﻿100 THE AGE OF PETRONIUS ARBITER. 



served in the Greek Anthology. But above all, there is Menecrates, an author of the 

 new comedy, mentioned by Suidas : MeveKparr}^ Ka^iKO'i • Spd/xara avTov MaveKrcop rj 'Epfiio- 

 vev';. If, in connection \yith this, we take into consideration the fact that the term 

 " canticum" designates, not only a single song or ballad, but one of the three parts into 

 which ancient critics divided the comedy, the " diverbium," " canticum," and " chorus," 

 it will appear by no means improbable that the songs mentioned by our author 

 are such " cantica," from a play or plays of this INIenecratcs. From these few re- 

 marks it will be apparent that, if other reasons should oblige or lead us to assign to 

 Petronius a time different from that of Nero, the circumstance that the poet men- 

 tioned in this passage and the IjTC-player of Xero bear the same name would present 

 no objection. 



24. C. 76. 2: " Coheredem me Caesari fecit." The custom of making distinguished 

 men, not relatives, heirs, was already common in the times of the republic. It will be 

 sufficient to illustrate this by the case of Cicero. It is well knoA\'n that he received 

 legacies from many persons on whom he had no claims arising from relationship. He 

 himself states the amotmt of these legacies, Phil. 2. 16: " Hereditates mihi negasti 

 venire. Utinam hoc tuum verum crimen esset ! plures amici mei et necessarii viverent. 

 Sed qui istuc tibi venit in mentem ? Ego enim amplius HS ducenties acceptum here- 

 ditatibus retuli." Such cases were the legacies left to Cicero by Precianus, a lawyer 

 (Cic. ad Div. 7. 8. 2), of which Cicero speaks in two places of his letters, Ad Attic. 6. 

 9. 2, "Hanc, quae mehercule milii magno dolori est — dilexi enim hommem — procura, 

 quantulacunque est, Precianam hereditatem, prorsus ille ne attingat," and Ad Div. 1-4. 

 5. 2, "De hereditate Preciana, quae quidem mihi magno dolori est — valde enim ilium 

 ama^i — sed hoc velim cures," etc.; — by M. Curius, of whom Cicero speaks thus (Ad 

 Div. 16. 4. 2): "Ad Cui'iiim A'ero, suavissimum homiuem et summi officii summaeque 

 humanitatis, multa scripsi";* — by Galeo, cf. Ad Attic. 11. 12. 4: " Galeonis heredita- 

 tem crevi. Puto enim cretionem simplicem fuisse, quoniam ad me nulla missa est " ; — 

 and by M. Cluvius, of Puteoli, a rich banker (cf. Ad Attic. 13. 46. 3, " Cluvium autem 

 a T. Hordeonio legare et Terentiae HS lOOO [quinquaginta mUlia sestertium]," and 

 ibid. 14. 9. 1, "Primum vehementer me Cluviana delectant"). If these instances from 

 the life of Cicero were not sufficient to prove the existence of the custom of men, 

 more especially men of distinction, receiving legacies from persons with whom they 

 were not connected by ties of relationship, it would be proved by the abuses of the 



* Cf. Ad Attic. 7. 2. 3 : " Curius autem ipse sensit, quam tu velles se a me diligi, et eo sum admodum 

 delectatus. Et mehercule est, quem facile diligas. Avr6x6(av in homine urbanitas est. Ejus testamentum 

 deporto Ciceronum signis obsignatum cohortisque praetoriae ; fecit palam te ex libella, me ex teruncio." 



