The History of Rome, Book III

Prudenter qui dicta loquive tacereve possit.-

In the line before the last we should probably read -multarum leges divumque hominumque.-

222

Euripides (Iph. in Aul. 956) defines the soothsayer as a man,

—Os olig' alethe, polla de pseuon legei
Tuchon, otan de me, tuche oioichetai—

This is turned by the Latin translator into the following diatribe against the casters of horoscopes:—

-Astrologorum signa in caelo quaesit, observat,
Iovis
Cum capra aut nepa aut exoritur lumen aliquod beluae.
Quod est ante pedes, nemo spectat: caeli scrutantur plagas.-

223

III. XII. Irreligious Spirit

224

In the -Telephus- we find him saying—

-Palam mutire plebeio piaculum est.-

225

III. XIII. Luxury

226

The following verses, excellent in matter and form, belong to the adaptation of the -Phoenix- of Euripides:—

-Sed virum virtute vera vivere animatum addecet,
Fortiterque innoxium vocare adversum adversarios.
Ea libertas est, qui pectus purum et firmum gestitat:
Aliae res obnoxiosae nocte in obscura latent.-

In the -Scipio-, which was probably incorporated in the collection of miscellaneous poems, the graphic lines occurred:—

– — -mundus caeli vastus constitit silentio,
Et Neptunus saevus undis asperis pausam dedit.
Sol equis iter repressit ungulis volantibus;
Constitere amnes perennes, arbores vento vacant.-

This last passage affords us a glimpse of the way in which the poet worked up his original poems. It is simply an expansion of the words which occur in the tragedy -Hectoris Lustra- (the original of which was probably by Sophocles) as spoken by a spectator of the combat between Hephaestus and the Scamander:—

-Constitit credo Scamander, arbores vento vacant,-

and the incident is derived from the Iliad (xxi. 381).

227

Thus in the Phoenix we find the line:—

– — -stultust, qui cupita cupiens cupienter cupit,-

and this is not the most absurd specimen of such recurring assonances. He also indulged in acrostic verses (Cic. de Div. ii. 54, iii).

228

Thus in the Phoenix we find the line:—

– — -stultust, qui cupita cupiens cupienter cupit,-

and this is not the most absurd specimen of such recurring assonances. He also indulged in acrostic verses (Cic. de Div. ii. 54, iii).

229

III. III. The Celts Conquered by Rome

230

III. IX. Conflicts and Peace with the Aetolians

231

Besides Cato, we find the names of two "consulars and poets" belonging to this period (Sueton. Vita Terent. 4)—Quintus Labeo, consul in 571, and Marcus Popillius, consul in 581. But it remains uncertain whether they published their poems. Even in the case of Cato this may be doubted.

232

II. IX. Roman Historical Composition

233

III. XII. Irreligious Spirit

234

III. XII. Irreligious Spirit

235

The following fragments will give some idea of its tone. Of Dido he says:

-Blande et docte percontat—Aeneas quo pacto
Troiam urbem liquerit.-