The works of Horace : with English notes, critical and ... - Cristo Raul

EXPLANATORY NOTES. ON ROMAN SATIlki:. 423
either to shan the society of such pretenders, or to endure it without contribating
to their exposure. Hence the pictures of the self-importance
and ridiculous dress of Aufidius Lnscns, and the entertainment of Kasidienus,
to which Maecenas carried his bufiSbons along with him to contribute
to the sport whidi the absurdities of then: host supplied.
In the time of Angustns, the practice, which in modem times has been
termed legacy-hunting, became literally a profession and employment
Those who followed it did not, like the parasites of old, content themselves
with the offals from the board of a patron. Assiduous flattery, paid
to a wealthy and childless bachelor, was considered at Kome as the surest
and readiest mode of enrichment, after the conflscations of property
were at an end, and the plundering of provinces was prohibited. The
desire of amassing wealth continued, though the methods by which it was
formerly gained were interdicted, and the Romans had not acquired those
habits which might bare procured it more honorable gratification.
About the same period, philosophy, which had never made much progress
at Borne, was corrupted and perverted by vain pretenders. The unbending
principles of the Stoics in particular had been carried to so extravagant
a lengUi, and were so little in, accordance with the feelings of
the day, or manners of a somewhat voluptuous court, f^at whatever ridi-
cule was cast upon tbem could scarcely fail to be generally acceptable
and amusing.
In the age of Augustus the Komans had become a nation ot poets, and
many who bad no real pretensions to the character sought to occupy, in
rhyming, that time which, in the days of the republic, would have been
employed in more worthy exertions. The practice, too, of recitations to
friends, or in public assemblies, was introduced about the same period
and it was sometimes no easy matter to escape from the vanity and importunity
of those who were predetermined to delight their neighbors
with the splendor and harmony of their verses. , In short, foppery and ab-
surdity of every species prevailed ; but the Augustan age was one rather
of folly than df atrocious crime. Augustus had done much for the restoration
of good order and the due observance of the laws, and, though the
^ces of luxury had increased, the salutary effects of his administration
checked those more violent offences that so readily burst forth amid the
storms of an agitated republic. Nor did the court of Augustus present
that frightful scene of impurity and cruelty which, in the reign of Domitian,
raised the scorn, and called forth the satiric indignation of Juvenal.
In the time of Qoraoe, Borne was rather a theatre, where inconsistency
and folly performed the chief parts, and where nothing better remained
for the wise than to laugh at the comedy which was enacted.
That Horace was not an indifferent spectator of this degradation of bis
country, appears from his glowing panegyrics on the ancient patriots of
Borne, his retrospects to a better age, and to the simplicity of the "prisca
gens mortalium." But no better weapon was left him than the light
shafts of ridicule. What could he have gained by pursuing the guilty,
Bword in hand, as it were, like Lucilins, or arrogating to himself among
courtiers and men of the world the character of an ancient censor? The
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