150 Epitome of the Progress of Natural Science. 



Cicero's Republic, Somnium Scipionis, perhaps the most splendid 

 thing bequeathed to us by antiquity ; where we see how elevated 

 his ideas were, and at the same time how imperfect was his 

 knowledge of astronomical philosophy; a branch of learning 

 Cicero had derived from the Greeks, and which he has here 

 treated of with a splendour of diction, that is inimitable. To- 

 wards the close of the fifth century, Marcianus Capella wrote a 

 work of nine books, in a very degraded Latin, entitled the Nup- 

 tials of Philosophy and Mercury ; in the which, — incidental to a 

 supposed conversation of learned men on the celebration of the 

 Saturnalia, — he treats of the seven sciences, as they were then 

 called. Grammar, Dialectics, Rhetoric, Arithmetic, Geometry, 

 Astronomy, and Music. The poetry of Italy, at this time, does 

 not bear evidence of that extreme inattention to which Latin 

 prose was rapidly falling a victim. The effort which composi- 

 tion requires, and the restraining of expressions within the law 

 of quantity, kept Latin poetry, for a long time, free from the 

 corruptions which had already entered into the prose. The Ro- 

 man armies were filled with strangers and barbarians, who 

 sought to make themselves understood, by affixing Latin termi- 

 nations to the words of their rude languages ; and the natives, 

 anxious to conciliate the ferocious soldiery, at whose mercy they 

 lay, gradually adopted the jargon, which thus became conven- 

 tional. Under such circumstances, it requires very few genera- 

 tions, first to disfigure, and then to change a language. The 

 grotesque departure of the corrupt Latin of the dark ages, from 

 that of the Augustan age, and which preceded the modern Ita- 

 lian, is not more remarkable than the transition observable in 

 the dialectical passage from th© ancient Anglo-Saxon, to the 

 modern English. 



Amongst the poets of this day, the works of Claudian are still 

 held in estimation : had he lived when men were familiar with 

 great actions, he might have been a great poet ; but the want 

 of dignity in the subjects he has treated of, has been a great dis- 

 advantage to the purity of his language, and the melody of his 

 verse, which are worthy of more refined times. Stilicho, — a suc- 

 cessful general of the Emperor Theodosius* the Great, and of his 

 son Honorius, — was the Mecaenas of Claudian, who himself was 

 a true friend to his patron ; for he celebrated his exploits, wrote 



* Died, A. D. 395. 



