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

IX LIFE OF M/ECENAS.
Debilem facito manu
Debilempede, coxa;
Tuber adstrue gibberuin,
Lubricos quate dentes
Vita dum aupereat, bene est.
Hanc mihi, Tel acuta
Si sedeaBi cruce, Buatine.
From these lines it has been conjectured that he belonged to the sect
of the Epicureans ; but of his philosophical principles nothing certain
is known.
That moderation of character which led him to be content with
his equestrian rank, probably arose from the love of ease and luxury
which we have described, or it might have been the result of more
prudent and political views. As a politician, the principal trait in
his character was his fidelity to his master {Miecenatis erimt vera
tropaa fides, Propert., iii., 9), and the main end of all his cares was
the consolidation of the empire. But, though he advised the establishment
of a despotic monarchy, he was at the same time the advocate
of mild and liberal measures. He recommended Augustus to put no
check on the free expression of public opinion ; but, above all, to avoid
that cruelty which, for so many years, had stained the Roman an-
nals with blood (Senec, Ep. 114). To the same effect is the anecdote
preserved by Cedrenus, the Byzantine historian, that when on
some occasion Octavianus sat on the tribunal, condemning numbers
to death, Msecenas, who was among the by-standers, and could not
appi-oach Caesar by reason of the crowd, wrote on his. tablets, " Rise,
hangman !" {Surge, tandem carnifex .'), and threw them into Csesar's
lap, who immediately left the judgment-seat (cpmp. Dio Cass., Iv., 7)
Maecenas appears to have been a constant valetudinarian. If
Pliny's statement (vii., 5i) is to be taken literally, he labored under
a continual fever. According to the same a,uthor, he was sleepless
during the last three years of his life ; and Seneca tells us {De Provid.,
iii., 9) that he endeavored to procure that sweet and indispensable
refreshment by listening to the sound of distant symphonies. We
may infer from Horace {Carm. iii., 17) that he was rather hypochondriacal.
He died in the consulate of Gallns and Censorinus,
B.C. 8 {Dio Cass., Iv., 7), and was buried on the Esquiline. He
left no children, and thus, by his death, his ancient family became ex-
tinct. He bequeathed his property to Augustus, and we find that
Tiberius afterward resided in his house {Suet., Tib., 15). Though
the emperor treated Msecenas with coldness during the latter years
of his life, he sincerely lamented his death, and seems to have sometimes
felt the want of so able, so honest, and so faithful a counsellor
(jDto Cass., liv., 9 ; Iv., 7 ; Senec, de Bmef., vi., 32).
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