My friends, the funeral sorrow spare,
The plaintive song, and tender tear;
Nor let the voice of grief profane,
With loud laments, the solemn scene;
Nor o'er your poet's empty urn
With useless idle sorrow mourn.
The plaintive song, and tender tear;
Nor let the voice of grief profane,
With loud laments, the solemn scene;
Nor o'er your poet's empty urn
With useless idle sorrow mourn.
Tacitus
For the same reason,
Agricola made Domitian joint heir with his wife and daughter. _Life of
Agricola_, section 43.
[f] By a law of the Twelve Tables, a crown, when fairly earned by
virtue, was placed on the head of the deceased, and another was
ordered to be given to his father. The spirit of the law, Cicero says,
plainly intimated, that commendation was a tribute due to departed
virtue. A crown was given not only to him who earned it, but also to
the father, who gave birth to distinguished merit. _Illa jam
significatio est, laudis ornamenta ad mortuos pertinere, quod coronam
virtute partam, et ei qui peperisset, et ejus parenti, sine fraude lex
impositam esse jubet. _ _De Legibus_, lib. ii. s. 24. This is the
reward to which Maternus aspires; and, that being granted, he desires,
as Horace did before him, to waive the pomp of funeral ceremonies.
Absint inani funere næniæ,
Luctusque turpes et querimoniæ;
Compesce clamorem, ac sepulchri
Mitte supervacuos honores.
Lib. ii. ode 20.
My friends, the funeral sorrow spare,
The plaintive song, and tender tear;
Nor let the voice of grief profane,
With loud laments, the solemn scene;
Nor o'er your poet's empty urn
With useless idle sorrow mourn.
FRANCIS'S HORACE.
Section XIV.
[a] Vipstanius Messala commanded a legion, and, at the head of it,
went over to Vespasian's party in the contention with Vitellius. He
was a man of illustrious birth, and equal merit; the only one, says
Tacitus, who entered into that war from motives of virtue. _Legioni
Vipstanius Messala præerat, claris majoribus, egregius ipse, et qui
solus ad id bellum artes bonas attulisset. _ _Hist. _ lib. iii. s. 9. He
was brother to Regulus, the vile informer, who has been mentioned. See
Life of Agricola, section 2. note a, and this tract, s. xii. note [b].
Agricola made Domitian joint heir with his wife and daughter. _Life of
Agricola_, section 43.
[f] By a law of the Twelve Tables, a crown, when fairly earned by
virtue, was placed on the head of the deceased, and another was
ordered to be given to his father. The spirit of the law, Cicero says,
plainly intimated, that commendation was a tribute due to departed
virtue. A crown was given not only to him who earned it, but also to
the father, who gave birth to distinguished merit. _Illa jam
significatio est, laudis ornamenta ad mortuos pertinere, quod coronam
virtute partam, et ei qui peperisset, et ejus parenti, sine fraude lex
impositam esse jubet. _ _De Legibus_, lib. ii. s. 24. This is the
reward to which Maternus aspires; and, that being granted, he desires,
as Horace did before him, to waive the pomp of funeral ceremonies.
Absint inani funere næniæ,
Luctusque turpes et querimoniæ;
Compesce clamorem, ac sepulchri
Mitte supervacuos honores.
Lib. ii. ode 20.
My friends, the funeral sorrow spare,
The plaintive song, and tender tear;
Nor let the voice of grief profane,
With loud laments, the solemn scene;
Nor o'er your poet's empty urn
With useless idle sorrow mourn.
FRANCIS'S HORACE.
Section XIV.
[a] Vipstanius Messala commanded a legion, and, at the head of it,
went over to Vespasian's party in the contention with Vitellius. He
was a man of illustrious birth, and equal merit; the only one, says
Tacitus, who entered into that war from motives of virtue. _Legioni
Vipstanius Messala præerat, claris majoribus, egregius ipse, et qui
solus ad id bellum artes bonas attulisset. _ _Hist. _ lib. iii. s. 9. He
was brother to Regulus, the vile informer, who has been mentioned. See
Life of Agricola, section 2. note a, and this tract, s. xii. note [b].
