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CAESAR AUGUSTUS. 237gardens. His house, though called Palatiunet, the palace, as heing bulli on the Palatine-hill, and inhabited by theso rei gn, was only a s mali mansion, which had formet lyhelonged to Hortensius, the orator. Aloining to this place, Augustus h ad bulli the temple of Apollo, wlaichhe endowed with a public library, and allotted for theuse of poets, to recite their compositions to each other.
Ovid was particularly intimate milli Hyginus, One of Augustus's freedmen, who was librarian of the temple. He might there re have been in me library, and spyingsrom the windo a Volang semale secreting herseis in thegardens, he had the curiosi ty to follow her. The place of Ovid's banishment was Tomis, no saidio be Babba, a town of Bulgaria, towards the mouth of the Ister, where is a lake stili called by the natives, Ouvi stive 'fei ο, the lalie of Ovid. In this reti rement, and the Euxine Pontus, he passed the remainder of his ii se, a melancholy period of seven years. Notwith standing the lascivious writings of Ovid, it does not appear that he was in his conduci a libertine. He was three times mari ted : his fit si Wise, who was of mean extraClion, and viliom he had mari ted wlien he was very
3oung, he divorced ; the second he dismissed on account of her immodes: bellaviour; and the third appears is have larvived him. He had a number of respediabie friends, and seems to have been much beloved by them. Tibullus was descended of an Equestri an family, and
panted in a military expedition to the is and of Corcyra. But
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But an indisposition with which he was Diged, and a
natural aversion to the totis of war, induced hi in to re- tum to Rome, where he seems to have resigned himsel sto a lisse of indolence and pleas ure, amidst which he de voted a part of his. time to the composition os elegies. Elegi ac poeti y had been cultiva ted by severat Greekwriters, particularly Callimachus, Mimnermus, and Philetas ; but, so far as we can find, had, untii the presentage, been unknown to the Romans in their own longue. It cons1sted of a heroic and pentameter line alternately, and was not, like the Elegy of the moderns, usualty a' propriate i to the lamentation of the deceased, but em ployed chiesty in compositions relative to love or friend-ihip, and might inde ed bc used upon almost any sul est; though, frona the limp in the pentameter line, it is notsui table to sublime subjecis, whicli require a fui nesse of expression, and an CX pansion of und. To this species of poetry Tibullus restricted tris application; by whichhe cultivaled that simplici ty and tendet nesse and agreeableease of sentiment, whicli cons tute the characteristic persections of the elegi ac Mus e. In the description of rural scenes, the peaceml o quin pations of the field, the charios of domestic happiness, and the joys of reciprocul love, scarcely any poet sur passes Tibullus in his clainas to our applause. His luxuriant ima ination colle dis the mos beauti fui Bowers of
nature, and he displays them th ait the delicate attraction of sost and harmonio iis numbers. With a deκteritypeculiar to himself, in Whate ver subject he engages, hulea is his readers impercepti l ly through devio us pallis of pleas ure, of whicli, at the ouis et of the poem, they
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verat of his elegies may be sa id to have netther mi id lenor en l: yet the transitions are so naturat, and the gradations so easy, that though we wander through Ely sians cenes of fancy, the most heterogeneous in their nature, we are sensibie of no desedi in the concatenation whichlias joined them together. It is however to be regretted, that, in s me instances, Tibullus betrays that licentio uianesi os manners whicli formed too generat a Characteristic even of this refined age. His elegies ad tresied toMessala contain a beauti fui amplification of sentiments
io say, whether the virities of the patron Or the genius of the poet be more conspiCUOUS. Valerius Messala Corvinus, whom he celebrates, waS
descended os a very ancient family. In the civit Wars which followed the death of Julius Caesar, he joined therepublican party, and made himself master of the campos Octavius at Philippi; but he was after Wards reCGn-ciled to his opponent, and lived to an ad vanced age in favor and esteem wlth Augustus. He was distinguistaednot only by his military talenis, but by his eloquenCe, integrity and patriolis m. Froin the following past 1ge in the writings of Tibullus, Commenta tors have conjectured that he was deprived
of his lands, by the sanie proscription in whicli iliose of Virgil had been involved :
Cui fuerant favi dilantes orditi stiles Horrea, foecundas ad descientia messes, Cuique secus denso pascebani agmine colles, Et domino satis, cis nimium furique sessoque:
Nunc des derium 'peres: nam cura nova ur, Cum memor anteactos semper dolor admovet annos. Li B. IV. EL. I.
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as opulent. D stibi diυBias dederant, actemque fruehaei.
m know not the age of Tibullus at the time of his deam ; but in an elegy written by Ovid upon that occason, he is spolien os as a young man. Were it true, as is seid by biographers, that he was horn the fame daymith Ovid, we must indeed asi1gn the event to 'an earlyperiod. For Ovid cannot have written the elegy after the forty-third year of his own liis, and ho long be- fore, is incertain. In the tentii Hegy of the foui th book De Tristibus, he observes, that the fates had allowed lit-lle time for the cultivatiop of his friendi ip with Tibullus.
Virgilium vidi tantum di nec aUara Tibullo' Temptis amicisti fala dedere me .
Successor fuit bio tibi, Galle ; Propertius illi martus ab his ferie temporis ipse fui.
Utque ego multores, inc me colliere minores.
As both Ovid and Tibullus lived at Rome, were both of the Equestrian Order, and of congeniat dispositions, it is natural to suppos e that their acquaintance Commen-Ced at an early period ; and is, after ali, it was of stiori duration, there would be no improbability in concluding, inat Tibullus dieit at the age of some years under thirty. It is evident, however, that biographers have committeda mistahe with regard to the birth of this poet: for in the passage aliove cited of the Tri ita, Ovid mentions Tibullus as a writer, Who, though his ContemPOrary, was much older than himself. From this passage, We
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' CAESAR AUGUSTUS. ther nearer to the lalter period : for other isse, Horace Would scarcely have mentioned hi in in the manner hedoes in one of his Episties.
Albi, nostrorum sermonum candide judex, mid nunc te dicam facere in regione Pedania p. Scribere quod GHI Parmensis opuscula vincaz; An tacitum silvas inler reptare salubres, Curantem quicquid dinum sapiente bonoque es
This supposition is in no degree inconssistent with theauthority of Ovid, where he mentions him as a Foungman ; for the Romans extended the period of youth to the fiftieth year. Propertius was horn at Mevania, a town os Umbria, sea ted at the confluence of the Tina and Clitumnus. This place Was famou3 for it. . fitii herils of white catile, brought up there forsacrifice, and supposed to be impregnated with that color by the waters of the river lasf mentioned.
Hinc albi, Clitumne, greges, ου maxima Iaurus Victima, saepe tuo perfusi sumine sacro, Romanos ad templa Der m duxere trium hos . G. II.
His fallier is Did by so me to have been a Roman knight, and they add, that he was one of those who, when L. Antony was starved out of Perusia, were, by the order of Oictavius, ted to the altar of Julius Caesar,' and theresain. Nothing more is known with certainty, than that propertius tost: his fallier at an early age, and being de- prived os a great part of his patrimony, betook himselfio Rome, Where his genius soon recommended hina topublic notice, and he obta ined the patronage Os Me- coenas. Frona his frequent introduction of historical
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PKE LIpE OPand mythological subjects into his poems, he received the appellation of the Learned 'Os ali the Latin elegi ac poets, Propertius has the just- est claim to puri ty of thought and expression. He onten draws his imagery froin reading, more than Domthe imagination, and abouiads lesi in description than sentiment. For warinth of passion he is not conspicuous, and his tendernesi is seldom marked with a great degree of senssibili ty; but, Without rapture, he is animat-ed, and, like Horace, in the naidsi of gaiety, he is morat. The stores With whicli learning supplies him, divei sisy as weli as illustrate his subjedi, while delicacy every where discovers a tasie refined by the habit os reflexion. His versification, in generat, is elegant, but not unus ornaly harmoniOUS. Tibullus and Propertius have cach written four books of Elegies : and it has been disputed whicli of them is superior in this depariment of poctry. Quintilian hasgiven his suffrage in favor of Tibullus, Who, se far aspoetical merit alone is the object os consideration, laenas entillest to the preferen C.
Gallus was a Roman knight, distinguished not onlylar poetical but military talents. Os his poetry we haveonly si X Elegies, written, in the personsistari s of an old man, On the subject of oldage, but whicli, there is reason to thin k, re Composed in an earlier part of the authoi 's lisse.
Except the fifth Eleg , whicli is lainted with immodesty, the Others, particularly the fit st, are hiOly beauti fui, and may be placed in competition with any other productions of the elegi ac Lind. Gallus was, for sonae
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time. in great favor with Augustus, who appo1nted hini governor of Εgypt. It is falci, however, that he notonly oppressed the province by eκtortion, but enteredinto a conspiracy against his benefactor; for whicli heMas banissaed. Unable to sustain lach a reverse of for tune, he feli into despair, and laid violent hands on himself This is the Gallus in honor of whom Virgil composed his tentii Eclogue. Such are the celebrated productions of the Augii stanage, which have been happily preserveis, for the delightand admiration os mani ind, and Mil servive to the lates
posterity. Many more Once eXisted, of variotis merit, and of different authors, which have lest sew or no me mor1als heliinii them, but have peristaed promiscuousyamidst the indiscriminate ravages of time, of accidenta, and of barbarians: Amongst the principat authors whose morks are tost, a re Varius and Valgius ; the former of whom, besides a panegyric upon Augustus, Composed
me tragedies. According to Quintilian, his Τhyestes
tuas equul to any composition of the Greek tragic poets. The great number of eminent writers, poets in particular, that adorned this age, has eκcited generat admiration, and the phenomenon is usualty ascribed to a fortuito us Occurrence, whicli bassies ali enquiry: but we si1allendeavor to de vel op the vario us Causes which scem toliave produced this est est; and should the explanationappear satisfactory; it may favor an opinion, that under similar circumstances, is euer they should again be com hined, a period of equat glo ry might arisse in other ages
The Romans, whether stom the influence of climate,
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THE LITE OFor their mode of living, whicli in generat Was temperate, were endowed with a lively imagination, and, as we be- fore observed, a spirit of enterprisse. Upon the sinat termination of the funic war, anu the Conquest of Greece, their ardor, which had hitherio been exercised in militaryatchlevemenis, was diverted into the channet os literature; and the civit commotions whicli followed, having no ceased, a frem impulse was gi ven to activity in the ambitious puriit of the laurei, which was now only to beobtained by glorious eXertions of intellect . The beauti- fui productions os Greece operating strongly upon theirminds, excited them to imitation; imitation, when rou damongst a number, produced emulation; and emulationcheris hed an extraordinary thirst os fame, whicli, in Overy exertion of the human mirad, is me parent of eXcellence. This liberal contention was not a litile promoted by the fas hion introduced at Rome, for poets to recite their Compositions in public ; a practice which seems to have been Carried even to a ridiculo us eXCess. Such was now therage sor poetical composition in the Roman capital, that Horace describes it in the sollowing ternis:
Muravis menrem populus levis, calet uno
Scribendi studior pueri patresque severi
Fronde comas vinciti coenant, carmina dictant. EPIST. II. I.
Scribimus indocti doctique poemara ptism. Ibi d.
The mirst os fame abovementioned was a powerfui incentive, and is avo ed both by Virgil and Horace. The former, in the second book of his Georgics, annotances Rresolution os rendering himself celebrat , is possibIe.
. tentanda via es quia me quoqxe possim Tollere humo, et ictorove vira m volitare per ora.
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CAESAR AUGUSTUS. 24sAnd Horace, in the conclusion of his first Ode, expresses himself in term s whicli indicate a similar purpola.
modii me lyricis malibus inferes, Sublimi feriam Idera vertice.
Even Sallust a historian, in his introduction to Catiline sConspiracy, scruples not to insinuate the fame hind of ambition. Quo mila rectius vadetur ingenii quam virium opibus gloriam quaerere ; , quoniam vita ipsa, qua fruimur, brevis est, memoriam no iri quam maxume longam GPere. - Another circumstance of great importance, to wards the production os such poetry as might live through every age, Was the eXtreme attention whicli the great poets of this period displayed, both in the composition, and the po-lishing of their wortis. Virgil, when employed upon the Georgics, usualty wrote in the moriaing, and applied much of the subsequent part of the day to corre 'ion and improvement. He compared himself to a bear, that lichsher cub into form. Is this was his regular praetice in the Georgics, we may justly suppose that it was the sanie in the AEheid. V et, after ait this labor, he intended to devote
three years entia ely to iis farther amendinent. HoraCelias gone so far in recommending caresul correction, thathe figuratively mentions nine years as an adequa te periodsor that pui pose. But whatever may be the time, thereis no precept which he urges ei ther of tener or more for-cibly, than a due attention to this important object.
Saepe sylum vertas, iterum quae digna legi int
Pompilius sanguis, carmen reprehendite, quod non Multa d es ta multa litura coercuit, atqΠe
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to the great superiority of the Augustata age, wim respectio the productions os literature, one more is to be subjoin-ed, of a nature the most essentiat; the liberal and unparalleled enco uragement given to distinguismed talents by the em peror and his minister. This was a principie of the most powerfui energy : it sanned the flame of genius, invigora ted e very exertion; and the poets who hasced in 'the rays of imperiat favor, and the animating patronagens Mecaenas, eXperienced a poetic enthusiasin whicli approached to real inspiration. Having now finis hed me propused explanation, relativoto the celebrity of the Augustan age, we 1hali conclude Willi recapitulating in a sex' words the causes of this eX-
The modeis, then, whicli the Romani derived si ornGrecian poetry, were the finest productions os human genius ; their incentives to emulation were me strongest that pould actua te the heart. With ardor, theres ore, and industry in composing, and with unwearled patience in poli sta ing their compositions, they attained to that glorious gistinction in literature, which no succeeding age has eVer