niable, that frequent marriages were effential to the good of the state." Another paffage from this fame oration of Metellus, I have always confidered as meriting repeated attention, no less fo, indeed, than the writings of the greatest philofophers. It is this:-" The immortal gods can certainly do very much; but we cannot expect them to wish better to us than parents. Yet parents, when children are refractory, difinherit them. What then can we expect from Heaven, and the immortal gods, unless we put a ftop to our evil practices? It is right that the gods fhould be favourable to thofe who do not oppose their will. The immortal gods may fhew their approbation of virtue; but are not obliged to take it for a companion,” CHAP. CHAP. VII. In thefe words of Cicero, taken from his fifth oration against Verres," Hanc fibi rem fperant præfidio futurum,” there is nothing to complain of or to cenfure; and they are in an error who pollute the accurate copies of Cicero, by writing it "futuram." Also mention is made of another word in Cicero, which is changed by commentators from its proper ufage to an improper one. A few obfervations are scattered upon the modulation and rhythm of style, which Cicero ftudied with great attention. IN N Cicero's fifth oration against Verres, in that copy the authenticity of which cannot be doubted, being made by the care and diligence of Tiro', it is thus written : "Homines tenues obfcuro loco nati navigant, adeunt ad ea loca quæ nunquam ante adierant; neque noti effe iis, quo venerunt, neque femper cum cognitoribus effe poffunt. Hæc una tamen fiducia civitatis non modo apud noftros magiftratus, qui et 1 Tiro.]-This perfonage was first the flave, then the freedman of Cicero, and always honoured with his confidence and friendship, on account of his merit and accomplishments. There is extant in Cicero's works a book of letters entirely addreffed to this Tiro, and full of expreffions of esteem and kindness. It appears that Cicero always confulted him on what he wrote, and left every thing to his care, to be published or not, as he thought proper. legum legum et exiftimationis periculo continentur, neque apud cives folum Romanos, qui et fermonis et juris et multarum rerum focietate juncti funt, fore fe tutos arbitrantur, fed quocunque venerint hanc fibi rem præfidio fperant futurum." A great many were of opinion that there was an error in the last word, and that it ought to be written not futurum, but futuram; nor did they hefitate to say that it ought to be corrected; left, as the gallant in the comedy of Plautus (for it was thus they indulged their raillery on the fubject) fo a folecism in the oration of Cicero, should be openly detected. There happened to be present a friend of mine, a man of most extenfive reading, of whofe study, reflections, and lucubrations, almoft all the writings of the ancients had been the constant object. He, on examining the book, affirmed, that there was no fault or inaccuracy in the word; and that Cicero had spoken properly, and with elegance. Futurum, he observed, does not refer to rem, as hafty and incurious readers think, nor is it ufed participially. It is an indefinite word, fuch as the Greeks call awaрsuparov, not ferving number or gender, but altogether unconnected and promifcuous. C. Gracchus has ufed the fame kind of word in his ora Solecifm.]-So called, fays Gronovius, from Soli, a city in Cilicia, whofe inhabitants were faid by the Athenians, Soloikezein. See Diogenes Laertius, at the Life of Solon. C. Gracchus.]-Cicero, in his tract de Claris Oratoribus, fays, "That he was a man of extraordinary talents; that in eloquence he was inferior to none; that his language was lofty, his fentiments wife, and that he was in all things a great and dignified character."-Gronovius. tion, tion, the title of which is, " De Quinto Popilio circum conciliabula," in which is this paffage: "Credo ego inimicos meos hoc dicturum ;" where he fays dicturum, and not dicturos. Does not Gracchus apply precifely in the fame meaning the word dicturum as Cicero does futurum? Thus in Greek, without any fufpicion of error, the verbs ποιήσειν, ἔσεσθαι, λέξειν, and the like, are given to both numbers and all genders without distinction. He added, that in the third book of the Annals of the excellent Quadrigarius there was found, "Dum ii conciderentur, hoftium copias ibi occupatas futurum." In the beginning alfo of the eighteenth book of the Annals of the fame Quadrigarius, there was this fentence: "Si pro tua bonitate et noftra voluntate tibi valetudo fuppetit, eft quod fperemus deos bonis bene facturum." In like manner in the twenty-fourth book of Valerius Antias, we read, "Si hæ res divinæ factæ ritèque perlitatæ effent, harufpices dixerunt omnia ex fententia proceffurum effe." Plautus alfo, in his "Cafina," speaking of a young woman, fays occifurum, and not occifuram; as, "Etiamne habet Cafina gladium? habet fed duos Quibus altero te occifurum ait, altero villicum," Quadrigarius.]-Of this Quadrigarius but very little is known. Much use was made of him by Livy, more by Gellius, and many things were taken from him by Macrobius, Servius, Nonius, and Prifcian. A fragment of his works is found in Seneca. He was a writer of Roman annals. • Valerius Antias.]-This was another ancient writer of fuperior diftinction, of whose works a few fcattered fragments only remain. He is often quoted by Livy, and was of much use to Pliny. Thus Thus, too, Laberius, in his Gemellis : "Non putavi, hoc eam futurum. Were not, therefore, all these people ignorant of what a folecifm was? Gracchus ufed the word dicturum ; Quadrigarius futurum, and benefacturum ; Plautus occifurum; Antias proceffurum; Laberius facturum, all indefinitely. Which ufage is neither dif tinguished by number, perfon, gender, or tense, but comprehends them all by one unvaried termination. Thus Cicero ufed futurum neither in the masculine nor neuter gender, for that would have been a folecism; but as a word which had nothing to do with any gender. This fame friend of mine, in Cicero's oration concerning the command of Cn. Pompey, affirmed, that it was thus written by Cicero, and fo he always read: " Quum veftros portus atque eos portus equibus vitam ac fpiritum ducitis in prædonum fuiffe poteftatem fciatis." That it was no folecifm to fay in poteftatem fuiffe, as the vulgar and half-learned fuppofe; but he contended the expreffion was proper and correct, and was Laberius.]-The Fragments of Laberius were collected by Henry Stephens, and published with others of the ancient Latin poets; and they are also found in the Corpus Poetarum published by Mattaire. He wrote fatirical pieces, and was urged by Julius Cæfar to appear publicly on the ftage. This, being a Roman knight, he for a time refused to do, as an act highly degrading; but he was finally compelled to gratify the tyrant. He introduced himself with that beautiful prologue which is found in Macrobius, and which an ingenious friend has done me the favour to tranflate.-It is hereafter fubjoined. VOL. I. D common |