The History of Roman Literature Part 31

"Lasciva est n.o.bis pagina: vita proba est."

The year of his death is not certain. But it must have occurred soon after 100 A.D. Pliny in his grand way gives an obituary notice of him in one of his letters, [49] which, interesting as all his letters are, we cannot do better than translate:

"I hear with regret that Valerius Martial is dead. He was a man of talent, acuteness, and spirit, with plenty of wit and gall, and as sincere as he was witty. I gave him a parting present when he left Rome, which was due both to our friendship and to some verses which he wrote in my praise. It was an ancestral custom of ours to enrich with honours or money those who had written the praises of individuals or cities, but among other n.o.ble and seemly customs this has now become obsolete. I suppose since we have ceased to do things worthy of laudation, we think it in bad taste to receive it."

Pliny then quotes the verses, [50] and proceeds--

"Was I not justified in parting on the most friendly terms with one who wrote so prettily of me, and am I not justified now in mourning his loss as that of an intimate friend? What he could he gave me; if he had had more he would have gladly given it. And yet what gift can be greater than glory, praise, and immortality? It is possible, indeed, as I think I hear you saying, that his poems may not last for ever. Nevertheless, he wrote them in the belief that they would."

Martial is the most finished master of the epigram, as we understand it.

Epigram is with him condensed satire. The harmless plays on words, sudden surprises, and neat turns of expression, which had satisfied the Greek and earlier Latin epigrammatists, were by no means stimulating enough for the _blase_ taste of Martial's day. The age cried for _point_, and with point Martial supplies it to the full extent of its demand. His pungency is sometimes wonderful; the whole flavour of many a sparkling little poem is pressed into one envenomed word, like the scorpion's tail whose last joint is a sting. The marvel is that with that biting pen of his the poet could find so many warm friends. But the truth is, he was far more than a mere sharp-shooter of wit. He had a genuine love of good fellowship, a warm if not a constant heart, and that happy power of graceful panegyric which was so specially Roman a gift. Juvenal, indeed, complains that the Greeks were hopelessly above his countryman in the art of praise. But this is not an opinion in which we can agree. Their fulsome adulation may indeed have been more acceptable to the vulgar objects of it than that of the Roman panegyrist, who, even while flattering, could not shake off the fetters of the great dialect in which he wrote; but the efforts in this department by Cicero, Ovid, Horace, Pliny, and Martial, mast be allowed to be master- achievements to which it would be hard to find an equal in the literature of any other nation.

Martial is one of the most difficult of Roman authors. Scarce once or twice does he relax his style sufficiently to let the reader _read_ instead of spelling through his poems. When he does this he is elegant and pleasing. The epicedion on a little girl who died at the age of six, is a lovely gem that may almost bear comparison with Catullus; but then it is spoilt by the misplaced wit of the last few lines. [51] Few indeed are the poems of Martial that are natural throughout. His constant effort to be terse, to condense description into allusion, and allusion into indication, and to indicate as many allusions as possible by a single word, compels the reader to weigh each expression with scrupulous care lest he may lose some of the points with which every line is weighted; and yet even Martial is less perfect in this respect than Juvenal. But then the shortness of his pieces takes away that relief which a longer satire must have, not only for its author's sake, but for purposes of artistic success. He must have read Juvenal with care, and sometimes seems to give a _decoction_ of his satires. [52] It is probable that we do not possess all Martial's poems. It is also possible that many of those we possess under his name are not by him. The list embraces one book of _Spectacula_, celebrating the shows in which emperor and people took such delight; twelve of _Epigrams_, edited separately, and partially revised for each edition; [53] two of _Xenia_ and _Apoph.o.r.eta_, written before the tenth book of Epigrams, and devoted to the flattery of Domitian. The obscenities which defile almost every book make it impossible to read Martial with any pleasure, but those who desire to make his acquaintance will find Book IV.

by far the least objectionable in this respect, as well as otherwise more interesting.

At this time Rome teemed with poets; as Pliny in one of his letters tells us, people reckoned the year by the abundance of its poetic harvest.

TURNUS seems to have been a satirist of some note; [54] among others he satirised the poisoner Locusta. SCAEVIUS MEMOR was a tragedian; [55] a _Hecuba_, a _Troades_, and perhaps a _Hercules_, are ascribed to him.

VERGINIUS RUFUS wrote erotic poems, and an epigram of his is quoted by Pliny. [56] VESTRICIUS SPURINNA was a lyricist, and had been consul under Domitian; a fine account of him is given by Pliny. [57] The only Roman poetess of whom we possess any fragment, belongs to this epoch, the highborn lady SULPICIA. She is celebrated by Martial for her chaste love- elegies, [58] and for fidelity to her husband Calenus. We suspect, however, that Martial is a little satiric here. For the epithets bestowed by other writers on Sulpicia imply warmth, not to say wantonness of tone, though her muse seems to have been constant to its legitimate flame. We possess about seventy hexameters bearing the t.i.tle _Sulpiciae Satira_, supposed to have been written after the banishment of all philosophers by Domitian (94 A.D.). It is a dialogue between the poetess and her muse: she excuses herself for essaying so slight a subject in epic metre, and implies that she is more at home in lighter rhythms. This may be believed when we find that she makes the _i_ of iambus long! However, the poem is corrupt, and the readings in many parts uncertain. Teuffel regards it as a forgery of the fifteenth century, following Boot's opinion. It is full of harsh constructions [59] and misplaced epithets, but on the other hand contains some pretty lines. If it be genuine, its boldness is remarkable.

Great numbers of other poets appear in the pages of Martial, Statius, and Pliny, but they need not be named. The fact that verse-writing was an innocuous way of spending one's leisure doubtless drove many to it.

CODRUS, or Cordus, [60] was the author of an ambitious epic, the _Theseid_, composed on the scale, but without the wit, of the _Thebaid_.

The stage, too, engaged many writers. Tragedy and comedy [61] were again reviving, though their patrons seem to have preferred recitation to acting; mimes still flourished, though they had taken the form of pantomime. We hear of celebrated actors of them in Juvenal, as Paris, Latinus, and Thymele.

APPENDIX.

_On the Similes of Virgil, Lucan, and Statius._

The Roman epicists bestowed great elaboration on their similes, and as a rule imitated them from a certain limited number of Greek originals. In Virgil but a few are original, _i.e._, taken from things he had himself witnessed, or feelings he had known. Lucan is less imitative in form, and he first used with any frequency the simile founded on a recollection of some well-known pa.s.sage of Greek literature or conception of Greek art. In this Statius follows him; the simile of the infant Apollo noticed in this chapter is a good instance.

We give a few examples of the treatment of a similar subject by the three poets. We first take the simile of a storm, _described_ by Virgil in the first Aeneid, and _alluded_ to by the other two poets (Lucan i. 493):

"Qualis c.u.m turbidus auster Repulit e Libycis immensum syrtibus aequor Fractaque veliferi sonuerunt pondera mali, Desilit in fluctus deserta puppe magister Navitaque, et nondum sparsa compage carinae _Naufragium sibi quisque facit_."

Here we have no great elaboration, but a good point at the finish. Statius (Theb. i. 370) is more subtle but more commonplace:

"Ac velut hiberno deprensus navita ponto, Cui neque Temo piger, nec amico sidere monstrat Luna vias, medio caeli pelagique tumultu Stat rationis inops; iam iamque aut saxa maliguis Expectat submersa vadis, aut vertice acuto Spumantes scopulos erectae incurrere prorae."

The next simile is that of a shepherd robbing a nest of wild bees. It occurs in Virgil and Statius. Virgil's description is (Aen. xii. 587)--

"Inclusas ut c.u.m latebroso in pumice pastor Vestigavit apes, fumoque implevit amaro; Illae intus trepidae rerum per cerea castra Discurrunt, magnisque acuunt stridoribus iras; Volvitur ater odor tectis; tum murmure caeco Intus saxe sonant: vaeuas it fumus ad auras."

That of Statius (Th. x. 574) presents some characteristic refinements on its original:

"Sic ubi pumiceo pastor rapturas ab antro Armatas erexit apes, fremit aspera nubes: Inque vicem sese stridere hortantur et omnes Hostis in ora volant; mox deficientibus alis Amplexae flavamque domum captivaque plangunt Mella, laboratasque _premunt ad pectora ceras_."

The smoke which is the agent of destruction is _described_ by Virgil: obscurely _hinted at_ in Statius by the single epithet "deficientibus."

The next example is the description of a landslip by the same two. Virg.

Aen. xii. 682.

"Ac velati montis saxum de vertice praeceps Quum ruit avolsum vento, seu turbidus imber Proluit, aut annis solvit sublapsa vetustas, Fertur in abruptum vasto mons improbus actu, Exsultatque solo, silvas armenta virosque Involvens sec.u.m."

The copy is found Stat. Theb. vii. 744:

"Sic ubi _nubiferum_ montis latus aut nova ventis Solvit hiems aut _victa situ_ non pertulit aetas; Desilit horrendus campo timor, arma virosque _Limite, non uno_ longaevaque robora sec.u.m Praecipitans, tandemque _exhaustus_ turbine _fesso_ Aut vallum cavat, aut medios intercipit amnes."

The additions are here either exaggerations, trivialities, or ingenious adaptations of other pa.s.sages of Virgil.

The next is a thunderstorm from Virgil and Lucan, (Aen. xii. 451):

"Qualis ubi ad terras abrupto sidere nimbus It mare per medium; miseris, heu, praescia longe Horresc.u.n.t corda agricolis; dabit ille ruinas Arboribus stragemque satis, ruet omnia late; Antevolant somtumque ferunt ad litora venti."

The simile of Lucan, which describes one disastrous flash rather than a storm (Phars. i. 150) refers to Caesar:

"Qualiter expressum ventis per nubila fulmen Aetheris impulsi sonitu _mundi_ que fragore.

Emicuit, rupitque diem, populosque paventes Terruit, obliqua praestringens lumina flamma: In _sua templa_ furit, nullaque exire vetante Materia, magnamque cadens, magnamque revertens Dat stragem late, sparsosque recolligitignes."

No comparison is more common in Latin poetry than that of a warrior to a bull. All the three poets have introduced this, some of them several times. The instances we select will be Virg. Aen. xii. 714:

"Ac velut ingenti Sila summove Taburno c.u.m duo conversis inimica in proelia tauri Frontibus incurrunt, pavidi cessere magistri, Stat pecus omne metu mutum mussantque iuvencae, Quis nemori imperitet, quem tota armenta sequantur."

Lucan's simile is borrowed largely from the _Georgics_. It is, however, a fine one (Phars. ii. 601):

"Pulsus ut armentis primo cerramine taurus Silvarum secreta pet.i.t, vacuosque per agros Exul in adversis explorat cornua truncis; Nec redit in pastus nisi quum cervice recepta Excussi placuere tori; mox reddita victor _Quoslibet_ in saltus comitantibus agmina tauris _Invito pastore trahit_."

That of Statius is in a similar strain (Theb. xi. 251):

"Sic ubi regnator post exulis otia tauri Mugitum hostilem summa tulit aure iuvencus, Agnovitque minas, magna stat fervidus ira Ante gregem, spumisque animos ardentibus effert, Nunc pede torvus humum nunc cornibus aera lindens, _Horret ager, trepidaeque expectant proelia valles_."

How immeasurably does Virgil's description in its unambitious truth exceed these two fine but bombastic imitations!

These examples will suffice to show that each poet kept his predecessors in his eye, and tried to vie with them in drawing a similar picture. But the similes are not always taken from the common-place book. Virgil, who reserves nearly all his similes for the last six books, occasionally strikes an original key. Such are (or appear) the similes of the sedition quelled by an orator (i. 148), the top (vii. 378), the labyrinth (v, 588), the housewife (viii. 407), and the fall of the pier at Baiae (ix. 707); perhaps also of the swallow (xii. 473); mythological similes are common in him, but not so much, so as in Lucan and Statius. We have those of the Amazons (xi. 659), of Mars' shield in Thrace (xii. 331), condensed by Statius (_Theb._ vi. 665), of Orestes (iv. 471), copied by Lucan (_Ph._ vii. 777).

The lion, as may be supposed, furnishes many. We subjoin a further list which may be useful to the reader.

_The Lion_--Aen. xii. 4; x. 722; ix. 548(?). Phars. i. 206. Theb. ii. 675; iv. 494; v. 598; vii. 670; viii. 124; ix. 739, and perhaps v. 231.

_The Serpent, dragon, &c._--Aen. xi, 751; v. 273. Theb. v. 599; xi. 310.

_Mythological_--Phars. ii. 715; iv. 549; vii. 144. Theb. ii. 81; iv. 140; xii. 224, 270.

_The Sea_--Aen. xi. 624; vii. 586 (?). Theb. i. 370; iii. 255; vi. 777; vii. 864.

_The Winds_--Aen. x. 856. Phars. i. 498. Theb. i. 194; iii. 432; v. 704.

_The Boar_--Aen. x. 707. Theb. viii. 533.

_Trees_--Aen. ix. 675. Phars. i. 136. Theb. viii. 545.