The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Complete
munificence. He admired his works so much, and was so convinced of their
enduring fame, that he directed him to compose the Secular Poem, as well
as that on the victory of his stepsons Tiberius and Drusus over the
Vindelici [969]; and for this purpose urged him to add, after a long
interval, a fourth book of Odes to the former three. After reading his
“Sermones,” in which he found no mention of himself, he complained in
these terms: “You must know that I am very angry with you, because in
most of your works of this description you do not choose to address
yourself to me. Are you afraid that, in times to come, your reputation
will suffer; in case it should appear that you lived on terms of intimate
friendship with me?” And he wrung from him the eulogy which begins with,
Cum tot sustineas, et tanta negotia solus:
Res Italas armis tuteris, moribus ornes,
Legibus emendes: in publica commoda peccem,
Si longo sermone morer tua tempora, Caesar.--Epist. ii. i.
While you alone sustain the important weight
Of Rome’s affairs, so various and so great;
While you the public weal with arms defend,
Adorn with morals, and with laws amend;
Shall not the tedious letter prove a crime,
That steals one moment of our Caesar’s time.--Francis.
In person, Horace was short and fat, as he is described by himself in his
Satires [970], and by Augustus in the following letter: “Dionysius has
brought me your small volume, which, little as it is, not to blame you
for that, I shall judge favourably. You seem to me, however, to be
afraid lest your volumes should be bigger than yourself. But if you are
short in stature, you are corpulent enough. You may, therefore, (543) if
you will, write in a quart, when the size of your volume is as large
round as your paunch.”
It is reported that he was immoderately addicted to venery. [For he is
said to have had obscene pictures so disposed in a bedchamber lined with
mirrors, that, whichever way he looked, lascivious images might present
themselves to his view.] [971] He lived for the most part in the
retirement of his farm [972], on the confines of the Sabine and Tiburtine
territories, and his house is shewn in the neighbourhood of a little wood
not far from Tibur. Some Elegies ascribed to him, and a prose Epistle
apparently written to commend himself to Mecaenas, have been handed down
to us; but I believe that neither of them are genuine works of his; for
the Elegies are commonplace, and the Epistle is wanting in perspicuity, a
fault which cannot be imputed to his style. He was born on the sixth of
the ides of December [27th December], in the consulship of Lucius Cotta
[973] and Lucius Torquatus; and died on the fifth of the calends of
December [27th November], in the consulship of Caius Marcius Censorinus
and Caius Asinius Gallus [974]; having completed his fifty-ninth year.
He made a nuncupatory will, declaring Augustus his heir, not being able,
from the violence of his disorder, to sign one in due form. He was
interred and lies buried on the skirts of the Esquiline Hill, near the
tomb of Mecaenas. [975]
(544) M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS, a native of Corduba [976], first tried the
powers of his genius in an encomium on Nero, at the Quinquennial games.
He afterwards recited his poem on the Civil War carried on between Pompey
and Caesar. His vanity was so immense, and he gave such liberty to his
tongue, that in some preface, comparing his age and his first efforts
with those of Virgil, he had the assurance to say: “And what now remains
for me is to deal with a gnat.” In his early youth, after being long
informed of the sort of life his father led in the country, in
consequence of an unhappy marriage [977], he was recalled from Athens by
Nero, who admitted him into the circle of his friends, and even gave him
the honour of the quaestorship; but he did not long remain in favour.
Smarting at this, and having publicly stated that Nero had withdrawn, all
of a sudden, without communicating with the senate, and without any other
motive than his own recreation, after this he did not cease to assail the
emperor both with foul words and with acts which are still notorious. So
that on one occasion, when easing his bowels in the common privy, there
being a louder explosion than usual, he gave vent to the nemistych of
Nero: “One would suppose it was thundering under ground,” in the hearing
of those who were sitting there for the same purpose, and who took to
their heels in much consternation [978]. In a poem also, which was in
every one’s hands, he severely lashed both the emperor and his most
powerful adherents.
At length, he became nearly the most active leader in Piso’s conspiracy
[979]; and while he dwelt without reserve in many quarters on the glory
of those who dipped their hands in the (545) blood of tyrants, he
launched out into open threats of violence, and carried them so far as to
boast that he would cast the emperor’s head at the feet of his
neighbours. When, however, the plot was discovered, he did not exhibit
any firmness of mind. A confession was wrung from him without much
difficulty; and, humbling himself to the most abject entreaties, he even
named his innocent mother as one of the conspirators [980]; hoping that
his want of natural affection would give him favour in the eyes of a
parricidal prince. Having obtained permission to choose his mode of
death [981], he wrote notes to his father, containing corrections of some
of his verses, and, having made a full meal, allowed a physician to open
the veins in his arm [982]. I have also heard it said that his poems
were offered for sale, and commented upon, not only with care and
diligence, but also in a trifling way. [983]
THE LIFE OF PLINY.
[984]
PLINIUS SECUNDUS, a native of New Como [985], having served in (546)
the wars with strict attention to his duties, in the rank of a knight,
distinguished himself, also, by the great integrity with which he
administered the high functions of procurator for a long period in the
several provinces intrusted to his charge. But still he devoted so much
attention to literary pursuits, that it would not have been an easy
matter for a person who enjoyed entire leisure to have written more than
he did. He comprised, in twenty volumes, an account of all the various
wars carried on in successive periods with the German tribes. Besides
this, he wrote a Natural History, which extended to seven books. He fell
a victim to the calamitous event which occurred in Campania. For, having
the command of the fleet at Misenum, when Vesuvius was throwing up a
fiery eruption, he put to sea with his gallies for the purpose of
exploring the causes of the phenomenon close on the spot [986]. But
being prevented by contrary winds from sailing back, he was suffocated in
the dense cloud of dust and ashes. Some, however, think that he was
killed by his slave, having implored him to put an end to his sufferings,
when he was reduced to the last extremity by the fervent heat. [987]
THE END OF LIVES OF THE POETS.
FOOTNOTES
[Footnote 1: Plin. Epist. i. 18, 24, iii. 8, v. 11, ix. 34, x. 95.]
[Footnote 2: Lycee, part I. liv. III. c. i.]
[Footnote 3: Julius Caesar Divus. Romulus, the founder of Rome, had the
honour of an apotheosis conferred on him by the senate, under the title of
Quirinus, to obviate the people’s suspicion of his having been taken off
by a conspiracy of the patrician order. Political circumstances again
concurred with popular superstition to revive this posthumous adulation in
favour of Julius Caesar, the founder of the empire, who also fell by the
hands of conspirators. It is remarkable in the history of a nation so
jealous of public liberty, that, in both instances, they bestowed the
highest mark of human homage upon men who owed their fate to the
introduction of arbitrary power.]
[Footnote 4: Pliny informs us that Caius Julius, the father of Julius
Caesar, a man of pretorian rank, died suddenly at Pisa.]
[Footnote 5: A.U.C. (in the year from the foundation of Rome) 670; A.C.
(before Christ) about 92.]
[Footnote 6: Flamen Dialis. This was an office of great dignity, but
subjected the holder to many restrictions. He was not allowed to ride on
horseback, nor to absent himself from the city for a single night. His
wife was also under particular restraints, and could not be divorced. If
she died, the flamen resigned his office, because there were certain
sacred rites which he could not perform without her assistance. Besides
other marks of distinction, he wore a purple robe called laena, and a
conical mitre called apex.]
[Footnote 7: Two powerful parties were contending at Rome for the
supremacy; Sylla being at the head of the faction of the nobles, while
Marius espoused the cause of the people. Sylla suspected Julius Caesar of
belonging to the Marian party, because Marius had married his aunt Julia.]
[Footnote 8: He wandered about for some time in the Sabine territory.]
[Footnote 9: Bithynia, in Asia Minor, was bounded on the south by
Phrygia, on the west by the Bosphorus and Propontis; and on the north by
the Euxine sea. Its boundaries towards the east are not clearly
ascertained, Strabo, Pliny, and Ptolemy differing from each other on the
subject.]
[Footnote 10: Mitylene was a city in the island of Lesbos, famous for the
study of philosophy and eloquence. According to Pliny, it remained a free
city and in power one thousand five hundred years. It suffered much in
the Peloponnesian war from the Athenians, and in the Mithridatic from the
Romans, by whom it was taken and destroyed. But it soon rose again,
having recovered its ancient liberty by the favour of Pomnpey; and was
afterwards much embellished by Trajan, who added to it the splendour of
his own name. This was the country of Pittacus, one of the seven wise men
of Greece, as well as of Alcaeus and Sappho. The natives showed a
particular taste for poetry, and had, as Plutarch informs us, stated times
for the celebration of poetical contests.]
[Footnote 11: The civic crown was made of oak-leaves, and given to him
who had saved the life of a citizen. The person thus decorated, wore it
at public spectacles, and sat next the senators. When he entered, the
audience rose up, as a mark of respect.]
[Footnote 12: A very extensive country of Hither Asia; lying between
Pamphylia to the west, Mount Taurus and Amanus to the north, Syria to the
east, and the Mediterranean to the south. It was anciently famous for
saffron; and hair-cloth, called by the Romans ciliciun, was the
manufacture of this country.]
[Footnote 13: A city and an island, near the coast of Caria famous for the
huge statue of the Sun, called the Colossus. The Rhodians were celebrated
not only for skill in naval affairs, but for learning, philosophy, and
eloquence. During the latter periods of the Roman republic, and under
some of the emperors, numbers resorted there to prosecute their studies;
and it also became a place of retreat to discontented Romans.]
[Footnote 14: Pharmacusa, an island lying off the coast of Asia, near
Miletus. It is now called Parmosa.]
[Footnote 15: The ransom, too large for Caesar’s private means, was
raised by the voluntary contributions of the cities in the Asiatic
province, who were equally liberal from their public funds in the case of
other Romans who fell into the hands of pirates at that period.]
[Footnote 16: From Miletus, as we are informed by Plutarch.]
[Footnote 17: Who commanded in Spain.]
[Footnote 18: Rex, it will be easily understood, was not a title of
dignity in a Roman family, but the surname of the Marcii.]
[Footnote 19: The rites of the Bona Dea, called also Fauna, which were