Cf. also Quint. x. 1, 87; Ovid, Am. i. 15, 21; Stat. Silv. ii. 7, 77. 4. Chorographia, a geographical work, as the fragments show. 5. Ephemeris.-Serv. ad Verg. Georg. i. 375, 'Hic locus omnis de Varrone est ; nam et Varro et Vergilius Aratum secuti sunt.' 6. Elegies. One line is given by Bährens. Cf. Propert. iii. 34, 85, 'Haec quoque perfecto ludebat Iasone Varro, Varro Leucadiae maxima flamma suae.' (e) Publilius Syrus was a manumitted slave, a native of Syria, probably of Antioch. Jerome yr. Abr. 1974 = B.C. 43, 'Publilius mimographus natione Syrus Romae scaenam tenet.' 6 Pliny, N.H. xxxv. 199, Est et vilissima [creta] qua circum praeducere ad victoriae notam pedesque venalium trans maria advectorum denotare instituerunt maiores talemque Publilium Antiochium (MSS. lochium) mimicae scaenae conditorem et astrologiae consobrinum eius Manilium Antiochum, item grammaticae Staberium Erotem eadem nave advectos videre proavi.' An account of Publilius' manumission, and his contest with Laberius in B.C. 45, is given by Macrob. Saturn. ii. 7, 4-8, and is quoted under 'Laberius,' p. 97. Publilius' works were: 1. Mimi.-Two titles are quoted. 2. Sententiae. Six hundred and ninety-seven lines from his mimes (unconnected and alphabetically arranged) are preserved from different sources. Most are iambic senarii, some trochaic septenarii. L.A. K Macrob. Saturn. ii. 7, 10, 'Publili sententiae feruntur lepidae et ad communem usum adcommodatissimae.' Cicero heard his and Laberius' plays in B.C. 46. See ad Fam. xii. 18, 2, quoted under 'Laberius,' p. 99. Sen. de tranquill. 11, 8, 'Publilius, tragicis comicisque vehementior ingeniis, quotiens mimicas ineptias et verba ad summam caveam spectantia reliquit, inter multa alia cothurno, non tantum sipario fortiora, et hoc ait, "Cuivis potest accidere quod cuiquam potest.' The lines are, like the above, proverbs of worldly wisdom, and seem to have been used in schools. Jerome Ep. ad Laetam, 107, 'Legi quondam in scholis puer, "Aegre reprendas quod sinas consuescere. CHAPTER III. THE AUGUSTAN AGE. VIRGIL. (1) LIFE. OUR chief authority for the life of Virgil, apart from his own writings and those of his contemporaries, is Donatus, whose work is probably based on Suetonius' De Poetis. Donatus' work, though not free from romance, is much more valuable than the Life by Probus1 or the metrical account given by Phocas.2 Some important details are given in the Life wrongly attributed to Servius, and in an account preserved in a Berne Ms. of the tenth century. The poet's name is correctly given as P. Vergilius Maro in all the Lives. The balance of authority is decidedly in favour of the spelling 'Vergilius'; it is always so written in the early Mss. and in inscriptions of the Republic and 1 M. Valerius Probus of Berytus (Sueton. Gramm. 24) who flourished, according to Jerome, A.D. 56, prepared critical editions of Lucretius, Virgil, and Horace. A commentary on the Eclogues and Georgics passes under his name, but most of it is spurious. 2 A grammarian of the fifth century A.D., who merely versifies Donatus. of the early centuries A.D. The traditional form in modern literature, 'Virgil,' is here retained. Virgil was born 15th October, B.C. 70, at Andes (identified traditionally with Pietole)1 near Mantua. Donatus, vit. Verg., 'Natus est Cn. Pompeio Magno et M. Licinio Crasso primum coss. iduum Octobrium die, in pago qui Andes dicitur et abest a Mantua non procul.' He was of humble extraction, his father being originally either a potter or a day-labourer. Probus, vit. Verg., 'Matre Magia Polla, patre rustico.' Donatus, 'Parentibus modicis fuit ac praecipue patre, quem quidam opificem figulum, plures Magi cuiusdam viatoris initio mercennarium mox ob industriam generum tradiderunt egregieque substantiae silvis coemendis et apibus curandis auxisse reculam.' (Cf. Virgil's treatment of bees in Georgic iv.) His early years were spent at Cremona, whence in B.C. 55 he went to Mediolanum and then to Rome for his higher education. He studied philosophy, medicine, mathematics, and rhetoric; but his shyness prevented his being a success at the bar, where, we are told, he appeared only once. Donatus, 'Initia aetatis Cremonae egit usque ad virilem 1 On this point Professor W. M. Ramsay writes to us: 'Virgil's farm was certainly not at Pietole (which is two miles south of Mantua, out in the flat plain): for (1) the farm was a long way from the city (cf. Ecl. 9, 59 sqq.); (2) it was beside hills (ibid. 7 sqq.); (3) woods were on or by it (cf. Donatus "silvis coemendis"), and the flat fertile valley was certainly not abandoned to forests. After exploring the country, I felt clear that the farm was on the west bank of the Mincio, opposite Valeggio, where the northern hills sink to the dead level of the Po valley.' togam, quam xv. anno natali suo accepit isdem illis consulibus iterum duobus quibus erat natus, evenitque ut eo ipso die Lucretius poeta decederet. De Cremona Mediolanum et inde paulo post transiit in urbem... Inter cetera studia medicinae quoque ac maxime mathematicae1 operam dedit. Egit et causam apud iudices unam omnino nec amplius quam semel; nam et in sermone tardissimum ac paene indocto similem fuisse Melissus [a freedman of Maecenas] tradidit.' The Berne Ms. above referred to says: 'Ut primum se contulit Romam, studuit apud Epidium oratorem cum Caesare Augusto.'2 For his studies under the Epicurean Siron cf. Catal. 7, 8, 'Nos ad beatos vela mittimus portus, magni petentes docta dicta Sironis, Cf. also Ecl. 6, 31-40, where a brief sketch is given of the Epicurean theory of creation. For a few years we hear nothing of his life, but we may suppose that he continued his studies in literature and philosophy, probably at his farm, if we can draw any inference from the language of Ecl. 1, especially 1. 19 sqq. So far as is known, he took no part in the civil wars. In B.C. 41, when lands were assigned to the troops of Antonius, Virgil was dispossessed of his property. On the recommendation of Asinius Pollio, who was legatus of Gallia Transpadana, he went to Rome and obtained from Octavian 1 His knowledge of science is reflected in his works. Cf. Georgics, passim, and Ecl. 3, 11. 40-2. 2 The latter part of this statement is worthless: Augustus was only a child when Virgil came to Rome. |