Magnis in
laudibus
totâ fuit Græciâ, victorem Olympiæ
citari.
citari.
Tacitus
_Quod alligati ad certam pedum necessitatem non semper
propriis uti possint, sed depulsi a rectâ viâ, necessario ad quædam
diverticula confugiant; nec mutare quædam modo verba, sed extendere,
corripere, convertere, dividere cogantur. _ Quint, lib. x. cap. 1. The
speaker in the Dialogue is aware of this distinction, and, subject to
it, the various branches of poetry are with him so many different
modes of eloquence.
[d] The original has, the citadel of eloquence, which calls to mind an
admired passage in Lucretius:
Sed nil dulcius est bene quam munita tenere
Edita doctrinâ sapientum templa serena,
Despicere unde queas alios, passimque videre
Errare, atque viam pallantes quærere vitæ.
Lib. ii. ver. 7.
[e] It is a fact well known, that in Greece the most illustrious of
both sexes thought it honourable to exercise themselves in the
exhibitions of the theatre, and even to appear in the athletic games.
Plutarch, it is true, will have it, that all scenic arts were
prohibited at Sparta by the laws of Lycurgus; and yet Cornelius Nepos
assures us, that no Lacedæmonian matron, however high her quality, was
ashamed to act for hire on the public stage. He adds, that throughout
Greece, it was deemed the highest honour to obtain the prize in the
Olympic games, and no man blushed to be a performer in plays and
pantomimes, and give himself a spectacle to the people. _Nulla
Lacedæmoni tam est nobilis vidua, quæ non in scenam eat mercede
conducta.
Magnis in laudibus totâ fuit Græciâ, victorem Olympiæ
citari. In scenam vero prodire, et populo esse spectaculo nemini in
iisdem gentibus fuit turpitudini. _ Cor. Nep. _in Præfat. _ It appears,
however, from a story told by Ælian and cited by Shaftesbury, _Advice
to an Author_, part ii. s. 3, that the Greek women were by law
excluded from the Olympic games. Whoever was found to transgress, or
even to cross the river Alpheus, during the celebration of that great
spectacle, was liable to be thrown from a rock. The consequence was,
that not one female was detected, except _Callipatria_, or, as others
called her, _Pherenicè_. This woman, disguised in the habit of a
teacher of gymnastic exercises, introduced her son, _Pisidorus_, to
contend for the victor's prize. Her son succeeded. Transported with
joy at a sight so glorious, the mother overleaped the fence, which
enclosed the magistrates, and, in the violence of that exertion, let
fall her garment. She was, by consequence, known to be a woman, but
absolved from all criminality. For that mild and equitable sentence,
she was indebted to the merit of her father, her brothers, and her
son, who all obtained the victor's crown. The incident, however, gave
birth to a new law, whereby it was enacted, that the masters of the
gymnastic art should, for the future, come naked to the Olympic games.
propriis uti possint, sed depulsi a rectâ viâ, necessario ad quædam
diverticula confugiant; nec mutare quædam modo verba, sed extendere,
corripere, convertere, dividere cogantur. _ Quint, lib. x. cap. 1. The
speaker in the Dialogue is aware of this distinction, and, subject to
it, the various branches of poetry are with him so many different
modes of eloquence.
[d] The original has, the citadel of eloquence, which calls to mind an
admired passage in Lucretius:
Sed nil dulcius est bene quam munita tenere
Edita doctrinâ sapientum templa serena,
Despicere unde queas alios, passimque videre
Errare, atque viam pallantes quærere vitæ.
Lib. ii. ver. 7.
[e] It is a fact well known, that in Greece the most illustrious of
both sexes thought it honourable to exercise themselves in the
exhibitions of the theatre, and even to appear in the athletic games.
Plutarch, it is true, will have it, that all scenic arts were
prohibited at Sparta by the laws of Lycurgus; and yet Cornelius Nepos
assures us, that no Lacedæmonian matron, however high her quality, was
ashamed to act for hire on the public stage. He adds, that throughout
Greece, it was deemed the highest honour to obtain the prize in the
Olympic games, and no man blushed to be a performer in plays and
pantomimes, and give himself a spectacle to the people. _Nulla
Lacedæmoni tam est nobilis vidua, quæ non in scenam eat mercede
conducta.
Magnis in laudibus totâ fuit Græciâ, victorem Olympiæ
citari. In scenam vero prodire, et populo esse spectaculo nemini in
iisdem gentibus fuit turpitudini. _ Cor. Nep. _in Præfat. _ It appears,
however, from a story told by Ælian and cited by Shaftesbury, _Advice
to an Author_, part ii. s. 3, that the Greek women were by law
excluded from the Olympic games. Whoever was found to transgress, or
even to cross the river Alpheus, during the celebration of that great
spectacle, was liable to be thrown from a rock. The consequence was,
that not one female was detected, except _Callipatria_, or, as others
called her, _Pherenicè_. This woman, disguised in the habit of a
teacher of gymnastic exercises, introduced her son, _Pisidorus_, to
contend for the victor's prize. Her son succeeded. Transported with
joy at a sight so glorious, the mother overleaped the fence, which
enclosed the magistrates, and, in the violence of that exertion, let
fall her garment. She was, by consequence, known to be a woman, but
absolved from all criminality. For that mild and equitable sentence,
she was indebted to the merit of her father, her brothers, and her
son, who all obtained the victor's crown. The incident, however, gave
birth to a new law, whereby it was enacted, that the masters of the
gymnastic art should, for the future, come naked to the Olympic games.
