1 ∙'∙'2 POETRY.—LUCRETIUS.—CATULLUS.
talents. A contemporary of Caelius Kufus and Curio was
C. Licinius Calvus, an orator and poet, who was likewise
highly esteemed by Cicero. Quinctilian does not judge, of
him as favourably as he deserves, hut Tacitus thinks that he
was a classical writer both as an orator and as a poet2; he died
at an early age. Sallust was considerably younger than Cicero,
and of about the same age as Caelius Rufus, Curio, and
Licinius Calvus; he survived Cicero, though he did not live
to a very advanced age. He went his own way in literature,
and was so much absorbed in the past, that the language and
style of his Contempoiaries had little or no influence upon his
own. He did not practise eloquence, but only wrote, and we
cannot therefore wonder at the peculiar form of his works. As
an historian he possesses all the qualities that can be looked for,
and Rome might be proud even if it had no other historian
than Sallust. The fact that Priscian ascribes archaisms to
some of these men, does not detract from their merit?
This period was properly the age of poetry: Lucretius,
C. Licinius Calvus, and Catullus were contemporaries, though
they were not all of the same age; they are the three greatest
poets of that period. It is only now, after the cessation of the
prejudice against didactic poetry, which attempted to exclude
Lucretius from the list of poets, that his great talent and
genius are recognised. Had he not unfortunately given him-
self up to the miserable system of philosophy which derives
its name from Epicurus, he would have produced still greater
things. The greatest poet that Rome ever had is Catullus, if
we except perhaps some few of the earlier ones. He does not
anxiously seek for forms or words; poetry with him is the
same natural expression, the same natural language, as our
’ There seems to be some confusion here. The passage of Quinctilian (x. ii.
115.) runs thus: “ Inveni qui Calvum praeferrent omnibus, inveni qui Cieerom
credereut, cum nɪmɪa contra se calumnia veram Saiiguinem pcrdidisse: sed est
ct sancta et gravis oratio et Custodita et frequenter vehemeιιs quoque” Tacit.
Dial, de Orat. 18 says. “Sunt eninɪ (antiqui) Iiorricli et iɪnpoliti et rudes et
informes et quos utinam nulla parte imɪtatus esset Calvus vester, aut Caelius, aut
ipse Cicero !” and “ Lcgistis utique et Calvi et Bruti ad Ciceronem missas epis-
tolas, ex quibus facile est deprehendere, Calvum quidem Ciccroni visum exsan-
guem et attritum — rιιrsumqιιe Cieeronem a Calvo quidem male andivisse
tanquam sohitum et enervem.” In the extant writing» of Cicero, there are too
long passages, Brut. 82, Epist. ad Fam. xv. 21, where Calvus is mildly judged
of, but not absolutely praised.
3 Is not perlιap= Seneea meant here ’ See Gellius, xii. 2.
HELVius CiNNA1 valekius caw, eic., asinius pollio. 133
coιmnon mode of expressing our thoughts is with us. He
has the same perfections and excellencies as the lyric poets of
Greece previously to the time of Sophocles, and he is their
equal in every respect: he was a gigantic and extraordinary
genius. It shews the greatest prejudice to say that he is not
equal to the Greeks of the classic age. The other poets of
his time, though unquestionably inferior to him, are still very
important phenomena in Roman literature; and if we had
the poems of C. Helvius Cinna ; if we had any other poems of
Valerius Cato besides those extant (his Dirac are after all very
doubtful); if we had Valgius, and Ticida4, we should read
them all with great pleasure, which is saying more than can
be said of any other period in the history of literature. The
poetry of this period is composed with a strict observance of
the Greek metres ; the hexameter of the greater poems is per-
fectly Greek, and the caesurae are carefully attended to and
correct; the smaller lyric poems are written in Greek metres,
and the form is almost completely Greek. But in some minor
points, such as the construction of the pentameter, the poets
of this age still had their peculiarities, which they were loth
to give up, and which are foreign to the Greeks. Furius
Bibaculus was very charming; Varro Atacinus, the translator
of Apollonius Rhodius, was by no means contemptible.
Comedy had become quite extinct, and no works even of
mediocrity are mentioned.
This flourishing period of Roman poetry ceases about the
time of Caesar’s and Cicero’s death, and another generation
now sprang up. The number of eloquent men henceforth is
small. Among those who survived the blooming period I will
mentiôn Asinius Pollio1 who was about thirty-three or thirty-
four years old at the death of Caesar, so that his talents were
perfectly developed at the time, but the period in which he
distinguished himself as a writer and an orator falls somewhat
later, that is, subsequently to the war of Brundusium1 after
which he entirely withdrew from public life. We may
form an opinion upon him from the fragments preserved in
Seneca1 the father. His writings were ∖ery unequal; some
parts are extremely good, especially when he wrote under the
influence of passion, as for example against Cicero, towards
whom he was unjust, and against the Pompeian party. He
4 Weicliert1 Poet. Lat. Pel. p. 361, not. 20.