Politically, Pliny recognizes the necessity of the empire, but his heroes are old Romans such as Cincinnatus and Cato. His Roman and Italian feeling is intense: cf. xxxvii. 201, ‘In toto orbe ... pulcherrima omnium est in rebusque merito principatum naturae obtinet Italia, rectrix parensque mundi altera.’
His view of life is gloomy (N.H. ii. 25, ‘nec quidquam miserius homine’), and through the Naturae Historiae there runs a monotonous strain of condemnation of the immorality of his day. He is uncertain as to divine providence, but considers the belief in it salutary, and he accepts portents (ii. 92). His tendency is, in the main, Stoic; he was probably acquainted with Paetus Thrasea, who corresponded with Pomponius.
VALERIUS FLACCUS.
His full name is given in the Vatican MS. as C. Valerius Flaccus Setinus Balbus. It is doubtful (even if the last two names really belong to the poet) whether Setinus means from Setia in Italy or from Setia in Spain. The poet’s Latinity gives no evidence on the point. Quintilian is the only Roman writer who refers to him; x. 1, 90, ‘Multum in Valerio Flacco nuper amisimus’; which shows that he must have died about A.D. 90. In the beginning of the first Book of the Argonautica (written shortly after A.D. 70), Valerius addresses Vespasian, referring to his exploits in Britain, and to the capture of Jerusalem by Titus; i. 7 sqq.,
‘Tuque o, pelagi cui maior aperti
fama, Caledonius postquam tua carbasa vexit
oceanus Phrygios prius indignatus Iulos,
eripe me populis et habenti nubila terrae,
sancte pater, veterumque fave veneranda canenti
facta virum. Versam proles tua pandet Idumen
(namque potest), Solymo nigrantem pulvere fratrem
spargentemque faces et in omni turre furentem.’
i. 5 sqq. probably shows that Valerius was a quindecimvir sacris faciundis,
‘Phoebe, mone, si Cymaeae mihi conscia vatis
stat casta cortina domo, si laurea digna
fronte viret.’
Cf. the allusion in viii. 239 sqq. to Cybele’s bath, which was under the management of the xv.viri; and to the rites of lustration, iii. 417 sqq.
There are several allusions to the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in A.D. 79, e.g. iv. 507.
The Argonautica is in eight Books, the last being incomplete, and the story breaking off shortly before the death of Medea’s brother, Absyrtus. Valerius probably meant to write twelve Books, but it is not known how much farther he actually proceeded in his work. There is evidence to show that the last Books would have differed considerably from the story as given by Apollonius Rhodius; e.g. the visit to Phaeacia was probably omitted, as Jason was married at Peuce (Book viii.).