afford some tribute to a cause in which the interests of the world and the welfare of mankind are deeply concerned. Heathen tes timonies, in support of the claims of religion, appear to multiply towards the time at which the Gospel was promulgated, and when the diffusion of its light generally mingled with the discoveries of human knowledge. Important memorials, which afford abundant evidence, exist in works familiar and accessible to all; and it is necessary only to exercise restraint in selecting those which are most entitled to attention, or which best concur with the design of the present work. CHAP. XXXIX. Marcus Porcius Cato. IN the time of Cicero, no Latin work in prose, worthy to be read, could be found more ancient than the writings of Marcus Porcius Cato. This eminent man was born A. U. C. 550, that is 223 years before Christ. In the intervals of his public employments, particularly in his declining years, after great military services, he devoted himself to literature, and derived instruction in Greek learning from Ennius*, who seems to have been born at Rudii, in Calabria, about 16 years before Cato, and to have been brought by him to Rome. Some historical and military works, and some orations of Cato have perished t. A • Aurelius Victor, c. 47. Cicero Cato Major, c. i. Cornel. Nepos Vit. Cato, 1. i. et de Illust. Grammat. I. i. Some fragments of Ennius were collected by the Stephens's, and published by Hieron Columna at Naples, in 1590. + Plin. 29. i. Voss, de Hist. Latin, I. 1. Quintil. 12. iii. production upon agriculture alone remains entire. In it he details the economy and management of a farm, but carries the spirit of parsimony to such a degree of rigour, as must offend the feelings of every Christian reader, since he recommends that the servant worn out by age and disease should be sold; Plutarch, whose humanity was possibly improved by the spirit which was generally diffused by the promulgation of the Gospel, justly reprobates the harsh instruction and conduct of Cato; and Pliny and Seneca give very different lessons *. A few doubtful fragments †, under the authority of Cato, are still extant. The moral distiches, which go under his name, and which have often been considered as ancient productions, appear to have been composed by some Christian writer, and as some suppose, in a barbarous age. They contain passages borrowed from Ecclesiastes, if not from the Gospel + Scaliger seems inclined to ascribe them to Ausonius, who was converted to Christianity, but con • Plin. lib. viii. epist. 16. 28. See also Job xxxi. 13. + Servius ad Georgic. L. 2. Vide First Distich. Sen. de Benef. lib. iii. c. 18— Juvenal Sat. 6. L. 217. ceives that they betray some vestiges of heathen error an opinion which Boxhorn aisputes *. The son of Cato published some commenon the civil law, and his grandson some orations t. * Question. Roman. + Aulus Gellius, lib. xiii. c. 19. CHAP. XL. Publius Accius Plautus, THE dramatic writers were probably among the authors who first attracted the attention of Rome. Scenic representations originated in Etruria, in rustic songs modulated by simple instruments, which were afterwards changed into fescennine satires, and artificial dialogues*. Livius Andronicus is said to have attempted the first regular fable or argument of a drama. It appeared A. U. C. 514, and was considered by Cicero as not deserving to be read +. Livius was followed by Nævius and by Ennius, who translated some Greek plays. These, and other writers, of whom some me Valerius Maxim. lib. ii. c. 4, § 1. 4. 6. and Horat. lib. ¡¡. epist. i. 1. 154. + De clar. orat. § 71. ‡ Vossius de Hist. Lat. lib. i. c. 2. and Cicero in Brut. § 13. |