The lives of the first twelve Cæsars

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approaches nearest in merit to that celebrated poem, whicli Statius appears to have been ambitious of emu

lating. In unity and greatlaesi os action, the Theb is corresponds to the laws of the Epopea; but the fabie maybe regarded as defective in some particulars, whicli, however, aris e more from me nature of the subject , than stom any fauit of the poet. The distinction of the hero is not lassiciently prominentand the poem possesses

not those circumstances whicli are requisite to variis interesting the reader's ast ections in the issue of the contest. To this it may be added, that the ianuatural CompleXion of the incestuous progeny diffuses a Lind of gloom, whicli obscures the splendor of thought, and restratias the sympathetic indulgerice of fancy to semeos the boldest excursioris of the poet. For grandeur, howeVers and animation of sentiment and description, as weli as for harmony of numbers, the 7heb is, is eminently conspicuous, and deserves to be held in a much higher degrec os estimation than it has generalty obtain ed. In the contrivance of sonae of the epis des, and frequently in the modes of eκ pression, Statius Leeps an attentive eye to the conduct of Virgil. It in se id that hewaS twelVe years employed in the composing of this poem ; and we have his own authority for assii ming,

that he polis hed it with ait the care and assiduity practis edby the poets in the Augustan agermine, te Mo monitore, nostra

Thebis is mulsia cruciata EmaTentat audaci de MantuIni Giaudia famae. SILVAR. LIB. iv. 7.

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ed by Homer in the Iliad : but it is the previous historyos Achilles, not his conduct in the Trojan war, whiclis ornis the subjedi of this poem. While the young herois under the care of the Centaur Chiron, Thetis malles. a Misit to the preceptor's sequestered habitation, where,

to fave her son froni the fate whicli, it was predicted, would besal him at Troy, is he should go the siege of that place, sho ordei s him to be di essed in the dis uise ofa woman, and serit to live in the fami ly of Lycomedes, Ling of Scyros. But as Troy could not he taken without the aid of Achilles, Ulysies, accompanted by Diomed, is deputed by the Greeks to go to Scyros, and bring

him therice to the Grecian camp. The artifice bywhicli the sagaciotis ambasiador detected Achilles amongsthis female companions, mas by placing be re them va- Tious articles of merchandisse, amongist which was sonae armor. Achilles no Doner perceived the lalter, . than heogerly seized in his hand a s ord and shield, and mani festing the sirongest emotions of heroic enthusia , di iacovered his sex. Aster an affectionate pari ing with Lycomedes's daughter Deidamia, Whom he lest pregnantos a son, he set Dil with the Grecian chie se, and, during the Voyage, gives them an account of the manneros his education with Chiron. This poem consists of tu o books, in heroiC measUr and is written with taste and fancy. CommentatorS Rro os opinion, that the Achilleis was test incomplete by the death of the author ; but this is eYtrem ely improbabie,

frona Various circumstances, and appears to he s undedon ly upon the Word Hactenus, in the conclusion of the poena

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Hactenus aurarum, comites, elementa meorum

Et memini, ta meminisse juzat: scit caetera mater.

That any consequentiat reserence was i utended by IIactenus, seems to be plainly contradicted by the wordswhicli immediately follow, Scit caetera mater. StatiUS could not propos e the giving any farther account of Achilles's life, because a generat narrative of it hadbeen given in the firsit book. The voyage from Scyros to the Trojan coasst, conducted with the celerity whichsuited the purposse of the poet, admitted of no incidenis whicli required description or recitat; and after the vOyagers had reached the Grecian camp, it is rea nable tosuppose, that the action of the Iliad immediately com menced. But that Statius had no desigia os eXtending thes an of the Achilleis beyond this period, is expressely de- . Hared in the exordium of the poena :Magnanimum AEari en, formidatamque Tonanti Progentesm; patrio melisiam succedere coelo, Diva, refer ; quanquam acta viri mulsum inc Ia canis Maeonio ; fer plura vacant. Nos ire per omnem Sic amor em heroa velis, S roque talentem Dulichia troferre Dibiar nec in heri e tracto

Sisere, sed lotia juvenem deducere Trojia.

The Simi is a collection of poems, almost entii ely in

heroic verse, divi ted into five books, and for the mos Pari Written eXtempore. Statius himself aTrnas, in his Dedication to Stella, that the production Os notae of them employed him more than two days ; yet many Ofthem Consisto of hetween one hundred and truo hundredheXameter lines : we meet With one, of two hundred and si Xteen lines ; one, of two hundred and thii ty-s Ur ; One, of two hundred and si xty-two ; and one of two hundreda ad seventy-seven ; a rapidi ty of composition APproach-

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THE LIFE OFing to what Horace mentions of the poet Lucilius. It is no sinali encomtum to observe, that, considered as eXtemporaneous productions, the meanest in the collection is far from meriting censure, either in potnt of sentimentor eXpression ; and many of them contain passages Whieli

This poet, furnamed likewise Coquus, was horn at Bilbilis, in Spain, os obscure parenis. At the age of

lived during sive and thirty years, Under the emperors Galba, Otho, Vitellius, the two Vespasians, Domitia n, Nerva, and the begintakigof the reigra os Trajan. He was the panegyris . of severat of those emperors, by whom he was liberalty re-warded, raised to the Eqhiestrian Order, and promoted by Domitian to the Tribuneship : but being trea ted withcoldnesse and neglech by Tr an, he returned to his native COUntry, and, a se V years after, en led his days, at theage of seventy-five. He had lived at Rome in great splendor and assiuence, as weli as in high esteeria for his Poetical talents ; but upon his return to Bilbilis, it is suid

that he eXperieraced a great reverse of fortune, and w2Schieny indebled, for his suppori, to the gratuitous benefactions of Ρli ny the Yo unger, whom he had extolled

in some epigramS. The poems of Martial consist os foui tecn books, allwritten in the epigrammatic forni, to whicli species of composition, introduced by the Greelis, he had a peculiar propensity. Amid9 sucta a multitude os verses, ona varie ty of subjects, osten composed eXtempore, and many of them, probabiγ, in the moments of fas aionable

dissipation, it is not sui prising that we finit a large num

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TITUS FLAVIUS DOMITIAN Us. 62 Iber uia orthy the genius of the author. Delicacy, and even decency, is osten violated in the pro luetions os Martiat. Gras ping at every thought whicli afforded eventhe shadow of ingenuity, he gave unlimited scope to the exerci se of an active and fruitsul imagination. In re- spe et to composition, he is lihewise linhic to censure. At One time he wearies, and at another, tantalis es the read- .er, with the proli Xity or ambigui ty of his preambies. His prelusive sentiments are s metimes sar-setched, and Converge not with a natural declination into ille focus of epigram. In the dispensation of prais e and censure, heofiten seems to be governed more by Prejudice or poticy, than by justice and truth ; and he is more constantly attentive to the production os Wit, than the improvenientos morali ty.

But while Ne remat L me blemissaes and impersections of this poet, we must acknowledge his eXtraordinarymeriis. In Composition he is, in generat, elegant and correct ; and where the subject is capable os connectionwith sentiment, his inventive ingenuity never fatis to eκ-tra et frona it the essence of delight and stirpi ise. His fancy is prolitic of heauti fui images, and his judgementCXpert in arranging them to the greatest advantage . Hebestows panegyric with inimitable grace, and satirises withequat dexteri ty. In a fund of Attic sali, he surpasses every other writer I and though he stems to have at command ali the varied sfores of gail, he is not destituteos candor. With almost every kind of versification heappears to be familiar ; and amidst a facility of temper,

too accommodating, perhaps, on many occasions, to the licenti ou esse of tiae times, we may Venture frona strongindications to pronounce, that, as a moralist, his principies Were virtuous. It is observed of this author, by

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prehensive Sunt bona, sunt quaedam mediocria, sunt mala plura uae legis r hic aliter non sit, Mite, liben.