[e] For an account of Asinius Pollio and Corvinus Messala, see _Annals_, b. xi. s. 6. Quintilian (b. xii. chap. 10) commends the diligence of Pollio, and the dignity of Messala. In another part of his Institutes, he praises the invention, the judgement, and spirit of Pollio, but at the same time says, he fell so short of the suavity and splendour of Cicero, that he might well pass for an orator of a former age. He adds, that Messala was natural and elegant: the grandeur of his style seemed to announce the nobility of his birth; but still he wanted force and energy. _Malta in Asinio Pollione inventio, summa diligentia, adeo ut quibusdam etiam nimia videatur; et consilii et animi satis; a nitore et jucunditate Ciceronis ita longe abest, ut videri possit sæculo prior. At Messala nitidus et candidus, et quodammodo præ se ferens in dicendo nobilitatem suam, viribus minor._ Quintilian, lib. x. cap. 1. The two great poets of the Augustan age have transmitted the name of Asinius Pollio to the latest posterity. Virgil has celebrated him as a poet, and a commander of armies, in the Illyrican and Dalmatic wars.
Tu mihi, seu magni superas jam saxa Timavi, Sive oram Illyrici legis æquoris; en erit unquam Ille dies, mihi cum liceat tua dicere facta? En erit, ut liceat totum mihi ferre per orbem Sola Sophocleo tua carmina digna cothurno? ECLOG. viii. ver. 6.
O Pollio! leading thy victorious bands O'er deep Timavus, or Illyria's sands; O when thy glorious deeds shall I rehearse? When tell the world how matchless is thy verse, Worthy the lofty stage of laurell'd Greece, Great rival of majestic Sophocles! WHARTON'S VIRGIL.
Horace has added the orator and the statesman:
Paulum severæ musa tragediæ Desit theatris; mox, ubi publicas Res ordinaris, grande munus Cecropio repetes cothurno, Insigne mœstis præsidium reis, Et consulenti, Pollio, curiæ, Cui laurus æternos honores Dalmatico peperit triumpho. Lib. ii. ode 1.
Retard a while thy glowing vein, Nor swell the solemn tragic scene; And when thy sage, thy patriot cares Have form'd the train of Rome's affairs, With lofty rapture reinflam'd, diffuse Heroic thoughts, and wake the buskin'd muse. FRANCIS'S HORACE.
But after all, the question put by Maternus, is, can any of their orations be compared to the _Medea_ of Ovid, or the _Thyestes_ of Varius? Those two tragedies are so often praised by the critics of antiquity, that the republic of letters has reason to lament the loss. Quintilian says that the _Medea_ of Ovid was a specimen of genius, that shewed to what heights the poet could have risen, had he thought fit rather to curb, than give the rein to his imagination. _Ovidii Medea videtur mihi ostendere quantum vir ille præstare potuisset, si ingenio suo temperare, quam indulgere maluisset._ Lib. x. cap. 1.