Gallus; or, Roman scenes of the time of Augustus. With notes and excursuses illustrative of the manners and customs of the Romans / Translated from the German by the Rev. Frederick Metcalfe.
- Wilhelm Adolf Becker
- Date:
- 1844
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Gallus; or, Roman scenes of the time of Augustus. With notes and excursuses illustrative of the manners and customs of the Romans / Translated from the German by the Rev. Frederick Metcalfe. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![Homan world as the friend and favourite of Augustus, but secretly hated by them; for though not ashamed of slavishly cringing to the mighty despot, they looked haughtily on the exalted plebeian. He was however among the friends of the soberer as well as brighter Muses, universally prized as a man of much learning, and celebrated as a graceful and elegant poet; while in the narrower convivial circle lie was beloved as a cheerful companion, who always said the best of good things, and whose presence gave to the banquet more animation than dancers and clioraulm^^, Notwithstanding the renowned name which he had taken, ]ie had in reality no claim to glorious family reminiscences, such as it suggested: and the trophies indicative of former triumphs which decked the door and door-posts’-’ of his mansion, were the unalienable adjuncts of the house count of Dio’s is contradicted by that of Suet. Aug. 66. The chief cause of his condemnation was his highly treasonable speeches against Augus- tus. Ovid. Trist. ii. 445, and Amor. iii. 9. 63. Ammian. Marc. xvii. 4, makes the severer charge against him of having taken undue advantage of his governorship, but it is mentioned neither by Suetonius, Dio Cassius, nor Ovid, as the cause of his dis- grace ; and that he was not either a violent or a dishonest man, the friendship of Virgil, who inscribed his tenth Eclogue to him, testihes. The contempt too with which Largus was treated, and the regret of Au- gustus, shew that he had not deserved such a fate. His passion for Lycoris arose about 9 or 10 years before his death, and the circumstance of his renewing the connection with her, after her infidelity, is imaginary. The recitations, ccKpodgaTu, usual during the meal, as well as the music of the Symphoniaci, the dis- plays of the Dancers, Mimes, Rope- dancers and Jugglers, the Scurr^e and moriones with their jokes, must have sadly interfered with the conversation of the guests. Martial, ix. 76. Pliny however (Ep. ix. 17) numbers the lec- tor, lyristes and comoidus, among the becoming pleasures of the table, and worthy of a refined taste; but the many took no interest in such things, and preferred low ribaldry. Com. Att. xiv. The Triumphator was permit- ted to suspend the spolia at his door. Livius, X. 7, xxxviii, 43. These marks of valour achieved, remained as the unalienable property of the house which they had first rendered illus- trious, and could not, even in case of sale, be taken down. Pliny, xxxv. 2 ; C'ic. Phil. ii. 28.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b29319560_0038.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
