Lives of the Poets | Page 3

but from the time he went on board ship He was never seen again. Thus he ended his life.
Q. Consentius reports that he perished at sea on his voyage back from Greece, and that one hundred and eight plays, of which he had made a version from Menander [940], were lost with him. Others say that he died at Stymphalos, in Arcadia, or in Leucadia, during the consulship of Cn. Cornelius Dolabella and Marcus Fulvius Nobilior [941], worn out with a severe illness, and with grief and regret for the loss of his baggage, which he had sent forward in a ship that was wrecked, and contained the last new plays he had written.
In person, Terence is reported to have been rather short and slender, with a dark complexion. He had an only daughter, who was afterwards married to a Roman knight; and he left also twenty acres of garden ground [942], on the Appian Way, at the Villa of Mars. I, therefore, wonder the more how Porcius could have written the verses,
--------nihil Publius?Scipio profuit, nihil et Laelius, nihil Furius,?Tres per idem tempus qui agitabant nobiles facillime.?Eorum ille opera ne domum quidem habuit conductitiam?Saltem ut esset, quo referret obitum domini servulus. [943]
Afranius places him at the head of all the comic writers, declaring, in his Compitalia,
Terentio non similem dices quempiam.?Terence's equal cannot soon be found.
On the other hand, Volcatius reckons him inferior not only (536) to Naevius, Plautus, and Caecilius, but also to Licinius. Cicero pays him this high compliment, in his Limo--
Tu quoque, qui solus lecto sermone, Terenti,?Conversum expressumque Latina voce Menandrum?In medio populi sedatis vocibus offers,?Quidquid come loquens, ac omnia dulcia dicens.
"You, only, Terence, translated into Latin, and clothed in choice language the plays of Menander, and brought them before the public, who, in crowded audiences, hung upon hushed applause--
Grace marked each line, and every period charmed."
So also Caius Caesar:
Tu quoque tu in summis, O dimidiate Menander,?Poneris, et merito, puri sermonis amator,?Lenibus atque utinam scriptis adjuncta foret vis?Comica, ut aequato virtus polleret honore?Cum Graecis, neque in hoc despectus parte jaceres!?Unum hoc maceror, et doleo tibi deesse, Terenti.
"You, too, who divide your honours with Menander, will take your place among poets of the highest order, and justly too, such is the purity of your style. Would only that to your graceful diction was added more comic force, that your works might equal in merit the Greek masterpieces, and your inferiority in this particular should not expose you to censure. This is my only regret; in this, Terence, I grieve to say you are wanting."
THE LIFE OF JUVENAL.
D. JUNIUS JUVENALIS, who was either the son [944] of a wealthy freedman, or brought up by him, it is not known which, declaimed till the middle of life [945], more from the bent of his inclination, than from any desire to prepare himself either for the schools or the forum. But having composed a short satire [946], which was clever enough, on Paris [947], the actor of pantomimes, (537) and also on the poet of Claudius Nero, who was puffed up by having held some inferior military rank for six months only; he afterwards devoted himself with much zeal to that style of writing. For a while indeed, he had not the courage to read them even to a small circle of auditors, but it was not long before he recited his satires to crowded audiences, and with entire success; and this he did twice or thrice, inserting new lines among those which he had originally composed.
Quod non dant proceres, dabit histrio, tu Camerinos,?Et Bareas, tu nobilium magna atria curas.?Praefectos Pelopea facit, Philomela tribunos.
Behold an actor's patronage affords?A surer means of rising than a lord's!?And wilt thou still the Camerino's [948] court,?Or to the halls of Bareas resort,?When tribunes Pelopea can create?And Philomela praefects, who shall rule the state? [949]
At that time the player was in high favour at court, and many of those who fawned upon him were daily raised to posts of honour. Juvenal therefore incurred the suspicion of having covertly satirized occurrences which were then passing, and, although eighty years old at that time [950], he was immediately removed from the city, being sent into honourable banishment as praefect of a cohort, which was under orders to proceed to a station at the extreme frontier of Egypt [951]. That (538) sort of punishment was selected, as it appeared severe enough for an offence which was venial, and a mere piece of drollery. However, he died very soon afterwards, worn down by grief, and weary of his life.
THE LIFE OF PERSIUS.
AULUS PERSIUS FLACCUS was born the day before the Nones of December [4th Dec.] [952], in the consulship of Fabius Persicus and L. Vitellius. He died on the eighth of the calends of December [24th Nov.] [953] in the consulship