the general plan of a poem, of which I have read only a detached paffage: yet this paffage is fufficient to convince me that Pliny well knew his contemporary, when he pronounced that Silius owed more to art than to nature. This art is lefs apparent in the style, which is eafy and flowing, than in the thoughts, which are those of a man who is continually striving to be fublime, and continually struggling againft his own genius in favor of his fubject. I am perfuaded that Silius would have judged better in taking Ovid than Virgil for his model. Wherever he does not offer violence to his genius, his fancy is rich, eafy, and natural. With fuch a character, it is furprising that he did not prefer the elegiac to the epic. The greatest part of those who failed in this laft fpecies of poetry are diftinguished by a feverity of character, and a wild irregularity of fancy; and, as they had as little taste as talent, they easily miftook those qualities for ftrength, elevation, and originality of genius. Faults were confounded with excellencies, to which they bore some bastard resemblance. 2. Virgil was free, Silius in fetters. The former might choose among all the nations of Italy those who most fuited his defign: the latter could not omitany of those nations without being guilty of a fault. He was under the hard neceffity of writing a poetical geography of the whole country between the Strait of Rhegium and the Alps; and this conftraint is but too vifible in his performance. 3. Silius followed his model with a refpect bordering on fuperftition. Italy no longer contained in her bofom a multitude of different nations, whofe arms, manand even languages, diffused a pleasing variety over the subject, while the ftory of their chiefs and founders invited the writer to agreeable excurfions in the region of fancy. All thofe nations were bebome strictly Roman, and had exactly conformed to the laws, enfigns, and difcipline of the republic; a vast but uniform object, which was better fitted for fuggefting reflections to a philofopher, than for animating the defcriptions of a poet. Silius, after feeking for characteristic differences which no longer prevailed among the nations whom he def cribes, is continually introducing thofe of the countries which they inhabited. His pictures have life and variety; but they are not in their proper place. The character of the people who were to fight was of importance in deciding the iffue of the battle; the nature of the countries which they left behind them was entirely foreign to the fubject. 4. Silius ought to have remembered that Aquilina was not in existence during the fecond Punic war'; and that we knew nothing of this place till it became the feat of a Latin colony, fent thither to check the incurfions of the Gauls, thirty years after the battle of Cannæ *. N° III. 25th December 1763. LAUSANNE. AN ufeful chapter might be added to the Histo ry of the great Roads of the Roman Empire, by Bergier, explaining the uses to which the Romans applied them. He has indeed mentioned pofts, which afforded conveniency to a fmall number of perfons; but has omitted many important particulars that ftill remain to be told. A critical examination of the ordinary journies of travellers would afford important information concerning the private life of the Romans, and even throw light on geography and chronology. I am fenfible that the differences of age, condition, and circumftances, must render our general conclufions uncertain; but as the means were univerfally the fame, thefe uncertainties will be reduced within certain limits. Auguftus travelled with an extraordinary flow. nefs in the neighbourhood of Rome. A journey to Tibur (20 Roman miles'), or to Preneste (25 miles), confumed two days, or rather two nights'. But the fituation of Auguftus was as fingular as his taste. The weakness of his health from his youth upwards compelled him to the ftricteft regimen; and by his own temper he would be inclined to carry the dictates of prudence to an extreme. It appears from his faithful biographer that this prince was foon tired of debauchery; and that he always def pifed luxury, though much addicted to effeminacy. We may add to thefe circumftances, that he travelled in a litter carried by flaves; and proceeded with great flownefs, that his attention might not be withdrawn a moment from his ufual occupations. The gentle motion of his carriage allowed him to read, write, and attend to the fame affairs which employed him in his cabinet, From fuch an exam. ple, no general confequence can be deduced. The fame may be faid of thofe rapid and extraordinary journies of which the ancients fometimes make mention. How wide is the difference between the mode of travelling of Auguftus and that of his fon Tiberius, who accomplished a journey of two hundred miles in twenty-four hours, when he haf tened to close the eyes of his brother Drufus'; or that of Cæfar the dictator, who posted one hundred miles a day with hired carriages". Statius fpeaks of a rapidity as extraordinary, when he says that a traveller might fet out from Rome in the morning, and fleep at Baix or Puteoli; an expeditious journey indeed, fince the distance is 141 Roman 127 English miles. Nihil obftat cupidis; nihil moratur › or I know that the poet wished to celebrate the fine road which Domitian had made from Sinuèffa to Cumæ; which had fixed the fands of Liternum, and reftrained the inundations of the Vulturnus. The thirty miles which he had paffed, and which used to be the work of a day, now fcarcely confumed two hours. Perhaps we must make some allowance for the flattery of a poet, who wished to pay his court. Yet the poffibility of the journey must be admitted, fince falfehoods are not to be rifked in matters fo fimple, public, and precise. We may perceive how much the Roman roads must have facilitated travelling, when we call to mind the journey of the courier, who brought to Rome the first news of the defeat of Perfeus. The date of the battle is precifely fixed by an eclipfe of the moon, which happened the day preceding the nones of September, that is, the 21st of June of the Julian year". The courier arrived in the Circus the fecond day of the Roman games, and the thirteenth after the defeat". These two circumftances show, that to get the thirteen days we must reckon both the day of his departure and that of his arrival, which will bring us to the 16th of the calends of October ", the 4th of July. We may therefore reckon twelve complete days; two of which might be employed in failing from Dyrrhachium to Brundufium, fince the distance is 1300 ftadia, or 225 miles"; and Ptolemy estimates an ordinary fhip's way at 1000 ftadia each day". The ten remaining days were confumed in the journey from Pella to Dyrrhachium, 253 miles "; and in that from Brundufium to Rome, 368 miles"; in all 621; which gives no more than fixty miles a day. We are to remember that this journey was performed by one courier, in the finest feafon of the year, and bringing the news of a great victory. He therefore anticipated, by several days, the deputies of the conful, although they likewise travelled with the greatest expedition. The Egna. tian road was not yet made; the Appian extended no further than to Capua; and the Greeks never applied themselves to the making of highways". 18 Among the ordinary journies of the Romans, who travelled neither like invalids nor couriers, there are two which we know with fome degree of accuracy: the journey of Horace to Brundufium, by the way of Canufium; and that of Cicero to the |