Chapter 24
For the Catholic Church now became the centre of European cohesion, and gave continuity and common life to the scattered remains of the ancient civilisation. Already, in the fifth century, Pope Leo the Great is a more important figure than his contemporary, Valentinian the Second, for thirty years the shadowy and impotent Emperor of the West. Christian literature had taken firm root while the classical tradition was still strong; in the hands of men like Jerome and Augustine that tradition was caught up from the wreck of the Empire and handed down, not unimpaired, yet still in prodigious force and vitality, to the modern world.
Latin is now no longer a universal language; and the direct influence of ancient Rome, which once seemed like an immortal energy, is at last, like all energies, becoming slowly absorbed in its own results. Yet the Latin language is still the necessary foundation of one half of human knowledge, and the forms created by Roman genius underlie the whole of our civilisation. So long as mankind look before and after, the name of Rome will be the greatest of those upon which their backward gaze can be turned. In Greece men first learned to be human: under Rome mankind first learned to be civilised. Law, government, citizenship, are all the creations of the Latin race. At a thousand points we still draw directly from the Roman sources. The codes of Latin jurists are the direct source of all systems of modern law. The civic organisation which it was the great work of the earlier Roman Empire to spread throughout the provinces is the basis of our municipal institutions and our corporate social life. The names of our months are those of the Latin year, and the modern calendar is, with one slight alteration, that established by Julius Caesar. The head of the Catholic Church is still called by the name of the president of a Republican college which goes back beyond the beginnings of ascertained Roman history. The architecture which we inherit from the Middle Ages, associated by an accident of history with the name of the Goths, had its origin under the Empire, and may be traced down to modern times, step by step, from the basilica of Trajan and the palace of Diocletian. These are but a few instances of the inheritance we have received from Rome. But behind the ordered structure of her law and government, and the majestic fabric of her civilisation, lay a vital force of even deeper import; the strong grave Roman character, which has permanently heightened the ideal of human life. It is in their literature that the inner spirit of the Latin race found its most complete expression. In the stately structure of that imperial language they embodied those qualities which make the Roman name most abidingly great-- honour, temperate wisdom, humanity, courtesy, magnanimity; and the civilised world still returns to that fountain-head, and finds a second mother-tongue in the speech of Cicero and Virgil.
INDEX OF AUTHORS
Accius, L. ... 12
Aelius, P. ... 29
Aelius, Sex. ... 29
Aemilianus, Palladius Rutilius Taurus ... 272
Afranius, L. ... 15
Africanus, P. Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus ... 33
Agrippa, M. ... 162
Albinus, Clodius ... 262
Alimentus, L. Cincius ...28
Ambrosius ... 265, 271
Andronicus, L. Livius ... 4
Antias, Valerius ... 37
Antipater, L. Caelius ... 33
Antonius, M. ... 36
Apollinaris, _see_ Sidonius.
Apuleius, L. ... 238
Arbiter, Petronius ... 183
Arnobius ... 255
Asconius, _see_ Pedianus.
Asper, Aemilius ... 204
Atta, Quinctius ... 15
Atticus, T. Pomponius ... 74, 86
Augustus, G. Julius Caesar Octavianus ... 121, 162
Ausonius, Dec. Magnus ... 265
Bassus, Caesius ... 178
Bassus, Saleius ... 192
Boethius, Anicius Manlius Torquatus Severinus ... 278
Brutus, M. Junius ... 30
Caecilius, Statius ... 16
Caecus, Ap. Claudius ... 30
Caelius, _see_ Antipater.
Caelius, _see_ Rufus.
Caesar, G. Julius ... 78
Caesar, Tib. Claudius Drusus Nero ... 157
Calpurnius, _see_ Siculus.
Calvus, G. Licinius Macer ... 53
Capitolinus, Julius ... 263
Carus, T. Lucretius ... 39
Cassius, _see_ Hemina.
Cato, M. Porcius ... 30
Catullus, G. Valerius ... 53
Celsus, A. Cornelius ... 165
Cicero, M. Tullius ... 62
Cicero, Q. Tullius ... 86
Cincius, _see_ Alimentus.
Cinna, G. Helvius ... 52
Claudianus, Claudius ... 267
Claudius, _see_ Caecus.
Clemens, Aurelius Prudentius ... 270
Columella, L. Junius Moderatus ... 181
Commodianus ... 257
Corbulo, Domitius ... 180
Cornificius ... 36
Crassus, L. Licinius ... 36
Crispus, G. Sallustius ... 82
Curtius, _see_ Rufus.
Cyprianus, Thascius Caecilius ... 254
Donatus, Aelius ... 272
Ennius, Q ... 7
Eumenius ... 265
Eutropius ... 273
Fabius, _see_ Pictor.
Fannius, G. ... 33
Felix, Minucius ... 249
Festus, Sex. Pompeius ... 165
Flaccus, Q. Horatius ... 106
Flaccus, A. Persius ... 178
Flaccus, G. Valerius ... 190
Flaccus, M. Verrius ... 165
Florus, Julius (_or_ Lucius) Annaeus ... 229
Frontinus, Sex. Julius ... 197
Fronto, M. Cornelius ... 234
Frugi, L. Calpurnius Piso ... 28
Gaius ... 229
Gallicanus, Vulcacius ... 263
Gallus, G. Cornelius ... 122
Gellius, A. ... 231
Germanicus ... 157
Gordianus, M. Antonius ... 262
Gracchus, G. Sempronius ... 36
Gratius (_or_ Grattius) ... 122
Hemina, L. Cassius ... 28
Hilarius ... 265, 271
Hirtius, A. ... 81
Honoratus, Marius (_or_ Maurus) Servius ... 272
Horace, _see_ Flaccus.
Hortalus, Q. Hortensius ... 65, 86
Hortensius, _see_ Hortalus.
Hyginus, G. Julius ... 164
Italicus, Tib. Catius Silius ... 191
Javolenus, _see_ Priscus.
Julianus, Salvius ... 229
Junior, Lucilius ... 182
Justinus, M. Junianus ... 163, 229
Juvenalis, D. Junius ... 221
Juvencus, G. Vettius Aquilinus ... 271
Laberius, Dec. ... 87
Lactantius, L. Caecilius Firmianus ... 255, 258
Laelius, G. ... 33
Lampridius, Aelius ... 263
Livius, _see_ Andronicus,
Livius, T. ... 145
Lucanus, M. Annaeus ... 175
Lucilius, G. ... 33
Lucilius, _see_ Junior.
Lucretius, _see_ Carus.
Lygdamus ... 130
Macer, Aemilius ... 122
Macer, G. Licinius ... 37
Macer, _see_ Calvus.
Maecenas, G. Cilnius ... 162
Manilius, G. (_or_ M.). ... 158
Manilius, M. ... 30
Marcellinus, Aramianus ... 273
Marius, _see_ Maximus.
Marius, _see_ Victorinus.
Maro, P. Vergilius ... 91
Martialis, M. Valerius ... 192
Maternus, Curiatius ... 192
Matius, Gn. ... 38
Maurus, Terentianus ... 261
Maximus, Marius ... 261
Maximus, Valerius ... 164
Mela, Pomponius ... 180
Melissus, Laevius ... 38
Minucius, _see_ Felix.
Naevius, Gn. ... 5
Namatianus, Claudius Rutilius ... 275
Naso, P. Ovidius ... 135
Nemesianus, M. Aurelius Olympius ... 262
Nepos, Cornelius ... 84
Oppius, G. ... 81
Ovid, _see_ Naso.
Pacuvius, M. ... 11
Palaemon, Q. Remmius ... 165
Palladius, _see_ Aemilianus.
Papinianus, Aemilius ... 260
Paterculus, G. Velleius ... 163
Paulinus, G. Suetonius ... 180
Paulinus, Meropius Pontius Anicius ... 257
Paulus (Diaconus) ... 165
Paulus, Julius ... 261
Pedianus, Q. Asconius ... 204
Pedo, Albinovanus ... 157
Persius, _see_ Flaccus.
Petronius, _see_ Arbiter.
Phaedrus ... 160
Philus, L. Furius ... 33
Pictor, Q. Fabius ... 28
Piso, _see_ Frugi.
Plautus, T. Maccius ... 17
Pliny, _see_ Secundus.
Pollio, G. Asinius ... 121, 162
Pollio, Trebellius ... 263
Pollio, Vitruvius ... 166
Priscianus ... 278
Priscus, Javolenus ... 229
Probus, M. Valerius ... 204
Propertius, Sex. ... 123
Prudentius, _see_ Clemens.
Publilius, _see_ Syrus.
Quadrigarius, Q. Claudius ... 36
Quintilianus, M. Fabius ... 197
Rabirius ... 157
Renatus, Flavius Vegetius ... 273
Rufus, M. Caelius ... 75
Rufus, Q. Curtius ... 180
Rufus, Ser. Sulpicius ... 75
Rufus, L. Varius ... 121, 122
Rutilius, _see_ Namatianus.
Sabinus ... 157
Sallust, _see_ Crispus.
Sammonicus, _see_ Serenus.
Scaevola, Q. Mucius ... 29
Scipio, _see_ Africanus.
Secundus, G. Plinius (major) ... 195
" " (minor) ... 225
Seneca, L. Annaeus (major) ... 167
" " (minor) ... 171
Serenus, Q. Sammonicus ... 261
Servius, _see_ Honoratus.
Severus, Cornelius ... 157
Siculus, T. Calpurnius ... 181
Sidonius, G. Sollius Apollinaris ... 278
Silius, _see_ Italicus.
Sisenna, L. Cornelius ... 37
Spartianus, Aelius ... 263
Statius, P. Papinius ... 187
Stella, L. Arruntius ... 192
Suetonius, _see_ Tranquillus.
Sulla, L. Cornelius ... 36
Sulpicia (major) ... 130, 134
Sulpicia (minor) ... 192
Sulpicius, _see_ Rufus.
Syrus, Publilius ... 87
Tacitus, Cornelius ... 205
Terentianus, _see_ Maurus.
Terentius, P. ... 22
Tertullianus, Q. Septimius Florens ... 251
Tiberianus ... 263
Tiberius, _see_ Caesar.
Tibullus, Albius ... 130
Tiro, M. Tullius ... 87
Titinius ... 15
Tranquillus, G. Suetonius ... 229
Tribonianus ... 278
Trogus, Gn. Pompeius ... 163
Turpilius ... 16
Ulpianus, Domitius ... 260
Valerius, _see_ Antias.
Valerius, _see_ Flaccus.
Valerius, _see_ Maximus.
Varius, _see_ Rufus.
Varro, M. Terentius ... 85
Varro, P. Terentius (Atacinus) ... 87
Vegetius, _see_ Renatus.
Verrius, _see_ Flaccus.
Victor, Aurelius ... 273
Victor (Pope) ... 248
Victorinus, G. Marius ... 271
Virgil, _see_ Maro.
Vitruvius, _see_ Pollio.
Vopiscus, Flavius ... 263
FOOTNOTES:
1. One of the great speeches in this play was probably made use of by Livy in his account of the address of Paulus to the people after his triumph in 167 B.C., which has again been turned into noble tragic verse by Fitzgerald, _Literary Remains_, vol. ii. p. 483.
2. The repetition of this word from the lovely lyric, _Ille mi par esse_, where it occurs in the same place of the verse, is a stroke of subtle and daring art.
3. The subject was a quite usual one among the Alexandrian poets whom Catullus read and imitated. Cf. _Anthologia Palatina_, vi. 51, 217-220.
4. _Confess_., III. iv.
5. _Historia scribitur ad narrandum non ad probandum:_ Inst. Or., X. i. 31.
6. _Confess._, I. xiii.
7. _Supra,_ p. 68.
8. _Supra,_ p. 48.
9. These are the two parts of what the MSS. and the older editions give as Book ii. The division was made, on somewhat inconclusive grounds, by Lachmann.
10. It is one of these which opens with the two sonorous lines--
_Aesopi statuam ingentem posuere Attici Servumque aeterna collocarunt in basi_,
which so powerfully affected the imagination of De Quincey.
11. In the poem as it has come down to us the refrain comes in at irregular intervals; but the most plausible reconstitution of a somewhat corrupt and disordered text makes it recur after every fourth line, thus making up the twenty-two stanzas mentioned in the title.