Chapter XVI: Section XIV

[a] Vipstanius Messala commanded a legion, and, at the head of it, went over to Vespasian's party in the contention with Vitellius. He was a man of illustrious birth, and equal merit; the only one, says Tacitus, who entered into that war from motives of virtue. _Legioni Vipstanius Messala præerat, claris majoribus, egregius ipse, et qui solus ad id bellum artes bonas attulisset._ _Hist._ lib. iii. s. 9. He was brother to Regulus, the vile informer, who has been mentioned. See Life of Agricola, section 2. note a, and this tract, s. xii. note [b]. Messala, we are told by Tacitus, before he had attained the senatorian age, acquired great fame by pleading the cause of his profligate brother with extraordinary eloquence, and family affection. _Magnam eo die pietatis eloquentiæque famam Vipstanius Messala adeptus est; nondum senatoriâ ætate, ausus pro fratre Aquilio Regulo deprecari._ _Hist._ lib. iv. s. 42. Since Messala has now joined the company, the Dialogue takes a new turn, and, by an easy and natural transition, slides into the question concerning the causes of the decline of eloquence.

[b] This is probably the same Asiaticus, who, in the revolt of the provinces of Gaul, fought on the side of VINDEX. See _Hist._ b. ii. s. 94. Biography was, in that evil period, a tribute paid by the friends of departed merit, and the only kind of writing, in which men could dare faintly to utter a sentiment in favour of virtue and public liberty.

[c] In the declamations of Seneca and Quintilian, we have abundant examples of these scholastic exercises, which Juvenal has placed in a ridiculous light.

Et nos ergo manum ferulæ subduximus, et nos
Consilium dedimus Syllæ, privatus ut altum
Dormiret.
Sat. i. ver. 15.

Provok'd by these incorrigible fools,
I left declaiming in pedantic schools;
Where, with men-boys, I strove to get renown,
Advising Sylla to a private gown.
DRYDEN'S JUVENAL.