe poets, of whom fo few frag- ments remain, we pafs on to one who is immortalized by all the devotees of plea- fure, and whofe name will probably de- fcend to pofterity, with thofe authors who have deferved to be remembered by the utility of their labors. About five hun- dred and thirty years before Chrift, Ana- creon was born at Teos in Ionia. This vo- luptuous bard feems to have had no other ambition, than to love and to fport ; no other defire of glory than to fing his loves and his joys. Plato will have him to have been royally defcended from Codrus the lail king of Athens ; if that account be true, his fpirit was perfectly different from that of his progenitor. He lived a long time at Samos in the court of Polycrajes, who was a tyrant only in name. This prince prefented him with five talents, which witb. CLASSICAL LEARNING, III with a difintereftednefs equal to the muni- ficence of his patron, he refufed. He is laid to have been a martyr in the caufe he adored, and to have been choked by a grape ftone in the eighty-fifth year of his age. His poetry is replete with fuch deli- cacy and grace, as to render all attempts to tranflate it into the Englifh language unfatisfa5tory : a language encumbered with coarie confonants, can never exprefs the fweet ftrains of Anacreon. He does not write in the formal manner of a per- fon who means to attract the public eye, but he appears at table with his Grecian beauties, where flowers are interwoven in his locks, and he joins them in the dance with all the frolic gaiety of youth. Sometimes he affumes his lyre, and in Lydian ftrains, he pours forth a hymn to the rofe. I hefitate in prefenting the following Odes from a tranflation of this enchanting poet. " The rofe, love's favorite flower divine, ShaT grace our circling bowls of wine $ With 112 COMMENTARIES ON With its fair leaves our temples bound, The toaft and laugh fhall both go round. Rofe, fweeteft flower, fpring's partial love, Delight of all the gods above ; With thee, the boy of Venus crowned, The Graces joins in mazy round. Crown me, and inflant, God of wine, Strains from my lyre fhall reach thy fhrine : Whilft decked with rofes, I prepare, To trip it with the well-made fair." If he fpeaks of age or of death, it is not to brave them with Stoic apathy, but to exhort himfelf to lofe nothing of all that can difrobe them of their terrors. u Care fleeps whene'er I drink my wine. Then why thus anxioufly repine ? Since fadnefs cannot death defer, Why does my life from reafon err. With Bacchus let us revels keep, For while we drink our forrows fleep." Sometimes he invites his miftrefs to a de- lightful retreat, fuch as would furnifh a fainter with a fubje£t for his art. u Sit in this fhade : the lovely tree Expands its tender leaves for thee : Soft is each branch that on it grows, Hard by, Perfuafjon's fountain flows : So CLASSICAL LEARNING. 1 1 J So exquifite a lodging nigh, Who in his fenfes would pafs by V It is an opinion I am not likely to fur- render, that whoever would perceive the foftnefs of the colouring, the happy mix* ture of light and fhade, the eafy, fimple graces of Anacreon, will find them only in the original compofition. In quitting Anacreon to contemplate the firft of lyric poets, the tranfition is parti- cularly ftriking. Boeotia boafts the nativity of Pindar, who lived at the time of the expedi- tion of Xerxes, about four hundred and eighty years before our Saviour, and was then about forty years old. Paufanias fays, that the inhabitants of Delphi were commanded by an oracle of Apollo, to fet apart for Pindar, one half of the firft-fruit offerings brought by the religious to his fhrine, and to allow him a place in his temple. The iron chair in which he was accuftomed to fit, and fing his hymns in honor of the god, was fhewn, to Paufanias many centuries after, as a re- I lie 3 14 COMMENTARIES ON lie not unworthy the fan&ity of the place. Unhappily for the learned world, his hymns to the heathen deities are loft, and his odes only remain, Horace fays of this poet, that to relifh him thoroughly, we ought to tranfport ourfelves to the time in which he lived. The theory is indifputable, but the pradttce is difficult. We are fo full of modern ideas, manners, and prejudices, that we do not eafily obey any admoni- tions to defert them. The account of Hercules and Thefeus, the adventures of Cadmus, and the war of the giants, the Olympic games, and the Argonautic expe- dition, do not touch us as they did the Greeks ; and the odes which contain only allufions to thefe ftories, are not fufficient- ly ftriking to excite any very pleafurable emotions in us : but the hiftory of their country would be fupremely interefting to the Greeks; and while their fables were in a great degree their hiftory, they alfo contained the eflfence of their religion. The -Olympic, Ifthmian, Pythian, and Nemean CLASSICAL LEARNING. "5 Nemeaix games, were all in their origin, religious a£ts; folemn feftivals in honor of their gods. The poet therefore a£ted agreeably to the fentiments of the people, when he blended the names of the deities who prefided over thefe games, with thofe of the Athletse who triumphed at them. The enraptured hearers have been falfely fuppofed to have difpenfed with the regu- lar order of compofition, and willingly to have furrendered method and clearnefs to harmony of numbers, and fublimity of di&ion. Congreve on the other hand fays that " there is nothing more regular than the odes of Pindar, both as to the exad obfervation of the meafures and numbers of his ftanzas and verfes, and the perpetual coherence of his thoughts. For though his digreffions are frequent, and his tranf- itions fudden, yet is there ever fome fecret connexion, which though not always ap- pearing to the eye, never fails to commu- nicate itfelf to the understanding of the reader." The firft Pythian ode of Pindar was compofed in honor of Hiero, king of I 2 Syracufe, tl6 COMMENTARIES ON Syracufe, a vidor in a chariot race. Of fuch fpe&acles the Greeks were fo ena- moured, that they could not fufficiently celebrate him who had procured himfelf the beft coachmen and the fleeted horfes ; for to thefe, after all, the praife of vi&ory was due. From an invocation to his lyre, and a defcription of the effe&s produced by its delightful harmony, he pafles on a fudden to the defcription of Typhaeus, the terror of the gods ; at length after numerous conflicts, chained under Mount iEtna. •i Now under fmoking Cuma's fulphurous coafl, And vaft Sicilia, lies his tortured breaft, By fnowy iEtna, nurfe of endlefs froft, The mighty prop of Heaven, for ever preft : Forth from whofe flaming caverns ifTuing rife Tremendous fountains of pure liquid fire, Which veil in muddy mift the noon -day fkies ; While wrapt in fmoke the eddying flames afpire, Or gleaming through the night with hideous roar, Far o'er the reddening main huge rocky fragments roar.'* West. Hiero reigned over Sicily, it was natu- ral therefore for the poet who mentioned Mm CLASSICAL LEARNING, II 7 iEtna to fpeak of Typhseus, and thus to gratify the paffion of the Greeks for de- fcriptive poetry. Every vi&or at the public games was folicitous to have Pindar for his panegyrift, which accounts for the great number of odes written by him on the fame occafion. Certainly there cannot be a ftronger tefti- mony of his extraordinary powers, than is deducible from the manner in which fimilar fcenes are reprefented to the reader. His exalted ideas of the deity are worthy to be imprinted on the mind of a chriftian. " God dire&s all events according to his will ; God who feizes the towering eagle in his flight, outruns the marine dolphin, overthrows proud mortals, and beftows^ a never-fading glory on the humble." In the third Pythian he fays, «* His burning thunderbolt is winged with death." The odes contain many references to hiftorical facts, which have not defcended to our times ; many allufions to perfons and places of which we have never heard ; and thefe throw fometimes a veil of ob- 1 3 fcurity Il8 COMMENTARIES ON fcurity over them, through which we can* not penetrate. But good fenfe defies the obliterations of time, and the judicious reflections and the moral fentiments of Pindar, atone for the obfcurity of particular parts. He is not lefs celebrated for the tender- nefs than for the fublimity of his fenti- ' ments. It is impoffible to read many paf- fages without being fenfibly affe&ed by them ; as where the aged JEfon recognifes his fon Jafon, an all accomplished youth whom he had lamented as dead ; or where Antilochus rufhes with eagernefs againft Memnon, and gives himfelf a willing facri- fice to fave the life of his father Neftor — an a&ion which has carried with it the renown of piety throughput all fucceeding ages. He yields a due eulogium to conquerors of the loweft order, and with a noble fpi^ tit of independence difdains to be the flat- terer of kings. To them his admonitions are bold and forcible : Her charms forgotten, and her vigour/feed ; Campania's every elegance lay wafte, And the mufe flumbered through long nights of taHe. At learning's fecond dawn again fhe rofe, And genius refcued her from bigot foes With joy elate, from all reftraint fet free, Awhile fhe wantoned in her liberty. Her early patrons, formed in rougher mould, Approved her zonelefs vert, and geftures bold. In vain contending lovers fought her fmile, When Britain's guardian fhewed her Britain's ifle. She viewed the profpecl which his zeal difplay'd, And matchlefs beauties flruck the ravifh'd maid-* No more fhe mourns the fcenes of early love, Her Homer's martial fields, her Plato's grove ; No more llyfTus is her envied boaft, But freedom's fmiling plains and fea-girt coafl j TWM 154 COMMENTARIES ON 'Twas fhe who gave to Shakfpeare's deathlefs page* The glowing thoughts that fire the rifing age ; 'Midft fcenic beauties bade the artiil trace The forms of fprightly eafe and heaven-born grace ; Taught the young fculptor's hand to ftamp the mien Of love's fly god, and beauty's peerlefs queen ; Well pleafed for Britain's ifle her Greece to quit Where Spartan virtue blends with Attic wit.*' CLASSICAL LEARNING. I55 SECTION V. On Greek Comedy > the old y the middle ', and the new* Arijtophanesy Menander, and many Writers, of whom only Fragments are extant, As the manners are its obje&s, comedy, it is probable, would have preceded tra- gedy, which delineates the paffions, had not a cafual circumftance given priority to the latter. The drama was originally under the patronage of the magiftrates; and it was not till a late period that they exhibited comic choruffes to the people; but although many centuries elapfed before comedy was written, yet, a thoufand years anterior to Chrift, there were adors who played for their own advantage. Its complexion indeed was then of the moll extravagant kind. It was an extempore village mafk, where ignorance was invited to applaud the grotefque mimickry of the low and I impudent rj-6 COMMENTARIES OK impudent buffoon. The ancient comedy appeared utider three forms, and as many appellations. It is at this day not eafy to determine if it had only a fingle, or many contemporary inventors j but its mutations appear to have arifen riot only from tjie genius of the writers, but from the laws of magiftrates, and the change of the popular government. Sufarion and Dolon have been called the inventors of comedy, which was afted at Athens on a moveable fcafFold five hundred and fixty-one years before Chrift. But a ftatue of brafs ere&ed to Epicharmus, the Syracufan fchoolmafter, announces him, by the infcription on its pedeftal, to have been the firft writer of comedy. He lived four hundred and fifty years before Chrift, during the reign of Hiero the tyrant of Sicily, who punifhed him for certain im- proper jefts exhibited before his queen. All the ancient dramatic writers furnifh us with a fubjecl: of admiration in the num- ber of their works. Epicharmus is faid to have written fifty comedies ; and from the 4 fpecimen CLASSICAL LEARNING. 157 fpecimen of his manner of writing, pre- ferved in a few fragments which have reached us, we have reafon to lament the lofs of the entire compofitions. The author of the Obferver has afforded much enter- tainment to all readers of curiofity and tafte, by prefenting them with many pieces from the ancient comic writers in an En- glim drefs. An occafional quotation from them will I think not be unacceptable to my readers, who, recolle&ing from whence they are copied, may perhaps apply to the fame fource for a larger portion of fimilar amufement. Epicharmus introduces a perfon of igno- ble birth, thus addreffing an old woman who had boafted of her anceftry 5 << Good goflip, if you love me, prate no more 5 What are your genealogies to me ? Away to thofe who have more need of them ! Let the degenerate wretches if they can, Dig up dead honor from their fathers' tombs, And boaft it for their own. Vain, empty boaft ! When every common fellow that they meet, Jf accident hath not cut off the fcroll, Can fhew a lift of anceftry as long. You call the Scythians barbarous, and defpife them ; Yet I58 COMMENTARIES ON Yet Anacharfis was a Scythian born : And every man of a like noble nature, Though he were moulded from an iEthiop's loins, Is nobler than your pedigrees can make him." Epicharmus had four contemporary poets who were joint fathers of comedy, but not a veftige remains of their works. A decree which continued in force only two years, prohibiting the reprefentation of comedies, is a convincing proof of the fentiments of the magiftracy on the fubjed, if not of the licentioufnefs of the early dra- ma. It appears then that the comic mufe was not firft introduced, as Horace fays, but re-inftated under Eupolis, Cratinus, and Ariftophanes. Thefe writers of the old comedy, reprefented the habits, gef- tures, and airs of thofe whom they wifhed to expofe to public fcorn. Even perfonal defe£ts were not fecure from ftri&ures offeverity. Horace has drawn the cha- racter of thefe poets in a few mafterly ftrokes. M The comic poets in its earlieft age, Thus paint the manners of the Grecian ftage. Was CLASSICAL LEARNING. I59 Was there a villain who might juftly claim, A better right of being doomed to fame, Jlake, cutthroat, thief, whatever was his crime, They freely ftigmatized the wretch in rhyme." Francis, But it was not the expofure of vice or folly, with which thefe writers were con- tented. Nothing was fpared in fo libertine a ftate as Athens, not even the firft magif- trates, nor the judges who had the power to fan&ion or profcribe the comedies. The works of Eupolis and Cratinus are loft ; of the former we have only the titles of twenty of his comedies, and a few frag- ments. It was his chara&er that he ter- rified vice by the feverity of his lafhes ; but he was deftitute of all purity and all grace of ftyle. He flourifhed about four hun- dred and thirty-five years before Chrift, but the fcanty memorials of ancient times fur- nifh us with no other particulars of his pro- feffion or his life. Cratinus was the countryman of Eupo- lis, and fomewhat his fenior. It is record- ed of him, that he abounded in imagina- tion, l6o COMMENTARIES ON tion, and was in pofleffion of an orna^ niented ftyle. He obtained nine prizes at the public games, and fuccefsfully repelled the attack of Ariftophanes, who had ridi-» culed his infirmities in a comedy denomi- nated the Flaggon. He obtained the laurel from his opponent, and fhortly after expi- red amidft the exultations of his victory. Thirty comedies, the effufions of his genius, have perifhed in the abyfs of time, and icarcelv left a wreck behind. Of the old comedy we fhould have known nothing but the name, had not a part of the writings of Ariftophanes been refcued from the ihade of oblivion. He was a native of jEgina, a fmall ifland near Peloponnefus, born about four hundred an M 4 It l68 COMMENTARIES ON It is not wonderful that Plutarch, a Greek, a courtier, and one who lived in the time of Trajan, fhould be offended with the ftyle of Ariftophanes. Its variations, however, were fuitable to the variety of his characters. Quintilian greatly approves the old comedy, and fays that it almoft ex- clufively retains the Attic purity ; that it is energetic, elegant, and graceful ; and, next to Homer, is better adapted to form the orator than any other compofition. But it muft be confeffed that mortifica- tion and chagrin ftimulated Ariftophanes to vilify the mod refpe&able characters. He hated and burlefqued Euripides, Socrates^ and Anaxagoras, becaufe they defpifed his comedies too much to attend the reprefen- tation of them, and denominated them fcandalous farces : perhaps they ought to have remembered, that comedy is the Have of the reigning tafte. Ariftophanes, as it is well faid by the author of the Obferver, " makes ufe of choruffes, fome fo fanciful and imaginary, as to be obliged to create as CLASSICAL LEARNING. 169 as it were a new language for them. Gods and heroes demand a fwelling tragic pomp, fuch as that of the tragedians ; and this ex- cellence is difcrimination of character. If we are allowed to argue and decide by events, we fhall not be difpofed to lavifli a large fhare of blame on him for his expo- fure of the fophifts, from the reflection that the liberties of Athens were victims at the ihrine of falfe philofophy. When Arifto- phanes attacked Pericles, whofe name was revered throughout Greece, the Athenians were not difpleafed, becaufe they consi- dered it as a fymbol of republican equality. A comic poet was then a party man, who offered his advice on public affairs, and fpoke on the ftage as declaimers did in the affemblies of the people. The fubjecT: of the Acarnanians, for inftance, is entirely a political one. When Athens and Lace- dsemon had mutually ravaged each other, and a negociation for peace was propofed, the generals Cleon and Lamachus refift the overtures, which Ariftophanes advifes them to accepts He burlefques thefe generals without I70 COMMENTARIES ON without due difcrimination : he reprefents' Chon in his true chara&er, intriguing and eloquent ; but he does not treat Lamachus- with the candour which is his cue ; Lama- chus, a noble foldier who died righting for his country before Syracufe ! The Athenians, light and frivolous-, heard with more attention the fatire of their comic poets, than the more labored and ferious harangues of their orators. With refpect to the charge of indecency of language, it may be obferved, that the Greeks had a general cuftom of living with courtezans in the moft free and unreferved manner in their own houfes, while their wives were kept with great ftriclnefs in the interior, intent on domeftic affairs, and the nurture of ,their children. This fort of life, which the religion of the Athenians fancYi- iied, would have a natural tendency to pro- duce laxity of manners and converfation ; and perhaps every exception we take to the writings of Ariftophanes, may find a pal- liation in the reigning modes, the fpirit, and the government, of Athens. There is, at CLASSICAL LEARNING. 171 at firft view, a feeming contradiction in the character of the Athenians, who punifhed a contempt of the gods with the utmoft: feverity, and yet allowed it in Euripides and Ariflophanes. Comedies were not per- formed by public authority more than three or four times in a year: but thofe were the feafts of Bacchus, when unbri- dled licence was allowed both to the wri- ters and the a&ors. Judges named by the ' ftate examined the merit of the pieces be- fore their reprefentation, and the fuffrages of the majority determined which fhould be crowned as victorious, and exhibited with all.poffible pomp to the people. An olive crown was affigned to Ariflo- phanes in a public affembly ; nor is it fair to acquiefce in the partiality of which his judges have been fufpefted, fince folicita- tion and cabal, caprice and prejudice, have in all ages been imputed by the unfuccefsful candidates, and fometimes perhaps too juftly, to the deciders on literary fame. The following are fome pleafant frag- ments of the writers of the old comedy, who I72 COMMENTARIES ON who feem to have abounded both in wit and fentiment. Crates a comic poet, and a celebrated actor, two characters very frequently com- bined at that time, has left us the following reflections on old age. " Thefe fhrivelled finews, and this bending frame. The workmanflii-p of time's ftrong hand proclaim ; Skilled to reverfe whate'er the gods create, And make that crooked which they fafhion ftraight. Hard choice for man ! to die, or elfe to be That tottering, wretched, wrinkled, thing you fee : Age, then, we all prefer ; for age we pray ; And travel on to life's lafl lingering day. Then finking flowly down from worfe to worfe, Find heaven's extorted boon our greateft curfe." Pherecrates a comic writer contemporary with Plato and Ariftophanes, and the in- ventor of one of the metres ufed by Horace* " Graio Pyrrha fub antro" has left only a few lines, and thofe no very flattering teftimony to the fobriety of his country- women. ** Remark how wifely ancient art provides The broad-brimmed cup with flat expanded fides j A cup CLASSICAL LEARNING. 173 A cup contrived for man's difcreter ufe, And fober potions of the generous juice* But woman's more ambitious, thirfty foul, Soon longed to revel in the plenteous bowl : Deep and capacious as the fwelling hold Of fome flout bark, fhe fhaped the hollow mould ; Then turning out a veffel like a tun, Simpering, exclaimed, Obferve ! I drink but one/* Amipfias, another writer at the fame period, has left us the titles only of his plays, but from them we may form a cor- rect judgment of their tendency. They are, the Gamefters, the Glutton, the Beard, the Adulterers, and the Philofo- pher's cloak. Every relique of their works fhew, that with an unfparing hand they lafhed all the prevailing vices of their country, and that their inftruments of punifhment inflicted wounds too deep and fevere for the delicate texture of the Athe- nian character* Impiety having fucceeded to infolence, the licence of which Socrates was the vic- tim, was at length reftrained by law, and the middle comedy was fubftituted for the old. In this the writers traced living cha- racters 174 COMMENTARIES ON rafters under fiditious names, and the people delighted in finding out the refem- blance. Controlled by the Macedonian princes, the mufe of Ariftophanes was com- pelled to take a milder ftrain ; and death had flopped the impetuous tongue of De- mofthenes. The bitter Cratinus himfelf was compelled to war only with the dead, and to ridicule the Odyffey of Homer. The author of the Obferver juftly re- marks, that the loofe hold which the efta- blifhed religion had upon the minds of the common people, arifing probably from the influence of the new philofophy, may be feen in fome of the writers of the middle comedy, whofe fatire againft the gods would not have been tolerated in iEfchylus or Ariftophanes. Diodorus was a native of Senope, a city of Pontus, the birth-place of many eminent poets and philofophers. The following fragment written by him remains, and was fpoken by a perfon fuftaining the character cfaparafite. " All other arts, have been of man's invention without the help of the 1 1 gods ; CLASSICAL LEARNING. I 75 gods; but Jupiter himfelf, who is our part- ner in trade, firft taught us how to play the parafite ; and he, without difpute, is of all the gods the greateft. 'Tis his cut- torn to make himfelf welcome in every houfe he enters, rich or poor, no matter which ; wherever he finds the dinner table neatly fpread, the couches ready fet, and all things in decent order, down fits he without ceremony, eats, drinks, and makes merry, and all at free coft, cajoling his poor hoft ; and in the end, when he has filled his belly and bilked his club, cooly walks home at his leifure." Very copious collections from the writers of the middle comedy have been made, and well tranflated by the fame ingenious author. Eubulus, a native of Atama in Lefbos, a celebrated poet, and the author of fifty comedies, introduces Bacchus laying down •thefe temperate and moral rules : M Three cups of wine a prudent man may take j The firft of thefe for conititift-io&a fake ; The Ij6 COMMENTARIES ON The fecond to the girl he loves the bell : The third and laft to lull him to his reft ; Then home to bed. But if a fourth he pours* That is the cup of folly and not ours. Loud noify talking- on the fifth attends ; The fixth breeds feuds and falling out of friends. Seven beget blows and faces (tained with gore j Eight, and th«* watch patrole breaks ope the door. Mad with the ninth, another cup goes round, And the fwilled fot drops fenfelefs on the ground." s Plato was ftyled the prince of the middle comedy. The following are his lines on the tomb of Themiftoclefi : u By the fea's margin on the watery ilrand, Thy monument Themiftoples {hall {land : By this directed to thy native more* The merchant mall convey his freighted iiore. And when our fleets are fummoned to the fight, Athens (hall conquer with thy tomb in fight." The licentioufnefs of the Athenian ftage being thus in fome degree corrected, a way was made for the introduction of the third epoch called the New Comedy. This was an exquifite refinement of the magiftratcs, who having firft abolilhed real 2 names. CLASSICAL LEARNING. iyj names, they now abolifhed real fubje&s, and a too flanderous chorus. The poets were therefore reduced to the neceffity of pro- ducing on the ftage, fubje&s and names of pure invention, by which the theatre was both purified and enriched, for then comedy ceafed to be a Megaera armed with torches, and became an agreeable and innocent mirror of human life. Such was the comedy of Menander, of whom Quintilian fays, that he has obliterated the name of all the writers in that depart- ment, and thrown them into the made by the tranfcendency of his own luftre. Me- nander was born, about three hundred and forty-five years before Chrift, at Athens, and educated under the peripatetic philo- fopher TheOphraftus. He began to write for the ftage at twenty years of age, and did not difgrace his compofitiqns, by per- fo nal fatire, but was replete in the elegance of ftyle, refined wit, and correcl: judgment. Terence borrowed all his plays from him but his Phormio and Hecyra, hence Csefar ftyled him the Demi-Menander. Of a hun- n dred 178 COMMENTARIES ON dred plays, only fome fragments and titles remain, containing fentiments of various kinds, moral, fubiime, and gloomy. The tefiimonies in his favour are numerous and refpeclable. Quintilian fays he eclipfes £very writer of his clafs ; Dion Chryfoftoni recommends him as a model for all who fludy to excel in oratory. The ftyle of Menander, fays' Plutarch, is always uniform and pure. He has the addrefs to adjuft himfelf to the different characters without neglecting the comic in any degree, where the nature of the object renders it neceflary. He attained a per- fection to which no artizan has known how to reach. For what man has ever had the art to form a mafk calculated alike for children and women, divinities and heroes? but Menander has found this happy fecret. His works difparage thofe of the philofophers ; and he is, with regard to them, a meadow enamelled with flowers, where one delights to refpire an air that is jpure. He CLASSICAL LEARNING. 179 He does not neglect the comic, nor out- rage it. He never lofes fight of nature, and the fupplenefs and flexibility of his ftyle has never been furpafled. It is like a limpid ftream which, running between ir- regular and tortuous banks, takes all forms without lofing aught of its purity. He writes like a man of fpirit, a man of the world ; he was made to be read, repre- fented, learned by heart ; to pleafe in all places, and at all times ; and in reading his pieces, we are not furprifed to find that he pafied as a man who exprefled himfelf mod agreeably, both in converfation and in wri- ting, of any of his age. How can we fufficiently lament the lofs of an author of whofe excellence we may form fome judgment, both from the tefti- mony of the ancients, and the valuable works of Terence, who clofely imitated, if he did not literally tranflate him ! Menander was drowned as he was bathing ; fome fay he drowned himfelf becaufe Philemon triumphed over him in a poetical conteft. n 2 The l8o COMMENTARIES ON The fragments of his works cited by various authors are not very favourable to his philanthropy. There is one, however, of a comic turn from the minftrel, pointed at avarice. ** Ne*er truffc me, Phemius, but I thought till now That you rich fellows had a knack of fleeping A good found nap, that held you all the night. And not like us poor rogues who tofs and tumble, Sighing ah me ! and grumbling at our being. But now I find, in fpite of all your money, You reft no better than your needy neighbours, And forrow is the common lot of all." The new comedy continued from the death of Alexander of Macedon to that of Menander. It was a fplendid sera, abound- ing in comic writers of great celebrity, of whom we have now only a barren catalogue of names. Philemon, the fuccefsful rival of Menander, feerns to have been plaintive and melancholy in his writings. The author of the Obferver confirms this opinion by his tranflation of the fol- lowing, fragments ' CLASSICAL LEARNING. l8l K O Cleon, ceafe to trifle thus with life, A mind fo barren of experience Can hoard up nought but mifery, believe me; The fhip-wrecked mariner mud fink outright Who makes no effort to regain the fhore. The needy wretch who never learned a trade And will not work, muft ftarve. What then ? you cry My riches ! frail fecurity : — my farms, My houfes, my eftate : alas ! my friends, Fortune makes quick defpatch, and in a day Can ftrip you bare as beggary itfelf. Grant that ye now had piloted your bark Into good fortune's haven,, anchored there, And moored her fafe as caution could devife ; Yet if the headftrong paffion feize the helm And turn her out tofea, the ftormy gufts Shall rife, and blow you out of fight of port, Never to reach profperity again What tell you me ? have I not friends to fly to ? I have : and will not thofe kind friends protect me ? Better it were you mould not need their fervice, And fo not make the trial. Much I fear Your finking hand would only grafp a ihade." The fame poet fings thus alfo : ** Still to be rich, Is ftill to be unhappy ; Still to be envied, hated, and abufed, Still to commence new law-fuits, new vexations ; Still to be rafking, ftill to be collecting, Only to make your funeral a feaft And hoard up riches for a thriftlefs heir. Let me be light in purfe, and light in heart. n 3 Give l82 COMMENTARIES ON Give me fmall means, but give content withal. Only preferve me from the law, kind gods ! And I will thank you for your poverty." Philemon lived above a hundred years and feems to the lateft period of his life to have derived his happinefs from his mufe. This was the lafl fpecies of Grecian comedy, and the Romans jfhewed their high ellimation of it, for they did not at- tempt to imitate the works of Menander, bit were the fervile and literal tranflators of them. The models indeed had much merit to recommend them, and from the fcanty fpecimens that remain, we may pre- fume that they abounded in juft opinions of life and manners ; by indulging their talent for ridicule on topics of a general nature, they were more likely to benefit fociety than their predeceflbrs, who grati- fied their fpleen by the reprefentation of perfonal defeds, and the expofure of the vices and the follies of individuals. This is an imperfect, but as far as it goes, I truft, a juft account of the progrefs of 4 the CLASSICAL LEARNING, 183 the Grecian drama. It owed its origin mod unqueftionably to the perufal of the poems of Homer , and Pififtratus, who ob- tained them by public proclamation from the rhapfodifts, and preferved them from political interpolations, and the mutilations of defective memory, mud be confidered as worthy the perpetual veneration and gratitude of learned men. The tafte of an age and country may in general be known by the particular fpecies of its literary works. It appears wonderful to us at this day, to be told that Euclid had collected three thoufand plays, and that his collection was imperfect:, and that when Terence was writing, Rome had two thoufand Greek comedies. But we mud not imagine that an idle londnefs for fpectacles actuated the Athenians in their rage for theatrical amufe- ments ; the reprefentations came home both to their bufinefs as republicans, and to their bofoms as men. In their drama we fhall find, as Francklin has obferved, ** a mod exact and faithful picture of the manners of Greece, its religious and civil N 4 policy, 184 COMMENTARIES ON policy, fublimity both of fentiment and diction, regularity, fymmetry and propor- tion, excellent moral aphorifms and reflec- tions, together with a moft elegant and amiable fimplicity difFufed throughout every page. Befides this, it was not as with us a mere matter of amufement, but the channel of public inftrudtion, and the inftrument of public policy." CLASSICAL LEARNING. 185 SECTION VI. Paftoral Poetry. — Epigram. — Theocritus. ~-Bion. — M$f~ chus .—Anthologia. iastoral poetry is more at variance with our experience than any other. Our climate, and the ignorance of our fhepherds, gives it an air of fidion and of fable which takes away much of the pleafure it might otherwife afford to the reader. But in ancient times every Ihepherd was mufical and poetical ; and in Sicily to this day there are contentions between the raftic performers on the flute. Theocritus was born, nearly three cen- turies before the chriftian asra, at Syracufe. He has written thirty eclogues, and the Doric dialed: gives him a decided pre- eminence in this fpecies of poetry. Some of his lines on the paflions are well expref- fed* That poem in which he reprefents a fhepherdefs I 86 COMMENTARIES ON fhepherdefs employing magic to bring back a fugitive lover, has been confidered as one of the moil impaffioned pieces which the ancients poffeffed. His predo- minant character is fimplicity, but this fimplicity fometimes defcends to groffnefs. He prefents the reader with too many indifferent circumftances, and his fubje&s have too much refemblance. Contentions ©n the flute, and quarrels between fhep- Jierds, are to us irifipid in themfelves, and tirefome by their repetition. They neither excite our curiofity, nor awaken our fym- patby. The half-attentive reader begins with languor and Sniihes with difguft. Bion and Mofchu$ were contemporaries of Theocritus, the one of Smyrna, the other of Syracufe. They both wrote with eafe and elegance. Their Idyllia pofTefs a pecu- liar delicacy, and their elegies are tender and fen ti mental. The ode of the former on the death of Adonis has been much celebrated, and in- deed in general the verfes of both thefe poets feem to have been written with more care CLASSICAL LEARNING. 187 care than thofe of Theocritus, but are not wholly devoid of affectation. The lover of rural fcenes will be grati- fied by the images which they prefent him, and cannot fail to admire the fweetnefs and elegance of the poetry. GREEK EPIGRAM. In the modern fenfe of the word, the epigram is, of all kinds of poetry, that which approaches neareft to fatire, fince it has the fame objects, cenfure and raillery. The word now applies to an ingenious thought or turn of expreffion, which con- stitutes the merit of a fhort poem. But the term in itfelf fignifies only an infcrip- tion, and it has retained amongft the Greeks its etymological acceptation. The epigrams collected by Agathias, Planudes, Conftantine, Hierocles and others, which compofe the Greek Anthologia, are but little more than infcriptions for reli- gious offerings, for tombs, ftatues and monuments. They are for the moft part extremely l88 COMMENTARIES ON extremely fimple, in conformity to their object, which is only to relate a fact. Thofe upon a ftatue of Niobe, on the ad- venture of Leander and Hero, on the Venus of Praxiteles, and on Hercules, feem moft to refemble the modern epigram. The laft, written by Plato, is one of the prettied. Lais on her return from Greece, confecrates her looking-glafs in the temple of Venus with thefe lines : « Venus, take my votive gjafs., Since I am not what I was ; What from this day I mall be, Venus, let me never fee." The following epigram on Troy, a legi- timate proof that the Greek word imported an infcription, has been fo happily imitated by Dr. Aikin, that the reader will require no apology for the infertion of it : «« Where, haplefs Ilium ! are thy heav'n- built walls, Thy high embattled towers, thy fpacious halls, Thy folemn temples filled with forms divine, Thy guardian Pallas in her awful Ihrine, The mighty Heftor, where ? thy fav'rite boaft, And all thy valiant fons, a numerous hoft ; Thy arts, thy arms, thy riches and thy ftate ; Thy pride of pomp, and all that made thee great ? Thefe, CLASSICAL LEARNING. 1 89 Thefe, proftrate all, in duft and ruins lie, iBut thy tranfcendent fame can never die. \ Tis not in fate to fink thy glories paft ; They fill the world, and with the world (hall lad." LTCOPHROK Lycophron was born at Chalcis in Euboea in the time of Ptolemy Philadel- phus, about two hundred and feventy-fix years before Chrift, when a galaxy of learned men gave fplendour to the age. All that remains of his writings, except the mere titles of fome tragedies, is a work intitled the Caffandra, containing the fup- pofed prophecies of the daughter of Priam uttered during the Trojan War. They are delivered, by the keeper of the tower in which (he was lodged, to the king. Lyco- phron has been accufed of great obfeurity : but, as the reader is informed at the outfet that the prophetefs was dark in her pre- fages, he cannot furely, after that informa- tion, exped: to find the poet afford him a very intelligible recital. In defence of this writer, it has been faid that the nature of his poem involved dif- 2 ficulty ig6 COMMENTARIES Ott ficulty in it ; but as he has always under* flood himfelf, by due labour and attention he may be underftood by the reader : that where it was permitted him to be clear, no poet is more fo : that he has all the fire of Pindar, and contains pafTages which would gladly have been claimed by thfc firft writers in Greece and Rome : that when Horace delivers the beautiful pro- phecy of the deftruclion that was to be the coniequence of the rape of Helen, he is a dole imitator of the Caffandra. It feems to have been the cuftom with the Latin poets to confider the w r orks of the Greeks as a common (lock which they had a right to pillage: but the poem of Lycophron has been fo little read, that many plagiarifms from him have efcaped obfervation. There is a certain intellectual cowardice in the generality of fcholars, which renders them unwilling to attack the yvorks of authors who have too rafhly been condemned and laid afide for a fuppofed impenetrable obfcurity. He CLASSICAL LEARNING. I9I He who has the fpirit to think for him- felf, and the refolution to encounter labour, will find that the apparent difficulties of Lycophron are not infuperable as he at firft conceived ; but that they yield to the pei fevering efforts of application. Every obftacle is eafily removed when the powers of mechanifm are fummoned to the aid of individual ftrength. A vigorous exertion of the fame talents which finds connexion in the choruffes of iEfchylus, will difperfe the clouds that darken the prophecies of CalTandra. tgi COMMENTARIES ON SECTION VII. On Grecian Oratory. Peric/es, Ly/ias, Ificrates % Hype- ^ rides, If<£us> JEfchine.^ Demojlhenes. W hen we pais from, poetry to eloquence? objects the mod ferious and important, fiudies the moft fevere and demanding the deeper! reflection, take place of the fports of the imagination. 4 I do not mean to fay that imagination is not effential to the orator.; or that the poet, in the moft lofty flights of enthufiafm, ought to lofe fight of reafon ; but the one predominates in eloquence, the other in poetry. The tranfition, however, is from the 6 amufements of youth to the labours of maturerage ; for, poetry is converfant with pl'eafure, eloquence with bufinefs. - Poetry is a ferious occupation to the writer only, and a delightful entertainment to the reader of tafte and feeling. But when the orator declaims CLASSICAL LEARNING* I93 declaims, or the ftatefman deliberates in a popular afTembly, eloquence is a moft ufeful art, and well calculated to attract the vene- ration of the citizens. It (hews that there is a natural connection between genius and virtue, and that knowledge and talents are the true inftruments of national fafety and felicity. If they have fometimes deviated from their original inftitution, the inference is, that being a fpecies of power, they have in bad hands been perverted into inftru- ments of oppreffion. No argument is hence to be drawn againft their dignity or their value. The qualifications neceJQTary to form the orator have been delineated by one of the greateft that ever appeared, and are fo numerous as to render men of common acquirements hopelefs of obtaining them. When the theatre reprefents to us tem- ples, palaces and groves, the fpe£tator is enchanted by the fpe&acle ; but he ought to remember that the artift who produces this agreeable illufion, muft have ftudied the effects of perfpe&ive, the- advantage 194 COMMENTARIES ON of light and fhade, and the magic of co- lours. It is a remarkable trait in the hiftory of the human mind, that there have been only- two republics which have left to the world perpetual models of poetry and eloquence. It is as from the bofom of liberty that thofe lights of good tafte were twice dif- fufed which now illuminate the polifhed nations of Europe. Of thefe two great empires, nothing remains except the recol- lection of annihilated grandeur, but the fine arts are the noble inheritance which we have recovered from the ruins of Athens and of Rome. It is in Athens, fays Cicero, that the firft orator exifted, and this orator was Pericles. He flourished, about four hun- dred and twenty years before Ghrift ; and although Pififtratus and Cliflhenes, who preceded him, had merit for their time, and Themiftocles poflefled the art in a confiderable degree, yet before him there was no true eloquence. The names of many orators who were contemporary with Pericles CLASSICAL LEARNING. I95 Pericles remain, but as none of their works are in exiftence, we can only loofely con- jecture the reigning tafte of the age. Their ftyle was fententious, but on account of its precision, it was fomewhat obfcure. From perceiving the effects which a well compofed difcourfe could produce, there ftarted up a race who offered themfelves as profeffors of the art of oratory. Gorgias Leontinus, Thrafimachus, Protagoras, Pro- dicus Hippias, and many others obtained celebrity in their profeffion ; but it was not much in favour of their art that they de-^ clared themfelves capable of making a bad caufe appear a good one. Lyfias, the fon of Cephalus, was a native of Syracufe, and born about four hundred and fixty years before our sera. Imme- diately after his birth his father removed to Athens, and there he carefully educated his ion. In his fifteenth year, Lyfias ac- companied the colony which the Athenians fent to Thurium ; and after along refidence in that place, returned home in his forty- feventh year. He diftinguimed himfelf 02 bv I96 COMMENTARIES ON by the pure ftyle of his orations, of which thirty- four only remain out of two hundred and thirty. The manners of the Athenians may be feen in a clear point of view in his firft oration, and the learned reader will think that the fcene lies in London, and that the event has taken place in the nine- teenth century. The moft celebrated lawyer at the Eng- lifh bar would be delighted with the perufal of this oration, and not difdain on a fimilar cccafion to defend his client with the arms of Lyfias. He furvived to the eighty-firft year of his age, Ifocrates was born at Athens about four hundred and thirty-feven years before Chrift. His father was a maker of mufical inftruments. He never fpoke in public, but opened a fchool of eloquence. Thirty- one of his orations are flili extant. His fchool, which was open fixty years, was the moft celebrated in Greece, and ren- dered great fervice to the art of oratory, as Cicero attefts in thefe words : " He was a great orator, a perfect mailer of the art, 1 1 and, CLASSICAL LEARNING. I97 and, without mining in the roftrum, with- out quitting his own houfe, arrived at a degree of celebrity which no one elfe had attained. He wrote well, and taught others to write well. He knew better than his predeceflbrs the oratorical art in all its departments. But, above all, he was the firft to underftand that if profe ought to have the rhythm of verfe, it ought at lead to have numbers, and an harmony which are proper to itfelf." The remains of his orations infpire the reader with the higheft veneration for his abilities, and his virtues. He was intimate with Philip ; and to this the Athenians owed fome years of peace. The afpiring ambition of that monarch however, difgufted him ; and after the battle of Chgeronea he did not furvive the difgrace of his country, but died after refu- fing aliment for four days, in the ninety- ninth year of his age. The fevere conduit of the Athenians againft Socrates had fo highly difpleafed him, that he put on mourning the very day of his death. o 3 The I98 COMMENTARIES ON The beauties of language may fucceff- fully be fought for in Ifocrates. The fmoothnefs of his ftyle, the eafe, the ele- gance, the delicacy, and the fwestnefs of his expreffions, captivate every ear that is attuned to harmony. His attention to excellencies of this fort was laborious and minute. Ten years, he confeffes to have been employed on one of his orations, and many of the others are the fruit of long protracted induftry. The qualifications with which nature endowed Ifocrates, he wifely cultivated and improved. His knowledge was fuperior to his rhetoric While we admire the orator, we reverence the philofopher, and are enchanted at his delivery of truths which evince an en- lightened underftanding and an upright heart. The love of his country was an active principle which warmed him to en- thufiafm, but it did not exclude the more generous principle of philanthropy. The great orator of Greece could difcerri no- thing worthy of praife but in his native Athens, CLASSICAL LEARNING. I99 Athens, and Rome exclufively might boaft the eulogies of Tully ; but merit, whether in Greek or Barbarian, was recognized by liberates He well knew that genius and virtue are not the growth or invention of any particular country, but the ornament and pride of every one where they flou- rifh. Hyperides had every advantage which could attend the education of an orator, for he was taught by Plato and by Socrates. We learn that he was frequently oppofed to Demofthenes, and from this circum- ftance we may form fome judgment of his merit. One only of his orations is extant, a fair fpecimen of his ability ; but Longinus, who read them all, decides his character. He fays that Hyperides has all the qualities wanting to Demofthefses, but that he never elevates himfelf to the fublime. - Amidft the firft orators in the fecond rank, is I fas us the preceptor of Demofthenes, born about three hundred and eighty years before Chrift. He was born at Chalcis in o 4 Eubcea, 200 COMMENTARIES ON Eubcea, and when he came to the feat of learning, he placed himfelf under the in- ftru&ion of Lyfias. His eloquence was vigorous and energetic ; and thofe qualities obtained him the praife and imitation of his illuftrious pupil. Ten out of fixty-four of his orations are extant, and they vindi- cate the approbation bellowed upon him by Demofthenes. iEfchines flouriflied at Athens about three hundred and forty-two years before Chrift. It was his glory to have been the rival of Demofthenes, and his difgrace to have been bribed by Philip of Macedon. To his envy of the former we are in- debted for the two orations De Corona, when Ctefiphon propofed to reward the patriotifm of his friend, and the fpeakers exerted all their powers, the one in op- pofing, the other in defending the pro- pofal. However well known the fubje£t, it may not be improper to refer to thefe two celebrated fpeeches in confidering the lite- rary character of thefe diftinguifhed orators. There CLASSICAL LEARNING. 20I There could not be produced a ftronger proof of their abilities, for each of them employed more than four years in pre* paring himfelf for the conteft. Their ani- mofity was fo well known throughout Greece, that it drew together an immenfe concourfe from all parts to fee the combat between thefe two great men who had become fo celebrated by their rivalry. After their defeat at Chseronea, the Athenians, fearful of being befieged, began to repair their walls. Demofthenes ad- vifed the meafure, and was charged with the execution of it. In this office he ac- quitted himfelf fo nobly that he furnifhed from his private fortune, a confiderable fum for this patriotic purpofe. Ctefiphon de- manded of the Athenians that they fhould honor him with a crown of gold as a reward of his generofity. The decree paffed, importing that the proclamation ihould be made in the theatre cjuring the feftival of Bacchus, when all Greece was aflembled to behold the fpe&acle. JEC- chines had long been the enemy of Demofthenes, 202 COMMENTARIES ON i Demoflhenes, and the €C Odium in longum jacens" gladly feized on the prefent favour- able occafion to difplay itfelf. He was poffefTed of great talents, and a happy organization, which he had exer- cifed very early in life, having been bred up a comedian. But he had alfo a venal foul, and was one of the many orators who had bartered his independence for money. The prefent accufation of JE'fchines turned on three points of law. That no citizen charged with any admi- niflration fhould be crowned, and that Demoflhenes had been charged with the expence of the public fpeftacles, and the reparation of the walls. That a decree of coronation carried by the fenate fhould not be proclaimed elfe- where than in the fenate itfelf, whereas that of Ctefiphon ought to have been proclaimed according to its tenor in the theatre. That the decree imported that the crown was to be given to Demoflhenes for the fe'rvices CLASSICAL LEARNING. 203 fervices which he had rendered to the ftate, while, on the contrary, Demofthenes had done nothing but injury to the ftate. Notwithftanding the brilliant eloquence of iEfchines, we difcern every moment the feeblenefs of his arguments, and the arti- fice of his 1 falfehoods. He gives a forced fenfeto all the laws he cites, and a malig- nant interpretation of all the a&ions of his adverfary. He accufes him of every thing in which he is himfelf culpable ; he re- proaches him with being fold to Philip, whofe penfioner he himfelf is, and the more he feels the defedts of his proofs, the more he accumulates his expreffions of calumny and detra&ion. iEfchines begins by infilling upon the religious veneration which all men. ought to have for the laws of their country, and particularly in a free ftate. This is the bafis of his exordium, and he treats it with that noble gravity which becomes the fubjed:. We may pafs over the juridical part of the oration, and come to that where iEfchines flatters himfelf with the 1 polfeilion 204 COMMENTARIES ON pofleffion of the vantage ground, namely, the bad fuccefs of the war, and the delin- quency of the orator who had advifed it. Here he exerts all his abilities to make Demofthenes unpopular and odious. He invokes the (hades of thofe citizens who had fallen, and furrounds him with their avenging manes, forming them around him as a rampart from which he thinks it im- poffible for him to efcape. The world are too often guided in their opinions of men and things, by the impro- per criterion of events. But fo far were the Athenians from imputing their mif- fortunes to the advifer of the war, that they had unanimoufly appointed him to the honor of pronouncing the funeral eulogy on the foldiers who had died in it, and to whom a monument had been raifed at the public expence. This appointment was fo deferable, that many orators, and amongft them iEfchines, had been candidates to ob- tain it. From the two principal points which iEfchines treats in the latter part of his difcourfe, it is plainly fhewn what a great CLASSICAL LEARNING. 20S great degree of terror the eloquence of Demofthenes infpired. For he endeavours to prefcribe to him the precife mode of his defence, and petitions the judges to oblige him to conform to the fame order as he had done in his accufation. Finally, he at- tempts to prove that Ctefiphon ought to defend himfelf; and that, when in com- pliance with the ufual form, he fhould fay, permit me to ;all Demofthenes to fpeak for me, that they fhould from that mo- ment refufe to attend to him. The art of iEfchines here feems to defert him ; his demand was revolting to common fenfe, as well as to juftice, and could not be granted. Demofthenes, not Ctefiphon, had been the main object of attack, and iEfchines was injudicious in a double view, both in al- lowing his fears of his rival to appear, and in perfuading himfelf that the judges of Athens would deprive themfelves of the pleafure of hearing fo great an advocate in his own caufe. But iEfchines well knew that misfortune, which exafperates a people, frequently renders 206 COMMENTARIES ON renders them unjuft, and is apt to excite refentment againft the innocent caufe of it. He thought it likely that he would fink under the weight of the public difafters, and that as events were all hoftile to him, he would not find -an adequate apology in the purity of intention. He was befides amply furnifhed with all thofe common- place arguments which are fo powerful in aiding a weak caufe — the blood of fo many citizens fhed in the war, the devaluation of cities, the grief of families, which he details with all the infidioufnefs of art, the bitter- nefs of indignation, and the perfidy of hatred. Demofthenes was extremely wife, as well as fpirited, in refufing to purfue the plan of ^defence which the artifice of iEfchines had prefcribed to him, when he w r ould have obliged him to anfwer firft to the infraction of legal forms. He well knew that the legal difcuflion, already too long in the fpeech of iEfchines, would ap- pear ftill more tedious by a repetition; that it would refrigerate his exordium, weary and difguft his audience. It was his bufi- nefs CLASSICAL LEARNING, 207 nefs to prove that he deferved the crown, by placing before their eyes all that he had done for the ftate. The pi&ure he draws of his adminiftration, traced with all the glowing colours he poiTerTed, mud have tended to humiliate his adverfary, by ag- grandizing himfelf in the eyes of the Athenians, and placing his caufe in the moft favourable point of view. He well knew how to infinuate himfelf into the hearts of his hearers, by the delicate man- ner in which he bears teftimony in favour of his own conduct. It is the Athenians who have done every thing; his thoughts, his refolutions, have always been theirs. His advice has always been in congruity with their fentiments. Whence we may conceive to what degree he muft pleafe a people naturally vain, and how little furprizing it is, that he ob- tained all their fuffrages. When he comes to the moft difficult part of the queftion, he thus addreffes iEfchines; " Unhappy man! If it be the public difafters which have given you fuch auda- city, 2o8 COMMENTARIES ON city, and which, on the contrary, you ought to lament, together with me, I chal- lenge you to exhibit a fingle inftance in which I have contributed to the misfor- tune. Wherever I have been ambaffador, have the envoys of Philip had any advan- tage over me ? No, never ; not in any place, neither in Thefialy, nor Thrace, nor Byzantium, nor Thebes, nor Illyri- cum. But that which I accomplifhed by words, Philip overturned by force ; and you complain of me for this, and do not blufh to demand of me an account of it. This fame Demofthenes whom you repre- fent to be fo feeble a man, you will have it, ought to have prevailed over the armies of Philip ; and with what ? with words ! for 4 I had only words to ufe : I had not the difpofal of the arms, nor the fortune of any one. I had no military command, and no one but you has been fo fenfelefs as to de- mand from me the reafon of it* But what could, w T hat ought, an Athenian orator to have done ? To fee the evil in its birth, to make others fee it, and that is what I have CLASSICAL LEARNING. 209 have done. To prevent as far as it was pof- fible the delays, the falfe pretences, th e oppofition of interefts, the - miftakes, the faults, the obftacles' of every fpecies fo common amidft republics jealous of each other: and that is what I have done. To oppofe to all thefe difficultieSjZea^prompt- nefs, love of duty, friendship, concord : and that is what I have done. On any of thefe points, I defy any one to find me in fault j and if they afk me how Philip has prevailed, all the world will anfwer for me : by his arms which have invaded every thing ; by his gold which has corrupted every thing. It was not in my power to combat either the one or the other; I had neither treafures nor foluiers : but as far as was in my power, 1 dare fay this, I have conquered Philip — and, how ? by re, fufing his prefents, by refufing to be bri- bed. When a man allows himfelf to be bought, the buyer may fay that he has triumphed over him ; but he who lives in- corruptible, may fay that he ha§ triumphed over the corrupter. So then as much as it P depended 2IO COMMENTARIES Qtf depended on Demofthenes, Athens ha3 been victorious, Athens has been invin- cible." This fpeech is the firft in point of orato- rical argumentation that ever was made ; we may think we ftill hear the acclama- tions which purfued it : nothing ( could refift a genius of fuch force ; tfeey do^ honor both to the head, and to the heart. When Demofthenes deigns to come to the legal details, he deftroys in a few lines the fophifms accumulated by iEfchines un- der the pretended violation of the laws in the form of the coronation, ordered by the decree of Ctefiphon. iEfchines had very adroitly feized that part which feemed favo- rable to him, and which he could not have done without catching at the words of the law, Demofthenes withdraws rapidly from a fubjecl which is dryly contentious, and roufes himfelf to new rhetorical argumen- tation. Having refuted the different points of accufation preferred againft him, he expofes the ftates of Greece at the mo- 4 ment CLASSICAL LEARNING. 211 ment when he undertook the ad mini fixation 'of the public affairs; the ambition, the intrigues of Philip, and the venality of ftrators fuch as iEfchines, who ferved that prince at the expence of their country. How nobly does he exprefs himfelf on the fubjecT: of the war againfl: Philip, which he had been reproached with having advifed ! What a fublime ejaculation of patriot en- thufiafm, and how infignificant at the mo- ment does iEfchines appear when com- pared with him ! He recalls the recollec- tion of that terrible day when the news of the capture of Platasa was brought to Athens, which opened a paffage for Philip into Attica. The Athenians muft either have remained expofed to an invafion, or united themfelves with the Thebans, their ancient enemies. We ought here to recoiled: that the Greeks regarded the Macedonians as bar- barians, and that the different ftates of Greece, though often divided amongft each other, thought themfelves bound by a fpecies of national confraternity to combat P 2 every 212 COMMENTARIES ON every thing that was not Grecian. It was not till after the reign of Philip, whofe in- fluence was fo powerful, and under Alex- ander, who caufed himfelf to be named generaliffimo of Greece againft the Per- fians, that the Macedonians mingled amongft the other Greek nations in the general league againft their common ene- mies. Demofthenes founds his peroration upon the honor which they had done him, in confiding to him the funeral eulogy of the citizens killed at Ghasronea. iEfchines had compelled him to this by making it a fubject of reproach ; and as he had himfelf vainly folicited the office, he draws from it an additional triumph for himfelf, and a new humiliation for his accufer. It muft be confefTed, that the profufion of perfonal allufions on both fides, appears at this day very objectionable ; but it was authorifed by the coarfenefs of republican manners, and at that period had its full effeft. An Athenian accufer could not exercife his talent without confiderable hazard ; for unlefs CLASSICAL LEARNING. 2JJ unlefs a fifth part of the votes were with him, he was condemned to banimment, This happened to JEfchines : having reti- red to Rhodes, where he opened a fchool of rhetoric, it is very remarkable, that his firft efiay was ihe recital of the two fpeeches which had caufed his condem- nation. It is difficult to conceive how he had the courage to read to his fcholars that of Demofthenes* It is not a crime to be lefs eloquent than another perfon, but how could he without a blufh confefs that he had been convicted of being a calumniator and a bad citizen ?- When iEfchines had read the ipeech of Demofthenes, and the greateft applaufe was given to it, he very ingenuoufly exclaimed, " What would you have laid had you heard him deliver it V* This accounts for the remarkable exclama- tion of Demofthenes, meaning that action is the fovereign quality, the firit, the fecond, and the third part of eloquence. iEfchines wrote three orations, and nine epiftles, the former only are extant. They P 3 received 214 COMMENTARIES ON received the name of the graces, as the lat- ter did of the mules. The greater! part of the works of Demofthenes have for their obje£t the routing the indolence of the Athenians, and arming them againft the artful ambi- tion of Philip. Under this name we may comprehend not only the four harangues which particularly bear the title of Philip- pics, but all thofe which refpefl: the dis- putes of the Athenians with the " man of Macedon," fuch as the three orations gene- rally called Oiynthiacs, that on the propo- fal of peace to Philip, that which was made on the occafion of the letter of the fame prince, and that which is entitled «' On the Cherfonefe." In reafoning, and in emotion, confifts the eloquence of Demofthenes. No man has ever given to reafon more penetrating and inevitable weapons. Truth is in his hand a piercing dart which he throws with as much rapidity as force, and without ceafing repeats his attack. His ftyle is nervous CLASSICAL LEARNING, 215 nervous and bold, analogous to a foul free and impetuous. He rarely condefcends to add ornament to his thoughts. This care appears below him ; he only thinks of conveying them to the hearts of his hearers. In his rapid march he draws them whither- foever he pleafes, and that which diftin- guifhes him from all other orators is, that the attention he gains is to the object of which he treats, and not to himfelf. Of others, we (ay they fpeak well ; of De- mofthenes, he is in the right. Sentiments and paffions conftitute the affections of the foul — compafiion and vengeance, love and hatred, emulation and fhame, fear and hope, prefumption and humility; — in all thefe Demofthenes excels. He has not ufed the tender pathetic, becaufe his fub- jeds would not bear it ; but he has in a fuperior manner managed the vehement pathetic, which is peculiarly adapted to declamatory oratory. An orator muft be a logician, he muft feize the connection and oppofition of ideas ; mark with precifion the main point of a difputed queftion, dif- p 4 cover 2l6 COMMENTARIES ON cover the mazes in which it has been invol- ved ; define his terms, apply the principle to the queftion, and the confequences to the principle, and then break the threads of fophiftry, in which perfidy would en- tangle ignorance. All thcfe powers be- longed to Demofthenes, the moft terrific warrior that ever ufed the armour of words. When he attacks his adverfary, it is Entellus driving Dares from one fide of the arena to the other. " Prsecipitemque Daren ardens agit aequore toto ** Creber utraque maim pulfat verfatque Dareta." This great man had governed Athens by his oratory for twenty years ; the eonteft therefore between him and iEfchines was a deadly one, for in Athens and Rome banifhment was confidered as a fort of capital punifhment. Whilft he had there- fore on one fide his mortal enemy, and on the other his aflembled country, the one which outraged, the other, which honored him, his foul muft have been elevated by all the fentiments of national grandeur, and warmed CLASSICAL LEARNING. 217 warmed by all the emotions of perfonal indignation. Thoroughly to underftand the impor- tance attached to the character of an orator, we fhould know that it was a fpecies of magirlracy, and conveyed fo much power to Demofthenes, that Philip faid, of all the Greeks, he feared only him. His temperament was naturally melancholy, and this gave him a ferioufnefs and feve- rity of manner, which much contributed to heighten the eftimation of his moral character. It was this which produced a boldnefs that would declare itfelf fo loudly againft Philip, and againft Alexander the conqueror of the world. Demofthenes always treats them with a haughtinefs which kings have never experienced from any other individual, who had no autho- rity but what was derived from his reputa- tion, no power but what depended on his eloquence. Atticifm is faid to confift in a perfect; purity of language, an entire freedom from all affectation, in a certain noble fimplicity, 1 which 2l8 COMMENTARIES ON which ought to have the air of converfa^ tion, although much more dignified and elevated. In all thefe qualities Demo- fthenes excelled. He had received from na-r ture a vaft and elevated genius, and a cou^. rage and application which nothing could ever check. When accomplished with all the knowledge requifite to his profeffion, he placed himfelf for the practical part of it under the care of the beft a&ors on the theatre, who, by their recitation of verfes from Sophocles and Euripides, convinced him of what importance pronunciation is to eloquence. Hence he acquired, in addi- tion to his native vehemence, fo animated an exterior, that his hearers felt to the bot- tom of their hearts the effect of his action. Longinus fays of him that he does not fucceed in moderate movements, that he wants flexibility, and has a certain degree of harfhnefs, which knows not how to manage pleafantry. It was for the fublime that Demofthenes was born : nature and ftudy had given him every thing that could conduce to this. He united all thofe qua-* lities CLASSICAL LEARNING. 219 lities which conftitute the great orator ; a tone of majefty, a vehemence, a richnefs of endowments, addrefs, rapidity, and vigor in the higheft degree. Valerius Maximus reports that he had a piercing vivacity in his eyes, which had a wonderful effedt in rendering his counte- nance menacing and terrible. That he could give an inflexion to his voice, a tone to his words, an air to his whole perfon, which riveted the attention and com- manded the admiration of all who heard him. - Dionyfius ; Halicarnaffus makes it evi- dent, that Demofthenes fometimes imitates him, and copies thofe qualities which neither Lyfias nor Ifocrates could boaft, as that vehemence and ardour, roughnefs and alimony which give fpirit and force to oration, and are wonderfully fuccefsful in raifing the paffions ; and that he entirely avoids his obfcurity, uncommon phrafes, prepofterous figures, and irregular arrange- ment of periods. That he retains only what is ufeful and intelligible ; his fhort, abrupt, 220 COMMENTARIES ON abrupt, and pungent fentences ; his eiu memes which are of admirable ufe in ora- tory, when properly introduced. Of all uninfpired writers, he is certainly the firft mailer of the fublimc. Cicero, having complimented the other Grecian orators, fays, Demofthenes unites in himfeJf the purity of Lylias, the fpirit of Hyperides, the fweetnefs of iEfchines, and in power of thought and movement of difcourfe, he is above them all ; in a word, we can imagine nothing more divine. This all-accomplifhed orator was de^ fcended of very low parents, his father having been only a blackfmith. He was born about three hundred and eighty-two years before Chrift. Having loft his pa- rents when he was young, he fell into the hands of tutors who, through negligence or parfimony, took no care of his educa- tion. His mother feconded this neglect by a falfe tendernefs to her fon. He was indeed of a delicate con dilution, which would not permit his being much prefled by ftudy : fo that at the age of fixteen, the period CLASSICAL LEARNING. 221 period fixed for the learning of rhetoric^ inftead of placing him under Ifocrates, who then had the higheft reputation, they fent him to the rhetorician Ifseus, where the cxpence was lefs ; and in whofe fchool he learned thofe bad habits, of which after- wards he took fuch pains to divert him- felf. This circumflance accounts for the ne- glect of his early education, but he after- wards became the pupil and fludied the works of the bell preceptors. The fortune acquired by his father in trade enabled him to place himfelf under their care, and the acquirements he derived from them gave him the power of exhibiting the firft fruits of his education in an eloquent and fuccefsful fpeech againft his guardians, who had embezzled his eftate. The difficulties he laboured under from nature and from habit, and the means he ufed to remove them, are too commonly known to need repetition, but it may be an encouragement to thofe who have fimilar defects, whether natural or acquired, to be reminded that he got 222 COMMENTARIES ON got the better of an hefitation in his fpeech by reciting with pebbles in his mouth ; of diftorted features, by fpeaking before a mirror ; and that he ftrengthened a weak voice by running up the deepen: hills, and* by declaiming aloud on the fea fhore* taught himfelf to brave the tumult of a popular affembly. Hence the ' eloquence which was natural to Cicero, was the effect of much perfonal exertion in Demofthenes. This was inftigated by the moft laudable ambition of becoming an orator ; this it was that enabled him to vanquifh the bad inclinations of an age which pants only for pleafure, although he lived in a city aban- doned to delicacy and debauchery* Still he found it neceflary for a time to retire from the buftle of the world, and having fhaved one half of his head, that a fenfe of decent cy might compel him to be invifible, he applied himfelf entirely to the ftudy of eloquence. His paffion for the acquifition of this art, was firft excited by the applaufe which he faw given to Calliftratus in a caufe he pleaded, and from that moment it CLASSICAL LEARNING. 22J it was the increafing obje£t of his contem- plation and defire. It lias indeed been faid that the firmnefs of Demofthenes fo long immoveable, his difintereftedne/s fo long fuftained, at length was found to faulter ; that, having for fome time elevated his voice againft the tyranny of Alexander, with the fame vehemence as he had attacked Philip, he in the end allowed himfelf to be bribed ; that twen- ty talents and a golden vafe induced him to feign illnefs that he might not mount the roftrum ; and that this dishonorable condudl: loft him the affeclions of the peo- ple, and compelled him to leave Athens as a banifhed man : Dinarchus, a venal orator, was his accufer. But Paufanias treats the charge as a calumny ; and it is fair to doubt the report, fince his end, in the eye of an heathen the mod courageous and laudable, appears a complete refutation of it. Returned to Athens after the d.eath of Alexander, he did not ceafe to declaim againft the tyranny of the Macedonians, until Antipater their king had obtained fuch power, 224 COMMENTARIES ON power, as enabled him to feize all the orators who declared themfelves his ene- mies. Demofthenes attempted flight, but, find- ing himfelf in danger of being captured by his purfuers, he had recourfe to poifon, which he always carried with him, as an antidote againft a difgraceful death. Taking the cup in the prefence of Archias, who preffed him to yield to the conqueror of Greece, he faid, " Tell your mafter that Demofthenes will owe nothing to the ty- rant of his country." Thus perifhed this great man at the age of fixty. As feveral reafons concurred to give a decided pre-eminence to the poetry of the Greeks, fo the inftitutions of Athens exci- ted the talents of the orator, and called every one who diftinguiftied himfelf in that tranfcendent art to places of diftinctioft. They occupied them in the government of their country, and rivalry and praife were the incitement and the reward of genius and of learning, Greece was in the envied poffeffion of the mod tuneable language the world / CLASSICAL LEARNING* . 22J world has ever known ; and the dialedts gave a grace and variety, a force and em- phafis to the expreflion of the fpeaker, in vain attempted amidft the poverty of mo- dern tongues. In refle&ing on the produ&ions of the ancients, the poet and the orator of modern times will be led to confider the advan- tages which the former had to boaft both in point of climate, language, and political arrangements. Thefe considerations will not prevent the moft vigorous efforts of in- genious minds to a laudable although hopelefs competition, and may at once fur- nifli them with a fubjeft of defpair and confolation. 1±6 COMMENTARIES ON SECTION VIII. On the Grecian Hiftorians.-— Cadmus, — Hecataus. — Hero- dotus.-— Thucidydes. — Xenophon. — Polybius. — Diodoruf Siculus, — Dionyfius of Halicarnajfus.—Appian. — Ar- Yvan . —Dion Cajjius, —Herodian . JidiSTORY feems in its origin to have been only a collection of fimple facts entrufted to oral tradition and engraven on the memory by the affiftance of poetry, or elfe recorded by public monuments calculated to perpetuate the remembrance of impor- tant events. It has been frequently committed to the durable memorials of brafs and ftone, of ftatues and medallions. Of the latter, a great number have efcaped the ravages of time ; and have not only gratified the cu- riohty of the antiquary, but enabled men of laborious and ufeful refearch to clear up CLASSICAL LEARNING. 227 up difputed points of hiftory and to efta- blifh the epochs of the remoteft ages. The early writers were compelled by their education and other circumftances to confine their hiftory to the account of a fingle city or ftate, becaufe they were igno- rant of the fituation of the different nation s of the world. Above five hundred years before Chrift, Cadmus wrote an account of the antiquities of Miletus the capital of Ionia, his native country; and Hecatseus his countryman, ventured to extend his views to Egypt, and to throw a ray of light on geography by his defcription of the earth. But thefe topographers were not deferving the name of hiftorians ; and their reputation, whatever it might have been, was loft in the blaze of glory which fhortly after their day furrounded the great father of hiftory. Herodotus was born about four hundred and eighty- four years before Chrift at Halicarnaflus in Caria. The troubles of his country firft brought him into Greece^ 0^2 where 228 COMMENTARIES ON where his talents obtained him a welcome reception. It is to him we are indebted for the lit. tie we know of the ancient dynafties of the Medes, Perfians, Phoenicians, Lydians, Greeks, Egyptians, and Scythians. He had the merit of connecting the events of time and place, and forming one regular whole from a number of detached parts. The Greeks acknowledged their high obli- gations to him, for unfolding to them the hiftory of the then known world for two hundred and forty years. He fhewed them nations jealous and difquiet, difunited by intereft yet conne&ed by the alliances produced in times of war, fighing for liber- ty and groaning under tyranny. When he read publicly at "the Olympic games his account of the bloody contefts between the Perfians and the Greeks from Cyrus to Xerxes, compofed in his thirty- ninth year ? his veracity receives an atteftation from the high honor which was given to him at this great affembly of the Greeks. The name of CLASSICAL LEARNING. 229 of one of the mufes was beftowed on each of his nine books by his contemporaries! and will be attached to them as long as the writings of the hiftorian fhall exift. " His eager country, in the Olympic vale Throngs with proud joy to catch the martial tale* Behold where Valour, reiting on his lance, Drinks the fweet found in rapture's filent trance : Then with a grateful fhout of loud acclaim, Hails the juil herald of his country's fame." Hayley. Herodotus has frequently been accufed of neglecting that fmcerity which is the higheft merit of an hiftorian, to record the marvellous and incredible. Such accufa- tions may probably be in a great meafure repelled. The moderns are too apt to doubt every thing which is contrary to their expe- rience, and to impute to Greek hiftorians a defire of gratifying their countrymen in their eager love for whatever was connect- ed with novelty or with fable. The de* fcriptions given of Egypt by Herodotus, have frequently been verified by travellers in points where he was difcredited ; and it Qw3 fhould 230 COMMENTARIES ON fhould always be obferved, that where he receives his account from others, he does not vouch for their authenticity but re- ports only that he had heard. This parti- cularly applies to thofe incidents which relate to the Affyrians and Medes and to the earlier part of the Egyptian hiftory. Some errors have certainly been detected and expofed by Ctefias, who was phyfician to Artaxerxes at Sufa, refpefting Affyria and Perfia, but of whom only fragments remain. Plutarch has fpoken with difrefpecT: of Herodotus; but be it recolleded that he was a Theban, and that his countrymen had abandoned the caufe of Greece and become the auxiliaries of Xerxes. It was a difgrace which could only be effaced by arraigning the truth of the hiftorian who recorded it. The ftory which concerned all Greece, all Greece in a public affem- bly declared to be true ; and honored the reciter of it, with a more public and fplendid encomium than any other writer can boaft Such CLASSICAL LEARNING. 23I Such were the fentiments of his contem- poraries ; and to the lateft pofterity, he has conveyed an account of the mod cele- brated country in the world and ren- dered intelligible the relations of its poets. It has perhaps with more grounds been faid, that if we look for clear method, deep reflection, or acute criticifm in this author, we fhall probably be difappointed. That though his relation of fads is inte- refting from its fimpHcity, and his Ge- fcriptions are attractive by their vivacity • yet he does not dive deeply into characters, nor form a corred judgment of political inftitutions. From an avidity of relating events, he does not flop to confider their eaufes or juftly and accurately to bellow blame and approbation. Moral truths and common fads, fine fpeeches and bad adions, good laws and tyrannical edids, are tranfmitted in the fame manner, with- out any analyfis of charaders or of princi- ples 5 and the condud of men is defcribed q^4 like 232 COMMENTARIES ON like the vegetation of plants, without a fingle reflexion from the hiftorian. But the ftyle of Herodotus is fo elegant* that Dionyfius declares him to be one o* thofe enchanting writers whom you read to the laft fyllable with pleafure and ftill wifh for more : and his admirers contend, that he is fimple and unaffedted in the choice of his words and that his metaphor 8 approach to poetry; that no writer has more exactly founded the depth of his own genius; that he has no irregular fallies of wit, no turgid fwell of didion, no tower- ing flights of imagination. It is very eafy to perceive that he is an imitator of Homer. He refembles him in copioufnefs of invention, elegance of phrafe; in fweetnefs, eafe, and perfpicuity; and unlike all others, what he has imitated he has equalled. Theophraftus, that vene- rable Greek and candid critic, allows that he firft introduced ornaments into the ftyle of hiftory, and carried the art of writing to perfection. The. CLASSICAL LEARNING. 233 The fpeech of Xerxes in the feventh book, has been refembled to that of Hec- tor when calling on his foldiers to burn the Grecian mips; The tone of an arbi- trary prince who confiders mankind as (laves, is exactly expreffed in the language of the hiftorian. " For the fake of Darius and the other Perfians, I will never ceafe till I take and burn Athens. For thefe reafons I am pro- voked to make war againft them. Thus will we extend the Perfian empire, till it have no confine but the fky. The fun fhall fee no land adjacent to our domi- nions. I will traverfe all Europe, and reduce the whole earth under your fway." The beautiful defcription of an eclipfe in the fame book, when Xerxes had lafhed the ocean for its difobedience and thrown a bridge over the Hellefpont, has been juft- ly compared to the darknefs fpread over the body of Patroclus, f< In one thick darknefs all the fight was loft, fjie fun, the moon, and all the ethereal hofl Seemed 234 COMMENTARIES ON Seemed as extin£t ; day ravifhed from their eyes ; And all Heaven's fplendor blotted from the Ikies." Another quotation has been made from the fame part of the work, in which the author evidently borrows an idea from Homer. Artabanes the uncle of Xerxes tells him, that he is endowed with prudence but is led aftray by the converfation of wicked men, " Juft as they fay, the breath of the winds falling on the fea, the moll ufeful of all things to mankind, hinders it from en-> joying its own natural ftate." The allufion is certainly a very beautiful one ; and well represents the fituation of a mind naturally tranquil, when agitated by the furious paffions of others. The hiflorian in many other inftances borrows the figures, fentiments, and ex-* preffiony of the poet who will ever be left in the exclufive poffeffion of innumerable graces which are not attainable by any imitator. But CLASSICAL LEARNING. 235 But Herodotus was not only a poeti- cal, he was an oratorical hiftorian. Cicero, the heft judge of ftyle, confiders him in this light : and fays that no elo- quence ever pleafed him like his ; nothing fo alluring, fo gentle and fo ftrong, fo ravifhing and fo convincing. In Herodo- tus he finds nothing of that harfhnefs that offends in many of the profe writers. The foft ftyle glides like the clear ftream of fome deep river, keeping its courfe unin- terruptedly along and every where alike. It is Cicero who gives him the honorable title of father of hiftory, not for his anti- quity but his excellence. To fo great an authority, the world will readily defer ; and when they obferve the futility of the ob- jections brought againft him, they will obferve that the waves of calumny dafh themfelves in pieces againft the rocks which they labour to undermine. THUCIDTDES. Thucidydes was only thirteen years younger than Herodotus, and defcended from 2$6 COMMENTARIES ON from one of the firft families in Athens* He was bred a foldier ; but having been prevented by Bralidas the Lacsedemonian general from relieving the befieged city of Arnphipolis, he was punifhed by banifh- ment. At iEgina, a fmall ifland of the Peloponnefus, where he died at the age of fifty after a refidence of twenty years, he wrote his hiftory. His fondnefs for travel fuftained him in his misfortunes ; and a large fortune brought him by his wife, enabled him to afce-rtain every thing con- nected with his dcfign. He ferved his country both by his fword and by his pen. As his appointments had acquainted him with the affairs of his own republic, his exile opened to him thofe of the Lacedae- monians ; which to a writer at a diftance, party zeal would have obfcured. This circumftance fortunate for the world, ena- bled him to collect materials for the hiftory of the Peloponnefian war ; of the grcateft part of which he was an eye witnefs. Of the twenty-efeven years the term of its duration, he has left the annals of 4 twenty-* CLASSICAL LEARNING. 2$J twenty-one ; and the remainder were writ. ten by Xenophon. No writer was ever better prepared to be an hiftorian by the combination of know- ledge and probity, than Thucidydes. The foldier, the ftatefman, and the philofo- pher, are discoverable in his works. They contain the precepts of wifdom he had learned from Anaxagoras, and the leC fons of eloquence he had received from the orator Antiphon. To thefe may be added an averfion to injuftice and a paffion for virtue. The excellence he attained, was the refult of early emulation ; for being prefent at the age of fifteen on the occa- fion when Herodotus recited his hiftory at the Olympic games, he was fo much affec- ted as to burft into tears. It has been obje&ed to him, that his ftyle is fo concife as to be obfcare and harfh, and that he ufes both novel and obfolete words ; that his language is unpolifhed, and the ftru&ure of his fentences pre- pofterous, Dionyfius 2$8 COMMENTARIES ON Dionyfius HalicarnafTenfis finds many 6 ' faults in him, with a view of giving the fuperiority to his countryman Herodotus ; he fays that he obferves no conne&ion* and falls into a drynefs of ftyle which renders his difcourfes hard and fettered. His panegyrifts declare, that thejuftnefsand dignity of his fentiments when after re- peated perufals they are underftood, re- quite the pains which are required for the difcovery ; that the narrative part, is a model worthy of imitation. The debate between the ambaffadors of Corinth and Athens in the firft book, is managed in a clear and elegant manner. The troubles of Corcyra, gave the hiftorian an opportunity of making a digreffion on the factions which arife in a ftate and the diforders which enfue. His reflections on the fubjed, are worthy the particular at- tention of politicians, legiflators, and ftatef- men. His defcription of the plague at Athens, has been imitated by the beft of the Latin poets and extolled by every reader . 9 of CLASSICAL LEARNING. 239 of learning and of tafte. Lucretius bor- rows copioufly from it in his fixth book ; Virgil both in his third iEneid and third Georgic ; and Ovid and Statius have had it in their view. Thucidydes aims rather at the fublimity of Pindar, than at the fimplicity of Homer. The admirable fpeech which Pericles makes in the firfl book when he advifes the Athenians to go to war, exhibits fentiments of greatnefs and elevation. ct Let us not regret the lofs of our lands and country houfes, let us regret the lofs of our liberty. We were not made for our eftates y but our eftates for us. I fear our own vices, more than all the advantages of our enemies. Great and perilous enterprizes alone conftitute glory and reputation." But the funeral oration of the fame fpeaker in the fecond book, appears to contain every beauty of which the fuh. jeft is capable, Ifccrates imitated it in his panegyric, and Plato in his Meaexe- nuso When - $4° COMMENTARIES ON When he fpeaks of the manners and government of Athens, he fays, " Our ftate is popular, becaufe its end is the pub- He good, not the aggrandifement of indivi- duals ; and honor is not given to birth, but to merit. We love politenefs without loving luxury ; and we apply ourfelves to the ftudy of philofophy, without abandon- 2 ng ourfelves to that effeminacy of idlenefs which is the ordinary companion of this ftudy. We only efteem riches for their ufe ; and do not think it a reproach to be poor, but not to do that which muft be done to avoid poverty/* The politenefs of the Athenians, is well oppofed to the Spartan roughnefs an4 feve- rity. Of the former he fays, " We re- frefh the mind with frequent recefles from labour, by our annual feftivals and games and our elegant entertainments in private. Thefe pleafures thus frequently renewed, C'xpel all melancholy. " Pindar fays, that joy is the beft phyfi- cian to labour, the wife fongs of the Mufe fweeten our toils." Of CLASSICAL LEARNING. 24I Of his countrymen he obferves : " Our brave and noble deeds are fo many illuftrious proofs of our power, and will make us the admiration of the prefent and future ages. We want no Homer to found our praifes ; our courage has opened to us a paffage through every land and fea, and we have every where erefted eternal monuments of our hoftility or beneficence. By giving their bodies to the public, they have procured to themfelves immortal praife. " The whole earth is a monument to illuftrious men ! The infcription on a do- medic tomb is not the only teftimony of their virtue; but even in remote nations, the memory of their glorious actions is engraven more deeply on the hearts of men, than on the marble at home.'' " Fortune," fays Pindar, " often wrefts from brave men their glory. You know the fate of Ajax, who, when fupplanted by the corrupt arts of his inferior, fell upon his fword. But Homer by his divine poetry, has made all mankind honor and admire E hi* 242 Commentaries on his virtues ; the immortal Mufe goes on fublimely founding through all ages, and fpreads the unextinguifhed fplendour of heroic deeds over the fruitful earth and boundlefs ocean." Accuracy, impartiality and fidelity cha- ra&erife Thucidydes, and no refentment againft the Athenians for their fevere treat- ment is evident in any part of his work. He mentions his banifhment but (lightly, and reprefents Brafidas, whofe glory eclipfed his own, as a man eminently great. His ftyle is ardent,- rapid and bold. He deli- neates his fubject with a few happy ftrokes, and leaves much to the imagination of the reader. The following is the comparifon made between him and the hiftorian of HalicarnaiTus by Quintilian. " Thucidydes is comprefled, brief, and always equal to himfelf. Herodotus, fweet, clear, and diffufe ; the former, great in ex- citing the vehement, the other the fofter affections ; that in animated fpeeches, this In calmer ones j that in force, this in beau- ty." Herodotus CLASSICAL LEARNING. H3 Herodotus certainly had a higher fub- ject, for it included all that was great in Europe and Afia, amongft the Greeks and the Barbarians. It has been faid that his great defire to pleafe made him fometimes deviate from truth. Without deciding a queftionable point, it may be afferted that his character was deftitute of that folidity and love of labour which are requifite to a faithful hiftorian. In thefe refpe&s, and in many others, Thucidydes had the advantage. Attach- ment to truth appears in him a fettled and religious principle, and his piety is a pro- minent feature in his works. In the feventh book, fpeaking of a vir- tuous but unfortunate General, he fays, " Thus perifhed Nicias, who of all thofe of his time was leaft worthy to perifh in that manner on account of his having always been attached to the fervice of the gods." Marcellinus, who has left a fragment of his life, aflerts that he was defcended from the blood royal of Thrace, and that Mil- tiades and Cimon, two illuftrious generals R 2 of ^44 COMMENTARIES Otf of Athens, were numbered amongft his anceftors. A confcioufoefs of noble birth might probably tend to infpire him with thofe high fentiments of honor and dignity for which he is confpicuous almoft above every ancient writer. Cicero fays of him, " that he furpaffes in noblenefs of ftyle, and in the art of eloquence, all thofe who have written ; he is fo full of great fenti- ments, that the number of his thoughts almoft equals that of his words, and he is fo accurate and coucife in what he fays, that it is difficult to determine if he moft adorn things by words, or words by things. That he has a dignity of mind, a force of imagination, a vigour of language, a depth of feafoning, a clearnefs of conception, ima- gery, colours, and expreffions, of which all the other Greek hiftorians are deftitute." Thefe are not the endowments of nature only, but partly the acquifitions 4 of ftudy. His biographer accordingly tells us, that he attached himfelf to an excellent pre- ceptor, Prodicus of the ifle of Cos, for the exact choice of terms, and to Gorgias 9 Leontinus CLASSICAL LEARNING. 245 Leontinus for order and arrangement ; that he learned perfuafion of Socrates, and formed himfelf on the model of Pindar for the fublime. To an inftitution fo perfect, was added the great advantage which is always de- rived from a noble emulation. The ap- plaufe acquired by Herodotus was a daily incentive to his induftry, and excitement to his genius. He flood upon the moulders of the giant and took in a wider field of obfervation. He marked his excellencies and defeds, and, difdaining to be a fervile copier, he merited the praife of a judicious critic. He confidered Herodotus as having undertaken too extenfive a fubjed, and determined to avoid a fimilar error ; he thought him a cold narrator of fads, and to that we owe the eloquence he difplays. He cenfured his hiftory as prolix, and willingly facrificed fome beauties to con- cifenefs. The Attic dialed of Thucidydes was appropriated to fire and fpirit, to dig- nity and elevated fentiments, as the Ionic R 3 Of 246 COMMENTARIES ON of Herodotus was to all the fofter ones. Thucidydes works upon the paflions; Herodotus entertains the fancy rather than captivates the heart. The one is an ora- torical, the other a poetical hiftorian. Thucidydes derived many advantages from 'an intimate acquaintance with So- crates, Plato, Critias, Alcibiades, Pericles, and all the other great men of an age the moll polifhed that the Greeks had known. This circumftance tended to fill his mind with fuch great ideas and found principles as were eminently ufeful both to the mari and to the hiftorian.. Learned a$ he was., he knew the world ftill better than books ; he had deeply ftudied mankind, and could penetrate to the mod hidden receffes of the heart. He could trace the effeQs of rivalry, jarring interefts and paflions ; and from thence he draws thofe lively, ardent, pathe* tic defcriptions with which he embellifhes his work. From thence he takes his nar> ration of battles, fieges, warlike expeditions, and all thofe agitations which happen Ui republics. From this fruitful fource, th$ knowledge CLASSICAL LEARNING. 247 knowledge of human manners, he repre- fents every thing naturally and correctly,, and by an irrefiftible eloquence commands the attention of his readers. He was in- deed completely eloquent before Ariftotle had written rules for the art. His ftyle is the image of his mind ; the one ferious and dignified, the other manly, vigorous, and replete w T ith that force and energy which diftinguifh him from all other authors. His high notion of the fublime rendered him inattentive to trifling matters, which revolts the prudifh grammarian. He difregarded change of tenfes, numbers and perfons, provided he could infert more warmth and vehemence into his di&ion. If his narration be not always connected, the error proceeds lefs from the nature of his difpofition than from that of his fubjed: the war had no fettled principle ; the campaigns were not formed by preconcerted regula- tions ; all pafled tumultuoufly according to the movement of the oppofing interefts and paflions of thofe who waged it. If the ufe of hiftory be to give inftrudion R 4 under 248 COMMENTARIES ON under the form of examples, where is this to be found fo well as in Thucidyxies, who affords a feries of moral leflbns ftthed to the greateft perfons, and delivered in the great- eft manner. The natural dignity of his way of thinking, and his judicious applica- tion of rhetorical figures, give at the fame time weight and fplendour to his fenti- ments. Sound reafoning and exacT; judg- ment complete the whole of his literary charader. Trifling errors are to be par- doned where there is fo much of excellence 5 the brighteft fire is occafionally clouded by fmoke, the lovelieft landfcape is fometimes intercepted by vapour. XENOPHOK About four hundred and forty-nine years before the chriftian aera, Athens boafted the birth of this elegant hiftorian. In the fchool of Socrates he acquired all thofe martial talents, domeftic virtues, and philo- fophical endowments which diftinguifhed a life protra&ed to the extraordinary age of ninety. CLASSICAL LEARNING. 249 ninety. The teftimonies he has left accord with the appellation bellowed upon him by his countrymen : they called him the Attic Bee ; and from the fweetnefs of his ftyle he appears to have well deferved the title. He added feven books to the hiftory of Thucidydes, wrote an account of the life and a&ions of Cyrus the Great, and of the retreat of the ten thoufand Greeks, whom, after the defeat and fall of their leader, he condudted home in a perilous march of eighteen hundred miles, with a refolu- tion and fagacity which have never been excelled. A modern poet thus chara&erifes him : '* O rich in ail the blended gifts that grace Minerva's darling fons of Attic race ; The fage's olive, the hiftorian's palm, The victor's laurel, all thy name embalm. Thy fimple di&ion, free from glaring art, With fweet allurements fteals upon the heart, Pure as the rill that Nature's hand refines, Clear as thy harmony of foul it mines." Hayley. While 2JO COMMENTARIES ON While the foldier has always admirecj his talents in conducing, and the fcholar in defcribing the retreat, the philofopher and ftatefman have alike been delighted with his charming work of the inflitution of Cyrus. His contemporaries regarded him with veneration, and Scipio and Lu- cullus perufed him with avidity. He had the charms of Attic eloquence, with a Spartan foul. When he was facrificing to the god^his head crowned with flowery, mefTengers arrived to tell him that his fori was killed in the battle of Mantinea ; he took up the chaplet and burft into tears: but when they added that his fon, fighting to the laft breath, had mortally wounded the general of the enemy, he re-afTumedL his chaplet ; " I knew," faid he, " that my fon was mortal, and his glory ought to con- fole me for his death. " When the work of Thucidydes fell into his hands, he not only ingenuoufly publifhed it, but himfelf added the tranf- a£tions of the war fubfequent to the period where CLASSICAL LEARNING. fcjfl where the former had left it. This con- tinuation is come down to us under the namfc of the Hellenica. The Cyropsedia has frequently been called a romance. The object of the writer was probably to pleafe the elder Cyrus, by defcribing the chara&er of an accomplished prince ; and many converfations and fome events are imaginary. But truth is ftill blended with fidion, as in the account of the capture of Babylon, which was a real event. His imitations of Homer may be traced by the moft carelcfs reader. The decifive battle in the feventh book betwixt Cyrus and the Aflyrians has traits of ftrik- ing refemblance with many of the combats in the Iliad. The Hiftorian obferves, that M In that quarter of the army there was a great flaughter of men, a great noife pf clafhing arms and darts, great cries of the combatants, fome calling on others, fome exhorting, fome invoking the gods. The 252 COMMENTARIES ON The poet fings, (t Now fhield with fhield, with helmet helmet clofed ; To armor armor, lance to lance oppofed. Victors and vanquifhed join promiscuous cries, And mriiling (houts and dying groans arife." Pope, In the fourth book, Xenophon fhews himfelf mafter of the pathetic, where he introduces Gobrias recounting to Cyrus the murder of his fon by the Aflyrian prince, to which cruel deed he had been incited by his envy of him as a fuperior markfman. " My only fon, O Cyrus ! beautiful and virtuous, who loved and honored me with fuch a filial tendernefs and refpe£t, as made a father happy ; — this fon the pre- fent king deprived of life, plunging a fpear into the bofom of my dear and only child ; and I, unhappy man, carried home a dead body inftead of a bridegroom, and at this age buried this excellent and darling fon, murdered in the bloom of life." In CLASSICAL LEARNING. 253 In the expedition of the younger Cyrus, being himfelf a principal actor, his imagi- nation is much more vivid, and his diction much more ornamented. When he defcribes his countrymen rufh- ing to the battle, he fays, " As they pro- ceeded, when any part of the phalanx by their quick advance outftripped the reft, making the line fwell out like a billow thofe left behind began to run, and at the fame time an univerfal fhout was heard, fuch as is made in the exclamation to Mars." At the beginning of the third book, when many of the generals had fallen victims to the treachery of TiiTaphernesj the reflections of the army on their wretch- ed fituation, thrijjjw them into a ftate bor- dering on defpair. " Few tafted meat that night, few kindled fires ; many neglected the duty of the camp ; every man threw himfelf down, but was unable to ileep through grief and regret at the lofs of his country, parents, wife and children." This has been well refembled to the perplexity of 2J4 COMMENTARIES Oft of Agamemnon in the ninth and terith Iliad, after the defeat of the Grecians ; * c Now o'er the fields, dejedted, he furveys From thoufand Trojan fires the mounting blaze, Hears in the paffing wind their mufic blow, And marks diftindr. the voices of the foe. Now looking backward to the fleet and coaft, Anxious he for rows for the endangered hoft. He rends his hairs in facrifice to Jove, And fues to him that ever lives above. Inly he groans, while glory and defpair Divide his heart, and wage a doubtful war." Perhaps however the moft interesting, certainly the moft celebrated, part of the Anabafis is that where the author defciibes the exultations of joy in the Grecian army on their firft diicovery of the fea, the firft harbinger of a fafe return to their coun- try. " A great fhout was raifed at the fight of fo welcome an object; Xenophon, alarmed, for he commanded in the rear, the poft of danger and of honor, mounts a horfe, and rides up with fome other officers to enquire into the caufe of this tumul- tuous noife ; and immediately they hear the foldiers CLASSICAL LEARNING. 255 foldiers crying, the fea ! the fea ! and con- gratulating one another." The beautiful words of the original lan- guage are an inftance in which the found is an echo to the fenfe. Thefe natural effufions of furprize and of delight afFe£t the reader with the mod lively fympathy, fuch as a laboured de- fcription would vainly have endeavoured to excite. Xenophon was more captivated by the ftyle of Herodotus than by that of Thuci- dydes, and there are many paffages in which he has imitated him. The ancient orators and hiftorians ufed that figure in rhetoric the moft freely, which beft ac- corded with their difpofition. Thucidydes has frequently recourfe to the hyperbaton^ becaufe his prevailing qualities were force and fpirk. In Xenophon the metaphor Is moft confpicuous, becaufe his character was eafe and fimplicity. " The Graces," fays Quintilian, " formed his ftyle, and the goddefs of Perfuafion dwelt upon his lips*" 2 Befides 2j6 COMMENTARIES Oft Befides fweetnefs, Xenophon has &lfb variety of language equally adapted to great occafions and to familiar dialogues. The chain of his compofitiori feems to have been formed at once, and difpofed link by link with perfect regularity. It always has the fame lucid order, the pro- duction of a clear head, and always con- veys the fame amiable fentiments, the offspring of an upright heart. The num- ber of fpeeches in the writings of this hiftorian feems to be his greateft defect. They are very numerous in Thucidydes, but they are not too numerous becaufe they are fo fpirited. They abound in Herodo- tus, but their elegance fecures them from criticifm. The fimplicity of Xenophon renders them tedious and dull, when intro- duced on trivial occafions ; but when a proper one occurs, he yields not to any adept in declamation ; as when Cyrus re- commends unanimity in an army. His dying fpeech to his fons alfo is not more remarkable for its good fenfe, than for its eloquence. In CLASSICAL LEARNING. 257 In his attempts at wit he generally fails. The effufions of fancy and imagination are ftriking when they are unpremeditated ; but he whole conception is flow and labour- ed, can never exped a happy delivery. His philofophy appears in his account of the memorable actions and fayings of Socrates, ' and in his apology for that divine man. His fentiments on the fubject of death, were the fame with thofe of his preceptor, whom he nearly refembled in all the quali- ties of his mind ; but to Plato he was a ri- val and an enemy. No writer was ever more rationally reli- gious : Herodotus had a refpecT: for forms, Xenophon for the eflence. He always treats the fubjecT: in a. manner fo awful and folemn, as fhews it to be the venera- tion of the heart. If his ftyle fometimes appear cold, it is always pure : if his works feem deficient in bufmefs and in buftle, they are always re- plete with inftru&ion : if the ftory be dull, s it 258 COMMENTARIES ON it contains a fober and ufeful leflbn of morality. His general excellence will excufe, though it may tend to difcover a few tri- fling defe&s ; as the fmalleft flaws are moft eafily diftinguifhable in the brighteft dia- monds. It is unpleafant to reflect on the number of authors in every department of learning, of whom little more has reached pofterity than either their mere names, or a few fragments which ferve but to excite regret at the deftru£tion of their labours. Learning indeed has been a veflel tofled and fhattered in a tempeftuous ocean, and we are too apt to prize every piece of wreck which has been caft upon the fhore, however trivial and ufelefs. Many hifto- rians who lived between the time of Xeno- phon and Polybius are in this predicament ; and ifTheopompus the difciple of Ifocrates obtained a prize for the bed funeral oration in honor of Maufolus, when his matter was his competitor ; Quintilian, who places him CLASSICAL LEARNING. 259 him next to Herodotus and Thucidydes, muft have had a far more certain criterion to decide his merit, than poflerity can boaft in the fcanty relics of his works. That Philiftus was a perfpicuous, and Ephorus a voluminous writer ; or that the genius of Clitarchus was lefs queftionable than his veracity, are facts which we can know only by teftimony : nor can we ap- preciate either their abftradl: or comparative deferts, fince the violence or the accidents of time have left them only the " bafelefs fabric of a vifion." POLYBIUS. Polybius was born at Megalopolis in Peloponnefus, about two hundred years be„ fore Chrift. He poflefied advantages which few perfons can boaft ; for his father was not only a man of rank and family, but a general and a ftatefman. The advantages he derived from thefe fortunate circumftances, gave a colour to every incident of his life. § 2 From. 26o COMMENTARIES ON From his youth he was inftru&ed in the fcience of politics, and his education was as finifhed a one as an anxious and accom- plifhed parent could make it. He attended his father when he went ambaflador to Egypt ; and his diligence in acquainting him- felf with every thing refpecting that country, was a prelude to the confummate knowledge which he afterwards attained of the quarters of the globe which were then known. His patriotifm difplayed itfelf in fighting againft the Romans as the enemies of his country; but when the defeat of Perilus ex- pofed that cowardly monarch to the derifion of his conqueror, Polybius was fpared the mortification of being dragged as a Have to adorn a triumph which his perfonal valour would have deferved. True merit is always acknowledged by a generous enemy. The fatal battle of Pydna and the cowardice of his fugitive com- mander, left him acaptive; in which fituation he was conduded to Rome : yet Scipio and Fabius admired his virtues, and by every effort of honourable folicitation acquired his friendfhip, mu CLASSICAL LEARNING. 261 friendship. His profeffion of a foldier was Hill dear to him, and the victor of Carthage eagerly fought the affiftance of thofe military talents of which he had long known the extent and the value. The love of his country was unbounded, and he evinced it to the laft moment of his exiftence. When it became a province to Rome, his power and influence tended to confole and leifen its diftrefTes ; and when Scipio was dead, he returned thither and parTed the remainder of his life, which ter- minated in the eighty-fecond year of his age by a fall from his horfe. Whilft he lived amongft the Romans, fo conftant was his application to ftudy and fo fuccefsful was the refult of it, that he is faid not only to have made himfelf mafter of their language, but to have become better acquainted with their laws than their own ftatefmen. Such was his ardour after military know- ledge, that he traced every ftep of Hannibal's march over the Alps and every conqueft of Scipio in Spain. His acquaintance at Rome, s 3 the 262 COMMENTARIES ON the befl; and greateft men in the republic, refpe&ed and efteemed him; Conftantine confulted him as an oracle of truth ; and the Greeks ere&ed ftatues to him as their friend and protector. With thefe acquirements he wrote an univerfal hiftory in forty books, from the commencement of the fecond Punic war to the conqueft of Macedon by Paulus iEmilius ; an eventful period of fifty-three years. Of thefe, five books only are entire, with fragments of the fucceeding twelve. Polybius is not eloquent like Thucidydes, nor poetical like Herodotus, nor perfpicuous like Xenophon. He gives us the firft rough draught of his thoughts, and feldom impofes on himfelf the trouble to arrange or me- thodize them. They are often vague and defultory, and not unfrequently deviate en- tirely from the fubjedh His ftyle has no cadence, rhythm, or meafured harmony ; and by thefe defe&s one of the nobleft hiftoriesis greatly injured : but his language only can be cenfured, for jn the higher qualities of an hiftorian he has no CLASSICAL LEARNING. 263 no fuperior. A love of truth predominates in his writings, he has judgment to trace effects to their caufes, he has knowledge of his fubjecT: drawn from every fource that could produce it, he has boldnefs of mind which prompts him to declare what he knew, and he has impartiality which forbids him to conceal it. His defcription of a battle has never been equalled; and it muft gratify every military man whofe education enables him to perufe Polybius, to compare ancient with modern tactics. On thefe occafions he exhibits all the warmth and vehemence in recital which diftinguifhed him in the field ; it is then evident, that he does not calmly and coldly relate what he had heard, but that he paints in vivid colours the fcenes he had witnefTed. His writings have been admired by the warrior, copied by the politician, and imitated by the hif- torian. Brutus had him ever in his hands, Tully tranfcribed him, and many of the fined paffages of Livy are the property of the Greek hiftorian. s 4 His 264 COMMENTARIES ON His character however is much depre- ciated by an imputation of atheifm, from which his panegyrifts have not been able to defend him. He declared the gods to be a fraudful invention, the offspring of priefts and politicians; and all religion he denomi- nated fuperftition. The fad is undeniable 5 and it admits of no excufe, unlefs we fuppofe him fo difgufted with the abfurdities of the popular creed, as to avert his eyes from thofe convincing arguments which every obje£t in creation afforded to the refle&ing heathen for the exiftence of a deity, DIODORUS SICULUS. The few remaining Greek hiftorians are not confidered amongft the firft clafs of writers ; and in eftimating the merit of their works, much allowance has been claimed for them on account of the declining ftate of the Greek language at the time they wrote. Whether the efFe&s refulting from this caufe be not exaggerated, niay probably be difcerned CLASSICAL LEARNING. 265 difcerned by a recurrence to their ftyle and manner ; and that may enable us to form a general judgment on the mbjecl:. Diodorus Siculus was a native of Argyra in Sicily, and did not precede our Saviour quite half a century. Fifteen books are all that remain of forty, which contained an account of Egypt, Perfia, Syria, Media, Greece, Rome, and Carthage. This extenfive work defcribes every im- portant event from the invafion of Xerxes to the year of the world 3650. Whoever wifhes fully to enjoy the ancient poets, muft firft be mafter of the ancient theology. In Diodorus is to be found the fabulous hiftory of Greece, the fuppofed creation of the world, and the whole fyftem of polytheifiii. We muft have recourfe to him for informa- tion refpe&ing both Greeks and Barbarians, during the period of which he treats ; and when his relations fail to obtain the acqui- efcence of our minds, we mould remember that like Herodotus he does not pledge frimfelf for their veracity. He 266 COMMENTARIES ON He had induftry, the firft merit of a compiler ; and he had judgment in fele&ing from books whatever might be ufeful to his plan. He has preferved fome important parts of works extant in his time, which but for him would have been loft to the world. His language is devoid of elegance, and his arrangement has been made with too little attention to order or to method. It is probably, not owing to his being contemporary with Auguftus, that the ftyle of his Greek is harfh, but that like the ftyle of every compiler, it is reftrained by fetters. In the parts that are original, he writes with much more eafe, and this circumftance feems to give a colour to the foregoing obfervation. Diodorus deferves to be read, but not to be imitated. Utility rather than pleafure will be derived to the fcholar from the perufal of his works; what he finds in other authors will be rendered familiar by a pre- CLASSICAL LEARNING, 267 a previous acquaintance with him ; as the march of an army is facilitated, by the rugged but ufeful office of the pio- neer, DIONTSIUS of HALICARNASSUS. "When the polite arts had taken their weft ward flight, and the patronage of Augus- tus invited every man of talenrs to Rome, Dionyiius came thither, a few years after the birth of Chrift ; and affords a ftriking proof, that genius and application, forming themfelves on models of excellence, can overcome all the difadvantages arifing to an author who writes when a language has declined from its priftine purity. His di£tion is as varied, as that of the different authors whom he imitated. It contains the chara&eriftics of diffufion, con- cifenefs, and familiarity, — in the refpe&ive parts where he wifned to fhew them. Xenophon and Herodotus are his favorite authors 5 and like the latter, he relieves his work 268 COMMENTARIES ON work by lively epifodes and happy digres- sions. The life he made of fuch illuftrious authorities, was to form a ftyle correct, expreffive, and elegant; and genius model- ing imitation, rendered it completely his own. The fubje&s he treats are the antiquities of Rome, for the period of three hundred and twelve years ; of which only the eleven firft books out of twenty are now in exift- ence. They were the refult of twenty-four years of ufeful labour ; and difplay the cor- rect chronologer, the judicious critic, and the faithful hiftorian. Abandoning all fable, difdaining every thing of the marvellous and miraculous, he delineates the constitu- tion and government of a country to which he w r as a foreigner, with far more accuracy than any of the writers who were Romans. Native authors fometimes carelefsly re- port tranfa&ions to which they are. familiar, prefuming upon a fimilar acquaintance with themfelves on the part of their readers ; and CLASSICAL LEARNING. 269 and ftrangers are more careful and more minute in their inveftigations, and lefs tinctured with national pride and par- tiality. Like them however when he traces the Romans to their origin and would give us an account of the inhabitants who pre- ceded them in Italy, it is not to be won- dered at that he lofes himfelf in the ob- fcurity of fuch diftant ages ; but that credu- lity is furely cenfurable which induced him to believe that he faw his way through the impenetrable made. Dionyfius participated every advantage which the moft polifhed period of Rome could afford him. He obtained a know- ledge of men and manners , by an acquaint- ance with all the witty and the learned who floriihed in the court of Auguftus. Con- verfation, a powerful teft of genius and information, acquainted him with every •thing refpe&ing the empire of the world which he could not learn from books. His talents were furniflied with materials from every 270 COMMENTARIES ON every fource which could diifiagr them; and in the perufal of his works, we fhall not be difappointed in our fearch both for profit and for pleafure. APPIAN. At a late period, more than a hundred and forty years after the birth of Chrift, flourifhed Appian, a native of Alexandria, He wrote an account in twenty-four books of all the countries which had been fubdued by the Romans j but time has much mutiliated his work : ftill, fome of the raoft important events in the Roman hiftory may be found in this author. The Syrian, Parthian, Punic, and civil wars from the time of the Gracchi, are ably written by him ; and in many inftances the fiory is comprefled into a fmall compafs. He has been accufed of general plagiarifm* and of adopting the ftyle of every author from whom he pillaged in fuch a manner as to have none of his own. if CLASSICAL LEARNING. 271 If he cannot be defended from this charge, it muft however be allowed by his ac- cufers that he is a pilferer of judgment; fince he not only has copied much im- portant matter, but has omitted everything fabulous and abfurd. If the incidents be old, the manner of relating them gives them an appearance of novelty, and produces a confiderable degree of intereft in the reader. The actions are not blended as in mod other hiftories, but the order of time in which they happened in each particular country is obferved. There feems feme- thing to recommend this plan; for it affords a conne&ed hiftory of places and of people, not deranged by the deviations of a general or an army. He is fo minute in his rela- tions, that we may perceive he means to deliver only what is true; but his extreme partiality to the Romans leaves him without a poffible vindication. That he ihould be well inclined to the people with whom he found a welcome reception and by whofe government he was advanced to offices 2 of 272 COMMENTARIES ON of ftate, is the natural impulfe of a grateful mind; but praife and blame are a facred charge repofed in the hiftorian, and never to be attributed but by the laws of juftice and of truth. Arrian lived about one hundred and thirty-fix years after Chrift, and was born at Nicomedia the capital of Bithynia, once a very powerful country of Afia Minor. He was no lefs celebrated as a philofopher, than as a foldier, the favourite fcholar of the ftoic Epi&etus, the faithful hiftorian of Alexander's expedition, and the Periplus of the iEgean fea. The emperor Antoninus had fufficient wifdom to difcern, and liberality to reward his merit : he made him conful, and gave him the government of Cappadocia, When the Greek language was in its higheft purity, no writer ever furpafled Arrian in that beft attribute of ftyle. Form- ing himfelf on the example of Xenophon* he participated the fweetnefs of his model* The foftnefs of his language has not ex- cluded ftrength and vigour, nor do his *5 flowing CLASSICAL LEARNING. 273 flowing periods convey a meaning that is vague or unimpreffive. His fpeeches are peculiarly his own, and combine a power- ful addrefs to the paflions with arguments that are folid and convincing. On thefe occafions his figures are happily fele£tedj and well illuftrate the points which he woulji enforce. His epithets are neither exuberant nor are his metaphors jumbled 5 and if his matter be not comprefled into the fmalleft compafs, it is at leaft not loofely extraneous. His ftory is told with a plain, and pleafing familiarity: whenever he quits the main fubjecT:, it is evidently his intention to relieve the reader from the fatigue of a long and uninterrupted narra- tion 5 and though he avoids fcepticifm, which has been called " one of the nerves of the mind," he is no credulous reporter of legendary tales, but an hiftorian of un- doubted integrity and truth* The defcription he gives us of Alexan- der's conquefts affects us with a mixture of pleafure and concern ; we perufe his ac- count of them with fuch a degree of fatif- T fadion, 274 COMMENTARIES ON faction, as makes us regret that we have no knowledge of the fucceeding periods but what the imperfedl remains of Photius have conveyed to us. He who forms his ftyle on that of ano- ther, is as likely to copy the defe&s as the merits of his original ; and if a languor and a tamenefs fometimes appear in parts which a livelier fpirit would have impro- ved, he might plead the example of Xeno- phon as his authority, though not his vin- dication, DION CASSIVS. . In a general reference to claffic writers » it may be proper to glance at thofe of infe- rior reputation* although their memorials be fcanty, and not replete with entertain- ment to the reader. Nicsea in Bithynia was the birthplace of this writer, who was about two hundred and thirty years pofterior to our Saviour, It is grateful to have recourfe to times when the labours of the ibholar were hold^ 4 en CLASSICAL LEARNING. 2J$ en in repute by minifters and princes ; fince the fame talents which have raifed men to an eminence in learning, might frequently be a valuable aequifition to the fervice of the ftate. Dion Caffius was cal<- led to adorn the higheft ministerial offices in the Roman empire, by Pertinax and his three immediate fucceffbrs; and the fame induitry which he difplayed in fpecu- lative, accomplifhed him for the purpofes of adtive life. In an unwearied application often years to the fubjeQ:, he compofed a hiftory of which only very imperfect frag- ments are in exiftence. He is a clofe and not unfuccefsful imi- tator of Thucidydes, and, like all imitators* exhibits his faults as well as his beauties : for, if like him he fometimes be a fublime writer, like him he introduces the fame bold figures and the fame irrelevant matter. His words are judicioufly chofen and pro- perly arranged ; nor is he deftitute of the beauties of variety and the harmony of pe- riods. Could we ever be reconciled to long fentences and parenthefes, this writer T 2 would 1j6 COMMENTARIES Cftf would mediate their excufe : but that whicfs has disfigured the hiftory of Clarendon, 13 too often repeated to be pardoned in Dion Caffius. Had Thucidydes never written* his renown would have been more emi- nent. His veracity as an hiftorian yield3 to his partiality to Caefar ; nor is it any proof either of the independence of his mind or the foundnefs of his judgment, that fueeefs appears in his view to be the certain criterion of merit, and that his fuf- frage is always in favour of the fortunate > at the expence of the unhappy. Dion believed that a familiar fpirit con* ftantly attended him as the monitor of his conduct, and the advifer and prompter of his literary compositions. Such fuperfti- tian may ferve occafionally to embolden and reprefs the ardour of the foldier in the day of battle, and may by turns be ufeful and difadvantageous to the mariner. The poet who thinks he feels the influence of his infpiring god, may reach to fubliinity by the aid of his enthufiafm : but when once the 'hiftorian difobeyfr the dictates of fober CLASSICAL LEARNING. 277 fober reafon, his veracity is as much to be doubted, as the religion of the credulous devotee, who believes or pretends to be- lieve in a partial illumination from heaven. Herodi an was born at Alexandria about two hundred and fifty years after the Chriftian aera ; but he removed at an early period of his life to Rome, where he was employed in many civil offices, and wrote a hiftory of the times, in eight books, from the death of Marcus Aurelius to Maximi- nus, comprizing nearly feventy years* The imitation of his ftyle is more defi- nable than difficult. It porTerTes eafe with- out negligence, and delicacy without affec- tation. Herodian is 2, methodical and an accurate writer ; his digreffions are natural and his precepts are worthy to be engraven on the memory. It is no obje&ion to his work that the fubjecl: is fo limited, for he was thence enabled to relate circumftances of which he had been an eye-witnefs ; while his official fituation opened to him all the T 3 hidden 2J$ COMMENTARIES ON hidden motives of a&ion, all thofe feeret fprings which regulate political manoeuvres* T6 knowledge fo unclouded, he added a correct judgment and a perfect integrity; and few of his predeceffbrs could boaft fnore of the qualities which conftitute a good hiftorian. The curiofity of the learned reader will be highly gratified by the defcription which he has given of the Roman cumftance is confidered, we lliall probably be more furprifed at their defects than at their merits. There is one radical error in the Roman comedy ; the language only is Latin, the perfonages and fcenes entirely Grecian. It feems. as incongruous to defcribe common life in a foreign country, as to clothe an ancient fratue in modern drapery. The firft age of Roman poetry was more remarkable for ftrength than for refine- ment ; but it is curious to obferve, and impoflible to reconcile, the different fenti- ments of the three great Roman critics on the 2g8 COMMENTARIES ON the fame fubjed : Cicero paffes a high eulogium on the old dramatic writers, Horace is as unbounded in his cenfure of them, and Quintilian is the moderator be- tween both. The beauty of the Attic dialed probably rendered the Grecian dramatifts fuperior to rivalry ; befides which, it fhould be re- membered that the imitator rarely ap- proaches the merit of his original. It has been thought that our anceftors who raifed that Palladium of Englifh liberty, the trial by jury, were guilty of an error when they prefcribed the jurors to come from the vicinage, in order that they might correct the falfities of evidence by their private knowledge of the fads. In criticifm the paffions and prejudices of the writer mingle, often imperceptibly to himfelf, in his deli- neation of the works of others. Cicero was perhaps milled by his proximity to the times of which he wrote, and Horace in fome degree warped from his wonted can- dour by the nature of his fubjed:. The moderation of Quintilian feems to eftablifh a pre~ CLASSICAL LEARNING. 299 a preference in favour of his judgment. He compares Ennius to a facred grove, in which the old oaks appear rather venerable than pleafing ; and by this figure we may fairly appreciate the merit of all the earlier comic poets of Rome. About two hundred and twenty years before the Chriftian sera, Plautus was born at Sarfina in Umbria. No certain tradition of his family has reached us ; but vague accounts of his failure in trade, and a con* fequent application to the moft fervile offices, have been attefted and contradicted by different authors. That he was poor, from whatever caufe, there feems to be no doubt; but his pover- ty was probably a ftimulant to his genius, though it might be an enemy to the cor- reclnefs of his writings. He wrote twenty-five comedies, of which we are in poffeffion of nineteen. His death happened about one hundred and eighty years before Chrift, on which occafion his countryman Varro infcribed an epitaph on his tomb, of which the 4 following 300 COMMENTARIES ON following tranflation may convey an imper- fect idea : ""•^The comic mufe laments her Plautus dead ; Deferted theatres (how genius fled ; Mirth, fport, and joke, and poetry bemoan, And echoing myriads join their plaintive tone.** " He who is unwilling to decide for him- felf on the merits of Plautus, will probably be perplexed by the varying fentiments of critics. He will be told by fome that his uniformity is fuch as always to have the fame perfonages in the drama. There is always a young courtezan, an old perfoa who fells her, a young man who buys her, and who makes ufe of a knavifh valet to extort money from his father ; a parafite of the vileft kind, ready to do any thing for his patron who feeds him; a braggadocio foldier, whofe extravagant boafting and ribaldry have ferved as a model for the Copper Captains of our old comedy. To thefe cenfures he will find it added, that the fty'le and dialogues are taftelefs ; that the wit is buffoonery of the lowef! fort; I . that CLASSICAL LEARNING. 30I that he was ignorant of that fpecies of gaiety which ought to reign in comedy, and of the pleafantry properly belonging to the theatre; that thefe fhould arife naturally from the character and fituation of the actor, and be conformed to them exadly ; that his dialogues are long narrations, in- terfperfed with tedious foliloquies; that his actors come in and go out without a reafon ; that perfons who are in a great hurry con- tinue upon the ftage a full quarter of an hour ; and that he introduces the loweft proftitutes with the moll vulgar and inde- cent language and manners. The admirers of Plautus declare him to have a fertility of invention never equalled by any writer before or fince his timet together with an unrivalled judgment in the choice and conduct of his fable ; that his characters are drawn from nature ; and that the richeft vein of eafe runs through all his works ; the perufal of which is accompanied not with calm fatisfadion but with infinite delight. When 302 COMMENTARIES ON When we are confidering thefe oppofite opinions, we ought to recoiled that Plautus had not only a great reputation in his own time, but preferved it beyond the Auguftan age. Varro fays, if the mufes had fpoken Latin, it would have been in the language of Plautus. Cicero and Quintilian each afford him a high encomium, notwithftanding Terence had already written. They par- ticularly commend his knowledge of the Latin tongue, although he wrote before the language had arrived at perfection; and the former fays, that his wit is elegant, urbane, ingenious, and facetious. Horace, indeed, fays, " We have admired the verfes and the jefts of Plautus with a complaifance which may be denominated folly." But for five hundred years Plautus was a favorite at Rome, although the language had become more polifhed and correft, and criticifm and polite literature had made rapid fcrides. He muft be confeffed to have a fund of comic humour and gaiety ; and tkafe his imitator, Moliere, owes much of the appro- bation he has received to the original from which CLASSICAL LEARNING. 303 which he drew his characters. la ancient comedy where fhall we find more enter- tainment than in the Amphitrion and the Mensechmi? Some apology may be made for the defects of Plautus, arifing from the tafte of the times in which he wrote. If his wit be often falfe, it was relifhed becaufe it was the fafhion of his day. A better tafte in the public would have produced an exube- rance of finer wit in him. It was not allowed to comic writers to reprefe on the ftage any miftrefles but courtezans : the delicacy of true love there- fore could not be exhibited by the writers of the drama. If Plautus was carelefs, and poor and mercenary, the vivacity of his genius counterbalances thefe defects. All the bufmefs and buftle of comedy are to be found in his fcenes. Variety too belongs to him, for the incidents are equally numerous and pleafant. He has alfo adapted his plays to theatri- cal reprefentation ; and in that refpecl: he carries 304 COMMEI^TARIES Otf carries away the prize from the elegant friend of Scipio. Such is the language of thofe who are admirers of Plautus ; and if on a perufal of this author we are induced to think that it is the language rather of panegyric than of truth, let us not forget the thunder of ap- plauding theatres which always attended the reprefentation of his plays. The general praife of his contemporaries, feconded by that of feveral fueceeding ages of learning and of tafte, is furely fufficient to difparage all the ftriclures of modern critic ifm. If it be true that his jefts are rough, and that his wit in general is coarfe, bearing a fimilitude to the old comedy at Athens, it muft be confefled that, more than any other comic writer, he has confulted his own genius ; and that his ftrength and fpirit are fuch as to attract and gratify the attention of every reader who is not of a difpofition more than commonly faftidious. Csecilius,flourifhed about a century and a half before Ghrift, and was the author of thirty CLASSICAL LEARNING. 305 thirty comedies, of which the high and general eulogium of antiquity has induced the literary world to lament the lofs. Horace acknowledges the energy of his mufe; and Cicero, while he defcribes his language as incorred, declares him to be the bed comic writer which his country had ever produced, both with refpe£t to the dignity of his chara&ers and the vigour of his fentiments. TERENCE. That a native of Africa, the purchafed flave of a Roman fenator, whofe name he afterwards bore, (hould acquire the higheft reputation as a comic writer, is fo Angular a fa£t in literary hiftory, as would at firft view induce us to withhold our affent from it. But when we confider that his generous matter not only conferred upon him his freedom, but furnifhed him with the means of acquiring all the accomplishments of a fcholar, and introduced him to the acquaint- ance of the moft learned men in Rome, our doubts will vanijQh, and our admiration will decreafe* x The 306 COMMENTARIES ON The friend of Scipio and Laslius, the aflbciate of Lucretius and Polybius, muft have had thebeft opportunity of improving his natural talents by every thing which po- lifhes the manners and improves the mind. The difadvantage of humble birth was thus happily removed by fuch an intro- duction into fociety, and fuch a patronage as genius can rarely boaft. The gem was refcued from the dark caves of ocean, and its pure brightnefs ftill irradiates the world. Terence was born about a hundred and ninety-four years before Chrift ; and upon a careful review of the models of the Greeks, willingly furrendered the palm of origin- ality to be the imitator or tranflator of the elegant Menander. He began to write at twenty-five years of age ; and his dramatic labours were proba- bly confined to the fhort period of ten years. But it was a period of bodily health and mental vigour ; for its fruits were not only rich but abundantly copious; fince wc have to lament that only fix of his plays have reached CLASSICAL LEARNING. 307 reached us, out of more than a hundred which he produced. 1 The fine moral or rather truly chriftian fentiment exhibited in the Andrian, his firft play, where it is faid, that man is interefted in all the concerns of his fellow beings, might well be received with that thunder of applaufe, which fucceeding ages have not failed to repeat ; it was the harbinger of a lafting fame ; and though the fentence be perpetually quoted it is never heard without approbation. In the choice of his fubjefts there is a certain dull uniformity, partly arifing from the reftrictions placed upon the ancient drama. No miflrefs could be reprefented on the ftage who was not a courtezan; but Terence has endeavoured to attach a con- fiderable intereft to the character by repre- fenting his females as infants ftolen from their parents and fold by fraud or accident. He has alfo given them a degree of refpect, by exhibiting them as endued with a paffion for a fingle object on whom they laviih all their tendernefs and conftancy, and for whom they confider the world well loft. x 2 He 308 COMMENTARIES OfiT He has been faid to have no buffoonery^ licentioufnefs, or groffnefs, but to have been the only one of the comic writers who has brought the language of gentlemen on the ftage ; the language of the paffions, the true tone of nature. But furely the impudence of fervants throughout his plays would in- duce the reader to imagine that the licence of the Saturnalia had been perennial, and furnifhes a contradi&ion to this affertion of his panegyrifls. If we concur with them in thinking tha£ the moral of his drama is found and inftruc- tive ; that his pleafantry has good tafte ; that his dialogue unites clearnefs, precifion, and elegance ; and that he penetrates to the in- moft receffes of the heart ; we muft allow with the opponents of his fame, that we ihould be better gratified by finding more force of invention in his plots ; more intereft in his fubje&s; more genuine fpirit in his chara&ers. Julius Caefar feems to have appreciated his merits juftly when he faid : " And you, Demi-Menander, are placed near our great writers, and you deferve it by the purity CLASSICAL LEARNING. 309 purityof your ftyle. Could but the beauty of your compofition have joined to itfelf that comic vein which was poffefled by the Greeks ; then would you not have been their inferior in the dramatic lift. That is what you want, Terence, and what I fo much regret." Terence began his career with the hap- pieft aufpices. When he had compofed his Andrian and prefented it to the asdiles, who were in the habit of purchafmg dramatic works for the gratification of the people at the fhows, before they would conclude a bargain, they fent it to Csecilius for his opinion. The old man ordered Terence to read a part of it to him as he was lying on his couch. Before he had finifhed the firft fcene, Qecilius raifed himfelf up with evi^ dent marks of furprife and pleafure and in- vited him. to fupper. He afterwards heard the whole of the piece, and beftowed upon him fuch praifes as were equally creditable to both the parties. x % His 3IO COMMENTARIES ON His Eunuch received more approbation than any of his plays. It was a&ed twice in one day; and the fum of thirty pounds, for which he fold the copy-right, was hitherto without precedent in the annals of the Roman ftage. It is I believe generally confeffed, that the ftyie of Terence is the perfection of the Latin language. It is equally celebrated for accuracy and elegance. No forced antithe- fes, no glaring ornaments deform it ; and it has flood the teft of the fevereft criticifm in the clofet. The poetry of Terence, compared to that of the Auguftan age, has been faid to be the Ionic order, compared to that of the Corinthian ; not fo fplendid or fo rich, but equally if not more exact and pleafing. If it excel the language of his age, it was the language fpoken in the accomplished fami- lies of the Laelii and the Scipios ; and per- haps we may afcribe to the advantage de- rived from their elegant converfation, thofe well written dialogues which Cicero and Quintilian conceive him unable to havQ cpmpofed without their affiftance. That CLASSICAL LEARNING. 3II That Terence is a cold and a tame writer will not willingly be confefTed by thofe who have witneffed the exhibition of his plays at one of the firft feminaries of youth in this country. Thofe fcenes cannot be wholly de- ftitute of fire which difplay fo vivid a portion of it on their claffic ftage. An audience of fcholars and of critics will perhaps always be in doubt, whether a larger portion of the pleafure they receive from the reprefentation be due to the compofition of the author, or to the talents and fpirit of the performers. During the firft three ages of Roman comedy, the writers were the fervile imita- tors of the Greeks. But foon after the time when Terence had quitted Rome, Afranius and others whofe compofiUons are loft, de-* livered the ftage from the tyranny of foreign perfonages, and exhibited thofe pieces only in which the ftories and the characters were Roman, Horace applauds the fpirit of thofe who ventured upon this innovation: st Nee minimum meruere decus veftigia Graeca Aufi defcrere, et celebrare domeftica facta." £ 4 From 312 COMMENTARIES ON From this period, comedy was divided into two fpecies, which took their names from the different habits of the two coun- tries. The Roman comedy was fubdivided into four kinds ; the firft of which, borrow- ing its name from the drefs of plain citi- zens, was called the togata, and, when per- fons of diftindion were introduced, the prse- textata. This was of a ferious nature, per- haps like the fentimental comedy of modern times. The fecond was of a comic caft, deriving its name Tabernaria from a town or place of refidence where the perfons met whofe charaders were exhibited. The Atellana was the third fpecies, in which the adors not fpeaking from written dialogues, trufted to the fpontaneous effufions of their fancy; and it had this privilege, that the fpedators could not oblige them to unmafk. Another exclufive advantage alfo belonged to the adors in the Atellana; they retained the right of freemen and the power of enlifting in the army. The curious account given by Dr. Hurd of the Satyrs, Mimes, and Atellanes, is worthy CLASSICAL LEARNING. 313 worthy an attentive perufal. He fhews us that the latter was an entertainment fo called from. Atella, a town of the Ofciin Campania. The language and characters were both Ofcan, and their provincial dialed was a fource of pleafantry at Rome. In thefe three fpecies the fock was al- ways worn by the performers. The fourth fpecies, the Mimus, was a fort of farce, in which the aCtors were barefoot. At the funeral of Vefpafian, we find from Suetonius, that his character was reprefented in a mimic piece according to the Roman cuftom. The leading feature of Vefpafian's cha- racter was avarice, of which a remarkable inftance is recorded. A town in Italy was about to ereCt a ftatue to him ; when he faid to the deputies, ftretching out his hand, " Gentlemen, here is the bafis whereon you jnuft ereCt your ftatue." In allufion to this circumftance, the aCtor Favor Archimimus, who played the part of the emperor, having afked the di- rectors "3*4 COMMENTARIES ON re&ors of the ceremony, what would be the expence of his interment, and finding that it would amount to fome millions of crowns, cried out, " Gentlemen, let me have a hundred thoufand crowns, and you may throw my body into the river." The divilion of the declamation between two a&ors took place at a very early pe-* riod of the Roman drama. The anecdote is fomewhat curious. Livius Andronicus, about one hundred and twenty years after the theatres had been opened^ was accufto- med, like the Grecian writers, to appear as an a&or on the ftage. The people, ap- plauding fome of his fpeeches, cried out fc again" fo often, that he became perfectly inaudible by hoarfenefs, and was obliged to have a flave to recite his verfes, while he retained the gefture and the adion. It is faid by Macrobius, that Cicero ufed to contend with Rofcius, who fhould beft deliver the fame fentiment, each making ufe of the talent in which he excelled, Rofcius exhibited, by a mute a&ion, the fenfe CLASSICAL LEARNING. 315 fenfe of the phrafe which Cicero compofed and recited. Cicero afterwards changed the words and turn of the phrafe, without enervating the fenfe \ and Rofcius was obliged on his part to exprefs the fenfe by other geftures, without weakening it by action. Mafks were introduced into Greece by JEfchylus ; Rofcius Gallus was the firft actor who wore a mafk at Rome, which he did with a view to conceal the defect of fquinting. The mafks were thought fo effential to the character, that they ufed to prefix to their pieces 3 together with the dramatis perfonse, the figure of the mafk. The intricacy of the Amphytrio and the Menaschmi, turning upon the miftake of one perfbn for another, is rendered much more credible when we confider the gene- ral ufe of mafks. It was befides cuftomary to make men act female characters, and this mode of concealment was therefore indi / eulibly neceffary. The mafks were alfo requifite to the ;mmcnfe iize of the uqroofed theatres. Within Jl6 COMMENTARIES ON Within the mouth was an incruftation of horn, to increafe the natural found of the voice, that it might be heard by the fpeo tators, fome of whom were placed twen- ty-four yards from the ftage. The Roman a&ors had enormous fala- ries. Horace mentions a famous prodigal, who had gained two hundred and fifty thou fan d pounds by his profeffion ; Pliny fays that Rofcius received five thoufand pounds a year ; and Macrobius fpeaks of his having a falary of forty-five pounds a day entirely for his own ufe. The greateft number of the actors were born flaves, and fubjecl: to a very rigorous apprenticefhip. The moft eminent of them would never fpeak a word in a morning before they had methodically unfolded their voice, letting h loofe by degrees that they might not hurt their organs. JDuring this exercife they continued in bed ; after having acted, they lay down, and in this pofture as it were folded up their voice again, raifing it to the higheft tone they had reached in their declamation, and depreffing it after- wards CLASSICAL LEARNING, 317 wards fucceflively to all the other tones, till they funk it to the loweft. From the time of Terence, we hear little of any comic writers ; and what may appear very remarkable is, that in the Auguftan age every fpecies of poetry was in its greateft excellence except the drama- tic, and that its fubftitute the pantomimic art fhould not only have had its rife in that elegant period, but have become the fa- vourite amufement of the emperor and his accomplished minifter. For above a hundred years the ftage could boaft the exclufive poffeffion of the Roman poets, and to the degeneracy of the fcenic exhibitions Zofimns imputes the corrupt manners of the Roman people, and the misfortunes of the empire. Pylades and Bathyllus were the fir ft who acted whole plays without any articulation ; the former excelled in tragic, the other in comic fubje£ts, The impudence of thefe pantomimes may be known by the following anecdote. The fpe£tators one day complaining tha^ 318 COMMENTARIES OlST the gefticulation of Pylades in the repre* fentation of the Hercules Furens was extra- vagant, he took off his mafk and cried out, " Don't you know, you fools, that I am acling a greater fool than yourfelves ?" The approbation afforded to thefe m af- ters of gefticulation was as general as it was extravagant. Caffiodorus calls them men whofe eloquent hands had a tongue, as it were, on the tip of each finger ; men who fpoke while they were filent, and who could recite a whole play without opening their mouths ; men, in fine, whom Poly- hymnia, the mufe prefiding over mufic, had created in order to fhew that there is no neceffity for articulation to convey our thoughts to others. Seneca the elder, a man of the graveft profeffion, confefles that his tafte for pan- tomime was a real and irrefiftible paflion. In Italy both ancient and modern, conver- fation has always been more a bufmefs of gefture than in this country ; and the lan- guage of the Grand Signior's mutes, fo well underftood by their countrymen, would CLASSICAL LEARNING. 319 would be unintelligible in the north of Eu- rope. Lucian, who wrote a century after the Chriftian sera, was a zealous partifan of thefe dumb comedians. He fays that a king whofe dominions bordered on the Euxine fea, happening to be at Rome in the reign of Nero, begged a pantomime of him, to make him his general interpreter in all languages. In reflecting on this fubjecl:, it is im- poffible not to fuppofe that the geftures of thefe actors were far more fignificant than either our experience or our imagination enables us to conceive. The literati of the Auguftan age would probably not have difputed the pofition of Dr. Hurd, that " to touch the heart by an interesting ftory is the end of tragedy, to pleafe our curiofity and perhaps our malignity by a faithful reprefentation of manners is the purpofe of comedy, and to excite laughter the fole and contemptible aim of farce." Of a far fuperior nature mud have been that fpecies of entertainment which fub- fifted 320 COMMENTARIES ON fifted as long as the empire, for they both fell together when Rome was taken and plundered by Totila in five hundred and forty-fix ; the fatal epoch which marks the almoft entire extinction of fcience and of art. CLASSICAL LEARNING. £21 SECTION xir. -Roman Tragedy. ~>Pacuvius. — Accius.'~Varius,*—'Ovid, —Seneca. The Romans borrowed their tragedy en- tirely from the Greeks. It was firft known to them in the time of the fecond Punic war, about two hundred and eighteen years before our sera. Dionyfius and Hiero had in Sicily been diftinguifhed patrons of Grecian learning ; and the conqueft of the fouthern parts of Italy, and above all of Sicily and Syracufe which yielded to the Roman arms, had a few years before be- gun to familiarife them with the fine arts of poetry and eloquence. Pacuvius, a native of Brundufium, above two hundred and twenty years before Chrift, wrote the firft tragedies which the iEdiles thought worthy of their patronage. Few fragments remain, but they were the admiration of his contemporaries and fuc- y ceflbrs. 322 COMMENTARIES ON* ceflfors. Cicero, like Virgil, a lover of antiquity, highly efteemed him, and fays that all his verfes were ornate and well written ; and Horace confers upon him the palm of learning. He lived to a very ad- vanced age ; but it does not appear that he ever reprefented Roman characters or fub- jedts, but fiich only as had been previoufly exhibited on the Athenian ftage. One tragedy, however, compofed on the ftory of Brutus and Tarquin, is an exception to this remark. Accius lived about one hundred and thirty-nine years before Chrift. His genius is faid to have been very great ; and his ftyle, although unpolifhed, exceedingly vi- ( . gorous and occasionally fublime. He borrowed his fubje&s from Sophocles; but, as all his productions are loft, we can only prefume upon his merits from the cafual and brief allufions made to his works by claflic authors. Varius, the companion of Horace in his journey to Brundufium, wrote a play cal- 6 led classical learning; 323 led the Thyeftes which pofTeffed exquifite merit. Ovid wrote a Medea, and C^far an CEdipus ; Cicero turned into Latin verfe many pieces of Euripides and Sophocles, of which there are fome fhreds in his Works* But the only entire plays which have come down are under the name of Seneca : their number is ten, all on Greek fubjefls except his Octavia. The beft-in- formed critics believe that the (Edipus, Hippolytus, Medea, and the Trojans are the work of Seneca the philofopher ; who was born about twelve years after the Chriftian asra, whofe works have rendered him fo refpe&able, and whofe unhappy end has excited, fo much companion. It is thought that the other fix plays were the productions of different authors who aflumed his name to obtain for them a cele- brity which their own would not have conferred, as many comic authors published their works under the fignature of Plautus, Before the art of printing was known, this fpecies of fraud was equally common and y 2 eafy. ^24 COMMENTARIES ON eafy. The four firft tragedies are better than the others, but in them all there, is very little conformity to the tragic ftyle. The fineft fubje&s of Euripides and Sopho- cles evaporate in long declamation and in an inflated ftyle. Emptinefs, bornbafi, a mafs of gigantic defcriptions, a claming of far-fetched anti- thefes, an involved concifenefs of phrafe, and an infupportable diffufenefs in the thoughts, are the prominent features of thefe unhappy imitations which have left their authors fo far behind their celebrated models. They are not, however, abfolutely devoid of every fpecies of merit ; they have fome beauties, and critics have dis- cerned and acknowledged them : fome in- genious, and fome bold thoughts ; fome brilliant traits, eloquent paffages, and thea- trical ideas are here and there to be found. The love of Phaedra for Hyppolttus the fon of her huiband Thefeus, is the fubjefl: of the be.ft of thefe tragedies. When rejeded by Hf ppolftus, (he accufes him to her huf- band of having attempted to feduce her- The CLASSICAL LEARNING. 325 The father liftens to the accufation, banifhes the fuppofed feducer, and implores Nep- tune to punifh him. As he flies from Athens, his horfes are frightened by a fea monfter, who convey him to tfoe fhore, and drag him over rocks and precipices, where he is trampled under their feet, and crufhed by the wheels of the chariot. When the ftory is known at Athens, Phaedra confeffes her crime and hangs herfelf. In one refpecl: the play is better conduc- ted by Seneca, than by its original author. The Roman tragedian makes Phsedra her- felf declare her paffion for H^ppolitus, which the Grecian lefs adroitly intrufts to the intervention of a nurfe. Seneca con- cludes the piece with the confeffion of Phsedra as to her own guilt ; an atteftation of the innocence of the prince, and her fuicide, are the neceffary tributes to poetical juftice. Seneca feems, to have totally mif- underftood the proper office of the chorus. Dr. Hard has fully illuftrated this point in his commentary on Horace's Art of Poetry. I a the third act of the Hjfppolytus, when y 3 " it 326 COMMENTARIES ON " ir ought to have warned againft credulity and to have pitied the deluded father," it declaims on the unequal diftribiuion of good and ill. This is owing to an injudicious imitation of Euripides, without any attention to cha^- rafter or fituation, French writers have made much ufe of particular paffages from thefe tragedies, which they found remarkable either for the found nefs of their fenfe or the energy of their expreffion. Seneca embraced the Epicurean philofophy, which was much ftudied at Rome ; and fome of his boldeft fentiments have been copied by Lucretius. In one of his plays the chorus, the moral perfonage in all the ancient tragedies, ehaunts this verfe ; *' There is nothing after death, death is even nothing. ,? In the Agrippina are the two following lines : 4t One hour after my death, my departed foul Shall be what it was an hour before my birth." Liberty CLASSICAL LEARNING. 327 Liberty of opinion at Rome on this fub- je£t is indifputable. The laws only requi- red that the eftablifhed religion mould be treated with refpe£t The many plagiarifms which have been made from this author, prove him to have been a poet not unworthy of attention nor of praife ; but the fmall reputation which he has as a tragedian, and the paucity of his readers are an evidence of this truth, which writers mould ever retain in view, that it is not the fcanty merit of fome bril- liant paffages which wall attract the regard and veneration of pofterity. We may be furprifed by fparks, but are pleafed only with rays of light. Labour more intenfe, and beauties more copioufly diffufed, are required to raife durable monuments of literary fame. If however while w r e look for ftrokes of a fine imagination in Seneca, we are dilguf- ted with empty conceits, the fault perhaps is to be lefs imputed to the poet than to the 33 P. Terentius Varro was born fomewhat lefs than half a century before Chrift. He was a voluminous writer, but none of his fatires have reached our time. Quintilian fays, there is another and earlier fpecies of fatire compofed by Varro, the moft learned of the Romans. He blended feveral kinds of verfes ; and not only intermingled profe with verfe, but Greek with Latin. If an attention to fomething like chrono- logical order render it proper to allude to thofe writers whofe labours have been loft to pofterity; after the perufal of a dull and tedious catalogue of names, we are generally confoled by others who will be holden in univerfal veneration until the Goths of ig- norance fhall diffufe a fecond darknefs over the civilized world. HORACE. Q^ Horatius Flaccus was born at Ve- nufia, fixty-five years before Chrift. His father, though only a freedman, by fome faid to have been a collector of taxes, by 4 others J34 COMMENTARIES Off others a fifhmonger, gave him the rrioft liberal education, and received from him the well-earned tribute of filial gratitude* The rudiments of learning he acquired un- der the beft teachers at Rome ; and his education was completed by an attendant on the leSures of the firft philosophers at Athens. To talents of the brighter! kind 5 he joined an eager and affiduous application 3 it is no wonder therefore that we find in him an all-accomplifhed fcholar. Unfor- tunately for his military, rather than his literary fame, he became a tribune to Bru- tus ; for when he had difgraced himfelf by his cowardice at the battle of Philippi, he entirely abandoned the profeffion of arms, and applied himfelf to the cultivation of poetry. In an age when genius was re- fpedted by the great, he was recommended and introduced by Virgil and Varius to the emperor and his minifter ; and the liberal patronage they afforded him, vindicates the warm panegyric with which he repays their favour. 6 * He CLASSICAL LEARNING. 335 He died at about the age of fifty-fix ; and his end was probably accelerated by the lofs of Maecenas, whom he furvived only a few weeks, and near whofe tomb he was interred. He declared Auguftus his heir, but was too weak to be able to affix a fignature to his will. The works of this incomparable author, equally the delight of our early and ma- turer years, our companion in retirement and our affociate at the feftive board, have fo often been the theme of commentators, paraphrafers, critics, and admirers, that it is not eafy to difcover a fingle beauty in them which has at this late period been un- explored. On the prefent occafion nothing new muft be expected ; but the contem- plation andthepraife of acknowledged ex- cellence can fcarcely produce fatigue by repetition. Horace, perceiving that Lucilius had wandered very frequently from his fubjecl:, that he was negligent in his compofition and incorrect in his metre, aimed to avoid the faults of his predeceffor. But the peculiar excellencies 336 COMMENTTARtES ON excellencies of his fatires, are the utility or* his moral precepts and the delicacy of his raillery. If we find in them no poetical harmony, the defecT: is amply compenfated by merit of a fuperior kind. With the keeneft ridicule they purfue the follies and put to fhame the Vices of mankind. In this Horace found no model amongft the Greeks, nor any one worthy of imitation amongft his own countrymen; Where mall we meet in a profane writer better inftru&ions how to regulate human defires ; to diftinguifh truth from falfhood ; ideas from realities ; and to remove all hurtful prejudices from the mind? Who-, ever reads them without reforming his errors^ is in the fituation of the invalid who ren- ders his malady incurable by refufing to apply the antidote* In the common acceptation of the term^ Horace was not an epicurean : for modera- tion in defires, that mother of vvifdom ; and a pure confcience, the foundation of happi- nefs, heearneftly and frequently exhorts his followers to maintain. To be indulgent to others CLASSICAL LEARNING. ^J others and fevere to ourfelves are hinges of his moral precepts. He fpeaks with rapture of the pleafure of retirement ; of the attrac- tions of friendfliip ; of the delights of a rural and peaceful life ; and of the love of our country. In the firft book of the fatires it is his obvious endeavour to eradicate vice ; and in the fecond to difpel thofe prejudices which infeft the human mind. Such only is the epicurifm of Horace. The epiftles are an appendix to the fa- tires : they not only exhibit a forcible ftyle of writing, but contain a valuable fyftem of ethics. Socrates refuted before he taught, well knowing that the ground ought firft to be cleared from weeds before it be fown with corn. The fatires are the purifiers of pafiion, and the epiftles are the leflbns of virtue to fill up the vacancies in the mind. His addrefles to Msecenas are not the language of a mean parafite, but the effufions of a grateful heart to its bene* fa&or. The minifter when dying recom- mended him to his prince in thefe few re- z markable 338 COMMENTARIES and his accomplished difciple. 366 COMMENTARIES ON difciple, in conformity to his inftitution,; ufes every rational diffuafive againft vice, and every incentive to virtue : but the foundation of all morals, the a&ive fuper- intendence of an omniprefent being finds no place in his fyftern of nature. Lucretius fays, that his work is written in verfe from the fame motive as actuates phyficians who, when they give worm-* wood to children, fmear the outfide of the cup with honey. But Quintilian obferves, that there is fome caufe to fear left the wormwood fhould predominate. The mafterly genius of the poet is every where confpicuous, and, had he lived under Auguftus, he would perhaps have chofen a happier fubjecl:, and proved a formidable rival to the beft poets of that illuftrious age. AUGUSTAN AGE. At the head of the writers of this mod diftinguifhed period, it is to be lamented that we cannot place the Emperor and his minifter CLASSICAL LEARNING. 367 minifter but by the teftimony of ancient authors. Were we iri pofleffion of the re- cords of their literary fame, they might have confoled us in fome degree in our reflections on cruelty and arbitrary power. Learning would have boafted of its tri- umph when it perceived a tyrant feeking for repofe in the bofom of literature, as well as endeavouring to atone for profcrip- tions and mafTacres by calling forth talents, and by patronifing merit. Suetonius in- forms us that Auguftus wrote both verfe and profe, and that Maecenas was an author on a variety of fubje&s, dramatic and bio- graphical. The temper of the former was probably mollified by the entire defeat of his ene- mies and the acquifition of unlimited power ; and it was no lefs grateful to the vanity than to the tafte of both, to counte- nance fuch poets as would prefent them with that poifon which is fo " fweet to the age's tooth." VIRGIL. 368 COMMENTARIES Oltf VIRGIL. About feventy years before Chrift, the birth of Publius Virgilius Maro gave cele- brity to Andes, a fmall village near Mantua. His education was begun at the neighbour- ing town of Cremona, a place remarkable for the formation of tafte and the exercife of talents, and completed at Milan, the diftinguifhed feat of all the ingenuous arts. When the republican forces under Bru- tus and Caffius had experienced a fatal defeat at Philippi, and lands were divided amongft the foldiers of the conquerors, all the property of Virgil was included in the forfeiture. This apparently unfortunate event was the caufe of his future profperity and emi- nence. In his diftrefs he wifely repaired to Rome, folicited and obtained the patro- nage of Maecenas, by whofe means and thofe of Afinius Pollio he obtained an in- troduction to the Emperor Auguftus, and - S was CLASSICAL LEARNING, 369 was fhortly after favoured with the reftora« tion of his eftate. By the liberality of his imperial patron and his courtiers, his cir- cumftances foon became affluent. It is almoft unneceffary to obferve of a writer who is in the hand of every fchool- boy, that his works are paftoral, agricul- tural, and epic. Iq all his poems, critics have declared him to be a plagiarift. Befides his acknow- ledged imitations of Homer, they have accufed him of borrowing from Ennius, Pacuvius, and Accius, as well as from his contemporaries Lucretius, Catullus, and Varius. Macrobius fays, that his fecond book of the iEneid, which contains the fine defcription of the fack of Troy, was borrowed almoft word for word from a Greek poet whofe works are loft, ^and whofg name was Piiaader. The firft production of Virgil was his Bucolics, confiding of ten eclogues, written in imitation of the Idyllia of Theocritus, begun in the twenty-ninth year of his age, and completed in three years. . B B It 3JO COMMENTARIES ON It has been obferved, that there is fuch an incongruity between the fimple ideas of the fwain and the polifhed language of the courtier, as to render it very difficult to reconcile them by any arts of composition ; that the Doric dialed of Theocritus muft ever give to the Sicilian bard a pre-emi- nence in this fpecies of poetry ; that there are in the Bucolics of Virgil the native manners and ideas without any of the rufticity of paftoral life. Thofe critics who give the preference to Virgil have faid, that as he is more varied, he is alfo more elegant than Theocritus ; that his fhepherds have more fpirit without ever having too much, that his harmony has an inexpreffible charm, a mixture of fweetnefs and of art, which Horace confi- ders with reafcn as a particular prefent which the Mufes have made to him ; that he interefts more than the Sicilian poet in the fports and amours of his ruftics, and has no negligence or languor ; that it is impoffible to read thefe poems without committing them to memory, or at leaft without CLASSICAL LEARNING. 371 without deilring to read them over and over again. In atteftation of the excellence of the Bucolics, we are told that the Romans were fo enamoured of them that they were fre- quently recited upon the ftage, and that Cicero, hearing fome of them, exclaimed, Magna /pes altera Roma: ! His next compofition was the Georgics, the idea of which was taken from the Works and Days of Hefiod ; but there is no other fimilarity than that of their com- mon fubject. Hefiod delivers his precepts of agriculture with the utmoft fimplicity : Virgil has embellifhed his work with all the dignity which fublime verification can beftow. It is addreffed to Maecenas, at whofe requeft it was undertaken, and di- vided into four books. The firft treats of ploughing; the fecond of planting; the third of cattle ; and the fourth of bees, their food, polity, and difeafes. The whole concludes with the beautiful epifode of Ariftseus and Eurydice. The Georgics were written at Naples, and employed him feven years. B b 2 Confidered 372 COMMENTARIES ON Confidered as dida&ic poems, and adapted to the climate of Italy, they have the high- eft claim to merit. As poetical compofi- tions, their elevated flyle, the beauty of their fimilies, the fentiments interfperfed in them, and the elegance of their di&ion, excite the admiration of every judicious reader. During four days which Auguftus pafled at Atella on his return to Rome, to refrefh himfelf from fatigue after the battle of Adtitim, the Georgics were read to him by the author, who was occafionally re- lieved in his tafk by his friend Maecenas. It is fuggefted by Mr. Gibbon, that Au- guftus was highly delighted with the Georgics from a motive lefs creditable both to himfelf and to the bard, than that of found criticifm and good tafte. That he rejoiced in every thing which could recon- cile his foldiers to a peaceful life ; and that the defcription given by Virgil of the re- pofe and happinefs of the country grati- fied him as a politician, when he perceived the efTedt which it produced on the vete- rans of his army. They CLASSICAL LEARNING. 373 They infenfibly became enamoured of the innocent and ufeful employments of agriculture, and waited with patience for a long courfe of years, before the Emperor had eftablimed a treafury to repay them for their military toils. In this inftance, poetry like mufic had " charms to footh the favage breaft ;" and while it conveyed the founded precepts of a ufeful art, was fubfervient to the moft important purpofes of the ftate. The poems of Homer, and the laws of the ep*^ which had been fo ably formed and promulgated by Ariftotle, were an ad- vantage to Virgil in his compofition of the iEneid, which few poets have had fo fa- vourable an opportunity to enjoy. The ^Eneid was written at the particular defire of Auguftus, who was ambitious of having the Julian family reprefented as lineal defendants of the Trojan iEneas. The character of the hero of the poem has been faid to be faulty on account of its coldnefs ; that he is never warmed or impaflioned, although perpetually in tears B b 3 or 374 COMMENTARIES ON or at prayers ; that his defeition of Dido is neither gallant nor heroic ; that the de- fcription of the fports in the fifth book refrigerates the reader ; and that the laft fix books deferve to be generally condemned. The foundation of a flate which was to be the cradle of Rome, and the arrival of a ftranger announced by ancient oracles, who difputed with a prince for the daughter of a king to whom that prince was betrothed, are the fubjeds of them. The different people of Italy divide between the two rivals, and raife in the reader an expectation of action and of intereft. But what is the refult ? In place of thefe, we find a mo- narch who is not mafter of his houfe, and has not a will of his own, who, after having received the Trojans with cordiality, per- mits his queen and intended fon-in-law to carry on the war againft them, and ihuts himfelf up in his palace that he may take no part in it ; Lavinia too, a mere, mute, although the deadly contefi is on her ac- count ; and the queen after the defeat of the Latins commits fuicide, but excites no 6 pity. mmammmim CLASSICAL LEARNING. 375 pity. Turnus is killed by iEneas, without producing the lead intereft in the vidnry of the one, or in the fall of the other. That the battles are an abridgement of thofe of Homer, with lefs diffufivenefs, but with lefs fire alfo, and refemble petty fkir- mifhes amidft barbarous colonies. That in the feventh book the poet carries us into a new world, and introduces us to perfonages abfolutely unknown: Ufens, Tarchon, and Mezentius are very different from Ajax, He&or, and Diomed ; and the antiquities of Italy, which flattery induced him to pe- netrate, are as obfcure as thofe of Greece are illuftrious. That the tranfient intereft we feel in favour of the vouno: Pallas the fon of Evander, of Laufus the fon.of Me- zentius, of Camilla the queen of the Vol-" fcians, cannot compenfate for the want of that general intereft which ought to move the whole machine of the epic. If pofterity, feverely juft, take cognifance of thefe defects; Rill fufficient merit remains in the iEneid to entitle its author to the appellation of the prince of Latin poets, B B 4 wmich 376 COMMENTARIES ON which his contemporaries beftowed upon him. The fecond, fourth, and fixth books are univerfally regarded as the moft finifhed performances which epic poetry ever pro- duced in any nation* The filial piety and misfortunes of iEneas, after the cataftrophe of Troy, ftrongly in- tereft the reader in his fubfequent adven- tures. The picture of that city in flames can never be enough admired. The charader of Dido appertains entirely to the author, and has no model in all an- tiquity. The prophetic rage of the Cumsean Sibyl difplays the enthufiafm of the poet. The epifode of Nifus and Euryalus, that of the funeral of Pallas, and that of the buckler of iEneas, are the perfe&ion of the art of painting. Virgil is not more confpicuous for ftrength of defcription than propriety of fentiment, and when he takes a hint from the Grecian bard, he does not fail to im- prove upon it. One H CLASSICAL LEARNING. 377 One inftance may fuffice. In the fixth book of the Iliad, while the Greeks are making great daughter amongft the Trojans, He£tor, by the ad- vice of Helena, retires into the city to defire that his mother would offer up prayers to the goddefs Pallas, and promife her a noble facrifice if fhe would drive Diomed from the walls of Troy. Imme- diately before his return to the field of battle, He&or has his laft interview with An- dromache, whom he meets with his infant fon, Aftyanax. Here occurs one of the moft beautiful fcenes in the Iliad, where the hero takes the boy in his arms, and pours forth a prayer that he may one day be fuperior in fame to his father. In the fame manner iEneas, having armed himfelf for the decifive combat with Turnus, addrefles his fon Afcanius in a beautiful fpeech, which, while it is expreffive of the ftrongeft paternal affection, contains a noble and emphatic admonition fuitable to a youth who had nearly attained the period of manhood. He 378 COMMENTARIES ON He certainly owed much of his excel- lence to the wonderful powers of Homer. His fufceptible imagination was captivated by amiable traits of the Odyfley, and warmed by the fire of the Iliad. Impro- ving the characters of the gods, he fuftains their dignity with fo uniform a luftre that they feem truly divine. Mr. Gibbon obferves, " that the more we know antiquity, the more we admire the art of this poet. His fubje£l was narrow. The flight of a band of exiles, the com* bat of fome villagers, the eftablifhment of an ill-fortified town ; thefe are the tra- vels, fo much vaunted, of the pious iEneas. But the poet has ennobled them, and he well knew by ennobling them how to ren- der them the more interefting. He em- bellifhed the manners of the heroic ages, but he embellifhed without difguifing them. Father Latinus and the feditious Turnus are transformed into powerful monarchs. All Italy feared for its li- berty. iEneas triumphs over men and gods. He CLASSICAL LEARNING. 379 li He never feems more matter of his art, than when defcended to the fhades below with his hero : his imagination appears to be enfranchifed : Romulus and Bru- tus, Scipio and Caefar, mew themfelves there fuch as Rome admired or feared them." It adds much to the celebrity of Homer, that he wrote in an age when the intellect was not generally improved by cultivation, and that he was indebted for his inex- hauftible refources to the capacity of his own mind. Virgil, on the contrary, lived in a period when literature had attained to a high ftate of improvement. Perhaps Homer lived and died in a ftate of poverty ; Virgil was ' enabled by the affluence of his circum- ftances to allot twelve years to the com- pofition of his iEneid, which even at his death was unfinifhed, and, by a pious ne- glect of the dying injunctions of its author, refcued from the deftru&ion to which he deftined it. The wifh of the poet for the deftruction of his work probably arofe from his perceiving it to want uniformity and 380 COMMENTARIES ON and unity. Had he lived, he would either have conneded or obliterated the detached parts of the latter books. A remarkable circumftance refpedingthe character of Virgil as a poet is the equable perfection of his ftyle. It is at once the delight and the defpair of all who efteem and cultivate Latin poetry. Where is the fcholar, mature in years and judgment, who does not admire the colouring and the variety of his pidures, and that unvaried harmony, which does not only play upon the ear but penetrates to the foul ? If he do not equal Homer in in- vention or in the richnefs of imagination in the aggregate, it has by fome been con- tended that he furpaffes him in the fplen- dour of certain pafiages, in corrednefs, and in tafle. In the perufal of this fine poem, there is no part which ftrikes the reader more for- cibly than the defcent of jEneas to the fhades below ; and the effed it produces on the mind would be much lefs powerful, if we were to affent to the hypothefis of a very learned critic, -Dr. Warburton, that it is only mam CLASSICAL LEARNING. 381 only a figurative defcription of the initia- tion into the Eleufmian myfteries. Every one of the circumftances of the defcent convinces Mr. Gibbon, that Virgil defcribes a real not a mimic world ; and that the fcene lay in the infernal regions, and not in the temple of Ceres. The An- gularity of the Cumean fhores, the lake Avernus, the black woods which furround- ed it when Virgil came to Naples, were fuited to gratify the fuperftition of the people. It was generally believed that this dreadful flood was the entrance of Hell, and an oracle was eftablifhed on its banks, which pretended by magic rites to call up the departed fpirits. The converfation between iEneas and the prieftefs may con- vince us that this was. a defcent to the fhades, and not an initiation. " Facilis defcenfus Averni" &c. That every ftep may lead us to the grave is a truth, but the myfteries were open only a few days in the year. The defcent of the myfteries was laborious and dan- gerous ; the return to light eafy and 1 certain; 382 COMMENTARIES Otf certain ; but in real death this order is in- verted. If we confider the awful fcene as a mimic mow exhibited in the temple of Ceres by the contrivance of the prieft or the legiflator, all that was terrible or pa- thetic difappears at once • the melancholy Palinurus, the wretched Deiphobus, the indignant Dido, and the venerable An- chifes, — " tenuemjine viribus umbram" The ftridures of that able critic Mr. Gibbon, on the fanciful and ingenious pofi- tion of the bifhop contained in his mifcel- laneous tracts, are worthy the attention of every fcholar; and there will probably be few readers whom he does not convince, that the opinion which is oppofite to his own would deprive the Mantuaa bard of a large portion of his deferved praife, as it would tend to make the fpirit of one of the fineft parts of the iEneid entirely evaporate in lifelefs allegory. Virgil is faid to have received two thou- fand pounds from Odavia, the fitter of the emperor, for the incomparable verfes in which he introduces the name of her fon Marcellus, CLASSICAL LEARNING. 383 Marcellus, whom me had lately loft. If this were the conduct of a courtier, how untrue is he to himfelf when he reprefents his hero affifting the Etrufcans to punifh their former tyrant Mezentius : Mr. Gib- bon thinks that " fuch opinions, puhlifhed by one who has been efteemed the creature of Auguftus, {hew that, though the republic was fubverted, the minds of the Romans were ftill republican." He is alfo of opi- nion that, had this part of the work been recited before the court, the reward given him for his former compliments to the reigning family would have been with- holden. In every point of view Virgil appears to advantage as a writer ; it is undeniable, that he does not merely recite the labours of nifties or an uninterefting ftory of tra- vels, but is a new Orpheus, whofe lyre induces favages to depofe their ferocity, and whofe hero unites them by the ties of manners and of laws. jEneas is the minifter of celeftial ven- geance, the protector of oppreffed nations, who 384 COMMENTARIES ON who launches thunder on the head of the guilty tyrant, but is foftened by the unfor- tunate victim of his fury, the young and pious Laufus, worthy of a better father and a more propitious deftiny. Virgil determined to corre£t his poem, which he polifhed with a fcrupulous and painful accuracy at Athens, the renowned feat of eloquence and philofophy. In the delightful gardens of Epicurus, he con- ceived that he fhould have full leifure to complete an immortal work, but the arrival of Auguftus from the eaft fruftrated his defign; and on his return to Rome with his imperial patron, he was feized with ficknefs at Megara, and expired at Brundufiutn in the fifty-fecond year of his age. The place of his education he defired to be the place of his interment ; and his tomb ftill exifts within two miles of Naples near the road to Puteoli. He is faid to have written an infcription for his monument, which in two fimple lines tells the place of his nativity and his burial, together with the fubjeft of his poems. CLASSICAL LEARNING. 385 poems. But the verfes are fo unworthy of his mufe that they probably are fpurious. His fortune he divided between the em- peror and his minifter, and his friends Varius, Plotius, and Tucca. Thefe be- quefts, the unfufpicious teftimonies of gra- titude and friendfhip, evince the goodnefs of his heart ; and the proofs which pofte- rity have received of the excellence of his underftanding, and the correclnefs of his tafte, will be acknowledged by them as long as learning fhall be hallowed, and fuperior talents regarded with admiration. OVID. Publius Ovidius Nafo was defcended from an Equeftrian family, and born at Sulmo about forty-two years before the Chriftian sera. No expence was fpared to render his education complete. He acquired the firft rudiments of it at Rome, and when he was qualified to afluroe the manly gown, Athens numbered him amongft her illus- trious fcholars. The high reputation ac- quired by the great orators of his time C C was 386 COMMENTARIES OK was a ftrong inducement with his father to deftine him for the profeffion of the law ; but nature, which in a few inftances, and probably in a very few, gives an irrefiftible bias to the mind, reverfed the deftiny. Like Pope, he feems to have been born a poet, and his own declaration to this effect may be tranflated by the well-known line of the Britifh bard : eC I lifped in numbers, for the numbers came." He could boafl that all the literati of that enlightened age were his friends, and, for a while, that the emperor was his mu- nificent patron : but a fatal cloud hung over his head ; he was fuddenly difgraced at court, and baniihed for life to Tomos, the capital of the lower Msefia. The nature of his offence ftill remains a myf- tery ; the pretence was that his verfes tend- ed to corrupt the morals of the Roman youth. The fentence, which was paffed by Au- guftus, Tiberius confirmed j and the plain- tive Classical learning, 387 tive tone of many of his compofitions is to be referred to the habitual melancholy which attended his exile. He fcarcely furvived it eight years, and was interred at Tomos before he had attained the fixtieth year of his age. His Metamorphofes, the firft amufement bf our juvenile years, comprifed in fifteen books, is one of the handfomeft prefents which antiquity has made to us. Every thing in this work is attra&ive to the youthful mind, from the feparation of the elements which are in the place of Chaos, to the fplendid apotheofis of the Emperor Auguftus. It is impofiible to admire too much the flexibility of his imagination and of his ftyle in taking fucceffively every tone, clofely adapting himfelf to the nature of his fubjecT:, and by his art diverfifying the cataftrophe, of which the foundation is always the fame, namely, a tranfmutation of fofm. How admirable is the variety of his colours, always well fuited to the dif- ferent pidures which he draws ! His ex- preffions are fometimes exalted to fublimity, c c 2 fometimes 388 COMMENTARIES ON fometimes fimple even to familiarity; now horrible and terrific, now tender, gay* fmiling, and fweet. He raifes, foftens, af- frights the mind, as he reprefents the palace of the fun, the plaints of love, the fury of jealoufy, and the terrors of vice. He de- fcribes with equal eafe and accuracy com- bats as amufements, heroes as fhepherds, the cave of Envy as the cottage of Phile- mon. Every reader is charmed with the delightful poem of Pyramus and Thifbe. Its beauties are ever pleafing becaufe they are natural, and the cataftrophe of the un- fortunate lovers fails not to excite univerfal fympathy ; a tale fo haplefs in ftrains fo delightful was furely never told ! If there be any reader whom the perufal of this incomparable poem does not affect, he is neither to be envied for the vivacity of his feelings, nor for the foundnefs of his judg- ment. Mythology furnifhed her richeft ftores to Ovid, an unrivalled advantage which was pofleffed 'by the ancients. It added the brighteft plumes to pagan writers, and 9 enabled CLASSICAL LEARNING. 389 enabled them to foar to empyrean heights on the wings of fuperftition. But a purer religion, and a more refined tafte, have reftrained the flight of modern bards ; and reafon and truth, the beft guides of the orator and the hiftorian, have been found to damp the ardour of poetic enthufiafm. The ftyle of Ovid has been accufed of gaudinefs, but it is the exuberance of real rkhnefs; for his ornaments are not produ- ced by labour nor by effort. Spirit, gaiety, and facility, three qualities which never abandon him, conceal occafional negligence and trifling ; and it may more truly be faid of him than of Seneca, that he is " graced by defect," and pleafes even by his faults. His three books of amours, the pro- duction of his youth, have all the frefh- nefs of the age when they were compofed. Though he has not the fenfibility, nor the elegance, nor the precifion of Tibullus, nor the paflion of Propertjus ; though he may be reproached with a frequent repeti- tion of the fan?' ideas, and fometimes with bad ta# it a crowd of ingenious c c 3 thoughts a 390 COMMENTARIES GN thoughts and agreeable images do they contain ! Corinna was the feigned name of his miftrefs, and fome have believed that this |Corinna was no other than Julia the daughter of Auguftus. What pathos i$ there in his complaints, what protections and what oaths ! The next piece, which probably was fent with the other, is addreffed to the chambermaid of whom Corinna was juftly jealous : he accufes her of having given occafion to the fufpicion of her miftrefs ; he reproaches her with blufhing like a child while he gazes at her ; he recals to her memory with what fang-froid he knows how to lie, with what intrepidity he perjures himfelf when under the necef- fity of producing a juftification, and finifhe$ by requefting a meeting with her. In thelc poems he difplays his real character. When he promifes his miftrefs to be conftant, he does not mean to deceive her, but is him- felf deceived. He is a general lover, and his infidelities are as numerous as the ob- jects of his paffion. But |t V * ".rnufing; CLASSICAL LEARNING. 39? paflage of the work is where he complains with an apparent ferioufnefs of his irrefifti- ble propenfity to love. The Art of Love is another well known production of this author. In the firft book he treats of the choice of a miftrefs, in the fecond the means of pleafing and at- taching her. Ovid, fo ardent in his amours, is cold and erroneous in his theory. It is lefs difficult to fucceed in detached pieces than in a regular poem, where the plan muft be preferved from the beginning to the end, and where the fpirit ought to be fuftained throughout. In the firit book, a thoufand verfes are fpent in teaching his difciples how to fearch for a miftiefs. The heart immediately replies, that flie is found without a fearch, and that fuch an arrangement was never made but in the head of a poet. Ovid fends them into public places, temples, ipe&acles, the town, the country, the baths, to find fome one to whom they may ex- prefs their partiality. She will not fall from the clouds, he fays; you muft feekfor c c 4 v her. 39 2 COMMENTARIES ON her. Many trifling circum fiances are in- troduced, and feveral infipid epifodes un- worthy of a didadic poem. The rape of the Sabines, and the fable of Pafiphae, are no very decent examples in proof of the affection of the female fex. The ferious queftion which he agitates, about being at once the lover of the chambermaid and her miftrefs, (hews that his precepts are in con- formity with his example. As 3 poetical fally which evaporates in words, fuch opi- nions may be excufed ; but to reduce them, into pradical dodtrines, is to infult the moral fenfe of decency and decorum. Upon the whole, this part of the work is but a meafured warbling, and djii'coyers the facility of faying nothing in feeble and negligent verfes. The fecond canto begins with a long epifode on the adventure of Daedalus and Icarus, as ill-drawn as thofe which precede it. There is here a queftion about the art of pleafing, in which it rauft be con* fefled that Ovid does not appear in his novitiate. Then follows an epifode of Venus CLASSICAL LEARNING* 393 Venus furprifed with the god Mars, the only one which is to the point, but its beauties are fullied by the objectionable nature of the fubjed. The third book of the Art of Loveispro- fefledly written for the inftrucYion of the fair fex, of whom he wifhes to afk pardon for his infidelities. He teaches them the whole art of deception ; obferves that they are lefs deceitful than men ; and adds, that as they give us arms againft themfelves, it is but juft to furnifh them with weapons pf defence ; that he gives this advice by the Grder of Venus herfelf. He advifes them about their drefs, exhaufts the whole fcience of the toilet, prefcribes bounds to their laughter in fubfervience to the ftate of their teeth, and is remarkably great and deep in trifles. It is, however, impoflible not to render homage to the fertile variety of a writer who applies himfelf to fo many kinds of writing with confiderable fuccefs. Jiis Fafti originally confifted of twelve books, of which only half the number are in our pofleffion. They contain a beautiful defcriptioa 394 COMMENTARIES ON defcription of the ceremonial tranfa&ions of the Romans : and the lofs of the other books has been very generally lamented by fcholars. t The moft pleafing paflages have been faid to be the origin of facrifices, the ad- venture of Lucretia, the feftival of Anna Perenna, the origin of the name of May, and the difpute of the "goddefles for that of June. His Heroics are a fort of amorous epiftles, twenty-one in number ; they have a high degree of poetical enthufiafm, but are indecorous in the general turn of the thought, and grow tirefome from the identity of the fubje£t. Whether it be Penelope to Ulyffes, Dido to -Eneas, Sappho to Phaon, it is the fame as when Phillis complains of Demophon, and other miftreffes of their inconftant lovers. Plaints, reproaches, and regrets are expreffed in very elegant language, but the ear grows weary of the repetition of fuch whining fentiments as have no power to reach and intereft the heart. His CLASSICAL LEARNING. J()jf His Triftia, compofed during his exile, prove that, though his yivacity was gone, Jie retained his genius for poetry. la melancholy but harmonious ftrains he be- wails his unhappy fituation, and depre- cates the rage of the inexorable Auguftus, His elegies are of a fimilar defcription, and that on the death of Tibullus will be efteemed as long as the works of both the ^authors fhall be read. His tragedy of Medea, of which only fragments remain, is mentioned by Quin- tilian as a proof of what his genius could have effected had it been reftrained within $he bounds of decorum. Upon the whole, his praife is that of ta«? lents, learning, and elegance ; his defects, indecency of expreffion, forced conceits, and a profufion of ornament. Such is the poetical character of Ovid in the abftract ; but when placed in contraft with Virgil, Horace, and Tibullus, thefe faults are fo confpicuous as to mark the firft decline of genuine tafte amongft the Romans, UJCAN. 396 COMMENTARIES Otf LUCJN. M. Annseus Lucanus was a Spaniard, a native of Corduba, and born before the middle of the firft century. If it be believed that his talents firft recommended him to the notice of the Emperor Nero, it was probably his flattery of him that facilitated his admiflion to office. Before the time limited by law, he was appointed augur and quacftpr. Buoyed up by this unprecedented fuccefs, and for- getting that tyrants can no more tolerate a fuperior in intelle&ual attainments than in power, he engaged in a literary conteft with his patron. Nero wrote a poem on the fubje<3 of Niobe, Lucan upon that of Orpheus, and his vi&ory over his imperial mafter was the caufe of his ruin. Perceiving himfelf thedeftinedvidtim of refentment, he weakly refolved to furnifh an apology for It, and joined in a hopelefs confpiracy with Pifo, a man whofe virtues attracted the good, and whofe CLASSICAL LEARNING. 397 whofe pliant temper rendered him dear to the voluptuous. After the defeat of Pifo, which termina- ted in his filicide, Lucan had no favour allowed to him but the choice of his death. His veins were opened in a warm bath, and he met his fate with philofophi- cal intrepidity, at the early period of twen- ty-fix years, when health and life are in their meridian. The only relic of his literary reputation is contained in a work written on a fubjefl: better adapted for an epic poem than mod others, and denominated Pharfalia, from the battle which terminated the deadly con- teft between Csefar and Pompey. By fome critics Lucan has been faid to poffefs beauties peculiar to himfelf, and of aconfummate luftre ; that he was verfed in all the learning of his age, and fecond to none in eloquence; that his choice of words is happy, and his expreflion bold and animated ; that there is a dignified tone of gravity and authority in his poem ; that his ftrength is equalled by his imagination, for ggfS COMMENTARIES OH for that the natural warmth arid impetno- fity of his temper ftamp an interesting ehai after on a great part of his work; that he is very fortunate in affecting and engaging the paffions; that his defcriptions are fublime images of the things they re- prefent ; that where he is coricife he is happi- ly fententious ; where diffufe, elegant to a great degree. A clofer and more accurate perufal of Lucanwill probably not juftify fo fplendid an encomium. His poem fo often deviates from the dignity of the epic, that it may rather be confidered as a hiftory in verfe* written certainly with confiderable talent* It is owing to partial traits of force and grandeur rather than of general excel- lence, that it has been faved from obli* vion. While we read Virgil in continuation* it is difficult to read a fingle book of Lu> can. With much fpirit, and even with much genius, it is poffible that an author may be deficient in that art of writing, which has 6 it» CLASSICAL LEARNING. 399 its origin in a natural tafte, and is brought to maturity by labour and by time. Why is Lucan fo little efteemed, notwithftanding the praife wich is generally, and therefore juftly, given to certain parts of the Pharfalia ? It is that his imagination, which is always in fearch of the fublime, is often miftaken in the choice. It is, that it is wholly unac- companied by that found judgment which prevents exaggeration in the painting, in- flation in the ideas, languor and fuperfluity in the details. It has been faid of Lucan, that " he is like the foldier in the ninth br,ok of his Pharfalia, who in paffing the fandy defarts of Africa was bitten by a ferpent, and fwslled. fo much as to be loft in the tu- mours of his own body." When to this it is added, that his verfes are all turned in the fame mould, he may be faid to be equally monotonous to the ear and to the understanding. His beau- ties are fo furrounded and inclofed by his faults, that the reader denies himfelf the pain of fearching for the one on account of the 400 COMMENTARIES ON the difguft which is excited by the other. This afiertion may be corroborated by our recurring to a very remarkable fentence, when Csefar, on his paflage from Epirus to Italy, is affailed by a tempeft, and pro- nounces this famous fentence, addreffed to the trembling pilot : u Why are you afraid ; you carry Cazfar and his for- tune?" The fentiment is fo truly grand and ele- vated, that an accumulation of words can only ferve to weaken it. The poet, on this fine occafion for fublimity, by extrava- gant hyperboles, and an intolerable pro- lixity of detail, deftroys the whole effecT; of the fentence, and difgufls every reader of tafte and feeling. He defcribes a ridi- culous combat of the winds, coldly and unfeafonably perfonified in gigantic bom- baft, which is oppofite both to reafon and to truth. What can be more out of place than that verbofe boafting of Csefar, which is fubftituted for the noble expreflion that hiftory makes him pronounce ? To classical learning: 401 To {hake heaven and earth, to raife all the feas of the globe, to make nature fear- ful of falling into chaos, and all this on account of a boat beaten about on the little fea of Epirus, is a defcription abfolutely falfe in nature, and an unpardonable abufe of figurative language. The tedious re- lation compels us to forget Csefar, and it is Csefar who fhould exclufively occupy our attention. When the fleet of iEneas is aflailed by a tetnpeft, twelve verfes is fufficient for Virgil to give the mod lively and ftriking account of it. A ftorm defcribed with the fame con- cifenefs, energy, and truth, had made every reader tremble for the fate of a great man on the point of feeing one moment of im- prudence annihilate the higheft deftinies. Perhaps the pidure had been more agree- able, if Lucan had employed a fpecies of fi&ion of which he was always too fparing; if he had reprefented Olympus attentive and divided ; the gods obferving whether the foul of Casfar could fuftain a moment of danger and of trial, uncertain if the D D waver, 402 - COMMENTARIES ON waves would not ingulf the threatened mafter of the world, and if Neptune would not efface from the book of fate the day of Pharfalia, and the flavery of Rome. As no fubjecl: can be conceived more capable of elevating the mind, it would have permitted fiction without injuring the veracitv of hiftory. Could not the gods and the Romans have acted together in the fame fcene, and been worthy one of the other ? Could not deftiny have been introduced where the fate of the world was concerned ? The phantom of his country in tears, which appeared to Caefar on the banks of the Rubicon; this fine fi&ion, unhappily the oriy one found in the poem, fufficiently pre vet- what affiftance he could have drawn from fable. Lucan has, however, certain pre-emi- nent beauties in his defcription of charac- ters. Such is the funeral eulogy of Pompey, pronounced by Cato : fuch is the portrait of Cato himfelf, and the account of his marriage CLASSICAL LEARNING. 403 marriage with Marcia ; his march amongft the Africans; and his fine anfwer to the noble fpeech of Latinus upon the orac»e of Jupiter Amnion. But nothing can exceed the portraits of Csefar and Pompey, put in opposition in the firft book, which are written with incomparable tafte. The merit exhibited in thefe portions of the work are great, and has rendered him worthy the regard of pofterity. Quintilian fays that Lucan is to be ranked amongft orators rather than poets. This eulogium on his fpeeches is in a great degree juft; for though they are not wholly exempt from that declamation which injures his ftyle, yet they poffefs real grandeur, and excite fympathetic emo- tion. His fubjecT: prefents him with many circumftances which are fufceptible of the pathetic, but the ftiffnefs of his ftyle re- fufes to admit it. The feparation of Pompey and Cornelia, when he fends her into the Ifle of Lefbos, and the difcourfe which accompanies their adieu, are almoft DD2 the 4^4 COMMENfAlUfcS OM the only inftances in which the poet makeS the epic approach for a moment to drama- tic intereft. His chara&er of C as far, at firft ib ably drawn, is disfigured as the poem proceeds ; which cannot be excufed by his hatred to the oppreffof of liberty* A republican could not pardon Caefar for the foundation of an empire which Nero inherited; but he might have confined him* felf to deploring the perverted ufe of ex- traordinary talents, which he turned againft his country, after having exerted them in its defence. Had he fent back his army before he paffed the Rubicon, he would certainly have been loft. The hatred of his enemies affifted the fortune which led him on. The blind partiality of the fenate in favour of Pompey, the weaknef3 of Csefar in fupporting the idol whom he had raifed, the long hatred of the auftere Cato againft the voluptuous Csefar,. brought into action the beft troops of the republic, whofe every proceeding was an error. The fenate inconfiftently confented to flat- ter the pride of Pompey, who wifbed td be CLASSICAL LEARNING. 405 be the firft in the ftate, while they con- demned the arrogance of Csefar, who re- fufed to be the fecond. This could only end in giving a mafter to Rome. The preference manifefted by the fena- tors in favour of Pompey, arofe, probably, from their political diflike to a leader of the people. The remembrance of the quarrels between Marius and Sylla ought to have animated them in a defire for liberty, and infpired them with a hatred to tyrants. All the propofals made by Caefar before he paffed the Rubicon had very plaufible pretences : to eftablifh equality, and to fecure himfelf againft his enemies. It is not always that political men are ferious in overtures of accommodation. Csefar pro- bably wifhed his propofals to be refufed, and might fecretly have formed his deter- mination to reign ; but he offered to lay down his arms if they would confer upon him the confulfhip and a triumph. Both he had deferved, and the poft was without queftion neceffary for his fecu- D V 3 The 406 > COMMENTARIES ON The jealoufy of Pompey, and the pufilla- nimity of the fenate, concurred in refufing his reafonable demands : and the important refult is known to every one in the lead acquainted with the Roman ftory. The vidory of Dyrrachium encouraged Pompey to fight the Fatal battle of Phar- faiia. Had he pufhed his victory over the veteran legions, Casfar allowed that he would have been undone ; but when in the laft adion he quitted the heights, and defcended into the plain to engage his ad- verfary, this one miitake forfeited forty years of glory. Lucan is unjuft to the perfonal character of Caefar. Hiftory has recorded his cle- mency to the Romans who furrendered to him ; but the poet reprefents him as a fe- rocious and fanguinary tyrant. Lucan perpetually calls for arms againit defpotifm, and implores civil war, as being far pre*- ferable to flavery. Poetry is in general lefs fearful of arbitrary power than elo- quence. Its voice is ufually more confe- crated to pleafure than to inftrudion; to illufion CLASSICAL LEARNING. 407 illufion than to truth ; and its charms may- even have attra&ions for defpots who have tafte. Virgil has prudently abftained from the praifes of liberty, and fatal was the effect of the temerity of Lucan. Let us not, however, imagine that the flavery of Rome gave the final blow to poetry as it did to eloquence. Its decline was the inevitable confequence of its ma- turity. A corruption of genuine tafte and of found principles was the neceffary effect of the inquietude and the feeblenefs of the human mind,, which is not willing to reft contented with what is good, but deviates into boundlefs error, from a fruitlefs fearch aftervifionary p erfecnon. The reign of good emperors, from Nerva to the Antonines, in fome degree revived the fpirit of poetry ; and fome few epic writers give a certain degree of celebrity to their age. C. Silius Italicus was a lawyer of great eminence, who voluntarily retired from his lucrative profeffion, to pay his adora- tion at the fhrine o\ rhe Mufes. D D 4 He 408 COMMENTARIES ON He was confiil in the fixty-eighth year of the firft century, but afterwards lived in privacy, and compofed a Poem, which has reached pofterity, on thefecorid Punic yvar, in feventeen hpoks. In this work, he fcru- puloufly purfues the order and the detail of fadts from the fiege of Saguntum to the defeat of Hannibal, and the fubmiffion of Carthage. He exhibits Juno with her in- veterate hatred againft the defendants of JEneas, and her ancient love for the rival of Rome. The ftyle of this writer is pure, but fo feeble as never to rife to excellence. He has but few verfes worthy to be retained in the memory, and his beft fentiments are but tranferipts from Livy. It Has been obferved, that " his fubjedt was well chofen, and that he poffefled a confiderable fhare of learning, and much knowledge of the human heart. He has alfo fhewn much judgment in the plan and conduct of his work, but he wanted power for the execution." The fire of poetry evaporates with the advance of life, and the ^mam^mm^^^mm CLASSICAL LEARNING. 409 the old man could not rekindle the Pro- methean heat which is neceffary to an epic poem. If he creeps on the ground, he is free from affectation, or obfcurity, or bombaft ; and it has been well obferved, that the poet, who annually facrifice* at the tomb cf Virgil, would have attained a higher re- putation could he have imbibed a portion of the fpirit which belonged to his idol. To avert the evils of a lingering difeafe, he ftarved himfelf in the feventy-fifth year of his age ; and his memory is regarded with that refpedt which is beflowed on niediocrity of talents. VALERIUS FLA CCUS, In the reign of Vefpafian flourifhed Valerius Flaccus, who has left nearly eight books of a poem, on the fubject of the Argonauts. His early death prevented his finifhing a work, which has by fome critics been confidered as next to the iEneid of Virgil. As a writer, he has more animation than Silius, more correctnefs than 4IO COMMENTARIES ON than Statins, and lefs bombaft than Lucan. He has been blamed for having almoft tranflated the Argonautics of Apollonius Rhodius ; wherever he has quitted his ori- ginal, he difplays a genius fuperior to the Greek ; and it is to be lamented, that he who could have invented a plan, would condefcend to imitate an inferior. The ruggednefs of fome of his verfes is com- penfated by the harmony of others. His compofition probably wanted only revifion, to have polfelTed an equal (hare of merit, and to have conferred on its author a higher place amidft the poets of Rome. STATIUS. Near the termination of the firft century, and in the reign of Domitian, Papinius Statius was born at Naples. Time, which has devoured many of the ineftimble works _of the Greek tragedians and the Roman hiftorians, has been more favourable than juft to the works of this author. His Thebaid, in twelve books, is on the fubjecT: of CLASSICAL LEARNING. 4II of the quarrel between Eteocles and Poly- nices, which terminated in the murder of each other. It is well known that they were the fruit of the unhappv m?.rriage of CEdipus With his mother Jobafta; and that it was agreed between them', that, after the death of their father, each thou: J reign alter- nately for a year. That Eteocles, at the expiration of that period, refufed to refign the empire to his brother. That after much bloodihed between the fupporters of each party, it was agreed that they fhould decide the difpute by fmgle combat. In this they both fell; and fable tells that their allies feparated themfelves on the burning pile as if incapable of reconciliation. Thefe wicked men thus accomplished by their crimes that malediction of their father which they merited. Statius wrote alfo another epic poem called the Achilleid ; of which two books are extant, but which were unfinished at his death. It is better written than the Thebai'd, and his ddcription of the beha- viour 412 COMMENTARIES ON viour of Achilles at the feaft made by Ly- comedes for the Grecian ambaffadors has been generally admired. Four books of poems, under the denomination of Sylvse, have likewife defcended to pofterity ; they are fometimes natural, elegant and eafy, but they are in general debafed by florid language, and by a falfe glare. Through a long courfe of ages of igno- rance, chance has preferved fome inferior productions from that duft which ftill covers, and perhaps will eternally cover, many of the moft valuable works of antir quity. On account of his inflated ftyle, and his bad tafte, it is more painful to read Statins than Silius Italicus, though he cer- tainly has more poetical fancy, and though, in the midft of his trifles, there are fome traits of brilliancy. The beft part of the Theba'id is the combat between the two brothers, and the other parts of the eleventh book. This poet enjoy ed 1 during his lift, a great reputation. The art of writing verfes is faid to have been an heir-loom in his family ; that he received it from his father. CLASSICAL LEARNING. 413 father, and livdd to fee his fon receive the laurel crown at the Alban games, as he had done himfelf. Martial tells us, that the whole city was in motion to go and hear him wheri he re- peated his verfes, and that the recital of th£ Thebaid was a feftival for the Romans. But at that period, the public tafte was much depraved ; for, though he has many beautiful expreflions and ftrokes of genius, his ftyle is in general a tifTue of affe&ation and bombaft. The writings of Statius are at this day known only to a few men of letters, whofe curiofity renders them felicitous to be ac- quainted with all that the ancients have left them. At the conclufion of the Thebaid, the poet addrefles his Mufe, and defires her not to pretend an equality with the divine iEneid, but to follow at a refpe&ful dis- tance, and adore the footfteps of its author. His Mufe certainly obeyed him j but ftill he promifes himfelf immortality, and reckons much on the honor which pofterity will 424 COMMENTARIES ON will render him. It would have been more wife in him to reft contented with the ap- plaufe of his own age, than to have appealed to future ones. - Bat he had not fuffieient perfpicuity to fee that he lived in the decline of learning, and his vanity prompted him to believe, that the fhout of ignorance was the trum- pet of fame. CLASSICAL LEARNING* 415 SECTION XIV. Latin Elegy. Ovid, — Catullus. — Tibullus. — Propertius. I he Romans, in elegy and love-verfes, were the imitators of the Greeks; but the originals are unfortunately loft, while the imitations remain. We know very little of the elegies of Callimachus, and nothing of thofe of Phi- letas and Mimnermus, but by the reputa- tion which they had amongft the ancients, and by the favourable teftimonies of the bed critics of antiquity. Although the word is of Greek derivation, and fignifies complaint or lamentation, it has not always been plaintive, but deftined fometimes to the celebration of the gods, fometimes to that of the return or the birth-day of a friend. It has been before mentioned, that the beft elegy extant is that of Ovid on the death of Tibullus \ but both happy and un- 6 happy 4i6 COMMENTARIES ON happy lovers have made it the vehicle of their fenfations* In this clafs of writers, Qui nt trs Vale- rius Catullus is diftinguifhed. He was born at Verona early in the century which preceded the nativity of our Saviour; he died in hisforty-fixth year, and numbered amongft his acquaintance and friends the moft cele- brated literary chara&ers of the age* It has been faid that he borrowed fo largely from Callimachus, as to render it fortunate for his fame that the works of the Grecian poet£ are now only fragments. The late invention of the art of printing, which we have fo much reafon to deplore, may have prevented the dete&ion of many plagiarifms of which we are not aware. Catullus fometimes profefledly tranflated from Callimachus. The tranflation of the Coma Berenice has been faid to retain all the fpirit and to convey all the beauties of the original poem. His epigrams have by fome been thought to poflefs particular ex- cellence, and to furpafs thofe of Martial, and every other writer of that inferior fpe- 2 cies CLASSICAL LEARNING. 417 cies of poetry. By others they have been confidered as unworthy of his talents ; and as a proof of the aflertion, it has been re- corded that Casfar took no other revenge on him for an attack upon himfelf than by inviting him to fupper. This argument, however, feems not to poffefs any confi- derable weight, fince the motive which actuated the inviter is at leaft problema- tical. The verfes on Lefbia's fparrow, and the epithalamium of TheKrs and Peleus, {hew that the genius of Catullus, which excelled in graceful fubje&s, could elevate itfelf to the fublime of paffion. The epifode of Ariadne abandoned by the ungrateful The- feus in the ifle of Naxos, is among the few pieces of the ancients in which not the lover but love itfelf is made to fpeak. The author of the iEneid has from this poem borrowed not only ideas and expreffions, but even entire verfes ; and Ariadne has been the handmaid who has decorated the Dido of Virgil. Such a writer would have reached the fummit of Parnaflus, had he E E been 418 COMMENTARIES OH been endued with a fufficient fhare of pa- tience to ftruggle for fame by the rugged acclivities of labour. But Catullus was fond of pleafure and of travel, both which are hoftile to the leifure and the retirement fo neceflary to men of letters. On the marriage of his friend Manlius he wrote a charming poem, which is an inftance to prove that however common or trite the fubject, genius makes every thing appear comely and new. Catullus was born in poverty, but the generofity of friends exalted him to affluence. His writ- ings which have reached us are few ; but lefs than a hundred pages dictated by fuch talents, have ferved to render their author a refpe&able claffic. His compofitions, at once fimple but elegant, are the offspring of the moft luxuriant imagination; and the fuccefsful imitator of the Greek writers would have obtained a higher reputa- tion, had the delicacy of his expreffions always correfponded with the purity of his ltyie. CLASSICAL LEARNING. 419 TIBULLUS. Aulus Albius Tibullus was a Roman knight, the contemporary and friend of Ovid, who willingly refigned the toils of war for the indulgence of literary eafe and indolence. Poets are not always remarkable for prudence. Had he imitated the pliability of Virgil, his lands forfeited under the triumvirate might perhaps have been re- flored to him by Auguftus. He has left four books of elegies, which announce him as the poet of fentiment, and the prince of that fpecies of verfe. His ftyle is fo ele- gant, his tafte fo pure, and his compofition fo irreproachable as to render him fuperior to all his rivals. He has alfo a fecret charm of expreffion which tranflation can- not reach, but which can only be under- ftood by the heart. He had a particular tafte for thofe rural delights which fo well accord with the paffion of love. Tibullus fings of more E E 2 than 420 COMMENTARIES ON than one miftrefs ; Delia is the firft objed of his affe&ion, and infpires the fweeteft of his fongs ; but Nemefis and Neaera replace her in their turns. He had the happy art of attaching thofe to whom he was himfelf attached ; the two former attended his funeral, and exhibited unequivocal teftimo- nies of genuine forrow : they were both courtezans ; but at Athens and at Rome there were fome of this defcription who held a diftinguifhed rank, not only by their underftanding, but by their fidelity to a fingle object. It has been faid, that " a gentle folem- nity, a pleafing languor, and an indulgence in melancholy, are the true and genuine fpirit of elegy ; complaint is almoft its natural language, and if love under what- ever circumflances commands its voice, it is becaufe love is the fofteft of all paflions, and is too often unhappy." If this be a true definition of elegy, Tibullus deferves the palm of unrivalled excellence. Though gentle, he is not dull ; though humble, he is not mean. The fympathy CLASSICAL LEARNING. 421 fympathy of the reader ever attends him ; and the labour of production was to him a new enjoyment, becaufe it was the delight- ful tafk of painting the fcenes through which he had paffed. He fpeaks to our fouls when he defcribes his own, and is almoft the only poet who has been able to arrive at fame by finging of his pleafures. PROPERTIUS. The third candidate for fame as a writer of elegies amongft the Romans was Sextus Amelius Propertius, defcended from an Equeftrian family, and refembling Virgil in being admitted to the favour of the em- peror, although his father had been the friend of Antony. Propertius was a man of confiderable learning, and in the four books of elegies which have reached pofterity, he has been blamed for fuch a perpetual ufe of mytho- logy, that his citations from fable are faid to refemble more the common-places of a poet than the addreffes of a lover. One E E 3 thing 422 COMMENTARIES ON thing is remarkable in his works, that he 13 the only writer of amatory vejrfes who has celebrated but one miftrefs. He often tells Cynthia, who was a Roman lady of di- ftinguifhed beauty, that {lie fhall ever be the object of his fongs, and he keeps his word with her. Not that his heart was as conftant as his Mufe ; for, like Ovid, he avows himfelf in pradice to be a general lover : he even confeffes to Cynthia, that he has fome partiality for Lycinna ; but fo little, fo very little, that it is not worth the mentioning. If we are to judge of Cynthia by the portrait which he draws of her, it muft be confeiTed that fhe does not appear to de^ ferve much fidelity. No woman furely had ever fo eager a difpofition to torment a lover, and no lover ever appeared fo un- happy, or fo much lamented his fate, as Properties. But his chara&er, as it refpe&s his attachment, is fometimes found in common life ; for after all the reproaches with which he loads his miftrefs for her pride, her cruelty, and caprice, he always concludes, CLASSICAL LEARNING. 423 concludes with an entire resignation to her will. He murmurs at the yoke, but ftill it is fo dear to him that he wifhes to fuftain it for ever. His confiant alternations of praife and of reproach fhew us that the different feelings of his mind were in complete fubfervience to the ficklenefs of her conduct. Some- times fhe is a goddefs, at other times far below humanity. Now he attributes to her all the frefhnefs of youth ; now he tells her fhe is already antiquated. After five years of impatient endurance of her tyranny he breaks his chains, and his adieus are imprecations in every poffible form. The reader doubts, and the lady probably doubted the fincerity of his difguft, for in- difference is never violent. ► This refolution, however, clofes the third book, but Cynthia re-appears in the fourth; and confident of her power, comes to fearch for her flave at a country houfe where he was at fupper with two of his rivals. Her fury terrifies his companions, who leave him to fettle the quarrel with- E E 4 OUt 4H COMMENTARIES ON out their affi fiance. Cynthia having beaten him well, confents to pardon him only on thefe hard conditions : that he will never walk under Pompey's portico ; that he will not go into the country in an open carriage ; and that at the public fpeclacles, he will always keep his eyes fixed on the ground. To all this Propertius fubfcribes ; and the amorous flave only revenges him- felf by new and vain imprecations. The diftinguiming quality of his verfe is fpirit, and Ovid has well chara&erifed it when he talks of the fires of Propertius. " No man was ever fuch a lover ; he burns in every line ; his paflion is as earneft and vehment as that of Tibullus is foft and gentle. But he cannot be entitled to the prize which was contended for by the three writers of Roman elegy ; for his learning fometimes renders him abftrufe, and his ftyle is by no means devoid of affe elation." Forty years were an early but not a premature termination of a life fo harafied by the ferocity and abfurdities of an arbi- trary woman. The CLASSICAL LEARNING. 425 The verfes which defcribe thefe tumults of paflion have fufficient merit to gratify our curiofity; but as they produce no refpedt for the virtues of the imperious miftrefs, they excite no pity for the mif- foxtunes of the pufillanimous lover. 642 COMMENTARIES OK SECTION XV, Martial. — Aufonius, — Claudia?, , -Martial was a Spaniard, and born at Bilbilis about thirty years after Chrift, As foon as he arrived at manhood he re- paired to Rome, By his talents and flat- tery he recommended himfelf to the Em- peror Domitian, After his death he fati- rized his benefactor ; and being difappoim> ed in his hope of gaining the favour of his fucceffor he returned to his native coun- try, and died there at the age of feventy-* five. He has left fourteen books of epigrams ; and fo prolific was his mufe, that fhe js faid to have produced no fewer than twelve hundred, three-fourths of which might well have been fupprefTed. They have come down to us in the beft order, as he himfelf arranged them ; and they CLASSICAL LEARNING. 427 they retain the dedications at the head of each book. If this be a fubj eel: of congratu- lation to the learned, it will certainly not confole them for the lofs of fo many of the works of Livy, Salluft, and Tacitus. Epigram is ftyled by Dryden the loweft fort of poetry ; and it has been faid that Martial, at the bottom of the hill, diverts himfelf with gathering flowers, and fol- lowing infects very prettily. If he made a new year's gift, he fent with it a diftich. If a friend died, he wrote an epitaph. If a ftatue was erected, he wrote an inferip- tion. If he wifhed to pleafe the great, his ftyle was turned to panegyric. The firft book is indeed entirely a pane- gyric on Domitian, againft whom it would be more agreeable to perufe a fatire. Then follow extravagant praifes on the wonderful fpeclacles which he exhibited to the people. This fhews what importance the Romans attached to this fpecies of magnificence, and at the fame time how difficult it was to flatter this matter paffion of the empe- ror. 428 COMMENTARIES ON ror. Martial is often extremely reprehen- fible in the choice of his fubje£t, and gives fccpe to an imagination not reftrained by judgment or decorum. Sometimes he wearies the reader with the prolixity or ambiguity of his preambles. In giving praife and cenfure he appears to be go- verned more by prejudice or policy than by juftice and truth ; and he is more at- tentive to wit than to morals. But his compofition has extraordinary merit. It is in general both corredt and elegant; and his fancy is prolific of beautiful images. In attic wit he furpafles every other wri- ter, and is familiar with every kind of verfe. Pliny the younger obferves of him, that perhaps his writings may not obtain im- mortality, but that he wrote as if he was convinced that they deferve it. The opinion of critics on the fubjed of Roman poetry has been this — that from the firft Punic war to the time of Auguftus, that is, in the days of its youth, it was ftrong CLASSICAL LEARNING. 429 ftrong and nervous, but not beautiful ; in the Auguftan age it combined both, was manly and polite ; from the beginning of Nerva's reign to the end of Adrian's, taw- dry and feeble . It is a fufficient proof of the decline of learning, and of tafte in the latter period, when we are told that Virgil and Horace were dethroned from their legitimate feat of empire in the public opinion, and that Lucan and Perfius were the ufurpers, who feized the fceptre, and reigned without controul in their flead. AUSONIUS. Aufonius lived in the fourth century, and was preceptor to Gratian. By the intereft of his royal pupil he was advanced to the confulfhip. In ancient times the poet and the ftatefmen were frequently combined, but in modern ones the phenomenon would be very extraordinary. No one excels Aufonius in imagination or invention, in ftrength of language or 8 in 430 COMMENTARIES 6N in keenefs of wit. But his faults at leaf! counterbalance his merit; for his fancy* which is inexhauftible, is never chaftifed by a fenfe of propriety or decorum. His language is inelegant, and the inequality of his pieces is the confequence of negligence, an unpardonable fault in a writer. He who prefumes to folicit the public attention, ought certainly to omit no means in hi& power to deferve it ; and the ufeful qualities of diligence and accuracy, give refpe&a- bility to moderate talents and atone for many defefts in compofition. It Ihould feem as if it had been impofli- ble to corrupt the chaftity of Virgil's mufe ; but the ill-placed induftry of Aufonius has efFe&ed this unjuftifiable purpofe, and his Cento Nuptialis will be an eternal mo- nument of his difgrace. CLAUDIAK Towards the end of the fourth century, and in the reign of Honorius and Ar- cadius, Claudian wrote feveral poems, 9 which CLASSICAL LEARNING. 43X which are fcarcely worthy the name of epic. His Rape of Proferpine flood higheft in his own efteem, and the opinion of critics has confirmed the judgment which he formed of it. But genius not under the guidance of difcretion, is ever found to be equally dangerous in writing and in con- duct. His flights are often extravagant although beautiful, and his figures are too bold to be endured by the lovers of correct compofition. The purity of his language and the melody of his numbers, obtained him the praife of Scaliger. Of wit he has the hap- pieft vein ; and it is a fubjedt both of fur- prife and concern, that as the latter part of his life was paffed in retirement and lite- rary eafe, he did not employ it in cor- recting the inequalities of his work, and weighing them by that ftandard of tafte .of which, from his admiration of Virgil, he f ia portions punifhments to offences. This code of laws, worthy of eulogy in many other refpects, allowed that a Ro- man citizen who condemned himfelf to exile, fhould be confidered as fufficiently punifhed. Verres, having in his exile led a miferable life, returned during the pro- fcriptions of Octavius and Antony ; but imprudently refufing to prefent the latter with the beautiful Corinthian vafes and Grecian flatues, the relics of his Sicilian plunder, CLASSICAL LEA.RNING. 445 plunder, he was placed amidft the number of the prescribed, and perimed together with the innocent and virtuous. The hiflcry of the Catiline confpiracy is fo well known, that perhaps wearinefs may- attend the repetition of it ; but if we would thoroughly appreciate the fpeeches of Cicero, we muft recur to the fituation of the republic at the time. The ancient fpirit of Rome no longer ^xifted. The degradation of the mind followed the corruption of the manners. Marius and Sylla had proved, that the Ro- mans could endure tyrants. Love of li- berty, and the laws founded on equality, could not fubfifi: with that monftrous power, and thofe enormous riches of which the conqueft of fo many countries had put the Romans in poffeffion. Julius Caefar, fufpe&ed of being a party in the confpi- racy, hurt at the pre-eminence of Pompey, and the predilection, which the fenate had fhewn him, thought only of reviving- the fpirit of Marius. Pompey, without afpir- ing publicly to the tyranny, wifhed that the troubles, 44-6 COMMENTARIES ON troubles and diforders arifing from the fac- tious difpofition, which reigned throughout the ftate, might reduce the Romans to the neceflity of placing themfelves under his protection, by naming him Dictator. The great, to whom the fpoils . of the three parties were infufficient for their luxury and defires, feared every thing that might reprefs their exactions, and raife the authority of the laws. A fmall number of citizens, with Cicero at their head, fufiained the republic when on the brink of ruin, and became the objects of declared or concealed hatred to aH, who were interefted in the overthrow of the ftate. In this fortunate conjuncture, Catiline formed his well-known project. Of the four fpeeches of Cicero againft him, there are two particularly deferving our admira- tion, fmce it is evident from the circum- ftances, that the orator had fcarcely any time to prepare them. Hiftorians tell us in what way he preferred his fpeeches, which were made upon the fpur of the oc- cafioiu CLASSICAL LEARNING. 447 cafion. He was accuftomed to place fhort- hand writers in the fenate, who wrote al- mofl as fad as he fpoke. That art, fo early invented, was afterwards loft ; but the in- vention, renewed in our days, belongs to Cicero. Some perfons not well acquainted with Roman manners and the hiftory of the times, have been furprifed that the Conful did not immediately arrefl: Catiline, after the clear information of the confpiracy given him by Fulvia. The decree of the fenate had furnifhed him with the power ; but the whole body of the nobles, jealous to an excefs of their privileges, would have revolted, if he had deprived a patrician of his liberty, not only unconvicted but unac- cufed. In his addrefs to the criminal in the fenate, u How long, O! Catiline, will you abufe our patience ?" we recog- nize the orator and the ftatefman. It is a moft pleafing reflection to the hiftorian, whenever an inftance occurs in which the delineation of genius is at the fame 44-8 COMMENTARIES ON fame time the record of virtue; but the honour apparently attributable to Cicero is in no fmall degree fullied, when we recoi- led: that there was a time, when he had refolved to defend Catiline, in order to ob- tain the confulfhip the more eafily ; " That if he obtained his acquittal, he might be the more ready to ferve him in their com- mon petition." When, however, Cicero had determined to take the better part, his conduct in a difficult conjuncture is worthy of the greateft praife. Salluft, whofe enmity to him is evident, fpeaks of the elegant fpeech pronounced on the occafionby Cicero, which he afterwards published. This procured an almoft unani- mous fentence of death to be given by the fenate againft the confpirators, which was executed immediately. " They have lived," were the few words which were ufed by the conful to the affembled partizans of the confpira- tors, by which he for ever damped all their hopes CLASSICAL LEARNING. 449 hopes of fuccefsful rebellion, and difperfed them in an inftant with amazement and terror. It was night, and Cicero was conducted home by the principal men of the city, and amidft the acclamations of all the people. They placed flambeaux at the gates of their houfes to light him on his way. The women from the windows fhewed him to their children as he pafled. Some time after, Cato before the people, and Ca- tulus in the fenate decreed him the name of " Father of his country f* a. glorious title, which, in after-times, adulation at- tached to the imperial dignity, but which Rome, while free, fays Juvenal, gave to no one but Cicero. It would be a fruitlefs tafk to refer to his various orations, of which the text carries its own comment to fcholars, and which the induftry and talents of Middle- ton have placed in fo favourable a light before the Englilh reader ; but it is impof- fible not to hint at his defence of Mursena, G G which 450 COMMENTARIES ON which not only fhews the flexibility of his genius, difplays the ardour of his friend- fhip, and the purity of his eloquence, but ftrikes us with aftonifhment, if we con- fider the moment, when it was underta- ken. At a period, when one fliould think, that the danger of the ftate would fully occupy his mind, fince he was engaged in watch- ing every ftep of the confpiracy fo clofely, that he could with difficulty allow himfelf any hours of fleep, did he find leifure to oppofe Cato and Sulpicius, and to become the ftrenuous and fuccefsful advocate of Muraena. While we fee the great orator, pafling from the fublime to the fimple, and ex- hibiting fo adroitly all the chara&eriftics proper to that kind of compofition, his art of difcuffion, his choice of examples, his agreeablenefs of turn, his delicacy and plea- fantry, are infinitely more worthy our ad- miration, if we confider, that they were difplayed amidfi: forced intervals and paufes of CLASSICAL LEARNING. 45 I of anxiety and apprehenfion for the exift- ence of the republic. Cicero exhibited much refolution in his fpeeches againft Antony, who was no lefs an enemy of the ftate than of himfelf. They were fourteen in number, and he called them Philippics, becaufe they had it for their object to animate the Romans againft Antony, as Demofthenes animated the Athenians againft Philip. The fecond was particularly famous amongft the Romans, and pafled for a di- vine work, for fo Juvenal denominates it. Although never fpoken, it was publifned in Rome and Italy, and read with avidity. Antony never pardoned the author, and this was the principal caufe of his death. Cicero cannot be reproached with being wanting to his duty at the truly lament- able period, when Antony was all-power- ful. " When young, I defended the republic ; I will not abandon it in my old age. I have braved the fword of Catiline 5 I will riot tremble at yours !" G c 2 But 45^ COMMENTARIES ON But intrepidity was not his permanent chara&eriftic. When the enmity of Clo- dius produced his banilhrrent, even his panegyrifts blufh at his pufillanirnous de- fpondence. .He, who had eagerly ftolen every moment in his power from his pro- feffional purfuits to refrefh himfelf with the elegant repaft afforded him by the per- ufal of the Greek authors, might furely in his misfortunes have derived from them the fame rational entertainment: he who, when at Athens, faid, that there were many things, which he never could have borne, had he not taken refuge in the port of Phi- lofophy, with his friend Atticus, the compa- nion and partner of his ftudies, ought furely, in his folitude, to have (Jrawn confolation from fimilar refearches : but his mind was deftitute of that firmnefs which renders men fupe-rior to adverfe fortune ; and in a letter to Terentia during his exile, he be- wails his unhappinefs, and confefles, that it is the effecl: of his cowardice. In the civil war between Pompey and Caefar, the fame imbecility difgraced him. I His CLASSICAL LEARNING, 453 His irrefolution, in his letters tc \tticus, is in no fmall degree reproachful to hi : for who, that pretends to the character of a patriot fhould hefitate in the choice of his party, when he perceives, that on the one fide is all the juftice, and on the other all the power ? His attachment to Pompey was undoubted ; and it is no apology for repairing fo late to his camp, that he had perfpicacity enough to forefee the iffue of the conteft. When the day of Pharfalia decided the victory againft his friends, prudence might induce him to abftain from any far- ther unavailing oppofition to the conque- ror : but it furnilhes no eulogium upon a man, whofe life was already turned of fixty, that he compofed a poem in honour of Gasfar, for the paltry purpofe of retaining the provinces of the Gauls. How feeble was the energy of that virtue which could not reprefs the proftitution of his talents but evaporated in a dishonourable confef- fion, " that he found it difficult to digefl the meannefs of recantation !" a g 3 With 454 COMMENTARIES ON With juft fentiments, but wavering re- folution, no one in high ftations can be truly great. Cicero is not a fingle inftance to prove the truth of this affertion. The future hiftorian of our own country may find perhaps a parallel example, and per- ceive that, in lefs perilous conjunctures, perfonal intrepidity has been fometimes wanted to give dignity and refpedT: to genius the moft refined and attainment? the moft extenfive. Allow to Cicero all the attraction in the character of Csefar, arifing from a fimilarity in their tafte, as men of letters, or a ftronger argument deducible from his artful and mild demeanour, which might excite fome hope, that he would reftore the republic ; yet if thefe would have furnifhed a vindication of forbear- ance, they will not fuftain any apology for adulation. If this queftion did not bring its own fo- lution, the difpofition of Cicero is clearly evinced, when placed in contraft with that of Brutus, by a reference to their cor- refpondence CLASSICAL LEARNING. ' 455 refpondence refpe&ing O&avius. In this it muft be confefled, that the one difcovers himfelf a time-ferving politician, the other a bold and unyielding republican. If honefty be policy, cunning is not wif- dom ; Odtavius felt no fcruple to give up dubious adherent to the refentment of a powerful colleague ; and the fugitive could fcarcely hope to redeem the errors of a life, advanced to its grand climacteric, by meeting with apparent calmnefs the irre- fiftible ftroke of the aflaffin. If the conduct of Cicero be a proof of the weaknefs of human nature, his works are a fplendid atteftation of the powers of the human mind. Livy fays that, to praife Cicero, the panegyrift muft be another Cicero ; and in the time of Quintilian, his name was given to any one whom they wifhed to defignate as fupremely eloquent. Ages have ratified the cuftom, and immor- talized the orator. It would be abfurd to revive the much- contefted queftion refpe&ing the fnperio- rity of the Greek or Roman orator, which g g 4 at 456 COMMENTARIES ON at laft will be decided by the varying tafte of different readers. We cannot judge by the inftantaneous effe&s of their eloquence upon the audience; but Philip and iEfchines, Antony and Catiline, beft knew its force. Both had the fame fuccefs, both exercifed the fame empire over the foul. Perhaps the powers of each were beft fuited to the conjunctures, which called them into action. It is a melancholy, but an inconteftable truth, that the troubles of a ftate are favour* able to the orator: but, as the art of medi- cine would be of no avail but for difeafes ; fo, if eloquence be fubfervient to the paf- fions, it is eloquence alone which can com- bat them. The different chara£ter of the Greeks and Romans may furnilh us with an argu- ment to evince the parallel merit of De- mofthenes and Cicero in the mode of fpeaking, which each of them adopted. In Athens there was but one power, that of the people : it was an abfolute democracy. The Athenians were fickle, carelefs, fond of repofe, idolaters of pleafure, confident of their CLASSICAL LEARNING. 457 their power, and jealous of their glory. They required to be ftrongly excited ; and the natural talents of Dernofthenes were of neceffity modified by the knowledge, which he had of his hearers. His object, there- fore, was to ftrike the inattentive multitude with violence, well knowing that if he gave them time to breathe, or to repofe on the agreeablenefs of ftyle, or the beauties of di&ion, all would be loft. " By the advice of Dernofthenes, the people of Athens re- folve and decree," is the common formulary preferved in the hiftorians of Greece. It was not the fame at Rome ; there was a diverfity of powers, and a complication of interefts to be managed. Although the fovereignty refided, in fact, in the people, without being fo eftabliihed in theory, the adminiftration was in the fenate, except where the tribunes carried an affair before the affembled people and caufed a plebi- fcitum to pafs. As law required the concurrence of the two orders, hence frequent difputes arofe between them. The Romans were more ferious, 458 COMMENTARIES ON ferious, more refleding, more moral, thai* the Athenians 5 at no time would they have borne the reproofs which Demofthenes lavifhed without fcruple, Cato alone in- dulged himfelf in them, and they excufed it on account of his ftoicifm and his virtue. A difference in the auditory muft produce a difference in eloquence. The two charaaeriftics of Cicero, as an orator, are infinuation and ornament, for he had to manage both the fenate and the people. Quintilian calls him the great com- mander of the human affections. Pliny admires the man who could perfuade the multitude to give up their bread, their pleafure, and their injuries, to the charms of his eloquence. After the conqueft of Greece, an ornate ftyle acquired irrefiftible attractions at Rome, in proportion as tafte and luxury began to prevail. They attached a great value to di&ion above all other qualities at the bar, where the pleadings were pro- longed as much for the amufement as for the inftrudion of the audience; fo that Cicero CLASSICAL LEARNING. 459 Cicero applied more care than Demofthenes to richnefs of expreffion, becaufe it was expected of him. Lovers of Atticifm have reproached him with a profufion of orna- ment, and Quintilian, his paffionate ad- mirer, felt himfelf obliged to juftify him on that point, The gravity of fenatorial debate would not bear all that vehemence, which was ne- ceftary to Demofthenes, in his harangues before the people, to fix their attention; and the Philippics of Cicero are, on this account, lefs animated than thofe of the Greek orator. Except in a few inftances, he feferved the thunders of his eloquence for the judi- cial contefls. There he had a career pro- portioned to the abundance and the variety of his means. This was the triumph of his talents. But even in this point he dif- fered from Demofthenes, who flew directly at his enemy, always attacking and ftriking; in lieu of which, Cicero makes a formal fiege, prepares himfelf for all events, and furrounds 460 COMMENTARIES ON furrounds his enemy on every fide, until he crufhes him. It has been obferved by Dr. Middlcton, fays Defcartes. The veneration of Cicero for the divine Plato was profound; it is therefore no won- der, that he fhould concur with him on this mod important fubje£t. In his excellent treatife on the nature of the Gods, the intention is to prove the ex- iftence of a Providence, and to juftify his ways ; to ridicule and refute all the dogmas of thofe philofophers, who either difbelieved the creative power of a Supreme Being, or who pourtrayed their deities, more abfurd and more vicious than human beings. Amongft the ancient moral treatifes, none is better adapted to the perufal of youth than that on the various duties of man. His treatifes on old age and friendfhip meet a panegyrift in every reader. The 1 1 former CLASSICAL LEARNING. 463 former is moft particularly attractive, and would almoft make old age defirable, Cicero was, and had a friend ; his letters to Atticus atteft this truth. Here we find the chara&eriftics of true friendfhip accurately- traced, the b eft precepts for the prefervation of it inculcated, and the odious fentiment of an ancient expofed, who faid, that " we ought to love, as if we muft one day hate." Cicero carried -his refearches into the re- gions off philofophy, and ably conducted the moft abftrufe queflions of moral and metaphyfical fcience. As a philofopher, his mind was clear, capacious, penetrating, and infatiable of knowledge. As a writer, he was endowed with every talent that could captivate either the tafte or the judgment. The being of a God, the immortality of the foul, a future ftate of rewards and pu- nifhments, and the eternal diftinclion of good and ill, thefe were the fubjecls of his inquiries, and he has placed them in a more convincing point of view than they were ever reprefented to the Pagan world. His arguments, diction, zeal, and eloquence, place 464 COMMENTARIES ON place him on the fummit of human cele- brity. " The letters of Cicero, of which there are four hundred to Atticus, are all written in the genuine fpirit of the beft epiftolary compofition ; familiar, but ele- vated, eafy but elegant, they difplay him in the focial relations, — a warm friend, a zealous patron, a tender hufband, affec- tionate brother, indulgent father, and a kind mafter ; they exhibit an ardent love of liberty and the conftitution of his country, much interefting defcription of private life, and of public tranfa&ions and characters." To the lover of eloquence copious and diffufe, Cicero will (land without a rival ; to him, whom a ftyle of energy and com- preffion captivates, the Grecian orator will - appear tranfcendent in dignity and in fame: but every candid critic, and every man of modefty and decorum will allow, that egotifm and vanity have debafed the high attainments, and fullied the fplendid pages of the Roman orator. CLASSICAL LEARNING, 465 SECTION XVII. Roman Moralijls and 'didactic Writers.— Seneca*-? £>)uintUian, — Pliny the Younger. Jaoman eloquence, precipitated in the fate of Roman liberty, was deprived of its dignity, elevation, energy, boldnefs, and importance. It would not fhew itfelf in the affemblies of a people, who had no longer any power; and in the delibera- tions of the fenate, it could only be difplay- ed in humility and adulation. The tribunals of juftice were no longer worthy of its voice, fince the public judg- ments had loft their credit and their ma- jefty, where they difcuffed only petty interefts, and where all the reft depended upon the will of an individual. A free ftate is the proper field of elo- quence. It produces antagonifts, con- lefts, dangers, and triumphs. Men take H h their 466 COMMENTARIES ON their rank according to their faculties and their merit. Under an arbitrary govern- ment, civil and political life cannot be com- pared to a broad road, where every man may endeavour to out-ftrip his competi- tor ; but to a narrow defile, where every one marches in filence and with cautious fteps. Such was the condition of the Romans after the time of Auguftus ; whofe reign afforded a brilliant epoch of the perfe&ion of tafte in language, and in the fine arts, but faw true eloquence expire with the repub- lic and with Cicero. SENECA. There are generally reckoned three ages in Latin letters : that of Ennius, Accius, Pacuvius, and Cato the cenfor, when the language was yet rude, as the manners of the people were grofs ; that of the Grac- chi, who were the firft, that tempered the Roman rufticity by the politenefs of Greek learning; and finally, that of Cicero, in which CLASSICAL LEARNING. 467 which are comprized Craffiis, Antony, Csefar, and Hortenfius, but the great orator gives a name and celebrity to the epoch. L. Annjeus Seneca was a Spaniard, educated at Rome, where his father be- came one of the equeftrian order. He was a lawyer of confiderable eloquence, but, from a fear of the jealoufy of the emperor Caligula, relinquifhed his profef- fionj and, after he had been chofen Qusef- tor, was banifhed to Corfica, on a charge of too great intimacy with Julia Livilla the daughter of Germanicus and Agrippina. After the death of the former, and the marriage of the latter with the Emperor Claudius, Seneca was recalled, and appoint- ed preceptor to her fon Nero. In fuch a reign, it is not likely that the precepts of a philofopher could be tolerated. An idle pretence of his having engaged in a confpiracy enabled his pupil, then become Emperor, to command him to deftroy him- felf ; and the calmnefs with which he re- ceived the mandate, and the confolation, with which he encouraged his friends du- H H 2 " ring 468 COMMENTARIES ON ring the lingering procefsof his death, firft unfuccefsfully attempted by the opening of his veins, then by a draught of poifon, and at laft effe&ed by the fuffocation of a ftove, have rendered him an objeft of pity and refpect. He died before he had completed the fifty-third year of his age. His writ- ings are on moral topics; and he is juftly admired for his refined fentiments and virtuous precepts. It is faid by a panegyrift, " that no man ever produced greater or jufter maxims. His concifenefs imprints them on the memory, and their number is not fuperior to their value. In the character of a true moralift, he furpafTes all the heathens." His firft work is on Anger, addreffed to Novatus; he argues ftrenu- oufly againft it, in oppofition to the Peripatetics, and urges the retraining of It* His fecond treatiie is on Confolation, addreffed to his mother Helvia, in his ba- nifhrnent, fuggefting every poffible argu- ment in its favour. A treatife on Provi- vidence, in which he vindicates its exift- 1 enco CLASSICAL LEARNING. 469 cnce and the exiftence of evil, is conduct- ed with great force of argument. The trad on Tranquillity of Mind, though con- fufed in the arrangement, contains a variety pf juft obfervations. The difcourfe on the Conftancy of a Wife Man is his beft. That on Clemency, addreffed to the Emperor, is worthy of a perufal ; and thofe on the Shortnefs of Human Exiftence and on a Happy Life, are truly admirable. He had originally been a difciple of the ftoic phi- lofophy ; but a fear of perfonal fafety, which was endangered by the threats of Tiberius againft all thofe who abftained from the ufe of meat, induced him to relax in his feverity. As long as adulation could ferve his purpofe, Seneca pra&ifed it without bounds ; but found, as flatterers have often done, that tyrants are not only cruel but capricious. Nothing perhaps is more dangerous in a writer than genius without genuine tafte. The rays of light w r hich he carnally emits ftrike every beholder. The mifts which obfcure him are remarked but by a few. h h 3 As 470 COMMENTARIES ON As Seneca was endowed by nature with more fpirit than genuine talents, he was more interefted in decrying ancient elo- quence than in endeavouring to excel it. He did not ceafe, fays Quintilian, to de- claim againft thofe great models ; becaufe he perceived that his own manner of writ- ing was very different from theirs, and that his glittering fententious ftyle, pof- feffing the charm of novelty, had a pro- digious vogue with the Romans while his favour at court and his fortune continued to encreafe. To be in the falhion it was necefTary to write like Seneca. His letters to Lucilius on moral and philofophical fubjeds have nothing of epif. tolary eafe, but are replete with rheto- rical, and fometimes with puerile declama- tion. The turn of his thoughts is frequently forced, obfcure, tortured, and afFe£ted. All thefe vicious qualities are to be found in his pages; but ftill the thoughts are in- genious, and the moral, like that of the ftoics, 13 noble and elevated. It teaches a con- ii CLASSICAL LEARNING. 47I a eontempt both of life and death, tends to exalt human beings above tranfitory objects, and to place virtue above all things. But ftill the warmth of Seneca is that of the head, rather than of the heart. He is the rhetorician of the portico ; Cicero the orator of morality. Their object is the fame, and their principles are coincident ; but, fuch is the difparity in their manner, that the academician has more real effect than the ftoic. The fage of Cicero is a man, that of Seneca a chimera. In his philofophical notions, there is neither connexion, clearnefs, nor precifion. He is a ftoic who acknowledges no other good than virrue ; he is a materialift who declares that good to be a body. The paffions alter the features of the counte- nance, and therefore the paffions are cor- poreal. The virtues ad: by contact with the body ; courage impels, moderation reftrains : therefore the virtues are mecha- nifm, and mechanifm is body. The good of the body is corporeal, the good of man is the good of the body ; therefore good is H H 4 corporeal. 472 COMMENTARIES ON corporeal. Such is the inconfequential reafoning of Seneca, It is ftrangethat a man who had accefs to the writings of Plato, Ariftotle, and Cicero, who might have learned even from Pythagoras, that the foul in us is like har- mony in inftruments, the refult of founds, of meafure and motion, fhould have pro- fited fo little by lights which had been fo generally difFufed. The mod accredited philofophers had believed that fpirit and matter, the foul and the body, were two fubftances neceflfarily heterogeneous. Four hundred years had elapfed fince Ariftotle had diftinguifhed the fubftances and the modes, the fubje&s and the attributes of being; and the ignorance of Seneca on this fubjecl: cannot therefore be excufed like his ignorance in phyfics, which has its apology in the fmall progrefs that fcience had made at that period. Seneca has, however, a fpecies of ener- getic di&ion occafionally, of which the following paflage is an example : " The death of Callifthenes is an eter- nal ftain upon Alexander, which neither his CLASSICAL LEARNING. 473 his courage nor his military exploits will ever efface. When they fay that he has deftroyed thoufands of Perfians ; we will anfwer, and Callifthenes : when they fay that he has deftroyed Darius, the fovereign of a powerful empire ; we will anfwer, but he has killed Callifthenes : when they fay that he has fubje&ed every thing even to the ocean, that he has covered the ocean itfelf with new veflels, that he has extended his empire from an obfcure cor- ner of Thrace to the limits of the eaft; we will anfwer, but he has killed Callif- thenes : when he fhali even have eclipfed the glory of all the Kings and all the Heroes his predeceflbrs ; he has done no- thing fo great, as the crime of having kil- led Callifthenes." The repetition is oratorical, and gives confiderable effe£t to the fentences. But Alexander did not kill Darius ; and the murder of the philofopher was not a crime of a deeper dye than that of the noble Clitus, or the innocent and aged Parmenio. To his panegyrifts it may be truly urged, that 474 COMMENTARIES ON that he is lefs moral than Cicero or Plu- tarch; that inftead of an abundance of thoughts, he has only an abundance of phrafes turned into apothegms, to repeat the fame idea; that his ftyle is deformed by forced turns and flafhes of wit, which may fometimes dazzle for an inftant, but the futility of which ftrikes every attentive fpe&ator. He fays, well and happily, That the fu- nerals of children are always premature when mothers affift at them. He fays to Nero, to whom his treatife on Clemency is addreffed, The moft galling fervitude of grandeur is not to be able to defcend from it, but this neceflity is common to you with the gods. Heaven is their prifon. He fays that the gods do not fufFer profpe- rity to fall upon any but abjecT: and vulgar fouls. Seneca, who was very rich, and for a long time powerful and honoured, might have been afked, if he thought himfelf ab- jecT: before the Gods ? His morals are fometimes imperfecT:; as when he fays, " I do not propofe to equal the CLASSICAL LEARNING. 475 equal the moft virtuous, but to furpafs the wicked." The ideas of ancient philofophy on the divinity were often abfurd. The bed of all are not exempt from error, and on this fubject natural inftincT: has fometimes fur- paffed them, Quintilian, while he renders juftice to the fpirit, the talents, and the knowledge of Seneca, fays, that his ftyle is throughout corrupt, and his example dangerous. He certainly contributed more than any writer to injure the public tafte ; for he had feduced the youth by the attractions of a tinfel-led ftyle, of which they did not perceive the defe&s. He feems, indeed, to have erred by miftaking concifenefs for precifion. The former confifts in confining the thoughts within the fmallefl poflible fpace ; and by that means becomes inaccurate, obfcure, and equivocal : the latter confifts, in an exacl: proportion between the idea and the ex- preflion ; it adds to the force of language, but does not at all detract from its clearnefs or its beauty. 4/6 COMMENTARIES ON $UIN?ILIAN. If any thing could give additional value to the writings of Quintilian, it is the epoch in which they were compofed. Marcus Fabius Quintilianus was a Spa- niard, born during the reign of the Em- peror Claudius, in the firft chriftian cen- tury, and appointed by the government of Rome a public teacher of rhetoric : he was alfo a barrifter of great eminence ; and after the laborious exercife of his two- fold office for the fpace of twenty years, he gave lading celebrity to retirement by the compofition of an immortal work. All his promifed vifions of happinefs -were, however, quickly diffipated by the lofs of his wife and two fons \ and he died in the year ninety-five, dejedled in fpirit, arid poor in circumftances. For fifty years the world were not in poflfeffion of his inftitutes, which were dis- covered by a monk of Florence in the tower of a monaftery. Quintiliau CLASSICAL LEARNING. 477 Quintilian is as praife-worthy for his refolution, as he is refpeftable for his ta- lents. In a degenerate age he conceived the bold project of reviving found elo- quence, and of reftoring it to its ancient rights. He did this firft by his example ; for his pleadings, which are unfortunately loft, are faid to have been the only ones that re- called the age of Auguftus. He faw the pure eloquence of Cicero and Hortenfius, although for a while fuftained by MefTala and Pollio, foon precipitated to its fall by a crowd of rhetoricians who every where opened fchools for the art which they had difgraced. He became the reftorer of learning; and received the confular fafces from the Emperor Domitian, as a reward for the inftrucYion which he had given to his nephews. His inftitutes were written when he was fixty years of age ; and though antiquity has tranfmitted his name to us with un- bounded praife, and Martial calls him the glory of the Roman toga, ftill his inva- luably 478 COMMENTARIES ON luable work on the fubjefl: of oratory con- tains his raoft fplendid eulogium. It is divided into twelve books 5 and comprehends not only a perfect fyftem for the contemplation of the orators, but an able criticifm on the works of the Greek and Roman claffics. The general purport of the two firft books, are precepts worthy the attention both of parents and of tutors. He fhews the advantages of early application to ftudy, and the preference of public to private education, on the ground, that it better qualifies youth to live in fociety, for which they were deftined. A ledture may be of more avail w T hen given to an indi- vidual; but the form of public fchools, and the habit of public and firnilar exercifes, in his opinion excite genius by the fpur of emulation. The fenfations are more lively when they are not folitary, and learning in public fchools is difFufed by conta- gion. * Quihtilian conducts the young fcholar through the inftrudion of his early years, to the ftudy of eloquence ; and in addition 1 to MH CLASSICAL LEARNING. 479 to languages arid grammar, he recommends mufic and geometry, as the one forms the ear and gives him the fentiment of har- mony, the other accuftoms him to accuracy and method. He requires from him who prepares himfelf for eloquence, what Cicero recommends in his treatife " On a perfect Orator." The peroration of his firft book is a noble inftance of the enthufiafm of an accomplished fcholar. Youth are fo fufcep- tible of falfe tafte, that he exhorts them to adhere to the perufal of the bell: authors ; recommends Livy in preference to Salluft, but places Cicero before all others. When he enters upon the fubjecT: of eloquence, he difcuffes all the frivolous queftions which were then in vogue, and which are very uninterefting to us. He denies what we confider as a truth, that eloquence is the art of perfuafion ; and alTerts what w r e probably may deny, that the name of orator does not belong to him, who is not at the fame time eloquent and virtuous. With refpecl to the firft queftion 480 COMMENTARIES ON queftion he fays, the definition is incof* re£t, fince eloquence is not the only thing that perfuades, for that beauty, and tears* and mute fupplications, perfuade alfo. When Antony the orator, pleading for Aquilius, fuddenly tears off the habit of the accufed and exhibits the wounds he had received in fighting for his country ; the Roman people cannot refift the fpe&acle, but abfolve the criminal. The anfwer feems eafy and obvious ; the Roman people were not perfuaded, they were moved: and to fpeak correctly, beauty charms, tears foften, but eloquence perfuades. With refpe£t to his fecond objection, the inftance of Casfar may refute it. Casfar, in the opinion of Cicero, was a very great orator, but he certainly would not have allowed him to be a virtuous character. All the world will agree with Quintilian when he exalts the art of fpeaking, and {hews the pre-eminence which it gives to man above all other animals ; and a more attentive perufal of the writings of Cicero and CLASSICAL LEARNING. 481 and Quintilian on the fubjed might pro- bably tend to fupply the great defideratum in an Englifli education. The art of eloquence, like other arts, is the effecT: of habit ; and in fo enlightened an age and country, it feems ftrange that an accomplifhed orator fhould ftill be regarded as a phenomenon. Whenever it fhall be- come a fafhionable part of the education of youth to learn to convey their ideas with as much care as they have acquired them, ' the wife fenator and the able fpeaker will more frequently be found in the fame per* fon ; and no long exercife is required to evince the affertion of Horace, " That if the fubject be well underftood, words will fpontaneoufly prefent themfelves." Quintilian, like Ariftotle, mentions three kinds of oratorical compofition, the de- monftrative, the deliberative, and the judicial. Funeral orations are of the firft kind; amongft the ancients, thefe were delivered by the relations of the deceafed. 1 1 Julius 482 COMMENTARIES ON Julius Caefar, in pronouncing an eulogy on his aunt Julia, deduced their mutual origin from the goddefs Venus on the one fide, and from Ancus Martius, the fourth king of Rome, on the other. Thus, faid he, you will find in my family the fan&ity of kings, who are the mafters of men ; and the majefty of the gods, who are the maf- ters of kings. Marcellus had been one of the greateft enemies of Caefar. Since the battle of Pharfalia he had retired to Mitylene, where he cultivated in peace that literature which he paffionately loved. In an affembly of the people, his brother Caius threw himfelf at the feet of the dictator to obtain his return. Caefar defired that the fuffrages of the fenators fhould be taken individually. He wifhed to hear Cicero on a queftion which might exhibit the fenfibility of his friendfhip, and he was not deceived. In place of a fimple form of compliment, Cicero addrefied to the dictator the mod noble, the rnoft pathetic, and at the fame time the moil patriotic fpeech, that gratitude, friendfhip, CLASSICAL LEARNING. 483 friendfhip, and virtue, could di&ate to an elevated foul. It is impoffible to read it without admiration and emotion. Blame is the predominant feature of ano- ther fpecies of demonftrative eloquence, of which the firft oration againft Catiline, cited in a former page, furnifhes a fpeci- men. The deliberative eloquence is found in the writings of the hiftorians, in the Phi- lippics of Demofthenes, and in the orations of Cicero for the Manilian, and againft the Agrarian law. It may not be inopportune to obferve, that thefe Agrarian laws never were in- tended to attach upon private property, but only to divide certain conquered lands amongft a number of the poorer citizens. It was never a queftion, whether all the lands of the ftate fhould be equally divided amongft them, until the barbarians of the north enflaved all the polilhed countries of Europe. The molt celebrated banditti of Rome, even the cut-throats of Catiline, did not conceive this plan. When the j 1 2 tribune 484 COMMENTARIES ON tribune Rullus endeavoured to revive a law which was the ftalking-horfe of ambi- tious citizens, Cicero invited him to conteft the point with him in public ; and nothing more was heard of that bugbear with which the tribunes had always been accuftomed to terrify the fenate. The judicial* kind of eloquence compre- hends all the affairs which are brought before courts of juftice. The moft remark- able of this fpecies was the difpute, men- tioned in a former part of thefe Commen- taries, between iEfchines and Demofthenes ; and the defence of the latter is confidered as the higheft of the judicial kind. In the Areopagus, a court remarkable for its purity, a crier was charged to inter- rupt the pleader, who wandered from his fubje£t to endeavour to move the pity of the judges. In other courts, it was permit- ted the orator to affift himfelf with all his weapons ; and in this art, Quintilian is of opinion that Cicero furpafles the Grecian orator. In CLASSICAL LEARNING. 485 In theory it feems either abfurd or im- proper to attempt to make an impreffion upon a judge, who either is, or ought to be an impaffible being. Demonftrative elo- quence is, in the opinion of Quintilian, fufceptible of all the ornaments of art. Deliberative eloquence ought to be more fevere and dignified ; judicial eloquence, ftrong in proof and convincing in argu- ment, free in expreffion, impetuous and impaffioned, and, laftly, powerful in ex- citing emotions in the judges. Of its five diftind parts, the exordium is to render the judges favourable and attentive, the narra- tion to explain the fa£t, the confirmation to eftablifh it by evidence, the refutation to deftroy the arguments of the adverfe party, the peroration to refume the fub- ftance of the difcourfe, and to engrave on the minds of the judges the impreffions which it is moil neceffary to give them. In this part of an oration, fenfible ob- je£ts were found to have the greateft eflfedt. We fee a tremendous example of it when Antony placed before the eyes of the Ro- 1 1 3 man 4&6 COMMENTARIES ON man people the bloody robe of Caefar. Quintilian mentions fome inftances ia which the abfurd exercife of this art en- tirely defeated its intention and its ufe. An advocate, pleading for a young woman whofe hufband had been affaffinated, expect- ed that a great effefl: would be producedif his portrait were exhibited to the judges at the peroration ; but the perfons to whom the office was entrufted, not knowing which was the peroration, every time the orator turned his head their way, failed not to hold out the portrait; which when the fpedators beheld, they found that he whom the widow lamented fo much was nothing but an old cripple. They immediately burft into laughter, and thought no more of the pleader. A certain perfon of the name of Glycon had brought a child into the court, with the hope that his tears and cries might foften his judges, and placed his tutor behind him to prompt him when he ought to begin* Glycon, full of confidence, addreffed him at the critical period, and afked him why he wept ? CLASSICAL LEARNING. 487 wept? It is becaufe my tutor pinches me ! exclaimed the child. Thus ended all the hopes of the orator. The bufinefs of a fpeaker is threefold, to inftrucT:, to move, and to pleafe. He inftructs by reafoning, he moves by the pathetic, he pleafes by elocution. In the latter are three predominant qualities, clear- nefs, correctnefs, and ornament. Quintilian treats of the arrangement of words, of numbers, and harmony of periods. Every fcholar, fenator, and public fpeaker, will read him with pleafure and advantage ; and although his object was to form his difciples for the Roman bar, and his work is more particularly applicable to their tri- bunals, yet it will open a wide field of inftruction to every one who fhall purfue the profeffion of the law in any age and in any country. FLINT THE YOUNGER. From Quintilian, the tranfition to Caius Plinius Secundus, his pupil, is eafy. He 1 1 4 was 488 COMMENTARIES ON was born in Infubria about fixty years after our Saviour, and very early diftin- guifhed himfelf as a pleader at the Roman bar. Enriched by a fucceffion to the eftate of L. Plinius Secundus his uncle, he refufed every reward for the defence of the inno- cent beyond the pleafure it afforded ; and, had his fpeeches been preferved, they would probably have refuted a modern maxim? that a legal opinion, not paid for, is not worth obtaining. In addition to a mind which was capti- vated by the love and fuccefsfully engaged in the cultivation of letters, he poffefled a heart in which all the charities refided. He was amiable to his acquaintance, and he was benevolent to all. Had a longer life than that of little more than half a cen- tury been granted to him, it is probable that pofterity would have received more teftimonies of his genius and his virtues. His panegyric on Trajan is the language equally of praife and of truth, and is per- Jiaps the only work which may ferve as an object CLASSICAL LEARNING. 489 objed of comparifon with the ftyle of the preceding age. It was not publifhed for many years afttr he had returned thanks to the emperor for appointing him conful. Praife to benefadors, when extended to topics of general charader, is often extra- vagant, and fometimes unjuft ; yet in this inftance, it had the rare advantage of being grounded on inconteftible fads. Hiftory accords with his eulogium, and, when with the portrait of a virtuous prince he contrafU that of the tyrants who had preceded him, the contraft renders it more ftriking and valuable. Pliny fays, his firft objed is to render to a great prince the homage that is due to his virtues ; then to prefent to his fucceflbrs not rules of condud, but a model which may teach them to deferve an equal {hare of glory by the fame means: that to didate to fovereigns what they ought to be, is painful and prefumptuous ; to praife him who ads well, in fuch a manner that the eulogium may ferve as a leffon to others, and be a light to condud them on their way, 49<3 COMMENTARIES ON way, is an enterprize not lefs ufeful and much more modeft. After having fligmatized the bafenefs and unworthinefs of thofe Emperors who only checked the incurfions of the barbarians by pecuniary donations, and the purchafe of captives to be the ornaments of an illufory triumph, he exhibits a very diffe- rent conduct in his illuftrious hero. Every Emperor, at his inauguration, had a cuftom of diftributing money amongft the people. The orator here expreffes himfelf nobly and with intereft on the cir- cumftances which accompanied the libe- rality of Trajan. Another proof of the magnificence of the emperors, were the fpoils and fpeclacles which they gave to the Roman people, who were idolaters of them. If any thing could produce a dif- tafte for fuch reprefentations, it would have been the atrocity of the tyrants named the Csefars, who ftill found, in the amufements of the theatre and the combats of the chv cus, an occafion to make their fubjecls more CLASSICAL LEARNING. 49I more fenfible of their defpotifm and their cruelty. Such was their attachment to a particular charioteer or gladiator, that they never fcrupled to facrifice thofe who efpou- fed the oppofite party. Under the Greek Emperors, this infenfate rage was pufhed to fuch an excefs, that the faclion of the Blues and the Greens, called fo from the liveries of the circus, occafioned more than once the moft horrible maffacres in Con- ftantinople. Before the time that Pliny wrote, Caligula, Nero, and Domitian had •fignalized their foolifh paflion for gladia- tors and pantomimes, by the moft mon- ftrous exceffes. The fports given by Trajan feemed to have had another cha- racter ; and this part of the panegyric, followed by an account of the punifhment of informers, difplays fuch beauties, that if Pliny had always written in this ftyle, he might well have been compared to Cicero. He felicitates the emperor on putting an end to informers, who had, by falfe accufations of treafon, deprived the itate of many valuable citizens, and en- riched 492 COMMENTARIES ON riched the imperial coffers with the fpoil of the vi&ims. Trajan had lived a long time in a pri- vate condition. In that bell fituation for a refle&ing mind, he had marked the abo- minable reign and tragic end of Domitian. Adopted by Nerva, whofe reign was extremely fhort, Trajan appeared to the defponding empire as a being of fuper- human excellence. A man of fuch fpirit, as Pliny, could not fail to feize this circum- ftance, fo fortunate in its kind ; and the ob- fervations he makes upon it are worthy of our perufal. With energy and elevation he juftifies the manner in which he fpeaks of the tyrants who had oppreffed Rome, and of the happinefs which the fubjedt of his panegyric had diffufed. In the letters of Pliny, we fearch in vain for that familiar eafe and that difclofure of the heart, which are the proper chara&er- iftics of epiftolary correfpondence. It. is much to be regretted, that we have only fuch letters as were written for pofterity i however varied and agreeable their man- ner* CLASSICAL LEARNING. 493 ner, In however amiable a light they ex- hibit the author, they are not a faithful image of his mind. Ten books of them, were fele&ed by him, and prepared for the public. The names of the perfons to whom they are addrefled are thofe of his con- temporaries moft celebrated for their talents and their virtues ; and the fentiments he expreffes are worthy of fuch connexions. He interefts us equally for the friends whofe lofs he regrets — the victims of Do- mitian, and for thofe who participated with him the bleflings of his patron's reign. But times of tranquillity do not affed the reader like the violent revolutions of the age which Cicero defcribes. They poflefs a higher attraction for the imagination, and furnifh a richer aliment to the curiofity. In hiftory, as on the theatre, nothing is lefs interefting than a happy people. Middle- ton, in his life of Cicero, allows that the " Letters of Pliny are juftly admi- red by men of tafte, and that they fhew the fcholar, the wit, and the gentleman ; but that their poverty and barren nefe be- 8 tray 494 COMMENTARIES ON tray the awe of a matter. All his ftories terminate in private life; there is nothing important in politics ; no great affairs ex- plained ; no account of the motives of public councils. He had borne all the fame offices with Cicero, whom in all points he afie&ed to emulate ; yet his honours were in effect but nominal, conferred by a fu- perior power, and adminiftered by a fu- perior will, and with the old titles of con- ful and proconful. We flill want the ftatef- man, the politician, and the magiftrate. In his provincial command, where Cicero governed all things with a fupreme autho- rity, and had kings attendant on his orders, Pliny durft not venture to repair a bath or puniih a fugitive flave, till he had firft confulted and obtained the leave of Tra- jan. CLASSICAL LEARNING. 495 SECTION XVIII. Roman Hijlorians. — Julius Cafar. — Sallufl. — L ivy. — Tacitus. — ^uintus Curtius. X he Roman people were long celebrated for the prowefs of their arms and the wif- dom of their government, before any writer appeared amongft them. Literature did not commence with them, until the Roman fpirit had been formed for ages : it exhibited therefore not only a different character, but a totally different object, from that which it had in Greece, where it was firft excited by the imagination. The Romans defpifed the belles-lettres un- til the very moment when their philofo- phers, orators, and hiftorians, rendered the talent of writing ufeful to the ftate : fo that theirs is the only learning that in its origin was connected with politics. We 49^ COMMENTARIES ON We may remark certain chara£teriftic differences in the three epochs of the lite- rary hiftory of Rome; that which pre- ceded the reign of Auguftus, the one which bears the name of that emperor, and that which may be reckoned from his death to the reign of the Antonines. Although Cicero died under the triumvirate, his genius appertains entirely to the republic. Though Ovid, Virgil, and Horace, were born during the republic, yet their writings are replete with monarchical influence. Even under the reign of Auguftus, fome authors, and particularly Livy, exhibit, in their manner of writing hiftory, a republi- can fpiiit : but thefe are exceptions to the general obfervation, that the works of au- thors receive a colour from the exifting form of the government. Although the Romans were lefs early addi&ed to learning than the Greeks, and lefs captivated by works of the imagina- tion, they are by fome critics confidered as their fuperiors in the depth and foundnefs of their underftanding ; and Quintilian has been CLASSICAL LEARNING. 497 been thought to have made too great con- ceflions when he compared Livy to Hero- dotus, and Salluft to Thucidydes ; that we, who are equally indebted to both thofe nations, ought in this inftance to differ from this judicious critic ; that the Latin his- torians are better painters and better orators than thofe of Greece, with whom they have been compared ; that the colours of Livy are brighter, and thofe of Salluft ftronger ; that the one excites more admi- ration by his brilliancy, the other by his energy. JULIUS CMS JR. It is faid, I think by Mr. Gibbon, that we are in want of a good life of Julius Csefar. The leading incidents of it are too well known to require repetition, and the nature of this work calls for a reference rather to his literary than his political cha- racter. In perufing his commentaries on the Gallic and civil wars, we feel a ccnfider- K K able 49$ COMMENTARIES ON able intereft from the circumftance of his relating events, in which himfelf was per- fonally concerned, and in the account of which he has always been acquitted of par- tiality. He is circumftantial in the detail of facts, and he is delicate to a great degree in attributing to himfelf the merit he de- ferves. No one can be be placed in a higher clafs as a credible hiitorian. To have fought and to have written fo well has happened to no one but Csefar. His ftyle is formed on that of Xenopbon, and it pofTeiTes all the plainnefs and perfpicuity cf his model. It is the pureft Latin, elegant without affectation, and beautiful without ornament. Where eloquence is at all neceffary, Ca^far is eloquent, for he was an orator before he became an author. Hence fome of his panegyrifts have ob- ferved,that it was the heat of his eloquence which raifed a fufpicion of his being con- nected with the Catiline confpiracy. If the commentaries may be confidered only as notes or outlines of an hiftory ; what would have been the admiration of the CLASSICAL LEARNING. 499 the literary world, had the author com- pleted his work, fince the fir ft draught exhibits the general, the orator, the hifto- rian, and the fcholar ! SALLUST. About eighty years before the Chriftian rera, Crifpus Salluftius was born in the country of the Sabines. He received his education at Rome, where he engaged in all the diflipation of the city, and exhibit- ed a remarkable inftance of diiTolute con- duel. The contemplation of his writings is far more agreeable than that of his life. His preceptor, whofe name was Pretexatus, per- ceiving that his fcholar ihewed a predilec- tion for hiftory, gave him a fummary of the whole Roman hiftory, to choofe the par- ticular parts which he wifhed to treat of. He compofed the hiftory of the civil wars of Marius and Sylla until the death of Sertorius, and of the temporary troubles K K 2 excited SOO COMMENTARIES ON excited by Lepidus after the death of the dictator. Nearly the whole of this work is loft, and al! we have to boaft are the Catiline confpiracy and the Jugurthine wan His fame as an hiftorian, in the former work, is fullied by his evident prejudice againft Cicero, who ought to have appeared the prominent figure on the canvafs. It is the duty of a faithful narrator not only not to fay any thing that is falfe, but alfo not to omit any thing that is true. The fenate decreed thanks to Cicero for having delivered the ftate from imminent danger, without effufion of blood. This was a public a£t, mentioned by all the other hiftorians : Salluft does not men- . tion it. Catulus and Cato gave to Cicero the glorious name of father of his coun- try, which Pliny and Juvenal have re- ported: Salluft does not mention it. The magiftrates of Capua, the firft muni- cipal town in Italy, decreed a ftatue to Cicero for having faved Rome during his confulate :. Salluft does not mention II * it. CLASSICAL LEARNING. 50I it. The fenate granted him an unprece- dented honor; it ordained what they called fupplications in the temples, which had never been granted but to thofe who tri- umphed : Salluft does not mention it. In the Catiline war, every thing is accurately detailed except the actions of Cicero. The fidelity of an hiftorian is concerned not only in exhibiting the punifhment of crimes, but the conduct and the reward of virtue. But he had married Terentia, the repu- diated wife of Cicero, and his perfonal enmity prevailed over his candour and his juftice. Indeed he owed his fituation to a fortunate election of his party. When his debaucheries had ejected him from the fenate. he became a partizan of Csefar, and by his power was reftored to his feat. When governor of Numidia, he enriched himfelf by peculation, but the fame circum- ftance preferved him from punifhment ; and Caefar affords an additional example to that which is daily before our eyes, that K k 3 the 5G2 COMMENTARIES ON the head of a party is feldom fcrupulaus in the choice of his aflbciates. It is faid that, when the people accufed him to, the di&ator, Salluft was excufed from making his defence, by giving to the mafter whom he, had ferved a part of the money which he had ftolen, and fo fecured to himfelf the peaceable pofleffion of that magnificent houfe and thofe beautiful gar- dens at Rome, which ftill retain the name of their former owner, and which he en T joyed till he was fifty years of age, the period of his death. When the general demeanour of Salluft is recalled to our memory, it excites a fmile in the reader, who finds him fo loudly declaiming againft the depravity of his age, and fo anxioufly wilhing for the revival of ancient manners, Salluft has been accufed of endeavouring to impofe upon pofterity by affecting great aufterity in his fentiments, and by holding out a moral which did not fpring from the heart ; that he fearched for antiquated expreflions only to eftablifh a belief tha^: his CLASSICAL LEARNING, 503 his principles, as well as his fkfU, had the virtuous fe verity of the firft ages of the republic: that he borrowed the terms of Cato the cenfor, in order to make it appear that he in fame meafure refembled that rnodel of virtue, to whom, in every refpe£r, he was directly the oppofite. In every thing that refpects talents, Sal- luft is eminently great. He exhibits not only a thorough acquaintance with the vices of Rome, but a deep and accurate knowledge of human nature. He is every- where correct in his relation of events, and, except in a fingle inftance, juft in his deli- neation of characters. He fathoms the depths of human policy, and not only de- fcribes actions, but developes motives. In that refpect he is fagacious as well as faith- ful, and executes with great ability the higheft part of the hiftorian's office. The reader is always gratified when he is enabled to trace effects to their caufes, is admitted to the cabinet as well as the camp, and obtains a clue which will open to him a way through the mazes of political life. K K 4 Thucidydes 504 COMMENTARIES ON Thucidydes was his model ; but In nerve and force he is thought to be his fuperior. Seneca fays, that in the Greek hiftorian you may retrench fomewhat without dimi- nifhing the merit of the diction, much lefa the plenitude of the thoughts. In Salluft, a fingle word fuppreiTed, the fenfe is de- ftroyed. While he is equally concife, ener- getic, and perfpicuous, his fentences are lefs broken, lefs harm, and more elegantly conftructed than thofe of Thucidydes. His defcriptions are uncommonly correct, and his fpeeches are particularly animated. Who has ever read the fpeech of Catiline to the confpirators, beginning with the words " Ni Virtus," without being ftruck with admiration at the great ability of the writer ? It would indeed have enhanced his fame, had he tranfmitted to pofterity the noble and patriot addrefs of Cicero to the rebel, when he was about to feat himfelf amongft the fenators. The memorable exordium, " How long, Q Catiline, will you abufe our patience V* rufhes upon the fubjed with all the fire of Pindaric CLASSICAL LEARNING* 505 Pindaric poetry, and the relation would have furnifhed an eulogium on the tafte as well as the juftice of the hiftorian, Salluft has been cenfured for the length of his harangues. Rapin fays, that foldiers do not declaim like orators. But his fpeeches are thofe of eminent men, per- fectly capable by education and talents to deliver them ; and they are appropriate both to the occafion and to the fpeakers. Though Salluft be concife in the narra- tive part of his hiftory, he is completely accurate, and equally celebrated for brevity and for fire. The tedioufnefs of his intro- ductions is the only alloy to the excellence of his works. They are circuitous to no ufeful purpofe, for they do not conduce to the main defign, and are frequently as irre- lative as they are prolix. It may probably have happened to many an impatient reader, to have relinquished the pleafure which this author would have afforded him, from the difguft, which he mud have ex- perienced at the outfet. But the diligent fcholar will not fo foon give up the pur- fuit : 500 COMMENTARIES ON fuit : he refembles the labourer, who exerts himfelf, with unabated vigour, to remove a ponderous and ufelefs mafs of earth, from the confident expectation that it covers a vein of rich and valuable metal. LIVT. About the middle of the century which preceded the birth of Chrift, Titus Livius^ a native of Padua, appeared at Rome to give celebrity to the Auguftan 3ge. We have very little account of his life, hut the defecl: is fupplied by the poffeffion of a work which has no rival amongft the ancients. When in its complete ftate, it was compofed of one hundred and forty books, and embraced the whole hiftory of the Roman empire, from its foundation tq the death of Drufus, who was adopted by Auguftus. Of this ineftimable performance, only thirty-five books remain. This lofs, it is to be feared, is now irretrievable. Time and bigotry have probably concurred in deflroying CLASSICAL LEARNING. 507 deftroying this invaluable ftore of learning. The latter has been a reftlefs, violent, an4 too fuccefsful enemy to learning ; and many of the pages of this author have haplv been obliterated to make room for the tales of a legendary faint or the maffes of a fuperftitious monk. So great was the reputation of Livy, and fo extenfively difFufed, that an inhabitant of Cadiz, a place at that time entirely out of the world, went from his country for the fole purpofe of feeing fo diftinguiflied a man, and returned as foon as his eiiriofity had been gratified. Upon this fubjeft, it was well obferved by St. Jerom, that it is a very extraordinary circumftance, that a ftranger, entering a city fuch as Rome, fhould wifh to fee any thing there but Rome itfelf. It is very remarkable, that, although pa- tronized by Auguftus, Livy dared to confer praife on the republican party, on Brutus, Cafiius, and particularly on Pompey, info- much that Auguftus named him the Pom- peian. In 5o3 COMMENTARIES ON In the next reign, the conduct of go- vernment to authors was fo changed, that Cremutius Cordus, fearful of the re- fentment of Tiberius, ftarved himfelf to death for having denominated Caffius the laft of the Romans. Livy extols the rifing ftate of Rome as if fhe had then been the miftrefs of the world ; and perhaps in real grandeur and glory fhe more excelled, when fhe fought againft Pyrrhus and againft Carthage, than when her widely extended empire emboldened her to aiTume that im- perious title. At the former periods, the re- public appeared in the afcendant, when for- titude, patriotifm, and probity, gave thetrueft dignity, and the brighter]: luftre to its name. Livy has been accufed of being a fabu- lous writer ; but the prodigies he fpeaks of are only reprefented as traditional, and formed part of an empire where all was prefage and divination. The bulk of the people were fuperftitious, and government turned this fuperftition to the public ad- vantage. Irreligion alone has been found $ffentially hoflile to focial and moral order, The CLASSICAL LEARNING. 509 The books of the Sibyls were always holden facred, and confulted as occafions required. Perhaps even the fine genius of Livy might be tinctured with the po- pular creed as to fatalifm and divination* It has alfo been objected to this writer, that his hiftory, in point of the fpeeches it contains, refembles a romance. It is fuffi- cient to fupport the veracity of an hiftory, if it gives the fubftance of what an eloquent man did or might be fuppofed to fay on a certain occafion. At Rome, no one could afpire to office without being obliged fome- times to addrefs three or four hundred fena- tors, fometimes an affembled and tumul- tuous people. Legal accufations and de- fences were the great vehicles of eloquence. The mod conliderable members of the ftate were orators. Trifling difcuffions were carried before the prsetors, at an inferior tribunal; but all important caufes were heard before a certain number of Roman knights, in a vaft forum, filled by an at- tentive multitude ; fo that he who expofed himfelf to this perilous proof, required to be 5ld COMMENTARIES QN be very fure of his talents and his firmriefe Eloquence, a rare quality in monarchies, was rendered by habit a common one irt the republics both of Greece and Rome. In thofe Mates, the art of perfuafion carried with it a power, inconceivable by thofe, who live in countries, where it is the crea- ture either of authority or of influence. The hiftorian therefore has not too highly coloured the fentiments of the fpeaker, though perhaps he has varied or dilated the language, in which they were conveyed. If any one doubt whether the harangues given by Livy fuit the charac- ter and circum fiances of the fpeakers; a"mongft many, that would tend to folve the doubt, let him perufe the difcourfe which Quintius Capitolinus, one of the greateft men of his time, and, what meant the fame thing when greatnefs and virtue were fynonymous, one of the beft citizens, addieiTed to the Roman people, when the ariimofity of the two orders made them forget their common intereft, and be re- gardlefs of their common danger. The iEqui CLASSICAL LEARNING. JII iiiqui and Volfci were at their gates, about three hundred years after the building of the city, and there was no preparation or difpofition to oppofe them. On this occa- fion, Quintius mounts the tribune, and addreffes the people in a fpeech, wherein are affembled all the means of perfuafion, which the art of oratory poffelTes. The tone is noble, the ftyle pathetic, the dio tion elegant and harmonious. Quintilian fpeaks of the laftea ubertas of Livy, He is indeed a model of imitation to all, who would compofe in Latin, for his narration has fweetnefs, purity, and elo- quence. The high rank he holds amongft his contemporaries will always be f uftained ; he is ever intelligible, diffufive without tedioufnefs, and argumentative without pe- dantry. The caufe of truth and virtue he uni- formly defends : and as the life of a fcholar is rarely replete with incidents, although that of Livy was extended to his fixty-fe- venth year, yet tradition has told us fo little of him, that his works, which on every 2 account Sit COMMENTARIES ON account may be recommended to the ftudy of youth, are the beft comment on his chara&er. The hiftorical merit of this writer is the maj'eftic flow of his narrative j in which, events follow each other with rapidity, yet without hurry or confufion : to this may be added, the continual beauty and energy of his ftyle, by which his rea- ders are tranfported from their cloiet to the theatre of action. The tafte, the judgment, the eloquence of the Auguftan age are no where more happily combined than in the pages of Livy. Be his fubjeft what it may, whe- ther it require force or delicacy, whether an army is to be infpirited to fome great achievement, or a fenate to be foftened into compliance, he touches it with a matter- hand. Each, for the time, appears his chara&eriftic, till a fudden tranfition fhews him equally pofTefied of the oppofite. Longinus fays of the fublime, that it pleafes every body, and pleafes at all times. The Roman hiftorian anfwers completely to this definition. Nearly CLASSICAL LEARNING. 513 • Nearly two thoufand years can atteft the general approbation, with which he had been read. Sublimer thoughts are found in no hiftorian, yet thofe of Livy are al- ways unconftrained and natural to the perfon, who utters them. It has been ohferved, that the writers of tragedy diverfify their fcenes by aft ; and after the mind has been kept long upon the ftretch, by the reprefentation of fome great a&ion, they throw in fpmething of lefs im- portance to relax it. Livy is faid to have adopted their plan ; and when he has excited all the pain and forrow his readers can beftow, he foothes them by fome engaging circiimftance*, that relieves the mind by diverting the atten- tion. Judgment is a predominant quality in him. It is equally evident in his fele&ion of words, and in his delineation of charac- ters. Not only are his Romans diftin- guifhed from the inhabitants of other countries by their opinions and their man-r ners, but from themfelves at the different l l aeras 514 COMMENTARIES ON seras and under the different forms of their government. This quality it is, which enables him to difcern what is proper to every chara&er, and to temper the fire of genius by difcre- tion. This warrants his panegyrifts in their warm eulogium, that " No man was ever great with fo much eafe, none was ever familiar with fo much dignity." TACITUS. " There yet remains to us," fays Quin- tilian, " a man who enhances the glory of our age, and is worthy to be remembered by pofterity ; whofe name will be dear to them, although now I do not mention it. He has many admirers, but no imitators ; for his love of liberty has injured him, though he has obliterated many things he had written. But you may difcern his highly exalted fpirit and his bold opinions, even in thofe, which remain. He is indeed a truly philofophical hiftorian." CLASSICAL LEARNING. $1$ 5 * His Roman voice in bafe degenerate days* Spoke to imperial pride in freedom's praife $ And with indignant hate, feverely warm, Shewed to gigantic guilt his ghaftly form. ,, Hayley. In the firft chriftian century and in the reign of Nero, Tacitus was born of an ho- norable family. His father was a knight, and the Governor of Belgic Gaul ; and himfelf pafied through the gradation of civil offices, till, under the reign of Nerva, he was ap- pointed Conful. His works are a remnant of the Roman hiftory, of which twenty- feven years were completed by him, ex- tending from the fixty-ninth to the riinety- fixth year of Chrift, but of which only the firft and part of the fecond year have reached pofterity. He had written com- plete annals of Tiberius, Caius, Claudius, and Nero; the whole of thofe of Caius, and the beginning of thofe of Claudius, are loft. Of thirty books we have only fix- teen of this work, and five of his hiftory. L L 2 We 516 COMMENTARIES ON We are, however, in pofleffion of two ineftimable compofitions of Tacitus; the one, a treatife on the manners of the an- cient Germans ; the other, a life of Agricola, whofe daughter he had married, and who had been governor of our ifland in the time of Domitian. Gibbon fays of Bri- tain, that " it fubmitted to the Roman yoke; after a war of forty years, undertaken by Claudius the moft ftupid, maintained by Nero the moft diflblute, and terminated by Domitian the moft timid of all the Em- perors." Before we confider the writings of Tacitus, it may be proper to recur to the times, in which he lived. His infancy was paffed amidft the horrors of the reign of Nero ; he lived during the atrocities of Galba, the drunkennefs of Vitellius, and the robberies of Otho ; but having refpired fomewhat a purer air under Vefpafian and Titus, was obliged in his manhood to fuf- tain the hypocritical tyranny of Domitian. Perhaps he may be faid to have lived at a time, when the condition of the human race was more unhappy than at any other in the CLASSICAL LEARNING. 517 the annals of the world. During four- fcore years, excepting only the fhort and doubtful refpite of Vefpafian's reign, Rome, fays Mr. Gibbon, groaned beneath an unremitting tyranny, which exterminat- ed the ancient families of the republic, and was fatal to almoft every virtue and every talent, that arofe in that unhappy period. Tacitus was conftrained to bend the loftinefs of his foul and to relax the firm- nefs of his principles, not to the debafement of a courtier, but to the compliance of a fubjecl: who dared not to complain. In- capable of deferving the friendmip of Do- mitian, he could not but deferve his hatred. His difguft he was obliged to conceal, and in fecret to lament the maffacre of inno- cent citizens and the wounds of his much- loved country. Prevented from giving vent to his feelings, Tacitus, in the de- lightful retreat which literature always affords to the virtuous in their difappoint- ments, poured forth a torrent of com- plaint and indignation, which alone could tend to confole him. This is what Vi/.3 ' renders 5l8 COMMENTARIES ON renders him fo interefting and fo animated a writer. When he inveighs, he does not declaim. A man ferioufly and deeply affe&ed cannot do fo. He paints, in colours mod vivid, and mod true, all that flavery has to difguft, all that defpotifm and cruelty poffefs to terrify. The hopes and the fuccefTes of vice, the depreffion of innocence and the abafement of virtue, all that he had feen, and all that he had fuffered, — he defcribes in fuch a manner, that his readers are rendered fpe&ators and almoft fellow-fufterers with himfelf. Tacitus has been fometimes called a gene- ral calumniator. But did not he who has fo feelingly traced the laft moments of Ger- manicus, and who has left fo unqualified a panegyric on Agricola, difcern virtue where it exifted,and beftowuponitafplendidanda willing encomium ? Tacitus was an orator of great eminence. He delivered a funeral oration on the death of Virginius, whom he fucceeded in the confulfhip ; and to-* gether with the younger Pliny, who was his bofom friend, he conduced the famous caufe CLASSICAL LEARNING. 519 caufe of the Africans againft Marcus Prif- cus, accufed, as Pro-conful, of having re- ceived bribes in his office. He was fentenced to pay three hundred thoufand fefterces as a penalty, and to be baniihed from Italy, Tacitus defervedly holds a very high rank amongft the hiftorians of Greece and Rome. His fumrnary view of thofe dif- aftrous times, is an awful picture of civil commotion and the wild diftra&ion of a frantic people. All legitimate government, and of courfe all liberty, were at an end, when the Praetorian bands, the armies of Germany, and the legions of Syria affumed the right of electing Emperors without the authority of the fenate. Tacitus probably furvived his friend Pliny, and died in the reign of Trajan. Although they differed in politics, they were the ornaments of their age, men of diftinguifhed talents, encouragers of litera- ture, and patrons of virtue. Tacitus had read mankind as well as books. He had all the powers that conftitute a fine genius ; L L 4 he $26 COMMENTARIES ON he had a thorough knowledge of all the modes of government then known in the world, was verfed in all civil affairs, and intimately acquainted with the policy of ftatefmen. What a picture does he give of Tiberius ! how are his art and treachery developed ! i and how much does the nar- ration evince the propriety of a maxim, not always admitted, that truth only fhould be fpoken of the dead !■• What painter can Xo well pourtray the deftrudion of the le- gions under Varus ? How is the light con- tracted with the fhade, when he exhibits the amiable portrait of Germanicus ; his death in Syria ; and the appearance of his wife Agrippina at the port of Brundufium, when {he quits the fhip, leading her chil- dren and fuftaining the urn of her deceafed and murdered hufband ! In the lively defcription of the hiftorian, Meffalina dying becomes almoft an objefb of compaffion. His annals have been called an Hiftorical Pi£ture-gallery ; and thofe, who have denominated him a mifanthrope, had they recolleded that he had " fallen on CLASSICAL LEARNING. .5 21 on evil times" ought rather to have diftin- guifhed him as the anatomift of the human heart. His life of Agricola is a perfect model of biography; a mode of writing cultivated in the time of the old republic, but entirely difufed under the Emperors. This general, having carried his victorious arms from the fouth of Britain to the Grampian Hills, was recalled by Domitian through envy of his fame, and lived for a few years, the remainder of his life, in the calm delights of a peaceful retirement. The hiftorian has written the life of his father-in-law, in language celebrated for its purity and ele- gance; and this performance has always been diftinguiftied for the many excellent inftryclions and important truths, which it contains. The ftyle of the Annals, the work of his old age, confiils of ftately periods and much pomp of expreffion ; that of the Hiflory is more fubdued and temperate, fparing of words and replete with fenti- ment. Tacitus has been reproached with falling 522 COMMENTARIES ON falling into the error, mentioned by Horace, of becoming obfcure by attempting to be concife. He admits many Grsecifms into his language ; and in imitation of the man- ner, introduced by Seneca, is fometimes florid and poetical. His treatife, on the manners of the Germans, is a compofition juftly admired for the fidelity and exad> nefs with which it is executed; and here the objedions to his di£tion do not feem to have a place. His general language has been cenfured as being rather laboured than lofty, and his figures rather bold than juft. It is however confeffed, that his faults arife not from a want of power but of modera- tion ; not from a deficiency of genius but of judgment ; that when he choofes to defcend from his exaltation, there is no author among the Romans, who writes with greater purity. If a certain obfcurity or affe£tation be found to deform his ftyle and render it a dangerous model for the imitation of youth, exhibiting rather a mifapplication than a difplay of talents \ yet fuch is the dignity and CLASSICAL LEARNING. 523 and fuch the juftnefs of his fentiments, fuch the profoundnefs of his underftanding and apparent goodnefs of his heart, as to render him at lead the equal of any hifto- rian of any country. %UINTUS CUR TIUS. Amongft the hiftorians of the firft clafs, we may place Quintus Curtius ; of whofe life very little is recorded, but who probably wrote in the firft century of our sera under the Emperor Vefpafian. He has written in a fhort volume, divided into ten books, the life of Alexander the Great. Fren- fhemius has fupplied very ably, the lofs of the two firft and one part of the laft book. The ftyle of this writer is very flowery and ornamented; but it well agrees with its fubjecl:, for he wrote the life of a very extraordinary man. Curtius particularly excels in his defcription of battles, but in his fpeeches the author is generally too prominent a figure. The fpeech of the Scythians, is however an exception. It is always 524 COMMENTARIES ON always read with pleafure, and has always been mentioned with praife. He has been juftly charged with geo- graphical errors, and thefe have been recli- - fied by Arrian. The accufation of having admitted much romance into his hiftory, is not corre&ly ftated ; for Alexander does not appear to be a lefs fingular character in other authors, than in Quintus Curtius. The praifes, which he lavifhes on his hero, proceed from a congenial fpirit of bold entcrprife. Intrepidity and fire are with him the fovereign qualities of a man ; for he had not fufficient coolnefs of judg- ment to enable him to diftinguifh the utility refulting frQm caution and from prudence. The ftory of the u World's great Victor," is perfectly fuited to the genius of the hiftorian. They are equally warm, and violent, and ram. Curtius, however, though an ardent pa-? negyrift, is not fo entirely eftranged from juftice as to difguife the faults of Alexan-? der altogether. After he has raifed him above the higheft of his fpecies, he makes fome CLASSICAL LEARNING. 525 fome retribution to them, by occafionally depreffing him beneath the loweft. His ftyle has freedom, life, and plea- fantry; but is too lofty and declamatory. He wants fimplicity, a diftinguifhed excel- lence in writing; and notwithstanding the elegance of his orations and the fine flow of his language, the reader of Quintus Curtius will return with redoubled eager- nefs to the perufal of Livy. 526 COMMENTARIES OH SECTION XIX. Latin Hiftorians tf the fecond Clafs.—Trogus Pompeiut* — Juftin.— Florus. — Velleius Fater cuius. — Cornelius Nepos. — Suetonius* I hese are biographers or abbre viators. The three moft diftinguiihed of the firft kind are Juftin, Florus, and Paterculus. In the reign of Antoninus Pius, about one hundred and fifty years after Chrift, Juf- tin epitomized the univerfal hiftory of Trogus Pompeius. This had contained all the great events from the beginning of the world to the age of Auguftus ; and as the earlieft fpecimen of the mode of writing on fo copious a fubjed:, the lofsof the original work is much to be regretted. Juftin is not a painter of the manners, but a good narrator of events. He has however fome traits of beauty ; and the portrait of Philip of Macedon, and the comparifon ©f 1 that CLASSICAL LEARNING. 527 that prince with his fon Alexander, claim and reward our attention. Philip, fays Juftin, took more pains and had more pleafure in the preparation of a battle than in the arrangement of a feaft. Money was with him only a finew of war. He knew better how to acquire riches, than how to preferve them ; and living on plunder, was always poor. It coft him no more to pardon than to deceive. His converfation was fweet and alluring. He was prodigal of pro- mifes, which he did not keep ; and whether he were ferious or gay, he had always a defign at the bottom. His con- ftant maxim was, to carefs thofe whom he hated, to inftigate quarrels between thofe who loved him, and feparately to flat- ter each party, whom he had alienated from the other. He was poflefled of eloquence, had a ready apprehenfion, and a graceful delivery. He had for his fucceflbr his fon Alexander, who had greater virtues and greater vices than himfelf. Both triumphed over their enemies, although by different means. 528 COMMENTARIES Oti a means. The one employed open force only; the other had recourfe to artifice. The one congratulated himfelf, when he had deceived his enemies, the other when he had conquered them. Philip had more policy, Alexander more dignity. The fa- ther knew how to diflemble his rage, and fometimes to conquer it; the fon in his vengeance knew neither delay nor bounds. Both loved wine too well ; but drunkennefs, which opens the heart, produced different effe&s in them. Philip in going from a feaft, went to feek for danger and expofed himfelf with temerity; Alexander turned his rage againft the aflbciates of his rivalry. The one often returned from battle, covered with w T ounds, received from his enemies ; the other rofe from table, defiled with the blood of his friends. The father wilhed to be loved ; the fon defired only to be fear- ed. Both cultivated letters, the former through policy, the latter through tafte. The one affe&ed more moderation to his enemies, the other had in reality more clemency and good faith. It was with * 5 thefe CLASSICAL LEARNING. 529 thefe different qualities, that the father laid the foundation of the empire of the world, and that the fort had the glory of comple- ting the illuftrious achievement. The little work of Juftin contains the hiftory of two thoufand years. It begins with Ninu?, the founder of the Affyrian empire ; and the account of thofe early periods is much more dilated than the fize of the volume would induce us to expect. If he approach the beft Roman writers in purity and elegance, he is inaccurate as a chronologer ; and when he mentions the Jews, he is a prejudiced hiftorian. Excel- lence of ftyle will not atone for the defect of fidelity ; as talents, however diftinguifhed, cannot excufe the abfence of virtue. FLORUS. L. Annseus Julius Florus was born a little more than a century after our Sa- viour, and compofed an abridgement of the Roman hiftory till the time of Auguftus. mm He $$0 COMMENTARIES ON He has the lingular merit of having in- cluded in one fmall volume, in four books, the annals of feven hundred years, without having omitted a fingle important fa£t. The confpiracy of Catiline is recounted in two pages, and yet nothing eflential is omitted. His ftyle is fo florid as to have the appearance of poetry in deranged mea- fure. He has all the declamation of an orator; and when we look for a correct recital of the hiftory of the Romans, we find a warm panegyric on many of their achievements. On this account Florus muft be read without that confidence, which we repofe in many other authors. He is carelefs in chro- nology ; and, being defirous of ftating. fuch circumftances as ought to have occurred on particular occafiofis, he fometimes deviates from the fcrupulous accuracy of hiftorical truth. CLASSICAL LEARNING. 53I VELLEIUS PATERCULUS. Velleius Paterculus lived in the time of Tiberius,, was of a refpectable family, and ferved feveral campaigns under the emperor. He wrote a compendium of the hiftory of Greece and Rome, from the earlier! period to his own age. He is a ufeful author, and not deficient in eafe or elegance of ftyle. He is remarkably mild in his cenfures, but rnoft unaccountably extravagant in his praife of the Csefars. Auguftus is a god ; and Sejanus, the fawning and cruel mi- nifter of Tiberius, is extolled with en- comiums, which are due only to virtue. The objection to his partiality is confined to the latter part of his work, and is com- mon to many hiftorians, whofe prejudices or whofe fears djfguife or fupprefs their opinions. Paterculus has a happy and beautiful brevity of narration, which in a frnall compafs contains all the graces of ftyle, and is embellifhed with wife maxims and ufeful morals. m m 2 What- 52> 2 COMMENTARIES ON Whatever other hiftorians have recorded will be found in this writer, who poffeffes in a fingular degree the merit of perfpicuity. CORNELIUS NEPOS. Of Cornelius Nepos we have received no authentic account, except that he was born at Hoftilia, near the banks of the river Po, in the reign of Auguftus, and, amongft other literary characters, was honoured by the Imperial patronage. The work which has reached pofterity is his Lives of Illuftn- ous Greeks and Romans. The ftyle of it difplays the elegance of the age in which he lived; and while it contains a fummary of their principal adions, it is replete with judicious refledions upon them. He abounds in tafte, but not in force and ftrength. In reporting events, he does not enter into the details, which mark the cha- raderiftic traits of the adors, and which diftinguifh the perfpicacity of the hifto- rian. Rome had not yet its Plutarch. CLASSICAL LEARNING. 533 SUETONIUS. Somewhat more than a century after the Chriftian sera, G. Tranquillus Suetonius was the fecretary of the Emperor Adrian, He has left a hiftory of the twelve Csefars, and is confidered fcrupuloufly exadt and methodical. He omits nothing, which con- cerns the perfon whofe life he writes; and is a reporter of adtions, but not a painter of the manners. He is a pleafant author to confult, for he is a detailer of anecdotes. In refle&ions he is very fparing, contenting himfelf with recounting events without feeling or exciting any emotion. The qf|ice of a narrator fatisfies his ambition ; and from the little intereft he takes refpedt- ing the condudt of his heroes, he has at- tained the praife of ftridt impartiality. The character of the emperors is no where more juftly reprefented, but the defcription of their vices has been .thought Unneceflarily minute. M m 3 The 534 COMMENTARIES ON The language of Suetonius is elegant; his narration eafy and perfpicuous. Nature had been kind to him in her en- dowments, and he acknowledged her kind^ nefs by the induftry with which he ap* plied to his education. An acquaintance with thefe minor hit torians is expected of the general fcholar. Some beauties will pleafe, and fome in- formation will inftrucl: him in them all ; but after he has confulted them for the gratification of his curiofity, or the refrefh- ment of his memory as to particular fads, he will perceive, that his tafte can alone be duly formed, and his knowledge fufficiently amplified, by a frequent and attentive per- ufal of the three accomplished hiftorians of Rome, CLASSICAL LEARNING. $$5 SECTION XX. Condition. In reviewing the pages of thefe commen- taries, whatever defeats I have perceived in. the execution of my plan, I am ftill willing to flatter myfelf that the fovereign utility of claflical learning has not been rendered problematical by an inadequate defence. It did not form a part of my intention to extend my view beyond the works of the ancient poets, orators., and hiftorians ; much lefs to attempt a delineation of the feveral fyftems of philofophy, which reign- ed in Athens, But it is impoffible not to reflect upon the gardens of the Lyceum, where truth and error maintained a divided fway, but where learning was foftered in the bofom of retirement, and kept facred from the invafion of its ancient enemies, bufinefs and pleafure. On J36 COMMENTARIES ON On the banks of the Uyffus, an alley of olives, or a grove of myrtles, feparated fyftems, and ferved as the boundary of the empire of Opinion. There the fan&uary of Wifdom was never clofed, and the facred fire was never extinguifhed. In that happy fhade, far from the importunity of vulgar cares, Greece formed fo many great men, of whom a fingle one might give celebrity to a nation. When the youths had learn- ed the gymnaftic exercifes, they paffed ftic- ceffively under the care of the gramma- rians, critics, and geometricians ; and after thefe effays, commenced their rural life. There they exerted prodigious efforts ; and it was almoft as painful to achieve a courfe of philofophy, as to accuftom themfelves to the hard exercifes of pugilifm. There as much emulation was excited as if it were a queftion of becoming an Areopagite or a demagogue. In our own country, even in the heart of a city devoted to bufineis, to politics, and to pleafure, learning ftill may boaft of more than one facred afylum. On the ban^ CLASSICAL LEARNING. 537 banks of the Thames and of the Itchen, the polifhed language of Athens ftill capti- vates its votaries, and a purer philofophy than was taught in the Lyceum or the Aca- demy ftill refounds from thofe hallowed domes, which are wafhed by the ftreams of the Ifis and the Cam. May the day be far diftant, if it ever be deftined to appear, when the hiftorian of our ifle mall have to record a fimilar cataftrophe to that, which defolated Athens ! When Greece fell un- der the Chriftian yoke, Libanius fays that he faw whole troops of priefts and monks, armed with' hatchets and flambeaux, run- ning through the country, burning the temples, breaking the ftatues, and leaving in their paflage only the fmoking wrecks of aihes and of ruins. At the fight of thefc fanatics, philofophy abandoned Greece to return thither no more. Clafiical learning is intimately connect- ed with the prefervation of religion and of the laws, and thofe who decry its value are the perfons moft decidedly hoftile to both. II While 538 COMMENTARIES OK While the anarchift, by fubtle difparage* ment of moral ties, undermines the pillars of fociety, the fanatic and the bigot, by an outcry againft literary attainments, engage in the fame caufe, and are daily bringing their engines to the attack: Under circumftances of fo ferious a kind, and in that leifure for reflection, which is afforded by the fufpenfion of the horrors of war, the intereft of our country might perhaps be confulted by the revival of thofe golden days, in which an Oxford was at once the pilot of the ftate and the tutelary guardian of learning. Foftered by the rays of favour, the vigorous plant will flourifh, though myriads be envious of its growth. While, under its branches, eenius ought to find a inciter from the ills of life, to the fame fhade grandeur might retire for a temporary repofe from the toils of pleafure or the tumults of ambition. If it be permitted us to cultivate the arts, and to enjoy the bleffings of peace ; what can better deferve the patronage of flatef- men than that knowledge, which ftrengthens the CLASSICAL LEARNING. $39 the bands of the community, while it po- lifhes and enlarges the minds of its mem- bers; which calls forth the brighteft ta- lents in an a£Uve difplay of loyalty to a free conftitution, and furnilhes them with an armour of proof in the defence of focial order and of public liberty ? THE END. Printed by A. Strahan, Printers-Street. ERRATA. 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