menon which may be well enough explained from Cicero. He fays, " that in feveral families the Roman language was spoken in perfection, even in thofe times;" and inftances particularly in the families of the Lalii and the Scipio's. Every one knows that Terence was extremely intimate in both these families: and as the language of his pieces is that of familiar converfation, he had indeed little more to do, than to write as they talked at their tables. Perhaps, too, he was obliged to Scipio and Lælius, for more than their bare converfations. That is not at all impoffible; and indeed the Romans themfelves feem generally to have imagined, that he was affifted by them in the writing part too. If it was really fo, that will account ftill better for the elegance of the language in his plays: becaufe Terence himfelf was born out of Italy and though he was brought thither very young, he received the firft part of his education in a family, where they might not fpeak with fo much correctnels as Lælius and Scipio had been used to from their very infancy. Thus much for the language of Terence's plays: as for the reft, it feems, from what he frys him felf, that his moit ufual method was to take his plans chiefly, and his characters wholly, from the Greek comic poets. Those who say that he tranflated all the comedies of Menander, certainly carry the matter too far. They were probably more than Terence ever wrote. Indeed this would be more likely to be true of Afranius than Terence; though I fuppofe, it would fcarce hold, were we to take both of them together. $43. Of AFRANIUS. Spence. We have a very great lofs in the works of Afranius: for he was regarded, even in the Auguftan Age, as the moft exact imicator of Menander. He owns himself, that he had no restraint in copying him; or any other of the Greek comic writers, wherever they fet him a good example. Afranius's ftories and perfons were Roman, as Terence's were Grecian. This was looked upon as fo material a point in thofe days, that it made two different fpecies of comedy. Thofe on a Greck flory were called, Palliate; and the fe on a Roman Togata. Terence excelled all the Koman poets in the former, and Afranius in the latter. Ibid. 44. Of PACUVIUS and ACTIUS, About the fame time that comedy was improved fo confiderably, Pacuvius and Actius (one a contemporary of Terence, and the other of Afranius) carried tragedy as far towards perfection as it ever arrived in Roman hands. The ftep from Ennis to Pacuvius was a very great one; fo great, that he was reckoned, in Cicero's time, the best of all their tragic poets. Pacuvius, as well as Terence, enjoyed the acquaintance and friendship of Lælius and Scipio: but he did not profit fo much by it, as to the improvement of his language Indeed his ftyle was not to be the comme converfation ftyle, as Terence's was; ari all the ftiffenings given to it, might take juft as much from its elegance as the added to its dignity. What is remarkable in him, is, that he was almost as eminett for painting as he was for poetry, E: made the decorations for his own play; and Pliny fpeaks of fome paintings b him, in a temple of Hercules, as the mod celebrated work of their kind, done by any Roman of condition after Fabius P tor. Actius began to publish when Pacuvius was leaving off: his language was not fo fine, nor his verfes fo well-turned, even as thofe of his predeceffor. There is a remarkable story of him in an old critic which, as it may give fome light into their different manners of writing, may be wor relating. Pacuvius, in his old age, retired to Tarentum, to enjoy the foft air and mild winters of that place. As Actius was ob liged, on fome affairs, to make a journey into Afia, he took Tarentum in his way, and ftaid there fome days with Pacuva It was in this vifit that he read his tragedy of Atreus to him, and defired his opinion of it. Old Pacuvius, after hearing it cut, told him very honeftly, that the poetry was fonorous and majeftic, but that it feemed to him too ftiff and harsh. Actius replies, that he was himself very fenfible of the fault in his writings; but that he was re at all forry for it: "for," fays he, "i have always been of opinion, that it is the fame with writers as with fruits; among which thofe that are moft foft and palat ble, decay the fooneft; whereas thofe o rough talle laft the longer, and have t finer relish, when once they come to te mellowed by time."-Whether this y ever came to be thus mellowed, I ver much doubt; however that was, it is a All this while, that is, for above one hundred years, the ftage, as you fee, was almoft folely in poffeffion of the Roman poets. It was now time for the other kinds of poetry to have their turn; however, the Erft that sprung up and flourished to any degree, was fill a cyon from the fame root. What I mean, is Satire; the produce of the old comedy. This kind of poetry had been attempted in a different manner by fome of the former writers, and in particular by Ennius: but it was fo altered and fo improved by Lucilius, that he was called the inventor of it. This was a kind of poetry wholly of the Roman growth; and the only one they had that was fo; and even as to this, Lucilius improved a good deal by the fide lights he borrowed from the old comedy at Athens. Not long after, Lucretius brought their poetry acquainted with philofophy: and Catullus began to fhew the Romans fomething of the excellence of the Greek lyric poets. Lucretius difcovers a great deal of spirit wherever his fubject will give him leave; and the first moment he fteps a little afide from it, in all his digreffions, he is fuller of life and fire, and appears to have been of a more poetical turn, than Virgil himfelf; which is partly acknowledged in the fine compliment the latter feems to pay him in his Georgics. His fubject often obliges him to go on heavily for an hundred lines together: but wherever he breaks out, he breaks out like lightning from a dark cloud; all at once, with force and brightnefs. His character, in this, agrees with what is faid of him: that a piltre he took had given him a frenzy, and that he wrote in his lucid intervals. He and Catullus wrote, when letters in general began to flourish at Rome much more than ever they had done. Catullus was too wife to rival him; and was the moit admired of all his cotemporaries, in all the different ways of writing he attempted. His odes perhaps are the least valuable part of his works. The ftrokes of fatire in his epigrams are very fevere; and the defcriptions in his Idylliums, very fuil and picturefque. He paints ftrongly; but all his paintings have more of force than elegance, and put one more in mind of Homer than Virgil. With thefe I fhall chufe to close the firft age of the Roman poetry: an age more remarkable for ftrength than for refinement in writing. I have dwelt longer on it perhaps than I ought; but the order and fucceffion of thefe posts wanted much to be settled: and I was obliged to fay fomething of each of them, because I may have recourfe to each on fome occasion or another, in fhewing you my collection. All that remains to us of the poetical works of this age, are the mifcellaneous poems of Catullus; the philofophical poem of Lucretius; fix comedies by Terence; and twenty by Plautus. Of all the reft, there is nothing left us, except fuch paffages from their works as happened to be quoted by the ancient writers, and particularly by Cicero and the old critics. Ibid. 46. Of the Criticisms of CICERO, HORACE, and QUINCTILIAN on the above Writers. The best way to fettle the characters and merits of thefe poets of the first age, where fo little of their own works remains, is by confidering what is faid of them by the other Roman writers, who were well acquainted with their works. The best of the Roman critics we can confult now, and perhaps the beft they ever had, are Cicero, Horace, and Quinctilian. If we compare their fentiments of thefe poets together, we fhall find a difagreement in them; but a difagreement which I think may be accounted for, without any great difficulty. Cicero, (as he lived before the Roman poetry was brought to perfection, and poffibly as no very good judge of poetry himfelf) feems to think more highly of them than the others. He gives up Livius indeed; but then he makes it up in commending Nævius. All the other comic poets he quotes often with refpect; and as to the tragic, he carries it fo far as to feem ftrongly inclined to oppofe old Ennius to chilus, Pacuvius to Sophocles, and Actius to Euripides.-This high notion of the old poets was probably the general fashion in his time; and it continued afterwards (especially among the more elderly fort of people) in the Auguftan age; and indeed much longer. Horace, in his epiftle to Auguftus, combats it as a vulgar error in his time; and perhaps it was an error from which that prince himfelf was not Dd4 wholly wholly free. However that be, Horace, on this occafion, enters into the question very fully, and with a good deal of warmth. The character he gives of the old dramatic poets (which indeed includes all the Poets I have been fpeaking of, except Lucilius, Lucretius, and Catullus), is perhaps rather too fevere. He fays, "That their language was in a great degree fuperannuated, even in his time; that they are often negligent and incorrect; and that there is generally a fliffness in their compofitions: that people indeed might pardon these things in them, as the fault of the times they lived in; but that it was provoking they fhould think of commending them for thofe very faults." In another piece of his, which turns pretty much on the fame fobject, he gives Lucilius's character much in the fame manner. He owns, "that he had a good deal of wit; but then it is rather of the farce kind, than true genteel wit. Ile is a rapid writer, and has a great many good things in him; but is often very fuperfluous and incorrect; his language is dafhed affectedly with Greek; and his verfes are hard and unharmonious."-Quinctilian fleers the middle way betweca both. Cicero perhaps was a little milled by his nearness to their times; and Horace by his fubject, which was profefiedly to fpeak against the old writers. Quinctilian, therefore, does not commend them fo generally as Cicero, nor ipeak against them fo ftrongly as Horace; and is perhaps more to be depended upon, in this cafe, than either of them. He compares the works of Ennius to fome facred grove, in which the old oaks look rather venerable than pleading. He commends Pacuvius and Actius, for the ftrength of their language and the force of their fentiments; but fays, "they wanted that polish which was fet on the Roman poetry afterwards." He fpeaks of Plautus and Cæcilius, as applauded writers: of Terence as a molt elegant, and of Afranius, as an excellent one; but they all, fays he, fall infinitely fhort of the grace and beauty which is to be found in the Attic writers of comedy, and which is perhaps peculiar to the dialect they wrote in. To conclude: According to him, Lucilius is too much cried up by many, and too much ran down by Horace; Lucretius is more to be read for his matter than for his ftyle; and Catullus is remarkable in the fatirical part of his works, but fcarce fo in the rest of his lyric poetry. Spence. 47. Of the flourishing State of Poetry among the ROMANS. The fift age was only as the dawning of the Roman poetry, in comparison of the clear full light that opened all at once afterwards, under Auguftus Cæfar. The fate which had been fo long tending to wards a monarchy, was quite fettled down to that form by this prince. When he had no longer any dangerous opponents, he grew mild, or at leaft concealed the cruelty of his temper. He gave peace and quiet to the people that were fallen into his hands; and looked kindly on the improvement of all the arts and elegancis of life among them. He had a minifer, too, under him, who (though a very writer himself) knew how to encourage the beft; and who admitted the best posts, in particular, into a very great fhare of friendship and intimacy with him. Virgil was one of the foremost in this lift; we, at his firft fetting out, grew foon their mot applauded writer for genteel paftorals: then gave them the most beautiful and moft correct poem that ever was wrote in the Roman language, in his rules of agriculture (fo beautiful, that fome of the ancients feem to accufe Virgil of having ftudied beauty too much in that piece;; and laft of all, undertook a political poem, in fupport of the new etablishment. I have thought this to be the intent of the neid, ever fince I first read Boffu; and the more one confiders it, the more l think one is confirmed in that opinion. Virgil is faid to have begun this poem the very year that Auguflus was freed from his great rival Anthony: the government of the Roman empire was to be wholly in him; and though he chofe to be called their father, he was, in every thing but the name, their king. This monarchical form of government must naturally be apt to displeafe the people. Virgil feems to have laid the plan of his poem to reconcile them to it. He takes advantage of their religious turn; and of fome old prophecies that must have been very flattering to the Roman people, as promifing them the em pire of the whole world: he weaves this in with the most probable account of their origin, that of their being defcended from the Trojans. To be a little more particular: Virgil, in his Eneid, fhews that Aneas was called into their country by the exprefs order of the gods; that he was made king of it, by the will of heaven, and tal by all the human rights that could be; that there was an uninterrupted fucceffion of kings from him to Romulus; that his heirs vere to reign there for ever; and that the Romans, under them, were to obtain the monarchy of the world. It appears from Virgil, and the other Roman writers, that Julius Caiar was of the royal race, and tant Auguftus was his fole heir. The nataral refult of all this is, that the promifes rade to the Roman people, in and through trace, terminating in Auguftus, the Romans if they would obey the gods, and be mafters of the world, were to yield redience to the new elablishment under that prince. As odd a scheme as this may fem now, it is fearce fo odd as that of fome people among us, who perfuaded themfelves, that an abfolute obedience was owing to our kings, on their fuppofed defcent from fome unknown patriarch: and yet that had its effects with many, about a century ago; and feems not to have quite It all its influence, even in our remembrance. However that be, I think it apyears plain enough, that the two great points aimed at by Virgil in his neid, were to maintain their old religious tencts, and to fuppo.t the new form of governmeat in the family of the Cæfars. That poem therefore may very well be conLdered as a religious and political work, e rather (as the vulgar religion with them was fcarce any thing more than an engine fate) it may fairly enough be confilered as a work merely political. If this was the cafe, Virgil was not fo highly ecouraged by Auguftus and Mecenas for rothing. To fpeak a little more plainly: He wrote in the fervice of the new ufurFition on the state: and all that can be tered in vindication of him, in this light, is, that the ufurper he wrote for, was grown tame one; and that the temper and bent of their conflitution, at that time, was fuch, that the reins of government must have fallen into the hands of fome one perion or another; and might probably, o any new revolution, have fallen into the hands of fome one lefs mild and indulgeat than Augustus was, at the time when Virgil wrote this poem in his fervice. But whatever may be faid of his reafons for waiting it, the poem itfelf has been bighly applauded in all ages, from its first appearance to this day; and though left Bathed by its author, has been always reckoned as much fuperior to all the other It preferves more to us of the religion of the Romans, than all the other Latin poets (excepting only Ovid) put together: and gives us the forms and appearances of their deities, as ftrongly as if we had fo many pictures of them preferved to us, done by fome of the beft hands in the Augutan age. It is remarkable that he is commended by fome of the ancients themfelves, for the ftrength of his imagination as to this particular, though in general that is not his character, fo much as exactneis. He was certainly the most correct poet even of his time; in which all falfe thoughts and idle ornaments in writing were difcouraged: and it is as certain, that there is but little of invention in his Eneid; much lefs, I believe, than is generally imagined. Almoft all the little facts in it are built on hiftory; and even as to the particular lines, no one perhaps ever borrowed more from the poets that preceded him, than he did. He goes fo far back as to old Ennius; and often inferts whole verfés from him, and fome other of their earlieft writers. The obfoleteness of their ftyle, did not hinder him much in this: for he was a particular lover of their old language; and no doubt inferted many more antiquated words in his poem, than we can discover at prefent. Judgment is his distinguishing character; and his great excellence confifted in chu.fing and ranging things aright. Whatever he borrowed he had the kill of making his own, by weav ing it fo well into his work, that it looks all of a piece; even thofe parts of his poems, where this may be most practifed, refembling a fine piece of Mofaic, in which all the parts, though of fuch different marbles, unite together; and the various fhades and colours are fo artfully difpofed as to melt off infenfibly into one another. One of the greatest beauties in Virgil's private character was, his modelty and good-nature. He was apt to think humbly of himself, and handiomely of others : and was ready to fhew his love of merit, even where it might feem to clash with his own. He was the first who recommended Horace to Mecenas. Ibid. $49. Of HORACE. Horace was the fittest man in the world for a court where wit was fo particularly encouraged. No man feems to have had more, and all of the genteeleft fort; or to have been better acquainted with mankind. His gaiety, and even his debauchery, made him till the more agreeable to Mecenas: fo that it is no wonder that his acquaintance with that Miniler grew up to fo high a degree of friendship, as is very uncommon between a firft Minifter and a poet; and which had poffibly fuch an effect on the latter, as one fhall scarce ever hear of between any two friends, the most on a level: for there is fome room to conjecture, that he haftened himfelf out of this world to accompany his great friend in the next. Horace has been moft generally celebrated for his lyric poems; in which he far ex. celled all the Roman poets, and perhaps was no unworthy rival of feveral of the Greek: which feems to have been the height of his ambition. His next point of merit, as it has been ufually reckoned, was his refining fatires and bringing it from the coarseness and harthnefs of Lucilius to chat genteel, eafy manner, which he, and perhaps nobody but he and one perfon more in all the ages fince, has ever poffeffed. I do not remember that any one of the ancients fays any thing of his epiftles: and this has made me fometimes imagine, that his epiftles and fatires might originally have paffed under one and the fame name; perhaps that of Sermones. They are generally written in a ftyle approaching to that of converfation; and are fo much alike, that feveral of the fatires might just as well be called epiftles, as feveral of his epiftles have the fpirit of fatire in them. This latter part of his works, by whatever name you please to call them (whether fatires and epiftles, or difcourfes in verfe on moral and familiar fubjects) is what, I muft own, I love much better even than the lyric part of his works. It is in thefe that he fhews that talent for criticism, in which he fo very much excelled; especially in his long epiftle to Augulus; and that other to the Pifo's, commonly called his Art of Poetry. They abound in ftrokes which fhew his great knowledge of mankind, and in that pleafing way he had of teaching philofophy, of Laughing away vice, and iniinuating virtue into the minds of his readers. They may serve, as much as almoft any writings can, to make men wifer and better: for he has the most agreeable way of preaching that ever was. He was, in general, an honeft, good man himself; at least he does not feem to have had any one ill-natured vice about him. Other poets we admire; but there is not any of the ancient poets that! could wish to have been acquainted with, fo much as Horace. One cannot be very converfant with his writings, without hav ing a friendship for the man; and longing to have juft fuch another as he was for one's friend. Spence 50. Of TIBULLUS, PROPERTIUS, and OVID, In that happy age, and in the fame court, flourished Tibullus. He enjoyed the acquaintance of Horace, who mentions him in a kind and friendly manner, both in his Odes and in his Epistles. Tibullu is evidently the most exact and most beautiful writer of love verfes among the Romans, and was efteemed fo by their beft judges; though there were fome, it feems, even in their better ages of writing and judging, who preferred Propertius to him. Tibullus's talent feems to have been only for elegiac verfe: at least his compliment on Meffala (which is his only poem out of it) fhews, I think, too plainly, that he was neither defigned for heroic verfe, nor panegyric. Elegance is as much his diftinguithing character, among the elegiac writers of this age, as it is Terence's, among the comic writers of the former; and if his fubject will never let him be fublime, his judgment at least always keeps him from being faulty.-His rival and cotemporary, Propertius, feems to have fet himself too many different models, to copy either of them fo well as he might other wife have done. In one place, he calls himself the Roman Callimachus; in another, he talks of rivalling Philetas: and he is faid to have ftudied Mimnermus, and fome other of the Greek lyric writers, with the fame view. You may fee by this, and the practice of all their poets in general, that it was the conftant method of the Romans (whenever they endeavoured toexcel) to fet fome great Greek pattern or other before them. Propertius, perhaps, might have fucceeded better, had he fixed on any one of thefe; and not endeavoured to improve by all of them indifferently. Ovid makes up the triumvirate of the elegiac |