journey, which our poet made in company with Mecænas, creating much envy against him, he wrote this piece to convince his ene mies that his thoughts and occupations on the road were far from being of a serious or political nature.

2. In the year of Rome 702, a decree of the senate entrusted Cicero with the government of Cilicia. In compliance with the decree, he quitted a city, the theatre of his glory, and went to gather laurels on Mount Amanus. Atticus and his other friends were requested to attend to his interests, and to shorten as much as possible the term of his banishment. It was with difficulty that he could tear himself from the delightful neighbourhood of the capital. He travelled from one villa to another, before he could seriously set out on his journey. He left Rome the first of May:+ the tenth of the same month, I find him at his villa near Pompeii. The following is the most natural division of these nine days. The 1st, Cicero went no farther than his house near Tusculum. He mentions the conversation he had there with Atticus, who probably accompanied him to that charming villa; where he would certainly sleep that night. The 2nd May: Tusculum is sixty-three miles from Arpinum. This would have been too great a journey for a man who did not travel with the speed of a courier. I therefore divide it into two, and suppose that Cicero stopt short at Tarentinum. 3rd May, in that case he had but twenty miles to travel to his villa at Arpinum. The pleasure of seeing his fellow-citizens, and receiving the compliments of a people who considered his glory as their own, would detain him there the remainder of that day. The 4th May: this day which was less agreeable than the pre ceding, is marked very distinctly. Cicero dined at the villa of his brother Quintus at Arcanum, not far from Arpinum; and witnessed a domestic scene, in which the bad humour of Quintus's wife disturbed the pleasure of the entertainment, and tired the patience of her husband and brother-in-law. Cicero slept that night at Aquinum, only fifteen miles from Arpinum. The 5th and 6th of May: from Aquinum to Cuma the distance is sixty-five miles. The journey would have been rather too long. Besides, in passing from Aquinum, which is on the Latin way to Minturnæ, which is on the Appian, it was necessary to cross the country; since the highway extended in that direction only nine miles. It was necessary to quit it again at Sinuessa, to wade through the marshes of Vulturnus, and the sands of Liturnum. I imagine that Cicero slept at one of these places, and proceeded next day to his house at Cuma. The 7th of May must have been spent entirely at Cumæ, to receive the visits of the neighbourhood. I know that the whole bay of Naples was adorned by country-houses contiguous to each other; but it

V. Horat. Serm. ii. 6. v. 20—60.

+For the detail of this voyage it is proper to peruse the epistles to Atticus, lib. v. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10. The History of Cicero, by Fabricius, and by Middleton, the year of Rome 702.

map.

All the distances not noticed in the Itineraries, I have measured on M. Delisle's

must have required at least one day to assemble a little Rome in the house of Cicero. The 8th of May, he went to his villa at Pompeii. The distance was thirty-nine miles by land, through Puteoli, Naples, and Herculaneum. He might have shortened it by crossing the bay: yet one day must be allowed for this journey. The 9th day was surely spent at Pompeii. Some motive of business or pleasure must have carried Cicero so far out of his road.

In this journey, we see a great man travelling in the neighbourhood of the capital, making great journeys without being in haste, and everywhere enjoying his conveniences. Among the ancients, these conveniences could only be enjoyed by the great; because it was necessary to procure them for one's self, to supply the want of posts by relays, and the want of good inns by private houses. In modern times, the interest of individuals supplies to the public all these conveniences, which each man may purchase whenever he stands in need of them. On the 10th of May, Cicero left Pompeii ; and went to sleep in a country-house which one of his friends had at Trebula; thirty miles. He began to travel seriously; and writes to Atticus that he proposed in future to make good journeys, justa itinera. The 11th of May brought him to Beneventum; thirty miles. The 12th of May, he seems to have stopped there, since he speaks of a letter received early, and one which came later. The 15th of May, he left Venusia to climb Mount Vultur, and thence descend into the plain of Lucania. He arrived at Tarentum on the 18th of May this place is 155 miles from Beneventum. He spent three days with the great Pompey, employed in fortifying the good principles of a man who yet held, or believed that he held, the balance of the republic. On the 22nd of May, Cicero proceeded to Brundusium, forty-three miles from Tarentum.* Contrary winds and business detained him several days in that harbour. He at length sailed the 15th of June, and arrived at Actium. He again set out, crossed the Achelous and the Evenus, passed through the cities of Delphi, Thespiæ, Megara, and Eleusis, and arrived at Athens on the 25th of June, after travelling 205 miles from Actium. I shall not dwell longer on this journey of Cicero; but only remark, that from Pompeii to Athens he travelled 463 Roman, about 417 English, miles, in nineteen days: which gives 24 Roman miles for each day's journey.

This slowness is surprising, since Cicero did not travel in a day farther than a Roman soldier, loaded with his arms, and so many other burdens, advanced in five hours of summer (about six equinoctial hours). My surprise is, however, diminished, by the following considerations. Cicero left his country without knowing precisely how long his absence from it was to continue. A multitude of preparations were necessary for a governor, who was going to establish a great household in a distant and barbarous province. He had to wait for a number of conveniences which were collecting for him at

Itinerar. p. 119. Pliny says 35 miles. Nat. Hist. iii. 16.

+ Itinerar. p. 325, 326.

Beneventum, Tarentum, and Brundusium, and which could not but retard his journey. It is possible that I may be mistaken; but I think it apparent in all our orator's letters, that such economical arrangements were by no means suited to his genius. 2. The family of a proconsul was too numerous to admit of dispatch in travelling. A quæstor, four lieutenants, twelve tribunes, accompanied Cicero, to execute their respective functions under his government. A crowd of young Romans, of high rank, followed the proconsul, to learn, under his auspices, the art of war, or rather, that of politics. To this illustrious band we must add one, far more numerous, of officers, lictors, clerks, freedmen, and slaves, belonging to the proconsul himself, or to the companions of his journey. This little army was embarrassed with too many wants to allow him to proceed with the expedition of an ordinary traveller. He would have preferred going by sea from Actium to Patras: but in that case he must have made use of the little barks of the country; and the passage would not have been performed with the dignity of a public minister, who wished to surprise the Greeks as much by the magnificence of his equipage, as by the moderation of his conduct. 3. The roads must have been very bad between Actium and Athens. The motive of the Romans in making roads was neither the benefit of the provinces, which those conquerors always despised, nor the convenience of commercial intercourse, of which they never knew how to estimate the value; but merely to facilitate the marches of their troops. Greece, which early became an interior and submissive province, was not in any of the direct lines which united Rome with the frontiers; and had but one only road, while the other parts of the empire were intersected by military ways, in all possible directions. The proconsul might have followed this road, if it was then made; but as we are ignorant of its era, we ought rather to think that it was not so early. Most of the Roman roads are works of the emperors.* 4. Greece attracted but weakly the attention of the Roman government; but how well did it deserve that of Cicero ! How could he rapidly traverse a country, each village of which was illustrious in history or fable? The man of letters, who admired the Greeks in proportion as he was eager to surpass them; the curious antiquary, who had discovered, with such transports, the tomb of Archimedes; the enlightened philosopher, who had unveiled the frauds of Delphi, must have been arrested at every step by an hundred objects unknown and indifferent to vulgar eyes. With what pleasure would I follow such a guide in such a journey!

In uniting the 369 Roman miles which Horace travelled in ten days, with the 463 which Cicero travelled in nineteen, we shall have the middle term of 30 Roman miles for an ordinary day's journey. I should prefer, however, extending it to 33 Roman, or 30 English, miles; the slowness of Cicero being better ascertained than the supposed rapidity of Horace.

I shall not expatiate on the posts, the inns, or the carriages of

* Bergier, Hist. des Grand Chemins de l'Empire, lib. i. cap. ix. p. 27.

the Romans. The last, if we may judge of them by subsisting monuments, were small, open, and inconvenient. They had two or four wheels; but, not being suspended, must have been very fatiguing to travellers on the paved military roads. These carriages were of various kinds; and what is extraordinary, almost all the different kinds had been borrowed from the Gauls. The Romans adorned them with silver, gold, and sometimes with precious stones; a barbarous and misplaced luxury, indicating more riches than taste. It was reserved for modern times to invent those soft and elegant machines which gratify at once the effeminacy, laziness, and impatience of travellers.*

I shall speak briefly of another kind of travelling, the march of troops. These marches, I am inclined to think, both by the exercises (of which I have made mention) and by my general opinion on the subject, were longer than ours; but, previously to making the researches necessary for determining this matter with precision, I shall cast a glance on the longest and boldest march which I have ever met with in history, either ancient or modern.

The fortune of the Carthaginians was sustained in Italy by the exertions of Hannibal, when Asdrubal crossed the Alps with a numerous army. The republic was in danger of sinking under their united efforts. Nero, the consul, observed the motions of Hannibal, who exhausted the whole science of marching and countermarching. The Roman general perceived that a bold stroke only could ward off the dangers which threatened his country. With a chosen body of a thousand horse, and six thousand foot, he marched from his camp, deceived the vigilance of the Carthaginian, effected a junction with his colleague in Umbria, saved the republic at the battle of Metaurus, and returned with the same celerity, announcing to Hannibal the death of his brother, and finding that general himself still astonished and inactive. He had left Hannibal in the neighbourhood of Canusium; he found the consul Livius in that of Sena Gallica. His route through the territories of the Larinates, Frentani, Marrucini, Præ-, tutii, and Picenum, into Umbria, was about 270 Roman miles. know not how many days he employed in marching thither; but I know that only six were spent in his return.§ Expedition became daily more necessary; and it is not a small stain on the glory of Hannibal, that he remained ignorant for twelve days of the departure of the Roman general. I think this would not have escaped the vigilance of Asdrubal; and that he would have destroyed an army weakened by the absence of its general, and by a powerful detachment. 270 Roman miles in six days, gives 45 Roman, or 40 English miles for each daily march. The fact is scarcely credible. Nero's forces, indeed, were selected from the whole army;

V. l'Antiquité Expliquée du P. Monfaucon.

Tit. Liv. xxvii. 43-51.

I

Itineraria Anton. p. 312, 313, 314, 315. I have measured on the chart of Delisle the distance from Canusium to Larinum.

Tit. Liv. xxvii. 50, xxviii. 9.

Tit. Liv. xxvii. 46.

he marched night and day; and the zeal of the allies co-operated with the attentions of the general in procuring for them, in abun dance, every comfort and assistance proper for softening their fa tigues and reviving their strength. With all these advantages, it would be impossible for modern troops to make such a march. Te accomplish it required Romans, and Romans of the age of Scipio. As soldiers, their bodies were patient of fatigue and toil; as citizens. they had a country for which to fight. Their exertions were quite different from those of a herd of mercenaries, whose only hope is tha: of pay, and whose only fear is that of punishment.

This is a sketch of the chapter which I said was wanting;—but. how imperfect have I left it!

NO. IV.

Lausanne.-Much philosophical and much theological knowledge may be derived from Ovid's Fasti. The religion of the Romans. the points in which it agrees with or differs from that of the Greeks, is a subject as curious as it is new. I reckon for nothing the re

searches of a Coyer.

The poetry of the Fasti appears to me more liable to blame than worthy of praise. I acknowledge with pleasure all the merit of Ovid; his astonishing fancy, a perpetual elegance, and the most agreeable turn of mind. I principally admire his variety, suppleness. and (if I may say so) his flexibility of genius, which rapidly embraces the most opposite subjects, assumes the true style of each, and presents them all under the most pleasing forms of which they are susceptible. The thought almost always suits the subject; and the expression rarely fails in being suitable to the thought. In the Fasti the same ideas are perpetually recurring; but the images under which they are represented are continually different. The passages of the Fasti which have given me most pleasure are, 1. The origin of sacrifices: 2. The adventure of Lucretia: 3. The festival of Anna Perenna 4. The origin of the name of May: 5. The dispute of the goddesses for that of June.

The following are some of the faults in the character either of the poet or of his subject; which it is painful to perceive. Ovid appears to me defective in point of strength and elevation; and his genius loses in depth what it gains in surface. In painting nature, his strokes are vague, and without character. His expression of the passions is rarely just; he is sometimes weak, sometimes extravagant, always too diffuse; and though he continually seeks the road to the heart, is seldom fortunate enough to find it. His light and tender character, softened by pleasure and rendered more interesting by misfortune, made him acquainted with the tones of sadness and joy. He knows how to lament the misery of a forsaken mistress, or to celebrate the triumphs of a successful lover. the great passions are above his reach; fury, vengeance, the fortitude or ferocity of the soul, which either subdues its most impetuons movements, or precipitates their unbridled career. His heroes think more of the reader than of themselves; and the poet, who

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