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ography. THE literary annals of every people present us with crises, to account for which has been the labour of the learned and the ingenious. Among these, none is more conspicuous than that which took place on the death of Augustus, and none has excited a greater zeal and 482. diligence of inquiry into its cause and origin; and ses of yet, perhaps, the whole history of Literature does decline. not afford an instance of a revolution so naturally and easily explained. The learned and minute Tiraboschi has expended on this subject no inconsiderable portion of his erudition and philosophy; he rejects all the hypotheses of his predecessors, and, like the surgeon Antistius, who examined the corpse of Julius Cæsar, and pronounced but one wound mortal in twenty-three, allows but one of the causes assignable. This is the licentious character of the times; for the irruption of the barbarians, and the failure of the means of learning, circumstances which the Historian adduces among the causes which accelerated the fall of Roman Literature, had no influence in the reign of Tiberius.

in of

omans

orali- But what, it may be asked, produced this licentious character? and did it not prevail in a very great degree in the reign of Augustus himself? That national vice acts powerfully to the prejudice of excellence in the arts of imagination is an obvious truth; it is not, however, a sufficient solution of the present problem. The Civil troubles which, before the accession of Augustus, had desolated Italy, by depriving the people of the means and fruits of industry, had compelled them to subsist by rapine or military violence; while the conquests of Lucullus, by opening a readier communication with the East, had led to the introduction of the luxuries and vices of that corrupted portion of the globe.* It is true that Augustus gave considerable attention to the suppression of these evils; but judging from the writings of the most approved and popular authors of his time, his Court was very far from being moral ; the effects of his legislation, indeed, however salutary as regards external conduct, could not have

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A. D. 392.

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.... A. D. 482.

Latin Poetry.

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been sensible on the minds of his subjects to any Decline of material extent, before their operation was effectually paralysed by the accession of Tiberius; who, although himself a man of liberal education, and not a little self-complacent on that account, and even a Poet, (since we learn from Suetonius* that he composed a lyrical monody on the death of Lucius Cæsar, besides several Poems in Greek,) was as little a patron of true learning as he was of morals.

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It is not easy, however, to see why so much recondite learning and metaphysical speculation should be employed in the investigation of causes which seem incapable of escaping the ordinary student of History. No such person can be ignorant that the pursuits of science and literature have, in all countries, been cultivated with an ardour jointly proportional to their novelty, and to the encouragement given them by power. The labours of the early Poets, especially Ennius, had deeply imbued the Romans with a desire of inspecting the copious sources from which they were derived. The study of the Greek literature was, Exhaustion in consequence, pursued with the greatest enthusiasm of Greek every Greek author was read, and almost every Greek literature. author was imitated. It was exactly at this juncture, when the excellence of literature began to be more generally and more acutely felt than at any preceding period, that the policy of Augustus employed the popular sentiment in diverting from political speculations what little remained of the spirit of old Rome. Nothing therefore could be more natural, and we might say, more necessary, than the literary perfection which followed. Every department of Greek literature which the Romans were capable of appropriating, now attained the highest excellence which its transplanted state would allow. But as the Romans were a people of slender inventive faculties, the resources of Greece were no sooner exhausted, than the main stimulus to literary exertion ceased; and when, about the same period, the patronage which had given action to this stimulus was removed, it is nothing astonishing that we should meet with that languor which is the sure consequence of preternatural excitement, mental as well as bodily, political as well as individual.

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Biography.

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The effect of these circumstances is sufficiently conspicuous even in the later writings of Ovid. His genius and his habits would not admit of his using any other vehicle of his feelings than verse; but the brilliant and luxuriant invention which created the florid fabric of the Metamorphoses, and the elegant and elaborate texture of the Heroic Epistles, decayed when withdrawn from the sunshine of contemporary fame. Of this decay he was himself perfectly sensible:* and all the vaunting anticipations of immortality which he put forth in the peroration of his Metamorphoses, had no power to excite him to write for posterity while the countenance of Cæsar was adverse. And if such could be the effect which the mere absence of Court favour produced on the vein of a Poet of great genius, extensive reading, patient labour, and devotion to the opinion of posterity, we might, in the absence of additional facts, form a tolerably correct estimate of the state of Poetry under the most brutal and flagitious tyranny which the ancient world ever beheld. The only just subject for wonder is, how it comes to pass that we meet with any one Poet of eminence during the rule of the first Cæsars; nothing but the irresistible energy of genius, it might be supposed, could impel a man to place his sentiments on paper, when a look or a gesture might incur the suspicion of a capricious despot, or furnish lucrative employment to an alert and vigilant informer. Even those Poets who escaped the fearful results of Imperial caprice had little encouragement, at a time in which the highest authority in the State meditated the removal of the statues of Virgil from the public libraries, and the entire suppression of the works of Homer.† Germani- It is worthy of observation, that the earliest conspicuous victim of the new policy was a Poet. The pure faith, the chivalrous honour, the devoted patriotism of DRUSUS GERMANICUS, are themes which can scarcely be mentioned, without a desire to linger on their contemplation; yet it belongs to this department of our work to do no more than mention that he was, as his character would lead us to suppose, a Poet. His principal work was a translation of Aratus, an author on whom the Romans were fond of exercising their metaphrastic abilities. The following elegant Epigram is ascribed to him:

cus.

Thrax puer, adstricto glacie dum ludit in Hebro,
Frigore concretas pondere rupit aquas:
Dumque imæ partes rapido traherentur ab amne,
Abscidit, heu! tenerum lubrica testa caput.
Orba quod inventum mater dum conderet urnâ,

"Hoc peperi flammis, cætera," dixit, " aquis."

To him, as a brother of the lyre, Ovid dedicated his
Fasti; and in this character he is spoken of by the same

* Da veniam fesso: studiis quoque fræna remisi :
Ducitur et digitis littera rara meis.

Impetus ille sacer, qui vatum pectora nutrit,
Qui priùs in nobis esse solebat, abest.

Via venit ad partes; vix sumtæ Musa tabellæ
Imponit pigras penè coacta manus.

Pont. lib. iv. eleg. 2. The whole of which is a valuable illustration of our present position.

+ Suet. Calig. 34.

This translation has also been ascribed to the Emperor Domitian, who, it is well known, affected the title of Germanicus. "Sanè recordor," says Heinsius," vidisse me Lutetiæ pervetustum Arateorum codicem, qui Domitiano Cæsari poëma istud adserebat: ut veri omninò simile sit, pro Domitiano Germanicum ob invidiam nominis in plerisque exemplaribus esse repositum." Notæ in Valerium Flaccum, ad init.

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Poet in his epistle to Suilius.* His death produced Decline of Latin a Monody from the pen of C. Lutorius Priscus, a Poetry. Roman Knight, which, however, proved fatal to its author. For, being by the Senate accused of having composed it during the illness of its subject, the unfortunate Poet was condemned to death. With Germanicus expired the last twilight glimmerings of the Augustan day. All that we have to record after him is night, illuminated indeed awhile by a few splendid constellations, but at length subsiding into the gross and starless darkness of barbarism.

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In our sketch of the earlier poetical literature of the Didactic Romans, we have already noticed the influence which and Epie Poetry. the Epic and Didactic Muses exercised in Latium, from the time when Poetry first began to possess a sensible existence in the language. There were many reasons why this should be the case; their stern and masculine beauty, their regulated and decorous march, and their faultless and undistorted proportions, were calculated to give them, in the eyes of a Roman, attractions far superior to any producible by their less severe, but less Roman sisters. The success with which they had been courted by Nævius, excited the emulation of Ennius; and his example at once made his countrymen familiar with their beauties, and jealous of his honours. Virgil, at length, by increasing the difficulties of future aspirants to their favours, only increased the motives to emulation. But the main efficient cause which directed the energies of succeeding Poets in these channels, is perhaps to be sought in the condition of the period, which naturally suggested to those writers whose prudence bore any proportion to their genius, the necessity of adopting such arguments as had the least connection with existing circumstances. Claudius, it is true, patronised literature, and even asserted literary pretensions; but he did not affect to be a Poet, nor could Poetry, by any possibility, have attracted his regard. He, therefore, caused no alteration in the poetical character of the time.

There have not been wanting modern Latin imitations of the Georgics; a circumstance which may, in some degree, qualify our suprise, when we find an ancient author attempting to continue them. Virgil, in his beautiful episode of the old Corycian agriculturist, appears, with consummate art, insensibly led into a digression on trees and flowers; and then, suddenly appearing to discover that he has wandered from the direct track, he exclaims:

"Verum hæc ipse equidem, spatiis exclusus iniquis,

Prætereo, atque ALIIS post me memoranda relinquo."

LUCIUS JUNIUS MODERATUS COLUMELLA, of Cadiz in Columell Spain, an author who is generally referred to the time of Claudius, took the hint, and yielded to the importunate entreaties of his friend Silvinus, that he would make the Xth Book of his work on Farming, which was to comprise the art of Gardening, a continuation of the Georgics. The work is still extant. It very much resembles the labours of modern Latin Poets; the style, the language, and the imagery of Virgil are closely copied ; and whatever may be its merit, it has received from the Critics very high commendation. It cannot, how

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Biography. ever, be denied that the Poem of Columella is rather a chaste and elegant study after a great master, than a bold and noble effort of original genius, kindling at the torch of a kindred spirit.

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ucan.

Columella expressed himself content to be the rival of Virgil; a sentiment which, however chargeable with self-complacency, is modest in comparison of those which were held by almost all contemporary and succeeding Epic writers, whose ridiculous ambition to surpass the most perfect and polished models, introduced into Latin Poetry a character of exaggeration and caricature, which conspired with the causes before noticed to accelerate the final ruin of Roman Literature. The author most deeply imbued with this pernicious vanity was Lucan, whose rank among Latin Poets requires us to give a slight sketch of his life, which will also be serviceable in illustrating the state of public feeling in regard to Literature, during the period in which he flourished.

*

MARCUS ANNEUS LUCANUS, the son of Annæus Mella and Atilla, was born at Cordova in Spain, and instructed in philosophy and polite literature by Palæmon, Virginius, and Cornutus. His talents were conspicuous at an early age: Seneca, in his consolation to Helvia, calls him, "Marcum, blundissimum puerum, ad cujus conspectum nulla potest durare tristitia." His first poetical effort was a panegyric on Nero at the quinquennial poetical contest, called the Neronia, from its founder, in which he is said to have vanquished the Emperor himself but it is well observed by Tiraboschi, that Lucan was dead before the second celebration of the Neronia; and Suetonius, Tacitus, and Dio, are all agreed on the fact that Nero was victor in the first. Such, at least, is the order preserved by Suetonius; but Statius, in his Genethliacon, places first in order the Poem called Iliaca, or Hectoris lytra, (λúτpa.)§ His next composition was a Satire called Incendium Urbis, on the infamous conduct of Nero in the conflagration at Rome. Afterwards he produced a Poem called Kaτákavoμos, and then his great work, the Pharsalia. He was then recalled from Athens, where he had been residing, according to the custom of the Roman youth, by Nero, who treated him with familiarity, and bestowed on him the office of Quæstor. Although affecting to admire the genius of Lucan, it is probable that the Prince was anxious to maintain a close observation over a young man whose talents awakened his envy, and whose high spirit and free sentiments aroused his fears. The subject of the Pharsalia was especially critical at that period; the history of the rise of that intolerable tyranny under which the nation was groaning, and the remembrance of times alike free and happy, could not be contemplated with safety to the Imperial despot. Lucan was not content with merely placing this exciting picture before the eyes of the fellow-citizens ; but he openly advocated the character and policy of Pompey; he as openly execrated the motives and the conduct of the war into which he entered; and, after presenting his readers with a highly coloured description of the miseries and horrors which it originated,

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Such being, in all probability, the motives of Nero, and such being the undoubted character of Lucan, it was not to be expected that a reciprocity even of external courtesies could long subsist between them. The real sentiments of the latter were no secret to the Emperor, nor were pains taken to disguise them; the haughty spirit of the Poet could not brook the observation to which his conduct was exposed, and he was little anxious to manifest a regard to it. Envy, indignation, and policy, at length prompted the Emperor to suppress the writings of Lucan, and to require him never to write Poetry again. The proverbial irritability of the poetic race, combined with the impetuous temperament of the particular Poet, hurled back the mandate with defiance, in a bitter Satire on the Emperor and his adherents. At length, in the Conspires conspiracy of Piso, Lucan assumed a conspicuous part; against the Emperor. and, principally through the total disregard of secrecy, which he, on this, as on all other occasions, evinced, that conspiracy was divulged. On his apprehension his former constancy failed him, and, being required to surrender his accomplices, he named his innocent mother. But his death was determined his only privilege was the choice of the mode, which he exercised by having the veins of his arms opened. With Is executed the true ruling passion of a Poet, his last message to his father regarded the correction of some verses, and his last words were a quotation from the Pharsalia, which describes the death of a soldier under circumstances similar to his own.

Independently of its intrinsic merits, on the subject Character of which Critics are little agreed, the Pharsalia is of the valuable, as presenting a faithful picture, both of the Pharsalia. disposition of its author, and the literary character of the times. To the former of these must be attributed those historical misstatements and suppressions which favour the cause of Pompey, and which have afforded ample materials for ostentatious censure to modern Critics; while the whole character of the Poem, turgid, exaggerated, and laborious, and the commendations indiscriminately bestowed on it by succeeding Poets of high reputation,† sufficiently indicate the prevalent taste of the period included between the age of Augustus and the final extinction of the Roman literature and language. Quinctilian, indeed, with his usual superiority to the depraved sentiments of his

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*

Biography. age, considers Lucan more of an Orator than a Poet; yet his manner of delivering his opinion plainly discovers how little it was in unison with that of the public. Modern Critics are seldom temperate in their views of this writer; while some regard him as equal, and even superior, to Virgil, others consider his Poem only as a mass of defects, scarcely relieved by an accidental excellence. His extravagances have been frequently commented on; and we think ourselves discharged from the obligation of retailing the unmerciful preface of Burmann, and the scarcely less intolerant observations of Spence.

Minor

Poems of Lucan.

Polla

Besides the works above mentioned, Lucan is said to have written a Book of Saturnalia, ten Books of Sylva, a Tragedy called Medea, and fourteen Salticæ Fabulæ, or Dramatic Ballets. Some confound the Karákavoμos with the Urbis Incendium, but we are justified in the distinction made above by the epitaph, or "encomion," written on Lucan by Pomponius Sabinus, who recognises two Poems of similar argument:

Hinc "Sylvæ," GEMINÆQUE "Faces," &c. His wife Polla Argentaria also was a literary character, Argentaria. and is said, not without some colour of probability, to have assisted in the composition of the Pharsalia. The uncle of Lucan was the celebrated LUCIUS AN

Seneca.

dies. Whether genuine?

His Trage- NEUS SENECA, the question regarding the genuineness of whose Tragedies is one of some obscurity. All the manuscripts uniformly present the title "L. Annæi Seneca." This renders it difficult to suppose that the work is not genuine, unless we conceive that there existed some other Lucius Annæus Seneca, who might be its author. But Martial, in speaking of the family, mentions only two as celebrated; Statius mentions none but the Philosopher; and Quinctilian, also, who cites a verse from the Medea of Seneca,§ mentions the Philosopher only, concerning whom he observes in another place, that he excelled in almost every department of learning, and that his speeches, Poems, epistles, and dialogues, were in the hands of the public. Again he alludes to a discussion which took place between Pomponius Secundus and Seneca, relative to an expression of the Tragedian Attius; and as Pomponius was himself a Tragedian, and a Tragedian was the subject of the controversy, it is supposed that Seneca had a nearer interest in the subject than that of a mere lover of such literature. The testimony of Martial, it must be confessed, is urged also on the opposite side; in another place he calls the family of Seneca," docti Seneca ter numeranda domus;" but in reply to this, it is said, that these words are only equivalent to the "duosque Senecas, unicumque Lucanum" of the same author, which words allude to Lucius and Marcus. This is, after all, the best testimony that can be adduced against the genuineness of the Tragedies of Seneca. The next is that of Sidonius Apollinaris,** who very circumstantially distinguishes between the Philosopher and the Tragedian :

"Non quod Corduba præpotens alumnis
Facundum ciet, hic putes legendum :
Quorum UNUS colit hispidum Platona,
Incassumque suum monet Neronem :
Orchestram quatit ALTER Euripidis,
Pictum fæcibus Eschylum sequutus,
Aut plaustris solitum sonare Thespin."

"Ut dicam quod sentio, magis oratoribus quàm poëtis annume

randus." Quinct. lib. x. c. 1.

+ Mart. lib. i. ep. 62.

§ Quinct. lib. ix. c. 2.

Ibid. lib. viii. c. 3.

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But the testimony of this author is, as we have Decline of before had occasion to notice, of very small value. Latin That of Paulus Diaconus is absolutely of none. His Poetry, words are, "hujus (sc. Neronis) temporibus poëtæ pollebant Roma, Lucanus, Juvenalis, et Persius, Senecaque Tragicus;' "* there is nothing in this sentence to show that the Philosopher was not meant; because the writer is speaking of him only in his poetical capacity. 480. But even supposing a contradistinction intended, we cannot, in a question of this nature, place very implicit reliance on a writer who has referred Plutarch to the age of Nero! † On the whole, therefore, the evidence of antiquity appears favourable to the claims of the Philosopher. Be the Tragedies of Seneca, however, the production of whom they may, they are Poems of great beauty and high antiquity; and though our readers may not be disposed, with Scaliger, to consider them equal to any Greek Tragedies, and superior in brilliancy and elegance to Euripides, they must allow that they contain a great deal of fine Poetry and sound Philosophy. That they are not the production of modern forgery is clear, since they have been quoted not only by Quinctilian, as cited above, but by Valerius Probus, § Terentianus, || Luctatius, (the Scholiast on Statius,) and Priscian.** However, we must admit that the Octavia, if written by the Philosopher, could never have been published during his life, as it is nothing less than a catalogue of the enormities of Nero, thrown into bold relief by strong poetical colouring.tt It might indeed be urged, that instances are not wanting of Poets who defied the Imperial displeasure; but this is little probable in the case of Seneca, as we shall see when we come to consider his conduct in regard to Claudius.

the Drama

With much intrinsic merit, the Tragedies of Seneca State of possess an additional claim to interest, as the only entire productions of the Latin Melpomene which have survived the injuries of time and barbarism. While they serve to confirm the assertion of Horace concerning the tragic spirit and happy daring of Roman bards, they exhibit throughout the strongest evidence that they were composed for the closet, and that, consequently, at this period, the legitimate Drama of Rome was nearly extinct.

The correspondent of Seneca, POMPONIUS SECUNDUS, Pomponi to whom we have before alluded, appears to have been Secundus the only person who applied himself earnestly to the reformation of the Roman Stage. Quinctilian considers him the first of Latin Tragedians;‡‡ and the elder Pliny, as we learn from his nephew,§§ had writ

ten a life of him in two Books. Besides these unexceptionable testimonies to his excellence, we have the no less valuable authority of Tacitus,|||| for pronouncing him "a man of elegant habits and splendid talents." What is most important in illustration of his

*Paul. Diac. Misc. Hist. lib. viii.

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Biography. opinions of dramatic excellence, is an anecdote of him related by Pliny, which proves that he was an enemy to the prevalent fashion of writing for the closet. Whenever his friends suggested an improvement, he always replied, "I appeal to the public." But this example was unsupported, and accordingly we find no traces of eminent dramatic success after his time, unless Virginius. we are to except one VIRGINIUS, who wrote Comedies both on the old and new school, and Mimiambics, and who is celebrated by the younger Pliny* as a paragon of universal perfection. But Pliny's extravagant commendations, and his expression "circà ME tantùm benignitate nimid excessit," coupled with the gross egotism of the writer, and independent of all other support, Maternus. justly render this evidence suspicious. MATERNUS, as we learn from Tacitus, † wrote three Tragedies, entitled, Cato, Medea, and Thyestes; and Martial has this Epigram on SCAVA MEMOR, brother of Turnus the Satirist : "Clarus fronde Jovis, Romani fama cothurni, Spirut Apelleû redditus arte Memor."‡

Memor.

Jarro.

eneca's

VARRO, also, is thus mentioned by the same author: "Varro, Sophocleo non inficiande cothurno,

Nec minus in Calabrá suspiciende lyrâ," &c.§ Whether "Calabra lyra" alludes to Horace or Ennius, is a question which must remain undecided until the works of this Poet are found. It seems that he was also a Mimographer; and, apparently, composed a piece of this kind, in imitation of the Phasma of a certain Catullus mentioned by Juvenal, (Sat. 8.) Of the Epigrams ascribed to Seneca, it is needless pigrams. to say more than that they are so exquisitely frigid, that they become sometimes amusing,-as the extremes of heat and cold are said to produce similar sensations. It is scarcely possible to believe that the doggrel which they contain could ever fall from the pen of the Tragedian, and the undoubted author of a work to which we have before alluded, and which we now come more particularly to consider, the curious and celebrated 'ATOKONOKUVτWOIS. But here it will be convenient to premise a few words on the state of Satirical literature in the age of the first Emperors.

tire.

The circumstances most favourable to the production of Satire, are not always the most propitious to its publication. As the objects of Satire are vice and folly, wherever they predominate, the wise and vir tuous of necessity become Satirists, and even where nature denies, indignation prompts the verse. But the misfortune is, that, under these circumstances, the Satirist can rarely disclose his opinions with safety; and this was eminently the case in the age of the early Emperors. Under those capricious tyrants all literary occupation was unsafe; but to name an individual was almost certain destruction. Ælius Saturninus, for writing satirical verses on the Emperor Tiberius, was hurled from the Tarpeian rock ;¶ Sextius Vestilius, Mamercus Scaurus, and Sextus Paconianus, all suffered death on conviction or suspicion of similar offences; and Caius Cominius, a Roman Knight, who

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had been equally guilty, was with difficulty saved Decline of through the intercession of his brother. Nor was it much less perilous to attack vice in the abstract; the Poetry. guilty are always disposed to appropriate what they From know to be merited; and if, on any occasion, the conscience of the Emperor acquitted a Poet, there were those around him whose internal admonitions were less readily pacified. It is therefore a remarkable phenomenon that this period produced any Satire at all; and it is little to be wondered at that the few whose virtuous indignation surpassed their worldly prudence, were careful, while they gave vent to the ebullition of revolting integrity, to adopt what they regarded a safe degree of obscurity. If this was necessary in the time of Juvenal, as that Poet intimates that it was,* it was incalculably more so in the period of which we are now treating. Various, therefore, were the methods' resorted to by those who felt themselves unable to stem the exuberance of the satiric vein. Lucan concealed it beneath ironical adulation; Persius resorted to obscure and intricate metaphor and significant personification. During the life of Claudius, Seneca, although he had personal as well as public motives of dislike to that weak and unjust Prince, suppressed his real feelings with what may be thought something more, or perhaps less, than fortitude; for, in his letter to Polybius, the freedman of Claudius, written while he was smarting under the Emperor's displeasure, he calls him, "the truly gentle," "whose first virtue is clemency," "whose memory comprehends all the maxims of the sages ;" and, at last, "the great and most illustrious DEITY!" But when the base object of his baser adulation was no longer accessible to its solicitations, he seems to have determined to make the most ample possible atonement for the expressions wrung from him by urgent misery and misplaced hope: and he who on earth was a present God, in the regions of disembodied spirits becomes the kindred associate of pumpkins! The contrast which the early part of the reign of Nero presented to that of his brutish predecessor, afforded a favourable opportunity for undisguised expression of opinion; and this facility seemed increased in the case of Seneca, in consequence of his relative situation with regard to the new Monarch. The 'ATOKоλоKÚVTwois, therefore, speaks a plain and 'ATOKOλOunfettered language; it is evidently the production of a hand expatiating and exulting in the removal of its manacle, and, as it is the only Satire of this description which these times have transmitted to us, it would be valuable, even had it no other merit than curiosity. It is also curious as a specimen of the Varronian Satire, the nature and origin of which we have else

where discussed.

But indeed the ̓Αποκολοκύντωσις is a piece of great intrinsic merits, not the least of which is its originality, or at least, its original air; for whatever the compositions of Varro may have been, it bears not the slightest resemblance to any anterior extant Latin production. The title itself is extremely ingenious, being a kind of caricature of the amoéwois, or ȧπаlaváτwσis, by which it is intimated that, instead of being translated to the condition and society of the

Vide Juv. Sat. 1. passim. præsertim sub fin.

"Ego scio me liberum factum ex quo diem suum obiit ille qui verum proverbium fecerat, aut regem aut fatuum nasci oportere." Senec. 'АTокоλOKÚVT, Sub init.

κύντωσις.

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