CLASSICAL DISQUISITIONS AND CURIOSITIES. COMPARATIVE ESTIMATE OF TERENCE Ambigitur quoties, uter utro sit prior; aufert HORATII EPIST. i. lib. 2. THE commentators are so much at variance respecting Horace's real drift in his critical epistles, whether he gives certain characters as his own or as the popular opinion, that we can scarcely avail ourselves of his decisions, but as we find them confirmed by other and tantamount authorities. Among the principal of these is Varro, who thus sums up the leading characteristics of Cæcilius and Terence: "In argumentis Cæcilius poscit palmam ; B in ethesin Terentius." Horace's gravitas, therefore, as illustrated by this passage, may be applied to the affecting cast of Cæcilius's general style: and that application is confirmed by another observation of the same author: "Pathe Trabea, Attilius, et Cæcilius facile moverunt." Horace's ars, also, to reconcile it in a similar point of view with Varro's criticism, may be understood to represent, though by too vague a term, that delineation of manners which is the obvious meaning of Varro's expression, ethesin. But the probability is, that it rather applies to the discovery of the double plot, or combination of two stories into one, which the Latin poets invented to satisfy the craving appetite of their audience, too little refined to relish the Greek simplicity and unity. The degree of perfection to which Terence carried this contrivance, and the many occasions on which Plautus contented himself with the single plot of the old comedy, form a strong point of contrast between these two dramatists and the verb properare, in the line devoted to Plautus, shows that such contrast was here intended in reference to the management of their plots; because though ars might refer to the manners, properare could not; and this verb must not be understood merely, as by some critics, to express the closeness with which he imitated, or followed up Epicharmus without losing sight of him; an apparent attempt to put more into the verb than it has room to contain; but the careless rapidity and inartificial winding up of his plots, in which he did not feel it necessary to be more exact than his model. And this explanation; which places arte in substantial, though not in grammatical, antithesis with properare, as well as with gravitate, seems quite consonant with that curiosa felicitas in Horace, enabling him to make single words do the office of whole sentences, and to deliver a criticism or a sarcasm, as it were in a nut-shell. These opposite habits of composing evidently did not arise from the fluctuations of taste in the audience, because the plays of each kept possession of the stage, and divided the sentiments of its frequenters, long after the respective periods of their natural lives; but from the different turn of mind and dissimilar talents in the individuals. Plautus was a perfect master of the Roman language; so much so, that Varro is stated by Quinctilian to have quoted a saying of Ælius Stilo: "Musas Plautino sermone locuturas fuisse, si Latinè loqui vellent." He was besides gifted with a vein of forcible raillery, and a happy union of that buffoonery which always delights a mixed audience, with the higher qualities of real genius; there was in him a combination of strong, caustic, genuine humour, with a spirit of lively repartee, and a facetious turn of expression, always at command. He, therefore, had the means of securing to himself the goodwill of his audience, independently of curiosity, or the complex interest of a fable. Terence, on the other hand, confined himself strictly and sometimes timidly, within the limits of nature and every-day life, even in his most humorous characters: he did not range the boundless field of what might have been done or said, but transcribed what he had seen and heard in his intercourse with mankind, or what he could justify on the authority of his Grecian master. The fabric of his plots, and the situations in which he places the persons of his drama, are often at variance with modern notions of propriety; but he carefully abstains from that licence and coarseness of particularising, from the adoption of that most blunt and strongest language, (and we are told the Muses would have been somewhat broad, ladies though they be,) in which the admirer of the old, and the master of the middle comedy indulged. The consequence was, that Terence felt it necessary to guard against the charge of insipidity, by variety of action and accumulation of incident. In accounting for the different modes in which these two great writers conducted their fables, we have been led partly to anticipate some remarks on their habits of expression, which were rough and unbridled in Plautus, but smooth, regular, and polished in Terence. Now it might be supposed that delicacy was not much more natural to a Carthaginian slave, than to a hanger-on of the theatre, who had spent his substance on stage dresses, and had reduced himself to the necessity of becoming a baker's servant, to gain a livelihood by working at a hand-mill. But the condition of slaves was not always disadvantageous, as we know by the example of more than one eminent writer born in that condition, as well as by the instance of Cicero's Freed-Man, who was the associate of his literary occupations. The slave in question was so fortunate as to fall into the hands of Terentius Lucanus, a man of family, and a member of the senate, who not only gave him a good education, as was the custom with the Roman gentlemen when they picked up boys of promise, but at a manly age presented him with his freedom, and introduced him into the very best society. It was through this kind conduct of his master, that the future poet became acquainted with Scipio and Lælius. * On this part of the subject, we have a letter of Cicero to Atticus, in which the former says, "Secutus sum, non dico Cæcilium ; malus enim Latinitatis auctor est: sed Terentium, cujus Fabellæ propter elegantiam sermonis, putabantur a Lælio scribi, &c." This passage will enable us to appreciate the style of both without disparagement to either. Plautus was said, in the language of a preceding quotation, to have spoken the very Latin in which the Muses must have expressed themselves, had they been born and bred at Rome. Cicero, without giving any opinion of it, repeats the gossip of Terence's inability to write in so polite a style, and the consequent transfer of his laurels to the brow of a man of fashion. Erasmus, one of the best judges of classical literature at the revival of learning, says, that there is no author from whom we can better learn the pure Roman style than from the poet Terence. It has been further remarked on him, that the Romans thought themselves in conversation when they heard his comedies. When the respective produc This intimacy, stated by so many ancient writers, and alluded to by himself, renders Bonnell Thornton's conjecture unnecessary, that he was employed about the stage like Shakspeare, and an actor. + On this, hear Terence himself, in the Prologue to the Adelphi : Nam quod isti dicunt malevoli, homines nobiles Quod illi maledictum vehemens existimant, |