the tyrant
prostrate
in the dust,
And Rome again is free.
And Rome again is free.
Tacitus
_ Quintil.
lib.
x.
cap.
1.
[d] This was the famous Marcus Junius Brutus, who stood forth in the
cause of liberty, and delivered his country from the usurpation of
Julius Cæsar. Cicero describes him in that great tragic scene,
brandishing his bloody dagger, and calling on Cicero by name, to tell
him that his country was free. _Cæsare interfecto, statim cruentum
altè extollens Marcus Brutus pugionem, Ciceronem nominatim exclamavit,
atque ei recuperatam libertatem est gratulatus. _ Philippic, ii. s. 28.
The late Doctor Akenside has retouched this passage with all the
colours of a sublime imagination.
Look then abroad through nature, through the range
Of planets, suns, and adamantine spheres,
Wheeling unshaken through the void immense,
And speak, O man! does this capacious scene
With half that kindling majesty dilate
Thy strong conception, as when Brutus rose
Refulgent from the stroke of Cæsar's fate,
Amid the crowd of patriots, and his arm
Aloft extending, like eternal Jove
When guilt brings down the thunder, call'd aloud
On Tully's name, and shook his crimson steel,
And bade the Father of his Country hail!
For, lo!
the tyrant prostrate in the dust,
And Rome again is free.
PLEASURES OF IMAG. b. i. ver. 487.
According to Quintilian, Brutus was fitter for philosophical
speculations, and books of moral theory, than for the career of public
oratory. In the former he was equal to the weight and dignity of his
subject: you clearly saw that he believed what he said. _Egregius vero
multoque quam in orationibus præstantior Brutus, suffecit ponderi
rerum; scias eum sentire quæ dicit. _ Quintil. lib. x. cap. 1.
For Asinius Pollio and Messala, see section xii. note [e].
[d] This was the famous Marcus Junius Brutus, who stood forth in the
cause of liberty, and delivered his country from the usurpation of
Julius Cæsar. Cicero describes him in that great tragic scene,
brandishing his bloody dagger, and calling on Cicero by name, to tell
him that his country was free. _Cæsare interfecto, statim cruentum
altè extollens Marcus Brutus pugionem, Ciceronem nominatim exclamavit,
atque ei recuperatam libertatem est gratulatus. _ Philippic, ii. s. 28.
The late Doctor Akenside has retouched this passage with all the
colours of a sublime imagination.
Look then abroad through nature, through the range
Of planets, suns, and adamantine spheres,
Wheeling unshaken through the void immense,
And speak, O man! does this capacious scene
With half that kindling majesty dilate
Thy strong conception, as when Brutus rose
Refulgent from the stroke of Cæsar's fate,
Amid the crowd of patriots, and his arm
Aloft extending, like eternal Jove
When guilt brings down the thunder, call'd aloud
On Tully's name, and shook his crimson steel,
And bade the Father of his Country hail!
For, lo!
the tyrant prostrate in the dust,
And Rome again is free.
PLEASURES OF IMAG. b. i. ver. 487.
According to Quintilian, Brutus was fitter for philosophical
speculations, and books of moral theory, than for the career of public
oratory. In the former he was equal to the weight and dignity of his
subject: you clearly saw that he believed what he said. _Egregius vero
multoque quam in orationibus præstantior Brutus, suffecit ponderi
rerum; scias eum sentire quæ dicit. _ Quintil. lib. x. cap. 1.
For Asinius Pollio and Messala, see section xii. note [e].
