Epistle XI. To Minutian.
by
the Same. [Mr. Henley.]
[_]
On the Exile of Licinianus.
HAVE you heard that Valerius Licinianus is a Master of a Rhetorical School in
Sicily? I fancy you have not yet met with the Information; for it is very fresh News.
He was lately of the Prætorian Character, and esteem'd one of the most eloquent Pleaders at the Bar;
and is now fallen so low, as from a Senator to become a Fugitive, from a Pleader,
a Schoolmaster. And hence it was, that he himself, in the Preamble to a Declamation said,
with a Mixture of Vehemence and Sorrow, “O Fortune, what Diversion dost thou create thy self?
For of Professors thou makest Senators, and of Senators, Professors!” In which Sentence there is so much Gall,
so much Bitterness, that I imagine he set up for a Master purely to speak it.
This same Man, when he enter'd the School in his Græcian
Cloke, (for they who are out-law'd, have no Right to wear the
Roman
Gown) after he had compos'd himself, and survey'd his Habit, said,
I am to declaim in Latin. You will affirm, perhaps, it was all sad and wretched;
but that he deserv'd this Fate, for blemishing these very Studies, with the Crime of Incest:
Indeed, he confess'd the Incest, but then it is uncertain, whether he own'd it,
because it was true, or because he was afraid of worse Consequences, had he deny'd it.
For
Domitian was full of Indignation, and grown desperate; as conscious that he was an Object of publick Hatred.
For, when he was desirous to bury alive
Cornelia, the Eldest of the Vestal Virgins,
as thinking, that his Fame would become renown'd by such an Example, he conven'd the other Pontiffs,
not in the Palace, but his Country-Seat near
Alba, by the Right of supreme Pontiff;
or rather, with the Extravagance of a Tyrant, and the Licentiousness of an Absolute Lord.
And he pass'd a Condemnation upon her for Incest, tho' absent and unheard, with a Wickedness equal to that he seem'd to punish,
when he himself had not only been guilty of Incest, but Murther too, on his Brother's Daughter.
For she dy'd in her Widow'd State, of Abortion. The Pontiffs were immediately sent to take Care of her Burial and Execution.
She, lifting up her Hands, sometimes to
Vesta, and sometimes to the
other Gods, spoke several Things aloud, but this most frequently;
CÆSAR
thinks me to be I
ncestuous, who perform'd the S
acred R
ites, when he O
vercame and T
riumph'd.
Whether she said this in a Compliment of Derision to him, from a Confidence in her self,
or a Contempt of that Prince, is doubtful. She spoke on till she was led to Punishment;
whether Innocent, I know not; yet certainly, as Guilty. Then, when she was let down into that subterraneous Cell,
and her Robe was hinder'd in her Descent, she turn'd and recompos'd it;
and when the Executioner would have lent her his Hand, she refus'd it,
and started back; and would not allow the least unhallow'd Touch to approach her Chast and unpolluted Body with the utmost Sanctity of a dying Martyr,
and (as
Euripides says of
Polybia in his
Hecuba)
Great was her Care to fall with Decency.
Besides, Celer, a Roman Knight, who was accus'd of the Fact with
Cornelia, when he was scourg'd in the Place of popular Assembly, persisted in this Cry,
What have I done? I have done nothing. So that Domitian
was fir'd at the Infamy, both of Cruelty and Injustice.
He orders
Licianus to be seiz'd, for concealing the Freed Women of
Cornelia in his Country House. He was forewarn'd by his Friends, to betake himself to Confession,
in order to a Pardon if he would not suffer the Rods, and a publick Hearing.
In his Absence,
Herennius Senecio said something for him, like that of
Homer.
Greek line
Patroclus now is fallen; the Cause is finished. For he express'd himself thus,
>From an Advocate, I am become a Messenger of News, Licinianus is withdrawn.
This was grateful to Domitian; so far, indeed, that he betray'd himself by his Joy,
and said, Licinianus has clear'd us. He added likewise, That his Shame ought not to be press'd upon;
but allow'd him to take away all his Goods that he could before they were exposed to Sale,
and appointed him an easy Banishment, as a kind of Reward. From whence he was afterwards remov'd by the Clemency of
Nerva, (of immortal Memory) into Sicily, where now he professes Rhetorick,
and takes his Revenge upon Fortune by Declamations. You see how obsequious I am to you;
in writing carefully to you, not only the Affairs of the Town, but Foreign Occurrences,
so as to trace them much higher than usual; and indeed, I imagin'd that you had heard nothing more of
Licinianus,
but that he was banish'd for Incest, because at that Time you were abroad.
For common Fame tells only the Sum, not the Order of Things. I have a Right,
on the Merit of this, to hear reciprocally from you what is doing in your Town and Neighbourhood;
for something Remarkable commonly happens. In short, write whatever you please,
so that you equal the Length of mine; and be assur'd, I shall not only compute the Pages,
but even the Lines and Syllables.
Farewell.
