352 Additional Notes. 



being ignorant of the art of printing, were obliged to employ 

 . public rehearsals as the best means of making known new com- 

 positions. In early times this was the case with writers of the 

 first class, llerodotus recited his history, in dirterent portions, 

 at the Olympic games ; and other writers of great reputation 

 did the same. 



Tacitus speaks in the foUoAvlng language of the author, 

 who is obliged to employ this method of publishing his works. 



" Ciim toto anno, per omnes dies, magna noctium 



parte, unum lihrum extudit et clucubravit, rogare ultroetam- 

 bire cogatur, ut sint, qui dignentur audire: et ne id quidem 

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

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

 eitationem ejus eventus prosequatur, omnis ilia laus intra unum 

 aut alteram diem, velut in herba vcl flore praecepta, ad nuUam 

 certam et solidam pcrvcnit frugem : nee aut amicitiam inde 

 refert, aut clieutelam aut mansurum in animo cujusquam bcne- 

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

 lucre." — C. Cornelii Taciti Dial, dc Oratorihiis, 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 poctarum annus hie attulit. Toto 

 mense Aprili nuUusfere dies, quo non recitaret aliquis. Ta- 

 metsi ad audiendum pigre coitur. Plerique in stationibus se- 

 dent, tempusque audiendi fabulis eonterunt, ac subinde sibi 

 jiunciari jubent, an jam recitaior intravcrit, an dixerit pra;fa- 

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

 ac tuno quoque lente, cunctanterque veniunt, uec tanien re- 

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

 tim; alii simpliciter, ac hbere. Sed tanto magis laudandi 

 probandique sunt, quos a scribendi rccitandique studio haec 

 auditorum vel desidia, vel superbia non retardat. Equidem 

 prope neniini defui: his ex causis longiiis, quamdestinaveranr», 

 tempus in urbe consumpsi. Possum jam repetere secessum, 

 et scribere aliquid, quod non recitem ; ne ridear, quorum re- 



