66 Vitruvius thus describes the Roman scenes: 66 Ipsae scenae "suas habeant rationes explicatas, ita uti mediae valvae ornatus "habeant aulae regiae, dextra ac sinistra hospitalia. Secundum "autem ea, spatia ad ornatus comparata; (quae loca Graeci wegianles dicunt, ab eo quod machinae sint in iis locis versa"tiles trigonos habentes). In singula tres sint species ornationis, quae, cùm aut fabularum mutationes sunt futurae, seu "Deorum adventus cum tonitribus repentinis, versentur, mu"tentque speciem ornationis in frontes." Lib. V. c. vii. 66 +"In Panegyri sacra sunt loca, et sacrificia, et stadia ad “ currendum, Et Scena alicubi. τεμένη γὰρ ἐν αὐτῇ, καὶ ἱερὰ, καὶ Spoμoi, nai ounvǹ Sπ." Philostratus de vitâ Apol. lib. VIII. c. xviii. 66 VER. 26-29. "In foribus pugnam ex auro solidoque elephanto "Gangaridum faciam, victorisque arma *3 Quirini: "Atque hic undantem bello, magnumque fluentem "Nilum, ac navali surgentes aere columnas." + Virgil's imaginary temple here seems to have been copied from that built by Augustus, to Mars Ultor; and they agree in so many particulars, that I cannot help thinking the one was a copy of the other. Ovid thus describes the temple of Mars Ultor: 66 66 "Ultor ad ipse suos caelo descendit honores; 66 "Hinc videt Iliaden humeris ducis arma ferentem." Fast. V. 565. By comparing this with Virgil's, one sees, that on the gates of each are the conquered nations, and their arms;-in each, the Trojan ancestors of the Julian family; in each, Romulus carrying the Spolia opima.-The trophies, mentioned for both, I imagine, might stand on each side of the front, at top: with Mars standing between them, on the highest elevation, in the one; as Augustus may be supposed to do, in the other. 66 Prospicit Armipotens operis fastigia summi; Fast. V. 560 H "In medio mihi Caesar erit; templumque tenebit." Georg. III. 16. *The word Fores was used not only for the door, but likewise for the exterior part of the temple; as appears from Virgil, in his description of the temple of Juno built by Dido: "Tum foribus Divae, mediâ testudine templi, "Septa armis solioque alte subnixa, resedit." Aen. III. 509. Where he makes Fores to signify all the temple, except the cell or inner part; for he cannot mean that Dido sat at the door of the temple, because he expressly declares that it was "mediâ "testudine templi."-The same may be gathered from Virgil's description of the temple of Apollo at Cumae, lib. VI. and likewise from Tacitus, who seems to use the word in distinction to the cell of the temple of Vesta. ** Those that border on the Ganges, or strictly the Indians beyond the Ganges, as we learn from Q. Curtius; who, telling us that Alexander being got as far as the river Hypasis in India, and inquiring of Phegelas the prince of that part, what countries lay beyond him, was thus informed by him: "Undecim "dierum ultra flumen (Hypasim) per vastas solitudines iter "esse; excipere deinde Gangem, maximum totius Indiae flu"minum: ulteriorem ripam colere gentes Gangaridas et Phar"rasios." Lib. IX. § v. By Gangaridae, Virgil means the Eastern people in general. * Suetonius says thus: "Censentibus quibusdam Romulum "appellari oportere, quasi et ipsum conditorem urbis." And Dion—Ο Καΐσας ἐπιθυμεῖ ἰσχυρῶς Ρωμύλος ὀνομασθῆναι.See more in Johannes Philadelphensis (scripto de mensibus in Aug.) 'Oxlabiavos, etc. The pleasure which Augustus took in this title was undoubtedly the reason of Virgil's making that artful compliment to him in the sixth Aeneid, where Anchises, shewing his son the glories of his posterity, breaks loose from the true order of succession, and places Augustus immediately after Romulus: which irregularity, though censured by some of the critics, is, I think, one of the finest strokes of that glorious passage. See Dr. Trapp's note on that place, Book VI. ver. 973. of his translation. 1 VER. 30-33. "Addam urbes *1 Asiae domitas, pulsumque Niphaten, "Fidentemque fugâ Parthum versisque sagittis : "Et * duo rapta manu diverso ex hoste trophaea, "Bisque triumphatas ** utroque ab litore gentes." * Compare this with Aeneid VI. 794. and VII. 605.— Augustus's conquests in the East was a favourite topick of the Poets in his time. Vid. Hor. lib. I. Od. vi. ver. 12. et lib. IV. Od. xiv. et xv. **Quaer. Whether Virgil does not mean Augustus's victory over Brutus and Cassius, and his recovery of the Roman Eagles from the Parthi, for in both actions he might very properly be said, "Rapuisse manu trophaea."And we are assured that on the former account Augustus built a temple to Mars Ultor, and on the latter account he dedicated one to him under the title of Bisultor.Suetonius says, " Publica opera plurima "extruxit: ex quibus praecipua, forum cum aede Martis "Ultoris," etc. And presently after, "Aedem Marti Bello "Philippensi pro ultione paternâ suscepto voverat."—————And, more expressly, Ovid: 66 Templa feres, et me victore vocaberis Ultor: "Parthe, refers Aquilas, victos quoque porrigis arcus; "Rite Deo, templumque datum, nomenque BISULTOR; Or do the "Duo Trophaea" mean only the trophies recovered, which were taken from Crassus and Labienus by the two Parthian Kings, Moneses and Pacorus? which were esteemed two of the greatest disgraces which had befallen Rome. See Hor. lib. III. Od. vi. Mr. Holdsworth has the following guess on the same passage in another place.One of the cases here referred to is undoubtedly Augustus's recovering from the Parthians the standards they had taken from Crassus. Quaer. If the other does not refer to his recovering from the Dalmatians the standards they had taken from Gabinius:-for thus the Latin translator of Appian, De Bellis Illyricis, having related Augustus's taking Sergeste (now Trieste) and his other conquests over the Illyrians, adds; "Caesar copias in Dalmatas convertit gentem Illyriorum. “Dalmatae quidem, ex quo sub Gabinio quinque cohortes in"terimentes signa ademerant, ob. res prospere gestas animis "elati, per decem annos neutiquam deposuere arma, et advenienti (Aug.) Caesari unà cum Sergestanis occurrere statuerant," Then having given account of the success against them, he tells us that Augustus going to Rome to receive the Consulship, and returning again to Dalmatia, "Dalmatae fame fatigati "commeatu undique excluso, venienti Caesari sponte obviant, illi suppliciter dedunt, obsides numero septingentos ex 66 seque 66 "propriis filiis exhibent. Hos Caesar Romanorum signa "Gabinio adempta ferre monuit: tributa quoque quae sub "Caio Caesare olim polliciti in id tempus distulissent persolvere imperavit. Ita Romanis obsequentiores deinceps effecti sunt. "Ea signa Caesar in porticu, quae Octavia dicitur, appendit.' Then having told us of other people of the Illyrians conquered by Caesar, he concludes "Ob eam rem triumphus Illyrius à senatu Caesari decretus est, quem post devictum "tandem egit Antonium."-The story of Gabinius is related by Appian, lib. II. De Bellis Civil. sect. cccclxiv. -Appian hints at Augustus's wars against the Illyrians, lib. V. Bell. Civ. p. 1175. edit. Toll. and, again, page ult. 66 One of the people meant here were certainly the Cantabri. Horace, in praising Augustus, generally, if not always, mentions his conquering the Cantabri. See lib. I. Od. vi. 3. 8. iv. 14. Horace likewise frequently mentions Augustus's recovering from the Parthians the Roman ensigns taken from Crassus, and his wiping out that blot upon the Roman name. See lib. IV. Od. xv. This was so much the more honourable to Augustus, becaus his rival Antony, though he entered Parthia with a vast army on purpose to revenge the death of Crassus, and offered to withdraw his forces on condition that the Parthians would surrender the Roman eagles, could not obtain them, and being refused was forced to retire with disgrace, and considerable loss. See Plutarch's life of Antony. 66 ** The completing of the conquest of Spain was ascribed to Augustus, as is expressly declared by Livy; who has this remarkable passage; Hispania non quam Italia modo, sed quam "ulla pars terrarum bello reparando aptior erat locorum hominumque ingeniis. Itaque ergo príma Romanis inita pro"vinciarum quae quidem continentis sint; postremo omnium "nostra demum aetate ductu auspicioque Augusti Caesaris "perdomita est." Dec. III. lib. viii. The reduction of Aegypt is likewise claimed by Augustus, as we find it inscribed on the pedestal of the obelisk at the Porta del Popolo at Rome, which was erected in the eleventh consulate of Augustus, i. e. Anno U. C. 731. **Probably this means no more than the opposite shores of the Mediterranean sea. Horace makes the like compliment to Rome: "Horrenda latè nomen in ultimas "Quà tumidus rigat arva Nilus." Lib. III. od. iii. VER. 34-36. "Stabunt et Parii lapides, spirantia signa; "Assaraci proles, demissaeque ab Jove gentis "Nomina: Trosque parens, et Trojae Cynthius auctor." *This suited the taste of Augustus, who adorned his public buildings with statues. Suetonius tells us, "Proximum à Diis "immortalibus honorem memoriae ducum praestitit, qui impe"rium Populi Romani ex minimo maximum reddidissent. 66 Itaque et statuas omnium triumphali effigie in utrâque fori "sui porticu dedicavit. Professus est edicto commentum id se, “ut illorum velut ad exemplar, et ipse dum viveret, et insequentium aetatum principes exigerentur à civibus." In Aug. VER. 37-39. 66 66 "Invidia infelix Furias, amnemque severum Immanemque rotam; et non exsuperabile saxum.' † All the editions of Virgil at present (and indeed several of the manuscripts, and even some of the oldest) read Angues here, instead of Orbes. The reason why I suppose some critics of late, who have thought it was originally Orbes, are in the right, is, because the latter agrees with Ixion's punishment, and the former does not. The punishment of Ixion consisted in being attached to a wheel, and whirled round impetuously by it; both which are expressed in the "Tortos orbes, immanemque rotam," of Virgil. -Orbis is the very word which Virgil uses, in the only place beside this where he speaks of Ixion's punishment, in his allowed works: and, if the Aetna be his, it is also used there of the same. I do not remember that Virgil, or any other of the Roman Poets, ever speak of Ixion's being tormented with snakes; or indeed of snakes being made use of in the torments of Tartarus at all. The snakes of the Furies, or infernal tormentors of the old Poets, represented the stings of conscience; the tortures and sufferings of the mind, not those of the body: but the modern painters have made so much use of serpents, in their representations of persons tormented in the other world, that has made a connexion between the tormented and snakes now, which was not of old and may have been a chief reason, that the reading of Angues has prevailed so generally among us. I must just observe one thing more; which is, the propriety of Virgil in the above passage, in another respect. The persons he is speaking of are the enemies of the Julian family; or of the faction (as he calls it) against the Caesars. These, he says, |