goes round from one to another. _Hæc vitia unus aliquis inducit, sub
quo tunc eloquentia est: cæteri imitantur; et alter alteri tradunt._
Epist. 114. Seneca, however, did not know that he was describing
himself. Tacitus says he had a genius suited to the taste of the age.
_Ingenium amœnum et temporis ejus auribus accommodatum._ He adopted
the faults of Ovid, and was able to propagate them. For these reasons,
the Abbé Gedoyn is of opinion, that Ovid began the mischief, and
Seneca laid the axe to the root of the tree. It is certain, that,
during the remaining period of the empire, true eloquence never
revived.


Section 7.

[a] Historians have concurred in taxing Vespasian with avarice, in
some instances, mean and sordid; but they agree, at the same time,
that the use which he made of his accumulated riches, by encouraging
the arts, and extending liberal rewards to men of genius, is a
sufficient apology for his love of money.

[b] Titus, it is needless to say, was the friend of virtue and of
every liberal art. Even that monster Domitian was versed in polite
learning, and by fits and starts capable of intense application: but
we read in Tacitus, that his studies and his pretended love of poetry
served as a cloak to hide his real character. See _History_, b. iv. s.
86.

[c] Pliny the younger describes the young men of his time rushing
forward into the forum without knowledge or decency. He was told, he
says, by persons advanced in years, that, according to ancient usage,