NOTES.

NOTES.NOTE 1.Caius Suetonius Tranquillus.

NOTE 1.Caius Suetonius Tranquillus.

The history of the life of Terence is enveloped in more obscurity than might have been expected, considering his many eminent qualities, and the times in which he lived. Suetonius’s account is not very comprehensive; it is, however, the best which has reached us, and indeed the only one at all to be depended on. Caius Suetonius Tranquillus, a correct and impartial biographer, was secretary to the Emperor Adrian: and enjoyed the friendship of Pliny the younger: he flourished about A.D. 115.

NOTE 2.Terentius.

This appellation was conferred on the poet by his patron Terentius Lucanus: his true name is unknown, even conjecture is silent on this subject. Slaves, who received their freedom, usually bore the name of the person who manumitted them: sometimes also, during their slavery, they were called by the name of their master. Terentius Lucanus does not appear to have been a person of any particular note; as he is never mentioned but as the friend and patron of Terence, to whom he is indebted for rescuing his name from oblivion.

NOTE 3.Fenestella.

“Rome could never boast of a more accurate historian than Lucius Fenestella; he was likewise a very learned antiquarian. He lived at about the end of the reign of Augustus, or the beginning of that of Tiberius: and wrote many things; particularly Annals: none of his works are now extant.”Madame Dacier.

NOTE 4.

Terence was born after the conclusion of the second Punic war, and died before the commencement of the third.

The second Punic war ended 201 B. C. in the year of Rome 553: and the third commenced 150 B. C. in the year of Rome 604, about three years before the destruction of Carthage. Terence was born 189 B. C., which was 12 years after the termination of the second Punic war, and he died at the age of 36, three years before the beginning of the third Punic war. If we suppose Terence to have been a freeborn Carthaginian, it is very difficult to account for his being a slave at Rome; because the Romans could not have taken him prisoner in war, as they were at peace with the Carthaginians during the whole of his life. Neither is it probable that he was made a prisoner, and sold to the Romans either by the Numidians, or by the Gætulians, as his perfect knowledge of the Latin and Greek languages, at twenty-five years of age, is a most forcible reason for believing that he was removed to Rome in extreme youth: long before he could have been able to undergo the fatigue attendant on a military life. I can solve this difficulty in no other way than by supposing, either that the parents of Terence were themselves slaves at Carthage, and consequently he also was the property of their master; (as the children of slaves shared the fate of their parents;) or that he was sold to the Carthaginians by the Numidians, or by the Gætulians. In either of these cases, it is by no means improbable that during the peace which followed the second Punic war, Terence might in his infancy have been sold by his Carthaginian master to one of those Romans who visited Carthage during the peace.

NOTE 5.The Numidians or Gætulians.

Numidia and Gætulia, or Getulia, at the time of Terence’s birth, formed a part of the dominions of the celebrated African prince Masinissa, who so eminently distinguished himself as the firm and faithful ally of the Roman Republic: and as the formidable enemy of the Carthaginians. Numidia was situated S.W. of the territories of Carthage; and is now that part of Southern Barbary, known by the name of Biledulgerid. Gætulia (the boundaries of which were afterwards regulated by Marius) was a most extensive country, and lay S.W. of Numidia: it is now very little known, and reaches from the south of Barbary, or the country of Dates, across the Great Desert or Sahara, almost as far south as the river Niger. It may be conjectured that the northern region only of this vast country was subject to the control of King Masinissa.

NOTE 6.Scipio Africanus.

Publius Cornelius Scipio Æmilianus Africanus Numantinus was the son of Paulus Æmilius, whose conquest of Macedonia procured him the title of Macedonicus. The young Æmilius was adopted (during the life of his father) by the son of the conqueror of Hannibal, Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus, whose name he afterwards bore (in conformity with the established custom): and it is not a little remarkable, that the appellation of Africanus which the son of Æmilius then acquired by adoption, he afterwards claimed in his own right, as the destroyer of Carthage. The title of Numantinus was conferred on this hero, as a tribute to his valour and conduct in the war against the inhabitants of Numantia, who were totally destroyed with their city, after a long and desperate resistance. Scipio was born in the year of Rome 569, and died in the year 624. Some persons have been misled by a singular coincidence of circumstances relative to the two Scipios, into a belief that it was the elder of the two who honoured Terence with his friendship. The error is evident, as the death of the first Scipio Africanus took place before Terence was ten years of age. The elder Scipio honoured with his particular regard Caius Lælius, who obtained the consulship in the year of Rome 563: the connexion between them was cemented by the strict ties of a virtuous friendship. It is a circumstance worthy of remark, that the chosen intimate of the younger Africanus was also called Caius Lælius.

NOTE 7.Caius Lælius.

Caius Lælius, whose virtues procured him the appellation of Sapiens, or the Wise, is supposed to have been the son of the Lælius who enjoyed the friendship of the elder Scipio. Caius Lælius Sapiens was the senior Consul or Consul Prior in the year of Rome 613. Cicero’s treatise “De Amicitiâ,” in which he represents Lælius discoursing on the nature and delights of a pure and delicate friendship, is a monument of the attachment of Scipio and Lælius, worthy of them and of himself.

NOTE 8.Who were about his own age.

Those who have read Suetonius in the original, will perceive that I have passed by an imputation recorded by that writer, against Scipio, Lælius, and our author: the refined delicacy by which the sentiments of those eminent persons were distinguished, ought to protect them from so disgusting and degrading a suspicion.

NOTE 9.Portius.

Licinius Portius, a Latin poet, who flourished about the year of Rome 610: he excelled as an epigrammatist. Fragments only of his writings now remain.

NOTE 10.Furius.

Publius Furius, an eminent statesman, was the intimate friend of Scipio and Lælius: he received the surname of Philus or the Lover. Furius was elected the Consul Prior in the year of Rome 617.

NOTE 11.While he is frequently carried to the Albanian villa.

There were in Latium two towns called Alba, each of which were situated on the borders of a lake.

Alba Longa, now called Albano, was built by Ascanius, and distant 16 miles from Rome. Alba Fucentis, situated about three times that distance from the capital, on lake Fucinus, is now known by the name of Celano. The Albanian mountain, where Scipio, Lælius, or Furius probably possessed a villa, was in the immediate vicinity of Alba Longa. Portius might have alluded to Terence accompanying his friends to the Latinæ Feriæ, or Latin games, which were celebrated by the Consuls on the Alban mountain on the 27th of April.

NOTE 12.And dies at Stymphalus, a town of Arcadia.

Stymphalus, a town of Arcadia, was situated about 25 miles S.W. of Corinth, on the borders of a lake of the same name, which is said to have been infested by a species of Harpies, who were called Stymphalides. A festival calledΣΤΥΜΦΑΛΙΑwas celebrated at Stymphalus in honour of Diana, who on that account received the appellation of Stymphalia.

NOTE 13.The Ædiles.

All plays, previous to their appearance on the Roman stage, were submitted to the perusal of the Ædiles, who chose from the number offered them those which (in their judgment) were best suited for representation: they were bound by oath to an impartial decision.

NOTE 14.Cærius.

Many have supposed Cæcilius the poet to have been the person meant in this passage: this is a manifest error; as that poet died five or six years before the representation of this play. Others read Acilius, who was one of the Ædiles for the year in which the Andrian was exhibited: this would be a plausible reading, but for one circumstance, which must be considered as an insurmountable objection to it,viz.—The Gens Acilia (of which Acilius was a member) wasa plebeian family: consequently, Acilius must have been a plebeian Ædile, whereas the inspection of the Roman plays was the office of the Curule Ædiles: who, in the time of Terence, were chosen from thePatricianfamilies.

NOTE 15.The Couch of Cærius.

The Cœna of the Romans (their principal meal) was usually taken at three o’clock in the afternoon: when they partook of it, instead of sitting in the modern manner, they reclined on couches which were placed round the table in the form of the letter C; a space was left unoccupied that the slaves in placing and removing the dishes might not incommode the guests. The number of the couches was generally limited to three; each of which was occupied sometimes by four, but usually by only three persons. The body was raised, and supported by the left arm; the feet of him who reclined at the upper end of the couch lay at the back of the person next him: (though prevented from touching his clothes by cushions placed between them) and the feet of the second at the back of the third. To place more than three guests on one couch was accounted both mean and vulgar. Cicero notices this in his oration against Piso, “Græci stipati, quini in lectulis, sæpe plures,” speaking of “five, and often a greater number crowded together on one small couch.” The Romans indulged themselves with couches only at supper: no ceremony was observed at their other meals, which were taken sitting or standing, alone or in company, as inclination prompted. In the earlier ages both Romans and Greeks sat upright at their meals: Homer expressly mentions (inOdyss.B.10.)“ἥμεθα δαινύμενοι,”“we sat feasting;” also Virgil.Æn.7.v.176.

NOTE 16.Volcatius.

Volcatius Sedigitus, a miscellaneous writer and poet, mentioned in very high terms by the younger Pliny, flourished in the reign of one of the 12 Cæsars: the exact time is unknown. His works are entirely lost, with the exception of a few verses; amongst them are the following, in which he classes ten of the most eminent Latin comic poets.

“Multos incertos certare hanc rem vidimus,Palmam poëtæ comico cui deferant:Huncmeo judicioerrorem dissolvam tibi;Ut contra si quis sentiat, nihil sentiat.CæciliopalmamStatiodo comico:Plautussecundus facile exsuperat cæteros:DeinNævius, qui servet pretium, tertius est:Si erit quod quarto detur, dabiturLicinio:Post insequi Licinium facioAtilium.In sexto consequitur loco hosTerentius:Turpiliusseptimum,Trabeaoctavum obtinet.Nono loco esse facile facioLuscium.Antiquitatis causâ, decimum addoEnnium.”Au: Gell:B.15.C24.

“Multos incertos certare hanc rem vidimus,

Palmam poëtæ comico cui deferant:

Huncmeo judicioerrorem dissolvam tibi;

Ut contra si quis sentiat, nihil sentiat.

CæciliopalmamStatiodo comico:

Plautussecundus facile exsuperat cæteros:

DeinNævius, qui servet pretium, tertius est:

Si erit quod quarto detur, dabiturLicinio:

Post insequi Licinium facioAtilium.

In sexto consequitur loco hosTerentius:

Turpiliusseptimum,Trabeaoctavum obtinet.

Nono loco esse facile facioLuscium.

Antiquitatis causâ, decimum addoEnnium.”

Au: Gell:B.15.C24.

“Madame Dacier very well observes, that Volcatius has injured the reputation of his own judgment, and not the fame of Terence, by this injudicious arrangement.” Terence yields to none of the above.

NOTE 17.The Eunuch was acted twice in one day.

This circumstance is so much the more extraordinary, as a play was seldom exhibited on the Roman stage oftener than on four or five occasions, before it was laid aside; and new pieces were usually provided for every festival: with what enthusiastic applause then, must the Eunuch have been received, when the audience with the loudest acclamations, called for a second representation of this admirable comedy on the same day! It is necessary to explain that the actors had sufficient time to repeat their performance, as dramatic entertainments were usually frequented by the Romans, not in the evening as among the moderns, but in the course of the day, and generally previous to the hour of their principal repast.

NOTE 18.Eight thousand sesterces.

Eight thousand sesterces were equal to 64l.11s.8d.sterling. The Romans reckoned their money by sesterces: thesestertius, which was a brass coin, worth 1. d. 3 qrs. ¾, must not be confounded with thesestertium, which was no coin, but money of account, and equal in value toone thousand sesterces.

NOTE 19.Varro.

Marcus Terentius Varro was born at Rome in the year of the city 632; at the time of the sedition of Caius Gracchus. Varro was the intimate friend of Pompey: and obtaining the consulship in the year 680, had the mortification to find the efforts of himself and his colleague, inadequate to suppress the insurrection of Spartacus, whose successes at the head of the rebellious gladiators, alarmed all Rome. The military occupations of Varro did not prevent his close attention to literature: his writings were very voluminous; and those of them which remain are deservedly in high estimation.

NOTE 20.And as for what those malicious railers say, who assert that certain noble persons assist the poet.

The chief of those railers, and the arch-enemy of Terence, was the Luscius Lanuvinus to whom Volcatius in his list of poets assigns the ninth place;—and the same person whom Donatus designates by the name of Lucius Lavinius. Luscius was not singular in this imputation against our author. Valgius and others seem to consider Terence but the mere nominal author of the six pieces which bear his name. That Scipio and Lælius assisted him with their advice, is highly probable, and his vanity might feel flattered by the insertion among his own writings, of short passages of their composition; but when we call to mind, that Africanus and his friend, two persons of the most refined delicacy and taste, distinguished by their friendship, and selected as a companion in their hours of retirement and relaxation, a freedman! a man whose rank was infinitely inferior to their own; we must naturally suppose that those eminent persons courted the society of Terence, as admirers of his extraordinary genius, and elevation of sentiment. As they could not have become thoroughly acquainted with our author’s engaging qualifications, but from his dramatic compositions, it is most probable that theAndrianat least, was published, before he was honoured with the intimacy of either Scipio, Lælius, or Furius. Indeed there can be but little doubt that the success of this play, (which he wrote when he was too little known, perhaps, to receive assistance from any one,) was the means of drawing him from the obscurity of his low rank, and of obtaining the notice and approbation of the great men of his age, and their patronage for his future productions.

NOTE 21.Quintus Memmius.

The oration alluded to by Suetonius was written by Memmius to defend himself against a charge of bribery. The Memmii were a plebeian family, though several of them attained to the highest dignities. Quintus was nearly related to the Caius Memmius who was assassinated by Lucius Apuleius Saturninus: and is supposed to have been the son of the Memmius to whom Lucretius dedicated his celebrated poem, “De Rerum naturâ.”VideCicero inCatilin.and Florus, B. 3., c. 16.

NOTE 22.Cornelius Nepos.

Cornelius Nepos, a celebrated biographer of the Augustan age, was born on the banks of the Po, which he quitted in his youth; and, attracted by the splendour and pleasures of a gallant and polite court, removed to Rome, where his talents and taste for literature procured him the friendship of Cicero, and many other eminent persons. Of all his much-admired writings nothing remains but his “Lives of the most illustrious Greeks and Romans.”

NOTE 23.Puteoli.

Puteoli, or, as it is now called, Puzzoli, was much frequented by the Romans for the sake of its hot-wells: being at a convenient distance from the capital, not more than a day’s journey. It is now become comparatively inconsiderable, while Naples, in its vicinity, has grown into importance. Puzzoli, however, still affords some attraction to the curious; as there are the ruins of a temple of Jupiter Apis, or Serapis, to be seen there. This town was originally called Dicearchea: named, probably, afterDice, a daughter of Jupiter.

NOTE 24.On the first of March.

The Roman ladies were allowed to exercise extraordinary authority on this day, on which they celebrated the festival calledMatronalia, instituted in gratitude to Mars, who permitted a termination of the war between the Romans and Sabines; in which the women were particularly concerned. The privileges allowed to ladies on the first of March, were, I believe, confined to the matrons, in commemoration of thesuccessful interference of the married women, in the year 749, B. C., which put an end to the war between the Romans and the Sabines, who had taken up arms to revenge the rape of their women by the Romans, at a festival to which Romulus had invited them. (VideNote 28.)

NOTE 25.Santra.

Little is known of Santra, but that he was cotemporary with Cicero, and author of some biographical Memoirs, and “A Treatise on the Antiquity of Words,” which are now entirely lost. His family, probably, were plebeians, and of no great note.

NOTE 26.He would not have requested it from Scipio and Lælius, who were then extremely young.

Santra’s argument is of no force: for when Terence published the Andrian, in the year of Rome 587, at twenty-seven years of age, Scipio was eighteen, and might, at that age, have been perfectly capable of assisting Terence; for, independent of his excellent education, on which his father had bestowed infinite care and pains, he was possessed of a very superior genius: and nature had united in him all the fine qualities of his father, and of his grandfather by adoption, Scipio the Great. Velleius Paterculus wrote his eulogium as follows, “Publius Scipio Æmilianus inherited the virtues of his grandfather Publius Africanus, and of his father Lucius Paulus, excelled all his cotemporaries in wit and learning, and in all the arts of war and peace; and, in the course of his whole life never did, said, or thought, any thing, but what was worthy of the highest praise.”

“We have seen princes in France, who, at the age of eighteen, were capable of assisting a poet, as well with respect to the conduct and arrangement of his subject; as in what related to the manners, the diction, and the thoughts. Menander published his first piece at twenty years of age. It is clear, then, that there have been persons of eighteen, capable of assisting a poet. It appears, moreover, that the enemies of Terence did not publish this imputation against him till the latter years of his life, for the poet complains of it only in the prologues to the Self-tormentor and the Brothers: the first of which was played three years, and the last but one year before his death. When the first appeared, he was thirty-one, and Scipio twenty-two: and when the last was published, he was thirty-four, and Scipio was twenty-five.”—Madame Dacier.

NOTE 27.Cneus Sulpicius Gallus.

Cneus Sulpicius Galba, surnamed Gallus, was by no means the least illustrious member of the noble family of the Sulpicii, and filled the office of Consul for the year in which the Andrian was acted. The first of the Sulpicii took the name ofGalba, from his diminutive stature, that word signifying “a small insect;” and the name was afterwards assumed by several of his descendants.

NOTE 28.Who procured the representation of comedies at the Consular Games.

The Ludi Consulares and Ludi Consuales were probably the same, as we have no account of the institution of any games particularly in honour of the Consuls, to be celebrated either at their entering on, or resigning their office; for theLatinæ Feriæ, though superintended particularly by the Consuls, and a part of their office, were not called Consular Games. The Consual, or Consular Games were instituted on the following occasion. Romulus, the first king of Rome, had no sooner assumed the government of the small band of adventurers who were the ancestors of that illustrious race of heroes, who long held all the nations of the earth in subjection, than he found his kingdom in danger of being totally destroyed in its birth; as none of the inhabitants of the neighbouring states were willing to form a matrimonial alliance with his subjects; many of whom were refuged criminals and exiled foreigners. To obtain wives for his people, he was compelled to have recourse to a stratagem, which Plutarch describes as follows: “He (Romulus) circulated a report that he had discovered, concealed under ground, the altar of a certain god, whom they calledConsus,the God of counsel, whose proper appellation is Neptunus Equestris, or Neptune, the inventor of riding; for, except at horse-races, when it is exposed to sight, this altar is kept covered in the great circus; and, it was said, that it was not improperly concealed, because all counsels ought to be kept secret and hidden. Romulus, having found the altar, caused proclamation to be made, that, on an appointed day, a magnificent sacrifice would be offered; and public games and shows exhibited, which were to be open to all who should choose to attend them. Upon this, great numbers went there. The king, dressed in a purple robe, was seated on high, surrounded by the chief patricians: he was to arise, take up his robe, and throw it over him, as a signal for the attack: his subjects, with ready weapons, kept their eyes intently fixed upon their sovereign; and, when the sign was given, they drew their swords with a shout, and seized, and carried off the daughters of the Sabines, who fled, without offering resistance.”—Plutarch.

The games which were instituted on this singular occasion were afterwards celebrated annually on the 12th of the calends of September, and considered to be an imitation of the Olympian Games of the Greeks. The Consuales, being celebrated in the Circus were sometimes called Circenses. The conduct of the Romans in the before-mentioned circumstances, and that of the Benjamites in a like predicament is so uniformly similar, that whoever attentively compares them, cannot think it very improbable that Romulus derived the idea of his stratagem from that passage of Jewish history.VideJudges,C.21.

NOTE 29.Quintus Fabius Labeo.

If the accuracy of Plutarch may be depended on, Santra must have been mistaken in supposing Quintus Fabius Labeo to be still living at the time of the Andrian’s publication, or for several years before its appearance. This conclusion is deduced from the following circumstances: Quintus Fabius Maximus, whose prudent method of delaying a battle, and harassing his enemy, (in his campaigns against Hannibal,) procured him the surname ofCunctator, orDelayer, enjoyed the dignity of the consulshipfiveseveral times: he was first chosen in the year of Rome 525, and, supposing that he obtained that office in what Cicero callssuo anno, his own year, that is, as soon as he had attained the age required by law, Fabius must then have been forty-three years of age, and, as he died in his one hundredth year, he could not have been alive after the year 582. Quintus Fabius Labeo, who was the son of this hero, died (Plutarch informs us) some years before his father; and, consequently, could not have assisted Terence, even in his first play, the Andrian, which did not appear till the year of Rome 587. That Quintus Fabius Maximus Cunctator was the father of Quintus Fabius Labeo can admit of no doubt, though some authors who have mentioned them have omitted to notice their relationship. Plutarch expressly informs us, that the son of Quintus Fabius Maximus was of consular dignity, and, with the exception of the Cunctator, Quintus Fabius Labeo was the only Fabius whose name appears on record as consul, from the year of Rome 521 to the year 611.

NOTE 30.Marcus Popilius Lænas.

Madame Dacier thinks that the person here meant was Caius Popilius Lænas, who shared the consular government with Publius Ælius Ligur in the year of Rome 581; but that learned and celebrated lady assigns no reason why we should suppose either Suetonius or Santra to have been incorrect in affirming Marcus the brother of Caius to have been the reputed assistant of Terence. Marcus was a man of high reputation, and eminent abilities: the following anecdote, related by Velleius Paterculus, (BookI.Chap.10.) will afford some idea of the resolute decision of his character. “The king of Syria, Antiochus Epiphanes, (or the illustrious) was at that time besieging Ptolemy, king of Egypt. Marcus Popilius Lænas was sent ambassador to Antiochus, to desire him to desist: he delivered his message; the king replied that he would consider of it; upon which Popilius drew a circle round him in the sand on which they stood, and told him, that he insisted on his final answer before he quitted that circumscribed space. This resolute boldness prevailed, and Antiochus obeyed the Roman mandate.”

Marcus Popilius Lænas was the junior Consul for the year of Rome 580: the name of his colleague was Lucius Posthumius Albinus.

NOTE 31.Persons of Consular dignity.

Those who had filled the office of consul were afterwards always called consulares,of Consular dignity; those who had been Prætors were styled Prætorii,of Prætorian dignity; in a similar manner the Censors took the title of Censorii, the Quæstors of Quæstorii, and the Ædiles of Ædilitii, though it does not appear that they were very strict in taking precedence accordingly.

NOTE 32.Quintus Consentius.

If any Latin writer called Quintus Consentius ever existed, all traces are lost both of his compositions and of his history; even the name of his family is unknown. It is possible that instead of Consentius, Cn. Sentius may be the person meant in this passage. Several of the Sentii were authors of some celebrity.

NOTE 33.Menander.

Menander was born at Athens, 345 B. C., and educated with great care by Theophrastus the peripatetic, whose labours must have been amply repaid, when he witnessed the proficiency of his pupil, who distinguished himself by successful dramatic compositions before he had attained his 21st year. With the exception of a few fragments, his works are entirely lost. Comedy was invented at Athens, and divided into three kinds;the old,the middle, andthe new. The old comedy was that in which both the names and the circumstances were real; the middle, was where the circumstances were true, but the names disguised. To these two kinds, Menander had the glory of adding a third, which was called the new comedy, where both the plot and the characters were wholly fictitious. His style is said to have been elegant, and his ideas and sentiments refined. Dion Chrysostom considers his writings to be an excellent model for orators. This great poet wrote from 100 to 108 plays; from which Terence took four of his,viz., his Andrian, Eunuch, Self-tormentor, and Brothers. Menander obtained a poetical prize, eight several times; his chief competitor was called Philemon.

NOTE 34.Leucadia.

Leucadia, or as it is now called Santa Maura, or Lefcathia, is an island about 50 miles in circumference, in that part of the Mediterranean which was known among the ancients by the name of the Ionian sea. This island was rendered famous by one of its promontories called Leucas, and Leucate, which overhangs the sea at a very considerable perpendicular height: a leap from this promontory into the water beneath, was reckoned among the Greeks as an infallible cure for unhappy lovers of either sex, and most of those who made the experiment, found their love, and all the rest of their cares effectually terminated by this wise step. The famous poetess Sappho perished in this leap.Vide The Spectator,Nos.223, 227, 233.

NOTE 35.The consulate of Cneus Cornelius Dolabella, and Marcus Fulvius Nobilior.

This was in the year of Rome 594, and about 7 years after the appearance of our author’s first play. As his last production, The Brothers had been published but one year before this period; this circumstance alone, is sufficient to decide the degree of credit which ought to be accorded to the absurd report of Terence having translated 108 plays from Menander.

NOTE 36.A Roman Knight.

The Romans were divided into three classes. 1.The Patricians, or nobility. 2.The Equites, or knights. 3.The Plebeians, or the commons: that is, all who were not included in the two first ranks. The Equites, or knights, were in fact the Roman cavalry, as they usually had no other: though all of them were men of fortune; it being required by law (at least under the Emperors, if not before) that each Eques at his enrolment should possess 400 sestertia: a sum equal to between 3,000l.and 4,000l.sterling: a person worth double that sum might be chosen senator. Each knight was provided with a horse, and a gold ring, at the public expense; and at a general review, which took place every five years, the Censor was empowered ignominiously to deprive of his horse, and degrade from his rank, any knight who by disgraceful conduct had proved himself unworthy of his dignity.

NOTE 37.A garden of XX jugera.

The jugerum, or Roman acre, contained 28,800 feet; consequently, Terence’s estate must have been equal to rather more than 13 English acres: and (as a garden) must have been of considerable value: land in Italy, especially in the vicinity of the capital, bearing a high price; though not so high as in the reign of Trajan, who passed a law that every candidate for an office should hold a third part of his property in land. The Romans were particularly partial to gardens; to improve and beautify them, they bestowed great care, and expended large sums of money; some of these gardens were of vast extent, and most magnificently embellished with statues, paintings, aqueducts, &c., as were those of Cæsar and Sallust.

NOTE 38.The Villa Martis.

The ancient Roman villas were built with extraordinary magnificence, according to those descriptions of them which have reached modern times, and are not unworthy of attention. The great pleasure the Romans took in their villas, and gardens adjoining, may be seen in the writings of many of the most eminent among them; Varro, Cicero, Pliny, Cato, and others, have described these delightful retirements in a particular manner. In the villas of the richest, were concentred all the attractions that art or nature could be made to yield; and magnificence was every where blended with convenience. For the site of a villa of this description they chose the centre of a fine park, well stocked with game and fish: the building was generally lofty; (nearly 100 feet in height) for the advantage of an extensive view; as thecœnatiowhere the family met at meals was selected in the upper story. The villa was divided into two parts, calledurbanaandrustica: the first contained the chambers used by the family and guests, together with the places of amusement and refreshment; as the baths, terraces, &c. Thevilla rusticawas that part allotted to the slaves and domestics, who were extremely numerous. Those who wish for a minute description of the habits and manners of the Romans, in the country, may be fully gratified by consulting the following writers on the subject; Varro and Catode re rustica; Dickson onRoman agriculture; and the works of Columella, and Dionysius Halicarnasseus.

NOTE 39.Afranius.

Lucius Afranius, a comic writer, was contemporary with Terence, and elevated himself into notice, by his imitations of that favourite poet, and of his great prototype Menander. Fragments of the compositions of Afranius are still extant: in his work quoted by Suetonius he probably gave a poetical description of the festival called Compitalia, or Compitalitia, and mentioned Terence as the author of comedies, which had been represented at that festival.

NOTE 40.Compitalia.

The Compitalia or Compitalitia wereoriginallyceremonies, (for nothing could be more improperly denominatedfestivals) of a nature at once extraordinary, disgusting and barbarous. It was never possible to ascertain where, or by whom, they were first instituted; though it is generally agreed that they were revived byServius Tullius, the sixth king of Rome, who first introduced the observance of them among his subjects about the year 200. They were celebrated in honour of the goddessMania, and of theLares, who were supposed to be her offspring. TheLareswere the household gods of the Romans, and placed in the innermost recesses of their houses. These household gods were small images of their ancestors, which they always kept wrapped in dog’s skin, (which was intended for an emblem ofwatchfulness) as being for the protection of the house and its inhabitants. They were also called theManesof their forefathers, fromMania. It was pretended, that on consulting an oracle respecting the religious means to be employed for ensuring domestic security, the oracular response commanded thatHeads should be sacrificed for Heads, meaning, that as divine vengeance required the lives of the culprits, the people should offer the heads of others instead of their own, and accordingly the Compitalia were instituted on this occasion, andhuman victimswere on this preposterous pretence sacrificed with a sow, to ensure family safety. The Romans, however, had too much good sense to suffer a long continuance of this diabolical folly: and they threw off the yoke of the tyrannical Tarquin, and this obnoxious custom at the same time. Lucius Junius Brutus abolished the sacrifice of human beings; and as the oracle required the offering of heads, he fulfilled its commands by substituting the heads of onions and poppies. They afterwards made figures of wool, which they suspended at their doors, imprecating all misfortunes on the images, instead of themselves. Slaves were allowed their liberty during the celebration of the Compitalia; and with freedmen officiated as priests on the occasion. Being rendered harmless by Brutus’ convenient interpretation of the oracle, the Compitalia were continued till the reigns of the emperors. The word Compitalia is by some derived from Compita, crossways, because during the ceremonies, the statues of theLareswere placed in a spot where several streets met, and crowned with flowers. I think it not improbable that the original name wasCapitalia, fromcapita,heads, becauseheadswere the requisite offerings.

NOTE 41.Nævius.

Cneus Nævius flourished about the year 500, and acquired great fame by some successful comedies which are now lost: he offended Lucius Cæcilius Metellus, a man of great power, and consular dignity, by whose influence the unfortunate poet was banished to Africa, where he died. Volcatius assigns to Nævius the third place.

NOTE 42.Plautus.

Marcus Accius Plautus was a native of Sarsina, a town of Umbria, near the Adriatic sea, and died at Rome, 182 B. C., at the age of forty, leaving behind him a literary reputation which very few, of any age or county, have ever been able to equal. Of those who refused to allow Plautus the title of theFirst comic poet of Rome, scarcely any have disputed his right to be second in the list, where Terence holds thefirstplace: some critics, indeed, have gone so far as to prefer Plautus, even to Terence himself; but Volcatius Sedigitus, whose judgment did Terence great injustice, makes Plautus second only to Cæcilius. The saying of Ælius Stilo is worthy of being recorded;“Musas Plautino sermone locuturas fuisse, si Latinè loqui vellent,”that if the Muses wished to speak in Latin, they would speak in the language of Plautus. This celebrated man wrote 27 or 28 comedies, which, notwithstanding the change of manners, kept possession of the stage for nearly 500 years; and were performed with applause as late as the reigns of Carus and Numerian. Only 20 of them are now extant. The following is the poet’s epitaph, written (as is supposed) by Varro, though Pietro Crinito affirms it to be the production of Plautus himself, of whom Crinito has written a biographical account.

“Postquam est morte captus Plautus,Comœdia luget, scena est deserta,Deinde risus, ludus jocusque et numeriInnumeri simul omnes collacrymarunt.”The comic muse bewails her Plautus dead,And silence reigns o’er the deserted stage;The joyous train that graced the scene are fled,And weep to lose, the wittiest of his age.While jests and sports their patron’s death deplore,And even laughter, now can smile no more.

“Postquam est morte captus Plautus,Comœdia luget, scena est deserta,Deinde risus, ludus jocusque et numeriInnumeri simul omnes collacrymarunt.”

“Postquam est morte captus Plautus,

Comœdia luget, scena est deserta,

Deinde risus, ludus jocusque et numeri

Innumeri simul omnes collacrymarunt.”

The comic muse bewails her Plautus dead,And silence reigns o’er the deserted stage;The joyous train that graced the scene are fled,And weep to lose, the wittiest of his age.While jests and sports their patron’s death deplore,And even laughter, now can smile no more.

The comic muse bewails her Plautus dead,

And silence reigns o’er the deserted stage;

The joyous train that graced the scene are fled,

And weep to lose, the wittiest of his age.

While jests and sports their patron’s death deplore,

And even laughter, now can smile no more.

NOTE 43.Cæcilius.

Cæcilius Statius was born in Gaul, and raised himself into eminence, from the condition of a slave, by his poetical talents: he died at Rome five or six years before the Andrian was first published. Volcatius gives Cæcilius the first place: Horace draws a sort of comparison between him and Terence in the following line,

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