A Smaller History of Rome Part 20

After Antony's marriage with Octavia in B.C. 40, he seems for a time to have forgotten, or, at least, conquered the fascinations of the Egyptian queen. For the next three years he resided in Athens with his wife; but after his visit to Italy, and the renewal of the Triumvirate in B.C. 37, he left Octavia behind at Tarentum, and determined to carry out his long-projected campaign against the Parthians. As he approached Syria, "that great evil," as Plutarch calls it, his pa.s.sion for Cleopatra, burst forth with more vehemence than ever. From this time she appears as his evil genius. He summoned her to him at Laodicea, and loaded her with honors and favors. He added to her dominions Phoenicia, Coele-Syria, Cyprus, a large part of Cilicia, Palestine, and Arabia, and publicly recognized the children she had borne him. Although he had collected a large army to invade the Parthian empire, he was unable to tear himself away from the enchantress, and did not commence his march till late in the year. The expedition proved most disastrous; the army suffered from want of provisions, and Antony found himself compelled to retreat. He narrowly escaped the fate of Cra.s.sus, and it was with the utmost difficulty that he succeeded in reaching the Armenian mountains, after losing the best part of his troops.

Antony returned to Alexandria, and surrendered himself entirely to Cleopatra. In B.C. 34 he made a short campaign into Armenia, and succeeded in obtaining possession of Artavasdas, the Armenian king. He carried him to Alexandria, and, to the great scandal of all the Romans, entered the city in triumph, with all the pomp and ceremonial of the Roman pageant. He now laid aside entirely the character of a Roman citizen, and a.s.sumed the state and dress of an Eastern monarch. Instead of the toga he wore a robe of purple, and his head was crowned with a diadem. Sometimes he a.s.sumed the character of Osiris, while Cleopatra appeared at his side as Isis. He gave the t.i.tle of kings to Alexander and Ptolemy, his sons by Cleopatra. The Egyptian queen already dreamed of reigning over the Roman world.

While Antony was disgusting the Romans and alienating his friends and supporters by his senseless follies, Octavian had been restoring order to Italy, and, by his wise and energetic administration, was slowly repairing the evils of the civil wars. In order to give security to the frontiers and employment to the troops, he attacked the barbarians on the north of Italy and Greece, and subdued the Iapydes, Pannonians, and Dalmatians. He carried on these wars in person, and won the affection of the soldiers by sharing their dangers and hards.h.i.+ps.

The contrast between the two Triumvirs was sufficiently striking, but Octavian called attention to the follies of Antony. Letters pa.s.sed between them full of mutual recriminations, and both parties began to prepare for the inevitable struggle. Toward the end of B.C. 32 the Senate declared war against Cleopatra, for Antony was regarded as her slave.[72] The five years of the Triumvirate had expired on the last day of this year; and on the 1st of January, B.C. 31, Octavian, as Consul of the Republic, proceeded to carry on the war against the Egyptian queen.

The hostile fleets and armies a.s.sembled on the western coasts of Greece.

Antony's fleet was superior both in number and size of the s.h.i.+ps, but they were clumsy and unmanageable. They were anch.o.r.ed in the Ambraciot Gulf, in the modern _Bay of Prevesa_. (See Plan, P.) The army was encamped on the promontory of Actium (Plan, 3), which has given its name to the battle. The fleet of Octavian consisted of light Liburnian vessels, manned by crews which had gained experience in the wars against s.e.xtus Pompey. It was under the command of the able Agrippa, who took up his station at Corcyra, and swept the Adriatic Sea. Octavian in person took the command of the land forces, which were encamped on the coast of Epirus opposite Actium, on the spot where Nicopolis afterward stood.

(Plan, 1.) The generals of Antony strongly urged him to fight on land; but the desertions among his troops were numerous; Cleopatra became alarmed for her safety; and it was therefore resolved to sacrifice the army, and retire with the fleet to Egypt. But Agrippa was on the watch, and Antony had no sooner sailed outside the strait than he was compelled to fight. The battle was still undecided and equally favorable to both parties, when Cleopatra, whose vessels were at anchor in the rear, taking advantage of a favorable breeze which sprang up, sailed through the midst of the combatants with her squadron of 60 s.h.i.+ps, and made for the coast of Peloponnesus. When Antony saw her flight, he hastily followed her, forgetting every thing else, and shamefully deserting those who were fighting and dying in his cause. The remainder of the fleet was destroyed before night-time. The army, after a few days'

hesitation, surrendered, and Octavian pardoned all the officers who sued for his favor. The battle of Actium was fought on the 2d of September, B.C. 31, from which day the reign of Octavian is to be dated.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plan of Actium.

1. Nicopolis 3. Prom. Actium.

2. _C. La Scara_. 5. Temple of Apollo.

P. _Bay of Prevesa_.

Octavian did not follow Antony to Alexandria for nearly twelve months after the battle of Actium. He sent Agrippa to Italy with his veteran troops, and himself pa.s.sed the winter at Samos; but he could not satisfy the demands of the soldiers, who broke out into open mutiny. Octavian hastened to Brundusium, and with difficulty raised a sufficient sum of money to calm their discontent.

This respite was of no service to Antony and Cleopatra. They knew that resistance was hopeless, and therefore sent emba.s.sadors to Octavian to solicit his favor. To Antony no answer was given, but to Cleopatra hopes were held out if she would betray her lover. She began to flatter herself that her charms, which had fascinated both Caesar and Antony, might conquer Octavian, who was younger than either. Octavian at length appeared before Pelusium, which surrendered to him without resistance.

He then marched upon Alexandria. Antony, encouraged by some slight success in an action with the cavalry, prepared to resist Octavian both by sea and land; but as soon as the Egyptian s.h.i.+ps approached those of Octavian, the crews saluted them with their oars and pa.s.sed over to their side. Antony's cavalry also deserted him, his infantry was easily repulsed, and he fled to Alexandria, crying out that he was betrayed by Cleopatra.

The queen had shut herself up in a mausoleum which she had built to receive her body after death, and where she had collected her most valuable treasures. Hearing of Antony's defeat, she sent persons to inform him that she was dead. He fell into the snare; they had promised not to survive one another, and Antony stabbed himself. He was drawn up into the mausoleum, and died in her arms. She was apprehended by the officers of Octavian, and a few days afterward had an interview with the conqueror. Her charms, however, failed in softening the colder heart of Octavian. He only "bade her be of good cheer and fear no violence." Soon afterward she learned that she was to be sent to Rome in three days'

time. This news decided her. On the following day she was found lying dead on a golden couch in royal attire, with her two women lifeless at her feet. The manner of her death was unknown. It was generally believed that she had died by the bite of an asp, which a peasant had brought to her in a basket full of figs. She was 39 years of age at the time of her death. Egypt was made a Roman province. Octavian did not return to Rome till B.C. 29, when he celebrated a threefold triumph over the Pannonians, Dalmatians, and Egypt. The Temple of Ja.n.u.s was closed for the third time in Roman history. The exhausted Roman world, longing for repose, gladly acquiesced in the sole rule of Octavian. The Senate conferred upon him numerous honors and distinctions, with the t.i.tle of Imperator for life.

Thus ended the Roman Republic, an end to which it had been tending for the last hundred years. The corruption and demoralization of all cla.s.ses had rendered a Republic almost an impossibility; and the civil dissensions of the state had again and again invested one or more persons with despotic authority. The means which Augustus employed to strengthen and maintain his power belong to a history of the Empire. He proceeded with the caution which was his greatest characteristic. He refused the names of King and Dictator, and was contented with the simple appellation of _Princeps_, which had always been given to one of the most distinguished members of the Senate. He received, however, in B.C. 27, the novel t.i.tle of _Augustus_, that is, "the sacred," or "the venerable," which was afterward a.s.sumed by all the Roman emperors as a surname. As Imperator he had the command of the Roman armies; and the tribunitian and proconsular powers which the Senate conferred upon him made him absolute master of the state. He made a new division of the provinces, allowing the Senate to appoint the governors of those which were quiet and long-settled, like Sicily, Achaia, and Asia, but retaining for himself such as required the presence of an army, which were governed by means of his Legati. On the death of Lepidus in B.C.

13, he succeeded him as Pontifex Maximus, and thus became the head of the Roman religion. While he thus united in his own person all the great offices of state, he still allowed the Consuls, Praetors, and other magistrates of the Republic to be annually elected. "In a few words, the system of Imperial government, as it was inst.i.tuted by Octavian, and maintained by those princes who understood their own interest and that of the people, may be defined as an absolute government, disguised by the form of a commonwealth. The masters of the Roman world surrounded their throne with darkness, concealed their irresistible strength; and humbly professed themselves the accountable ministers of the Senate, whose supreme decrees they dictated and obeyed."[73]

[Footnote 72: Antony retaliated by sending Octavia a bill of divorce.]

[Footnote 73: Gibbon.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Map of the Provinces of the Roman Empire.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Horace.]

CHAPTER x.x.xVIII.

SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF ROMAN LITERATURE, FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE DEATH OF AUGUSTUS.

For many centuries after the foundation of the city the Romans can hardly be said to have had any literature at all. There may have existed, at an early period, some songs or ballads, recounting, in rude strains,[74] the exploits of the heroes of Roman story, but all trace of these has disappeared. It was not till the conquest of the Greek cities in Southern Italy, shortly before the First Punic War, that we can date the commencement of the Roman literature. It began with the Drama.

Dramatic exhibitions were first introduced at Rome from Etruria in B.C.

363, on the occasion of a severe pestilence, in order to avert the anger of the G.o.ds. But these exhibitions were only pantomimic scenes to the music of the flute, without any song or dialogue. It was not till B.C.

240 that a drama with a regular plot was performed at Rome. Its author was M. LIVIUS ANDRONICUS, a native of Magna Graecia, who was taken prisoner at the capture of Tarentum, and carried to Rome, where he became the slave of M. Livius Salinator. He was afterward set free, and, according to Roman practice, took the gentilic name of his master. He acquired at Rome a perfect knowledge of the Latin language, and wrote both tragedies and comedies, which were borrowed, or, rather, translated from the Greek. He also wrote an Odyssey in the Saturnian metre, and some hymns. He may be regarded as the first Roman poet. His works were read in schools in the time of Horace.

CN. NaeVIUS, the second Roman poet, was a Campanian by birth. He served in the First Punic War, and, like Livius, wrote dramas borrowed from the Greek. His first play was performed in B.C. 235. He was attached to the Plebeian party; and, with the license of the old Attic comedy, he made the stage a vehicle for a.s.sailing the aristocracy. In consequence of his attacks upon the Metelli he was thrown into prison. He obtained his release through the Tribunes, but was soon compelled to expiate a new offense by exile. He retired to Utica, where he died about B.C. 202. In his exile he wrote, in the Saturnian metre, an epic poem on the First Punic War, in which he introduced the celebrated legends connected with the foundation of Rome. This poem was extensively copied both by Ennius and Virgil.

Q. ENNIUS, however, may be regarded as the real founder of Roman literature. Like Livius, he was a native of Magna Graecia. He was born at Rudiae, in Calabria, B.C. 239. Cato found him in Sardinia in B.C. 204, and brought him in his train to Rome. He dwelt in a humble house on the Aventine, and maintained himself by acting as preceptor to the youths of the Roman n.o.bles. He lived on terms of the closest intimacy with the elder Scipio Africa.n.u.s. He died B.C. 169, at the age of 70. He was buried in the sepulchre of the Scipios, and his bust was allowed a place among the effigies of that n.o.ble house. His most important work was an epic poem, ent.i.tled the "Annals of Rome," in 18 books, written in dactylic hexameters, which, through his example, supplanted the old Saturnian metre. This poem commenced with the loves of Mars and Rhea, and came down to the age of Ennius. Virgil borrowed largely from it; and, down to his time, it was regarded as the great epic poem of the Latin language. He also wrote numerous tragedies, a few comedies, and several other works, such as _Satirae_, composed in a great variety of metres, from which circ.u.mstance they probably received their name.

The comic drama of Rome, though it continued to be more or less a translation or an imitation of the Greek, was cultivated with distinguished success by two writers of genius, several of whose plays are still extant.

T. MACCIUS PLAUTUS was a native of Sarsina, a small village in Umbria, and was born about B.C. 254. He probably came to Rome at an early age, and was first employed in the service of the actors. With the money he had saved in this inferior station he left Rome, and set up in business; but his speculations failed: he returned to Rome, and his necessities obliged him to enter the service of a baker, who employed him in turning a hand-mill. While in this degrading occupation he wrote three plays, the sale of which to the managers of the public games enabled him to quit his drudgery, and begin his literary career. He was then about 30 years of age (B.C. 224), and continued to write for the stage for about 40 years. He died in B.C. 184, when he was 70 years of age. The comedies of Plautus enjoyed unrivaled popularity among the Romans, and continued to be represented down to the time of Diocletian. Though they were founded upon Greek models, the characters in them act, speak, and joke like genuine Romans, and the poet thereby secured the sympathy of his audience more completely than Terence. It was not only with the common people that Plautus was a favorite; educated Romans read and admired his works down to the latest times. Cicero places his wit on a level with that of the old Attic comedy; and St. Jerome used to console himself with the perusal of the poet, after spending many nights in tears on account of his past sins. The favorable impression which the ancients entertained of the merits of Plautus has been confirmed by the judgment of modern critics, and by the fact that several of his plays have been imitated by many of the best modern poets. Twenty of his comedies are extant.

P. TERENTIUS AFER, usually called TERENCE, was born at Carthage, B.C.

195. By birth or purchase he became the slave of P. Terentius, a Roman senator, who afforded him the best education of the age, and finally gave him his freedom. The _Andria_, which was the first play of Terence acted (B.C. 166), was the means of introducing him to the most refined and intellectual circles of Rome. His chief patrons were Laelius and the younger Scipio, both of whom treated him as an equal, and are said even to have a.s.sisted him in the composition of his plays. He died in the 36th year of his age, in B.C. 159. Six comedies are all that remain to us. The ancient critics are unanimous in ascribing to Terence immaculate purity and elegance of language. Although a foreigner and a freedman, he divides with Cicero and Caesar the palm of pure Latinity.

There were two other comic poets, whose works are lost, but who enjoyed a great reputation among the Romans. Q. CaeCILIUS was a native of Milan, and, like Terence, came to Rome as a slave. He was the immediate predecessor of Terence, and died B.C. 108, two years before the representation of the _Andria_. L. AFRANIUS flourished B.C. 100, and wrote comedies describing Roman scenes and manners, called _Comoediae Togatae_, to distinguish them from those depicting Grecian life, which were termed _Palliatae_, from _pallium_, the national dress of the Greeks.

There were two tragic poets contemporary with Terence, who also enjoyed great celebrity, though their works have likewise perished. M. PACUVIUS, son of the sister of Ennius, was born about B.C. 220, and died in the 90th year of his age. He is praised by the Latin writers for the loftiness of his thoughts, the vigor of his language, and the extent of his knowledge. Hence we find the epithet _doctus_ frequently applied to him. Most of his tragedies were taken from the Greek writers; but some belonged to the cla.s.s called _Praetextatae_, in which the subjects were taken from Roman story. One of these, ent.i.tled _Paullus_, had as its hero L. aemilius Paullus, the conqueror of Perseus, king of Macedonia. L.

ACCIUS, a younger contemporary of Pacuvius, was born B.C. 170, and lived to a great age. Cicero, when a young man, frequently conversed with him.

His tragedies, like those of Pacuvius, were chiefly imitations of the Greek; but he also wrote some on Roman subjects, one of which was ent.i.tled _Brutus_.

Though the Roman Drama, properly so called, was derived from the Greeks, there were some kinds of dramatic exhibitions which were of Italian origin. The first of these were the _Atellanae Fabulae_, or Atellane Plays, which took their name from Atella, a town in Campania. They were composed in the Oscan dialect, and were at first rude extemporaneous farces, but were afterward divided into acts like a regular drama. They seem to have been the origin of the Policinello of modern Italy. The Oscan dialect was preserved even when they were introduced at Rome. The _Mimes_ were another species of comedy, of which only the name seems to have been derived from the Greek. They were a species of low comedy of an indecent description, in which the dialogue was subordinate to mimicry and gesture. The Dictator Sulla was very fond of these performances. The two most distinguished writers of Mimes were DEC.

LABERIUS, a knight, and P. SYRUS, a freedman, and originally a Syrian slave, both of whom were contemporaries of Julius Caesar. At Caesar's triumphal games in October, B.C. 45, P. Syrus challenged all his craft to a trial of wit in extemporaneous farce, and Caesar offered Laberius 500,000 sesterces to appear on the stage. Laberius was 60 years old, and the profession of a mimus was infamous, but the wish of the Dictator was equivalent to a command, and he reluctantly complied. He had, however, revenge in his power, and took it. His prologue awakened compa.s.sion, and perhaps indignation; and during the performance he adroitly availed himself of his various characters to point his wit at Caesar. In the person of a beaten Syrian slave he cried out, "Marry! Quirites, but we lose our freedom," and all eyes were turned upon the Dictator; and in another mime he uttered the pregnant maxim, "Needs must he fear who makes all else adread." Caesar, impartially or vindictively, awarded the prize to Syrus.

The _Fescennine Songs_ were the origin of the _Satire_, the only important species of literature not derived from the Greeks, and altogether peculiar to Italy. These Fescennine Songs were rude dialogues, in which the country people a.s.sailed and ridiculed one another in extempore verses, and which were introduced as an amus.e.m.e.nt in various festivals. They were formed into the _Satire_[75] by C.

LUCILIUS, who wrote in hexameter verse, and attacked the follies and vices both of distinguished persons and of mankind in general. He was born B.C. 148, at Suessa Aurunca, and died at Naples in B.C. 103. He lived upon terms of intimacy with the younger Scipio and Laelius, and was the maternal ancestor of Pompey the Great. Lucilius continued to be admired in the Augustan age; and Horace, while he censures the harsh versification and the slovenly haste with which Lucilius threw off his compositions, acknowledges with admiration the fierceness and boldness of his attacks upon the vices and follies of his contemporaries.

Between Lucilius and the poets of the Augustan age lived Lucretius and Catullus, two of the greatest--perhaps the greatest--of all the Roman poets.

T. LUCRETIUS CARUS was born B.C. 95, and died about B.C. 51. He is said to have been driven mad by a love-potion, and to have perished by his own hand. The work which has immortalized his name is a philosophical didactic poem, in heroic hexameters, ent.i.tled _De Rerum Natura_, divided into six books, and addressed to C. Memmius Gemellus, who was praetor in B.C. 58. Its object is to state clearly the leading principles of the Epicurean philosophy in such a form as might render the study attractive to his countrymen. He attempts to show that there is nothing in the history or actual condition of the world which does not admit of explanation without having recourse to the active interposition of divine beings. The work has been admitted by all modern critics to be the greatest of didactic poems. The most abstruse speculations are clearly explained in majestic verse, while the subject, which in itself is dry and dull, is enlivened by digressions of matchless power and beauty.

VALERIUS CATULLUS was born at Verona or in its immediate vicinity, B.C.

87. He inherited considerable property from his father, who was the friend of Julius Caesar; but he squandered a great part of it by indulging freely in the pleasures of the metropolis. In order to better his fortunes, he went to Bithynia in the train of the Praetor Memmius, but it appears that the speculation was attended with little success. It was probably during this expedition that his brother died in the Troad, a loss which he deplores in the affecting elegy to Hortalus. On his return he continued to reside at Rome, or at his country seats on the promontory of Sirmio and at Tibur. He died about B.C. 47. His poems are on a variety of topics, and composed in different styles and metres.

Some are lyrical, others elegies, others epigrams; while the Nuptials of Peleus and Thetis is an heroic poem. Catullus adorned all he touched, and his shorter poems are characterized by original invention and felicity of expression. His _Atys_ is one of the most remarkable poems in the whole range of Latin literature, distinguished by wild pa.s.sion and the n.o.blest diction.

Among the poets of the Augustan age Virgil and Horace stand forth pre-eminent.

P. VIRGILIUS (more properly VERGILIUS) MARO was born B.C. 70, at Andes, a small village near Mantua, in Cisalpine Gaul. His father left him a small estate, which he cultivated. After the battle of Philippi (B.C.

42) his property was among the lands a.s.signed by Octavian to the soldiers. Through the advice of Asinius Pollio, who was then governor of Cisalpine Gaul, and was himself a poet, Virgil applied to Octavian at Rome for the rest.i.tution of his land, and obtained his request. The first Eclogue commemorates his grat.i.tude. Virgil lived on intimate terms with Maecenas, whom he accompanied in the journey from Rome to Brundusium, which forms the subject of one of the Satires of Horace. His most finished work, the _Georgics_, was undertaken at the suggestion of Maecenas.[76] The poem was completed after the battle of Actium, B.C. 31, while Octavian was in the East.[77] The _aeneid_ was the occupation of his latter years. His health was always feeble, and he died at Brundusium in B.C. 19, in his 51st year. His remains were transferred to Naples, which had been his favorite residence, and placed on the road from Naples to Puteoli (_Pozzuoli_), where a monument is still shown, supposed to be the tomb of the poet. It is said that in his last illness he wished to burn the aeneid, to which he had not given the finis.h.i.+ng touches, but his friends would not allow him. He was an amiable, good-tempered man, free from the mean pa.s.sions of envy and jealousy. His fame, which was established in his lifetime, was cherished after his death as an inheritance in which every Roman had a share; and his works became school-books even before the death of Augustus, and continued such for centuries after. He was also the great poet of the Middle Ages.

To him Dante paid the homage of his superior genius, and owned him for his master and model. The ten short poems called Bucolics, or Eclogues, were the earliest works of Virgil, and probably all written between B.C.

41 and B.C. 37. They have all a Bucolic form and coloring, but some of them have nothing more. Their merit consists in their versification, and in many natural and simple touches. The Georgics is an "Agricultural Poem" in four books. Virgil treats of the cultivation of the soil in the first book, of fruit-trees in the second, of horses and other cattle in the third, and of bees in the fourth. This poem shows a great improvement both in his taste and in his versification. Neither in the Georgics nor elsewhere has he the merit of striking originality; his chief excellence consists in the skillful handling of borrowed materials. The aeneid, or adventures of aeneas after the fall of Troy, is an epic formed on the model of the Homeric poems. It was founded upon an old Roman tradition that aeneas and his Trojans settled in Italy, and were the founders of the Roman name. In the first six books the adventures of Ulysses in the Odyssey are the model, and these books contain more variety of incident and situation than those which follow.

The last six books, the history of the struggles of aeneas in Italy, are based on the plan of the battles of the Iliad. Latinus, the king of the Latini, offers in marriage to the Trojan hero his daughter Lavinia, who had been betrothed to Turnus, the warlike king of the Rutuli. The contest is ended by the death of Turnus, who falls by the hand of aeneas.

The fortunes of aeneas and his final settlement in Italy are the subjects of the aeneid, but the glories of Rome and the Julian house, to which Augustus belonged, are indirectly the poet's theme. In the first book the foundation of Alba Longa is promised by Jupiter to Venus, and the transfer of empire from Alba to Rome; from the line of aeneas will descend the "Trojan Caesar," whose empire will only be limited by the ocean, and his glory by the heavens. The ultimate triumphs of Rome are predicted.

Q. HORATIUS FLACCUS, usually called HORACE, was born at Venusia, in Apulia, B.C. 65. His father was a freedman. He had received his manumission before the birth of the poet, who was of ingenuous birth, but who did not altogether escape the taunt which adhered to persons even of remote servile origin. His father's occupation was that of a collector (_coactor_) of taxes. With the profits of his office he had purchased a small farm in the neighborhood of Venusia. Though by no means rich, he declined to send the young Horace to the common school, kept in Venusia by one Flavius, to which the children of the rural aristocracy resorted. Probably about his twelfth year his father carried him to Rome to receive the usual education of a knight's or senator's son. He frequented the best schools in the capital. One of these was kept by Orbilius, a retired military man, whose flogging propensities have been immortalized by his pupil. The names of his other teachers are not recorded by the poet. He was instructed in the Greek and Latin languages: the poets were the usual school-books--Homer in the Greek, and the old tragic writer, Livius Andronicus, in the Latin. In his eighteenth year Horace proceeded to Athens, in order to continue his studies at that seat of learning. When Brutus came to Athens after the death of Caesar, Horace joined his army, and received at once the rank of a military tribune and the command of a legion. He was present at the battle of Philippi, and shared in the flight of the republican army. In one of his poems he playfully alludes to his flight, and throwing away his s.h.i.+eld. He now resolved to devote himself to more peaceful pursuits; and, having obtained his pardon, he ventured at once to return to Rome.

He had lost all his hopes in life; his paternal estate had been swept away in the general forfeiture; but he was enabled to obtain sufficient money to purchase a clerks.h.i.+p in the Quaestor's office, and on the profits of that place he managed, with the utmost frugality, to live.

Meantime some of his poems attracted the notice of Varius and Virgil, who introduced him to Maecenas (B.C. 39). Horace soon became the friend of Maecenas, and this friends.h.i.+p quickly ripened into intimacy. In a year or two after the commencement of their friends.h.i.+p (B.C. 37) Horace accompanied his patron on the journey to Brundusium already alluded to.

About the year B.C. 34 Maecenas bestowed upon the poet a Sabine farm, sufficient to maintain him in ease, comfort, and even in content, during the rest of his life. The situation of this farm was in the valley of Ustica, within view of the mountain Lucretilis, and near the Digentia, about 15 miles from Tibur (_Tivoli_). A site exactly answering to the villa of Horace, and on which were found ruins of buildings, has been discovered in modern times. Besides this estate, his admiration of the beautiful scenery in the neighborhood of Tibur inclined him either to hire or to purchase a small cottage in that romantic town; and all the later years of his life were pa.s.sed between the metropolis and these two country residences. He died, B.C. 8, in his 57th year. He was buried on the slope of the Esquiline Hill, close to his friend and patron Maecenas, who had died before him in the same year. Horace has described his own person. He was of short stature, with dark eyes and dark hair, but early tinged with gray. In his youth he was tolerably robust, but suffered from a complaint in his eyes. In more advanced life he grew fat, and Augustus jested about his protuberant belly. His health was not always good, and he seems to have inclined to be a valetudinarian. In dress he was rather careless. His habits, even after he became richer, were generally frugal and abstemious; though on occasions, both in youth and maturer age, he seems to have indulged in conviviality. He liked choice wine, and in the society of friends scrupled not to enjoy the luxuries of his time. He was never married. The _Odes_ of Horace want the higher inspirations of lyric verse. His amatory verses are exquisitely graceful, but they have no strong ardor, no deep tenderness, nor even much light and joyous gayety; but as works of refined art, of the most skillful felicities of language and of measure, of translucent expression, and of agreeable images embodied in words which imprint themselves indelibly on the memory, they are unrivaled. In the _Satires_ of Horace there is none of the lofty moral indignation, the fierce vehemence of invective, which characterized the later satirists. It is the folly rather than the wickedness of vice which he touches with such playful skill. In the _Epodes_ there is bitterness provoked, it should seem, by some personal hatred or sense of injury; but the _Epistles_ are the most perfect of the Horatian poetry, the poetry of manners and society, the beauty of which consists in its common sense and practical wisdom. The Epistles of Horace are, with the Poem of Lucretius, the Georgics of Virgil, and, perhaps, the Satires of Juvenal, the most perfect and the most original form of Roman verse. The _Art of Poetry_ was probably intended to dissuade one of the younger Pisos from devoting himself to poetry, for which he had little genius, or, at least, to suggest the difficulties of attaining to perfection.

Three celebrated Elegiac poets--Tibullus, Propertius, and Ovid--also belong to the Augustan age.

ALBIUS TIBULLUS was of equestrian family, and possessed an hereditary estate between Tibur and Praeneste. His great patron was Messala, whom he accompanied in B.C. 31 into Aquitania, whither Messala had been sent by Augustus to suppress a formidable insurrection which had broken out in this province. In the following year (B.C. 30) Messala, having pacified Gaul, was sent into the East. Tibullus set out in his company, but was taken ill, and obliged to remain in Corcyra, from whence he returned to Rome. So ceased the active life of Tibullus. He died at an early age soon after Virgil. The poetry of his contemporaries shows Tibullus as a gentle and singularly amiable man. To Horace especially he was an object of warm attachment. His Elegies, which are exquisite small poems, celebrate the beauty and cruelty of his mistresses.