﻿THE AGE OF PETRO^JIUS ARBITER. 115 



It cannot escape the careful and competent reader of the productions of Eumolpus, 

 when he compares this poem on the CivU. "War, and the shorter one on the Taking of 

 Tro)', Tvith the story of the Widow of Ephesus, that his prose is far better than his 

 poetry. The former, although not free from some blemishes of affectation, is, on the 

 whole, a fine specimen of graceful, easy, sportive narrati^^e, while the poetic effusions 

 do not rise above mediocrity, if they reach it. Eumolpus, as a rhetorician and critic, 

 has very sound notions on literature, and on poetry in particular, and states them in a 

 clear and forcible manner ; but when he attempts to illustrate them by poetic produc- 

 tions of his own, he fails lamentably. If Petronius, who proves himself throughout 

 his work a man of uncommon culture and taste, wished to ridicule Lucan, and shoAV 

 his short-comings, he surely would not have selected the production of so poor a poet- 

 aster as Eumolpus. Eumolpus is the representative of a class of persons, numerous at 

 the time, who, by dint of careful application, and, in many cases, aided by natural ability, 

 acquired an acuteness of criticism and a facility of composition which they too readily 

 mistook for productive power. Some of them perceived clearly enough the defects of 

 the poets of the time, but were unable to supplant their productions by better ones. 



The passage under consideration is of considerable importance. While it cannot, 

 indeed, be quoted as establishing, in itself, the age of Petronius, I hope I have suc- 

 ceeded in showing that it is not only not an allusion to Lucan, but, rightly inter- 

 preted, refers to certain abuses in literature, precisely like those which we know, from 

 various other sources, to have prevailed as early as the times of Augustus, and even 

 earlier. So far, then, as this passage is concerned, there are strong reasons why Ave 

 should place Petronius in the age of Augustus. 



32. C. 126. 7: "Usque ab orchestra quatuordecira transilit, et in extrema plebe 

 quaerit, quod diligat." The passage alludes to the regulation of the seats in the thea- 

 tres, and the evident meaning is, that Circe, prompted by her lust, and disregarding all 

 social distinctions, while taking no notice of the higher classes, — senators and knights, 

 — seeks the companions of her pleasures among the lowest portion of the people. 



A brief rcAiew of the Roman legislation on the subject of theatrical arrangements 

 will enable us to judge whether this passage throws any, and what, light on the ques- 

 tion under consideration as to the age of our author. It must, in the first place, be 

 observed that the term " quatuordecim," wherever it occurs, relates to the theatres, the 

 places for dramatic representations, and not to the circus or amphitheatre. Dramatic 

 representations were, in Eome, of much later date than those of the circus and amphi- 

 theatre, and for some time after their introduction no provision was made for seating 

 the spectators. But the senators, even in this early period, were furnished with a sep- 



