History of Roman Literature from its Earliest Period to the Augustan Volume II Part 2

Indeed, the history of his life and writings is almost identified with the literary history of Rome, during the long period through which his existence was protracted. But the treatise on agriculture is the only one of his multifarious works which has descended to us entire. The other writings of this celebrated polygraph, as Cicero calls him(62), may be divided into philological, critical, historical, mythological, philosophic, and satiric; and, after all, it would probably be necessary, in order to form a complete catalogue, to add the convenient and comprehensive cla.s.s of miscellaneous.

The work _De Lingua Latina_, though it has descended to us incomplete, is by much the most entire of Varro's writings, except the Treatise on Agriculture. It is on account of this philological production, that Aulus Gellius ranks him among the grammarians, who form a numerous and important cla.s.s in the History of Latin Literature. They were called _grammatici_ by the Romans-a word which would be better rendered philologers than grammarians. The grammatic science, among the Romans, was not confined to the inflections of words or rules of syntax. It formed one of the great divisions of the art of criticism, and was understood to comprehend all those different inquiries which philology includes-embracing not only grammar, properly so called, but verbal and literal criticism, etymology, the explication and just interpretation of authors, and emendation of corrupted pa.s.sages. Indeed the name of grammarian (grammaticus) is frequently applied by ancient authors(63) to those whom we should now term critics and commentators, rather than grammarians.

It will be readily conceived that a people, who, like the first Romans, were chiefly occupied with war, and whose relaxation was agriculture, did not attach much importance to a science, of which the professed object was, teaching how to speak and write with propriety. Accordingly, almost six hundred years elapsed before they formed any idea of such a study(64).

Crates Mallotes, who was a contemporary of Aristarchus, and was sent as amba.s.sador to Rome, by Attalus, King of Pergamus, towards the end of the sixth century(65), was the first who excited a taste for grammatical inquiries. Having accidentally broken his leg in the course of his emba.s.sy, he employed the period of his convalescence in receiving visitors, to whom he delivered lectures, containing grammatic disquisitions: and he also read and commented on poets. .h.i.therto unknown in Rome(66). These discussions, however, probably turned solely on Greek words, and the interpretation of Greek authors. It is not likely that Crates had such a knowledge of the Latin tongue, as to give lectures on a subject which requires minute and extensive acquaintance with the language. His instructions, however, had the effect of fixing the attention of the Romans on their own language, and on their infant literature. Men sprung up who commented on, and explained, the few Latin poems which at that time existed. C. Octavius Lampadius ill.u.s.trated the Punic War of Naevius; and also divided that poem into seven books. About the same time, Q. Vargunteius lectured on the Annals of Ennius, on certain fixed days, to crowded audiences. Q. Philocomus soon afterwards performed a similar service for the Satires of his friend Lucilius. Among these early grammarians, Suetonius particularly mentions aelius Preconinus and Servius Clodius. The former was the master of Varro and Cicero; he was also a rhetorician of eminence, and composed a number of orations for the Patricians, to whose cause he was so ardently attached, that, when Metellus Numidicus was banished in 654, he accompanied him into exile.

Serv. Clodius was the son-in-law of Laelius, and fraudulently appropriated, it is said, a grammatical work, written by his distinguished relative, which shows the honour and credit by this time attached to such pursuits at Rome. Clodius was a Roman knight; and, from his example, men of rank did not disdain to write concerning grammar, and even to teach its principles. Still, however, the greater number of grammarians, at least of the verbal grammarians, were slaves. If well versed in the science, they brought, as we learn from Suetonius, exorbitant prices. Luctatius Daphnis was purchased by Quintus Catulus for 200,000 pieces of money, and shortly afterwards set at liberty. This was a strong encouragement for masters to instruct their slaves in grammar, and for them to acquire its rules.

Saevius Nicanor, and Aurelius Opilius, who wrote a commentary, in nine books, on different writers, were freedmen, as was also Antonius Gnipho, a Gaul, who had been taught Greek at Alexandria, whither he was carried in his youth, and was subsequently instructed in Latin literature at Rome.

Though a man of great learning in the science he professed, he left only two small volumes on the Latin language-his time having been princ.i.p.ally occupied in teaching. He taught first in the house of the father of Julius Caesar, and afterwards lectured at home to those who chose to attend him.

The greatest men of Rome, when far advanced in age and dignity, did not disdain to frequent his school. Many of his precepts, indeed, extended to rhetoric and declamation, the arts, of all others, in which the Romans were most anxious to be initiated. These were now taught in the schools of almost all grammarians, of whom there were, at one time, upwards of twenty in Rome. For a long while, only the Greek poets were publicly explained, but at length the Latin poets were likewise commented on and ill.u.s.trated.

About the same period, the etymology of Latin words began to be investigated: aelius Gallus, a jurisconsult quoted by Varro, wrote a work on the origin and proper signification of terms of jurisprudence, which in most languages remain unvaried, till they have become nearly unintelligible; and aelius Stilo attempted, though not with perfect success, to explain the proper meaning of the words of the Salian verses, by ascertaining their derivations(67).

The science of grammar and etymology was in this stage of progress and in this degree of repute at the time when Varro wrote his celebrated treatise _De Lingua Latina_. That work originally consisted of twenty-four books-the first three being dedicated to Publius Septimius, who had been his quaestor in the war with the pirates, and the remainder to Cicero. This last dedication, with that of Cicero's _Academica_ to Varro, has rendered their friends.h.i.+p immortal. The importance attached to such dedications by the great men of Rome, and the value, in particular, placed by Cicero on a compliment of this nature from Varro, is established by a letter of the orator to Atticus-"You know," says he, "that, till lately, I composed nothing but orations, or some such works, into which I could not introduce Varro's name with propriety. Afterwards, when I engaged in a work of more general erudition, Varro informed me, that his intention was, to address to me a work of considerable extent and importance. Two years, however, have pa.s.sed away without his making any progress. Meanwhile, I have been making preparations for returning him the compliment(68)." Again, "I am anxious to know how you came to be informed that a man like Varro, who has written so much, without addressing anything to me, should wish me to pay him a compliment(69)." The _Academica_ were dedicated to Varro before he fulfilled his promise of addressing a work to Cicero; and it appears, from Cicero's letter to Varro, sent along with the _Academica_, how impatiently he expected its performance, and how much he importuned him for its execution.-"To exact the fulfilment of a promise," says he, "is a sort of ill manners, of which the populace themselves are seldom guilty. I cannot, however, forbear-I will not say, to demand, but remind you, of a favour, which you long since gave me reason to expect. To this end, I have sent you four admonitors, (the four books of the Academica,) whom, perhaps, you will not consider as extremely modest(70)." It is curious, that, when Varro did at length come forth with his dedication, although he had been highly extolled in the _Academica_, he introduced not a single word of compliment to Cicero-whether it was that Varro dealt not in compliment, that he was disgusted with his friend's insatiable appet.i.te for praise, or that Cicero was considered as so exalted that he could not be elevated higher by panegyric.

We find in the work _De Lingua Latina_, which was written during the winter preceding Caesar's death, the same methodical arrangement that marks the treatise _De Re Rustica_. The twenty-four books of which it consisted, were divided into three great parts. The first six books were devoted to etymological researches, or, as Varro himself expresses it, _quemadmodum vocabula essent imposita rebus in lingua Latina_. In the first, second, and third books, of this division of his work, all of which have perished, the author had brought forward what an admirer of etymological science could advance in its favour-what a depreciator might say against it; and what might be p.r.o.nounced concerning it without enthusiasm or prejudice.-"Quae contra eam dicentur, quae pro ea, quae de ea." The fragments remaining of this great work of Varro, commence at the fourth book, which, with the two succeeding books, is occupied with the origin of Latin terms and the poetical licenses that have been taken in their use: He first considers the origin of the names of places, and of those things which are in them. His great division of places is, into heaven and earth-_Clum_ he derives from _cavum_, and that, from _chaos_; _terra_ is so called _quia teritur_. The derivation of the names of many terrestrial regions is equally whimsical. The most rational are those of the different spots in Rome, which are chiefly named after individuals, as the Tarpeian rock, from Tarpeia, a vestal virgin slain by the Sabines-the Clian Mount, from Clius, an Etrurian chief, who a.s.sisted Romulus in one of his contests with his neighbours. Following the same arrangement with regard to those things which _are in_ places, he first treats of the immortals, or G.o.ds of heaven and earth. Descending to mortal things, he treats of animals, whom he considers as in three places-air, water, and earth. The creatures inhabiting earth he divides into men, cattle, and wild beasts. Of the appellations proper to mankind, he speaks first of public honours, as the office of Praetor, who was so called, "quod praeiret exercitui." We have then the derivations both of the generic and special names of animals.

Thus, _Armenta_ (quasi _aramenta_) is from _aro_, because oxen are used for ploughing; _Lepus_ is _quasi Levipes_. The remainder of the book is occupied with those words which relate to food, clothing, and various sorts of utensils. Of these, the derivation is given, and it is generally far-fetched. But of all his etymologies, the most whimsical is that contained in his book of Divine Things, where he deduces _fur_ from _furvus_, (dusky,) because thieves usually steal during the darkness of night(71).

The fifth book relates to words expressive of time and its divisions, and to those things which are done in the course of time. He begins with the months and days consecrated to the service of the G.o.ds, or performance of accustomed rites. Things which happen during the lapse of time, are divided into three cla.s.ses, according to the three great human functions of thought, speech, and act. The third cla.s.s, or actions, are performed by means of the external senses; the mention of which introduces the explication of those terms which express the various operations of the senses; and the book terminates with a list of vocables derived from the Greek. These two books relate the common employment of words. In the sixth, the author treats of poetic words, and the poetic or metaphoric use of ordinary terms, of which he gives examples. Here he follows the same arrangement already adopted-speaking first of places, and then of time, and showing, as he proceeds, the manner in which poets have changed or corrupted the original signification of words.

Such is the first division of the work of Varro, forming what he himself calls the etymological part. He admits that it was a subject of much difficulty and obscurity, since many original words had become obsolete in course of time, and of those which survived, the meaning had been changed or had never been imposed with exactness. The second division, which extended from the commencement of the seventh to the end of the twelfth book, comprehended the accidents of words, and the different changes which they undergo from declension, conjugation, and comparison. The author admits but of two kinds of words-nouns and verbs, to which he refers all the other parts of speech. He distinguishes two sorts of declensions, of which he calls one arbitrary, and the other natural or necessary; and he is thenceforth alternately occupied with a.n.a.logy and anomaly. In the seventh book he discusses the subject of a.n.a.logy in general, and gives the arguments which may be adduced against its existence in nouns proper: In the eighth, he reasons like those who find a.n.a.logies everywhere. Book ninth treats of the a.n.a.logy and anomaly of verbs, and with it the fragment we possess of Varro's treatise terminates. The three other books, which completed the second part, were of course occupied with comparison and the various inflections of words.

The third part of the work, which contained twelve books, treated of syntax, or the junction of words, so as to form a phrase or sentence. It also contained a sort of glossary, which explained the true meaning of Latin vocables.

This, which may be considered as one of the chief works of Varro, was certainly a laborious and ingenious production; but the author is evidently too fond of deriving words from the ancient dialects of Italy, instead of recurring to the Greek, which, after the capture of Tarentum, became a great source of Latin terms. In general, the Romans, like the Greeks before them, have been very unfortunate in their etymologies, being but indifferent critics, and inadequately informed of everything that did not relate to their own country. Blackwell, in his _Court of Augustus_, while he admits that the sagacity of Varro is surprising in the use which he has made of the knowledge he possessed of the Sabine and Tuscan dialects, remarks, that his work, _De Lingua Latina_, is faulty in two particulars; the first, arising from the author having recourse to far-fetched allusions and metaphors in his own language, to ill.u.s.trate his etymology of words, instead of going at once to the Greek. The second, proceeding from his ignorance of the eastern and northern languages, particularly the Aramean and Celtic(72); the former of which, in Blackwell's opinion, had given names to the greater number of the G.o.ds, and the latter, to matters occurring in war and rustic life.

It is not certain whether the _Libri De Similitudine Verborum_, and those _De Utilitate Sermonis_, cited by Priscian and Charisius as philological works of Varro, were parts of his great production, _De Lingua Latina_, or separate compositions. There was a distinct treatise, however, _De Sermone Latino_, addressed to Marcellus, of which a very few fragments are preserved by Aulus Gellius.

The _critical_ works of this universal scholar, were ent.i.tled, _De Proprietate Scriptorum_-_De Poetis_-_De Poematis_-_Theatrales__, sive de Actionibus Scenicis_-_De Scenicis Originibus_-_De Plautinis Comdiis_-_De Plautinis Quaestionibus_-_De Compositione Satirarum_-_Rhetoricorum Libri_.

These works are praised or mentioned by Gellius, Nonius Marcellus, and Diomedes; but almost nothing is known of their contents.

Somewhat more may be gathered concerning Varro's _mythological_ or _theological_ works, as they were much studied, and very frequently cited by the early fathers, particularly St Augustine and Lactantius. Of these the chief is the treatise _De Cultu Deorum_, noticed by St Augustine in his seventh book, _De Civitate Dei_, where he says that Varro considers G.o.d to be not only the soul of the world, but the world itself. In this work he also treated of the origin of hydromancy, and other superst.i.tious divinations. Sixteen books of the treatise _De Rerum Humanarum et Divinarum Antiquitatibus_, addressed to Julius Caesar, as Pontifex Maximus, related to theological, or at least what we might call ecclesiastical subjects. He divides theology into three sorts-mythic, physical, and civil. The first is chiefly employed by poets, who have feigned many things contrary to the nature and dignity of the immortals, as that they sprung from the head, or thigh, or from drops of blood-that they committed thefts and impure actions, and were the servants of men. The second species of theology is that which we meet with in the books of philosophers, in which it is discussed, whether the G.o.ds have been from all eternity, and what is their essence, whether of fire, or numbers, or atoms. Civil, or the third kind of theology, relates to the inst.i.tutions devised by men, for the wors.h.i.+p of the G.o.ds. The first sort is most appropriate to the stage; the second to the world; the third to the city.

Varro was a zealous advocate for the physical explication of the mythological fables, to which he always had recourse, when pressed by the difficulties of their literal meaning(73). He also seems to have been of opinion that the images of the G.o.ds were originally intended to direct such as were acquainted with the secret doctrines, to the contemplation of the real G.o.ds, and of the immortal soul with its const.i.tuent parts(74).

The first book of this work, as we learn from St Augustine, was introductory. The three following treated of the ministers of religion, the Pontiffs, Augurs, and Sibyls; in mentioning whom, he relates the well-known story of her who offered her volumes for sale to Tarquinius Priscus. In the next ternary of chapters, he discoursed concerning places appointed for religious wors.h.i.+p, and the celebration of sacred rites. The third ternary related to holidays; the fourth to consecrations, and to private as well as public sacrifices; and the fifth contained an enumeration of all the deities who watch over man, from the moment when Ja.n.u.s opens to him the gates of life, till the dirges of Naenia conduct him to the tomb. The whole universe, he says, in conclusion, is divided into heaven and earth; the heavens, again, into aether and air; earth, into the ground and water. All these are full of souls, mortal in earth and water, but immortal in air and aether. Between the highest circle of heaven and the orbit of the moon, are the ethereal souls of the stars and planets, which are understood, and in fact seem, to be celestial deities; between the sphere of the moon and the highest region of tempests, dwell those aerial spirits, which are conceived by the mind though not seen by the eye-departed heroes, Lares, and Genii.

This work, which is said to have chiefly contributed to the splendid reputation of Varro, was extant as late as the beginning of the fourteenth century. Petrarch, to whom the world has been under such infinite obligations for his ardent zeal in discovering the learned works of the Romans, had seen it in his youth. It continued ever after to be the object of his diligent search, and his bad success was a source to him of constant mortification. Of this we are informed in one of the letters, which that enthusiastic admirer of the ancients addressed to them as if they been alive, and his contemporaries. "Nullae tamen exstant," says he to Varro, "vel admodum lacerae, tuorum operum reliquiae; licet divinarum et humanarum rerum libros, ex quibus sonantius nomen habes, puerum me vidisse meminerim, et recordatione torqueor, summis, ut aiunt, labiis gustatae dulcedinis. Hos alicubi forsitan lat.i.tare suspicor, eaque, multos jam per annos, me fatigat cura, quoniam longa quidem ac sollicita spe nihil est laboriosius in vita."

Plutarch, in his life of Romulus, speaks of Varro as a man of all the Romans most versed in history. The _historical_ and political works are the _Annales Libri_-_Belli Punici Secundi Liber_-_De Initiis Urbis Romanae_-_De Gente Populi Romani_-_Libri de Familiis Trojanis_, which last treated of the families that followed aeneas into Italy. With this cla.s.s we may rank the _Hebdomadum, sive de Imaginibus Libri_, containing the panegyrics of 700 ill.u.s.trious men. There was a picture of each, with a legend or verse under it, like those in the children's histories of the Kings of England. That annexed to the portrait of Demetrius Phalereus, who had upwards of 300 brazen statues erected to him by the Athenians, is still preserved:-

"Hic Demetrius aeneis tot aptus est Quot luces habet annus absolutus."

There were seven pictures and panegyrics in each book, whence the whole work has been called Hebdomades. Varro had adopted the superst.i.tious notions of the ancients concerning particular numbers, and the number seven seems specially to have commanded his veneration. There were in the world seven wonders-there were seven wise men among the Greeks-there were seven chariots in the Circensian games-and seven chiefs were chosen to make war on Thebes: All which he sums up with remarking, that he himself had then entered his twelfth period of seven years, on which day he had written seventy times seven books, many of which, in consequence of his proscription, had been lost in the plunder of his library. It appears from Ausonius, that the tenth book of this work was occupied with pictures and panegyrics of distinguished architects, since, in his Eidyllium, ent.i.tled _Mosella_, he observes, that the buildings on the banks of that river would not have been despised by the most celebrated architects; and that those who planned them might well deserve a place in the tenth book of the Hebdomas of Varro:-

"Forsan et insignes hominumque operumque labores Hic habuit decimo celebrata volumine Marci Hebdomas." --

It is evident, however, from one of the letters of Symmachus, addressed to his father, that though this was a professed work of panegyric, Varro was very sparing and n.i.g.g.ardly of his praise even to the greatest characters: "Ille Pythagoram qui animas in aeternitatem primus a.s.seruit; ille Platonem qui deos esse persuasit; ille Aristotelem qui naturam bene loquendi in artem redegit; ille pauperem Curium sed divitibus imperantem; ille severos Catones, gentem Fabiam, decora Scipionum, totumque illum triumphalem Senatum parca laude perstrinxit." Varro also wrote an eulogy on Porcia, the wife of Brutus, which is alluded to by Cicero in one of his letters to Atticus. Among his notices of celebrated characters, it is much to be regretted that the _Liber de Vita Sua_, cited by Charisius, has shared the same fate as most of the other valuable works of Varro. The treatise ent.i.tled, _Sisenna, sive de Historia_, was a tract on the composition of history, inscribed to Sisenna, the Roman historian, who wrote an account of the civil wars of Marius and Sylla. It contained, it is said, many excellent precepts with regard to the appropriate style of history, and the accurate investigation of facts. But the greatest service rendered by Varro to history was his attempt to fix the chronology of the world.

Censorinus informs us that he was the first who regulated chronology by eclipses. That learned grammarian has also mentioned the division of three great periods established by Varro. He did not determine whether the earliest of them had any beginning, but he fixed the end of it at the Ogygian deluge. To this period of absolute historical darkness, he supposed that a kind of twilight succeeded, which continued from that flood till the inst.i.tution of the Olympic games, and this he called the fabulous age. From that date the Greeks pretend to digest their history with some degree of order and clearness. Varro, therefore, looked on it as the break of day, or commencement of the historical age. The chronology, however, of those events which occurred at the beginning of this second period, is as uncertain and confused as of those which immediately preceded it. Thus, the historical aera is evidently placed too high by Varro. The earliest writers of history did not live till long after the Olympian epoch, and they again long preceded the earliest chronologers.

Timaeus, about the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus, was the first who digested the events recorded by these ancient historians, according to a computation of the Olympiads(75). Preceding writers, indeed, mention these celebrated epochs, but the mode of reckoning by them was not brought into established use for many centuries after the Olympic aera. Arn.o.bius farther informs us, that Varro calculated that not quite 2000 years had elapsed from the Ogygian flood to the consuls.h.i.+p of Hirtius and Pansa. The building of Rome he placed two years higher than Cato had done in his _Origines_, founding his computation on the eclipse which had a short while preceded the birth of Romulus; but unfortunately this eclipse is not attested by contemporary authors, nor by any historian who could vouch for it with certainty. It was calculated a long time after the phaenomenon was supposed to have appeared, by Tarrutius Firma.n.u.s, the judicial astrologer, who amused himself with drawing horoscopes. Varro requested him to discover the date of Romulus's birth, by divining it from the known events of his life, as geometrical problems are solved by a.n.a.lysis; for Tarrutius considered it as belonging to the same art, (and doubtless the conclusions are equally certain,) when a child's nativity is given to predict its future life, and when the incidents of life are given to cast up the nativity. Tarrutius, accordingly, having considered the actions of Romulus, and the manner of his death, and having combined all the incidents, p.r.o.nounced that he was conceived in the first year of the second Olympiad, on the 23d of the Egyptian month Choiok, on which day there had been a total eclipse of the sun.

Pompey, when about to enter for the first time on the office of Consul, being ignorant of city manners and senatorial forms, requested Varro to frame for him a written commentary or manual, from which he might learn the duties to be discharged by him when he convened the Senate. This book, which was ent.i.tled _Isagogic.u.m de Officio Senatus habendi_, Varro says, in the letters which he wrote to Oppia.n.u.s, had been lost. But in these letters he repeated many things on the subject, as what he had written before had perished(76).

The _philosophical_ writings of Varro are not numerous; but his chief work of that description, ent.i.tled _De Philosophia Liber_, appears to have been very comprehensive. St Augustine informs us that Varro examined in it all the various sects of philosophers, of which he enumerated upwards of 280.

The sect of the old Academy was that which he himself followed, and its tenets he maintained in opposition to all others. He cla.s.sed these numerous sects in the following curious manner: All men chiefly desire, or place their happiness in, four things-pleasure-rest-these two united, (which Epicurus, however, termed pleasure,) or soundness of body and mind.

Now, philosophers have contended that virtue is to be sought after for the sake of obtaining one or other of these four; or, that some one of these four is to be sought after for the sake of virtue; or, that they and virtue also are to be sought after for their own sake, and from these different opinions each of the four great objects of human desire being sought after with three different views, there are formed twelve sects of philosophers. These twelve sects are doubled, in consequence of the different opinions created by the considerations of social intercourse-some maintaining that the four great desires should be gratified for our own sake, and others, that they should be indulged only for the sake of our neighbours. The above twenty-four sects become forty-eight, from each system being defended as certain truth, or as merely the nearest approximation to probability-twenty-four sects maintaining each hypothesis as certain, and twenty-four as only probable.

These again were doubled, from the difference of opinion with regard to the suitable garb and external habit and demeanour of philosophers.

We have now got ninety-six sects by a very strange sort of computation, and all these are to be tripled, according to the different opinions entertained concerning the best mode of spending life-in literary leisure, in business, or in both(77).

Varro having followed the sect of the old Academy, in preference to all others, proceeded to refute the principles of the sects he had enumerated.

He cleared the way, by dismissing, as unworthy the name of philosophical, all those sects whose differences did not turn on what is the supreme final good; for there is no use in philosophizing, unless it be to make us happy, and that which makes us happy is the final good. But those who dispute, for example, whether a wise man should follow virtue, tranquillity, &c. partly for the sake of others, or solely for his own, do not dispute concerning what is the final good, but whether that good should be shared. In like manner, the Cynic does not dispute with regard to the supreme good, but in what dress or habit he who follows the supreme good should be clad. So also as to the controversy concerning the uncertainty of knowledge. The number of sects were thus reduced to the twelve with which our author set out, and in which the whole question relates to what is the final good. From these, however, he abstracted the sects which place the final good in pleasure, rest, or the union of both-not that he altogether disdained these, but he thought they might be included in soundness of body and mind, or what he called the _prima Naturae_. There are thus only three questions which merit full discussion.

Whether these _prima Naturae_ should be desired for the sake of virtue, or virtue for their sake, or if they and virtue also should be desired for their own sake.

Now, since in philosophy we seek the supreme felicity of man, we must inquire what man is. His nature is compounded of soul and body. Hence the _summum bonum_ necessarily consists in the _prima Naturae_ or perfect soundness of mind and body. These, therefore, must be sought on their own account; and under them may be included virtue, which is part of soundness of mind, being the great director and prime former of the felicity of life.

Such were the doctrines of the old Academy, which Varro was also introduced as supporting in Cicero's _Academica_.-"I have comprehended,"

says that ill.u.s.trious orator and philosopher, in a letter to Atticus, "the whole Academic system in four books, instead of two, in the course of which Varro is made to defend the doctrines of Antiochus(78). I have put into his mouth all the arguments which were so accurately collected by Antiochus against the opinion of those who contend that there is no certainty to be attained in human knowledge. These I have answered myself.

But the part a.s.signed to Varro in the debate is so good, that I do not think the cause which I support appears the better."

I am not certain under what cla.s.s Varro's _Novem libri Disciplinarum_ should be ranked, as it probably comprehended instructive lessons in the whole range of arts and sciences. One of the chapters, according to Vitruvius, was on the subject of architecture. Varro was particularly full and judicious in his remarks on the construction and situation of Roman villas, and seems to have laid the foundation for what Palladius and Columella subsequently compiled on that interesting topic. Another chapter was on arithmetic; and Fabricius mentions, that Vetranius Maurus has declared, in his _Life of Varro_, that he saw this part of the work, _De Disciplinis_, at Rome, in the library of the Cardinal Lorenzo Strozzi.

Varro derived much notoriety from his _satirical_ compositions. His _Tricarenus_, or _Tricipitina_, was a satiric history of the triumvirate of Caesar, Pompey, and Cra.s.sus. Much pleasantry and sarcasm were also interspersed in his books ent.i.tled _Logistorici_; but his most celebrated production in that line was the satire which he himself ent.i.tled _Menippean_. It was so called from the cynic Menippus of Gadara, a city in Syria, who, like his countryman Meleager, was in the habit of expressing himself jocularly on the most grave and important subjects. He was the author of a _Symposium_, in the manner of Xenophon. His writings were interspersed with verses, parodied from Homer and the tragic poets, or ludicrously applied, for the purpose of burlesque. It is not known, however, that he wrote any professed satire. The appellation, then, of _Menippean_, was given to his satire by Varro, not from any production of the same kind by Menippus, but because he imitated his general style of humour. In its external form it appears to have been a sort of literary anomaly. Greek words and phrases were interspersed with Latin; prose was mingled with verses of various measures; and pleasantry with serious remark. As to its object and design, Cicero introduces Varro himself explaining this in the _Academica_. After giving his reasons for not writing professedly on philosophical subjects, he continues,-"In those ancient writings of ours, we, imitating Menippus, without translating him, have infused a degree of mirth and gaiety along with a portion of our most secret philosophy and logic, so that even our unlearned readers might more easily understand them, being, as it were, invited to read them with some pleasure. Besides, in the discourses we have composed in praise of the dead, and in the introductions to our antiquities, it was our wish to write in a manner worthy of philosophers, provided we have attained the desired object." From what Cicero afterwards says in this dialogue, while addressing himself to Varro, it would appear, that he had indeed touched on philosophical subjects in his _Menippean_ satire, but that, learned as he was, his object was more to amuse his readers than instruct them: "You have entered on topics of philosophy in a manner sufficient to allure readers to its study, but inadequate to convey full instruction, or to advance its progress."

Many fragments of this _Menippean_ satire still remain, but they are much broken and corrupted. The heads of the different subjects, or chapters, contained in it, amounting to near one hundred and fifty, have been given by Fabricius in alphabetical order. Some of them are in Latin, others in Greek. A few chapters have double t.i.tles; and, though little remains of them but the t.i.tles, these show what an infinite variety of subjects was treated by the author. As a specimen, I subjoin those ranged under the letter A. Aborigines,-?e?? ?????p?? f?se??,-De Admirandis, vel Gallus Fundanius,-Agatho,-Age modo,-??e? d???, vel pe?? ???ese??,-Ajax Strament.i.tius,-????? ??t?? ??a????,-Andabatae,-Anthropopolis,-pe?? ?????, seu Marcopolis,-pe?? ???a??es???, seu Serra.n.u.s,-pe?? ??et?? ?t?se??,-pe??

?f??d?s???, seu vinalia,-Armorum judicium,-pe?? ???e??t?t??, seu Triphallus,-Autumedus,-Maeonius,-Baiae, &c.(79)

There is a chapter concerning the duty of a husband, (De officio Mariti,) in which the author observes, that the errors of a wife are either to be cured or endured: He who extirpates them makes his wife better, but he who bears with them improves himself. Another is inscribed, "You know not what a late evening, or supper, may bring with it," (Nescis quid vesper serus vehat.) In this chapter he remarks, that the number of guests should not be less than that of the Graces, or more than that of the Muses. To render an entertainment perfect, four things must concur-agreeable company, suitable place, convenient time, and careful preparation. The guests should not be loquacious or taciturn. Silence is for the bed-chamber, and eloquence for the Forum, but neither for a feast. The conversation ought not to turn on anxious or difficult subjects, but should be cheerful and inviting, so that utility may be combined with a certain degree of pleasure and allurement. This will be best managed, by discoursing of those things which relate to the ordinary occurrences or affairs of life, concerning which one has not leisure to talk in the Forum, or while transacting business. The master of the feast should rather be neat and clean than splendidly attired; and if he introduce reading into the entertainment, it should be so selected as to amuse, and to be neither troublesome nor tedious(80). A third chapter is ent.i.tled, pe?? ?desat??; and treats of the rarer delicacies of an entertainment, especially foreign luxuries. Au. Gellius has given us the import of some verses, in which Varro mentioned the different countries which supplied the most exquisite articles of food. Peac.o.c.ks came from Samos; cranes from Melos; kids from Ambracia; and the best oysters from Tarentum(81). Part of the chapter ????? sea?t?? was directed against the Latin tragic poets.

What remains of the verses interspersed in the _Menippean_ satire, is too trifling to enable us to form any accurate judgment of the poetical talents of Varro.

The style of satire introduced by Varro was imitated by Lucius Annaeus Seneca, in his satire on the deification of Claudius Caesar, who was called on earth Divus Claudius. The _Satyricon_ of Petronius Arbiter, in which that writer lashed the luxury, and avarice, and other vices of his age, is a satire of the Varronian species, prose being mingled with verse, and jest with serious remark. Such, too, are the Emperor Julian's _Symposium of the Caesars_, in which he characterizes his predecessors; and his ??s?p????, directed against the luxurious manners of the citizens of Antioch.

Besides the works of Varro above mentioned, there is a miscellaneous collection of sentences or maxims which have been attributed to him, though it is not known in what part of his numerous writings they were originally introduced. Barthius found seventeen of these sentences in a MS. of the middle age, and printed them in his _Adversaria_. Schneider afterwards discovered, in the _Speculum Historiale_ of Vincent de Beauvais, a monk of the thirteenth century, a much more ample collection of them, which he has inserted in his edition of the _Scriptores rei Rusticae_(82). They consist of moral maxims, in the style of those preserved from the Mimes of Publius Syrus, and had doubtless been culled as flowers from the works of Varro, at a time when the immense garden of taste and learning which he planted, had not yet been laid waste by the hand of time, or the spoiler(83).

Though the above list of the works of Varro is far from complete, a sufficient number has been mentioned to justify the exclamation of Quintilian,-"Quam multa, immo pene omnia tradidit Varro!" and the more full panegyric of Cicero,-"His works brought us home, as it were, while we were foreigners in our own city, and wandering like strangers, so that we might know who and where we were; for in them are laid open the chronology of his country,-a description of the seasons,-the laws of religion,-the ordinances of the priests,-domestic and military occurrences,-the situations of countries and places,-the names of all things divine and human,-the breed of animals,-moral duties,-and the origin of things(84)."

Nor did Varro merely delight and instruct his fellow-citizens by his writings. By his careful attention, in procuring the most valuable books, and establis.h.i.+ng libraries, he provided, perhaps, still more effectually than by his own learned compositions, for the progressive improvement and civilization of his countrymen. The formation of either private or public libraries was late of taking place at Rome, for the Romans were late in attending to literary studies. Tiraboschi quotes a number of writers who have discovered a library in the public records preserved at Rome(85), and in the books of the Sibyls(86). But these, he observes, may be cla.s.sed with the library which Madero found to have existed before the flood, and that belonging to Adam, of which Hilscherus has made out an exact catalogue(87). From Syracuse and Corinth the Romans brought away the statues and pictures, and other monuments of the fine arts; but we do not learn that they carried to the capital any works of literature or science.

Some agricultural books found their way to Rome from Africa, on the destruction of Carthage; but the other treasures of its libraries, though they fell under the power of a conqueror not without pretensions to taste and erudition, were bestowed on the African princes in alliance with the Romans(88).

Paulus Emilius is said by Plutarch to have allowed his sons to choose some volumes from the library of Perseus, King of Macedon(89), whom he led captive to Rome in 585. But the honour of first possessing a library in Rome is justly due to Sylla; who, on the occupation of Athens, in 667, acquired the library of Apellicon, which he discovered in the temple of Apollo. This collection, which contained, among various other books, the works of Aristotle and Theophrastus, was reserved to himself by Sylla from the plunder; and, having been brought to Rome, was arranged by the grammarian Tyrannio, who also supplied and corrected the mutilated text of Aristotle(90). Engaged, as he constantly was, in domestic strife or foreign warfare, Sylla could have made little use of this library, and he did not communicate the benefit of it to scholars, by opening it to the public; but the example of the Dictator prompted other commanders not to overlook the libraries, in the plunder of captured cities, and books thus became a fas.h.i.+onable acquisition. Sometimes, indeed, these collections were rather proofs of the power and opulence of the Roman generals, than of their literary taste or talents. A certain value was now affixed to ma.n.u.scripts; and these were, in consequence, ama.s.sed by them, from a spirit of rapacity, and the principle of leaving nothing behind which could be carried off by force or stratagem. In one remarkable instance, however, the learning of the proprietor fully corresponded to the literary treasures which he had collected. Lucullus, a man of severe study, and wonderfully skilled in all the fine arts, after having employed many years in the cultivation of literature, and the civil administration of the republic, was unexpectedly called, in consequence of a political intrigue, to lead on the Roman army in the perilous contest with Mithridates; and, though previously unacquainted with military affairs, he became the first captain of the age, with little farther experience, than his study of the art of war, during the voyage from Rome to Asia. His attempts to introduce a reform in the corrupt administration of the Asiatic provinces, procured him enemies, through whose means he was superseded in the command of the army, by one who was not superior to him in talents, and was far inferior in virtue. After his recall from Pontus, and retreat to a private station, he offered a new spectacle to his countrymen. He did not retire, like Fabricius and Cincinnatus, to plough his farm, and eat turnips in a cottage-he did not, like Africa.n.u.s, quit his country in disgust, because it had unworthily treated him; nor did he spend his wealth and leisure, like Sylla, in midnight debauchery with buffoons and parasites. He employed the riches he had acquired during his campaigns in the construction of delightful villas, situated on the sh.o.r.e of the sea, or hanging on the declivities of hills. Gardens and s.p.a.cious porticos, which he adorned with all the elegance of painting and sculpture, made the Romans ashamed of their ancient rustic simplicity. These would doubtless be the objects of admiration to his contemporaries; but it was his library, in which so many copies of valuable works were multiplied or preserved, and his distinguished patronage of learning, that claim the grat.i.tude of posterity. "His library," says Plutarch, "had walks, galleries, and cabinets belonging to it, which were open to all visitors; and the ingenious Greeks resorted to this abode of the muses to hold literary converse, in which Lucullus delighted to join them(91)." Other Roman patricians had patronized literature, by extending their protection to a favoured few, as the elder Scipio Africa.n.u.s to Ennius, and the younger to Terence; but Lucullus was the first who encouraged all the arts and sciences, and promoted learning with princely munificence.

But the slave Tyrannio vied with the most splendid of the Romans in the literary treasures he had ama.s.sed. A native of Pontus, he was taken prisoner by Lucullus, in the course of the war with Mithridates; and, having been brought to Rome, he was given to Muraena, from whom he received freedom(92). He spent the remainder of his life in teaching rhetoric and grammar. He also arranged the library of Cicero at Antium(93), and taught his nephew, Quintus, in the house of the orator(94). These various employments proved so profitable, that they enabled him to acquire a library of 30,000 volumes(95). Libraries of considerable extent were also formed by Atticus and Cicero; and _Varro_ was not inferior to any of his learned contemporaries, in the industry of collecting and transcribing ma.n.u.scripts, both in the Greek and Latin language.

The library of Varro, however, and all the others which we have mentioned, were private-open, indeed, to literary men, from the general courtesy of the possessors, but the access to them still dependent on their good will and indulgence. Julius Caesar was the first who formed the design of establis.h.i.+ng a great public library; and to Varro he a.s.signed the task of arranging the books which he had procured. This plan, which was rendered abortive by the untimely fate of Caesar, was carried into effect by Asinius Pollio, who devoted part of the wealth he had acquired from the spoils of war, to the construction of a magnificent gallery, adjacent to the Temple of Liberty, which he filled with books, and the busts of the learned.

Varro was the only living author who, in this public library, had the honour of an image(96), which was erected to him as a testimony of respect for his universal erudition. He also aided Augustus with his advice, in the formation of the two libraries which that emperor established, and which was part of his general system for the encouragement of science and learning. When tyrants understand their trade, and when their judgment is equal to their courage or craft, they become the most zealous and liberal promoters of the interests of learning; for they know that it is for their advantage to withdraw the minds of their subjects from political discussion and to give them, in exchange, the consoling pleasures of imagination, and the inexhaustible occupations of scientific curiosity.

Were I writing the history of Roman arts, it would be necessary to mention that Varro excelled in his knowledge of all those that are useful, and in his taste for all those that are elegant. He was the contriver of what may be considered as the first hour clock that was made in Rome, and which measured time by a hand entirely moved by mechanism. That he also possessed a Museum, adorned with exquisite works of sculpture, we learn from Pliny, who mentions, that it contained an admirable group, by the statuary Archelaus, formed out of one block of marble, and representing a lioness, with Cupids sporting around her-some giving her drink from a horn; some in the att.i.tude of putting socks on her paws, and others in the act of binding her. The same writer acquaints us, that, in the year 692, Varro, who was then Curule aedile, caused a piece of painting, in fresco, to be brought from Sparta to Rome, in order to adorn the Comitium-the whole having been cut out entire, and enclosed in cases of wood. The painting was excellent, and much admired; but what chiefly excited astonishment, was that it should have been taken from the wall without injury, and transported safe to Italy(97).

I fear I have too long detained the reader with this account of the life and writings of Varro; yet it is not unpleasing to dwell on such a character. He was the contemporary of Marius and Sylla, of Caesar and Pompey, of Antony and Octavius, these men of contention and ma.s.sacre; and amid the convulsions into which they threw their country, it is not ungrateful to trace the _Secretum Iter_, which he silently pursued through a period unparalleled in anarchy and crimes. Uninterrupted, save for a moment, by strife and ambition, he prosecuted his literary labours till the extreme term of his prolonged existence. "In eodem enim lectulo," says Valerius Maximus, with a spirit and eloquence beyond his usual strain of composition-"In eodem enim lectulo, et spiritus ejus, et egregiorum operum cursus extinctus est."