The Romans, whether from the influence of climate, or their mode of living, which in general was temperate, were endowed with a lively imagination, and, as we before observed, a spirit of enterprise. Upon the final termination of the Punic war, and the conquest of Greece, their ardour, which had hitherto been exercised in military achievements, was diverted into the channel of literature; and the civil commotions which followed, having now ceased, a fresh impulse was given to activity in the ambitious pursuit of the laurel, which was now only to be obtained by glorious exertions of intellect. The beautiful productions of Greece, operating strongly upon their minds, excited them to imitation; imitation, when roused amongst a number, produced emulation; and emulation cherished an extraordinary thirst of fame, which, in every exertion of the human mind, is the parent of excellence. This liberal contention was not a little promoted by the fashion introduced at Rome, for poets to recite their compositions in public; a practice which seems to have been carried even to a ridiculous excess.--Such was now the rage for poetical composition in the Roman capital, that Horace describes it in the following terms:
Mutavit mentem populus levis, et calet uno Scribendi studio: pueri patresque severi Fronde comas vincti coenant, et carmina dictant.--Epist. ii. 1. * * * * *
Now the light people bend to other aims; A lust of scribbling every breast inflames; Our youth, our senators, with bays are crowned, And rhymes eternal as our feasts go round.
(190) Scribimus indocti doctique poemata passim.--Hor. Epeat. ii. 1.
But every desperate blockhead dares to write, Verse is the trade of every living wight.--Francis.
The thirst of fame above mentioned, was a powerful incentive, and is avowed both by Virgil and Horace. The former, in the third book of his Georgics, announces a resolution of rendering himself celebrated, if possible.
--------tentanda via est qua me quoque possim Tollere humo, victorque virum volitare per ora.
I, too, will strive o’er earth my flight to raise, And wing’d by victory, catch the gale of praise.--Sotheby.
And Horace, in the conclusion of his first Ode, expresses himself in terms which indicate a similar purpose.
