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Title: The Lives Of The Twelve Caesars, Volume 14.
[LIVES OF THE POETS]
Author: C. Suetonius Tranquillus
Release Date: August, 2004 [EBook #6399]
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[This file was first posted on December 3, 2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIVES OF THE CAESARS, SUETONIUS, V14 ***
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THE LIVES
OF
THE TWELVE CAESARS
By
C. Suetonius Tranquillus;
To which are added,
HIS LIVES OF THE GRAMMARIANS, RHETORICIANS, AND POETS.
The Translation of
Alexander Thomson, M.D.
revised and corrected by
T.Forester, Esq., A.M.
(531)
LIVES OF THE POETS.
THE LIFE OF TERENCE.
Publius Terentius Afer, a native of Carthage, was a slave, at Rome, of
the senator Terentius Lucanus, who, struck by his abilities and handsome
person, gave him not only a liberal education in his youth, but his
freedom when he arrived at years of maturity. Some say that he was a
captive taken in war, but this, as Fenestella [925] informs us, could by
no means have been the case, since both his birth and death took place in
the interval between the termination of the second Punic war and the
commencement of the third [926]; nor, even supposing that he had been
taken prisoner by the Numidian or Getulian tribes, could he have fallen
into the hands of a Roman general, as there was no commercial intercourse
between the Italians and Africans until after the fall of Carthage [927].
Terence lived in great familiarity with many persons of high station, and
especially with Scipio Africanus, and Caius Delius, whose favour he is
even supposed to have purchased by the foulest means. But Fenestella
reverses the charge, contending that Terence was older than either of
them. Cornelius Nepos, however, (532) informs us that they were all of
nearly equal age; and Porcias intimates a suspicion of this criminal
commerce in the following passage:--
"While Terence plays the wanton with the great, and recommends himself to
them by the meretricious ornaments of his person; while, with greedy
ears, he drinks in the divine melody of Africanus's voice; while he
thinks of being a constant guest at the table of Furius, and the handsome
Laelius; while he thinks that he is fondly loved by them, and often
invited to Albanum for his youthful beauty, he finds himself stripped of
his property, and reduced to the lowest state of indigence. Then,
withdrawing from the world, he betook himself to Greece, where he met his
end, dying at Strymphalos, a town in Arcadia. What availed him the
friendship of Scipio, of Laelius, or of Furius, three of the most
affluent nobles of that age? They did not even minister to his
necessities so much as to provide him a hired house, to which his slave
might return with the intelligence of his master's death."
He wrote comedies, the earliest of which, The Andria, having to be
performed at the public spectacles given by the aediles [928], he was
commanded to read it first before Caecilius [929]. Having been
introduced while Caecilius was at supper, and being meanly dressed, he is
reported to have read the beginning of the play seated on a low stool
near the great man's couch. But after reciting a few verses, he was
invited to take his place at table, and, having supped with his host,
went through the rest to his great delight. This play and five others
were received by the public with similar applause, although Volcatius, in
his enumeration of them, says that "The Hecyra [930] must not be reckoned
among these."
The Eunuch was even acted twice the same day [931], and earned more money
than any comedy, whoever was the writer, had (533) ever done before,
namely, eight thousand sesterces [932]; besides which, a certain sum
accrued to the author for the title. But Varro prefers the opening of
The Adelphi [933] to that of Menander. It is very commonly reported that
Terence was assisted in his works by Laelius and Scipio [934], with whom
he lived in such great intimacy. He gave some currency to this report
himself, nor did he ever attempt to defend himself against it, except in
a light way; as in the prologue to The Adelphi:
Nam quod isti dicunt malevoli, homines nohiles
Hunc adjutare, assidueque una scribere;
Quod illi maledictun vehemens existimant,
Eam laudem hic ducit maximam: cum illis placet,
Qui vobis universis et populo placent;
Quorum opera in bello, in otio, in negotio,
Suo quisque tempore usus est sine superbia.
--------For this,
Which malice tells that certain noble persons
Assist the bard, and write in concert with him,
That which they deem a heavy slander, he
Esteems his greatest praise: that he can please
Those who in war, in peace, as counsellors,
Have rendered you the dearest services,
And ever borne their faculties so meekly.
Colman.
He appears to have protested against this imputation with less
earnestness, because the notion was far from being disagreeable to
Laelius and Scipio. It therefore gained ground, and prevailed in after-
times.
Quintus Memmius, in his speech in his own defence, says "Publius
Africanus, who borrowed from Terence a character which he had acted in
private, brought it on the stage in his name." Nepos tells us he found
in some book that C. Laelius, when he was on some occasion at Puteoli, on
the calends [the first] of March, [935] being requested by his wife to
rise early, (534) begged her not to suffer him to be disturbed, as he had
gone to bed late, having been engaged in writing with more than usual
success. On her asking him to tell her what he had been writing, he
repeated the verses which are found in the Heautontimoroumenos:
Satis pol proterve me Syri promessa--Heauton. IV. iv. 1.
I'faith! the rogue Syrus's impudent pretences--
Santra [936] is of opinion that if Terence required any assistance in his
compositions [937], he would not have had recourse to Scipio and Laelius,
who were then very young men, but rather to Sulpicius Gallus [938], an
accomplished scholar, who had been the first to introduce his plays at
the games given by the consuls; or to Q. Fabius Labeo, or Marcus Popilius
[939], both men of consular rank, as well as poets. It was for this
reason that, in alluding to the assistance he had received, he did not
speak of his coadjutors as very young men, but as persons of whose
services the people had full experience in peace, in war, and in the
administration of affairs.
After he had given his comedies to the world, at a time when he had not
passed his thirty-fifth year, in order to avoid suspicion, as he found
others publishing their works under his name, or else to make himself
acquainted with the modes of life and habits of the Greeks, for the
purpose of exhibiting them in his plays, he withdrew from home, to which
he never returned. Volcatius gives this account of his death:
Sed ut Afer sei populo dedit comoedias,
Iter hic in Asiam fecit. Navem cum semel
Conscendit, visus nunquam est. Sic vita vacat.
(535) When Afer had produced six plays for the entertainment of the
people,
He embarked for Asia; but from the time he went on board ship
He was never seen again. Thus he ended his life.
Q. Consentius reports that he perished at sea on his voyage back from
Greece, and that one hundred and eight plays, of which he had made a
version from Menander [940], were lost with him. Others say that he died
at Stymphalos, in Arcadia, or in Leucadia, during the consulship of Cn.
Cornelius Dolabella and Marcus Fulvius Nobilior [941], worn out with a
severe illness, and with grief and regret for the loss of his baggage,
which he had sent forward in a ship that was wrecked, and contained the
last new plays he had written.
In person, Terence is reported to have been rather short and slender,
with a dark complexion. He had an only daughter, who was afterwards
married to a Roman knight; and he left also twenty acres of garden ground
[942], on the Appian Way, at the Villa of Mars. I, therefore, wonder the
more how Porcius could have written the verses,
--------nihil Publius
Scipio profuit, nihil et Laelius, nihil Furius,
Tres per idem tempus qui agitabant nobiles facillime.
Eorum ille opera ne domum quidem habuit conductitiam
Saltem ut esset, quo referret obitum domini servulus. [943]
Afranius places him at the head of all the comic writers, declaring, in
his Compitalia,
Terentio non similem dices quempiam.
Terence's equal cannot soon be found.
On the other hand, Volcatius reckons him inferior not only (536) to
Naevius, Plautus, and Caecilius, but also to Licinius. Cicero pays him
this high compliment, in his Limo--
Tu quoque, qui solus lecto sermone, Terenti,
Conversum expressumque Latina voce Menandrum
In medio populi sedatis vocibus offers,
Quidquid come loquens, ac omnia dulcia dicens.
"You, only, Terence, translated into Latin, and clothed in choice
language the plays of Menander, and brought them before the public, who,
in crowded audiences, hung upon hushed applause--
Grace marked each line, and every period charmed."
So also Caius Caesar:
Tu quoque tu in summis, O dimidiate Menander,
Poneris, et merito, puri sermonis amator,
Lenibus atque utinam scriptis adjuncta foret vis
Comica, ut aequato virtus polleret honore
Cum Graecis, neque in hoc despectus parte jaceres!
Unum hoc maceror, et doleo tibi deesse, Terenti.
"You, too, who divide your honours with Menander, will take your place
among poets of the highest order, and justly too, such is the purity of
your style. Would only that to your graceful diction was added more
comic force, that your works might equal in merit the Greek masterpieces,
and your inferiority in this particular should not expose you to censure.
This is my only regret; in this, Terence, I grieve to say you are
wanting."
THE LIFE OF JUVENAL.
D. JUNIUS JUVENALIS, who was either the son [944] of a wealthy freedman,
or brought up by him, it is not known which, declaimed till the middle of
life [945], more from the bent of his inclination, than from any desire
to prepare himself either for the schools or the forum. But having
composed a short satire [946], which was clever enough, on Paris [947],
the actor of pantomimes, (537) and also on the poet of Claudius Nero, who
was puffed up by having held some inferior military rank for six months
only; he afterwards devoted himself with much zeal to that style of
writing. For a while indeed, he had not the courage to read them even to
a small circle of auditors, but it was not long before he recited his
satires to crowded audiences, and with entire success; and this he did
twice or thrice, inserting new lines among those which he had originally
composed.
Quod non dant proceres, dabit histrio, tu Camerinos,
Et Bareas, tu nobilium magna atria curas.
Praefectos Pelopea facit, Philomela tribunos.
Behold an actor's patronage affords
A surer means of rising than a lord's!
And wilt thou still the Camerino's [948] court,
Or to the halls of Bareas resort,
When tribunes Pelopea can create
And Philomela praefects, who shall rule the state? [949]
At that time the player was in high favour at court, and many of those
who fawned upon him were daily raised to posts of honour. Juvenal
therefore incurred the suspicion of having covertly satirized occurrences
which were then passing, and, although eighty years old at that time
[950], he was immediately removed from the city, being sent into
honourable banishment as praefect of a cohort, which was under orders to
proceed to a station at the extreme frontier of Egypt [951]. That (538)
sort of punishment was selected, as it appeared severe enough for an
offence which was venial, and a mere piece of drollery. However, he died
very soon afterwards, worn down by grief, and weary of his life.
THE LIFE OF PERSIUS.
AULUS PERSIUS FLACCUS was born the day before the Nones of December [4th
Dec.] [952], in the consulship of Fabius Persicus and L. Vitellius. He
died on the eighth of the calends of December [24th Nov.] [953] in the
consulship of Rubrius Marius and Asinius Gallus. Though born at
Volterra, in Etruria, he was a Roman knight, allied both by blood and
marriage to persons of the highest rank [954]. He ended his days at an
estate he had at the eighth milestone on the Appian Way. His father,
Flaccus, who died when he was barely six years old, left him under the
care of guardians, and his mother, Fulvia Silenna, who afterwards married
Fusius, a Roman knight, buried him also in a very few years. Persius
Flaccus pursued his studies at Volterra till he was twelve years old, and
then continued them at Rome, under Remmius Palaemon, the grammarian, and
Verginius Flaccus, the rhetorician. Arriving at the age of twenty-one,
he formed a friendship with Annaeus Cornutus [955], which lasted through
life; and from him he learned the rudiments of philosophy. Among his
earliest friends were Caesius Bassus [956], and Calpurnius Statura; the
latter of whom died while Persius himself was yet in his youth.
Servilius (539) Numanus [957], he reverenced as a father. Through
Cornutus he was introduced to Annaeus, as well as to Lucan, who was of
his own age, and also a disciple of Cornutus. At that time Cornutus was
a tragic writer; he belonged to the sect of the Stoics, and left behind
him some philosophical works. Lucan was so delighted with the writings
of Persius Flaccus, that he could scarcely refrain from giving loud
tokens of applause while the author was reciting them, and declared that
they had the true spirit of poetry. It was late before Persius made the
acquaintance of Seneca, and then he was not much struck with his natural
endowments. At the house of Cornutus he enjoyed the society of two very
learned and excellent men, who were then zealously devoting themselves to
philosophical enquiries, namely, Claudius Agaternus, a physician from
Lacedaemon, and Petronius Aristocrates, of Magnesia, men whom he held in
the highest esteem, and with whom he vied in their studies, as they were
of his own age, being younger than Cornutus. During nearly the last ten
years of his life he was much beloved by Thraseas, so that he sometimes
travelled abroad in his company; and his cousin Arria was married to him.
Persius was remarkable for gentle manners, for a modesty amounting to
bashfulness, a handsome form, and an attachment to his mother, sister,
and aunt, which was most exemplary. He was frugal and chaste. He left
his mother and sister twenty thousand sesterces, requesting his mother,
in a written codicil, to present to Cornutus, as some say, one hundred
sesterces, or as others, twenty pounds of wrought silver [958], besides
about seven hundred books, which, indeed, included his whole library.
Cornutus, however, would only take the books, and gave up the legacy to
the sisters, whom his brother had constituted his heirs.
He wrote [959] seldom, and not very fast; even the work we possess he
left incomplete. Some verses are wanting at the end of the book [960],
but Cornutus thoughtlessly recited it, as if (540) it was finished; and
on Caesius Bassus requesting to be allowed to publish it, he delivered it
to him for that purpose., In his younger days, Persius had written a
play, as well as an Itinerary, with several copies of verses on Thraseas'
father-in-law, and Arria's [961] mother, who had made away with herself
before her husband. But Cornutus used his whole influence with the
mother of Persius to prevail upon her to destroy these compositions. As
soon as his book of Satires was published, all the world began to admire
it, and were eager to buy it up. He died of a disease in the stomach, in
the thirtieth year of his age [962]. But no sooner had he left school
and his masters, than he set to work with great vehemence to compose
satires, from having read the tenth book of Lucilius; and made the
beginning of that book his model; presently launching his invectives all
around with so little scruple, that he did not spare cotemporary poets
and orators, and even lashed Nero himself, who was then the reigning
prince. The verse ran as follows:
Auriculas asini Mida rex habet;
King Midas has an ass's ears;
but Cornutus altered it thus;
Auriculas asini quis non hahet?
Who has not an ass's ears?
in order that it might not be supposed that it was meant to apply to
Nero.
THE LIFE OF HOR ACE.
HORATIUS FLACCUS was a native of Venusium [963], his father having been,
by his own account [964], a freedman and collector of taxes, but, as it
is generally believed, a dealer in salted (541) provisions; for some one
with whom Horace had a quarrel, jeered him, by saying; "How often have I
seen your father wiping his nose with his fist?" In the battle of
Philippi, he served as a military tribune [965], which post he filled at
the instance of Marcus Brutus [966], the general; and having obtained a
pardon, on the overthrow of his party, he purchased the office of scribe
to a quaestor. Afterwards insinuating himself first, into the good
graces of Mecaenas, and then of Augustus, he secured no small share in
the regard of both. And first, how much Mecaenas loved him may be seen
by the epigram in which he says:
Ni te visceribus meis, Horati,
Plus jam diligo, Titium sodalem,
Ginno tu videas strigosiorem. [967]
But it was more strongly exhibited by Augustus, in a short sentence
uttered in his last moments: "Be as mindful of Horatius Flaccus as you
are of me!" Augustus offered to appoint him his secretary, signifying
his wishes to Mecaenas in a letter to the following effect: "Hitherto I
have been able to write my own epistles to friends; but now I am too much
occupied, and in an infirm state of health. I wish, therefore, to
deprive you of our Horace: let him leave, therefore, your luxurious table
and come to the palace, and he shall assist me in writing my letters."
And upon his refusing to accept the office, he neither exhibited the
smallest displeasure, nor ceased to heap upon him tokens of his regard.
Letters of his are extant, from which I will make some short extracts to
establish this: "Use your influence over me with the same freedom as you
would do if we were living together as friends. In so doing you will be
perfectly right, and guilty of no impropriety; for I could wish that our
intercourse should be on that footing, if your health admitted of it."
And again: "How I hold you in memory you may learn (542) from our friend
Septimius [968], for I happened to mention you when he was present. And
if you are so proud as to scorn my friendship, that is no reason why I
should lightly esteem yours, in return." Besides this, among other
drolleries, he often called him, "his most immaculate penis," and "his
charming little man," and loaded him from time to time with proofs of his
munificence. He admired his works so much, and was so convinced of their
enduring fame, that he directed him to compose the Secular Poem, as well
as that on the victory of his stepsons Tiberius and Drusus over the
Vindelici [969]; and for this purpose urged him to add, after a long
interval, a fourth book of Odes to the former three. After reading his
"Sermones," in which he found no mention of himself, he complained in
these terms: "You must know that I am very angry with you, because in
most of your works of this description you do not choose to address
yourself to me. Are you afraid that, in times to come, your reputation
will suffer; in case it should appear that you lived on terms of intimate
friendship with me?" And he wrung from him the eulogy which begins with,
Cum tot sustineas, et tanta negotia solus:
Res Italas armis tuteris, moribus ornes,
Legibus emendes: in publica commoda peccem,
Si longo sermone morer tua tempora, Caesar.--Epist. ii. i.
While you alone sustain the important weight
Of Rome's affairs, so various and so great;
While you the public weal with arms defend,
Adorn with morals, and with laws amend;
Shall not the tedious letter prove a crime,
That steals one moment of our Caesar's time.--Francis.
In person, Horace was short and fat, as he is described by himself in his
Satires [970], and by Augustus in the following letter: "Dionysius has
brought me your small volume, which, little as it is, not to blame you
for that, I shall judge favourably. You seem to me, however, to be
afraid lest your volumes should be bigger than yourself. But if you are
short in stature, you are corpulent enough. You may, therefore, (543) if
you will, write in a quart, when the size of your volume is as large
round as your paunch."
It is reported that he was immoderately addicted to venery. [For he is
said to have had obscene pictures so disposed in a bedchamber lined with
mirrors, that, whichever way he looked, lascivious images might present
themselves to his view.] [971] He lived for the most part in the
retirement of his farm [972], on the confines of the Sabine and Tiburtine
territories, and his house is shewn in the neighbourhood of a little wood
not far from Tibur. Some Elegies ascribed to him, and a prose Epistle
apparently written to commend himself to Mecaenas, have been handed down
to us; but I believe that neither of them are genuine works of his; for
the Elegies are commonplace, and the Epistle is wanting in perspicuity, a
fault which cannot be imputed to his style. He was born on the sixth of
the ides of December [27th December], in the consulship of Lucius Cotta
[973] and Lucius Torquatus; and died on the fifth of the calends of
December [27th November], in the consulship of Caius Marcius Censorinus
and Caius Asinius Gallus [974]; having completed his fifty-ninth year.
He made a nuncupatory will, declaring Augustus his heir, not being able,
from the violence of his disorder, to sign one in due form. He was
interred and lies buried on the skirts of the Esquiline Hill, near the
tomb of Mecaenas. [975]
(544) M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS, a native of Corduba [976], first tried the
powers of his genius in an encomium on Nero, at the Quinquennial games.
He afterwards recited his poem on the Civil War carried on between Pompey
and Caesar. His vanity was so immense, and he gave such liberty to his
tongue, that in some preface, comparing his age and his first efforts
with those of Virgil, he had the assurance to say: "And what now remains
for me is to deal with a gnat." In his early youth, after being long
informed of the sort of life his father led in the country, in
consequence of an unhappy marriage [977], he was recalled from Athens by
Nero, who admitted him into the circle of his friends, and even gave him
the honour of the quaestorship; but he did not long remain in favour.
Smarting at this, and having publicly stated that Nero had withdrawn, all
of a sudden, without communicating with the senate, and without any other
motive than his own recreation, after this he did not cease to assail the
emperor both with foul words and with acts which are still notorious. So
that on one occasion, when easing his bowels in the common privy, there
being a louder explosion than usual, he gave vent to the nemistych of
Nero: "One would suppose it was thundering under ground," in the hearing
of those who were sitting there for the same purpose, and who took to
their heels in much consternation [978]. In a poem also, which was in
every one's hands, he severely lashed both the emperor and his most
powerful adherents.
At length, he became nearly the most active leader in Piso's conspiracy
[979]; and while he dwelt without reserve in many quarters on the glory
of those who dipped their hands in the (545) blood of tyrants, he
launched out into open threats of violence, and carried them so far as to
boast that he would cast the emperor's head at the feet of his
neighbours. When, however, the plot was discovered, he did not exhibit
any firmness of mind. A confession was wrung from him without much
difficulty; and, humbling himself to the most abject entreaties, he even
named his innocent mother as one of the conspirators [980]; hoping that
his want of natural affection would give him favour in the eyes of a
parricidal prince. Having obtained permission to choose his mode of
death [981], he wrote notes to his father, containing corrections of some
of his verses, and, having made a full meal, allowed a physician to open
the veins in his arm [982]. I have also heard it said that his poems
were offered for sale, and commented upon, not only with care and
diligence, but also in a trifling way. [983]
THE LIFE OF PLINY. [984]
PLINIUS SECUNDUS, a native of New Como [985], having served in (546)
the wars with strict attention to his duties, in the rank of a knight,
distinguished himself, also, by the great integrity with which he
administered the high functions of procurator for a long period in the
several provinces intrusted to his charge. But still he devoted so much
attention to literary pursuits, that it would not have been an easy
matter for a person who enjoyed entire leisure to have written more than
he did. He comprised, in twenty volumes, an account of all the various
wars carried on in successive periods with the German tribes. Besides
this, he wrote a Natural History, which extended to seven books. He fell
a victim to the calamitous event which occurred in Campania. For, having
the command of the fleet at Misenum, when Vesuvius was throwing up a
fiery eruption, he put to sea with his gallies for the purpose of
exploring the causes of the phenomenon close on the spot [986]. But
being prevented by contrary winds from sailing back, he was suffocated in
the dense cloud of dust and ashes. Some, however, think that he was
killed by his slave, having implored him to put an end to his sufferings,
when he was reduced to the last extremity by the fervent heat. [987]
FOOTNOTES:
[925] Lucius Fenestella, an historical writer, is mentioned by
Lactantius, Seneca, and Pliny, who says, that he died towards the close
of the reign of Tiberius.
[926] The second Punic war ended A.U.C. 552, and the third began A.U.C.
605. Terence was probably born about 560.
[927] Carthage was laid in ruins A.U.C. 606 or 607, six hundred and
sixty seven years after its foundation.
[928] These entertainments were given by the aediles M. Fulvius Nobilior
and M. Acilius Glabrio, A.U.C. 587.
[929] St. Jerom also states that Terence read the "Andria" to Caecilius
who was a comic poet at Rome; but it is clearly an anachronism, as he
died two years before this period. It is proposed, therefore, to amend
the text by substituting Acilius, the aedile; a correction recommended by
all the circumstances, and approved by Pitiscus and Ernesti.
[930] The "Hecyra," The Mother-in-law, is one of Terence's plays.
[931] The "Eunuch" was not brought out till five years after the Andria,
A.U.C. 592.
[932] About 80 pounds sterling; the price paid for the two performances.
What further right of authorship is meant by the words following, is not
very clear.
[933] The "Adelphi" was first acted A.U.C. 593.
[934] This report is mentioned by Cicero (Ad Attic, vii. 3), who applies
it to the younger Laelius. The Scipio here mentioned is Scipio
Africanus, who was at this time about twenty-one years of age.
[935] The calends of March was the festival of married women. See
before, VESPASIAN, c. xix.
[936] Santra, who wrote biographies of celebrated characters, is
mentioned as "a man of learning," by St. Jerom, in his preface to the
book on the Ecclesiastical Writers.
[937] The idea seems to have prevailed that Terence, originally an
African slave, could not have attained that purity of style in Latin
composition which is found in his plays, without some assistance. The
style of Phaedrus, however; who was a slave from Thrace, and lived in the
reign of Tiberius, is equally pure, although no such suspicion attaches
to his work.
[938] Cicero (de Clar. Orat. c. 207) gives Sulpicius Gallus a high
character as a finished orator and elegant scholar. He was consul when
the Andria was first produced.
[939] Labeo and Popilius are also spoken of by Cicero in high terms, Ib.
cc. 21 and 24. Q. Fabius Labeo was consul with M. Claudius Marcellus,
A.U.C. 570 and Popilius with L. Postumius Albinus, A.U.C. 580.
[940] The story of Terence's having converted into Latin plays this
large number of Menander's Greek comedies, is beyond all probability,
considering the age at which he died, and other circumstances. Indeed,
Menander never wrote so many as are here stated.
[941] They were consuls A.U.C. 594. Terence was, therefore, thirty-four
years old at the time of his death.
[942] Hortulorum, in the plural number. This term, often found in Roman
authors, not inaptly describes the vast number of little inclosures,
consisting of vineyards, orchards of fig-trees, peaches, etc., with
patches of tillage, in which maize, legumes, melons, pumpkins, and other
vegetables are cultivated for sale, still found on small properties, in
the south of Europe, particularly in the neighbourhood of towns.
[943] Suetonius has quoted these lines in the earlier part of his Life
of Terence. See before p. 532, where they are translated.
[944] Juvenal was born at Aquinum, a town of the Volscians, as appears
by an ancient MS., and is intimated by himself. Sat. iii. 319.
[945] He must have been therefore nearly forty years old at this time,
as he lived to be eighty.
[946] The seventh of Juvenal's Satires.
[947] This Paris does not appear to have been the favourite of Nero, who
was put to death by that prince [see NERO, c. liv.], but another person
of the same name, who was patronised by the emperor Domitian. The name
of the poet joined with him is not known. Salmatius thinks it was
Statius Pompilius, who sold to Paris, the actor, the play of Agave;
Esurit, intactam Paridi nisi vendat Agaven.--Juv. Sat. vii. 87.
[948] Sulpicius Camerinus had been proconsul in Africa; Bareas Soranus
in Asia. Tacit. Annal. xiii. 52; xvi. 23. Both of them are said to have
been corrupt in their administration; and the satirist introduces their
names as examples of the rich and noble, whose influence was less than
that of favourite actors, or whose avarice prevented them from becoming
the patrons of poets.
[949] The "Pelopea," was a tragedy founded on the story of the daughter
of Thyestes; the "Philomela," a tragedy on the fate of Itys, whose
remains were served to his father at a banquet by Philomela and her
sister Progne.
[950] This was in the time of Adrian. Juvenal, who wrote first in the
reigns of Domitian and Trajan, composed his last Satire but one in the
third year of Adrian, A.U.C. 872.
[951] Syene is meant, the frontier station of the imperial troops in
that quarter of the world.
[952] A.U.C. 786, A.D. 34.
[953] A.U.C. 814, A.D. 62.
[954] Persius was one of the few men of rank and affluence among the
Romans, who acquired distinction as writers; the greater part of them
having been freedmen, as appears not only from these lives of the poets,
but from our author's notices of the grammarians and rhetoricians. A
Caius Persius is mentioned with distinction by Livy in the second Punic
war, Hist. xxvi. 39; and another of the same name by Cicero, de Orat. ii.
6, and by Pliny; but whether the poet was descended from either of them,
we have no means of ascertaining.
[955] Persius addressed his fifth satire to Annaeus Cornutus. He was a
native of Leptis, in Africa, and lived at Rome in the time of Nero, by
whom he was banished.
[956] Caesius Bassus, a lyric poet, flourished during the reigns of Nero
and Galba. Persius dedicated his sixth Satire to him.
[957] "Numanus." It should be Servilius Nonianus, who is mentioned by
Pliny, xxviii. 2, and xxxvii. 6.
[958] Commentators are not agreed about these sums, the text varying
both in the manuscripts and editions.
[959] See Dr. Thomson's remarks on Persius, before, p. 398.
[960] There is no appearance of any want of finish in the sixth Satire of
Persius, as it has come down to us; but it has been conjectured that it
was followed by another, which was left imperfect.
[961] There were two Arrias, mother and daughter, Tacit. Annal. xvi.
34. 3.
[962] Persius died about nine days before he completed his twenty-ninth
year.
[963] Venusium stood on the confines of the Apulian, Lucanian, and
Samnite territories.
Sequor hunc, Lucanus an Appulus anceps;
Nam Venusinus arat finem sub utrumque colonus.
Hor Sat. xi. 1. 34.
[964] Sat. i. 6. 45.
[965] Horace mentions his being in this battle, and does not scruple to
admit that he made rather a precipitate retreat, "relicta non bene
parmula."--Ode xi. 7-9.
[966] See Ode xi. 7. 1.
[967] The editors of Suetonius give different versions of this epigram.
It seems to allude to some passing occurrence, and in its present form
the sense is to this effect: "If I love you not, Horace, to my very
heart's core, may you see the priest of the college of Titus leaner than
his mule."
[968] Probably the Septimius to whom Horace addressed the ode beginning
Septimi, Gades aditure mecum.--Ode xl. b. i.
[969] See AUGUSTUS, c. xxi.; and Horace, Ode iv, 4.
[970] See Epist. i. iv. xv.
Me pinguem et nitidum bene curata cute vises.
[971] It is satisfactory to find that the best commentators consider the
words between brackets as an interpolation in the work of Suetonius.
Some, including Bentley, reject the preceding sentence also.
[972] The works of Horace abound with references to his Sabine farm
which must be familiar to many readers. Some remains are still shewn,
consisting of a ruined wall and a tesselated pavement in a vineyard,
about eight miles from Tivoli, which are supposed, with reason, to mark
its site. At least, the features of the neighbouring country, as often
sketched by the poet--and they are very beautiful--cannot be mistaken.
[973] Aurelius Cotta and L. Manlius Torquatus were consuls A.U.C. 688.
The genial Horace, in speaking of his old wine, agrees with Suetonius in
fixing the date of his own birth:
O nata mecum consule Manlio
Testa.--Ode iii. 21.
And again,
Tu vina, Torquato, move
Consule pressa meo.--Epod. xiii. 8.
[974] A.U.C. 745. So that Horace was in his fifty-seventh, not his
fifty-ninth year, at the time of his death.
[975] It may be concluded that Horace died at Rome, under the hospitable
roof of his patron Mecaenas, whose villa and gardens stood on the
Esquiline hill; which had formerly been the burial ground of the lower
classes; but, as he tells us,
Nunc licet Esquiliis habitare salubribus, atque
Aggere in aprico spatiare.--Sat. i. 8.
[976] Cordova. Lucan was the son of Annaeus Mella, Seneca's brother.
[977] This sentence is very obscure, and Ernesti considers the text to
be imperfect.
[978] They had good reason to know that, ridiculous as the tyrant made
himself, it was not safe to incur even the suspicion of being parties to
a jest upon him.
[979] See NERO, c. xxxvi.
[980] St. Jerom (Chron. Euseb.) places Lucan's death in the tenth year
of Nero's reign, corresponding with A.U.C. 817. This opportunity is
taken of correcting an error in the press, p. 342, respecting the date of
Nero's accession. It should be A.U.C. 807, A.D. 55.
[981] These circumstances are not mentioned by some other writers. See
Dr. Thomson's account of Lucan, before, p. 347, where it is said that he
died with philosophical firmness.
[982] We find it stated ib. p. 396, that Lucan expired while pronouncing
some verses from his own Pharsalia: for which we have the authority of
Tacitus, Annal. xv. 20. 1. Lucan, it appears, employed his last hours in
revising his poems; on the contrary, Virgil, we are told, when his death
was imminent, renewed his directions that the Aeneid should be committed
to the flames.
[983] The text of the concluding sentence of Lucan's life is corrupt,
and neither of the modes proposed for correcting it make the sense
intended very clear.
[984] Although this brief memoir of Pliny is inserted in all the
editions of Suetonius, it was unquestionably not written by him. The
author, whoever he was, has confounded the two Plinys, the uncle and
nephew, into which error Suetonius could not have fallen, as he lived on
intimate terms with the younger Pliny; nor can it be supposed that he
would have composed the memoir of his illustrious friend in so cursory a
manner. Scaliger and other learned men consider that the life of Pliny,
attributed to Suetonius, was composed more than four centuries after that
historian's death.
[985] See JULIUS, c. xxviii. Caius Plinius Caecilius Secundus (the
younger Pliny) was born at Como, A.U.C. 814; A.D. 62. His father's name
was Lucius Caecilius, also of Como, who married Plinia, the sister of
Caius Plinius Secundus, supposed to have been a native of Verona, the
author of the Natural History, and by this marriage the uncle of Pliny
the Younger. It was the nephew who enjoyed the confidence of the
emperors Nerva and Trajan, and was the author of the celebrated Letters.
[986] The first eruption of Mount Vesuvius occurred A.U.C. 831, A.D. 79.
See TITUS, c. viii. The younger Pliny was with his uncle at Misenum at
the time, and has left an account of his disastrous enterprise in one of
his letters, Epist. vi. xvi.
[987] For further accounts of the elder Pliny, see the Epistles of
his nephew, B. iii. 5; vi. 16. 20; and Dr. Thomson's remarks before,
pp. 475-478.
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