Part 11

A review of esthetic elements to be found in the novel of Roman life would not be complete without some consideration of two recent novels by Mr. Eden Phillpotts, _Evander_, (1919), and _Pan and the Twins_, (1922). Mr. Phillpotts has shown his appreciation for classic art in _The Joy of Youth_, while another of his novels, _The River_, shows his love for the beautiful in nature. Mr. George Moore says, “Morality is but a dream, but beauty is real;” his novel, _The Brook Kerith_, is not considered here as a novel of Roman life, but in it the author often harks back to the beautiful pagan world. There is something of this in the two novels of Roman life written by Mr. Phillpotts. As has been said, George Ebers had written, _A Question; The Idyl of a Picture by His Friend Alma Tadema_, (1881), which presents the beauties of pastoral life in semi-mythological classic times in pre-historic Sicily, and suggests _Evander_ in subject matter. In _Marius the Epicurean_, Pater had said, “Farm life in Italy, including the culture of the olive and the vine, has a grace of its own, and might well contribute to the production of an ideal dignity of character, like that of nature itself in this gifted region. Vulgarity seemed impossible.” The ideal beauty of a simple, outdoor life, centering in the farmer’s hut, appears in _Evander_, a novel which portrays life in prehistoric Italy and abounds in beautiful pastoral description. In its portrayal of life, _Evander_ shows somewhat the same discriminating selection of esthetic elements to be seen in _Marius the Epicurean_. and _Veranilda_; but unlike the work of Pater or Gissing, _Evander_ has a rich and picturesque humor. Here, in Mr. Phillpotts’ novel, is optimism in contrast to the detachment of Pater, and Gissing’s somewhat continuous pessimism. Mr. Phillpott’s light, humorous, cheerful style in _Evander_, makes the novel rank far below _Marius the Epicurean_ and _Veranilda_ as a work of art, and is a concession to popular taste; yet it has a virtue of its own. Many readers, who would find _Marius the Epicurean_ too serious, could read _Evander_ with pleasure and profit.

_Evander_ portrays life in Italy when marriage was just coming into fashion; it is really a satire of the “triangle” of the ordinary man, the genius, and the woman who does not know her own mind. But it truthfully represents the beginnings of things most characteristically Roman; especially the Roman ideals of the home, the community, and finally law, ideals which sprang from the simple, austere, agricultural life of the prehistoric Romans. The author is right in representing as real to these primitive Romans, “nymphs, goat-foot fauns and other immortal creatures of lake and mountain, vale and forest, who spied upon humanity with wonder when the world was young.” Among other gods, Pan, under the Latin name of Faunus, appears to a mortal woman, in _Evander_, as he had done in Mr. James Stephens’ novel, _The Crock of Gold_; and the humorous, delicately satiric style of _Evander_ at times suggests Mr. Stephen’s work. In portraying life “when the world was young,” the author of _Evander_ seems to ask, “Why should it grow old?” And in portraying ancient pagan life as a satire on modern life, he does not fail to show that the ideals and aspirations of man have changed but little.

_Pan and the Twins_, (1922), as its title suggests, makes a similar use of the god Pan, and is a novel written in a style similar to that of _Evander_. It differs from Mr. Phillpotts’ other novel of Roman life in including historical material. Not very much history is brought into _Pan and the Twins_, but when historical events are mentioned, they are made vividly significant, and are rightly interpreted. The scene is laid chiefly on a country estate near Rome, and in the time of Valentinian, though other Roman Emperors are mentioned. Even more than _Evander_, _Pan and the Twins_ suggests Mr. James Stephens’ _The Crock of Gold_, but is a better constructed novel and a finer piece of art. The satire of _Pan and the Twins_ is delicate but very pointed at times, as when Theodosius convinces the Christian bishop that it is not his duty to the State to have Arcadius burned alive. Its humor is equally delicate, but no one could fail to laugh at the spectacle of one of the Emperor’s favorite bears, which escapes from its cage at the amphitheatre and becomes very much worried that “malefactors” are no longer provided as its daily food.[36]

While its philosophy is at times “sugar-coated,” _Pan and the Twins_ offers a very strong plea for sanity in religion and life, and suggests that they are one and the same thing. Moreover, in its portrayal of life, it distinctly seeks for elements of beauty. With a few delicate touches, the author presents in his heroine a figure of ideal physical and spiritual beauty, not unlike Gissing’s Veranilda in conception. In portraying Roman life, coarser elements are kept in the background. One is made to feel the existence of the horrors of the amphitheatre, the inconsistencies of the Church, and much of the varied life of Rome. Roman customs, as, for example, the marriage ceremony, are correctly described. But in the foreground of the picture appear always scenes amid the sunlight and pure air of the Roman country landscape. _Pan and the Twins_ is not a great novel, but one that contains much beautiful writing. The scenes which it portrays are selected chiefly for their esthetic appeal, but are real, none the less; not inconsistent with life, past or present. It is not necessarily either “pagan” or Christian; but seems to undertake to show that beauty cannot be defined entirely in terms of morality, Christianity, or paganism. _Pan and the Twins_ ranks far below such a consummate piece of art as _Marius the Epicurean_, but successfully presents the esthetic, in terms more readily appreciated by the popular taste.

IV

IN CONCLUSION

In thus reviewing the principal lines of development which the novel of Roman life has followed to the present day, it has been found that, in some cases, these lines lead away ultimately from the true type of the novel which portrays the life of Rome with realistic effect. Thus the line of the novel of Roman life as written by scholarly preachers has been found to branch off, at a certain point, into the line of the story of religious instruction, a form which was excluded by definition in Section I of this study. The line of the “popular” novel of Roman life has always had a tendency to branch off, and deteriorate into cheap imitations, which attempt to use Roman life to provide artificial coloring, but do not really portray Roman life at all. The line of the novel of Roman life written to illustrate “schoolbook” history has in most cases branched off directly into the line of books for boys—Mr. Davis’s and Mr. White’s novels being the notable exceptions. While there has been little direct imitation of the pedantic elements in the work of German scholars, with their meticulous overemphasis upon detail; German novelists such as Eckstein have been shown to follow Scott in their methods of writing historical novels, and to suggest in turn to English novelists, the thorough way in which subjects taken from Roman life may be presented by any novelist. Few English novelists have attained notable success in portraying Roman life in terms which suggest the purity of style and beauty of thought of Pater’s _Marius the Epicurean_.

The two English novels of Roman life, which have had the most profound influence upon other English novels of Roman life, are Kingsley’s _Hypatia_ and Wallace’s _Ben Hur_; and one must look to these two especially, in any attempt to trace the lines of development which are of the most supreme importance, in the English novel of Roman life. Since the publication of these two books, _Quo Vadis_ has had a very important effect upon the English novel of Roman life, but this book followed Canon Farrar’s _Darkness and Dawn_, which in turn followed Eckstein’s _Nero_. The importance of _Hypatia_ and _Ben Hur_, in the development of the novel of Roman life, is due principally to the clear relation which they establish between the life of the Roman world and the life of today, and to their illustration of eternal truths. It must be emphasized that novels such as these give one a comprehensive idea of life throughout the Roman world; _Ben Hur_ is most successful in this, but the scenes in _Hypatia_, though chiefly laid in Alexandria, are symbolic of Roman life in a larger sphere. A few novels of Roman life have attained, in some measure, the success of _Hypatia_ and _Ben Hur_, by portraying life in a number of different parts of the Roman world. But most novelists have done better work by limiting the scene of their novels to the vicinity of the City of Rome itself, while not attempting work upon such large outlines as those upon which the work of Charles Kingsley and Lew Wallace is based. It has been found that novels whose scene is laid chiefly outside of and apart from any great city of the Roman world,—especially those whose scene is in one of the remote provinces of the Roman Empire,—do not really portray Roman life. This has been found to be the case with novels whose scene is Roman Britain, since they merely present very elementary illustrations of school-book history, and do not portray the life of Rome at all.

In general, the novel of Roman life has been found to be a very elastic form, and this has necessitated a certain looseness of structure in the section treating of its development, (Sec. III); but especial care has been taken not to omit significant elements in this development, and not to set up arbitrary standards of value. The principal lines of development, which the novel of Roman life has followed, and which I have endeavored to trace carefully, have not converged up to the present time; this study has therefore been devoted to an analysis of important individual elements, rather than to an attempt to construct from these elements a complete whole, based upon any abstract theory, and having a merely superficial unity. All elements of permanent value in the novel of Roman life have been given an entirely thorough consideration, the combination of a number of important elements in great novels has been pointed out; but the possibility of a further combination of these important elements into an even greater novel of Roman life than any which has yet been written, is something which the future alone can realize. While, for the sake of completeness, it has been necessary to review a number of inferior novels; these have, in most cases, been used to illustrate definite tendencies in particular lines of development of the novel of Roman life; or to mark the exact points at which such particular lines of development pass outside the limits of the field of the true novel of Roman life.

It is sincerely hoped that this study will serve as a complete and unbiased review of all the best work that has been done in the novel of Roman life. This work has been shown to be one requiring scholarship of the highest order, and offering to the reader products, whose literary merit compares favorably with that of the best work produced in other departments of the historical novel. In portraying life in the past with realistic effect, the novel of Roman life has been shown to be a direct development of the historical novel, a literary form which has in all important respects followed the example of Sir Walter Scott, and which has continued to show evidences of vigor and power to the present time. The life of ancient Rome has been shown to offer to the English historical novelist a field rich in material which illustrates the vital connection between the life of the past and the life of the present.

FOOTNOTES

[1] _Evander_: Mr. Eden Phillpotts, (1919).

[2] e. g., _A Friend of Caesar_: Mr. William Stearns Davis, (1900).

[3] _Princess Salome_: Dr. Burris Jenkins, Lippincott, Phila., (1921).

[4] _Pomponia, the Gospel in Caesar’s Household_: Mrs. J. B. Peploe Webb, (1867), (Presbyterian Publication Company, o. p.).

[5] Emma Leslie in _Sowing Beside All Waters_, etc., furnishes a clear example of the most worthless kind of work to be found in the form of the story of religious instruction.

[6] Scott rarely made a great historical character _the central figure_ of a novel. An exception is seen in the character of Queen Mary in _The Abbot_.

[7] _Prefatory Letter_ to _Peveril of the Peak_.

[8] Scott’s _Introduction_ to _Ivanhoe_.

[9] Mr. Borden’s list of novels of Roman life by foreign authors is:

_Nero_: Ernst Eckstein, (1889)

_A Thorny Path_: George Ebers, (1892)

_Quo Vadis_: H. Sienkiewicz, (1895)

_The Death of the Gods_: D. Merejkowski, (1901)

[10] _The Progress of Romance_ (1785).

[11] _General Preface_ to the _Waverly Novels_.

[12] For a more complete outline of the tendencies of the romance at this time, see _The Development of the English Novel_: Wilbur L. Cross.

[13] This motive is used in Mr. E. L. White’s _Andivius Hedulio_, and in Baring-Gould’s _Perpetua_; in each of these novels the hero makes his escape through the drain.

[14] Thomas Love Peacock said _The Epicurean_ was “not faithful to ancient manners, and ignorant of Epicureanism.”

[15] The date 1827 is given in the publisher’s note to the 1901 edition, as the date when _Salathiel_ was first published. This is evidently a mistake on the part of the publishers (Messrs. Funk and Wagnalls), since 1829 is given as the original date of publication by historians of the novel (_e. g._, George Saintsbury in _The English Novel_), and in biographical accounts of Croly (_e. g._, _The Dictionary of National Biography_, etc.).

[16] Josephus is the direct source usually, and always the ultimate source of all novels which take the siege of Jerusalem for their theme. _cf._ Whyte-Melville’s _The Gladiators_.

[17] Croly’s classical scholarship is especially well displayed in his _Catiline_, which tells in the form of a verse drama the story of the famous conspiracy against the Roman republic.

[18] Since Bulwer wrote for many years under this name, before he became the Earl of Lytton, it is quite permissable to use the shorter form of his name.

[19] The scene of _Valerius_, of course, opens in Britain, but nothing of importance to the story happens there. This is doubtless a mere device to arouse the interest of English readers in the hero by hinting at the connection of “Roman” Britain with Rome.

[20] The date 1840, given in some guides to historical fiction, has been found to be incorrect.

[21] _Hypatia_ was begun as a serial in Fraser’s Magazine in 1851.

[22] In regard to Kingsley’s choice of Hypatia for his heroine, it should be said that she typifies the last adherent of Greek philosophy, and this is the real reason she is chosen. There is, however, a marked similarity between Kingsley’s heroine and Ware’s Zenobia. Both were women who aspired to power, independent of the Roman government; and both conceived the idea of relying on male counselors. Hypatia, in speaking of Philammon, says: “If I could but train him into a Longinus, I could dare to play the part of a Zenobia, with him as counselor... And for my Odenatus—Orestes?” She did indeed attempt to follow this plan, even forming an alliance with Orestes, whom she detested. But even if Kingsley’s heroine was in part suggested to him by Ware’s Zenobia, this is not to be considered an important reason leading to the writing of _Hypatia_.

[23] For this aspect of the Oxford conspiracy, see George Borrow’s _Lavengro_, (1851), and _The Romany Rye_, (1857); also W. L. Cross, _The Development of the English Novel_, p. 211, and W. L. Gates, _Essay on Newman_, in _Three Studies in Literature_, N. Y., (1899).

[24] These quotations are all from the same letter, which may be found in _Charles Kingsley; His Letters and Memories of His Life_, edited by his wife: Scribners, N. Y., 1894, abridged from the London Edition.

[25] Quoted from a notice of the English translation by M. J. Safford. The notice appeared in a contemporary number of _The Spectator_, St. Louis.

[26] From a contemporary review in _The Mail and Express_, N. Y.

[27] Among authors cited are Virgil, Pliny the Elder, Martial, Cicero, Seneca, St. Jerome, Juvenal, Tacitus, Plautus, Dion Cassius, Aulus Gellius, Aurelius Victor, Suetonius, Ovid, Ammianus Marcellinus, Tertullian, and a number of others.

[28] Wallace owes little in the chariot-race scene to Quinton’s _The Money God_, though a similar scene in _The Money God_ has been pointed out.

[29] Arthur Hobson Quinn, Professor of English and (former) Dean of the College, University of Pennsylvania, in _The American Novel—Past and Present; Lectures by the Faculty_, 1913-14, p. 302.

[30] J. M. Murray, _The Problem of Style_, (1922); quoted in _The Classical Weekly_ February 26, 1923.

[31] _The Temptation of St. Anthony_ is probably the best example of dream literature in the world, and Mr. E. L. White may have had in mind this method of transporting one’s thoughts to the past, when he was collecting material for _Andivius Hedulio_ (1921).

[32] See his letter to Mr. Maurice, January 16, 1851 (already quoted), in _Charles Kingsley, Letters and Memories of His Life_, ed. by his wife, abr. from London ed., _Scribner’s_, 1894.

[33] Author’s _Note to the Reader_.

[34] _Walter Pater, a Critical Study_, by Edward Thomas, N. Y., 1913.

[35] Mr. F. S. Dunn, while speaking with due reverence of Pater’s chaste diction and chaster ethics, notes two trifling errors made in _Marius the Epicurean_ in regard to the topography of Rome. (F. S. Dunn, _The Historical Novel in the Classroom_,—_Classical Journal_, April, 1911.)

[36] Quinton in _The Money God_, had spoken of the two favorite bears of the Emperor Galerius, giving as his source Lactantius, _de Morte persecutorum_, cap. 21.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

_Explanation_

The following list of titles will be divided into sections, according to the plan followed in tracing the development of the novel of Roman life, and is intended to serve as a supplement to Section III of the foregoing study. In each section of the list the titles will be arranged, as nearly as possible, according to the chronological order of the dates of publication, except in cases where an author has written more than one fiction on Roman life. In such cases all his books will be mentioned together in the order of their publication. In case the original date of publication of a book is uncertain, the date of the best available edition will be given; or if no date is known for a book, it will be listed at the end of the section in which it belongs, or after other books, (the date of which is known), by the same author. In some cases title will be listed of books which are out of print but may be found here and there in public libraries. Books which I believe are practically unobtainable will be marked with an asterisk (*). The list includes all true English novels of Roman life, as well as all other books written in English, whose titles have been collected as by-products of the novel of Roman life. These by-products will be classified according to their relative importance to the study of the novel of Roman life, the more important books being given first.

The earliest known date of each novel is given in parentheses, (). Short stories, including those published in collections, have been omitted.

NOVELS OF ROMAN LIFE, AND THEIR BY-PRODUCTS

1. NOVELS CONNECTED WITH THE GENESIS OF THE NOVEL OF ROMAN LIFE. (See § II, p. 17.)

_Letters Supposed to have passed between Theodosius and Constantia_—Langhorne, John; London, (1778).

_Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra, a Narrative Founded on History_—Miss O’Keefe; London, (1814).

_Valerius, a Roman Story_—Lockhart, J. G.; London, (1821)—N. Y. Harper, 1835.

_The Epicurean_—Moore, Thomas; (1827)—McClurg, Chicago, 1890.

_Salathiel, the Immortal_—Croly, George; (1827)—Repub. Funk & Wagnalls, New York, under title, _Tarry Thou Till I Come_, 1903.

_The Alexandrians, an Egyptian Tale of the Fourth Century_—Anon. Whittaker, London, (1830).

_The Last Days of Pompeii_—Bulwer-Lytton, Sir E. G.; Dutton, N. Y., (1834).

_The Stoic_—Stanford, Jane K.; London, (1834).

2. IMPORTANT NOVELS BY PREACHERS. (See § III, A, p. 34.)

_Zenobia, or the Fall of Palmyra_—Ware, William; Burt, N. Y., (1836)—James Miller, N. Y., 1869.

_Aurelian: Rome, Third Century_—Ware, William; orig. pub. as _Probus_, (1838)—Burt, N. Y., n. d., under title of _Aurelian_.

_Julian; Scenes in Judea_—Ware, William; Estes, Boston, (1841).

_Hypatia_—Kingsley, Charles; (1853)—MacMillan, N. Y., 1902.

_Fabiola: The Church of the Catacombs_—Wiseman, Cardinal N.; Burns & Oates, London, (1855).

_Callista_—Newman, Cardinal John Henry; (1856)—Longman, N. Y., 1890.

_Darkness and Dawn_—Farrar, Archdeacon Frederic W.; (1892)—Longmans, N. Y., 1895.

_Gathering Clouds_—Farrar, Archdeacon Frederic W.; (1895)—Longmans, N. Y., 1896.

_Perpetua_—Baring-Gould, Rev. S.; Dutton, N. Y., (1897).

_Domitia_—Baring-Gould; Fred A. Stokes, N. Y., (1898).

3. TWO NOVELS BY PEDANTS. (See § III, D, p. 73.)

_Dion and the Sibyls, a Romance of the First Century_—Keon, Miles Gerald; London, Bentley, (1866).

_The Money God, or The Empire and the Papacy_—Quinton, M. A.; Kelly, Piet & Co., Baltimore (1873).

(*_Aurelia, or the Jews of Capena Gate_—Quinton, M. A.; n. d.)

(*_Furius, a Tale of the Early Christians at Rome_—Quinton, M. A.; n. d.)

4. IMPORTANT NOVELS BY TEACHERS. (v. III, G.)

_Helena’s Household; Rome, First Century_—De Mille, James; (1858)—Ward & Drummond, N. Y., 1897.

*_The Martyr of the Catacombs_—De Mille, James; (1858).

_Kallistratus, an Autobiography_—Gilkes, A. H.; Longmans, (1897)—Frowde, London, 1912.

*_Four Sons_—Gilkes, A. H.; Symcox, Dulwich, (1909).

_A Friend of Caesar_—Davis, William Stearns; Macmillan, N. Y., (1900).

_The Unwilling Vestal_—White, Edward Lucas; Dutton, N. Y., (1918).

_Andivius Hedulio_—White, Edward Lucas; Dutton, N. Y., (1921).

*_Claudian, Second Century_—Munro, Rev. Edward M., M. A.; Masters, London, n. d.

5. ARTISTIC NOVELS OF ROMAN LIFE. (See § III, H, p. 108.)

*_The Fawn of Sertorius_—Landor, Robert Eyres; Longmans, London, (1846); (scene in Spain).

_Marius, the Epicurean_—Pater, Walter Horatio; Macmillan, N. Y., (1885).

_Veranilda_—Gissing, George; Archibald, Constable & Co., London, (1904).

_Evander_—Phillpotts, Eden; Macmillan, N. Y., (1919).

_Pan and the Twins_—Phillpotts, Eden; Macmillan, N. Y., (1922).

6. POPULAR NOVELS OF ROMAN LIFE, INCLUDING THOSE NOT OTHERWISE CLASSIFIED. (See § III, E, p. 75, and F, p. 90.)

*_The Empress_—Bennett, G.; Smith & Elder, London, (1835); (listed as a novel of Roman life).

_Attila, or the Huns_—James, G. P. R.; (1837)—Routledge, London, 1903.

*_The Gladiator, a Tale of the Roman Empire_—Lamont, Miss M. M.; (1840)—Longmans, London, 1849.

_Julia of Baiae; or The Days of Nero_—Pickering, Ellen; Saxton & Miles, N. Y., (1843).

_Antonina_—Collins, Wilkie; Harper, N. Y., (1850).

*_The Siege of Damascus, a Historical Romance_—Nisbet, James; Chapman, London, (1851).

_The Roman Traitor, or the Days of Cicero, Cato and Catiline_—Herbert, H. W.; Peterson, Philadelphia, (1853).

*_The Wager of Battle_—Herbert, H. W., n. d. (Roman Britain).

_The Slaves of Sabinus, Jew and Gentile_—Yonge, Charlotte M.; National Society’s Depository, Sanctuary, Westminster, (1861)—Whittaker, N. Y., 1890.

*_The Cook and the Captive; or Attalus the Hostage_—Yonge, Charlotte M.; Whittaker, N. Y., (1894).

_The Gladiators_—Whyte-Melville, G. J.; (1863)—Ward & Lock, N. Y., 1890.

_Ænone, a Tale of Slave Life in Rome_—Kip, L.; Bradburn, N. Y.; (1866).

*_Ierne of Armorica; a Tale of the Time of Clovis_—Bateman, J. C.; Sadlier, N. Y., (1873), (scene in Gaul).