Judgment on Alexander and Cæsar and also on Seneca, Plutarch, and Petronius / translated out of the French.

CHAP. III.

PEtronius is through his whole writings to be admired for the purity of his style, and the excellency of his conception; but that which most of all surprizes me, is the great facility where∣with he does ingeniously give us all sorts of Characters. Terence is possibly the Author of Anti∣quity, which dives best into the nature of persons. Yet I can find this to say against him, that he is too much confin'd, and all his talent is bounded, in putting fit words into the mouths of ser∣vants, and old men, a covetous father, a debauched son, a slave, or a kind of Pick-pocket, be∣hold at once the utmost extent of Terence his capacity: expect

not from him, either the gallan∣try, or passion, or conceptions, or discourse of an honest man.

Petronius, with an universal spirit, finds the genius of all sorts of professions, and forms, as he pleases, a thousand different na∣tures; if he introduces a Decla∣mer, he manages so well his air and his stile, that you would say he had Declamed all his life. No∣thing in the world can better express the disorders of a de∣bauched life, than the quarrels of Encolpius and Acyltor, about the matter of Giton.

Does not Quartilla represent admirably those prostituted wo∣men?

Quarum sic acceusa libido, ut sae∣pius peterent viros▪ quam pete∣rentur?

Does not the marriage of lit∣tle Giton and the innocent Pan∣nichris give us the perfect image of an accomplished unchastity.

All that a Fop could do ri∣diculously, at a magnificent Ban∣quet, a counterfeit gallant, and an impertinent; you have repre∣sented to the life, at the feast of Trimalchio.

Eumolphus shews us Nero's fol∣ly on the Theater, and his va∣nity, to recite his own works; and you may observe, in pas∣sing over so many curious verses, of which he makes a debaucht use, that an excellent Poet is or∣dinarily no very honest man. And by the by, as Encolpion re∣presenting Eumolphus, for a Poet dogril, and maker of fantastick verses; yet forbears not to find in his Physiognomy, something

of Great; you may perceive, he observes judiciously not to ruin those Idea's he had given us.

That distemper he has, to compose out of due season, even in vicinia mortis, his volubility to tell his compositions in all places, answer to his ridiculous aim:

Et ego, inquit, Poeta sum, & ut spero non humillimi spiritus, si modo aliquid Coronis credendum est, quas etiam ad imperitos graves deferre solet.

His knowledg general enough, his extraordinary actions, his ex∣pedients in misfortunes, his con∣stancy to help his companions in Lycas his ship; that pleasant Court of searchers for successions, which he brings together in Crotona, have still and accord with those

things which Encolpius had pro∣mised:

Senex Canus Exercitati vultus, & qui videbatur magnum aliquid promittere.

There is nothing so natural, as the personating of Crisis; all our Confidants come not neer it; and without speaking of her first con∣versation with Polienos, that which she says of her Mistress, upon the affront which she had received, with an inimitable quickness and propriety:

Verum enim fatendum est, ex qua hora accipit injuriam, apud se non est.

Whoever has read Juvenal, knows very well, impotentiam Matronarum, and their wicked humour, Si quando vir aut fami∣liaris

infelicius cum ipsis rem ha∣buerat, but there is no body but Petronius could describe Circe so fair, so sensual, and so gallant.

Enothea, the Priestess of Pria∣pus, ravishes me with the Mira∣cles which she promises, with her Enchantments, her Sacrifices, her mourning for the death of the sa∣cred Goose, and the manner how she was comforted; when Polienos made her a present, with which she might buy a Goose, and gods too, if she thought fit.

Philumena, that honest Lady, is no less pleasant, who when she had devoured many Estates in the flower of her youth and beauty, being become old and consequently useless for pleasure, endeavoured to continue her ex∣cellent art by the means of her Children, which with a thousand

fine discourses she introduces to old folks which had none. In short, there is neither nature nor profession, the genius of which Petronius does not admirably fol∣low; he is a Poet, an Orator, a Philosopher when he pleases.

For his verses, I find in them a pleasing force, and a natural beauty. Naturali pulchritudine car∣men exsurgit. So that Douza could no longer endure the fire and tempest of Lucan, when he read the taking of Troy, or that little Essay of the War of Pharsalia, which he declares to love much better,

Quam trecenta Cordubensis illius Pharsalicorum versuum Volumina.

I know not whether I am de∣ceived, but in my mind, Lucre∣tius hath not so aptly discoursed

the matrer of dreams, as Petro∣nius.

Somina, quae mentis ludunt volitan∣tibus umbris, Non delubra Deum, nec ab aethere numina mittunt, Sed sibi quisque facit; nam cum prostrata sopore, Ʋrget membra quies, & mens sine pondere ludit; Quicquid Luce fuit, Tenebris agit oppida bello Qui Quatit & flammis miseran∣das saevit in urbes; Tela videt: &c.

And what can one compare to that voluptuous night, the re∣presentation of which so fills the Soul, that there is need of more than a little virtue, to contain within those simple expressions it makes upon the spirit.

Qualis nox fuit illa! Dii, Deae∣que, Quam mollis Thorus! Haesimus Ca∣lentes, Et transfudimus hinc & hinc la∣bellis, Errantes animas. Valete curae! Mortalis ego sic perire coepi.

What a night, O good gods! What warmth! What kisses! What breathings! What mix∣ture of Souls in those hot and a∣morous respirations!

Though the style of a Declamer seems ridiculous to Petronius, yet he forbears not to shew a great deal of Eloquence in his Decla∣mations; and to make it appear, that the most debauched are not incapable of meditation and re∣turn; Morality has nothing more serious, nor better applied than the reflections of Encolpius on the

inconstancy of human things, and the uncertainty of death.

What ever subject presents it self, it is impossible either to think more delicately concerning it, or to express it more lively. Oftentimes in his Narrations, he proceeds no farther than the sim∣ple nature, and contents himself with the naked graces, sometimes he puts his last hand to the work, and when he pleases, there's no∣thing dishonest, nothing hard. Catullus and Martial treated on the same things grosly, but if a∣ny one could find out the secret to clothe smutty things in lan∣guage like his, I will answer for the Ladies, that they would praise his discretion.

But that which Petronius is more particular in, is, that be∣sides Horace in some Odes, he is

possibly the only person of anti∣quity, that has known how to speak of Gallantry. Virgil is touching in the passions; the loves of Dido, the loves of Orpheus, and Euridice, have charm and tenderness, but there is nothing gallant; and the poor Dido, such a charitable good Soul she was, became amorous of Aeneas upon the recital of his misfortunes. Ovid is witty and easie. Tibullus delicate. Yet it behoved all their Mistresses to be more learned than my Lady—whilst they bring in the gods, fables, exam∣ples drawn from the farthest an∣tiquity. They are still promising Sacrifices, and I believe Mr.— took from them the manner of burning hearts in Holocaust. Lu∣cian, as ingenious as he was, be∣comes dull when he talks of love, and makes his Gallants discourse rather in the language

of the Country than Court.

For my part, though I am a great admirer of the Ancients, I cannot forbear to render justice to our own Nation, and do cer∣tainly believe, that we have o∣ver them a great advantage in this point; and without lying, after having well examined the matter, I know none of those great Genius's, that could make Massinissa, Sophonisha, Caesar, and Cleopatra, speak so gallantly of love as we have heard them speak in our language; but as much as others yeild to us, Petronius ex∣ceeds us. There is no Roman can furnish us with so agreeable a story as the Matron of Ephesus. Nothing so gallant as the love-Epistles of Circe and Polienos; and all their adventure, whether in the entertainments, or in the description, has a Character much

above all the politeness of our age. Judg then, how delicately he would have treated a just pas∣sion, when this was only the bu∣siness of two persons, who at first sight were to come to the last en∣joyments.