After so
much honourable testimony, one cannot but wonder why the DOCTUS
ROSCIUS of Horace is mentioned in this Dialogue with an air of
disparagement.
much honourable testimony, one cannot but wonder why the DOCTUS
ROSCIUS of Horace is mentioned in this Dialogue with an air of
disparagement.
Tacitus
17
In another place, Cicero says, he was such an artist, as to seem the
only one fit to appear on the stage; yet such a man, as to seem the
only one who should not come upon it at all. _Cum artifex ejusmodi
sit, ut solus dignus videatur esse qui in scená spectetur; tum vir
ejusmodi est, ut solus dignus videatur, qui eo non accedat. Pro Publ.
Quinctio_, s. 78. What Cicero has said in his pleadings might be
thought oratorical, introduced merely to serve the cause, if we did
not find the comedian praised with equal warmth in the dialogue DE
ORATORE. It is there said of Roscius, that every thing he did was
perfect in the kind, and executed with consummate grace, with a secret
charm, that touched, affected, and delighted the whole audience:
insomuch, that when a man excelled in any other profession, it was
grown into a proverb to call him, THE ROSCIUS OF HIS ART. _Videtisne,
quam nihil ab eo nisi perfectè, nihil nisi cum summâ venustate fiat?
nihil, nisi ita ut deceat, et uti omnes moveat, atque delectet? Itaque
hoc jam diu est consecutus, ut in quo quisque artificio excelleret, is
in suo genere Roscius diceretur. _ _De Orat. _ lib. i. s. 130.
After so
much honourable testimony, one cannot but wonder why the DOCTUS
ROSCIUS of Horace is mentioned in this Dialogue with an air of
disparagement. It may be, that APER, the speaker in this passage, was
determined to degrade the orators of antiquity; and the comedian was,
therefore, to expect no quarter. Dacier, in his notes on the Epistle
to Augustus, observes that Roscius wrote a book, in which he undertook
to prove to Cicero, that in all the stores of eloquence there were not
so many different expressions for one and the same thing, as in the
dramatic art there were modes of action, and casts of countenance, to
mark the sentiment, and convey it to the mind with its due degree of
emotion. It is to be lamented that such a book has not come down to
us. It would, perhaps, be more valuable than the best treatise of
rhetoric.
Ambivius Turpio acted in most of Terence's plays, and seems to have
been a manager of the theatre. Cicero, in the treatise _De Senectute_,
says: He, who sat near him in the first rows, received the greatest
pleasure; but still, those, who were at the further end of the
theatre, were delighted with him. _Turpione Ambivio magis delectatur,
qui in primâ caveâ spectat; delectatur tamen etiam qui in ultimâ. _
[e] ACCIUS and PACUVIUS flourished at Rome about the middle of the
sixth century from the foundation of the city. Accius, according to
Horace, was held to be a poet of a sublime genius, and Pacuvius (who
lived to be ninety years old) was respected for his age and profound
learning.
Ambigitur quoties uter utro sit prior, aufert
PACUVIUS docti famam senis, ACCIUS alti.
EPIST. AD AUG. ver. 56.
Velleius Paterculus says, that ACCIUS was thought equal to the best
writers of the Greek tragedy.
In another place, Cicero says, he was such an artist, as to seem the
only one fit to appear on the stage; yet such a man, as to seem the
only one who should not come upon it at all. _Cum artifex ejusmodi
sit, ut solus dignus videatur esse qui in scená spectetur; tum vir
ejusmodi est, ut solus dignus videatur, qui eo non accedat. Pro Publ.
Quinctio_, s. 78. What Cicero has said in his pleadings might be
thought oratorical, introduced merely to serve the cause, if we did
not find the comedian praised with equal warmth in the dialogue DE
ORATORE. It is there said of Roscius, that every thing he did was
perfect in the kind, and executed with consummate grace, with a secret
charm, that touched, affected, and delighted the whole audience:
insomuch, that when a man excelled in any other profession, it was
grown into a proverb to call him, THE ROSCIUS OF HIS ART. _Videtisne,
quam nihil ab eo nisi perfectè, nihil nisi cum summâ venustate fiat?
nihil, nisi ita ut deceat, et uti omnes moveat, atque delectet? Itaque
hoc jam diu est consecutus, ut in quo quisque artificio excelleret, is
in suo genere Roscius diceretur. _ _De Orat. _ lib. i. s. 130.
After so
much honourable testimony, one cannot but wonder why the DOCTUS
ROSCIUS of Horace is mentioned in this Dialogue with an air of
disparagement. It may be, that APER, the speaker in this passage, was
determined to degrade the orators of antiquity; and the comedian was,
therefore, to expect no quarter. Dacier, in his notes on the Epistle
to Augustus, observes that Roscius wrote a book, in which he undertook
to prove to Cicero, that in all the stores of eloquence there were not
so many different expressions for one and the same thing, as in the
dramatic art there were modes of action, and casts of countenance, to
mark the sentiment, and convey it to the mind with its due degree of
emotion. It is to be lamented that such a book has not come down to
us. It would, perhaps, be more valuable than the best treatise of
rhetoric.
Ambivius Turpio acted in most of Terence's plays, and seems to have
been a manager of the theatre. Cicero, in the treatise _De Senectute_,
says: He, who sat near him in the first rows, received the greatest
pleasure; but still, those, who were at the further end of the
theatre, were delighted with him. _Turpione Ambivio magis delectatur,
qui in primâ caveâ spectat; delectatur tamen etiam qui in ultimâ. _
[e] ACCIUS and PACUVIUS flourished at Rome about the middle of the
sixth century from the foundation of the city. Accius, according to
Horace, was held to be a poet of a sublime genius, and Pacuvius (who
lived to be ninety years old) was respected for his age and profound
learning.
Ambigitur quoties uter utro sit prior, aufert
PACUVIUS docti famam senis, ACCIUS alti.
EPIST. AD AUG. ver. 56.
Velleius Paterculus says, that ACCIUS was thought equal to the best
writers of the Greek tragedy.
