-* m .\\ sK.4 ?$ i*. . .& . , \ XX fr/'jr/ . ^ Ex Libris C. K. OGDEN THE ATTIC NIGHTS O P AULUS GELLIUS TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH, By THE REV. W. B E L O E, F. s. A. TRANSLATOR OF HERODOTUS, &c. IN THREE VOLUMES. V O L. II. LONDON: "INTI-D FOR ,. JOHNSON, ST. P AUL ' S CHURCH-YARD. M DCC XCV. . BOOK VI, CHAP. I. *Che reply of Chryfippus to thofe who denied a Pro- vidence. HE T who think that the world was not pro- duced on account of the Deity and of man, and deny that human affairs are governed by Providence, think 1 The beginning of this chapter was wanting in all the editions with which I am acquainted ; but I have reftored it from La&antius's Epitome of his Divine Inftitutions, Chap. 29. It is a whimiical circumftance enough, that the greater part of this very Epitome mould have lain hid till the pre- fent century. St. Jerome, in his Catalogue of Ecclefiaftical Writers, fpeaking of Laftaatius, fays, " Habemus ejus In- ftitxitionum Divinarum adverfus gentes libros feptem etEpi- II, B tome ft THE ATTIC NIGHTS think that they urge a powerful argument when they offer t, that if there were a Providence there would be no evils. For nothing, they affirm, can be lefs conftft- ent with a Providence, than that in that world, oft account of which the Deity is Jaid to have created man, there Jhould exift Jo great a number of cala- mities and evils. Chryfippus, in his fourth tome ejufdem operis in libro uno axEXo *." Laftantius flourimed in the fourth century ; before the end of which St. Jerome wrote his Catalogue. But in the year 1712, Pro- feffor Pfaffius found a MS. at Turin, that had been com- plete, but by accident had fince loft five chapters. To this edition oar readers are indebted for the fupplement; in con- fideration of which they are requefted favourably to receive, or at leaft to pardon this little digreilion. In fome manufcripts we are given to understand, that this book was placed after the feventh. This can be of no importance. Many and perplexing are the difputes concern- ing Fate and Providence, among the ancient philofophers ; each, perhaps, containing fomething to admire and approve, but refembling an unpolifhed gem, enveloped by extraneous mutter, which obfcured and defaced its beauty. The opi- nions of thefe feds will be found accurately detailed in En- field's Hiftory of Philofophy. On thefe fubjafts, ingenious and pleafmg as the inveftigation of them maj be, our befl knowledge is the knowledge of ourfelves, and our trucft virtue rcfignation to the order of Providence. Hope humbly, then with trembling pinions foar. Wait the gre^t teacher Death, and God adore ! la pride, in reafoning pride, our error lies, All quit their fphere, and ruili into the Ikies. * The common reading is iy.-$i}.*>, but a Paris MS. 900 years old gives "the reading which I have quoted. * book Of AULUS GELLIUS. 3 book concerning Providence, dilputing againft thefe, obferves that nothing can be more ab- fu'rd or foolifti than their opinion, who think that there can be good, without the exiftence of evil. For as good is contrary to evi!, and it is neceflfary that both fhould exift, oppofite to each other, and as it were dependent upon mutual and oppofite exertions, fo there can be no oppofing thing exift, without its particular oppo- fite. For how could there be a fenfe of juftice, if there were no injuftice? or what indeed is juf- tice, but the abfence of injuftice ? In like man- ner what can we imagine of fortitude, but as op- pofed to pufillanimity ? What of temperance, but from intemperance? What would prudence be, but for its oppcfite imprudence ? Why alfo ihould unwife men not require this, that there fhould exift truth, and not falfehood ? In like manner exift good and evil, happinefs and mi- fery, pain and pleafure. Each, as Plato remarks, is confined to the other by contrary and oppofing vortices *, fo that if you remove one you take away the other. This Chryfippus in the fame book * Mortices.] This doctrine is the diflin&ion of the Car- tefian philofophy, where it was applied to explain the phae- nomena of the heavenly bodies. That it is inadequate to this, is what admits of mathematical proof. Thefe vortices exift in imagination only ; the principle which actually and fatisfa&orily explains thefe phenomena is known to have exiftence in nature, and that is gravity. Notes on the' fuh- ject of this chapter might be extended to an infinite length ; and 4 THE ATTIC NIGHTS book examines, inveftigates, and thinks it an im- portant fubjeft of enquiry, whether the imper- feitions of men are according to nature ; that is, whether the fame nature and Providence which formed this univerfe and the race of men, created alfo the defects and diforders to which men are fubjed:. He thinks that it was not the firft de- fign of Providence to make men obnoxious to diforders, for this never could be confiflent with the Author of nature, and the Creator of all good things. But as, he continues, he produced and formed many and great things, moft convenient and ufeful, there are other kindred inconveni- ences, adhering to the things which he .created. Thefe he fays were not produced by nature, but by certain neceflary confequences, which he de- nominates x<*Ta TrapaxoAsfWjv. Thus he remarks, when nature creates the bodies of men, a more fubtle caufe, and the very ufefulnefs of his work, required that the head mould be compofed of certain very minute and very delicate bones j but another external inconvenience attached to this nfefulnefs in fomewhat of more importance, that the head was lefs fubftantially defended, and was liable to be broken by blows and flight refiftances. In like manner diforders and ficknefs are obtained whilft health is produced. And thus it is, he remarked, that when, by the and I fhould certainly 'have ^indulged myfelf with fome greater latitude, did I not fear to exceed tie limits pre- icribed me. purpofe OF AULUS GELLIUS. 5. purpofe of nature, virtue is created for man, defects are alfo at the fame time produced by a contrary affinity. CHAP. II. How the fame perfon -proved the power and necejfity of Fate, and yet that we pojftjftd a free will and free agency. H R Y S I P P U S, the prince of the Stoics, defines Fate, which the Greeks call or upupptw, nearly in this manner : Fate, fays he, is a certain immutable and eternal feries 1 All the ancient philofophers held different opinions with refpeft to fate or neceffity; which opinions are too well known to be recapitulated here. The definition of fate here given by Chryfippus, is thus alluded to by Virgil, ,/En. iii. ver. 574. Nam te majoribus ire per alturii Aufpiciis, manifefta fides; fie fata deum rex Sortitur,yo/wVa vices: is vertitur ordo. Many elegant and pertinent illuftrations of the fubjefts here difcuffed might be introduced from Pope's EfTay on Man ; but as there is every where fuch a general fimilarity, fele&ion becomes difficult, and it feems better to refer the reader generally to that poem ; to the critical and philofo- B J phical 6 THE ATTIC NIGHTS feries and chain of things, moving and inter- weaving itfelf in a fixed and eftablifhed order of events, with which it is fitted and connected. The very words of Chryfippus I have fubjoined, as well as my memory would furFer me, that if any one fhall think this my interpretation obfcure, he may refer to the words themfelves. In his fourth book on Providence he fays, that Fate is a phyfical harmony of all things from eternity, each following the other, and that this combina- tion Hill neceflarily and invariably exifts. The afTerters of other fyftems and opinions object to this definition, thus : If Chryfippus, fay they, thinks that all things are influenced and go- verned by Fate, and that the action and order of Fate cannot be affected or changed, the faults and errors of men ought not to be cenfured, nor im- puted to them or their inclinations, but to a cer- tain urgency and neceflity which arifes from Fate, which is the miftrefs and arbitrefs of all things, from whofe agency whatever happens muft of ne- ceffity happen. That therefore the punilhment of crimes is unjuftly appointed by the laws, if men phical Commentary upon it, publifhed by Dr. Warburton; as well as tp Enfield's Hiftory of Philofophy. The fubjeft will, I think, allow me fomewhat to enliven the chapter, by relating an anecdote of Zeno : HQ detecl:- ed his flave in fome al of theft, and ordered him to be flogged. The fellow having in mind the dogmas of his ynafter, exclaimed, It was fated that I ihould commit this tbeft. And that you fhould be flogged, replied Zeno. do OF AULUS GELLIUS. 7 do not voluntarily commit, but arc impelled to them by Fate. Againft fuch opinions Chry- fippus argues with great fubtlety and acutenefs. But the fubftance of all that he has replied on this fubject is nearly this : Although it be fo, fays he, that all things are necefiarily connected and compelled by Fate, yet the powers of our minds are no farther fubjed: to this Fate, than as they have certain properties and qualities. If they are originally by nature formed well and ufefully, they tranfmit eafily, and without injury, all the power which they externally derive from Fate. But if they be rough, and ignorant, and rude, fupported by the props of no good arts, although imprefied by little or no inconvenience of fatality, yet they are precipitated into frequent errors and diforders, by their own voluntary un- amiablenefs and impetuofity. And that this ihould fo happen is effected by that natural and necefiary confequence of things, which is called Fate. For it feems to be a fatality and confe- quence in the order of things that vicious minds ftiould not be free from faults and errors. He gives an example of this, wfiich feems equally pertinent and facetious. If, fays he, you throw a cylindrical (tone dawn a fteep and inclined plane of the earth, you are the firft caufe and origin of jts defcent, but it is foon hurried on with in- creafmg velocity, not becaufe you do this, but be- caufe the nature of its rotatory form effedh, this. 'I bus the order, and reafon, and necefiity of Fate B 4 influences 5 THE ATTIC NIGHTS influences the general principles of caufes, but it is the peculiar will of each individual, and the conftitution of our minds, which regulates the force of our mental propenfities, and our confe- quent actions. He then adds thefe words, agreeing with what I have faid: " Therefore it is thus faid by the Pythagoreans : Know that men's fufferings are occafioned by themfelves. As then each man's defects are oc- cafioned by himfelf, and all fin and offend from their own propenfities, they are injured by their own free will and defign." For this reafon he fays men who are bafe, audacious, and profligate, are not to be regarded or endured, who being convicted of turpitude and crime, fly to the neceflity of Fate, as to the afy- lum of fome temple, and affirm of their own enormous vices, that they are not to be imputed to their own paflions, but to Fate. Homer, the moft wife and moft ancient of poets, has thus ex- prefled himfelf: Perverfe mankind, whofe wills, created free., harge all their woes on abfolute decree ? All to the dooming gods their guilt tranflate, And follies are mifcall'd the crimes of Fate. So alfo M. Cicero, in the book which he wrote on Fate, having faid that this queftion was moft obfcure and full of perplexity, affirms in thefe words OF AU.LUS GELLIUS, y words that Chryfippus the philosopher had not refolved it : " Chryfippus, labouring and toiling to explain that all things happen by a fatality, and that this influences us, perplexes himfelf in this manner." CHAP. III. .;, _ : . .- Story from Tuber o of aferpetit of unufualfiKe. TUBERO has written in his hiftory, that in the firft Punic War,Attilius Regulus the conful, being encamped in Africa, near the river Bagrada *, had a great and fevere engagement with a fmgle ferpent of extraordinary fiercenefs, whofe den 1 Bagrada.} There were feveral rivers called by this name. The one here alluded to was in the vicinity of Utica. By Lucan and Silius Italicus, it is called the flovr Bagrada. This particular ferpent is alfo mentioned by Livy, Pliny, and Valerius Maximus. That there are enormous ierpents in Africa will admit of no doubt, but I believe ftill larger are met with in the interior parts of India ; I have fomewhere read of travellers miftaking them, by their ex- traordinary magnitude, and when afleep, for the trunks of trees. It is afferted in the Philofophical' Tranfa&ions, that in the kingdom of Congo ferpents have been found twenty- five feet in length, which will fwallow a fheep whole. Tra- vellers alfo relate, that in the Brazils, ferpents have been jfound forty feet long. was 10 THE ATTIC NIGHTS was on that fpot. That he fuftained the attack of the whole army, and was a long time oppofed with the ballift* and catapults * , and that being killed, his fkin, which was one hundred and twenty feet long, was fent to Rome. * Ballijla and catapult ft. "\ Thefe were military engines, from which ftones were proje&ed. Modern writers gene- rally exprefs balliftae with a fingle /; but this is doabtlefs an error, as it is derived from the Greek word fja.'M.v, jacio, to caft ; or not improbably from #aXX{a; : concerning which >vord, fee Athenaeus, Book 8. c. 17. The Englifh reader will hardly believe the fad recorded in this chapter; but it has neverthelefs exercifed the acutenefs and fagacity of many critics and learned men. Dr. Shaw mentions it in his travels, and thinks it was a crocodile ; but who ever heard of a crocodile one hundred and twenty feet long? Mr. Daines Harrington difbelieves it altogether, calling it an ab- furd incredible circumftance j to which opinion many wiH without reludlance accede. C H A QF AULUS GELLIUS. 11 CHAP, IV. rfhe fame tfulero's relation of the captivity of Re- gulus f Account given by tfuditanus of thejamc Regulus. WHAT is fufficiently notorious of Attilius Regulus, I have very lately read in the books of Tuditanus: That Regulus, being a captive, in addition to what he faid in the fenate at Rome, perfuading them not to exchange prifoners with the Carthaginians, declared this alfo, that the Carthaginians had given him poifon not of immediate effect*, but of fuch * The ftory of Regulus, with its various circumftances, as related by different hiftorians, muft be too well known to juftify my introduction of it more circumftantially here. * Not of immediate effei.~\ It has from very remote pe- riods been told of the people of India and Africa, that they are fo well acquainted with the nature of poifons, as to be able to procure death to any one at a longer or fhorter pe- riod of time. Mead is of opinion, that this muft be from the fruits or infpiflated juices of corroiive plants, which by pro- ducing ulcers in the bowels, may caufe death to be flow and lingering. That this idea of flow poifons was familiar in the time of Shakefpeare, appears from this paffage in the Tempeft : Their great uilt, Like poifon given to work a great time after, 'gins to bite the fpirits. kind 12 THE ATTIC NIGHTS kind as to protract his death to a diftant period ; intending him to live till the exchange fhould take place, and that afterwards, by the gradual operation of the poifon, his vital powers might be exhaufted. Tubero in his hiftory relates of the fame Regulus, that he returned to Carthage, and that he was tortured by the Carthaginians in a new and extraordinary manner. " They confined him," fays he, " in a dark and deep dungeon, and fome time afterwards, when the fun was in its meridian height, they fuddenly brought him out, expofed him to the adverfe ftrokes of the fun, and compelled him to fix his eyes on the firmament. They moved alfo his eyelids up and down, that he might not be able to fleep." But Ttiditanus relates that he was long pre- vented from fleeping, and fo deprived of life ; and that when this was known at Rome, the moft noble of the Carthaginian prifoners were given up by the fenate to the children of Regulus, who confining them in an engine full of iron fpikes, there fuffered them to expire in torture, and from a fimilar want of fleep. CHAP. OF AULUS GELLIUS. CHAP. V. Miflake of Alfenus ' the lawyer, in the interpretation- of feme old words. ALFENUS the lawyer, a follower of Ser- vius Sulpicius, an attentive obferyer of antiquities, in his thirty-fourth book of Digefts, and fecond of Conjectures, fays, in the treaty which was made betwixt the Romans and Car- thaginians, it is written, that the latter were every year to pay the Romans a certain weight of fil- ver, puri puti; and it was enquired what was meant by filver pur urn putum: I replied, faid he, that pur urn putum meant very pure, as we fay noijum novicium, and proprium propicium> as if wil- ling to extend and amplify the fignification of novum and proprium. On reading this, I was furprized that Alfenus mould think there was the fame affinity betwixt purum and putum, as betwixt Tiovum and novicium. If indeed it had been puri- cium> then it might have feemed to have been ufed like ' no-vicium. But this is wonderful, thai he mould think novicium faid by way of amplifi- 1 Alfenus is often quoted as of great authority on quef- tions relating to civil law. He wrote forty books of Di- gefts. 5 cation, i 4 THE ATTIC NIGHTS cation, when novicium is ufed not as more but becaufe it is faid and derived from novum, new. I agree therefore with thofe who think that putum is faid a putando ; for which reafon they pronounce the firft fyllable fhort and not fong, as Alfenus feems to have thought, who has confidered this as derived from purum. The ancients applied putare to the taking away and cutting off from any thing what was redundant % or unnecefiary, or in the way, and the leaving what was ufeful and without defect. Thus trees and vines, and alfo arguments, are faid putari. As to the word puto, which I have ufed by way of explaining my opinion, it means nothing elfe, than that in a dubious and perplexing matter^ cutting off and amputating the falfe opinions, we retain that which feems to be true, entire, and perfect. The filver therefore in the Carthaginian treaty was faid to be putum ; that is, all were ex- putatum, lopped off, perfectly tried, and free from all foreign fubftance, and on this account with- out defect, and entirely pure from every blemifh. But the expreffion purum putum does not only occur in the Carthaginian treaty, but as in many other ancient books, fo alfo in a tragedy of En- * Redundant.]-* -A vine pruner was denominated fittator', as thus, in Virgil, Summumque pntator> Haud dubitat terrs referens mandarc cacumen. See alfo Scaliger on this word. nius. OF AULUS GELLIUS. 15 nius, which is called Alexander, and in a fatire of M. Varro, named, " Old Men twice young." CHAP. VI. Virgil fenfured rajhly and foolijhly by Julius Hygi- Tius, becaufe he called the wings of Daedalus prspetes. The meaning of aves prsepetes ex- plained. What thoje birds were which Nigidius calls inferse. D JEDALUS ut fama eft fugiens Minoist regna, Pnepe,tibus pennis ' aufus fe credere ccelo. s fennis.] With fwift wing$. Upon the word prtepes, the grammarians have perplexed themfelves and others, with many fubtle and protrafted ar- giuments. It is nearly fynonymous with celer and r thus, Quid' Brundufium pulchro prsecinctum prsepete portu ? And if he had confidered the nature and power of the word, and not what the augurs had faid alone, he would have forgiven poets the ufe of words not in their own peculiar fignification, but with a licence of fimilitude and metathefis. FoT, fmce not only the birds which take their flight aufpicioufly, buC alfo the proper and for- tunate fituations which they choofe, are termed pr^petes -, he therefore called the wings of Dae- dalus Qrapetes, becaufe he came from places in which OF AULUS GELLIUS. 17 which he feared danger, to others which were more fecure. For the augurs call alfo places frxpetes ; and Ennius has faid in his firft book of Annals, Prsepetibus hilares fefe pulchrifque locis dant. But Nigidius Figulus, in his firft book of Pri- vate Augury, fays, that in oppofition to the aves prxpetes are the awes infer*-, as thus, " The right differs from the left, the pr, griefs of the eyes. But Herodotus makes the Perfians ufe this expreffion to Amyntas the Macedonian king. See my note at this paf- fage of the Greek hiftorian. Confult alfo the life of the emperor Julian, by the Abbe Bleterje, page 405-6. Thi$ eccentric character, in his laft and fatal expedition againft Perfia, took fonie great city by ftorm. The Perfian women have ever been celebrated for their perfonal charms ; and when his officers expreffed a wilh to prefent him with fome o female *z THE ATTIC NIGHTS A pleafant queftion may therefore be propofed. Who is to be reckoned the more continent, Pub- lius Africanus the Elder, who having taken Car- thage, a considerable city in Spain, reftored without violation to her father, a blooming virgin of remarkable beauty, the daughter of a noble Spaniard, who had been taken captive and brought to him ; or Alexander ? , who refufed to fee the wife and fitter of king Darius, captured in a mighty battle, who had been defcribed to him as very beautiful, and forbade them to be brought to his prefence ? But let thofe expatiate on both thefe fubjects concerning Alexander and Scipio, who have plenty of time, and words and genius for the employment. It will be enough for me female captives of extraordinary beauty ; that he might not yield to a paffion which has often triumphed over conquer- ors> and fbmetimes over philofophers, he refufed to fee them. x Or Alexander.^ Bayle has a great deal to fay on this fubjeft, at the articles Abderame and Macedonia. Abde- rame was a Moorifh general, and by chance of war obtained pofleffion of the perfon of a widow lady of furprifing beauty, whom he treated with the greateft delicacy and generofity ; an aft, fays Bayle, which a Saracen writer would have ex- tolled beyond the boafted continence of Alexander and Sci- pio. I would not diminilh the praife due to Alexander's felf- denial; but it is related of him, that he was by no means na- turally of an amorous conftitudon. " If thou wert pure as fnow, thou malt not 'fcape calumny." Yet of Scipio, Va- lerius Maximus alfo relates, that in his early life he was a li- bertine. Solutionis vitae primes adolefcentias annos egifle fertur. to * OF AULUS GELLIUS. 13 to relate what is reported by hiftory. It is faid of this Scipio, I know not whether truly or otherwife, but it is related, that when a young man he was not immaculate ; and it appears that thefe verfes were written by Cn. Naevius the poet againft him : " He who often carried on great affairs with glory, whofe exploits yet live and flourifh, who alone is renowned among men, was by his father- led away in his fhirt from his miftrefs." I believe that thefe verfes induced Valerius Antias to exprefs himfelf concerning the morality of Scipio, in contradiction to all other writers; and to fay, that this captive maid was not reftored to her father, as we have faid above, but was de- tained by Scipio, and ufed by him for his amorous pleafures, 4 CHAP. THE ATTIC NIGHTS CHAP. IX. * Afiaffagefrom the Annals of L. Pifo, inter efting i-q itjelf and agreeably related. i E C A U S E the thing feemed worthy of be- ing recorded which L. Pifo in his third book of Annals affirms, that Cn. Flavius, a curule asdile, and fon of Annius, did, and as this is told 1 This chapter is of confiderable importance, as it throws much light on ancient hiftory. Upon the fcribes of the an- cients a volume might eafily be written ; they differed from each other confiderably in rank, in the nature of- their em- ployments, and their confequent views in the ftate : ge- nerally fpeaking, they were held in no great eftimation. They might not be admitted into the fenate; and yet it ap- pears from this chapter, that they were eligible to high and important offices. Cicero calls them an honourable body of men, in his fifth oration again ft Verres : " Quas pars operis aut opportunitatis in fcriba eft Ordo eft honeftus quis negat." Yet they were often in a fervile condition, and ge- nerally found among the flaves of the great, diftinguifhed by no particular privileges. Their employment in this fituation feems to have been that of librarian or fecretary. We learn from the chapter before us, that it was ufual for them to appear in public with the inftruments of their profeffion. Pliny calls his fcribe or fecretary, notarius : " Notarium voco abit rurfufque revocatur, rurfufque dimittitur." When confidered in a public capacity, their office feems to have nearly correfponded with that of our notary public. OF AULUS GELLIUS. 25 by Pifo with much purity and elegance, I have tranfcribed the whole of the pafiage. " Cn. Flavius was the fon of a freedman, and by profeflion a fcribe. He appeared as a candi- date for the curule sedilefhip at the time of elec- tion of aediles, and was declared curule aedile by Jiis tribe : but the aedile who held the comitia refufed to accept him, not thinking it right that he who had been a fcribe fhould be curule aedile. Cn. Flavius, the fon of Annius, is faid to have thrown away his tablets, and renounced his pro- feflion of fcribe, and he was elected curule aedile. The fame Cn. Flavius, the Ion of Annius, is faid to have made a vifit to his colleague when fick ; and having entered into the inner apartment, many young noblemen who were fitting there treated him contemptuoufly. No one chofe to rile. At this Cn. Flavius, the fon of Annius, fmiled : he directed his ivory chair to be brought, and placed it at the entrance, fo that none of them could go out ; and all of them reluctantly beheld him fitting in his chair of office." CHAP. THE ATTIC NIGHTS CHAP. X. $fcty of Euclid the Socratic, by whofe example the philqfopher Taurus ufed to encourage bis pupils to the ear neft ftudy ofphilofophy. TH E philofopher Taurus, a man in my me- mory of reputation in the Platonic feel:, whilft he recommended the ftudy of philoibphy by many good and pertinent examples, parti- cularly imprefied on the minds of youth what he affirmed to have been frequently done by Eu- clid the Socratic. The Athenians, fays he, had decreed, that if any citizen of Megara x fhould be found to have fet 1 Of Megara.~\ See the Comedy of Errors. Duke. It hath in folemn fynod been decreed, Both by the Syracufans and ourfelves, To admit no traffic to our adverfe towns ; Nay more If any born at Ephefus, be feen At any Syracufan marts or fairs, Again, if any Syracufan born Come to the bay of Ephefus, he dies. Megara feparated the territories of Athens from thofe of Corinth ; it was confequently often involved in the holtili- ties of more powerful neighbours. It was at firft govern- ed by kings, but was finally fubje&ed by the Athenians to OF AULUS GELLIUS. 27 fet his foot in Athens, that man fhould fuffer death ; fo great a hatred did the Athenians en- tertain for their neighbours of Megara. Then Euclid, who was from the fame place % of Me- gara, and who before refided at Athens, and was a hearer of Socrates, after this decree had the public fanclion, at evening, as foon as it was dark, in a long female garb, and in a cloak of various colours, having his head in a hood, left his houfe at Megara to vifit Socrates at Athens, that at lead during fome portion of the night he might enjoy his converfation and inftrudlion. Early in the morning, difguifed in the fame drefs, he returned home, the diflance being fomething more, than twenty miles. But now, continued he, we fee philofophers eagerly running of themfelves to the doors of young men who are rich, to give their leflbnsj there they are obliged to fit, fhut up, till their pupils fhall have flept off the laft night's wine. to their power. The philofopher Euclid, mentioned in this chapter, founded at Megara a fchool of philofophy ; the principles which he inculcated had a near refemblance to the Platonic difcipline. An anecdote of his amiable difpofition is recorded by Plutarch : His brother was offended with him, and exclaimed in a paffion, " I will die if I have not re- venge." " So will I," replied Euclid, if 1 do not oblige you to love me again." He was fucceeded in his fchool y Eubulus of Miletus. ? From the fame place.] Qui indidem Megaris, in the original; this is pointed out by Rutgerfius as an elegant imitation of Greek expreflion, of which many examples are found in Cicero, Cornelius Nepos, Terence, and others. CHAP, THE ATTIC NIGHTS 1 CHAP. XI, Words of Quintus Metellus Numidicus, which it i$ a pleafure to remember, applicable to dignified fla- ttens and propriety of cenducJ. SINCE it is unbecoming to contend in re- proaches with very profligate men, and to retaliate ill words upon thofe who are vulgar and impudent, becaufe you are fo long like and equal to them, as you ufe and liften to their language ; as much may be learned from an oration of Q^ Metellus Numidicus ', as from the books and precepts of philofophers. Thefe are the words of Metellus againft Cn. Manlius a tribune, by whom he had been infulted and reproached in very abufive terms before the people : "And now, Romans, with refpecl: to him, who thinks that he increafes his own importance by de- claring himfelf my enemy, but whom I neither re- ceive as a friend nor fear as an enemy, I will not fay another word againft him. For I think him 1 <. Metellus.~\ This was Quintus Caxilius Metellus, who is often mentioned by Cicero in terms of the highefl refpeft. He was an excellent magiftrate, and a firm pa- triot. The Manlius whom he in this place fo feverely re- probates, was a friend to Catiline, for whofe fervice he raifed an army. moft OF AULUS GELLIUS. 29 moft unworthy of the praifes of good men, nei- ther is he a proper object for the reproaches of* the good i for if you name a fellow of this description at a time when you cannot punifti him, you treat him rather with honour than con- tempt." CHAP. XII. That neither and a thoufand other words which are in a fimilar manner extended? Shall we fay that all thefe are compound ? A falfe, but neither an inelegant nor prepofterous fignification of mens (mind) feems here to have intruded itfelf on Ser- vius, or whoever elfe firft made the aflertion. Indeed a fimilar and equally pertinent idea occurred to C. Trebatius, in his fecond book " Of Religions." The Jacellum is a fmall place with an altar, facred to a deity. He then adds, " I think Jacellum is compounded of the two words facer and cella y as Jacra cella" Thus Tre- batius wrote i but who knows not thztfacettum is a fimple word, not compounded offacer and cella, but a diminutive offacrum ? An anecdote on this fubjecl is related by Livy, which feems to demand a place here. The Fabian family were obliged at a certain time to offer facrifice on the Quirinal hill. When the Gauls were in pof- feffion of the whole of Rome except the Capitol, Caius Fa- bius Dorfo, in a facred veft, and having the facred utenfils in his hand, aflonifhed the enemy by his defcending with un- daunted intrepidity from the Capitoline hill. Without re- garding their voices, geftures, or menaces, he pafled through their ranks, and came to the Quirinal mount. There, hav- ing with due folemnity offered the facrifice required, he again returned, and without moleftation, to his friends ; the Gauls either venerating his piety, or overcome by his au- dacity. CHAP. OF AULUS GELLIUS. CHAP. . XIII. Of certain queftions difcuffed ly Taurus the pbtlofo- fher at bis table, and called fympofiacs J . TH E following was generally done at Athens by thofe who were more particularly inti- mate with the philofopher Taurus. When he invited us to his houfe, that we might not come, as he faid, entirely free and without paying * any thing, we fubfcribed to the fupper not choice bits of food, but fome fubtle queftions. Every one of us therefore went with his mind prepared to propofe fome queftion i and when fupper ended converfation began. The queftions propoled were not fevere and profound, but rather calcu- lated to exercife acutenefs j being facetious, tri- fling, and adapted to ipirits moderately warmed * Sympojiacs.~\ The literal meaning of this word is drink- ing together ; from whence it came to mean difputations at table, Plutarch having nine books of Queftions fo called. Such alfo is the work of Athenasus. * Without paying.] In the original, afymloli. Thus, in Terence, afymbolus ad ccenam venire, is to come to an enter- tainment without paying; the word is derived from , non, cut, con, and f&Mitjjeao* Anciently at every public enter- tainment each gueft contributed his proportion, which was called his /xoM> or fymbol. The word, as now ufed in our language, bears a very different meaning. with 32 THE ATTIC NIGHTS with wine. Such, generally, as this ludicrous fubtlety, which I fhall mention. It was afkedj When a dying man could be faid to die ; at the time he actually expired, or when he was on the point of expiring ? When a perfbn rifmg could be faid to rife ; when he actually ftood, or when Tie was but juft fitting ? He who learned any art, at what time he became an artifl ; when he was really one, or when he was juft not one ? If you aflert any one of thefe, you aflert what is abfurd and ridiculous j yet it will appear more abfurd, if you aflert both or allow neither. But when the^ faid that all thefe quibbles were futile and abfurd, Do not, interrupted Taurus, defpife thefe altoge- ther as a mere trifling fport. The graveft phi- lofophers have enquired ferioufly concerning thefe things; and fome have thought that the moment of dying was called and indeed really was that when life yet remained ; others thought at this period no life exifted, and they called ac- tual death that which was the act of dying. So of other fimilar things 3 , they have at different times defended different opinions. But our Plato, continued he, afiigned this period neither to life 3 Similar tkittgj.] This delicate point of vibration be- tween two things entirely oppofite, yet clofely approximat- ing, is admirably defcribed in the Ode to Indifference, by Mrs. Greville : Nor peace, nor cafe, that heart can know, Which, like the needle true, Turns at the touch of joy or woe. But turning trembles too. nor OF AULUS GELLIUS. 33 nor death ; which rule he alfo obferved in all other difputes of a fimilar nature. For he faw indeed a contradiction each way, and that of two oppo- fite things both could not feparately be fupport- ed; and that the queftion was of the point of coherence betwixt two different things, namely life and death. For this reafon he himfelf in- vented and exprefTed another new period as to the point of contact, which in a peculiar form of words he named " TW sfcaiQvis QWIV 4 ;" and you will find him thus exprefling himfelf in his book called Parmenides : tf For this fuddennefs feems to exprefs fomething like a tranfition from one to another." Such were the contributions at the table of Taurus, and fuch as he himfelf ufed to fay were the contents of his fecond courfe 5 . 4 Tsj t|ai^mj tpviriii.] A nature on a fudden, or a fudden nature. 5 Second courfe.] The contents of the fecond courfe among the Romans were called bellaria, and confifted of fruits and confectionary. VOL. II. D CHAP. THE ATTIC NIGHTS CHAP. XIV. 'Three reajons ajfigned by philofophers for the puni/h~ went of crimes. Why Plato has recorded only two of them. IT is ufually fuppofed that there are three pro- per reafons for punifhing crimes ; the one, which is called wQea-iot, (admonition), or xoAoKn?, Or wa^aipw*?, when a rebuke is administered for the fake of correction and improvement y that he who has committed an accidental offence, may become more regular and attentive. The fecond is that, which they who diftinguifh nicely be- tween thefe terms call ripuoia, (vengeance). This mode of noticing an offence takes place when the dignity and authority of him againft whom it b committed, is to be defended, left the pafling by, the crime mould give rife to contempt or a diminution of refpect, therefore they fuppofe this word to fignify the vindication of honour. The third mode of punimment is called by the Greeks irjaJe7/ (example) and is applied when pu- nifhment is neceflary for the fake of example, that others may be deterred from fimilar offences againft the public by the dread of fimilar punimment. Therefore did our anceftors al-. fo denominate the heavieft and moft impor- tant OF AULUS GELLIUS, 35 taut punifhments, examples T . When therefore there is either great hope, that he who has offended will without punifhment voluntarily correct himfelfj or on the contrary there is no hope that he can be amended and corrected, or that it is not neceflary to fear any lofs of that dignity, againft which he has offended^ or the of- fence is of that kind, the example of which it is not neceflary to imprefs with particular terror ; in this cafe, and with refpect to every fuch of- fence, there does not feem to exift the neceflity of being eager to inflict punifhment. Thefe three modes of vengeance, other philofophers in various places, and our Taurus in the firft book of his Commentaries on the Gorgias of Plato, has fetdown. But Plato himielf has plainly faid, that there only exift two caufes for punifhment. The one, which we have firft mentioned, for cor- rection ; the other, which we have Ipoken of in the third place, to deter by example. Thefe are the words of Plato : ct It is proper for every one who is punifhed, by him who punilhes from a proper motive, that he fhould become better and receive advantage ; or that he fliould be an example to others, that others, feeing him fuffer, > may from terror be rendered better." In thefe lines it is evident that Plato ufed the word npuput, not, as I have before remarked fome people have, but in its common and ge- 1 Thus we fay in Englifh to make an example of a per/on. D 2 neral 36 THE ATTIC NIGHTS neral fenfe, for all kinds of punifhment. But whether, becaufe he paffed over as too infignifi- cant and really contemptible, the inflifting pu- nifhment to avenge the injured dignity of man; or rather that he omitted it as not being neceflary to the queftion he was di feu fling, as he was writing of punifhments which were to take place not in this life among men, but after death, this I leave to others to determine. z * The fubjeft of crimes and punifhments is hardly to be exhaufted; and in all ages of mankind the graveft and wifeft philofophers have differed in their opinions and argu- ments concerning them. The ftate of fociety is conftantly changing in all places and at all periods ; confequently that fyflem which may be wife at one epoch, may alfo be abfurd, inconfiftent, and inadequate in another. At one time feverity may be indifpenfably neceflary, at another, mildnefs becomes the trueft policy. To recapitulate the fentiments of thofe who have gone before us, or indeed of our cotemporaries, would be tedious, and perhaps, from my pen, unintereft- ing. I am happy to tranfcribe a fentence from Seneca concerning crimes and punimments, to which I prefume the majority of mankind will without difficulty accede ; it feems indeed to be the only unexceptionable ban's for every code of penal laws : " The end of punifhment is either to make him better who is punifhed, or that his example who is pu- nifhed may make others better ; or, laftly, that the bad be- ing taken away, the good may live in greater fecurity." CHAP. OF AULUS GELLIUS. 37 CHAP. XV. Of the word quiefco ; whether the letter e ought to be made long or Jhort. A FRIEND of mine, a man of ferious ftudy, and well verfed in the more elegant pur- fuits of learning, commonly ufed the word qui- efco with the e fhort. Another friend of mine, who was very dextrous in the fubtleties of fcience, but too faftidious and nice with refpect to common exprefiions, thought that he fpoke barbarouflyj faying, that he ought to have pronounced it long, and not fhort. He obferved, that quiefdt ought to be pronounced as calejcit t nitejcit, ftupefcit, and many others of a fimilar kind. He added alfo, that quies was pronounced with the e long, and not fhort. But my friend remarked, with his ac- cuftomed modefty and moderation, that if the JElii ', the Cineri % and the Santras 3 , thought it was to be fo pronounced, he would not comply is more than once mentioned by Geilius in terms of refpeft, as a very learned man. * Ctaerus."] I do not find this name in Nonius Marcellus, but he is again introduced by Geilius in the i6th book, and is mentioned by Macrobius. 3 Santr that the writers whom I have mentioned above have recorded, that this Scipio Africanus did very frequently, at the latter part of the night, before break of day, go to the Capitol, and com- mand the chapel J of Jove to be opened - t and that there he would remain a long time alone, as if confulting with Jupiter 4 concerning the repub- enough, to fay more would lead to a long difcuffion of fer- pent worfhip as praftifed by the Romans, the Greeks, the Phoenicians, and the Egyptians. 1 The chapel.} That is, the interior and more facred part of the temple, where the image of the deity was depofited. The word in the original is cellam. Arnobius adverfus Gentes ufes cellulas in the fame manner: Conclavia et cellulas fabri- cari. 4 As if confulting e Charlataneria Eruditorum. " Prima nobis prodeat grammaticorum ac criticorum gens afpera et ferox, qui cum pueros ad virgam obfequentes ha- buere in fcholis nulli eruditorum parcunt et in ipfum orbem Romanum Graeciamque univerfam principatum quendam am- bitiofe fibi vindicent. Sive enim Gracus, five Larinus fim- plex preponatur, non tarn id agunt ut fcite et appofite difta 'cvolvant ac nitori fuo reddant, quam ut nodum quadrant in fcirpo at ad manufcriptos codices cor.fugiant, variafque lec- tiones, nullo habito deleclu cumulent; turn vero urere, fecare et nihil a virgula cenforia intaflum relinquere." VOL. II. E this !" o THE ATTIC NIGHTS this !" Thus Caefellius : but the meaning of En~ nius is very different ; for there are not two but three verfes belonging to this afifertion of Ennius, the third of which Casfellius has not re- garded : Hannibal audaci cum pectore de me hortatur Ne bellum faciam : quern credidit effe meum cor Suaforem fummum et ftudiofum robore belli. The fenfe and order of thefe words I believe to be this : tc Hannibal, that moft bold and valiant man, whom I believed (for that is the meaning of cor meum credidit; as if he had faid, whom I, foolifli man, believed) to be a great advifer to war, dif- iliades and forbids me to make war." But pro- bably Cskllius, from this negligent difpofition of the words, read it quern cor> giving to quern an acute accent, as if it referred to cor, and not to Hannibal. But it does not efcape me, if any fhould be fo ftupid, that the cor of Csefellius may be defended as mafculine, by reading the third verfe feparately and unconnected. As if Anti- ochus were to exclaim, in a broken and abrupt mode of exprefTion,/ww^ Juaforem ! But they who fay this are unworthy of reply. CHAP. OF AULUS GELLIUS. CHAP. III. Cenfure of fullius Tiro, Cicero's freedman, on & fpeech of Marcus Cafo 3 delivered in the Jenate for the Rhodians. The anjwer which I have made to that cenjure. THE city of Rhodes * was celebrated for the convenience of its infularfituation,thefplen- dour of its works, its knowledge of navigation, 1 7 he city of Rhodes. ~\ In my notes to Herodotus I have fpoken at fome length concerning the Rhodians, explaining their policy and their power. The Englifh reader may per- haps receive fome benefit from confulting the place, Vol. III. page 260. The coloflus of Rhode sis memorable as one of the feven wonders of the world, and notorious to every fchool-boy. Some few particulars concerning Rhodes, omit- ted in the note to which I allude, may not be unacceptable here. Cicero, in his Oration pro lege Manilla, teftifies that, even within his remembrance, the Rhodians retained their national glory, and their naval fkill. Confult alfo the four- teenth book of Strabo, who fpeaks of the Rhodians in terms of the higheft commendation. According to Suidas, the Rhodians, from this circumftance of their coloflus, were nam- ed Colaflaeis : there were other colofii celebrated in ancient hiftory ; but this of Rhodes was far the moft diftinguimed. Learned men are not agreed about the etymology of the word Coloflus. Some fay it was fo named from Coletus, an artift of Rhodes, who conftrudted this famous work : neither are writers better agreed about its height ; it was probably of the height of about one hundred and twenty 'feet. Pliny fays it was made by one Chares of Lindus, Bpok 34. chap. 7. E 2 and 52 THE ATTIC NIGHTS and naval victories. This city, though a friend and ally to the Roman people, was in friendfhip alfo with Perfes, fon of Philip king of Macedon, who was at war with Rome. The Rhodians endeavoured, by frequent embafiies to Rome, to heal the difference betwixt them. But as this pacification could not be accomplifhed, addrefles were often made by many Rhodians in their pub- lic afiemblies, that if peace were not obtained, the Rhodians fhould affift the king againft the Ro- mans, though no public decree was pafied on this matter. But when Perfes was conquered and taken prifoner % the Rhodians were in great a- larm, from the many things which had been done and faid in their popular afTemblies j and they lent ambafiadors to Rome, who might palliate the temerity of fome of their citizens, and clear them, as a body, from all imputation on their fi- * Prifiuer.] In their treatment of this prince, the Ro- mans by no means Ihewecl their accuflomed magnanimity. He was dragged in chains along the flreets of Rome, to grace, or rather to difgrace the triumph of his conqueror. After repeated experience of the moft fevere and cruel treat- ment, he was permitted to expire in prifon. His eldeil fon, Alexander, was compelled to follow the mean occupation of a carpenter for a livelihood. He lived, however, to triumph fo far over his ill fortune, as to obtain an honourable office in the Roman fenate. The hiftory of kings and princes who, like Perfes, fell from their high eflates to the abyfs of mifery, affords an ufeful but melancholy leflbn. See this iubjecl of the vanity of human wifbes happily illuflrated by Juvenal, in his tenth fatire, and by Dr. Johnfon in his imi- tation of that poem. delity. OF AULUS CELL I US. 53 tlelity. When the ambafladors came to Rome, and were admitted into the fenate, and, after {peaking in fupplicatory terms, had again depart- ed, the queftion began to be put ; and when part of the fenate complained of the Rhodians, and affirmed them to be ill-intentioned, and thought that war (hould be declared againft them, M. Cato arofe : He throughout aflerted, that allies fo excellent and faithful, upon the plunder and poflefiion of whofe riches, not a few of the prin- cipal men were earneftly refolved, fhould be pro- tected and p refer ved. He made that famous oration, which is feparately preferved, and is in- fcribed " Pro Rhodienfibus," and which is in the fifth book of Origins* Tiro Tullius, the freed man of M. Cicero, was a man of an ele- gant mind, and by no means ignorant of an- cient literature. He was, from an early age, li- berally inftruclred, and employed by Cicero him- felf as an affiftant and companion in his ftudies. But indeed he prefumed farther than might be tolerated or forgiven. He wrote a letter to Q^ Axius 3 , the friend of his patron, with too great boldnefs and warmth, in which he feemed to himfelf to have criticifed this oration for the Rho- dians with extreme acutenefs and fubtlety of judgment. From this epiftle I may perhaps be allowed to examine fome of his animadverfions, reprehending indeed Tiro with greater propri- 3 dxzus.] For Axius fome would in this place read Atticus. E 3 ety, 54 THE ATTIC NIGHTS ety, than he on this occafion obferved towards Cato. The fault he firft found was, that Cato ignorant- ly and abfurdly, in his exordium, ufed a ftyle of too much infolence, feverity, and reproach, when he declared himfelf afraid, left the fenate, from the joy and exultation of their fuccefies, being un- hinged in their minds, fhould act unwifely, and prove themfelves but ill qualified properly to comprehend and deliberate. He remarks, " That patrons, at the beginning, who plead for the ac- cufed, ought to footh and conciliate the judges ; and that, keeping their minds on the ftretch of fufpenfe and expectation, they fhould footh them by modeft and complimentary expreffions, and not irritate them by infolent and imperious me- naces." He then added the exordium, which was this : " I know that with moft men, happy, af- fluent, and profperous affairs will ufually elevate the mind, and increafe and promote their pride and ferocity 4 > it is therefore of great cncern * Ferocity .] See this fentiment expreffed with great force by Juvenal, in his fketch of the character of Sejanus. The paflage tc which I allude it is not impoffib'e but Gray might have in mind when he wrote his Ode on the Profpeft of Eton College- Ambition this fhall teach to rife, Then whirl the wretch from high, To bitter fcoin a facrifice, And grinning infamy. Confult alfo our Shakefpeare's defcription of the character of Wolfey. with OF AULUS GkLLIUS. 55 with me, as this matter has fucceeded fo fortu- nately, left any thing adveffe happen in bur conr- fultation, to allay our good fortune ; and that this our exultation may not become too extravagant. Adverfe affairs check themfelves 5 , and teach What is neceffary to be donej thofe which are profperous are apt, from the joy of them, to thrufb people afide from wife confultation arid comprehenfion. I therefore the more ftrenuoufly aclvife that this matter be deferred for fome days, till, from fuch excefs of joy, we again become mailers of ourfelves." Of what Cato next fays, he affirms : tf That they are a eonfeflion, not a defence ; nor are they a removal or transferring of the prime, but a participation of it with many others, which has nothing to do withjuftification. More^ over," continues he, tt he acknowledges, that the Rhodians, who were accufed of favouring and wifliing well to the king, in oppofition to the Ro- mans, were impelled to thefe fentiments by views of intereft ; left the Romans, by the conqueft of king Perfes, fhould be elated to an extravagant degree of pride and infolence." He quotes the words themfelves, which I fubjqin j " 1 indeed muft confefs that the Rhodians did not wilh us * Check them/elves.] In the original it is * doriiant fe," literally tame thenifelves ; thus Gray calls adverfhy the tamer of the human brealt. . II, E^ t 56 THE ATTIC NIGHTS to fight , as we have fought, nor that we fhoukl overcome king Perfes ; but , I think alfo that many people and nations wifhed the fame j .and I do not know whether fome of them might not be averfe to our fuccefs, not from a defire to fee us difgraced, but becaufe they apprehended that if there was no one whom we feared, and we had no limits to our will, they muft then be under our Jble dominion, and in fervitude to us. I believe they were of this opinion, fr.om a regard to their own liberty; nor did the Rhodians ever pub- licly aflift Perfes. Reflect with how much greater circumfpection we act in our private characters^ one among another. Each of us, if we think that any thing is imagined againft our mtereft, oppofe. it with all our force, that it may not take effect : but this people neverthelefs fubmitted." With refpect to his cenfure of the introduction, Tiro ought to have known that the Rhodians were defended by Cato in the character of a fenator, of a man of confular and cenforial dignity, advif- ing what he deemed beft for the public, not mere- ly as a patron 7 pleading the caufe of the accufed. One kind of exordium is proper to thofe who de- fend the accufed before judges, wiming,by all poffi- 7 Not merely as a patron."] The good fenfe of this reply will ftrike the flighteft obfervcr, and full/ anfwers the ob- jje&ion and cavil of Tiro, OF AULUS GELLIUS. 57 ble means, to excite humanity and companion ; and another when the fenate is confulted concern- ing the commonwealth, by a man of fuperior au- thority, indignant at the moft unjufl fentiments of fome, and with great ferioufnefs and weight exprefiing his zeal for the public advantage, and his concern for the fafety of their allies. It is properly and ufefully prefcribed in the fchools of rhetoricians, that judges who fit upon the lives of ftrangers, in a caufe not at all relating to them- felves, and from which no rifle, no emolument is to enfue to them, except the office of pafiing judgment, are to be foothed and conciliated to a mild and favourable opinion, and to the preferva- tion of thofe who are accufed before them. But when the common dignity, honour, and advan- tage of a nation is involved, and on this account advice is to be given, what fhall be done hereaf- ter, or whether the prefent proceedings fhail not be deferred; then he who undertakes to render his hearers favourable and merciful, in exordiums of this kind, does no good, and ufes expreifions not neceffary for the purpofe. The common intereft and the common danger already prepare them to hearken to advice, and they are inclined of "tbemfelves to require a benevolent fpirit in him who gives it. But when he fays that Cato allows that the Rhodi.ns were unwilling that they Ihould have fought as they had fought, and that king Perfes ihould be conquered by the Roman people} when he affirmed that thefe wece the fentiments 5 S THE ATTIC NIGHTS fentiments not of the Rhodians only, but of many other nations, but that this availed nothing to juftify or extenuate their crime, Tiro is, in the firft inftance, guilty of a great falfhood. He gives the words of Cato, and calumniates him for words totally different. For Cato does not con- fefs that the Rhodians were averfe to the victory of the Roman people ; but he confefTed that he believed them to be fo, which, doubtlefs, was an avowal of what he himfelf thought, and not an acknowledgment of the crime of the Rhodians. In which thing, it is my opinion, he is not only not to be cenfured, but worthy of praife and admi- ration, fmce he feemed to give his opinion againfl the Rhodians frankly and confcientioufly, and by obtaining confidence to his candour, foftened and conciliated what appeared to be hoftile. They ought, therefore, from the reafon of the thing, to be more dear and acceptable to the Roman peo- ple, who, when they might have been ufeful to the king, and defired to be fo, yet actually con- tibuted nothing to his afilftance. He afterwards adds thefe words from the fame oration : " Shall we then fuddenly forego thefe fo great benefits, this valuable friendfhip, voluntarily and irregular- ly ? and what we fay they were inclined to do, fhall we make hafte to do before them ?" This enthymeme 8 , he fays, is mean and vicious. For it may be replied, certainly we will anticipate * This enthymeme .] This in logic is an argument confift- ingof two proportions, the antecedent, and its eonfequence, 3 them, OF AULUS GELL.IUS. 59 them, for if we do not, we fhall be oppreffed, and ihall fall into thofe fnares againft which we omitted to take previous caution. Lucilius, he adds, properly imputes this fault to the poet Euripides, becaufe, when king Polyphontes faid that he had killed his brother, becaufe his bro- ther had previoufly concerted his death, Merope, his brother's wife, reproved him in thefe lines : If* as thou fay'ft 9 , my hufband meant to flay thee, Yet art thou bound to fheathe thy vengeful blade Until that time arrive when he refolv'd To have accomplifhed his inhuman purpofe. But this, he remarks, is full of abfurdity, to wifh to do any thing with that defign and purpofe, that indeed you may never accomplifh what you in- tend. But indeed Tiro did not reflect that in all kinds of precaution, the fame rule did not apply ; and that the bufinefs and duties of human life, with refped to anticipation, delay, revenge, or caution, did not refemble the battles of gladiators ; for the fortune of gladiators prepared to engage, was of this kind, either to kill if they fhotild conquer, or to die if they fhould yield I0 . But the life of men 9 If, as tboufafft.'} I have given the verfion of Mr. Wod- hull. 10 Should 'yield, .] The prefervation of a conquered gladia- tor did not depend upon his adverfary, but on the caprice of the fpeftators, and was determined by a motion of th<3 thumb. When 60 THE ATTIC NIGHTS men is not circumfcribed by fuch unjuft or infu- perable neceffity, that you ought firft to commit an injury, left, by not fo doing, you (hould endure it ". So far was it from the humanity of the Ro- man people to anticipate, that they often neglect- ed to avenge injuries committed againft them- felves, He afterwards aflerts, that in this oration Cato has ufed arguments both difingenuous and too audacious, not at all proper for fuch a man as he was, but full of art and deceit, refembling the fallacies of Greek fophifts. For when, lays he, it was objected to the Rhodians that they wifhed to make war on the Roman people, he did not pretend to deny it, but he required that it fhouid be forgiven, becaufe they had not done it> although they greatly deilred it : that he had allb introduced what the logicians call epagcge Is , which is indeed both infidious and fophiftical, not Ib much calculated for truth as for cavil, endea- vouring to enforce and confirm by fallacious ex- amples, that no one who wifhed to do ill could juftly be punifhed, unlefs he had actually done When the gladiator was overcome ke lowered his arms ; if the fpeftators vviflied his life to be faved, pollicem prernebanr., they turned down their thumbs ; if they wilhed him to be put to death, pollicem vertebant, they turned up their thumbs. 11 Endure //.] This is a generous and noble fentiment, and worthy the more pure and chaftened fpirit of the gofpel. Epagoge.} That is, a comparifon of things or argu- ments refembling each other. that OF AULUS GELLIUS. 61 that which he wilhed to do I? . The words of Cato in this oration are thefe : <( He who fpeaks with greateft acrimony againft them, fays this, that they defined to become ene- mies. And who is there among us, who as far as he himfelf is concerned, would think it right that any one fhould fuffer punifhment becauie it was proved that he defired to do ill ? No one, I believe, for, as far as relates to myfelf, I certainly would not." Then a little afterwards he adds, u And I would afk, where is the law fo fevere as to aflert, if any one fhall defire to do this, let him be fined a thoufand fefterces ? If any one ihall wilh to have more than five hundred acres, let him be fined as much : if any one fhall wifh to have a greater number of cattle, let him be fined as much ; but we all of us wifh to have more than we already po fiefs I4 , and do fo with im- punity." Afterwards he adds, " But if it be not juft that honour fhould be given to him who fays he wifh- ed to do well, but really did not, fhall it be injuri- ous to the Rhodians, not that they acted ill, but that it is reported of them that they wifhed to do ill ?" 3 Wijbed to do.~\ Such, however, is the fublime morality of the gofpel, which fays of him who looketh with concu- pifcence on the wife of another, that he hath already commit- ted the aft of adultery in his heart. ** Already pnffefs.^ There are indeed very few who do not cccafionally indulge a wilh like this expreffed by Horace; Oh fi angulus ifte Proximus accedet qui nun; denormat agelium, B> 62 THE ATTIC NIGHTS By fuch arguments Tiro Tullius affirms that Cato ftrenuoufly contended that the Rhodians fhould not be punifhed, becaufe, though they de- fired to become the enemies of the Roman people, they really did not. It cannot, he allows, be con- tefted, that the facts were by no means parallel, to defire to have more than five hundred acres, which by a decree of the people was forbidden to colonifts, and to defire to make an unjuft and impious war on the Roman people ; nor could it be denied that the one was deferving of reward, the other of puniihment. Services, fays he, which are promifed ought to be waited for, and certainly ought not to be rewarded till they are performed. But it is right to guard againft iiiir pending injuries, rather than expect them. It is the height of folly, he obferves, not to meet con- certed injuries, but to wait and expect them j but when they are perpetrated and endured, then finally, when, being done they cannot be hinder- ed, to puniih them. Thefe are the cold and in- fignificant objections which Tiro has brought a- gainft Cato. But Cato has not introduced this epagoge naked, folitary, and defencelefs, but he has ftrengthened it by various means, and fup- ported it by many arguments ; and becaufe he confulted not more for the Rhodians than for the commonwealth, he deemed nothing bafe that he faid and did in this matter, as he attempted to obtain the prefervation of allies by every kind of opinion : and firft he not unfkilfully accomplish - ed OF AULUS GELLIUS. 63 ed this, which is neither forbidden by the law of nations nor the law , of nature, but by the influence of Jaws iflbed to remedy any evil, or to obtain time,.fuch as the number of cattle, the limits pre- fcribed to land, and other fimilar things j in v/hicli things, what is forbidden by the law to be done, may not, according to the law, be done j but to 4efift to do this, if it be poffible, is not difhono ar- able, And thefe things he infenfibly compared and confounded with that which by itfelf it is not honeft either to do or wifh to do -, then finally, left the unfuitablenefs of the comparifon fhould be obvious, he ftrengthens it by various modes of defence; nor does he give much importance to the trifling but thoroughly lifted cenfures of the will in things forbidden $ which, in philofophic cafes, are matters ofdifputej but he exerts his whole force in this alone, that the caufe of the Rhodians, whofe friendihipic was the intereft of the republic to retain, ihould be confidered either asjuft, or at leaft fhould be forgiven ; in the mean time he affirms, that the Rhodians neither made war, nor defired to do fo. He alledges alfo, that facts alone ought to be weighed and judged, but that the mere inclination, unfupported by any act, was neither obnoxious to the laws, nor to puniihment. Sometimes, indeed, he feemingly concedes that tfie'y had offended, and he implores their pardon, and teaches that forofivenefs is eflential to human - i~? affairs. If they fhould refufe this pardon, he alarms them with fears of tumults in the commonwealth : pn the contrary, if they fhould grant this pardon, YOL. II. E 3 he 64 THE ATTIC NIGHTS he (hews them that the magnanimity of the Ro- man people would be preferved. The imputation of pride, which at this time, among other things, was in the fenate objected to the Rhodians, he turns off, and eludes by an admirable and almoft divine mode of reply. We will add the words of Cato, fince Tiro has omitted them : f< They fay that the Rhodians are haughty ; an imputation I Would defire to avert from rne ancj from my children. Let them be proud ; what is that to us ? fnall we be angry that any are proud- er than ourfelves ?" Nothing poffibly could be introduced with more dignity and ilrength than this apofrrophe againft the haughtieft of mankind, who, loving pride in themfelves, reprobated it in others. We may alfo obferve in the whole of Cato's oration, that all the aids and implements of the rhetorical difcipline were brought forwards, but by no means as in mock rights ', or in thofe carried on for amufement and pleafure ; the matter, I fay, was not agitated with an exceflive degree of refinement, difcrimination, and order, but as it were in a doubtful engage- ment, when the troops being fcattered, it is in va- rious places fought with doubtful fortune. So in this caufe, when the pride of the Rhodians had notorioufly provoked univerfal hatred and envy, he ufed promifcuoufly every mode of protection and defence. Sometimes he commends them 1 Mock fight sJ\ Simulachris praeliorum. Thus in Virgil ; Btllique cient fimulaehra Tub armis. as OF AULUS GELLIUS. 65 iis having the greateft merit; fometimes he ex- culpates them as iiinocent, though he reprehends them for a lavifh wafte of their wealth and for- tunes. Again he attempts to extenuate what they had done, as if they had really done wrong, then he points out their natural claims on the republic ; finally, he reminds them of the clemency and generality of their anceftors, and of the common good. All which things j if they could have been introduced with more perfpicuity, method, and harmony, certainly could not have Been faid with more ftrength and energy. Tiro Tiillius has therefore afted an unjuft part, having fingled out from the various qualities of fo rich an oration, happily connected with each other, a fmall and naked portion; as an object of his fatire ; as if it were unworthy M. Cato to afifert that the mere propenfity to faults not actually perpetrated ought not to be punifhed: but whoever will take in hand the entire oration of Cato, and carefully examine and perufe the letter of Tiro to Axius, will be able to form a more correct and fatis- 1 factory judgment of the reply which I have made to Tullius Tiro. He will thus be enabled more accurately and more perfectly to correct and ap- prove what I have advanced. VOL. II. F CHAP. 66 THE ATTIC NIGHTS CHAP. IV. of Jervants thofe were that Cselius Sa~>' binus, the Civilian, fays were expofed tofale with caps on l . 'The reajon of this. What flaves were anciently fold, fc fub corona," and the meaning of this phraje. C^LIUS SABINUS, the Civllian,has record- ed that certain (laves were ufed to be expofect to fale, with caps upon their heads, and the feller of fuch (laves did not anfwer far them. The reafon of 1 tfitk caps.] The explanation' of this is attended with fome fmall difficulty. Pileus, or the Cap, was the em- blem of liberty, and we learn from Livy and Plautus, that when flaves were made free they were termed Pileati. Slaves in general, when fold, had their heads bare. Were thefe ilaves then, for whom the feller was not refponfible, of a, higher order, as being entitled to this diftinction ? To me it leems probable that they were. When a flave was made free, his head was fhaved r and he wore the cap of freedom. Thus Sofia fays in Plautus :. Soft-all! direftly Cover my morn crown with the cap of freedom. Thofe alfo were called Servi Pileati, who preceded the fune- ral of their maflers. If any perfon in his will gave liber- ty to any of his flaves, they immediately fhaved their crown^ and walked in proceffion as freemen, wrth caps on their heads, before the funeral proceffion of their matter. Slaves made free were called flaves ad pileum vocati, called to the cap, It will be feen that my opinion on this fubjecl is different from that OF AULUS GELLIUS. 67 of which, according to him, was, that flaves of this defcription ought fo to be marked whilft on fale, that the buyers could not be miftaken or deceived, nor could the law of fale be perplexed. But it Was immediately obvious what kind of flaves they were. " Thus," fays he, " anciently, flaves taken in war were brought forth wearing garlands, and therefore were faid to be fold fub corona. For as this garland was a fign of captives being fold, fo the cap indicated that flaves of that kind were to be fold, concerning whom the feller did not make himfelf refponfible to the purchafer." But there is another explanation of this, why cap- tives were faid to be fold " fub corona," becaufe foldiers, by way of fecurity, flood round a num- ber of captives expofed to fale, and this circle of foldiers was called corona. But that what I have before alledged is nearer the truth, we learn from Cato in his book De Re Militari. Thefe are Ca- to's words : " The people on their own account would rather crowned offer fupplication on ac- count of good fuccefs, than, being crowned, be fold from ill fuccefs." that given by Mr. Adams in page 35 of his Roman Anti- quities. It may not be improper to add, that although the cap was an emblem of liberty, the Roman citizens did not wear it, they appeared in public with their heads uncovered ; and therefore it is faid of Julius Ccefar, that he was exceed- ingly gratified by the permiffion to wear a crown of laurel, which concealed his baldnefs. F 2 C H A J. 68 THE ATTIC NIGHTS' J ~{\*~\'j "3*r ; ^ *-f "^ j .'> ' ''"'* .-"''>. CHAP. V. Remarkable ftory of Polus the player *. THERE was an actor in Greece of great celebrity, fuperior to the reft in the grace and harmony of his voice and action. His name it is faid was Polus, and he acted in the tragedies of the more eminent poets, with great knowledge and accuracy. This Polus loft by death his only and beloved fon. When he had fufficient- ly indulged his natural grief, he returned to his employment. Being at this time to act the Elec- tra of Sophocles at Athens, it was his part to carry an urn as containing the bones of Oreftes. The argument of the fable is fo imagined, that Electra, who is prefumed to carry the relics of her brother, laments and commiferates his end, who 'is believed to have died a violent death. Polus 1 The actors of Greece, and of Athens in particular were held in extraordinary eftimation. We accordingly find that they were occafionally employed on affairs of ftate, and fent on foreign embattles. Thus we find, that in a folemn em- bafly fent from Athens to Philip of Macedon, there were players, and that he diftinguifhed thefe with particular marks of kindnefs. On the Grecian theatre as weJl as on the Roman, the parts of women were performed by men, which cuftom alfo prevailed in the earlier periods of the Eng- liih ftage. therefore^ OF AULUS GELLIUS. % therefore, clad in the mourning habit of Electra, took from the tomb the bones and urn of his fon, and as if embracing Oreftes, filled the place, not -with the image and imitation, but with the fighs and lamentations of unfeigned forrow. There- fore, when a fable feemed to be rep.refented ? real grief was difplayed. CHAP. VI. What Ariftotle wrote on the natural defett offo.me of the fenfes * . i OF the five fenfes which nature has given to animals, fight, hearing, tafte, touch, and fmell, called by the Greeks (rfl>iw yj^afa, TTOJW iT7rojuxa, AaAw AAAr,xa, xfarw xEx^a-r/jxa, Aaa? AsAxxa ; fo alfb, mordeo memordi, pofco pepofci, tendo tetendi, tango tetigi, pungo pepugi, fpondeo fpepondi, curro cecurri, tollo tetuli. M. Tullius and C. Caefar have ufed mordeo memordi, pungo pepugi, and ipondeo fpepondi. Moreover, I find that from the word fcindo, by fimilar reafoning, fefci- derat is written, not fciderat. L. Attius, in his firft book of Sotadici 4 , faid fefciderat. Thefe 4 SofaJici.J This name was given to obfcene poems, written in a particular metre. They were fo called from their inventor, Sotades, a poet of Thrace. The peculiarity of the verfes was, that they might be read either way, with- out injury eitfter to the metre or the fenfe, of which the fol- lowing may ferve as a fpeclmen : Si bene te tua laus taxat, fua laute tenebis. * are OF AULUS GELLIUS. 79 are his words : Non ergo aquila ita, uti predicant Jcefclderat pe&us. Ennius s alfo, and Valerius An- tias, in his feventy-fifth book of Hiftories, has written thus : Deinde furore locato ad forum de- Jcendidit. Laberius alfo, in his Catularius, faid Ego mirabar quomodo mammse mihi defcen- dlderant. 5 Ennius,] This paflage is evidently corrupt, and fome words without doubt are wanting. CHAP. X. i Ufufcapio is an entire word y and ufed in the mining- true cafe. So alfo is pignorifcapio. AS ufufcapio is ufed as an entire word, the letter a being made long, fo pignorifcapio is in like manner combined, and pronounced long. Thefe are the words of Cato, in his firft book of Epiftolary Queftions : &<] The different excellence of fpeaking, as poflefled by thefe three eminent characters of antiquity, is thus defcribed by Aufonius : Prifcos ut et heroes olim Carmine Homeri commemorates, Fando referres; Dulcem in paucis ut Plifthenidem Et torrentis ceu Dulichii Ninguida dicla; ftt mellitae nedare vocis Duicia fatu verba canentem, Neftora regem. 5 nate, OF AULUS GELLIUS. 91 nate, they employed C. Acilius, a fenator, as their interpreter. But previoufly each of theije, by way of'difplaying his abilities, had harangued in a numerous afiembly. Then it is faid that Ru- tilius and Polybius greatly admired the eloquence which was peculiar to each philosopher. They affirm that the oratory of Carneades was ftrong and rapid, that of Critolaus learned and poliflied, of Diogenes modeft and temperate. But each of thefe forms, as I have before obferv- ed, when its ornaments are chafVe and modeft, is excellent, when daubed and painted it is con- temptible. CHAP. THE ATTIC NIGHTS CHAP. XV. %T?e Jeverity with which thieves were punijhed by the ancients. What Mutius Sc^svola has writ- ten on what is given or entrufted to the care of any one \ LABEO, in his fecond book on the Twelve Tables, has faid, that among the ancients fe- vere and extreme punifhments were infiifted up- on * The penal laws of the Romans feem in many refpedts to have been borrowed of the Athenians, particularly in what related to theft. He who was taken in the adl of theft dur- ing the night was punimed with death. In the day-time alfo, if he had a weapon and prefumed to defend himfelf, a thief was liable to the fame penalty. The right of the original proprietor to what had been ftolen from him did not ceafe till after a period of thirty years, although in this interval the property fhould have pafled through the hands of various matters. To this Labeo, Gellius has been more than once indebted. See Book xx. chap, i . According to the Mofaic law, he who removed his neigh- bour's land-mark was accounted accurfed ; but we are not told whether it was diftinguifhed between him who commit- ted this crime from motives of wantonnefs and malice, and the man who had intentions of committing theft. It will not liere be forgotten, that by the laws of Lycurgus theft was permitted, with the idea that encouraging boldnefs and dex- terity .was of greater fervice to the ftate than the purloining & fc\v OF AULUS GELLIUS. 93 on thieves j and that Brutus ufed to fay that he was condemned as guilty of theft who led cattle aftray from the place where he was fent, or who had kept it longer than the diilance of his errand required. Q^Scasvola, therefore, in his fixteeenth book on the Civil Law, has thefe words : " Who- ever applied to his own ufe that which was en- trufted to his care, or, receiving any thing for a particular purpofe, applied it to a different one, was liable to the charge of theft." a few trifles could be of detriment to individuals. In this, as in all other vices, there are doubtlefs gradations of guilt; and it may be faid properly with Horace, Nee vincet ratio haec, tantundem ut peccat idemque Qui teneros cautes alieni fregerit horti, Et qui no&urnos divum facra legerit. Or, in fewer words, ftealing a cabbage is not furety fo great a crime as facrilege. CH A p THE ATTIC NIGHTS C H A P. XVI. Pajfage from Marcus Varro's falire, called i$tf/.f. j~Much is faid in the fecond bdok of Athenzeus, on the fubjecT: of nuts, and the nuts of Perfia are particularly recommended. Nux is- by itfelf a generic name, the fpecies of which is afcertained only by an epithet. It is not eafy, therefore, to fay whether any or what particular fpecies is to be underftood by the nuts of Thafus, the Perfian nuts, &c. Nux by itfelf feems generally to mean a walnut- tree, for the nuts ufed at weddings, and thrown among chil- dren, are known to have been walnuts. Palm from JEgypf.] In oppofition to this, Strabo af- firms, that the palms of /Egypt are mean and bad, except in the Tfcebaid alone. Galen fays, that the fineft palms are pro- duced in Judaea, in the vale of Jericho. Jn the 24th chapter of Ecclefiafticus,thepalmof Engaddi and the rofe of Jericho are celebrated : " I was exalted like a palm-tree in Engaddi, and as a rofe-plant in Jericho." , Upon this fubjcft of the palm-tree I have written before at fome length, in my notes to the tranflation of Herodotus, Vol. I. and to this work I beg leave to refer the reader. * Jlcorns of Hiberia.] Glans feems to have been ufed a- mong the Romans in the fame fenfe that we ufe maft. Thus the fruit of the beech is called glans : " Fagi -glans nuclei fi- Vot t II, H milis." 9 3 THE ATTIC NIGHTS B lit we mall think this indufhy of the appetite, wandering about and fearching for new and imaccuftomed juices, and hunting them in every quarter of the earth, ftill more deteflable, if we have in mind the verfes of Euripides. Thefe verfes Chryfi'ppus the philofopher frequently ap- plied, as if a certain irritable lufl of eating was to be obtained, not for the neceffary ufes of life, but through the luxurioufnefs of a mind loathing what was to be eafily got, from a certain wanton- nefs of fatiety. I fubjoin the lines of Euripides " : What can man need but thefe two things, the fruits Which Ceres yields, and the refrefhbg ipring* Ever mills," fays Pliny. But, ftridly fpeaking, it means only fuch fruits as contain only one feed, which is covered at the lower part with ar hulk, and is naked at the upper part : thus the fruit of an oak, which we commonly call an acorn, is proper- ly a glans. " Glandem," fays Pliny, " quse proprie intelligi- tur, ferunt robur, quercus, efculus, cerrus, ilex fuber." The acorn then was doubtlefs the production of fome fpecies of oak ; but it feems difficult ttnmagine in what man- ner it could poffibly be prepared to gratify the palate of a Roman, in the luxurious times of that empire. Iberia is mentioned by Horace as being fruitful inpoifons: Herbafque quas lolcos, atque Iberia Mittit venenorum ferax. * Lines of fyirlpldes.] This is a fragment of the JE&* lus of Euripides; and I have ufed the tranflation of Wod- Concerning OF AULUS GELLIUS. 99 Ever at hand> by bounteous nature given To nourilh us ? We from the plenty rife DifTatisfied, and yielding to the allurements Of luxury, fearch out for other viands. Concerning the articles of food enumerated in this chap- ter, the following circumftances may properly enough be ad- ded: Apicius fays, " Ificla de pavo primm locum habent." The real meaning of ificium it may not be eafy to determine ; from its etymology it probably means a kind of faufage. The fame Apicius defcribes with what fauce the attagena Ihould be dreffed and eaten. The grus was underftood to be what an Englimman would term very hearty food, it was put upon the table with a great variety and multitude of fauces, and was decorated, as is with us fometimes cuftomary to fend up pheafants. " Gru- em," fays Apicius, " lavas, ornas et includis in olla." In- cludere in olla, fignifies to pot any thing. See in Apicius, Book viii. chap. 6. various directions for'* dreffing a kid or lamb* The pelamys was alfo confidered as ftrong food, and re- quired a long time and coniiderable pains to make it tender. The murena was always efteemed as one of the greateft delicacies of the table : Columella fays, " Jamcelebres erant delicias popinales cum a mari deferrentur vivaria quorum ftudiofiffimi velut ante deviftarum gentium Numantinus et Ifauricus: ita Sergius orata et Licinius murena captoruni pifcium lajtabantur vocabulis." The fifh afellus, according to Varro, was fo named from its refemblance in colour to an afs. The afellus is probably what we call a haddock. Athenaeus relates, that when the emperor Trajan was carrying on war againft the Parthians, and at a great dif- tance from the fea, he was delighted a^jil furprifed atreceir- ing fgmc frelh oyfters from Apicius, Ha C H^P, ioo THE ATTIC NIGHTS CHAP. XVII. : >: > ,'t3'ji :-> c-stai+ta j * : Cotruerjation 'with an Ignorant and infolent gram- marian, on the meaning of the word obnoxius Origin of this word. * I ENQUIRED at Rome of a certain gram- marian, of the firft celebrity as a teacher, not indeed for the fake of trying him, but really from a defire of knowledge, what was the meaning of the word obnoxius, and what was the nature and origin of the word. He, looking at me, as if ri- diculing the trifling infignificance of the quef- tion, < You afk," fays he, " a very obfcure quef- tion, and what requires great pains to inveftigate. Who is fo ignorant of the Latin tongue as not to know that he is called obnoxius, who in any re- fpect can be incommoded and injured by him to whom he is faid to be obnoxius, and has any one confcious/#<* nox* y that is of his fault ? But ra- ther," he continued, " put afide thefe trifles, and introduce fomewhat worthy of inveftigation and argument." On this, I, being moved, thought 1 It is obvious that the word obnoxius is ufed by the beft Latin writers in .a variety of ienfes; and it muft be acknow- ledged, as Quintus Carolus obferves, that Gellius in this chapter has not thrown much more light upon the fubjecl than jhe grammarian whom he points out to ridicule. that OF AULUS GELLIUS. 101 that I ought to difiemble, as with a fbolifh fellow " With refped to other things, moft learned Sir, which are more abftrufe and pro- found, if I fhall want to learn and know them, when occafion fliall require, I fhall doubtlefs come to you for instruction ; but as I have often ufed the word obnoxius, and knew not its pro- per meaning, I have enquired and learned from you, what indeed not only I, as it feems to you, did not comprehend, but it ihould feem that Plautus alfo, a man of the firft eminence for his knowledge of verbal nicety and elegance in the Latin tongue, did not know what obnoxius meant. There is a verfe in his Stichus *, of this kind: Nunc ego hercle peril plane, non obnoxie-, which by no means accords with the interpreta- tion you have given me j for Plautus has brought together, as oppofite to one another, the two words plane and obnoxie, which is very remote from your explanation." But this grammarian foolifhly enough, and as if obnoxius and obnoxie differed, not only in declenfion but in effect and meaning, "I," faid he, " obferved, what obnoxius was, and not obnoxie" Then I, aftonilhed at the a Stichus.~\ A comedy called Stichus. The tranflators of Plautus have not noticed the contrail .betwixt plane and obnoxie in this quotation, but have ren- dered it " I am a dead man, plain, out of doubt.'* The meaning of olnoxie, according to the commentators on this paflage, is, I am a dead man, and my fate is not fubjeft to any one's will. H 3 ignorance io* THE ATTIC NIGHTS ignorance of this conceited man, replied, ct We will pafs over then, if you pleafe, that Plautus has ufed the word obnoxie, if you think this foreign from the purpofe. We will alfo not mention what Sal- luft has faid in his Catiline, Minari etiam ferro, pi fibi obnoxia foret, but you ftiall explain to me what is more common and familiar. Thefe verfes from Virgil are very well known : Nam neque tune 3 aftris acies obtufa videri Nee fratris radiis obnoxia furgere luna. Which you fay is confdumju* culpu0mquam egn.] " Although I came here expelling to be paid by you, you mufl not on that account think that I am wholly fubjeft to you. If you fpeak ill of me, you will be ill fpoken of in return." The word obnoxious alfo, in Englifh, is ufed in different fcnfes. We call any one offending obnoxious, both as he is unworthy in hamfelf, and fubjeft to punifhment. CHAP, OF AULUS GELLIUS. 105 CHAP. XVIII.! Religious observance of an oath among the Romans Of the ten captives whom -Hannibal Jent to Rome, taking from them an oath to return. THAT an oath was held to be facred and in- violable among the Romans, appears from their manners, and from many laws -, and what I am going to relate is alfo nofmall proof of it. Af- ter the battle of Cannae, Hannibal, the Carthagi- nian general, fent ten prifoners, felected from qur countrymen, to Rome, and commanded and agreed with them, that if the Roman people ap- On the fubjeft of this chapter fee Gellius again, Bookxx, chap. i. Mr. Gibbon, fpeaking of the integrity of the ancient Ro- mans, thus exprefles himfelf : " The goddefs of faith (of human and facial faith ) was worfhipped not only in her temples but in the lives of the Ro- mans ; and if that nation was deficient in the more amiable qualities of benevolence and generofity, they aftonifhed the Greeks by their fmcere and fimple performance of the moil burthenfome engagements." The ftory of Regulus will here prefent itfelf to the reader; and many examples of the ftrift adherence of the Romans to their engagements, may be found in Valerius Maximus, Book vi. The form of the folemn oath among the Romans I have given in Vol. I. p. $p. With refpeft to the evafion here recorded, there can be but one opinion it is an example of meannefs and perfi- a y . . - proved xo6 THE ATTIC NIGHTS proved it, there fhould be an exchange of prilb- ners, and that for thofe, wfyich either fhould hap- pen to have more than the other, a pound of fil- ver fhould be paid. Before they went, he com- pelled diem to take an oath to return to the Car- thaginian camp, if the Romans would not ex- change prifoners. The ten captives came to Rome j ttyey explained in the fenate the rnefTage of the Carthaginian commander. The exchange was not agreeable. The parents, relations, and friends of the captives embraced them j allured them they were now effectually reftored to their country, that their fituation was independent and fecure, and entreated them by no means to think -of returning to the enemy. Then eight of them replied, that this reftoration to their country was by no means juft, fmce they were bound by 'an cath to return ; and immediately, according to this oath, they went back to Hannibal. The other two remained in Rome, afiferting that they were free, and delivered from the obligation of their oath, fmce, when they had left the enemy's camp, they had, with a deceitful intention, re- turned on the fame day, as if on fome accidental pccafion, and fo, having fatisfied their oath, they departed free from its obligation. But this their fraudulent evafion was deemed fo bafe, that they were defpifed and reproached by the com- mon people, and the cenfors afterwards brandecj them with difgraceful marks of every kind, fmcft they had not done that, which they had fworn to. do. OF AULUS NIGHTS, to? do. Cornelius Nepos, in his fifth book of Ex- amples, has alfo recorded that many of the fenate were of opinion, that they who refufed to return fhould be taken into cuftody and fent back to Hannibal j but this opinion was fet afide, as not agreeable to the majority. But thofe men who did not return to Hannibal became fo very odious and infamous, that, being wearied of Iife 4 tliey deftroyed themfelves. THE ATTIC NIGHTS CHAP. XIX. lit/lory taken from the Annals concerning Tiberius Semfroniiis Gracchus, father of the Gracchi y tribune of the people ; with the form of words vjedby the tribunes in their decrees* THERE is recorded a noble, generous and magnanimous action of Tiberius Sem- pronius Gracchus. It is as follows : Cams Minucius Augurinus, a tribune of the people, impofed a fine upon L. Scipio Afiaticus, brother of P. Scipio Africanus the elder j and on this ac- count called upon him to produce his fecurities. Scipio Africanus, in the name of his brother, appealed to the college of tribunes, entreating them to defend a man of confular rank, who had triumphed, from the violence of their colleague. Eight of the tribunes, after- investigating the matter, made a decree, the words of which I have added, as they appear written in the monu- ments of the Annals : QUOD . P. SCIPIO . AFRICANUS ' . POSTULAVIT . PRO . L. Sci?ION T E . AsiATICO . FRATRE . QUUM . CONTRA . 1 Quod P. Scipio Jfricanus.~\ I thus trar.flate the de- cree Pubiius Scipio Africanus, in the name of his bro- ther Lucius Scipio Afiaticus, has reprcfcntcd, that the tri- bune of the people, contrary to the laws and cuftoms of our an cellars, OF AULUS GELLIUS. 109 CONTRA . LEGES . CONTRA . Q^ MOREIVt. iVTAJfORURf , TRIBUNUS . PLEBEI . HOMlNlBUS . ACCITIS . PER . VIM. INAUSPICATO . SENTENTIAM . DE.EO . TULt- RIT. MULTAM. 0^ NULLO. EXEMPLO . IRROGARIT. PRIDES . 0^.08 . EAM . REM . DARE. COG AT. AUT. SI .NON. DET. IN . VINCULA. DUCI . JUBEAT . UT EUM. A. COLLEGE. VI. PROMISE AMUS. ET . QUOD. CONTRA. ( C6LLEGA . POSTULAVIT . NE ". SIBI *- IN- TER CEDAMlfS . QUO . MINUS . SUAPTE . POTESTA- TE . UTI . LICEAT . DE . EA . RE . NOSTRUM . anceftors, having by undue means collected a multitude together, has impofed a fine upon him, fpr which there exifts no precedent. He has exa&ed fecurities from him ; on his refufal to produce which, he has commanded that h ihoald be imprifoned, He has entreated our proteclioa irom the violence of our colleague ; who, on the contrary, has entreated that we mould not interfere with his exercife of his juft authority. The opinion given on this fubjedl in common by us al!, is this If Lucius Cornelius Scipio Afiaticus will give to our colleague the fecurities required, we will intercede; to prevent his being committed to prifon. If he mail refufe to give the fecurities required, we will by no means obftruft our colleague in the exercife of his' authority." The fame faft is related in Livy, Book xxxviii. q^o. ar.d every thing which the Roman law involves, iiluftradve of the queftion here difcufled, is to be feen in Htineccius,p, 677, 678, and 679. The {lory of Scipio was this He was reported to have 'been bribed by Antiochus to grant him favourable terni^ of peace at the fum of fix thoufand pounds weight of gold, and four hundred and eighty thoufand pounds weight of filver. He was called upon by the tribune to account for this, or fr.bmit to fuch penalties as his official aiHhority enabled hira to impofe, TIA . no THE ATTIC NIGHTS TIA . OMNIUM . DATA . EST . SI . L. CORNELIUS . SCIPIO . ASIATICUS . COLLEGE . ARBITRATU . PRIDES . D ABIT . COLLEGE . NE . &VM . IN . VINCU- LA . DUCAT . INTERCEDEMUS . SI . EJUS . ARBI- TRATU . PR/EDES . NON . DABIT . QUO . MINUS . COL- LEGA . SUA . POTESTATE . UTATUR . NON .INTER- CEDEMUS. After this decree, when Auguririas, the tri- bune of the people, commanded L. Scipio, not giving fecurities, to be feized and led to prifon, Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, a tribune of the people, and father of Tiberius and Caius Gracchus, who, from various difputes refpecting the commonwealth, was a violent enemy to P. Scipio Africanus, publicly avowed that no re- conciliation had taken place betwixt him and P. Africanus. He then thus recited a decree from his tablet. The words of which were thefe : CUM . L. CORNELIUS . SCIPIO .* ASIATICUS. 2RIUMPHANS. HOSTIUM . DUCES . IN. CARCEREM. CONJECTAVERIT . * Cum Lucius C. Scipio. In Englifh thus : Lucius Cor- nelius Scipio Afiaticus having obtained the honour of a tri- umph, and thrown the leaders of the enemy into prifon, it feemed inconfiftent with the dignity of the republic to com- mit a general of the Roman people to that place where the leaders of the enemies had been by him confined. There- /ore I ufe my interpofnion to fave Lucius Cornelius Scipio Afiaticus from the violence of my colleague." The interpofition of Gracchus availed but only for the prefent moment. The invidious bufmefs was afterwards lefumed ; aad &Qugh i; appeared that all the effefts and pro- perty OF AULUS GELLIUS. in CONJECTAVERIT . ALIENUM . VIDETUR . ESSE . DIG- NITATE. REIPUBLIC^B . IN . EITM . LOCUM . IMPERA- TOREM . POPULI . ROMANI . DUCI . IN . QUEM . LOCUM . AB . EO . CONJECTI . SUNT . DUCES . HOS- TIUM . ITA . Q^ L. CORNELIUM . SciPIONEM . ASIATICUM . A . COLLEGE . vi . PROHIBEO. But Valerius Antias, contrary to this record of the decrees, and againft the authority of the An- cient Annals, has affirmed, that this intercefiion made by Tiberius Gracchus in favour of Scipio Afiaticus, was after the death of Scipio Africa- nus : He adds, that no fine was impofed upon Scipio; but that, being condemned for peculation with refpeft to the money of Antiochus, on his not giving fecurity, he was ordered to be fenc to prifon, from which he was delivered by the interceffion of Gracchus. perty of Scipio were not of Efficient value to fatisfy the fine which had been impofed, yet every thing he had was fold. A ftriking proof how tranfient is the gale of public favour, though obtained, as in the cafe before us, by real and impor- tant fervicet. CHAP, CHAP. XX. Virgil, becaufe he was refufed water by the inhabitants of Nola y erafed the word not as it is generally applied, but with great pro- priety and pure Latinity. For the words defen- dere and offendere are oppolite to each other ; the one fignifies incurrcre in atiquid, to meet any thing, the other to repel, which is the thing in- tended by Q^ Claudius in this paffage. CHAP. OF AULUS GELLIUS, 139 CHAP. II. The words in which Herodes Attlcus reproved one who, with the drefs and habit, faljely ajumed the title and manner of a philofopher. IN my prefence, a certain man, with a long cloak ' and hair, and with a beard reach- ing to his girdle, approached Herodes Atti- cus, a man of confular rank, eminent for his amiable Long cloak.} The affected aufterity of manner and mean drefs which diftinguifhed the old philofophers, was a fubjeft which frequently exercifed the talents of the comic writers of Greece and Rome. The man here mentioned was probably a Cynic, to which feft the remark above more particularly applies. An entertaining defcription of one of thefe philofophers is found in Alciphron, and is to this ef- fect: " He faw one of thofe people who, from their behaviour, are called Cynics, and, in imitation of him, foon exceeded the extravagance of his mailer. The appearance he makes is hideous and difgufting ; he (hakes his uncombed locks, his look is ferocious; as to his drefs, he goes half naked, having a little wallet hanging before him, and a ftaff of wild olive in his hands. He wears no (hoes, is very filthy, and totally unmanageable, &c." See alfo the Hermotimus of Lucian; and Alciphron, in another place, thus fpeaks of Epicurus " He is an unwholefome, filthy wretch, wrapped up in cloth made of hair inftead of wool." The character of Apemantus is well jeprefented by Shakfpeare, in his play ofTimon of Athens. i 4 o THE ATTIC NIGHTS amiable difpofition, and his accomplifliments in Grecian eloquence, and requefted money to be given him for bread. Herodes on this afked him who he was ? he, with an angry tone and frown- ing countenance, replied, he wa,s a philofopher; and expreffed his furprize that he Ihould be afked who he was, when his appearance declared it. " I perceive," returned Herodes, u the beard and the cloak, but I do not fee the philofopher; but I befeech you to tell us with good -humour, by the ufe of what arguments we fhould be able to know you to be a philofopher." On this, fome of thofe who were prefent with Herodes affirmed, that, this was a ftrolling fellow, of no character, a frequenter of the meaneft brothels; and that unlefs he got what he afked, it was his cuftom to be impudent and abufive. " Let us," interrupted Herodes, " give this man fomething, whoever he may be, confidering our own charac- ters, and not his;" and he ordered money enough to be given him to procure bread for thirty days. Then, looking upon us who were near him, Athens. This perfonage, fpeaking of the drefs which Ti-^ mon now wore, affecting to imitate him, fays, If thou didft put this four cold habit on To caftigate thy pride, 'twere well.- See alfo Horace. Ep. 2. B. 2. This poet, fpeaking of the affe&ed peculiarities of this race of men, mentions, among other things, their folemn filence Statua taciturnior exit Plerumque et rifu populum quatit. " Mufonius," OF AULUS GELLIUS. 141 Mufonius/'fayshe, "gave to a beggar of this kind, pretending to be aphilofopher, athoufand fefterces ; and when many-people obferved,that he wasapro- fiigate fellow, of the vileft character, who deferv- ed nothing at all, they affirm that Mufonius re- plied with a fmile, < therefore he deferves mo- ney 1 .' But this it is," he continued, . 1 Erundii/ium.]FrQin this celebrated harbour the Ro- mans ufually embarked to go to Greece. It was in this place, now called Brindifi, that Virgil died. * Arjjleas."} This Arifteas was a poet ; and a long account of him may be found in the fourth book of Herodotus, Two fragments of his works remain, one in Longinus, the cthet in Tzetzes. VOL. II. L liigonws I4 6 THE ATiyC NIGHTS Ifigonus J of Nicse;*, Ctefias *, Oneficritus 5 , Poly- ftephanus 6 , and Hegefias 7 . The volumes, from their long- expofcrc, were very filthy, and in their outward appearance as bad as poffible. I ap- proached, however, and enquired the price : in- duced by their wonderful and unexpected cheap- nefs, I bought a great many books for very little money ; and in the two following nights f took a curfory perufal of them all. In my progrefs I made fome fele&ions, and noted many wonder- ful things, which few, if any, of our writers have handled. I have inferted them in tlrefe com- mentaries, that whoever^fhall read them may not: 3 I/lgonus."\ This perfon is fpoken of by Pliny, in the 2d Chapter of the yth book of his Natural Hiftory. Per- haps no other account of him remains than what appears in that author. . 4 *Cte/jas.] This man was an hiftorian, and wrote many things contradicting the aflertions of Herodotus. He pro- bably livedi in the time of the younger Cyru*. The Riblio- theca of Photius contains the particulars of this author's works, with fome remarks on his ityle and abilities. 5 One/icritus.~\ Arrian, Strabo, and Plutarch, feverally make mention of this writer, who was the companion, and who, in a difrufe metaphorical ftyle, wrote the exploits of Alexander the Great. * Polyftepha/ius^vtas an hiftorian, and is mentioned in terms of refpccl by the Scholiaft to Apollonius Rhodius. ]rIt is related. of this philofopher, that he painted tae calamities of life in fo very forcible a manner, that many of his hearers were induced to put an end to their lives, bee Cicero, Tufculan Queftions, Book i. be 6F AULUS GELLIUS. 147 te altogether ignorant, and one who has never been a hearer of fuch things. In thefe books were paflages fuch as thefe : That the Scythians who are rrioft remote, and who live as it were- at the very pole, fed on human flefti, and fupported them- felves by fuch nutriment, arid were called An- thropophagi 8 : that there were alfd men beneath the fame climate having one eye in the middle of the forehead j and called Arimafpi 9 , with which * Anthropophagi.} Of whom Herodotus fpeaks in his Melpomene. See a curious and entertaining chapter on th fubjedt of cannibals in Montaigne's EfTays. There is alfo A paflage on this fubjeft in the fifteenth Satire of Juvenal, not unworthy attention. * Arimafpi.} Thefe people are alfo mentioned by He- rodotus, Melpomene, chap, i 3. See alfo the Prometheus: vin&us of ./Efchylus avoid The Arimafpian troops, whofe frowning foreheads Glare with one blazing eye, Thefe Arimafpia'ns are introduced by Lucan, in his third book : he fay?; they bound their hair with gold. -AurOque ligatas Subftringerts Arimafpe comas. Other authors reprefeiit, that there were continual wares betwixt the gryphons and Arimafpians, for this gold, of which fable Milton makes an elegant ufe : As when a gryphon through the wildernefs,' With winged courfe, o'er hill or moory dale Purfues the Arimafpian, who by ftealtK " Had from his wakeful cuftody purloin'd The guarded gold L 2 countenance I 4 8 THE ATTIC NIGHTS countenances the poets defcribe the Cyclops r that there were alfo men near the fame diftrict of extraordinary fwiftnefs, having the direction of their feet reverfed, and not as other men, pointing forwards. They related alfo, how it had been handed down from tradition, that in a certain re- mote part of the earth, which is called Albania,, men were produced whofe hair was grey in childhood, and who faw more clearly by night than by day : that it was faid and believed of the Sauromata?, who live at a great diftance beyond the Boryfthenes,that they only took food on every third day, abftaining on that which intervened, I alfo found written in the fame books, what I af- terwards read in the feventh book of the Natural Hiftory of the Elder Pliny, that in Africa were certain families of men, who had the power of faf- cination in their fpeech 10 ; who, if by chance they t& Fafcinatton in their fpeeeb.] To this idea Virgil with- out doubt alludes in his feventh Eclogue Aut fi ultra placitum laudarit, baccare frontem Cingite ne vati noceat mala lingua future. La Cerda fays, that it was ufual with the antients, when they praifed any thing, to add praz-fafcino, that is, fine fafcino, meaning they had no evil intentions, no thought of fafcina- tkm. The baccar was fuppofed to counteradl the effedts of magic. The idea that a power of fafcination exifled in the eyes was more prevalent, and certainly more plaufible. See Virgil's third Eclogue Nefcio quis teneros oculus mihi fafcinat agnos. I cannot tell what eye fafcinates my tender lambs. The OF AULUS GELLIUS. 149 t'hey extrvagantly praifed beautiful trees, plentiful crops, lovely infants, excellent horfes, cattle which were fat and well fed, all of thefe fuddenly .died from this and no other caufe. It was relat- ed in thefe fame books, that a mortal fafcination fometimes ex'rfts in the eyes - } and itus faid that there are men in Illyrium, who kill by their light thole whom they look at for any time, with anger ; and that thefe, of whom there are both male and The fame Pliny alfo mokes .mention of a people diiHnguifh- ed by peculiarities certainly not lefs wonderful than any which are here defcribedi they were propagated without women : " Gens fola et in toto orbe praeter cameras mira fine u!la ;foemina omni venere abdicata, fine pecunia, focia palmarum. Jta per feculorum millia incredibile diftu gens aeterna eft in qua nemo nafcitur. Tarn foecunda illis aliorum vita; poem- tentia eft." Which fentence Mr. Gibbon thus paraph,rafes : " The philofophic eye of Pliny had furveycd with afto- nimment a folitary people, who dwelt among the palm-trees, near the Dead Sea, who fubiiftqd without money, who were propagated without women, and who derived from the dif- gufr and repentance of mankind a perpetual fupply of volun- tary affociates." See alfo Robinfon's 1 Piiquifi'tion concern- 4ng Ancient India. But unfortunately Megafthenes was fo fond cf the marvel- lous, that he mingled with the truths which he related, many -extravagant fictions j and rohim maybe traced up the fabu- lous tales of men with ears fo large that they could wrap themfclves up in them ; of others with a iingle eye, without mouths, without nofes, with long feet and toes turned back- wards; of people only three fpans in height; of wild men with heads in the fhape of a wedge ; of ants as large as .foxes, that dug up gold, and many other things no lefs won- derful. L 3 female, THE ATTIC NIGHTS female, who have this deadly power of fight, have two pupils " in each eye. That there are alfo, in the mountains of India, men who have heads, and who bark like dogs ", and who fupport them- felves by hunting birds and wild beafts : as alfo, what is no lefs wonderful, there are, in the ex- treme parts of the Eaft, men, called Monocoli, who go hopping on one leg with the moft won- derful fwiftne/s; and that there are fome who have no heads, whofe eyes are in their moulders. But it exceeeds all bounds of wonder, whatthefe fame writers affirm, that there is a nation in the extre- i .. mity of India, having their bodies fledged, -and with the plumage of birds, who eat no kind of food, but live t>y inhaling by their noftrils the perfume of flowers : that not far from thefe are the Pigmies, the talleft of whom are not more than two feet and a quarter. J j'ead thefe and many other things of the fame kind, but in tran- fcribing them I was difgufted by the ufelefTnefs of fuch writings, not at all contributing to the or- nament or comfort of life. Yet I think it net 11 1'nuo pupils.'] Ovid has applied this idea very happily, in fome verfes, where he execrates a bawd for inftru&ing his miftrefs in meretricious arts. Hanc ego nodlurnas verfam volitare per umbras Sufpicor, et pluma corpus anile regi, Sufpicor, et fama eft oculis quoque pupula duplex Fulminat, et gemino lumen ab orbj venit. 14 Like dcgs.~\ See Herodotus. Book iv. chap. 191. to which paflage, with fny note upon it, I beg leave to refer the reader. improper. OF AULUS GELLIUS. 151 improper, in this chapter of miracles, to tranfcribe what Pliny the Elder, a man who, in his own times, was of high authority, both for talents and dignity, has in his feyenth book of Natural Hif- tory recorded, not as what he had heard or read, but what he had himfelf known and feen. The paflage which is added below is in the words of Pliny, taken from the above-mentioned book, which indeed make the popular tale of Csenis and Cseneus in the old poets neither incredible nor .ridiculous. " That women," he fays, " have been chang- ed into men 1} -is not fabulous. We find, in the Annals, in the confulfhip of Q^ Licinius Craffus, and Caius Caffius Longinus, that at Caflinum 'a girl became a boy, in the houfe of its parents, and by command of the augurs was tranfported to a defert ifland. 'Licinius Mucianus has related that he himfelf faw at Afgos one Arefcontes, whofe * **- ,name had been Arefcufa, and who had been married, but who afterwards had a beard, be- came a man, and took a wife : and that at Smyr- na alfo he had feen a boy of this defcription. I jmyfelf, in Africa, faw' Lucius Coiiicus, a citizen *' Into men."]- The following extrad, without any com- ment, is from Montaigne : " Myfelf paffing by Vitry le Frar^ois, a town in Champagne, faw a man, the bi&op of Soifibns had in confirmation, called German, whom all the in- habitants of the place had known to be a girl, till iwo-and- twenty years of age called Mary" It was by ftraining him- felf in a leap, it feems, that this wonderful change took place. L 4 of. 152 THE ATTIC NIGHTS ofThyfdrum, who became a man on the day of his marriage, and was alive when I wrote this." The fame Pliny, in the fame book, has alfo thefe words : " There are men born who have the marks of each fex, whom we call herma- phrodites : formerly they were called Androgyni, and reckoned prodigies I4 , now they are confider- ed as objects of delight. ** Prodigies.'] When any of thefe monftrous births hap- pened, the child, by order of the Arufpices, was anciently ordered to be thrown into the fea. CHAP. OF AULUS GELLIUS. i CHAP. V. Different opinions of eminent philofophers concerning the nature of pleafure. Words of Hierocles the philofopher, in which fa ofpojes the decrees of Epicurus. THE ancient philofophers have avowed dif- ferent opinions concerning pleafure. Epi- curus afferts, that pleafure is the chief good, and fie defines it thus, " a firm conftitution of body." Antifthenes, the Socratic, calls it the greateft evil. Jrlis exprefilon is this " I would rather be mad, than purfue pleafure." Speufippus, and all the old academy, fay that pleafure and pain are two evils oppofing one ano- ther; that is good which is intermediate betwixt both. Zeno thought pleafure a thing indifferent, that is neutral, neither good nor evil, which he himfelf named, by a, Greek word, ahxtpopw. Critolaus, the Peripatetic, affirms, that pleafure is an evik and produces of itfelf many other evils, injuries, floth, oblivion, and ftupidity. Above all thefe, Plato has difputed concerning pleafure in fo many and various ways, that all thefe fenti- ments I have mentioned before, feem to have if- fued from the fources of his arguments. For he iifes every one of them, as the nature of pleafure $ itfelf, i-54 THE ATTIC NIGHTS itfelf, which is multiplied, allows, and as the rea-* 4bn of the caufes which he investigates, and of the things which he would demonftrate, requires. But .our countryman Tauru.s, as often as mention was made of Epicurus, had in his mouth, and on his lips, thefe words of Hierocles the Stoic ', a man of J Tbcfe words of Hierocles f be Stoic.] Enfield's valuable Hif- tory of Philofophy will fatisfy and inftruft the Engliih reader on thefubjeft of the fummum bonum,or chief gc<,d, as difcuf- fcd by the ancient philofophers. The .Greek faying of Hiero- cles at the,conclufi.on .of the chapter, has ftrangcly perplexed the commentators on Gellius. It remained for our Bentley to remove all obfcurity from the paiFage, K-y an alteration fo ilm- ple that it is wonderful it fhculd not fooncr have occurred, and fo fatisfaSory as to exdude all further controverfy. I cannot do better than give the reader Bentlcy's own words: " Now that I amfpeaking of vfotout, 1 cannot omit a' very elegant fay i.ng of Hierocles the Stoic, which, as A. Gellius tells us, the Platonic philofopher Taurus had always in his mouth when Epicurus was mentioned, H^ouj -reho*; wopus ^y^, a {T vopnat Kam itoft^ hypa. ; which being manifellly corrupt- ed, our moil excellent biihop Pearfon corrects it thus, H^ovv T&OI; ' TTOfvfii; $<>/[ ' t* EJT( Tr^ovoia a^fv' 7Top)? ooypc*, '. That IS, *' Pleafure is the fummum bonum, a ftrumpet's tenet. Pro- vidence is nothing, a ftrumpet's tenet." Now the emenda- tion in the main is true and good, for wopi/ei* i? with great fagacity changed by him into wgoota, which is the bafis of the whole fentence. But yet there is fomething harfh in the fyntax that his Lordfhip has made there, ax *?T ir^toi v&v, for the author, if he had ufed a<$W, would have faid B-jjovoia ? E?TI. Befides, that the fame anfwer, wop>*)? Joy^a, coming twice, makes the faying a little too flat, and fcarce worthy to be ufed by Taurus fo frequently ; nor is it true that all {trumpets deny Providence. I am perfuaded that the true OF AULUS GELLIUS. 155 of great dignity and worth, " Let pleafure be the end, is the tenet of a harlot -, but that there is no Providence, is not the tenet even of an harlot." true reading is ^hus: H^ouj re\o$' Jc Esprit Soypct. Now it is impofiible in our language to exprefs this faying with the fame brevity and turn that the original ha?, but the meaning of it is, " Pleafure is the fum- mum bonum,r a ftrumpet's tenef. There is no Providence -a tenet too bad even for a ftrumpet." Bentley on Pha- laris. Pope, in his Ethic Epiftles, thus comments on the opinions of the ancient philofophers on happinefs : A& of the learn'd the way ; the learn'd are blind ; <. This bids to ferve, and that to fhun mankind; Some place the blifs in aftion, fome in eafe, Thefe call it pleafure, and contentment thefe : Who thus define it, fay they more or lefs Than this, that happinefs is happinefs ? One grants his pleafure is but reft from pain, One doubts of all, one owns ev'n virtue vain. See Bifhop Warburton's remarks on the above paflage ia jinfwer to Croufa*. VOL. II. L 6 CHAP. 156 THE ATTIC NIGHTS CHAP. VI. How the frequentative verb from ago is to le fro- mwced in the firft vowel T . FROM ago, egiy come the verbs which the grammarians call frequentative, aSito > affi- taw. I have heard fome, and thefe not unlearned men, pronounce thefe as if the firljt vowel was ihort : and they give as a reafon that in the prin- cipal verb ago the firft vowel is fo -pronounced. Why then from the verbs edo and ungo, in which verbs the firft letter is pronounced fhort, do we make the firft letter of their frequentatives efito and unftito long j and on the contrary we make the firft letter of diftito y which comes from dico> ihort ? Are therefore affito and aftitavi to be long ? Since frequentatives are almoft without excep- tion pronounced, with refpect to the firft vowel, * This is without doubt one of the chapters in Gellius which cannot be fuppofed materially to intereft the Englifh reader, but, with many other chapters, it is of ufe to prove that the Romans muft unqueftionably have had a mode, and that a very delicate one, of varying the pronunciation of words, fome of which, to us, appear perfectly unequivocal. In fuch a word as attito, or unciito, the firft vowel is obvioufly long by pofition, nor is it eafy to vary its pronunciation, fo that it might be imagined a fhort fyllable. Quando veteres dicunt fyllabam efie brevem quae pofitione fit longa, intelligi hoc debet de folo vocalis fono, non de fyllaba ; fie prima in dili$o brevis, ut A. Gellius ait, lib. ix. cap. 6. quafi dicas etfi dicatur deico, tamen ejus frequentati- vum non fonare deittito, fed di-fiitc. Voffius de Arte Gram- matics, 1. ii. c. 12. See alfo what he fays, 1. i. c. 12. about unftito, attito, &c. 8 as OF AULUS GELLIUS. 157 as the participles of the preterite of the verbs from which they are derived are pronounced, on the fame fyllable, as lego, leflus, leftito j fo ungo, unflus, unftito t jcfifo,fcriptus,jcriptito j moveo, mo- tus, motito ; pendeOy penfus y penfito ; edo, efus, efito ; but we fay dico, diclus> diftito - t gero, geftus, geftito ; veto, veftus, veflito ; rapip, raptus, raptito capic y captus, captito -, facio y faftus, faftito. So alfo ac- tito is to be pronounced long in the firft fyllable, fince it comes from ago, aftus. CHAP. HE ATTIC CHAP. VII. Of tie change of leaves * on the olive-tree on the jirjl day of winter and Jummer. Of mufical firings founding at that time without being ftruck. IT has been popularly written and believed, that the leaves of olive-trees undergo a change on the firft day of the winter or fummer folilice ; and that part of them which wats beneath and out of fight became uppermoft, vifible to the eye, and expofed to the fun ; which I myfelf; more than once, being defirous to obferve/ have feen actually take place. 1 Change of leaves. ~\ Aflertions made in this unequivocal form muft certainly have been the refult of fome obfervation," however erroneous. Of the fcience of botany the ancients with- out doubt kne\va great deal more than we are inclined to al- low ; but this remark of Gellius, with refpect to the olive, is unqueftionably a miftake. Some leaves, as for inftance thofe of the afpin and the poplar, which are fubject to a conftant and tremulous motion, might, from being in a greater degree af- feled by the equinoctial winds, deceive the eye ; and there are alfo other leaves, as thofe of the hyacinth, campanula, &c.' which can perform their functions in any fituation. But the olive is a fturdy and inflexible plant, and if the leaves were; by any operation, placed with the lower parts above, the fibres muft be wounded, and the leaves die. Here is therefore ibme greater miftake than my knowledge of the fubjedl will- enable me to explain.- But OF AULUS GELLIUS. 159 But what is faid of mufical firings 2 is more uncommon and wonderful, which thing many other learned men, and in particular Suetonius Tranquillus, in his book of Ludicrous Hiftory, affirms, has been fufficiently proved, and indeed is unequivocally certain, that fome chords of mu- fical inflruments, on the day of the winter folftice, being flruck with the fingers, others will found. * Mujicalflrings.] With the ufual inaccuracy of the an- cients in matters of experiment, we have an effect of mufical firings here mentioned as belonging to a particular feafon, which would doubtlefs have taken place at any other time, though perhaps better in fome kinds of weather than in others. From the concife manner in which the fafl is men- tioned, it is rather doubtful what might be intended ; but as we know of no fympathetic founds except thofe produced by the vibration of firings in unifon, or oclave, to the firing which is flruck, we may conclude that this was what Sueto- nius wrote of. As the inflruments of the ancients had no great compafs of notes, it probably was meant that a firing flruck on one lyre would produce found in another ; which certainly is true, but this effect would have taken place at any part of the year, had it been tried. We cannot fuppofe any thing fo fubtle to be intended as the third founds of .Romieu and Tartini, the production of which depends upon holding out the founds of two notes at once, in a way that could not have been praftifed on the ancient fides. This, however, or any other effect we can conceive of fuch a nature, would have happened in all feafons. VOL. II. L 8 CHAP. 160 THE ATTIC NIGHTS CHAP. VIII. He wbo has much mufl mcejfarily want much. T'ke opinion of Favorinus the fhilcjopher on this Jubjeft exprejfed with elegant brevity '. I T is certainly true what wife men, from their obfervation of the ufe of things, have that he who has much muft wan^t much, and That this chapter contains a great moral truth, nobody will attempt to deny ; and a multitude of pailages might be cited, both from Greek and Latin writers, to prove that the idea and expreffion was proverbial. Gronovius thinks, and with great probability, that in this place Favorinus alludes to the celebrated Lucullus, whofe enormous wealth was a frequent fubjeft of admiration with the poets and writers of his time. Chlamydes, Lucullus, ut aiunt, Si poffet centum fcen;e p; rcbere rogatus, Qai pofium tot ait ; tamen et quasnam et quos habcbp Klittam, poll paulo fcribit fibi millia quinquc Efte domi Chlamydum, partem vel tolleret omnes. Pope, perhaps, in his imitation of Horace, has been lef /uccefsful, with refpect to this brilliant pafTage, than in other places : he contents himfelf with faying, This wealth brave Timon glorioufly confounds ; Afk'd for a great, he gives a thoufand pounds. Perhaps in any other writer than Pope it would have been ebferved, that the firft line is far from perfpicuous j for i njay OF AULUS GELLIUS. i6t and that great indigence arifes not from great want, but great abundance. For many things are wanted to preferve the many things which you have. Whoever, therefore, having much, wifhes to take care, and fee before-hand that he may not want or be defective in any thing, has need of lofs and not of gain, and muft have lefs that he may want lefs. I remember this fentiment ut- tered by Favorinus, amidft the loudeft applaufes, and conveyed in thefe very few words : " He who has ten thoufand or five thoufanci garments, muft inevitably want more. Wanting therefore fomething more than I poflefs, if I take away from what I have, I may content my- felf with the remainder." ', may be afked, what is meant by Timon confounding hi$ wealth ? The idea of Horace is very different, and lucid as the light itfelf: he reprefents an individual as being fo exceed- ingly rich, that he does not know the extent of his riches. The quotation from Favorinus, as it ftands in the edition of Gronovius, is not fatisfadtory. But all difficulty feema immediately to be removed, if initead of on; yup s^u we yead P/S y'/> E^W. IL M THE ATTIC NIGHTS CHAP. IX. Manner of transferring Greek fentiments into Latin, compojitions. Of thofe verfes of Homer which Virgil has been thought to have imitated well and elegantly, or the contrary. WHEN elegant fentiments are to be imi- tated and tranflated from Greek poems, we are not, it is faid, always to endeavour to place every word 1 according to the order in which they originally (land; for many things lofe their beauty when, in a tranflation, they are diftorted as it were by unnatural violence. Vir- gil has therefore demonftrated both fkill and 1 To place every wsrd.] A fimilar fentiment is exprefled by Lord Bolingbroke* in his Letters on Hiftory, which I have before had occafion to quote. To tranflate ferviiely into modern language an ancient author, phrafe by phrafe, and word by word, is prepofterous, &c. From an ingenious publication, entitled, An Eflay on the Principles of Tranflation, I extradt the following account of a perfect trar.flation: " I would therefore," fays this wri- ter, " defcribe a good tranflation to be that in which the merit of the original work is fo completely transfufed into another language, as to be as diftin&ly apprehended, and as ftrongly felt, by a native of the country to which that lan- guage belongs, as it is by thofe who fpeak the language of the original work." judgment, OF AULUS GELLIUS. 163 judgment, when, defiring to transfer paflages from Homer, Hefiod, Apollonius, Parthenius, Calli- machus, or Theocritus, he has omitted fome things, and borrowed others. Thus, when very lately at table the Bucolics of Theocritus and Virgil were read together, we perceived that Virgil had omitted what in the Greek is indeed very delightful, but which neither can nor ought to be tranflated. But what he has fubftituted in place of what he omitted, is perhaps more agree- able and pertinent. xa jM,aAor rov KiiroXov a, K Malo me Galatea petit, lafciva puella, Et fugit ad falices et fe cupit ante videri. * Thefe lines of Theocritus are thus translated by Mr, Polwhele : Oft Clearifta pelts with apples crifp Her fvvain, and in a whifper loves to lifp. But this is inadequate, and leaves out a material circum- ftance, The literal meaning is, Clearifta throws apples at the goat-herd as be drives his goats along, whifpering fome- thing kind at the time. Virgil's lines are thus rendered by Dryden, My Phyllis me with pelted apples plies, Then tripping to the woods the wanton hies. And wifhes to be feen before Ihe flies. \ A Jimilar idea is beautifully exprefled by Horace Nunc et latentes proditor intimo Gratus puellse rifus ab angulo. M 2 We 164 TH ATTIC NIGHTS We obferved alfo that in another paflage he had carefully omitted what in the Greek verfe is moft delightful Ttrup /Aiv TO xaAov Tr^jXajum, |3oipwTov 3 n TspTTOjtAfVJ] XOOrpOHTl XXI WJCfJJIJ Tn $t 6' a,[AK vvptpaiy xxpoa AJO? Aypovopoi 7ri^8 / I life Pope's tranflation of thefe lines from Homer : As when o'er Erymanth Diana roves, Or wide Taygetus refounding groves, A iilver train the huntrefs queen furrounds, Her rattling quiver from her fhouldef founds ; Fierce in the fport, along the mountain's brow They bay the boar, or chafe the bounding roe ; High o'er the lawn, with more majeftic pace, Above the nymphs me treads with Itately grace ; Diftinguilh'd excellence the goddefs proves, Exults Latona as the virgin moves : With equal grace Nauficaa trod the plain, And fhone tranfcendent o'er the beauteous train. M 3 Thefe 166 THE ATTIC NIGHTS Qualis in Eurotse ripis aut per juga Cynthi Exercet Diana chores : quam mille fecucas Hinc atque hinc glomerancur Oreadesj ilia pharetram Thefe of Virgil are thus rendered by Dry len Such on Eurotas banks, or Cynthu.5 height, Diana feerns, and fo fhe charms the fight. When in the dance the eracefui goddefs leads The quire of nymphs, and overtops thei^ heads. Known by her quiver and her lolly mein, She walks majefirj, and fae looks their queen. It may not be improper to infert here the anAver of Sea- liger to this criticifm of Gellius, which, however, will not fatisfy every reader. I tranfcribe the note from Pope's own edition of his Homer. Scaliger observes, that the perfcns, not the places, are intended to be represented by both poets; otherwise uomer himfelf is blameable, for Nauftcaa is not fporrng on a, mountran, but a plain, and has neither bow nor quiver, like Diana. Neither is there any w right in the objection con* cerning the gravity of the gait of Dido, for neither is Is. u- jjicaa defcribed in the aft of hunting, but danc ; ng. And as for the woidpertentanf, it is a metaphor taken from muficians and mulical inltruments, it denotes a ftrong degree of joy. Per bears an intenfive fenfe, and takes in the perfection of joy. As to the quiver, it was an enfign of the goddefs, as pyjfTc|oc was of Apollo, and is applied to her upon all oc- cafions indifferently, not only by Virgil but more frequent- ly by Homer. Daftly, pa E, &c. is fuperfluous, for the joy of Latona compleats the whole ; and Homer has already faid, ysy^E Jg, &c. Upon which Pope remarks, that there is ftill a greater com fpondence to the fubjeft intended to be illufrrated in Homer than in Virgil, which indeed feems fufficiently ob- vious, without adding any thing further on the fubjeft. Pert OF AULUS GELLIUS. 167 Fert humero, gradienfque deas fupereminet omnes, Latonse taciturn pertentant gaudia pectus. They obferved, firft, that it appeared to Pro- bus, that in Homer the virgin Nauficaa, fporting among her fellow nymphs in a folitary place, is properly and confiftently compared with Diana hunting on the fummits of the mountains among the rural goddeffes : but Virgil has been by no means confident j for as Dido is in the midft of a city, walking among the Tyrian princes, with a ferious gait and gefture, as he himfelf fays, fuper- intending the labours of her people and her fu- ture empire, he can from thence take no fimilitude adapted to the fports and huntings of Diana. Homer afterwards ingenioufly and directly places the pleafures and purfuits of Diana in hunting. But Virgil, not having faid any thing concerning the hunting of the goddefs, only makes her carry her quiver on her moulder as a fatigue and a bur- den. And they added, that Probus particularly expreffed his furprize at Virgil's doing this, be- caufe the Diana of Homer enjoys a real and un- affected delight, and one which entered deeply into the very receffes of her foul; for what elfe can mean ytynQs & n fv T^TOicrj KaTU!/a to be interpreted either way Et vulhere tardus UlyfTei fpeaking of the wound, not which Ulyfles had received, but inflicted. Nefcius is alfo applied to him who is unknown, and to him who knows not. Only that qui nejcit is the more frequent acceptation of this word, quod nejcitur not fo. Ignarus may in like manner be applied both ways, and means not only he who is ignorant, but who is unknown. Plautus, in his Rudens, fays Quse in locis mjciis mjcia fpe fumus. And Salluft More humanse cupidinis ignara vifundh And Virgil Ignarum X.aurens habet ora MimantJu Vol. II. N dtfAP. iy8 THE ATTIC NIGHTS CHAP. XIII. A ^aff age from tfa Hi/lory of Claudius Quadriga- riusy where he describes the engagement of Man- lius Torquatus, a noble youth, and an enemy of Gaul, who gave a general challenge. TITUS MANLIUS was a perfon of high rank, and of the firft degree of nobi- lity; he afterwards received the cognomen of Torquatus. We have been informed that the caufe of this cognomen was a chain, a golden fpoil which he took away from an enemy whom he flew, and afterwards wore. Who the enemy was, of how great and formidable ftature, how audacious the challenge, and in what kind of battle they fought, Quintus Claudius, in his firft book of Annals, has defcribed with much purity and elegance, and in the fimple and unadorned fweetnefs of ancient language. When Favorinus the philofopher read the paffage from this book, he ufed to fay that his mind was affected with no lefs ferious emotion, than if he had feen the combatants engaged before him. I have added the words of Claudius, in which this battle is defcribed : " At OF AULUS GELLIUS. " At this period a Gaul, entirely unprotected, except with his. fhield and two fwords T , advanc- ed, wearing a chain and bracelets : he was fu- perior to the reft in ftrength, in fize, in vigour, and in courage. In the very height of the battle, when both fides were fighting with the greatest ardour, he made a motion with his hand * that the * Shield end two fooords.]* The Ihields of the Germans and Gauls were very large, their fwords very long and heavy. One of thefe fwords was probably a dagger. The Turks, befides their fword, have commonly a dagger ftucfe in their girdle. The mod fublime defcription of a battle betwixt two warriors, is that of Milton, in his fixth book, where Satan is reprefented as oppofed to Michael:- Who, though with the tongue Of angels, can relate, or to what things Liken on earth conspicuous, that may lift Human imagination to fuch height Of godlike power? for likeft gods they feem'd, Stood they or mov'd, in ftature, motion, arms, Fit to decide the empire of great heaven. Now wav'd their fiery fwords, and in the air Made horrid circles; two broad funs their ftiiekU Blaz'd oppofite, while expectation flood In horror: from each hand with fpeed retir'd, Where erft was thickeft fight, th' angelic throng, And left large field, unfafe within the wind Of fuch commotion, &c. &c, * Motion with his band.~\ It is not eafy to conceix'e how, in the clamour and tumult of a great battle, in which multi- tude* were engaged, this could be effe&ed. Homer defcribes N z Heftor i8o THE ATTIC NIGHTS the battle fhould ceafe on both fides. A cef- fation enfued; immediately filenee being obtained he cried with a loud voice, that if any one would fight with him, he was to come forth. On account of his ftature and ferocious appearance, nobody anfwered. The Gaul then began to exprefs fcorn and contempt'. A perfon named Man- lius, of illuftrious rank, was fuddenly ftruck with grief that fo great a difgrace fhould happen to his country, and that of fo numerous an army, no one fhould accept the challenge. He, I fay, on this advanced, nor would fuffer the Roman valour to be bafely contaminated by a Gaul ; armed with the fhield of a foot foldier, and a Spanifh fword, he accordingly met him. This meeting on the bridge, in the prefence of both armies, infpired univerfal awe. As I before faid, they met in arms : the Gaul, according to the manner of his country, putting forth his fhield, ad- vanced with a kind of long 4 . Manlius, relying on Heftor as fufpending the battle by a motion of his fpear, that is, with regard to his own troops,- . The challenge Heftor heard with joy ; Then with his fpear reftrain'd the youth of Troy, Held by the midft athwart, and near the foe Advanc'd, with ileps majeftically flow. 3 Contempt.] See Chapter XI. 4 With a fong.~\ I have defcribed, in my notes to He- rodotus, the different modes in which the ancients advanced to combat. The modern Gauls, it feems, affeft to ad- vance to battle with a fong ; and the Marfeillois hymn has been the fignal of many a fanguinary fcene. his OF AULUS GELLIUS. 181 his courage rather than (kill, ftruck fhield to fhield, and difconcerted the pofition of the Gaul. When the Gaul a fecond time endeavoured to place himfelf in a fimilar pofition, a fecond time Manlius ftruck fhield to fhield, and again oblig- ed the Gaul to fhift his ground. Thus placing him- felf as it we re beneath the fword of the Gaul, he flab- bed him in the breaft with his Spanilh blade. He then, by the force of his right fhoulder, continu- ed the blow, nor did he remit his effort till he had overthrown him, not fuffering the Gaul to have the opportunity of a ftroke. When he had overcome him he cut off his head 5 , took his chain, and placed it, ftained with blood, round his own neck j from which incident, both he and his defcendants bore the cognomen of Torquatus." From this Titus Manlius, whofe battle Quadrigarius has here defcribed, all fevere and imperious orders were called Manlian 6 , fince afterwards, 5 Cut off his head.] It feems in a manner the natural impulfe of a fierce and barbarous people to cut off the heads of their enemies, partly to fatisfy revenge, and partly to carry away as a trophy. This we accordingly find to have been done ; and hence, among the Indians of America, rofe the cuftom of fcalping. It was found cumbrous and inconve- nient to carry away a number of heads, for it muft have been a conftant impediment to flight, and indeed to activity. Convenience, therefore, fuggefted the idea of taking away only the fcalp, an operation which the Indians perform with extraordinary fkill and facility. 6 Manlian.'} Manliana imperia became a proverbial expreffion.- The fail here alluded to is recorded in the N eighth. 182 THE ATTIC NIGHTS afterwards, when he was conful in a war againfh the Latins, he commanded his fon to be behead- ed, who being fent by him to reconnoitre, with orders not to fight, had killed an enemy who had challenged him. eighth book of Llvy ; and the hiftorian, after relating the {lory, makes an obfervation which equally becomes him as a p ulofopher and a man of humanity. The example, fays he, was doubtlefs falutary with regard to pofterity, but at the period when it was perpetrated it could not fail to make the chara&er of the conful odious. Valerius Maximus re^ lates the fame anecdote, adding, that when Manlius returned to Rome, none of the young men would go to meet him ; in fuch deteftation was he held by all the Roman youth, who among themfelves gave him the name of Imperiofus. OF AULUS GELLIUS. 183 CHAP. XIV. The Jame Quadrigarius ajferts, that hujus fades, in the genitive cafe, is proper and good Latin ; with other obfervations on the dedenfions of fimilar words. THE expreflion made ufe of by Quadriga- rius in the preceding chapter, Propter mag- nitudinem atque immanitatem fades y I have taken pains to difcover in fome of our old writers, and I find that he has authority for it : for many of the ancients thus decline d fades, h in his 2jd book : An mznesLtJpecii funulachruminmutofilentum. C. Gracchus Delegibus promulgatis, fays, Ea lux- ii caufa aiunt inftitui. In the fame book, ii> This paflage from Virgil is minntdy imitated by Lucan : Tempus erat quo Libra pares examinat boras, Non uno plus aequa dies, nocVtquc rcpendit Jjux minor hybernae verni folatia- dantni. another THE ATTIC NIGHTS another place, Non eft ea luxuries^ qu which is now in ufe, but fade. Lucilius in his Satires fays : Primum fade quod honeftatis accedit. The fame Lucilius in his feventh book : Qiii te diligat xtetisfacieqite tuse le Fautorem oftendat, fore amicum polliceatur. But there are neverthelefs many who, in both cafes, ufefadi. But C. Casfar, in his fecond book on Analogy, thought it fhould be written hujus die and bujus/pede. I myfelf alfo, in the Jugurtha of Salluft, a book of great credit and refpeftable antiquity, find die in the genitive cafe. The words are thefe : Fix dedma parte die reliqua. I cannot allow that the quibble is to be admitted, of un- derftanding die as if it were ex die 4 . 4 Ex die.} That is, fuppofing it to be an ablative cafe, governed by a prepoution underftood, rather than a parti- cular mode of writing the genitive cafe. 6 C H A P. OF AULUS GELLItfS. 187 CHAP. XV. Of thefpecies of controversy which the Greeks call DURING the fummer holidays f , being de- firous to retire from the heat of the city, I accompanied Antonius Julianus the rhetorician, to Naples. There happened to be a young man of fortune, ftudying and exercifing himfelf with his preceptors, in order to plead caufes at Rome, and accomplifh himfelf in Latin eloquence: this perfon entreated Julianus to hear him declaim. Julianus accordingly went to hear him, and I at- tended him. The young man appeared -> and, 1 Summer holidays*} Rome, and what is ufually termed the Campagna of Rome, has always been deemed unhealthy in the hotter months of fummer. For which reafbn the wealthier of the old Romans always at this feafon retired to their country villas. For this purpofe Naples was efteem- ed the moft agreeable retirement, though many Romans had country feats in Sicily. The time of recefs from bufinefs in Rome, and particu- larly the bufinefs of the courts, was July and Auguft. The fame cuftora, of leaving Rome for Naples in fummer, flill prevails; and is obferved by all who travel from motives either of health or curiofity. The falubrity of the air of Naples has been a theme of admiration and praife among poets and defcriptive, writers, from the time of Auguftus to the prefent pegiod. beginning i88 THE ATTIC NIGHTS beginning an exordium with rather more arro- gance and prefumption than became his years, he demanded :he fubjecT: of controverfy * to be pro- pofed. There was with us a follower of Julianus, an ingenious and accomplifhecl young man, who took offence that he fhould dare, in the pretence of Julianus, to rifque his reputation by the ex- treme peril of inconsiderate fpeaking. By way of trial, therefore, he propofed a controverfy not * Contro a man by no means unlearned, was not aware of that fallacy of argument, called by the Greeks PLINY the Elder was thought the moft Darned man of his time. He left fome books, which he termed Studiofi y and which in- deed are by no means to be defpifed. In thefe books he has introduced many things gratifying to the taftes of learned men. He relates a num- ber of fentiments, which, in declamatory contro- verfies, he thinks urged with wit and fubtlety. * This is in faft the fame fubjeft continued. A firr.lar controverfy is agitated in a preceding chapter ; where a pu- pil refutes to pay his mailer for inftrufting him. Thefe con- troverfies were alfo called vindicias, from windico, to claim. See Feftus de verborum fignifkatione, at the word Vindicize. Vindiciae appellantur res eas de quibus controverfia eft. The loft book, called Studiofi,is mentioned with refpeft by the Younger Pliny. As OF AULUS GELLIUS. 191 As this, for example, which he quotes from one of thefe controverfies. " A brave man is to have the reward which he folicits. One of this de- fcription demands the wife of another perfon, and receives her. He alfo whofe wife this had been, being entitled to the fame claim as the former, demands his wife again ; which is refufed;" The anfwer of this latter perfon demanding his wife to be given him again, is in his opinion very elegant andplaufible: " If the law is valid, reftore her j if it is not valid, reftore her." But Pliny did not know that this fentiment, which to him appear- ed very acute, was liable to the defect which the Greeks term uvnarr^ov. It is a fallacy concealed under the falfe appearance of an argument. No- thing can be more eafily applied to contradict it- felf ; and it may be thus replied by the former per- fon, " If the law is valid, I will not reftore her; and if it be not valid, I will not reftore her." BOOK T"HE ATTIC NIGHTS CHAP. I. Whether we ought to Jay tertium, cr tcrtio conful? and how Cnteus Pompey, when he was about to enroll his honours in the theatre which he ccnfe- crated, avoided, by the advice of Cicero, the doubt- ful ujage of that word. "IT THEN I was at Athens I fent letters to V V an intimate friend at Rome, in which 1 reminded him that I had now written to hirh (tertium} a third time. He, in his anfwer, re- quefted that I would explain to him the reafon why I wrote tertium and not tertio. He added a requefl in the fame letter, that I would give him my opinion, whether we ought to fay, " Such an one was made conful tertium et quartum, or ter- tio et quarto" For he had heard a learned mart at Rome ufe the latter term, and not the former '; Moreover, 1 The former.] Mr. BoAvell, in his Life of Dr. Jolmfon, informs us, that his learned friend never ufcd the phrafes th OF AULUS GELLIUS. 193 Moreover, that .Czelius * in the beginning of his book, and Quintus Claudius, .in his eleventh chapter, had written, that Caius Marius was cre- ated conful (feptimo) a feventh time.'* To this I replied only in the words of Marcus Varro (a man of more learning, in my opinion, than Caslius and Claudius united) by which words each fubject he wrote to me upon, was deter- mined. For Varro has clearly enough fhewn what ought to be ufed j nor did I choofe to be engaged at a diftance in a difpute with a perfon who had the reputation of being learned. The words of Marcus Varro, in his fifth book of Rudiments, are thefe: " It is one thing to become prastor quarto, and another quartum. Quarto marks the fltuation, quartum the time. Ennius has therefore, with propriety, written, " Quintus pater, yuartum fit conful." And Pompey, becaufe in the theatre he would not ufe either the term tertmm or tertio, has cau- the former/ and * the latter,' from an idea that they fre- quently occafioned obfcurity. They neverthelefs are ufed by our belt original writers ; and perhaps in a translation it would not only be difficult, but fometimes impoflible, to avoid them. * Calius.] Caslius Antipater, the hiftorian ; he wrote an account of the Punic war, and is mentioned by Cicero with refpeft; not, as Gronovius informs us, in the traft de Ora- tore, but in the 26th chapter of the Brutus, or de Claris Oratoribus. In this place Cicero commends his perfpicuity, calls him a good lawyer, and informs us that he inftruded L. Craffus. VOL. II, O tioufly i 9 4 THE ATTIC NIGHTS tioufly omitted the concluding letters. What Varro has briefly and obfcurely hinted at con- cerning Pompey, Tiro Tullius, the freedman of Cicero, in one of his letters, has more fully men- tioned in this manner : " When Pompey," fays he, " was about to confecrate the temple of Vic- tory, the entrance to which was to ferve as a theatre ? , and to enroll in it, as in the theatre, his name and titles, it was a fubject of debate, whe- ther it mould be written conful tert'ib or terttum. Which Pompey, with anxious enquiry, referred to the moft eminently learned men of the ftate : * Serve as a theatre."} This is at firft fight a perplexing paflage ; and it feems almoft impoffible to reconcile with the correct tafte and real magnificence of the Romans in the time of Pompey, the confounding a theatre and a temple in one edifice. The fact, however, undoubtedly was fo ; and Pompey, whatever were his motives, creeled a temple, the afcent to which formed the feats of a theatre, the area of which was probably fo circumftanced and enclofed, as to form one confiflent whole. The writers who mention this building, feem at variance one with another, fome aflert- ing that it was dedicated to the goddefs Victory, others faying it was dedicated to Venus. The truth is, as may be eafily collected from comparing what is faid by Dion with what Plutarch relates in his Life of Pompey, that it was de- dicated to Venus Victrix. See Donatus de Urbe Roma,l. 3. p. 196. This unufual epithet of Vi&rix applied to Venus, is th*g explained by Varro. Venus is fo called, fays he, non quod vincere velit, not from her wifh to conquer, fed quod vin- cire et vinciri ipfa velit, but becaufe me wimes co bind others and be bjmnd herfelf. Sec alfo Larcher fur Venus, p. 91. 2 when OF AULUS GELLIUS. 195 when they were of different opinions, and fome propofed tertium y others tertib y Pompey re- quefted of Cicero to give orders that it fhoiild be written according to his opinion. But Cicero, fearing to fit in judgment on men of approved learning, left, by cenfuring their opinions, he might be thought to cenfure the men themfelves, advifed Pompey to ufe neither tertium nor tertio, but to write it ten. concluding at the fecond t ; fo that, though the word was incomplete, the fact was told, and the ambiguous ufage of a word avoided. But it is not now written in the fame theatre, as Varro and Tiro have defcribed ; for fome years after, when a part of it which had fallen down was repaired, the number of the third confulate was not difiinguifhed as. formerly by the firft letters 7, f, r, /; but by three fmall lines 1 1 1" In the 4th Origin of Marcus Cato, we are told, " The Carthaginians broke their treaty (fextum) a fixth time ; which word implies, that they had acted treacheroufly five times before, and now did fo a fixth time. The Greeks alfo, in diftinguiiliing numbers of this fort, fay, T/JJTCV XM TtTo^Tovj which anfwers to the Latin tertium and quartum. O 2 CHAP, i 9 6 THE ATTIC NIGHTS CHAP. II. What Ariftotle has recorded of the number of chil- dren produced at one birth '. THE philofopher Ariftotle has recorded, that a woman in Egypt produced at one birth five children; the utmoft limit, as he faid, of For the following note I am indebted to a medical friend, of particular eminence and flcill in his profeflion. There feems no reafon, from the ftru&ure of the human uterus, to limit the number of fcetufes with which a woman may become pregnant. But we know from experience, that it is not very common to have more than one at a birth. Dr. Garthfhore, by comparing a number of regifters, found the proportion of twins to be as one to eighty of fmgle chil- dren. When twins are produced, they are generally weakly, and reared with difficulty. Triplets are of much lefs fre- quent occurrence, not oftener perhaps than once in twenty thoufand births, and one or two of them commonly either born dead, or much more diminutive and weak than the third, Four children at a birth is fo very rare, that there is no cal- culating the proportion, probably it does not happen oftener than once in four or five hundred thoufand births ; a greater number is ftill lefs frequent, and the chance of their being at the full time, or of their being all born alive, proportion- ably lefs ; the uterus feeming fcarce capable of fuch a de- gree of difterition as to permit more than two or three chil- dren to attain to maturity ; whence it ufually happens, that one or two of the moll vigorous and thriving children, by prefling OF AULUS GELLIUS. 197 of human parturition : nor was it ever known that more than that number were born together ; and this number, fays he, is very unufual. But in the reign of Auguftus, the hiftorians of thofe times relate, that a female fervant of Casfar Au- preffing upon the others, deftroys them while very young and feeble. The inflances therefore mentioned in this chap- ter are rare and uncommon. But we have fome fimilar ex- amples in this country. In the Gentleman's Magazine for November 1736, there is an account of a woman in a milk- cellar in the Strand, who was delivered of three boys and one girl, but it ii not faid whether they were living or dead. In the fame repofitory, there is an account of a woman in Somerfetfhire, who was delivered, in March 1739, ^ ^ our fons and one daughter, who were all chriflened, and feemed healthy children. Among the writers of medical obferva- tions, inflances of much more numerous births are frequent ; but there is generally fo much fable mixed with their accounts, that little credit can be given them. Ambrofe Parr, after quoting feveral flories of women who had been delivered of five, feven, twelve, and one of fifteen foetufes, fays, " Lady Maldemeure, in the parim of Sceaux near Chamberry, was delivered of fix children at one birth, one of which fucceeds to the title of Maldemeure, and is ftill living." As this account was publifhed in the country where the family re- fided, and in the lifotime of the young lord, it may, I mould fuppofe, be depended upon as a faft. Dr. Garthfhore re* ceived an account from Mr. Hull, furgeon at Blackbourne in Lancafliire, of a woman who mifcarried of five children, in April 1786, in the fifth month of her pregnancy; two of them only were born alive. They were lent to the Royal Society ; and are preferved in the mufeum of the late Mr. John Hunter. The account, with fome ingenious obferva- tions on the fubjeft of numerous births, is publifhed in the Tranfa&ions of the Society for that year. O 3 guftus, 198 THE ATTIC NIGHTS guftus, in the province of Laurentum, brought forth five children j that they lived a few days, and that the mother' died not long after fhe had been delivered; that a monument of the fa6t was creeled by the command of Augullus in the Via * jLaurentinaj and that the number of children fhe produced (which we liave mentioned) was in- fcr;bed upon it. * The rpad leacjing to L,aHrentem, CHAP. OF AULUS GELLIUS. 199 CHAP. III. An examination of certain celebrated paffag'es, and . a comfarifon made between the orations of C. Gracchus, M. Cicero, and M. Cato. CAIUS GRACCHUS is held to have been a powerful and ftrenuous orator. No one difputes it. But how is it to be borne, that in the eyes of fome he appears more dignified, more Ipirited, more copious than Marcus Tullius ' ? Now I was reading lately a fpeech of Gracchus upon the promulgation of laws, in which, with all the indignation he is mafter of) he complains that Marcus Marius, and other perfons of diftin&ion from the municipal towns of Italy, were injuri- oufly whipped with rods * by the magiftrates of the 1 Than Marcus Tullius.] It is certain that Hortenfius was a very powerful rival to Cicero, and divided with him the palm of eloquence. This perhaps is the only paflage in any ancient writer which even fuppofes him to have had any- other competitor. The parallel betwixt Demofthenes and Cicero, as drawn by Plutarch, is known to every one. * With rods.'}' The perfon of a Roman citizen was in a manner facred ; of which we have a remarkable example in the hiftory of St. Paul. See Aas, chap. xxii. ver. 25. " And as they bound him with thongs, Paul faid unto the centurion that ftoodby, Is it lawful for you to fcourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned? 04 a When THE ATTIC NIGHTS the Roman people. His words upon this Tub-* je<5t are thefe: " The conful lately came to Thea- num 5 Sidicinum; he faid his wife wifhed to bathe in the men's bath. Marcus Nfarius confided it to the care of the quseftor of Sidicinum, that they who were bathing fhould be fent away. The wife tells her hufband that the baths were not given up to her foon enough, nor were they fufficiently clean. Immediately a pofl was fixed down in the market-place^ and Marcus Marius, the moft illuftrious man of his city, was led to it; his garments were ftripped off, and he was beaten with rods. When the inhabitants of Cales heard this, they pafled a decree, that no one fhould prefume to bathe when the Roman magiflratea were there. At Ferentum alfo, our praetor, for a, reafon of the fame fort, ordered the quasftors to, be feized. One threw himf^f from the wall, the other was taken and fcpurged." In a matter fo atrocious, in fo lamentable and diftrefling a proof of public injufticf, what has he faid, either full OF f When the centurion heard that, hp went and told the chief captain, faying, Take heed what thou dqeft, for this man is a Roman." A particular law, called the Lex Porcia, ordained that no one ftiould fcourge a Roman citizen. See Livy, 1. x. c. 9. ;" Porcia tamen lex fola pro tergo civium lata videtur : quod gravi poena fi quis verberaflet necafletve civem Romanurn fanxit." * 7Zvwa^.]r=rThis place is now called Tiano, and is in the yicinity of Naples: its adjunct, Sidicinum, now, ac T cording to D'Anville, Sezza, was from ihe ancient inhabi- tants n^rned Sedecini. OF AULUS GELLIUS. 201 fplendid, or fo as to excite tears or commiferation ? What has he fpoken expreffive of exuberant in- dignation, or in a fpirit of folemn and ftriking rc- monflrance ? There is indeed a brevity, and terfe- nefs, and ornament in his fpeech, fuch as we ufually find in the elegant wit of the ftage. In another place, likewife, Gracchus fpeaks thus: tibi and mihl. For as, when we content or difagree, a certain motion of the head or the eyes correiponds with the nature of the thing exprefTed , fo in the pronunciation of thefe words there is a certain natural manner and fpirit. In Greek words too the fame rule is in force which we fancy prevails in our own," CHAP. OF AULITS GELLIUS, 209 CHAP. V. Whether avarus l be ajimpls wordy or, as it appears to P. Nigidiusy a compound one. i N the twenty-ninth of his Commentaries Ni- gidius affirms, that the word avarus is not a flmple but a compound word. That man (fays he) is called avarus (covetous) who is avidus there is doubt. For why may it not feem to be derived from the fingle word aveo (to covet), and of the fame formation as amarusy of which it can only be faid that it is not a compound word ? * Voffius and others have fuppofed that avarus may be derived from avidus auri ; and locupltSj fome are of opinion^' jfe formed of loculi pleni. ?OL, E. P CHAP. 210 THE ATTIC NIGHTS CHAP. VI. A fine was impofed by the In the genitive cafe 3 not praecoquisj but prascocis. ' AC C O R D I N G to our prefent ufage of the word, mature (maturely) fignifies fropere and cito (quickly, with expedition), contrary to the true meaning of the word. For mature means one thing, and propere another. Publius Nigi- dius, a man of diftinguifhed eminence in all fci- entific purfuits, fays, that mature means neither too foon nor too late, but has a certain middle fignification. Well and properly has Nigidius 1 The fubjed\ of this chapter is difcufled alfo by Macro- bias, who indeed was no more than the echo of Gellius. See Satur. 1. 3. laid TtfE ATTIC NIGHTS faid this ; for in corn and in fruits thofe are faid to be mature, which are neither crude and unripe, nor mellow and falling, but grown and ripened in their full time ; but becaufe that has been called maturely done, which has been done with attention, fo the meaning of the word has been carried much farther, and a thing is now faid to be done maturely, becaufe it is done quickly, not becaufe it is done without indolence. Whereas thofe things which are haftened beyond modera- tion, may be more truely called immature. But Nigidius's middle fignification of the word, Au- guftus moft elegantly exprefled in two Greek words *, which he was accuflomed to ufe in his converfation, and his letters, " Z,irwh pa