QUIET BEAUTY THE POET'S LOT |
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Look again at the
poet's lot, with its delightful companionships. I should not be afraid of
comparing it with the harassing and anxious life of the orator. Orators, it
is true, have been raised to consulships by their contests and perils, but I
prefer Virgil's serene, calm, and peaceful retirement, in which after all he
was not without the favour of the divine Augustus, and fame among the people
of Rome. We have the testimony of the letters of
Augustus, the testimony too of the people themselves, who, on hearing in the
theatre some of Virgil's verses, rose in a body and did homage to the poet,
who happened to be present as a spectator, just as to Augustus himself. Even
in our own day, Pomponius Secundus need not yield to Domitius Aper on the
score of a
dignified life or an enduring reputation. As for your Crispus and
Marcellus, whom you hold up to me as examples, what is there in their lot to
be coveted? Is it that they are in fear themselves, or are a fear to others?
Is it that, while every day something is asked from them, those to whom they
grant it feel indignant? Is it that, bound as they are by the chain of
flattery, they are never thought servile enough by those who rule, or free
enough by us? What is their power at its highest? Why, the freedmen usually
have as much. For myself, as Virgil says, let "the sweet muses" lead me to
their sacred retreats, and to their fountains far away from anxieties and
cares, and the necessity of doing every day something repugnant to my heart.
Let me no longer tremblingly experience the madness and perils of the forum,
and the pallors of fame. Let me not be aroused by a tumult of morning
visitors, or a freedman's panting haste, or, anxious about the future, have
to make a will to secure my wealth. Let me not possess more than what I can
leave to whom I please, whenever the day appointed by my own fates shall
come; and let the statue over my tomb be not gloomy and scowling, but bright
and laurel-crowned. As for my memory, let there be no resolutions in the
senate, or petitions to the emperor.
Complete Works of Tacitus. Tacitus. Sara Bryant. edited for Perseus. New York. : Random House, Inc. Random House, Inc. 1942.