326 



ON THE LITERARY EDUCATION 



a scholar : but he was a man of inordinate wealth ; and, as it sometimes 

 occurs in the present day, a library was his hobby-horse, and the greater 

 part of his rental was expended in augmenting it. For this purpose he 

 ransacked all the pubhc and private collections of books in Asia : he sur- 

 passed, in many instances, the offers even of the kings of Eumenes and 

 Mithridates, for valuable volumes that had become scarce ; and when he 

 was precluded from purchasing, he frequently induced the librarians, by 

 considerable presents, to steal for him. During the first war, however, 

 between Mithridates and the Roman republic, in which Sylla ultimately 

 triumphed, and acquired a high <legree of personal glory, Athens, in an 

 evil hour, had united her fortunes with those of the Asiatic prince ; and 

 hence, at the conclusion of the war, was left totally at the mercy of the 

 Roman conqueror. Sylla appears to have thrown a wishful eye upon 

 every thing of value that lay within his reach : and having sacrilegiously 

 invaded the groves of Academus and the Lyceum, the library of Apellicon 

 was one of the next objects that captivated his attention. He was deter- 

 mined to add it to his other treasures. Force, however, was now become 

 unnecessary : for at this very moment the book-worm Apellicon died, and 

 he met with no resistance from his relations. 



The Romans, by thus enriching themselves with the spoils of all the 

 world, became possessed of an influx of wealth that enabled most of the 

 citizens to gratify themselves, not only in this respect, but in almost every 

 other that merely depended upon money. Of the wealth of various indi- 

 viduals, we may form some opinion by the following anecdote. Caesar, 

 by his unlimited liberahty in furnishing shows to the people, had incurred 

 a debt to an enormous amount ; and when on the eve of setting out for 

 Spain, the province that fell to him after his praetorship, was abruptly 

 stopped by his creditors. On this occasion Crassus stood forward as his 

 surety, for more than two millions of our own money* (bis millies et quin- 

 genties,) or, in exact English calculation, 2,018,229Z. Ss. 4d. sterhng. 



But the litei;ature of Greece was, nevertheless, best to be acquired in 

 Greece itself; and the Romans, though they transplanted books, c6uld not 

 equally transplant the taste and spirit that produced them. Athens, 

 although plundered of her richest ornaments, shorn of the glory of her 

 original constitution, and dependent upon Rome for protection, had still 

 to boast of her . schools and her scholars. Every scene, every edifice, 

 every conversation, was a living lecture of elegance and erudition. Here 

 was the venerable grove in which Plato unfolded his sublime mysteries to 

 enraptured multitudes ; — here the awful Lyceum, in which Aristotle had 

 anatomized the springs of human intellect and action ; — here the porch of 

 Zeno, still erect and stately as its founder ; — and here the learned shades 

 and winding walks of the Garden of Epicurus, in which he delineated 

 the origin and nature of things, and inculcated tranquillity and temperance. 

 Here Homer had sung, and Apelles painted ; here Sophocles had drawn 

 tears of tenderness, and Demosthenes fired the soul to deeds of heroism 

 and patriotic revenge. The monuments of every thing great or glorious, 

 dignified or refined, wise or virtuous, were still existing at Athens ; and 

 she had still philosophers to boast of, who were worthy of her fairest 

 days, of her most resplendent reputation.! 



* Stewart's Life of Sallust, i. p. 135 ; Plut. in Jul. Cess. p. 712, ed. Francof. Suet, in 

 Jul. C?BS. xviii. 



t See the author's Life of Lucretius, prefixed to his Translation of the Nature of Thing?, 

 p. xxix. 



