Helps to Latin Translation at Sight Part 87

S. JULIUS FRONTINUS, circ. 41-103 A.D.

1. Life.

[Sidenote: FRONTINUS.]

He was _praetor urba.n.u.s_ 70 A.D., and in 75 succeeded Cerealis as governor oi Britain, where, as Tacitus tells us, he distinguished himself by the conquest of the Silures: _sustinuit molem Iulius Frontinus, vir magnus, quantum licebat, validamque et pugnacem Siturum gentem armis subegit_: 'Julius Frontinus was equal to the burden, a great man as far as greatness was then possible (i.e. under the jealous rule of Domitian), who subdued by his arms the powerful and warlike tribe of the Silures.'

In 97 he was nominated _curator aquarum_, administrator of the aqueducts of Rome: the closing years of his life were pa.s.sed in studious retirement at his villa on the Bay of Naples. Cf. Mart. X. lviii.

2. Works.

Two works of his are extant:--

(1) +De Aquis Urbis Romae.+--A treatise on the Roman water-supply, published under Trajan, soon after the death of Nerva, 97 A.D.; a complete and valuable account.

(2) +Strategemata.+--A manual of strategy, in three books, consisting of historical examples derived chiefly from Sall.u.s.t, Caesar, and Livy.

3. Style.

Simple and concise: 'he shuns the conceits of the period and goes back to the republican authors, of whom (and especially of Caesar's Commentaries) his language strongly reminds us.' --Cruttwell.

As a mark of his unaffected modesty, Pliny (_Ep._ ix. 19) tells us: _vetuit exstrui monimentum: sed quibus verbis? 'impensa monimenta supervacua est: memoria nostri durabit, si vita meruimus_.'

AULUS GELLIUS, circ. 123-175 A.D.

1. Life.

[Sidenote: GELLIUS.]

All that is known about his life is gathered from occasional hints in his own writings. He seems to have spent his early years at Rome, studying under the most famous teachers, first at Rome and afterwards at Athens, and then to have returned to Rome, where he spent the remaining years of his life in literary pursuits and in the society of a large circle of friends.

2. Works.

The +Noctes Atticae+ (so called because it was begun during the long nights of winter in a country house in Attica) in twenty books consists of numerous extracts from Greek and Roman writers on subjects connected with history, philosophy, philology, natural science and antiquities, ill.u.s.trated by abundant criticisms and discussions. It is, in fact, a commonplace book, and the arrangement of the contents is merely casual, following the course of his reading of Greek and Latin authors.

The work is, however, of special value to us from the very numerous quotations from ancient authors preserved by him alone.

3. Style.

His language is sober but full of archaisms, which he much affected (he gives, therefore, no quotations from post-Augustan writers). His style shows the defects of an age in which men had ceased to feel the full meaning of the words they used, and strove to hide the triviality of a subject under obscure phrases and florid expression. Yet, on the whole, he is a very interesting writer, and the last that can in any way be called cla.s.sical.

'_Vir elegantissimi eloquii et multae ac facundae scientiae._' --St.

Augustine, 400 A.D.

QUINTUS HORATIUS FLACCUS, 65-8 B.C.

1. Important Events in the Life of Horace.

[Sidenote: HORACE.]

B.C. 65. Born at Venusia (_Venosa_) on the confines of Apulia and Lucania.

53-46. Educated at Rome under the famous _plagosus_ Orbilius.

46-44. At the University of Athens.

44-42. Served under Brutus as _tribunus militum_: fought at Philippi.

42-39. Pardoned by Octavia.n.u.s and allowed to return to Rome.

His poverty compelled him to write verses, prob. _Sat._ I, ii. iii. iv., and some _Epodes_. Through these he obtained the notice of Varius and Vergil, who became his fast friends and 38. introduced him to Maecenas, the trusted minister of Augustus.

35. +Satires, Book I+ published. (Journey to Brundisium described, _Sat._ I. v.) 33. Maecenas bestowed upon him a Sabine farm (about 15 miles N.E. of Tivoli). For fullest description see _Epist._ I. xvi.

31. +Satires, Book II+, and +Epodes+ published.

23. +Odes, Books I-III+ published.

20. +Epistles, Book I+ published.

17. +Carmen Saeculare+ written at the request of Augustus for the _Ludi Saeculares_.

13. +Odes, Book IV+ published.

12. +Epistles, Book II+ published.

8. Died in the same year as his friend and patron Maecenas.

3. Works.

(1) +Odes+, in four books, and +Epodes+.--The words of Cicero (_pro Archia_ 16) best describe the abiding value of the four Books of the Odes--_Adolescentiam alunt_ (strengthen), _senectutem oblectant, secundas res ornant, adversis perfugium ac solacium praebent, delectant domi, non impediunt foris, pernoctant n.o.bisc.u.m, peregrinantur, rusticantur_. In them we see a poet, as Quintilian says, _verbis felicissime audax_--most happily daring in his use of words and endowed, as Petronius says, with _curiosa felicitas_, a subtle happiness of expression--'what oft was thought but ne'er so well express'd.'

(2) +Satires (Sermones)+ in two Books.--Horace's chief model is Lucilius, whom he wished to adapt to the Augustan age. To touch on political topics was impossible; Horace employed satire to display his own individuality and his own views on various subjects. Book I (his earliest effort) is marred by faults in execution and is often wanting in good taste; but in Book II 'he uses the hexameter to exhibit the semi-dramatic form of easy dialogue, with a perfection as complete as that of Vergil in the stately and serious manner. In reading these Satires we all read our own minds and hearts.' --Mackail.

(3) +The Epistles (Sermones)+ in two Books, and +Ars Poetica+ (_Ep. ad Pisones_).--These represent his most mature production. As a poet Horace now stood without a rival. Life was still full of vivid interest for him, but years (_fallentis semita vitae_) had brought the philosophic mind. 'To teach the true end and wise regulation of life, and to act on character from within, are the motives of the more formal and elaborate epistles.' --Sellar.

The +Ars Poetica+ is a _resume_ of Greek criticism on the drama.

3. Style.

'With the princ.i.p.al lyric metres, the Sapphic and Alcaic, Horace had done what Vergil had accomplished with the dactylic hexameter, carried them to the highest point of which the foreign Latin tongue was capable.' --Mackail.

'As Vergil is the most idealising exponent of what was of permanent and universal significance in the time, Horace is the most complete exponent of its actual life and movement. He is at once the lyrical poet, with heart and imagination responsive to the deeper meaning and lighter amus.e.m.e.nts of life, and the satirist, the moralist, and the literary critic of the age.' --Sellar.

JUSTINUS, circ. 150 A.D. (_temp._ Antoninus Pius).

1. Life.

[Sidenote: JUSTINUS.]

We know nothing positively about him, though probably he lived in the age of the Antonines. Teuffel says 'Considering his correct mode of thinking and the style of his preface, we should not like to put him much later than Florus, who epitomised Livy.'

2. Works.

+Epitoma Historiarum Philippicarum Pompei Trogi+, in forty-four Books.--An abridgment of the Universal History of Pompeius Trogus (_temp._ Livy). The t.i.tle _Historiae Philippicae_ was given to it by Trogus because its main object was to give the history of the Macedonian monarchy, with all its branches, but he allowed himself, like Herodotus, to indulge in such large digressions that it was regarded by many as a Universal History. It was arranged according to nations; it began with Ninus, the Nimrod of legend, and was brought down to about 9 A.D.

3. Style.

Justinus (as he tells us in his Preface) made it his business to form an attractive reading-book--_breve veluti florum corpusculum feci_ (an anthology)--and his chief merit is that he seems to have been a faithful abbreviator.