We have not the names of any of the Mimes of Publius; nor do we precisely know their nature or subject,—all that is preserved from them being a number of detached sentiments or maxims, to the number of 800 or 900, seldom exceeding a single line, but containing reflections of unrivalled force, truth, and beauty, on all the various relations, situations, and feelings of human life—friendship, love, fortune, pride, adversity, avarice, generosity. Both the writers and actors of Mimes were probably careful to have their memory stored with common-places and precepts of morality, in order to introduce them appropriately in their extemporaneous performances. The maxims of Publius were interspersed through his dramas, but being the only portion of these productions now remaining, they have just the appearance of thoughts or sentiments, like those of Rochefoucauld. His Mimes must either have been very numerous, or very thickly loaded with these moral aphorisms. It is also surprising that they seem raised far above the ordinary tone even of regular comedy, and appear for the greater part to be almost stoical maxims. Seneca has remarked that many of his eloquent verses are fitter for the buskin than the slipper(557). How such exalted precepts should have been grafted on the lowest farce, and how passages, which would hardly be appropriate in the most serious sentimental comedy, were adapted to the actions or manners of gross and drunken buffoons, is a difficulty which could only be solved had we fortunately received entire a larger portion of these productions, which seem to have been peculiar to Roman genius. The sentiments of Publius Syrus now appear trite. They have become familiar to mankind, and have been re-echoed by poets and moralists from age to age. All of them are most felicitously expressed, and few of them seem erroneous, while at the same time they are perfectly free from the selfish or worldly-minded wisdom of Rochefoucauld, or Lord Burleigh. “Amicos res opimæ pavant, adversæ probant. Miserrima fortuna est quæ inimico caret. Ingratus unus miseris omnibus nocet. Timidas vocat se cautum, parcum sordidus. Etiam oblivisci quid scis interdum prodest. In nullum avarus bonus, in se pessimus. Cuivis dolori remedium est patientia. Honestus rumor alterum est patrimonium. Tam deest avaro quod habet quam quod non habet. O vita misero longa—felici brevis!” This last sentiment has been beautifully, but somewhat diffusely expressed by Metastasio: “Perchè tarda è mai la morte Quando è termine al martir? A chi vive in lieta sorte E sollecito il morir.”—_Artaserse_.