Today | News | Books | Recipes Adventure | Science Fiction | Ghost stories | Poetry | Children | History Bookave served as eques at the age of fifteen.[1596] As to the fact of Scipio and Lælius admitting him to their intimate friendship at so early an age, a parallel may be found in the case of Archias the poet. Besides, Scipio and Lælius were the most likely men to discover and to foster the early talent of the young poet. For the _fact_ of the intimacy we have the testimony of Horace, Sat., II., i., 71, "Quin ubi se a vulgo et scena in secreta remorant Virtus Scipiadæ et mitis sapientia Lælî Nugari cum illo et discincti ludere, donec Decoqueretur olus, soliti." On which the commentator says, "That the three were on such intimate terms, that on one occasion Lælius was running round the sofas in the Triclinium, while Lucilius was chasing him with a twisted towel to hit him with." This story agrees exactly with the description given by Cicero[1597] (de Orat., ii., 6) of the conduct of Scipio and Lælius, who speaks of their retiring together to the country-house of the former, and to have descended, for the relaxation of their minds, to the most childish amusements, such as gathering shells on the shore of Caieta. Who would be more likely than such men as these to be captivated by the precocious wit and pungent sarcasm of a sprightly lad? Again, the character of Lucilius's compositions admits of eminence at an earlier period of life than the other branches of poetry. And yet Catullus and Propertius, not to mention many others, attained great eminence as poets at a very early age; certainly long before their twentieth year. The Satiric poetry of Lucilius depending more on a keen perception of the ludicrous, and shrewd observation of passing events and the foibles of individuals, would more readily win approbation at an early age, than compositions whose excellence would consist in the display of judgment, knowledge of the world, and elaborate finish. There is, therefore, no reason to suppose that his talent may not, like that of Cicero, have been developed at an early age, and having come under the notice, might have won the approbation, of men of such character in private life as Scipio and Lælius are reported to have been. But Horace calls him "senex," ii. Sat., 28, _seq._ "Ille (Lucilius) velut fidis arcana sodalibus olim Credebat libris: neque si male cesserat, unquam Decurrens alio, neque si bene, quo fit ut omnis Votivâ pateat veluti descripta tabellâ Vita Senis--" To this it is answered: nothing can be more loose and vague than the employment by Roman writers of terms relating to the different periods of human life: e. g., "puer, adolescentulus, adolescens, juvenis, senex." We have seen that Tibullus at the age of forty may be called "juvenis." Hannibal, at the age of forty-four (i. e., two years younger than Lucilius at his death), calls himself senex. (Cf. Liv., xxx., 30, compared with c. 28, and Crevier's note.)[1598] So Persius (Sat. i., 124) calls Aristophanes "prægrandis senex," though, as Ranke shows in his Life (p. xc.), he was not of great age. We might add that Horace himself uses the phrase, "poetarum _seniorum_ turba" (i. Sat., x., 67), as equivalent to priorum. In the fourth Fragment of the twentieth book, Lucilius mentions the Calpurnian Law. "Calpurnî sævam legem Pisoni' reprendi Eduxique animam in primoribu' naribus." This Van Heusde holds to be the Lex Calpurnia, de ambitu, passed by C. Calpurnius Piso, when consul, A.U.C. 687, B.C. 67, at which time Lucilius would have been eighty-one years old. But there was another Lex Calpurnia, de pecuniis repetundis, passed by L. Calpurnius Piso, tribune, in A.U.C. 604, B.C. 150. Van Heusde says the former _must_ be meant, because Lucilius applies to it the epithet _sæva_, and Cicero (pro Muræna, c. 46) also styles it "severissime scriptam." He explains the second line of the Fragment to mean, that Lucilius "all but paid the penalty of death for his animadversions of the law," but these words more correctly imply the "fierce snorting of an angry man." So Pers., Sat., v., 91, "Ira cadat naso." Varro, R. R., ii., 3, 5, "Spiritum _naribus ducere_." Mart., vi. Ep., 64, "Rabido nec perditus ore fumantem nasum vivi tentaveris ursi." And any law whatever would be naturally termed "sæva" by him who came under the influence of it. In the 132d of the Fragmenta Incerta, we have (quoted from A. Gell., Noct. Att., ii., 24) these words, "Legem vitemus Licini." The object of this law was to give greater sanction to the provisions of the Lex Fannia, a sumptuary law, which had become nearly obsolete. If passed by P. Licinius Crassus Dives Lusitanicus, when _consul_, it must be referred to the year A.U.C. 657, B.C. 97, six years after the supposed date of Lucilius's death. But there is no reason why this law should not have been passed by Licinius when _tribune_ or _prætor_, as well as when _consul_; probably during his prætorship, as nearer the consulship, though Pighius (Annal., iii., 122), though without giving any authority, assigns it to his tribuneship. The Orchian Law was passed by C. Orchius when _tribune_. The Fannian and many other sumptuary laws were passed by _prætors_ or _tribunes_. The argument therefore derived from the law having been passed by Licinius, when _consul_, falls to the ground. Allowing, however, that Lucilius was alive during the consulship of Licinius, we have the incidental, and therefore more valuable, testimony of Cicero, that he must have died very shortly after. In his "De Oratore," he introduces the speakers in the Dialogue quoting Lucilius, as one evidently not very recently dead. Now this imaginary Dialogue is supposed to have taken place B.C. 91. FOOTNOTES: [1593] In the Translation, the text and arrangement of Gerlach have been principally followed. The few Fragments that have not been translated are omitted, either from their hopelessly corrupt state, their obscenity, or from their consisting of _single_, and those unimportant, words. [1594] Clinton, in his new Epitome of Chronology (Oxford, 1851), says, Lucilius was about twenty years of age when serving at Numantia, B.C. 134. [1595] But Clinton thinks that the war for which Messala triumphed was carried on B.C. 28, and that Tibullus was then about thirty. The war against the Salassi had been carried on B.C. 34. Heyne assigns his birth to B.C. 49. Voss, Passow, and Dissen, to B.C. 59. Lachman and Paldanus, to B.C. 54. He is called a "juvenis" at his death, B.C. 18. But Clinton says there is "no difficulty in this term, which may express forty years of age." [1596] Cf. Niebuhr's Lectures, vol. i., p. 316. "Slow and gradual advancement, and a provision for officers in their old age, were things unknown to the Romans. No one could by law have a permanent appointment: every one had to give evidence of his ability. It was, moreover, not necessary to pass through a long series of subordinate offices. _A young Roman noble served as eques_, and the consul had in his cohort the most distinguished to ac |