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been suggested by the conversation between Demea and Syrus in the

Inspicere tamquam in speculum in vitas omnium

Iubeo atque ex aliis sumere exemplum sibi.

Again, the remonstrance of Micio to Demea,

Sineres nunc facere, dum per aetatem licet,

Dicitur Afrani toga convenisse Menandro.

'Si quisquamst, qui placere se studeat bonis

Quam plurimis et minime multos laedere,

In his poeta hic nomen profitetur suom.'

'Nolite sinere per vos artem musicam

Recidere ad paucos.'

'Hic est vietus, vetus, veternosus senex,'--

'Profundat, perdat, pereat, etc.;'

discreditable.']

Of all the forms of Roman poetry, satire was least indebted to

the works of the Greeks. Quintilian claims it altogether for his

countrymen--'satira tota nostra est.' Horace characterises it as

Satire was not only national in its intellectual and moral

Primores populi arripuit populumque tributim.

It endeavoured also, by acting on individual character, to effect

Detrahere et pellem, nitidus qua quisque per ora

Cederet, introrsum turpis.

truest exponent of the character, pursuits, and interests of the

Ille velut fidis arcana sodalibus olim, etc.,

implies that Lucilius used his satire as a natural vehicle for

The time at which he appeared was one of the most critical epochs

Attamen et iustum poteras et scribere fortem

Scipiadem ut sapiens Lucilius--;

and the parallel there suggested between the relation of Lucilius

Percrepa pugnam Popilli, facta Corneli cane,

contrasts the defeat of M. Popillius Laenas in 138 B.C. with the

criticism Lucilius dreaded. These and other passages must have

Quo fit ut omnis

Votiva pateat veluti descripta tabella

lose their point, unless _senis_ is to be understood in its usual

under nineteen years of age. But with these admissions it is not

His birth-place was Suessa Aurunca in Campania. Juvenal calls him

His satires were written in thirty Books. The remaining fragments

initiate a change in Roman literature.

Garrulus atque piger scribendi ferre laborem,

Quo me habeam pacto, tametsi non quaeri', docebo,

Quando in eo numero mansti, quo in maxima nunc est

Pars hominum,

Ut periise velis quem visere nolueris, cum

Debueris. Hoc nolueris et debueris te

Si minu' delectat, quod τεχνίον Isocratium est,

Ληρῶδέςque simul totum ac συμμειρακιῶδες,

Non operam perdo.

Mantica cantheri costas gravitate premebat--

The fragments however, when read collectively, bring out the main

of the joy of escaping from the storms of life into a quiet haven

and immunity from envy, and the superiority of plain living

to luxury. Like Horace, while holding to his independence of

life, he put a high value on friendship, and strove to fulfil its

self-consciousness which accompanies that condition. On the whole

the exercise of his art,--a warm friend and partisan, and a bold

and uncompromising enemy,--not professing any austerity of life,

of public duty and personal honour.

those assailed by him on political grounds, L. Hostilius Tubulus,

especially his devotion to Scipio--may have stimulated these

animosities; but there were instances enough of incapacity in

war, profligacy and extortion in the government of the provinces,

satirised by Lucilius. Such passages as these--

Cenasti in vita numquam bene, quom omnia in ista

Consumis squilla atque acipensere quum decumano.

Hoc fit item in cena, dabis ostrea millibu' nummum

Occidunt, Lupe, saperdae te et iura siluri.

Vivite lurcones, comedones, vivite ventres.

Illum sumina ducebant atque altilium lanx

Hunc pontes Tiberinu' duo inter captu' catillo.

Purpureo tersit tunc latas gausape mensas, etc.

show the proportions already assumed by a form of sensuality, the

Milia dum centum frumenti tolli medimnum,

Vini mille cadum.--

Denique uti stulto nihil est satis, omnia cum sint.--

Rugosi passique senes eadem omnia quaerunt.--

Mordicus petere aurum e flamma expediat, e caeno cibum.--

Aquam te in animo habere intercutem.

The following description of a miser seems to have suggested the

beginning of one of Catullus' lampoons:--

Cui neque inmentumst nec servos nec comes ullus,

Bulgam et quidquid habet nummum secum habet ipse,

Cum bulga cenat, dormit, lavit; omnis in unast

Spes homini bulga. Bulga haec devincta lacertost.

In other passages he inculcates the lessons of good sense and

The extravagance, airs, and vices of women, are another theme of

Cum tecumist, quidvis satis est: visuri alieni

Sint homines, spiras, pallam, redimicula promit.

Another fragment--

Homines ipsi hanc sibi molestiam ultro atque aerumnam offerunt,

to provide for the continued well-being of the world than for our

Terriculas Lamias, Fauni quas Pompiliique

Instituere Numae, tremit has, hic omnia ponit;

Ut pueri infantes credunt signa omnia ahena

Vivere, et esse homines; et sic isti omnia ficta

Vera putant, credunt signis cor inesse in ahenis;

Pergula pictorum, veri nihil, omnia ficta.

Paenula, si quaeris, canteriu', servu', segestre,

Utilior mihi, quam sapiens;

Nondum etiam, qui haec omnia habebit,