No More Learning

s. 70. As a writer, Quintilian says, that he
possessed an ardent genius, impetuous, rapid, and remarkable for the
vigour of his sentiments: but he chooses to class him with the
orators, rather than the poets. _Lucanus ardens, et concitatus, et
sententiis clarissimus; et, ut dicam quod sentio, magis oratoribus
quam poetis annumerandus. _ Lib. x. cap. 1. Scaliger, on the other
hand, contends that Lucan was a true poet, and that the critics do but
trifle, when they object that he wrote history, not an epic poem.
STRADA in his Prolusions, has given, among other imitations, a
narrative in Lucan's manner; and, though he thinks that poet has not
the skill of Virgil, he places him on the summit of Parnassus,
managing his Pegasus with difficulty, often in danger of falling from
the ridge of a precipice, yet delighting his reader with the pleasure
of seeing him escape. This is the true character of Lucan. The love of
liberty was his ruling passion. It is but justice to add, that his
sentiments, when free from _antithesis_ and the _Ovidian_ manner, are
not excelled by any poet of antiquity. From him, as well as from
Virgil and Horace, the orator is required to cull such passages as
will help to enrich his discourse; and the practice is recommended by
Quintilian, who observes, that Cicero, Asinius Pollio, and others,
frequently cited verses from Ennius, Accius, Pacuvius, and Terence, in
order to grace their speeches with polite literature, and enliven the
imagination of their hearers. By those poetic insertions, the ear is
relieved from the harsh monotony of the forum; and the poets, cited
occasionally, serve by their authority to establish the proposition
advanced by the speaker.
_Nam præcipue quidem apud Ciceronem,
frequenter tamen apud Asinium etiam, et cæteros, qui sunt proximi,
vidimus ENNII, ACCII, PACUVII, TERENTII et aliorum inseri versus,
summâ non eruditionis modò gratiâ, sed etiam jucunditatis; cum
poeticis voluptatibus aures a forensi asperitate respirent, quibus
accedit non mediocris utilitas, cum sententiis eorum, velut quibusdam
testimoniis, quæ proposuere confirmant. _ Quintil. lib. i. cap. 8.


Section XXI.

[a] There is in this place a blunder of the copyists, which almost
makes the sentence unintelligible. The translator, without entering
into minute controversies, has, upon all such occasions, adopted what
appeared, from the context, to be the most probable sense. It remains,
therefore, to enquire, who were the several orators here enumerated.
CANUTIUS may be the person mentioned by Suetonius _De Claris
Rhetoribus_. Cicero says of ARRIUS, that he was a striking proof of
what consequence it was at Rome to be useful to others, and always
ready to be subservient to their honour, or to ward off danger. For,
by that assiduity, Arrius raised himself from a low beginning to
wealth and honours, and was even ranked in the number of orators,
though void of learning, and without genius, or abilities. _Loco
infimo natus, et honores, et pecuniam, et gratiam consecutus, etiam in
patronorum, sine doctrinâ, sine ingenio, aliquem numerum pervenerat.
De Claris Orat. _ s.