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opportunity of inspecting and examining them. These were sometimes in
the forum, sometimes in the houses of the Mangones. Cf. Mart., ix.,
Ep. lx., 5, "Sed quos arcanæ servant tabulata Catastæ." Plin., H. N.,
xxxv., 17. Tib., II., iii., 59, "Regnum ipse tenet quem sæpe coëgit
Barbara gypsatos ferre catasta pedes." Persius recommends his miserly
friend to condescend to any low trade, even that of a slave-dealer,
to get money. Cappadocia was a great emporium for slaves. Cic., Post.
Red., "Cappadocem modo abreptum de grege venalium diceres." Hor.,
i., Ep. vi., 39, "Mancipiis locuples eget æris Cappadocum rex." The
royal property, consisting chiefly in slaves, was kept in different
fortresses throughout the country. The whole nation might be said to be
addicted to servitude; for when they were offered a free constitution
by the Romans, they declined the favor, and preferred receiving a
master from the hand of their allies. Strabo, xii., p. 540. After the
conquest of Pontus, Rome and Italy were filled with Cappadocian slaves,
many of whom were excellent bakers and confectioners. Vid. Plutarch v.
Lucullus. Athen., i, p. 20; iii., 112, 3. Cramer, Asia Minor, ii., p.
121. Mart., vi., Ep. lxvii., 4.
[1545] _Depunge._ A metaphor from the graduated arm of the steelyard.
Cf. v., 100, "Certo compescere puncto nescius examen." The end of the
fourteenth Satire of Juvenal, and of the fifteenth Epistle of Seneca,
may be compared with the conclusion of this Satire. "Congeratur in te
quidquid multi locupletes possederunt: Ultra privatum pecuniæ modum
fortuna te provehat, auro tegat, purpurâ vestiat, ... majora cupere
ab his disces. Naturalia desideria finita sunt: ex falsâ opinione
nascentia ubi desinant non habent. Nullus enim terminus falso est."
Sen., Ep. xvi., 7, 8; xxxix., 5; ii., 5.
[1546] _Chrysippi._ This refers to the σωρειτικὴ ἀπορία of the Stoics,
of which Chrysippus, the disciple of Zeno or Cleanthes, was said to
have been the inventor. The Sorites consisted of an indefinite number
of syllogisms, according to Chrysippus; to attempt to limit which,
or to bound the insatiable desires of the miser, would be equally
impossible. It takes its name from σῶρος, acerbus, "a heap:" "he that
could assign this limit, could also affirm with precision how many
grains of corn just make a _heap_; so that were but one grain taken
away, the remainder would be _no heap_." Cf. Cic., Ac. Qu., II.,
xxviii. Diog. Laert., VII., vii. Hor., i., Ep. ii., 4. Juv., ii., 5;
xiii., 184. Of the seven hundred and fifty books said to have been
written by Chrysippus, and enumerated by Diogenes Laertius, not one
fragment remains. His logic was so highly thought of, that it was
said "that, had the gods used logic, they would have used that of
Chrysippus."
SULPICIA.
INTRODUCTION.
The occasion of the following Satire is generally known as "the
expulsion of the philosophers from Rome by Domitian." As the same thing
took place under Vespasian also, it becomes worth while to inquire who
are the persons intended to be included under this designation; and in
what manner the fears of the two emperors could be so worked upon as
to pass a sweeping sentence of banishment against persons apparently
so helpless and so little formidable as the peaceful cultivators
of philosophy. It seems not improbable then that the fears both of
Vespasian and Domitian were of a _personal_ as well as of a political
nature. We find that in both cases the "Mathematici" are coupled
with the "Philosophi." Now these persons were no more nor less than
pretenders to the science of judicial astrology «cf. Juv., iii., 43;
vi., 562; xiv., 248; Suet., Cal., 57; Tit., 9; Otho, 4; Gell., i.,
9»; and to what an extent those who were believed to possess this
knowledge were dreaded in those days of gross superstition, may be
easily inferred by merely looking into Juvenal's sixth and Persius'
fifth Satire. Besides the baleful effects of incantations, which were
sources of terror even in Horace's days, the mere possession by another
of the nativity of a person whose death might be an object of desire to
the bearer, was supposed, at the time of which we are now speaking, to
be a sufficient ground of serious alarm. We are not surprised therefore
to find it recorded as an instance of great generosity on the part of
Vespasian, that on one occasion he pardoned one Metius Pomposianus,
although he was informed that he had in his possession a "Genesis
Imperatoria;" or that the possession of a similar document with regard
to Domitian cost the owner his life. (Cf. Suet., Vesp., 14; Domit.,
10.) With regard to the philosophers, it appears that the followers
of the Stoic school were those against whom the edict was especially
directed. Not only did the tenets of this school inculcate that
independence of thought and manners most directly at variance with the
servility and submissiveness inseparable from a state of thraldom under
a despot; but the cultivation of this branch of philosophy was held to
be nothing more than a specious cover for an attachment to the freedom
of speech and action enjoyed under the republican form of government:
and philosophy was accounted only another name for revolution and
rebellion.[1547]
The story told of Demetrius the Cynic, in Dio (lxvi., 13), and
confirmed by Suetonius (Vesp., c. 13), illustrates this view of the
subject. (Cf. Tac., Hist., iv., 40.) It appears to have been at the
suggestion of Mucianus,[1548] that all philosophers, but especially
the Stoics, were banished from Rome; and that the celebrated Musonius
Rufus was the only one who was suffered to remain. This took place A.D.
74. Sixteen years after this we find a decree of the senate passed to
a similar effect. Now, as philosophy may be studied equally well any
where, there seems no reason why, if it were not in some way connected
with their _political_ creed, all these votaries of Stoicism should in
the interim have taken up their abode at Rome. And though, no doubt,
the unoffending may have suffered with the guilty, the history of the
edict seems pretty plainly to show what _particular doctrines_ of their
philosophy were so obnoxious to Domitian. Suetonius, Tacitus, and Dio
all agree in the cause assigned for the sentence: viz., that Julius
Arulenus Rusticus and Herennius Senecio had been enthusiastic in their
praises of Thrasea Pætus and Helvidius Priscus; and that _therefore_
"all philosophers were removed from Rome." ("Cujus criminis occasione
philosophos omnes Urbe Italiâque submovit." Suet., Domit., 10. Cf.
Tac., Agric, 2; Dio, lxvii., 13.) But it was for their undisguised
hatred of tyrants, and for no dogma of the schools, that the former of
these was put to death by Nero, and the latter by Vespasian. Both of
them, as we know, celebrated with no ordinary festivities the birthdays
of the Bruti (Juv., v., 36); and Helvidius, even while prætor, went
so far as to omit all titles of honor |