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GEMS OF LATIN POETRY.

^rtiitrt at t^e mnibtviitu ^rt^g.

GEMS

OF

LATIN POETRY,

WITH

translations by banous ^utbors;

TO WHICH ARE ADDED

NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS,

BY

ANDKEW AMOS, Esq.,

AUTHOR OF 'THE GREAT OYER OF POISONING,'
■NOTES ON FORTESCUE DE LAUDIBUS LEGUM ANGLIC,' &c. &c.

')^-y

V

CAMBRIDGE: JOHN DEIGHTON.
LONDON: J. BAIN, 1, HAYMARKET.

M.DCCC.LI.

V

PREFACE.

T^HE following Work is designed for Undergraduates.
-*- Within a very short period, I have published writ-
ings, and used strenuous personal exertions for severer
purposes, connected with organic changes in the admi-
nistration of national justice*, and with the instaiira-
tion of Academical Institutions in conformity with the
present exigencies of Society f . These works may
atone for a brief literary delassement at the abode of
my Alma Mater, my return to whom, after the turmoil
of public life, feels to me like the inhaling of a second
spring.

To my young readers, (many of whom are the sons
of my friends, and are pursuing at Cambridge the
honourable footsteps of their distinguished Fathers),
it will be a relief to hear that I do not propose to
vex their attentions by a selection of Gems from Virgil,
Horace, Ovid, Juvenal, or Persius I. The beauties of

* On the Expediency of admitting the Testimony of Parties to Suits.
A Sheet of Advice to County Court Judges.

t Introductory Lectm-e on the Laws of England, delivered at the
University of Cambridge. Letter to Dr Whewell on Education at the
Universities.

X These were the only Latin poets read at Eton when the Author
was an alumnus there ; Juvenal and Persius were not read in school, but
occasionally with tutors. Gray writes to West, that he first opened
Silius Italicus in the Alps. During the Author's undergraduateship,
many Etonians were indebted for their first acquaintance with Lucretius
to their College Deans, who shewed a preference to this author in
their impositions, because he was a stranger.

vi PREFACE.

these authors are all familiar to most Undergraduates of
promise. But I conceive that there are many Gems
of " purest ray serene " to be discovered in the works
of Authors not commonly read, or even looked into at
Schools or in the University. I feel sanguine that I
may present a collection of these to the notice of Under-
graduates, which may tend to implant in their minds
a predilection for what is noble, and a detestation of
what is base in conduct, a good-will towards mankind,
an admiration and reverence for the works of the Deity ;
or which, at least, by the creations of fancy, or even the
frolics of the Muses, may wean the mind from selfish
ruminations, the idolatries of fashion, or those " eating
cares," that are the lot of humanity.

There are several causes why the excursions of
Undergraduates among the Latin Poets have usually
been confined to a few authors. It unfortunately hap-
pens that the writings of nearly every one of the most
admired Poets of the Augustan sera contain passages
which the eye of youth should never see ! But if we
deviate from this flourishing period, and take, for an
example, Catullus, as that of an Author before Augustus,
or Martial, as that of a Post-Augustan Poet, we shall
find, indeed, occasionally, in their works, the most feli-
citous thoughts, conveyed in the most fascinating expres-
sions: but the objectionable filth which, at intervals,
offends the moral sense in Horace or Ovid, is in Catullus
and Martial the ordinary current of ideas, the phrase-
ology most familiar to their generally polluted, though
sometimes honied tongues. Ovid, Catullus, Martial, and,
we may add with regret, the refined Pliny, take pains to

PREFACE. vu

expressly avow a most reprehensible doctrine, that,
although a Poet ought to be as moral as other people in
his life, he can never deserve blame for immoral verses*.
In other words, that if a Poet had been as immodest
as Rochester, and as beastly as Swift, (both angels of
light as compared with the Classics), he might lay a
flattering unction to his soul, that he had written

No line which dying he would wish to blot.

Such considerations may, in some measure, explain
an anomaly which defaces the system of modern educa-
tion. In the higher circles of society, the moral senti-
ments, the associations of ideas, and the taste of a Man,
are commonly formed on a close study of the Greek and
Roman Writers, to which his attention is almost exclu-
sively devoted till the age of nineteen, and sometimes
for three or more years beyond; whereas the number
of Females who can read a Latin book is infinite-
simally small t ; if, indeed, the Latin tongue be not an

* In Oldys's Epigrams, a.d. 1727, that editor writes: "We think the
coarseness and indelicacy of this epigram abundantly atoned for by its
poignancy of thought and pleasantness of conceit, which justly entitle it
to a place in owe collection."

t The Author, in his Letter to Dr Whewell, writes : " You have
placed the immediate practical utility of classical knowledge in a more
striking point of view than I recollect ever to have contemplated it
before; and I wish to be understood as not controverting the general
scope of your observations, whilst I adduce a few grains of allowance,
with which, I apprehend, they ought to be seasoned. It is really very
gratifying to reflect on the happy family footing on which, it seems, the
classically educated mutually stand. They have ' a bond of mental
union,' ' a common store of thoughts, images, and turns of expression,'
' common intellectual possessions,' ' a community of sentiments arising
out of the internal constitution of human nature.' They are membei's
of a ' common human family,' indulging in ' thoughts and expressions of
thoughts belonging to humanity in general,' 'on which the human mind

vm PREFACE.

accomplishment which is sometimes suppressed by the
Fair Sex, as though it argued a propensity for inter-
dicted knowledge inherited from their Mother Eve.

Again, of that large portion of human thought which
in modern as well as ancient times has been expressed
in Latin Poetry, how much relates to exploded theories
and opinions, or to occurrences no longer subjects of
interest, or of which the traditions are faint and obscure!
What a mass, for example, of unintelligible and value-
less rubbish is to be found in the works of Lucretius ;
and yet, from amid the gloom of his bulky philosophical
poem, he occasionally darts forth rays of genius, than
which there is nothing brighter or more exalted to be
met with in the whole range of Classical Literature.
So the most eminent Poets of Modern Italy, who, during
a long period, composed in Latin verse, with a success
approaching to rivalry with the Augustan Writers, have
expressed many thoughts worthy of meditation in every
age ; nevertheless, there will, perhaps, be found scarcely

delights to dwell, and which are sympathized with throughout the world.'
And this liaison is made the more interesting and tender, by reason of
the classical languages being a 'vehicle of emotion,' not less than of
thought. There is one drawback to these agreeable visions, and that is
a very serious one : — The Female Sex are not, in the present day, (to
speak generally,) brought up among the classics. Time was, when the
world was in possession of a Lady Jane Grey, and, in later days, of a
Madame Dacier. But I fear that ladies of this stamp afford a melan-
choly parallel to that bird of which the species is known to have existed
upon earth within human memory, but of which there is now no longer
any living specimen. ... I fear that we must be satisfied, by the aid of
classics, to have a bond of mental union with only half of human nature,
even among the educated classes ; to have common intellectual posses-
sions only with half (and to our sorrow, the less eligible half) of humanity;
and that we must seek some other ' vehicle of emotions,' and employ
some other go-hetvjeens than the classic authors, in our intercourse with
the ladies of the human family."

PREFACE. IX

one page out of a hundred in their works which is
calculated to afford edification or pleasure to a modern
reader. Perhaps there is not a single Undergraduate
at Cambridge, who knows more even about Vida (one
of the most extolled Italian writers of Latin Poetry)
than the lines,

Immortal Vida ! on whose honour'd brow
The poet's bays, and critic's ivy grow :
Cremona now shall ever boast thy name,
As next in place to Mantua, next in fame!

It must be confessed also that the search after ideas
at our Universities is confined within a narrow circle.
There is little encouragement, or indeed (practically
speaking) permission for the prosecution of more than
two branches of study; and those, perhaps, not pro-
perly occupying the first place in the minds of students
destined for general life, who have exceeded the age
of twenty *. But even in one of these branches, that

* When classical studies first obtained their present predominance
in our Universities, there was little of valuable information to be acquired
from other sources ; students were sent to college five years earlier than
at present ; and there was not the like rush of well-educated, though not
classically-educated, persons into evei-y avenue leading to emolument or
honour. Milton, even at a period before many important sources of
modern information had been opened, thanks his father for having
persuaded him to extend his poetical studies beyond the narrow limits of
a Classical Tripos :

Tuo, Pater optime, sumptu,
Cum mihi Romuleae patuit facundia linguae,
Et Latii Veneres, et, quae Jovis ora decebant,
Grandia magniloquis elata vocabula Graiis :
Addere suasisti quos jactat Gallia flores ;
Et quam degeneri novus Italus ore loquelam
Fundit, barbaricos testatus voce triumphos;
Quseque Palsestinus loquitur mysteria vates.
And if Milton had lived to the present day, he would not have passed
over the muses of Germany without the " meed " of a " melodious "
encomium.

X PREFACE.

of Classics, the student's attention is less directed to
the acquirement of rules for conduct, or of arts to win
mankind, than to struggles with difficult constructions,
and the chirping of metres and accents, or to imitating
with servile and awkward pinion the flights of ancient
eagles or swans. It may, perhaps, be a question whe-
ther it be so necessary as formerly to rear a succession
of Scaligers, Bentleys, and Porsons ; now that, after a
running fight for centuries, most of the monsters of
corrupt or interpolated texts, or of passages that mock
all meaning and sense, may be supposed to have been
vanquished by the labours of those literary Herculeses
or Giant-killers. But there can be no doubt, as regards
Students designed for other than a scholastic life, that
something of the philological astuteness which is now
exacted or encouraged, may reasonably be dispensed
with, if they be thereby enabled to make a more excur-
sive range in quest of ideas, to know more of what the
Ancients wrote about, and to know something, besides
Mathematics, of what has transpired in the world for
the last thousand years and upwards.

It is hoped that although some accomplished Under-
graduates may find nothing new in these pages, yet that
there may be a number of others, who may reap benefit
from my placing before them what I have dug up, as
it were, from a literary Pompeii or Herculaneum, con-
sisting of selections from books, which, from one or
other of the causes above assigned, are not commonly
placed in the hands of youth. They are curiosities, with
regard to which I have endeavoured to perform the
part of a literary pioneer, clearing away the rubbish

PREFACE. xi

with which they were covered, and divesting them
of a load of matters replete with depraved taste, false
wit, bad reasoning, obscenities, outrages on human
nature, and impieties; from none of which vices were
the Latian Muses, in their best days, averse, and amidst
which, in their decline, they were wont to revel.

With regard to the Poetical Translations in this
Work, they have been collected from a multitude of
sources, ancient and modern. The names of the trans-
lators are not commonly given, partly because they are
not known, or the references to them have been lost,
and partly because it has been thought that the Reader
would not care to be informed on the subject. The
Author's share in this part of the work has been very
trifling indeed, and chiefly confined to modifications for
the avoidance of gross literary blunders, or startling
eccentricities of diction and rhyme*. For the 2^^ose
translations, except some from Pliny by Melmoth, the
Author is responsible. French translations or imita-
tions have been adopted sometimes for their own merit,
and sometimes from the demerit of the Author, who
yielded to the temptation of saving himself trouble.

As regards the translations in general, they are not

* Several of those poetical translations, which are of the more humble
pretensions, are by Elphinstone, who translated all Martial. The list of
subscribers to his book is one of the most imposing ever published. The
work was apparently a long time in hand, for there is a numerous list of
subscribers, by way of postscript, who, Elphinstone writes, are " already
called to superior enjoyment ; " thus modestly admitting that their
enjoyment in heaven might be superior to that of reading his poetry.
He addresses his departed patrons thus :

Hail, hallowed friends ! whose names shall never die,
May ours, with yours, be register'd on high !

&2

xu PREFACE.

a dainty dish to set before those Classical Scholars whose
object is to solve difficulties of construction, and to
study not the sentiments of Latin authors, but the Latin
Language*. All that has been attempted has been to
exhibit in an English dress the general scope of a
Poet's ideas; without aiming at that closeness of re-
semblance which would be requisite in an Academical
Examination. Many persons, however, who are capable
of relishing the beauties of the Classical Authors, are
not such proficients in the Latin tongue, (especially as
used by Poets who do not belong to the Augustan
period), but that a slight assistance towards the com-
prehension of a Latin piece of composition, would make
all the difference between their taking it up to read, or
not. Now although the lights here afforded to such
readers may now and then be deemed ignes fatui, it
will often happen that an individual may possess such a
competent knowledge of Latinity as to perceive where
a Translator is a blind guide, and at the same time
to feel indebted for his assistance where his own sense
may assure him that the way has been correctly pointed
out. If there be any Readers of this book who are not
acquainted with the Latin language at all, they will be
spared that exasperation which may be expected to
arise in the minds of classical scholars at the sight of
literary blunders committed by one whose life has

* The Author's College Tutor was often not content with consuming
half the lecture hour in laying prostrate all the difficulties to be found
in the Commentators about some unimportant matter, (as, for example,
the artful dodge of some scampish Heathen Divinity), but would cast his
eyes round the table, and say, with a chuckle, " Gentlemen, I have found
another difficulty !"

PREFACE. xin

been spent among men, and not with books; whilst,
notwithstanding such faults, they may be edified with
many opinions, sentiments, and descriptions, which are
new to them, and which, though in particular instances
perhaps inaccurate as translations, may be in general
calculated to elevate the mind, and inspire it with
philanthropic dispositions.

With regard to the Notes and Illustrations of this
Work, it is hoped that they may impart an additional
interest to the Gems. Sometimes they may shew how
much several of the most esteemed English Authors have
been indebted to Classical sources for numerous bril-
liant passages in their works ; sometimes, by the process
of association of ideas, they may render the treasuring
of the original Gems in the memory a more easy and
agreeable task ; and, generally, it is trusted that they
may tend to supply a desideratum in University Educa-
tion, by directing attention to English Literature,
modern events, and objects of daily interest, in a point
of view not conflicting with a regard to the beauties of
the Classics, but conspiring wdth them to imprint more
deeply on the heart the sentiments of Nature, and the
dictates of Virtue.

If this Work should, perchance, attract more notice
than is anticipated on the part of Undergraduates, I may
be induced to send to the Press another set of Gems
which I have already in my literary cabinet, regarding
more particularly those shrewd remarks of the Latin
Poets concerning ancient institutions, the conduct of
life, the nicer shades and varieties of character, and
the intercourse of society. It appeared to me that these

XIV PREFACE.

subjects, although of greater interest than any thing
here offered to persons experienced in the ways of the
world, would not be so attractive to Undergraduates as
those which I have selected on the present occasion.

My intimate friends know how I have usually con-
fined the lighter lucubrations of my leisure hours to a
few printed copies for private circulation : that I have
deviated from my former course on the present occasion,
is because it appeared to me that an opportunity was
offered of scattering some good seeds on a very prolific
soil, and not from an ignorance that Cambridge was as
remarkable as ancient Rome for Rhinoceros' noses.

Majores nusquam ronchi, juvenesque, senesque,
Et pueri nasum Rhinocerontis habent.

My Undergraduate friends will, however, kindly bear
in mind the adage, " Never to look a gift horse in the
mouth." A work like the present can never be expected
to pay a quarter of its expences ; especially as there is
no likelihood of my having an opportunity of setting
questions out of it at any Academical examination.
I shall, however, consider myself richly compensated, if
these Gems shall instil into the minds of youth any
new incentives to virtue, or even impart to them any
moments of literary gratification.

Downing College, Cambkidge,
March, 1851

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

REMARIOJBLE ACTIONS AND OCCURRENCES.

PAGE

I. Pope Julius casting into the Tiber the Keys of St Peter 1

n. Death of Xavier ...... 3

lU. Arnauld's Heart conveyed to Port Royal, and there

enshrined ...... 4

IV. Moliere's Death .....

V. Death of the Emperor Otho ....

VI. Festus's Suicide .....
VII. Death of Politian

Vni. The Branding of Prynne ....

IX. Message from Philip II. to Queen Elizabeth

Queen Elizabeth's Reply ....

X. Presentation of Henry VIII.'s Book to Pope Leo

XI. Gunpowder Plot ......

XII. Franklin's Snatches .....
Xin. Arria's Non dolet! (It is not painful!)

XIV. Death of Porcia, wife of Brutus .

XV. Defence of Syracuse by Archimedes, and his death

XVI. Hannibal Swearing enmity to the Romans
XVn. Regulus's Tortures in a Cask ....
XVIII. West's Cough

XIX. West on Gray's Return from his Travels

XX. Laberius's Prologue .....

XXI. Mucins Scsevola ......

XXII. The Fall of Rufinus

XXin. Cruelties of the Roman Amphitheatre . . 34

6
6
8
11
12
13
ib.
14
ib.
16
17
18
19
21
24
25
26
27
29
32

XVI

CONTENTS.

XXrV. On the Women who fought with Wild Beasts in the

Amphitheatre ...... 36

XXV. Naumachise ...... ib.

XXVI. Cato refusing to consult the Oracle of Jupiter Ammon 37

XXVII. Cato at the Floral Games .... 41
XXVni. Cfesar Passing the Rubicon . . . .42

XXIX. Death of Pompey 46

XXX. Suttees 49

XXXI. Treatment of Slaves 51

XXXII. Martial's Manumission of a Dying Slave . . 53
XXXin. Assassination of Cicero ..... 55
XXXTV. Attempted Murder of Marius . . . .57

XXXV. Iphigeneia's Sacrifice ..... 68

XXXVI. Marseilles' Bishop : his Conduct during the Plague . 61

XXXVII. Hadrian's Parting Address to his Soul, when dying 62
XXXVin. Metamorphosis of Matsys 64

XXXrS. StDunstan ib.

XL. Sir Thomas More's Relation of a Monk thrown over-
board to hghten a ship of a crew's sins . . 66
XLI, The Miracle at Cana 67

CHAPTER II.

BIOGRAPHY.

I.

Linacre .......

68

II.

Dr Pitcairn. (Invitation to a Ghost.) .

. 69

m.

Dante .......

72

IV.

Michael Angelo. (Inscriptions on his Monimient.)

. %73

V.

* Raphael .......

74

VI.

Annibal Caracci .....

• 75

vn.

Poussin .......

76

vin.

Frascatoro ......

. 77

IX.

The Antiquary Vaillant . . .

ib.

X.

Parkyns, the Wrestler ....

. 78

CONTENTS.

xvu

XI. Aretino ......

XII. Mirandola ......

Xm. Nero

XIV, Swift

XV. Waller and Sacharissa . . . -

XVI. Cromwell, (by Locke.) ....

XVII. James II

XVIII. Machiavel

XIX. Ascham ......

XX. Silius Italicus, his pious cares for the Memories

Virgil and Cicero ....

XXI. Lucan .......

XXn. LeoX

XXm. Pope Alexander VI

XXrV. Csesar Borgia .....

XXV. Lucretia Borgia .....

XXVI. Luther

X X V FT. Mary Queen of Scots. (Prayer repeated by her

mediately before her Execution.) .
XXVIII. Lady Jane Grey

XXIX. Milton

XXX. Milton compared with Homer and Virgil

XXXI. Milton and his Father ....
XXXII. Milton rusticated, perhaps flogged

XXXm. Milton burnt

XXXrV. Spenser , .

XXXV. Nsevius

XXXVI. Nigrina. A Funeral Urn. . .

XXXVII. Antonius Primus. Life doubled.
Martial and Pliny .....

Nerva .......

Sir Thomas More .....

Sir Thomas More and his Children

Coke and Bacon .....

Sir Edward Coke's Diary ....

Sir Edward Coke's Kitchen

King James I. (his Visit to Cambridge)

Present of his Basilicon Doron .

PAGE

79

80
ib.
81
82
84
85

of

87
89
91
93
95
97
98

99
100
ib.
101
102
103
104
106
107
108
109
111
113
117
118
119
120
122
ib.
123

XVlll

CONTENTS.

PAGE

XL VI.

Cowley . . . . . .

123

XLVII.

Cowley on his own Death ....

126

XL VIII.

The Old Man of Verona . . .

127

XLIX.

Coryat's Crudities ......

129

L.

Scorpus the Charioteer .....

130

LI.

Paris the Pantomime .....

131

LII.

Latinus the Mime. ......

132

Lin.

Csesar and Pompey .....

134

LIV.

Cato ........

138

LV.

Epicm-us .......

140

LVI.

Catullus at his Brother's Tomb ....

142

LVII.

Catullus and Cicero .....

143

Lvni.

Young Torquatus ......

144

LIX.

Quintilian and Martial .....

146

LX.

Cotta. (Who never knew a day's illness.)

148

LXI.

Sabidus. (Disliked, without knowing why.)

150

LXII.

Sulpicia. (The Model of " Grace" for Milton's Eve.)

151

LXIII.

Zoilus. (Unfavourable Physiognomy.)

153

Lxrv.

Ligurinus the Table-Talker ....

156

LXV.

Canius the Laugher .....

158

LXVI.

Aeon and Leonilla. (Each beautiful, each one-eyed.)

160

LXVII.

Lais. (Her Looking- Glass). ....

161

LXVIII.

Glaucia. (His Premature Death.)

ib.

LXIX.

Lascaris . . . . .

163

LXX.

Augustus .......

ib.

LXXI.

A Grammarian of Ghent ....

164

LXXII.

Nicholas. An Egotist .....

166

Lxxm.

Hobson .......

167

LXXIV.

Fox's Vale to Eton

168

CONTENTS,

XIX

CHAPTER III.
PLACES AND NATURAL PHENOMENA.

PAGE

I. Venice ....... 171

II. The Grande Chartreuse 173

m. Sirmio 176

IV. Vesuvius 179

V. Mount St Bernard 186

VI. The Alps 189

Vn. Faesulffi 192

VIII. Baiffi 194

rX, A Formian Villa 195

X. A Tiburtine Villa 205

XI. Domitian's Fishpond . . . , . 210
Xn. The Hot Springs near Cicero's Academy . .211
Xm. The Po, with its Mythology .... 213
XIV. The Po frozen 214

XV. Building Account between Domitian and Jupiter . 216

XVI. The Palatine Mount 218

XVn. CoUsseum 219

XVni. Nero's Golden House, Titus's Baths, and Claudian's

Portico . 221

XIX. Concourse of all Nations at Rome . . . 224

XX. America ........ 225

XXI. Ancient Sights of London .... 226

XXn. Drunken Bamaby's Jom-nal ..... 227

XXIII. Pope's Grotto 230

XXIV. The Rhine 233

XXV. Stonehenge 234

XXVI. On a Crystal containing a drop of water . . 237

XXVII. Insects in Amber ...... 238

XXVIII. Phenomenon produced by Snowballs . . . 240

XX

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER IV.

THE ARTS.

I. Cromwell's Portrait presented to Queen Christina 242

II. Portrait of Antonius Primus .... 243
EH. Portrait of Erasmus ..... 244

IV. Picture of St Bruno, (founder of the Grande Char-

treuse) ....... 245

V. Ecce Homo, by Mignard .... 246

VI. Picture of Marillac, Doctor of the Sorbonne . . 247
Vn. Picture of Shaftesbury 248

Vin. Picture of Belisarius 250

rX. Picture of the Resurrection .... 252

X. Picture of Venus Anadyomene .... 253

XI. Timomachus's Picture of Medea . . . 254
Xn. Picture of Camomus's Son ..... 258
XTTT. Ancient Picture of a Lap-dog .... 259
XrV. Picture of Titian, and his Wife, who died in child-bed 260

XV. Hogarth's Pictures 261

XVI. Encaustic Painting 262

XVII. Painting in glass of the Nativity .... 263

XVIII. Madame Schurmans, (a model in wax) . . 265

XIX. Tears of a Painter . . . . . . ib.

XX. Picture of Echo 267

XXI. TheLaocoon . . . . . . .268

XXn. The Venus of Cnidos 272

XXm. Polycletus's Juno 274

XXIV. Lysippus' Alexander the Great . . . 275

XXV. Group of the Statues of Opportunity and Repentance 276

XXVI. Vindex's convivial Statue of Hercules . . 278

XXVn. Statue of Lucretia 281

XXVm. The Statue of Niobe 283

XXIX. Statue of Domitian as the Mild Jupiter . . . 285

XXX. Statue of Domitian as Hercules . . . 287

XXXI. iEgis of Domitian 289

XXXn. Statue of Erasmus 291

CONTENTS.

XXI

XXXIII. A Statue of Victory, at Rome, of which the wings were

destroyed by lightning ..... 292

XXXIV. The Florentine Brutus ib.

XXXV. Statue of the Duke of WeUington in front of the Royal

Exchange 293

XXXVI. The Bust of the Duke of Wellington deposited in the

Libraiy of Eton College .... ib.

XXXVII. Madame Langhen's Monument .... 294

XXXVIII. Praxiteles tui-ned Sportsman .... 295
XXXIX. Pageant Figure of Queen Elizabeth, as Deborah . 296

XL. A Statue of Somnus 297

XLI. Myron's Cow 298

XLII. Toreutic Work 299

XLIII. On a Toreutic Cup 306

XLIV. A Roman Bazaar ...... 310

XLV. The Great Tun at Heidelburg . . . .313

XLVI. A Tree cut into the shape of a Bear . . . 317

XLVII. Growth of a Man of War from an Acorn . . ib.

XL VIII. On a Shepherd's first sight of a Ship ... 318

XLIX. Fragment of the Ship Argo 319

L. The Sphere of Archimedes .... 323

CHAPTER V.
INSCRIPTIONS.

I.

Regnard at the Frozen Sea ....

. 325

II.

Selden's House ......

ib.

III.

Ariosto's House ......

. 326

IV.

Gil Bias's House

327

V.

Gorhambm-y, (Inscription over the Entrance Hall)

. 328

Inscriptions in a Banqueting House

ib.

VI.

Emblems .......

330

VII.

Stadt-house at Delft .....

. 331

VIII.

The Ai'senal of Brest .....

332

xxu

CONTENTS.

IX. A College of Surgeons, in the form of an Amphitheatre

X. The Criminal Court of the Chastelet

XI. The Clock of the Palace of Justice .

XII. Inscriptions at Theobald's in honour of James I. and

the King of Denmark

XIII. The Arsenal at Paris ....

XIV. Orangery at Chantilly

XV. Milton's Alcove

XVI. Assignation Seat ....

XVII. A Maze

XVIII. Water-Works at Marly

XIX. A Grotto near a Stream ....

XX. The Fountain of the Bridge of Nostre-Dame

XXI. The Fountain des Quatre Nations, (opposite the

LouYi'e) .......

XXII. The Fountain of Petits-Peres ....

XXIII. The Fountain of La Charite ....

XXIV. The Fountain of the Market Maubert
XXV. The Fountain of the Rue de Richelieu

XXVI. The Fountain of the Quartier des Financiers .

XXVII. A Fountain, in honour of Queen Anne and the Duke of

Marlborough .......

XXVIII. Baptismal Font at Florence ....

XXIX. The Holy Cross

XXX. A Statue of the Virgin Mary at Rome

XXXI. The Gate of a Monastery of Black-hooded Friars

XXXII. A carved Head of St Peter ....

XXXIII. Luther's Glass

XXXIV. An ^ohan Harp

XXXV. An Organ

XXXVI. D'Alembert's Treatise on the Winds .

XXXVII. Devices in Bellenden's book De Statu

XXXVIII. Medal to Louis XIV. applied to Queen Anne
XXXIX. Inscriptions by ancient Printers ....

XL. A Bottle buried, and dug up on Stella's Birth-day

XLI. Presentation Cups ......

XLII. Ancient Lamp ......

XLIIL Bells

PAGP.

332
333

ih.

334
335
336

ib.
337
338
339
340

341

342

ib.

343

ib.

ib.

344
345
ih.
346
ih.
347
ih.
348
349
350
ib.
351
352
353
354
355
ib.

CONTENTS.

XLIV.

XLV.

XL VI.

XL VII.

XL VIII.

XLIX.

L.

Diamond Heart, (presented by Mary Queen of Scots to
Queen Elizabeth.) .....

Satumalian Presents :

A leathern Roman Travelling-coat .

A Dentifrice ......

Ivory Writing-tables .....

A plain Marriage- ring ....

Heraldic Anns of the Abbot of Ramsey

The Lion's Head at Button's ....

Medals of Queen Elizabeth ....

Medal of James II. and his Queen ....

Inscriptions at the Entertainment given by the Jesuits
at Rome in their Seminary, to the English Ambassa-
dor of James II. .....

357

358
ib.
359
ib.
361
ib.
362
363

364

GEMS OF LATIN POETRY.

It is proposed to divide this Collection of Gems of Latin Poetry
into five Chapters : 1. Concerning remarkable Actions and
Occurrences — 2. Biography — 3. Places and Natural Pheno-
mena— 4. The Arts — 5. Inscriptions.

CHAPTER I.
REMARKABLE ACTIONS AND OCCURRENCES.

POPE JULIUS CASTING INTO THE TIBER THE KEYS OF

ST PETER.

Cum contra G alios bellum Papa Julius esset

Gesturus, sicut fama vetusta docet ;
Ingentes martis turmas contraxit, et urbem

Egressus, sjBvas ediclit ore minas.
Iratusque sacras claves in fluraina jecit

Tybridis, hie urbi pons ubi jungit aquas.
Inde manu strietum vagina dirijiit ensem,

Exelamansque truci talia voee refert.
*' Hie gladius Pauli nos nune defendet ab hoste,

Quandoquidem clavis nil juvat ista Petri."

Julius, as fame reports, resolved to wage
Fell war with Gaul, leads out a mighty army.
Girt with his sword, he into Tiber throws
The keys ; and, furious, loudly thus he cries :
" Since, Peter, thy famed keys in war avail not,
I'll now unsheath, O Paul, thy mighty sword."
7 1

2 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

The Italian painters usually drew St Peter with keys, and St Paul
with a sword in his hand. Evelyn, in his Collection of Epigrams on
Paintings, has the following Epigram on a picture of Julius II. by
Raphael :

A countenance so strong and so severe.
Though but a shadow, raises awe and fear.
The picture breathes ; for this I can assure ye.
Here you may see of art the utmost fui-y.
His temples are begirt with triple crown,
To shew that kings before him do fall down.
Julius's power Raphael doth express.
But who can paint Julius's holiness?

Michael Angelo's mausoleum of Julius H. is memorable in the history
of statuary. What is more closely connected with the Unes in the text,
is his colossal statue in bronze of the Pope at Bologna. On the artist
proposing to place a book in Julius's right hand, the Pope replied, " Place
in it a sword; I am not a man of letters." To the irreparable loss of the
fine arts, this statue was broken to pieces in an insurrection of the
inhabitants of Bologna, It was converted into a cannon, called, after it,
the Julio ; but the head was preserved in the Ducal Museum of Ferrara.
It was upon this statue that the lines of Valeriani were written :

Quo, quo, tarn trepidus fugis, Viator,
At si te Furise Gorgonesve,
Aut acer Basiliscus insequatur?
Non hie Julius, at figui'a Julii est.

Where, where, traveller, are you flying in such a fright, as if you were
pursued by Furies, Gorgons or Basilisks ? This is not Julius, it is only
Julius's statue.

Robertson, in his History of Charles V., mentions the military pontifi-
cate of Julius as having tended materially to facilitate the introduction
of the Reformation. The name of JuUus was assumed in reference to
Julius Csesar, At the siege of Mirandola, the Pope mounted a scaling
ladder, and entered the city, sword in hand, through a breach in the walls.
He was the founder of the Papal States ; and his ruling passion was strong
in death ; for his last words were, " Out of Italy, French ! Out, Alfonso of
Este !" (See further concerning JuUus II., Bayle's Diet, from the trans-
lation of which the above English version is taken).

I.] REMARKABLE ACTIONS AND OCCURRENCES. 3

11.

DEATH OF XAVIER.

Paupere sub tecto, maris udi stratus ad oram,
Viribus exhaustis, nuda tellure jacebat,
Suspirans vel adhuc Christo submittere Gentes,
Frustra ! deficiunt consumpto corpore vires,
Supplent vota, animus fervens proetervolat undas.
Cum gemitu flectens oculos, quam vellet adire
Indoeiles populos, et nescia pectora flecti.
Increpitat morbum, segnes et plorat in artus,
Frustratus votis animam sub littore ponit.

Under a poor roof, upon the margin of the sea, ex-
hausted in strength, and stretched on the bare ground, lay
Xavier, still sighing for the conversion of the Gentiles to
Christ. In vain ! For the requisite vigor is wanting to
his emaciated body. Vows indeed are left him ; and borne
upon these his mind passes across the ocean. Turning his
eyes to its waves, he expresses with a groan how eagerly
he would visit savage nations, and encounter dispositions
which had never been known to yield. He chides his own
disease, he weeps over his failing limbs ; at last, unable to
fulfil the aspirations of his soul, he lays down his life on
the margin of the waters.

Xavier, on his way to convert the Chinese to Christianity, had arrived
as far as Sancian, a small island opposite to Macao. The emperor of
China permitted the Portuguese to land upon this island for the purpose
of trade. They were not allowed to build permanent houses, but only
temporary huts covered with mats and boughs of trees. While Xavier
was waiting for a vessel to convey him to the Chinese continent (an enter-
prise which the Portuguese discouraged, for fear of the Chinese) he was
taken violently ill with a fever and aching of his side. He was placed in
a hospital ship, imskUfully bled, and, from being unable to bear the heav-
ing of the vessel, afterwards laid upon the shore. A humane Portuguese
merchant took him into one of the huts, where he lay upon the bare
ground, and in a few days expired. In his last moments he groaned forth
his regrets that he was thwarted in his attempt " to dispossess the Devil
of the largest empire in the world."

Dryden translated the Life of Xavier, as one of the firstfruits of his

1—2

4 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Cii.

conversion to the Roman Catholic religion He dedicated his work to
James II.'s Queen, Maria D'Este : and, in that dedication he mentions
the fact, that her majesty had invoked the special aid of St Xavier to
secm-e for her a " Son of Prayers," or Roman CathoUc successor to the
throne of England.

III.

ARNAULD'S HEART CONVEYED TO PORT ROYAL, AND
THERE ENSHRINED.

Ad sanctas rediit sedes ejectus, et exul
Hoste triumphato : tot tempestatibus actus
Hoc x>ortu in placido, hac sacra tellure quiescit
Arnaldus, Veri defensor, et arbiter sequi.
Ulius ossa memor sibi vindicet extera tellus :
Hue coelestis amor rapidis cor transtulit alis,
Cor nunquam avulsum, nee amatis sedibus absens.

Enfin, apres un long orage,

Arnauld revient en ces saints lieux.
II est au port, malgre les envieux,

Qui croyoit qu'il feroit naufrage.

Ce martyr de la verite

Fut banni, fut persecute,

Et mourut en terre etrangere,
Heureuse de son corps d'etre depositaire.
Mais son coeur toujours ferme, et toujours innocent,
Eut porte par I'amour a qui tout est possible,

Dans cette retraite paisible

D'ou jamais il ne fut absent.

Arnauld, one of the most celebrated characters in the religious histoiy
of France, was the chief gloiy of the establishment of Port Royal. The
nuns of Poi-t Royal obtained his heart from Brussels, where he died, and
interred it in their cemetery. They prevailed on Sarteuil to write the
Latin inscription in the text. An interesting account of Arnauld, in con-
nexion with Port Royal, will be found in Professor Sir J. Stephen's
Essays on Ecclesiastical History.

I.] REMARKABLE ACTIONS AND OCCURRENCES. 5

IV.

MOLIERE'S DEATH.

Roscius hie situs est tristi Molierus in urna
Cui genus humanum ludere ludus erat.

Duni luclit mortem, Mors indignata jocantem
Corripit, et mimum fingere sseva negat.

The remains of Moliere, the French Eoscius, are de-
posited in this urn. It was his sport to make sport of
mankind. When one day, upon the stage, he was counter-
feiting death, Death, incensed at such an indignity, snatched
him away, and forbad a Mime to practise his fictions in
such serious matters.

There are various French epitaphs on Moliere, of a more complimen-
tary nature than that in the text. In the hall of the French Academy,
of which Moliere was not a member, his bust is placed with the following
inscription :

Rien ne manque a sa gloire,
II manquoit a la notre.

The lines in the text have reference to the circumstance, that Moliere
expired whilst acting the part of a sick person, in his own play of Le
Malade Imaginairc, who on certain occasions pretends to be dead. It was
the fourth representation of the play, when, feeling indisposed in the
forenoon, Moliere was earnestly pressed by his wife not to act that day :
but he answered, " And what then is to become of my poor performers ?
I should reproach myself if I neglected them a single day."

Various instances have occmTed of deaths of actors upon the stage,
when acting parts in which their feelings have been greatly excited, and
after repeating passages having express allusion to death. The actor
Palmer died on the stage, immediately after repeating, in the play of The
Stranger, " O God! O God ! there is another and a better word ! " On a
tombstone at Bury St Edmunds is inscribed a passage in the play of
Measure for Measure. The person to whose memory the tombstone was
erected was a principal actor of the Norwich company, a.d. 1756. He
expu-ed on the stage immediately after repeating the hues on his tomb-
stone :

Reason thus with life :
If I do lose Thee, I do lose a thing
That none but fools would keep ; a breath thou art !

GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

DEATH OF THE E^MPEROR OTHO.

Cum dubitaret adhuc belli civilis Enyo,
Forsitan et posset vincere mollis Otho :

Damnavit multo statm'um sanguine Martem,
Et fodit carta pectora nuda manu.

Sit Cato, dum vivit, sane vel Cassare major :
Dum moritur, numquid major Othone fuit ?

While yet Bellona doubts the warlike doom,
And softer Otho might have overcome ;
He stops the costly charge of blood in war,
And by his sword falls his own murderer.
With Cato Caesar living ne'er had vied,
But who than Otho e'er more greatly died.

Suetonius's account of the death of Otho is particularly interesting as
being deriyed from his own father, who was present at the battle of
Bedriacum.

" My father Suetonius Lenis was in this battle, being at that time an
Angustielavian Tribune in the thirteenth legion. He used frequently to
say, that Otho, before his advancement to the empire, had such an abhor-
rence of civil war, that, upon hearing an account given once at table
of the death of Cassius and Brutus, he fell into a trembling, and that he
never would have meddled with Galba, but that he was confident he
might succeed in his design without a, war. He was ultimately encou-
raged to despise life by the example of a common soldier, who bringing
news of the defeat of the army, and finding that he met with no credit,
but was railed at for a liar and a coward, as if he had run away from the
field of battle, fell upon his sword at the emperor's feet ; upon the
sight of which, my father said, Otho cried out, 'that he would expose to
no farther danger such brave men, who had deserved so well at his hands.*
Advising therefore his brother, his brother's son, and the rest of his
friends, to provide for. their security in the best manner they could, after
he had embraced and kissed them, he sent them away ; and then with-
drawing into a private room by himself, he wrote a long letter of conso-
lation to his sister. He likewise sent another to Messalina, Nero's widow,
whom he had intended to marry, recommending to her his relics and
memory. He then burnt all the letters which he had by him, to prevent
the danger and mischief that might otherwise befal the writers from the
conqueror. What money he had left he distributed amongst his domes-
tics.

I.] REMARKABLE ACTIONS AND OCCURRENCES. 7

" And now being prepared and just upon the point of dispatching
himself, ho was induced to suspend his design from a great uproar which
had broke out in the camp. Finding that such of the soldiers as were
making off had been seized and detained as deserters, ' Let us add,' says
he, 'this night to our life.' These were his very words. He then gave
orders that no violence should be offered to anybody ; and keeping his
chamber-door open until late at night, he allowed all that pleased the
liberty to come and see him. At last, after quenching his thirst with a
draught of cold water, he took up two poniards, and having examined
the points of both, put one of them under his pillow, and shutting his
chamber-door, slept very soundly, until, awaking about break of day, he
stabbed himself under the left pap. Some persons breakng into the
room upon the first groan he gave, one while covering, and another
while exposing his wound to the view of the by-standers, he soon died.
His funeral was dispatched immediately, according to his own order, in
the thirty-eighth year of his age, and ninety-fifth day of his reign.

" The person and appearance of Otho no way corresponded to the
great resolution which he displayed upon this occasion : for he is said to
have been of low stature, splay-footed, and bandy-legged. He was, how-
ever, effeminately nice in the care of his person : the hair of his body he
took away by the roots ; and because he was somewhat bald, wore a kind
of peruke, so exactly fitted to his head, that nobody could have known it
for such. He used to shave every day, and rub his face with bread
soaked in asses' milk ; the use of which he began when the down first
appeared upon his chin, to prevent his having any beard. It is said like-
wise that he celebrated publicly the holy rites of Isis, clad in a linen
garment, such as is used by the worshippers of that goddess. All those
particulars, I imagine, gave occasion to the world to wonder the more at
his death, the manner of which was so little suitable to his life. Many of
the soldiers then present, kissing and bedewing with their tears his hands
and feet as he lay dead, and celebrating him as ' a most gallant man, and
an incomparable emperor,' immediately put an end to their own lives
upon the spot, not far from his funeral pile. Many of those likewise who
were at a distance, upon hearing the news of his death, in the anguish of
their hearts, fell a fighting among themselves, until they dispatched one
another. To conclude : the generality of mankind, though they hated
him whilst living, yet highly extolled him after his death ; insomuch that
it was the common talk and opinion, ' that Galba had been taken off by
him, not so much from a desire to reign himself, as to restore Rome to
its ancient liberty.'"

The circumstances of Otho's death are also detailed by Tacitus with
pai-ticularity and great power in the second book of his History. He
relates Otho's speech to the soldiers, and a very remarkable argmnent
against suicide, addressed to the emperor by the commander of the
prpetorian guai-ds. Tacitus observes, that the last action of Otho's life was
great and magnanimous, and would do honour to his memory.

8 GEMS OP LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

In Niebuhr's Lectures, the following remarks are made on the subject
of the emperor Otho's death.

" The last act of Otho is praised by Suetonius, and other historians
after him, as noble and virtuous ; but I look upon it in a different light, and
can see in it nothing but the action of a man who has sunk to the lowest
stage of effeminacy, and who is unable to struggle against difficulties, or to
bear the uncertainty between fear and hope. Such characters are met
with in the lower as well as the higher spheres of life. I look upon Otho's
putting an end to his existence with the same contempt ivith ivhich Juvenal
looks upon it; and it is quite certain thsit Tacitus too, in reality, did not
estimate Otho any higher than I do ; for we must well consider that a
great historian, in describing a tragic event in a man's life, rises to a state
of mental emotion, which is very different from his moral judgment."

Niebuhr's distinction between Tacitus's "mental emotion" and his
"moral judgment," is perhaps better suited to the atmosphere of a
German lecture-room than to English readers. And, moreover, Tacitus,
in the first book of his History, where he is not describing Otho's death,
and, therefore, not labouring under a suspense of his moral judgment,
writes that, " The mind of Otho was not, hke his body, soft and effemi-
nate." Juvenal in his second Satire, gives a most animated description of
the effeminacy of Otho's looking-glass and other equipments for a cam-
paign, but he does not appear in any part of his works to allude to the
cu-cumstances of Otho's death.

Plutarch recites as a part of Otho's speech immediately before his
death, " Believe me that I can die with greater gloi-y than reign : for I
know of no benefit that Rome can reap from my victory, equal to that
which I shall confer upon her by sacrificing myself for peace and unani-
mity, and to preserve Italy from beholding such another day as this."
Plutarch observes, that "those who found fault with Otho's life are not
more respectable for their number or their reputation, than those who
applaud his death."

VI.

FESTUS'S SUICIDE.

Indignas premeret pestis cum tabida fauces,
Inque ipsos vultus serperet atra lues :

Siccis ipse genis flentes hortatus amicos
Decrevit Stygios Festus adire lacus.

Nee tamen obscuro pia polluit ora veneno,
Aut torsit lenta tristia fata fame :

I.] REMARKABLE ACTIONS AND OCCURRENCES. 9

Sanctam Eomana vitam seel morte peregit,

Dimisitque animam nobiliore via.
Hanc mortem fatis magni prceferri Catonis

Fama potest : hujus Cajsar amicus erat.

When the dire quinsey chok'd his noble breath,

And o'er his face the black'ning venom stole,
Festus disdain'd to wait a ling'ring death,

Cheer'd his sad friends, and freed his dauntless soul.
Xor meagre famine's slowly-wasting force.

Nor hemlock's gradual chilness he endur'd ;
But clos'd his life a truly Roman course,

And with one blow his liberty secur'd.

Dr Hodgson says that lie omits the two concluding lines, from their
degi-ading adulation of Domitian, as being unworthy the rest of Martial's
Epigram, These two lines import that Festus's death was more to be
admired than Cato's, for that life to him was less insupportable, inasmuch
as the reigning Ceesar was his friend, whereas Cato had the Caesar of his
day for an enemy.

Martial has several epigrams condemnatory of suicide ; observing that
in adversity it was easy to despise death and to acquire fame by suicide,
but that true courage was best exhibited in sustaining miseiy, and the
brightest fame was acquired by doing good whilst alive. (Fortiter ille
facit, qui miser esse potest : and again, Hanc volo, laudari qui sine morte
potest.) In this Epigram, and in that upon the death of 0th o, Martial
testifies to the reverence in which the death of Cato (which Horace calls
the noble death of Cato) was held in his day. Plutarch mentions seeing
Cato's statue at Utica, it had a sword in its hand, to commemorate the
manner of his death. Budgell, who made many contributions of consider-
able merit to the Tatler, Spectator, and Guardian, committed suicide, by
taking a boat at Somerset stairs, and, having ordered the waterman to
shoot London Bridge, throwing himself, whilst the boat was passing the
arch, into the Thames. He left the following sentence written on a slip
of paper :

WTiat Cato did, and Addison approved,
Cannot be wrong.

Tacitus, in the Sixth Book of his Annals (sect, xxix), observes that in
the times he is recording, self-destruction was made the interest of man-
kind; for that those who died by their own hands, instead of waiting the
sentence of the law, secured the performance of funeral rites, and their
wills were held valid. Tacitus is there speaking of Labeo and his wife,
who opened their veins and bled to death. In the xvith Book of his

10 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

Annals (s. 34, 35), he gives an interesting account of the suicide of the
patriot Thrasea. And in the same book (s. 15), he relates the suicide of
Osterius. In the xith book of his Annals he relates the ineffectual
attempts of Messalina to commit suicide in the gardens of LucuUus, which
she had obtained by procuring the death of the former owner; the
exhortations of her mother are a curious part of the transaction. Sueto-
nius's account of the suicide of the emperor Nero (s. 48, 49) is particu-
larly interesting. The remarkable circumstances of the suicides of Brutus
and Anthony are related by Plutarch. Pliny (Lib. i. Ep. xii.) details some
singular incidents attending the suicide of his friend Corellius Rufus ; and
in another letter in the same book (Ep. xxii.), he mentions being called
with other friends to the bedside of Titus Aristo, who desired the com-
pany to inquire of the physicians, whether his complaint was curable or
not ; in order that, if they pronounced it incurable, he might voluntarily
put an end to his Ufe : but if they entertained hopes of a recovery, how-
ever tedious and painful, he would wait the result with patience, for the
sake of his wife, daughter, and friends. Perhaps, after all the examples
that have been noticed, there is no instance of a more deliberate suicide,
and that by a woman, than is recorded in Valerius Maximus.

He relates, that " going into Asia with Sextus Pompeius, and passing
by the city of Julis, he was present at the death of a lady, aged about
ninety. She had declared to her superiors the reason which induced her
to quit the world; after this, she prepared to swallow down poison; and
imagining that the presence of Pompey would do great honour to the
ceremony, she most humbly besought him to come thither on that occa-
sion. He granted her request, but exhorted her very eloquently, and with
the utmost earnestness, to live. However, this was to no purpose ; she
thanked him for his kind wishes, and besought the gods to reward him,
not so much those she was going to, as those she was quitting. ' I have
hitherto,' said she, ' experienced only the smiles of fortune, and that by
an ill-grounded fondness for life I may not run the hazard of seeing the
goddess change her countenance towards me, I voluntarily quit the light,
while yet I take pleasure in beholding it, leaving behind me two daugh-
ters, and seven grandsons, to respect my memory.' She then turned
about to her family, and exhorted them to live in peace and imity, and
having recommended the care of her household, and the worship of her
domestic deities, to her elder daughter, she, with a steady hand, took the
glass that was tilled with poison. As she held it, she addressed a prayer
to Mercury, and having besought him to facilitate her passage to the bet-
ter part of the receptacle of departed spirits, she with wonderful alacrity
drank off the deadly draught. When this was done, with the same com-
posure and steadiness of mind she signified in what manner the poison
wrought ; how the lower parts of her body became cold and senseless by
degrees. As soon as the noble parts began to feel the infection, she
called her daughters to do the last office, by closing her eyes. ' As for us,'
says Valerius, ' who were almost stupified at the sight of so strange a

I.] REMARKABLE ACTIONS AND OCCURRENCES. 11

spectacle, she dismissed us with weeping eyes. For Romans think com-
passion in no way incompatilile with fortitude.' "

Besides Roman suicides, the remarkable sayings and actions of Romans
when on the point of death not by their own hands, would form an inte-
resting collection. The opinions of the ancients upon suicide, especi-
ally the lines in the sixth ^neid, aflford also excellent food for reflection.
Perhaps they contain nothing more poetically terse than the lines of
Spencer, in his Cave of Despair :

And he that 'points the centonell his roome.

Doth license him depart at sound of morning droome.

VII.

DEATH OF POLITIAN.

Duceret extincto cum mors Laurente triumplium,

L^etaque pullatis inveheretur equis.
Respicit insano ferientem pollice chordas,

Viscera singultii concutiente virum,
JNIirata est, tenuitque jugum : fiirit ipse, pioque

Laurentem cunctos flagitat ore Dcos.
Miscebat precibus lachrymas, lachrimisque dolorem,

Verba ministrabat liberiora dolor.
Risit et antiquse non immemor ille querelae,

Orphei Tartarese cum patuere viae.
Hie etiam iufernas tentat rescindere leges

Fertque suas, dixit, iu mea jura manus.
Protinus et flentem percussit dura Poetam,

Rupit et in medio pectora docta sono.
Heu ! sic tu raptus, sic te mala fata tulerunt

Arbiter Ausonise, Politianae, lyrse.

As the grim Conqueror rode in gloomy pride,

And great Lorenzo graced the captive train,
A bard in bitterness of anguish sigh'd,

Whilst wild distraction taught the faltering strain.
The tyrant hears : the sable rein he draws,

To mark the man that wept his noble prey.
And, madly raging 'gainst his ruthless laws.

To heaven appeal'd against the dread decree.

12 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

He smiled, whilst memory renew'd the lays

Which Orpheus sung amid Tartarean gloom — •
" And wilt thou too the proud rebellion raise,

And struggle 'gainst irrevocable doom ? "
He spoke, and sternly smote the weeping friend,

And closed the lips which glow'd with sacred fire.
Such, great Politian, was thy timeless end,

Thus fell the JMaster of the Ausonian lyre.

The Latin verses are by Bembo. Politian enjoyed the patronage
and friendship of Lorenzo de INIedici, was tutor to Leo X. and his other
children, and attended Lorenzo on his death- bed Various accounts of
PoUtian's death are related by friends or enemies. The most favourable
is that it was occasioned by grief for Lorenzo de Medici, and the calami-
ties he anticipated from the reverses of Lorenzo's family. He appears
from all accounts to have died in a paroxysm of fever, whilst playing
some impassioned strain on his lute.

]\Ir Hallam, in his History of Modern Literature, assigns the position
occupied by Politian among the early Italian authors. In his epitaph at
St Mark's church in Florence, his fame is rested on his knowledge of
three languages :

Politianus in hoc tumulo jacet Angelus unum

Qui caput, et linguas, res nova, tres habuit.

Here lies Politian, who, strange thing indeed !

Had when alive three tongues, and but one head.

vni.

THE BRANDLNG OF PRYNNE.

S.L. Stigmata Laudis.

Stigmata maxillis referens insignia Laudis
Exultans remeo, victima grata Deo.

S. L. The Stigmas of Archbishop Laud.

I return to my prison in exultation, an acceptable vic-
tim, as I hope, to heaven, whilst I carry on my cheeks
the branded letters which denote the persecution of Laud.

Prynne composed the above distich upon his return to the Tower,
after the barbarous execution of the second inhuman sentence of the
Star-Chamber, that he should have both his ears cut off, or so much of

I.] REMARKABLE ACTIONS AND OCCURRENCES. 13

them as remained after undergoing his previous sentence, and be branded
on the cheeks with the letters S. L., denoting Seditious Libeller, to which
letters Prynne assigns his own interpretation, " The Stigmas of Laud."
In executing the sentence a large piece of his cheek was cut off. Prynne
was moreover to be fined £5000, and to be imprisoned for life in a castle
at Jersey. Prynne, according to his first sentence, stood in the pillory
at Westminster and Cheapside, and had an ear cut off at each place.
This was for writing his Histrio-Mastix, which was burnt before his face ;
and the book consisting of 1000 pages, he was almost suffocated by
the smoke A painter was punished for circulating pictm'es of Prynne,
which were ordered by the Star-Chamber to be defaced and the frames
burnt. In the Long Parliament the proceedings against Prynne were
reversed, and he was conducted to London in triumph. After such bar-
barities perpetrated on Pi^ynne, chieily at the instigation of Archbishop
Laud, and with the sanction of Charles I., human nature in England
must not be censured too severely, if, in moments of retaliatory violence,
it beheld without compassion the severance of a mitred or of a crowned
head.

IX.

MESSAGE FROM PHILIP II. TO QUEEN ELIZABETH.

Te veto ne pergas bello defendere Belgas
Quae Dracus eripuit, nunc restituantur, oportet ;
Quas Pater evertit, jubeo te condere cellas,
Religio Papse fae restituatur ad unguem.

QUEEN ELIZABETHS REPLY.
Ad Grsecas, bone Rex, fient mandata ealendas.

No longer, Queen, the Belgic rout befriend :
What Drake has plunder'd, back to India send.
Thy impious Father's sacrilege repair.
And bow thy sceptre to St Peter's chair.

Reply.
Believe me, Prince, I'll do thy high behest,
When in one week two Sundays stand confest.

This poetical correspondence is related in Miss Strickland's Life of
(ciueen Elizabeth, and in Seward's Anecdotes, whence the translations are

J 4 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

taken. Walpole's Noble AutJwrs is cited. Walpole cites Ballard's Me-
moirs of British Ladies. Ballard refers to Fuller's Holy State, where the
verses are found with this translation : J

Worthy king ! know this, your will
At latter Lammas we'll fulfil.

X.

PRESENTATION OF HENRY VIII.'s BOOK TO POPE LEO.

Anglorum Rex Henricus, Leo Decime, mittit
Hoc opus, et fidei testem et amicitise.

Tenth Leo ! Henry sends this book to thee,
Proof of his faith, and of his amity.

Henry VIII.'s book was presented to the pope in full consistory by
the English ambassador, with a pompous speech : it was entitled A Vin-
dication of the Seven Sacraments. In this work Henry entered the lists of
polemical controversy with Luther ; a controversy wliich the King and
the Christian reformer conducted as disputes are usually conducted at
BilUngsgate The royal theologian was rewarded by the Pope with the
title of " Defender of the Faith ;" and an Indidgenct was granted to
every one who should peruse the book.

XL

GUNPOWDER PLOT.

Purgatorem animae derisit Jacobus ignem

Et sine quo superum non adeunda domus.
Frenduit hoc trina monstrum Latiale corona,

Movit et horrificum cornua dena minax,
" Et nee inultus," ait, " temnes mea sacra, Britanne

" SuppHcium, spreta rehgione, dabis.
" Et si stelligeras unquam penetraveris arces,

" Non nisi per flamraas triste patebit iter."

I.] REMARKABLE ACTIONS AND OCCURRENCES. 15

O quam funesto cecinisti proxima vero
Verbaque ponderibiis vix caritura suis !

Nam prope Tartareo sublime rotatus ab igni,
Ibat ad sethereas, mnbra perusta, plagas.

King- James had derided the flames of purgatory.
But the Romish Beast, wearing a triple crown, shook its
ten horns with indignation at such alleged impiety. Then
uttered, " Briton, you shall not despise my sacred ordi-
nances, and the crime pass unavenged. If you are ever
permitted to reach the gates of heaven, your path shall
anywise be laid through flames." O how nearly were
those predictions verified ! for how narrowly did our king
escape being hurled aloft by an infernal combustion, and
passing into the ethereal regions as a shade in confla-
gration.

Some very important lights on the Gunpowder Plot will be found in
Mr Jardine's Criminal Trials. The printed State Trials (as explained in
the author's Great Oyer of Poisoning) are for the most part official will-
o'-the-whisps. Mr Jardine has inspected many of the original documents
concerning the Plot in the State Paper Office, which for the most part
belonged to the collection of Sir E. Coke's papers that were seized by
order of the Privy Council. The inventoiy of those papers specifies " a
black buckram bag containing papers about the Powder Plot." Among
other curiosities in the State Paper Office, are Guide Fawkes's examina-
tions taken under torture, with his signatures bearing the strongest
internal evidence of the application of the rack. In the last of the signa-
tures the pen appears to have dropt out of Fawkes's hand before he
could complete his name. Fawkes's lantern is shewn at the Bodleian
Library. Mr Jardine assigns reasons for inferring that notwithstanding
the popular belief which Milton has adopted in the above Latin epigram,
the Gunpowder plot was neither encouraged nor approved at Rome.
Milton wrote several other juvenile epigrams on the Gunpowder Plot;
but they are all, including the one in the text, more interesting as indi-
catory of cmTent opinions, and as coming from his pen, than for any
intrinsic merit.

16 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

XII.

FRANKLIN'S SNATCHES.

Eripuit coelo fulmen, sceptrumque tyranno.

Tu vois le sage courageux
Dont I'heureux et male genie
Arraclie le tonnere aux Dieux
Et le sceptre a la tyrannie.

The Latin is by Turgot, and the French by D'Alembert.

" FrankHn made his Kite of a large silk handkerchief and two cross
sticks of a proper length on which to extend it. He took the oppor-
tunity of the first approaching thunder-storm, to walk into a field, in
which there was a shed convenient for his purpose. But, desirous of
avoiding the ridicule which too commonly attends unsuccessful attempts
in science, he communicated his intended experiment to nobody but his
son, who assisted him in raising the kite.

" The kite being raised, a considerable time elapsed before there was
any appearance of its being electrified. One very promising cloud had
passed over it without any effect, when at length, just as he was beginning
to despair of his contrivance, he observed some loose threads of the
hempen string to stand erect, and avoid one another just as if they had
been suspended on a common conductor. Struck with this encouraging
appearance, he presented his knuckle to the key, when he instantly per-
ceived a very evident electric spark. Other sparks succeeded at short
intervals ; and when the string became wet with rain, electric fire was
collected in abundance."

Mirabeau pronounced a funeral oration upon Franklin from the tri-
bune of the National Assembly, where he moved and earned a resolution
that the Assembly should wear mourning for three days in honour of
Franklin. In America there was a general mourning for two months.
Mirabeau, in the course of his speech says, " Ne seroit — il pas digne de
vous, Messieurs, de vous unir a cette acte religieux, de participer, en
quelque sorte, a cet hommage rendu, a la face de I'univers, a I'homme qui
a le plus contribue a assurer les droits des hommes? L'antiquite eut
eleve des autels a ce vaste et puissant genie, qui, au profit des mortels,
embrassant dans sa pensee le ciel et la terre, sut dompter la foudre et les
tyrans."

I,] REMARKABLE ACTIONS AND OCCURRENCES. 17

XIII.

ARRIA'S NON DOLET! (It is xot painful !)

Casta suo gladium cum traderet Arria Pseto,
Quem de visceribus traxerat ipsa suis :

Si qua fides, vulnus, quod feci, non dolet, inquit ;
Sed quod tu facies, hoc mihi, Paete, dolet.

When Arria to her Pretus gave the steel,

Which from her bleeding side did newly part ;

From my own stroke, said she, no pain I feel,
But, ah ! thy wound will stab me to the heart.

The translation is by Sir C. Sedley. A multitude of ingenious and
spirited versions in print might be added of this celebrated epigram. It
would appear from Tacitus, Dio Cassius and other ancient writers, that
Ai-ria said only " Pfete, non dolet ! " — " Psetus, it does not pain me !" —
and that the sentiment in the last line is the inventiou of Martial. Pajtus
was terrified and hesitating, when his wife re-animated him by her mag-
nanimous example. The story is related in the Tatler, No. lxxii. There
is an extant antique statue upon the subject. Psetus is stabbing himself
with one hand, and holds up the dying Arria with the other.

Pliny in his Letters (Lib. III. Ep. xvi.), relates several particulai-s
concerning Arria (amongst others, dashing her head against the wall),
which he contends are more heroical than the so-much-talked-of " Psetus,
it is not painful !" And the letter ends with a reflection, that the most
famous actions are not always the most noble. Arria's daughter was
married to Thrassea, also immortalized by suicide. And her grand-
daughter, Fannia, appears from another letter of Pliny (Lib. VII. Ep. xix.)
to have rivalled her lady-ancestry in heroinism.

The conjugal magnanimity of Pollutia related by Tacitus (Lib. XVI.
s. 10, 11) is not less admirable than that of Arria. Pliny mentions an-
other remarkable instance of a wife committing suicide along with her
husband, whom she had instigated to suffer himself to be fastened to her
by cords, and thus to be precipitated together into a lake. Pliny (Lib.
VI. Ep. xxiT.) writes, " I was lately sailing upon our lake with an old
man of my acquaintance, who desired me to obsei-ve a villa situated upon
its banks, which had a chamber hanging over the water. ' From that
room,' said he, ' a woman of our city threw herself with her husband.'
The cause was a disease of the husband which the wife deemed incurable.
Tacitus relates some interesting circumstances concerning Seneca and his
wife Paulina, after that philosopher was condemned to death by Nero
(Lib. XV. s. 62 — 64). Tacitus in the fourth book of his history pro-

2

18 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

mises to relate how Sabinus lay concealed in caverns for nine years sup-
ported by the fidelity and attachment of his wife Eponina. Plutarch
relates that Eponina was ultimately discovered in a cave with her hus-
band, and put to death along with him by Vespasian, to the immortal
infamy of the emperor.

XIV.

DEATH OF PORCIA, WIFE OF BRUTUS.

Conjugis audisset fatum cum Porcia Bruti,
Et subtracta sibi quaereret arma dolor :

Nondum scitis, ait, mortem non posse negari ?
Credideram, satis hoc vos docuisse patrem.

Dixit, et ardentes avido bibit ore favillas.
I nunc, et ferrum, turba molesta, nega.

When Brutus' fall wing'd fame to Porcia brought,
Those arms her friends concealed, her passion sought.
She soon perceiv'd their poor officious wiles.
Approves their zeal, but at their folly smiles.
"What though death's weapons all be laid aside.
Yet dream ye still that death can be denied ?
Methought ye better knew, who knew my sire.
She said, and swallow'd down the living fire.

The following lines referring to Porcia's swallowing the coals were
composed in honour of Vittoria Colonna, widow of Ferdinando D'Avilos,
Marquis of Pescara, who commanded the Imperialists at the battle of
Pavia, in which Francis was taken prisoner. After her husband's death,
she lived in retirement, and devoted her poetical talents, which were of
great celebrity, to eulogizing the character of her deceased husband, and
recording their mutual affection. Michael Angelo, who painted for her
many of his choicest pictures, paid a visit to her in the last moments of
her life. Upon returning home, he expressed his extreme regret, that he
had not on that occasion kissed her face or her forehead, as well as her
hand.

Non vivam sine te, mi Brute, exterrita dixit

Porcia ; et ardentes sorbuit ore faces.
Davale, te extincto, dixit Victoria, vivam,

Perpetuo msestos sic dolitura dies.
Utraque Romana est, sed in hoc Victoria major
Nulla dolere potest mortua, viva dolet.

Flasiinio.

L] REMARKABLE ACTIONS AND OCCURRENCES. 19

Vittoria Colonna, who, upon the death of her distinguished husband,
resolved to live, and dedicate her life to his honour, surpassed Porcia,
(though they acted both Romanlike); inasmuch as it is the living, and not
the dead, who grieve.

Valerius Maximus apostrophizes Porcia in a high strain of eulogy,
representing her death to have been more magnanimous than that of her
husband Brutus, principally on account of its novelty. Some writers
suppose that, in reality, she had recourse to a common mode of suicide
among the Romans, and recently among the French, viz. that of being
smothered by the vapour of charcoal. Wliereas Plutarch writes that, in
his day, there was extant a letter of Brutus to a friend, bewailing the
death of his wife Porcia, and giving the details of the lingering disorder
of which she died.

In the Galerie des Femmes Fortes there is a picture of Porcia taking
the coals which a Cupid is setting fire to with his torch. Beneath are
some French verses, dated 1647, by Pierre Le Moyne, a Jesuit. In allu-
sion to the device in the picture, he writes : —

Mais I'Amour de ses traits vint m'ouvrir le tombeau,
Et je pris pour mourir, manquant d'armes plus fortes,
Des charbons qu'il me fit avec son flambeau.
The deaths of Arria and of Paulina are, like that of Porcia, repre-
sented both in pictures and poetry in the Galerie des Femmes Fortes.

XV.

DEFENCE OF SYRACUSE BY ARCHIMEDES, AND HIS
DEATH.

Calliditas Graia, atque astus pollentior armis
Marcelliim tantasque minas terraque marique
Arcebat, stabatque ingens ad raoenia bellum.
Vir fuit, Isthmiacis decus immortale colonis,
Ingenio facile ante alios telluris alumnos,
Nudus opum ; sed cui coelum terrseque paterent.
lUe iiovus pluvias Titan ut proderet ortu
Fuseatis tristis radiis ; ille, haereat, anne
Pendeat instabilis tellus ; cur foedere certo
Hunc afFusa globum Tethys circumliget undis,
Noverat, atque una pelagi lunseque labores,
Et pater Oceanus qua lege refunderet sestus.
Xon ilium mundi numerasse capacis arenas

2—2

20 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

Vana fides : puppes etiam constructaqiie saxa

Fceminea traxisse ferunt contra ardua dextra.

******

Tu quoque ductoris lacryraas, memorande, tulisti,
Defensor patriae ; meditantem in pulvere formas,
Nee turbatum animi tanta ferieute ruina,
Ignarus miles vulgi te sorte peremit.

Thus Grecian policy and art excell'd

Their arms ; and both by sea and land repell'd

Marcellus. For One Man withstood his might,

Bulwark of Sicily in Rome's despite :

One Man, his country''s everlasting fame.

Whose wit with ease all other overcame,

That then the world produced. Not rich; but one

To whom the Heavens and all the Earth was known.

He, by the Sun's obscured rays, at birth

Of day, could tell what storms would fall : if Earth

Were fix'd, or did instable hang : why bound

By certain leagues this Globe's encompass'd round

With Thetis' waves : the labours of the Sea

And Moon; what laws the Ocean's tides obey.

Nor is it vain to think that he the sand

Of the vast world could count ; who by the hand

Of a wea,k woman could, with so much skill.

Draw ships, and heaps of stones against a hill.

******

Tears for thee, likewise, from the general,
Thou fam''d defender of thy Country ! fell.
When drawing lines and figures in the sand.
Whilst in so great a ruin thou dost stand
Untouched, and ideas dost pursue,
By chance an ign'rant common soldier slew.

Plutarcli, in his life of Marcellus, mentions three accounts of the death
of Archimedes, but they all coincide in the cii'cumstance of his having
been killed by a soldier, whilst deeply engaged in his scientific lucubra-
tions. Polybius, nearly a contemporary of Archimedes, mentions his
contrivances for injuring the Roman ships by means of iron hands grasp-
ing their prows and lifting them out of the water, which occasioned Mai'-
cellus to say to his soldiers, " He employs our ships but as buckets to

I.] REMARKABLE ACTIONS AND OCCURRENCES. 21

draw water." (Polyb. Lib. vin.) The current tradition of Archimedes
destroying the Roman ships with burning glasses is not mentioned either
by Polybius, Livy, or Plutarch. Archimedes' screw, his Eureka, and his
lever, which only wanted a fulcrum for moving the world, have contributed
to give him a celebrity only inferior to our Newton.

About 136 years after the death of Archimedes, Cicero was Qua;stor
of Sicily. He tells us, in his Disputations composed at his Tusculan villa,
that he went, accompanied by the principal citizens of Agrigentum, to
search for Ai-chimedes' tomb among the multitude of monuments near
the gate of that city. Ho discovered the object of his search by observing
a sphere included in a cylinder, which was just discernible above the
brambles and high grass that concealed the rest of the tomb. The adja-
cent ground was forthwith cleared ; and, upon closer inspection of the
monument, some half verses were perceived of which the remainder had
mouldered away. The relics of the verses, however, exactly con-esponded
with parts of a complete epitaph which Cicero had before possessed, that
had express reference to the sphere and cylinder found on the tomb.
These figures, it was stated in the epitaph, had been desired by Ar-
chimedes to be placed on his tomb in marble, to commemorate the dis-
covery of his problem for estimating their respective solid contents.
Cicero mentions his gratification that the tomb of Archimedes, of which
all memory had been obliterated amongst his countrymen, should after
the lapse of years have been brought to light by a " Man of Arpinum."
See further respecting Archimedes in Professor Donkin's Art. in Dr Smith's
Biog. Diet.

XVI.

HANNIBAL SWEARING ENMITY TO THE ROMANS.

Urbe fiiit media sacrum genitricis Elissas
Manibus, et patria Tyriis formidine cultum,
Quod taxi circum et piceae squalentibus umbris
Abdiderant, coelique arcebant lumine, templum.
Hoc sese, ut perhibent, curis mortalibus olim
Exuerat regina loco. Stant marmore maesto
EjSigies, Belusque parens, omnisque nepotum
A Belo series : stat gloria gentis Agenor,
Et qui longa dedit terris cognomina Phoenix.
Ipsa sedet tandem aBternum conjuncta Sichreo :
Ante pedes ensis Phrygius jacet : ordine centum
Stant arae ccclique deis, Ereboque potenti.

22 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Cir.

Hie, crine efFuso, atque Ennaeae niimina divae,
Atque Acheronta vocat Stygia cum veste sacerdos.
Immugit tellus, rumpitque horrenda per umbras
Sibila : inaeeensi flagrant altaribus ignes.
Turn magico volitant cantu per inania manes
Exciti, vultusque in marmore sudat Elissse.
Hannibal hsee patrio jussu ad penetralia fertur ;
Ingressique habitus atque ora explorat Hamilear.
Non ille evantis Massyl^e palluit iras,
Xon diros templi ritus, adspersaque tabo
Limina, et audito surgentes carmine flammas.
Olli permulcens genitor caput, oscula libat,
Attollitque animos hortando, et talibus implet :
Gens recidiva Phrygum Cadmese stirpis alumnos
Eoederibus non sequa premit : si fata negarint
Dedecus id patriae nostra depellere dextra,
Hoec tua sit laus, nate, velis : age, concipe bella
Latura exitium Lauren tibus : horreat ortus
Jam pubes Tyrrhena tuos, partusque recusent
Te surgente, puer, Latite producere matres.
His acuit stimulis ; subicitque baud mollia dicta :
Romanos terra atque undis, ubi competet setas,
Eerro ignique sequar, Ehateaque fata revolvam.
Non superi mihi, non Martem cohibentia pacta,
Non celsae obstiterint Alpes, Tarpeiaque saxa,
Hanc mentem juro nostri per numina Martis,
Per manes, regina, tuos. Tum nigra triform!
Hostia mactatur divse, raptimque recludit
Spirantes artus poscens responsa sacerdos.

Amidst the city, circled by a grove

Of shady yew, that did all light remove,

A temple stood, built to Eliza's ghost,

And dreadful held to all the Tyrian coast.

Here (as 'tis said) the queen with her own hand

Herself from grief absolved : sad statues stand

Of father Belus, and, in order, all

His offspring, with Agenor, whom they call

The glory of their line ; Phoenix, whose fame

Gave to that land an everlasting name.

I.] REMARKABLE ACTIONS AND OCCURRENCES. 23

At length Eliza joined to her lord

For ever ; at her feet the Phrygian sword :

Next unto these twice fifty altars stand,

Built to the gods that heaven and hell command :

Clad in a Stygian vest, with scattered locks

The priestess here Ennaea's power invokes.

And Acheron : when from the trembling ground

Sad murmurs breaking, through the temple sound,

And flames from the unkindl'd altars rise.

Then, rais'd by magic songs, with horrid cries.

The wand'ring ghosts fly through the hollow air.

While Dido, in her marble, sweats for fear.

Hither comes Hannibal, commanded by

Hamilcar, who observed with curious eye

His face and gesture. Him no horrid rites

O' th' place, nor mad Massila's fury frights,

Nor the dark pavement stain'd with blood, nor flames

Arising at the sound of horrid names.

Stroking his head, his father kiss'd him, cheers

His early courage, and thus fills his ears.

An unjust nation, sprang from ruin'd Troy,
With their harsh leagues do Cadmus' sons annoy :
If Fates deny the honor should be mine
To wipe ofi" this disgrace, may it be thine !
Think on, a war may Italy destroy :
And may the Tyrrhene youth, my warlike boy !
Thy rising dread ; and teeming mothers fear
Their children to produce, if thou appear.

Mov'd by this language, he replies, By sea
And land, so soon as years will suffer me,
With fire and sword the Romans I'll pursue,
And what Rhaetean Fates decree, undo.
Neither the gods, nor leagues forbidding war,
Tarpeian rocks, nor Alps shall me debar.
This my resolve by INIars I swear, and by
Thy ghost, great queen ! — This said, to Hecate
Falls a black victim : the priestess enquires
The trembling entrails, as the soul expires.

The Latin is by Silius Italicus : the translation by Ross, temp. Car. II.
This remarkable occm-rence of Hannibal swearing enmity to the Romans

24 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

is related by Polybius : it is the subject of an admired painting by Sir
Joshua Reynolds. A poetical relation of it is contained in a collection
of poems called The Tribute. The following is Dr Arnold's account of
the transaction :

"When all was ready, the General performed a solemn sacrifice to
propitiate the gods for the success of his enterprise. The omens were
declared favourable : Hamilcar had poured the libation on the victim,
which was duly offered on the altar, when, on a sudden, he desired all his
officers, and the ministers of the sacrifice, to step aside to a little distance,
and then called his son Hannibal. Hannibal, a boy of nine years old,
went up to his father, and Hamilcar asked him kindly, if he would like
to go with him to the war. . The boy eagerly caught at the offer, and with
a child's earnestness, implored his father to take him. Then Hamilcar
took him by the hand, and led him up to the altar, and bade him, if he
wished to follow his father, lay his hand upon the sacrifice, and swear,
' that he would never be the friend of the Romans.' Hannibal swore,
and never to his latest hour forgot his vow. He went forth, devoted to
his country's gods, as the appointed enemy and destroyer of their ene-
mies; and the thought of his high calling dwelt ever on his mind,
directing and concentrating the spirit and enthusiasm of his youth, and
mingling with it the forecast, the great purposes, and the deep and un-
wavering resolution of the maturest manhood."

XVII.

REGULUS'S TORTURES IN A CASK.

Prsefixo paribus ligno mucronibus omnes
Armantur laterum crates, densusque per artem
Texitur erecti stantisque ex ordine ferri
Infelix stimulus, somnisque hac fraude negatis,
Quocunque inflexum producto tempore torpor
Inclinavit iners, fodiunt ad viscera corpus.

A cage they build
Of wood, whose grates, on every side, were fill'd
With equal pikes of steel ; which sharp and thick
By art, in order plac'd, erected stick.
All sleep by this invention was denied.
And when, through length of time, to either side
Dull slumbers him inclin'd, a row of pikes
Into his bowels through his body strikes.

I.] REMARKABLE ACTIONS AND OCCURRENCES. 25

There has been much discussion on the subject of Regulus's death.
Horace, in his description of Regulus's departure from Rome, after per-
suading the Senate to reject the treaty of his ransom, (perhaps the most
subHme and beautiful picture in that poet's works), represents Regulus to
have been subjected to tortures. Cicero in his Offices and other writings,
makes a similar statement. Niebuhr and Arnold consider the relation
of Regulus being tortured by the Carthaginians as doubtful, and, perhaps,
invented by way of pretext or excuse for cruelties inflicted by the Romans
on Carthaginian captives. The silence of Polybius on the subject is im-
portant. Dio Cassius, though he discountenances the common reports
concerning Regulus's cask, says, indeed, that he lost his sleep from being
shut up in the same place with an elephant. Regulus in the cask is the
subject of one of Salvator Rosa's most admired paintings.

XVIII.

WEST'S COUGH.

Ante omnes morbos importunissima tussis
Qua durare datur, traxitque sub ilia vires :
Dura etenim versans imo sub pectore regna
Perpetuo exercet teneras luctamine costas,
Oraque distorquet, vocemque imrautat anhelam.
Nee cessare locus : sed stevo concita motu
Molle domat latus, et corpus labor omne fatigat.
Unde molesta dies, noctemque insomnia turbant.
Nee tua, si mecum comes hie jucundus adesses,
Verba juvare queant, aut hunc lenire dolorem
Sufficiant tua vox dulcis, nee vultus amatus.

Above all my other maladies, a most troublesome
Cough wields its tyrannical sway in the inmost recesses
of my chest. It shakes my ribs with incessant strug-
gles ; distorts my countenance, alters my tremulous voice.
There is no intermission. My delicate side is subdued ;
my whole body is fatigued. Hence my day is wearisome,
my night sleepless. And although you, my cheering
companion, were present, your words would be unavail-
ing for my relief: and this acute suffering could not
be assuaged by the sweetness of your voice, or by your
beloved looks.

26 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

West prefaces these lines on his Cough thus : " It was the production
of four o'clock in the morning, while I lay in my bed tossing and cough-
ing, and all unable to sleep." West died at the early age of twenty-six.
The composition by which he is chiefly known is a poem in imitation of
Tibullus, prospective of his own premature destiny His correspondence
with Gray, whom he so feelingly addresses in the concluding lines, will
be read with interest by all persons endued with literary taste.

XIX.

WEST ON GRAY'S RETURN FROM HIS TRAVELS.

O mejB jucunda Comes quietis !
Quae fere segrotum solita es levare
Pectus, et sensim ah ! nimis ingruentes

Fallere curas.

Quid canes ? quanto Lyra die furore
Gesties quando hac reducem sodalein
Glauciam gaudere simul videbis

Meque sub umbra.

My Lyre ! the sweet companion of my ease, alleviator
of my sorrows, deceiver of my cares ! with what " ecstasy
will your living strings be waked" when you behold my
Glaucias returned from his travels, and rejoicing along with
me in the " cool sequestered shade."

West used to call Gray, in poetry, Glaucias, and Gray, West, in like
manner, Favonius. It appears from the text that Gray was right in his
belief that he had " gained from heaven a Friend." It may be noticed
that several of the most interesting gems of antiquity are the congi-atula-
tions to friends retm-ned from travels. Of these Catullus's Ode to Veran-
nius, and Horace's to Pompeius Varus, ai-e the most joyous.

I.] REMARKABLE ACTIONS AND OCCURRENCES. 27

XX.

LABERIUS'S PROLOGUE.

Necessitas, ciijus cursus transversi impetum
Voluerunt multi efFugere, paiici potuerunt,
Quo me detrusit poene extremis sensibus ?
Quem nulla ambitio, nulla unquam largitio,
Nullus timor, vis nulla, nulla auetoritas
Movere potuit in juventa de statu ;
Ecce in senecta ut facile labefecit loco
Viri excellentis raente clemente edita
Submissa placide blandiloquens oratio !
Etejiim ipsi Dii negari cui nihil potuerunt,
Hominem me denegare quis posset pati ?
Ergo bis tricenis annis actis sine nota
Eques Romanus lare egressus meo
Domum revertas Mimus : Nimirum hoc die
Uno plus vixi mihi quam vivendum fuit.
Eortuna, immoderata in bono seqiie at que in malo,
Si tibi erat libitum literarum laudibus
Floris cacumen nostrse famse frangere,
Cur cum vigebara membris prseviridantibus,
Satisfacere populo et tali cum poteram viro,
Non flexibilem me concurvasti ut carperes ?
Nunc meo quo dejicis ? quid ad scenam afFero ?
Decorem formse, an dignitatem corporis,
Animi virtutem, an vocis jucundse sonum ?
Ut hedera serpens vires arboreas necat,
Ita me vetustas amplexa annorum enecat :
Sepulchri similis nihil nisi nomen retinens.

For threescore years since first I saw the light,

I lived without reproach — a Eoman knight.

As such I left my sacred home ; but soon

Shall there return an Actor and Buifoon.

Since stretched beyond the point where honour ends,

One day too long my term of life extends.

Fortune, extreme alike in good or ill.

Since thus to blast my fame has been thy will,

28 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

Why did'st thou not, ere spent my youthful race.
Bend me, yet pliant, to this dire disgrace ?
While power remain'd, with yet unbroken frame,
Him to have pleas'd, and earn'd the crowd's acclaim :
But now, why drive me to an actor's part,
When nought remains of all the actor's art :
Nor life, nor fire, which could the scene rejoice,
Nor grace of form, nor harmony of voice ?
As fades the tree round which the ivy twines.
So in the clasp of age my strength declines.

The circumstances of Laberius's Prologue are thus related in Cum-
berland's Observer.

" This Laberius was a Roman knight of good family, and a man withal
of high spirit and pretensions, but unfortunately he had a talent for the
drama : he read his own plays better than any man then living could act
them; for neither Garrick nor Henderson was yet born. P. Clodius, the
fine gentleman and rake of the age, had the indecorum to press Laberius
to come forward on the public stage, and take the principal character in
one of his own plays : Laberius was indignant, and Clodius proceeded to
menaces : — ' Do your worst,' says the Roman knight, ' you can but send
me to Dyracchium and back again' — proudly intimating that he would
suffer the like banishment with Cicero, rather than consent to his
demand ; for acting was not then the amusement of people of fashion,
and private theatres were not thought of. Julius Csesar was no less cap-
tivated with Laberius's talents than Clodius had been, and being a man
not apt to be discouraged by common difficulties, took up the same soli-
citation, and assailed our Roman knight, who was now sixty years of age,
and felt his powers in their decline : conscious of this decline no less
than of his own dignity, he resisted the degrading request; he interceded,
he implored of Cajsar to excuse him : it was to no purpose, Csesar had
made it his point, and his point he would carry : the word of Csesar was
law, and Laberius, driven out of all his defences, was obliged to submit
and comply. Csesar makes a grand spectacle for all Rome; bills are
given out for a play of Laberius, and the principal part is announced to
be performed by the author himself: the theatre is thronged with specta-
tors ; all Rome is present, and Decimus Laberius presents himself on the
stage, and addresses the audience in the above prologue."

Cumberland gives a version of the Prologue; that in the text is by
Dunlop.

L] REMARKABLE ACTIONS AND OCCURRENCES. 29

XXI.

MUCIUS SCEYOLA.

(A)
Cum peteret regem decepta satellite dextra,

Ingessit sacris se peritura foeis.
Sed tarn sseva pius miracula non tulit hostis,

Et raptum flammis jussit abire virum,
Urere quam potuit contemto Mucius igne,

Hane spectare manum Porsena non potuit.
Major deceptse fama est et gloria dextrse :

Si non errasset, fecerat ilia minus.

When that right hand which aimed a royal blow

Spent on a worthless slave its baffled ire,
It rush'd into the flames — but e'en the foe

Admiring snatcli'd it from the sacred fire.
The pangs that fearless ScaeA'ola sustain'd

Porsenna's eye endur'd not to behold :
Had it not err'd, that hand had never gain'd

So great a fame, or done a deed so bold.

Or:

The failing hand the greater glory found ;
Had it not err'd, it had been less renown'd.

(B)

Qui nunc Cfesarese lusus spectatur arenae,

Temporibus Bruti gloria summa fuit.
Aspicis, ut teneat flammas, poenaque fruatur

Portis, et attonito regnet in igne manus !
Ipse sui spectator adest, et nobile dextrse

Punus amat : totis pascitur ilia sacris.
Quod, nisi rapta foret nolenti poena, parabat

S8e\Tior in lassos ire sinistra focos.
Scire piget, post tale decus, quid fecerit ante :

Quam vidi, satis est banc mihi nosse manum.

That which is now a spectacle of the imperial arena,
was, in the days of Brutus, a glorious achievement. Be-

30 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

hold how his hand grasps the flames, and seems to receive
pleasure from its own punishment. The man is a spectator
of himself ; he is in love with the noble destruction of his
own right hand. His left hand also would have been
plunged into the fire with Avhich his right was consumed,
but that the means of punishment were snatched from him
against his will. After such an exploit, it were a pity to
inquire into the crimes which he may have formerly com-
mitted. It is enough for me to know that hand which I
have witnessed with admiration.

(C)

In matutina nuper spectatus arena

Mucins, imposuit qui sua membra focis ;

Si patiens fortisque tibi durusque videtur,
Abderitanse pectora plebis habes.

Nam, cum dicatur, tunica praesente molesta ;
Ure manum : plus est dicere, Non facio.

If you deem that Mucins, who recently thrust his hand
into the fire at a morning exhibition of the arena, a prodigy
of valor and endurance, you are as silly as the people of
Abdera. For if a pitchy tunic be brought near a culprit,
it is easier for him to obey a command to burn bis own
hand, and thereby avoid death, than passively to refuse
to sacrifice, and consequently have his whole body burnt.

The translation of the fii-st Epigram is by the Provost of Eton ; but the
two concluding lines by Fletcher appear to express the original with
more closeness and spirit. Scaliger has an Epigram on the subject, in
which he makes ^lucius disclaim his own hand because it had not proved
the hand of his countiy.

The exploit of Mucius Scserola is related, or rather painted, by Livy
(Lib. n. ch. xii.). The historian mentions that Scsevola's mistake arose
from seeing the man whom he attacked delivering pay to the troops.
Upon being seized and brought before King Porsena, "Behold," said
Mucius, "what little account is made of the body by those who have in
view the attainment of great glory." Whereupon, thrusting his right hand
into a chafing-dish of coals which had been kindled for the purpose of a
sacrifice, he held it there to burn, as if he were void of all sense of pain.
On which the King, astonished by such undaunted courage, leaped from
his seat, and ordered the youth to be removed from the altar.

I.] REMARKABLE ACTIONS AND OCCURRENCES. 31

Mucius, from his intrepid sacrifice of his right hand, acquired the
name of Scsevola, which, in old Latin, signified a left-handed person ; and
he received for a reward a tract of land, which, in Livy's time, went by
the name of the Mucian Meadows. It is remarkable that Virgil, in his
eighth uEneid, when enumerating the early heroes and heroines of Rome,
and among them Horatius Codes and Clselia, distinguished by acts of
valour in the war with Porsena, omits any mention of Mucius Scaevola.
Dr Malkin, in his Classical Disquisitions, notices that it appears from
Livy's relation of the achievement of Mucius, that he was ashamed of the
principle of assassination which it countenances. Livy remarks that the
desperate condition of the city justified the crime (Fortuna turn nobis
crimen adfirmante).

Niebuhr adverts to particulars in the story of Mucius Scsevola, which
appear to be standing figures of speech in most of the old lays of Rome.
Mr (Conversation) Sharpe, in his Essays, notices a saying of Home
Tooke, concerning intellectual philosophy, " That he had become better
acquainted with the country, through his having had the good luck some-
times to lose his way,"' observing with the text, " Si non errasset, fecerat
ille minus."

The second Epigram is a striking example of the barbarities in which
the Romans took delight at their theatres ; making theatrical repre-
sentations of horrible forms of death or torture. The action exhibits
extraordinary fortitude, and seems to have obliterated in the minds of the
audience all consideration of the malefactors' guilt. The occurrence also
evinces the pride with which the Romans recurred to the exploits of
their early history. This Epigram is cited in the 177th No. of the
Tatler, as illustrating a reflection that true glory will never attend any-
thing but truth; and that the very same action done from different
motives may merit a very different degree of applause.

The third Epigram is very interesting, if it be susceptible of a meaning
which some critics think it bears, viz. that the expression, " Non facio,"
means "I do not sacrifice." Whereas, when a Christian who had been
led out to be burnt, said "facio," he was immediately liberated. It is
known that a Christian was exempted from capital punishment if he scat-
tered frankincense upon an altar. The pitchy shirt was used for burn-
ing Christians. Nero, we learn from Tacitus, admitted the populace of
Rome into his gardens to witness a nocturnal illumination of Christians
burnt alive in pitchy tunics. TertuUian mentions that it was not uncom-
mon to burn Christians for the purpose of a spectacle, making a pitchy
shirt represent the poisoned vestment in which Hercules was tortured,
and compelling the Christian who was to be burnt, to act upon the
theatre the part of Hercules.

In the reign of Queen Mai*y, one Edward L^nderhill was burnt upon
Tower Hill for heresy. Shortly before his execution he was imjiortuned
by Bishop Bonner to embrace the Roman Catholic religion, and thus
save his life. But he replied that " when the spirit has once asserted its

52 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

superiority over the flesh, the body can feel no pain ; and to prove that
I have no sense of suffering, I will myself administer the torture." So
saying, and raising -n-ith some difficulty his arm that had been stiflfened
by the rack, he held his hand over the flame of a lamp that stood upon the
table before him, until the veins shrunk and burst. During this dreadful
trial his countenance underwent no change, and if Bonner had not with-
drawn the lamp, he would have allowed his band to be entirely con-
sumed.

XXII.

THE FALL OF RUFINUS.

Ssppe mihi dubiam traxit sententia mentem,
Curarent superi terras, an nullus inesset
Hector, et incerto fluerent mortalia casu.
Nam cum dispositi qusesissem foedera mundi,
Prsescriptosqiie mari fines, annique meatus,
Et lucis noctisque vices ; tunc omnia rebar
Consilio firmata dei, qui lege moveri
Sidera, qui fruges diverse tempore nasci,
Qui variam Phoeben alieno jusserit igni
Compleri, solemque suo : porrexerit undis
Littora : tellurem medio libraverit axe.
Sed cum res liominum tanta caligine volvi
Adspicerem, laetosque diu florere nocentes,
Vexarique pios ; rursus labefacta cadebat
Pelligio, causaeque viam non sponte sequebar
Alterius, vacuo quae currere semina motu
Affirmat, magnumque novas per inane figuras
Fortuna, non arte, regi : quae Numina sensu
Ambiguo vel nulla putat, vel nescia nostri.
Abstulit hunc tandem Rufini poena tumultum,
Absolvitque deos. Jam non ad culmina rerum
Injustos crevisse queror : tolluntur in altum,
Ut lapsu graviore ruant. Vos pandite vati,
Pierides, quo tanta lues eruperit ortu.

Two adverse sentiments, with doubts combined,
Have oft divided my unsettled mind : —

I.] REMARKABLE ACTIONS AND OCCURRENCES. 33

If oe'r this orb the Powers above have SAvay,

Or man be blindly left to grope his way ?

For when the mundane harmony I knew ; —

The ocean limited : — the seasons true ; —

The regular return of day and night :

I cried — a God directs with prescient light.

The stars his laws observe ; — the fruits appear,

In turn, at diff'rent periods of the year ;

Inconstant Phoebe freely borrows rays ;

And Sol, his own resplendent beams, displays ;

The wavy waters are by shores controlled ;

And, balanced on its axis, Earth is rolled.

But when the lot of human kind I found

Involved in mazy darkness spread around ;

Crime revelling in joy and plenteous store,

While suff 'ring Virtue dire distresses bore :

Religion, weakened, lost again her sway,

And, with regret, I turned another way.

All Nature's elements, in empty space,

At random move and various figures trace ;

No heavenly pow'r, but Chance appears to guide ;

No gods : — or mortals' actions they deride.

Rufinus dead! — my mind's at length relieved;
Absolved the deities by what 's achieved ;
No wretch, to honours raised, shall me appal :
The higher carried, greater is the fall.

This is what Gibbon calls "the beautiful exordium" of Claudian's
poem on Rufinus. Gibbon adds, that the poet proceeds, in a subsequent
part of his poem, to " perform the dissection of Rufinus with the savage
coolness of an anatomist." Rufinus was the prime minister of the Em-
peror Theodosius. After a long enjoyment of power, which he exercised
with great treachery and rapacity, he was killed by the soldiers, who car-
ried his head and hand round the camp in procession, crying, " Charity !
Charity ! to the hand that could never get enough." The transaction is
detailed by Gibbon with consummate talent for description. The philo-
sophical reflections of the poet are discussed in Bayle, Art. Rufin. The
doubts of a superintending Providence are a favom'ite theme with several
distinguished heathen poets ; whether arising from the permission of
successful criminality, as in the case of Rufinus, the premature deaths of
illustrious men, as in the instance of TibuUus, according to Ovid, and

3

3i GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

Pompey, according to Lucan, Quintilian's sou, according to his father ;
or even from better fortune in monuments, as, according to Martial,
from Cato having a small tomb, Pompey none at all, whilst the barber
Licinus enjoyed a magnificent mausoleum. Milton, in his Sanwson Ago-
nistes, contrasts the regularity of nature with the rises and falls of the
champions of the commonwealth.

XXIII.

CRUELTIES OF THE ROMAN AMPHITHEATRE.

Orpheus.

Quidquid in Orpheo Rhodope spectasse theatro

Dicitur, exhibuit, Caesar, arena tibi.
Repserunt scopuli, mirandaque silva cucurrit.

Quale fuisse nemus creditur Hesperidum.
Adfuit immixtum peeudum genus omne ferarum,

Et supra vatem multa pependit avis.
Ipse sed ingrato jacuit laeeratus ab urso.

Hasc tamen ut res est facta, ita ficta alia est.

The wonders Orpheus wrought on Thracian ground.
Great Caesar, in thy theatre are found.
To Music's sound tall rocks and mountains move.
And trees start up that match th' Hesperian grove.
The bestial tribes, through distant woods that roam,
Here meet in crowds, and wond'ring find a home.
And as in fiction once, so now in truth,
Orpheus is mangled by a bear's fell tooth.

Laureolus

Qualiter in Scythica religatus rupe Prometheus

Assiduam nimio pectore pavit avem :
Nuda Caledonio sic pectora prsebuit urso,

Non falsa pendens in cruce Laureolus.
Vivebant laceri membris stillantibus artus,

Inque omni nusquam corpore corpus erat.
Denique supplicium dederat necis ille paterna?,

Vel domini jugulum foderat ense nocens.

I.] REMARKABLE ACTIONS AND OCCURRENCES. 35

Terapla vel arcano demens spoliaverat auro ;

Subcliderat ssevas vel tibi, Roma, faces.
Vieerat antiqiia3 sceleratus crimina famse,

In quo, quae fuerat fabula, poena fuit.

Like as Prometheus was chained to a rock, whilst a
vulture with unassuaged voracity was devouring his breast,
so Laureolus on the stage, whilst he was stretched on a
real cross, presented his breast to be torn by a Caledonian
bear. He had probably been a parricide, or had killed a
master, or had raised the torch of an incendiary to fire
Rome. His guilt must have surpassed in enormity any
thing recorded in the annals of crime ; since what was
designed for a drama was converted into a form of dread-
ful punishment.

The first Epigram indicates that the Amphitheatre was decorated with
scenery, so as to represent the rocky and woody region in which Orpheus
was fabled to have been torn to pieces. A malefactor was placed in the
midst of this scenery, habited as Orpheus, and was compelled to play
upon a lyre until he was mangled by a bear.

The machinery in the ancient amphitheatres was very surprising and
magnificent. Sometimes the whole arena suddenly disappeared, and
from the chasm formed by its fall rose orchards and forests filled with
wild beasts. These changes were produced by the application of various
machines called pegmata, which rose and swelled sometimes to a prodi-
gious extent and elevation. Claudian mentions exhibitions of flames that
played round the machinery without damaging it. Sometimes perfumes,
as balsam and saffron- water, were sprinkled in showers upon the audience.

Lam'eolus was the principal character in a favourite melodrama at
Rome. He was a robber, and ended his career by being crucified. Juve-
nal observes of a young patrician, who was fond of acting the part on the
public stage, that he deserved a real cross. Martial represents a real
crucifixion of a malefactor who was forced to act the part of Laureolus.
It appears from other Epigrams of Martial, that the story of Da3dalus and
Icarus was in a similar way often made tragical in the Roman Amphi-
theatres ; and Suetonius mentions that on one occasion Nero was covered
with the blood of Icarus, who, after his wings melted, fell too close to
the emperor. The emperors not unfrequently ordered persons to be
taken from their places in the theatre, and thrown to wild beasts on
account of some unguarded exclamation, or because they had mismanaged
the scenery entrusted to their care. If the victims protested their inno-
cence, they were sometimes fetched back from the arena, their tongues
cut out, and themselves cast again among the wild beasts.

3—2

36 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

XXIV.

ON THE WOMEN WHO FOUGHT WITH WILD BEASTS IN
THE AMPHITHEATRE.

Belliger invictis quod Mars tibi sievit in armis,
Non satis est, Csesar, saevit et ipsa Venus.

Prostratuni Nemees et vasta in valle leonem,
Nobile et Hereuleum fama eanebat opus.

Prisca fides taceat : nam post tua munera, Csesar,
Hsec jam feminea vidimus acta manu.

It does not suffice, O Caesar, that Mars brandishes his
arms at your command : Venus also becomes warlike.
History has celebrated the labour of Hercules in slaying
the Nemaean lion ; but, to strike antiquity dumb, at your
shows, O Caesar, such exploits are achieved by female
hands.

These female gladiators are noticed by Tacitus, Suetonius, and Juve-
nal. Statius thus celebrates their masculine exploits :

Mid the noise of this new unaccustomed delight,
See! the women engage in a masculine fight,
As, astonished, their skirmishing light you behold,
In their weapons unpractis'd, but wantonly bold.
You would think that by barbarous Phasis afar
The fierce troops of Thermodon encounter'd in war.

XXV.

NAUIVIACHL^.

Si quis ades longis serus spectator ab oris,
Cui lux prima sacri muneris ista fuit,

Ne te decipiat ratibus navalis Enyo,

Et par unda fretis ; hie modo terra fuit.

Non credis ? spectes, dum laxent aequora Martem
Parva mora est : dices, hie modo pontus erat.

I.] REMARKABLE ACTIONS AND OCCURRENCES. 37

Be not deceiv'd though naval battles here,
And billows like the rolling- main appear.
The sea thou now bchold'st was land of late :
Believ'st thou not ? A few short moments wait
Till cease the ships to war, the waves to flow,
And thou shalt say, 'Twas sea not long ago.

Martial relates a variety of spectacles exhibited upon water intro-
duced into the amphitheatre The story of Hero and Leander was a
favourite exhibition on these occasions. One writer mentions a pegma in
the form of a ship, which, while floating in the amphitheatre, struck
the ground as if wrecked, and opening, let loose some hundreds of wild
beasts, mixed with aquatic animals, who swam, fought, or played in the
waters, till the water was suddenly let out, the beasts slain, and the ship
restored to its original form. Tacitus relates that in the Naumachice cele-
brated by the Emperor Claudius on the Fucine Lake there were 19,000
combatants, and about fifty ships on each side. Suetonius mentions that
the signal for charge was given by a silver triton, raised by mechanism.
He writes, that upon the gladiators on board the fleet crying out, " Fare-
well ! noble emperor, dying men salute you !" and his replying, " Fare-
well to you all," (avete, the last words used at funeral rites), they all
refused to fight, as if the emperor, in what he had said, had excused
them. Upon this incident Claudius was in doubt whether he should not
destroy them all by fire and sword. At last, leaping from his seat, and
running along the side of the lake, partly by fan- words, and partly by
threats, he pei*suaded them to engage.

XXYL

CATO REFUSING TO CONSULT THE ORACLE OF
JUPITER AINIMON.

Stabant ante fores populi, quos miserat Eos,
Cornigerique Jovis monitu nova fata petebant :
Sed Latio cessere duci : comitesque Catonem
Grant, exploret Libycum memorata per orbem
Numina, de fama tarn longi judicet sevi.
Maximus hortator scrutandi voce deorum
Eventus Labienus erat. Sors obtulit, inquit,
Et fortuna viae tarn magni numinis ora,

38 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

Consilium que dei ; tanto duce possumus uti

Per Syrtes, bellique datos cognoscere casus.

Nam cui crediderim superos arcana daturos,

Dicturosque magis, quam sancto, vera, Catoni?

Certe vita tibi semper directa supernas

Ad leges, sequerisque deum. Datur ecce loquendi

Cum Jove libertas : inquire in fata nefandi

Csesaris, et patriae venturos excute mores :

Jure suo populis uti legumque licebit,

An bellum civile perit. Tua pectora sacra

Voce reple : durge saltern virtutis araator

Quaere quid est virtus, et posce exemplar honesti.

Ille deo plenus, tacita quern mente gerebat,
Effudit dignas adytis e pectore voces.
Quid quseri, Labiene, jubes? an liber in armis
Occubuisse velim potius, quam regna videre ?
An sit vita nihil, sed longam difFerat setas ?
An noceat vis nulla bono ? Fortunaque perdat
Opposita virtute minas ? laudandaque velle
Sit satis, et nunquam successu crescat honestum ?
Sciraus, et haec nobis non altius inseret Ammon.
Haeremus cuncti superis, temploque tacente
Nil facimus non sponte dei : nee vocibus uUis
Nuraen eget : dixitque semel naseentibus auetor
Quicquid scire licet : steriles nee legit arenas,
Ut caneret paucis, mersitque hoc pulvere verum :
Estne dei sedes nisi terra, et pontus, et aer,
Et ccelum, et virtus ? superos quid quaerimus ultra ?
Jupiter est quodcunque vides, quocunque moveris.
Sortilegis egeant dubii, semperque futuris
Casibus ancipites : me non oracula certum,
Sed mors certa facit : pavido fortique cadendum est.
Hoc satis est dixisse Jovem. Sic ille profatur :
Servataque fide templi discedit ab aris,
Non exploratum jDopulis Ammona relinquens.

Before the temple's entrance, at the gate.
Attending crowds of Eastern pilgrims wait :
These from the horned god expect relief:
But all give way before the Latian chief.

I.] REMARKABLE ACTIONS AND OCCURRENCES. 3.9

His host (as crowds are superstitious still)
Curious of fate, of future good aud ill,
And fond to prove prophetic Amnion's skill,
Intreat their leader to the god would go,
And from his oracle Rome's fortunes know :
But Labienus chief the thought approv'd,
And thus the common suit to Cato mov'd :

Chance, and the fortune of the way, he said.
Have brought Jove's sacred counsels to our aid :
This greatest of the gods, this mighty chief.
In each distress shall be a sure relief;
Shall point the distant dangers from afar.
And teach the future fortunes of the war.
To thee, O Cato ! pious ! wise ! and just !
Their dark decrees the cautious gods shall trust ;
To thee their fore-determin'd will shall tell :
Their will has been thy law, and thou hast kept it well.
Fate bids thee now the noble thought improve ;
Fate brings thee here to meet and talk with Jove.
Inquire betimes, what various chance shall come
To impious Caesar, and thy native Rome ;
Try to avert, at least, thy country's doom.
Ask if these arms our freedom shall restore :
Or else if laws and right shall be no more.
Be thy great breast with sacred knowledge fraught,
To lead us in the wandering maze of thought ;
Thou, that to virtue ever wert inclin'd,
Learn what it is, how certainly defin'd.
And leave some perfect rule to guide mankind.

Full of the god that dwelt within his breast.
The hero thus his secret mind express'd.
And in-born truths reveal'd ; truths which might well
Become ev'n oracles themselves to tell.

What, Labienus, would thy fond desire
Of horned Jove's prophetic shrine inquire ?
Whether to seek in arms a glorious doom,
Or basely live, and be a king in Rome ?
If life be nothing more than death's delay,
If impious force can honest minds dismay,

40 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

Or probity may fortune's frown disdain ;

If well to mean is all that virtue can ;

And right, dependent on itself alone,

Gains no addition from success ? — 'Tis known :

Fix'd in my heart these constant truths I bear,

And Ammon cannot ^Tite them deeper there.

Our souls, allied to God, within them feel

The secret dictates of the Almighty will ;

This is his voice, be this our oracle.

When first his breath the seeds of life instill'd.

All that we ought to know was then reveal'd.

Nor can we think the Omnipresent mind

Has truth tc Libya's desert sands confin'd,

There, known to few, obscur'd, and lost, to lie —

Is there a temple of the Deity,

Except earth, sea, and air, yon azure pole ;

And chief, his holiest shrine, the virtuous soul ?

AVhere'er the eye can pierce, the feet can move.

This wide, this boundless universe is Jove.

Let abject minds, that doubt because they fear,

"With pious awe to juggling priests repair ;

I credit not Avhat lying prophets tell —

Death is the only certain oracle.

Cowards and brave must die one destin'd hour —

This Jove has told; he needs not tell us more.

The first part of tlie English version is from Rowe, the latter part
beginning with the line, " What, Labienus, would thy soul desire," is from
Lord Lj-ttleton. The sentiments ascribed to Cato ai-e very remarkable as
regards the theological opinions of the ancients. They were a part of the
philosophical system of the Stoics.

I.] REMARKABLE ACTIONS AND OCCURRENCES. 41

XXVII.

CATO AT THE FLORAL GAMES.

Nosses jocosae dulce cum sacrum Florae,
Festosque lusus, et licentiam vulgi,
Cur in theatrum, Cato severe, venisti ?
An ideo tantum veneras, ut exires ?

When thou didst know the merry feast

Of jocund Flora was at best,

Our solemn sports, hoAV loosely free.

And debonair the vulgar be.

Strict Cato, why didst thou intrude

Into the seated multitude ?

Was it thy frolic here alone

Only to enter, and be gone ?

Valerius Maximus mentions that when it was wished to describe a
citizen as being remarkable for virtue, it was usual to call him a Cato.
And he relates the story of the floral games. He says that Cato having
learnt from Favonius who was sitting next to him, that the audience
were ashamed to call for certain indecencies to be exhibited which were
customary at the floral games, he walked out of the theatre. Upon which
there ensued a general burst of applause ; whereby, observes Valerius, the
people confessed that greater respect was due to Cato than to all the rest
of the audience who remained to witness what they were unwilling should
be represented in the presence of Cato. This occurrence is the subject
of No. 446 of the Spectator. The third line of the Epigram is the
motto of No. 122 of the Tatler, with reference to the appearance of Mr
Isaac Bickerstaif at Drury Lane theatre. The more remarkable demon-
strations of public feeling at the Roman theatres afford matter for inte-
resting reflection. The opinions concerning Cato, too, throw important
light on the moral sentiments of the ancients. Julius Caesar mentions"
that persons who met Cato in a state of intoxication, blushed, when they
discovered who he was ; adding, you would have thought that Cato had
detected them, and not they Cato. Pliny remarks. Could he place the
dignity of Cato in a stronger light than making him thus venerable even
in his cups?

42 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

XXVITI.

C^SAR PASSING THE RUBICON.

Jam gelidas Caesar cursu superaverat Alpes,

Ingentesque animo motus, bellumque futurum

Ceperat. Ut ventum est parvi Rubiconis ad undas,

Ingens visa duci patriae trepidantis imago,

Clara per obscuram vultu mcestissima noctem,

Turrigero canos effundens vertice erines,

Csesarie lacera, nudisque adstare lacertis,

Et gemitu permixta loqui : Quo tenditis ultra ?

Quo fertis mea signa, viri ? si jure venitis,

Si cives, hucusque licet. Tune perculit horror

jMembra dueis, riguere comaej gressumque coercens

Languor in extrema tenuit vestigia ripa.

*****

Fonte cadit modico, parvisque impellitur undis
Puniceus Rubicon, cum fervida canduit sestas :
Perque iraas serpit valles, et Gallica certus
Limes ab Ausoniis disterminat arva colonis.
Tunc vires praebebat hyems, atque auxerat undas
Tertia jam gravido pluvialis Cynthia cornu,
Et madidis Euri resolutjB flatibus Alpes.
Primus in obliquum sonipes opponitur amnem,
Excepturus aquas, molli tum cetera rumpit
Turba vado fracti faciles jam fluminis undas.
Caesar ut adversum superato gurgite ripam
Attigit, Hesperiae vetitis et constitit arvis,
Hie, ait, hie, pacem, temerataque jura relinquo ;
Te, Fortuna, sequor : procul hinc jam focdera sunto.
Credidimus fatis : utendum est judice bello.
Sic fatus, noctis tenebris rapit agmina ductor
Irapiger, et torto Balearis verbere fundse
Ocior, et missa Parthi post terga sagitta :
"\'icinumque minax invadit Ariminum, ut ignes
Solis Lucifero fugiebant astra relicto.
Jamque dies primos belli visura tumultus
Exoritur : seu sponte deum, seu turbidus Auster

I.] REMARKABLE ACTIONS AND OCCURRENCES. 43

Impulerat, moestam tenuerunt nubila luccm.
Constitit ut capto jussiis deponerc miles
Signa foro, stridor litiuim, clangorque tubarum
Noil pia concinuit cum raiico classica cornu.
Rupta qiiies populi, stratisqiie excita juventus
Diripiunt sacris affixa penatibus arma,
Qua3 pax longa dabat : nuda jam crate fluentes
Invadiint clypeos, curvataque ciispide pila,
Et scabros iiigra3 morsii rubiginis enses.
Ut notcG fulsere aquilas Romanaqiie signa,
Et celsiis medio conspectus in agmine CjBsar,
Diriguere metu, gelidos pavor alligat artus.

Now Csesar, marching swift with winged haste,

Tlie summits of the frozen Alps had past ;

With vast events and enterprises fraught,

And future wars revolving in his thought.

Now near the banks of Rubicon he stood ;

"When lo ! as he survey'd the narroAV flood,

Amidst the dusky horrors of the night,

A wondrous vision stood confest to sight.

Her awful head Rome's reverend image rear'd,

Trembling and sad the matron form appear'd ;

A towery crown her hoar}^ temples bound,

And her torn tresses rudely hung around :

Her naked arms uplifted ere she spoke,

Then groaning thus the mournful silence broke.

Presumptuous men ! oh, whither do you run ?

Oh, whither bear you these my ensigns on ?

If friends to right, if citizens of l^ome, •

Here to your utmost barrier are you come.

She said ; and sunk within the closing shade :

Astonishment and dread the chief invade ;

Stiff rose his starting hair, he stood dismay'd.

And on the bank his slackening steps were stay'd.

*****

While with hot skies the fervent summer glows,
The Rubicon an humble river flows ;
Through lowly vales he cuts his winding way,
And rolls his ruddy waters to the sea,

44 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

His bank on either side a limit stands,

Between the Gallic and Ausonian lands.

But stronger now the wintery torrent grows,

The wetting winds had thaw'd the Alpine snows,

And Cynthia rising with a blunted beam

In the third circle, drove her watery team,

A signal sure to raise the swelling stream.

For this, to stem the rapid water's course

First plung'd amidst the flood the bolder horse :

With strength oppos'd against the stream they lead,

^Tiile to the smoother ford the foot with ease succeed.

The leader now had pass'd the torrent o'er.
And reach'd fair Italy's forbidden shore :
Then rearing on the hostile bank his head.
Here farewell peace and injured laws ! (he said.)
Since faith is broke, and leagues are set aside,
Henceforth thou, goddess fortune, art my guide ;
Let fate and war the great event decide.
He spoke ; and, on the dreadful task intent.
Speedy to near Ariminum he bent ;
To him the Balearic sling is slow,
And the shaft loiters from the Parthian bow.
With eager marches swift he reach'd the town,
As the shades fled, the sinking stars were gone,
And Lucifer the last was left alone.
At length the morn, the dreadful morn arose,
Whose beams the first tumultuous rage disclose :
Whether the stormy south prolong'd the night,
Or the good gods abhorr'd the impious sight.
The clouds awhile withheld the mournful light.
To the mid forum on the soldier pass'd,
There halted, and his victor ensigns plac'd :
With dire alarms from band to band around.
The fife, hoarse horn, and rattling trumpets sound.
The starting citizens uprear their heads ;
The lustier youth at once forsake their beds ;
Hasty they snatch the weapons, which among
Their household gods in peace had rested long ;
Old bucklers of the covering hides bereft,
The mouldering frames di&join'd and barely left ;

I.] REMARKABLE ACTIONS AND OCCURRENCES. 45

Swords with foul rust indented deep they take,
And useless spears with points inverted shake.
Soon as their crests the Roman eagles rear'd,
And Caesar high above the rest appear'd ;
Each trembling heart with secret horror shook.

The spectral apparition of the genius of Rome may probably have
suggested to Camoens his sublimer conception of the Spirit of the Cape.
It appears from Eustace, that thei*e are two passages over the Rubicon,
a name which has been changed by the coi-ruptions of centuries into that
of Rugone. Eustace fixes upon the nearer passage to the sea, in the
direct road between Ravenna and Rimini (Ai'iminium), as the one in
crossing which Csesar decided the fate of Rome.

Less interesting, indeed, in an historical point of view, but equal at
least in poetical merit, are two other passages in the Pharsalia, descrip-
tive of Cfesar's exploits. In one of these Lucan draws a very sombre and
appalling picture of a sacred grove of the Gauls, inhabited neither by
fauns nor nymphs, and where no bird was heard to warble, but every tree
was lustrated with human gore. Csesar's soldiers were struck with
horror, and hesitated to obey his commands for cutting down the
grove :

Caesar perceived the spreading fear to grow.
Then eager caught an axe, and aim'd a blow.
Deep sunk within a violated oak
The wounding edge, and thus the warrior spoke:
" Now let no doubting hand the task decline ;
Cut you the wood, and let the guilt be mine."

The other passage is descriptive of the circumstance that Cresar, who
was in Epirus with a part of his army, and foresaw the probability of being
shortly attacked by Pompey, left his camp by night, and ventured over a
tempestuous sea in a small bark to Italy, that he might hasten the trans-
port of the remainder of his forces which were collecting at Brundusium.
Lucan is very great in relating Caesar's interview at night with the pilot,
his persuasions to induce him to put to sea, notwithstanding the threaten-
ing appearances of the sky, a terrific storm by which the little bark is
tempest-tost, and the encouragements of Csesar to his terrified com-
panion s

Let winds and seas loud wars at freedom wage,
And waste upon themselves their empty rage:
A stronger, mightier demon is thy friend.
Thou and thy bark on Caesar's fate depend.

46 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch,

XXIX.

DEATH OF POMPEY.

Jam venerat horae
Terminus extremse, Phariamque ablatus in alnum
Perdiderat jam jura sui. Turn stringere ferrum
Regia monstra parant. Ut vidit cominus enses,
Involvit vultus : atque indignatus aj)ertum
Fortunae prsebere caput, tunc lumina pressit,
Continuitque animam, ne quas efFundere voces
Posset, et seternam fletu corrurapere famam.
At postquam mucrone latus funestus Achillas

Perfodit, nullo gemitu consensit ad ictum.

*****

At Magni cum terga sonent et pectora ferro,
Permansisse decus sacrse venerabile forma?,
Iratamque deis faciem, nihil ultima mortis
Ex habitu vultuque viri mutasse, fatentur
Qui lacerum videre caput. Nam saevus in ipso
Septimius sceleris majus scelus invenit actu :
Ac retegit sacros, scisso velamine, vultus
Semianimis Magni, spirantiaque occupat ora,
CoUaque in obliquo ponit languentia transtro.
Tunc nervos venasque secat, nodosaque frangit
Ossa diu : nondum artis erat caput ense rotare.
At postquam trunco cervix abscisa recessit,
Vindicat hoc Pharius dextra gestare satelles.
Degener, atque operas miles Romanae secundae,
Pompeii diro sacrum caput ense recidis,
Ut non ipse feras '? o summi fata pudoris !
Impius ut Magnum nosset puer, ilia verenda
Regibus, hirta coma, et generosa fronte decora
Caesaries compressa manu est ; Pharioque veruto,
Dum Advunt vultus, atque os in murmura pulsant
Singultus animse, dum lumina nuda rigescunt,
Suffixum caput est, quo nunquam bella jubeute
Pax fuit ; hoc leges, campumque, et rostra movebat.
Hac facie, Fortuna, tibi, Romana, placebas.

I.] REiMARKABLE ACTIONS AND OCCURRENCES. 47

Nec satis infando fuit hoc vidisse tyranno :
Vult sceleri superesse fidem. Tunc arte nefanda
Submota est capiti tabes, raptoque cerebro
Adsiccata cutis, putrisque effluxit ab alto
Humor, et infuso facies solidata veneno est.

Now in the boat defenceless Pompey sate,

Surrounded and abandoned to his fate.

Nor long they hold him in their power, aboard.

Ere every villain drew his ruthless sword :

The Chief perceiv'd their purpose soon, and spread

His Roman gown, with patience, o'er his head :

And when the curs'd Achillas pierc'd his breast.

His rising indignation close repress'd.

No sighs, no groans, his dignity profan'd,

No tears his still unsully'd glory stain'd :

Unmov"'d and firm he fix'd him on his seat,

And died, as when he liv'd and conquer'd, great.

*****

The bloody business now complete and done,
New furies urge the fierce Septimius on.
He rends the robe that veil'd the hero's head.
And to full view expos'd the recent dead ;
Hard in his horrid gripe the face he press'd.
While yet the quivering muscles life confess'd :
He drew the dragging body down with haste.
Then cross a rower's seat the neck he plac'd ;
There, awkward, haggling, he divides the bone,
(The headsman's art but then was rudely known).
Straight on the spoil his Pharian partner flies.
And robs the heartless villain of his prize.
The head, his trophy, proud Achillas bears ;
Septimius an inferior drudge appears.
And in the meaner mischief poorly shares.
Caught by the venerable locks, which grow
In hoary ringlets on his generous brow.
To Egypt's impious king that head they bear.
That laurels us'd to bind, and monarchs fear.
Those sacred lips, and that commanding tongue.
On which the listening forum oft has hung ;

48 GEMS OF LATIX POETRY. [Cn.

That tongue which could the world with ease restrain,
And ne'er commanded war or peace in vain ;
That face, in which success came smiling home,
And doubled every joy it brought to Rome :
Now pale and wan, is fix'd upon a spear.
And borne, for public view, aloft in air.

Lucan, in the eighth book of his poem, describes Pompey's flight after
the battle of Pharealia, his meeting with Cornelia — after which he
represents Pompey as repairing to the coast of Egypt, where he is
induced by treachery to. quit his ship and come into a boat. As the boat
is making towards the shore, Pompey is murdered in the sight of Cor-
nelia, his son, and the rest of his fleet. His head is cut off" and carried
on a spear to king Ptolemy, who subsequently sends it as a present to
Csesar. Pomiie/s body is found floating near the shore by one of his
freedmen, who collects a few planks from a shipwrecked vessel, and
performs the funeral rites. All these incidents, and the feelings of Cor-
nelia on her husband leaving her to enter the boat, and afterwards on
beholding his murder, are depictured with great poetical talent.

Martial has an Epigram regarding the circumstance that Pompey, if
buried at all, was bm-ied in Africa, and his sons in Europe and Asia.
He observes that "so great a ruin could not lie in one quarter of the
globe." This idea is followed in an epitaph on Richard Coeur de Lion, who
directed by his will that his heart should be sent to the cathedral of
Rouen, his "ignoble parts" be left among the rebellious Poictevans, and
that his body should be buried at the feet of his father at Fontevraud.
There is a monument at Alba, which goes by the name of Pompey's
tomb, and Plutarch relates that Cornelia buried his ashes there: but
Lucan considers it a reproach to Rome in his time, that it suffered Egypt
to possess the remains of Pompey the Great.

Comeille mentions, in the preface to his Pompee, that the perusal of
Lucan " m'a rendu si amoiu'eux de la force de ses pensees et de la majeste
de son raisonnement, qu'afin d'en enricher notre langue, j'ai fait cet
effort pour reduire en poeme dramatique ce qu'il a traite en epique. Tu
trouvera ici cent ou deux cent vers traduits ou imites de lui." Corneillo's
variations from Lucan may not be always thought improvements, as, for
example, in reference to the remarkable circumstance of Pompey veiling
his face :

D'un des pans de sa robe il couvre son visage,

A son mauvais destin en aveugle obeit,

Et dedaigne de voir le del qui le trahit,

De peur qu'il ne semblat centre une telle offense

Implorer d'un coup d'ceil son aide et sa vengeance.

Aucun gemissement a son coem* echappe,

Ne le niontre en mourant digne d'etre /"rappe.

I.] REMARKABLE ACTIONS AND OCCURRENCES. 49

XXX.

SUTTEES.

Felix Eois lex funeris una maritis,

Quos Aurora suis rubra colorat equis :
Namque ubi mortifero jaeta est fax ultima leeto,

Uxorum positis stat pia turba comis.
Et certamen habent leti, quae viva sequatur

Conjugium : pudor est non licuisse mori.
Ardent victrices, et flammse pectora praebent,

Imponuntque suis ora perusta viris.

H y a une loi en Orient bien favorable pour les maris,
c'est ou I'Aurore colore les peuples de la rougeur de ses
chevaux : car des que le dernier flambeau a mis le feu au
lit funebre, la pieuse foule des femmes ayant les cheveux
epars se tient debout, et se disputent a I'envi a qui se brul-
lera toute vive la premiere pour suivre son mari : et ce
leur est de la honte quand il ne leur est pas permis de
mourir. Les victorieuses se jettent dans les flames : et de
leur visage demi brulle elles donnent des baisers a leurs
epoux.

The suppression of the practice of Suttee throughout the British
dominions in India, is a victory of humanity over national prejudices
which the most sanguine philanthropists could scarcely have deemed
attainable, at least in a short time and without political convulsion.
The practice still prevails out of the pale of the British authority. In
an instance known by the author, which occurred in one of the petty
independent states of India, where there was an English Resident, it
came to the knowledge of the Resident that a widow would shortly burn
herself on the funeral pile of her husband. The Resident oflFered to
convey her away from her husband's relatives free of all expence, and to
take her to her own family, or settle her in any safe place she preferred.
The rajah or prince of the territory, performed, what was in the East a
great mark of condescension, a personal visit to the widow, in order to
join his entreaties to that of the Resident ; and he offered to give the
widow an annuity of just the same amoimt as the English government
chose to confer. But it was all to no purpose. The widow persisted in
burning herself, alleging that the subject had often been talked of be-

4

50 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

tween herself and her husband, and she considered it a part of her faith
to him, that their bodies should be consiuned by the same fire.

It is curious that a description of Suttees should be found in Pro-
pertius, from whom the Latin text is taken. There is an interesting
Latin poem on the subject by the Rev. G. Booth, in the Oxford Anthology.
Mx Richardson, an Anglo-Indian poet, has given the following description,
apparently by an eye-witness.

Her last fond wishes breathed, a farewell smile
Is lingering on the calm unclouded brow
Of yon deluded victim. Firmly now
She moimts, with daimtless mien, the funeral pile
Where lies her earthly lord. The Brahmin's guile
Hath wrought its will — fraternal hands bestow
The quick death-flame — the crackling embers glow,
And flakes of hideous smoke the skies defile !
The ruthless throng their ready aid supply.
And pour the kindling oil. The stunning sound
Of dissonant drums — the priest's exulting cry —
The failing martyr's pleading voice have drown'd;
WhUe fiercely-burning rafters fall around,
And shroud her frame from horror's straining eye !

Gay, in a letter to Pope, mentions the incident of two lovers who were
struck dead by lightning whilst walking together in the fields. They were
foimd stifi" in death, one of the young man's hands round the female's
neck, the other raised before her face, as if to screen her from the light-
ning. Pope wrote the epitaph on the occasion :

When Eastern lovers feed the funeral fire,
On the same pile the faithful pair expire.
Here pitying heaVn that virtue mutual found.
And blasted both, that it might neither wound.
Hearts so sincere th' Almighty saw weU-pleas'd.
Sent his own light'ning, and the victims seiz'd.

I.] REMARIiABLE ACTIONS AND OCCURRENCES. 51

XXXI.

TREATMENT OF SLAVES,

(A)
Proscriptum Famulus servavit fronte notatus :
Non fuit haec Domini vita, sed invidia.

A domestic slave, who had been branded on the fore-
head by his master, preserved the life of that master when
proscribed. I say that the master by that act derived less
of safety for his person than of opprobrium for his charac-
ter,

(B)

Unus de toto peccaverat orbe comarum

Annulus, incerta non bene fixus acu,
Hoc facinus Lalage speculo, quo viderat, ulta est ;

Et cecidit sectis icta Plecusa comis.
Define jam, Lalage, tristes ornare capillos ;

Tangat et insanum nulla puella caput.
Hoc salamandra notet, vel sseva novacula nudet ;

Ut digna speculo fiat imago tuo.

A single curl belonging to a fold in Lalage's hair had
got out of place, from not being properly pinned. Lalage
perceived the crime in her looking-glass, and avenged it
with the same looking-glass on her waiting-maid Plecusa.
She felled the poor girl to the ground, and afterwards cut
off all her hair. Henceforward, Lalage, cease to employ
waiting-maids for adorning your locks. Cut them off with
a razor, or eradicate them with salamander's blood, so that
your looking-glass may (if justice be done the girl and you)
always reflect a bald head,

(C)
Esse negas coctum leporem, poscisque flagella,
Mavis, Rufe, coquum scindere, quam leporem.

When you gave your last dinner, Rufus, you protested
that the hare was underdone ; and you called for the whips.

4—2

52 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

I am of opinion that you preferred cutting your cook to
cutting up your hare.

The master of the slave, who is the subject of the first Epigram, was
Antius Restio. He was proscribed by the triumvirate ; and whilst his
house was being pillaged, he made his escape by night. He was, how-
ever, watched by a slave, whose face he had formerly disfigured by brand-
ing. The slave accompanied him in his flight, and, having hilled an old
beggar whom lie met on the road, and cut ofi" his head, prepared a funeral
pile, and placed the corpse upon it. On the soldiers coming up, and
inquiring after Antius, the slave pointed to the pile, and told them that
his master was there burning in expiation of his cruelty to himself. The
presence of the pile and the deeapitated corpse, and the letters branded
on the slave's forehead, obtained credit for the statement, and Antius's
life was thus preserved. Numerous other instances of the attachment of
slaves to their masters are mentioned by Roman writers, especially in a
chapter on the subject in Valerius Maximus (Lib. vi. c. 8), and in Seneca's
treatise On Benefits. Marc Antony, after his defeat at Actium, desired
his slave Eros to kill him : Eros drew his swox'd, but stabbed himself, and
fell at his master's feet. A freedman of Pompey prepared and kindled
his funeral pile, and conveyed his ashes to Cornelia.

The cordmentators give various representations of Lalage's cruelty :
several of them make her murder Plecusa. The enormities inflicted on
Roman slaves by their masters and mistresses, are forcibly depictm-ed in
Juvenal's Satires (Lib. ii. Sat. vi. 1. 218 and 476. Lib. v. Sat. xiv. 1. 15).
The torturing of ladies' maids, which is in progress in the boudoir, whilst
the lady herself imperturbably continues to rouge her face, is described
with much vivacity, and the question is discussed whether a slave is a
man ? In book xiv. sect, xlii., and following sections of Tacitus's Annals,
is the relation of a slave murdering his master, because his liberty had
been withheld after it had been contracted for. It appears that, by the
law of Rome, in such a case, every servant in the family was liable to
capital punishment. The populace were touched with compassion for
the fate of so many innocent persons of both sexes, and some of tender
age, and created a tumult. The subject was debated in the senate, and
Tacitus has preserved the speeches delivered on the occasion. The
majority of the senate was for letting the law take its course. The
populace attempted to stay the execution with stones and firebrands, but
the whole slave-family, men, women, and children, were put to death.
Pliny, in his Epistles (Lib. in. Ep. xiv.), relates the details of a murder of
a master by his slaves in a bath. He notices that the master had been
in the habit of treating his slaves with a haughtiness and severity which
shewed him little mindful that his own father had once been a slave.

Cooks, like waiting-maids, were subject to severe castigations, since
they outraged the sensuality of men, as much as the Abigails ofifended
against the vanity of women. The following extract from the descrip-

I.] REMARKABLE ACTIONS AND OCCURRENCES. 53

tion of a Roman supper by Petronius Arbiter will shew the prevalence of
the custom of scourging cooks on the spot in order to assuage the
disappointment of guests, though in the particular instance, the purpose
of the master was not that of blood, but of facetiousness.

" A full-grown hog was brought to the table. When Trimalchio, after
looking for a while upon it, said, ' What, are not his entrails taken out ?
No (so help me Hercules) they are not ! Bring hither, bring hither the
rogue of a cook.' And when the cook stood hanging his head before us,
ho stammered out that he was so much in haste that he had forgot it.
'How, forget it?' cried out Trimalchio. ' Strip him:' when in a trice it
was done, and the cook was set between two tortm'ers. However, we all
interceded for him, as a fault that might now and then happen. Where-
upon Trimalchio spoke to the cook : ' It seems you have a very short
memory ; let us see if you can do it now.' On which the cook, having
gotten liis coat again, took up a knife, and with a feigned trembling
ripp'd up the hog's belly long and thwart, when immediately from its own
weight tumbled out a heap of hog's puddings and sausages. After this,
the company gave a shout, and cried out. Health and prosperity to Tri-
malchio ! The cook also was presented with wine, a silver coronet, and a
drinking-goblet on a broad Corinthian plate."

XXXII.

MARTIAL'S MANUmSSION OF A DYING SLAVE.

Ula manus quondam studiorum fida meorum,

Et felix domino, notaque Cassaribus,
Destituit primes virides Demetrius annos :

Quarta tribus lustris addita messis erat.
Ne tamen ad Stygias famulus descenderet umbras,

Ureret implicitum cum scelerata lues,
Cavimus ; et domini jus omne remissimus jegro :

Munere dignus erat convaluisse meo.
Sensit deficiens sua prsemia, meque patronum

Dixit, ad infernas liher iturus aquas.

That hand to all my labours once so true.
Which I so lov'd, and which the Csesars knew,
Forsook the dear Demetrius' blooming prime :
Three lustres and four harvests all his time.

54 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

That not to Styx a slave he should descend,
"When fell contagion urged him to his end,
We free'd with all our rights the pining boy :
O that the convalescent could enjoy !
He tasted his reward, his Patron blest,
And went a Freeman to eternal rest.

The following letter of Pliny (Lib. vui. Ep. xvi.) is an interesting com-
mentary on IVIartial's Epigram.

" The sickness which has lately run through my family, and carried off
several of my domestics, some of them too in the prime of their years,
has deeply afflicted me. I have two consolations, however, which though
they ai*e not equal to so considerable a grief, still they are consolations.
One is, that as I have always very readily manumized my slaves, their
death does not seem altogether immature, if they lived long enough to
receive their freedom : the other, that I have allowed them to make a
kind of will, which I observe as religiously as if they were legally entitled
to that privilege. I receive and obey their last requests, as so many
authoritative commands, suffering them to dispose of then- effects to
whom they please; with this single restriction, that they leave them to
some in my family, which to persons in their station is to be esteemed as
a sort of commonwealth. But though I endeavour to. acquiesce under
these reflections, yet the same tenderness which led me to shew them
these indulgences, still breaks out and overpowers my strongest resolu-
tions. However, I could not wish to be insensible to these soft impres-
sions of humanity : though the generality of the world, I know, look upon
losses of this kind in no other view, than as a diminution of their property,
and fancy by cherishing such an unfeeling temper, they discover a supe-
rior fortitude and good sense. Their wisdom and magnanimity I shall not
dispute. But manly, I am sure, they are not; for it is the very criterion
of true manhood to feel those impressions of sorrow, which it endeavours
to resist ; and to admit, not to be above the want of consolation. But
perhaps I have detained you too long upon this subject, — though not so
long as I would. There is a certain pleasure in giving vent to one's grief;
especially when we pour out our sorrow in the bosom of a friend, who will
approve, or, at least, pardon our tears. Farewell."

I.] REMARKABLE ACTIONS AND OCCURRENCES. 55

XXXIII.

ASSASSINATION OF CICERO.

Antoni Phario nil objecture Pothino,

Et levius tabula, quam Cicerone, nocens :
Quid gladium demens Komana stringis in ora ?

Hoc admisisset nee Catilina nefas.
Impius infando miles corrumpitur auro :

Et tantis opibus vox tacet una tibi.
Quid prosunt sacra? pretiosa silentia linguae ?

Incipient omnes pro Cicerone loqui.

O A-ntony ! revile no Pothin now :
In Tidly more, than in a roll, accurst.

Of the sweet Roman tongue assassin thou !
A Catiline thy horror never durst.

An impious bravo may by gold be won.

And opulence one voice supprest may buy :

But ah ! what has the dear-bought silence done ?
Mankind one tongue will now for Tully try.

Potliinus was the minister of Ptolemy, who killed Pompey, and pre-
sented his head to Caesar. Martial observes that the whole roll of the
proscription of the triumrirs was less injmious to Rome than the loss of
Cicero. The concluding sentiment, that the whole world will rise to
speak for Cicero, is full of vigour. Dr Middleton thus relates the cir-
cumstances of Cicero's assassination.

" Cicero was at his Tusculan villa, with his brother and nephew, when
he first received the news of the proscription, and of their being included
in it. It was the design of the triumvirate to keep it a secret, if possible,
to the moment of execution ; in order to surprise those whom they had
destined to destruction before they were aware of the danger, or had
time to escape. But some of Cicero's friends found means to give him
early notice of it ; upon which he set forward presently, with his brother
and nephew, towards Astv.ra, the nearest villa which he had upon the sea,
with intent to transport themselves directly out of the reach of their
enemies. But Quintus, being wholly unprepared for so sudden a voyage,
resolved to turn back with his son to Rome, in confidence of lying con-
cealed there, till they could provide money and necessaries for their sup-
port abroad, Cicero, in the meanwhile, found a vessel ready for him at

56 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

Astura, in which he presently embarked : but the winds being cross and
turbulent, and the sea wholly uneasy to him, after he had sailed about
two leagues along the coast, he landed at Circseum, and spent a night
near that place, in great anxiety and irresolution : the question was, what
course he should steer, and whether he should fly to Brutus or to Cassius,
or to S. Pompeius ; but after all his deUberations, none of them pleased
him so much as the expedient of dying : so that, as Plutarch says, he
had some thoughts of returning to the city, and killing himself in Csesar's
house, in order to leave the guilt and curse of his blood upon Caesar's
perfidy and ingratitude. But the importimity of his servants prevailed
with him to sail forwards to Cajeta, where he went again on shore to
repose himself in his Formian villa, about a mile from the coast : weary
of life and the sea, and declaring, that he would die in that country,
which he had go often saved. Here he slept soundly for several hours ;
though as some writers tell us, a great number of crows were fluttering
all the while, and making a strange noise about his windows, as if to rouse
and warn him of his approaching fate, and that one of them made its
way into the chamber, and pulled away his very bed-clothes, till his
slaves, admom'shed by this prodigy, and ashamed to see brute creatures
more solicitous for his safety than themselves, forced him into his litter
or portable chair, and carried him away towards the ship, through the
private ways and walks of his woods; having just heard, that soldiers
were already come into the country in quest of him, and not far from
the villa. As soon as they were gone, the soldiers arrived at the house,
and perceiving him to be fled, pursued immediately towards the sea, and
overtook him in the wood. Their leader was one PopUius Lsenas, a tri-
bune or colonel of the ai-my, whom Cicero had formerly defended and
preserved in a capital cause. As soon as the soldiei-s appeared, the
servants prepared themselves to fight, being resolved to defend their
master's life at the hazard of their own : but Cicero commanded them to
set him down, and to make no resistance : then looking upon his execu-
tioners with a presence and firmness which almost daimted them, and
thrusting his neck as fonvardly as he could out of the litter, he bade them
do their work, and take what they wanted: upon which they presently
cut off" his head, and both his hands, and returned with them, in all haste
and great joy, towards Rome, as the most agreeable present which they
could possibly carry to Antony. Popilius charged himself with the con-
veyance, without reflecting on the infamy of carrying that head which had
saved his own : he found Antony in the Forum, surrounded with guards
and crowds of people : but upon shewing from a distance the spoils which
he brought, he was rewarded upon the spot with the honour of a crown
and about eight thousand pounds sterhng. Antony ordered the head to
be fixed upon the rostra, between the two hands : a sad spectacle to the
city, and what drew tears from eveiy eye ; to see those mangled members,
which used to exert themselves so gloriously from that place in defence
of their lives, the fortunes, and the liberties of the Roman people, so

I.] REIVIARKABLE ACTIONS AND OCCURRENCES. 57

lamentably exposed to the scorn of sycophants and traitoi-s. The deaths
of the rest, says an historian of that age, caused only a private and par-
ticular sorrow, but Cicero's an universal one : it was a triumph over the
republic itself; and seemed to confirm and establish the pei-j^etual slavery
of Rome. Antony considered it as such, and, satiated with Cicero's blood,
declared the proscription at an end. He was killed on the seventh of
December, about ten days from the settlement of the triumvirate ; after
he had lived sixty-three years, eleven months, and five days."

Eustace says that the assassination of Cicero has been described by
several ancient writers, but has been painted only by Plutarch. He
visited the ruins of the Formian \nlla, from which Cicero was hastening
towards the sea when he was assassinated. These ruins are about a mile
from the shore ; and nearer the sea stands a disfigured obelisk, which tra-
dition reveres as Cicero's mausoleum, raised on the very spot where he
was assassinated, and where his faithful attendants immediately interred
his headless trunk. But there is no authentic historical account of Cicero's
obsequies and sepulchre. The above version of Elphinstone is indifferent.
Byi-on in a higher strain sings of the associations which are still attached
to the

Forum, where tb' immortal accents glow,
And still the eloquent air breathes — burns with Cicero !

XXXIV.

ATTEMPTED I^HIRDER OF MARIUS.

Cum post Teutonicos victor Libycosque triumphos
Exul limosa Marius caput abdidit ulva,
Stagna avidi texere soli, laxseque paludes
Depositum, Fortuna, tuum : mox vincula ferri
Exedere senem, longusque in carcere paedor.
Consul, et eversa felix moriturus in urbe
Poenas ante dabat scelerum. Mors ipsa refugit
Saepe virum, frustraque hosti est concessa potestas
Sanguinis invisi, primo qui casdis in ictu
Diriguit, ferrumque manu torpente remisit.

Yet to Minturnae's marsh the victor fled,
And hid in oozy flags his exil'd head.
The faithless soil the hunted chief reliev'd,
And sedgy waters fortune's pledge receiv'd.

58 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

Deep in a dungeon plung'd at length he lay,
Where gyves and rankling fetters eat their way,
And noisome vapours on his vitals prey.
Ordain'd at ease to die in wretched Rome,
He suffered then, for wickedness to come.
In vain his foes had arm'd the Cimbrian's hand,
Death will not always wait upon command ;
About to strike, the slave with horror shook.
The useless steel his loosening gripe forsook.

Marius was di'aggedout of the water covered with mud, and with a
rope round his neck was delivered up to the authorities of Minturnse. A
Cimbric soldier, who had engaged to put Marius to death, entered with
a drawn sword in his hand the cell in which Marius was confined. The
part of the cell in which Marius lay was in the shade, and to the. fright-
ened barbarian the eyes of Marius seemed to dart out fire, whilst from
the darkness a terrible voice shouted out, " Man ! dost thou dare to mur-
der Caius Marius ?" The barbarian immediately threw down his sword,
and rushed out of the prison, exclaiming, "I cannot kill Caius Marius."
It was after escaping from Minturnse, when Marius was again in peril of
his life at Carthage, that he uttered another memorable saying : " Tell
the Prsetor that you have seen Caius Marius sitting on the ruins of
Carthage."

XXXV.

IPHIGENEIA'S SACRIFICE.

(A)
Aulide quo paeto Trivial virginis aram
Iphianassai turparunt sanguine fede
Ductores Danaum delectei, prima virorum.
Cui simul infula, virgineos circumdata comtus,
Ex utraque pari malarum parte profusa est ;
Et nisestum simul ante aras astare parentem
Sensit, et hunc propter ferrum celare ministros,
Aspectuque suo lacrumas efFundere civeis ;
Muta raetu, terram, genibus summissa, petebat :
Nee miserae prodesse in tali tempore quibat,
Quod patrio princeps donarat nomine regera
Nam sublata virum manibus, tremebundaque, ad aras
Deducta est ; non ut, solenni more sacrorum

I.] REMARKABLE ACTIONS AND OCCURRENCES.

Perfecto, posset claro comitari hymenaeo ;
Sed, casta inceste, nubendi tempore in ipso,
Hostia concideret mactatu majsta parentis,
Exitus ut classi felix faustusque daretur.
Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum !

By that Diana's cruel altar flow'd
With innocent and royal vdrgin's blood :
Unhappy maid ! with sacred ribands bound,
Religion's pride ! and holy garlands crown'd ;
To meet an undeserv'd, untimely fate,
Led by the Grecian chiefs in pomp and state :
She saw her father by, whose tears did flow
In streams ; the only pity he could show.
She saw the crafty priest conceal the knife
From him, bless'd and prepar'd against her life !
She saw her citizens with weeping eyes
Unwillingly attend the sacrifice.
Then, dumb with grief, her tears did pity crave ;
But 'twas beyond her father's power to save.
In vain did inn'cence, youth, and beauty plead ;
In vain the first pledge of his nuptial bed :
She feU ; ev'n now grown ripe for bridal joy.
To bribe the gods, and buy a wind for Troy.
So died this innocent, this royal maid :
Such fiendish acts religion could persuade !

(B)

Stetit
Devota, feralique vitta

Cincta comam, — tacitis parentem

Lustrans ocellis, visa tamen loqui :
Haesitque prensans brachia parvulus
Patremque non certis Orestes
Vocibus, eloquioque balbo

Patrem vocavit : sed Genitor pedem
Tulisse retro dicitur, et caput
Velasse, coUectaque veste
Implicitos tenuisse vultus :

60 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

Lapsam sub aras scilicet haud potens
Nexamque flexo poplite virginem
Spectare, et eifusum cruorem
Crinibiis, immeritoque collo.

See how her near relations all lament
To lose a virgin fair and innocent.
The undermourners are so full of grief,
The painter 's puzzled to express the chief:
He finds the pencil is for this too frail,
And therefore o'er his eyes he casts a veil.
Thus wisely covering Agamemnon's face,
He turns the art's defect into a grace.

It is to be feared that Creech (immortalized for his want oi flowers of
speech) does not give an adequate notion of the beauties of Lucretius.
The second piece is from a Prize Poem of Dr Wordsworth. The English
verses annexed are to be found in Evelyn's Epigrams on Painting. They
have been selected, as well as Dr "Wordsworth's composition, with refer-
ence to the celebrated veiling of Agamemnon's face in Timanthe's picture,
celebrated by Cicero, Quintilian, Valerius Maximus, and Pliny the Elder.

The veiling of Agamemnon's face is disapproved of by Sir Joshua
Reynolds in his Eighth Discourse, but is vindicated with great ability by
FuseU, in his Lecture on Ancient Art. The Sacrifice of Iphigeneia is
treated of by uEschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Ennius, and Racine. The
circumstances under which Racine represents Agamemnon to have co-
vered his face, at a moment when two parties are on the point of
engaging in conflict, have not been considered so natural as those under
which the same cu'cumstance is introduced by Euripides :

Le triste Agamemnon qui n'ose I'avouer,

Pour detourner ses yeux des meurtres qu'il presage,

Ou pour cacher ses pleurs, s'est voile le visage.

Dr Wordsworth does not express all that was considered to be repre-
sented in Timanthe's picture, viz. the gradations of affection, from the
most remote to the closest link of humanity. It is related, that when
Lully was reproached with setting to music only the tame verses of
Quinault, he ran to his harpsichord, and, with an extemporary musical
accompaniment of unrivalled power, repeated the following lines from
Racine's Iphigeneia:

Un Pretre environne d'une foule cruelle
Portera sur ma fille une maine criminelle.
Dechirera son sein, et d'un ceil curieux
Dans son cceur palpitant consultera les Dieux.

I.] REMARKABLE ACTIONS AND OCCURRENCES. 61

XXXVI.

MARSEILLES' BISHOP. HIS CONDUCT DURING THE
PLAGUE.

Vitae qui Prsesul et auri
Prodigus, assidiiis animos et corpora curis
Siistinuit, mortem visus calcare metmnque,
Intrepido vadens per strata cadavera passu.

Profuse of life, and prodigal of gold,

The sacred pastor tends his sick'ning fold ;

Eepose of body and of mind disdains,

To calm their woes and mitigate their pains :

Bravely despises death and every fear,

With holy rites their drooping hearts to cheer ;

Vast heaps of dead without dismay he views,

And with firm step his generous way pursues.

The name of this bishop of Marseilles, thus commemorated by Van-
niere, was M. de Belsunce. The plague of Marseilles occurred in the
year 1720. When the plague ceased he was offered by the Regent of
France the richer and more honourable see of St Laon, in Picardy ; but
he refused it, saying, that he should be imwilling to leave a flock that
had been endeared to him by their sufferings. There is a picture in the
town-hall of Marseilles, in which the bishop is represented in his episcopal
habit, attended by his almoners, giving his benediction to the dying and
the dead that are at his feet. But his memory is, perhaps, more lastingly
perpetuated in the lines of Pope :

Why drew Marseilles' good bishop purer breath.
When nature sickened, and each gale was death ?

The following is a description of the plague of Marseilles, contained
in one of the good bishop's own letters to the bishop of Soissons.

"Never was desolation greater, nor was ever anything like this. There
have been many cruel plagues, but none was ever more cruel : to be sick
and dead was almost the same tiling. What a melancholy spectacle have
we on all sides ! we go into the streets full of dead bodies, half rotten
through, which we pass to come to a dying body, to excite him to an act
of contrition, and give him absolution. For about forty days together
the blessed sacrament was carried everywhere to all the sick, and the
extreme unction was given them with a zeal of which we have but few
examples. But the churches being infected with the stench of the dead

62 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

flung at the doors, we were obliged to leave oflF, and be content with con-
fessing the poor people. At present I have no more confessors. The two
communities of the Jesuits are quite disabled, to the reserve of one old
man of seventy-two years, who still goes about night and day, and visits
the hospitals. My secretary and another lie sick ; so that they have obhged
me to quit my palace, and retire to the fii-st President, who was so kind
as to lend me his house. We are desolate of all succour ; we have no
meat ; and whatsoever I could do going all about the town, I could not
meet with any that would undertake to distribute broth to the poor that
were in want. There is a great diminution," he adds, " of the mortality ;
and those that hold that the moon contributes to all this, are of opinion
that we owe this diminution to the decline of the moon. For my part, I
am convinced that we owe all this to the mercies of God, from whom
alone we must hope for reUef in the deplorable condition we have been
in so long a while."

It is a gratifying circimastance that England can boast of a rival of
Marseilles' good bishop in the Rev. William Mompesson, rector of Eyam
in Derbyshire. Four-fifths of the inhabitants of this once populous vil-
lage were destroyed in one summer by the plague. The church was
deserted, and a pulpit chosen in an adjacent rock. This pulpit of nature,
and the temporary bm'ial-place of the plague-stricken inhabitants, are still
visited among the curiosities of the Peak. Mr Mompesson's pious, cha-
ritable, and intrepid conduct during the plague, and his severer trials than
those of the bishop of Marseilles arising from the circumstance of having
a wife and children, are detailed in Hone's Every-Day Booh, Vol. m., and
the Gentleman's Magazine of Sept. 1801, and in a poem called The Deso-
lation of Eyam.

XXXVII.

HADRIANS PARTING ADDRESS TO HIS SOUL, WHEN DYLNG.

Animula ! vagula blandula,
Hospes, comesque corporis,
Qnae nunc abibis in loca ?
Pallidula, rigida, nudula.
Nee ut soles, dabis jocos.

Poor, little, pretty, fluttering thing,

Must we no longer live together ?

And dost thou prune thy trembling wing,

To take thy flight, thou know'st not whither ?

I.] REMARKABLE ACTIONS AND OCCURRENCES. 63

Thy humorous vem, thy pleasmg folly,

Lies all neglected, all forgot :

And pensive, wavering, melancholy,

Thou dread'st and hop'st thou know'st not what.

Ma petite ame, ma mignonne,

Tu ten va done, ma fille, et Dieu sache ovi tu vas :

Tu pars seulette, nue, et tremblotante, helas !

Que deviendra ton humeur folichonne !

Que deviendront tant de jolis ebats ?

The translations are from Prior, and Fontenelle. Lord Byron also
translated the lines, and there is a prose as well as a poetical translation
of them by Pope in one of his letters to Steele. Hadrian's verses are
closely connected with Pope's dying Christian, and as such they are
adverted to in four of Pope's letters, and in No. 532 of the Spectator.
Pope's Ode was written at the desire of Steele, who wanted a version of
Hadrian's lines for music ; and in a letter to him on that occasion. Pope
writes, " You have it, as Cowley calls it, just warm from the brain ; it
came to me the first moment I waked this morning ; yet you'll see it was
not so absolutely inspiration, but that I had in my head not only the verses
of Hadrian, but the fine fragment of Sappho." Warton notices a stanza
from which Pope probably, though, perhaps, without being conscious of
it, borrowed. It is in the works of Flatman, an obscm-e writer in the
time of Charles H., who appears to have had an eye on Hadrian :

When on my sick bed I languish
Full of sorrow, full of anguish,
Fainting, gasping, trembling, crying.
Panting, groaning, speechless, dying;
Methinks I hear some gentle spirit say,
Be not fearful, come away !

Pope was of opinion that the diminutive epithets with which Ha-
drian's address abounds were by no means expressions of levity and indif-
ference, but rather of endearment, of tenderness and concern.

G4 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

XXXVIII.

METAMORPHOSIS OF MATSYS.
Connubialis amor de Mulcibre fecit Apellem.
Matrimony made an ApeUes out of a Vulcan,

Evelyn, in his Epigrams on Painting, has the following verses upon
Matsys :

Since noise his mistress did offend,
To th' hammer- trade he puts an end.
And now does set himself to paint ;
An art more quiet and more quaint.
And doth by dint of love attain 't.
Venus has washed his Vulcan face,
And a clean pencil is his grace.

The Latin verse is the epitaph inscribed on the monument, in the
cathedral of Antwerp, of Matsys, the Flemish artist whose picture of
the Two Misers continues to draw admiration from visitors of Windsor
Castle.

Matsys followed the trade of a blacksmith till the age of twenty,
when he became enamoured of the daughter of a painter, who would not
consent to his daughter being married to any one but a painter. Matsys
obtained the hand of the fair one by exchanging his hammer for the
painter's brush, and became a principal ornament of the Flemish school.

XXXIX.

ST DUNSTAN.

Sic, ut Eoma refert, Sanctus Dunstanius olim
Candenti magnum prensavit forcipe nasum
Luciferi. Hie vasto prorumpit ab ore tenebras
Turbidus, inque atra livescunt sulphura nube.
Ter mugit, ter dira rudit, vocemque profundam
Cum gemitu attoUit ; ter frustra squallida regna
Eespondent Domino, planctumque retorquet Avernus
Stridet olens, fumatque ingens semiusta Proboscis.

I.] REMARKABLE ACTIONS AND OCCURRENCES. 65

Waked with this music from my silent urn,

Your patron Dunstan comes t' attend your turn.

Amphion and old Orpheus playino^ by,

To keep our forge in tuneful harmony.

These pontifical ornaments I wear,

Are types of rule and order all the year.

In these white robes none can a fault descry,

Since all have liberty as well as I :

Nor need you fear the shipwreck of your cause,

Your loss of charter, or the penal laws,

Indulgence granted by your bounteous prince

Makes for that loss too great a recompence.

This charm the Lernean Hydra will reclaim ;

Your patron shall the tameless rabble tame.

Of the proud Cham I scorn to be afear'd ;

I'll take the angry Sultan by the beard.

Nay, should the Devil intrude amongst your foes —
Devil What then ?
St D. Snap, thus, I have him by the nose !

The Latin is taken from a poem on a bull-bait in the Musce Angli-
cance. The English is from a Lord's Mayor's pageant, a. d. 1687. The
Lord Mayor, Sir John Shorter, belonged to the Goldsmith's Company.
St Dunstan was regarded as the tutelar saint of the company; the legend
being supposed to have originated in the circumstance that St Dunstan
was expert in goldsmith's work. Amphion, the gi'and Sultan, the Cham
of Tartary, and the Devil, were figures in the pageant. At the steps of
the prelatical throne were a goldsmith's forge and fmiiace. (For further
particulars of the pageant, see Hone's Every-Day Book, Vol. I. p. 674.)
The allusions to the forfeiture of the citVs charter, penal laws, and royal
declaration of indulgence, are interesting from the deep political im-
portance of these measures which are thus glanced at in this contem-
porary and popular civic exhibition. Southey, in his Book of the Chtrch,
dilates upon the miracles of St Dunstan. He mentions St Dunstan
having a forge at Glastonbuiy, at which he was accustomed to work in
gold and silver.

66 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

XL.

SIR THOMAS MORE'S RELATION OF A MONK THROWN
OVERBOARD TO LIGHTEN A SHIP OF A CREW'S SINS.

Cum tumida horrisonis insurgeret unda procellis,

Et maris in lassam ferveret ira ratem,
Religio timidis illabitur anxia nautis,

Heii parat, exclamant, hoc mala vita malum.
Vectores inter Monachus fuit, hujus in aurem

Se properant %itiis exonerare suis.
Ast ubi senserunt nihilo sibi mitius cequor,

Sed rapido puppim vix superesse freto :
Quid miri est, ait unus, aqua si vix ratis exstat,

Nostrorum seelerum pondere adhuc premitur.
Quin Monachum hunc, in quern culpas exhausimus omnes

Ejicite, et secum hinc erimina nostra ferat.
Dicta probant, rapiuntque virum, simul in mare torquent,

Et lintrem levins quam prius esse, ferunt.
Hinc, hinc quam gravis est peccati sarcina, disce,

Cujus non potuit pondera ferre ratis.

A ship being in extreme peril from a storm, the sailors
imputed their calamity to the weight of their sins. Accord-
ingly they all made confession to a Monk. But the storm
did not in the least abate, and the sailors thought their
destruction inevitable, until one of the crew suggested that
they should throw the INIonk overboard ; which was accord-
ingly done forthwith. The storm shortly afterwards abating,
the sailors believed that the ship had been lightened by
the accumulated weight of their sins being cast into the
sea at once in the person of the Monk.

The piece is curious as it displays Sir Thomas More's jocular vein ;
and shews that, although his head was stuck over London Bridge on
account of his attachment to the catholic faith, he had enjoyed merriment
at the expence of the Monks, and written with jocularity on the subject
of the Sacrament of Confession.

I.] REMARKABLE ACTIONS AND OCCURRENCES. 67

XLI.

THE MIRACLE AT CANA.

Uncle rubor vestris, et non sua purpura lymphis ?

Quo3 rosa mirantes tarn nova mutat aquas ?
Numen, Convivje, prsesens agnoscite Numen :

Nympha pudica Deum vidit, et erubuit.

When Christ, at Cana's feast, by pow'r divine
Inspir'd cold water with the warmth of wine,
See ! cried they, while in redd'ning tide it gush'd,
The bashful stream hath seen its God and blush'd.

The Latin is by Crawshaw, the English by Hill. Though the point
of this epigram may be classed among conceits, it is a very ingenious and
not an uninteresting specimen of the genus. The concluding line of the
version has all the force of the original, and is the better for discarding
the nymph. Sidney Smith, in his lectures, censvires the epigram for the
wit extinguishing its sublimity.

The following lines on the picture of the Marriage of Cana by Paul
Veronese, are in Evelyn's collection of poetical descriptions of pictures :

See an aspiring wit surmounting schools.

Above dull precepts and incumb'ring rules.

At this magnificent and famous feast

Every spectator is a kind of guest.

A great variety he soon descries

That entertains his thoughts, and feeds his eyes.

Most choice carnations, drapery well cast,

Truth, life, and motion, not to be surpast.

When we behold this noble piece we view

Paul's triumph and the pride of Painting too.
In an excellent sermon which the author heard at Cambridge when
the above was in the press, the preacher adverted to the applicability of
the mu-acle at Cana to some peculiarities of the present times. 1. As it
discountenanced the institution of monks and nuns, and the notions of
those fanatics, who, from religious scruples, shun all festive entertain-
ments. 2. As it was irreconcileable with the opinions of another set of
silly ones, who call themselves by the drivelling name of Tea-totallers.
3. In more immediate reference to the conversation between Jesus and
his mother, preliminary to the performance of the miracle, as it exposed
the absurdity and impiety of the Roman Catholic Breviary, and of the
bulls of the last and present Pope, wherein the Virgin Mary is spoken
of as a gate of heaven, a foundation of hope, an advocate, an intercessor,
and an inspirer.

5 — 2

CHAPTER 11.
BIOGRAPHY.

I.

LINACRE.

DuM Linacrus adit Mormos, patriosque Britannos

Artibus egregiis dives ab Italia,
Ingentem molem saxorum in rupibus altis

Congerit ad fauces, alte Gebenna, tuas,
rioribus hinc viridique struem dum fronde coronat,

Et sacer Assyrias pascitur ignis opes.
Hoc tibi, ait, INIater studiorum O sancta meorum,

Templum Linacrus dedicat, Italia !
Tu modo cui docta assurgant cum Pallade Athenae.

Hoc de me pretium sedulitatis habe.

When Linacre was on his return to his countrymen in
Britain with a mind enriched by the arts of Italy, he
erected a high column of stones on a mountain near the
gorge of the Mont de Cevennes. After strewing the erec-
tion with green leaves and flowers, and burning frankincense
upon it, he thus spoke. Italy ! this edifice is dedicated to
thee, O sacred Mother of my studies ! O thou who may'st
pride thyself on an Athens rising anew under the auspices
of Minerva, deign to accept this humble memorial of my
deep obligation for your fostering solicitude.

The verses are by James Vitalis : they may be thought a very curious
notice of Linacre, which is not commonly known. He was physician
to Henry VII., Hem*y VIII., Edward VI. and Mary, and was the founder
of the College of Physicians. He afterwards became a dignitary of the
Church. He undoubtedly, and the English nation through him, incurred
a debt of obligation to Italy, as well for a first acquaintance with the
ancient writers upon physic, as for imparting a taste for classical authors.

II.] BIOGRAPHY. 69

Linacre was one of the first promoters of Latin and Greek literature in
England. He was in Italy at the period when refugees from Constanti-
nople had begun to kindle an enthusiasm among the revivers of leai-ning
for the great writers of ancient Greece, a circumstance which is adverted
to in the text. He graduated at Padua, and, during his residence in
Italy, enjoyed the friendship of Lorenzo de Medici, Politian, and the
Greek exile Demetrius.

II.

DR PITCAIRN.

Invitation to a Ghost.

Lyndesi ! Stygias jamdudum vecte per undas,

Stagnaque Cocyti non adeunda mihi ;
Excute paiilisper Lethiei vincula somni,

Ut pereant animum carmina nostra tuum.
Te nobis, te redde tuis, promissa daturus

Gaudia ; sed proavo sis comitante redux ;
Namque novos homines mutataque regna videbis,

Passaque Teutonicas sceptra Britanna manus
Unus abest scelerum vindex Rhadamantus, amice,

Di faciant reditus sit comes ille tui.

Lindesay ! who now for some years past hast traversed
the river Styx, and hast preceded me in forming acquaint-
ance with the pools of Cocytus : — shake off for a while the
chains of Lethean slumber, that my verses may penetrate
and pervade your mind. — Return, I implore you; diffuse
those joys which you once promised to bestow after death.
But bring with you your ancestor so illustrious for loyalty
to the house of Stuart. — For when you come to earth you
will behold a new people, a new dynasty, the sceptre of
British kings wielded by a Dutchman. — Our nation has one
great desire, it is the presence of Rhadamanthus, the
punishing judge below, who alone can inflict ample ven-
geance on triumphant villany. — When you come to us, I
hope his infernal Majesty will permit Rhadamanthus to be
of your party.

70 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

Dr Pitcairn, the celebrated physician, when young, engaged with his
friend Lindesay (a descendant of Sir David Lindesay, the attached friend
of James V.) that whoever died first should pay a visit to his surviving
companion. It is related that soon after this compact Dr Pitcairn, at
his fathei-'s house in Fife, dreamed that Lindesay came to him, and told
him that he was not dead, as was commonly reported, but lived in a
very agreeable place, to which he could not yet carry him. In the course
of the next day, news came of Lindesay's death. Dr Pitcairn sometimes
related this extraordinary circumstance, and always with great emotion.
In most of Ms works published after the Revolution of 1688, he adverts
with great bitterness to that event, and in consequence of it, he left
Edinburgh, and accepted a Professor's chair at Leyden.

The following ancient ghost-stories are from Pliny : —

" The present recess from business we are now enjoying affords you
leisure to give, and me to receive instniction. I am extremely desirous
therefore to know your sentiments concerning spectres, whether you be-
lieve they have a real foi-m, and are a sort of divinities, or only the false
impressions of a terrified imagination ? What particularly inclines me
to give credit to theu- existence, is a story which I heard of Curtius Rufus.
When he was in low circumstances and unknown in the world, he at-
tended the governor of Africa into that province. One evening as he
was walking in the public portico, he was extremely sui'prised with the
figure of a woman which appeared to him, of a size and beauty more
than human. She told him she was the tutelar power that presided over
Africa, and was come to inform him of the future events of his life :
that he should go back to Rome, where he should be raised to the
highest honours, and return to that province invested with the procon-
sular dignity, and there should die. Accordingly every circumstance of
this prophecy was actually accomplished. It is said farther, that upon
his arrival at Carthage, as he was coming out of the ship, the same figure
accosted him upon the shore. It is certain, at least, that being seized
with a fit of illness, though there were no symptoms in his case that led
his attendants to despair, he instantly gave up all hope of recovery ;
judging, it should seem, of the truth of the future part of the prediction,
by that which had already been fulfilled, and of the misfortune which
threatened him, by the success which he had experienced. To this story
let me add another as remarkable as the former, but attended with cir-
cumstances of great horror; which I will give you exactly as it was
related to me. There was at Athens a large and spacious house, which
lay under the disrepute of being haunted. In the dead of the night a
noise, resembUng the clashing of iron, was frequently heard, which, if you
listened more attentively, sounded hke the rattling of chains ; at first it
seemed at a distance, but approached nearer by degrees ; immediately
afterward a spectre appeared in the form of an old man, extremely
meagre and ghastly, with a long beard and dishevelled hair, rattling the

II.] BIOGRAPHY. 71

chains on his feet and hands. The poor inhabitants in the meanwhile
passed their nights under the most dreadful terrors imaginable. This,
as it broke their rest, ruined their health, and tlirew them into distempers,
which, together with their horrors of mind, proved in the end fatal to
their lives. Even in the day-time, though the spirit did not appear, yet
the remembrance of it made such a strong impression upon then- imagina-
tions, that it stiU seemed before their eyes, and continually alarmed
them, though it was no longer present. By this means the house was at
last deserted, as being judged by every body to be absolutely uninha-
bitable ; so that it was now entirely abandoned to the ghost. However,
in hopes that some tenant might be found who was ignorant of this great
calamity which attended it, a bill was put up, giving notice that it was
either to be let or sold. It happened that Athenodorus the philosopher
came to Athens at this time, and reading the bill, enquired the price.
The extraordinary cheapness raised his suspicion ; nevertheless, when he
heard the whole story, he was so far from being discouraged, that he was
more strongly inclined to hire it, and, in short, actually did so. When it
grew towards evening, he ordered a couch to be prepared for him in the
fore-part of the house, and after calling for a light, together with his pen
and tablets, he directed all his people to retire. But that his mind might
not, for want of employment, be open to the vain terrors of imaginary
noises and spirits, he applied himself to writing with the utmost attention.
The first part of the night passed with usual silence, when at length the
chains began to rattle : however, he neither lifted up his eyes, nor laid
down his pen, but diverted his observation by pursuing his studies with
greater earnestness. The noise increased and advanced nearer, till it
seemed at the door, and at last in the chamber. He looked up and saw
the ghost exactly in the manner it had been described to him : it stood
before him, beckoning with the finger. Athenodorus made a sign with
his hand that it should wait a little, and thi-ew his eyes again upon his
papers ; but the ghost still rattling his chains in his ears, he looked up
and saw him beckoning as before. Upon this he immediately arose, and
with the light in his hand, followed it. The ghost slowly stalked along,
as if encumbered with his chains, and turning into the area of the house,
suddenly vanished. Athenodorus being thus deserted, made a mark with
some grass and leaves where the spirit left him. The next day he gave
information of this to the magistrates, and advised them to order that
spot to be dug up. This was accordingly done, and the skeleton of a
man in chains was there found ; for the body having lain a considerable
time in the ground, was putrefied and mouldered away from the fetters.
The bones being collected together were publicly buried, and thus after
the ghost was appeased by the proper ceremonies, the house was haunted
no more. This story I believe upon the credit of others ; what I am
going to mention I give you upon my own. I have a fi-eed-man named
Marcus, who is by no means ilUterate. One night as he and his yoimger
brother were lying together, he fancied he saw somebody upon his bed,

72 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

who took out a pair of scissors, and cut off the hair from the top part of
his head, and in the morning, it appeared the boy's hair was actually cut,
and the clippings lay scattered about the floor. A short time after this,
an event of the like nature contributed to give credit to the former story.
A young lad of my family was sleeping in his apartment with the rest of
his companions, when two persons clad in white came in (as he teUs the
story) through the windows, and cut off his hair as he lay, and as soon as
they had finished the operation, returned the same way they entered.
The next morning it was found that this boy had been served just as the
other, and with the very same circumstance of the hair spread about the
room. Nothing remarkable indeed followed these events, imless that I
escaped a prosecution, in which, if Domitian (during whose reign this
happened) had lived some time longer, I should certainly have been in-
volved. For after the death of that emperor, articles of impeachment
against me were found in his scrutoire, which had been exhibited by
Carus. It may therefore be conjectured, since it is customary for persons
under any public accusation to let their hair grow, this cutting off the hair
of my servants was a sign I should escape the imminent danger that
threatened me Let me desire you then maturely to consider this ques-
tion. The subject merits your examination ; as, I trust, I am not myself
altogether unworthy to participate of the abundance of your superior
knowledge. And though you should, with your usual scepticism, balance
between two opinions, yet I hope you will throw the weightier reasons on
one side, lest, whilst I consult you in order to have my doubts settled,
you should dismiss me in the same suspense and uncertainty that occa-
sioned tliis application. Farewell."

III.

DANTE.

Hie claudor Dantes, patriis extorris ab oris,
Quern genuit parvi Florentia mater Amoris.

Here Dante, whom the lovely Florence bore,
Lies buried, exil'd from his native shore.

The poet was buried at Ravenna. The Florentines often endeavoured
to recover his remains, especially during the pontificate of Leo X.
Michael Angelo offered to execute a monument for Dante, to be erected
at Florence; but the people of Ravenna always refused to part with a
memorial of the asylum which they had afforded to Dante when living.

II.] BIOGRAPHY. 73

The absence of the remains of Dante from the church of Santa Crocc is

thus beautifully noticed by Lord Byron :

Ungrateful Florence! Dante sleeps afar,
Like Scipio, buried by th' upbraiding shore ;
Thy factions in their worse than civil war
Proscrib'd the bard whose name for evermore
Their children's children would in vain adore
With the remorse of ages.

And Santa Croce wants their mighty dust ;
Yet for this want more noted, as of yore
The Caesar's pageant, shorn of Brutus' bust.
Did but of Rome's best son remind her more :
Happier Ravenna ! on thy hoary shore,
Fortress of falling empire ! honour'd sleeps
Th' immortal esile.

Michael Angelo, in a sonnet to Dante, says, that Heaven expanded its
lofty gates to the Bard to whom his native land refused to open hers.

IV.

MICHAEL ANGELO.

Inscriptions on his Monoient.

IVIichael Angelus Bonarotus, Nobilis Florentinus, An.
^t. suae Lxxi.

Qui sim, nomen habes. Satque est ; nam csetera cui non
Sunt nota, aut mentem non habet, aut oculos.

Reverse.
Quantum in natura ars, naturaque possit in arte,
BUc, qui naturae par fuit, arte doeet.

To Michael Angelo Bonaroto, — a noble Florentine, in
the seventy-first year of his age.

You are here told who I am, by name. It is enough —
not to know the rest is to want understanding, or to be
blind.

Reverse.

To what extent Art may avail Nature, and Nature
may avail Art, this Man, who rivalled nature by his art,
instructs us.

74 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

When in very advanced age INIichael Angelo one day met Cardinal
Famese among the ruins of the Coliseum, and told him that he should
not be surprised at an old man continuing to survey with earnestness the
remains of ancient art : for " I yet go to school, that I may continue to
learn something." And, in order to inculcate on young artists the neces-
sity of unabating attention to improvement, he invented a design of an
old man grouped with an hour-glass, and a child's go-cart, under which
he inscribed a motto, " I still go on learning." This was shortly before
M. Angelo's death, which occm-red a.d. 1562, when, as appears by the
inscription in the text, he had exceeded the Psalmist's limit of threescore
and ten. Sir Joshua Reynolds concludes his lectures by saying that the
last words he wished to utter in the Royal Academy were Michael Angelo.

V.

RAPHAEL.

Ille hie est Raphael. Timiiit, quo sospite, vinci
Rerum Magna Parens, et moriente, mori.

Living, Great Nature fear'd he might outvie
Her works, and, dying, fears herself may die.

Bembo's epitaph on Raphael, so closely copied by Pope, in his epi-
taph on Sir Godfrey Kneller, but without equal felicity with the Latin
of including the painter's name, was written by Cardinal Bembo, at the
request of Leo X. This Coryphaeus of painters died at the early age of
37, and was interred with great funeral ceremony in the Pantheon.
Warton has suggested a variation of the epitaph :

Here Raphael lies, by whose untimely end

Nature hath lost a Rival and a Friend.

It is mentioned in Spence's Anecdotes that Pope said to him : " I paid
Su- Godfrey Kneller a visit but two days before he died, and I think I
never saw a scene of so much vanity in my life. He was lying in his
bed, and contemplating the plan he had made for his own monument.
He said many gross things in relation to himself, and the memory he
should leave behind him. He said he should not like to lie among the
rascals at Westminster. A memorial there would be sufficient, and desired
me to write an epitaph for it. I did so afterwards ; and I think it is the
worst thing I ever wrote in my life." It would appear that Sir Godfrey
might not himself have deemed Pope's epitaph hyperbolical, if we may
credit the following anecdote.

" A night or two ago (said Sir Godfrey) I had a very odd sort of dream.

II.] BIOGRAPHY. 75

I dreamt that I was dead, and soon after found myself walking in a nar-
row path that led up between two hills, rising pretty equally on each side
of it. Before me I saw a door, and a great number of people about it.
I walked on toward them. — As I drew nearer, I could distinguish St Peter
by his keys, with some other of the Apostles ; they were admitting the
people as they came next the door. When I had joined the company, I
could see several seats, every way, at a little distance within the door.
As the first, after my coming up, approached for admittance, St Peter
asked his name, and then his religion. — I am a Roman Catholic, replied
the spirit. Go in then, says St Peter, and sit down on those seats there
on the right hand. The next was a Presbyterian : he was admitted too
after the usual questions, and ordered to sit down on the seats opposite to
the other. My turn came next, and as I approached, St Peter very civilly
asked me my name. I said it was Kneller. I had no sooner said so,
than St Luke (who was standing just by) turned towai'd me, and said,
with a great deal of sweetness — ' What ! the famous Sir Godfrey Knel-
ler, from England?' — ' The very same, sir, (says I) at your service.' — On
this St Luke immediately drew near to me, embraced me, and made me a
great many compliments on the art we had both followed in this world.
He entered so far into the subject, that he seemed almost to have forgot
the business for which I came thither. At last, however, he recollected
himself, and said ; ' I beg your pardon, Sir Godfrey ; I was so taken up
with the pleasure of conversing with you ! — But, apropos, pray, Sir, what
reUgion may you be of?' — 'Why truly, Sir, (says I) I am of no religion.' —
' O, Sir, (says he) you will be so good then as to go in and take your seat
where you please.' "

VI.

ANNIBAL CAEACCI.

Quod poteras hominum vivos effingere vultus
Annibal, heu cito mors invida te rapuit.

Finxisses utinam te, mors decepta sepulchro
Crederet effigiem, vivus et ipse fores.

Death envied, Annibal ! thy wondrous art,

Life to each human visage to impart.

Hadst thou thyself thy likeness but pourtray'd,

The Fates themselves a kind mistake had made,

Had merely placed thy semblance in the grave.

And pow'rs like thine, for once, been known to save !

76 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

It is said of Annibal Caracci, that when the conversation in which he
was engaged referred to any thing that could be made an object of the
pencil, he used to take a pencil to draw it, saying, that as poets paint by
words, so painters should speak by their pencils. His chief performance
was the frescoes in the Famesian Gallery. When Pope Paul III., at the
instigation of his jealous favourite Gioseppino, gave him no more than
two thousand crowns for his work, he drew an ass of a monstrous size,
magnificently accoutred, and decorated with the pontiff's arms: the
di'iver of this beast was proportionably large and tall, and represented to
the life the envious Gioseppino. One of his most distinguished pictures
is the Sleep of Jesus. The infant St John extends his hand to caress
Jesus, and is on the point of wakening him, when the Virgin admonishes
him by a sign not to distm'b the repose of her child. When Annibal
Caracci found his last hour approaching, he desired to be interred by
the side of Raphael

VII.

POUSSIN.

Parce piis lacrymis, vivit Pussinus in urna,
Vivere qui dederat, nescius ipse mori.

Hie tamen ipse silet ; si vis audire loquentem,
Mirum est ; in tabulis vivit et eloquitur.

Weep not for Poussin : he lives in the grave !
How can he die, who life to others gave ?
Yet there he 's silent, would you hear him speak ?
His voice in his impressive pictures seek.

Nicholas Poussin's great work was the seven pictures now in the
Louvre, representing the Seven Sacraments of the CathoUc Church. The
picture of Marriage is considered the most inferior of the set ; which
gave occasion to a bon-mot : " Qu'un bon mariage est difficile a faire
meme en peinture." He painted the Crucifixion, with several circum-
stances of horror which have not been noticed by any of the most
eminent painters. Some ghmpses of the moon are visible ft-om under a
black and Imid sky; and figures of the dead rise out of the ground,
which are seen by one of the soldiers, who, in an attitude of extreme
terror, draws his sword. Poussin's model was Domenichino.

II.] BIOGRAPHY. 77

VIII.
FRASCATORO.

Os Frascatorio nascenti defuit, ergo

Sedulus attenta finxit Apollo manu.
Inde hauri, Medicusque ingens, ingensque Poeta

Et magno facies omnia plena Deo.

Thine infant lips, Frascator, nature seal'd,
But the mute organ favouring Phoebus heal'd :
He broke the charm ; and hence to thee belong
The art of healing, and the power of song.

Frascatoro belonged to the first class of Italian scholars. He was
distinguished for his skill in medicine, as well as for Latin poetry. At
the time of his birth his lips adhered together in such a manner as scarcely
allowed him to breathe; but the defect was remedied by a surgical
operation. Scahger, in his critique on modern Latin poets, places Fras-
catorius at the head of the band. The Latin is by Scaliger, the English
by Roscoe. Frascatoro's merits are considered in Mr Hallam's History of
Modern Literature, and by Jortin. Dr Hodgson gives a pretty translation
from Frascatoro's extraordinary chef-d'oeuvre.

IX.

THE ANTIQUARY VAILLANT.

Cernitis ? hie Vir hie est spoliis Orientis onustus,
Eomanas et opes Argolicasque vehens —

Tot collecta mori cur non monumenta vetabunt.
Tot collecta vetat qui monumenta mori ?

Do you observe ? Here is a Man laden with the spoils
of the East, besides the treasures of Greece and of Rome.
— Surely so many collected antiquities will preserve from
oblivion one who preserved from oblivion so many col-
lected antiquities.

Vaillant was educated for the profession of Physic : but was induced
to make Antiquities the study of his life, from the circumstance of a col-
lection of old coins being accidentally found buried in a field belonging

78 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

to his father. His peculiar turn was that of illustrating ancient history
by coins and medals : in pursuit of these he visited Egypt, Greece, Persia,
and other foreign countries. In the course of his peregrinations he was
on one occasion captured by a corsair, and made a slave. After his re-
demption from captivity, he narrowly escaped a second corsair. On this
occasion he swallowed fifteen medals in order to prevent their falling
into the hands of the Algerines. His biographers state that they were all
ultimately recovered, though at considerable intervals, and that he dis-
posed of them all provisionally, until he was enabled to complete the
bargain.

X.

PARKYNS, THE WRESTLER.

Quern modo stravisti longo in certamine, Tempus,
Hie recubat Britonum clarus in orbe pugil.

Jam primum stratus ; prteter te vicerat omnes ;
De te etiam vietor, quando resurget, erit.

Here lies the famed British Wrestler, whom you, O
Time, after a long struggle, have laid low. He has never
been thrown down before ; he had overcome every one
but you ; and he will vanquish you when he rises again.

Concerning this memorable Wrestler and his books, there is a very
entertaining article in the eleventh volume of the Retrospective Review.
Parkyns' principal work was a treatise on the Cornish Hugg, or Inn-Play
Wrestling. He was a baronet, and the ancestor of a noble family, and
was educated under Dr Busby at Westminster. By Sir Isaac Newton's
invitation he attended that philosopher's lectures on the Laws of Motion
at Cambridge. In Parkyns' monument he is represented as standing in
his country-coat, and postured for a Cornish hug. On one side is a well-
limbed figm'e, lying above the scythe of Time, shewing that the wrestler
is in the pride of his youth. On the other side, is the same figure
stretched in his coffin, with Time standing, scythe in hand, triumphantly
over it ; whilst the sun is represented as just gone down, marking the de-
cline of life, and the fate even of the strong man. Parkyns himself
directed this monument, or " marble eflSgies of Sir Thomas Parkyns," as
he called it, to be put up in the chancel of his church, in his life-time,
in order, as he observes, that he might look upon it, and say, " What is
life?"

II. J BIOGRAPHY. 79

XI.

ARETINO.

Condit Aretini cineres lapis iste sepultos,

Mortales atro qui sale perfricuit.
Intactus Deus est illi ; causamque rogatus,

Hanc dedit : lUe quidem non milii notus erat.

Le temps, par qui tout se consume,
Sous cette tombe a mis le corps
De TAretin, de qui la plume
Blessa les vivans, et les morts.
Son encre noircit la memoire
De monarques, de qui la gloire
Est vivante apres le trepas :
Et s'il na pas contre Dieu meme
Vomi quelqu'horrible blaspheme,
C'est qu'il ne le connoissoit pas.

Francis I. presented Aretino with a chain of gold. Henry VIII. sent
him three hundred gold crowns. Charles V. allowed him a pension.
Julius III. by a papal bull appointed him a Cavaliere of the order of St
Pietro. He assumed the titles of 11 Divino, II Flagcllo de Prbicipi. His
portrait was painted by Titian ; and medals were struck of him repre-
senting him decorated with a chain of gold, and on the reverse, the
princes of Europe bringing him tributes. He was, however, the subject
of many personal attacks which made Boccalini call him " the loadstone
of clubs and daggers." He was killed by a fall from his chair in a fit
of laughter at the relation of some act of profligacy committed by his
sistei-s. Before death, however, he seized the opportunity of improvising
an Italian verse to the priest who was administering extreme unction, in-
dicatory of his fear that so much grease would di-aw upon him the rats.
(See various other curious anecdotes of Aretino, in Roscoe's Leo X.)

80 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

XII.

MIRANDOLA.

Johannes jacet hie Mirandola : csetera norunt
Et Tagus, et Ganges, forsan et Antipodes.

Here lies John Mirandola. The rest is known to the
Tagus, the Ganges, and, perhaps, to the Antipodes.

Pope parodied this epitaph in the following lines :
Here lies Lord Coningsby ; be civil :
The rest God knows — perhaps the Devil.

Spence relates that Pope said : " You know I love short inscriptions,
and that may be one reason why I like the epitaph of the Count of Mi-
randola so weU. Some time ago I made a parody of it for a man of a
very opposite character." The words "be civil," appear to be a botch,
such as not unfrequently occurs even in some of Pope's most finished
compositions, exemplifying the distich of Hudibras :
Rhymes the rudders are of verses.
By which, like ships, they steer their courses.

Mr Hallam, in his History of Literature, relates various particulars
concerning Picus of Mirandola, who was called the phoenix of his age.
and considers him a much superior and more wonderful person than
the fabulous Admirable Crichton, Picus of Mirandola died at the age
of 31, A.D. 1494.

XIII.

NERO.

Quis neget ^nesB magna de stirpe Neronem
Sustulit hie matrem : sustulit ille patrem.

Who will deny that Nero is descended from the pious
and renowned ^neas ? They both took off their parents,
the one from the flames, the other by the sword.

Suetonius relates that it was remarkable that the Emperor Nero bore
nothing more patiently than scurrilous language and railing ; and treated

II.] BIOGRAPHY. 81

none with more gentleness than such as traduced him by abusive reflec-
tions and lampoons. Many things of that kind were posted up in the
town, or otherwise spread among the people, both in Greek and Latin.
Suetonius gives several instances of these ancient Pasquinades. The
distich in the text is one of them. Among the remarkable sayings of
Romans, adverted to in a former page, is that of Agrippina, who when
she saw the assassins that were sent by her son to kill her, exclaimed,
" Strike my womb."

The lines in the text were applied to King William III. The imme-
diate occasion of them was the publication of Dryden's Virgil. The poet
was very indignant at Tonson his publisher (a keen Whig, and secretary
to the Kit-Cat Club) attempting to diive him into dedicating his trans-
lation of Virgil to King William; and, in a letter to his son Charles,
Dryden writes that Tonson had anticipated such a dedication by giving
-^neas a hooked nose in all the plates. Tonson's design of aggravating
^neas's nose out of comphment to William the III., was the subject of
the following epigram, taken from the model of the Pasquinade on Nero
in the text :

Old Jacob, by deep judgment swayed.
To please the wise beholders.

Has placed old Nassau's hook-nosed head
On poor Eneas' shoulders.

To make the parallel hold tack

Methinks there's little lacking;
One took liis father pick-a-pack,

And t' other sent him packing.

XIV.

SWIFT.

Vertiginosus, inops, surdus, male gratus amicis,
Non campana sonans, tonitru non ab Jove missum.
Quod mage mirandum, saltern si credere fas est,
Non clamosa meas mulier jam pereutit aures.

Deaf, giddy, helpless, left alone.
To all my friends a burden grown ;
No more I hear my church's bell,
Than if it rang out for my knell :

82 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

At thunder now no more I start,
Than at the rumbling of a cart.
Nay, what's incredible, alack !
I hardly hear a woman's clack.

The Latin and English verses are both by Swift. In the Countess of
Suifolk's Correspondence there are several letters addressed to that lady
by Swift, in which he alludes to his infirmities. In one letter, dated
19 Aug., 1727, when he was sixty years old, he writes:

"About two hours before you were born I got my giddiness by eating
a hundred golden pipping at a time at Richmond. And, when you were
four years and a quarter old bating two days, having made a fine seat,
about twenty miles further in Surrey, where I used to read and sleep,
there I got my deafness ; and these two friends have visited me, one or
the other, every year since, and being old acquaintance, have now thought
fit to come together. So much for the calamities wherein I have the
honour to resemble you : and you see your sufferings are but cliildren in
comparison of mine ; and yet, to shew my philosophy, I have been as
cheerful as Scarron."

XV.

WALLER AND SACHARISSA.

Arcadise juvenis Thirsis, Phcebique sacerdos
Ingenti frustra SacharisssB ardebat amore :
Haud Deus ipse olim Daphni majora canebat.
Nee fuit asperior Daphne, nee pulchrior ilia :
Carminibus Phoebo dignis premit ille fugacem
Per rupes, per saxa, volans per florida vates
Pascua ; formosam nunc his componere nympham,
Nunc illis crudelem insana mente solebat :
Audiit ilia procul miserum, citharamque sonantem,
Audiit, at nullis respexit mota querelis ;
Ne tamen omnino caneret desertus, ad alta
Sidera perculsi referunt nova carmina montes.
Sic non qusesitis cumulatus laudibus, olim
Elapsa reperit Daphni sua laurea Phoebus.

Thirsis, a youth of the inspired train.
Pair Sacharissa lov'd, but lov'd in vain :

II.] BIOGRAPHY. 83

Like Phoebus sung the no less amorous boy ;
Like Daphne she as lovely and as coy :
With numbers he the flying nymph pursues,
"With numbers such as Phcebus' self might use.
Such is the chase, when love and fancy leads,
O'er craggy mountains, and through flowery meads ;
Invoked to testify the lover's care,
Or form some image of his cruel fair :
Urg'd with his fury like a wounded deer,
O'er these he fled, and now approaching near,
Had reacht the nymph with his harmonious lay,
Whom all his charms could not incline to stay ;
Yet what he sung in his immortal strain,
Though unsuccessful, was not sung in vain :
All but the nymph that should redress his wrong,
Attend his passion, and approve his song.

Like Phoebus thus, acquiring unsought praise.
He catcht at Love, and fill'd his arm with Bays.

The Latin verses, it is believed, are an unique specimen of Waller's
composition in that language. The English version is also by Waller,
Sacharissa was the Lady Dorothea Sidney, eldest daughter of the Earl of
Leicester, who rejected Waller, and married the Earl of Sunderland.
Thirsis had another Arcadian sweetheart in his Amoret, or Lady Sophia
Murray. He thus begins a very pretty poem addressed to Amoret :

Fair, that you may truly know

What you unto Thirsis owe,

I will tell you how I do

Sacharissa love, and you.

Waller afterwards married a third sweetheart. It does not appear
that this lady gave birth to any of his pastorals ; but he had thirteen
children by her.

Clarendon mentions that Waller was nearly thirty years of age when
he began to write poetry, and that he was regarded as a "tenth muse."
Waller's smoothness has been immortalized by Pope ; and Dryden finds a
charm in his " turns of exjsression," beyond any merit of the same kind
that he could (hscover in other English authors. He goes so far as to
say that English numbers were in their nonage until the appeai'ance of
Waller : he must have closed his eyes to the full-blown beauties of
Spenser.

6 — 2

84 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

XVI.

CROMWELL, (BY LOCKE.)

Pax regit Augusti, quern vicit Julius orbem ;

lUe sago factus clarior, ille toga.
Hos sua Roma voeat magnos, et numina credit :

Hie quod sit mundi victor, et ille quies.
Tu bellum et pacem populis das, unus utrisque

Major es : ipse orbem vincis, et ipse regis.
Non hominem e ccelo missum te credimus, unus

Sic poteras binos qui superare Decs ?

A peaceful sway the great Augustus bore,
O'er what great Julius gain'd by arms before.
Julius was all with martial trophies crown'd,
Augustus for his peaceful arts renown'd.
Rome calls them great, and makes them deities ;
That for his valour, this for his policies.
Thou, mighty prince, than both art greater far.
Who rule in peace that world you gain'd in war.
You sure from heaven a perfect hero fell,
Who thus alone two pagan gods excel.

Locke wrote this epigram at Christchurch, to which college he repaired
in the year 1651, and whence he underwent that memorable expulsion
concerning which Mr Fox observes, that it indicated some instinctiye
sagacity in the government of the time, which pointed out to them, even
before he had made himself known to the world, the man who was de-
stined to be the most successful adversary of superstition and tyranny.
None of our Sovereigns have, like Cromwell, been honoured with poeti-
cal panegyrics by fom' such eminent authors as Milton, Dryden, Waller,
and Locke.

II.] BIOGRAPHY. 85

XVII.

JAMES II.

Qui prius augusta gestabat fronte coronam,

Exigua nunc pulvereus requiescit in urna.

Quid solium — quid et alta juvant ! terit omnia lethum.

Verum laus fidei ac morum haud peritura manebit.

Tu quoque, summe Deus, regem quern Regius Hospes

Infaustum excepit, tecum regnare jubebis.

In this narrow sepulchre, a heap of dust, lies one who
once wore a crown on his august brows. What is a throne
or royal dignity? Death levels all such distinctions.
Faith and virtue alone survive the grave. Hence thou,
Omnipotent God, wilst ordain that the unhappy monarch
to whom a French sovereign afforded refuge and hospi-
tality, shall reign with thee in thy heavenly kingdom.

This epitaph on the monument of James II. in the Chiu-ch of St Ger-
main, appears to have been substituted in the year 1824 for one inscribed
on it in 1814, by the directions of King George IV. It would seem that
the French did not approve of a George claiming the merit of doing
honour to the ashes of the abdicator, to the disparagement of a Louis
who fed him when alive and destitute. There is a prose inscription at
St Germains, in addition to the poetical one in the text. And there is a
third inscription in the chapel of the Scotch College at Paris, on a monu-
ment erected by the Duke of Perth, a.d. 1703. On the top of this monu-
ment stood an urn, containing the brains of James II. (see Collect. Topgr.
Vol. VII.)

XVIII.

MACHIAVEL.

Quisquis adis ; sacro flores et serta sepulchro
Adde puer, cineri debita dona ferens.

Nam veteres belli et pacis qui reddidit artes
Jampridem ignotas regibus et populis.

Etruscae Machiavellus honos et gloria lingusB
Hie jacet : hoc saxum non coluisse, nefas.

86 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

Wlioever thou be that approachest, bring chaplets of
flowers and funeral gifts to the ashes which this sepulchre
contains. For they are the remains of one who restored
the ancient arts of war and peace, which had long fallen
into oblivion among kings and nations. It is Machiavel
that lies here, the glory and honour of the Tuscan lan-
guage. Not to pay reverence to this stone, is to commit
a sacrilege.

Few names have been so universally reprobated as that of Machiavel.
And Mr Hallam, in his History of Literature, adventures, perhaps not
altogether successfully, to palliate the perfidious doctrines inculcated in
Machiavel's treatise called The Prince. Mr Hallam points out the histo-
rical and political treasures that abound in Machiavel's works, and con-
siders his style eminent for " simplicity, strength, and clearness." He
places Machiavel at the head of the prose writers of Italy. The epitaph
is by Antonius Vacca. Butler, in all the editions of his Hudibras pub-
lished in his lifetime, very erroneously attributes the origin of the appel-
lation Old Nic (a Saxon deity) to Nic. Machiavel ; though he may have
been more correct in assigning the palm of deceit to spiritual impostors.
« Nick Machiavel had never a trick

(Though he gave his name to our Old Nick)

But was below the least of these

That pass in the world for holiness.

XIX.

ASCHAM.

(A)

Aschamum extinctum patriae Graiaeque Camcenae

Et Latise vera cum pietate dolent.
Principibus \'ixit charus, jucundus amicis

Re modica; in mores dicere fama nequit.

His country's muses join with those of Greece
And mighty Rome, to mourn the fate of Ascham;
Dear to his prince, and valued by his friends,
Content with humble views through life he pass'd.
While envy's self ne'er dared to blast his fame.

II.] BIOGRAPHY, 87

(B)

Non minus est arcu quam lingua clarus utraque
Sic ornat patriam, sic juvat ille suam.

He is equally distinguished by his bow, and by his
knowledge of the Greek and Latin tongues. It is thus
he edijfies, thus he delights his country.

The first epitaph is by Buchanan ; the English version is by the trans-
lators of Bayle. Of Ascham's Greek there is a well-known testimony of
a most interesting kind regarding liis interview with Lady Jane Grey at
Broadgate, where she was reading Plato, whilst the rest of the company
were hunting in the park. Ascham's introduction to his treatise called
The Schoolmaster, though less known, is scarcely less interesting. He
was to read an oration of Demosthenes against ^schines to Queen Eliza-
beth at Windsor, during the plague in London. Previous to his lecture, he
dined with Lord Bui'leigh and the ministers of state composing the Queen's
court, and he relates the conversation that arose relative to an occm'rence
which one of the party had learned the same morning, of some Eton
boys running away from school, to avoid whipping. Ascham's Toxophikis,
or treatise on Archery, is represented by him to be " pleasant for gentle-
men and yeomen of England for their pastime to read, and profitable for
their use to follow both in war and peace." The work contains an
exalted encomium upon an animal more highly venerated by the Romans
than the moderns, a Goose.

XX.

SILIUS ITALICUS, HIS PIOUS CARES FOR THE MEMORIES
OF VIRGIL AND CICERO.

(A)
Silius hrec magni celebrat monumenta Maronis,

Jugera facundi qui Ciceronis habet.
Heredem dominumque sui tumulive Larisve

Non alium mallet, nee Maro, nee Cicero.

Silius pays funeral obsequies at Maro's tomb, and is
the possessor of Cicero's farm. Surely neither Virgil nor
Cicero would have preferred any individual now alive for
the guardian of their lares or their sepulchres.

88 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Cn.

(B)
Jam prope desertos cineres, et sancta Maronis

Nomina qui coleret pauper, et unus erat.
Silius optatae succurrere censuit umbrae,

Silius et vatem, non minor ipse, tulit.

To honour Maro's bust and sacred shade,
One swain remain'd, deserted, poor, alone ;

Till Silius came his pious toils to aid,

In homage to a name scarce greater than his own.

Silius purchased an estate which had been the Academy of Cicero,
where that orator and philosopher composed his dialogue De Fato; and
also a villa at Naples in which Virgil had formerly lived, and was adja-
cent to liis tomb. Martial's epigrams in the text have been pressed into
the controversy concerning the authenticity of the site commonly as-
signed to Virgil's tomb, which mainly depends on the interpretation to
be given to a passage in Statius's description of the Bay of Naples (see
Addison's Travels in Italy, and Eustace's Classical Tour). A laurel, sup-
posed to have been planted by Petrarch near Virgil's tomb, has often
been celebrated in poetry. Niebuhr writes that he visited the tomb as a
pilgrim, and retained a branch of the celebrated lam'el as a sacred relic.
De LiUe's enthusiasm for the memory of Virgil is in accordance with that
of Silius.

Helas! Je n'ai point vu ce sejour enchante,
Ces beaux heux ou Virgile a tant de fois chante.
Mais, j'en jure et Virgile, et ses accords sublimes,
J'irai : de I'Appennin je franchirais les cimes.
J'irai, plein de son nom, plein de ces vers sacres,
Les lire aux memos lieux qui les ont inspire.

An epitaph on the poet Sannazano (Sincerus) indicates that he was
buried close to Virgil's tomb :

Da sacro cineri flores, hie Hie Maronis
Sincerus musa proximus, et tumulo.

Upon thy sacred dust be flow'rets spread.

He simg like Maro once, he rests near Maro dead.

Silius, in his epic poem, expresses a beautiful eulogy on Virgil, where
he introduces the shade of the future poet to Scipio in the infernal
regions. There is a very interesting letter by Pliny concerning SiUus.
Pliny wi-ites, that at the age of seventy-five, Silius starved himself to
death, in consequence of being afflicted with an imposthiune, which was
deemed incurable : and among other circumstances of his life, notices that
Silius had " several villas furnished with large collections of books, statues.

II.] BIOGRAPHY. 89

and pictures, which he more than enjoyed, he even adored ; particularly
the statue of Virgil, of whom ho was so passionate an admirer, that he
celebrated the anniversary of that poet's birth-day with more solemnity
than his own ; especially at Naples, where he used to approach his tomb
with as much reverence as if it had been a temple."

The works of Silius Italicus were discovered by Poggius during the
sitting of the Council of Constance, at the bottom of a tower in the
monastery of St Gal, situate about twenty miles from Constance; the
works of Quintilian and Valerius Flaccus were discovered at the same
place on the same occasion.

XXI.

LUCAN.

(A)
Hsec est ilia dies, quse magni conscia partus,

Lucanum populis, et tibi, Polla, dedit.
Heu ! Nero crudelis, nullaque invisior umbra :

Debuit hoc saltern non licuisse tibi.

This is the Day, known by its mighty birth.
Which Lucan gave to thee, and to the Earth.
O cruel Prince ! more cursed in no decree,
This, at least, was not la^vful unto thee.

(B)

Vatis Apollonei magno memorabilis ortu
Lux redit, Aonidum turba favete sacris !

Hsec meruit, cum te terris, Lucane, dedisset,
Mixtus Castalife Boetis ut esset aquae.

The Day memorable for the illustrious birth of Apollo's
Bard is returned. Hark, in silence, to the solemn rites of
the Muses upon that auspicious event ! Surely the river
Boetis, which gave you, Lucan, to the world, merits to be
conjoined in everlasting fame with the waters of Castaha.

The expression, " This act at least ought not to have been within the
scope of your power," seems to have reference to a memorable saying of

90 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

Nero, That no emperor before him had been aware of the extent of his
own power. With regard to the river Boetis, it is remarkable how many
reputed Roman writers of eminence were, in fact, foreigners to Rome.
Lucan, Martial, Silius, and Seneca, were Spaniards. Terence, extoUed
by Julius Csesar for the purity of liis style, was an African,

There is extant an elaborate birth-day Ode on Lucan, by Statins.
These tributes to departed genius are the more interesting as indicating
a practice of keeping alive the memory of that poet by celebrating his
birth-day with " incense kindled at the Muses' flame." Statins concludes
his poem with an apostrophe to Lucan in the Elysian fields, accompanied
by Pompey, Cato, and the Pharsalian heroes, whence he beholds Nero
at a distance in Tartanis, struck with terror by the avenging ghost of his
mother. The poet admonishes PoUa that the time is come when her
very tears may be mingled with sweetness, and her sorrow with festivity,
for the husband whom she had lamented it was now permitted her to
adore.

The great stain of Lucan's character is that mentioned by Tacitus, of his
having impeached his own mother in an attempt to screen himself from
the consequences of a conspiracy in which he had been detected. Tacitus
contrasts this and similar acts of perfidy by other conspirators, with the
memorable example of fortitude and magnanimity exhibited on the same
occasion and under the same circumstances, by a woman of the name of
Epicharis (Tac. Ann. Lib. xv. s. 56, 57). She was put to the torture, but
neither stripes nor fii-e could extort a word from her to inculpate any one.
On the second day the executioners wei'e conveying her again to the
place of torture, though her limbs were rent and dislocated ; but she
took from her breast the girdle that braced her gai'ment, and having fas-
tened one end of it, made a noose for her neck, and throwing herself
from her seat, hung suspended with the whole weight of her body : in her
mangled condition the remains of life were soon extinguished. Tacitus
relates that, " the famous poet Lucan," when the blood flowed freely from
him, and the vital heat had left his hands and feet, repeated the lines, in
his own poem, which describe a soldier dying in the same condition. His
own verses were the last words he uttered. Some think the description
of Lycidas at the point of death, in the third book of the Pharsalia
(v. 635), were the lines Lucan repeated. Others contend for the four
lines in the ninth book (v. 811).

Lucan died at the early age of twenty-seven. His works are excluded
from the Delphin Classics, apparently in consequence of their Republican
tendency. Blau* observes that "Lucan's sentiments are so high, and
his fire, on occasions, so great, as to atone for many of his defects ; and
that passages may be produced from him which are inferior to none in
any poet whatever." Racine used to call Lucan "Virgil ivre;" but Cor-
neille preferred him to Virgil. Mr Hallam, in his History of Literature,
observes that " Lucan was the favourite study of Comeille, and that no
reader can admu*e the one who has not a strong relish for the other."

II.] BIOGRAPHY. 91

Voltaire iu panegyrizing the actress Clairon, writes, in allusion to Cor-
neille's imitations of Lucan's Roman characters :

Corneille, ce peinteui- des Remains majestueux,
T'aurait vue aussi noble, aussi JRomaine, qu'eux.
Lucan is made a redoubtable champion in Swift's Battle of the Books,
and he is conspicuous in Strada's celebrated Prolusion, of which a descrip-
tion is given in the Guardian. That prolusion is described in Numbers
115, 119, and 122. It represents a pageant on the Tiber for the amuse-
ment of Leo X., consisting of a floating mountain, made to resemble
Parnassus. Lucan and other celebrated Roman poets are introduced, and
recite compositions in imitation of the pecuharities of their poetic talents.
The exclamations and remarks of the audience, are, in fact, a lively form
of Uterary criticism. Lucan is made to rear higher upon Pegasus than
any of the other poets, but the bystanders are in constant alarm lest he
should sHde off the horse's back. An ancient inscription, purporting to
have been dictated by Nero himself in honour of Lucan, is, if it be genu-
ine, a very curious memorial :

M. Annseo . Lucano . Cordubensi . Poetse.
Beneficio . Neronis . Fama . Servata.

XXII.

LEO X.
(A)
Deliciae humani generis, Leo Maxim e, tecum
Ut simul illuxere, interiere simul.

The refined pleasures of the human race, Great Leo,
as they first came to light with you, so with you they are
extinguished.

(B)

Sseva sub extrema si forte requiritis hora
Cur Leo non potuit sumere, vendiderat.

Leon sans sacramens expire.
Comment les auroit-il recus ?
Avant sa mort le JMaitre Sire
Des long-tems les avoit vendus.

92 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

The first epigram was inscribed on Leo's tomb in the church of the
Vatican. There are numerous Latin epigrams by contemporary poets,
both laudatory and condemnatory of Leo. His name (Leo, a Lion), as
well as that of his mother, who was of the Orsini family (Ursa, a Bear),
gave occasion to very extensive poetical punning. Perhaps there is no
poetical encomium extant by which Leo would have preferred being
recommended to posterity than by Pope's:

But see each muse, in Leo's golden days.
Starts from her trance, and trims her wither'd bays.
Rome's ancient genius o'er its ruins spread
Shakes off the dust, and rears his reverend head.
Then sculpture and her sister arts revive,
Stones leap'd to form, and rocks began to live.
With sweeter notes each rising temple rung,
A Raphael painted, and a Vida sung.

The sale of Indulgences by Leo, as it gave occasion to the first efforts
of Luther which ultimately led to the establishment of the Protestant
Reformation, impart an historical importance to the second epigram.
Roscoe mentions the current report that Leo's last illness was so sudden
that there was not time to administer to him the sacrament of extreme
unction. There is a curious complimentary poem addressed to Leo by
Valeriani, not noticed by Roscoe, from which it appears, by a particular
description of the poet, that there was then at Rome a monster vei-y simi-
lar to that of the Siamese Twins. This the poet compares to the opposi-
tion Council then sitting at Lyons, which had been assembled at the insti-
gation of the Spanish Cardinal Carvajal, and for the purpose of overruling
which the Lateran Council was convened at Rome. Valeriani insists that
the imbeciUty of the monstrous union of a Gallo-Spanish assembly^ is
indicated by the monstrous twin-birth of which both the parts were
infirm and unhealthy ; and which was also prophetic of the Pope, in his
capacity of lion, destroying every kind of monster.

The tkree memorable papacies of Alexander VI., Julius II., and

Leo X., have been described in a manner that will remind the reader

of Dryden's Secular Masque, and Addison's Mythology of English Kings :

Olim habuit Cypris sua tempera; tempera Mavors

Olim habuit ; sua nunc tempera Pallas habet.

Once Venus ruled, next Mars usurp'd the throne,
Now Pallas calls these favour'd seats her own.

II.] BIOGRAPHY. .93

XXIII.
POPE ALEXANDER VI.

Vendit Alexander elaves, altaria, Christum.

Emerat ille prius ; vendere jure potest.
De \atio in vitium, de flamma transit in ignem :

Koma sub Hispano deperit imperio.
Sextus Tarquinius, Sextus Nero, Sextus et Iste :

Semper sub Sextis perdita Roma fuit.

Alexander exposed for sale the Keys, the Communion,
Christ himself. A Purchaser of the Papal See, no marvel
that he should sell what he had bought. — Tarquin was the
Sixth King ; Nero the Sixth Emperor; so our Pope assumes
the title of the Sixth — Rome has always been ruined by
Sixths.

This is one of the earliest instances of Pasquinades. Pasquin was a
tailor, whose shop was the resort of a set of persons who used to banter
those who passed by it (as the Greeks were accustomed to do from the
pubUc bridges). After Pasquin's death, a mutilated statue, supposed to
be the torso of Menelaus, was dug up near his shop, and was again erected
where it was found. People called it the statue of Pasquin : and it was
considered allowable to stick upon it any libel against any body. In
these libels Pasquin was often made to address another statue called
Manforio, which replied in a manner equally scm-rilous. This conver-
sation between statues has been imitated by Andrew Marvel and by Swift.
The following is a Pasquinade on Pope Pius VI., whose aims were a
double-headied eagle, two stars, a lily, and a boy blowing its leaves.

Redde aquilam imperio, Gallorum lilia regi,
Sidera redde polo, csetera sume tibi.

Give the eagles back to the Emperor, the stars to the sky, the lilies to
the French king, and keep the puff for yourself.

Adrian VI. ordered Pasquin's statue to be thrown into the Tiber, but
revoked the fallible order.

Alexander purchased the Papacy by such open bribes, that he sent
four mules laden with silver to one cardinal, and presented another with
five thousand gold crowns ; of twenty cardinals, only five were not
bought. The mules laden with silver may remind the reader not only
of Pope Alexander, but of Al€a;ander Pope's " bulky bribes" and " en-
cumbered villany," for which Paper Credit is a modem substitute. The
character of Pope Alexander is thus drawn by Roscoe.

94 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

"Were we to place implicit confidence in the Italian historians, no
period of society has exliibited a character of darker deformity than that
of Alexander VI. Inordinate in his ambition, insatiable in his avarice
and his lust, inexorable in his cruelty, and boundless in his rapacity;
almost eveiy crime that can disgrace humanity is attributed to him with-
out hesitation, by writers whose works are published under the sanction
of the Roman church. He is also accused of having intx'oduced into his
territories the detestable practice of searching for state offences by means
of secret informers ; a system fatal to the liberty and happiness of every
country that has submitted to such a degradation. As a pontiff, he
perverted his high office by making his spu'itual power on every occa-
sion subservient to his temporal interests; and he might have adopted
as his emblem that of the ancient Jupiter, which exhibits the lightning in
the grasp of a ferocious eagle. His vices as an individual, although not
so injurious to the world, are represented as yet more disgusting; and the
records of his court afford repeated instances of a depravity of morals,
inexcusable in any station, but abominable in one of his high rank and
sacred office. Yet, with all these lamentable defects, justice requires that
two particulars in his favour should be noticed. In the fii*st place, what-
ever have been his crimes, there can be no doubt but they have been
highly overcharged. That he was devoted to the aggi-andizement of his
family, and that he employed the authority of his elevated station to
establish a permanent dominion in Italy in the person of his son, cannot
be doubted ; but when almost all the sovereigns of Europe were attempt-
ing to gratify their ambition by means equally criminal, it seems unjust
to brand the character of Alexander with any peculiar and extraordinary
shai-e of infamy in this respect. Whilst Louis of France and Ferdinand
of Spain conspired together to seize upon and divide the kingdom of
Naples, by an example of treachery that never can be sufficiently exe-
crated, Alexander might surely think himself justified in suppressing the
turbulent barons, who had for ages rent the dominions of the church
with intestine wars, and in subjugating the petty sovereigns of Romagna,
over whom he had an acknowledged supremacy, and who had in general
acquired their dominions by means as unjustifiable as those which he
adopted against them."

Sannazarius and Guido Posthumo in their Latin verses, especially their
epitaphs on Alexander VI., have loaded the memory of that Pope with
accusations of almost every conceivable crime against society, nature,
and religion. He is reputed to have died by poison which he took by
mistake, but which he had prepared for the supper of a large company of
cardinals.

II.] BIOGRAPHY. 95

XXIV.

C^SAR BORGIA.

Qui moclo prostrates jactarat cornibus Ursos,

In latebras Taurus concitus ecce fugit.
Nee latebras putat esse satis sibi ; Tibride toto

Cingitur, et notis vix bene fidit aquis.
Terruerat montes mugitibus ; obvia nunc est,

Et facilis cuivis prgeda sine arte capi.
Sed tamen id magnum ; nuper potuisse vel Ursos

Sternere, nunc omnes posse timere feras.
Ne tibi, Roma, novje desint spectacula Pompse ;

Ampliitheatrales reddit arena jocos.

The Bull (Caesar Borgia) who lately tossed the van-
quished bears, (the Orsini family and their adherents) be-
hold, now flies into hiding-places : confines himself within
the limits of the Tiber, and scarcely deems himself safe
under its protection! Lest Rome should want a novel
spectacle for the amusement of its inhabitants, here is an
arena in which are exhibited the games of the ancient am-
phitheatres.

A few days after the election of Pius III. who succeeded Alexander VI.,
Csesar Borgia repaired to Rome, when finding himself in imminent danger
from the troops of the Orsini, he retreated to the castle of St Angelo.
This event is commemorated by Sannazaro in the above lines. As Machi-
avelli observes, the contests of that period may be regarded by posterity
as a combat of wild beasts, in which the strongest and most ferocious
animal destroys the rest. After much research among the EngMsh hves
of Ceesar Borgia for the origin of the appellation, the Bull, as applied to
him, the author was referred by ^Mr Hall, the intelligent librarian of the
Athenaeum, to a passage in Tomasi's Delia Vita, Del Duca Valentino,
whereby it appears that Borgia acquired celebrity by cutting oflF, with
one blow of a sword, the neck of a bull : the circumstance is also adverted
to in Dumas's Celebrated Crimes.

The character of Caesar Borgia is thus drawn by Mr Roscoe.

" Of this extraordinary character it may with truth be observed, that
liis activity, courage, and perseverance, were equal to the greatest at-
tempts. In the pursuit of his object he overlooked or overleaped all
other considerations : when force was ineffectual he resorted to fraud ;

96 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

and whether he thundered in open hostiHty at the gates of a city, or
endeavoui'ed to effect his purpose by negotiation and treachery, he was
equally u-resistible. If we may confide in the narrative of Guicciardini,
cruelty, rapine, injustice, and lust, are only particular features in the
composition of this monster; yet it is difficult to conceive that a man so
totally unredeemed by a single virtue, should have been enabled to main-
tain himself at the head of a powerful army ; to engage in so eminent a
degree the favoui' of the people conquered ; to form alliances with the
first sovereigns of Europe; to destroy or overtui-n the most powerful
families of Italy, and to lay the foundations of a dominion, of which it is
acknowledged that the short duration is to be attributed rather to his ill-
fortune and the treachery of others, than either to his errors or his
crimes. If, however, he has been too indiscriminately condemned by one
historian, he has in another met with as zealous and as powerful an enco-
miast, and the maxims of the poUtician are only the faithful record of the
transactions of his hero. On the principles of Machiavelli, Borgia was
the greatest man of the age. Nor was he, in fact, without qualities
which in some degree compensated for his demerits. Courageous, mu-
nificent, eloquent, and accomplished in all the exercises of arts and arms,
he raised an admu-ation of his endowments which kept pace with, and
counterbalanced the abhorrence excited by his crimes. That even these
crimes have been exaggerated, is highly probable. His enemies were
numerous, and the certainty of his guilt in some instances gave credibility
to every imputation that could be devised against him. That he retained,
even after he had survived his prosperity, no inconsiderable share of
public estimation, is evident from the fidehty and attachment shown to
him on many occasions. After his death, his memory and achievements
were celebrated by one of the most elegant Latin poets that Italy has
produced. . The language of poetry is not, indeed, always that of truth ;
but we may at least give credit to the account of the personal accomplish-
ments and warlike talents of Borgia ; although we may indignantly reject
the spurious praise, which places him among the heroes of antiquity, and
at the summit of fame."

Csesar Borgia lost all the dominions which he had acquired by treachery,
poison, fratricide, and slaughter. He was conveyed as a prisoner out of
Italy into Spain : he escaped indeed, but only to engage in the service of
the king of Navarre, and in that service to die by a "petty fortress and a
dubious hand." He has ac^ornec^ many toZes, besides operas; and our poet
Pope, as well as many other writers, has pointed a moral with his name :

If plagues or earthquakes break not Heaven's design.

Why then a Borgia, or a Catiline ?

IL] BIOGRAPHY. 97

XXV.

LUCRETIA BORGIA.

Teque meum venero, Ccelestis Borgia, Sydus,

Qua nullum Hesperio purius orbe micat.
Tu mihi carmen eris, tu lucida callis ad astra,

Qua niveas animas lactens orbis habet.
Adsertae superis, Juno, Pallasque, Venusque,

Juno opibus, Pallas moribus, ore Venus.
Regna tibi meliora, animique nitentior ardor,

Plusque tua igniferi forma vigoris habet.
Quis neget his coelum meritis ?

Celestial Borgia ! Thee I venerate as the brightest
Star that illumines the nations of the West. You are the
theme of my Muse, you my conductress to those starry
regions, where the purest spirits revel in the glories of the
milky way. If Juno find a seat in Olympus from her power,
Pallas from her wisdom, Venus from her beauty — surely
Lucretia may challenge a right to the celestial abodes,
from her combined pretensions of eminent power, brilliant
intellect, and a form which kindles love more intensely than
the flambeau of Cupid.

Many similar poems by Strozza eulogistic of Lucretia Borgia, the
daughter of Pope Alexander VI., the sister of Caesar Borgia, are encoun-
tered by verses of Sannazaro and other poets imputing to her the most
horrible vices and crimes. A dissertation on the character of this remark-
able woman, whose name occupies a considerable space in the early his-
tory of Italy, will be found appended to Roscoe's Life of Leo X. It is a
vindication of the character of Lucretia against a cloud of alleged calum-
niators both popish and protestant, including the discriminating Gibbon.
Indeed, if the author of the Historic Douhts had reason to complain of
misrepresentations and pei-versions which have prejudiced the pubUc
mind against Iving Richard III., those imputations are light as air in com-
parison of the horrible enormities which in vulgar belief are associated
with the name of Lucretia Borgia.

98 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

XXVI.

LUTHER.

(A)
Roma orbem clomuit, Romam sibi Papa subegit,

Viribiis ilia suis, fraudibus iste suis :
Quanto isto major Lutherus, major et ilia,

Istum, illamque uno qui domuit calamo !
I, nunc, Alciden memorato Grsecia mendax :

Lutheri ad calamum ferrea clava nihil.

Rome once subdued the world by war,

By art the Pope crushed her again :
One Monk excels them both by far,

For both were vanquished by his pen !
Go now, thou fabling Greece, and boast no longer

Alcides' club — for Luther's quill is stronger.

(B)
Occidit omnigena venerandus laude Lutherus,

Qui Christum docuit non dubitante fide.
Ereptum deflet vero hunc Ecclesia luctu,

Cujus erat doctor, verius, imo, pater.
Occidit Israel praestans auriga Lutherus,

Quem mecum sanus lugeat omnis homo.
Nunc luctumque suum lachrymose carmine prodat,

Hoc etenim orbatos flere, dolere decet.

Luther ! illustrious name, is now no more ; —
Let the true Church with streaming eyes deplore
A Teacher firm in faith, — nay, rather say
A Father from his childi'cn snatch'd away.
Luther is gone — The Pilot of our course :
O let the tearful Muse his name rehearse I
Let all the pious join with me to mourn,
Orphans should thus bedew a father's urn.

The first Latin Epigram is by Beza, and the latter by Melancthon.
The translations are from Lawson's autobiography of Luther. He gives

II.] BIOGRAPHY. 99

three translations of the first Epigram : but he has omitted, without
apparently being conscious of the metrical anomaly, the last line but one
of Melancthon's Epigram. Melaucthon pronounced the funeral Oration
upon Luther in the same church of Wittenberg where his remains now lie
by the side of those of his illustrious friend. A translation of Melanc-
thon's eloge is given by Dr Cox in his Life of Melancthon.

In a square at Wittenberg stands a statue in bronze of Luther, erected
in 1821 by a Prussian artist. It represents in colossal proportions the
full-length figure of Luther in the simple drapery of the reformed clergy :
he supports on his left-hand the Bible, kept open by the right hand rest-
ing on the left page, and pointing to a passage of Scripture. The pedes-
tal on which the statue stands is formed of one solid block of red polished
granite, twenty feet high, ten feet wide, and eight feet deep, which is sup-
posed to weigh 650,000 poimds. On each of the sides of the pedestal there
is a central tablet, bearing a German inscription, to the effect that "If
the Reformation be the work of man, it will fall ; if it be God's work, it
is imperishable."

XXVII.

MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS.

Prater repeated by her immediately before her Executiox.

O Domine Deus, speravi in te !

O care mi Jesu, nunc libera me !

In dura catena, in misera poena, desidero te !

Languendo, gemendo, et genuflectendo,

Adoro, imploro, ut liberes me !

In this last solemn and tremendous hour,
My Lord, my Saviour, I invoke thy power !
In these sad pangs of anguish and of death,
Receive, O Lord, thy Suppliant's parting breath !
Before thy hallow'd Cross she prostrate lies —
O hear her prayers, commiserate her sighs !
Extend thy arms of mercy and of love,
And bear her to thy peaceful realms above.

7—2

100 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Cii.

XXVIII.
LADY JANE GREY.

Non aliena putes, homini quae obtingere possunt
Sors hodierna mihi, eras erit ilia tibi !

Steel not your heart against feeling for another's woe :
his calamity of to-day may be yours of to-morrow !

These lines derive their only interest from the circumstance of having
been written with a pin by Lady Jane Grey when confined in the Tower
of London. The inscriptions in the Tower of London, and those that
were found in the Bastile at Paris, have an interest independent of any
poetical merit. With regard to Lady Jane's use of a pin to supply the
want of writing materials, in an interior cell of the Bastile there was
found a feeble inscription on a stone fronting the door, of which the
following words only were distinguishable : " Grave par I'aide d'un dent
du qui je n'ai point aucune besoin. Le Malheureux De Prie." Sir
Thomas More wrote in the Tower his last letter to his daughter with a
coal.

XXIX.

MILTON.

Caecus, inops, patriaeque superstes tempore iniquo,

INIiltonus magnum sedulus urget opus.
Degenerem setatem placide contemnit, et altum

Supra fortunsB munera radit iter.
Nox oculos licet a^terna caligine obumbret,

Paupertasque gravi vexet acerba manu,
Non minus arrectum studio, ardentemque furore,

Per sacra Musarum devia raptat amor.
Mens ea, quoe Mundi fines processerat extra,

Non erat humanis debilitanda malis.

Poor blind Survivor of his Country's shame,
Still Milton holds his fearless flight to fame ;
His mental eye corruption calm surveys,
And smiles contempt upon degenerate days.

II.] BIOGRAPHY. 101

With him Urania still her vigil keejas,

Inspiring strains of rapture as he sleeps.

From Siloa's brook, the li\dng stream supplies,

And pours celestial light in sightless eyes.

His Spirit soaring in ascent sublime

Beyond the flaming bounds of space and time.

Earth's transient ills o'er him have lost their power.

Whose soul to God's eternal throne shall tower.

Nor want nor woe that spirit shall subdue,

Which ranges radiant all creation through.

The Latin and English lines both derive great interest from their au-
thors. The Latin are by the Marquis of Wellesley, the English by Quincy
Adams, dated from Washington. No description, however, of Milton's
blindness can vie with his own reflections on the subject in the Paradise
Lost, the Sampsan Agonistes, and the sonnet to Cyriac Skinner.

XXX.

MILTON COMPARED WITH HOMER AND VIRGIL.

GrjBcia Mseonidem, jactat sibi Roma Maronem,
Anglia JVliltonum jactat utrique parem.

Three Poets in three distant ages born,
Greece, Italy, and England, did adorn.
The first in loftiness of thought surpass'd ;
The next in majesty ; in both the last.
The force of nature could no further go ;
To make a third she join'd the other two.

The distich was written in honour of Milton, when at Rome, by
Selvaggi. The hexastich is that celebrated one of Dryden which was
placed beneath the picture of Milton in the fourth edition of the Paradise
Lost, published under the particular patronage of Lord Somers and
Bishop Atterbury, and to which Dryden was a subscriber. Wai-ton
observes, that if any other proof were wanting of the high respect and
veneration which Dryden entertained of the superior genius of Milton,
these six nervous lines will ever remain as a strong and indisputable
testimony. Dryden probably had the ideas in his hexastich suggested by
Selvaggi's distich ; but he exhibits how genius may convert a feeble spark
into a brilliant coruscation.

102 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

XXXI.

MILTON AND HIS FATHER.

Nee tu perge precor sacras contemnere Musas,
Nee vanas inopesque puta, quarum ipse peritus
Munere, mille sonos numeros componis ad aptos,
INIillibus et vocem modulis variare canoram
Doctus, Arioni merito sis nominis hseres.
Nunc tibi quid mirum, si me genuisse poetam
Contigerit, charo si tarn prope sanguine juncti
Cognotas artes, studiumque afRne sequamur ?
Ipse volens Phoebus se dispartire duobus,
Altera dona mihi, dedit altera dona parenti,
Dividuumque Deum genitorque puerque tenemus.

Nor you affect to scorn the Aonian Quire,

Bless'd by their smiles and glowing with their fire.

You ! who by them inspir'd, with art profound

Can wield the magic of proportion'd sound.

Through thousand tones can teach the voice to stray,

And wield to harmony its mazy way —

Arion's tuneful heir ! Then, wonder not

A poet-child should be by you begot.

My kindred blood is warm with kindred flame ;

And the Son treads his Father's track to fame.

Phcebus controls us with a common sway,

To you commends his lyre, — to me his lay.

Whole in each bosom makes his just abode.

And Child and Father own the one though varied God.

In the course of the address of which the foregoing lines are a part,
Milton takes a most interesting review of the studies of his youth, and of
the care his Father took in his education. He concludes with pouring
forth a flood of filial gratitude. The whole poem is translated in the
Appendix to Symmons's Life of Milton. On the alliance of music and
poetry ("the man-iage of immortal verse") Milton is, in several parts of
his works, enthusiastic in his eloquence ; as, particularly, in his sonnet to
the musical composer, Lawes :

Thou honour'st Vcree, and Verse must lend her wing

To honour thee !

II.] BIOGRAPHY. 103

In the notes to Milton's poem to his father, in Todd's Milton, are some
notices of the musical productions of Milton's father. Sir J. Hawkins,
and Dr Burney, in their Histories of Music, have selected specimens of
his skill.

XXXII.

MILTON RUSTICATED, PERHAPS FLOGGED.

Jam nee arundiferum mihi cura revisere Camum

Nee dudum vetiti me laris angit amor.
Nuda nee arva placent, umbrasque negantia moUes :

Quam male Phoebicolis eonvenit iste loeus !
Nee duri libet usque minas perferre magistri,

Cceteraque ingenio non subeunda meo.
Si sit hoc exilium patrios adiisse penates,

Et vacuum euris otia grata sequi :
Non ego vel profugi nomen, sortemque recuse,

Laetus et exilii conditione fruor.

No love of late forbidden scenes now pains
Cam's sedgy banks and Granta's cloister'd fanes.
I like not fields that gasp in vain for shades,
Fields most unfriendly to th' Aonian Maids.
Ill too I bear a Master's threat'ning look.
And other things my spirit will not brook.
If this be banishment — all cares aloof—
To live my own beneath a Father's roof —
Still let an idle world condemn or not,
INIine be a truant's name, — an exile's lot.

In Todd's edition of Milton, the inferences which have been drawn
from Milton's other things in the above passage are canvassed. Mr Todd
says that the Register of the College proves that Milton did not lose a
term before taking his degree. It is notorious that corporal punishment
was formerly iniiicted at the Universities : in the Paston Letters a mother
writes about her son having been belashed at Cambridge. Dr Whitgift,
the first Vice-Chanceller under the EUzabethan Statutes, procured a
decree of the Heads of Colleges, a.d. 1571, condemning all Undergradu-
ates who were convicted upon " probable or sufl&cient evidence" of having

104

GEMS OF LATIN POETRY.

[Ch.

entered the water, either for the purpose of swimming or of washing,
whether by night or by day, in any part of the county of Cambridge, to be
whipped publicly on one day in the hall of their College, in the presence
of all the Fellows, Scholars, and other members, and, on the following
day, in the public schools before the ordinary lecturer and his hearers.
(B.A.s for the like offence were to sit in the stocks in their College-halls
for an entire day).

The local associations of Cambridge with the memories of many
"whom genius gave to shine in every unborn age," are touched upon
with poetic enthusiasm in Wordsworth's posthumous poem. As to Milton's
reflections on the " reedy Cam," he has spoken of it with more reverence
in his Lycidas ; and Englisk poetiy may reckon among her choiest gems
Gray's lines commemorative of those

Brown o'er- arching groves,

That contemplation loves,

Where willowy Camus wanders with delight

XXXIII.

MILTON BURNTv

Haud jam ultra vulgi bibulas illapsa per aures
Dogmata, Principibus multum funesta ciebunt
Irasqiie, insidiasque, et duri semina belli :
Ardet enim fusis circum undique noxia flammis
Pagina, damnataeque inhonesto fmiere chartse.
Quanqiiam o si simili, quicunque haec scripserit Author,
Pato succubuisset, eodemque arserit igne !
In medio videas flamma crepitante cremari
Miltonum, (terris coeloque inamabile nomen)
Qui contemptorem regum, populique patronum
Se tulit Angliaei, speciosas texere fraudes
Doctus, et impuris leges obtendere coeptis.
Sed tamen huic magnas animosa in carmina vires
Diva dedit, geniumque implevit dexter Apollo :
Sen bello accingat metuenda cominus hasta
Luciferum gradientem, et vix Michaele minorem :
Seu dicat primum temere jacuisse Parentem
Acclinem violis, et suave rubenti hyacintho.

II.] BIOGRAPHY. 105

O Caroli laudes tali si dicere versu
Maluerit, non jam periisset vindice flamma :
Sed seram famam aiterniim misisset in gevum,
Unam passurus, mundo flagrante, ruinam.

The public ear, too much inclined to imbibe seditious
doctrines, will no longer be abused by opinions injurious to
Princes and productive of Civil War^for all books having
this tendency are decreed to be committed to the flames,
and to perish by an ignominious fate. O, if every Author
who has penned such compositions were ordered to be
burnt on the same funeral pile ! We should then behold
in the midst of the crackling flames, burning along with
his writings, Milton, a name detestable in heaven and
upon earth — INIilton, the contemner of Kings, the Patron
of the People. True it is that his poetic genius seems to
have been derived from the very inspiration of Apollo ;
whether he depictures Lucifer grandly advancing with his
formidable spear, and scarcely inferior to the Archangel
Michael : or exhibits to us our first Parents in a state of
bliss, reposing on banks of violets, and ruby- coloured
hyacinths. O, if JNIilton had devoted his pre-eminent gift
of poetry to the celebration of the praises of King CJiarles,
he would not have deserved to perish in the avenging fire.
Then, indeed, he would have transmitted a Name to pos-
terity, which would have lasted till that great conflagration
which shall accomplish the ruin of a World.

The Latin is from Musce Amjlicance, a.d. 1683, from a poem on the
famous Oxford Decree passed in that year, against " pernicious books, and
damnable doctrines," anathematizing above twenty propositions, as false,
seditious, impious, and heretical. The first of these is that all civil autho-
rity is derived originally from the people; the second, that there is a
compact, tacit or express, between the king and his subjects. The books
containing these doctrines are ordered to be burnt in the court of the
schools at Oxford. The Decree itself was publicly burnt by an order of
the House of Lords, a.d. 1709. It is with reference to this Decree that
Mr Fox, in his History, compares the Vice-Chancellor and Doctors of the
University of Oxford to Dogberi-y, Verges, and his followers, in Shakspere's
play of Much Ado about Nothing. Almost within living memory, Dr
George, Provost of King's College, concludes a proposed epitaph for
^Milton with the line, Rege sub Augusto fas sit laudare Catonem! Cato

106 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Cu.

was extolled under Augustus ; may it therefore be lawful to eulogise
Milton under George the Third!

Perhaps the greatest injuries attempted against Milton's fame have
been the endeavours to represent him as a plagiarist. Lauder deceived
Dr Johnson and a portion of the public on this subject, by publishing
extracts from the works of obscure writers of modern Latin, with inter-
polations of a Latin translation of the Paradise Lost. Bishop Douglas
exposed this fraud, and Lauder made a contrite confession of his impos-
ture. In the library of the Athenseum there is the copy of Lauder's book
addressed to the two Universities, with Dr Johnson's Preface and post-
script, that belonged to Mr Bowles ; it contains several curious manu-
script notes. So late as the year 1844, an attempt has been made by a
literary gentleman of the name of Paolo, at Naples, to represent the
Paradise Lost as a very pilfering plagiarism of a book scarcely known
in England, the Adamo Caduto of Salandra. (Voltaire had made a similar
and unsuccessful attempt in regard to the Adamo of Andreini.) The fal-
lacy of Paolo's opinions is exposed with great ability by Mr Spencer Hall,
the accomphshed librarian of the Athenseum : he has convicted the Nea-
politan of bad chronology in regard to the period of Milton's residence in
Italy. Paolo argues that Milton must have been familiar with the Adamo
Caduto, which was first published in 1647, during liis abiding among
the literati at Rome. Mr Hall shews that he returned to England in
1639.

XXXIV.

SPENSER.

Hie prope Chaucerum situs est Spenserius, illi
Proximus ingenio, proximus et tumulo.

Anglica, te vivo, vixit, plausitque Poesis,
Nunc moritura timet, te moriente, mori.

Here lies close to Chaucer the famed poet Spenser;
as he is next to him in his grave, so was he next to him
in his genius. English Poetry during your lifetime, O
Spenser, flourished, and reflected on you the renown you
conferred on her. Now you are departed, she fears that
herself will die.

Spenser was buried, at his particular desire, close to Chaucer's grave.
These lines would appear to have been dropt into Spenser's grave, or

II.] BIOGRAPHY. 107

fastened to his pall, according to a good old practice of our literary an-
cestors, and which was retained in our colleges within living memoiy.
The first distich is copied from Sannazaro's epitaph, the last from Ra-
phael's, both of which have been given in this collection. On Spenser's
monument, which was erected by the Duchess of Dorset thirty years after
his death, the dates both of his birth and death were misstated. Similar
mistakes occur on the monuments of Sterne and Goldsmith. Sir J. Den-
ham, in his verses on Cowley's bm-ial among the poets of Westminster
Abbey, styles Chaucer the Morning Star, and Spenser the Aurora of
English poetry.

XXXV.

N^VIUS.

Mortales iramortales fieri si foret nefas
Flerent Divae Camoenag Na^vium Poetam ;
Itaqiie postquam est Orcino traditus thesauro,
Oblitei sunt Eomae loquier Latina lingua.

If blest immortals mortals might bemoan.

Each heavenly Muse would Nsevius' loss deplore :

Soon as his Spirit to the Shades had flown,

In Rome the Roman tongue was heard no more.

Aulus Gellius has preserved this among other epitaphs of the more
ancient Roman poets, apparently written by the poets themselves with a
view to their own monuments. They are translated by Beloe and also
by Dunlop. That of Nsevius is entertaining from being one of the most
impudent epitaphs on record. Aulus Gellius obsei-ves of it, " that it is
full of Campanian arrogance." The remains of Nsevius are too insig-
nificant to afford any criterion of his poetical merit. (See Dr Smith's
Biog. Diet. Ncevius). The other epitaphs of Ennius, Pacuvius, and Plau-
tus, have little to recommend them, except as literary antiquities. There
are several neat Latin epitaphs on the early Italian poets, as on Crinitus
(closely copied from that of Pacuvius), Molza, and others. The most in-
teresting of these, is, perhaps, that of Sannazarius, who implores his friend
to collect the broken timbers of his shattered shipwrecked vessel, and to
inscribe on his tomb :

Actius hie jaceo. — Spes mecum extincta quiescit :
Solus de nostro funere restat amor.

I that lie here am Actius. Extinguished Hope is buried in peace along
with me : all that lives beyond my grave is Love.

108 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

XXXVI.

NIGRINA. A FUNERAL URN.

Cappadocum saevis Antistius occidit oris

Ilusticus, o tristi crimine terra nocens !
Rettiilit ossa sinii cari Nigrina mariti,

Et questa est longas non satis esse vias :
Cumque daret sanetam tumiilis, quibus invidet, urnam,

Visa sibi est rapto bis viduata viro.

Far in a savage Cappadocian dell
By thee, Clime criminal ! Antistius fell,
His bones Nigrina to her bosom prest,
And all she had of comfort still carest.
When the rich remnant home she would convey.
Through the long task she mourned the short'ning way:
And when intomb'd the sacred urn she left,
Of her dear lord she seem'd one direr time bereft.

The feelings pourtrayed in the fourth and sixth lines of the epigram
in the text, and the sixth and eighth of the weaker translation (Elphin-
stone's), are exquisitely touching. This dear aftection for the funeral
urn brings to our recollections the circumstance of a famous Grecian
actor, the duty of wiiose part it was to bear the funeral urn of Orestes,
and who produced a rapturous emotion in the audience by the state of
feeling into which he had worked himself up, by substituting on the
stage the funeral um of his own son. The whole description of Nigrina
will remind the reader of Agrippina bearing the urn of Germanicus, as
related by Tacitus.

"Agrippina pursued her voyage without intermission. Neither the
rigour of the winter, nor the rough navigation in that season of the year,
could alter her resolution. She arrived at the island of Corcyi-a, oppo-
site to the coast of Calabria. At that place she remained a few days, to
appease the agitations of a mind pierced to the quick, and not yet taught
in the school of affliction to submit with patience. The news of her arrival
spreading far and wide, the intimate friends of the family, and most of
the officers who had served under Germanicus, with a number of strangers
from the municipal towns, some to pay their court, others carried along
with the current, pressed forward in crowds to the city of Brundusium,
the nearest and most convenient port. As soon as the fleet came in sight
of the harbour, the sea-coast, the walls of the city, the tops of houses,
and every place that gave even a distant view, were crowded with spec-
tators. Compassion throbbed in every breast. In the hurry of their

II.] BIOGRAPHY. 109

first emotions, men knew not what part to act : should they receive her
with acchxmations ? or would silence best suit the occasion ? Nothing was
settled. The fleet entered the harbour, not with the alacrity usual among
mariners, but with a slow and solemn sound of the oar, impressing deeper
melancholy on every heart.

" Agrippina came forth, leading two of her children, with the urn of
Germanicus in her hand, and her eyes steadfastly fixed upon that precious
object. A general gi-oan was heard. Men and women, relations and
strangers, all joined in one promiscuous scene of sorrow, varied only by
the contrast between the attendants of Agrippina, and those who now
received the first impression. The former appeared with a languid air;
while the latter, yielding to the sensation of the moment, broke out with
all the vehemence of recent grief."

XXXVII.

ANTONIUS PRIMUS. LIFE DOUBLED.

Jam numerat placido felix Antonius aevo

Quindecies actas Primus Olympiadas :
Prseteritosque dies, et tutos respicit annos ;

Nee metuit Lethes jam propioris aquas.
Nulla recordanti lux est ingrata gravisque :

Nulla subit, cujus non meminisse velit.
Ampliat astatis spatium sibi vir bonus : hoc est

Vivere bis, vita posse priore frui.

At length, my friend, (while time with stiU career
Wafts on his gentle wing his eightieth year)
Sees his past days safe out of fortune's pow'r.
Nor dreads approaching fate's uncertain hour ;
Reviews his life, and, in the strict survey "j
Finds not one moment he could wish away, >
Pleas'd with the series of each happy day. J
Such, such a man extends his life's short space.
And from the goal again renews the race :
Por he lives twice, who can at once employ
The present well, and e'en the past enjoy.

The translation is by Pope, as appears from a letter to the poet by
Sir W. Trumball. Though Pope could " fix in one couplet more sense"
than even Swift, according to the Dean's own acknowledgment, it may be

110 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

thought that his version very inadequately expresses the terseness of the
two concluding lines of Martial's Epigram, to the effect that a good man
amplifies his life, that is to say, he lives twice, for he can live over again
the past in the pleasures of Memoiy.

The moral of the Epigram is so edifying, and the manner in which
it is expressed so captivating, that we cannot be surprized at both Ad-
dison and Dr Johnson adopting from it a motto for their Essays, Spec-
tator, No. 94, Rambler, No. 41. The rival papers, bearing that motto,
whilst they will be interesting from the contrast of the manner in which
the same subject has been treated by two of our most eminent moral
writers, will afford the best possible illustration of the text.

The following extract is from the Spectator.

" The hours of a wise man are lengthened by his ideas, as those of a
fool are by his passions. The time of the one is long, because he does
not know what to do with it ; so is that of the other, because he distin-
guishes every moment of it with useful or amusing thoughts ; or, in other
words, because the one is always wishing it away, and the other always
enjoying it. How different is the view of past life, in the man who is
grown old in knowledge and wisdom, from that of him who is grown old
in ignorance and folly ! The latter is like the owner of a barren country,
that fills his eye with the prospect of naked hiUs and plains, which produce
nothing either profitable or ornamental ; the other beholds a beautful and
spacious landscape divided into delightful gardens, green meadows, fruitful
fields, and can scarce cast his eye on a single spot of his possessions, that
is not covered with some beautiful plant or flower."

The next extract is from the Rambler.

" The time of life in which memory seems particularly to claim pre-
dominance over the other faculties of the mind is our declining age. It
has been remarked by former writers, that old men are generally narra-
tive, and fall easily into recitals of past transactions, and accounts of
persons known to them in their youth. When we approach the verge of
the grave it is more eminently true. We have no longer any possibility
of great vicissitudes in our favour ; the changes which are to happen in
the world will come too late for our accommodation ; and those who have
no hope before them, and to whom their present state is painful and irk-
some, must of necessity turn their thoughts back to try what retrospect
will afford. It ought, therefore, to be the care of those who wish to pass
the last hours with comfort, to lay up such a treasure of pleasing ideas,
as shall support the expences of that time which is to depend whoUy
upon the fund already acqmi'ed. In youth, however unhappy, we solace
om'selves with the hope of better fortune, and however vicious, appease
our consciences with intentions of repentance ; but the time comes at last,
in which hfe has no more to promise, in which happiness can be drawn
only from recollection, and virtue will be all that we can recollect with
pleasure."

II.] BIOGRAPHY. Ill

XXXVIII.

> MARTIAL AND PLINY.

(A)

Dum mea CEecilio formatur imago Secimdo,

Spirat et arguta picta tabella manu ;
I, liber, ad Geticam Peucen, Istrumque tacentem :

Hjec loca, perdomitis gentibus, ille tenet.
Parva dabis caro, sed dulcia, dona sodali :

Certior in nostro carmine vultus erit.
Casibus hie nullis, nullis delebilis annis,

Vivet, Apelleum cum morietur opus.

While for my friend the fond resemblance grows,
And from the Master's hand the canvas glows,
To Peuce, Muse, and peaceful Ister, go,
Where he has laid the haughty nations low :
A present small, but sweet, Cecilius give.
Still in my lays my book shall ever live.
There shall it accident and age defy,
When th' Apellean pencil self shall die.

(B)

Nee doctum satis, et parum severum ;
Sed non rusticulum nimis libellum,
Facundo mea Plinio Thalia,
I, perfer : brevis est labor peract^e
Altum vincere tramitem Suburse.
lUic Orphea protinus videbis,
Udi vertice lubricum theatri ;
Miranteisque feras, avemque regis,
Raptum qu£e Phryga pertulit tonanti.
lUic parva tui domus Pedonis
Cselata est aquilsB minore penna.

Sed ne tempore non tuo disertam
Pulses ebria januam, videto.

112 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

Totos clat tetricfe dies Minervse,
Dum centum studet auribus virorum,
Hoc, quod secula, posterique possint
Arpinis quoque comparare chartis.
Seras tutior ibis ad lucernas.
H^ec hora est tua, dum furit Lyseus ;
Cum regnat rosa, cum madent capilli :
Tunc me vel rigidi legant Catones.

Go, wanton Muse, but go with care,
Nor meet, ill-tim'd, my Pliny's ear ;
He, by sage INIinerva taught.
Gives the day to studious thought.
And plans that eloquence divine, ]
Which shall to future ages shine, >
And rival, wond'rous Tully ! thine, j
Then, cautious, watch the vacant hour,
When Bacchus reigns in all his jDOw'r ;
When crown'd with rosy chaplets gay,
E'en rigid Catos read my lay.

The following letter of Pliny relative to Martial is very interesting.
The first of the two Epigrams is generally considered, as well from the
name as from other cii'cumstances, to have reference to Pliny. The
expression (sodali) " companion," and the sending of Martial's picture,
indicate terms of closer familiarity with the Proconsul than might be
collected from Pliny's letter. Pliny seems to have underrated Martial's
merits, who was as much an Immortal as himself.

" I have just received an account of the death of poor Martial, which
much concerns me. He was a man of an acute and lively genius, and
his writings abound with an agreeable spirit of wit and satire, conducted
at the same time by great candour and good-natm-e. When he left Rome
I made him a present to defray the charges of his journey, which I
gave him, not only as a testimony of my friendship, but in return for
the verses with which he had complimented me. It was the custom of
the ancients to distinguish those poets with honourable and pecuniary
rewards, who had celebrated particular persons or cities in their verses ;
but this generous practice, with eveiy other that is fair and noble, is
now grown out of fashion ; and in consequence of having ceased to act
laudably, we consider applause as an impertinent and worthless tribute.
You will be desirous, perhaps, to see the verses which merited this ac-
knowledgment from me ; and I believe I can, from my memory, partly
satisfy yom- curiosity, without referring you to his works : but if you are

II.] BIOGRAPHY. 113

pleased with this specimen of them, you must turn to his poems for the
rest. He addresses himself to his muse, whom he directs to go to my
house upon the Esquiha? ; but to approach me with respect."

"Do you not think that the poet who wrote in such terms of me, de-
served some friendly marks of my bounty then, and that he merits my
sorrow now ? For he gave me the most he could, and it was want of
power only, if his present was not more valuable. But to say truth, what
higher can be conferred on man than honour, and applause, and immor-
tality?— And though it should be granted, that his poems will not be
immortal, still, no doubt, he composed them upon the contrary suppo-
sition. Fai-ewell."

XXXIX.

NERVA.

(A)

Frustra blanditisB venitis ad me

Attritis miserabiles labellis.

Dicturus Dominum, Deumque non sum :

Jam non est locus hae in urbe vobis.

Ad Parthos procul ite pileatos,

Et turpes, humilesque, supplicesque

Pictorum sola basiate regum.

Non est hie Dominus, sed Imperator,

Sed justissimus omnium Senator :

Per quem de Stygia domo reducta est

Siccis rustica Veritas capillis.

Eome is no longer any place for flattering courtiers.
Begone, ye cringing race, to where the high-capped Par-
thians kiss the feet of their painted kings ! I am not
going to sing of a Lord or of a God. There is no one here
who arrogates such titles. But we have a Chieftain, and
a Senator pre-eminent for justice. He it is who has
brought back Truth in a rustic garb, and with unperfumed
locks, from the Stygian caves in which she was hid, to
dwell again in Rome.

8

114 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

(B)
Contigit Ausonia? procerum mitissimus aulae

Nerva : licet toto nunc Helicone frui.
llecta fides, hilaris dementia, cauta potestas.

Jam recleimt : longi terga dedere metus.
Hoc populi, gentesque tuse, pia Roma, precantur :

Dux tibi sit semper talis, et iste diu.
Macte animi, quern rarus babet ; morumque tuorum,

Quos Numa, quos hilaris posset habere Cato.
Largiri, praestare, breves extender e census ;

Et dare, quae faciles vix tribuere dei ;
Nunc licet, et fas est : sed tu, sub principe duro,

Teraporibusque malis, ausus es esse bonus.

Nerva, the most mild of Roman Senators, has com-
menced his reign. We are now admitted to the full
enjoyment of Helicon. Fear has vanished, and in its place
are substituted Good Faith, Moderation, and Clemency.
All who wish well to Rome, wish that we may ever have
such an Emperor as Nerva, and that himself may long be
indulged to us. Now we may look forward to a grave yet
not austere practice of Morals, becoming the dignity of
Numa, and the cheerfulness of Cato ; and to a system of
liberality for which even the Gods can scarcely supply
resources. But thou. Great Emperor, wast a pattern of
goodness even under a reign of iniquity.

Addison, in his Dialogue on Medals, adverts to a coin illustrated by
the first of these Epigrams regarding the Parthian caps. He also makes
Cynthio (one of the parties to the Dialogue) very indignant at Martial's
satirical reflections upon Domitian, ^hom the poet deluged with flatteries
when alive. Ben Jonson, in the speech of Nobody, in an entertainment
at Alford, indulges in a sarcasm on the dancing days of his deceased
royal mistress, Elizabeth. Daniel, on the other hand, even in his con-
gratulatory panegyric delivered to King James at Burleigh, purposely
digresses to extol Queen Elizabeth, and to tell the King that he could not

without wrong
So soon forget Her we enjo/d so long.

Dryden and Waller sung the praises both of Cromwell and Charles H.
Su' W. Scott observes, that Dryden never recalled his former eulogy on

II.] BIOGRAPHY. 1J5

Cromwell. Waller excused himself to Charles II. for having written so
much better a panegyric on Cromwell than on the King, upon the ground
that poets succeed best in fiction.

Ben Jonson, in his panegyric on King James, chooses for a motto the
line in the text, "Licet toto nunc Helicone frui." Dryden, in the 12th
and 13th stanzas of his Tlirenodia Augustalis, has written a charming
poetical description of the return of the Muses to England after the
Restoration. At Rome, the death of Domitian broke the chains which
fettered the Muse of Juvenal, and it exhibited to public view the writing
tablets of Pliny. The concluding line of the last Epigram was applied to
Sir Randolph Crew, in Mr Ilollis's speech on the impeachment of the Ship-
money Judges ; Sir Randolph had been degraded by Charles I. for giving
an opinion adverse to that memorable imposition. Swift, in his Rhapsody,
thus adverts to the diflferent language used by poets in regard to living,
or to dead monarchs.

"A prince, the moment he is crown'd,
Inherits every virtue round.
As emblems of the sovereign pow'r.
Like other baubles in the Tow'r;
Is generous, valiant, just, and wise.
And so continues till he dies:
His humble Senate this professes :
In all their speeches, votes, addresses :
But once you fix him in a tomb,
His virtues fade, his vices bloom,
And each perfection, wrong imputed.
Is fully at his death confuted.
The loads of poems in liis praise,
Ascending, make one funeral blaze;
His panegyrics then are ceas'd.
He grows a tyrant, dunce, or beast :
As soon as you can hear his knell.
This god on earth turns devil in hell :
And, lo ! his ministers of state,
Transform'd to imps, his levee wait,
Where, in the scenes of endless woe,
They ply their former arts below;
And as they sail in Charon's boat.
Contrive to bribe the judge's vote.
To Cerberus they give a sop.
His ti'iple-barking- mouth to stop;
Or in the ivory-gate of dreams
Project Excise and South-sea schemes ;
Or hire their party-pamphleteers
To set Elysium by the ears.

116 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

Then, poet ! if you mean to thrive,
Employ your Muse on kings alive ;
With prudence gathering up a cluster
Of all the virtues you can muster,
Which form'd into a garland sweet,
Lay humbly at your monarch's feet.
Who, as the odours reach his throne.
Will smile, and think them all his own:
For law and gospel doth determine
All virtues lodge in royal ermine;
(I mean the oracles of both.
Who shall depose it upon oath.)
Your garland in the following reign.
Change but the names, will do again."

Nerva reigned only two years. With regard to his declining the titles
of Dominus, and Deus (a circumstance adverted to in the first epigram),
Suetonius writes that Nerva's predecessor, Domitian, required liis officers
of state to adopt in their despatches the form of " Our Lord and God
commands." Statins, however, mentions, that, at the Saturnalian ban-
quet given by Domitian to the people of Rome, the appellation Dominus
was prohibited to be used.

Saturnalia ! Domitian ! unnumber'd they cry.

And extol their munificent host to the sky.

To salute him their ^ Lord' had delighted the crowd,

But this only indulgence is now not allowed.
(See Dr Hodgson's spirited translation of Statius's description of
Domitian's fete).

Augustus would not allow himself to be called Dominus ; and Tiberius
was averse to flattery. Pliny, in his Letters, calls the Emperor Trajan
Dominus. Nerva was Deified after his death. Virgil offered sacrifices on
the altar of Augustus dm-ing that Emperor's life. Caligula established a
priesthood for his own Godhead. The most opulent persons in the city
offered themselves as candidates for this honor, and purchased it at im-
mense prices. The victims sacrificed on the altar of God Caligula were
flamingos, peacocks, pheasants, and turkeys. In the night he used to
invite the Moon when full to his embraces. In the daytime he talked
in private to Jupiter Capitolinus ; one while whispering to him, and an-
other turning his ear to him : sometimes he would rail aloud at Jupiter,
and threaten to banish him ; at last, prevailed upon by the entreaties of
the God, as he said, and being invited to live with him, he made a bridge
by which he joined the Palatium to the Capitol.

II. j BIOGRAPHY. 117

XL.

SIR THOMAS MORE.

Dum Morus immeritas submittit colla securi,
Et flent occasum pignora cara patris.

Immo, ait, infandi vitam deflete tyranni ;
Non moritur, facinus qui grave morte fugit.

Whilst More is on the point of submitting his neck to
the unmerited axe, and his children are weeping at his
cruel execution, he tells them — Lament for the life of a
ruthless tyrant : He dies not, who by his death escapes
from the perpetration of a grievous crime.

The verses are by a contemporary Italian poet; but there does not
seem to be any authority for the language they ascribe to Sir T. More.
There is nothing in Ropei-'s Life of Sir T. More to that effect. Neither
in the few words which passed between him and his affectionate daughter,
(commemorated by Rogers,) when she forced her way to him on the Tower
wharf through halberds and battle-axes, nor in the letter he wrote to
her with a coal, does any sentiment occur of the kind. On the con-
trary, when Sir T. Pope informed More that the King had consented that
his family might be present at his funeral, ho replied, " Oh, how much
beholden, then, am I unto his Grace, that upon my poor burial vouch-
safeth to have so gracious consideration !" This, and some other sayings
to the like effect, are omitted by Lord Campbell ; and they, doubtless,
would have rendered his entertaining work less agreeable to read. Sir J.
Mackintosh preserves the same prudent silence so necessaiy for popular
writers. Erasmus, in relating the verdict of the jury at Sir T. More's trial,
writes that the jury delivered "a verdict of Killim, that is to say, he was
worthy of death." "Qui duodecim viri, quum per horse quartam partem re-
cessissent, reversi sunt ad principes et judices delegates, et pronunciarunt
KiUim, hoc est, dignus est morte." Lord Campbell instituted inquiries
after Sir T. More's head, which, it appears, still remains in a vault of
St Dunstan's Church in Canterbui-y, contained in a box open in front
with an iron grating, and placed over the coffin of his beloved eldest
daughter, just as she desired it might be laid after her death: she had
secretly obtained it ft-om London Bridge, where it had been exposed.

118 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

XLI.

Sm THOMAS MORE AND HIS CHILDREN.

Quatuor una meos invisat epistola natos,

Servat et incolumes a patre missa salus.
Dum peragratur iter, pluvioque madescimus imbre,

Dumque luto implicitus ssepius hseret equus.
Hoc tamen interea vobis excogito carmen,

Quod gratum, quanquam sit rude, spero fore.
Collegisse animi licet hinc documenta paterni,

Quanto plus oculis vos amat ipse suis :
Quern non putre solum, quem non male turbidus aer,

Exiguusque altas trans equus actus aquas,
A vobis poterant divellere, quo minus omni

Se memorem vestri comprobet esse loco ;
Nam crebro dum nutat equus, casumque minatur,

Condere non versus desinit ille tamen.

I desire this letter to reach my four children, and that
the health I send in it may preserve them in safety. I
write whilst pursuing a journey, drenched with rain, and
my horse scarcely able to raise his feet out of the mud.
Nevertheless, though in the midst of inconveniences, I
manage to write a poem, rude indeed in numbers, but what
I hope may touch my children's hearts. It will at least
suffice to convince them of my paternal solicitude, and
that my love for them exceeds any for my own eyes. The
marshy ground, the cutting wind, and the fording of deep
streams on a little horse, cannot distract my thoughts from
my famUy : for though my nag stumbles, and threatens
me over and over again with a fall, I go on imperturbably
stringing together verses that may fill a Father's letter.

The lines in the text are the commencement of a poem by Sir Thomas
More, addressed to his daughters Margaret, Elizabeth, Cicely, and his son
John, sweetest of children (dulcissimis liberis) as he calls them. Like
Sir T. More, Erasmus tells us that he composed his celebrated Encomium
on Folly whilst sitting on his horse. Sir T. More proceeds, in some lines

IL] BIOGRAPHY. 319

quoted by Lord Campbell, to remind his children of the gentleness with
which, when occasion required, he had flogged them, protesting that the
rod he made use of was only a peacock's tail, " Flagrum Pavonis nil nisi
Cauda fuit," and that he had laid it on them sparingly, "Hanc tamen
admovi timideque et molliter ipsam," for fear of leaving on their persons
any impressions of his handy- work, " Ne vibex tencras signet amara nates."

XLII.

COKE AND BACON.

Ex dono Auctoris.
Auctori consilium.

Instaurare paras veterum documenta sophorum :
Instaura leges, justitiamque prius.

By the gift of the Author.
Advice to the Author.

You undertake a restoration (Instauratio) of ancient
philosophy : first restore the laws and justice of your country
(which you have infringed and violated).

Bacon's presentation copy of his Novum Organum, containing the
above lines in Sir Edward Coke's handwriting, is stUl preserved at Holk-
ham. The book has a device of a ship sailing; over which Sir Edward
Coke has written,

It deserveth not to be read in schools,
But to be freighted in the ship of fools.

Lord Bacon, on his part, wrote a letter of acrimonious advice to
Sir Edward Coke, commencing thus : " Supposing this to be the time
of your affliction, that which I have propounded to myself is, by taking
this seasonable advantage, like a true friend, though far unworthy to be
counted so, to shew you your true face in a glass. First, therefore, behold
your errors: in discourse you like to speak too much, &c." In both
instances the advisers detracted more from their own fame than from that
of their ever-to-be-admired advisees. The Novum Organum was the
Second Part of Bacon's Instauratio Magna (which title is alluded to in
the Epigram), that was intended to be divided into Six Parts. The
design of the Novtmi Organum was to suggest a more perfect method of

120 GEMS OP LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

using the rational faculty, to lay the foundations, and recommend the use
of Inductive Philosophy. This, as Voltaire expresses it, was the scaffold
with which the New Philosophy was to be raised. Coke would not have
agreed with the quaint Cowley in styling Bacon Lord Chancellor of Nature,
as well as of Law. (An analysis and familiar exposition of the Novum
Organum was published by Dr Hoppus.) Does the reader require a
poetical antidote to Lord Coke's venom ? he may find one in Ben Jonson's
beautiful Ode on Bacon's birth- day.

xLin.

SIR EDWARD COKE'S DIARY.

Sex horas somno, totidem des legibus sequis,
Quatuor orabis, des epulisque duas ;
Quod superest ultra sacris largire camoenis.

Six hours in sleep, in law's grave study six.
Four spend in prayer — the rest on Nature fix.

The above is the version to be found in Lord Teignmouth's Life of
Sir W. Janes. An original MS., with Sir W. Jones's corrections, is
written upon a fly-leaf of a copy of Gilbert's Evidence, in the possession
of the Author. It is as follows :

"E. C.

be six address'd;

Six hours to sleep allot, to law the same applied ;

F Pray feast sweet claim

Pray four ; feast two ; — the rest the Muses claims the rest

the Muse claims all beside."

Sir W. Jones's suggested improvement of Su- E. Coke's advice has
been productive of some literary mistakes.

In the same fly-leaf of Gilbert, the Unes wiU be found to stand thus :

W. J.

Seven hours to Law, to soothing slumber seven.
Ten to the world allot, and all to Heaven.
1784.

In Mr Macaulay's critical Essay, in which he reviews Croker's Life
0/ Johnson, Sir W. Jones's version is quoted thus: —

" Six hom-s to law, to soothing slumber seven ;
Ten to the world allot, and all to heaven."

II.] BIOGRAPHY. 121

Mr Croker having mentioned that he had difficulty in understanding
what Sir W. Jones meant to do with his twenty-fourth hour, Mr Macaulay
comments on his dulness of comprehension. He says that the point is a
wretched conceit ; when you expect the couplet to end with one to heaven,
you are surprised by the ending ' all to heaven,' but that the couplet
never, before Mr Croker, perplexed man, woman, or child. It is, however,
now seen that Mr Croker's pei-plexity, and Mr Macaula/s strictures
on Sir W. Jones's supposed conceit, are altogether foimded on a wrong
reading of sia; for seven, — not the first time that these numbers have
been confoimded.

There is in the possession of the Right Hon. Sir E. Ryan a very
interesting diary kept by Sir W. Jones, from the period of his wife
leaving India, up to the very night before his death ; and bearing, in the
last entries, indications of severe malady. Two of the official clerks of
Sir W. Jones are still alive : one of them is an East India Director.
There are several interesting anecdotes relating to him that have never
been published, and which rest on indisputable authority. Nor, perhaps,
was a person of Lord Teignmouth's pohtical views the most fit author to
depicture in proper colours the man who, with the learning of the Greeks,
imbibed their enthusiastic love of liberty, and who first conveyed to
English ears the inspiring answer of one of their patriotic poets to the
question, "What constitutes a state?"

Lord Campbell does not appear to have had the advantage of reading
the Author's work on the Advantages of a Classical Education, in which
the above details appear, for in quoting the lines of Sir W. Jones, in his
Life of Lord Coke, his Lordship has fallen into the vulgar error.

The Author remembers being present when Sir Vicary Gibbs was
shewn the original portrait of Lord Coke in Trinity College, Cambridge,
(the College both of Coke and Bacon), and when, on allusion being made
to his filling, like Lord Coke, the office of a Chief Justice, Sir Vicary
immediately rephed, " So were I equalled with him in renown !"

122 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

XLIV.

SIR EDWARD COKE'S KITCHEN.

Jus condire Cocus potiiit, sed condere jura
Non potuit ; potuit condere jura Cocus.

The Cook who once inhabited this kitchen could make
sauce, but he could not make laws : our new Cook (Coke)
can supply the deficiency of his Predecessor,

It could have been wished that Lord Campbell, from whose book the
distich in the text is taken, (a book most becoming in its subject, and
most worthy in its execution of the literary leisure of a great lawyer), had
translated it for the edification of the public ; the sting seems to turn on
the double meaning of the words, jus and cocus. There is a misprint in
Lord Campbell, which the learned reader will detect.

Sir Edward Coke, during his memorable imprisonment in the Tower,
was lodged in a low room which had once been a kitchen, where he found
an inscription written on the door of it by a wag, " This room has long
wanted a Cook" (Coke). Lord Campbell relates an anecdote of King James
assigning to the great lawyer another nickname, that of Captain Coke,
leader of the faction in Parliament. His Lordship cites this anecdote
from the Sloane MSS. in the British Museum. It had been previously
cited from those MSS. by the Author, in his Oyer of Poisoning : it is a
cm'ious coincidence, that the same needle should be found in the same
bottle of hay, by two lawyers, whose visits to the British Museum are
probably " rare and far between." (In the Authoi''s Oyer of Poisoning
will be found numerous private notes of Sir E. Coke, that were seized
among his papers, and which had never before been published.)

XLV.
KING JAMES I.

(A)
Kma James's Visit to Cambridge,

Dum petit Infantam Princeps, Grantamque Jacobus,
Quisnam horum major sit, dubitatur, amor ?

Vincit more suo noster, nam milKbus Infans
Non tot abest, quam nos regis ab ingenio.

IL] BIOGRAPHY. 123

While Prince to Spain, and King to Cambridge goes,
The question is, whose love the greater shows ?
Ours, like himself, o'ercomes, for his wit 's more
Remote from ours than Spain from Britain's shore.

(B)

liiN'G James's present of his Basilicon Doron.

Quid Vatieanum Bodleianumque objieis, hospes ?
Unicus est nobis Bibliotheca Liber. ,

Do not set up the Vatican or the Bodleian against
our Library : — we have a single Book which is worth any
Library in the world.

These Epigrams were composed by Herbert, the Public Orator of the
University of Cambridge, whom the King used to call the jewel of that
University, and were recited to the King whilst dining at Newmarket.
The meaning of the conceit in the first Epigram appears to be, that Iving
James shewed greater aflFection or condescension in visiting Cambridge,
than Prince Charles shewed in visiting the Infanta at Madrid. Why?
Because we Cantabs are farther distant from the King in intellect, than
Prince Charles was from the Infanta in space. Both the Epigrams are
curious specimens of the perverted taste and political servility of the
times.

XLVI.

COWLEY.

Aurea dum volitant late tua scripta per orbem,
Et Fama aeternum vivis. Divine Poeta,
Hie placida jaceas requie, Custodiat urnam
Cana Fides, vigilentque perenni lampade Musas,
Sit sacer iste locus, Nee quis temerarius ausit
Sacrilega turbare manu Venerabile Bustum.
Intacti maneant, maneant per secula dulcis
Couleij cineres, servetque immobile saxum.

While through the world thy labours shine
Bright as thyself, thou Bard divine ;

124 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

Thou in thy fame wilt live, and be
A partner with eternity.

Here in soft peace for ever rest,
(Soft as the love that fill'd thy breast :)
Let hoary Faith around thy urn,
And all the watchfid Muses, mourn.

For ever sacred be this room ;
May no rude hand disturb thy tomb,
Or sacrilegious rage or lust
Affront thy venerable dust.

Sweet Cowley's dust let none profane,
Here may it undisturb'd remain :
Eternity not take, but give.
And make this stone for ever live.

This is the epitaph on Cowley in Westminster Abbey, wherein he is
styled the Pindar, Horace, and Virgil of the English nation. The
monument was erected by ViUiers, Duke of Buckingham, the Zimri of
Drj-den, whose death-bed is immortalized by Pope, and whose biography
desei-ves to be investigated with greater attention than has hitherto been
bestowed upon it. The Latin is attributed to Dr Knipe. Not sufficiently,
perhaps, read and appreciated in the present day, Cowley was extolled
by his contemporaries for the vices, as much as for the excellencies of
his poetry, beyond all the poets of his day, including Milton. Lord
Clarendon, in the interesting details he gives regarding his early friends,
observes that " Ben Jonson was the best judge of, and fittest to prescribe
rules for poetry and poets, of any man who had lived with or before him,
or since: if Mr Cowley had not made a flight beyond all men, with that
modesty yet, to ascribe much of this to the example and learning of Ben
Jonson."

Addison in his poem on the Greatest Enghsh Poets, felicitously ex-
presses some of the peculiarities of Cowley's poetry.

Great Cowley then (a mighty genius) wrote,

O'er-run with wit, and lavish of his thought :

His turns too closely on the reader press.

He more had pleas'd us, had he pleas'd us less.

One glittering thought no sooner strikes our eyes

With silent wonder, but new wonders rise

As in the milky way. —

Addison, in the remaining lines, may be thought to lavish too much
praise on Cowley's Pindarics, and not to do adequate justice to the ex-

II,] BIOGRAPHY. 125

quisite touches of sentiment, and the vein of sprightliness which distin-
guish several of his minor poems. Pope, indeed, dwells on his pemive
vein as that most Ukely to survive the memory of his once-admired
conceits.

Though daring Milton sits sublime,

In Spenser native muses play.
Nor yet shall Waller yield to time,
Nor pensive Cowley's moral lay.

A passage in Cowley's lines on his friend Harvey's death, are beauti-
fully applied by Curran :

"And this soothing hope I draw from the dearest and tenderest
recollections of my life, from the remembrance of those attic nights and
those refections of the gods which wo have spent with those admired and
respected and beloved companions who have gone before us; — over
whose ashes the most precious tears of Ireland have been shed. Yes, my
good lord, I see you do not forget them ; I see their sacred forms passing
in sad review before your memory; I see your pained and softened
fancy recalling those happy meetings, when the innocent enjoyment of
social mirth expanded into the nobler warmth of social virtue, and the
horizon of the board became enlarged into the horizon of man ; — when
the swelling heart conceived and communicated the pure and generous
purpose, — when my slenderer and younger taper imbibed its borrowed
light from the more matured and redundant fountain of yours. Yes, my
lord, we can remember those nights without any other regret than that
they can never more return ; for

' We spent them not in toys, or lust, or wine :
But search of deep philosophy,
Wit, eloquence, and poesy ;
Arts which I lov'd, for they, my friend, were thine.'"

126 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

XLVII.

COWLEY ON HIS OWN DEATH.

Hie, O Viator ! sub lare pamilo
Couleius hie est conditus. Hie jaeet
Defunctus humani laboris
Sorte, supervaeuaque vita.

Non indecora paiiperie nitens,
Et non inerti nobilis otio,
Vanoque deleetis popello
Divitiis animosus hostis.

Possis ut ilium dieere mortuum,
En terra jam nune quantula suffieit !
Exempta sit euris, Viator,
Terra sit ilia levis, preeare.

Hie sparge flores, sparge breves rosas,
Nam vita gaudet mortua floribus,
Herbisque odoratis corona

Vatis adhuc cinerem calentem.

Here, passenger ! beneath this shade
Lies Cowley, though entomb'd, not dead,
Yet freed from human toil and strife.
And aU the impertinence of life ;

Who in his poverty is neat,
And even in retirement great !
With gold, the people's idol, he
Holds endless war and enmity.

Can you not say he has resigned
His breath, to this small cell confin'd?
With this small mansion let him have
The rest and silence of the grave.

Strew roses here as on his hearse.
And reckon this his fun'ral verse :
With wreaths of fragrant herbs adorn
The yet sur\iving Poet's urn.

II.] BIOGRAPHY. 127

XLVIII.

THE OLD MAN OF VERONA.

Felix, qui patriis aavum transegit in agris,

Ipsa domus puerum, quern videt ipsa senem,
Qui baculo nitens in qua reptavit arena

Unius numerat secula longa casaB.
Ilium non vario traxit for tun a tumultu,

Nee bibit ignotas mobilis hospes aquas.
Non freta mercator tremuit, non classica miles :

Non rauci lites pertulit ille fori.
Indocilis rerum, vicinse nescius urbis,

Adspectu fruitur liberiore Poli :
Frugibus alternis, non Consule eomputat annum.

Autumnum pomis, ver sibi flore notat :
Idem condit ager soles, idemque redueit,

Metiturque sui rusticus orbe diem :
Ingentem meminit parvo qui germine quercum,

jEquasvumque videt consenuisse nemus.
Proxima cui nigris Verona remotior Indis,

Benacumque putat littora rubra lacum.
Sed tamen indomitse vires, firmisque lacertis,

^tas robustum tertia cernit avum.
Erret, et extremos alter scrutetur Iberos ;

Plus habet hie vitaB ; plus habet ille viae.

Happy the man who his whole time doth bound
Within th' enclosure of his little ground :
Happy the man whom the same humble place
(Th' hereditary cottage of his race)
From his first rising infancy has known,
And by degrees sees gently bending down
With natural propension to that earth
Which both preserv'd his life and gave him birth :
Him no false distant lights, by fortune set,
Could ever into foolish wand'rings get ;
He never dangers either saw or fear'd ;
The dreadful storms at sea he never heard :

128 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

He never heard the shrill alarms of war,

Or the worse noises of the lawyer's bar :

No change of CoTisuls marks to him the year :

The change of seasons is his calendar :

The cold and heat winter and summer shews,

Autumn by fruits, and spring by flowers, he knows :

He measures time by landmarks, and has found

Tor the whole day the dial of his ground :

A neighb'ring wood, born with himself, he sees,

And loves his old contemporary trees :

He's only heard of near Verona's name,

And knows it, like the Indies, but by fame :

Does with a like concernment notice take

Of the Red Sea, and of Benacus' lake :

Thus health and strength he to a third age enjoys.

And sees a long posterity of boys.

About the spacious world let others roam.

Thy voyage, Life, is longest made at home.

This beautiful piece of Claudian has been translated by many hands,
of whom Cowley, whose version is that in the text, is the most celebrated.
The last line in the original would seem to convey a pun between the
words vitce and vice, which occasions the translations to be somewhat non-
sensical: and it is almost impossible to convey to Enghsh ears the
beauties of the lines

Qui baculo nitens in qua reptavit arena.
-lEqusevumque videt consenuisse nemus.

A staff enables him to hobble over that ground on which he crawled
when a child. — When he looks upon his grove, he calls to mind that its
trees were small when he was small, and have grown with his growth,
and have become old along with his old age.

II.] BIOGRAPHY. 129

XLIX.

CORYATS CRUDITIES.

Cur, Coryate, tibi calcem Phcebeia Daphne
Cinxerit, et nudfe laurea nulla comse ?

Verius at capitis pleni, Coryate, miserta,
In calces imos Musa rejecit onus.

Why does Daphne cover with her laurel your feet, and
leave your hairs bare ? It is, I presume, because the INIuse
knew how full your head was, and therefore in pity laid her
load upon your heels.

The verses are wi-itten under a device of a pair of shoes covered with
laiu-el. The introduction to Coryat's Crudities, is a most entertaining
relic of literai'y wit. It consists of a laughable character of the author
by Ben Jonson, and a large collection of mock panegyi'ics, in every lan-
guage, upon Coryat, particularly in regard to his having travelled through
Europe with only one pair of shoes. Most of the authors of the day
contributed their quota of ingenious ridicule, at the instigation, or for
the amusement of Prince Henry, son of James I. Coryat introduced
forks into England : his Travels in Europe, and his very curious sojourn
in India, would have, probably, raised him in much higher estimation
with his contemporaries than he appears to have enjoyed, but for the
eccentricities of his pen and tongue : for as Ben Jonson writes, " He is a
great and bold carpenter of words, or, to express him in one like his own,
a Logodcedale. He is frequent at all sorts of free tables, where, though he
might sit as a guest, he will be rather served in as a dish, and is loth to
have anything of himself kept cold against the next day."

Inigo Jones joined the throng of wits who made mirth of Coryat's
Crudities. His contribution ends with an allusion to the benefit of cl&rgy.
This work who scorns to buy, or on it looke.
May he at sessions crave, and want his booke !

130 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

SCORPUS THE CHARIOTEER.

Hie ego sum Scorpas, elamosi gloria Circi,
Plausus, Roma, tui, deliciaeque breves :

Invida quem Lacliesis raptum trieteride nona,
Dum numerat palmas, credidit esse senem.

Erewhile I set the Circus in a roar,

O Rome ! thy Favourite, and Delight no more.

When envious Laehesis my triumphs told.

Though only three times nine, she thought me old.

The point or conceit in this Epigram has been often adopted in
English poetry. Ben Jonson thus recounts the prematiu-e death of a
youthful actor, one of those children of the royal chapel, whom Shakspere
designates as " an aiery of children, little eyases, that cry out on the top
of the question, and are most tyrannically clajDt for it."

Years he numbered scarce thii-teen,

"When fates turned cruel,
Yet three filled Zodiacs had been

The stage's jewel.
And did act (what now we moan)

Old men so duly,
As, soothe, the Parcse thought him one,

He played so truly.

Suckling wi'ites of a person in one year outliving Methusalem ; and
Young, in his Night Tlioughts, sings

" Methusalems may die at twenty-one."

Lord Bacon observes, that "a man may be young in years, though old
in hours." Habingdon, in an Elegy on a son of the Earl of Ayr, pushes
the conceit to a greater length :

'Tis false arithmetic to say thy breath
Expir'd too soon, or irreligious death
Profan'd thy holy youth ; for, if thy yeai-s
Be numbered by thy virtues, or our teaa-s,
Thou didst the old Methusalem outlive.

II.] BIOGRAPHY. 131

Drummond may bo thought to have expressed all that is good in the
idea, without the conceit of it :

Fame, Registrar of Time !
Write in thy scroll, that I,
Of wisdom lover, and sweet poesy,
Was cropped in my prime,
And ripe in worth, though green in years, did die.

Some verses on the subject Passer in the Musce Anglicance, and several
ingenious French Epigrams are founded on the same idea.

LI.

PARIS THE PANTOMIME.

Quisquis Flaminiam teris, viator,
Noli nobile prteterire marmor.
Urbis deliciae, salesque Nili,
Ars et gratia, lusus et voluptas,
Romani decus, et dolor theatri,
Atque omnes Veneres, Cupidinesque,
Hoc sunt condita, quo Paris, sepulchro.

Passing the Flaminian Way,

Pass not this noble tomb, but stay :

Here's Rome's delight, and Nile's salt treasure,

Art, graces, sport, and sweetest pleasure ;

The grief and glory of the stage.

And all the Cupids of the age,

And all the Venuses lie here.

Interred in Paris' sepulchre.

This Epitaph on Paris is closely imitated in that upon Voiture :

Etruscse Veneres, Camoena) Iberse ;
Hermes Gallicus, et Latina Syren,
Risus, Delicise, Joci, Lepores,
Et quidquid fuit elegantiarum,
Quo Vectm-ius hoc jacent sepulchro.

9 — 2

182 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

It may be thought also to have furnished the point of an Epitaph on
Moliere :

Sous ce tombeau gissent Plaute et Terence ;
Et cependant le seul Moliere y git.
Leurs trois talens ne formoient qu'un esprit,
Dont le bel art rejouissoit la France.
lis sont partis, et j'ai peu d'esperance
De les revoii', malgre tous nos efforts.
Pour un long temps, selon toute apparence,
Terence, et Plaute, et Moliere sont mors.

MaruUus's Epitaph on Pope Innocent Vlil. is manifestly a parody of
that on Paris :

Spurcities, gula, avaritia, atque ignavia deses
Hoc, Octave, jacent, quo tegeris, tumulo.

Filth, gluttony, avarice, indolence, all lie, O Innocent VIII., under the
same tomb that covers you.

Paris is the hero of Massinger's play of the Roman Actor. Domitian's
speech after killing the Actor is at variance with Suetonius's account,
that the Emperor had a pupil of Paris's put to death for resembling him :
and that he had inflicted death on several persons who had strewn flowers
on the spot where Paris fell. Massinger has also invented the manner of
the Roman Actor's death, though following history in the occasion of it,
the Emperor's jealousy in regard to his wife Domitia.

There are various particulars concerning Paris in Suetonius's life of
Domitian ; and he is mentioned in several Satires of Juvenal. It has
been represented by some writers, that Juvenal was banished in conse-
quence of the invective against Paris, contained in his seventh Satire ; he
is stated by Juvenal to have relieved the pecuniary necessities of Statius,
the author of the Thebaid, by purchasing from him a tragedy of his com-
position : a relation which Dr Johnson has parodied in the lines in which
he holds forth as prospects of literary merit " a patron and a jail."

LII.

LATINUS THE MIME.

Dulce decus seense, ludorum fama, Latinus
Ille ego sum ; plausus deliciseque tua? :

Qui spectatorem potui fecisse Catonem,
Solvere qui Curios Fabriciosque graves.

Sed nihil a nostro sumpsit mea vita theatro,
Et mira tantum scenicus arte feror.

II.] BIOGRAPHY. 13S

Nec poteram gratus domino sine moribus esse :

Tnterius mentes inspicit ille deus.
Vos me laurigeri parasitum dicite Phoebi,

Roma sui famulum dum seiat esse Jovis.

Soul of the scene, unrivall'd in renown,

I was th' applause, and darling' of the town.

I could command a Cato to attend ;

A Curius, or Fabricius, to unbend.

But, from the stage my life assum'd no part :

A player did I play alone in art.

Me Phoebus' parasite let all record,

So Rome acclaim me minion of her Lord.

Latinus was a celebrated player of Mimes, and also a spy of Domitian.
The actors of Mimes did not wear masks, nor the cothurnus, nor the sock.
Whereas the actors of pantomimes did not speak, and wore masks. Very
strange instead was the custom for mimes to attend the funerals of
the Romans, and to mimic the manners of the deceased ! Thus, at the
funeral of the stingy Vespasian, Suetonius relates that Fsevo, the Arch-
mime, representing his person, and imitating his behaviour both in speech
and gesture, asked aloud of the Procurators, "how much will my funeral*
pomp cost?" And, being answered, "ten millions of sesterces," he cried
out, " Give me but a hundred thousand sesterces, and you may throw my
body into the Tiber, if you will!"

Suetonius mentions a circumstance which shews that Latinus had
familiar access to Domitian, and is a curious example of that tyrant's
enormous cruelty :

" Nothing however so much affected him as an answer given him by
Ascletario the astrologer, and a subsequent disaster. This person had
been informed against, and did not deny his having spoken of some future
events, of which, from the principles of his art, he confessed he had
a fore-knowledgo. Domitian asked him, what end he thought he should
come to himself? to which he replying, ' I shall in a short time be torn to
pieces by dogs,' he ordered him immediately to be slain, and, to demon-
strate the vanity of his art, to be carefully burnt. But dm-ing the pre-
parations for executing this order, it happened that the funeral pile was
blown down by a sudden storm, and his body, half- burnt, was torn to
pieces by dogs; which being observed by the mime Latinus, as he
chanced to pass that way, he told it, amongst other occurrences of the
day, to the emperor at supper."

Martial (Lib. iii. Ep. 86) tells a Roman matron, that after witnessing
Latinus acting with Panniculus, it would be hypocrisy to have scruples

134 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

about reading his book. In another place (Lib. i. Ep. 5) he begs the
emperor to read his book in the same humour that he looks at Latinus
when acting with his wife Thymele. In Lib. n. Ep. 72, Martial speaks of
Latinus slapping Panniculus's face. Juvenal, Sat. 1, speaks of Latinus
sending his wife Thymele to avert the displeasure of another Delator.

One of the most eloquent elegies written on an actress, is that by
Voltaire, on Clairon, whom the " churlish priests" would not allow to be
buried in consecrated gi'oimd : *

Que direz vous, Race future !
Lorsque vous apprendrez la fletrissante injure
Qu'a ces arts desoles font des hommes cruels?

Us privent de la sepulture
Celle qui dans la Grece aurait eu des autels.
Quand elle etoit au monde, ils soupiraient pour elle;
Je les ai vu soumis, autour d'elle empresses :
Sitot qu'elle n'est plus elle est done criminelle!
Elle a charme le monde, et vous Ten punissez !
Non, ces bords desormais ne seront plus profanes :
Us contiennent ta cendre ; et ce triste tombeau
Honore par nos chants, consacre par tes manes,

Est pour nous un temple nouveau.
Voila mon Saint-Denys ; oui, e'est la que j'adore
Tes talens, ton esprit, tes graces, tes appas ;
Je les aimai -vivans ; Je les encense encore,

Malgre les horreurs de trepas,

Malgre I'errem', et les ingrats
Que seuls de ce tombeau ropprobre deshonore.

LIII.
C^SAR AND POMPEY.

Stimulos dedit aemula virtus.
Tu nova ne veteres obscurent acta triumphos
Et victis cedat piratica laurea Gallis,
Magne, times : te jam series ususque laborum
Erigit, impatiensque loci fortuna secundi.
Nee quenquam jam ferre potest, Csesarve priorem
Pompeiusve parem. Quis justius induit arma
Scire nefas : magno se judice quisque tuetur :

II.] BIOGRAPHY, 135

Victrix causa deis placuit, sed victa Catoni.
Nee coiere pares : alter vergentibus annis
In senium, longoque togae tranquillior usu
Dedidicit jam pace ducem : famaeque petitor
INIulta dare in vulgus : totus popularibus auris
Impelli, plausuque sui gaudere theatri :
Nee reparare novas vires, multumque priori
Credere fortunae. Stat magni nominis umbra.
Qualis frugifero quercus sublimis in agro
Exuvias veteres populi, sacrataque gestans
Dona ducum : nee jam validis radicibus haerens,
Pondera fixa suo est : nudosque per aera ramos
Effundens, trunco, non frondibus efficit umbram :
At quamvis primo nutet casura sub Euro,
Tot circum sylvae firmo se robore tollant,
Sola tamen colitur.

Sed non in Caesare tantum
Nomen erat, nee fama ducis : sed nescia virtus
Stare loco : solusque pudor non vincere bello.
Acer, et indomitus : quo spes, quoque ira vocasset,
Ferre manum, et nunquam temerando parcere ferro.
Successus urgere suos : instare favori
Numinis : impellens quicquid sibi summa petenti
Obstaret: gaudensque viam fecisse ruina.

The rival leaders mortal war proclaim, ]

Rage fires their souls with jealousy of fame, >
And emulation fans the rising flame. I

Thee, Pompey, thy past deeds by turns infest,
And jealous glory burns within thy breast ;
Thy fam'd piratic laurel seems to fade,
Beneath successful Caesar's rising shade ;
His Gallic wreaths thou view'st with anxious eyes
Above thy naval crowns triumphant rise.
Thee, Caesar, thy long labours past incite.
Thy use of war, and custom of the fight ;
While bold ambition prompts thee in the race,
And bids thy courage scorn a second place.
Superior power, fierce faction's dearest care.
One could not brook, and one disdain'd to share.

136 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

Justly to name the better cause were hard,
While greatest names for either side declar'd :
Victorious CiBsar by the gods was crown'd,
The vanquish'd party was by Cato own'd.
Nor came the rivals equal to the field ;
One to increasing years began to yield.
Old age came creeping in the peaceful gown,
And civU functions weigh'd the soldier down ;
Disus'd to arms, he turn'd him to the laws,
And pleas' d himself with popular applause ;
With gifts and liberal bounty sought for fame.
And lov'd to hear the vulgar shout his name ;
In his own theatre rejoic'd to sit,
Amidst the noisy praises of the pit.
Careless of future iUs that might betide, )
No aid he sought to prop his failing side, >
But on his former fortune much relied. j
Still seem'd he to possess, and fill his place ;
But stood the shadow of what once he was.
So, in the field with Ceres' bounty spread,
Uprears some ancient oak his reverend head;
Chaplets and sacred gifts his boughs adorn,
And spoils of war by mighty heroes worn.
But, the first vigour of his root now gone,
He stands dependent on his weight alone ;
All bare his naked branches are display'd.
And with his leafless trunk he forms a shade ;
Yet though the winds his ruin daily threat,
As every blast would heave him from his seat ;
Though thousand fairer trees the field supplies.
That rich in youthful verdure round him rise ;
Fix'd in his ancient state he yields to none,
And wears the honours of the grove alone.
But Caesar's greatness, and his strength, was more
Than past renown and antiquated power ;
'Twas not the fame of what he once had been.
Or tales in old records and annals seen ;
But 'twas a valour, restless, unconfin'd.
Which no success could sate, nor limits bind ;

i

II.] BIOGRAPHY. 137

'Twas shame, a soldier's shame, untaught to yield,
That blush'd for nothing but an ill-fought field ;
Fierce in his hopes he was, nor knew to stay,
Where vengeance or ambition led the way;
Still prodigal of war whene'er withstood,
Nor spar'd to stain the guilty sword with blood ;
Urging advantage, he improv'd all odds,
And made the most of fortune and the gods ;
Pleas'd to o'erturn whate''er withheld his prize,
And saw the ruin ^vith rejoicing eyes,

Blair, in his Belles Lettres, observes, that the characters which Lucan
draws of Caesar and Pompey are " masterly," and the comparison of
Pompey to the aged decaying oak is "highly poetical." The line in the
character of Pompey,

Victrix Causa Diis placuit, sed Victa Catoni,

has exercised the wits of several of our poets, who have attempted, it may
be thought unsuccessfully, to express it as sententiously in English, as in
the original. Roscommon renders it thus :

The gods were pleas'd to choose the conquering side ;

But Cato thought he conquer'd when he died.

Stepney's lines are, perhaps, better than those " owned by a lord : "
The gods and Cato did in this divide,
They chose the conquering, he the conquer'd side.

Granville, Lord Lansdowne, in his poetical Essay on Translated Poetry,
writes with reference to this memorable line :

The Roman wit who impiously divides
His Hero and his Gods to diflferent sides,
I would condemn, but that, in spite of sense,
Th' admiring world stiU stands in his defence.
How oft, alas ! the best of men in vain
Contend for blessings which the worst obtain !
The Gods permitting traitors to succeed.
Become not parties to an impious deed :
And, by the Tyrant's murder we may find,
That Cato and the Gods were of a mind.

In a note upon this passage, his Lordship observes,

" The consent of so many ages having established the reputation of this
line, it may perhaps be presumption to attack it ; but it is not to be sup-
posed that Cato, who is described to have been a man of rigid morals and
strict devotion, more resembling the gods than men, would have chosen

138 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Cii.

any party in opposition to those gods whom he professed to adore. The
poet would give us to understand, that this hero was too righteous a
person to accompany the divinities themselves in an unjust cause. But to
represent a mortal man to be either wiser or juster than the Deity, may
show the impiety of the writer, but add notliing to the merit of the hero :
neither reason nor religion will allow it, and it is impossible for a corrupt
being to be more excellent than a divine. Success implies permission, and
not approbation ; to place the gods always on the thriving side, is to make
them pai'takers of all successful wickedness : to judge right, we must wait
for the conclusion of the action; the catastrophe will best decide on
which side is Providence, and the violent death of Caesar acquits the gods
from being companions of his usurpation. Lucan was a determined
republican ; no wonder he was a free-thinker."

The inference drawn by his Lordship, at the end of his remarks, is
illiberal. Neither is Providence to be judged of, as he appears to insinu-
ate, by any results in this world. The sentiment of Lucan is surely
a noble one, that Cato was not led by interest or superstition to foUow the
successful party, though weaker-minded people inferred that success was
owing to the favour of the gods : but he clung to the losing side, because
he deemed it the side of justice, of liberty, and of enhghtened religious
duty.

LIV.
CATO.

Ille nee horrifieam saneto dimovit ab ore
Csesariem, duroque admisit gaudia vultu :
(Ut primiim toUi feralia viderat arma,
Intonsos rigidam in frontem descendere canos
Passus erat, moestamque genis increscere barbara.
Uni quippe vaeat studiisque odiisque carenti,
Humanmn lugere genus) nee foedera prisci
Sunt tentata tori : justo quoque robur amori
Restitit. Hi mores, haec duri immota Catonis
Secta fuit, servare modum, finemque tenere,
Naturamque sequi, patriseque impendere vitam :
Nee sibi, sed toti genitum se credere mundo.
Huic epulae, vicisse famem : magnique penates,
Submovisse hyemem tecto : pretiosaque vestis.

U.] BIOGRAPHY. 139

Hirtam membra super Romani more Quiritis
Induxisse togam : Venerisque huic maximus usus,
Progenies : Urbi pater est, Urbique maritus.
Jiistitife cultor, rigidi servator honesti :
In commune bonus : nullosque Catonis in actus
Subrepsit, partemque tulit sibi nata voluptas.

(For when he saw the fatal factions arm,

The coming war, and Rome's impending harm ;

Regardless quite of every other care,

Unshorn he left his loose neglected hair ;

Rude hung the hoary honours of his head.

And a foul growth his mournful cheeks o'erspread.

No stings of private hate his peace infest.

Nor partial favour grew upon his breast :

But, safe from prejudice, he kept his mind

Free, and at leisure to lament mankind).

Nor could his former love's returning fire, ]

The warmth of one connubial wish inspire, >

But strongly he withstood the just desire. I

These were the stricter manners of the man,

And this the stubborn course in which they ran ;

The golden mean unchanging to pursue.

Constant to keep the purpos'd end in view ;

Religiously to follow nature's laws,

And die with transport in his country's cause.

To think he was not for himself design'd.

But born to be of use to all mankind.

To him 'twas feasting, hunger to repress ;

And home-spun garments were his costly dress :

No marble pillars rear'd his roof on high,

'Twas warm, and kept him from the winter sky :

He sought no end of marriage, but increase.

Nor wish'd a pleasure, but his country's peace :

That took up all the tenderest parts of life.

His country was his children and his wife.

From justice's righteous lore he never swerv'd.

But rigidly his honesty preserv'd.

On universal good his thoughts were bent.

Nor knew what gain, or self-affection meant ;

140 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

And while his benefits the pubhc share,
Cato was always last in Cato's care.

Cato's character, to which the sublimest homage was paid by Horace,
even in the servile court of Augustus, is almost deified by the later
Roman writers. But shortly after his death, it was severely attacked by
Julius Csesar, in a work called Anticato, in answer to a panegyric upon
Cato, by Cicero. The praises of Cato, after being reiterated by almost
every Roman writer of genius who lived subsequent to him, acquired for
Addison, among his contemporaries at least, a veiy high meed of fame ;
both tories and whigs of his day laying claim to Cato as one of then* party.
Pope writes, " Cato was not so much the wonder of Rome in his days as he
is of Britain in ours. The numerous and violent claps of the whig party on
the one side of the theatre, were echoed back by the tories on the other.
After all the applauses of the opposite faction, my Lord Bolingbroke sent
for Booth into his box, and presented him with fifty guineas in acknow-
ledgment, as he expressed it, for defending the cause of liberty so well
against a Perpetual Dictator;" alluding to the Duke of Marlborough, who
had been soUciting a patent to appoint him Captain-General for life.

LV.

EPICURUS.

Humana ante oculos foede quom vita jaceret
In terreis, oppressa gravi sub Religione,
QujB caput a coeli regionibus ostendebat,
Horribili super aspectu mortalibus instans ;
Primum Grains Homo mortaleis toUere contra
Est oculos ausus, primusque obsistere contra.
Quem neque fama Deum, nee fulmina, nee minitanti
Murmure compressit coelum ; sed eo magis aerem
Irritat animi virtutem, effringere ut arcta
Naturae primus portarum claustra cupiret.
Ergo vivida vis animi pervicit, et extra
Proeessit longe flammantia moenia mundi ;
Atque omne immensum peragravit mente animoque.

Long time men lay oppress'd with slavish fear ;
Religion's tyranny did domineer,

II.] BIOGRAPHY. 141

And being plac'd in heav'n look'd proudly down,

And frighted abject spirits with her frown.

At length a mighty man of Greece began

T' assert the nat'ral liberty of man

By senseless terrors, and vain fancies led

To slav'ry : straight the conquer'd phantom fled !

Not the fam'd stories of the Deity,

Not all the thunder of the threat'ning sky,

Could stop his rising soul ; through all He past

The strongest bounds that pow'rful nature cast :

His vigorous and active mind was hurl'd

Beyond the flaming limits of this Avorld,

Into space infinite ; and there did see

How things begin, what can, what cannot be.

Dugald Stewart observes, that it is the image of mental energy bear-
ing up against the terrors of overwhelming power, which gives so strong a
poetical effect to the description of Epicurus in Lucretius, and also to the
character of Satan as conceived by INIilton. In these cases, Stewart
thinks that the sublimity of energy is only a reflection from the sub-
limity of power.

Lucretius commences his third book with another eulogy on Epicurus,
and in some lines in which he contemptuously declaims against the com-
plaints of death by men whose whole lives have been of as little utility
as if they had spent them in winding sheets, he observes, that even the
great Epicurus was compelled to bow to the law of humanity. It is in
speaking of him there he uses the line which is adopted as an inscription
on the statue of Newton, in Trinity College Chapel : " His genius sur-
passed that of the human race, (Qui genus humanura ingenio superavit)."
Lucretius passed also eloquent eulogiums on Ennius and Empedocles. In
a poem, like that of Lucretius, containing 7416 lines, we are indebted to
Creech for a synopsis of each book, especially as upwards of 7000 lines
may be thought to consist of elaborate and exploded nonsense. But the
Oasises of this desert, such as the exordium to Venus ; the View of the
Tempest of Human Desires and Passions from the rock of philosophy,
of which passage Lord Bacon has availed himself; the philosophical
explanation of the fabled punishments of Tartarus, from the Greek
orator, iEschines ; the Athenian Dirge ; the Lamentations of the Mother
of the Sacrificed Heifer, and a few more brilliant or touching passages
and lines, will, perhaps, be considered unrivalled in the whole range of
ancient poetry. It is cm'ious that a controversy exists concerning Cicero's
opinion of Lucretius, arising out of discordancy of manuscripts, some
inserting, others omitting, the word "not," in a letter of Cicero to his

142 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

brother Quintus : " The poems of Lucretius, as you observe, are written
(not) with much brightness of wit, yet, notwithstanding, with a great deal
of art." Dugald Stewart remarks of Lucretius, that his subUmity depends
on the lively images he presents of the attributes against which he
reasons, and that he makes the sublimest descriptions of Almighty Power
form a part of his argument against Divine Omnipotence.

LVI.

CATULLUS AT HIS BROTHER'S TOMB.

Multas per gentes, et multa per asquora vectus,

Adveni has miseras, frater, ad inferias,
Ut te postremo donarem munere mortis,

Et mutum nequidquam alloquerer cinerem :
Quandoquidem fortuna mihi tete abstulit ipsum :

Heu miser indigne frater ademte mihi !
Nunc tamen interea prisco quae more parentum

Tradita sunt tristes munera ad inferias,
Accipe, fraterno multum manantia fletu :

Atque in perpetuum, frater, ave, atque vale !

Brother, I come o'er many seas and lands
To the sad rite which pious love ordains,

To pay thee the last gift that death demands ;
And oft, though vain, invoke thy mute remains :

Since death has ravish'd half myself in thee,

Oh wretched brother, sadly torn from me !

And now ere fate our souls shall re-unite.
To give me back all it hath snatch'd away.

Receive the gifts, our fathers' ancient rite
To shades departed still was wont to pay ;

Gifts wet with tears of heartfelt grief that tell.

Thus ever, brother, bless thee, and farewell !

Catullus has lamented his Brother's death, in two other poems, ad-
dressed to Hortalus, and Manlius, wherein his feelings on the subject are

II.] BIOGRAPHY. 143

expressed in verses than which there is nothing more touching in ancient
poetry. It appears, from one of these poems, that his Brothei-'s remains
were interred at the Rhsetean Promontory, in the region of Troas. The
undertaking a long journey by sea and land, for the purpose of perform-
ing funeral rites over the ashes of a Brother, after, probably, the ordi-
nary ceremonies at the pile and upon sepulture, bad taken place, is an
interesting transaction, and is related by the poet with simplicity and
genuine feeling. The ordinary ceremonies at funerals are enumerated
in charming poetry by Tibullus, in reference prospectively to his own
obsequies. The minute details will be found in the Appendix to Bekker's
Gallus. Round the funeral pile of the son of Regulus, the Delator, were
slain all bis pet animals, viz. little coach- and saddle-horses, dogs of various
kinds, parrots, blackbirds, and nightingales.

LVII.

CATULLUS AND CICERO.

Disertissime Komuli nepotum

Quot sunt, quotque fuere, Marce Tulli !

Quotque post aliis erunt in annis ;

Gratias tibi maximas Catullus

Agit, pessimus omnium poeta:

Tanto pessimus omnium pocta,

Quanto tu optimus omnium patronus.

Tully, most eloquent, most sage

Of all the Roman race,
That deck the past or present age,

Or future days may grace.

Oh ! may Catullus thus declare

An overflowing heart ;
And, though the worst of Poets, dare

A grateful lay impart ?

'Twill teach thee how thou hast surpast

All others in thy line ;
For, far as he in his is last,

Art thou the first in thine.

144 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

These lines were thus imitated by Smart, after dining with Lord
Mansfield :

O thou of British orators the chief,

That were, or are in being, or belief;

All eminence and goodness as thou art,

Accept the gratitude of poet Smart.

The meanest of the tuneful train as far.

As thou transcend'st the brightest at the bar.

Catullus's letters to Julius Caesar are so far more revolting than the
flowers of Billingsgate, that they are not inserted in this collection, (a
modest version of them, very unlike the original, will be found in Lamb's
Catullus, whence the version in the text is taken.) They are, however,
remarkable as libels on Ceesar in the height of his power, which the
dictator did not resent. Cicero mentions that they were read to Ceesar
after his bath, and that he made no remark upon them whatever, nor
changed countenance. The circumstance is mentioned in the 23rd No. of
the Spectator, and Caesar's conduct is there compared with that of Cardi-
nal Mazarine on a similar occasion.

Niebuhr lays it down that " Catullus was the greatest poet Rome ever
had." This insufferable dogmatism on a subject on which a dissent from
the opinion of ages ought to be hazarded with the utmost deference, may
appear as unfounded as it is coxcombical. In the same presumptuous and
ridiculous vein he asserts that Virgil is a remarkable instance of a man
mistaking his vocation, his real calling being lyric poetry: and that it never
occurred to him to place Virgil among Roman poets of the fii'st order, for
that his most complete work, the jEneid, was a total failm-e.

LVIII.
YOUNG TORQUATUS.

Torquatus, volo, parvulus
Matris e gremio suae
Porrigens teneras manus,
Dulce rideat ad patrem
Semihiante labello.

And next to be completely blest,
Soon may a young Torquatus rise.

II.] BIOGRAPHY. 145

Who, laughing- on his mother's breast,
To his known sire shall turn his eyes.

Outstretch his infant arms the while,
Half ope his little lips, and smile.

The English verses are introduced by Sir W. Jones into an Epithala-
mium, on the marriage of Lord Spenser. He pronounces the original,
which he has imitated, a picture worthy the pencil of Domenichino.

LIX.

QUTNTILIAN AND MARTIAL.

Quinctiliane, vagse moderator summe juventae,

Gloria RomanaB, Quinctiliane, togae ;
Vivere quod propero pauper, nee inutilis annis,

Da veniam : properat vivere nemo satis.
Differat hoc, patrios optat qui vincere census,

Atriaque immodicis arctat imaginibus.
Me focus, et nigros non indignantia fumos

Tecta juvant, et fons vivus, et herba rudis.
Sit mihi verna satur : sit non doctissima conjux :

Sit nox cum somno : sit sine lite dies.

O Thou, who rul'st Avith uncontrolled renown

The wave of youth, thou glory of the gown !

That I, who boast not yet my wine or oil.

Nor quite disabled by fell time to toil,

Should haste (who makes sufficient haste ?) to live :

Such oddity, my generous friend, forgive.

This joy let him delay, who deems th' extent

Penurious of his affluent father's rent :

Whose full sufficience answers not his calls.

Who crowds v/ith ancient images his halls.

INIine be the roof no envy can provoke :

Warm'd by the fire, yet fearless of the smoke ;

A fount of crystal gently bubbling by ;

A bed of greens luxuriance to supply :

A sated servant, not a learned ivife ;

Nights drown'd with rest, and days unknown to strife.

10

146 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

Martial has a small poem addi-essed to Juvenal of the like tenor.
It does not appear that he and Statins, though they write on the same
passing events, had any literary communication. It is not proposed, in
the present volume, to examine into the philosophy of the Romans, or
the details of their domestic life. For this reason, the opinions of
Martial in these two pieces, and in another in which he gives a summary
of his views of a Happy Life {Vita Beata, a subject on which Seneca and
Lactantius have written books), are reserved for consideration on a future
occasion. On such occasion it may be proper to discuss also the details
of Martial's various invitations to Supper, and to compare them with what
is to be found on the subject among the ancients, and in Ben Jonson,
Milton, and Pope, among the moderns. But it may here be interesting
to notice the particular terms in which Quintilian is addressed in the first
two lines ; and, with regard to Mai-tial's prayer, that he might not be
allotted too learned a wife, to cite the opinion of Juvenal on the same
subject :

Odi

Hanc ego, quee repetit volvitque Palsemonis artem,

Servata semper lege, et ratione loquendi,

Ignotosque mihi tenet antiquaria versus,

Nee curanda viris Opicse castigat amicte

Verba. Solcecismum liceat fecisse marito.

For my part, I cannot endure a woman who is always poring over
some book of Grammar ; who talks by rule, obeys laws of speech, and
every now and then brings out some word which I never heard of before.
She is constantly correcting the cacology of some countiy cousin. Surely
a husband ought to have the right of committing a solcecism.

Ancient writers give more favourable pictures of Roman Wives, and do
not appear to have had the like horror of learned Wives, Statius's poem
to his Wife, in his Silva?, which has been translated by Dr Hodgson, is
one of his most engaging compositions. Ausonius has several interesting
poems to or on his Wife. The following may be thought a pleasing
specimen, founded on a wish of JIartial, that a wife may not appear old
even when she is so ; a thought which is beautifully expanded and illus-
trated by Dugald Stewart, in his chapter on the Association of Ideas.

Uxor, vivamus quod viximus, et teueamus

Nomina quae primo sumpsimus in thalamo !
Nee ferat ulla Dies ut commutemur in sevo,

Quin tibi sim juvenis, tuque puella mihi.
Nectore sim quamvis provectior, semulaque annis

Vincas Cumanam tu quoque Deiphoben.
Non ignoremus quid sit matura senectus,

Scire sevi incertum, non numerare, decet.

II.] BIOGRAPHY. 147

Pliny writes the following letters of and to his wife, Calphumia :
" As you are an exemplary instance of tender regard to your family
in general, and to your late excellent brother in particular, whose affec-
tion you returned with an equal warmth of resentment ; and have not
only shewn the kindness of an aunt, but supphed the loss of a tender
parent to his daughter ; you will hear, I am well persuaded, with infinite
pleasui-e, that she behaves worthy of her father, her grandfather, and
yourself. She possesses an excellent understanding, together with a
consummate prudence, and gives the strongest testimony of the purity of
her heart by her fondness of me. Her affection to me has given her a
turn to books ; and my compositions, which she takes a pleasui'e in
reading, and even in getting by heart, are continually in her hands. How
full of tender solicitude is she when I am entering upon any cause ? How
kindly does she rejoice with me when it is over? While I am pleading,
she places persons to inform her from time to time how I am heard,
what applauses I receive, and what success attends the cause. When at
any time I recite my works, she conceals herself behmd some curtain,
and with secret rapture enjoys my praises. She sings my verses to her
lyi-e, with no other master but Love, the best instructor, for her guide.
From these happy ch-cumstances I draw my most assured hopes, that the
harmony between us will increase with our days, and be as lasting as our
lives. For it is not my youth or my person, which time gradually im-
pairs; it is my reputation and my gloi-y of which she is enamoured.
But what less could be expected from one who was trained by your
hands, and formed by your instructions ; who was early famiharised
under your roof with all that is worthy and amiable, and was first taught
to conceive an affection for me, by the advantageous colours in which you
were pleased to represent me ? And as you revered my mother with all
the respect due even to a parent, so you kindly directed and encouraged
my infancy, presaging of me from that early period all that my wife now
fondly imagines I reaUy am. Accept therefore of our mutual thanks, that
you have thus, as it were designedly, formed us for each other. Farewell."

" You kindly tell me, my absence is greatly uneasy to you, and that
your only consolation is in conversing with my works, instead of their
author, which you frequently place by your side. How agreeable is it to
me to know that you thus wish for my company, and support yourself
under the want of it by these tender amusements ! In return, I entertain
myself with reading over your letters again and again, and am continually
taking them up as if I had just received them; but alas ! they only serve
to make me more strongly regret your absence ; for how amiable must
her conversation be, whose letters have so many charms ? Let me receive
them, however, as often as possible, notwithstanding there is still a
mixture of pain in the pleasure they afford me. Farewell.*'

10—2

148 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Cn.

LX.

COTTA.

(who ni:ver knew a day's illness.)

Sexagesima, Martiane, messis
Acta est, et, puto, jam secuncla Cottse ;
Nee se taeclia lectuli calentis
Expertum meminit die vel uno.
Ostendit digitum, sed impudicum,
Alconti, Dasioque, Symmachoqiie.
At nostri bene compiitentur anni,
Et, quantum tetricse tulere febres,
Aut languor gravis, aut mali dolores,
A vita meliore separentur :
Infantes sumus, et senes videmur.
J^tatem Priamique, Nestorisque
Longam qui putat esse, Martiane,
Multum decipiturque, falliturque.
Non est vivere, sed valere, vita.

Cotta has liv'd full sixty years and more.
And yet (my Martian) never felt the sore
Affliction of a fever one short bout :
Thence, in derision, holds his finger out
Against Alcantes, Dacus, Symmachus.
But if our years were well computed thus :
Take off the hours to pain and grief assign'd.
To fevers, and to agony of mind,
And separate them from each happier day ;
We are but boys in years, and yet seem grey.
He that conceives (my Martian) Priam's age,
Or Nestor's to be long on the world's stage.
Is much deceived, much out : For I thee tell,
To be, is not call'd life, but to be well.

One of the most beautiful gems in the Greek Anthology is a hymn to
Health, of which a prose translation is given by Dr Johnson in the
Rambler, No. 48. It has been frequently translated into English Poetry.
The text furnishes a motto for that number of the Rambler, and also

II. 1 BIOGRAPHY. 149

for a paper by Steele in the Spectator, No. 143. Jeremy Taylor, in his
Holy Livinrj, has some important reflections on the religious uses of
sickness, and the following letter of Pliny contains some valuable re-
marks of a heathen on the same subject :

" The lingering disorder of a friend of mine gave me occasion lately
to reflect that we are never so virtuous as when opprest with sickness.
"Where is the man, who under the pain of any distemper, is either soli-
cited by avarice or enflamed with lust ? At such a season he is neither
a slave of love, nor the fool of ambition ; he looks with indifference upon
the charms of wealth, and is contented with ever so small a portion of it,
as being upon the point of leaving even that little. It is then that he
recollects that there are Gods, and that he himself is but a man : no
mortal is then the object of his envy, his admiration, or his contempt;
and the reports of slander neither raise his attention, nor feed his curio-
sity: his imagination is wholly employed upon baths and fountains.
These are the subjects of his cares and wishes : while he resolves, if he
should recover, to pass the remainder of his days in ease and tranquillity,
that is, in innocence and happiness. I may therefore lay -down to you
and myself a short rule, which the philosophers have endeavoured to
inculcate at the expence of many words, and even many volumes ; that
' we should practise in health those resolutions we form in sickness.*
Farewell."

Erskine stated in the House of Lords, that during the twenty-seven
years he practised at the Bar, he was on no occasion prevented from
attending to his business in Court by indisposition. Pope, on the other
hand, writes to Arbuthnot,

Friend to my life ! (which, did not you prolong,
The world had wanted many an idle song.)

And again :

The Muse but served to ease some friend, not wife,
And help me through this long disease, my life.
To second, Arbuthnot! thy art and care,
And teach the being you preserv'd to bear.

The version in the text is by Fletcher, a little modified. The terse-
ness and neatness of the original almost defies imitation. There is one
point in it which is not easily translatable, viz. that Cotta holds out a
finger, as a patient might do, to the three physicians of most practice in
Rome, but it is that finger, which among the Romans, was called the
finger of contempt or derision.

150 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

LXI.

SABIDUS.

(disliked, without ES'OWrs'G WHY.)

Non amo te, Sabidi, nee possum dicere qiiare ;
Hoe tantum possum dicere, non amo te.

Je ne vous aime pas, Hylas,
Je n'en saurois dire la cause,
Je sais seulement une chose,
C'est que je ne vous aime pas,

Sheridan, in a parliamentary debate, is reported to have said, " These
Gentlemen shew us no such acts ; they seem as if they considered the
Ministers, now the drudgery of signing the treaty of Peace is done, as
fundi offi.cm, and as if they ought to go out ; as if one was a mere goose-
quill, and the other a stick of sealing-wax, which are done with, and
ought to be thrown under the table. We know that Touchstone says,
as a good ground for quarrel, 'that he don't like the cut of a certain
courtier's beard.' Perhaps this capricious dislike cannot be better ex-
emplified than by the sentiment expressed in the well-known epigram of
Martial. The English parody may be more applicable to these Gentlemen :
I do not like thee, Dr Fell,
The reason why I cannot tell:
But this, I'm sm'e, I know full well,
I do not like thee, Dr Fell.
"It is fair. Sir, to say, that this English parody, so unfavourable to the
Doctor, proceeds from the mouth of a fair lady, who has privileges to like
and dislike, which would ill become a Member of this House."

Martial has another epigram on imdefinable predilections and anti-
pathies :

Difficihs, facilis ; jucundus, acerbus es, idem.

Nee tecum possiun vivere, nee sine te.
In all thy humom's, whether grave, or mellow,
Thou 'rt such a touchy, testy, pleasant fellow.
Hast so much wit, and mirth, and spleen about thee.
There is no living with thee, nor without thee.
There are two lines of Catullus which have been much admired, that
are foimded on the same kind of indescribable feelings, or causes of
feeling :

Odi, et amo. Quare id faciam fortasse requiris ?

Nescio. Sed fieri sentio, et excrucior.
I hate and love — ask why ? I can't explain ;
I feel 'tis so, and feel it racking pain.

II.] BIOGRAPHY. 151

Lamb's translation may be thought not to convey the entire spirit of
the original, which it would be difficult to transfer into another language.
The English reader cannot be expected to acquiesce in the high praises
which the original has elicited. Fenelon wi-ites, " CatuUe, qu'on ne peut
nommer sans avoir horreur de ses obscenites, est au comble de la perfec-
tion pour une siuipUcite passionee;" then, after quoting the lines in the
text, he continues, " Combien Ovide et Martial, avec leurs traits inge-
nieux et fa9onnes, sont ils au dessous do ces paroles negligees, ou le cceur
saisi parle seul dans une espece do desespoir."

LXII.

SULPICIA.

(tile model of " Grace " for Milton's Eve.)

Illam quicquid agit, quoquo vestigia vertit,
Componit furtim, subsequiturque decor.

" A concealed Grace fashions her every action, and
closely attends on her every footstep."

The following translations are to be found in the Appendix to Spence's
Anecdotes :

If she but moves, or looks, her step, her face
By stealth adopt unmeditated gx'ace.

Or,
Whate'er she does, where'er she bends her course,
Grace guides her steps and gives her beauty force.

Or,

Whate'er she does, where'er she moves, a Grace
Slides in to give it form, and marks the trace.

Or,

A secret trace attends her charms inbred,
Work in each action, in each footstep tread.

Or,

In every motion, action, look, and air,
A secret grace attends, and forms the fan*.

Or,
With evei'y motion, every careless air,
Grace steals along, and forms my lovely fah.

152 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

The first of these poetic versions is by Horace Walpole, who writes, " I
have translated the lines, and send them to you, but the expressive con-
ciseness and beauty of the original made it so diflicult, that I beg they
may be of no other use than of shewing you how readily I complied with
your request." He adds, " There are twenty little literary variations that
may be made, as move or look, air instead of step, steal and adopt instead
of hy stealth adopt. But none of these changes will make the copy half so
pretty as the original. "Was not Milton's paraphrase, ' Grace was in all her
steps, &c.' even an improvement on the original ? It takes the thought,
gives it a noble simplicity, and don't screw it up into so much prettiness."
Perhaps Milton may be thought to imitate TibuUus more closely in the
lines,

Forth she went

Not unattended, for on her as Queen

A pomp of winning graces waited still.

Tibullus' whole poem on Sulpicia's birthday, consisting only of twenty-
four lines, is quite worthy of companionship with the two lines in the
text. Perhaps the line, (^lille habet ornatus, mille decenter habet),
" Thus Vertumnus, in Olympus, has a thousand ornaments ; a thousand
which all become him," may be thought, at least as it is expressed in
Latin, not inferior in neatness to those which have been cited. In pathos
and tenderness, indeed, the poem is very far below TibuUus' first Elegy
to Delia, as may perhaps appear from the following lines translated by
Dr Hodgson:

At my last hour thy features may I see.
And hang with dying tenderness on thee !
Thoul't weep, my Delia, when thy lover lies
On the black pile, where mom-nful flames arise.
Thoul't shed the dew of pity o'er my bier.
And mix with many a kiss the bursting tear.
Yes, thou wilt weep, no iron heart is thine,
But softness all. —

And yet, good as this translation is, how very inadequately does the
English in the second line express Tibullus* exquisite Te teneam morieno
deficiente manu!

II.] BIOGRAPHY. 153

LXIIL

ZOILUS.

(Unfavourable Physiognomy.)

Crine ruber, niger ore, brevis pede, lumine Isesus,
Rem magnam praestas, Zoile, si bonus es.

Red-hair'd, black-faced, club-footed, and blear-eyed
Zoilus, 'tis much if thou art good beside.

Many celebrated persons have been remarkable for deformity.
Among the ancients, Plato and Xenophon seem to have found amusement
in ridiculing the flat nose, broad nostrils (more capacious, as they said,
for taking in smells on all sides), and goggle eyes of their preceptor
Socrates ; and Martial observes of a statue of that philosopher, that it
might well pass for the statue of a satyr. In a Life of ^sop, by a monk
in the 4th Century who collected the fables attributed to him, he is
represented as a monster of ugliness ; but there is no authority for this
popular modern opinion in ancient writers. The Athenians caused Ly-
sippus to erect a statue to him (adverted to by Pheedrus in a passage
quoted by Sir R. Walpole, in his memorable speech on the Peerage Bill),
which may not appear an appropriate honour to a very deformed person.
Both Tacitus and Suetonius remark the fiery visage of Domitian, of a
dye so red, that the blush of guilt could never colour his cheek ; a pecu-
liarity by which, it will be recollected, that Chancellor Jefieries was
detected in a public-house, though he had shaven his eye-brows. And
Pliny, in his panegyric on Trajan, has drawn a most graphic picture of
Domitian, in which the redness of his face is a prominent feature.
According to Plutarch, Cato the Censor was no beauty ; he had red hau",
greenish gray eyes, which, with a stentorian voice ever prone to bitter in-
vectives, gave occasion to a Greek Epigram to the effect, that Proserpine
would object to his admission among the shades below.

Lord Bacon wrote an Essay On Deformity, which is inferior to most
of his Essays: though he makes some illiberal remarks on deformed
people, he admits that "in a great wit deformity is an advantage to
rising." Lord Byron felt the infirmity of his lameness a powerful stimulus
to mental exertion in early life. Mrs SheUey, on the fly-leaf of her copy
of Byron's drama, The Deformed Transformed, observes that a sense of
his physical infirmity had an influence upon everything he wrote. In the
play just mentioned Byi-on seems to have express reference to the cir-
cumstance which he never forgot, of his mother having called him a de-
fonned brat :

Bertha. Out, Hunchback.

Arnold. I was born so, mother!

154 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

An opinion of the connexion between ugliness or deformity, and moral
depravity, has derived some force in this country from Shakspere's de-
scription of Richard III. : (Lines which Gray thought " could not be put
into the tongue of modern dramatics") :

I, that am not shap'd for sportive tricks.

Nor made to court an amorous looking-glass ;

I, that am rudely stamp'd, and want love's majesty

To stmt before a wanton ambling nymph ;

I, that am curtail'd of this fair proportion,

Cheated of feature by dissembling nature.

Deformed, unfinished, sent before my time

Into this breathing world, scarce half made up,

And that so lamely and unfashionable,

That dogs bark at me as I halt by them.
Sir T. More, in his History, states that Richard was little of stature, ill-
featured of limbs, hard favoured of visage, with his left shoulder much
higher than his right, and that he was brought into the world with his
feet foremost, and toothed. The author of the Historic Doubts, who very
properly urged the temptation for Lancastrian Historians to calumniate
Richard, admits his inequality of shoulders ; a defect which he appears to
have had in common with Alexander the Great :

Ammon's great son one shoulder had too high.

Atterbury called Pope's intellect "Mens curva in corpore curve;" but
would, probably, have been the first to admit that this smart saying was
only applicable to Pope in a very curved view of his genius. Pope was
sensitive to any reflection by others of his own personal defects : but he
took a share in that series of papers in the Spectator relating to the Ugly
Club. In No. lOS of the Spectator, Pope thus describes himself under
the appellation of Dick Distich :

" Dick Distich by name, we have elected president : not only as he is
the shortest of us all, but because he has entertained so just a sense of his
stature, as to go generally in black, that he may appear yet less. Nay,
to that perfection is he arrived, that he stoops as he walks. The figure
of the man is odd enough ; he is a lively little creature, with long arms
and legs ; a spider is no ill emblem of him ; he has been taken at a dis-
tance for a small windmill. But, indeed, what principally moved us in
his favour was his talent in poetry, for he hath promised to undertake a
long work, in short verse, to celebrate the heroes of our size. He has
entertained so great a respect for Statius, on the score of that line,

Major in exiguo regnabat corpore virtus —

A larger portion of heroic fire

Did his small limbs and little breast inspire —

that he once designed to translate the whole Thebaid for the sake of little
Tydeus."

II.] . BIOGRAPHY. 155

May, in his History of the Parliament, notices that Lord Strafford at
his impeachment excited by his eloquence universal sympathy among the
female part of his audience, notwithstanding liis personal ajipearance was
imfavourablc ; and he quotes the example of Ulysses, as applicable to
Strafford :

Non formosus erat, sed erat facundus Ulysses,
Et tamen sequoreas torsit amore Deas.

Madame de Sevigne said of PeUsson, "qu'il abusoit de la permission
qu'ont les hommes d'etre laids." Cumberland relates that Soame Jenyns
had been cast by nature in the exact mould of an ill-made pair of stiff
stays ; he had a protuberant wen between one eye and his nose, and both
his eyes were protruded like the eyes of a lobster who wears them at the
end of his feelers. After mentioning peculiarities of dress, Cumberland
adds, " Such was the man who was the charm of every circle, and gave a
zest to every company into which he entered." In Warton's Essay on
Pope (Epistle to Arbuthnot), various particulars are collected respecting
the personal appearance of the Itahan and English poets. Warton
observes that many of the Enghsh poets have been remarkably hand-
some.

Scan-on, who captivated Mademoiselle D'Aubigny, afterwards the
celebrated Madame Maintenon, when she was at the age of sixteen, and
whose attached wife she was for nine years, gives the following description
of his own personal appearance :

" Lecteur qui ne m'as jamais vu, et qui peut-etre ne s'en soucie guere,
a cause qu'il n'y a pas beaucoup a profiter a la vue d'une personne faite
comme moi, sache que je ne me soucierois pas aussi que tu me visses, si
je n'avois appris que quelques beaux esprits factieux se rejouissent aux
depens du miserable, et me depeignent d'une autre facon que je ne suis
fait: les uns disent que je suis cul-de-jatte ; les autres, que je n'ai
point de cuisses, et que I'on me met sm* une table, dans un etui, ou
je cause comme une pie borgne; et les autres, que mon chapeau tieut
a une corde qui passe dans une poulie, et que je le hausse et baisse
pour saluer ceux qui me visitent. Je pense etre oblige en conscience
de les empecher de mentir plus long-temps. J'ai trente ans passes : si
je vais jusqu'a quarante, j'ajouterai bien des maux a ceux que j'ai deja
soufferts depuis huit ou neuf ans. J'ai eu la taille bien faite, quoique
petite ; ma maladie I'a racourcie d'un bon pied. IMa tete est un peu
grosse pour ma taille. J'ai le visage assez plein pour avoir le corps
decharne; des cheveux assez pour ne point porter peiTuque. J'en ai
beaucoup de blancs en depit du proverbe. J'ai la vue assez bonne, quoi-
que les yeux gros ; je les ai bleus : j'en ai un plus enfonce que I'autre, du
cote que je penche la tete : j'ai le nez d'assez bonne prise. Mes dents
autrefois perles quarrees sont de coulem- de bois, et seront bientot de
couleur d'ardoise ; j'en ai perdu ime et demie du cote gauche, et deux et
demie du cote di-oit, et deux im peu egrignees. Mes jambes et mes cuisses

156 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

ont fait premierement un angle obtus, et puis un angle egal, et enfin un
aigu. Mes cuisses et mon corps en font un autre, et ma tete se penchant
sur mon estomach, je ne rasemble pas mal a un Z. J'ai les bras racourcis
aussi bien que les jambes, et les doigts aussi bien que les bras : enfin, je
suis un raccourci de de la misere humaine. Voila a-peu-pres comme je
suis fait. Puisque je suis en si beau chemin,je te vais apprendre quelque
chose de mon humeur ; j'ai toujours ete un peu colere, un peu gourmand,
et un peu paresseux. tPappelle souvent mon valet sot, et im peu apres,
monsieur. Je ne hais personne, Dieu veuille qu'on me traite de meme.
Je suis bien aise quand j'ai de I'argent, je serois encore plus aise si j'avois
de la sante. Je me rejouis assez en compagnie ; je suis assez content
quand je suis seul, et je supporte mes maux assez patiemment."

It is related that two ladies of the French court who had engaged in
a most yiolent quarrel, were recommended to refer their difterences to the
Duke of Roquelaure. His Grace, before accepting the arbitration, en-
quh-ed if either of them had called the other ugly : upon being answered,
" non," he replied, " Eh bien, je me charge de les reconcilier."

LXIV.

LIGURINIJS THE TABLE-TALIvER.

Fugerit an mensas Phoebus, coenamque Thyestse,

Ignoro : fugimus nos, Ligurine, tuam.
Ilia quideni lauta est, dapibusque instructa superbis :

Sed nihil omnino, te recitante, placet.
Nolo mihi ponas rhombum, nullumve bilibrem :

Nee volo boletos, ostrea nolo : tace.

I cannot say for certainty, whether the story be true of
Apollo absconding from the table of Thyestes : but I am
quite sure, O Ligurinus, we make ourselves scarce at yours.
Yours is doubtless a sumptuous board, and its delicacies
are of the most recherche description. — We however don't
care so much for your turbot, or your mullet weighing two
pounds, or your mushrooms, or your oysters, as we should
care if you would give us a little less of your talk.

The practice of recitations among the ancients, as it is to be collected
from numerous letters of Pliny, from Martial, and from Catullus, is a

II. J BIOGRAPHY. 157

curious feature in literary history. Perhaps a Martial is not more wanted
in the present day, for any reform of society, than to impose a partial
silence on table-talkers. Let a man be somewhat superior to the general,
either in rhetoric, or multifarious information, or ready or prepense wit,
-^sop's lantern would be wanted to find such an one, who will not, when-
ever he has opportunity, build up for himself a fancied column of fame
at dinner-tables. Like Aaron's serpent, his talk will swallow up that of
every other guest, without his reflecting that it is diversity more than
intensity, both in the substance of information and in the manner of im-
parting it, which is the charm of colloquial conversation. He reads
books, not for the pui-pose of digesting them, but of hringing them up.
He rides ever}- one's hobbies as well as his own to death, being particu-
larly ambitious of a reputation for having, as the French say, une selle iX
chacqite cheval. Cardinal Wolsey and Sir Thomas More neither of whom
were deficient in rhetoric, rather than talk overmuch themselves at their
own tables, kept in their services an official character to fill up any
vacuum in conversation : in modern society, the cap and its bells, and
the bauble, have been transferred fi'om the heads and hands of professed
fools, to those of persons conspicuous for the ostentation of wisdom. It
would indeed be a prudent precaution, if the practice among our continental
neighbours of commencing dinner with eating oysters were generally
adopted, provided their shells were available for an ostracism that might
banish petty tyrants from the republic of the board. Such despotism
no longer consists in arrogating the surname of " the just," but in claim-
ing a monopoly for setting the table in a roar, or for transforming it,
like harlequins, from its appropriate uses, into a lecture-room, or the pit
of a theatre, or the gallei-y of a House of Commons. Learning, and wit,
and flowers of speech, have their legitimate provinces at a dinner-table,
but it is when their possessors unmistakingly exhibit that quality, which,
as Horace intimates, is the true criterion of a Gentleman, viz. parcentis
viribus atque extenuantis eas consulto ; the pm'posely forbearing to put
forth intellectual strength in hours dedicated not to listening, but to con-
versing. "We may, perhaps, conjecture that Prior's Lysander, who seems
to have acquired the gift of the gab by reducing the society in which he
mixed to the condition of monks of La Trappe, was a brilliant Table-
Talker, but no Gentleman.

Lysander talks extremely well;
On any subject let him dwell,

His tropes and figures will content ye :
He should possess to all degrees,
The art of talk he practises.

Full fourteen hours in four and twenty.

158 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

LXV.

CANIUS THE LAUGHER.

Die, Miisa, quid agat Canius mens Rufus ?
Utrumne chartis tradit ille vieturis
Legenda temporum aeta Claudianorum ?
An qu£e Xeroni falsus adstruit seriptor?
An gemulatur improbi jocos Ph^dri ?
Laseivus elegis, an severus herois '?
An in eothuruis horridus Sophoeleis '?
An otiosus in schola poetarum
Lepore tinetos Attieo sales narrat ?
Hinc si recessit, portieum terit templi ;
An spatia carpit lentus Argonautarum ?
An delicatse sole rursus Europe
Inter tepentes post meridiem buxos
Sedet, ambulatve liber acribus curis ?
Titine thermis, an lavatur Agrippae,
An impudici balneo Tigillini?
An rure Tulli fruitur, atque Lueani ?
An Pollionis dulce currit ad Quartum ?
An sestuantes jam profectus ad Baias
Piger Lucrino nauculatur in stagno ?
Vis scire, quid agat Canius tuus ? ridet.

Say, O Muse, what my friend Canius is about ? After
suggesting a variety of occupations, such as various species
of composition, and the solution of literary queries, reci-
tations, walks in the Porticos, sitting under the shade
on favourite public seats, bathing in popular public baths,
enjoying the quiet and coolness of country villas, indulging
in the warm springs of Baife, taking a sail on the Lucrine
Lake, Martial observes that which of these pleasures he is
taking may be uncertain, but one thing is certain, that
Canius is laughing.

In another epigram. Martial says, that it would not be so surprising
that a person should turn a deaf ear to the Sirens in the midst of their
song, as that any one should voluntai'ily leave a room in which Canius was

II.] BIOGRAPHY. 159

telling a story. In a third epigram he compares Canius to the laughing
statue of Pan.

The details of Canius's supposed whereabouts, and his literary lucu-
brations, afford matter for interesting inquiry. Several of the localities
are illustrated, both as to their ancient and present condition, in Mr
Whiteside's Vicissitudes of the Eternal City. For example, the grove of
the Portico of Europa may be supposed to have occasioned the name of
a Church which now stands on its site, called S. Salvatore in Lauro.
The ancient and modem state of the Baths of Agrippa and Titus are
also there reviewed. The Portico of the Temple was that annexed to the
Temple of Isis. The Portico of the Argonauts was adorned with paint-
ings of their fabulous history by Agrippa. Addison observes, that the
Lucrine Lake is but a puddle in comparison of what it once was, its
springs having been sunk in an earthquake, or stopped up by mountains
which have fallen upon them. The controversy concerning the authen-
ticity of wi'itings attributed to Nero, is illustrated by Suetonius, who
examined Nero's writing tables, on which were several of his poetical
compositions, with interlineations, all in his own hand. This subject,
among others, Martial conjectures that Canius would put in a ludicrous
point of view.

Catullus has an epigram on a laughing friend, Egnatius, who used to
smile in the midst of the most pathetic discourses of orators, and even at
funerals : but this was to exhibit his white teeth. Catullus tells him that
if there is one thing more silly than another in the world, it is a silly
laugh, (Risu inepto res ineptior nulla est.) Martial, adverting to Ovid's
advice to a young lady, to " smile if she be wise," recommends a contrary
system of tactics to an elderly lady, with teeth not quite unobjectionable,
to " weep if she be wise." The motto, " Laugh if you be wise," (Ride si
sapis,) has been adopted in Tlie Guardian, No. xxix., in which the various
species of laughers are enumerated, as Dimplers, Smilers, Grinners, Horse-
laughers, and the various kinds of laugh, as the Sardonic, Ionic, Chian, and
Syracusan. In The Spectator, No. 630, there is a notice of a " rattling pew"
occupied by laughers. Aristotle, in reference to comic writers, says, that
the ridiculous consists in some fault or turpitude, not attended with great
pain, and not destructive. Hobbes writes, that the passion of laughter is
nothing else, but sudden glory, arising from comparison. Addison ob-
serves, that, according to Hobbes's account, when we hear a man laugh
excessively, instead of saying he is very merry, we ought to tell him he is
very proud : he notices that beasts do not laugh ; it is a chai'acteristic of
human nature. Dr Beattie, in an elaborate Essay on Laughter, concludes
that the " Quality in things, which makes them provoke that pleasing
emotion or sentiment whereof laughter is the external sign, is an uncom-
mon mixture of relation and contrariety, exhibited, or supposed to be
united in the same assemblage." Beattie excludes from his consideration
unnatural, malevolent, and mere animal laughter, and confines his defi-
nition to sentimento.l laughter.

]60 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

Chrysippus, Philemon, and Zeuxis, are related to have died in fits of
laughter, the last at one of his own jokes. Democritus has a reputation,
like that of Canius, for taking a comical, though philosophical, view of
human transactions, similar to that inscribed, with questionable propriety,
on Gay's tomb, according to the following request : " I desire, my dear
Mr Pope, whom I love as my own soul, if you survive me, as you certainly
will, if a stone should mark the place of my grave, to see these words
put upon it, with what else you may think proper :
Life's a jest, and all things shew it,
I thought so once, but now I know it."

The following epitaph on Democritus has been applied to Rabelais :
Accipe Democritum, Pluto, precor, una sit, ut quse
Tot flentes inter rideat umbra tibi.

O Pluton, Rabelais re9oy,
Afln que toi qui es le Roy
De ceux qui ne rient jamais,
Tu ais un rieur desormais.

LXVI.

AGON AND LEONILLA.

(each beautiful, each one-eyed.)

Lumine Aeon dextro, capta est Leonilla sinistro,
Et potis est forma vincere uterque deos.

Blande piier, lumen quod habes concede sorori ;
Sic tu csecus Amor, sic erit ilia Venus.

Aeon his right, Leonilla her left eye
Doth want ; yet each in form, the Gods out-vie.
Lend her thine eye, sweet boy, and she shall prove
The Queen of Beauty, thou the God of Love.

The conceit in this epigram has enjoyed considerable poiDularity. It
is said to have been composed in reference to Louis de Maguiron, a
French Adonis, and favom-ite of Henry III. of France: he lost an eye at
the siege of Isoire. The lady was the princess Eboli, who was equally
singular for her beauty and one eye. To complete the figure of Poly-
phemus, the Cyclops, as a model of ugliness, the poets gave him one eye
in the middle of his forehead.

11.] BIOGRAPHY. 161

LXVII.

LAIS, (HER LOOKING-GLASS).

Lais anus Veneri speculum dico ; dignum habeat se

^Eterna aeternum forma ministerium.
At mihi nullus in hoc usus, quia cernere talem

Qualis sum, nolo ; qualis eram, nequeo.

Venus ! take my votive glass !
Since I am not what I was.
What from this day I shall be,
Venus ! let me never see !

The original is in the Greek of Plato. The Latin is by Ausonius. It
is matter of pride that Prior's version is so superior to that of Ausonius ;
nor is the style that in which many English poets excel. Perhaps Waller
is the only other English poet who has left us similar gems.

Lxvin.

GLAUCIA, (HIS PREMATURE DEATH).

Non de plebe domus nee avaraB vema catastrae,

Sed domini sancto dignus amore puer.
Munera cum posset nondum sentire patroni,

Glaucia libertus jam Melioris erat.
Moribus hoc formaeque datum ; quis blandior illo ?

Aut quis Apollineo blandior ore fuit.
Immodicis brevis est setas, et rara senectus,

Quidquid amas, cupias non placuisse nimis.

Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy !
My sin was too much hope of thee, my boy !
Seven years thou wert lent to me, and I thee pay,
Exacted by thy fate, on the just day.
O could I lose all father now ! for why
Will man lament the state he should envy ?

11

162 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

To have so soon 'scap'd world's and flesh's rage ;

And if no other misery, yet age.

Rest in soft peace, and ask'd, say. Here doth lie

Ben Jonson his best piece of poesy.

For whose sake henceforth all his vows be such.

As ivJiat lie loves, may never like too much.

Instead of a translation of Glaucia's epitaph, the reader is presented
with Ben Jonson's epitaph on his first-born son. Martial's composition
is interesting only from the two remarkable lines with which it concludes,
the last of which is imitated by Ben Jonson.

The propriety of the sentiment expressed in the last line of Glaucia's
epitaph was the subject of a literary controversy between Pelisson and
the Count de Bussi. Pelisson translates the passage thus, " Voulez tous
etre heureux ? souhaitez en aimant, que ce que vous aimez ne soit pas
trop aimable." The Count argued that it was impossible to love, without
wishing the beloved object to be perfectly loveable.

The last line but one of Martial's epitaph is applied to King Edward
VI., by Cardan, in his memoirs relating to his roval pupil. He writes,
" Alas ! how prophetically did he once repeat to me, Immodicis brevis
est setas, et rara senectus." This line is adopted by Cowley as a motto
for his elegiac verses on his friend Hai-vey. The sentiment is commented
on in Bayle's Diet., Ai-t. Lucrece, where it is expressed, " Telle est la loix du
ciel, nul exces n'est durable ; s'il passe le commun, il passe promptement."
Marcellus, and Prince Henry, son of James I., by their extraordinary
promise and early deaths, contributed to encourage this vulgar error, if
it be such. Shakspere says :

So wise, so yoimg, they say do ne'er live long.

Nevertheless, there have been remarkable exceptions to the fatality of
early genius. Haller, who lived to the age of seventy, was considered a
prodigy at thirteen. ]\Iozart, indeed, died at the age of thirty-six, but not
before he had established a lasting reputation: his musical genius was
exhibited when he was four years old ; he composed a concerto when he
was five, and by the time he was eight, he had excited the wonder of the
principal courts of Europe. Bishop Monk, in his Life of Dr Bentley,
relates several particulars concerning "Wooton, who maintained a respect-
able literary reputation, but not a very high one, after leaving college.
He took his degree of A.B. at only thirteen years of age, when he
was conversant with twelve languages. On his admission to Catharine
Hall before the age of ten, the master of his college made a special entry
in the college books : Gulielmus Wooton, infra decem annos, nee Ham-
mondo nee Grotio secundus. "W. Wooton, under ten years of age,
second neither to Hammond nor Grotius." Dr Johnson says of Pope,
who " lisped in numbers," that, in the style of fiction, it might be related
of him, as of Pindar, that, when he lay in the cradle, the bees swarmed
about his mouth.

II. 1 BIOGRAPHY. 163

LXIX.

LASCARIS.

Lascaris in terra est aliena hie ipse sepultus,
Nee nimis externum quod quereretur erat ;

Quam placidam ille hospes reperat, sed deflet Achaeis
Libera quod nee adhuc patria fundat humum.

In a strange land here Lascaris remains,
Nor yet that it was strange to him complains ;
For it receiv'd him as an honoured guest,
And with protection's kindest comforts blest.
But sadly he deplores, that still a slave,
His country to the Greeks denies a grave.

Lascaris was the most noble in birth and profound in learning of all
the Greeks who fled for refuge to Italy after the taking of Constanti-
nople. He was one of the first restorers of Greek literature in Italy, and
published the first Greek Grammar that was ever printed in Europe.

LXX.

AUGUSTUS.

Ut ille victor orbis, et patriae pater
Confectus annis et dolore morbido,
Augustus, horas jam supremas duceret ;
Gravata ad auras vix levavit lumina,
Circumque flentes, cuique protendens manum,
Interrogavit voce sollicita suos ;
" Ecquid putatis, partem ut aequus histrio
Mimumque vitas me tulisse commode ? "
Qui cum faventes " optime" una dicerent ;
Haec ille " fiat : vos valete et plaudite !"

When Augustus, the World's victor, and Father of his
Country, was worn away by age and disease, and his last

11—2

164 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

hour was at hand, he raised, and scarcely was able to raise
his eyes, and cast a look upon the friends who were weep-
ing around him. — He stretched out his hand to each, and
asked them if he had acted his part in life like a good
Mime, with due regard to all the proprieties of the cha-
racter assigned to him. — Every one present joined in an
exclamation, that he had been an incomparable Actor. —
Then said he — " Farewell all, and all applaud !"

The expression, Vos valete et plaudite ! was the common conclusion to
be found at the end of all Roman plays. It is quoted as such by Dr
Pangloss, who finishes his part by saying, " Vos yalete et plaudite !
Terence, hem ! " Nero's last dying speech was an expression of regret,
that so good a singer was about to be lost to the world. " Even in our
ashes live our wonted fires," writes Gray, but not originally. It is related
that the courtier- archbishop Fenelon said on his death-bed, " Si j'aurai
I'honneur de voir Dieu, je ne manquerai gueres de lui recommander bien
Tame du Roi de France." This is much to the same effect as the last words
of Pope's courtier, "If — where I'm going — I could serve you. Sir!"
The ruling passion or foible strong in death has not been more strikingly
exemplified than in the lines on Narcissa :

" Odious ! in woollen ! 'twould a saint provoke
(Were the last words that poor Narcissa spoke),
No, let a charming chintz and Brussels lace
Wrap my cold limbs, and shade my lifeless face.
One would not, sure, be frightful when one's dead —
And — Betty — give this cheek a little red."

LXXI.

A GRAMMARIAN OF GHENT.

Grammaticam scivi, multos docuique per annos,
Declinare tamen non potui tumulum.

I was skilled in Grammar, and taught it for many
years ; nevertheless I was totally unable to decline the
tomb.

This Epitaph appears in Coryat's Crudities. The French have con-
veyed much wit and satire, and ingenious turns of expression, through

II.] BIOGRAPHY. 165

the medium of epitaphs. A few specimens may bo thought enter-
taining :

Rousseau.

Cy-git I'illustre et malheurcux Rousseau ;

Le Brabant fut sa tombe, et Paris son berceau;

Voici I'abrege de sa vie,

Qui fut trop longue de moitie.

II fut trente ans digne d'envie,

Et trente ans digne de pitie.

PiRON.

Ci-git Piron, que ne fut rien,
Pas meme academicien.

MONTMAUR

(famous alike for his good memory, and bad judgment).
Sous cette casaque noir
Repose bien doucement
Montmaur d'heureuse memoire,
Attendant le jugement.

La Riviere, Bishop of Langres,
(who left a hundred crowns for his epitaph : Prior left <£500 for his
monument, with an epitaph inclusive).
Ci-git tres grande personage.
Qui fut d'un illustre lineage.
Qui posseda mille vertus,
Qui ne trompa jamais, qui fut toujours fort sage :
Je n'en dirai pas davantage,
C'est trop mentir pour cent ecus.

An Abbe
(who ruined himself by gambhng).
Le bon Prelat qui git sous cette pierro
Aima le jeu plus qu'homme de la terre.
Quand il mourut il n'avoit pas un hard,
Et comme perdre etoit cher lui coutume,
S'il a gagne Paradis, on presume
Que c'est un coup de hazard.

Ablancourt
(a translator of the Classics).
Dans ses fameux ecrits toute la France admire
Des Grecs et Remains les precieux tresors.
A son trepas on ne pent dire
Qui perd le plus, des vivans ou des morts.

166 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

TUREXE.

Turene a son tombeau parmi ceux de nos rois,
C'est le prix glorieux de ses fameux exploits.
Louis vouloit ainsi signaler sa vaillance,

Afin d'apprendre aux siecles a venir,

Qu'il ne met point de diflference
Entre porter le sceptre, et le bien soutenir.

Maupertuis.
Ce globe mal connu, qu'il a su mesurer,
Devient un monument ou sa gloire se fonde.
Son sort est de fixer la figure de monde,
De lui plaire, et de I'eclairer.

A rich collection of poetical Latin epitaphs in England (for even
some himible and rustic families have still a pride, as they express it, in
being buried in Latin), will be found in Heame's Collection of Curious
Discourses, especially in Numbers Lxiv, lsxv, lxxvi, xcn ; the last is
by Camden. See also Weever's Fumral Monuments, and Daly's West-
monasterium.

LXXII.

NICHOLAS. AN EGOTIST.

Dicere Nicoleon non audeo: noverat unum
Unus Xicholeos dicere Nicoleon.

Ci-git Augustin Nicholas,
Auteur de la premiere classe ;
Reformateur de Vaugelas ;
Rival de YirgUe et Horace ;
Castnian plus que n"'etoit Garcillas ;
Toscan plus que n'etoit Bocace ;
Digne favori de Pallas ;
Et grand dragoman du Parnasse ;
Instruit des afiaires d'etat,
Au conseil et dans le senat
II meritoit le rang supreme ;

C'etoit un homme enfin " Hola !

De qui savez-vouz tout cela?"

De qui je le sais ? De lui-meme.

II.] BIOGRAPHY. 167

LXXIII.

HOBS ON.

Complures (ita, Granta, refers) Hobsonus alebat

In stabulo longo, quos locitaret, equos ;
Hac lege, ut foribus staret qui proximus, ille

Susciperet prinias, solus et ille, vices.
Aut hunc, aut nullum — sua pars sit cuique laboris ;

Aut hunc, aut nullum — sit sua cuique quies.
Conditio obtinuit, nulli violanda togato ;

Proximus hie foribus, proximus esto viae.
Optio tarn prudens cur non hue usque retenta est ?

Tam bona cur unquam lex abolenda fuit ?
Hobsoni veterem normam revocare memento ;

Tuque iterum Hobsoni, Granta, videbis equos.

It is a tradition at Cambridge, that Hobson kept a
large number of horses in a long stable, and that it was
the rule of his stable, that the horse which stood next the
door should take the first turn of service — every horse
must participate equally in labour, equally in rest. Gowns-
men well knew the law; the horse next the door must be

taken, or none at all Why should Hobson's Choice ever

have been suffered to become obsolete ? — Restore it, O
Granta, if you consult your owt^i interests ; for then in the
place of modern Rozinantes your Cantabs will ride again
Hobson's steeds.

A particular account of Hobson and his choice will be found in TTie
Spectator, No, 509, and in the notes to Todd's Milton. Hobson's Inn at
London was the Bull Inn in Bishopsgate Street. He died on January 1,
1630, when the plague was raging in London, which prevented him from
taking his usual journeys as a carrier and conveyer of letters between
Cambridge and the Metropolis. Among Archbishop Sancroft's MSS. in
the Bodleian, are some verses written by him on Hobson's death. Milton,
who was a Cantab at the time Hobson died, wrote two punning epitaphs
upon him, in which the following lines occur :

Rest that gives all men life, gave him his death ;
And too much breathing put him out of breath ;

168 GEMS OP LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

Nor were it contradiction to aflSrm,
Too long vacation hasten'd on his term.
Ease was his chief disease, and to judge right.
He died for heaviness that his cart went light.
Here lieth one, who did most tnily prove.
That he could never die, while he could move.
His letters are delivered all and gone,
Only remains this superscription.

LXXIV.

FOX'S VALE TO ETON.

Poscimur : at, nobis si rite precantibus olim

Dixeris optatum, Musa, rogata melos,
Nunc quoque et emerito praesens succurre poetae ;

Dona ferens adeat sic tua fana cliens.
Tuque, per Aoniis loca si celebrata Camenis

Saepe tua erravi, Pegase, vectus ope,
Decurso prope jam stadio, metamque sub ipsam,

Ne lassa infami membra pudore trahas.
Gentis amore Maro Latium canit : o mihi talis

Spiritus accedat, (non minor urget amor)
Ut patrijB, (neque enim ingratus natalia rura

Prseposui campis, mater Etona, tuis)
Ut patriae carisque sodalibus, ut tibi dicam

Anglice supremum Quinctiliane vale !
Si quid id est, veteres quod Musa imitata, Latinis

Luserit aut Graiis, non aliena, modis,
Omne tuum est ; mihi Pieridum de fonte sororum

Pura ministeriis contigit unda tuis.
Teque precor (levitas olim vesana fidelis

Eespuit oblatam si monitoris opem,
Acrior aut si me commorit lingua, meisve

Moribus aut famae virga ministra meae)
Ne tot consumptos tecum feliciter annos

Infelix animo deleat hora tuo.
Care vale, valeas et mater Etona, supremum

Musea recinit tristis alumnus ope.

i

II.] BIOGRAPHY. 169

Prataque, et aerio splendentes vertice turres,

Silvaque carminibus concelebrata meis ;
Vosque adeo indigenae quae rivi in margine Musae

Castalias Thamesi posthabuistis aquas,
Extremum concede mihi, sacra turba, laborem ;

Sic beet emeritum non inhonesta rudis.

I am called. — But if ever, O Muse, before now, you
have hearkened to my invocations, and inspired my lays,
afford present aid to your Poet, whose occupation wiU so
soon be gone ! And you, my Pegasus, as you have often
transported me over classic regions consecrated to the
Deities of Song, so do not now, when my race is almost
run, when I am on the point of attaining its goal, disgrace
me by your lassitude and tardiness. — Maro celebrates La-
tium with a passion which argues his love of the place.
O that I were equal with him in genius ; not even he can
surpass me in affection ! I might then bid to my country
(for my natal spot has not juster claims than Eton upon
my gratitude), might bid to my dear Companions, might
bid to thee, O Quintilian of England, a Farewell in unison
with my own feelings, and worthy of the present occasion !
That I have been permitted to so close an intimacy with
the jNIuses of Greece and Eome as to be enabled to imitate
their sublime strains, that I have been allowed to taste the
pure waters of the Castalian spring,, is, my Quintilian, your
entire gift. And, if my thoughtless levity has at times
revolted at the proffered assistance of the kindest of Pre-
ceptors ; if I have occasionally merited your just censure,
or if to preserve my morals, and prevent the blasting of
my future fame, you have outstretched the hand of Cor-
rection, O let not my inconsiderate conduct obliterate in
your mind all memory of one who has passed so many
happy years under your tutelage. Dear Preceptor, fare-
well ! Farewell, Alma Mater Eton ! Farewell to your sur-
rounding meadows, and your crowning and antique towers,
and yoiu" groves which have so often been the burden of
my lays. And you, O Muses, who haunt those neighbour-
ing banks of the Thames, in preference even to the foun-

170 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch. II.

tains of Castalia, smile, O Sacred Band, on this the last of
ray wonted labours. Thus, O thus, like as among the
Romans a gladiator who had earned the favour of the
public, was presented with a wand, as a token that he
might quit the arena for ever amidst the applauses of the
audience, so may I exchange the occupations of my boy-
hood for the duties of a man, with the consciousness of
having passed at least one period of my life with approba-
tion and honour.

CHAPTER III.

PLACES AND NATURAL PHENOMENA.

VENICE.

Vide RAT Hadriacis Venetam Neptuniis in undis

Stare iirbem, et toti ponere jura mari.
Nunc mihi Tarpeias quantum vis, Jupiter, arces

Objice, et ilia tui moenia Martis, ait.
Sic pelago Tibrim prsefers, urbem Aspice utramque,

Dlam homines dices, hunc posuisse Deos.

When Neptune saw in Adrian's surges stand
Venice, and give the Sea laws of command :
Now Jove, said he, object thy Capitol
And Mars' proud walls : This were for to extol
Tyber beyond the Main : Both towns behold,
Rome Men, thou'lt say, Venice the Gods did mould.

Coryat, in his Crudities, transcribes several cui'ious pieces of Latin
poetry concerning Venice, and he mentions, that the Venetian Senate
conferi'ed on Sannazarius a hundred crowns for each of the above six
verses: he adds, "I would to God, my poetical friend, Mr Benjamin
Jonson, were so well rewarded for his poems here in England, seeing he
hath made many as good verses (in my opinion) as these of Sannazarius."
Howell, (from whom the version in the text is taken,) in his interesting
letters, writes that Sannazarius had 100 zechins for every line, and that
the siuB amounted to about £300. The reader will probably think them
overpaid, and will be glad to turn from them to the more poetical de-
scription of Venice by Byron :

I stood in Venice, on the Bridge of Sighs :
A palace and a prison on each hand :
I saw from out the wave her structures rise
As from the stroke of the enchanter's wand :

172 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

A thousand years their cloudy wmgs expand
Around me, and a dying glory smiles
O'er the far times, when many a subject land
Look'd to the winged lion's marbled piles,
Where Venice sate in state, throned on her hundred isles !

She looks a sea Oybele, fresh from ocean.
Rising with her tiara of proud towers
At aii'y distance, with majestic motion,
A ruler of the waters and their powers :
And such she was ; — her daughters had their dowers
From spoils of nations, and the exhaustless East »

Pour'd in her lap all gems in sparkling showers. I

In purple was she robed, and of her feast
Monarchs partook, and deem'd their dignity increased.

In Venice Tasso's echoes are no more,
And silent rows the songless gondolier ;
Her palaces are crumbling to the shore,
And music meets not always now the ear :
Those days are gone — but Beauty still is hero.
States fall, arts fade — but Nature doth not die,
Nor yet forget how Venice once was dear.
The pleasant place of all festivity,
The revel of the earth, the masque of Italy !

But unto us she hath a spell beyond
Her name in story, and her long array

Of mighty shadows, whose dim forms respond 1

Above the dogeless city's vanish'd sway ; 1

Ours is a trophy wliich will not decay
With the Rialto ; Shylock and the Moor,
And Pierre, cannot be swept or worn away —

The keystones of the arch ! though all were o'er, i

For us repeopled were the sohtary shore. |

The following description is by Rogers : '

There is a glorious City in the Sea.

The Sea is in the broad, the narrow streets, j

Ebbing and flowing; and the salt sea-weed |

Clings to the marble of her palaces.

No track of men, no foot-steps to and fro.

Lead to her gates. The path lies o'er the Sea, |

Invisible ; and from the land we went, *

As to a floating City — steering in.

And gliding up her streets as in a dream,

So smoothly, silently — by many a dome

m.] PLACES AND NATURAL PHENOMENA. 173

Mosque-like, and many a stately portico,

The statues ranged along an azure sky ;

By many a pile in more than Eastern splendour,

Of old the residence of merchant-kings ;

The fronts of some, though Time had shattered them.

Still glowing with the richest hues of art.

As though the wealth within them had run o'er.

II.

THE GRANDE CHARTREUSE.

O Tu, severi Religio loci,
Quocunque gaudes nomine (non leve
Nativa nam certe fluenta

Numen habet, veteresque sylvas

Praesentiorem et conspicimus Demn
Per invias rupes, fera per juga,
Clivosque praruptos, sonantes

Inter aquas, nemorumque noctem ;

Quam si repostus sub trabe citrea
Fulgeret auro, et Phidiaea manu,)
Salve vocanti rite, fesso et
Da placidam juveni quietem.

Quod si invidendis sedibus, et frui
Fortuna sacra lege silentii

Vetat volentem, me resorbens
In medios violenta fluctus :

Saltern remoto des. Pater, angulo
Horas senectse ducere liberas ;
Tutumque vulgari tumultu ;
Surripias, hominumque curis.

O thou ! the Genius of this awful spot.
How shall I fitly name thee ? for I deem

Less than a Godhead's presence haunteth not
This antique forest, and this native stream ;

174 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

And we behold more near the visible God

Midst these shagg'd cliffs, these rude hill-solitudes,

These rocks, which foot of man hath never trod,
This dash of waters, and this night of woods.

Than if beneath a citron arch he shone,

Fashion'd in molten gold by Phidias' hand —

Hail ! — if invoked aright, look gracious on !

Here let my wearied youth ghde calm to land.

Or should hard Fate's rebuff, e'en while I yearn
For these endear'd retreats, this holy reign

Of silence, with the reflux swell return
Me to the tossing midmost waves again :

Sire ! (shall I call thee ?) be the boon allow'd
To share thy freedom in my drooping age ;

Then steal me from the cares that vex the crowd,
And safe receive me from their restless rage.

Gray, in one of his highly interesting letters to West, gives the follow-
ing description of his journey to the Grande Chartreuse :

" In our little journey up to the Grande Chartreuse, I do not remem-
ber to have gone ten paces vdthout an exclamation, that there was no
restraining : not a precipice, not a torrent, not a chtF, but is pregnant with
religion and poetry. There are certain scenes that would awe an atheist
into belief, vrithout the help of other argument. One need not have a
very fantastic imagination to see spirits there at noon-day; you have
Death perpetually before your eyes, only so far removed, as to compose
the mind without frighting it. I am well pereuaded St Bruno was a man
of no common genius, to choose such a situation for his retirement ; and
perhaps should have been a disciple of his, had I been bom in his time."

In a letter to his mother, Gray writes :

" We took the longest road, which lies through Savoy, on purpose to
see a famous monastery, called the Grande Chartreuse, and had no reason
to think our time lost. After having travelled seven days very slow, (for
we did not change hoi-ses, it being imjDOssible for a chaise to go post in
these roads) we arrived at a Uttle village, among the mountains of Savoy,
called Echelles ; from thence we proceeded on horses, who are used to
the way, to the mountain of the Chartreuse : it is six miles to the top ; the
road runs winding up it, commonly not six feet broad ; on one hand is the
rock, with woods of pine-trees hanging over head ; on the other, a mon-
strous precipice, almost perpendicular, at the bottom of which roUs a

III.] PLACES AND NATURAL PHENOMENA. 175

torrent, that sometimes tumbling among the fragments of stone that have
fallen from on high, and sometimes precipitating itself down vast descents
with a noise like thunder, which is still made greater by the echo from the
mountains on each side, concurs to form one of the most solemn, the
most romantic, and the most astonishing scenes I ever beheld : add to
this the strange views made by the craggs and cliifs on the other hand ;
the cascades that in many places throw themselves from the very summit
down into the vale, and the river below ; and many other particulars im-
possible to describe ; you will conclude we had no occasion to repent our
pains. This place St Bruno chose to retire to, and upon its very top
founded the aforesaid convent, which is the superior of the whole order.
When we came there, the two fathers, who are commissioned to entertain
strangers, (for the rest must neither speak one to another, nor to any one
else) received us very kindly ; and set before us a repast of dried fish,
eggs, butter and fi'uits, all excellent in their kind, and extremely neat.
They pressed us to spend the night there, and to stay some days with
them ; but this we could not do, so they led us about their house, which is,
you must think, like a little city; for there are 100 fathers, besides 300
servants, that make their clothes, grind their corn, press their wine, and
do every thing among themselves. The whole is quite orderly and
simple; nothing of finery; but the wonderful decency, and the strange
situation, more than supply the place of it. In the evening we descended
by the same way, passing through many clouds that were then forming
themselves on the mountain's side."

Dugald Stewart observes, that the sublime effect of rocks and cata-
racts, of huge ridges of mountains, of vast and gloomy forests, of immense
and impetuous rivers, of the boundless ocean, and, in general, every thing
which forces on the attention the idea of Creative Power, is owing, in part,
to the in-esistible tendency which that idea has to raise the thoughts
towards heaven. The influence of some of these spectacles in awakening
religious impressions, is nobly exemplified in Gray's Ode, wi-itten at the
Grande Chartreuse; an Alpine scene of the wildest and most awful
grandeur, where every thing appears fresh from the hand of Omnipo-
tence, inspiring a sense of the more immediate presence of the Divinity.

176 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

III.
SIRMIO.

Pceninsularum. Sirmio, insiilarumque
Ocelle, quascumque in liquentibus stagnis
Marique vasto fert uterque Neptunus !
Quam te libenter, quamque laetus, inviso !
Yix mi ipse credens, Thyniam atque Bithynos
Liquisse campos, et videre te in tuto,
O ! quid solutis est beatius curis ?
Cum mens onus reponit, ae peregrine
Labore fessi venimus larem ad nostrum,
Desideratoque acquiescimus lecto ;
Hoc est, quod unum est pro laboribus tantis.
Salve, o Venusta Sirmio ! atque liero gaude :
Gaudete vosque, Lydise lacus undse :
Ridete, quidquid est domi cachinnorum.

Sweet Sirmio ! thou, the very eye

Of all peninsulas and isles
That in our lakes of silver lie,

Or sleep, enwreathed by Neptune's smiles —

How gladly back to thee I fly :

Still doubting, asking — Can it be
That I have left Bithynia's sky,

And gaze in safety upon thee ?

Oh ! what is happier than to find

Our hearts at ease, our perils past,
When, anxious long the lighten'd mind

Lays down its load of care at last :

When, tired with toil o'er land and deep,

Asain we tread the welcome floor
Of our own home, and sink to sleep

On the long-wish'd-for bed once more.

III.] PLACES AND NATURAL PHENOMENA. 177

Tliis, this it is that pays alone

The ills of all life's former track. —
Shine out, my beautiful, my own

Sweet Sirmio, greet thy master back !

And thou, fair Lake, whose waters quaff
The light of heaven like Lydia's sea,

Rejoice, rejoice — let all that laughs
Abroad, at home, laugh out for me !

The version is by Moore. The piece has been translated by several
hands. It is quoted by Gray in a letter to West.

The Peninsula of Sirmio projects into the Lago di Garda or Benaco,
and is two miles in cu'cumference. The vestiges of Catullus's villa are
still shewn there. Close by its side there is a precipitous fall of the
ground, which is supplied by rows of vaults placed over each other. On
the summit was a spacious terrace, commanding a view of the lake. Part of
the ruins of this terrace, and of a portico which was erected on it, are still
to be seen. Behind the villa, the promontory rose into a hill covered
with olives. The views from Catullus's Villa are described by Eustace as
dehghtfully varied. The shores of the lake are sometimes shelving in
gentle declivity, at others breaking in craggy magnificence; the sight
resting at one time on cultivated scenery, and, at another, bewildered and
lost in the windings of the lake, and the recesses of the Alps. The lake
Benaco is thirty-flve miles in length, and twelve in breadth. It has
waters of the finest sea-green. It is described by Virgil as it was excited
by a storm ; and Addison saw it in that state, when he represents it as
exhibiting all the grandeur and agitation of the ocean. Benacus is the
subject of the most celebrated of Bembo's Latin poems.

In the year 1797, Buonaparte, when commander-in-chief of the army
of Italy, visited Sirmio, on his jom'ney from Milan, to conclude the treaty
of Campo Formio, turning out of his direct route for the purpose. He
gave a Fete Champetre in honoui* of Catullus. Annelli, a famous Impro-
visatori, paid on the occasion poetical tributes to the memory of the
Bard of Sirmio. And, out of respect for Catullus, the town of Sirmio
was reheved from a detachment of soldiers which had been quartered
upon it.

The poet Frascatoro in lamenting the untimely death of a poetic
friend, who died at Sirmio, represents the shade of Catullus as nightly
wandering amidst the scenes of his once favourite peninsula. Among
the works of the modern Latin poets of Italy, there are many pleasing
addresses to their villas, composed in imitation of Catullus's Ode to
Sirmio. No other poem of antiquity can, perhaps, be indicated which
contains such an agreeable description of home feelings.

In England we have a very well-known popular song of "Home,

12

178 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

sweet Home ! " And we have a very interesting school-boy Latin poem,
called Dulce Domum, said to have been composed, about a hundred and
fifty years ago, by a "Winchester scholar, who, for some offence, was forbid
by his master from going home at the Whitsuntide holydays. A translation
of the poem first appeared in The Gentleman's Magazine for March 1796.
The whole poem and translation will be found in Hone's Every-Day Booh.
The two concluding stanzas may possibly excite curiosity to search for
the rest.

Heus ! Rogere, fer caballos ;

Eia, nunc eamus!
Limen amabile,
Matris et oscula,

Suaviter et repetamus.

Domum, domum, dulce domum.

Concinamus ad Penates,

Vox et audiatm*;
Phosphore ! quid jubar,
Signius emicans,

Gaudia nostra moratur.

Domum, domum, dulce domum.

Let our men and steeds assemble.

Panting for the wide champaign,
Let the ground beneath us tremble,

While we scour along the plain.

O what raptures, O what blisses,

When we gain the lovely gate!
Mother's arms, and mother's kisses,

There, our bless'd arrival wait.

Greet our household Gods with singing !

Lend, O Lucifer ! thy ray ;
Why should light, so slowly springing,

All our promis'd joys delay?

The translation wants the simplicity, and the practical turn of the
original. — Hollo! Roger, bring the ponies! quick, let us scamper off"!
Our jolly homes, our Mothers' kisses! Sha'n't we sing, "Home, sweet
Home ! " Let us cheer loud, that our voices may reach to the governor's
ears ! Sun ! sun ! how slow you are rising ! Why don't you come, and
put an end to this delay of jolliness f Hark ! We all call for you with the
song of " Home, sweet Home!"

III.] PLACES AND NATURAL PHENOMENA. 17.9

IV.

VESUVIUS.

Hie est pampineis viridis mocio Vesvius umbris ;

Presserat hie madidos nobilis uva lacus.
Hsec juga, quam Nysse coUes, plus Baeehus amavit :

Hoe niiper Satyri monte dedere ehoros.
Haee veneris sedes, LacedaBinone gratior illi :

Hie locus Hereuleo nomine clarus erat.
Cuncta jaeent flammis, et tristi mersa favilla ;

Nee Superi vellent hoc licuisse sibi.

Vesuvio, eover'd with the fruitful vine,

Here fiourish'd once, and ran with floods of Wine ;

Here Bacchus oft to the cool shades retir'd.

And his own native Nisa less admir'd :

Oft to the mountain's airy tops advanced,

The frisking Satyrs on the summits danc'd ;

Alcides here, here Venus grac"'d the shore,

Nor lov'd her fav'rite Lacedsemon more.

Now piles of ashes spreading all around,

In undistinguish'd heaps deform the ground,

The Gods themselves the ruin'd seats bemoan,

And blame the mischiefs that themselves have done.

The version is by Addison : he does not seem to have apprehended
the point in the last line, which appears to have reference to the memo-
rable and then recent saying of Nero concerning the extent of his power
{quantum sibi liceret), referred to in the previous illustrations of the epi-
gram on Lucan. Picturesque descriptions of Vesuvius and of the Bay of
Naples are given by Addison and Eustace, and by Statins in his interest-
ing invitation 'of his wife to Naples ; a poem of upwards of a hundred
verses, which has been translated into harmonious English verse by
Dr Hodgson, provost of Eton : these lines occur :

Thy rage, Vesuvius, and thy streams that flow

In flaming horror o'er a waste of snow.

Drive not my daring countrymen away,

Their crowded cities still oppose his sway.

Here spread majestic o'er the busy coast

The world's great port, Italia's proudest boast :

12—2

180 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

Here many a lofty tow'i', and glittering dome,
The work, the care of hea/n, thy rivals, Rome !
I call thee, Claudia ! to this balmy shore !
Yes, thou wilt come with voluntaiy haste.
And thus anticipate the wish I waste.
Absent from me, before my Claudia's eyes,
Rome will in vain spread out her luxmles.
A mournful desert will the city seem,
And royal Tiber roll a sordid stream.

Tacitus, in describing the island of Caprese with reference to the
memorable retirement thjere of the Emperor Tiberius, observes that the
view of the Bay of Naples, as seen from the island, had lost much of its
beauty, in consequence of the fiery eruptions of Mount Vesuvius having,
between the time of Tiberius and the date of his Annals, changed the
aspect of the scenery. Addison notices that Martial's epigram is an inte-
resting commentary on Tacitus. And he observes that the view of the
Bay of Naples, when Tacitus wrote, must have been more striking than
at present, in consequence of its being anciently encompassed with so long
a range of buildings, as to appear to those who looked at it from a dis-
tance, but as one continued city. Virgil wrote his Georgics principally at
Naples, and has occasionally taken its scenery from its beautiful bay.

The first eruption of Vesuvius, which is remarkable in history, is that
which is the subject of the epigram in the text. It occurred a. d. 79, in
the first year of the reign of the Emperor Titus, and it destroyed the
cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii : the first of these Cities of the Dead
was discovered a.d. 1713, and the latter about ten years afterwards, the
former from seventy to one hundred and twelve, the latter from ten to
twelve feet, imder the surface of the ground. The number of recorded
eruptions prior to that of a.d. 1794, is said to have been thirty. The erup-
tions of .^tna acquired classical celebrity from Pindar and ^schylus.
Virgil has sung of them. The Marquis of Wellesley, in a Latin poem,
has given an animated description of an eruption of ^tna, in which the
following lines occur :

Atra ruit vastse nubes prsesaga ruinfe,

Tartareo ad superum vortice missa polum.
Jam tempestates cinerum, ten-aeque tremoris

Flammarumque inter saxa voluta globes,
Totaque sulphureis suffecta vaporibus aura,

Fulguraque, et subita condita nocte dies.
Atque alta ^tneis suspiria tracta cavernis,

Ceu mons ex imo lugeat ipse sinu,
Dant signum — Uquidusque ignis, Phlegethontis imago,

Torrenti effervens flumine inundat agros :
Per nemora, et vites, per pulchra palatia, et hortos,

Involvens humili templa, domosque cas&.

III.] PLACES AND NATURAL PHENOMENA. 181

Ad mare diluvio ardcnti, et flagrantibus undis,
Cum luctu, et lacrymis, et nece, vastat iter.

Jungitur ignis aqua;; et stridens durescit eundo ;
Objicit et pulso saxea claustra mari,

Fit pelagi rupes.

This description (according to an unpublished copy of the Marquis of
Wellesley's Latin poetry) is taken from Brydone's Tour in Sicily, Vol. i.
p. 175, wliich describes more particularly the great eruption, a.d. 1669,
that destroyed the possessions of near 30,000 people. Brydone calcu-
lates that volcanic stones have been discharged from -^tna to a height
of 7000 feet.

Pliny's two letters to Tacitus on the subject of the eruption of
Vesuvius, commemorated in the text, wiU always be read with deep
interest.

" Your request that I would send you an account of my imcle's death,
in order to transmit a more exact relation of it to posterity, deserves my
acknowledgements ; for, if this accident shall be celebrated by your pen,
the glory of it, I am well assm-ed, will be rendered for ever illustrious.
And notwithstanding he perished by a misfortune, which, as it involved at
the same time a most beautiful country in ruins, and destroyed so many
populous cities, seems to promise him an everlasting remembrance ; not-
withstanding he has himself composed many and lasting works ; yet I am
persuaded, the mentioning of him in your immortal writings will greatly
contribute to eternize his name. Happy I esteem those to be, whom pro-
vidence has distinguished with the abiUties either of doing such actions as
are worthy of being related, or of relating them in a manner worthy of
being read ; but doubly happy ai'e they who are blessed with both these
uncommon talents : in the number of which my uncle, as his own writings,
and your history will evidently prove, may justly be ranked. It is with
extreme willingness, therefoi'e, I execute your commands; and should
indeed have claimed the task if you had not enjoined it. He was at that
time with the fleet imder his command at Misenum. On the 24th of
August, about one in the afternoon, my mother desii'ed him to observe a
cloud which appeared of a very unusual size and shape. He had just
returned from taking the benefit of the sun, and after bathing himself in
cold water, and taking a slight repast, was retired to his study : he imme-
diately arose and went out upon an eminence from whence he might
more distinctly view this very uncommon appearance. It was not at that
distance discernible from what mountain this cloud issued, but it was
found afterwards to ascend from mount Vesuvius. I cannot give you a
more exact description of its figure, than by resembling it to that of a
pine-tree, for it shot up a great height in the form of a trunk, which
extended itself at the top into a sort of branches ; occasioned, I imagine,
either by a sudden gust of air that impelled it, the force of which de-

182 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

creased as it advanced upwards, or the cloud itself being pressed back
again by its own weight, expanded in this manner : it appeared some-
times bright and sometimes dark spotted, as it was either more or less
impregnated with earth and cinders. This extraordinary phenomenon
excited my uncle's philosophical curiosity to take a nearer view of it.
He ordered a light vessel to be got ready, and gave me the liberty, if I
thought proper, to attend him. I rather chose to continue my studies ;
for, as it happened, he had given me an employment of that kind. As he
was coming out of the house he received a note from Rectiaa the wife
of Bassus, who was in the utmost alann at the imminent danger which
threatened her ; for her villa being situated at the foot of mount Vesuvius,
there was no way to escape but by sea ; she earnestly intreated him there-
fore to come to her assistance. He accordingly changed his first design,
and what he began with a philosophical, he pursued with an heroical tm'n
of mind. He ordered the galleys to put to sea, and went himself on board
with an intention of assisting not only Eectina, but several others ; for
the villas stand extremely thick upon that beautiful coast. When hasten-
ing to the place from whence others fled with the utmost terror, he
steered his direct course to the point of danger, and with so much calm-
ness and presence of mind, as to be able to make and dictate his obser-
vations upon the motion and figure of that dreadful scene. He was
now so nigh the mountain, that the cinders, which grew thicker and
hotter the nearer he approached, fell into the ships, together with pumice-
stones, and black pieces of burning rock : they were likewise in danger
not only of being a-ground by the sudden retreat of the sea, but also
from the vast fragments which rolled down from the mountain, and
obstructed all the shore. Here he stopped to consider whether he should
return back again; to which the pilot advising him. Fortune, said he,
befriends the brave; Carry me to Pomponianus. Pomponianus was then
at Stabise, separated by a gulf, which the sea, after several insensible
windings, forms upon the shore. He had already sent his baggage on
board; for though he was not at that time in actual danger, yet being
within the view of it, and indeed extremely near, if it should in the least
increase, he was determined to put to sea as soon as the wind should
change. It was favourable, however, for can-ying my uncle to Pomponi-
anus, whom he found in the greatest consternation: he embraced him
with tenderness, encouraging and exhorting him to keep up his spirits,
and the more to dissipate his fears, he ordered, with an air of unconcern,
the baths to be got ready; when after having bathed, he sate down to
supper with great cheerfulness, or at least (what is equally heroic) with
all the appearance of it. In the meanwhile the eruption from mount
Vesuvius flamed out in several places with much violence, which the
darkness of the night contributed to render still more visible and dread-
ful. But my uncle, in order to soothe the apprehensions of his friend,
assured him it was only the burning of the villages, which the country
people had abandoned to the flames : after this he retired to rest, and it

III.] PLACES AND NATURAL PHENOMENA. 183

is most certain he was so little discomposed as to fall into a deep sleep ;
for being pretty fat, and breathing hard, those who attended without
actually heard him snore. The court which led to his apartment being
now almost filled with stones and ashes, if he had continued there any
time longer, it would have been impossible for him to have made his way
out ; it was thought proper therefore to awaken him. He got up, and
went to Pomponianus and the rest of his company, who were not uncon-
cerned enough to think of going to bed. They consulted together
whether it would be most prudent to trust to the houses, which now
shook from side to side with frequent and violent concussions ; or fly to
the open fields, where the calcined stones and cinders, though light
indeed, yet fell in large showers, and threatened destruction. In this dis-
tress they resolved for the fields, as the less dangerous situation of the
two: a resolution which, while the rest of the company were hurried
into by their fears, my uncle embraced upon cool and deliberate con-
sideration. They went out then, having pillows tied upon their heads
with napkins ; and this was their whole defence against the storm of
stones that fell round them. It was now day everywhere else, but there
a deeper darkness prevailed than in the most obscure night ; which, how-
ever, was in some degree dissipated by torches and other lights of various
kinds. They thought proper to go down farther upon the shore to ob-
serve if they might safely put out to sea, but they found the waves still run
extremely high and boisterous. There my uncle having drunk a draught
or two of cold water, threw himself down upon a cloth which was spread
for him, when immediately the flames, and a strong smell of sulphur,
which was the forerunner of them, dispersed the rest of the company, and
obliged him to rise. He raised himself up with the assistance of two of
his servants, and instantly fell down dead ; suff"ocated, as I conjecture, by
some gross and noxious vapour, having always had weak lungs, and fre-
quently subject to a difficulty of breathing. As soon as it was light again,
which was not till the third day after this melancholy accident, his body
was found entire, and without any marks of violence upon it, exactly in
the same posture that he fell, and looking more like a man asleep than
dead. During all this time my mother and I who were at Misenum —
But as this has no connexion with your history, so your inquiiy went no
farther than concerning my uncle's death ; with that therefore I will put
an end to ray letter : suffer me only to add, that I have faithfully related
to you what I was either an eye-witness of myself, or received immedi-
ately after the accident happened, and before there was time to vaiy the
truth. You will choose out of this narrative such circumstances as
shall be most suitable to your purpose : for there is a great difference
between what is proper for a letter, and an history ; between writing to a
friend, and writing to the public. Farewell."

" The letter which, in compliance with your request, I wrote to you
concerning the death of my uncle, has raised, it seems, your curiosity to

184 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

know what ten'ors and dangers attended me while I continued at Mise-
num; for there, I think, the account in my former letter broke off:

Though my shock'd soul recoils, my tongue shall tell.
My uncle having left us, I pursued the studies which prevented my going
with him, till it was time to bathe. After which I went to supper, and
from thence to bed, where my sleep was greatly broken and disturbed.
There had been for many days before some shocks of an earthquake,
which the less surprised us as they are extremely frequent in Campania ;
but they were so particularly violent that night, that they not only shook
evei'y thing about us, but seemed indeed to threaten total destruction.
My mother flew to my chamber, where she found me rising, in order to
awaken her. We went out into a small court belonging to the house,
which separated the sea from the buildings. As I was at that time but
eighteen years of age, I know not whether I should call my behaviour in
this dangerous juncture, courage or rashness ; but I took up Livy, and
amused myself with turning over that author, and even making extracts
from him, as if all about me had been in full security. While we were
in this posture, a friend of my uncle's, who was just come from Spain to
pay him a visit, joined us, and observing me sitting by my mother with a
book in my hand, greatly condemned her calmness, at the same time that
he reproved me for my careless security : nevertheless I still went on with
my author. Though it was now morning, the light was exceedingly faint
and languid ; the buildings all around us tottered, and though we stood
upon open ground, yet as the place was nan-ow and confined, there was
no remaining there without certain and great danger : we therefore re-
solved to quit the town. The people followed us in the utmost consterna-
tion, and (as to a mind distracted with terror, every suggestion seems
more prudent than its own) pressed in great crowds about us in our way
out. Being got at a convenient distance from the houses, we stood still,
in the midst of a most dangerous and dreadful scene. The chariots
which we had ordered to be drawn out, were so agitated backwards and
forwards, though upon the most level ground, that we could not keep
them steady, even by supporting them with large stones. The sea seemed
to roll back upon itself, and to be driven from its banks by the convul-
sive motion of the earth ; it is certain at least the shore was considerably
enlarged, and several sea-animals were left upon it. On the other side, a
black and dreadful cloud bursting with an igneous serpentine vapour,
darted out a long train of fire, resembhng flashes of lightning, but much
larger. Upon this our Spanish friend, whom I mentioned above, address-
ing himself to my mother and me with great warmth and earnestness : If
your brother and your uncle, said he, is safe, he certainly wishes you may be
so too ; but if he perished, it was his desire, no doubt, that you might both sur-
vive him : Why therefore do you delay your escape a moment ? We could
never think of our own safety, we said, while we were uncertain of his.
Hereupon our friend left us, and withdrew from the danger with the

III.] PLACES AND NATURAL PHENOMENA. 185

utmost precipitation. Soon afterwards the cloud seemed to descend and
cover the whole ocean ; as indeed it entirely hid the Island of Caprea,
and the promontoiy of Misenum. My mother strongly conjured me to
make my escape at any rate, which as I was young I might easily do ; as
for herself, she said, her age and corpulency rendered all attempts of that
sort impossible ; however she would willingly meet death, if she could have
the satisfaction of seeing that she was not the occasion of mine. But I
absolutely refused to leave her, and taking her by the hand, I led her on :
she complied with great reluctance, and not without many reproaches to
herself for retarding my flight. The ashes now began to fall upon us,
though in no great quantity. I turned my head, and observed behind
us a thick smoke, which came rolling after us Hke a torrent. I pro-
posed while we had yet any light to turn out of the high road, lest she
should be pressed to death in the dark by the crowd that followed
us. We had scarce stepped out of the path when darkness overspread
us, not like that of a cloudy night, or when there is no moon, but of a
room when it is shut up, and all the lights extinct. Nothing then was to
be heard but the shrieks of women, the screams of children, and the
cries of men; some calling for their children, others for their parents,
others for their husbands, and only distinguishing each other by their
voices ; one lamenting his own fate, another that of his family; some wish-
ing to die, from the very fear of dying ; some lifting their hands to the
gods; but the greater part imagining that the last and eternal night
was come, which was to destroy both the gods and the world together.
Among these there were some who augmented the real terrors by imagi-
nary ones, and made the frighted multitude falsely believe that Misenum
was actually in flames. At length a glimmering light appeared, which
we imagined to be rather the forerunner of an approaching burst of
flames (as in truth it was), than the return of day : however, the fire fell
at a distance from us : then again Ave were immersed in thick darkness, and
a heaAry shower of ashes rained upon us, which we were obliged every
now and then to shake ofi", otherwise we should have been crushed and
buried in the heap. I might boast that, during all this scene of horror,
not a sigh, or expression of fear, escaped from me, had not my support
been founded in that miserable, though strong consolation, that all man-
kind were involved in the same calamity, and that I imagined I was
perishing with the world itself. At last this dreadful darkness was dissi-
pated by degrees, like a cloud or smoke ; the real day returned, and even
the sun appeared, though very faintly, and as when an eclipse is coming
on. Every object that presented itself to our eyes (which were extremely
weakened) seemed changed, being covered over with white ashes, as with
a deep snow. We returned to Misenum, where we refreshed ourselves as
well as we could, and passed an anxious night between hope and fear ;
though indeed with a much larger share of the latter : for the earthquake
still continued, while several enthusiastic people ran up and down height-
ening their own and their friends' calamities by terrible predictions. How-

186 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Cn.

ever, my mother and I, notwithstanding the danger we had passed, and
that which still threatened us, had no thoughts of leaving the place till we
should receive some account from my uncle. —

" And now, you will read this narrative without any view of inserting
it in your history, of which it is by no means worthy ; and, indeed, you
must impute it to your own request, if it shall appear not to deserve even
the trouble of a letter. Farewell."

MOUNT ST Bernard.

Haec ubi saxa vides Bernard! in monte, Viator

Pennini quondam templa fuere Jovis :
Hospitium vetus, et multis memorabile sseclis ;

Nunc colitur veri sanctior ara Dei.
Scilicet hie olim voluit sibi ponere sedem

Religio, et notis gaudet adesse jugis.
Utque prius blanda venientes voce salutat,

Deque via fessis alma ministrat opem.
Et fractas reparat vires, reficitque medela

Et fovet Alpino membra perusta gelu.
Aut, quos obruerit subita nix lapsa ruin a

Eripit ex alta mole, vetatque mori.
Temperat et Borese rabiem, mollesque pruinas,

Et facit SBterno vere tepere nives.

Where these rude rocks on Bernard's summit nod,

Once heavenwards sprung the throne of Pennine Jove,

An ancient shrine of hospitable Love,
Now burns the altar to the Christian's God.
Here peaceful Piety, age on age, has trod

The waste ; still keeps her vigils ; takes her rest ;

Still, as of yore, salutes the coming guest,
And cheers the weary as they onward rove.
Healing each wayworn limb — or oft will start.

Catching the storm-lost wanderer's sinking cry,
Speed the rich cordial to his ebbing heart.

Chafe his stiff limbs, and bid him not to die.

III.] PLACES AND NATURAL PHENOMENA. 187

So tasked to smoothe stern Winter's drifting wing,
And garb the eternal snows in more eternal spring.

It may be regretted that the St Bernard Dogs have not an honourable
place in this beautiful description, of which the Latin and English lines
are taken from the Oxfoi'd Anthology. The Dogs of St Bernard are not
unsung, as may be seen in the following description by Rogers :

Night was again descending, when my mule,

That all day long had climbed among the clouds,

Higher and higher still, as by a stair

Let down from Heaven itself, transporting me.

Stopped, to the joy of both, at that low door

So near the summit of the Great St Bernard ;

That door which ever on its hinges moved

To them that knocked, and nightly sends abroad

Ministering Spirits. Lying on the watch.

Two dogs of grave demeanour welcomed me,

All meekness, gentleness, though large of limb;

And a lay-brother of the Hospital,

Who, as we toiled below, had heard by fits

The distant echoes gaining on his ear,

Came and held fast my stirrup in his hand

While I alighted.

Long could I have stood.
With a religious awe, contemplating
That house, the highest in the Ancient World,
And placed there for the noblest purposes.
'Twas a rude pile of simplest masonry,
With narrow windows and vast buttresses,
But to endure the shocks of Time and Chance ;
Yet shewing many a rent, as well it might,
Wan-ed on for ever by the elements,
And in an evil day, nor long ago.
By violent men — when on the mountain-top
The French and Austrian banners met in conflict.
On the same rock beside it stood the church,
Reft of its cross, not of its sanctity ;
The vesper-bell, for 'twas the vesper-hour.
Duly proclaiming through the wilderness,
" All ye who hear, whatever be your work.
Stop for an instant — move your lips in prayer ! "
And, just beneath it, in that dreary dale,
K dale it might be called, so near to heaven,
A little lake, where never fish leaped up.
Lay like a spot of ink amid the snow ;

GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

A star, the only one in that small sky,
jOn its dead surface glimmering. 'Twas a scene
Resembling nothing I had left behind.
As though all worldly ties were now dissolved; —
And, to incline the mind still more to thought.
To thought and sadness, on the eastern shore
Under a beetling cliff stood half in shadow
A lonely chapel destined for the dead,
For such as having wandered from their way,
Had perished miserably. Side by side,
Within they lie, a mournful company,
All in their shrouds, no earth to cover them ;
Their features full of life, yet motionless,
In the broad day, nor soon to suffer change,
Though the barred windows, ban-ed against the wolf.
Are always open!

But the Bise blew cold ;
And bidden to a spare, but cheerful meal,
I sate among the holy brotherhood
At their long board. The fare indeed was such
As is prescribed on days of abstinence.
But might have pleased a nicer taste than mine.
And through the floor came up, an ancient matron
Serving unseen below ; while from the roof
(The roof, the floor, the walls of native fir,)
A lamp hung flickering, such as loves to fling
Its partial Hght on Apostolic heads.
And sheds a grace on all. Theirs Time as yet
Had changed not. Some were almost in the prime.
Nor was a brow o'ercast. Seen as I saw them,
Ranged round their ample hearth-stone, in an hour
Of rest, they were as gay, as free from guile
As children ; answering, and at once, to aU
The gentle impulses, to pleasure, mirth ;
Mingling, at intervals, with rational talk,
Music ; and gathering news from them that came,
As of some other world. But when the storm
Rose, and the snow rolled on in ocean-billows.
When on his face the experienced traveller fell.
Sheltering his lips and nostrils with his hands.
Then all was changed ; and, salljnng with their pack
Into that blank of nature, they became
Unearthly beings. " Anselm, higher up
A dog howls loud and long, and now, observe,
Digs with his feet how eagerly ! A man,
Dying or dead, lies buried underneath !

III.] PLACES AND NATURAL PHENOMENA. 189

Let us to work ! there is no time to lose ! —
But who descends Mont Velan ? 'Tis La Croix.
Awav, away ! if not, alas, too late.
Homeward ho drags an old man and a boy.
Faltering and falling, and but half awakened.
Asking to sleep again." Such their discourse.

VI.

THE ALPS.

Cuncta gelu canaque ?eternum grandine tecta,
Atque £evi glaciem cohibent : riget ardua montis
^therii facies, surgentique obvia Phcebo
Duratas nescit flammis mollire pruinas.
Quantum Tartareus regni pallentis hiatus
Ad manes imos atque atrae stagna paludis
A supera tellure patet : tarn longa per auras
Erigitur tellus, et coelum intercipit umbra.
Nullum ver usquam, nullique aestatis honores ;
Sola jugis habitat diris, sedesque tuetur
Perpetuas deformis hyems : ilia undique nubes
Hue atras agit et mixtos cum grandine nimbos.
Nam cuncti flatus ventique furentia regna
Alpina posuere domo, caligat in altis
Obtutus saxis, abeuntque in nubila montes.

Stiff with eternal ice, and hid in snow,

That fell a thousand centuries ago.

The mountain stands ; nor can the rising sun

Unfix her frosts, and teach them how to run :

Deep as the dark infernal waters lie

From the bright regions of the cheerful sky,

So far the proud ascending rocks invade

Heav'n's upper realms, and cast a dreadful shade

No spring, nor summer, on the mountain seen,

Smiles with gay fruits, or with delightful green ;

190 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Cii.

But hoary winter unadorn'cl and bare,
Dwells in the dire retreat, and freezes there ;
There she assembles all her blackest storms.
And the rude hail in rattling tempests forms ;
Thither the loud tumultuous winds resort,
And on the mountain keep their boist'rous court,
That in thick show'rs her rocky summit shrouds,
And darkens all the broken view with clouds.

The Latin is by Silius Italicus, the Enghsh by Addison. The authori-
ties and controversial writers on the subject of the passage of Hannibal
over the Alps, are refeiTed to in Dr Smith's Dictionary. The writer of
the article concurs with Niebuhr and Arnold, in inferring that Hannibal
crossed by the pass of Little St Bernard, whilst French writers generally
are in favour of that by Mont Genevre or Mont Cenis. Hannibal was
fifteen days in crossing the Alps, and when he arrived in the valley of the
Po, had only 20,000 foot and 6,000 horse. Hannibal's use of vinegar for
the purpose of softening the Alps, seems credited by Livy, Juvenal, and
Silius, but Polybius treats it with silence, as does Cornelius Nepos. In
poetry, however, no one can willingly part with any line or word of
Juvenal's Hannibal. Some of the sublimest description of Alpine scenery,
in EngUsh verse, (as particularly of the mountain of the Jungfrau),
occurs in Byron's Man/red. The following is the description of the Alps
in Rogers' Italy :

Who first beholds those everlasting clouds,

Seed-time and harvest, morning, noon and night.

Still where they were, stedfast, immovable ;

Who first beholds the Alps— that mighty chain

Of Mountains, stretching on from east to west.

So massive, yet so shadowy, so ethereal.

As to belong rather to Heaven than Earth —

But instantly receives into his soul

A sense, a feeling that he loses not,

A something that infonns him 'tis a moment

Whence he may date henceforward and for ever ?

To me they seemed the ban-iers of a World,
Saying, Thus far, no farther ! and as o'er
The level plain I travelled silently,
Nearing them more and more, day after day,
My wandering thoughts my only company.
And they before me still, oft as I looked,
A strange delight, mingled with fear, came o'er me,
A wonder as at things I had not heard of!
Oft as I looked, I felt as though it were

III.] PLACES AND NATURAL PHENOMENA. 191

For the first time!

Great was the tumult there,
Deafening the din, when in barbaric pomp
The Carthaginian on his march to Rome
Entered their fastnesses. Trampling the snows,
The war-horse reared ; and the towered elephant
Upturned his trunk into the murky sky,
Then tumbled headlong, swallowed up and lost,
He and his rider.

Now the scene is changed;
And o'er Mont Cenis, o'er the Simplon winds
A path of pleasiu'e. Like a silver zone
Flung about carelessly, it shines afar,
Catching the eye in many a broken link.
In many a turn and traverse as it glides;
And oft above and oft below appears,
Seen o'er the wall by him who journeys up,
As though it were another, not the same.
Leading along he knows not whence or whither.
Yet through its fairy-course, go where it will,
The torrent stops it not, the rugged rock
Opens and lets it in ; and on it runs.
Winning its easy way from clime to clime
Through glens locked up before.

Not such my path!
Mine but for those, who, like Jean Jaques, delight
In dizziness, gazing and shuddering on
Till fascination comes and the brain turns!
Mine, though I judge but from my ague-fits
Over the Drance, just where the Abbot fell,
The same as Hannibal's.

But now 'tis past,
That turbulent Chaos; and the promised land
Lies at my feet in all its loveliness !
To him who starts up from a terrible dream,
And lo, the sun is shining, and the lark
Singing aloud for joy, to him is not
Such sudden ravishment as now I feel
At the first glimpses of fair Italy.

192 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

VII.

F^SUL^.

(A)
Hie resonat blando tibi pinus amata susurro ;
Hie vaga coniferis insibilat aura cupressis :
Hie scatebris salit, et bullantibus incita venis
Pura coloratos interstrepit iinda lapillos.
Talia Fsesuleo lentus meclitabar in antro,
Rure suburbano Medicum, qua mons sacer urbem
Maeoniam, longique volumina despicit Arni,
Qua bonus hospitium felix, placidamque quietem
Indulgens Laurens, Laurens non ultima Phcebi
Gloria, jaetatis Laurens fida anchora musis.

Here whisper the tall pines I hold so dear,
Here through the cypress boughs the zephyrs sigh,
Here from the earth the bubbling fountain springs.
And rolls pellucid o'er its chequer'd bed.

Thus pensive mus'd I, in the lonely grots
Of Fsesulae, great Medici's retreat
From pomp and care, where on Florentia's towers,
And on fair Arno winding through the vale,
The sacred hill looks down : Lorenzo there
His guests receives, and tranquil quiet seeks ;
Lorenzo, happy prince ! the favour'd son
Of Phoebus, and the Muses' firm support.

(B)

Oh FaesulsG amcena
Frigoribus juga, nee nimium spirantibus auris I
Alma quibus Tusci Pallas decus Apennini
Esse dedit, glaucaque sua canescere sylva !
Non ego vos posthac Arni de valle videbo
Porticibus circum, et candenti cincta corona
Villarum longe nitido consurgere dorso,
Antiquamve ^Edem, et veteres prseferre cupressus
Mirabor, tectisque super pendentia tecta.

III.] PLACES AND NATURAL PHENOMENA. 193

Oh Heights of Faesulte, cooled by refreshing and yet
not tumultuous breezes ; to whom Minerva has vouchsafed
to be the glory of the Tuscan Apennines, and to be con-
spicuous for the peculiar verdure of your groves ! I shall
no longer behold you from the valley of the Arno, crowned
with porticos and villas, or that ancient Cathedral, or
those venerable cypresses, or those edifices that overhang
edifices below.

The first piece is by Politian, the second by Gray. Fsesulse is the
most conspicuous and attractive object in the immediate vicinity of Flo-
rence. It is thus described by Eustace :

" Placed on the summit of a lofty and broken eminence, it looks down
on the vale of the Arno, and commands Florence with all its domes,
towers, and palaces, the villas that encircle it, and the roads that lead to
it. The recesses, swells, and breaks of the hill on which it stands, are
covered with groves of pines, ilex, and cypress. Above these groves rises
the dome of the cathedral ; and in the midst of them reposes a rich and
venerable abbey, founded by the Medicean family. Behind the hill at a
distance swell the Apennines. That a place graced with so many beauties
should delight the poet and the philosopher is not wonderful, and ac-
cordingly we find it alluded to with complacency by Milton, panegyrized
by Politian, inhabited by Picus, and frequented by Lorenzo."

It was from the top of Fsesulfe that Milton represents Galileo descrying
the wonders of liis newly-invented telescope :

Like the Moon, whose orb
Through optic glass the Tuscan artist views.
At evening from the top of Fcesiiltc,
Or in Valdarno, to descry new lands,
Rivers, or mountains in her spotty globe.

13

194 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

YIIL

BAI.E.

Diim nos blanda tenent jucundi stagna Lucrini,

Et quse pumiceis fontibus antra calent,
Tu colis Argivi regnum Faiistine coloni,

Quo te bis decimus ducit ab urbe lapis.
Horrida sed fervent Nemeasi pectora monstri :

Nee satis est Bajas igne calere suo.
Ergo sacri fontes, et littora sacra valete,

Nympharum pariter, Nereidumque domus !
Herculeos colles gelida vos vincite bruma,

Nunc Tiburtinis cedite frigoribus.

While near the Lucrine lake, consum'd to death,
I draw the sultry air, and gasp for breath,
Where streams of sulphur raise a stifling heat,
And through the pores of the warm pumice sweat ;
You taste the cooling breeze, where nearer home
The twentieth pillar marks the mile from Home :
And now the Sun to the bright Lion turns,
And Baja with redoubled fury burns ;
Then briny seas and tasteful springs farewell.
Where fountain-nymphs confus'd with Nereids dwell.
In winter you may all the world despise.
But now 'tis Tivoli that bears the prize.

The version of Martial's epigram is by Addison. — Baiee was the winter
retreat of the Romans, that being the proper season to enjoy the Baian
Suns (Baiani Soles). The face of the country about Baise has been
changed by earthquakes : the sea has overwhelmed a multitude of pa-
laces, the ruins of which may be seen at the bottom of the water in a
calm day at a considerable distance from the land, though the present
bay of Baia3 is lined with the ruins of villas and baths. Horace notices
a prevailing taste for building in the waters and encroaching on the sea
in this very locality. The vicinity of Baise was considered by the Ro-
mans as under the peculiar favour of Venus, who had a celebrated temple
there, the ruins of which are still visible. The ancient amusements of
Baise are represented in a very agreeable as well as learned point of view

III.] PLACES AND NATURAL PHENOMENA. 195

in the seventh scene of Bekker's Gallus, entitled 'A Day in Baise.' The
smiling features and delicious climate of Baise afford a melancholy con-
trast between the beauties of nature and the crimes which have been
perpetrated in that neighbourhood by those monsters of our species,
Nero, Tiberius and Caracalla. Anstey took for the motto of his Bath
Guide a line from Horace in praise of Baisc, with a slight variation — "No
place in the world is more attractive than the pleasant Bath."
NuUus in orbe sinus (locus) Bails prselucet amcenis.

IX.

A FOR]\nAN VHiLA.

O temperatse dulce Formiae litus,
Vos, cum severi fugit oppidum Martis,
Et inquietas fessus exuit curas,
Apollinaris omnibus locis prgefert.
Non ille sanctge dulce Tibur uxoris,
Nee Tusculanos, Algidosve secessus,
Prffineste nee sic, Antiumve miratur.
Non blanda Circe, Dardanisve Cajeta
Desiderantur, nee Marica, nee Liris,
Nee in Lucrina lota Salmacis vena.
Hie summa leni stringitur Thetis vento ;
Nee languet a?quor: viva sed quies Ponti
Pictam phaselon adjuvante fert aura ;
Sicut puellas non amantis aestatem
Mota salubre purpura venit frigus.
Nee sera longo quaerit in mari prasdam,
Sed a cubili lectuloque jactatam
Speetatus alte lineam trahit piscis.
Si quando Nereus sentit JEoli regnum,
Ridet procellas tuta de suo mensa.
Piscina rhombum pascit, et lupos vernas ;
Natat ad magistrum delicata mur^na.
Nomenculator mugilem citat notum,
Et adesse jussi prodeunt senes muUi.
Frui sed istis quando Eoma permittit ?

13—2

196 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

Quot Formianos imputat dies annus
Negotiosis rebus urbis haerenti ?
O janitores, villicique felloes !
Dominis parantur ista ; serviunt vobis.

O delightful shore of temperate Formia ! Apollinaris,
when he is able to fly from the city of ruthless Mars, and
can lay aside for a time his wearisome cares, prefers you
to every spot on earth. Tibur, Tusculum, Algidum, Prae-
neste, Antium, Mount Circe, the promontory of Gsetae, the
grove of Lsenia, the river Lyris, or Salmacis by the Lucrine
lake, these are summer-retreats extolled by many ; but
Apollinaris prefers Formia to them all. Here the sea is
not tost by storms, but its surface is placidly rippled by the
Zephyrs. The air however is not so languid but that it
gently wafts on its course the painted galley. The air may
be compared to that raised by the fan of a damsel seeking
to create an artificial coolness in the heat of the day. Do
you wish to enjoy the amusement of fishing, you are not
obliged to put out to sea to enjoy it : but, whilst you
recline on your couch, you may see the fishes as they hook
themselves to your line. If ever a storm, though rare, be
raised, it is a pleasure to watch it in safety from your
table. You have a fishpond stocked with turbots and pike,
and the choicest delicacies of gastronomy. Lampreys
swim to their master when he calls them. A Nomenclator
cites your familiar mullets, and, aged servants as they are,
they obey his call. But how rarely does Rome allow of
such enjoyments ! How few Formian days can any one
who is immersed in the business of the city promise him-
self! Happy swains, and country domestics, these rural
luxuries are prepared for your Masters, but, in truth, they
wait upon You.

Martial has given several other descriptions of Roman Villas, as the
Baian Villa of Faustinus, and Martialis's Villa which commanded a view
of the seven hills of Rome, from which a motto is frequently taken for
maps of Rome, and to which Pope appears to have been indebted for the
expression, " And yours, my friends ! " which may be seen inscribed over
the door of a splendid mansion in Somersetshire. Roman villas are

III.] PLACES AND NATURAL PHENOMENA. 197

placed in a lively and at the same time learned point of view in the fifth
scene of Bekker's Gallns, entitled ' The Villa.' And they are adorned and
peopled by the imagination of Sir Edward Lytton, in his Last Days of
Pompeii. Rogers, in his Itali/, notices the villas in that City of the Dead,
and particularly adverts to the hospitable invitation conveyed in the
word Ave, inscribed over the doors of villas, the import of which is more
fully expressed by Pope,

Through this wide-opening gate
None come too early ; none return too late.

The following descriptions by Pliny of two of his own villas, will give
the reader a life-like representation of rural and literary enjoyment
among the Romans.

" You are surprised, it seems, that I am so fond of my Laurentinum,
or (if you like the appellation better) my Laurens : but you will cease to
wonder, when I acquaint you with the beauty of the villa, the advantages
of its situation, and the extensive prosjiect of the sea-coast. It is but
seventeen miles distant from Rome ; so that having finished my affairs
in town, I can pass my evenings here without breaking in upon the busi-
ness of the day. There are two different roads to it ; if you go by that
of Laurentum, you must turn off" at the fourteenth mile-stone ; if by
Ostia, at the eleventh. Both of them are in some parts sandy, which
makes it something heavy and tedious if you travel in a coach, but easy
and pleasant to those who ride. The landscape on all sides is extremely
diversified, the prospect in some places being confined by woods, in others
extending over large and beautiful meadows, where numberless flocks of
sheep and herds of cattle, which the severity of the winter has drove
from the mountains, fatten in the vernal warmth of this rich pasturage.
My villa is large enough to afford conveniences, without being extensive.
The porch before it is plain, but not mean, through which you enter into
a portico in the form of the letter D, which includes a small, but agree-
able area. This aff'ords a very commodious retreat in bad weather, not
only as it is inclosed with windows, but particularly as it is sheltered by
an extraordinary projection of the roof. From the middle of this por-
tico you pass into an inward court extremely pleasant, and from thence
into a handsome hall which runs out towards the sea ; so that when there
is a south-west wind it is gently washed with the waves, which spend
themselves at the foot of it. On every side of this hall there are either
folding-doors or windows equally large, by which means you have a view
from the front and the two sides, as it were of three different seas : from
the back part you see the middle court, the portico and the area ; and
by another view you look through the portico into the porch, from whence
the prospect is terminated by the woods and mountains which are seen
at a distance. On the left-hand of this hall, something farther from
the sea, lies a large drawing-room, and beyond that, a second of a smaller
size, which has one window to the rising, and another to the setting sun:

198 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

this has likewise a prospect of the sea, but being at a greater distance, is
less incommoded by it. The angle which the projection of the hall
forms with this drawing-room, retains and increases the warmth of the
sun, and hither my family retreat in winter to perform their exercises : it
is sheltered from all winds except those which are generally attended
with clouds, so that nothing can render this place useless, but what at
the same time destroys the fair weather. Contiguous to this, is a room
forming the segment of a circle, the wndows of which are so placed as
to receive the sun the whole day : in the walls are contrived a sort of
cases, which contain a collection of such authors whose works can never
be read too often. From hence you pass into a bed-chamber through a
passage, which being boarded and suspended as it were over a stove
which runs underneath, tempers the heat that it receives and conveys
to all parts of this room. The remainder of this side of the house is
appropriated to the use of my slaves and freedmen ; but however most
of the apartments in it are neat enough to entertain any of my friends,
who are inclined to be my guests. In the opposite wing is a room orna-
mented in a very elegant taste ; next to which lies another room, which,
though large for a parlour, makes but a moderate dining-room ; it is ex-
ceedingly warmed and enlightened not only by the direct rays of the sun,
but by their reflection from the sea. Beyond this, is a bed-chamber
together with its anti-chamber, the height of which renders it cool in
summer, as its being sheltered on all sides from the winds makes it warm
in winter. To this apartment another of the same sort is joined by one
common wall. From thence you enter into the grand and spacious
cooling room belonging to the baths, from the opposite walls of which
two roimd basins project, large enough to swim in. Contiguous to this
is the perfuming-room, then the sweating-room, and beyond that the fur-
nace which conveys the heat to the baths : adjoining are two other little
bathing-rooms, which are fitted up in an elegant rather than costly
manner : annexed to this, is a warm bath of extraordinary workmanship,
wherein one may swim, and have a prospect at the same time of the sea.
Not far from hence stands the tennis-court, which lies open to the
warmth of the afternoon sun. From thence you ascend a sort of turret,
which contains two entire apartments below ; as there are the same
number above, besides a dining-room which commands a very extensive
prospect of the sea and coast, together with the beautiful villas that stand
interspersed upon it. At the other end, is a second turret, containing a
room which faces the rising and setting sun. Behind this, is a large
room for a repository, near to which is a gallery of curiosities, and under-
neath a spacious dining-room, where the roaring of the sea, even in a
storm, is heard but faintly : it looks upon the garden, and the gestatio,
which surrounds the garden. The gestatio is encompassed w^ith a box-
tree hedge, and where that is decayed, with rosemaiy ; for the box in
those parts which are sheltered by the buildings, preserves its verdure
perfectly well ; but where by an open situation it lies exposed to the

III.] PLACES AND NATURAL PHENOMENA. 199

dashing of the sea-water, though at a great distance, it entirely withers.
Between the garden and this gestatio runs a shady walk of vines, which
is so soft that you may walk barefoot upon it without any injury. The
garden is chiefly planted with fig and mulberry-trees, to which this soil
is as favourable, as it is averse to all others. In this place is a banquet-
ing-room, which though it stands remote from the sea, enjoys however a
prospect nothing inferior to that view : two apartments run round the
back part of it, whose windows look upon the entrance of the villa, and
into a very pleasant kitchen-gai'den. From hence an inclosed portico
extends itself, which by its grandeur you might take for a public one.
It has a range of windows on each side, but on that which looks towards
the sea they are double the number of those next the garden. When the
weather is fair and serene, these are all thrown open ; but if it blows,
those on the side the wind sits are shut, while the others remain unclosed
without any inconvenience. Before this portico lies a terrace perfumed
with violets, and warmed by the reflection of the sun from the portico,
which as it retains the rays, so it keeps off the north-east wind ; and it is
as warm on this side, as it is cool on the opposite : in the same manner
it is a defence against the south-west ; and thus, in short, by means of
its several sides, breaks the force of the winds fi-om what point soever
they blow. These are some of the winter-advantages of this agreeable
situation, which however are still more considerable in the summer ; for
at that season it throws a shade upon the terrace during all the forenoon,
as it defends the gestatio, and that part of the garden which lies conti-
guous to it, from the afternoon sun, and casts a greater or less shade, as
the day either increases or decreases ; but the portico itself is then coolest
when the sun is most scorching, that is, when its rays fall directly upon
the roof. To these advantages I must not forget to add, that by setting
open the windows, the western breezes have a free draught, and by that
means the enclosed air is prevented from stagnating. On the upper end
of the terrace and portico stands a detached building in the garden,
which I call my favourite ; and in truth I am extremely fond of it, as I
erected it myself. It contains a very warm winter- room, one side of
which looks upon the terrace, the other has a view of the sea, and both
lie exposed to the sun. Through the folding-doors you see the opposite
chamber, and from the window is a prospect of the enclosed portico. On
that side next the sea, and opposite to the middle wall, stands a little
elegant retired closet, which by means of glass doors and a curtain, is
either laid into the adjoining room, or separated from it. It contains a
couch and two chairs : As you Ue upon this couch, from the feet you
have a prospect of the sea; if you look behind, you see the neighbouring
villas ; and from the head you have a view of the woods : these three
views may be seen either distinctly from so many different windows in
the room, or blended together in one confused prospect. Adjoining to
this, is a bed-chamber, which neither the voice of the servants, the
murmur of the sea, nor even the roaring of a tempest can reach ; not

200 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

lightning nor the day itself can penetrate it, unless you open the win-
dows. This profound tranquillity is occasioned by a passage, which
divides the wall of this chamber from that of the garden, and thus by
means of that void intervening space every noise is drowned. Annexed
to this, is a small stove- room, which by opening a little window, warms
the bed-chamber to the degree of heat required. Beyond this, lies a
chamber and anti-chamber, which enjoys the sun, though obliquely
indeed, from the time it rises till the afternoon. When I retire to this
garden-apartment, I fancy myself a hundred miles from my own house,
and take particular pleasure in it at the feast of the Saturnalia, when, by
the license of that season of joy, every other part of my villa resounds
with the mirth of my domestics: thus I neitiier interrupt their diversions,
nor they my studies. Among the pleasures and conveniences of this
situation, there is one disadvantage, and that is, the want of a running
stream ; but this defect is in a great measure supplied by wells, or rather
I should call them springs, for they rise veiy near the surface. And in-
deed the quality of this coast is pretty remarkable ; for in what part
soever you dig, you meet, upon the first turning up of the ground, with a
spring of pure water, not in the least salt, though so near the sea. The
neighbouring forests afford an abundant supply of fuel ; as every other
convenience of life may be had from Ostia: to a moderate man, indeed,
even the next village (between which and my house there is only one
villa) would furnish all common necessaries. In that little place there
are no less than three public baths ; which is a great conveniency if it
happens that my friends come in unexpectedly, or make too short a stay
to allow time for preparing my own. The whole coast is beautifully
diversified by the joining or detached villas that are spread upon it, which
whether you view them from the sea or the shore, have a much more
agreeable effect, than if it were crowded with towns. It is sometimes,
after a long calm, good travelling upon the coast, though in general, by
the storms driving the waves upon it, it is rough and uneven. I cannot
boast that our sea produces any very extraordinary fish ; however it
supplies us with exceeding fine soles and prawns : but as to provisions of
other kinds, my villa pretends to excel even inland countries, particularly
in milk ; for thither the cattle come from the meadows in great numbers,
in pursuit of shade and water. Tell me now, have I not just cause to
bestow my time and my affection upon this delightful retreat ? Surely
you are unreasonably attached to the pleasures of the town, if you have
no inclination to take a view of it ; as I much wish you had, that to
so many charms with which my favourite villa abounds, it might have the
very considerable addition of your presence to recommend it. Farewell."

" The kind concern you expressed when you heard of my design to
pass the summer at my villa in Tuscany, and your obliging endeavours
to dissuade me from going to a place which you think unhealthy, is
extremely agreeable to me. I confess, indeed, the air of that part of
Tuscany, which lies towards the coast, is thick and unwholesome : but

III.] PLACES AND NATURAL PHENOMENA. 201

my house is situated at a great distance from the sea, under one of the
Apennine mountains, which, of all others, is most esteemed for the clear-
ness of its air. But that you may lay aside all apprehensions on my
account, I will give you a description of the temperature of the climate,
the situation of the country, and the beauty of my villa, which I am per-
suaded you will hear with as much pleasure as I shall relate. The
winters are severe and cold, so that myrtles, olives, and trees of that
kind which delight in constant warmth, will not flourish here ; but it
produces bay-trees in great perfection ; yet sometimes, though indeed
not oftener than in the neighbourhood of Rome, they are killed by the
sharpness of the seasons. The summers are exceedingly temperate, and
continually attended with refreshing breezes, which are seldom inter-
rupted by high winds. If you were to come here and see the numbers
of old men who have lived to be grandfathers and great-grandfathers,
and hear the stories they can entertain you with of their ancestors, you
would fancy yourself born in some former age. The diposition of the
country is the most beautiful that can be imagined : figure to yourself an
immense amphitheatre ; but such as the hand of nature could only form.
Before you lies a vast extended plain bounded by a range of mountains
whose summits are covered with lofty and venerable woods, which
supply variety of game ; from hence, as the mountains decline, they are
adorned with underwoods. Intermixed with these are little hills of so
strong and fat a soil, that it would be difficult to find a single stone upon
them ; their fertility is nothing inferior to the lowest grounds ; and
though their harvest indeed is something later, their crops are well
matured. At the foot of these hills the eye is presented, wherever it
turns, with one imbroken view of numberless vineyards, which are teimi-
nated by a border, as it were, of shrubs. From thence you have a pro-
spect of the adjoinig fields and meadows below. The soil of the former
is so extremely stiff, and upon the first ploughing it rises in such vast
clods, that it is necessary to go over it nine several times with the largest
oxen and the strongest ploughs, before they can be thoroughly broken ;
whilst the enamelled meadows produce ti-efoil, and other kinds of herbage
as fine and tender as if it were but just sprung up, being continually
refreshed by never-failing rills. But though the country abounds with
great plenty of water, there are no marshes ; for as it is a rising ground,
whatever water it receives without absorbing, runs off into the Tiber.
This river, which winds through the middle of the meadows, is navigable
only in the winter and spring, when it transports the produce of the
lands to Rome : but its channel is so extremely low in summer, that it
scarce deserves the name of a river : towards the autumn, however, it
begins again to renew its claim to that title. You could not be more
agreeably entertained, than by taking a view of the face of this country
from the top of one of our neighbouring mountains : you would imagine
that not a real, but some painted landscape lay before you, drawn with
the most exquisite beauty and exactness ; such an harmonious and

202 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Cii.

regular variety charms the eye, which way soever it throws itself. My
villa is so advantageously situated, that it commands a full view of all
the country round ; yet you go up to it by so insensible a rise, that you
find yourself upon an elevation without perceiving you ascended. Behind,
but at a gi'eat distance, stand the Apennine mountains. In the calmest
days we are refreshed by the winds that blow from thence, but so spent,
as it were, by the long tract of land they travel over, that they are en-
tirely divested of all their strength and violence before they reach us.
The exposition of the principal front of the house is full south, and seems
to invite the afternoon sun in summer (but something earlier in winter)
into a spacious and well-proportioned portico, consisting of several mem-
bers, particularly a porch built after the manner of the ancients. In the
front of the portico is a sort of ten-ace, embellished with various figures,
and bounded with a box-hedge, from whence you descend by an easy
slope, adorned with the representation of divers animals in box answering
alternately to each other, into a lawn overspread with the soft, I had
almost said, the liquid acanthus : this is surrounded by a walk inclosed
with tonsile evergreens, shaped into a variety of forms. Beyond it is the
gestatio laid out in the forni of a circus, ornamented in the middle with
box cut in numberless different figures, together with a plantation of
shrubs prevented by the shears from running up too high : the whole is
fenced in with a wall covered by box, rising by different ranges to the
top. On the outside of the wall lies a meadow that owes as many beau-
ties to nature, as all I have been describing within does to art ; at the
end of which are several other meadows and fields interspersed with
thickets. At the extremity of the portico stands a grand dining-room,
which opens upon one end of the terrace ; as from the windows there is
a very extensive prospect over the meadows up into the country, from
whence you also have a view of the terrace and such parts of the house
which project forward, together vnth the woods inclosing the adjacent
hippodrome. Opposite almost to the centre of the portico stands an
apartment something backwards, which encompasses a small area, shaded
by four plane-trees, in the midst of which a fountain rises, from whence
the water running over the edges of a marble basin gently refreshes the
surrounding plane-trees and the verdure underneath them. This apart-
ment consists of a bed-chamber free from every kind of noise, and which
the light itself cannot penetrate ; together with a common dining-room
that I use whenever I have none but famihar friends with me. A
second portico looks upon this little area, and has the same prospect
with the former I just now described. There is besides, another room
which being situated close to the nearest plane-tree, enjoys a constant
shade and verdure : its sides are incrusted half way with carved marble,
and from thence to the ceiling a foliage is painted with birds intermixed
among the branches, which has an effect altogether as agreeable as that
of the carving ; at the basis of which is placed a little fountain, that play-
ing through several small pipes into a vase, produces a most pleasing

Ill] PLACES AND NATURAL PHENOMENA. 203

murmur. From a corner of the portico you enter into a very spacious
chamber opposite to the grand dining-room, which from some of its win-
dows has a view of the terrace, and from others of the meadow, as those
in the front look upon a cascade, which entertains at once both the eye
and the ear; for the water falling from a great height, foams round the
marble basin, which receives it below. This room is extremely warm in
winter, being much exposed to the sun, as in a cloudy day the heat of an
adjoining stove very well supplies his absence. From hence you pass
through a spacious and pleasant undressing room into the cold- bath-room,
in which is a large gloomy bath : but if you are disposed to swim more
at large, or in warmer water, in the middle of the area is a wide basin
for that purpose, and near it a reservoir from whence you may be sup-
plied with cold water to brace yourself again, if you should perceive you
are too much relaxed by the warm. Contiguous to the cold-bath is one
of a middling degree of heat, which enjoys the kindly warmth of the sun,
but not so intensely as that of the hot-bath, which projects farther.
This last consists of three several divisions, each of different degrees of
heat ; the two former lie open to the full sun, the latter, though not so
much exposed to its heat, receives an equal share of its light. Over the
undressing room is built the tennis-court, which by means of different
circles admits of dififerent kinds of games. Not far from the baths, is
the staircase which leads to the inclosed portico, after having first passed
through three apaitments : one of these looks upon the little area with
the four plane-trees round it, the other has a sight of the meadows, and
from the thii-d you have a view of several vineyards ; so that they have as
many dififerent prospects as expositions. At one end of the inclosed
portico, and indeed taken oflf from it, is a chamber that looks upon the
hippodrome, the vineyards, and the mountains ; adjoining is a room which
has a full exposure to the sun, especially in winter : from hence runs an
apartment that connects the hippodrome with the house : and such is the
form and aspect of the front. On the side is a summer inclosed portico
which stands high, and has not only a prospect of the vineyards, but
seems almost to touch them. From the middle of this portico you enter
a dining-room cooled by the wholesome breezes which come from the
Apennine valleys : from the windows in the back front, which are ex-
tremely large, there is a prospect of the vineyards, as you have also
another view of them from the folding-doors through the summer
portico : along that side of this dining-room where there are no windows,
runs a private staircase for the greater conveniency of serving at enter-
tainments : at the fai'ther end is a chamber from whence the eye is
entertained with a view of the vineyards, and (what is equally agreeable)
of the portico. Underneath this room is an inclosed portico something
resembling a grotto, which enjoying in the midst of summer-heats its
own natural coolness, neither admits nor wants the refreshment of exter-
nal breezes. After you have passed both these porticos, at the end of
the dining-room stands a third, which as the day is more or less ad-

204 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

Tanced, serves either for winter or summer use. It leads to two difiFerent
apartments, one containing four chambers, the other three, which enjoy
by turns both sun and shade. In the front of tliese agreeable buildings
lies a very spacious hippodrome, entirely open in the middle, by which
means the eye, upon your first entrance, takes in its whole extent at one
view. It is encompassed on every side with plane-trees covered with
ivy, so that while their heads flourish with their own green, their bodies
enjoy a borrowed verdure ; and thus the ivy twining round the trunk and
branches, spreads from tree to tree, and connects them together. Be-
tween each plane-tree are planted box-trees, and behind these, bay-trees,
which blend their shade with that of the planes. This plantation, foraiing
a strait boundary on both sides of the hippodrome, bends at the far-
ther end into a semicu'cle, which being set round and sheltered with
cypress-trees, varies the prospect, and casts a deep and more gloomy
shade ; while the inward circular walks (for there are several) enjoying
an open exposure, are perfumed with roses, and correct by a very pleasing
contrast the coolness of the shade with the warmth of the sun. Having
passed through these several winding alleys, you enter a strait walk,
which breaks out into a variety of othere, divided off by box-hedges. In
one place you have a little meadow ; in another the box is cut into a
thousand different forms ; sometimes into letters, expressing the name of
the master ; sometimes that of the artificer : whilst here and there little
obelisks rise intermixed alternately with fruit-trees : when on a sudden,
in the midst of this elegant regularity, you ai'e surprised with an imita-
tion of the negligent beauties of rural nature ; in the centre of which lies
a spot surrounded with a knot of dwarf plane-trees. Beyond these is a
walk interspersed with the smooth and twining acanthus, where the trees
are also cut into a variety of names and shapes. At the upper end is
an alcove of white marble, shaded with vines, supported by four small
Carystian pillars. From this bench the water gushing through several
little pipes, as if it were pressed out by the weight of the persons who
repose themselves upon it, falls into a stone cistern underneath, from
whence it is received into a fine polished marble basin, so artfully con-
trived, that it is always full without ever overflowing. When I sup here,
this basin serves for a table, the larger sort of dishes being placed round
the margin, while the smaller ones swim about in the form of little vessels
and water-fowl. Corresponding to this, is a fountain which is inces-
santly emptying and filling ; for the water which it throws up a great
height, falling back again into it, is by means of two openings returned as
fast as it is received. Fronting the alcove (and which reflects as great
an ornament to it, as it bon-ows from it) stands a summer-house of
exquisite mai-ble, whose doors project and open into a green inclosure ;
as from its upper and lower windows the eye is presented with a variety
of different verdures. Next to this is a little private closet (which though
it seems distinct, may be laid into the same room) furnished with a
couch; and notwithstanding it has windows on every side, yet it enjoys

III.] PLACES AND NATURAL PHENOMENA. 205

a very agreeable gloominess, by means of a spreading vine which climbs
to the top, and entirely overshades it. Here you may lie and fancy
yourself in a wood, with this difference only, that you are not exposed to
the weather; in this place a fountain also rises and instantly disappears:
in different quarters are disposed several marble seats, which serve no less
than the summer-house, as so many reliefs after one is wearied with
walking. Near each seat is a little fountain ; and throughout the whole
hippodrome several small rills run murmuring along, wheresoever the
hand of art thought proper to conduct them, watering here and there
different spots of verdure, and in their progress refreshing the whole. . . .
"I have now informed you why I prefer my Tuscan villa to those which
I possess at Tusculum, Tiber, and Prseneste. Besides the advantages
already mentioned, I here enjoy a more profound retii-ement, as I am at
a farther distance from the business of the town, and the interruption of
troublesome avocations. All is calm and composed ; which contributes,
no less than its clear and unclouded sky, to that health of body and
cheerfulness of mind which I particulai-ly enjoy here : both of which I
keep in proper exercise by study and hunting. And indeed there is no
place which agrees better with all my family in general ; I am sure, at
least, I have not yet lost one (and I speak it with the sentiments I ought)
of all those I brought with me liither : and may the gods continue that
happiness to me, and that honour to my villa ! Farewell."

Besides these villas, Pliny, Lib. ix. Ep. 7, gives an account of two of
his villas at Baise, one commanding a view of the lake from an eminence,
the other situated on its margin ; the fii'st he called Tragedy, the other.
Comedy. Pliny describes his mode of passing his time at his villas, in
Lib. IX. Ep. 36 and 40. In Lib. iii. Ep. 5, he describes the manner in
which the elder Pliny passed his time.

X.

A TIBURTINE VILLA.

Cernere facundi Tibur glaciale Vopisci

Si quis, et inserto geminos Aniene penates ;

Aut potuit sociae commercia noscere ripa?,

Certantesque sibi dominum defendere villas.

Ulum nee calido latravit Sirius astro,

Nee gravis aspexit Nemees frondentis alumnus.

Talis hyems tectis, frangunt sic improba solem

Frigora, PisaBumque domus non sestuat annum.

206 GExMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

Visa manu tenera tectum scripsisse Voluptas.
Tunc Venus Idaliis unxit fastigia succis,
Permulsitque comas, blandumque reliquit honorem
Sedibus, et volucres vetuit discedere natos.
O longum memoranda dies ! quae mente reporto
Gaudia ? quam lassos per tot miracula visus ?
Ingenium quam mite solo ? qua forma beatis
Arte manus concessa locis ? non largius usquam
Indulsit natura sibi, nemora alta citatis
Incubuere vadis, fallax responsat imago
Frondibus, et longas eadem fugit umbra per undas.
Ipse A.nien (miranda fides) infraque superque
Saxeus hie tumidam rabiem, spumosaque ponit
Murmura, ceu placidi veritus turbare Vopisci,
Pieriosque dies, et habentes carmina somnos.
Littus utrumque domi : nee te mitissimus amnis
Dividit ; alternas seruant praetoria ripas
Xon externa sibi, fluviumque obstare queruntur.
Sestiacos nunc fama sinus, pelagusque natatum
Jactet, et audaci junctos delphinas Ephcebo.
Hie ffiterna quies, nullis hie jura procellis,
Nusquam fervor aquis : datur hie transmittere visus,
Et voces, et psene manus ; sic Chalcida fluctus
Expellunt fluvii, sic dissociata profundo
Brutia Sicanium circumspicit ora Pelorum.
Quid primum, mediumve canam ? quo fine quiescam ?
Auratasne trabes ? an Mauros undique postes ?
An picturata lucentia marmora vena
Mirer ? an emissas per cuncta cubilia lymphas ?
Hue oculis, hue mente trahor ; venerabile dicam
Lucorum senium ? te quae vada fluminis infra
Cernis ? an ad sylvas qujB respicis, aula, jacentes ?
Qua tibi tota quies, offensaque turbine nullo
Nox silet, et nigros imitantia murmura somnos.
An quae graminea suscepta crepidine fumant
Balnea, et impositum ripis algentibus ignem ?
Quique vaporiferis junctus fornacibus annis
Bidet anhelantes vicino flumine Nymphas?
Vidi artes, veterumque manus, variisque metalla
Viva modis : labor est auri memorare figuras,

III.] PLACES AND NATURAL PHENOMENA. 207

Aut ebur, aut dignas digitis contingere geinmas,
Quicquid et argento primum, vel in gere Myronis
Liisit, et enormes manus est experta Colossos.
Dum vagor aspectu, visusque per omnia duco,
Calcabam nee opinus opes ; nam splendor ab alto
Defluiis, et nitidmn referentes aera testae
Monstravere solum, varias ubi picta per artes
Gaudet humus, suberantque novis Asarota figuris.
Expavere gradus ; quid nunc ingentia mirer ?
Aut quid partitis distantia tecta trichoris '?

Si la euriosite de quelqu'un le porte a voir le frais

sejour de Tivoli, ou demeure I'eloquent Vopiscus, et les

deux Chasteaux que separe le Teverone, il pourra con-

noistre la liaison des deux rives amies, et I'un et I'autre

appartement qui s'efForce a Tenvi de deffendre son Maistre

des incommoditez du chaud, quand le Cliien celeste nous

persecute de ses abbois, et que la constellation du Lion de

Nemee nous regarde pour nous mettre en sueur, tant

I'Hyver se plaist en ce lieu la. Le froid y rorapt la force

des rayons du Soleil : et jamais on ne s'y appercoit de cette

ardeur boiiillante qui regne dans les campagnes de Pise,

quand on celebre les jeux Olympiques. On diroit que la

Volupte mesmes a peint cette maison de sa main delicate :

que Venus y a repandu ses parfums d'Idalie, qu'elle en a

peigne toutes les avenues ; qu'elle Pa honoree quelques-

fois de son sejour : et qu'elle a defendu a ses Enfans qui

sont si legers de I'abandonner jamais. O que je me sou-

viendray long-temps du jour que je vis une si belle maison !

Quelles furent les agreables images que j'en rapportay en

mon esprit '? De combien de miracles mes yeux se trou-

verent-ils remplis ? Que ce climat est doux ! et que I'art

en ce lieul-a se trouve heureusement joint aux beautez de

la Nature ! Certes elle ne paroist point ailleurs si liberalc

de ses dons. Les hauts arbres se tiennent doucement sus-

pendus sur le canal du fleuve. L'image trompeuse des

feiiillages s'y represente dans I'eau, et I'ombre s'enfuit avec

elle durant un fort long espace. Le Teverone qui est

pierreux au dessus et au dessous, (chose presque incroy-

able) quitte en ce lieu la ses murmures et son impetuosite,

208 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Cii.

comme s'il avoit peur de troubler le repos du paisible
Vopiscus passant les jours et les nuicts a, mediter quelque
bel ouvrage ou chef-d'oiivre de Poesie. L'un et I'autre
bord du doux fleuve se trouve dans le logis, et il ne s'y
divise point, non plus que Tedifice qui se joint sur les deux
rives par I'areade d'un Pont ; de sorte qu'on ne sgauroit se
plaindre que le fleuve le separe. Que la Renommee se
glorifie maintenant de ce qu'elle a conte du detroit de
Seste, de la Mer traversee a la nage, et des Daufins qui
favoriserent autrefois I'audace d'un jeune garcon. II se
trouve icy un eternel repos. Les tempestes n'ont point
icy de pouvoir : II n'y a point de colere des eaux. La
veue s'y porte aisement d'une rive a I'autre, on s'y entend
parler, et Ton s'y touche presque de la main. Ainsi les
flots de I'Euripe separent Chalcis de la Beotie. Ainsi la
Brutze separee de la Sicile par un detroit de Mer, void le
Promontoire de Pelore. Par ou commenceray-je a parler
d'une si belle chose ? Et par ou cesseray-je d'en parler ?
En decouvriray-je les poutres dorees, ou les lambris d'yvoire
et de cedre ? Ou admireray-je plustost les marbres luisans
qui representent tant de figures differentes ? Ou les eaux
qui rejaillissent autour des chambres pour les rafraischir?
Ce beau lieu arreste mes yeux et toutes mes pensees.
Diray-je quelque chose de la venerable vieiilesse de ces
bois sacrez ? De toy, grand Salon qui vois la riviere au
dessous de tes fenestres ? Ou de cet autre qui regarde les
bois, ou regne le silence ; de sorte que le repos et la nuict
y sont sans trouble avec un doux murmure qui n'a pas
plus de violence, que celuy du Sommeil? Ou parleray-je
des Bains qui fument le long de la coste tapissee de ver-
dure ? Parleray-je du feu qui se fait sentir aupres de la
glace, ou le fleuve couvert par des voutes fumeuses se
mocque des Nymphes qui se mettent hors d'haleine dans
le canal de son voisin. J'y ay vu des ouvrages artistes de
la main des Anciens, et des metaux animez de manieres
diverses. J'aurois de la piene a raconter toutes les figures
que j'ay veues dans Tor. Je ne sgaurois representer ny les
yvoires, ny les pierres precieuses dignes d'estre portees aux
doigts, qui s'y offrent aux yeux des regardans; ny tout ce
que la main de Miron y a fait en or et en cuivre par des

III.] PLACES AND NATURAL PHENOMENA. 20.0

jeux cl'esprit, ou il a aussi eproiive son industrie sur de
prodigieux Colosses de cuivre. Tandis qu'en me prome-
nant, je portois ma veue de tons costez, je marchois sans y
penser sur des tresors de grand prix : car la splendeur qui
tomboit d'enhaut, et les coquillages polls qui representoient
parfaitement la nettete de lair, montroientla partie d"'enbas,
oil le plancher sembloit se glorifier de toutes les figures
agreables, dont il estoit diversifie, quoy qu'elles fusseut
mises sous les pieds, et difficiles a ballier. Je n'osois
marcher sur un pave si precieux. Apres cela comment
est-ce que je pourrois marquer mon etonnement touchant
les grandes choses ? Ou de quels termes me pourrois-je
servir pour depeindre les trois grands corps de logis de ce
rare bastiment ?

The version is in the antiquated French of Marolles. The Silvce of
Statius, far more interesting, it is conceived, to a modern reader than his
Thebaid, have never been translated into English. Statius's description of
the Tiburtine Villa is extended to fifty more lines. And his Silver contain
a description in a hundred and fifty-four lines of a Surrentine villa be-
longing to Pollius.

Tivoli is rendered classic ground by several delightful associations of
depcription and sentiment in the Odes of Horace, being the spot which
he must have often frequented in his visits to Meecenas, and which he
longed for as the retreat of his old age, if, indeed, he had not a villa
there, which is matter of controversy. Catullus also wrote a poetical
letter of thanks to his Tiburtine Villa for recruiting his spirits after suf-
fering from the eflFects of a tedious recitation at Rome. He tells his villa,
that every one who wanted to plague him called it a Sabine Villa, but
all who courted his favour called it a Tiburtine Villa. Here Maecenas
had a villa, to which he repaired by the advice of his physician, in order
that he might overcome the sleeplessness, which was a principal symptom of
his malady, by the distant sounds of falling water. The ruins of Hadrian's
rilla at Tivoli have been a mine of treasures of ancient art. The peculi-
arities of the scenery at Tivoli have been described by Gray in a letter to
West. The following description is by Eustace :

" But the pride and ornament of Tivoli are still, as anciently, the fall
and the windings of the Anio, now Teverom. This river having mean-
dered from its source through the vales of Sabina, glides gently through
Tivoli, till coming to the brink of a rock it precipitates itself in one mass
down the steep, and then boiling for an instant in its narrow channel,
rushes headlong through a chasm in the rock into the caverns below.
The first fall may be seen from the windows of the inn or from the

14

210 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

temple ; but it appears to the gi'eatest advantage from the bridge thrown
over the narrow channel a little below it. From this bridge also you may
look down into the shattered rock, and observe far beneath the writhings
and agitation of the stream struggling through its rocky prison. To view
the second fall, or descent into the cavern, we went down through a
garden by a winding path into the narrow dell, through which the river
flows after the cascade, and placing ourselves in front of the cavern, be-
held the Anio in two immense sheets tumbhng through two different
apertures, shaking the mountain in its fall, and filling all the cavities
around with spray and uproar."

XI.

DOMITIAN'S FISHPOND.

Bajano procul a lacu monemus,
Piscator, fuge, ne nocens recedas.
Sacris piscibus h?e natantiir unclae.
Qui norunt Domiuum, manumque lambunt
Illam, qua nihil est in orbe majus.
Quid, quod nomen habent, et ad magistri
Vocem quisque sui venit citatus ?
Hoc quondam Libys impius profundo,
Dum pi'Dedam calamo tremente ducit,
Eaptis luminibus repente cbcus
Captum non potuit videre piscem :
Et nunc sacrilegos perosus liamos,
Bajanos sedet ad lacus rogator.

Fisherman ! I caution you to hasten away from the
Baian lake, lest you depart with a load of crime. The
fishes that swim in these waters are sacred. They know
their Lord, they kiss the hand than which there is nothing
more powerful in the whole world. Would you believe it
possible, it is a fact that these fishes have all proper names,
and when absence is called, (a word to Etonians) every fish
answers to his name ? A certain African had once the
temerity to fish in this pond ; but whilst he was dragging

Ill] PLACES AND NATURAL PHENOMENA. 211

his prey out of the water, lie was struck with sudden blind-
ness, and never saw what he had taken. The man to this
day goes on execrating the sacrilegious hook, as he sits
close to this very Baian lake imploring alms.

It is probable that Martial alludes to some wretch whose eyes may
have been put out by order of Domitian for fishing in his pond, and who
may have been afterwards compelled to act the part of a scarecrow. The
tractability of fishes under the tuition of the Romans, is noticed in Mar-
tial's description of the Formian Villa in this collection, ^lian, in his
chapters upon Animals, relates several remarkable anecdotes of Roman
fish, as particularly a lamprey, belonging to Crassus, which was adorned
with female ornaments, and honoured with a splendid funeral. Pliny
relates some wonderful particulars concerning the familiarity between a
Dolphin and a boy, who used to swim on the fish's back. The author
has in his possession a Tarentine coin, about the period b. c. 400, repre-
senting Taras, son of Neptune, on a Dolphin's back. The story of Arion
seems to have reference to a tradition of this nature. Shakspere applies
the tradition to the Dauphin of France, and the designs of Catharine de
Medicis to marry him to Queen Elizabeth, a passage very curious in an
historical point of view. It occurs in the Midsummer Night's Dream :
Since once I sat upon a promontory,
And heard a Mermaid on a Dolphin's back.

The Brahmins of India have established a considerable familiarity
with the finny tribe, and with pet crocodiles, in some of the sacred ponds
attached to their pagodas.

XII.
THE HOT SPRINGS NEAR CICERO'S ACADEMY.

Quo tua, RomansB vindex clarissime linguas,

Silva loco melius surgere jussa viret,
Atque AcademiaB celebratam nomine villam

Nunc reparat cultu sub potiore Vetus :
Hie etiam adparent lymphse non ante repertse,

Languida qu£e infuso lumina rore levant.
Nimirum locus ipse sui Ciceronis honori

Hoc dedit, hac fontes cum patefecit ope,
XJt quoniam totum legitur sine fine per orbem,

Sint plures, oculis quae medeantur, aqure.

14—

212 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

Father of Eloquence in Rome !

The Groves that once pertained to thee,
Now with a fresher verdure bloom

Around thy fam'd Academy.

Vetus at length this favour'd seat
Hath with a tasteful care restor'd ;

And newly at thy lov'd retreat .

A gushing fount its stream has poured.

These waters cure an aching sight ;

And thus the Spring that bursts to view
Through future ages shall requite

The fame this spot from Tully drew.

The Latin lines are interesting as having been written by a freedman
of Cicero. The elder Pliny, in his Natural Histori/, quotes the above
verses with applause, and mentions the occasion of them, which was the
bursting forth of a fountain, very wholesome for the eyes, near Cicero's
villa, called the Academy, shortly after his death. The Enghsh version,
by Elton, does not well express the point in the original, that a remedy
for the eyes was a gift of nature very appropriate to the place whence
had emanated writings on which so many eyes throughout the world were
poring.

Addison, in his Travels in Italy, mentions that the locality contains
many baths in which sulphur abounds ; and that there is scarce a disease
that has not a bath adapted to it. One bath still was callecf the Bath
of Cicero. Some writers reckon up eighteen villas of Cicero, besides
little inns or baiting-places. Dr Middleton has given a description of
Cicero's principal villas. The Tusculan was the nearest to Rome, and
the most adorned, for here Cicero spent the greatest share of his leisure.
His best collection of books was in his villa at Antium, about thirty miles
from Rome. His villa called the Academy, mentioned in the text, was
built after the plan of the Academy at Athens, with a grove and por-
tico for philosophical conferences. Here Cicero composed the last of his
dialogues, that upon Fate ; and here afterwards Hadrian died.

III.] PLACES AND NATURAL PHENOMENA. 213

XIII.
THE PO, WITH ITS MYTHOLOGY.

— Ille caput placidis sublime fluentis

Extulit, et totis lucem spargentia ripis

Aurea rorauti micuerunt cornua vultu.

Non illi madidum vulgaris Arundine crinem

Velat honos, rami caput umbravere virentes

Ileliadum, totisque fluunt electra capillis.

Palla tegit latos humeros, curruque paterno

Intextus Phaeton glaucos incendit amictus :

Fultaque sub gremio cfelatis nobilis astris

.iEtherium probat urna decus. Namque omnia luctus

Argumenta sui Titan signavit Olympo,

Mutatumque senem plumis, et fronde sorores,

Et fluvium, nati qui vulnera lavit anheli.

Stat gelidis Auriga plagis, vestigia fratris

Germange servant Hyades, Cycnique sodalis

Lacteus extentas aspergit cireulus alas.

Stellifer Eridanus sinuatis fluctibus errans,

Clara noti convexa rigat.

His head above the floods he gently rear'd,
And as he rose his golden horns appear'd,
That on the forehead shone divinely bright,
And o'er the banks diffused a yellow light :
No interwoven reeds a garland made,
To hide his brows within the vulgar shade.
But poplar wreaths around his temples spread,
And tears of amber trickled down his head :
A spacious veil from his broad shoulders flew,
That set the unhappy Phaeton to view :
The flaming chariot and the steeds it show'd.
And the whole fable in the mantle glowed :
Beneath his arm an urn supported lies
With stars embellish'd, and fictitious skies.
Por Titan, by the mighty loss dismay'd.
Among the Heav'ns th' immortal fact display'd,

214 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

Lest the remembrance of his grief should fail,
And in the constellations wrote his tale.
A swan in memory of Cycnus shines ;
The mourning sisters weep in watery signs ;
The burning chariot, and the charioteer,
In bright Bootes and his wain appear :
Whilst in a track of light the waters run,
That washed the body of his blasted son.

The description is from Claudian. Virgil, Ovid, Lucan, and Frasca-
toro, have immortalized the river Po. It has been called the king of
Italian rivers ; it receives thirty tributary streams, includes in its windings
a course of three hundred miles, and bathes the walls of fifty towns and
cities. As in the time of Claudian, the principal ornament of the banks of
the Po, according to Eustace, consists of groves of forest-trees, that shade
its margin, and as they hang over it, and sometimes bathe their branches
in its waves, enliven it by the reflection of their thick and verdant foliage.
Among these, the poplars, into which the sisters of Phaeton are fabled to
have been metamorphosed, are predominant, and by their height and
spreading form add considerably to the beauty of the scenery. Neither
Addison nor Eustace make any mention of swans, though a classical
traveller might be supposed to strain his eyes to search in the Po for a
representative of Cycnus.

XIV.

THE PO FROZEN.

Qui Phaetonteos extinxit plurimus ignes

Pene gelu absumptis nunc Padus aret aquis,
Atque repentinos Borealia frigora pontes

Struxere, et sicco pervia lympha pedi est.
Quaque rates variis oneratse mercibus ibant,

Nunc plaustris junctos cernimus ire boves.
Ad nova concurret spectacula vulgus, et audax

Turba per insuetum fluminis errat iter.
Mira quidem sunt haec ; sed te mirabile Princeps

Optime, nil setas protulit ulla magis.

The Po which extinguished the conflagration kindled
by Phaeton is now dry by means of the Ice which has

III.] PLACES AND NATURAL PHENOMENA. 215

bound all its waters. — The Northern frosts have suddenly
constructed bridges across it, and it may now be traversed
with a dry foot. — Where ships laden with merchandizes
sailed through the waters, now you may see oxen drawing
the waggons to which they are yoked. The vulgar crowd
rush to behold the novel spectacle, and take a pride in
shewing how boldly they can walk over the top of a river.
— These phenomena are miraculous indeed; but the ex-
ceeding good Prince of this land is a more astonishing
miracle even than the congelation of the Po.

Among the rare tracts published by the Percy Society is a collection
relative to the freezings of the Thames, with engravings and songs. There
is extant a paper, in which Charles IL and his family pi-inted their names
on the Thames, on January 31, 1684. It appears that from the beginning
of December, 1683, to the 4th of February, there was a street of booths
on the Thames. Like phenomena occurred previously in the years 1092,
1281, 1564, 1608, 1675, and subsequently in 1715, 1739, 1814, which last
continued from the 27th of December to the 5th of February. The frost of
A.D. 1675 is the subject of a poem in the Musce Anglicance, entitled Thamesis
Vinctus : it commemorates the boiling and roasting on the Thames :

Undantia flammis
Ordine ahena locant, verubusque immania figunt
Terga bourn.

Gay, in his Trivia, thus commemorates the freezure of 1715, which
lasted from the latter part of November to the 9th of February :
0 roving Muse! recal that wondrous year,
When winter reigned in bleak Britannia's air;
When hoary Thames, with frosted oziers crown'd,
Was three long moons in icy fetters bound.
Wheels o'er the harden'd waters smoothly glide.
And rase with whiten'd tracks the slippery tide:
Here the fat cook piles high the blazing fire.
And scarce the spit can turn the steer entire.
Booths sudden hide the Thames, long streets appear.
And numerous games proclaim the crowded fair;
Doll every day had walked these treacherous roads ;
Her neck grew warpt beneath autumnal loads
Of various fruit ; she now a basket bore ;
That head, alas ! shall basket bear no more.
The cracking ci-ystal yields ; she sinks, she dies.
Her head, chopt off from her lost shouldei's flies ;
Pippins she cried ; but death her voice confounds ;
And pip — pip — pip — along the ice resounds.

216 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

Addison, in the Spectator, No. 247, alludes to the tongue of the apple-
woman, said to have cried " pippins " after her head was cut oflF. It is a
paper upon the subject of female tongues, where he cites a description
from Ovid's Metamorphoses, of the tongue of a woman being cut out and
thrown upon the ground, when " it could not forb'ear muttering even in
that posture."

XV.

BUILDING ACCOL^^T BETWEEN DOMITIAN AND JUPITER.

Quantum jam superis, Csesar, coeloque dedisti,

Si repetas, et si creditor esse velis ;
Grandis in astliero licet auctio fiat Olympo,

Coganturque Dei vendere quidquid habent:
Conturbabit Atlas, et non erit uncia tota,

Decidat tecum qua pater ipse Deum.
Pro Capitolinis quid enim tibi solvere templis,

Quid pro Tarpejas frondis honore potest?
Quid pro culminibus geminis Matrona Tonantis ?

Pallada pr^etereo : res ag-it ilia tuas.
Quid loquar Alciden, Phoebumque, piosque Laconas ?

Addita quid Latio Flavia templa polo ?
Exspectes, et sustineas, Auguste, necesse est :

Nam tibi quod solvat, non liabet area Jovis.

If thou shouldst challenge what is due to thee
Prom Heav'n, and Heav'n's creditor would be :
If public sale should be cried through the spheres,
And the Gods sell all to satisfy arrears,
Atlas will banla'ui^t prove, nor one sous be
Peserved for Jupiter to treat with thee.
What can'st thou for the Capitol receive ?
Or for Tarpeian fane's immortal wreath ?
Or what will Juno give thee for her shrine ?
Pallas I i^ass, she waits on thee and thine.
Alcides, Phoebus, Pollux, I pass by,
And Flavia's Temple neighbouring to the sky.
CaBsar thou must forbear, and trust the Heaven,
Jove's chest has not enough to make all even.

UL] PLACES AND NATUllAL PHENOxMENA. 217

Suetonius mentions that Domitian rebuilt the Capitol, which had been
destroyed by fire, for the third time, and that he restored other edifices,
but all in his own name, without any mention of the original founders :
that he Ukewise erected a new Temple iu the Capitol to Jupiter Custos,
and a Forum, a Stadium, an Odeum, and Xaumachia, and the Temple of
the Flavian family. To crown the pyramid of magnificent edifices that
adorned the Capitoline Hill, rose the temple of Jupiter Capitohnus, on a
hundred steps, supported by a hundred pillars, adorned with the plunder
of the world. In the centre of the temple, with Juno on his left side, and
Minerva on his right, sat Jupiter the Thunderer, on a throne of gold, iu
one hand wielding the sceptre of the Roman Empire, and, in the other,
grasping a thunderbolt. The threshold of the temple was of bronze, the
valves of its portals of gold. The pediment, the sides, and the summit of
the roof, presented images of gods, heroes, horses and chariots, the Roman
Eagle, and its attendant Victory, all of bronze, silver, or gold. The gilding
alone is related to have cost Domitian 12,000 talents ; wherefore Plutarch
observed of that Emperor, that he was like Midas, desii'ous of turning
every thing into gold. Of the ancient gloi7 of the Capitol, nothing is now
remaining but the solid foundation, which, according to the prediction of
the poet, continues immoveable, Capitoli immobile saxum.

Perhaps no epigram, even of Martial, exceeds that in the text for
impious adulation. Waller's verses on the re-building of Somerset
House, and of St Paul's, contain bold flights of English adulation in the
same line of sycophancy, in regard to royal architecture. Of the first,
Waller writes to the Queen :

But what new mine this work supplies ?

Can such a pile from ruin rise?

This, like the first creation, shows,

As if at your command it rose.

Of St Paul's, as rebuilt after the fire of London, he sings :
The Sun which riseth to salute the Quire
Already finish'd, setting shall admire
How private bounty could so far extend ;
The King built all, but Charles the western end :
So proud a fabric to devotion given,
At once it threatens and obliges heaven.

Waller's compliments to Charles H. on his improvements in St James's
Park are in the same style, but varied by an eulogy on the King's skill at
trap-ball :

No sooner has he toucht the flying ball,

But 'tis already more than half the Mall ;

And such a fury from his arm has got.

As from a smoking culverin 't were shot !

218 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

XVI.

THE PALATINE MOUNT.

Ecce Palatino crevit reverentia monti

Non alium certe deeuit rectoribus orbis
Esse larem, nulloque magis se colle potestas
J^stimat, et summi sentit fastigia juris.
Attollens apicem subjectis regia rostris,
Tot circum delubra videt, tantisqiie Deorum
Cingitur excubiis. Juvat infra tecta Tonaiitis
Cernere Tarpeia pendentes rupe Gigantes,
Caelatasque fores, mediisque volantia signa
Nubibus, et densum stipantibus asthera templis,
Mraqae vestitis numerosa puppe columnis
Consita, subnixasque jugis immanibus sedes,
Naturam cumulante manu ; spoliisque micantes
Innumeros arcus. Acies stupet igne metalli,
Et circumfuso trepidans obtunditur auro.

To Palatine's high mount see homage flows ! . . . .

No other residence M^as ever made

For those whose pow'rs the universe pervade ;

Such noble dignity no hill displays,

Nor equal magnitude of empire sways.

The lofty palace tow'ring to the sky,

Beholds below the courts of justice lie ;

The num'rous temples round, and ramparts strong,

That to th' immortal deities belong ;

The Thund'rer's domes ; suspended giant race

Upon the summit of Tarpeian space ;

The sculptur'd doors, in air the banners spread ;

The num'rous tow'rs that hide in clouds their head ;

The columns girt with naval prows of brass ;

The various buildings rais'd on terreous mass ;

The works of Nature joining human toils,

And arcs of triumph deck'd with splendid spoils.

The glare of metal strikes upon the sight,

And sparkling gold o'erpow'rs with dazzling light.

III.] PLACES AND NATURAL PHENOMENA. 219

The original is by Claudian, the translation by Hawkins; another
English version is given by Addison, in his Travels in Italy. Eustace
writes : " We then ascended the Palatine Mount. This hill, the nursery
of infant Rome, and finally the residence of imperial grandeur, presents
now two solitary villas, and a convent. Its numerous temples, its palaces,
its porticos, and its libraries, once the gloiy of Rome, and the admiration
of the Universe, are now mere heaps of ruins, so shapeless and scattered,
that the antiquary and architect are at a loss to discover their site, their
plans, or their elevation. Of that wing of the imperial palace which
looked towards the west, some apartments remain vaulted, and of fine
proportions, but so deeply buried in ruins as to be now subterranean."

XVII.

COLISEUM.

Barbara Pyramidum sileat miracula Memphis,

Assiduus jactet nee Babylona labor ;
Nee TrivisB templo molles laudentur honores,

Dissimuletque deum cornibus ara frequens :
Aere nee vaeuo pendentia Mausolea,

Laudibus immodicis Cares in astra ferant.
Omnis Coesareo cedat labor Ampliitheatro :

Unum praB cunctis fama loquatur opus.

Why sing the wonders of th' Egyptian shore ?

Let far-fam'd Babylon be prais'd no more,

Let not Ionia vaunt Diana's fane,

Nor Libya of her horned-God be vain.

Nor let the Carian town extol so high

Its INIausoleum, hanging in the sky ;

In Caesar's Amphitheatre are shown

These rival glories all combined in one :

Let Fame henceforth her clam'rous tongue confine

To sing the beauties of that dome divine.

The Colosseum was commenced by the Emperor Vespasian, and
finished by Titus. The opening of it was celebrated by the slaughter
of 9000 wild beasts in the arena. It was capable of containing about
87,000 spectators ; it covers altogether five acres of ground. Where it is
perfect, the exterior is an hundred and sixty feet high. (Concerning the

220 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

modem excavations, see Mr Whiteside's Vicissitudes of the Eternal City.)
Claudian thus describes a wild beast newly brought from the woods, and
making its fii'st appearance in a full amphitheatre :
Ut fera quae nuper montes amisit avitos,
Altorumque exul nemorum, damnatur arense
Ttluneribus, commota ruit; vir murmure contra
Hortatur, nixusque genu venabula tendit ;
Ula pavpt strepitus, cuneosque erecta theatri
Despicit, et tanti miratur sibila vulgi.

So rushes on his foe the grisly bear,
That, banish'd from the hills and bushy brakes,
His old hereditary haunts forsakes.
Condemn'd the cruel rabble to delight.
His angry keeper goads him to the fight.
Bent on his knee : the savage glares around,
Scar'd with the mighty crowd's promiscuous sound ;
Then, rearing on his hinder paws, retires.
And the vast hissing multitude admires.
Martial has a whole book of epigrams concerning the diversions of the
amphitheatre — as Europa carried to the sky on a bull's back, the sports of
a lion and a hare, the elephant which fell on his knees to the Emperor,
(notwithstanding Lord Coke's comparison between that animal and the
unbending parliament-man, the subject of one of Swift's poems), the
wild-beast, that brought forth young at the moment of receiving its
death-wound, (an epigram which furnished Lord Bacon with a compli-
ment to King James), and the lion that killed its keeper. The ancient
story of the meeting on the arena between Androcles and his old friend
the lion, whom he had cm-ed from a wound by a thorn in Africa, is related
in the Chiardian.

The Colosseum has been celebrated by several English poets. Addi-
son writes :

An amphitheatre's amazing height
Here fills my eye with terror and delight ;
That, on its public shows, unpeopled Rome,
And held, uncrowded, nations in its womb.
And Lord Byron :

But here, where murder breathed her bloody steam ;
And here, where buzzing nations choked the ways,
And roar'd or murmur'd like a mountain stream
Dashing or winding as its torrent strays ;
Here, where the Roman million's blame or praise,
Was death or life, the playthings of a crowd.
My voice sounds much — and fall the stars' faint rays
On the arena void — seats crush'd — walls bow'd —
And galleries, where my steps seem echoes strangely loud.

III.] PLACES AND NATURAL PHENOMENA. 221

A ruin — yet what ruin ! from its mass
Walls, palaces, half-cities, have been rear'cl ;
Yet oft the enormous skeleton ye pass
And marvel where the spoil could have appcar'd.
Hath it indeed been plunder'd, or but clear'd ?
Alas! developed, opens the decay,
When the colossal fabric's form is near'd :
It will not bear the brightness of the day,
Which streams too much on all years, man, have reft away.

But when the rising moon begins to climb
Its topmost ai'ch, and gently pauses there ;
Wlien the stars twinkle through the loops of time,
And the low night-breeze waves along the air
The garland-forest, which the gray walls wear,
Like laurels on the bald first Cresar's head ;
When the light shines serene but doth not glare,
Then in this magic circle raise the dead :
Heroes have trod this spot — 'tis on their dust ye tread.

" While stands the Coliseum, Rome shall stand ;

When falls the Coliseum, Rome shall fall ;

And when Rome falls — the world." From our own land

Thus spake the pilgrims o'er this mighty wall

In Saxon times.

XVIII.

NERO'S GOLDEN HOUSE, TITUS'S BATHS, AND CLAUDIAN'S

PORTICO.

Hie, ubi sidereus propius videt astra Colossus,

Et crescunt media pegmata celsa via ;
Invidiosa feri radiabant atria regis,

Unaque jam tota stabat in urbe domus.
Hie, ubi conspicui venerabilis Amphitheatri

Erigitur moles, stagna Neronis erant.
Hie, ubi miramur velocia munera, therraas ;

Abstulerat miseris tecta superbus ager.
Claudia difFusas ubi portieus explicat umbras,

Ultima pars aulas deficientis erat.
Reddita Roma sibi est ; et sunt, te prseside, Caesar,

Deliciae populi, qua; fuerant domini.

222 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

Here, where that high Coloss the stars surveys,

And lofty engines swell up in the ways,

The envied Courts of Nero shined : And one,

One only House this City filled alone.

Here, where the Amphitheatre's vast pile

Is now erected, were his Pools erewhile.

Where we admire the Baths, that swift-form'd gift,

The proud field from poor men their dwellings shrift.

Where Claudia's Walk extends its ample shade.

Was erst the postern of his palace made.

Home's to itself returned ; and in thy name,

What once was Caesar's, now the People claim.

The translation, a little modified, is by Fletcher; he construed velocia,
running ; the epithet seems to relate to the circumstance, mentioned by
Suetonius, of the expeditious formation of Titus's Baths.

As Martial relates, the Colisseum covered only a portion of the site of
Nero's palace, and its pleasure-grounds. This palace, from the gold
which shone in profusion on every side of it, was called (Domtis Aurea),
the Golden House. Suetonius gives the following details of this enor-
mous edifice : " In the vestibule stood a colossal statue of Nero, "one
hundred and twenty feet in height. There were three porticos, each a
mile in length, and supported by three rows of pillars. The garden
resembled a park, and contained an immense piece of water, woods,
vineyards, pasture-grounds for herds, paddocks for wild beasts. There
was a lake, on the banks of which rose several edifices that resembled
towns. In the palace itself the rooms were lined with gold, gems, and
mother-of-pearl. The ceilings of the dining-rooms were adorned with
ivory pannels, so contrived as to scatter flowers and shower perfumes on
the guests. The principal banquetting room revolved upon itself, repre-
senting the motions of the heavens ; the baths were suppUed with salt-
water from the sea, and mineral water from Salfatara."

With regard to the colossal figure of the Sun, mentioned by Martial,
this was no other than Nero's colossus of himself, of which Vespasian
struck off the late Emperor's head, and substituted that of Apollo, encir-
cled with twelve golden rays. A pasquinade is mentioned by Suetonius
to have been composed with reference to Nero's golden house :
Roma domus fiet ; Veios migrate Quirites !

Si non et Veios occupat ista domus.
Rome will be all one House ; to Veii fly !
If that House move not thither by and by.

Titus's Baths were inferior in extent to those of Caracalla and Dio-
cletian, but had an advantage over them in being erected before the

III.] PLACES AND NATURAL PHENOMENA. 223

decay of the arts. They now constitute a subterranean museum, whose
walls and vaults are adorned with stuccoes perfectly preserved, and
covered with arabesques and paintings. The group of the Laocoon was
discovered among the ruins of Titus's Baths, as the Farnese Hercules and
Fai-nese Bull wei'e discovered in those of Caracalla. The public baths,
besides containing spacious halls for bathing, with many hundred marble
seats, had apartments for reading and recitations, and porticos and gym-
nasiums for exercise. They were adorned with paintings and statues, and
surrounded by plantations. Temples were sometimes attached to them.
Even in the rude age of Lucilius, the business of the bath consisted of
numerous details:

Scabor, supplier, desquamor, pumicor, omor,

Expolior, pingor.

I scratch myself, pluck out my superfluous hairs, rub ofi" my scales,
pumice my skin, adorn, polish, and paint myself.

With regard to the Claudian Portico, Pitiscus in his Lexicon has given
a complete list of all the Porticos of Rome. Mention of Porticos occurs
in numerous epigrams of Martial, who describes them as the resorts of
men of business, and those of Uterary leisure (Stoics or Peripatetics), of
loungers, and of supper-hunters. They seem to have resembled in this
respect our Paul's Walk mentioned in our ancient dramatists and in
Bishop Hall's Satires, where serjeants-at-law had their pillars, and where
Duke Humphrey was supposed to have entertained at dinner those who
could not get invited elsewhere. The Piazza at Covent Garden, when
theatres flom-ished in England, partook of the character of a Roman
portico. A magnificent description is given by Propertius of the open-
mg of a portico by Augustus called the Palatine Portico, dedicated to
Apollo. It was supported by pillars of Numidian marble, embellished
with paintings and statues, and emblazoned with brass and gold. It
enclosed the library and temple of Apollo so often alluded to by the
writers of the Augustan age. Groves and fountains were luxmnes
attached to several of the porticos. Paintings of Apelles and Zeuxis
were affixed to the portico of Hercules. That of Gordian, in the Campus
Martins, was a mile long, and formed of one range of pilasters and four
of columns : that of GaUienus extended near two miles along the Via
Flaminia. The portico mentioned in the text was shaded by a vine of
extraordinary luxuriance ; probably the prototype of the vine at Hampton
Court.

224 GEMS OP LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

XIX.

CONCOURSE OF ALL NATIONS AT ROME.

Quae tam seposita est, qusB gens tarn barbara, Caesar,

Ex qua spectator non sit in urbe tua ?
Venit ab Orpheo cultor Rhodopeius Hsemo,

Venit et epoto Sarmata pastus equo ;
Et qui prima bibit deprensi fiumina Nili,

Et quem supremse Tethyos unda ferit.
Festinavit Arabs, festinavere Sabasi ;

Et Cilices nimbis hie maduere suis.
Crinibus in nodum tortis venere Sicambri,

Atque aliter tortis crinibus ^Ethiopes.
Vox diversa sonat : populorum est vox tamen una ;

Cum verus Patriae diceris esse Pater.

What conflux issuing forth, or entering in !

Praetors, Proconsuls to their provinces

Hasting, and on return, in robes of state ;

Lictors and rods, and ensigns of their power.

Legions and cohorts, turms of horse and wings ;

Or Embassies from regions far remote.

In various habits, on the Appian road,

Or on the Emilian ; some from farthest south,

Syene, and where the shadows both ways fall,

Meroe, Nilotic isle ; and, more to west.

The realm of Bacchus, to the black-moor sea ;

From the Asian kings, and Parthians, among these

From India, and the golden Chersonese,

And utmost Indian isle Taprobane ;

Dusk faces, with white silken turbans wreathed ;

From Gallia, Gades, and the British west.

Germans, and Scythians, and Sarmatians, north

Beyond Danubius to the Tauric pool, —

All nations now to Rome obedience pay.

The English lines were suggested apparently by Martial's epigram, but
how improved by Milton ! They are taken from the inimitable tableaux of

III.] PLACES AND NATURAL PHENOMENA. 225

Athens and Rome sketched by the Tempter on the Mount, in the Para-
disc Regained. Juvenal's complaint that, besides Rome being infested by
a profligate horde of Greeks, the Nile and Orontes had flowed into the
Tiber, is thus paraphrased by Dr Johnson in his London :

London ! The needy villain's general home,

The common sewer of Paris and of Rome ;

With eager thirst, by folly or by fate

Sucks in the dregs of each corrupted State.

Forgive my transports on a theme like this, a

I cannot bear a French Metropolis.

XX.

AMERICA.

Qua sese ingenti terrarum America traetu

Porrigit, atqiie orbis spectat utrumque polum ;
Passim magnifica ostentat miracula reriim

Natura, et vastas prodiga funclit opes.
Hie, qualis nee Pyrene eonsurgit ad auras,

Nee magna excelso stat Teneriffa jugo.
Hie adeo aeriis redimiti nubibus Andes,

iEterna attollunt cuhnina operta nive.
Grandior hie fervet torrens, fremituque marine

Amplior incursat littora longa lacus :
Tum pelagi in morem per mille ingentia regna

Devolvit vastas pluriraus amnis aquas.
Talis Hyperboreum subter Laurentius axem

Immani longum gurgite radit iter.
Talis Orinocus, surgentisque aemula ponti

Plata, in Atlantaeum praecipitata salum.
Quid culta Europae invideas ? circum undique lustrans

Nativum patrii littoris, Inde, decus ?

Through those regions in which America stretches
forth her vast tracts of land to the vicinity of either pole,
Nature exhibits every where her magnificent wonders, and
her prodigality of wealth. There, casting into insignifi-

15

226 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

cance the summits of the Pyrenees, and the lofty Peak of
Teneriffe, the Ancles are covered with eternal snow, and are
half concealed by enveloping clouds. — The torrent of waters
is there more awfully grand ; the Lake dashes against its
long-extended margin with ocean-like surges ; many a
Eiver sweeps its gigantic course, as though it were a Sea,
through a succession of populous States. — Witness the St
Lawrence, the Orinoco, the La Plata ! with what magnifi-
cence and impetuosity do they hui4 their mighty mass of
waters into the Atlantic ! Why envy, O Lidian, the culti-
vated scenery of Europe ? Are you not surrounded by
Nature's marvels, which, if they be without, are above all
ornament ?

The Latin is by the Marquis of Wellesley.

XXL

ANCIENT SIGHTS OF LONDON.

Tot colles RomsB, quot sunt spectacula Trojae, ^

Quae septem numero, digna labore tuo :
Ista manent TrojiB spectacula : 1. Busta, 2. Gigantes,

3. Histrio, 4.Dementes, 5. Struthiones, 6. Ursa. 7. Leones.

Seven hills there were in Rome, and so there be

Seven sights in New-Troy crave our memory :

1. Tombs, 2. Guild-Hall Giants, 3. Stage-plays, 4. Bedlam

poor,
5. Ostrich, 6. Bear-Garden, 7. Lions in the Tower.

With reference to the sights of Troy, the traditions of Brate the
Trojan, great grandson of iEneas, founding London, are mentioned in
Geoffrey of Monmouth's History, and are sanctioned by Camden in his
Britannia, and Milton in his History of England, and Whitelock in his
Treatise on the Parliamentary Writ. They were solemnly advanced by
Edward I. and his nobility in a letter to Pope Boniface, in regard to the
controversy concerning the subjection of the Crown of Scotland. The
subject is further treated of in Warton's History of English Poetry, and
in the author's notes to Fortescue, De Laudibus Legum Anglio}.

III.] PLACES AND NATURAL PHENOMENA. 227

A particulai- account of the giants in Guildhall, will be found in
Hone's Every-Day Book, Vol. in. p. 610. It would appear, that origi-
nally giants made of wicker were kept in Guildhall, and used for pageants,
and that at the restoration of the hall, A. d. 1708, the present Gog and
Magog were constructed of wood carved and gilt.

The amusements of the Bear Garden are frequently mentioned by
old English writers. The following description of the sport by Stow,
may shew the interest our ancestors took in it: "For it was a sport
alone of these beasts to see the bear with his pink eyes leering after his
enemies ; the nimbleness and wait of the dog to take his advantage, and
the force and experience of the bear again to avoid the assaults ; if he
were bitten in one place, how he would pinch in anotlier to get free ;
and if he were once taken, then what shift with biting, clawing, roaring,
tugging, grasping, tumbling, and tossing, he would work to wind himself
away; and, when he was loose, to shake his ears with the blood and
slaver about his phisnomy, was a pittance of good relief."

The following ancient description of England is concise, and is true
in the present day, as regards one, at least, of the items.

Anglia, mens, fons, pons, ecclesia, foemina, lana.

For wool, and women, streams with bridges crown'd.
Mountains, and fountains, England is renown'd.

XXII.

DRUNKEN BARNABY'S JOURNAL.

Inde prato per amseno

Dormiens temulente fseno,

Riviis surgit et me capit,

Et in flumen altc rapit ;

" Quorsum ?" clamant ; " Nuper erro

A Wansforth-brigs in Anglo-terra."

On a hay-cock sleeping soundly,

Th' river rose and took me roundly

Down the current ; people cried :

Sleeping down the stream I hied :

" Where away ?" quoth they, " from Greenland ? '

" No ; from Wansforth-brigs in England."

15—2

228 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

Harringtoni dedi nummum
Et fortune psene summura.

Thence to Harrington, be it spoken !
For name-sake I gave a token.

Veni Bruarton, Claudi domum,
Ubi querulum audiens sonum,
Conjugem virum verberantem,
Et vicinura equitantem.

Thence to Bruarton, old Claudus
Did approve us and applaud us.
Where I heard a woeful bleating,
A curst wife her husband beating:
Neighbour rode for this default,
Whilst I dyed my front with malt.

Veni Banbury, O prophanum !
Ubi vidi Puritanum
Felem facientem furem
Quia Sabbatho stravit murem.

To Banbury came I, O profane One !
Where I saw a Puritane-one,
Hanging of his cat on Monday,
For killing of a mouse on Sunday.

Sed scribentem digitum Dei
Spectans " Miserere Mei,"
Atriis, angulis, confestim
Evitandi curd pestem
Fugi ; mori licet natus,
Nondum mori sum paratus.

Seeing there, as did become me.
Written, " Lord, have mercy on me,"
On the portals, I departed.
Lest I should have sorer smarted :
Though from death none may be spared,
I to die was scarce prepared.

III.] PLACES AND NATURAL PHENOMENA. 229

The sign of tho inn at Wansford, a few years ago at least, represented
this adventure of the floating haycock ; and the place has acquired the
name of Wansford in England.

With regard to Harrington's tokens, in the year 1613 tokens of lead
and base metal, which had been issued by tradesmen for want of a small
coinage, were abolished by royal proclamation ; and another proclamation
shortly afterwards declared that John Harrington, baron, was empowered
to make " a competent quantity of farthing tokens of copper." People
were not compelled to take them in payment, and they were very unpo-
pular, which was probably hinted at, by giving one of them away.

As regards the Banbury Puritan, there may be mentioned an anec-
dote concerning John Ellis, of whom Dr Johnson said, " It is wonderful,
sir, what is to be found in London. The most literary conversation
that I ever enjoyed was at the table of Jack Ellis, a money-scrivener
behind the Royal Exchange." John Ellis's mother was one of the fierce
old Calvinists ; she had him flogged at school, for looking at a top on a
Sunday, which she had given him the day before.

A Skimmington, which was the procession Barnaby witnessed at Bru-
arton, is particularly described in Part ii. Canto 11 oi Hudibras.

The appalling spectacles of the plague with which England was fre-
quently visited in ancient times are familiar to most readers from De
Foe's picturesque descriptions. Wither's poetical description of tho
plague of London is little known. His relation of the citizens hurrying
out of London is entertaining ; and some of his pictures are not less
affecting than those of De Foe. For example :

Whilst in her arms the Mother thought she kept
Her infant safe. Death stole him when she slept.
Sometimes he took the Mother's life away,
And left the little babe to lie and play
With her cold breast, and childish game to make
About those eyes that never more shall wake.

The Editio Princeps of Drunken Banaby's Journal is anonymous and
without date. The second edition is of the date a.d. 1716, the seventh
edition was published a.d. 1818. The authoi-'s name is supposed to have
been Barnaby Hamngton : and he appears to have graduated at Queen's
College, Oxford,

230 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

XXIII.

POPE'S GROTTO.

Hie ubi sublustri sylvse nutantis in umbra,

Lucentes pandit Thamesis unda sinus ;
Qua pendet tectis Gemmarum plurima cuspis,

Et Lymphae abrumpit subsilientis iter ;
Marmora qua nondum luxu violata renident,

Innocuasque vibrant caeca Metalla faces :
Naturae ingenuae scrutare recondita dona !

EfFossas aude temnere Divitias !
Ecee, hospes, sacrae et Genium venerare CavernsB !

Laelius hie, volvens magna, sedere solet ;
Hie gemuit Wyndham Patriae percussus Amore ;

Et te, Marchmonti ! vivida flamma rapit.
I pecus hine venale ! loco vos fingite dignos

Qui Patriam colitis, pauperiemque probam !

Here, where the shining stream of the Thames is sha-
dowed by an o'erarching grove, nigh whereunto is a grotto,
from the roof of which hang the pointed tops of many
crystals that impede the course of a trickling rill ; where
marbles shine that have never been converted to luxurious
uses, and metals glitter with innocent rays, as if they seemed
to say, — Search the recondite treasures of bountiful Nature !
Dare to contemn riches dug from the bowels of the earth !
Approach, O stranger, and venerate the Genius of this
sacred cave ! Here St John once sat, revolving in his mind
affairs of the deepest import. Here Wyndham lamented
the misfortunes of the country which he saved. Here
Marchmont once glowed wdth the flame of patriotic enthu-
siasm. Avaunt from this holy ground every harbourer of a
venal thought ! Welcome whosoever prefers an honest
humility to iniquitous splendour, and whose dearest Avishes
are for the happiness of his country !

The Latin in the text is a translation from a poem on his grotto by
Pope, who gives the following description of it :

" I have put the last hand to my works of this kind, in happily finish-
ing the subterraneous way and grotto. I there found a spring of the

i

III.] PLACES AND NATURAL PHENOMENA. 231

clearest water, which falls in a perpetual rill, that echoes through the
cavern day and night. From the river Thames, you see through my
arch up a walk of the wilderness, to a kind of open Temple, wholly com-
posed of shells in the rustic manner ; and from that distance under the
temple you look down through a sloping arcade of trees, and sec the sails
on the river passing suddenly and vanishing, as through a perspective
glass. When you shut the doors of this grotto, it becomes on the instant,
from a luminous room, a camera ohscura : on the walls of which all the
objects of the river, hills, woods, and boats, are forming a moving pic-
ture in their visible radiations ; and when you have a mind to light it up,
it affords you a very diflferent scene ; it is finished with shells inter-
spersed with pieces of looking-glass in angular forms ; and in the ceiling
is a star of the same material, at which when a lamp (of an orbicular
figure of thin alabaster) is hung in the middle, a thousand pointed rays
glitter, and are reflected over the place. There are connected to this
grotto by a narrower passage two porches, one towards the river, of
smooth stones, full of light, and open ; the other towards the garden,
shadowed with trees, rough with shells, flints, and iron-ores. The bot-
tom is paved with simple pebble, as is also the adjoining walk up the
wilderness to the temple, in the natural taste, agreeing not ill with the
little dripping murmm-, and the aquatic idea of the whole place. It
wants nothing to complete it but a good statue with an inscription, like
that beautiful antique one which you know I am so fond of :

Hujus NjTnpha loci, sacri custodia fontis,
Dormio, dum blandse sentio murmur aquae.

Parce meum, quisquis tanges cava marmora, somnum
Rumpere ; sive bibas, sive lavare, tace.

Nymph of the grot, these sacred springs I keep.

And to the murmur of these waters sleep ;

Ah spare my slumbers, gently tread the cave !

And drink in silence, or in silence lave ! "
There are several lettei-s from Pope to Sir Hans Sloane, concerning
natural curiosities with which he furnished the poet for his gi'otto, particu-
larly two joints of the Giant's Causeway. Dr Johnson speaks with con-
tempt of the pains taken by Pope to embellish his grotto. The follow-
ing particidars relating to Pope's grotto occm- in a letter from the Lady
M. W. Montague to the Countess of Mar : " Pope continues to embellish
his house at Twickenham. He has made a subterranean grotto, which
he has furnished with looking-glasses. And they tell me it has a very
good efi'eet. I here send you some verses addressed to Mr Gay, who wrote
him a congratulatory letter on finishing his house. I stifled them here,
and beg they may die the same death at Paris, and never go further
than your closet :

Ah friend ! 'tis true — this truth you lovers know —
In vain my structures rise, my gardens grow.

232 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

In vain fair Thames reflects the double scenes.
Of hanging mountains, and of sloping gi-eens :
Joy lives not here ; to happier seats it flies.
And only dwells where Wortley casts her eyes.

What are the gay parterre, the chequer'd shade,
The morning bower, the ev'ning colonnade.
But soft recesses of uneasy minds
To sigh unheard in, to the passing winds ?
So the struck deer in some sequester'd part
Lies down to die, the arrow at his heart.
There stretch'd unseen in coverts hid from day.
Bleeds drop by di-op, and pants his life away."

The Latin inscription in Pope's letter is an ancient one found in the
grotto of Egeria. Another to the like effect, is much shorter, whilst it is,
perhaps, more impressive ;

Nymphse Loci.
Bibe — Lava — Tace.
To the presiding Nymph.
Drink — Bathe — Be silent.

The grotto of Egeria is described by Eustace, and in several stanzas
of Childe Harold, one of which is as follows :

The mosses of thy fountain still are sprinkled
With thine Elysian water-drops ; the face
Of thy cave-guarded spring, with years unvsn-inkled.
Reflects the meek-eyed genius of the place.
Whose green wild margin now no more erase
Art's works ; nor must the delicate waters sleep,
Prison'd in marble, bubbling from the base
Of the cleft statue ; with a gentle leap
The rill runs o'er, and roimd ; fern, flowere, and ivy creep.
Fantastically tangled.

De Lille, iu his Jardins, thus expatiates on the Admonitus Locorum of
Twickenham.

Tel j'ai vu ce Twickenham dont Pope est createur,
Le gout le defendit d'un art profanateur.
Ah! si dans vos travaux est toujours respecte
Le lieu par un grande homme autrefois habite !

111.] PLACES AND NATURAL PHENOMENA. 233

XXIV.

THE RHINE.

Nympharum pater, araniumque Rhene !
Quicunque Othrysias bibunt pruinas,
Sic semper liquidis fruaris undis,
Nee te barbara contumeliosi
Calcatum rota conterat bubulci :
Sic et cornibus aureus receptis,
Et Romanus eas utraque ripa:
Trajanum populis suis, et urbi
Tibris te dominus rogat, remittas !

O Rhine, the Sire of Nymphs, and of the streams which
drink the Northern snows ! Restore Trajan to his People,
and to Rome ! Doing which, may your waters ever flow
uncongealed; may no barbarian King trample on thy
ice-bound surface with his barbarous waggon-wheels ; may
you rush all golden into the sea with your two resplen-
dent horns ; may each of your banks be Roman territory !
Imperial Tiber asks, and promises this.

The commentators have a great deal to say upon the details of this
epigram, referring, amongst other matters, to the traveUing equipage of
Charlemagne, and to the practice at Roman triimiphs of leading about
gilt pageants of captive rivers. It is selected here chiefly as it may be
thought to have suggested a passage in Fletcher's Faithful Shepherdess,
which was afterwards imitated by Milton, with more decoration, but,
perhaps, with less simpUcity and sweetness:

For thy kindness to me shewn.

Never from thy banks be blown

Any tree with windy force,

Cross thy streams, to stop thy course.

May no beast that comes to drink.

With his horns cast down thy brink.

May none that for thy fish do look

Cut thy banks, to dam thy brook.

Bare foot may no neighbour wade.

In the cool streams, wife nor maid,

When the spawn on stones doth lie.

To wash their hemp, and spoil the fry.

234 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

Id Comus it is :

May thy brimmed waves for this,

Their full tribute never miss,

From a thousand petty rills.

That tumble down the snowy hills.

Summer drought, nor singed air

Never scorch thy tresses fair,

Nor wet October's torrent flood

Thy molten crystal fill with mud.

May thy billows roll ashore

The bei^l, and the golden ore.

May thy lofty head be crowned.

With many a tower, and terrace round.

And here and there, thy banks upon,

With gi'oves of myrrh, and cinnamon.

The Rhine has been more frequently and patriotically celebrated in
modern than in ancient song. With regard to our Thames, Spenser in
his Faery Queen, and Drayton in his Polyolbion, have done it poetic
honour : but the couplet of Denham in his Cooper's Hill, has, pei'haps,
been more often cited, and its eflfect more critically analysed, than any
other lines on any other river:

Though deep yet clear, though gentle, yet not dull ;
Strong without rage, without o'ei-flowing, full.

XXV.

STONEHENGE.

En hae tibi sanctse
Majorum sedes ! non hie coelata labor e
Marmora, Palladia vel speres arte eolumnas.
Sed taeito hsee lustres cultu loca ; nescia ferri
Saxa, rudes aras, circumspice ! Cernis ut atrae
Desuper impendent rupes ? His saepe sub umbris
Velati lino et modulantes pollice fila
Ducebant choreas Druidae, dum mobilis £ether
Et mortale genus requievit : sidera lapsu
Mansere in medio, nee agebat nubila Caurus.
Nunc quoque pallenti arrectus sub nocte viator

III.] PLACES AND NATURAL PHENOIMENA. 235

(Agricolis si certa fides) hie tenuia circum
Sentit et impulsas imitantia murmura chordas,
Pennarumque levem stridorem ; hie flamine vestes
Undantes Zephyrorum, et inania verba remitti.

Behold here are the abodes that your ancestors held
saered ! You will not, indeed, expect to meet here with
marbles endued with life by the chisel of the statuary, or
with columns reared according to rules of Palladian art.
Yet these sights fill the mind with silent awe. Look round
on these stony masses which no iron has ever violated, the
altars of a rude people ! Here, whilst Man and Nature
were at rest, in the silence of the night, the Druids, habited
in flowing robes of linen, performed their magic rites.
Fable reports them to have arrested the moon in her
course, and to have stilled the hurricane-blasts. Even in
the present day, if we may give credit to the vulgar belief
of the vicinity, midnight sounds are heard in this spot,
resembling the flitting of Avings, and the dying melody of
harps, and half-heard whispers which seem to be the voices
of spirits.

Much light has been thrown on the antiquities of Stonehenge by the
Hon. Algernon Herbert, in his Cyclops Christianus. Mr Herbert impugns
the general opinion, that the name denotes hanging stones ; and suggests
a different etymon, namely, that, at this spot the memorable collision
between Hengist, Duke of the Saxons, and the Britons, took place. He
considers that groves of upright stones were substituted by the later
Britons for the oak-tree groves of obsolete Druidism. The date of the
erections at Stonehenge, and the nation which raised them, whether
Romans, Danes, Anglo-Saxons, Britons, or Hyperboreans, have been the
subjects of much diversity of opinion. Csesar mentions the reputation
the Druids had acquired for bringing the Moon to a full stop in the
middle of her com-se. Lucan, in lines not surpassed iu vigour by any
writer of the Augustan period, relates the lessons which they taught in
their sacred gi'oves of an after-life of glory, the hopes of which should
expel the fear of death from the hearts of warriors :

Vos quoque qui fortes animas belloque peremptas
Laudibus in longum vates demittitus sevum,
Pliu'ima securi fudistis carmina Bardi !
Et vos barbaricos ritus, moremque sinisti-um

236 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

Sacrorum Dniidse positis repetistis ab armis.

Solis nosse deos et coeli numina vobls,

Aut solis nescire datum. Nemora alta remotis

Incolitis lucis: vobis auctoribus, umbrae

Non tacitas Erebi sedes, ditisque profundi

Pallida regna petunt : regit idem spiritus artus

Orbe alio : longse (canitis si cognita) vitse

Mors media est. Certe populi, quos despicit Arctos,

Felices errore suo, quos, ille timorum

Maximus, baud urget leti metus ! Inde ruendi

In ferrum mens prona viris, animaque capaces

Mortis, et igiiavum rediturse parcere vitse.

You too, ye bards ! whom sacred raptures fire,
To chant your heroes to your country's lyre :
Who consecrate in your immortal strain,
Brave patriots' souls in righteous battle slain ;
Securely now the tuneful talk renew.
And noblest themes in deathless songs pixrsue.
The Druids now, while arms are heard no more,
Old mysteries and barbarous rites restore:
A tribe, who singular devotion love,
And haunt the lonely coverts of the grove.
To these, and these of all mankind alone,
The gods are sure revealed, or sure unknown.
If dying mortals' doom they sing aright,
No ghosts descend to dwell in dreadful night:
No parting souls to grisly Pluto go.
Nor seek the dreary silent shades below:
But forth they fly, immortal in their kind,
And other bodies in new worlds they find.
Thus life for ever runs its endless race,
And like a line, death but divides the space ;
A stop which can but for a moment last,
A point between the future and the past.
Thrice happy they beneath their Northern skies.
Who that worst fear, the fear of death, despise !
Hence they no cares for this frail being feel,
But nish undaunted on the pointed steel;
Provoke approaching fate, and bravely scorn
To spare that life, which must so soon return.

III.] PLACES AND NATURAL PHENOMENA. 237

XXVI.

ON A CRYSTAL CONTAINING A DROP OF WATER.

(A)

Dura crystalla puer contingere lubrica gaudet,
Et geliclum tenero poUice versat onus,

Vidit perspicuo deprensas marmore lymphas,
Dura quibus solis parcere iiovit hyems :

Et siccum relegens labris sitientibus orbem,
Irrita quaesitis oscida figit aquis.

The crystal smooth a boy with joy surveyed,
And round the frozen mass his fingers laid ;
He sees, enclosed within transparent stone,
The wave that rugged Winter spared alone ;
On arid orb he fixes thirsty lip,
And liquids vainly seeks from thence to sip.

(B)

Clauditur immunis convexo tegmine rivus,

Duratisque vagus fons operitur aquis.
Nonne vides, propriis ut spumet gemma lacunis,

Et refluos ducant pocula viva sinus ?
Udaque pingatur radiis obstantibus Iris,

Secretas hiemes soUicitante die ?
Mira sUex, mirusque latex, qui flumina vincit,

Nee lapis est merito, quod fluit, et lapis est.

A moving stream is pent in vaulted cave.

And, closed by concrete floods, a wand'ring wave.

Within the cavities observe the foam :

In nat'ral basin billows freely roam !

The humid Iris' rays opposed, behold : —

The beams of light repulsed by secret cold.

O wondrous rock, and surge surpassing streams !

Still fluid, stiU a stone, the substance seems.

238 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

Gibbon writes of Claudian : " He was endowed with the rare and
precious talent of raising the meanest, of adorning the most barren,
and of diversifying the most similar topics."

Claudian composed several more Latin and two Greek epigrams
upon this natural phenomenon. Addison in his Travels in Italy, has a
curious notice of a similar phenomenon exhibited at Milan.

" Canon Settala's cabinet is always shewn to a stranger among the
curiosities of Milan, which I shall not be particular upon, the printed
account of it being common enough. Among its natural curiosities I took
particular notice of a piece of crystal, that inclosed a couple of di*ops,
which looked like water when they were shaken, though, perhaps, they
are nothing but bubbles of air. It is such a rarity as this that I saw at
Vendome in France, which they there pretend is a tear that om* Saviour
shed over Lazarus, and was gathered up by an angel, who put it in a
little crystal vial, and made a present of it to Mary Magdalene. The
famous Fere Mabillon is now engaged in the vindication of this tear,
which a learned ecclesiastic, in the neighbourhood of Vendome, would
have suppressed, as a false and ridiculous relic, in a book that he has
dedicated to his diocesan, the Bishop of Blois. It is in the possession of
a Benedictine convent, which raises a considerable revenue out of the
devotion that is paid to it, and has now retained the most learned
father of their order to write in its defence."

XXVII.

INSECTS IN AMBER.

(A)

Dum Phaetontea Formica vagatur in umbra,
Implicuit tenuem succina gutta feram.

Sic modo qua3 fuerat vita contempta manente
Funeribus facta est nunc pretiosa suis.

A Drop of Amber, from a poplar plant
Fell unexpected, and embalm'd an Ant.
The little insect we so much contemn.
Is, from a worthless Ant, become a gem.

III.] PLACES AND NATURAL PHENOMENA. 239

(B)

Flcntibus Heliadum ramis dum Vipera repit,
Fluxit in obstantem succina gemma feram :

Quns dum miratur pingui se rore teneri,
Concrete riguit vincta repente gelu.

Ne tibi regali plaeeas, Cleopatra, sepulcro ;
Vipera si tumulo nobiliore jacet.

On the Sun's daughter's arms a Viper crept,
When o'er the wriggling thing the amber wept.
Wond'ring to be so bound in clammy dew.
She petrified amid the glass'ning glue.
Thy sepulture, proud Queen, no longer prize ;
If in a nobler tomb thine adder lies.

(C)

Et latet et lucet Phaethontide condita gutta,

Ut videatur Apis nectare clausa suo.
Dignum tantorum pretium tulit ilia laborum.

Credibile est ipsam sic voluisse mori.

Pent in th' electric drop, and yet display'd.
She seems to swim the nectar she has made.
This might the meed of all her toils supply :
Thus, sure, she pray'd that she embalm'd might die.

Professor Pictet has published a work on the insects which have been
found in amber. It is reviewed in the Edinburgh New Philosophical
Journal for October 1846. A publication was commenced under the
auspices of the Queen of Prussia, for developing the subject of insects in
amber, with more particular reference to the amber found in Prussia on
the coasts of the Baltic. DiflFerent philosophers undertook to make
researches respecting different species of insects. The origin of Prussian
amber goes back into the tertiary period. The great quantity of amber
thrown up by the Baltic sea is supposed to be owing to a considerable
bed in the present basin of that sea. There have been about 800 fossil
species of insects discovered in 'Prussian amber. These species are all
different from those of the existing Fauna. But only two types have
been discovered which are sufficiently distinct from living insects to re-
quire the formation of new Families. The new Genera are a little more

240 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

numerous. Though the feather of a bird, and some tufts of hair of
raammiferse, have been discovered, and a few small shells belonging to the
moUusca, the articulata are the only division of the animal kingdom of
which amber has preserved sufficiently numerous remains to throw some
light on their history. The admirable preservation of the greater part of
insects and vegetables in amber, the transparency of the material afford-
ing the means of inspecting the most delicate organs almost as well as in
living nature, ai'e circumstances which imj^arfc peculiar interest to the
study of the Fauna and Flora in amber.

To insects in amber, Pope compares small critics on great writere, who
thus are associated with the names of Shakspere or Milton ;

Pretty ! in amber to observe the forms
Of hairs, or straws, or grubs, or dirt, or worms.
The things, we know, are neither rich, nor rare,
But wonder how the devil they got there.

XXVIII.

PHENOMENON PRODUCED BY SNOWBALLS.

Me iiive candenti petiit modo Julia, rebar

Igiie carere nivem, sed tamen ignis erat.
Quid nive frigidius ? nostrum tamen urere pectus

Nix potuit manibus, Julia, missa tuis.
Quis locus insidiis dabitur mihi tutus amoris,

Frigora concreta si latet ignis aqua?
Julia, sola potes nostras extinguere flammas,

Non nive, non glacie, sed potes igne pari.

Julia, sweet Julia, flung the gather'd snow.
Nor fear'd I burning from the wat'ry blow :
'Tis cold, I cried ; but, ah ! too soon I found.
Sent by that hand it dealt a scorching wound.
Resistless Fair ! we fly thy pow'r in vain,
Who turn'st to fiery darts the frozen rain.
Since snow impell'd by thee but fires my heart,
O try if mutual flames may heal the smart !

III.] PLACES AND NATURAL PHENOMENA. 211

The Latin is by Petronius Afranius, an author of whom nothing else
is generally known. The English is from Oldys's collection of Epigrams,
a little modified. A more elaborate version will be found in the works
of Soame Jenyns. It is extolled, considerably, as it would seem, beyond
its merits, in the collection of Latin Epigrams, published for the use of
Eton school, a.d. 1740. Elegans et acutum epigramma, me judice, ut in
tenui materia et afifabre uudetiuaque concinnatum et omnibus numeris ab-
solutum : " An elegant and acute epigram ; which, on a light subject, is
contrived with artistic skill in every part, and is expressed in numbers to
the perfection of which nothing is wantmg."

A remarkable phenomenon produced with snow, was a statue of snow
to the formation of which Michael Angelo was called upon to bend his
exalted genius, by Piero, the unworthy son and successor of Lorenzo de
Medici. It is related by an historian, that at a Naumachia, at which
Domitian presided, not only all the combatants, but many of the spec-
tators, were killed : for a snow-storm came on, and, nevertheless, the
emperor would not stop the spectacle ; but the multitude were obliged
to sit through it bare-headed, and without changing their di'esses, though
the emperor changed his several times : the consequence was that a great
number of the spectators caught cold and died. Martial has two epigrams
on the subject ; one concerning an individual who went to the fete with a
black gown, instead of a white lacerna, like every one else. The Gods, says
the Poet, turned his gown white with snow. Another epigram accounts
for Domitian not seeking to withdraw from the pelting of the snow, by
its having been dropt on him from the skies in sport by his son, who had
lately died, and been deified. (A coin of Domitian is extant, representing
that son sitting upon a globe, and surrounded with stars). Martial
concludes :

Qid siccis lascivit aquis, et ab sethere ludit,
Suspicor has pueri Csesaris esse nives.

16

CHAPTER IV.
THE ARTS.

I.

CROMWELL'S PORTRAIT PRESENTED TO QUEEN
CHRISTINA.

Bellipotens Virgo ! septem regnata Trionum,

Christina ! Arctoi lucicla stella poli !
Cernis quas merui dura sub casside rugas,

Utque senex, armis impiger, ora tero.
Invia fatorum dum per vestigia victor,

Exsequor et populi fortia jussa manu :
Ast tibi submittit frontem reverentior umbra,

Nee sunt hi vultus regibus usque truces.

Queen of the North ! bright Arctic polar star !

Christina ! Virgin- Arbitress of war !

Behold what wrinkles stamp a warrior's brow,

In hard-won fields, 'neath massive helms that grow,

Whilst o'er untrodden paths of Fate I press'd.

Obedient to a People's high behest.

And yet to thee my eyes submission own :

Nor does this face on Monarchs always frown.

The translation is from a ship-newspaper. Cowper has also translated
Milton's lines. Evelyn, in his Epigrams on Painting, has the following
verses upon a likeness by Walker :

If we may trust to Metoposcopy,

To lines o' th' face, and language of the eye.

We find him thoughtful, resolute, and sly.

He knew when to cajole, and to dissemble.

And when to make his foes with blust'ring tremble.

We find (though Cromwell's little understood)

The sword has made him great, and pencil good.

IV.] THE ARTS. 243

There is an original picture of Cromwell preserved in Sidney College,
Cambridge. This was Cromwell's college, where he is fabled to have acted
the part of Tactus, or Touch, in the once famous University play of Lin-
gua, or the Tongue. The Ukeness of Cromwell in Symons's Crovras is
vouched by Pepys and Evelyn. The author has a medal of Symons,
made after the battle of Dunbar, with a motto, " The Lord of Hosts,"
in which there is a more juvenile and animated face of Cromwell than
upon his Crowns.

A poetical picture of Queen Christina will not be an unsuitable com-
panion-piece to Milton's Epigram. Chiistina was the daughter of the
great Gustavus Adolphus, to whose throne she succeeded when five years
old. She afforded one of the rare examples in historj' of an abdication
of royalty :

A sa jupe courte et legere

A son pom'point, a son collet,

Au chapeau garni d'un plumet,

Au ruban ponceau qui pendoit

Et par-devant, et par-derriere.

A sa mine galante et fiere

D'Amazone et d'aventuriere.

A ce nez de consul remain,

A ce front altier d'heroine,

A ce grand ceil tendre et hautain,

Moins beau que le votre et moms fin,

Soudain je reconnus Christine.

Christine des arts le maintien,

Christine qui ceda pour rien

Et son royaume, et votre eglise.

Qui connut tout, et ne crut rien,

Que le saint Pere canonise.

Que damne le Lutherien,

Et que la gloire immortalise.

II.

PORTRAIT OF ANTONIUS PRIMUS.

Hgec mihi qua3 colitur violis pictura, rosisque,
Quos referat vultus, Cseditiane, rogas ?

Talis erat Marcus mediis Antonius annis

Primus : in hoc juvenem se videt ore senex.

Ars utinam raores, animumque effingere posset !
Pulchrior in terris nulla tabella foret.

16—2

244 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

What face with violets and roses crown'd
So strikes the eye ? you ask, with awe profound.
Antonius Primus here pourtray'd we see,
Just what in middle age he used to be.
Could art express his manners and his mind,
On earth no fairer picture should we find !

This piece is inserted in the present collection chiefly because it ap-
pears to have suggested the point of Ben Jonson's lines written under
Mai-tin Droueshout's engraving of Shakspere's portrait in the first edition
of his Plays, edited by his " Fellows" (as they are designated in his
will), Heming and Condell. (See the Art. on The Pictures of Shakspere,
Knight's edition, Vol. vra.) The lines are as follow

This figure that thou here seest put.

It was for gentle Shakspei'e cut.

Wherewith the graver had a strife.

With nature to outdo the life.

O could he but have drawn his wit

As well in brass, as he has hit

His face; the print would then surpass

All that was ever writ in brass !

But since he cannot, reader, look

Not on his picture, but his book.

in.

PORTRAIT OF ERASMUS.

Ingens ingentem quem personat Orbis Erasmum,
Haec tibi dimidium picta tabella refert.

At cur non totum ? mirari desine, lector,
Integra nam totum terra nee ipsa capit.

One half this canvass shows of that great sage,
Whom worlds proclaim the wonder of the age ;
Why not the whole '? cease, reader, thy surprise,
Him the whole earth's not able to comprise.

Beza's idea of justifying the choice of a half-length portrait on the
ground that the whole world could not contain a whole Erasmus, is a

i

IV.] THE ARTS. 245

glaring instance of false wit ; it moreover seems to have been borrowed
from Martial's epigram on Pompey and his Sons, referred to in a fonner
chapter. The portrait was by Holbein. The following verses on the
same picture are in Evelyn's Collection of poetical descriptions of Pictures.

The famous Swiss no little skill hath shewn,
In painting of his generous Patron.
This work in England th' Artist much commends,
By which he was preferr'd, and gain'd his ends.
Thou mad'st Erasmus, Holbein ! as 'tis said ;
But I say that Erasmus Holbein made.

IV.

PICTURE OF ST BRUNO,

Founder of the Grande Chartreuse.

Sic oculos, sic Bruno manus, sic ora ferebat,

Allobrogum rupes nudas et inhospita saxa

Dum coleret, sed plena Deo, sed numine plenus,

J^terno sacras leges inscriberet seri.

Adspicis ut viva spirant in imagine vultus ?

Ut movet inde manus placidas, movet inde lacertos,

Dulcis in adstantes ut dulcia lumina flectit ?

Et nisi nunc Christo jurata silentia servet,

Promentem audires imo de pectore sensus.

Such were the eyes, such the hands of St Bruno ! Such
was the expression of his countenance, whilst he made his
dwelling among the rocks and precipices of the Allobrogas,
naked and inhospitable indeed, but full of the presence of
God : and there he inscribed his sacred laws in immortaf
brass. Do you behold how his countenance is animated in
the living portrait ? How his arms and hands reach out
of the canvass ? How the benignant expression of his eyes
is turned towards the bye-standers ? And unless he were
preserving that silence which he had solemnly vowed to
Christ, you Avould witness him pouring forth with eloquence
the emotions which are pent in his bosom.

246 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

Menage writes of the picture in the text, " J'etois un jom- aux Char-
treux, ou Ton me fit voir un tableau de St Bruno, tres bien fait. On me
demanda ce que j'en pensois: je dis sur le champ, 'Sans sa regie il
parleroit.'" Le Soeur, in the year 1648, painted the history of St Bruno
in twenty-two pictures. The first of the series represents the miracle to
which the conversion of St Bruno was ascribed, namely, that of a Pari-
sian monk of the name of Raymond, who, upon being carried to the
sepulchre, rose suddenly from his coffin, to declare that he was damned.
— The casting out of a devil by Ignatius Loyola in a painting of Rubens,
has been thus described in Evelyn's epigrams :

See how the Dsemoniac raves and rends.

See how like foes he treats the best of friends ;

His rage is great, great as the painter's merit.

In every limb you may discern a Spirit,

In every tint there is a kind of tone, ■»

The sharp lights shx-iek, the heavy shadows groan, >

The Fiend's adjured, and the great work is done, i

Le Soeur, in one of his pictures of St Bruno, represents him perform-
ing a miracle scarcely more credible than that of St Ignatius casting out
devils ; he is represented by the painter in the attitude of rejecting a
mitre offered to him by the pope.

The habit of the Chartreux was white; it was an obligation of the
Order to speak no words except, " Brother, we must die," to sleep in their
own coffins, and dig then- own graves. St Bruno died at the age of fifty
in the monastery he had founded.

V.

ECCE HOMO, BY MIGNARD.

Christi cruentaB, splendida Principum
Non certet ultra purpura purpursB ;
Junco palustri sceptra cedant,
Textilibus diadema spinis.

That blood-stained robe outvies the purple of Kings :
That reed is more to be revered than sceptres : The dia-
dems of earthly power are of dim effulgence compared
with that Crown of Thorns.

The Latin stanza is by Santeuil. Mignard was a distinguished French
painter under the reign of Louis XIV. It is related, that, on one occa-

IV.] THE ARTS. 247

sion, when the king sent for him to draw his portrait, he said, "I am
grown old since I last sat to you," to which Mignard replied, " I perceive
in your Majesty's countenance the lines of several more campaigns."

In the French collection of engravings there are twelve of Ecce
Homo by Titian : some of them have the reed in Christ's hand, others
not. In the Florentine Gallery there is an Ecce Homo by Cegalo, which
is much admired for expressing in Pilate's face mixed feelings of being
shocked at the sufferings of an innocent man, and of reflection on the
policy which he deemed necessary for his own safety. Fuseli observes
of Correggio, that he once " exceeded all competition of expression in the
divine featm-es of his Ecce Homo : but that this sudden irradiation, this
flash of power was only an exception from his wonted style ; for that
pathos and character own Raphael for their master, colour is the domain
of Titian, and harmony the sovereign mistress of Correggio." Of Rem-
brandt's Ecce Homo, Fuseli writes that it is " a composition, which, al-
though complete, hides in its gi'andeur the limits of its scenery. Its
form is as a pyramid whose top is lost in the sky as its base in tumultu-
ous murky waves. From the fluctuating crowds who inundate the base
of the tribunal, we rise to Pilate, surrounded and perplexed by the
varied ferocity of the sanguinai-y synod to whose remorseless gripe he
surrenders his wand ; and from him we ascend to the sublime resigna-
tion of innocence in Christ, and, regardless of the roar below, securely
repose on his countenance. Such is the grandeur of a conception, which
in its blaze absorbs the abominable detail of materials too vulgar to be
mentioned : had the materials been equal to the conception and compo-
sition, the Ecce Homo of Rembrandt, even unsupported by the magic of
his light and shade, or his spell of colours, would have been an assemblage
of superhuman powers."

VI.

PICTURE OF MARILLAC, DOCTOR OF THE SORBONNE.

Usque adeo sacris ardebat ab ignibus, impar
Ut pectus vix sustinet, impatiensque teneri
Christi dirus amor sese efFundebat in omnes :
Et ni muta foret, Christum resonaret imago.

So intense is the flame of piety in his breast, that he
seems scarcely equal to sustain his own religious fervor.
His Christian love appears so overfloAving that it seems to
gush forth on all mankind. You would say, that if his
portrait could speak, he would fill your ears with the word
Christ.

248 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch,

VII.

PICTURE OF SHAFTESBURY.

Fallor ? an agnosco permistum te quoque turbsB,
Shaftsburi, 6 Anglis caput horum et causa malorum !
Agnosco vultus, nee quenquam eonscia falli
Fistula permittit, pendensque sub ilia Siphon.
Quin etiam anguieulos inhonesto vulnere nasci,
Et, qua rima patet, tubulo manare colubros
Conspicor, et latitans subter prsecordia virus.
Ille pavens, struetusque dolis, hue turbidus atque hue
Inelinat vidtus, et partem versat in omnem.
Nusquam recta acies : vigil omnia circumspectat,
Omnia formidat ; pallorque per ora fatetur
Invidiamque, odiumque simul, gelidumque timorem.
His porro accedit, subito quod forte tumultu
Excussse manibus tabulse, revolutaque charta
Associatorum diros testata furores :
Labitur ille in humum velox, properatque libellos
Colligere in gremium, tacitaque recondere veste :
At rapit oppressum, et conanti plurima frustra
Erecto jamjam vulnus meditatur ab ense
Astrsea ; ille ictum venientem a vertice cautus
Praevidet, et celeri dilapsus corpore cedit.

Am I mistaken, or do I perceive you, O Shaftesbury,
mingling in this crowd, you who have been the cause and
the head of all these evils which have fallen on England ?
I recognise his countenance, and were I in any doubt, it
would be removed by the medical tube which, in the picture,
hangs from his side. Through the aperture where it is
inserted in his body, I behold snakes discharging their
venom amidst his inmost vitals. He, indeed, bears a look
of apprehension and of wiliness, timidly and cautiously
turning his eyes in every direction. But, behold ! by a
sudden tumult, there falls from his hand the rebellious
EoU of the Associators : he hastens to snatch it up, and to
conceal it in the secret folds of his garment. Astrsea de-

IV.] THE ARTS. 249

tects him, wrests the scroll from his grasp, and with up-
lifted sword meditates an avenging blow. He, however,
watches the impending destruction, dexterously evades it,
and vanishes in flight from the scene.

The Latin lines are taken from a poem on Windsor Castle in the
Musce Anglicance. The poet is describing a piece of tapestry which
formed a canopy : he gives an animated view of St George and the
Dragon, and then he proceeds to depicture Charles II. on horseback sub-
duing the monster rebellion. It would seem that among the discom-
fited rebels Shaftesbury was a prominent figure. Shaftesbury had an
injury in his side occasioned by the overtm'ning of a carriage : his side
was opened, and an issue was inserted ; this operation was considered at
the time one of the greatest cures that had been performed on the human
body. The issue or siphon was made a frequent subject of illiberal
raillery. Shaftesbuiy was called Count Tapski with reference to this cir-
cumstance, and a prevalent report that he was aspiring to the crown of
Poland. A siphon used for di'awing wines got the name of a Shaftesbury.
The siphon is introduced in the scenei-y of Dryden's Court Masque of
Albion and Albanius, in which Shaftesbury is represented with fiend's
wings, and several fanatical heads are drinking poison from his side
through a tap. The accident met with by Shaftesbury was attended with
great benefit to the English nation, as it led to his patronage of Locke,
whereby that philosopher had the means of indulging his genius on
matters conducive to the knowledge of the human mind, and the promo-
tion of civil liberty and religious toleration. It may reasonably be sup-
posed that much of the generous policy which occasionally appears in
Lord Shaftesbury's political measures, may have emanated from Locke.

With regard to the paper of the Association, this is the memorable
paper on which was founded the charge brought against him for high
treason. A trial, very memorable on account of the bill of indictment
against him being ignored by the grand jury, and also because his libe-
ration from the Tower gave occasion to Di-yden's celebrated satire called
The Medal. The actual medal to which the poem relates, and which was
struck on the occasion of Shaftesbury's acquittal, was produced by the
author at his last introductory lecture on the Laws of England, in the
University of Cambridge.

250 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

VIII.

PICTURE OF BELISARIUS.

Zeuxi potens, succurris, et arte fidelis honesta
Triste ministerium prtestas. — Viden'' acer in ipsa
Pauperie spirat vultus, magnique doloris
Majestas ! viden' incompto qua? plurima mento
Canities squallet male eulta, et textile tegmen
Membra sequens curis exesos exprimit artus !
Serta procul capiti delapsa, et inutilis hasta,
Abjeetumque jaeet fida cum casside scutum ;
Reliquiae Herois, priscseque insignia laudis !
Sic oculos integrae sedes, stantesque columnje
Segnius irritant, cum dulci horrore tuentes
Disjectam templi molem, grandesque ruinas.
Romanum agnosco ! ah ! quantum mutatus ab illo
Qui quondam templis Persarum signa refixit,
Restituitque Jovi Patrio ; qui Cabadis ultus
Perjuras vires, et non ad foedera natas ;
Quo duce conjuncti fratres, turnueque rebelles
Cessere Hypatii ; quo, gens inculta Gothorum
Adjecta Imperio, et Romanis viribus impar
Vandalia ; imdsum vulgus Mussg ! alta vorago
Doctrine veteris, quae pleno absorbuit sestu
Artis quicquid habent ebur et spirantia signa,
Aut fuci egregii tractus, Musaeque labores.
Quo cecidere Hunni, Scythico jam milite partas
Practuri, et media posituri signa Suburra.
O nimium felix ! si pugnas inter et arma
Contigerat cecidisse, atque hostis ab ense benigno
Exhalasse animam : si nunquam pacis iniqua
Tempora vidisset, vel siccae taedia mortis.
Jam qualis rediit ! vix tanti nominis umbra,
Exul, csecus, inops, et multo vulnere tardus,
Crudelis Patriae decus opprobriumque, pericla
Cui mendicatum vix praebent garrula panem.

Zeuxis, you perform a mournful office with your power-
ful art. Do you see how spirit beams in the countenance

J

IV.] THE ARTS. 251

of yonder old man ! There is majesty in the depth of his
affliction ; though his grey hairs are hanging negleetedly,
and his looped and windowed raggedness exposes to view
his emaciated limbs. Near him lies a chaplet that has
fallen from his head, and a useless spear, and a shield and
a helmet which he has throAvn away. Such are the relics
of a Hero, and the trophies of departed glory ! Surely
thus a towering edifice supported by lofty columns affects
the mind of a spectator with impressions far weaker than
those that inspire it with secret awe, when he contemplates
the mouldering ruins of some ancient temple, or the totter-
ing battlements of some once impregnable Citadel. It is
a Roman General whom I behold ! Ah, how changed from
that invincible Hero who rolled back the impetuous deluge
of Vandals, and stemmed for a season that torrent of bar-
barism which was destined to overflow whatever genius had
hallowed, or was adorned by the liberal arts ; postponing
their defilement by those enemies of the Muses and of
the civilization of mankind. Happy, thrice happy if the
wretched man had perished then, when he Avas waging
battles against the subverters of human improvement : if
he had never known how Peace may be prolific of injustice,
or what evils may embitter the prolongation of human life !
Blind, an Exile, a Beggar, he slowly drags along his
wretched frame, which is shattered by many a wound sus-
tained for his country's sake. His daily bread is implored
with a narrative of what he once did for others, and of how
much he stands in need of charity for himself !

The picture, generally attributed to Vandyk, which the verses in the
text describe, represents Belisarius deprived of sight, and sitting by the
way-side, with a staff in one hand, and the other hand extended to
receive the donation of a charitable female. On the opposite side of the
picture two other females are placed, who appear to be influenced by
feehngs of compassion. A youthful soldier standing near seems to
sympathize warmly with the humiliating state of the persecuted hero.

Whether Belisarius was deprived of his sight by the Emperor Justi-
nian ? whether he ever begged for an obolus or other coin ? whether
an ancient statue in the Vatican of a military personage holding forth
one of his hands, is the statue of Belisarius asking for his obolus, or of
the Emperor Augustus appeasing Nemesis ? are questions of animated

252 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

controversy. The lawgivers and priests of the middle ages combated
with each other the reality of facts which implicated the fame of the
legislator and pagan Justinian. — Gibbon, Winckelmann, and recently Lord
Mahon, have directed their inquiries to these subjects ; and Marmontel
has embellished them by interesting fiction.

The poetry in the text is taken from Popham's Poemata Anglorum :
its principal defect is one to which modern Latin poety is almost univer-
sally subject, that of sacrificing the sense to an imitation of the expres-
sions of classical authors. The main object of modern Latin verse seems
to be, to remind the reader of passages in the ancient poets : and as this
is a merit which is more capable of being weighed in a balance than in-
vention and fancy, it is that which is chiefly encouraged in schools and
universities.

IX.

PICTURE OF THE RESURRECTION.

Quin age, et horrentem commixtis igne tenebris
Jam videas scenam ; multo hie stagnantia fuco
Moenia, flagrantem liquefacto sulphure rivum
Fingunt, et falsus tanta arte accenditiir Ignis,
Ut toti metuas tabulae, ne flamma per omne
Livida serpat opus, tenuesque absumpta reeedat
Pictura in cineres, propriis peritura favillis.

Next behold a scene of lurid darkness mixed with
flashes of vivid fire : a river of liquid sulphur that blazes
as it flows through the murky abyss. So striking is the
artificial light heightened by contrast, that you are made
afraid lest the picture itself should ignite, and perish
amidst its own ashes.

The Latin lines are from a description by Addison, in the Mi(S(e An-
glicance, of the altar-piece of Magdalene College, Oxford. The poem
contains a representation of "Waynflete, the founder of the college, who is
represented, perhaps reprehensibly, by Addison, as fixing undaunted eyes
upon his Judge.

Irati innocuas securus Numinis iras
Aspicit, impavidosque in Judice figit ocellos.

IV.] THE ARTS. 253

X.

PICTURE OF VENUS ANADYOMENE.

Emersam pelagi nuper genitalibus undis

Cypria Apellei cerne laboris opus.
Ut complexa manu madidos salis sequore crines,

Humidulis spumas stringit utraque comis.
Jam tibi nos, Cj'pri, Juno inquit et innuba Pallas,

Cedimus, et formse prjemia deferimus.

When from the bosom of her parent flood

She rose refulgent with th' encircling brine,

Apelles saw Cytherea's form divine,
And fixed her breathing image where it stood.
Those graceful hands entwined, that wring the spray

From her ambrosial hair, proclaim the truth ;
Those speaking eyes where amorous lightnings play.

Those swelling heavens, the harbingers of youth :
Juno and Pallas look with fond amaze,
And yield submission in the conscious gaze.

This picture was the masterpiece of Apelles, the most celebrated of
the Grecian painters, a contemporary of Alexander the Great, who forbad
any one else in his dominions to paint his likeness. The goddess was
represented wringing her hair, and the falling drops of water made a
transparent silver veil around her form. This picture was painted for the
temple of iEsculapius at Cos, and was afterwards placed by Augustus in
the temple which he dedicated to Julius Cajsar. The lower part being
injured, no one could be found competent to repair it. As it continued
to decay, Nero had a copy of it taken by Dorotheus. There is an
ancient tradition that the Venus Anadyomene was designed after the
model of Camaspe, the mistress of Alexander the Great, who permitted
her to be copied without her drapery, by his favourite artist ; and that in
the progress of the picture Apelles fell in love with Camaspe. This is
the subject of one of the best plays of the ante-Shaksperian dramatist
Lyly. " Apelles's Venus," writes Fuseli, " or rather the personification of
the Birth-day of Love, was the wonder of art, the despair of artists ; whose
outline baffled every attempt at emendation, whilst imitation shrunk
from the purity, the force, the brilliancy, the evanescent gradations of her
tints."

Cicero, Varro, Columella, Ovid, Pliny the elder, and other Roman

254 GEMS OF LATm POETRY. [Ch.

writei'S, bestowed unmeasured praise on Apelles's paintings, especially his
Venus Anadyomeue. Pliny mentions of Apelles, that on one occasion
he had sailed to Rhodes eager to meet Protogenes. Upon landing, he
went straight to that artist's studio. Protogenes was absent, but a large
pannel, ready to be painted on, hung in the studio. Apelles seized the
pencil, and drew an exceedingly thin coloured line on the pannel, by
which Protogenes, on his retofn, at once guessed who had been his visitor,
and in his turn drew a still thinner line upon the former. When Apel-
les came again, and saw the lines, ashamed of being defeated, he drew a
third Une upon that of Protogenes, so as to leave no room for more
minute division. Phny describes the three lines as almost imperceptible
from their thinness. The pannel was preserved and carried to Rome,
where it remained, exciting more wonder than all the works of art in the
palace of the Csesars, until it was destroyed by fire with that edifice.
Fuseli writes on the subject of these famous lines : " What those lines were,
drawn with nearly mu-aculous subtlety in diflFerent colours, one upon the
other, or rather within the other, it would be equally unavailing and use-
less to inquire : but the corollaries we may deduce from the contest are
obviously these : that the schools of Greece recognised all one elemental
principle ; that acuteness and fideUty of eye, and obedience of hand,
form precision, precision proportion, proportion beauty; that it is the
' little more or less,' imperceptible to vulgar eyes, which constitutes grace,
and establishes the superiority of one artist over another ; that the know-
ledge of the degrees of things presupposes a perfect knowledge of the
thmgs themselves ; that colour, grace, and taste, are ornaments, not sub-
stitutes of form, expression, and character, and when they usurp that title,
degenerate into splendid faults. Such were the principles on which
Apelles formed his Venus."

XL

TIMOMACHUS'S PICTURE OF MEDEA.

(A)
Quod natos peritura ferox Medaea moratur,

Praestitit hoc magni dextera Timomachi.
Tardat amor facinus, strictum dolor incitat ensem,

Vult, non vult natos perdere et ipsa suos.

Timomachus Medea's image made,
Which all her sweetness, all her love display'd :
She lifts the sword, assents, and yet refuses,
At once to slay and save the Mother chooses.

IV.] THE ARTS. 255

(B)

En, ubi Mede£e varius dolor aestuat ore,

Jamque animuin nati, jamque maritus, habent !

Succenset, miseret, medio exardescit amore,
Duni furor inque oculo gutta minante tremit.

Cernis adhue dubiam ; quid enim ? licet impiae matris
Colchidos, at non sit dextera Timomachi.

The fell Medea's soul to trace
Its conflict waging in her face,
To paint the Avife's, the mother's mind,
At once to hate and love inclin'd,
Timomachus, might task thy skill,
Yet could thy hand its part fulfil ;
Pity and rage are mingling here,
The menace struggling with the tear.
Painter, the mm-derous thought we see :
Enough ! The deed beseems not thee.

The first Latin epigram is by a modern Italian poet, the second is a
translation from the Greek by Gray. The English versions ai-e from Dr
"Wellesley's Anthologia Polyglotta; there is another pretty version of the
last epigram in Mrs Calcott's Essays. The hesitation of Medea is repre-
sented with considerable dramatic power by Comeille.

Medee seule.
Est-ce assez, ma vengeance, est-ce assez de deux morts ?
Consulte avec loisir tes plus ardens transports.
Des bras de mon perfide arracher une femme,
Est-ce pour assouvir les fureurs de mon ame ?
Que n'a-t-elle deja des enfans de Jason,
Sur qui plus pleinement venger sa trahison?
Supleons-y des miens, immolons avec joie
Ceux qu'a me dire adieu Creiise me renvoie ;
Nature, je le puit sans violer ta loi ;
lis viennent de sa part, et ne sont plus a moi.
Mais ils sont innocens : aussi I'etait mon frere :
lis sons trop criminels d'avoir Jason pom- pere;
II faut que leur trepas redouble son tourment ;
II faut qu'il soufre en pere, aussi-bien qu'en amant.
Mais quoi ! J'ai beau centre eux animer mon audace,
La pitie la combat et se met en sa place ;

256 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

Puis cedant tout-a-coup la place a ma furem*,
J'adore les projets qui me faisaient horreur :
De I'amour aussi-tot je passe a la colere,
Des sentimens de femme aux tendresses de mere.

Cessez dorenavant, pensers irresolus,
D'epargner des enfans que je ne verrai plus.
Chers fruits de mon amour, si je vous ai fait naitre,
Ce n'est pas seulement pour caresser un traitre,
II me prive de vous, et je Ten vai priver.
Mais ma pitie renait, et revient me braver;
Je u'execute rien, et mon ame eperdiie
Entre deux passions demeure suspendiie.
N'en deliberons plus, mon bras en resoudra.
Je vous pers, mes enfans, mais Jason vous perdra,
H ne vous verra plus. Creon sort tout en rage ;
Aliens a son trepas joindre ce triste ouvrage.

The conversation between Euripides's Medea and the chorus, to whom
she confides her mental conflict, may seem to modern apprehensions a
very unnatural scene : but a Grecian audience had, probably, imagina-
tions trained to regard the presence of a chorus merely as a convenient
channel for the communication of sentiment.

Timomachus's pictm-e, representing the hesitation of Medea when on
the point of killing her children, is celebrated by Cicero, Pliny, and
Plutarch. It was executed in encaustic. Julius Ceesar, in whose time the
artist is supposed to have lived, purchased it, and placed it as a dedica-
tory offering in the temple of Venus Genetrix. Numerous Greek epigrams
were composed on the subject of this picture, and a copy of it, as is sup-
posed, was found at Pompeii. Lucian, an eye-witness, describes the
picture as representing that " the little ones, unconscious of their fate, sit
with smiling countenances, and while they see their mother holding the
sword over them, they seem pleased and happy."

This picture, that of Timanthes representing the sacrifice of Iphigenia,
(which has been noticed in a preceding chapter.) and Aristides's picture of
the half-slain mother shuddering lest the eager babe should suck the
blood from her palsied nipple, are the three specimens of ancient art
most celebrated for their picturesque effect, for conveying more impres-
sions than meet the eye, for the application of the refinements of art
not merely to the senses, but to the mind.

The balancing of conflicting passions of revenge and pity, has, on
several occasions, given scope to the highest talents of poets. On this
subject nothing can surpass the vacillation of Othello, when on the point
of smothering Desdemona. In Greek tragedy, Orestes putting to death
his mother, with the aid of Electra, aff"orded scope for the exhibition of
similar sentiments. Ovid's description of Althaea, when hesitating to
cast into the fire the fatal brand, on the preservation of which the life of

IV.] THE ARTS. 257

her son Mcleager depended, is among the finest specimens of that poet's
genius :

Ah ! whither am I hurried ? Ah ! forgive,
Ye shades, and let your sistei*'s issue live ;
A mother cannot give him death, though he
Deserves it, he deserves it not from me.

Then shall th' unpunish'd wretch insult the slain,
Triumphant live, nor only live but reign?
While you, thin shades, the sport of winds, are toss'd
O'er dreary plains, or tread the burning coast.
I cannot, cannot bear; 'tis past, 'tis done;
Perish this impious, this detested son.
Perish his sire, and perish I withal.
And let the house's heir, and the hop'd kingdom, fall.

Where is the mother fled, her pious love,
And where the pains, with which ten months I strove?
Ah! had'st thou died, my son, in infant years,
Thy little hearse had been bedew'd with tears.

Thou liv'st by me, to me thy breath resign,
Mine is the merit, the demerit thine ;
Thy life, by double title, I require,
Once giv'n at birth, and once preserved from fire :
One murder pay, or add one murder more,
And me to them, who fell by thee, restore.

I would, but cannot ; my son's image stands
Before my sight ; and now their angry hands
My brothers hold, and vengeance these exact,
This pleads compassion, and repents the fact.

He pleads in vain, and I pronounce his doom.
My brothers, though unjustly, shall o'ercome ;
But having paid their injm-'d ghosts their due.
My son requires my death, and mine shall his pursue.

At this, for the last time, she lifts her hand,
Averts her eyes, and, half unwilling, drops the brand !
The brand, amid the flaming fuel thrown.
Or drew, or seera'd to draw, a dying groan ;
The fires themselves but faintly lick'd their prey,
Then loath'd their impious food, and would have shrunk away.

An exliibition of the like mental strife occurs in Corneille's play of
Les Horaces; but more strikingly in that scene of Tlie Cld, in which
Chimene's heart is torn by opposite passions, on her lover having killed
her father. At last she concludes :

Je cours sans balancer ou mon honneur m'oblige,
Rodrigue m'est bien cher, son interet m'afflige,

17

258 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Cir.

Mon coeur prend son parti ; mais malgre son effort,
Je sais qui je suis, et que mon pere est mort.

This was the play against which Cardinal Richelieu instigated the
French Academy to write a severe criticism ; but, according to Boileau,
it was outvoted by the suffrages of all Paris :

En vain contre le Cid un Ministre se ligue.
Tout Paris pour Chimene a les yeux de Rodrigue.

XII.

PICTURE OF CAMOMUS'S SON.

Effigiem tantum pueri pictura Camoni
Servat, et infantis prima figura manet.

Florentes nulla signavit imagine vultus,
Dum timet ora pius muta videre pater.

The Father of Camomus keeps only a pictm-e of his
Son representing him when a boy : he has never sought an
image of that son as he appeared in manhood. The affec-
tionate Father could not have endured to look on the last
traits of his Son's countenance.

Martial has two epigrams on this subject. It would seem that for
some reason, a father who had a picture of his son drawn after that son's
decease, preferred that it should be a representation of the son when he
was a youth, to representing him like what he was when he died. Pos-
sibly the son's countenance may have been wasted by lingering malady ;
or the father may have been better satisfied with his son's conduct when
a boy than in after life. The following lines were addressed to his chil-
dren by Boucher, author of Les Mois, who had his picture taken when he
was on the point of being guillotined, by order of RobespieiTO :
Ne vous etonnez pas, objets charmans et doux.

Si quelqu'air de tristesse obscur9it mon visage,
Lorsqu'un savant crayon desinait cette image.
On dressait I'echafaud, et je pensais a vous !

IV.] THE ARTS. 259

XIII.
ANCIENT PICTURE OF A LAP-DOG.

Issa est passere nequior Catulli.
Issa est purior osciilo columbae.
Issa est blandior omnibus puellis.
Issa est carior Indicis lapillis.
Issa est delicise catella Publii.
Hanc tu, si queritur, loqui putabis.
Sentit tristitiamque gaudiumque.
Collo nixa cubat, capitque somnos,
Ut suspiria nulla sentiantur.
Hanc ne lux rapiat suprema totam,
Picta Publius exprimit tabella,
In qua tam similem videbis Issam,
Ut sit tam similis sibi nee ipsa.
Issam denique pone cum tabella :
Aut utramque putabis esse veram,
Aut utramque putabis esse pictam.

Issa is more frolicsome than the renowned Sparrow of
Catullus. Issa is purer than the kiss of a turtle-dove :
Issa is more bland than every damsel : Issa is more pre-
cious than Indian gems : Issa is the beloved lap-dog of
Publius. If he complains, Issa murmurs an echo to his
voice : grieves when he is sad ; rejoices when he is merry :
lies crouched upon his neck, and there slumbers with a
noiseless breath. Lest fatal destiny should snatch her en-
tirely away, Publius has had a picture made of her, in
which you may behold a likeness of Issa as true as nature
itself. Only place Issa and her picture side by side ; you
would declare that both must be true, or that both must
be painted.

Elphinstone, who has translated Martial from beginning to end into
English verse, has been sometimes resorted to for the pui-poses of the
present work : he is, however, now and then too bad for any literary use,
especially where he familiarly shortens names for the sake of his rhymes,

17—2

260 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

as Pub. for Publius, and the like. For example, he renders the fifth line
of the above epigram, thus :

Issa, most enchanting chub !

Pup, the darling of my Pub !

There is very little to be found in the Latin poets concerning pictures
of animals. But several ancient paintings are famous for the animals
introduced into them: as the dog in Polygnotus's painting of the battle
of Marathon ; the fore-shortening of one of the oxen in a picture of a
sacrifice by Pausias ; the horse of Apelles, said to have made a real
horse neigh. A painter of the name of Pyi'eicus obtained a surname
from his skill in painting asses bringing vegetables and fruit to market.
In the house of the tragic poet at Pompeii, the usual caution inscribed in
the porches of Roman houses, (Cave canem) "Beware the dog," is accom-
panied by the figure of a fierce dog wrought in mosaic on the pavement.

The Roman poets have not left us descriptions of the paintings of
flowers to be compared with Prior's lines on a picture by Verelst :
When fam'd Verelst this little wonder drew,
Flora vouchsaf'd the growing work to view:
Finding the painter's science at a stand,
The goddess snatch'd the pencil from his hand;
And finishing the piece, she, smiUng, said.
Behold one work of mine, which ne'er shall fade.

XIV.

PICTURE OF TITIAN, AND HIS WIFE, WHO DIED IN
CHILD-BED.

Ecce viro, qu« grata suo est, nee pulchrior uUa
Pignora conjugii ventre pudica gerit.

Sed tamen, an vivens, an mortua, picta tabella
Haec magni Titiani arte — ta fuit.

Behold a wife, the happiness of her husband, who car-
ries to the tomb the pledges of their wedlock : Neverthe-
less, whether she be living or dead, posterity will know her
picture for a masterpiece of the art of the Great Titian.

The original of this picture has not, it is believed, been found ; an
ancient engraving at Vienna contains the above lines, of which a word in
the last verso is partly obliterated. Titian is represented as paying
sedulous attention to his wife, who is enceinte : a skull is introduced, to
represent the fatal termination of the scene.

IV.] 'THE ARTS. 261

XV.

HOGARTH'S PICTURES.

'Qui mores hominum improbos, iniquos
Incidis, nee ineleganter, aeri,
Derisor lepidus, sed et severus,
Corrector gravis, at nee invenustus ;
Sen pingis

Jueundissimus omnium fereris
Nullique artifieum secundus, aetas
Quot prassens dedit, aut dabit futura.
INIaete O, eia age, macte sis amieus
Virtuti, vitiique quod notaris
Pergas pingere, et exhibere coram.
Censura utilior tua sequiorque
Omni vel satirarum acerbitate,
Omni vel rigidissimo cachinno.

They are the paintings of one who transfers to the
canvass the manners of guilty or depraved men. His ridi-
cule is polished, and yet severe : He corrects with gravity,
and at the same time with grace. Whether he represents
(here V. Bourne describes particulars of a few of his pic-
tures). Throughout all these scenes he is the most skilful
and entertaining artist in the whole annals of his art. Per-
severe then, O persevere in your adornments of virtue, in
your reprobatory delineations of vice. Your censure is
more impartial and beneficial than any satire however
caustic, than any laugh however sardonic.

Sir James Macintosh writes of Hogai-th, that he was a great master of
the tragedy and comedy of low life ; that his pictures have terrific and
pathetic circumstances, and even scenes : he was a Lillo (author of
George Barnwell, &c.) as well as a Fielding : he resembled Shakspere in
the versatility of talent, which could be either tragic or comic, and in the
propensity natural to such a talent, to blend tragic and comic circum-
stances. The Dutch painters, observes Sir J. Macintosh, painted fami-
liar and low scenes, but without any particular moral tendency : it is

262 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

rather the scenery than the history of ordinary life which they represent :
the Rake's Progress is a novel upon canvass.

In the great war carried on between Poetry and Painting, the libels
of Churchill and the caricatures of Hogarth, Churchill thus describes
Hogarth, after his hand was shaken by palsy, attending Wilkes's trial in
order to catch a likeness of the writer of Number 45, for the purpose of
ridicule :

Lurking most rufiian-like behind a screen,

So plac'd all things to see, himself unseen ;

Virtue, with due contempt, saw Hogarth stand,

The murd'rous pencil in his palsied hand.

Garrick wrote the following Epitaph on Hogarth for his monument in
Chiswick churchyard :

Farewell, great painter of mankind !

Who reach'd the noblest point of art ;
Whose pictur'd morals chain the mind,
And thi'ough the eye correct the heart.

If genius fire thee, Reader, stay ;

If nature touch thee, drop a tear :
If neither move thee, turn away.

For Hogarth's honour'd dust lies here.

XVI.
ENCAUSTIC PAINTING.

Eneaustus Phaethon tabula depictus in hac est.
Quid tibi vis, dipyron qui Phaethonta facis.

We have here a picture of Phaeton executed in en-
caustic : It is very inhuman thus to burn him a second
time.

There were two distinct classes of painting practised by the ancients ;
in water-colours and in wax. Of the latter, the mode most esteemed was
termed encaustic. Plutai-ch mentions that this was the most durable of
all methods of painting. Pliny describes encaustic as the process of burn-
ing in a picture after it was painted with wax- colours. Sometimes a pic-
ture was painted in the common way, and was covex*ed with a varnish of
melted wax laid on warm with a brush. Sometimes the colours were
mixed up with melted wax and the mixture used whilst warm. Some-

IV.] THE ARTS. 263

times, particularly whei'e tho painting was on ivory, the colours were
burnt in by means of a heating instrument. (For further particulars con-
cerning encaustic painting, see Smith's Dictionary of Roman Antiquities,
Art. Pictura; Pliny's Natural History; Mentz's Treatise on Encaustic
Painting ; an Article in the Philosophical Transactions by Colebroke.)
It was common for encaustic painters to inscribe their works thus, "Nicias
burnt it in" (encausticed it). Some modem attempts for reviving the art
of encaustic are to be seen in the palaces of the King of Bavaria, and of
the Grand Duke of Weimar. A dining-room in the palace at Munich is
painted with encaustic, representing the Life of Anacreon.

XVII.

PAINTING IN GLASS OF THE NATIVITY.

Quin cerne tandem, qua superam Vitri
lUustrat Oram Luminis aurei

Orbis coruscans, En I stupendum
Ardet opus radiante flamma !

Videtis ? an me Pictor amabili
Eludit umbra '? Jam videor sacras
Errare per sedes Piorum,
Et rutili spatia ampla coeli.

Qua Lucis almae copia fertilis,
Ceu lympha puris vitrea fontibus
Manans, inexhaustos perenni
Dat radios fluilare rivo.

Quern, Pictor, Artis difficilem gradum
Timebis? aut quos non calamus tuus
Felix vel in Vitro colores
Expediet, teretive panno ;

Qui clara coeli lumina per sacram
Fudit Fenestram ? Nunc minus indigent
Phoebi renascentis, minusque

Terapla nigras metuunt procellas.

Behold now the upper part of the glass, how it is
illumined by the golden orb of the Sun ! how the wonderful

264 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

work blazes with radiant flames ! Do I see, or does the
Painter entrance me in a bright vision, as I seem to be-
hold the habitations of the justified in heaven ; what place
those copious streams of light appear to inundate, as if they
flowed from an inexhaustible fountain. Painter ! in the
confidence of thy daring art you triumphed above every
difficulty of your materials, and have difiused over glass
the colours which tincture the skies. This astonishing win-
dow sheds a brilliant religious light even when the atmo-
sphere is enveloped by tempestuous clouds.

The Latin lines are from a description, in the Musce Anglicance, of a
painted window belonging to Christ Church, Oxford. The Ode appropri-
ately ends with a prayer deprecatory of the return of those days of fanati-
cism in which our ecclesiastical ornaments suffered demolition and spoli-
ation. Whether the artist may have attempted a subject which is more
within the legitimate province of the oil-painter, may deserve considera-
tion. According to a recent ingenious writer on the subject of painting
on glass, the chief excellence of a glass- painting is its translucency, as it
possesses a power of transmitting light in a far greater degree than any
other species of painting, and is able to display effects of light and colour
with a brilliancy and vividness quite unapproachable by any other means.
But the diaphonous quality of glass-painting is the source of defects
arising from the limited scale of colour and of transparent shadow, of
which its inherent flatness is a necessary resvdt. It is incapable of nice
gradations of coloui", and of light and shade, which are indispensable for
the close imitation of nature, or for producing the full effect of distance
and atmosphere. Thus glass-painting is not adapted for landscapes, or
perspective views of interiors, or foreshortening, or where, besides figures
in the foreground, there are distant groups. (Hints on Glass-Painting, by
an Amateur. The writer relates intei'esting particulars concerning several
well-known specimens in public edifices. See also Fromberg on Glass-
Painting, translated by Mr Clarke.)

There is a remarkable trial, in the Star-chamber, of a gentleman, who
was recorder of Salisbury, for wilfully breaking a church-window, in
which was painted a picture of the creation, into which was introduced a
figure of the Supreme Being. He was sentenced to pay a fine of £500,
and to make acknowledgement of his offence before the bishop of the
diocese, and such persons as the bishop should think fit to assemble on
the occasion. A much more severe sentence was proposed; but, on
taking the votes, it was found that there were nine voices for it, and nine
against it. The proceeding is principally curious as it bears upon recent
controversies in the Church, in regard to which Laud's speech concerning
pictures and other decorations of churches will be found highly inte-

IV.] THE ARTS. 265

resting. As regards the fanatical demolition of works of art, of a real or
supposed religious character, there arc some curious poetical notices
among the Percy Reliques.

XVIII.

MADAME SCHURMANS.

(A Model in Wax.)

Non mihi propositum est humanam eludere sortem,
Aut vultus solido sculpere in sere meos :

Hanc nostram effigiem, quam cera expressimus, ecee
Materiae fragili mox peritura, damus.

I do not propose for myself any life beyond that ordi-
narily allotted to mortals ; and so I have not made a brazen
image of myself. Behold, I have modelled my own face in
tuax ; thus shewing that I have chosen a fragile material
for representing my form ; the form of one who must her-
self soon perish.

Martial has an Epigram concerning a waxen statue, to which he ap-
plies the epithet, vivida cera, the vivid or living wax. Those Romans who
had the peculiar privilege of having the images of their ancestors, kept
them in a particular apartment of the house, called the Atrium : these
images were usually made of wax.

XIX.

TEARS OF A PAINTER.

Infantem audivit puerum, sua gaudia, Apelles

Intempestivo fato obiise diem.
Ille, licet tristi perculsus imagine mortis,

Proferri in medium corpus inane jubet.
Et calamum, et succos poscens, " Hos accipe luctus,

Moerorem hunc," dixit, " nate, parentis habe."

266 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

Dixit ; et, ut clausit, clauses depinxit ocellos ;

Officio pariter fidus utrique pater :
Frontemque, et crines, nee adhuc pallentia formans

Oscula, adumbravit lugubre pictor opus.
Perge, parens, moerendo tuos expendere luctus ;

Nondum opus absoMt triste suprema manus.
Vidit adhuc molles genitor super oscula risus ;

Vidit adhuc veneres irrubuisse genis :
Et teneras raptim veneres, blandosque lepores,

Et tacitos risus transtulit in tabulam.
Pingendo desiste tuum signare dolorem;

Filioli longum vivet imago tui :
Vivet, et aterna vives tu laude ; nee arte

Vincendus pictor, nee pietate pater.

Apelles, hearing that his boy
Had just expired — his only joy!
Although the sight with anguish tore him.
Bade place his dear remains before him.
He seized his brush, — his colours spread :
And — " Oh ! my child, accept," — he said,
" ('Tis all that I can now bestow,)
" This tribute of a father's woe !"
Then, faithful to the twofold part.
Both of his feelings and his art.
He closed his eyes with tender care.
And formed at once a fellow-pair.
His brow with amber locks beset.
And lips, he drew, — not livid yet ;
And shaded that which he had done
To a just image of his son.

Thus far is well. But view again
The cause of thy paternal pain !
Thy melancholy task fulfil !
It needs the last, last touches still.
Again his pencil's powers he tries,
For on his lips a smile he spies ;
And still his cheek unfaded shows
The deepest damask of the rose.

IV.] THE AETS. 267

Then, heedful of the finished whole,
AVith fondest eagerness he stole.
Till scarce himself distinctly knew
The cherub copied from the true.

Now, painter, cease ! thy task is done,
Long lives this image of thy son ;
Nor short-lived shall thy glory prove,
Or of thy labour, or thy love.

The Latin is by Vincent Bourne : the English is by Cowper.

XX.

PICTURE OF ECHO.

Vane, quid affectas faciem mihi ponere, pictor,

Ignotamque oculis sollicitare Deam ?
Aeris et linguaB sum filia, mater inanis

Judicii, vocem quae, sine mente, gero.
Extremos pereunte modos a fine reducens,

Ludificata sequor verba aliena meis.
Auribus in vestris habito penetrabilis Echo,

Et si vis similem pingere, pinge sonum.

Why paint the face of Her who face hath none :

Who cannot see your picture, when 'tis done ?

Vain Painter, cease ! for truly I declare,

A Tongue my Father was, my Mother, Air.

My Child, Delusion. Though a voice I've got,

A mind to govern it was ne'er my lot.

Still wdth each last-dropt word I love to play,

A mimic utterer of half you say.

I live in what you hear, not what you see :

If you a Sound can paint, why, then, paint me.

The Latin is by Ausonius : the version from a ship-ne-wspaper. Eras-
mus, and Butler, in his Hudibras, have availed themselves of echoes for
the purpose of comic humour. But ^Milton in his Comus, and Ben Jonson
in his 3Iasqu€s, have adorned the " Sweet Queen of Parly" ■with some of
the most precious geais of English song.

268 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

XXI.

THE LAOCOON.

Ecce alto terrjp e cumiilo ingentisque ruinse

Visceribus iterum reducem longinqua reduxit

Laocoonta dies : aulis regalibus olim

Qui stetit, atque tuos ornabat, Tite, penates :

DiviiiJE simulacrum artis : nee docta vetustas

Nobilius spectabat opus ; nunc alta revisit

Exemptum tenebris redivi\ae mcenia Romse.

Quid primum summumve loquar ? miserumne parentem

Et prolem geminam ? an sinuatos flexibus angues

Terribili aspectu ? caudasque, irasque draconum,

Vulneraque. et veros, saxo moriente, dolores ?

Horret ad hsec animus, mutaque ab imagine pulsat

Pectora, non parvo pietas commixta tremori.

Prolixum vivi spiris glomerantur in orbem

Ardentes colubri, et sinuosis orbibus oram,

Ternaque multiplici constringunt corpora nexu.

Vix oculi sufFerre valent crudele tuendo

Exitium, casusque feros micat alter, et ipsum

Laocoonta petit, totumque infraque, supraque

Implicat, et rabido tandem ferit ilia morsu.

Connexum refugit corpus, torquentia sese

Membra, latusque retro sinuatum a \ailnere cernas.

Ille dolore acri, et laniatu impulsus acerbo

Dat gemitum ingentem, crudosque avellere dentes

Connixus, Isevam impatiens ad terga chelydri

Objicit : intendunt nervi, collectaque ab omni

Corpore vis frustra summis conatibus instat.

Ferre nequit rabiem, et de vulnere murmur anhelum est.

At serpens lapsu crebro redeunte subintrat

Lubricus, intortoque ligat genua infima nodo.

Crus tumet, obsepto turgent vitalia pulsu,

Liventesque atro distendunt sanguine venas.

Nee minus in natos eadem vis efFera sasvit,

Amplexuque angit rabido, miserandaque membra

Dilacerat : jamque alterius depasta cruentum

IV.] THE ARTS. 269

Pectus, suprema genitorem voce cientis,
Circunjectu orbis, validoque voluminc fulcit.
Alter adhuc, nullo violatus corpora morsu,
Dum parat adducta caudam divellere planta,
Horret ad aspectum miseri patris, hteret in illo :
Et jam jam ingentes fletus, lacrymasque cadentes
Anceps in dubio retinet timor : ergo perenni
Qui tantum statuistis opus jam laude nitentes,
Artifices magni (quanquam et melioribus actis
Quseritur seternum nomen, multoque licebat
Clarius ingenium venturas tradere famas)
Attamen ad laudem qusecunque oblata facultas,
Egregium banc rapere, et summa ad fastigia niti.
Vos rigidum lapidem vivis animare figuris
Eximii, et vivos spiranti in marmore sensus
Inserere adspicimus, motumque iramque doloremque :
Et pene audimus gemitus : vos obtulit olim
Clara Rhodos : vestrae jacuerunt artis honores
Tempore ab immenso, quos rursum in luce secunda
Roma videt, celebratque frequens : operisque vetusti
Gratia parta recens. Quanto prcestantius ergo est
Ingenio, aut quovis excendere fata labore,
Quam fastus, et opes, et inanem extendere luxum.

Turning to the Vatican, go see
Laoeoon's torture dignifying pain,
A father's love, and mortal's agony.
With an immortal's patience blending : — vain
The struggle ; vain against the coiling strain
And gripe, and deepening of the dragon's grasp
The old man's clench ; the long envenom'd chain
Rivets the living links ; — the enormous asp
Enforces pang on pang, and stifles gasp on gasp.

The Latin is by Sadolet, secretary of Leo X. The EngHsh is by Lord
Byron. Sadolet enters into the histoiy of the statue; relating that it
■was made at Rhodes, and was found among the ruins of the baths of
Titus. The statue was discovered by Felice de Fredis, a Roman, to
whom Pope Julius n. granted a very considerable pension, by way of

270 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

reward. His claim to the discoveiy is perpetuated by an inscription on
his tomb:

Felice de Fredis

Qui ob proprias virtutes,

Et repertum Laocoontis divinum quod

In Vaticano cemes fere

Respirans simulacrum,

Immortalitatem meruit.

Anno Domini MDXXVIH.

Felice de Fredis, who on account of his private virtues, and for hav-
ing discovered that divine statue of Laocoon, which you may behold in
the Vatican almost breathing with life, deserved immortality.

The elder Pliny says of the Laocoon, Opus omnibus picturese et statu-
arise arlis prseferendum. Lib. xxxvi. c. 5. "A work more excellent than any
other production either of the art of painting or of statuary." Pliny has
preserved the names of the three sculptors of the Laocoon ; it would seem
to have been executed by a father and his two sons, during the reign of
Augustus. Rhodes, next to Athens, was the most famous school of ancient
art, and has been immortalized as well by this statue as by its Colossus.
The Roman conquerors took away three thousand statues from Rhodes.
Michael Angelo and Bernini attempted to restore in marble the arm of
the principal figure of the group of the Laocoon without success.

The statue is thus described by Winckelmann :

" The Laocoon," says Winckelmann, " oiFers to us the spectacle of
nature plunged into the deepest affliction under the image of a man, who
exerts, against its attack, all the powers of his soul. While his sufferings
enlarge his muscles, and contract his nerves, you behold his mind strongly
pictm-ed on his wrinkled forehead ; his bosom oppressed by an impeded
respiration, and the most distressing restraint, rise with vehemence to
enclose and concentrate the agony by which it is agitated. The groans
that he stifles, and the breath he confines, distend his very frame. Not-
withstanding which, he appears to be less affected by his own affliction
than that of his children ; who raise their eyes towards him, and implore
his assistance in vain. The paternal tenderness of the Laocoon is mani-
fest in his piteous looks ; his countenance expresses moans, not cries ; his
eyes, directed towards heaven, supplicates celestial aid. His mouth ex-
presses the pangs and indignation occasioned by an unjust chastisement.
This double sensation swells the nose, and discloses itself in his enlarged
nostrils. Beneath his forehead is rendered, with the utmost fidelity, the
struggle between grief and resistance ; the one makes him elevate his eye-
brows ; the other, the lids of his eyes. The artist being incapable of
embellishing nature, has contented himself by giving her more extension,
variety, and force. Where the greatest suffering exists, the greatest
beauties are observable. The left side, into which the serpent darts its

IV.] THE ARTS. 271

vonom by its bite, is the part that apparently suffers most, from its
approximation to the heart ; and this part of the statue may be reckoned
a prodigy of art."

Lessing, in his treatise on the limits of poetry and painting, considers
that Virgil, in his description of Laocoon, and the Rhodian artists, both
copied from some Greek poem which is lost ; and that it is more probable
that the artists imitated Virgil, than that he took the group for his model.
Lessing points out the necessities of art which may have induced the sculp-
tors to make variations from the narrative of the poet : as in transferring
the foldings of the sei^pents from the throat and waist to the legs and feet ;
laying aside the sacred fillets from Laocoon's forehead, and putting off"
his sacerdotal dress at the moment he was performing a solemn sacrifice.
The artists were thus enabled to represent the painful contractions of the
abdomen, and to treat the brow as the seat of expression. Goethe, in
his lectures on Art, treats of the Laocoon, and dwells on the distinction
between its object considered as a final end in the hands of the artists,
whereas, in Virgil, the catastrophe is used only as a means, and by way of
a rhetorical argument for the introduction of the Trojan horse into the
city. Flaxman observes that the group of the Laocoon is " composed in a
veiy noble concatenation of lines in three principal views. The children's
appeal to the father, and the father's to the gods, is highly pathetic : the
convulsed rise of the youngest son from the ground is the most electric
circumstance in the whole sentiment."

A number of friends had one day met in the painting-room of An-
nibal Carracci, among whom was his brother Augustin, whose pride it was
to be thought as distinguished for his skill in poetry, as Annibal was for his
skill in painting. Augustin had just arrived from Rome, and after praising
greatly the monuments he had seen there of ancient sculpture, he enlarged
particularly on the beauty of the Laocoon. Annibal neither said any-
thing, nor seemed to pay any attention to the eloquence of his brother,
while every other person present was listening with the most intense inte-
rest. He even turned aside, and as if he had nothing better to do, began
with a careless air to exercise his pencil on the wall. Augustin, piqued at
his brother's apparent indifference, called out to him, and asked, 'Whether
he did not think the Laocoon was all that he had been representing?'
Annibal turning round, replied, ' Yes, indeed, brother ; and behold there
what you have been describing.' While Augustin had been talking, An-
nibal was occupied in sketching on the wall a representation of the admi-
rable group of statuary which was the subject of eulogium. The sketch
was happy, and the company loud in the expressions of their admiration.
Augustin confessed that his brother had fallen on a mode of exhibiting
the beauties of the work in question, which left far behind any repre-
sentation he could give in words. Annibal smilingly said, that 'Poets
painted with words, painters with the pencil.'

272 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

XXII.

THE VENUS OF CNmOS.

Vera Venus Cnidiam cum vidit Cyprida, dixit,

Vidisti nudani me, puto, Praxitele.
Noil vidi, nee fas : sed ferro opus omne polimus.

Ferrum Gradivi Martis in Arbitrio.
Qualem igitur domino scierant placuisse Cytheren,

Talem fecerunt ferrea ccela Deum.

The real Venus, on beholding her effigy at Cnidos, said,
" O Praxiteles, you must have beheld me disrobed of my
vestments !" To whom the Sculptor — " I neither have,
nor dared. But I polished my work with iron that is
sacred to Mars. My iron tools sculptured such a Venus
as they knew that Mars was enamoured of."

There are numerous epigrams in the G^^eeh Anthology concerning the
Venus of Cnidos. Praxiteles made two marble statues of Venus, of
which one had drapery and the other not. In his own opinion they were
of equal value ; and he offered them for sale together at the same price.
The people of Cos, who had always possessed a character for severe
decorum, piu-chased the draped statue, and the people of Cnidos the
naked one. The Cnidian Venus was regarded, in ancient times, as
the most perfectly beautiful of the statues of the goddess, and as the
masterpiece of Praxiteles. Pliny represents it as being generally preferred
to any other statue of Grecian art, and he mentions that many persons
made a voyage to Cnidos on purpose to behold it. The Cnidians prized
this statue so highly, that they refused to part with it to King Nicomedes,
who offered to purchase it on the terms of paying off the national debt of
the island. It was afterwards carried to Constantinople, where it perished
by fire in the reign of Justinian. The temple in which the statue stood
at Cnidos was so constructed, that the beauties of the statue were made
apparent to a spectator standing in any part of the building.

The material of the statue was the purest and most brilliant Parian
marble. The position of the left hand was the same as that of the
Venus de Medici, the right hand held some drapery which fell over a
vase. The face wore a gentle smile, and the expression was considered
by the ancients to represent the appearance of the goddess at the moment
when Paris adjudged to her the prize of beauty. But the position of the
drapery, and the vase, indicate that the artist intended to represent

IV.] TIIE ARTS. 273

Venus, either as entering or quitting a bath. Praxiteles designed his
statue after the model of the celebrated Phryne.

The type of this famous statue is preserved in coins of Cnidos, and
several statues in the Vatican are supposed to be copies of it. It has been
represented on a medal of Caracalla in the cabinet of France. Discus-
sions have arisen as to what extent the Venus de Medici is an imita-
tion of the Cnidian Venus. Cleomenes, the sculptor of the Medicean
Venus, flourished sometime between the age of Praxiteles and the
destruction of Corinth, 146 B.C. The silence of the ancients concerning
this extant statue, which excites the universal admiration of modern
connoisseurs, is remarkable ; and, perhaps, may have been in some
measure owing to the intense delight taken by the ancients in the Venus
which is the subject of the epigram in the text. In Flaxman's Lectures on
Statuary, there is a pictorial representation of the Venus of Cnidos,
plate 22, as also of the Venus of Cos, plate 23. The precise heights of
these statues are not given ; that of the Venus de Medici is 4 ft. 11 in. 4 Un.
A young man was related to have fallen in love with the statue of the
Venus of Cnidos. The story of Pygmalion and the statue in Ovid's
Metamorphosis, is a similar testimony to the fidelity of the sculptor's art.
On this subject the reader may peruse a recent Tourist's description of her
entrancement before the statue of the Belvidere Apollo. This, however,
was not the fii'st lady to bestow vehement admiration on that production
of art, according to Dean Milman :

Yet, on that form in wild delirious trance,

With more than reverence gazed the maid of France ;

Day after day the love-sick dreamer stood,

With him alone, nor thought it solitude!

To cherish grief, her last, her dearest care.

Her one fond hope — to perish of despair.

Oft as the shifting light her sight beguiled.

Blushing she shrank, and thought the marble smiled :

Oft breathless list'ning heard, or seem'd to hear,

A voice of music melt upon her ear.

Slowly she waned, and cold and senseless grown,

Clos'd her dim eyes, herself benumb'd to stone.

Yet love in death a sickly strength supplied :

Once more she gazed, then feebly smiled, and died.

As the gem in the text is not very pellucid, the following translation
from the Greek, taken from the Polyglot Anthology, may be thought to
afford a more worthy description of the Venus of Cnidos :

Who gave such life to stone.

Nor life alone.
But such a power of love ?

18

274 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

Who upon earth hath seen

The Cyprian Queen
Descended from above ?

Praxiteles alone

To lifeless stone
The charms of Venus gives :
Else is Olympus left,

Of her bereft,
And she in Cnidos lives.

XXIII.

POLYCLETUS'S JUNO.

Juno labor, Polyclete, tuus, et gloria felix,
Phidiacse cuperent quam meruisse manus,

Ore nitet tanto, quanto superasset in Ida
Judice convictas non dubitante Deas.

Junonem, Polyclete, suam nisi frater amaret,
Junonem poterat frater amare tuam.

A Polycletus' peerless glory stands.
The Juno, that might grace a Phidias' hands :
Who, in such form, on Ida had surpass'd
The Goddesses convinc'd, the Judge unask'd.
Did not her Brother love the Queen divine,
That brother, Polyclete, would glow at thine.

There is an Essay on this statue written by Bottiger : it was regarded
as the masterpiece of Polycletus, who flourished at Argos, about the year
430 B. c. He was a fellow-pupil with Phidias and Myron. He is reported
to have borne away a prize from Phidias, on an occasion when all the
first statuaries in Greece compared their abilities in the representation of
an Amazon. The statue which is mentioned in the text, was placed in the
temple of Jimo, near Argos ; its materials were ivory and gold, and it was
considered as a rival of Phidias's statues of Minerva and Jupiter. The
goddess was represented as seated on a throne, her head crowned with a
garland, on which were worked the Graces and the Hours; one hand

rv.] THE ARTS. 275

held a pomegranate, the other a sceptre surmounted by a cuckoo. The
figure was robed from the waist downwards. It was said to be formed
according to the description of Homer, who attributes to his Juno ivory
arms, and large eyes (like those of a bull). A type of this statue is sup-
posed to be existing in a coin of Argos.

It is believed that the Roman artists have not copied Homer in
appreciating Juno's exposed arms. They usually represent her in the
garb of a Roman matron, with only her face uncovered. Roman
Empresses were frequently represented on the reverses of medals in the
character of Juno wearing this costume. The loveable appearance given
by Polycletus to his Juno, which is confirmed by Strabo, is not in accord-
ance with the majestic and terrible description of her by some great poets ;
but, it has been seen, it is warranted by Homer; and we may collect
from several antiques, that the ancients, especially the Greeks, had a mild
Juno and Jupiter, as well as their more severe counterparts.

XXIV.

LYSIPPUS' ALEXANDER THE GREAT.

Fortis Alexandri vultum Lysippus, et audax
Expressit pectus ; vis, puto, in sere latet.

^neus ille Jovem sic compellare videtur ;
Cessit terra mihi ; Jupiter astra cole.

Lysippus has represented the countenance, and. the
daring breast of Alexander. A sentiment appears to be
tacitly conveyed by this Statue. The Hero in brass seems
to taunt Jove himself, as though he would say, " The Earth
is mine, Jupiter — mind your stars"

By a well-known edict Alexander the Great prohibited any artist
from drawing a portrait of him except Apelles, and from making his
statue, except Lysippus; an ukase which was imitated by Queen Eliza-
beth, who by a warrant directed to her Serjeant Painter, took summary
means for obviating the mischief " committed by divers unskilful artisans
in unseemly painting, graving, and printing of her Majesty's person and
visage, to her Majesty's great oflfence, and the disgrace of that beautiful
and magnanimous majesty wherewith God hath blessed her."

The statue, which is the subject of the above epigram, was supposed to
be Lysippus's masterpiece. It represented Alexander holding a lance,

18~-2

276 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

and was considered a companion to Apelles's picture of the Hero, in
which he was represented wielding a thunderbolt. Plutarch testifies to
the impression produced upon spectators being the same as that expressed
in the epigram. Lysippus used to lay by a single piece of gold out of the
price received for each of his works, and Pliny informs us, that, after his
death, the number of these pieces was found to be 1500. His works
were chiefly in bronze, which may have been one of the causes why none
of them are extant. But there are many copies of them on coins, and it
may be seen by the text, that the Muses have laboured for their im-
mortality.

XXV.

GROUP OF THE STATUES OF OPPORTUNITY AND
REPENTANCE.

Cujus opus? Phidias, qui signum Pallados, ejus

Quique Jovem fecit : tertia palma ego sum.
Sum dea, quse rara, et paucis Occasio nota.

Quid rotulse insistis ? Stare loco nequeo.
Quid talaria habes ? Volucris sum : Mercurius quas

Fortunare solet, tardo ego, cum volui.
Crine tegis faciem. Cognosci nolo. Sed heus tu

Occipiti calvo es. Ne tenear fugiens.
Quae tibi juncta comes ? Dicat tibi. Die, rogo, qua? sis?

Sum dea, cui nomen nee Cicero ipse dedit:
Sum dea, quae facti, non factique exigo poenas,

Nempe ut pceniteat : sic Metanoea vocor.
Tu modo die, quid agat tecum. Si quando volavi,

Hasc manet : banc retinent, quos ego prseterii.
Tu quoque, dum rogitas, dum percontando moraris,

Elapsam dices me tibi de manibus.

Whose work is this ? Phidias's, that Artist who sculp-
tured the statue of Minerva, and that of Jove : I am the
third palm of his genius. I am a Goddess, seldom met
with, and known only to a few ; my name is Opportunity.
Why do you rest on a wheel ? Because I never stay in
one place. Why have you wings ? Because I fly to this

IV.] THE ARTS. 277

person and from that person Avith the swiftness of a bird.
Why do you cover your face with your hair ? Because 1
do not wish to be recognized. But I observe that the
back part of your head is bald ! It is to avoid being
detained Avhen I fly away. Who is your companion ?
She can tell you herself. Who, then, I pray, are you ?
I am a Goddess, for whom even Cicero has not invented a
Latin name. I am a Goddess, who exacts penalties both
for what is done and what is not done, causing mortals to
repent of both. Hence the Greeks called me Metancea.
But, O Goddess Opportunity ! say, why is Metancea here
w^ith you ? Because, whenever I fly away, she stays.
When I pass by any persons, they retain her. And you,
my Querist, at the very moment you are loitering here
propounding your interrogatories, you will say that I have
escaped out of your hands.

The Greek and Roman artists, and their sculptors in particular, had
a method of expressing a variety of moral sentiments by means of a
sort of rational hieroglyphics, of which the statue that is the subject
of the text is a remarkable specimen. A very interesting account of the
ancient moral deities that presided over the virtues of men, and the con-
duct of human life, illustrated by apposite quotations, and embellished
with handsome plates, will be found in Spencer's Polymetis, Book iv.
Dialogue x. Shakspere, in his Rape of Lucrece, personifies Opportunity.
Phsedrus thus describes Time in an ancient statue :

Cursu volucri, pendens in novacula,

Calvus, comosa fronte, nudo corpore :

Quem si occuparis, teneas ; elapsum semel

Non ipse possit Jupiter reprendere.

Occasionem rerum significat brevem,

EflPectus impediret ne segnis mora.

Finxere Antiqui talem effigiem Temporis.

Un homme ayant des ailes, et qui court si vite qu'il pouroit marcher
sur le trenchant d'un razoir sans se blesser; qui a des cheveux par
devant, et qui est chauve par derriere, qui a le cors tout nud : qu'on ne
peut avoir qu'en le prenant, et que Jupiter meme ne pent reprencb'e lors
qu'il I'a laisse echaper une fois: nous marque qu'en toutes choses I'oca-
sion est prompte, et passe en un moment. Les Anciens nous ont repre-
sente le Tems sous la figure de cet homme ; de peur que le retardement
et la paresse n'empechat I'execution de nos meilleures entreprises.

The statue which Ausonius attributes to Phidias is considered by

278 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

several writers to be the work of Lysippus. Ausonius, it is seen, ranks it
next in order of merit to Phidias's IMinerva, and his Jupiter. The Jupiter
of Phidias, which was placed in the temple of the god, in the sacred
grove of Olympia, has usually been considered the masterpiece of the
whole range of Grecian art. His gold and ivory statue of Minerva in
the Parthenon was the most celebrated of Phidias's works at Athens.
Among the Elgin marbles are probably many relics of Phidias's genius.
An enemy of Pericles brought two accusations against Phidias whom he
patronized, in reference to Minerva's statue. One for peculation, which
was refuted, as, by the advice of Pericles, the gold had been affixed to
the statue of Minerva, in a manner that it could be removed, and the
weight of it examined. The other charge was for impiety, in having
introduced into the battle of the Amazons in the shield of Minerva, his
own likeness and that of Pericles, the latter as a bald old man hurling
a stone with both his hands, himself as a very handsome warrior fighting
with an Amazon, his face being partly concealed by his hand which held
an uplifted spear ; so that the artist's likeness could only be recognized
upon a side view. Upon this latter charge Phidias was cast into prison,
where he died, as it has been alleged, by poison.

XXVI.

VINDEX'S CONVIVIAL STATUE OF HERCULES.

(A)
Hie, qui dura sedens porrecto saxa leone

Mitigat exiguo magnus in aere Deus,
Quseque tulit, spectat resupino sidera vultu,

Cujus Iseva calet robore, dextra mero :
Non est fama reeens, nee nostri gloria cceli :

Nobile Lysippi munus opusque vides.
Hoc habuit numen Pellsei mensa tyranni,

Qui cito perdoinito victor in orbe jacet.
Hunc puer ad Libycas juraverat Hannibal aras :

Jusserat hie Sullam ponere regna trueem.
OfFensus variae tumidis terroribus aulse,

Privates gaudet nunc habitare Lares.
Utque fuit quondam placidi conviva Molorehi,

Sic voluit docti Vindieis esse Deus.

IV.] THE ARTS. 279

Reclining on a lion's skin spread over the hard marble,
sits a Great Divinity represented in a small statue. He
casts his eyes upwards to the heavens which he once sus-
tained on his shoulders : his left hand grasps an oaken staff,
his right a goblet of wine. The fame of this statue is not
recent ; its glory is not of this nation. You see before you
the noble achievement of Lysippus. This statue once graced
the table of that Macedonian Tyrant who died only when
he had no more worlds to conquer. Hannibal, when a
youth, swore hatred to the Romans upon this statue, at the
Libyan altars. It bade Sylla to lay down his Dictatorship.
At length, disgusted with the tumults incident to palaces
of state, Hercules rejoices in the society of the private
Lares of Vindex. And as of yore he became the guest of
the amiable Molorchus, — so now he is well contented with
the appellation of Vindex's Family-God.

(B)
Alciden modo Vindicis rogabam,
Esset cujus opus laborque felix ?
Risit (nam solet hoc) levique nutu,
Graece numquid, ait, poeta, nescis ?
Inscripta est basis, indicatque nomen.
Avaiirirov lego, PhidiaB putavi.

When late Alcides' self I saw,

A Vindex' guest, I gaz'd with awe.

Yet humbly of the God inquired

What human art he had inspir'd,

To bid his image stand confest ?

His Godship scarce his smile supprest.

And, nodding bland, thus deign'd to speak :

Poor bardling, dost thou know no Greek ?

Behold the base, and learn to spell :

Thence wonder and inquiry quell.

I, blushing, there AYSIHHOY scann'd ;

But thought it had been Phidias' hand.

Martial considers it a compliment to Lysippus to have mistaken his
Hercules for the workmanship of Phidias. But Lysippus was more

280 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

famous for his statues of Hercules than any other sculptor ; many copies
of these are extant in gems, and the well-known Farnese Hercules of
Glycon was a copy of a work of Lysippus. Dr Smith, in his Dictionary
of Roman Antiquities, quotes several authorities for concluding that the
celebrated Belvidere Torso was an imitation of Vindex's Hercules. Spence
mentions an extant ancient gem by Adman, which, he conceives, was
copied from the same statue, at least as regards Hercules's face.

It will be collected that the statue of Hercules which is the subject of
the epigrams in the text belonged to an opulent Roman of the name of
Vindex, who used to place it at his supper-table, seated on a hon-skin.
It was not a foot high, was made of brass, in one hand holding a goblet,
in the other a club ; the face was very cheerful. It was fabled to have
run through a series of the highest fortunes of any statue on record.
Before it came into the family of the friend of Martial and Statins, it is
represented to have belonged to Sylla the dictator. It had been previ-
ously in the possession of Hannibal, and was a particular favom-ite, and
fellow-traveller of his, during his campaign in Italy : before that it had
accompanied Alexander the Great all through his expedition in the East.
These great men did not carry it about with them for its beauty alone,
but partly, perhaps, out of devotion, or in order to keep alive a popular
superstition of the resemblance of their labours to those of Hercules.
It is seen by some other epigrams of Martial how hard the poet strains
to establish a resemblance between Hercules and Domitian. So Mark
Antony traced his descent from Hercules. Shakspere calls him " This
Herculean Roman."

Statins wrote a poem (part of his Silvce) containing upwards of a
hundi'ed verses on Vindex's Hercules. The following lines occur :
Tantus nonos operi, firmosque inclusa per artus
Majestas. Deus ille Deus, seseque videndum
Indulsit, Lysippe, tibi, parvusque videri,
Sentirique ingens : et cum mirabilis intra
Stet mensura pedem, tamen exclamare libebit,
(Si visus per membra feras) hoc pectore pressus
Vastator Nemees, hsec exitiale ferebant
Robur et Argoos pangebant brachia remos.
Hoc spatio tam magna brevi mendacia formse !
Quis modus in dextra, quanta experientia docti
Artificis curtse, pariter gestamina mensse
Fingere, et ingentes animo versare colossos !

Or entre toutes ces choses, I'Hercule de sa maison, ou le genie et la
Divinite tutelaire de sa table modeste me faisit d'une inclination toute
particuliere a I'honorer, et je ne me pus lasser de leregarder, tant I'ouvrage
estoit bien fait, et tant il y avoit de majeste renfermee dans les membres
solides, et dans toutes les proportions de la Statue. C'est ce Dieu la
mesmes, 6 Lysippe, qui t'a permis de le considerer, qui a bien voulu qu'on

IV.] THE ARTS. 281

le vist en petit, et qu'on se pust facilement imaginer qu'il a de grands
sentimens : et quoy qu'il se renforme dans la mesure d'un pied, il sera
neantmoins permis de s'ecrier. (Si vous jettez les yeux siu- ses membres)
le Lion de Nemee fut etouflfe centre cette poitrine, ces bras portoient
une fatalo massue, et rompoient les avirons du Navire d'Argos. Une in-
finite de grands mensonges sent contenus sous une si petite figure. Quelle
Industrie d'une excellente main ? Quelle marque du scavoir exquis d'un
merveilleux Ouvrier ? faire de petites pieces pour servir sur une table,
et donner en mesme temps I'idee des Colosses ?

XXVII.

STATUE OF LUCRETIA.

Libenter occumbo, mea in prsecordia
Adactum habens ferrum ; juvat mea manu
Id praestitisse, quod Viraginum prius
Nulla ob pudicitiam peregit promptius ;
Juvat cruorem contueri proprium,
Illumque verbis exeerari asperrimis.

Sanguen mi acerbius veneno colchico.
Ex quo canis Stygius, vel Hydra prasferox
Artus meos compegit in poenam asperam ;
Lues flue, ac vetus reverte in toxicum.
Tabes amara exi ; mihi invisa et gravis.
Quod feceris corpus nitidum et amabUe.

Nee interim suas monet Lucretia
Civeis, pudore et castitate semper ut
Sint praeditae, fidemque servent integram
Suis maritis, cum sit h^ec Mavortii
Laus magna populi, ut castitate foeminsB
Laetentur, et viris mage ista gloria
Placere studeant, quam nitore et gratia;
Quin id probasse caede vel mea gravi
Lubet, statim animum purum oportere extrahi
Ab inquinati corporis custodia.

Since the vUe Ravisher my honour stains.
What thing of worth or moment now remains !

282 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

Thus cries Lucretia >vith grief opprest,

And sheaths a poignant dagger in her breast.

The Heroine would die ; but you prevent,

O Giorgion ! her murderous intent.

You have so painted her, that we conceive

She in thy canvass will for ever live.

The Latin is the only extant composition in Latin verse by Leo X.
The English is from Evelyn's epigrams, on a picture by Giorgione.
Among the pictures of Charles I. was one of Lucretia stabbing herself,
by Titian ; a red veil is cast over her face, and a figure of Tarquin stands
in the background. The picture was appraised and sold for £200.
There is a Lucretia by Titian which seems to be a portrait of some lady
of his acquaintance ; it bears the inscription Titianus sibi Jaciebat. No-
thing in poeti-y or painting on the subject of Lucretia, may be thought
equal to Ovid's description in his Fasti :

Eloquar, inquit,
Eloquar infelix dedecus ipse meum !
Quseque potest nan-at. Restabant ultima, flevit,

Et matronales erubuere gense.
Dant veniant facto genitor conjuxque coacto.

Quam, dixit, veniam vos datis, ipse nego.
Nee mora ; celato figit sua pectora ferro :
Et cadit in patrios sanguinolenta pedes.
Tunc quoque, jam moriens, ne non procumbat honeste,
Respicit, hjsc etiam cura cadentis erat.

I will proclaim, she says, I will proclaim my own infamy ! And she
relates as far as she is able : the conclusion remained untold, and a blush
overspread her matronly cheeks. Her husband and her father protest
their forgiveness of what could not have been averted. But she replies,
Although you bestow your pardons upon me, I cannot pardon myself.
Nor does a moment elapse before she stabs her breast with a dagger
which she had concealed, and falls at her father's feet bathed in her
blood. Even as she fell she gave a look round, lest she should fall inde-
corously ; this seemed the last concern on her mind.

This last incident in the description of Ovid may remind the reader of
an interesting account by Pliny of the horrible transaction of the inhuma-
tion of a Vestal Virgin (Lib. iv. Ep. xi.). He relates that the Vestal CorneUa
Maximilla had been condemned without a hearing by Domitian, who sen-
tenced her to be bm-ied alive, in order to give celebrity to his reign by
the spectacle. As she was being led to her punishment she stretched
forth her hands now to Vesta, and now to the other Deities, and frequently
repeated the words, " Does Caesar believe me polluted, me, to whose per-
formance of sacred rites he owes his victories, his triumphs ?" When she

IV.] THE ARTS. 283

was descending the steps of the fatal vault, her gown got entangled, and
she turned herself round to set it in order ; and when the public execu-
tioner offered his hand to assist her, she started back, aud turned away
her face from him, as if rejecting from her chaste and pure person a foul
contamination. Thus, from the very soul of modesty, she seemed soli-
citous to meet death with decorum.

XXVIII.

THE STATUE OF NIOBE.

Fecerat e viva lapidem me Jupiter ; at me
Praxiteles vivam reddidit e lapide.

Jupiter metamorphosed me from a living Being into a
stone : Praxiteles has, out of that stone, made me again
alive.

The Latin is a version, by Gray, from the Greek Anthology: it is
rather a frigid conceit, not worthy of one of the most admired specimens
of ancient art. Ausonius has another sorry epigram on Niobe, to whom,
he says, Praxiteles gave her back everything but sense ; and that she never
bad. It was an undecided question among the ancients whether the
group representing the destruction of the sons and daughters of Niobe
was the work of Praxiteles or of Scopas. These two artists stand at
the head of the second period of perfected art, which is called the latter
Attic school, in contradistinction to the earlier Attic school of Phidias.
They excelled in delineations of beauty and gracefulness, as Phidias
surpassed in ideal majesty, heroic spu'it, and religious earnestness.
Scopas was principally famed for a statue of the Pythian Apollo playing
on a lyre, celebrated by Propertius, and which was placed by Augustus in
the temple which he built in honour of Apollo, on the Palatine hill, to
commemorate the battle of Actium. (See Dictionary of Greek and
Roman Biography and Mythology, which contains a mine of information
concerning ancient artists and ancient art.)

The group of Niobe and her children has been the subject of panegy-
ric, or criticism, in the published travels of most Italian tourists. Mr
Cockerell, and Mr Bell, for example, have written copious artistical
remarks upon the subject. The genuine number of the group, whether
it properly consists of twelve, fourteen, or sixteen statues, and the pro-

284) GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

priety of its arrangement, have excited much controrersy. Flaxman
•writes that " the statues of Niobe and her youngest daughter afford an
example of heroic beauty in mature age. The sentiment is maternal
affection. She exposes her own life to shield her child from threatened
destruction. The statues of the several children all possess the same
heroic beauty, mixed with astonishment, terror, dismay, and death."
The youngest child is placed in the mother's arms, and clings to the
girdle round her waist, whilst the mother is looking up towards heaven.
The sentiment excited is full of tenderness. Guido made the group of
Niobe the subject of his particular study. It was discovered in the year
1583 : it anciently filled the pediment of a temple of ApoUo.

Though the epigram in the text be not a gem of the purest ray, yet
Ovid, in describing the metamorphosis of Niobe, stands perhaps in more
favourable contrast with the impassioned sculptor, than Virgil, when
compared with the rival sculptors of the Laocoon. Niobe's supplications
for her youngest child seem to give a tongue to the breathing statue :
and although persons " weeping" themselves " to marble" may appear a
forced as it has been a frequent conception of English poets, nothing
seems more natural than such a transition as the details of it are related
by Ovid.

Sexque datis letho, diversaque vulnera passis.
Ultima restabat : quam toto corpore mater
Tota veste tegens, unam minimamque relinque
De multis minimam posco, clamavit, et unam!
Dumque rogat, pro qua rogat, occidit. Orba resedit
Examines inter natos natasque, virumque :
Diriguitque malis. Nullos mo vet aura capillos.
In vultu color est sine sanguine : lumina moestis
Stant immota genis : nihil est in imagine vivi.
Ipsa quoque interius cum dure lingua palato
Congelat, et venae desistunt posse moveri.
Nee flecti cervix, nee brachia reddere gestus,
Nee pes ire potest : intra quoque viscera saxum est.
Flet tamen, et validi circumdata turbine venti
In patriam rapta est. Ibi fixa cacumine mentis
Liquitur, et lacrymas etiamnum marmora manant.

Seven of Niobe's children had thus cruelly perished one after the
other. Her last daughter was yet surviving. The mother shields her
with her whole dress, her whole body, and exclaims, O leave me one,
and the least of them ! Out of many which were mine, leave me but one,
and that the least of all ! Whilst she supplicates, her last child dies in
her arms. She sat desolate among the dead bodies of her husband, her
sons, and her daughters. She became benumbed with her sufferings:
her cheeks have no longer any colour, her eyes are fixed in one motion-
less gaze : her very hair seems incapable of being driven by the wind.

IV.] THE ARTS. 285

Her tongue is become stiff as if it were frozen, her veins no longer indicate
any circulation of blood. Her neck cannot be bent ; her arms cannot be
stretched forth ; her foot can no longer stir : tears alone are left her.
Anon she is fixed immoveably on the top of a mountain, where the marble
which once was Niobe still drips with her everlasting tears.

XXIX.

STATUE OF DOMITIAN AS THE MILD JUPITER,

Quis Pallatinos imitatus imagine vultus,
Phidiacum Latio marmore vicit ebur?

Hsec miindi facies, haec sunt Jovis ora sereni :
Sic tonat ille deus, cum sine nube tonat.

Non solam tribuit Pallas tibi, Care, coronam :
Effigiem domini, quam colis, ilia dedit.

Who, daring to pourtray th' imperial face,
In Latian marble stole the Phidian grace ?
Such is the aspect of the heav'n serene :
So the God thunders when no cloud is seen.

In the concluding distich, Martial tells his friend Cams, who, in his
house, offered sacred rites to a statue of Domitian, in the character of
the ISIild Jupiter, that Minerva, in addition to the rewards which Carus
had, on other occasions, received from the hands of that goddess, gave
him the likeness of the emperor who was the object of his worship, and
which, by her inspiration, surpassed the famous statue of Minerva by
Phidias in the Parthenon.

Spence, in his Polymetis (Dialogue vi.), has pointed out distinctions
between the mild and the terrible Jupiter in ancient poeti-y, statues, gems,
and seals. The IMild Jupiter was generally represented in a sitting pos-
ture, and of white marble, with his hair regular and composed ; whereas
the statues of the Terrible Jupiter were usually of black marble, in a
standing postm-e, and with the hair discomposed. The CapitoUne Jupiter
was seated in a curule chair. Three kinds of lightning were employed
by ancient sculptors to be held in Jupiter's hand, according to the cha-
racter in which he was represented. The first was a bundle of flames
wreathed close together : the second is the same figure, with two trans-
verse darts of lightning, and sometimes with wings added on each side of

286 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

it. Such was the device which all the soldiers of the thundering legion (as
it was called) bore on their shields; it is represented on the Antonine
and Trajan pillars at Rome. The third kind of thunder is a handful of
flames all let loose in their utmost fury. The old artists gave Jupiter, if his
appearance was to be mild and calm, the first sort, held down in his
hand : if he was represented as punishing, he held up the second sort :
and, if going to do some exemplary vengeance, he brandished the third
species, and sometimes had both his hands full of flames. (See the plates
and poetical illustrations in Spence's Poly metis.) The serene and sweeter
kind of majesty attributed to Jupiter is represented by Virgil in the first
JSneid, where he is described as receiving Venus with paternal tender-
ness:

Olli subridens hominum sator atque deorum,

Vultu quo ccelum tempestatesque serenat

Oscula libavit natse.

In comparing the fierce and cruel tyrant Domitian to the Mild Jupi-
ter, the sculptor and the poet appear to have anticipated the advice of
Swift, in his " Directions for making a Birth-day Ode :"

Thus your encomium to be strong,

Must be apphed directly wrong :

A tyrant for his mercy praise,

And crown a royal dunce with bays.

A squinting monkey load with charms,

And paint a coward fierce in arms.

Is he to avarice inclin'd?

Extol him for his generous mind :

For all experience this evinces

The only art of pleasing princes :

For princes love you should descant

On virtues which they know they want.

IV.] THE ARTS. 287

XXX.

STATUE OF DOMITIAN AS HERCULES.

Herculis in magni vultus descendere, Caesar '

Dignatus Latiae dat nova templa viae,
Qua Trivia? nemorosa petit dum regna viator,

Octavum domina marmor ab urbe legit.
Ante colebatur votis, et sanguine largo :

Majorem Alciden, nunc Minor ipse colit.
Hune magnas rogat alter opes, rogat alter honores :

Uli securus vota minora facit.

Domitian condescends to assume the countenance of
the illustrious Hercules, and gives on the occasion to the
Appian Way a Temple containing a statue of himself in
the character of Hercules. The traveller meets with it at
the eighth milestone, just as he emerges from the grove of
Diana. Before this time Domitian has been addressed with
common vows and sacrifices : but now Hercules (henceforth
to be called the lesser Hercules) worships Domitian as the
greater Divinity. One supplicates the Emperor-Hercules
for wealth, another for honours : whereas the lesser Her-
cules takes no offence, if suppliants beg of him smaller
favours, better suited for an inferior Divinity to be asked
for, and to grant.

The Appian Way is called the Queen of Ways by Statius : it was the
great Southern road out of Rome. Vestiges still remain of the vast
sums and prodigious laboiu* expended on its construction. The Roman
mile was about 142 yards less than the English mile. Martial wrote
several more epigrams on this statue.

Suetonius writes, that the Emperor Nero having supposed himself to
have equalled Apollo in music, and the Sun in chariot-driving, resolved,
in like manner, to imitate the actions of Hercules. For this purpose a
lion was prepared for him in the theatre, where he appeared naked, and
in the view of the people killed the vrild beast with a club. Plutarch
mentions of Mark Antony, that he had a noble dignity of countenance, a
graceful length of beard, a large forehead, an aquiUne nose, and through
his whole appearance the same manly aspect that we see in the pictures

288 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

and statues of Hercules. He adds, that there was an ancient tradition
that Antony's family were descended from Hercules by a son of his,
named Antseon, and that Antony imitated Hercules in his apparel, parti-
cularly by a vest gii-t on his hip, and by a coarse mantle over all his dress.
Flatterers endeavoured to trace the Flavian family by direct descent from
Hercules. Henry IV. of France used for his device a figure of Hercules
subduing a monster, with a motto, " Invia virtuti nulla est via." No way
but is a way to valour.

Probably none of the heathen gods have so many monuments of anti-
quity relating to them as Hercules. He was regarded by the ancients as
the pattern of human virtue. The Choice of Hercules is one of the most
edifying lessons of ancient morality. There is some obscurity about his
memorable labours. Spence distinguishes his adventures previous to the
labours imposed by Eurystheus, his twelve labours, and his voluntary ex-
ploits. Martial, in another epigram, in which, as in the text, he makes
Domitian out-Hercules Hercules, mentions seven of the ordinary twelve
labours of Hercules, and two of the extraordinary or voluntary labours ;
Ovid relates ten of the ordinary and four of the extraordinary labours ;
Virgil, two ordinary and six extraordinary. The twelve ordinary labours
of Hercules were inscribed on an ancient altar that used to stand at the
gate of Albano, at Rome, and which was afterwards removed to the
Capitoline Gallery.

All the adventures of Hercules have been represented by poets and
artists with many fanciful varieties. Sometimes the infant Hercules is
represented as killing both the serpents at the same time, with so much
ease and indifference, that he scarcely deigns to look upon them. He
is otherwise represented with a smile on his face, as if pleased with the
colours and motions of the serpents. Sometimes he is made to look con-
cerned that he has killed them, and so put an end to the diversion they
afforded him. Occasionally the effect is sought to be heightened by
introducing a nm'se holding his twin brother in her arms, and a contrast
is represented between her alarm and the playful intrepidity of the
infant demi-god. One of Zeuxis's most admired paintings was extolled
for its dramatic effect in representing the terror of Alcmena and Eurys-
theus, whilst witnessing the struggle between the child and the serpents.
With respect to the Stymphalides, in some gems they are omitted on
account of their height, but Hercules is seen shooting with his bow, and
one or more of these birds are dropt at his feet. In other gems the birds
are represented flying, but Hercules is kneeling, to allow of a greater
intervening distance.

There is a discussion in Aulus Gellius on the size of Hercules's foot,
with reference to the Roman saying, Ex pede Herculem. It appears that
the Olympic stadium was six hundred of his steps ; and from the calcula-
tions of different authors, the notion of Hercules's height appears to have
been that he was six feet seven inches high. Martial was prudent in
representing the true Hercules as in all respects minor to the Emperor.

IV.] THE ARTS. 289

He probably recollected what Suetonius relates of the Emperor Caligula,
that, " as he stood by the statue of Jupiter, he asked one Apelles, a trage-
dian, which of the two he thought the bigger? Upon his demurring about
it, the Emperor ordered him to bo lashed severely, now and then com-
mending his voice, whilst he begged pardon, as very sweet in the midst of
groans."

XXXI.

uEGIS OF DOMITIAN.

Accipe belligeras crudum thoraca Minerv£e,

Ipsa Medusese quo tumet ira Deae.
Dum vacat haec, Caesar, poterit lorica vocari :

Pectore cum sacro sederit, iEgis erit.

Gird on the breast-plate of belligerent Minerva, in
which the head of Medusa swells with terrific anger : a
breast-plate, indeed, it might be called, when you have not
occasion to use it ; but on thy sacred breast it is an zEgis.

This epigram is an example of the flattery of the Romans in transfer-
ring the principal attributes of their deities to their Emperors. There is
in the Gallery at Florence an antique bust of Domitian, which has an a;gis
on the breastplate, corresponding to the poetical description, and pro-
bably the occasion of it. Spence, in his Polymetis, observes, that there is
scarcely a Roman Emperor from Augustus to Gallienus, from the per-
fecting to the fall of the arts at Rome, but has the emblem of the segis on
his breastplate, in statues, busts, gems, or medals. There was a statue of
Minerva in the Capitol without her a;gis ; it was suggested by the glozing
poet, that the goddess had lent it to Domitian. The head of Medusa on
the Eegis is sometimes represented as a very beautiful, and, at others, a
most shocking object. In some figures of it, the face is represented as
dead, but with the most perfect features that can be imagined ; in others,
the face is full of passion, and the eyes convulsed. In a third species, the
predominating expression is that of horror. Various attempts have been
made to explain the myth of Medusa and the Gorgons, by authors, to
whom reference is made in Smith's Dictionary.

The beauties and horrors of Medusa's head are both mentioned by the
Roman poets ; they speak frequently also of her serpents ; and particu-
larly of two, as having their tails twined together under her chin, and
their heads reared over her forehead. The eegis is described by Virgil

19

290 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

and by Ovid: it maybe seen in the plates to Spence's Polymetis. The
following is from a poem of Shelley upon the pictm'e of Medusa's head by
Leonardo Da Vinci:

It lieth, gazing on the midnight sky,

Upon the cloudy mountain-peak supine ;
Below, far lands are seen tremblingly ;

Its horror and its beauty are divine.
Upon its lips and eyelids seem to lie

Loveliness like a shadow, from which shrine.
Fiery and lurid, struggling underneath.
The agonies of anguish and of death.

Yet it is less the horror than the grace
Which turns the gazer's spirit into stone;

Whereon the lineaments of that dead face
Are graA^en, till the characters be grown

Into itself, and thought no more can trace ;
'Tis the melodious hue of beauty thrown

Athwart the darkness and the glare of pain,

Which humanize and harmonize the strain.

And from its head as from one body grow,

As [ ] grass out of a watery rock,

Hairs which are vipers, and they curl and flow,

And their long tangles in each other lock.
And with unending involutions show

Their mailed radiance, as it were to mock
The torture and the death within, and saw
The solid air with many a ragged jaw.

And from a stone beside, a poisonous eft

Peeps idly into these Gorgonian eyes ;
Whilst in the air a ghastly bat, bereft

Of sense, has flitted with a mad surprise
Out of the cave this hideous light had cleft.

And he comes hastening like a moth that hies
After a taper; and the midnight sky
Flares, a light more dread than obscurity.

'Tis the tempestuous loveliness of teiror ;

For from the serpents gleams a brazen glare
Kindled by that inextricable error,

Wliich makes a thrilling vapour of the air
Become a [ ] and ever-shifting mirror

Of all the beauty and the terror there —
A woman's countenance, with serpent locks.
Gazing in death on heaven from those wet rocks.

IV.] THE ARTS. 291

XXXII.

STATUE OF ERASMUS.

Rotterodamiis ego non inficiabor Erasmus,

Ne videar cives deseruisse meos.
Ipsorum instinctu, Princeps clarissime, salvum

Ingressu precor ad limina nostra tuum,
Atque hiinc, quo possum studio, commendo popellum

Maxime praesidiis Cassare nate tuis.
Te Dominum agnoscunt omnes, te Principe, gaudent,

Nee quicquam toto eharius orbe tenent.

I, Erasmus, will not disown that I was born at Rotter-
dam, lest I should be charged with deserting my fellow-
citizens. By their instigation, I wish you a prosperous
entry into the house of my birth. And, with all my zeal,
I recommend the inhabitants of Rotterdam to your espe-
cial protection and favour. So may they all acknowledge
you for their sovereign, and regard you as the dearest
object they have in the world.

This statue of Erasmus was placed before the house in which he was
born. In his right hand was a pen ; in the left was a scroll containing
the verses in the text. Erasmus was represented as presenting the scroll
to Philip II., on the occasion of that prince visiting his birth-place. The
statue was of bronze, and as the common people used to kneel to it, even
after the Reformation was established at Rotterdam, it narrowly escaped,
if it did escape, being melted as a Lutheran auto-da-fe. The verses on
the scroll make it apparent that the inhabitants of Rotterdam had an eye
to their own interests as well as to the fame of Erasmus.

19—2

292 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

XXXIII.

A STATUE OF VICTORY, AT ROME, OF WHICH THE WINGS
WERE DESTROYED BY LIGHTNING.

Cum fugere haud possit, fractis Victoria pennis,
Te manet imperii, Roma, perenne decus.

Queen of the world, how should thy glory die,
While Victory stays, and has no wings to fly.

XXXIV.

THE FLORENTINE BRUTUS.

Effigiem Bruti sculptor de marmore ducit.
At scelus in mentem venit, et abstinuit.

Whilst the sculptor was forming the marble likeness of
Brutus, he suddenly thought of his crime, and left the
Statue unfinished.

This epigram has reference to an unfinished statue by Michael Angelo
at Florence. It seems to be the better opinion, that Michael Angelo did
not display any sudden antipathy to the regicide, Marcus Brutus : but that
having commenced the statue of one of the Medici who assassinated his
uncle, and was called the Florentine Brutus, but who afterwards proved
the oppressor instead of the Liberator of his country, Michael Angelo laid
aside the unfinished statue in disgust.

IV.] THE ARTS. 298

XXXV.

STATUE OF THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON IN FRONT OF
THE ROYAL EXCHANGE.

Conservata tuis Asia atque Europa triumphis,

Invictum bello te coluere ducem.
Nunc umbrata geris civili tempora quercu,

Ut desit famse gloria nulla tuse.

Europe and Asia, saved by thee, proclaim
Invincible in war thy deathless name ;
Now round thy brows the civic wreath we twine,
That every earthly glory may be thine.

The Latin and English are both by the Marquis of Wellesley.

XXXVI.

THE BUST OF THE DUIiE OF WELLINGTON DEPOSITED
IN THE LIBRARY OF ETON COLLEGE.

Affulsit mihi supremo meta ultima famsB ;

Jam mihi cum lauro juncta cupressus erit :
Mater amata, meam quae fovit Etona juventam,

Ipsa recedentem signat honore senem.

The last goal of my life is now before my eyes ; and
very soon the cypress will be united to my laurels. Eton,
my loved Alma Mater, who fostered my early youth, be-
stows this mark of honor upon an old man withdrawing
from the world's stage.

The Latin is by the Marquis of Wellesley.

294 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

XXXVII.

MADAME LANGHEN'S MONUMENT.
Viduus loquitur.
Nulla mei ostentat lapis hie insignia luctus

Impositus cineri, cara INIarie, tuo :
Nee tibi condeeorant solito de more sepulcra

SoUicitent fletus qualiaeunque novos.
Heu ! nimis iste dolor, nimis ista reeursat imago !

Et quianam haac animo sint referenda meo ?
Has prope relliquias, quoties aut debita sacris

Offieia, aut fidus me revocarit amor,
Has prope relliquias, aegrae solatia menti

Sunt aliqua, et lacrymis invenienda quies.
Hie tua me reficit, tua me rediviva tuentem

Effigies sBvi spe melioris alit.
Hie mihi semper ades, non qualis vix nova mater

Amplexu hserebas jam moribunda meo ;
Sed qualis surges, ubi nos de sede profunda

Suseitet setherije vox animosa tubae,
Somnura exuta gravem, et ecelestis eonscia vitas,

Jamque adventantis numine Iseta Dei.

As often as my saered duties, or my faithful love recall
me to this spot, I derive a consolation for my lacerated
heart from the hope of a future and better life, with which
your image inspires me. Here you are always present to
me ; not as when scarcely become a mother your dying
limbs were enfolded in my embrace, but such as you shall
rise again when the sonorous trumpet of heaven shall
awaken the dead of every people and of all times ; when
you shall rouse yourself from the sleep of the grave ; and
shall again wear a happy smile at the final advent of yom'
God.

Tliis moniunent, (of which a representation is given in a plate to
Flaxman's Lectures on Sculpture), is erected in a church near Berne.
Madame Langhens was the wife of the clergyman of the parish, and died
in childbed. She is represented as just awakened by the sound of the
last trumpet, shaking off her sepulchral cerements, and about to ascend
into the skies. The Latin is by Lord Grenville.

IV.] THE ARTS. 295

XXXVIII.

PRAXITELES TURNED SPORTSMAN.

Praxiteles, sumta pharetra telisque Dianse,

Venatorque novus per nemus arma movet :
Acris at ilia acies ubi primiim intenderat arcum,

En ! trajecit aves una sagitta duas !
" Parce meis ne sint vacujE," Latonia, " sylvis,"

Increpat, " et propria siste sub arte manum."
lUe, dese monitu atque animosior arte resumta,

" Diva," ait, " haec culpae sit tibi poena mese.
Ponam inter medios, saerata umbracula, saltus,

Signa quibus veroe restituentur aves :
Verse in morte taraen, quales jacuere sub alta

nice, jamque anima deficiente pares.
Aspice languentes deflexo in marmore pennas !

Aspice ! quae plumis gratia morte manet !
Has tu, Diva, tuas ne dedignare sub aras

Accipere, haec pcen^e stent monumenta meae.
Sic tibi laetifico resonet clamore Cithasron,

Taygeta et variis sint tibi plena feris :
Sic tua delubris auro servetur imago,

Cui vitam, atque animos, et decus ipse dabo."

Praxiteles, after equipping himself at the armoury of
Diana, rushed, an untried sportsman as he was, to wage
war upon the game. The well-known acuteness of his eye
did not fail him under these novel circumstances ; for, lo !
he kills a brace of birds with his first shot ! Diana ex-
claims, " O spare my preserves, or they will soon be deso-
late, and restrict your hand to its own peculiar cunning ! "
He, awe-stricken by the admonition of the Goddess, replies,
" I sentence myself to this punishment for the offence I
have perpetrated : I will deposit in the middle of your
woods two birds which shall supply the place of those I
have killed. The resemblance shall be perfect as they lay
at my feet just after I had shot them. Behold, how the
imitative marble represents the dying flutter of their wings !

296 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

what a grace is preserved in the delicate feathers of stone !
Disdain not, dread Goddess, to accept these memorials of
my contrition : and so may Cithasron ever send you joyful
echoes, and may Taygeta never fail in abundance of ani-
mals fit for the chase : so may a golden image of yourself
adorn your temple ; an image to which I will impart life,
and a spirit, and immortal glory."

Sir F. Chantrey, being at Holkham, joined in the diversion of shooting,
and, at the first shot, killed two woodcocks, which he sculptured in marble,
and presented to the Earl of Leicester. The Latin is by the Marquis of
Wellesley.

XXXIX.

PAGEAJ^T FIGURE OF QUEEN ELIZABETH, AS DEBORAH.

Quando Dei populum Canaan Rex presset Jaben

Mittitur a magno Debora magna Deo,
Quae populum eriperet, sanctum servaret Judan,

Milete quae patrio frangeret hostis opes,
Haec, Domino mandante, Deo lectissima fecit

Foemina, et adversos contudit ense viros.
Hsec quater denos populum correxerat annos

Judicio, bello strenua, pace gravis.
Sic, O sic populum belloque et pace guberna,

Debora sis Anglis, Elizabetha, tuis !

Jaben of Canaan King had long, by force of arms
Opprest the Israelites, which for God's people went.

But God minding at last for to redress their harms,
The worthy Debora as Judge among them sent.

In war, she, through God's aid, did put her foes to fright.
And with the dint of sword the hand of bondage brast.

In peace, she, through God's aid, did always maintain right,
And judged Israel tiU forty years were past.

IV.] THE ARTS. 297

A worthy precedent, O worthy Queen, thou hast
A Avorthy woman Judge, a woman sent for stale.

And that the like to us endure always thou mayest,

Thy loving subjects will with true hearts and tongues pray !

" At the Conduit, at Fleet Street, was erected a Seat Royal. Behind,
overshadowing it, was a palm-tree. On the seat was seated a seemly and
meet personage richly apparelled in parliament robes, crowned with an
open crown, and holding a sceptre. Over her head was an inscription ;
' Debora the Judge and Restorer of the House of Israel.' When the
Queen drew near this pageant, she perceived a child ready to open its
meaning. Her grace commanded silence, and required her chariot to
be removed nigher, that she might plainly hear the child speak."

On another occasion, at Norwich, Queen Elizabeth was presented with
a massy piece of plate, on which was embossed the story of Joseph, with
this Latin and English inscription, which may interest the admirers of
Elizabethan English poetry :

Innocuum pietas ad regia sceptra Josephum
Ex manibus fratrum, camificisque, rapit.

Carcere, et insidiis, sic te, Regina, tuorum
Ereptam duxit culmina ad ista Deus.

To royal sceptres, Godliness Joseph innocent,

Doth take, ft-om brothers' hands and miu-derers intent.

So thee, O Queen, the Lord hath led from prison and deceit

Of thine, unto these brightest tops of your princely estate.

XL.

A STATUE OF SOMNUS.

Somne levis, quanquam certissima mortis imago est
Consortem cupio te tamen esse tori.

Hue ades, haud abiture cito : nam sic sine vita
Vivere, quam suave est, sic sine morte mori.

Come gentle sleep ! attend thy votary's prayer,
And, though death's image, to my couch repair,
How sweet, though lifeless, yet with life to lie,
And without dying, O how sweet to die !

298 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

Another.

Soft sleep ! of death the image though thou art,
Yet of my couch, O take a kindly part :
Nor leave me ; for I still, when thou art nigh,
Live A\dthout life, and, without death, I die.

XLI.
MYRON'S COW.

(A)

Bucula sum, cselo genitoris facta Myronis
iErea : nee factam me puto, sed genitam.

Sic me taurus amat : sic proxima bucula mugit.
Sic vitulus sitiens ubera nostra petit.

INIiraris quod fallo gregem ? gregis ipse magister
Inter pascentes me numerare solet.

I am a brazen heifer, sculptured by maker Myron;
though, methinks, I am born rather than made. Thus each
bull is enamoured of me ; thus each passing heifer lows to
me ; thus each thirsty calf endeavours to suck me. Do you
marvel at the flock being deluded? The master of the
flock himself counts me as though I were one of his de-
pasturing cattle.

(B)

Ubera quid pulsas frigentia matris aense,
O vitule, et succum lactis ab sere petis ?

Hunc quoque prsestarem, si me pro parte parasset
Exteriore INlyron, interiore Deus.

O calf! why do you rub against the frigid udder of a
brazen mother, and seek to suck milk out of brass ? This
also I would supply, if nature had done as much for my
inward structure as my outward form owes to Myron.

rv.] THE ARTS. 299

In a book called Kendall's Flowers of Epigrams, published a.d. 1577,
and dedicated to the Earl of Leicester, with a device of a swan playing
upon a fiddle, are the following lines :

The cow of brass that Myron made

By art, and cimning skill,
If entrails she had had, she would

Have lowed both loud and shrill.

Myron's two most celebrated performances were his Discobolus and
his Cow. We are happily able to judge by ocular inspection, of Myi'on's
talents as a sculptor, by means of the excellent ancient copies of his
Discobolus, one of which adorns the British Museum, though there are
doubts whether the head of the Townley Discobolus belongs to it. The
Massini Discobolus is reckoned more perfect. On the subject of Myron's
Cow, there are thirty-six epigrams in the Greek Anthology. And Auso-
nius has left nine besides those in the text. Pliny speaks of its great
popularity. The artist flourished about the beginning of the Peloponne-
sian war. This statue of the Cow was in Delian bronze, as Polycletus's
works were usually in ^ginetan bronze. The statue represented the Cow
in the act of lowing ; it was placed on a marble base in the largest square
at Athens, where it stood in the time of Cicero. It was afterwards re-
moved to the Temple of Peace, at Rome.

The Fai'nese Bull, found in the ruins of the baths of Caracalla, is
spoken of by Eustace as the finest specimen in existence of a sculp-
tured quadruped.

XLII.

TOREUTIC WORK.

(A)
Inserta phialag Mentoris manu dueta
Lacerta vivit, et timetur argeiitum.

The Lizard carved on yon cup by the magic hand of
Mentor, seems actually alive, and the spectator stands
alarmed at the silver.

(B)
Artis Phidiacje toreuma clarum
Pisces adspicis ; adde aquam, natabunt.

300 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

Behold these fishes, a beautiful specimen, in toreutic
work, of the Phidian art. Give them water, and they will
swim away.

(C)

Quamvis Calliaco rubeam generosa metallo,
Glorior arte magis : nam Myos iste labor.

Although I am precious in your sight, from my ma-
terial being that of ruddy gold ; yet I value myself more
on my workmanship, for I was chased by Mys.

The toreutic art, or that of chasing ornamental metals, was an import-
ant accessary to the art of statuary, especially in works of gold, silver,
bronze, and ivory. (On the history and progress of this art, see Dr
Smith's Dktionary of Antiquities, Articles, Ccelatura, Statuaria Ars, Sculp-
tura.)

Mentor was the most celebrated silver-chaser among the Greeks,
Pliny says that his choicest works perished in the conflagration of the
temple of Diana at Ephesus ; the tools with which he had executed them
were deposited in the temple, as an offering to the goddess. Lucian calls
elaborately worked silver cups Mentorian. Mys was a worker in toreutic
of the age of Phidias : he engraved the battle of the Lapithse and Cen-
taurs in the shield of Phidias's colossal bronze statue of Minerva in the
Acropolis.

The fifth Dialogue in Spence's Polymetis contains an interesting history
of the introduction, improvement, and fall, of the arts at Rome, com-
mencing with the period when, according to Livy, Cato the Censor pro-
phesied that the vengeance of heaven would fall upon the Romans for
preferring the marble statues of foreign gods to their own rude earthen-
ware idols, and when, according to Paterculus, the consul Mummius sent
to Italy from Corinth a large cargo of pictures and statues of the most
celebrated artists, protesting to those to whose charge he intrusted them,
that if they were lost or damaged, they should give him view ones (si eas
perdidissent, novas cos reddituros. Pater. L. i. § 13).

The Oration of Cicero against Verres, in which he prefers an accusa-
tion of despoiling the Sicilians of works of Art, is an interesting memo-
rial of those treasures of statuary and painting which were found in the
Roman colonies, and were ultimately transferred to Rome. The follow-
ing extract is from Middleton's Life of Cicero :

" C. Heius was the principal citizen of Messana, where he lived very
splendidly in the most magnificent house of the city, and used to receive
all the Roman magistrates with great hospitality. He had a chapel in his
house, built by liis ancestors, and furnished with certain images of the

IV.] THE ARTS. 301

gods, of admirable sculpture, and inestimable value. On one side stood
a Cupid, of marble, made by Praxiteles : on the other, a Hercules of
brass, by Myi'on ; with a little altar before each god, to denote the reli-
gion and sanctity of the place. There were likewise two other figures,
of brass, of two young women, called Canephoree, with baskets on their
heads, cari-ying things proper for sacrifice, after the manner of the Athe-
nians— the work of Polycletus. These statues were an ornament not
only to Heius, but to Messana itself, being known to everybody at Rome,
and constantly visited by all strangers, to whom Heius's house was always
open. The Cupid had been borrowed by C. Claudius, for the decoration
of the Foinim in his sedileship, and was cai-efully sent back to Messana ;
but Verres, while he was Heius's guest, would never suffer him to rest
till he had stript his chapel of the gods and the Canephorse ; and, to
cover the act from an appearance of robbery, forced Heius to enter them
into his accounts, as if they had been sold to him for fifty pounds ;
whereas, at a public auction in Rome, as Cicero says, they had known one
single statue of brass, of a moderate size, sold, a little before, for a thou-
sand. VeiTes had seen likewise, at Heius's house, a suit of curious tapestry,
reckoned the best in Sicily, being of the kind which was called attalic,
richly interwoven with gold : this he resolved also to extort from Heius,
but not till he had secured the statues. As soon, therefore, as he left
Messana, he began to urge Heius by letters to send him the tapestry to
Agrigentum, for some particular service which he pretended ; but, when
he had once got it into his hands, he never restored it. Now Messana,
as it is said above, was the only city of Sicily that persevered to the last
in the interest of Ven-es ; and at the time of the trial sent a public testi-
monial in his praise, by a deputation of its eminent citizens, of which this
very Heius was the chief. Yet, when he came to be interrogated and
cross-examined by Cicero, he frankly declared, that though he was obliged
to perform what the authority of his city had imposed ujion him, yet that
he had been plundered by Verres of his gods, which were left to him by
his ancestors, and which he never would have parted with on any condi-
tions whatsoever, if it had been in his power to keep them.

"Verres had in his family two brothers, of Cilicia, the one a painter,
the other a sculptor, on whose judgment he chiefly relied in his choice of
pictures and statues, and all other pieces of art. They had been forced
to fly from their country for robbing a temple of Apollo, and were now
employed to hunt out everything that was curious and valuable in Sicily,
whether of public or private property. These brothers having given Verres
notice of a large silver ewer, belonging toPamphilus, of Lilybeum, of most
elegant work, made by Boethus, Verres immediately sent for it, and seized
it to his own use : and, while Pamphilus was sitting pensive at home
lamenting the loss of his rich vessel, the chief ornament of his sideboard,
and the pride of his feasts, another messenger came running to him with
orders to bring two silver cups also, which he was known to have, adorned
with figures in relief, to be shewn to the prsetor. Pamphilus, for fear

302 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

of greater mischief, took up his cups and carried them away himself:
when he came to the palace Verres happened to be asleep, but the
brothers were walking in the hall and waiting to receive him ; who, as
soon as they saw him, asked for the cups, which he accordingly produced.
They commended the work ; whilst he, with a sorrowful face, began to
complain that if they took his cups from him he should have nothing of
any value left in his house. The brothers, seeing his concern, asked how
much he would give to preserve them; in a word they demanded forty
crowns ; he offered twenty : but while they were debating, VeiTes awaked
and called for the cups ; which being presently shewn to him, the brothers
took occasion to observe that they did not answer to the account that
had been given of them, and were but of paltry work, not fit to be seen
among his plate: to whose authority Verres readily submitted, and so
Pamphilus saved his cups.

" In the city of Tindaris there was a celebrated image of Mercury,
which had been restored to them from Carthage by Scipio, and was wor-
shipped by the people with singular devotion, and an annual festival.
This statue Verres resolved to have, and commanded the chief magistrate
Sopater to see it taken down and conveyed to Messana. But the peo-
ple were so inflamed and mutinous upon it, that Verres did not persist
in his demand at that time ; but, when he was leaving the place, re-
newed his orders to Sopater with severe threats to see his command
executed. Sopater proposed the matter to the senate, who univereally
protested against it : in short, Verres returned to the town, and enquired
for the statue ; but was told by Sopater that the senate would not suffer
it to be taken down, and had made it capital for any one to meddle with
it without their orders. ' Do not tell me,' says Verres, ' of yoiu' senate
and your orders ; if you do not presently deliver the statue, you shall be
scoui'ged to death with rods.' Sopater, with tears, moved the affair again
to the senate, and related the praetor's threats, but in vain ; they broke
up in disorder, without giving any answer. This was reported by Sopater
to Ven-es, who was sitting in his tribunal : it was the midst of winter,
the weather extremely cold, and it rained very heavily, when Verres
ordered Sopater to be stripped and carried into the market-place, and
there to be tied upon an equestrian statue of C. Marcellus, and exposed,
naked as he was, to the rain and the cold, and stretched, in a kind of tor-
ture, upon the brazen horse ; where he must necessarily have perished if
the people of the town, out of compassion to him, had not forced their
senate to grant the Mercury to Verres.

" Young Antiochus, king of Syria, having been at Rome to claim the
kingdom of Egypt in right of his mother, passed through Sicily, at this
time, on his return home, and came to Syracuse ; where Verres, who knew
that he had a great treasure with him, received him with a particular
civility; made him large presents of wine and all refreshments for his
table, and entertained him most magnificently at supper. The king,
pleased with this compliment, invited Verres in his turn to sup with liim.

IV.] THE ARTS. 303

when his sideboard was dressed out in a royal manner with his richest
plate, and many vessels of solid gold, set with precious stones, among
which there was a large jug of wine, made out of an entire gem, with a
handle of gold to it. Verres greedily sui-veyed and admired every piece,
and the king rejoiced to see the Roman praetor so well satisfied with his
entertainment. The next morning Verres sent to the king to borrow some
of his choicest vessels, and particularly the jug, for the sake of shewing
them, as he pretended, to his own workmen ; all which the king, having
no suspicion of him, readily sent. But besides these vessels of domestic
use, the king had brought with him a large candlestick or branch for
several Ughts, of inestimable value, all made of precious stones, and
adorned with the richest jewels, which he had designed for an offering to
Jupiter Capitolinus ; but, finding the repairs of the capitol not finished,
and no place yet ready for the reception of his offering, he resolved to
carry it back without shewing it to anybody, that the beauty of it might
be new and the more surprising when it came to be first seen in that
temple. Ven-es, having got intelligence of this candlestick, sent again to
the king to beg by all means that he would favour him with a sight of it,
promising that he would not suffer any one else to see it. The king sent it
presently by his servants, who, after they had uncovered and shewn it to
Verres, expected to cany it back with them to the king; but Verres
declared that he could not sufficiently admire the beauty of the work,
and must have more time to contemplate it ; and obliged them, therefore,
to go away and leave it with him. Several days passed, and the king
heard nothing from Verres ; so that he thought proper to remind him, by
a civil message, of sending back the vessels : but Verres ordered the ser-
vants to call again some other time. In short, after a second message,
with no better success, the king was forced to speak to Verres himself :
upon which Verres earnestly entreated him to make him a present of the
candlestick. The king affirmed it to be impossible, on the account of his
vow to Jupiter, to which many nations were witnesses. Verres then
began to drop some threats ; but finding them of no more effect than his
entreaties, he commanded the king to depart instantly out of his pro-
vince, declaring that he had received intelligence of certain pirates who
were coming from his kingdom to invade Sicily. The poor king, finding
himself thus abused and robbed of his treasure, went into the great
square of the city, and in a public assembly of the people, calling upon
the gods and men to bear testimony to the injuiy, made a solemn dedica-
tion to Jupiter of the candlestick, which he had vowed and designed for
the capitol, and which Verres had forcibly taken from him."

The following letter of Pliny may shew the intense pleasure which
Romans of intelligence took in works of art :

" I have lately purchased with a legacy that was left me a statue of
Corinthian brass. It is small indeed, but well executed, at least if I have
any judgment ; which most certainly in matters of this sort, as perhaps in

.30-t GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

all others, is extremely defective. However, I think I have a taste to
discover the beauties of this figure : as it is naked, the faults, if there be
any, as well as the perfections, are more observable. It represents an old
man in a standing posture. The bones, the muscles, the veins, and
wrinkles, are so strongly expressed, that you would imagine the figure to
be animated. The character is well preserved throughout every part of
the body : the hair is thin, the forehead broad, the face shrivelled, the
throat lank, the arms languid, the breast fallen, and the belly sunk ; as the
whole turn and air of the figure behind is expressive of old age. It
appears to be antique from the colour of the brass. In short, it is a per-
formance so highly finished as to merit the attention of the most curious,
and to afford at the same time pleasure to the most common obsei'ver:
and this induced me, who am a mere novice in this art, to buy it. But
I did so, not with any intent of placing it in my own house (for I have
nothing of that kind there), but with a design of fixing it in some conspi-
cuous place in my native province, perhaps in the temple of Jupiter : for
it is a present well worthy of a temple and a god. I desire, therefore,
you would, with that care which you always execute my requests, give
immediate orders for a pedestal to be made for it. I leave the choice
of the marble to you, but let my name be engraven upon it, and, if you
think proper, my titles. I will send the statue by the first opportu-
nity ; or possibly (which I am sure you will like better) I may bring it
myself: for I intend, if I can find leisure, to make an excursion to you.
This is a piece of news which I know you will rejoice to hear ; but you
will soon change your countenance when I tell you my visit will be only
for a few days : for the same business that now detains me here, will pre-
vent my making a longer stay. Farewell."

The celebrated epistle of Catullus to Caesar concerning Mamurra,
referred to in a former chapter, has especial reference to Mamurra who
attended Csesar in his campaigns, glutting himself with the plunder of the
provinces, and then lavishing his hoards for the most profligate purposes.
Juvenal has declaimed on this subject of province-plunder with his accus-
tomed energy:

Non idem gemitus olim, neque vulnus erat par
Damnorum, sociis florentibus, et modo victis.
Plena domus tunc omnis, et ingens stabat acervus
Nummorum, Spartana chlamys, conchylia Coa;
Et cum Parrhasii tabulis, signisque Myronis,
Phydiacum vivebat ebur, nee non Polycleti
Multus ubique labor : rarcB sine Mentore mensce
Inde Dolabella est, atque hinc Antonius, inde
Sacrilegus Verres. Referebant navibus altis
Occulta spolia, et plures de pace triumphos.
Nunc sociis juga pauca boum, grex parvus equarum
Et pater armenti capto eripiatur agello;

IV.] THE ARTS. 305

Ipsi deinde Lares, si quod spectabile signum,
Si quis in sedicula Deus unicus.

When Rome at first our rich allies subdu'd,

From gentle taxes noble spoils accru'd ;

Each wealthy province, but in part opprest,

Thought the loss trivial, and enjoy'd the rest.

All treasuries did then with heaps abound ;

In every wardrobe costly silks were found ;

The least apartment of the meanest house

Could all the wealthy pride of art produce ;

Pictures which from Parrhasius did receive

Motion and warmth ; and statues taught to live ;

Some Polyclete's, some Myi-on's work declar'd,

In others Phidias' masterpiece appear'd ;

And crowding plate did on the cupboard stand,

Emboss'd by curious Mentor's artful hand. •

Prizes like these oppressors might invite,

These Dolabella's rapine did excite.

These Antony for his own theft thought fit,

Verres for these did sacrilege commit ;

And when their reigns were ended, ships full fraught

The hidden fruits of their exaction brought.
Which made in peace a treasure richer far.
Than what is plunder'd in the rage of war.

This was of old ; but our confederates now
Have nothing left but oxen for the plough,
Or some few mares reserv'd alone for breed ;
Vet lest this provident design succeed,
They drive the father of the herd away.
Making both stallion, and his pasture, prey.
Their rapine is so abject and profane.
They nor from trifles, nor from gods refrain;
But the poor Lares from the niches seize,
If they be little images that please.
Such are the spoils which now provoke their theft,
And are the greatest, nay, they 're all that 's left.

Thus may you Corinth or weak Rhodes oppress,
Who dare not bravely what they feel redress :
(For how can fops thy tyranny controul ?
Smooth limbs are symptoms of a servile soul)
But trespass not too far on sturdy Spain, ]

Sclavonia, France : thy gripes from those restrain, }
Who with their sweat Rome's luxury maintain, ^
And send us plenty, while our wanton day
Is lavish'd at the circus or the play.

20

306 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Cii.

For, should you to extortion be inclin'd, •
Your cruel guilt will little booty find,
Since gleaning Marius has already seiz'd
All that from sun-burnt Afric can be squeez'd.

But above all, " Be careful to withhold
Your talons from the wretched and the bold ;
Tempt not the brave and needy to despair ;
For, though your violence should leave 'ra bare
Of gold and silver, swords and dai'ts remain,
And will revenge the wrongs which they sustain :
The plunder'd still have arms."

Think not the precept I have here laid down
A fond, uncertain notion of my own ;
No, 'tis a sibyl's leaf what I relate,
And fix'd and sure as the decrees of fate.

XLIII.
ON A TOREUTIC CUP.

Quis labor in phiala ? docti Myos, anne Myronis ?

Mentoris haec manus est, an, Polyclete, tua ?
Livescit nulla caligine fusca, nee odit

Exploratores nubila massa foeos.
Vera minus flavo radiant eleetra metallo,

Et niveum felix pustula vincit ebur.
Materise non eedit opus : sic alligat orbem,

Plurima eum tota lampade Luna nitet.
Stat caper iEolio Thebani vellere Phryxi

Cultus : ab hoc mallet vecta fuisse soror.
Hunc nee Cinyphius tonsor violaverit, et tu

Ipse tua pasci vite, Lya3e, velis.
Terga premit pecoris geminis Amor aureus alis :

Palladius tenero lotos ab ore sonat.
Sic Methymnseo gavisus Arione delphin

Languida non tacitum per freta vexit onus.
Imbuat egregium digno mihi nectare munus

Non grege de domini, sed tua, Ceste, manus.

IV.] THE ARTS. 307

Ceste, decus mensae, misce Setina : videtur

Ipse puer nobis, ipse sitire caper.
Det numerum cyathis instanti litera Rufi :

Auctor enim tanti muneris ille mihi.
Si Telethusa venit, promissaque gaudia portat :

Servabor dominEe, Riife, triente tuo.
Si dubia est, septunce trahar : si fallit amantem,

Ut jugulem curas, nomen utrumque bibam.

The wond'rous form could Mys', or Myron's art,
Or, Mentor's, thine, or Polyclete's impart ?
Thy spotless cloudless mass must all admire :
That, far from dreading, dares the test of fire.
Electrum radiates less a golden stream :
The polisht elephant may rudeness seem.
The rich materials, bright as lunar beam,
When, with the work compar'd, appear but mean.
Forth springs the goat, th' ^Eolic fleece unshorn,
On whom poor Helle better had been borne.
The dire Cinyphian ne'er had shorn his hair ;
Nor, dear dissolver of each mortal care,
Hadst thou denied this goat to crop thy vine,
Or fancied him a foe to thee or thine.
With winged Love behold the bestial crown'd :
Hear from his mouth the lote Palladian sound.
Such joy Arion to the fish convey'd,
When through the stilly main the rider play'd.
The precious boon with the nectareous dew.
No vulgar lips, but, Cestus, thine imbue.
Then with the blended Setian bid it mount :
The boy and goat thirst for that mantling fount.
^Vho should the numeral of that goblet name.
But he from whom the peerless goblet came ?

The translation by Elphinstone, a little modified, concludes with a re-
ference to the drinking customs of the Romans, whereby the poet engages,
under certain circumstances, to drink the number of cyathuses equivalent
to the number of letters in the honor's, prcenomen, under others, those of his
nomen, and under certain untoward events, to console himself by drinking
both names. In another epigram. Martial complains, that for wanting of

20—2

308 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

any lady visiting him whose name he could drink, he was obliged,
before going to bed, to drink the letters of the name of Somnus. The
Roman Sextarius was equivalent in liquids to the as in solids, and was
similarly divided, the cyathns being equivalent to the imcia, or ounce.
So that to drink the two names, Instantius Rufus, would take fifteen
cyathi, that is to say, a full sextarius, and a quadrans or fourth. This,
and other di'inking customs, as the casting of dice for the rulership of
the cups, are illustrated in a very agreeable manner in the 10th scene of
Bekker's Oallus, entitled " The Banquet." Butler, in Hudihras, alludes
to the practice of drinking names :

I'll carve your name on barks of trees
With true-loves-knots, and flom'ishes ;
Drink every letter on't in stum,
And make it brisk champaign become.

Horace, although, in his Odes, he is full of vivacity when dwelling on
banqueting laws, in his Epistles he expatiates on the superior enjoyment
of a table, at wliich rational conversation is the fashion of the place, and
whence all insane rules (legibus insanis) of drinking are discarded.

It appears from this epigram, and from other authorities, that eminent
statuaries, as Myron, and Polycletus, were also famous for toreutic. The
electrum spoken of, was a metal consisting of gold, and one-fifth part
silver : it was supposed to reflect the light of a lamp more brilliantly than
silver. It had also attributed to it, like the modern glass of Venice, the
power of detecting poison.

With regard to the Setine and other Roman wines, and the mixing of
wines, there is a fund of information in Dr Smith's Dictionary, art. Vinum,
and in Bekker's Oallus. Before the time of Augustus, the Csecuban was
the most prized wine. During the reign of Augustus, and afterwards, the
Setine held the first rank : the second rank was held by the Falernian :
in the third rank were the Albanian, Massic, Galenic, Formianum, Sur-
rentinum.

Juvenal, in his first Satire, alludes to the particular device of a goat
executed in toreutic on a cup, and standing out from it in bold relief.
Anacreon sings of many pretty devices on drinking-cups. The following
classical description of an ancient vase is by Keats :

Thou still unravish'd bride of Quietness !

Thou foster-child of Silence and slow Time,
Sylvan historian, who canst thus express

A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme :
What leaf-fringed legend haunts about thy shape

Of deities or mortals, or of both.
In Tempe or the dales of Arcady ?

What men or gods are these ? What maidens loth ?
Wliat mad pursuit ? What struggle to escape ?

What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?

IV.] THE ARTS. 309

Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard

Are sweeter ; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on ;
Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear'd,

Pipe to the spirit tlitties of no tone :
Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave

Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare ;
Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss,
Though winning near the goal — yet, do not grieve ;

She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss.
For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!

Ah, happy, happy boughs ! that cannot shed

Your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu ;
And, happy melodist, unwearied,

For ever piping songs for ever new ;
More happy love ! more happy, happy love !

For ever warm and still to be enjoy'd,
For ever panting and for ever young ;
All breathing human passion far above,

That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloy'd,
A burning forehead, and a parching tongue.

Who are these coming to the sacrifice ?

To what green altar, O mysterious priest,
Lead'st thou that heifer lowing at the skies,

And all her silken flanks with garlands drest ?
What little town by river or sea-shore.

Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel,
Is emptied of this folk, this pious morn ?
And, little town, thy streets for evermore

Will silent be ; and not a soul to tell
Why thou art desolate, can e'er return.

O Attic shape ! Fair attitude ! with brede

Of marble men and maidens overwrought.
With forest branches and the trodden weed ;

Thou, silent form ! dost tease us out of thought
As doth eternity : Cold Pastoral !

When old age shall this generation waste,
Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe
Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st,

"Beauty is truth, truth beauty," that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.

310 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

XLIV.

A ROMAN BAZAAR.

In septis Mamurra diu multumque vagatus ;

Hie ubi Roma siias aurea vexat opes,
Inspexit molles pueros, oculisque comedit :

Non lios, quos primae prostituere casae ;
Sed quos arcanse servant tabulata catastse,

Et quos non populus, nee mea turba videt.
Inde satur, mensas, et opertos exuit orbes,

Expositumque alte pingue poposeit ebur :
Et testudineum mensus quater hexaclinon,

Ingemuit citro non satis esse suo.
Consuluit nares, an olerent sera Corinthon :

Culpavit statuas et, Polyclete, tuas.
Et turbata brevi questus crystallina vitro,

Myrrhina signavit, seposuitque decern.
Expendit veteres calathos, et si qua fuerunt

Pocula Mentorea nobilitata manu :
Et virides picto gemmas numeravit in auro,

Quidquid et a nivea grandius aure sonat.
Sardonyehas veros mensa quassivit in omni,

Et pretium magnis fecit iaspidibus.
Undecima lassus cum jam discederet hora,

Asse duos calices emit, et ipse tulit.

Mamurra, having walked a good deal up and down
the stalls of the Market, first looks over and feasts his eyes
on the slaves ; not those exposed in the public stalls such
as poor Martial and peojjle of his condition can think of
purchasing, but those kept for rich connoisseurs in private
apartments above the shops.

Thence full, he calls for the round tables down,
And t'have the high-placed ivory open shown.
And measuring the tortoise beds thrice o'er,
As too small for his cypress, groaned sore.
Then smells if purely Corinth the brass scent ?
And Delian statues g-ive him no content.

IV.] THE ARTS. 311

Complains the crystals mixed with coarser glass,
Marks myrrhine cups, and ten aside doth place.
Cheapens old baskets, and, if any were
Wrought cups by noble 3Ientor's cunning there.
And numbers the green emeralds laid in gold.
Or any from the ears that take their hold.
Then seeks true gems in table boards most nice,
And if rich precious jaspers, asks the price.
Tir'd, and departing when the eleventh hour come,
He bought two farthing cups, and took them home.

The translation is by Fletcher, a.d. 1656. The first commodity
which attracts Mamurra's notice are the slaves. The more beautiful and
expensive were not sold in the market by an auctioneer, but by private
contract in shops (tabernce), and kept in inner partitions of the shops,
or in a higher story. They were placed on a wooden scaffold (catasta),
where they might be seen and handled. We read in the classics of about
£4. 17s. Qd., £64, and JESOO, being given for a single slave ; and of a slave
being sold to defray the expence of a single dish, which Martial designates
as cannibalism.

The tables, which are the next object of Mamurra's attention, were
among the most expensive articles of Roman furniture. The orbes, or
round tables, cost immense sums of money. Pliny relates that Cicero
had paid for one which was extant in his time, 1,000,000 sesterces. The
most costly specimens were those cut off near the root, not only because
the tree was broadest there, but on account of the wood being dappled
and speckled, so as sometimes to resemble parsley-leaves, the skins of
leopards, or peacocks* tails. These orbes, unlike other tables, were not
provided with several feet, but rested on an ivory column, sometimes in
imitation of lions' or tigers' feet.

The hexaclinon was a semicircular sofa adapted to a round table, and
capable of holding six persons. Mamurra makes an excuse for not pur-
chasing the hexaclinon, after measuring it four times, that it was a little
too small for his cedar-table at home.

Corinthian brass, or bronze, held the first place among brasses in the
estimation of the ancients. Some pretended that it was an alloy made
accidentally by the melting and running together of various metals at the
burning of Corinth by Mummius. Pliny the elder particularizes several
classes of Corinthian brass, one of which was white from the quantity of
silver, and another yellow, from gold predominating among the ingredi-
ents : a third kind of note was the liver-coloured brass. Thei'e was
also the bronze of Delos, used by Myi-on, and that of ^gina, used by
Polycletus. No ancient works in brass (or copper and zinc) have yet been
discovered. Those in bronze are found to be composed for the most part

312 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

of copper and tin (Smith's Diet. art. ^s). Pliny says that the composi-
tion of Corinthian brass was a secret lost in his time.

The myn-hine vases were fii'st introduced into Rome by Pompey the
Great, who dedicated cups of this manufacture to Jupiter Capitolinus.
Pliny mentions that 70 talents were given for a myrrhine cup holding
three sextarii, and he speaks of a myrrhine trulla which cost 300 talents.
Nero gave this sum for a myrrhine drinking-cup. There has been much
diflference of opinion concerning the material of which mjTrhine vessels
were composed. Most recent writers incline to think that they were true
Chinese porcelain. Pliny mentions that they were principally valued on
account of their variety of colours. Martial writes :

Nos bibimus vitro, tu myrrha, Pontice. Quaere ?
Prodat perspicuus ne duo vina, calix.

" We drink out of glass, our host out of a myrrhine cup. Why ? Be-
cause he does not wish his cup to betray that he is drinking better wine
than we are in ours."

Myrrhine cups were supposed to improve the flavour of Falemian wine.
Si calidum potas, ardenti myrrha Falerno
Convenit, et meUor fit sapor inde mere.

Sir W. Gell, in his Pompeiana, states that the porcelain of the East
was called Mirrah di Smyrna so late as a.d. 1555.

With regard to the crystal and glass vessels, the Museo Borbonico at
Naples, which contains the relics of Herculaneum and Pompeii, includes
2400 specimens of ancient glass, many of which are remarkable for their
graceful forms and brilliant colours, and are of the most delicate and com-
plicated workmanship. Dr Smith, in his Dictionary, art. Vitrum, gives a
picture of an ancient glass-cup. It has an inscription, Bibe, Vivas multos
annos, " Drink, and may you live many years." The characters of the
inscription are green, the colour of the cup resembles opal, shades of red,
white, yellow, and blue, predominating in turn, according to the angle at
which the light falls upon it. The cup is surrounded with a blue net-
work in glass, not soldered to it, but the whole cut out of a sohd mass,
after the manner of a Cameo. The Portland Vase, discovered about
three hundred years ago in a marble cofiin, is composed of dark-blue
glass of a very rich tint, on the surface of which are delineated in relief
several minute and elaborately-wrought figures of opaque white enamel.
In the time of Nero, a pah* of moderate-sized glass-cups with handles
sometimes cost £50. A stoiy is related by Petronius, Dion, and Pliny,
that a coppersmith had discovered the art of making glass-vessels of such a
pliant hardness, that they were no more to be broken than gold or silver :
that, being sent for by Tiberius, he threw one of his glass-vessels on the
paved floor, whereupon it was not broken, though it bulged a little. He
took a hammer out of his pocket, and hammered the vessel, as though it
had been a brass kettle, and so removed all signs of the bruise it had re-

IV.] THE ARTS. Si 8

ceived. Tiberius asked him if any one knew how to make malleable
glass besides himself ; he answered that he had imparted the art to no
one. On which the emperor immediately ordered his head to be struck
off I " For," said he, " if this art be once known, gold and silver will be of
no more esteem than dirt."

Polycletus's statues, and Mentor's toreutic works, have been mentioned
in a previous page. In regard to crystal cups, and amber ornaments,
and the precious stones known to the ancients, and the ingenious modes
of counterfeiting them, a multitude of particulars will be found in the
37th book of Pliny's Natural History. He relates many curious anec-
dotes connected with these rarities. Of this nature are the descrip-
tion of the jewels displayed at Pompey's third triumph, including the
image of himself in pearls : Fourscore sesterces given for a calcedony
cup, notwithstanding a piece of the brim had been bit out in a fit of gal-
lantry, after a lady had touched it with her lips : A sonnet by Nero, in
which he compares the hair of Poppeea to amber : The full-length figures
of a man and woman in amber : A calcedony cup of the value of three
hundred thousand sesterces destroyed by its owner, when about to be put
to death, lest the emperor should seize it : Two crystal drinking-cups of
immense value dashed to pieces by Nero in a fit of imperial rage.

Mamurra quits the market at the eleventh hour, which, in the summer
solstice would commence, in modem hours, at 5 hrs. 2 m., and, in the winter
solstice, at 2 hrs. 58m. ; in short, he spent the whole day in choosing and
cheapening, and concluded with buying two insignificant cups, which, for
want of a slave, he carried away himself. The bathos with which the
epigram concludes is a favourite species of wit with modem epigramma-
tists, of which several pleasing specimens may be seen in Lord Kaimes's
Elements of Criticism.

XLV.

THE GREAT TUN AT HEIDELBURG.

Nunc, age, fas magni vas instar visere montis

Divina structum Palladis arte cadum.
Nobilis author adest, urbs quern Landavia misit,

Fine potita suo gloria ponit opus.
Ponit opus, deeus acre Ducum, non quale priorum,

iEtas vel vidit, nulla vel ansa manus.
Non, mihi si prasstent mirandam Daedalus artem

Ipse, Syracusius vel faber ille suam :

314 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

Immanem molem satis hanc describere possem,

Ante suo volvam pondus onusque loco.
Laude opus hoc dignum est : oculos cum caBtera pascant,

Spectaclum ventres hoc satiare potest.

Now it is lawful to behold this Tun made by the
divine art of Minerva, after the similitude of a huge moun-
tain. A native of Landavit erected this noble memorial
of the magnificence and glory of our royal Dukes, such as
no former age has seen, no former hand has dared to
attempt. But had I the mechanical skill of Daedalus,
or even of the God Vulcan himself, I could give no ade-
quate description of the wonders of this Tun. It would be
an undertaking as rash and vain for me, as if I were to en-
deavour, by my owti strength, to move it out of its place.
A peculiar merit, however, of this surprising Tun I will not
omit : it is, that whereas other extraordinary spectacles
entertain only the eyes, this Tun administers also to the
enjoyments of the inner man.

The verses on the Tun are more than a hundred in number, but
contain very little description : there is, however, an exuberance of classi-
cal illustrations, as, for example, such as are derived from the Trojan Horse,
and from Diogenes's Tub. The following description of the Great Tun
by Coryat, in his Crudities, is amusing. Though it was the fashion in the
time of King James to laugh at this traveller, perhaps no Englishman of
his time had seen so much as the Leg-stretcher (so he was called) of
foreign parts, and few could give more graphic descriptions of what they
saw. His book contains a picture of the Tun, with himself standing upon
it in the attitude of drinking a glass of Rhenish wine from the contents
of the Tun :

" But some of the gentlemen of the prince's family did sufficiently
recompence my loss of the sight of these ancient pillars by shewing me a
certain piece of work that did much more please my eyes than the sight
of those pillars could have done. For it is the most remarkable and
famous thing of that kind that I saw in my whole journey, yea, so memo-
rable a matter,* that I think there was never the like fabric (for that which
they shewed me was nothing else than a strange kind of fabric) in all the
world, and I doubt whether posterity will ever frame so monstrously
strange a thing: it was nothing but a vessel full of wine. This the
gentlemen of the court shewed me after they had first conveyed me into
divers wine-cellars, where I saw a wondrous company of extraordinary

IV.] THE ARTS. 315

great vessels, the greatest part whereof was replenished with Rhenish
wine, the total number containing one hundred and thirty particulars.
But the main vessel above all the rest, that superlative moles unto which
I now bend my speech, was shewed me last of all standing alone by itself
in a wonderful vast room. I must needs say I was suddenly strooken with
no small admiration upon the first sight thereof. For it is such a
stupendous mass (to give it the same epitheton that I have done before
to the beauty of St Mark's street in Venice) that I am persuaded it will
affect the gravest and constantest man in the world with wonder. Had
this fabric been extant in those ancient times when the Colossus of Rhodes,
the labyrinths of Egypt and Creta, the temple of Diana at Ephesus, the
hanging gardens of Semiramis, the tomb of Mausolus, and the rest of
those decantated miracles did flourish in their principal glory, I think
Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus would have celebrated this rare work
with their learned style as well as the rest, and have consecrated the
memory thereof to immortality, as a very memorable miracle. For, in-
deed, it is a kind of monstrous mh'acle, and that of the greatest size for
a vessel that this age doth yield in any place whatsoever (as I am verily
persuaded) under the cope of heaven. Pardon me, I pray thee, (gentle
reader) if I am something tedious in discoursing of this huge vessel. For
as it was the strangest spectacle that I saw in my travels, so I hope it
will not be unpleasant unto thee to read a full descripion of all the par-
ticular circumstances thereof: and for thy better satisfaction I have
inserted a true figure thereof in this place (though but in a small form)
according to a certain pattern that I brought with me from the city of
Francfort, where I saw the first type thereof sold. Also I have added an
imaginary kind of representation of myself upon the top of the same, in
that manner as I stood there with a cup of Rhenish wine in my hand. The
room where it standeth is wonderful vast (as I said before), and capa-
cious, even almost as big as the fairest hall I have seen in England, and it
containeth no other thing but the same vessel. It was begun in the year
1589, and ended 1591, one Michael Warner, of the city of Landavia, being
the principal maker of the work. It containeth a hundred and two and
thirty fiiders, three omes, and as manj Jirtles. These are peculiar names for
certain German measures. Which I will reduce to our English computa-
tion. Every fuder countervaileth our tun, that is, four hogsheads, and is
worth in Heidelberg fifteen pound sterling. So then those hundred two
and thirty /(jrfers are worth nineteen hundred and fourscore pounds of our
English money. The ome is a measure whereof six do make a fuder,
the three being worth seven pounds ten shillings. TtxQ jirtU is a measure
that countervaileth six of our pottles : every pottle in Heidelberg is worth
twelve pence sterling. So the three jirtles containing eighteen pottles,
are worth eighteen shillings. The total sum that the wine is worth
wliich this vessel containeth, doth amount to nineteen hundred fourscore
and eight pounds, and eight odd shillings. This strange news perhaps
will seem utterly incredible to thee at the first : but I would have thee

316 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

believe it. For nothing is more true. Moreover, thou must consider that
this vessel is not compacted of boards as other barrels are, but of solid
great beams, in number a hundred and twelve, whereof every one is seven
and twenty foot long. Also each end is sixteen foot high, and the belly
eighteen. It is hooped with wondrous huge hoops of iron (the number
whei'eof is six and twenty), which do contain eleven thousand pound
weight. It is supported on each side with ten marvellous great pillars
made of timber, and beautified at both the ends and the top with the images
of lions, which are the prince's arms, two lions at each end, a fair
scutcheon being aflfixed to every image. The wages that was paid to the
workman for his labour (the prince finding all necessary matter for his
work, and allowing him his diet), came to two thousand three hundred
and fourscore florins of Brabant, each florin being two shillings of our
money, which sum amounteth to eleven score and eighteen pounds ster-
ling. When the cellarer di-aweth wine out of the vessel, he ascendeth two
several degrees of wooden stau-s made in the form of a ladder, which con-
tain seven and twenty steps, or rungs, as we call them in Somersetshire,
and so goeth up to the top. About the middle whereof there is a bung-
hole or a venting orifice, into the which he conveyeth a pretty instrument
of some foot and half long, made in the form of a spout, wherewith he
draweth up the wine, and so poiireth it after a pretty manner into the
glass or &c. out of the same instrument. I myself had experience of this
matter. For a gentleman of the court accompanied me to the top, toge-
ther with one of the cellarers, and exhilarated me with two sound draughts
of Rhenish wine : for that is the wine that it containeth. But I advise
thee, gentle reader, whatsoever thou art that intendest to travel into
Germany, and perhaps to see Heidelberg, and also this vessel before thou
comest out of the city ; I advise thee (I say) if thou dost happen to
ascend to the top thereof to the end to taste of the wine, that in any case
thou dost drink moderately, and not so much as the sociable Germans will
persuade thee unto. For if thou shouldest chance to over-swill thyself
with wine, peradventure such a giddiness will benumb thy brain, that
thou wilt scarce find the direct way down from the steep ladder without
a very dangerous precipitation. Having now so copiously described unto
thee the vessel, I have thought good to add unto this my poor description,
certain Latin verses made by a learned Gorman in praise of the vessel,
which I have selected out of the copy that I bought at Frankfort, being
printed at the University of Leyden in Holland, by one Henry Hsestenius,
Anno 1608, and dedicated to a certain nobleman called Hippolytus, lord
president of the prince's chancery court.

IV.] THE ARTS. 317

XLVI.

A TREE CUT INTO THE SHAPE OF A BEAR.

Proxima centenis ostenclitur ursa columnis,

Exornant fictae qua Platanona feras.
Hujus duni patulos alludens tentat hiatus

Pulcher Hylas ; teneram mersit in ora manum.
Vipera sed cseco scelerata latebat in ore,

Vivebatque anima deteriore fera.
Non sensit puer esse dolos, nisi dente recepto,

Dum perit. o facinus, falsa quod ursa fuit !

Near the hundred columns, where is a garden orna-
mented with counterfeit wild beasts cut in box and cypress,
a hear is very conspicuous. Young Hylas, in sport, put his
hand into the gaping mouth of this leafy monster. Now a
viper was lurking in this hole, which, upon being disturbed,
stung the youth. What a pity it was that this bear was
not a real one !

The epigram illustrates a letter of Pliny, cited in the last chapter, and
several notices in the works of the elder Pliny, concerning ornamental
gardening among the Romans. On this subject there is a lively disqui-
sition in Bekker's Gallus, in Scene V, entitled " The Villa," and Excursus
II. to Scene V, entitled "The Gardens," including an account of the forcing
of roses in greenhouses, and of flower-pots in windows, both alluded to by
Martial.

XL VII.
GROWTH OF A MAN OF WAR FROM AN ACORN.

Exigua crescit de glande altissima quercus,
Et tandem patulis surgit in astra comis ;

Dumque anni pergunt, crescit latissima moles ;
Mox secat sequoreas bellica navis aquas :

Angliacis hinc fama, salus hinc nascitur oris,
JEt glans est nostri prsesidium imperii.

318 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Cn.

From a small acorn, see ! the oak arise,
Supremely tall, and towering in the skies !
Queen of the groves ! her stately head she rears,
Her bulk increasing with increasing years :
Now moves in pomp, majestic, o'er the deep.
While in her womb ten thousand thunders sleep.

The reader may think that the point with which the original concludes,
that the " Palladium of our Empire is an acom," is better aimed than
the " ten thousand thunders" of Pitt.

XL V III.

ON A SHEPHERD'S FIRST SIGHT OF A SHIP.

Tanta moles labitur
Fremebunda ex alto, ingenti sonitu et spii'itu
Prae se undas volvit, vortices vi suscitat,
Ruit prolapsa, pelagus respergit, reflat :
Ita nunc interruptum credas nimbum volvier,
Num quod sublime ventis expulsum rapi
Saxum, aut procellis, vel globosos turbines
Exsistere ictos, undis concursantibus ?
Num quas terrestres pontus strages conciet ;
Aut forte Triton fuscina evertens specus
Subter radices penitus undanti in freto
Molem ex profundo saxeam ad ccelum vomit.

For, as we stood there waiting on the strond.
Behold, an huge great vessell to us came,
Dauncing upon the waters back to lond,
As if it scornd the daunger of the same ;
Yet was it but a wooden frame and fraile,
Glewed togither with some subtile matter.
Yet had it armes and Avings, and head and taile,
And life to move it selfe upon the water.

IV.] THE ARTS. 319

Strange thing ! how bold and swift the monster was,
That neither car'd for wynd, nor haile, nor raine,
Nor swelling Avavcs, but thorough them did passe
So proudly, that she made them roare again.

Tlie Latin is from a fragment of Attius presei-ved by Cicero: the
English is from Spenser's Colin Clout 's come home again.

XLIX.

FRAGMENT OF THE SHIP ARGO.

Fragmentum, quod vile putas et inutile lignum,

Hsec fuit ignoti prima carina maris.
Quam nee Cyanese quondam potuere ruinaB

Frangere, nee Scythici tristior ira freti.
Secula vicerunt : sed quamvis cesserit annis,

Sanctior est salva parva tabella rate.

The bit of wood, you so disdain,
Was the first keel that plough'd the main.
Her not conflicting rocks could crash :
She mock'd the hyperborean lash.
Regardless thus of every rage.
She yielded to all-conquering age,
And the small remnant of a slip,
Became more sacred than a ship.

The ancient Romans aflforded several examples for the religious relics
of the modern Romish Chm-ch : for, besides that in the text, was the
Rumenal tree, mentioned by Tacitus, which was supposed to have sheltered
Romulus and Remus, and the straw-roofed cottage on the Capitoline Hill,
mentioned by Vitruvius, in which Romulus and Remus wei'e supposed to
have been brought up.

Tacitus writes : " This year the tree, called Rumenalis, (Rumen was an
old word for dug of the she- wolf, jEneid, Lib, vni.) which stood in the
place assigned for public elections, and eight hundred and forty years
before had given shelter to the infancy of Romulus and Remus, began to
wither in all its branches : the sapless trunk seemed to threaten a total

320 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

decay. This was considered as a dreadful prognostic, till the new buds
expanding into leaf, the tree recovered its former verdure." The two
sacred Triremes of Athens, and the Bucentaur, belonging to the Doge of
"Venice, have enjoyed gi-eat traditional celebrity, raising a subtle point
whether a ship's identity was preserved or lost after an indefinite number
of repairs. Howell, in his Letters, written in the reign of James I., gives
an account of the Bucentaur, which he says was then three hundred
years old. Coryat's description, in his Cmdities, of the Bucentaur, is not
very commonly read :

" The fairest galley of all is the Bucentoro, the upper parts whereof
in the outside are richly gilt. It is a thing of marvellous worth, the
richest gaUey of all the world ; for it cost one hundred thousand crowns,
which is thirty thousand pound sterling. A work so exceeding glorious,
that I never heard or read of the like in any place of the world, these only
excepted, viz. that of Cleopatra, which she so exceeding sumptuously
adorned with cables of silk and other passing beautiful ornaments ; and
those that the Emperor Caligula built with timber of cedar, and poops
and stems of ivory. And lastly, that most incomparable and peerles ship
of our gracious prince, called the Prince Royal, which was launched at
Woolwich about Michaelmas last, which indeed doth, by many degrees,
surpass this Bucentoro of Venice, and any ship else (I beheve) in Christ-
endom. In this galley the Duke launcheth into the sea some few miles
off, upon the Ascension Day, being accompanied with the principal sena-
tors and patricians of the city, together with all the ambassadors and per-
sonages of greatest mark that happen to be in the city at that time. At
the higher end there is a most sumptuous gilt chair for the Duke to sit in,
at the back whereof there is a loose board to be lifted up, to the end
he may look into the sea through that open space, and throw a golden
ring into it, in token that he doth, as it were, betroth himself imto the sea,
as the principal lord and commander thereof. A ceremony that was first
instituted in Venice by Alexander, the third pope of that name, when
Sebastianus Zanus was Duke, 1174, unto whom he delivered a golden ring
from his own finger, in token that the Venetians having made war upon
the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, in defence of his quarrel, discomfited his
fleet at Istria, and he commanded him for his sake to throw the like golden
ring into the sea every year, upon Ascension Day, during his life, establish-
ing this withal, that all his successoi's should do the like ; which custom
hath been ever since observed to tliis day. The rowers of the gaUey sit in
a lower part thereof, which are in number forty-two ; the images of five
slaves are most cm'iously made in the upper part of the galley, and richly
gilt, standing near to the Duke's seat on both sides. A little from them
are made twenty gilt statues more in the same row where the other five
stand, which is done at both sides of the galley. And whereas there are
two long benches made in the middle for great personages to sit on, over
each of these benches are erected ten more gilt images, which do yield a
wondrous ornament to the galley. At the end of one of these middle

IV.] THE ARTS. 32 J

benches is erected the statue of George Castriot, alias Scanderbeg, Despot
of Servia, and Iving of Epirus, who fought many battles for the faith of
Christ and the Christian religion, against the Turks, of whom he got many
glorious victories. His statue is made all at length, according to the full
proportion of a man's body, and sumptuously gilt. Right opposite unto
which there standeth the image of Justice, which is likewise gilt, at the
very end of the galley, holding a sword in her hand. This galley will
contain twelve hundred and twenty persons. At each end without are
made two exceeding great winged lions as beautifully gilt as the rest."

But no nautical relic has, perhaps, been more zealously celebrated
than the ship in which Drake sailed round the world ; part of which was
converted into an arm-chair, and so preserved among the antiquities be-
longing to the University of Oxford. Cowley wrote two poems on the
subject ; in the following, the poet supposes himself sitting and drinking
in the chair:

Cheer up, my mates ! the wind does fairly blow ;

Clap on more sail, and never spare;

FareweU all lands, for now we are

In the wide sea of drink, and merrily we go.

Bless me ! 't is hot : another bowl of wine.

And we shall cut the bm-ning line.

Hey, boys ; she scuds away, and by my head I know

We round the world are sailing now.

What dull men are those who tarry at home.

When abroad they might wantonly roam,

And gain such experience, and spy too

Such countries and wonders as I do ?

But, prithee, good pilot ! take heed what you do.

And fail not to touch at Peru ;

With gold there the vessel we'll store.

And never, and never be poor;

No, never be poor any more.

What do I mean ? what thoughts do me misguide ?

As well upon a staff may witches ride

Their fancied journeys in the air,

As I sail roimd the ocean in this chair :

'Tis true; but yet this chair which here you see,

For all its quiet now and gravity.

Has wander'd and has travell'd more

Than ever beast, or fish, or bird, or ever tree, before.

In ev'ry air and ev'ry sea 't has been,

'T has compass'd all the earth, and aU the heav'ns 't has seen.

Let not the Pope's itself with this compare ;

This is the only universal chair.

21

322 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

The pious wand'rer's fleet, sav'd from the flame,

(Which did the relics still of Troy pursue,

And took them for its due)

A squadron of immortal nymphs became ;

Still with their arms they row about the seas,

And still make new and greater voyages :

Nor has the first poetic ship of Greece

(Though now a star she so triumphant shew,

And guide her sailing successors below.

Bright as her ancient freight, the shining Fleece)

Yet to this day a quiet harbour found.

The tide of heaVn still carries her around:

Only Drake's sacred vessel, which before

Had done, and had seen more

Than those have done or seen,

Ev'n since they goddesses and this a star has been.

As a reward for all her labour past.

Is made the seat of rest at last.

Let the case now quite alter'd be.

And as thou went'st abroad the world to see,

Let the world now come to see thee.

The world will do't ; for curiosity

Does, no less than devotion, pUgrims make;

And I myself, who now love quiet, too,

As much almost as any chair can do.

Would yet a journey take

An old wheel of that chariot to see

Which Phaeton so rashly brake :

Yet what could that say more than these remains of Drake ?

Great relic ! thou, too, in this port of ease.

Hast still one way of making voyages ;

The breath of Fame, like an auspicious gale,

(The greater trade-wind which ne'er does fail)

Shall drive thee roimd the world, and thou shalt run

As long around it as the sun.

The streights of Time too narrow are for thee,

Launch forth into an indiscover'd sea,

And steer the endless course of vast eternity ;

Take for thy sail this verse, and for thy pilot me.

IV.] THE ARTS. 323

THE SPHERE OF ARCHIMEDES.

Jupiter in parvo cum cerneret sethera vitro,

Eisit, et ad Superos talia verba declit.
Hoceine mortalis progressa potentia curse ?

Jam meus in fragili luditur orbe labor.
Jura poli, rerumque fidem, legesque Deorum

Ecce Syracosius transtulit arte senex.
Inclusus variis famulatur spiritus astris,

Et vivum certis motibus urget opus.
Percurrit proprium mentitus Signifer annum

Et simulata novo Cynthia mense redit.
Jamque suum volvens audax industria mundum,

Gaudet, et humana sidera mente regit.
Quid falso insontem tonitru Salmonea miror ?

^mula naturae parva reperta manus.

When Jove Archimedes's sphere survey'd,
He smil'd, and to the heav'nly dwellers said,
Could mortal cunning such a work devise,
In brittle glass, to imitate the skies ?
The laws, and rules, and orders of our Heav'n,
The Syracusan to his globe has giv'n.
Well govern'd all his various stars appear,
And whirl, in certain motion, round his sphere :
His little Sun performs its annual race.
And every month his Moon renews her face :
His brittle world the daring artist guides,
And o'er the Stars a human mind presides :
Salmoneus counterfeited thunder hurl'd.
But here is one that counterfeits a World.

The Latin is from Claudian, the English from Oldys's Epigrams.
There is another version in Hawkins's Claudian.

Cicero makes use of Archimedes's Sphere to ilhistrate an argument in
his Treatise on the Nature of the Gods. He writes that if this sphere,
which exhibited the sun and moon, and the changes of day and night,
were taken to the most barbarous countries of the earth, (he instances

21—2

324 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch. IV.

Britain as the iie plus ultra of barbarism and ignorance), no stupid inha-
bitant of those regions would doubt but that contrivance had been
employed in producing such an exquisite piece of art. Nevertheless, a
large portion of mankind were less just towards nature than to Archi-
medes, for whilst they acknowledged Archimedes's skill in imitation, they
failed to recognize far greater contrivance and perfection of execution in
the thing imitated, in the mechanism of the world. Archimedes's Sphere
is alluded to in Ovid's Fasti, vi. 271, and by Lactantius, De Origine
Erroris, Lib. n., who mentions that Archimedes's Sphere exhibited the
phases of the moon, and the relative motions of all the heavenly bodies ;
and the Father of the church argues, that what man can imitate God
may have contrived.

CHAPTER V.
INSCRIPTIONS.

I.

REGNARD AT THE FROZEN SEA.

Gallia nos genuit, vidit nos Africa, Gangem
Hausimus, Europamque oculis lustravimus omnem,
Casibus et variis acti terraque marique
Hie tandem stetimus, nobis ubi defuit orbis.

La France nous a donne la naissance. Nous avons vu
I'Afrique, et le Gange, parcouru toute I'Europe. Nous
avons eu differentes aventures tant par mer que par terre;
et nous nous sommes arretes en cet endroit ou le monde
nous a manque.

The Latin inscription was engraved by Regnard, August 22, a. d.
1681, on a rock at the top of the mountain Metawara, the extreme
point of land bounded by the Frozen Ocean, where he was stopt for
want of world.

II.

SELDEN'S HOUSE.

Gratus, Honeste, mihi ; non claudar, inito, sedeque
Fur, abeas ; non sum facta soluta tibi.

Thou'rt welcome, honest friend ; walk in, make free.
Thief, get thee gone ; my doors are closed to thee.

326 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

This inscription is carved upon the oak-lintel of Selden's cottage, in
the village of Salvington, in Sussex. The Author had occasion to coUect
some memorials of Selden, and was led to search the Register of the
Church of the parish in which the cottage is situated. He found in the
Register an entry, " 1584, John, the son of John Selden, the minstrell,
was baptised the xsth of December." The identity of the parish, and
Christian name, and the circumstance that the date must be somewhere
near that of Selden's birth, were almost enough to satisfy him that he
had hit the right entry : but when he found " Son of John Selden the
minstrell," he immediately recognized the object of his search, for he
recollected that when this illustrious character, to whom the constitu-
tion of the county is so deeply indebted, and whose learning was the
admiration of Europe, was yet a young Oxonian, and was honoured by
dining at Sir Robert Alford's table, some person asked the Knight,
"Who was that remarkably acute lad at the bottom of the table?"
To which the Squire replied, "He is the son of the minstrell whose
fiddle you hear in the hall."

m.

ARIOSTO'S HOUSE.

Parva, sed apta mihi, sed nulli obnoxia, sed non
Sordida, parta meo sed tamen gere domus.

This house is small, but it is suited to my wants; it
offends no one ; it is not mean, and I built it with my own
money.

On Ariosto being asked why he built a very simple house, after
having so beautifully described sumptuous palaces, handsome porticos,
and agreeable fountains ?— He replied, " It is much easier to build with
words than with stones."

v.] INSCRIPTIONS. 327

IV.
GIL BLAS'S HOUSE.

Inveni portum : Spes, et Fortuna, valete !
Sat me lusistis, ludite nunc alios.

Mine haven's found : Fortune, and Hope, adieu !
Mock others now, for I have done with you.

In Dr Wellesley's Polyglot Anthologia there are three English trans-
lations of this distich, besides versions in Italian and German. The
original was in Greek. In a literary contention between Sir Thomas
More and Lily, which they called their Progymnastica, these geniuses
vied in translating Greek epigrams into Latin verse. Their translations
in the present instance nearly coincide. They differ slightly from the
inscription in the text. More has Jam portum inveni in the first line,
and nil mihi vobiscum est, (which is a quotation) in the second line. Lily
has, in the second hne, nil mihi vobiscum.

The Inscription in the text is supposed to have been written in
letters of gold over the door of the rural mansion of Gil Bias, when
that hero is dismissed, after his labom's and dangers, to repose and
happiness. Walter Scott, very sensibly as it would seem, expresses a
.regret that Le Sage, after the first publication of his umivalled work,
was induced to draw Gil Bias forth again from his retreat. It may be
observed, by the way, that Walter Scott's description of the last days of
Le Sage is a very interesting and affecting piece of biography. It
appears that for some years previous to his death, his mind was in a
state of fatuity, except that frequently, about mid-day, the sun, in fine
weather, had the effect of partially resuscitating his fallen intellects,
when, sometimes for an hour or more, his genius would blaze out with
its former vivacity, and then again sink under an eclipse.

The lines in the text are imitated, with the addition of a pleasing
sentiment, by Benserade, who inscribed them on the bark of a tree, at his
rural retreat.

Adieu fortune, honneurs, adieu vous et les votres,

Je viens ici vous oublier ;
Adieu toi-meme, amoui' ! bien plus que tous les autres

Difficile a congedier.

328 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Cu.

V.

GORHAMBURY.

(A)
Inscription over the Entrance Hall.

Hegc cum perfecit Nicholaus tecta Baconus,

Elizabeth regni lustra fuere duo :
Factus eques, magni custos fuit ille sigilli :

Gloria sit soli tota tributa Deo.

Nicholas Bacon completed this edifice in the tenth
year of Queen Elizabeth's reign. He was created a knight,
and was keeper of the Great Seal Be glory to God alone !

(B)

INSCRIPTIONS IN A BANQUETTING HOUSE,

Having the Liberal Arts represented on its walls ; over them the pic-
tures of such eminent characters as had excelled in each ; and under
them verses expressive of the benefits resulting from their cultivation.

GRAMMAR.

Lex sum Sermonis, linguarum regula certa,
Qui me non didicit ctetera nulla petat.

O'er speech I rule, all tongues my laws restrain,
Who knows not me seeks other arts in vain.

(Pictures of Donatus, Lilly, Priscian).

ARITHMETIC.

Ingenium exacuo, numerorum arcana recludo.
Qui numeros didicit, quid dedicisse nequit.

The wit to sharpen, I my secrets hide ;

These once explor'd, you'll soon know all beside.

(Pictures of StifiUus, Budseus, Pythagoras).

v.] INSCRIPTIONS. 329

LOGIC.

Divido multiplices, res explanoque latentes,
Vera exquiro, falsa arguo, cuncta probo.

I sep'rate things perplex'd, all clouds remove,
Truth I search out, show error, all things prove.

(Pictures of Aristotle, Rodolph, Porphyry, Seton).

MUSIC.

Mitigo moerores, et acerbas lenio curas,
Gestiat ut placidis mens hilarata sonis.

Sorrow I soothe, relieve the troubled mind.
And by sweet sounds exhilarate mankind.

(Pictures of Arion, Terpander, Orpheus).

RHETORIC.

Me duce splendescit gratis prudentia verbis,
Jamque ornata nitet quae fuit ante rudis.

By me the force of wisdom is display'd,

And sense shines most when in my robes array'd.

(Pictures of Demosthenes, Cicero, Isocrates, Quintilian).

GEOMETRY.

Corpora describo, rerum et quo singula pacto
Apte sunt formis appropriata suis.

What bodies are, and all their forms I shew,
The bounds of each, and their proportions too.

(Pictures of Archimedes, Euclid, Strabo, ApoUonius).

ASTROLOGY.

Astrorum lustrans cursus, viresque potentes
Elicio miris fata futura modis.

The motions of the starry train,

And what those motions mean, I do explain.

(Pictures of Regiomontanus, Haly, Copernicus, Ptolemy).

330 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

It may not be inappropriate to add here Ben Jonson's Birth-Day Ode
upon Lord Bacon, as it is classically addressed to the Lar, or Household-
Spirit of the mansion in which Bacon was born, whom he supposes to
find busy in preparing the celebration of some religious rite : allusion is
also made to the founder of Gorhambmy.

Hail, happy Genius of this ancient pile !

How comes it all things so about thee smile ?

The fire, the wine, the men! and, in the midst.

Thou stand'st as if some mystery thou didst.

Pardon, I read it in thy face, the day

For whose returns, and many, all these pray;

And so do I. This is the sixtieth year,

Since Bacon, and thy Lord, was bom, and here.

Son to the grave wise keeper of the seal.

Fame and foundation of the English weal.

England's High Chancellor ; the destin'd heir

In his soft cradle to his father's chair,

"Whose even thread the fates spin round and fuU,

Out of their choicest, and their whitest wool !

'Tis a brave cause of joy ! let it be known;

For 't were a narrow gladness kept thy own.

Give me a deep-crown'd bowl, that I may sing

In raising him the wisdom of my king.
To the list of eminent Astrologers, a modem Poet might have added
the names of Lord Bmleigh, Lily, (Hudibras's Sidrophel), and Dryden.

VI.

EMBLEMS.
(A)

Multa licet fido Sapiens in pectore condat,
Plura avido tamen usque appetit ingenio.

Though a sage has his mind stored with wisdom, yet
he is always craving for fresh knowledge.

(B)
Quid subus atque rosis ? nunquam mens ebria luxu
Virtutis studiis esse dicata potest.

What does the Boar do among roses ? A mind be-
sotted with luxury can never appreciate or enjoy the sweets
of Virtue.

v.] INSCRIPTIONS. 331

(C)

Ericium hic qui ceu gradientem conspicis uvam,

Friigi sis, et opes tu quoque linque tiiis. <

Behold the hedgehog covered with grapes that it has
plucked from the vines to carry home for its young ones :
it has been so industrious first in plucking and then in
rolling itself among the grapes, that it has the appearance
of a walking vineyard. Imitate the animal's example ; be
frugal, and leave behind you a sufficiency for your family.

The first verses were inscribed under a picture of a Bird of Prey
in the air, with a small bird in its talons, whilst it flies in pursuit of some
other birds. The second distich is under a picture of a Boar trampling
upon roses. The last is under a picture of a Hedgehog rolled up,
having its prickles covered with grapes.

Emblems, with verses, (generally Latin) to explain them, were very
commonly painted on the panels of the closets, cabinets, or oratories in
the time of Queen Elizabeth. They were a sort of picture parables,
by means of which the Latian Muses strewed many a moral precept
in the walks of our forefathers, whichever way they turned their eyes.

VII.

STADT-HOUSE AT DELFT.

Haec domus amat, punit, conservat, honorat,
Nequitiem, pacem, scelera, jura, probos.

This House hates vice, loves peace, swift vengeance flings
Impartial upon malefactors' heads :
To laws insulted timely succour brings.
And glory round the brows of virtue sheds.

The Latin and English are from Dr Watts's Correspondence. The
bold disdain of quantities, and the perplexing task imposed upon the
reader of marrying the verbs to their proper substantives, may remind
us of a passage in the Scaligeriana : " Les Allemans ne se soucient pas
quel vin ils boivent, pourveau qui ce soit vin, ni quel Latin Us parlentr
pourveau que ce soit Latin."

332 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

VIII.

THE ARSENAL OF BREST.

Quae Pelago sese Arx aperit metuenda Britanno,
Classibus armandis, omnique accommoda Bello,
Prsedonum terror, Francis tutela carinis,
..^ternge Kegni excubise, domus hospita Martis,
Magni opus est Lodoiei. Hunc omnes omnibus undis
Agnoscant Venti Dominum, et maria alta tremiseant.

Palais digne de Mars, qui fournis pour armer
Cent Bataillons sur terre, et cent Vaisseaux sur mer,
De I'Empire des Lys foudroyant corps-de-garde ;
Que jamais sans palir Corsaire ne regarde :

De Louis le plus grand des Rois

Vous estes I'immortel ouvrage.
Vents, c'est icy qu'U faut luy rendre hommage,
Mer, c'est icy qu'U faut prendre ses loix.

The Latin is by Santeuil : the French version is by Comeille.

IX.

A COLLEGE OF SURGEONS, IN THE FORM OF AN
AMPHITHEATRE.

Ad csedes hominum prima amphitheatra patebant
Hie longum ut discant vivere, nostra patent.

Si dans les siecles idolatres

Ces superbes Amphitheatres

Ou Ton admire encor la grandeur des Remains,

S'ou\Toient pour avancer le trepas des humains

Cette aveugle fureur ne se voit plus suivie :

Les nostres sont ouverts pour prolonger la vie.

v.] INSCRIPTIONS. S3J

X.

THE CRIMINAL COURT OF THE CHASTELET.

Hie Pcenae scelerum ultrices posuere Tribunal,
Sontibus uncle tremor, civibus inde salus.

De ce terrible Tribunal,

Des noirs forfaits Tecueil fatal,
Themis met tous les jours, du meme coup de foudre,
Le Citoyen en paix, et le coupable en poudre.

XI.
THE CLOCK OF THE PALACE OF JUSTICE.

Tempora labuntur, rapidis fugientibus horis,
iEternsB hie leges, fixaque jura manent.

Time glides along, the hours flit away,
Justice is fixed, and laws unvarying stay.

Lord Coke, in his third Institute, relates an anecdote concerning the
Clock of Westminster Hall : he writes that " Justice Ingham paid, in
the reign of Edward I. eight hundred marks for a fine, for that a poor
man being fined thirteen shillings and fourjience, the said Justice,
moved with pity, caused the roll to be razed, and made the fine six
shillings and eight pence. This case Justice Southcote remembered,
when Catlyn, Chief Justice in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, would have
ordered the razure of a roll in the like case, which Southcote, one of
the Judges of that Court, utterly denied to assent to, and said openly,
that 'he meant not to build a Clock-house:' 'for,' said he, 'with the
fine that Ingham paid for the like matter, the Clock-house at West-
minster was built, and furnished with a Clock, which continueth to this
day.' " There has been some scepticism on the subject of this highly
authoritative tradition, founded on an opinion that no such striking
memento could have been supplied in this country for a century after
the reign of Edward I. The Poet in the text might, perhaps, have found
a more pointed and truer antithesis in the " Law's delay."

334 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

XII.

INSCRIPTIONS AT THEOBALD'S, IN HONOUR OF JAMES I.
AND THE KING OF DENMARK.

Miraris, cur hospitio te accepimus Horse,
Cujus ad obsequium non satis annus erat ?

Nempe quod adveniant ingentia gaudia raro,
Et quando adveniant vix datur hora frui.

Are you surprised that we Hours have tendered you
hospitality : you, to whom the homage of a Year is not
adequate ? The reason is, that great joys seldom come,
and when they do come, there is scarce an hour allowed
for their fruition.

Hospitio qui te cepit, famulantibus Horis,
Cedere abhinc, nulla concomitante, sinit ;

Nempe omnes Horas veniendi duxit arnicas,
Sed discedendi nulla Minuta probat.

The Earl of Salisbury, who had the honour of entertain-
ing you as his guest with the aid of the ministering Hours,
now suffers you to depart without one of them in your
train : it is because he deemed the Hours of your coming
friendly to him ; he does not approve of a single Minute of
your departure.

When the two kings arrived at Theobald's, they found over the porch
the effigies of the Three Hours sitting upon clouds : one bore a sun-dial,
another a clock, and the third an hour-glass ; they signified justice, law,
and peace. Ben Jonson writes in a note that the " Greek names of the
Hours were Eunomie, Dice, and Irene (Law, Justice, and Peace). They
were fabled to be the daughters of Jupiter and Themis, their station was
at the gates of heaven ; and therefore, our author, consonant to poetic
story, hath placed them over the porch of the house." The Hours
appear to have had the power of speech, and to have thus addressed the
sovereigns :

Enter, 0 long'd-for princes, bless these bow'rs.

And us, the three, by you made happy Hours.

We that include all time, yet never knew

Minute like this, or objects like to you.

v.] INSCRIPTIONS. 335

Ben Jonson's Masques and Entertainments have not been sufficiently
attended to by writers on the manners of the reigns of James I. and
Charles I., and on the domestic habits and private characters of those sove-
reigns. The Entertainment at Theobald's abounds more with Latin speeches
and inscriptions than others, as it may be collected that the king of Den-
mark did not understand English ; whether he understood Latin is not so
clear either one way or the other. Sir John Harrington's description of
this entertainment would lead us to conjecture that his Danish majesty
was less at home in conning " Gems of Latin poetry," than in dancing
with the queen of Sheba, who came on a visit to Solomon, but not being
steady in her walk, upset her offerings over the clothes of the royal Dane.
Sir John writes that few of the female allegorical characters performed
their parts soberly :

"Now did appear in rich dress, Faith, Hope, and Charity; Hope did
essay to speak, but wine rendered her endeavours so feeble that she with-
drew, and hoped the king would excuse her brevity. Faith was then
alone, for I am certain she was not joined with good works, and left the
court in a staggering condition. Charity came to the king's feet, and
seemed to cover the multitude of sins her sisters had committed ; in some
sort she made obeisance, and brought gifts, but said she wovdd return home
again, as there was no gift which heaven had not already given his majesty:
she then returned to Faith and Hope, who were both sick in the lower
hall." Afterwards he mentions, that Victory and Peace made their
appearance, and he notices that Peace, " much contrary to her semblance,
most rudely made war with her olive-branch, and laid on the pates of
those who did oppose her coming." Sir John concludes by obsemng
that " the Danes have again conquered the Britons, for I see no man, or
woman either, that can now command himself or herself."

XIII.

THE ARSENAL AT PARIS.

iEtna h£ec Henrico Vulcania tela ministrat ;
Tela Giganteos debellatura furores.

^tna furnishes to Henry these Vuleanian weapons;
weapons capable of subduing the fury of giants.

336 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Cii.

XIV.

ORANGERY AT CHANTILLY.

Hie Hyemes nil juris habent, ver regnat, et aestas
Ingredere — aeternas Flora recludet opes.

Here Winter is devoid of power — Spring and Summer
are regnant. Enter — Flora will disclose to you her never-
fading treasures.

Max-tial has several notices of the hot-houses of the ancient Romans,
and he makes particular mention of artificially-forced roses (Jestinatas
rosas). He dwells on the appearance in hot-houses of the grapes which
are covered, and yet not concealed from view :

Condita perspicua vivit Tindemia gemma,
Et tegitur felix, nee tamen uva latet.

And he observes on the same appearance of hot-house flowers, as lilies
and roses :

Condita sic puro numerantur lilia vitro,
Sic prohibet tenuis gemma latere rosas.

XV.

MILTON'S ALCOVE.

Hie media te luce loco, mediisque diei
Stas circumfusus flammis : tentoria figo
Hasc radiata tibi, INIilton ! quia nubila sacro
Carmine nulla tuo, comes illustrissime solis !
Sic medio stans sole tuus nitet Uriel, aureum
DifFunditque jubar splendens, et lucida tela :
Celestes inter coetus pulcherrimus iUe,
JNIortales inter veluti tu maximus omnes.

Here, mighty INIilton ! in the l>laze of noon,
Amid the broad effulgence, here 1 fix

v.] INSCRIPTIONS. 337

Thy radiant tabernacle. Nought is dark
In thee, thou bright companion of the sun !
Thus thy own Uriel in its centre stands
Illustrious, waving glory round him ! he.
Fairest archangel of aU spirits in heaven,
As of the sons of men the greatest thou.

XVI.

ASSIGNATION SEAT.

Nerine Galataea, thymo mihi dulcior Hyblse,
Candidior cygnis, hedera formosior alba,
Cum primum pasti repetent praesepia tauri.
Si qua tui Corydonis habet te cura, venito.

O Galatsea ! than the swans more white,
Sweeter than honey, than the roes more light,
O, don't forget, if Corydon be dear.
To meet him, where, at eve, he '11 seek thee — here.

This was one of the numerous Inscriptions at the Leasowes, or the
Ferme ornee of Shenstone, of whom Gray writes, rather cynically, that
his "whole philosophy consisted in living, against his will, in retirement,
and in a place which his taste had adorned, but which he only enjoyed
when people of note came to see and commend it : his correspondence is
about nothing else than this place, and his own writings with two or
three neighbouring clergymen, who wrote verses also." In the verses
appended to Shenstone's works there are several poems eulogistic of the
Leasowes. American travellers who are conversant with much of our
early literature that is almost forgotten in England, not unfrequently
make inquiries after the cultivated grounds, and classical inscriptions of
the Leasowes. Mason, in his poem of The English Garden, thus apostro-
phizes Shenstone, with an intimation that he was a better gardener than a
poet:

Nor, Shenstone, thou

Shalt pass without thy meed, thou son of peace !

Who knewest, perchance, to harmonize thy shades

Still softer than thy song; yet was that song

Nor rude, nor inharmonious, when attun'd

To pastoral plaint, or tale of slighted love.

22

388 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

XVII.

A MAZE.
(A)

Ut semel incautam implicuere negotia mentem,
Abripit indeprensus et irremeabilis error,
Ni regat oblato stabilis Prudentia filo.

As soon as the youthful mind becomes entangled in
the affairs of the world, it is liable to be misled into irreme-
diable errors, unless Prudence give a clew to guide the
wanderer through the Labyrinth of life.

(B)

Caeca regit filo prudens vestigia Theseus :
Te Ratio et Pietas, fraus ubi multa, regat.

The prudent Theseus, by means of a clew, tracked his
way through the dark labyrinth of Crete. Let Reason and
Piety direct your footsteps through paths where frauds are
apt to divert you from the right way.

(C)

Ad dextram, ad IsBvam, porro, retro, itque reditque,

Deprensum in laqueo quem labyrinthus habet.
Et legit et relegit gressus, sese explicet unde,

Perplexum qusGrens unde revolvat iter.
Sta modo, respira paulum, simul accipe filum ;

Certius et melius non Ariadne dabit.
Sic te, sic solum, expedies errore: viarum

Principium invenias, id tibi finis erit.

From right to left, and to and fro,
Caught in a labyrinth, you go,
And turn, and turn, and turn again,
To solve the mystery, but in vain ;

v.] INSCRIPTIONS. 339

Stand still and breathe, and take from me
A clew, that soon shall set you free !
Not Ariadne, if you meet her,
Herself could serve you with a better.
You enter'd easily — find where —
And make, with ease, your exit there !

The first two inscriptions are by Santenil, the last is by Vincent
Bourne, translated by Cowper ; the clew which these two last authors
give, is like the recipe for catching a bird by putting salt on its tail.

XVIII.

WATER-WORKS AT MARLY.

Sequana jamdudum Neptunia jura perosus,

Imperils paret jam, Lodoice, tuis.
Aspice, ut ad nutum tibi serviat omnibus undis,

Quo tu cumque vocas nobile flumen, adest.
Te propter sese Nereo subducere tentat,

Et vectigales jam tibi pendit aquas.

La Seine ne veut plus obeir qu'^ tes loix,

Voy comme tous ses flots dans leur course nouvelle

Se repandent par tout, ou ta voix les appelle.

Grand Prince, pour toy seul des tyranniques droits

Qu'exige 1' Ocean, elle se va soustraire ;

Et deja d'un tribut fidele et volontaire,

Elle aime a se soumettre au plus juste des Rois.

The Machine at Marly was erected by Louis XTV. for the purpose of
conveying the water of the Seine to Versailles.

22—2

340 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

XIX.

A GROTTO NEAR A STREAM.

Haec amat arva Salus, roseis dea pulchra labellis,
Isteque sopitam ssepe recessus habet ;

Si tibi pumicea sit non inventa sub umbra,
Insili — et in gelidis invenietur aquis.

Health, rose-lipped cherub, haunts this spot,

She slumbers oft in yonder nook ;
If in the shade you find her not.

Plunge — and you'll find her in the brook.

XX.

THE FOUNTAIN OF THE BRIDGE OF NOSTRE-DAME.

Sequana cum primum Reginae aUabitur Urbi,

Tardat praecipites ambitiosus aquas.
Captus amore loci cursum obliviscitur, anceps

Quo fluat, et dulces nectit in urbe moras.
Hinc varios implens fluctu subeunte canales,

Fons fieri gaudet, qui modo flumen erat.

Que le Dieu de la Seine a d'amour pour Paris !
Des qu'il en pent baiser les rivages cheris,
De ses flots suspendus la descente plus douce
Laisse douter aux yeux s'il avance ou rebrousse :
Lui-mesme a son Canal il derobe ses eaux,
Qu'il y fait rejallir par de secrettes veines,
Et le plaisir qu'il prend a voir des lieux si beaux,
De grand fleuve qu'il est, le transforme en Fontaines.

The conceit of the Seine arresting its course, and converting part of its
water into fountains, in order to gaze more leisurely on the beauties of
Paris, seems to have been very popular with the French poets. The

v.] INSCRIPTIONS. 341

French version is by Comeille, but several other French versions of the
same epigram have been published. Santeuil has lavished prettinesses
on all the principal fountains of Paris in Latin verse, which gave occasion
to the following distich :

Santolius docte Parisinos carmine Fontes

Dum canit, invidit Fons quoque CastaUus.

" Whilst Santeuil celebrates in his learned songs the Parisian Foun-
tains, he kindles the envy of the Fountain of CastaUa."

Santeuil was a very eccentric character, and many droll anecdotes are
preserved, as well relating to his manners as to his Latin poetry : one of
the numerous epitaphs upon him is the following :

Ci-git le celebre Santeuil :
Poetes et fous, prenez le deuil.

XXI.

THE FOUNTAIN DES QUATRE NATIONS,

Opposite the Louvre.

Sequanides flebant imo sub gurgite Nymphse,
Cum premerent densse pigra fluenta rates

Ingentem Luparam nee jam aspectare potestas,
Tarpeii cedat cui domus alta Jovis.

Hue alacres, Rex ipse vocat, succedite N3Tiiphs3,
Hinc Lupara adverse littore tota patet.

C'est trop gemir, Nymphes de Seine,
Sous le poids des batteaux qui cachent vostre lit,
Et qui ne vous laissoient entrevoir qu'avec peine
Ce chef-d'oeuvre etonnant, dont Paris s'embellit :

Dont la France s'enorgueillit.
Par une route aisee, aussi-bien qu'impreveue.
Plus haut que le rivage un Roy vous fait monter ;

Qu'avez-vous plus a souhaiter ?
Nymphes, ouvrez les yeux, tout le Louvre est en veue.

The French version is by Comeille. The idea that Louis XIV. took
pity on the Seine, because it lay low, and was covered with vessels and

342 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

boats, so as to obstruct its view of the Louvre, and consequently converted
part of its waters into a fountain, that being so raised it might enjoy a
full prospect of the Louvre, is a curious specimen of the conceits and
sycophancy which were acceptable to the ears of the Great Monarch.

XXII.

THE FOUNTAIN OF PETITS-PERES.

Quae dat aquas, saxo latet hospita Nympha sub imo
Sic tu, cum dederis dona, latere velis.

La Nymphe qui donne cette eau
Au plus creux du rocher se cache :
Suivez un example si beau,
Donnez, sans vouloir qu'on le sache.

XXIII.

THE FOUNTAIN OF LA CHARITE.

Quern posuit Pietas miserorum in commoda Fontem,
Instar aquae, largas fundere suadet opes.

Cette eau, qui se repand pour tant de malheureux,
Te dit : Repans ainsi tes largesses pour eux.

i

v.] INSCRIPTIONS. 343

XXIV.

THE FOUNTAIN OF THE MAEKET MAUBERT.

Qui tot venales populo locus exhibet escas,
Sufficit et faciles, ne sitis urat, aquas.

Pour vous sauver de la faim devorante,
Si dans ces lieux on vous vend des secours,
Peuples, chez moi, contre la soif briilante,
Sans interest, vous en trouvez toujours.

XXV.

THE FOUNTAIN OF THE RUE DE RICHELIEU.

Qui quondam magnum tenuit moderamen aquarum
Eichelius, Fonti plauderet ipse novo.

Armand, qui gouvernoit tout I'empire des eaux,
Comme il donnoit le branle aux affaires du Monde,
En des lieux si cheris, par des conduits nouveaux
Lui-meme avec plaisir verroit couler cette onde.

XXVI.

THE FOUNTAIN OF THE QUARTIER DES FINANCIERS.

Auri sacra sitis non larga expletur opum vi
Hinc disce seterno fonte levare sitim.

L'infame soif de I'or ne scauroit s'etancher

Par des richesses perissables ;
Homme, pour etre heureux, songe done a chercher

La source des biens veritables.

344. GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

XXVII.

A FOUNTAIN, IN HONOUR OF QUEEN ANNE AND THE
DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH.

Quocunque aeterno properatis, flumina, lapsu,
Divisis late terris, populisque remotis,
Dicite, nam vobis Tamesis narravit et Ister
Anna quid imperils potuit, quid Marlburus armis.

Ye active streams, where'er your waters flow.
Let distant climes and furthest nations know,
What ye from Thames and Danube have been taught,
How Anne commanded, and how Marlborough fought.

The Latin and English are both by Prior ; the design of the fountain
included figures of Queen Anne and the Duke of Marlborough, with a
triumphal arch in the center, and the chief Rirers of the world round the
whole work. Sir Henrj' Wotton, in discoursing upon architecture remarks:
" Fountains are figured, or only plain water- works, of either of which I will
describe a matchless pattern. The first done by the famous hand of
Michael Angelo is the figure of a sturdy woman, washing and winding
linen clothes ; in which act she wrings out the water that made the foun-
tain. The other doth merit some larger expression : there went a long,
straight, mossy, walk of competent breadth, green and soft under foot, listed
on both sides with an aqueduct of white stone, breast high, which had a
hollow channel on the top, where ran a pretty trickling stream ; on the edge
whereof were couched very thick, all along, certain small pipes of lead
in little holes ; so neatly that they could not be well perceived, till by the
turning of a cock, they did spout over interchangeably from side to side,
above man's height, in forms of arches, without any intersection or meet-
ing aloft, because the pipes were not exactly opposite ; so as the beholder,
besides that which was fluent in the aqueduct on both hands in his view,
did walk, as it were, under a continual bower and hemisphere of water,
without any drop falling on him; an invention for refreshment surely
far excelling all the Alexandrian delicacies and pneumatics of Hero."

v.] INSCRIPTIONS. 345

XXVIII.
BAPTISMAL FONT AT FLORENCE.

Quidquid ab antiqua manavit origine morbi,
Purgabunt istaD (si modo credis) aquae.

Whatever stain attaches from original sin, will be washed
away by these waters, if you have only faith in their
efficacy.

Seyeral old English Fonts are to be met with in private gardens, as,
for example, that of the old Harrow chm-ch, which was preserved by
a lady, after it had been condemned by the churchwardens for the use of
the parish-roads. Our ancient poor-boxes had usually mottoes or posies,
according to Beaumont and Fletcher, (in their play of the Spanish Curate,)
who may have furnished Hogarth with a hint for the spider's-web that
covers the door of his poor-box :

The poor man's box is there : if ye find anything
Besides the posy, and that half-rubb'd out too,
For fear it should awaken too much charity,
Give it to pious uses ; that is, spend it.

XXIX.

THE HOLY CROSS.

Hsec ilia Sedes, qua docuit Deus ;
Vitalis, in quo nos peperit, Thorus ;
Currus triumphantis, Tribunal
Judicis, atque litantis Ara.

Voila la Ckaire, ou Jesus nous instruit ;

Le Lit, ou pour jamais son sang nous reproduit ;

Le Siege, ou se rendi'a la justice supreme ;

Le CAar, ou jusqu'au Ciel la gloire I'a conduit ;

Et VAutel, ou pour nous il s'immole lui-meme.

346 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

The pulling down of Charing Cross is one of the most amusing pieces
of ancient poetry in the Percy Eeliques. The hot-cross-bun was the most
popular symbol of the Roman Catholic religion that the Reformation had
left in England, until the recent mania for retrograding the progress of
the human intellect through its march of centuries. Hot-cross-buns were
the consecrated loaves bestowed in the church as alms, and to those who
from any impediment could not receive the host. They were made of the
dough from whence the host itself was taken, and were given by the
priest to the people after mass : they ought to be kissed before eating.
Of all inscriptions on a cross, the most memorable is that represented to
have been aflixed to the cross which was revealed in a vision to Constan-
tine, when marching with his army into Italy : eV toCtw viku.

XXX.

A STATUE OF THE VIRGIN MARY AT ROME.

Virginis intactae cum veneris ante figuram,
Praetereundo cave, ne sileatur ave.

Passing nigh our holy Lady,
Don't forget to say an Ave.

XXXI.

THE GATE OP A MONASTERY OF BLACK-HOODED FRIARS.
Hie intret nullus, nisi pullus sit sibi cullus.

Instant from this gate fly back,
All whose hoods are not of black.

The point auned at in this and the last epigram cannot be well trans-
lated, as it, in a great measure, consists in making the middle of the line
rhyme to the end.

v.] INSCRIPTIONS. 347

XXXII.

A CARVED HEAD OF ST PETER.

Ecclesiam pro nave rego : Mihi climata mundi
Sunt mare : Scriptiirae retia : Piscis homo.

The church is my fishing-boat, the world is my sea, the
scriptures are my nets, and my fish is man.

Luther relates that he saw this inscription at Rome. There is a
curious work, published A. d. 1606, entitled, A Book of Angling or Fishing,
wherein is shewed hy conference with Scriptures, the agreement between the
Fisherman and Fishes of both natures, temporal and spiritual, by Samuel
Gardiner, Doctor of Divinitie. The heads of the chapters are as follow :
1. Of the Fisherman's ship or boat. 2. Of the waters that are for this
fishing. 3. Of the nets and angle-rod that are for this fishing. 4. Of the
Fishermen, that principally are appointed for this ofi&ce. 5. Of the Fish-
erman's baytes. 6. Of the Fishes that the Spiritual Angler only fisheth
for. 7. The sympathie of natures between temporal and spiritual Fish.
8. Of Angling of both kindes.

XXXIII.

LUTHER'S GLASS.

Dat vitrum vitro Jonae vitrum ipse Lutherus,
Se similem ut fragili noscat uterque vitro.

Luther, who is a glass, presents this glass to Justus Jo-
nas, who is also a glass, in order that both friends may
always bear in mind that they are nothing but fragile glass.

There is a German inscription on the same glass vessel, " One glass
presents a glass to another glass." This present was made shortly before
Luther died.

348 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

XXXIV.

AN ^OLIAN HARP.

Salve, quae fingis proprio modulamine carmen.
Salve, Memnoniam vox imitata lyram !

Dulce O di\dnumque sonans sine pollicis ictu,
Dives naturae simplicis, artis inops !

Talia quse incultae dant mellea labra puellse,
Talia sunt faciles quae modulantur aves.

On the other sdje.

Hail, heav'nly harp, where Memnon's skill is shown,

That charm'st the ear with music all thy own !

Which, though untouch'd, canst rapturous strains impart,

O rich of genuine nature, free from art !

Such the wild warblings of the sylvan throng,

So simply sweet the untaught virgin's song.

It may be allowed to illustrate the subject of the text, by the beauti-
ful description of the iEolian Hai-p, in the Castle of Indolence — that same
" airy harp," to which Collins, in his Ode on Thomson's death, has
imparted an additional interest of which it might have been scarcely
thought susceptible.

A certain music, never known before,

Here luU'd the pensive melancholy mind ;

Full easily obtain'd. Behoves no more.

But sidelong, to the gently-waving wind,

To lay the well-tun'd instrument reclin'd ;

From which, with airy flying fingers light.

Beyond each mortal touch the most refin'd.

The god of winds drew sounds of deep dehght.
Whence, with just cause, the harp of j3Eo1us it hight.

Ah me! what hand can touch the string so fine?
Who up the lofty diapason roll
Such sweet, such sad, such solemn airs divine,
Then let them down again into the soul?
Now rising love they fann'd; now pleasing dole
They breath'd, in tender musings, through the heart;
And now a graver sacred strain they stole.
As when seraphic hands an hymn impai't:
Wild-warbling nature all, above the reach of art !

v.] INSCRIPTIONS. 349

XXXV.

AN ORGAN.

Hie, dociles venti resono se carcere solvunt,
Et cantum accepta pro libertate rependunt.

Here docile winds, from echoing prison free,
Pay us with music for their liberty.

Gray's pealing anthem appears borrowed from Milton's :

There let the pealing organ blow.

To the full- voiced choir below,

In service high, and anthems clear.

As may with sweetness through mine ear

Dissolve me Into ecstacies,

And bring all heaven before mine eyes.

The organ is not unworthily praised by Dryden :

But, oh! what art can teach.

What human voice can reach,
The sacred organ's praise?
Notes inspiring holy love.
Notes that wing their heavenly ways.

To mend the choirs above.

Orpheus could lead the savage race ;
And trees uprooted left their place.

Sequacious of the lyre :
But bright Cecilia rais'd the wonder higher :
When to her organ vocal breath was given.
An angel heard, and straight appear'd.

Mistaking earth for heaven.

The inscription on the great Haerlem organ is, Non nisi motu cano,
alluding to the quantity of labour necessay for putting it in action. It
has twelve bellows, and 5000 pipes, the bellows are each nine feet long
by five broad, the greatest pipe is thirty-eight feet, its diameter fifteen
inches. There was a famous musical contest between two organ-builders,
which came off in the Temple church. Blow and Purcell played for one
of the artists, and Lully, the Queen's organist, for the other ; the decision
was given by the infamous Lord Chancellor Jefferies, a person, perhaps,
as little competent to decide, as was Justice Midas between Pan and
Apollo : for, if the converse of Shakspere's opinion be true, a Jefferies
could never have been " moved by concord of sweet sounds."

350 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

XXXVI.

D'ALEMBERT'S TREATISE ON THE WINDS.

Haec ego de ventis, dum ventorum ocyor alis
Palantes agit Austriacos Fredericus, et orbi,
Insignis lauro, ramum prjetendet olivse.

I publish this treatise on the Winds, at a time when,
swifter than the wings of the Winds, the Great Frederic
drives before him the routed army of Austria; and, suf-
ficiently illustrious in his laurels, now stretches forth his
olive-branch to the world.

This was the motto or inscription adopted for D'Alembert's Essay on
the Winds, to which a prize had been adjudged by the Academy of
Berlin.

XXXVII.

DEVICE IN BELLENDEN'S BOOK DE STATU.

Fama trium insignit Numen : cor signat amorem,
Tres quia personse Numinis, unus amor.

Numine, vester amor patrumque cor in tribus unum
Crescit ; adunantur Regia corda trium.

Hinc Deus impertet vobis sua symbola : vestris
Vultque sit in titulis. In tribus unus amor.

There is one love between Prince Henry, Prince Charles,
and the Princess Elizabeth : hence the Deity grants you
three, his own symbols, and wills that you should choose
for your mottoes, " One love in three."

The verses in the text are placed under a device representing a tri-
angle, in the corners of which are the letters H. C. E. respectively. In
the middle of the triangle are three hearts surmounted by a crown, and
decorated with lam-el. In a small interstice between the three hearts is

v.] INSCRIPTIONS. 351

placed the letter J, to signify King James, as the other letters denote
Henry, Charles, and Elizabeth.

These verses and device are prefixed to the celebrated treatise of Bel-
lenden, in a very learned and eloquent Latin preface to which Dr Parr,
amidst reflections de omnibus rebus, imputes to Dr Middleton, that in his
Life of Cicero he had been guilty of unacknowledged plagiarism from
Bellenden. The verses and device may be thought very characteristic of
the reign of Iving James, and may be compared with the learned com-
pliments to that king, paid by the public orator at Cambridge, mentioned
in a former chapter. Barclay, in a Latin poem on a cock-fight, which was
honoured by the presence of King James, writes that the cocks felt too
much honom*ed in dying for his majesty's diversion :

Senserunt Volucres
Se digno nimium interire fato.

XXXVIII.
MEDAL FOR LOUIS XIV. APPLIED TO QUEEN ANNE.

Proximus, et similis regnas, Ludovice, Tonanti,
Vim summam, summa cum pietate, geris.

Magnus es, expansis alis, sed maximus armis,
Protegis hinc Anglos, Teutones inde feris.

Quin coeant toto Titania fcedera Rheno,
lUa aquilam tantum, Gallia fulmen habet.

Next to the Thunderer let Anna stand,

In piety supreme, as in command :

Fam'd for victorious arms, and generous aid,

Young Austria's refuge, and fierce Bourbon's dread.

Titanian leagues in vain shall brave the Ehine,

When to the eagle you the thunder join.

The point turns on the eagle and the thunder being usual appendages
to the figm-e of Jupiter, and the eagle being the German, as formerly the
Roman ensign. In this respect the last line of the Latin inscription is
more pointed than the conclusion of the English one, which is by Granville
Lord Lansdowne.

352 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

XXXIX.

INSCRIPTIONS BY ANCIENT PRINTERS.
(A)

Sixtus hoc impressit : sed bis tamen ante revisit

Egregius doctor Perrus Oliverius :
At tu qiiisquis emis, lector studiose, libellum

Laetus emas, mendis nam caret istud opus.

Sixtus printed this book, but the eminent Doctor Perrus
Oliver previously revised it twice. Studious Keader, who-
ever thou be that buyest this book, congratulate yourself
on your purchase : for it has no errata.

(B)

Stet liber hie donee fluctus formica marinos
Ebibat, et totum testudo perambulet orbem.

May this volume continue in motion,
And in pages each day be unfurl'd ;
Till an ant shall have drunk up the ocean.
Or a tortoise have crawl'd round the world.

When the printing of a book was looked upon as an achievement of
no mean merit, it was usual to recommend it by a few Latin verses like
the foregoing specimens, which were inscribed on works of the dates
A.D. 1472, A.D. 1507. The first book that was printed in the Enghsh
tongue was of the date a.d. 1471, by Caxton, at Cologne. This Printer,
like the authors of the inscriptions in the text, was accustomed to gossip
with his readers. On one occasion he thus addresses them : " And,
furthermore, I desire ye would pray for the soul of the said worshipful
GeofFry Chaucer, the fader, and first foundeur and embellisher of ornate
eloquence in our English."

v.] INSCRIPTIONS. S53

XL.

A BOTTLE BURIED, AND DUG UP ON STELLA'S BIRTH-DAY.

Amphora quae mojstum linguis, laetumqiie revises
Arentem Domiraim, sit tibi terra levis I

Tu quoque depositum serves, neve opprime, Marmor,
" Amphora non meruit tam pretiosa mori,"

O Bottle of Wine, that leavest thy master sad on ac-
count of parting with you, but wilt make him glad Avhen
he meets you again, and thirsts for your contents ; may the
earth lie lightly on thy breast! And thou, Marble, that
guardest this deposit, afford the bottle protection, without
crushing it. " So precious a Bottle ought not to die."

The Latin inscription is by Dr Delany. One of Swift's Birth-day
Odes to Stella is on the subject of the digging up of this long-buried
bottle. The following lines occur :

Behold the bottle, where it lies
With neck elated tpw'rd the skies !
The god of winds and god of fire
Did to its wondrous birth conspire.
And Bacchus for the poet's use
Pour'd in a strong inspiring juice.
See! as you raise it from its tomb.
It drags behind a spacious womb ;
And in the spacious womb contains
A sovereign med'cine for the brains.

The quotation in the last line is from an epigram of Martial, to be
admired for its happy turn of thought, and lively style :

Quid te, Tucca, juvat vetulo miscere Falerno

In Vaticanis condita musta cadis ?
Quid tantum fecere boni tibi pessima vina?

Aut quid fecerunt optima vina mali ?
De nobis facile est : scelus est jugulai-e Falemum,

Et dare Campano toxica sseva mero.
Convivse meruere tui fortasse perire :

Amphora non met'uit tam pretiosa mori.

Why blend old Falemian, good Tucca, we ask,
With odious juice from thy Vatican cask ?

23

354 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Cii.

What good 's in thy bad wines, what harm 's in thy good.
That you bid them to flow in so mingled a flood ?
For us 'tis no matter : but murder such wine !
And taint the best blood of Campania's best vine !
Thy guests in their graves might deserve all to lie :
But a pipe of such good wine deserves not to die.

The last half of the fifth and the sixth line of Martial's epigram
are chosen for the motto of the 131st number of the Tatlcr, which is an
amusing paper on the adulteration of wine, and the manufacture of
foreign wines from English ingredients, prevalent in the year 1710.

XLI.

PRESENTATION CUPS.

Haec cape, Donne, mei duo pocula pignus amoris,

Et pone ante tuos qualiacunque lares.
Tu mihi das vires, tu crudi vulneris iram

Unus amicitia fallis, et arte levas ;
Ssepe bibas memor, oro, mei ; multosque per annos

Quam mihi das segro, sit tibi, amice, Salus.

Accept, dear Donne, two cups as a testimony of my
affection, and, such as they are, place them before your
Lares. To you I owe the renovation of my strength.
The acute wound that I received has been healed by your
skill, and mitigated by your friendship. IMay you often
drink out of these cups, and as often think upon me. And
may you enjoy for many years, what you have restored to
me — Health.

Anstey, the author of the Bath Chiide, had met with an accident by
falUng over a box in his study : he was attended by his Mend Dr Donne,
an eminent physician of Bath, who dechned any pecuniary compensa-
tion. Anstey thought it only a fair exchange to give the doctor cups for
phials, and a dose of poetry for medicine.

v.] INSCRIPTIONS. 355

XLII.
ANCIENT LAMP.

Sperne dilectum Veneris sacellum,
Sanctius, Lampas, tibi munus orno ;
I, fove casto vigil Harleanas

Igne Camoenas.

This lamp which Prior to his Harley gave,
Brought from the altar of the Cyprian Dame,

Indulgent Time, through future ages save,
Before the Muse to burn with purer flame !

XLIII.
BELLS.

(A)

Laudo Deum verum, plebem voco, congrego clerum,
Defunctos ploro, pestem fugo, festa decoro.

Men's death I tell
By doleful knell ;
The sleepy head
I raise from bed ;
Lightning and Thunder
I break asunder ;
The winds so fierce
I do disperse ;
On Sabbath all
To Church I call.

(B)

Dudum fundabar : Bowbell campana vocabar,
Sexta sonat, his sexta sonat, ter tertia pulsat.

23—2

356 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

I was founded long ago ; I am called Bowhell. I chime
at six and twelve o'clock ; I strike at nine.

The date of this mscription is a.d. 1515. It is noticed in Store's
Survey. The fii-st distich is from Spelman's Glossary, Art. C'ampana.
The English is from Brand's Popular Antiquities, in which book wiU be
found numerous Latin distichs, expressing a variety of Tulgar errors and
superstitions, such as the eleventh wave, ear-tingling, cats sneezing, dogs
roUing, or howling.

Latin poetical inscriptions on bells are scarce; but Latin poetical
descriptions are more common; as a long poem on the great Tom of
Oxford in the Musce Anglicance, and two epigrams on bells by Vincent
Bourne, one on the Christ-chm-ch Torn, and the other on the Westminster
Tom ; which latter was removed from St Peter's at "Westminster, to St
Paul's, where it got broken; a circumstance which sharpens the poet's
wit, who accused the bell of a popish heart, in preferring Peter to Paul.
It may be mentioned, by the way, that Vincent Bourne has a poem on a
presentation cup, which, in his day, belonged to Trinity College, Cam-
bridge, and which was called Pauper Johannes, from an inscription it
bore :

Pauper Johannes, dictus cognomine Clarkson
Hunc cyathum dono, gratuitoque dedit.

The author was a Fellow, and afterwards Auditor of Trinity College,
but could never gather any tradition concerning Pauper Johannes, or his
lost cup. The inscription on a beU at Fulbourn, of the date a.d. 1776, is,

I to the church the living call —
And to the grave I summon all.

On a bell at Chertsey is an inscription, Ora mente pia pro nobis Virgo
Maria f The present occasion does not admit of examining a vulgar
error concerning persons bom within the sound of Bow-bells; or the
tradition regarding that most prophetic of all bells, which vaticinated to
VThittington, as he sat on the stone which is now the site of his beautiful
alms-houses ; or of investigating the nature of Grandsire Peels and Bob-
royals : but it may be permitted to quote Southey's description of the
music of beUs. " It is a music hallowed by all circumstances, which
according equally with social exultation, and with solitary pensiveness,
though it fall upon many an unheeding ear, never fails to find some
hearts which it exhilarates, and some which it softens."

v.] INSCRIPTIONS. 357

XLIV.

DIAMOND HEART,

PRESENTED BY MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS TO QUEEN ELIZABETH.

(A)

Quod te jampridem fruitur, videt, ac amet absens,
Usee pignus Cordis gemma, et imago mei est.

Non est candidior, non est haee purior illo :
Quaravis dura magis, non mage firma tamen.

This gem behold, the emblem of my heart,
From which my Cousin's image ne'er shall part.
Clear in its lustre, spotless does it shine,
As clear, as spotless, is this heart of mine.
What, though the stone a harder substance be,
It is not firmer than my heart to thee.

(B)

Hoc tibi quae misit Cor, nil quod posset, habebat,

Carius esse sibi, gratius esse tibi.
Quod si forte tuum Ipsa remiseris, Ula putabit

Carius esse sibi, quam fuit ante tibi.

Queen Mary has presented you Avith a gift, which, of
all her jewels, was the most precious in her eyes, and which
she deemed might be the most gratifying to yours ; If, per-
chance, you should send, in return, your own heart to her,
it will be a dearer treasure to her than ever it could have
been to yourself.

These ingenious conceits were written by Buchanan. He wrote a
longer poem on the same subject, of which the following lines may be
quoted as an example of the futility of human anticipations :

O si fors mihi faxit, utri usque
Nectam ut corda adamantina catena,
Quam nee suspicio, semulatiove,
LiYorve, aut odium, aut senecta solvat !
Tarn beatior omnibus lapilUs,
Tarn sim clarior omnibus lapillis,

358 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

Tarn sim carior omnibus lapillis,
Quam sum durior omnibus lapillis.

"O may it be my lot to unite the hearts of both Queens by an
adamantine chain, not to be loosened by suspicion, or riv^alry, or jealousy,
or hatred, or old age ! Thus I shall become the happiest of stones, the
most famous of stones, the dearest of stones, just as I am already the
hardest of stones." This diamond heart, and inscription, may remind the
reader of the cornelian heai't which was found suspended round the neck
of Hampden when he was fatally wounded, bearing the inscription :

Against my king I never fight,

But for my king, and country's right.

XLV.

SATURNALIAS PRESENTS.

(A)

PiENULA SCORTEA.

Ingrediare viam coelo licet usque sereno,
Ad subitas nusquam scortea desit aquas.

A LEATHERN ROMAN TeAVELLING-CoAT.

Though you set out on your journey with a clear sky,
take your pcenula with you as a safeguard against sudden
showers.

(B)

Dentifeicidm.

Quid mecum est tibi ? me puella sumat,
Emptos non soleo polire dentes.

A Dentifrice.

What have you to do with me ? I am made for dam-
sels : it is no part of my business to polish purchased
teeth.

v.] INSCRIPTIONS. 859

(C)

PUGILLARES EbURNEI.

Languida ne tristes obscurent lumina cerae,
Nigra tibi niveum litera pingat ebur.

Ivora' Writing-Tablets.

Lest writing on waxen tablets should strain your weak
eyes, let the black letters shew conspicuously on white
ivory.

(D)
Annclus Pronubus Pubus.

Pignus habes fidei nullis violabile gemmis,
Hoc illud vetus est, Aurea Simplicitas.

A Plain Marriage-Ring.

You have here a pledge of constancy unalloyed by any
glittering jewels : this is a specimen of what the ancients
called Golden Simplicity.

The first three of these inscriptions are from Martial, who vsTOte
upwards of a hundred similar ones in reference to nearly every object in
domestic use among the Romans. It would seem that these verses were
attached to presents given during the Saturnalia, for visitors to take
home with them, like the ornaments attached to modem German trees,
only sometimes of a larger, or of a more costly description : they were
adapted with reference to the station, fortune, sex, and age of the
recipients. As observed by Dr Malkin, in his Classical Disquisition on
ancient Toothpicks, Martial, in his verses upon Saturnalian presents, affords
the richest mine of Roman antiquities to be found in the Classic Authors.
The Saturnalian festivities are in themselves a subject of very inter-
esting inquiry. The last of the inscriptions is taken from a numerous
collection of distichs by Grotius, in imitation of Martial's verses on the
Saturnalian presents.

It is not proposed, on the present occasion, to illustrate particularly
Roman philosopliical or other opinions, Roman customs and manners,
or Roman antiquities. But it may be cursorily observed concerning the
particular articles described in the above verses, that the Author of the
Pursuits of Literature notices that the Greek word used in reference to
Paul's cloak which he left behind him at Troas, is evidently a corrup-
tion of the Latin word pcenula, a kind of cloak, which was specifically a

S60 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

Roman garment, and worn only by Romans ; and, moreover, (as appears
by the above verses), a vestment usually worn by them on a journey.
Martial has a great number of clever remarks on the eccentricities of
his neighbours in regard to their upper garments. He mentions, for
example, a rich man who changed his banqueting-garment (synthesis)
eleven times during one supper, on account of heat and perspiration,
whereas the poet himself found that a single synthesis, which was all he
possessed, was an admirable refrigerant. With regard to the Dentifrice,
Martial frequently alludes to false teeth, false hair, hair-dye, converting
a crow into a swan, but which would not deceive Proserpine, rouge
for the cheeks, with its accidents from rain or sunshine. Martial makes
a gallant present to a lady of a hair from a northern head, in order
that by comparison she might perceive how much more yellow her
own was. With regard to writing-tables, those of citron and ivory
were presents only for the opulent. There is a very curious poetical
advertisement, by Propertius, on the loss of his tablets. Whether from
a parsimonious motive or not, he represents that they were of little
value except to the owner, being made of wax set in vulgar box-wood.
He concludes :

I, puer, et citus hrec aliqua propone columna :
Et Dommum Esquiliis scribe habitare tuum.

Go, boy, and stick this affiche on the nearest column, and write
that your master's house is on the Esquiline Hill.

As to modern Inscriptions on rings, they seldom swell to the size
even of a single entire verse. The rings of Serjeants at Law afford a
familiar example of Latin inscriptions on such works of art. The English
inscriptions on the toasting-gl asses of the Kat-Cat Club have not, it
is believed, any precise prototype in antiquity.

The following old English verses on a wedding-ring are from
Davison's Poetical Rhapsody.

If you would know the love which I you bear.
Compare it to the ring which your fair hand
Shall make more precious, when you shall it wear:

So my Love's nature you shall understand.
Is it of metal pure? so you shall prove

IVIy Love, which ne'er disloyal thought did stain.
Hath it no end? so endless is my Love,

Unless you it destroy with your disdain.
Doth it the purer grow the more 'tis tried?
So doth my love ; yet herein they dissent,
That whereas gold the more 'tis purified

By growing less, doth shew some part is spent ;
My love doth grow more pure by yom- more trying.
And yet increaseth in the purifying.

v.] INSCRIPTIONS. 361

XL VI.

HERALDIC ARMS OF THE ABBOT OF RAMSEY.

Cujus signa gero, dux gregis est, ut ego.

As I am the leader of a flock, so is he whose arms I
denote.

This Latin verse was inscribed round the arms of the Abbot of
Ramsey, which arms were a ram in the sea. It is an example given by
Camden, in a learned essay " On the Antiquity, Variety, and Reason of
Motts in England." A more pleasing though less curious example of a
Mott occurs in Chaucer's description of his Prioress :

Of small coral about her arme she bare,
A paire of beads, gawded all with green ;
And theare on hung a branch of gold full shene,
On which there was written a crowned A,
And after that (^Amor vincit omnia.)

The puns in the mottoes of noble names form a curious collection ;
as, " Foi-te scutum salus ducum." " Ne vile velis." " Templa quam
dilecta." "Ne vile fano." "Festina lente." "Ver non semper viret."
" At spes non fractse." " Fare, fac." " Manus justa, nardus ; " and
the like.

XLVII.

THE LION'S HEAD AT BUTTON'S.

Servantur magnis isti cervieibus ungues :
Non nisi delecta pascitur ille fera.

Bring here nice morceaus ; be it understood
The Lion vindicates his choicest food.

The Latin is from Martial; the translation is from the Gentleman's
Magazine. The Lion's Head at Button's Coffee-house was a carving, with
an orifice at the mouth, through which communications for the Guar-
dian were thrown. This Latin distich was inscribed underneath it.
Button had been a servant in the Countess of Wai'wick's family, and,

362 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

by the patronage of Addison, kept his Coffee-house, so famous in the
annals of English literature, on the south side of Russell-street, two
doors from Covent Garden. The " Lion's Head " was afterwards trans-
ferred to the Shakspere Tavern, where it was sold by auction for
<£l7. 10s. in the year 1804. It was made a subject for witticisms in six
papers of the Guardian, in the course of which it is not forgotten that
Button's christian name was Daniel; and it is observed that it was a
frequent caution in families, " I'll tell the Lion of you."

XLVIII.

MEDALS OF QUEEN ELIZABETH.

(A)
Ditior in toto non alter circulus orbe.
There is not a richer circle in the whole word.

(B)

Felices Arabes, muncli quibus unica Phoenix
Phoenicem reparat depereundo novam.

O miseros Anglos, mundi quibus unica Phcenix
Ultima fit nostro, tristia fata ! solo.

Happy Arabians, to whom the only Phoenix in the
world recreates a new Phcenix by its death ! O unhappy
English, to whom the only Phoenix in the world becomes
the last of her race in our Country !

The first motto surrounds the Queen's Head, and seems to have
reference to her Majesty's conventional reputation for beauty. The
second motto is on the reverse side of a different medal, bearing the
image of a Phcenix, over which is the monogram of the Queen, E. R.
surmounted by a crown. The most popular motto on any of Queen
Elizabeth's medals, is that on a medal struck in Holland to commemo-
rate the destruction of the Armada, erroneously mentioned in the Spec-
tator as an English medal. It is Flavit Deus, et dissipati sunt ; " The
breath of the Lord went forth, and they were scattered." On the
reverse is a church upon a rock beat by waves, having a motto, Allidor
non Icedor ; " I am rubbed, not hurt."

v.] INSCRIPTIONS. 363

XLIX.

MEDAL ON JAMES II. AND HIS QUEEN.

O divini ambo, si quid mea carmina possunt,
Nulla dies unquam memori vos eximet aevo ;
Dum tua, Bancho ! domus, Capitoli immobile saxum
Edini, imperiumque Pater Stuartus habebit.

O divine pair ! if my songs can ought avail, no day
shall Avithdraw you from the remembrance of ages ; whilst
endures thy house, Bancho ! and the immoveable rock of
Edinburgh Castle ; and whilst a Stuart is our Father, and
our King.

The verses fill up the reverse of the medal, on the obverse of which
are the faces of the King and Queen. Under the verses are the letters
A. P. for Ai-chibald Pitcairn, the celebrated physician and Jacobite
poet, who is mentioned in a preceding chapter in connexion with a
ghost. There does not appear to have been any complete Latin verse
upon our coins, though there are several long-winded Latin legends, as
the remarkable one on our gold Nobles, Jesus autem transiens per medium,
illoruni ibat ; that on the eccurgat money of Charles I. ; his Relig. Prot.
Leg. Arig. Liber Pari. ; and on the reverse of Simon's crowns of Crom-
well, Has Nisi Periturus MiM Adiinat Nemo. One of the most curious
legends on a coin is that on Simon's Petition Crown, upon the edge
of which is inscribed, in two lines, with two linked C's and two branches
of palm, Thomas Simon most humbli/ prays your Majesty to compare this
Tryal-Piece vnth the Dutch, and, if more trxdy drawn and embossed, more
gracefully ordered, and more acciorately engraven, to relieve him. The ob-
verse of the Commonwealth coins was a shield bearing the cross of St
George, and the legend, " The Commonwealth of England." The reverse
was two shields, one bearing the cross of St George, and the other a Lyre,
with the legend, " God with us." It was a jest of the Cavaliers that God
and the Commonwealth were on opposite sides : the double shield on the
reverse was also prolific of jokes. The coin is thus described :

Csesaris effigies nulla est, sed imaginis expers.
Crux duplex super est dira, gemensque lyra.

364

GEMS OF LATIN POETRY.

[Ch.

INSCRIPTIONS AT THE ENTERTAINMENT GIVEN BY THE
JESUITS AT ROME IN THEIR SEMINARY TO THE

ENGLISH AIVIBASSADOR OF JAIMES II. *

(A)
Under King James's Picture.

Restituit veterem tibi Religionis honorem
Anglia, Magnanimi Eegis aperta fides.

The open zeal of this Magnanimous King has restored
to England the honour of its ancient Religion.

(B)

Under the Device of a Lily from whose leaves there distilled some drops
of water (according to a vulgar error that such drops became the
seeds of new Lilies), was a motto Lachrimor in Prolem ; " I weep for
children," and the following distich :

Pro natis, Jacobe, gemis, Flos candide Regum ?
Hos, natura, tibi si neget, astra dabunt.

Dost thou sigh for children, O James ! thou candid
Flower of Kings? If Nature deny, Heaven will grant
them.

These Inscriptions are taken from the Memoira of Dr Welwood, phy-
sician to King WiUiam III. They are part of the description of the Earl of
Castlemain's reception (King James's Ambassador) by the Jesuits in their
Seminary at Rome. Dr Welwood writes that the Jesuits " exhausted all
their stores of sculpture, painting, poetry, and rhetoric," on the occasion.
These Inscriptions may be thought an important and agreeable illustration
of the remarks of Burnet and his annotators. Mackintosh, Plumer Ward,
Walter Scott, and Macaulay, concerning the legitimacy of the Pretender.
Of a similar tenor with the Inscriptions in the text was the report spread
by Catholic wi-iters, that the Queen's pregnancy was occasioned by the
Angel of the Lord having moved the Bath Waters, like, as anciently, the
Pool of Bethesda. The Queen herself attributed it to the special inter-
vention of St Xavier, according to Dryden's dedicatory letter to Her
Majesty, in which the following passage occui's : " I know not. Madam,
whether I may presume to tell the world that yom- Majesty has chosen

v.] INSCRIPTIONS. S65

this great Saint foi* one of your celestial patrons, though I am sure you
never will bo ashamed of owning so glorious an Intercessor ; not even in a
country where the doctrine of the holy Church is questioned, and those
religious addresses ridiculed. Your Majesty, I doubt not, has the inward
satisfaction of knowing, that such pious prayers have not been unprofitable
to you ; and the nation may one day come to understand, how happy it
will be for them to have a Son of Prayers ruling over them." In the
Britannia Rediviva, that singular poem, which combines the highest
powers of expression of which the English language is susceptible, with
the basest sycophancy which can be offered to a human being, and the
most irreverent blasphemy with which the Deity can be outraged, Diyden
thus addresses the Pretender in his Cradle :

Hail, Son of Prayers ! by holy violence

Drawn down fi-om Heaven, but long be banish'd thence!

And late to thy paternal skies retire !

Dryden's motto to his Britannia Rediviva is from Virgil :
Dii patrii indigetes, et, Romule, Vestaque Mater,
Qua; Tuscum Tyberim, et Romana palatia servas,
Hunc saltem everso puerum succurrere sseclo
Ne prohibete ! satis jampridem sanguine nostro
Laomedontese luimus perjuria gentis.

Ye guardian Gods of Rome, om- pray'r.
And Romulus, and thou chaste Vesta, hear!
Ye who preserve with your propitious powers
Etrurian Tiber, and the Roman towers !
At least permit this Youth to save the world
(Our only i-efuge) in confusion hurl'd:
Let streams of blood already spilt atone
For perjuries of false Laomedon !

The words puerum and perjuria are placed in Italics by Dryden.
Walter Scott, in his preface to this poem, mentions that the practice of
drawing attention to particular words by placing them in Italics began in
the reign of Charles II., and was first introduced by L'Estrange in his
Observator, who employed for the purpose not merely Italics, but all
kinds of characters. The expression in the third line, Hunc saltem everso
puerum, was often employed on medals as a legend round the head of
the Pretender. The last line, Laomedonteaj luimus perjuria gentis, is
applied by Mr Fox, in his History, as it was, probably, intended by Dryden,
to the perjuries of Oates on the trials for the Popish Plot. The translation
from Virgil's Georgics is by Warton : it is remarkable that in Dryden's very
spirited, often very harmonious, veiy lax, and sometimes disgustingly fa-
miliar translation of Virgil's Works, both the Youth and the Perjuries are
lost sight of, notwithstanding the stress he lays upon them in the above
motto to his Britannia Rediviva.

366 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch.

Even the last direct Descendant of the Abdicator, in a medal struck
upon Ills Father's death, impotently reiterates the ravings of his family in
their claim of Divine Eight : it bears the device of a Cardinal's Cap, and a
figure of Faith holding a Cross. Its inscription is, Henricus Nonus An-
glise Rex, Gratia Dei, sed non voluntate Hominum : " Henry the Ninth,
King of England by the Grace of God, but not by the Will of Man."

The Medals relative to the hhih of the Pretender form a curious
chapter in our Medallic History. In one Jacobite medal there is an
Infant in a cradle killing a serpent, with a motto, ISIonstris dant funera
Cunse, " His cradle gives death to monsters." On the revei*se, is a Crest
of three Plumes, with a motto, Fulta tribus metuenda Corona, " A Crown
supported by three (feathers or kingdoms) is to be dreaded." A medal,
designed by a friend of the Revolution, on the other hand, represents a
small edifice, in which is placed a baby, with a crown on its head, and
holding a chalice of Popery : there is a Jesuit beneath supporting the
baby on a cushion : a figure of Truth, treading on a serpent, opens the
door of the edifice, and detects the Jesuit. The motto is. Sic non hseredes
decerunt, " With these arts there will be no want of an heir." Another
medal represents a withering rosier, and a young stem growing from its
root, with a motto, Tamen nascatur oportet, " An Heir must be bom, not-
withstanding." This device is varied in anothet- medal, by a rose-bush
bearing two decayed flowers, and, at a distance from them, a single bud.
Another medal represents a Female opening a pannier, out of which springs
a child having a di-agon's tail : another female is holding up her hands in
astonishment : the motto is, Infantemque vident, apporrectumque Draco-
nem, " They behold a Child, and an extended Dragon." Another medal
represents the Trojan Horse, with Troy (which it has been seen, in a
former chapter, was often used to designate London) in flames : there is a
motto on the horse's side-cloth, Equo ne erode, Britanne ! " Briton, be-
ware the Horse !" Another medal represents an eaglet cast away from an
eagle, with mottos, Non patitur supposititios, and, Rejicit indignum, " It
will not brook the supposititious — It rejects the unworthy one."

In an ingenious publication lately set on foot, entitled Notes and
Queries, is a query, by Mr Nightingale, concerning a Lobster introduced in
a medal in his possession relative to the Pretender's birth. It represents
a ship of war bearing a French flag : on the shore is a figure in the dress
of a Jesuit (supposed to represent Father Petre) seated astride oi a, Lobster,
and holding in his anns an infant who has a little windmill on his head.
The Legend is, Allons, mon Prince, nous sommes en bon chemin. On the
Reverse is a shield, charged with a windmill, and surmounted by a Jesuit's
bonnet : two rows of beads or rosaries form a collar, within which is in-
scribed, Hony soit qui non y pense. A Lobster is suspended from the
collar as a badge. The Legend is, Les Armes et I'ordre du pretendu
Prince de Galles. Mr Nightingale adds, that the Lobster has baffled all
commentators and collectors of Medals. He notices that Van Loon, in
his Histoire Metallique des Pays Bas, gives the Lobster, in his plate of the

v.] INSCRIPTIONS. 367

medal, correctly; but that his legend is, Hony soit qui bon y pensc.
Mr Nightingale ^vrites that the medal in his possession is in excellent
preservation, as if fresh from the Mint. The Windmill has reference
to a current story at the time, that the supposititious Prince of Wales was
really the child of a miller. It was remarked as a suspicious circum-
stance, that the Baby-Prince was fed with a spoon instead of being
suckled. The Nuncio wrote to his Court that there was given to the
" Principino un alimento chiamato Watter-Gruell."

The following letter addressed to the Englishman, will shew how
that in the time of Queen Anne, the connexion between Popery and the
cause of the Pretender, which, wo have seen, began when he was en
ventre sa mere, continued to be the predominating objection to the House
of Stuart in the eyes of the vulgar ; and that the populace of London
appear to have entertained the same dislike for Papal intervention with
English politics by which they are animated in the present day.

" Sir,

" I wish you joy of the account wliich I am now about to give
you of the burning the Effigy of the Pretender to her Majesty's domi-
nions. The good subjects who took upon them to direct and perform
this, chose very justly the night of that happy day which is the anni-
versary of the birth of their Queen. The joy of her majesty's reco-
very much contributed to the diversion and the solemnity, which was
perfoiTned after the following manner : There were twelve persons
bearing streamers, two larger than the rest, inscribed, ' Long Uve Queen
Anne :' ten others with streamers, inscribed, ' God bless Queen Anne,
the Chm-ch of England, and the House of Hannover,' preceded a cart
wherein were placed three large figures seated together, as tall as
men ; the person in the middle representing the Pope, on his right
hand the FamiUar which presides in his councils, and on his left the
Pretender.

" This elevated machine was visible to all the people from their
dwellings on each side the streets, by the attendance of five hundi'ed
torches and links at its first setting out from Charing- Cross ; from
whence the solemnity began, and moved forward with great order
through Pall-Mail, St James's-Street, Piccadilly, Gerrard- Street, Holborn,
Newgate- Street, Cheapside, and Cornhill : whence it faced about, and
having gathered together a crowd of a much more wealthy and warm
dress than those of the other end of the town, the acclamations of
joy and triumph began to ring by the joint voice of all the people.
The mixed cries were, 'God save Queen Anne,' 'Preserve the Protestant
Succession,' ' No Popery,' ' No Pretender.' I can assure you. Sir, my
heart leaped within me, and methought my money chinked in my
pocket, for joy of the safety of the rest I have in the funds. I could
not forbear taking coach, and passing through the cross streets, to
observe how the solemnity was received.

368 GEMS OF LATIN POETRY. [Ch. V.

" It was very visible at several parts of the town, that there were
many hundreds of volunteer links brought into this Protestant illu-
mination by honest fellows, who were not worth the price of much
more than what they brought in their hands. It is certain that the
common sense of the nation is against the Pretender; and there is no
man able to do him considerable service, but by concealing his being
for him. But all hearts begin to open in England ; and when Perkin
was brought, attended by his proper associates, to the place of conflagra-
tion, after having been drawn thrice round a magnificent bonfire, he was
put into the flames with the general acclamation of the multitude,
which was unspeakably large. This raising the sentiments of the people
to attend their danger, by mechanic means that strike their sight, very
well deserves the thanks of every true Englishman to those who are
at the expence of it, and merits a commemoration in your Paper.

*' I am, Sir, your humble Servant,

" CiVIS LOXDINENSIS."

THE END.

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