Additional Notes. 501. 



parte, unum librum extudit et elucubravit, rogare ultro et am- 

 Lire cogatur, ut sint, qui dignentur audirc : et ne id quidem 

 gratis: nam et domum mutuatur, et auditorium extruit, et 

 subsellia conducit, et libellos dispergit : et ut beatissimus re- 

 citationem ejus eventus prosequatur, omnis ilia laus intra unum 

 aut alterum diem, velut in herba vel flore pvaecepta, ad nullam 

 certam et solidam pervenit frugem : nee aut amicitiam inde re- 

 fert, aut clientelam, aut mansurum in animo cujusquam bene- 

 ficium, sed clamorem vagum, et voces inanes, et gaudium vo- 

 lucre." — C. Cornelii Taciti Dial, de Oratoribus. ix. 



Pliny, in one of his Letters, gives a lively description of 

 the disadvantages which authors had to encounter in this mode 

 of publishing their compositions. 



" Magnum proventum poetarum annus hie attulit. Toto 

 mense Aprili nullus fere dies, quo non recitaret aliquis. Ta- 

 metsi ad audiendum pigre coitur. Plerique in stationibus se- 

 dent, tempusque audiendi fabulis conterunt, ac subinde sibi 

 nuntiari jubent, an jam recitator intraverit, an dixerit praefa- 

 tionem, an ex magna parte evolverit librum? Turn demum, 

 ac tunc quoque lente, cunctanterque veniunt, nee tamen re- 

 manent, sed ante finem recedunt ; alii dissimulanter, ac fur- 

 tim; alii simpliciter, ac libere. Sed tanto magis laudandi pro- 

 bandique sunt, quos a scribendi recitandique studio hsec audi- 

 torum vel desidia, vel superbia non retardat. Equidem prope 

 nemini defui : his ex causis longius, quam destinaveram, tem- 

 pus in urbe consumpsi. Possum jam repetere secessum, et 

 scribere aliquid, quod non recitem; ne videar, quorum recita- 

 tionibus affui, non auditor fuisse, sed creditor. Nam, ut in 

 ceteris rebus, ita in audiendi officio, perit gratia, si reposcatur." 

 PU71. lib. i. Ep. 13. 



The poets who could not obtain an audience otherwise, 

 frequented the baths, and other public places, in order to fas^ 

 ten on their friends, and procure an opportunity of reciting 

 their compositions. Juvenal tells us, that the groves and 

 marble columns of Julius Fronio resounded with the vocife- 

 rations of the reciting poets. 



Frontonis platani, convulsaque marmora clamant 

 Semper, et assicluo ruptae lectore columnar 

 Exspectes eadeni a summo, minimoque poeta. 



Sat. i. ver. 12. 



The same satirist suggests, that the poet who wished hi* 

 works to become known, might borrow an house for the 

 purpose of public reading; and that the person who accom- 



