History of Roman Literature from its Earliest Period to the Augustan Volume I Part 2

Since, then, we can discover, during this period, nothing but those feeble dawings of dramatic, satiric, and heroic poetry, which never brightened to a perfect day, the only history of Roman literature which can be given during the long interval, consists in the progress and improvement of the Latin language. In the course of these five centuries, it was extremely variable, from two causes.-1st, Although their policy in this respect afterwards changed, one of the great principles of aggrandizement among the Romans in their early ages, was incorporating aliens, and admitting them to the rights of citizens. Hence, there was a constant influx to Rome of stranger tribes; and the dissonance within its walls was probably greater than had yet been any where heard since the memorable confusion at Babel.-2d, The Latin was merely a spoken language, or at least had not received stability by literary composition-writing at that time being confined, (in consequence of the want of materials for it,) to treaties, or short columnar inscriptions. So remarkable was the fluctuation produced by these causes, even during a very short period, that Polybius, speaking of a treaty concluded between the Carthaginians and Romans in the 245th Year of the City, during the Consuls.h.i.+p of Publius Valerius and Marcus Horatius, declares, that the language used in it was so different from the Latin spoken in his time, that the most learned Romans could not explain its text(84).

Of this changeable tongue, the earliest specimen extant, and which is supposed to be as ancient as the time of Romulus, is the hymn chaunted by the _Fratres Arvales_, the college of priests above-mentioned, who were called _Fratres_, from the first members of the inst.i.tution being the sons of Acca Laurentia, the nurse of Romulus. This song was inscribed, during the time of the Emperor Heliogabalus(85), on a stone, which was discovered on opening the foundations of the Sacristy at St Peter's, in the year 1778. It is in the following words:-

"Enos Lases juvate, Neve luerve Marmar sinis incurrer in pleoris.

Satur fufere Mars: limen sali sta berber: Semones alternei advocapit cunctos.

Enos Marmor juvate, Triumpe! triumpe!"

These words have been thus interpreted by Herman: "Nos Lares juvate, neve luem Mamuri sinis incurrere in plures. Satur fueris Mars: limen (_i. e._ postremum) sali sta vervex: Semones alterni jam duo capit cunctos. Nos Mamuri juvato-Triumphe! Triumphe"(86)! There are just sixteen letters used in the above inscription; and it appears from it, that at this early period the letter _s_ was frequently used instead of _r_-that the final _e_ was struck out, or rather, had not yet been added-the rich diphthong _ei_ was employed instead of _i_, and the simple letter _p_, in words where _f_ or _ph_ came afterwards to be subst.i.tuted.

Of the _Carmen Saliare_, sung by the Salian priests, appointed under Numa, for the protection of the _Ancilia_, or Sacred s.h.i.+elds, there remain only a few words, which have been cited by Varro, who remarks in them, what has already been noticed with regard to the Hymn of the _Fratres Arvales_, that the letter _s_ often occurs in words where his contemporaries placed _r_-as Melios, for melior-Plusima, for plurima-Asena, for arena-Janitos, for janitor(87). The _Carmen Saliare_, however, can scarcely be taken as a fair specimen of the state of the Roman language at the time it was composed. Among the nations adjacent to Rome, there were Salian priests, who had their hymns and solemn forms of invocation(88), which are said to have been, in part at least, adopted by Numa(89). So that his _Carmen Saliare_ probably approaches nearer to the Tuscan and Oscan dialects, than the Latin language did, even at that early period of the monarchy.

The fragments of a few laws, attributed to Numa, have been preserved by ancient jurisconsults and grammarians, and restored by Festus, with much pains, to their proper orthography, which had not been sufficiently attended to by those who first cited pa.s.sages from this _Regiam Majestatem_ of the Romans. One of these laws, as restored by him, is in the following terms:-"Sei cuips hemonem lobsum dolo sciens mortei duit pariceidad estod. sei im imprudens se dolo malod occisit pro capited oceisei et nateis eiius endo concioned arietem subicitod," which law may be thus interpreted: "Si quis hominem liberum dolo sciens morti dederit parricida esto: Si c.u.m imprudens, sine dolo malo, occiderit, pro capite occisi et natis ejus in concionem arietem subjicito." A law, ascribed to Servius Tullius, has been thus given by Festus:-"Sei parentem puer verberit ast oloe plorasit, puer diveis parentum sacer esto-sei nurus sacra diveis parentum esto,"-which means, "Si parentem puer verberet, at ille ploraverit, puer divis parentum sacer esto; si nurus, sacra divis parentum esto"(90).

From the date of these _Leges Regiae_, no specimen of the Latin language is now extant, till we come down to the Twelve Tables, enacted in the commencement of the fourth century of Rome. These celebrated inst.i.tutions have descended to us in mutilated fragments, and their orthography has probably been in some respects modernised: yet they bear stronger marks of antiquity than the above-recited law of Servius Tullius, or even than those of Numa. The Latin writers themselves by whom they are quoted did not very well understand them, owing to the change which had taken place in the language. Accordingly, Cicero, and the early grammarians who cite them, have attempted rather to give the meaning than the precise words of the Decemvirs. Terra.s.son has endeavoured to bring them back to the old Oscan language, in which he supposes them to have been originally written; but his emendations are in a great measure conjectural, and his attempt is one of more promise than fulfilment. On the whole, they have been so much corrupted by modernising them, and by subsequent attempts to restore them to the ancient readings, that they cannot be implicitly relied on as specimens of the Roman language during the period in which they were promulgated. The laws themselves are very concise, and free from that tautology, which seems the characteristic of the enactments of nations farther advanced in refinement. The first law is, "S' in jus vocat queat,"

which is extremely elliptical in its expression, and means, "Si quis aliquem in jus vocet, vocatus eat." In some respects the language of the _Leges Regiae_, and twelve tables, possesses a richness of sound, which we do not find in more modern Latin, particularly in the use of the diphthong _ai_ for _ae_, as vitai for vitae, and of the diphthong _ei_ for _i_, as sei for si. Horace might perhaps be well ent.i.tled to ridicule the person,

"Sic fautor veterum, ut tabulas peccare vetantes, Quae bisquinque viri sanxerunt, fdera regum Vel Gabiis, vel c.u.m rigidis aequata Sabinis, Pontific.u.m libros, annosa volumina vatum, Dict.i.tet Albano Musas in monte loquutas:"

Yet he would have done well to have considered, if, amid the manifold improvements of the Augustan poets, they had judged right in rejecting those rich and sonorous diphthongs of the _tabulae peccare vetantes_, which still sound with such strength and majesty in the lines of Lucretius.

There is scarcely a vestige of the Latin language remaining during the two centuries which succeeded the enactment of the twelve tables. At the end of that long period, and during the first Punic war, a celebrated inscription, which is still extant, recorded the naval victory obtained by the Consul Duillius, in 492, over the Carthaginians. The column on which it was engraved, and which became so famous by the t.i.tle of the _Columna Rostrata_, was, as Livy(91) informs us, struck down by lightning during the interval between the second and third Punic wars. It remained buried among the ruins of Rome, till, at length, in 1565, its base, which contained the inscription, was dug up in the vicinity of the Capitol. So much, however, was it defaced, that many of the letters were illegible.

These have been restored in the following manner by the conjectures of the learned:

"C. D(92). exemet leciones maximosque magistratus _no_vem castreis exfociunt. Macel_lam_ _pu_cnandod cepet enque eodem macis_tratu_ rem navebos marid consol primos _ceset_ clasesque navales primos ornavit c.u.mque eis navebos claseis pnicas om_nes_ sumas copias Cartaciniensis praeesente _d_ictatored olorum in altod marid puc_nandod_ _vicit_ trigintaque na_veis_ _cepet_ c.u.m socieis septe_m_ triremosque naveis XX captum numei DCC. captom aes navaled praedad poplom(93)."

In modern Latin the above inscription would run thus.-"Caius Duillius exemit: legiones, maximusque magistratus novem castris effugiunt. Macellam pugnando cepit; inque eodem magistratu, rem navibus mari Consul primus gessit, cla.s.sesque navales primus ornavit; c.u.mque iis navibus cla.s.ses Punicas omnes summas copias Carthaginienses, praesente dictatore illorum, in alto mari pugnando vicit: Trigintaque naves cepit c.u.m sociis septem, triremosque naves decem. Captum nummi, captum aes navali praeda, populo donavit."

There are also extant two inscriptions, which were engraved on the tombstones of Lucius Scipio Barbatus and his son Lucius Scipio, of which the former was somewhat prior, and the latter a year subsequent to the date of the Duillian inscription. The epitaph on Barbatus was discovered in 1780, in the vault of the Scipian family, between the Via Appia and Via Latina. Mr Hobhouse informs us that it is inscribed on a handsome but plain sarcophagus, and he adds, "that the eloquent simple inscription becomes the virtues and fellow-countrymen of the deceased, and instructs us more than a chapter of Livy in the style and language of the Republican Romans"(94):-

"Cornelius Lucius Scipio Barbatus Gnaivod patre prognatus fortis vir sapiensque quoius forma virtutei parisuma fuit. Consol Censor Aidilis quei fuit apud vos Taurasia Cisauna Samnio cepit subicit omne Loucana opsidesque abdoucit."

The above may be converted into modern Latin, as follows:

"C. L. Scipio Barbatus, Cneio patre prognatus, fortis vir sapiensque, cujus forma virtuti par fuit. Consul, Censor, aedilis qui fuit apud vos, Taurasiam, Cisaunam, Samnio cepit; subjecit omnem Lucaniam obsidesque abducit." The other Scipian epitaph had been discovered long before the above, on a slab which was found lying near the Porta Capena, having been detached from the family vault. Though a good many years later as to the date of its composition, the epitaph on the son bears marks of higher antiquity than that on the father:-

"Honc oino ploirume consentiunt duonoro optumo fuise viro Lucium Scipione.

Filios Barbati Consol Censor aedilis hec fuit. Hec cepit Corsica Aleriaque urbe: dedit tempestatibus aide mereto;" which means, "Hunc unum plurimi consentiunt Romae bonorum optimum fuisse virum Lucium Scipionem. Filius Barbati, Consul, Censor, aedilis his fuit. Hic cepit Corsicam Aleriamque urbem: dedit tempestatibus aedem merito".

The celebrated Eugubian tables were so called from having been found at Eugubium (Gubbio) a city in ancient Umbria, near the foot of the Apennines, where they were dug up in 1444. When first discovered, they were believed to be in the Egyptian language; but it was afterwards observed that five of the seven tables were in the Etruscan character and language, or rather in the Umbrian dialect of that tongue, and the other two in Roman letters, though in a rustic jargon, between Latin and Etruscan, with such mixture of each, as might be expected from an increased intercourse of the nations, and the subjugation of the one by the other.(95) The two tables in the Latin character were written towards the close of the sixth century of Rome, and those in the Etruscan letters a short while previous. So little, however, was the Etruscan language fixed or understood, even in the middle of last century, when the Etruscan rage was at its height in Italy, that Bonarota believed that those tables contained treaties of the ancient Italian nations-Gori, an Oscan poem, and Maffei, legal enactments, till Pa.s.serius at length discovered that they consisted solely of ordinances for the performance of sacred rites and religious ceremonies.(96)

On comparing the fragments of the _Leges Regiae_ with the Duillian and Scipian inscriptions, it does not appear that the Roman language, however greatly it may have varied, had either improved or approached much nearer to modern Latin in the fifth century than in the time of the kings. Short and mutilated as these laws and inscriptions are, they still enable us to draw many important conclusions with regard to the general state of the language during the existence of the monarchy, and the first ages of the republic. It has already been mentioned that the diphthong _ai_ was employed where _ae_ came to be afterwards subst.i.tuted, as aide for aede; _ei_ instead of _i_, as castreis for castris; and _oi_ in place of __, as coilum for clum. The vowel _e_ is often introduced instead of _o_, as hemo for h.o.m.o, while, on the other hand, _o_ is sometimes used instead of _e_, as vostrum for vestrum; and Scipio Africa.n.u.s is said to have been the first who always wrote the _e_ in such words(97). _U_ is frequently changed into _o_, as honc for hunc, sometimes into _ou_, as abdoucit for abducit, and sometimes to _oi_, as oino for uno. On the whole, it appears that the vowels were in a great measure used indiscriminately, and often, especially in inscriptions, they were altogether omitted, as bne for bene, though sometimes, again, an _e_ final was added, as face for fac, dice for dic. As to the consonants,-_b_ at the beginning of a word was _du_, as duonorum for bonorum, and it was _p_ at the middle or end, as opsides for obsides. The letter _g_ certainly does not appear in those earliest specimens of the Latin language-the hymn of the _Fratres Arvales_, and _Leges Regiae_, where _c_ is used in its place. Plutarch says, that this letter was utterly unknown at Rome during the s.p.a.ce of five centuries, and was first introduced by the grammarian Spurius Carvillius in the year 540(98). It occurs, however, in the epitaph of Scipio Barbatus, which was written at least half a century before that date; and, what is remarkable, it is there placed in a word where _c_ was previously and subsequently employed, Gnaivo being written for Cnaeo. The Letter _r_ was not, as has been a.s.serted, unknown to the ancient Romans, but it was chiefly used in the beginning and end of words-_s_ being employed instead of it in the middle, as lases for lares. Frequently the letters _m_ and _s_ were omitted at the end of words, especially, for the sake of euphony, when the following word began with a consonant-thus we have Aleria cepit, for Aleriam cepit. The ancient Romans were equally careful to avoid a hiatus of vowels, and hence they wrote sin in place of si in. Double consonants were never seen till the time of Ennius(99); and we accordingly find in the old inscriptions sumas for summas: _er_ was added to the infinitive pa.s.sive, as darier for dari, and _d_ was subjoined to words ending with a vowel, as in altod, marid, pucnandod. It likewise appears that the Romans were for a long period unacquainted with the use of aspirates, and were dest.i.tute of the _phi_ and _chi_ sounds of the Greek alphabet. Hence they wrote triumpe for triumphe, and pulcer for pulcher(100). We also meet with a good many words, particularly substantives, which afterwards became altogether obsolete, and some are applied in a sense different from that in which they were subsequently used. Finally, a difference in the conjugation of the same verb, and a want of inflection in nouns, particularly proper names of countries or cities, where the nominative frequently occurs instead of the accusative, show the unsettled state of the language at that early period(101).

It is unnecessary to prosecute farther the history of Roman inscriptions, since, immediately after the erection of the Duillian column in 494, Latin became a written literary language; and although the diphthongs _ai_ and _ei_ were retained for more than a century longer, most of the other archaisms were totally rejected, and the language was so enriched by a more copious admixture of the Greek, that, while always inferior to that tongue, in ease, precision, perspicuity, and copiousness, it came at length to rival it in dignity of enunciation, and in that lofty accent which harmonized so well with the elevated character of the people by whom it was uttered.

This sudden improvement in language, as well as the equally sudden revolution in taste and literature by which it was accompanied, must be entirely and exclusively attributed to the conquest of Magna Graecia, and the intercourse opened to the Romans with the Greek colonies of Sicily.

Their minds were, no doubt, in some measure prepared, during the five centuries which had followed the foundation of the city, for receiving the seeds of learning. The very existence of social life for so long a period must have in some degree reclaimed them from their native barbarism. Freed from hourly alarms excited by the attacks of foes whose territories reached almost to the gates of the city, it was now possible for them to enjoy those pleasures which can only be relished in tranquillity; but their genius, I believe, would have remained unproductive and cold for half a millennium longer, had it not been kindled by contact with a more polished and animated nation, whose compositions could not be read without enthusiasm, or imitated without advantage.

However uncertain may be the story concerning the arrival of notrus in the south of Italy, the pa.s.sage of the Pelasgi from Epirus to the Po, seventeen generations before the Trojan war, or the settlement of the Arcadian Evander in Latium, there can be no doubt, that, about the commencement of the Roman aera, the dissensions of the reigning families of Greece, the commotions which pervaded its realms, the suggestions of oracles, the uncertain tenure of landed property, the restless spirit of adventure, and seasons of famine, all co-operated in producing an emigration of numerous tribes, chiefly Dorians and Achaeans of Peloponnesus, who founded colonies on the coasts of Asia, the aegean islands, and Italy. In this latter country, (which seems in all ages to have been the resort and refuse of a redundant or unfortunate population,) the Greek strangers first settled in a southern district, then known by the ancient name of Iapygia, and since denominated Calabria. Serenity of climate, joined to the vigour of laws, simplicity of manners, and the energy peculiar to every rising community, soon procured these colonies an enviable increase of prosperity and power. They gradually drove the native inhabitants to the interior of the country, and formed a political state, which a.s.sumed the magnificent name of Magna Graecia-an appellation which was by degrees applied to the whole coast which bounds the bay of Tarentum. On that sh.o.r.e, about half a century after the foundation of Rome, arose the flouris.h.i.+ng and philosophic town of Crotona, and the voluptuous city of Sybaris. These were the consolidated possessions of the Grecian colonies; but they had also scattered seats all along the western coast of the territory which now forms the kingdom of Naples.

As in most other states, corruption of manners was the consequence of prosperity and the cause of decay. Towards the close of the third century of Rome, Pythagoras had in some measure succeeded in reforming the morals of Crotona, while the rival state of Sybaris, like the Moorish Grenada, hastened to destruction, amid carousals and civil dissensions; and though once capable, as is said, (but probably with some exaggeration,) of bringing three hundred thousand soldiers into the field(102), it sunk, after a short struggle, under the power of Crotona. The other independent states were successively agitated by the violence of popular revolution, and crushed by the severity of despotism. As in the mother country, they had constant dissensions among themselves. This rivals.h.i.+p induced them to call in the a.s.sistance of the Sicilians-a measure which prepared the way for their subjection to the vigorous but detestable sway of the elder Dionysius, and of Agathocles. Tarentum, founded about the same time with Sybaris and Crotona, was the most powerful city of the Grecian colonies toward the conclusion of their political existence, and the last formidable rival to the Romans in Italy. Like the neighbouring states, it was chiefly ruined by the succour of foreign allies. Unsuccessfully defended by Alexander Molossus, oppressed by the Syracusan tyrants, and despoiled by Cleomenes of Sparta, neither the genius of Pyrrhus, nor the power of Carthage, could preserve it from the necessity of final submission to the Romans.

In all their varieties of fortune, the Grecian colonies had maintained the manners and inst.i.tutions of the mother country, which no people ever entirely relinquish with the soil they have left. A close political connection also subsisted between them; and, about the year 300 of Rome, the Athenians sent to the a.s.sistance of Sybaris a powerful expedition, which, on the decay of that city, founded the town of Thurium in the immediate vicinity. This constant intercourse cherished and preserved the literary spirit of the colonies of Magna Graecia. Herodotus, the father of history, and Lysias, whose orations are the purest models of the simple Attic eloquence, were, in early youth, among the original founders of the colony of Thurium(103), and the latter held a share in its government till an advanced period of life. The Eleatic school of philosophy was founded in Magna Graecia; and the impulse which the wisdom of Pythagoras had given to the mind, promoted also the studies of literature. Plato visited Tarentum during the consuls.h.i.+p of Lucius Camillus and Appius Claudius(104), which was in the 406th year of Rome, and Zeuxis was invited from Greece to paint at Crotona the magnificent temple of Juno, which had been erected in that city(105). History and poetry were cultivated with a success which did not dishonour the Grecian name. Lycus of Rhegium was the civil, and Glaucus of the same city was the literary historian of Magna Graecia. Orpheus of Crotona was the author of a poem on the expedition of the Argonauts, attributed to an elder Orpheus. The lyric productions of Ibicus of Rhegium rivalled those of Anacreon and Alcaeus. Two hundred and fifty-five comedies, written by Alexis of Thurium, the t.i.tles of which have been collected by Meursius, and a few fragments of them by Stephens, are said to have been composed in the happiest vein of the middle comedy of the Greeks, which possessed much of the comic force of Aristophanes and Cratinus, without their malignity. In his Meropis and Ancylio, this dramatist is supposed to have carped at Plato; and his comedy founded on the life of Pythagoras, was probably in a similar vein of satire.

Stephano, the son of Alexis, and who, according to Suidas, was the uncle of Menander, became chiefly celebrated for his tragedies; but his comedies were also distinguished by happy pictures of life, and uncommon harmony of versification.

War, which had so long r.e.t.a.r.ded the progress of literature at Rome, at length became the cause of its culture. The Romans were now involved in a contest with the civilized colonies of Magna Graecia. Accordingly, when they garrisoned Thurium, in order to defend it against the Samnites, and when in 482 they obtained complete possession of Magna Graecia, by the capture of Tarentum, which presented the last resistance to their arms, they could not fail to catch a portion of Grecian taste and spirit, or at least to admire the beautiful creations of Grecian fancy. Many of the conquerors remained in Magna Graecia, while, on the other hand, all the inhabitants of its cities, who were most distinguished for literary attainments, fixed their residence at Rome.

The first Carthaginian war, which broke out in 489, so far from r.e.t.a.r.ding the literary influence of these strangers, accelerated the steps of improvement. Unlike the former contests of the Romans, which were either with neighbouring states, or with barbarous nations who came to attack them in their own territories, it was not attended with that immediate danger which is utterly inconsistent with literary leisure. In its prosecution, too, the Romans for the first time carried their arms beyond Italy. Literature, indeed, was not one of those novelties in which the western part of Africa was fruitful, but, with the exception of Greece itself, there was no country where it flourished more luxuriantly than in Sicily; and that island, as is well known, was the princ.i.p.al scene of the first great struggle between Rome and Carthage. None of the Grecian colonies shone with such splendour as Syracuse, a city founded by the Dorians of Corinth, in the 19th year of Rome. This capital had attained the summit both of political and literary renown long before the first Carthaginian war. aeschylus pa.s.sed the concluding years of his life in Sicily, and wrote, it is said, his tragedy of _The Persians_, to gratify the curiosity of Hiero I. King of Syracuse, who was desirous to see a representation of the celebrated war which the Greeks had waged against Xerxes. Epicharmus, retained in the same elegant court, was the first who rejected, on the stage, the ancient mummeries of the satires, and composed dramas on that regular elaborate plan, which was reckoned worthy of imitation by Plautus-

"Dicitur ------------ Plautus ad exemplar Siculi properare Epicharmi(106)."

Dionysius, the tyrant, was also a patron of learning, and was himself a compet.i.tor in the fields of literature. Philistus, the historian, was the friend of the elder, and Plato of the younger Dionysius. Aristippus and aeschines pa.s.sed some time in the court of these tyrants. Theocritus, and other poets of the Alexandrian constellation, resided in Sicily before they partook in Egypt of the splendid patronage of the Ptolemies. The Syracusans, who put to death so many of their Athenian prisoners in cold blood, and with frightful tortures, spared those of them who could recite the verses of Euripides. Scenic representations were peculiarly popular in Sicily: Its towns were crowded with theatres, and its dramatists were loaded with honours. The theatrical exhibitions which the Roman invaders of Sicily must have witnessed, and the respect there paid to distinguished poets, would naturally awaken literary emulation. During a contest of nearly twenty-four years between Rome and Carthage, Hiero II., King of Syracuse, was the zealous and strenuous ally of the Romans. At the conclusion of peace between these rival nations, in the year 512, part of Sicily was ceded to the Romans, and the intercourse which consequently arose with the inhabitants of this newly-acquired territory, laid the foundation of those studies, which were afterwards brought to perfection by the progress of time, and by direct communication with Greece itself(107).

Accordingly, it is in the end of the fifth, and beginning of the sixth century, from the building of Rome, that we find among its inhabitants the earliest vestiges of literature. Poetry, as with most other nations, was the first of the liberal arts which was cultivated among the Romans; and dramatic poetry, founded on the school of Greece, appears to have been that which was earliest preferred. We have seen, indeed, that previous to this period, and in the year 392, when the city was afflicted with a plague, the Senate decreed that players should be summoned from Etruria to appease the wrath of the G.o.ds by scenic representations, and that the Roman youth imitated these expiatory performances, by rallying each other in extemporary verses. This by some has been considered as a dawning of the drama, since the characters probably bore a resemblance to the Arlequin and Scaramouch of the Italian farces. But

LIVIUS ANDRONICUS,

A native of Magna Graecia, was the first who attempted to establish at Rome a regular theatre, or to connect a dramatic fable, free from the mummeries, the _ballet_, and the melodrama of the ancient satires(108).

Tiraboschi a.s.serts, that when his country was finally subdued by the Romans, in 482, Livius was made captive and brought to Rome(109). It is generally believed that he there became the slave, and afterwards the freedman of Livius Salinator, from whom he derived one of his names: these facts, however, do not seem to rest on any authority more ancient than the Eusebian Chronicle(110). The precise period of his death is uncertain; but in Cicero's Dialogue _De Senectute_, Cato is introduced saying, that he had seen old Livius while he was himself a youth(111). Now Cato was born in 519, and since the period of youth among the Romans was considered as commencing at fifteen, it may be presumed that the existence of Livius was at least protracted till the year 534 of the city. It has been frequently said, that he lived till the year 546(112), because Livy(113) mentions that a hymn composed by this ancient poet was publicly sung in that year, to avert the disasters threatened by an alarming prodigy; but the historian does not declare that it was written for the occasion, or even recently before.

The earliest play of Livius was represented in 513 or 514, about a year after the termination of the first Punic war. Osannus, a modern German author, has written a learned and chronological dissertation on the question, in which of these years the first Roman play was performed(114); but it is extremely difficult for us to come to any satisfactory conclusion on a subject which, even in the time of Cicero, was one of doubt and controversy(115). Like Thespis, and other dramatists in the commencement of the theatrical art, Livius was an actor, and for a considerable time the sole performer in his own pieces. Afterwards, however, his voice failing, in consequence of the audience insisting on a repet.i.tion of favourite pa.s.sages, he introduced a boy who relieved him, by declaiming in concert with the flute, while he himself executed the corresponding gesticulations in the monologues, and in the parts where high exertion was required, employing his own voice only in the conversational and less elevated scenes(116). It was observed that his action grew more lively and animated, because he exerted his whole strength in gesticulating, while another had the care and trouble of p.r.o.nouncing. "Hence," continues Livy, "the practice arose of reciting those pa.s.sages which required much modulation of the voice, to the gesture and action of the comedian. Thenceforth the custom so far prevailed, that the comedians never p.r.o.nounced anything except the verses of the dialogues(117):" And this system, which one should think must have completely destroyed the theatric illusion, continued, under certain modifications, to subsist on the Roman stage during the most refined periods of taste and literature.

The popularity of Livius increasing from these performances, as well as from a propitiatory hymn he had composed, and which had been followed by great public success, a building was a.s.signed to him on the Aventine hill.

This edifice was partly converted into a theatre, and was also inhabited by a troop of players, for whom Livius wrote his pieces, and frequently acted along with them(118).

It has been disputed whether the first drama represented by Livius Andronicus at Rome was a tragedy or comedy(119). However this may be, it appears from the names which have been preserved of his plays, that he wrote both tragedies and comedies. These t.i.tles, which have been collected by Fabricius and other writers, are, _Achilles_, _Adonis_, _aegisthus_, _Ajax_, _Andromeda_, _Antiopa_, _Centauri_, _Equus Troja.n.u.s_, _Helena_, _Hermione_, _Ino_, _Lydius_, _Protesilaodamia_, _Serenus_, _Tereus_, _Teucer_, _Virgo_(120). Such names also evince that most of his dramas were translated or imitated from the works of his countrymen of Magna Graecia, or from the great tragedians of Greece. Thus, aeschylus wrote a tragedy on the subject of aegisthus: There is still an Ajax of Sophocles extant, and he is known to have written an Andromeda: Stobaeus mentions the Antiopa of Euripides: Four Greek dramatists, Sophocles, Euripides, Anaxandrides, and Philaeterus, composed tragedies on the subject of Tereus; and Epicharmus, as well as others, chose for their comedies the story of the Syrens.

Little, however, except the t.i.tles, remains to us, from the dramas of Livius. The longest pa.s.sage we possess in connection, extends only to four lines. It forms part of a hymn to Diana, recited by the chorus, in the tragedy of _Ino_, and contains an animated exhortation to a person about to proceed to the chase:-

"Et jam purpureo suras include cothurno, Baltheus et revocet volucres in pectore sinus; Pressaque jam gravida crepitent tibi terga pharetra: Dirige odorisequos ad caeca cubilia canes(121)."

This pa.s.sage testifies the vast improvement effected by Livius on the Latin Tongue; and indeed the polish of the language and metrical correctness of these hexameter lines, have of late led to a suspicion that they are not the production of a period so ancient as the age of Livius(122), or at least that they have been modernised by some later hand. With this earliest offspring of the Latin muse, it may be curious to compare a production from her last age of decrepitude. Nemesia.n.u.s, in his _Cynegeticon_, has closely imitated this pa.s.sage while exhorting Diana to prepare for the chase:

"Sume habitus, arc.u.mque manu; pictamque pharetram Suspende ex humeris; sint aurea tela, sagittae; Candida puniceis aptentur crura cothurnis: Sit chlamys aurato multum subtemine lusa, Corrugesque sinus gemmatis baltheus artet Nexibus --"

As the above-quoted verses in the chorus of the _Ino_ are the only pa.s.sage among the fragments of Livius, from which a connected meaning can be elicited, we must take our opinion of his poetical merits from those who judged of them while his writings were yet wholly extant. Cicero has p.r.o.nounced an unfavourable decision, declaring that they scarcely deserved a second perusal(123). They long, however, continued popular in Rome, and were read by the youths in schools even during the Augustan age of poetry.

It is evident, indeed, that during that golden period of Roman literature, there prevailed a taste corresponding to our black-letter rage, which led to an inordinate admiration of the works of Livius, and to the bitter complaints of Horace, that they should be extolled as perfect, or held up by old pedants to the imitation of youth in an age when so much better models existed:

"Non equidem insector, delendaque carmina Livi Esse reor, memini quae plagosum mihi parvo Orbilium dictare; sed emendata videri, Pulchraque, et exactis minimum distantia, miror: Inter quae verb.u.m emicuit si forte decorum, et Si versus paulo concinnior unus et alter; Injuste totum ducit venditque poema(124)."

But although Livius may have been too much read in the schools, and too much admired in an age, which could boast of models so greatly superior to his writings, he is at least ent.i.tled to praise, as the inventor among the Romans of a species of poetry which was afterwards carried by them to much higher perfection. By translating the Odyssey, too, into Latin verse, he adopted the means which, of all others, was most likely to foster and improve the infant literature of his country-as he thus presented it with an image of the most pure and perfect taste, and at the same time with those wild and romantic adventures, which are best suited to attract the sympathy and interest of a half-civilized nation. This happy influence could not be prevented even by the use of the rugged Saturnian verse, which led Cicero to compare the translation of Livius to the ancient statues, which might be attributed to Daedalus(125).

The Latin Odyssey commenced-

"Virum mihi, Camena, insece versutum."