i. 10), might seem to contradict this, but the Eclogues were of a lighter

cast. He never speaks of the Georg. or Aen. as _lusus_. So Hor. (Ep. i. 1, 10), _versus et cetera ludicra pono_; referring to his odes.

[32] Hor. A. P. 218.

[33] See G. i. 500, _sqq._ where Augustus is regarded as the saviour of the age.

[34] We have observed that except Lucretius all the great poets were from the municipia or provinces.

[35] The tenth; imitated in Milton's _Lycidas_.

[36] In its form it reminds us of those _Epyllia_ which were such favourite subjects with Callimachus, of which the _Peleus and Thetis_ is a specimen.

[37] Said to have been uttered by Cicero on hearing the Eclogues read; the _rima spes Romae_ being of course the orator himself. But the story, however pretty, cannot be true, as Cicero died before the Eclogues were composed.

[38] Hist. Lat. Lit. vol. iii.

[39] The most powerful are perhaps the description of a storm (G. i. 316, _sqq._). of the cold winter of Scythia (G. iii. 339, _sqq._), and in a slightly different way, of the old man of Cerycia (G. iv. 125, _sqq._).

[40] The _latis otia fundis_ so much coveted by Romans. These remarks are scarcely true of Horace.

[41] Naples, Baiae, Pozzuoli, Pompeii, were the Brightons and Scarboroughs of Rome. Luxurious ease was attainable there, but the country was only given in a very artificial setting. It was almost like an artist painting landscapes in his studio.

[42] G. ii. 486. The literary reminiscences with which Virgil associated the most common realities have often been noted. Cranes are for him _Strymonian_ because Homer so describes them. Dogs are _Amyclean_, because the _Laco_ was a breed celebrated in Greek poetry. Italian warriors bend _Cretan_ bows, &c.

[43] _Cum canerem reges et praelia Cynthius aurem Vellit, et admomuit Pastorem Tityre, pingues Pascere oportet oves, deductum dicere carmen._ (E. vi. 3).

[44] _En erit unquam Ille dies tua cum liceat mihi dicere facta._ (E. viii. 7).

[45] _Mox tamen ardentes accingar dicere pugnas Caesaris_, &c. (G. iii. 46). The Caesar is of course Augustus.

[46] This eagerness to have their exploits celebrated, though common to all men, is, in its extreme development, peculiarly Roman. Witness the importunity of Cicero to his friends, his epic on himself; and the ill- concealed vanity of Augustus. We know not to how many poets he applied to undertake a task which, after all, was never performed (except partially by Varius).

[47] Except perhaps by Plato, who, with Sophocles, is the Greek writer that most resembles Virgil.

[48] Virgil, like Milton, possesses the power of calling out beautiful associations from proper names. The lists of sounding names in the seventh and tenth Aeneids are striking instances of this faculty.

[49] It is true this law is represented as divine, not human; but the principle is the same.

[50] Niebuhr, Lecture, 106.

[51] For example, Sallust at the commencement of his _Catiline_ regards it as authoritative.

[52] Cf. Geor. ii. 140-176. Aen. i. 283-5; vi. 847-853; also ii. 291, 2; 432-4; vi. 837; xi. 281-292.

[53] _Loc. cit._

[54] Observe the care with which he has recorded the history and origin of the Greek colonies in Italy. He seems to claim a right in them.

[55] This word, as Mr. Nettleship has shown in his Introduction to the Study of Virgil, is used only of Turnus.

[56] xi. 336, _sqq_. But the character bears no resemblance to Cicero's.

[57] There are no doubt constant _rapports_ between Augustus and Aeneas, between the unwillingness of Turnus to give up Lavinia, and that of Antony to give up Cleopatra, &c. But it is a childish criticism which founds a theory upon these.

[58] _ton katholon estin_, Arist. De Poet.

[59] "Urbis orbis."

[60] _Suggestions Introductory to the Study of the Aeneid_.

[61] The Greek heroic epithets _dios, kalos, agathos_, &c. primarily significant of personal beauty, were transferred to the moral sphere. The epithet _pius_ is altogether moral and religious, and has no physical basis.

[62] _Pater ipse colendi; haud facilem esse viam voluit_, and often. The name of Jupiter is in that poem reserved for the physical manifestations of the great Power.

[63] The questions suggested by Venus's speech to Jupiter (Aen. 1, 229, _sqq._) as compared with that of Jupiter himself (Aen. x. 104), are too large to be discussed here. But the student is recommended to study them carefully.

[64] Like Dante, he was held to be _Theologus nullius dogmatis expers_. See Boissier, _Religion des Romains_, vol. i ch. iii. p. 260.

[65] Aen. xii. 882.

[66] Ib. xii. 192.

[67] See Macr. Sat. i. 24, 11.

[68] Boissier, from whom this is taken, adduces other instances. I quote an interesting note of his (Rel. Rom. p. 261): "_Cependant, quelques difficiles trouvaient que Virgile s'était quelquefois trompé. On lui reprochait d'avoir fait immoler par Enée un taureau à Jupiter quand il s'arrête dans la Thrace et y fonde une ville, et selon Ateius Capito et Labéon, les lumières du droit pontifical, c'était presqu'un sacrilège. Voilà donc, dit-on, votre pontife qui ignore ce que savent même les sacristains! Mais on peut répondre que précisément le sacrifice en question n'est pas acceptable des dieux, et qu'ils forcent bientôt Énée par de présages redoutables, à s'éloigner de ce pays. Ainsi en supposant que la science pontificale d'Enée soit en défaut, la réputation de Virgile reste sans tache._"

[69] Aen. x. 288.

[70] "_Fièrement dessiné._" The expression is Chateaubriand's.

[71] xii. 468.

[72] The reader is referred to a book by M. de Bury, "_Les femmes du temps d'Auguste_," where there are vivid sketches of Cleopatra, Livia, and Julia.

[73] Aen. i. 402; ii. 589.

[74] A list of passages imitated from Latin poets is given in Macrob. Sat. vi., which should be read.

[75] Such as _Latium_ from _latere_, (Aen. viii. 322), and others, some of which may be from Varro or other philologians.

[76] A few instances are, the origin of _Ara Maxima_ (viii. 270), the custom of veiled sacrifices (iii. 405), the _Troia sacra_ (v. 600), &c.

[77] The pledging of Aeneas by Dido (i. 729), the god Fortunus (v. 241).

[78] _E.g._ the allusion to the legendary origin of his narrative by the preface _Dicitur, fertur_ (iv. 205; ix. 600).

[79] _E.g. olli, limus, porgite, pictai_, &c.: _mentem aminumque, teque ... tuo cum flumine sancto;_ again, _calido sanguine, geminas acies_, and a thousand others. His alliteration and assonance have been noticed in a former appendix.