polite learning; and Rome had little acquaintance with the fciences for the first five hundred years. But it is not enough that the ftate be rich and powerful; if the feveral individual members of it are not fo, arts will make but flow advances there, and being a tender and delicate plant, will ficken and die for want of kind culture and nourishment. This was the fate of the Affyrian and Perfian empire, and at length prov'd that of the Roman.

POETRY, above all, demanding the greatest tranquillity of mind, and freedom of thought, rarely thrives but in the arms of (at least apparent) liberty and peace.

THUS anciently Greece and Rome gave birth to fo many noble genius's, whofe immortal writings are a ftanding monument of their country's glory.

HORACE, Speaking of the beginning of learning among the Greeks, is of this opinion.

Ut primum pofitis nugari Gracia bellis
Capit, & in vitium fortuna labier aqua,
Nunc Athletarum ftudiis, nunc arfit equorum:
Marmoris aut eboris fabros aut aris amavit:
Sufpendit picta vultum mentemque tabella:
Nunc Tibicinibus, nunc eft gavifa Tragoedis
Sub nutrice puella velut fi luderet infans,
Quod cupide petiit, mature plena reliquit.
Quid placet aut odio eft, quod non mutabile credas?
Hoc paces habuere bona, ventique fecundi.

When wars were done, and Greece diffolv'd in peace,
When fortune taught them how to live at cafe;
They wrestled, painted, fung, these arts they lov❜d,
Thefe did they much admire, thefe they improv'd.
In ev'ry picture vulgar eyes cou'd find
The face exact, and almolt faw the mind:
Then racing, vaulting then, the plays and stage,
Each took their turn to pleafe the wanton age:
Like boys at nuife they eagerly defir'd,

But freight were cloy'd, and left what they admir'd.
For what difgufts our fancies, what does please,
But may be chang'd? These are the fruits of cafe,
This happy fortune bears, this fprings from peace.

CREECH.

And Juvenal has the following paffage, which will trong ly justify the truth of our affertion.

Sed Vatem egregium, cui non fit publica vena,
Qui nihil expofitum foleat deducere, nec qui
Communi feriat carmen triviale moneta;

Hunc, qualem nequeo monftrare, & fentio tantum,
Anxietate carens animus facit, omnis acerbis
Impatiens, cupidus fylvarum, aptufque bibendis
Fontibus Eonidum, neque enim cantare fub antro
Pierio, Thyrfumve poteft contingere masta
Paupertas, atque aris inops, quo nocte dieque
Corpus eget; fatur eft cum dicit Horatius ohe! Sat. VII.

But he whofe noble genius is allow'd,

Who with ftretch'd pinions foars above the croud,
Who mighty thought can cloath with manly drefs,
He, whom I fancy, but can ne'er exprefs;
Such, fuch a wit, tho' rarely to be found,
Must be fecure from want, if not abound.
Nice is his make; impatient of the war,
Abhorring bufinefs, and abhorring care;
He must have groves, and lovely fountains chufe,
And eafy folitudes to bait his mufe;

Unvex'd with thought of wants which may betide,
Or for to-morrow's dinner to provide.

Horace ne'er wrote but with a rofy cheek,

His belly pamper'd, and his fides were fleek. DRYDEN..

HOWEVER it must be granted at the fame time, there are fome great inftances to the contrary of particular ge-nius's, who, in fpight of a narrow fortune, and their living in troublesome times, have attained the greatest heights: For inftance, Homer, Hefiod, and Pindar among the Greeks ; and Spencer and Milton among us. But thele exceptions ought not to deftroy a general truth, and more particularly with regard to the Romans, fince it can hardly be queftioned, but those great men above mention'd had exceeded their prefent performances, if they had met with thofe advantages that naturally flow from peace and plenty:

B 3

AND

AND tho' the golden age of learning was that of Alex ander with the Greeks, and Augufius among the Romans, when both Athens and Rome had well nigh, if not quite, loft their liberties; yet tyranny we find has been always fatal to it; and Nero's Reign was as much inferiour to that of Auguftus in learning, as in good government.

BUT we may now begin to enquire when the Romans firft difcovered a tafle for arts and learning. And we cannot meet with a fuller account of this matter, than that Cicero has given us in his Tufculan questions.

GREECE, fays the Orator, excell'd us in every branch of learning and knowledge; and indeed it was an eafy matter for them to outdo us herein, who had no regard for them. For whereas Poetry among the Greeks is of great antiquity, fince both Homer and Hefiod liv'd before the building of Rome, and Archilochus in Romulus's reign: Poetry appear'd very late among us: And it was upwards of five hundred years from the building of the city, in the confulfhip of Caius Claudius, and Marcus Tuditanus, (the year before Ennius was born, who was older than Plautus or Navius) that Livius Andronicus reprefented his firit piece upon the Stage: Though Cato in his Origines informs. us, that long before it was cuftomary at their feafts, to fing certain compofitions or hymns fet to the flute in praife of Heroes. Thus far Cicero. But befides thefe hymns, before Livius Andronicus, the Romans had their Fefcennine Veríes, fo call'd from a town of that name in Campania. They were a kind of Impromptu's, and made up of low wit and fcurrilous jefts, fuch as the ignorant clowns and common people may be imagin'd capable of making, at their feafts, upon getting in their harveft. For this was the principal time when they were us'd, tho' afterwards they made a part in all their publick diverfions, and efpecially at their weddings. Our country wakes may ferve to give us the nearest idea of them, which together with Horace's defcription of this merriment, will make the thing pretty clear.

Agricola prifci, fortes, parvoque beati,
Condita poft frumenta, levantes tempore fefto

Corpus

Corpus, & ipfum animum (pe finis dura ferentem,
Cum fociis operum, & pueris, & conjuge fida,
Tellurem Porco; Silvanum lacte piabant ;
Floribus & vino genium memorem brevis avi.
Fefcennina per hunc inventa licentia morem
Verfibus alternis opprobria ruftica fudit.

HOR. Ep.1.2. Ep. 1.v. 139

The ancient fwains, thofe happy temp'rate fwains,
Contented fov'reigns of their little plains,

When all their corn was hous'd, wou'd make a feast,
Unbend their minds, and lay them down to rest;
Their cares diffolv'd into a happier thought,
And minds enjoy'd the reft their labours fought.
A pig on Tellus, altars left his blood,

And milk from large brown bowls to Sylvan flow'd.
Their wife, their neighbours, and their pratling boys,
Were call'd, all tafted of the country joys:

They drank, they danc'd, they fang, made wanton fport,
Enjoy'd their felves; for life they knew was fhort.
Hence grew the liberty of the loofer mufe,.
Hence they grew fcurrilous and wou'd abuse;
Hence thofe loofe dialogues at marriage feafts,
Yet ftill they were but mirth, and country jets. CREECH!

From them afterwards, any loofe fatirical pieces were call'd Fefcennine verfes; and we find fome of this name in Claudian: Thofe being ever after particularly fo nam'd, that were compos'd on the marry'd couple.

BESIDES thefe Fefcennine verfes, the Romans had a barbarous kind of Poetry among them, call'd Verfus Saturnii, Saturnian veries; the very name being a proof of their Antiquity. They were a fort of irregular Iambics, and faid to have been anciently made ufe of by Faunus and the prophets, that deliver'd their oracles in this measure. This we learn from a fragment of Ennius's, where he alludes to a poem, that his predeceffor Navius had compo, fed in this Saturnian verfe on the Punic war.

Scripfere ali rem

Verfibus, quos olim Fauni Vatefque canebant,
Cum neque Mufarum fcopulos quifquam fuperarat.

B 4

And

AND this measure doubtlefs, was the old measure long in ufe among the Latins before the building of Rome: For the Romans feem to have known nothing of the Heroic or Hexameter, 'till Ennius introduc'd it amongst them. from the Greeks, who were the inventors of it. Pliny, the naturalift, l. 7. c. 57. afcribes the invention of this mcafure to the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi and Ifidore, 1. 1. Origin. c. 38. fays, That the Heroic verfe before Homer's time was call'd Pythian, becaufe that oracle deliver'd its answers in that meafure. Yet fome, with Antipater the Greek Epigrammatift, gave Orpheus the honour of having invented this measure. l. 3. Anthol. p. 388.

THUS far we feem to have trac'd out the beginnings. of the three principal kinds of Narrative Poetry.

FROM thofe poems fung to the flute, in praife of great men's virtues at their feafts, we may derive that of Lyric Poetry.

FROM the Saturnian verses, in which the oracles us'd to be deliver'd among the ancient Latins, and Navius who had compos'd an hiftorical poem of the punic war, we may deduce that of the Epic.

AND from the Fefcennine verfes, fuil of witty invectives and merry gibes, that of Satire.

I Do not here pretend to deny, that their improvement and perfection was chiefly owing to a careful perufal and imitation of the Greek Poets, especially their Epic and Lyric Poetry For Satire borrow'd nothing but its measure from the Greeks, the plan of the Poem, as well as the name, being entirely Roman, as will be fhown at large in the lives of Juvenal and Horace.

THE reason why the Romans were fo many ages unacquainted with the liberal arts and fciences, was not because they wanted genius for them, but was altogether. owing to the fundamental principles of their government and religion, which made the love of their country, the ftanding rule of every private man's actions. This made them neglect all other ftudies but that of their laws, and a skill in military affairs, as ufelefs, nay even dangerous to the publick weal. For the wifeft men among them, foon forefaw, that the Greeks with their learning, would also introduce their manners, which were very oppofite to

that