Epistle VII. To Caninius.
by
Mr. Henley
[_]
A Character of Silius Italicus
I AM just now inform'd of the Death of Silius Italicus; in his
Neapolitan Farm, occasioned by a Habit of Illness, arising from too long an
Abstinence. He was afflicted with an incurable Tumour in the Foot;
a lingring Evil, which he bore with Constancy, to his Decease. A Man,
entirely happy to the last, except in the Loss of the youngest of his two Sons;
but he left the eldest and better of them in a flourishing State, and past the Consulship.
He impair'd his Reputation under Nero: He was believ'd to second his violent Impeachments very willingly;
but he behav'd himself very wisely and agreeably in his Friendship with
Vitellius: He acquir'd great Applause, as Proconsul of Asia,
and wip'd off the Stain of his former ill-turn'd Application by a laudable Indolence.
Among the principal Men of the City, he seem'd insensible of Power, and was therefore without Envy.
He was much saluted and courted; and while he was very much confin'd to his Bed, his Character
was fill'd with a Number, that did
not address him on the Score of his Fortune. When at leisure from Writing,
he past the Day in the most learned Conversation. He wrote
Verse
with more
Labour than
Fire; and sometimes try'd the Judgments of Men,
by
Rehearsing. Lately, inclin'd by his Years, he retir'd from the City,
and made his Abode in
Campania; and was not remov'd, even by the Arrival of the
New-Emperor TRAJAN, in that Country. It was a distinguishing Praise of
Cæsar, to allow that Liberty; and of him that had the Courage to make use of it.
He was fond of new Things, to an Objection of being addicted to buy for the sake of Buying.
He was possess'd of many
Country Seats in the same
Places;
and when he took a Fancy to a
new Purchase, he neglected an
old one. He had a multitude of Books, of Statues, and of Images; which beyond a meer Possession,
he also reverenc'd. First in Esteem, he held
Virgil, whose
Birth-day he celebrated with greater Solemnity than his own;
mostly at
Naples, where he frequented his Monument as a Temple.
In this peaceful Course of Life, he reach'd beyond his Seventy fifth Year;
with a Tenderness, rather than an Infirmity of Body. And as he was the last Consul of
Nero, so he expir'd the last of his Consuls; and it is remarkable,
that
Nero dy'd, when he was Consul. When I reflect upon this, I am touch'd with a Compassion of humane Frailty.
For what is so
narrow, so short, as the longest Life of Man? Do not you fancy that
Nero is but lately deceas'd, when at the same Time we do not find one of his Consuls surviving.
Tho' why am I surpriz'd at this? It is not long, since it was said of
Lucius Piso, (Son of that
Piso who was so impiously kill'd in
Africa, by
Valerius Festus) that He now saw no Senator in the House,
whose Opinion he had ask'd, when himself was Consul with
NERO. To so streight a Bound is the very Life of so numerous an Assembly confin'd,
that the Tears of that Prince, mention'd in Story, do not only seem excusable,
but graceful: For
Xerxes is reported to have wept, when he survey'd his immense Army,
because the Fall of so many Thousands was so speedily threatened. However,
we are the more oblig'd to prolong our Share of this vain and perishing Time,
if not by Actions, (the Materials of which are in other Hands) yet certainly by Studies.
And as far as we are deny'd a Length of Life, we should bequeath
something to Posterity, that may testify we have liv'd sometime.
I am sensible, you do not want an Incentive; yet my Affection for you prevails upon me to quicken you forward in your Race,
as it is your Practice with me. Contention is good; when one Friend inflames another to the Love of Immortality by mutual Exhortations.
