The History of Rome, Book III - Theodor Mommsen
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36. Respecting Titinius there is an utter want of literary
information; except that, to judge from a fragment of Varro, he seems
to have been older than Terence (558-595, Ritschl, Parerg. i. 194) for
more indeed, cannot he inferred from that passage, and though, of the
two groups there compared the second (Trabea, Atilius, Caecilius) is
on the whole older than the first (Titinius, Terentius, Atta), it does
not exactly follow that the oldest of the junior group is to be deemed
younger than the youngest of the elder.
37. II. VII. First Steps toward the Latinizing of Italy
38. Of the fifteen comedies of Titinius, with which we are acquainted,
six are named after male characters (-baratus-? -coecus-, -fullones-,
-Hortensius-, -Quintus-, -varus-), and nine after female (-Gemina-,
-iurisperita-, -prilia-? -privigna-, -psaltria- or -Ferentinatis-,
-Setina-, -tibicina-, -Veliterna-, -Ulubrana?), two of which, the
-iurisperita- and the -tibicina-, are evidently parodies of men's
occupations. The feminine world preponderates also in the fragments.
39. III. XIV. Livius Andronicus
40. III. XIV. Audience
41. We subjoin, for comparison, the opening lines of the -Medea- in
the original of Euripides and in the version of Ennius:--
--Eith' ophel' 'Apgous me diaptasthai skaphos
Kolchon es aian kuaneas sumplegadas
Med' en napaisi Pelion pesein pote
Tmetheisa peuke, med' epetmosai cheras
Andron arioton, oi to pagchruson deros
Pelia metelthon ou gar an despoin
Medeia purgous ges epleus Iolkias
'Eroti thumon ekplageis' 'Iasonos.--
-Utinam ne in nemore Pelio securibus
Caesa accidisset abiegna ad terram trabes,
Neve inde navis inchoandae exordium
Coepisset, quae nunc nominatur nomine
Argo, quia Argivi in ea dilecti viri
Vecti petebant pellem inauratam arietis
Colchis, imperio regis Peliae, per dolum.
Nam nunquam era errans mea domo efferret pedem
Medea, animo aegra, amort saevo saucia.-
The variations of the translation from the original are instructive
--not only its tautologies and periphrases, but also the omission
or explanation of the less familiar mythological names, e. g. the
Symplegades, the Iolcian land, the Argo. But the instances in which
Ennius has really misunderstood the original are rare.
42. III. XI. Roman Franchise More Difficult of Acquisition
43. Beyond doubt the ancients were right in recognizing a sketch of
the poet's own character in the passage in the seventh book of the
Annals, where the consul calls to his side the confidant,
-quocum bene saepe libenter
Mensam sermonesque suos rerumque suarum
Congeriem partit, magnam cum lassus diei
Partem fuisset de summis rebus regundis
Consilio indu foro lato sanctoque senatu:
Cui res audacter magnas parvasque iocumque
Eloqueretur, cuncta simul malaque et bona dictu
Evomeret, si qui vellet, tutoque locaret.
Quocum multa volup ac gaudia clamque palamque,
Ingenium cui nulla malum sententia suadet
Ut faceret facinus lenis aut malus, doctus fidelis
Suavis homo facundus suo contentus beatus
Scitus secunda loquens in tempore commodus verbum
Paucum, multa tenens antiqua sepulta, vetustas
Quem fecit mores veteresque novosque tenentem,
Multorum veterum leges divumque hominumque,
Prudenter qui dicta loquive tacereve possit.-
In the line before the last we should probably read -multarum leges
divumque hominumque.-
44. Euripides (Iph. in Aul. 956) defines the soothsayer as a man,
--Os olig' alethe, polla de pseuon legei
Tuchon, otan de me, tuche oioichetai--
This is turned by the Latin translator into the following diatribe
against the casters of horoscopes:--
-Astrologorum signa in caelo quaesit, observat,
Iovis
Cum capra aut nepa aut exoritur lumen aliquod beluae.
Quod est ante pedes, nemo spectat: caeli scrutantur plagas.-
45. III. XII. Irreligious Spirit
46. In the -Telephus- we find him saying--
-Palam mutire plebeio piaculum est.-
47. III. XIII. Luxury
48. The following verses, excellent in matter and form, belong to the
adaptation of the -Phoenix- of Euripides:--
-Sed virum virtute vera vivere animatum addecet,
Fortiterque innoxium vocare adversum adversarios.
Ea libertas est, qui pectus purum et firmum gestitat:
Aliae res obnoxiosae nocte in obscura latent.-
In the -Scipio-, which was probably incorporated in the collection of
miscellaneous poems, the graphic lines occurred:--
-- -- -mundus caeli vastus constitit silentio,
Et Neptunus saevus undis asperis pausam dedit.
Sol equis iter repressit ungulis volantibus;
Constitere amnes perennes, arbores vento vacant.-
This last passage affords us a glimpse of the way in which the poet
worked up his original poems. It is simply an expansion of the words
which occur in the tragedy -Hectoris Lustra- (the original of which
was probably by Sophocles) as spoken by a spectator of the combat
between Hephaestus and the Scamander:--
-Constitit credo Scamander, arbores vento vacant,-
and the incident is derived from the Iliad (xxi. 381).
49. Thus in the Phoenix we find the line:--
-- -- -stultust, qui cupita cupiens cupienter cupit,-
and this is not the most absurd specimen of such recurring assonances.
He also indulged in acrostic verses (Cic. de Div. ii. 54, iii).
50. III. III. The Celts Conquered by Rome
51. III. IX. Conflicts and Peace with the Aetolians
52. Besides Cato, we find the names of two "consulars and poets"
belonging to this period (Sueton. Vita Terent. 4)--Quintus Labeo,
consul in 571, and Marcus Popillius, consul in 581. But it remains
uncertain whether they published their poems. Even in the case of
Cato this may be doubted.
53. II. IX. Roman Historical Composition
54. III. XII. Irreligious Spirit
55. III. XII. Irreligious Spirit
56. The following fragments will give some idea of its tone. Of Dido
he says:
-Blande et docte percontat--Aeneas quo pacto
Troiam urbem liquerit.-
Again of Amulius:
-Manusque susum ad caelum--sustulit suas rex
Amulius; gratulatur--divis-.
Part of a speech where the indirect construction is remarkable:
-Sin illos deserant for--tissumos virorum
Magnum stuprum populo--fieri per gentis-.
With reference to the landing at Malta in 498:
-Transit Melitam Romanus--insuiam integram
Urit populatur vastat--rem hostium concinnat.-
Lastly, as to the peace which terminated the war concerning Sicily:
-Id quoque paciscunt moenia--sint Lutatium quae
Reconcilient; captivos--plurimos idem
Sicilienses paciscit--obsides ut reddant.-
57. That this oldest prose work on the history of Rome was composed in
Greek, is established beyond a doubt by Dionys. i. 6, and Cicero, de
Div. i. 21, 43. The Latin Annals quoted under the same name by
Quintilian and later grammarians remain involved in mystery, and the
difficulty is increased by the circumstance, that there is also quoted
under the same name a very detailed exposition of the pontifical law
in the Latin language. But the latter treatise will not be attributed
by any one, who has traced the development of Roman literature in its
connection, to an author of the age of the Hannibalic war; and even
Latin annals from that age appear problematical, although it must
remain a moot question whether there has been a confusion of the
earlier with a later annalist, Quintus Fabius Maximus Servilianus
(consul in 612), or whether there existed an old Latin edition of the
Greek Annals of Fabius as well as of those of Acilius and Albinus, or
whether there were two annalists of the name of Fabius Pictor.
The historical work likewise written in Greek, ascribed to Lucius
Cincius Alimentus a contemporary of Fabius, seems spurious and a
compilation of the Augustan age.
58. Cato's whole literary activity belonged to the period of his old
age (Cicero, Cat. ii, 38; Nepos, Cato, 3); the composition even of the
earlier books of the "Origines" falls not before, and yet probably not
long subsequent to, 586 (Plin. H. N. iii. 14, 114).
59. It is evidently by way of contrast with Fabius that Polybius
(xl. 6, 4) calls attention to the fact, that Albinus, madly fond of
everything Greek, had given himself the trouble of writing history
systematically [--pragmatiken iotorian--].
60. II. IX. Roman Early History of Rome
61. III. XIV. Knowledge of Languages
62. For instance the history of the siege of Gabii is compiled from
the anecdotes in Herodotus as to Zopyrus and the tyrant Thrasybulus,
and one version of the story of the exposure of Romulus is framed
on the model of the history of the youth of Cyrus as Herodotus
relates it.
63. III. VII. Measures Adopted to Check the Immigration of the
Transalpine Gauls
64. II. IX. Roman Early History of Rome
65. II. IX. Registers of Magistrates
66. Plautus (Mostell. 126) says of parents, that they teach their
children -litteras-, -iura-, -leges-; and Plutarch (Cato Mai. 20)
testifies to the same effect.
67. II. IX. Philology
68. Thus in his Epicharmian poems Jupiter is so called, -quod iuvat-;
and Ceres, -quod gerit fruges.-
69. -Rem tene, verba sequentur.-
70. II. IX. Language
71. See the lines already quoted at III. II. The War on the Coasts of
Sicily and Sardinia.
The formation of the name -poeta- from the vulgar Greek --poetes--
instead of --poietes-- --as --epoesen-- was in use among the Attic
potters--is characteristic. We may add that -poeta- technically
denotes only the author of epic or recitative poems, not the composer
for the stage, who at this time was styled -scriba- (III. XIV. Audience;
Festus, s. v., p. 333 M.).
72. Even subordinate figures from the legends of Troy and of Herakles
niake their appearance, e. g. Talthybius (Stich. 305), Autolycus
(Bacch. 275), Parthaon (Men. 745). Moreover the most general outlines
must have been known in the case of the Theban and the Argonautic
legends, and of the stories of Bellerophon (Bacch. 810), Pentheus
(Merc. 467), Procne and Philomela (Rud. 604). Sappho and Phaon (Mil.
1247).
73. "As to these Greeks," he says to his son Marcus, "I shall tell at
the proper place, what I came to learn regarding them at Athens; and
shall show that it is useful to look into their writings, but not to
study them thoroughly. They are an utterly corrupt and ungovernable
race--believe me, this is true as an oracle; if that people bring
hither its culture, it will ruin everything, and most especially if
it send hither its physicians. They have conspired to despatch all
barbarians by their physicking, but they get themselves paid for it,
that people may trust them and that they may the more easily bring us
to ruin. They call us also barbarians, and indeed revile us by the
still more vulgar name of Opicans. I interdict thee, therefore, from
all dealings with the practitioners of the healing art."
Cato in his zeal was not aware that the name of Opicans, which had in
Latin an obnoxious meaning, was in Greek quite unobjectionable, and
that the Greeks had in the most innocent way come to designate the
Italians by that term (I. X. Time of the Greek Immigration).
74. II. IX. Censure of Art
75. III. II. War between the Romans and Carthaginians and Syracusans
76. Plautius belongs to this or to the beginning of the following
period, for the inscription on his pictures (Plin. H. N. xxxv. 10,
115), being hexametrical, cannot well be older than Ennius, and the
bestowal of the citizenship of Ardea must have taken place before the
Social War, through which Ardea lost its independence.
TABLE OF CALENDAR EQUIVALENTS
A.U.C.* B.C. B.C. A.U.C.
------------------------------------------------------
000 753 753 000
025 728 750 003
050 703 725 028
075 678 700 053
100 653 675 078
125 628 650 103
150 603 625 128
175 578 600 153
200 553 575 178
225 528 550 203
250 503 525 228
275 478 500 253
300 453 475 278
325 428 450 303
350 303 425 328
375 378 400 353
400 353 375 378
425 328 350 403
450 303 325 428
475 278 300 453
500 253 275 478
525 228 250 503
550 203 225 528
575 178 200 553
600 153 175 578
625 128 150 603
650 103 125 628
675 078 100 653
700 053 075 678
725 028 050 703
750 003 025 728
753 000 000 753
*A. U. C. - Ab Urbe Condita (from the founding of the City of Rome)