16 



ROME (ROMAN LITERATURE). 



among the Romans, but without any pretensions to 

 skill in the historical art. Great authors first ap- 

 peared in the most splendid age of Rome. The 

 spirit, the beautiful simplicity and the judicious 

 style of Julius Ciesar, in his Commentaries on the 

 Gallic and Civil Wars, carried on by himself, have 

 always been admired. The style of Sallust is 

 sometimes forced, but he displays great care in his 

 narrative and in his delineation of character, with 

 such richness of thought and depth of observation, 

 that he may not disadvantageously be compared 

 with his model Thucydides. If we except the lost 

 universal history of Trogus Pompeius, Livy em- 

 braces the widest field among the Roman historians, 

 and deserves to be called perfect in narration and 

 style, although some have attributed to him a cer- 

 tain Patavinity (the provincial dialect of his native 

 city, Patavium.) His history begins with the ar- 

 rival of ^Eneas in Italy, and reaches to the year 

 of Rome 744 ; but a few books only are extant. 

 Cornelius Nepos stands next to these models of 

 historical writing, with his lives of distinguished 

 generals, at least for purity of style. It is to be 

 lamented that his principal historical work is lost. 

 Under the oppression of despotism, even history, 

 which had hitherto been so well sustained by the 

 Romans, degenerated : this appears from the forced 

 and declamatory style of Velleius, from whom we 

 possess a short sketch of Roman history, in which 

 he indulges in the grossest flattery. Florus is still 

 more to be condemned: he wrote an abridgment of 

 Roman history ; but his style is bombastic, and his 

 adulation disgraceful. Valerius Maximus, in his 

 memoirs of memorable men, is a mere compiler and 

 collector of anecdotes. Suetonius, besides his rhe- 

 torical and grammatical works, wrote the lives of 

 the emperors, which are interesting from their con- 

 tents. Tacitus elevated himself above a degenerate 

 age by his truly Roman spirit, his depth of thought, 

 and power of expression, which has been often imi- 

 tated, but seldom with success. It may be said, 

 with truth, that in him the poet, the philosopher 

 and the historian are united. 



After Trajan, we meet no great authors ; but 

 Greek literature again asserted its claims, and Ro- 

 man history was treated of by Greek authors. It 

 is perhaps owing to Justin's abridgment, that we 

 have lost the general history of Trogus Pompeius, 

 in forty-four books. So great was the ignorance 

 of Roman history under the later emperors, that 

 Eutropius was ordered by the emperor Valens to 

 write a short sketch of it. Of Aurelius Victor 

 little need be said, and we cannot greatly lament 

 the loss of his principal work upon the origin of 

 the Roman people, which extended only through 

 one year after the foundation of Rome. Ammianus 

 Marcellinus is of superior merit, and, although his 

 style is somewhat barbarous, contains interesting 

 views, and displays a sound judgment. The six 

 authors of the imperial history (Scriptores Histories 

 Augusta}, Spartianus,Capitolinus,Trebellius, Vopis- 

 cus, Gallicanus and Lampridius, deserve little praise. 



The Romans distinguished themselves in philoso- 

 phy only by spreading the doctrines of the Greek phi- 

 losophers in a popular language; and the most emi- 

 nent statesmen, in the most flourishing periods of 

 Rome, were friends and admirers of philosophy : 

 among the earlier Romans, Lselius, Scipio Africanus 

 the younger, and Lucullus, deserve to be mentioned. 

 Of the lofty spirit of Lucretius, although he em- 

 braced an odious system, and the principles of 

 Horace, who called Epicureanism an insane wisdom, 



we have already spoken ; but Cicero, by the intro- 

 duction of the more elevated moral philosophy of 

 the Greeks, rendered the most important service to 

 the intellectual cultivation of his countrymen. He 

 did not wander in the labyrinths of speculation, but 

 he clung to philosophy in prosperity and adversity, 

 and taught it in a classical language. Originally a 

 follower of Plato, he often adopted the ethical les- 

 sons of the Stoics, or, when their excessive auste- 

 rity repelled him, embraced those of Aristotle. The 

 doctrines of Epicurus he rejected as injurious to 

 men, and especially in their relation of citizens. 

 His works also afford much information in regard to 

 the history of ancient philosophy; for example, his 

 Tusculan questions. Philosophy, although some- 

 times persecuted by the emperors, as it had been 

 earlier by Cato the elder, always found admirers at 

 Rome, and almost every school had its adherents 

 there; but it was more the subject of conversation 

 in the schools and in the world, than of writings. 

 The old academy and the school of Epicurus were 

 at first the most popular; but oppression turned 

 men to Stoicism, which, with its pompous apo- 

 thegms, influenced some of the poets also, as Lucan, 

 for example. The philosopher Annaeus Seneca, in 

 the age of Nero, of whom, besides other works, we 

 possess twelve philosophical treatises, is distin- 

 guished for his artificial subtleties and glittering 

 antitheses ; but his writings contain many excellent 

 thoughts, finely expressed. In the fourth period of 

 Roman literature, we shall only mention Apuleius. 

 The most known of his productions is the Golden 

 Ass. He was of the sect of the new Platonists ; 

 and even in the pleasing tale of Psyche, we find 

 traces of the Platonic philosophy. The epistolary 

 style is connected with eloquence, and Roman lite- 

 rature contains some collections of epistles worthy 

 of imitation. The letters of Cicero are mostly ad- 

 dressed to the greatest men of his age, on passing 

 events, and are written with purity, and elegance, 

 and simplicity. They contain authentic materials 

 for the history of the time, and are the last memo- 

 rials of the republic. The letters of Pliny the 

 younger are written with taste and elegance, and 

 give us a pleasing picture of their author ; but they 

 are too artificial, and appear to owe their existence 

 less to any real occasion for writing than to the 

 wish of appearing as an author. The twenty-foul 

 letters ofAnnseus Seneca to Lucilius relate chiefly 

 to the philosophical system of the Stoics, and are 

 more worthy of attention for their matter, than their 

 manner, which partakes of the common faults of his 

 style. We have yet to notice the letters of Sym- 

 machus, about the end of the fourth century, and 

 those of the still later Apollinarius Sidonius, who 

 was also known as a poet. TLe former are 

 not unsuccessful imitations of Pliny the younger; 

 the latter are marked by the faults of their age, but 

 are interesting for their contents. With the poets 

 are connected the mythological authors of the Ro- 

 mans. The Roman worship was in a great measure 

 similar to that of the Greeks, but by no means en- 

 tirely the same, as many have supposed: the heroic 

 mythology of the Greeks was introduced into Rome 

 by the poets, although it had no connexion with the 

 national traditions. The Roman mythological wri- 

 ters, therefore, derived their knowledge mostly 

 from Greek sources, and have little that is peculiar 

 or original. The domestic religion of the Romans 

 is to be learned from their antiquarian and histori- 

 cal authors. Hyginus, whose age we cannot accu- 

 rately determine, left a collection of 277 mytholo- 



