Pacuvius, the poet and tragedian, is named as another great painter in the time of the Republic. He lived about sixty years later than Fabius Pictor, and was a native of Brundusium. As the nephew of Ennius, his works would have been sure of a favourable notice from all the wise and polished Romans of his time; but, by what we are told of them, they do not appear to have required indulgence. He painted the Temple of Hercules in the cattle market in Rome, and the pictures are said to have given dignity to the art itself. But a singular use was made of painting by the Roman heroes. Their inordinate love of military fame discovered a mode of feeding that ruling passion by means of this charming art; and it appears that Valerius Maximus Messala was the first to adopt a practice of exhibiting pictures of his own actions, which became afterwards pretty common, though condemned by some of the chief men of the Republic. Messala then caused a picture to be hung up in the Portico Hostilia, representing the Battle of Messana[50], where he had vanquished both the Carthaginians and Hiero of Syracuse, who had joined his former enemies to resist the invasion of his country by the Romans. By means of this picture, Messala kept himself before the eyes of the people, in the situation best calculated to further his views whenever he should be a candidate for the magistracy. Instead of sitting himself in the market-place, dressed in the white robe of humility, and pointing to his wounds, as Coriolanus says, to “Show them the scars that I would hide, As if I had received them for the hire Of their breath only,” the picture told the story of his achievements to the best advantage, and perhaps placed his personal and party enemies in doubtful situations or in disgrace. That some injurious effects were occasionally produced by the practice is certain, from the displeasure entertained by Scipio Africanus against his brother Lucius Scipio, for placing in the Capitol a picture of the battle near Sardes, which won him the title of Asiaticus, but in which, his nephew, the son of Africanus, was taken prisoner. Again, Scipio Emilianus was highly offended at the display of a picture of the taking of Carthage, exhibited in the market-place by Lucius Hostilius Mancinus. It appears that Mancinus was the first to enter Carthage on the taking of that city: and, on his return to Rome, being desirous of the consulship, he had a picture painted representing the strong situation of the town, with its fortifications, and all the machines employed in the attack and defence, besides the actions of the besiegers, in which care was taken that those of Mancinus should be most conspicuous. This he hung up in the Forum, and, seating himself by it, he explained to the people all the parts of the picture, particularly those in which he was concerned, in such a manner, that he won their good will, and gained the consulship at the very next election.