The History of Roman Literature Part 62

[26] Liv. viii. 40, _Falsis imaginum t.i.tulis_.

[27] viii. 18, 1.

[28] ix. 44, 6.

[29] i. 7.

[30] ii. 40, 10.

[31] x.x.x. 45.

[32] i. 46; x. 9.

[33] xliii. 13.

[34] i. 16.

[35] i. 26.

[36] _E.g._, the consuls being both plebeian, the auspices are unfavourable (xxiii. 31). Again, the senate is described as degrading those who feared to return to Hannibal (xxiv. 18). Varro, a _novus h.o.m.o_, is chosen consul (xxii. 34).

[37] x.x.xvii. 39.

[38] xlii. 74.

[39] Cf. xlii 21; xliii. 10; xlv. 34.

[40] iv. 20, 5.

[41] viii. 11, _Haec etsi omnis divini humanique memoria abolevit nova peregrinaque omnia priscis ac patriis praeferendo, haud ab re duxi verbis quoque iosis ut tradita nuncupataque sunt referre_.

[42] _Sur t.i.te-Live_. The writer has been frequently indebted to this clear and striking essay for examples of Livy's historical qualities.

[43] x.x.xviii. 17.

[44] v. 44.

[45] vii. 34.

[46] As the invective of the old centurion who had been scourged for debt (ii. 23); Canuleius's speech on marriage (iv. 3); the admirable speech of Ligustinus showing how the city drained her best blood (xlii. 34).

[47] We cannot refrain from quoting an excellent pa.s.sage from Dr. Arnold on the unreality of these cultivated harangues. Speaking of the sentiments Livy puts into the mouth of the old Romans, he says "Doubtless the character of the n.o.bility and commons of Rome underwent as great changes in the course of years as those which have taken place in our own country.

The Saxon thanes and franklins, the barons and knights of the fourteenth century, the cavaliers and puritans of the seventeenth, the country gentlemen and monied men of a still later period, all these have their own characteristic features, which he who would really write a history of England must labour to distinguish and to represent with spirit and fidelity; nor would it be more ridiculous to paint the members of a Wittenagemot in the costume of our present House of Commons than to ascribe to them our habits of thinking, or the views, sentiments, and language of a modern historian."

[48] The latter given by Seneca the elder, the former x.x.xix. 40.

[49] viii. 5.

[50] ii. 54, 5.

[51] x.x.x. 20.

[52] xxi. 10.

[53] i. 26, 10.

[54] _E.g. Haec ubi dicta dedit: ubi Mars est atrocissimus: stupens animi; laeta pascua_, &c. (Teuffel).

[55] _Auctor e severissimis_, Plin. xi. 52, 275.

[56] The view that he flourished under t.i.tus is altogether unworthy of credit.

[57] See pref. to Book VI.

[58] II. pref. 5.

[59] Many of these facts are borrowed from the _Dict. Biog. s. v._

[60] Pref. to Book VII.

[61] Epist. ad Car. Magn. Praef. ad Paul. Diac.

[62] Tr. iii. 14, is perhaps addressed to him.

[63] -- 257, 7.

[64] Ep. i. 19, 40.

BOOK III.

CHAPTER I.

[1] The Empire is here regarded solely in its influence on literature and the cla.s.ses that monopolised it. If the poor or the provincials had written its history it would have been described in very different terms.

[2] _Pont._ iv. 2. Impetus ille sacer, qui vatum pectora nutrit Qui prius in n.o.bis esse solebat abest. Vix venit ad partes; vix sumtae Musa tabellae Imponit pigras paene coacta ma.n.u.s.

[3] Suet. Tib. 70.

[4] Sat. vii. 234.

[5] Livy and Trogus.

[6] Varro.

[7] Cicero.

[8] Juv. vii. 197.