History of Roman Literature from its Earliest Period to the Augustan Volume I Part 6

With this first attempt at descriptive poetry in the Latin language, it may be interesting to compare a pa.s.sage produced in the extreme old age of Roman literature, which also paints, by nearly the same images, the profound repose of Nature:-

-- "Tacet omne pecus, volucresque feraeque, Et simulant fessos curvata cac.u.mina somnos; Nec trucibus fluviis idem sonus; occidit horror aequoris, et terris maria acclinata quiesc.u.n.t."

Horace, in one of his odes, strongly expresses the glory and honour which the Calabrian muse of Ennius had conferred on Scipio by this poem, devoted to his praise:

"Non incendia Carthaginis impiae, Ejus qui domita nomen ab Africa Lucratus rediit, clarius indicant Laudes quam Calabrae Pierides(198)."

The historical poems of Ennius appear to have been written without the introduction of much machinery or decorative fiction; and whether founded on ancient ballads, according to one opinion(199), or framed conformably to historical truth, according to another(200), they were obviously deficient in those embellishments of imagination which form the distinction between a poem and a metrical chronicle. In the subject which he had chosen, Ennius wanted the poetic advantages of distance in place or of time. It perhaps matters little whether the ground-work of a heroic poem be historical or entirely fict.i.tious, if free scope be given for the excursions of fancy. But, in order that it may sport with advantage, the event must be remote in time or in place; and if this rule be observed, such subjects as those chosen by Camoens or Ta.s.so admit of as much colouring and embellishment as the _Faery Queen_. It is in this that Lucan and Voltaire have erred; and neither the soaring genius of the one, nor brilliancy of the other, could raise their themes, splendid as they were, from the dust, or steep the mind in those reveries in which we indulge on subjects where there is no visible or known bound to credulity and imaginings. Still the Annals of Ennius, as a national work, were highly gratifying to a proud ambitious people, and, in consequence, continued long popular at Rome. They were highly relished in the age of Horace and Virgil; and, as far down as the time of Marcus Aurelius, they were recited in theatres and other public places for the amus.e.m.e.nt of the people(201).

The Romans, indeed, were so formed on his style, that Seneca called them _populus Ennia.n.u.s_-an Ennian race,-and said, that both Cicero and Virgil were obliged, contrary to their own judgment, to employ antiquated terms, in compliance with the reigning prejudice(202). From his example, too, added to the national character, the historical epic became in future times the great poetical resource of the Romans, who versified almost every important event in their history. Besides the _Pharsalia_ of Lucan, and _Punica_ of Silius Italicus, which still survive, there were many works of this description which are now lost. Varro Atacinus chose as his subject Caesar's war with the Sequani-Varius, the deeds of Augustus and Agrippa-Valgius Rufus, the battle of Actium-Albinova.n.u.s, the exploits of Germanicus-Cicero, those of Marius, and the events of his own consulship.

We have already seen Ennius's imitation of the Greeks in his tragedies and satires; and even in the above-mentioned historical poems, though devoted to the celebration of Roman heroes and subjects exclusively national, he has borrowed copiously from the Greek poets, and has often made his Roman consuls fight over again the Homeric battles. Thus the description of the combat of Ajax, in the 16th Book of the Iliad, beginning ??a? d' ???et'

???e, has suggested a pa.s.sage, above quoted, from the fragments of the Istrian war; and the picture of a steed breaking from his stall, and ranging the pastures, is imitated from a similar description, in the 6th Book of the Iliad-

"Et tunc sicut Equus, qui de praesepibus actus, Vincla sua magneis animeis abrumpit, et inde Fert sese campi per crula, laetaque prata; Celso pectore, saepe jubam qua.s.sat simul altam: Spiritus ex anima calida spumas agit albas(203)."

Homer's lines are the following:-

"?? d' ?te t?? stat?? ?pp??, a????sa? ep? fat??

?es?? ap?????a? ?e?e? ped???? ???a????, ?????? ???es?a? e???e??? p?ta???, ??d???? ???? de ?a?? ??e?, af? de ?a?ta?

???? a?ss??ta?. ? d' a??a??f? pep?????, ??fa ? ????a fe?e? eta t' ??ea ?a? ???? ?pp??(204)."

In order to afford an opportunity of judging of Ennius's talents for imitation, I have subjoined from the two poets, who carried that art to the greatest perfection, corresponding pa.s.sages, which are both evidently founded on the same Greek original-

"Qualis, ubi abruptis fugit praesepia vinclis, Tandem liber, Equus, campoque pot.i.tus aperto; Aut ille in pastus armentaque tendit equarum, Aut, a.s.suetus aquae perfundi flumine noto, Emicat, arrectisque fremit cervicibus alte Luxurians; luduntque jubae per colla, per armos(205)."

The other parallel pa.s.sage is in Ta.s.so's Jerusalem Delivered-

"Come Destrier, che dalle reggie stalle, Ove al uso dell' arme si riserba, Fugge, e libero alfin, per largo calle Va tra gli armenti, o al fiume usato, o all' erba; Scherzan sul collo i crini, e sulle spalle: Si scuote la cervice alta e superba: Suonano i pie nel corso, e par ch'avvampi, Di sonori nitriti empiendo i campi(206)."

To these parallel pa.s.sages may be added a very similar, though perhaps not a borrowed description, from the earliest production of the most original of all poets, in which the horse of Adonis breaks loose during the dalliance of Venus with his master:-

"The strong-necked steed, being tied unto a tree, Breaketh his rein, and to her straight goes he.

Imperiously he leaps, he neighs, he bounds, And now his woven girts he breaks asunder, The bearing earth with his hard hoof he wounds, Whose hollow womb resounds like heaven's thunder.

His ears up-p.r.i.c.k'd, his braided hanging mane, Upon his compa.s.s'd crest, now stands an end; His nostrils drink the air, and forth again, As from a furnace, vapours doth he send.

His eye which glisters scornfully, like fire, Shows his hot courage and his high desire(207)."

The poem of Ennius, ent.i.tled _Phagetica_, is curious,-as one would hardly suppose, that in this early age, luxury had made such progress, that the culinary art should have been systematically or poetically treated. All that we know, however, of the manner in which it was prepared or served up, is from the _Apologia_ of Apuleius. It was, which its name imports, a didactic poem on eatables, particularly fish, as Apuleius testifies.-"Q.

Ennii _edes_ phagetica, quae versibus scripsit, innumerabilia piscium genera enumerat, quae scilicet curiose cognorat." It is well known, that previous to the time of Ennius, this subject had been discussed both in prose and verse by various Greek authors(208), and was particularly detailed in the poem of Archestratus the Epicurean-

"-- The bard Who sang of poultry, venison, and lard, Poet and cook --"

It appears from the following pa.s.sage of Apuleius, that the work of Ennius was a digest of all the previous books on this subject,-"Alios etiam multis versibus decoravit, et ubi gentium quisque eorum inveniatur, ostendit qualiter a.s.sus, aut jussulentus optime sapiat; nec tamen ab eruditis reprehenditur." The eleven lines which remain, and which have been preserved by Apuleius, mention the places where different sorts of fish are found in greatest perfection and abundance-

"Brundusii Sargus bonus est; hunc, magnus erit si, Sume: Apriclum piscem scite, primum esse Tarenti; Surrentei fac emas Glauc.u.m," &c.

Another poem of Ennius, ent.i.tled _Epicharmus_, was so called because it was translated from the Greek work of Epicharmus, the Pythagorean, on the Nature of Things, in the same manner as Plato gave the name of _Timaeus_ to the book which he translated from Timaeus the Locrian. This was the same Epicharmus who invented Greek comedy, and resided in the court of Hiero of Syracuse. The fragments of this work of Ennius are so broken and corrupted, that it is impossible to follow the plan of his poem, or to discover the system of philosophy which it inculcated. It appears, however, to have contained many speculations concerning the elements of which the world was primarily composed, and which, according to him, were water, earth, air, and fire(209); as also with regard to the preservative powers of nature. Jupiter seems merely to have been considered by him as the air, the clouds, and the storm:

"Isteic is est Jupiter, quem dico, Graeci vocant Aera; quique ventus est, et nubes, imber postea, Atque ex imbre frigus; ventus post fit, aer denuo: Istaec propter Jupiter sunt ista, quae dico tibei, Qui mortales urbeis, atque belluas omneis juvat(210)."

This system, which had been previously adopted by the Etruscans, and had been promulgated in some of the Orphic hymns, nearly corresponds with that announced by Cato, in Lucan's _Pharsalia_-

"Jupiter est quodcunque vides, quocunque moveris;"

and is not far different from the Spinozism, in Pope's Essay on Man-

"Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze, Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees; Lives through all life, extends through all extent, Spreads undivided, operates unspent."

Ennius, however, whose compositions thus appear to have been formed entirely on Greek originals, has not more availed himself of these writings than Virgil has profited by the works of Ennius. The prince of Latin Poets has often imitated long pa.s.sages, and sometimes copied whole lines, from the Father of Roman Song. This has been shown, in a close comparison, by Macrobius, in his _Saturnalia_(211).

ENNIUS, Book 1.

"Qui clum versat stellis fulgentibus aptum."

VIRGIL, Book 6.

"Axem humero torquet stellis ardentibus aptum."

ENNIUS, 1.

"Est locus Hesperiam quam mortales perhibebant."

VIRGIL, 1.

"Est locus Hesperiam Graii cognomine dic.u.n.t."

ENNIUS, 12.

"Unus h.o.m.o n.o.bis cunctando rest.i.tuit rem; Non ponebat enim rumores ante salutem.

Ergo postque magisque viri nunc gloria claret(212)."

VIRGIL, 6.

"Unus qui n.o.bis cunctando rest.i.tuis rem."

ENNIUS, 5.

"Quod per amnam urbem leni fluit agmine flumen."

VIRGIL, 2.

"Inter opima virum leni fluit agmine Tybris."

ENNIUS, 1.

"Hei mihi qualis erat quantum mutatus ab illo."

VIRGIL, 2.

"Hei mihi qualis erat! quantum mutatus ab illo."

ENNIUS.

-- "Postquam discordia tetra Belli ferratos postes portasque refregit(213)."

VIRGIL, 7.

"Impulit ipsa manu portas, et cardine verso Belli ferratos rupit Saturnia postes."

In the longer pa.s.sages, Virgil has not merely selected the happiest thoughts and expressions of his predecessor, but in borrowing a great deal from Ennius, he has added much of his own. He has thrown on common images new lights of fancy; he has struck out the finest ideas from ordinary sentiments, and expunged all puerile conceits and absurdities.

Lucretius and Ovid have also frequently availed themselves of the works of Ennius. His description of felling the trees of a forest, in order to fit out a fleet against the Carthaginians, in the seventh book, has been imitated by Statius in the tenth book of the _Thebaid_. The pa.s.sage in his sixth satire, in which he has painted the happy situation of a parasite, compared with that of the master of a feast, is copied in Terence's Phormio(214). The following beautiful lines have been imitated by innumerable poets, both ancient and modern:

"Jupiter hic risit, tempestatesque serenae Riserunt omnes risu Jovis omnipotentis(215)."

Near the commencement of his _Annals_, Ennius says,

"Audire est operae pretium, procedere recte Qui rem Romanam Latiumque augescere vultis;"

which solemn pa.s.sage has been parodied by Horace, in the second satire of the first book:

"Audire est operae pretium, procedere recte Qui mchis non vultis, ut omni parte laborent."