Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 11.djvu/892

* LATIN LITERATURE. 808 LATIN LITERATURE. The old Latin comedy ended also in this period, with Lucius Afranius, born about 15-1- 144 B.C., autlior of tofiutw or coiiiodios of Latin life, which acliicvcd a great popularity and were still acted a centurj- after Afranius's death. All are now lost, but we liavc the titles of man.v, which serve to show the general character of the plots. It only remains in closing this brief sketch of the literature of the pre-classical period to men- tion the many orations that were reduced to writing and formed no unimportant part of the literature of the time. 'I'liis was a brancli of intellectual activity in wliieli the Komans ex- celled. The first jiublished orations of impor- tance were tho.sc of Cato (see above), whose elo- quence, though rough and rude, was dignified and fiirceful. and touclied upon every department of pul)Iie life. Among Cato's contemporaries in ora- tory there were the younger Scipio and C. La'lius (n.c. 185-129). The advent of the Gracchi, too, formed an epoch in oratory. Their diction was far freer than that of their predecessors. The fame of Tiberius Gracchus (is.c. 1G3-133) was obscured by that of his brother Gains (iracehus (B.C. 154-121), whose most striking cliaracter- istic was vehemence. Jlcanwiiile grammar, rlietorie, ]>hilosophy, and law were not without their devotees; but no work of this class has reached us except the treatise on rhetoric known as Ad Ilcrenniiim, whicl was long ascribed to Cicero, but is in reality the work of an otherwise unknown Cornificius. III. The ('l..ssic.l or Golden Age. A. TiiE CicEBOXiA.N I'KiiiOD (B.C. 87-43). The Golden Age marks the culmination of stylistic ])erfection in the literature of the Romans. Home was no lunger struggling for a place among the nations, but for the (hmiinant world-power, and her life was cosmopolitan. At the hands of her masters of prose, like Cicero and C:rsar, Latin now had cast off the last remnants of archaism and pro- vincialism, and the deep and passionate study of the Greek poets Imd infused into Latin verse a new, strong, and original beauty. In the earlier part of the Golden Age — the Ciceronian Period — the newly found national aspirations of the Ro- mans expressed themselves mostly in prose, though great poets, such as Lucretius and Catul- lus, were not lacking: the later period, or Augustan Age, was rendered glorious chiefly bv a galaxy of poets, high at the head of which stand Vergil and Horace. If the life of Rome was now become cosmo- politan, so too the intellectual horizon was im- measurably extended. Every branch of human knowledge was studied with avidit.v. and though the scientific method was not yet developed, the scientific spirit was certainly not wanting. A thirst for knowledge was rife, especially along historical lines, and the Romans began to study themselves, their glorious past, their religion, and their language. Among the many scholars of the day. one stands far above the rest, and in his encvclopiedic knowledge and the broad range of his studies reminds ns much of the great schol- ars of the modern classical revival. M. Terentius Varro (n.c. 116-C.27). a native of Reate. de- voted a life of prodigious industry to the stnd.v of Roman antiquities and literature. When Julius C:rsar planned a great library for Rome among his public works, he selected Varro to be its first librarian. The scheme, however, like many others of the great Dictator, was never realized, owing to Ca-sar's death. In B.C. 38 Asinius Pollio established a public library, and adorned it with the busts of great literary men. 'arro alone, of living autliors, was accorded the honor of a ])lace in tliis gallery. He lived to be almost ninety years of age, and during his long life published between si.x and seven hundred volumes, on no fewer than seventy-four different topics, in both prose and verse. The Haturte ilcnippca-, in 1.50 books, of which fragments re- main, were a miscellany in verse and prose, mod- eled (ill the works of Menippus of Gadara. The .liiliiiiiilatcs Hcnim II ii man a rum et Dirinarum, in forty-one books, was a repository of the reli- gious and secular antiquities of the Romans, and long remained a standard work of information, being quoted frequently by the Christian Fathers down to 8aint Augustine. It is unfortunately lost. A better fate awaited his De hiixjint Latina Libri XXV.. of which books v. to x. are in large part extant, and furnish us invaluable informa- tion regarding little-known points of Roman an- tiquities. The ctvmologies are often ludicrous; but Roman scholarsliip was always faultv in this respect. His last work, the product of Varro'.s old age. De lie liustica. which has come down to us entire, is an essa,v in the form of a dialogue on agi"iciilture. cattle-raising, and bird and fish breeding in a pleasant and readable style. The foremost orator of Rome, until his fame was far eelii)sc<l by Cicero, was (J. Hortcnsius Ilortalus (or Ortalus, n.c. 114-50). who, like inanv of his predecessors, published his speeches; these, however, are not preserved. He was ad- dicted to the llorid stvie of Asiatic oratory. He and Cicero were good friends, though often op- ponents in court and in politics. And tliis lirings us to Marcus Tnllins Cicero (n.c. 10(!-43). tile greatest luinie in all Latin literature, as well as the foremost statesman of his time. He was such a master of style that his works have remained a model for succeeding ages. Rorn at the village of Arpinnin. of ei|uestrian rank, he early came to Rome, anil devoted himself to the stud,v of rheto- ric. With remarkable boldness the young man courted the hoslility of the dictator Sulla by undertaking and carrying through successfully the defense of Sextiiis Rosclus, of Anicria, on a charge of parricide. The speech is extant. Real- izing the need of further stud.v, he spent two years (n.c. 70-77) in Greece and Asia Minor, and upon his return to Rome threw himself heartily into the forensic life of the metropolis. He cul- tivated a stvle of delivery midway between that of extreme simplieitv and that of rhetorical adornment so popular with his contemporaries. Though a norns homo — for none of his ancestors had held public office — he became qua-stor in B.C. 75, cunile .Tdile in (iO, pr.Ttor urbanus in fifi. and finall.v, in 03. reached the consulship, the height of his political ambition. As quaestor in Sicily, he became aware of the corrupt and tyrannical rule of Verres. the Governor of that province, whom he impeached in six masterl.v orations that, happily, are still preserved. In politics Cicero allied himself with the aristocratic party, at whose head was Cn. Pompey. and was instru- mental in securing for him the sovereign com- mand in the East hv the Manilian Law in B.C. Ofl. his speech in favor of which is among the extant orations. The acme of his oratorical ca-