A History of Roman Literature

by Harold North Fowler

The literature of the times of Tiberius and Caligula is less important than that of the following years. Phædrus. The only poet of importance is Phædrus, a freed-man of Augustus, who wrote fables in iambic verse. These are for the most part not original with Phædrus, but are the so-called fables of Æsop, tales of Oriental origin, which migrated in writing or in oral form to Europe. The Greeks thought them the inventions of Æsop, but modern investigations have proved that they belong to the migratory folk-lore of India. After the first book of his fables, Phædrus introduces fables and tales of his own among those ascribed to Æsop. The whole collection now consists of ninety-three fables, divided into five books; but it originally contained a greater number, especially in Books II and V. The fables are still, many of them, at least, familiar to most children. Such are the stories of the Wolf and the Lamb, the Frog who tried to be as big as an Ox, the Fox and the Crane, and many others. Phædrus tells the fables in well-composed verses, but sometimes overdoes his love of brevity so as to be obscure. He also points out the moral of his tales too plainly, leaving nothing to the imagination of his readers. His language is the simple and easy Latin of the early Augustan period, without the rhetorical flourishes popular in the following years. Yet it is evident from references in the prologue to the third book that, although Sejanus was powerful after the appearance of the first two books, the third was written after his fall, that is to say, after 31 A. D. Probably Phædrus wrote at least as late as 40 A. D. Of his personal history little is known. He was born in Pieria, in Macedonia, but went to Italy and probably to Rome, at an early age. Something in the first two books of fables brought down upon the poet the wrath of Sejanus, but how serious its effects were is not known. The Eutychus to whom the third book is addressed is probably the charioteer who was an important personage in the last years of Caligula. Particulo and Philetes, whom Phædrus addresses in the epilogue and the last fable of the fifth book, are unknown. The Fables of Phædrus have been much used as a text-book, because they are interesting to young readers and are written in simple, classical Latin.

A poem belonging to the first years after the death of Augustus is the Aratea, by Germanicus, the son of Drusus (15 B. C.-19 A. D.). Germanicus. This is a translation and adaptation of the Phænomena of Aratus, and shows that the author was not only a talented writer of hexameters, but also a well-educated astronomer. This poem contains 725 lines. Of a poem on the stars and constellations in their relation to the weather and the like, entitled Prognostica, only a few fragments remain. Besides these astronomical poems of Germanicus, the last book of Manilius (see p. 138) belongs to this period. So also do some of the poems wrongly ascribed to Virgil and Ovid, and for that matter, the later poems of Ovid himself.

The only prose writers of the years before Claudius whose works are extant are Velleius Paterculus, Valerius Maximus, and Celsus. Velleius Paterculus. Gaius Velleius Paterculus was an officer who had served under Tiberius; he was tribunus militum in 1 A. D. and prætor-elect in 14 A. D. The latest date mentioned in his Roman History is the consulship of Vinicius, 30 A. D. The dates of his birth and death are unknown. The Roman History consists of two books, the first of which is imperfectly preserved. Velleius does not confine himself strictly to Roman affairs, but begins his work with a brief sketch of the foundation of the Greek cities in Italy. The early part of the work is a mere summary, but more details are introduced as the narrative approaches the author’s own times; yet it is, even in the latter part, by no means an exhaustive history. Throughout the work Velleius introduces his own opinions and is governed by his own prejudices; his history is therefore not especially trustworthy. His praise of Tiberius is so excessive that it can not be excused even as the enthusiasm of a veteran for his old general, and the almost equally exaggerated praise of Sejanus is without the shadow of excuse. A noteworthy peculiarity is that Velleius pays attention to the history of Greek and Roman literature, which would hardly be expected in so short a work. The style is clumsy, but shows a desire for rhetorical effect. The vocabulary is that of the Augustan age, but the pretentious rhetoric and the evident striving for variety are characteristic of the later time. The chief interest of Velleius is in the character of the persons of whom he writes, and his whole work has something personal about it which distinguishes it from a mere record of events. In the early part of the work he follows good authorities, though he often disagrees with Livy, perhaps on account of Livy’s republican sympathies. In the latter part of the history he is untrustworthy, owing to his servile partiality for Tiberius and those connected with him.

The nine books of Memorable Doings and Sayings (Facta et Dicta Memorabilia), by Valerius Maximus, were written not far from 30 A. D., and dedicated to Tiberius. Valerius Maximus. Of the writer little is known except that he accompanied Sextus Pompeius to Asia, about 27 B. C. He was, then, born probably as early as 47 B. C., and can hardly have lived long after the completion of his books. Many of the anecdotes contained in his work are interesting, but the style is artificial, pompous, and dull. The most servile flattery is given to Tiberius, Julius Cæsar, and Augustus. The anecdotes cover a wide range of subjects—religion, ancient customs, all varieties of character, fortune, old age, remarkable deaths, and many more. Naturally, the work contains some valuable information, but this is thinly distributed through the nine books. The work was, however, popular in the Middle Ages, and is preserved in many manuscripts. A book on words, especially names (De Prænominibus, etc.), contained in the manuscripts of Valerius Maximus, is by some unknown author and is of little value.

Aulus Cornelius Celsus wrote an encyclopedia, which contained treatises on agriculture, medicine, the art of war, oratory, jurisprudence, and philosophy. Celsus. Part, at least, of this great work was written under Tiberius, but other parts may have been written later, for there is no definite indication of the date of the author’s birth or death. Only the treatise on medicine (Books VI-XIII of the entire work) is preserved. This shows that Celsus was well versed in the medical science of his day, and that medical science had at that time reached a high degree of perfection. Celsus writes in a simple, straightforward style, without the artificial rhetoric or the poetic phraseology common among post-Augustan prose writers. His work was deservedly popular among those who wished for scientific knowledge in the Middle Ages, was one of the first books printed after the invention of the printing-press, and was used as a text-book for medical students until recent times. Whether the other parts of the encyclopedia were as good as the treatise on medicine can not now be determined. The treatise on agriculture is mentioned with respect by Columella, but Quintilian speaks slightingly of Celsus, perhaps on account of defects in the rhetorical parts of his work.

The names of several orators of this period are handed down, chiefly in the reminiscences of the elder Seneca. The most noteworthy are, perhaps, Votienus Montanus, who was banished by Tiberius and died in 27 A. D.; Asinius Gallus (40 B. C.-33 A. D.) the son of Asinius Pollio; Prose writers whose works are lost. Mamercus Scaurus, who was forced by Tiberius to commit suicide in 34 A. D.; Publius Vitellius, who brought about the condemnation of Piso for the murder of Germanicus in 19 A. D., and who died in 31 A. D.; and Domitius Afer, from Nemausus (14 B. C.-59 A. D.), who held important offices under Tiberius, Caligula, and Nero. Among these orators, Domitius Afer was most prominent as a speaker in court, while Montanus was a teacher of oratory and a declaimer. Historians whose works are lost were Aulus Cremutius Cordus and Aufidius Bassus. The former published under Augustus a historical work in which he praised Brutus and spoke of Cassius as “the last of the Romans.” For this his books were burned by decree of the senate in 25 A. D., and he committed suicide by starving himself. Bassus wrote a contemporary history in rhetorical style, probably embracing the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius, and possibly the end of the republic. Among the grammarians of this time, the most important was Quintus Remmius Palæmon, whose grammar (Ars Grammatica) was much used by the later writer Charisius. There were also several writers on special subjects, such as Cæpio and Antonius Castor, who wrote on botany, Julius Atticus and Julius Gracchinus, who wrote on vine culture, and Marcus Apicius, who wrote on cookery, though the extant cook-book ascribed to him is a work of the third century. These names show that even under Tiberius prose writing, although not so important as at other times, was not entirely neglected.

Philosophy was much cultivated at Rome in this time, as it had been for at least a century, but the philosophical teachers under Tiberius and Caligula wrote for the most part, when they wrote at all, in Greek. Philosophy. Among them were the Sextii and Sotion, whose activity was in the later years of Augustus and the earlier years of Tiberius, Lucius Annæus Cornutus, and Gaius Musonius Rufus, both of whom were banished by Nero in 65 A. D. These men, and others of less note, whose doctrines were chiefly Stoic, exercised great influence upon Roman thought, but as their teachings were chiefly oral and their written works were in Greek, they must be passed over with a brief mention by no means commensurate with their real importance. Sotion was one of the teachers of the younger Seneca, the most important writer of the time of Nero, while Cornutus was the teacher of the satirist Persius, and Musonius of the powerful ethical preacher Epictetus.

Lucius Annæus Seneca. Lucius Annæus Seneca, the son of the rhetor Seneca, whose work on the oratorical teachers of the period of Augustus and the subsequent years has already been mentioned, was born at Corduba, in Spain, about the beginning of the Christian era, but was educated in Rome, where he studied under Sotion, the Stoic Attalus, and a follower of the Sextii, Papirius Fabianus, besides attending schools of rhetoric. His mother, Helvia, was a lady of noble birth, whose sister married Vitrasius Pollio, who was for some years governor of Egypt. Seneca appears to have spent some time in Egypt with his aunt, through whose influence he obtained the quæstorship after his return to Rome, at some time between 42 and 37 A. D. A speech which he delivered in the senate nearly caused his death by arousing the jealousy of Caligula in 39 A. D. In 41 A. D. he was banished to Corsica through the influence of Messalina, on the charge of too great intimacy with Julia Livilla, Caligula’s younger sister. Such stories were circulated about all the members of the imperial family, and we have now no means of knowing whether there was any truth in the charge against Seneca and Livilla. Probably the real reason for Seneca’s banishment was his connection with the faction of Agrippina. At any rate, Agrippina recalled him from Corsica eight years later, after the execution of Messalina, obtained for him the prætorship, and made him tutor to her son Domitius Nero. His influence over his young pupil was so great that when Nero came to the throne, Seneca, with the aid of his friend Afranius Burrus, commander of the prætorian guards, directed the imperial government. He restrained the ferocity of Nero and checked the ambition and vengefulness of Agrippina. Owing to his influence the early years of Nero’s reign were long remembered as a period of rest and peace at Rome. But Seneca obtained and held his influence in great measure by yielding consent to Nero’s wishes, even when they were opposed to his better judgment or his conscience. He was probably privy to the murder of Claudius, by which Nero became emperor, there is no indication that he opposed the murder of Germanicus in 55 A. D., and he probably had some connection with the murder of Agrippina in 59 A. D. It is natural that in spite of his remarkable intellectual and social gifts, he was unable to maintain his moral ascendency over the emperor. With the death of Burrus, in 62 A. D., Seneca’s power was broken. He recognized the fact, withdrew so far as he could from the life of the court, and in 64 A. D. offered to give up his great wealth. But his retirement did not save him from Nero’s cruelty, and in 65 A. D. he was accused of sharing in the conspiracy of Piso and compelled to commit suicide.

Seneca’s philosophy did not forbid him to have a share of worldly wealth and honors. At the height of his prosperity he was immensely wealthy, possessing estates in Italy and abroad, and having money out at interest as far away as Britain. His total wealth was estimated at more than $15,000,000. He held all the regular offices, attaining the consulship in 57 A. D. Of his private life little is known. He was twice married, His first wife bore him at least two sons, one of whom died shortly before his father’s banishment. His second wife, Pompeia Paulina, whom he married in 57 A. D., wished to commit suicide at the time of her husband’s death, but was prevented by Nero.

Seneca was an extremely voluminous writer, and though many of his works are lost, those that remain still exceed in bulk the extant works of almost any other ancient writer. Seneca’s tragedies. They comprise tragedies, philosophical treatises, a satire on the death of Claudius, and a few epigrams. The exact dates of individual works can be established only in comparatively few instances, and no attempt will be made here to treat them in chronological order. Since, however, it is probably that the tragedies are works of his earlier years, they may be mentioned first. Nine of these are extant.[91] The subjects are all derived from Greek mythology, and had all been used as the subjects of tragedies by Greek dramatists. No originality of plot is therefore to be expected in Seneca’s tragedies. Nor is there any great originality of treatment. Seneca imitates Euripides and some of the later Greek tragic poets, not simply translating their work, yet inventing few if any new situations, and differing from the Greek dramatists chiefly in his greater realism and his declamatory rhetoric. In fact, his tragedies are a succession of speeches, hardly interrupted by choral songs, which differ from the speeches of the actors chiefly in metre. In themselves these tragedies are feeble imitations and perversions of their Greek prototypes, though in them, as in his other works, Seneca shows great mastery of language and vigor of expression; but their real importance to the modern reader is due to their great influence upon the English dramatists of the sixteenth century and upon the whole course of the French classical drama. At a time when Latin was far more familiar than Greek these tragedies were regarded as the highest expression of ancient dramatic art, and were studied and imitated by the dramatists of the modern nations.