Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1826-11-14
ed hostility, have universally observed respect

q
have exalted him above the common herd OF
mankind. even if he had been.u,,erly unproyld-
ed with eloqnence. Onthe other hand, the eio-
ouence OF Cicero was SO extraordinary, that u
must have raised him to distinction, even II ne
had been unprovided with personal beauty
Bnt. as Alcibiades was gifted with more than
us,,al eloouerce, so was Cicero with more than
usual beauty Though he had particularly
long neck, his features were regular and manly,
and preserved TO the last, If Seneca is TO be
trusted. a dignity, comeline>s, cheerfulness,
and serenity, that never failed TO imprint both
affection and respect. Some igncraut sculp-
tors, misled by the etymology, which Plu'arch
devised for his name, have placed upon his
nose an excrescence or wart IN the shape OIL a
yetch; but, as Middleton observes, the etymo-
Iopy is more fanciful than correct, and even II
II were otherwise, would notjusify US, in the alb
senCe Of all evidence upon the point, In inierr-
ing. that, along with the name, he inherited the
persona defects and bemishes Of his ancestors
Observe the person Of his great i:iend and
rival. Hortensius. WHO can refuse admiration
10 its grace and beauty? And yet much Of i,lis
due 10 the skilfn taste of his tailor, and to the
exquisite Gle anliness of the keeper Of his ward
robe. How carelessly does that snow-white TO-
ga descend from his shoulders! and yet not a
fold or wrinkle in it is the effect OF accident
The size and situation Of each is calculated
with mathematics al accuracy, and when once fix
ed, cannot be altered without detracting from
the general effect Of the whole man. Never
was any thing so arti6ciaIly arranged, except
his look and gestures He has just been con-
sulling his mirror as to the mode in which he
| is to wear his eyes and limbs during the COM
| ing day | would no, be in his colleagues
| sandals for twice ten thousand sesterces, if ne
should again have the misfortune to joste him
| in the narrow streets, whilst he is thus made
up for public exhibition. The pecuniary COM
| pensation he would demand for such an in Jury
defies calculation. That lurking devil in his
eye assures me that no man will discompose the
structure Of his robe with impuni,y, and speaks
of nothing else than capital punishment for
| the wretch who has the audacity to displace
| solitary fold in that we'll plated and precisely
settled toga.
Aristotle has somewhere said, that the right
| Of command belongs 10 the beautiful. To those
| who are inclined to admit the correctness Of
this position no PERSONS right to universal en-
pire can be better founded than that Of Angus
tus Caesar. From the minute description which
Suetonius has given Of him, il is evident that
he possessed an eminent degree of personal
beauty. His eyes were SO peculiarly clear and
| brilliant, that he wished 10 have believed that
| they were gifted with divine vigor. His cour-
tiers, on discov ering this foibe, confirmed their
master in i, by prac Using the same gross fat
terry towards him, which afterwards prac-
| tised under precisely similar circumstances to-
wards Louis the Fourteenth. On meeting his
glance, they returned il steadily Tor few Sc
conds, and then withdrew their eyes suddenly,
as if they had been dazzled by the excess of
| light which darted from bis His limbs were
! Erp,l b,,i1t cit alv p,J
as to render his stature, which was almost as
much under the ordinary standard as that of
! Alexander Of Macedon, shorter TO appearance
| than it really was Like the cruel Shah Abbas
Of Persia, the great prince of Condo, and our
| immortal deliverer William the Third, he was
| distinguished by high hooked nose. His
| hair was lightly curled, and Of muddy yellow
colour Suetonious relates, that though he was
| in general very careless about the dressing Of
| it, he frequently had many BARRIERS at one and
| the same time engaged in combing it. His con-
duct in this respect, "si parva lcet componere
magnis," was something like that Of Phillips,
the author of the "Splendid Shilling" One Of
the sovereign pleasures of that poet, if Dr.. John
son is to be credited, was to sit hours after hours
in his chambers in the Temple, while his hair
was combed by persons whose service he found
means TO procure Isaac Vossius also took de-
lISut III adlilC ICGItdllOil, anu DC
knowledges that the rapture Of it was consider
ably heightened, when the operation was per-
formed by BARRIERS, who we're skilled in the
rules Of prosody.
Horace, who was himself little, fat, blear-
eyed, contemplate fellow, has left it upon
record, that Tibulus, the only Augustan pc.
ct who made love like gentleman,-for o.
vid, as Vinny Bourne remarked, made love
like rake, and Propertius like school-mas-
tei,-possessed body as beautiful as his mind
was accomplished. In one of his odes he has
mmortaizcd his friends unsuccessful passion
for the cruel Glycera,-a kindness with which
the unfortunate bard was not, in all probability,
over and above pleased. He afterwards, how
ever, said enough to reconcile Tibullus TO him
self, when he addressed the following elegant
compliment 10 him in his Eps,es:
"Non tn corpus etas sine pectore: Di tibi
formam, Di tibi divitias dederunt, artemque
fruendi."
Ofthe galaxy of poets, who Aourished in the
time Of Augustus, Tibullus alone could Justly
boast Of being handsome man. Of the sub
sequent Latin poets we know bat little, and that
litle is in general very nurh tO their adj van