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Table of Contents

EARLY PROSE-THE SCIPIONIC CIRCLE—LUCILIUS

Greek influence upon Roman prose—Fabius Pictor, 216 BC—Cincius Alimentus, 210 BC—Cato, 234–149 BC—Cato’s works—Orators—Jurists—Latin annalists—Scipio Africanus the younger, 185–129 BC—The Scipionic circle—Lucilius, 180(?)-126 BC—Satire—Satires of Lucilius—Literature in the fifty years before Cicero—Poetry—History—Learned works—General writers—Jurists—Oratory—Rhetoric addressed to Herennius—Great development of prose in this period.

Tragedy and comedy began, reached their full development, and decayed in the short period of a century and a half between the first play of Livius Andronicus and the death of Accius. It was therefore advisable to give a connected account of dramatic literature at Rome for this entire period, and to reserve for separate treatment the beginnings of prose literature, which, though less rapid in its growth, had a far longer life and was a much truer expression of the national genius.

The rudiments of a strictly native prose literature, the twelve tables of the laws, the various lists and records, and the speeches delivered on public and private occasions, mark the lines along which Roman prose was destined to advance—history, jurisprudence, and eloquence. Greek influence upon Roman prose. But Roman prose, like Roman poetry, came under the influence of Greek literature as soon as the Romans began to pay any attention to literary style. It was when the conquest of southern Italy brought Rome into closer contact than before with the cities of Magna Græcia that Livius Andronicus was brought to Rome, and it was in the years immediately after the first Punic war that he produced the first Latin plays in imitation of Greek originals. To about the same or a little later time belong the earliest Roman prose writers. Some of these men, regarding the Latin language as too imperfect for use in prose literature, wrote in Greek, recording the events of Roman history for the enlightenment of foreigners and of educated Romans. Q. Fabius Pictor. Such was Quintus Fabius Pictor, a man of much distinction at Rome, who was sent by the state to consult the oracle at Delphi after the battle of Cannæ in 216 BC He wrote in Greek prose a history of Rome from the days of Æneas to his own times, selecting the same subject chosen by his contemporary Ennius for his Annales in Latin verse. This work of Fabius Pictor was very soon translated into Latin, and remained one of the chief sources from which later historians, such as Livy, derived their information. L. Cincius Alimentus. Lucius Cincius Alimentus, who was prætor in command of a Roman army in the second Punic war, wrote Roman history in Greek prose, as did also Publius Cornelius Scipio, the son of the elder Africanus, Aulus Postumius Albinus, and Gaius Acilius, about the middle of the second century BC Their works, being in Greek, had little direct influence on Latin literature, but show how powerful the Greek influence was among the cultivated men at Rome in the years following the second Punic war. Greek influence. This influence was not confined to literature, but affected dress, manners, ways of thinking—in short, all sides of life—especially among the upper classes. The Greeks of this time were no longer the hardy citizen-soldiers of the old days of Marathon and Thermopylæ, but were now distinguished for culture, refinement, and scholarship, too often accompanied by effeminacy, luxury, and dishonesty. Not by any means all the Romans were ready to profit by contact with Greek civilization, with its mixture of good and bad qualities, and there was naturally a party at Rome which opposed everything Greek, and wished to preserve the old Roman simplicity. The most important man of this party was Cato.

Marcus Porcius Cato was born at Tusculum, in 234 BC, and died in 149 BC Throughout his life he was active in public affairs. M. Porcius Cato. He was quæstor (204 BC), ædile (199 BC), consul (195 BC), and censor (184 BC), and in all his offices showed his honesty, efficiency, singleness of purpose, and sincere, though somewhat narrow-minded, patriotism. He believed that the influence of Greek art, literature, philosophy, and ways of life was bad, though in his old age he learned the Greek language, and studied Greek literature. In a letter to his son, he says: “I shall speak about those Greeks in their proper place, son Marcus, and tell what I discovered at Athens, and that it is good to look into their literature, but not to learn it thoroughly. I shall convince you that their race is most worthless and unteachable.”10

Cato was opposed to the prevailing tendencies in literature—the tendencies which were destined to prevail—but in spite of that he was one of the most productive literary men of his time. Cato as an orator. His active political life gave him many occasions for public speaking, in the senate or before the people, and he spoke often in courts of law, either in suits of his own or as an advocate for others. One hundred and fifty of his speeches existed in Cicero’s, time, and some, at least, were read and admired long after Cicero. About eighty scattered fragments now exist, some of which belong to political, others to legal speeches. These show vigor and terseness of expression, a sort of dry humor, and straightforward freedom of speech, but no elegance of style.

Cato’s most important work was the Origines, in seven books, the first Roman history in Latin prose. In style and method this work was very uneven. The Origines. Sometimes events were narrated in brief, annalistic fashion, at other times Cato devoted much space to details. One book, from which the whole work derived its name, told of the origins and early history of the various towns of Italy. The work treated of Roman and Italian history from the earliest times to Cato’s own day, and in the latter part Cato took pains to give his own actions at least as much prominence as was their due, even inserting in his narrative the speeches he had delivered on various occasions. In the form of letters to his son, Cato composed treatises on agriculture, the care of health, eloquence, and the art of war. He also wrote a series of rules of conduct in verse, and made a collection of wise and witty sayings.

Of all his works the only one extant is a treatise On Agriculture. Born and brought up in the small town of Tusculum, and full of admiration for the simple virtues of the early Romans, Cato saw with deep disapproval the tendency of the men of his own day to give up agriculture for commercial and financial occupations. The treatise On Agriculture. “It would sometimes be better to seek gain by commerce, if it were not so dangerous; and likewise by money-lending, if it were so honorable. For our ancestors held this matter thus, and put it in the laws in this way, that a thief be punished by a double fine, a money-lender by a fourfold one. From this one can see how much worse citizen they considered a money-lender than a thief. And when they praised a good man, it was a good farmer, a good colonist. They thought that a man was most amply praised who was praised in this way. Now I think a merchant is energetic and diligent in seeking gain; but, as I said above, he is exposed to danger and ruin. But from farmers both the bravest men and most energetic soldiers arise, and the business they follow is most pious and surest, and least exposed to envy; and those who are occupied in that pursuit are least given to evil thoughts.”11 In other parts of the book Cato gives in short, simple sentences, practical rules to be followed by the farmer. “Be sure to do everything early. For this is the way with farming: if you do one thing late, you will do all the work late.” This style of short, sharp sentences, is characteristic of Cato. He despises all appearance of literary polish, as if he wished to show that the arts of elegance cultivated by most other Roman writers were unnecessary and undesirable.

Cato was one of the most famous orators of his time, but his competitors were many, among them some of the most noted men of Rome. Other orators. Most of these orators were men of natural ability, whose eloquence was trained in the school of public life and owed its effect in great measure to the weight of the speaker’s dignity or the glory of his deeds. Their speeches are lost, and the reputation they had survives only to remind us that during and after the second Punic war Roman eloquence was growing in power, preparing, as it were, for the brilliant oratory of the Gracchi in the second half of the second century BC, and the superb productions of Cicero in the century to follow. Among orators of Cato’s time should be mentioned Quintus Fabius Maximus Cunctator, five times consul, censor, and dictator, the conqueror of Hannibal, then Quintus Cæcilius Metellus, consul in 206 BC, Marcus Cornelius Cethegus (died in 196 BC), Publius Licinius Crassus (died 183 BC), and Scipio Africanus the elder (died 183 BC).

In the field of jurisprudence there was considerable activity in the days of Cato. Jurists. Publius Ælius (consul 201, died 174 BC) and his brother Sextus (consul 198 BC) published the most systematic work on jurisprudence. This work was called Tripertita, and was for centuries regarded with reverence as the beginning from which grew the great system of Roman law. Scipio Nasica (consul 191 BC), Lucius Acilius, Quintus Fabius Labeo (consul 183 BC), and Cato’s son (born about 192, died in 152 BC) were all distinguished jurists whose interpretation of the Twelve Tables and whose wisdom in regard to legal matters are mentioned with praise by later writers. Their writings have perished, but the results of their studies were incorporated in the later works on Roman law.

The annalists who wrote in Greek, such as Fabius Pictor, were followed, soon after the middle of the second century BC, by several writers whose works differed from theirs chiefly by being written in Latin. Latin annalists. They derived their general views and methods, as well as some of their facts, from earlier Greek historians, such as Ephorus and Timæus. The first of these Latin annalists was Lucius Cassius Hemina, who wrote a history of Rome to his own time. Somewhat more important was Lucius Calpurnius Piso Frugi, who was consul in 133 BC His annals covered the same ground as those of Hemina, and are said to have been written in an artless, somewhat rude style. A similar lack of elegance seems to have belonged to the works of the other annalists of this time. Evidently the Romans had not yet learned to write artistic prose. Yet this is the period when, under the guidance of Greek teachers, the Romans were paying more attention than ever before to grammar and rhetoric, purity of language, and nicety of expression.

The man about whom the best literary life of the city centred was Scipio Africanus the younger, who lived from 185 to 129 BC Scipio. He was the son of the distinguished Lucius Æmilius Paulus, whose victory at Pydna, in 168 BC, had destroyed the last foreign power capable of making serious resistance to the Roman legions, and he had been adopted by the son of the elder Scipio Africanus. He was himself a distinguished soldier, for as a simple officer (tribunus militum) he had saved the Roman army in Africa, after which he had been made consul and commander of the army which brought the third Punic war to a close by the capture and destruction of Carthage (146 BC). It might have been expected that he would take an active part in the government, especially as in his time the state needed the help of her best citizens. But Scipio seems to have felt that the internal troubles, which beset the state now that all external dangers were over, were too serious to be cured. He used his influence for good wherever he was able, but made no systematic attempt to correct the abuses of the government, which led at last to the revolutionary disorders of the days of the Gracchi (133–121 BC). Instead of being a party leader, he occupied a position somewhat apart from the aristocratic and the popular parties, lending his influence and his eloquence to the causes that seemed to him good, and in this way preserving a reputation for independence and good judgment. His patriotism was undoubted, and his influence as great as that of any man in Rome.

Scipio had been carefully educated, and employed his leisure in literary and intellectual pursuits. The Scipionic circle. He was not an author himself, except in so far as he published his speeches, which were much admired, but he loved to be surrounded by men of letters, to profit by their conversation, and lend them the support of his social position and influence. His somewhat older friend, Gaius Lælius, who was consul in 140 BC, shared his literary tastes, though he, too, refrained from publishing other works than speeches. From 167 to 150 BC a thousand Greeks of prominent position in their native country were kept as hostages in Italy. Among these was the historian Polybius, who was assigned a residence in Rome, and who became a member of the circle of literary friends who surrounded Scipio and Lælius. The Stoic philosopher Panætius, who afterward became the head of the Stoic school, was another Greek belonging to the Scipionic circle. The influence of Panætius upon Roman philosophy was great, as was that of Polybius upon the writing of Roman history. But Latin writers also gathered about Scipio. Among them were Terence (see page 24), the most polished writer of comedies; Hemina and Piso, the annalists; Gaius Fannius, a nephew of Lælius, who was consul in 122 BC, and achieved distinction as an orator, besides writing a history of Rome; Sempronius Asellio, whose history of his own times was continued at least to 91 BC; Lucius Furius Philus, consul in 136 BC, orator and jurist, and many others. Among them all, the most original genius was the father of Roman satire, Gaius Lucilius.

Lucilius was born, probably in 180 BC, at Suessa Aurunca, in Campania. Gaius Lucilius. He was a member of a wealthy equestrian family, and when he went to live at Rome he kept himself free from the cares of business as well as of politics, devoting himself to social life and to literature. He lived as a wealthy bachelor, not holding himself aloof from the pleasures of the capital, but not indulging in excesses. Most of his life was passed in the city, but in 134 BC he followed Scipio to the war in Spain, and in 126 BC, when all who were not Roman citizens were obliged to leave Rome, he made a journey to Sicily, from which he did not return until 124 BC He died at Naples in 103 BC

The name satire, (satura) may be derived from the lanx satura, a dish full of all sorts of fruits, and as applied to poems by Ennius (see p. 8), designates poems of mixed contents. Satire. Perhaps all the poems of Ennius, except his dramas and his great epic, may have been classed together as satires. At any rate, Lucilius is the first writer who gave to satire the definite character it has possessed ever since his time. He made his poems the vehicle for the expression of sharp and biting attacks upon persons, institutions, and customs of his day, for genial and humorous remarks about the failings of his neighbors, and for much information about himself. Ever since Lucilius, satire has been at once sharp and humorous, bitter and sweet. This kind of poetry, which takes the form of dialogue, familiar conversation, or letters, is not Greek, but is the invention of him who must be regarded as the most original of all Roman poets.

The Satires of Lucilius were contained in thirty books, each book containing several satires. The Satires of Lucilius. The subjects treated were of all sorts—the faults and foibles of individuals, the defects of works of literature, the ridiculous imitation of Greek manners and dress, the absurdities of Greek mythology, the folly of expensive dinner parties, the author’s journey to Sicily, Latin grammar, the proper spelling of Latin words, and Scipio’s journey to Egypt and Asia. The personality of the writer, his mode of life, and his views on all subjects were so clearly brought before his readers that the Satires were a complete autobiography. They were written for the most part in hexameters, the metre which was adopted by all later Roman satirists, but some of them were in iambic senarii and trochaic septenarii, others in elegiacs.12 They were not written at one time, but their composition was continued at intervals through many years, for Lucilius was not a professional poet, but a man of letters who expressed himself in verse whenever he felt inclined. His form of expression was unconventional, resembling conversation (in fact he called the poems sermones, “conversations”), with free use of dialogue. Careful literary finish was not attempted, and Horace, whose satires are imitations of those of Lucilius, blames the older poet for carelessness. But the easy and natural tone of the poems must have more than made up for any lack of polish.

The extant fragments amount to more than eleven hundred lines, but are for the most part short and disconnected. The extant fragments. In one,13 Lucilius seems to accept with pleasure an invitation to dinner “with good conversation, well cooked and seasoned”; in another,14 he reproves the luxury which leads to greed of gain: “For if that which is enough for a man could be enough, it would be enough. Now, since this is not so, how can we think that any riches can satisfy my soul?” Again,15 he describes a miser as one who has no cattle nor slaves nor any attendant, but keeps his purse and all the money he has always with him. “He eats, sleeps, and bathes with his purse; the man’s whole hope is in his purse alone. This purse is fastened to his arm.” One of the longest fragments16 is a description of virtus (virtue):

Virtue, Albinus, is being able to pay the true price for the things in and by which we live; virtue is knowing to what each thing leads for a man. Virtue is knowing what is right, useful, honorable for a man, what things are good, what bad likewise, what is useless, base, dishonorable; virtue is knowing the limit and measure in seeking anything; virtue is giving to riches their true value; virtue is giving to honor what is really due to it; is being an enemy and opponent of bad men and morals, on the other hand a defender of good men and morals, regarding them as of much importance, wishing them well, living as their friend; moreover, considering the advantages of one’s country first, of one’s relatives second, of ourselves third and last.

Other fragments contain direct attacks upon individuals, but these which have been quoted serve to give an idea of the freedom of speech, good sense, and serious purpose of the first great satirist.

The life of Lucilius fell in a period of many changes. Literature in the fifty years before Cicero. As a boy, he saw the Roman power established in the east, before he reached middle life he witnessed the destruction of Carthage, then he lived through the troublous years before and after the death of Tiberius Gracchus in 133 BC and that of his brother Gaius in 121 BC, and in the year before his death he saw the consulship in the hands of Gaius Marius. It was not until the long struggle between Marius and Sulla was over that any measure of tranquility returned to the Roman state. Then came the Golden Age of Roman literature. But for fifty years before the time of Cicero circumstances at Rome were not favorable to literary production of every kind. Lucilius, Accius, Afranius and a few other poets lived on until about the end of the second century BC, but there was little new life in poetry. Gnæus Matius translated the Iliad, and Lævius Melissus imitated some of the lighter Greek poems. Poetry. The epic poem of Hostius on the Istrian war and that of Aulus Furius from Antium (Furius Antias) on an unknown subject have left hardly any traces. It is not worth while to mention in detail the occasional love songs and epigrams written by various authors. Aside from Lucilius and the dramatists already mentioned, there are no poets of note in this period.

In history, the production was greater and more important. History. Fannius and Asellio were emulated by Cœlius Antipater, whose history of the second Punic war was of some importance, and he was followed by Quintus Claudius Quadrigarius, who wrote a history of Rome in at least twenty-three books, coming down to the year 82 BC Another more voluminous but less trustworthy historian was Valerius Antias, who wrote annals in at least seventy-five books. His date is uncertain, but he seems to have lived early in the first century BC Two other historians of the latter part of this period were Lucius Cornelius Sisenna (119–67 BC), who wrote a history of his own times in an antiquated style, and Gaius Licinius Macer, whose annals, beginning with the earliest times, were probably continued until near the date of his death (66 BC). The dictator Sulla (138–78 BC) wrote memoirs, which must have possessed great historical value. Gaius Sempronius Tuditanus (consul in 129 BC) was not only an annalist, but also an antiquarian.17

Jurists.Important writers on legal subjects were Publius Mucius Scævola (consul in 133 BC) and his brother Publius Licinius Crassus Mucianus (consul in 131 BC), but more important than either was Quintus Mucius Scævola (consul in 95 BC), whose systematic treatment of Roman law served as the foundation for all later works on the subject. Quintus Scævola was also distinguished as an orator.

Oratory.Throughout the period from the third Punic war to the dictatorship of Sulla—and, in fact, until the death of Cicero—nearly every public man at Rome was an orator, and many of them published their speeches. In the times of the Gracchi, Rome contained, perhaps, more excellent speakers than at any other period, among whom none equalled in force, brilliancy and oratorical power the great, though unsuccessful, statesman and patriot Gaius Gracchus, (154–121 BC), who far surpassed his elder brother Tiberius (163–133 BC) in eloquence, though he, too, was an orator of distinction. After the Gracchi the most distinguished orators were Marcus Antonius (143–87 BC) and Lucius Licinius (140–91 BC), the first of whom excelled in vigor and liveliness of delivery, the second in wit, elegance and variety of composition. These orators were not merely men with natural ability to speak, but were carefully trained in accordance with the precepts of Greek rhetoric.

Of all the works mentioned so far in this chapter, only one—Cato’s treatise On Agriculture—has come down to us entire, and only the satires of Lucilius are known to us by numerous fragments. These works lost. The other works and their authors have left little more than their names. There is, however, one work, now usually ascribed to Cornificius, an author of whom nothing is known, which is preserved entire. Rhetorica ad Herennium. This is the Rhetoric Addressed to Herennius, which was preserved because it was falsely included among Cicero’s works. The treatise goes over much the same ground as Cicero’s youthful essay On Invention, which is evidently intended to be little more than a new and improved edition of the earlier work.

The importance of the period immediately preceding the time of Cicero can not be judged by the extant literature, but must be estimated by the number of works and authors mentioned by later writers and the qualities assigned to them. It is at once evident that poetry made little progress, while prose writing of all kinds advanced with rapid strides. Great progress of prose. It is only natural, therefore, that the age of Cicero should be the most brilliant period of Latin prose, and that the highest general development of poetry should be reserved for the Augustan age. Yet, even the Augustan age can only equal, not surpass, the immortal poems of two of Cicero’s contemporaries, Lucretius and Catullus.