who had gone before them, to inflame others | have got whatever reputation he had, rather follow their great examples. as their first than as a good writer; for The names of almost all these poets fleep in Cicero, who admired thefe old pocts more peace with all their works; and, if we may than they were afterwards admired, is forced take the word of the other Roman writers of a to give up Livius; and fays, that his pieces better age, it is no great lofs to us. One of did not deferve a fecond reading. He was for their beft poets represents them as very obfcure fome time the fole writer for the ftage; till and very contemptible; one of their beft hif-Nævius refe to rival him, and probably far torians avoids quoting them, as too barbarous exceeded his mafter. Næviusventured too on for politer ears; and one of their moft judi-an epic, or rather an hiftorical poem, on the cisis emperors ordered the greatest part of their writings to be burnt, that the world might be troubled with them no longer. firft Carthaginian war. Ennius followed his fteps in this, as well as in the dramatic way; and feems to have excelled him as much as he All thefe poets, therefore, may very well had excelled Livius; fo much at least, that be dropt in the account: there being nothing Lucretius fays of him, " That he was the remaining of their works; and probably no firft of their poets who deferved a lafting crown merit to be found in them, if they had re-from the Mufes." Thefe three pocts were mained. And fo we may date the beginning actors as well as poets; and feem all of them of the Roman poetry from Livius Androni-to have wrote whatever was wanted for the en, the first of their pocts of whom any thing ftage, rather than to have confuhed their own des remain to us; and from whom the Ro-turn or genius. Each of them published, mans themselves feem to have dated the be- fometimes tragedies, fometimes comedies, ginning of their poetry, even in the Auguftan and fometimes a kind of dramatic fatires age. fuch fatires, I fuppofe, as had been occafioned by the extempore poetry that had been in fashion the century before them. All the moft celebrated dramatic writers of antiquity excel only in one kind. There is no tragedy of Terence, or Menander; and no comedy of Actius, or Euripides. But thefe first dramatic pocts, among the Romans, attempted every thing indifferently; juft as the prefent fancy, or the demand of the people, led The first kind of poetry that was followed with any fuccefs among the Romans, was that for the ftage. They were a very religious ple; and ftage-plays in thofe tintes made an inconfiderable pare in their public devotions; it is hence, perhaps, that the greatest number of their oldeft poets, of whom we have any remains, and indeed almoft all of them, are dramatic poets! *** Spence. 40. of LIVIUS, Nævius, and ENNIUS. The foremost in this bift, were Livius, Næive, and Ennius Livius's firft play (and its the first written play that ever appeared Rome, whence perhaps Horace calls him Lavins Scriptor) was acted in the 14th year from the building of the city. He feems to them. dramatic writers began to act with more ftcadinefs and judgment; they followed one point of view; they had the benefit of the excellent patterns the Greek writers had fer them; and formed themselves on thofe mo-ceived from the public, answered the compli dels. having read a very few lines only, Cæcilius altered his behaviour, and placed him next himself at the table. They all admired him as a rifing genius; and the applause he re 841. Of PLAUTUS. Spence ments they had made him in private. His Eunuchus, in particular, was acted twice in one day and he was paid more for that piece Plautus was the first that confulted his own than ever had been given before for a comedy: genius, and confined himself to that fpecics and yet, by the way, it was not much above of dramatic writing, for which he was the beft thirty pounds. We may fee by that, and fitted by nature. Indeed his comedy (like the rest of his plays which remain to us, to the old comedy at Athens) is of a ruder kind, what a degree of exactnefs and elegance the and far enough from the polish that was after Roman Comedy was arrived in his time. wards given it among the Romans. His There is a beautiful fimplicity, which reigns jefts are often rough, and his wit coarfe; but through all his works. There is no fearchthere is a ftrength and spirit in him, that ing after wit, and no oftcntation of ornament make one read him with pleasure; at leaft he in him. All his fpeakers feem to say juft is much to be commended for being the firft what they should fay, and no more. The that confidered what he was moft capable of ftory is always going on; and goes on juft as excelling in, and not endeavouring to thine it ought. This whole age, long before Tes in too many different ways at once. Cæcilius rence and long after, is rather remarkable for followed his example in this particular; but strength than beauty in writing. Were we improved their comedy fo much beyond him, to compare it with the following age, the that he is named by Cicero, as perhaps the compofitions of this would appear to thofe of beft of all the comic writers they ever had. the Auguftan, as the Doric order in building This high character of him was not for his if compared with the Corinthian; but Te language, which is given up by Cicero him-rence's work is to thofe of the Auguftan age, felf as faulty and incorrect; but either for the dignity of his characters, or the strength and weight of his fentiments. Ibid. $42. Of TERENCE, Terence made his firft appearance when Cæcilius was in high reputation. It is faid, that when he offered his first play to the Ediles, they fent him with it to Cæcilius for his judgment of the piece. Cæcilius was at fupper when he came to him; and as Terence was dreft very meanly, he was placed on a little ftool, and defired to read away; but upon his as the Ionic is to the Corinthian order: it is not fo ornamented, or fo rich; but nothing can be more exact and pleafing. The Roman language itfelf, in his hands, feems to be improved beyond what one could ever expect; and to be advanced almost a hundred years forwarder than the times he lived in. There are fome who look upon this as one of the ftrangeft phænomena in the learned world: but it is a phænomenon which may be well enough explained from Cicero. He fays, that in feveral families the Roman language was spoken in perfection, even in thofe thofe times;" and inftances particularly in the families of the Lalii and the Scipios. Every one knows that Terence was extremely intimate in both these families: and as the language of his pieces is that of familiar converfation, he had indeed little more to do, than to write as they talked at their tables. Perhaps, too, he was obliged to Scipio and Lælius, for more than their bare converfations. That is not at all impoffible; and indeed the Romans themselves feem generally to have imagined that he was affifted by them in the writing part too. If it was really fay that will account ftill better for the elegance of the language in his plays: because Terence himself was born out of Italy; and, though he was brought thither very young, be received the first part of his education in a family, where they might not fpeak with fomach correctness as Lælius and Scipio had beta ofed to from their very infancy. Thus much for the language of Terence's plays: as for the reft, it feems, from what he fays himfelf, that his moft ufual method was to take his plans chiefly, and his characters wholly, from the Greek comic poets. Thofe who fay that he tranflated all the comedies of Memander, certainly carry the matter too far. They were probably more than Terence ever wale. Indeed this would be more likely to betrue of Afranius than Terence; though, I fuppofe, it would scarce hold, were we to ke both of them together. $.43 Of AFRANIUS. Spence. We have a very great lofs in the works of Afranius; for he was regarded, even in the Auguftan Age, as the most exact imitator of Menander. He owns himself, that he had to restraint in copying him; or any other of the Greek comic writers, wherever they fet $44. Of PACUVIUS and ACTIUS. About the fame time that comedy was improved fo confiderably, Pacuvius and Actius (one a cotemporary of Terenec, and the other of Afranius) carried tragedy as far towards perfection as it ever arrived in Ros man hands. The ftep from Ennius to Pacuvius was a very great one; fo great, that he was reckoned, in Cicero's time, the beft of all their tragic poets. Pacuvius, as well as Terence, enjoyed the acquaintance and friendship of Lælius and Scipio: but he did not profit fo much by it, as to the improvement of his language. Indeed his ftyle was not to be the common converfation style, as Terence's was; and all the ftiffenings given to it, might take just as much from its elegance as they added to its dignity. What is remarkable in him, is, that he was almoft as eminent for painting as he was for poetry. He made the decorations for his own plays; and Pliny fpeaks of fome paintings by him, in a temple of Hercules, as the most cele brated work of their kind, done by any Roman of condition after Fabius Pictor. Actius began to publish when Pacuvius was leaving off; his language was not fo fine, nor his verfes fo well-turned, even as thofe of his predeceffor. There is a remarkable ftory of him in an old critic, which, as it may give fome light into their different manners of writing, writing, may be worth relating. Pacuvius, innius: but it was fo altered and fo improved his old age, retired to Tarentum, to enjoy the by Lucilius, that he was called the inventor of foft air and mild winters of that place. As it. This was a kind of poetry wholly of the Actius was obliged, on some affairs, to make Roman growth; and the only one they had a journey into Afia, he took Tarentum in his that was fo; and even as to this, Lucilius way, and ftaid there fome days with Pa-improved a good deal by the fide lights he cuvius. It was in this vifit that he read borrowed from the old comedy at Athens." his tragedy of Atreus to him, and defired Not long after, Lucretius brought their poetry his opinion of it. Old Pacuvius, after hear-acquainted with philofophy: and Carullus being it out, told him very honestly, that the gan to fhew the Romans fomething of the excel poetry was fonorous and majestic, but that it lence of the Greek lyric poets. Lucretius diffeemed to him too stiff and harth. Actius re- covers a great deal of spirit wherever his fübject plied, that he was himfelf very fenfible of that will give him leave; and the first moment he fault in his writings; but that he was not at fteps a little afide from it, in all his digreffions, all forry for it: "for," fays he, "I have he is fuller of life and fire, and appears to always been of opinion, that it is the fame have been of a more poetical turn than Virgil with writers as with fruits; among which, himfelf; which is partly acknowledged in the thofe that are most foft and palatable, de- fine compliment the latter feems to pay him cay the fooneft; whereas thofe of a rough in his Georgics. His fubject often obliges rafte laft the longer, and have the finer relish, him to go on heavily for an hundred lines towhen once they come to be mellowed by gether: but wherever he breaks out, he time." Whether this ftyle ever came to be breaks out like lightning from a dark cloud;" thus mellowed, I very much doubt; however all at once, with force and brightnefs. His that was, it is a point that feems generally character, in this, agrees with what is faid of allowed, that he and Pacuvius were the two him; that a philtre he took had given him a best tragic poets the Romans ever had. frenzy, and that he wrote in his lucid intervals. He and Catullus wrote when letters, in general, began to flourish at Rome much more than ever they had done. Catullus was too wife to rival him; and was the moft ad . Spence. 45. Of the Rife of Satires Of LUCI-LIUS, LUCRETIUS, and CATULLUS. All this while, that is, for above one hun-mired of all his cotemporaries, in all the dred years, the ftage, as you fee, was almost folely in poffeffion of the Roman poets. It was now time for the other kinds of poetry to have their turn; however, the first that fprung up and flourished to any degree, was full a cyon from the fame root. What I mean, is Satire; the produce of the old co Aedy. This kind of poetry had been attempted in a different manner by fome of the former writers, “and”itpárticulat.by Eh different ways of writing he attempted. His odes, perhaps, are the leaft valuable part of his works. The ftrokes of fatire in his epigrams are very fevere; and the defcriptions in his Idylliums, very full and picturefque. He paints ftrongly; but all his paintings have more of force than elegance, and put one more in mind of Homer than Virgil. With thefe I fhall chufe to clofe the first age of the Roinan poctry: an age more remark able able for ftrength than for refinement in writing. I have dwelt longer on it perhaps than Iought; but the order and fucceffion of thefe poets wanted much to be fettled: and I was obliged to fay fomething of each of them, because I may have recourfe to each on fome occafion or another, in fhewing you my collection. All that remains to us of the poetical works of this age, are the mifcellaneous poems of Catullus; the philofophical poem of Lucretius; fix comedies by Terence; and twenty by Plautus: of all the reft, there is nothing left us, except fuch paffages from their works as happened to be quoted by the ancient writers, and particularly by Cicero and the old critics. Spence. to oppofe old Ennius to Æfchylus, Pacuvius to Sophocles, and Actius to Euripides. This high notion of the old poets was probably the general fafhion in his time; and it continued afterwards (efpecially among the more elderly fort of people in the Auguftan age; and indeed much longer. Horace, in his cpiftle to Auguftus, combats it as a vulgar error in his time; and perhaps it was an error from which that prince himself was not wholly free. However that be, Horace, ou this occafion, enters into the queftion very fully, and with a good deal of warmth. The character he gives of the old dramatic poets (which indeed includes all the poets I have been speaking of, except Lucilius, Lucretius, and Catullus) is perhaps rather too fevere. § 46. Of the Criticisms of CICERO, HO-He fays, "that their language was in a great RACE, and QUINCTILIAN, on the above degree fuperannuated, even in his time; that Writers. they are often negligent and incorrect; and that there is generally a ftiffness in their compofitions: that people indeed might pardon thefe things in them, as the fault of the times they lived in; but that it was provoking they fhould think of commending them for thofe very faules." In another piece of his, which turns pretty much on the fame fubject, he gives Lucilius's character much in the fame manner. He owns," that he had a good deal of wit; but then it is rather of the farce kind than true genteel wit. He is a rapid writer, and has a great many good things in him; but is often very fuperfluous and incorrect; his language is dashed affectedly with Greek; and his verfes are hard and unharmonious."--Quinctilian fteers the middle way between both. cero perhaps was a little, mifled by his nearness to their times; and Horace by his fubject, which was profeffedly to fpeak against the old writers: Quinctilian, therefore, does The best way to fettle the characters and merits of thefe poets of the firft age, where fo little of their own works remains, is by confidering what is faid of them by the other Roman writers, who were well acquainted with their works. The beft of the Roman tritics we can confult now, and perhaps the beft they ever had, are Cicero, Horace, and Quinctilian. If we compare their fentiments of these poets together, we fhall find a difagreement in them; but a difagreement which I think may be accounted for, without any great difficulty. Cicero (as he lived before the Roman poetry was brought to perfection, and poffibly as no very good judge of poetry humfeif) feems to think more highly of them than the others. He gives up Livius indeed; but then he makes it up in commending Neus. All the other comic poets he quotes eften with respect; and as to the tragic, he carries it fo far as to feem ftrongly inclined Cit |