Chapter VIII: Section VI

[a] To be rich and have no issue, gave to the person so circumstanced the highest consequence at Rome. All ranks of men paid their court to him. To discourage a life of celibacy, and promote population, Augustus passed a law, called _Papia Poppæa_, whereby bachelors were subjected to penalties. Hence the compliment paid by Horace to his patron:

Diva producas sobolem, patrumque
Prosperes decreta super jugandis
Foeminis, prolisque novæ feraci
Lege marita.
CARMEN SÆCULARE.

Bring the springing birth to light,
And with ev'ry genial grace
Prolific of an endless race,
Oh! crown our vows, and bless the nuptial rite.
FRANCIS'S HORACE.

But marriage was not brought into fashion. In proportion to the rapid degeneracy of the manners under the emperors, celibacy grew into respect; insomuch, that we find (Annals xii. s. 52) a man too strong for his prosecutors, because he was rich, old, and childless. _Valuitque pecuniosâ orbitate et senectâ._

[b] The faculty of speaking on a sudden question, with unpremeditated eloquence, Quintilian says, is the reward of study and diligent application. The speech, composed at leisure, will often want the warmth and energy, which accompany the rapid emotions of the mind. The passions, when roused and animated, and the images which present themselves in a glow of enthusiasm, are the inspirers of true eloquence. Composition has not always this happy effect; the process is slow; languor is apt to succeed; the passions subside, and the spirit of the discourse evaporates. _Maximus vero studiorum fructus est, et velut præmium quoddam amplissimum longi laboris, ex tempore dicendi facultas. Pectus est enim quod disertos facit, et vis mentis. Nam benè concepti affectus, et recentes rerum imagines, continuo impetu feruntur, quæ nonnunquam morâ stili refrigescunt, et dilatæ won revertuntur._ Quintilian. lib. x. cap. 7.