A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

894 MAECENAS. MAECENAS.
not suffered any great loss by their destruction; and Plutarch (Erot. 16) relates of him the story of
for, although a good judge of literary merit in the accommodating husband, Galba, who pretended
others, he does not appear to have been an author to be asleep after dinner in order to give him an
of much taste himself. -It has been thought that opportunity with his wife. Nay, he is even sustwo of his works, of which little more than the pected of more infamous vices. (Tacit. Ann. i. 54.)
titles remain, were tragedies, namely the Pro- In his way of life Maecenas was addicted to
smetlaeus and Octavia. But.Seneca (Ep. 19) calls every species of luxury. We find several allusions
the former a book (librumn); and Octavia, men- in the ancient authors to the effeminacy of his
tioned in Priscian (lib. 10), is not free from the dress. Instead of girding his tunic above his
suspicion of being a corrupt reading. An hexameter knees, he suffered it to hang loose about his heels,
line supposed to have belonged to an epic poem, like a woman's petticoat; and when sitting on the
another line thought to have been part of a Galli- tribunal he kept his head covered with his pallium
ambic poem, one or two epigrams, and some other (Sen. Ep. 114). Yet, in spite of this softness he
fragments, are extant,' and are given by Meibom was capable of exerting himself When the occasion
and Frandsen in their lives of Maecenas. In prose required, and of acting with energy and decision
he wrote a work on natural history, which Pliny (Vell. Pat. ii. 88). So far was he from wishing
several times alludes to, but which seems to have to conceal the softness and effeminacy of his manrelated chiefly to fishes and gems. Servius (ad ners, that he made a parade of his vices; and,
Virg. Aen. viii. 310) attributes a Symposium to him. during the greatest heat of the civil wars, openly apIf we may trust the same authority he also com- peared in the public places of Rome with a couple of
posed some memoirs of Augustus; and Horace eunuchs in his train (Senec. 1. c.). He was fond
(Carm. ii. 12. 9) alludes to at least some' project of theatrical entertainments, especially pantomimes;
of the kind, but which was probably never carried as may be inferred from his patronage of Bathyllus,
into execution. Maecenas's prose style was affected, the celebrated dancer, who was a freedman of his.
unnatural, and often unintelligible, and for these It has been concluded from Tacitus (Ann. i. 54)
qualities he was derided by Augustus. (Suet. that he first introduced that species of representation
A4.g. 26.). Macrobius (Saturn. ii. 4) has pre- at Rome; and, with the politic view of keeping
served part of a letter of the emperor's, in which the people quiet by amusing them, persuaded
he takes off his minister's way of writing. The Augustus to patronize it. Dion Cassius (lv. 7)
author of the dialogue De Causis Corruptae Elo- tells us that he was the first to introduce warm
quentiae (c. 26) enumerates him among the orators, swimming baths at Rome. His love of ointments
but stigmatises his affected style by the term cala- is tacitly satirized by Augustus (Suet. Aug. 86),
nistros Maecenatis. Quintilian (Inst. Orat. ix. 4. ~ and his passion for gems and precious stones is
28) and Seneca (Ep. 114) also condemn his style; notorious. According to Pliny he paid some atand the latter author gives a specimen of it which tention to cookery; and as the same author (xix.
is almost wholly unintelligible. Yet, he likewise 57) mentions a book on gardening, which had been
tells us (Ep. 19), that he. would have been very dedicated to him by Sabinus Tiro, it has been
eloquent if he had not been spoiled by his good thought that he was partial to that pursuit. His
fortune; and allows him - to have possessed an in- tenacious, and indeed, unmanly love of life, he has
geniumn grande et virile (Ep. 92). According to himself painted in some verses preserved by Seneca
Dion Cassius (lv. 7), Maecenas first introduced (Ep. 101), and which, as affording a specimen of
short-hand, and instructed many in the art through his style, we here insert:his freedman, Aquila. By other authors, however, Debilem facito mann
the invention has been attributed to various persons Debilem ede coxa,
of an earlier date; as to Tiro, Cicero's freedman,
to Cicero himself, and even to Ennius. Tuber adstrue gibberum,
Lubricos quate dentes;
But though seemingly in - possession of all the Lubricos quate dentes
Vita dum superest, bene est.
means and appliances of enjoyment, Maecenas Hanc mihi, vel acuta
cannot be said to have been altogether happy in Si sedeam crce, sustine
his'domestic life. We have already alluded to an
intrigue between Augustus and his wife Terentia; From these lines it has been conjectured that he
but this was not the only infringement of his belonged to the sect of the Epicureans; but of his
domestic peace. Terentia, though exceedingly philosophical principles nothing certain is known.
beautiful, was of a morose and haughty temper, That moderation of character which led him to
and thence quarrels were continually occurring be- he content with his equestrian rank, probably arose
tween the pair. Yet the natural uxoriousness of from the love of ease and luxury which we have
Maecenas as constantly prompted him to seek a described, or it might have been the result of more
reconciliation; so that Seneca (Ep. 114) remarks prudent and political views. As a politician, the
that he married a wife a thousand times, though he principal trait in his character was fidelity to his
never had more than one. Her influence over him master (Maecenatis erunt vera tropaea fides, Prowas so great, that in spite of his cautious and pert. iii. 9), and the main end of all his cares was
taciturn temper, he was on one occasion weak the consolidation of the empire. But, though he
enough to confide an important state secret to her, advised the establishment of a despotic monarchy,
respecting her brother Murena,'the conspirator he was at the same time the advocate of mild and
(Suet. Aug. 66; Dion Cass. liv. 3). Maecenas liberal measures. He recommended Augustus to put
himself, however, was probably in some measure to no check on the free expression of public opinion
blame for the terms on which he lived' with his but above all to avoid that cruelty, which, for so
wife, for he was far from being the pattern of a many years, had stained the Roman annals with
good husband. His own adulteries were notorious. blood (Senec. Ep. 114). To the same effect is the
Augustus, in the fragment of the letter in Macrobius anecdote preserved by Cedrenus, the Byzantine
before alluded to, calls him /dAAalac maec7laracm; historian; that when on some occasion Octavianus