Read Ebook: The History of Roman Literature From the Earliest Period to the Death of Marcus Aurelius by Cruttwell Charles Thomas

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INTRODUCTION.

Roman and Greek Literature have their periods of study--Influence of each --Exactness of Latin language--Greek origin of Latin literature--Its three great periods: The Ante-Classical Period; The Golden Age; The Decline.

BOOK I

FROM LIVIUS ANDRONICUS TO SULLA .

Naevius and Ennius--Olympic deities and heroes of Roman story--Hexameter of Ennius--Its treatment--Matius--Hostius--Furius.

Comparison of English, Greek, and Roman oratory--Appius?Cornelius Cethegus--Cato--Laelius--The younger Scipio--Galba--Carbo--The Gracchi-- Self-praise of ancient orators--Aemilius Scaurus--Rutilius--Catulus--A violent death often the fate of a Roman orator--M. Antonius--Crassus--The Roman law-courts--Bribery and corruption prevalent in them--Feelings and prejudices appealed to--Cotta and Sulpicius--Carbo the younger-- Hortensius--His friendship for Cicero--Asiatic and Attic styles.

Legal writers--P. Mucius Scaevola--Q. Mucius Scaevola--Rhetoric-- Plotius Gallus--Cornificius--Grammatical science--Aelius Stilo-- Philosophy--Amafinius--Rabirius--Relation of philosophy to religion.

THE GOLDEN AGE. FROM THE CONSULSHIP OF CICERO TO THE DEATH OF AUGUSTUS .

Common features of the Augustan authors--Augustus's relation to them --Maecenas--The Apotheosis of the emperor--Rhetoricians not orators-- Historians--Jurists--Poets--Messala--Varius--Anser--Macer.

Oratory Neglected--Declamation takes its place--Porcius Latro--Annaeus Seneca--History--Livy--Opportune appearance of his work--Criticism of his method--Pompeius Trogus--Vitruvius--Grammarians--Fenestella--Verrius Flaccus--Hyginus--Law and philosophy.

THE DECLINE. FROM THE ACCESSION OF TIBERIUS TO THE DEATH OF M. AURELIUS, A.D. 14-180.

Sudden collapse of letters--Cause of this--Tiberius--Changed position of literature--Vellius Paterculus--Valerius Maximus--Celsus--Remmius Palaemon--Germanicus--Phaedrus--Pomponius Secundus the tragedian.

Domitius Corbulo--Quintus Curtius--Columella--Pomponius Mela-- Valerius Protius--Petronius Arbiter--Account of his extant fragments.

Greek eloquence revives in the Sophists--Itinerant rhetors--Cynic preachers of virtue--The better class of popular philosophers--Dio Chrysostom--Union of philosophy and rhetoric--Greek now the language of general literature--Reconciliation of philosophy with religion--The Platonist school--Apuleius--Doctrine of daemons--Decline of thought-- General review of the main features of Roman literature?Conclusion.

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE

LIST OF EDITIONS RECOMMENDED

QUESTIONS OR SUBJECTS FOR ESSAYS, &c.

INTRODUCTION.

In the latter part of the seventeenth century, and during nearly the whole of the eighteenth, the literature of Rome exercised an imperial sway over European taste. Pope thought fit to assume an apologetic tone when he clothed Homer in an English dress, and reminded the world that, as compared with Virgil, the Greek poet had at least the merit of coming first. His own mind was of an emphatically Latin order. The great poets of his day mostly based their art on the canons recognised by Horace. And when poetry was thus affected, it was natural that philosophy, history, and criticism should yield to the same influence. A rhetorical form, a satirical spirit, and an appeal to common sense as supreme judge, stamp most of the writers of western Europe as so far pupils of Horace, Cicero, and Tacitus. At present the tide has turned. We are living in a period of strong reaction. The nineteenth century not only differs from the eighteenth, but in all fundamental questions is opposed to it. Its products have been strikingly original. In art, poetry, science, the spread of culture, and the investigation of the basis of truth, it yields to no other epoch of equal length in the history of modern times. If we go to either of the nations of antiquity to seek for an animating impulse, it will not be Rome but Greece that will immediately suggest itself to us. Greek ideas of aesthetic beauty, and Greek freedom of abstract thought, are being disseminated in the world with unexampled rapidity. Rome, and her soberer, less original, and less stimulating literature, find no place for influence. The readiness with which the leading nations drink from the well of Greek genius points to a special adaptation between the two. Epochs of upheaval, when thought is rife, progress rapid, and tradition, political or religious, boldly examined, turn, as if by necessity, to ancient Greece for inspiration. The Church of the second and third centuries, when Christian thought claimed and won its place among the intellectual revolutions of the world, did not disdain the analogies of Greek philosophy. The Renaissance owed its rise, and the Reformation much of its fertility, to the study of Greek. And the sea of intellectual activity which now surges round us moves ceaselessly about questions which society has not asked itself since Greece started them more than twenty centuries age. On the other hand, periods of order, when government is strong and progress restrained, recognise their prototypes in the civilisation of Rome, and their exponents in her literature. Such was the time of the Church's greatest power: such was also that of the fully developed monarchy in France, and of aristocratic ascendancy in England. Thus the two literatures wield alternate influence; the one on the side of liberty, the other on the side of government; the one as urging restless movement towards the ideal, the other as counselling steady acceptance of the real.

The Third Period, though of long duration, has its chief characteristics clearly defined from the beginning. The foremost of these is unreality, arising from the extinction of freedom and consequent loss of interest in public life. At the same time, the Romans, being made for political activity, did not readily content themselves with the less exciting successes of literary life. The applause of the lecture-room was a poor substitute for the thunders of the assembly. Hence arose a declamatory tone, which strove by frigid and almost hysterical exaggeration to make up for the healthy stimulus afforded by daily contact with affairs. The vein of artificial rhetoric, antithesis, and epigram, which prevails from Lucan to Fronto, owes its origin to this forced contentment with an uncongenial sphere. With the decay of freedom, taste sank, and that so rapidly that Seneca and Lucan transgress nearly as much against its canons as writers two generations later. The flowers which had bloomed so delicately in the wreath of the Augustan poets, short-lived as fragrant, scatter their sweetness no more in the rank weed-grown garden of their successors.

The character of this and of each epoch will be dwelt on more at length as it comes before us for special consideration, as well as the social or religious phenomena which influenced the modes of thought or expression. The great mingling of nationalities in Rome during the Empire necessarily produced a corresponding divergence in style, if not in ideas. Nevertheless, although we can trace the national traits of a Lucan or a Martial underneath their Roman culture, the fusion of separate elements in the vast capital was so complete, or her influence so overpowering, that the general resemblance far outweighs the differences, and it is easy to discern the common features which signalise unmistakeably the writers of the Silver Age.

ON THE EARLIEST REMAINS OF THE LATIN LANGUAGE.

The Etruscan language is still a riddle to philologists, and until it is satisfactorily investigated the ethnological position of the people that spoke it must be a matter of dispute. The few words and forms which have been deciphered lend support to the otherwise more probable theory that they were an Indo-Germanic race only remotely allied to the Italians, in respect of whom they maintained to quite a late period many distinctive traits. But though the Romans were long familiar with the literature and customs of Etruria, and adopted many Etruscan words into their language, neither of these causes influenced the literary development of the Romans in any appreciable degree. Italian philology and ethnology have been much complicated by reference to the Etruscan element. It is best to regard it, like the Iapygian, as altogether outside the pale of genuine Italic ethnography.

Other innovations were the doubling of vowels to denote length, a device employed by the Oscans and introduced at Rome by the poet Accius, though Quintilian implies that it was known before his time, and the doubling of consonants which was adopted from, the Greek by Ennius. In Greek, however, such doubling generally, though not always, has a philological justification.

With these preliminary remarks we may turn to the chief monuments of the old language, the difficulties and uncertainties of which have been greatly diminished by recent research. They are partly inscriptions , and partly public documents, preserved in the pages of antiquarians. Much may be learnt from the study of coins, which, though less ancient than some of the written literature, are often more archaic in their forms. The earliest of the existing remains is the song of the Arval Brothers, an old rustic priesthood , dating from the times of the kings. This fragment was discovered at Rome in 1778, on a tablet containing the acts of the sacred college, and was supposed to be as ancient as Romulus. The priesthood was a highly honourable office, its members were chosen for life, and emperors are mentioned among them. The yearly festival took place in May, when the fruits were ripe, and consisted in a kind of blessing of the first-fruits. The minute and primitive ritual was evidently preserved from very ancient times, and the hymn, though it has suffered in transliteration, is a good specimen of early Roman worship, the rubrical directions to the brethren being inseparably united with the invocation to the Lares and Mars. According to Mommsen's division of the lines, the words are--

The great difference between this rude dialect and classical Latin is easily seen, and we can well imagine that this and the Salian hymn of Numa were all but unintelligible to those who recited them. The most probable rendering is as follows:--"Help us, O Lares! and thou, Marmar, suffer not plague and ruin to attack our folk. Be satiate, O fierce Mars! Leap over the threshold. Halt! Now beat the ground. Call in alternate strain upon all the heroes. Help us, Marmor. Bound high in solemn measure." Each line was repeated thrice, the last word five times.

The next fragment is from the Salian hymn, quoted by Varro. It appears to be incomplete. The words are:

"Cozeulodoizeso. Omnia vero adpatula coemisse iamcusianes duo misceruses dun ianusve vet pos melios eum recum...," and a little further on, "divum empta cante, divum deo supplicante."

The most probable transcription is:

"Chorauloedus ero; Omnia vero adpatula concepere Iani curiones. Bonus creator es. Bonus Janus vivit, quo meliorem regum "; and of the second, "Deorum impetu canite, deorum deum suppliciter canite."

"Si parentem puer verberit asi ole plorasit, puer divis parentum verberat? ille ploraverit diis sacer esto."

"1. Si in ius vocat, ito. Ni it, antestamino: igitur em capito. Si calvitur antestetur postea eum frustratur

pedemve struit, manum endo iacito iniicito

Post meridiem praesenti litem addicito. Si ambo praesentes, Sol occasus suprema tempestas esto."

The difference between these fragments and the Latin of Plautus is really inconsiderable. But we have the testimony of Polybius with regard to a treaty between Rome and Carthage formed soon after the Regifugium , and therefore not much anterior to the Decemvirs, that the most learned Romans could scarcely understand it. We should infer from this that the language of the Twelve Tables, from being continually quoted to meet the exigencies of public life, was unconsciously moulded into a form intelligible to educated men; and that this process continued until the time when literary activity commenced. After that it remained untouched; and, in fact, the main portion of the laws as now preserved shows a strong resemblance to the Latin of the age of Livius, who introduced the written literature.

The Mausoleum of the Scipios containing the epitaphs was discovered in 1780. The first of these inscriptions dates from 280 B.C. or twenty years earlier than the Columna Rostrata, and is the earliest original Roman philological antiquity of assignable date which we possess. But the other epitaphs on the Scipios advance to a later period, and it is convenient to arrange them all together. The earliest runs thus:--

The next, the title of which is painted and the epitaph graven, refers to the son of Barbatus. Like the preceding, it is written in Saturnian verse:

The more archaic character of this inscription suggests the explanation that the first was originally painted, and not engraven till a later period, when, as in the case of the Columna Rostrata, some of its archaisms were suppressed. In ordinary Latin it would be:

"Hunc unum plurimi consentiunt Romani bonorum optimum fuisse virum virorum, Lucium Scipionem. Filius Barbati, Consul, Censor. Aedilis hic fuit apud vos. Hic cepit Corsicam Aleriamque urbem pugnando; dedit tempestatibus aedem merito votam."

The third epitaph is on P. Corn. Scipio, probably son of the great Africanus, and adopted father of Scipio Aemilianus:--

The last which will be quoted here is that of L. Corn. Scipio, of uncertain date:

"1. Q. Marcius L. f. S Postumius L. f. cos senatum consoluerunt n. Oct- 2. ob. apud aedem | Duelonai. Sc. arf. M. Claudi M. f. Bellonae Scribendo adfuerunt L. Valeri P.f.Q. Minuci C. f.-- 3. De Bacanalibus quei foideratei | esent ita exdeicendum censuere. 4. Neiquis eorum Bacanal habuise velet. Sei ques | esent quei vellet Si qui sibei deicerent necesus ese Bacanal habere, eeis utei 5. ad pr urbanum | Romam venirent deque eeis rebus, 6. ubei eorum verba audita esent, utei senatus | noster decerneret, dum ne minus Senatorbus C adesent, quom ea adessent 7. res cosoleretur | Bacas vir nequis adiese velet ceivis Roma- 8. nus neve nominus Latini neve socium | quisquam, nisei pr urbanum adiesent, isque de senatuos sententiad, adiissent 9. dum ne | minus Senatoribus C adesent, quom ea res cosoleretur, iousiset. Censuere. | 10. Sacerdos nequis vir eset. Magister neque vir neque mulier 11. quisquam eset. | Neve pecuniam quisquam eorum comoinem ha- communem 12. buise velet, neve magistratum | neve pro magistratud, neque 13. virum neque mulierem quiquam fecise velet. | Neve posthac inter sed coniourase 14. neve comvovise neve conspondise | neve compromesise velet, neve quis- 15. quam fidem inter sed dedise velet | Sacra in oquoltod ne quisquam occulto 16. fecise velet, neve in poplicod neve in | preivatod neve exstrad urbem 17. sacra quisquam fecise velet,--nisei | pr urbanum adieset isque 18. de senatuos sententiad, dum ne minus | senatoribus C adesent, uom es res cocoleretur, iousiset. Censuere. 19. Homines plous V oinversei virei atque mulieres sacra ne quisquam | universi 20. fecise velet, neve inter ibei virei plous duobus mulieribus plous tri- 21. bus | arfuise velent, nisei de pr urbani senatuosque sententiad, 22. utei suprad | scriptam est. 23. Haice utei in coventionid exdeicatis ne minus trinum | noundinum contione 24. senatuosque sententiam utei scientes esetis--eorum | sententia ita fuit: 25. Sei ques esent, quei arvorsum ead fecisent, quam suprad | scriptum adversum ea 26. est, eeis rem caputalem faciendam censuere--atque utei | hoce in 27. tabolam abenam inceideretis, ita senatus aiquom censuit; | uteique eam aequum 28. figier ioubeatis ubei facilumed gnoscier potisit;--atque | utei ea Ba- 29. canalia, sei qua sunt, exstrad quam sei quid ibei sacri est | ita utei suprad scriptum est, in diebus x. quibus vobis tabelai datai 30. erunt, | faciatis utci dismota sient--in agro Teurano." Tauriano

"Hic requiescit in pace domna domina

Bonusa quix ann. xxxxxx et Domo quae vixit Domino

Menna quixitannos ... Eabeat anatema a Juda si quis alterum qui vixit annos Habeat anathema

omine sup. me posuerit. Anatema abeas da trecenti decem et hominem super habeas de trecentis

octo patriarche qui chanones esposuerunt et da s ca Xpi patriarchis canones exposuerunt sanctis Christi

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