oration, which contains some interesting anecdotes of sculpture, and an eloquent description of its influence on the fpirit of antiquity: Προς τε Διος (fays the indignant orator) αρα αγνοείτε τετο το έργον εκ εκείνες μονές ατιμες ποιειν, αλλα και την πολιν ερημον των ευνοεσαντων και προθυμησομένων υπερ αυτης; μηδε γαρ εκεινο εισελθε μηδένα υμων, οτι ειπερ αρα μιαν τιμην καταλύσετε την των εικόνων, αι λοιπαι δη εισιν αναφαιετοι DIONIS Rhodiaca Oratio, p. 316. edit. folio, 1604. The learned and judicious Cafaubon joins with Photius in pronouncing this the best of all Dio's orations, and gives the following juft account of the orator's intentions: 66 "Tam prolixa oratione hoc unum agit; ut Rhodiorum fenatui ac populo morem diffuadeat, qui apud eos obtinuerat, ftatuas veteres “transferendi ad aliorum honorem titulis mutatis, furdo figurarum "difcrimine. Non apud Rhodios folum hæc confuetudo invaluerat : verum etiam apud Græcos alios et Romanos quoque....... fed nullus "fuit populus qui rem rifu dignam adeo ufu frequentavit atque iste: cujus gloriæ cum faveret Dio,....ob tam abfurdum inftitutum acerrime eum objurgavit." There is another oration of Dio relating to fculpture, and particularly entertaining. The orator with great dexterity expreffes his furprife, to the inhabitants of Corinth, that a brazen ftatue of himself, with which they had honoured him on his former vifit, (about eleven years before,) had vanished from their city-a subject of great delicacy, and very gracefully treated, particularly in the close of the oration. NOTE VII. Ver. 126. : Hunted with fierce inquietude for more. Marcellus, the plunderer of Syracufe, was perhaps the mildeft of Roman ravagers. He is faid to have dropped a tear of compaffion on his conqueft of that beautiful city. Mr. Pinkerton mentions an exquifite medallion, fuppofed to be ftruck by Syracuse in honour of this compaffionate victor *; who, tender as he was, did not fail to play the Roman, in carrying off the rich and tempting fpoils in his power. The nature of those spoils, and the future confequences of fuch conduct, are finely described in the following words of Livy: "Marcellus, captis Syracufis, quum cætera in Sicilia tanta fide atque "integritate compofuiffet, ut non modo fuam gloriam, fed etiam ma"jeftatem populi Romani, augeret; ornamenta urbis, figna, tabulafque, quibus abundabant Syracufæ, Romam devexit. Hoftium quidem "illa spolia, et parta belli jure: cæterum inde primum initium mirandi "Græcarum artium opera, licentiæque huic facra profanaque omnia "vulgo fpoliandi factum eft; quæ poftremo in Romanos deos, templum ❝id ipfum primum, quod a Marcello eximie ornatum eft, vertit. Vise"bantur enim ab externis ad portam Capenam dedicata a Marcello "templa, propter excellentia ejus generis ornamenta, quorum perexigua pars comparet."-Lib. xxv. c. 40. The triumphant fplendor of ancient Rome feems to have dazzled even the philofophical spirits of antiquity, and to have struck them blind to the predominant vices of her national character. These were arrogance and rapacity; vices generally ftigmatized when they appear in an individual, and certainly not deferving a cenfure lefs fevere when Effay on Medals, vol. i. p. 221. they form the characteristics of a nation. Yet so fascinating is the pride of successful valour, that the nation of antiquity most injurious in its conduct towards the reft of the world is often commended as an object for modern emulation. The most flagrant enormities of which the governors of France (both regal and republican) have been guilty, feem to have been greatly owing to an indiscriminate and fantastic imitation of Roman spirit; with a prepofterous paffion, sometimes concealed, and fometimes avowed, for univerfal dominion. The French appear to believe the Romans to have been what they fuppofed themselves to bea divine race of men, destined by fuperior virtue to fubdue the other nations of the earth; or, to use the words of their elegant but fervile flatterer Virgil: progeniem virtute futuram Egregiam, et totum quæ viribus occupet orbem. Eneid, lib. vii. A Latin author, of an age not so polished, the Chriftian philofopher Arnobius, who wrote with the indignant warmth of an African, has drawn, in the opposite point of view, a forcible and faithful picture of the Romans, in the questions with which he concludes his animated invective, "Adverfus Gentes.' 99 "Generis eam fuiffe divini quifquamne hominum credat, aut ha"buiffe æquitatem diis dignam, quæ humanis fefe discordiis inferens "aliorum opes fregit, aliis fe præbuit exhibuitque fautricem : liberta"tem his abftulit, alios ad columen dominationis erexit: quæ ut una "civitas emineret, in humani generis perniciem nata, orbem fubjugavit "innoxium." These prominent features in the national character of Rome are painted also, with great fidelity and spirit, by Montesquieu, in his masterly sketch of her grandeur and decline; particularly in the chap RR ter entitled, "De la Conduite que les Romains tinrent pour foumettre "tous les peuples." But the fublimeft cenfure on the national conduct of Rome is that which Milton has paffed upon it, in his Paradise Regained; where, to exhibit her ambition in the most execrable point of view, he makes the Arch-fiend propose it as a model, in one of his infidious fpeeches to our Saviour, Aim, therefore, at no lefs than all the world. Paradise Regained, Book iv. v. 105. NOTE VIII. Ver. 138. Thofe wonders of her band that Tafte ador'd. The burning of Corinth was one of the most savage acts of Roman ferocity. The Anthologia contains the following pathetic Greek epigram on the utter demolition of that celebrated city : ΑΝΤΙΠΑΤΡΟΥ. Πε το περιβλεπτον καλλος σεο, Δωρι Κορινθε ; Ουδε ουδ' ίχνος, πολυκα μορε, σειο λελειπται, Κουραι, των αχεων μιμνομεν Αλκυονες. Grotii Verfio. Nunc ubi fublimes tollentia mænia turres Agmina, totque domus fanctaque templa Deûm ? Tantorum decorum veftigia nulla fuperfunt, Omnia corrupit Martis acerba lues. Solæ reftamus geminis Nereides undis Teque velut mæftæ plangimus Alcyones. Antipater, on the Destruction of Corinth. Where Dorian Corinth are thy graceful bowers? But all by War's o'erwhelming flood is drown'd. |