Page images
PDF
EPUB

the noble works of the Grecian artists that had been set up for fome time in the temples, and porticos, and all the most public places of the city, and who ufed frequently to fpend the greatest part of the day in contemplating the beauties of them, extolled Marcellus as much for the pleasure he had given them. "We fhall now,' faid they, "no longer be reckoned among "the Barbarians. That ruft, which we "have been fo long contracting, will foon "be worn off. Other generals have con«quered our enemies, but Marcellus has "conquered our ignorance. We begin to We begin to "fee with new eyes, and have a new world "of beauties opening before us. Let the "Romans be polite, as well as victorious; "and let us learn to excel the nations in " taste, as well as to conquer them with our

"arms."

Whichever fide was in the right, the party for Marcellus was the fuccefsful one; for, from this point of time we may date the introduction of the arts into Rome. The Romans by this means began to be fond of them; and the love of the arts is a paffion, which grows very fast in any breaft, wherever it is once entertained.

We may fee how faft and how greatly it prevailed at Rome, by a fpeech which old Cato the cenfor made in the fenate, not above seventeen years after the taking of Syracufe. He complains in it, that their people began to run into Greece and Afia; and to be infected with a defire of playing with their fine things that as to fuch fpoils, there was lefs honour in taking them, than there was danger of their being taken by them: that the gods brought from Syracufe, had revenged the caufe of its citizens, in fpreading this tafle among the Romans: that he heard but too many daily crying up the ornaments of Corinth and Athens; and ridiculing the poor old Roman gods; who had hitherto been propitious to them; and who, he hoped, would ftill continue fo, if they would but let their ftatues remain in peace upon their pedef

tals.

Spence.

$ 64. The ROMAN Generals, in their feve ral Conquests, convey great Numbers of

Pictures and Statues to ROME.

It was in vain too that Cato fpoke against it; for the love of the arts prevailed every day more and more; and from henceforward the Roman generals, in their feveral conquefts, feem to have ftrove who should bring away the greatest

number of ftatues and pictures, to fet off their triumphs, and to adorn the city of Rome. It is furprising what acceflions of this kind were made in the compafs of a little more than half a century after Marcellus had fet the example. The elder Scipio Africanus brought in a great number of wrought vafes from Spain and Afric, toward the end of the second Punic war; and the very year after that was finished, the Romans entered into a war with Greece, the great fchool of all the arts, and the chief repofitory of most of the fineft works that ever were produced by them. It would be endless to mention all their acquifitions from hence; I fhall only put you in mind of fome of the most confiderable. Flaminius made a great thew both of ftatues and vafes in his triumph over Philip king of Macedon; but he was much exceeded by Æmilius, who reduced that kingdom into a province. Emilius's triumph lafted three days; the firit of which was wholly taken up in bringing in the fine ftatues he had selected in his expedition; as the chief ornament of the fecond confifted in vafes and sculptured veffels of all forts, by the most eminent hands. These were all the most chofen things, culled from the collection of that fucceffor of Alexander the Great; for as to the inferior spoils of no less than seventy Grecian cities, Æmilius had left them all to his foldiery, as not worthy to appear among the ornaments of his triumph. Not many years after this, the young Scipio Africanus (the person who is most celebrated for his polite tafte of all the Romans hitherto, and who was scarce exceeded by any one of them in all the fucceeding ages) deftroyed Carthage, and transferred many of the chief ornaments of that city, which had fo long bid fair for being the feat of empire, to Rome, which foon became undoubtedly fo. This must have been a vaft acceffion: though that great man, who was as juft in his actions as he was elegant in his tafte, did not bring all the finest of his fpoils to Rome, but left a great part of merly been taken by the Carthaginians. them in Sicily, from whence they had forThe very fame year that Scipio freed Rome from its most dangerous rival, Carthage, Mummius (who was as remarkable for his rufticity, as Scipio was for elegance and taste) added Achaia to the Roman ftate; and facked, among several others, the famous city of Corinth, which had been long looked upon as one of the principal

refervoirs

refervoirs of the finest works of art. He cleared it of all its beauties, without knowing any thing of them: even without knowing, that an old Grecian flatue was better than a new Roman one. He ufed, however, the fureft method of not being miftaken; for he took all indifferently as they came in his way; and brought them off in fuch quantities, that he alone is faid to have filled Rome with ftatues and pictures. Thus, partly from the taste, and partly from the vanity of their generals, in less than feventy years time (reckoning from Marcellus's taking of Syracufe to the year in which Carthage was deftroyed) Italy was furnished with the nobleft productions of the ancient artifts, that before lay fcattered all over Spain, Afric, Sicily, and the reft of Greece. Sylla, befide many others, added vaftly to them afterwards; particularly by his taking of Athens, and by his conquefts in Afia; where, by his too great indulgence to his armies, he made tafte and rapine a general thing, even among the common foldiers, as it had been, for a long time, among their leaders.

In this manner, the first confiderable acquifitions were made by their conquering armies; and they were carried on by the perfons fent out to govern their provinces, when conquered. As the behaviour of thefe in their governments, in general, was one of the greatest blots on the Roman nation, we mult not expect a full account of their tranfactions in the old historians, who treat particularly of the Roman affairs: for fuch of these that remain to us, are either Romans themselves, or elfe Greeks who were too much attached to the Roman interest, to fpeak out the whole truth in this affair. But what we cannot have fully from their own historians, may be pretty well fupplied from other hands. A poet of their own, who seems to have been a very honeft man, has fet the rapaciousness of their governors in general in a very strong light; as Cicero has fet forth that of Verres in particular, as strongly. If we may judge of their general behaviour by that of this governor of Sicily, they were more like monfters and harpies, than men. For that public robber (as Cicero calls him, more than once) hunted over every corner of his iard, with a couple of finders (one a Greek painter, and the other a ftatuary of the fame nation) to get together his collection; and was fo curious and fo rapacious in that fearch, that Cicero fays, there was not a gem, or ftatue, or relievo, or picture,

in all Sicily, which he did not fee; nor any one he liked, which he did not take away from its owner. What he thus got, he fent into Italy. Rome was the centre both of their spoils in war, and of their rapines in peace and if many of their prætors and proconfuls acted but in half fo abandoned a manner as this Verres appears to have done, it is very probable that Rome was more enriched in all these fort of things fecretly by their governors, than it had been openly by their generals. Spence.

[ocr errors]
[blocks in formation]

There was another method of augmenting thefe treasures at Rome, not fo infamous as this, and not fo glorious as the former. What I mean, was the custom of the Ediles, when they exhibited their public games, of adorning the theatres and other places where they were performed, with great numbers of ftatues and pictures: which they bought up or borrowed, for that purpose, all over Greece, and fometimes even from Afia. Scaurus, in particular, in his ædilefhip, had no less than three thousand ftatues and relievos for the mere ornamenting of the ftage, in a theatre built only for four or five days. This was the fame Scaurus who (whilft he was in the fame office too) brought to Rome all the pictures of Sicyon, which had been fo long one of the most eminent fchools in Greece for painting; in lieu of debts owing, or pretended to be owed, from that city to the Roman people.

From thefe public methods of drawing the works of the beft ancient artists into Italy, it grew at length to be a part of private luxury, affected by almost every body that could afford it, to adorn their houfes, their porticos, and their gardens, with the beft ftatues and pictures they could procure out of Greece or Afia. None went earlier into this tafte, than the family of the Luculli, and particularly Lucius Lucullus, who carried on the war against Mithridates. He was remarkable for his love of the arts and polite learning even from a child; and in the latter part of his life gave himself up fo much to collections of this kind, that Plutarch reckons it among his follies. "As I am fpeaking of his faults (fays that hiftorian in his life) I fhould not omit his vait baths, and piazzas for walking; or his gardens, which were much more magnificent than any in his time

at

1

at Rome, and equal to any in the luxurious ages that followed; nor his exceflive fondnefs for ftatues and pictures, which he got from all parts, to adorn his works and gardens, at an immenfe expence; and with the vast riches he had heaped together in the Mithridatic war.” There were feveral other families which fell about that time into the fame fort of excefs; and, among the reft, the Julian. The first emperor, who was of that family, was a great collector; and, in particular, was as fond of old gems, as his fucceffor, Auguftus, was of Corinthian vafes.

This may be called the first age of the flourishing of the politer arts at Rome; or rather the age in which they were introduced there: for the people in this period were chiefly taken up in getting fine things, and bringing them together. There were perhaps fome particular perfons in it of a very good tafte: but in general one may fay, there was rather a love, than any great knowledge of their beauties, during this age, among the Romans. They were brought to Rome in the first part of it, in greater numbers than can be easily conceived; and in fome time, every body began to look upon them with pleasure. The collection was continually augmenting afterwards, from the feveral methods I have mentioned; and I doubt not but a good tafte would have been a general thing among them much earlier than it was, had it not been for the frequent convulfions in their ftate, and the perpetual ftruggles of fome great man or other to get the reins of government into his hands. Thefe continued quite from Sylla's time to the eftablifhment of the ftate under Auguftus. The peaceful times that then fucceeded, and the encouragement which was given by that emperor to all the arts, afforded the Romans full leifure to contemplate the fine works that were got together at Rome in the age before, and to perfect their taste in all the elegancies of life. The artifts, who were then much invited to Rome, worked in a style greatly fuperior to what they had done even in Julius Cæfar's time: fo that it is under Auguftus that we may begin the fecond, and most perfect age of fculpture and painting, as well as of poetry. Auguftus changed the whole appearance of Rome itself; he found it ill built, and left it a city of marble. He adorned it with buildings, extremely finer than any it could boat before his time, and fet off all thofe buildings, and even the common

ftreets, with an addition of fome of the fineft ftatues in the world. Spence.

$66. On the Decline of the Arts, Eloquence, and Poetry, upon the Death of Auguftus.

On the death of Auguftus, though the arts, and the tafte for them, did not fuffer fo great a change, as appeared immediately in the taste of eloquence and poetry, yet they must have fuffered a good deal. There is a fecret union, a certair. kind of fympathy between all the polite arts, which makes them languish and flourish together. The fame circumstances are either kind or unfriendly to all of them. The favour of Auguftus, and the tranquillity of his reign, was as a gentle dew from heaven, in a favourable feason, that made them bud forth and flourish; and the four reign of Tiberius, was as a fudden froft that checked their growth, and at lait killed all their beauties. The vanity, and tyranny, and disturbances of the times that followed, gave the finishing ftroke to sculpture as well as eloquence, and to painting as well as poetry. The Greek artifts at Rome were not fo foon or fo much infected by the bad taste of the court, as the Roman writers were; but it reached them too, though by flower and more imperceptible degrees. Indeed what else could be expected from fuch a run of monsters as Tiberius, Caligula, and Nero? For thefe were the emperors under whofe reigns the arts began to languith; and they fuffered fo much from their baleful influence, that the Roman writers foon after them speak of all the arts as being brought to a very low ebb. They talk of their being extremely fallen in general; and as to painting, in particular, they reprefent it as in a moft feeble and dying condition. The feries of fo many good emperors, which happened after Domitian, gave fome fpirit again to the arts; but foon after the Antonines, they all declined apace, and, by the time of the thirty tyrants, were quite fallen, fo as never to rife again under any future Roman emperor.

You may fee by these two accounts I have given you of the Roman poetry, and of the other arts, that the great periods of their rife, their flourishing, and their decline, agree very well; and, as it were, tally with one another. Their ftyle was prepared, and a vast collection of fine works laid in, under the firft period, or in the times of the republic: In the fecond,

[ocr errors]

or the Auguftan age, their writers and artifts were both in their highest perfection; and in the third, from Tiberius to the Antonines, they both began to languifh; and then revived a little; and at last funk totally together.

In comparing the defcriptions of their poets with the works of art, I should therefore chufe to omit all the Roman poets after the Antonines. Among them all, there is perhaps no one whofe omiffion need be regretted, except that of Claudian; and even as to him it may be confidered, that he wrote when the true knowledge of the arts was no more; and when the true talte of poetry was ftrangely corrupted and loft; even if we were to judge of it by his own writings only, which are extremely better than any of the poets long before and long after him. It is therefore much better to confine one's felf to the three great ages, than to run fo far out of one's way for a fingle poet or two; whofe authorities, after all, must be very difputable, and indeed fcarce of any weight.

Spence.

§67. On DEMOSTHENES.

I shall not spend any time upon the circumftances of Demofthenes's life; they are well known. The strong ambition which he discovered to excel in the art of fpeaking; the unfuccefsfulness of his first attempts; his unwearied perfeverance in furmounting all the difadvantages that arofe from his perfon and addrefs; his fhutting himself up in a cave, that he might study with lefs diftraction; his declaiming by the fea-fhore, that he might accuftom himfelf to the noife of a tumultuous affembly, and with pebbles in his mouth, that he might correct a defect in his fpeech; his practifing at home with a naked fword hanging over his fhoulder that he might check an ungraceful motion, to which he was fubject; all thofe circumstances, which we learn from Plutarch, are very encouraging to fuch as ftudy Eloquence, as they fhew how far art and application may avail, for acquiring an excellence which nature feemed unwilling to grant us. Blair.

68.

DEMOSTHENES imitated the manly Eloquence of PERICLES. Defpifing the affected and florid manner which the rhetoricians of that age followed, Demofthenes returned to the forcible and manly eloquence of Pericles; and ftrength and vehemence form the principal characteristics of his Style. Never had

orator a finer field than Demofthenes in his Olynthiacs and Philippics, which are his capital orations: and, no doubt, to the nobleness of the fubject, and to that integrity and public spirit which eminently breathe in them, they are indebted for much of their merit. The fubject is, to rouze the indignation of his countrymen against Phi-" lip of Macedon, the public enemy of the liberties of Greece; and to guard them against the infidious measures, by which that crafty prince endeavoured to lay them afleep to danger. In the prosecution of this end, we fee him taking every proper method to animate a people, renowned for juftice, humanity and valour, but in many inftances become corrupt and degenerate. He boldly taxes them with their venality, their indolence, and indifference to the public caufe; while, at the fame time, with all the art of an orator, he recals the glory of their ancestors to their thoughts, Thews them that they are ftill a flourishing and a powerful people, the natural protectors of the liberty of Greece, and who wanted only the inclination to exert themfelves, in order to make Philip tremble. With his cotemporary orators, who were in Philip's intereft, and who perfuaded the people to peace, he keeps no measures, but plainly reproaches them as the betrayers of their country. He not only prompts to vigorous conduct, but he lays down the plan of that conduct; he enters into particulars; and points out, with great exactness, the measures of execution. This is the ftrain of these orations. They are ftrongly animated; and full of the impetuofity and fire of public fpirit. They proceed in a continued train of inductions, confequences, and demonftrations, founded on found reafon. The figures which he ufes, are never fought after; but_always rife from the fubject. He employs them fparingly indeed; for fplendour and ornament are not the diftinctions of this orator's compofition. It is an energy of thought, peculiar to himself, which forms his character, and fets him above all others. He appears to attend much more to things than to words. We forget the orator, and think of the bufinefs. He warms the mind, and impels to action. He has no parade and oftentation; no methods of infinuation; no laboured introductions; but is like a man full of his fubject, who, after preparing his audience, by a fentence or two for hearing plain truths, enters directly on business.

Y

Ibid.

$ 69.

[blocks in formation]

Demofthenes appears to great advantage, when contrafted with fchines, in the celebrated oration " pro Corona." Æfchines was his rival in bufinefs, and perfonal enemy; and one of the most diftinguished orators of that age. But when we read the two orations, Afchines is feeble in comparison of Demofthenes, and makes much lefs impreflion on the mind. His reafonings concerning the law that was in queftion, are indeed very fubtile; but his invective against Demofthenes is general, and ill-fupported. Whereas Demofthenes is a torrent, that nothing can refift. He bears down his antagonist with violence; he draws his character in the ftrongest colours; and the particular merit of that oration is, that all the defcriptions in it are highly picturefque. There runs through it a train of magnanimity and high honour the orator fpeaks with that ftrength and confcious dignity which great actions and public fpirit alone infpire. Both orators ufe great liberties with one another; and, in general, that unreftrained licence which ancient manners permitted, even to the length of abufive names and downright fcurrility, as appears both here and in Cicero's Philippics, hurts and offends a modern ear. What thofe ancient orators gained by fuch a manner in point of freedom and boldnefs, is more than compenfated by want of dignity; which feems to give an advantage, in this refpect, to the greater decency of modern fpeaking.

Blair.

$70. On the Style of DEMOSTHENES. The Style of Demofthenes is strong and concife, though fometimes, it must not be diffembled, harfh and abrupt. His words are very expreffive; his arrangement is firm and manly; and, tho' far from being unmufical, yet it feems difficult to find in him that ftudied, but concealed number, and rhythmus, which fome of the ancient critics are fond of attributing to him. Negligent of thofe leffer graces, one would rather conceive him to have aimed at that fublime which lies in fentiment. His action and pronunciation are recorded to have been uncommonly vehement and ardent; which, from the manner of his compofition, we are naturally led to believe. The character which one forms of him, from reading his works, is of the

is, on every occafion, grave, ferious, pafauftere, rather than the gentle kind. He fionate; takes every thing on a high tone; never lets himself down, nor attempts any thing like pleafantry. If any fault can be found in his admirable eloquence, it is, that he fometimes borders on the hard and dry. He may be thought to want smoothness and grace; which Dionyfius of Halicarnaffus attributes to his imitating too closely the manner of Thucydides, who was his great model for Style, and whofe history he is faid to have written eight times over with his own hand. But these defects are far more than compenfated, by that admirable and masterly force of mafculine elo. quence, which, as it overpowered all who heard it, cannot, at this day, be read without emotion.

After the days of Demofthenes, Greece loft her liberty, eloquence of courfe languifhed, and relapfed again into the feeble manner introduced by the Rhetoricians and Sophifts. Demetrius Phalerius, who lived in the next age to Demofthenes, attained indeed fome character, but he is reprefented to us as a flowery, rather than a perfuafive fpeaker, who aimed at grace rather than fubftance. "Delectabat Athe"nienfes," fays Cicero, "magis quam. inflammabat." "He amufed the Áthe"nians, rather than warmed them." And after his time, we hear of no more Grecian orators of any note. Ibid.

$71. On CICERO.

The object in this period moft worthy to draw our attention, is Cicero himself; whofe name alone fuggefts every thing that is fplendid in oratory. With the hiftory of his life, and with his character, as a man and a politician, we have not at prefent any direct concern. We confider him only as an eloquent speaker; and, in this view, it is our business to remark both his virtues, and his defects, if he has any. His virtues are, beyond controverfy, eminently great. In all his orations there is high art. He begins, generally, with a regular exordium; and with much preparation and infinuation prepoffeffes the hearers, and ftudies to gain their affections. His method is clear, and his arguments are arranged with great propriety. His method is indeed more clear than that of Demofthenes; and this is one advantage which he has over him. We find every thing in its proper place; he never attempts to move till he has endeavoured to convince;

and

« PreviousContinue »