any man. But it by no means follows from hence, or from any thing of this nature that can be alleged, but that biography, when managed with care and fidelity, with a due mixture of prudence, may be exceeding useful. And though there have been some that have been apt to raise objections against persons becoming the writers of their own lives, yet I find the doing so was no uncommon thing among the old Greeks and Romans. That celebrated orator and historian, Caius Cornelius Tacitus, in the beginning of his account of the life of his father-in-law, Julius Agricola, (who was the General of Domitian the Emperor, here in Britain, and the first that made the Roman part of Britain a Præsidial province,*) excuses this practice which he was going to relate;' he has inserted a number of tales and miracles, so grossly fabulous as not to admit the least doubt of their being absolute forgeries. " Nor are they considered at this day in any other character, or mentioned by the learned on any other account, than as proofs of that passion for fiction and imposture, which possessed the Fathers of the fourth century; (quam fuerint quarti seculi scriptores fabulis dediti,) whether Jerome forged these tales himself, or propagated what he knew to be forged by others, or whether he really believed them, and published only what he took to be true."-Middleton, i, p. lxxxviii. See Ibid. pp. 61, 72, 73. iii. 14, 126.-ED. • Camden's Britannia, p. 43.-C. "This tide of Roman invasion," says Nathaniel Bacon, "however it represented to the world little other than a tumour of vain glory in the Romans, that must needs be fatal to the Britons' liberty and welfare, yet by overruling Providence it He par from carrying in it any thing of arrogance. ticularly instances in Æmilius Scaurus, and Rutilius conduced so much to the Britons' future glory, as it must be acknowledged one of the chief master-pieces of supernatural moderatorship, that ever this poor island met with. "It brought into Britain the knowledge of arts and civility, and questionless, it was a wise policy of Agricola to go that way to work. For it is an easy and royal work, to govern wise men, but to govern fools or madmen is a continual slavery."See "Semper eadem, or the Uniforme Government of England," (1647) pp. 5, 6. "The inhabitants, rude and scattered," says Milton, "and by that the proner to war, Agricola persuaded to build houses, temples, and seats of justice; and by praising the forward, quickening the slow, assisting all, turned the name of necessity into an emulation. He caused, moreover, the noblemen's sons to be bred up in liberal arts; and by preferring the wits of Britain, before the studies of Gallia, brought them to affect the Latin eloquence, who before, hated the language. "Then were the Roman fashions imitated, and the gown; after a while, the incitements, also, and materials of vice and voluptuous life; proud building, baths, and the elegance of banquetting; which the foolisher sort called civility, but was indeed a secret art to prepare them for bondage." See "The History of Britain," (1818,) p. 59. 66 Agricola," says Rapin, " donna le dernier coup à la liberté de la Bretagne. Les Bretons eussent souffert un tort qui paroissoit irréparable. Il fut pourtant compensé, en quelque manière, par le changement avantageux que se fit dans leurs mœurs, et dans leurs coûtumes. "En peu de temps, on leur vit quitter leurs manières rudes et grossières, et prendre la politesse de leurs conquérans. Les arts et les sciences, dont on faisoit peu de cas, en Bretagne, avant cette révolution, y fleurirent autant qu'en aucune autre partie de l'Empire Romain."—Histoire, (1724,) i. 53.-ED. Rufus.* The former of them was Consul, 639 years after Rome was founded, and wrote three books concerning his own life to Lucius Fusidius. This writer is much commended by Cicero.† The latter was Consul ten years after.‡ Caius Julius Cæsar, also, the first of the Roman Emperors, who, by a late writer, § is said to be taken notice of by the critics, as the only author that ever wrote of himself with a good grace, in his Commentaries, a work generally applauded, gives us the particulars of his own actions. But, then, it has been often observed, that there are some of them, and those of consequence too, that he passes wholly by.|| Thus, when a good part of his forces had crossed the sea from Italy to the coast of Epire, expecting the rest to follow, with great impatience he exposed himself in a small vessel alone to go back and seek them, though he himself has said nothing of it. And, in like manner, he has been wholly silent as to another action of his, that is taken notice of by Suetonius, by which he exposed himself no less; when upon the besieging of his legions in Germany, he, in * "Ac plerique suam ipsi vitam narrare, fiduciam potius morum, quam arrogantiam arbitrati sunt. Nec id Rutilio et Scauro citra fidem, aut obtrectationi fuit."-Ed. t In Bruto.-C. Vossius De Histor. Græcis, l. 1, c. 22.-C. § See "Collection of Letters and Essays on several subjects," published in the Dublin Journal, ii. 15.--C. See Vossius, De Hist. Lat. 1. i. c. 13.-C. the disguise of a Gallic habit, ventured through the whole army of his enemies to his own camp.* And it has been an observation of several of our countrymen, that upon his visiting this island of Britain, which he rather discovered than subdued, he appears, from several circumstances, to have been sometimes more worsted by the inhabitants, than he could find in his heart to acknowledge.† * "Obsessione castrorum in Germania nuntiata, per stationes hostium, Gallico habitu, penetravit ad suos." Suet. s. lviii. ED. +"Having seen and saluted it, and played his prize, Cæsar returned with the fame only of conquest of some few Lordships, neighbouring to the Belgick shore." N. Bacon, p. 5. "At his return to Rome," according to Pliny, Nat. Hist., " as from a glorious enterprize, he offers to Venus, the patroness of his family, a corslet of British pearls. Howbeit, other ancient writers have said, in plain terms, that he fled from hence; for which the common verse in Lucan, (Territa quæsitis ostendit terga Britannis, ii. 572,) with divers passages, here and there in Tacitus, is alleged." Milton, p. 39. From one of his epistles to Atticus, it appears that in this attempt to subjugate the "penitus toto divisos orbe Britannos," Cicero had anticipated a formidable resistance, with no adequate reward. Constat enim aditus Etiam illud jam cogni "Britannici belli exitus expectatur. insulæ esse munitos mirificis molibus. tum est, neque argenti scrupulum esse ullum in illa insula, neque ullam spem prædæ, nisi ex mancipiis: ex quibus nullos puto te literis aut musicis eruditos expectare." 1. iv. 16. (We are waiting for news of the expedition to Britain. It is ascertained, that the approaches to the Island are wonderfully secured. It is also now well known, that there is not a grain of silver in the whole island, nor any hope of plunder, except of But any instances of this kind that occur, rather show how strongly even the greatest men are apt to be inclined to partiality in their accounts of themselves, than amount to a real proof that writings of this kind, as far as they go, are not of great use, and to be esteemed accordingly. Augustus, who succeeded his uncle Julius, wrote slaves, among whom you will, I think, scarcely expect to find proficients in letters or in music.) On the result of this first expedition to Britain, Cicero writes: "A Quinto fratre, et a Cæsare, accepi literas, (confecta Britannia, obsidibus acceptis, nulla præda, imperata tamen pecunia,) datas à litoribus Britanniæ. Proxime exercitum à Britannia reportabant." 1. iv. 15. (I have received from my brother Quintus, and from Cæsar, letters dated at Britain, which has submitted and delivered hostages. There is no plunder, only a sum of money has been demanded. The troops were re-embarking.) It must have been several years after this first expedition, when Horace, in a courageous mood, would venture (1. iii. Od. 4.) even to behold those tremendous personages "Britannos hospitibus feros." To a description of our remote ancestors so unattractive, a learned Italian prelate, early in the 17th century, (as if forgetting the juridical barbarities of" the maiden reign," and the injustice and cruelty which British Protestant ascendants had continued to exercise towards his Christian brethren, their Catholic countrymen,) has annexed this courteous comment : "At nihil, hodie, ista gente amabilius. Tanta culturæ vis est, qua literæ, animos ceterosquin feros, emolliunt." (No nation is, at this day, more amiable. Such is the power of that cultivation, by which literature softens minds otherwise ferocious.) See "J. P. Tomasini, de tesseris hospitalitatis, liber singularis.” Amstel (1670) p. 225.-Ed. |