purple. But the indulgent Fates, with a small inheritance have given me a fine genius, and have endowed me with a contempt for the malignant judgments of the vulgar."

Horace claimed that his songs would "last as long as the priestess ascended the steps" of the Roman Capitol, and they have lasted much longer.

That Horace rather grandly placed a very high estimate upon himself and his works, appears from the following extract:

QUINTILIAN declares that self-applause is more tolerable than "the hypocritical boastfulness of those who speak of themselves as poor when they abound with wealth, as obscure when they are of high rank, as weak when they have great influence, as ignorant and incapable of speaking when they are possessed of great eloquence. It is an ostentatious kind of vanity to speak thus ironically of ourselves. Let us be content to be praised by others, for it becomes us,

as Demosthenes says, to blush even when we hear other men's commendations of ourselves."

Quintilian also observes that he wishes Cicero "had been more modest, since the malicious have never ceased to remark upon his

A Latin poet is quoted by Bacon as saying, "The people hiss me, but I applaud myself;" but we must refer to old Montaigne or to Rousseau, to find a parallel to the way in which Ovid would appear to have confessed and gloried in his own shame. The impudence of the following line has been rarely equalled: "Ille ego nequitia Naso poeta meæ." This has been rendered thus: "I, the great Naso, the poet of my own naughtiness."

1 "Cedant arma toga, concedat laurea linguæ."
2" fortunatam natam me consule Romam."

His Latin name was Publius Ovidius Naso. The "great Naso" was the great nose, and his love-poems were often personal confessions. His practices were on a level with his precepts. He put away two wives, and lived long with a nobleman's wife as his mistress.

MARCUS VALERIUS MARTIALIS.

B. A.D. 43. D. A.D. 104.

MARTIAL as an author of epigrams remains without a peer either in ancient or modern times; but, as he said himself of the epigrams, "Some are good, some middling, many bad: a book, Avitas, cannot be made in any other way."

"To the Reader," he offers the following:

"The man whom you are reading is the very man that you want,— Martial, known over the whole world for his humorous books of epigrams; to whom, studious reader, you have accorded such honors while he is alive and has a sense of them, as few poets receive after their death."

Stertinius, it appears, had placed the bust of Martial in his library, and thereupon Martial sent an inscription to live beneath his bust, which he says had been "placed among those of no obscure persons," — "I am he, second to none in reputation for composing trifles, whom, reader, you do not admire, but rather, I suspect, love. Let greater men devote their powers to higher subjects. I am content to talk of small topics and to come frequently into your hands."

It is to the discredit of Martial that he flattered Domitian, the last of the twelve Cæsars, and obtained many favors of him. To the father of three or more children, it seems, great privileges were allowed among the Romans; he sat in the best seats at games, and could stand for public offices. He, therefore, asked of Cæsar, "to permit that to seem to be which fortune forbids in reality; namely, that I may be regarded as the father of three children. This boon, if I have failed to please thee, will be some consolation to me; if I have succeeded in pleasing thee, will be some reward."

The boon was granted; but when Domitian was assassinated, instead of the pattern of every virtue, Martial represented the Emperor after death as

"The monster of the times,

Without one virtue to redeem his crimes."

CAIUS CORNELIUS TACITUS.

B. A.D. 50 or 55. D. about A.D. 126.

If there are any evidences of egotism in the History and other writings of Tacitus, I have not happened to notice them, and he seems even to be fearful that he may overstep the bounds of modesty in some necessary references to himself.

His Life of Agricola remains the highest standard of biography, and the praise he bestows on Agricola, his father-in-law, is surpassingly fine. Of him he writes:

"To say of a character truly great, that integrity and a spirit above corruption made a part of it, were mere tautology, as injurious to his virtues as it is unnecessary. Even the love of fame, that fine incentive of generous minds, could neither betray him into an ostentatious display of virtue, nor induce him to practise those specious acts that court applause and often supply the place of merit."

Then he says: "During his consulship, though I was very young, he agreed to a marriage between me and his daughter, who certainly might have looked for a prouder connection. The nuptial ceremony was not performed till the term of his consulship expired."

This is modestly enough expressed; but Tacitus, later in life, would not have thought that even the daughter of Agricola needed to look for a "prouder connection."

In his Annals, relating that "after an interval of sixty-four years" since the secular games were last celebrated, he mentions that the chief magistrates officiated in the ceremonies, and that the Trojan game was performed by the youth of noble birth, where it seems to have been an office of great dignity to "regulate the ceremonies." He says:

"The chronology observed by Augustus differed from the system of Claudius; but this is not the place for the discussion of that point. I have been sufficiently explicit on the subject in the history of Domitian, who likewise gave an exhibition of secular games. Being at that time one of the college of